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Money Saving Mom

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Shared Sep 16, 2018 comment

Costco, Tough Mudders, Crockpots, and Camping

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Costco, Tough Mudders, Crockpots, and Camping

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?

I posted asking you all about whether you thought I should get a Costco membership and MAN, you all delivered! There were 100+ comments on the original posts + so many other comments I got on social media and emails you all sent in! Part of me just wants to try shopping at Costco for a few months, but the other part of me thinks that many of you are very right: I won’t be able to beat the prices I currently get.

Also, I found out that you can buy seaweed at Kroger (I had no idea since I’ve never purchased it before!) and you can usually get it for less than a $1 per package by pairing coupons with sales. I also heard that it’s even less expensive at Asian grocery stores. So I guess that 10 packages of seaweed for $8.99 at Costco wasn’t such an amazing deal after all!

I am so enjoying getting on Facebook Live at 6:50 a.m. in the mornings to share what I’m cooking for dinner.

Plus, having dinner all made before our day starts makes the afternoons and evenings so much calmer! I’d love to have you join me live tomorrow morning, if you’re up at 6:50 a.m. CST!

I got this new book in the mail from my friend, Jennifer Dukes Lee. AND I got to interview her on my soon-to-be-released podcast! It officially launches next week and I am crazy excited about it and have been having so much fun learning a brand-new skillset! (Sign up here if you want to get to hear the very first episode before anyone else does!)

Jennifer sent me a copy of her book and these beautiful cards that made me smile! 🙂

On Friday, we left for a weekend camping trip with our Community Group. I brought my Instant Pot for the first time to use for dinner — and it worked like a charm!

Psst! Looking for some of my newbie camping advice? Check out my post from our last camping trip on How We Prepared for Our Very First Camping Trip.

After we got camp all set up and ate dinner, we began with a reading and prayer from our pastor.

(Kaitlynn took some amazing pictures of the lights.)

He was the only boy on the camping trip, but he did great at holding his own and having fun with all the girls!

One of the families brought their dog — and the kids enjoyed playing with him! (Not sure why Silas had one shoe on and one is missing! Who knows?!)

They made a bunch of mud creations with the clay in the lake. The girls then painted them and sold them to the parents. I thought it was quite creative entrepreneurship!

A good ‘ole fashioned game of “chicken”.

We rented a camper trailer this time around in order to try to help us sleep better, make the set up and tear down quicker (since we had the Tough Mudder on Sunday), and help our outdoor allergies not be so awful from camping like they were last time we went tent camping.

Well, it was the best thing ever! We rented it from an RV share site and got it for a day and a half for less than the price of a hotel room. And we absolutely loved it! I’ll probably be writing a complete post on our experience because so many people asked me to do so after I shared about it on Instagram Stories.

By the way, it only took us a few hours to get all packed up and out the door this time — as opposed to 10 hours last time. It helped tremendously that we already had most of the supplies in tubs and I had put together the Master Camping List last time around.

(You can read my post on the Master List of Things You Should Take Camping here.)

The four families who came (one family from our Community Group couldn’t make it, sadly!), all were each in charge of their own breakfasts and lunches, but we had Communal Dinners and everyone pitched in and brought stuff.

We did hot dogs and brats the first night (I brought all of the ones I’d gotten from various Kroger deals and markdowns the last two months — I had them in the freezer and it was plenty to feed all 20 of us!) and then we did a Taco/Fajita night the second night. This worked so well and made it so that no one had to do a lot of work.

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early for the Tough Mudder. It was our third time to participate in a Tough Mudder (see details on our first Tough Mudder here — look how tiny our kids were then!!)

I had been looking forward to the Tough Mudder so much because we had convinced some of our best friends to do it with us. It had been SO hot on Saturday, so we were worried it was going to be too hot today. But it was perfect. Warm, but cloudy and the perfect temperature.

We loved getting to hang out, walk 10 miles together, push and encourage each other on the obstacles, and challenge ourselves outside our comfort zones.

(We didn’t get any pictures on the actual course, but one of the volunteers at the finish line offered to take these pictures at the finish line and text them to us!)

I ended up only skipping one of the 23 obstacles this time — which I was super excited about since I had always bypassed three obstacles in the past. I wasn’t able to complete two of the obstacles that I tried out (both requiring upper arm strength — something I really need to improve in!), but the fact that I didn’t chicken out and went for it and tried it encouraged me.

Plus, the entire Mudder as a whole just felt so much easier and fun than the two we had done in the past. I think that the more you do hard things, the less scary and daunting they become!

If you ever get a chance to do a Tough Mudder, I highly, highly recommend it.

By the way, the tickets are expensive, but you can sometimes find them discounted on Groupon (that’s where we got ours) or you can get in free or highly discounted if you volunteer at the event the day before.

2018 Goals Update

Personal Goals

1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.

**Progress: 58 books read so far this year

2. Read through the entire Bible.

**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!

3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.

**Progress: 34 notes written so far this year

4. Run 500 miles.

**Progress: 348 miles run so far

Marriage Goal

5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.

Family Goals

6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.

