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July Food Spending Week 3.....3 Shopping Trips but Frugal

I am going to update each week in July on my food spending. After the last 2 months of going over, maybe this will help me stay on track more if all of y'all are watching me.....watching me in a good way, not the bad, creepy way. ;-)

Between July 15th and 23rd I made 3 trips to the grocery store!  I know it's a bit more than a week but I need to include an extra couple of days in the last 2 weeks of July as the month has 31 total, not 28. ;-)

I spent a total of $61.76.  The 1st trip was that small OOP one to Price Chopper(northeast)where I used my Catalina Q.  The 2nd trip was to the local independent grocer where I spent $10.50 on a watermelon, 2 cukes, a cantaloupe and 3lb.s of yellow squash.
Then yesterday I spent $47.62 on 2 large London Broils(BOGO deal!), a gallon of milk, 3 blocks of cheese, 18 eggs, a package of clearance steak(which came out to $2lb.), 2 lbs. of tilapia, a head of lettuce, a lb. of broccoli and 1.5 lbs. more of yellow squash. Almost 33% savings rate on that last trip but still pretty good considering all the meat I got.

I've eyeballed the sales this week and mostly it's the dreaded "house brands on sale" week so not many items you can stack sales and coupons upon to get some inexpensive food.
I'll post my Meal Plan tomorrow, but for today I'll let y'all know I have a trip to the bakery/bread outlet(we are out of bread)and 1 trip to Weis Markets on my agenda for the last week of July's spending.  I've got $1/1 Cabot Cheese IPQs to combine with a sale on Cabot Cheese at Weis($2.50)so there is $1.50 a package cheese in my future, as well as 1 $1.25 package house brand cream cheese.  I may head to the farm this week for some veggies and fruit but I don't foresee much OOP in the food spending category in Week 4.  I predict $20-$30.

With the $61.76 spent last week, I have a grand total spent in July so far of $136.49 for food.

How about you?  Are you eating from your pantry/stockpile this week?

Sluggy

My Comedy of Errors Stockpile Sale

So if you remember correctly, I talked awhile back about cleaning the garage and such HERE.
Well that was May something-or-other.

I did get the living room cleaned before the relatives arrived for the Graduation festivities.
And I got all the stockpile extras into the garage, as well as cleaned out all the 'extra stuff' from the garage.

And I had #1 son put all that 'extra stuff' into my more than half empty storage unit before he left in June for his summer job on Lake Erie.
And here is what my storage unit looks like at the moment......it is NOT pretty.....

Yes, you can't even step into it right now.
I would be embarrassed by this mess, except that I know that #1 son, not giving a shit about where he placed things, just started piling the boxes up any which way, all 'willy-nilly like' as soon as you step into the unit.  There is a practically empty large area behind this wall of boxes. 

Here are the boxes of stuff to sell in the garage and my beginning of organizing/shelving items in June.....

I didn't get things together to hold the sale before all the kids left home for camp/jobs.  I spent the last week #2 son was at camp setting up more shelving and stocking them.

Finally, last week, I had most everything organized and ready.  Yes, it took me an additional 2 weeks after #2 son got home.
I started pricing/marking stuff and started setting up advertising last week.  Here is what it currently looks like....

I was going to place an ad on a local YahooGroups Sale site and then put a Craigslist ad up.

For some reason(I am hoping it wasn't deliberate on the part of the list owner), my YahooGroups ad never got posted.  For 3 days I saw her post many many other for sale ads up.
I sent it in on Thusday morning, surely that would be enough time for her to get it posted!?
When the ad didn't post I waivered on putting the Craigslist ad up, waiting for the Yahoo ad to go through, until it was too late and I had to call off my plans for last Saturday.

And of course the weather was PERFECT last weekend for a Sale.
Ugh.

