Here is a printable coupon for Silk Soy Milk or Almond Milk products. I use the almond milk. It's delicious and dairy and soy free.

http://www.drinksilk.ca/coupon/13307_SK_Canada_eCoupon_Opt-en.pdf

So far, it has been a no-spend day for me. Hooray.

I have, however, been working on cooking all day. I made breakfast for the hubby and I. Yesterday, I bought 2 3-lb packages of ground beef and divided it up into patties and put them in the freezer. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth it since the large packages cost less per pound. Then, I got right to work on making my lunches. I made the following gluten free recipe for Chicken Cacciatore.

http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/celiac/cc.html

Don't worry. If you want to make it, it's delicious. I spiced it up a bit by adding cumin, red pepper flakes, substituting roasted canned tomatoes for the can of tomatoes, and adding about 4 ounces of canned corn. Yummy. I made rice to go with it. I only needed enough for 5 lunches, but I got 5 lunches, plus a little extra. Yea for me!

If I had a digital camera, I would take a picture, but I don't.

I just found out a survey check is on the way. I should get it tomorrow or the next day.

If any of you would like to earn a little extra money by watching videos and answering surveys, click here to sign up with Beezag.

http://www.beezag.com/index.html?utm_source=beezag&utm_mediu...

I get paid today, so I have pre-allocated money to make payments on Hospital Debts #1 and #2, as well as the mortgage. I have also paid the internet bill and one other bill that I cannot remember. There is more money going to savings and retirement. More money is going to the conference challenge. This is great.

I already have my lunch and dinner menus planned out for the next two weeks and am going shopping today to do that.

My lunches for the next two weeks will be:

1) Chicken salad sandwich on gluten free bread, fresh fruit, handful of nuts, filtered water
2) Chicken cacciatore with rice, green peppers, and spices, handful of nuts, filtered water, fresh fruit

Well, I did finally get a paypal payment from cash4books.net for a book I sold them. I put it into the Spare Change/Conference Challenge. I am seeking other sources of possible books. It's kind of hard right now, though, to do anything with this. Last week, my hubby went to a nearby town to take our car tax and registration payment to be applied. Normally, I mail it, because we never normally go there and it would have been late if we had not have taken it there. Anyway, on the way back, the car died on the highgway, but he was able to get it off the road and call AAA for a tow. Anyway, I took off work a little early on Friday anyway. Because of having no car, I knew I would need to get groceries on Friday, because the city bus does not run on weekends. I live in a small town and it is a miracle we even have a bus. So, because of my car dying and needing an $800 repair, my hopes of shopping yard sales for books to sell are shot out of the water. Apparently, I am not the only one with car and other mechanical problems, though. I was talking with a couple of friends today who were telling me of similar problems. Must be something in the air. Anyway, I told the hubby that until we get hospital bills #1 and #2 paid off, we are going to occasionally have little problems like this because we don't have a lot of wiggle room. He said that it sounds like we need to pay them off with the tax return, but I told him by the time the tax return gets here, #2 will probably be paid off. #1 will have a couple of hundred left on it. I think with whatever is left, we should put 1/2 into the regular savings and 1/2 into the house savings. After living in our house for a year, we can also get level payment plan on the gas and electric, so then gas and electric won't be such a problem.

Well, I sold one book already, on Monday I think. I mailed it off (shipping is free). I am supposed to get payment within 3 days. I am already looking at frequently a local ongoing book sale, buying books that cash4books will buy, and selling them. I looked some up to see what types will sell well. It's a little bit of everything. I am putting the loot into my Spare Change/Conference Challenge.

Oh, and I got good news on the Conference Challenge. I have applied for additional funding at work to attend the conference based on doing a presentation there. If the funding is approved, they can pay for my conference registration as a loan out of the reimbursement I would be expected to get.

More new on the gluten free front also. I finally found a bread I can eat that does not have any wheat, barley, rye, oats, or dairy in it. It is definitely different than regular bread, but it is quite tasty.

Well, last week I ate lunch out two days. One day was when a person came to interview for a job at my work. We always go out to lunch with them. It was fairly inexpensive, only $9.53 for my portion. The other day I went out to lunch was free for me, because it was a vendor we deal with who took me to lunch and paid. So, good for me.

Anyway, because of that I had 2 tuna pouches and 1/2 a bag of carrots left over that I need to use.

Monday - we are closing on our house tomorrow, so I have no idea what lunch will be. I am taking the day off from work. If I am back at home by lunch, I will eat lunch in, probably a peanut butter sandwich. If not, who knows?

Tuesday - Starkist tuna pouch, mayo, seasonings, saltines, bag of peanuts, apple, filtered water

Wednesday - Starkist tuna pouch, mayo, seasonings, saltines, bag of peanuts, apple, filtered water

Thursday - 1/2 bag of Tyson refrigerated chicken strips, mayo, bread, handful of almonds, apple, filtered water

Friday - 1/2 bag of Tyson refrigerated chicken strips, mayo, bread, handful of almonds, apple, filtered water

I got an excellent deal on the Tyson refrigerated chicken strips. Sometimes the store puts meat like this on markdown because it will expire soon. I always check the date to make sure I am not getting old meat. It was marked down to $1.99. I had a $0.55 coupon which doubled to $1.00.

Well, this past weekend, I made out like a fat rat at Walgreens. Here are the details.

Nature's Bounty supplements were on sale for BOGOF. I also had $1.00 off coupons for one bottle each. I got two bottles.

Nature's Made supplements were on sale for $4.59 each. I take a lot of B Complex, so I got two bottles.

Duracell batteries (8 packs of AAs) were on sale for $5.99. I would have gotten $2.00 more off, but my coupon for that expired 4/30/2010. Oh well, we were almost out of batteries and this was a good price.

I actually saved $19.79, which was almost as much as I spent $21.24. Woo-hoo!

I am not into Doritos and can't even eat them, but a friend send me a pdf file with coupons for free Doritos. If you are so inclined, send me back a message with your email and I will send you the pdf file.

-
Update: I sent a friend on facebook a message about this and she said this coupon is a fake, so I have deleted it.

I got a survey check for $8.50 in the mail the other day. I also just cashed in my Toluna survey points for $20.00. I should get that money in about a month. I will use it to make my next payment on Hospital Bill #1 along with my regular payment. That will make a little over $200.00 paid on debt for the Spare Change Challenge and bring my balance on that debt to $349.08.

Someone on an email listservs referred me to this survey site. I immediately set up an account and already have a balance of $2.00. It only takes $10.00 to cash in and they pay automatically through paypal once the balance reaches $10.00. This money will definitely go to my Spare Change Challenge. If you want to make more money doing surveys, click here.

http://palmresearch.com/index.pl?ref=1304052

Hey, I just cashed in some survey points and will get $5.00 in a few days. I will delay making a payment on hospital debt #1 until that deposit arrives.

------------------

Update: I just realized my Spare Change Challenge total was incorrect. The total amount paid off so far is $128.00, not $28.00! I was shorting myself some credit!

Well, I got a $7.00 survey check in the mail. It will be deposited tomorrow. On Friday, I will write a check with my regular $20.00 payment plus the $7.00 Spare Change Challenge money. This will bring the balance of hospital debt #1 to $454.58. Yes! I will meet my original goal of less than $400.00 on this debt before June even!

Debt is Down. Savings is Up. Retirement is up, so networth is up. Yahoo! Well, I got paid again on Friday. I paid the gas bill, electric bill, cell phone bill, hospital debt #2, credit card bill, and bought gas and groceries. I averted a minor financial disaster last week when someone stole my debit card number and made a large charge to my account, resulting in me being overdrawn. As a result, my card was cancelled. Don't worry. After about 5 phone calls, I think everything has been taken care of and when I do get a new card, I will be using it much more selectively. When I went out to do shopping last Saturday and today, I cashed a check for my budgeted amount. Last Saturday when all shopping was done, I still had 1/3 of my cash left. Yahoo! This Saturday, after finishing, I had only about $3.00 left because I was out of a lot of stuff, but that's still in the black. I did have to write a check at Walgreens, though. Heads up, if you are coupon shopper and get Dollar General's emails, watch for a special coupon to use. It gives you 20% extra off some things and 10% off of others. I combined that with some other coupons and saved over $5.00 just at that store. Cool.

And today, I decided to give back to our men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. A group at my work is collecting stuff to send there and so I bought a few things to send. They only wanted baby wipes, granola bars, razors, toilet paper, and socks. I really wanted to send toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and toothbrushes, but they told me they only wanted certain things. What gives? I don't know, but that sounded kind of weird, like who would refuse a donation like that?

Last minute update: I just opened the mail and received a reimbursement check from work for $5.40. This goes right to savings. I also received a statement for hospital bill #1, so a check for it is off in the mail now.

