Traveling Cheap

This is basically all I will see tomorrow. I have to agree with the photographer's comment that the drive from VA to FL is basically this dull. It's an incredibly long road but at least we don't get lost!

While driving is certainly cheaper then flying there are still expenses. Like gas - who budgets for filling up their car three times in one day? Or food - eating out 3 times in one day!

Rarely are these types of expenses avoidable but this time around I am determined to spend $100 or less to get all the way to FL with 5 kids.

Sound impossible? I've done a little bit of planning to make it so:

1. $50 in gas cards from the Harris Teeter promotion - a whole tank free!

2. $25 in gas cards from my bank after redeeming some rewards points - love this! For every 3,000 points I can get a $25 gift card and since this is not a credit card I never have to worry about not paying it off - free money :)

3. Bought the kids breakfast at the store using $10 store coupon - free muffins.

4. Printed my KFC coupons which means a free meal for both Kirk and I at lunch or dinner leaving us with one full price meal for the day.

Only having to purchase 1 tank of gas (already budgeted) and minimal food should help me reach my goal.

This is good for me - it really is! Last trip I didn't give the cost of the trip a second thought. This time around I'm thinking carefully as to what I spend and on what I spend it on. After all, the less I spend while on the road the more I have to spend while on vacation!

And speaking of that I will be offline for a few days as I travel to FL and then to CO for a writer's conference.

Cherie has promised she will post in my absence so look forward to her posts next week and when I get back to FL from CO (confusing right?) I will be introducing my mom to the Grocery Game and spending less to feed me, my kids and my parents!! Looking forward to challenge - stay tuned...

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Specials Today!

There seem to be a few specials going on today so I figured I'd go ahead and share so you don't miss out. Maybe you've already heard from a few others blogs but if not check these out.

Free tea at Arby's today ONLY! Check out:

Frugal in Virginia for details.

And KFC is giving away free meals as well - you can print a good two to four coupons per printer if you go back. I'm out of paper so I don't know for 100% sure yet but trust me I'm buying paper to print my coupons today!!

Check out:

Moneywise Moms for details

Enjoy all the free food and let me know if you hear of more!!

Stamp Out Hunger

This Saturday is Stamp Out Hunger day. First contact your local post office to see if they are participating. If they are leave a bag of non-perishable, unexpired (no glass jars) next to your mailbox and your mail carrier will pick it up and deliver it to a local food bank. I love when places come to me :) I hope you will participate!

Safeway Trip - Again With The Issues

I think the Safeway blinkie machine hates me - it really does. Why do my coupons not print? By a major miracle I received my $10 and $2 coupon from my transaction last week. The Catalina people were very nice and agreed that I should have received my coupon. I was hoping against hope that it would print this time. Apparantly I should have followed a readers advice and returned my items and gotten my coupons back.

Doesn't matter - the promotion ends tomorrow and I got basically all that I wanted that I had coupons for. Of course, I can always use more free stuff but I guess everything else will have to wait.

Here's what I got:



I spent: $8.84
And saved: $30.45

I should've received a $10 coupon and I thought I would also get $2 off my chocolate purchase but that didn't happen either - aagh! It's possible that that promotion was not running in my area but still the chocolate should have qualified for the LWFG promotion. Hopefully I did qualify and then Kirk will have $10 worth of free groceries while I am gone to FL. I still have to feed him after all :)

And they were out of Deer Park water - I had a rough night!!

Coupons used:

Hershey's dark - $1.00 off one (S 4/19)
Ronzoni Smart Taste - $1.00 off two (S 4/5)
Lysol Disinfecting Wipes - $1.00 off one (S 4/26)
Softsoap Body Wash - $0.75 off one (doubled to $1.50) from here.

Coupons Make The Difference

There are many days that I wonder if coupons are making a difference in my actual total. I mean, I buy a lot of things on sale and it's sometimes hard to tell what my coupon savings are versus my VIC card savings. It says on my receipt I know but still I wonder if it makes a difference.

Well, tonight I am quite sure that the coupons saved me a lot! Of course, triple coupons do help quite a bit. Tonight my VIC savings was only $29.49 - not bad and a year ago, even six months ago that would have been acceptable but not anymore.

Here's what I got:



I spent: $37.15
And saved: $88.89 - and even if you're not a math geek you can clearly see that's more then twice my VIC savings so using coupons I took an additional $51.74 off my bill! I used a $20 store coupon and the rest was manufacturers coupons - some $1.00 off and other triple coupons. The point is with just a little bit of coupon clipping I saved more then $30!

Ortega products were my best deals - using six $0.75 off two coupons from S 4/19 that tripled making the salsa $0.75 for 2 and the refried beans and seasoning mix free! I do like free :)

Kellogg's cereal was also a great deal - they were buy one get one free - normally $3.65 a box - down to $1.83 a box - I then used $1.00 off each box coupons from coupons.com making each box $0.83! Sweet - even if I do have a lot of cereal already.

I also used triple coupons on kids yogurt - we go through quite a bit of it so even if it wasn't on sale it was still a good deal!

Want to be inspired even more?

Check this blog out - just proof I have even more savings work to do to feed my large family!





