So I jumped into this June Food Stamp Challenge on Day Four(which was yesterday actually), when I went grocery shopping for the 1st time this month.
We have had a relative house guest this week and we opted to cook-out on the grill instead of going out to eat before she left......so I was off to the grocery store for supplies.
If we had eaten out, that cost would have gone under our Entertainment spending, but since folks on food stamps don't have the option to eat out and pay with SNAP benies, we ate in and I cooked.
For the meal on Friday, I bought......
10 ears of corn =$3.99
1 bunch of red leaf lettuce=$1.20
3.50 lbs. of london broil=$13.20--it was the cheapest cut of meat they had
2lbs. of strawberries=$4.99
$23.38 spent for this meal that fed 6 people. (BTW...this same meal in a restaurant for 6 people would have run at least $60 not counting beverages.)
On hand already, we had other fresh veggies for the salad(cuke, red cabbage, iceberg lettuce, carrots, celery), croutons and dressing, butter and salt for the corn and steak sauce. We drank iced tea or water.
I also bought for later in the week on that grocery trip......
3 x 1/2 gallons of lactose-free milk on sale @$2ea.=$6.00
3 x bags of frozen veggies on sale $1.33ea.=$3.99
1 x cream cheese(house brand) on sale=$.99
I used 3 x $1/1 lactose-free milk ManuQs=$3.00 off
Grand Total spent.....$34.36-$3 in Coupons=$31.46
There is enough meat leftover to make a pot of stew next week when the temperature is suppose to dip into the 60's.
There are strawberries leftover also for putting into breakfast cereal and the 2 ears of corn that were not eaten will be used in the pot of clam chowder in the coming week.
As for the 1st 3 days I missed....we had leftovers 2 of those nights(from the Memorial Day cook-out) and the 3rd night I made chicken enchiladas, using stockpiled refried beans, chicken breast & tortillas and leftover homemade enchilada sauce & shredded cheese from the freezer, and spices from the cabinet. A can of corn was pan roasted for a side dish. Estimated Cost of ingredients used for those 3 days.....$13.00
Add that to what I have spend in June and we are at....$44.46 for the month.
Sluggy
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The June Food Stamp Challenge.....I'm Doing it!
So, a fellow member of the Compact Group, named Katy, has a blog called The Non-Consumer Advocate. It's located over HERE. PS...Katy lives in Oregon.....
She is conducting a month long Challenge for June called The June Food Stamp Challenge. She is attempting to keep her food spending for her family at the federal food stamp(or as it's known by the moniker of SNAP) benefit level for a family of 4. Well, she is using the figure of $101 per person actually to make it simpler. You can read the whole premise of the Challenge HERE.
I thought I would play along too. You can find links to other bloggers who are trying this as well, on Katy's website(or at the link above directly).
So first thing I need to do is figure out how much food money I will have to spend. As assorted teens will be here and not be here at various times in June, I really need to do a per day break down for them. $101 divided by 30 days is $3.36 per day. The combined days for all 3 teens is 57, plus we had a live-in guest for 5 days in June, so that's 62 days--or 2 whole persons worth+2 days. $202.00+$6.72=$208.72.
Add in a full $101 for myself and hubs and we get a grand total of..........
$410.72 for 4.06 people, which is technically how many I will be feeding. 8-)
Anybody who has been a longtime reader of my blog knows that I regularly spend less than that every month on food--including toiletries, cleaning, pet food and the few paper goods that I buy. I may have to throw some other obstacles into my take on this challenge to, er....challenge me more.
Plus I am in eating down the freezer mode so I don't plan on spending much in June(once the kids leave!lol). If I am using what I have, then I am not buying and it is silly for me to buy things that I already have here and eat that and not use the older items in the freezer or stockpile.
So to make this more challenging for me, when I use something I have in the freezer, I'll purchase the same item to restock my supply and count the cost of that even though I am cooking/serving the older already bought item OR I'll deduct what I paid for the already bought groceries that I use this month. Since I have all my grocery receipts this won't be hard to find the price paid and add into my spending. I hope that makes some kind of sense..... ;-)
I am off to do my first real grocery shop for June......I'll check in tonight!
Sluggy
She is conducting a month long Challenge for June called The June Food Stamp Challenge. She is attempting to keep her food spending for her family at the federal food stamp(or as it's known by the moniker of SNAP) benefit level for a family of 4. Well, she is using the figure of $101 per person actually to make it simpler. You can read the whole premise of the Challenge HERE.
