Family Fun Friday

Last night our family was generously given tickets to a Major League Baseball game. It was a fun evening, but even with great seats the kids felt a little removed from the action. A much cheaper alternative to Major League Baseball is Minor League Baseball. Many areas have minor league teams. The parks are smaller and the often offer more promotions geared toward kids (running the bases after the game, fireworks, meeting the players, etc.) The price is a significant difference too! The local team here offers $1 Mondays where tickets, hot dogs and drinks are all only $1. All of Minor League Baseball is participating in a promotion with Kraft where if you bring a wrapper from Kraft Singles American cheese to a park on Tuesday night your tickets are buy one, get one free.

To read more about that promotion, click here. To find a team in your area, click here and then click on "Find Team".

Sears--spend $50, get $50

Sears is running a promotion for Father's Day. Spend $50 in mens jeans or pants and receive $50 in Sears Rewards after mail in rebate.

Info here.

Meal Plan Monday--The Tuesday edition

Yesterday was a very busy day so I wasn't able to post our week's menu. Here's what's on tap:

Sunday: Grilled BBQ chicken sandwiches, potato chips, baked beans, carrots, pineapple.

Monday: Fajita salads. (Marinate thinly sliced steak strips in half bottle of Italian dressing, 1 tsp cumin and a couple of dashes of hot sauce for 1 hour--or however much time you have! In hot skillet coated with cooking spray cook thinly sliced red & green peppers and onions. Add steak--and marinade--and cook through. Serve over salad greens, drained and rinsed black beans, rinsed frozen corn, crushed tortilla chips/taco shells. Top with cheese and dressing made from equal parts sour cream and salsa.)

Tuesday: Stromboli, salads, fruit, chocolate cake.

Wednesday: Catalina chicken (marinated chicken in Catalina dressing and then grill), grilled potato packets, green beans

Thursday: Quiche, fruit salad

Friday: Salmon cakes, rice peas

Saturday: At 8isgreat's house!

For more ideas check out OrgJunkie!

Meal Plan Monday - 8isGreat

Sunday - Chicken Enchiladas

Monday - Shepherd's pie and homemade egg braid loaf

Tuesday - Greek-Italian chopped salad & homemade egg braid

Wednesday - Swim Meet - Egg salad sandwiches, carrot & celery sticks, potato chips

Thursday - Chicken Cacciatore (the recipe linked is the one I use, except I add Penne Pasta - The DG doesn't use pasta at all) Ceasar salad, garlic bread

Friday - Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, stewed tomatoes, homemade bread and peas.

Saturday - Graduation (from HS) Party for oldest child - burgers, dogs, beef shish kabobs, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, potato salad, cake & ice cream.

Free Chocolate Friday!

Don't forget! It's free chocolate Friday again!

Get your free chocolate each Friday (while supplies last) from M&M/Mars as part of their "Real Chocolate Relief Act".

Click here every Friday morning through September for a chance to get a coupon for your favorite Mars product: M&M’s, Snickers, Dove, 3 Muskateers, Twix, or Milky Way. Limit 250,000 coupons per Friday!

Freebie Friday--6 weeks of free diapers!

Arquest is doing another size 4 diaper study. This time you will receive 6 packs of diapers, rather than one. The gratuity will still be $10.

I just finished a study on Wednesday and was able to participate in this one as well.
The number to call is:

1-888-DIAPER2

Ext 634 for boys (Cheyla)
Ext 646 for girls (Georgia)

Want more details on how it works, read our first post about it here.

THRIFTY THURSDAY

Stretching Liquid Fabric Softner

I was all out of fabric softner and found this bottle of Downy on closeout at Food Lion for $3.42 (this happened to be cheaper than the FL brand). I mixed it with water (1/3 softner, 2/3 water) in a large screw top plastic bottle. I keep a glove with it to protect my skin. I soak and then wring out a sponge in the solution before throwing it into the dryer with clothes.

It has worked great! I am very happy with the results! I need to add another sponge or two. I spend too much time trying to find my sponge! :o)

WHITTLE DOWN WEDNESDAY

I need to re-read Peter Walsh's It's All Too Much for some more motivation to declutter! I'm still working, but with less enthusiasm. I also have more people in the house to work around now that two of my girls are out of school.

I've been working on the basement and throughout the house slowly diminishing our "stuff." I had a VERY successful yard sale last Saturday. I cleared $500! I got rid of quite a few large items (A Little Tykes playhouse and toybox, a desk) and many smaller items such as frames, books, toys etc.

I wish I had pictures.
I was the coordinator of a large comunity yard sale in my church parking lot. I brought my camera, however, I was working to help other sellers find their spots and having them remove their vehicles that the buyers swarmed on us before I could pull out my camers. I hadn't even "set up" before I'd sold more than $50!

