I spent it all!

I couldn't help myself. I went back to WM yesterday and bought 3 more Tai Pei entrees. It was $4.24, leaving me with a whopping 13 cents at the end of the month.

I made it! I went from June 26 to July 31, spending no money out of pocket for groceries of any description. I used a $20 GC, $1.15 off of another GC, $ 18.99 ECBs, $16.50 RR, and as best as I can figure, $31.04 of rebates from prior grocery purchases.

The end of July came just in time. In another day or two, I would have had to buy cat food. Now, it will come out of the $50 budget for August. EEK! I don't even have a Q right now on the brand I always buy. I do not think variety is the spice of life for cats. In fact, change their feed, you change their bowel habits quite a bit. They need the same thing all the time. I have a big Q on some kind of premium feed from Petsmart. I may go over there and see how much it is. I'm not holding out much hope that it will be enough to make me change my cat's regular feed.

Stay with me through August and let's see if I can do it on $50 oop.

I received more rebate money today.

I received a $2.19 rebate today to go with the $2.18 I have left from the month. It looks like I'm going to end the challenge spending no money out of pocket and having $4.37 left over! I could go back to Wal-Mart and buy 3 more Tai Pei entrees. That would still leave me with a dime, I think. As a matter of fact, I'm eating one of those right now with a lovely glass of wine. Yes, it's the middle of the day, but, sometimes, I just deserve it! Actually, the wine is to put the fire out. These things are spicy.

Have you ever had to take a hard line with someone when it was to your own financial detriment? I work for several lawyers in town and get along with everyone, or, so I thought. One of my lawyers called me and chewed me a new one, all based on erroneous information. I went to her office and told her face to face that I would no longer work for her. There were several people present and it was not a pretty sight. She has exhibited a mercurial personality in the past, but, today was over the top. Actually, she's the reason I'm having a celebratory glass of wine in the middle of the day. I could use a few "high-fives" for taking up for myself so forcefully. I didn't say anything that I might later regret. I had 3 things to say, I said them, and I left. The secretary's mouth was hanging open when I walked by her. I know that it will be all over the courthouse by the time it opens in the morning. Big city, but, a small and gossip-y clique within the legal community.

Well, thanks for letting me take a hard left turn there. Just when you thought I was going to talk about my August challenge, I shift gears and tell that story!

Here's the challenge for August: I currently have $50 Rite Aid GC that was free, $53.85 CVS GC, also free. I will be receiving a $25 Walgreens GC soon, again free. All of those are in play as well as any rebates I receive during the month of August. I will budget $50 out of pocket. I must buy cat food and a few basics along the way. Fifty dollars! Gosh, that's nothin' when you go to the store!

Are you with me?

I almost blew it today.

As a rule, I do not shop at Wal-Mart. I went there today, mainly to look for a couple of items I had Qs for that I couldn't find anywhere else. I bought some things I really didn't need to buy; it's only carried at Wal-Mart and the Q had a long expiration date. I should have left them on the shelf, but, you all know the siren song of the Q, don't you? I was able to get 4 of the Tai Pei entrees and a bag of salad. I finally found the BUNdinos there and I wanted to use that Q and send off for the rebate. I was afraid I had blown my ZERO budget, having only $11.11 of rebate money left. The total was $8.93! Yea! I still have $2.18. I used more than $11 in Qs on that trip.

I was really curious about the BUNdinos, so, I had a couple of them for lunch. Be warned; it's all bread, hardly a spoonful of filling in each one. The box had 9 (they are about the size of a Bagel Bite), cost $1.98 and about all I got was bread. Your kids might go for them, mainly because they are so easy to prepare in the microwave. They are not made for toaster or conventional ovens, only microwave. All is not lost because I will get $1.98 back in the mail.

I only paid .18 for the bag of salad after Q. I needed it because I have a crap-load of tomatoes here. If I eat all the tomatoes, my dad thinks he hasn't been bringing me enough and doubles up. I like tomatoes, but, I don't want it every day!

