Teacher Appreciation Week

On Friday I received a copy of Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper, a bottle of water and a bag of Twix candy bars for Teacher Appreciation Week. A very nice surprise I thought. 

I've already told you about the Purex detergent we did this week. We ended the week with 18 bottles, which should last us a long time. Other deals I was able to get in on this week using sales and/or coupons with the help of my daughter, include:

12 jars of Bertolli pasta sauce at 68¢ a jar 
10 pounds ground chuck at $2.28 a pound
8 Sure deodorant - 75¢ each (I normally pay $1.96)
4 Cheddar Cheese - B1G1F
3 Parmesan Cheese  - used this deal at Couponoholic
2 boxes Raisin Bran
4 dozen eggs

This morning I woke up early and got busy cleaning in the kitchen cleaning and gathering garbage to take off later. Since I was able to get some ground beef on sale this week, last night I made hamburgers for dinner and today I made some taco meat for dinner.

I also cooked two dozen eggs in the Instapot to make egg salad later. I love doing eggs in the Instapot now, which is just an electric pressure cooker. They only take five minutes and the egg shells come off so easily. 

Later on we went to town to meet a couple of people for sales from our local Facebook Yard Sale group. We've made $65 this week just selling some jeans that my daughter no longer wears. It's nice to make money this way instead of having an actual yard sale, which requires a lot of work. The only downside, of course, is when the buyer doesn't show, which has happened to me on occasion. 

I hope you are having a good Saturday.  :)

Thank you for reading,
Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks

My Frugal Week

Thanks to a sale at Walgreen's and several valuable coupons, we are now stocked up on 15 bottles of Purex laundry detergent with Clorox. 

My daughter did this deal for us and combined coupons from Coupons.com, which also reset, along with Walgreen's reward points. She used $10 worth of her Walgreen's reward points, so the majority of the laundry detergent was free to us. 

The sale is going on through Sunday. 

There are several sales going on this week, which I hope to take advantage of, which include:

Aldi
Eggs 69¢ (limit 4)
Red Onions 99¢ (2 lb. bag)

Publix
Raisin Bran B1G1F + doubled coupon - $1.45 box

Piggly Wiggly
Ground Beef $1.99/lb. (wow!)

Kroger
Milk - 1/2 gallon - $1.00

Any good deals going on where you live?

Thank you for reading,
Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks

My daughter and I went to several yard sales on Saturday. We even went to two neighborhood yard sales, which are a lot of fun since you can park and go to multiple sales at a time. 

Pictured above is a set of eight forks and a pretty yellow plate. These were included in a box marked, "make an offer". So, I bought the eight forks, plate, two batter bowls, and two juice cups for $1.00. I was all ready to haggle with her, but she accepted my offer! I was surprised, but tickled. 

I don't know why, but our forks seem to just disappear. I have bought replacements many times at yard sales and thrift stores over the years too. 

Here are some of the other items we bought. 

Cloth Napkins for 25¢ each.

Hand Stitched Twin Quilt for $2.00. 

Thirty One Bag for $2.00. These retail for over $30.

One extra large coffee cup for 25¢, which I always use for soup bowls.  

Two really cute glass candle holders with wire rings to hand outside. I love these and they were only $1.00. 

We actually bought more than this such as the Vera Bradley bag my daughter for $5.00. These were the highlights though. 

My Mom needed me to take her to the doctor this week and she also wanted to do a little grocery shopping at Walmart. I'm hardly ever in there anymore, but I did find some fresh baked bread for 50¢ per loaf. I bought four loves and put three of them into the freezer when I got home.  

The other one went into the refrigerator since fresh baked bread will mold quickly here if left out on the counter. I made sandwiches for our lunch from it on Wednesday. I also bought sour cream, cottage cheese, chips for lunches, Life cereal. If you are not couponing then Walmart's prices can be lower when compared to stores that double coupons. It just depends, as always do your math. :)

These days when I have a day off from work, I do not even have to leave the house to take my daughter to school since she drives herself now. This has turned out to be a money saver for me. I used to stop at the grocery store on my way home from dropping her off. Now I just stay home, which as it turns out saves me some money. I love finding the good things in all of these changes in our lives we've been going through. 

Dinner tonight is going to be Vegetable Soup & Cornbread. 

What's for dinner in your home?

Thank you for reading,

Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks

Saturday at the Frugal Workshop

I'm so glad today is Saturday as I've worked all week and I'm looking forward to staying home today. My daughter has library volunteer duties, but she will be able to drive herself for the first time in four years.  :)

Update on the auto insurance: We did have to get my daughter a policy of her own since the car is in her name. It worked out to about $129 per month, so not too bad for a teenage driver. 

I have to brag on her for a minute. She decided to go to a couple of yard sales while I was working yesterday, so she packed her own lunch and drinks to take along with her, so she wouldn't spend any money on those things. 

Also, she is going to her prom at the end of the month and she decided, on her own, to use the dress she wore last year. She has also decided to use it for her graduation in May, so I will not be out any money for these items. I am definitely counting my blessings there as she is not materialistic. 

She knows the trouble that credit cards can cause when they are not used responsibly and she also knows about creating multiple income streams. She has had a wonderful example of this from one of her teachers. It is my hope and prayer that she continues to be financially savvy in the years to come because as we all know it will do her well. 

Today dinner will be Cheese Enchiladas, using my Homemade Enchilada Sauce,  Mexican Rice, and Pinto Beans all made from scratch. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Thank you for reading,
Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks

Updates from the Frugal Workshop

This is a photo my daughter took on her Spring Break. They had just gotten off the ship in Nassau. Her grandmother took her on a Carnival cruise to the Bahamas as an early graduation present. 

My Spring Break was a little disappointing because I came down with a stomach virus, which lasted about five days, which explains my absence from my blog. 

Anyway, my daughter got her drivers license this week and we have been car shopping everyday after school. She finally settled on this one:

It is a Ford Fiesta that gets 40 miles to the gallon, which will help a great deal as she starts college this fall. I'm very happy to report that we were able to pay cash in full for the car, so she will have no car payments.


Yesterday we spent the day decluttering around the house and took off a carload of garbage to the dump and donated items to our local charity shop. Afterwards we cleaned the house, including laundry, and getting ready for the work/school week. Other than that we spent the whole day at home, which felt great after car shopping all week. 

One thing I noticed when car shopping was the fact that many cars had almost 100,000 miles on them, which to me was a sure sign of the economic times. People are holding onto their cars much longer than they used to hold onto them. I know I held onto my last car for 15 years and it had over 200,000 miles on it when I replaced it with a newer one for work. I still have the old car, which I use to haul off garbage. 

This week I will be adding another car to my auto insurance policy or getting a policy for my daughter all her own. I will do a price comparison in the office to see which one will save us the most money. I've already seen an increase in price of $200 when I added her last week after she received her driver's license. Any advice from those who have been through this already will be very welcome. 

Thank you for reading,


Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks