This is a really easy week to write about our grocery spending. We didn't go to the grocery store at all. We went for fresh produce last Thursday, and it lasted until Tuesday or Wednesday. We just did without fresh stuff over the last two days (we have lots of frozen, dried, and canned fruit and veggies), and went grocery shopping today. But of course today counts toward next week's shopping, since I do my week from Friday through Thursday.
Our weekly total this week was $0.
Our weekly budget is $100 per week for
our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat.
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $707.09.
We are 7.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently $42.81 under our budget for the year.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Our Valentine's Day
I hope everyone that celebrates had a great Valentine's Day this year! My husband was off Thursday and Friday last week, so we actually got to go out on Valentine's Day. We thought about seeing a movie, but decided to go out to eat and do a little shopping instead. We don't usually spend all that much on Valentine's Day presents for each other, and this year we didn't even buy any until we were out that day. I ended up buying my husband the movie "Here Comes the Boom" and he bought me the miniseries from History Channel "The Men Who Built America." We've already seen all of the Men Who Built America episodes, but we are both history nerds and will probably watch it several more times. We watched "Here Comes the Boom" on Valentine's Day with Elliott and Darla when we got home. It was one of those movies that Elliott and Carl both really wanted to see when we saw the previews, but it never came to our theater (we only have one movie theater within 30 miles of our house).
We bought Elliott a new TV for his Valentine's Day present. I know that probably sounds extravagant, but we were actually planning on buying him one anyway. We just decided to go ahead and do it on Thursday while we were in the electronics department at Walmart anyway. He's had a TV in his room since he was little, although he only uses it during breaks from school, and occasionally on the weekend. However, after remodeling his room recently, we didn't really have anywhere to put his old TV. So we decided we would get him a flat panel that could be hung on his wall. We bought him a 22 inch, and it looks perfect in his little room. Now my husband is itching to go ahead and buy a 3D TV for the living room, though, so we can have the one from the living room in our bedroom. Even though it was his idea to buy Elliott the flat panel he's now jealous that Elliott has a nicer TV than we do. Haha.
After we did our shopping, we grabbed pizza from Papa John's (we had a code for a free large pizza from the coin toss at the Super Bowl), and headed home to watch a movie. We got to snuggle with Elliott and listen to extra stories after the movie was over, and Elliott told us all about his party at school. It was a great day for all of us!
How was your Valentine's Day?
We bought Elliott a new TV for his Valentine's Day present. I know that probably sounds extravagant, but we were actually planning on buying him one anyway. We just decided to go ahead and do it on Thursday while we were in the electronics department at Walmart anyway. He's had a TV in his room since he was little, although he only uses it during breaks from school, and occasionally on the weekend. However, after remodeling his room recently, we didn't really have anywhere to put his old TV. So we decided we would get him a flat panel that could be hung on his wall. We bought him a 22 inch, and it looks perfect in his little room. Now my husband is itching to go ahead and buy a 3D TV for the living room, though, so we can have the one from the living room in our bedroom. Even though it was his idea to buy Elliott the flat panel he's now jealous that Elliott has a nicer TV than we do. Haha.
After we did our shopping, we grabbed pizza from Papa John's (we had a code for a free large pizza from the coin toss at the Super Bowl), and headed home to watch a movie. We got to snuggle with Elliott and listen to extra stories after the movie was over, and Elliott told us all about his party at school. It was a great day for all of us!
How was your Valentine's Day?
An Extended Weekend
So I took off 2 more days than I had planned. I forgot that Elliott had Monday off from school because of Presidents Day. Luckily he remembered. :)
Then yesterday he wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home from school. He was running just a little bit warm yesterday morning (still not what his school classifies as a fever, but a little warmer than normal) and complaining of a tummy ache. I really went back and forth over whether to send him to school or not. I'm glad I kept him home, although he probably would have been ok at school. He ended up staying in my bed until almost noon, though, so he definitely wasn't faking it. Usually he's up playing before that, even when he really is running a fever. He's back at school today, though, and apparently doing fine. He didn't go to my sister's classroom to bug her at any point this morning, which is usually what he does when he isn't feeling well.
