My $30 Groceries!

I have never been a coupon clipper. I found it way too confusing, way too time consuming, and, honestly, not worth the effort. Recently, however, I have become increasingly convicted that doing my part to cut down our grocery bill would be wise. And as soon as I started, I quickly realized: I had been doing it all wrong!

I am new to this whole couponing thing. I don’t claim to be an expert at it. I am, however, starting to get the hang of it! I went to Kroger and Wal-mart today and I wanted to share my Kroger bill with you: 30 bucks for all of this! Now, I must say I have seen many ladies who have done much better than this, but as I am still building my coupon stash and learning all the tips, I am ecstatic!

If you can’t see, that’s:

8 Yoplait yogurts
2 boxes Raisin Bran
2 lbs. strawberries
1 bag Valencia oranges (whatever Valencia means)
1 bag mini carrots
2 pouches Betty Crocker mashed potatoes
3 boxes Pasta Roni
2 pouches rice
1 box Pillsbury family-sized brownies
1 box Hungry Jack complete buttermilk pancake mix
4 pack White Cloud toilet paper
1 pack napkins
1 box saltines
2 packs sugar cookie dough
1 bag Nestle butterscotch morsels
1 Tropicana orange juice
1 Green Giant Immunity Blend boxed veggie
Pretzels
2 loaves whole wheat bread
1 2-pack Lever 2000 soap
1 box South Beach fiber bars

For 30 dollars!!!

Here are some things I have learned since I started couponing:

• It’s important to be realistic. I have a house of men that love to eat! Since we have been blessed with a large family, it would be unrealistic (and would even stress  me out a bit) to set the bar for savings so high that I could realistically never attain it. It costs quite a bit to feed our family and I should be content with every step (no matter how small) we take to bring down our weekly grocery bill!
• Ideally I would bake all our bread, eat organic, milk our own dairy cows, and have some chickens in the back yard, but let’s be honest- it ain’t gonna happen! I don’t have the time to bake all our bread, we can’t afford organic (unless it’s dramatically reduced and I have a coupon), udders frighten me a bit, and chickens STINK! Plus- where would we keep them (LOL)? As the kids grow older, some of these things might be possible as the responsibility could be shared and we would hopefully have the land to do these things. At this stage in life, however, I am most interested in spending time with my family and not in the kitchen.
• Convenience is awesome! Until I started using coupons, we couldn’t afford the luxuries of boxed potatoes, rice, brownies, etc. (yes, I called them luxuries- they were) but now, with the right coupon, I can get these items dirt cheap! Like today, the brownies and potatoes were .30 cents a piece!
• If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it. Like today, Soft Soap was cheap. 10 for 10 dollars, I think. But the Kroger brand is always 99 cents and we don’t need soap right now. In the past, I would buy anything that was on sale just because it was a good buy.
• If we don’t need it, we do buy it. The difference is figuring out whether the item you are contemplating purchasing is a good buy that you could probably get again when you do need it or a great buy. An example of a great buy today was toilet paper. No- we didn’t need toilet paper. We had plenty but I had a coupon for 75 cents off.  The t.p. was a dollar. So I am got a 4 pack of t.p. for 25 cents! My coupon would have expired before we needed it again so I considered that a great buy.
• This takes work! I spend a few hours a week trying to find the best deals. This consists of viewing circulars, searching websites, clipping coupons, mentally planning meals, and looking through newspapers. It is hard with the kids running around me and screaming their little heads off, but it is worth it when you are at the checkout!
• Shop ALDI!!! I used to refuse to shop at Aldi as I assumed the off-brands were less than tasty, but I was W-R-O-N-G. They are much cheaper and some of their foods taste better! My favorite Aldi items: cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese sticks, vanilla wafers, cream cheese, sour cream, bagged salad, yogurt, the list goes on!
• Supposedly you can get great deals each week at CVS and WalGreens but I haven’t quite figured that program out yet!

That being said, I am sure I have a lot to learn. I welcome your suggestions! But I just wanted to share my new “semi-obsession”!

P.S. A few favorite websites:

Money Saving Mom (I’ve listed this one before)
STLMommy (She has tons of lists of freebies! And restaurant deals! And birthday freebies!)
Coupons.com (You can usually print the same coupon 2 or 3 times, which I am learning is the key to having great grocery trips!)
The Bargain Shopper Lady

What Does 1 Trillion Dollars Look Like?

Anyone see this?

diapers!

I got Kaedmon’s first installment of diapers last night. What a deal! I found them ranging from 7.99 to 10.99 and got 3 of them. I also got free shipping. I did order them in small, which I know he won’t wear for long, but I want him to have diapers that fit him right from birth. I was tempted to put him in disposables for a couple months just for convenience sake, but since mine and David’s primary motivation for using cloth is the state of our environment, I decided to go right into them. Etsy even had some great cloth wipes that I am looking at! Okay- allow me to share:

here
here
and here.

