Daily Meals on a Budget

The best way to save money on groceries is to have a menu planned for a week, two weeks, or more.  That way, you know what you'll be eating each day, and you won't be caught at 5:00 pm going to the fast food restaurant because you have no idea what to cook.  Also, because you have your meals planned, you won't shop for groceries as much, and you won't be tempted to buy extra food that you really don't need.

It's easy to say that the more time you spend in the stores, the more money you'll spend.  If you've read about some of my "hauls", you've seen that I always wind up buying a soda and some kind of snack at the check-stand.  Those unplanned purchases can add an extra $2-$4 per shopping trip.

Planning your menus lets you shop once for what you'll need, making it easier to turn a blind eye to unplanned grocery purchases.  Planning menus for an entire month of meals takes a lot of work, but you'll save time and money because you're in the store only once a month, and you have less temptation to spend extra money. The drawback in monthly planning is that you miss the weekly sales.  Planning bi-weekly menus allows you to take advantage of a couple of the weekly sales while staying away from the stores as much as possible.  If you plan your menus one week at a time like I do, you'll be going to the store more often, but you'll be able to take advantage of the weekly sales.

Below is my menu based on the food I already had at home and what I bought at Safeway and FoodsCo this week.  *Some meals are repeated during the week.  I often use left-overs.  That's why you'll only find five suggestions per meal.

Breakfast

• Biscuits and eggs; *cereal,milk/yogurt, and fruit; waffles, sausage, and fruit; oatmeal, toast, and eggs; bagels, cheese, and yogurt

Lunch

• Hot dogs and baby carrots; Church function (ate at church); spaghetti (left-overs), salad; bean burritos (homemade from left-overs), salad and fruit; chicken soup (left-overs), cornbread, and fruit; *lunch meat sandwich, baby carrots, and fruit

Dinner

• Chicken and stir-fry vegetables, rice; Barbecue Kielbasa, baked potato and broccoli; *chicken soup (homemade) and cornbread; *baked chicken, pinto beans, rice and salad; catfish, baked french fries and salad

Snacks and Desserts

• Popcorn, brownies, Cheese Nips, watermelon, plums, apples, yogurt

If you plan your meals, how often do you do it?  Has it changed the way you shop?  Please share your experience with us in the Comments Box below.

It's the End of the Month. Time for the 99 Cents Store!

Too much month left at the end of your cash?  Well, I'm there with you.  I paid a trip to the 99 Cents Only Store last week, and I was surprised at what they had. They had name brands and produce!  Their lettuce is always 79 cents, and it's just as good or better than what I get at the big name stores.   That's what I'm talking about.

Last month I ran out of dishwasher soap, but it was the end of the month, and I couldn't afford the $4.99 they were charging at Smart and Final.  I should have gone to the 99 Cents Only Store.  They had a pack of 10 Cascade Pods (the brand I use) for, of course, 99 cents; that would have been enough to get me through until the 1st.  Instead, I went to Dollar Tree and got some off brand that wouldn't even melt during the wash cycle.  I have learned my lesson.  If I need to buy something, and it's the end of the month, I'm checking out the 99 Cents Only Store before I go anywhere else.  But, why wait until the end of the month? Don't I like to save money every day?

Check out what I purchased below.  I checked, and everything is still there this week. Unless otherwise noted, these were all 99 cents.

Guerrero Flour Tortillas  10 ct.
32 oz. Black Sweet Plums
Awesome-Plumber Drain Opener (Kitchen drain was plugged up. Thought I'd try it.)
Seedless Personal Watermelon  79 cents
*Diet Pepsi 20 oz.

Total with tax= $5.02

*I know.  I'm addicted.

Have you made any awesome finds at the 99 Cents Only Store or at Dollar Tree?  Please share your experience in the Comments Box below.

For Coupon Newbies, Don't Throw Your Coupons Away

If you have today's Sunday paper, it should have included two coupon booklets.  The first is titled "Redplum" (see the top left side of the booklet).  The second one is titled "Smart Source Magazine".  Both have some really high value coupons inside, so don't throw them away.  You can write today's date on the covers and then put them aside until you see a sale on a product that matches one of the coupons in the booklets, or you might see a message from a couponing blog like this one saying that a coupon can be found in the August 24 Redplum (RP) or Smart Source (SS).  An alternative would be to go through them both and cut out the coupons you think you might use. You can store your clipped coupons in an envelope for right now, or go to Dollar Tree and get a coupon folder.  Later on you can develop a more elaborate system.

