Saving Families Money Since 2007
Target Shopping Trip
3 Mars Twix Ice Cream Bar (6 pk) – $2.50 each, used 3 $1.50/1 printable – $1 each after coupons
2 Soft Scrub – $2.79 each, used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 5/4 RedPlum insert AND 2 $1/1 Target printable AND 10% off Cartwheel coupon – $0.61 each after coupons
1 Up&Up Hydrogen Peroxide – $0.89, used $1/1 Target Mobile coupon (Text OFFERS to 827438) – Free after coupon
Total before coupons and sales: $13.97
Total after coupons and sales: $4.11
A testimony from Shawna who blogs at Not The Former Things
It’s not something you want to hear, but I expected it. When the pediatrician said I needed to take my son in for an evaluation for autism, I wasn’t surprised (I had done my research and had seen the signs and symptoms for years).
Then, to make matters worse, she said, “Your insurance will not cover the evaluation and they can be very expensive.”
After calling her top three referrals, I knew exactly how expensive: $1,700, payable in full and cash only. By God’s grace, I was able to make the appointment, knowing we had the money in savings.
Less than six months later, my youngest son was also referred to a neuro-psychologist for a dyslexia/neurological processing evaluation. We were also able to pay cash (a total of $2,000 this time) when our insurance didn’t cover the cost.
So, how did we do it?
We paid for both, a total of $3,700, from our emergency fund. Because my husband is self-employed, we keep our emergency fund at $5,000. This helps us with fluctuations in his business and ultimately, is back-up in case he is not able to work.
It was tempting to just pay the doctors with credit card advances to preserve our savings, but we knew that God wouldn’t give us these boys with their unique needs, without providing a way to take care of them.
In the months between and following the two evaluations, we worked twice as hard to build back up our savings to the $5,000 mark. I will admit, it was so frustrating to finally get close, and then have another expensive evaluation required.
We had to cut back on everything – the boys and I stopped eating out and my husband only did so as work required, my husband sold his car to fund our Christmas and increase our savings, we cut the grocery budget by 30%, and we didn’t take an anniversary trip we had planned.
The thing about having your son diagnosed with high functioning autism and then your other son diagnosed with a learning disability/processing disorder is that it really puts things in perspective.
When one of us would get frustrated with our financial situation, we would remind each other how grateful we are to finally know what is going on with our boys, and how much help we are receiving as a direct result of those costly evaluations. This made the desire for a new couch, or even extras at the grocery store seem silly in comparison.
It may not have been easy, but truthfully, we would have paid more for the peace and direction these evaluations have given us. We now know how to help our boys and what resources are available to our family.
The reality is that we continue to dip into our emergency fund again and again for various, not covered by insurance, therapies for the boys. The good news is that we are getting more practiced at how to live in the flux, and accept this as part of our financial life.
I am so thankful that we committed to create and maintain that fund. Staying out of debt and funding that account literally changed our family’s life.
Shawna loves Jesus, her husband and her two, uniquely challenged little boys. She finds herself daily, required to live beyond the limits of herself and serve a wonderfully complex family…and she is crazy rebellious in this most of the time. She blogs about the messy and the beautiful at Not The Former Things.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Today’s questions is from Kim:
Do you have any suggestions for frugal lunches? My husband needs a break from PB & J, so I’m trying to find some other options. He doesn’t have access to a microwave, so leftovers aren’t an option, unfortunately. -Kim
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Walgreens Shopping Trip
Transaction #1
1 Neilmed Wound Cleanser – $5 (Buy 1, Get $5 Register Rewards)
Total with tax ($0.36): $5.36, Received $5 Register Rewards
Transaction #2
2 All Laundry Detergent – $2.99 each
Used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 5/11 RedPlum insert3 M&M Candies – $0.59 each with in-ad coupon
Used Buy 2 Get 1 Free printableUsed $5 Register Rewards from Transaction #1
Total with tax ($0.55): $0.71
Total for both transactions before coupons, sales and Register Rewards: $25.52
Total for both transactions after coupons, sales and Register Rewards: $6.07
CVS Shopping Trip
3 Purex Laundry Detergents @ $5.99 – On Sale Buy 1 Get 2 Free
Used $3/2 coupon from the 5/4 RedPlum insert2 Colgate 360 Toothbrushes – $3.49 each (Buy 1, Get $2.50 ECBs)
Used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 4/27 SmartSource insert1 Wet & Wild Nail Polish – $0.99
Used $1/1 coupon from the 5/4 RedPlum insert2 Total Home Facial Tissue – $0.88 each (I wanted to use my $10 ECBs and they were out of several other sale items so I bought a few “filler” items to make my total $10. We desperately needed Kleenex so I was happy to get them “free” with my ECBs.)
