Smiths's Mega sale

I couldn't help but post the great deals I got at Smith's last night. It was so much fun to get back to couponing and saving money.

Here are some of the highlights:
2 boxes of Finish dishwashing detergent --$0.49 each
3 boxes Kleenex -- $0.88 each
2 8oz kraft cheese $0.99 each
2 packages of plate and 1 bowl -$0.49 each
3 cans Ro-tel tomatoes -$0.12 each
1 box Raisin Bran --Free
1 bar soap -Free
3 cartons Dryers ice cream - $1.49 each

The grand total before all discounts-- $101.38
The grand total before coupons was $ 54 ish (including fresh values discount)
The total after coupons ---$$35.60 for a total of 66% savings

I also got a $0.05 off gas and $8.85 towards a beer rebate. YIPEE!! I love couponing.

Finished?

Well, we made it to Jan 31st and didn't die. It actually was fun and challenging. In fact, I need to keep going just to clean out my pantry some more. I am short on quite a few things, so we might have a fairly expensive bill at sam's later today. I am excited because now I can go shopping at Smith's Mega sale and not feel guilty.

I wasn't feeling well on Saturday night, so I had to send Nate to the store for milk. He spent $6.58 on 3 gallons of milk and 1 dozen eggs. We probably could have made it on 2 gallons, but I just didn't care at that moment. We went over the $100, but just barely.

Grand totals

Days without spending money: 16
Total money spent: $102.66


Anyway, I hope I can keep it up. I learned that it wasn't that hard and not that different than we normally live. Now I need to figure out a new challenge. Any suggestions?

Amazing Friends

I am almost finished. In my last post, I talked about not being sure if I could make it the last few days without going over my budget because we needed milk. The next day after writing the post, I was talking to a friend about it and how I could try powdered milk. A few minutes later, she showed up at my house with 3 gallons of milk and CHOCOLATE! She totally made my day.

As a result, I was able to go 4 days this week without spending money. I did spend money on Monday, but that was only to send a package to my sister so it didn't count as groceries.

This week, I also baked a lot. I made 2 batches of wheat bread, brownies and zucchini chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies (from a bag.) We still ate from our food storage. We are running low on a few basics for lunches, but I still have quite a bit of food that needs to be used. We still have tons of potatoes and sweet potatoes, but made a big dent. Next month, I think I will continue cooking from my food storage, but will stock up on a few things. The goal is to not spend double next month.

Only 2 days left, wish us luck!

Days without spending money: 15
Grand total: $96.08

Almost there

We are starting on our last week of the challenge and things are moving on. I won't write what we have been eating for days 18-21 mainly because I don't remember. I did have to get milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese and hot dogs which cost $17.35, but I did use coupons. Oh ya, I had a type-o last entry and my total was supposed to be $78.73 not $88.73.

This is what I have learned so far:

• I love/hate living in a city where there are so many options for shopping. I am able to get great deals by going to different stores that are all really close to each other, but that also tempts me to spend more money.

• Cooking out of our food storage is easy and not different from what I normally do since we almost never go out to eat.
  

• The biggest problem I have is the little money I spend here and there. I am not sure if I am going to make it under the $100, we are probably going to go over by a little bit.

• I am still spending quite a bit on diapers and other household stuff. Next month, I may try to work on this goal. I could be saved if the twins would just get potty trained!!!!!
  

Grand total so far: $96.08 -we are going to need milk before next week--ahh
Days without spending money: 11

Day 15-17

I am still going strong, but not as good as blogging about it. Anyway, here are the details.

Day 15:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Misc
Dinner: Taco salad using lots of veggies from the co-op
No money spent.

Day 16:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Misc
Dinner: Chicken fried rice
I spent $5.38 on 3 gallons of milk and even abstained from buying anything else!!


Day 17
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Misc
Dinner: I fell and got the kids $1 items at burger king. We were running to get haircuts after the Treehouse Museum. We only spent $4.26 and Nate and I ate leftovers at home. I probably am cheating and counted this as entertainment money.

