Frugal in Minnesota

Shopping Trips This Week

2010-01-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

We went to Rainbow and Cub Foods this week to pick up some things that we were very nearly out of. It seems that, as we near the end of the month, my desire to continue with the Eat From the Pantry Challenge is waning. I think it is because I try to use up what we have in a normal month anyways, so putting the dollar restriction on ourselves is sort of... chafing. I hate throwing things away that are perfectly good (but I don't eat things that I think are beyond recognition--it still scares me when I go to my parents house and can't decipher what certain things are). When I buy celery, I try to use recipes that will allow me to use the whole thing. I make chicken soup, then cut it up for tuna salad, and use the rest to dip in ranch dressing and eat with buffalo chicken burgers, like we did last week.

That being said, I think I'm going to allow myself to relax on the dollar amount this past week (even though we have just about everything to make the flexible menu plan that I've decided upon--which is subject to change depending on whether or not T gets called in to work). I don't even really see anything in the ads which is very appealing, even though it breaks my heart because Rainbow is allowing you to double 10 coupons on Wednesday this week, instead of the usual 5! We'll see what happens, but I'm no longer beating myself up about the amount we spend when we're are getting what we need and use at its cheapest.

So, here is what we bought this week:

Rainbow

6 boxes General Mills cereal
1 box penne pasta
1 family sized frozen pizza
2 frozen pizza singles
5 Kraft cheese
1 coffee creamer

Used:
3 $1 cereal MQ (doubled)
1 $.55 coffee creamer MQ (doubled)
1 $1 pasta MQ (doubled)

Spent $25.17
Saved $28.85

Cub Foods

3 12 packs Coke
1 mayo
1 head lettuce

Spent $12.97
Saved $3.87

Tiny Trip to Cub Foods

2010-01-18T16:54:00.000-06:00

Just ran in and out of Cub Foods to get ranch dressing- we had literally no salad dressing in the house, and hadn't for months! We need it for dinner tomorrow night- Buffalo Chicken Burgers (yummy!).

Ranch dressing $2.99, no Q : ( but it was on sale!

Remaining budget for January: $5.37

Eat from the Pantry Challenge Update

2010-01-18T16:48:00.000-06:00

So, the Eat from the Pantry Challenge is going well, except for my spending. Don't get me wrong--it's still a lot less than what we normally spend, but it's just a bit more than I should want to spend. Everything I've gotten is going to be used and we've been extremely good about finding things to eat from what we already have. As far as food goes, we haven't bought many pantry items at all, just the fresh stuff to make our meals. It seems like my CVS spending is a little out of hand, though. It's hard for me to turn down deals that cost so little, but give so much. I already knew that going into this and it seems like that assessment was dead on. I think the real lesson learned from this month is that, even though I'm getting the stuff for super cheap, it still adds up.

I don't think I would be as worried about it as I would in a normal month, but the EFPC has made me think about it and guilt myself a bit more than I probably should. Even with the amount I've spent, we're still more than $100 under budget for January on groceries/toiletries and more than that when factoring in eating out. I think that's something to still be proud of!

This week's menu:

Monday- Shrimp Fried Rice
Tuesday- Buffalo Chicken Burgers with Celery dippers
Wednesday- Chicken and Black Bean Burritos
Thursday- chili
Friday- date night (out for Thai food- gift card)
Saturday- tacos
Sunday- kung pao chicken

Super Savings Saturday

2010-01-18T10:49:00.002-06:00

Saturday we made a few stops, trying to get the errands done for the week and buy the remaining bridal party gifts. We have a few more left to get, but they'll be picked up today. Yay! One more thing that we'll be able to cross off the list!

Our errand stops included CVS (my addiction) and Cub Foods to just pick up a couple of things.

CVS:

2 clearance Loreal lipsticks $2.25 each
2 clearance Loreal lip glosses $1.97 each
2 clearance Loreal eyeshadows $1.47 and $1.99
2 Nature's Bounty Vitamin D $8.99
1 16-pack Charmin $12.99

Used:
$5/30 CVS Q
6 Loreal $1 MQ
2 $5 Nature's Bounty
12 ECB

OOP= $0.88 + tax (total $3.12 with tax)
Got back 6 ECB

Thought I was going to get another 4 ECB back for Charmin, but picked up wrong package size. Oops! Still not bad for all that. Now, I just need to work on building my ECB back up!

