Confessions of a Cheapskate

Meal Plan Monday

2009-06-08T12:31:00.003-06:00

It's monday here, and it's pouring rain. I've got 2 loaves of bread in the oven, and the house smells wonderful. I'm almost done with the laundry and K-girl is sleeping. I'm feeling pretty random today, and i need some structure. Here's what I'm planning for this week. Grocery day is friday, so I'm feeling good. I bought 10 lbs of tilapia last week, knowing that fish is healthy for you, and we never eat it. So I've got to find lots of fish recipes to try!!

Like I said, I'm feeling pretty random and unorganized today, so these meals are VERY vauge. . .

Monday: Something with tortillas, maybe tortilla stack. . .
Tuesday: crunchy fish fillets
Wednesday: chef's salad
Thursday: meatloaf, or something with ground beef
Friday:chicken of somesort. . .feeding sister and her boyfriend before her big marathon, so a carb-filled meal
Saturday: leftovers/fend for yourself--probably fish patties
Sunday: grandma's chicken

hrm. . .that's something!

Meal Plan Monday

2009-05-11T13:54:00.002-06:00

I'm usually really good at planning our meals out. I do it for about 2 weeks at a time, from payday to payday, then shop on payday.

I also don't eat the meals on certain days, and I plan for leftovers! Mostly because I can't cook for less than 6 people. I just make a list and we'll eat them sometime during the week :)

Here's what we're doing:
baked potatoes with artichoke sauce
pasta/meatballs
gyoza, miso soup, and rice
mini meat mounds
rice and lentils
leftovers
Fend for yourself (FFY) (I do this on nights Captain jax is working nights, because I don't like cooking for just me, since K-girl doesn't care what she eats)

Sooo. . .what are you eating this week? :)

My new toy--or a late food storage friday post

2009-04-11T13:17:00.002-06:00

I did it. I bought it today. My wheat grinder!!

I'm so excited! It was kind of pricey, (around the $260 price) but it holds 12 cups of flour, is more compact than the others I looked at, and I've read god reviews on it. Plus a lifetime warranty on the milling heads? Not too shabby. The most important thing to me was size. I needed something that I could store in my limited space here in the basement. Because this one is two parts, the mill and the flour container, I can grind a full 12 cups of flour, keep it in the container in the kitchen and store the mill in the storage room.

I'm making a loaf of bread with the flour right now. I'll let you know how it works out :)

Oh yeah, this also grinds beans! that means I can try the bean flour cream'o'chicken soup recipe I got from everydayfoodstorage. Woot! :)

What Are You Willing To Pay?

2009-04-09T13:15:00.002-06:00

This is something I struggle with. I have a hard time knowing what a good price for something is. I try to use coupons as much as I can, but it doesn't always work. Bethany, over at The Good Ship Lollipop, posted what the highest amount she would pay for certain things.

What Are You Willing To Pay?

It made me feel better knowing I'm not doing too bad! I always feel like things are ridicuously priced, but I did a few calculations and realized a lot of things I buy are under what she would pay. And she's a bargin QUEEN.

Sugar for example, I paid about $.30 a lb, which was great, and for boneless/skinless, I won't pay above $1.50. Of course, we live in different states and things are probably different because of that.

Go check her out and see how you're doing!

Budgeting

2009-04-08T13:13:00.000-06:00

I just went through my bank account from Jan 1st, to today. I wanted to see where all our money was going, because I seems like we can't put money away in savings no matter how hard we try, and we're not really living within our means.

Which bugs me a lot, because for crying out loud, we live in my in-laws basement. Rent is NOT that expensive, we should be able to put money away right?

Here's what I learned:

We eat out (either Captain Jax going out for lunch, or picking food up for us on his way home) W-A-Y too often.
We need to pay off our debt
We need to stop using 'extra' features on our phones (like texting)
Besides those things, we were actually doing pretty good.

Let me tell you about my budget and how I set it up, and maybe it will help you get one. I plan for two weeks at a time. We get paid every two weeks so I plan from paycheck to paycheck. And even though it scares me a little bit, I'm going to share actual figures with you here. *deep breath*

Paycheck #1/#2
Budget amount: $600/$600

Church Offering	$75/75
Rent	$250/$0
Food	$75/$75
Gas	$50/$50
Phone	$75/$75
Captain Jax	$25/$25
Krystal	$25/$25
Debt	$25/$0
Savings	$0/$250

Actual Amount:$600/$575

This is my goal. And we're starting fresh this pay period. I'll let you know how we do.