Safeway Friday 8/22/14

Sorry this is so late.  Today I took advantage of the $5 Friday Sales at Safeway.  You must be a Just 4 U Rewards member in order to get the reduced prices. Below is the breakdown of my transaction.

Buy 2 Boxes Cheerios at $5 (4 for $10)
Use a $1/2 Any General Mills Cereal Coupon (from 8/17/14 Smart Source coupon book)
Cost was $4 for the 2 boxes

Buy 2 Boxes Trix at $3.34  (3/$5 or $1.67 each)
Friday Special.  After today it goes away.  But, you can still use the 4 for $10 deal.
Use another $1/2 Any General Mills Cereal Coupon, making this $2.34.
Safeway gave me another $1 discount as a Just 4 U member reward.
Making these 2 boxes $1.34 for both or 67 cents each.

Buy 1 Gallon Whole Milk  Regular price, $4.99 - Free with the purchase of four boxes of General Mills Cereal for $10.
I was able to get the milk for free, even though I used the lower priced Trix deal (3 for $5) for the final two boxes of cereal.  I could have gotten four boxes of Trix and paid an even lower total price, but I didn't want that many boxes of one cereal.
Use a 55 cent off coupon.  See ground beef below.  There is a printable coupon for this savings.  Even though the milk was free, the register still took off the 55 cents..
Total cost -55 cents 

Buy 1.33 lbs. Lean Ground Beef  at $4.83  
The ground beef packages come attached with a 55 cent peelie, which is immediatly good on any California Dairy Product.

Total cost for today's trip was $9.62, a 63% savings on my grocery bill!

My $11 FoodsCo Shopping Trip 8/20/14

Below is a list of the grocery items I was able to purchase at FoodsCo, a Kroger affiliate. These prices are good until Tuesday, 8/26.  If you have a FoodsCo Rewards account, you might want to download their new app onto your cell phone.  You can get coupons downloaded directly to your card.  It will save you time and money.

5 lb. bag of potatoes     .79 cents
5 lb. Blue Ribbon Long Grain Rice      $1.99
4.22 lb. Chicken Leg Quarters (.75 cents per pound)    * $3.17
Joseph Farms Chunk Cheese 16 oz.     $3.14    
Used 35 cents off printable coupon
Suave Naturals Shampoo   * .39 cents  
Used 50 cents off any Suave product printable coupon
(2) Cheese Nips 7 oz.     Paid approx. .61 cents each  
Used 75 cents off 2 Nabisco cookies or crackers coupon from 8/10/14 Smart Source
1.33 lb. Yellow Onions  @ .33 lb.              Paid  .43 cents
                             
Total without coupons = 12.74 plus tax
                             
Total with coupons = 11.14 plus tax

I plan to go back later and get the broccoli crowns for .59 per pound, the white onions for .29 per pound, and the gala apples for .89 per pound.

*This is a stock up price, and normally I would buy enough for six weeks.  However, I've never used this brand before, so I only purchased one package.  

Update:  I was able to get another Suave Naturals Shampoo and Conditioner for 39 cents each on my next shopping trip.  Although I don't use that brand, they are good to use as give aways to homeless shelters.

K-Mart Shopping Trip

I took advantage of the double coupon days at K-Mart for their Shop Your Way Rewards members this week, and boy was I surprised that the coupons actually doubled without a lot of beeping and without the cashier having to consult a supervisor.  I had a really nice cashier by the way.  She even wanted to start couponing when she saw how much I saved..  Below are the results of my trip to K-Mart on Monday, July 7, 2014.

Febreeze Air Effects    2.50 - $2 ($1/1 coupon doubles to $2) =   .50
Tide Pods (16 count)   5.49 - $4 ($2/1 coupon doubles to $4) = 1.49
Lays Potato Chips       1.49                                                    
Sparkling Water (2) .50 x 2 = 1.00
CRV  .20                                                  
TOTAL = 4.98
-Shop Your Way  Redemption  -2.23
TOTAL OUT OF POCKET = 2.75

 I could have saved more, but I had a craving for junk food.