We had a good weekend, though, and I think it was good for us that we were pretty well unplugged most of the weekend. Elliott had his last basketball game of the season, we made major progress on getting our house back in shape now that we are done remodeling, we took Elliott and a friend bowling, and we even found time for Elliott to have a friend over for several hours on Sunday. Overall, it was a great weekend (minus the sick stuff yesterday!)
Then yesterday he wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home from school. He was running just a little bit warm yesterday morning (still not what his school classifies as a fever, but a little warmer than normal) and complaining of a tummy ache. I really went back and forth over whether to send him to school or not. I'm glad I kept him home, although he probably would have been ok at school. He ended up staying in my bed until almost noon, though, so he definitely wasn't faking it. Usually he's up playing before that, even when he really is running a fever. He's back at school today, though, and apparently doing fine. He didn't go to my sister's classroom to bug her at any point this morning, which is usually what he does when he isn't feeling well.
We had a good weekend, though, and I think it was good for us that we were pretty well unplugged most of the weekend. Elliott had his last basketball game of the season, we made major progress on getting our house back in shape now that we are done remodeling, we took Elliott and a friend bowling, and we even found time for Elliott to have a friend over for several hours on Sunday. Overall, it was a great weekend (minus the sick stuff yesterday!)
Friday, February 15, 2013
Weekly Grocery Spending February 8-14
Last Friday my husband and I went grocery shopping together. That seems to always mean that we will end up spending too much. Last week was not an exception.
We ended up spending $210.11. I knew it would be quite a bit, because we were completely out of fresh produce and needed to buy some meat. My husband was also out of the easy junk that he likes to keep at work for days when he wants more than just the salad and fruit that he takes to work nearly everyday. We also stocked up on fruit cups for his lunch, as well as Elliott's. We also ended up with a spiral ham (it was on clearance because we bought it two days before the freeze or use by date), and corned beef, which added quite a bit to our total as well.
Then yesterday we ended up spending $11.13 on produce at Walmart. That puts us well over budget for the week, but as I've said before, we don't actually go grocery shopping every week, so I have confidence that we can make up for this overspending.
Our weekly total this week was $221.24.
That is significantly more than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I'm still hoping to make some decent progress on our vacation goal in February, though!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $707.09.
We are 6.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently $57.09 over our budget for the year.
We ended up spending $210.11. I knew it would be quite a bit, because we were completely out of fresh produce and needed to buy some meat. My husband was also out of the easy junk that he likes to keep at work for days when he wants more than just the salad and fruit that he takes to work nearly everyday. We also stocked up on fruit cups for his lunch, as well as Elliott's. We also ended up with a spiral ham (it was on clearance because we bought it two days before the freeze or use by date), and corned beef, which added quite a bit to our total as well.
Then yesterday we ended up spending $11.13 on produce at Walmart. That puts us well over budget for the week, but as I've said before, we don't actually go grocery shopping every week, so I have confidence that we can make up for this overspending.
Our weekly total this week was $221.24.
That is significantly more than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I'm still hoping to make some decent progress on our vacation goal in February, though!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $707.09.
We are 6.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently $57.09 over our budget for the year.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Valentine's Day Plans?
My husband is off tomorrow, so we are going to go out together while Elliott is at school. I'm pretty sure this will be our first alone Valentine's Day date ever. Or at least the first one celebrated on Valentine's Day. When we were dating I came up to see him over President's Day weekend, so I'm sure we went out then to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Tomorrow we are going to go out to lunch, and either do some shopping or see a movie, but I'm not sure which yet. Darla will be around tomorrow to take care of Elliott after he gets home from school, until we get home. We'll probably bring home pizza, and then have extra reading and snuggling time with Elliott before bed.
I probably won't be around much on my blog for the next few days. I'm rarely around on the weekend, and with my husband being off on Thursday and Friday, I probably won't be around for those two days either. I'll try to pop on long enough to post my weekly weigh in on Friday or Saturday, though!
What are your Valentine's Day plans?
