Tabloid Tuesday

Today is the day to check your mail, get out your Sharpie marker, and circle all of the deals in the sales papers! I finally got my sales ads after a week of nothing. I found a few good deals that I was happy with: Adrien's had 10lb bags of chicken for .29 per lb, they also had heads of lettuce for .88 per lb, Super One Foods has certain Post cereal 3 for $1.50 (I will try to find a coupon), and Piggly Wiggly has a bunch of meats for only .99 per lb! Of course I will be price matching at Wal-Mart so that I only have to make one trip.

This week is going to be a big shopping trip because I haven't gone to the grocery store in 2 weeks! The first week we were on vacation for 5 days and when I came back I never received a sales ad in the mail. I had enough food in my fridge, pantry and freezer to last the whole 2 weeks so I never went shopping. But, now my cupboards are bare! So this week will be a real challenge to keep the bill low. Plus, I really need to do some stockpiling! I will definitely be taking advantage of the 10lb chicken deal this week. Tomorrow I will be putting together my menu plan for the week, my grocery list, and my coupons. I know that I can stay within budget, we just won't be doing much of anything else this week!

A few people were asking how we were able to go to California. Well, to be honest, most of the trip was a Christmas present from my family, not to say that we didn't have the money saved. I am very disciplined in my spending, so anything extra is put in the savings account and constantly builds in case of an emergency or necessary expenses. SO, I could have paid for the trip, but we got lucky. When it comes to Christmas gifts I usually ask for practical things. A vacation was something we really wanted and needed, so that's what I asked for this year. Other than that, I did take out $500 of my savings for expenses. We ended up spending about $100 before we even left to get some extra clothes and shoes for the trip. I was happy with this because we needed them! Then we spend $70 on surfing lessons and surf board and wet suit rental. The rest was spent on random things like food and souvenirs in Disney. AND I still came back with grocery money! We stayed with my grandfather, so we were able to eat and sleep there to save money! It was a fabulous trip. The majority of the expenses were in the flights, car rental, and Disney tickets which were covered by my family as my Christmas present. So, I probably spent $300 while we were there. I am uploading photos as we speak, so they will be on the blog soon.

My Christmas shopping is getting closer to done. I need to go through my receipts to get my total number because I did do a little Christmas shopping in Cali. They have IKEA which I am a complete freak for, so I did get some gifts there. I didn't buy much, no more than $30 in gifts, but they are soooo cheap! I love IKEA, I wish they shipped more items because I would buy everything there. I didn't buy much on Black Friday and Cyber Monday because I couldn't really find anything on my list. I was able to get a fantastic deal on jackets and pajamas at Wal-Mart, which we really needed! My husband shopped the Saturday after Thanksgiving because he heard me talking about all of the deals. He bought all of my Christmas presents in one day! He was dying to tell me what he bought because of all of the great deals he found. I was able to get a red 4 quart Crock Pot from Target for $15! I have been using it and I love it. My husband ran to get it for me and when he got there the shelf was empty, so he started asking and was able to find more on top of the shelves! So, I got my Crock Pot! Happy Dance!

I haven't done any other spending this week because the deals haven't been that great. I didn't even see anything very exciting at CVS, but I did get my coupons on Sunday. If anyone is ever in River Ranch on Sunday I'm always at the CC's next to CVS. Sunday is the day that I normally work on the site, so I am usually there from about 11am until 4 or 5.

Tomorrow is Menu Planning Day, so get out your sales ads, print out your menu plan, check your fridge, pantry and freezer, and make a menu. Make a grocery list for the few items you need and whatever you plan on stockpiling and organize your coupons. Post your menu plan tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!