Target Grocery Shopping Trip = $37.00

I was very pleased with the Target trip for grocery shopping this week. Once again, we didn't really have a need for anything in specific, so we went with what was on sale. I take that back - we did need some vitamins. :)

Total spent for the above items was $37.00 exactly. I had a stack of coupons for my cashier, and I was a little nervous about using that many coupons, but they were all for items I had gotten. I seriously had about 30 coupons. (Target and manufacturer coupons).

I wouldn't have been able to make this trip without the help from Money Saving Mom. So if you're headed out to Target this week, make sure to check her list before going!

Trash to Treasure

Sometimes I cannot believe what I find in people's trash. I feel awful having people throw away perfectly good things. Take this for example, I found this outdoor rug that someone was going to have the garbage men haul away, so I saved it, and am selling it on Craigslist as I type.

It's in perfect condition too!

Another example of how people are just throwing good things into the landfill is this nice cookie jar:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I think people just don't want to have to bother to take things to Goodwill, and just toss it. That's a shame. There were even wrapped up Biscotti's in the jar!! (no, we did not eat them!)

This same people who were tossing their cookie jar was also tossing 4 huge tomato cages! Which is a blessing in disguise, because I have been on the lookout for some free ones for our garden. Woo-Hoo!

I can't help but think, "why not have a garage sale, and save all those things that you're tossing, and make some money off of it?" Here's what we found at garage sales this weekend for under $3. The garden hose was only $1, the basketball net you hang from a door was $0.25, the garbage can was $0.50, and the pots were $1.

Another thought, why buy full grown plants when you can buy a whole packet of seed for under $1? Here's what we picked up at the local Dollar General. I love to watch things grow, so I was so excited to see that they had all their seeds 50% off. We're planning on growing a second crop of peas when the weather cools off a bit. My boys love growing peas in our backyard!

So thanks for reading some of my thoughts about people tossing out perfectly good trash that turns into my treasures.

Target Deals this week!

Just a heads up, if you're planning on taking a trip to Target sometime this week, there's a lot of deals to be had! Be prepared to print alot of coupons. Remember that Target accepts one Target coupon AND manufacturer coupon per item. I was able to print out 2 of each Target coupon.

Check out the list of free or cheap items from Target at Money Saving Mom's blog.

Butterflies in my Garden!

While my sister, April, was here with me, we saw a couple beautiful butterflies visiting my newly made butterfly garden! Of course, my sister had a much better camera than I, so her pictures are the ones that I'm posting.

The first butterfly that came along was HUGE!! I later looked up what it was called, and it is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Isn't it beautiful? (and our grass looks so green here!)

The other butterfly that we saw was more of a black and blue one. This one is called a Red Spotted Purple Butterfly. I'm not sure why it's called that because there's not really any red on it.
Both of these butterflies were grazing on the butterfly bush that I got at a local nursery. So I think I'll have to take note of that and see when they go on sale.

I just wanted to share with you all the excitement I felt when I actually saw different butterflies in my butterfly garden!

BOGO: Baskin Robbins

It has been so hot and humid out here in Illinois that I wanted to share some relief with you all.

Baskin Robbins has a coupon out for a Buy One Get One (BOGO) free soft serve ice cream cone.

Click here to redeem your coupon.

Ahh, sweet relief!

Gardens

I just wanted to share with you some photos of our produce from our garden, and show you photos of my mother-in-law's garden. It's insane! I tried to help prune back some of the tomato plants, and it took me almost 2 hours to prune back 3 bunches. They have so much overgrown veggie plants, that they can't even see or get into the plants to pick their produce. So overwhelming, can you tell?

And yes, those are BUSHES of tomatoes! Woah!

The corn is doing quite well, and let me tell you, it's delicious!
Here's my mother-in-law saying she didn't want me to take her photo:

Here's the pumpkins that I gave her.

They were growing out of our compost pile, and needed a better place to live.

Eww, a mushroom growing in the backyard! It's huge!

Here are some gorgeous flowers that she planted from seed.
Wildflowers of some sort. Maybe Zinnas.

Aren't the colors gorgeous?

And last but not least, a bucket full of tomatoes that I just picked from our garden! There are so many, I can't wait to show them to my husband!

Here's a close-up!

That's all for now. Have you gotten anything from your garden this summer? I'd be curious to find out!

2 weeks of groceries = $63.26

Last week we were without internet, so I wasn't able to post what we grocery shopped for, so this week will be a combined effort. Since we have only $40/week budgeted for our groceries, $63.26 is excellent and much needed wiggle room for weeks that I've gone over $40/week.

So last week IGA had a great weekend deal on meat. So I held off on shopping till then. Pictured below is some of the meat that we got for $9.08.

