Frugal Friday: The grocery experiment

With the kids back in school, it's time to look at the grocery budget again and adjust a few things.

I don't know about your kids, but during the summer mine are always starving. And not just hungry starving. . . the whiny starving kind. Which really is the worst kind of starving. It's bored + the munchies.

I do my best to provide healthy snacks, but seriously...

They go all day without snacking during school, but at home...heaven forbid there aren't two snacks plus lunch between breakfast and dinner.

As a result, I'd buy lots of snacky foods during the summer and they'd be gone in two seconds. So, I'd head back to the store for more snacks...with coupons of course. And since I had a few coupons, I'd try to get my grocery totals to a magic number to take advantage of a $5 off total purchase coupon.

Needless to say, I was going to the store far too often and buying lots of "extras."

Time for a new strategy. Or rather an old one.

Back when D was doing his undergrad, we had a very tiny budget. As we looked at the needs vs wants, we realized that D was spending a lot of money on a candy bar and soda. After all, it was just $2...but that was adding up .... fast.

And looking at our situation now, I realize my trips to the store to grab a great deal are my candy bars and sodas. It's adding up.

After my recent post about how to set up a food budget, I needed to take my advice to the next level.

I've made a menu for two weeks. I've listed everything I'm going to need/run out of in the next two weeks. And unless it's cereal (the cereal sale isn't that hot this week!) or something under 50 cents with the coupon, I'm not running to the store.

That means I'm stocking up at Costco for meats, dairy and eggs; the bread store for...well, bread; and the farmer's market for produce.

Everything else...it better be in my pantry or I can make it from scratch. Gosh, it sounds less like a budget slashing and more like going off boxed goods cold turkey!

Today, I spent $70 (includes tax) at Costco.

 

I'm including my "savings" for these staple items compared to the regular grocery stores:

4 gallons of milk @  $2.65/gal              vs          $3.99/gal

18 ct eggs @ $2.09               vs           $1.99 (12 ct eggs)

10 lbs chicken thighs @ .99/lb              vs       $1.99/lb

6 lbs extra lean ground beef @ 2.99/ lb              vs       4.29/lb

2 lbs sharp cheddar cheese @ $4.55                vs     $10

5 lbs mozzarella cheese  @ $11.25   vs  $25

While some of the savings was small, my overall savings by shopping for these items was 30 percent! I saved 50 percent on solely the cheese. I was able to pick up four gallons of milk for what three gallons costs me at other stores.
 



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Pin Inspiration Party #49

 I'm so excited to host this week's Pin-Inspiration Party! I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to make it, but that pesky hurricane turned another direction and we ended up with family evacuating to us!

Happy Pin'Inspirational 

Thursday Soiree Day!

..............................

Hope your week has been awesome and you are ready 

to PARTY and show off your amazing goodies this week! What 

have you been up to? Care to share..? Thank YOU so 

much for joining us as always!!!

 Pin'inspiration : Party 

Linky Up Day #49

So many awesome projects this week. It's always so hard to choose...

There was no accident about Accidentally Wonderful's White Chicken Enchiladas I can PERSONALLY vouch for this recipe. I already made it and it was a huge hit!

I'm loving all things reusable right now. So these reusable food storage covers from A Rose Sweet Home really caught my attention.

My favorite book when I was a tween was Anne of Green Gables. Naturally, I immediately fell in love with this dresser from Simply Vintageous. I think she might be a kindred spirit.

And now we can't wait to see what you 

amazing folks are up to this week!

Little Teenie Party Rules To Please Observe

+ Please link your great projects - AS MANY AS YOU WANT!!

+ Please do follow myself and wonderful co-hosts Jane & Marilyn

+ Do snag a button if you are featured / spread the word...

+Please link to an exact post so we can indulge in your featured creativity...
+link back to our party, so others can find us later

+ Tell a friend so they can join on in and be pin'inspired with us!
+Turning off word verification encourages others

to comment on your wonderful projects.

Cake Pop Flop

All the birthdays I do for the kids can't be sensational. I mean, Little Miss' party was pretty darn awesome.

Well, except for the cake. Maybe I just need to skip making birthday cakes.

My ideas start out well enough.

Cake pops.

And not just that...multicolored cake batter.

oooohhh pretty

Of course Leelee says it looks ugly. What does she know. She's 13. These cake pops were for Danger Girl who turned 9 over the weekend. Nine year olds think any type of food on a stick is cool.