1 Milky Way – $0.77 (Treat for my hubby!)
Used $10 ECBs from previous shopping trip
Total before coupons, sales and ECBs: $34.21
Total with tax ($0.49) after coupons, sales and ECBs: $1.83, Plus received $5 ECBs (for buying toothbrushes)
If you don’t have $10 ECBs and don’t want to pay that much out of pocket, you can split this shopping trip into 2 transactions. Buy the 2 Colgate Toothbrushes in Transaction #1 and pay $4.98 out of pocket. You will get $5 ECBs for buying the toothbrushes. In Transaction #2, buy the Purex, Nail Polish and Facial Tissue and use the $5 ECBs from Transaction #1 making it all free.
So, I ventured out to do my first real grocery shopping trip in Tennessee tonight. I had Silas and Kaitlynn in tow and had planned to go to Aldi. However, for some reason, I was thinking ALDI was open until 9 p.m.
I waited to go until later so that we’d miss the crazy traffic. Well, we waited a little too long, because by the time we found the ALDI, it was 8:03 and they were standing at the door locking up.
Gulp. On to Plan B.
Which was, um, non-existent. Yep, I’m all organized like that today!
{Word to the wise: Not having a Plan B is never a good plan for grocery shopping!}
Since we were completely out of some essentials and we have guests coming over to our house all afternoon and evening tomorrow, I knew waiting until tomorrow to go to Aldi wasn’t going to work.
So, I got on my phone and starting searching for nearby grocery stores. I was so excited to locate a Publix nearby.
In fact, I let out a little cry of excitement, “Yay! I’ve never been to Publix before!!”
We trooped in, armed with a list and lots of excitement.
And I started looking at the produce section for the produce deals. I kept looking, and looking, and looking.
In fact, I spent so much time looking, that a kind Publix employee came over and asked what he could help me find. I wanted to say, “The good deals. Can you help me find them? Because I’m having a little trouble locating them.”
But alas, I held my tongue. 🙂
Here’s what I ended up buying:
Publix Shopping Trip
Ground Turkey — $4.49
Ground Sirloin — $6.31
Frozen Veggies — $1.59
Frozen Veggies — $1.25
Frozen Veggies — $1.25
Spaghetti Sauce — $1.39
Parmesan Cheese – $2.79
Milk — $3.59
Carrots — $0.99
Cheddar Cheese — $2.50
Mozzarella Cheese — $5.99
Eggs x 2 — $2.79 each
Romaine Hearts — $3.49
Apples ($1.69/lb.) — $5.51
Bacon — $5.49
Yogurt — $1.50
Supergreens — $3.69
Pepperoni — $3.69Tax: $4.47
Total with Tax: $66.06
Clearly, I need some help in learning how to find good deals at Publix as these prices are almost all quite a bit more than I’d typically pay. But I price-compared everything and am pretty sure I got the best deal Publix had to offer tonight.
So, help a girl out: how do you get bargains at Publix? Are there certain items you find regularly to be well-priced at Publix? What sites have the best Publix deals match-ups? I welcome all tips and suggestions.
Also, for those of you in Nashville area: What are your favorite grocery stores to shop at? Should I just stick with ALDI?
Thanks so much for your help — I so appreciate it!
It was 9:30 p.m. on Mother’s Day. And I was tired.
Tired from a very wonderful but very busy weekend of spending time with family and friends. The late nights and early mornings had left me zapped.
Sunday afternoon, I flew back to TN with Kaitlynn and Silas (Jesse had stayed behind to wrap up a few final loose ends in KS and then drove our second car back with Kathrynne). Gratefully, our flights were uneventful and I was so happy to be back in TN.
