School Clothes on a Budget

With the start of a new school approaching, you may be concerned with how you will pay for clothing for your kid(s). Keep a list of what you have and what you still need. Keeping this list in your purse or wallet will ensure that you don't end up with 20 t-shirts and only 3 pairs of pants. Here are some tips to help you save money during this expensive time of the year.

Shop Throughout the Year.

This is really the most economical way to shop for your kids' clothes and what I try to do. If you can buy clothing for the next year when it is on clearance you will save a lot of money. The best times to buy clothing on clearance is in August/September for summer clothing and January to March for winter clothing. I buy the next size up and the clothes usually fit the kids fine the next year. For the little ones, my maximum price for clearance clothing is $3 a piece, although once in a great while I will find an awesome outfit I just love, especially for my daughter, and will splurge a little, but I still get it for a significant savings. For my older son I look for jeans for less than $15 (though I often find them from $5-$10) tshirts for $5 or less and long-sleeved shirts for $10 or less. As of right now, I have enough pairs of pants and tshirts for him to start the new school year. I may have to buy him a few long-sleeved shirts but will watch for sales and coupons to do that.

Sign up for Stores' Newsletters and Emails.

By signing up with the stores, you will get coupons and ads in your inbox and sometimes your mailbox. I am signed up with several companies and I get coupons several times a week in my email and at least once a week in my mailbox. Many times I do not use them, but it's nice to have them in case I need to buy school clothes for the kids or new work clothes. Several times a year I receive a $10 off $10 coupon from JCPenney and other department stores. I, of course, make sure I use these coupons and keep the price as close to $10 as possible. I usually use this as an opportunity to buy something nice for myself, which I so seldom do.

Watch for Sales and Coupons in Weekly Ads.

Each week, the Sunday paper has weekly ads for store sales. If you need certain things, take advantage of the sales and get them then. Why pay full price for anything? With school starting soon, there will be lots of deals on school supplies and clothes. Just have patience and wait for the good sales.

Rummage Sales and Thrift Stores.

Sometimes you can find high-end clothing for yourself and your kids second-hand, sometimes even with tags still attached. Look for rummage sales in nice areas or when communities have area yard sales. Most kids will not even know the difference between the new and used.

Don't Forget about Craig's List, Ebay.

Check out Ebay to find both used and new clothing for your kids. You can even find high end clothing on there. Craig's List is awesome because you can buy a bunch of clothes cheap and you don't have to dig though the clothes like you would at a rummage sale. I have gotten bags of clothes for the kids for around $20 each bag. You're also keeping money in your local community by buying from your neighbors.

Use Rebates and MyPoints.

Sometimes you will find rebates or rewards for products you buy. Make sure you send in all pertinent information and do it as soon as you can, that way you do not forget to do it. Keep copies of everything you send in, along with the date sent and company information. This will help in case you do not get your refund and need to get a hold of the company. MyPoints is awesome if you do shopping online. You get a certain amount of points for every dollar you spend at participating sites. When you reach a certain amount of points, you can cash them in for gift certificates to restaurants or stores. You can get points by shopping at Barnes and Nobles, Target, and Amazon, among many others.

I hope this helps you save money this school year. If you have any other ideas on how to save money on buying clothes at this time of year, please leave them in my comments.

Words of the Week Wednesday 7/29

It is Wednesday again and time to provide my readers with links to sites that I found interesting in the last week. Since I have been concentrating on eating healthier and making more meals from scratch I thought I would share some recipe blogs and sites this week. Also, cooking delicious foods at home instead of eating out saves you money.



Project: Domestic Bliss



This is an awesome blog for those who like to cook. Nikki makes wonderful food and not only shares photos of them, but also the recipe. So, you can also make these yummy foods. Recently she has made such foods as homemade tortillas for burritos, steakhouse steak, Barbecue chicken pizza, and more! Nikki is a fellow participant in the All You Grocery Challenge, so go check out her blog and start cooking!



Gourmet Finds



This site is awesome for any self-proclaimed foodie. It has awesome recipes listed and some really great pictures of food.

Tammy's Recipes



Just looking at this site makes my mouth water. The food looks so delicious. Lately her recipes have been centering around what is coming out of the garden. Since this is the first year we have had a garden, I am finding this site very useful. I was thinking about what we would do with SO many beans, but her garlic green beans sound tasty.