Once the cake pops for the class were done, I left them to cool.

And, as any good blogger who wants a project pinned knows...presentation is crucial!

Plus, I needed a way to get the cake pops into the school while holding hands with a three year old. Not an easy task.

So, I got a box and covered it in white paper and tied a lovely ribbon and bow. It was very pretty.

Next, I put the sticks in the cake pops which resembled little multi-colored planets.

It was time to frost. Or dip in chocolate. Or something.

And this is where I realized something was going horribly wrong. 

First, it was humid and hot. So nothing was really going to stick anyway. Second, the cake was just falling apart as I tried. Third, I could not figure out how anyone managed to get this piece of mushy cake to look pretty.

I did what came naturally. I whined on facebook.

That's when a friend's mom came to my rescue and told me I needed to freeze the little boogers before frosting.

But it was too late for that. I had already stuck the totally gnarly looking cake pops into the lovely box. 

Isn't the box cute at least??

I don't think the ladies at the office had ever seen a cake pop before. They were like "ohhh those are so cute!" and I'm thinking "What the heck? These are totally UGLY!"

The kids in Danger Girl's class didn't seem to care either. It was cake. On a stick.

And my kid thinks I'm cool. So I guess it wasn't a total flop.

linked up at:

 Whimsey Wednesday **Wow Us Wednesday ** Homemade By You ** Creative Spark ** Wow ME Wednesday ** Your Whims Wednesday ** Back for Seconds **Wednesday Whatsits ** Trendy Treehouse ** Whatever Goes Wednesday **Mom on Time Out* Momnivore's dilemma **house of hepworths **wildly original **Creative Thursday **kitchen fun with my 3 sons **Weekend Wonders **fantabulous Friday ** link it up thursday **curb alert **tater tots & Jello **Weekend Show Off **

DIY stain treater

or

Yet Another Pinterest cleaning product test

This time, we're tackling stains in clothes.

I fully admit I am terrible with getting stains out of clothes. My mother-in-law can get pretty much any stain out. She's amazing with laundry.

I use the store bought stain sticks ... the kind you can treat then forget about. And sometimes I get ok results, but it won't get out pesky things like ink pens.

I'm also really bad about making sure things are out of pockets. I've washed several flashdrives in addition to pens. Hey, if the people in this house need flashdrives, I figure they are old enough to empty their own pockets.

Sorry... back on topic.

The basis of this cleaning test is that one part Dawn dishwasher soap and three parts hydrogen peroxide will get out stains. Scrub it, then wash.

I didn't have Dawn, so I used Palmolive and the hydrogen peroxide. This is an excellent job for an old toothbrush.

Scrub it and then let it set. If it doesn't come all the way out the first time, give it another shot. If you use Dawn, it may work in one try.

My favorite shirt was ruined by an ink pen and for some reason, I hadn't gotten rid of the shirt yet. So I took the chance of trying this on a grey shirt instead. No pictures, but it DID work! I figured it was worth the chance since the shirt was already ruined.

One blogger also tried this with her kids' dirty socks. I usually just soak those in bleach but hey...I'm willing to give it a try with this method, too.

In the future I'm going to keep a squirt bottle of this stuff next to the laundry with the old tooth brush. It's definitely a keeper!


linked up at:
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Friday Finals ... just $16 at publix

Disclaimer:

There are no awesome pictures of my groceries this week.

 Instead, I could offer you a picture of why there's no picture...but no one really wants to see my foot swollen the size of Fred Flintsone's because I was bitten by ONE fire ant.

For those fortunate enough to never experience a fire ant bite, I envy you. It's like 1000 bee stings that continue long after. And for me, since I'm allergic, it also includes massive swelling and sometimes infections.

So, there ya go.

I made two trips to publix this week.

The first one was all kinds of awesome. I spent a PENNY, plus tax.

1 suave deodorant (used raincheck + .50/1)

1 Nice n Easy hair dye (free after coupon--doing a product review)

1 pack Greenwise TP (penny item)

My second trip was a bit bigger, and I spent $15 before taxes.

3 boxes Lucky Charms (.50/1 X3)

4 boxes Near East Couscous

8 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes (.50/2 X4)

2 bottles of soda

1 package poptarts

1 package pasta

2 yoplait kids yogurt (.35/1 X2

2 capris Sun ($1/1 X2 + .75/1 Publix + $1/WD)

1 fake crab meat (.50/1)

I also used a $5/25 Save a Lot

I'm curious if anyone would be interested in seeing my meal plans that go with the grocery shopping each week?

