Operation $40K

I now know that I COULD have shared my 30 journey with you for the challenge that All You magazine put out there. My paperwork is all in and awaiting review, it is entirely too munch info for one post so, I will give it to you in weekly summaries. Here is my last week: Sunday, July 11th -Branson Trip! Breakfast: cold cereal, orange juice Lunch: fridge clean out: left over chicken & dumplings, apple sauce, Snack: popcorn and lime Jell-O Dinner! Pasta bake with garlic bread. Rotini with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese, layered and baked. Monday, July 12th -Branson Trip! Breakfast: Waffles, scrambled eggs, tater tot potato pancakes. Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches (from Pioneer dinner show), fruit, chips, sweet tea Snack: fruit chiller Dinner! Leftover pasta bake Tuesday, July 13th Breakfast: breakfast cookies, orange juice Lunch: baked mac n cheese, carrot/celery, milk Snack: (never had one)! Dinner! Grilled turkey burgers, German potato salad Wednesday, July 14th Breakfast: ...

I now know that I COULD have shared my 30 journey with you for the challenge that All You magazine put out there. My paperwork is all in and awaiting review, it is entirely too munch info for one post so, I will give it to you in weekly summaries. Here is my third week: Sunday July 4th – holiday pool party! Breakfast: croissant French toast, pomegranate blueberry juice, sliced strawberries Lunch: (we took hot dogs) Chicken Nacho, fresh fruit, water Snack: watermelon Dinner! Hamburger Stroganoff Monday, July 5th Breakfast: croissant fresh fruit plate (grapes, banana slices and strawberries) and pomegranate blueberry juice Lunch: Turkey Sandwiches with guacamole instead of Mayo, baby carrots Snack: Sliced Medium Cheddar Cheese and Crackers Dinner! $5 Little Caesar’s Pizza! Tuesday, July 6th Breakfast: Zucchini Bread (applesauce instead of oil) and pomegranate blueberry juice Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly on 9 grain bread, sliced bananas Snack: Fruit Smoothies! Dinner! Freezer spaghe...

I now know that I COULD have shared my 30 journey with you for the challenge that All You magazine put out there. My paperwork is all in and awaiting review, it is entirely too munch info for one post so, I will give it to you in weekly summaries. Here is my second week: All You Grocery Challenge Sunday, June 27th Breakfast: Strawberry & banana crepes, skim milk Lunch-out with my in-laws (Avenue Bar) Baked chicken, dressing, baked potato, green salad, ice water (Sarah shared with me and had apple sauce), Andy had a veggie omelet and milk Snack: popcorn Dinner! Lentil Sloppy Joes on wheat buns, Greek salad (traded a pack of French bread with neighbor for the salad) Monday, June 28th Breakfast: Breakfast cookies, Orange Juice Lunch: Chicken & mushroom crepes (using left over chicken from Sunday’s lunch and crepe shells from Sunday Breakfast) Snack: peach smoothies Dinner! grilled pork tenderloin, ramen coleslaw (made a double batch) Tuesday, June 29th Breakfast: Cold Cereal, s...

I now know that I COULD have shared my 30 journey with you for the challenge that All You magazine put out there. My paperwork is all in and awaiting review, it is entirely too munch info for one post so, I will give it to you in weekly summaries. Here is my first week: All You Grocery Challenge Sunday, June 20th – Father’s Day Breakfast: Cut strawberries, Slice of Brownberry Health Nut Bread, Glass of milk Lunch: Free meal at church: Baked chicken on a stick, BBQ ribs, green salad, veggie tray, watermelon, lemonade Snack: Banana Dinner: Free meal at Texas Road House: 6 oz sirloin Steak, Sweet Potato with butter, green salad, water. She ate salad, Mac N cheese, apple sauce, white milk Monday, June 21st – Interpreter Dinner, Circle of Love Breakfast: Cut strawberries, glass of milk Lunch: Cold plate: String cheese, oyster crackers, diced cooked cold chicken breast, apple slices Snack: yogurt Dinner:Free meal at Martin house! We brought deviled eggs and a cheese ball with wheat crackers....

I found this interesting blog - the guy started on May first to pay only $1 a day for food (for just himself). So, he would have $31 to spend for the month of May. I find this fairly easy to accept as I spend about twice that a month to feed the three of us! Here were his rules: 1) I will begin on May 1 and will have no accumulated food of any kind. I have $31 to spend ($1 for each day of the month). I can start buying food on May 1 and can not exceed the $31. I must document the cost of the food with receipts. 2) I can only use 2 computers to print coupons. Although I have access to more which would make this challenge much easier, we agreed that not everyone will have access to a lot of computers. However, we also agreed that anyone reading this has access to at least one computer and should be able get access to another one using a bit of creativity. 3. I can only use 2 inserts from the Sunday paper each week. Although I have access to many more than this (I usually pick up anywhere...

