When it comes to shopping goals, I decided to combine this month and next month together since this time of year a lot of purchases depend on sales, so it's kind of hard to say when things will go down in price to the point I can afford to get them. I DOUBT I'm going to be buying anything more this month as we're already down to near scary levels in the bank after getting gas and groceries (the short pay period doesn't help), but who knows what might happen to maybe allow me to get a few essentials in the meantime (like super cheap clearance or something). I was kind of hoping to be more financially ahead this month as Prime Day with Amazon is coming up in a few days and I was hoping to maybe be able to afford to get a few Christmas gifts out of the way for the family. Instead, anytime I had any money through Amazon I've ended up spending it on essentials or things that are needed in a more immediate sense, like new sneakers for my husband so he's not killing his feet, or a new backpack and things for the daughter, or replacement DVD's for the son that he's dying without after biting the DVD's and wrecking them (at least I replaced "The Secret of NIMH", we're actually watching it right now *laugh*).
I did drain the bank account more than I wanted to by taking advantage of some things I found super cheap on Amazon the last few days. Seventh Generation, I think, jumped on the Prime Day bandwagon early, so they had a 25% off coupon on a bunch of different products. I have to use their products for the sake of the son's eczema so ANYTIME I can get a good deal on those products, I jump on it. I ordered a case of six bottles of dish soap that the box had been opened for cheap (hopefully the "Very good" condition wasn't a lie and the dish soap is in good shape *fingers crossed*) and I ordered some dish washing detergent pods as their big container after coupon was cheaper than I spend on a small container of their pods. I have other things on Subscribe and Save as well (I'll get to that HUGE list in a minute...how I'm going to pay for all of it at this point...we'll see how the next paycheck goes. I can pray, anyway).
School supplies are a worry as I know the daughter is going to need different things this year than she did in elementary school, so I am waiting on pins and needles about how bad THAT is going to be with 7 different teachers making demands this year.
Basically the larder beetle infestation could not have picked a WORSE time to hit. There is so much going on (needing clothes, gym shoes, school supplies, etc) and then having to replenish EVERY SINGLE cleaning item I have in the house at the same time...it's amazing I'm not breathing into a paper bag all day. I can't even reuse vacuum bags as doing that will just spread the eggs and make the bug problem worse. UGH!!! I even lost a bunch of embroidery floss yesterday as the miserable things crawled through a small gap in the bottom of my sewing box and spread in there. At least my tool bag I was able to clean and make sure the tools got washed and oiled and everything could be put back where it came from without worries. I'm amazed, utterly creeped out and disgusted beyond measure how quickly these things spread and where they end up at. We got the daughter's room completely gutted yesterday and cleaned everything thoroughly and today it's gutting the hallway closet and seeing how bad they spread in there. My bugaphobia is at all time highs, and believe me, I have a pretty high level of it already.
Great. My anxieties have anxieties. I'm slowly morphing into Charlie Brown *laugh*.
So, anyway, anxious tired tangent there, sorry. Back to the matter at hand. Spending money I don't have *laugh*.
So, here we go! This month's and next month's shopping goals. This is a tentative list for next month as I will probably amend it and figure out what I need to buy next month (or basically figure out what I can afford, if anything) when it gets here.
