Weekend Shopping

It was a busy week here as I worked four days this week and have four planned for this coming week. Now that I am back to work it's time to stock up my pantry again after being in use it up mode all summer long. 
I received a free copy of the newspaper this week and scoured the sale ads and made a list of items I wanted to get. 

My first stop was at Fresh and Low because they have the best price on bread and black olives. Bread and hamburger buns are $1.00 here, and black olives are 88¢, which is much cheaper than every store in town. I also picked up a jar of pickles. Total spent was $10.30.
My next stop was Food City for store brand canned salmon for $1.99, but they were sold out, so I picked up a rain check. The manager then offered to sell me the Starkist salmon for the same price, so I bought four cans and he told me to keep the rain check for next time. Sweet. I also picked up apples, strawberry preserves, and some seasonings and spent $16.02. 

My next stop was Piggy Wiggly where they had Oscar Meyer bologna on sale for 99¢ for the one pound package. My daughter is tired of PB & J sandwiches, so this will be a welcome sight. I picked up ten packages spending $9.90 and placed nine of them in my freezer.

I also stocked on on Luck's chili beans for 50¢ a can. Chili Beans are one of the very few canned beans I will purchase if the price is right. They have a thick chili sauce that we enjoy. Most all of the beans we have here are soaked and cooked from dried beans as they are the most economical. 

My next stop was Publix where I bought pasta, granola bars, Campbell's Beefy Mushroom soup (for cooking), Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cheese-It crackers. I had $8.40 in coupons for the granola bars, soup, cereal and crackers and spent $31.94 there. I was really able to stock up here. 

My next stop was at Food Lion because they had their store brand products on sale and if you bought four items they would take 25¢ off each one. 

I bought eight cans of corn and should have paid 43¢ each, but it didn't work and they couldn't explain it to me. They told me it was "probably" added to my MVP card and if it didn't come off next time to save my receipt and they will fix it, so they owe me $2.00. 

 When I was at Food Lion I was looking at the produce and saw a sign on the 5 pound packages of Ruby Red grapefruit which read 99¢ a package. When I checked out, they rang up to $5.99, so I explained it to the cashier and after checking the price she honored the 99¢ price. So, I got 10 grapefruits for less than $2.00 making them 20¢ each. 
What a steal! 
I was going to buy some oranges on my list today but no need to after finding this deal. 

We also managed to get to Kroger this weekend. I just love Kroger. They had their half gallon sizes of milk on sale for $1.00 this week. They were out of skim milk, so we bought 1% instead, and also chocolate and buttermilk. 
They have such great deals on markdown. Here is a bag of romaine marked down to 99¢ and the photo underneath is a pork loin roast, already cooked, marked at $3.99.

This was the weekend for the cereal deals. I combined a couple of sales with some coupons and bought all of these cereals for a little over $1.00 each. 
Cereal can be so expensive, but when combined with a sale and a coupon it is more affordable and fits into my budget easier. I would not pay the regular retail price for most cereals, but when I can get it for close to $1.00 a box then I will buy it. 

My neighbor blessed me with two more butternut squashes this week. 

Kroger had their store brand of chips on sale for $1.00 a bag this week. Chips are a rare treat here, but $1.00 is an acceptable price to me, so I bought several bags for lunches this week. 

I found a package of eight half-pound burgers this weekend for $9.79 which worked out to $2.44 a pound. Of course I will stretch this to use not only for burgers, but maybe a meatloaf and tacos as well. 

I know this post is long. so I will wrap this up. We are definitely stocked up for a good long time now.  I wanted to share my deals with you and hope that you are inspired to save as much as you can on your grocery budget as well. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Awesome Publix Haul

My daughter does such a great job with coupons and I just have to brag on her. While I was out and about yesterday running errands with Mom, she went to Publix and secured this great coupon deal. 

-Eight jars of Hellmann's Mayo that were BOGO $4.99.

-Eight French's mustards, four regular, two spicy, and two sweet. These were BOGO $1.63.

-Eight Vlasic Pickle Relishes that were regularly priced $1.39.

-Two Daisy Sour Creams that were BOGO 2.49.

-And, four DulcoGases that were on sale $2.99.

She used...

-Eight Publix store coupons that were $3 off a Hellmann's Mayo, a Vlasic Pickles, and a French's Mustard.

-Two $2 off $6 worth of Hellmann's coupons.

-Four $0.50 off French's Mustard coupons. (doubled)

-Two $0.50 off French's Spicy Mustard coupons. (doubled)

-Two $0.50 off French's Sweet Mustard coupons.  (doubled)

-Four $1 off two Vlasic Product coupons.

-Four $3 off any DulcoGas coupons.

-And, two $0.45 off Daisy Sour Cream coupons. (doubled)

Total Retail Value: $97.14
Total OOP: $3.45

Everything in this haul ended up being $0.12 each!