So yesterday I shared what I stocked up on at Walgreen's and what I will be going back to get more of: Butterfinger Candy Bars! Here are a few fun ideas for them and a good reason to stock up! I would have to say the last recipe is the most frugal as the ingredients are often on sale (cake mixes for less than $.75, Cool Whip free with double coupons and Instant pudding practically a steal)...and it is a darned impressive presentation if you take it to a party! What you see pictured is the first dessert - Enjoy! **Hint! Put all your candy bars in the freezer. When you're ready to use them, take them from the freezer. Leave the wrappers on and take a mallet or a hammer and smash them inside the wrappers. Keep cool until you need them. Butterfinger Cake Ingredients 1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix (baked according to package directions) 5 Butterfinger candy bars 1 jar caramel ice cream topping 1 can sweetened condensed milk Cool Whip for topping Chocolate Syrup Bake the c...

I thought I would quickly crunch a few numbers for you (and me)! It's been a while since I have done this (late May I think). So let's take a look at what's happened: We had the team picnic, a few pool parties, finished Christmas shopping, had 2 birthday parties AND celebrated Father's Day, had a crappy garage sale (profit wise), donated a bunch of stuff for a tax break and got our tax refund checks. I also have put a little money out for our home repair projects (Driveway, screen, shed paint, living room paint, etc) Add a few smaller checks from Tupperware (I wasn't working much...) and the fact that 9 people still owe me money: I had another $5,335 to add to my fund. Add that to my total and I have $12,465 in the bank! Not too shabby -- almost 1/3rd the way to my goal and I started on March 1st -- so we are talking five months. Half of my summer fairs are almost over, we have added a few more people to the team and sold a few things. The trip for Ireland is just a...

First of all, a huge thank you to my big sister who sent me a bajillion Butterfinger coupons that give me $1 off 2 candy bars! Today was a quick stop at Wags! I came home with 20 Butterfinger candy bars, 3 packs of erasers and a pack of the G2 pens. Grand total spent? $.46 The candy bars said $.89 each on the shelf price but are marked 2/$1 on the actual packages. This week, with the in flier coupon, they are on sale for $.39 (limit of 6), the July coupon book had a $1 off coupon for the pens (that were on sale for $1.19) and the erasers were $.29 in the flier. Here is how I worked the coupons. NORMALLY the candy bars were $.50 EACH. I had ten coupons for $1 off 2 candy bars and handed those over first. Then I gave the $1 off the pen and then the tear out for stacking the Butterfinger sale. I saved $16.49 ...tack another $7.80 on to it if you count the shelf price on the candy bars for a total of $24.29. I have plenty more of the candy bar coupons and will stop back there again on Satu...

We hadn't been to a Chili's in quite some time so we were in for a treat! On Facebook, I went to the Heinze page and played their game to win a $30 Chili's restaurant gift card. I DID win and printed off the gift card. You can play too - just go to: http://www.facebook.com/#!/HeinzKetchup?v=app_114549775252744&ref=ts You have to become a Heinze fan to play, and you can play more than one time, but isn't $30 worth a few minutes? =) THEN, you will want to go to the Chili's company website (chilis.com) and join their E-mail club. It takes a day or two, but they will send you a coupon for a FREE Queso dip with chips appetizer! These area about a $4.50 value so you now have approximately a $35 meal for FREE! The three of us ate very well tonight! We started with the Queso dip. Dear hubby had a Coke and I had ice water. Sarah did the Kid's Mac N Cheese with Mandarin Oranges, hubby had the Monterrey Chicken and I did the Lime Chicken. I have NO idea how he finished...

Whew! It's fun to be back to my normal routine, LOL! Here is how I do my meal planning. 1) I grab the calendar and see where we are for the week and what we are doing so I don't plan a meal for a night we are at a friend's party or working. 2) I grab the freezer list so I know what ** and *** items need to be used. 3) I look at the last 2 weeks so I don't feed my family the same thing, week after week. That's it! Here is my plan of attack: Breakfast is usually the same: French toast, fruit crepes, Breakfast Cookies, cold cereal* or oatmeal* with a piece of fresh fruit (apple, strawberries, grapes or banana). Lunch is either leftovers, peanut butter* & jelly sandwiches, quesidillas, or cold plate with sausage or diced chicken - cheese* - crackers* & fresh fruit or yogurt. Dinner: Monday - left overs/fridge clean out! (we have a 90th birthday celbrations lunch for my Grandma at Red Lobster so I think we will be stuffed with shrimp!) Tuesday - Beer Can Chicken ...