The Weekend

I am leaving for DC soon, so I won't be blogging for a few days. So, Save Me Saturday will be postponed until next week. I'll try my best to look at the sales and have Saling Sunday ready before the weekend is over. Have a great weekend!

The Proof is in the Pudding

I have been married for almost 5 years. Even now, my husband still manages to surprise me. Maybe surprise is the wrong word. Surprise alludes to something good. Maybe shock is a better word. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband dearly, but sometimes I feel like I don't know him at all!

I have been on my grocery budget for a full month now -- enough time to calculate how much I've spent for the month of February. So, last night, I sat down at the computer to update my budget spreadsheet and see how much I've spent this month. Around $567. I also have $28 in RiteAid rebate checks coming, which brings my total for the month to $539. I ran excitedly to my husband to relay this fabulous news. His response? "So, how does that compare to how much you were spending before?"

Are you kidding me? If I kept track of that, I probably would not have needed to budget myself. What's the big deal? He wants to know the numbers to see how much I've saved. Numbers are where you see the difference, according to him. Has he not see our linen closet, the 36+ rolls of toilet paper, the 16 rolls of paper towels, the 15 bottles of shampoo, the 10 tubes of toothpaste, the 6 toothbrushes, the 6 boxes of cereal (that I had no other room for) the 10 pumps of hand soap....I think you see where I'm headed? Sometimes numbers don't do justice. The feelings of rage started to make themselves known.

My point is that I know I'm saving money. I can look around and see what I've been able to purchase/stockpile for $140 a week. What does it matter how much I am spending compared to 3 months ago? The idea wasn't cut my spending from X to Y. The idea was to get on a budget, to not spend more than $560 on groceries a month. CHECK!

This is my husband. I love accept him for who and what he is. He is an amazing father and husband. I didn't really get angry from his questions. He has a very analytical mind, so the details are important. They just get in the way for me. This morning he hugged me and told me that I was doing a great job staying on budget and he should have told me that last night. He sweet! And I told him that went through all the checks and debits from November (December and January were off months due to the holidays and my daughter's first birthday) stopped adding when I reached $1100 for the month. Yeah, there were still 3 or 4 more transactions I could have added. I guess his question was answered.

Organization: What Works for You?

"There has got to be something better than this!"

If you live in Couponland like I do, I'm sure you've had the same thought as me. How can I make this coupon thing easier? I already spend hours finding sales, why should I have to spend hours searching through my coupons looking for the one that I need? Needless to say, I have been on the look out for a new coupon organizer, and so I wondered what yours looks like. I have seen a lot of great ideas out there, but nothing that really seemed like it would work for me. Until last week, that is.

I invested in a wonderful device to organize my coupons. It cost me $10, including the plastic paper covers, but I consider it a $10 well paid. It has already made life in Couponland easier.

This is my Zwipes binder. There is a special erasible pen that you can use on the front cover. I can write my grocery list or any special deals that I've found. I can also make a list of coupons I want to use and how much they are worth. When I want to erase, I wipe the area with the white end of the pen, then erase. It's amazing! I also purchased plastic page covers for inside the binder. I've labeled them grocery list, coupons for this week, receipts, ECB/REBATES, Breakfast foods, dairy, etc.

I don't expect everyone to love this idea. This is what works for me. I am, however, curious as to what you think. How do you coupon?

**When I came back to reread this, I realized I forgot to mention a plan for my system. I want to also create a spreadsheet for each category, listing each coupon, amount and expiration date, along with any stipulations. This page would slide into each of my labeled holders. See pictures above for a visual. This way I only have to pull out the sheet to see if I have the coupon I need before I sort through my coupons. Then, I cross off what I've used and add new coupons when I get them. This will take some effort on my part to create the spreadsheets. I've already started typing them, it just takes a while.

My Menu Monday

This is a short week for us, since we'll be visiting family from Friday until Sunday. Yea! No cooking on Friday....or Saturday This makes me extremely happy.


Monday
Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, crockpot style
Veggies (freezer style)

Tuesday
Barbeque Chicken (with my grandfather's homemade bbq sauce)
Korean Rice
Veggies



Wednesday (AWANA night)
Leftovers



Thursday
Grilled Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches
Tomato Soup, or my new recipe for Creamy Onion Soup



I may be adjusting this menu so that we eat our leftovers on Thursday instead. Feel free to leave a message for any recipe that sounds good to you.



I will be enjoying some awesome Korean food on the days I haven't listed.

Saling Sunday

I haven't actually done my grocery shopping for the week yet, but I've been through all the flyers and here are the best deals that I've seen or that I'm planning to pick up. By the way, I'm skipping CVS this week in an effort to stay on track, even though they have Colgate toothpaste on sale for $.89 a tube.......gotta draw the line somewhere.

Rite Aid:
Garnier Fructis (wonder waves shampoo, conditioner, mousse or hairspray)
$2.99, Rebate $2.99, $1 coupon
total cost: $-1.00
Kotex (Maxi pads, Light Days Pantiliners or Security Tampons)
2/$6, Rebate $2.00, Coupon $1.00
Total cost: 2/$3, or $1.50 each
Prilosec (42 count -- 6 week supply)
$24.99, Rebate $6.00, Coupon $3.00
Total Cost: $15.99
SoyJoy
10/$5, Rebate $5.00, Coupon $2.00 (off ten bars)
Total Cost: 10/$-2.00
VO5 (shampoo and conditioner)
$.79 each
General Mills Cereal
BOGO, Coupons depending on selection of cereals.

Also, Zilactin is $4.99 with a $4.99 rebate. Not something I would normally purchase, but I just may to get it for free.

These are just the rebate deals I am interested in. If you see more, feel free to post them here.