Cub Foods: (lost receipt, so can't remember item prices, but total is right)

1 package baby carrots
1 package celery
1 dozen eggs
1 guacamole dip
1 bag Tostitos

Total= $8.67 (no tax)

Remaining January budget: $8.36 eek!

About This Week

2010-01-15T16:59:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had one of those weeks at work where you come home crying, taking every fiber of your being to go back the next day? I mean, who hasn't? Well--this was one of those weeks for me. The kind where you question what you're doing, why you're such an idealist and whether or not it's worth it. It took every bit of me to keep from just quitting the job and moving on with my life (an action that would satisfy my mother to no end). Although I didn't quit, it was bad enough that if things continue this way, I will. Work is not worth another ulcer (yes, I got one at age 21--can you tell I thrive under stress?).

Anyways, piece by piece, we're getting stuff for the wedding done, which is extremely uplifting. It felt like I was drowning in wedding tasks just 2 weeks ago, but now I'm digging my way out! It's just 5 weeks away--time just flies!

By the way- I have no idea why my posts keep getting spaced out and cut up. I'm sorry! I'm working to figure it out.

Menu Plan

2010-01-15T16:49:00.002-06:00

I didn't post a menu plan for this week, so I'll update now. The Eat From the Pantry Challenge is going well. We have focused a lot on what we already had, which was nice. I was able to use up some stuff that I may not have used otherwise. T also was away on a trip last Saturday, so I took advantage and ate a couple of things that he doesn't like (mac and cheese, for instance). Here's what we've eaten this week so far and the next couple of days:

Monday- ate out (a compromise between T and me)
Tuesday- turkey pot pie
Wednesday- frozen pizza
Thursday- spaghetti and garlic bread
Friday- date night at Kincaid's (T's favorite- I got him a gift card for Christmas)
Saturday- chicken and dumplings with homemade bread
Sunday- shrimp fried rico

We still have plenty of food left. However, we're on our last couple of boxes of cereal (a staple around here). Maybe we'll have to partake in the Kmart deal on that tomorrow, depending on what coupons I can scrounge up.

CVS Trip

2010-01-15T16:15:00.001-06:00

On Sunday, I didn't do quite as well. They were out of the last 2 Ousts that I wanted, so I had to work on the fly (with T being very patient, but me getting anxious anyways). I hate when they don't have something for one of your transactions, it makes it that much more difficult. Oh well, when you're getting so much stuff for free, it's hard to complain too much!

Transaction 1
1 Pantene conditioner
1 Pantene shampoo
2 Ousts
2 Soyjoys

Used:
1 $3/2 Pantene
1 Oust B1G1
18 ECB

Total: $3.13 ($1.16 of that tax)
Got back 18 ECB

Transaction 2
1 Aveeno moisturizer
1 Aveeno scrub
4 Clean & Clear
1 Soyjoy

Used:
$5/30 CVS Q
5 $2.00 Aveeno/Clean & Clear printables
23 ECB

Total: $4.68 (half of which was tax)
submitted for $10 MIR
got back 6 ECB

January budget remaining: $20.15

Super Savings Saturday

2010-01-15T15:58:00.005-06:00

Okay...so I've finally gotten around to doing this. Don't stone me!! I've realized that I need to revise the budget for the month. I'm going with $100 now. Things are not as tight this month as previously thought. We're still instituting a no-spend month in many other ways, so I don't feel bad stocking up on deals now that we'll benefit from in the future.
I went to CVS and got:

Transaction 1
2 Ousts
1 Soyjoy box
1 Ivory 3-pack soap

Used:
1 Ivory $1 Q
1 B1G1 Oust
10 ECB
Paid: $0.69 (all tax)

Transaction 2
1 Soyjoy box
1 Newspaper

Used:
6 ECB

Paid: $0.50 (for newspaper)

Rainbow (grocery store)
3 granny smith apples
4 Silk soy milk
3 packages plain bagels

Total: $16.04

Budget remaining for the month: $27.96

Busy Week

2010-01-09T08:15:00.000-06:00

I haven't had much to report this week. Everything has been very hectic with getting stuff together for the wedding--we're at the six week mark! This has made little time for blogging, and little to say.

I plan to go out to pick up a few things today, I'll update on them later.

Eat From the Pantry Challenge Progress

2010-01-04T17:14:00.000-06:00

I've done a couple of shopping trip reports for the month, but haven't really reported on how the eating is going. So far, so good. I said that T went on a trip this weekend, so I can't hold him to eating from the pantry (and he cuts way back when he's home--especially for a man who was a bachelor until he was 36 years old!).

