Week #1 Decluttering & Low Spend Challenges Done with Photos

First the Low Spend Challenge.
Week #1 I spent only on food.....$91.17 through today, Tuesday.
We had take-out once....Subway sammies on Sunday.

Because my mini vacuum broke while cleaning my room as part of the Decluttering Challenge we went out to window shop for a new one on Monday.
I thought I'd blow Low-Spend next week because of having to buy a new vacuum. 8-(

But before I had Hubs take the old one out to the trash can last night I told him to plug it in and give it a try One. More. Time.
And it WORKED!lol  A miraculous healing.  Am I the Ernest Angley of the Vacuum Cleaner World?

Oreck Pro Mini Vac.....you are HEALED!!!
Praise the gods of suck......

Or I am now the Vacuum Whisperer.....

Think like a vacuum.  Understand the signals your vacuum is sending out.  Speak the vacuum's non-verbal  language.  Use your body to show dominance over your vacuum.  Be the leader of your vacuum pack.

Whatever!
At least now I don't have to shell out major $$$s to replace my "precious" mini vac.

Onward to the Decluttering Challenge Results.
I'm reposting the BEFORE photos along with the AFTER photos.
And away we go.....


Shot 1 BEFORE

 Shot 1 AFTER

Things have been moved and the sewing projects thrown in the corner between the sewing machines have been purges and what is left has been folded and put into the blue tub of projects.  The current projects are on the back of my sewing chair.  The box under the ironing board will stay there, as it has a twofold purpose.....holding gifts/Xmas presents and it keeps whatever I am ironing/working on from dragging on the floor.

Shot 2 BEFORE

 Shot 2 AFTER

You will notice the cedar chest is CLEARED OFF...yay!  I also weeded through the sewing projects(in the blue tub)and said tub is tucked at the foot of the bed now.  The 12-packs of soda will leave as soon as #2 son comes home and can move them for me to the garage(except for the 2 I will hide in the closet).  My rocking chair aka Hubs clothes rack is HUB'S to deal with, not mine. lol  And I made my bed.....!


Shot 3 BEFORE

 Shot 3 AFTER

My dresser and nightstand are cleaned off and items put away in the correct places.  Papers and photos are filed away.  I can actually get into those little drawers on top without an avalanche of stuff falling on the floor. lol

Shot 4 BEFORE

 Shot 4 AFTER

  The boxes against the wall are sewing notions, patterns.  There is a box of dolls I have kept from my youth that are important to me.  There is a Yellow Submarine Lava Lamp.  I am still undecided on what to do with it.  On top of the white drawers is my stack of uncut fabric for projects.  I've draped a Spongebob towel over the lot to keep what is under it from getting dusty.  This way the fabric doesn't get dusty and I can shake out or wash the towel on a regular basis.

Shot 5 BEFORE

 Shot 5 AFTER

 My challenge here was not about getting rid of clothing, since I do that twice a year when I change out clothes for the seasons.  I got everything off the floor so you can walk around in there without tripping.  I also straightened the shelves and organized it a bit.  I ran out of time to take it all down and reorganize but things are with "like things" now and easier to find.


 And here is everything that left the room.....

The Holiday decorations that never got put away.

Bags of Rite-Aid pillaged booty that were hiding in my cedar chest, can now be put away with all my excess toiletries in the "toiletries dresser" in Daughter's old room.

Box full of children's keepsakes can be put into their respective boxes for each child, which are stored in closet in Daughter's old room.

Books I've read can be put away on bookshelf elsewhere in house(2 of them)or given away(1 of them).

Food and other things that need to live in the kitchen.

More foodstuffs for kitchen pantry or stockpile in garage.

 2 large plastic zippered cases(from comforter purchases).  To be repurposed to hold out of season bedding or thrown away.

 A bag of new/unused cosmetics I am not going to use to put with the toiletries stash or with Giveaway loot.

3 bags of items to take to Salvation Army or give away or sell.

 Bags of trash.  There was another full bag that Hubs put out last night for pick-up before I took these shots.

 Empty shopping bags for the bag stash in the garage for reuse.

 A box of beanie babies to sell or donate.

A stack of 2 year old magazines.  I'll skim them for recipes and then out in the garbage they go too!

The box lid and box on the bottom are sell or donate items.  The white box is old letters I need to go through and sort.  I'm hoping to get that pile condensed and filed away with my other old letters.

So I have many items leaving the house from that room.  Hubs just got home and came downstairs after changing his work clothes and remarked on how empty the bedroom is.  8-))
I still need to get in there and use the mini vac some more.

