The Grocery Budget, Week 4

This seemed to be my most challenging week shopping yet. I headed out with only $54 to spend! We were out of milk so we headed to Walmart yesterday and got milk, eggs and a squash for me to cook up for Harper. Oh yeah *ahem* we also got ice cream in a moment of weakness. So with $54 out of our total 2-week budget, I was a bit daunted as I trudged out this afternoon.

Grand total: $49.47!!!!

3 stores this week, and here's how the savings breakdown goes:
Walmart: spent $17.17 (no coupons)

Kroger: spent $20.45
member savings: $23.88
coupon savings: $15.50

Tom Thumb: spent $11.85
member savings: $16.54
coupon savings: $26.82

All told, savings = $82.74 which equals a savings of 63%.

I didn't get a picture of the loot today because me and the child arrived home precisely at her dinner time and she barely allowed me to throw the freezer items in before she was banging on her tray for me to come feed her. Some of my favorite savings today include blueberries for $1 (I got 3 and froze 2 packages. Harper loves them!), free Hershey's chocolate bars (the big kind!), and body wash for $0.79.

I also stocked up on some food to whip up for Harper, though I didn't get as much as I normally would have. But plenty to get me through at least 2-3 weeks.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was buying 10 items from Kroger that qualified me for $5 immediately off my total: 2 jars of salsa, 2 salad dressings, 2 packages of Fiber One bars, 2 French's mustard, a package of Oscar Meyer hot dogs and a package of frozen steam fresh veggies. Actually, that last one's a lie. They were out of their steam fresh veggies, so I got a package of Pepperidge Farm goldfish for Harper instead for $0.99. Other than the goldfish, I had a coupon for every single item which added up to approximately $7. Each of those 10 items were also already on sale for club members. So not such a bad deal, huh? Sales, coupons and promotions - love it!! You can see how I'd get to $38.88 in savings just from that one store alone very easily.

I guess I should mention something I seem to have neglected to inform about. I am a faithful member of the Grocery Game and have been for almost a year now. It was a hard adjustment for me at first and took me quite a while to wrap my head around what coupons I had, when to use them, how to organize them. Heck, just remembering to buy the paper a day early was daunting back then! But now it doesn't take up so much of my time and almost feels second nature. I subscribe to 3 lists which totals $10/month. A bargain considering the time it saves me by finding the deals and telling me which coupons to use. I've researched other coupon forums before, and maybe some day I will have the guts to venture out on my own. But life right now does not allow the time and energy it would take to research, plan and execute the savings on my own. I have gotten in the habit now of scouring the weekly ads so I can at least start planning menus for a few days.

Our menu this week includes a new easy recipe for Shepherd's Pie that Jon is anxious to try out. I'll let you know how it goes. Next week I have a new corn chowder recipe I'm dying to make.

I'm still interested in what you all are cooking and what your money saving tips and budget "woohoo" moments are. Feel free to share in the comments section.

'Til next week!

Our Stock Yard(s)

For no reason at all, I'm sharing pics of our pantry and laundry room - two places I do the most storing of all the deals I score. Two of the things I loved about this house was the size of the pantry and the laundry room - don't ask me why, but they seem to be important to me when choosing a house.

These both very much come in handy as I do the Grocery Game since these store the stockpiling items. The only one I'm not sharing is the master bath linen closet. Another 'huge' space, but sadly in need of arranging. Maybe another time - that closet stores our abundance of lotions, razors, shampoos, toothpaste and the like.

We keep things pretty tidy for the most part. Jon and I both have OCD when it comes to organization and I have a need to be able to find something I'm looking for when I need it. That doesn't always happen (don't remind either of us about the air mattress pump), but we try. And everything definitely needs to have its place.

Top shelf is snacks. Next shelf is cereals and pastas. 3rd shelf is canned goods. 4th shelf is baking goodies, oils, etc... Floor is still sealed items such as cereal, soda, snacks, chips.

We picked up this handy contraption at the Container Store recently. We had a gift card to spend, and I needed something to 'catch' all the goodies that tended to float around the shelves such as seasoning packets, potatoes and granola bars. Works awesome!

Even the door has a purpose, holding our grocery bags which do double duty as trash can liners and dog poop picker uppers. It also stores my apron - one of my Christmas gifts from Jon.

