My Score at the Store

 Excuse my rhyming title. I keep trying to get a handle on this grocery thing, and it is hard. Food is at an all time high, however, when shopping you must think about the needs of your family.

Most of our dinners include meat, and that won't be changing anytime soon. I personally could eat many meatless meals, but I have to meet the needs of everyone in my house.

So even though I am not an extreme couponer, I did extremely well on Saturday at my local Stop & Shop. While that isn't really my favorite store, it is a good place to go for strategic shopping because they run good sales and double your coupons. My shopping included lots of produce, which I mainly bought on sale. I would never not buy produce. It is an essential part of our diet and must be purchased even without coupons. 

My score included:
Family size boxes of cereal $8.00 (after coupons and b1g1-not awesome, but we do eat a lot of cereal
Horizon crackers -2 boxes with a b1g1 coupon
Fish sticks for 50% off each box-feeding my family fish sticks doesn't really win me mother of the year, but we all have flaws
Two bags of cookies with a coupon
Free ice cream (for buying the cookies)
Bread for $1.50 a loaf (whole wheat-no hfcs-already plenty in the cookies)
Bacon-oops
Large package chicken drumsticks
Shredded Cheese
Canned tomatoes
Canned pineapple
Granola bars
Laundry soap
Multi-pack tissues
Eggs
Deli turkey
Deli cheese
Two boxes of yogurt tubes
Tuna (two cans)
Hummus (large container)
Produce, including squash, carrots, grapes, apples, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, and strawberries
Sponges
Napkins-I try to use cloth and keep some paper on hand
Large storage bags (really for my classroom)

All together my order was only $104 and change. It was really amazing. I received a $5.00 in the mail as well as $2.00 off produce. I was also able to load an additional $5.00 off onto my Stop & Shop card. In addition, I had multiple coupons for other products that were on sale. I know I could skip the junk food and save some more, but you have to have something. Also, I did not buy much meat. I have some meals planned with things we had on hand.

I was super impressed with my trip, but we have already eaten a lot of produce.  It really goes fast.  I hope to get through two weeks on an allotted budget. We will see.

Changing Habits

Throughout the summer I have made a great change in my daily or weekly habits. Not that it is earth shattering or something that will change the world. It isn't a new idea that I came up with. It is an old idea that people have been talking about forever, but since I have implemented it, I find that it is working extremely well.

No more coffee when I am out.  Not an astounding accomplishment to many, but to me it is huge. On average I probably purchased 4-5 coffees a week. This included Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and Cumberland Farms. Not cheap. I will say Cumberland Farms coffee is surprisingly good and the cheapest of the three.

On the way to work I didn't always stop for coffee. I do make it at home, but sometimes I needed just a bit more caffeine. My stops were usually after work when my energy was draining and I just felt exhausted. Depending on where I stopped I could spend $1.00 or $4.00. My coffee spending was probably $10.00 a week or more. So no coffee spending has been saving me at least $40.00 per month. That is a lot of money to put towards groceries, pay a utility bill, or save.

This commitment to not buying coffee has been fairly easy to stick to in the summer, but when work starts back up again I hope I have the same resolve to keep my commitment to not waste money on coffee. For most of my life I have thought nothing about grabbing coffee anytime or anywhere. There was no thought about budgeting the coffee. I could always afford it even when I couldn't. I am finally, after many years, making a commitment to stay away from this type of spending for now. When we are in a better situation I may be able to budget a certain amount of money for coffee, or I could continue to save the money.

Sad Cooking

I was going to write about the fact that I am sad to be cooking when the kids aren't even here. We could have gone out and had fun, however, we are trying to save money.

But that isn't really how I am feeling. This is really sad cooking.  Sad to see my father the way he is now. Sad that no matter his situation the rest of us get up and follow our regular routine. It doesn't seem right, but it is what we do. We still have to clean our houses, pay bills, shop, cook, and carry on with life. Sometimes it feels weird to be laughing or enjoying a situation knowing that he can't appreciate it. Sick parents are something most people deal with at one time or another, but it is still really hard.

The past few months are starting to catch up to me. I can feel the weight of what has happened and how it is impacting everyone. Life is hard. Things change fast. There are many sad things, but there are beautiful things too. It is hard to focus on those things right now feeling this way, but it is all we have to get us through.

The Easiest Way to Save Money is....................................

to not spend it. I happily did this many times today. At one point today I thought I would check out the clearance racks at Kohls because the kids could use some pajamas. They could use some, but it isn't a necessity. I thought I might find some good clothes for work on sale. But I don't need any clothes. There are wants and needs, and as good as a bargain can be if we don't need it, it may be better to just not buy it.

I thought of stopping at the grocery store on the way home to buy some fish for dinner. Then I decided that was a very bad idea. To enter a store with no plan when you are hungry and need many things is a very bad idea. I did not go. I was able to use what we had and grill out for dinner. Tomorrow I will probably shop with a very detailed plan in hand. 

I think what I was looking for was a little retail therapy. So eventually a little bit of money was spent. My son needed a new lunchbox. I remembered that I had a few dollars in credit from my Amazon card. I searched for an extremely inexpensive lunchbox, signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime to get free shipping (which I will cancel) and was able to get a new Spider Man lunchbox for $2.66. That is a great bargain, and I won't be running around August 30th looking for a lunchbox.

