CVS deals!

Man have I been loving CVS recently!! I had a bunch of ECBs that were going to expire this weekend so I had to use them up. Nothing really jumped out at me as far as ECB deals go but I was able to score some deals on general food and household goodies.


So I ended up with 1 box of South Beach Bars (on sale for 2.50 plus $1/1 coupon), 2 boxes of pop tarts (on sale for $4 for both plus $1/2 coupon), gatorade (on sale for $0.77 each), razors (on sale for $2.99), Stayfree ($3.79 each plus BOGO coupon), Tic Tacs (needed some filler).

I also had a coupon for $4/$20 and $9.98 in ECBs.

My total OOP ended up at $1.97 (most of this was tax!) and I saved $29.57 from the non-sale prices.

Not too bad!!! I'm down to $13 for my grocery budget but this was well worth the $2!

Grocery goals/mini-pantry challenge

So, I've had a lot of house guests this month which has been awesome! The rest of the month is looking similarly busy. I managed to eat up most of my grocery budget for July already - and we are only halfway through the month!

Luckily, I have a pretty decent stockpile plus an infusion of fresh fruits and veggies every week from my CSA, so I should be fine to make it through the rest of the month. I do have some cousins coming to visit at the end of the month and I am probably going to have to pick up some goodies for their visit, but other than that I see no immediate needs.

In fact, I've even got some freezer meals left over from June that I haven't managed to eat yet. So I think this is the perfect time to do some cleaning out and making room.

Currently in the freezer I have:
4 cooked pork chops
1 bag cooked BBQ chicken
1/2 bag cooked regular chicken
1/2 lb Taco meat
1 meal Chicken Curry
1/2 pan Corn bread
1 pack hot dogs
1 loaf bread
4 hamburger rolls
1 hot dog roll
1 package deli flats
2 boxes waffles
Flour tortillas
A few packages of cheese
1 packaged of 3 uncooked chicken breasts

I'm actually surprised by how much I have - I can definitely make it through the next few weeks on the $15 I have left in my budget!

Wascally Wabbits!

So, we've had a casualty. A rabbit got to my tomato planet this morning. By the time I saw him the plant was a goner so instead of chasing him off right away, I took his picture. At that point he might as well have enjoyed his meal!

Guess I won't be growing any more tomatoes this summer!

June Financial Update

Ok - I finally got around to tallying up my June numbers. All in all I did pretty well in June despite needing a new timing belt for my car.

Dave Ramsey style goals
1. Pay off all debt other than my mortgage. Wahoo!
2. Fully fund an emergency fund by the end of December 2010 - Started the month at 65% of goal, ended at 100%!

Retirement
3. Achieve 100% of goal for retirement savings by the time I turn 30. Basically I think it would be cool to achieve a certain number by the time I am 30. Right now I am at 80% of this goal. -
Right now I am looking at about 84% of goal (started month at 82%).

However, given market fluctuation can be unpredictable, I have secondary goals.
a. Open Roth IRA account - Haven't opened one yet
b. Max out this account for 2010. This may be ambitious but we'll see how far I get.
c. Contribute 2% more per month to 401K. Right now I am contributing the maximum employer match but I can be doing better. - Haven't started this yet.

Some other misc. goals I'd like to make progress on, but may end up being a little ambitious for this year - definitely possible in 2011 though!
4. Start making an extra principal payment per month before the end of 2010 - Not yet
5. Start contributing the equivalent of a car payment per month into a savings account by the end of 2010. My vehicle is 7 years old and shows no sign of stopping but eventually it will need to be replaced and I would like to pay for it with cash. - I started contributing money towards the purchase of a new to me car. I am hoping I won't need anything for the next few years so that I can pay in cash.

ReStore Deals!

As I've mentioned previously, I love the ReStore. If you are patient and willing to look around, there are some crazy good deals to be had.

I had another successful visit this past weekend. I scored a Thomasville dresser with mirror, end table, and chest of drawers. Condition wise, it is probably a very good on a scale from poor to excellent. I cannot put into words how excited I am about these pieces. As an adult I haven't had a set of furniture so it is pretty exciting to finally have a set I love. And even better than it didn't cost too much!
So here it is!
The end table:
The dresser. The flash made it look a little lighter than it really is.


The dresser and mirror. I need some help putting the mirror onto the dresser. It is too heavy for just one person!

Next on the agenda is to find headboards for the master bedroom and the guest room and also a desk.

Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Summer Rolls with a slightly spicy peanut sauce is my new favorite way to enjoy salad. They are ridiculously easy to make, look pretty, and taste great. Here is how you make them.
Start out by preparing whatever you are going to put in the rolls. I chose green and red peppers, carrots, chicken, rice noodles, and lettuce.

Next, soak the rice paper for about 10 seconds so that it becomes somewhat pliable. Then pile up the goodies onto one side of the paper.

Finally you roll the rolls up just like a burrito. Tonight I had mine with some leftover pasta salad and this Thai Peanut Sauce recipe (it is amazing!)

Grocery deals!

I was in the mood for some bargain shopping tonight so I grabbed my coupons, consulted Hip2Save and Southern Savers and headed to Target and Harris Teeter.
I think I did pretty well for a spur of the moment shopping trip!
First up is Target:

I got:
2 packages of Eggo Waffles
2 BBQ Sauces
1 Salad Dressing
1 Brownie Mix

Total OOP: $5.36
Total Savings: $5.72
Best deals - the BBQ sauce was $0.25 each and the salad dressing was $0.76. I didn't have a coupon for the brownie mix but it was regularly priced at $0.77 - SCORE!

Next up was Harris Teeter:
I got:
1 Jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
2 Taco Seasoning
1 Chex MIx
1 Coconut Milk

Total OOP: $4.23
Total Savings: $5.80
Best deals - the taco seasoning was $0.40 each and the chex mix was $0.29

So my grand total was $9.59 for a decent amount of stuff! Not too shabby!