Still Shopping, just slowly updating and looking for bread

Time runs away from my when my life become 'unstructured.' I've always needed a regular schedule to get the most of of my time. As I no longer work two jobs my shifts at CVS have less structure then before. So I find myself either with too little time or far too much and I want to spend less time on the computer. I should make a weekly schedule for myself. I keep thinking one of those weekly dry eraser boards would work out well right at where my computer sits.

I'm still shopping for my free items at CVS. I love this buy 3 Hallmark get $3 EB. It's nice to go back and look for some $.99 cards for free to set them aside for later. I also picked up on the awesome Aveeno Lotion deal. (It was buy two get $7 EB) At the start of the week the trail size were not included. In the middle of the week the started issuing the EB. Of coarse I had to try it out to see if it worked. ^_~ I'll be using those EB for the upcoming Black Friday sales.

I really want to get back into couponing more. As I am trying to eat more unprocessed foods it becomes more expensive for me. Take bread for example. Before I would buy any whole wheat bread I liked. Has anyone actually bothered to read all the ingredients on bread? The following is the list from my Organic 14 Grain Bread. (I would expect maybe 20 things to be listed because of there being 14 grains, but it's so much more.)


Organic Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Organic Gain Blend (Steel Cut Wheat, Steel Cut Oats, Cracked Tritcale, Cracked Barley, Yellow Corn Meal, Cracked Rye, Spelt Flakes, Kamut Flakes, Sunflower Seed, Bulgur Wheat, Cracked Rice, Quinoa, Millet, Amarath) Organic Sugar, Organic Wheat gluten, Contains 2% or less of the following: Yeast, Salt, Organic Soybean Oil, Organic Honey, Organic Vinegar, Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Malt Extract, Cultured Organic Wheat Flour, Calcium Sulfate, Sea Salt, Ascorbic Acid (Dough Conditioner), Enzymes, Potato Starch, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Corn Starch


33 ingredients. *blink, blink* So much for simple. Just what the heck is Microcrystalline Cellulose anyway? (A quick search reveals: wood pulp. I've been eating wood?!) I've looked high and low in several grocery stores to find some kind of bread with less than 10 ingredients. I had given up on finding something without having to travel 50+ miles or make it myself and settled on the above bread choice. While visiting my mom we went to the grocery store that carries more 'exotic' (read larger ethnic food section from many parts of the globe) items. Lo and be hold! I found a bread! It's 5 ingredients! It has no sugar! (A little honey instead.) It's organic! How much does it cost? $4.69 a loaf. OUCH!

Don't mind the water drops. I freeze my bread to make it last longer.

Right now my bread cost me $3.39 a loaf. That's relatively comparable to most conventional whole wheat bread in the store with the exception of perhaps the generic. (About $2 or so.) I really want to be buy this bread I've just found. How on earth am I going to afford it? Is it really worth the extra $1.30? I think it is. I'll just have to careful about how much bread I eat.

November Budget & Climbing - Where did I go?

Haven't been blogging much. One reason has been computers freaking out on me. It's clammed down and everything appears to be running smooth. (Although every time it makes a strange sound I start to panic.) I also now have the ability to grab pictures off my camera! I hate doing posts without pics, but what can I do? Sweetheart had gotten a new computer, but then the hard drive died. He only had it for about two months! So we waited three weeks the replacement and we have it back now. (Thank goodness!)

Another reason I haven't been blogging is I needed a break. One where I wasn't posting every couponing trip I managed to make. I've been making fewer of them as I've gotten worn out and run into the 'coupon burnout.' I'm still buying coupons and using them when I spot a good deal, but not nearly as many. So what have I done with my time?

I've been reading and cooking. Wondering how exactly I want to switch from conventional to less processed and more organic options. I had started a post about it, but it got far to long and lengthy for my taste. I think it's going to be a product by product sort of change. Some things were simple enough buying whole wheat flour and then organic whole wheat flour. Others not as much such as cutting out processed sugar or finding a bread with less than 5 ingredients that will not have my traveling 35 miles and paying $5 a loaf. I'm trying.