But then I couldn’t find the car. Jesse had dropped us off at the airport door on Friday morning and then parked the car. He’d taken pictures of where he parked and had written down directions, but there I stood at 10 p.m. with two children, luggage, and no car.
I tried following the directions he gave me, but I ended up going on a wild goose chase all over Long Term Parking (that’s not surprising seeing as I’m not great with directions!).
I called Jesse and he tried to walk me through the directions again, but something was off somewhere and I wasn’t finding anything remotely close to our car, no matter how hard I looked. (Later on, we realized he’d accidentally told me to turn right instead of left at one point — which had completely thrown off the directions!)
Remember what I’d said about choosing joy? Well, um, that wasn’t going so well.
In fact, I was frustrated. It was late. It’d been a long day. My arms were tired from lugging around a heavy suitcase and bag. And everyone’s patience was waning.
Finally, we retraced our steps again, Jesse and I went over the directions with a fine-toothed comb on the phone together, and we figured out the wrong turn I’d taken, and we made it to the car.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was still feeling stressed and irritable. I pulled up to the booth to pay for parking and it was as if there were an angel in that booth. I kid you not.
The man in the booth looked at me and must have been able to tell that underneath my smile, there was stress and exhaustion. He looked at me and said so genuinely, “Happy Mother’s Day! It’s been a long day, hasn’t it? You need to make sure to take care of yourself as a mom. I can tell you’re such a good mom.”
He had no idea how I was feeling or how frazzled I felt at the moment, but his words were exactly what I needed to hear. I pulled away from that booth with a much lighter heart and a true smile on my face.
And his simple words reminded me of how much words of encouragement can mean to others. He could have just taken my money and said, “Have a good day!” But he didn’t.
This nameless stranger whom I’ll probably never meet again, took time out of his day to look me in the eye and give heartfelt encouragement.
Let’s never be too busy to stop and encourage others. Even just a simple and short sentence could lift someone’s spirits far beyond what you could ever imagine.
“Be an encourager. The world has plenty of critics already.”
This video was played at the graduation ceremony we attended this weekend. We laughed so hard about it that I couldn’t help but share it here!
If you haven’t seen, do yourself a favor and watch it. And if you’ve already seen it before, go ahead and watch it again.
I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to watch it without smiling — and being inspired, too! 🙂
MyMommyWorld.com shows you how to crochet a homemade coffee mug cozy.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
We arrived home last night after a rather exhausting but oh-so-good weekend back in Kansas. While we dearly love the people there, we realized how much we already feel at home in Tennessee. It’s been amazing how quickly we’ve all adjusted and acclimated to our new life here. I know that is definitely a testament to many answers to prayer.
We’re getting back into the swing of homeschooling after taking a week off while we moved. Somehow, our kitchen table always “blows up” (see above) while we’re in the middle of our homeschool day! 🙂
One of the exciting changes moving and now working together is affording us is getting to choose our own hours and set our own schedule, instead of Jesse being tied down to court schedules, client appointments, and the daily responsibilities of running a busy law firm. This is allowing him to be a lot more involved in homeschooling and our daily life stuff — which we are loving!
We just finished the Imagination Station book #14 last week and started Brother Andrew: Behind Enemy Lines. I’m already predicting our kids are going to love that book as they ate up the first chapter. 🙂
I loved reading Brother Andrew’s autobiography years ago and am excited to introduce him to my children now!
As you know, I’m all about making do and using what you have. So today, when I discovered we were all out of milk, I improvised and used chocolate ice cream in my coffee.
It was the best alternative to milk I could come up with — and truthfully, it was really yummy. 🙂 Plus, it saved me a trip to the store. That’s a win-win. But pretty much anything that involves chocolate ice cream is, isn’t it? 😉
This Week’s Goals:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1.
Start our new routine.2. Get our closet organized.
3.
Organize the pantry.4.
Write a love note to Jesse.5.
Finish reading Captured on the High Seas aloud to the kids.Personal Goals
6. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-29.
7.
Exercise four times.8. Finish reading Secrets of Dynamic Communication,
The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight, andChasing Francis.Business Goals
9.
Finish tweaks/edits on a new project we’re working on.10.
Answer all the emails in my to answer file.(I dumped all non-urgent emails into a file while we were moving!)
Read more about my Pantry re-organization here.
This Week’s Goals:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. 
