I’ve been spending all my spare minutes finishing up my book manuscript because my self-imposed deadline for the finished rough draft is in a few days, so we’re Eating From the Pantry right now. It’s been awhile since I’ve challenged myself to only use what we have on hand, so I’ve had fun being creative in the kitchen this past week.
It helps that we had stocked our freezer and cupboards pretty well over the last six weeks and it also helps that we’re not buying milk right now to see if it makes any difference in Silas’ cough/asthma. We are almost out of fruit, though, so a trip to Aldi will be happening sometime in the next few days to at least buy fruit and a few other basics.
In the mean time, I’ve enjoyed the extra time that not going to the grocery store or clipping coupons has provided and am excited at the progress I’m making on the manuscript (though I’m not going to pretend like it’s been perfectly smooth sailing or that my house is anywhere near tip-top shape right now! :))
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
I believe I saw a recipe through one of the blog hop links to a chicken dish that tasted just like P.F. Changs. Does anybody remember seeing this? I would love to make it, but I can’t find it again.
Nevermind…found it. I had to go back through my computers history.
Wow, you are keeping busy! May God multiply your time! 🙂
not sure if you’ll get to read this but when my son was around Silas’ age he had a constant cough and they thought it might be asthma. But we noticed that it was a lot worse when he had milk products and when he drank soy milk he wasn’t as congested. needless to say i think it may have been a reaction/allergic reaction to milk. thankfully he has outgrown it and now can have yogurt, milk and even icecream without the major congestion.
Wishing you all the time, peace and inspiration you need to finish your manuscript! Isn’t it exciting to see how God works in our lives? Just when we think we’ve got something figured out … surprise! 🙂
I ended up making 3 separate trips to Target last week…in my first trip, I saved 56%, in my second trip I saved 50% and in my third trip, I found baby clothes on clearance & got 4 shirts & 1 pair of pants for only $8.55 total! I am lovin’ that place!!
I’m skipping shopping for this week simply because our weekend was too busy (and I left my coupon binder at work). It’ll be nice to clear some things out of the pantry/freezer.
Good luck with Silas. My oldest and I both have asthma, so I know it can be a struggle.
I got 2 tubes of huggies 72ct wipes for .09 oop @babies r us. Here’s how: I got a $5 printable merchant certificate from babies r us they were wipes were 2 for $6. I combined the gc with .50 off coupons x2. My hubby received the same email. The gc don’t expire til September so we’re saving his for a great deal on diapers or a ride on toy.
I have horrible allergies and I’m always very congested, my Ears, Nose and Throat doctor suggested I try drinking Soy Milk or Almond Milk to see if it helped. I’ve been using Almond Milk in my cereal every morning for a couple of months now and I’ve noticed a HUGE difference, maybe you could try that.
I didn’t go on less shopping trips this week but did do different shopping. I was in an area that is too far to drive just for grocery shopping but I was over there anyway for the airport today. So I stopped by some stores I rarely get to go to. I picked up 11 lbs of chicken breast at $.68/lb (cooked it all up tonight and got the bones/fat/skin out, and will separate/freeze by meal sizes tomorrow), oranges 30/$1, and a few mangos. Then I went to Kroger (not my normal one) just to pick up the grapes and some markdown pastries since there was not a great sale this week. I only went because it was right across the street from Aldis. At Aldis I got $1.49 milk (the cheapest around here right now), $.47 per dozen eggs, some other fruit, and some bread/buns. I was disappointed that the $.99/lb strawberries were all bad :/ Overall, not a stock up week (except chicken) but I did get some good deals.
I don’t have a blog, but thanks to your inspiration and teaching, I spent $9.72 out of pocket at CVS and saved $25.64 according to my receipt. I also found out that CVS offers rain checks when they run out of a sale item (like $2.99 shower gel to later be paired with my BOGO coupon 🙂
Got a great deal at Walmart this evening!! General Mill’s Fiber One cereals were ALL marked down to $1 and they had $1 off of 2 sticky coupons on them making them just 50 cents a box!! I think that there was a $1.50 off of 2 coupon out a little while ago that might make this an even sweeter deal.