**Progress: We’ve finished three books so far.

7. Take the kids to South Africa. We took this trip in July. What a memorable experience!

8. Go on a family road trip.

**Progress: We’ve been researching some options for this and are planning to make this happen over Fall Break. Stay tuned!

Financial Goals

9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.

**Progress: The workout room is DONE and the office is almost done!

10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)

Business Goals

11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.

12. Launch 5 new courses.

**Progress: We launched 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January, Content Creation 101 in February, 4-Week Blog Coaching Program in March, Email List Setup 101 in March, Make Over Your Mornings LIVE in April, the Facebook Live Masterclass in May, and we launched Build Your List 101 in June!

Shared Sep 15, 2018 comment

A movie, an online class, and an Aldi trip

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A movie, an online class, and an Aldi trip

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to my weekly Slow Day post, inspired by Monica from The Homespun Heart. My Word for 2018 is Slow and, in the spirit of that word, I’m taking one day each week (Wednesday) off — I’ll be unplugged and offline and plan to move at a slower pace, take time to do things that refresh me, and just really focus on being present and savoring the moment.

Each week, I’ll be sharing a photographic peek into my Slow Day. Enjoy a little peek into our lives!

I started the day attending chapel at Silas and Kaitlynn’s school.

I love getting to sit with them and spend a little time in their world on Wednesdays.

And then I headed to Discipleship Group.

We kicked off our Lesson 1 meeting by talking about stories and how each of us have a story — and how in light of the Gospel, we can see Creation, the Fall, Redemption and Restoration in our stories.

In our small group time, we each had to draw a picture of a little screenshot of where we’re at in life right now and share that with our group (how we’re feeling right where we’re at in life). This brought such honest discussion and we had really heartfelt conversations as a result.

After Discipleship Group, Jesse and I went to a movie together. (Middle of the day dates are the BEST!)

We saw Mission Impossible: Fallout — which we both enjoyed, though it made me want to go back and watch the rest of the Mission Impossible movies.

After I helped the kids with homework, I laid down and read a little bit and then took a power nap.

And then it was time for dinner and to prep for my online blogging class that I was teaching. (Brian on my team came over to help run the class and get everything set up for it!)

{By the way, I wanted to teach this class during a middle of the week evening, but the only free night that worked to do it was Wednesday. Even though it’s my off day, I made an exception and did it. And I actually really enjoyed doing it on a Wednesday since I felt like I came to the class so fresh and ready to teach after being offline all day!}

We sometimes get creative in how we set things up! This time, we used a huge stack of my coloring books to hold my computer! 🙂

When I was finished, Jesse was on his way home from picking the girls up from church.

(By the way, Jesse and Silas went to Aldi for me while I was doing the class. He said that they split up and both took half the list. Silas told me how it compared prices and made sure to get the store brand not the name brand and the best deal on everything. While it’s pretty simple an easy to do this at Aldi, it made my mama heart so happy to hear him doing this all on his own! I feel like I have accomplished a big life goal that he knows how to grocery shop on a budget and find the best deals!)

Kaitlynn finished up some homework while I worked in the kitchen.

And Silas made a bedtime snack of macaroni and cheese. (That boy loves his mac & cheese!)

Then, we all hung out and talked for awhile and then the kids went to bed and I worked on prepping for podcast interviews the next day. And then it was time to bed for me, too!

Shared Sep 15, 2018 comment

Brigette’s $62 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

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Brigette’s $62 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Aldi

1 gallon Whole Milk – $1.36

1 16-oz carton Heavy Whipping Cream – $1.55

2 64-oz cartons Orange Juice – $3.38

1 10-lb bag Russet Potatoes – $3.89

1 bag Frozen Mixed Veggies – $0.75

2 16-oz bags Shredded Cheddar Cheese – $4.30

2 1-lb boxes Butter – $3.98

2 cans Condensed Tomato Soup – $0.90

2 cans Diced Tomatoes – $0.70

1 32-oz carton Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt – $3.29

1 pkg Fresh Zucchini – $1.49

2 pkgs Strawberries – $2.18

1 3-ct pkg Multi-Colored Peppers – $1.49

1 pkg Broccoli Crowns – $1.29

1 bag Green Grapes (2.94lbs @ $0.79/lb) – $2.32

2 heads Cauliflower – $3.58

1 pkg Romaine Hearts – $1.99

1 bag Fresh Green Beans – $1.39

2 bags Baby Carrots – $1.58

1 pkg Baby Lettuce – $1.89

1 bag Radishes – $0.49

1 16-oz bag Mini Cucumbers – $1.69

1 6-ct pkg Blueberry Applesauce Cups (sugarless) – $1.39

1 box Rice Squares – $1.79

1 bag Gluten Free Pretzels – $1.75

1 box Cheddar Crackers – $1.49

1 pkg Rice Cakes – $1.15

1 pkg Cream Cheese – $0.65

2 dozen Eggs – $2.26

1 pkg Hotdog Buns – $0.65

2 pkgs Kaiser Buns – $1.99 (I bought these because there was no sandwich bread left in the store…or at any store in the entire city. Sandwich bread is a hurricane staple in the South, y’all! :))

Total: $58.60

Harris Teeter

10 cans Green Beans – $2.90

1 Eggland’s Best Eggs – $2.00, used $0.55/1 Eggland’s Best Eggs – 9-9-18 RMN (exp. 12/09/18) (doubled) – $0.90 after coupon

1 jar Simply Ragu – $1.25, used $0.75/1 Ragu Simply Pasta Sauce – 8-26-18 SS; Includes 24 oz Only (exp. 09/23/18) (doubled) – FREE after coupon

Total: $3.80

Free Produce from a Friend’s Garden

More Freebies (and that’s a second bucket of Okra!)

