Frugal Finds

Last January Jewel had a great sale on diapers. I don't think this is the great sale yet, but they did have a fairly good deal, so I stocked up.

All total I bought:

3 boxes of diapers for my daughter (260 diapers total),

2 packs for the new baby (80 diapers total),

8 boxes of Crest toothpaste,

1 bag of chips,

1 pack of Mentos gum

for a total of $58.63, and I have a $10 off your next order coupon for making these purchases.

Speaking of the baby that will be here in 3.5 short months, we have nearly everything we need except a double stroller. I found one on eBay for $50. We picked it up today, and I was quite pleased. The seller included the double stroller, the infant car seat and base, and a mat to go underneath the car seat to store toys and keep messes off the bucket seat.

Here is the stroller:

and my daughter checking out her new ride:

Grocery Shopping, 12/30/09

We just returned from our out of town vacation, and we needed the basics. I didn't buy a lot because I am planning on participating in the eating from the pantry challenge. I'll also be shopping again on Saturday or Sunday.

Dominick's:

2 boxes Lipton Onion soup mix = 2.67
3--8 oz. bags of cheese = 2.97
1 loaf of bread = 1.99
1 bag of hamburger buns = 2.50
2 pkgs. lunch meat = 3.18
1 lb. bacon = .99
1 tortilla crusted tilipia fillet = 2.37
3 oranges = .93
2 lb. bag carrots = 1.79

Total = 19.85

Aldi:

2 gallons milk = 3.98
1 carton cottage cheese = 1.89
1 bunch broccoli = 1.89
1 lb. salmon fillets = 3.99
bunch bananas = .84
2 cartons eggs = 1.78
1 loaf bread = 1.89

Total = 17.37

Grand Total = 37.22

Joining the Pantry Challenge

I was excited to see that for January, Crystal at Money Saving Mom and Jessica at Life as Mom are having a pantry challenge. I defrosted my freezer a week ago in preparation for the ¼ cow that we are purchasing, and I discovered several freezer meals that I had prepared back in August before I went back to work. I also discovered that we had much more meat on hand that I remembered. So, this Pantry Challenge comes at a perfect time. Paired with my January wants vs. needs challenge, I am hoping we can save quite a bit of money.

We normally spend about $300 a month on groceries. My goal for this month will be to spend no more than $175. We will still be purchasing milk, eggs, cheese, and produce.

Last January there was a massive sale on diapers at Jewel; if that happens again this year, I anticipate spending quite a bit of our $175 on stocking up on diapers for our daughter and our new daughter who will be born in April.

As going out to eat is definitely a want and not a need, I anticipate all of our meals will be eaten at home.

January Challenge--Needs Vs. Wants

In the week before Christmas, Suze Orman was talking about rationalizing spending money and justifying purchases. A mom works hard at her job, comes home with little energy and thinks, “I’ve worked hard all day; I deserve to go out to eat.” (You could insert me here; going out to eat is my weakness.)

She then was urging viewers to seriously ask themselves before each purchase, “Is this a want or a need?”

My husband and I are not big spenders. We don’t buy many large purchases. I think our last big expenditure was the dishwasher we purchased last April. What we do though, is fritter away our money little by little. He thinks of eating out as a treat, so he likes to spend big when he does go out. I like to go out to eat frequently, but I am willing to purchase a cheaper menu item. When you merge our eating out pattern, you can see that we go out to eat frequently, and we spend a lot of money doing so.

I wanted to have two no spending months before the end of April, but for January, instead of a no spending month, I am going to ask myself before every purchase, “Is this a need or a want?” If it is a want, I am going to try not to make the purchase. My guess is that this line of thought will be just as effective, if not more so, than a no spending month.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas

I would like to take a moment to wish you a very merry Christmas. I will be spending the next few days taking a mini blogging break and spending time with my family. I'll be back in a few days. I thank you all for visiting here regualarly and wish you a happy holiday.

Gymboree's After Christmas Sale

If you love Gymboree clothing, they are set to start a great sale the day after Christmas. All clothing will be marked down to .99, 3.99, 6.99 and 9.99. I love this kind of sale; I usually stock up and buy my kids' clothing for the next year. The online sale usually starts earlier, so keep an eye out online. In addition, you can register at gymboree.com to receive e-mail notifications of upcoming sales. Remember, this is also Gymbucks earning time, so you could potentially save quite a bit of money!

My Nearly Free Appetizer

Last week my son's school had a potluck Christmas party. Besides the peanut butter fudge I brought, I also brought pigs in a blanket.

These were nearly free. I got the croissants as part of the great deals I got at Jewel last week, and at Dominick's, if I bought $20 worth of groceries, I received a free package of little smokies. I am guesstimating that these cost me 50 cents total, and they were good!

Menu Planning, 12/20/09

We are planning on purchasing 1/4 side of beef in the next few weeks, so we are eating freezer meals this week to clear out some room in our freezer. Here is the plan:

Monday--Anita's Slow Cooker Chili
Tuesday--Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese & Rice Bake
Wednesday--Lighter Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Veggie
Thursday--My mom's scalloped potatoes
Friday--Merry Christmas!! Ham croissants and fruit salad
Saturday--Dinner Out
Sunday--Iranian Kebob

Peanut Butter Fudge

One of my favorite holiday goodies is homemade fudge. I love it! In fact, when I was about 7 years old, I lost one of my baby front teeth when biting into a piece.

However, those of you who read this blog regularly may recall that I gave up all chocolate in July. I was eating WAY too much of it, and it was making my body feel strange. I don’t miss it too much, but I was looking for a replacement for the homemade fudge I love.

