My Frugal Week

Welcome to Friday! We've had a good frugal week and it was great to be on spring break and get several things done around the house. 
Added to our Frugal Pantry this week:
Last Friday my daughter stopped in at Kroger and bought four dozen eggs since they were on sale for 88¢. 
She also stopped in at Ingle's to see if they had any meat markdowns. She hit the jackpot there. 
She found Laura Lynn orange juice for 99¢. We bought six of those since they were such a good price. 

She also found ground beef marked down. The prices were all different, but the most inexpensive one worked out to $1.81 per pound. We ended up with close to twenty pounds all tucked away in our freezer now. 



On Saturday we stopped in at Earth Fair to pick up some honey since we were out. I pick up one quart of honey, organic lemons, Numi three root turmeric tea, Numi gunpowder green tea, and one lemon plum to try. 

On Thursday we stopped in at Ingle's & Kroger and ended up with more meat for the freezer and a couple of pizzas, which were marked down . 

We also picked up three loaves of bread for 38¢ each. 

We also stopped in at Aldi to pick up five bags of the onions that are on sale this week for 99¢ per three pound bag. 

Dinners This Week:
Saturday: Chicken & Dressing, Carrots,  Sunday: Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Biscuits Monday: Cheesy Potatoes, Broccoli Tuesday: Chicken Tenders, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli Wednesday: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Peas Thursday: Loose Meat Sandwiches, Salad Friday:   Stayed Home/No Spend Days:
Monday & Wednesday - No Money Spent
What I Worked on This Week:

This cat cot sells for brand new on Amazon for $22.38, but we found one at a yard sale last summer and only paid $1.00 for it. 
The cats have loved it and actually wore a hole in the middle of the mesh, so they stopped using it.
I wanted them to have one that is useful, but I didn't want to buy a new one since we only paid $1.00 for this one. 
On Wednesday I had the time to patch the hole they had created. Using part of an old towel and some fishing line, I sewed a patch onto the cot from underneath. I sewed two different circles around the patch hoping it will last for a while.


I'm happy to report that the cot is now back in service with our cats. 
Other things I've worked on this week include:
- Processing Inventory - Cross Posting Inventory  - Laundry - Hung some up to dry on the free drying rack we picked up last summer. 
Unexpected Expenses This Week:
On Saturday the tire pressure monitoring system on my car indicated that on of my tires needed additional air pressure. Since we live in a rural area, air compressors are few and far between here, and the one I did find was out of order. 
Sunday morning I woke up early and went to Walmart's automotive center because they are the only automotive service open on Sunday here. 
To make a long story short I ended up buying a new tire. Thankfully, even though I am between paychecks I just happened to have the money without dipping into my savings account. 
Saved, Reused, & Repurposed:
I emptied the remains of two jars of cherry preserves, but washed and saved the jars to be used later. 
Freebies This Week:
This week I received a free six month supply of medicine for my blood sugar. My doctor filled out the forms for me to receive it for free. 

Although this freebie is now expired it was a very nice freebie. A regular size pouch of the Seeds of Change Quinoa and Brown Rice with garlic.  

Other Frugal Activities:

We don't use baggies very often for our sandwiches, but use reusable containers instead when we need a lunch packed for outside the home. Same with our reusable water bottles. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Second Frugal Week November 2017

There was a Veteran's Day program at the school where I worked on Monday. After the program was over, teachers were able to go in and have any lunch items that were left. 
I had some delicious chicken noodle soup, scalloped potatoes, green beans, half of a pimento cheese sandwich, sausage balls, and a brownie. It was so good too. It is always nice to eat someone else's cooking for a change. 
I brought my lunch back home and will eat it tomorrow. After school I came home and made spaghetti with garlic bread and steamed broccoli for dinner. 

Kroger is having their Buy 10 Save $5.00 sale, so on Tuesday I went to Kroger and bought the following sale items. 

Betty Crocker Cake Mix 49¢ (I bought two)

Ronzoni Pasta 49¢ (I bought 40 boxes)

Del Monte tomatoes 49¢ (I bought 50 cans)

Milk 99¢ (I bought 4 - 2 skim & 2 chocolate)

Kroger Cheese 3.79 (16 ounces)

Bob’s Red Mill Sale 20% off 

One thing I bought at Kroger was a bag of Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour. Kroger had Bob Mill on sale for 20% off and I had a coupon for $1.00 off from a free magazine, so I paid $1.22 for the bag. 

