Grocery Budget Challenge

I’ve been dabbling in budgeting. I say “dabbling” because every time I make out a budget I blow it. Go figure. Well, I decided that with the holidays coming up (ie. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years) I should make a practice run with my grocery budget. I have (for no other reason than that’s what I came up with) $180 for a family of 4 (that includes myself and 3 teenage boys). Possible? I guess we’ll see. I’m challenging myself to stick to this and I’ll record my progress here on Learning 2 Live 4 Less. It starts today and I’ll run this for a month – December 10th will be my verdict day.

Day 1

Stopped at Wal-Mart on the way into work to pick up the following:

20 oz Coke $1.38
24 pk Wally world Water $3.98
Great Value Creamer (big container) $3.86
Banquet Chicken Steak Microwave dinner $1.00
Banquet Sweet & Sour Chicken Microwave Dinner $1.00
Croissants Baker reduced $1.50
Great Value Applesauce cups $1.56
Great Value Nonfat Dried Milk $16.42

Total $30.70
Balance $149.30


This trip was spontaneous so I didn’t plan it too well. I needed lunch for the day and for tomorrow. The water is a staple at our house. As for the Nonfat Dried Milk? Oh let me tell you it’s my favorite ingredient to have. Before you say ooo and gross. Let me let you in on my secret. Ok It’s not MY secret but I learned it and live by it. I even have a cheat sheet on the side of the refrigerator to refer to. We go through a ton of milk in our house. The boys still drink it like they did when they used Sippy cups. I save the so called “good” stuff for their drinking and cereal use and then fall back on my powered milk substitutes for cooking, baking, and a few little recipes that the boys love. These included Magic Milkshakes, vanilla milk, and even Hot Cocoa Mix. My favorite site for quick, inexpensive recipes www.hillbillyhousewife.com is a great resource for some do it yourself home concoctions. The point I started with was why I buy powered milk. While it’s not our first choice for drinking, it does come in handy when we run short or a freak ice storm lands like it did last year. Plus, a gallon of milk runs about $ 3.50 maybe $2.89 on sale these days (prices may vary by region ) The box I bought today makes 80 quarts or 20 gallons of milk. Roughly broke down means for less than a dollar ($0.821) a gallon I would save more than enough to justify the hassle of using the powdered version. Again, we still buy good old fashion milk but this is a great addition to stretch our dollar.



Back to my original posting topic: I need to do some grocery shopping tonight and I’ll let you know how I do. I don’t have the first coupon to use (shame on me) but I am going to our discount grocery store because well, I always shop there.  I’m off to make a list and get what we need. First I’m going to do some recipe surfing then list making. Wish me luck!

Freebies

I'm a freebie junkie! I admit it. I'm so bad that my wonderful parents who I share a driveway with had to trim trees coming up the driveway because the UPS man said his truck was getting beat up by them with all my deliveries of the freebies. I even seem to be able to get a good dent in my Christmas Stocking stuffers with all my freebies. So I've decided to attempt to share weekly my little finds. They aren't always gold but sometimes you can really hit pay dirt.
Here's some for the day

Quaker Delights Bar
Nature Valley Bar
Free planning calendar with $20 of Nestle savings
Free Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Caddy
Free Sample Kit - Scope Outlast
Bodycology sample
FREE Downey Fabric Softener
Honey Nut Cheerios®FREE* sample and a $1 coupon
Total® Blueberry Pomegranate sample
Taster’s Choice Stick Pack Samples
Free Sample Somersault Snacks

These are a few of them for today. I noticed most of them seem food related...I gravitate toward edibles. I'm going to attempt to post a few freebies every week. Hope you enjoy and find something you can use.

Changing up a bit

I've been reading a lot this summer. Mostly really silly fiction but also some things on the Internet and have really gotten interested in Homesteading. Basically, I've been in the slow lane to homesteading without even realizing it. I started another blog a few days ago but decided that really I didn't need 2 blogs about roughly the same thing...learning to live for less or learning to live with less. So this morning...Eureka! It hit me. I'll combine them both. This blog was really just to keep me on track and let me share my victories and losses - so why not share both here. So I've moved my posts from over there to over here. Hope you all enjoy them and I don't bore you or give you the impression I've lost my mind...that I did when I had kids! ha! ha! So enjoy & let me know what you think!

