My Blog

Adios Thrifty Blog

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 21:21:00 -0400

Those of you who know me know that I like to “try things.” If you mention something that sounds like a good idea, more than likely I will try it if it is ...
in the budget and
something that sounds worth trying

Blogging has been one of my “things to try.” I thought I would attempt to focus on the thrifty stuff here and see what comes of it... for me what “comes with it” is the feeling of being enslaved to “post my findings” right away.

Like today....Ooooo, I got all of this? Let me put it out on the counter, take a picture of it, upload it and blog about it tonight!

When I think about all of the many things on my plate, this should not be my top priority.

I’m taking a hiatus from “Our Happy Homeschool” blog as well and have decided that I will do only a monthly entry, so look forward to September for that one and it will have our highlights.

As for this blog, well, I’m saying Good-Bye. There are WAY too many awesome thrifty bloggers out there for me to spend time blogging about the subject.

I want to do so many things. I realize I can not do them all and I need to remind myself continually that everything has its season. For now, it is being the best wife and homeschooling mom that I am called to be.

What will next season bring, well, I’m sure I’ll think of a million things and then I will once again be brought to the verse that I need to read so very often from Proverbs 31, which is found in the Amplified version.

16She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]; with her savings [of time and strength] she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard. [S. of Sol. 8:12.]
That part in bold gets me every time. I think it is key.

With that, I sign off with many blessings to all of you!

Rapunzel’s Mom

Monday Shopping - Free Crest at Weis with Coupon!

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 21:53:06 -0400

I am still having issues with my comments and the Mac forums say they may work by the end of the week.

One of my things to save money lately has been to do as much shopping on Monday as possible. We tend to be out and about for activities so we plan to stop places while we are on the road. Rapunzel is getting quite used to it, thankfully! She likes that we are saving the family money and I like that she is learning the importance of saving money young.

I have seen some blogs that list their weekly budget and then list where they went and such. I can’t say I’ll be doing that regularly but I thought I would give it a whirl this week.

Background: a few months ago my philosophy was, why shop around? I’m going to spend more on gas getting to different places than how much I will spend.

Result: Our weekly grocery bill was well over $100 every week. Sometimes much higher if we suddenly ran low. I would NEVER use a coupon and never seek out sales. There are three of us in our household. Wonderful Hubby, myself and Darling Daughter(5).

New Thinking: I am not paying much extra in gas if I go to the stores while I am in the area anyway. For example, the soymilk that we use is at least 20 cents cheaper at SuperWalMart than anywhere else that I have found thus far. It is not close to our home BUT it is only a few minutes from the library, which we visit every week, so I now stop at SuperWalMart after the library.

This may be automatic stuff for some of you but not for me. This has all been a big effort to change my thinking. And it is requiring patience on my family’s part as I try different brands and such.

After reading blogs where families of 5 are on a $40 a week budget is humbling. So, I decided I have to try it. What is the worst thing that can happen?

So, I am giving myself $60/week for the next two weeks to see how I do. I have it in cash and after all of our shopping today, I have a few dollars left. Woo hoo!

Maybe I’ll get down to $40 in a few months... baby steps.

STOP 1: Weis Markets - FREE CREST!!!!

This was my first shopping experience at Weis. This week they have Crest toothpaste for $1. I had three coupons for $1 off Crest toothpaste, so I had to go get the free toothpaste. : )

The Kashi is on sale for $2.50/box.
The peanut butter I wanted to try and it was a decent price.
Everything else was $1/each.
Total: 15.74

Note: I like that this is stock-up stuff. I like making my own pasta sauce but there are some weeks I’m not up for it and I figure for $1, some sauce will come in handy.

STOP 2: REDNER’S

More stock-up stuff! We use the PAM. It is on sale at Redner’s for 2/$5. There were also coupons this past weekend in the newspaper for $1/2. For $2/each, I bought 4.

Flax Seed: $1.99 (on sale)
Corn on the Cob $2.68
Harvestland Chicken $6.08, I pay more for the antibiotic free chicken.
Organic Sugar $2.05
Total: 20.80

We also stopped at Aldi yesterday for bread, cheese, some produce and such, that was $20.

Total Grocery Money Spent: 56.54

I made out well since I had stocked up on soymilk last week. Next week will be interesting. Think I can keep it under $60 again? : )

OH! And the best part of today was having a super cool friend who lives on a farm (we don’t) and gardens (we don’t) bring some of her fresh produce and offer it to us! THANK YOU MISS A!!!! Rapunzel has eaten more green beans today than she has in the past year! YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!!!

Rapunzel’s Mom

Thrifty Gift Wrapping

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 21:44:10 -0400

I am still having issues with my comments and the Mac forums say they may work by the end of the week.

I can’t take credit for this. I read it in a book that I got at the Gently Used Book Store. It lists ways to save on gift wrapping and one was to use cereal boxes and such to wrap your gifts. Rapunzel and I had fun with this last week.

