Journey To Me

Have you thought about CHRISTmas yet?

It is hardly fall and already I am seeing CHRISTmas items in stores.  Have you started planning for CHRISTmas yet?  I have and have decided to go extremely frugal this year. 

I made a list of the people I would like to buy for, and then made a list of the people I really feel I need to buy for.  This second list comes to four people.  I have my Mother, my Husband and our best friend's two children (4 years and 6 months).  I wanted to buy items for my sister and her husband, my brothers and my cousin's children (13 of them), but have decided against it as we just do not have the money to go that far this year.  Instead, I will have my sister and brothers over for a nice dinner and game night, and I will have to skip my cousin's children. 

I have decided to make presents for my best friend's children, take my mother out to dinner before we see a play at our local theatre (her gift to me is the play) and I am going to buy my Husband a watch.  He actually needs a new watch, his other one still works, but is not at 100% anymore.  He has had the last one rebuilt 3 times (I bought him this watch when we first started dating about 10 years ago.)  and I am thinking it is time for a new one.  I should be able to find one in the brand he likes for about $50 on clearance.  So, for about $100, I should be able to do all my CHRISTmas shopping without breaking the bank! 

I also decline to be a part of all gift exchanges at family events and at work.  I have the type of family that would love anything you bought them, but I married into the type that gives you a list of items that you may buy from, then requests gift receipts so that they can return the gift at a later date.  Plus... how fun is it to shop for "Uncle Bob" (name is changed to protect his REAL identity) when Uncle Bob can purchase anything he wants for himself anyways.... 

I LOVE shopping for the young kids, as they are the people who really get excited about presents!  Plus, I always buy educational gifts if possible, so it is fun for me to see what they have learned from the gift I have given them!

Shopping Update

While there were not many good sales at my Cub Foods this week, I was still able to keep my grocery shopping trip within the $40 budget.

I did not need a lot of items, but the items that I did need were ones that are not usually on sale.  This includes leeks, marinated artichoke hearts, virginia baked ham (from the deli), fresh thyme, turkey luncheon meat (from the deli), natural yogurt (I must try making my own one of these days...)

There were a few items that were on sale...  baked beans, bagged salad (must be used within the week as it was greatly discounted due to expiration date) and baked potato chips.

There were other items that I bought for stocking up also such as canned soup for under $1 can (Healthy Choice, with coupon) and chocolate chips (slightly reduced).

My Walmart trip was a little more than usual as I was able to get 6 free skirts from my mother as hand-me-downs, but I didn't have any hangers for them, so I had to purchase more hangers.  These were the main cost in my trip as I refuse to buy cheap hangers that wear out or break within a year.  I also purchased Vaseline lotion (coupon), Jet Dry (coupon), Ziploc bags (coupon), pantyliners (coupon), Febreze air effects (coupon), and two Glade Glass Scents (BOGO Free).   This trip was close to $40 also.  I wouldn't have needed to purchase anything (except the hangers and Ziploc bags) but with the coupons I had about to expire at the end of this week, the prices on these items were good enough for me to stock up on these few items. 

I am now on the search for a new or used bread machiene.  I have a $50 gift certificate to Walmart that I could use (one there is close to $50) but I am hoping that I can hold out for a used on that is free or almost free.  There seem to be a lot sitting around that don't get used very often and I have been seriously wanting one (it has been on my list of things I don't really need but would like to have) for the past 3 years.  I am to the point now where I am seriously considering buying one as I feel that I could make homemade bread cheaper than buying at the store.  (We don't have a bread outlet store within 45 miles of my home... so that is not an option either.) 

Grocery Savings

In my search to save money and get out of debt, I have chosen to go with the menu planning idea for grocery savings.  It has cut my grocery bill in half for the past two weeks!

I created my menu based on what was on sale at the grocery store (from last week's newspaper inserts), purchased the items needed to make these, and only these, meals and saved a lot of money in the process!  Our usual weekly trip costs $80 (for two adults) and I only spent $37 on groceries this week and will have some food leftover to use next week!  (May seem a little high as we are mostly vegetarian and some products cost a little more...)

I was surprised how easy it was!  My next task will be to include sales, pantry stockpile, and add COUPONS in the planning phase and see how much more I can save!  If all it took was an hour of planning to cut my grocery bill in half, I can only imagine what I can save if I planned for more aspects such as personal hygiene purchases, cleaning supplies, etc...

I am taking the Supermarket Savings 101 class offered at www.biblicalwomanhood.com

It has been a great help and source of encouragement on how to feed my family (starting to plan now for when I do have children in the future) on a small amount of money, and still do it without feeling deprived!!!  I purchased the course when it was on a reduced price special (Thank you God, I wanted to buy it, but did not have enough money to do so at full price!!!) so I didn't spend a lot on it, but after taking it, I (as an unexperienced bargin shopper) would have gladly paid full price for the knowledge it has given me (had I been able to afford it).