Shopping Sales & Clearance Racks!

Here a couple of days ago, hubby and I went to Kohl's to return a pair of jammies that didn't fit the boy who Grandma intended them to fit. So we went and exchanged them for some lounge pants to go with what he already had and we did some other shopping!! BOY did we make out like a bandit!

Here is what we got....


outfit for daughter...girly sweatpants and a layered shirt. The short sleeve shirt part is a fuzzy fleece with a hoodie while the long shirt part is just a light weight knit. Brand new outfit for $16.50! Grandma had sent us $15 to spend!

2 outfits for youngest son...two long sleeve shirts and two pairs of jeans(no holes!). Total for those outfits $24.00! Grandma sent us $25 to spend! We also found him a pair of flip flops for next summer for 80¢!!! We grab two pairs of the flip flops because one pair we are going to put in our Operation Christmas Child Shoebox!

After getting those outfits, we also started checking the clearance racks and found shorts for the older boys!! These shorts were originally $22 a piece! However, six pairs were marked for $2.20 each and one pair was $6.40 and another pair $3.20!!! So 12 yo boy has 3 pairs of dress shorts, 10 yo boy has 3 pairs of dress shorts, and 8 yo boy has 2 pairs of dress shorts ALL for $22.80!!!

All total with tax everything was $68.79!!! So if you can get to Kohls and have the patience to check out their clearance racks where things are marked at 80% or 90% off!! You can score some brand new clothes at thrift store prices!!

Weekly Shopping Trip--Saved (approx) $113.22

After not going to the grocery store to do any major shopping over the last two weeks, I decided with it being "payday" today that I would do some restocking of my pantry and freezer! I went to FIVE different stores! However, I am once again stocked up for at least another TWO weeks! Some of the stockpile items that I picked up today are for my seasonal baking projects that I will be doing in the next month. One of my five stops was at Sam's, you can read the details here!

Also yesterday I took the time to break down my grocery budget so far for the year, you can see the "big picture" here!

First stop...Family Fare (I got LOTS of Manager's Special Meat today!)

• 1.83 lbs Sirloin Tip Breakfast Steaks $6.65
• 2.00 lbs Cube Steak $5.58
• 2.60 lbs Sirloin Tip Roast $8.17
• 2.28 lbs Thin Cut Pork Loin Chops $8.28
• 7.72 lbs Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts $15.36
• 4.32 lbs Ground Beef from Round $10.55
• 5.39 lbs Ground Beef from Chuck $12.03
• 1 bag of shredded lettuce $1.00
• 3 bags baby carrots $3.00
• 2.59 lbs butternut squash $1.30
• 2.11 lbs bananas $1.46

TOTAL: $73.38
SAVINGS TOTAL: 44.08

Next stop....Gordon Food Service(I get a 5% discount)

• 50 ct variety box of chips $9.44
• 30 ct box apple cider donuts $6.64
• 20 oz pumpkin pie spice $9.78
• 30 ct petite plain bagels $5.98
• 500 ct paper baking cups $3.79

Total: $35.86
SAVINGS TOTAL: $1.92(includes discount)

Next stop....Aldi's...

• 3 cans evaporated milk $2.07
• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk $2.78
• 6 cans cream of chicken soup $2.94
• 4 cans cream of mushroom soup $1.96
• 1 carton whipping cream $1.59
• 2 bags chopped pecans $4.98
• 1 bag chopped walnuts $2.99
• 2lbs carrots 99¢
• 1 head lettuce 99¢
• 3 jars marshmallow creme $2.85
• 1 bottle light corn syrup $1.69
• 3 dozen eggs $2.97

TOTAL: $28.80
SAVINGS TOTAL: LOTS! On my receipt it says that I got 28 items so if you divide that number with my total, my average cost per item was $1.03!!

Next stop.....Meijer...

1st transaction....

• 4 lbs stick margarine $2.84
• 4 boxes jiffy muffin mix $2.88
• 4 dozen eggs $3.96
• 2 boxes Jello pudding 62¢
• 1.03 lbs fresh catfish $4.85
• 1 bag 50/60ct shrimp $2.99
• 4 loaves bread $3.96
• 3 bags Birds Eye frozen veggies $2.00
• 4 lbs bacon $8.00
• 2 cont. country crock $3.90
• 2 bottles Juicy Juice $4.00
• 3 boxes Toaster Strudel $4.35
• 2 boxes Bagelfulls $2.00
• 2 boxes chicken nuggets $3.25
• 2 boxes Cinnamon Life $3.00
• 2 boxes Cap N Crunch $3.00
• 6 boxes 12 ct. Poptarts $12.00

Total: $67.60
SAVINGS TOTAL: $51.43(Meijer Promotions $2.00; Non-Coupon Savings $35.43; Coupon Savings $14.00)

2nd transaction....

• 2 boxes Jello Pudding 62¢
• 4 pkgs. hamburger buns $3.96
• 2 bags Birds Eye frozen veggies $1.67
• 2 boxes chicken nuggets $4.00

Total: $10.25
SAVINGS TOTAL: $15.79 (Non-Coupon savings $12.29; Coupon Savings $3.50)

GRAND TOTAL: $329.11
GRAND TOTAL OOP: $215.89
GRAND TOTAL SAVINGS: $113.22 (not including the savings of shopping at Aldis!)

For more savings stories head over to MoneySavingMom's Super Saturday Savings and Becentsable's Centsable Saving Stories.

Ten Months of Groceries!

