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Grocery Shopping Trips: 06.02.19 – 06.09.19

Published on June 12, 2019 by Tracie2 Comments

Hello my friends. And we are back to grocery shopping again. So soon! It seems like I spend an inordinate amount of my time shopping for something each week. For someone who hates shopping, this is not a happy thought. A thrift store or a yard sale? I can search for treasures there all day long, but Wal-mart, or Food Lion with the masses? No thanks.

Many, many moons ago, I used to try to shop once a month. I haven’t even tried that in quite a few years. I don’t know how I would fare. How do you grocery shop? Each week? Once a month? Every few days? Inquiring minds want to know.

Last week I tried my best to stay out of the stores. I think I did pretty well. The kids and I went into the city, and anytime we make the hour and half treck, I always try to hit a store that’s not available in my tiny town. This week Sharp Shopper won our hard earned money. I LOVE that store. Who doesn’t want to find Boom Chicka Pop for $0.79 a 7 ounce bag!? We bought all kinds of goodies – Oscar Mayer Maple Bacon, 16 ounces for $2.49, Capri Suns for Liv for $1.49, Cheez It’s for Hayden, it was a Costco sized box – I have no idea what the size on that thing was but it was $4.99. (I looked at the box – 3 pounds) The list goes on and on.

Yes, yes, I can hear you. All I listed was snacky type foods. Don’t you buy snacky type foods for your people? We’ll divert with a story time story for a moment: When Hayden and Liv were really small, about two and four at the time, Granny Joyce and I were sitting on her back porch talking. Granny Joyce was the lovely woman who lived in front of us when the kids were tiny and that’s what they called her from the time they could talk. We were talking about Liv’s food allergies and all of the things that we had to constantly keep away from her, when she turned to me and said, “You still let Hayden have those things, though, right?”. And I can remember that hitting me like a lightning bolt. Because we didn’t.

I have a niece who cannot stand chocolate. So we always try to have some things that she will like every time we have an Eatin Meetin. But that doesn’t keep us from making things with chocolate. I’m so thankful for Granny Joyce. She influenced me in ways that she will never understand. And I know that Hayden was grateful to her for being able to eat M & M’s, peanuts, and Cheez It’s. Even when his sister couldn’t have them. So, yes. I buy all of my people snacky foods when they want them. Life is short. Story time over.

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

Sharp Shopper $100.11 on 06.07.19

Total spent for the last week: $100.11

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02 Yikes

June $157.45

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow? Going with the flow is killing my food budget!

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here. Save

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 06.02.19

Published on June 5, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Hello my friends. Let’s talk groceries. We are six months into the year 2019. Seriously, how does the time go so, so fast! At this point I have to concede the fact that I am NOT keeping up with a grocery budget this year, but instead, I am tracking what we are spending. Two very different things.

I know that you already know the difference but let me clarify:

If I was actually keeping a grocery budget, I would:

1. Set an amount and stick to it. No matter what.

b. Make a strict list each week and stick as close to it as humanly possible.

Trois. Shop at ONE store while sticking to said list.

4. Let my family throw themselves onto the floor in a meltdown when I won’t buy the Oreo’s because they are almost $4.00 a box. Wait that would be me, not my family since Denton won’t eat pretty much anything with sugar lately, and Hayden wouldn’t eat an Oreo if you paid him a gazillion dollars. Liva might be on the floor with me though. At least one member of my family knows what’s good! Have I ever mentioned the fact that we have a beloved dog named Oreo? What a coincidence.

Now what I am actually doing is tracking my spending each week. Which isn’t doing my bank account any favors of late. Let me show you how I do it. Instructions follow:

1. Keep a white board in your kitchen and let anyone and everyone – including the dog and the cats – write down what they want for that week.

Dos. Write out a very loose list of everything that’s on the whiteboard in my grocery notebook, and then go through my fridge and pantry to see what we are actually running low on….

III. Go to any and all grocery stores that I happen to be near at that moment and buy EVERYTHING in a willy nilly fashion.

Quattuor. Tally all of the evidence up at the end of the week and stare in horror, while trying to figure out how this happened – again. (All the while, knowing exactly how it happened – because you were there.)

Sigh. Yes, this seems to be what I have been doing all year long. I am going to advise myself to get my arse in gear for the second half of the year. We shall see if myself listens. I certainly hope so…..

