So I decided to follow-up yesterday's food post with another one. I'm not sure if anyone here has heard of this program. My Mums found out about it and we just tried it for the first time this month.

Basically, you get a choice of different "boxes" of foods. You choose what you want, pay AngelFood ministries, and then pick up the food at a local pickup site. Each month they offer different packages/boxes of food. Each package/box has a variety of foods in it, and the prices are great!

This month we got the Regular box and Special #4. Between the two, here's what we got for food:

REGULAR BOX:
1.5 lbs Ribeye steak
2 large chicken breasts
4 lbs chicken legs
1.5 lbs pork chops
1 lb 80/20 ground beef
1.5 lbs turkey burgers
12 oz deli ham
1 lb frozen sweet potatoes
1 lb frozen green beans
can of pears
can of OJ concentrate
3 lb bag Idaho potatoes
3 lb bag onions
2% shelf stable milk
dozen eggs
Toll house cookie dough mix

SPECIAL #4:
1 large head of cabbage
3 lb bag Idaho potatoes
3 lb bag onions
1 lb carrots
1 extra large summer squash
1 avocado
1 mango
4 Bartlett pears
1 cantaloupe
3 lb bag macintosh apples
3 lb bag golden apples
6 sm boxes raisin
package of apple spice pie mix

Total for it all: $52 (no tax)


They have a special Thanksgiving box we are thinking of ordering. And for next month we have already picked out our boxes.

If you want to see if they offer this near you (it is nation wide) check out the website at angelfoodministries.com They also post each month's "menu" there, which is a description of the boxes and what is in them.

*Courtesy of Everyday Cheapskate Daily Email

When it comes to food, there is a commonly held belief that if it's cheap, it can't possibly be healthy and if it's healthy, it's not going to be cheap. That may be true if we're talking about fresh wild salmon or fresh blueberries purchased in the middle of winter, but there are untold healthy options that are affordable on any budget. Here's a quick grocery list to help you cut food prices while you boost nutrition, and a few recipes, too.

1. Oats. Oats are high in fiber and good for lowering cholesterol. One dollar will buy you breakfast for a week, or give you a good start on oatmeal cookies for a tasty treat. Spend that buck at a store like Whole Foods or Sprouts that offers oats in bulk and your buck will buy even more.

2. Eggs. A buck will get you about six eggs. Bring on the protein-rich egg salad sandwiches!

3. Sweet potatoes. Keep the Swine Flu at bay by eating foods that are rich in beta carotene, which strengthens the immune system and promotes bone and eye health.

5. Apples. Apple season is here, so this fruit is plentiful and cheap. A dollar will buy enough to enjoy fresh slices as a lovely snack or tasty dessert, and a great way to dress up a meal.

6. Nuts. Peanuts, walnuts and almonds are cheap "power foods" and perfect snacks to keep you energized throughout the day. Buy them in their shells to get the best price.

7. Garbanzo Beans. Also called "chickpeas," these help balance blood sugar levels, and are high in fiber and protein.

8. Whole Grain Pasta. This cheap staple is made up of complex carbohydrates, meaning that it packs more nutritional punch than does its white-pasta counterpart.

9. Sardines. These little fish don't come with a mercury warning, just plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids for heart and brain health. Chop them up and add them to salads and pizza or mix them with lemon juice and olive oil for a tasty spread.

10. Spinach. Your mom always told you to eat your spinach, and she was right. This leafy green can be prepared in oh-so-many ways, and it is packed with calcium, iron, folic acid and vitamin A. Skip the washed and bagged spinach and wash it yourself to save.

**To see suggested recipes and the original article, visit debtproofliving.com

Last couple of days have been OK. Thursday I worked, made about $27. Slow day. Thursday night friends of ours came over for dinner. One friend is an amazing hairstylist. She dyed my hair and cut it for me...at no charge! The dye and supplies she needed equaled her half of the $ for pizza, so we called it even! I ended up with a $100 haircut/dye for $16!!! Yay!

Friday was a NSD for me. Felt good; haven't had one of those in AGES!

Yesterday (Sat) I worked and came home with a whole $13. REALLY slow day. Stopped and picked up about $100 worth of groceries for $45. Yay for discount grocery stores!!

Today I am heading to the movies with my best friend; going to see Angels and Demons. So excited! We're hitting the matinee so it will be cheaper.

