Menu Plan Monday 6/29/09

Another week of eating from my pantry, since I only have $5 left in the grocery budget for this week. We have plenty on hand and I think we will have some simple meals for the week. Sort of a vacation from too much cooking! We are getting some things from the garden, so I will be incorporating those items into the menu.

Breakfasts
Cereal/milk
Blueberries
Granola bars
Waffles
Fruit
Bagels/cream cheese

Lunches
Sandwiches
chips
carrot sticks
cucumbers
squash
sliced tomatoes
pickles
fruit
Leftovers

Dinners
Tacos
Sandwiches, chips, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers
Hamburger Gravy, broccoli, sliced tomatoes
Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans
Homemade Pizza
Hotdogs, grilled corn, watermelon, cookies (July 4)
Sloppy Joes, home fries, sliced tomatoes

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Have a great week and a Happy Fourth of July!

Stash Report

I decided to start participating in the Stash Report over at Patchwork Times. I really haven't bought any fabric this year--until this week. I was watching a video blog of Alex Anderson over at The Quilt Show and she really recommended that everyone should have a collection of neutral fabric. So I started my collection this week!

Here is what I added this week:


The dark fabric is the extra wide backing for my 2009 Block of the Month quilt from Quilts and Fixins. So, that really isn't adding to my stash. The other three fabrics are all 1 yard pieces of neutrals. My favorite is the swirl pattern--it has lots of different neutral tones. Alex recommends not getting to much of the plain tone-on-tone fabrics. It will add much more dimension to your quilts to have different shades of neutrals--even taupe and gray in the fabric.

Stash report:

Total number of yards in stash: unknown--tons! (maybe I can calculate before next report!)

Total yards in this week: 3 (not counting backing)

Total yards out this week: 0 (I am finishing current projects)

Be sure to check out other Stash Reports over at Patchwork Times.

Unplanned Shopping Trip

My daughter had a good friend move away 2 years ago. This friend happens to be in town visiting her dad for the summer. She and my daughter wanted to see each other, so we have an unexpected visitor for the weekend.

Knowing that I didn't have any quick-fix foods in the house, or any real teenager friendly items, I made a stop at Wal-mart. I ended up spending $43, which now only leaves me with $5 in the grocery budget until next Friday. I also have the $25 Publix gift card my husband received as a thank you gift. I had planned on saving that card to use in July and see how long I can make it last. I really should not need much. We will see how I do!

If you think it is impossible to survive on $5, just go over to My Frugal Adventure and see What $5 gets you.

I don't think my trip was that bad, even without coupons. I didn't manage to get a picture. Too much going on and Popsicle were melting!

Here is what I got:

2 sodas $0.78 ea
1 soda $1.50 (ouch)
1 OJ $2.73
Sour cream $1
1 lb. honey ham $5.76
Lrg. bag Mozzarella cheese $6.38 (for homemade pizza--that will save!)
Tyson Chicken nuggets $4.98
cilantro $0.84
1 Popsicle $2.48
1 Hamburger helper $1.25
2 Velveeta shells and cheese $1.50 ea
Doritos $2
Lay's $2.88
lettuce $0.98
2 Powerades $0.78 ea
all purpose flour $1.74
chili powder $0.50

$42.52 total OOP

No coupons used. Not really great, but not too bad. Planning the trip definitely would have made it better, I think I could have come up with a few coupons.

From the Garden

Here is what I got from my garden today. Green beans, tomatoes (yellow, red and Cherokee purple), cukes, squash and blueberries.

I think I will make a small pot of beans tomorrow and add some new potatoes from my sister's garden. I will definitely be making a salad, too!

Another Finished Quilt Top

I finished piecing this quilt top tonight. I think I started this quilt about 2 years ago! The pattern is by Atkinson Designs and is called Cheese and Crackers. I think this will be a Christmas gift for my great niece.

One of the nice things about not working this summer is that I have the energy to sew for at least a few minutes most evenings.

I hope to be able to finish a couple of more quilt tops before I go back to work in a month. Maybe I will even get some of them quilted!

Swimming Makes a Girl Hungry...