Tomorrow we are going to go out to lunch, and either do some shopping or see a movie, but I'm not sure which yet. Darla will be around tomorrow to take care of Elliott after he gets home from school, until we get home. We'll probably bring home pizza, and then have extra reading and snuggling time with Elliott before bed.
I probably won't be around much on my blog for the next few days. I'm rarely around on the weekend, and with my husband being off on Thursday and Friday, I probably won't be around for those two days either. I'll try to pop on long enough to post my weekly weigh in on Friday or Saturday, though!
What are your Valentine's Day plans?
Monday, February 11, 2013
Weight Loss Check In February 8, 2013
This was my weigh in on Friday. We had an incredibly busy weekend again this weekend, and I didn't find the time to post this. My husband is off on Fridays this month, which makes things even crazier. This last Friday, I barely even found time to weigh in! We left to go shopping as soon as my sister and Elliott took off for school. We arrived home with just enough time for my husband to jump out of the van into his truck (the van was too full of big stuff for Elliott to sit in his seat) and go pick him up at the bus stop.
Anyway, my weight loss goal is to lose at least 40 lbs by the time we leave for vacation at the end of June. My big goal is to lose about 25% of my weight from a month ago, though. That puts me just about exactly where my doctor wants me to be.
My goal is to lose at least .5% of weight each week, but I certainly didn't do that well over the last two weeks! I only lost .4% over the last two weeks combined! I'm making more time this week for working out, though, and not having birthday cupcakes around will certainly help. :)
So far my total weight loss in the last 4 weeks has been 1.87%.
Anyway, my weight loss goal is to lose at least 40 lbs by the time we leave for vacation at the end of June. My big goal is to lose about 25% of my weight from a month ago, though. That puts me just about exactly where my doctor wants me to be.
My goal is to lose at least .5% of weight each week, but I certainly didn't do that well over the last two weeks! I only lost .4% over the last two weeks combined! I'm making more time this week for working out, though, and not having birthday cupcakes around will certainly help. :)
So far my total weight loss in the last 4 weeks has been 1.87%.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Weekly Grocery Spending February 1-7
We finally came in under budget on groceries again this week. I didn't go to the commissary at all this past week. I'm pretty sure I never went on base at all.
I did spend $7.69 on candy at Target and granola bars at Walmart, but that's the only groceries I bought this week.
My sister spent $12.77 at one grocery store on chips, cheese, drinks, and bread. She also spent another $4.48 on donuts and a package of hot dog buns at another store. I think that is all she spent for the week.
Our weekly total this week was $24.94.
That is less than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I'm hoping to make some decent progress on our vacation goal in February!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $485.85.
We are 5.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently $64.15 under budget.
I did spend $7.69 on candy at Target and granola bars at Walmart, but that's the only groceries I bought this week.
My sister spent $12.77 at one grocery store on chips, cheese, drinks, and bread. She also spent another $4.48 on donuts and a package of hot dog buns at another store. I think that is all she spent for the week.
Our weekly total this week was $24.94.
That is less than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I'm hoping to make some decent progress on our vacation goal in February!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $485.85.
We are 5.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently $64.15 under budget.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Parent Teacher Conferences
Sorry if this post sounds like I'm bragging. I probably am. ;) Some members of my family and close friends look at my blog to keep caught up on what is going on at my house, though, so I thought a blog post would be the easiest way to tell them about Elliott's parent/ teacher conferences.
This week is parent/teacher conference week at my son's school. Our conference was yesterday. I'm not sure how conferences are done at other schools, but at our school, we go in and talk to the teachers about any issues our children may be having. Our teachers also give us recent tests and projects our kids have done, and explain how our child's progress compares to others in the school, and others on a state wide level. For first graders, the only standardized state wide tests are in math and reading. But Elliott's teacher gave us handwriting samples, a phonics test, and told us how he's doing in Science and Social Studies as well.
Elliott is doing really well academically. His math scores have improved tremendously over the last few months. At the end of kindergarten he was right on level with the other kids at our school (who score several points higher as a whole than the "norm group"). At the beginning of first grade, his math skills were a little higher than the others in his school and about 75th-80th percentile compared to others that use the RIT scale for testing.. His middle of the year testing they did in January, he scored 95th to 98th percentile! His score was approximately that of a 50th percentile student in the middle of 3rd grade.