Corresponding coupon, $1.50 off of 2, not sure if it’s still available.
http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid96571.aspx
I got a pretty good buy at CVS this week. It wasn’t nearly as good as I normally do, but when I have “off weeks” like this, I just remember back to before I did couponing, and actually paid *cringe* FULL PRICE! Eeep! 😉
Here’s the link to my “Buy & Brag” this week.
http://www.householdtipsandmoneysavingtricks.com/?p=488
With all that I have heard goes on with writing a book I am impressed you are eating at all!! 🙂
The Lord is gracious, as I am sure He has shown you over and over through this experience.
And with that – my blog hop is done for the night and I am off to soak in a hot bubble bath and start a new book. Hehe – maybe you could *write* your book in a hot bubble bath… it’d be half way relaxing! 🙂
Hi there. I love your site. I’m not sure if this pertains to you or not, but artificial fragrances such as air fresheners, scented oils, candles, fragranced laundry soap and fabric softener, etc can aggravate asthma symptoms. I have asthma and know that when I am around these things I start coughing and wheezing. Just thought I’d mention this. Healthychildhealthyworld.org has more info on this. Hope your book writing goes well and Silas’ symptoms improve.
Great! I don’t have a blog but I did well with free Kelloggs cereal and milk and also a bunch of 8 oz shredded Kraft cheese for .25. Nothing else too exciting and I think I’m going to be scaling back the shopping/deal seeking the next few weeks.
I really appreciated that article you posted yesterday on not being defined by saving money. I’m spending too much time and worry effort saving money on groceries right now.
I’m excited about your book!
Try drinking concord grape juice. I steam juice mine in the fall and bottle it up. When ever we have coughs/mucus it seems to help break it up. I don’t know why, but it does help. I am looking forward to reading your book, you have a lot of great information.
Good luck on your manuscript. I really like the way you put first things first and don’t let shopping or couponing take over your life when there are other more important things going on. It must be a challenge with such a successful blog, but you do a great job. I also appreciate the way you take the time to add comments and make it personal even though you are so busy. Thanks for all you do!
This is my first time psting, but i luv this site!!! it has helped me save so much money these past few months!!;) i got 6 gallons of milk FREE this week from my local Schnucks!! if u buy three Kellogs cereal or more Kellogs gave you a free gallon of milk!! 🙂 Thanks soooo much Money Saving Mom all the others for all the tips!!!;)
I’m thinking (hoping) I might have fewer shopping trips this week, too. It’s always so nice to find extra time & be able to “shop at home” for a while.
I’m glad to hear you’re working on a book, Crystal. You’ve got so much wonderful information and inspiration to share! 🙂
My youngest daughter (27 yo now) was sensitive to milk and it caused horrible extreme episodes of asthma and bronchitis when she was a baby until she was about 10 years old.. She eventually outgrew it, thankfully..
Then my granddaughter (other daughters child) who is 2 now was also affected negatively by milk. She had many colds, runny nose, & ear problems. I suggested to my daughter to take her off milk for a little while & see what happened. Every time she did, she cleared right up.. She now only drinks almond milk and is thriving on it, & no more symptoms.
We are a non-soy consuming family unless its been fermented so the newer soy milks arent an option.
I hope this is the solution to your sweet babes problem.. & the frustration and helplessness I know a mom feels when their baby is sick.
As to food.. I’ve been working on eating out of our freezers as much as possible for the last 2 months.. I did make some headway but filled that space with grass fed beef I bought today from a CSA.
I’ve not been doing much coupon-wise either.. my stockpiles are fully loaded for the moment..
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for the link ups! I have been finding books at the library left and right from bloggers that I have never read nor heard of, and they have been really helpful. I can’t wait to read yours, especially since I’ve been keeping up with your blog for quite some time. I’m sure it will be great!
I must be blind because I’m not seeing many links, but here is my shopping post! http://mylittlebitoflife.com/?p=1058
Good luck on your book, you’ll do great! Don’t worry, you’re house will wait for you! (Mine always does)!
Try refreshing if the links don’t show up for you. Sometimes Mr. Linky gets wonky!
By the way, thank you so much for your email this week. It meant so much to me! I stayed almost completely off email this past week so I could focus on writing, but I’ll be emailing you back soon!
Take your time (you don’t have to reply)!
Crystal, I’m really liking that you have cleared out several of the blogs/links so it’s easier to sift through. There’s still so much to attempt to view but before it was so overwhelming that I wouldn’t even open any of them. Today I found a couple great deals since it looked easier to go through. I know you can’t exactly read them all before posting but it sure makes it nice to view some good ones that are not repeat duplicates of everyone else’s and has a few new pointers. Your amazing! Keep up the good work. I’m saying a prayer for you and your manuscript.
Thanks for your kind words. If you see other links which are just affiliate links, duplicates, etc. Let me know as I can go in and delete them, too.
Milk and orange juice are contributors to mucous. Try to avoid them for the duration of his illness. Oil of Oregano is a good homeopathic treatment of respiratory and more specifically sinus issues.
I just used my $5 of $30 purchase from Aldi. Made for some super deals and I’m so excited that I get to use it once a week for the rest of the month! Did you get this “gift card” in the mail?
Really? What is this? I’d love to hear about it..
It might just be a southern Ohio deal… there were only southern Ohio Aldi locations listed on my coupon. You get $5 off a $30 purchase to use once, each week in April. It’s part of a promotion to win you over as a regular shopper.
We decided to do pantry/freezer clean out the entire month of March (first time we’ve ever had a stockpile to do this.) It was so much fun! I made a list for 31 days worth of meals using only what we had on hand…with exception to dairy and fresh produce. It was time consuming to take inventory and make the meal list, but it was so nice to have every single day covered. And the money we saved not buying groceries went to our debt snowball!
Good luck with all the book work!
Full month of eating from pantry?! You are an inspiration!! I’ve created an inventory of our food and plan a few meals in advance. We probably HAVE a month’s worth of food, but to actually create the plan seems overwhelming. Would love to do this though and then continue to pay off debt. Thanks for sharing!!
Link #52 appears to be some sort of a scam, it links to some thing where you are supposed to sign up for some affiliate program to get onto some email list. It doesn’t discuss what free toys, or what the qualifications or requirements are and it sure is not about somebody’s shopping trip that got them free toys!
Thanks for catching it. I deleted it along with a few others that that same blog had posted which were just affiliate links.
I love your site, much like mine we are here to HELP others save or learn to save.
Right now we are in a frinzy in the Houston/South Texas Area because Kroger is doing away with the double and triple coupon program. I guess, as I have been told, this is a test area for this and it will soon be NATIONWIDE! Help us ALL out by sending letters to corperate and letting them know how we feel ( please keep it nice and sweet).
I can only imagine…writing a book, blogging and being a mom. My house wouldn’t be in tip top shape either but its worth it 🙂
Thanks for hosting this even if you didn’t shop this week!!! So looking forward to this book!
I’m praying for you, Crystal, as you finish your manuscript! What a thrilling time in your life! I’m looking forward to reading your book! Blessings!
Thank you so very much for your prayers. I’m learning afresh that without Him, I’m nothing!
Just wanted to let you know i have a son whose now 7. They initially diagnosed him with asthma…and my gut always thought he just didn’t fit the diagnoses. Well after much back and forth they eventually after a broncoscope dropped the diagnoses. They cultured a bacteria called pseudonas aruginosa, they wound up putting him on an extended course think it was all of 8-10 weeks of an antibiotic. Those short terms courses were just quieting it and the coughing would start up again about every eight weeks. Been about a yr plus of a much healthier child…..hope that helps.
Thanks so much for sharing!