Now, tell me about how you budget, and what works for you? Perhaps I can glean some information from you that will work for us! :)

GIVEAWAY!!

2009-04-07T09:09:00.002-06:00

I've been spending a lot of time with the Fun With Food Storage Gals lately. The desire and need to have a plan in place has been really strong lately and our family has been focusing on it. Almost all extra money goes towards that. Almost. :) We still like to play.

They have a baby-steps checklist that they email to you every two weeks. Then you spend those two weeks getting everything for the baby step they emailed you. When the next one comes in two weeks, you're ready for it. After a year you should have everything in place from where to store your food, to water, to knowing what you have on hand.

Baby steps. . . baby steps to the food storage :) (that's from "What About Bob?" in case you haven't seen it)

Anyway, now they have created an ebook for you to purchase!! Then, those of us who don't have the patience to wait for all the emails to come can download it for just $17!! WOOT!!!

And you can enter for a chance to win it for free!! We all love our free stuff don't we? I'm a cheapskate, you all know that! All you need to do it blog about, twitter it, facebook it, email it. . .GET THE WORD OUT THERE!!! Then go check out their site for their email and let them know that you did. :)

Red Box Wednesday

2009-03-18T12:51:00.001-06:00

Every Monday and Wednesday, you can find codes to get free rentals from Redbox. I'm going to start doing my best to post those for you!

Here's today's code, good until midnight tonight: GTL456

If you need help finding a redbox near you, check out Redbox.com

RedBox Monday

2009-03-16T12:26:00.002-06:00

Here's a code to get you a free Redbox DVD today!

2GR4N8

If you don't know what redbox is, or where to find one near you, check out Redbox.com

Food Storage Friday

2009-02-27T20:38:00.002-07:00

Is it friday again? The days have become a blur to me. . . .and I haven't posted in a while.

I'd like to tell you about the 12 meal plan. (actually, you can pick whatever number you want, 12 just fits nicely with a year). The way the 12 meal plan works is to give you enough supplies to make 12 meals, 31 times, so they will last you for an entire year.

Clear as mud?

Good, let's move on.

Pick 12 meals that your family would eat and that you can store the things needed. Meals like spaghetti are good. off the top of my head I can't think of any other ones. But I have a head cold (STILL!!! it's been lingering back and forth for about a month now).

After you pick your 12 meals, make a list of all the ingredients for each meal (how much you'll need to make each one) and multiply it by 31. So for spaghetti, if you use one package of noodles each time you make it, you'll need 31 packages. Every month you pick ONE of your meals and buy all the ingredients to make that meal 31 times.

At the end of 1 year, you will have enough meals to last you for a year in your storage! Fantastic! And if you wanted to go above and beyond, another idea is to pick breakfasts and lunches as well. Breakfast could be easy since there are so many muffin mixes and dry mixes you could just add water to.

I'm going to work on my list and get back to you. Let me know what ideas you have! and good luck!

Give Away!

2009-02-16T10:47:00.002-07:00

Nope, not here again.

Someday, but not today.

Head over to the Grocery Cart Challenge and check out her giveaway! It's for a diva cup, which is a WONDERFUL way to save money on pads or tampons. Plus it's environmentally friendly! No worry about clogged toilets or extra garbage when that dear monthly friend comes to visit.

I've been too scared to try one, I'm not going to lie, but if I win one, I'll try it! :)

Food Storage Friday

2009-02-13T12:30:00.002-07:00

I'm in the market for a grain mill. Also known as a wheat grinder. The reason for this does have to do with today being Food Storage Friday, I promise.

Wheat has an amazingly long shelf life. As in 30+ years. If you're looking for things to store long term, this is a great item. And I want to store it. But I have a hard time knowing what to do with wheat. Growing up, we would eat cracked wheat for breakfast. I don't know how my parent's made it, but I love it! It's nice to have a warm breakfast when it's like 10 degrees outside.

