Fashion Friday: Repeat Boutique - Summer 2012

Biyearly Knoxville's Repeat Boutique holds a clearance sale spanning the months of January and June.  Items begin to be sold at a 40% discount, followed by a 50% the next week, and finally 70% the final week of the sale.

The sale is a traditional for my family as well as others - each year we run into familiar faces.  The boutique has plenty of "repeat" customers (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

This year, I didn't manage to snag as many finds as normal.  I usually budget between $50-100 for each trip, and at 70% off consignment prices that's a big haul o'loot!

This isn't a commercial for them - promise!

I wanted to share with you a few of the goodies I snagged this year.  And yes, I was disappointed that I didn't get more.  For a grand total of $14.09 (9.5% TN sales tax included) I purchased the following:

A gold undershirt/tank.  
I'm of the opinion a girl can never have too many of these!  I'm not sure what I'll wear with this color, but for $2 it doesn't hurt to have it on hand.

American Eagle tank

This one has a drawstring right at the chest - my smallest part.  I love it because it makes me look skinny while also hiding some of my pudges.

Gap tank

Once again, fitted at my smallest part - flowy everywhere else.  I'm probably wearing this one today, visiting a friend in South Carolina. (I'm traveling and this was scheduled so forgive me if I don't comment on your blog until next week!)

Gap brown tank

Nothing special about this one, but I have plenty of dresses/shirts that it will look great under.  These days I feel self conscious if I don't wear an undershirt.

J. Crew Sweater

This was the most expensive purchase - double the $2 average price-per-piece.  The sweater didn't hardly look worn, and will be great for this summer in my over air-conditioned office.

Maybe I've read too much Jen Hatmaker or am too concerned about the lack of closet space in the new cabin.  Either way I saved some serious coin this time around only picking a few items.

What's the best deal you've ever gotten on a piece of clothing?  What's your shopping routine - do you shop for the fun of it, or out of necessity?  

Happy Weekend!!

Financial Friday - Tightening the Belt

We closed on the cabin Monday and, in theory at least, should be tightening our belts in the frugal family household.  We've seen a lot of "out go" for fixing up the farm house to get it ready to put on the market as well as already written a check or 2 for work done on the cabin.  Add (or subtract rather) to that the diminished savings for the down payment and our savings account looks pretty sad.

In the interest of full disclosure (interest *sniffle* I remember what getting interest on money was like...), we haven't planned our June budget yet.  Sad huh?  Jay's been working his hiney off and instead of money talks we've been kicking back after a long, hard day's work with our feet propped up and a cold beer in our hands.  Well, sometimes my gets lukewarm.  I drink slowly.

ANYHOO...

We've really been slack this month with our spending - on a month it should have been MORE important to pinch those pennies:

Eating out - $116.49

This includes a $40 birthday dinner, but beyond we've eaten away at it (see what I did there?) a little at a time.  I hope to end the month under $150.

Groceries - $178.78

This includes adult beverages.  I suppose I should have separated those out and put them under "entertainment" or "pissed down the toilet" but I was too lazy.  I'm sensing a theme this month...

Jay's Personal Spending - $92.93

He bought a hat to replace one that didn't survive the washing machine.  The price of dip has gone up (his favorite store changed ownership), and he found a restaurant beside his office he likes.

Brooke's Personal Spending - $68.58

I'm doing better than him for a change!  This includes one race registration, some work on my bike, and a couple of fast food visits.  I'm hitting Repeat Boutique this weekend so I need all the $$$ I can get!!




How are you doing this month on financial goals?  Have you found what truly motivates you to work toward them (or any goal)?

I need your help!

Valentine's is just around the corner and I need a good idea for my man! 

We're leaving for Maui the following week, so I'm hoping for a free/cheap idea.  Just something that lets him know how much I love him and appreciate his hard work for our family.

In the past I've tried homemade coupon books, and those don't work so well.  Unless of course the coupon reads "good for one free load of laundry: washed, dried, folded and put away."  In which case the coupon gets redeemed immediately.

But that coupon for a moonlit trip to Big Rock?  Yeah still in the envelope from 4 Christmases ago.

Also - what's the rule on re-wearing formals?

Every year (this this will be my 6th or 7th year) I volunteer at the Cure Finder's Valentine's Dinner and Dance.  In years past, I've been able to find a good bargain on formal wear.  Its two weekends away and I still have nothing to wear!

I had planned on wearing a LBD I had worn at my previous employer's Christmas party, but who was I kidding!  That was over 6 years and more than 6 pounds ago! 

