ALDI Deals: 04/29/2015

Here are some of the awesome deals at ALDI this week...

• Serra Ladies Canvas Shoes $6.99 pair
• Crofton 2 pk Chalk Mugs $2.99 per pk
• Crofton Tea Kettle $6.99 ea
• Crofton 2 piece Muffin Pan or Cake Pan with Carrier $7.99 ea
• Crofton 2 pk Insulted Cookie Sheets $8.99 per pk
• Easy Home 3 piece Woven Tote Assortment $7.99 ea
• Adventuridge Foldable Multi-use Basket $8.99 ea
• Fit and Active Banana Cream or Orange Cream Light Greek Yogurt $0.75 ea
• Baker's Treat Boxed Donuts $2.49 ea
• Best Breakfast Chocolate Chip Waffles $1.29 ea
• Village Bakery Mini Muffins $2.79 ea
• Mama Cozzi's Pizza Kitchen White Pizza or 4 Cheese Pizza $3.99 ea
• Season's Choice Cheesy Broccoli or Cheesy California Blend $1.49 ea

To see more deals from ALDI, visit their weekly ads page!

Menu Plan Monday: 04/27/2015

This week is going to be a little crazy with getting ready for the Civil War event here at the museum this weekend, plus working, and taking care of Howard, so I planned super simple meals.  I was also super realistic and planned some take-out/frozen pizza meals, because that's just life sometimes.  We also have a freezer FULL of food just itching to be ate, so I tried to make use of that as well.  Here's what's going on in the Roger's household kitchen this week...

Breakfasts: Bagels, Yogurt

Lunches: Leftovers, Sandwiches, Carrots and Dip

Dinners:

Sunday - McDonald's

Monday- Chicken Fajitas, Mexican Rice

Tuesday - Steak, Sauteed Mushrooms, 3 Cheese Noodles, Broccoli

Wednesday - Cheesy Baked Pork Chops, Rice Pilaf, Green Beans

Thursday - Alfredo Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli, Garlic Bread

Friday - Civil War Set-up here at the museum, Take-out

Saturday - Frozen Pizza/Take-out, depends on how Joe and I feel after working all day

 

For more AWESOME Menu Plans, visit Org Junkie!

 

April Budget Update

April was a crazy month.  I knew I was going to go over budget before I even got started, since Howard's first birthday party was this month.  We managed to do things fairly frugally, and I plan to share all of that in several posts.  I went over budget on paper, however, I still have money left in the grocery envelope - not really sure how that happened?!  So for May, I'm just going to start with a fresh $300 and go from there.  The leftover money is going into the 'fun money' envelope, because, well, because I said so. 

• Week #1: $85.25 oop, Earned $4
• Week #2: $68.25 oop, Earned $14
• Week #3: $81.23 oop, Earned Zero
• Week #4: $115.11 oop, Earned $43.29

Total OOP: $349.84
Total Earned: $61.29
Total Remaining: Zero

Weekly Spending Report: 04/19-25/2015

This week was a little crazy budget-wise since we had to do the shopping for Howard's first birthday party this Saturday.  We are planning a little ice cream and cake party with lemonade and iced tea for some family and friends.  It should be fun!  I have some posts planned about it in the future, so I won't share too much now, but I'm pretty excited about it!  I also bought some diapers from Wal-mart (using my bank card - different budget) and received $21 cash back from TopCashBack.  Here's what we ended up with for this week...

• Sunday's CVS Trip: $40.22 oop, Earned $18 ECB's

• Sunday's ALDI Trip: $39.05 oop

• Sunday's Giant Trip: $35.84 oop, Earned $4.29 MIR (Lysol TapTop Cleaner) (picture is missing one snickers bar)

• Earned $21 from TopCashBack (from the Huggies Deal)

Total OOP: $115.11
Total Earned: $43.29
Total Remaining for April: Zero, actually negative money, but somehow I still have money left in my envelope, which means I either can't add, or I can't count money????  I don't know, but next week starts May's budget, so I'm just going to start with a fresh $300.

Linked to Couponaholic! 

Weekly Spending Report: 04/12-18/2015

This week there weren't any great deals at CVS, so I just stuck to ALDI and Giant.  Since we didn't get to ALDI last week, we were in need of quite a few things.  Also, Giant had some great deals to stock up on, including meat.  Here's what we ended up with...

• Sunday's ALDI Trip: $35.69 oop

• Sunday's Giant Trip: $45.54 oop

Total OOP: $81.23
Total Earned: Zero
Total Remaining for April: $97.90

February and March's Goal Update 2015

February and March were insane months.  I felt like a hamster in a wheel, constantly running around, and getting no where.  A few things got done, but between creating and working the teas at the museum, and taking care of Howard, and my usual household responsibilities, needless to say, not a whole lot got accomplished.  Here's is what has gotten done so far this year...

Household:

1. De-clutter the whole house in January, February, and March -- I worked really hard in the nursery in February and March.  I have taken so many bins of stuff to store in Joe's grandfather's house, as well as bags and bags of stuff to be sold, or donated.  I managed to clean off my desk, and clean out Howard's closet.  The only thing that really hasn't been decluttered is half of the kitchen cabinets, so if I have some time in April, that's next on my list.
2. Do a Deep-Spring, and Deep-Fall Clean in March and November  As well as keep up with my weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly cleaning chores. -- It took almost all of March, but I did manage to get the whole house deep cleaned.  The nursery is still a work in progress, so I did what I could in there, but the rest of the house is beaming!
3. Paint the Windows/Sills/Trim in the Kitchen and Nursery. -- Still waiting for some warmer weather!

