I’ve decided that I am going to start tracking the amount I save at the supermarket each week with coupons and price matches.  In part this is to keep myself motivated that the hours of work involved is worth it.  Additionally, I hope that it serves as motivation for others as well.

For the pantry stockpile I purchased 10 lbs of Barilla pasta and 10 5oz cans of chunk light tuna.  I picked up 5 bottles of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice (3 100% juice, 2 “cocktail”) and 3 64oz. containers of Tropicana punch/ade (2 of which are in the freezer).

For Accolan’s daily smoothies I picked up 8 lbs of oranges, 3 lbs of strawberries, over 2 lbs of bananas, and 2 whole pineapples.  I also decided to try out Silk’s fruit and protein beverage ($1.50 a container after price match and c/o) as a way for me to have a cheater’s smoothie as I dash out the door to work.

The “snack drawer” is the happy recipient of 4 boxes of Entenmann’s treats, 1 package of Chips Deluxe cookies, and 3 boxes of Great Value brand snacks.  I’d like to say these will last a while but blogging is about honesty.

I also brought home 3 8oz blocks of cheddar cheese, 2 bags of packaged salad, 4 16oz bottles of salad dressing, a loaf of white bread, an 18-pk of eggs, a box of no-name Splenda, a lb of Oscar Meyer bologna and 2 16oz bottles of coffee creamer.

I also snagged 2 packages of dental floss and 2 small tubes of hand cream.

We saved $40 in price matches and $24 in manufacturer coupons.  I spent about $65 for $130 worth of groceries.  That’s a 50% savings!!!

Now granted “earning” that $65 savings comes at a cost …

1) It takes hours to find, print and sort the coupons (and then match them to a given week’s sales).

2) I have to buy ink for my printer (printing in grayscale & draft mode helps alleviate this) and purchase the weekly Sunday paper (sometimes multiple copies)

3) It takes time to read each competitor sale flier and list all the sales that intrigue me.

4) I have to then take that list and narrow it down further in order to make sure that whenever possible I am matching a coupon to the sale and that I am adhering to my weekly budget.

And then there is the juggling act that comes from having to keep track (at least mentally) of what I have on hand and what meals I can make out of it.  I personally think it’s worth it.  What are you willing to do to save money on groceries?

Blessings

Jia

The last couple of weeks have been difficult for me.  There is of course the physical aspect of it.  Working 60+ hours a week, only rarely getting a day off, is tough.  Add to that my issues with chronic pain (arthritis, neurofibromatosis, pelvic/abdominal adhesions) and fatigue and I’ve been, frankly, a mess.

More recently my stress levels have been heightened by both a situation with Reya (not fit for public consumption) and an issue with my primary job where (just like Spring of 2011 and 2010) I am being threatened with a pay cut.  The reasoning behind this threat is long and convoluted (and unmerited to boot) and is compounded by the fact that the business of telemarketing sales has become so much harder than it was when I joined this company 10 years ago.  Unfortunately, while I’ve managed to squeak by in years past I might not be able to pull it off this year – which fills me with stark terror as I can’t afford to lose the $160-320 a month I might lose.

Last week I reached my breaking point.  I took a sick day on Wednesday after having a headache for 3 straight days.  Friday found me crying 2 hours into my shift as I was, yet again, finding myself unable to make a sale no matter what I said or did.  I realized that I had to make a change.

Effective this week I have rearranged my hours at my primary job, and cut back from 40 to 36 hours a week.  This will allow me to have one day completely off a week – to catch up on sleep, to catch up on cooking (and other chores), to spend time with the family, and to just not have to deal with customers (on the phone or in person).

I also hope to use this found time to start working on me.  My therapist wants us to start working on excavating/rediscovering my Self.  The real me that I have slowly over the years shoved down into boxes, put up on shelves, or hidden in closets.

I will of course keep you posted.

Jia

In years past our gardening has not done very well.  Most years we used containers – and got very little for our efforts.  Last year my father relented and allowed us to actually break ground and plant an actual (albeit small) garden.  It pretty much failed.  Some of it was due to weather, some of it was due to poor soil quality, but most of it (I think anyway) was due to the allowed spot getting too little sunlight.

This year my dad gave his go-ahead to actual rip up a goodly amount of lawn for raised beds.  We are planning to use the square foot gardening model and are planting much more than we ever have before.   Earlier this year Accolan built the frames for 2 8′x4′ garden beds – which gives us room (according to their plan) for an awful lot of variety.

