I'm Back...Check out these deals

I know it's been a while...but I am back with a bang. I needed some me time yesterday so I had Matt take care of the kids while I found some deals. I was gone for a long time but I went down almost every aisle in the store to see what clearance deals there were in order to match them up with my coupons making them FREE or almost free. I figured it out last night and I made about $9 on this purchase once Rite Aid sends me my rebate check. You read this correct I made money off of these items. Here is the break down.

First trip was to Rite Aid where I bought the following:
Huggies-11.99 (had a coupon for a free pack of Huggies plus I am getting a $3 rebate from this)
3-2 Liters of soda(sale $1.99 for all three with coupon)
1-Candy Bar (.88)
2-Dawn Liquid Hand Soap (sale .88 each but I had 2 coupons for $1.00 off each so I made some money on this)
1-Toothpaste (2.99 sale, but I am getting $2 rebate and I had a $1 off coupon making this free)
1-Contact Solution($7.99 getting $7.99 rebate making this free...Matt uses this all the time so now I never have to pay for it)

I also had a $5.00 off purchase of $25 (this is before coupons) and a $10 off gift certificate making my total -$.83 Yes they paid me 83 cents for this purchase. I will be getting my $13 in rebates in about a month and I also received 9 new Game for Life game pieces for a chance to win some great prizes. By the way...the gift certificate was from the last month deal they were having. When you spend a certain amount before coupons you get a gift certificate. I think I spent $50 so I got a $10 GC. The great part is I didn't even spend anywhere near $50. Since the $50 was before coupons, sales, and rebates I think I maybe spent $10(if even that) to get that gift certificate. I HEART RITEAID.

After that I went to three different Walgreens since they were all near where I was going and I had some time. I looked through all the clearance stuff and came home with the following:
2-cans of Beef Broth(34 cents each)
2-Keebler Cookies(2 for $5 and then you get $1 RR for your next purchase plus I had two $1 off coupons making these 50 cents each)
Carmex Lip Balm(sale for .99 and I had a coupon for 75 cents off making this 24 cents)
Another Lip balm($1.99 but you get $2 RR making this free)
Blink Tears(7.99 and you get $8 back plus I had $1.50 coupon making money on this one)
Zicam($10 minus the $3 coupon and the $7 RR means this is free)
2-Post cereal($1 on sale but I had a $2 off coupon making both free)
5 candy bars(paid $1 for these)

I did have a $5 RR to use towards this purchase from last week so I spent a total of $17.28 and got $17 in register rewards for my next purchase. Sounds like a money maker to me. You can lower your out of pocket cost by doing separate transactions and using your RR to pay for your next purchase but it's just too much trouble for me so I do it this way. Next week there is a great deal on diapers so I will be using my RR to pay for these.

Finally I headed next door to CVS for this stuff:
Huggies(sale for $9.99 rec'd $2 ECB plus $2 deposit to upromise acct and I had a $2 off coupon making this pack only $3.99)
Toothpaste(sale $2.99 rec'd $2 ECB and had a $1 off coupon making this free)
Baby Wipes(2.99 ECB $1 minus 75 cent coupon total $1.24)
Hair Dye(clearance $4.50, I had $4 in coupons making this only 50 cents)
Cookies(sale 3.49 rec'd $1 ECB, and I had $2 in coupons making this 50 cents)
2-Men's Dove Body Wash (5.49 each Rec'd $10.98 in ECBs plus I had $3 in coupons making this a money maker)
Perfume($11.99 rec'd $5 ECB and I had $5 in coupons making this only $1.99)
2-Cough Drops (only 19 cents afer coupons)
As seen on TV Product(9.99 rec'd $5 ECB and I had $1.50 coupon making this $3.49)
2-12 ct eggs(77 cents just a good price)
1-Gallon of milk(1.49 after coupons)

I had some ECB's from last week to spend plus a $5 off $20 coupon so I spent a total of $23.82 and rec'd $19 in ECB to spend on my next purchase. Not too bad. You can also do separate transactions here to make your out of pocket less, but too much work so I just use the ECB from this week to pay for next weeks deals that will produce new ECBs. Love it.

