Weekly $ Report

I was slightly over budget ($50 week) this week, but thankfully I was under last week. This week I spent $ 54.78 on groceries bringing our total for July (5 weeks) to $246.58. I'm loving coming in under budget this month.It's neat to watch and see how the Lord provides for our needs, and for a few extras.

This week half of the people at the company my husband works for lost their job, so you'll probably notice me trying extra hard to make sure we come are in the black each month. We've been considering several options in light of this economy about my returning to work. I'm not at peace at it, but I would love to do childcare in my home.If you know of anyone in the West Wichita area looking for childcare I'm very interested in providing a loving place for them to spent their days. Plus my toddler loves playmates. Email me effortlesssavings @ gmail.com if you or someone you know are interested in childcare.

Dillons

$24.56 food & 4.79 housing

Unfortunately several eQs didn't work & I didn't get as good of deals as I thought I was going to get. Oh well you win some you lose some.

Sunny D .50
Trix Yogurt 1.00
Fiber One Yogurt FREE
Fiber One Yogurt 1.00
Kraft Cheese 1.29
2- Smart Balance butter 1.49
Daisy Sour Cream .69
5 bricks Cream Cheese .89 each (plan to make a cheesecake soon!!!)
2-Jiff 1.79
2-Ziplock Containers 1.00 each
Duracell Batteries 1.50
Cheerios Snack Mix .99
Keebler Cookies .99
Chocolate Chips 1.99
2-Ivory Bodywash 1.00

Aldi $27.24

Skim Milk 2.30
Whole Milk 2.35
Canola Oil 2.49
Red Grapes 1.58
Diced Tomatoes .49
Lunchmeat 2.99
Flour Tortillas .99
Baby Carrots .99
Cantaloupe .99
Sweet Corn 1.29
Stuffing Mix .89
Oregano 1.24
Powdered Sugar 1.24
Avocados 1.39
Cheese 1.29
Chips .99 each
Bread 1.29

Walmart $2.98

Bananas .88 & Syrup 1.92

Blessings!

Erica

Frugal Family Friday--something I love

How do you keep your children occupied while running errands? I have various tricks I use: certain toys, recently a small tape measure works wonders, spotting things in the store (Elmo & Cookie Monster), etc., etc.... These things work well but the best trick I've found is to give my little guy a snack. I typically use snack time to run errands just for this reason because we can kill two birds with one stone (Side note: when we are at home we reserve eating to the table.) But if you are like me you've had several crackers fall from those not quite developed little hands. I've picked up many bowls full of crackers in the past year.

I had seen these snack catchers at Target when my son was little and at first thought they were silly. It wasn't until we reached the toddler years did I see how genius this product was. I fbroke down and bought one and haven't regretted it. It really works and reduces our spills while we are out, which in turn reduces how much food we waste. I'd highly recommend one, and no one is paying me to say that.

So what's your favorite product for your children? I'd love to hear from you.

Blessings!

Erica

Recreating with Leftovers

I'm always trying to find new recipes to use up meat or veggies we have remaining from previous meals. Chicken Fried Rice is one of my go to meals when I have chicken and rice leftovers. It's ready in less than 30 minutes, so it's a fast meal to prepare too.

Chicken Fried Rice

Here's what you'll need:
Enough Rice Cooked Rice to feed your family(leftover rice works better than freshly cooked rice for this recipe)

• Cooked Chicken ( I usually use around 1 c. add more for a larger family)
• Oil
• Veggies of your choice (Onion, carrots, zucchini, peppers, broccoli all make excellent choices)
• A couple Eggs
• Soy Sauce

Here's what you do:
1. Cut up your veggies
2. Heat small amount of oil in skillet and add your veggies. Cook until the onions are translucent and veggies are tender stiring frequently. (When using a variety of veggies it may be necessary to start things at various times. On this day I cooked my carrots first then added zucchini later since it doesn't take as long to cook.)

3. Once your veggies are tender add your rice, and chicken and a little more oil to coat the rice. Stirring constantly mix together. Meanwhile heat a small pan and scramble a couple of eggs. After you've done this add some soy sauce to your rice. I generally pour it over the rice mixture until I think it's had enough, but you probablly use 1/4 c. or less. Mix this together

4. Add the scrambled eggs and combine well.

5. Sit down and enjoy this easy tasty meal.

For more great recipes check out the Recipe Swap over at Grocery Cart Challenge on Friday.