Somehow, the temperature control in my refrigerator got turned up to "cold" and nearly everything in there froze. Two boiled eggs froze hard as rocks, my salad had icicles on the lettuce leaves, and my oranges froze solid. I'm worried about my fresh eggs. If they froze, I've lost a lot. I have 3 dozen eggs in the fridge. I think I may have knocked the control up when I made bread last week. I keep the flour in the refrigerator and it is up against the thermostat control. I probably jiggled the thing when I was putting the flour back in.

To recap:

Rebates used: $26.80
Free Bi-Lo card: 20.00
Free CVS card: $1.15

I have left: $2.18 in rebates

I just keep a running total of Qs used for the year. I don't break them down month to month, so, I cannot tell you how much in Qs I used in July. Suffice it to say that I didn't buy anything except a loaf of bread without a Q and it was on a special sale price. There's nothing I need in the next 2 days and I have already thrown away all my July expiring Qs, just so I wouldn't look at them and say, "Oh, poor baby, I can't throw you away. I'll have to take you to the store and use you." Don't laugh, you know the feeling. For the dedicated couponer, there is a gravitational pull to the store when you are holding them!

Tough decisions.

I have $11.11 left from my rebate money. I have several Tai Pei frozen entree Qs that expire Wednesday. I love that stuff. They don't have Qs in circulation often. I just have to make it through Friday. I'm out of milk. What to do? I guess I could do without milk until Saturday. I'm thinking of blowing the last of my rebate money on the Tai Pei. I'm going to have to make my move tomorrow. I really would have liked to have ended July with something still in my pocket. So far, I have used $17.84 of rebate money, $20 grocery GC, $1.15 CVS GC. I didn't really do as well as I had hoped for, but, still within the rules and certainly within reason. I don't know; I guess I'll sleep on it.

Ate a frozen, single serve entree for lunch. Just snacked instead of having dinner; Goldfish and coke, vanilla wafers w/ peanut butter and a glass of milk. It's a wonder my body hasn't completely rebelled against me for the way I mistreat myself.

She spins, she shoots, she scores!

Went to CVS today for the Coke 4/$11 deal. You can't do 8 at once; it starts charging full retail price with #5, so, my manager broke it up into 2 purchases for me. He had to use his card to override my 2nd purchase so that I would get them at the sale price. Anyway, the total for 8 was $22 + tax. I had $17.99 in ECBs, 4 $1 Qs of $1/2, for a total of 33 cents which went on my free CVS GC. Of that amount, one penny was coke and .32 was tax. The manager said, "I keep going to Barnes & Noble to look for your book." When I gave him a quizzical look, he said, "Well, you are going to write a book on using coupons, aren't you?"

There will be no cooking or real meal preparation here today. Baseball starts at 1pm and goes right through until evening, then, another game at 8pm. I'm in baseball heaven. There are 4 games on today. Unfortunately, 3 of them are on about the same time, so, there will be a lot of channel-flipping.

No spending, no cooking, no nothing today.

The good news is I didn't spend any money today. The bad news is I didn't cook a decent meal today. My dad helped me pull up all the carpet in my bedroom. I had moved all the furniture out yesterday and he helped with the biggest things going back in, but, I pretty much did it all myself. I got kind of shaky while we were working and I had a candy bar to "sugar me up." Later, after he was gone, I had a grilled cheese sandwich (remember all that free cheese? Gotta use it!) and then took a nap. It's way past dinner time and I'm feeling no hunger at all. I may try to eat some cheese and crackers later, just because I know I need to eat something decent today.

I live in a fairly small house, about 1250 sq. feet, and it was built in 1930. Now, in 1930, I don't believe closets had been invented! I have no closet in my bedrooms. I use rolling garment racks for my clothes. I never had any place to put my purses where I would see them and think to use a different one from time to time. So, today, I put up a bunch of those Command Strips on the wall. You know, it's the ones that come off cleanly and will not take the wallpaper off with them. So, now, I have all my purses on the walls. Surely, now, I can be a bit more color coordinated when I go out the door!

No spending today.

I have some of those $3/2 Head & Shoulders and I suspect that Wal-Mart has them at a price that will make them free. I have so far denied my urges to go look.