He didn't have as much growth on reading, but his teacher said that's to be expected considering how well he was already doing. He still scored in the 99th percentile on everything, but his line just didn't go up quite as much this time, which is of course totally fine. His RIT score on reading is about that of an average 5th grader. His DIBELS score showed that he could possibly be having trouble with reading comprehension, when compared to reading level, but his main reading teacher gave him a couple of unofficial tests and thinks that his comprehension is great. She thinks that he probably just didn't realize that the test monitor wanted MORE details on the retell part of the DIBELS test. His RIT test scores showed high reading comprehension as well.
His teachers said he's doing really well in everything, and neither of them see any problems at all academically. He still does best if he reads the directions himself, but is getting better about getting everything right when he has to listen to directions for the entire project.
The only behavior issue either of Elliott's teachers had with him this time was his recent hang up on the word "hate." He's been doing that at home, too, and we have no idea why. Sometimes when things don't go his way he tells us that he hates it, or he hates his life. His teachers aren't too concerned about it, because they say he calms down really fast, and doesn't pout or anything. But we are working on expressing frustration with different words. His teacher said he always apologizes after an outburst. She said she's also been giving him a little more time to transition, and it seems to be helping. He always finishes his work before the other kids, so he moves onto something else (lately he's been writing songs and stories, in addition to drawing pictures), and he just has a hard time stopping his fun projects to get back onto the same subject as the other kids. Any other parents deal with this? What worked for you?
Socially he is doing well. There are minor fights with his friends of course, but he gets along with everyone and has lots of friends. He occasionally has what one teacher describes as "baby of the family syndrome" and gets mad when things don't go his way, but those episodes are very infrequent. One of his teachers said that he does so well with things normally, that if she didn't know any better she would think he was one of several children, instead of an only child.
I am very proud of my son. He is doing so well in school. When he was born, he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and in knots. We were warned that he would probably have some delays, but they wouldn't do testing unless stuff showed up. He's been on the slow end of a few things physically, but never truly delayed. Academically, I think it takes him a little longer to get stuff sometimes, but after he thinks about it a little while, he's usually able to master things quickly.
I'm actually really proud of all of his friends, too. His class is an outstanding group of kids! They are all sweet, well behaved, AND smart! His district's first grade average RIT scores for middle of year are a little bit better than the norm group averages for middle of second grade for both reading and math! The kids in his class work hard and it shows. Of course it also helps that both of his teachers work with the kids individually to help each child improve.
This week is parent/teacher conference week at my son's school. Our conference was yesterday. I'm not sure how conferences are done at other schools, but at our school, we go in and talk to the teachers about any issues our children may be having. Our teachers also give us recent tests and projects our kids have done, and explain how our child's progress compares to others in the school, and others on a state wide level. For first graders, the only standardized state wide tests are in math and reading. But Elliott's teacher gave us handwriting samples, a phonics test, and told us how he's doing in Science and Social Studies as well.
Elliott is doing really well academically. His math scores have improved tremendously over the last few months. At the end of kindergarten he was right on level with the other kids at our school (who score several points higher as a whole than the "norm group"). At the beginning of first grade, his math skills were a little higher than the others in his school and about 75th-80th percentile compared to others that use the RIT scale for testing.. His middle of the year testing they did in January, he scored 95th to 98th percentile! His score was approximately that of a 50th percentile student in the middle of 3rd grade.
He didn't have as much growth on reading, but his teacher said that's to be expected considering how well he was already doing. He still scored in the 99th percentile on everything, but his line just didn't go up quite as much this time, which is of course totally fine. His RIT score on reading is about that of an average 5th grader. His DIBELS score showed that he could possibly be having trouble with reading comprehension, when compared to reading level, but his main reading teacher gave him a couple of unofficial tests and thinks that his comprehension is great. She thinks that he probably just didn't realize that the test monitor wanted MORE details on the retell part of the DIBELS test. His RIT test scores showed high reading comprehension as well.
His teachers said he's doing really well in everything, and neither of them see any problems at all academically. He still does best if he reads the directions himself, but is getting better about getting everything right when he has to listen to directions for the entire project.
