Safeway Shopping Trip 3/16

This is something that I thought I would never say but I wanted to go to Safeway today.  I looked at the paper last night and they had Danimals Yogurt, Doritos and Ritz on sale.  I pulled out my coupons last night and I was ready to go!  I dropped my son off at school and he was running for the door so I had plenty of time to get all my errands done.  I found everything that I needed at the store plus a container of Country Crock Pumpkin Spread for $0.99.  I did one check out with 4 bags of Doritos, 2 boxes of Ritz, Country Crock and 2 packages of yogurt.  My total was $8.64 after sales and coupons (savings $25.21 or 75%).

I looked at my receipt while walking everything out to the car and the yogurt was on sale for $0.58 after store sale, store coupon, and manufacturers coupon so I put the stuff in the car and grabbed some more coupons and decided to get another 2 yogurts and 4 Doritos.  I splurged and got the taco chips for myself in case you see the different colored bag in the back.  While at the store, I ran into one of my coupon buddies in the chip aisle.  I gave her two of my Doritos coupons which helped her and made sure that I wouldn't come back and buy more (plus they expire on 3/17 so I wanted to make sure that they got used)!!!  I did my second check out and it was $4.52 (savings $18.82 or 81%).  I know that I shouldn't be excited by this many chips but I really was and I hope that we can make them last for a few months and not have to get other junk food :)  Total OOP $13.16!!!

More Books to Read

We are well into March (okay exactly half way) and I am well into my March reading list with only one book left.  I finished the January and February list without any problems but March was the first list that I wrote before the month started.  It has helped me to stay on track and maybe get even more motivated.  I have a ton of books in my pile but I tend to pick some at the top of my list and leave the bigger ones for later since it is hard to cart the book with me when it is bigger.  I am also putting the ones that I think aren't going to be as interesting to the bottom :(  It isn't the greatest practice but having a list to follow makes me read the books on the list to be held accountable.  Of course, my cousin pointed out to me that my list included only "real" books and no "fun" books.  I am trying to add more "fun" books to the list so that I do read something fun every month.  Not to say that some of the books that I read aren't entertaining but I see her point that I should be reading a light reading book, especially with summer right around the corner.

I try to pick a good mix of the books to try to read for the month so that my reading is balanced.  That way I don't read all the finance books one month and read all the mommy books another month (also helps work in a "fun" book).  The sad part is that I always pick out too many and get ahead of myself so I am trying not to get any other books out of the library before I get through most of the ones that I have already.  Most of my books are due before the end of the month so I will spend some time online renewing so that I have enough time to finish them all.  What is the saying, my eyes are bigger than my stomach?  Are my eyes bigger then my eyes in this case?  I don't know but I can't keep up with all the great books that I get off the shelf and add to my wish list.

I have finished 5 books and only have one more on the list for the month (and might try to fit in another Castle book depending on a family visit that I have at the end of the month).  I think that I am making great strides and might not have any books to read by the end of the year with what is left at the library :)  Only kidding!!!!  Going to lay down and start the next book.  Hope that you are reading some books and enjoying all the great ones out there.  Please let me know if you find any others that I should add to my list and I will try to find them at the library (That means you Lynn, add to the list so I know what to get- especially the "fun" ones).  I am going to the library to get two more books that I reserved on Friday morning after I take my son to school.  I am going to try to put them to the bottom of my list to read the ones that I have at home first but only time will tell :)  Crossing my fingers that I have the will power to not start with the newer books first!!  Happy reading to all and make sure that you give me any suggestions to add to the list.

Giant Trip 3/15 for potatoes and cranberry juice

I wasn't planning on another trip to the grocery store this week but I was going through my e-mails last night when I got a strange one from Giant that I haven't gotten in ages.  I opened it to find that they were offering additional coupons on some items to be loaded to my Giant card.  I added all that were available and then started looking to see what weekly deals I could match them up with.  Exciting news was that one of them was for $1 off a bag of potatoes and they were on sale for B1G1 this week.  Of course, that means that I don't know the price but I figured that it would work out to a good price after all was said and done.  There was another one with $0.75 off Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice (and there was a $0.50 Uscan it discount).  I knew that they were on sale last week and I was hoping that they still were.