Lunch today was some of that beef stew I made about a month ago. I packed it in individual servings in the freezer. Makes it easy to have some on the spur of the moment. I had a lot of heavy lifting work to do around the house today, so, tonight was a lazy man's dinner; a frozen single-serve entree.

Tomorrow, I MUST eat salad. The salad is still fresh, but, my dad's tomatoes are getting too ripe. I know he throws away a lot of tomatoes in a season but I don't want to be the one to do it. There are a few other things in the fridge that need immediate attention or they'll have to be thrown out. I guess I'll forage in the refrigerator for a couple of days. I've got gobs of work to do tomorrow; I'm pulling up the carpet in my bedroom. That means all furniture, clothes, shoes, TV, etc. have to come out, then the carpet has to be pried up, rolled up, the padding needs all the tacks and staples pulled out, and then all the furniture, etc. needs to go back in. I'll be lucky if I have the energy to make a salad! I have 2 more rooms of carpet to come up, but, I just can't do it all in one day. I'll have to tackle them a few days apart.

I put all the cats outside yesterday. The little ones wouldn't leave the front steps and wouldn't even go in the basement this morning when I went down to feed them. I corralled them and took them inside the basement and showed them where the food and water was. I checked on them several times today; they were content to lie about in the basement. Miss Kitty, the one year old, really likes it outside quite a bit. She's more familiar with the basement and the window through which they can easily come and go. It's too small for a dog to get in the basement, so, they are safe. Well, as safe as they can be. I've trapped 3 raccoons in the basement in the past week. I use humane traps and my dad carries them off into the country and lets them out near a creek. It's probably 20 miles from here, so I know I'm not catching the same ones over and over. Since I started trapping them a few months ago, I've gotten a dozen. I think the kittens are smart enough to scurry out of the way if one comes in tonight. 'Coons can climb pretty well, but, I think my kittens are better at it. Besides, raccoons rarely kill other animals. They like easy food, like cat food in the dish! Then, if all goes well, they will go for the cat food in the trap.

I'm doing well on food and quite frankly, I can't think of a thing I need. I think I could go the rest of the month and not buy any. Oh, wait, I forgot about the cokes at CVS this Sunday. Gotta do that deal.

I had to make a "coupon" run.

I had a $3 ECB expiring today. I bought 4 Trident Xtra Care, total $2.98, use $3 ECB, no tax. Got them for nothing. Also, earned a $2 ECB. Manager calls me "the coupon queen."

I made bread the other day and it didn't turn out very well. I wasn't in the mood to make another bad loaf, so, I broke down and used some of my rebate cash for a loaf of bread today. I still have $11.11 to work with for the next 7 days.

I'm thinking of continuing the challenge for August, but, I will have to budget a small amount of money. I have to buy cat food and, of course, the usual dairy and fresh produce. I'm sort of thinking of this; all free GC are in play as before, all rebates received during the month I can use, and maybe another $50 for the month. That includes cat food. I'm just thinking out loud here. I'll make a decision by the end of the month. I believe it's workable.

I gave it all away!

I made the cheesecake, ate one tiny slice, gave the rest of it to my dad and step-mom. I had enough stuff to make 2 banana puddings, gave one to my dad, gave one to my aunt and uncle. I didn't even get to taste it! You know what that means, don't you? I'll have to make another one.

My grocery store often has Emerald nuts BOGOF. There are often good Qs out at the same time. As with all of you, I cannot let something free or nearly free to stay on the store shelf. My dad loves cashews, but, doesn't buy them too much because of the cost (they are expensive if you are not a couponer, but, for us, hah! we laugh at retail). I had an extra so I gave him that, too. You may wonder why I loaded him up with food gifts. Well, he just did a major trim job to my crape myrtle. It would have cost me at least $100 to get a tree trimmer to do it, maybe more. He even went to the expense himself to buy some hedge clippers to do the job. What a dad!