Me

19 Survey sites that pay

I'm sure you've been seeing an increase in ads, both online and on TV, for getting paid to take surveys. With times getting tough many people are turning to them for a little extra money. I've been doing a few for a couple of years that are great but along the way I've hit some real lemons as well. For someone just starting out in the paid survey "biz" it can be quit overwhelming. A great place to start is at my favorite site :) Hotcouponworld.com compiled 19 survey sites that are : legit, pay out, little or no spam, good way to earn extra money. I would suggest first and foremost don't expect to get rich fast. That's unrealistic but you can get some really great freebies, gift cards, and even cold hard cash with patience and dedication. Second, before jumping in and joining every site is to set up a separate email address so your inbox isn't bombarded with TONS of mail (trust me you will get some emails from them). Many services online have free email accounts like gmail, hotmail, Yahoo, and AIM. Setting up something like mysurveys@gmail.com to catch all your offers and surveys is a great way to keep them organized and separated from dear Aunt Jane's email with pictures of her baby cockapoo in his new sweater. My third bit of advice, don't go Gung ho...at least, not at first. Take it one site at a time, possibly two, until you get a feel for the process and get the hang of it. Once you feel comfortable and not overwhelmed, by all means hit the net and click away! It's a fun way to earn some extra income and eve learn about products before they come out. Plus, who can pass up on a little freebie popping up in their mailbox. Just be prepared to get your mailman a little something extra next Christmas for all the hard work of stuffing your mailbox with all those freebies! So go check out Hotcouponworld's recommended survey sites to get started!

Green on a Budget & Organic Grocery Deals

Yesterday was a wonderful day around here. After weeks of sub-zero temps I heard birds singing and the warm breeze blowing. It put me in mind of getting my garden ready. I mean, not actually going out and digging it up, but rather planning what I’m going to grow. A couple of years ago, I started growing a decent size garden to can and freeze veggies. It made a huge difference in my grocery budget but it also put my mind at ease that we were eating no pesticides or chemically enhanced foods (in other words, the only hormones ragging in our house are the teenagers) I have a huge area to have as big of a garden as I want but you can have one any size you want or are able to. Even those living in a small area with little room can have a window seal garden. But if that’s not your thing (for example, if your thumb isn’t green in any way, shape, or form) there are other options to turn to. If you’re looking into the whole concept to “Go green on a budget”, you should take a trip over to Organic Grocery Deals. They have a great committee of supporters over there helping to make the transition from Hormone induced to Green a lot easier. Some of their forums include great tops such as gardening, eating in season, organic and natural product information, coupon trading (yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus and he does accept “green” Coupons), green living tips, book recommendations, organic news, deals, more. It’s a great place to start and get help and ideas for going green in a relaxing (read - non-judgmental) environment. It's great to have a place to turn to for answers and support when you first start out on a new way of doing anything especially something like learning to be both Greener and healthier while staying within our ever increasingly tighter budgets.

OSO* Fresh product to save your fruits and veggies

I am a semi-homesteader, well, ok, I'm not much of a homesteader but I'm taking baby steps. One of those steps is I grow many of my veggies in the summer to can and freeze to eat all winter long. However, I still have a weakness for fresh fruits and veggies I can't grow so I turn to the store or market to get them. The only problem is we have to eat them so quickly because the frig turns them to moldy mush in the container, bags, or whatever we store them in. Well, leave to my friend Erin at Jane4Girls$800Annual Budget has found a great product, and of course tested it first hand, that will take away those mushy, moldy fruit blues.

It's called OSO* Fresh Food Containers and they look amazing. I know you're think "I've got to many plastic bowls", these are no ordinary plastic bowls.

Oso* Fresh™ Food Storage Containers are infused with EPA registered and
FDA approved micro-sized silver particles which are proven to reduce bacterial
growth and keep food fresher. While the silver particles keep bacteria out, the
easy-to-open snap on lids keep freshness in. Stackable units nest into one
another for easy storage. Microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

At first glance I thought they were pricey, but looking around the site I noticed you could by individual containers and in reality they are comparable to the "T"ware we buy at parties. The only difference is these will SAVE us money and time - time of buying new fruits and veggies and time from throwing out the unidentifiable stuff in the mystery bowl in the back of the fridge.

