Shopping and little things

I did pretty well this week with my shopping.  I spent $64 on groceries at Ingles (which is our local grocery store).  It is usually more expensive than Wal-Mart and definitely more than Aldi (my favorite) but I shopped the sales and did OK.  I then went to Wal-Mart and spent about $75, but most of that was non food items (razors, shave cream, pet food, etc.)  My goal is for $125 on food a week, but there is sometimes a gray area when it comes to stuff bought at Wal-Mart.  So while I went over, I really don't think I did too bad.  I didn't take any pictures.  I went on Friday night after dinner and it was misting rain.  I was too tired it snap pictures.

I was thinking about saving money the other day, and it is the little things that save the most.  Like for instance, I make my own laundry detergent.  It takes about 15 minutes and it costs  about $2.50 to make it.  I also make most of our food home made, even our bread.  Yes it does take some time, but not much more time than shopping.  I also bring my lunch to work most days.  I work in a school and our lunches are $3.00.  That is $15.00 a week or $60.00 a month.  The food is not very good or healthy either.  I just bring leftovers from work or make a sandwich or a wrap. It's the little things that we save for that add up!

On a completely different note, we had a wild game supper at church last night and we had a man with reptiles come and speak. He also spoke at service today and had the snakes out.  This is my husband helping with the snake.

Not for me, but Steven loved it! Happy Sunday!

Frugal shopping Saturday

This weekend the youth kids went on a retreat and the little guy spent the night with a friend, so it was just me and little girl on Saturday so we went shopping together.  She wanted to get a new bible case so we went to Lifeway Christian first.  I did buy the new David Platt book.  It can be so dangerous for me to go in a bookstore, especially a Christian one.  After that we went to Aldi.  This is what we got:

I also got a 10 pound of potatoes that didn't make it into the picture.  I paid $54 for everything.  I didn't really need much this week so shopping was easy.  Aldi had those strawberries for $1.15 each so I bought four pounds.  I also bought a cantaloupe that didn't make it into the picture for $1.00.  That big container of organic lettuce was also $1.00.  I love the produce deals Aldi will have sometimes.  We try to buy those and eat it in the beginning of the week.  Now here is the menu

 

Monday:  Tacos made with meat and beans

 

Tuesday:  Crockpot chicken, mac and cheese, salad

 

Wednesday:  Church group pancakes and bacon

 

Thursday:  Chicken soup and grilled cheese

 

Friday:  Pizza

 

Saturday:  Sausage casserole

 

Sunday: Hamburgers, hotdogs and homemade fries

 

We usually have cereal, muffins, bagels or oatmeal for breakfast.  Sometimes I cook eggs and grits.  All the kids eat lunch at school and Steven and I bring leftovers.  If the kids want to they can fix a sandwich to take to school.  I usually have peanut butter, jelly, and bread and fruit.

 

Little girl and I also went to Kohl's.  We used my sister's 30% off and we each got a pair of tennis shoes, a new outfit for her, a new shirt for me, and a new set of queen sheets for $100 and I got back $20 in Kohl's cash.

 

Now we are all home and watching TV.  I think everyone had a good weekend and we have a holiday tomorrow. Yeah!



It is Friday night and I just got home after leaving the house at 7:15 this morning.  Of course I worked all day at the school, and then I took all of the kids to the larger city so that big girl could take a life guarding class.  She has to go back tomorrow all day and maybe Sunday if they don't get done.  I hope they do because they are going to be worn out, plus I don't want to have to go back to the bigger city on Sunday.  That is my day to chill!

So tomorrow the Older boy is doing yard work, the Big Girl is doing more life guarding, the little girl and Small Boy are going to the circus with Grandma, so for a couple of hours tomorrow it will be just me and the middle girl.  I guess we will go thrift store shopping.

Steven is at a men's retreat this weekend and so there is no man here to be the heavy.  I hope I keep my patience and don't yell.  I want him to have a good time with men and learn more about Christ.  I don't want him to worry about home or work just focus on God.

Well, I am going to go.  Have a good night.

How I save money on breakfast

I am usually running out the door on school days.  I have to get five kids out the door by 7:15 and they have to eat before we leave.  I try not to cook on the weekdays, but I will do extra on the weekends.  One of our favorites are muffins.

 

These are banana chocolate chip.  The bananas were getting soft.  We also like apple and blueberry.  We just use up whatever fruit we have and make muffins out of them.  You can also use up leftover oatmeal and jelly.  Your muffins will taste a little different but that is OK.  We will make a double batch and put half in the freezer.  We do this for pancakes too.  We just thaw in the microwave.

 

I also have cereal available most days.  We usually buy generic from Aldi or Wal-Mart or I will use name brand if it is on sale.  We also make granola.  Here is some cranberry that I made last weekend.

 

 





We usually eat it with yogurt.  Yummy.  I will also do scrambled eggs and toast or grits or oatmeal.  Yum yum!

Shoe shopping

I took the kids shopping today.  Evan needed some new tennis shoes so we headed to the outlet mall.  Now you would think that the outlets would be cheap, but not as cheap and I would like.  We did find him a pair of clearance Nikes for $30 and a pair of sandles for Emma for $7.  Here is what he ended up with:

They are not my choice, but he liked them.  Then the kids wanted to go to Horse Town.  I had to preface the trip with the fact that we were not going to buy anything.  The kids tried on some boots and really wanted them, but they are so expensive.  Especially when were are going to start wearing sandles and flip flops in two more months.  Emma liked these:

These boots were so Emma.  They were pink and sparkley.  Natalie found some that she liked.

She also liked these:

They also liked most of what was in the store which probably means that we are true country people.  Oh well, it could be worse.  We did have fun though.  Then we came home and did some housework. I cooked mac and cheese, squash casserole, and fried fish all from the freezer.  I also made a double batch of blueberry muffins to take to Leesburg tomorrow.  We are going to our old church to see our former pastor.  He is retiring and we love him.  We have to leave early in the morning so I better get kids in bed.



Food Costs

I went shopping on Saturday.  I spent $63 at Sam's and $122 at Kroger.  This is over my budget of $150 a week.  We are a family of 7 and we have teens.  That ends up to be a little over $20 per person per week and that does not include all of the company that we feed.  I don't think this is too bad, but I would still like to get it down.  I think $400.00 a month would be good.  It would really free up some of our money.  It is something that we are working on.

Speaking of company, we had plenty this weekend.  On Friday it was Steven's brother and their kids. Look at how sweet the baby is.

Yes the dog had to get in on it.  She gets so jealous.  Then on Saturday night our little nephew on the other side spent the night.  Baby girl and I were having fun reading to him.

Middle girl also had a friend spend Saturday night and we took everyone to church on Sunday.  I love to bring extras to church.  I love showing young people about God and that church does not have to be a drag.  My children certainly do not think it is.

You see, because we eat at home and already shop in bulk and cook in bulk it is no problem to have a few extra for a meal.  We almost always have extra and if we don't we just get out some bread and peanut butter.  We always have plenty of that.

Well, we are heading our to night church in a few.  I hope you all have a good evening.

We made it through the week

Yes we made it through the week but barely . I am not going into details, but we had some phone calls this week from school because of the boy and a bus suspension for not using good judgement . He is a good boy but always wants to play . I know that boys grow up slower than girls, but we are praying that he can grow up and mature soon.

It is hard to get back into routines but we have . The children have been tired this week because they got so used to sleeping in . On the plus side report cards were good .  Middle girl and baby girl had all A' s, big girl had one B, little boy had 2 B' s and the boy passed everything even math which we were worried about.

Well I am off to the store . Our fridge is bare!