Well. . .that's embarrassing!

I have to confess, I went over budget this month. I'm embarrassed! Well, I guess it's not too bad I'm only $2.30 over budget. I really thought that I would be under this month. I think I need to work on my math skills!

So, my total was $127.30. But, last month I only spent $122.49. So, my new year-to date total is: $249.79. I'm feeling pretty good about this!

So, I've had a few requests for a menu of what we have been eating. I was going to keep a log for all the things that we ate the entire month but in the beginning of Feb. I was really sick so I wasn't cooking and people brought us meals for a few days. But, for the last few weeks I have been keeping a log. Keep in mind we eat a lot of the same things for breakfast and lunch. So, here is a sample of what we have been eating:

Day1: Breakfast: Eggs, Lunch: Cous Cous, Dinner: Spaghetti

Day 2: Breakfast: Oatmeal, Lunch: Hamburger Sliders (homemade), Dinner: Potatoes with Chili and veggies

Day 3: Breakfast: Pancakes, Lunch: Sandwiches, Dinner: Cheddar and broccoli soup

Day 4: Breakfast: Cereal, Lunch: Homemade mac and cheese, Dinner: made by a friend

Day 5: Breakfast: Cereal, Lunch: Wendy's (reward for girl's chores), Dinner: Homemade Pizza and Salad

Day 6: Breakfast: Eggs, Lunch: Leftover pizza, Dinner: Honey Mustard Chicken, Cous Cous, and veggies

These days were from two weeks (they were mostly in a row). I really like keeping a log of what we have eaten. It is giving me ideas for what to cook in the future. I hope this helps anyone who is looking to save money on groceries and still eat!

January's Shopping trips

I had high hopes that I would post every week, but life gets in the way so maybe once a month is more realistic. I shopped at 2 different stores, Albertsons and Winco. When I went to Winco (for Cub scout food) I was shocked that I never shop there! Their prices are amazing! I will probably be adding a trip down there once a month or so. Anyway, so my grand total for this month is: $105.61 for groceries plus one Bountiful Basket: $16.50

YTD: $122.49

Under budget! I'm really proud. I hope I can keep this up.

Shopping trip #1

As the second day of the new year dawned (okay, before it dawned) I headed to Albertson's. They had double coupons and there were just a few things that I wanted. Here is the list of things that I purchased:

2 bottles of juice

2 bottles of olive oil

2 gallons of milk

4 packages of hot pocket snackers

My total was: $11.88

Later in the day I headed off to Idaho Falls to go to Target. I only purchased 2 things:

2 Lunchables

Total: $1.00

So my grand total for the first shopping day was: $12.88

Not too bad! I hope I can stay close to this total for every week in 2012!

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Years!

With the new year I have been thinking about what kinds of things I could resolve to do and actually do it.

Last year on a blog that I read frequently (like almost everyday), Fabulessly Frugal, a woman named Mavis made a goal of only spending $1,200 on groceries for the entire year! Isn't that amazing? She is a couponer (like me) and is obviously experienced. So, I decided to try to spend less on groceries. That is the point of couponing, right?

So, my goal is to spend $1,500 on groceries this year. I'm pretty worried but I really feel like I can do it. That would come out to $125 a month. When I would coupon before Addie was born I would spend about $20-$25 on groceries every week. I really think I can stick to this again.

Here are some ways that I'm planning on achieving my goal:

1. Couponing (was that a given?)

2. Get a bountiful basket possibly once a month (I do want us to eat healthy too)

3. Have a garden, last year's was great, I hope we can do that again

4. This also means eating from our pantry more (which is why we have a pantry right?)

Anyway, I am going to try to blog about my grocery shopping experiences so that I stay on track and I have people to stay accountable to. I can use a lot of encouragement and help so if you have any ideas, I'm willing to hear them!

Tomorrow starts a new year of shopping (luckily there are doublers at Albertson's to kick it off right)!

I'm back!!

So, a few months ago our laptop kicked the bucket. Then, about a month later, our desktop also kicked the bucket. Of course, we had no money to fix or buy a new one so they sat dead in our house. The smell was starting to get to me, ha ha, just kidding.

It was very frustrating and all I could think about was having a computer! I never knew I was so dependent on a computer before! Anyway, we have recently purchased a computer and I am back in action! I couldn't be happier. I will hopefully be blogging a little more regularly.

Family Pictures

The last time my parents were here (at the end of May) we had family pictures taken. Here is just a preview of what she took.
Shelby is starting to look so grown up! Here she is by an old red shed out in the country near Rexburg.
Addie looks so innocent. This is by far my favorite picture of her. By the way, that headband is from the Toasted Coconut. If you haven't looked at her stuff check her out on Etsy.

This one is a keeper. It's going to be on our wall soon!

My Momma's Day

My mother's day this year was one of the best. Mostly, because of this girl:
She was sitting in the car Saturday morning and said, "Mom, I have 20 cents to buy you a Mother's Day Present!" She was so proud of herself! What she didn't realize was she had more like $2.00 but I didn't bother to correct her. So, for the rest of the day off and on she reminded her dad that she had to go to the store to buy me a present.
After she purchased a scentsy type thing, she was so proud of herself. Her face when she gave it to me was priceless.
Jordan also made it a good day. He actually got up before 9am, and, then he made me breakfast from scratch! He did a great job.