Regular Stores:
Target:
- School Supplies (waiting for the super sale on school supplies there)
Payless Shoes (or Amazon, depending on price):
- Gym Shoes for both children
- Socks for both children (especially the son as he keeps stealing mine out of the laundry, since we're in the same size sock now *grumble*)
- Meat (I got some on reduced this week, but still need to get more if I can afford it and the reductions are good enough)
- Greens (to freeze for over the winter, since I couldn't plant a garden this year)
- Storage onions (I only have two onions left, so definitely need these)
Used Stores:
- Back to school clothes
- Binders (maybe, depending on size needed for daughter)
- Jeans and shirts (for me...my clothes are finally falling apart, especially my 20 year old t-shirts and things)
- Home decor items (this is only at BOTTOM of the barrel pricing as I need money for other things around here)
Cleaning Supplies Needed (in General, will get where cheap and such):
- Bleach
- White Vinegar
- Chlorine Free Bleach
- All Purpose Cleaner
- Window Cleaner (to use on mirrors and things in son's room as the smell of vinegar really makes him gaggy)
- Mop and bucket (bucket is developing a crack and my mop is losing pieces off of it every time I use it now)
- Broom (it's on its last legs)
- Dish cloths (I'm going through one a day and need some extras)
- Cleaning sponges
- Bathroom cleaner
- DAP (to redo sinks, tubs, the splash guard in the kitchen, fill in gaps in the kitchen floor, etc)
- Garbage Bags
Amazon.com (contains affiliate links. If you order through these links I get a small commission from Amazon for shooting the sale their way. You aren't charged any extra for doing this. If you order through these links, thank you for your support!):
- Envirocare Vacuum Replacement Bags for Kirby Vacuum Cleaners, Pack of 9
- Curel Itch Defense Calming Body Lotion For those suffering from eczema, my son LOVES this lotion and will ask for me to put it on him above all others, so there's got to be something to it that helps the itch. Might be worth a shot to try if you are looking for anything that might help.
- Chock Full of Nuts Coffee, Gourmet Roast. My stomach is rebelling from drinking too much cheap coffee, so I need to order some good coffee to use as an extender, and stomach reliever.
- Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent Packs Fragrance Free 75 Count
- Hunts Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce (Pack of 12). I'm nearly out of tomato sauce as we've been eating a lot more spaghetti and other pasta based dishes (read: cheap dinners). I'd like to buy it in bulk just to have enough for a while as there hasn't been a good sale on canned pasta sauce in a long time.
- Clorox Bleach Packs, Regular Packs 48 Count
- Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Dryer Sheets, Basil 80 ct. I want to try these. I haven't used fabric softener in YEARS, and I mean years, and I'd like to see if I could use these on, at least, my bed blankets and things, to get a mild scent that will hopefully not irritate the son's skin. I can hope anyway.
- Grab Green Natural Non-Chlorine Bleach Alternative Pods, Fragrance Free, 60 Loads
- Comstock Original Pie Filling & Topping (Pack of 6) (I'm hoping to add this to my options for pies this winter since right at the moment I have cherry and apple and that's it, which isn't band, mind you, but I LOVE citrus based desserts. This will get chopped off the subscribe and save list first if money isn't there).
- Seventh Generation Hand Wash Soap, Mandarin Orange and Grapefruit, 12 fl. oz (Pack of 8) After Subscribe and Save discount for ordering 5 or more items and the 25% off coupon it came out to about 12 dollars for 8 containers, which is a steal!
- Scotch-Brite Non-Scratch Dish Wand (1 total) I got mine with a coupon that isn't there anymore, so I got mine for less than 1.00 after coupon and discount.
And, yeah, there's my "Oh my goodness that's long!" list. How about you? Got things you need to buy this month?
Hi Erika. So sorry you have to deal with that infestation. Things like that can be quite consuming. It sounds like you are more organized than I am with having a list of goals. Normally I keep on track by lists that I make, but we've been so busy laty I feel like I'm kinda winging a lot right now, lol.
ReplyDeleteI totally get the whole school supply list thing- each of my kiddos have lists that are a page long, and some of the items are on the pricey side, ugh. I wanted to tell you that if you have a dollar store (dollar tree, dollar general or something like that) somewhere within a reasonable distance, I started school shopping for my kids there and we were really pleased with several items we found there. Some things are not the best quality, like the pouchy pencil cases, but most items were very good for the price and we were able to chunk off a nice amount of that part of their lists. And if you have access to a walmart I know things like notebooks can be had for a quarter or less there. You may also be able to check with your child's school and see if they know of any resources where you can get school supplies at a discount, or maybe even for free.
Wishing you and your family well. :)
Great to see you, Dawn! I've been keeping up on your blog and what's been going on with you. I hope your husband starts to feel better!