This morning, my son and I got in the car and went to check the deals.  We got our scanner at the entrance to the store and told some other women who was using it for the first time ever how easy it was to do :)  See how helpful I was today!!  Then we headed to the potato section.  The signs are already down because it is the last day of the sale but luckily I grabbed the ad so that I would know what which one was on sale.  I scanned two bags of potatoes, first bag for $3.99 and the second was $0.  Then we went to check out the cranberry juice.  Double excited because it was still on sale for $2.50!!!  I grabbed the white cranberry strawberry which rang up as $2.00 after the uscan savings (HAHA, little does the scanner know that it will be $1.25 after my other electronic coupon).  I went to the self check out and scanned my uscan machine, then my card, and then I added on my three bags that I used.  It took off all coupons between the second and third bag so my total went from $4.24 to $6.50.  UGH!  I pressed the button and the lady came over and I told her about it.  She didn't understand what I was saying and told me to pay for it because the bag credit showed up.  Nope, still not understanding what I am saying.  A guy came over to help and I explained it to him.  He cancelled the transaction and was going to do it again.  I told him that I needed to use the scanner but since I already used that one, it was all over.  I had to go back to the beginning of the store and ring it all up.  Then I went to customer service to finish and the gentleman that was helping me came over and told her what to do about the bag credit.  She let me pay for the transaction and then she gave me a quarter from the drawer for the bag credit (even though I was only supposed to get $0.15).  Even though it was a little much with a three year old who already finished his bank lollipop, I think that it was a success.  My son said good bye and thank you to her and then said goodbye to the grocery store and we were on our way to the car with our three bags of heavy groceries (pictured below).

 Here is my receipt with all of the sale savings at the top of the receipt and the e-coupons at the bottom.  The total was $4.35 minus my shiny quarter so it was $4.10 OOP.  I think that it was a good trip to the store to get an interesting mix of groceries.

With this trip to the store, it brings the month total to $134.14.  Exciting news because the rumor is that Harris Teeter has triples next week starting on March 21st.  I will be there right after I drop my son off at school to get lots of good deals to finish out the month.  I can't wait to see what deals await since they haven't done triples in so long.  I was actually hoping for super doubles because I was hoping to use some rain checks from last time to get some deals that I really wanted before the coupons expire.  I am sure whichever one it ends up will produce some great deals and use up the rest of the budget left for the month.  Hope your month is going as well and you are getting lots of great deals!!

Quick Summer Dinner (or any day you are in a hurry)!

I know it is a little early for this post but for some reason, it is already hot here in VA.  My son was great all day with our adventure and then after he woke up from his nap, asked to ride his bike.  We just bought a helmet last weekend so he was ready to roll (figuratively because he isn't great at the peddling).  He put on his helmet and hit the road with Daddy.  I stayed behind to fold the load of laundry as quickly as possible so that I could get outside and see my little one on his tricycle for his very first time!!!  He was adorable and I took a million pictures of him riding around our street.  Anyway, with more days like this to come with the weather getting better, I thought I would post my easy dinner solution when the playtime gets longer and dinner needs to be on the table quickly when you finally make it in the house.  I have a few helpful hints for all families to enjoy the nice weather and still have a healthy dinner.

1.  Cut and Marinate Chicken Ahead and freeze.  I pick out what kind we are having and then the night before I take it out to defrost in the fridge (this one is soy ginger as noted on my menu plan).  It is great because it isn't just boring chicken and then dinner is ready made with flavor.  Helpful hint:  Make sure the grill is filled or else you are cooking it inside.... or that you know how to use it because I am grill challenged!!
2.  Make ahead rice.  I made a big pot of brown rice over a weekend and then bagged up serving size portions in bags to pile in the freezer.  The great part is that you can make different flavors or brown rice which takes more time and have it as needed.  Depending on your freezer, it takes a few minutes to cook straight from frozen.  I normally open the zip top a little bit and microwave for 1 minute at a time (smooshing the bag to stir the rice around in between).  It takes at least 3-4 minutes.

3.  Bag of frozen veggies, especially something that is an extra treat like edamame because you can eat it with your hands, even if the rest of the meal isn't ready yet :)  Mom looks like she planned it as an appetizer instead of just that she was starving!!

Best part is that the inside work doesn't take pots and pans or heat up the house and you use the grill so there is very little clean up!  I love a night when all the dishes go into the dishwasher and I don't have to do any other clean up :)  I hope that you follow the plan at least once and see how easy a home cooked meal can be for your family too!!!  Hope you got out to enjoy the nice weather too :)

This was my son saying "Look mom, I put my feet on the pedals!"  Not the best example but I thought it was funny!!!

Our Day of Adventure!!