This weekend I'm going out shopping and hope that I'll find a bargain, but looking for a bargain is usually hit or miss.  Tirah has kindly offered to let me borrow something of hers, but since we're not exactly next door neighbors, I worry about postage costs, and of course fit.

What do you think?  How many years should I wait before re-wearing the collection I have in my closet from the past 6 years?  (Assuming those would fit of course.)  While memories aren't that good and no one probably remembers my outfit from 2 years ago, there is a professional photographer on site who does formal portraits that I keep up in my office.

Frugal Friday: Choose your friends

I haven't participated in Frugal Friday for a while because I came to a point in my life where I was frugal tipped out. I'd heard it all. I'd done it all. I could tell you which tips were full of crap (making your own fabric softener out of vinegar and hair conditioner? Remind me how that's cheaper than a $3 bottle of fabric softener that actually makes your clothes soft?) I could also tell you which tips worked like a dream.


It got to be old hat so I dropped out of the Frugal scene for a while.


Guess who's back with a piece of UNconventional wisdom about how to save money.


It all started with a hot day and a phone in a sports bra.


Picture it - East Tennessee. Early October. A young peasant girl A young runner decides to go for an 8 mile run.  Having no pockets she puts her cell phone in her sports bra.  An hour and a half later when she pulls it out for the obligatory  "dad I didn't get kidnapped call" the display is dead.


After taking it into the cell phone store she discovers that boobie sweat is considered water damage and the company won't replace it.


Sad story isn't it?  So how did I get out of paying full price for a new phone (those prices you see in the store are discounted with contract renewal - I had just renewed my contract a month prior)?


I know people who like to have the latest gadgets.  And aren't afraid to pay for them.  When I was explaining my woes, and how boobie sweat is lethal to phones (who knew?), one friend suggested I get an old phone, or a prepaid phone and just stick my SIM card in the back to activate. 


The problem was that my old phone was 3 years old (I swear they are built to break after 2 years so you have to renew your contract) and wouldn't hold a charge for 24 hours.  Another friend said that she thought she had a phone at home she could give me. 


The only catch - it was a Razr from 2007.  I explained that the one I killed was a 2008 bottom of the line phone, so a 2007 top of the line model would actually be an upgrade for me. 


If they phone worked, why wasn't she using it?  Because she had upgrade to a blackberry to get more features.


I saved $50-$100 by knowing someone who wasn't afraid to spend money.


The catch?  To get these perks you have to be unashamedly frugal.  If they don't know you're cheap, how will they know if you would be offended by their offer?


Also, some friends will mock you.  Particularly the ones with a big screen tv.   It doesn't bother me.  I'd rather have my 5.5 acres paid for than a big tv any way.

Frugal Friday - Money Goals

Last week Dave Ramsey posed a challenge to his twitter followers – finish the following statement: Live like no one else, so that later ________.

For as long as I’ve been listening, he’s been saying “Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else.” Through twitter, he was asking what “living like no one else” means to his listeners.

He got some great responses, including travel-filled retirement, a new boat, and sending kids to college. The more I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t have an end game in mind. Sure I’d like to have a beautiful farm house, but that’s not at the heart of my thrifty nature.

I finally realized that I can’t fill the blank in without changing up the wording a bit. For me its “Live like no one else, so that I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay the bills.

Pathetic, huh?

Thankfully Jay had a better answer – he wants to retire early and go traveling across the country. Its actually very do-able. I’ll have my 30 years of service in when I turn 55.

How would you fill in the blank? What causes you to watch your pennies? Your “if money were no object” goal in life?

For great ideas about how to save, check out Life as Mom's Frugal Friday

Another long weekend!

It feels like I haven't worked any Mondays in March, but to be accurate I've worked 2/5ths of them.

First I took a long weekend to babysit the Princess.

Then i took a long weekend to visit the in-laws.

This weekend I'm headed with my family for a mini-vacation. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, the princess, the little man, Mr. Right and myself are all loading up and heading for a 3 day trip to the mountains of North Carolina.

Okay, so I know we live in the mountains of Tennessee.

And they really aren't that different.

But we're limited on time, so we're making it a short trip.

About two months ago, my mom asked to me look up how much a hotel room would be for the weekend we were planning. We would need 3 rooms, and it turned out to be $100 per room per night.

Over Sunday lunch I asked if we could save money by just having two rooms - one for my sister's family, and Mr. Right and I could share with my parents. (My parents are insisting on paying for all the rooms.)

No way. My mom wanted the privacy of her own room.

