Kroger Deals

So I did it! I finally decided to branch out from Walmart and make a shopping trip to Kroger this week. They had a "Buy 10, Get $5 off" sale going on this week, and my main goal was to stock up on cheese. Here's everything I got, for a total of $8.71. The non-sale total would have been $33.26, for a total savings of $23.98 or 73 percent!

So first, let me say, Kroger is so overpriced! But, you can get good deals when they have a sale, especially when you have coupons to pair it with. So while my savings sound pretty good, keep in mind, Kroger is overpriced, to me anyways. That's why I do my main shopping at Walmart!

Here's the breakdown...

Nerds (for Trunk-or-Treat at church): originally $3.19, after sale $1.50

2 bags Kraft 8oz. Mozzarella Cheese: originally $3.69 (oi! - the Great Value bag at Walmart is only $1 something), after sale $0.99

2 bags Kraft 8oz. Cheddar Cheese: originally $3.69, after sale $0.99

2 packages Kraft 16 slice American Cheese: originally $4.69, after sale $0.99

Hot Pockets: originally $2.14, after sale $1.50, after .50/1 coupon, doubled, a total of $0.50 (woohoo!)

2 boxes Jell-O: originally $1.49 each, after sale $0.77 each, after .50/2 coupon, doubled, a total of $0.27 each

Those double coupons are fantastic! So I think I am definitely going to at least leave myself open to make a weekly trip to Kroger, if double coupons can come into play for me. If I don't have any coupons to use at Kroger, I'm better off just price matching their ad at Walmart.

I also made a trip to Target today, and didn't find all the deals I was hoping to find, but did get a couple of good finds. I got another pack of those Bic Soliel razors for 99 cents, a CFL lightbulb for free (was on clearance for $2.48 and had a $2.50 off coupon), and a new rug for our back door for $1.48 on clearance! Also got a Christmas present for one of my little nieces, but I don't want to share that, since she might find out about it if I posted it. :)

And on the total opposite end of saving money, we had to spend some serious money today, paying Anthony's school bill. Let me elaborate. In order for Anthony to qualify for federal financial aid for grad school, he has to be at least a half-time student which is 5 credit hours for grad school.

Well, his program has been "discontinued" at the school, but they are letting any students who were already enrolled finish out the program, just not accepting any new students into the program. So it seems like the program has kind of been put on the back burner and they are not doing as much as they used to. Last year, Anthony took 2 classes (6 credit hours) each semester, but this semester, they only offered one class that he needs. He would gladly take 2 classes if they offered another, but obviously, that was not an option this semester.

Long story short (kind of), we thought he may be able to fill out a form to kind of "override" that, explaining that it wasn't his fault he only had one class, but turns out, there's no getting around it. So today we had to pay the bill to avoid late fees. We had the money, so it's not a huge deal, just took away a lot of our "pad" in our checking account. I am REALLY hoping that in future semesters he will be able to take 2 classes, because we can't keep paying out of pocket right now for his classes.

But then on top of that, Anthony says his car is not acting right, so of course, like I always do, I assume the worst about it. He said he's going to look at it this weekend and see if he can figure out what is going on.

So I'm a little worried about money right now, and I HATE that. I know that God has provided for us, above and beyond what I could have imagined, since I stopped working. And I know, in my head, that He will continue to provide for us, just has He has done in the past. So why do I worry? I just can't figure it out! I am making a major effort to not worry, and just to trust God to take care of us, but I would love to hear any suggestions on how YOU deal with worry!

Whew! That was a lot of stuff. It actually makes me feel a little better just getting it off my chest. :) Anyways, now I'm getting back to the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy! I love fall TV!

Shopping Day

I did my grocery shopping today, and got some GREAT deals. There wasn't a lot of good coupons in the paper this last week, but I had some really good printable coupons.

This is not everything I got, but the things I am most proud of the deals that I got! :)



I got everything in this picture for $7.99!