Pictured below is from Target. Spent $1 total for these pizza singles. Used 2 $2 off coupons.


Pictured below is from Walgreens. If you bought 2 boxes from Kellogg's, you got $2 register rewards. So combined with some coupons, I scored the items below for $2.50.


Pictured below is another stop at IGA. If you bought 2 boxes of any Helper, you got $1 off meat. So I used that deal towards the $0.99 packages of ham, plus on the packages of ham were $0.55 off coupon, making each package only $0.44, making a $0.22 profit!! I was so excited about that find! Total spent $7.89.


Pictured below is our 1/2 share from our CSA (Community Shared Agriculture). Just wanted to let you know that we were getting food from them as well each week.


Pictured below is my stop at County Market. They also had a weekend deal on General Mills and meat. The package of chicken cost me $5.15!! And each cereal box cost me $0.88/box! That's a steal! (Granted, I did have to make 3 different transactions to get all those cereals). Everything else pictured was $1 or less. Total spent for the items below $22.61.

Pictured below is our trip to Aldi's for some staple food that we needed to stock up on. Our total came to $20.09.
That's it for the past couple weeks. How did you do this week?

Being a Bridesmaid

For many of us who have been a bridesmaid and found it hard to cough up the money to buy the bridesmaid dress, I am personally thankful that my sister has good taste. My younger sister got married this past weekend, and all I can say is that I loved the dresses she picked out.

I am thankful that they were ones that can be seriously worn again. I love the earthy tone and the way the dress was cut. Overall, let's just say I can see myself wearing it again to another wedding or evening away with my husband. Although this is not a professional photo, you get a picture of what the dresses are like.

Don't you agree?

Grocery shopping this week = $41.65

We've been without internet for almost a week now, so I'm squeezing in a little bit of a post before I forget.

This week we had a surprise trip to a local "You-Pick" farm, so we went a little overbudget with the 2 lbs. of blueberries we picked. But I think it was well worth it for only $3.50!!

Pictured below is from Big Lots. I love to get our bread there because it's usually only $1 each, so we put some in the freezer for french toast (my favorite!!). Total spent: $5.50.

Picture below is from County Market, total spent, $19.29.

We needed some restocking of our ice cream toppings, so IGA had a sale on those items. Pudge helped me pick these items out. Total spent here: $5.75.

Total spent for this week's groceries was $41.65. How did you do this week?

Grocery shopping this week = $41.11

My husband was brave and wanted to go grocery shopping with me and the boys this week. Sometimes it can get draining, but it's a lot more rewarding when it's all said and done. I especially like to look at the photos to see what all we actually got.

Here's what we scored this week for $41.11 ($1.11 over budget). Yikes! But we quickly made that money up by setting out some of our veggies from our garden, and put a $0.25 sign out, and made $2!!

Schnucks = $3.05

Jimmy Dean Sausage 2/$5, $2 off 2 coupon = $3.05 for both

Thanks, Coupon STL! Check her blog for more Schnucks deals!

Target = $10.22

Red Baron Pizza Singles = $2.50 each, $2 off coupon = $0.50 each!!

Goldfish = $1.79, various coupons = ranged from $1.44 to $1 each

Eggo's = $1.75, $1 off 2 boxes (Target coupon) + $1 off 2 boxes (6/20 RP manufacturer coupon) = $0.75/box!!

Thanks, Common Sense With Money! Click on her blog to find more Target deals.

IGA = $12.65

Corn = 5/$1

Kraft Cheese = 2/$3 (with in-store coupon)

Corn Dogs = $2.50, used $0.55 off coupon = $1.95

Chi-Chi's Tortilla Shells = $1.69, used $1 off 2 coupon = $1.19 each

Ground Beef = $2.34

IGA sugar = $1.99

County Market = $14.04

Cheez-Its = $1.59, used in-store coupon + $1 manufacturer coupon = $0.59/box!!

Bags of Almonds = $1.06 each

Ramen Noodles = $0.19 each

Johnsonville Brats = $2.69, used in-store coupon + $1 manufacturer coupon = $2.16 each

Carrots = $0.88 each, used in-store coupon

Del Monte Pineapple = $2.99, used $0.50 coupon = $2.50

Yogurt = $0.59 each (this wasn't on the list, but the boys wanted to pick one out each.)

(maybe this is where we went over budget!!)

Walgreens = $1.15

Rice Krispies = 2/$5, used 2 $1 off coupons = got $2 RR = $0.50/box

Edy's Ice Cream = 2/$5

Twizzlers = $1.50 each, used $1 off coupon = got $2 RR = $0.50/bag

Used $6.50 RR from previous transactions, making the total $1.15

Thanks, Common Sense with Money and Money Saving Mom!

I hope this post helps you find the right deals you are looking for!