My Foray Into Trader Joe's

Today while the kids and I were out doing our Old Navy returns, we stopped by the new Trader Joe's that just opened up in our city. I love Trader Joe's, and it has been a long time since I've been to one. I have a few favorites from the store, so I was happy to purchase those again. I say foray because my shopping trip really was like a quick foray into enemy territory. It was so incredibly busy that there were no available carts, and I was forced to use a basket. That turned out to be a plus though, as I didn't have to navigate between the throngs of shoppers and their bright red carts.

I got all of the following for about $26.



I did get a few doubles of some things (i.e the Chinese crackers, the milk chocolate candy bars, and I also got a pack of Chicken Jerky snacks for the dog). You'll notice the lemonade is opened, I opened it as soon as we got home! haha

The yogurt is for the No Pudge Brownies. I will be doing a review of those over the next couple days, so be sure to look out for it! I have heard of Dr Bronner's before, but have never used it before, so I am excited to try it. The Tea Tree oil soap I am going to use for my face I think, or at least try it. Tea Tree oil always works for me when I break out, so I'll see how this stuff fares. I will do a review of that too! (that round container hiding behind the Chinese crackers is a tub of cinnamon ginger cat cookies that I got for the kids. A huge tub for only $2.49!!)

I'm off to enjoy the sunny weather with the kids. We're counting down till the cold starts, so we may as well enjoy the summer while it lasts.

Birthdays And Gifts

Today we celebrated my birthday two days early. Because we are travelling on the actual day, my husband and the kids gave me my gifts early. I was spoiled! I am truly grateful for my family and the thought they put into these gifts. They got exactly what I wanted without me telling them, well, except for the big gift.

From my husband I got a Wii Fit!! I love it already. I have to say it was really funny seeing my mii get all fat on me, haha. But the best part was that it weighed me 10lbs LESS than my scale at home. Can you believe that? Here I've been going around thinking I have all this extra weight to lose, and I don't! And that was at night too, so I'm going to weigh again first thing in the morning and see what the actual morning weight is. The Wii Fit kicked my butt tonight, but I look forward to mastering more of the games.

From my oldest daughter, I got a red chair cushion for my desk chair, picked out lovingly so I wouldn't have to steal the couch pillows anymore. My son gave me season 1 of True Blood. Awesome!! I love that show. My middle daughter gave me a box of yummy European chocolates that I've had a couple of already. I love chocolate and never buy myself the nice expensive stuff, so this is a real treat. Our youngest didn't get me anything, but she a bit sad about it, so my husband will take her tomorrow to pick out something little for me.

Tomorrow, well, Thursday night, is my actual birthday. My mom is making us dinner at her house, and I'm getting her famous Black Forest Cake for my birthday cake. Yummy!

Since my mom, sister and I don't get together all that often, we usually lump a couple holidays and celebrations in together. This time it will be Mother's Day, my birthday, Mom's birthday and my sister's birthday. My sister is getting me a bunch of really nice hair product, and cutting and coloring, and styling my hair, as my gift. I'm really looking forward to that. She is a professional hair stylist, so I know she'll do a good job.

I had a LOT of trouble picking something out for my sister, but I found the PERFECT gifts for her tonight at Marshall's. I love them, and wish I had some for myself, but since we're not big wine drinkers, it was a waste of money. I can't wait to see her face when she opens them, I know she'll go nutso over them.







I wasn't trying to be all artsy fartsy with the white paper, just trying to hide my disorganized mess of a computer desk. There was also another goblet that had girly things on it like lipstick, "diva", hearts and what not, but I think those two were the best. Aren't they just AWESOME?

Sharing My Deals

I had a few errands to run today, and I was looking forward to getting out of the house. The weather hasn't been the greatest, so we've been home the last few days. While we were out and about, I found some awesome deals and was very happy to save money.

