Blast From the Past

I have always said that I would love to pay $1.00 for a gallon of gas again - like I did when I first got my driver's license oh so many years ago.  

Heck, I'd love to just see that 1 at the begining again (I believe that I was yelling this the loudest when we were getting darn close to $4.00).

I have to say that I was pretty happy when this happened:

Full transparency: fuel rewards helped... 

But, I did see regular prices continue to go down and get pretty close to this price before going back up.

OK, I should have posted this on the day that I took it...

Oops.

It was sometime in December...

Namaste.

Saving pennies. . .

Yes, I am a couponer.
No, I am not an extreme couponer.

I have a certain teenager who is starting to eat me out of house and home, so I have to pinch pennies where I can to get more food in this house without spending more.

Do I stockpile?
Yep.
Do I stockpile obscene amounts?
Absolutely not. I try to get just enough of an item to get us through to the next sale. Sometimes that is one month and sometimes it is six months.
Yes, I do have more than one pantry.
OK, I may be extreme in that my MBB tore out an old coat closet that we didn't use as a coat closet and built a stock-pile pantry for me, but we also live in the country. I have to put most of our food in totes or sealed containers to keep the critters out and that played a big part in it too. :)

Do I shop at multiple stores?
Yep.
Do I go crazy chasing down every deal?
Nope. In fact, I probably miss more than I get.

Do I have a coupon binder?
Yep. MBB bought it for me for Christmas.
Does it save me time?
Yep.
Is it crammed full?
Nope.

Do I spend 40 hours a week trying to get 100 free toothbrushes?
Are you nuts?

Namaste.

Stock Pile

While MBB was rebuilding my Stockpile Closet, we had to temporarily move everything out into the entry way. Since I can't take a picture in the closet, this is my only shot to document it. It was definitely not organized! I was hoping that it was going to be moved again very quickly, so I didn't care that MaBell just got the food off of the floor. I didn't include the two big totes that have some of the "mice friendly" packaging. I am searching for better alternatives to the totes. . .But regular shelves do not help keep the rodents out of the food.

Namaste.

Good Sale Day!

I stopped in at Walgreens today and hit my savings target!
OK - I did better than my target.

I would have done even more outstanding had I not picked up a carryall sleeve for my coupon binder. No, I didn't realize how well I was doing or I wouldn't have bought it today.

My Basket:
Right Guard (one was more expensive, so BOGO didn't work exactly right): 4 at $.38/each
Renuzit: 6 at $.10/each
Binder Sleeve: $1.99

Savings: 80.5%

Without the sleeve, the savings would have been: 87.8%
What was I thinking???

Let's hope the rest of my buying trips go this good this week. . .
I'm kinda on target to be a bit over this month - so I need some really good sales.

Namaste.

Rising Temper?

I have been experiencing the Rising Temper lately. . .
Yep, from Rising Prices.

Produce: Bananas recently went up about 23%.
Milk: Also up about 25%.
Meat: Yeah, one of my grocery stores even stopped carrying really lean turkey. I'm assuming based on the price increases they have for the non-lean stuff, that the discontinuation was due to the cost.
Lumber: Yes, I am a female and I know the cost of lumber. Let me just say - it is going UP, UP, UP! When I stop by the home improvement store on my way home from work with a list. . .And you know which 2x4s to buy based on the price. . .Well, it is obvious when the costs change.
Gas: I DO NOT want to talk about it! Thankfully, MBB now works from home a majority of the week, so the high cost to fill up my tank is offset by the lower cost of his reduction in driving.

And now that a fellow blogger has brought the amount size reductions to my attention, I expect the temperature of my blood is going to sky-rocket.

Namaste.

Generics. . .Food, not drugs!

When I first starting "shopping for deals", I heard "generics are horrible", "generics aren't as good", etc etc. Take your pick. My thoughts were that most generics are comparable to name brands, but there are a few on my "do not buy" list.

As my shopping for deals has transitioned into coupons, I find that I can get name brands for just as cheap, if not cheaper, than the generics.

Great!
Right?

I have also found that I have a "do not buy" list and a "preferred list" now.

So?
Doesn't everyone?

Yeah, well. . .
The funny thing is, a few name brands have found their way onto the "do not buy" list.
Hey, wait a minute! What are those generics doing on the "preferred list"???

The problem?
Generics are supposed to be cheaper, so. . .No coupons! :(

Occasionally, I will find them on sale (my snack stock pile is looking better after Meijer's sale this week). But, I have found myself spending more money to buy a generic. . .