I however, have been pretty good about it, except once so far, but that was planned before I took on the challenge.

Jan 1st- oatmeal that I'd been trying to get rid of (one of the good things out of being sick-can't taste the flavors you don't like!)

met friend for lunch to pick up bridesmaid dresses (pre-planned)

leftover pasta

Jan 2nd- finished oatmeal

leftover pizza

leftover pasta

Jan 3rd- cereal

finished pizza

turkey chili

Jan 4th- cereal

leftover chili

chicken tacos

I eat leftovers for lunch most days. They are just more interesting than sandwiches.

So far, the pantry challenge has been a really good thing for us, as I've discovered some things that I'd forgotten about. They don't necessarily need to be used up immediately, but at least they're back into my mental inventory!

Furbaby Likes to Eat String

2010-01-03T15:50:00.000-06:00

Lily decided that she wanted to terrify me this weekend. Alright, maybe she didn't intend to, but it happened anyways.

I was getting ready to put some towels into the washer on Friday morning, when I noticed some pulls on one of them. I cut them off and left them on the bathroom counter (our washer and dryer are in the bathroom). I put the towel in the washer and turned around just in time to see her swallow the string. There wasn't even enough time for her to sniff it to see if it was appealing first, she just took it right down.

By that point it was gone. And if you're familiar with small animals, you may know that string can be fatal as it moves through their intestines (by stretching out and acting as a razor wire as the... um, matter... works it's way down). So, I spent the next two days (until this morning) hoping that she would poop it out just fine. Thankfully (!) that was what happened, but nothing like that will ever happen again!

Ha! With events like that, I can hardly wait until all of the worrying that comes along with having kids...

Menu Plan for the Week

2010-01-03T15:42:00.000-06:00

T ended up getting a trip this weekend, so the meal plan got a little altered for the weekend (I usually don't like to cook for just myself). I ended up scrounging around for most of the weekend, but it was nice to have some freedom from cooking.

He'll be back tonight, so it's back to the meal plan. Tonight is turkey chili night.

The rest of the week will be:

Monday- chicken tacos
Tuesday- frozen leftover peanut butter Thai chicken
Wednesday- Penne Rustica
Thursday- spaghetti and garlic bread
Friday- date night (eat out)
Saturday- turkey pot pie
Sunday- turkey sausage, white bean and spinach soup

CVS

2010-01-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

Made another trip to CVS today. I picked up:

1 Christmas candle tin
1 lightbulb
1 SoyJoy six pack
2 CVS brand travel pack tissues
3 bags Nestle chocolate chips
1 Nivea body wash
2 Nivea lip balms

Used:

1 $1.00 GE Q for lightbulb
1 $2.00 Nivea body wash Q
1 BOGO Nivea lip balm
1 CVS CRT for Nivea body wash
$16 ECB

I spent $3.93 oop, including tax.

Remaining January budget: $25.19, but don't plan to do any more shopping for the rest of the week.

CVS Moneymaker Trip!

2010-01-02T12:28:00.000-06:00

Tee-hee-hee! Do you hear that? It's me doing my happy dance!

I went back to CVS today to get my prescription, but I did a little checking around online first to see if there were any good deals to take advantage of while I was there. Am I glad I did! I found this money maker on Nature's Bounty vitamins (may require registering for A Full Cup if you haven't already--it is more than worth your time, though).

I printed out the $5 coupons for the vitamins and headed to the stores (ended up going to 2 CVS's). Here's what I got:

12 Nature's Bounty vitamins
2 cans of tuna
2 early Sunday newspapers
1 Tide
1 Cascade
1 Dawn
1 Efferdent
1 Bounty paper towel 8 pack
1 Charmin 12 pack
1 CVS brand face wash

All for...wait for it...wait for it... $1.30 plus tax oop!

I used:

10 Nature's Bounty $5 coupons (registered both T and me and used 2 computers)
1 $1.00 Tide Q
1 $0.50 Cascade Q
1 $0.50 Efferdent Q
1 $0.50 Dawn Q
1 $0.25 Bounty Q
1 $0.25 Charmin Q
$1.50 ECB

I got back $21 ECB!

Now that's a good day!