The confused looks on faces alone makes it worthwhile. No food was given in these gifts. : )

I decided to make my own gift bag and below is the result. It took about 3 minutes total, some hot glue and lots of smiles as we placed the gifts in the boxes.

It is now a household joke....”do these get saved for gifts?”

Rapunzel’s Mom

My $3.07 Purchase at Staples

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 21:35:35 -0400

I’m still having issues with my comments and the Mac forums say they may work by the end of the week. Hmmm...we’ll see..

Anyway, one of my awesome friends let me know about some of the inexpensive items at Staples this week. She is also the awesome friend who told me about the Staples Teacher Rewards. who let me know about the free folders. I tried it and yes, you are able to get 25 of an item that may have a limit that is much lower, with that magical card.

For EXAMPLE, above there are 25 folders that I got for free, today. I have a lot of them so PLEASE, friends of mine, let me know if you want any, otherwise I’ll be donating many.

The Sharpie highlighters are $1/pack.

The packs of notebooks are 30 cents for each six pack. I have no idea what in the world I would do with 150 of these notebooks, so I stuck to the non-teacher limit. : )

Total Spent: $3.03

Rapunzel’s Mom

Technical Difficulties..

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:42:52 -0400

I have been experiencing some technical difficulties with my blogs recently, they all go back to Mac’s upgrade of MobileMe and that whole iPhone thing. Most of the issues have been resolved but the comments are still not working. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

As for my thrifty shopping this week..... Rapunzel and I ran all of our shopping trips for the week on Monday. I have become a fan of shopping at Aldi. Purchasing our produce, cheeses and bread there is saving us money!

I’m also becoming a fan of saving money on gas by staying home more.

I only went to CVS once this week and do not plan to make another trip. I’m eagerly awaiting the August CVS ECB deals.

I pray you all have a wonderful rest of the week. Happy August!

Rapunzel’s Mom

Staples Teacher Rewards and Teacher Appreciation Day

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:55:04 -0400

For my homeschooling friends and teacher friends, be sure to enroll in Staples Teacher Rewards program! If a flyer says you may only get a limited amount at a certain price, as a teacher, you are able to get more!

Here is a list of the rewards :
http://www.staplesrewardscenter.com/SORC/UserManagement/Login/
LearnTeachersRewards.aspx

And don’t forget Teacher Appreciation Day! In our area it is on August 23rd.

The only thing I can’t figure out is why with my normal rewards card I get 10% on ink but it doesn’t look like that is the case with the Teacher Rewards program. Does anyone know what is up? I’m sure somewhere has blogged about it, guess I’ll look one day. : )

Rapunzel’s Mom

25 cents last week and let’s plan for this week.

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:42:23 -0400

We use the Renu and I had the $15.98 ECB from the photo albums that I got last week from CVS. By the way, they came out nice and really help with some birthday gifts I have this time of year.

Here is the breakdown:
3 RightGuard Xtra Deodorants on sale for $1.99 each.
2 Renu Multipurpose Solutions on sale for $6.99 each.
CVS Wipes (15 count), $2.99, Get $1 ECB Back
SoyJoy Bar (not pictured - I was hungry) $1.29

3 Coupons $1/1 Right Guard
2 Coupons $1/1 Renu Solution
Coupon for $2/1 CVS Skincare (for the wipes)

ECB’s used: $15.98, $1.00

Total: $0.25

This would have been free if I wasn’t so darn hungry. But I did learn that I like the Soy Joy bars in June when they were free.

I received one ECB back for $1.

I was happy with this transaction.

As for this coming week, check out Money Saving Mom’s blog for bargains.

Rapunzel’s Mom

No New Coupons for Us This Week.

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:20:10 -0400

Coupons....hmmmmm. Here are my thoughts on them for this week. I think they are great if you are able to link them up to sales in stores and if they are for items you use but when you don’t normally buy 95% of what is in the coupons, is it really worth spending the money? That is the problem I’m running into....

We don’t have pets, and we are out of the baby stage. We don’t purchase items that have artificial colors (okay, that knocks at least 50% of the food coupons out of the water) and I don’t tend to purchase much in the way of cleaning supplies.

Seriously, here is my cleaning supply list:
1)Windex - for Glass and Mirrors only
2)Vinegar & Water - for just about anything else in the kitchen and bathrooms.
3)Berkley&Jensen Dusters - use this for my dusting and get them at BJ’s Wholesale
4)Paper Towels

I am still a fan of the CVS game so far. The majority of the coupons that I have used at CVS I have either gotten off of ebay from the seller kkswigs or I’ve printed them off of the internet and they work beautifully.

I am doing more shopping at Aldi. They don’t take coupons. : )

So am I getting rid of coupons completely? No, but I don’t plan to buy the newspaper just for them. I’ll get the ones I want on ebay. It is cheaper and takes less of my time.

So that is where I am for the moment.

Rapunzel’s Mom