What can I say?
It's on the preferred list!

Generics on the Preferred List:
Kroger Honey Peanut Butter
Meijer Pretzels
Kroger Turkey Pepperoni

Namaste.

Making Us Happy!

I have realized how much an ugly piece in our house makes me VERY happy!

"What is it?" you ask.

The wood burning stove in our basement!

Previously, we barely used the stove. . .
Mainly because the wood from the two trees we cut down in the summer of 2009 needed to season. And to be honest, I didn't think that we got much heat from it.
This year, though, I wanted to use it more in an attempt to keep our electric bill down. I DO NOT want $400 electric bills this winter!!! Yes, that is the frugal side of me. . .

After a night of being cold despite burning wood (and some smoky moments in our basement), MBB started investigating whether we had a bird's nest blocking our chimney or if there was anything else deciding that the smoke was our guest and needed to stick around.

What he found was a huge need for us to replace the fireplace's piping (safety is pretty important when it comes to fire!) and clean out as much of the fireplace / chimney as possible.
It was an all day affair and you wouldn't believe some of the stuff that we found when we pulled the stove out of the chimney.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of OB or MBB inside the chimney. . . :(

MBB did figure out during his search for bird's nests that our chimney was built in thirds. . .
We have one wood burning stove and one fireplace in the living room that does not have a stove.


Threeeeeeeeee???

He also found a hole in the chimney in my craft room (not in a fireplace area!!!) that was letting in LOTS of cold air.
Yep, we are burning wood to warm the house and there is a hole letting cold air in!
A cap on the hole stopped the cold air, the pipes were replaced and suddenly, there was smoke coming out of our chimney. . .Success!

I'm realizing that this post is getting really long, so I'll shorten the story very quickly to say that later that night, I found another hole inside the living room chimney (remember the THREE chimney sections???). We quickly got that one covered to and you wouldn't believe how WARM our house has become from using the wood burning stove!


You might have noticed that the title of this post was "Making US Happy", but I was talking about our stove making ME happy.


Well, there is a new toy in our house that has made MBB happy as he doesn't have to get as many blisters on his hands while chopping big logs into small logs.
This is the non-frugal side of us coming out. . .We bought it brand new, BUT with a coupon!! lol

Introducing our log splitter.
The only bad thing. . .The logs have to be pretty short to fit in it. :(
Namaste.

Budget Challenge - July

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery / Supply reduction.

Budget: $400.00
Actual OOP: $528.34
Retail Price: $916.99
Coupon Savings: $129.57
Sales Savings: $259.08

This was a rough month with OB's birthday party and some other big "Run outs, must replace!".
Luckily, the ALLYou challenge was only four weeks (not six), so we didn't do as bad as I thought we did - I still have to post those weeks, but I haven't tracked down our restaurant spending yet. :(

Namaste.

Grocery Challenge Week #4

The challenge was to spend $25 / person / week = $100 / week for us.

Week #4 Results:
Grocery - $87.19
Eating Out - $13.37
Total - $100.56

WOW - I was sooooooooooooo close this week!!!

Overall, I didn't do as well on the challenge as I thought I would. . .
Our target was $400.
Our actual was $416.02.

Not too bad, but week by week. . .Not good.

Namaste.

Grocery Challenge Week #3

The challenge was to spend $25 / person / week = $100 / week for us.

Week #3 Results:
Grocery - $98.21
Eating Out - $19.84
Total - $118.05

Hmmm. . .I guess I didn't jump back on the bandwagon as well as I thought I would! :(

Namaste.

Grocery Challenge Week #2

I've been bad about keeping my blog updated in a timely manner. . .
With vacation and all of the projects we've been working on (who would have known that I would get busier once MBB graduated from college???), I have not had a lot of time to calculate numbers.

The challenge was to spend $25 / person / week = $100 / week for us.
This was rough this week as we were on vacation.
The eating out got us (the tax % was HUGE)!

Week #2 Results:
Grocery - $18.51
Eating Out - $119.24
Total - $137.75

Looks like we failed in Week #2. . . :(
I am still going to try to be successful the remaining weeks!

Namaste.

Budget Challenge - June

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery/Supplies reduction.

Budget: $300
Actual OOP: $435.27
Retail Price: $775.12
Coupon Savings: $126.08
Sales Savings: $203.77

I majorly fell off of the bandwagon this month and went way over budget.
Nothing to say other than a few things had not gone on sale and we needed them.
What makes it even worse is that I realized how far over we were going half way through the month and I joined the AllYou Grocery Challenge to try to get back on track.