She achieved a savings of 96%!

Here is the deal she used at Couponaholic.com to secure this deal:  

Publix: AWESOME Hellmann’s Mayo, Vlasic Relish and French’s Mustard MONEYMAKERS

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

Friday

 We made it to Friday! I worked four days this past week and had today off. Good thing too since the air conditioner went out on my car again on Thursday evening. I took it to the dealership this morning. Turns out the blower resistor and connector were melted! Since it was still under warranty they replaced it at no charge to me. Let's hope that will be the end of this particular problem. 

I made granola bars on either Sunday or Monday in order for my daughter to take to school as a snack. 

And of course I keep the lids to all my peanut butter jars since they fit a mason jar perfectly. 

Publix Cranberry Deal

One of my good deals this week came from Publix where I used a raincheck from last week. They had Ocean Spray Craisins on sale for buy one get one free. I had 50¢ coupons that doubled, so I paid 37¢ each for eight bags. 

Publix French Fry Deal

Publix has Ore Ida french fries on sale this week and we had coupons that doubled. We paid 75¢ each for four bags. Not sure if you can see them or not, but there are four bag in there and a HUGE bag of chocolate chips on top. 

Free Food

We were lucky enough this week to get a little bit of free food too from a friend. We received five bottles of juice, two bags of Brookside Clusters, five packages of breakfast cookies, one can of honey roasted mixed nuts, one package of cheese snacks, the package of chocolate chips, and two quarts of milk all for free. 

The second carton of milk is in the back behind the juice. 

School Lunch Woes

Something happened at school today that has me angry. My daughter has enough credits that she does not have to attend the full day of school. They are on a four block schedule, and she has a class first and second block, and is a teacher's aide for her third block and can then go home. She does not have to stay for fourth block. 

The first week she was able to leave after her teacher's aide class and not have to stay for lunch. This week they want the seniors to stay through lunch. She does not want to do this and really would rather come home, but she follows their rules. 

I know I've told you in the past that she has low blood sugar and she really needs to eat something by this time of day. When she got there today she was at the end of the line and the cafeteria ran out of food. There were sixteen students including her that still needed to eat, so they cooked more food, but ran out again before she was able to get any food (she was the last one in line). 

She was the only one who did not get any food. So, they went to cook more for her, but by this time she had given up on them, she was shaking and needed food. She left and went and sat down.Thankfully she had one of the granola bars I made for her and she ate that.  At 1:20 as the bell is ringing signaling the end of lunch, they come to get her to tell her they have more food. She was embarrassed that they came into the cafeteria and approached her about this in front of her friends. She told them no thanks, she was leaving, and then left. 

Whenever she has had third lunch, they have run out of food on a regular basis. It has been an ongoing problem and saying anything about it has done no good in the past. She does not want me to say anything about this incident today.  If they are going to force the seniors to stay through lunch then they need to have food for them to eat. If not, let them go home and eat. 

Next week I will be sending food for her to eat.

How has your week been?

Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.

Monday

 

More Coupon Deals

On Thursday, we took my Mom to one of her doctor appointments, so since we were in town, we decided to stop and get in on a few good coupon deals. My daughter did the work on these deals and we ended up paying $1.35 for everything you see in the photos above. 

She used a combination of sales, b1g1f coupon deals, and even had overage, which is why you see the Mentos in the photo. The Bi-Lo cashier said she could not have overage, so she bought those to bring her total over a negative balance. She is a great couponer.  :)

We will be donating most of the pickles and the Colgate toothpaste as they are not ones we will use anytime soon. 

Use It Up

I took a cue from Carol over at CT on a Budget and used up two of the BBQ sauces I had in the condiments bag in our refrigerator. One of them is from a school lunch. My daughter was bringing hers home this year and putting them in the bag. I put these in our crockpot the other day along with the pork ribs. I ended up making a pasta salad to go along with that the other day and also used up the lone ranch dressing pack that was in the condiments bag. It is good to use these items up and not let them go to waste. 


Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.

Grocery Store Run

Cookes

Our local Cooke's grocery store had a sale on 80/20 ground beef for $2.79 a pound IF you bought it in the ten pound rolls. I don't care for the ten pound rolls, but in my effort to save money on meat, I went ahead and bought one on Tuesday. I split it up into both half pound and one pound packages because I want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it as far as possible. In several of my recipes over the month of July, I plan to use only a half pound of meat in recipes that call for one pound of meat. 

While there, I also bought a cucumber, dried kidney beans ($1.59/1 lb.), crackers, cheddar cheese ($1.60/8 oz), potatoes (10 lbs. $2.49), worcestershire sauce, black olives, and popcorn.

The 15 Bean Cajun Soup beans came from Publix. We like the Cajun beans, but most stores carry the plain 15 Bean Soup and not the Cajun. 