My mother would also grind her wheat in an old commercial coffee grinder (this thing was HUGE, and super noisy--scared the living daylights out of me more than once!) and have wheat flour.
A lot of wheat grinders are electric. Which is nice, until you have no power for an extended period of time. You have to live off your food storage, and you have all this wheat, and can't grind it into to flour--which is easier to find something to make with than whole wheat.

This one, pictured above is the one I'm currently looking at. It's from Emergency Essentials, and the price isn't too bad either. It's on my list of things I need for my food storage supply. Along with a camp stove, and water purifier. If only I had thought of these things when I was working at an outdoor/camping store in college and could get awesome discounts!

A 'Buy 10 get $3 off' Deal

2009-02-07T10:07:00.003-07:00

This week, my Smith's Grocery store (also known as Kroger in other places) is having a pretty good sale. Buy any 10 participating items and get $3 off when you check out. Cereal was one of those things on sale. I like to buy cereal when it's a good deal, because Captain Jax loves to eat it for breakfast. I personally would rather have eggs, but he'll eat through it. He's kind of picky though, and the kind he likes (read:chock full of sugar) isn't usually the kind of sale.

This week though, we were in luck!

Order One

I saved 61% off this order. Or $21.30. I got ten items that qualified (and that I had coupons for) and my total after tax came to: $13.67. My store sale savings were $15. 40, and my coupon savings was $5.90

Order Two

This was the bigger one. I saved 77% on this one!! ($33.57) my store sale savings was $25.52, and my coupon savings was $8.05. Want to know how much I paid for 7 boxes of Lucky Charms, and three boxes of pizza rolls?

$10.16

I'm feeling pretty durn good about my deals today

Food Storage Friday

2009-02-06T09:58:00.003-07:00

I've decided to add some new features to this blog. I realize I don't post very often, and it's all pretty random stuff anyway. Just me trying to make life better for my family! So, I thought I should have some theme days on the subjects I like to cover here. So far I have "Food Storage Friday".

Check here every friday for some Food Storage tips!

Today, I want to show off my splurge. Gamma Lids.

You can usually find these lids at any emergency preparedness store, but if you happen to live in an area that doesn't really have anything like that, you can find them online. And I know, they're kind of pricey aren't they? I paid $7.99 PER LID for these suckers! You can find them cheaper online, but I didn't think that far ahead, they were kind of a spur of the moment purchase for me.

What's great about these is how easy they are to use! They come apart into two pieces: the seal and the lid.

and you just hammer the seal onto your bucket, and twist the lid on! Easy as that! and it's a tight seal as well. The reason I love these, it because I've started storing lots of things in buckets and I don't want bugs to get into them! I keep flour in one bucket, sugar in another, packages of powdered sugar in another, and yet another keeps my pasta.

This way, I can buy things in bulk, like a 25lb bag of sugar, and store it so the bugs can't get it. I don't know if they're waterproof, and frankly, I hope I never have to find out! But these lids are a whole lot easier to use than the standard lids that come with the buckets. Go check them out! :)

Snow Day

2009-01-07T10:42:00.003-07:00

It's a snow day here at our place. We got about 2 1/2 feet yesterday and my car has become buried. That's ok though, because I don't trust it in the snow anyway.

So I decided to go through our food. I pulled out every unopened item from the storage room and the pantry and went through it all.

I really thought we had a lot more than this, but that's everything folks! and after writing EVERYTHING down, I decided we probably have at least a three months supply of food that we could live off of. Which is reassuring to me.

As I've mentioned before, I'm LDS. My church leaders council us to have a years supply of food storage. at minimum, a three-month supply I believe. I understand for some people a years supply just isn't possible. It's really not possible for us either, as we live in a basement apartment, and don't have much storage space. But it's important for our family to follow the council of our leaders and obey.

So I wanted to know where we stood, since it's a new year, and I have resolutions for our family to have a food supply that we can live off of. I don't have a food storage of items our family won't eat, because it won't do us any good. For example: we don't eat hardly ANY beans, lentils are as close as we get, and sometimes refried beans. But pasta. . .wow, we eat that all the time! so have about 40-50 lbs of pasta right now. I don't know how long that will last us, but I think it'll take us at least 3 months to finish it off, if we ate it every day.

and now that I've written everything down, I know exactly what we have, and I can plan meals from our pantry. That will help cut down our food budget, and I can put the money somewhere else it's needed.