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

Food Lion $51.54 on 05.27.19 | Walmart $49.42 on 05.27.19 Food Lion $8.43 on 05.28.19 | Walmart $57.34 on 06.01.19

Total spent for the last week: $166.73

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02 Yikes

June $57.34

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here. Save

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 05.19.19 & 05.26.19

Published on May 30, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

This is very, very late. But, it’s here! The good, the bad and the ugly of our grocery budgets and hauls for the last two weeks. I tried my best to cull out anything that wasn’t edible, because – hello, this month’s total cost is going to be exorbitant already. I don’t need to add in anything that we didn’t eat, like washcloths and dog food. 🙄

BTW, did you see my post on Instagram? Do you have yellow pears where you live? Apparently, we don’t grow them in Virginia. Or import them either, hahahaha.

One of my many grocery hauls over the past two weeks. How do you like my new to me beach hat? Denton was not impressed. Good thing we’ve been married so long or that might have hurt my feelings. This one has a string to hold it on my head. Last year I lost my brand new hat on day two, due to the wind. I am prepared this year.

To all of you Mama’s and Daddy’s out there who feed lots and lots of people at your houses each week – you have my undying admiration and respect. Also, if I ever do win the lottery I need to figure out a way to help individual families with their grocery bills without just handing over money to a giant corporation.

Feeding lots of people, multiple meals a day is stressful and costly! It was so, SO worth it to have our families with us for Liv’s graduation. On a side note: Have you ever wondered how often drink company’s put their products on sale? I just realized that I’ve bought Pepsi products the last few times I’ve bought soda. I’ve looooong been a Coca-Cola girl, but I also LOVE Dr. Pepper. I can happily switch between the two constantly. But Denton asked me the other night why I hadn’t been buying Coke. Well, my darling, it’s because Coke hasn’t been on sale. If it’s not on sale, I don’t buy it. Step up your game Coca-Cola, because right now Dr. Pepper is getting all of my business…..

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries the last two weeks:

Total spent for the last two weeks: $304.06

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $937.63 Yikes, May isn’t over yet!

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here. Save

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Book Haul! April 2019

Published on May 17, 2019 by Tracie2 Comments

One of the best things, in my opinion, about yard sales and thrift stores are the books. We love books at our house and we buy a LOT of them throughout the year. But, I don’t want to go broke; ergo, yard sales and thrift stores.

If you are worried that the authors are getting the shaft when you buy a used book, here is an excellent article about buying used versus new. And yes, we still buy new books too. Who doesn’t love stepping into a Barnes and Noble? The smell alone draws me in, just like a library.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

Hello again! Hayden and I found quite a few gems during our wanderings in the month of April. I can’t wait to dive into them.

Let’s get into it:

The Big Book of Mandalas Coloring Book

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Vita by Melania G. Mazzucco

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

A Field Guide to Wildflowers

The Triple Key to Unlock the Kingdom of Heaven

This was a VERY interesting find. We plucked this off a shelf for $2.00. It included a newspaper article which had been pasted into the front pages of the book. I’ll insert it below. Pretty cool.

The Underground Railroad – First-Person Narratives of Escapes to Freedom in the North by Charles L. Blockson

The Drifters by James A. Michener

Death By Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi

The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl

Night World No 3 by L.J. Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Diary of a Mad Diva by Joan Rivers

Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien

The Woodcarver of ‘Lympus by Mary Waller

Agriculture for Southern Schools by J F. 1868- Duggar

Texas by James A. Michener

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

Waverley Novels by Sir Walter Scott

The Psychology of Personal Adjustmen t by Fred McKinney

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

The Novel by James A. Michener

That’s the lot of them. I can’t wait to get into them! What books did you pick up in April?

Grocery Shopping Trips: 05.12.19

Published on May 15, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Hello again! How are you doing in the grocery budget department? Hayden and I went gallivanting last week and stopped into one of my favorite grocery stores: Sharp Shopper. I LOVE this store. It’s a discount grocery store, and you can get amazing prices on things. Examples: We bought two 12 count boxes of La Croix Berry for $1.99 each. Two bags of Boom Chica Pop for $0.79 each, Poptarts – my family will only eat the plain ones, toasted with butter on them – for $0.99 a box, Good Thins $0.99 a box, Cracker Barrel mac and cheese for $1.49 a box, Cheez It Snack Mix and TownHouse Flip side crackers for $1.49 a box, Avocado Oil $4.53 and Blackstrap Molasses $2.99 for 32 ounces. Again: I LOVE this store.

I also love to buy my spices there. The prices can’t be beat, and everything is still in date for those of you who will ask – I know you are there.

I also bought Oscar Mayer maple bacon for $2.49 for 16 ounces. I wish that I had picked up more of those to stick in my giant freezer, but we were tired and I just didn’t think about it. Do you freeze bacon? I freeze just about anything and nothing has been weird yet. Did you know that you can freeze potato chips? I’ve never had the opportunity to try it, because when I bring them home we eat them, but it can be done.