We also went thrift store shopping on Tuesday before we bought groceries. I found two ink-jet cartridges for our printer, they were marked at $1.99, but the cashier only charged us 10¢ for them. These normally cost $18.99, so a great savings there. I also found a new book of scrapbook papers for 25¢. A brand new deck of playing cards for 49¢ and a flower pot for 49¢.

On Tuesday I needed to have a new battery installed in my car, which cost $110. My brother in law installed it for me, so no cost there.  

I received a $50 Walmart card from my insurance company for having a mammogram in October. I will either use this for gas in the car or Christmas presents. 

I worked four days this week and have all of next week off for Thanksgiving. Today we are going thrift store shopping again. What are your plans for the weekend?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Savings at Kroger

I love going grocery shopping at Kroger because of their yellow stickers. We went down there (they are located in Georgia) because I knew they had cottage cheese and sour cream on sale for $1.00 each, but we hit the bonanza when it came to the reduced yellow sticker items. 
Cole Slaw mix marked down to 49¢.

A pork roast marked down to $3.09.

Pumpkin Spice non alcoholic beverage marked down to 59¢.

Ball Park cheese dogs marked down to $1.49.

Mangoes and Broccoli in the reduced produce bins for 99¢.

Red Grapes marked down to 99¢ for the bunch. 

Kroger brand Cinnamon Caramel Apple cream cheese marked down to 59¢.

Kroger Pumpkin Spice cream cheese marked down to 29¢.

 Yogurt marked down to 19¢ each. 

And finally, the cottage cheese and sour cream I went after. 

Such great buys - I love Kroger!

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Friday

This was our deal of the week. We found gallon jugs of milk on August 1st for $1.39 at Kroger and the sell by date was August 12th. I was shocked! I bought three gallons and will put two of them in the freezer.

We bought four boxes of Lipton tea bags 100 count for $1.11 each. Publix sells them for $4.11, but had them on sale for buy one get one free and had a coupon for $1.00 off in their sales flyer. So, we were able to buy them for $1.11 each, which is a great deal for 100 name brand tea bags.  

Kroger had Kool-Aid & Country Time lemonade on sale this week for $1.00 each and we had six coupons for 55¢ off one, so we paid 45¢ for each of these. I figured they were a good deal since the sugar was already included. 

Some things I've done in my frugal kitchen today include...

I made cole slaw dressing this week to use with the cole slaw I bought on mark down at Kroger on Saturday. 
I used up three bananas that were on the verge of spoiling to make Banana Pancakes so as not to waste them.
I made a chocolate cake with homemade peanut butter frosting. 
And finally we are staying home today, so no money spent outside our home. 
How have you been saving money this week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

End of the Month Grocery Report

We started off with Breakfast this morning with scrambled egg English muffin sandwiches. 
We went to the flea market today, but were only able to sell for a few hours as we were rained out. 
The flea market we go to is in the state of Georgia, which is easy for us to go to since we live right over the state line in Tennessee. 
And there are two Kroger grocery stores in that area that we can go to, so we decided to go to Kroger and pick up a few items.  I have to say I am loving shopping at Kroger. 
First of all I am able to buy milk so much cheaper there than here. It is very close to $3.00 a gallon here for the store brand milk, but in Georgia I am able to buy it for under $2.00 a gallon. As a result we've bought more milk this summer than we have in a long time. 
Secondly, I am able to buy Italian Sausages on mark down there so much cheaper than here in Tennessee. We've had more Italian Sausage this summer than we have in a long time since it is $4.00 a pound here in Tennessee. 
Also, the sales tax on food in Georgia is 4% while sales tax on unprepared food in Tennessee is taxed at 5.5%.  And I can always tell a difference on my grocery bill. 

I found one package of Bratwurst and one package of mild Italian Sausage for $1.99 each. 

I found three one pound packages of Southern Slaw from the produce department marked down to 79¢.

I bought one gallon of buttermilk, one gallon of chocolate milk, which were both priced at $1.89. 

I also bought two half gallons of skim milk, which were on sale for 89¢ each. 
I bought one pound of red grapes for $1.24.
And my daughter found some K cups marked down in the clearance section. 

My total for today was $16.30, which makes my total food cost for July just under $100 coming in at $96.00. We used up a lot of food we had in our pantry and freezer to be able to come in at such a low amount.
As my regular readers know my income is lower in the summer since school is out and I am not working. We did make money at the flea market this summer, which helped a great deal. School starts back on August 8th, so I should be returning to work soon. 

We also had some help from my neighbor as he has put more free vegetables on his front lawn. 

And we were able to pick up these two free items from Kroger's Friday Freebie program. We won't drink these so we will add them to the stuff we sell at the flea market. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~