Well, I got paid again Friday. I decided to start building up my emergency fund to $1000 again and then start hitting the debt really hard. So, my savings is up to $838.43. Yippee. My cc is down about $20.00. I also saved an astounding $22.42 doing my shopping this weekend. I am planning on directing it to the cc. I think that may be a record for me. I have already paid the rent, internet bill, bought groceries and household stuff, put more money in savings, and set aside $165.00 for dh to take a CPR trainor course. My husband says he is supportive of getting out of debt, but does not seem to want to do the work and always wants to buy what I like to call "shinies." In other words, he would rather buy some useless crap we don't need rather than buy financial security. Hmm... I haven't really decided how to feel about that, but I have figured out a way to circumvent the buying of the shinies. Instead of waiting until payday arrives to write checks for bills, I write them on Wednesday, two days before. That makes sure that household bills and debts get paid. If I don't have any money left after that, I just don't have it. I have decided that that's exactly what I will tell him if it happens.

I had a couple of things going on last week that necessitated eating out two days, so I have leftover frugal lunches for this week.

I have:
2 bowls chicken/vegetable soup with rice
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
2 refrigerated chicken strips packages
2 bowls chinese noodles
frozen vegetables
2 applies
5 banannas
pretzels
trail mix
6 bottles water

Lunch 1:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 apple
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 2:
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
1 apple
1 bananna (more fruit here because chicken salad packet kind of skimpy)
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 3:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 4:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 5:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

My finances have yo-yoed a little bit lately. I feel like I made significant progress and then something happens that makes me feel like I am back at step one again. I had $1000 in my savings and then I had to take out $140 to get the starter on my car replaced. Something else happened, too, but I can't remember what. Anyway, I am getting savings slowly built back up and debt paid down. I am also slowly getting my car replacement account and house account built up. Hospital Bills #1 and #2 are also down some. I will be paying more on #2 on Friday. Also, I will be leaving on Thursday for a conference and will be back on Friday. About 10-15 days later, I will get a reimbursement of about $120, which will immediately be directed to the credit card. It will not be spent on shinies, dinner out, etc., as those things don't contribute to my financial freedom. I got a copy of Dave Ramsey's book at the library and copied the budget forms from the back. I adapted them for my situation and made a spreadsheet based on them. I am not sure if they envelope thing will work for me, as predicting how much groceries will cost is impossible. I am going to try it for awhile without envelopes.

Well, I got paid again on Friday. I have paid the utility bills and the credit card bill, and bought groceries and other items we needed. I am putting as much extra money on the credit card as I can. If it is halfway between paydays and I see that still have $400 in my checking, I send some more to the cc. I am also putting all found money, such as survey money, rebates, etc., towards the cc. I just got a $10 survey check on Friday and it is now on its way to the cc. It is an approach that seems to be working.

Well, I went shopping today for groceries and a few other things. I also made a deposit into my savings account. I just recently got two survey checks for $5.00 and $8.80. I also had $2.00 leftover from this week's spending money. I have also been saving my spare change in a small purse. I cashed that all in and added in $100 to make a deposit of $115.80 to my savings account. Woo-hoo! I want to get my savings up to $1000 and then start slamming the debt real hard.

Well, the topic for this article I found on this article on msn is certainly applicable in the current economy. I do some of this myself, playing money games, find money on the street, depositing what's in my pockets into my challenge, etc. I thought you all might want to know about it.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney...

Well, I had to dip into my savings recently to do repairs on my car. I was so glad that I had the money there. It brought my savings balance way down, but I will replenish it eventually.

I got $1.00 for a survey recently. That went straight to my Challenge. I also got a $10.00 Starbucks card by cashing in some survey points. This brings my Challenge balance is up to $1735.03. Woo-Hoo!

Well, my Challenge is currently at $1700.14. Several weeks ago, I blogged about the Dollar General GE Lightbulb rebate. I mailed in my rebate and today I received my check for $4.00! Hooray! After I cash the check tomorrow, this goes straight to the Challenge.

Well, as of late, I feel kind of like a chicken missing its own head. At my work, carpet is being laid in my area beginning March 13th. It will take about 1 week to do the entire floor. I have to finish up some projects I am working on and also take everything off the tops of my file cabinets, my desk, and my credenza. Oh well, that's almost done, but the nasty part where they stir up a lot of dust has yet to begin.

