Last shopping of the month

I spent $103.38 this weekend. I got $20 back in register rewards to add to my budget. Total spent this month was $300.63 but I have $20 extra to add to next months or take off of this months. I don’t plan to do any more shopping this month (unless I find some more marked down pork at Albertsons!! ) so looks like I made budget!! About the pork deal at Albertsons…I have $1/1 Hormel Always Tender pork manu coupons. I was at Albertson’s late on Saturday night and discovered that they mark down pork that needs to be sold by the next day. I was able to get 7.29 lbs of pork for $6.25! Most of it was boneless sirloin chops. That is only $.86/lb! I will be popping in there often late at night now. My Sweetbay is closing so I was able to get a lot of stuff there at a 50% mark down.

What I got this weekend:
12 cans dog food
1 bottle lotion
7.29lbs pork
1 - 2 liter diet dr pepper
44 cans beans
2 cans bread crumbs
12 cans tomato sauce
10 bottles salad dressing
2 boxes broth
1 gallon milk
6.36lbs tilapia
3lbs bananas
3 rolls paper towels
4 klondike
2 half gallon ice cream
2 dozen eggs
1 loaf bread
25 frozen pizzas
3 mens razors
13 - 20ft rolls aluminum foil
2 - 24ct bottles excedrin

Last weeks purchases

Last week I spent $90.12 and saved $204.27. Not my best week but still looking good for the $300 a month challenge. Total OOP so far this month is $197.25. This is what I bought last week for $90.12:
4 OJ
1 bag pinto beans
2 bags black beans
1 hamburger buns
8 oranges
1 head lettuce
1lb fresh mushrooms
2lbs carrots
5lbs potatoes
1 bag coleslaw
1 box altoid mints
16 boxes milk bones
1 canister salt
2 jug catlitter
18 tubs deli turkey
12 tubs frosting
18 bags frozen veggies
9 cans soup
1 gallon milk
18 - 32oz powerade
2 packs chicken wings

Another week down

Since last post I have spent another $89.06 for a total OOP of $107.13. It is almost mid month so I feel good about that. What I got:
40 - 32oz powerade
10lbs deli ham
7 dozen eggs
4 loaves bread
6 - 24ct bottles aleve
40 boxes rice sides
8 pasta sides
9 pouches mashed potatoes
6 - 4pack yogurt
10 tubs buttery spread
1 gallon milk
10 boxes pop tarts
4lbs ground beef
4 bags cheese doodles


40 rice sides…I use 3 each time I make something with them. We have 3 kids…and they all have very big appetites especially for stuff like Spanish rice or chicken and rice or fried rice…or stuff like that. Very inexpensive and easy to throw together on a busy night. I make a rice dish at least 2 or 3 times a month so that is only 4 months worth. The butter tubs were very cheap on sale with coupons – my freezer is now stocked for a year on this. Eggs were $1.29 a dozen, I eat LC…and I have learned by experience that they are good for at least a month past the date on the carton. The deli ham was a great deal. Several weeks ago it was BOGO Albertsons but they were out so I got a raincheck. Last week it went on sale for $1.50 less per pound than it normally sells for. So I got 10 one lb packs and paid for 5 at the $1.50/lb sale price!! I vacuum sealed it and it is now in my freezer for lunch boxes! Same with the bread only I didn’t vacuum seal that!

February - New start

Alright, I totally blew budget last month. I spent almost $700. I saved $2360 and my meat freezer is packed. My pantry items are good for a year or more. My HBA and household cleaners…more like 2 years. Cat food is good for a year. Dog good…not so good. I have started cooking for my dog again. He prefers it and if I can’t get his food free or almost free, cooking for him is a better option both nutritionally and economically.
I don’t know if I can stay under $300 but will try. Yesterday I went to Publix and got 20 boxes of Quaker granola bars, 6 – 4 packs of Yo Plus yogurt (DH loves this brand and I had $1 off q’s that expired yesterday) and 6 packs of bratwurst. Total OOP after q’s and sale was $18.07. I then went to our neighborhood butcher/seafood market and got 2 lbs of deli roast beef. This rivals Boars Head and sells for only $5.99/lb versus almost $12/lb at Publix. I started low carb again and have learned that having this lean roast beef on hand is a life saver when I want to go grab something off plan. I vacuum sealed 1lb of it and put it in the freezer. I get so upset when I am not able to finish it before it starts to ‘go’ and don’t always get to the butcher before he closes.
I looked at the Publix preview and don’t see much that I am interested in. If the q match ups make stuff free or almost free, I may shop this week. To be continued.