Remaining January budget: $29.12 (I'm counting the tax I pay toward the $80 budget for the month)

CVS Trip

2009-12-31T16:58:00.002-06:00

Made a trip to CVS for my prescription and a couple of items today. Bought:

1 Crest Total toothpaste

1 Dawn dish liquid

Used:

$1 Crest coupon

$1 Dawn coupon

$2 ECB

OOP: $0.30! All tax! Gotta love it!

I also got a raincheck for the Ivory 3 bar pack.

...And we drove all the way home before I realized that I didn't pick up my prescription! Sometimes I would leave my head behind if it wasn't screwed on. At least I don't need it until Sunday. I'll stop back while I'm out this weekend. Oops!

Total January grocery budget left: $35.26

First Shopping Trip of EFTP Challenge

2009-12-30T20:38:00.002-06:00

So, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. The damage? $44.44

For that, we got:

1 can generic navy beans
1 generic light soy sauce
1 lb. penne pasta
24 pack Diet Coke
24 pack Coke
2 Muir Glen tomato sauces
2 bakery rolls
2 lbs. frozen shrimp
1 pkg. pepperoni
3 lbs. ground turkey
1 pt. half and half
4 half gallons soy milk
1 pkg. plain bagels

We saved $17.93 ($12.10 from coupons)- not the best trip, but certainly not the worst.

January grocery budget remaining: $35.56

Not planning to go to the grocery store for two weeks, though.

Don't Blow the Budget Now!

2009-12-30T17:40:00.000-06:00

Going grocery shopping tonight with January's budget. I'm starting the challenge early and plan to make the $80 last a few days longer than just January. There are a lot of things on sale that I'll need to just fill in one ingredient we need here or there. I added it up and it looks like the bill will come to about $50--EEK! After tonight, though, I should only need milk for the last two weeks of the month and a few veggies here and there. I'm just going to go for it! Will update with the damage later.

Putting Christmas to Rest

2009-12-30T10:25:00.001-06:00

We took down all of our decorations last night. It's always such a sad time for me when they disappear and the space where the tree was is just bare... Does anyone else experience this?

I'm not entirely sure what it is. Maybe it's all of the fun and festivities coming to an end. Maybe it's the solid stretch of winter ahead with very few breaks from monotony. Although this year, it is a little different. The wedding is in less than two months, so I will certainly not be bored in the coming weeks! Maybe that will make the winter seem a little less barren. (And we'll have our anniversary to look forward to in the coming years!) See, there's an advantage to getting married in the winter--going on warm vacations to celebrate our anniversary. : )

2010

2009-12-29T18:43:00.003-06:00

I like to know exactly how much money is going to each category each month, but T is a little more "go with the flow" of things. Don't get me wrong--the only debt we have is the mortgage and my student loans (which are about $11,000 for both college and grad school).

We charge almost everything we buy throughout the month on the credit card and pay it off every month (Yes, yes, I know-- we shouldn't be using a credit card in the first place, but it's just too convenient. I don't like carrying around cash and especially hate going to the ATM.). We should not be living paycheck to paycheck, but it seems like we end up with a lot of "wants" when we go back over the credit card statement. I want to get out of this vicious cycle of in 2010 and track our money better, in an effort to save more of it.

We have decided on the following goals for 2010:

1) Build up at least $4,000 in a savings account.
2) Give each of us $35 allowance each month--no personal spending beyond that, except necessities.
3) (After January) Spend no more than $200 per month for groceries and toiletries--and begin to bring that amount down. I know this sounds extremely high for two people and a cat, I only figured out how much we spend a month ago and was SHOCKED! It was more than $300 per month (and that doesn't include eating out). Once we start reducing this, the money will go into the savings account. Eating out is a separate fund for our "date night" each week.

Goals for Eat From the Pantry Challenge

2009-12-28T19:20:00.003-06:00

Having decided to take part in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge, our goals for the month are:

1. Spend no more than $80 for the month, buying mainly produce and milk (but excluding cat food).
2. Continue to build a stockpile, but only with free or super cheap items, such as this week's CVS sale on toothpaste.
3. Donate our excess/things we won't use or eat, such as the can of spaghetti-O's that has been in the pantry since before I met T.
4. Continue our date night each week, but go to restaurants we have giftcards to, so we can limit the oop as much as possible.

After evaluating the pantry and freezer, I don't think this will be too difficult of a month. The hardest part will probably be limiting my spending because I like to take advantage of deals!