Menu Plan Monday 7/27

If you want to save money on groceries, meal planning is key. Every weekend I plan out my meals for the next week. When I have my menu planned for the week, I save money and I save time. I share it with you, to give you ideas of how we eat on a limited budget. Hopefully, this inspires you to plan your own menu for the week.

This is going to be a tough week. I went back to work today and hubby is home with the kids. That means that he will be doing the cooking. So, I am 100% sure that the meal plan will not be strictly adhered too. I can dream though, can't I? Here is my meal plan for this week:

• Monday
  
  • Breakfast - pancakes (leftover from dinner Saturday), fruit
    
  • Lunch - canned pasta, fruit
    
  • Dinner - panninis, green beans and pudding
    
    
• Tuesday
  
  • Breakfast - cereal / oatmeal, fruit
    
  • Lunch - peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Dinner - we are going to my mom's as soon as I get out of work, so we will either eat with her or go out to eat down where she lives
    
    
• Wednesday
  
  • Breakfast - strawnana muffins (made a few days ago and froze), fruit
    
  • Lunch - grilled cheese, fruit
    
  • Dinner - ham steak, veggie, maybe a potato or pasta salad?
    
    
• Thursday
  
  • Breakfast -cinnamon toast on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Lunch - dinner leftovers, fruit
    
  • Dinner - cheeseburgers on grill, corn on cob, maybe a side?
    
    
• Friday
  
  • Breakfast - cereal / oatmeal, fruit
    
  • Lunch - canned pasta, fruit
    
  • Dinner - homemade sloppy joes, tater tots, pudding or jello
    
    
• Saturday
  
  • Breakfast - fake quiches, fruit
    
  • Lunch - peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Dinner - leftovers
    
    
• Sunday
  
  • Breakfast - homemade waffles, eggs and toast
    
  • Lunch - grilled cheese, fruit
    
  • Dinner - tuna casserole with peas (I will make a double batch and freeze one), fruit dessert
    

All You Grocery Challenge Week in Review

Sunday - Day 14

Today was one of those lazy Sundays where no one really wanted to do much, including me. LOL. At least we only spent $1.25 today. When hubby went to get a paper, he took the little princess with him, and they ended up getting 5 of those 25 cent granola bars (my daughter calls them 'bars'. lol).

For breakfast we had cereal and the little man had oatmeal. We also had yummy strawberries. For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches and canned pineapple chunks. Dinner was breaded pork chops, corn and scalloped potatoes. I also made a chocolate cake which was supposed to be for my mom's birthday Tuesday, but somehow I got persuaded to get out frozen strawberries and whipped topping, and we ate some of it. Oh well. I guess I will just have to make another one tomorrow night when I get home.


A Week in Review

This is our second week of participating in the All You Grocery Challenge and we are still doing pretty well. I had been hoping to only spend $50 this week on groceries, but my local store had some really good deals this week and I ended up spending a little over $50 in one day (but that was 3 different stores). I also needed to get some more meat and a few other things later in the week and ended up spending a little over $10 on that trip.

So, I didn't make my goal budget, but I was still well under the All You budget. Here's a chart and graph showing my week 2 spending:

As you can see we spent $74.13 out of the budgeted $125.00, and had $50.87 that we could have spent if we wanted to. My goal for this next week is again $50. I need to buy some chicken this week, so I am hoping to still be able to stay under this amount. It may be difficult because I will be going back to work this week and hubby will be preparing the meals during the weekdays. We shall see.

Weis deals 7-23 to 7-29

Since the deals at Tops have been really lacking lately, I am considering driving a little farther and going to Weis. The weekly deals run until Wednesday of this week:

• Green beans, eggplant, squash or zucchini $.99 a pound
• Ball Park hot dogs Buy One at $4.99 Get One Free - comes out to $2.50 each
• 2 liters of Pepsi $1 each
• Chef Boyardee pasta $1 (I have a coupons I printed off the ConAgra site)
• Hamburger or Tuna Helper $1
• Manwich $1
• Barbeque split chicken breast - 3 pounds or more $1.29 a pound
• Kunzler bacon Buy One at $4.99 get one free - $2.50 each
• From the Smokehouse ham slices Buy One at $3.99 get One Free - less than $2 each
• Yoplait yogurt $.50 each. Use $.50 off 6 internet printable, to make them 6/$2.50.
• Yoplait Fiber One yogurt $2. Use $1 off internet printable, to make it $1.
• Weis Best Thing Since Butter $1 (worth a try)
• From the Oven english muffins $1
• Knorr sides $1 Use $.50 off 2 coupon from 5-17 insert, to make these $.75 each
• select General Mills cereal 3/$6. Use $1 off 3 coupon from 6-28 insert to make these 3/$5
• Arnold Country Classics bread Buy One at $3.99 Get One Free - less than $2 each

Tops deals 7/26 - 8/1

Not the greatest deals this week, but here are the deals at Tops this week:

• Pork spareribs $1.69 each
• Seedless grapes $1.29 a pound
• General Mills cereal $2.50, you can use $1 off 3 from 6-28 insert to make them 3/$6.50
  
• tops 6-8 oz shredded cheeses $1.79
• La Yogurt $.40 each
• Split chicken breast $1.69 a pound
• Oscar Meyer hot dogs Buy One Get One Free
• Lloyds $4.49, use $.75 off coupon from 6-28, which doubles to $1.50, making it $2.99
• Perdue short cuts $3.99. Use $.75 coupon from 7-12 insert, which doubles to $1.50, making it $2.49
• Heleva Good chunk cheese $2. use $1 off 2 coupon from making it $1.50 each
• Smart Balance spread 2/$5, use $1 off 2 coupon from 6-21 making these 2/$4
• Sensational 8" tortillas Buy One Get One Free
• Post cereals 2/$5. Use $1 off 2 coupon from 7-26 to make these 2/$4
• Keebler chips deluxe cookies $1.79. Buy 2 and use $1 off 2 internet printable, making these $1.29 each
• Fresh pork tenderloin. Buy One Get One Free

If you would like to see more coupon and store matchups, head over to BeCentsAble.

All You Grocery Challenge

Thursday - Day 11

It's been a pretty uneventful week on the food front this week. We had cereal for breakfast on Thursday with cut up bananas. For lunch, the husband and kids polished off the last of the deli meat that was left over from Saturday. I ate while I was out shopping (see below). We had these on homemade bread with lettuce and strawberries for dessert. For dinner, we had chicken and biscuits (has veggies in it) with strawberry shortcake for dessert. I made up several pizza crust doughs tonight. I baked two of them, one will be used on Friday for dinner and the other was wrapped and put in the freezer. I also put some dough in the freezer after the first rising.

Spending: Today I spent a little bit of money. I took my friend Yan with me shopping for clothes for my new job. I actually did really good and spent only a little over $200, and I ended up getting a few things on clearance for the kids. We were going to go to Friendly's in the mall but after waiting 15 minutes for a waitress to even come ask us what we wanted to drink, we left. We were pretty thirsty by that point, so we grabbed drinks at Aunti Anne's for $3.33 for both, which I paid for. We ended up going to Salasaritas for lunch. Yan had never had Mexican food and I had never eaten there before because it's only been there a few months. We ended up getting a chicken quesadilla to share and two soft tacos. We didn't get any drinks because we still had our drinks from Auntie Anne's. They gave use a discount because we had never been there and we ended up paying $6.30 for lunch for two. Yan gave me $3 towards lunch, reducing my cost to $3.30. It was very good and Yan really liked it.

I almost forgot. I stopped at Tops on the way home to get a couple things I had forgotten the other day when we were there. I ended up buying 2 ham steaks at $2 each, severeal pounds of boneless pork chops for $1.99 a pound, and 8oz of mozarella cheese. My total spent at Tops was $11.92.

Total Spent Today: $18.25
Amount Saved at Tops: $10.39

Friday - Day 12
For breakfast we decided to have eggs and toast and then some blueberries and strawberries in yogurt. Lunch was leftover italian pasta from a couple nights ago with fruit cocktail. For dinner I made a homemade pizza with sausage (from Aldi's), pepperoni, peppers and onions. It was very yummy, as always! We had green salad with dressing with it and chocolate pudding for dessert.

Spending: no money spent today.