Financial Help With Dental Care

My son looks like a chipmunk right now because he had two impacted wisdom teeth pulled yesterday.  I thank God that he was able to get it done without my having to go into huge debt in order to pay for it.  Let's go back four months when I found out that I had reached the maximum 15 months coverage on the COBRA dental coverage from my old job.  I scrambled to get private coverage and found something reasonable online with the same provider we had before I retired to care for my mom.  However, since this was a new private policy, even though we had been with this provider for 15 years straight, we had to start over as new members, making us ineligible for major services until next year.

My son's wisdom teeth did not want to wait until next year.  They were growing in sideways. I was going to have to pay a large amount of money out of pocket. Money that was probably going to have to come from a credit card. I'm trying my best to get out of debt, so I really felt defeated when I thought about having to go deeper into the hole I was in already.  Then I remembered that my kids are eligible for Medicaid (called MediCal here in California. I searched their dental care benefits (which used to be very little) in order to see if I could get any assistance on this bill.  It turned out that Medicaid does pay for dental extractions and would pay for my son's wisdom teeth to be pulled; however, they would not pay for the top teeth.  They don't think that extracting top wisdom teeth is a necessary procedure.  I asked the oral surgeon about this, and he agreed that the top teeth could wait for a while.  I just hope that they can last until my private insurance benefits kicks in next year.

If your income is currently low, and your child is in need of dental services, I encourage you to call your local Medicaid office to see if your child is eligible for assistance.  When I was a teacher, I saw too many kids suffering unnecessarily with tooth pain because their parents could not pay for their care.  While trying to get help for my son, I saw that in some cases, children can even get help with orthodenture, something that previously has been out of reach for most low income families.

Teaching Children to be Frugal

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I hope that like me, you had a wonderful day with your children.  I woke up to breakfast in bed cooked and served by Son #2.  I thoroughly enjoyed my French toast, eggs, and sausage, especially since someone other than myself cooked it.  I got to lay in bed for a few minutes and read the newspaper before it was time to get ready for church.  That in itself was a treat, but there was more to come.

The boys had chipped in and gotten me a card and some chocolates (can't go wrong with that combo).  After I oohed and ah'd over their thoughtfulness, my frugal ways started to whisper in my ear, "I hope they didn't pay full price for this candy.  Walgreen's had some on sale for $3.99.  Why didn't I tell them to check the sales paper?"  The reason why I didn't tell them about the sale was because it was their gift and their decision to make, so I stepped back and let them handle it.

Now I realize that I need to get both my kids more involved with couponing and shopping for bargains so that I know that when they shop on their own, they don't spend more than they have to. That's not a difficult thing to do with Son #2 who has been couponing on occasion since he was 14.  He actually went out shopping for me on Black Friday three years ago when I had gall bladder surgery.  Son #1 can't be bothered.  The boys both get a small allowance which they have to manage on their own,  but Son #1 doesn't seem to mind when his cash is long gone, yet his bargain hunting brother still has money.

I think that I'll give both sons a budget and let them plan our meals for a week based on what they can find in the sales papers.  Whatever they don't spend, they can keep for themselves as long as they provide us with healthy and reasonably filling meals (I don't want to live on bread and water for a week).  The extra money might give Son #1 the incentive he needs to use coupons for the first time.  I'll let you know whether it works or not.  If you have any tips for getting your kids to be frugal, please leave it in the comments section below.

My Doggie is Sick

I should say that he is my kids' dog, but after about two weeks the excitement of taking care of a new pet wore off for the boys, and the dog became mine.  He always knew this would happen even if I didn't.  From the beginning he followed me around wherever I went, even to the bathroom.  Yes, since the door doesn't close completely shut, he could push his way in whenever he wanted..  He would sit at my feet until I' was done and then walk me out as if I couldn't be trusted to make it out on my own.   I have to admit that he has worn me down.  After all, he's the only one in the house who doesn't argue with me.  I'll say, "Get off the couch, Rover (not his real name), and he doesn't ask why his brother can't do it.  I say "Come eat dinner, Rover," and he comes running.  I don't have to call him three or four times.  And, he gobbles up the same kibble day after day and never complains.  At my house, the dog is my best friend.