Actually I suspect she just didn't want to have to share a bed with my dad. They're getting old (sorry to my 50+ crowd) and have joint issues so they both toss and turn. Just when one gets asleep the other starts moving around.

Why not rent a cabin instead?

Of course my genius hub-sand (as my niece calls him) had a great idea - look into renting a cabin for the weekend.

His profession is selling rental cabins, so I'm not entirely certain why I didn't think of it first.

Turns out, we can get a 3 bedroom cabin for $150 a night. A savings of $150 per night. Not to mention the food savings we'll have by having breakfast at the cabin. One night we're even going to cook steaks at home.

Not to mention the freedom my sister will have to put the little man (who's 10 months old) down for bed and not have to worry about being alone in a hotel room.

My frugal Friday tip - consider all your options. With the economy as it is, you could find some really good deals. And just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you have to eat out every meal!

For more great money saving ideas, check out Life as Mom's Frugal Friday.

Car washes & Consignment Stores

Last night Mr. Right and I both got free car washes! It was the drive through deluxe package too. Perfect, since my car was covered in salt from the snow threat earlier in the week and I was going to have to pay to wash it any way.

How can you get one? Well…um…you can’t. Unless of course you live in my area.

A new car wash opened in town and apparently the owner is a very intelligent man. For the grand opening, he has offered free car washes for the entire week. It drew people in, got us familiar with his product, and at least in my case, will probably earn him business in the future.

I’ve never used car washes in the past. Living at home with my parents, we had well water. Water was free, so I obviously preferred to use the hose out back.

Now I’m on City water, and I’m trying to rationalize a $5 car wash – how many gallons do you think it takes to wash a car with a hose at the house? Don’t forget with this $5 wash, I don’t do anything. I just pull up to the ramp and let the conveyer belt pull me along.

Moving right along…

I’m taking about 19 pieces of my old clothing to a consignment store this afternoon. I hope I can make pretty good money off them.

For those of you that have taken (adult) clothing before – how much do you typically make? I know I can’t gauge what to expect per item, she might not take everything and even if she does it might not sell.



For more Frugal Fun, check out Biblical Womanhood’s Frugal Friday.

And for my normal readers, I’m taking Monday off to baby sit so I won’t be around. Don’t worry, I’ve got another chapter in the Brooke & Mr. Right love story ready to go!

Learning to accept Mr. Right's first love...

***updated with pictures of Quinn (the tiny toyota) and Jeepy***

The last thing you’ll get from me is how I get along well with Mr. Right’s exes. His first love, however is still a very big part of our lives. We’ve fought about it, I’ve made threats, but for better or worse she’s not going anywhere.

And honestly I understand why.

His first vehicle was an old Bronco with the floorboard rusted out (he had pieces of cardboard to keep it from being the Flinstone-mobile). He had to drive it to school every day to Yuppyville High. So when he got his brand new shiny 1997 Jeep Wranger Sahara, he immediately fell in love.

She occasionally gets gifts from him – a new lift suspension, huge mud tires. He takes her on dates where they get down and dirty – the more mud puddles they hit the better.

It would make financial sense to sell her – after all she’s a third wheel. I have my tiny Toyota and Mr. Right had to get an SUV to use for work (showing houses – he needed the extra seats as well as 4 wheel drive for those mountain properties). Jeepy is just a toy, a $6,000 toy that mostly just sits in the garage.



Picture from last year of Jeepy, Mr. Right, and the sensible real estate SUV.



All three vehicles are paid in full. Otherwise we would have gotten rid of the Jeep no questions asked. I have pointed out that we spend $50 a month in insurance for her, plus gas. But she’s worth it, when we put the top down in the summer and go riding through the national park.

So how do two hard core frugal addicts get around the 12 MPG that both of his vehicles get? I drive Jeepy to work. Which leaves TT and the SUV at home. If Mr. Right has errands to run (he drives all over the county taking pictures of cabins for clients, as well as checking out new properties), he takes TT.



If he has a day that he knows he’s going to be working from home all day, I take my car. If he knows he has clients, I take my car. If he thinks he will be running errands, I get Jeepy.

While the thought behind it is simple – the person driving the most takes the car that gets 36 MPG – I’m ashamed to say that I just thought of it. Gas is the one part of our budget that is out of control, and this is the perfect solution!

Although his masculinity is dinged driving a hatchback, its worth it for both of us since TT gets three times better gas mileage.



A picture of Quinn aka TT last Fourth of July.