I was thinking about the free Kraft cheese Q wyb 3 other Kraft and related items. I used 3 of those, bought 4 Jell-O singles, 2 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats, and 3 packs of Kool-Aid. The only thing I had to pay for was the Kool-Aid, .60, and tax on all. The tax, I think, was about $1.25 or so. That was about $20 worth of food and we can pay most, if not all of it, with coupons! Even though there are billions of dollars worth of Qs circulated each year, it still seems as if we couponers are a secret society. If, after doing a deal like that, you feel smug, go ahead and feel smug AND superior. We're a smart group of people and very generous, it would appear from posts on HCW.

I try to eat, but, it's hard sometimes.

Yesterday, I managed to eat 1/2 a grilled cheese sandwich and a big salad. The salad had a lot of "stuff" in it; boiled egg, cheese, tomato, and croutons. I like to have something to chew on besides lettuce. I'm going to have that again today for lunch and for dinner, I'm definitely using up the last of the spaghetti sauce. I had it in the freezer until a couple of days ago, so it should be fine.

I made a cheesecake in a chocolate cookie crust today. I made it to take to my favorite law firm, but, I'm thinking I may just keep it! It was a mix out of stockpile and a crust out of stockpile. I did buy some milk yesterday to make it with. I drink Lactaid and the directions said you might have an unfavorable outcome if you use lactose free, non-fat, skim milk. I also have all the "fixin's" for a banana pudding. That would use the wafers, instant Jell-O pudding mix, a container of cool whip I have in the fridge, and would use more of the milk I bought yesterday for the cheesecake. Oh, yes, I had a Q for $1 off produce yesterday, so, I have bananas. I guess I could take the banana pudding to the law firm. Maybe I'll give it to my dad. After all, he's 77 and mows my yard every week. He does all the trim work and is in the process of trimming back a gigantic crape myrtle. He does a lot of repairs around the house. He buys all the gas for the lawn mower. He's not rich by any means. They are like me, they get by. I suppose you've guessed by now that sharing is the fun part of having a good stockpile.

I mentioned a few days ago about the coke deal at CVS starting next Sunday. I think I said I would use 2 $1 Qs. In fact, I can use 4 $1 Qs when I buy 8 fridge packs. I have enough ECB to bring it down to tax only.

I have enough cat food and litter to last until the end of the month, so, no worries there. I am going to have to buy cat food in August. I suppose I can't continue the ZERO grocery budget into next month. I might, though, designate a small amount of money for August and keep working on my stockpile. It's been a fun exercise for July and I'd like to continue it in some form or another.

Woops! I went on a coupon frenzy.

As hard as I've tried to ignore it, sometimes the coupon frenzy hits. It's happened to you, too. I went to Walgreens this morning and just had to take advantage of the razors with the $2 IVC + $2 Q. I also had 2 Qs for Reynolds aluminum foil, so, I got 2. I ended up spending from my $24.90 cash available, $4.03. Next, I went to CVS and bought 4 packs of the Trident Xtra Care gum. They are BOGOF this week and I had a BOGOF Q and a .75 Q. That total came to .82, however, I have a free CVS GC, so, that didn't take any off of my available money. Also, I got $2 ECB, I guess besides being BOGOF, there's an ECB deal with the gum, too. Then, I went to Bi-Lo. I had some really good Qs that were about to expire and I went a little overboard. I used up the $9.55 I had left on my free GC and had to pay $7.82 out of my rebate money. With the 3 stops, though, I redeemed $21.14 in Qs.

I had a Q for Special K BOGOF and a Q for $1 off produce when buying 2 Special K. The 12oz box was $3.55 and the 18oz box was only $3.50. So, for $3.50, I got 2 huge boxes of cereal and some bananas and a lemon. I recently received some Michael Angelo's BOGOF Qs. I bought 4 of them today for a total of $7.50. I also had $1 Q off a bag of salad. It was BOGOF this week, $1.24 for each. For a quarter for a bag of salad, I guess I'll eat salad 2 or 3 times this week.

To recap, I have left to spend for this month: $13.02 cash from rebates, $54.18 free CVS GC, $50 free Rite Aid GC. I also have $18.99 in ECBs which I will spend next Sunday on the coke deal.