Here's the laundry room which has all the extra cleaning supplies. Yes, there's a lot. You'd think my house would be extra sparkling clean, wouldn't you? Dream on. I do use them, but they last a while too. :)

Shopping Trip Savings

Yes, I'm a dork, but I had to do a blog about my savings at the grocery store. Not to boast or brag - but to let everyone know that if I can do it, YOU can do it!

Harper and I spent 3 hours this afternoon going to 4 stores: Walmart, Tom Thumb, Kroger, and Walgreens. Yes - my sweet little girl was a trooper the whole time even without a nap. She's awesome! In and out of the carts and car seat - she just giggled every time I picked her up, and laughed while entertaining the customers. She's such a joy.

I digress... 3 hours, 4 stores and (drum roll please)... We saved $115.07!!!!

I challeged myself with a $75 limit again this week and came away at exactly $77. Not too bad seeing as how the darned Walgreens register decided not to double all my coupons. grrr....

Here's the break down:


Total store membership savings (the cards you get for free and scan at the register) at Kroger and Tom Thumb (aka: Smiths and Vons elsewhere): $46.70


Total savings in Walgreens coupons and their sale items: $24.80


Total savings with manufacturer coupons: $43.57

I love shopping trips like today because the sales allowed me to really stock up on cleaning supplies and pantry and personal care items - all are things that store well.

Some of my favorite deals included Olay lotion regularly $7.99 for $0.99, Olay body wash regularly $7.99 for $1.99 and 2 Maybelline mascaras regularly $7.99 each for 1.99 for both.

Here's my loot:

Our Menu Last Week

We have now stuck to our menu for 2 weeks now and I have to say - I absolutely love shopping with a set menu in mind. No more wandering around, getting the usual things we know we like, knowing that one day we'll use it. Now I go in with a purpose: buy things for the week, plus things that are incredibly on sale and too good to pass up. Usually the really good sales with coupons are on houseware items and canned goods, and those can be stockpiled.

Monday - Jon worked overtime, I was on my own which meant pasta - my favorite guilty pleasure.
Tuesday - Chili dogs. Jon got actual hot dogs this week because they were on sale, and I had my usual veggie dog with veggie chili.
Wednesday - Baked potato and steak/veggie burger. Jon dug into his frozen steak stock and grilled up a couple.
Thursday - Pappa al Pomodoro - always a fave!
Friday - leftover Pappa with grilled cheese sandwiches.

What has ended up working really well is that the dinners have offered up enough for Jon to take with him to work for dinner #2 that night, which helps curb his late-night Sonic visits while he tries to have enough fuel until 6am. Another plus to planning!

Update: First 2 Weeks With Our New Budget

I had to come update on how the budget has been going our first 2 weeks.

My major accomplishment: I achieved my grocery goal of $150 with $0.35 to spare. I'm incredibly happy and proud of myself.

All told, we wound up with a surplus of $84.00 from what we budgeted to put towards our next smallest bill, which helped it become paid!

The current debt we're working on is one of my credit cards and boy, is it fun to see that balance getting low, low, low. Scary, but fun. This month is an extra paycheck which is helping tremendously towards making that bill nonexistent. It'll be a small miracle if it gets paid off with the next paycheck, but hey, we can pray for one, right?

Dave's book heavily stresses about how God blesses those who take control of their finances, and we're believers. Last night we opened our electricity bill to see that our deposit was being refunded for 12 months of being good customers. Essentially this means we won't have to pay our electric bill for about 3-4 months! We figured we would've gotten this last summer since that was 12 months after moving in, but I think we were just too preoccupied to notice or care. In any event - hooray!

Oh, and another small (huge) victory: We were able to tithe a full 10% for the first time in a long time as we follow the steps of give, pay, spend, save. What a blessing.

Returning January 16th

We're so excited!!!

Looking forward to Christmas 2009

Scrat

Jon and I love the Ice Age movies. Especially the first one. And the little squirrel-type critter named Scrat that's always in search for his nut reminds us totally and completely of our dog Wylee, sound effects and all. Here's the trailer for Ice Age 3. It's VERY cute.


http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2023162649/

Small Victory: The Grocery Budget

I'm a very frugal person. I use coupons and absolutely love a bargain. Grocery shopping in the past year has been a real learning experience for me as I started following The Grocery Game and scouring the Sunday papers for coupons, researching sales and buying things at the most opportune time. I've mostly done very well with it, though I found some weeks frustrating when there weren't many coupons I could use or any sales that benefitted me at the stores. The holidays were especially slow with coupons and sales for non-holiday food items, which I found very discouraging.

