Saturday, June 13, 2009

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $62.74

This week was an interesting week of shopping in two different ways! First, there was several items that I had to get rainchecks for because they were out of stock when I did my shopping. Secondly, I managed to save $62.74 without using even ONE coupon! I had coupons to use but those were for those items that were out of stock. I also had coupons for a few other sale items but decided to use some self-control and decided not to purchase the items this week because we had something similiar already stacked on the pantry shelves at home.

Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to stick to a $100 weekly budget for everything that I need to run the household(food, cleaners, etc.) and this week I ended up only $7.18 over $100!! I am sooo excited that I have been able to knock my weekly total down to around the $100 mark rather than $150-$160 mark!

So without further ado, here is a breakdown of the purchases I made this week:

Family Fare(1st trip):
  • 2 gallons milk $5.98
  • 2 bottles apple juice $3.34
Total OOP: $9.32
Total Savings: $1.04
Total without sales and coupons: $10.36

Family Fare(2nd trip):
  • 3 bags chips: $7.00
  • 4 boxes mac & cheese $2.40
  • 9lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts & tenders $14.94
  • 2 lbs stick margarine $1.50
  • 2-56oz containers ice cream $3.94
  • 2 pkgs. smoky links $4.00
  • 1 lb deli turkey breast $3.08
  • 2 dozen eggs $1.96
  • 1/2 gallon buttermilk $2.59
  • 5 Faygo 2 liters $3.95(with deposit)
  • 1 head lettuce 69¢
  • 1.21lbs zucchini/yellow squash $1.20
  • 3 lbs bananas $1.77
  • 1.85lbs cherries $3.68
Total OOP: $52.70
Total Savings: $42.61
Total without sales & coupons: $95.31

Meijer:
  • 11.74lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $23.34
  • 5 pkgs brown & serve sausage $5.00
  • 2 gallons milk $3.96
  • 10 lbs potatoes $3.69
  • 2 lbs shredded hashbrowns $4.67
  • 1 family pack bag chicken nuggets $4.50
Total OOP: $45.16
Total Savings: $19.09
Total without sales & coupons: $64.25

Grand Total OOP: $107.18
Grand Total Savings: $62.74
Grand Total without sales & coupons: $169.92

Friday, June 12, 2009

Awards, Awards, Oh My!

I have been sooo bad! I haven't taken the time to acknowledge that I have been blessed with TWO different awards by TWO wonderful bloggy friends over the course of the last couple of months! Thank you to the ladies who gave me these awards!


The first award is the Kreativ Blog Award given to me by Momtofivekids over at My Life and Homeschooling! There are instructions with this award that I am to list 7 things that I am thankful for and then list 7 blogs that I love.

The 7 things I am thankful for:
  1. God
  2. My Hubby
  3. My 5 children
  4. My parents
  5. My church
  6. Godly friends
  7. my hubby's job---this is something definitely to be thankful for with living in MI.

The second award I received is the Lovely Blog Award from Ashley over at Get Groceries Free. There are instructions with this award too! I am to pass it on to 15 blogs that I have newly discovered and have been reading who I feel deserve the award.

Now the hard part...listing blogs!! I am going to combine the lists for the two awards so the blogs I list can choose to accept both awards! Several of the blogs I have just found over the last few months while the others are blogs that I read on a weekly(sometimes daily) basis!

And the blog awards go to:

I want to take the time to publicly thank these seven ladies for their blogs! I love reading their blogs and reading their posts that they write from the heart! They are an inspiration to me!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Repurposing Items

I love being able to use something for other than its intended purpose and it work! Our house has 3 bedrooms and in each bedroom there is a small closet(the master bedroom has the smallest one!!!--no walk in closets here!). In an effort to use the closet space effectively, I have repurposed a few things rather than getting rid of the items.




Instead of doing some built in shelves at the kids level, we bought a 2 shelf bookcase to stick in their closets for them to keep their books on rather than on the floor or where little hands could get to them. I did some decluttering recently of these bookshelves and found that the shelves were bare. So I decided that instead of keeping them bare I would put the kids' sweatshirts and sweaters on a shelf so that they could reach them and wear them. While they are still able to keep books on another shelf. The top shelf is where they keep their Bibles and their baseball gloves. Using the bookshelves has really helped to organize the closet!