Winn Dixie score on ribeyes and a Publix trip

I have given up on meeting my 300 goal this month. Sigh. Spent another $114.61 and got:

21.66lbs ribeye steak
4 - 7ct packs steakums
1 loaf bread
6 cans tomato
2 bags coffee
2 bags chex mix
10 mayo
8 - 16oz boxes velveeta

Going back to Publix later this weekend to get some more granola bars, velveeta and tomatoes. We are stocked on beef for sure. I am making a committment to low carb and could not pass up the beef...I sorta feel pathetic but this is an effort for the long term cut of the bill and I used to be at $300 a week so I should not feel so bad for not passing up these deals. GRRRRRR

Since last post I have spent another $79.40 for a total OOP of $436.70. Totally blew budget this month. There were deals that I just could not pass up, stuff I have been needing to stockpile. Since last post I have bought the following:

4 london broils
16 hoagie rolls
1lb sliced deli ham
2lbs sliced deli turkey
8 jars peanut butter
15 packs gum
60 cans rotel tomatoes
22 boxes cheese crackers
8 pints egg beaters
6 bags cat food
1 bag dog food
6 boxes toaster strudels
6 - 4pack fruit parfait cups
32 boxes cereal
6 dove beauty bars
28 cans chili
2 - 160 ct pack napkins

Publix has some great deals coming up on velveeta and other stuff. I am not going to shop on SB sunday and have to go back to work next week so I will again, be making additional spending purchases this month. However, I have a $5/50 from Albertsons and a $10/50 from Winn Dixie to use to help bring the OOP down.

Hope I do better next month. This is so hard to do while continuing to build a great stockpile of stuff we don't already have a stock of...

But hey, did you notice I got 32 boxes of cereal in addition to all of the other stuff for less than $80? At a reg price of $4 a box of cereal, for that $80 I would have only gotten 20 boxes.

Publix trips 1/20/09

On Tuesday I got 1 bag of dog food, 18 bags of cat food, 6 – 32ct boxes of electrosol, and 18 boxes of pasta. Total OOP was $17.53. Total OOP so far this month is $357.33. Total saved is $1923.76. Percent savings 81.43%. I am stocked for 6 months on cat food and a couple years on dishwasher detergent. A year on pasta sauce and pasta, peanut butter, household cleaners stocked for at least 2 or 3 years, oatmeal for a year, meat/poultry for many many months, lunch box snacks for the rest of the school year in to the summer, candles and hair care for years, soup for a year, and many many months of frozen other items. I looked at the Publix sales this week and all I can think that I need to get are fruit parfait cups. The kids love these in their lunch boxes and I only have a handful of 4 packs in stock. I will also get more cat food. I have a couple $5/30 competitor coupons left to use and the bags are on sale for $3.49. I have $3/1 q’s to use as well making almost free catfood (probably tax only). We leave on Saturday for vacation so my budget spending is almost done for this month as we return on the 1st of next month. Considering the stock that I have, I am fairly confident I will meet or beat the $300 a month budget next month and start absorbing the overage I incurred this month. I still have $20 in ECB’s and $10 in RR to apply to next months spending so at the moment, I am about $27 over budget. Not bad for my first month!!

Since my last post I have spent another $193.53!!! For a total OOP of$339.80. In that process however I have earned back $20 ECBs and still have $10 RR. Also, I have 2 years stock of electrosol, several years stock of household cleaners, a year at least of peanut butter, couple years pasta sauce…and at least 6 months of soda. We love our soda.
If the deal is a stockpiling worthy deal, I am gonna do it as long as we are not already stocked on the product. Hopefully I will make up the overage this month in the next couple months.
Here is what I have bought over this long weekend:
2lbs Bananas
3 frozen pizzas
1 head cabbage
1 loaf bread
4 cans spinach
2 bags marshmallows
6 slim jims
2 bags hotdog buns
1 bag hamburger buns
1 box baking soda
1 box honey buns
10 - 3pack scented oil candle refills
10 boxes cheese crackers
8lbs sirloin steak
4.5lns boneless skinless chicken breast
26 jars Ragu
14 jars peanut butter
3 bottles green olives
6 cans black olives
45 - 8 pack pepsi product
2 lbs deli pepperoni
1/2lb deli olives
8 boxes spaghetti
8 - 32ct boxes electrosol
2 boxes cereal
2 bottles juice
14 - 10ct boxes instant oatmeal
6 bottles antibacterial kitchen cleaner
2 bottles all purpose cleaner
6 - 10ct boxes frozen waffles
2 - 4pack yogurt
6 loaves frozen garlic cheese bread

I am gonna break budget

I feel bad but I have to be honest here with my self. This is a great month for stocking stuff i don't have stocked and I NEED to do that. Electrosol. I want to stock a year or so. It is BOGO at Publix and the q's expire on the 1st. I need to replenish the Pepsi stock and build a pasta sauce and peanut butter stock. On top of that, Albertsons has the B1G2 free on thier steak...anyway, I may have to borrow $100 from the upcoming months to afford being able to take advantage of these seasonal sales. I am doing a WAGs RR roll on the Pepsi products and Ragu/Skippy and while the Ragu/Skippy is low OOP, the Pepsi is costing about $12 for every 9 - 8 packs. Cheap soda, but adding to the OOP this month for sure. Also, Publix had the Goodlife cat food advantage buy...I am OUT of cat food and at $0.49 a bag this is stockable. Same for the Dreamfields. I eat low carb and these are 3/$5 and i have tons of $1/1 coupons I need to use.