Namaste.

Grocery Challenge Week #1

I've been bad about keeping my blog updated in a timely manner. . .
With vacation and all of the projects we've been working on (who would have known that I would get busier once MBB graduated from college???), I have not had a lot of time to calculate numbers.

The challenge was to spend $25 / person / week = $100 / week for us.

Week #1 Results:
Grocery - $59.66
Eating Out - $0

Total - $59.66

Looks like we are doing well!

Namaste.

Contest

Our experiment to spend $300 on grocery items (including supplies) has been farely successful. Yes, I have gone over a bit, but with getting the stock pile pantry stocked and having no basis for the $300 figure, I think we are doing decent!

When I heard about AllYou.com's competition to spend $25 per person per week on groceries for four weeks, I had to give it a shot. This means $100 / week for our house. I've been averaging about $85 / week this year and that included supplies. Since the competition does not include supplies, I thought I'd have a decent shot.

Then, I realized that we will be on vacation during the competition.
Okay, we are renting a cabin with a full kitchen. . . Doable!
Then, I realized that going out to eat counts.
OUCH.

MBB and I discussed it and arranged our days:
. . .Breakfast - will be at the cabin. I can pack 99% of this food from our stockpile pantry.
. . .Lunch - will be packed in our cooler everyday. The freezer is going to help us out with bread and lunch meat. Along with PB&Js and chips, we should be set to go. We think we'll be able to eat out a few times (I am on the lookout for coupons!).
. . .Supper - will be at the cabin. I am going to do some of our family favorites (the good thing about family favorites - most of the ingredients are in the stock-pile). I am going to visit a local grocery store for dairy and salad supplies to round everything out.

Starting today, I will be aiming for $100 a week.
I have to get creative and healthy as those are being judged as well!
Every Saturday evening, I will "try" to update my progress for the week.
WISH US LUCK!

Namaste.

Budget Challenge - May

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery/Supplies reduction.
(OK - I am TRYING to get caught up. . .Yes, this was actually posted in July)

Budget: $400 (up slightly due to MaBell's Birthday Party)
Actual OOP: $454.35
Retail Price: $803.21
Coupon Savings: $182.66
Sales Savings: $166.20

We were over budget this month - some of it was due to MaBell's party, but some was due to some of the stockpiling that happened with some great sales.

Namaste.

My List - 5/24 (x2)

C: Coupons (actually attached to my shopping list - There may be others, but this is what I have in my possession/have ordered).
MB: Meijer Meal-box (actually attached). W: Walgreens coupon (actually attached).
E: Kroger's e-coupon (actually loaded on my card).
RR: Register Reward from Walgreens (for next transaction)
(#): Tells you the number I am planning on buying.
Reminders: Kroger doubles up to $1 all coupons. Meijer doubles up to $1 up to two identical coupons. All starting prices are coming from match-ups posted, sometimes the sales aren't happening here and I realize that at the store.

Kroger
Lean Cuisine: $1.88 - $1/2 C = $1.38 Bought at Meijer for $2 - C (4)
Sunny D: $1 - $.25 C = $.50 Decided I didn't need since I got the LC at Meijer

Meijer
Kraft Dressing: $2 - $.55 C - $1 MB = FREE (Buy 4, get $3 Catalina) (Stock up price) (4) may go back
Kraft Singles: 3/$5 - $1/2 MB = $1.17 Decided no go
Aunt Millie's Bread: $3.19 - B1G2 = $.73 (OB loves the Light Wheat!) Lt Wheat not included in sale
Ragu: $1.29 - $1/2 C - $1/2 MB = $.29 (Stock up price) (2)
Knorr Sides (Rice or Pasta): $1 - $.60/2 C - $1/4 MB = $.25 (Stock up price) (4)
John Morrell Off the Bone: $2.50 - $1 C - $1/2 MB = $1 Sold out

Walmart (if I am going there for something else)
Heinz: $1
Angel Soft 12ct double: $4 - $.50 C = $3.5

Namaste.

Deals. . . Updated 2x

UPDATE: The red reflects changes to my plan. :)

I am not going to start posting all of the sales and coupon match-ups. . .
There are lots of great sites out there that already do that.
I can recommend a few if you need them. :)

Many times I will create my list and then not go. Why is this a problem?
In a week or two, I am buying those items for a higher price because we need them rather than already having them in my stock pile (and they WERE on my to buy list just recently).
I also have a bad habit of writing down a coupon on my list and not going to get it. AUGH!
So, I am thinking that I am usually better when the blog world holds me accountable (back in the very beginning of this blog, for some reason, I was much better about exercising regularly).
I have decided to start posting "my planned" shopping trips for the week.

