The Marriage Bargain Book Review

In my question to read through my large pile of books on my bookshelf, I took some time the other night to rearrange things.  I made a pile of the smaller sized books and moved all the books that I read on the shelves and the ones that I haven't read are shelved on top of the bookcase.  The Marriage Bargain (Marriage to a Billionaire) by Jennifer Probst was at the top of the pile so I started reading it.  It was a quick read by a new author that I have never read before.  I am going to look up the rest of the series and see if the rest are just as interesting.

To save her family home, impulsive bookstore owner Alexa Maria McKenzie casts a love spell. But she never planned on conjuring up her best friend's older brother - the powerful man who once shattered her heart.  Billionaire Nicholas Ryan doesn't believe in marriage, but in order to inherit his father's corporation, he needs a wife and needs one fast. When he discovers his sister's childhood friend is in dire financial straits, he offers Alexa a bold proposition: a marriage in name only with certain rules. Avoid entanglement. Keep things all business. Do not fall in love. The arrangement is only for a year, so the rules shouldn't be that hard to follow, right? Except fate has a way of upsetting the best-laid plans.

Any entertaining read that I enjoyed over the weekend so I am looking up the rest of the series to see if they are in the library but I don't see any of them so I guess that is the end of that series unless there are more in the pile that I still have to go through.  I enjoyed reading about Alexa and growing up for the shy child to outgoing and friendly bookstore owner.  She is looking to make her own way in the world and wants to help out her parents.  Her parents are about to loose the house that she grew up in because they are behind on payments because of medical bills. She decided to look for a husband that she could love that would also be able to help her parents.  She found an old friend who was willing to marry her and give her the money but not willing to risk his heart.  Nicholas Ryan needs to marry someone so that he can keep a business that he has worked his whole life in.  They are only going to be married for a year but that is a hard promise to keep.  Find out what happens in this story because I think you will be entertained!!

The First Kiss of Spring Book Review

I have been waiting for The First Kiss of Spring: An Eternity Springs Novel by Emily March from the library and I totally forgot about it until it showed up to read.  I was excited to start getting to read it and it went by quickly.. a little too quickly.  There was a great introduction back to the small town of Eternity Springs.

Life could be a dream...  Goal-oriented and gorgeous, Caitlin Timberlake's dreams took her to the top of the corporate ladder in New York City. Now years later, her goals have changed. She wants to come home to Eternity Springs and build a business and a family of her own―with the new man in town. So what if sexy mechanic Josh Tarkington wants nothing more than a fling? Caitlin is a patient woman who knows how to work hard and strategize to win what she desires. She desires Josh. Unfortunately, he has other plans.
If only things were different...  Josh craves Caitlin and all she has to offer. However, he is a man with secrets. He has worked hard to overcome his tragic past, but he's afraid to risk having a future because he knows trouble is never very far away. When a selfless act brings that trouble to his door, he stands to lose everything he cares about―including Caitlin. Will her love and the healing magic of Eternity Springs be enough to save him?

I thought that this book was going to be amazing just from the cover with the wonderful house and spring flowers blooming but it was even better.  I got to go back to the cute small town of Eternity Springs which was fun to read about through the whole series so make sure you check them all out.  This book follows Caitlin Timberlake who we haven't seen in awhile and now she is all grown up.  She left her high powered job to move to the small town that her parents have made their home because she wants to settle down and have a family where her family lives.  It is a great story about how she shows her parents that she made the right decision.  Josh is new to the area and owns the auto shop in town.  Although working with cars makes him happy, he is hiding behind that to not get out and meet people because he doesn't want anyone to know about his past.  Caitlin meets Josh when she is at a friends destination wedding and he is on vacation so neither knew that they had ties to the small town and it is funny to find out how they figured that out!!  Check out this book and find out what happens in both their lives because there are many ups and downs!!  I loved it and I hope that you do too!

The Family Gathering Book Review

I normally go through the new releases at the library every few months and put myself on the list for all the authors that I like and books that sound interesting.  I just got another one in on my reserve shelf that I reserved ages ago because I don't even remember and it is part of a series that I love called Sullivan's Crossing.  The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing) by Robyn Carr is the third book in the series which seems to say there are only going to be three but I am hopeful that there will be another one since I just finished this one and want to find out what is going to happen next.

An exceptional storyteller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr beautifully captures the emotionally charged, complex dynamics that come with being part of any family. Readers will laugh and shed a few tears as they discover what it means to be loved, supported and accepted by the people who mean the most.