I also have some presentations to put together for conferences I am going to. I am going to one conference in April in a nearby town and big one in June. I have to put together presentations for both of them. I have registered for the first conference, but still have to do hotel reservations. I have arranged to share a hotel room for that conference, cutting my hotel costs in half. For the second conference, I have not made any travel arrangements yet, but I will have 2 roommates for that one. My boss is happy about that one, as my hotel costs will be cut from about $1200 to around $400. My pocketbook is happy too and the pressure to get together $2000 is not so heavy, but I am still scrambling to round up spare change, survey money, and rebate money. I am not desperate, but I don't want to be without, either. I do not want to use the credit card. My head is spinning.

Well, the early Christmas present I blogged about recently was a mistake, apparently the result of an absent minded data entry. The bill we received that indicated the bill was $150.00 lower than we thought it should was incorrect. Oh well, we will live and we will pay off the rest of the debt. I haven't written the check for this month's payment, but I will later.

I have added more money to the Conference Challenge recently, bringing the balance to $1581.94.

I also got paid yesterday. More money went to my savings. We also received our federal tax refund recently. We bought a PS3 with part of it (not my idea - it was dh) and also got some work done on the cart with part of it. At this point, I took control and insisted that we put the rest into savings, bringing the balance to $597.35. Today, we got our state tax refund and I took charge. I put it in my checking. As soon as I can make it so, it will be making its way to the credit card company. Apparently, I need to take charge once in awhile to make serious headway with finances.

More money was also added to my retirement, bringing the balance to $13,301.98.

I also went grocery shopping today. I used coupons, my own bags, and bought sale items at the grocery store which gave me $3.84 off my bill. I also went to Walgreens and bought Nature Made vitamins for buy one get one free. I had a $1.00 off coupon for each bottle. I also bought a small plastic bottle to use for cleanser on my trip in June (my skin is sensitive, so I can't use hotel soap) and had a coupon for 99 cents to buy the bottle. I also bought a package of quart size zip top bags for 99 cents with a Walgreens coupon. As I was checking out, I noticed I saved $11.79 and spent $9.23. Woo-hoo!

At Dollar General, I bought a few things. I bought two CFL bulbs. They had tear off rebate forms for GE lightbulbs. After rebate, you basically get one lightbulb free. So, if you are in the need for CFL bulbs, check out Dollar General. I bought two 60 watt CFL bulbs for $8.00, but I will get $4.00 back.

Hi, everyone. I was just reading my email and got a message from Dollar General that included a coupon for Air Wick products. Here is the link if you want to print it.

http://www.dollargeneral.com/Pages/AECouponSignup.aspx

Well, I got paid yesterday. $20.00 went directly into my savings without me ever seeing it. Yeah! This brings my balance to $80.00. My employer sent more money to my retirement, bring my balance to $13,695.70.

Today, I went grocery shopping. At Dollar General, I bought crackers, peanut butter, mayo, and tuna fish in foil pouches. I used $0.85 in coupons and spent $11.70.

At Big Lots, I bought cat food, tea bags, and a loaf of bread. I spent $7.19.

At Dillons, I bought numerous things, but the most remarkable was the 18 oz container of Quaker Oatmeal that was on sale 2 for $4.00. I had a coupon for $0.60, which was doubled to $1.00, so I got my oatmeal for $1.00. At that price, I could have bought two, but I also have some other upcoming expenses that I need to budget for. I also bought two Scotch Bright scouring sponges for $1.00 each. I had a $0.75 coupon which was doubled to $1.00, giving me a free sponge. My total savings with coupons, sales, and bringing my own bags at this store came to $8.97.

I also set aside $80.00 for the Conference Challenge, bringing my balance to $1469.76. Oops. I found some change that I added to my Conference Challenge, bringing my balance to $1473.62.

I really love this game. This is fun and it gives me stuff that I need.

Well, today was a spending and saving day. I have my checking and savings accounts at different places (for good reason), so I went to an atm and got $80 out ($20 for my mad money, $40 for set aside for my conference in June, and $20 for savings). I went to the credit union and deposited the $20 to my savings, bringing the balance to $60. Yes, I have $60 in my savings!

At Dollar Tree, I bought 3 quarts of broth and 1 package of bubble mailers for $4.29. This is a really good deal on this stuff, as broth at my grocery store is about $3.00 for just 1 quart. This is the cheapest for buying bubble mailers also.

At Dollar General, I bought Electrasol, mayonaisse, crackers, tuna fish in foil packets, and an LED nightlight for $14.22. I used $0.75 in coupons here.

