4 Weeks of Kitchen Cupboard Cooking!!

I just finished up 4 weeks of eating off of what we had. It's so nice to go through all the food we had, try to make new dishes and clean out the cupboards (and freezer!). Now, I had originally set a food budget for the month at $20. That's $5 a week! Well, being a couponer always looking for great deals, there were some that I just couldn't pass up. Here's the list of all that we purchased these last four weeks. Sure saved us money!

Thursday, June 21- shopped like normal. This is the day I decided to start my month long cupboard cooking.

Thursday, June 28-
Walmart
   Bananas: $1.51
   Milk: $3.72-(.50 coup) = $3.22

Friday, July 1-
Hy-Vee
   C & H Sugar: $2.18 -(.50 coup) = $1.68
   Roberts Strawberry Milk: $1.98-(.35 coup) = $1.63

Friday, July 8- Husband shopped... :D
Walmart
   Fun Pops: $2.48
   GV Brownies: $1.18
   Cereal: $2.24
   GV Wheat bread: $1.25
   GV Grape nuts: $2.32
   Pepsi 24 pk: $5.98
   Mt Dew 24 pk: $5.98
Price Chopper
   BC Shredded Cheese: $.99 x 4 = $3.96 -SAVED $6.40!
   Crystal Lite: $.99 x 4 - ($1 coup) = $2.96 -SAVED $9.80!
HyVee
   Powerade: $.49 x 12 = $5.88
   Pillsbury Brownies: .99 x 2 - (.55 coup) = 1.43
   Pasta Prima Ravioli: 2.59 - (15% sack sale) - ($2 coup) = 20 cents! -SAVED $3.80!

Friday, July 15-
Walmart
   GV Milk: $3.48
   Bananas: $1.11
   Up2U Gum: $1.28 x 4 - (4 $1 coups) = $1.12 (for 4 packs!)

Saturday, July 16- such good deals!!
Price Chopper
   Boneless Skinless Chicken: $1.19/lb = $7.38 -SAVED $17.40!
   Nab Wheat Thins/Triscuit: $1.49 x 2 - ($1/2 coup) = $1.98 -SAVED $5.40!
   Strawberries 2lb: $1.99
   Mini Wheats: $2.50 x 2 - ($1.50 coup) =  $3.50 ($1.75 each) -SAVED $4.48
   Sack Refund: -$.10
HyVee
   HV Canned Tomatoes: $.50 x 4 = $2.00
   HV Apple Sauce: $.79
   Life Cereal: 2.67 - (.75 coup) =  $1.92
   Dole Head Lettuce: $1.59 - (.90 sale) = $.69
   Organic Romaine: $2.88
   Granny Smith Apples: $.99/lb = $2.27
  

GRAND TOTAL:  $75.01

MINUS: what my husband bought that I wouldn't have ($26.06) And no, that's not everything he bought, mostly the drinks and not on sale items.

NEW GRAND TOTAL: $48.95!!  -plus tax

I love that my husband goes to the store! And he does a great job going through the ads with me, and trying to match up coupons. I don't hold him to my crazy cupboard cooking. I truly appreciate him. He even did some coupon deals for me! I can't calculate the true total of what I saved this month, but it's amazing I'm sure. I almost always save more than 50%. I saved $17 on chicken alone! And everything I get is always on sale. You know what, I think we can go even longer on what we have already! I just wish the stores would have some really great sales soon!!

Happy shopping, happy eating, and don't ever forget how much God loves you!

Our Peach Tree!!

 We have peaches growing in our backyard!

I'm excited b/c this is the first year it's had fruit on it.

I never knew what kind of fruit tree it was!

 

Here's the whole awesome tree.

Not much to it right?

I picked them early,,, oh well. :)

These are the only edible things growing in my backyard.

And they taste so wonderful!!

 Thank you God for this homegrown sweetness.

 And here are my doggies!!

Ruger loves to play fetch.

Usually with a tennis ball though.

 

Ruger's been running around with a peach.

Playing with food. Silly dog. :D

They love to chill out.

Always in that exact spot.

Every day, they lay right there.

Yeah, my dogs keep me company,,,

when hubby's at work.

Tips to Save Money at the Grocery Store

It's so easy to go to the grocery store, spend $100 and and ask yourself "What in the world did I buy?"
I've really enjoyed saving money lately (who wouldn't) and I want to share some of the tips that I've done to keep my spending down.

~Coupon! Look in the sunday paper for coupon fliers like Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G. Also look online for coupons either on brand websites (like Driscolls.com) or coupon websites (like coupons.com)

~I like to clip coupons I know I'll probably use and keep them in my coupon binder. I then file my coupon fliers to go back to if I know a coupon is in a certain Smart Source or Red Plum.

~Visit blogs that list coupon match-ups to weekly sales at your grocery store. A couple of great blogs for my area are MyKansasCityMommy.com (Julie!!) and PennyPinchinMom.com. They list match-ups for stores I visit often: Hy-Vee and Price Chopper.

~Hy-Vee will give you the total amount of a coupon if the item's sale price is less. Ex: Masterpiece BBQ on sale for $.79. I have a coupon for $1.00 off. They will apply the overage of $.21 to my bill. I just made 21 cents on that item!! When I tried this at Price Chopper they just gave me the $.79 off.

~Match your coupons to weekly sales! This is especially helpful if your stores don't double coupons. (No stores around me double!)