Saturday - Day 13
We still have a lot of cereal (bought cheap) so we had that for breakfast with strawberries and blueberries. For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches with green beans from our garden and a can of peaches. I was trying to get a lot done, because I start work on Monday, so I wanted something quick and easy. I decided to make pancakes with chocolate chips (these were the ones bought on clearance a week or so ago), eggs and toast. For dessert we had jello with fruit cocktail in it.

Spending: no money spent today

Frugal Meal Friday 7/24

Every Friday I will be sharing with you a frugal recipe. These meals will average $5 or less for a family of four, and many will give you lots of leftovers for lunches. If you have any recipes you would like to share with others, please feel free to email it to me at: couponqueenofcorning @ hotmail.com and I will include it in my Friday's posts.

I found today's meal over at The Finer Things in Life. Now, I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it is quick and easy, and it looks yummy. It's one of those meals that can be thrown together at the last minute. A great way to avoid eating out for dinner or when money is really tight. It's actually very similar to something my mom used to make when we were kids, except she added ground beef instead of hot dogs. Go check out the recipe on Amy's blog and check out the rest of the site while you are there.

Hot Dog Skillet

Ingredients

1 package hot dogs - $1.50
6 (or so) large potatoes - $1.25
1/2 onion - $.25
cooking oil
salt and pepper
ketchup (optional)
salsa (optional)
vegetable - $1


Directions

Scrub, quarter, and thinly slice the potatoes. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook potatoes on medium heat, stirring frequently. Chop onion. Add to potatoes. Slice hot dogs and add to the mixture. Cook until potatoes and hot dogs are lightly browned and potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve with salsa or ketchup. Add a vegetable (fresh or frozen) to round out the meal. I think this would also be good with a little garlic thrown in there.

All You Grocery Challenge Update

Monday - Day 8

Breakfast was cereal. We have a lot of it and it needs to get eaten up. Adults had Frosted Mini Wheats and the kids ate Life. Lunch was ham and turkey sandwiches on homemade bread with strawberries.

It was hard to come up with something for dinner since we hadn't been to the store yet, and we are out of chicken and almost out of ground meat. I ended up making Italian Chili with cornbread and fruit cocktail for dessert. We hadn't had this in a while and it was very tasty.

Tuesday - Day 9

Today we had eggs and toast for breakfast because our daughter asked for it. It was very good though. For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on homemade bread and bananas. We ended up eating Italian Chili leftovers for dinner before heading out to the store. When we got home, we all ended up having a yogurt.

During the day I ended up making a double batch of Strawnana bread, and only did up 2 trays worth, so I will be doing up more on Wednesday so that I can freeze them. I also had 3 more bananas that were pretty far gone, so I peeled them and put them in the freezer, for future use.

Wednesday - Day 10

Today for breakfast we had oatmeal with cut-up strawberries. For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and oyster crackers. Dinner was homemade mac n cheese and hot dogs. Also today was a baking day. I made up the rest of the muffins and then froze them. More on that in a future post. I also made up pizza dough. I froze one after the first rising, and froze the other two after I had baked the crust for about 20 minutes. I was a baking fool! LOL.

Coupon Binder

I recently decided that my little coupon holder wasn't working well enough anymore. So, I decided to start a binder for my coupons. I already had a binder that will work for a while, although if I find one of the nice ones with zippers and pouches cheap during the back to school sales I may get one of those. I bought one set of 35 baseball card protector sheets, but that wasn't enough and hubby grabbed some more the next time he was at Walmart. I only have 2 dividers right now, but the coupons are in the same order that they were in when they were in my coupon holder, so I can still find everything pretty easily. I am sure I will be able to pick up some divider CHEAP during the next month. Ok, so here are the pictures of my coupon binder, in case you are curious or are thinking about using this method yourself.

Shopping Trip 7/21

We ended up doing our grocery shopping tonight and we did pretty well. We went to 3 stores, all within a few miles of each other. We still need to go get ground , chicken and some fresh vegetables later this week. I went over my intended $50 budget for the week, but it was unavoidable. The last few weeks, Tops has not had that great of deals so I didn't stock up on much.


ALDI'S

Our first stop was Aldi's. I shop at Aldi's for things that usually don't go on sale or for things that are cheaper no matter what. These are usually baking goods, and they have really good prices on milk and eggs.