Grocery Total for the Week: $62.40

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Everyone is responsible for making/cleaning up their own breakfasts. Choices include:

Cereal, Oatmeal, Fruit, Yogurt, Boiled/Fried/Scrambled Eggs, Veggie Omelets, Smoothies

Lunches

Turkey Meat/Lettuce/Tomatoes on Kasier Rolls, Grapes, Carrots x 2

Pretzels/Cheddar Crackers, Strawberries, Cucumbers, Cheese Sticks

Build-Your-Own-Salad Bar (Chopped Romaine, Cut Up Veggies and Fruit, Nuts, Shredded Cheese, Craisins, Hard Boiled Eggs, Dressing), Kaiser Rolls

Leftovers x 3

Dinners

Eggplant Lasagna, Homemade French Bread, Tossed Salad, Green Beans

Shepherd’s Pie (recipe from a church cookbook), Steamed Broccoli, Fruit Salad

Cheesy Hamburger Potato Soup (I’ll use venison instead of ground beef), Italian Breadsticks, Fresh Veggies and Dip

Chicken Pot Pie, Steamed Cauliflower, Marinated Tomato Salad with Herbs (I grow pots of herbs on my back screened-in porch, so I always have fresh herbs to use this time of year)

Mexican Lasagna, Tossed Salad, Apples

Hotdogs (I “found” a package in the freezer that needs to be used up!), Baked Homemade French Fries, Fried Okra

Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Garlic Mashed Cauliflower, Roasted Okra, Easy Homemade Biscuits

Shared Sep 12, 2018 comment

My #1 Tip to Have Stress-Free Afternoons & Evenings

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My #1 Tip to Have Stress-Free Afternoons & Evenings

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One of the best ways I’ve discovered to feel more organized and less frazzled in the afternoons and evenings is to have a plan for dinner and have it already made before the kids come home from school.

That way, when they come home, I can just be present with them instead of trying to fix dinner and oversee homework and help kids with projects and get ready for whatever activities we have in the evening. Plus, it also saves us money because we’re not running to the store or through the drive-thru at 5:30 p.m. at night!

I’ve found that the best way to make this happen is to either have dinner already made and just needing to be heated up or to put dinner in the crockpot in the morning. I look for quick and easy meals that only take minutes to make in the morning or can be pulled out of the freezer and heated up in the Instant Pot or Crockpot or oven.

Want to Try Prepping Your Dinners in the Morning?

I want to challenge you to try implementing this habit of having dinner prepped in the morning in your home and see how it works for you. And to help you out, I’m going to do a fun Eat at Home challenge on my blog and on Facebook Live and Instagram Stories for the next 6 days — where I’ll be prepping our dinners on live video before we head to school in the mornings (I’ll be on live around 6:50-7:10 a.m.).

I’ll likely be in my workout clothes with no makeup on and the kids will be doing last-minute prep for school. It’s going to be real and raw and unedited… and I can guarantee there will likely be some mishaps or real-life scenes that take place. But I want to bring you into our morning and our kitchen to encourage you that you don’t have to do it perfectly for it to still make a big difference!

How This Challenge Will Work

The challenge will run for 6 days — September 13-18, 2018. Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday morning around 6:50 a.m. to 7:10 a.m. CT, I’ll be on Facebook Live prepping our dinner to throw in the slow cooker for the day so that when 6 p.m. rolls around dinner is READY!

(I’m taking the weekend off since we’ll be camping with our Community Group on Saturday morning and running the Tough Mudder on Sunday morning.)

Every day, in addition to doing a Facebook Live video on my Facebook Page, I’ll be posting here on the blog what I made that day, along with a link to my video (in case you missed it).

My hope is that this will inspire you with some new recipe ideas, encourage you to not wait until the last minute to think about what you’re having for dinner, and motivate you to eat at home more (even on busy nights!) so you can save money.

I’d love for you to join me in this challenge!

I know that many of you are in the middle of getting back into rhythms and routines after summer break so I hope this Eat At Home Challenge will inspire you with simple and easy meals that you can make in the morning before your kids head out the door to school or before you head to work or before you start your day and then you won’t have to think about dinner the rest of the day!

Are you joining us for the Eat at Home Challenge? If so, leave a comment and let us know!

Shared Sep 11, 2018 comment

Would I Save Money to Shop at Costco?

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Would I Save Money to Shop at Costco?