Grand total spent: $88.73
Days without money spent: 8

Day 12- 14

I really am having a hard time staying on budget. I think I may go over. I really am trying, but there always seems to be a sale on something that is a great price that we really use. I am doing fine on the cooking, but the budget thing may be my downfall.

Day 12

Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Misc stuff for everyone
Dinner: Leftovers- good thing Nate will eat them

We did go to Sam's and spent too much--$25.00

Day 13
We went ice fishing this afternoon and I was really tempted to get a $5 pizza, but we were good and stayed on plan.
Breakfast: Pancake mountain with eggs from my mom's and fresh ground wheat flour
Lunch: Misc for everyone
Dinner: Leftovers again-- but at least we used them
Dick's had a sale.I did get 5 boxes for a$1 each and $0.25 yogurt for a total of $7.58

Day 14
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Misc.
Dinner: Ham and potato soup- using leftover ham and garden potatoes- the kids ate yogurt.

Grand total: $73.85
Days without spending money: 7


This week I have to do better!!! We have plenty of food. We just may need milk and cheese, but luckily the kids have really slowed down drinking milk, so we may just pull this off.

Day 9 - 11

It has been a pretty good week so far. Here are the updates:

Day 8 -Tues
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: I don't remember
Dinner: Leftover rice and salad- free from my mom

I did so to Smith's to get milk. I did falter and buy a bag of cookies and chocolate milk. Total spend $8.82

Day9 :
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: The kids ate the whole package of hot dogs I bought last night for $0.89.
Dinner: Ham Slice with Roasted Garden Veggies

I didn't spend any money on groceries, but we did take the kids to Krispy Kreme and spent $2, but I am not counting that towards groceries.

Day 10:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Fish sticks
Dinner: Beef Tomato Mac- made with the hamburger I fried up earlier in the week
I spent $5 on clearance potty prizes for the twins, but again this is not grocery money.

Grand total: $41.27
Days with out spending money:6

Day 7 and 8

Day 7

Nate was really busy with church stuff and had a huge homework assignment due that he did completely after the kids went to bed. I was pretty lazy. Our church got out at 2:00 so I just let the kids have snacks for lunch. I also didn't spend any money yesterday so I started out good.

Breakfast: Pancake mountains with free eggs from my parent's chickens
Lunch: Snacks
Dinner: Spaghetti for us and PB and J for the kids

Day 8

Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Corndogs, meatballs and leftovers
Dinner:

Grand total spent: $32.45
Total days with out spending money:

Day 5 and 6

I had a bit of a break in the challenge the past couple of days. I just couldn't resist Macey's caselot, but I was still good.

Day 5
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Peanut Butter sandwiches and leftovers for me
Dinner: Tuna Casserole- Not very good, but cheap and easy

Day 6
Breakfast: Cereal again although we eat a lot of cereal, I got it for free so I don't feel too bad
Lunch: Fishsticks and leftovers
Dinner: Homemade rolls and Mexican creamy turkey soup --using corn from my mom's garden

$$$

Here's the deal. We did make the 3 gallons of milk I bought monday last until today so I bought 3 more at Sam's. I also had to buy fruit snacks since it is the only way I can get the kids to take naps for a total of $13.40 I also bought 10 yogurts for $0.25 each (with coupon) and 2 bags of cereal at $0.89 each at Macey's I did buy a few other things, but am counting them to food storage. If it comes in a #10 can, it's food storage. So the total for today was $19.05.
Grand total $32.45. Not great but a good start. I will do better, right?

I not spend any money 4 days this week, so that was something. I also cooked out of my food storage everyday, which was an accomplishment.

Day #3 and #4

Things are moving along, but I am having a hard time not hitting the case lot sales this week. I think I am also going thru withdrawls. I feel like I need to spend money just to get out of the house. Hopefully, like a drug addict I can get over the initial shock and keep going.

