Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Menu Plan

Breakfast
Cereal - .88 box sale and coupon at Target
Milk - 1.50
Homemade Bread - 1.00

Lunch
Leftovers - FREE

Dinner
Grilled Chicken Salad
When I grilled the burgers I also grilled some chicken for tonight
Chicken - 1.69lb sale at Safeway 3.38
Salad - 3.00 from local produce stand
Fresh Berries - from garden
Cream Cheese Dip - 1.00 sale and coupon at Superfresh

Total for Day $10.76

Staples School Sale - FREE BACKPACK

Staples always have the best back to school sales. They have a new sale starting Sunday here are the details.

FREE BACKPACK - You must be a Staples Rewards member, and the cost of the back pack will be sent to you in your rewards check mailed in October

FREE AFTER REBATE
Zebra Cadoozles mechanical pencils 10 pack
Zebra Sarasa gel pens black 5 pack
Pentel Handy Lines highlighters

On sale for a $1.00
Staples Photo Paper 81/2 x 11 50 pack 12.98 - 11.98 easy rebate = 1.00
Pental RSVP pens 5 pack - 1.00
Staples Mini legal pads 3 pack - 1.00
Accel Little Notebook College Ruled - 1.00
Expo Fine Markers 4 pack - 1.00
Staples Hole Punch - 1.00

On sale for $2.00
Pilot Erasable gel pens - 2.00
Staples Mechanical Pencils - 2.00
Staples Stickies Adhesive notes - 2.00
Staples eraser grip combo pack - 2.00
Dry Erase Board - 2.00

All items excluding the backpack have a limit of 2. Also don't forget to be on the look out for Staples or Office Depot coupons to use. They usually come out with one every week, if I find one I will post it here.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Thursday Menu Plan

Today we will be having a family birthday party for my son. Here is today's meal totals

Breakfast
Cereal - .88 box Target sale and 1.00 coupon - my family loves cereal
Milk - 1.50 1/2 gallon
Chocolate milk - 1.74

Total $4.12

Lunch
Leftovers - Free

Dinner
Hot Dogs and Hamburgers
Fresh Veggies
Birthday Cake
Punch
French Fries

Total 15.00

Total Day 19.12 not bad for a special day. More details and pictures later.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Happy Birthday Davon


Today my youngest son turns 3. He is a very active, very strong, tall, and very lovable. This week we took him with us to pass out tracks with our church and he was so excited. I enjoyed watching him as he tried so hard to tell people what he was doing, but all he could say was Jesus loves you. I pray that he keeps that excitement for the Lord and that the Lord will use him in a mighty way. Happy Birthday Davon

Wednesday Break Down for All You Challenge

So how are you doing for the All You Challenge? What has been the greatest challenge so far?

Breakfast
Blueberry muffins - Homemade with berries from the garden, 1.00
Orange juice - 2.00
Eggs - 1.00 - Safeway special
Cheese - .50

Total $4.50

Lunch
P&J - (my sons favorite)
Bread homemade - 1.00
Jelly - homemade from berries from garden - FREE
Peanut Butter - Trader Joe's Organic Peanut butter - .50
Carrot sticks - .50

Total 2.00

Dinner
Well since it is a church night we will have the big birthday party Thursday
Mac and Cheese with Ham -
Ronzoni Smart pasta - .50 - on sale 2/$3.00 with 1.00/2 coupon
Cheese - Free from Safeway sale - This will be the last of the free cheese
Ham - 1.00 bought this on sale about 2 months ago its been in the freezer
Cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and dip - 3.00

Total $4.50

Total day 13.00 including cake

I plan on baking a cake and taking it to church tonight for all. I bought a bunch of cake mixes about 6 months ago and they have been sitting in the storage room waiting for birthday days. I think I spent about .30 a box and got the frosting for free. He wants a blueberry cake, so I plan on making a 2 white cakes with Free blueberries from the garden and using a buttercream frosting with blueberries on top. So total cost for two cakes will be less than 2.00. We have a small church about 40 people on Wednesdays so I think two cakes will be fine. I will take a picture and post later.
Here is Tuesday's menu plan.

Breakfast
Cereal - .88 a box Target sale and coupon
Milk - 1.25 half a gallon
Berry Salad - Free berries from our garden
Total - $2.13

Lunch
Grilled Cheese
Homemade bread - 1.00
Cheese - Free thanks to safeway sale and coupon a few weeks ago
carrot sticks - .50
Total $1.50

Snack
Cereal straws - 1.50 - triple coupon sale at Superfresh
Milk - 1.25

Total 2.75


Dinner

Pork Bar B Que Sandwiches - Using leftover pork from Sunday - Free
Bar B Que sauce - .50 - Kraft coupon and sale
Buns - Homemade - 1.00
Corn and Peas - 1.00
Salad - 2.00 - Mark down specials at Mars
Tea for drink - .50
Total $4.50

Total for the day $10.88 for a family of 8.