Yum!

Erica

Dillons 7/29-8/4

Dillons just keeps the good deals rolling again this week. The mega event has passed but the P&G Mix and Match sales looks like a great way to stock up on some essentials. These are the best deals as I see them, let me know if you see something I missed.

Produce
10 lb. bag Kroger Value Russet Potatoes 2.99
New Crop Fresh Colorado Green Beans .99 lb.
Red Ripe Seedless Watermelon 3.99
Northwest Sweet Red Cherries (includes organic) 2.99 lb.
New Crop California Bartlett Pears 4lb. for $5
Red Ripe Tomatoes on the Vine 1.99 lb.

Meat
Ground Beef 1.49 lb. sold in 5 lb flavorseal $7.45
Boneless Pork Loin 1.99 lb (I like to buy at this price)

Other Grocery
General Mills Cereal 2.99
Use 1.00/1 cellfire eQ & 1.00/2 MF
Total= $1.99 each

Kraft Easy Mac, Velveeta or Stove Top Cups 10/$10
Use BIGI Free Veveeta Cups
Total=$1.00/2


Household Products
Crest Toothpaste 10/$10
Use .50/1 MF or 1.00 MF
Total=FREE

Speedstick or Lady Speedstick .88
Use 1.00/1 cellfire eQ Men's Speedstick
Total=FREE

P&G Mix and Match Sale

Purchase 4 P&G products and recieve $4 off your order on non grocery items! It's very important that you have at least $4 worth of groceries to make this deal work. It doesn't say how many times you can do this deal in one transaction. I'll make some calls and let you know. Prices reflect the $4 discount

Puffs Facial Tissue .99
Use 1.00/3 esaver
Total=$1.97/3

Charmin Bath Tissue 6.99
Use .25/1 MF & .25/1 esaver
Total=$6.24

Tide 4.88
Use 1.00/1 MF & .35/1 esaver
Total=$3.53

Downy Fabric Softener 4.88
Use 1.00/1 MF & .50/1 esaver
Total=$3.38

Cascade Dish Detergent 2.99
Use 1.00/1 MF & .50/1 esaver
Total=$1.49!!!

Bounty Paper Towels 7.99
Use .25/1 MF & .25/1 esaver
Total=$7.24

Pantene Shampoo or Conditioner 4.99
Use 1.00/1 MF Expressions or Restoratives or 2.00/1 MF Full and Thick or 1.00/2 any & 1.00/1 restoratives
Total=$2.99 Restoratives or Thick and Full or $8.98/2 for any

Herbal Essences Hair Care 1.99
Use 1.00/1 MF & 1.00/1 esaver
Total= FREE and $0.01 overage!!!

Natural Instincts Hair Color 7.99
Use 1.00 esaver
Total=6.99

Always or Tampax 1.99
Use .50/1 MF or 1.00/1 MF & .50/1 esaver
Total=$0.49!

Secret Flawless or Scent Expressions Deodorant 3.49
Use 1.00/1 MF
Total=$2.49

Gillette Disposable Razors, Mach 3, Venus, Sensor or Daisy Disposable Razors 5.49
Use 1.00/1 MF any Gillette or 2.00/1 Venus & 2.00 Venus esaver or 2.00/1 esaver Mach 3
Total=$1.49 Venus or $2.49 Mach 3

Head & Shoulders Shampoo or Conditioner 5.49
Use BIGI FREE or $2.00/2 MF
Total= $5.49/2 or $8.98/2

Pampers Diapers or Easy Ups Training Pants 18.99
Use 2.00/1 MF & 1.00/1 esaver
Total=$15.99

Prilosec OTC Heartburn Relief 23.99
Use 2.00/1 or 3.00/1 MF or 7.00/2 MF & 4.00/1 esaver
Total=$16.99, or 17.99/1 or $36.98/2 ($18.49 each)

Duracell® Value Packs 8.99
Use 1.00/1 MF & 1.00/1 esaver
Total=$6.99

*All totals reflect coupon doubling. Dillons doubles coupons up to the amount of $1.00

Happy Savings!
Erica

No fuzzy things growing in my fridge

If your family is like ours we are living on a tight budget. It's something we don't really think about any more, we've adjusted to making the most of everything we've been given. When we came back to the states it was very easy to overbuy at the grocery store. We had become accustomed to shopping throughout the week picking up things as we needed them (very easy to do when the produce stand is on your way home from work). It was a challenge to figure out how much our family could really eat each week. I was amazed at how much food we were throwing away. I could see the dollar signs add up each time I had to throw away more produce.