I thought I would play along too. You can find links to other bloggers who are trying this as well, on Katy's website(or at the link above directly).
So first thing I need to do is figure out how much food money I will have to spend. As assorted teens will be here and not be here at various times in June, I really need to do a per day break down for them. $101 divided by 30 days is $3.36 per day. The combined days for all 3 teens is 57, plus we had a live-in guest for 5 days in June, so that's 62 days--or 2 whole persons worth+2 days. $202.00+$6.72=$208.72.
Add in a full $101 for myself and hubs and we get a grand total of..........
$410.72 for 4.06 people, which is technically how many I will be feeding. 8-)
Anybody who has been a longtime reader of my blog knows that I regularly spend less than that every month on food--including toiletries, cleaning, pet food and the few paper goods that I buy. I may have to throw some other obstacles into my take on this challenge to, er....challenge me more.
Plus I am in eating down the freezer mode so I don't plan on spending much in June(once the kids leave!lol). If I am using what I have, then I am not buying and it is silly for me to buy things that I already have here and eat that and not use the older items in the freezer or stockpile.
So to make this more challenging for me, when I use something I have in the freezer, I'll purchase the same item to restock my supply and count the cost of that even though I am cooking/serving the older already bought item OR I'll deduct what I paid for the already bought groceries that I use this month. Since I have all my grocery receipts this won't be hard to find the price paid and add into my spending. I hope that makes some kind of sense..... ;-)
I am off to do my first real grocery shop for June......I'll check in tonight!
Sluggy
Friday, June 4, 2010
TGIF!.....1 more day
Yes, one more day of relatives and counting........and 1 more day until the weekend too. ;-)
This week has been K-double R-AZY!!
House guests, a cook-out, getting the pool open for the season, college smartass son home still(but not wanting to be here-if you know what I mean!), school field trip, hosting dinners for relatives, #1 son having a girlfriend over every-single-day for 3 weeks, doctor's appointments, trying to make arrangements for camp, a teeny bit of eBay stuff, extra cooking, some organizing out in the garage, gardening and of course, a teeny bit of blogging and finding time to sit on my big fatass in front of the computer.
There was also the National Honor Society ceremony at the high school. Here's our brilliant daughter.....
And here with her aunt and uncle....
And as always, they spelled her last name wrong.
UGH.
You would think that having been in this school district since 2nd grade they could at least get that right?!?
Here's some pics of the garden beds from the weekend before last, when we finally were able to plant stuff. These hopefully will have lovely heads of cauliflower some day.....
And here are a couple tomato plants and Italian pepper plants....
Under my Magnolia Tree we put the other pepper plants.....these are suppose to be yellow when ripe I think.
This past Saturday we bought some more seedlings and have put those in, as well as sown some seeds. #1 son helped me sew the pole beans and the lettuce mix this week amidst much grumbling and gnashing of teeth....I did the gnashing while he handled the grumbling.
We still have a few patched to sew this weekend. Some of the seed was old so I'll wait a week and if nothing germinates, I'll lay down some fresh seed.
This weekend we need all hands outside to do yardwork.....lots of weeding/weed wacking around stuff, a flowerbed needs massive help, a dead tree needs chopping down and we need to attempt to care about the lawn and at least make motions like we are fertilizing and sewing grass seed, etc. on it.
My eBay listings/photos/sorting junk/making up Sallie's donations has been put on hold this week, as I have not been free to tear up the living areas and fill them with half filled boxes and piles of stuff. This will resume after the weekend.
Daughter needs underwear(oh, I hope she doesn't read this!lol)and swimsuits for camp. She has lost weight and she really needs a whole new wardrobe as everything is falling off of her...literally, falling off. We'll do a mother/daughter consult this weekend and come up with a plan that doesn't bust the bank or the budget.
I have not been in a store at all since last Saturday and have enjoyed the break. I think my streak will end today though as we need some groceries and there are a few 'deals' I want...mostly on dairy items....cheese at GiantPA, a diary Catalina at Weis that includes ice cream!!!, and milk at the local Shurfine affiliated market.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets some good weather so they can spend some time outside!
Sluggy
This week has been K-double R-AZY!!
House guests, a cook-out, getting the pool open for the season, college smartass son home still(but not wanting to be here-if you know what I mean!), school field trip, hosting dinners for relatives, #1 son having a girlfriend over every-single-day for 3 weeks, doctor's appointments, trying to make arrangements for camp, a teeny bit of eBay stuff, extra cooking, some organizing out in the garage, gardening and of course, a teeny bit of blogging and finding time to sit on my big fatass in front of the computer.
