In The Refiner's Fire

Sorry - no photos!  I did the shopping this week around everything else (a birthday party, an event, and my husband running to the airport to pick up friends/classmates for intensive classes this next week) and just didn't get photos taken. We had our "normal" $30 grocery bill this week plus a $60 stock up amount.  We are starting slowly to stock up on non-perishable things (the perishable we'll do closer to June).  We'll be transferring over our $30 to $20 in March for our regular grocery shopping as a "practice run" for internship.  Yep, you read that right $20 per week for groceries, toiletries and paper products!  That's all we're going to have during internship to that's what we're going to be using!  We'll use that $10 difference through March, April and May to do some of our stocking up for the next 18-24 months.  Here's what our $60 stock up fund bought this week: 2 48oz bottles of Palmolive dish soap $4.99 - $0.50 c...

Initially I was so frustrated that this summer was so not turning out the way I wanted it to be!  This last weekend I was laid low with a huge flair up of one of my chronic illnesses - I was in an enormous amount of pain and nothing we did for 3 days helped in the least. Sunday we went to worship and John preached.  We had several friends there and the folks at the church we were at were so very, very welcoming that I started to perk up a bit.  I still felt terrible, but at least I perked up. John is in classes 12 hours a day this week, I have until Friday to turn everything (and I mean everything!) in for my degree, and one thing after another, after another, after another has happened on top of all of that. I decided that my bad attitude needed to run away permanently so I decided to focus on the stuff that I can do - not what I can't.  It's very difficult to concentrate on anything when you're in terrible pain but at least I can concentrate on thing for 10 m...

I felt like I didn't buy much at the store today - most of the money in our $20 for the week went to cheese! - but we got almost everything we needed.  Unbeknownst to me, John and the children had used up all the Smart Balance at lunch so we were out.  I didn't know that so I didn't buy any.  I do have $1.77 left from this week's #20 so I will see what I can do on Wednesday, the next day that I can double a coupon at our grocery store. We only went to one store this week.  Here's what we bought: 25oz Palmolive Dish Detergent with Aloe $2.00 (sale) - $0.12 (store coupon) - $0.50 - $0.50 (doubled coupon) = $0.88 60 ct Always Liners $3.49 (sale) - $0.51 (store coupon) - $0.50 - $0.50 (doubled coupon) = $1.98 2.62 lbs Bananas @ $0.59/lb = $1.55 2.03 lbs Red Grapes @ $1.29/lb = $2.62 1.81 lbs D'Anjou Pears @ $1.49/lb = $2.70 8oz Store Brand Sharp Cheddar Cheese $2.50 (sale) - $0.50 (store coupon) = $2 8oz Store Brand Mozzarella Cheese $2.50 (sale) - $0.5...

Our Shopping Trip Displayed on Our Stove! I finally remembered to take a photo this week - it's from my iPod in really bad light but at least it *is* a photo! We went to two stores and spent $37.39 between the two stores.   Here's how we did it and what we got: Store #1: McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning $1 - $0.75 coupon = $0.25 Store Brand Organic Spring Mix Greens 2@ $3.99 B1G1 store coupon = $3.99 Large Melon $2.50 Ginger Root 0.12lbs @ $2.99/lb = $0.36 Bulk Cous Cous 1.54lbs @ $3.19/lb = $4.91 Total Store #1: $12.01 Total Saved According to Receipt: $4.74 (28%) Store #2: Mott's Apple Juice 64oz $2.50 Sale Price - $0.52 store coupon = $1.98 100 Ct Vanity Fair Napkins 2@ $1.66/ea - $1 - $1 doubled coupon = $1.32 ($0.006/napkin) S&W Low Salt Black Beans 2 @ $0.75 - $1 - $0.50 "doubled" coupon = FREE Edy's Fruit Bars $3.50 - $1.52 store coupon = $1.98 Colgate Sparkling White Toothpaste $1.39 - $0.51 store coupon = $0.88 Crest for Kids...

Yet again I totally forgot to take a photo. Argh.  I will remember - one of these days! We are back to our $40/wk budget for groceries, toiletries and paper products.  And we are still eating from our pantry and freezer!   We have our CSA starting up in June and have a load of veggies in the freezer still that need to be eaten.   Yes, we have a long way to go before we get to June, but I can only eat so many beets, green beans and chicken each week! :) We've also decided to buy a 1/4 cow from a local farmer, which will be butchered in the late summer/early fall, so we will be saving up for that over the next few months - we pay half now and half when we receive the butchered animal. It comes out to about $3/lb, which is a great price for organic, grass fed, local beef.  We're way excited about that! I was under budget again this week since we're eating from that pantry and freezer (come back on Monday to see what we're eating) and we're also star...

* I'm having issues with photos so I will upload the photo of today's shopping trip as soon as I can. Thanks for understanding! So John did the shopping today because I've been fighting side effects from my medication and spent most of the day in bed or curled up in pain on the couch.  I really don't like being sick. Anyway, John did a great job buying a few things today.  We are using quite a bit of our budget but I'm okay with that for right now.  I might not be as we get to the end of the end of the month.  Honestly, it's been a tough month so far and we haven't done as well as we'd like with our budget or a few other things too.  But we can do it and we will do it.  And if we get really stuck I have  $5 Target gift card that I'm willing to use for some produce or toilet paper, whichever we need more - I don't want to but if it's absolutely necessary I'll cry defeat and use it. Here's what John bought: Store #1: 2.68lbs B...

I like being frugal. Don't we all? Saving a little money here and there is always a good thing.  And being able to be generous is always nice too. Over the years I've had grand plans for making homemade, mostly inexpensive gifts.  I have items that were purchased and never used, things that were started and never finished, and gifts that were thought of but never got further than that. That amounts to a household of "stuff" that isn't being used and a lot of money wasted when I had to go out and buy yet another gift since I didn't finish the one I had thought of/started.   It got so bad that the last couple of years I pretty much gave up.  I'd have ideas in my head and then decided that it just wasn't worth it - either due to time constraints or my being sick or something . One of my intentional things for 2013 is to use up what I have, finish making projects that we started and just in general be a better steward of all we have been blessed ...

Normally we run errands on Saturday. However, since we have a fundraiser tomorrow, we ran them tonight. Target, Sam's Club and a local grocery store chain (Rainbow Foods) were our three destinations. The "Sort of" comes in that we bought a bunch of stuff for preschool snack that isn't in our regular grocery budget - it comes from the 'school savings' fund that we have. So here's what we got (sorry, no pics - my camera is being a pain!): Sam's Club: Total: $18.62 (groceries); $$35.94 (school savings) 2 86 oz Apple Juice (for us) ($4.18) Vanilla 16 oz (for us) ($6.88) (this will last us about 8 months) 2 Gallons of Milk (for us) ($1.79 each x 2 = $3.58) 80 100% Juice Boxes (for Preschool) ($9.98/40 x 2 = $19.96) 36 cups of applesauce (20 for Preschool, 16 for us) ($8.76) 48 String Cheese (40 for Preschool, 8 for us) ($7.22) 40 Flour Tortilla (for us) ($3.98) Rainbow: Total: $20.05 24 rolls of Toilet Paper ($5.32) 250 Paper Napkins ($1) 1 can kernal corn ...