Here is the breakdown:

8 cans of DelMonte vegetables: price matched with .49 sale at Martin's + $1/5 coupon = 36.5 cents per can

Huggies wipes: 2 coupons for $2/1 any Huggies diaper product = 37 cents per box

Bic Soliel Razors: price matched with $3.99 sale at Target + $3.00/1 coupon from Sunday insert = 99 cents

Healthy Choice Fresh Mixer: $2.00/1 printable coupon = 78 cents

Healthy Choice Frozen Meals: on sale for $1.78 a piece and I had 2 coupons for $2/1 (so I could have gotten "paid" to buy these), but I think I forgot to use one of them, so I only used 1 coupon for $2/1 = 78 cents a piece, still not bad

Coffeemate Creamer: price matched with 2/$4.00 sale at Martin's + 2 coupons for $1/1 = $1.00 a bottle


I LOVE couponing! :) And so does Bailey, but it really tires her out....

Meal Plan Monday

Here we are.... start of another week. I really don't know how it is the middle, well really past the middle, of September. With my menu plan this week, I really tried to use as many things from my cabinet as possible, to really keep my grocery bill down this week. I still have a lot of new recipes I've come across that I'm looking forward to trying and I can't wait to share them when I get to them. Trying one of Courtney's on Friday this week. Here it is:

Monday
Cheesy Beef Stroganoff
Whole Potatoes

Tuesday
Coney Island Hot Dogs
Salad

Wednesday
English Muffin Tuna Sandwiches
Chips

Thursday
Baked Spaghetti
Salad

Friday
Smothered Chicken
Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

Saturday
Pampered Chef Party/Youth Group Game Night = No Cooking for Me! Yay!

Fall Preview

We are EXCITED for fall around here! I am realizing that it's not so much that fall is my favorite or anything, but I think I probably feel this way about every new season when it gets to be this time. Although I think the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom this year might have something to do with it. Fall means more bearable temperatures and fewer bugs outside, which means we can actually spend more time outside.

So with fall in mind, here are a few of our preparations.

When we went to our little produce stand (it's more than just a produce stand but I can't think of a better description for it) around the corner to get a tomato last week, they also had some irresistable fall decorations.








And, at our playdate yesterday with Brady, Cooper, Samuel, Russhe Henry, and Clara the topic of Halloween costumes for Trunk or Treat came up so I just couldn't help myself when we got home. We have three costumes that were passed down from Zoe and I had to pull them out so we could have a look.

We have a chicken, ladybug, and bumble bee (complete with a stinger!). Bailey tried on the chicken and the top half of the bee, but I didn't want to torture her too much, so we only have the chicken pictures right now. I am still undecided on which to have her wear, but I think I might be leaning towards the chicken. It crossed my mind that I wished we had 3 Halloween functions to attend so she could wear all three! :)



Have you ever seen a chicken SO cute!?

DVR

So when Anthony got home yesterday I was making him guess what was different. The new box they gave us is bigger than the old one we had, so I told him that something was bigger than it used to be. He never did figure it out from that clue, but he told me that it crossed his mind that I was going to tell him that I was pregnant, because of that clue! Haha! :)

I finally had to push the "stop" button and let the little time bar come up on the screen before he finally figured it out. But he was really happy about it, and played with it all evening, while watching the Patriots game on tv. He'd say "Oh you missed that play, let me rewind so you can see it". Haha! He was funny. I think we will really enjoy having it, especially now that all our favorite shows are about to start back up.

I was planning to have gone to the store to do my grocery shopping and have been back by now, but Bailey sprung an unexpected nap on me after we finished lunch. I was nursing her so she'd be full while we were out, but she fell asleep. I put her in her crib, not expecting her to sleep long, but here we are probably approaching 2 hours later! I'm pretty sure she took a nap this morning. I was exhausted, so I got in bed and took a nap after I put her down, but I took at least an hour and a half nap, and I know she would not just play happily and quietly in her crib for that long. I'm sure I would have heard her if she was crying. She woke up a lot of times last night so I'm guessing she's just tired from all that nonsense!