There was also the National Honor Society ceremony at the high school. Here's our brilliant daughter.....
UGH.
You would think that having been in this school district since 2nd grade they could at least get that right?!?
Here's some pics of the garden beds from the weekend before last, when we finally were able to plant stuff. These hopefully will have lovely heads of cauliflower some day.....
And here are a couple tomato plants and Italian pepper plants....
Under my Magnolia Tree we put the other pepper plants.....these are suppose to be yellow when ripe I think.
This past Saturday we bought some more seedlings and have put those in, as well as sown some seeds. #1 son helped me sew the pole beans and the lettuce mix this week amidst much grumbling and gnashing of teeth....I did the gnashing while he handled the grumbling.
We still have a few patched to sew this weekend. Some of the seed was old so I'll wait a week and if nothing germinates, I'll lay down some fresh seed.
This weekend we need all hands outside to do yardwork.....lots of weeding/weed wacking around stuff, a flowerbed needs massive help, a dead tree needs chopping down and we need to attempt to care about the lawn and at least make motions like we are fertilizing and sewing grass seed, etc. on it.
My eBay listings/photos/sorting junk/making up Sallie's donations has been put on hold this week, as I have not been free to tear up the living areas and fill them with half filled boxes and piles of stuff. This will resume after the weekend.
Daughter needs underwear(oh, I hope she doesn't read this!lol)and swimsuits for camp. She has lost weight and she really needs a whole new wardrobe as everything is falling off of her...literally, falling off. We'll do a mother/daughter consult this weekend and come up with a plan that doesn't bust the bank or the budget.
I have not been in a store at all since last Saturday and have enjoyed the break. I think my streak will end today though as we need some groceries and there are a few 'deals' I want...mostly on dairy items....cheese at GiantPA, a diary Catalina at Weis that includes ice cream!!!, and milk at the local Shurfine affiliated market.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets some good weather so they can spend some time outside!
Sluggy
Thursday, June 3, 2010
I Bought Something....but it's Going to Save me Money!
"Sometimes you need to spend money to make money" is how that old saying goes.
And sometimes, that old saying is correct!
While being frugal is all about NOT spending money, a little spent can, in the long run, make you more frugal.
This past weekend, the story all started with a cheesecake......
DH and I wanted to splurge on a gourmet cheesecake this week. Since I didn't feel like making a cheesecake, we headed over to the restaurant supply store a few miles down the road. This is a local go-to store for local eating establishments. They stock not only baking/serving/restaurant containers, etc. but they stock a small assortment of foodstuffs. Most of it is industrial sized.....mega cans of fruit cocktail, tomato products, pickles, condiments, etc. so not very consumer-friendly unless you can use up or repackage large quantities of an item. They do also carry frozen and refrigerated goods but they are also large packages.
We picked up the cheesecake and were browsing in the containers/utensils part of the store and I saw this.....
That my friends is a heavy duty all aluminum, industrial restaurant grade cheese slicer with an adjustable blade.
And I purchased that bad boy for almost $10.
(It's the first thing I have bought for myself that isn't food or toiletries in a very long time.)
Now I can hear you thinking, "Why did she buy that thing?".
Because that slicer is going to save me some BIG Money over the course of the next year!
We eat a lot of sliced deli-style cheese here.
Our cheese of choice is Cooper's Sharp....well, I like Hoffman's Xtra Sharp too but we usually buy Cooper's as it costs less.
But Cooper's is NOT cheap, nor does it go on sale often here.
Regular price is $6.99lb.
Lowest Sale price is $4.99lb.
When #2 son is on a Grilled Cheese binge, we can go through 1-2lbs a week between his and the rest of the family's consumption.
That restaurant supply store also carries this item.....
5lb. blocks of Cooper's Sharp Cheese.
5lbs. of unsliced cheese.
5lbs. of cheese would cost me $34.95 at the deli, on sale, the least expensive I could get it for is $24.95.
I paid $16.25 for this unsliced block of cheese.
That comes out to $3.25 a lb.
With this 1 block I'll be saving between $18.70 & $8.70 on 5lbs, depending on if I had bought the cheese at the deli at regular price or on sale.
When this 5lbs. is gone, I will have already saved enough to pay for the cheese slicer.
