Photo by Billy Alexander

But for now. I have money in [...]]]>

Photo by Billy Alexander

But for now. I have money in my pocket.

Both the girls are in the chess club, and with today’s tournament came an unbudgetted expense. Now, I know ahead of time when the tournaments are held, so I should be able to plan for the expenses of lunch and refreshments ahead of time, but last week the bank account went into overdraw mode and there was a huge deficit to start the week with. Of course, this means that my budget is blown out of the water before the week even starts.

Did I mention that I got a really good deal on a couple of roasts at Jewel this week? And that Quilted Northern was 1/2 price at Meijer (even less with a $1 coupon!). I’m not sure that I should mention that the 5 tubs of sour cream I bought were free, because I haven’t yet worked out what I’m going to do with them! LOL!

I have yet to work out the bills I can pay this week.

There is time.

We’ll be fine.

I’m working on something …

Today’s shopping coup netted $159.37 worth of goodies for just $24.36 (and I still have $15 in catalinas to spend on my next shopping trip). Here’s what I came home with:

6 jars of Hellman’s mayo 15 [...]]]> I felt the need to go grocery shopping again today. Donating groceries felt so good that I needed to donate more!

Today’s shopping coup netted $159.37 worth of goodies for just $24.36 (and I still have $15 in catalinas to spend on my next shopping trip). Here’s what I came home with:

6 jars of Hellman’s mayo
15 Progresso soups
24 cans of veggies (beans, peas, corn, creamed corn)
11 boxes cereal (Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cheerios & Cocoa Puffs)
11 packs of Chex mix, Gardettos & Cheerios mix

No paper towels this time LOL!

I put the brand names in there because when I donated the cereal, they said “Oooh! It’s REAL cereal!” I don’t know what they thought they were going to be getting!

This really isn’t anything extraordinary – you, too, can learn the art of smart couponing from Retire With Coupons – if I could get just 10 friends to shop like this, I’m sure we could help some of the local food pantries get through the crisis they are currently experiencing.

Actually, it’s not just the food pantries that are suffering. Think about your local woman’s shelter, the Salvation Army, “halfway” houses, homeless shelters. There IS enough food to go around if we all were to shop just a little bit smarter and use the tools the food manufacturers provide to us. And they really do need more than just food. You can get some amazing deals on shampoo, deodorant, over-the-counter medications, cleaning products, toothpaste, paper goods such as tissues and paper towels.

Would you think about it, and see what you can do to help?

Now, I think I’ll go have some soup for dinner …

Before I update on our last day in the windy city, I have a shopping triumph to report:

After being in Chicago for 3 days, I really needed to get some REAL bargains at the grocery store – my budget for the month [...]]]> We survived no less than FOUR cab rides in Chicago! I feel quite accomplished!

Before I update on our last day in the windy city, I have a shopping triumph to report:

After being in Chicago for 3 days, I really needed to get some REAL bargains at the grocery store – my budget for the month is severely depleted (and eating into next months budget too!).

I headed to Jewel for the Kellogg’s/milk deal and remembered I had some coupons from the freezer deal (I bought a freezer from Cub Foods last week for $157 and got $160 in coupons) that I could use to get something for dinner.

One of the coupons I had was for a free Palermo pizza ($7.59), and they happened to be BOGO (Buy one, get one free)! The other “free” coupon I used was for Mars ice cream – we got a 12 count mini mix box ($4.99).

I found some of the Tyson chicken meals (stir fry chicken and chicken fajitas) were on clearance for 3.49 each (1/2 price) – they are made to serve 3, so they are ideal!

I bought 2 Glucerna cereals (4.49 – 50c with store loyalty card) and had a $5 coupon for each.
Bought 7 Kellogg’s cereals – 4 Frosted Flakes (had 2 x $1/2 coupons) & 3 of the other Kellogg’s cereals that were on sale for 1.98 (also had a 70c coupon)

4 Ronzoni Bistro packages for free (BOGO plus 2 x BOGO coupons)

Also used $10 catalina (or cats = coupon that prints from the cash register) that I earned on last weeks Kraft deal.

Total = 68.32

Jewel Osco receipt

I’ll take another post for the remainder of the Chicago trip!

I need one of those voice recorders you can talk in to when you get ideas. Because all morning, I’ve been thinking of things to blog about, then when I sit down at the keyboard I can’t think of anything!

Ciel just made a video

Ciel [...]]]> no, SNL fans, not Amy Poehler! It’s just lil ol’ me ….

I need one of those voice recorders you can talk in to when you get ideas. Because all morning, I’ve been thinking of things to blog about, then when I sit down at the keyboard I can’t think of anything!

Ciel just made a video

Ciel … again from Vikki Baptiste on Vimeo.