Happy Sunday all!

Stopped by the bank today to deposit some rolled coinage from CITB. Had a full roll of quarters. Adding it to the EF.

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $140.04
CITB deposit: $10.00
------------------------------------------
$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $150.04

Whoo-hoo! Halfway through my Feb goal of adding $100 to the EF. If I can keep this up, I'll hit $1K before 2010.

In other money news, I picked up some groceries today. Spent $40. I got:

*lg package of mozzarella cheese (8 cups)
*lg package of Mexican mix cheese (8 cups)
*package pepperoni
*loaf of bread
*pk of 8 large tortillas
*mushrooms
*buffalo chicken lunch meat
*sliced cheese
*2 lbs of pizza dough
*box of pasta

For dinner this week we'll have chicken enchiladas (already have the chicken and sauce), pasta with shrimp, mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes (already have shrimp, and tommys), homemade calzones (which will actually give us 2 meals each, they are so big), and chicken and veggies with rice (have all of it already). I think that $40 for all that is a great deal, considering it is dinner and lunch for 2 all week.

I did great this week with finding money. I found another dime and 3 pennies. Whoo-hoo! New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.98

Last night 2 more of my auctions ended. These were for antique/vintage beaded purses from the early 1900's. Mums had been given them by her grandmother, but they didn't actually belong to her. They belonged friends of hers. Since they have no family value and Mums was cleaning out, she gave them to me. I never go out to fancy places and I have too many purses already, so I put them on Ebay.

One sold for $22.36 and one sold for $31! So that is another $53.36 for the Ebay challenge, which brings my total to $114.53! I hit my January goal! Yay!

And I have 5 more items still in open auctions, so maybe I can get a head start on Feb's $100.

In other news, I got a second ticket today. Yes, second. Let me explain: Last week I went downtown where it is all on street parallel parking. So I fond a spot between 2 cars and parallel parked. When I came back to my car, the other 2 were gone and I had a $15 ticket for parking in a bus zone. The bus zone was 10 feet in front of me, and, oh, what a surprise, a cop car was parked there. Jackass.

Since I was between 2 other cars I assumed I was safe. There is so much snow, you can't see the curb to tell if it is painted to indicated a bus zone. And there was a car further up than me. So, I said I'm going to fight this. I haven't had a chance to go to court yet.

Today I get pulled over because my car registration is expired (I had no idea). Damn it. That was a $100 ticket!!! But the cop was nice and said if I went and renewed my registration today, they disputed the ticket, the court would throw it out since I got new registration stickers the same day as the ticket. I went to the DMV right away, paid $38 for my new registration. And that ticked I am definitely disputing.

But I think I'll pay the $15 one for a little good karma to come my way. I'll need it to make sure the $100 ticket gets thrown out.

I also stopped at the post office and spent $25 mailing out 8 packages. But at least I get shipping reimbursement for it all.

And then I spent $18 on groceries. We needed cat food, butter, and milk, and I picked up 2 bottles of ginger ale. I've got a tummy virus.

Oh, and I found a penny today. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.49

Went grocery shopping today. My goal was the spend under $100 today. I thought it would be hard since I needed a lot of basics (PB, pancake mix, yogurt, salad, tomatoes, mushrooms, milk, etc) plus I needed to pick up some stuff for dinners and some meats.

I managed to use 3 coupons out of my stack today. And all 3 were used on items that were already on sale, so I got extra savings. I saved $4 using coupons, which brought my total to $99.19 And that included a People magazine. I don't normally but it, but it was the special one on people losing half their weight and I always find those so inspiring.

Anyways, so I got some great deals (Nestle hot chocolate for 20 pkgs, $.75 a box, and Sunkist packaged tuna normally $3 each, I got 3 for $3) and I am proud of myself. I know I have a long way to go before I hit deals like CouponAddict, but this is a good start for me.

In other news, yesterday we went to the DMV to get BFs state ID. Now that he has it, he can apply for MassHealth and hopefully get the help he needs for his social anxiety.

And my jingly news: at the DMV I found a dime and today at the grocery store I found a nickle. Up $.15 in found money! New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.16

I really do. I got a bunch of things done that I needed to do in order to get financial things rolling better.

Filled out the Food Stamps App. Just need a copy of my 1099 and a copy of my license. Then it is off the the mail.

