Mid Month Budget Update

This month was going to be a tough month to follow after the great deals of last month but I thought that I had it planned out pretty well that I wouldn't go crazy this month.  I had one day in shopping before everything got turned upside down. 

My dad called me and told me that my grandmother had a stroke and the doctor told them that she only had two days left.  I had just dropped my son off at school and so I went home to pack up.  I threw as much stuff as I could figure out in bags and packed the car.  I got a bag of food and the cooler together.  I picked up my son at school and we ate a fast lunch and we were out the door.  We were gone for two weeks and totally unprepared for most things.  I didn't pack most of the things that I should have grabbed so there was a little scrambling to make do with what we had and buy the things that we needed.  Plus, my son and I both got sick so we had to get some medicine.  Luckily, my dad picked up the tab for one of the trips to Target so that was money not out of the budget.  I also don't have pictures of most of things that we got.

Harris Teeter -$0.23

I bought an Almond Milk for my friend Stephanie who was shopping with me and she paid me cash for the item so it covered the cost of my shopping trip.  I got a Minute Maid orange juice but I got the wrong one and the evic coupon didn't come off so I returned it which put my total in the negative even though two coupons didn't scan correctly.  I was hoping to go back and get it later but I didn't have enough time to make it back to the store to get anymore deals. Super sad because the Act coupon expired and I wanted to get a few more of the freebie popcorn.

Target $13.99

We were sick and I got some cold medicine and Children's Advil for my son.  We only brought one little travel container so we needed more!  I also needed some medicine.  I also grabbed some soda for the house because my cousin asked us to pick up a individual soda but the two liters were cheaper so I got two so that we could all have some soda with dinner.  We also grabbed a loaf of bread for sandwiches and toast.  I also forgot to grab my son's markers on the way out of the house so I grabbed some crayola markers that were in the $1 section!

Aldi's $17.23

My husband ran to Aldi's to get some groceries for my cousin's house where were were staying.  We needed more bread and some other staples which are great to get at Aldi's.  My husband even got french fries so that I could make them with some buffalo chicken for dinner that night.  I made some pancake mix and baking mix for her cupboard to leave behind so that she would have some yummy things to make after I left.  My husband and son did grab some pretzels, pringles and chips so it wasn't all healthy good choices but I wasn't complaining and we ate them all!

Target $24.00

I got two bottles of Tide Free and Clear so that I could do laundry at my mom's house so that we had laundry for our last few days and when we got home.  I washes three loads of laundry so I left one of the laundry detergents at my parents and brought one home to use here.  It was way more then I usually pay per bottle but I used a coupon and got a gift card back so it was the best deal that I could find.

Total OOP $54.99

During our trip, my husband also had lots of fun fixing things at my cousin's Victorian house that she wanted to get done.  Our birthday present to her was to pay for some of the supplies so we spent about $50 on different trips back and forth to Home Depot and Lowes so that we could fix the tub drain that was leaking.  It took a lot of different trips before we came up with the right fix.  They also replaced the faucet in the kitchen sink, installed a ceiling fan, installed a dimmer switch in the dining room and put a new gfci plug in the bathroom.  My husband also did something with the front screen door to make sure that it fit when the weather had it expanding and contracting.  I didn't understand it but it involved wood chisels and the door works so that is what matters.  I am not sure if there were any other projects that were done since my husband seemed to pick a new one every time I turned around.  I also spent $115.89 at Target because we were going to pay for the faucet and gfci but my cousin bought it so I paid for her Target purchase and provided tons of coupons and and gift card to save an additional $45 off our total so that would could pay for a little bit of groceries that we ate during our stay.  I know that they were happy to have us there but I didn't want to be a financial burden so hopefully they got a lot of projects checked off the list and will remember our two weeks at their house fondly but I am not counting either out of our grocery budget since they were for birthday presents.