• 2 sponges with green scrubby surface $.99 (+.08 tax) - non-food
  
• 2 containers of Parmesan Cheese $2.39 each
  
• 3 lbs of unsalted butter $.99 each
  
• flour tortillas $.99
  
• 4 boxes of corn muffin mix $..35 each
  
• 4 5 lb bags of flour $1.59 each
  
• 3 packets of taco mix seasoning $.33 each
  

Amount Spent: $18.56
Approx Amount Saved: $11+
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.49

TARGET

We then headed over to Target. I wanted to look at some of their frozen meat and dinners. I have several regular manufacture coupons which combined with the Target coupons, could have saved us some money. Upon looking at the prices at the store, I decided to wait and buy them at another time. I am hoping that they will go on sale. Upon looking at my receipt when I got home I noticed that the cashier rang in $1.30 instead of taking $1.30 off as a coupon. I am not sure what I am going to do about this yet, if anything.

• 4 boxes of Kraft Mac N Cheese $.52 each = $2.08. I had a coupon for buy 3 and get one free and I believe this is where the cashier made the mistake by adding in the $1.30. Otherwise, I would have gotten 4 of them for $1.56
  
• Kashi cereal on sale for $2.99 (hubby wanted it lol) and I had a Target coupon for $1 off, making it $1.99
• Ghiradelli chocolate chips (yummmm) On clearance for $2.33 and I had a Target coupond for $.75 making it $1.58
• International Delight $1.57 and I had an internet printable for $1 off one, making this $.57
• 1 Degree fine fragrance deodorant and one spray. $3.64 each = $7.28. I had 2 target coupons for $2 off one, and a manufacture internet coupon for $1 off two. So, I ended up paying $2.28 for two. This is great since I really love the smell of these! -non-food
  
• 2 Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste sample size $.97, these were free after two coupons for free sample. -non-food
  
• 10 bottles of Sobe Life Water (hubby's idea)on sale for $1 each and received a $5 gift card to be used on a future visit
• 3 boxes of Kleenex with aloe 130 ct on originally $1.58 each, on clearance for $1.08 per box = $3.24. I had a $1 off 3 target coupon and a $.50 manufacture coupon which made them 3/$1.74 or $.58 each - non-food
  
• 24 ct of Crayola crayons $.27. - non-food
  
• 200ct of straws $1.00 - non-food

Original Amount: $45.70
Amount Saved: $22.35
Amount Paid: $23.35
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.02

TOPS

Our last stop was Tops. By this time it was 6:40 and hubby was getting anxious because his baseball game was going to be on in 25 minutes! Nothing like being rushed through the store. So, needless to say I forgot a couple things. I had wanted to get a ham steak that was on sale for $2 and some pork chops that were on sale for $1.99 a pound. I guess I will just get it later in the week when we are in the area again. Here is what we bought:

• Spongebob pinata for birthday party. Original price $15.99, on clearance for $1.99.
  
• 5 2-liters of various Diet Pepsi on sale for $1 plus $.05 NY deposit
• 2 cans of Bumblee tuna on sale for $.89 each. Used internet printable for $1 off 2 to make them $.39 each
• box of Tops brand diapers, originally $18.89. On clearance for $9.44.
• 2 boxes of Tops instant oatmeal (Aldi's still doesn't have any) on sale for $2 each
• 2 kids character chairs (one pink with princess and the other red with Lightning McQueen - for the little kids) originally $6.99 each, on clearance for $3.49
• 4 Breyer's yogurts $.60 each. Used 2 Breyers coupons that said $1 off any 2 Breyers products, making these $.10 each
• 2 gallons of skim milk. $1.99 each
• 9 Weight Watchers yogurts 6/$4= $6, used 3 internet printables for $.55 off 3 which doubles to $1.10 each, making these $.30 each

Original Amount: $79.17
Amount Saved: $42.15
Amount Paid: $37.02
Grocery Challenge Amount: $17.53

I also wanted to let you all know that there are some coupons for Hunt's Snack packs, Chef Boyardee, and more, click here.

Coffee Coupon

Do you drink 8 O'clock coffee? I have found that this is one of the cheapest whole bean coffees, and yet hubby loves the taste of it. At around $4 in the grocery store for 12 ounces it's a really great deal. If you go to the 8 O'Clock coffee website, you can print a coupon for $2 off 2 bags. Happy Drinkin!