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act could make our lives worse

In our quest to save money, many of us with children shop ebay, yard sales, children's consignment, etc. However, there's a law that was passed called The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act could stop all that. According to The Los Angeles Times, as of February 10th all items for children will have to be tested to be lead free before the can be sold. This could possibly mean it will be illegal for consignment shops, thrift store, yard sales, even ebay sellers to sell children's items since they wouldn't have been tested for Lead making them hazardous. The law was written to protect children from products made with lead products. While it was a well intended law, it could potentially hurt a ton of businesses as well as hit our own pocket books. Several people are trying to get the Consumer Product Safety Commission to amend the law so that it doesn't hurt the resale industries.

Let's all hope that this gets amended before we loose one of the best ways we've found to cloth our children and even recycle our children's outgrown toys and clothes. This could really rock a lot of our worlds.

PAPERS! PAPERS! GET YOUR PAPERS!...

Sunday's papers that is. On a tip from Saving Money Ideas, I've learned that this Sunday's inserts will be a wonderful New Year's gift. With a total of 5 different inserts, three Smartsource inserts and two Red Plum (Valassis) inserts, the possibilities are endless. This basically amounts tons of savings and swaps for the avid couponer. How does she know? She pointed to Taylortown Preview to see a complete listing of the coupons that will be in this weekend's paper. So I ventured over and WOW! What an awesome resource. Her dedication and hard work/time really pays off. She offers a preview of the upcoming weeks insert coupons AND offers them for sale including past inserts. Of course, they are on a "While Supplies Last" basis but if you are looking for a particular coupon, she's more than likely got. Or if you just can't remember when a coupon came out or if there is one for a particular product, she has a search feature that works by pressing ctrl + F to pop up a search box at the bottom of the screen. To see what's coming click here: Taylortown

Wraping a small paper gift the fun way

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is watching my boys open their Christmas presents on Christmas morning. This year I got my oldest son, car insurance and the car my dad gave him registered so he has some wheels when he gets his license next month. (Oye Vey) This was quite a big expense and took up a good part of his portion of my Christmas budget. It made me a little bit sad to think he'd get to open one or two little things and then an envelope with papers in it. Sooooo, I decided to do something different. Something that would let him open presents and have fun.

First thing I did was make this certificate. The picture's a little hard to tell but it says: World's Soon To Be Best Driver...in recognition of getting your car registered and insured. You may now drive your car. I then included it and the registration and insurance card in a box that opened up to show them nicely.

I then made little cards/papers with cute says on them like This isn't your present...keep going...not there yet...etc. Then I got a bunch of different boxes to put those in:

Then I put the actual gift box in the bottom of the box and threw all the other boxes, totalling I believe 12 boxes, in on top of the present box. I used every shape an size I could think of.

Then I wrapped it all up pretty and put a bow on it.

Now he'll have just as many or more presents to open. Hee! Hee! This was my frugal way of giving him a fun and good Christmas. I hope he enjoys it as much I did coming up with it!

Yesterday I mentioned Hotcouponworld.com in my quest for free toliet paper. I thought I should tell you a little about hcw. I stumbled across this wonderful virtual community by accident one day and have never turned back. It's a huge resource for the hard core couponer AND the beginner.

At HCW, there's a place for everything - from introduction to couponing and the entire process to get started, to where to find coupons and even suggestions on how to set up a coupon organizing system. Other resources include individual sections for individual stores that list current and upcoming sales, how to handle any problems you encounter, sharing deals people have gotten there, and my favorite, the wonderful ladies (& gents) list coupon match ups to the sales ads. Helping you get the most out of your money.

There are so many resources on this site, you'll find yourself addicted to it. Not only do they help you learn and navigate through the wonderful world of couponing but they also list freebies, have a helping hand program, classifieds, coupon trading, and even a place to blow off steam.