Ideally I would like to follow the rules listed below:

1. No refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat…not just “wheat”)
2. No refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff like Splenda
3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label
4. No deep fried foods
5. No “fast foods”

Please see Real Food Defined: AKA The Rules, as spelled out by the Lisa the author of 100 Days of Real Food. (It's the site that got me interested in changing my diet.)

I like that these rules are simple and to the point. The simplicity is wonderful, but it's what also makes them hard to follow. No buts, only ifs, no exceptions, no loop holds. Mostly I'm having issues with rules 2 and 3 as stated before. I think I may make a few of my own exceptions as I go (such as Hellmann's® Mayonnaise, something Sweetheart will not compromise on), but that is for another post.

The Budget

Bills (Electric) $100
Bunnies $30
Car & Renter Insurance $46
Car Repair $60
Cellphone $36
Clothing $10
Cruise 2012 $0 *Completed Savings Goal
Free Money $20
Gas $120
Groceries $120
Health $10
Rent $100
Student Loans $372
Emergency Funds $20 *Decided I need a bigger fund

Grand Total: $1044/month (Take home pay.)

No changes for this month. I need to use extra cash for a gift or two . . . After that I think I am going to split it three ways: Paying off Loans (40%), Fixing up Kori, my car (40%) and Computer (20%). The only other additional element to the budget is what I've been earning with Swag Bucks. (Yes, this is my referral link.) I've been doing well enough to earn $25 worth of Amazon credit a month. It's not a lot, but I'm using to further my goal of unprocessed organic food. That amount is almost 20% of my month grocery total! It's a lot in my book. ^_^

Hamburger Salad, it's tasty!

Grand Total Last Month: $39,519.14
New Grand Total: $39,219.38
Amount Paid Off: $299.76

Slightly better than last month. I moved one of my loan payments a little early because of the way pay days fell this past month. I figured I would save myself a little bit of interest. Fingers crossed I actually have some extra money at the end of this month to pay off more!

Expanding The Grocery Budget

Vanilla Beans to make Vanilla Extract & Pumpkin Pie Mix, meant to get plain pumpkin, but this works just as well for my pumpkin muffins.

In my last post I talked about wanting to go organic and unprocessed. I realize that on a tight a budget as mine this is an extremely daunting task. (If anyone knows an easier way speak now please!) I need a way to expand my food budget with out actually putting in some cash. Enter the Amazon stage left & Swag Bucks from stage right.

I've found that many 'savings' bloggers are also members of something called Swag Bucks. It's a web site that you 'win' Swag Bucks at random for using their search engine. That's their main thing. There are many ways to earn Swag Bucks such as 'watching' tons of SwagTV. (I usually just run them in the background while I do other things on the computer.) There are also daily polls, surveys, special offers (such as signing up for netflix or credit cards) & so much more.

Just a brief summary. There are many bloggers who would be more than happy to tell you about Swag Bucks. Me? I'm just letting you know how it fits into this picture. One of the many rewards to be redeemed using the Swag Bucks you've earned are Amazon Gift cards. As soon as these show in Swag Bucks I'm adding them to my Amazon. So far I can usually earn about $10-$15 worth of Amazon credit in a month. Not bad.

Amazon sells almost everything under the sun it seems. This includes food. In my search I've managed to find organic versions of vanilla beans, canned pumpkin/pumpkin pie, oat meal, flour and more. I'll have to buy it in bulk for many items (25lbs of flour?!), but it's almost like getting it 'free'. I've talked to my mom and she's willing to 'split' the cost on some items given she thinks she can use them as well.

Yippie! Now how do I go about actually going unprocessed, organic & local?

Groceries Are Not Cheap

$15.82 was the cost of items above. That's not a lot of food for that amount. My budget is only $60 for two weeks, that's one forth of it! Outrageous! One of the biggest expenses from this particular trip was the organic cinnamon. It's well worth it because I need it for my raisin & cinnamon baked oat meal and my pumpkin muffins. Nummy!

