Reduced for Quick Sale

Now that were home and back in the swing of things, its time to deal with groceries again. I had been really cutting back when hubby was job-hunting, since it was something I could do to help our finances. However, now that he is working again we both agree that eating well and eating HEALTHY is our top priority. I have bumped our grocery budget back up! Before the layoff, I really wasn't paying attention to what we spent and was very surprised when I went back over receipts and found we were spending $800-900 per month. Now that I AM paying attention, I think we can eat the way we want for $500-600 per month. This includes all health/beauty items, diapers and vitamins/supplements as well.

As I've mentioned before, we try to buy mostly organic and mostly fresh items to cook from scratch. That makes it hard to use alot of coupons, thought there are some out there. I concentrate our organic items to milk, eggs, flour, pasta, the "dirty dozen" fruits/veggies, meat when I can find it cheap enough, and whatever cereal or crackers we buy. I have found that the best way to get deals on these items is to find them reduced for quick sale. We have popped in and out of grocery stores more often than usual in the past week due to all the traveling and party preparations. This gave me alot of opportunity to scour the aisles for reduced items, and with good results. One store tends to mark down the organic milk every so often, and when they do I stock up. Another has a large organic section and periodically marks items down on the shelves because they aren't selling. I have also found that when regular milk or meat are on sale really cheap, people buy less of the organic and if I go in towards the end of the sale cycle, I'll find that they have marked down the organic stuff since it didn't sell. This week, I got 4 packages of organic chicken, 5 half gallons of Horizon milk ($1 each!!), and 4 boxes of organic cereal. I was happy to find a coupon for one of the brands of cereal online and print it, so two of the boxes cost only 99 cents each. I also got a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $1.00. I made organic yogurt from some of the milk to stock us up. I later went to Target and bought 4 pounds of Laura's beef for $2.99 a pound and 3 packages of frozen wild-caught salmon, 1 1/2 pounds per package, for $6.99 each. At a third store we had popped into, 8 oz packages of shredded cheese were $1 each, so I stocked up on those. This will really help with entrees for the next couple of weeks!

For other shopping, I focused on fresh fruits and veggies in season. I LOVE spring, since all our favorites are in season and on sale! Fresh asparagus, broccoli crowns and tomatoes were all .99 per pound. Organic strawberries were $2.99 per pound, and cataloupe were 2/$1! ( I bought 6--my kids love cantaloupe!) I also got mangoes 3/$1 and a fresh pineapple for $1.25 after a coupon printed online. I rounded it out with 6 pounds of organic apples that cost way too much and some regular bananas. We are fortunate to have fresh organic spinach and lettuce from my parents garden, so we are in good shape.

My only other great find was diapers. The Kroger brand were on sale for $5.99, and I had printed two coupons for $3 off, so I got them for $2.99 each. I was pretty excited about that.

After a quick run through the aisles for brown rice, beans, a few frozen veggies, some pesto, coffee, etc we are set on groceries. This was on Monday, and I made a menu plan of entrees to last two weeks. I will need to restock fresh fruits and veggies this coming Monday. I total I spent $143. The total saved through sales, coupons and reduced items is $92. I'm glad to be eating a better variety again!

In my next post, I'll run through our menu plan and talk about some of the items I was able to batch-cook and freeze using these sale items.

What makes a house a home

I mentioned in my last post that part of our whirlwind week was a trip to New Orleans. I mentioned that it was a special place to me, but I'd like to say more about why. My mom was born and raised there, and though she moved away when she married my dad and had all of us, we grew up visiting regularly. To us kids, New Orleans wasn't about the French Quarter or Mardi Gras or seafood--it was about "Grammy and Pawpaw's house". It was the most magical place on earth.

I can still remember the excitement of a visit. We'd be almost crazy with anticipation during the 6 hour drive, and we always arrived at night. We'd wake up when we felt the rumble of the bridge beneath the tires, and would sprint from the car to be the first to ring the distinctive doorbell. I can still see the terra cotta tile on the porch, hear the bark of their old poodle, and smell the wonderful smells of our favorite foods waiting for us inside. Our grandparents' faces would light up when we came in, and the smiles never faded. During the whole visit, we felt like the most important people on earth. Looking back now, I realize that though we always felt spoiled rotten on our visits, nothing that my grandparents did to show their love for us was material. They didn't buy us things, there were no shopping trips or piles of toys. We just knew, minute by minute, that they were happy to see us. My grandfather liked to take us for walks, chat with all the neighbors about what we were doing and how we'd grown. When we entered a room, he smiled and greeted us, no matter what he was doing. When we talked, he looked us in the eyes and listened. My grandmother knew what everyone's favorite foods were, and they were always ready for us along with a smile and a hug.