The weather is starting to look a little more spring-like – there are some lilies starting to poke their little leaves up out of the ground. I don’t know when they first appeared, but I wonder if it was during the last warm spell, and if so – would they have been harmed when the weather turned icy again?

I think that the danger of frost is over, though the offical “last frost day”, from a gardening point of view, is around May 20. So, I have to look at some websites and seed packets to see if I can start some seeds inside and be able to transplant them out when the time is right.

We still have lots of seeds left from last year – some are appropriate for planting at the start of the season, and some are late season crops. I have to bear in mind that we need to plan for the community garden, as well as our own back yard!

I really want to expand our square foot gardens this year, but the initial outlay is fairly cost prohibitive. When I think of the overall savings in produce costs, it’s definitely worth it, but you just have to have that money for the initial outlay.

I’ve also signed up for a CSA this year, at Henry’s Farm. For a great price you get fresh, local, organic produce for 26 weeks of the year. As it says on Henry’s site – No GMOs, Pesticides, Herbicides, or Synthetic Fertilizers – you can’t beat that! I can pick up my box weekly at a local church, and there is usually extra produce for sale, either from Henry’s farm or from a neighboring farm. Either way, I know I’m getting quality, locally-grown product that is safe to eat. And that’s the bottom line!

This is another situation where the money has to be paid up front. And I was so very lucky that Henry allowed me to pay in installments because in today’s economy, it’s not easy just to come up with a chunk of change at a moment’s notice! I signed up for Henry’s CSA last year, and really forgot about it until he sent an email a couple of weeks back saying that he was starting to go through his 2008 customer list to see who was still “in”, and to be ready to be included if you were on the waiting list. I didn’t expect the “it’s your turn!” email, to be truthful! But I’m so glad I did. I can supplement what we grow ourselves with Henry’s produce – and he says on his website that he had over 630 varieties of seed this year, so I’m pretty sure that he’s not growing the same as me!

My “extreme couponing” is going well! As an example, yesterday I went to Walgreens, I spent $1.18 and came home with 1 Garnier Fructis shampoo, 1 Garnier Fructis conditioner, Sambucol (homeopathic) cold & flu remedy, 1 Oral B toothbrush and a bottle of Suave conditioner. After manufacturers coupons and in-store savings, my total out of pocket was .25c, plus .93c tax. That’s a saving of $27.20.

Jewel-Osco was almost as profitable – 2 pks Kraft Bagel-fuls, 2  Kraft Singles, 3 Kraft 2% cheese sticks and a nozzle for my hose – total cost inc. tax $30.17 – after coupons & Jewel card savings, I paid $3.42.

When people ask me “are you saving money?”, sometimes they’re surprised when I say no. And the truth is, for the first couple of months – maybe even three months – I won’t see a huge saving. This is because I have to stockpile. Where I used to spend $100 a week or more on my grocery order, I may be spending $60, and only buying a few products. That is my stockpile. If I buy 60 cans of soup, you can bet I’m not going to buy soup again for over a year!

Right now, I have a stockpile of toothpaste, deodorant, soap, paper towels, toilet paper, popcorn, hot chocolate, liquid hand soap, canned tomatoes, Healthy Choice soup, cheese (a freezer full!), Excedrin and Advil – and smaller stockpiles of a number of other goodies. Wanna come shop in my basement? LOL!

Kimberly (www.retirewithcoupons.com) has been doing this for a long time, and has the logistics down – she has an annual grocery shopping budget of $1500 for a family of 5. Right now, I’d be happy spending $50 a week ($2,600 a year) on groceries. I can work on a lower goal next year once I have all the tricks of the trade under my belt!

The girls are playing outside in the garden, I’m about to go out and see if the compost pile is defrosted yet.

Later!

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve bought both popcorn and soup for just what the tax cost, and got many more bargains as well. I just came home from the grocery store with 20 [...]]]> I took a workshop from Kim and Jenn over at Retire With Coupons, and have become fired up about couponing again.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve bought both popcorn and soup for just what the tax cost, and got many more bargains as well. I just came home from the grocery store with 20 cans of tomatoes. The 28oz size.

This makes me wonder whether I’m just buying stuff because it’s cheap, or whether I really do need to buy this stuff! Granted, I will use 20 cans of tomatoes. It may take me a year, but they will get used.

This extreme couponing also means that I buy items that I don’t need, or that we don’t usually eat. I buy it because it’s either free or very cheap. And, let’s be honest, if I’m not going to use it, I can always donate it to the domestic violence shelter or one of the food pantries in the community.

My current couponing goal is to cut my grocery bills in half. Once I’ve done that, I’ll set another goal … maybe cut them in half again.

I haven’t got to the stage yet where I’m buying coupons yet, but I can see it’s not far off!