Our first stop today was the mall because I had a $10 rewards coupon from The Children's Place. I had planned on using it for one of my kids, I wasn't sure who, but landed up buying a ton of clothing for my sister in law, who is due in February. I thought I was getting a great deal, since I had $10 free, plus there was an additional 30% off sale prices. Score! The sales associate informed me that if I joined the mall's family club (FREE), I would get a discount card for various participating stores. Children's Place was 15% off your purchase. So with my rewards, the 30% and 15% off, I got the following for only $13.94 Yaay!

Children's Place

I did not get her the short sleeved romper, I didn't like that, but I did get her the blanket. So $50 worth of merchandise for only $13.94. Pretty good, huh?

My next stop was Dollar Tree. Everyone knows how good Dollar Tree is, so I need not elaborate on that one, but I did get some good cleaning supplies I was needing and only paid $1 each.

Lastly, we stopped at The Grocery Outlet, which is a discount grocery store. Here I was very happy, as I only paid $39.62 for a LOT of food.

Eggs $.99 ($2 at WM)
Foster Farms Boneless Skinless Chicken Tenders $6.99 (usually $10 at WM)
6lbs Fuji Apples $3 ($6-8 at WM)
Best Foods Light Mayo $.79 ($3 at WM)
2.5lb Family pack of Kix Cereal $3.99
1lb bag of Kraft All natural Cheddar Cheese $1.99
4 Cheese Garlic Bread Digorno Pizza $3.99 ($6 at WM)
2lbs Cubed Cooked ham $3.99 (need this for my Skillet recipe)

Those were my best deals. The only thing with the Grocery Outlet is that you have to be prepared to not find what you need because they are an outlet store. I won't always find The chicken tenders there, and I would have bought more, but I don't have a lot of freezer space. And a lot of the brands change, but might still have the same product. When I used to shop there more often, years ago, I would purchase whatever I could there, and then supplement the rest at Safeway (we didn't have a Super Wal Mart then). They sell almost everything there, including dairy and other meat products. I just had no need of those today, so I skipped out.

With the economy the way it is, I am pretty certain I will continue shopping there as much as I can. I really abhor shopping at Wal Mart, I detest going in there because it is so big, something is always out of stock, and I just don't like it. I tend to avoid going there as much as possible, unless I absolutely have to. Actually, when I run out of something in between shopping trips at WM, I get the bulk of my items at Target, which I prefer to shop at anyway, plus it is closer to our house.

My total today at Grocery Outlet was $39.62 and compared with other grocery stores, I saved $35.58! So $75 worth of groceries for only $40. It makes me happy to find a good deal.

Grocery Budget Update

I am so sorry, I completely forgot to update my Grocery Budget post for this month! Oops!

I've been tracking my grocery purchases for the last couple months, seeing what the kids and I have been eating, and trying to see if we can cut back at all. You can read last month's post here. Last month, from mid February to mid March, I spent about $750.00. We had a few birthdays to buy for, my husband was home, and we had other company come and visit. So our grocery spending was a LOT!

From mid March to mid April, I spent the same. Yikes! I really thought that we could cut out a lot of stuff. I've been buying healthier food, lots more produce and fruit now that it is getting warmer. I did include one Domino's Pizza delivery for $17.49 which was weeks ago. There was no other eating out.

My husband and I have come to the realization that we can't cut back anymore. Things here are so expensive! WA state just costs a fortune for everything. We have 4 kids who eat a lot, and one dog and two cats to provide for as well. We go through loads of produce, milk, and bread. I've cut it down as much as I can, and we use left overs as much as possible.

That being said, I won't be doing the grocery budget tracking anymore. I feel like it is kind of pointless to track what I am spending if it lands up being the same each month.

In other news, I am doing great on the Fat Smash Diet! I had a rough day on Saturday. My blood sugar was really low, and I had a headache almost all day. We figured out that I needed electrolytes, so I ran out to Target and got myself some Powerade ZERO. It has helped a ton! I also started taking a multi vitamin, and that has also helped a lot. I feel 100% better now that I have added those two things back into my diet.