So OK, I think I need to stock on the stuff I don't have. There will be months that I don't need to stock the sales. I hope it works out and balances. I still want at $300 a month budget. May need to borrow from the next few months to cover this one??

Friday 1/16 trips to Publix, Alberstons, and CVS

Went to Publix, CVS and Albertsons yesterday. At Publix I got:
6 boxes frozen waffles
6 - 32ct box electrosol
6 bottles antibacterial kitchen cleaner
4 bottles bathroom cleaner w/bleach
4 boxes cereal
14 - 10ct boxes instant oatmeal
2 bottles white grape juice
10 boxes dried pasta
10 cans veggies

Total OOP was $24.45

At Albertsons I got:
6 – 8oz tubs sour cream
1 large Santoku knife
1 small Santoku knife

Total OOP was $1.14

At CVS I got:
4 boxes cheese crackers

Total OOP was $1.88 and I got back $4 in ECB.

Total spend this month so far is now $146.27. Total saved so far this month is $1064.47. I am still super stockpiling.

I forgot to post that on 1/10 I spent $6.13 at Albertsons and got 3 - 1lb bags fresh mini carrots, 1.25lbs tomatoes, and 1 bunch of celery.
Yesterday I heard about a hidden deal at CVS. I was able to get 6 boxes of CVS brand cheese snack crackers for $2.82 OOP and I got $6 in ECB’s back!! Total spend this month so far is only $118.80 (I got my calculations off some how earlier by $1.60 but my spreadsheet says $118.80 so I have to own it)! I have $181.20 left. I am gonna need it – we are going on vacation next week and I won’t be able to take much from the stockpile with us so will have to grocery shop while there. I plan to look ahead of time at the sales ads for Food Lion and Kroger (those are the stores there) and plan what coupons etc I will bring with us. Going to try to plan some menus based on the sales…

Ran out for a couple errands today. My son informed me that the fruit roll ups stick in his braces so I exchanged them at Publix for the gushers. The CS rep said the gushers are better anyway. She was very nice.

Then I went to Walgreens and got 8 - 100ct boxes of Equal packets and a gallon of milk for $0.29 total OOP. There is an in ad coupon for these for 2 for $5 and I had 8 $2.50/1 box coupons from last weeks inserts. I used a $3 RR that would have expired today for the milk.

It was time for my monthly Aldi trip. This one bugs me the most because I have to 'pay' but it is for items that don't typically go on sale or have coupons or items that I have not been able to build a stockpile of. They had the 36 ct corn tortilla marked down to $0.64 each so I grabbed 2. I also got:
4 thin crust frozen pizzas
70ct pack paper plates
6 cans spinach
2 boxes swiss rolls (snack cakes for lunch boxes)
2 - 10ct packs flour tortillas
2 canisters creme wafer cookies (pieruette knock offs, this was a serious TREAT)
1 loaf bread
1 bag wide egg noodles
2 avocados
10lbs long grain white rice
1 - 8qt box powdered milk

Total OOP was $34.82. Total spent this month is now $105.25. I have $195.75 left.

I have spent about $9.57 a day so far. If I stay on that track I have 20 days left so I might BARELY make it this month!! Yikes!

HBA organization

I organized my HBA tonight. Finally gave up on achieving my age 25 size and tossed the "I am gonna get back in those clothes" clothes and was able to get all of my hair products in there. Now the under my sink is only deodorant and skin care stuff (body wash, lotion, soap, facial cleanser...and some tampons and KY...tee hee!).

Walmart Trip

Spent the day at moms, my 'little gramma' turned 99 today. It was a nice day. I wonder what it would be like to hang with mom in a non vacation non work the next day situation? Anyway, Little Gramma was cool and blew out her 9 candles like a pro. She complained a bit about how hard it is to have nothing to do all the time. Her vision is going so she can't knit or watch much tv and though she continues her walks, she is getting achy after. Listening to her, seeing the will to give up in her eyes...I can almost understand why 'old' folk decide that they are just done living. My parents have given her the responsibility of the 3 grey hounds feeding and she takes that very serious. I applaud them. She needs to be needed and valued. Man.