Also spoke to the woman helping me with the SSDI claim. I have a form my neuro needs to fill out at my next appointment, which is Thursday, and she is sending me another form that I can send to MassHealth. That form will complete my application for health insurance.

I also filled out the 2 forms I needed to defer my student loans for 6 months due to not working. Plopping them in the mail today.

And finally, not finance related, but wrote out my holiday cards last night and mailing them today.

Who-hoo!

I'm starting to think that we eat too much. In reality, I know it is just that we go through staples rather quickly: bread, cheese, lunch meat, salad. So, today it was another stop for some groceries.

Picked up rolls for our hamburgers tonight, 2 sodas, tortilla chips for me to snack on (sugar free and made with corn intead of flour!), chips for the BF, and 2 loaf of bread.

OK, maybe it wasn't all on staples. Anyways, dropped $16. Was so expensive because we went to the neighborhood place around the corner instead of the big grocery store. Should have known better...

Had a ton of errands to do today, and unfortunately spent some money.

Here's what I did:
Gas in car $23
Therapy $15
Library Free!
Post Office $1.68
Linens and Things $20
Grocery Store $87

Ugh, that's a lot. Everything except Linens and Things was a need. And I only stopped there because they are going out of business and I got a great deal. I got a new bath pillow. The ones I always get at the Dollar Store that you blow up always get popped or broken. This one was on sale for $11 and it is spongy and squishy. Can't wait to use it tonight in the bubble bath! I also got a new soap dispenser for the bathroom, since ours broke when we moved back in March. This one is so cool: it was $20 on sale for $5 and it has a clock on the front that really works. Very handy since we don't have a clock in the bathroom. And finally I got a packet of 4 reusable herb bags. They are great to fill with herbs and then dump in a hot bath. It holds all the herbs but lets them seep into the water. Then you just rince it out and let it dry. I'm actually going to fill one with a mix I made and add it to my friend A's holiday gift since she loves baths as much as me.

I am still waiting to get paid for the Azteca Dunnys I sold on Ebay, but the buyer emailed me and said payment would be here in a few days, so I am cool with that. Profit on the other Ebay sale was $4.81 I'll probably just use that to cover my Ebay fees and let the money from the Dunnys be all profit.

And another book I listed on Craigslist looks like it will sold. It's a signed First Edition Anne Rice book. A guy emailed me about it today and he lives in the same town as me, so it looks like it will go through. That will be another $15. *smile*

OK, off to grab a snack and then have a hot bubble bath! Happy Monday everyone!

I think I might apply for disability. My MS is getting worse and I am having trouble getting to or even being able to work.

I'm having another attack; this time my right leg and some double vision again. I need a cane to walk whenever I leave the house. I walked around the mall with Mums today for about an hour, and was so tired and wiped out I came home and slept for 2 hours.

I haven't been able to work for the last month (with temp services). I am trying to do more work from home with my freelance editing, but I haven't been able to get any new clients. I still do the tarot readings once a week, but last week I brought home $11. Not enough to live on.

I had a new MRI on Thursday. It shows new and active lesions, which means my MS is progressing. The meds I am on is supposed to stop that, but either I haven't been on them long enough (started Feb 1st) or they aren't working for me. So, the change that soemthing will happen in the near future is raised.

Next week I have to have 5 IV steroid treatments. Each one will last about 2 hours, and I will have one a day. Hopefully this will clear up my legs issue. But there is no way I can work next week, either.

So, I am thinking of applying for disability. My Dr is not a fan of it, and I'm not sure if he will support my decision, so we will see what happens. I hate the idea of it, but if I can't work, what else can I do?

I am also applying for food stamps. Looks like we will get aroun $200 a month. Thanks to all I have learned here, we can work with that.

I finally got to our local library and got myself a library card. I also took home 5 books. I got 3 Tightwad Gazettes (and am almost done with them all) and two others on personal finance. I figure if I can't do a lot with actual money right now, I can at least read about it and get some new ideas.

I stopped at the $1 store yesterday. I managed to pick up some good grocery deals:

baking soda
starfis tuna
louisiana seafood spices
ground cinnamon
garlic and pepper spice
parsley
buffalo hot sauce
habenero hot sauce
cake mix
frosting
microwaveable popcorn
bags of rice
green tea
caribou coffee bars

and a bunch more stuff I can't remember. Spent $20 and I feel like I stocked the cabinets pretty well with spices and staples. I am working on following the Tightwad advice of stocking the pantry with staples and doing way more cooking from scratch. Slow going, but hopefully I will get the hang of it.