So I set my mind on this Saturday.  And I set about looking for some more things to throw into the sale.
And on this Wednesday, my ad for the Yahoo group list posted for LAST SAUTRUDAY'S SALE!lolol
Yes, it took her 6 days to post the ad I had sent her the preceding Thursday. 

I don't want to say anything about her at this point since I am still waiting for her to answer my email about this whole situation, which she also has not answered.  I think she sabotaged me on purpose, since she also owns another Yahoo group and she's been asking everyone to send her coupons so she can extreme coupon and, as she says, buy things to give away to needy people on this other list.
She has also posted a big lot of those items she couponed for on the Yahoo list to sell them. Hmmmm....it just appears to me like I threatened her little kingdom and 'losing' my ad is intentional.

At any rate, I am moving past all this drama and I posted my Craigslist ad and I'll have Hubs put some signs up bright and early tomorrow morning and forge ahead with my sale.

All I have to do is open the garage door and sit on my ass for 4 hours and collect money if anyone shows up.  If they don't, I'll sit on my ass for 4 hours and stay as cool as I can and then figure out what to do next.  I am done worrying about how this will go! ;-)

Hubs says I should give it all to the food bank.
I think a lot of it might end up there eventually but they don't have the storage space for me to haul it all over there in one fell swoop.

So wish me luck and I'll report in when it's all over.

Sluggy

Dante's Inferno

I don't know about you but the weather lately here has been something from the Third Circle of Hell!

Another 95 degree day in the armpit of Pennsylvania is predicted.
Ugh.

Didn't I move away from the South to get away from these temperatures?lol

For anyone also suffering from the Heat Dome Effect, here is a photo of what the weather will be here in 3 months from now.....

Feel better now?
I know I do....

Sluggy

Who Wants to Win a Gift Card?.....Take a Look!

Even though we are in the Dog Days of Summer now, the stores are gearing up for "Back-To-School Season".

Crazy early, right?  But you know it's coming every year so get ready!

Everywhere I look when I go shopping it's aisle upon aisle of school supplies....from backpacks to those little erasers that fit on the end of your pencil.  And there are also the food related Back-To-School items like snack or sandwich sized plastic bags, single serve fruit cups and juice boxes.

And Back-To-School Time also means what?

Box Tops for Education Time of course!
It's time to think about supporting your local schools by buying those General Mills products and cutting the Box Tops off  to earn cash for your kid's school.

And where is someplace you can satisfy your Back-To-School shopping needs and find products with those Box Tops for Education?

Why WALMART of course!
Starting in mid July, head over to your local Walmart to find up to 70 participating products that each have 4 Box Tops!

For a limited time, you get more Box Top Bang for your buck on General Mills products at Walmart.

HERE is a list I found of participating products that sport the Box Tops on their packaging.


Walmart supplied me with a $25 Gift Card to do some Back-To-School shopping.  I'll be picking up some General Mills products there as well, that have those Box Tops for Education on the packaging.
Myself, I love the fresh product products and the GM Flour.  #2 son is all about the Pizza Rolls however. ;-)

MyBlogSpark and Walmart have also supplied an additional $25 Walmart Gift Card for me to giveaway to one of my readers.

If you would like to be in the drawing for this gift card, please leave a comment on this post about which Back-To-School item(s) you will be buying your child(ren) this year.  If you don't have any children, then tell us about which is your favorite product to buy that sports Box Tops for Education.
Be sure you leave your email addresses in your comment if it is NOT accessible through your Blogger/Google profile information.

You can earn 2 additional entries by blogging about this Giveaway or posting it on a Message Board if you don't have a blog.  Leave 2 more separate comments if you blog/post my giveaway and a link to that post.

I'll leave this Giveaway open until 11:59pm on July 28th.  At which time, the comments will be closed and I'll randomly draw an entry to win the $25 gift card.

So don't just sit there, enter my Giveaway!

Sluggy

*"Disclosure: The information and $25 gift card to Walmart has been provided by Walmart and General Mills through MyBlogSpark."