Day #3- Wed
Breakfast: oatmeal and cereal
Lunch: Fishsticks and leftovers for me
Dinner: BBQ chicken, BBQ beans, sweet potato fries and brussel sprouts (from the co-op)

No money spent for a total of 3 days this week
Grand total money spent $10.50

Day #4-Thurs
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Smoothies
Dinner: Sausage Rice casserole for big people and a mixture of other stuff for the smalls.

I did break down and went out. I mainly just wandered aimlessly. I did spend $2.87 on clearance chocolate for potty prizes (and for me in a pinch.)

Grand total spent $13.37

Day #2

Yesterday went pretty well. I am taking a tip from Suze Orman to not spend any more for 1 day a week, but am going further and going to try for 3-4 days a week. 1 day is pretty easy since we don't typically shop on Sunday, so let's go for more. I didn't spend any money yesterday, so 2 days this with no money spent and I went to the library for free!!

Meals

Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chicken nuggets and tator tots
Dinner: Steak that we got from my parents' farm and roasted sweet potatoes, potatoes and yellow squash

I also made 2 loaves of wheat bread with fresh ground wheat. My kids are very picky and won't usually eat what I made for dinner, but they will eat bread and peanut butter so that will probably save us thru this whole thing. Each loaf costs about $0.50 to make.

Food Storage Challenge

I read about this challenge yesterday on a blog. I overspent at Christmas so I am trying to get our financial house back in order. The basics of this challenge are to eat out of your food storage, limit money spent of groceries and use up food that has been sitting around for 1 month.

I decided to use my blog as a way to track how we are doing and to actually commit to "rules."

The "rules" I decided on are:

1. Eat out of our food storage -- this includes using the sweet potatoes/potates from our garden that are going to go bad soon.

2. Spend only $100 on groceries - this is a cut of $200, but will include milk, fresh item. This may be a problem since we do use a gallon of milk a day, but we will try. This will not include our veggie co-op, which is $16.50 every two weeks.

We will finish this on 1/31/10. So here is how we are doing so far.

Mon:
Breakfast: Fruit left over from a party yesterday and cereal
Lunch: Corn dogs from freezer
Dinner: Sweet potato burritos - I also made 8 more for the freezer for Nate's lunch

$$$$
Spent $10.50 on 2 gallons of milk and fish sticks for lunch at Sam's

Yet again, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. So, I'll just post a little of everything from the last 6 months.

In July, we had family pictures taken at the Layton Park. I was surprised how well it went. Usually, we can never get one picture with all the kids looking at the camera, but it went great. Our photographer did a great job. (http://www.swjphotography.com/ -we are even on her front page of her site)




For Elias' 4th Birthday in August, he had to had the same cake as last year - Elmo. I was to cheap to buy the one he wanted from Sam's, so I tried to recreate it. It took a long time and I was rushed in the end, but I thought it turned out ok.


For Halloween, McKay was his favorite, Thomas the train. At the last minute, Maisey switched from an unicorn to a princess. Elias was the same as last year - a pumpkin. He wore his costume continuously for 3 days before and 3 days after Halloween.




For Thanksgiving, we made pinecone turkeys and had a great time. Notice the kids cheesy smiles.

Here is Maisey in full hair that she can only dream of.


Elias with googlie eyes.





Here is one of our dress up dance parties.


Elias in a dress up moment. As you can tell, we play dress up a lot!!


We made a visit it Tracy Aviary and loved it.

December was crazy. We had a visit from Santa to our house. Maisey and Elias loved him, but McKay wouldn't go near him.


Nate had time off between Christmas and New Year's and we did lots of stuff. We went to the Treehouse Museum. Our biggest day, started out by riding the Frontrunner to Ogden and going to the Train museum. We came back home, had lunch and naps and went to Salt Lake. We went to the Planetarium and Temple Square. Nate had to go back to work and we are really missing him today.


Overall, we have had a great 6 months and lots of fun. Check back in 6 months for a new update of what we have been doing.