And I found a penny in the sidewalk. New total: $1.27

I've had 2 Kinda No Spenders this week. Monday and yesterday. I say kinda because while I did spent money, it was on necessary things. Monday was groceries and stamps, and Wednesday was my new contacts (instead of new glasses). I'm not going to count these as NSDs since I did spend, but the feeling of being more careful and not spending on wants is great. Now I just need to work on getting needs done all in one day so that I can have real NSDs.

In other news, when I went grocery shopping, I saved over $11 with coupons. Plus I saved over $30 with store sals. I think I am getting the hang of this.

I had a job interview on Tuesday. It went really well, I think. It lasted over 3 hours (!) and I met with 7 people (!!). It sounds like a great place and a good job. My only concern is the commute. It is about 40 miles each way, and with the rush-hour traffic, it will take over an hour (almost and hour and a half) each way. Ugh. I really liked the commute with public transportation, so I am not sure how I feel about the driving commute. Plus, with the price of gas...? They will have to offer me a decent salary to make up for it. I'm still waiting to hear from the place I interview with a couple of weeks ago.

I'm sure there is more I want to ramble about, but I've completely lost my train of thought. Maybe more later.

With the prices of groceries rapidly rising, and my unemployment stretching out farther adn farther, I am learning to stock up on non-perishables when they are on sale, so we don'thave to pay full price next time.

I went to the grocery store yesterday, and I only had a few things on my list(cheese, t.p., olive oil). But when I was there, I found some GREAT deals so I stocked up.

Here's what I got:
-2 51oz bottles of olive oil (reg. 17.99 ea, on sale 9.99 ea, saved $8 ea)
-5 boxes of pasta (reg. $1 ea, on sale .80 ea, saved .20 ea)
-4 containers of Crystal Lite iced tea mix (reg. 3.49 ea, on sale $2 ea, saved 1.49 ea)
-4 large jars of pasta sauce (reg. 2.50 ea, on sale .99 ea, saved 1.51 ea)
-1 package hot dogs (reg. 1.99, on sale 1.50, saved .49)
-1 package 12 rolls t.p. (reg 8.99, on sale 6.99, saved $2)

For a grand total savings of $31.49

What is great is that everything I got we would have bought anyways, so now I am stocked up so I don't have to pay full price next time. I would have bought a lot more, but we have very little cupboard space or space for things in our apartment.

I would love to add this $$ to the $20 Challenge, but really all it is is helping us make our grocery budget last a little longer.

I have to say though, I am VERY proud of myself.

Today was a Spender. A big spender. A $250 spender!

First stop was the Dollar Store. I heart the Dollar Store. I got Dads Fathers Day Gift: a matching set of pot holders, oven gloves, and hand towels that all say "Grillin" on them. Very Cute. Got a bag to put them in. Total: $6 I'll add in a bottle of his favorite BBQ sauce as well. I also got my sis' b-day gift. A set of body lotion, body wash, body butter and bath salts and a matching candle in a cute basket; also $6

Then I had an eye doctor appointment for my new contacts. The co-pay was $15 but my cheap-ass health insurance won't cover the exam for the contacts, so that was another $75 on top of it. $90 that came from my EF and will be replaced when I get that stimulus check.

Old EF Balance: $714.53
Eye Doctors: -$90
--------------------------------
New EF balance: $624.53

And finally, I hit the grocery store on the way home. Spent $145, but got a bunch of meats and stocked up for a couple of weeks.

Total spent: $250

Eek!

I don't really use coupons much, simply becasue I never seem to use the items I have coupons for, and so many of the coupons require you to buy 2 before you get the amount off. But I am slowly beginning to use them. I'm a little coupon retarded, but I just realized that coupons work best when combined with store sales. LOL I'll get there eventaully.

In the meantime, I did do good wiyth coupons yesterday! My proudest purchase was Zyrtec for my allergies. Our Waalgreens sells a bottle with 45 pills for $27.99. Yesterday Walgreens had them on sale for $23.99. And I had a coupon for $4 off, so I got it for $19.99. $8 saved! Yay me!