Menu Plan Monday 7/20

If you want to save money on groceries, meal planning is key. Every weekend I plan out my meals for the next week. When I have my menu planned for the week, I save money and I save time. I share it with you, to give you ideas of how we eat on a limited budget. Hopefully, this inspires you to plan your own menu for the week.

Here is my meal plan for this week:

• Monday
  
  • Breakfast - oatmeal / cereal, fruit
    
  • Lunch - grilled cheese and soup, fruit
    
  • Dinner - Italian chili, corn bread muffins and bananas
    
    
• Tuesday
  
  • Breakfast - strawnana bread, fruit
    
  • Lunch - ham or turkey sandwiches, fruit
    
  • Dinner - tuna patties, vegetable, pudding
    
    
• Wednesday
  
  • Breakfast - pancakes and eggs
    
  • Lunch - peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Dinner - leftovers, veggie, fruit
    
    
• Thursday
  
  • Breakfast - eggs and toast
    
  • Lunch - homemade pizza rolls, fruit
    
  • Dinner - chicken and veggies over brown rice, jello with fruit
    
    
• Friday
  
  • Breakfast - oatmeal or cereal, fruit
    
  • Lunch - canned spaghetti, slice of homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Dinner - homemade pizza with sausage, peppers, onions, and pepperoni; fresh and local grown green beans, dessert to be determined
    
    
• Saturday
  
  • Breakfast - cinnamon toast made on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Lunch - peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
    
  • Dinner -leftovers, veggie, pudding
    
    
• Sunday
  
  • Brunch - homemade waffles, eggs, toast, fruit
    
  • Dinner - ham steak, veggie, baked potatoes, dessert
    

Tops Deals 7/19 - 7/25

Here are the deals I see at Tops this week. If you see anything I may have missed, please leave it in the comments below.

• Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops 3-4 lb package $1.99 a pound ( I will be buying these this week. We are getting a little sick of ground beef and chicken)
• pint of blueberries or pound of strawberries. Buy one at $3.99, get one free. (Not a bad deal, but if you are going near an Aldi's you can get these for $1.50 or less, Wegmans might also have them in this price range still)
• Boneless Sirloin Steak 3-4 lb package $2.99 (this would be a good buy if you have a little extra in your grocery budget this week and are looking for something different to eat)
• Pepsi 2 liters $1. I will be stocking up on these since I am really low on 2 liters (had to buy Coke last week - the horror! LOL)
• Crest toothpaste $.98. Buy 2 and use coupon for $1 off ANY 2 Crest Toothpaste (these are not the ones from 2 weeks ago). There is no reason this shouldn't work since the coupons says ANY Crest Toothpaste. Your final price will be $.96 for 2!
• 8 oz chunk cheese $1.69
• Fresh leg quarters $.79 a pound
• Hatfield boneless ham steaks $2 each (I will also be buying a couple of these this week)
• Tops butter $1.69 a pound
• Heluva Good sour cream or dip 2/$3. Buy 2 and use $1 off any two sour cream, dips, or cheese, (expires 7-31 or 8-31) and it makes them 2/$2 or $1 each
• Weight Watchers yogurts 6/$4. Buy 3 and Use online printable for $.55 off 3, which will double to $1.10, making these about 3/$.91 or $.31 each
• Bumblebee light tune $.89 each
• fresh green beans $1.29 a pound
• cucumbers 2/$1
• Zatarains $1 each. Buy 2 and use $.75 off coupon from 6-7 insert, which doubles to $1.50, making these $.25 each! (Thank you Katie for letting me know about this since I did not have this coupon in my binder)
  

If you would like to see more coupon and store matchups, head over to BeCentsAble.

All You Grocery Challenge Week in Review

Sunday - Day 7

So, it's Sunday and the end of week 1 of the All You Grocery Challenge. Today we had a late breakfast of pancakes, eggs and toast, and milk. For lunch we had turkey sandwiches, made with the turkey and rolls that were given to us, a slice of watermelon each and chocolate milk. For dinner I plan on making Chicken and Biscuits (the kind I make has mixed vegetables in it), fruit for dessert (choice of strawberries, blueberries, or grapes) and juice (100% fruit juice) for our drinks.