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I found out recently — thanks to our friends Ryan and Melissa — that our kids LOVE seaweed (go figure!). We were having a picnic together and their family had brought tuna salad with seaweed. They offered some to our kids and they tried it and fell in love.

And then they promptly begged us to buy some. Jesse looked at Whole Foods to buy it and it was some ridiculous price per package. So Melissa offered to pick some up for us at Costco.

You guys! This entire HUGE package of 10 packages of organic seaweed (each package has 5 servings) was $8.99!!!!

Help Me Out! I Want Your Honest Opinion!

I’ve always said that a Costco membership just wasn’t worth it for our family because I could beat almost all of the prices by shopping markdowns, coupons, and deals.

But I’m wondering if now that my kids are older and we eat somewhat differently (and a lot more!) than we did five years ago, if I should re-think that stance.

So I’d love to hear some honest feedback on this from you all. Do you think a Costco membership is something I should consider? Do you feel like you can often beat the prices I pay for things by shopping at Costco? I’d love for you to give me your honest thoughts and input.

By the way, you should know that we don’t have a Costco nearby our house (I actually don’t even know where the Costco is here!), so it would mean a little out-of-the-way trip to shop there. But if you think I could spend our $70 per week more wisely by shopping at Costco, I’d love to hear. Convince me!

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!
Shared Sep 11, 2018 comment

Mountain goats, baseball, slime, and an Escape Room!

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Mountain goats, baseball, slime, and an Escape Room!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?

One of the highlights of Breckenridge was getting to see mountain goats out in the wild!

My niece, Emily, came up with a creative way to carry her dolly around while we were walking around in Colorado.

We climbed up this fairly big rocky hill… and then the girls had the idea for me to take pictures of them looking like they were falling off the side of the hill.

After I took pictures of them, they wanted me to get in on the fun. And this was one of the pictures Kaitlynn took.

Only problem was, after I laid down flat on my belly on the rock to take it… I couldn’t figure out how to get back up without actually sliding down the hill.

I finally did make it back up on my feet, but it took me a good long few minutes and I was inwardly thinking the whole time, “You’re going to be the news report about the blogger who fell down the rocky hill while trying to get a photo for Instagram!”

Lesson learned: before you decide to stage some crazy photo, be sure you know how you’re actually going to get up from said crazy position. 😉

Kaitlynn was trying to get a contemplative photo of me… but I kept laughing because I felt ridiculous trying to pose for her! 😉

We came home from Breckenridge on Tuesday and the kids went back to school and normal life on Wednesday (read about our Wednesday here). On Thursday evening, Kathrynne’s school had a Meet the Teachers night.

I didn’t know what to expect as she started at this school halfway through the year so we missed all the beginning of the year stuff including this night. I guess it’s a common thing at many schools, but in case you’ve not heard of it, it’s where you get to go through a Day in the Life of you student — the bell rings and you got to their first class with their first teacher for 10 minutes and they talk about what they are teaching, expectations, and just introduce themselves.

Then the bell rings and you move to their next class with their next teacher. And so on and so forth.

We loved getting to hear from all of her teachers and getting to sit in her classrooms and get a feel for what her everyday is like there. It helps us have so much more context for her life. And if your child’s school has this, I can’t recommend it highly enough!

Silas started baseball up again on a new team this year. Jesse is an assistant coach and one of his good friends is the coach. It will be fun to get to hang out with good friends at the baseball field every week for his games!

Kaitlynn had a new friend over this week and they made, you guessed it, homemade slime. Because, of course. Kaitlynn found out that this friend hadn’t made slime successfully before, so she had to remedy that! 🙂

On My Heart…

I’m learning one of the greatest gifts to open up communication with my kids is to be a good listener.

Instead of trying to fix or preach, I’m learning to practice the art of being a quiet listener.

I often ask them, “What was the highlight of your day? What was the hardest part of your day?”

Oftentimes, questions like these will open up a trickle of frustration. Sometimes, it’s more than a trickle… more like a torrent!

Their frustration used to scare me. I’d jump to worst case scenarios: “What if the teacher senses my child isn’t enjoying their class?” “What if my child can’t hold their frustration in and it all boils out in an ugly way when others are around?”

My fear was ultimately about what others would think. Fear of how my child and my parenting would be perceived.

This fear caused me to jump all over my my kids’ frustrations & preach a mini sermons & tell them why they needed to get over it & stop having a bad attitude.

This only served to shut down the communication lines with my child and make them feel like they couldn’t share their heart with me or open up in any way.

God has been doing a work in my heart, helping me to stop parenting out of fear or for behavioral modification.

I’m learning to see the heart of my kids, to truly listen to them, to be okay with letting them air their frustrations & struggles without feeling like I have to go into fixer mode.

The unexpected result is that my kids now often come to me first with their frustrations. I don’t even have to ask!

When they open up to me, I’m learning to listen, ask questions, listen some more, ask them if there’s anything else they are feeling, empathize with them, and ask if I can pray with them or just sit with them and let them know they are loved.

If they ask for counsel or input (or I feel it’s a case when it’s necessary), I will give it — but usually in the form of asking them more questions, processing with them, & sharing what I would probably do in their situation & encouraging them to seek God & think about how He wants them to respond.

