Saving money Spring Break edition

What a great week to be off from work!  We still managed to have fun while saving money all week!

-Made several batches of baby food to freeze up

-Made pancakes and breakfast muffins to last the next two weeks

-Made a batch of laundry soap

-Worked up the courage to cut my own bangs!

-Spent a total of $12 for Easter basket goodies.  Used materials on hand to make felt gifts for the kids.

- Took the kids and one of our cousins to Springs Preserve, which was free with our membership.  Packed a picnic lunch.  Enjoyed an animal show, playing at the playground, and going through one of the museums.

-We had another cousin over to play and made playdough and chocolate chip cookies.

-Went to lunch at Chuck E. Cheese's one day with a gift card we had and coupon so it cost $1.65!

- Used a loaf of french bread that was going to go bad soon and made french toast and homemade croutons with it.

-My hubby took a day off this week to get the walls textured in Austin's room and we had some family over to help paint one night.  My inlaws gave us Ryan's old bed and he sanded it and repainted it.  We just need a box spring and we already have a mattress.  The carpet should be installed this week and then Austin can move back in!

Back to reality on Monday!  I hope everyone had a fun and safe Spring Break and blessed Easter Sunday!

Easter weekend shopping!

Great deals for Easter weekend!

Spent $31.17 at Winco on the basics for the week.  Minute Maid OJ half gallons were on sale for $1.78, apples 88 cents a pound, and packs of 3 romaine hearts for $1.98.

Had some coupons valid at Walmart that I could use with a price match sale from Smith's so I got several boxes of Capri Sun for $1.29, Gogurts 99 cents and then used some other coupons to get formula and makeup for $5 off.

Lowe's had 6 packs of annuals for $3 so we got 2 and potted them in our cute planter at home!

Saving money this week, March 24

It's Spring Break!!!!!!  
We had some busy evenings last week, so unfortunately we had a McDonald's night and a Panda Express night, so didn't save so much there.  However, I plan on cooking all week while I'm off so we can balance things back out.

My savings this week included:
Made baby food peas (48 servings for $1.98) and baby food carrots (30 servings for 88 cents)

Made french bread (these were my best loaves yet)

Don't these look delish?

Made homemade granola bars

Made homemade dishwasher detergent (equal parts borax and baking soda)

Worked on homemade Easter gifts for my kids (felt finger puppets and little felt stuffed animals), will post pics when completed!  

Spent very little on Easter basket fillers for the kids, mainly purchasing consumable items except for my handmade gifts.  

A girl from church babysat our children for free as a service so Ryan and I could go to the Temple this week.

Best shopping week yet! March 23rd

I love getting free stuff!

Got a coupon in the mail for a free Schick Hydro Shaver.  Who cares that it is for men, it's still great!  (My hubby uses an electric one so this is for me).  The coupon was for up to a value of $10.99.  Bought it at Target and also got baby formula there.  The shaver was on sale for $8.39 but they still took the $10.99 off. Add to that my $15 in Target gift cards from last week's promos, so I got my $24 Enfamil for $7!!!

Winco trip was finally under $40.  I had a few coupons and even bought quite a bit of produce so I could make extra baby food during Spring Break.  Grand total? $37!!  Apples 98 cents a pound, 2 lb carrots 88 cents, avocados 20 cents each.  I'm very happy with my shopping this week.

New Baby Survival Kit

I thought of this as a great gift idea when we brought our daughter home from the hospital and we had almost ran out of TP in our house!  Then I thought of other practical things that are good to have on hand and made up a little note to go with it.

New Baby Survival Kit

 Paper plates and plastic silverware

Who has time to do the dishes?

Emergency supply of toilet paper

Run out of this and you’re literally SOL!

Paper towels

To keep the house sort of clean!

Emergency supply of chocolate

 When things get sour, have something sweet!

Diapers

Can never have enough!

Congrats on your new bundle of joy! 

Saving money March 17

Saving where we could was important this week with the need for new clothes and shoes and expenses for the renovations.