I'm not planning that far ahead this week because we're watching this storm.  I don't want to go crazy stocking up on meat if we lose power. I'm putting this on the blog because I know without a doubt that if we even think there's a remote chance the storm will totally miss us (and that's really what we want!)

Friday night: Pizza STromboli
Saturday: Spaghetti
Sunday: Mongolian Beef
Monday: Baked Chicken, potatoes, salad, veggie

Pin Inspiration #47

Our hostess for this week is Marilyn...take it away!  

 
Happy Pin'Inspirational 

Thursday Soiree Day!

..............................

Hope your week has been awesome and you are ready 

to PARTY and show off your amazing goodies this week! What 

have you been up to? Care to share..? Thank YOU so 

much for joining us as always!!!

 Pin'inspiration : Party 

Linky Up Day #47

We can't thank any of you enough for your amazing projects and generosity in 

sharing each week. It's always so encouraging and inspiring to see all you've been working on!!

........................................

* Top favorites / Most Viewed *

Take me to Paris With Love! Amazing and 

sweet French Script Lamp Shade from the crafty 

The Concrete Cottage .. So clever!

** ** ** ** ** 

Halfway To Hipster WOW'd us with these chic and 

OH' so pretty designer candles.. Sooo outta this world shabby!!

** ** ** ** ** 

A WONDERLAND Party Time..

We are SO inspired by these amazing soiree goodies!!

D I V E Down the rabbit hole with me!! I promise

Sweet Boutique has LOTS to show you!! 

No party would be complete without CAKE...

** ** ** ** ** 

.........and to leave you with one last BRILLIANT something to lighten 

up your day & sweet up those taste buds ~ a 

HUGE BRAVO to Smart School House!!

............................

And now we can't wait to see what you 

amazing folks are up to this week!

Little Teenie Party Rules To Please Observe

+ Please link your great projects - AS MANY AS YOU WANT!!

+ Please do follow myself and wonderful co-hosts Jane & Micki

+ Do snag a button if you are featured / spread the word...

Please link to an exact post so we can indulge in your featured creativity...

+ Tell a friend so they can join on in and be pin'inspired with us!
+Turning off word verification encourages others

to comment on your wonderful projects.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY TO P A R T Y!

Wishing You A HAPPY WEEK!!

Ready, set, go!

Ready, set, go!

Vintage Canning...

Last year, I finally learned to can!

It was a huge deal for me since I was given a boiling water bath canner as a wedding present and hadn't ever taken it out of the box. We had moved it with us across several states...for more than 17 YEARS.

Canning was always something grandmas and well, "those moms" did. Not the perfect moms. The homeschooling moms whose children would never be socialized because all they did for school was clean house, work the family farm, and read to their children from trashy romance novels.

Yeah, I was pretty ignorant about homeschooling, too LOL

Now that I've been enlightened, I've embraced the whole "retro frugal" mom thing. Ok, there might not actually be a retro frugal mom thing, but there ought to be. Starting right ...

NOW

On a recent thrift store excursion, I found this vintage Southern Living Canning and Preserving Cookbook. It was published AFTER I was born, so maybe it should be a Vintage Frugal Mom thing since I'm more than 25.

published in 1975

There's one big difference between this cookbook and the standard Bell canning book. . . This one recommends inversion canning for jams and jellies. Heck, it doesn't even mention inverting for jelly.

Inversion canning is basically when you get your lids and rings on really fast, then flip the jars over and the heat from whatever you're canning will set the ring on the lids. Then, we learned about germs and botulism, and now everything gets a boiling water bath. A few people still use inversion canning for jams and jellies, but the USDA says its naughty.

So, me being the rebel that I am, I decided to try it.

My test run of jars didn't seal so I had to do a boiling water bath anyway.

And, I also wasn't very good about skimming the foam:

foam-a-licious

Round two, I decided to make sure I got all the foam so I could have pretty jelly. Because we all know how important it is in life to make sure the jelly is pretty.

Oh My Gosh! What a difference skimming makes!

I admit it. I did a happy dance. It did make me feel better about myself and my mad homemaking skillz to have pretty jelly.