A Week in Review

Well, we made it through the first week under budget. We would have spent a lot less but life got in the way. With the water being turned off on Wednesday, we ended up spending $20 on a sheet pizza. Then on Friday, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. We ended up going to Olive Garden and spending $38.02. If you subtracted just those two things, we would have spent almost $60 less. Isn't it crazy how much you can spend just eating out?

Here is what my spending log I use looks like. I used all those wonderful skills I learned in my Advanced Spreadsheets class. You can click on it to take you to a larger picture of it.

I track each day's spending on food for each week. I also have a drop-down menu to use for my category - they are sorted by food, eating out and snacks/coffee. I then added each category up and did a nice pie chart to help me see where I am spending my food money.

I did a screen shot so that you can see how much I spent this week. Here is Week 1's Totals and chart. You can also click on the this picture in order to get a bigger picture.

As you can see in the above chart, I spent $67.90 on eating out (pizza and anniversary), $4.23 on snacks and coffee, and $20.38 on groceries. We still have $32.49 out of our allotted $125 budget for the week. The pie chart shows all $125 of our food budget, blue is eating out, red is snacks and coffee, green is groceries and purple is what we have leftover.

So, we did pretty good, all things considered. Next week will only be better. My local grocery store does have a few good deals so we will be stopping there sometime during the week.

Wegmans Deals this Week 7/19-7/25

Although I don't often shop with coupons at Wegmans, I do find really good deals on produce and meat. Here is what they have that's good this week:

• Locally grown green beans $.99 a pound
• California seedless grapes $.99 a pound
• Whole seedless watermelons $3.99
• Wegmans chicken thighs or drumsticks 4 lbs o r more $.79 a pound
• Wegmans all pork italian sausage 2.5 lbs or more $1.99 a pound
• squash or zucchini $.99 a pound
• Wegmans butter $1.69 a pound

Free Food and Veggies from the Garden

FREE FOOD

Well, yesterday we went to an informal wedding reception and was sent home with a bunch of food. I don't ever pass up free food! LOL. Especially right now, with neither of us working, every little bit helps. So here is what we were given:

So, as you can see from the above pictures, we got a plate full of deli meats, some bottles of beer for hubby, 8 cans of soda (which we usually do not drink but eventually they will get drank), 15 large rolls and half a watermelon. YUMMY! Oh, we were also given 5 cupcakes, but one was gone before we got home (thanks to hubby) and the rest were eaten when we got home - one per person.


OUR GARDEN

We also were quite surprised at how well our first garden is doing. Everything is just getting larger. We were able to pick a green pepper, some pea pods, and spinach yesterday. The lettuce also needs to be thinned out, so we will take quite a bit of that and make salads with it. The beans will also be ready soon.

As you can see in the picture above, we picked a green pepper, spinach, and we also picked some peas that were eaten raw. We don't have many pea plants because most of the seeds did not grow. We also picked wild blackberries. YUMMY!

All You Grocery Challenge Daily Roundup

Saturday- Day 6

Breakfast:
Dry cereal. Still have a lot of it, so we need to eat it up. We still do not have oatmeal because Aldi's is out of it for a while. I asked and was told it was discontinued for a while. So, I think tomorrow we will just have regular oatmeal (quick oats) with some strawberries or blueberries in it and maybe a splash of sugar if the berries are tart.


Lunch:
Went to a wedding at 1 o'clock. Afterwards was an informal reception where they had deli meats, fruits and salads. It was very yummy. The little kids ate lots of fruits, though they hardly touched their sandwiches.


Dinner:
We were munching all afternoon, so we didn't have an actual dinner. We just snacked on fruit and other leftovers from the party.



Aldi's Trip

After the reception, we stopped by Aldi's since it was on our way home. My intention was to get some more oatmeal for the little kids, but they ended up still not having any. I ended up getting quite a bit of stuff:

• 2 one pound containers of strawberries $1.45 each
• a pint of blueberries $1.49
• 2 pounds of grapes $2.99
• 4 large bananas @ $.39 a pound = $.71
• 2 boxes of popcorn 6ct for $1.49 each
• a gallon of skim milk $1.75
• 2 tubs of Tastes like Butter $.99 each
• 1 pound of sliced ham $3.49
• box of garbage bags $2.49+$.20 tax (not included in food total)

So I spent $20.98 minus the bags ($2.69), for a total of $18.09 added to our grocery budget for the week.