I feel like I've let you down by giving in to the call of the Q. You all know how hard it is to not use a good Q just because you have it. I am down to only 10 days left of my challenge, so, I should be able to make it on $13.02.

I had enough MyPoints to order a $25 Walgreens GC. I guess I'll get that in a couple of weeks. I applied for the MyPoints Visa credit card and received something like 3,800 bonus points for my first use of the card. Now that I've used it once and have gotten the points, that credit card is going into my lock box so I won't use it anymore. I don't really have a problem with credit cards. I have a lot because they all came with bonus points for hotels, airlines, MyPoints, etc. I have a main card I use for most of my monthly purchases and pay it off in full every month. I have a balance on one from having to charge a root canal and I have a balance on some old debt on another one. Both of those are at 4.9% and 5.9% interest, so, I'm not being eaten up by compound interest. Since I'm not spending any money on groceries this month, I can make a much larger payment on the root canal bill.

I'm still looking for the Bundinos. I have a Q that expires 7/31, I think, and then there's the TMF rebate. With the Q, that's a moneymaker, if I could only find it!

I hit a bump yesterday.

I am not one to eat breakfast too much. I don't like eating when I first get up and by the time I want to eat, it's lunch already. Yesterday, baseball started at 1:00pm and while watching, I got a tiny bit hungry and ate a few Goldfish and a glass of iced tea. Somewhere in the afternoon while watching baseball, I fell asleep. When I awoke, it was about 5:00pm and I was thinking about what to prepare for dinner. Suddenly, my eyes fell upon a box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Now, when I was a kid, I ate those things like crazy, but, I haven't had one in a very long time and I thought, "Yum, a Swiss cake roll and a glass of milk!" So, that's what I did at that moment. Now, I've told ya'll that I used to weigh 280 pounds and had gastric bypass surgery. In the bypass world, there's a thing called "the sugar dump." Because part of the intestine is removed when the stomach is stapled, food goes from stomach to deeper into the intestine right off. Too much of a sugary item will cause this "sugar dump." To be gentle about it, it causes a lot of pain and abdominal "upset." Well, after that Swiss cake roll, I had a sugar dump. I was so sick for the rest of the evening that eating dinner was completely out of the question. You may wonder, since I know what sugar will do to me, why I would have Swiss cake rolls in the house. The only thing I can say is that I give in to cravings sometimes.

So, to sum up, no real meals were prepared or eaten on Sunday. I'll try to do better today.

Good things in the mail today.

I received $20 GC to Olive Garden today. It was from a website where you collect points for reading emails or some such thing. Anyway, it seems to be worth whatever effort I've put into it. Come to think of it, I haven't eaten out at all this month. I have gotten a few cups of coffee at McD's.

I received a trade today with BOGOF Qs for Michael Angelo's single serve entrees. Yeah! I can use those on lazy nights.

I'm not quite sure if I will eat my leftovers tonight or spaghetti (also a leftover, so, I guess it's a choice between leftovers or leftovers!). Last night's dinner was pretty good. I had never made the green bean casserole before. I really liked it. Actually, tonight might be a lazy night as baseball starts in 20 minutes and will go on through 10pm or so.

I think this "no spending" month is getting easier every day. There's nothing that I just have to buy. I can easily have nutritious meals through the end of the month. I would like to have some ice cream, but, I'm not ready to dig into my reserves of GC and rebate money to pay for it. It actually seems pretty easy to do without the extras.

Since I began the challenge on June 26, I have received $28.98 in rebates. I have $24.90 of that left. I started out with a $20 GC to my local grocery and still have $9.55 on that card. I haven't used any of my free GC for CVS and Rite Aid yet this month. Pretty good, huh?

I was able to stay awake through dinner last night...and tonight.

Dinner went as planned last night, although, I admit that I fell asleep as soon as I ate. At least, that time it was AFTER dinner and not BEFORE! I took dinner to my neighbor, as planned. Oh, you know how I went on about Sister Schubert's rolls? Well, I put 2 in the toaster oven while I was preparing dinner. Boxed everything up, went next door, came home, ate my dinner. Late last night, while lying in bed, I remembered the rolls., They were still in the oven!