I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge II, and I knew I had to try it. And oh, is it good. It is like biting into peanut butter silk. It is soooo good that I gave the rest of the pan away to my son’s school so I wouldn’t gain ten pounds eating it all by myself.

If you have a weakness for fudge or peanut butter, try this. You’ll love it. As will anyone else who eats it.

I shared this post at The Grocery Cart Challenge, Life as Mom and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

Food Waste, 12/17/09

This week we wasted about 1/4 a pan of a breakfast casserole we like to eat. This is usually so good that we don't waste it, but this time it was VERY salty. I thought maybe it was the ham I bought, which probably contributed to the problem, but then later I cooked some of the frozen hashbrowns all by themselves and found that they were salty. Seriously, some companies salt frozen hash browns? Between the salty hashbrowns and ham, well, we just couldn't finish this casserole.

The other waste is a container of cheese spread found way, way back in the refrigerator. I don't know how old this is. I seem to recall eating some of it when I was pregnant for my daughter, and she is almost 14 months now. Oops.

Great Deals at Jewel!

I made several "trips" (actually going to my car to put the groceries I just purchased in there and then going back into the store) to Jewel today and stocked up on these items:

13 cans Progresso Soup
5 pkgs. Crescent rolls
21 boxes Green Giant steamer veggies
1 jar marshmellow creme
1 can evaporated milk
2 International Delights coffee drink
1 box of cheese garlic bread (not pictured)

I bought all of the above for $26.20, and I have a $5 off my next order coupon.

My total would have only been $18.02 if I had been able to resist the coffee drink, but as I used to be a Starbucks fiend and I am trying to avoid wasting my money there, I don't mind paying the $8 for the two cans. I will get 20 to 30 drinks out of those two tins for the same price I would pay for just 2 coffee drinks at Starbucks.

Grocery Shopping, 12/15/09

I have been experimenting with our grocery budget lately, and I think a good number for us is $70 to $75 a week. That is for two adults, two kids and two cats. I could manage a lower amount weekly if I didn't have to pay for cat food and litter or diapers, but with that included in the budget no more than an average of $75 a week is what I am shooting for.

Dominicks:

3- 8 oz. bags cheese = 2.97
2 gallons milk = 3.98
32 oz. frozen corn = 2.50
32 oz. frozen peas = 2.50
12 pack yogurt = 4.99
Little Smokies = 3.50
stew meat = 4.29
bananas = 1.09
apples = 2.83
5 lbs. clementines = 3.99
1 lb. carrots = .99
1 bag spinach = 2.49
1 lb. baby carrots = .99
4 lbs. organic oranges = 4.99
Total = 43.57

Jewel:

Ricotta cheese = 3.69
2 onions = 1.39
3 lbs. chicken breast = 6.17
Pirate's booty = 2.99
eggs = 1.29
Total = 15.23

The grand total for the week including my trip to CVS and to Walgreens = 67.89

Walgreens, 12/13/09

I tend not to take advantage of the Register Rewards at Walgreens. Because they have only a two week turnaround time, I inevitably forget about them or let them go to waste. I have done this more times than I can count. But a few weeks ago, I had to take advantage of the toy deal and contact solution. I netted $13 in RR, and they were set to expire today.

First I used the $5 RR to buy a 7.99 bottle of contact solution and earn $8 RR. I paid 3.26 OOP.

Then, I did two more transactions, each for a pack of Huggies. For each transaction, I used one $8 RR and paid $1.80 OOP.

Total for all transactions = 6.86 OOP, and I earned $4 RR.

CVS, 12/13/09

Once again, my trip was about turning around ECBs. But all of the free Christmas items don't hurt! Thanks, CVS!

2 Merry Brite packages of tissue wrap = 3.98, earned 3.98 ECBs
2 Merry Brite name tags = 3.98, earned 3.98 ECBs
2 Merry Brite bags bows = 5.98, earned 5.98 ECBs
1 panty liners = .99

I used 13.97 in ECBs and earned 13.94 in ECBs.
OOP I paid $2.23.

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Butterscotch Treats--A Quick, Easy Dessert

Are you being bombarded with holiday invitations and potlucks? I recently tried this recipe for Butterscotch Treats.

They were so easy to make and frugal too! I estimate it cost me roughly 2.25 to make 16 cookies or roughly 14 cents a cookie. The hands on preparation time was only about 10 minutes, and then I had to wait about 1 hour for them to harden. It doesn’t get any easier than this during the holidays, and these cookies are GOOD!

Food Waste, 12/9/09

Our food waste this week was not too bad. We had about 1 cup of brown rice and about 4 to 5 bites of fruit salad. I am still striving for a no waste week.

To post your own food waste or see other's, follow The Frugal Girl on Fridays.

A Quick, Simple Tip

Thanks to all of the recent drugstore offers of virtually free contact solution (buy one for $9.99, get 9.99 ECBs, etc.) I have plenty of contact solution to last me until the next great sale.

I was arranging my toiletries storage area, and I wanted to make sure none of the contact solution expired before I got to use it. I simply used a permanent marker to mark the expiration date of each bottle on the front of the box and then I placed them in order of expiration on the shelf. Now I can be sure none of it goes to waste!