This morning, my son and I started off on our adventure.  We returned DVDs at the library.  We went to the grocery store which is his favorite place to go which is a good thing since we go there a lot :)  We got the race car shopping cart so he was happy and turning the wheel.  And then Mommy stopped...there were balloons when we first walked in and there was even a color choice.  I don't usually give him a choice but I figured that we weren't really in a hurry so I sat there and waited for him to tell me.  He told me that he didn't want orange because he had that at home....  he didn't but I gave up since we were standing in the doorway making no progress so I picked yellow.  He was happy and made me tie it to the wheel of the race car so that he could drive with it.  The next stop was to get cookies which I put in his Cars snack bag that we brought from home.  I can't imagine why this is his favorite place to go :)  On to the task at hand, I got the last day of the sales with two bags of pancakes, 3 containers of Tetley tea and a loaf of bread.  Then in the yogurt section before turning the corner, we saw someone that we knew so we stopped to say hi and lost the balloon.  They got someone who worked there and got the balloon down and saved the day!  (P.S. Amy- Joe says hi).  The cashier was someone that I normally work with at customer service and she told me that she is going to start couponing and asked for some advice.  I gave her a matchup website to go to in order to start saving.  She seemed pretty excited so I hope that she starts couponing too because it always means that they are much better to work with because they know what we are trying to do :)  Total OOP is $4.28 (savings $12.95).

Then we came home and dropped off the groceries to make sure that we got the pancakes in the freezer since it was supposed to get hot today.  Quick stop and back on the road.  Next stop Target!  We went in and had a quick return of the Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice because it was $2.69 ($2.76 after taxes) and I got it on sale at Giant and Harris Teeter for $2 so I figured that we would save the money and return the one that we got at Target.  Then we went back to the car to drop off our coats because it was super hot per my son.  Then we road in the cart down the parking lot to make a return at Wal-Mart but that went on a gift card because I didn't have a receipt... that went well and we were on our way back to the car which I was sweating by the time that we made it there.  The temperature that we passed said 79 degrees!!!!  UGH, I must have skipped spring!! 

We were headed to see Aunt Kim at work at the hospital and drop off presents for her to take to Florida with her for Grammie :)  The gas gauge was heading towards the empty E so we stopped and got gas to my son's dismay because I had to shut off his CD that he was listening to.  Around $45 later, we were off to the hospital being thankful for the fact that I don't really have a big tank on my car anymore.  We got there in time to have lunch her so Dylan ate pretzels, graham crackers and a little bottle of water just like the patients get and played with Aunt Kim's ipad so the hospital might be his second favorite place to go.  We left there and stopped at Aldi which I told my son was Aunt Kim's grocery store so that he wouldn't expect the balloon and cookies :)  I had never been so it was a fun adventure for me too!! They had $0.59 eggs but I figured that my husband might freak out if I came home with my 7th dozen eggs, plus we don't have any more room on our egg shelf in the fridge :)  I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips for $0.99, head of lettuce for $1.19, and hamburger rolls for $0.59.  I knew that I needed my own bags but I didn't really have the whole check out process figured out.  We put the stuff and the bags on the belt while holding my son so that he could see everything happening.  Then, she put the stuff in a cart at the end of the aisle which is where it all started to go bad....  Then she put my bags in the cart with them.  I ran my credit card.... they don't take credit card DUH!  I put my son down and he was holding my bag, got out cash, paid for my $2.84 total with a $20 bill since I didn't have any change and there was only one line backing up behind us.  Then I tried to put my stuff in the bags but my son dropped our other bag on the floor.  I asked him to pick it up and he started dancing around it saying that he was picking it up but he never touched it.  The lady was then trying to give me my change back and I was about to give up.  I had one bag done, grabbed the change, and the rest of the stuff and walked over to a shelf toward the window.  Luckily, my son followed me because I didn't have any more hands left.  I got everything in the bags, all the money back in my change purse, and decided that I had to use the bathroom.  We walked over with all the bags and there were no hooks in the bathroom.  I asked my son if he could hold the bags and not let them touch the floor.  He said yes and then put them down on the floor.  What can you expect from a 3 year old?  Note to self, wash reusable bags.  I went as quickly as possible and we were off to the car for the 30 minute trip home.

 I noticed that I missed a call from my mother so I picked up the phone and called her back.  I also wanted to let her know about my trip to Aldi which just opened by her house too so it is her favorite store (she doesn't like grocery stores so this is saying something for her).  We were talking on the way home and my son was in his seat making his trains yell at each other.  I could tell that he was exhausted but he was fighting against it.  He fell asleep while I was still talking to my mom so I was pretty excited that we were going to get a nap today!!!!  We got home around 2 pm and I brought in a load of stuff from the car and went back out with my son's blanket.  I got him out of him seat and we went straight to bed.  We are going to have to stay this busy every day if it gets me to a nap :)  Time for me to take my nap too before he wakes up!!  Hope that you had a productive day too :)  Total OOP for the whole day of entertainment was $4.36 (after return).

