Thank you so very much for your kind, kind comments on my post yesterday on Why We More Than Doubled Our Grocery Budget. You have no idea how much you blessed and encouraged me with your graciousness and understanding.
Just, thank you. You all are the best readers ever and I’m so honored to be on this journey with you!
Many of you have asked if I’d share our grocery shopping trips again, our Amazon orders, and our weekly menu plans. Now that we’ve figured out what our grocery budget is going to be and I worked up the courage to share about it with you (!), I’m planning to get back to sharing our weekly shopping trips and menu plans as often as I’m able to. I also plan to share our almost-weekly Amazon orders.
As I’ve mentioned multiple times before, we usually make a few bulk purchases on Amazon each week using gift cards earned through Swagbucks. This week, I bought three big tubs of coconut oil and 4 bags of oats.
We eat oatmeal for breakfast at least a few times per week and we use it in baking some, too, so we’ll probably go through the oats in about two months or less.
The coconut oil will last us much longer. I’m going to guess at least six months? We’ll see!
I love being able to use my Swagbucks credit to buy quality items from Amazon when they are on a good sale. And it’s so nice to make bulk purchases of things we use often so that I don’t have to worry about replenishing my supply as often!
How did YOU save today? I’d love to hear! Tell us in the comments.
Got eggs from a coworker!
& using ibotta for milk rebates. It adds up!
I put a pound of pinto beans, water and some spices in the Crockpot last night before I went to bed for homemade refried beans. They are delicious and so much cheaper than buying by the can. I put four cups in the freezer for upcoming Mexican nights and we had some on chicken tostados for dinner tonight 🙂
Just wondering how you save up so many swagbucks each week to buy so much . I’m just curious . I do swagbucks but I don’t have enough to buy what you showed In this post . I think it’s wonderful that you can do it
Referrals are what I’m guessing the majority of how Crystal earns. I don’t have any but with some tips found here was able to up my earnings significantly from when I first started. Playing the swagbucks tv and entertainow app on my phone is now my primary way of earning swagbucks. Answer the poll, complete noso and click on your inbox everyday to see if there are any quick earning opportunities. For every coupon redeemed that was printed thru swagbucks you’ll earn 10 sb. I don’t shop a whole lot online but when I do (even if paying a dollar for shipping on a free card deal posted here) I check to see if swagbucks are offered (except when I bough my kitchenaid last year, then went thru ebates). You can also complete some encrave activities but recently it changed that it has to be from an actual computer, used to do from my kindle while doing stuff in the kitchen. Hope that helps!
Thank you do much for all your info !!!
Crystal I tried to post 2x here and wasn’t successful !
Guess it worked after all, my comment is above.
I rescued it out of spam… not sure why it was automatically bumping your comment to spam! So sorry about that!
A friend and I took the kids to a family day at the local plant nursery where they decorated pie pumpkins for free (I’ll be roasting mine later on- did this last year with a tip found here), planted a pansie in an ice cream cone, got a balloon, we all ate popcorn and took cute pics with all the different kinds of pumpkins. We all came back to our house and I was able to pull off a last minute lunch with green rice casserole and taco meat from the freezer, leftover homemade pizza plus apples for the kids and a quick boxed dessert. We later planted the pansie in a flower bed.
I was inspired by your post the other day about making your own pumpkin pie spice. Thanks for this idea!
I wanted to try a new recipe yesterday that called for Cajun seasoning, which I did not have on hand. So instead of buying a jar, I just googled a recipe. Found one that looked good, and I had all the ingredients in my cupboard. I have no idea if it tastes authentically Cajun, but it was spicy and the recipe was delicious.
I love this! And I’m so glad my post inspired you!
We stopped by the library on the way home from the kids’ soccer games to borrow books and a couple movies.
I saved this week by making my own tortillas. 😉 We have one car and my husband works weird hours. I wanted to make tacos but rather than asking him to spend a few dollars at the store on his way home (at 10:30pm), I just made them myself. They were delicious!
Way to go! Do you have a recipe that you love to use for homemade tortillas?
I found this recipe on Pinterest. They are soft and perfect. I’m not so perfect at rolling them nicely, but I think it just takes practice.
http://thecafesucrefarine.com/2013/08/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/
Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m really enjoying this How We Saved Today series. We use coconut oil for everything we would use olive oil or butter for, but I also use it as body/face lotion for me and the kids. 🙂
We are on day 4 of no spending and here’s how we saved today:
Today is a good friend of my kids 8th birthday and we didn’t want to go to the party empty handed.
Somewhere deep in the homeschool closet I found a package of never been opened Star Wars Angry Birds school supplies – pencils, huge eraser, pencil bag and drawing pad. Perfect for this particular friend!
We are chronicling our no spend journey here if you’re interested:
kidsinthehall.wordpress.com
I LOVE this! You’re an inspiration and I loved checking out your blog!
That means so very much coming from you…thank you! We are a work in progress, but there is definitely progress being made. 🙂
Really enjoyed your new grocery budget post the other day. I was wondering if you are also moving toward more natural cleaning and personal care products? I saw your post about mrs Meyers so I assume so to some degree. We are trying to move toward more natural products as we use up things already in our stock. I would love to read your thoughts on that as well as how you decide which brands and products to use, and how you find the best deals on them. So far in my beginner stage I’ve found dr bronners to be cheapest at whole foods of all places! (3.29/bar) Navigating the shelves and figuring out what is actually worth switching or not can be very contradictory and overwhelming!