2. Get the garage organized.
3. Get the bookshelf/school area organized.
4. Write a love note to Jesse.
5. Finish embroidering quilt square for my sister’s baby quilt.
Personal Goals
6. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-29.
7. Exercise four times.
8. Finish reading Red Hot Monogamy, Secrets of Dynamic Communication, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.
Business Goals
9. Finish tweaks/edits for my talks this weekend at the Teach Them Diligently conference in DC.
10. Write one guest post for another blog.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
Today’s Swagbucks success story is from Kristen:
I had been reading MoneySavingMom.com for months, and with the birth of my first baby coming soon, I wanted to start eating healthier, less processed foods.
I always thought the recipes on MSM looked delicious, but I didn’t always have all of the ingredients on hand. I really wanted to make the Homemade Breakfast Cookies, as well as the Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Bars. However, some of the ingredients (like coconut oil and coconut flakes) were things that are expensive, and I didn’t have much room in the budget for them, especially if it turned out I didn’t like the recipe.
I had been using Swagbucks mostly for Paypal gift cards, but then it dawned on me that I could get the most bang for my buck by cashing out my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards. I could then use the Amazon gift cards to pay for the ingredients that I didn’t already have on hand.
So I got to work on earning the most that I could. In addition to doing the daily poll, NOSO, and searches every day, I started taking surveys. I started out with the surveys that were 10-15 minutes long, and would try to do a few of those a day depending on how much time I had. The surveys helped me to reach my daily goal, which really helped the Swagbucks add up more quickly.
I redeemed my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards as soon as I’d hit the 450 points necessary for the $5 cards. Since there is a limit on those per month, it helped to cash them out gradually.
Finally I had about $90 in Amazon gift cards, which I used to buy a ton of oatmeal, almond butter, honey, chia seeds, coconut oil, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and more!
When my package arrived, I was so excited to make the Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Bars, and let me tell you, they are delicious!! I can’t wait to make them again and again, and luckily I still have a ton of ingredients left over from my Amazon purchase.
My husband would always laugh at me for using Swagbucks, but when he saw my big Amazon box on our doorstep, even he admitted that Swagbucks is pretty awesome! That was almost as sweet as the Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Bars!
Breakfasts
Oatmeal, Cereal, Eggs, and/or Fruit
Lunches
Mac & cheese, fruit
Snack-y lunch {veggies, cheese, yogurt, fruit, crackers, etc.}
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples
Cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks
Leftovers x 3Snacks
Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Boiled eggsFreezer Cooking in an Hour Plan
Brown Sugar Meatloaf
Twisted Pizza Breadsticks
Pancakes
Dinners
Pancakes, Eggs, Bacon
Taco Lettuce Wraps, fruit
Spaghetti Pizza, fruit, steamed veggies
Southwest Roll-Ups, fruit, salad
Twisted Pizza Breadsticks, fruit, steamed veggies
Dinner Out
Dinner With Friends
What’s on your menu this week? Tell us in the comments or leave a link to your menu plan post.
Guest post from Emily
When a spender and a saver marry, each spouse may have their own idea on what’s an appropriate amount to put towards a budget, how quickly to pay off debt, how to allocate money once debt is paid off, among other areas.
My husband and I, both bankers, have a common goal of paying off our debt — which we are in the process of doing. I’ve come up with a few ways to keep us motivated on our way to being debt-free. Hopefully one or more of these suggestions will help you, too!
Each month, my husband and I get $100 for “fun” money. This is just the amount that works for us. I don’t feel guilty going to lunch occasionally with friends, and he’s free to save his amount to buy a fun item for his jeep.
If you are significantly behind on payments, this is not for you. However, for us, we add to our monthly fun budget, at least temporarily, each time we pay off a debt. In general we add the amount we were paying on prior debt to current debt in order to pay it off faster.
However, if, for example, we had a monthly payment of $200 that we have paid off in full, we might use $150 for other debt pay off and allocate an additional $25 each as a reward and motivation.
Both the saver and spender win!
Again, the saver and spender both win with this. We have a separate bank account for our purchase goals. I love saving for them, and my husband is proud when we’re able to purchase something with cash — like our new washer and dryer set. Neither one of us feels like we’re missing out.
