Saturday, August 18, 2012

ALDI Deals: Starting 08/15/2012

Here are some of the deals starting this week at ALDI...
  • Garden Mums 8" Pots $2.99 ea
  • Countryside Creamery Tastes Like Butter Spray 8 oz $1.49 ea
  • Combos Cheddar Cheese Pretzels 7 oz $1.69 ea
  • Peaches, Plums, and Nectarines $0.29 ea
  • Bananas $0.39/lb
  • Mangoes $0.59 ea
  • Green, and Red Grapes $1.98/2 lb pkg
  • Kiwis $0.99/4 pk
  • Millville Raisin Bran 20 oz, or Honey Crunch 'n Oats Cereals Almond or Original 14.5 oz $1.89 ea
  • Millville Old Fashion or Quick Oats 4.2 oz $2.19 ea
  • Nature's Nectar 100% Tomato Juice 4.6 oz $1.29 ea
For more information about ALDI, visit their Homepage!

Weekly Spending Report: 08/05-11/2012!

Here are the shopping trips from last week, before we left for vacation.  I was able to get a LOT of great deals!

Target: 4 boxes Annie's Mac and Cheese (sale and 2 Target Coupons) for $3, 2 bags Annie's Snack Mixes @ $0.99 ea, 1 Up & Up feminine itch cream (used TC) @ $0.89, - $0.05 for bringing my own bag = $5.82 oop

CVS: 3-12 pks Coke Zero (not pictured, on sale 3/$10), 3 pkgs Snack Size Hershey's Candy (sale + ECB deal) @ 3/$1.97, 1 Aleve travel pk $1.57 - CVS C $3/1 = Money-maker!, and 1 pkg Zantac (sale, ECB deal, and MC) @ $0.99 + used ECB's to Pay
Total OOP: $4.33, Earned $4 ECB's!!!!

Rite-Aid: I actually had to stop at 2 Rite-Aids to find 2 Advil PM's.  Joe uses these often, so I wanted to make sure to get my limit.  2-80 ct Advil PM's (20% discount + MC + UP+Rewards deal = $3.59 ea) and 1 Con-air Hairbrush (20% discount + UP+Rewards deal = $0.55) + Used SCR Check and UP+Rewards to Pay
Total OOP: $3.89, Earned $10 UP+Rewards!!!

Safeway:  I haven't been to Safeway for months, but I have been hearing wonderful things about the new Just for U program, so I had to go give it a go.  I ended up with some awesome deals too!
5 Tortino's Pizzas $1 ea on sale - $1/5 load to card coupon +
6 Lean Cuisine Dinners $2 ea on sale - $0.12 ea Just for U Savings - $5 off $15 Frozen Food in-ad Coupon =  11 Items for $10.28!!!!
2-24 pk Pepsi $5 ea (Friday sale) - $2/2 MC (newspaper) = 2/$8
3 boxes Hamburger Helper $1 ea on sale - $0.75/3 doubled MC (newspaper) = 3/$1.50
Total OOP: $18.38, Savings of $31.52, 64%!

Giant: I used a LOT of coupons towards my total + $40 from Joe's Mom to be used towards our vacation food so in the end it was, $70.93 - $10.13 in Savings and Coupons - $40 from Joe's Mom = Net OOP of $20.31!

I also stopped into the Dollar Tree, Kohl's, BJ's, and Giant again, but didn't take pictures of the trips...
Dollar Tree: 5 bags of Bagel Chips and a bucket $6.06 oop
Kohl's: Used my $10 off any purchase coupon to buy 2 Simply Home Yankee Candles in Bartlett Pear on clearance, Saved $29.20, Total OOP $2.95!
BJ's: 1 lb Bag Diet Cape Cod Potato Chips and 1 pkg Apple Gate Cheese, used two coupons Total OOP $8.48
Giant: Bought 2 newspaper and 3 more boxes of Stevia pkts OOP $11.77 - $3 coupons = $8.77 oop

Grand Total OOP: $78.99 - $14 Rewards Earned = Net OOP: $64.99!!!   
For all the deals I got and all the shopping I did, I think I did AWESOME!!!

Freezer Cooking Day!

Before things got hectic around here, Joe and I harvested our onions for the season, we ended up with a huge basket full.  So I spent an afternoon before vacation processing them for the freezer.  

I ended up with 14 - 1 cup portions of diced onions 
(thanks to my mom's food processor, which will now live in my kitchen)

While I was using the food processor any way, I whipped up a batch of homemade knock-off Chili's salsa (recipe coming soon).  You have to drain the tomatoes for the salsa, so I froze the 1 cup of tomato juice as well, I figure I can use it in chili, or something like that.

But, there were still a few more onions to process, so I took the last 11 and sliced them for the freezer, and had 6 meals worth, for things like fajitas, or to saute with mushrooms for steak or sandwiches.

Lastly, I wanted to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bring along to the beach and snack on, so while the mixer was already dirty, I whipped up 2 more batches of dough for the freezer - yum-o!!!

I only spent an afternoon's worth of time, and got some much accomplished, I love days like that!

8 Weeks to a Less Cluttered House Update #6

 The 5th week of decluttering was an easy one for me, mainly cause I had 2 days off!  Here's what I ended up getting rid of...

Day #21 and 22: Children's Closets
Joe and I have no children yet, so this does not apply to our household, so 2 days off for me!

Day #23 and 24: Clothing, Master Bedroom Closet and Dressers
Items Decluttered: 29

Day #25: Bathroom #1
Items Decluttered: 22
Total Items Decluttered: 46
(Still Ahead by 278 items!)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

8 Weeks to a Less Cluttered House Update #5

 For the fourth week of this challenge, things were still plugging right along.

Day #16: Magazines and Newspapers
Items Decluttered: 20

Day #17: Decorative Items
Items Decluttered: 45

 Day #18 Furniture
Items Decluttered: 4

Day #19: Children's Clothing
Items Decluttered: 0
This unfortunately does not apply to our home yet, so a day of rest it was!

Day #20: Children's Clothing Day 2 or Freezer Clean Out
I did a little straightening in the freezer, but mostly used to day to put some things up in the freezer for easy meals and snacks later on (update coming soon).

 Total Items Decluttered for Days #16-20: 69
(282 Items Ahead!)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

8 Weeks to a Less Cluttered House Update #4

 Well, I am way behind on giving updates, even though I have been plugging along with decluttering the house.  This has been a crazy few weeks with my mom dying, going to a steam show flea market for a week, and now Joe and I are at the Ocean for the week.  However, I really want to see this decluttering challenge through, so I am trying really hard to keep up with it, and things are flying around here.

Day #11: Children's Books Day 2 or Purse
Items Decluttered: 1

Day #12: Adult Books
Items Decluttered: 25
Here's the finished product!  (fyi this bookcase was FREE off the curb!)

Day #13: Adut Books Day 2 or Fridge Organization
Items Decluttered: 5
Day #14: First Aid and Medicine
Items Decluttered: 25

Day #15: Kids Artwork
Another day that doesn't apply to us, so no decluttering today! 

Total Items Decluttered for Days #11-15: 56
(263 Items Ahead)