It’s a beautiful journey and I’m grateful for how God is changing my heart as a parent.

We celebrated Jesse’s birthday by going to an Escape Room and out to dinner as a family. We thought we actually weren’t going to make it out of the room this time, but we did it — with only a tiny bit of time to spare!

2018 Goals Update

Personal Goals

1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.

**Progress: 55 books read so far this year

2. Read through the entire Bible.

**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!

3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.

**Progress: 33 notes written so far this year

4. Run 500 miles.

**Progress: 335 miles run so far

Marriage Goal

5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.

Family Goals

6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.

**Progress: We’ve finished three books so far.

7. Take the kids to South Africa. We took this trip in July. What a memorable experience!

8. Go on a family road trip.

**Progress: We’ve been researching some options for this and are planning to make this happen over Fall Break. Stay tuned!

Financial Goals

9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.

**Progress: The workout room is DONE and the office almost done!

10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)

Business Goals

11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.

12. Launch 5 new courses.

**Progress: We launched 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January, Content Creation 101 in February, 4-Week Blog Coaching Program in March, Email List Setup 101 in March, Make Over Your Mornings LIVE in April, the Facebook Live Masterclass in May, and we launched Build Your List 101 in June!

Shared Sep 11, 2018 comment

Gretchen’s $52 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

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Gretchen’s $52 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Dillons Trip #1

1 Hidden Valley Ranch Dip – $0.59

1 pkg Kroger Shredded Cheese – $3.29, used $0.70/1 e-coupon – $2.59 after coupon

1 Lucky Jack Cold Brew Coffee – $3.99, used Free e-coupon – Free after coupon

2 Green Leaf Lettuce – $1.29 each

1 pkg Kroger Tortillas – $1.25, used $0.50/1 e-coupon – $0.75 after coupon

1 Mom’s Best Cereal – $1.67

1 Simple Truth Applesauce Pouches – $6.99, used $1.50/1 e-coupon – $5.49 after coupon

1 Kroger Peanut Butter – $1.79

1 pkg Kroger Flour – $1.39

2 boxes Annie’s Mac & Cheese – $1 each, used $0.50/2 e-coupon – $0.75 each after coupon

3.3 lbs Bananas – $1.62

Total after coupons: $19.97

Dillons Trip #2

I ran into a different Dillons on the way home from school drop off to see what markdowns they had and was excited to find some great deals!

1 Cantaloupe – Marked down to $0.99

1 bag Cucumbers – Marked down to $0.99

3 Chobani Flip Yogurts – Marked down to $0.49 each

2 Kroger Yogurts – Marked down to $0.19 each

4 Kroger Greek Yogurts – Marked down to $0.39 each

3 pkg Happy Tot Yogurt Pouches – Marked down to $1 each

Used $0.25/1 Ibotta cash back for any receipt

Total after cash back: $8.14

Aldi

1 pkg Frozen Chicken Breasts – $5.99

1 bag Sugar – $1.27

1 pkg Crisp Rice Cereal – $1.49

2 dozen Eggs – $0.58 each

1 loaf Bread – $1.49

1 pkg Red Grapes – $2.01

1 pkg Spinach – $1.19

1 pkg English Muffins – $0.79

1 pkg Roma Tomatoes – $1.39

1 gallon Milk – $1.79

1 pkg Baby Carrots – $0.99

3 pkg Strawberries – $0.99 each

1 pkg Blueberries – $1.59

1 Taco Seasoning Mix – $0.29

Total: $24.41

Total for all stores: $52.52

Menu Plan for This Week

Breakfasts

Cereal, Yogurt, Toast, English Muffins, Fruit

Lunches

Tossed Salads, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Cheese & Crackers, Hard Boiled Eggs, Fruit/Veggies, Mac & Cheese, Leftovers

Dinners

Spaghetti, Sauteed Apples (Apples are leftover from last week), Toasted Hot Dog Buns (from my freezer – I’m trying to be creative in using up stuff this week!)

Shredded Ranch Chicken Soft Tacos, Fruit Salad

Venison Roast, Potatoes, Carrots, Homemade Bread

Pancakes, Eggs, Cantaloupe

Pizza (We are hosting game night and everyone is pitching in to buy pizza!)

Mac & Cheese, Spinach Salad

Out to eat (My husband is working long hours this week so I’m declaring one night my night off from cooking. 😉 )

Shared Sep 10, 2018 comment

Look what I got for $0.05 each at Kroger!! (Plus, our menu plan for the week!)

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Look what I got for $0.05 each at Kroger!! (Plus, our menu plan for the week!)

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I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).

For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and we will be compensated if you click through and sign up. Read our disclosure policy here.

I ran into Kroger today to see what markdowns there were and to pick up a few deals that are ending tomorrow. I was also excited to find some good deals on organic honey and maple syrup as we just finished off the last of the honey and we go through a lot of maple syrup around here since we have Breakfast for Dinner so often!