My best sellers were items I'd purchased using coupons. I sold toothpaste, diabetes monitors, glade plug-ins, razors, toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving cream, shampoo and conditioner among other items. I had quite a lot of these items and I'm sure at least half of my profit was from my "couponing cheapies" or "couponing freebies"!

I live in a very rural area, and I would never get the volume of traffic we got beside the highway and with a crowd of sellers and food to draw customers. The yard sale was a lot of work and a lot of stress. I'm not sure if I'll volunteer to coordinate again - we'll see. Hopefully I will find a yard sale someone else is coordinating in the future.

TIme Saving Tuesday--house cleaning

A few years back I came across a resource that is such a blessing in it's simplicity. It's by MotivatedMoms.com. She has put together a planner that has daily check lists for cleaning. You save time by spending just a small amount of time each day cleaning, rather than letting the whole house slip into chaos and then struggling to climb out of the mess. The planner offers printable checklists for each week. There are daily chores and then each day of the week has additional chores to tackle. Some will be really quick--like "replenish the toilet paper in each bathroom" others make take longer--like "clean microwave inside and out". A friend who just got the planner last week commented "I couldn't believe how clean my house was at the end of last week. I just went by the list and off I went."

The list breaks cleaning your house into small do-able tasks and don't overwhelm even the messiest of housekeepers. The cost for this resource is only $8 for a whole year of a clean house!

Interested in checking it out for yourself?
To order Motivated Moms planner
If you are interested in ordering and saving $1 use the code GROUP!
It's a complete steal at $7!

Cash only grocery budget--month in review

This month was the first I tracked my purchases and used only cash for groceries. Dave Ramsey (author of Total Money Makeover) writes that people spend 18% more when they use "plastic" to make their purchases over cash. I thought we did pretty well already in the grocery area--but decided to see if using cash only made a difference. It did! I thought more about each purchase I made and would need to be aware how much cash I had on me when I was in the grocery store.


At the beginning of the month I took out $360 in cash. I thought that was reasonable for a family of 6. That covered all grocery, baby, cleaning supplies, health and beauty items.

I spent $324.48. I came $35.52 UNDER budget this month. I also submitted $87 in mail in rebates from those grocery receipts. If you count that money back I'm getting, I spent $237.48 for the month. (And I still have $12 in catalinas that I can use on June groceries!) I was hoping to spend even less than I did, but you'll see in the list posted below that I stocked up on a LOT of different items this month, hopefully meaning next month's spending will be even less.

In the month of April I spent $523.55. Not counting the $87 I'm getting back in mail in rebates, I spent $199.07 LESS in May than April. I'm not all that good at math--but I think that's a 38% savings from last month!

When I got back from the store I input my receipts into Excel to track not only what I spent, but what I bought. (I was curious how much milk I get each month, how much bread we eat, how much produce we go through in a month, etc.) I also put what I've spent into my itouch as soon as I get home from the store, that way I have a running budget in my purse at all times.

From what I purchased this month, I was able to I donate over $200 worth of groceries to the food bank.

So, what did $324.48 cash buy me this month?