Ok, so I got 20 GG steamers q's 1/1 on a trade and set out to Wally World for my free veggies. Alas, they raised the price to $1.23 so I paid $4.60 today for 20 bags of frozen veggies. Total OOP so far is $74.74. I do not need frozen veggies or any veggies for quite a while.

Speaking of which, mom got a seal a meal. That looked so totally wonderful seeing her meat in the freezer. I will admit (though I didn't in front of Jim) that I have tossed a roast or other wise here and there. The zipper bag tore or some thing or another. The save a meal was 40 bucks. I am not figuring that in to this months budget. I will consider adding the bags/rolls in to the budget at a later date.

Staying on track

Couple Publix trips:

14 cans pringles
36 boxes fruit snacks
6 tubes Grands bisquits
12 boxes various Rice a Roni
1 bag hot dog buns
2.5lbs bananas
Total OOP: $15.55
Saved: $122.92

Popped in to Winn Dixie to get some Tylenol that was on sale for $4.49. I had 2 $4/1 coupons. OOP $0.98 and saved $11.60.

Total OOP for the month is $70.14. I have $229.86 left.

And I have a dilema. We are going on vacation the last week of the month. It is to our timeshare in VA for skiing. We have a full kitchen and I have typically gone to the grocery store upon arrival and get food for the week. We save alot this way because we are not going out to eat. I am gonna check out the Kroger and Food Lion sales sneak peeks and try to bring coupons with me to use while there. And Jim (hubby) is begrudgingly giving me some extra room in the car for me to bring pantry stuff etc. Anyway, my dilema is that I don't want to break budget for this but then again, it is a vacation.

Fabreeze Candle Score!!

I just came back from CVS with 6 free Fabreeze candles (paid tax of $.84). The Vanilla & Refresh and Apple Spice & Delight are clearance (not advertised or even marked!!) for $1.99 and I had $2/1 coupons from the P and G on 12/14. I LOVE candles and free rocks!! Total OOP this month is $53.17.

Sweetbay stop yesterday

I stopped by Sweetbay yesterday to see if there were any good close out deals and to check the reduced meat section (and go blinkie hunting!). I splurged and got to beef briskets because they were each marked down $1.50 and I LOVE brisket and it never goes on sale around here. I just started a low carb diet and this delish meat will help me stay good for the next week or so. OOP was $11.03 so I have spent $52.77 so far this month. I have $247.23 remaining.

I scored some really good oatmeal and steam fresh blinkies too!

WAGs today

This is a pic of my WAG's bounty minus some spray gloss that my step daughter snagged.

Made 2 trips to WAG's today to finish using my Garnier coupons.

1st trip:

6 shampoo and 6 conditioner

6 asst hair styling product

Total OOP: $1.88

2nd Trip:

12 asst hair styling product

3 shampoo and 3 conditioner

Total OOP: $3.59

Also had to get some mayo at Publix today. GRRR. Someone 'borrowed' my bottle from the frig at work. I needed it for my lunch. I went to Publix and got 2 bottles of Kraft mayo on a BOGO so $4.99 out of pocket. I figured if I got something else for lunch it would have cost that or more...this way I now have 2 bottles of mayo. No coupons on hand for it though!

Total spent this month so far: $41.74.

another frugal thought

Another resolution is to become more of a frugal cook. Less waste. The last couple weeks I have been tossing the ends of the onion, the ends of the celery, the core of the cabbage, the ends of the tomatos…you get the idea….in a zipper baggie in the freezer. Last night I made a pot of chicken and rice using a whole chicken. I tossed the carcass in my slow cooker, added water and the frozen ‘junk’ veggies, along with some spices, and cooked it on low for about 14 hours. I now have 9 two cup portions of chicken stock in my freezer that blows any canned or boxed broth out of the water!! FREE.

$300 a month challenge

I have a GREAT stockpile of just about everything we need (family of 5 (2 teens, 1 tween, and tons of their friends), 1 dog and 2 cats). I think it is time to only go after the super cheap or free deals. So my goal for 2009 is to spend $300 OOP a month or less on food (pet food incl), HBA, and household cleaners/other stuff. I want to do this while continuing to replenish our stockpile and keep it at a level where i can continue to donate as well. My husband was laid off so I might not be donating much in the next month or so until he gets a job...So far I have spent $31.28 OOP in January.

Trip 1 to Publix:$16.15
2.5lbs bananas
quart buttermilk
bottle horseradish sauce
3lbs sweet onions (made onion straws...)
16 boxes Pillsbury Savorings
8 bags (40 count) Totinos Pizza Rolls

Trip 2 to Publix:$8.01
24 cans of soup

Trip 1 to WAGs:$0.84
12 Garnier hair products

Trip 2 to WAGs:$1.32
12 Garnier hair products

Trip to Albertsons:$4.96
2 dozen eggs
1 quart half n half
2 loaves bread

Wish me luck!!