We have been spending a lot of time in our like-new pool. It is funny to me to see my daughter. She normally eats very little. She is a "grazer" and remains thin despite coming from a family prone to weight problems. But, when she has been swimming you can't fill her up!















And, of course, here is the teenager rolling of the eyes because she is tired of having her picture taken. "Really mom, get a life. I am just eating lunch here. Nobody really cares...."



If you zoom in on this picture, you will notice a different look of annoyance from my son at having his picture taken.

Funny!

Aldis 6/23/09

Even though I am in the middle of a eating from the pantry challenge, I did have a number of staples on my list. I find it hard to make meals without some of these basics on hand. I saved the bulk of my shopping items needed for my trip to Aldi's I find that they have the best prices on produce and milk in my area. I am really pleased with the quality of the products and produce.

The highlight of the trip was milk for $1.89/gallon! Yay! Cheese was also a good deal--$1.29/8 oz. bar.

Total spent for all the items above $18.74.

My total OOP for Tuesdays shopping marathon was $29.39. Really great for all of the items I got. Especially considering one of the items was a $40 patio umbrella! You can see all the other posts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I now have a total of $48 left in the grocery budget to last until 7/4.

To see more deals be sure to visit:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

Walgreens 6/23/09

I decided to do two transactions at Walgreens. I first got the Purex 3 in 1 detergent.
$6.99 - $2 MQ = $4.99 plus I got $2 RR back.

I am still low on shampoo so I spent the $2 RR on shampoo and spent $0.14.

Total OOP $$5.50

To see more deals be sure to visit:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

The Centsible Sawyer-Drug Store Divas

CVS 6/23/09

Another quick trip killing time while my mom was at an appointment. DD needed make-up sponges and I had a few more $1 Hefty coupons. My CVS still had the $1 boxes of Hefty bags on an end-cap. So I got 4 free boxes.

Total OOP $1.34

To see more deals be sure to visit:

Money Saving Mom-Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Final

The Centsible Sawyer-CVS Superstars

Wal-mart 6/23/09

I just went into Wal-mart with my mom. While there I just picked up a few deals.

Total for items above $1.94 OOP.

Check out more deals at:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

Rite Aid 6/23/09

I was out with my mother and DD yesterday running errands and taking my mom to the hearing doctor. While we waited for my mom at the doctor, we made a quick trip to Rite Aid so I could get my hair color.

I spent a total of $4.77 OOP for the items in the picture and one Air Head candy not pictured. The hair color was on sale and I used a Rite-aid Q and manufacturer coupon. The gum was B1G1 and I had two $1/2 coupons.

Later, after seeing a post on Money Saving Mom, I went back to my local Rite-Aid and scored this deal. I didn't really need a new umbrella right now, but how can you pass up free! I actually got the umbrella and two small filler items (B1G1 candy bars) so that I wouldn't have more coupons than items. Total spent $1.87 OOP.

To see more deals for the week, be sure to visit these blogs:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

The Centisible Sawyer--Drugstore Divas.

Menu Plan Monday 6/21/09

I only did two small shopping trips last week, so I am still using items from my Freezer/Pantry Inventory. I didn't get to a couple of meals on last week's plan so I am listing them again.

Breakfasts
Cereal/Milk
Oatmeal
Waffles
Fruit

Lunches
Sandwiches
Leftovers

Dinners

Monday
Spaghetti Sauce
Noodles
Salad

Tuesday
Beef Stroganoff
Rice
Steamed Veggie

Wednesday
Boiled Shrimp
Rice side dish
Steamed Veggie

Thursday
Pork Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed veggie
Stewed Apples

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
Hot dogs
Home fries
Fruit

Sunday
Steak
Potatoes
Salad

More menu ideas on Menu Plan Monday over at I'm and Organizing Junkie.

Have a great week!

Becca's New Quilt

I finally finished binding my daughters new quilt. The title of this quilt is "A Cat in My Garden". You can see the cat peeking out from some greenery in the right hand corner of the quilt. I love the picket fence border. This was a Block of the Month quilt at my local quilt shop Quilts and Fixins. I am ashamed to say it is the Block of the Month quilt from 2004! Oh well, it is done and beautiful.