I also got the four items above for just $0.19 total! I thought they were going to be $1.69 total and was excited about that deal — and then someone on Facebook Live this morning told me about the Stayfree iBotta rebate that I completely missed. That meant that I got $1.50 back for buying Stayfree and I only paid $0.79 for it!

So all 4 items were only $0.19 total — just $0.05 each!!! Sadly, it looks like the Skintimate and Colgate coupons are no longer available.

But the Stayfree coupon still is available so you can get it free + overage — if you’re planning to buy 3 other Buy 4, Get $4 Off Participating items. This deal is valid through Tuesday (September 11, 2018).

Monday’s Kroger Shopping Trip

Want to never miss a hot deal we post? Want to interact with other deal-seekers and share deals you’re finding? Be sure to join our brand-new Facebook Group here.

This Week’s Menu Plan

It’s a full week this week! It’s Jesse’s birthday so we have some special family activities and friend get-together planned for that, we have a number of activities and get-togethers, I have a number of extra work projects, we’re going camping with our Community Group on Friday and Saturday, and we’re doing the Tough Mudder on Sunday. Whew! 

We’re also starting another very popular Eat at Home Challenge on Thursday. I’ll be making dinner in the crockpot every morning on Live video and sharing what I’m making each day. More details to come!

Breakfasts:

  • Cereal, Oatmeal, Toast/Eggs (Everyone is on their own for breakfast!)

Lunches:

  • Hard Boiled Eggs, Avocados, Salad, Whole-Wheat Toast, Leftovers, Apples (Jesse & Me)
  • Sandwiches, Cheese/Crackers, Fruit, Veggies, Granola Bars, Cookies, Capri Sun (For the kids — They are in charge of their own lunches.)

Dinners:

  • Monday: Dinner out as a family for Jesse’s birthday
  • Tuesday: Top Golf and dinner out with friends for Jesse’s birthday
  • Wednesday: Meatballs, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli
  • Thursday: Smoked Sausage & Sauerkraut Soup, Whole Wheat Bread, Fruit/Veggies, Crackers
  • Friday: Camping with Community Group — Everyone is bringing stuff for Grilling Out. We’re bringing beef hot dogs and brats for everyone (from the freezer), condiments (we already have them on hand), fruit, veggies, and baked beans (we already have these on hand).
  • Saturday: Camping with Community Group — Again, everyone is bring stuff for Tacos/Fajitas for dinner. We’re bringing sour cream, cheese, and salsa. (I think I mostly have all of this on hand.)
  • Sunday: Slow Cooker Black Bean & Salsa Chicken with Cornbread Dressing, fruit, steamed veggies

What I’ve Spent So Far This Week

Total I’ve Spend So Far This Week: $17.67

Total Left to Spend: $52.33

Cashback Earned This Week: 25 points from Fetch Rewards for buying Capri Sun + $1.50 back from Ibotta

Shared Sep 10, 2018 comment

Join our brand new Facebook community!!

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Join our brand new Facebook community!!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We are SO excited to announce that we just started a brand new Facebook group called Money Saving Mom Deal Seekers.

Our goal with this new Facebook group is threefold:

1. We wanted a place for MSM followers to interact in more of a community setting — where we could all get to know one another on more of a personal level!

2. Facebook has stopped showing most of our posts in your Facebook newsfeed, so we wanted to create a way for you to actually see the deals we post on Facebook. When you become a member of the group and set your notifications to be notified each time we post in the group, you should hopefully never miss a deal again!

3. We will be posting to this group as soon as deals go live on the blog. Since Twitter recently changed how the hot deal text alerts work, we had to stop sending those alerts out. We thought this would be a really great replacement for all of you to receive immediate alerts of time-sensitive deals — especially with Black Friday season right around the corner!

We have BIG, exciting plans for this new Money Saving Mom Deal Seekers Facebook community! So head on over and request to join, go introduce yourself in this thread, and then check out all of the great deals we’ve already posted.

See you over there!

Shared Sep 8, 2018 comment

Discipleship Group, a simple dinner, and cookie-baking!

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Discipleship Group, a simple dinner, and cookie-baking!

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Welcome to my weekly Slow Day post, inspired by Monica from The Homespun Heart. My Word for 2018 is Slow and, in the spirit of that word, I’m taking one day each week (Wednesday) off — I’ll be unplugged and offline and plan to move at a slower pace, take time to do things that refresh me, and just really focus on being present and savoring the moment.

Each week, I’ll be sharing a photographic peek into my Slow Day. Enjoy a little peek into our lives!

Starting my day out with water and time at Kaitlynn and Silas’ school.

I love getting to go to chapel with them on Wednesdays as it gives me a peek into their school life and I get to know the students and see what they are learning.

And this guy loves mama getting to sit with him during chapel!

After chapel, I went to church for our first Discipleship Group meeting of the year. I’m so honored to be co-leading another small group this year again… although it’s weird to be starting over from scratch with a new group of women — most of whom I don’t know at all!

This curriculum and the process of walking so closely with other women over a long period of time has been so life-changing. Also, for so many of you who have asked, I’m so thrilled to tell you that we are piloting some groups this year from our other church campus with the goal that we will be offering this curriculum to other churches sometime in the next two years.