Happy snow day everyone! :)

Going Green in 2009!

2008-12-29T21:29:00.005-07:00

Have you thought about going green? Maybe a little bit? I had a hard time starting, because I felt like I was dishing out a lot of money at once, which I'm completely against. So we started small here.

When our lightbulbs would burn out, I purchased the Energy Star, energy efficient bulbs. They really do last a LOT longer.

My green bags were my next step. Most places sell them now, and most places have started giving a discount when you use a reusable bag. It doesn't have to be theirs! I found most of them give you $.05 off for each bag you fill. With my two weeks of groceries, I fill between 5-7 bags. I know, it's not much, but it's something!

Consider the green reusable bags! Maybe you could make a goal to try something green for the new year.

Mine? I'm going to try making my own cleaning products, and save money that way. Let me know if you have any cheap goals for 2009!

Getting ready for Christmas

2008-12-06T13:05:00.002-07:00

This time of year makes it hard to be a cheapskate, because it seems to coincide with 'scrooge' for some reason. But I'm not a scrooge. Not even remotely close. I actually get in arguments with Captain Jax about when I can put up Christmas decorations. He thinks I need to wait until December, and I think as soon as Christmas music is on the radio I need to decorate.

We compromised this year, and he let me put up ONE decoration. I picked my nativity.

But that's not what this post is about. I think I just wanted to show off my nativity, because I love it!

Go check out my friend Amy's post about cheap gifts for you kids. It's worth the trip over there!

Water Storage

2008-10-02T15:55:00.006-06:00

From this . . . .

This is the thing I have the hardest time with when working towards my ultimate food storage goal of one year. Do you know how much water three people need for one year?! I don't, but I know I'm NO WHERE close to having enough. Actually, it's not convenient to have a years supply of water, no one has enough space to store it, so it's not recommended. A think a three-month's supply is what's recommended. Anyway, I don't have enough, not even close.

We don't often buy bottled juices. Usually we buy frozen concentrate and make that up. I'm kind of a juice junkie. But when they're a good deal, like during the case lot sale, they were about $1.50 a bottle. The frozen concentrate I like is about $1 a can, so it was worth it to me to buy the 2 qt bottles of apple juice.

So after I finish my juice, which only takes me like 1 day, 2 days at the most (I told you, I'm a juice junkie!) I send the bottle through the dishwasher and fill it full of water.

To this!!

Slowly but surely, I'll have my water storage!

5 ways I save money

2008-09-26T19:38:00.002-06:00

5 Ways I Save Money:

1-Bring a list to the grocery store and STICK TO IT!!
How many times do you come home with things you don't need, and missing the thing you do need? We go grocery shopping once every two weeks. I plan our meals for those two weeks, and the things we'll need for those meals. Add the essentials (eggs, milk, cheese, bread, ice cream) also know as our every day things, and that's it. Very rarely do we walk out with extra items, and then we usually are within our budget amount as well.

2-Create a meal plan
If I have a meal plan laid out, I've bought the things for it already, this saves me extra trips to the grocery store to pick up something I need for dinner that night AND I'm not adding extra things because they sound good.

3-Use my budget
We have one. Even if I'm the only one who knows what amount is in each one. I'm in charge of the finances in our house, even though Captain Jax brings home the paycheck. I pretty much give him an allowance for two weeks, and that's all he gets for his fun stuff. If I'm close to my budget amount in a section, I don't pull from another section that may have excess (like when my CC is paid off, I don't take the amount I was putting towards that and spend on scrapbook stuff, although it's tempting) I just STOP spending in that area. It took us about 12 months of playing with the budget to get it to work for us. but it works. We even have a section in it for savings. Someday we WILL own a home, and be out of his parent's basement!

4-Buy the store brand
Unless the name brand is cheaper with my coupon or something, I buy the store brand of items. Brand loyalty does not help you save money.

5-Coupons, coupons, coupons
When matched with a sale, coupons can save you money, and sometimes MAKE you money. Yes, you heard me. When used just because you have a coupon. . .well, they aren't much good.

