Thursday, September 8, 2016

This Week's Shopping Trips

Well, this week so far has been a week of some severe ups and downs.

First the good!  My son's birthday was probably the best birthday we've ever had with him.  My husband and I went running around last week to the used stores to see what we could find for gifts for him and found a bunch of things to give.  I found a brand new oversized Minion throw still in the package for 5.00 (and they MEANT oversized.  That thing is as big as a twin sized blanket).  A Spongebob DVD with a couple of episodes we don't have for 1.00.  A large scale die cast Mack (from the movie "Cars") for 3.00 that was still new in the box.  Overall my son loved his birthday gifts and has been having a great time playing with them.  He also, for the first time EVER blew out his birthday candles (normally he just tries to grab them and we have to stop him from burning himself) and he also helped to open his gifts.  These were huge steps forward for him and I think Christmas might be a lot more fun as a result.  I'm very, very grateful at the progress he's made.

Now onto the bad. 

Right, say theoretically you screwed up on keeping track of finances.  And then other things happened.  That was me so far this week. 

First, I spaced a payment that was scheduled to come out of the checking account.  Now this is one of the Care Credit payments.  I KNOW it comes out the first week of the month.  Heck I'm the one who schedules it to come OUT of the checking account the first week of the month.  And yet, somehow, I forgot it was coming out this week.  This is, I'm like 99.9% sure the first time EVER that has ever happened to me.  I've been beating myself up pretty good about doing that.  I know I haven't slept in a good month or so more than an hour at a shot and I've been fielding sick husband and son the last little bit on top of everything, but MAN I can't believe I did that!  Just...ugh!!!!

Then my husband had to rush himself to the doctor yesterday as he was not being able to breath with his cold and was worried at one point he was going to pass out.  His cough had been bad over the weekend, so I knew no matter what we were going to have to pay for that as he needed it.  Luckily, after the doctor and the medicine there was enough money in the checking account to cover it all.  Just.  Why do these things always happen on short weeks?

I decided I needed to spend as little money this week as possible on groceries, so perusing the ads I decided that Carrs was definitely the place to go for groceries.  Luckily we didn't need much.  Unfortunately we also needed the usual processed overpriced stuff for my son.

But hey, here's how I got 10 containers of yogurt and two dozen eggs for free!

There is a deal this week where if you buy 10 Oikos yogurts, which are on sale for 10 for 10.00 (of varying types) you can get two freebies, mix and match, of a dozen eggs or a free container of orange juice.  I decided to get the eggs since that will go further for me, meal-wise, than orange juice will.  

I dug through my coupons knowing that I had a bunch of coupons that printed off at the register a while back for 1.00/2 Oikos yogurts and found that I had five of them that weren't expired.  So, I figured, if nothing else, a 5.00 investment and I'd get 10 yogurts and 2 dozen eggs.  When I got into the store, though, I ran by the clearance dairy as I figure they usually have reduced yogurt and maybe I could find some Oikos to make things even cheaper.  And I found TEN (well actually there were more like 30, but I only took ten) on 50% off (or .50 each :).  I used all five coupons to get the 10 yogurts for free and the computer automatically took off the eggs for free once it read 10 yogurts were bought.  So, I ended up getting 10 yogurts and 2 dozen eggs for free.  The yogurts will be going into lunches in the coming weeks and the eggs will be used for cheap dinners this week (sausage pattie and fried egg sandwiches are on the menu tonight) and baking. 

See, holding onto coupons that you don't think you'll ever use sometimes comes in REALLY handy.  I never would have bought Oikos yogurt at regular price as it's pretty spendy, but now thanks to coupons and reductions I have 10 for free.  Totally worth sitting on those coupons for a while!

I also got milk (2.99 on sale with in-ad coupon this week) and the usual soda and chips for the son.  All totaled I spent 24.32 on groceries this week.  Not terrible, especially since I had to buy overpriced processed stuff.  Now to wait for payday so I can breath a bit again. 

How about you?  How did you do this week?

8 comments:

  1. Don't you just love it when coupons and clearance / sales come together like that. You did good girl!

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  2. Reading about your son blowing out his birthday candles for the very first time just made my heart sing. What a moment for all of you. Incredible finds on the gifts and grocery shopping. I hope your husband is feeling better with the meds.

    Due to your high praises for "Mastering French Cooking" I ordered a nice used one and it arrived today. So far it looks incredible. Even with food sensitivities there's lots of things in there that I can adapt to make things interesting.

    Got up early and went to the meat sale today. It was incredible. Dorothy







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    1. Isn't it a great book? I'm super impressed with it and am looking forward to making the edible pod pea soup at some point in the future :).

      Happy to hear the meat sale went great! Hope you were able to fill the freezer cheap!