After Discipleship Group, Jesse and I went to a movie together (date days are the best!) and then I came home and worked on some home projects and sat with Silas while he worked on homework. I read some of this book while I sat next to him.

We both read our books together!

We had a simple dinner of beef hot dogs, corn on the cob, and homemade mac & cheese.

After dinner, I took the girls to church and Silas and I finished a few projects together.

And then made cookies (yes, he still had on his school uniform!)

I got this cookie mix for $0.99 recently and it was so easy to make and Silas was pretty excited that it only took butter and an egg to make!

We melted the butter a little too much… but they cookies still turned out looking pretty good!

And I was sitting in bed reading when the cookies came out of the oven so he brought me a fresh one to eat. The perfect way to cap off a great day!

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!
Shared Sep 7, 2018 comment

Making a full-time income from blogging (+ a free class for you!)

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Making a full-time income from blogging (+ a free class for you!)

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’ll never forget the day I woke up and realized I could actually make a part-time income from blogging.

I had been dabbling in blogging and affiliate marketing and online entrepreneurialism for two years and making a small amount of money from it. But it definitely wasn’t enough to put a roof over our heads or buy our groceries for the month.

But then, after months of research and effort and work. After trying and failing and fighting so much discouragement, something clicked… and I made over $3,000 in one week as a result of blogging.

Say what???

I was shocked, overwhelmed, and humbled! And I realized that maybe this blogging thing really could be a viable income source for our family.

Fast forward another year and we were making a full-time income from blogging — yes, enough to pay our rent, buy our groceries, pay our other expenses, and put a little bit into savings.

It felt so surreal! But it didn’t stop there!

Now, 13+ years of blogging later, blogging not only allowed my husband to leave his stressful job and come home full-time, but it’s allowed us to pay cash for our house, travel internationally, and give generously to needs in our community and around the world.

I’m so passionate about blogging because I’ve seen how much it has blessed and benefited our family. And I want to help others share their voice with the world and find financial freedom for their family through blogging.

Join me for a FREE Blogging Class!

And that’s why I want to invite you to join me on Wednesday evening for a live blogging class I’ll be teaching sharing more of my story, how I make a full-time income from blogging, and how you can get started on your blogging journey, too!

Sign up for the class here.

In this class, I’ll teach you:

  • The one habit you should begin today if you want to set up a successful blog (it might surprise you!)
  • The few key things you need to have in place to get your blog up and running (it’s a much shorter list than you might expect!)
  • 5 simple ways people are making a part-time or full-time income from blogging (& how you can, too!)
  • Plus, I’ll be hosting a LIVE Q&A at the end of the class to answer your burning questions!

Don’t miss this opportunity! Sign up for FREE here.

P.S. Can’t make the class live? Go ahead and sign up and we’ll send you a replay afterwards!

Shared Sep 6, 2018 comment

A book I can’t stop talking about!

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A book I can’t stop talking about!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year. 

(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. Read our disclosure policy here.)

I’m reading a few different books right now, but I only finished one book this past week. (I know, I’m falling off the 3 books per week bandwagon! But I hope to get back up on it next week. We’ll see!)

The one book I finished was one I just can’t stop talking about. And it’s one that I immediately want to start reading again now that I’ve finished it.

It’s Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron. If you are my close friend, I can guarantee you that I will be bringing this book up in conversation very soon — if I haven’t already!

Truth be told, I’d never heard of this book before. I just was so inspired by watching the athletes at the CrossFit Games that I went on Amazon and searched for, “CrossFit athletes”. It pulled up Tia-Clair Toomey’s book and then this one was recommended, too.

I read the premise for Chasing Excellence and thought it sounded intriguing. Well, it was far more than just intriguing. It was excellent — as a book with the word “excellence” in the title should be!

The author, Ben Bergeron, is a coach to some of the world’s most well known CrossFit athletes. If you love CrossFit, you must read this book. But even if you don’t care a tiny bit about CrossFit, this book is packed with nuggets of truth and inspiration.

There’s so much I could say about how this book is impacting me, but I’m stilling mulling over a lot of it and don’t feel ready to write a post about it just yet.

I will say this: Chasing Excellence challenged me to see so many areas in my life where I’ve settling for mediocrity. And I’ve been contemplating practical ways I can change my mindset and my daily habits to pursue excellence in all areas of my life— in my marriage, in my parenting, in my home management, in my relationships, in my work, in my writing, in the way I’m leading other women at church and online.

I don’t have a lot of answers yet, but this is something I’m going to be contemplating and working on during the coming months.

When I Find Time to Read

People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.

I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.

What did you read and watch this past week? Any books or movies or shows you really think I need to read or watch?

Shared Sep 5, 2018 comment

Stretch your online shopping savings with RetailMeNot!

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Stretch your online shopping savings with RetailMeNot!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

(Note: This post is sponsored by RetailMeNot. Read our disclosure policy here.)

Download the Retail Me Not app to get the best retail discounts and deals!

If you’ve been in the couponing world for any length of time, you probably know that RetailMeNot.com is a popular place to find some of the best savings for online shopping.

