buy low

Man, I love this store. It is so fun to shop here and snag up their great deals. Without coupons. Beautiful.

Retails: about $25.00

Total Spent: $8.26

Percent Off: 67%

I got 10 lbs of potatoes ($1), 5 3/4lb jonathan apples ($1.44), 5 lbs carrots ($1.04), 1 1/2lbs onions ($.21), 1 3/4lb yams ($.35), 1 1/2lb lunch meat ($3), corn chips ($.50), 2 liter Dr. Pepper ($.50)

How did I do it?

• compiled list from ad on pinching your pennies
• only bought what was on sale

Money Left for the Month: $24.48

Walmart: the Dream Trip

I had an awesome trip to Walmart today. (no, there is no sarcasm in that at all, it really was a good trip.)

They had almost everything I wanted and I was able to find it pretty easily. The only problem I had was at checkout. I have never seen a cashier be so attentive to coupons before, ever. He really read the fine print of every single coupon I gave him. Twice. He was very nice and I do appreciate him doing his job, but it was a bit extreme. He wouldn't let me use a Buy One Get One Free and a $1.50 off coupon for the 2 Steamfresh meals I was buying, so I had him take them off. No biggie.

Retails: about $75

Total Spent: $ 12.10

(and that includes the $1 corn dog I bought Sam. I might have had a bite...)

Percent Off: 84%

How did I do it?

• compiled list from hip2save
• free items: Air Fresheners (on rollback from $12 to $6, had a $6 coupon), Candles (on rollback to $3, had a $3.50 coupon), Buddie Bar soap ($.97, had $1 coupon), Cat treats ($1.86, had a free coupon) my neighbor will love these. or her cat will.
• cheap items: Brita filter ($7.25, had a $5 coupon), McCormick spices (had $1 coupon)

Money Left for the Month: $32.74

Smiths and Reams

I ran to both of these stores on Saturday but haven't had a chance to post them until now. Sorry! Both of the deals will be good through Tuesday night.

Smiths

Retails: $7.32

Total Spent: $4.34

Percent Off: 41%

How did I do it?

• compiled list from pinchingyourpennies
• both the sour cream and the dip were on sale for $1 each and I had a Smiths coupon for $.45 off when I bought both. I was buying the sour cream so I figured I would surprise my hubby with a little treat for the football game and splurge the $.55 for the dip. Can you believe that it's regular price is $2.29?!! For flavored sour cream? Wow.

Reams

this is from the tiny, really old reams by the freeway entrance off center in provo. I don't know if any of the other reams have butter on sale. It's always an adventure going into that store.

Retails: $7.97

Total Spent: $5.33

Percent Off: 31%

Money Left for the Month: $44.84

weekly menu 10/16

sloppy joe pizza pockets

Main Dish:

• Paella (we didn't get to it last week, thanks to dinner at friends' houses. Hooray!)
• cheeseburgers with homemade buns, homemade fries
• sloppy joe pizza pockets with hamburger instead of ground turkey
• vegetable soup with homemade french bread
• pasta bake with homemade french bread
• crispy chicken breasts (america's test kitchen, p.350)

Sides: canned/fresh/frozen fruits and veggies, spinach salad, whatever floats our boat

Need to buy from store for menu:

• nothing.

Of course there are things that I'm wanting/needing to get, but I purposefully plan my meals around what we have and what is on sale. That way I hardly ever have to pay full price for anything. Instead, I stock up on items when they are on sale and/or I have a coupon. It's wonderful being cheap.

Buy Low and Maceys

Buy Low

Retails: $32.48

Total Spent: $9.28

Percent Off: 74%

How did I do it?

• compiled list from ad listed on pinchingyourpennies (is not rated by how good of a deal it is or matched with coupons at all)
• the 4 pack of mac & cheese is $.88 (have to buy in 2s), pepsi 2 liters are $.69, the cream cheese is $.88 (have to buy in 2s), and the cottage cheese and pop rock stuff are on clearance: cottage cheese expires on the 16th is $.50 and pop rocks are 5/$1. The whole milk was full price at $2

Maceys

Retails: $12ish

(I forgot to look but they're about $3 a bag)

Total Spent: $2.08

Percent Off: 83%

How did I do it?

• The cheese is on sale for $1 each (when you buy 2 with in ad coupon) I used the Kraft $1/2 coupon here to get these bad boys for $.50 each. Nice. Remember when printing coupons to either use IE or Firefox - other browsers won't print them. Also, you can print each coupon 2 times, just push the back button!
• You are supposed to only get 2 bags at that price, but I had 2 coupons and talked to a manager to see if I could get 2 more. They are so nice at Maceys!

Money Left for the Month: $54.51

lazy granola

So I did make that lazy granola last night and it lived up to its name. It was so, so easy! It is a really good basic granola recipe. Matt says it is "delicious" and gives it "2 enthusiastic thumbs up." I don't know how it would hold up to be eaten with milk, but it is a great snack and tastes good over yogurt. I will totally make it again, but next time I would love to throw in slivered almonds and/or dried fruit. I'm kicking myself for not drying apples last week.

homemade playdough

Sam and I made playdough this afternoon. (yes, that is what is in that bag.) It is so easy! I loved making it with my mom growing up. The best part is choosing the color. Speaking of which, this recipe doesn't mention food coloring, but I add it in step 2. Sam insisted on making the playdough yellow today, but I probably didn't add enough coloring. Oh well. It didn't stop him from squishing the playdough all around/on top of/through the cookie cutters. It is hot as you knead it, so that is probably a "Mom job."

By the way, I love the note at the bottom of this recipe. Beware! A dog got sick.

recipe thanks to Creative Kids at Home

Cooked Playdough

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tarter
3 Tbsp oil
3 cups water

Directions:

Dissolve salt in the water.Pour all ingredients into a large pot.Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms by pulling away from the sides.Knead the dough mixture until the texture matches playdough (1-2 minutes).

Store in plastic container. Should last for at least 3 months.

NOTE: This recipe is made from edible ingredients and not toxic in small amounts for children. However, a dog got sick after eating a batch of playdough. It is not intended as a food item. Please be sure to put it away after your children have finished playing.

Sorry that the font is crazy on this entry. I've tried like 10 times to fix it, but it's smarter than me. Oh well.