If you are new to couponing or you're a pro and have never stopped by, I highly recommend clicking over there. Hotcouponworld.com is an excellent source of knowledge, encouragement, and just a lot of fun while saving. I learn something new every time I'm there. Go check them out: Hotcouponworld.com

FREE TP & the rest of my shopping "experience:

Today I did some grocery shopping, partly for Christmas dinner; partly for the fact we will be eating 3 meals a day at home for the next 2 weeks while I’m off work, and of course, there was a sale and I was armed with coupons. I don’t have my camera set up yet but I’ll work on that later & post some pictures. (that always makes it seem more real! Lol)

My first stop was to Walgreens were I attempted to pick up a Conair blow dryer for $10 and get a $10 RR (register return) making it virtually free but I was too late. They were gone before 5 am! It was a great deal; but I do still have my loyal dryer. I was able to take advantage of their Pepsi product sale and picked up 4 – 12 pks of pepsi products for the 4/$12 deal and received a $3 RR (my first, yeah me!) I always seem to miss something when I try to do the RR specials. That made them 4/$9 (just under $3 a piece) I also picked up 2 of the 15 count waters for $1.99 each with Walgreens coupon. We went back after our trip to Kroger & price comparison on the Betty Crocker Brownie bowls. I had 3 coupons for .50 off two and they were on sale for 3/$5. I used my $3 RR .

I picked up MANY (too many probably) things at Kroger but my brag deals have to be the Pillsbury Frozen Biscuits on sale 2/$5 then I had .50 off Coupons which were doubled making them $1.50 each. I bought 6 making it a total of $9.oo PLUS each bag had a $1 off coupon for Pillsbury frozen Cinnamon rolls!! So that’s kind of like only spending $3 (ok that might be stretching it but you get the picture). Now my favorite deal which my family is so tired of me bragging about it is one I have to give props to the ladies (& a few gents) on HOTCOUPONWORLD.COM! Thanks to a tip from one of the ladies in the Kroger forumn I learned that Kroger carries the 4 pk Cottonelle TP for $0.99 I surfed the web until I found 4 $0.50 coupons which Kroger doubled. DRUMROLL……..I purchased 4 packages of the 4-pk Cottonelle for a grand total of -$0.04!!!! I also had earned enough points to get $0.10 off per gallon which I needed gas so I filled my 4 wD up for $30.00 which never seems to happen. Again…Yeah me! Lol

Without boring you with all my items here’s an overview: At Walgreens I saved $14.50 and at Kroger $36.45…$15 of that was pure coupons! It was a productive day and I feel like I really accomplished something today. It took some work surfing the web and digging through my coupons but it was well worth it. For those out there that say you can get the off brand for cheaper than wasting your time with coupons…well yes, sometimes you can but sometimes the coupon, combined with a sale, and the right store that doubles can make the name brand cheaper than the off brand. It just takes time to comparison shop. My advise…invest in a good calculator…or carry your 14 year old math whiz…that’s what I do.

In the Beginning...

As this year comes to an end, I've decided to start a project for myself. I'm going to track my spending (and lack of spending) over the next year. Since July I've been reading, studying, and even dabbling in couponing and rebating. I've actually done a pretty good start but I have in no way tracked how much I've spent or saved. Thus, this is my self improve project for 2009!!!

First thing I need to do is figure out what my true income/liquid assets, recurring expenses such as utilities, traveling gas, etc., and need base expense are. That sounds easily enough, right? Somehow its not coming to me that easily. That's one of the reasons I'm starting this blog ahead of time; before the actual 2009. I need to get a grasp of where I am financially both incoming and outgoing.

In general, I'm a single mom of 3 boys: Crisco 18 soon to be 19 and graduating this year, Wes/Andrew (its the name game with him; his name depends on his mood) he's 14, and little bit who's 11. They eat like an army constantly so groceries will be the area I will concentrate the most on in cutting costs. I commute to work - about 44 miles and work for the State which at this point is in a Budget Crisis so my income has been froze for the past year and will be until July when it may be either cut somewhat or well...I don't want to think the worst. Also, I'm a part time student working on my IT degree so I do have some expenses there.

Overall, I just need to spend the next couple of weeks going over what's coming in and what's going out. I plan to document my next year on this blog so I can look back and learn from it and possibly even get the input of anyone who stumbles across here and of course, share what I learn on the way!

Wish me luck!
Gertie