We discovered that the exterior wall of Austin's room had some mold damage between two studs from a cracked roof tile that caused leaking during the insane monsoons we had last fall.  I kept the kids out of the house one evening while Ryan took care of the mold.  The missionaries in our ward also offered to help to put the dry wall up and we got the mold resistant kind. Hopefully we can do it right this time and prevent any future issues.

The night we had to be out of the house was the only night the kids and I ate out and we went to Chili's since I had a free kids meal coupon.

I waxed my own eyebrows and facial hair.  I combined trips to save on gas and didn't have to fill up this week!

After church today, we had leftovers from last night's dinner for lunch and then while the baby napped, I had about 3 hours to accomplish the following:

-Made four large loaves of french bread
-Prepared dinner for a family in our ward who just had a baby (I doubled the recipe and put half in fridge for our dinner tomorrow night)
-Made chocolate chip cookies, saved some for us, the rest for the family along with some salad and a loaf of french bread
-Pureed baby food peaches and applesauce

Shopping this week!

Target has several promos this month where if you buy 2 of select items, you get Target gift cards for $5-10.  So I was able to get two large refill packs of baby formula and two large packs of Pampers (that I will be using as baby gifts) and got $15 back in gift cards!  I remembered to turn on my Shopkick app so I earned points for stepping into the store.

I spent $47 this week at Winco.  They had boxes of cereal for 98 cents, but I didn't get any because the expiration was too close for my preference.  Red delicious apples were 78 cents a pound and they still had the brownie mixes for 68 cents.

Saturday, I went to Kohl's because my son and I both needed shoes for the warmer weather. I had a 20% off your total purchase coupon plus $15 off in other coupons.  Austin liked a pair of sandals that were already on sale and I fell in the love with the new Sketcher's Go Walk shoes. Then Austin saw orange and black Sketcher's sneakers that he loved and they were on sale for $30.  I spent $75 on all the shoes after all my discounts were applied saving over 50%.  Then I got $10 off bounce back coupon!

I sent the hubby out to Kohl's that afternoon and he had a separate $10 off and 20% off.  He is in major need of clothes since he has lost so much weight.  He got a new suit and white shirt for church, two pairs of jeans, Sketchers shoes, and some shorts and saved over $300.

Jackpot Savings March 10

Another crazy week for us but we still managed to save.

We went out to eat once this week as a family and I spent $4 on dinner at Costco food court with the kids on night when Ryan was out.  A good friend treated me to lunch on Friday and I spent $6 on lunch for Austin and I on Saturday.

I took the kids out on Saturday while Ryan and his dad worked more on the home renovations. We went to a craft show at my school.  We also went to Lowe's down the street for a little bit to the do the Build and Grow kid's project.  This is a FREE event that Lowe's puts on twice a month for kids to put together some sort of wood working kit.  This week it was a Monster Truck designed to look like a dog.  Austin loved it!  click here for their website to get more info.
We returned to the school for lunch and browsing.  I got some Mary Kay products on sale, a book for Austin, black and red headbands with bows for the baby, and cute polymer clay necklaces for both kids.  We watched some dancers perform and a magic show before the event was over.

I came very close to my weekly grocery and monthly Costco budgets!

I was able to give service to a boy scout in my church raising funds for his Eagle project by donating some small loaves of  french bread and choc-peanut butter rice krispie treats for his bake sale.

I made baby food sweet potatoes (20 servings for $1.33) and baby biscuits.

I made breakfast muffins and granola bars (I now have to make them every two weeks because we all love them) and I have finally mastered the perfect bar!

I made the decision to stay at my school next year.  I have the opportunity to sell my prep which will mean much more income for my family.

Winco and Costco deals this week

Costco's March coupons started March 7th.  I am vowing to go to Costco only once per month and limit my budget there to $150.  The coupons this month are great, just about everything I needed had a coupon.  Diet Pepsi 36 packs are $2 off making them $7.65 each, Bounce dryer sheets $1.75 off, Clear Care contact solution $3 off, Skinny Cow ice cream $2.50 off ($7.24 for 24 sandwiches), Dove shampoo and conditioner $2 off, Nestle chocolate chips $2.20 off.  I ended up spending $161 (over just a little) and had $27 in coupons tendered.

