CVS Trip

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)!