Even as an adult, I'd visit New Orleans and it always felt the same, no matter my age or circumstance. I brought friends to visit, and boyfriends. As I mentioned in the last post, during one visit with a friend we returned to Grammy and Pawpaws house and she exclaimed "I think I've met the man I want to marry!" I had met his friend, and was pretty impressed with him too. Within two years, we'd married those men we came home to talk about that night. My grandparents loved my husband, and the magic of their house was there for him too.

We lost my grandfather in the year 2000 after a long and well-faught battle with cancer, and we adjusted to a "different" New Orleans--no less loving, just with a small ache in the heart. There was never a time we visited that we couldn't feel him there.

In 2004, hurricane Katrina roared through and destroyed my favorite house. Thankfully, my grandmother had evacuated safely, though she lost everything she had. We siblings were devastated, first of all for her, but also for all the memories we held so dear. It seemed unthinkable.

On the first day they allowed residents back to see their homes, my husband drove through the night with my grandmother to be one of the first let in. He called me from the bridge, and I could only imagine the butterflies in her tummy as she sat on that bridge, much like the excitement I had felt crossing it but for a very different reason. She bravely went through the house, found what she could, whispered a peaceful goodbye to the cat she'd had to leave behind, and moved on to a new life here in Texas.

We visited the remains of her home on our trip last week. That terra cotta tile is still there, and seeing it still brings me back to those special days. I chipped up a few pieces and brought them home. A few days later, I visited my grandmother in her new home. Amazingly, though it is a different home with different things, it feels just the same. When I walk through the door, I could be 8 years old again, ready to be hugged and loved and taken care of by the people who love me. Its not the house and its not the stuff that make a home a part of your heart--its the love that's shared. That goes with you wherever you are. I'm so thankful to have "New Orleans" in my heart, and I can only hope I'm doing the right things so that someday my own children will feel this way about the home I am making for them.

Whirlwind week

Its been a busy week! We spent Friday the 13th on all things birthday. I went to school with my daughter in the morning to watch as the headmaster gave her a much-anticipated birthday pencil in chapel. (amazing how excited the kids get about this!!) Later that morning the whole family visited her classroom to bring sugar-free popsicles to celebrate her birthday, then we left school with a car full of kids to enjoy the skating party. It was tons of fun--one small sibling of a party attendee came up to me and exclaimed "this is the best day of my life!" We had friends sleep over, and wouldn't you know the stomach bug that's been going around decided to hit my house at about 10 p.m. My daughter and I both spent the night being sick. Luckily, her friends were so worn out from skating that they fell asleep early and nobody but my daughter was upset about it! She says that her birthday was great despite its fateful ending.
We had no sooner cleared kids out of the house than we packed up and headed out for a spring-break vacation. I found an incredible last-minute rate on a very nice hotel in New Orleans, so we made the 6 hour drive with the kids and dog and enjoyed several days there. My husband and I have a special connection with New Orleans. My mother's family is from there, and that is where my husband and I met. We had our first date there, were married near there and have always loved it. We stayed in the French Quarter and I'd have to say it was certainly very different being there as parents as opposed to newlyweds! Different things were interesting and fun. The kids enjoyed the ferry rides across the river, the horse-drawn carriage ride and the hotel pool. We adults loved the sights and sounds, the restaraunts and the memories brought back by familiar places. It was a wonderful few days. We came home just long enough to unpack and repack, then drove 1 1/2 hours in another direction to visit my parents and the 5 nieces staying with them. My kids absolutely love their cousins and don't see them often enough, so for them it was Disneyland. They had a ball.
We finally came back Friday night and slept soundly in our own beds. This morning, I had to face reality! I spent a solid 9 hours unpacking, cleaning, cooking, putting things away and washing 10 loads of laundry. Luckily, the kids were happy to be home and played contentedly all day. The two-year-old had grown weary of traveling yesterday and had been throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat, but he transformed instantly once he got home and back into his routine. He played so long in his sandbox today that he fell asleep in my lap after his bath!
We had a wonderful week, but I am ready to slow down and get back into our routine. Hubby starts his new job Monday and my daughter goes back to school, and life will be calm and quiet again.