My Winco trip came to $42 this week.  I needed my weekly dairy, produce and misc items.  Some good deals I found were Maya's tortillas (white or whole wheat) 12 pack for 88 cents.  These are only 70 calories per tortilla so we love them!  Pillsbury brownie mix was 68 cents.  I bought 2 to have on hand to whip something quick for company.  Glad sandwich bags were $1.78 for 100 bags which was cheaper than Winco's  HyTop brand.  I go through sandwich bags often with my homemade snacks, so I bought a few to stock up since they weren't on coupon at Costco.

Biscuit Pizza

Used half a can a biscuits for a dinner and was trying to think of something to do with them.  So I flattened them and pressed in the bottom of a sprayed bread pan, covered with wrap and put them in the fridge thinking maybe I'd spread some cheese or something on them in the morning.  

Morning came, I was too tired to make breakfast, so when lunch came around, I looked in my fridge and saw some pepperoni and thought, easy pizza!

I preheated oven according to the biscuit instructions, spread some pasta sauce added a few pepperonis and shredded mozzarella and baked for about 10 minutes.  It ended up being a really delicious lunch!

Here's the recipe for a larger amount

Biscuit Pizzas

can of biscuits (Litefluff brand at Winco for 50 cents)

pasta sauce (1/4-1/2 cup depending on your preference)

pepperoni (I use turkey)

shredded mozzarella (2-4 oz)

Spray 8X8 pan, flatten each individual biscuit and press in pan having each biscuit just touch (about 8 biscuits should fill the pan), preheat oven to biscuit directions (usually 400), spoon pasta sauce over each biscuit.  Place 1-2 pepperonis and sprinkle shredded cheese on each biscuit.  Bake 8-12 min until cheese lightly brown and a little bubbly.

Jackpot of savings March 3rd

It was a busy week, but a good one!  We saved in many ways.

We did not eat out this week as a family.  I had a very rough Friday, so I went out with some work friends and treated myself to some buffalo chicken.  On Saturday night, we went as a family to Golden Spoon for frozen yogurt using the 2 for 1 text alert I received.  I shared with Austin and Ryan shared his a little with the baby so we were all happy and it was a gorgeous night!

Saturday, I took the kids to Austin's soccer meeting and packed a picnic lunch for us to enjoy at the park with a friend.  The soccer program is a non-profit (E-Soccer) and only cost us $30 which includes a team shirt and goes for 8 sessions.  While we were out, Ryan did the demo job on the master bath shower unit with some help from his dad.

After church on Sunday, I did my baking marathon.  I usually only spend about 3-4 hours including clean-up each week to tackle my list of baking tasks.  This week I accomplished the following:

-baby food pears and squash  ($1.34 and made about 26 servings of squash!)

-double batch of chocolate chip pancakes to freeze

-two large and four small loaves of french bread

-two loaves of whole wheat bread (finally made a loaf that baked right! LOL, whole wheat bread is much more difficult to master)  whole wheat bread recipe

-Apple Fruit Crumble to take to the in law's for Sunday dinner

Weekly shopping trip March 3rd

Went to Target to get baby formula with my $5 off coupon and $10 gift card.  While I was there, I saw cases of Huggies diapers on clearance for $26 which is lower per diaper than what I typically pay at Costco, so I took advantage of that!  If you shop frequently at Target, the Shopkick app gives you points whenever you simply enter certain stores and the points add up to gift cards.  I have forgotten twice to pull up the app when I walk in so I need to get better at remembering that.

I accomplished my under $40 goal at Winco by only spending $37.55 on all we needed for groceries this week.  There wasn't any great sales, but the 18 count eggs of $1.88 wasn't bad.  I got 36 cents off for my reusable bags and finally found some coupons worth printing from my coupons.com app which saved a total of $4.

Most coupons don't do me any good because most of what I buy at the store is dairy, produce, meat and baking items which rarely have coupons.  Austin got a treat this week as there was a good coupon for fruit snacks and the current sale price was low enough to be able to splurge!