Aren’t they cute? I thought I would just go with the same brands I used for Sammy (when we were clothing him), and I still probably will, but these were too great a deal to pass up!

on hybrid cars

Honestly, I would have never thought of it. Here are Dave Ramsey’s thoughts.

A Little Help…

…in the form of an anonymous church member.

Do you ever have that “paycheck to paycheck” kind of month? Year? You get my point.

With medical bills out the roof, we have found ourselves back in that position lately. And in a situation where we could easily find ourselves discouraged and doubting, God steps in and, once again, becomes a “very present help in time of need.” And we write these words to give Him alone the glory!

Since I will never know who gave us a very needed cash gift this morning each of you can testify how badly I was itching to send a thank you card. I suppose, however, that this is a time that I should just be thankful that the Lord provided and not worry so much about who God used to do the providing.

I think this is why secret pal bothers me so much. Every time I receive a gift, I cannot stand the thought that I can’t send a thank you card for it=) I guess I can thank Mrs. Mohler and her hospitality class for that!

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:19 (NASB)

Making the Most of our $$$

This summer we have been working superbly hard to save money! I wanted to share some of what we have been doing:

1. We have reduced the numbers of baths/showers per week. As well as the length of them. David has been taking very short showers and I am working on my addiction as well. I am a bubble bath every night kind of gal. I have cut them down to about 3 times a week and instead of filling up the tub the whole way I am only filling them up half the way. The boys are also only getting 2 or 3 baths a week.

2. Milk here is $4.14 a gallon. We used to go through 2 or 3 gallons a week. We have cut it down to 1 whether we like it or not. We are trying to get more calcium through juices, yogurt, and mozz. cheese sticks. On that same note, we have committed to eating Ramen noodles 2 times a week for dinner as well. It stinks, but it helps. David called me and told me he splurged yesterday when he bought a 6 pack for 74 cents. Silly boy. On a health note: Ramen is VERY high in sodium so what we do is only add half the packet of seasoning and flavor the noodles with fat free butter.

3. David rides his bike to work 3 days a week. It is a 16 mile round trip and it kills him. I just have to brag on him to show you how committed he is to saving on the nearly $3.50 gallon a tank gas price here. Also, I only take the boys to town once, MAYBE twice, a week. It has helped a lot as well.

4. We aren’t using air conditioning this summer. Strike that. We don’t HAVE air conditioning this, or any other, summer! For some reason, most of the houses in NM don’t have air conditioners because of the low humidity. It has taken a lot of getting used to for us. We sleep with almost ALL the windows open. I guess we’ll just have to take our chances on the bears and lions.

And lastly, a few things we have’t done, but plan on doing:

5. I have a clothesline, but I don’t know how to use a clothesline. As soon as I can learn, I am going to stop using my dryer and line dry more. One of the joys in NM is that your hair and clothes dry I would say at least 50% quicker here because the air is so dry.

6. A food company in NM sponsors FREE lunches for children EVERY day in the summer at the park. I need to start taking the boys more, but I guess that would up my number of trips to town, wouldn’t it? We’ll have to think about that one.

Separation Anxiety, Clouds, Budgets, and More

Simon…oh my sweet son, Simon. It’s back. Separation anxiety, that is. I am kinda surprised as it came much later with Noah and Sammy. Senor Simon, Si Si, whino albino, or whatever I feel like calling him at any given time, is to that point where any time I leave a room, it is as though someone is killing him. He can be perfectly happy and when I make my exit, he explodes into a rage of tears and growling at everyone around him=) It’s kinda funny, but not when I feel like getting anything accomplished. Here are some recent photos of the lad (with Mommy in sight):

Secondly, I am captivated on mornings where we find ourselves more or less under the clouds. It amazes me to think that these same clouds in Kentucky would be a mile over my head. God’s handiwork makes the tougher days here a little easier to bear. Thank you Lord. Here is a pic of what it looked like this morning:

Did I mention David and I are absolutely loving our new Keith and Krysten Getty CD? It is probably one of my favorites ever! David summed it up best when he said “I want to be that full of joy.” Their lyrics, music, voices, all epitomize a joy in Christ that you just don’t see in so many beievers these days. Ahh…I am so thankful for this CD. It has really fixed my perspective on many things!

Lastly, we finished up the dreaded budget last night. It had been coming for a while and we knew we coudn’t hide from it anymore. This next month is budgeted down to the penny (well, almost.) We have cut back on groceries and gas. It has become increasingly more evident that I drive too much during the week LOL. Anyway, it is really true that when you are under a budget (although restricted) there is an element of freedom because you have a plan and you feel safe. Thanks, Mr. Ramsey.