Meal Plan Monday

2009-12-28T13:22:00.000-06:00

Here's the menu for this week:

Monday- Fiery Angel Hair Pasta
Tuesday- chicken and black bean burritos
Wednesday- chicken lettuce wraps
Thursday- eat out at Don Pablo's
Friday- shrimp po boys and fries
Saturday- jerk chicken with broccoli
Sunday- turkey chili

Goal for 2010

2009-12-28T11:30:00.001-06:00

I have decided that I am going to track all of the money spent on food and toiletries for 2010 right here: both how much was spent and how much was saved. It will make me more accountable and help us determine exactly how much money is flying out of our pockets for these things.

As far as January goes, we've decided to participate in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge. We have quite a full pantry and freezer (the fridge is a different story, oddly). But since we are both sort of picky eaters (I don't eat beef and T gives me strange looks when I start proposing ideas for meals) we are going to try to use as much as we have on hand, but get what we need to to make specific dishes. I've already made the (tentative) meal plan for the month and, if all goes well, we should be able to drastically cut back on our food bill for January. : )

The Holidays

2009-12-28T11:24:00.002-06:00

Ha! Who would start a blog over the holidays? Me, apparently. Well, now that a very small portion of my plate has been cleared, I will attempt to keep up with this in the coming months. Wish me luck!

Super Savings Saturday

2009-12-14T19:18:00.001-06:00

Next, I went to Target and bought:

2 Swiss Miss at 0.97/ea.           1.94
1 Target brand raisins                 2.46
1 Dean's Guacamole                   1.25
1 Target brand butter                 1.82
1 Target brand moisturizer          5.24
1 Reach floss                              0.97
1-3 pack Kleenex                        3.99
2 Cat Treats at $1/ea                  2.00
2 Tums 3 packs at 1.92/ea          3.84
1 St. Ives travel lotion                  0.97

Used:
2 Swiss Miss Target printables for $1/ea.
1 $0.75 Kleenex
$2/2 Cat treats
$4/2 Tums
$1/1 Reach floss
$1/1 St. Ives lotion
$5 Target giftcard

Total oop: $9.81

Super Savings Saturday

2009-12-14T19:05:00.003-06:00

So I started my big shopping week at CVS;

2 Neosporin lip balms: 2.89 each
Emergen-C booster pack          3.99

Used: 2 Neosporin $3 printables
          3.99 ECB

Total: $0.23 oop!

Next I went to Walgreens and did 2 transactions.

Transaction 1
1 Stayfree pad                                    1.99
1 Renu                                                9.99
1 Just for Men                                     7.99
1 Neutrogena Men's Face Wash           4.99
1 Dentek floss                                   3.99 (which had a sign saying it was supposed to be 1.99 w/ 1.99 RR- but they forgot to pull the sign from last week- went back later and got money back and got to keep the floss)

Used:     $2 Just for Men printable
              $1 Stayfree mailer coupon

Total after return:      $21.89
Received: $5 holiday bucks, $2, $10, $7, $5 RR + am submitting for $7 MIR
= $15 MM!

Transaction 2
2 Organix shampoo (BOGO)                 6.99
2 cans Libby pumpkin at 0.99/ea.          1.98
1 Stayfree                                             1.99
2 Nestle morsels at 1.74/ea.                  3.48
1 Renu                                                  9.99
2 Wags pantiliner at 2/$1                      1.00

Used:        2 Nestle $1 coupons
                 $1 stayfree printable
                 $7 RR from 1st transaction
                 $5 RR from 1st transaction
                 $2 RR from 1st transaction (thought it was from the floss, but it was from the Stayfree- oops!)

Total oop: $8.97
Received: $10 RR and $5 holiday bucks

Meal Plan

2009-12-11T15:30:00.005-06:00

One of the ways we save money on groceries is by having a meal plan, but we're still trying to figure out what dishes T likes enough to make at home. The plan for the next few days till Meal Plan Monday (just me around, T will be on a trip):

Friday: crockpot falafel (one of the experiments, will update on how it turns out)
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: grilled cheese and tomato soup

Update: The falfel ended up tasting pretty good, but we decided we didn't want to have it too often- it made the "okay" list.

A New Uniform Coat

2009-12-11T14:47:00.001-06:00

T needed a new uniform coat, so we went to Macy's after a yummy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. They were having a sale for 40% off, and I had printed out a coupon for an additional $50 off. After the sale, coupon, and gift cards we had, a $525 coat ended up costing $110!! It's amazing when you can score a deal like that for only a couple of minutes of work (and some printer ink)!