If we go through a lb. of cheese a week(it's probably more but let's say 1 lb.), that's 52 lbs. of deli-cheese a year. That's $363.48 a YEAR on $6.99lb. cheese at the deli....$259.48 a YEAR if I could find it on sale every week.
Buying it in 5lb. blocks and slicing it myself I would pay $169.00 a YEAR for the same amount of cheese.
$363.48 vs. $169.00
That's a savings of $194.48 a year just on cheese!
Now if we liked cheaper brands of cheese, those come sliced but in 5lb. blocks/stacks for about $11 per block. This is the stuff that sells regularly priced at the deli counter for $3.49lb. Just buying a larger amount at the supply store you save $6.45 per 5lbs.with no slicer or slicing skills needed!
If you don't think you can eat it all before it goes bad, there are two other options....
1. Find a friend or neighbor who uses cheese and buy a 5lb. block together and split it. Eating 2.5lbs. of cheese is not as opposing a feat.
2. Slice the whole 5lb. block and wrap some of it and place in your freezer. I wouldn't recommend freezing it BEFORE slicing since the freezing process can make your cheese hard to slice when it thaws. Frozen cheese tends to fall apart and crumble, so slice it first.
At any rate, buying in bulk can be a savings if you do your math first to make sure it's a good deal, and make sure you can/will consume all of the product and not let it go to waste.
Check locally for restaurant supply stores or warehouse club type clubs too, as some of those will carry bulk foodstuffs.
Sluggy
And sometimes, that old saying is correct!
While being frugal is all about NOT spending money, a little spent can, in the long run, make you more frugal.
This past weekend, the story all started with a cheesecake......
DH and I wanted to splurge on a gourmet cheesecake this week. Since I didn't feel like making a cheesecake, we headed over to the restaurant supply store a few miles down the road. This is a local go-to store for local eating establishments. They stock not only baking/serving/restaurant containers, etc. but they stock a small assortment of foodstuffs. Most of it is industrial sized.....mega cans of fruit cocktail, tomato products, pickles, condiments, etc. so not very consumer-friendly unless you can use up or repackage large quantities of an item. They do also carry frozen and refrigerated goods but they are also large packages.
We picked up the cheesecake and were browsing in the containers/utensils part of the store and I saw this.....
And I purchased that bad boy for almost $10.
(It's the first thing I have bought for myself that isn't food or toiletries in a very long time.)
Now I can hear you thinking, "Why did she buy that thing?".
Because that slicer is going to save me some BIG Money over the course of the next year!
We eat a lot of sliced deli-style cheese here.
Our cheese of choice is Cooper's Sharp....well, I like Hoffman's Xtra Sharp too but we usually buy Cooper's as it costs less.
But Cooper's is NOT cheap, nor does it go on sale often here.
Regular price is $6.99lb.
Lowest Sale price is $4.99lb.
When #2 son is on a Grilled Cheese binge, we can go through 1-2lbs a week between his and the rest of the family's consumption.
That restaurant supply store also carries this item.....
5lb. blocks of Cooper's Sharp Cheese.
5lbs. of unsliced cheese.
5lbs. of cheese would cost me $34.95 at the deli, on sale, the least expensive I could get it for is $24.95.
I paid $16.25 for this unsliced block of cheese.
That comes out to $3.25 a lb.
With this 1 block I'll be saving between $18.70 & $8.70 on 5lbs, depending on if I had bought the cheese at the deli at regular price or on sale.
When this 5lbs. is gone, I will have already saved enough to pay for the cheese slicer.
If we go through a lb. of cheese a week(it's probably more but let's say 1 lb.), that's 52 lbs. of deli-cheese a year. That's $363.48 a YEAR on $6.99lb. cheese at the deli....$259.48 a YEAR if I could find it on sale every week.
Buying it in 5lb. blocks and slicing it myself I would pay $169.00 a YEAR for the same amount of cheese.
$363.48 vs. $169.00
That's a savings of $194.48 a year just on cheese!
Now if we liked cheaper brands of cheese, those come sliced but in 5lb. blocks/stacks for about $11 per block. This is the stuff that sells regularly priced at the deli counter for $3.49lb. Just buying a larger amount at the supply store you save $6.45 per 5lbs.with no slicer or slicing skills needed!
If you don't think you can eat it all before it goes bad, there are two other options....
1. Find a friend or neighbor who uses cheese and buy a 5lb. block together and split it. Eating 2.5lbs. of cheese is not as opposing a feat.