I know it's not perfectly see through, but that's because, as I mentioned before, I'm a rebel...and I didn't make fruit juice by boiling fruit and water. I used 3 1/2 cups of juiced fruit with no water added. It's thicker by nature and not clear. Peeling the peaches made no difference in the color of the juice.

We're down a full pint-sized jar in two days.

Peach Jelly

3 1/2 lb ripe peaches

1 box powdered pectin or 6 T pectin

4 1/2 C sugar

Juice peaches in a good juicer until you have about 3 1/2 C. Place in a large pot and add pectin. Cook and stir over high heat until it comes to a hard boil. Stir in sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and skim foam. I used a ladle for this step.

Pour into sterilized jars immediately, leaving 1/2 inch space at the top.

Place on lids and rings, then process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Test seal in 24 hours. Reprocess if necessary.

linked up at:

Tasty Tuesdays **  Too Cute Tuesday ** Show me what ya got ** Tuesday Time Out **DIY Dreamer ** Whimsey Wednesday **Uncommonly Yours ** Wow Us WEdnesday ** Wow Me Wednesday ** Your Whims Wednesday ** Creative Spark **WEdnesday Whatsits ** Show & Share ** Homemade by you ** Penny Pinching party** Handy Man, Crafty Woman ** Create & Share **Wildly Original **Mom on Timeout ** Creative Juice Thursday ** creative things thursday ** House of Hepworths **Creative thursday**Made U Look **Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons **Here comes the sun **Recipe Sharing Monday **Mom's Library **

Anatomy of a food budget

Over the past few years, our family has been working very hard to become debt free. It is definitely a family task. We all have to remain focused and remember wants vs needs.

As race to get out of debt nears the end of stage one completion (paying off all our consumer debt except the mortgage), we are realizing the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train!

The biggest key for us was making a budget and sticking to it!

I often hear people talking about how much money they spend each week on food and eating out. This is definitely an area where you can pretty much miss the giant sucking sound of money leaving your wallet!

The first step to making a basic food budget, isn't dealing with the money.

It's Menu Planning.

Menu planning is crucial because it means you are aware of what you are eating at each meal. It means, you are making sure you have all the ingredients you need for the week.  And, making those awful trips to the store on the way home wondering what on earth you are going to make for dinner.

There are two "types" of money saving menu planning: Planning based on what's on sale this week and shopping your well stocked pantry. We'll get to the pantry in a moment...

Which leads to step two: Shopping with a List.

Go to the store once, with your list. Get what you need. Get out. Stick to your list!

This eliminates all the extra trips to the store for one thing, that usually ends up costing two to three times what you intended to spend.

Now, you're ready to figure out 

 how much you're going to spend.

I wish I had a great formula for you. I don't. This part really depends on your family, what you eat and what sorts of stores you have available. This is what works for us and our family of 8.

1. The Protein Budget: I shop for proteins once or twice a month. When I see a great sale, I stock up. I went three months without buying chicken. We eat vegetarian a couple times a week. I am able to save more money on proteins by shopping at Costco for some items and hitting the markdown meats for others.

If you are concerned about buying chicken that's marked down, for example, you poach it in the crockpot then shred it and freeze! Bonus #1: you have pre-cooked chicken ready to toss in casseroles, soups or stews.  Bonus #2: You now have chicken stock, that you can also freeze and use in recipes instead of buying at the store.


2. Produce Budget: Because I am able to shop at the Farmer's Market year round, I have a budget for produce. During the summer, I don't really use this because we do have a garden and friends who also share their garden bounty. Next year, I plan to make my garden even bigger so I am able to put up more goodies for the fall. Here are some ideas for saving money on produce.

This week, I spent $9 at the Farmer's market and brought home onions, plums and about 7 lbs of culled fruit we need to eat NOW! Which is fine, because as soon as the kids saw the basket, they attacked it.

3. Pantry Budget: This is the money spent at the store. How much are you planning on spending at the store for your pantry. For me, this is also my coupon shopping budget. I call it a pantry budget because this where you can really get ahead of your food budget by stockpiling.

 I'm not talking Hoarders: Coupon Edition type stockpiling, unless you're up for that. Many people start out full speed couponing and burn out quickly. I'm talking more along the lines of figuring out how much you will use of certain items over the space of about 3 months, and stocking up at the bottom price using coupons.

Once you have a good pantry, you don't have to rely as much on what's on sale that week for your menu planning. The weekly sales become a way to replenish what you use.