HOWEVER - I'm back with a vengeance. This Sunday's paper was STUFFED with coupons and there were sales a-plenty.

This week also marked the first time I ever had a set amount to spend while grocery shopping. Usually I search for bargains and just spend whatever I end up spending. Because we're on such a tight budget, putting all the money we can towards paying off debt, we came up with a loose menu of dinners for the week, something I could build my shopping list around and give us something to plan for instead of the usual "what do you feel like having tonight?" conversation, which inevitably would lead to Subway for dinner when neither one of us feels like cooking anything. While Subway doesn't exactly break the bank, it is extra $$ we can use in other ways.

I set my budget for the next 2 weeks at $150, so after planning the menu, I figured I'd just split the goal in half for Sunday's shopping and made it my mission to only spend $75. I'm not very competitive, however I do enjoy proving an impossible challenge possible - especially when my only competitor is myself.

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday - Chicken Parmesean
Tuesday - Soft Tacos

Wednesday - Soup and Sandwich
Thursday - Taco Salad

Friday - Red Beans and Rice

After sorting through my list from the Grocery Game, and sorting through the fridge and pantry, I drew up my list of items I'd be needing for the menu and those that were on sale and a great deal with coupons.

Here's what I came home with:

That's 8 cans of soup, a pack of chicken, some veggie meat, beans, tomato sauce, granola bars, trash bags, Visine, cheese, lettuce, taco mix, chicken stock, bananas, corn, diet coke, tortillas, lettuce, frozen pizza (our weekend fall-back), hand soap, shampoo and hair products. The Visine I got money back on, the big refill of handsoap was $1.99, normally $8.99. The shampoo and hair products were free, the two bottles of handsoap were $0.35. While it wasn't a banner day with the sales (not everything I bought was on sale - which I normally don't do), I still saved $50+ at Walgreens and Tom Thumb alone. Including Walmart that means, yes, I went to 3 stores in 2 1/2 hours with an infant. It can be done!!

I came in just over my goal at $79.74 which I feel really great about, and which means my budget for next week is now set at $70. We're both already thinking about meals for next week and I'll be watching the circulars for ideas as well.

I'd love to hear your cost-cutting ideas, especially for grocery shopping. And, while you're at it, throw in your menu ideas as well.

Goal for 2009

Jon and I have committed to strive to become debt-free in 2009. While it may not all be eliminated by year's end, we have plans to make a significant dent in it. The plan is to have all of our credit cards and store accounts paid off in 2009, then move to cars, student loans and the mortgage in 2010 and beyond. We believe this goal is definitely do-able, though it's going to take discipline on both our parts to make it happen. We both know God doesn't want us in debt to anyone and we are extremely excited about what it means for our future.

We'll be following Dave Ramsey's financial plan outlined in The Total Money Makeover and my hopes are to take who ever reads this blog along on our adventure with us. While I may not post all the time about it, I'll try to keep updated on our milestones and little victories along the way.

Last year we began making significant strides, though we weren't following any particular financial plan. Just trying to be smart with our money and interest rates. We paid off and closed several accounts, but continued charging others and opening 1 or 2 more.

If you're familiar with Dave's plan, we are at an advantage because we already had babystep 1 done by having our emergency fund in place, so now we're moving on to babystep 2 and paying off all debts beginning with the smallest first, regardless of interest rates. We're also mapping out a strict budget every payday, planning on how every dollar will be spent. It's tough and a challenge, but we're definitely ready for the fight.

By the end of the month, we ought to have closed 2 accounts and be well on our way to closing the 3rd. Yes, these will have been relatively low charged accounts. But we're celebrating these "small" victories to help keep us encouraged towards the bigger goal.

Sooo.. here we go!!

Bubba Keg

Jon has helped my dream come true. He actually found a travel mug that fit all my specifications and I love him for it!!! This was the gift I chose to open on Christmas Eve - the Bubba Keg!

I had a daunting list of requirements for a new mug. I had been using my hospital mugs since Harper had been born and mostly loved them except for the fact they didn't fit in my cup holders. Well, and also because they both broke after being dropped.