The first has been in the ground for several weeks now, and this week found me getting my first seedlings and seeds planted.

So far we have planted various culinary herbs, 6 squares of sweet peas (8 plants in each square with tepee frameworks to climb up), 2 squares of mixed lettuce (buttercrunch, romaine, and red leaf), 1 square of spinach, 2 squares of broccoli, 2 squares of cauliflower, and 1 square of purple kale.  I also have 4 squares of bush bean seeds planted as well as 1 box each of radish, beet, and turnip seeds.  There is still room for cucumber and zucchini.

Accolan broke ground on the second bed today.  This is earmarked for primarily nightshade variety veggies (yes yes I know that they are botanically fruit) – eggplant, tomato, and sweet bell peppers.

Not much excites me these days (depression sucks), but, this garden does.

Blessings

Jia

Probably the biggest, and unfortunately the most time consuming, way I save money on groceries each week is by making use of the ad match policy at my local Walmart.  If you’re unfamiliar with it, in simple terms it means that the cashier can lower the prices on the items you’re buying to match ads in local competitor fliers.  And while this policy means matching prices on toys, movies, and electronics, it also means matching prices on groceries.  It must be the exact same item, but this applies not only to brand name items, but to fresh meat and produce as well.

This is what I do:

Over the weekend I read my sale fliers (Acme, Pathmark, Stop & Shop, Top Tomato, Aldi, A&P, Foodtown, Shoprite etc) cover to cover making lists of any item that catches my eye as being a particularly good deal for each store.

I then condense my list into a master shopping list that lists everything I plan to price match and the store I am matching it to.  For example:

• Frozen – Bird’s Eye Steam Fresh Veggies – 10 to 12 oz – Shoprite – .99 each
• Produce – Whole Pineapple – Aldi – .99 each
• Meat – Bone-In Asst’d Pork Chops – Pathmark – 1.49/lb

Shopping involves using two carts – one for items that don’t have a price match and the other for everything I will be asking my cashier to do a price adjustment on.

Checking out takes forever, I won’t lie.  It gets easier as you get to know the cashiers in your local Walmart and learn which ones have a harder time with doing the manual price change.

You can still use manufacturer coupons on top of any ad matches you take advantage of.

This week I was able to save over $50, close to 50% of my total grocery purchase.  This may be a time consuming way to save money on your groceries, but in my opinion is well well worth it.

Blessings

Jia

The more time that passes with me working two jobs, the more things manage to fall through the cracks.

Most recently (and most troubling) has found me having to play catch up on a number of bills, because simply I forgot to pay them.  Of course that this is compounded by the fact that (even with working my full time job and my part time job) that there isn’t enough money to pay everybody.  And, unfortunately, this is only getting worse as we live off of credit cards as a way to supplement my meager wages.

Most of this is due to the limitations of my wage-earning ability right now.  I am barely managing to hack it working the hours I am.  And there are times (like with an upcoming appointment for Sephoni at the gastroeneterologist, or an unpaid sick day, or an evening off so I can go to therapy, or an unpaid holiday closure (Easter, Memorial Day, etc) at my full time job) when I have to lose hours I really do desperately need.  Of course this is compounded by the fact that (despite promising time and again to stop) we have not yet been able to give up all of our unnecessary spending.

The bigger cuts were relatively easy.  Cutting back on cable services.  Using less utilities.  Telling Sephoni that we can’t afford summer camp this year.  You get the idea.

But, the smaller expenditures seem so harmless at the moment (or maybe more honestly we feel entitled to them) and add up all too quickly.  A bottle of cheap wine, a bag of chips, a novel I’ve been waiting to read, a bunch of clothes off clearance.  $5 here … $10, 15, or 20 there.  It adds up.

I think a lot of it had to do with thinking that it would be resolved by now.  That we only had to hold on “for a little while.”  Unfortunately, more than 8 months later, there isn’t an actual end in sight.  Armed with the knowledge that it will be at least 4-6 months until we hopefully start to get anything in the way of good news (if Accolan gets approved for VA benefits, if our lawyer can convince his disability provider to do the right thing, if we can get him approved instead by SSDI) I have renewed my intentions toward living on less, living more simply, learning to be free from the gimmies.

I don’t share this to whine, although I know that it is probably how it sounds.  I share this more as a way to hold myself (us) accountable.  To start moving in the right direction.

In the meantime all I can do is try to hold on to the faith (the hope … the prayer) that it will all be ok in the end.

Blessings

Jia