Update and information on "Grocery Shopping: My Personal Challenge"

A couple of you asked me for more details on my quest to spend $75 a week on groceries. Like exactly how am I doing that.

I have no idea.

I guess I do, sort of. But first, let me preface this with a few things. First, there are many, many people who do this much better than me. My neighbor, for one. They are spending a few dollars on a ton of stuff at specific stores. I haven't made it to that point yet (and don't know if I will unless I take lessons from them). I also have two girls. Yes, there are times when Ashley eats more than I could, but most of the time they don't. For example, if we are grilling chicken boobs for dinner, we only grill two. Ray and I share our portion with the girls. We might bump it up to three since lately they are asking for more just as Ray and I are putting the last bites in our mouths. But you get the point. Girls=lighter eaters than boys.

Last week I spent $86. I went over, yes, but the previous two weeks I was under, so I am still calling it a win. This week what helped was the triple coupons at the local grocery store. I still bought fresh fruit (oranges, bananas) and some "luxury" items (Audrey grabbed a bag of Pirate Booty, last time she comes with me, she brings my total up!).

Basically, I have started looking at the sale ads prior to making a menu for the week. And using coupons and trying to buy only things on sale. I have things I have to buy every week - orange juice, apple juice, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables. I buy meat when it's on sale and divide it up into smaller portions. I cut chicken breasts up, trimming them into leaner portions and saving the trimmed off pieces for meals like stir-fry and fajitas.

I still like to cook and bake, which can get expensive. But I have been using the freezer more for my baking needs as well. I made cupcakes the other day for a playdate that Audrey had, and I froze all the extras that Ray and I did not need to eat over the course of the next few days. I am stocked up on most of my baking needs, so now it comes pretty easy.

So that is it in a nutshell. I have only been doing it a few weeks, so we will have to see if it still is working in a few more weeks.

Going to play the lottery

Ashley and Audrey were both in a mid-season dance class for the past few months. I wanted something to fill the void in the winter months, and Audrey seemed to really like ballet. Ashley did ballet when she was four, but didn't like it. For some reason now she likes it and said she even wants to do it next year as well. So bizarre. That and she says she wants to play basketball. Weird.

So for the classes starting in the fall, the dance school in our town has a lottery since there are so many kids that want particular classes. You stop by this week to pick a number which determines what time you get to go back and sign up for a class.

Ray stopped by yesterday and picked up numbers for Ashley and Audrey. There are probably over 300 numbers for each age group to be drawn. He let Ashley draw the numbers.

She drew number 1 for herself! Of course she drew something like 127 for Audrey, but I am thinking that we should really go play the lottery now.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

Ashley is finally back in school this week after what seemed like the longest track out in history despite the fact that it was only three weeks long. She had fun in camp, staying with all of her grandparents at some point in her vacation, and spending the weekend in Washington, DC with one of her best friends.

But last night was sort of weird. She went to bed early - at 7:30 - since she didn't sleep much the night before. I went into check on her before I went to bed around 10:00. She was sort of awake, kind of crying, so I talked to her and she rolled over and went back to sleep. Or so I thought she did.

About 10 minutes later, she called for me. She was really crying now, saying she couldn't get back to sleep and that she was having really bad thoughts. She ended up sleeping in our bed and wouldn't tell us what her bad thoughts were, not even this morning.

Of course Audrey ended up in our bed at some point as well, so I was squished between two little girls the entire night. But they woke up fine this morning and were excited to go back to school. I think everyone is ready to get back on our normal schedule.

Tootles - The Dog

Tootles has finally earned her very own picture-worthy post.

Basically documenting all the damage she has done in our house (forgetting the rug we discarded from our family room) (oh, and the rug we had in front of the front door).

The window ledge she chews when she is pissed we are outside and she is not.The first Christmas we had her, we had a small party, and one of the kids was scared of dogs. We locked Tootles in our bathroom, and she obviously was pretty pissed. More bathroom damage.

But she has definitely become part of the family. It's been about 1 1/2 years since we rescued her, and she is now gets really upset when she thinks someone is hurting one of the girls, especially Audrey. I had to put her in the garage last Sunday when Audrey had a playdate with one of her friends.

Let's just hope the damage remains minimal.