As with anything, balance is key. Ultimately, it’s likely both spouses’ goals are the same, as is the case with my husband and myself.
When neither spouse feels like the other spouse’s ideas are being pushed on them, a collective effort can occur. We are so much better together.
Do you have any other tips for accommodating both a saver and a spender?
Emily Glass is the wife to Garrett and mother to Katherine, age 2, and Grant, age 6 months. She is in banking and loves to cook.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know we had a bit of a wild day yesterday. 🙂
We had planned to head back to Kansas for Jesse’s brother’s graduation and Mother’s Day. We also had planned a surprise for Jesse’s family: his sister and her husband and two boys were going to be flying in from Colorado for the graduation. We were all excited to make a quick trip back to Kansas and to get to spend time with family!
Since we had a 7 a.m. flight to catch and since we were all flying and we’re new to the Nashville airport, we wanted to leave at 4:30 a.m. in order to allow plenty of time.
I hadn’t gotten all the packing done the night before (I was still trying to catch up on laundry since we finally have a washer & dryer again!) and needed to wash my hair, so I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. — way too early!
While getting the packing done and my hair washed, Jesse got the kids up and around, and then we were out the door and headed for the airport. When we arrived at the airport a little after 5 a.m., it was packed with people! We were glad we got there early as we ended up standing in line for quite awhile to make it through security.
While waiting to board our flight, we had fun taking pictures together. 🙂
Our 7 a.m. flight got delayed by 45 minutes, which meant we were going to miss our connecting flight (we only had a 45-minute layover). Jesse went ahead and asked if they could get us on a later connecting flight, but they told us they didn’t know if they could since all the flights were full that day. The best they could do was put us on Priority Standby for a later flight to Kansas.
Well, we hadn’t even left Nashville and we weren’t off to a great start. 🙂 But we decided to just roll with the punches, choose to call it an adventure, and find a way to make it to Kansas once we landed in Dallas.
After landing in Dallas, we double-checked to see if our connecting flight had already taken off. Yep, it had.
So the kids and I went to hang out at the play area and Jesse headed to the customer service to see what could be done. He called me awhile later with our options:
None of these were really great options, but we decided to try the OKC flight option and see if they could all five of us on the flight. If they couldn’t, we’d drive from Dallas.
We got something to eat and headed over to the gate for the OKC flight. By the time we got there, they were almost getting ready to board.
Jesse talked to the gate agents and after a lot of re-working of things, they found a way to get all five of us on the flight — not all sitting together, but all on the flight. We were so grateful for their willingness to shuffle things around to make this work for us!
We were also blessed to have very gracious people on the flight who offered to move their seats. This way, Jesse could sit with Silas, I could sit with Kaitlynn, and Kathrynne could sit nearby us.
As soon as everyone was seated, the pilot made an announcement that there had been some issues and we’d need to wait until maintenance could come check those out. By this time, we knew there was no way we’d be making it to Kansas before late afternoon, so we called to cancel our plans we had with friends and family.
We were sad that some fun things we’d had planned weren’t going to be able to happen, but at this point, we just had to focus on getting to Kansas in time for Jesse’s brother’s graduation. I was incredibly thankful that the kids were still holding up well and attitudes were remarkably good in spite of the early morning and multiple delays.
Finally, after another 45-minute wait, we were off to OKC! We arrived there without incident, rented a car, and made the three-hour drive to Kansas.
We were supposed to pick up Jesse’s sister and her family at the airport and take them to the graduation. Their flight was also delayed, so it ended up working out that they got in right before we made it in.
Jesse dropped us off, picked them up at the airport, and we were all able to make it in time to the graduation about 15 minutes before it started — and in time to get to surprise his family! It was so worth the extra efforts and we’ve had a great time with family and friends here.
And you know what? While we were tired last night from a long day, I’m so grateful that I made the choice to just roll with the punches and enjoy the ride yesterday.
My nature is not to be spontaneous but rather to always want to stick with the plan. However, I’ve really been working on having a relaxed, cheerful, live-fully-in-the-moment attitude recently.
It was encouraging to realize that the efforts to build that character in my life are paying off! When the unexpected happened and completely derailed yesterday’s plans, choosing to embrace life with joy made it an adventure rather than a very stressful experience!
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” – Henri Nouwen