As for the small mini-challenge of a food bank donation......
I like to make large food bank donations so instead I made up a small bag of items for my BIL-who lives on the edge of "having enough" in this world.  It's some food items, paper goods and toiletries I pulled from my stockpile for him.

3 tubes of toothpaste
2 bottles of shampoo
2 packs of tp
2 boxes of spaghetti
1 big bottle of ketchup
1 packet of taco seasoning

Not much actual food because they don't eat a wide variety of foods.  None of the canned veggies or rice or dried beans or flour or stock or marinades or peanut butter or canned tomatoes or spices I have are things they will eat.  They only eat convenience foods or raw foods as they don't "cook".

So that's the Results of my Week of Challenges.

How did everyone else do?

Sluggy

February Food Spending Week 1, Meal Plan February Week 2

*I am taking part in Precious' MONEY SAVING CHALLENGE again for 2012.  You can find her blog FRUGAL MAKES CENTS and a list of other participants and their blogs  HERE.

Check it out.  You might find some new ideas for incorporating frugality into your life there!*


I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by.  These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's or earlier. 

This week I have NO vintage Kitchen pictures.  Working on my Decluttering project has left me no time to search around the Interweb for more kitchen fodder for these posts.

Oh well.  Maybe next week.

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)


Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Italian Sausage Sandwiches, Cauliflower

MONDAY--Taco Bell(I'm having leftover Chicken & Dumplings)

TUESDAY--Homemade Pizza, Salad w/Fruit

WEDNESDAY--Tacos, Corn

THURSDAY--Tilapia, Sweet Potato fries, Brussel Sprouts

FRIDAY--Leftovers or Burritos
SATURDAY--Homemade Pizza(Hubs out of town)

Pretty much had what was planned, except the Lasagna, which moves to this week.  I had Hubs pick up 6 fresh pizza dough blobs at Price Chopper(as it was Buy 1/Get 2 free)and we used 3 over the course of the week and put 3 in the freezer for later.  The local grocer has Fresh Express Salad Kits for $1.99 ea. last week.  I bought 8.  I had 1 for lunch every other day.  I rather enjoy them, plus it's a healthier option for me for lunch and at $2 a pop, a good deal, so I pick those up when they are that low.

I also had a chicken breast(leftover from when I made Chicken & Dumplings)still, so I bought some grapes last week and made chicken salad.  I got 4 sandwiches from that(3 lunches for me and Hubs took a sammie to work one day).

For the week's menu I picked up salad greens and salad kits, grapes, pizza dough and milk.  As for other shopping...

*I hit the bread store, as we hadn't been since December and were out of everything bread related.

*I hit the local grocery for lots of salad greens and frozen veggies early in the week and then on Sat. for more greens(for This week) as well as a slew of Mexican type items like tortillas, taco shells and enchilada sauce, canned chili(for the menfolk to have with their burritos), whack biscuits, celery, sliced deli cheese and sour cream.

The weekly spending was $84.37(including the Rite-Aid OOP).  Pretty high week for me, huh?

1 Week in and I've spent $84.37 of my $300 February food budget.  $215.63 left for the month plus $92.32 leftover from January that didn't get spent.

Going into February Week 2, we have a little homemade pizza leftover but that's it.  All the other leftovers got eaten for lunches last weekend or on Leftover Night.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Subway Sandwiches(Hubs Super Bowl request)

MONDAY--leftover pizza or grilled cheese and soup

TUESDAY--Lasagna(with some shredded veg), Tossed Salad

WEDNESDAY--homemade Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Green Beans

THURSDAY--Enchiladas, Mexican Rice w/peppers

FRIDAY--Hot Dogs on rolls, Potato Salad, Carrots and Cauliflower
SATURDAY--Leftovers

This menu gives us I night of take-out, 2 night of leftovers and 4 home cooked meals this week, of which 2 are meatless.....well the beans are meatless except for the bacon in the dish.lol

Items needed for this menu are...maybe a red bell pepper as I haven't check if I have any left in the freezer yet.

I have spent $6.80 on Sunday already.  I also plan on buying on sale this week....corned beef hash(#2 son's request), apple juice, a bag of oranges and croutons(I have Qs for them).  If I get up to Price Chopper this week, I'll be doing the Full Circle Catalina Deal.  Plus milk as #2 son sucks it down during the course of the week.  I'm figuring on $40 or so for this week's goodies including what I've spent already this week.

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy

Working on Week #1 Decluttering Challenge is Nostalgic & Costly

I spent a good piece of the weekend(when I wasn't at Rite-Aid or the local grocery store)working on decluttering  my "Personal Space" for Carla's Challenge.

At some point on Sunday I found these among the piles of stuff in my bedroom.......ok, not the actual teenager but what he is holding.....