Menu Plan Monday 3/12

Monday- Tacos
Tuesday- Soy Ginger Chicken with fried rice
Wednesday- Philly Cheesesteak Pasta
Thursday- Zesty Italian Chicken Wraps
Friday- Chicken tenders with oven fries
Saturday- BLTs and Burgers/??
Sunday- Leftovers/??

Hot (Broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink It Too Book

So I picked up Hot (broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink It Too by Nancy Trejos because it had a catchy title (and a pretty pink cover).  How can you not want to read it?  Open to the first page and see that it was also set in DC.  I put it in the bag and brought it home from the library.  It is a fun read that gives one woman's story (and a few friends) through her adjustment to living in the expensive city of DC in her 20's and 30's and her decline into debt because of the lifestyle.  It was a fun read that kept me interested from start to finish.  I think that it is a great read for anyone starting out in life (especially in an expensive city like DC) but since I am a little past that, I could only relate to what had already been in the past for me.  There were some things that rang true about going out to be with friends and how it is costly.  It is hard to adjust to life on your own and figuring out many mistakes by trial and error.

But there were more things that I couldn't sympathize with like going to a college where everyone has money so you use a credit card to make up the difference.  I was raised to pay off my credit card every month and only use it against money in the bank so I never used my credit card except to buy my books at the beginning of the semesters.  Not to quote the famous mom line, "Would you jump off the bridge if your friend did?" but it is what always pops into my head when this subject pops up.  I went to a school with a ton of "trust fund" kids but I searched for and found the friends that were more like me that related to the fact that I couldn't afford to go out to the bar and drink every weekend, I couldn't order pizza on a Friday night because I was hungry, and I couldn't afford to go sit at a coffee shop on a Saturday.  The author (and many other college students) find it a hardship to not keep up with others around them and the activities that they are doing.  I say, get better friends and work to make life work within your means.  Take that extra cup of cereal from the dining hall on the way out and you have a late night snack with no more money out of pocket.  Buy a package of muffin mix and cook it up in the dorm oven (or toaster oven in my room).  It doesn't mean that you can't hang out with friends who are buying pizza or drinking at bars but you can't afford to do it so don't put it on your credit card to try to keep up with them. Sorry for the rant but this is a touchy subject for me!!  The same holds true in your current life.  My girlfriends and I wanted to get together for lunches and we always ended up at a restaurant spending lots of money (and sadly holding a table too long for waitresses that probably wanted us gone) just to catch up.  The idea wasn't to spend a ton of money but it was the easy way to catch up with each other.  I suggested a pot luck meal once a month where we got together and caught up.  This meant that we could do it more often and it would be way cheaper for all of us with a big hearty meal with dessert and drinks and not cost anyone a fortune.  I couldn't afford the restaurant meal in my budget and my friends agreed to the pot luck... problem solved and I still have those same friends.  I am not saying it was that easy in college but if your friends don't like you for who you are, why are they your friends?  Like I always tell my cousin, the rating of a friend is when your car is dead on the side of the road, who is coming to get you (sorry Matt B, Amy/Tony, and Mr. Payne for actually ever having to test that one-does it sounds like I always need someone to help me??? The first was a flat tire after it was slashed and the other two or maybe three were batteries dead...who knew you had to replace that thing and turn off your interior lights? OOPS!).  If you can't list a friend as someone who is going to be there to come and get you, then they really aren't your friends so you really need to treat them more as who they are- acquaintances.  Don't put more effort into them then you should because they aren't going to be there when times are tough for you and relationships are supposed to go both ways. Of course, to each their own and people can chose to live and go into debt if they want to but then they don't have the right to complain about it :)

So after that long winded explanation, I would certainly recommend this for people starting out or people who want an entertaining read.  It doesn't provide a lot of concrete information (some listed in appendix for easy access) except to get a financial planner and cut down on expenses but the comical stories and real money discussed is interesting enough to make up for it.  I would highly recommend it just to hear about the authors life through breakups, job changes, travel adventures and working to get out of debt.  Who doesn't like to know that you aren't the only person out there that has made mistakes and the example of how someone got out of it and fixed their finances.  Please pick it up at your local library or bookstore.  Let me know what you think!!