So, it is truly upsetting that Rover is sick, and even more upsetting that the vet can't tell me exactly what's wrong with Rover without giving him a $150 blood test .  I don't want to be cold hearted, but I can't afford a blood test right now.  I could barely pay for the exam, antibiotics, stomach coating medicine and flea repellent pill that I shelled out $110 for at the end of this vet visit for a hurting paw.

It's times like these that make me wish that I had paid for the pet insurance that is always advertised on the tables in the waiting rooms of the vet's office.  I thought that they were too expensive, but there is coverage available for as little as $7 a month.  Another example of penny wise and pound foolish.

Update:  So far Rover's bill has come to about $400 and counting.  He did have to have the blood test done.  The results are still pending.

Clearance Bin at Big Lots

There were some very good deals at Big Lots today, unfortunately I couldn't buy anything because the line was too long, and I was going to be late for an appointment.  If I can get back tomorrow, and they're still there, I will try to scoop up whatever is left of the Easter decorations which are now on clearance for 90% off the original price.  There were packs of beautiful metallic eggs on sale for 60¢.  I want to use them for our church's annual Easter egg hunt, but they can easily be used as year round decorations for the coffee table or dining room table. Also, they have 8 packs of Peanut Butter PopTarts on clearance for 85¢. I'm in no danger of pigging out on these snacks because I can't eat peanuts.  If I buy them, these will be for the kids, and they will last about two hours tops.

I hope that you are able to find something that you can stock up on for next year. Plain plastic eggs were about $2 before Easter this year, so paying 60¢ for fancy ones now will be a big savings later.

If You Buy It, You Will Eat

I know that yesterday I said that I would put away the chips and candy I bought on sale until we have Family Movie Night on Friday.  Well, late last night those Doritos started calling me.  "Come and get us," they screamed.  "We're so delicious.  You know you want us NOW"  I couldn't resist the sirens call and wound up hating myself for eating at least a third of a large bag of Doritos in the middle of the night.

Like Kevin Costner in "A Field of Dreams," I learned that if you take certain steps, the inevitable will happen.  He built a ball park, and the ghostly players came to play.  I bought Doritos, and I ate them.  It was a no brainer.  However, in my perfect world brain, I really thought that I could have chips in the house and not eat them immediately.  Even though they were a good buy, for me the chips were not a good idea.

Ironically, when I was broke, I ate a lot better.  My snacks were homemade, and not as plentiful.  I never thought that I would say this, but for me, poverty is much more healthy. Who knew?

Free Neutrogena Make-up Remover

It is unusual that I run out of ALL of my facial cleansing supplies at the same time, but this month I did.  Thank goodness Target had a nice coupon in this week's sales book good for $5 off the purchase of three beauty products.  What's even nicer is the fact that Target sweetened the deal with a package of free Neutrogena Make-up- Remover Towelettes if you buy three Neutrogena cleansing products.

While picking up my facial products, I also found some candy and chips at good prices (I'll save these for Family Movie Night).  I wound up saving about 43% on my total purchase.  I like to get at least 50%, but that's not always possible when you run out of products that you need.  You can get a better deal by purchasing any three of the less expensive Neutrogena products.

Below are the results of my shopping trip.  Please share your Target shopping trip with us in the comment section.  We'd love to hear from you.

Neutrogena Oil Moisture. $9.99
Neutrogena Alcohol-Free Toner.  $5.29
Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser.  $6.49
Neutrogena Make-up Remover. $4.99
Swedish Goldfish (3 packs @ .38 each)  $1.14. (on clearance)
(2) Doritos Tortilla Chips BOGO. $3.79

TOTAL=$31.69-$5.00 Target coupon -$4.99 for the free towelettes
Final cost plus tax =$21.70

Free Little Debbie Donuts at Safeway

Hi everyone.  This week April 29-May 6, Safeway has a Just 4 U coupon in their ad papers good for a bag of Little Debbie Donuts for $1.  If you combine this paper coupon with the $1/1 manufacturer's coupon (MQ) (available online at the Coupon Like a Man Coupon Database), the bag of donuts will be completely free.  If the store shelves are empty of this treat, just ask your clerk for a raincheck.  The coupon is good until June 15, 2014 and the raincheck will expire in 90 days, plenty of time for you to take part in this freebie.