Grocery Shopping, 12/7/09

ALDI:

2 gallons milk= 3.58
1 loaf bread = 1.69
1 bag spinach = 1.99
1 carton eggs = .89
3 stuffed chicken entrees = 2.97
bananas = .99
2 grapefruit = 1.18
1 carton cottage cheese = 1.89
1 pineapple = 1.49
10 lb. potatoes = 1.99
Total = 19.38

Jewel:

3 Quaker Oats = 7.50
1.85 lb. apples = 4.61 (she rang these up as $2.49 lb/ they were advertised as .77/lb. Grrrrrr.)
1 broccoli crown = .68
3# tangerines = 2.99
pears = 2.60
carrots = .68
5# grapefruit = 2.99
Lean Cuisine meal = 1.99
Pirates Booty = 2.79
Total = 30.38

Dominick's:

2 cans pumpkin = 5.18
2 gallons milk = 3.98
2 Weight Watchers meals = 5.00
1 lb. ground turkey = 1.79
4.5 # chicken breasts = 7.52
navel oranges = 2.42
Total = 26.47

Total for the week = 76.29

Menu Planning, 12/6/09

Monday--Omelet, Fried Potatoes, Strawberry-Banana Smoothies
Tuesday--Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Wednesday--Turkey Dinner Casserole & Broccoli
Thursday--Noodles & Miso Soup
Friday--Red Lobster like Crab Alfredo & Cheese-Garlic Biscuits
Saturday--Kielbasa Bean Slow Cooker Soup
Sunday--Chicken & Rice Cheese Bake

Breakfasts will be Breakfast Mueseli, oatmeal, cereal, eggs, fruit, toast, muffins, etc.

Lunches will be sandwiches or leftovers.

CVS, 12/06/09

Today's trip was simply to turn around ECBs. Plus, I can always use free contact solution, and we will use the ornaments on our little tree that is up high so my daughter can't pull everything off. My son loved the Santa hat.

Contact solution = 9.99, earned 9.99 ECBs
Santa hat = 3.99, earned 3.99 ECBs
2 pkgs. ornaments = 3.98, earned 3.98 ECBs
Mentos = 1.69

I used 18.99 in ECBs and earned 17.96 in ECBs.

I paid $1.75 OOP and saved $18.99 for a savings of 91.5%.

I shared this post at Money Saving Mom and Saving Cents with Sense.

My Grandma's Macaroni & Cheese

My grandma used to make this for her family of 9 kids every Friday. Growing up, we ate it quite a bit, and it is now one of my son's favorite meals.

My Grandma's Macaroni & Cheese

1 lb. elbow macaroni

1.5 lbs. colby longhorn cheese

28 oz. can tomatoes

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. salt

Cook macaroni until slightly undercooked. Drain.

Meanwhile, process tomatoes in a food processor to make fairly smooth.

Place the butter in a pan on the stove (I use the same one the macaroni cooked in) and add the blended tomatoes and salt. Stir until the butter is melted, then add the drained macaroni. Stir all together.

Place the tomato/macaroni mix in a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with non-stick spray.

Cut the cheese into slices about 1/8 inch thick. Put some pieces into the center of the macaroni (about 4 to 5 pieces) just use your finger to shove it into the middle layer of the macaroni, then put the rest of the cheese slices on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. My mom likes the top to turn brown and get a little bit crunchy; we like it a little less cooked than that so the cheese is melted but still gooey. Enjoy!

(P.S., this may gross some people out, but this meal is very good with cottage cheese on the side, or in my case, cottage cheese stirred right into the cooked macaroni & cheese.)

I shared this post at The Grocery Cart Challenge, $5 Dinners & Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

Monthly Financial Goals Update

I have always dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom, and now, with our third child due in April, we are trying to get “gazelle intense” as Dave Ramsey says and make the most of my income. Hopefully, if my husband finishes his Ph.D. this next semester, I will be able to realize my dream.

Here are our goals for the remaining few months until the baby is born and our progress:

Save 5 months’ of living expenses. Thus far we have saved 18%, which is approximately 3.5 weeks of living expenses.

Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away. This not happened yet. However, we are having a grocery challenge this month, which is helping to curb our spending (and use up some of our grocery stockpile!)

Pay off 50% of my business debt. Unfortunately we made very little progress on this this month. E-bay pulled all of my listings because I didn’t have a return policy, and I am still working on getting them all back up. Without the bulk of my inventory listed, I made very little money. Thus far I have paid off 9.4%.

Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay. In November I sold $36,(in addition to the $166 I sold in September and October) so I have sold a total of $202, making this goal 40% complete.

I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!

Freezer Cooking Days Update

As I mentioned in my meal plan for the week, I did some freezer cooking for the month.

I must be honest, I really hate batch cooking like this. I much prefer to just double a recipe each night and freeze one half for later. However, knowing that this month will be a busy one, I set aside yesterday and part of today to cooking several meals.

Today I made this:


2 batches of One Pot Stuffed Pepper Dinner
1 loaf of meatloaf
1 batch Grandma's Fruit Salad (to eat this week)
(We ate the rest of the soup for dinner tonight and have another meatloaf made for Wednesday's dinner.)

Yesterday I made this:


1 pan Turkey Enchiladas
2 pans Turkey Dinner Casserole
1 pan Cheddar Turkey Casserole
20 Breakfast Burritos

This should make roughly 10 meals for us and several breakfasts. I was also hoping to make pumpkin muffins, but I can't find pumpkin in our stores.

We're Having . . .

We are having a girl!! We had the ultrasound today and found out it is a girl.

My husband is happy because our other daughter will be 18 months when the new baby is born. He is hoping they will be great friends. I hope so too.

My best friend when I was little had two sisters about 18 months apart, and they terrorized one another. Hopefully ours will get along great.