When I figured this out, if my math was correct, after I receive my Rite Aid Rebate I will be making about $8 on this purchase. Can you believe it. I know its a lot of info and maybe confusing so let me know if you have any questions.

Deals Of The Week

I know it's been a while since my last post.  Just too busy to document my successes.  I was really excited about a great deal at Vons today.  I came home with 5 boxes of Fruit Snacks (fruit by the foot and gummies), box of Quaker Oatmeal, and two boxes of cereal all name brand for $4.10 out of pocket and then I got a $3.50 coupon of my next purchase...so only 60 cents for 8 items.  All the coupons were printable coupons that anyone can get.  I used (2) $1.00 2 fruit snacks, $.40 of 1 fruit snack, $1.00 off oatmeal, (2) $1.00 off cereal. Also I loaded ecoupons onto my Vons card for the fruit snacks at Shortcuts.com and Cellfire.com which can be used with printable coupons so that took off an addtional $1.00.  The printables are found at smartsource and coupons.com and the cherrios website.

Also if you are in need of makeup CVS is having 50%-75% off lots of makeup.  I found some really good makeup on sale for 75% off for $3.25 and there was a $3.00 off sticker on it making it only $.25.  Lots of Loreal lip glosses and lipsticks for 75% off and I used coupons from the Fresno Bee from the last few months.  Nice to stock up on these things if you are not brand loyal.

Any questions let me know.  Thanks.       

Thanksgiving Day Deals

I normally do not venture out on Thanksgiving or even Black Friday, but since I've had a break from the drug stores lately I thought I would check it out. I am glad I did. The stores were pretty empty so I didn't have to deal with a ton of people. I went to Walgreens and CVS actually made money on all the stuff pictured here. I figured it out to be about a $10 profit. Check out Iheartwags and iheartcvs sites for the coupon matchups. Also moneysavingmom.com gives you some great breakdowns. For those of you who do not know how I came out ahead remember I used manufacture coupons, store coupons and store sales to do this. One example is the Infusium23 leave in treatment-On sale for $4.99 and then you get $4.99 back on your next purchase. When you use a $2 off coupon you make a profit. Here is a breakdown of all my stuff and their retail value to give you an idea of my savings:

Johnson& Johnson Softwash-5.99
Dove Deodorant X2-3.99
Infusium Hair TreatmentX2-4.99
Nivia Mens Shave Gel X2-2.49
Christmas OrnamentsX2-.99
Toothpaste-1.99
Christmas PencilsX4-1.00
Bic Solie Razor-6.99
Kit Kat-.89
King Size Milkyway-1.59
Lotion-7.99
Remote control-6.99
Men's razor-9.99
Just for Men Dye-8.29
Body Wash St. Ives-3.99
Ear Buds-6.99
Degree Deodorant-4.00

Total Value is about $91.00

I may try Rite Aid tomorrow but we'll see. Happy Thanksgiving.

We're Debt Free (besides the house)

I am so excited because I just made the last payment on our van.  We paid it off in less than one year with a lot of hard work these last few months.  We did make some sacrifices such as budgeting, eating out less, meal planning, skipping some recreational activities but now that I've done it for almost 6 months I don't think I can go back.  I never want to finance anything ever again.

Our next goal is to establish our fully funded emergency fund of 6 months of living expenses.  If we continue what we are doing we should have this goal met by mid year 2010.  After this we plan to invest, save for kids college and tackle the house.  We would love to have the house paid off in 7 years or less, but we'll see how that goes.  There was a point in time that we wanted a new house but now that we want to live debt free lifestyle I am ok with what we have.  We do plan to have one more child and having only one bathroom is going to be a challenge.  We are also planning to save for maybe an expansion of this house and a bathroom update once our ER fund is fully funded.

In the next five years Matt is going to have several surgeries on his mouth that is not covered my insurance, so we are saving for this as well.  It is going to cost about 25K over the five years.  That is a lot on money, but I know God will provide.  He went for a consult the other day and we found out the oral surgeon is going to charge us less than the original amount he proposed saving us nearly 5K.  We are so blessed to have an awesome God that provides beyond what we can imagine.  All praise to Him.  We plan to start the first series in March and then on from there.