With thousands of coupons, deals, and cash back offers, RetailMeNot makes it really easy to save on everything you need — especially if you need last-minute clothing or school supplies for back to school season!

And what you may not realize is that RetailMeNot has rolled out some really great new features recently!

They have a new browser extension called RetailMeNot Genie. If you’re too busy to search for deals yourself, RetailMeNot Genie is really helpful!

Basically, this new RetailMeNot Genie browser extension does all the legwork for you — it finds, combines, and applies savings at checkout when you’re shopping at your favorite online stores!

You don’t have to hunt down codes or wonder if they’ll actually work. When you’re shopping on a site, the Genie extension will automatically test and apply any coupon codes that currently exist! It’s really cool!

I actually tried this out when I was shopping online at Kohl’s the other day! Genie found four different live codes to try.

And then it went through the process of testing each code.

In the end, it automatically applied the best code that could be used — saving me a total of $7.63! It was SUPER easy and required almost no work on my part! All I had to do was hit the Genie button when I was ready to check out!

Aside from saving money online, you can also download the FREE RetailMeNot app to access thousands of discounts on your mobile device.

Here are some highlights about the RetailMeNot app:

  • As I already stated, it’s totally FREE to download!
  • It features thousands of in-store and online savings offers.
  • Deals can be redeemed directly from your phone.
  • You can even use the “Eat” tab to get deals at restaurants.
  • You can enable location-based alerts so that you know when there’s a deal at a store nearby.
  • There is a wallet within the app that stores all of your saved offers and deals, discount gift cards, and cash back status.
  • You can use the heart to save your favorite stores in one place.
  • And you can even tap the star to save a deal for later.

RetailMeNot makes it so easy to save — whether you choose to use their website, app, or Genie.

Shared Sep 4, 2018 comment

Breckenridge, budgets, free fun, and a sale you don’t want to miss!

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Breckenridge, budgets, free fun, and a sale you don’t want to miss!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We are flying home from Breckenridge as I write this. As I mentioned a few days ago, my dad’s Christmas gift to all of us was this trip to CO for all 28 of us. (Yes, is that not the best gift ever??)

It was a fantastic trip — my dad rented this HUGE house for us all that was right on the edge of beautiful trails and had gorgeous views. We hiked many miles, were amazed by the scenery, and even saw mountain goats and moose in the wild!

One thing we were not prepared for was how crazy expensive everything was in Breckenridge. We went into town two of the days and we basically just had our jaws dropped the whole time at the prices.

$20 to ride up a ski lift? $27 to go on the mountain roller coaster? $11 for a crepe?

Say what??

Yeah. It was pretty ridiculous to us and I can’t imagine living around there!

We’ve been trying to stick with a pretty tight budget recently because we’re working on replenishing our Emergency Fund and saving up for some other things. So we tried to spend as little as possible on this trip.

(By the way, involving our kids in the budgeting/spending/financial decisions process has been such a good thing. We’ve sat down and showed them our budget numbers on YNAB and have asked them to help us stay accountable and be as creative as we can to spend less so that we can save toward some of our current goals. We’ve found this so helpful as they are constantly checking to make sure that any purchase we make is in the budget and encouraging us all to think outside the box and get creative in order to save money!)

We found that there are plenty of fun things to do that don’t cost money — including beautiful hikes, strolling around downtown in Breckenridge, and riding the Gondola (it’s free and there are such great views from it — including getting to see moose!).

We had a Starbucks gift card (thanks, Swagbucks!), so we used it to buy some drinks at the adorable yellow Starbucks house in downtown Breckenridge. We couldn’t believe how big this Starbucks was and it’s a great place to use the bathroom if you need to!

So many of you reached out on Instagram and recommended that we go to the Crepes A La Cart place in Breck. We decided that would be our one splurge of the trip. However, the first day that we tried to go, the line was so long that we realized we would be waiting at least an hour or more.

We came back the next day (Monday) and the line was much shorter. We still waited about 45 minutes total — but it was worth the wait. (Especially because you get to watch them make the crepes right in front of you!)

By the way, the cinnamon/sugar/butter crepe is only $5 and they had a few other crepes that were around $8. They are big so we bought three and split them amongst the 6 of us (we had my sister’s daughter with us, too). It was the perfect treat and because of getting to watch them make the crepes, it felt like more of an “experience” than just a simple stop for a snack!

A Deal You Don’t Want to Miss!

Speaking of budgets and saving money, we had some requests to offer a Labor Day sale on our courses and digital products. I wasn’t planning to, but I decided that it’s been a few months since we’ve run a sale so we’re going to do a 36-hour Flash Sale of ALL of our products.

And guess how much of a discount you can get with this sale?? 50% off!

That’s right, when you use coupon code FLASHSALE, you’ll get half off the price of every single one of our courses. You can order as many courses as you’d like at this discount.

This sale is only good through Wednesday evening (September 5, 2018) at midnight. Get in on these great deals while you can!

Blogging Courses:

Intentional Living Courses:

Be sure to use coupon code FLASH SALE to get these prices! And remember, you can use this coupon code as many times as you’d like!