Here are the first five block from this year's Block of the Month quilt. It is a brown, tan, and cream quilt. I think it will be a perfect quilt for my son's bed. I will try to finish it in a much shorter time than my daughter's quilt! I have pieced all the blocks for each month so far. I pick up the next block this coming Friday and I plan on piecing it over the weekend.

Click HERE to see a photo of the 2009 BOM quilt completed.

Weekly Shopping Trip

If you read my earlier post about my Freezer/Pantry Inventory, you know that I was not planning a shopping trip this week. But, I decided to go only for the really good deals or free items each week. So for this week, I made a trip to Walgreens and a quick stop at Publix.

Here is what I got:

Publix


1 Honey Maid graham crackers $2
... - $1 printable Q ($1)

2 Perdue Chicken Nuggets B1G1 $2.19 and $2.20 ea
... - 2 $1 MQ ($1.19 and $1.20 ea)

Total OOP $3.39


Walgreens

1st Transaction

1 Purex 3 in 1 laundry sheets $6.99
...- $2 MQ

Total OOP $4.99 and received $2 in RR

2nd transaction

2 White Rain shampoos $1 ea
..- $2 in RR

Total OOP $0.14


Not too bad for the week. A total OOP of $8.53.

I ended the week with $28+ left in my grocery budget. I will add that to the $50 budgeted from this week's paycheck and I will have $78 to spend until 7/3. This amount doesn't include a $25 gift card my husband got from a coworker as a thank you gift.

I plan on continuing my "Eat What You Have on Hand Challenge" and I will only shop for the freebies and super deals next week.

Be sure to visit these blogs and see how other folks did this week:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

Fiddledeedee--Publix Super Savers

The Centsible Sawyer--Drug Store Divas

Have a great week!

New Life to Old Chairs

Hey, it's the husband again!

Some of our lawn chairs have been looking rough over the past few years. I borrowed a pressure washer to clean off the pool deck during the new pool liner project and I decided to wash off our lawn chairs. Faded and grimy, the pressure washing helped but they still looked quite sun-faded.

A couple days later, we found a can of green Krylon Fusion paint during a garage clean-up that we had bought probably a year ago for the purpose of use on these chairs!

Well, I laid out a big tarp in the yard and painted our four chairs. They turned out wonderfully! They look almost brand new!

Not only was this an inexpensive way to restore faded lawn furniture, it was environmentally friendly. Imagine if I decided not to bother with the "hassle" of cleaning them off and repainting them and decided to trash them, then buy new. What a waste!

Okay, well, I'm not helping too much with the "economic recovery" by buying new, but I am keeping big hunks of plastic out of the local landfill!

For more frugal ideas, be sure to check out Frugal Fridays over at Life as Mom.

Frugal Light Fixture Update

Guest Post on A Stitch of Faith - the Husband!

Lisa and I decided to work on another home improvement project today and decided to try a frugal alternative!

We've lived in our current house around 12 years and all of the external light fixtures are showing the age. This light fixture is at our back door and looks very rough. It's very faded and even showing some signs of rust.

Here's another view of this sad little light fixture. Some would think, "Throw it away and buy another one!" It was tough just getting it off the back wall due to rusted connections.

Well, not us! We had bought this spray paint for another project (painting the hinges on the kitchen cabinets - stay tuned for that project!) and decided to give it a try. If it didn't work, well, maybe we'll buy a new light fixture.

So here's the fixture disassembled, ready for clean up.

Here I am taking an SOS type pad to the pieces. The poor little thing cleaned up pretty good!

Here we are at the painting stage. Lay the pieces out, spray them, wait patiently, then give them another coat.

Fully assembled, mounted back on the wall and looking good! All for the cost of a can of spray paint!

Be sure to visit Life As Mom to see more money saving ideas on her Frugal Fridays post.

Summer Project

Mother and daughter getting ready to start our summer scrapbook project. I am home with daughter for the summer to monitor her health as we change a medical regimen. We are going to be working on a scrapbook to commemorate her 8th grade year.

