Wednesday, July 28, 2010

First CVS trip

We finally got a CVS in town so James and I went for a visit last night. I had a portion of my game plan made before going based on some coupons sent in a mail out by CVS and the Aveeno deal.


Transaction 1:
2 Aveeno sunblocks at $9.99 and $10.99 each = $20.98.
1 Gatorade on sale for $0.88 (filler)

Total before sales and coupons = $22.97
Total sales and Q = $14.11 (included a spend $20 get $10 off CVS mail out coupon)
Total OOP w/ tax = $9.89 received a $10 ECB for the Aveeno deal

Transaction 2:
3 Orbit gum on sale for 3/$2
1 Softsoap hand soap on sale for $0.99 used a $0.50 MQ
1 Softsoap body soap on sale for $3 used a $1 MQ
1 Gatorade on sale for $0.88
1 CVS Vitamin C used a free product CVS Q
1 U Kotex panty liners $4.99 used a $1 MQ
2 Snickers Almond bars (fillers and they definitely did not make it home for the picture) $1 on sale

Total before sales and coupons = $23.10
Total sales and Q = $22.75 (included $10 ECB from 1st transaction)
Total OOP w/ tax = $0.37 received a $4.99 ECB for the U Kotex deal

I'm pretty happy with the trip and excited to have spent $10.26 for $46.07 worth of merchandise that I will use. I will deduct the gum and Gatorades from the yearly food budget. ($3.76)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

quick trip

James went to the store today because he got tired of there being nothing in the house and because he was bringing me lunch. OOP = $11.96

Rebate

I received the rebate check for $2.96 from the Tombstone pizza by the slice rebate. I'll add that in to our total. We are really scrimping and scrounging around here because I haven't had the time to go grocery shopping. Sometime soon I will get there.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Groceries - no pic

Quick trip to the store to get a few things. Hoping to not have to go again this month.

OOP = $20.69
Save = $2.29

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Boca what?

One of the girls I work with turned me on to the Boca "chik'n" burgers. I thought I would try them. I found some gum on clearance for $0.75 and we needed bread. Unfortunately I just don't have the time to bake any lately.


Total OOP = $7.94
Saved = $1

Monday, July 12, 2010

New Shoes for James

James asked me to post the story of his new shoes. For all my frugal friends, let me explain something first. James and I have no problems purchasing clothes from consignment or thrift stores; however I draw the line at purchasing used shoes. I know other people put their feet in new shoes also, but they don't wear them for long periods of time. It is just something I can't get past. So here's how James came upon his new pair of dress shoes after the soles of his old pair literally disintegrated.

He was going to drive into the city to look around, but I asked him to stop at Beall's in town first to see if they found anything. He found a pair he liked that was on sale from $70 to $49.99. The only pair they had left was the display model. James said he stood there thinking for a couple of minutes and then decided to ask the sales lady if he could get a discount for the display shoes since there was a little scuff on the heel. She said that she could get him a 10% discount. When they got to the register she said that she could actually give him a 15% discount. So he got a $70 pair of shoes for $46.27 with tax. These shoes will hopefully last him another 20 years like the other pair! He was pretty proud of himself and so was I. Now if I could just get him to do that kind of thing with the food budget!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Eclipse trip into town

We went into town today to watch Eclipse and stopped for a few snacks. I picked up the little snack items to take to work with me. We also stopped at Culver's to get some ice cream after the movie.

Total OOP = $9.19

Friday, July 9, 2010

Carl's Jr.

James cleaned the kitchen again tonight before I got home from work. He didn't want to get the kitchen dirty so we ended up going out to dinner for something quick. We went to Carl's Jr. and both got special combo meals that were on sale. OOP = $7.56

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

We picked some wild Mustang grapes from our property. James cleaned them all and here's how many we picked.


He processed the grapes and made a lot of grape juice. He used 5 cups of it and sugar and sure-jell to make 4 pints of grape jelly. He had a lot of juice left so he froze it so that he could just thaw it out and make jelly again when we run out.



Quick trip this morning

Quick trip this morning to pick up the previously mentioned sugar and a few other things. The yogurt in the picture is actually for the dogs so it doesn't count towards the grocery budget. Not pictured are the donuts we ate on the way home. :)


Total OOP = $12.22
Total saved = $3.02

Saturday, July 3, 2010

More canning

Thanks to my neighbors (again), we were able to get 2 pounds of tomatoes from their yard. James wanted to make more salsa, so he went to a local farmer's market and got 6 pounds of "ugly" tomatoes for $5.50. These were the not pretty tomatoes that are difficult to sell, the "pretty" ones were $2.50 a pound. Then he had to go to the store and buy supplemental veggies and items to make the salsa. He also decided to throw the budget aside and buy several pounds of tomatillos...which was not discussed before hand. Thus the OOP for this does not seem fiscally responsible and I am embarrassed to post it = $16.68.


Here's a picture of what was produced. Six cans of salsa and three cans of tomatillo sauce. Yep, that's right, it comes out to about $1.85 a can. I can get salsa from the store for less than a dollar a jar with a coupon (although I will admit that it doesn't taste as good). In his efforts to make his complete disregard for the budget not seem as bad, James says "Yea, but they are not loaded with preservatives and I enjoyed making it."

Tomorrow expect to see more OOP when James has to pick up sugar, and who knows what else? He's picking up sugar to make wild grape jelly using Mustang grapes we picked from around our house.

Add $14.16 OOP for eating out last night and $13 for eating tonight since James didn't get anything out for dinner while I was at work (he was canning all day).

I think we are going to have to starve for the rest of the month.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Two things

I've been sick for the last couple of days so we haven't been eating anything new. I do need to take a picture of the two bags of wild grapes we picked so James can make some grape jelly.

James stopped at the store yesterday to get a bag of cheese and some tortillas. OOP = $2.78

This weekend will be busy for me also so I don't plan on doing any shopping or cooking anything new. Hopefully next week will be better.

2011 Challenge = Support Local Eateries

Read about our 2011 Challenge here.