I have had a few week moments where I just want to go out and pig out on Peanut M&Ms and Pizza, but then I realize I'll just screw myself up. I can have subway on Thursday, and when my husband comes home in a week, I can indulge just a little (I will be taking care to stay true to phase 2 as much as possible though).

I'm on day 7 now and I have finally noticed a change in my body. My belly has gone down/shrunk somewhat, and I have lost 9 pounds!!!! Only 21 more to go till July 16th! I'm very proud of myself!

Carnivals and an Update

First off, a big thank you to my friend Mama Bear over at GottaLittleSpaceToFill for including my post An Iron Chef, I am not in this weeks edition of the Make It From Scratch Carnival.


In other news, I have decided to stop tracking my clothes spending. You'll see on my side bar that I track what I spend on clothing for the kids each month. Perhaps it is only me, but I don't want people to know what I spend, because some might think I spend too much, etc etc. I'm just about done shopping for the summer anyway, just need to get the kids some more shorts and a pair of sandals. My kids have just gone through some major growth spurts, and even when I thought I was done, I had to buy more because the beasts grew yet again. Our middle daughter has outgrown pants that I bought her in January. They now look like flood water pants on her. So anyway, I will be deleting that shortly.

In regards to the grocery budget, I have been keeping track of all grocery and household needs purchases each month, for two months. I go from the middle of one month to the middle of the other. This will be my last month tracking. I've become aware of what I spend our money on, and I think the budget tracking with that is done. I just don't see the need for it anymore. I'll have a post about that coming up in the next week, and tell you all about my mid march to mid April purchases.

Watch for a grocery post soon!!

Where Is That Grocery Money Going?

I was thinking about this while I talked to MamaBear, who says that for their family of 3, she spends over $400 a month on groceries.

That led me to ponder where exactly my grocery money is going. What do we spend it on?

A couple days ago I wrote about the last month's grocery purchases. We spent a total of $758.51 for a whole month, including replenishing all the cleaning supplies, all our toiletries, all our pet care needs (that runs close to $100 a month alone sometimes), and groceries. That was an exception though, because we had two birthdays to buy for, my husband was home for a week, and my mom came to visit for a few days as well, so that obviously added money onto my bill.

The other day I spent $229 at Wal Mart for two weeks worth of meals for me and the kids, including some pet supplies, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo/cond. for everyone, and jet dry. I then went to Safeway to purchase a few more items that were on sale for super cheap. I got 5 two liters of various Pepsi products for only $.75 each, 5 bags of mixed salad for $.75 each, a box of Popsicles (24count) for desert for only $3, two gallons of milk for $3.98 total (I don't buy milk at Wal Mart), and 10 boxes of cereal for $1.50 each. I spent about $30. Granted, I don't normally buy 10 boxes of cereal, but these were cheap and they were small boxes too, so I have some room to store them. I did buy some candy for the kids' Easter baskets, and had to replenish my reusable bags, because I forgot them at home.

I guess I am wondering how I can do it for relatively cheap (seriously, I am not counting last month, it was really odd) for a family of 5-6 (depending on when my husband is home), but others can't. I don't even use coupons!! Couponing here is not really an option because the coupons are all for products I don't use, considering I buy mostly store brands. And Wal Mart is pretty cheap already for groceries. Is it because you don't want to? Can you not find good deals? How big are your families? Do you cook gourmet and fancy foods? Do you not use left overs? Please don't take offense, I am just really curious as to how other families do this. Enlighten me! I bet that there are families that can do it for even cheaper, I'd love to learn how!