Menu Plan Monday 6/15/09

Since I just did a Freezer/Pantry Inventory, I have planned this week's menu's around using what I have on hand. I will be going to the store for milk and some produce (my mom really wants the green beans from Kroger--$0.98/lb). I really should not need anything else from the grocery store for several weeks.

I am currently on a leave of absence from work plus my husband and daughter are home since school is out. So, I am actually serving 3 meals/day. It will be interesting to see how long the pantry/freezer supplies last.

Breakfasts:
Cereal/milk
Oatmeal
Eggs
Waffles
Bagels

Lunches:
Leftovers
Sandwiches
Soup

Dinners:

Monday
Pork Roast
Rice/gravy
Green beans w/ new potatoes
sliced tomatoes

Tuesday
Chicken Stew
Rice
Steamed veggie

Wednesday
Meatloaf
Mashed potatoes
peas
cantaloupe

Thursday
Eggs
Canadian bacon
Grits
Toast
Fruit

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Spaghetti Sauce
Noodles
Salad

Sunday
Beef Stroganoff
Noodles
Steamed veggie
Jello w/ fruit


Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie and see more menu ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Have a great week!

Freezer/Pantry Inventory

I decided that I needed to do an inventory of my freezer and pantry to see exactly what I have on hand. I have been so busy buying all the great deals that I was afraid I might be forgetting what all I had on hand.

It was quite a shock to write all of these items down. My mother is living with us now and she said I have enough groceries on hand for "the summer, at least"!

My freezer is so full that I didn't realize we still had meat from the whole hog we bought last fall. And, of course, we still have a lot of beef from buying the 1/2 cow late last year.

I am going to list all of the items I have on hand below. This list is a convenient way for me to keep track and, hopefully, I will be more accountable about using up what I have on hand instead of going out and buying more. I absolutely do not need to buy meat!

I will be following this post up with a menu plan based on what I have on hand. I will make as many meal plans as I can.

Freezer Inventory:

Beef roast
Round steak x 4 pkgs
Steaks x 2 pkgs
Ground beef x 29 pkgs!
Beef liver x 2
Frozen hamburger patties x 7
Ham roasts x 2
Pork roasts x 4
Ham hocks x5
Pork Chops
Sausage x 5 lbs.
Bacon x 1 lb.
Bar S Franks x 15 pkgs
Shrimp
Chicken Breasts x 2 pkgs (1.39lbs and 1.32 lbs)
Whole chicken x 1
Whole turkey x 1
Bulk Italian Sausage x 1 lb.
Canadian Bacon x 2 pkgs
Frozen veggies x 12 pkgs
Bagels x1 pkg
Bagel-fuls x 1 box
Eggo waffles x 1 box
Frozen bell peppers from garden
Frozen jalapenos from garden
Frozen blueberries from garden
Frozen corn on cob from farmer's market x 10 bags
Frozen peaches from farmer's market x 2 bags
Pecans from aunt's trees
Walnuts
Strawberries
Frozen biscuits
Hamburger buns x 2 pkgs
Hot dog buns x 2 pkgs
Phyllo dough
Shredded cheese x 6 bags
Corn bread muffins


Pantry inventory:

Lipton Family size tea bags x 5 boxs
Lemon tea x 5 bxs
Agave nectar x 6 bottles
Cereal x 20 bxs
Ritz crackers x 3 bxs
Wheat Thins x 4 bxs
Salad dressing x 7 bottles
Ketchup x 3 bottles
Jello x 18 bxs
Graham crackers x 2 bxs
Cereal bars x 2 bxs
Instant oatmeal x 3 bxs
Plain Flour
Whole wheat flour
Self-rising flour
Cornmeal mix
Grits
Butter Buds
Sugar x 50 lbs
Confectioner's sugar x 2 bxs
Brown sugar
Sugar in the Raw
Splenda
Old fashion oats
Baking soda x 5 bxs
Baking powder
Salt
Cornstarch
Powdered milk
Knox gelatin
Corn syrup
Vanilla x 3 bottles
Funnel cake mix
Chocolate chips x 17 bags
Cake mixes x 2
Frosting x 1 can
Brownie mixes x 2
Chocolate Bark
Chicken Bullion
Microwave popcorn
Nilla wafers
Mayo x 3
Instant rice
Regular rice
Flavored rice mixes x 6
Instant potato mixes x 4
Pasta Roni x 4
Couscous
Instant brown rice
Penne Pasta x 2 bxs
Wacky Mac x 2 bags
Egg noodles x 2 bags
Elbow macaroni
Fettuccine
Lasagna
Mini Farfalle
Spaghetti noodles
Easy Mac cups x 8
Velveeta Shells and Cheese cups x 7
Smoothie mix
Cookie mixes x 2
Taco seasoning
Ranch dip seasoning
McCormick marinade seasoning
Cocoa
Honey Maid graham crackers x 2 bxs
Sandies cookies x 2 pkgs
Chex Mix
Triscuit crackers
Biscotti
Velvetta Shells and Cheese x 1 bx
Syrup
BBQ sauce x 4 bottles
Black olives
A-1 sauce x 3 bottles
Red Hot sauce
Yellow mustard
Dijon mustard
Marinades x 4 bottles
Worcestershire sauce x 3 bottles
Sweet Relish
Bread and Butter Pickles
Cherry Preserves
Apricot Preserves
Orange Marmalade
Saltine crackers
Hot chocolate x lots
Lemon juice
Olive oil x 3 bottles
Sesame oil
Diced tomatoes x 7 cans
White vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Red wine vinegar
Rice vinegar
Onion soup mix
Raisins x 2 bxs
Sunflower seeds
Cream of mushroom soup
Chicken noodle soup x 2 cans
French onion soup
Honey
Mandarin oranges x 3 cans
Fruit cocktail x 1 can
Tropical fruit x 1 can
Crushed pineapple x 1 can
Peanut butter
Chili sauce
Chicken broth x 9 cans
Tomato sauce x 14 can
Tomato paste x 3 cans
Tomato soup x 2 can
Green beans x 1 cans
Corn x 5 cans
Peas x 1 can
Green chilies x 1 can
Rotel tomatoes x 4 cans
Mushrooms x 1 can
Chicken breast meat x 1 can
Salmon x 2 cans
Bush's baked beans x 2 cans

Wow! What a list. I now see that taking an inventory of what you have is really important. I think I will start doing this at least twice a year.

What about you? Why not stop and take an inventory of what you have on hand. You might be as surprised as I was. I think now my challenge is to plan meals from my pantry and only buy milk and fresh produce for the rest of the month. Check back and see how I do. Better yet, join me in my "Eat What You Have on Hand Challenge".

If you have any meal ideas, please leave me a comment. Thanks!

Grocery/Household Item Budget Update #2

After taking my mother to the doctor yesterday, we stopped by Kroger to pick up 2 gallons of milk and a bag of ice (my ice maker is broken on fridge).

We spent a total of $7.18. We now have $36.82 to last until 6/19--next payday. I expect that paycheck to be low, so I have only allotted $50 for groceries/household out of that check.

I think we should be able to do just fine, since I have an overstuffed pantry and freezer. That is, if I can just lay off the deals!

Monthly Financial Check-up

I haven't posted a Monthly Financial check-up since February. You can see my previous posts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Here is where we stand now:

We have paid off all non-mortgage debt except for my husband's student loan.
He is working at a low income school as a teacher in a high need subject. He will be eligible for forgiveness of $17,500 after 5 years of service. His 5 years will end in May 2010. One more year.

Building a 3-6 month emergency fund.
We currently have approximately 4 months expenses in a savings account. When we reach 6 months expenses we will slow down just a bit on savings to that account. We will continue to build it, however, and hope to have an extra $17,500 in that account by next May. This will be $17,500 above the $20K in the account for 6 months emergency fund. We want to have the extra cash available to pay off the student loan in case Uncle Sam decides to cancel the teacher loan forgiveness program.

Prepare house to sell.
We have been working on a number of projects to get the house in sell condition. You can see those HERE and HERE. More projects will be happening over the next few weeks. These projects include painting cabinets, scraping ceilings and repainting them, and painting trim. New carpet is another project, but we have to save up for the carpet.