The only behavior issue either of Elliott's teachers had with him this time was his recent hang up on the word "hate." He's been doing that at home, too, and we have no idea why. Sometimes when things don't go his way he tells us that he hates it, or he hates his life. His teachers aren't too concerned about it, because they say he calms down really fast, and doesn't pout or anything. But we are working on expressing frustration with different words. His teacher said he always apologizes after an outburst. She said she's also been giving him a little more time to transition, and it seems to be helping. He always finishes his work before the other kids, so he moves onto something else (lately he's been writing songs and stories, in addition to drawing pictures), and he just has a hard time stopping his fun projects to get back onto the same subject as the other kids. Any other parents deal with this? What worked for you?
Socially he is doing well. There are minor fights with his friends of course, but he gets along with everyone and has lots of friends. He occasionally has what one teacher describes as "baby of the family syndrome" and gets mad when things don't go his way, but those episodes are very infrequent. One of his teachers said that he does so well with things normally, that if she didn't know any better she would think he was one of several children, instead of an only child.
I am very proud of my son. He is doing so well in school. When he was born, he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and in knots. We were warned that he would probably have some delays, but they wouldn't do testing unless stuff showed up. He's been on the slow end of a few things physically, but never truly delayed. Academically, I think it takes him a little longer to get stuff sometimes, but after he thinks about it a little while, he's usually able to master things quickly.
I'm actually really proud of all of his friends, too. His class is an outstanding group of kids! They are all sweet, well behaved, AND smart! His district's first grade average RIT scores for middle of year are a little bit better than the norm group averages for middle of second grade for both reading and math! The kids in his class work hard and it shows. Of course it also helps that both of his teachers work with the kids individually to help each child improve.
Wordless Wednesday: Meet Minnie Meowse
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Another Successful Birthday Party
We had Elliott's birthday party on Saturday. As I've mentioned several times, we were in no way ready to have it at home, so we had it a local pizza place. We invited 23 kids, and thought probably 50-75% would show up. We had it right after a basketball game, or we would have estimated lower, but we thought since the kids were already in town, the parents would be more likely to take them. We ended up with 10 kids (11 counting Elliott, and 12 counting one of the boys' preschool sister who decided to participate in some of the party activities with us).
We would have had more, but the weather was awful! We were even under a blizzard warning, with no travel advised part of the time. So the kids who weren't already in Minot weren't able to come for the most part. Elliott's best friend's mom called me during the basketball game to tell me that she and the kids (he has a 5 year old and a 4 year old sister who were also invited to the party) wouldn't be able to attend because of the weather. And another mom told me at the party that her niece wouldn't be able to make it either, because of the weather.
The kids that were able to come had a great time, though. They colored masks while we were waiting for everyone to arrive, and then we ordered the pizza and turned them loose in the arcade while we waited for the pizza. After we ate pizza, we opened presents and then played for a few more minutes before coming back to the party room for cake and ice cream. After that it was time to hand out goody bags and parents were starting to arrive. So I think we timed it pretty well. We put on the invitation that the party started at 130, but since the game got out at about 1245, most of the kids were there by 1 or a few minutes after. I told parents we would be done around 3 or 315. So parents started showing up at about 5 til 3, and all the kids were picked up by 320.
My husband complained a little bit about the cost of the party, but after we discussed it more, he decided the price wasn't too bad. It was pretty much all inclusive. The party package included pizza, a drink, ice cream, and 10 tokens per child. It also included clean up (when my husband asked about a trash can, they told him to just pile the trash together and they would take care of it when Elliott was done unwrapping), and we didn't have to do much of anything for the set up either.
I have a feeling we will have more parties there in the future.
We would have had more, but the weather was awful! We were even under a blizzard warning, with no travel advised part of the time. So the kids who weren't already in Minot weren't able to come for the most part. Elliott's best friend's mom called me during the basketball game to tell me that she and the kids (he has a 5 year old and a 4 year old sister who were also invited to the party) wouldn't be able to attend because of the weather. And another mom told me at the party that her niece wouldn't be able to make it either, because of the weather.