At Big Lots, I bought cat food, a canister of raisins, and an 8 oz measuring cup for $8.05. The only thing I don't like about this store is that you can't use coupons, but they have very good deals on stuff.

At my regular grocery store, I used 4 coupons which were all doubled, used my own bags, and bought as much as I could on sale. My savings was $12.40 and I spent $46.67.

For the most part, the coupons are courtesy of some very nice coupon trading partners at Thriftyfun.com. I have not drastically reduced my spending as a result, but I have reduced it and it has allowed me to weather the budget storms a little more easily.

At Walgreens, I bought some Duracell batteries which were on sale $2.00 off. I also had a $0.75 coupon and the capability of sending in a $3.00 rebate, bringing the cost of the batteries from $11.99 down to about $6.24. Woo-hoo!

Well, I got paid again yesterday and went shopping today. My savings deposits automatically come out of my pay and into the savings account at a credit union. My savings balance is now $40.00. That doesn't sound like much, but I haven't had that much in savings in months. (Yeah!)

I went to Walgreens and bought Qtips, Bic shavors, Band-aids, Blue Diamond Almonds, Walgreens brand liquid hand soap, Crest Glide Floss, a birthday card, and Oil of Olay fash wash. Three of the items were on sale and everything except the birthday card I had a manufacturer coupon for. For the almonds, I also had a Walgreens coupon for Buy one get one free. I saved over $10.65. Woo-hoo!

At Dillons, I bought quite a few things, too numerous to mention here, and had several coupons amounting to $3.45. Two of them were doubled, several things were on sale, and I took my own bags. Total savings amounted to $8.53.

At Dollar Tree, I only bought puffy shipping envelopes. It's silly, I know, but it is the best place in town to buy them. The post office charges highway robbery rates for them.

At Big Lots, I paid $15.02 for several things I needed.

Recently, I discovered it is possible to use coupons at Dollar General, my favorite place to buy peanut butter, Hellman's mayonnaise, and cat food. I used $2.00 in coupons here.

Some of the items I bought today were stock up items using coupons that would expire soon. But I feel really good about it.

I also put some money into the Conference Challenge, bring my total to $1343.76.

_______________________________

Oh, as an update, I will add that I made another payment on Hospital Debt #1, bringing the balance to $878.58.

I also filled a customer satisfaction survey for Walgreens. I know that some people say those things are nonsense, but one time I did actually win a $5.00 gift card. This month, the prize is $1,000. I could definitely have that.

Well, I went for a visit to my chiropractor who does acupuncture and other alternative medicine. She said I am pretty ship shape for a change. When I first started going to her about 1 year ago, I had eczema on my back so bad that it was making me scratch all the time. My asthma was majorly bad, too. I have tried all the standard treatments of inhalers, pills, and allergy shots and nothing worked until I started getting acupuncture and taking vitamins and minerals. So hoo-ray there!

I am also a member at Thrifty Fun (

http://www.thriftyfun.com). There is a lot of information there like recipes, tips to save money, and a forum for swapping coupons. If any of you would like to swap coupons and save more money, go to the website. No, I am not being paid for this. I am just a satisfied user of this free website and want to spread the word. I have lots of coupons for stuff I don't use right now and would love to trade them for something I do use.

My hubby gave me excess, loose pocket change today. Who am I to turn it down? It is found money and therefore goes to the challenge, bringing my total to $1254.97.

I had great success at Walgreens today. I bought about $32.00 worth of merchandise for $16.01. For everything I bought, I had coupons (except the shampoo) and they were on sale. (I should add here that I planned out my shopping list extensively on paper and did not buy anything that I want rather than need.)

Palmolive detergent 10 oz (Qty=2) - I had a $0.50 manufacturer coupon plus a Walgrees coupon for $1.00 for each bottle, plus it was on sale for $1.79. If I tallied it up correctly ($2.58 - $2.00 - $0.50), it came to $0.08 I spent on it. I have never used this brand, but I thought why not?

Tom's of Maine toothpaste 6 oz (Qty=2) - I always buy this brand of toothpaste and have, until recently, been able to get it at Big Lots for $2.50. It was on sale for $3.99 and I had coupons for $1.00 for each tube.

White Rain Shampoo $1.00 (Qty=1) - This shampoo was on sale for $1.00 for 18 oz. I didn't need shampoo right now, but this is the brand I buy and I have been wanting to do a stock-up of certain things as a type of savings account.