Sell house when market improves.
Market is still terrible, so this is on hold.

Increase charitable giving to full 10%.
We are on track with our giving. We will get a statement from church to verify and make up any amount needed from our savings.

Save 15% of our income in retirement plans.
We will be putting this in place as soon as we get our 6 month emergency fund completed. We expect this to happen by August.

We will continue to look for opportunities to save in our budget. We are also selling a few items on E-bay.

We have just finished our first Financial Peace University class at our church and we were the facilitators of the class. It really helped to keep us on track to go through the class again. It was also inspiring to see how the knowledge of God's way of handling money set class participants free. If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey or his book, The Total Money Makeover, I can't recommend his program more. We have paid off more that 60K in debt in less than two years!

Click HERE to see a portion of a FPU class.

How are you doing with your Financial Plan? Do you have an emergency fund?

Check out Money Saving Mom to see how others are doing or share your Monthly Financial Check-up.

Grocery/Household Items Budget Update

I am hoping to keep myself more accountable on how much I am spending at the grocery store, so I am posting every trip I make.

I went to Publix and Walmart yesterday. I was late getting home so I didn't have time to take a picture of my shopping trips. Here is what I got at Publix:

1 loaf Whitewheat bread $2.60

2 pkgs Chex Mix $1.28 ea
... - 2 $0.50 printable Qs doubled
... - 1 $1/2 Target Q (FREE w/overage)

2 pkgs Sandies Cookies $2.00 ea
... - 2 $1/1 printable Qs ($1 ea)

2 Lender's Bagels $0.90 ea

1 Iceberg lettuce $1.49

1 Florida Natural OJ $3.00

3 All Small and Mighty Clear $3.99 ea
... - 3 $1 printable Qs ($2.99 ea) Just in time--I was almost out!

Total OOP at Publix $19.48


We also stopped at Wal-mart to get vanity bulbs for both bathrooms. One of the bathrooms was out of three bulbs, so we couldn't wait any longer!

Total at Wal-mart $14.13.

Total left in grocery/household item budget is approximately $34.00. This will have to last until payday on 6/19.

We really have plenty stockpiled and the garden is about to have green beans and a couple of tomatos are ripening. We should really only have to shop for milk and I may try and get more cheese from Kroger.

Be sure to visit Money Saving Mom and see how other frugal bloggers did this week on Crystal's Super Savings Saturday post.

Also, check out Southern Savers and her post--Friday Finals for more ideas.

Kroger 6/10/09

I had coupons expiring yesterday so I made three stops: Kroger, Publix and Wal-mart. I wanted to take advantage of the Kraft cheese sale at Kroger. My Kroger was almost out of sharp cheddar, so I will probably be stopping at another store this week. I also managed to find a couple of manager special roasts.

Here is the breakdown of the Kroger trip:

1 pkg Nonni Limone Biscotti (Yum!) $3.49
... - $1 MQ ($2.49)

1 Boston Butt pork roast-Manager's Special $2.66

1 Boston Butt pork roast-Manager's Special $2.45

2 Tombstone Pizzas $2.50 ea
... - $1/2 printable Q ($2 ea)

2 20 oz. bottles Mtn Dew Game Fuel $0.79 ea
... - 2 $0.55/1 peelie MQ ($0.24 ea)

1 20 oz regular Mtn Dew $1.49

1 pkg Cinnamon rolls $2.50

9 pkgs Kraft 2% cheese $1.67 ea
... - 11 tearpad MQ $0.50/1 -doubled ($0.67 ea)

2 pkgs. Kraft singles $1.67 ea
... - $1/2 MQ ($1.17 ea)

Total OOP $25.08

I have a total of $68 left to spend for groceries and household items until 6/19.

I am planning a trip to my local farmers market to buy local produce and to Kroger and to Publix to get the new sale items that start today.

