Unfortunately our local Kmart is one of those on the chopping block and will be closing this spring. Everything is 30% off right now, so I decided to go and see if there was anything that we needed.
Kmart sells the Joe Boxer socks in the longer lengths for people with larger shoe sizes. My daughter is very tall and needs the longer length in order to fit properly and I've always bought them at Kmart.
The night before I shopped I went online to the Shop Your Way Rewards website to look at the coupons and found one for $10 off a $30 clothing purchase. I went ahead and added it to my Shop Your Way rewards card just in case.
When I first went in the store I thought to myself, "Good Grief!" They must have raised their prices before they marked everything 30% off", because the prices I was looking at were high!
Eventually I was able to find the socks I was looking for and purchased three packages of them. I also found her two shirts in her size and a Rubbermaid one gallon pitcher.
When I got up to the cash register, my total came to $32.27 and I had forgotten about the $10 coupon I put on my card, so I was pleasantly surprised when it took $10 off my purchase.
Then I asked the cashier to apply my Shop Your Way rewards balance to the total, which took off another $5.65. My total ended up being $16.62. I came home with 15 pairs of socks, two shirts, and a pitcher. Not a bad deal at all! :)
Belinda
~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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We made it to Friday!
I was able to work all five days of school this week for which I'm grateful.
Before we headed home from school for the weekend, we stopped at IGA to run in and get one of their sale items. They had eggs on sale for 99¢. There was a limit of four, so I bought four cartons. What a great price. :)
I also stopped and filled up my car with gas and paid $1.53 a gallon. I am enjoying the lower gas prices, but have to wonder what is going to happen down the line due to the lower price.
I read the other day that many of the oil companies in the US are filing bankruptcy because they cannot make a profit if oil falls below $60 a barrel and it is at $28 right now.
We came home and I scrounged around in the kitchen and pantry to come up with something for dinner.
We had some Old ElPaso kits with tortilla boats that we bought some time ago very inexpensively using a sale and a coupon.
So, I made some Mexican rice in the rice cooker and then heated up some chili beans. I then cut up and put out some taco toppings I had such as tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, cheese, and avocado.
I layered the bowls with rice, cheese, beans, and then whatever toppings that person wanted and served these with a side of corn. They were a big hit with my family.
I just improvised and made these with items we had on hand. The kit still has hard shell tacos, sauce, and taco seasoning in there that I will need to use up at a later time.
After dinner I washed up the dinner dishes and also washed out my lunch bowls and baggies that we used today. They are drying on some chop sticks right now.
I buy the freezer bags when I buy storage bags as they are heavy duty compared to regular sandwich bags or even regular quart size.
I did some calculating the other day and these bags cost me 6¢ each, so by washing them out I am saving almost 25¢ a day (2 in each lunch box). At the end of the month that is almost $5.00 I've saved, which adds up to a savings of $50 at the end of the school year.
I've also been wanting to mention these peanut butter jars I've been saving. I bought all of these on a very good sale using coupons. They are the 15 ounce size, but the jars are so great that I've been using them in my lunch box. I packed cucumbers and my homemade ranch dressing in one the other day for lunch. They are the perfect size for a lunch box and also very sturdy.
How was your week?
Belinda
~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks
On Monday after school/work I ran to Walmart for some items. There were several things, like eggs, that I looked at, priced at $2.79, and then left on the shelf because the price was much higher than I have been paying at other stores. I'll just wait until I am somewhere else that has them cheaper.
For those of you that are still having to pay high prices for eggs, I found the following chart from Ordinary Vegan that you may appreciate.
One of the reasons I went to town was to get carrots from Aldi. They had carrots on sale this week priced at two pounds for 59¢ each, so I stocked up and bought ten bags.
After we came home Monday, I heated up two of the Salmon Patty plates I made up on Sunday. It gave me a good feeling to know that we ate food here that did not cost me any additional money.
Dinner on Tuesday was Cheese Enchiladas, which is one of my daughter's favorite things to order whenever we eat Mexican food. These were super cheap to make too.
My friend gave some string cheese (free) she wasn't using, so I decided to take some corn tortillas (60¢) and wrap them up, cover them in enchilada sauce ($1.18), and made cheese enchiladas.
I made twenty of them in all and they cost under $2.00 for the whole batch. Even if you had to pay regular price for the string cheese, this would be an affordable dinner.
On Wednesday I went to Fresh and Low and I'm glad I did. They had the reduced rack of produce out.
I was able to get one bag of cucumbers, one bag of colored peppers with an avocado inside, and one bag with two pints of blueberries in it! All of these were $1.00 each, which was such a great deal.
I also picked up sour cream ($1.29), bread ($1.00), 3 baking potatoes ($2.02 or 67¢ each), 2 bottles of Italian dressing on mark down (99¢ each), pepperoni ($2.50), mozzarella cheese ($7.76), and eggs ($1.59 each). I'm glad I did not buy the eggs at Walmart for $2.79 on Monday.
These things that I do to save money are not magical or even new for that matter, but they save me money when I do them consistently.
Belinda
~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks
Dinner tonight is Salmon Patties, Potatoes & Carrots, Green Beans & Onions, and a Vegetable/Lima Bean Blend with a couple of Pickled Beets on the side.
Afterwards I had enough to package up four plates for meals on other days this coming week.
Today I warmed up both cars up to make sure they will start up this week and I brushed the snow off both of them. Since it was 20° last night we let our cats Big Kitty & Mozzie sleep inside the house. They were so content. :)
We've stayed home this weekend due to the weather. We also stayed home several days this past week due to a holiday and weather again. As a result, my gas tank, which I filled early in the week is still sitting on full. Staying home does have its rewards. :)
Belinda
~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks
Welcome Saturday!
Breakfast today was leftovers of the fried rice I made for dinner one night this week. Using up what I have on hand to save money.
The snow did not amount to much here, around two inches at the most, which is what the weathermen were predicting for our area. We won't be going anywhere though as the area we live does not plow or salt the secondary roads, so they can be dicey to travel. We will be staying home safe and sound today.
So what to do when you are stuck in the house with no where to go? Why make food of course.
I have an abundance of oatmeal, graham crackers and peanut butter in my kitchen, so I made the following items today...
- Made & wrapped 17 Granola Bars
- Made Peanut Butter Bars
I also made Egg Salad for Lunches.
- Made Spaghetti and Garlic Bread for Dinner. There is enough Spaghetti left for another meal or two, so I may just make Baked Spaghetti with it for dinner tomorrow or dinner another night.
We also warmed up with Hot Chocolate today.
Belinda
~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
Earn with Swagbucks