The kids that were able to come had a great time, though. They colored masks while we were waiting for everyone to arrive, and then we ordered the pizza and turned them loose in the arcade while we waited for the pizza. After we ate pizza, we opened presents and then played for a few more minutes before coming back to the party room for cake and ice cream. After that it was time to hand out goody bags and parents were starting to arrive. So I think we timed it pretty well. We put on the invitation that the party started at 130, but since the game got out at about 1245, most of the kids were there by 1 or a few minutes after. I told parents we would be done around 3 or 315. So parents started showing up at about 5 til 3, and all the kids were picked up by 320.
My husband complained a little bit about the cost of the party, but after we discussed it more, he decided the price wasn't too bad. It was pretty much all inclusive. The party package included pizza, a drink, ice cream, and 10 tokens per child. It also included clean up (when my husband asked about a trash can, they told him to just pile the trash together and they would take care of it when Elliott was done unwrapping), and we didn't have to do much of anything for the set up either.
I have a feeling we will have more parties there in the future.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Menu Plan February 3-9
When I make a menu plan, it only includes dinner each week night, and then lunch and dinner on the weekends. We try to eat most of those meals together as a family, but of course it doesn't always work out that way.
I do assign each thing to a certain day when I write things down, but I frequently end up moving things around to another day, depending on what we have going on, or what I'm actually in the mood to cook.
Yesterday we had super bowl snack foods, and left over pizza. I didn't really cook any meals all day.
Tonight we are having barbeque pork sandwiches with green beans, fresh fruit, and leftover birthday cake.
Tomorrow we are probably going to end up going out for dinner, since Elliott has basketball practice and we have parent teacher conferences as well.
Wednesday I'm making the cheesy chicken strips that were on the menu plan for Saturday (we ended up eating leftovers instead), with salad and macaroni and cheese.
Thursday we'll have red beans and rice that I cook in the crockpot all day.
Friday we will probably have hamburger helper, corn, and salad.
Saturday for lunch, we're going to do a picnic in the car (carrots, olives, cucumber slices, sandwiches, and fruit cups) after Elliott's basketball game.
Saturday night my sister will cook, but I don't think she has decided what yet.
I do assign each thing to a certain day when I write things down, but I frequently end up moving things around to another day, depending on what we have going on, or what I'm actually in the mood to cook.
Yesterday we had super bowl snack foods, and left over pizza. I didn't really cook any meals all day.
Tonight we are having barbeque pork sandwiches with green beans, fresh fruit, and leftover birthday cake.
Tomorrow we are probably going to end up going out for dinner, since Elliott has basketball practice and we have parent teacher conferences as well.
Wednesday I'm making the cheesy chicken strips that were on the menu plan for Saturday (we ended up eating leftovers instead), with salad and macaroni and cheese.
Thursday we'll have red beans and rice that I cook in the crockpot all day.
Friday we will probably have hamburger helper, corn, and salad.
Saturday for lunch, we're going to do a picnic in the car (carrots, olives, cucumber slices, sandwiches, and fruit cups) after Elliott's basketball game.
Saturday night my sister will cook, but I don't think she has decided what yet.
Target Clearance Shopping
I posted yesterday that we went to Target on Friday. Elliott had birthday money to spend, so he was looking for good deals. We decided not to buy any Lego sets on Friday, since we hadn't had Elliott's birthday party yet, and we thought he would probably get some at his party (I was right, he ended up with 5 or 6 sets at his birthday party, in addition to the one that my husband and I gave him at his party).
Elliott ended up buying a TobyMac CD for $11.99 (not pictured, it's still in the van, where we listened to it all weekend), and the BonkaZonks Spiderman storage container on 70% off clearance for $5.98. He also bought a Lego Minifigure for $2.99. Also pictured is the candy I bought him ($4.39), and the pencils and notepads ($3 each) I bought for his goody bags at his party, since I thought I had misplaced some of the treats I had already bought.