Giant
To see a more detailed list of good deals, please visit Mindi and Moms Need to Know. She'll keep you up to date on all the best deals. What I'm listing are things that I plan to buy. I'm not doing major shopping this week to help get myself back on budget.

Giant Italian Bread 10/$10 a great deal, and you can always freeze the loaves.
Bumble Bee Solid White Tuna 10/$10
Hatfield Meat Hotdogs BOGO
Murray's French Toast Sticks 2/$5
Arm & Hammer 2x Liquid Laundry Detergent BOGO (I'm hoping they have this in HE for my
washer)
GE Lightbulbs (even the Energy Smart) BOGO
Angel Soft $4.99 (12 double rolls) (Coupon $1/2)
Perdue Done It! Original Breaded Cutlets or Nuggets BOGO (coupon $1)

I think that's all I need from the sales flyer this week. It's not a supergreat week for deals. I do need more things for the week, but from what I can tell, they are not on special. Thankfully, I'm not planning on buying meat this week. The rest of what I need is mainly staples, eggs, milk, soda (a staple for me), some Easy Mac and microwave Spaghettios (since we are out of town this weekend) and some herbs for my dinners this week (my rosemary expired so I need some fresh). I should be able to stay well below my $140 weekly food budget.

Crazy Coupon Lady?

Am I am Crazy Coupon Lady?

The question just occurred to me. I recently read the phrase over at Pudget: Losing Weight on a Budget and it's made me wonder? Am I a Crazy Coupon Lady? I'll admit, it has a snazzy ring to it. Kinda just rolls off the tongue. When I was in high school, my friends use to refer to me as the Comma Queen. I knew all the comma rules and could use them properly. I used to edit their papers. Maybe if I would have charged them to do this, I would be clipping coupons each week. Strangely, I'm still kind of proud of the nickname. And not so strangely, I became an English teacher. So, if I had that nickname in high school, and became and English teacher (a respectable occupation), then doesn't it stand to reason, if I call myself a Crazy Coupon Lady, something good will come of that too?

I only hope Jessica at Pudget has copyrighted that name.

Do I have a point to this? Not really. It's late and I'm 'sleepy blogging.' I'm just coming to the realization that something good can come from anything. I never wanted to be a Coupon Lady, let alone a Crazy one at that. But, I did pay for my groceries in 10 transactions this week just so I could double my coupons. I think that qualifies me as one....at least in the mind of the very patient cashier who had to keep adjusting my coupons. I just want to pay for my groceries in the regular checkout, not worrying about handing over all my applicable coupons, because it's really embarassing to walk back into a store to tell them that you forgot to use a $1 coupon and would like them to reimburse you for it. Yes, I know this from experience. But wait.....why should I be embarassed? I am saving my family valuable money. We all know the state of our economy. It's not going to miraculously right itself overnight. So in the meantime, I'lll continue to trudge through my coupons and sales flyers each week. It is kind of a thrill to know that you would have had to pay full price for most items had you not carefully selected them, and their corresponding coupons. After all, I did walk out of Giant this past week, head held high, having spent $87 for over $140 work of groceries. Who's laughing now?

Save Me Saturday

I need to start out by saying that I AM OVER BUDGET THIS WEEK. I am walking a fine line. On one hand, yes I am over budget, but the items I purchased went towards my stockpile. I'll explain these items that I could not pass up later. But on the other hand, the purpose of my budget is to save money and have more money to put towards our debt. So, I would welcome any comments or opinions on this matter. What works for you?

Now, on to the savings:
CVS: transaction 1
total before savings: $16.30
savings: $7.67 (coupons $1.50, ECB $2.00, sale $4.17)
total paid: $8.63

CVS: transaction 2
total before savings: $55.20
savings: $31.82 (coupons $9.00, ECB $5.98, sale $16.84)
Total Paid: $23.38

awesome buys on cereal if you had coupons. The sale was buy one get one for $.01. It came to $4.20 for 2 boxes, plus I had (2)$1.50/2 coupon. I bought four boxes for a total of $1.35 per box. Amazing!

Giant: I had 10 transactions so I won't list them all. Needless to say, I had 10 of the same coupon, which Giant would double. The item was on sale, and would have cost me $.29 with the doubled coupon. However, Giant will only double the same coupon once per transaction, hence the 10 transactions. See my post Humble Pie to read how I feel about that.

Total before savings: $144.30
Savings: $57.44 (Coupons $21.86, Bonus Card Savings $35.56)
Total Paid: $86.86

Rite Aid: Transaction 1
Total before Savings: $17.87 (plus tax)
Savings: $9.00 (coupons $5, Rebate $4)
Total Paid: $9.53

I ended up taking back the toothpaste I bought, so I got back $6.98. So, my total ended up being $2.55

Rite Aid: Transaction 2
Total before Savings: $29.92 (plus tax)
Savings: $3.00 coupons
Total Paid: $28.36
Rebate Check: $5.00

This purchase included a new binder and paper covers for my coupons, which totaled $9.98. Not a necessity, and not on sale, but it will make it easier for me to organize my coupons and less likely that I will miss a coupon.

At Rite Aid I got toothpaste buy one get one free. They were $2.99 each, plus I had 2 $1 coupons. I got both tubes for $.99. I also got 10 Soft Soap pumps for $.99, as well as 4 Speed Stick deodorants for $.75 each. They were 4/$9, with a $5 rebate. I also had a $1/2 coupon, so I got 4/$3. I also got 2 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers for $7.49 each. You can decide if I really needed these items since they are what put me over budget. They added to my stockpile in an inexpensive way.

Total before Savings: $256.61
Savings: $106.83
Total Paid: $149.78