Plus, I get to recycle all of my daughter's Gymboree clothes she just outgrew. Now the long wait until April when we actually get to see the baby!

Menu Planning, 11/29/09

My husband and I made our first turkey this year. We followed Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Thanksgiving Recipe, and it turned out great. The only glitch (and it was a big one!) was that we were driving 3 hours to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving, and we didn’t remember to bring the turkey that was unthawing in the refrigerator until we were only one hour away from our destination. So, the turkey was cooked on Saturday night instead when we came back home.

Crystal at Money Saving Mom and Jessica at Life as Mom are hosting a once-a-month-freezer cooking day this week, and I plan to join in. From previous experience, I know if I just stick cubes of leftover turkey in the freezer, it will never get eaten, so I am planning on freezing the following meals:

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Cheddar Turkey Casserole OAMC
Turkey Dinner Casserole
Wild Rice & Turkey Soup
Breakfast Burritos OAMC
Grandma’s Fruit Salad
pumpkin muffins (assuming I can find any pumpkin; right now the stores around here are out)

I’ll report back on Tuesday and let you know the progress I made!

This week we will also be making:

Monday--Turkey Quesadillas
Tuesday--Meatloaf, rice & veggie
Wednesday--Chicken & Rice Bake

Thursday--One Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
Friday--leftovers
Saturday & Sunday--frozen meals or something easy.

Lunches will be leftovers.
Breakfasts will be omelets, fruit, Grandma’s fruit salad, breakfast muesli, and pumpkin muffins.

Black Friday Deals

Did you brave the crowds and malls this morning? I am not much of a Black Friday shopper. I don't like waiting in line in the cold and then dealing with all of the zealous shoppers pushing and shoving to get their good deal.

However, I did visit gymboree.com and managed to snag a winter coat for my daughter for $11.20. Right now they are offering 30% off much of their merchandise and winter coats for $14. I used a 20% off coupon I bought online on eBay. I also got my son and daughter a few nice, cozy warm pajamas. Best of all, I did all my shopping in my pajamas and didn't have to deal with any pushing or shoving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Plans for a Frugal Christmas

With our third baby on the way, it is more important to us than ever that I soon be able to quit my job and be a stay-at-home mom, so we are trying to save as much money as we can.

We plan to implement a number of strategies this year to have a frugal Christmas.

--I won a $25 Kohl’s gift card from the Huggies Enjoy the Rides program, so we plan to use that.

--I also have points built up from a number of different websites—Swagbucks and Pampers rewards, to name a few. If we have to, we can also redeem those.

--My mom loves restaurant gift cards, and I found out that I can redeem points from my credit card to get these for free.

--I already have all my son's presents. I bought him a combination of in good shape toys at garage sales and a few new toys after last year's Christmas season. In addition, I bought him some Gymboree clothes on clearance last winter for this winter.

--I have taken advantage of several good or free photo book deals by following Money Saving Mom's blog.

It is possible to have a nice (and frugal) Christmas. These are just a few strategies we are implementing to have a relaxing, enjoyable season without the high price tag.

Grocery Shopping Monday, 11/23/09

I went to three stores this week and stocked up quite a bit:

Meijer:

2 Bags Purina One cat food = 12.56 - 2-$5.00 Qs = 2.56
4 bags Meijer veggies = 4.00
2 bags Steamer Veggies = 2.58 - 2-.40 Qs = 1.78
1 box macaroni = 1.34
1 pkg. floss = 2.97
2 pkgs. chunk cheese = 7.96 - 1-1.50 Q & 1-1.00 Q = 5.46
1 bottle apple juice = 1.67
2 pkgs butter spread = 3.38 - 1.00 Q = 2.38

TOTAL = 24.07

Aldi:

1 gallon milk = 1.79
3 lbs. oranges = 3.29
3 stuffed chicken breasts = 2.97
1 pkg. broccoli = 1.99
1 bag baby carrots = .99
1 bag spinach = 1.99
1 pkg. mushrooms = 1.39
1 pineapple = 1.49
1 bunch bananas = .62
1 bottle grape juice = 2.29
1 box Uncle Ben's rice = 1.69
1 bottle egg nog = 1.69
1 pkg. eggs = .89
1 pkg bread = 1.69
1 can peaches = 1.49
1 can pears = 1.49
1 can pumpkin = .79
1 can pineapple = .89
1 bag caramels = 1.99

TOTAL = 33.42

Dominick's (no picture):
4 cans chicken broth = 2.00
1 box granola bars = .99
1 butter spread = 1.99
1 loaf bread = 1.79
1 12.5 lb. turkey = 5.47
1 sweet potato = 1.21
3 pears = 1.52

TOTAL = 15.52

Walgreens = 9.50 groceries

Total for the week = 82.51
Total for my new grocery challenge =161.12
Remaining for next two weeks = 79.88

Menu Planning, 11/22/09

Here are our plans for Thanksgiving week:



Monday--Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with veggie
Tuesday--leftovers
Wednesday--chili
Thursday--Oven Roasted Turkey w/ Sage Butter, Whipped Sweet Potatoes with/ Bananas, Stuffing, Veggies
Friday--Turkey Hashed Browns & veggie
Saturday--Turkey Tetrazzini & veggie
Sunday--leftovers

For breakfasts this week, I made Pumpkin Muffins & Strawberry Oatmeal Bars. We will also have eggs, cereal, and fruit.

Lunches will be sandwiches or leftovers.

Walgreens, 10/22/09

I almost never shop at Walgreens, but I decided to today to take advantage of some good bargains.

