Publix Trip (and more)

This week was a little ridiculous at Publix. I spent more than I usually do, but I was able to stock up on a bunch of items for rock bottom prices...and I won't have to buy them again for at least another 6 months!

Spent: $74.09
Saved: $110.91

Bought
12 boxes Fiber one bars
9 boxes tampons
18 yogurts
2 sausage rolls
1 English Muffins
4 squash
2 zucchini
Green beans
Cilantro
2 bottles Hunts Ketchup
1 3pack Paper towels (free)
2 bottles Green works laundry detergent
1 Frank's Hot sauce
1 Softsoap (free)
2 pints Starbucks ice cream

I went to a few other stores as well:
Aldi ($4.96) Hamburger buns, loaf of bread, 1 dozen eggs, 2 avocados
Food World ($14.99) 4 bags shredded cheese, 3 bags Tilapia fillets, 1 canteloupe
Walgreens ($1.18) 2 jars of olives

We still need to go to Sam's Club and get some milk and juice.

5 Things We Don't Mind Going Without

I got this idea from Meagan over at Frugal Fun & Fortune. I enjoyed reading her post here, so I decided to think of 5 things that we don't mind going without. I wish I could say a bigscreen tv, like Meagan, but that is one purchase I'm glad we made!


1) A second car. We are lucky right now (and since we've been married) that we can get by with only one car. Our jobs are literally right across the street from each other and Tom's schedule is so flexible that he can work around my more "set" work hours.

2) A house. Sure, we're now in our 30's (oy) and would love to own a house. But I am not about to buy one without AT LEAST a 20% down payment, enough to cover closing costs, enough to buy some "new" furniture, and enough leftover in the bank for a 4-6 month emergency fund. Renting just makes sense for us right now. We know exactly how much our rent will be every month (and thankfully have management that is so unorganized we haven't had a rent increase since we've moved in....shhhhhh!). At any rate, we will likely buy a house as soon as we end up in a city that we're going to be in at least 5 years. Hopefully by then we will have enough saved up to meet my rules listed above :)

3) Eating out. Okay, so this isn't something we completely go without, but honestly, we rarely go out to eat. Maybe once every 4-5 months we'll treat ourselves to a dinner, but it's usually Mexican or Pizza Hut, not totalling more than $30. The only other times we go out to eat is for special events with friends or if we have a giftcard.

4) GPS. This is nothing major, I'm sure you can get a decent GPS unit for under $100 easy these days, but it's just not something we need. We know our way around here pretty well and we print directions from mapquest or get a regular map ahead of time if we're going out of town.

5) Smartphones. Ok, so I admit it. I guess I wouldn't mind having an iphone or some verizon equivalent, but I'm not sold on spending the extra money for the "data package," just to be able to get on the internet anytime, anywhere. I mean, I've lived 30 years without one and I've been surviving just fine :)

Menu Plan Monday

I'm sensing a southwestern theme to this week's meal plan. Any bets on if we'll actually stick to the plan?

Sunday: Mesquite Lime Garlic chicken in the crock pot**, orzo, Buttery cooked carrots
Monday: Tuna burgers (still haven't had these yet!), salad
Tuesday: Beef & Rice Enchiladas, frozen veggies
Wednesday: Chicken Salsa Verde casserole
Thursday: Birdseye Voila meal (haven't had this either)
Friday: Pizza, salad
Saturday: Stuffed shells, garlic bread, salad

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

**This has been on my menu plan for a while now but we still haven't had it yet! I just threw some chicken, lime juice, lime wedges, garlic, and mesquite seasoning into the crock pot.

Do I shop anywhere other than Publix???

Or for that matter, do I buy meat, milk, eggs, fruit, veggies, etc, etc? Yes, we do actually buy other groceries than what you see pictured on my Publix blog posts. I don't ever post about those purchases because the savings isn't usually too impressive, although we do save money by buying those things at different stores. Here is a breakdown of the other stores we usually shop at and what we get at each one:

Aldi:

Milk, bread, cream cheese, eggs, fresh fruit & veggies

Sam's Club:

Meat (chicken, ground beef, ribs, etc)
Milk (lately it's been cheaper here than at Aldi)

Orange juice

Fruit

Toilet Paper

Paper Towels

Listerine

Walmart: (Yes, I cringe every time I have to go into Walmart, but there are some things that are just cheaper there! We also shop here if there are little things we need to pick up for recipes).

Sparkling key lime water

Soft tortillas

Liquid soap

Canned veggies

Fresh fruit & veggies

Coffee creamer

Baking margarine

Hot sauce

I get most other toiletries and household supplies from either Publix or drugstores for free or close to free by using coupons during sales and taking advantage of rebates. By stockpiling things when they are on sale, it allows me to get items for rock bottom prices and not have to pay regular price too often (if at all).

It's Peanut Butter Time!

So, I ran back into Publix today to see if they had restocked the peanut butter...and they did! The 40 oz jar was on sale BOGO for $5.49 (so 2 for $5.49). I had 2 $1.50/4 coupons and one $1/2 coupon, so I bought 10 jars total.

Even without coupons it ends up being less than $0.07/ounce, which is better than the last time I stocked up on peanut butter (which we are now out of). You can imagine the comments I got buying 10 huge jars of peanut butter, but I guarantee this will be gone by the end of the year (at the latest....and it doesn't expire until November 2011).
Spent: $25.92
Saved: $31.40

Publix Trip

I ran into Publix this week hoping to stock up on peanut butter but they were all out! I managed to do okay though....saved 71%!!

Spent: $30.04
Saved: $73.60

Bought:
10 Glade Candles
8 ChefBoyRdee's
2 Tombstone Pizzas
1 bag Spinach
4 Campbell's Chunky Soup
4 peaches
3 Crest toothpaste
4 bags Quaker ranch rice snacks
2 Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Look what I won!!

This is why it pays to follow frugal bloggers and sign up for free samples. Right at Home frequently gives away "Gift Packs" to the first 10,000 people who sign up. Except you have no idea if you've won or not after you sign up. I never thought I would actually get one, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw the package sitting at our door! I am officially a NERD. I got so excited about this, especially because I had been needing to buy the gallon size freezer bags but I have been waiting for a good sale. And a couple of months ago I almost bought the small bowl ziploc containers but decided I didn't need them. They are going to come in handy for "lunch soups" during my next Freezer Cooking Day!

Here is a pic of a few other things that have come in the mail in the past couple of weeks. Most of them are coupons, but hey, I'm not complaining!