I'm not going to add this to my challenge. I figure the savings I get with coupons isn't for my savings account. I's to make that damn grocery budget stretch a little further!

I found this article online at webmd.com and thought I'd share it. I know it will help motivate me to eat healthier (and cheaper!).


10 Healthy Foods Under $1
Even with rising food prices, it's possible to shop for healthy foods without spending a fortune.


Most of us don't need to hear it or read it ... we have felt it in our wallets every time we've gone to the grocery store. But just because food prices are rising doesn't mean you can't make healthy food choices.

The good news is that many foods that are good for you are also cheap. Here is our list of the top healthy foods you can find in your grocery store for under a dollar.

Prices may vary based on the store, location, and time of year.
1. Apples
Great for: Snacks, green salads, main dish salads, and fruit salads.
What's a serving? 1 large apple.
Price per serving: About $1. Apples sell for about $1.99 per pound, and an extra large crisp apple weighs about 1/2 pound.
Nutrition Info per serving: 117 calories, 5 grams fiber, 17% Daily Value for vitamin C, and 7% Daily Value for potassium.

2. Bananas
Great for: Snacks and fruit salads, yogurt parfaits, and smoothies.
What's a serving? 1 banana.
Price per serving: About 45 cents. Bananas sell for about $0.89 per pound, and a large banana weighs about 1/2 pound
Nutrition Info per serving: 121 calories, 3.5 grams fiber, 14% Daily Value for potassium (487 mg), 20% Daily Value for vitamin C.

3. Baby Carrots (in bags)
Great for: Snacks, casseroles, stews, veggie platters, and side dishes.
What's a serving? About 1/2 cup or 2 ounces raw.
Price per serving: 19 cents. A 16-ounce bag costs about $1 on sale and contains about 8 servings (2 ounces each).
Nutrition Info per serving: 27 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 200% Daily Value for vitamin A, and 7% Daily Value for vitamin C.

4. Canned Beans
Great for: Green salads, casseroles, stews, and chili. Types of beans range from 50% less sodium kidney beans and black beans to white beans and garbanzo beans.
What's a serving? Each can contains about 3.5 (1/2-cup) servings.
Price per serving: About 28 cents. You can buy a 15-ounce can for about $1 on sale.
Nutrition Info per serving: About 120 calories (for kidney beans), 7 grams protein, 6 grams fiber, and 6% Daily Value for calcium, and 10% Daily Value for iron.

5. Canned Tomatoes
Great for: Italian and Mexican recipes, chili, stew, and casseroles. Flavor options range from no-salt-added sliced stewed tomatoes to diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil.
What's a serving? One can contains about 3.5 (1/2-cup) servings.
Price per serving: About 28 cents. You can buy a 14.5-ounce can for about $1 on sale (often less for store brands).
Nutrition Info per serving: About 25 calories, 1 gram fiber, 10% Daily Value of vitamin A, and 15% Daily Value of vitamin C.

6. Oranges (extra large navel oranges)
Great for: Snacks, green salads, and fruit salads.
What's a serving? 1 large or extra large orange.
Price per serving: 40 cents for a large orange and 79 cents for an extra large orange. Oranges sell for around $0.79 per pound, and a large orange is about 1/2 pound, whereas an extra large orange is about 1 pound.
Nutrition Info per serving: (for an 8 ounce orange): 106 calories, 5.5 grams fiber, 10% Daily Value for vitamin A, 200% Daily Value vitamin C, 17% Daily Value for folate, 9% Daily Value for calcium, and 12% potassium.

7. Pears
Great for: Snacks, as an appetizer with cheese, green salads, and fruit salads.
What's a serving? 1 large pear
Price per serving: about 45 cents for a large pear. Pears sell for about $0.90 per pound, and a large pear weighs about 1/2 pound.
Nutrition Info per serving: 133 calories, 7 grams of fiber, 16% Daily Value for vitamin C, and 8% for potassium.

8. Lentils (dry)
Great for: Soups and stews, cold bean salads, and casseroles.
What's a serving? 2 ounces (dry)
Price per serving: 14 cents. A 16 ounce bag sells for $1.12 (on sale) and contains eight servings.
Nutrition Info per serving: 195 calories, 14 grams protein, 6 grams fiber, 24% Daily Value for Iron, 10% Daily Value for magnesium and potassium.