Liva is always asking me why I don’t run into the store to pick up ???? insert whatever it is someone has asked for. My Food Lion total below is why. I have everyone in my house write things on our giant whiteboard on my kitchen wall during the week and when I do a grocery run I pick up whatever is on the list. Even if I specifically go in with a list, I always find great deals, so I try to keep myself out of the stores as much as possible. Denton and I went in to buy Ribeyes for my Mother’s Day supper. There was NO way anyone in my family wanted to wade into the madness of eating out that day. We came out with ice cream, ginger ale and coke for the week. Along with milk and a few other items. Still, at $47.09 it was cheaper than eating out, dealing with the crazies, waiting on a table and maybe having terrible food. No thanks, my steak was amazing and I didn’t have to cook it. And we have yummy treats that will last well beyond this weekend.

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

Aldi $68.38 on 05.10.19 | Sharp Shopper $85.61 on 05.10.19 | Food Lion $47.09 on 05.12.19

Total spent for this week $201.08

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $329.51

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 05.06.19

Published on May 7, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Hello again! I can’t believe that we are into May already. I have no idea how we got here or what happened last week. Do you feel the need to write down every single thing that happens each day, so that you can refer back to it? Is it just me?

In Tracie’s weather updates: The weather is glorious here in Virginia at the moment. Soft evenings, with brisk mornings that you need a light jacket for, that segue into hot afternoons – that I avoid by not going outside – it’s lovely. I want it to last….. but Liva and I bought cucumber, zucchini, and yellow pear tomato seeds yesterday and I am itching to get them into the ground.

I have been ordering more things than I normally do from Amazon to keep myself out of the grocery stores. You’ll see below that I have a problem sticking to my list. So when I discover that I need something, I check the price against what I’d pay for it at Wal-Mart and if it’s relatively close in price, I order it from Amazon. Because A: it gets brought to my front door and B: I don’t end up spending $130 at Wal-Mart because I went in for $5.49 dishwasher cleaner.

This is a thing, BTW. Dishwasher cleaner. I’ve always used vinegar. I can hear you rolling your eyes…. My three year old dishwasher has started leaving grit on anything that I put in the top rack. We have done EVERYTHING to get it to stop. We have taken the stupid thing apart – and by we I mean Denton – he cleaned out all of the filters, I have cleaned everything on it inside and out, including the arms which are all clean, I have run multiple empty cycles with bowls of straight vinegar, and it’s somewhat better, but not great.

After visiting with Mr. Google and the plethora of morons on the internet, I finally stumbled upon someone who said that that grit is there because dishwashing detergent doesn’t contain phosphate anymore and that I needed to run several cycles with a dishwasher cleaner. Huh. We’ll see if this helps. And seriously. You would not believe how many people have asked about this problem online and had some wiseguy respond back and say “You should use a rinse aid to get rid of those water spots”. Really? We aren’t trying to get rid of water spots, but if we were I’m sure that would be super helpful. Thanks buddy.

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

Wal-Mart $7.85 on 05.01.19 | Food Lion $34.65 on 05.02.19 | Wal-Mart $85.93 on 05.06.19

Total spent for this week $128.43

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $128.43

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 04.29.19

Published on May 2, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Hello again! The world feels like it is spinning at an alarming rate right now. The week’s feel like they are coming faster and faster and I just need to sloooow down for a minute. All of the end of school year things are happening, all for the last time for us and it’s bittersweet. I am so happy to have my kids out of the public school system, and at the same time I just want to sit down and cry my eyes out.

The cap and gown are ready, I have no idea what I’m going to feed all of my people when they get here for graduation, and the only toilet in my house that I KNOW is clean is mine – because I cleaned it last night. I need more hours in my day. Or I just need to prioritize my time better. Less reading on the couch and YouTube at night and more DOING ALL THE THINGS.

How is your spring progressing?

I went into Wal-Mart twice in the past week and without looking at my lists I would have NO idea what I bought either time. Here’s a horrifying fact for you: I spent over $130 on one of those trips and I didn’t buy any meat. Or coke. Two of my biggest expenses. So what in the world cost so dang much?!?

Three of the items on my list that weren’t food cost quite a bit. Cat litter, creatine for Denton (don’t ask me, I have no idea what it does) and windshield washer fluid. Yes, I think $1.78 for fancy water for the car is highway robbery. This summer I think I’ll cut it with water from the garden hose and see how the Pilot fairs. I suspect just fine. If I forget that I did it when winter arrives will be what causes me problems….