Bad Morning Will Hopefully Turn Into a Much Better Day

I think Audrey is 1)getting slightly spoiled by being the only child and 2)needs to learn to go to bed at a decent time at night.

Ashley is spending time with my Dad and Stepmom (and her cousin Morgan whom she loves...) so it is just me, Ray and Audrey. Audrey has taken over Ashley's seat at the dinner table. We are not sure how that will fly once Ashley gets back, but we will cross that bridge then.

So spoiled, yes by all the attention from Mommy and Daddy. And bedtime? The past two nights it was 10:00pm before she went to sleep. Grr.

So this morning was not fun. She battled me on getting dressed. I left her alone in her room while I got ready to leave, thinking she would get over it and be okay when I came back.

Well, she wasn't. She was still crying, still not deciding on the two choices I gave her. I eventually got her pants, socks and shoes on and got her hair combed (screw brushing the teeth) and took her to the van.

Yes, without a shirt. I brought her two choices with me and got to school where she finally decided on what to wear. She had calmed down, but then of course was SUPER clingy in her classroom. I hung around with her as long as I could - then her amazing teacher took over and gave Audrey lots of attention while I stood in the hallway watching. I had somewhere to be at 9:00am, and it was already after 8:30am.

So any tips on dealing with the "getting dressed" battle would be greatly appreciated. I hate that battle. I normally chose all of the girls clothes on Sunday and put them in their weekly closest organizer. Ashley, thankfully, could care less. Audrey? Sometimes gives me the battle like she did today.

And I had even laid out her favorite High School Musical t-shirt, so I don't get it. I surrender.

Cool products and cool links

Here is my weekly cool products and links for this week:


1. The Shoulder Pillow - I can't tell you how this would have helped me on my trips to Disney where inevitably Audrey fell asleep in our arms while standing in line for a ride. Or how it would have helped me when Ashley would only take a nap on some days by me holding her. This would make a perfect shower gift.
2. Meeting Mr. Wrong - I should have posted about this a really long time ago. This book is by this fabulous author. A great, funny, good read. Add it to your book club reading list. Add it to your vacation reading list. Just add it. And then, you should read her blog. Go buy her book.


3. Two great websites for elementary school aged kids - Starfall.com and Softschools.com. They were recommended by my daughter's teacher and are great for reading and math skills. And if your kid likes playing on the computer (as well as your iPhone) as much as mine do, these are great additions.

On my soapbox...

I normally don't post stuff like this, but in last week's news all we heard was "AIG, blah, blah, blah, bonuses, blahblahblah, taxes, bonuses, AIG, blahblahblah".

And what was lost in all of that was the fact that the Treasury is printing money, money, and more money.

I won't pretend to understand the raminfications of this, but I will pass on at least a video depicting the trend of printing cash as provided by Glen Beck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEe0Ai6lTM

Off my soapbox.

I am playing the coupon game

As I mentioned before, I am sick of the talk of the economy just the same as the next guy. I was thankful for college basketball this weekend just to get the tv off the news and onto some sports.

And as I don't know anyone personally that has been laid off, being a state employee has its risks, and the possibility of me losing my job due to budget cuts is always there, regardless of a really bad year or just a bad year.

So I decided to take a challenge with our groceries. And you can tell me that my challenge is ridiculous or stupid, but to each his own. We normally would spend around $100 a week on groceries for our family of four. Sometimes $120, but rarely less than that. And it seemed that we were always running to the store between "big" trips to get a few more items, thus adding to the total.

My goal is to spend less than $75 a week on groceries.

Last week? I spend $58 on groceries. This week? $68.

I am winning, yipee!

And I am not going without. We have some expensive tastes in our house. Ashley really likes the organic poptarts; I am a huge fan of having fresh produce in the house. This week, to make it harder, we needed things like vitamins for the girls and dish washing detergent.

But what does make it better is watching for things you really need that is on sale. And I am a HUGE proponent of freezing. I freeze everything as normal recipes are most of the time too much for my family (aka two adults, a five year old and a three year old who eats like a bird).

And no, I am not running to multiple stores, although I know that is working for some I know. I am just not that dedicated, but I am sure I could save even more if I did.

To cut our monthly grocery bill from around $450 to $300 would be a huge advantage on our part. So what can I buy with that savings? Just kidding....(sort of).