We then headed over to the boys clothing to check out the clearance stuff. My husband really liked this coat when he looked at a few weeks ago, but we didn't buy it at 30% off. Yesterday it was marked down to 70% off, and they had one large left (Elliott is just in a medium right now, but the sleeves will probably be too short by next September) so we bought it for $17.98. We bought another pair of snow pants for Elliott at 70% off as well ($5.98), since he is so rough on them. He's also always losing hats and gloves, so we bought several at 70% off. He picked out 2 hats at $2.98 each, 1 for $1.78, and one for $.60, along with the 2 pack of gloves for $.60.
Elliott also started looking around at other things and ended up finding the above items for 70% off. We had decided before that he didn't need more clothing, but he convinced Daddy that he NEEDED these clothes. lol The sweatshirt was $2.08, the pants and the pajamas were each $4.48.
We spent $80.56 including tax. We saved at least $116.
Elliott ended up buying a TobyMac CD for $11.99 (not pictured, it's still in the van, where we listened to it all weekend), and the BonkaZonks Spiderman storage container on 70% off clearance for $5.98. He also bought a Lego Minifigure for $2.99. Also pictured is the candy I bought him ($4.39), and the pencils and notepads ($3 each) I bought for his goody bags at his party, since I thought I had misplaced some of the treats I had already bought.
We spent $80.56 including tax. We saved at least $116.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Elliott Had a Great Birthday!
Elliott turned 7 on Friday, so we were busy pretty much all day. I didn't get around to the posts I had planned, and I didn't even weigh in, so I'm skipping that this week. Next week I'll just write about what I lost for the past two weeks.
For Elliott's cake at school he wanted a basketball cake, and basketball cupcakes. My sister took care of the baking, like she always do for birthdays. We took them to the school for afternoon snack, and the kids were excited of course. I talked to all the kids then to see if we could get a better idea on how many kids would show up at Elliott's party on Saturday.
Then after driving around with my husband and sister for a little while, while Elliott finished his day at school, we took him shopping and out to eat.
I know that I just posted comments on 2 or 3 different blogs about how Elliott didn't need any more clothes, but we ended up buying a few at Target anyway. We went into the boys' clothes section to look at coats and snowpants that were on clearance, but then my husband and son started looking elsewhere as well. I'll post pictures later or tomorrow. But we did find some great deals.
We also did some clearance shopping at Walmart, and found some great deals there as well. We ended up spending more money than we had planned, but we marked off several things on our list of things that we were looking for great deals on.
Elliott had a lot of fun, and is really excited to be 7 now, since all his best friends were already 7!
For Elliott's cake at school he wanted a basketball cake, and basketball cupcakes. My sister took care of the baking, like she always do for birthdays. We took them to the school for afternoon snack, and the kids were excited of course. I talked to all the kids then to see if we could get a better idea on how many kids would show up at Elliott's party on Saturday.
Then after driving around with my husband and sister for a little while, while Elliott finished his day at school, we took him shopping and out to eat.
I know that I just posted comments on 2 or 3 different blogs about how Elliott didn't need any more clothes, but we ended up buying a few at Target anyway. We went into the boys' clothes section to look at coats and snowpants that were on clearance, but then my husband and son started looking elsewhere as well. I'll post pictures later or tomorrow. But we did find some great deals.
We also did some clearance shopping at Walmart, and found some great deals there as well. We ended up spending more money than we had planned, but we marked off several things on our list of things that we were looking for great deals on.
Elliott had a lot of fun, and is really excited to be 7 now, since all his best friends were already 7!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Weekly Grocery Spending January 25-31
I went to the grocery store once this week, and spent $63.48. I posted a few deals and pictures here. I thought that would be it for my totals this week, however my sister went to the grocery store as well. She went last week for $.99 Hamburger Helper, produce, and veggie dip. She decided to stock up quite a bit on Hamburger Helper, since we need to make a food pantry donation run soon anyway, and we like to give a variety of items. By the time she bought the stuff we are donating, plus the stuff for home, the total was $48.24. So we are over budget again this week!
Our weekly total this week was $111.72.
That is more than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I better get this under control if I'm going to make decent progress on our vacation goal in February!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $460.91.
We are 4.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently 10.91 over budget.
Our weekly total this week was $111.72.