Review your budget. Think creatively. You may think there is no way you can squeeze another dime out of your expenses. The answer may be simpler than you expected.

For more great money saving revelations, check out Frugal Friday.

February Monthly Challenge

Over at Frugal Hacks, they are challenging us to adopt a new behavior for a month, and see how well that works for us.

My challenge for the month is staying out of the grocery store. I currently have a well stocked pantry, so I should be able to pull it off. My menu plan for the month is complete, and requires no shopping on my part.

Lunch is the only challenge I foresee right now. I've got about a weeks worth of canned soup in my desk at work, as well as some Lean cuisine meals in the freezer. I might have to get a little creative and make a hamburger helper to bring to work for a couple days near the end of the month.

I look forward to the challenge!

Update - This is a post I composed at the first of the month, and I've already 'failed' in the challenge. Kroger had their lunch meat on sale for $1 a pack - and I had $1 off when you buy two coupon. This was a deal I just couldn't past up.

My total was $11.73 for several packets of sliced turkey & ham (which doesn't expire till the end of March and can be frozen as is), $1 bagged salad, and a couple of green peppers and onions.

The purpose of the goal is to make sure that I would/could actually use the items in my stockpile, not to deprive myself of a great deal and pay more later.

I've set a new goal of getting through the month and only spending $20 total at the grocery store. Which could be a challenge...depend on next week's sale flyer!

For more Frugal Friday ideas, check out Crystal's Biblical Womanhood blog.

Yard sale!!!

My yard sale is this weekend!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Its safe to say I’m a little excited. I’m hoping for around $100 or so (I’ve got no big ticket items to sale), but the hubs is wanting closer to $200. I think maybe we’ll make that much if I sell absolutely everything I’m taking for what we’re asking for it.

Let me back away from the excitement for a moment and explain how I’m having a yard sale in January – in 30 degree weather. Twice a year our Civic Center holds a “Second Time Around” sale – an indoor yard sale. Booths are 8 X 8 and cost $15 to rent.

Last fall, I wasn’t able to participate because it was just a couple weeks before the wedding. The particular Saturday of the sale, I was picking up my wedding dress, along with attending a shower in my honor later in the day.

Since I moved into the house, I’ve had a pile of stuff in our library (aka the 3rd bedroom aka the junk room). Quite frankly I’ll just be glad to get the stuff out of the house. A lot of the stuff would have been donated to a thrift store any way.

Also, its not like my time is all that valuable. I gathered the stuff as we both moved (and would have done so any way if donating), it only took me an hour or so to price – which I did on MLK Jr. day. (I spent the rest of that day reading a book). The only think I’m missing out on is a day of cleaning the house, and the dirt will still be there when I get home tomorrow afternoon.

As Americans, most of us have “stuffitis” and keep way too much stuff. What’s the point really? Sell it!

In my area, the consignment stores are starting to make appointments for spring merchinice, so if you’re going to prune your closet the time is now!

For more great Fruday tips, check out Frugal Fridays!

Gotta love those sales!

This weekend is the weekend my family has been waiting for…well at least the women in my family. Twice a year the consignment store in K-ville has their clearance sales. The first week they slash everything to 40% off, then 50%, and the final week of the season everything is 70% off!

That’s right – 70% off consignment store prices!! I typically end up getting tops and pants (brand names) for $2 and $3 each. Sometimes, if I find something I’m really in love with, I’ll splurge and spend $5 on an item.

This isn’t just a sale for us – it’s an event. We carpool and make a day of it. My grandfather went the first year and considered it a “twofer” (a two for one – the first and last time he’ll ever go). Early in our relationship Mr. Right went along with us. He was quite handy to have. He looked for stuff that he would like on me, and he held the stuff that I wanted to try on.

It’s hard to explain, but the entire store is a mad house. Women everywhere, grabbing up clothes, shoes, and handbags that they think they might want. If you’re not quick on the draw (and we’re all standing outside the door 10 minutes before they open) then all the good stuff will be snatch up. You snatch first, sort later.

Then it’s on to the community dressing room. The sale is so big their meager 4 dressing rooms aren’t enough, so they open up their stock room for anyone to go in, and sometimes even it gets full and you have to wait. Nothing like seeing 20 other women in their undies for a boost of confidence.

The community dressing room is also full of honesty. I’ve had complete strangers tell me that a pair of pants is too tight, or that a top just isn’t flattering.

My family usually spends from 10 o’clock to around 2 or 3 that afternoon shopping for deals. Lately, I’ve been the high spender, walking out with around $100 worth of clothing. This is my one area where its difficult to budget. I see all these great things for only a couple dollars and I want to buy them all.