Here goes my experiment. . .
C: Coupons (actually attached to my shopping list - There may be others, but this is what I have in my possession).
MB: Meijer Meal-box (actually attached).
W: Walgreens coupon (actually attached).
E: Kroger's e-coupon (actually loaded on my card).
(#): Tells you the number I am planning on buying.
Reminders: Kroger doubles up to $1 all coupons. Meijer doubles up to $1 up to two identical coupons.
All starting prices are coming from match-ups posted, sometimes the sales aren't happening here and I realize that at the store.

Kroger
Smart Ones: $1.58 - $3/6 C = $1.08 (6)
Green Giant: $.88 - $.50 C = $.38 (2)

Walgreens DIDN'T GO BECAUSE OF GETTING SOME AT MEIJER
Deli Creations: $1.99 W - $1 C = $.99 (2) GOT AT MEIJER
Secret Deodorant: $2.29 W - $.50 C = $1.79 (2)
Potting Soil: $.99 W

Dollar General
Welch's Grape Juice: $2 - $1 C = $1 (7) NOT ON SALE

Meijer (Will have to do multiple transactions for the yogurt!)
Yoplait: 10/$4 - $.40/6 C (have 4) - $.50/6 C (have 1) = $.26/each (30 - should get more!)
Crystal Light: $2 - $1 C - $1 MB = FREE (Couldn't find the kind the coupon was for)
Country Crock Butter: $1.29 - $.40 C = $.49 (2)
Aunt Millie's Bread: $1.29 - $.55 C = $.29 (2)
Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs: 4/$5 - $1/2 C - $1/2 MB = $.50 (10)
Lean Cuisine: $2 - $1/5 C - $1/5 MB = $1.60 (15) NOT ON SALE
Meijer Pretzels: $.99 FORGOT THIS ONE
Milk: $1.88 (Was on sale for $2.00 at my store)
Aussie Hair Products: $2.50 - $2 = $.50 (2) Didn't have what the coupon was for
Treseme Fresh Start Hair Products: ? - B0G0 C - $2 C = ? (4) No Go
Land O'Frost Lunch Meat: $2.99 - $.55 C = $1.99 (2)
Quaker Instant Oatmeal: ? - $.75 C = ? (1)
Quaker True Delights Oatmeal: ? - $1 C = ? (2) (They only had blueberry...No thanks.)
Eggs: ? (I can't remember the price, but I bought a container of 2 dozen - ~$.85/dozen?)
Strawberries: 4/$5
+ I have $9 off in past $ off next visits
Kraft Salad Dressing: $1.89 - $1 MB = $.89 (8)

Namaste.

Budget Challenge - April

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery/Supplies reduction.
(OOOPS. . .Not posting this until May 16 - It's been pretty busy and haven't been able to work on receipts and filing and such.)

Budget: $300
Actual OOP: $434.45
Retail Price: $821.43
Coupon Savings: $182.74
Sales Savings: $204.24

I saved 47.11%.
We are WAY over budget this month.
To be honest: We needed things that hadn't gone on sale since this experiment started.
To be realistic: Included in the total above is $24 in medicine and $22.59 for MaBell's future party (I budgeted $100 for food for her party - in the end, I went over on that budget by $13).
So, we really spent $387.86 versus our budget of $300.

Namaste.

Budget Challenge - March

(I am in major catch up mode this weekend and doing pretty good - this is being posted on 4/4).

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery/Supplies reduction.

Budget: $300
Actual OOP: $345.16
Retail Price: $704.00
Coupon Savings: $141.34
Sales Savings: $212.50

I saved 50.97%.
Not as good as last month, but way closer to budget!

Namaste.

Budget Challenge - February

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up (actually posting on 4/4). . .
I did go big-time over budget this month, but I stockpiled a lot - especially chicken breasts which were about 60% off. Good buy!

Here's the results for this month in our Grocery/Supplies reduction.

Budget: $300
Actual OOP: $383.83
Retail Price: $1,029.11
Coupon Savings: $314.55
Sales Savings: $330.73

I saved 62.7% even though I went over budget by $83.83.
I think I am still doing well since we used to spent $500 a month (when I stayed within budget) for just groceries. I have no idea how much we were spending with supplies. $300 was just a number I through out there to see if I could do it. . .Knowing that it would be rough at first because I am still trying to stockpile a bit.

Namaste.