(I almost wish I hadn't though, because some father brought his very sick little girl--she had a nasty cough, a flushed face and glassy eyes. I am hoping my son did not catch any of her bugs as she was coughing without covering her mouth.)

Play phone toy (for DD for Christmas) 6.99
2 Campbell's tomato soup $1.39/each (was supposed to be .59 each, but apparently the cashier didn't scan the coupon)
4 Starbucks icecream = 10.00 - 2 $1.00 Qs = 8.00 (a pregnancy craving)
1 infant Motrin drops = 10.99 - 1.00 Q = 9.99
I also used a $5/25 order coupon

Total = 21.95

I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.

A Simple, Worthwhile CVS Trip

I had nearly $16 ECBs expiring in 2 days, and I didn't find much in the ad until I came across the contact deal. I got there bright and early this morning to buy two bottles at $8.99 each, and I got back $17.98 in ECBs and used up my expiring ones.

Total OOP = 2.41

I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.

A Perfect Thanksgiving Side--Grandma's Fruit Salad

Are you looking for a lighter, healthier side this Thanksgiving? Try Grandma's Fruit Salad. It is so delicious! We make this all the time and gobble (excuse the pun) it up. Best of all, most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

I shared this post at The Grocery Cart Challenge, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Money Saving Mom.

On Overspending

I have a poll on my blog now (at the sidebar, please take it if you haven't!) asking what people typically overspend money on.

I have been struggling a bit with overspending lately. My overspending is not putting us in debt, but it is not helping us save the 5 to 6 months' worth of income I would like to. Sure, I could make excuses like going back to work full-time, being pregnant, taking care of a 12 month old and a 5 year old, but the bottom line is that I have been trying to "treat myself" with extras.

So, I enjoyed reading through the newest edition of All You magazine and reading what winners of their grocery challenge discovered when they cut their grocery expenses and tried to live more frugally. One 24 year old mother of a 9 month old baby, Megan Ross, stated regarding what she learned, "It's not a treat to spend money you don't have. Eating at restaurants used to feel like a reward that we deserved. But what we really deserve is to be careful and smart with our money, eat nutritious foods and spend quality time together."

Reading that quote really helped me gain perspective and get myself on track. Isn't it funny how one can find inspiration through quotes like that when they are most needed?

Food Waste Wednesday, 11/18/09

I made macaroni and cheese (a pregnancy craving), but when I got ready to make the sauce, I discovered we had no butter. I ate it without butter, but it wasn't very good, so here it is in food waste.

The couscous was leftover from a meal we had multiple times. It was just too much to finish.

The cucumber was what annoyed me the most. We don't waste produce that ofen, and with my $40 challenge last month, that cucumber represented 5% of a week's worth of groceries. We had so few vegetables in the crisper, that we went right to the frozen veggies. This poor cucumber was forgotten about for over a week.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

Early in our marriage, soon after our one year anniversary, my husband and I traveled to my mom’s for Christmas.

At the time, we were on a very tight budget; I was making very little my first year working full-time, my husband was a graduate student, and I had student loan payments and credit card bills from just finishing grad school. We had carefully planned our Christmas and planned to give my mom and brother a combination of store bought items we had found on sale and items we had made by hand, such as a homemade flannel nightgown for my mom.

Ever since I was little, my mom liked to have all the presents even. If her budget was $125 for my brother and $125 for me, it didn’t matter to her that she spent the same amount, she also wanted the number of presents to be the same. So if I got one big, expensive gift, she gave me several smaller gifts so they would equal the same amount of gifts my brother got.

When we came home, the tree was laden with gifts, and she delighted in showing us just how many presents she had for my husband and me. While she was excited, we were dismayed. She had clearly bought MANY more presents for us than we had for her. December 23rd found us out in a cold, snowy night shopping for more presents for her, even though we did not have the money in the budget. We bought her multiple sets of brand new towels and bed linens.

On Christmas morning, my husband and I each got a large, expensive gift. As we opened the other packages, we discovered that SHE had stuck to her budget financially. But because she had wanted the number of presents for everyone to be even, she had bought up tee shirts from work that were left over from academic conferences past. We each got about 5 presents that were these tee shirts; they cost her $1 each.

When I realized what she had done, I was heart sick about the money we had spent unnecessarily when we bought additional presents, not to keep up with the Jones’, but to keep up with my mother!! She had a great Christmas and truly needed and enjoyed the towels, but a large portion of the day was ruined for me as I thought about the debt we had incurred.

In January when we got our credit card bill, my heart dropped. We did not have money to pay it off. We worked like crazy to raise extra money to pay off those unnecessary gifts; it took us until April to finally pay them off.

It was an important lesson to learn early in our marriage. Now we have a budget and stick to it, confident in our gift choices, even if the number of packages under the tree is not exactly the same for each person.

Grocery Shopping, 11/16/09

For the last 4 weeks, I challenged myself to only spend $40 a week. That was doable for a month, but not sustainable. I have upped my limit to $60 a week for the next 4 weeks to see if that could be a sustainable amount.

ALDI:

2 gallons milk = 3.58
1 loaf bread = 1.69
2 dozen eggs = 1.78
1 carton cottage cheese = 1.89
1 carton plain yogurt = 1.59
1 bunch bananas = 1.09
1 box raisins = 1.65
4 tomatoes = 1.69
2 bags shredded cheese = 4.58
3 broccoli cheese stuffed chicken breasts = 2.97
1 bag mini marshmallows = .85
TOTAL = 23.07

TARGET:

I will be honest, I made some stupid purchases here. I bought stuff we didn't need just because we had a coupon (and it's been so long since I have used coupons!) Silly. Silly.