For some time now I've been following a blog about eating real whole food. (100 Days Of Real Food) I've thought about going organic for sometime, but have come across the idea that it's even better to eat less processed foods. The best combo is unprocessed, organic & local. Unfortunately it's expensive! I read through the original 100 days and then 100 days on a budget. No getting around it, it's a costly undertaking.

So how exactly do I go from a $15 per person per week budget buying what ever appeals to me and is affordable to real food? I don't know. I hope that I can make some starting rules for myself. There is no way on earth I could afford to go complete 'real food' as I would like, but I can try darn it!

First I need to do some major research and price checking. I already started by writing down prices from Target of items I would like to buy. (Or at least fit my definition of 'real food' for the moment.) I've also looked into a local Dairy farm that has milk (obviously), chickens, eggs and beef for sale. It's only about 15/20 minutes from my apartment! That's exciting! Not so exciting is the price $4 for a 1/2 gallon of milk, $4 for a dozen eggs, $10 per pound of cheese? Yikes! What am I getting my limited budget into?

Grocery Shopping!

Vegetable run! June 29, 2011


Time to catch up on this one as well. Again I don't have pictures of everything that I bought nor do I have all my receipts. It's a good thing I pay cash for groceries otherwise I would go way over budget. My major shopping for the past two weeks was done on Wednesday. I'm so glad that I had a day off to start catching up. (Today is baking day!)

They sent out more $10 off $20 purchase! I love cutting the bill in half. I ended spending more because they had the steamer bags on sale for $1. That's my buy price as I haven't seen it go much lower. I managed to hold on to my receipt this week and confirmed that coupon double. At least $.50 and below do. I really should ask CS about that.

Total Price of Merchandise: $42.98
Sales Savings: $10.33
Coupons: $10.90
Coupon Double: $.90
Total Spent: $20.85

This was an expensive trip for the items I got. I bought Turkey Burgers for dinner to have with a friend. I'm happy to say everyone thought they were awesome. $4 for 4 burgers isn't too bad, it's at least cheaper than eating out. (Which Sweetheart and I have been doing far too often lately.) The other big expense is the nutmeg. I want to attempt a better spice mix for my pumkin muffins. (It worked)

Total Price of Merchandise: $33.52
Sales Savings: $1.49
Coupons: $2.75
Coupon Double: $.25
Total Spent: $29.03

I leave a picture of my first use of my bento box. ^_^ I love it!

Monday Madness - Shopping!

I did some shopping yesterday. I wish I had more time other than on the days I have off from both my jobs. I would like just a day to relax, but that's not going to happen any time soon. Maybe in the beginning of August?

A quick stop at Gaint for my newspapers. I would like to just get a Sunday subscription, but it's the same as buying from the news stand. What's the point then? I know that there are a few times a year when there are no coupon inserts. Why waste the money? Unfortunately this usally has me picking up something unexpected. I spotted a 'new' flavor of Greek Yougurt. Yum! Also Hebrew National hotdogs are BOGO this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to buy up some extra this week. (Depends on funds.)

Total Price of Merchandise: $16.52 (includes 3 Newspapers, not pictured)
Sales Savings: $4.99
Coupons: None :(
Total Spent: $11.53 (W00T!)

Food Loin has sent out more of the $10 off $20 purchase coupons. I've asked a few of my friends in the area if they aren't interested in them I will gladly take them! It's a big help stretching the budget. Unfortunately I didn't get my receipt from my trip. At least I got my change! (And I have a half decent memory)

Total Price of Merchandise: $??.?? (At least $30!)
Sales Savings: $??.??
Coupons: $15.90
Total Spent: $16.72 (WOW! I love this coupon!)

Food Loin

I went shopping at Food Loin on Monday. No time until now to get to it though. LOL. It happens to be relatively close to the CVS that I stopped out to pick up a few goodies. (See here. I had another special $10 off $20 coupon. I went in hopping to stay as close to $20 as possible so that it would be like getting everything at half price. I managed to do really well.

Total Price of Merchandise: $27.91
Sales Savings: $7.15
Coupons: $10.00
Total Spent: $10.76 (W00T!)