Even if you're sure there's no way there are coupons for the things your family eats, keep in mind some of the best coupon values are on things like toothpaste and toilet paper. So even if you can save on those items, it's still money you are saving! Every dime counts.

4. Eating Out:  I don't care for eating out often. I'd rather experiment with fun recipes and interesting ingredients at home. I still make a small budget for date night, which probably be included in another budget category, but I put it here for my convenience.


Despite inflation and adding members to our family, I've been able to keep our food budget pretty stable over the past few years. And, we're actually eating better! Just ignore the last few weeks of grocery totals where I've been stocking up for the snack buckets for school. The schools don't allow us to send in homemade snacks, no matter how healthy and every time I've sent bags of fresh fruit, the fruit has come home to me.  There's no opting out of the bucket...so it's  crackers and junk...blech...that's a post for another day LOL


linked up at:

It's Overflowing ** Sunday Scoop**Cheerios & Lattes **Debbie Doo's Newbie Party **Busy Mondays ** Mop it Up Mondays **Motivate me Mondays ** More the Merrier Mondays ** The Gunny Sack** Making Spaces Monday **Our delightful Home ** Cure for the common Monday **Simply Sensational Tuesday **Open Call Tuesday **Cowgirl Up **Your Whims Wednesday **Penny Pinching Party** Handy Man, Crafty Woman **Wildly Original **Mom on Timeout **House of hepworths **

A reality TV Star saved my life

Not kidding.

There I was, at the AMAZING Chris' Hot Dogs...and I was munching some of their yummy fries when I choked.

Honest to goodness CHOKED. Lodged in my throat, can't breathe...choked.

And who comes to my rescue?

None other than Martie from the Next Food Network Star.

She was at Chris' as part of Alabama Restaurant Week. And I was there to meet her. There are a few Food Network contestants I just LOVED and she was one of them.

I'm not sure if this tops one of my most embarrassing moments but I'm pretty sure Martie will NEVER forget me LOL

So this is my PSA: Learn First Aid. Learn how to do the Heimlich. You never know when it's going to come in handy. Martie dislodged things just enough that I could begin a wonderfully attractive hacking fit and get the troublesome fry the rest of the way out.

I have a real soft spot for First Aid classes. Not just because I've needed first aid, but because I met my sweetie while teaching a first aid class!

 Back in January, I made my 12 Goals for 2012. One of them was to be ON a reality TV show. While I haven't made that particular goal yet, meeting a reality TV contestant (one that I voted for, even!) surely is about as close as I'm going to come.


Linked up at:

Here Comes the Sun **  Anything Goes ** Happy Hour Projects ** Finding FAbulous **tatertots and jello **Cheerios & Lattes **

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I don't know about you, but I really hate it when I have dinner all planned out and then discover, AS I'm cooking, that I've forgotten an ingredient.

Happens to me all the time.

And if it doesn't ever happen to you, I really don't want to hear about it!

Sometimes I have to improvise and other times, I'm able to pull off a miracle...like recreating an ingredient I usually buy pre-packaged.

One of the easier things to make in a crunch are flour tortillas. Keep in mind, these won't always be round ... in fact, they are so not round, you're supposed to call them RUSTIC...because calling things RUSTIC makes all things falling apart and not quite right, seem positively STYLISH.

The trick to getting your flour tortillas somewhat round-ish, is rolling them out on waxed paper, first from the middle making an X, then from the bottom and then across like a +. Do this a few times and the tortillas will be more round than blobby. You won't get a perfect edge, but that's what kitchen scissors are for...trimming.

 If you can't make it, fake it, right?

I make my tortillas while I'm cooking the rest of dinner. For me, it's usually faster to make tortillas than it is to get through WalMart at 5 pm for one thing. As if that's ever going to happen.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup warm water

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shortening, cutting in until the flour resembles cornmeal, using a fork or your hands. Hands are easier. Even better is if you have a food processor. 

Add the water to the mixture a little at a time until the dough is soft and not sticky. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. 

Let rest, covered with a towel, about 15 minutes. I sometimes skip this step, because I'm in a hurry.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. 

Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball into a thin tortilla, starting at the middle and going up to the upper right at an angle, then center to the upper left...center to lower right, center to lower left. Next. start at the bottom and roll up, then roll across. Do this until the tortilla is thin.

 Place the tortillas one at a time into the skillet and cook until bubbly and golden, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip the tortilla and continue cooking until golden on the other side. 