So after some mental notes of how much food we were tossing, I decided to get serious and figure out how much we really eat each week. I knew I had to plan more wisely. If you're like me and love spontaneity, planning a menu is a stretch, but after seeing how much we were wasting it was big motivator to start planning our side dishes as well.

I plan our main dishes monthly but I leave the side dishes, fruits and veggies, till I prepare my grocery list. I base this off of what's on sale for the week. I simply add in a few veggies to each meal so that I know how much our family will eat. Typically I try to include 2 veggies at dinner and one at lunch. We typically have fruit at breakfast and snack and occasionally dinner or lunch. I relied heavily on food pyramid when making this adjustment. This site is a great one for helping you figure out how much your kiddos need each day.

After doing this simple step it has worked well cutting out a lot of our waste. But there are times when our menu changed and we didn't get to all those fruits and veggies so I try to freeze most of it or toss it in a recipe. For example if I'm making spaghetti or something else requiring tomato sauce I'll dice up the tomatoes that are about to go bad and throw them in the sauce. If I don't have time I'll wash them, cut out the bad spots and put them in the freezer.

Here are a few ways I commonly freeze a variety of produce:

• Spinach (cut up and placed in ziplock bags, make sure it's well dried)
• Green, Red or Yellow Peppers (Sliced and placed in 1 c. ziplock bags)
• Green onion (usually 1/2 c. placed in ziplock bags)
• Onions (Diced, sliced or minced in 1/2 c. bags)
• Carrots (Shredded or sliced, uncooked placed in 1 c. bags)
• Celery (Sliced or diced in 1 c. bags)
• Sweet potatoes (pureed and place in freezer containers or pour into ice cube trays, pop them out when frozen and place in a ziplock bag)
• Zucchini (Shredded and placed in 1 c. bags)
• Berries & peaches (Sliced peaches, most of the time I leave berries whole and place in a ziplock bag)
• Apples or Pears (Turn it into Applesauce or Pearsauce then freeze in containers)

There are a few exceptions that do not freeze well such as potatoes and cucumbers. Although Gayle figured out a way to freeze her own hashbrowns. She's such a genius!

My best piece of advice for you to reduce what goes to the trashcan is keep an eye out on what's in your fridge. Because we've all found that fuzzy piece of fruit that is almost unidentifiable.

Best Wishes!

Erica

For other great tips and ideas check out WFMW over at We are That Family.

Meal Plan for the Week

I have a few new recipes planned for the week and oddly enough they all involve chicken. I bought a 10 lb. bag of chicken a while back and have been needing to use it up so it will free up some space in our freezer. I didn't really think about the lack of variety until I took a peek at our menu this week, oops. My husband is either going to enjoy every meal or be craving some red meat this week. We shall see.

Monday-Bruschetta Chicken Bake, garden salad & corn

Tuesday-Rotisserie Chicken in the crock pot over rice & squash

Wednesday-Chicken Fried Rice loaded with lots of veggies (using up chicken & rice from the night before), & fruit

Thursday-Chicken Blackbean Nachos with all the fixings and fruit

Friday-leftovers

Saturday-Family reunion and I'm bringing hummus with veggies and crackers & homemade salsa (our family likes to eat when we get together)

Sunday-more reunion time I'm bringing Blueberry muffins & Reeces Squares.

Stumped at what to fix this week? Get some inspiration from several menus around the country. Go to Org Junkie to check it out.

Happy Menu Planning!

Erica

7 Years of Fun

7 years ago I GOT to marry this wonderful guy! It's been such an amazing blessing, even in the tough times. I'm so thankful the Lord has allowed me to be a wife. My prayer is that I may be my husband's crown as long as God allows us to live. If your marriage has hit some bumpy times let me encourage you today, it's worth it and fight for it!

Blessings!

Erica