A birthday with nothing new

As I look back over my old posts, I realize that alot has changed in the way we think about things. In the first days of our pledge not to buy anything new, every time we worked our way around something it was a big deal, something fun and new. Now its just normal. I don't even think to write about it, even though some big or small challenge seems to hit us most every day.
This week has been a bit of work as we've tried to prepare a wonderful birthday for my daughter without buying anything new. I can't say its been hard, since luckily my daughter is very much on board with the nothing-new concept, but it has tapped a bit at our creativity.
Luckily, now that hubby has a job we could take the money issue off the table and simply focus on the "nothing new" aspect.
Her gift was pretty easy. She desperately wanted a Nintendo DS and has made sure to mention it every chance she's gotten for months. We managed to find a like-new DS with 2 games on Craigslist, so that was taken care of.
Her party was easy as well, for the most part. She wants a skating party, so we have booked that and it doesn't involve anything new. We sent out "e-vites" via e-mail, so there were no paper invitations needed. The only difficulty there was convincing her she couldn't invite every person she's ever known in her life--LOL. With much prodding, we managed to pare the list down to 16 of her closest friends. (!) We thought that with it being spring break, lots of kids would be out of town and the party would bring itself down to a reasonable size, but it didn't quite work that way, as 14 have RSVP'd. But I plan to take full advantage of these younger days when all the girls are best friends and the world is perfect, because there will come a day when they won't see it that way anymore. So 14 it is, and they will have a wonderful time.
We had to purchase the cake, since it needs to be sugar-free and I've had terrible luck baking sugar- free cakes in the past. Luckily, this is in the category of food and doesn't count against our pledge. We already had candles for it, so we didn't have to buy anything there. That left us with only the gift bags to deal with. Luckily, we had a package of white paper lunch bags on hand, so I will bring those along with markers, stickers and etc for the girls to decorate when they take a skating break. I have assembled a "treasure basket" so that they can choose their own goodies to go into it. I filled it with all the misc toys and treasures my daughter has brought home from parties and events, Chuck E Cheeses and the like and has never touched again. I was surprised at how much there was once I started looking, and am glad to have found a use for it other than taking up space in the house! I finished the basket off with lots and lots of candy that my daughter has brought home both from recent parties and as a prize she got at school for reading. Again, I'm glad to have found a use for it, since nobody in our house eats candy.
So there we have it, a birthday with nothing new! It seems so normal to do things this way that I really didn't think much of it until one of the mothers asked what we had gotten my daughter for her birthday. Without a second thought, I answered that we had found a great DS on Craigslist. There was a surprised silence until she finally mustered an "Oh, that's....nice" and changed the subject. I have to remember that not everyone "gets" this, and not everyone wants to get it. But for those who do, I hope we can set the example that it CAN be done, and it can be absolutely wonderful!

A new job!! (and more free-decorating)

First and foremost, we are thankful that hubby has found a new job and will start work at the end of the month. There's more of a commute than we would like, but the pay is good and in this economy (and with the competition from all the OTHERS in his field who have been laid off) we are grateful for it. The kids and I have most certainly enjoyed having him home and its been a wonderful experience for all of us. And now, with the job hunt out of the way, he can move from being a man on a mission to a man taking a well-needed rest. We will certainly miss him when he goes back to work!

Last week, hubby spent his time replacing siding on the house (we had to buy those materials, unfortunately it went to the category of "urgent home repair") and the little one and I spent time at a friends house. He played with the daughter while I helped my friend clean her garage, pack boxes and prepare her house for sale. I am always happy to help friends who need it, but in this case it was especially nice because when a person is moving, their "stuff" quickly becomes "junk" to them. No matter how much they loved it before, the thought of packing and moving it quickly turns them around. So at the end of the week, I hauled home that cute little stand that I put in my bathroom, a desk for my daughter's room, and lots of nice wooden storage crates. The storage crates inspired a pantry redo, and they are now labelled and organizing the pantry, with quite a few to spare for organizing the garage. The wicker stand inspired a bathroom "freedecorating" spree, which was much-needed. We have never done anything to decorate the bathroom, since I have never liked it. Its oddly-shaped and not quite functional, with little storage and a blue slate floor that completely clashes with the warm colors in the rest of the house. Well, once I put the stand in there, I was thrilled with the storage it opened up and the way it warmed up the room. I dug out some pretty metal sconces that I had found on clearance once and didn't know where to put, and I also added a garage-sale lamp, a rug not being used, a garage-sale plant and wall hanger and the extra hand towels from the half-bath. I am pleased with the result--it is now warm, functional and more in line with the rest of the house.

Spending time in my friends impeccably-decorated house really gave me a shopping itch. I appeased it by visiting some garage sales on Saturday morning. Wouldn't you know, the first sale I happened upon was that of an interior designer, clearly selling of the excesses of her trade. There were granite slabs, tumbled marble tile, tons of pictures and decorative items and paint. They happened to want far more for their stuff than any garage-salers are willing to pay ($300 for a picture? $100 for a globe?) but the paint was well-priced and we desperately needed some for our kitchen and breakfast room. . We were beginning to wonder if paint for the kitchen was going to fall into the "urgent home repair" category, but I kept giving it more time. Now, luckily, I found the perfect paint--a full $50 gallon of paint that I picked up for $7.00. Our kitchen is now painted and I am amazed at how perfect the color is. I also bought a large planter for our ficus tree in the living room for $15. That has cured my shopping itch for now, and we have a beautiful kitchen! I'll post pictures once we get everything put back in place.