Having left the military, Dakota Jones is at a crossroads in his life. With his elder brother and youngest sister happily settled in Sullivan’s Crossing, he shows up hoping to clear his head before moving on to his next adventure. But, like every visitor to the Crossing, he’s immediately drawn to the down-to-earth people and the seemingly simple way of life.  Dakota is unprepared for how quickly things get complicated. As a newcomer, he is on everyone’s radar—especially the single women in town. While he enjoys the attention at first, he’s really only attracted to the one woman who isn’t interested. And spending quality time with his siblings is eye-opening. As he gets to know them, he also gets to know himself and what he truly wants.  When all the Jones siblings gather for a family wedding, the four adults are drawn together for the first time in a way they never were as children. As they struggle to accept each other, warts and all, the true nature and strength of their bond is tested. But all of them come to realize that your family are the people who see you for who you really are and love you anyway. And for Dakota, that truth allows him to find the home and family he’s always wanted

This book was another well written story with great characters that have you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what is going to happen next.  I had trouble putting it down which lead to a few very short nights because I stayed up until the morning reading.  I was very interested in what was going to happen to Dakota after he came out of the military and went to the small town where his brother and sister live.  There was lots of turmoil in the family with things going on for all of them.  The best part was watching all of them support each other so that they could get through it together.  I thought it was great and I know that if you pick it up to find out what will happen you will fall in love with this family too!!  I hope that you check out this book and the other books in the Sullivan's Crossing series.  I think that you will enjoy them as much as I have.

End of the Month Budget Update for April

I work to maintain a budget of $160 per month for my family of three including all of our household goods and groceries.  I use sales, coupons, clearance and anything that helps me make my budget and get the items that my family needs.  I plan a monthly meal plan on the things that I have in the house knowing that I might have to get a few items from the store through the month but I know what things I will and won't use so that things don't go to waste.  All of those tools help me to make the best choices monthly for my family!!

I really feel like this month flew by again and I don't know where it went although when I look at the amount of pen and different colors on my calendar, I know that we were busy.  There is green, blue, purple and yellow marked all over the pages to indicate all of the things that went on during the day so that we didn't miss anything.

The beginning of the month brought lots of transactions and if you want to see the breakdowns you can look here.  I got lots of great deals including clearance asparagus, apples, bananas and salad which made a lot of quick meals and banana bread and applesauce bread.  Really enjoyed the steak and corn on the cob at the end of the month because it was like summer had started even though it was still cold outside.  Check out all my transactions and costs below.

Harris Teeter $1.90

Harris Teeter $2.05

Giant $0.90

Harris Teeter $5.22

Harris Teeter $0.06

Harris Teeter $4.55

Harris Teeter $0.15

Harris Teeter $0.21

Harris Teeter $0.15

Harris Teeter $1.06

Harris Teeter $0.26

Harris Teeter $0.08 

Harris Teeter $0.18

Harris Teeter $0.82

Harris Teeter $0.18

Harris Teeter $ 0.25

Harris Teeter $1.97 

Aldi $16.24

Harris Teeter $2.21  

Harris Teeter $0.15 (multiple transactions)

Harris Teeter $0.24 (multiple transactions) 

Giant $0.37 (multiple transactions)

Wegman's $16.87

Harris Teeter $0 

I didn't pay for this because my son picked out things and my parents bought it with the coupons that I loaded to my card.

Shoppers $0.08

Harris Teeter $6.15- $1.01= $5.14

Giant $0.12

Safeway $0.00

Aldi $7.39

Out of milk and turkey and grabbed an extra of stick and tub margarine to have for backup.

Harris Teeter $18.11

This was mostly the granola bars which I got without coupons (I know Nathalie just said no she didn't!!!).  They were on sale Buy 2, Get 3 free so they were just a little bit above $1 per box without coupons.  The tortillas were $0.50 each so I grabbed two and put them straight in the freezer.  I splurged and bought the mini cherry pies which weren't as good as the memory but they were $1.39.  The blue bunny ice cream was $0.14 after sale and coupon and I turned in a rebate for $0.50 back on each.  I got the soda for $0.74 and did a rebate for $0.75 on Ibotta.  The Mayfield ice cream was $3 which was expensive but my son had been asking for it.

Harris Teeter $3.06

Free ice cream and yogurt and I got 8 lbs of potatoes because the price at Aldi had gone up a lot!!

Harris Teeter $11.44

My husband and son were out at the transfer station while I was at the store that didn't have any more of these granola bars so my husband took my son out and found 10 of them!!

Safeway $0

I got the yogurt and traded it with Maria for spaghetti sauce.  My son was very excited about the trade because he got to do it but we are much happier with the sauce in the cabinet because we had so much yogurt in the fridge that still didn't get used!

Shoppers $0 

I went to Shoppers and couldn't find the candy in the aisle.  A very nice employee helped me look and couldn't find it but she showed me hers....which I actually did see in the aisle but I was looking for something that said Hershey's and this one didn't but it was yummy!!

Aldi $8.24

We were almost out of pepperoni and it was pizza night so I had to get pepperoni.  We were almost out of cheddar cheese, oyster crackers so I grabbed them too.  I said I was going to make some coco krispie treats with these marshmallows for my son so I grabbed these to use up the cereal that he wasn't eating in a special treat before it goes stale.