These are small tips, but for us, the grocery store is where most of our money goes. Find out if your local grocery store has a gas station, and if they do, how much you have to spend there to get a discount. My local Harmon's Grocery has a gas station, and when you spend $30, you get $.05cents off a gallon, spend $50, you get $.10cents off. $75, you get $.15cents off. Spend $100 and you get $.20 off a gallon of gas. And this is up to 20 gallons worth! It's worth it for me to shop there, and save money on our gas as well.

Start small, and I bet you can find all sorts of ways to save money, and be a cheapskate too!

How I organize my coupons

2008-09-22T15:31:00.004-06:00

I've seen lots of ways to organize coupons. Most seem to be too much work for me. I'm not a hard core couponer, and I don't have the time to clip EVERY SINGLE coupon I find and file them into separate pockets, then organize by the exp date, then clean it out every week. I can't do that. But for some people it works great! this is was works for me, and it might just work for you too.

I have an accordian folder, with 13 pockets. It's not a HUGE one, because I only get one newspaper, so I'm only filing 1 set of inserts.

See? all the months that I can put all the inserts in that come in the newspaper for that month.
I take a magic marker and write the dates on the insert, near the top left corner, because that will be the spot I'll see as I'm thumbing through them.
and what I also like to do, but usually don't get around to it. . .is visit taylortownpreview.com and print of the list of coupons that are included in the inserts for the week. The wonderful thing about this webpage (besides the fact that it has this great list) is that the coupons are in alphabetical order, they have the expiration date on them, and they have how much the coupon is for. I've only found a few variations from their list, to what I get in my paper. Like my area sometimes doesn't have the $1.00 off of something, it has $.50cents off of it instead. so when I have the time, I like to print the list off, and go through mine and make sure they match. Then it's easy to see what I have, with everything being in alphabetical order. also I can cross it off when I use it, or when it expires. Then when I hear about a great deal using a coupon from, say the Smart start on 9/14 I don't have to flip through all my inserts searching for it, only to realize later that I already used it on something else earlier. I just scan down the sheet, find it, and see if it's crossed off or not.

But like I said, this method also it a bit time consuming, and with a littler baby, I don't quite have the time to do it. I'm just not a hard-core couponer! I admit it.

I also don't like carrying a HUGE coupon binder to to store with me, JUST IN CASE I find something that if I used a coupon with would be a great deal. I already have my baby, a diaper bag, and purse. That's plenty for me! I plan my deals before I go, clip the coupons and file them in this little organizer.

Nice a small eh? that's what I love about it. I have the different stores I shop at in alphabetical order, then I file the coupons for the store I plan to use them at.

ta-da! just like that! then I know what I'm looking for, and I don't get my deals mixed up.

I hope this helps you feel like you can get started with your coupons! no need to clip them all!! Visit hotcouponworld.com or pinchingyourpennies.com and THEY do all the work for you--well, they find the deals and tell you where to find the coupon. you still have to clip it and visit the store. small price to pay when you're going to save TONS of money!! and sometimes even make some back!

A perk to living in Utah

2008-09-17T12:44:00.002-06:00

For the most part, I don't mind living in Utah. But the cost of living is V-E-R-Y high, and we honestly couldn't afford to live here, if we didn't have family to help us out. a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in my city is around $800 a month!! that's not including any utilities. (that's also equal to one paycheck for us!)

a wonderful perk though are the local grocery stores have annual caselot sales. What's a caselot sale you ask? It's wonderful. Basically, the store puts items on sale for super cheap, but you have to buy a certain amount to get the sale price. You have to buy a case worth.

For example: a can of cream of mushroom soup usually costs about $1.25 or if it's on sale, you can get it for about a dollar. But during the caselot sale (my local caselot stores are Macey's Grocery, and Harmon's Grocery) I can buy a case of cream of mushroom soup for about $.69 a can!! This is because I'm buying a case of 24 cans that are 10.5oz (your normal size can) for $16.56.

This is a great deal! These sales are wonderful for building up a fod storage, or for even getting the items you use alot for a great price. Like pasta sauces and noodles. Both can store quite well fo a long period of time. Ad if you can get a case of them better than you can get them on sale? Well, that means it's time to STOCK UP!!

and as a side note, the wednesday deals I was planing to post as my local news channel talked about them, are not what I thought they would be. On the plus side though, I'm putting a few new recipes on Recipes of a Cheapskate, and I'm working on a post for a great way for a beginner to store their coupons.