Here is what we spent last week:

Wal-Mart $41.31 on 04.23.19 | Wal-Mart $130.26 on 04.27.19

Total spent for this week $171.57

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 04.22.19

Published on April 25, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Hello again! It’s not Monday, but for the purposes of my mind, we are going to pretend it is. Okay? Because to my mind, I need to update this on Monday’s so that I can keep track of what’s going on in my life. On this particular Monday we were traveling home from my family because of Easter. Does any of that make sense to anyone but me? Let’s just pretend it’s still Monday in the grocery shopping world, shall we?

Since it was a short week in my world last week because we were traveling, we didn’t spend as much as we normally would have. Hopefully that won’t show up next week to bite me in the arse.

I always, ALWAYS, quickly scan the clearance section of the meat department when I’m in my grocery stores. Last week I ended up buying a giant boston butt that I’m going to have Denton smoke at some point. I also grabbed some split chicken breasts that I’ll turn into chicken and dumplings or I’ll let Denton have those for his smoker too. We shall see.

The loveliness about buying ahead is, that I saved almost $9.00 by taking these sale items home and shoving them into my giant cold friend in the garage. Now they will wait for me to use them in a delicious recipe when I am ready and that almost $9.00 can go towards ice cream cones at the beach in a few weeks. Yay!

BTW: I did spend money at the grocery store while we were with my family this week. I never count that in with my grocery budget for the same reason I never count vacation food in our grocery budget when we are on vacation. That food isn’t going into my pantry. Does that make sense? Good.

Here is what we spent last week:

Wal-Mart $20.96 | Food Lion $29.10 | Food Lion $27.79

Total spent for this week $77.85

January $740.71

February $397.21

March $ ?

April $233.87 so far…..

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house. Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year? Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

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Movie Haul! April 2019

Published on April 20, 2019April 19, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

Hello again!

We have movie night every Saturday at our house. We watch things in a multitude of ways. Netflix, Vudu, Amazon, Hulu, HBO Go, or Redbox, but sometimes we can’t find the movie we want to watch on those platforms. And sometimes we would rather just have it. In our possession. That way we know we can watch it repeatedly if we want to.

Hayden and I went into the city earlier this month and we hit the jackpot when it comes to movies that we want to keep in our stash. When you can buy a movie for $2.50 and it costs a minimum of $3.99 to rent it for the night…..

Here’s what we picked up.

Argo I have this book on my nightstand. I need to find more hours to read…..

Batman Begins We’ve been looking for this one.

In Bruges This was a pick from Hayden. I have no idea what this is. I’ll keep you updated.

District 9 Denton and I watched this a few years ago. Disturbing is the word that comes to mind, but Hayden hasn’t seen it yet, so in the pile it goes.

Road to Perdition I know that Denton has watched this several times, but this is another one that is on Hayden’s watch list.

Quantum of Solace Can you ever have too many 007 movies? Especially if they have Daniel Craig in them?????

Fargo Yep. I love this movie. You can read my review of it here.

The Talented Mr. Ripley I’ve never seen this movie. I am a fan of Matt Damon and Hayden wants to see it.

The Social Network My son who will not touch Facebook said that this is supposed to be an excellent movie. We shall see.

Memento Another pick from Hayden. I have no idea. I’ll let you know.

Inception This is an excellent movie. I loved it. We also found it in Blu-ray, so this one will go to live with someone else.

Primer No idea.

T2 ~ Terminator 2 – Judgement Day Love, love, love the Terminator movies.

There Will Be Blood Hayden has been asking us to watch this.

Pan’s Labyrinth Even Liv knew what this was and has seen it. I have no idea what it is. I know it’s in Spanish with subtitles. Which is a good thing. I like subtitles. What I DO NOT like is a scary movie. I don’t do scary movies. Buffy was pushing my limits. The whole family laughs at me and that’s just fine. I need to research this one first. It may go into the NO WAY pile for me…..

That’s the lot of them. I can’t wait to get into them! Do you buy movies? What movies did you pick up in April?

Book Haul! March 2019

Published on April 18, 2019 by TracieLeave a comment

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here.

Hello again! I am finally getting to our March book haul. And it’s only the middle of April. Woohoo! We found some real gems and I can’t wait to read every single one of them. I need more hours in my day…..

Let’s get into it:

This is my absolute favorite find in March. Hayden and I found this at the bins. The bins are where all of the items for sale at your local Goodwill go to die. It’s an amazing book and I can’t believe that it ended up there. It’s huge! We just sit and flip through it’s pages. Awesome!