As much as I wanted to go do some shopping I learned today that sometimes it pays better if you don't. Unless you can get something for $2.66.

Birthday Party Gifts

We have four different birthday parties in the next few weeks. We have never had that many parties in such a short amount of time. Parties are great, and kids just love them. We have had many parties for our kids. I do support parties. However, parties need gifts.  Yikes! We are trying to be extremely careful right now.


There are many homemade gifts that children can give. We always do homemade cards and reuse old gift bags that are in good shape. I really wanted to give gifts that would be enjoyed, not take up too much room, and fit the budget. I was able to combine an Amazon gift card with my husband's Amazon points. I searched gifts and set limits for $5.00-$10.00. I was able to get three Lego kits and an art kit and only pay $1.76 for everything because of our gift cards and points. Also, I now have all the gifts I need to buy even though only one party is this weekend. I will have everything in two days, spent almost nothing, and am ahead of the game.

A small victory in our quest to spend less.

Vacation Summary: Walking, Church, and Frugality

We are back, and I miss the beach. It was great to be able to walk down the street and swim at the beach. The last day had a lot of seaweed, but overall the water was great. 

During our stay I walked four out of six days. Walking on the last day was out because we had to pack up and check out by 10:00 AM. Walking those four days made a huge difference in my mood. I started using a walking app that helps to keep track of miles and routes. I think the calorie burn may be inflated, but it is a good way to keep track of how many miles you are walking. We also went to church our first day there. It was a beautiful church and it felt really good to be there. I am trying hard to bring God into the center of my life. I want to do that with the kids too. Being sure we attend church weekly is an important part of that.

Walking and going to church were helpful, but relaxing is just plain hard for me. My brain does not let go that easily, but I am working on it.  I worked hard to enjoy the break.  I have to remind myself that it is okay to relax.

From a frugal standpoint I give us a B +.  I made a lot of meals, which I typically enjoy doing. We had a couple lunches out and ordered pizza midweek so I could get a night off. Considering we were there for six solid days and seven nights we thought that was pretty good.  The kitchen was small but very cute. It made our kitchen seem so much bigger when we got home. 

Other expenses included a couple of visits to a local homemade ice cream parlor, entrance to a great natural history museum ( I was actually free due to my union card), and a few adult beverages for us to drink while watching television at night.  Eating lunch out was a big savings because we don't usually drink any beer or wine at lunch which makes a big difference in the check. I mistakenly purchased juice and water at a local market and almost fell over when they told me the price. I really should have left it there. I think when the price sunk in I was already in the car.

Our grocery supply included a few things I brought from home, a stop at a very well priced store on the way to our destination and a mid week stop at Stop and Shop for a few more things. I did spend more on groceries than a typical week. We were eating a bit more junk than we would usually consume, but it was great fun.

We spent more money when we returned home yesterday and had lunch out. We had no food for lunch and we were all starving. Also, I was unable to bring home a few old bananas and bread ends that I would have re purposed, but they would not fit in the cooler.   I did, however, go grocery shopping yesterday. I plan on making that last through Friday. It is Sunday now, so we will see how creative I can be. Two loaves of bread last about two days, so we will see if it can be done.

It's a Vacation So Get Over It

The following is a post that I wrote the day before we left for our vacation. I am posting it now that we are back and will add another post with some follow up thoughts.

The title is my mantra to myself as I pack, pack, pack, pack, and get grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. I am going on a week long vacation with my family. Many people don't even get to take a vacation so I need to enjoy the experience and change my attitude.

Yes, I have been talking a lot about cutting back. We planned this before we got super serious and I must say we paid for most of it.  It is a week in a cottage near the beach where we will be bringing our own food. We only have one planned meal out and are extremely serious about eating our meals at the cottage or on the beach with food from the grocery store.

Living in an East Coast state gives us access to many beach areas. We are about an hour and a half away from a very popular beach destination. We opted to to spend the week in the same town as we did last year. We can walk to the beach and it will cost us very little extra. This is 1/5 of the cost of the Disney vacation I was drooling over in the winter. We all enjoy the beach a lot. The kids will have a blast.  However preparing for a vacation can be time consuming and gets me cranky. I spent most of the morning preparing food and getting things ready. Finally I hit the neighborhood for a walk to get out the blahs and take in the ahs.  I plan on doing that every day that we are away. Last year I walked on just the last two days and really wished I had walked the whole week. It is great fun to check out new neighborhoods and it burns extra vacation calories.

What is vacation for? It is to unwind, relax, and build lasting memories. It is to enjoy some down time before the school  year begins and things are crazy again. I want to enjoy this vacation and have it to remember when it is mid December and I feel crazed. I want to sit back, count to ten, and remember the beach. That is what vacation is all about and we are blessed to be taking one.

So to make vacation super relaxing and fun I will:
Walk daily to destress, take in the sites, and unwind
Be in the moment with the kids, build sand castles, swim, and walk on the beach
Indulge a little but eat lots of salad too
Enjoy the week and not complain about anything
See you in a week.

Vacation Update:

Still here and enjoying the relaxing time. Off to do my third walk of the week. My walking has been every other day. I hoped to walk every single day, but every other is pretty good. We have eaten many meals in and just a few out. All our groceries that we don't consume can be used next week. We have two more days of ocean paradise before we pack up and head home to the rest of our summer.  Now I need to walk to get my head straight and burn some calories from all that vacation indulging.