Meal plan and September goal

James and I have been tossing around some new ideas to try for the month of September. One of my jobs will be over next weekend, so I'll have the time to work on meals and saving money again. I had been mulling over the idea of cutting back on processed foods, even though we don't buy a lot as it is, but we had gotten worse at it over the summer. James thought it was a good idea. The only problem is there are a few items that James and I both prefer the pre-made versions better than homemade. Our goal is to not purchase any prepackaged, processed convenience foods during the month of September with the following exceptions: peanut butter, jelly, syrup, tortilla chips, pasta, and dairy products. I also put in a little caveat about cereal. . .I would only buy it if it was a really good deal that I could use some high dollar coupons on. Since we already have some items in the house, we can eat what we already have, but are not allowed to purchase these items.

Also back for the month of September a grocery budget! We are going to start with $80 a month and I'll work my way back down to $50.

Meal plan for the week:
Monday: Crockpot Tamale Pie with Chili Cornmeal Crust
Tuesday: Grilled pizza
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Blackened tilapia with rice pilaf
Friday: Pink pasta and foccacia

Kohl's trip

James and I made a quick trip to Austin on Saturday morning. We stopped at Kohl's and he found a bunch of deals on clothes. When we were leaving the store, he asked me if we should post his deals. Cute, right? The sandals are mine by the way!


Adidas sandals: $29.99 on clearance for $13.97 (I've waited for a long time to get a pair of these)
2 pairs of cargo shorts: $40 on clearance for $8 each = $16
Golf shirt (collar): $44 on clearance for $8.80
Blue shirt: $32 on clearance for $6.40
Green shirt: $32 on clearance for $3.20

Total before clearance and Kohl's cash: $217.99 (So outrageous!)
Total clearance: $169.62
Total Kohl's cash used: $20.00
Total OOP w/ tax: $30.68 (86% savings)

Today's Grocery Trip

I needed to go grocery shopping for some things today. I ended up with a couple of surprises, but I'm okay with those. Not a lot of processed stuff. . .we are thinking of doing a limited "no processed food" challenge next month. There will be some exceptions and we are each working on our lists! As usual, I don't have access to any stores that actually have decent sales. I also didn't get to use a lot of coupons because the things I bought didn't match up with coupons I have.

Just the summary of expenses today:

Total before sales and Q: $61.26
Total sales: $4.27
Total Q: $8.67 (did a meal deal at HEB - thus the canned chili)
Total OOP: $52.59

This trip, in addition to what we have in our pantry, should last us about 3 weeks.

Daisy after her bath!

Bath day for the girls

Just a note, our greyhounds do not enjoy bath time!

Fancy looking super pretty.

Mary mid-shake!

Daisy making a mess!

Darla, the fuzzball, after the bath.

I'm trying to upload a video, but my computer is taking forever to do it. I've tried multiple times, but nothing is working.

Deodorant deal

After looking at a deal at It's Hip to Save, I thought I'd give it a try since we were in town tonight. A quick stop at Target yielded the following deal. The manager was nice enough to let us do all of them in the same transaction even though the Target coupon stated that only one offer per transaction.

4 Dove Ultimate Smooth deodorants: $3.29 each - 4 $2 MQ - 4 $1 Target Coupons = $1.16

Total before Q: $13.16
Total Q: $12
Total OOP w/ tax: $1.26 (91%) savings

So I don't feel like a hypocrite, we did go to CostCo and drop $80 in the same night. James loves his Charmin and we loaded up on peanut butter for me and the dogs (I think they eat more of it than I do.) Plus we got a couple other things.

Copious Amounts of JUNK!

Feeling a little upset about things I made a trip to HEB. Turned into a junk trip with a few needed things thrown in. 2 Kid Cuisine meals: $1.79 each - $0.75/2 MQ = $2.83
1 All Bran Cereal (for dogs): $3.18 - $1 MQ = $2.18
3 Mars candy bars: $0.74 each - 3 FREE MQ = FREE
2 Eclipse Gum: $1.04 each - BOGO MQ = $1.04
1 Burt's Bees Lifeguard lip balm: $3.29 - FREE MW = FREE
1 Micro fiber rag: $1
1 Kraft shredded cheese: $2.29 - $1 MQ = $1.29
2 Smucker Caramel topping: $1.69 each - 2 $0.75 MQ = $1.88
1 Reynold's baking cups: $0.89
1 Bama Jelly: $1.29
1 Horizon yogurt (for dogs): $0.75

Total before Q: $24.18
Total Q: $11.05
Total OOP w/ tax: $13.32 (46% savings on my junk)

Pillsbury Orange Rolls

I didn't get a picture, but I found a little bit of a good deal. James loves the Pillsbury Orange Rolls that usually run around $1.89 at HEB. I went there this morning to pick up some Milkbones for the girls and just happened to walk by the refrigerated section (thanks remodeling)! I found the rolls on clearance for $0.90 and they don't expire until the end of September. Of course, I didn't have my coupons but I bought five packages anyway!!!

Link to Jamie's giveaway!

Jamie at I Am A Money Magnet has a giveaway right now also. She is giving away Yo-Plait Fiber One pack. I'm excited about this because James likes this yogurt. Here's the link and wish me luck!

Check these out!

Lindsay at Frugal and Fabulous has a great giveaway going on! She was offered the chance to giveaway a pair of these cool flipflops called "Switchflops." check out the giveaway here. Check it out!

My Cute Beasties!

I stopped at the store and got my beasts a box of Frosty Paws - a frozen dog treat. They love these, but they are kind of expensive so I don't get them very often.

Fancy: (So precious!)
Mary: (She was the last one to lay down to eat hers.)

Darla: (Doesn't she just look like she is in a Zen moment?)

Daisy: (My maniacal beast!)

James' Birthday Blessings.

Using my Cricut machine, I used the idea of "Birthday Blessings" to celebrate James' birthday. I did three days of celebration. Each day I used a card (pictured above) and wrote a message on the back. The message had a clue to the location I had put that day's birthday blessing. James receive money for a fishing license, Gobstoppers, a meal out, Hot Tamales, and a plane ticket to visit his family for several days. He seemed happy with his surprises!

July Recap

I have a half day off today so I can take a little bit of time to do a recap of July. Because I'm still working two jobs, we haven't been keeping track of a grocery budget.

Books read = 11

Magazines read = 12

Freebies received = 8 (I haven't had time to apply for these and have been trying to cut back anyway.)