Yes, we’re slowly making the switch. It’s been a baby-stepping process for us for a while now… it does take time to figure out what works and where to get good deal on the things that work!
We love coconut oil and use it all the time…however, I have been buying that same brand from Amazon (I do subscribe and save) and my latest shipment of coconut oil was rancid. Just a warning! I wonder if they’re on sale for a reason. 😉 They may have been stored at the wrong temperature for too long. My older tub of coconut oil smells wonderful but the new one smells awful. I contacted Amazon and they gave me a refund and I threw the bad oil out.
Yikes! Thanks for the heads up on that! Glad you were able to get a refund!
Amy, I was going to ask the exact same question. Of course, Crystal, you don’t have to answer, and it’s really none of our business, but just curious how much your grocery total is with all of these other items added in. I’m trying desperately to keep our family of 5 at $550 a month in groceries while eating organic produce, grass fed meats, and accommodating our food intolerances.
Oh, I’d also love to see menu plans again to see what you’re eating weekly. Maybe it will give me some new ideas!
Please tell us all your uses for coconut oil. You purchased a large amount so I’m wondering. I sub it for shortening in bread machine bread but that’s it. Thanks and love that you’re posting your trips again.
We use it for a lot of cooking things — to saute in, cook eggs in, in our oatmeal, in Bulletproof coffee, and in a number of different recipes.
I use it on my hair to tame/moisturize frizzy hair & moisturize skin, as well as in cooking/baking. I use it as a mouth rinse too. It gets rid of tarter/gingivitis & doesn’t harm your teeth. It also got rid of my teeth sensitivity to cold. I swish with 1/2 spoon full for 20 minutes while I read, clean, work on the computer, etc. It also gets rid of doggie breath! 🙂 I started brushing my older dog’s teeth with it a few days ago.
Wow! I’ve never heard of the doggie breath tip!
I use it for baking all the time- esp. muffins, pancakes, biscuits, brownies. Works well in place of butter or oil. I use it in granola, granola bars, fudge. We pop popcorn on the stove in it. I also make deodorant with it. I have fried chicken in it as well but have been slower to use it with veggies/meat.
Thanks for all the tips. I need to try some of these. Doggie breath! lol
I read the grocery budget post. I figured you had raised your grocery budget before you posted about it because of other things on the blog, and that is totally understandable. I used to have a $50 a week budget when my family had four children, and food has gone up so much since then, it is really not possible to do now unless all we are eating is food out of a box purchased with coupons. I do have a question, though.
Was the number that you posted including the things that you buy on Amazon with the swagbucks, or was that just what you pay cash with at the store? You don’t have to answer, it is not really any of my business, but I was just wondering because I wanted to get a realistic feel for how much it costs to eat the way you do. We are a family a little larger than yours, and I am trying to move us to a more whole food diet.
We just budget for the cash we use at the store. We’ve found that keeps it simple and works best for us!
We need new tires on our Ford Taurus. However we cannot afford new tire prices. So my husband shopped over the internet for another option. He discovered that there is a small tire store within miles of us that sells used tires. This is our first time buying used tires at a considerable discounted price from new tires. I don’t know how this will turn out but this is my way of saving today. I had no idea you could buy used tires.
What a cool tip! Thanks for sharing!
We bought used tired at Discount Tires last time we needed them with no problems!
I tried earning Swagbucks but discovered I don’t have the time nor patience to sift through all the things I have no interest in or experience with. I too am interested how you discover all the great AMAZON deals. There again, I guess I don’t have the patience to scroll through all the items offered on the site.
Thanks for all you do.
I get most of my deal ideas from ones I post here (usually that someone will email in or tip me off about) or from Jungle Deals and Steals. You can also set up CamelCamelCamel.com to alert you when Amazon has a price drop on an item you routinely buy.
I’m a busy person who just uses swagbucks for a couple of things. No, I don’t get rewards every month, but I’m not spending more than a couple minutes each day, either. I do the daily polls, the TV sometimes (run them in another tab while I check emails) and the search option. I am still able to get gift cards every couple of months this way without loosing all of my time doing it 🙂
I enjoy these posts of yours, Crystal! I used the $2 Dollar General coupon to buy 2 packs of Gerber baby food (with 2 containers in each) for $2.20. After the coupon, I got 4 containers of baby food for only $0.20 – or 5 cents each! Yay for saving each day in little ways.
Hi,
I don’t know what you paid for your oatmeal (maybe it was free with your swagbucks) but I have found a bulk food store in the amish community where I can buy it for .50 a lb when you buy a 50 lb bag. A friend and I were splitting it before I learned that I have children allergic to oatmeal and we quit eating it.
Cathy
That’s SUCH a great deal — I’ve found that buying oats in bulk is definitely the most inexpensive option!
I’d like to do that too. How do you find Amish that sell oats?
How do you follow the grocery sales on Amazon?