I like to cook hearty food, yet simple. I really think that helps keep our grocery costs down, as does using left overs. A family favorite of ours is Roast beef. Roast in itself is expensive, but if you can find a large roast on sale, you can make it last for 3 meals if you try hard enough. I bought a 5lb roast a few weeks back, and the kids and I had roast beef one night, stew the next, and then I froze the last hunk of beef and made stew last week. 3 meals for $11, divided by 5 people..basically 11 divided by 15 = $.73 per person per meal. Plus I had enough left over for me to have stew one day for lunch.

If anyone wants to comment, I'd love to hear what you have to say. How do you make your grocery money stretch, and what do you spend it on?


**** Just wanted to add, while I was at Target this afternoon (we had two birthday parties to shop for), I found a GREAT deal on cereal. I know I just bought a bunch for the kids, but this is for me. Selected Quaker products were on sale for $2.50 each, and if you bought 5 products, you got a $5 gift card. So I bought $12.50 worth of cereal (Quaker Oatmeal Squares Cinnamon flavor), and then was able to use my $5 gift card as well. I got the cereal for only $1.50 a box!!!! ****

One Month Is Up...The Grocery Budget Summary

A couple weeks ago, I talked about my February Shopping Summary, and mentioned that I was keeping track of all my grocery purchases from February 17th to March 17th.

It was painfully eye opening, to be completely honest. We had no idea we spent that much on food. We had an idea for sure, but to see it all spread out in front of us was shocking. But we have to eat right?

A couple things I noticed were that I buy too much junk food for myself (I'm in the process of remedying that now though), I buy too many extras that I don't plan for (things I need, but forgot to put on my list, but I am also working on fixing that too), and we need to cut back on our meat consumption. I need some good vegetarian meals, and also need to give the kids smaller portions of meat.

The grand total for the whole month was:

$758.51


Now keep in mind, that that does include all household products like pet food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, toiletries et cetera. We spend an average of $45/month on our dog (he goes through a 50lb bag once a month, plus a big box of biscuits, which he gets 1-2 of a day), and the cats we probably spend about $50. They need cat litter, which is about $15-20 month, dry cat food about $10-15 (we buy a $22 20lb bag and it lasts about 1.5-2 months), and wet cat food about $10.

I go through a lot of cleaning supplies and general household items like trash bags, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent etc. And with 5 people, sometimes 6, living here full time, we go through a ton of soap, shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste etc.

I always make sure the kids have plenty of fruit, and we always have staples in like Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, string cheese, and oatmeal. I don't buy off brands of certain products like peanut butter, toilet paper, ketchup and mustard, and toothpaste, and I use all dove products like body wash/soap/deodorant (the kids get cheaper stuff because they go through it faster and are wasteful).

Honestly though, I wish I could cut down the household/food bill. But I don't see how unless I just cut out my junk food consumption. I make food last by using left overs, and I buy a lot of off brands (except where I mentioned above). If I didn't count the pet supplies and the cleaning products/toiletries, our total would be about $550-600, and even less if I didn't eat so much junk food, so I really think that is ok. I really don't feed the kids unhealthy food though, it's just me. I have a problem of snacking too much at night after they go to bed. Food has become my best friend and I'm going to break up with him.

We spent a lot extra this past month though because my husband was home for a week, we had a birthday party to buy for, and my mom came to visit. I didn't include the two times we ate out as a family, plus the burger king trip we made the day my husband came home. eek. lol. Normally we don't eat out for dinner unless it is a special occasion, and I think my husband's last birthday ever (29! LOL) is a special occasion.

Before I ramble on too much, I'll end this for now. I *think* the next month should be a lot better. I don't have any birthday parties and no company coming. Plus I am eating healthier now.

Check back on April 19th for an update!

February Shopping Summary

Well, my grand total for the month of February was *drum roll please* $175.97.

That total DOES include the two t-shirts I bought for the Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes, the other tights/t-neck my daughter needed for a performance, and does NOT include some returns I did from my online Old Navy order. So, if I take all those away, I am left with $138.93, which is not too bad! It is more than I like to spend, but also seeing that my husband ok'd the Old Navy order, then I say I did pretty well. If you want to take it even further than that, then my total would be just 86.99 if I took off the old navy order, and anything needed for school.