Publix

My daughter wanted to run to Publix before the sales ended on Tuesday. We bought All Detergent, Bandaids, yogurt, olives, tortilla chips, mayonnaise, green olives, Old Bay seasoning, mustard, and popcorn.

Combining sales with coupons we were able to get the Old Bay for 69¢,  The Hellman's for B1G1 free, so $1.83, the All for $1.84, the mustard for free, the Jolly Time for 25¢, and we made 10¢ on each of the Band Aid products. 

I also bought a lot of yogurt, but had already put it in the refrigerator when I took pictures. We paid 30¢ each for those combing a sale with coupons. 

In all I spent $110.63 and I am hoping this will last us a while. 

Food

Monday's breakfast was a fruit salad made with blueberries, strawberries and fresh pineapple, which were all bought at Aldi for 99¢ each. 

Lunch on Monday was Butter Dogs, which I first learned about from The Kneady Homesteader. I enjoy watching her YouTube videos. 

Another channel I like watching on there is Bev aka The Mrs. Volfie from Our Half Acre Homestead.  Dinner on Monday was Hamburgers and Pinto Beans. I plan on making refried beans out of the beans that are left for later in the week. Dinner on Tuesday was Swiss Steak and Rice & Cheese. 

Dinner for Wednesday was Pedernale's Potatoes , which is a tried and 

true family favorite. I served it with corn and diced tomatoes. 

Thursday I made chicken strips, mashed potatoes with gravy and 

coleslaw. 

I had to take Mom to the doctor today for routine blood work. It was raining so hard while were were gone. I'm glad to be back home and out of the rain. I hope you are having a good day today.  :)

Belinda

Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.

My Frugal Week

Since the last time I blogged, I have worked every school day. The end of the year is a busy time of the year for substitutes and this year is no different. I still have one day to work this week, but Friday is the "official" last day of school for the year. I say "official" because some students are already out of school, like my daughter, who has been out since last Wednesday. 

We've been doing some couponing recently and have same quite a bit of money in the process.  

These two cans of tuna were actually free using a coupon we received in the mail from Chicken of the Sea for $1.00 off any product. Make sure you are signed up on Facebook and through your favorite brands company websites to receive coupons from them. 

There is no picture of these, but we used coupons for $1.00 off five packages of Buddig Lunch Meat. We bought twenty packages and paid 39¢ each after sale and coupons. 

The second coupons we used were for for 40¢ off Dole canned fruit. We used these at Publix where they double coupons under 50¢. We were able to purchase twelve cans of pineapple for 20¢ each. 

 Other coupons we used were for Hunt's tomatoes. They were on sale last week at Publix for B1G1Free. I also had coupons for Buy 3 get 1 Free. I ended up with sixteen cans of tomatoes and paid 54¢ each, a sweet deal.  :)

Palmolive dish soap is on sale at Bi-Lo this week for B1G1F. We printed 25¢ off coupons from Couponaholic.net and paid 39¢ each for these two bottles. They also had 12 rolls of Charmin Basic on sale for $3.99 and I had a 35¢ off coupon, which doubled, so we paid $3.29 for the pack. I found five containers of Dannon Greek yogurt with 50¢ off coupons while I was there, which made them 50¢ each, a good price for Greek yogurt. 

I've also saved money by shopping at the close out grocery store, United Grocery Outlet or UGO. Pork and beans were on sale this week at several stores for 50¢ per can, but UGO had them for 40¢, a stock up price. I bought ten cans. I also bought gelatin for 25¢ per box. They had some flavors for 17¢, but we were not fans of those flavors. 

I also bought Old El Paso enchilada sauce for 59¢ per can. Canned potatoes for 50¢ per can, which I use in Tacos. Several cans of corn and green peas for 40¢ each. I bought salsa in the 7.4 ounce box for 20¢, so I bought ten of those. These are stock up prices.  :)

We bought a bunch of French's mustard. Bi-Lo has them on sale this week for B1G1F and we had coupons for 50¢ off (you can even print one from their website), which doubled, so they ended up being 4¢ each. We will be donating some of these to the food pantry. The salsa was on sale and we had coupons, which brought the price down to 33¢ each. 

I bought ten packages each of Oscar Meyer  bologna and hot dogs because Piggly Wiggly has them on sale for 99¢ this week. 

The Playtex pads were bought on sale and with coupons and we paid 99¢ each. The Chinet napkins were free combining a coupon and sale from Publix. The Hefty ziploc bags were $1.00 each combining a sale with coupons. 

I also bought Charmin and Angel Soft, which were both on sale this week, using coupons. We also bought veggie burgers, which were on sale for B1G1Free.

It has been a while since I've stocked up like this with groceries, but now that school is ending for the year my income will be reduced, so I wanted to stock up and have my pantry pretty full before my income is reduced for the summer. Remember having some of your savings in the form of food can help you weather hard times when your income is lower. 


I hope you have a great, frugal week ahead.  :)

Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.