Want to get started?

2008-09-03T11:19:00.000-06:00

Would you like to get started? Not sure where to start to save money? I wasn't either. One of my local TV stations is doing a special for the next 6 months. Every Wednesday, they have a 'specialist' couponer, who is finding the deals at our local grocery store and creating meals for us! Here's the link to their site, where we can all find good deals, even if you don't live in my area! I'll do my best to keep this updated as well!

Cheap or free this week!

2008-07-06T22:40:00.003-06:00

This is my game plan for this week for deals:

WAGS
Free Cutter Bug Spray all month:
If your store has the small packages that are 2/$3, use the $1 ES coupon and $1 manu coupon (6/15 SmartSource) for $1 for 2! (for the record, I couldn't find any small ones at my Walgreens today. . .just big bottles at $7 a pop!! not worth it)

RITE AID
Crest 2.49-1.74SCR-.75 P&G(today's)= FREE
Herbal essence 2/$5- $3 q (P&G-today's) -3SCR = Free
Infusion 4.99- $3q(P&G todays) -1.99 SCR = Free
The SCR is a single check rebate. You can enter your receipts online, and then at the end of the month submit them, and they'll mail you a check, or a gift card. I've never done this before, but I've heard you can get a gift card instead, and they add like 10% or something to your amount! not too shabby

STAPLES:
1¢ 8-pack pencils limit 2
1¢ pocket folders limit 10
1¢ Purell sanitizer limit 2
25¢ .5" OR 1" binders limit 4
FREE AR 4-pack Pental highlighters (after rebate of 4.99)

rumor also has it that staples will have more penny sales coming up as school is getting closer to starting!!

slacking and lack of deals

2008-07-04T10:05:00.002-06:00

I have been slacking lately, and I apologize. There have been a few deals in the past few weeks that I haven't blogged about, but are now over. :( if it makes you feel better, there was only one deal this week, and I screwed it up anyway. A screaming munchkin can do that to you!

But if you're able to before sunday. . .go to WALGREENS

Their JUMBO (not mega, those are the ones that I bought) packs of diapers are on sale for $5.99 a pack. There's a coupon in their easy saver catalog (at the front of the store, by the weekly ads) for $5 off 2 packs. Their ad for this week, buy 3 of any participating items (jumbo pack diapers, children's motin/tylanol, desitin, formula, and johnsons lotion/body wash) and get $5 RR (register reward--aka--coupon for $5 off your next purchase)

soooo. . .that comes to $17 for 3 packs of diapers, the coupon takes $5 off, (now $12) and then you get $5 to use on your next purchase. Ends up at $7 for three packs of diapers. I don't know the count on the diapers. I''m guess around thirty? (the megas I bought had around 50) either way, $7 for 90 diapers?? I'm not so good at math, but that's less than $.10 a diaper.

Pretty darn good deal.

Or stock up on the johnson's wash and desitin and give them away as gifts! There's also a coupon in the ESC for the desitin ($1 off, not much)

as for grocery deals. . .Smith's apparently has 5lb bag of grated cheese on sale for $9.99 That's an awesome price for cheese!! I buy my 5lb brick at costco for $13!! Grated cheese also freezes really well so you can divide it into individual baggies in your freezer, and just pull them out as needed!

I also just learned that smith's and kroger's are owned by the same company. So if you see an awesome kroger's deal, and are kicking yourself because you don't have a krogers, check yoour smith's ad and you might be lucky!

that's all for now folks. Get ready for a recipe on Recipes of a Cheapskate though! I've got some BBQ tonight, and a fresh fruit lasagna! (yes, I said fruit)

New recipe up!

2008-06-29T21:31:00.003-06:00

I've got a new recipe up on Recipes of a Cheapskate! Go check it out, then come back and read about my deals from last week. Yeah, they're old, I'm slow. . . .I've got a munchkin who needs my attention!

Free bandaids!

2008-06-10T12:26:00.002-06:00

My second deal went quite nicely!

this week at Walgreens, two types of bandaids are on sale for $.99! They have a sheer, and a natural color. One type has 30 count, the other has 40 count. I bought the 40 count one. There's a coupon in the May 18th Red Plum coupon insert for $1.00 off any bandaids. that means free bandaids!

We also needed cereal, and I had a coupon for $1.00 off any two boxes of General Mills cereal. so we got those too. They were on 'sale' for 2 boxes for $8.00. Ouch! Not really a sale i think.

Here's how it broke down anyway:

Banaids: $1.00 (they had to adjust the price to equal the coupon, not sure why)
coupon: -$1.00
Lucky charms: $4.49
2nd box: $3.51
Coupon: -$1.00
TOTAL: $7.31 (after tax)

I guess it's alright. I don't like the price I paid for the cereal, but we needed it, and the coupon expired next week.

My first coupon deal

2008-06-02T11:17:00.002-06:00

This week, Target has a sale on their Gillette Razors. Buy 2 at $9.44 each, get a $10 gift card. Sunday's ads had some coupons! There was a $2 off a Venus razor, and a $4 off a Fusion razor. Also on May 18th, there were more coupons for $2 off a venus (I got my mom's coupons so I had two).

Here's how it worked out:

Transaction one:
1 venus razor: $9.44
1 $2/off coupon -$2.00
1 fusion razor: $9.44
1 $4/off coupon -$4.00
total out of pocket$12.88+tax+ $10 gift card. Like spending $2.88+tax!

Transaction two:
2 Venus razors: $18.88
2 $2/off coupons -$4.00
Total OOP: $14.88+tax+$10 gift card

Since this was my first coupon deal, I didn't know how I'd receive the gift cards. I thought I might have to go to customer service to get it. if I had known I got it right there, i would have put the first $10 card into the second transaction. Instead, I spent $28.92 (that's with tax) and now have $20 in gift cards to use!

Good thing my munchkin can always use more diapers!

creating my space

2008-05-16T16:59:00.004-06:00

I realized I'm already getting ahead of myself. I need to create a space for my food storage, which is difficult because we're living in my in-laws basement! so we have to be creative. there is a storage room in the basement, but it needs some serious cleaning out first.

This is our storage room:

Those top two shelves are ours. Not too much space eh?
The bottom shelves are my in-laws. As you can see, they've got a rotating system going on with their cans right there. they take the front can, and every time they buy a new one, it goes in the back. A whole lot cheaper than a cansolidator! (although I still want one, and some day will have a HUGE one)
this is the hallway back to the other storage room. Those shelves we just looked at? They're on the left side of the photo. Imagine the shelf space that could be created if all that stuff was moved, or at least cleaned up!
This is the back storage room. Pretty much it's full of random stuff. A lot of canning jars, from back when my mother-in-law would can stuff. There's actually still a lot of jam she had canned. Good thing that stuff can last forever!

They also have a little bit of their own food storage. Those big number 10 cans have a bunch of stuff in them.

anyway, my goal for tomorrow, while Captain Jax is off of work, is to get this room a little more picked up!! if we consolidate everything into it's own place, I can get some space in there. And I can use the empty canning jars to can some fresh fruit this summer. Yum!

starting food storage---and non-food storage

2008-05-13T16:21:00.003-06:00

I don't know where to start with this. Everyone says "store what you eat!" but we don't really eat things that store. We eat a lot of perishables. Cheese is a big thing in our house, so is milk, and bread. We also really like fruits and veggies (or at least we're getting better about eating them).

Of the non-perishable food items, we eat a lot of pasta, pasta sauce, canned cream'o'soups, and um. . .I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any.

I found this food storage calculator. It tells us how much we need to store for years supply of food. I'm not ready to get that far. First I want to get a 3-month supply and start and good rotation working.

Your Family Will Need:

Grains
375 lbs of Wheat
62 lbs of Flour
62 lbs of Corn Meal
62 lbs of Oats
125 lbs of Rice
62 lbs of Pasta
748 lbs Total Grains

Legumes
75 lbs of Dry Beans
11 lbs of Lima Beans
25 lbs of Soy Beans
11 lbs of Split Peas
11 lbs of Lentils
11 lbs of Dry Soup Mix
144 lbs Total Legumes

Fats and Oils
10 lbs of Shortening
5 gal of Vegetable Oil
5 qts of Mayonnaise
3 qts of Salad Dressing
10 lbs of Peanut Butter
63 lbs Total Fats and Oils