Check out how other folks did this week over at:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

Publix 6/10/09

I had some coupons expiring yesterday and I wanted to get a couple of the good deals at Publix before they went off sale. Here is what I got:

2 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $1.30 and $1.29 ea
... - $1/2 printable Q ($0.80 and $0.79 ea)

2 Nestle Refrigerator Cookies $1.44 and $1.45 ea
... - 2 $1/1 printable Qs ($0.44 and $0.45 ea)

2 bottles Hunts Ketchup $0.70 and $0.69 ea
...- 2 $0.20 MQ -doubled ($0.30 and $0.29 ea)

2 bottles Kraft squeezable May0 $2.49 and $2.50 ea
... - 2 $1/1 printable Qs
... - 1 $1 Target Q ($1 ea)

1 pkg. Raisin Bran Crunch $2
... - $1 printable Q ($1)

2 boxes Ritz Crackers $1.74 and $1.75 ea
... - 2 $1/1 printable Qs ($0.74 and $0.75 ea)

2 boxes Nabisco Wheat Thins $3.25 ea
... - 2 MQ for Free Wheat Thins WYB Ritz Crackers (FREE)

1 can Dole Pineapple $0.99
... - $1/1 printable Q ($0.01 overage)

2 pkgs. Smart Balance Spread $1.39 and $1.40 ea
... - $1/2 MQ ($0.89 and $0.90 ea)

1 Lemon $0.34

Total before coupons $31.xx

Total OOP $9.67

I have a total of $68 left to spend on groceries/household items until 6/19.

I am planning a trip to my local farmers market to purchase local produce and one more trip to Kroger for cheese and to Publix to pick up new sale items that start today.

To see how other folks did this week head over to:

Money Saving Mom---Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

Walmart 6/10/09

I had a lot of coupons that were expiring yesterday so I made a trip to Wal-mart, Publix, and Kroger. Here is what I got at Wal-mart:

2 pkgs. Oscar Meyer deli meat $3.00 ea
... - $1/2 MQ ($2.50 ea)

1 Bagel-fuls $1.88
... -$1 Q ($.088)

2 Kotex panty liners $0.97 ea
-1 $2/2 printable Q ($0.06 overage)

1 Evercare lint roller $0.97
... - $1 printable Q ($0.03 overage)

3 pkgs. Jello gelatin $0.50 ea
- $1/3 printable Q ($0.16 ea)

2 pkgs. Wacky Mac $1.26 ea
... - 2 $0.75 MQ ($0.51 ea)

12 pkgs Bar S Franks $0.88 ea
...- 6 $1/2 MQ and printable Qs ($0.38 ea)

2 Velveeta Shells/Cheese cups $0.98 ea
- 1 B1G1 printable Q ($0.49 ea)

4 Easy Mac Cups $0.82 ea
... - 2 B1G1 printable Qs ($0.41 ea)

6 Velveeta Shells/Cheese cups $0.98 ea
... - 6 $1/2 printable Qs ($0.48 ea)

1 pkg Velveeta Shells and Cheese $1.50
... -$1/1 printable Q

Total before coupons $45.xx

Total OOP $20.81

I have a total of $68 left to spend on groceries/household items until 6/19.

I am planning on a trip to my local farmers market for local produce and one more trip to Kroger and to Publix for the new sales starting today.

To see how others did on their shopping trips be sure to visit:

Money Saving Mom--Super Savings Saturday

Southern Savers--Friday Finals

One of my garden's worst enemies

I hate these things.
It is a constant battle against these horrid beasts as they attack my tomato plants.

New Pool Liner!

We've had our pool around nine years and the time has finally come to replace the pool liner. Two of the corners started tearing about two years ago and my husband valiantly tried to patch them up, but by the end of last year, patching was no longer an option. We needed the new liner!

So we saved up over the winter, made plans with Georgia Pool Supply and patiently waited for Spring.

Here is the pool with the old liner and the water nearly completely drained out.

No liner, workers are here smoothing out rough spots on the bottom and replacing the foam insulation on the sides.

The new liner is installed and the pool is ready to be filled!

The pool is almost filled and nearly ready to go. We should be swimming by the weekend!

New Babies on the Farm

My family visited my sister and her family on their farm in Dublin, GA this weekend. We got to see the new babies on the farm. One of these donkeys is only two days old in this picture , the other is about a week old. They are so cute! All ears and legs....

Farm Cat doesn't understand all the fuss.