Domestic Joy

I have been preoccupied this last week or so. Between my super nice friend that has a nectarine, peach, and pear tree, and my own produce, I have been canning and storing up food like crazy.

Not that you care, but because I can, I am going to tell you what I've done the last bit:

• a bunch of nectarine jam (more like syrup. I have the worst time with that...)
• a bunch of cinnamon peach jam
• 4 pints pear butter
• 4 quarts and 3 pints pears
• 12 quarts peaches
• 9 pints diced tomatoes
• 3 brown grocery bags of green tomatoes ready to ripen (the first frost is coming tomorrow here)
• huge freezer bag full of diced green and purple bell peppers
• a big bowl overflowing with ripe tomatoes, ready to be turned into spaghetti sauce

Plus I still have tons of carrots and onions in the garden, ready to be chopped/diced and frozen. Not that we planted them, but we won't be buying pumpkins again this year. Last count we have 8. Pumpkin seeds anyone?

Now the trick is finding a place for everything in my postage stamp sized house...

Hostess Outlet

I hit the Hostess Outlet that is like 2 minutes from my house for the first time on Saturday (nice on the delay. sorry.) It is sweet! They have twinkies and donuts and lots of other treats that I can't name because I've never heard of them before for 29 cents. Of course they were like a week from poll date, so you know they're like 29 years old, but who cares? I'm not so concerned about that sort of stuff when I'm eating a twinkie.

They also had bread for 99 cents and a 12 pack of english muffins for $1.89.

I am sold. Hostess, my unborn baby is calling your delicious name.

Retails: $13.00 (approximate)
Total Spent: $4.72
Percent Off: 64%

Money Left for the Month: -$6.80
budget? what budget?

rite aid

This was a fun shopping trip.

Retails: $61.56

Total Spent: $15.60

Total After Online Rebate: $5.60

Percent Off: 91%

How did I do it?

• compiled list from hip2save
• coupons: $24.00, including $5 off $20, 2 $3 pure & natural diaper coupons, free pack of diapers coupons from last rebate, and $2 off diaper product coupon (the cashier would only let me use this one- I had 2 so I could get another rebate from the wipes. oh well.)
• rebate: $10.00 for buying 3 packs of huggies
• summer stuff is on clearance right now and I got the ball, bubbles, and punch balloons on 90% off.

Money Left for the Month: -$2.08

boooo.

smiths

Retails: $55.87

Total Spent: $19.06

Percent Off: 66%

How did I do it?

• compiled my list from pinchingyourpennies
• sales/in store promotions: $28.06
• coupons: $6.10
• I got in on 2 different promotions. The first is buy 4 of those betty crocker fruit snacks, get $4 off, making them $1 each. With the coupons they were $.60-$.75 each. The second promotion is buy 10 items, get $5 off. The rest of the things I bought, minus the milk, were on that promotion.

Money Left for the Month: $13.52

Rebate!!

Whoo hoo! I got a rebate in the mail! I really needed it as my budget has been used up so quickly. Thank goodness for rebates.

Rebate in Mail: $2.00

Yes, $2.00. Was it even worth the postage?

As a side note, I have been so good about submitting rebates, up until last month. I am SO MAD about my Albertsons $20.00 rebate. I have no idea what happened to the receipt (since I never mailed it in) and have looked everywhere, but I guess it's worth $20 to have my paperwork finally organized again.

Money Left for the Month: $32.58

maceys

I am loving the case lot sales this year. There have been some good deals on basics and Maceys doesn't make you buy the case to get the good price.

I actually got one more can of tomato sauce, but we used it for dinner. I love that Mexican-ish meal. We call it mexican casserole, but I don't bake it. I just throw in my skillet whatever I have around: ground beef with onion and bell peppers, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, (or enchilada sauce) beans, green chilies, corn, lots of chili powder, garlic, and cumin. I serve it over chips and lettuce with cheese and sour cream for the top. Super quick and easy. It reminds me of that SNL quote, "You know what happens when you eat a bowl full of chili, don't you?... It fills you up." Let's just say, this meal fills you up.

Back to the deals. Looky here! I cleared off my table so the food has returned there! Whoo hoo!

Retails: $39.17

Total Spent: $18.14

Percent Off: 54%

How did I do it:

• compiled list from pinchingyourpennies
• only bought what was on sale
• didn't use any coupons, which has been a theme lately. The cooking basics rarely have coupons and so I buy them at my price point, the price I'm willing to pay for them. This is the season in Utah for case lot sales, a great thing I hear they don't have in other places. It's a way for stores to get us to over-buy to build up food storage. Good job stores.

Money Left for the Month: $30.58

Maceys

I was running low on butter. Maceys just knew how to make this gal happy. ($1.58!) I also needed canning lids- Walmart only had the wide mouth left earlier today.

Oh, ignore the dirty appliance behind the food. Isn't it sad that I chose this spot to display my shopping deals? This was apparently the best option at this point. Yikes.

Retails: $28.74

Total Spent: $16.76

Percent Off: 42%

How did I do it?

• compiled my list from pinchingyourpennies.com
• bought multiples of things at my price points
• did no impulse shopping (did that earlier at Walmart- see corn dog and Dumdums. Mmmm.)

Money Left for the Month: $48.72

I am so good at spending money. This is not good. It's only the 14th...