9. Pearl Barley (dry)
Great for: Soups and stews, cold salads, and casseroles.
What's a serving? 2 ounces (dry)
Price per serving: About 12 cents. A 16 ounce bag of dry pearl barley sells for about $0.94 and contains about 8 servings.
Nutrition Info per serving: 199 calories, 9 grams fiber, 2.5 grams soluble fiber, 6 grams protein, 8% Daily Value for iron, and 11% Daily Value for magnesium.

10. Yogurt (plain, lowfat, or fat-free)
Great for: Smoothies, yogurt parfait, dips, and dressings.
What's a serving? An 8-ounce or 6-ounce container is usually a serving.
Price per serving: 60 cents. This is usually the price for an 8-ounce container of plain yogurt.
Nutrition Info per serving: (for 8 ounces of fat-free plain yogurt): 130 calories, 13 grams of protein, 45% Daily Value for calcium, plus active cultures such as acidophilus and bifidus.

Did some online grocery shopping tonight. By paying via my checking account, I save $1 off my order. Had a $5 coupon off the order, and then saved $2.50 for selecting a non-prime delivery time. $8.50 going to the challenge.

Old EF Balance: $973.33
Peapod discounts: $8.50
-----------------------------
New EF balance: $981.83

I was reading yet another book on personal finances, and one of the chapters was on using Peapod for groceries. We use Stop and Shop as our grocery store to begin with, so that wasn't a change for us. The main idea behind it is that you save money becasue you remove yourself from the temptation of everything in the store.

When we go grocery shopping, we have a list, but we always deviate from it. We aim for $50 in gorceries and we spend $80. But with peapod, you just go online and order what you want.

The delivery fees are $9.95 for an order under $100 and $6.95 for an order over $100. Much better than the $30 or so we spend in extra food we want, bt don't have on our list of need. There is also a small fuel charge, but it is usually less than $1 total (not per mile).

I'm going to keep tabs on our gorcery spendings with Peapod and see if it really does help save us money in the end. It does save on time. Once you put something on your list, you can just go to that next time to select it instead of searching for it all over again. And honestly? We hate grocery shopping more than anything else.

So, today I put in an order. This was my second one. By looking st the sale items and comparing proce and size, I saved about $13. That will help stretch our grocery budget a little further this month.

I also got some special additional svings. After signing up with them on the last order, I got a $5 coupon off our total order for this second order. I also signed up to pay with online checking instead of a credit card (or debutcard) and saved another $5. Plus, I picked a non-rush delivery time (Between 4 and 10 pm monday night) to save $1, and finally, saved another $1 for choosing online checking instead of my debit card to pay for the order. Total saved on these features alone? $12. I am adding that $12 to my $20 challenge.


$20 Old Balance: $744.59
Peapod account savings: $12.00
--------------------------------
$20 New Balance: $756.59

So, it looks like we will be getting an extra $1,100 in March! Yay!!!! Great timing, too, with the move! I have already budgeted it all out:

$200 for the move (truck rental and treating friends and family to dinner afterwards)
$100 extra to LBCC
$100 extra to ATTCC
$100 extra to grocery budget (after the move, we will need to restock basics)
$100 into the $20/Taxes account to replace the $100 I had to steal out of it for groceries this week
$100 for new apartment things (dinning room rug, computer desk)
and the big one...$400 to the EF!!

I am actually excited to get the $1,100 so I can start transferring it around! Who knew paying bills and saving could be so much fun?

Saturday free lunch with my friend got messed up. She had a gict certificate for Outback, so we were going to go there. She came up my way, and then we went to go to the restaurant and saw it had been closed! It was gone! Grrr...so we drove around a little looking for another Outback but couldn't find one. So we ended up at the 99 here lunch was $15 for me. Ouch.

Also picked up some groceries Sat. For the life of me I can't remember exactly what we spent, and I can't find the reciept. I know it was less than $20 so we're just gonna use that number.

Sat Spendings:
$15 lunch
$20 groceries
TOTAL $35

Sunday we went to Mums and Dads. Did laundry and just hung around. I did about 3 hours worth of take home OT for work, so that rocks. We had dinner there, then came home.

Sun Spendings: $0!! NO SPEND DAY!

Whoo-hoo!
$35 for the weekend...much better than normal!