This year, I’m accountable to more than myself (and God) for my spending. Mr. Right and I talked about it last night and I’ve set my budget at $70. I’ve been calculating my “dip money” since we got married. Basically, he wastes $60 a month on smokeless tobacco, and at one point (before we got married) I wasted about the same on fast food.

When he questioned my spending, I told him that was money that I blew, just like he blew too much money on dip. I started tracking my spending (and for weight loss reasons I stopped eating out as much). A friend suggested that I save up the money to buy something really nice. To sort of illustrate a point.

So Repeat Boutique here I come!!!

In other frugal news, I’m very proud of my Kroger deal from last night. I spent $2.05 (including our 8% tax on food in Tennessee and 9.5% on everything else) on the following:



Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the link to the Cottonelle coupons, which doubled for free TP!

I was proud of myself coming up with the Quaker Quakes (mini rice cakes) deal – I noticed when I was at the store earlier in the week they were on sale for $10/10 (or for $1 each) and got very excited when I clipped the $1 off coupon yesterday (I was a little behind in my couponing.

The soup was also on sale and I had a coupon, but it wasn’t a spectacular deal - $0.85 each. Mr. Right really likes the soup though, and I wanted something so that the cashier wouldn’t think I was trying to cheat the system by not paying anything. I know what he’ll be having for dinner tomorrow while I’m out shopping!

For more great frugal fun, check out Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood.

Mr. Right joins the frugal fun!

Mr. Right picked up the bargain of the century yesterday!

Okay well maybe the bargain of the year, but still...

A co-worker and I had discussed the $1 a pound ground turkey that Kroger has on sale this week. I was excited because ground meat is difficult to find that cheap. When I am able to get it at that price, its typically the 70/30 ground beef in a tube (Kroger calls it “flavor-seal” a nice sounding name for something that means “whatever’s leftover”.)

My co-worker assured me that ground turkey wasn’t all that different from ground beef, especially when you use it for things like chili and spaghetti. She said that she actually liked it better than ground beef. Lower price, better quality – that’s a deal tough to beat.

Since neither Mr. Right or myself have ever had ground turkey, we took a calculated risk and purchased 15 lbs. We use at least 1 pound of ground meat every week, so we didn’t even bother to vacuum seal it before it went into the deep freezer.

Side note: A big thank you to the Right parents for getting us the freezer for Christmas, your generosity has made this all possible.

The day after I purchased all that turkey, the same co-worker came to me telling me about ground beef on sale for around $1 a pound – but not the kind that comes in the tube. Honest to goodness ground beef, packaged on Styrofoam and wrapped in cling wrap. So I made plans to go after work and pick some up. Thankfully I didn’t.

I had purchased a couple of TV antennas for our house, and one was missing some parts. I bagged it up and ask him to return it one day while he was out and about on business related errands. Thankfully he had procrastinated on it, and didn’t get around to taking it back till yesterday.

He called, wanting to know if he needed to buy a new antenna, or if we just wanted the money back on a gift card (the antenna had been purchased with a wedding gift card). I had purchased it for the TV in the man room/office, but we haven’t been up there in over a month to watch TV. “Your room, your call.”

He ended up just going for the refund. And then heading to the meat section to find the sale of the century…okay of the year. He circled around for a few moments and couldn’t find it. When all of a sudden but who should appear…but the Wal-mart meat guy. Turns out, what my co-worker had seen was meat that was going to expire the next day and what she had seen had been long gone with another deal seeking patron long before Mr. Right ever stepped foot into the store.

The ground beef was in 5.5 lb packages and the angel…erm…Wal-Mart employee was marking them down to $4.20 a package. That’s right – Mr. Right purchased ground beef yesterday for $0.76 a pound!! He got all they had, which was two of the 5.5 packages. Then the sweet thing called to ask if he needed to vacuum seal them right away, or if they would save if he put them in the fridge for us to seal together that night.

The temperature that we keep our house, they’d have probably kept on the kitchen counter. But moving right along.

When I got home, I got out our vacuum sealer and bags (thanks also to the Right parents) and wrote the date/product on there, so in a month or so, we wouldn’t have to rely on our memories to know how long they had been in there.

I pulled the beef out of the fridge. “Um…baby, this isn’t ground beef.”

“What?”

“Its ground chuck.”

“That’s good right?”

“That’s very good.”

Ground chuck for $0.76 a pound. Maybe I should let him do the shopping from now on!

