I made out the menu this week and realized there was very little we needed to buy. Our cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer are rather full and the sales were pretty sparse. So my hubby just made a quick trip by the store on his way home from work to buy milk, cheese, chicken, and produce–all which were on sale.
My husband also surprised me with a few special treats, too, since we had some extra wiggle room in our budget (we don't always completely follow our "only buy what's on sale rule"–just most of the time!). He bought my favorite-in-all-the-world Milano cookies, some delicious Pepperidge Farm cookies, and whipping cream (for homemade strawberry shortcake–yum!).
All in all, he spent $32.86. Somehow, we've managed to stay significantly below our $40/week budget most of the last four weeks–even with some splurging! I'm curious to see if we can continue to keep with our $40/week budget now that we're feeding five people. So far, it's going quite well, but only time will tell.
Check back on Monday for details and specifics on this coming week's menu plan.
In other frugal news, I had the privilege of meeting three frugal
friends in the last two weeks whom I've gotten to know through the
blogging world. Amy and Laura and I met up two weeks ago and then Amy and Carrie and I met up this past week.
(photo from Laura)
We managed to totally forget to take pictures with Carrie, but Laura and Amy posted some fun pictures of our meet-up here and here. It's always such a boost and encouragement to get to chat face-to-face with other frugal moms!
And in other completely unrelated news (but because this is my blog so I guess that means I have license to post whatever I please!), after four weeks, I finally got a few pictures of all three of my precious little ones together…
There is never a dully moment around here and most nights I go to bed quite exhausted, but feel incredibly blessed to be the mama of these darling little ones. They bring so much joy into our lives!
Enough of my biased mama ramblings, for now, though. 🙂 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.
Note: 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.
ADORABLE children!! Post pictures of them ANYTIME!!! 🙂
Your kids! Oh my head, they are SO CUTE! Love the curly-q hair 🙂
Awesome job staying under budget! Way to go 🙂 I learn so much from you… Thanks again for all the deals you post!
Crystal,
Can you change frab to fran?…I hit the wrong key…I do know how to spell my name:)
Crystal,
What a beautiful family…you have every right to be proud of them, and every right to boast about them:)
Crystal,
Thanks for sharing with us, as usual! I so appreciate your insight.
Kim from Philadelphia
Crystal, they are too cute!!! Thanks for sharing the picture! Makes me miss having a little one Silas’ size!!
I loved our meet up time and was excited to hear that you got to have ANOTHER one last week!! How FUN!
Your girls’ hairdo’s are so sweet!
Wonderful family!
Oh my goodness, what cute cute kiddies! They are beautiful, we are all blessed by our children.
Lucky you cookies! We have that rule at our house don’t buy anything unless it is on sale!
Your kiddos are adorable. I still don’t have a decent pic of my kids. They are 1,2,6, and 8!
Crystal,
Your kids are absolutely adorable! Hope you are getting some sleep and figuring out the new routine!
Just curious…how are you “feeding 5 people”? U, hubs, 2 small toddlers and a newborn. Are you breastfeeding or formula? Just confused about 5 people. Also, toddlers generally don’t eat much (getting mine to eat was quite the chore!). Once they’re older, will you increase your $40/week budget? I have myself, hubs and a 12 yr and nearly 16 yr old girls. I spend $70/week. Trust me….the older they are, the more they eat, especially since mine are fairly athletic and do a lot of sports. Is your budget based on age of the children?
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Money Saving Mom here: Well, since I’m breastfeeding exclusively, I consider that we’re feeding five people here because, well, we are. 🙂 We also have lots of guests into our home so we often are feeding more than just the five of us, too.
However, I totally know that when children get older they eat more. I grew up in a family of nine of the most voracious eaters ever and I did much of the cooking and grocery shopping for them for a number of years–which was some of the best training in feeding a crowd on a budget there is! 🙂
Check out this post for more of my thoughts on grocery budgets:
https://moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/08/qa-how-much-sho.html
We have a PF factory down the road from us and they make mostly cookies and bread. You can go there and get a 2 gallon bag of cookies for $3.50 – it’s hard to stay away some weeks!!! All in moderation, right? 😉
Great shopping for you this week.
I just linked to my SSS post! Yay! But, it was my post from last Saturday. Since you didn’t have a linky last week (and I haven’t been motivated enough to post anything new this week), I figured it’d work out 🙂
I’m finding that I only really need to buy produce and milk, too lately. I’m loving summer! I think that’s part of it. And, because we started to do green smoothies for breakfast three days a week…YUM!
Hi! I left a link to my latest diaper deal at Baker’s. Thanks!
Just wait until Silas gets bigger! My nearly 2yo son can almost out eat tme. Though to be fair, in contrast, my 4yo son eats like a bird! I had to increase the amount of food I was buying/making for my nearly 2yo!
The group shot is adorable! my littlest is 3 months and the olderst is 2, I was able to get a decent shot of them together yesterday for the first time. You’re doing much better than I am, and with more kids!
I would be curious to know what people with larger families/olders kids spend weekly on their groceries. Thanks,
Julie
Your children are just beautiful. 🙂
What sweet pictures of your little ones. You definitely have your hands full. Thanks for interspersing family info with couponing stuff – it makes your blog more ‘real’. Some couponing blogs I read lack the warmth.
You have a beautiful family! Thanks for sharing with us.
Aw! Cute pictures! Seems like my grocery budget has been lower this summer too. Maybe because the fresh produce is cheaper in the summer?
Your little ones are precious! Cherish these moments, they go way too fast!
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
Congrats on the new addition! We have 2 girls, 5 years and soon to be 2 years old, and I too have a four week old son! How exciting!!
I love Pepperidge Farm cookies! I’ll be over with some milk!
🙂
Your children are so adorable! 🙂
Mine are now 2,3 &5, and it’s STILL a struggle to get a good picture with all of them! I finally quit stressing over it. A great scrapbook page is one with all the outtakes. It’s much more real! Your pics turned out cute 🙂
Your 3 children are precious!! Thanks for adding the pictures! I love reading your blog!!
$59.70 worth of groceries for $0.00 out of pocket!
Regarding your $40/wk budget, assuming you were still only feeding 4 people, would you consider that $10/person? For instance, if you only had to feed 2 people, would you then lower your budget to $20 or would you adjust it accordingly so that you have money to spend stocking up?
What do you consider a good weekly food budget per person?
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Money Saving Mom here: Check out this post:
https://moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/08/qa-how-much-sho.html
The specifics have changed a little bit since we’ve moved to a different area (we currently don’t have access to milk from a local dairy, etc.), but the basic calculations are the same.