Grocery Haul // September: Week One

Grocery haul for the first week of September. It might not seem like much, but it took some plotting and scheming. My first stop was at CVS, where I did two transactions and spent only $9 for everything pictured below, including two Skintimate Shaving creams, Colgate toothpaste, Wet'n'Wild nail polish, three boxes of Puffs Plus Lotion with Vicks, Trolli gummies bag, and three Cherry Coke twelve packs! The nail polish will be thrown in to s gift bag and the gummies aren't pictured because they were being hidden from Donnie.

A 99% savings! That's what I like to see.

My next stop was Hyvee, where I stocked up on their one day sale items and the "quick foods" I mentioned previously. I bought four Tony's pizzas, four Red Baron pizzas (price matched), eight bags of various steamable vegetables, two family size bags of Lays chips, three boxes of Pillsbury brownies, four 12 packs of pop, one 18 count carton of eggs, two mangos, and four avocados. That ended up being $50, but it got me 44 cents on the Fuel Saver card and ended up saving us about $7.50 on a tank of gas.

I'm planning to make this haul last as long as I can, and combined with all the food we already have, I think I can stretch it pretty far.

We did grab McDonalds today for Jairo & Donnie, which I'm not thrilled about. But I used a coupon on the app for a free medium fry for Donnie and Jairo used the 2/$5 deal on large fries, so at least we took advantage of what we could.

I'll plan and post our meal plan for next week, but I'm going to be induced if this girl doesn't come naturally by Friday, so it's likely to be a crazy week.

Goals + Steps for September

Goals for September:

1. Stay within budget. Even with a baby coming.

That's all, folks. One goal, but not exactly small or simple. Like I mentioned in my first post, we've been going over budget (particularly in grocery, restaurant, medical, and home categories) way, way, way too much lately. It'll be even harder to keep our spending in check once Charlie arrives. The hospital bill, grabbing a quick bite at the drive-thru, ordering pizza delivery because we're way too tired & sleep deprived to even think of cooking a full meal.

Steps to Stay in Budget:

1. Stick to our grocery budget, which is $200 a month. For a family of three  (very, very soon to be four!) that is more than reasonable. $50 a week is doable, so make do!

2. Research and print and clip and cut and upload any available coupons for groceries. Absolutely no impulse buys! If I don't have a coupon and it's not on the list, it isn't happening.

3. Stock up on any sales for "quick make" foods, like frozen pizzas and steamable vegetables. Maybe it's not the healthiest, but paired with a side of fruit & veggies, it'll be better than eating out.

4. If we must order out or hit the drive-thru, we absolutely have to be using some sort of coupon deal. No way are we paying full price.

5. Take advantage of every opportunity to make extra money, since that hospital bill will be coming. For my husband, that means grabbing any available overtime. For me, that means snagging deals even if going to the store sounds like a nightmare and filling out any surveys on the sites I frequent (Pinecone Research, Hallmark Mom's Community, Swagbucks, etc.).

6. Don't wear makeup on days I don't have to. The foundation powder I use is $25 a tiny container, so I really should get used to going bare faced more often.

7. Cut down on shower time and turn the water off as much as possible to reduce the water bill. I have a tendency to use the shower as my spa... my lazy, spacey, personal time. It's not good for my wallet or the environment so I really gotta stop that.

8. Turn off the TV and unplug devices when they aren't bring used or charged. Sometimes we'll be watching a movie, but with a three year old, we eventually make our way to his bedroom to play with toys or outside to run around. Forgetting to turn the TV off raises the electricity bill.

9. Hopefully that beautiful fall weather will be coming soon! Turn the AC off as much as possible to reduce the electricity bill, and open the windows to get some fresh air!

Obligatory awkward first entry.

I stopped blogging a long time ago. It was taking up far too much time and effort, and I had no real focus. That was back when "lifestyle blogging" was all the rage. Is it still? I genuinely have no idea. But in some ways, I really missed it. I didn't miss trying to make my life seem interesting or trying to convince my husband to take "outfit of the day" pictures for me... But I missed writing. Having a place to clear my head and get out my thoughts and goals is super therapeutic for me. I kept journals all through my childhood (and ended up discovering them as an adult and literally throwing them in a burn barrel because I was so mortified by myself... But still, they had served their purpose well) and I've always been a pretty avid writer. In high school, I was first place for class B schools in entertainment writing for the school paper. I went to state and didn't even place, so basically I am the worst of the best. And I am totally cool with that.

Which brings me to now. Time has flown by. I am 26 years old. A married homeowner with a three year old boy and another baby on the way. I have all the stresses and bills that a mortgage and a family usually come with. We're living in stressful times, where prices are rising on basically everything and the "buy, buy, buy" pulse in our culture is as strong as ever.

I have been fighting that pulse for awhile and working toward following the beat of my own drum. So this will be a place for me to make goals and hold myself accountable, share money saving tips and tricks, ask for advice, research and write about various topics that interest me financially, and any other beats I pick up along the way.

I decided to call the blog "Money Saving Mantra" because I've come across & developed a few mantras that I follow in my life to remind myself of my financial goals. I like the word "mantra" in particular. Yeah, it's a repeated slogan, but it's also defined as a word or sound to aid in meditation. I like the idea that these things I tell myself are meant to bring peace to my life. Especially since I think we can all relate to the way money and finances seem to bring misery and chaos.

However, the mantra posts will have to wait. It is this mama's bedtime and it has been a long, long day. At the end of every month, I go over our budget and see how we came out. For a few months now, we've been coming up short. Granted, there is always a perfectly good reason (the last couple months it was medical bills and ER visits for my son and this month it was dental bills for my husband and a few home expenses [plumbers, dry basement experts, and having a tree cut down]), but the trend is worrying. If you're like me and your chronic stress and anxiety pounce every single chance they get, these budgeting days add a lot of extra stress. So that's why I had to start this tonight. To remind myself to get my ducks in a row, my eggs in the basket, my... Uhhh... Money in the wallet?