We are excited to see what God has in store for us this upcoming year.  We are also excited to have our goals set and ready to tackle them.  There is just something about accomplishment that gives me such a high.  WOOHOO!!!!  What are your goals for this coming year?  

The Final Outcome-Eating from the Pantry

My week without shopping is finally complete.  For some reason this has probably been the most challenging time I've had doing this.  Probably because I've actually said it out loud and had to stick to it.  Who knows.  I am happy to say that we did it.  

I did learn a few things during this time.  First of all...I just love fresh baked bread and so does the family.  In the few days that we had no store bought bread I made a loaf a day for a couple of days and we ate it up so quickly.  I now know my bread machine pretty well and feel confident enough to adventure out and make some unique breads.  In the five years that I've had this bread machine it has been used about 5 times, three of which were last week.  So my wish to make bread more often is a go.

Another thing I learned is it's important to be sure the family (husband) is on the same page with you when it comes to budgeting and eating out of the pantry.  I think he understands now why I would not buy the hot sauce, but at the time it was a bit difficult.  

Finally, the internet has so many ideas for using leftovers and getting ideas on what to cook with what you have.  My favorite site is All Recipes.  You can just key the ingredients you want and you will get a list.  You can also chose healthier options if you chose to.  

During the kids nap yesterday I ventured out to do all of my grocery shopping.  I had to go to a few stores to get the best deals and I still spent more than I wanted, but it's done.  As I mentioned before we are trying to stick to a $160 per month budget and yesterday alone I spent over $100.  The good thing is I have all of our meat for the month which is the costly thing to buy.   Since I only have $60 left to work with we will be eating out of the pantry again this month when the money runs out.  

Some of the deals to take note of are the whole chickens at Smart and Final-.76 per pound.  Pork Roast at FoodMaxx-.89 per pound.  This only came in a huge 18lbs bag but they gave me an additional $2.00 off for buying this quantity.  It was a bit of work to cut up all that meat and put it into bags, I think it is worth it.  I normally do not like the meat at FoodMaxx, but since I plan to crock pot it, I don't think it matters.  The crock pot can make any meat taste yummy.

So my plan for this week is: 

Monday-Butter Chicken, basmati rice, naan and lentils.

Tuesday-Chicken tacos, rice and beans

Wednesday-Green Bean Casserole and salad

Thursday-Leftovers

Friday-Pulled Pork sandwiches with salad or veggie of some sort.

Saturday-Matt's family traditional meal of bread(usually zweibach, but I need to work on this), meat, cheese, jam, honey, peanut butter or whatever you want on your bread.

Sunday-Veggie minestrone soup

My plans probably will change but this is what I have so far.  

  

 

    

Eating from The Pantry

My meal plans have changed from my last post. I decided to write down all of the contents of my freezer and pantry to see what I have to work with. I've also decided to do my best to serve at least one meatless dish a week. Normally it would be pretty easy to not go grocery shopping and to eat from the pantry, but this week was a little different.

My first challenge was my husbands request for a $2.00 bottle of Tapatio or Chalupa hot sauce. When I told him NO he did not quite understand. I had to explain that I am part of this challenge and I am not going to give in to a bottle of hot sauce. Still did not go well, but he will get over it. The funny thing is that we've had the same bottle of hot sauce for a year and we ran out in the midst of this challenge. WHY ME?

Secondly, we are now really low on milk. Normally a gallon will last us a week and a half. We just do not drink that much milk. I looked in the fridge today and there only enough for maybe two small bowls of cereal if that. Great...what to do?

Finally, we are also almost out of bread. Oh no. Some of my plans for the rest of the challenge involves bread, but I know it will not last past lunch today. For this I have a solution. I had Matt get my bread maker out of the garage. With a little dusting off and some direction I can make some homemade bread. Yummy. He kind of smirked when I told him, but I am going to prove that I can do it. I have to do it or we will not have any bread. My hope is that I will enjoy making it and eating it and then want to do it more often. There is nothing like homemade bread. My only concern about homemade bread is that I cannot cut it very well. Is there a trick out there to make even perfect slices?