5 packages Up Wipes = 2.85 (had a Q for $1.00 off each one)
3 packages Up Wipe Refills = 2.67 (same Q)

2 packages Toddler wipes = 1.94 (same Q)
1 pkg. tortillas = 1.89
4 boxes w. wheat pasta = 4.08
6 ct. cookies = 1.99
1 box pancake mix = 1.59
4.5 lbs. fuji apples = 4.66
2 bags frozen veggies = 2.08
2 bags Ore-Ida steam potatoes = 4.00 (had $1/1 Q)
1 container juice = .97

1 roll paper towel = .99
2 cans cat food = .83

Total = 29.32

MITSUWA (No picture):

4 packs tofu = 5.16
1 package soba noodles = 1.99
1 package udon noodles = 2.99
1 pkg. tofu wrappers = 3.99
10 lb. bag sticky rice = 10.99

Total = 25.12

Total for the week = 78.51

Remainder left for next 3 weeks = 161.49

Menu Planning, 11/15/09

I have been feeling a little dizzy lately and tired. I think it is the combination of being in the second trimester, still nursing my daughter and not getting enough sleep, so I am going to try to up my protein intake and see if that helps. You'll notice some meat heavy recipes this week.

Monday--Lighter Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Veggie
Tuesday--Grilled Cheese & Tuscan Bean Soup
Wednesday--Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Thursday--Chicken Quesadillas
Friday--dinner out
Saturday--Chicken Fried Steak Strips, Mashed Potatoes & Veggie
Sunday--leftovers

Breakfasts will include--Omelet for Two, Makeover Oatmeal Bake, Grandma's Fruit Salad, toast, and pancakes.

Lunches will be leftovers and sandwiches.

Iranian Kebob

When I was little (in the 70s), my mom's best friend had a roommate who dated an exchange student from Iran. He made this for a dinner party one night, and my mom loved it.

The recipe has been in our family for 30 years now, so I don't know how authentic it is anymore, I don't even know if Kebob is the real name for it, but we love it.

Iranian Kebob


4 eggs (separate the yolks & whites)
2 - 3 tbsps. turmeric
1 onion, diced in large pieces
salt & pepper to taste
1 lb. beef
4-5 whole tomatoes
3 c. cooked rice
1/2 stick butter

In a blender, mix the egg whites, onion, turmeric and salt and pepper. Blend until liquified.


Pour the blender mixture into the ground beef and mix together with hands. (The mix will be very wet at this point.) Form the meat into two patties on the bottom of a broiler pan sprayed with non-stick spray.


Core the tomatoes and place whole on the broiler, centered over the meat so any tomato juice drops will fall on the meat. Cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, cook the rice. You can use white or brown, but I think white just tastes better for this dish.

After 45 minutes, broil the meat and tomatoes for 5-10 minutes. (Make sure the tomatoes don't burn.) Remove from oven.

Place the butter in the bottom of a large bowl. Pour the hot, cooked rice over it. Let the butter melt and then stir. Add the egg yolks and stir until all blended.

Peel the tomatoes. Add them and the cooked meat to the bowl with the rice. Stir all together, salt to taste, and serve.

I shared this post at Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays , $5 Dinners and Life as Mom.

Lessons Learned from My Grocery Challenge

Over the last 4 weeks, I challenged myself to only spend $40 a week for groceries. It was a challenge, but I am happy to report that I was quite successful. (My weekly total averaged a little less than $43 a week.)

I learned several things:

Shopping at Aldi is a great way to save money. I never used to go to Aldi because the one near us was dirty and always very busy. I recently found one close to work that is clean and much less busy. Even though the challenge is over, I will still be going there.

Our budget didn't support the cat food we were buying. We adopted our cats from a foster home when they were little; they were fed Purina One there, so we just kept buying that. Now, however, we are slowly transitioning our cats to a less expensive brand.

We have a lot of food stocked up. When I started the challenge, our deep freezer and little freezer over the refrigerator were both completely full. Now, the deep freezer is about 2/3 full as is the little freezer. We still have a great deal of meat stocked up, which will make it easier to try to keep our grocery bill low.

I would have a very difficult, almost impossible, time regularly spending $40 a week without using coupons. Even with coupons, I don't see how I could sustain that amount if the freezer were not full of meat.

This challenge was a great activity for me. I was routinely spending $350 a month for groceries. Now I see that it can be done for less, much less. For the next four weeks, I will try not to spend more than an average of $60 a week. Maybe that will be a sustainable level we can manage month in and month out.

How Being Unorganized the Last Few Months Has Cost Us

For the last few months, ever since I returned to work, our lives have been chaotic and I have become very unorganized. Starting in August, I returned to work full-time; during that time, I have also been trying to give my husband ample time to work on his dissertation so he can graduate, taking care of two kids, trying to save money, running my eBay store, etc.

E-bay through me for a huge loop by pulling down all listings that do not have a return policy. I should have been able to bulk update, but because I needed to fix all my templates to reflect another policy change they made a few months ago, I could not bulk update. I had to update each listing manually. Because I have 2400 items in my store, that adds up to A LOT of time. (I am still not done!)

In addition, we found out we are going to have our third child in April. This is truly a blessing, and we are very happy. However, because I started feeling all of the effects of the first trimester right when I returned to work—nausea, sleepiness, etc—it through our schedule for a loop.

