Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I found great coupons online and ended up printing off five pages, fifteen coupons in all.  Several coupons are for meat, in particular, ground turkey.  I was very excited to find coupons to pair up with Progresso soup that happens to be on sale at our neighborhood grocery store.  My coupon organizer was pretty empty up to this point so I felt good being able to add some in.

Later that day I put on a big batch of pinto beans in my slow cooker.  I used half of them to make chili con carne for our Sunday supper.  Then I reserved half of the remainder to make Taco Soup later in the week.  The rest were put away in the freezer to be added to black beans this week when I make refried beans.  I also froze a four cup freezer container of chili to use for a future meal.

On Monday I grouped all of my errands and chose my route so I could efficiently make all my stops saving time and gas in the process.  Working in a loop I got it done in less than three hours.  I had a total of nine stops to make:  

1. JoAnns - used my new gift card to purchase some craft supplies, most of which will become a gift for my daughter next Christmas
2. Walgreens - eggs for 99¢ a dozen.  I bought two.
3. Fred Meyer - oranges for 49¢ a pound; canned tomatoes 2/$1; pasta 79¢ plus I had a 55¢ coupon for two; cat food - 20 pounds on sale for $10.99, jumbo box of tissues for $1.79
4. My Tenant - picked up rent, they are down with the flu
5. The Lab - dropped off an eyeglass order for a customer
6. Our Bank - made two deposits, one business and one personal
7. Walmart - used my found gift card to purchase window washer fluid for the car, one toiletry item and two cans of soup.  Paid a $1.25 out of pocket.
8. Dollar Store - fabric softener refill, small pizza pan that would fit in our oven, lint roller
9. Paul's Market - family pack of ground beef $1.99 a pound, five cans of clam chowder on sale for 99¢ a can plus I had two 50¢ coupons, bananas, 2 pound bag of grated cheddar for $5.89, bacon $2.88 for a pound, two loaves of French bread 50¢ each, a bottle of Merlot on sale and I earned it!
10. Total spent on groceries and non-food items including sales tax = $55.24!

I do not plan to make a habit of that type of shopping, too exhausting, but where none of these stores were out of my way and required a special trip I could easily justify going to so many.  Once I got home, unloaded and put away everything (including filling up my wiper fluid reservoir in my car and dividing up the ground beef into portions for the freezer) I admit I was completely pooped out and my feet were killing me.  After a glass of wine I was ready to get dinner on the table.

I did no additional shopping the remainder of the week.

I stuck to our menu plan completely this week.  We had so many delicious meals with plenty of leftovers to pack for lunches.

We watched some of our favorite shows on Hulu.  I am not very happy with Hulu right now.  They want to charge me to watch Castle after placing it on the Hulu Plus list.  I think that is pretty stinky of them.  Sorry Hulu, not going to do it.  E ven if you hold Castle for ransom.  I'll just wait to see it later.

A friend of mine picked me up a case of toilet paper when he went to Costco and I reimbursed him.  I love that he is willing to do that for me.  It is really the only think I want to purchase there.

Friday I played Bunco.  Not very thrifty, because I didn't win a single thing.  Again.

I trimmed my bangs.

Saturday we went over to a friends to play pinochle.  I was asked to bring an appetizer or snack to share so we made a delicious homemade cheese pizza.  It was a hit.

How did your first full thrifty week of 2014 go?