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Buy one get one at Walgreens

August 29th, 2006 at 04:51 pm

I forgot to post this last week. I was so excited to go into Walgreens to get some drinks for lunch I was taking on with pizza (Dead Mouse Post)and find out they were having a buy one get one free sale on backpacks.

They were nice backpacks and only had two left so I grabbed them. I was going to make my son use his backpack from last year even though it was torn on the inside. So I thought he'd like a new one that he didn't get to pick better than that. I had my daughter with me-she wasn't to keen on the idea at first (of course they want to pick their own!) But I showed her all of the cool features like three pockets and a little hole for her headphones to slip thru. She was sold!

So, I'm adding $10 to my $20 challenge because that's how much I saved.

New total: $60

Four No Spend Days!

August 25th, 2006 at 03:37 pm

We had a great time on our camping trip! It was relaxing and fun and a great way to spend that last week of summer vacation with my kids.

Another positive is that I did not spend any money in four days! I know that if I plan right, this can happen more often.

I am going to add $20 to my $20 challenge total because I always eat out for lunch on Tuesdays (I get together with my mom and aunts for lunch) and this week I didn't do that. I think that brings my total to $50.

$20 Challenge

August 14th, 2006 at 07:57 pm

This weekend we didn't eat out once! We usually eat out at least one time on the weekend-either Fri or Sat. So I'm going to make my first addition to the $20 challenge. I'm going to figure it as $30-that's about the average bill when my husband and I eat out. If this happens again I'll figure more because we take our kids out once in a while too.

$20 Challenge: $30

Grocery Budget

August 14th, 2006 at 07:53 pm

Well, after the post I made yesterday and reading through the comments made, I've come up with one idea. I'm going to make a menu every week-something I haven't done in a while. Then I'm going to create a shopping list from the menu. I've decided that I will budget $100 per week for groceries, including toiletries and non-food items. We'll see how it goes. I have a family of seven so I think this should cover it. For motivation to keep things under budget I'm going to put any extra into the $20 challenge.

It's going to start off weird already because next week we're going camping for about four days. So I'm going to purchase groceries for next week tomorrow. I'll check in two weeks from now with my total under-budget -hopefully there will be some.

Today I made my dinner menu:
Mon- Lasagna & Salad
Tues - Hard Shell Tacos
Wed - Hawaiin Haystacks
Thurs - Scalloped Potatoes & Corn

Friday we'll be leaving for a wedding and will be eating out this weekend.

My total for today's groceries was $59.07 I tried to sub-total as I shopped and estimated $60 before she rang me up. The biggest part of my grocery bill was the ground beef. Six pounds cost me about $16.00. My husband and I usually by in bulk from my uncle-he's a meat processor. It's been awhile since we've bought meat from him, but I will definitely be calling soon.

Groceries purchased today: $59.07

$20 Challenge

August 13th, 2006 at 08:37 pm

Ok, I've been struggling with this one. I read in someone's post that the $20 challenge was saving money that you normally wouldn't have earned, and since I'm a sahm I don't earn much. I do teach an exercise class four days per week and earn a little from that. So I won't count that money or the money I get from my change jar (just cashed it in a couple of weeks ago for $248!).

But I've decided that I will count the money I save when choosing not to eat out (since that's such a sacrifice). The money I accumulate is going to my "Why'd you go and do something stupid like that" credit card with a balance of a little over $5000. I'll post the exact balance and the story behind it later.

I've decided I might try selling a few things on eBay, after I clean out the kids closets before school if there's anything worth selling.

So my balance for the challenge right now is $0, but hopefully it will grow and I'm going to brainstorm tonight for more ideas.

Any advice??