August and back from our family visits!

So while we were away visiting family, I was so excited to continue saving $$. OF COURSE- because who wouldn't be, right!?

A lot of my savings came from taking a good bit of my stockpile with me. I took 5 packs of diapers, 4 packs of wipes and enough formula to get through to the last days. I really did well there, and was proud of myself for thinking ahead and having a stockpile to draw from. I also saved $$ because I took my trustee binder with me, and took it with me EVERYWHERE. Literally :) I found that TargetTucson (as I call it) was one of my favorite places, because it now has grocery! FULL grocery! So not only do I use my Target q, and my manuf. q, but I also use my Target debit exclusively and get an additional 5%! In one trip, I saved $88 and so half of that covered mom's brand new vacuum -- not sure if I posted that already.

Anyhow, I did a rough total and in June I saved $500!! Then not so much for July. July I didn't have to spend a whole heck of a lot because I was still visiting family. This is how I was able to put $600 on one cc -- wooohoooo go us! More on that later-

It is now August, and I plan to blog weekly. I have already shopped Target once and saved $25, also earning a $5 giftcard. Not a huge savings, but savings nonetheless.

Until next time ~

Vacation and savings!

I have been on vacation for 2 weeks and I brought my coupons with me. If you had told me 2 months ago I would actually PACK coupons, I would have laughed in your face and told you YAH right!! BUT! I have saved almost $200, while here, just on groceries (and using Target card) at least! Tonight alone, I saved $21 and some change! That means that for the formula I purchased, I paid for one and got one free basically. How cool is that! And the $$ I saved the other day "paid for" Mom's new vacuum!

Life is good :)

Had to get some things from WM...

without coupons.... UGH!

Later this week, I'll be going through my q to make a trip up to Fry's for our time here at Mom's :)

I am missing my coupons!!

$aving$$

Got a notice that our loan has been adjusted to reflect the 6% interest rate - instead of 11! I have a few more phone calls to finish up this week, but we should be making excellent progress in the savings arena!!!

woohoooooo!

So behind!

The GOOD thing is, I haven't had to grocery shop in about 3 weeks - woohooooo! The bad thing is, I'm way behind on my couponing! This week, since I'm almost finished with this term, I'll have more time to get my binder together. I'm taking it with us to AZ, so that while we're there if we need anything I'll be all set :) I have to get my coupons together for the girls on FB and get those out this week!

It's been a month!

After adding up all totals, it looks like we saved just over $400 the month of May! We're hoping to beat that in June :) I'll be off the blog for a big while Brian prepares to head out -

Inventory and start of shopping list(s)

I've decided to dedicate every Saturday/Sunday afternoon to do a check on my inventory and create my menu based somewhat off of my stock (which will build over time - yay!) and then create my shopping lists, plus add what I can based on sales. My goal this next week is to spend only $60. I actually think this sounds like a lot, but of course the prices on things are going up, up, up before our eyes. So I tried to give myself a cushion.

Inventory so far looks like:
Meat and other frozen
ground beef ~ 5 lb frozen (prepared)
chicken breasts ~ 1 1/2 bags
pork chops ~ 1 pkg frozen
fro veggies ~ 6 bags

Canned goods
canned gr. beans ~ 4
canned corn ~ 3
petite diced tomatoes ~ 6
cream of's ~ 10
tomato sauce

Pasta
spaghetti (double check pantry)
lasagne ~ 0
ditalini ~ 1
elbow macaroni ~ 2
various others ~ 7

chicken broth ~ 2 cartons

Additional perishable:
fruit
green pepper
tomato
milk


Staples this week
salt
pepper
Mrs. Dash
ketchup
BBQ sauce


* will indicate I can use it for more than one recipe

TO GET:
onion ~ 1
celery
carrots ~ 1 bag mini
red potatoes

This is a work in progress - tomorrow I will be posting recipes and starting my list(s)!