It's a pair of Osh Kosh overalls he use to fit into.
Pictoral proof that yes, he has grown a wee bit since he was born almost 16 years ago...birthday coming later this month.

And after moving many boxes and bags of stuff around and/or out of the room, this gave up the ghost.....

That's my beloved Oreck mini vacuum.  With all the hardwood floors in the house now, I can't imagine living here without one of these to get all the crud/dog hair/crap that piles up in the corners/crevices/edges of the floor.
We just wore the poor thing out so now I have to replace it.
Anybody have any recommendations on what they use/like for sucking edge cleaning?

This is one of the few times when I want an appliance that really SUCKS, if you know what I mean.lol

Doing my whole bedroom is looking like I bit off more than I can chew within 1 week at this point.
It's kicking my butt......

Sluggy

Saturday Shopping...Junk AND Real Food

Yes, sit down for this.....I actually spent actual money at Rite-Aid on Saturday!
I went in to use my expiring $6 in +Ups and then a new cashier happened to me.
I wanted to do the double dip--the Buy $15 in Game Day Snacks/Get $5 in +Ups and the Pepsi/7-Up soda deal(Buy 3 12-packs for $9.99/Get $2 in +Ups)that also qualifies toward the $15 purchase.
3 12-packs of soda, 2 bags of chips and a can of "Pringles wannabe chip like substance" gets my total to $15.28.
Sadly, no coupons were used as there are none for these items currently available.

I used my expiring $6 +Ups, so my total was then $9.28.....but new cashier said my total was $12.28.
I was fiddling with the stash of +Ups to dig out enough to pay so I didn't catch that he either didn't scan one of the $3 +Ups I had already given him OR the register scanned both but didn't subtract one of the $3 +Ups.  I used more +Ups to pay and put the .28¢ on my gift card.

After I got to the car I saw that only 6 of the 7 +Ups I gave him showed on my receipt so it was back into the store.  The only solution we(cashier, me and manager)could come up with was for me to spend $3 more(since we couldn't know which $3 +Ups scanned and which didn't and if I just took one of them back it could be the "dead" one and when I went to use it next time, it wouldn't work).
So even though I didn't plan on it, I did the Game Day Snack deal AGAIN......
This time I subbed a box of Cheez-its(I had originally planned to buy those but the store had hidden them in a different part of the store and I didn't see them until I went back into the store)for the "Pringles wannabes", so it was 3 12-packs, 2 bags of chips and a box of Cheez-its.
I rolled the $7 in +Ups I had just gotten, used the $3 +Ups plus another $1 +Up.  My only +Ups left is a $20 one from the Resolution Reward, too large to use, so I paid $4.77 OOP.  I could have put this on my gift card, but I chose not to.
Though I hated actually spending money at Rite-Aid, 6 12-packs(for #2 son, the soda addict), 4 bags of chips, a container of chip like substance and a box of Cheez-Its, all for less than $5 isn't bad.

Oh, and the BEST THING about these purchases?
Rite-Aid turned on the tracking/qualifying for the new Winter Resolution +Up Reward Deal early and everything qualified toward the Deal, which starts 2/5.  I have $31 toward the $100 in purchases I need.


Then it was over to the small independent grocer for REAL FOOD.lol

I dropped $48.69 there.

1 bunch celery on sale=$.99
6 bags of salad greens at $1.99 ea.=$11.94
3 bags of flour tortillas at $1.66 ea.(have to buy 3 to get price)=$5.00
4 cans of enchilada sauce at $1.00 ea.=$4.00
5 cans of chili at $1.00 ea.(have to buy 5 to get price)=$5.00
2 boxes taco shells at $1.25 ea.=$2.50
2 packs of pepperoni at $2.99=$5.98
2 packs of rolls at BOGO=$3.18
1+ lb. Cooper cheese at deli on sale $5.49lb.=$5.60
1 container sour cream on sale=$1.50
3 whack biscuit rolls at $1.50=$4.50
1 gallon milk=$3.50
SubTotal....$53.69

Coupons Used(They don't take IPQs so everything is a ManuQ here.)
2 x .50/1 Chi Chi's tortillas(doubled)=$2.00
1 x $1/2 Hormel pepperoni=$1.00
1 x $1/3 Grands biscuits=$1.00
1 x $1/1lb. Cooper deli cheese=$1.00(the deli girl gave me this vendor Q)
Coupon Total....$5.00

$53.69-$5.00=$48.69 OOP

Regular retail was $85.10
Savings rate of 42.79%.

Total spending for February to this point is $53.46.

Sluggy

If You Are Looking for Judy......

Go HERE.
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Go welcome her back!