Just don't make the same mistake that I made.  When the clerk was filling out the raincheck, she asked me how many bags of donuts I wanted, and because I only had one MQ, I told her that I only wanted one.  I should have asked for more since $1 for donuts is a good deal.  Also,  if you go online and save your coupons to your Safeway card, don't do it for this deal.  Sometimes the Just 4U deals cannot be combined with MQ's, so you would have to pay for the donuts.  Combining the paper coupon and the MQ should work fine.

If you have found a good deal at Safeway this week, please share it in a comment below.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Whenever I open my dishwasher door, it immediately drops to about 1/2 inch above the floor, narrowly missing my toe.  The top rack wants to fly out and meet the door on it's way to the floor, but I usually manage to catch it before it falls.  I have the money to buy a new dishwasher.  My spendthrift self is telling me to buy a new one before the door breaks someone's foot, but I'm not going to.  Not yet.

I want a new dishwasher, but I'm going to try and fix this one first.  It still washes the dishes and dries them pretty well.  It's not leaking as far as I can tell, so I'm going to fix it MYSELF. This will be something new for me since I don't consider myself to be very handy, but I think my time has come. So far I've gone online and found the rollers and the stopper clips needed to keep the top rack from flying out. I purchased them online for a total of $16.  I have a pretty good idea how to install these parts, but if not, I'll go on YouTube and find a DIY video.  I don't know how to stop the door from hitting the floor yet, but I plan to find out.

Am I being penny wise, but pounds foolish? I hope not, but it's worth a try as long as I continue to watch for leaks and the dishwasher doesn't start breaking my dishes or my foot.  Have you become a do-it-yourselfer --these days?  If so, share your story with us by leaving a comment below.

Saved Money Today the Old Fashioned Way

Today I walked to the post office in order to mail a letter.  Yes, I used snail mail! That was not such a money saver because the stamp cost 48¢ (sending e-mail costs nothing out of pocket) but it was old fashioned.  My savings came about by my taking a 15 minute walk that would normally take me five minutes to drive.  I was so proud of myself for getting the much needed exercise and for saving the gas that the five minute trip would have used, not to mention the wear and tear on my car.  Also, I was doing my bit for the environment.

I feel so good about my little walk that I'm going to make it my goal to walk whenever a car trip will take five minutes or less.  According to the article, Save Gas: The Financial and Health Benefits of Walking or Biking to Work, a person can save up to $60 and burn up to 44,200 calories a year by replacing those short drives with walking trips. I can do quite a bit with an extra $60.  I'll be making myself a little healthier as well!

If you're walking to save money, please leave a comment below and let us know how it's going.

Positive Effect of Shopping from Freezer and Cupboards

Just wanted to tell you guys about a bonus I received from not spending money on food this week.  I got on the scale and discovered that I had lost three pounds.  This is a surprise considering the amount of starch I'm eating.

I plan to continue cooking mostly from what I have at home even after I get paid.  I'm saving a lot of money, eating better tasting food, and losing weight at the same time.  If anyone else is seeing a weight loss from cooking what you have at home, please share your experience by leaving a comment.

Energy Savings Assistance Program Fixed My House

When I first got the call from this program I thought it was a scam.  Why would my local utility company want to come to my house and make repairs for free?  It sounded too good to be true.  The agent on the phone told me that Pacific Gas and Electric had a free program to improve the energy efficiency of their customer's homes, and if I qualified, repairs such as weather stripping, repairing my furnace, or even replacing my old refrigerator would be done for free.  I was sceptical but agreed to let a technician come out to verify my financial status and evaluate the needs of my home.  I made sure that the caller understood that I did not have money for any repairs and would not have any when the technician came out.

Well, on the day that the technician arrived, I verified that I was within their income limits for a family of three (less than $39,000 a year).  The nice man filled out the paper work, which I examined thoroughly for any hidden charges, and then he went to work.  He started at 9:30 a.m. and worked until 5:00 p.m.  First he put a blanket on my heater, then he weather stripped the doors to my house.  Next, he filled in all the holes that were in the walls letting in cold air.  He replaced our old light bulbs with new energy efficient ones.  He fixed my furnace and insulated it so that the heat would properly flow throughout the house. He replaced two of my light fixtures that weren't working properly, and he put new covers on our electric outlets and a new cover for to my attic .  Amazingly, when he saw the duck tape I had holding the handle together on my microwave oven, he replaced the whole microwave with a new more energy efficient one.