DeleteWe don't have anything resembling a dollar store up here, unfortunately. They just can't keep the items cheap enough after shipping them up here, so any cheapie stores like that seem to fail.
Wal-Mart goes cheap on school supplies for sure. The biggest problem I've had with them is they sell out faster than I can get there so I always end up at Target in the end anyway :). So I just try to hit their sales, which are still recently cheap, when the sales hit.
Erika, perhaps you already tried this but when the schools in Fairbanks sent out a list of pricy required items, I wrote the teacher and principal and explained that both for environmental reasons as well as my finances, I did not intend to purchase things like new notebooks or brand new pencils or crayons and so on. I said I would buy tools that I didn't already have, like a protractor, but that was it. I also added a few lines on how out of touch/tin eared they were with the reality many families live with. I never got the courtesy of a reply, but I never received another supply list from that school. It is unconscionable that they expect everyone to purchase expensive supplies.
DeleteHI Erika,
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're getting through the bug infestation! Honestly, I've never heard of larder beetles - we've only ever had meal worms (which are bad enough but at least limit themselves to the cupboards!). Hopefully you'll be done cleaning soon and you can get back to normal!
What size clothes does your daughter wear? My DD just cleaned out her closet and, as she wears a uniform to school, most of her things are very lightly used. I was planning on taking them to the thrift store but if you can use them, that would be even better! And, yes, I do know that postage is higher shipping to you and I'm totally okay with that. Email me at leastormhammer at gmail dot com and I'll be happy to send you photos.
Best of luck with the school supplies! I did find that when my kids hit middle school, it was in some ways easier because they had fewer supplies since they have to carry EVERYTHING to and from class. Hopefully that will be the case for your daughter too!
Have you thought of making your wishlist available on Amazon? A friend who has a child with different abilities did that to help in tight times and was pleasantly surprised at the occasional box that would show up with something the actually needed from someone who just wanted to be generous.
Praying for a better week for you!
Lea
Oh, back to school is one of those times of the year where I feel like we just absolutely hemorrhage money. My son always needs nineteen million things, school fees are ridiculous, there are ALWAYS extras... I found in middle school, though, that the stuff they need is much less specific. Sometimes they'll need a certain size binder, but we've really only needed stuff like paper and folders and notebooks. No "SEVENTEEN PACKS OF ONLY THIS BRAND OF PENCIL" nonsense, but gym clothes can get pricey.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I'm kind of trying to eat down what we have in the kitchen. It's kind of time to turn over our food stock, so I need to empty out the freezers and pantry by getting creative with my meals. My son and daughter are preeeeeeeeetty good on clothing. My son will probably need a new pair of shoes for choir- dress shoes, black, size 9.5, so I keep my eye out when we're out at yard sales and the used stores (I've started calling them used stores because I liked that you called them that so much!). It's not the easiest size to find used, but I refuse to pay full price for something he only wears once in a great while (and who knows if his feet are done growing yet!). That's really about the only thing I absolutely need; we're pretty good on most other things.
Wow! Larder Beetles - I've never heard of them nor would I know what they were IF they came across my path. What a pain that is. I guess you've just got to keep doing what you're doing to get rid of them and then "do a jig" at the end once they're all gone. That'll be a good day, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm normally pretty good at keeping up with things around the house, but this Spring/Summer I have let the ball drop. We've been busy with doing renos because we want to move (and for some reason, it's taking us far too long to get things done) and so we keep having to postpone putting the house on the market. However, I don't want to restock a bunch of items that I have to just move, so I've been buying items as I need and it is pricier doing it this way. I've always bought things on sale because I had a large enough stock on hand that I could wait from one sale to another but I'm not able to do that now. That said, I've somewhat lost track of what's been used and/or needed to buy. I'm completely disorganized because my attention's been diverted so much.
Oh to have life back on track and on an even keel with a proper routine again!
Pat, Cda
i do have a small stash of generic school supplies I'd be happy to raid for you.. what school/year is your daughter headed for?
ReplyDelete