The other repurposed item in my kids' closets are file crates or milk crates. These crates fit just perfectly in the little corner of their closets and has become their dirty clothes hamper. Using these has helped the issues of having clothes all over the floor either in their closet or in their room. It also has helped the ones that have the responsibility of collecting the dirty laundry know what is dirty and what is clean clothes!

Repurposing the bookshelves and the file crates have made my life easier and works for me!

What is something that you have repurposed to make life easier for you and your family?

This post is linked at:


**originally posted in February, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Peanut Butter Freezer Bars

Right now in the Midwest we are enjoying comfortable temperatures that do not require us to turn on the air conditioning. However, it only lasts as comfortable until you need to turn on the oven to cook or bake. Then in order to bake or cook with the oven you have to turn on the air conditioning just to survive the extra warmth. Instead of turning on the oven to bake treats for my kids, I turn to my selection of no bake delights to keep up with the sweet tooth until the cooler weather/snow arrives back in town.

Here is a recipe for one of those no bake delights that mixes my two favorite things---chocolate and peanut butter! Sorry I don't have a picture of this creation!

Peanut Butter Freezer Bars

1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 package(4 serving size) instant chocolate pudding
12 graham crackers

  1. Mix milk and peanut butter together in a mixing bowl.
  2. Add pudding to peanut butter/milk mixture. Stir mixture until smooth.
  3. Spread a thick layer of pudding on a graham cracker. Top with another graham cracker.
  4. Put crackers into a covered dish. Place dish in freezer.
Makes 6 bars.

Notes: This recipe is very easy to make a double or triple batch of bars. The last in the freezer for several weeks before the graham crackers start to go soggy. I have used several flavors(oreo, devil's food, chocolate fudge, & vanilla) of instant pudding to make this delight.

Wanting to add some more variety to your no bake dessert selection??

How about trying some of my other no bake desserts:
  1. Banana Pops
  2. Lemonade Ice Cream Sandwiches
  3. Peanut Butter Toffee
  4. No Bake Cheesecake
  5. Layered Pudding Cups
  6. No Bake Cool Whip Pudding Pie
  7. Haystacks
I am always on the look-out for other no-bake easy desserts (something other than ice cream sundaes or popsicles) for the warmer months! What are your favorite, easy, summer time desserts??

This post is linked at:

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Menu Plan Monday 6/7-6/13


Last week's menu plan went pretty smoothly! I did have to get “take out” on Saturday night because we were busy all day and nothing was started in the crockpot. However, we were at my parents’ house unloading some sand on their property and were treated by them to Wendy’s.

For this week’s shopping trip, I stayed under my $100 budget. I purchased milk, eggs, fruit and then some deals that were not easy to pass up.

This week’s menus are cleaning out the freezer and pantry meals! It is the week before payday on the 15th so it is time to stretch what is on hand rather than do more shopping.

For this week, lunches listed are for the kids and I except for Monday! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water. Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 400 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie’s site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists!


Sunday (6-7)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage or steak, hash browns, and jiffy muffins (boxed)

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: skillet chicken gravy served with rice and green peas

Snack: snack basket

Monday (6-8)

Breakfast: “your choice”—due to an 8:30 appt

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: roasted pork loin served with mashed potatoes & gravy, and corn

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (6-9)

Breakfast: waffles and sausage

Lunch: spaghetti (leftovers)

Dinner: cube steak or hotdogs served with mac & cheese and green beans

Snack: cookies & milk

Wednesday (6-10)

Breakfast: French Toast (from freezer)

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: beef gravy served with egg noodles and green peas

Snack: snack basket


Thursday (6-11)

Breakfast: Pancakes (from freezer)

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: roasted chicken breasts & drums served with rice & gravy and corn

Snack: snack basket

Friday (6-12)

Breakfast: cereal and toast

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: ???-- looking for inspiration

Snack: ice cream night

Saturday (6-13)

Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”

Lunch: ???

Dinner: ???-- looking for inspiration

Snack: snack basket or popcorn