05.18.09 at 8:10 pm by Kara_S
I love it when the Farmer suggests a trip to Krogers. Of course, he usually has an ulterior motive like buying a tray of sushi or some Diet Cokes for $1. This week, it was the Diet Coke that motivated him. (For those who don’t live near a Krogers, affiliate stores with similar sales are Kroger, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Hilander, Owen’s, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes, Scott’s Food & Pharmacy.)
When we got up this morning and the Farmer suggested a trip, I threw together a quick list, scrambled to cut yesterday’s coupons, and headed out the door. Even with a lack of pre-planning, we did pretty good.
Before coupons, our total came to $100.75.
After coupons, our total was $68.31 or a savings of 43%.
We bought 61 items for an average of $1.11 per item. However, quite a few items when combined with coupons were almost free.
Here’s some
Continue reading I Went Krogering!
04.09.09 at 7:47 am by Kara_S
Are you struggling to make ends meet for your family? So many people are nervous about surviving the next couple of weeks, months, and years.
Not knowing how to pay the mortgage or the electric bill can cause a lot of stress. Do you fall behind on this bill to pay that bill for a month?
There may not be one simple solution to your situation, but many little steps can help you survive.
The following posts are ones that I wrote based on our personal experience. They include steps that we’ve taken to make life easier, and steps that I hope you can benefit from.
Surviving on One Income:
Introduction,
Step One: Evaluation
Step Two: Creative Adding
Step Three: Creative Stretching
Step Four: Shopping Strategies
Please let me know if you have additional strategies that you use!
03.09.09 at 9:42 pm by Kara_S
Today was a fun day in our kitchen. Since we did our grocery shopping on Saturday, I had a couple of meals I wanted to cook up. With cooler weather, but not too cold, it was the perfect day to run the oven for a long time to keep the house comfortable without needing the heater.
The first meal we made was Pepperoni Lasagna from Chickens in the Road. (If you don’t read Suzanne’s blog, I highly recommend it along with her Grandmother Bread recipe!) I was a little skeptical about the whole lasagna thing because last time I made it, it was a total disaster. Then I remembered that was in the old house with the strange oven. (Some recipes would be done on time, some early, some way later, making for some interesting meals.)
One change from Suzanne’s recipe is I cooked my noodles. I’ve tried the no-bake noodles before without a lot of
Continue reading What’s cookin’?
01.31.09 at 7:47 pm by Kara_S
*Update 3/11/09: I wanted to add a little note to this post because Kelly is chatting about how to dress cute for less today. My favorite way to save money on clothes is to shop the mid-season sales racks.
Have you ever noticed that department stores often change their clothing seasons long before the weather changes? (Bathing suits in January just don’t appeal to me! LOL) Usually by mid-season, you can save 50-75% on clothing prices.
Right now it might be hard to find really good deals since the spring and summer clothes are out in full force. However, if you wait until late June, early July, you can get some great deals and still wear the clothes for a couple of months. This post is about the winter deals I got in mid-January.*
Have I mentioned how much I love JCPenney? Their clothes are fabulous! Now, I know some of you may not agree with
Continue reading Super Savings at JCPenney
01.09.09 at 5:54 pm by Kara_S
Today’s Frugal Friday idea was inspired by Trixie’s post over at Farm Home Life. She talks about not buying groceries this week and eating from the freezer. She mentioned her over-the-refrigerator freezer, and that made me reminisce.
Before we moved into our new house, we had an over-the-refrigerator freezer. That freezer and I had a love/hate relationship. My toes, in particular, hated it. Somehow, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it, I could open the door and something frozen would fall on my foot. Ow!
I battled that war for about a year or so until I came up with a great solution – besides wearing steel-toed shoes.
My other problem with the freezer was I never knew what was on the bottom of the pile or in the very back. I would get frustrated with taking everything out of the freezer to find one thing. And usually during an emptying episode I would
Continue reading Frugal Friday: Freezer Organization
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