Check out her savings and spending on her side bar - it's amazing! Maybe by the end of the year I'll have that figured out and do even better :)

Thoughts From A Grocery Game Newbie

Given my fabolous results using the Grocery Game and the true ease of following her list as opposed to scouring blogs or doing it myself I have been thrilled to share my news and savings with you and of course, my good friends!

One friend signed up right away and has been saving ever since but another friend was much more skeptical. Neither of them has triplets but my friend, Kristy gets about as close as a person with singletons can get! Her oldest son turns 3 at the end of this month, her 2nd son is 1 1/2 and her third son was born at just over 28 weeks last December. After 67 days in the NICU he is home and thriving.

Now that Kristy can once again leave the house (she's been confined at home during RSV season) she has decided to take the Grocery Game plunge.

Here are her thoughts:

I never knew what I was missing. My friends Joanna and Dorinda have spent nearly a year talking about this grocery game nonsense and I always dismissed it.

My excuses: I don't have time to mess with it. I do use coupons occasionally. I do buy what's on sale. I''m not afraid of generic brand food. I'm on a very tight budget so I can't be using my grocery cash on "stockpiling" food. I need food for meals each week! (By the way, I HIGHLY recommend using a cash system to stay on budget...)

Then I tried it.

I'm hooked.

First time: I spent $26.95 and I saved $53.93.
Second time: I spent $36.15 and I saved $66.85.

It was amazing (and a bit nerve wracking) to watch my total go up around $100 and then with every bleep of the scanner it went right back down. I left with an almost nervous giddiness. Did I really just get away with that?

So, I'm still no pro, but I'm learning a few things as a beginner:

1. Concentrate. Let's face it, I've got major mommy-brain. I can't take any of my kids with me and I have to take my time. I've always been one to go to the store and stick to my list and track what I'm spending, but reading the fine print on the grocery shelf and the coupons takes a little extra brain power.

2. Be flexible. The store may be out of stock on a sale item (yay for rainchecks). So, I need some wiggle room in my meal plan (stockpiling will help this). Also, my coupon or my local store's sale may not be for the same amount as the list says, so I can't plan to the exact dollar.

3. Be patient. It's hard to check the list and see a great deal that I can't have. What I mean is I've only been gathering coupons for a few weeks, so when the list says to use a coupon from March 5th, I just have to skip over it. I also have a long way to go before I am stocked up. I don't have a single juice box in my house right now. But just ask Dorinda how many she has...and what's better--ask her how much she spent on them!

Now, if I could just figure out how to get some more Enfamil coupons...

For more on Kristy's life with 3 boys under 3 visit: The Shepherd Times

Finding Freedom Friday and Month End Recap

Since Finding Freedom Friday is about our 2009 goals I figured I'd just combine the two into one.



How did the month of April go for you?

I think I didn't do as great this month as last. No credit card usage which is great but I do think we overspent in categories and May will be just as hard with lots of traveling.

Goals for 2009 were:

1. Spend $100 or less on groceries. I didn't pay attention as much on a weekly basis but kept track for the month. I did go a tad over in the grocery budget - budget is $500 - spent $517 including a BJ's trip. Lots of coupons kept bringing me back! I had planned to only go to HT for the month but couldn't resist the Safeway deals.

Side note on Safeway - talked to corporate and I was supposed to have gotten $12 back on my last trip - they are mailing me my coupons but they won't arrive in time for me to use them on the current promotion so I can either go back and start over or just move on and let it go :) Mostly depends on how well I do with triple coupons at HT.

Side note on HT - thanks to a reader I was alerted that Teri put the list up early at the Grocery Game so head over there before you head to HT. She did promise to put up an updated list on Sunday. Since we're heading out of town soon for a while I need less and will just focus on the best deals.

2. Pay $10 or less for dinner. Again I didn't pay as much attention this month because I didn't have to buy much for my dinners. One week only $4 of my weekly grocery budget went to making my actual dinner so that was slightly harder to calculate. Basically I'd say this goal is met since I have so much stocked up cheaply that I'm really not paying much at all for meals.

3. Pay down debt. Still working on it - essentially not adding to it is the best way to pay it down! Paying for my writing trip to Colorado in cash - it's been tough but the Lord has provided the funds in multiple ways and that has been so cool. Once I get back from my long trip I will begin selling off stuff to pay more off. The big key is not to get in any more debt while I'm gone!

4. Continue to buy brand name clothes but pay cash. Still doing this! I'm also finding that lots of places are more expensive then Gymboree - the coupons and deals there are too good to pass up. I did find a few good deals at a consignment sale this month - got a brand new Gymboree shirt for Caleb for $4 but otherwise great deals there have been hard to come by. Instead I'll be using the money made on my own sales to buy clothes from Gymboree. Using stuff I have to buy the stuff I need is the best kind of recycling around!

5. No more credit cards. Check!

I hope you have a wonderful May and come out financially stronger then you went in! The beauty of the changing months is like the changing years - you can start over - wipe the slate clean.

I'd say the number one thing that keeps me going is that if I screw up today doesn't mean I've screwed up forever. I can start over and that's okay. What's not okay is falling off the wagon completely.