Lunch: $4.00
Groceries: $93.00
Interview clothes for the boy: $27.00

Total spendings: $124.00

Not much going on these past few days. Been tryng to not spend much. Spent some money this week on breakfasts b/c we were all out of cereal, bagels, etc and didn't get a chance to go shopping until last night. Spent about $15 on that. Dropped $5 at Cumby's the other night when we ran out of tp at midnight. Picked up sme from the all night store and a bottle of soda for the boy. Yeh, convenient, but fricken expensive! I hate buying things at convenience store.

Grocery shopping finally last niht. Spent $111 and change. Not bad, as we did a major shop and picked up a lot of meats. I think it's fair to say we blew our grocery budget for July, but I a going to do the math later to see how off we were. I'm not too upset, as July was the first month on this new plan and we are in assessment mode to see how much we are over or under in budgeting in some cateories.

Got a bill from the hospital from when I was sick a few months ago. Guess insurance didn't cover all of it. Didn't have the funds in out checking account to cover it all, so I took $125 from the Vegas fund to pay it and I will replace that when I get paid on Aug 3rd.

Listed a bunch (about 20) new books on half.com this week. One sold today, so that rocks.

Now that I got a better/working camera, there are some things I want to list on ebay, like my KidRobot Bunny's, some Tori Amos concerts, some NIN videos, a Louis Vuitton clutch/wallet thingy from inside a Louis purse that is no more, and possibly a Coach clutch. I dont know about that one. I LOVE it an it matched my hot pink leather jacket perfectly!!

Anywho, that's about it here. For now, at least.

Grocery store: $108


That's it. I'm happy. No outside spending and still doing good on the grocery budget.

Did fairly good at spending on Sunday. Went to the grocery store, and spent $69.32 This was Fab as it was down from $83.43 after I got my discounts (saved $14.11!). Didn’t get to the bank, as they didn’t open until almost an hour after I was done shopping and I didn’t want to go back there again. It’s OK, I just needed to deposit some rolled change. It’s in my purse still, so I’ll count this as exercise (carrying around heavy coins!). lol

Other than groceries, I only spent $0.40 on Sunday. We went to the annual Summerfest here and walked around looking at all the art and crafts and booths. Admission was free, my BF treated me to a Dels from his allowance money, and we didn’t get anything to eat. I bought 8 beautiful polished stones ($.05 each!) that I am going to wrap and make necklaces with.

The rest of the day was spent trying to cool off. We watched TV and took naps in the afternoon. At night BF played his Game Boy and I finally started working on my quilt.

All in all, a good day.

Spendings
Groceries: $69.32
Stones: $.40
Total: $69.72

Happy Fourth All! Today was a great day. Me and The Boy slept in (so nice) then went to Mums and Dads house for a small BBQ for dinner. My sis and her hubby weren't there, but it was still fun. My best friend (who I've known since we were 12) also came over and joined us for the cookout. We hung around and played cards for a while. It was nice and realxing and fun.

While we were there, we got about 4 loands of laundry done (yay!). We have a coin op washer and dryer in our apartment building so anytime we go to visit Mums and Dads, we bring some with us. Parents rock!!

Dinner was wicked yummy: hamburgers, cheese hot dogs, pasta salad, chips, and ice cream. One bonus: as we were leaving, Mums loaded us up with leftover food! We got half a pack each hamburger and hot dog rolls, a 6 pack of cheese hot dogs, a half bag of regular chips, a half bag of sour cream and chive chips, all the leftover pasta salad (yum! Lunch tomorrow), a tomato, 2 heads of broccoli, and an 8 pack of GIANT ribs! Mums just started cleaning out the fridge and freezer and putting things in the bag for us! And then, Dads gave me a 6 pack of my fave beer he had picked up for me! How much does that rock??

So, we got a good load of stuff for the next few days, and this kind passing out of food from Mums will help us make our $200 grocery budget for July. Yay for doting parents everywhere!

The only money we spent all day was $.50 for the newspaper, and $4.50 on DnD Iced Coffees. I like days like this!

Well, we made it through Day 1 with our new budget in palce. Yay!

My goal today was to spend $50 at the grocery store, instead of the usual $75 or so. We are hoping to cut our grocery budget down by $100 a month, $25 aweek. We came in at $53.25 A little over, but I'm happy with it. It just means for the rest of the month we have $146.75 instead of $150. I think we can do it.