Its the end of the month, so it is "payday" along with "pay bills day", which means I am working in my Quicken program crunching the numbers. Looking at where we are going for this next month and looking at where we can improve from what we spent last month.

Anyway, I like going and looking at our groceries category to see what was our final monthly total. Well today I decided to look at the big picture in the grocery category, in other words what have we spent for just food to feed my family of seven.

You have seen my weekly savings shopping posts with the totals so I thought I would take the time to give you a look at the big picture as well.

Here is the breakdown...

Grand Total spent on 10 months of food: $5,422.42
Monthly Average Total: $542.24
Average PER Day for 305 days: $17.78
Average PER meal(3 meals each day) for 7 people: $5.93

Now just for comparison, I went to the USDA's Food Plans that are published each month to see if my numbers would fall in their different plans. I decided to start with the "thrifty plan" and here is what I found...

They based their figures on the 2005 MyPyramid food intake recommendations. So looking at the charts and the fine print for a family of 7, I am to take the individual prices in the different age groups and subtract 10% off each amount. So I took the numbers in the "monthly thrifty plan" and did my adjustments and came up with a total of $854.82 for the month. Which figures out to $8548.20 for the 10 months! Average per day would be $28.03 and $9.34 per meal each day! I like my figures better! :)

I know that I have picky eaters who could care less about eating fruits and veggies, so I know that they probably don't get the daily recommended amount. However, I still have fruits & veggies available for consumption on a daily basis, even if it is mostly apples, grapes, carrots and corn!

Putting all the numbers aside, with my figures and shopping methods we have been able to keep up on a freezer and pantry stockpile! We have been able to share meals with others. We are just picky enough in our eating habits that we eat meat at every dinner meal but I keep the meals simple. We also don't do meatless or breakfast meals for dinner! We don't do a lot of processed foods, however, I do keep things like chicken nuggets and frozen fries on hand for quick meals. I make from scratch the majority of our snacks and sweet tooth longings.

I am sure that I could get my current monthly figure of $542.24 to be lower but with all the food price fluctuations recently I don't think I can do without some major changes in our eating habits.

So there you have the big picture of my grocery shopping! Just one side note, so far for non-food items(things like shampoo, body wash, laundry soap, fabric softener, stain remover, bathroom cleaners, toothpaste, etc), I have spent $956.31 for 10 months or $95.63 per month! That figure won't be changing too much because I did a lot of stockpiling at the beginning of the year when I was trying out the drug store shopping scene and found that type of shopping was not for me.

Frugal Friday--Homemade Trail Mix

We love homemade trail mix just about as much as the bags of Chex Mix that I get at the store for $1. Probably even more than the store bought because it is always an adventure for my kids as to what combination I have put together. I have found that I can make homemade trail mix for about the same price!

We do different combinations of trail mix depending on what types of things I have opened. I have found that when I have bags of crackers, pretzels, cereal and other things that are just about gone it makes it easy to combine those bags into one bowl for a trail mix. It makes those things stretch just a bit further and gets rid of those bags of things that isn't quite enough to feed everyone. The one pictured above has goldfish crackers, pretzel sticks, and fruity cheerios mixed together that I fed to the group of 9 kids that I had here about 2 weeks ago!

Some of the other combinations that we have done:

• Rice Chex, pretzels, Cheerios, M&Ms, goldfish crackers and peanuts
  
  


• Cheerios, goldfish crackers, chocolate teddy bears, and peanuts
  
  


• Cheez-its, Corn Chex, peanuts, and M&Ms
  
  


• Cheerios, goldfish crackers, honey teddy bears, smarties
  
  


• Cheerios, goldfish crackers, Froot Loops, pretzels, chocolate chips
  
  


• Popcorn, Cheerios, goldfish crackers, peanuts and M&Ms
  

You could add raisins or dried fruit to the above combinations. We don't like raisins or other dried fruits so those items don't make it into our homemade trail mixes.

I am looking for ideas for different combinations!! If you make your own trail mixes, what combinations do you do that are kid-friendly?

For other frugal tips, recipes and more; head over to Biblical Womanhood.

**reposting from earlier this month**

In Honor of My Birthday!

Earlier this week, Jaime-Thrifty in Cincy tagged me to do a 7 things about me blog post. So since today is my birthday, I thought I would celebrate things here by telling 7 things about me.

Here's the official rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven people, listing the links to their blogs.
4. Let the seven people know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So without further ado, my 7 things...

1. I love the mountains! For our honeymoon, hubby and I spent a week in the Gatlinburg, TN area! What beautiful country it is down there!

2. I love Mexican type foods. In my second year of high school Spanish class, we took a "field trip" to an authentic Mexican restaurant for lunch. What a treat!

3. I love working with disabled people. In high school, I took two week long mission trips to the Shepherd's Home in Wisconsin. Also, growing up my family was a foster family to over 40 disabled children. I also went on two missions trips in college to Jamaica to work on building a deaf village for the deaf.

4. I love Fall. If I had to choose for one season all year around I would choose Fall because of the colors and cooler temperatures.

5. I love to relax and work on puzzles rather than read a book.

6. I was able to do my student teaching with my 6th grade teacher, who was my favorite teacher going through school!

7. Other than leaving the state to go to college, I have lived in the same state and in the same city all my life! Through all those years, I have lived in each quadrant of the city!

There are my 7 things! Now to tag others...well I have decided that since it is my birthday, I am going to celebrate and break rule #3 by tagging NO ONE!! Everyone is off the hook this time!