Here is how being unorganized and too busy these past few months has cost us:

--I recently discovered my $10 off your next order for Jewel expired 4 days ago.

--I found $4 ECBs that had expired

--While I am stacking up all of my coupon inserts, I have not clipped them since August and have not realized very many savings from them. Who knows how much I could have saved if I had diligently used coupons.

--We have a $17 subscription to Blockbuster for monthly deliveries, but we have not watched a movie since early summer. I need to cancel this!

--We have eaten out, albeit at cheaper restaurants, much more frequently than we used to.

--The library just called and said I have a magazine out that was due October 10th. I didn't remember that and have no idea now where the magazine is!

--Instead of making my own baby food as I did in the summer, I had to resort to store bought baby food frequently the last few weeks. Luckily, she is eating table food almost entirely now.

These are just a few ways being unorganized and too busy has cost us money. I am sure there are more, but I can't think of them all now!

Grocery Shopping, 11/9/09

I entered this 4th week of my grocery challenge with $17 and some change for groceries. Here is how I did:

Aldi (not pictured):
2 gallons milk
1 bag bananas
2 cartons eggs
1 jug apple juice

Total = 7.60

Rite Aid:

Double pack contact solution = 9.99
1 large package baby wipes = 6.99
1-20 ct. thank you notes = 5.99
1 bag Goldfish = .99

I had a $25 gift card from a diaper deal a few months ago. I was specifically planning on using it this week as I desperately needed contact solution and the money simply wasn't in the grocery budget. However, I lost the gift card!! My son found it, so his treat was the goldfish.

Total OOP = 1.38

Meijer:

12 boxes mac 'n cheese = 4.68 (I know this is not that healthy, but it is a pregancy craving. I have been paying $1.00 a box, so I was glad to snatch these up at .39/box)
2 packages bacon = 3.58
1-5 lb. bag grapefruit = 2.99
1-3 lb. bag oranges = 4.49
1-3 lb. bag apples = 2.50
1 loaf bread (not pictured) = 1.79

Total = 20.03

Total for the week = 29.01
Total for the 4 week challenge =171.90
Average for each week = 42.98

Menu Planning, 11/8/09

I had very little grocery money left from my 4 week grocery challenge, so many of the recipes this week are items we can make from the pantry or recipes I had earlier that we never actually made.

Monday--Beef Kababs & baby carrots
Tuesday--Salsa Chicken Dump, rice & asparagus spears
Wednesday--Beef Kabab Pita Pockets
Thursday--Kielbasa Bean Soup
Friday--Ultimate Mac 'n Cheese & broccoli & cauliflower blend
Saturday--Omelet for Two
Sunday--dinner out

Breakfasts will be oatmeal, omelettes, cereal, fruit, pancakes
Lunches will be leftovers or sandwiches

A Fun Meal for Kids or a Halloween Meal

My daughter's birthday is just a few days before Halloween, so this year we had her birthday party on Halloween. A few of the food items had a Halloween theme, but I imagine kids would love these recipes any time of the year as it is fun to have food that looks like something.

Remember all of the Crescent rolls I got at Jewel a few weeks ago? I used 5 packages and 40 hot dogs to create these "Crescent Mummy Dogs." Kids and adults a like liked them. In fact we had a little less than 20 people at the party, but only about 5 hot dogs were left at the end.



For one of the appetizers, I created these Ghoul Fingers. I believe I originally saw the idea while watching a Robin Miller episode on Food Network. All you have to do is put a small amount of ranch dressing on the end of the carrot and attach a sliced almond to that to create a fingernail on the finger. This tray was completely gone by the end of the party.

I shared this post at $5 Dinners, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays and The Grocery Cart Challenge.

Grocery Shopping (Very Late Edition)

This is the third week of my grocery challenge.

Dominick's:

2 boxes macaroni & cheese = 2.00 (outrageous price, I know)
6.3 lb. bag of cat food = 7.49
8 pk Yoplait yogurt = 3.99
2 boxes Healthy Choice lunch meat = 2.69

4 pears = 1.06
1 bag organic baby carrots = 1.50
3 lb. bag apples = 3.99
1 pineapple = 1.99
Total = 26.01

Aldi (no picture):

2 gallons milk = 3.78
1 bag bananas = .83
1 loaf bread = 2.00
Total = 6.78

Meijer (no picture):

10 jars baby food = 3.30

Total = 3.42

Total for the week = 36.21

Total for the challenge thus far = 142.89

Remaining for next week =17.11 (Yikes!)

It will be tight making it through this challenge on target. I do still have a $5 Target card and a $10 off your next order for Jewel, plus a $20 rebate from Kraft from their rebate back in August. If I have to, I can use those.

Food Waste Wednesday (Late Edition!)

Notice the big bowl of oats? I was trying to make Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal when I realized, after I had already combined the oats and milk, that I did not have any eggs. I stuck the whole mixture in the refrigerator with plans to finish it today after I bought eggs. But today, it was like concrete, so I had to start all over.

The other waste is some powdered milk that went bad before we drank it and a little bit of banana-strawberry smoothie.

It's a Great Time to Buy a Halloween Costume

Now is a great time to buy your kids' Halloween costumes for next year. Stores are deeply discounting their Halloween merchandise to make way for the holiday merchandise.

I bought my son a pioneer boy costume from Gymboree (photo above) complete with a hat and canteen for approximately $10 (retail is $62.25). It was easy to bring the discounted cost down further because I bought a 20% coupon off eBay. Now he has a complete costume for next year; if he changes his mind and decides that isn't what he wants to be, I can always sell the costume on eBay for a profit.