1. It had to be BIG.

2. It had to have a lid, but have a big enough opening to pour ice into.

3. It had to be insulated. I hate sweating cups.

4. A handle was preferred, as I often find myself coming in and out of the house with a baby and 4,823 things in my hands.

5. It had to be able to fit into a cup holder.

And he definitely gets bonus points for it being PINK!! Love, love, love my new Bubba Keg.

2008: The Year in Review

I think I did this last year, but I was reminded by Alicia's post at how much fun it is to reflect back on the year you've just lived!

2008 has pretty much been ALL ABOUT THE BABY - go figure!!! She is our love, our lives and what our world revolves around now. This year was full of many firsts as we celebrated becoming a new family.

In January we attended the wedding of Randy and Katie which was a nice break from the norm. We also said goodbye to Don Dunn, my brother-in-law's father who passed away after a long bout with lung cancer. We spent much of the month in prep mode. Organizing our spare room to prepare for the baby's arrival. We bought new furniture and had lots of sorting to do of all the clothes we had been given.

February was more of the same. Here is my belly shot from Valentine's Day. I was 28 weeks here, 12 weeks away from my due date of May 8th.




March was a much busier month than I knew it would be! Don came through his second back surgery very well which was a huge relief. My company had a big round of layoffs which was very scary. We hosted a BBQ at our house with some friends and neighbors and we said goodbye to dear Cooper. The beginning of the month brought SNOW to North Texas. What a treat!

On March 28th, I was surprised by a doorbell ring and my mom, my sister, Toby and Heather were at my door!!! They flew in to surprise me for my baby shower the following day.

So blessed by many friends and family that day.

This belly shot was taken at 34 weeks and is the last official belly shot I have. I had plenty of time to take more, right??

Or not. April brought the early arrival of Harper Belle Hanes. Born at 35 weeks, 1 day she weighed in at 5lbs 2ounces on 4/4 at 2:16pm. Severely low amniotic fluid forced her delivery by emergency c-section after being checked at a routine appointment.

Because of her early arrival, she had a 10-day NICU stay which was the hardest 10 days of our lives, by far. After a rough start with some trouble breathing, she then had a bit of a tough time keeping her temperature up.

One of my favorite pics. Our little sea creature so tiny compared to Daddy's hand.

On Sunday April 13th we were finally able to bring her home! So tiny in her crib but she had worked really hard for this day. Such a relief.

May brought my first Mother's Day and Mimi's first visit to come meet Harper!

Which means June was Jon's first Father's Day!! He finally got his long-awaited grill. I went back to work this month and Grandma and Grandpa began watching Harper 2 days a week while Jon was a stay-at-home dad 3 days out of the week.

In July we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Here is us on July 29, 2006.

And July 29, 2008.

In August Mimi came to visit for a second time. I also barely survived another round of layoffs at work and began working in my new department, which would turn out to be a huge learning experience. Our foundation was repaired and left lots of scars all around for us to remember it by.

In September Jon's schedule got switched back to nights. It's a blessing in disguise because while it's nights which is tough on his body, he now had weekends off which meant much more time together! The last week of September we started Harper on solids, 1 week shy of her 6 month birthday. She wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing but quickly caught on!

October was a very fun-filled month. We took Harper on her first plane ride and visited all our friends and family in Las Vegas and California. I also turned 30!

On my birthday

Meeting Auntie Wendy and Uncle Kevin
Hanz and Debbie

Amy and the clan: Noah, Sydney and Holly with Harper.

In November Harper took her first "big" bath, which means she graduated from the sink to her ducky.

We also celebrated Harper's first Thanksgiving.

December of course meant Harper's first Christmas and all the other adventures it brought with it: meeting all the extended family at our family Christmas parties and hosting Mimi and Poppy at our house for the big occasion!!

What a year!!! We really look forward to what 2009 has in store for us!

Food!

I made my very first ham for Christmas dinner. Turned out pretty good, too! Yes, I actually ate some. I'm trying to follow my tastes and eat what sounds good as far as meat goes. This is as far as I've gotten and I still get a bad stomach ache if I eat anything more than a bite, but I'm working on it!
This was our pecan pie. Isn't the box cool?

And I made round 2 of Nanny's Apple Cake. Fred had the strange idea to put the Las Vegas sign in the middle. And we were strange enough to actually do it.
For some reason blogger keeps turning some of my pictures sideways. Here is a sideways picture of all the junk after 4 days and counting....