another week of deals!

So the deals this week weren't as great as last week. I got cap'n crunch for $1.77, Poore brother chips for $1.77(hubby's favorite& usually $2.99 each), not in pic but banquet dinners 88 cents each(Kat and Ben like these for lunch), ragu for 99 cents each(reg price is 1.99 each), Pam cooking spray 99 cents each(reg price is $4.29 each), Chris had to have the mac n cheese it was $1 each but makes for a quick portable lunch, apple juice for $1.29 each, canned veggies 17 cents each(I bought 18 cans & they are reg price $1.59 EACH) and cat litter 20 lbs for $4.99 each(instead of the $12.99 sale price for 40 lbs I paid earlier this month).

So far this month I have saved $52 in coupons since I started using coupons again 8/29 and they are just from ONE set of Sunday papers and ones I have printed off the internet, sure I bought 6 papers but they have been worth EVERY penny!!! I have also saved $295.37 from in store savings(sales and clearance items). I have saved an average of 56% on my groceries so far this month. This doesn't count what I have bought at Sam's club but that has been very little this month.

WOW I have scored the deals this week!!

I scored some awesome deals this week!! Cap'n crunch cereal 15 oz boxes for $1.27 each after coupons, 1 liter sparking Arrowhead water FREE after coupons, travel size tide FREE after coupons, pace salsa for $1.17 each after coupons. I went to Alberstons and spent $11.39 and saved 31.40!! Then at Frys first trip I spent $19.14 and saved $17.27, 2nd trip I spent $26.37 and saved $16.98(not as many deals and coupons this trip). At Bashas I spent $4.38 and saved $23.50!! Today at Target I spent $10.22 but I saved$11.24(not counting the savings on the dishwasher detergent that was on clearance). So far from the 8/29 newspaper I have now saved $34 in coupons for a net savings of $21.07 after what I paid for the newspapers.

So starts a new way to budget...

I was looking online at crown financial and decided it's time to get the debt paid off. So that led to trying to figure out how to control our monthly spending. Using the cash envelopes isn't an option for us because we use Amex and pay it off monthly. So I came up with dividing what we have budgeted for the Amex into different categories.

I am using a coupon file pocket and have my budget divided into eating out, groceries/household, cat stuff, gas, school stuff/field trips, fast food(those days we are just too busy to eat at home), misc, newspaper and clothing/medical(since this is a category that isn't always the same each month I combined the two).

I gave myself a budget for each category and each category has a pocket and sticky note to keep a running total of what I have left in each category. I also keep all my receipts for the month so we can see what we are spending our money on.

I also went thru Sam's club the other day and wrote down the prices and sizes of the things we usually buy there so I can compare it to sale prices at the grocery stores and see if sales + coupons= a better deal than Sam's.

Coupon Binder

So after looking around at different ways to organize coupons I decided to go with the Coupon Binder idea. So here is what I came up with I used The Krazy Coupon Lady as my starting point. So here is the pile I started with, a binder, sheet protectors, dividers and the 9 card protector pages.

The inside of my binder, yes it's actually 2 separate three ring binders inside, thinking this will make it easier to find coupons I HOPE!!!

The left side of the binder where I will keep the current weekly ads.

How I have my coupons organized. Yes no coupons yet I just started up again and haven't had a chance to get a Sunday paper yet:) by Sunday night this will actually have coupons in it. I have 36 different categories

Page with all my frequent shopper cards :)

I print my weekly lists from www.practicalsaver.com So each store goes in a page protector with the coupons for that store. I also highlight the items I plan to buy.

Our first try at muffin tin lunches.

goldfish, yogurt, blueberries, grapes, pbj and chocolate chip bunnies

Pics from the June trip to Emerald Cove RV Resort

Pics from the trip to Phx

We stayed at Legacy Golf Resort July 5-9

What is it w/ appliances and stuff dying lately??

Yesterday I discovered that my bathroom scale and the food processor were dead. The food processor had been killed by Ben! He broke the plastic piece off that locked it in place and made it turn on. Then today I'm sitting back in the bedroom eating my lunch and hear "OH CRAP!!!" come from the livingroom. Go running out to hear this hissing sound, Dan had hit the line in the compact fridge with his knife while trying to remove ice. So that was the end of my almost 15 yr old fridge from college days.

So off to Sears with me to buy a new compact fridge. Thankfully they had one in stock so we once again have a working beer/soda fridge. I also got myself a new bathroom scale at Target this afternoon. With doing weight watchers I need to be able to do weigh ins. NOw to order a food processor from overstock.com :)

Wow I forgot about this blog!!! guess it's time for an update

Lots has happened since my last post!!! But think we'll just start with what going on now. We just spent 5 days in Phoenix this last week. Kayleigh had eye surgery on Tue. Then Kay, Kat and Ben had Shriner's check up appts Friday afternoon. Everyone is doing good according to Dr Santora :)

I am also starting down the path to eating healthier, getting more active and getting this weight off. This is day one :) My motivation is potential health problems when you are overweight.