If I had had to pay for all this work, it would have cost me thousands of dollars.  I know this because it cost me $1700 to fix two exterior doors last summer.

If you need home repairs done, please check with your local gas and electric utility company first to see if they have a similar program.  You may qualify in other ways other than income particularly if you are disabled.  If I had known about the Energy Savings Assistance Program, I would have saved the $1700 I paid for those exterior doors last summer because they will replace doors as well..

Shopping from the Freezer and Cupboards, Part Two

This is my day to treat myself after working with one of the ministries at my church for part of the morning.  This afternoon, I went to McDonald's and took advantage of the promotion that they had on their phone app which was for a free large sandwich with any purchase. So, I bought a large diet coke for $1 and ordered a Big Mac for free.  My total for this treat was $1.09!  I bought the mix for the molasses cookies back in January when all the Christmas merchandise was on sale at Target for 75% off.  I think I paid 80¢ for the package that makes up to 2 dozen cookies.  The rest of my meals came from home.

Breakfast:  Cereal and milk or yogurt
Lunch:  Big Mac and Diet Coke, 1/2 muffin and fruit salad (courtesy of the church ministry)
Dinner:  Cranberry beans and ham, cornbread, salad
Snack:  Watermelon, Molasses cookies

Shopping from the Freezer and Cupboards

Easter and my kids being out on a week long vacation from school have left me with way too little money to make it to the end of the month. The three of us are going to have to live on the $7.50 I scrounged  up by digging in my purse and picking up loose change around the house.  There still may be a few dollars under the couch.  I'll try there tomorrow. Today I went shopping in my freezer and cupboards in order to plan the next few days worth of menus.  Everything is something I already have.  All I can say is thank goodness for couponing.

Thursday

Breakfast: French toast, turkey bacon

Lunch: Chili fries and baby carrots

Dinner: Ground beef in bbq sauce over mashed potatoes, green beans, salad
Snack:  Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid

*

Triscuit Crackers for .88 at Safeway 4/16-22

There is a great deal on Triscuit Crackers for Safeway Club Card Members. Triscuits are on sale for $1.88 if you have a club card. There is a $1/1 printable  coupon that can be found on the Coupon Like a Man Coupon Database.  Just type Nabisco in the search box to get a list of coupon offerings.  The coupon was also in the 4/13 Sunday paper.  After subtracting for the $1 coupon, your box of crackers will be .88.

My $6 Walgreen's Haul

Original spending plan for 4/14

Transaction 1
1 Morton Epson Lotion. $6. OOP.   plus tax  Get back $6 RR

Transaction 2
Domino Sugar 4 LB Bag 1.89 with store coupon
Oral B Toothbrush 2.99 with .75 /1 MC   Get back $2 RR
2 Cartons eggs @ .99 each. 1.98
Total $6.11
Use $6  RR from transaction 1.
Pay .11 OOP plus tax

Transaction 3
2 packs Jello pudding with store coupon $1
3 Russell Stover Easter Eggs  @ 3/$1
Total $2.
Use $2 RR from transaction 2.
Pay .00 OOP

THIS week's haul was going to be all about preparing for Easter.  However, I had to make some changes due to some items being unavailable.  Yesterday's haul from Walgreen's came as a slight surprise because the register reward that was supposed to print out for the Morton Epson Lotion did not print.  Instead of an RR the manager told the clerk to give me the bottle of lotion for free. This allowed me my first .00 receipt in a long time, plus a little more flexibility in what I could purchase.

Since my main reason for shopping was to buy the.99 eggs, I had to make my next transaction at another Walgreen's.  The eggs are selling out fast, so if you need some, you'd better hurry, or go to Target where they have them for the same price.  Well, the next store only had one dozen eggs left, so I changed my original plan.  I bought two packs of McCormick taco seasoning for a dollar instead of the second cartoon of eggs.  I bought 4 Russell Stover candies instead of 3 and left out the toothbrush because I already have enough of those.  I purchased everything in transactions 2 and 3 together in one transaction (minus the tooth brush), and my total came to $6.22.  Although I still want the eggs, I need the taco mix for Saturday's dinner.  I'm more than satisfied with my little Easter haul.