On closer inspection on my receipt I noticed the sugar rang up for $1.24! I hadn't noticed a sale sign or anything, so I suppose I missed it entirely! I headed back the next day. Turned out it was clearanced! I didn't think I was going to get a better deal for 2lbs of organic sugar. Also heard some pasta was on sale for $1 and there was a $1 off facebook offer. You better believe I grabbed this goodie while I could. ^_^

I can't find my receipt for this one. Paid $2.48!

Monday Madness and Then Some

Mondays are turning out to be my day to run around everywhere. At least when I don't have to be at work until 3pm. Running around for most of the morning and then working latter in the evening means I don't have much time for posting. Tuesdays are a 'break' for me as I usually am working at my part time job and cook something for dinner. Wednesdays are often early mornings with cleaning to do in the evening. Thursday being a long day means no posts until latter. I like the idea of being able to have a routine. It's nice. Now if only I can keep it that way for a few weeks. Anywho . . .

Today I have some extra time so I thought I would share some of my shopping trips this week. Okay, two of them are technically last week, but I'm putting them here anyway. Target is always a strange sort of fellow. I still haven't figured out if overage is a normal thing or not on coupons. I wasn't planning on any at all this time because of all the adjustments made last time. I'm happy with the result. I needed to use up my Nivea coupons and Sweetheart desperately needed some Benadryl.

Men's Nivea $3.19
Women's Nivea $2.03
Benadryl 100ct $11.29
Total Before Coupons: $16.51

$3/1 Men's Nivea
$3/1 Women's Nivea
$1/1 Benadryl (found a manufactures coupon booklet for allergies at CVS)
Total After Coupons: $9.51 (actually $9.46 because the coupons created a negative tax of $.05!)

Target, could you kindly make up your mind? I think you should allow the overage as your competitor Walmart does. (Makes sense to me.)

Saturday night I decided to try out a new store: Food Loin. It opened up a few months back, but I hadn't been in to see the prices at all. With another grocery store right across the street does it really make sense to drive 10 minutes out of the way? (Yes, I'm spoiled with the grocery store being across the way.) A $10 off a $20 purchase is enough to entice this girl.

It wasn't super spectacular or anything. They don't double coupons or have a big ad. Some prices are slightly high than my normal store and others are slightly lower. (Comparing the prices of items I normally buy.) I was happy to find my Fruitables juice boxes on sale 2/$4! I've never seen them on sale, ever! Now priced at $2.75 for the lowest price I ended buying a few of these on the spot. Also ended up with some frozen veggies which ended up with me spending a bit more than I intended for this particular trip. It did save me from having to store at my regular store on the way home. (Needed veggies any way.)

Total Price of Merchandise: $44.41
Sales Savings: $7.00
Coupons: $10.00
Total Spent: $27.41 (Not to shabby)

I've stopped at Gaint a few times this week. First I needed my newspapers for the coupons. Second my parents have a cat and had coupons to buy up some cat food cheap! More than happy to oblige. Had to be quick about it as they expired on Monday. Also there's a special deal at Gaint on Oscar Mayer Sub deal. (See here.) I was more than happy to take advantage of. Few more coupons from a co-work and run it again. (Didn't take a picture of that one.)

Merchandise (Including 3 Newspapers): $17.31
Sale Savings: $1.39
Coupons Savings: $.35
Double Coupon: $.35
Total Spent: $15.22

Merchandise: $24.81
Sale Savings: $3.87
Instant Savings: $3.00
Coupons Savings: $15.00
Total Spent: $2.94 + $.18 tax = $3.12 (Parents will reimburse me for kitty food!)

While I managed to get something for the Kitty, I couldn't get in on a deal for the girls. Petsmart is running a special on some dog treats that paired with sale & coupon are free. (I forget which blog I spotted it on.) They were completely out and none in the back. I inquired about getting a raincheck. They do rainchecks! I'm very happy about this. It has to be in an ad flier & a manager needs to sign off on it. I'm hopping I will be able to get some in the next deliver before the sale is over, if not I have a raincheck. (As long as they come in before the coupon expires.)