Just a tip on how we keep our cost so low. We drink water most of the time, I buy meat on the mark down, I use coupons and shop the sale papers. I will post pictures this evening

Weekly how to save money tip

What is your best tip on how to save money? Well here is one for you to think about. I check our insurance rates and compare them at least twice a year. If I find a price that is lower I just call my insurance company and tell them that I found a lower price and see if they will match it. My agent is the greatest and she will match the price or sometimes find a lower price for me. Most of the time the savings is around 5.00 to 10.00 dollars a month but things like this do add up. Last year I saved 75.00 dollars a month between the car, health and life insurance companies. $900.00 a year.

Week one of the All You challenge

Wow it is time to start the All you challenge. If you don't know about it well, they have challenged people to spend $25.00 per person per week just on groceries. Well for me that means I have $200.00 per week to spend. They are looking for creative ways to stretch the buck. I plan to break every day down to see what I spent and also I plan on weekly menus. Here is Monday's breakdown

Monday
Breakfast - Cereal, Milk, Toast, Grapes
Special K blueberry - .99 a box after sale and coupon
Milk - 1/2 gallon - 1.25 we use about a half a gallon for breakfast
Toast - Homemade bread - 1.00
Grapes - Sale for .99 Lb bought 2 lb and used a 1.00 coupon .99
Total - $4.23

Lunch - Went to Six Flags today so packed a lunch
P&J - Organic Peanut butter 1.79 a jar used 1/3 .60
Made my own jelly from garden
Turkey and Cheese
Turkey on sale for 4.99 lb used 1.00 coupon used 1/3 1.60
Cheese Free after sale and coupon
Homemade Bread - 1.00
Brought water bottles from home - Free
Planters Peanut bars .89 after triple coupon and sale
Cheerios snack mix - 1.00 after coupon
Cookies Oatmeal used Betty Crocker mix 1.00 (including butter and egg)
Apples - .69 a lb 1.29
Total - $7.38
We made trips back to the car for lunch, snacks and drinks. We were able to park really close to the gate so it really was easy to do this.

Dinner - Well we ate out at Wendy's just ordered Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers since we had snacks and things in the car. Total for that was 15.68

Total for the Day - $27.29 that makes it $3.41 per person for the day staying under the daily allowance for the challenge. Not bad since we went to six flags and ate out.

Women's Day Magazine FREE

Go here to claim a free subscription to Women's Day magazine. You do have to qualify. I have qualified in the past. I am not sure how they decide, but it is worth a try. Go here http://www.freebizmag.com/emailwomday01welcome.htm

Friday, July 10, 2009

Time for school sales

I know it feels like you just finished school, but it is time to get ready again. Staples will be having a Dollar sale and a One Cent sale starting Sunday. Here are the details

Copy Paper 500 sheets limit 2 - $0.01
#2 yellow pencils 8 pack limit 2 - $0.01
2 pack Acme Junior 5" scissors limit 2 - $1.00
Staples Translucent pencil box limit 2 - $1.00
2 pack Bic white-out limit 2 - $1.00
3 pack Staples pink edge erasers limit 2 - $1.00
6 pack Sharpie accent highlighters limit 2 - $1.00
5 pack Bic velocity stick fashion pens limit 2 - $1.00
Scotch magic tape limit 2 - $1.00
Staples mini magnetic stapler limit 2 - $1.00
60 count Staples photo plus 4 x 6 paper limit 2 - 9.99 minus 8.99 Easy Rebate = $1.00

Of course this is while supplies last, but you can go everyday and get your limit, but the photo paper is limit 2 per household since it is a rebate. If you buy your limit on everything your total will be 36.02 plus tax, with 17.98 back in rebates, if you spend 50.00 total you can use a $10.00 off $50.00 purchase coupons that come in the email or mail. Staples will take Office Depot coupons. In the past Staples will put all the sale items in the middle or back of the store, but you can still find some of the items on the shelf.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

How to keep grocery budget low

My best tip on how to help you keep the grocery budget low would be have a meatless night once a week. My Family's favorite meatless dinner would be bean burrito night. Here is a break down of cost.

2lb. bag of beans 1.00
Can of Tomato puree Free - with coupon Muir Glen coupon
Homemade flour tortillas 1.00 - easy to make just a lot of time
There is 1.00 off Mission tortillas coupon
making these cheap and worth buying
Cheese 1.00
Sour cream 0.50 - usually I find great coupons for Daisy
sour cream making free to very cheap
Lettuce and Tomatoes 0.50
Baked apples and blueberries 1.00 - Blueberries free since we have bushes

Total 5.00 for a family of eight

With summer here sometimes my family enjoys having a lot of fresh veggies for dinner. This helps with keeping the heat out of the house by not cooking. Make a big salad, fresh fruits, and a cold drink. Enjoy