Now for what we have been eating this week. I've been writing my meal plans in pencil with the anticipation of many changes.

Monday 10/26
Breakfast-Eggs, toast and dried prunes(we love the costco brand)
Lunch-Enchi cass leftover, rice and salad
Dinner-Haystacks which are like taco salad with beans, rice, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, sour cream, cheese, olives, tortilla chips and salsa.(this is where the hot sauce dispute came into play)

Tuesday 10/27
Breakfast-Waffles with bananas
Lunch-Haystack leftovers
Dinner-Recipe I found for Cabbage Roll Casserole. Not my favorite and I made way too much. I was not sure if cabbage was freezable so we ate this for way too many days. We do not waste food so we eat what we have.

Wednesday 10/28
Breakfast-Cereal and milk
Lunch-Leftover cabbage casserole
Dinner-Left over casserole again...please be gone!

Thursday 10/29
Breakfast-Kids wanted cereal again
Lunch-The last of the casserole---YES!
Dinner-Chicken Tetrazinni w/ cauliflower, carrots and broccoli medley and bread(I made this a month ago and froze it. So yummy.)

Today Friday 10/30
Breakfast-Oatmeal with toast and homemade strawberry jam
Lunch-Left over Chicken Tetrazinni with veggies
Dinner-German sausage, baked potatoes and green beans

Saturday 10/31
Breakfast-Sausage, eggs and toast with homemade bread
Lunch-Turkey, cheese, and veggie tortilla wraps and chicken noodle soup
Dinner-We might go to the in-laws but if not then we are going to have left over baked potatoes with all the fixings w/out meat of course and a veggie on the side.

Sunday Nov 1
Breakfast-Omelets with toast
Lunch-After church kids are ready for nap so we will have something simple like sandwiches w/ chicken noodle soup.
Dinner-Roasted chicken w/potatoes and gravy and veggies. Will use the rest of the chicken to make 2-3 other meals for the week or freeze.

The Great Pantry Challenge-Day One

Dorina at http://health-full.blogspot.com/ has decided to challenge us all to eat from the pantry for the rest of the month. We were already going to do this so why not blog about it?

My husabnd and I read, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and ever since we have been really serious about budgeting, living on less than we make and paying off ALL our debt. I looked at the numbers the other night and in the 4 months that we have been doing this we have saved a lot of money. All of our saved money has been going towards paying off our van(only debt besides the house). By couponing, budgeting, and limiting ourselves on dining out we will have our van paid off by the end of November making us DEBT FREE besides our house. We are so excited to accomplish this goal we made and now onto the next.

When it comes to groceries we used to spend about $250.00 a month and now by cooking in season, buying what's on sale with coupons and stockpiling we are able to spend about $160.00 a month on food, sometimes less. I really enjoy being able to save because I work so hard to do this it causes me to enjoy cooking more. In the past I would dread cooking a meal because I never meal planned and it's just hard for me to think of something to make at the last minute. I now plan our meals. It's not only simple and less stressful but even fun. Since I enjoy it more that means we do not have to eat out all the time so more savings to pay off that van of ours.

Now about the challenge...I do need to buy one gallon of milk before I start but then it's ON! My last shopping trip was on 10/20 and I bought mostly produce to get us through the week. My plan is to eat all of the fresh fruit and veggies first and then onto the frozen and canned stuff. I just hate to waste food.

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

Today 10/23/2009
White Chicken Chili leftovers with salad. I boiled a whole chicken and shredded up the meat so I am able to get at least three meals out of this one little birdy that was only $.69 a pound.

Saturday 10/24/2009
Breakfast-Homemade waffles with white sauce and bananas
Lunch-Ham, veggies and cheese tortilla wraps and yogurt with homemade jam
Dinner-Chicken Enchilada Casserole, mexican rice and salad

Sunday 10/25/2009
Breakfast-Cereal with bananas
Lunch-Left over casserole and salad
Dinner-Carissa's family b-day celebration ends at 5pm so something easy and quick is needed. Probably Chicken dish that I previously froze with salad.

I will continue the rest of my meal plans once I figure it out. Have fun being creative and using what you have. AnnMarie