The jeans I bought for 4.99 were paid for with my pay pal money, which I had earned with blogging money. The tops I bought at the Gymboree outlet, I paid for with cash I had saved up in my wallet and that my hubby had given me.

All in all, I don't think I did too bad at all. I just realized I did forget to add a couple goodwill purchases to my tracker, namely yesterday's for the denim dress, and a value village trip for shorts for the boy. I didn't count those though in the total because they were needed items. Everything that was not necessarily needed RIGHT NOW was included in the 86.99.

Right now I am doing another one for groceries, just to see how much I am actually spending on food and toiletries/household items for ONE month. I am keeping all my receipts in an envelope and will tally on March 17th. As of today I have 17 more days to count. I am not trying to cut back on anything for the month, I just want to see where our money is going. This includes ALL grocery items, toiletries, pet food and supplies, cleaning items. I am pretty sure I am well over what I thought I was at, so if i am correct, I am going to try pare it down the following month (April 18-May 18).

I think I liked doing the spending tracker, and I'll be doing it for clothes again this month!

****

Just wanted to add that NONE of this was put on a credit card. I used my debit card or cash for each purchase!

Black Friday Shopping

Today I braved the crowds and did a little Black Friday shopping. Our first stop was the mall, where I stopped in at Gymboree and picked up my holds. I landed up buying 5 shirts, one pair of pants, and one pair of hair curlies for only $52! I got a fantastic deal considering the retail is $117 not incl tax. I was quite happy with my purchases. And I earned a gymbuck!!

Our next stop was Jo-Ann's for some yarn. No, I'm not a big knitter, but I am making all 6 of us a nice winter hat, the man included. I had about 10 skeins to get, and they were on sale for 1.94 each, plus I had a 20% off coupon. We walked into the store and I kid you not, the line was halfway around the inside of the store. Two sides were covered with people waiting. Plus, the entire fabric section was crowded with about 30 or so more buggies that people had filled with fabric they needed cut. I waited in line for a few minutes and then left. I couldn't handle that, the line was probably at least an hour long or more wait. So I decided to go to Michael's instead and was able to use a 25% off coupon that the cashier gave me, and came out of there spending only $19.80 and that included all the yarn, plus our last gingerbread house. Oh, and I only had to wait in line for about 5 minutes!

And another bright spot in our day was going back to Safeway to complain about my rotten turkey dinner yesterday. I paid $39.99 for it, and they gave me half back plus tax. That was great! It bought me a few groceries, the kids got a couple snacks, and I also bought a really nice "Jingle Bell" wreath. A wreath made out of red and white jingle bells with snowflake cutouts in them. I love it!! And it was only 7.99. I'll have to take a picture of it later. I've wanted it for years, but never bought one.

All in all, I would say that today actually went really well. The kids weren't misbehaving, we got to see Santa Claus at the mall, and we had no meltdowns except for normal two year old defiance. Who knows if I'll brave the crowds next year, I guess I'll have to see if we need anything.

Carnivals And Grocery Shopping

Thank you so much to Tara at Feels Like Home for including my post, "M&M Cookie Goodness" in this weeks edition of the "Make it From Scratch Carnival".

Check out the entries, there are some really really good ones!!

On to the Grocery Shopping!

I decided to plan for two weeks so I wouldn't have to worry about the budget. I don't think it will be too bad, we still have a few staples left in the pantry, so I don't need to purchase a lot of canned veggies. I'm tired of the same old thing, so about the only thing we are "repeating" for the next two weeks is hot dogs. I try to make those 1 or two times a month, we usually use them for Karate nights when we get home at 6PM, and we'll only have them once.

So I need two more meal ideas, something easy and cheap and not involving beef, pork or turkey. And I'm kinda sick of chicken! lol

Any ideas?