Produce
5	indiv	apples
2	indiv	bananas
2	indiv	tomatoes
6	ears	corn
1	head	iceberg lettuce
3.1	lbs	potatoes
0.9	lbs	apples
6.39	lbs	bananas
0.65	lbs	roma tomatoes
5	lbs	potatoes
5	lbs	Fuji apples
3	indiv	bananas
6	ears	corn
2	lbs	strawberries
1	indiv	pineapple
	18 oz pk	blueberries
7	indiv	bananas
3	lbs	apples
3.89	lbs	bananas
2.67	lbs	apples
2	lbs	organic carrots
3.97	lbs	potatoes
2	indiv	portabella mushroom caps
2	lbs	celery hearts
1.52	lbs	grapes
2	lbs	vidalia onions
1		seedless watermelon
6	ears	corn
1	indiv	red pepper
1	indiv	green pepper
1	lbs	carrots
1	lbs	organic carrots
2	indiv	red peppers
1	indiv	green pepper
1	indiv	cucumber
2	indiv	oranges
8	indiv	Fuji apples
3	indiv	pears
1	head	green leaf lettuce
1	indiv	extra large tomoato
9	indiv	bananas
2	lbs	strawberries
2	indiv	sweet potatoes
6	ears	corn
6	indiv	kiwi
5.76	lbs	Fuji apples
9.92	lbs	potatoes
1	indiv	cucumber
Dairy
1	gallon	2% milk
3	gallon	2% milk
2	gallon	skim milk
1	dozen	eggs
3	dozen	eggs
1	lb	Kraft American cheese
1	pint	heavy whipping cream
1	package	cream cheese
1	6 pk	yogurt
4	lbs	butter
4	gallon	2% milk
2	gallon	skim milk
4	lbs	cheddar cheese
3	6pks	yogurt
2	pks	shredded cheddar
4	blocks	cheddar cheese
2	blocks	colby jack
3	dozen	eggs
1	gallon	whole milk
2	gallon	2% milk
1	lb	Kraft American cheese
2	gallons	skim milk
1	lb	Kraft American cheese
1	32oz	plain yogurt
2	4pks	Yoplait yo-plus yogurt
4	lb	Kraft American cheese
2	16 oz	Breakstones sour cream
1	8 oz	Daisy Sour Cream
3	gallon	2% milk
Bread
1	loaf	bread
1	pk	hot dog buns
1	dozen	mini bagels
1	2pk	ficcelle bread
2	loaf	bread
2	loaf	bread
1	16 pk	hamburger buns
2	loaf	bread
Meat
5	pks	Hot dogs
10	lbs	frozen chicken breasts
6.07	lbs	ground beef
8	lbs	hamburgers (32)
2.6	lbs	ground turkey breast
1.66	lbs	london broil steaks
1.5	lbs	eye round steaks
2	lbs	NY strip steaks
1	lbs	thin cut fajita steaks
13.33	lbs	90% ground beef
2.6	lbs	ground turkey breast
4.7	lbs	stew meat
12	indiv	beef shish kabobs
1.5	lbs	thin cut fajita steaks
1.25	lbs	ground turkey breast
Canned/Jarred
1	jar	strawberry jelly
1	bottle	syrup
12	bottles	Pace salsa
3	bottles	Pace salsa
2	cans	baked beans
1	bottle	syrup
1	jar	seedless red raspberry jam
1	jar	orange marmalade
1	30 oz jar	mayonaise
3	bottles	Kraft ranch dressing
1	bottle	Pace salsa
20	bottles	Kraft BBQ sauce
130	bottles	Kraft BBQ sauce
2	bottles	Kraft salad dressing
2	bottles	A1
4	cans	refried beans
2	cans	hormel chili
2	bottles	Newmans Own Balsamic Vineg.
2	jar	miracle whip
1	jar	skippy peanut butter
Staples
13	boxes	Special K
1	boxes	Saltines
2	boxes	Life Cereal
2	cans	kidney beans
1	bottle	Parmesan cheese
1	bottle	Vegetable oil
1	boxes	brown rice
2	lbs	brown sugar
1	boxes	baking soda
1	5lb bag	flour
2	boxes	Special K yougrt
1	boxes	Frosted Mini Wheats
5	boxes	Frosted Mini Wheats
2	boxes	Ritz crackers
2	boxes	Wheat Thins
4	boxes	Froot Loops
4	boxes	Apple Jacks
4	boxes	Corn Pops
2	boxes	Frosted Mini Wheats
9	boxes	Raisin Bran
4	boxes	Rice Krispies
4	boxes	Frosted Flakes
2	boxes	Barilla Picollini bowties
3	boxes	Uncle Bens brown rice
1	box	Black pepper
3	packs	Wacky Mac
20	packs	McCormick Zesty Herb marinade
Beverages
10	pks	6 ct Deer Park water
3	boxes	capri sun
1	bottle	iced tea
4	bottle	Vitamin water
4	12 pks	Coke
1	1/2 gallon	Tropicana OJ
7	bottle	Vitamin water
5	bottle	Vitamin water
1	1/2 gallon	Tropicana OJ
1	bottle	Deer Park Sparkling water
Misc
12	boxes	Fiber One bars
1	indiv	donut
2	bags	Sunchips
2	indiv	reusable shopping bags
1	indiv	newspaper
1	bags	marshmallows
1	bags	Hershey Bliss
2	bags	Hershey Bliss
2	bags	Lays potato chips
5	bags	Hershey Bliss
1	bar	Hershey Bliss
6	boxes	Jell-O
2	12ct boxes	Poptarts
3	indiv	donuts
Household
3	8pks	Paper towel
1	12pk	Cottonelle toilet paper
1	pk	napkins
1	box	tissues
3	pks	36 ct Chinet plates
2	box	Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
10	bottles	Lysol toilet cleaner
2	boxes	Ziploc gallon freezer bags
1	large tub	Oxiclean
6	packs	Marcal Napkins
Baby
1	pk	184 Huggies wipes refill
Frozen
1	box	Frozen pretzles
1	box	french toast
1	bag	french fries
1	1/2 gallon	vanilla ice cream
7	bags	peas
3	bags	corn
5	cans	OJ
3	half gallons	ice cream
2	indiv	cheese pizzas
1	indiv	pepperoni pizza
2	bags	Lender bagels
2	tubs	cool whip
1	box	ice cream sandwiches
1	box	frozen spinach
3	half gallons	ice cream
2	bags	Lender bagels
1	box	Frozen pretzles
4	boxes	Bagelfuls

We always pay our credit cards off each month so I thought I was doing a good thing using plastic and getting 3% back on all the purchases. I think I'd rather have the 38% savings instead!