2. Slice the whole 5lb. block and wrap some of it and place in your freezer. I wouldn't recommend freezing it BEFORE slicing since the freezing process can make your cheese hard to slice when it thaws. Frozen cheese tends to fall apart and crumble, so slice it first.
At any rate, buying in bulk can be a savings if you do your math first to make sure it's a good deal, and make sure you can/will consume all of the product and not let it go to waste.
Check locally for restaurant supply stores or warehouse club type clubs too, as some of those will carry bulk foodstuffs.
Sluggy
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Who Here Speaks eBay?
So, I get a Question to Seller this morning. Yes, it's another episode of "I don't speak/understand/read/write English but I'm going to ask you stuff via an online translator".
Our contestant today is from Brazil, and speaks either/or Spanish/Portuguese.
hello! I would like to know which the value of a of iten that wanted to buy of you. **Ok...they want to know the value of an item I am selling, or at least this is what I THINK they are asking at this point.
- TIME FORCE Power Rangers Ranger CHRONO-SABER MIB **This is understandable since they just copied the listing title.
Which the value that is and the items and the value of the sending to Brazil for Registrad Airmail? **This is where the wheels start flying off the bus! I'm thinking they mean "what is the value and the cost to ship to Brazil by registered airmail". Now there is no such thing as registered airmail from the US. There is express air, priority air or 1st class air. You can insure and/or send certified via some of these shipping rates as well. So I have no clue which rate they want a quote for.
Do they want to know the value(for customs) or the cost of the item? The cost is obviously right there on the eBay listing(hello!), so they must want to know what I put on the customs declaration so they know what/if any customs fees they will be charged to receive the package.
Man, that used up way too many brain cells this early in the day!lol
But it continues.....
I would like to buy out of you of Ebay,
getting rid of the commission, you would grant like this me a discount.
**Aaaaah, so now it becomes clear as mud....by "value" they mean they want to know how much it will cost them to buy it from me directly, and not through eBay. They want a DEAL.
Oh, you naughty, naughty customer......screwing eBay out of their cut!
So they want me to sell something to someone in another country without ANY safeguards to me if/when they make a chargeback through Paypal and I lose my item, get my payment yanked out of my account and have the honor of paying the chargeback fee which Paypal will pass along to me. tsk, tsk, tsk....
I await the return. Thank you! **And just keep waiting until hell freezes over buddy!
So what does our contestant win today Johnny?
I do believe he gets banned from our eBay listings for life!
And what made this one extra special is that he sent it to me TWICE!LOLOL
Thanks for watching today's episode.....now where's that Hump Day drink??
Sluggy
Our contestant today is from Brazil, and speaks either/or Spanish/Portuguese.
hello! I would like to know which the value of a of iten that wanted to buy of you. **Ok...they want to know the value of an item I am selling, or at least this is what I THINK they are asking at this point.
- TIME FORCE Power Rangers Ranger CHRONO-SABER MIB **This is understandable since they just copied the listing title.
Which the value that is and the items and the value of the sending to Brazil for Registrad Airmail? **This is where the wheels start flying off the bus! I'm thinking they mean "what is the value and the cost to ship to Brazil by registered airmail". Now there is no such thing as registered airmail from the US. There is express air, priority air or 1st class air. You can insure and/or send certified via some of these shipping rates as well. So I have no clue which rate they want a quote for.
Do they want to know the value(for customs) or the cost of the item? The cost is obviously right there on the eBay listing(hello!), so they must want to know what I put on the customs declaration so they know what/if any customs fees they will be charged to receive the package.
Man, that used up way too many brain cells this early in the day!lol
But it continues.....
I would like to buy out of you of Ebay,
getting rid of the commission, you would grant like this me a discount.
**Aaaaah, so now it becomes clear as mud....by "value" they mean they want to know how much it will cost them to buy it from me directly, and not through eBay. They want a DEAL.
Oh, you naughty, naughty customer......screwing eBay out of their cut!
So they want me to sell something to someone in another country without ANY safeguards to me if/when they make a chargeback through Paypal and I lose my item, get my payment yanked out of my account and have the honor of paying the chargeback fee which Paypal will pass along to me. tsk, tsk, tsk....
I await the return. Thank you! **And just keep waiting until hell freezes over buddy!
So what does our contestant win today Johnny?
I do believe he gets banned from our eBay listings for life!
And what made this one extra special is that he sent it to me TWICE!LOLOL
Thanks for watching today's episode.....now where's that Hump Day drink??
Sluggy
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