 

Linked up at:

Pin Inspiration Thursday **Made U Look ** A Glimpse Inside ** Taking a Time Out thursday ** Let Your Light Shine ** Happy Hour Projects ** Flaunt it Fridays ** Days of Chalk & Chocolate ** Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons **Recipe Share Monday **The Shabby Nest**Here Comes the Sun**House of Hepworths **tatertots & jello **Cheerios & Lattes**It's Overflowing ** Sunday Scoop **

Pin Inspiration!

Hey there and happy middle of August!

The three muskateers (aka Adventures in dinner, Artsy Girl Connections and ADD housewife) are back again for another fun round of pin'inspiration.

We can't thank any of you enough for your amazing projects and generosity in sharing each week.

My holidays are done now and I'm taking small one into my classroom to help me get all my prep done. I'm not sure how thrilled either of is with the arrangement but needs must C:

A few projects that totally wowed us last week were:

A fabulous dinner that would make even going back to school a wonderful thing.

Happiest Mom On The Blog

Looking for an adorable cake idea for a slumber party?

A Casarella has your back.

Yep! I'm doing this up in the next week to help keep my small one occupied while mommy works. Thanks Taking Time To Create!

And now to see what you amazing folks are up to this week!

Happy Adventuring, Jane

Come on, Baby, light my fire

Or not. 

We have three fireplaces in the house.

None of them are usable.

One hundred years ago, they were the only heat source for the house.

A year ago, the fireplace looked like this:

So far, the only thing that's changed is the wall color.

The fireplace surround photographs well...

But up close and personal, it's still sponge painted circa 1980-something.

The little girls have a fireplace in their room, too...

My heart broke to discover someone years ago drilled the cover

We still haven't gotten around to repairing it. One day.

Leelee's fireplace also had some fabulous 1980s touches

And it's been my place to experiment

And enjoy the little details

One room at a time. One project at a time. One fireplace at a time.





 

Linked up:
 Cheerios & Lattes ** Debbie Doos Newbie Party ** Southern Institute ** Busy Mondays ** Mop it Up Mondays ** The Sunday Stop ** Motivate Me Mondays ** It's Overflowing **Between Naps on the Porch **The Gunny Sack ** Made by You Monday ** Skip to My Lou **Simply Sensational **Open Call Tuesday** Cowgirl Up ** Trendy Tuesday ** Show Me What You Got ** Tuesday Time Out ** Talent Tuesday **Wednesday Whatsits ** Handy Man, Crafty Woman ** Back 4 Seconds ** Your Whims WEdnesday ** Wow Us Wednesday **Ivy & Elephants **House of Hepworths ** tater tots & jello **

Frugal Friday & Features

This week has been pretty crazy. It's the last week with everyone home. D is going back to work officially next week, but he's been at school setting up his classroom this week.

I'm kind of glad to be getting my house back to myself! That means more time to work on the assorted projects I've been putting off.

I know you can't tell from where you're sitting, but I have a huge smile on my face. Several of my projects were featured on blogs recently. In case you missed them, here they are:

How to Clean with Baking Soda:

Featured at:

House of Hepworths (Yeah, I'm dancing around the house for this one!)

Ladybird Ln

How to Make Vinegar Cleaners NOT stinky:

featured at: 

 Michelle's Tasty Creations

Back for Seconds

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls 

featured at: 

Crafty Confessions

Now on to why some of the rest of you are here...to check out my grocery store savings. This week, I had a whopping $50 to spend! I will probably make one more trip to the store with the rest of my $15 grocery budget. That's right.... I spent just $35...and that includes a trip to the dollar store for bread.

My total, including TAX at Publix this week was just $28

2 bagelfuls .35/1 X2
ocean spray juice $1/1
rice
8 boxes fruit snacks .50/1 X8
TP
2 body wash .50/1 X2
2 lawry's marinades .50/1 X2
salt
2 Combos $1/2
2 Goldfish crackers $1/2
ramen
mac n cheese
bleach
hot dogs
2 batter blasters (for scout camp) .50/1 X2
3 Pepsi B2G1 Free sale
EXPENSIVE ice cream

Used $5/$30 WD X2

The store was completely out of the free deodorant, so I had to use filler items like ice cream to reach my total to use my coupons. So I consider the ice cream a freebie. ;)

With the kids going back to school, my lunch menus are going to be changing again...so I'm trying to stock up on snacky lunch foods now when they are on sale.