Meal Plan Monday

While a have a few "baby free" minutes, I wanted to share my meal plan for the week. First of all, I bought this dry erase board from Target a while back with this purpose in mind. I wasn't sure if this was exactly what I wanted, but it has turned out to be perfect! I have it on the side of our fridge, and that way Anthony can always know what to expect for dinner, so that is nice.




Okay, on to this week's plan....

Monday: Bruschetta Chicken Bake
Green Beans

Tuesday: Sausage, Egg & Cheese Muffins
Hash Browns

Wednesday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Chips
Pickle Spears

Thursday: Beef Enchiladas
Spanish Rice

Friday: Chicken Nuggets
Mac & Cheese


I'm still struggling with bringing myself to plan for Saturday and/or Sunday. I just feel like those should be "lazy" days and we just eat whatever we find around the house, but often, it ends up that we go out to eat, spending money that I don't really want to spend. I'm thinking of buying something easy from the store to fix, but something that I wouldn't buy for a normal night, so that way it's still something special, but easy, and cheaper than going out to eat. Still thinking on that though.

Note about the Sausage, Egg & Cheese Muffins..... I'm using Thomas's English Muffins for those, and Martin's has them on sale for 3/$3 this week, which is an incredible price for those! I'll be stocking up on those tomorrow. :)

I didn't go to the store today because I had to be home, because the Ntelos guys came today to give us a new box, because I am surprising Anthony with DVR for our TV! He has been wanting to get it and would drop the hint to me every now and then, but I had just not wanted to cough up the $8 a month that it costs. But then last week or so, he said something to push me over the edge. He proctors SAT's at his school a few times a year, and if you do the math, one paycheck from doing that pays for the DVR for the whole year. So with that in mind, I decided to cave, but I wanted it to be a surprise for him. He should be home in hopefully an hour or so, so I'll let you know how it goes later! :)

Girls' Weekend

This past weekend we went to Virginia Beach, and Amanda, Vicky, and I had a girls' weekend type thing. I spent probably half of the weekend with family and half with the girls, so it turned out really well, and I had a great time. Here's a recap of our "girls activities".

Saturday morning after Bailey's nap, Bailey and I went over to Amanda's house and then all of us girls (including Bailey and Lily) and Matt went to Abuelo's for lunch. I had been wanting to eat there for a while, and the food was really good.

Later that evening, after Bailey went to bed, Vicky, Amanda, and I went to Starbucks for the yummy pumpkin spice coffee. I had never had that before either, and it was also delicious. I am definitely going to have to visit Starbucks again before that leaves the menu for the season!

Then Sunday afternoon I went back to Amanda's again (sans Bailey this time) and we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner (another place I had never been to, just realizing how many "firsts" I had this weekend!). I have never been somewhere with such an extensive menu! I think we were all overwhelmed at all the choices but we finally decided to get a huge appetizer sampler type thing to share. Everything was so good (except for the calamari, which I did not try, see picture below) and we were all stuffed, but of course still had to order cheesecake! You can't go to The Cheesecake Factory and not order cheesecake, after all.

Here are a few pics from our dinner:

Amanda and Vicky with the nasty looking squid. I don't understand how people can eat those. Eww.




Two of the plates of our appetizers. The plate on the left had my favorite stuff on it: Quesadillas and Corn Cakes. They were SOO good.




And finally, a picture that our cheesy waiter took for us. He was definitely playing it up trying to get a big tip, but he talked way too much, haha.




Then after our dinner, we headed back to Amanda's and then I went and picked up Bailey to bring her back to Amanda's with me so we could have our girls' sleepover! After we put the babies to bed, we watched a movie and some tv, and just hung out and laughed like old times. We finally went to bed a little after midnight.

Here's a pic of Bailey and Lily on Monday morning. I think it is SO cute! :)



We had such a good time and I cannot wait for next year to come so we can do it again! :) I have the absolute best friends in the world!