For more frugalness – check out Frugal Friday.

Our Honeymoon

Rather than go on the exotic honeymoon that we had talked about (really $6K for a week?), a friend of ours offered us her timeshare for the week and we were more than glad to take her up on it. We ended up staying in Villa Rica, Georgia, a tiny town just outside of Atlanta.

We left Sunday about noon, and checked in just as the sun was setting over the lake – yep, that’s right our free accommodations faced the water. Then we head back out for some dinner and shopping.

Rather than rehashing everything, I’ll spare you (and keep this G-rated) by giving you bullet points.

• At O’Charley’s, I splurged on a Cotton Candy cosmo. They bring the alcohol out and pour it right over an actual piece of cotton candy! It was to die for!!

• Wally World for some grocery shopping. We picked up a couple of frozen pizzas, some cans of soup, poptarts, and popcorn

• We purchased 4 $5 movies to watch during the week.

• We also picked up a bundle of the fire starter logs – you know the ones that are way over priced. As a local you walk by them and laugh, wondering who would be so stupid/desperate to pay that much? Next time remember that some poor guy probably is buying it because the one thing that his wife requested for their honeymoon was a fire to snuggle in front of.

• Walking around the lake till we reached the hiking trail that led into the woods.

• An afternoon sitting on a rock by the lake. He took his laptop (since he’s self employed he had a few business things to see about) and I took the book I was reading.

• Dinner @ local pub. I’d been craving fish and chips for a week or so and I couldn’t have asked for any better. Since I’d had such good luck with choosing the comso earlier in the week, I decided to be adventurous try a St. Patrick’s (Jameson’s, OJ, Blue Curaco). It was yummy too!

• Consignment store shopping. I ended up getting a new pair of dress pants & a new pair of cords and Mr. Right got a dress shirt and a pair of jeans.

• Antique store shopping. I found a gray pearl necklace/earring set that I immediately fell in love with. My husband has two things he wastes money on – his nicotine addiction and me. So even though I would have very few places to wear the necklace in the course in my lifetime, he forked out the $100 because he knew it would make me happy.

• Panning for gold, and walking through the gold mining museum.

• Relaxing in the room and watching cable TV that we never see.

So why am I posting my honeymoon, where I made an impulse purchase on a probably overpriced piece of costume jewelry? Because my husband and I only spent $500 for an entire week on our honeymoon. That includes everything, room, food, gas, entertainment, new to us work clothes, and one pricy souvenir.

My point? Accept gifts from those who offer, and use them to their full advantage. When planning a vacation, its not really about the location. Its about the people who are going with you. Going to a less expensive place will allow you those little splurges that make you feel rich. Going to a more expensive place will have you watching every penny, feeling poor.

For more money-saving tips, check out Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Grocery Bills

This summer to go along with the economic stimulus checks the government issues, Kroger ran a special where they added 10% when you purchased a gift card with a $300 $600 or $1200 value. I participated in this special twice - both times for $300 cards.

Turns out, it was a great way to track grocery spending. I just finished the last of the gift cards this past week. I had purchased $660 in cards, and a couple of co-workers went in on a $50 gift card when I got married.

I've used nothing but those cards since I got them (excluding the very rare trips to Wal-Mart and Food City to buy groceries), which means I've spent approximately $710 in groceries since May. That's under $90 a month for our grocery bill!

Keeping in mind that over the past 8 months, I've used those cards to build up a food emergency fund. So that $90 not only contributed to our weekly grocery expenses, but also to the full cabinets that we have right now.

How'd I do it? The typical - shopping sales, using coupons, menu planning. I know those are ideas everyone in the bloggy world has heard a million times. But it works. Also, in the past I've been more willing to compromise on health type items. But that is something I'm working on. (I actually bought the flavor seal ground chuck this past week, rather than the ground beef.)

For more great ideas, check out the weekly Frugal Friday carnival at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday: My First Giveaway!!

I was one of the winners of Rachel's Pay it Forward giveaway. (Rachel is paying if forward from winning Linda's give away.) My charge from Linda, thru Rachel?

"Nothing extravagant, just a simple treat in the mail. You choose the prize you want to give. It's the holidays so don't feel like it needs to be spendy."

How do you win? I'll us a Christmas tradition of my own (drawing names) from three people who comment on this blog with their favorite Christmas tradition. If you can't play along with a pay it forward give away of your own, go ahead and leave your tradition. Just be sure to let me know you're not throwing your hat into the ring.