Milk and Dairy
150 lbs of Dry Milk
30 cans of Evaporated Milk
32 lbs of Other Dairy
187 lbs of Total Milk and Dairy

Sugars
7 lbs of Honey
100 lbs of Sugar
7 lbs of Brown Sugar
3 lbs of Molasses
7 lbs of Corn Syrup
7 lbs of Jams
15 lbs of Powdered Fruit Drink
3 lbs of Flavored Gelatin
149 lbs Total Sugars

Cooking Essentials
3 lbs of Baking Powder
3 lbs of Baking Soda
1.5 lbs of Yeast
13 lbs of Salt
1.5 gal of Vinegar

Water *
42 gal of Water
3 gal of Bleach

Fruits
100 lbs of Flavored Apples
100 lbs of Applesauce
75 lbs of Banana Chips
87.5 lbs of Fruit Mixture
100 lbs of Fruit Juices
462.5 lbs Total Fruits

Vegetables
75 lbs of Corn
75 lbs of Peas
75 lbs of Green Beans
75 lbs of Carrots
100 lbs of Potatoes
12.5 lbs of Onions
50 lbs of Tomatoes
462.5 lbs Total Vegetables

* It is impractical for most families to store a year's supply of water. However, at least 14 gallons per person are suggested as a two-week emergency reserve.

So that's for a full year. 2 adults, and 1 child under the age of 6. It's pretty intimidating in my opinion. That seems like it would take a really, REALLY long time to get all that stuff! and it needs to be stored properly so it doesn't go bad, so it's mostly dehydrated stuff. And we're not big bean eaters, but I'm sure if it was an emergency we'd find a way to do it.

That's why I'm starting with a 3 month supply. It's all about baby steps.

I've made a list of things we use on a regular basis and should have a storage:

Building a 3-month supply of things we eat

Pasta/rice/beans
Pasta Sauce-pesto
Soups
canned fruit and veggies
flour
sugar
water

Non-Perishables

Shampoo
Conditioner
Hand soap
Bar Soap
Toothpaste
mouthwash
Laundry soap
Dish soap
toilet paper
paper towels
condoms
tampons

and now as I go grocery shopping, I'm going to pick up an extra of a few things until I have a good collection. With the non-perishables, I've started keeping a list of about how long it takes us to go through something. Like a bottle of shampoo. We go through that quicker than conditioner, because Captain Jax doesn't use conditioner, only I do. And toothpaste. Right now only 2 of us brush our teeth, but in a few months, Munchkin will probably have her first tooth or two.

It's all about baby steps. and trying not to get overwhelmed with all the information out there.

Couponing

2008-05-13T16:15:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to get started using coupons. I've tried a few times, and haven't gotten very far. Mostly because the newspaper subscription ran out. but I've renewed it now, and we're getting 26 weeks, of just the sunday paper. I really just want the coupon inserts, and Captain Jax really just wants the comics. Actually, he probably just wants to dilbert comic.

I've subscribed to pinchingyourpennies.com and they have forums to help you figure out how to start couponing, as well as ads from all the grocery stores that match up sales with coupons, and give them a ranking on if it's a good deal or not. I like that concept.

The frustrating thing is I haven't got a newspaper yet, so I don't have any ads yet. And once I do get a newspaper, the ads probably won't do much for me for a few months. I guess I'm just a person who wants to have everything at once! I need to work on my patience I guess.

Confession

2008-05-09T13:05:00.001-06:00

I pretend I'm a cheapskate.

I want to use coupons, but I don't know how.

I think I need to start storing food.

I don't follow my budget very well.

I live in my in-laws basement so my husband Captain Jax can go to school.

My munchkin wears used clothes. And new ones sometimes.

I have a weakness for scrapbooking stuff.

Captain Jax has a weakness for video games.

I have thousands of recipes I've never tried.

I'm LDS and proud of it.

I think a garden would cut down our grocery bill, but I've yet to ever plant one.

I'm bad at writing thank you notes.

Large amounts of debt scare me. And we have a large amount for Captain Jax's schooling.

I want to homeschool my munchkin so I can teach her how I want to, how it suits her learning, and about God and our religion.

I want to be a domestic goddess.

I want to help someone with something by this blog. Even if it's only me!