Harris Teeter $5.63

I started with the meat clearance which I looked through and found some fun steaks for $2.56 so we will enjoy those on the grill.  I got my free taste and tell from Harris Teeter to taste and write a review.  I grabbed the free bread and decided to look for a few more deals.  I got 5 bottles of Franks and found 5 hang tags which also had $3 instantly off so I paid $0.40 each!!  I grabbed the All Detergent for $1.50 each.  

Target $0 (used Pay Pal)

I ordered the Cran Grape and Ibuprofen for my husband and got to use Pay Pal free money from my rebates because I haven't gotten any deals on them lately.

Safeway $0

Another thanks to Maria for sharing her freebie!

Safeway $0

I got a free pizza with my card so I was happy to put that in the freezer since ours are all gone and they are great fast lunch!!

Shoppers $0.78

I went to get the Yoplait freebie and I thought that I was going to be able to use a coupon but the cashier wouldn't take it.  Then I got a $0.25 ecoupon that came off but it didn't tell me what it was for but it ended up being a good thing that I have a little extra for the coupon just in case it was the yogurt. 

Giant $5.49

Free Brats and Good Culture Cottage Cheese were free with electronic coupons.  I got 6 of the Gerber baby food with lots of coupons that came off electronically.



Giant $3.14 (multiple trips)

I went to the store to get the Old El Paso deal that was running which was buy 5 specific items and get $5 instant savings.  It was as wonderful at my catalina deals since I haven't gotten any of them this month, this was a great find.  On each transaction, I got $0.55 overage to spend on anything so I bought 6 corn on the cobs, head of lettuce 3 bananas, 4 Kool Aids and 2 tomato sauce.  I got 9 different transactions and took one big picture with my wonderful $53 savings!  I was very excited that we are going to have a taco seasoning for a long time!

       

 Giant $0.24 (two transactions)

My husband went with my son and he picked out the Kool Aid he wanted to go with his transaction.  My husband did the same and picked his Kool Aids that he wanted.  They both did one transaction and paid with the change in my husband's pocket.

Giant $0.54 (two transactions)

My son and I went to another store and we were going to look at the produce section to see what he might want and we passed the doughnut case on the way there so we both got doughnuts that we could eat on the way to the next stop.  He did one transaction and I did the other one so that we both got a yummy doughnut which are not pictured because we ate them.

Wegman's $10.39 (multiple transactions)

I have been waiting for a sale on yeast since I saw the new coupon and I hadn't seen one.  I even price checked at Shoppers and Giant and they sell normally at $2.19 each.  I forgot to check at Safeway when I was there but I double checked Wegman's shelf price without a sale and it was $1.29 so it would be free after coupon.  There coupon policy was a little strange because it said only four like coupons per transaction but my husband did a check out at the self checkout and it brought up a coupon error that the clerk had to override.  My son did one transaction and the same thing.  I did one with the chicken and the same thing happened.  I did a few more transactions with three and went through a normal cashier which was much easier then self checkout.  I was super glad to get all of the yeast and only pay tax because it will come in handy in the coming year.

Giant $0.23

I really needed Q-tips and normally I would just get the Dollar Tree ones because they are cheap but I know that they don't have as much cushion on the end and I have been spoiled by the Q-tips that were left in the house when we moved in so I decided to use the Giant deal to get my Q-tips super cheap.

Aldi $20.19

I knew that I still had a little money left for the month and my husband finally told me that he was going to be out of turkey the next day so I went to get some.  We also opened the last bag of tortilla chips so I got two more of them.  Decided to use my extra money to buy more cheese and chicken fries to use in the coming months.  I also splurged on Nacho Cheese Chips and Ice Cream Sandwiches which are two family favorites.

Total Retail $858.72

Total Savings $702.45

Total OOP $156.27

I think that I did pretty well for the month with lots of free tissues, pizza dough, ranch seasoning, eggs, cheese, yeast, taco seasoning and Kind Bars to use for months to come.  I am running low on chicken and Cran Grape so those are added to the list for the coming month.  

I did a good job keeping on top of my expenses through the month with a spreadsheet and my folder with all my receipts.  This is my first month using a spreadsheet and I think that it helped so I knew down to the penny what I had left.  I was excited that I was under budget and that is why I did my last few trips to the stores and then added my receipts to know that there was still money left!!  A great month with lots of savings and still money leftover.

Eating Out

My parents took my son to his favorite restaurant and they paid so we didn't spend any money but he super enjoy it.  He went to Parent's Night Out at the local church so he got to play games, eat pizza and have a blast for free.  We hadn't eaten out yet and I still have my $40 budget for eating out available. We went to the Fun Fair at our school towards the end of the month and they have more expensive food that really isn't his favorite so we made a deal that if he ate lunch at home that we would buy special Pizza Hut pizza for dinner.  He picked out everything online and helped me order the each part of the pizza so it was a special treat for all of us after a long day.  The total was $13.76 for our monthly spending on take out so we were under budget by $26.24!!