Family:

1. Write a 'love letter' to Joe each month -- I did this in February, but not in March.  To be honest, I kind of forgot about it - whoops!  I'll have to make a better point of this in April.
2. Take a trip to Maine in June with the hubby, and Howard. -- N/A
3. Take a Trip to Ocean City in August -- N/A
4. Get together with family at least once a month -- We did not get together with either family in February or March.  It seemed that whenever we planned something, someone got sick.  But I guess a lot of that has to do with the time of year it is.  April will be better, since we have Easter and Howard's birthday to celebrate!
5. Plan and Execute Howard's 1st Birthday Party -- I started working on ideas for this in March, and getting supplies together.

Blogging:

1. Have 2 Freezer/Pantry Challenges (January and July), post updates on the blog, and defrost the chest freezer -- N/A
2. Post my Menu Plan, and Weekly Spending Report every week, along with at least 1 other post per week.  This may be an update, a reveal, a recipe, a shopping trip, some Aldi Deals, or a frugal find. -- I have been doing so horribly with this!  I have kept up with my monthly posts, and my weekly spending reports, but everything else has been sliding to the wayside.  This is something else I need to really work harder on in April.
3. Plan and execute a 31 days post for October. -- N/A

Health:

1. Lose at least 20 lbs -- I've lost 5 pounds.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?!
2. Drink plenty of water, eat healthy, and do exercise of some kind everyday. -- This I have actually been doing really good with.  Joe and I have started walking every evening when the weather is nice.  The rainy days are a little harder, but I do try to get in at least some stretches on those days.  I've also been pretty much drinking exclusively water, and trying to eat better.  I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel with my eating, because then I won't stick with it, just little tweaks here and there. 

Budget/Income:

1. Do at least 5 Flea Markets throughout the year, and list at least bi-monthly on Amazon/Facebook Yard Sale. -- 1 Flea Market done to date. I also cleaned up our Amazon account so we can start listing things again - yeah!  I plan to start this in April.
2. Earn Swagbucks everyday by completing the daily poll, toolbar log-in, Daily Crave, and NOSO offers daily.  (Try to earn $10 a month) -- Now that Swagbucks has taken away the $5 Amazon reward, this is a little more difficult.  I do try to earn as many swagbucks each day as possible, but saving for the new $25 reward takes a while.  So, I'm going to try for a $25 every 2 months, we'll see.
3. Set a monthly budget, and coupon and deal shop as needed to stay within our budget. --I did a fabulous job with this.  I posted my February budget update here, and my March budget update here.  I came under budget both months!
4. Put at least an extra $100 a month on Joe's Credit Card starting in May -- N/A

Hobby-Related:

1. Scan the huge-a** box of photos we have had since my mom died two and a half years ago, and get them sorted to give to people, as well as put the ones I decide to keep in albums. -- I haven't even started this yet, and chances are that now that I've started working for the season, I won't get started until Fall or Winter, but that's fine. 
2. Continue to work on Howard's baby book -- I have really been chugging along on this hard.  I'd like to have it as up to date as possible by Howard's party, so I can have it on display.
3. Try something new at least once a month and blog about it.  I have a LOT of new recipes and crafts I want to try -- I still haven't made time to do this each month.  Maybe April will be different, but I doubt it -- just keeping it real!

Linked to Money Saving Mom!

Weekly Spending Report: 04/05-11/2015

This week was kind of crazy with Easter church service, followed by dinner with family, and then a week full of work obligations.  I was able to sneak out to CVS and Giant on Sunday afternoon and wish a happy Easter to my favorite cashiers, who were extremely happy to see Howard!  Overall it was a good week, and we didn't even spend much money!  Here's how it all went down...

• Sunday's CVS Trip: $16.25 oop, Earned $14 ECB's

• Sunday's Giant Trip: $31.45 oop

• Wednesday's Wal-mart Trip: Zero oop (used Tax Money - different budget)

• Thursday's Amish Market Trip: $20.55 oop

• Saturday's Dollar Tree Trip: Zero (used tax money, different budget)

Total OOP: $68.25
Total Earned: $14
Total Remaining for April: $178.93

  Linked to Couponaholic!

Weekly Spending Report: 03/29-04/04/2015

This week was crazy with working and getting ready for Easter with family, but we made it through!  We are also still using our tax check to stock up on certain things.  Here's what we ended up with this week...

• Monday's CVS Trip: $4.32 oop, Earned $4 ECB's

• Monday's ALDI Trip: $23.53 oop

• Monday's Giant Trip: Zero oop, used tax money - different budget

• Monday's Kohl's Trip: $1.70 oop

Total OOP: $85.25
Total Earned: $4
Total Remaining for April: $247.18

March Budget Update

 

March was a good month budget-wise.  We received our tax checks back, and we were able to use some of them to re-stock items we were in need of, as well as replace somethings that were broken, like our coffee pot.  We also bought 4 huge boxes of Pampers diapers from Target during a gift card promotion, so we are stocked up on those for awhile!  Here's how the month breaks down...

• Week #1: $95.64 oop, Earned $8 ECB's and $2.80 Easy Rebate
• Week #2: $110.53 oop, Earned $11 ECB's
• Week #3: $39.02 oop, Earned $11 ECB's
• Week #4: $25.24 oop, Earned $16 ECB's, and $1.24 from Saving Star

Total OOP: $270.43
Total Earned: $50.04
Total Remaining from March: $32.43