~Create a monthly cash budget for groceries and try to stick to it. (I've gone a little over this month, but I makes me aware of what I've spent.)

~Try a month of Kitchen Cupboard Cooking. I've done this a couple of times and love it! I use up a lot of food that's been sitting around. Plus, saves money. Try to just buy essentials like milk and produce.

~Plan shopping trips for when you're already out (like before or after work) and make a route that won't have you backtracking. Saves on gas!

~Go early in the morning, the first day of the sale. You won't have to fight the crowd and you're guaranteed that they won't be sold out of an item you want. (You know it's a good deal when they sell out!) I don't go to work until noon on Thursdays, and that's the day when most sales start where I live.)

~With all I've done I usually leave a store saving way more than I spent. Ex: Price Chopper, spent $6, saved $12. When I average out the price of each item it usually comes to about $1 per item! $1 for 24 bottles of water, $1 for a big box of Kellogg's cereal, $1 for olive oil...

~It will take a few months to get your own system down, but when you get good at it you'll be excited with all the money saved! Next step... put that money in savings. :D

Detox Diet Day 1

    I just started my detox meal plan. And it's quite challenging! Why detox? To cleanse out the body of all the toxins we take in every day. (Even though our liver and kidneys do a great job of this naturally). Also, I want to see if removing certain thing from my diet will help me to feel better. Sometimes I feel tired, and I get headaches all the time!
     For my detox I'm cutting out practically everything for the fist few days.(a week if I can make it that long)
What I can't eat: Dairy, Wheat, Gluten, Meat, Chocolate and Sugar
What's left: Fruits, Veggies, Nuts, Seeds, Rice, EVOO, spices...
     It's hard to give up dairy b/c I have milk EVERY morning with my oatmeal. I love cereal. I like yogurt for a snack. And cheese on my salads is a must.
    I also love chocolate and always raid the freezer for pieces of dark chocolate bars, or chocolate chips. So, it will be hard not having chocolate.
    It's not hard to forgo sugary foods, and I'm not a big meat eater, although I do enjoy it b/c it helps fill me up!

     Here's what i've had to eat today:
     -Oatmeal w/ flaxseed, cinnamon and blueberries
     -Smoothie w/ water, frozen strawberries, banana, endo 24, pb2
     -1/2 grapefruit
     -organic red grapes
     -organic gala apple
     -spinach salad w/ vinaigrette, raspberries, cucumber, organic carrots, tomato, sunflower seeds and sliced almonds
     -rice cake
     -Brown rice w/ frozen corn & broccoli, EVOO and seasoning
     -water and green tea
     -multivitamin and supplements

And I feel full and pretty darn good! We'll see if I can keep this up. I know I don't have an exact plan, but I've got some good books from the library for ideas and recipes.

Saving Money Grocery Shopping!

Hey ya'll, I just have to share some more great savings. I'm slowly but surely learning how to coupon, and match them with store sales. Here's my shopping trip from last week. Grand total spent for all items pictured above: $13.07 (W/o the deals: ~$30!)

Here's the Breakdown:

Price Chopper

Two bags Best Choice Shredded Cheese  $2.49 each, on sale for $1.29 each, plus $1.00/2 coupon = $.79 each

Eight Dannon Yogurts(Limit 8) $.73 each, on sale for 4/$1.00 = $.25 each

Honey Nut Cheerios $3.99, on sale for $1.69, plus $.55 off coupon = $1.14

Sack Refund = saved $.05 (Price Chopper gives you 5 cents for each reusable bag you bring!)

Total spent: $4.88

Total saved: $10.14

Average price per item: 40 cents

Hy-Vee

Crisco Light Olive Oil on sale for $4.97, plus $1.00 off coupon = $3.97 (I tried to use 2 different coupons but the cashier said I couldn't. :C Could've saved another dollar...)

Jello Cheesecake on sale for 2/$4.00 = $2.00 (I've been craving cheesecake!)

KC Masterpiece BBQ(Limit 1) $1.69, on sale for $.89, plus $.50 off coupon = $.39

Stash Green Tea(20 ct) on sale for 2/$4.00, plus $.50 off coupon = $1.50 or 7.5cents/tea bag

Total spent: $8.19

Total saved: at least $2.81 (I don't know the original price of the sales items)

Average price per item: $2.04 (I'll blame this on the olive oil)

So... overall I paid an average of 81 cents per item!! Can't beat that!! Well, maybe you can, but I'll take that any day, especially for items we use and enjoy.

A Beautiful Tea Party!!

Last Saturday I had the honor of attending a wonderful tea party. It was all decorated so cute, and all the ladies brought lovely little finger foods. It is such a blessing to get together with friends from church and catch up on each others lives. Girl talk is just so much fun, don't you agree?? Here are some of my photos from that day, (perfect weather!!) Maybe you'll be inspired to have a fun ladies party as well.

Movie Night: Letters to God

     This is a wonderful movie based on a true story. A young boy is fighting cancer and his family had previously lost their father in an accident. Tyler writes letters to God, and when the postman reads the letters his life gets set on the right path just by seeing this little boys faith. It's a very heartwarming story, but also very sad. I cried my eyes out at the end, especially when they showed more real life miracles of cancer survivors. It especially hits close to home for me because my cousin's fight against a brain tumor ended last November. It's the worst thing to lose someone you love, but it's better knowing they're in heaven.  This movie is one I want to own! Hope is contagious and you never know how many lives your life will touch.