That is more than our weekly budget of $100 per week for our family of three adults, one child, two dogs, and a cat. I better get this under control if I'm going to make decent progress on our vacation goal in February!
Our total spent on groceries for 2013 so far is $460.91.
We are 4.5 weeks into the year, and our budget is $100 per week, so we are currently 10.91 over budget.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wii Fit Totals January 26-29
I haven't posted about my Wii Fit totals lately, because I just haven't been using it much. Saturday we were out shopping almost all day, and I just didn't feel like it when we got home. Sunday I practiced basketball with Elliott for about an hour and a half, so I didn't work on my Wii Fit then either. Monday I used it for a total of 11 minutes. lol Yesterday I never even considered turning it on.
My husband and I have been doing a lot of cleaning lately. Elliott's room is the last one that we are working on. We pulled everything except his bed out, and my husband even ripped his closet out. He just finished taping everything off, and we are going to start painting in just a few minutes. Packing all that stuff up, and then down into the basement has been enough of a workout for me. I am going to try to work out on my Wii Fit tonight, though, so maybe I'll have something to report tonight or tomorrow. :)
My husband and I have been doing a lot of cleaning lately. Elliott's room is the last one that we are working on. We pulled everything except his bed out, and my husband even ripped his closet out. He just finished taping everything off, and we are going to start painting in just a few minutes. Packing all that stuff up, and then down into the basement has been enough of a workout for me. I am going to try to work out on my Wii Fit tonight, though, so maybe I'll have something to report tonight or tomorrow. :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Baby Elliott
It's hard to believe that Elliott will be seven this week. So I thought I would share a picture that I took when he was a newborn. Here he is with his Daddy, while we were still in the hospital. The year is wrong on the picture. It was actually 2006, and he was 1 day old.
Coupon Shopping January 25, 2013
I almost forgot to post about our coupon shopping trip on Friday. It was certainly not one of my best trips ever, but it wasn't too bad, especially considering it was kind of rushed. They were out of several things we wanted, that would have pushed our percentage saved higher. But after not doing much couponing at all for several months, any savings is good as far as I'm concerned. The money we saved by using coupons will be going into our vacation fund as well. :)
Menu Plan January 27-February 2
My family used to always make a loose menu plan every week. It made it easy to figure out what to cook, and then I was able to plan ahead and include dishes that need to sit in a marinade, cook in the slow cooker, etc. We're trying to get back into menu planning. I generally only plan dinners during the week, and then lunch and dinner on weekends. Breakfasts are usually quick and easy items (eggs, toast, pop tarts, or cereal, plus milk or juice and some kind of fruit), so I don't include them on the menu plan. Lunches are usually something quick and easy for whoever is at home, so I don't really plan them either. Everyone that is home eats dinner together, though, so I try to plan it a little better.
This week, Sunday we had leftovers for lunch.
For dinner we had pizza.
This week, Sunday we had leftovers for lunch.
For dinner we had pizza.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Hobby Lobby Finds
As I said in my last post, Saturday we were in Minot with a few hours to kill. We went to some thrift stores, out to lunch, and to Hobby Lobby. My sister was in the market for wall decor, now that our remodel is FINALLY almost completely done, and everyone should have their own space back within the next few weeks. She didn't end up buying any wall art, but that didn't stop Elliott and I from finding stuff we wanted. lol
Thrift Store Finds
Saturday my husband had all day conferences as part of his continuing education requirements for his EMT job. He had a long dinner break at 5, so he wanted us to eat with him, since he was just in Minot, and hadn't seen Elliott much at all during the week. Elliott had a game Saturday at eleven so we had to figure out what to do for the 5 hours in between, so we didn't have to drive all the way home for just a short amount of time.
So we decided to go thrift store shopping. We don't shop at thrift stores very regularly, mainly because of time constraints. We are usually only in Minot once or twice a week, and one of those days is Sunday for church. Most thrift stores around here are closed on Sundays.
So we decided to go thrift store shopping. We don't shop at thrift stores very regularly, mainly because of time constraints. We are usually only in Minot once or twice a week, and one of those days is Sunday for church. Most thrift stores around here are closed on Sundays.
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