Grocery Challenge

Not an amazing shopping day, but a few necessities that I really needed.  $18.46.  Wow, milk and juice really kick it to the budget.

Menu Plan Monday

Didn’t we just have a Monday? I guess that’s what a holiday can do for you, help you lose track of time. For me, it was a good thing; I had a very relaxing Thanksgiving with my family.


But now, it’s time to get back to the old grind.

Monday: Ham, green beans, baked potatoes and flavored rice

Tuesday: Sitter night, if I have time to get a frozen pizza before then, it will be pizza, otherwise leftovers.

Wednesday: Biscuits and gravy

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Grill

Sunday: 1st Sunday potluck at church. Still deciding what to bring.

Menu Plan Monday and Grocery Challenge

I’m not really making a set menu plan this weekend because of Thanksgiving, and also trying to really cut down the grocery shopping this week as well. Unless some really great sales come up on the midweek ads then I might not do any grocery shopping at all!


Wish me luck!

freebie in the mail

I got a freebie in the mail this weekend.  I love free stuff!

The blog I got today’s Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken  recipe said “Seriously. Go to the store. This is what's for dinner.” Let me tell you as well. Go to the store if you don’t have the ingredients and make this chicken.

Munchkin number 1 who is the world’s pickiest eater asked me if I would be able to make this again, I don't think he realized you can get frozen chicken breasts pretty much anywhere.  It was followed by “Mom you’re the best cook.” and in response to my thank you, "you deserve it Mom."  I think that was a pretty emphatic liking of this recipe.



Serve it over rice and make sure and spoon some of the sweet juicy stuff over your rice as well. Yummmmmmmmm.

Grocery Challenge

Okay, could I have blown my budget any worse this week? And it’s only Tuesday.


First stop was Walmart where I spent $10.62. I had to stock up on band aids since munchkin number two ripped a toenail off, usually I wouldn’t be buying quite so many unless they were on super sale to stock up. I also have to get the latex free kind for his latex allergy. All in all not a bad trip to Walmart, and now I’m ready to make some Chex mix!

Next stop was Gerbes. Super great shopping trip IMO. I spent $17.08 and had $18.44 in savings. Can’t beat that. The best deal was the cereal for $0.50 a box. Just about everything else was on a 10 for $10 sale and I had coupons for the mandarin oranges.

I probably should’ve stopped there and be great, but no, I had to go to the new HyVee store. I did get the pasta for $1 a box which is good, and the chocolate chips were on sale plus a coupon and a great deal since we love baking cookies around here. Okay, so I love baking cookies and everyone else loves eating cookies. It’s not pictured, but if you know me, you know I’m addicted to Cherry Coke. I have made the sacrifice of moving to the Cherry Coke Zero and it was on sale for 4 12packs for $10. So I HAD to stock up you know. They also had another grand opening deal for buy a ham and get a turkey free(also not pictured). The ham itself was $20, but it will feed us for quite a while and I got a free turkey that was worth $8.90. I spent (hanging head in shame) $39.96.

My grand total is $67.66. If it wasn’t for buying the Cherry Coke and the ham and free turkey I would’ve been fine, but I just couldn’t pass up such a deal. Okay, now I can’t buy anything next week. Which is okay since I won’t be doing much cooking for the week I shouldn’t need much. I just have to not look at the sale ads and realize how many deals I can stock up on.

Menu Plan Monday

It's Menu Plan Monday time again.  I did pretty good last week, switched around  couple of days because of deer hunting and other misc. stuff.  We have a little bit busier week this week with cub scouts and working up more of hubbies deer for the freezer that it will be a little more of an easy prep week.

Monday: Pancakes ( my boys love breakfast for dinner, and so do I)
Tuesday: Sitter night - Frozen pizza (scouts)
Wednesday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken & rice (scouts)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes & green beans (scrapbook night, feed the fam and run!!!)
Saturday: Hubby will be hunting again, so leftovers, sandwiches or hotdogs
Sunday: grilled deer while we finish processing and freezing our bountiful deer harvest.

What are you meal plans for the week?

Grocery Challenge

Okay, I didn’t make it staying under $30 for the week, which is okay since this is my first week and I’m not sure yet if $30 or $40 a week is going to be a more doable goal for my family. After my trip to Schnucks this morning to get a couple of super cheap things, and a couple of things I just needed anyway, I ended my grocery shopping week spending $41.28. Not too bad I think. I’ll see if I can shave the $1.28 off of next week’s shopping.


There were a few good sale and coupon combos this week, Sundays being the best, but not as many as I’ve seen some weeks.

On today’s trip, I needed potatoes for my soup for All Deer’s Eve tomorrow night, so I HAD to buy those. The two cans of dole fruit I got for $0.05 each, the Cheerios were $1.00 a box, the Progresso Broth was $0.50 and the noodle meals were on sale for $0.75, with $1.00 off in coupons I made $0.25 on each of those!! I spent a grand total of $17.12 on this trip.

