Wal-Mart Shopping trip on 2/27/09

We done awesome last night at Wal-Mart. My dear puppy was outta food, so I had to get her some anyway and there was a great 3.50 off any purina dog food IP so we printed it, and went to Wal-Mart.

Here is a breakdown of what we got

(4) 4pd bags Purina Dog Chow 4.94 each

- (4) 3.50 off IP coupons

= 1.44 a bag

(1) Bayer Breeze2 Blood Glucose Meter (hubby is diabetic) 18.82

- (1) MQ for up to 30.00 adjusted to 18.82

= FREE

(1) sauve 3 oz hand lotion .97

- (1) MQ for 1.00

= +.03 overage

(5) 12 packs schick disposable razors 1.97

-(5)MQ for 2.00 any schick razor

=+.03 overage on each pack

Total before coupons would have been 49.40

Total after coupons (- tax) was 5.58

tax was 4.57

Grand total was 10.15

I am please with this trip!!

I included a pic of the stuff we got, and one of Midnight the dear Pug puppy (so you can see how cute she is and that she so deserved her puppy food!!)

Walgreens

I went to my wonderful Wags yesterday, was kinda scared to go back after all the trouble I had the last time I went in with the fusion gamer razors, but thats a whole other story.. Yesterday our fav wags employee Ashley was working (love ya girl, you just rock, and I will continue emailing wags about how awesome you are!!) so we went and got our 5 reynolds aluminum foil, and our ten candy bars, and a diet mt dew for me, and we were off running around the store, trying to find out where Ashley was working so we could go threw her line. We finally found her over at the cosmetics counter, so we went back there, and waited for her to check us out. We got all the items for 2.16 or something like that, and was tickled pink. She told me she was going to have to learn how to do the couponing, and told me about another girl in the area that does it besides me and my friend Crystal, and when I got home last night I realized that it was a sister to a girl that me and Crystal went to school with, lol... small town here. Anyhow I gave Ashley my blog address, and hopefully she can go threw my blog and pick up on the whole process a little, cause with someone as nice as her, she deserves to be getting this stuff for free too!! Again, hats off to our awesome Wags Checker girl Ashley, she rocks!! If you are from Scott County and go in there, ask for the manager and let him know how awesome she is, I guarantee that if she is your checker, you will be treated with respect, and have the best couponing experience ever!

Eating on a budget

You know, I read all this stuff all the time about how to cook cheap, and what to cook to keep on a budget... Well, maybe my family is just plain jane and likes the old fashioned stuff, so I find it easier than most I guess.. don't really know, but for me, 5-10 bucks for one meal for the family is alot of money..Heres the way I do it, may not be the healthiest, which might be why it costs others to stress over the budget, but we make do.

I buy my meat in bulk at the local grocery store that is day old. We have ate it for years now, has not killed us yet, so I do not expect it to. I usually get a whole freezer load of meat for 30-50 bucks. That includes hamburger, steaks (filet minons and ribeyes and new your strips) roasts, pork chops, ground sirloin, and cubed steak. I buy 4-5 packs of chicken leg and thigh pieces, around here you can get a big package of this for 2-3 bucks, and can easily use one package for 2-3 meals. And that takes care of our meats.

Secondly, I can and freeze my vegetables. We do work in the summer, all summer long, and then I have fresh, homegrown veggies to do me all winter long. I canned 120 quarts of green beans this past summer, and we have nearly went threw them this year. (hubby loves em)

I buy flour, corn meal, cans of cream, and big ole bags of tators, and I cook from scratch. We eat pinto beans and corn bread, gravy and biscuits, roast with potatoes and carrots, we have good home cooked meals, and it doesnt cost me 5-10 bucks a meal to do that. Now thats just me, my hubby likes the homemade stuff, and me being the somewhat skilled cook, we eat well, and the food tastes good, and it does not have all the additives and fillers that the stuff out of the store has in it.

I myself will take homemade anyday over store bought. I make all our desserts, breads, beans, noodles, gravy's, all from scratch, and we seem to enjoy it more. Heck I can get 5-10 pans of biscuits out of a five pound bag of flour, a little shortening, a can of cream, and some time and effort, and that would feed us many many meals of biscuits and gravy, and it would only cost me about 4 dollars to do it. Know why? Cause I use the cheapest things I can find to bake with, and make it all from scratch... get alot more, alot better food, for alot cheaper. Me and my husband could eat well off 100 a month before I started couponing, so now that I use coupons, we literally are eating for pennies a meal!!

Just thought I would share that, if anyone is interested in learning how to get back to the basics and cook stuff from scratch, let me know.. I can help you learn. I did not always know how to do it myself, but with the desire to learn, I got very good at it, and now at family dinners, or church dinners, I hear everyone asking, hey did Wendy make that, I want some if she made it... kinda makes ya feel good!

Awesome Printable

Does your family love Mac and Cheese? I know mine does. Go here to get a 1.00 brick IP. Remember hit the back button to print two.

A fellow Frugal shopper has been featured in Redbook

Wow, this is just amazing. This lady and her husband were featured in Redbook magazine about their frugal lifestyle. You can read all about it on her blog. Just go HERE. To celebrate her success she is hosting a 50.00 gift card giveaway. Head on over and check it out!!

Wow Awesome Giveaway

I just read a post on Coupon Mommies Blog about an awesome giveaway that Southern Savers is having. Its a giveaway for 2 gift cards 50 each for two different people to their fav. Store. How awesome is that!! I know for one its certainly something I could use right now, as pennies are very tight.. So head on over there and check it out and register, who knows we might just win one! I sure hope so!

Woooo Hoooo I won a giveaway!!

I am just tickled pink. I was just looking at Becky over at Nickle and Dimes blogs for yesterday, Cause lets face it guys, this woman just absolutly rocks, I love her and all her great deals and finds... she is a couponing genius. Well I saw that the Yoplait giveaway had ended, and I thought, hmmmm wonder if I might have won?? Sure enough, It has my name listed. To those of you that did not watch that video, you really missed out, that little boy of hers is a heart melter.. I was just smiling from ear to ear watching him eat the yummy yogurt.. how precious was he!! Anyway, thanks so much Becky your awesome, and the readers and myself over here at my little ole blog sure do like all the awesome tips that you post!!!