We did great today: we had a total savings of $14.60 through buying things on sale. No coupons, but hopefully that will change soon. So, what did we get?

Hot Dogs (BOGO Free)
Hot Dog buns (Generic & on sale)
Whole Grain Bread (Generic)
Light Cheese (on sale)
Low Carb Pita bread
Provolone (Generic & on sale)
Turkey breast lunchmeat (Generic)
2 cartons of Friendlies Ice Cream ($1.99 each, instead of $5.59 each! And this will keep up from going out to Friendlies for ice cream).
Cat Food (generic, trying a new kind)
Rice cakes
Wheat Thins (on sale)
Carrots (on sale)
Apples (on sale)
Pears (on sale)
Strawberries (on sale)
Green Peppers

We have plenty of meats in the fridge, plus a couple boxs of pasta still. For the next week, we can easily live off what we got today and what we already have. The hard part will be next week. It will be time for our big shop (we do a small one every other week and a large one every other week). I'm thinking I can do this if I just get the Sunday papaer and compare sales beforehand. Plus, I want to try the local Shop and Save. It's a kinda discount grocery store around here. You can't get brand name stuff or meats there, but what they do have is much cheaper and Mums swears by it.

Anywho, that was all we spent today. No other stops anywhere, no purchases other than what was on our list, no other spending.

All in all, a great start and I'm very proud of us!

July Groceries to Date: $53.25
July Groceries $ Left: $146.75

July spendings to Date: $53.25

Start of a new month, so I'm gonna refocus.

Going out to lunch today with Dads, which will be a freebie for me (thanks Dads!).

After that, I want to hit the bank to make a deposit, then the grocery store. Very nicely, my bank has a branch in the grocery store, so that will be only one stop.

Found a band I like at the concert I went to last night, so I am copying their CD right now onto my iPod. Didn't have to pay for the CD, so that is a bonus. Rest of the day I think will be quiet. Read, maybe work on the quilt I am making if it is not too hot, listen to this new CD. A friend at work let me borrow the first 3 episodes of that old show Firefly on DVD, so I want to watch at least one episode tonight, too.

I also want to figure out exactly what our bills are a month. I know we spend around this much for this, but I want to know exact numbers.

The plan for spending today is to spend only on groceries today, and my grocery budget for the week is $50. I need milk, lunch meat, bread, and some fruit and veggies. If it is on sale, maybe some yogurt and ice cream, but that is it.

I will do better this month!

I picked up 4 t-hirts, one fancier kind of t-shirt/top, a pair of linen sleeping pants, and a cute pair of linen sleeping shorts for $65. Much better than I expected, as I figured it would be about $100.

Bought lunch at Taco Bell for $5.12 Not the healthiest choice, but oh well. What's done is done.

Went to the bookstore. $44.00 Ooooh, not smart. But I saved about $5 with my membership card. And one is a Suze Orman book.

Grocery store: $145.00 Saved $10 with copons. YAY! And $45 was the new Brita Water Pitcher we had to get. I dropped and broke our old one this morning. Suppose I can't complain too much: it was 8 years old. But Brita is a totally necessity for us. We drink coffee and water and not much else and the Brita keeps us from buying bottled water.

So, about $15 in savings today. I'd like to add it to the challenge or the cc debt, but where I had a day out of work this week, my paycheck was smaller than usual so we need the extra cash.

I really want to get to using coupons and such to cut our grocery budget down, but I have no idea where to start. I never get any circular with coupons. I go through the ones my Mums saves for me, but can never find a lot of them to clip.

Honestly, the whole thing seems very overwhelming to me.

However, I am dtermined to become a coupon queen this summer and would love some help. Any ideas or tips someone can pass along would be very much appreciated. Also, if anyone knows of good palces to get coupons, or good websites to learn about couponing from, I'd apprecaite that as well.

I know I can count on my frugal family!
Thanks all!

Saved $30.18 at the grocery store tonight! $1.60 was from coupons and the rest was just due to having a frequent shopper card there and pcking items that were on sale. Will add at least that $1.60 to the $20 Challenge account. LOL I should use coupons more often!

Also added to the $20 challenge is $7 I saved at CVS yesterday. I had a coupon for $7 off any purchase from my extra care savings card. Yay for frequent shopper cards!

Old $20 Challenge Total: $113.27
Added April 13, 2007: $8.60
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New $20 Challenge Total: $121.87