Nature Made B Complex vitamins (Qty=2) - These vitamins were on sale buy one get one free. I also had coupons I downloaded from the manufacturer website for $1.00 each, bringing the total to $3.24 each.

I did pretty good with my other shopping too. I saved $0.50 at Dollar General because Cottonelle toilet paper was on sale. I also saved $5.37 at Dillons with coupons, sales, and using my own bags. This feels good. I like this game.

I was talking to the hubby tonight about our finances. I gave him an update on the amount left to pay on our medical debts. He asked if he thought we should use the tax refund to pay off mine, the lesser of the two. I said absolutely, but that it will still a little over $100 that we have to pay. After I go to my conference next June, I will get a $1500 reimbursement check towards the end of June. I can use that to pay the rest of my medical debt and a good hunk of his. He proposed this whole payoff strategy. I was very surprised to say the least. Usually, he wants to blow part of the tax refund on shineys. Things are looking good, as his attitude is changing. I think it is because he wants to buy a house and I don't feel comfortable doing so until the medical debt is paid off, which will free up our budget somewhat.

Well, today was payday, so I have updated my totals at the right.

1) Hospital Debt #2 paid $75.00 on it, bringing it down to $1927.60

2) Paid $66.00 to cc - must get total and update it later

3) deposited $20.00 to savings, bringing my total to $20.00. I had to deposit $5.00 just to open the account and that was all I had at the time.

4) was supposed to set aside $80.00 for the conference challenge, but something went kafluey with my order at Sonic today and it wound up being only $68.00. I will get more money tomorrow to bring the total to $1264.46.

My net worth is going up a little. Cool. I plan to shop at Walgreens and other stores tomorrow and use the coupons I cut from the walgreens circular, the Sunday paper, and ones that other people sent to me. I must go now and make my shopping list.

Hello, folks.

Someone else mentioned that they had used rewards points on a credit card to pay down their debt. The only things I was aware of that I could get from mine was cash (but you had to have about 10,000 points), merchandise which I have no intention of using, or useless gift cards. Well, tonight as I sit here eating my frugal tuna salad with peas, I thought "why not?". So, I logged in to see if I could use my points for anything like getting cash via paypal, check, etc. Something useful would be nice. Well, miracles, miracles. I could cash in my points and get a check or get a credit on my credit card. I could also get gift cards. I decided to go for option #2. Paying down the debt is going to give me a better return than anything else. It wasn't very much, considering the amount owed on the card, but it is something. Once it posts, I will log into networthiq and update my debt total. Cool. I feel very accomplished and blessed. Thank you to whoever mentioned that in their blog.

------------------

As an update to this, I will log in and check my rewards occasionally, and if I have enough, I will keep doing this.

Well, I have a little bit about failure today and little bit about success.

I got a survey check in the mail from Opinion Outpost, which was designated for the Conference Challenge. However, my checking account only had about $8.00 left in it after doing the grocery shopping, so I deposited it to checking for regular spending.

My success has to do with decreasing the amount spent on groceries. I have in the past usually spent around $80-90 per week on groceries for two adults and two cats. This week I got it down to $52.94. Woo-hoo! It does seem to go up and down depending on whether I need to buy toilet paper, detergent, cat litter, etc. I look for coupons, but I never seem to find any for Arm and Hammer Cat Litter and a box is around $8.00. I think that's a lot, but we have tried cheaper brands, but they don't seem to work as well. I know I don't really need to buy certain brands, like Hellman's mayo or Starkist tuna, for example, but my husband doesn't like other kinds.

Aldi $7.84
Dollar General
Dollar Tree $2.15
Big Lots $6.65
Dillons $27.39

Hellman's Mayo $4.00
Tuna Fish in Foil Pouch $1.10 (2)
Filtered water $0.45 (3 of these)
Tomato sauce $0.75 (4 of these)
Starkist Tuna $0.82 (2 of these)
Ground beef $2.49/lb (6 pounds)
Beef jerky $3.69
Chicken broth $1.00 (to make soup - already have chicken)
Pencil holder $1.00
Whole wheat bread $1.79 (2 of these)
Egg noodles $0.99
Canned beans for chili $0.55 (3 of these)
Eggs $1.29
Diced canned tomatoes $0.90 (3 of these)
Trail mix $1.00
Macaroni $1.33
Spaghetti noodles $0.70
Quart freezer bags $1.00
Snack zip bags $1.00
Tomato puree $0.60

Total $52.94

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Oh, I just located a place to get Arm and Hammer cat litter coupons.

http://www.armandhammer.com/