October's Grocery Budget Status?

Were you dying to know? Well, I went over the aggressive $30 a week budget for October... but still, I did better than I thought! It was about $35 a week. And that's because I did some stocking up at CVS (as you can see in the picture below). BUT once I get reimbursements/rebates back, then I think it's a little less than that. I'm hoping to do it again- it's a fun challenge.

All this at CVS cost me about $8 out of pocket (subtracting out rebates/reimbursements), with them giving me about $20 in Extra Care Bucks to go back and do some more (almost free!) shopping.

And speaking of CVS, Andy thought he heard that CVS is coming in across Raab from Schnucks where they just cleared... anybody know if there's any truth to that? That would be SUPER great because it's just a few blocks away!

Free "Green" Tote

More and more recently, I have been feeling I need to be a better steward of the resources God has given us... money, home, and the earth. Not that I'm GOOD at it yet, but I'm trying. So anyway, I've been eyeing those "green" grocery totes they have in all the stores... but didn't want to spend extra money on them (especially since, as you may have noticed, I was trying to spend a mere $30 a week on groceries!). Here's my solution!

Target has an offer to get one for free (well, free after postage)! All you have to do is send in five Target plastic bags, and they'll send you a coupon for a free grocery tote. I can do that! You can do it too~ read here.

Deals for the week... K-Mart and make money at Meijer

Maybe I need to make a central IL version of money-saving mom... but I can't help it; I have some great deals to share!

K-Mart is offering double coupons this week through Saturday... doubling up to $2 coupons (yes, so that means a $2 coupon becomes $4 off!). If for some reason your local store is not redeeming them correctly, you can call corporate and have them remind the store that is promotion is going on. I verified this with our Bloomington store, and it's on. You can use a maximum of 75 coupons per visit. I believe I read that they may not accept Internet-printed coupons, so be warned.

Also, Meijer has some great sales that will make you money! Printing off coupons from Mealbox, I am seeing that Jell-O is on sale for $0.50 each, so with the $1.50 coupon off 2 boxes, they will pay you $0.50 to take home the Jell-O! (okay, not actually pay you, but it will pay for something else!) Also I saw:
-Taco Bell is 20% off, and they have a coupon that will work for Taco Bell salsa, taco shells, or dinner kits... the taco shells are (I think) $1.29 before the discount, so you should make money off that. **It appears these Taco Bell coupons are no longer available in Mealbox.**
-also, super deal: Steamfresh bags- on sale for $1.25 each...use Mealbox $1 off 2, combined with $0.35 coupon from a recent paper (doubles to $0.70), and it's $0.40/bag!

Those are just the few I saw at first glance... feel free to share any super deals you see!

Free Tacos... who likes tacos?!

Get a free crunchy seasoned beef taco (one per person!) at Taco Bell on Tuesday, between 2pm-6pm.

See you there. Yummy!

Sneak Peek...

Mindy, here's a peek at your cards... hope you like them! I think they turned out so cute.

Couldn't decide, so I did both styles. I think this one has a sweet vintage-y look.

Love this website

Okay, this is the end of the blogging extravaganza- I'm off to bed after this.

I know many of us have mentioned www.moneysavingmom.com on our blogs, so I know others like it as much as I do. Pretty amazing stuff!

After reading her site, I decided to set an aggressive goal to see if I could spend only $30 a week on groceries this month. Yes. $30. And that includes everything consumable. So MoneySavingMom is helping! I think I'll come pretty close (keep in mind I was stocked up on meat and most personal products though).

SO. I was wondering... how many Jell-O deals did you buy? I bought 12 boxes (6 coupons), and plan to go back and get 20 more (10 coupons), to pay for one more thing to hopefully take us through the end of the month and keep me under [my new and probably temporary] budget. What fun.

Also, I was wondering if any of you do CVS? I have gone a few times, and don't feel like a pro yet. Would love to hear what you think!

Cookout

Cute pics from a few weekends ago:

Kaylie taking good care of Annika

Kollin teaching her something important, I'm sure.

Back to P-ville

We spent the day at Great Grandpa and Grandma's house...
Annika was alternately intrigued by and then terrified by their dog Shane.

I just want to eat her up.
Quality time with Great-Grandma Joy Doesn't she look guilty of something?!Then that evening...
Annika at P-ville's Homecoming Football game... fun, fun!

Family Birthdays

We were in P-ville the other weekend for family birthdays.

Not sure who could have given him this gift? ;)

The grandkids together Fun with Grandpa JHe is so sweet with her... what a good cousin.

All the birthday boys

10 Months Old!

Oh I love shoes!

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Mindy, winner of the notecards! Mindy, I will be contacting you about the details.

Also, thanks to everyone for your input on my SF Christmas gift! I am going to select the mattress... though it will NOT be used for camping since I am not a camper! (I don't like seeing bugs, let alone sleeping with them... YUCK.)

Have a great day!