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  3. Happy Birthday to the little one. It sounds like you definitely pulled it off. I am impressed he was able to blow out his candles. I had one that liked to “spit” as he blew so no one else would want any cake.
    Don't beat yourself up for making a mistake with your bills that is why I like sharing my fails along with my successes. We all make mistakes.
    *So for this week I have harvested from the garden: tomatoes, okra, sugar beets & greens, peppers, lima beans, yard-long beans, green beans, white beans, 6 small watermelons (they were covered over by the sweet potato vines and lost to sight), and strawberries. I have some of the seeds planted for the fall garden but have mostly been spending my time watering or harvesting.
    *Stopped by the peach orchard and got 40 pounds of peaches @ $1.20 pound. They are the last for this year.
    *Went to the food auction and it was miserable. It hit 100 degrees and it was held outside in a building with a tin roof. What a long miserable afternoon, but I was able to purchase 80 pounds of apples @ $.65 lb and get 8 HUGE (size of small watermelons) cantaloupes @ $1.60. I wanted to get more but I knew it would be hard to get it all put up.
    *Son #2 came home from college for the holiday weekend and I loaded him up on food. I filled up his freezer with home cooked meals, bread, fresh peaches and apples, frozen raw milk, laundry powder...just about anything he wanted. I buy everything with coupons and on sale so I encourage my sons to help themselves to my pantry. They are hard workers and I want to help them in any way I can.
    *This past Saturday was half-price day at Goodwill so I sent Son #2 and Son #3 there to use up a $25 off coupon I had earned. They were looking for a microwave for Son #2's apartment but ended up buying all types of things they needed (wanted). Their arms were full when they got home and they ended up spending $2.00. They got so much and spent so little the lady at the register snarled at them! Son #3 (the sassy one) replied to her, “Why are you upset? Everything was donated to this store so it has cost you nothing. We are playing by your rules.”
    I told him the lady was exhausted and just grumpy. It would have been nicer to simply smile and walk away. He agreed but I doubt he will follow my advice. Sigh.
    Did they appreciate their Mom for giving them her coupon???? Of course!!! They bought me a gift!!! It was a pair of REDNECK WINE GLASSES! They are mason jars with glass stems stuck on the bottom which are used for beer drinking. Tacky! I don't even drink beer. It was the sassy one's idea to get them. Yes, I was insulted while they laughed until their sides hurt. I demanded the receipt so I can take them back.
    Fails for this week:
    *Husband mowed over my carrot patch!!!!! I saw him out the window and went running out screaming to stop. It was too late. He said it just looked like a bunch of weeds. Well it was a bunch of weeds with carrots underneath. I had to go ahead and harvest them since they would die anyway but they are only about the size of your small finger. I have tried washing them but it is taking forever to try and hold them and scrub them. They were going to last us through the winter since they would have been big by then. Oh well. I think I might just juice them...or throw them away.
    *I haven't been to the grocery store yet since there is so much produce rolling around on the kitchen floor. It is hard to walk without kicking a cantaloupe. Every chair has a bowl of beans to be shelled sitting in it. If you are going to sit down, you can at least do some work.
    Jeannie

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    1. Oh no! Your poor carrots! I felt much the same way when I had to harvest my little ones because the slugs ate through the stems. It was so disheartening to see these scraggly little carrots sitting in my hand.

      I like the idea of setting beans on the chairs making a subtle reminder that it needs to be done. I'm filing that away for future reference :).

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  4. Hoory for your sons birthday enjoyment!! Thats an awesome gift in itself!!

    Deals for us...well, I did th e target spend 50, get a 10 gc on groceries, but 7t my three guys were getting VERY cranky so i couldnt hunt for as good of deals. And someone stuck in extras I didnt see, so I ended up spendin gvb my whole $65 grocery budget, but I got back $20 i. Gift cards for buying the $50, and 4 bags of chicken that were huy 2, get $5 back. Today I used those and the last bit on another gift card to buy some 50% off fun erasers for my husbands classroom at Christmas, and two crayola art sets in nice cases I found half off.

    I discovered a ton of frozen veggies in the garage freezer I had forgotten about, and its near full so I can't stock up on much for a while, but thats ok. I do mostly simple kid friendly meals since my boys are NOT adventerous, but I realized I have all of September meals planned out so I wont need tons on my list each week and maybe I can either stay under my $65 or else stock up on winter essentials. I hate big shopping trips when its cold out. Wouldnt be so bad but my fingers are half frozen off by the time the car seat gets buckled.

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  5. Wow, nice score on the yogurt and eggs, Erika! Nothing better than free food to feed your family...and school lunch items no less!

    So excited to read about your son's birthday surprises. I'm so happy for you! You and your husband must be just over the moon(and great finds on the birthday presents as well, by the way). My daughter also seems to be progressing. She told us today that one of the girls at school intends to invite her to her sleepover birthday party. She just started back to school this week and already she's being invited to something...I'm so thrilled she is making stronger friendships finally!

    I was able to buy some more cheese for $4 a block (400g size), which went into the freezer, and 4 boxes of fish stick (my daughter's favourite food and go to meal when she doesn't like what we are having) for $4/box. Bought a few other grocery supplies, but nothing that stands out price wise.

    That's about it for me this week. Don't beat yourself up too bad on forgetting the bill. It happens to the best of us. I hope you have another great week, Erika!

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  6. That yogurt and eggs deal is AWESOME!!! I'd have been jumping up and down at the checkout. Way to go!!!

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