What am I giving away? A book from one of my favorite authors - Janet Evanovich. Her Stephanie Plum series is a light hearted take on the mystery genre. Mr. Right gets irritated when I read her books because at least once in the book I can't help but literally laugh out loud!






The best part? Its frugal too! My secret? I found HARDBACK copies of the book at the Dollar Tree. That's right only $1 for a festive, funny book.

The Dollar Tree has tons of great stuff that can be combined in a basket to make a great (but frugal) Christmas gift. They also have a lot of crap. So just be sure you know who you're buying for or else it would be a waste of money (see the post over at Frugal Hacks "Giving and Misplaced Frugality".

For more great money saving ideas, check out this weeks Frugal Friday blog carnival over at Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Friday - Green Wedding Ideas

Only 6 more weeks till my wedding!! :)

What's better than a frugal idea? A green frugal idea! (That way you can have something to blame your cheapness on when someone mocks you.) Mr. Right and I decided to go the cheap...erm...green route when it came to invitations.

I was reading the etiquette I found that the reason for the double envelopes, was that back in the day the mail system wasn't as reliable and sometimes the invitations would arrive damaged. The extra envelope was just to protect the invitation. Since the mail system is more reliable, the only purpose they serve now is to cost you more money and fill the landfills.

After a (very brief) discussion on this topic, Mr. Right and I had no problems eliminating this extra cost. Although I will admit I have received an invitation in the single envelope and thinking "how cheap" as I threw everything in the garbage. Funny how perspectives can so quickly change.

Another idea we borrowed was the idea of sending a RSVP postcard, rather than card and envelope. We got our cards printed on each side for only $5 extra dollars - one side had the RSVP information and the other had my mother's name and address already printed on there. All I had to do was add the postcard stamp and the RSVP cards were done!

For more frugal ideas, head over to Biblical Womanhood and check out Frugal Friday!

Frugal Friday - Do it yourself

Trying to keep my wedding costs down, I've got several do-it-yourself projects. A good friend of mine suggested that we make the boutonnieres and corsages rather than pay a florist - that project is for a later Frugal Friday when I can post pictures of how great they turned out. I'm making my own veil. Kits are $15 at Hobby Lobby. The fancy veils you buy at the bridal store run around $100. If I mess up the kit, for $15 I can scrap it and go a different direction.

Another project I'm looking forward to is making the cake topper. I saw the idea on ebay and plan on recreating the idea myself. This weekend (after my first gown fitting tomorrow morning) I'm heading to the craft store to pick up my veil kit as well as some letters and paint. Mr. Right purchased some sponge brushes to paint the tiny trim areas of the house, so I'll just steal one of those for my project. And I'll make his project figuring out how to stick the letters into the cake.

My to do list:
purchase/make veil
1st dress fitting (not at all frugal)
purchase/make cake topper
start thank you notes (after Sunday's shower)

Frugal Friday - Cleaning Rags

Mr. Right and I closed on our house this past Tuesday. It was a foreclosure, built in 2005. Unlike most of the foreclosures we looked at, this one was in relatively good shape. We're having to hire a carpet cleaner, and Mr. Right and his father had to make a few minor plumbing repairs. Beyond that its all cleaning and painting.

Because something is broken in my head (I'm your friendly neighborhood germophobe blogger), once I clean the other people's dirt and germs out of the house - I'm not going to wash the rag and risk keeping them around. I'm giving the house a good scrubbing and then the rags are going promptly into the garbage.

I certainly don't want to go out and buy rags that are just going to going to get thrown away, so I'm acquiring these cleaning cloths in a couple of standard and one creative way.

Mr. Right collects t-shirts. Not the souvenir kind that you get on vacation (I'm a reformed former Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt collector), but the cheap t-shirt kind. You know the ones you get for free when you participate in a charity event. Not to mention the kind that sell for $0.50 at the thrift store. Only he wears them so much you wouldn't even give a quarter for them. I'm taking this excellent opportunity to assist him in weeding out the collection (he honestly has at least 100 t-shirts, many that either have holes or red clay mud stains, or both).

I'm also going to tear up a few towels that probably should have been retired a long time ago. He has about 10 nice white Egyptian cotton extra large bath towels. Then shoved in the back he has about 4 or 5 towels that probably were in their prime in the 1970s. They never get used and have lost their absorbency, making them just perfect for scrubbing the sink in my new kitchen.