The Disney Store is also marking down their costumes, though my hunch is if I wait it out they will discount them further in the next few days. Don't forget about other stores such as Sears, JCPenney, and the Pottery Barn. Why pay for an expensive costume next year when you can buy it for 80% off now? Happy shopping.

Our Good News!

My husband and I always wanted three kids. My son and daughter are 4.5 years apart, so we knew the last two would have to be close together if I wanted to have all three before turning 40.

So we were very excited to find out I am now pregnant for number three!! We will know the sex of this little one, due in late April, in just five weeks.

It will be quite a shift for us in that my daughter and the new baby will only be 18 months apart. (If any readers have advice about babies born close together, I am all ears.)

Monthly Goals Update--October Wrap Up

I am now back to work full-time and expect to keep my job until at least April. These are the new goals I am working on to help my dream of being a stay-at-home mom a reality.

Save 5 months’ of living expenses. I get nervous when there isn’t any money in the bank. If I am able to quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that. Thus far we have saved 18%, which is approximately 3.5 weeks of living expenses.

Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away. This not happened yet. However, we are having a grocery challenge this month, which is helping to curb our spending (and use up some of our grocery stockpile!)

Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt. Thus far I have paid off 9.3%.

Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay. In October I sold another $88,(in addition to the $78 I sold in September) so I have sold a total of $166, making this goal 33% complete.

I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!

Taking a Mini-Blogging Break

My daughter seems to have rounded a corner this morning in that her fever has been greatly reduced. She is still tugging at her ears, but she seems better. However, she was also covered in a rash this morning; apparently she is allergic to Amoxicillin, so we got a new prescription from the doctor to start tonight.

Her birthday party is to be on Saturday, and we still plan on holding it if she is up for it. However, because I have been taking care of her all week, we have had no time to plan.

So, I am going to take a mini-blogging break. I'll be back on Sunday. Have a fun Halloween!

Food Waste Wednesday, 10/28/09

Here is what I have determined--sickness and injury are not helpful when trying to reduce food waste.

I pulled a muscle in my back on Wednesday afternoon, and it was so bad I could barely stand. I couldn't go to work on Thursday. It finally started to feel better on Saturday. That same night, my daughter came down with a fever. Her fever rose through the night, and all day Sunday and Monday it hovered at 103; Tylenol and Motrin could only bring it down a degree or two. We got her into the doctor on Monday and were able to give her her first dose of medicine for her double ear infection. Meanwhile, Saturday through Tuesday, she was very lethargic and clingy. She just wanted to be held constantly, so we did that alot. And, in the process, we inadvertently wasted A LOT of food.

I cooked macaroni & cheese Sunday night and collapsed on the couch after my daughter went to bed. I woke up the next morning to find this on the stove:


It had sat out all night. Inadvertent food waste one.

The next day my husband made creamy cooked rice with little bits of chicken for my daughter. It is the Japanese version of chicken noodle soup; it is what people eat when they are sick. Once again we accidentally left it out over night. (It is the tall container in the back.)


Other waste includes one cinnamon roll, some lunch meat slices, a small container of rice, and a container of ricotta cheese that should have been thrown out a few weeks ago.

Today my daughter's fever has broken, so it looks like the medicine is working. Hopefully she will feel better soon so life can get back to normal!

A Grocery Observation

I am a bit of a grocery shopping voyeur. When I am in line, I look at what other people are buying--healthy food? junk food? expensive items?

The other day when I was at the store, a woman in front of me had two boxes of lasagna noodles, two jars of spaghetti sauce, and two pounds of shredded cheese. She threw in two candy bars for good measure. My first thought was that she was making lasagna tonight and that sounded good.

However, I was shocked to hear her total--$24.06--just for the few items I mentioned above.

I like to beat myself up about my grocery bill. (It routinely runs $350/month. I am trying to bring that monthly amount down, which is one of the reasons why I am doing the grocery spending challenge this month.)

However, this woman's order put things in perspective for me. I used to spend about $440/month for groceries. I used to just create a weekly menu and buy what I needed, regardless if it was on sale. Looking at this woman's order and thinking about spending $24 for ingredients that will feed 8 people (and she still had to supply her own meat, ricotta, eggs, etc. at home), made me realize that though it is hard to see on a day-to-day basis, I am indeed learning to be more frugal, and it is helping our finances.

Grocery Shopping Monday, 10/26/09

We ran out of many non-food items this week that hit our budget hard. Here is the damage:

Dominicks, Target & CVS

I used $5 ECBs at CVS for the wipes, so the total was $2.07 OOP.

The three boxes of crackers came from Dominick's in addition to the bread. Total there was $7.94.

The baby detergent came from Target and was $12.94 total.

Jewel (next two pictures):

Total for this order was $17.66, plus I earned a $10 off your next order Catalina that I am saving for next week.

This order came to $16.99. (I don't usually buy this much baby food, but my daughter has been sick for the last two weeks and has been very fussy about what she eats. She is on medication for a double ear infection, so hopefully her eating habits will improve as she begins to feel better.)

Tony's:

This order came to $18.80. Some of the good deals were cheese for $.99 a package, bananas for .39/pound and eggs for .99.

Total for the week = 76.39 OUCH!!

I am $36.39 over my target goal of $40 per week during this challenge. Last week I only spent $30.28, so thus far I have spent $ 106.68.

That leaves me with $53.32 for the next two weeks. It will be tight, but I am hoping the Jewel $10 catalina and a $5 Target card that I have will help.