Nelson's lesson

I've been thinking alot these last few days about our cat, Nelson. We're approaching the one-year anniversary of when she died, and those who have loved and lost a pet will know that they hold a permanent place in your heart. Ironically, the most valuable lesson about thrift and frugality was learned from my cat, as it was because of her that one day it all came together and made sense.

To tell you about Nelson, first I have to tell you about Blackie. Back in my husband's apartment-dwelling bachelor days, he got out of his car one day and found himself followed by a cautious but friendly cat. She parked himself outside his door, and the next morning was there to greet him and follow him to back to his car. When he arrived home again, she was there to follow him to the door. Soon he began to feed her, then took her in, and eventually she crawled under his couch and delivered 7 kittens. The runt of the litter was Nelson. She couldn't nurse well and Blackie didn't show much interest in her, but she was full of fire and my husband loved her immediately. He bottle-fed her, found homes for the other kittens, and brought her with him into our marriage.

For the first 7 years, the cats were our kids. They wove themselves so subtly into our lives, we simply couldn't remember when we'd ever slept without a cat on our feet or watched TV without a kitty in our lap. When my daughter came along, Nelson provided comic relief on those long, colicky nights when we'd go to slip the baby in the bassinet and find a warm furball in the way.

When she was a year old, Nelson disppeared. The next day, a freak snowstorm passed through and we were worried sick. After a week, we started to lose hope. On the 14th day, she pulled herself through the kitty door, weak and sick and cold. After a trip to the vet for antibiotics and some time in front of the heater she was fine--but the tips of her ears and the tip of her tail had been frostbitten and fell off. From that point on, her ears were octagonal and she was quite a funny-looking cat!

Blackie died of kidney failure at the age of 10, and Nelson became an only cat. By that time, I honestly couldn't remember what it was like NOT to have her. Life marched on, we moved, had another baby, and Nelson marched right along with us.

When she reached 14, we noticed Nelson was slowing down, and for the first time getting a little pudgy. When she grew lethargic and started to hide from us, we took her to the vet. The news was bad. She wasn't fat--she had a malignant tumor the size of a grapefruit in her belly. If we didn't have it removed, it would rupture and kill her within a few days. If we did have it removed, one of the other nodules near it would grow to that size and do the same thing, but in the meantime she'd have her life back. They suggested euthanizing her, because the surgery would cost nearly $1,000 and she'd need a blood transfusion before she'd be healthy enough for surgery.

My husband and I didn't need to discuss it. Occasionally in the past, I'd wondered to myself if we really needed to be frugal. I'd hear my friends say "what's money for, if not to spend it?" and I'd wonder if they were right. But that day, as I stood there in my clearance-rack jeans and freecycle shoes, it all came together. I reached into my thrift-store purse and gave my cat her life back. I didn't even blink. THAT'S what money is for, and I'll never regret it.

Nelson returned home from her surgery and was herself again--jumping into cabinets and causing mischeif, sneaking around outside after birds and of course, occupying any lap that happened to look empty.

Another tumor did take over, far too quickly for us. As she grew sicker, we knew we should think about euthanizing her, but we couldn't--not when she still had life left. On her last night, when we knew it was time, my husband still couldn't do it. He stayed up with her all night, and in the morning went to the vet only because I insisted. Nelson knew it would be too hard for him. She died in his arms before the vet arrived to administer the shot. It was her gift back to him for all he'd done for her.

More Freecycle bounty

I saw a post today on Freecycle offering a bag of clothes the next size up from what my daughter wears. Since I know she will grow before the end of the year and we won't be buying anything new, this provided a great opportunity for me to stock up in anticipation of need. That way, I'm not in a bind when she hits her next growth spurt. I always wait a little after a good item is posted before I ask for it, since someone may need it more than I do and I'd like to give them a chance to get it. Luckily for me, the original person it had been promised to never showed up to get it, and the giver was glad to let me take it off her hands. She lived only a few blocks away, so in a span of 5 minutes I was able to go out and get my daughter a whole new wardrobe!

My daughter wasn't home when I arrived with the goodies, so I arranged everything like a store and surprised her when she got home. She was thrilled!! She "shopped" carefully, deciding what she loved and what didn't suit her, what fit now and what she'll save to grow into. A small pile was separated out to bring to her cousins. The brown dress was the hit of the day, and she changed into it to eat dinner. She was also especially excited about the bathrobe. She's been asking for one since I finally gave away her 3-sizes-too-small former robe, and it just hasn't been easy to come by used. What a bonus to find one in the freecycle bag, looking brand new!

What a lovely surprise on an otherwise routine Monday!