My favorite kind of rag, however, is in limited supply. My mother was cleaning out her basement, excited about getting to give me my stuff and free up room down there, and came across old cloth diapers that she use to use on my sister and I. She saved them from one child to another and then just packed them away. We ripped them up and made them into the perfect sized rag. But I'm not going to tell Mr. Right their original use. He'll probably have wanted to frame them and keep them forever.

Frugal Friday - Lunches

My dad has been slacking the past few weeks on packing my lunch, so I've been on my own again. Last week I'll just say that I did less than stellar. I didn't stick to my $15 cash only system. I think I ended up going over by $5 or so. Not bad over all, but if I did that every week that's an extra $20 a month I'm wasting on fast food. This week I made up for it, so far I've only spent $2.18 for lunch (but I am going out with my mother this afternoon).

Monday: SmartOnes entree and pretzels
Tuesday: McDonalds w/Mr. Right - he paid (I bought the $100 ring, he can get my $1 double cheese burger
Wednesday: Texas Roadhouse - my boss's treat
Thursday: ZMex/Bellicino's with Mr. Right - EPO (each pay own) I had a coupon for a $1.99 kids meal. Zmex portions are too large anyway so the kids meal was just right.

My mom and I are going to a bistro for lunch (it just recently opened) so we're going to splurge a little - but I think we're going to share a meal, so we'll still keep our costs around $5 each.

Maybe I'll feel less restricted if I budget myself $30 a paycheck (I get paid every other week) rather than $15 a week. That way if one week i feel like eating out a little more, I can just make up for it next week.

Limiting (or eliminating) fast food is definitely a good way to cut your budget (and mostly likely your waistline as a result!) For more frugal tips check out Frugal Friday.

Grocery Store Deals

Several months back a friend of mine got me into the drug store game. Its truly been a Godsend. It gets me my shopping fix w/o spending lots of cash AND I've been able to give out these cute gift baskets to my family full of free goodies I've collected along the way.

I also like to save at the grocery store, although that's not quite as easy these days. When Kroger first ran their gift card promotion (allowing you to purchase a $300, $600, or $1200 gift card and they would add 10%) I immediately jumped on it. Since I normally just spend about $40-$60 a month on groceries, I only got a $300 card. Smart move, since I still have a $240 balance.

Mr. Right is the economist and I'm the shopper. After doing some research on the value of the dollar and the way prices are headed, he asked that I start to stockpile food. He's convinced that the value of the dollar will continue to decrease and that food prices will continue to increase. And since most savings accounts aren't keeping up with inflation, what better way to combat the problem them filling the cabinets with non-perishable foods?

Even if the economy was more stable - I agree its a good idea. I'm going to consider our stockpile sort of a backup emergency fund. As a true Dave Ramsey fan, I have my 3-6 months worth of expenses in the bank. Side note: Mr. Right and I need to do a budget and see if combining our emergency funds would work or if we need to increase/decrease the amount.

When he suggested buying a lot of food we would use any way, I thought it would be a great idea. If something unexpected happened and one of us couldn't work, how great would it be if we could mostly eat out of the pantry and just spend $20 or so a month on groceries?

The plan will work okay because we eat a lot of spaghetti, chili, and other canned tomato/pasta meals. Also, I'm OCD enough that I will rotate stock when I buy groceries each month. Once I get the stash built up, I'll continue grocery shopping each month as normal. But I'll be careful to use the oldest item first. I would hate for 2010 to roll around and all my pasta start to go bad.

I noticed that I was a few weeks late, and prices had already gone up again. A box of Kroger brand rotini pasta jumped from $0.99 to $1.15. Sure, an extra $0.16 isn't going to make or break my budget. But raising the price by 15% price is quite a large increase.

My mom isn't a Kroger shopper, so ever so often they send her coupons. This month was $6 off a $60 purchase for 4 weeks (starting this week). Since yesterday was the last day of the gift card promotion, I took my coupon for this week to the store. After buying my $300 gift card I spent $58.47 on the following:

4 cans cream of chicken soup
4 cans cream of celery soup
4 cans chicken broth
2 cans enchilada sauce
2 cans refried beans
2 cans tomato sauce
4 beef broth
5 cans sketti sauce
5 lbs rice
10 packets sketti mix
10 packets chili mix
4 packets alfredo
4 2 lb boxes sketti noodles
2 boxes rotini pasta
2 boxes penne pasta
1 container salsa
1 large container peanut butter

Next week's items will include ramen noodles and more canned tomato products. We use a lot of tomato sauce, paste, and diced tomatoes.

Any other suggestions for food that save well? I've got 3 more $60 trips to go!

Check out other money saving suggestions at Frugal Friday.