Okay, pretend there are two boxes of granola bars. I had already opened one box and emptied it in the snack tub when I realized I hadn’t taken a picture yet. I got these both for no out of pocket cost. I had a $5 gift card left over from the Glade holiday candle deal that I used and still have some left for my next shopping trip.

I almost lost my coupon binder. I think I started to hyperventilate, that thing is my grocery lifeline. Maybe I can blame my husband; we went to Wal-Mart after date night because he needed a few things for hunting. I brought in my binder because you never know if something he’ll decide he needs I happen to have a coupon for. My first mistake was letting him push the cart out to the car. It messed up my routine and it got left in the cart. I called today and they had it at the customer service desk. I was so relieved.

Grocery Challenge

I needed milk, flour was on sale and I had coupons, as well as the Hormel Completes so I snagged one more to send with Hubby to work.  Grocery total = $8.31, saving $2.00 with coupons, which puts me up to $24.16 total.  I still need some granola bars, but they're cheaper right now at Target, so I'll pick those up tonight while out to eat with hubby for sitter night and our "Parent/Teacher conference"  ;o)  I love homeschooling.

$30 Grocery Challenge

Some may think that using coupons for groceries isn’t a simplifying thing. Yes, it does take a little extra time to cut out and organize the coupons, but for me, it is very worth it. Seeing that number on the bottom that tells you how much money you’ve saved gives me such a thrill. I follow several couponing and money saving blogs and have learned a lot about how to get the most out of the money I spend.


One blog I’ve recently found is $30 Weekly Gorcery Challenge.  I’ve decided to try this myself. I’m not sure I can do $30 a week for groceries but maybe I can. I’m going to try to stick to $30 but I’m going to give myself up to $40 for awhile until I get a better stockpile. The trick, from what I’ve noticed, is to buy a ton of something when it is on sale and with a coupon and store it until you need it.

Sunday I went to Schnucks and I am so in love with their double coupons. I spent $24.85 and it says that I saved $17.40 in coupons. Woo Hoo!! And, the best part is, that $9 of that is for Christmas presents (the coffee) so it doesn’t count toward my grocery challenge, leaving me with having spent $15.85.

I had several $0.50 off 1 coupons for the steamers, so with doubling and the 10 for $10 sale, they were FREE!  The only things I didn't have coupons for was the butter and applesauce which I was out of and needed to buy anyway.  The steamers will most likely go with hubby since he works in another city during the week.  They  make for a very easy side that he can do in the microwave.

The challenge is, I need to buy a couple of toiletry items that I haven’t found on sale anywhere recently, so hopefully I won’t blow my budget on those things. As well as munchkin #2 having eaten all the granola bars during the night because the side effect of the medicine we’re now weaning him off of caused him to crave carbs and get up in the night to eat. Eating 7 granola bars in one night really puts a hit on my granola bar stock.

Menu plan monday

I'm trying to keep up with my menu planning so I'm starting to do  I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday   Having a husband that works in a different city might make my menu planning a little different.  I end up with quite a few leftover days most weeks.  I'm trying to do more cooking and freezing extra to have ready for doctor appointment days and other days that are busier than usual, as well as single serving portions to send with hubby to work.

Monday: Biscuits and gravy

Tuesday: Sitter night so frozen pizza for the munchkins and dinner date for Mommy and Daddy!!!

Wednesday: Grill deer steaks. Homemade mac & cheese, Green beans.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: All Deers Eve.  This is an annual night before deer season pot luck party at a friend's house.  I don't know what I'm making yet, depends on when I hear back from the hostess of what is needed.

Saturday:  Leftovers because Daddy will be hunting and hopefully that night we'll be processing deer.

Sunday: Hoping for fresh deer loin to grill, or leftovers if we're still processing.

Lisa, who is really bummed that the new blogger doesn't have spell check.

Hanging my head in shame

Yes, I am ashamed. I started this blog to help keep me accountable at my quest for a simpler life and I haven't posted in months.

Bad, blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

I'm trying to get this into a good habit and to help journal my journey. I haven't done terrible at getting the house ready to show. Okay, not necessarily good either. I'm into the last minute stuff things in the van and do a quick clean before a showing game. I don't like that game. Really I don't, but housework just does nothing for me. I could care less about doing the cleaning. I like a clean environment but I don't like to clean.

So, I'm working on it. I've tried several different plans in the past and just haven't found one that I can seem to keep up with. I've tried assigning each room a day and that day my job is to do whatever in that room that needs done. I've also tried giving myself a chore list for each day with each specific chore listed that I need to check off when its done. Nothing sticks.

Okay, while I really want to just surf the web and read other blogs about housekeeping. I really should do something productive first. After I accomplish something, I'm going to start a weekly menu plan Monday post as well as to document my cheap grocery shopping that I've been doing lately. I love saving money. ;o)

Lisa