Today I received a $20 rebate from Miller Lite. Now I have a whopping $24.90 to play with besides my GC. Woo-hoo!

I made dinner tonight completely from stockpile items; chicken and dumplings, green bean casserole (yes, I finally used a can of those French's fried onions!), baked beans, and macaroni and cheese. I saw no reason for bread, having both dumplings and pasta. I took everything next door, plus a tomato from my dad's garden and also a small container of Jell-O rice pudding.

My neighbor came over today, bearing gifts. He said he felt bad about not giving me anything and I've been feeding him since last winter. He brought a big botttle of Sutter Home white zinfandel, my favorite, a cucumber, and a beautiful cantelope. Not a bad trade, a few meals for a 1.5 liter bottle of wine! Oh, yes, since I got 39 boxes of Tetley Tea free w/ BOGOF and doubles, I gave him 2 boxes of the 24-ct quart size bags.

I'm planning a big purchase on July 27. CVS is having 12-pack cokes 4/$11. I'm going to buy 8 packs, use $16.99 in ECBs, 2- $1 Qs, and the rest, $3.XX, on my free gift card. I might have too much shampoo in my house, but, it is impossible to have too much classic Coca-Cola.

I guess tomorrow night will be a repeat of tonight. I have enough leftovers for another meal. I suppose my neighbor can get by one night without me.

As you can see, I'm not living on rice and beans or breakfast cereal. Oh, that reminds me; I'm going to have to start eating breakfast. I think I have about 20 boxes of cereal in the house.

It's the 18th of July, the 23rd day of my challenge. I think I've done pretty good, so far.

I'm still waiting for a crock pot recipe for a whole chicken. Come on, put on your thinking caps!

The best laid plans...

I had your mouth watering yesterday by describing the dinner I was planning, all from stockpile items. Well, about 3:30 PM, I felt a bit tired, so I thought I'd take a little nap before preparing dinner. I woke up about 9:00 PM, so groggy that I couldn't walk straight, I set the alarm, took my meds, and fell back in the bed and slept all night. I know some of you are jealous; you'd like to just sleep through dinner without 5 or 6 people waking you with, "When's dinner, Mom?" That's the grand thing about living alone; I do what I want, when I want, within reason, of course.

The brownies I took to "my kids" at the law office yesterday were a big hit. I was there this morning and they all had something nice to say to me about them. One accused me of being in "cahoots" with a dentist and that I kept bringing sweets to give them cavities. What an idea! I wish I'd thought of it. That would be a nice little moneymaker, huh?

I ate some yogurt for lunch today. I'm not going to tell you the expiration date; let's just say it tastes the same as the one I ate the first day I bought them. I'm not going to think about it past that point. Dinner tonight? Well, last night's plan, of course!

I'm hoping to get a few rebates in the mail for the remainder of the month. I've got some great Qs that expire 7/31 and I really hate to lose them, but, I am not going back on my challenge. If I lose them, then I just lose them. Others will come along again. I do have one especially good deal that I want to do; I have a Q for $1 off produce when I buy 2 Special K (among other choices) and I have a BOGOF for Special K. That's just too good to pass up. I'm just afraid all my other cereal boxes will get their feelings hurt if I bring in a different kind.

I'm going to prepare a "country" dinner tonight.

I had never heard of Betty Crocker Seasoned Skillets potato dishes before I saw the close-out tag on the shelf for 1/2 price. With a Q, doubled, they were free, plus tax, of course. I bought all I had Qs for. For dinner tonight, I'm going to prepare a box of roasted garlic and herb lightly seasoned crispy potato slices. Sounds yummy. I'll take a couple of cans of veggies out of stock, use a freezer veggie from stock, and perhaps make some deviled eggs. I have loads of eggs left from a prior triple Q bonanza. I used some of them yesterday and they still smell and taste fresh, although they have been here for a while. The only thing I'm missing is some pickled beets; they really round out a meatless meal. They're loaded with iron and taste great. I could run to the store for a jar, use some of my GC, but, I'm also trying to cut down on car trips to save gas. I guess I'll do without the pickled beets tonight.

I made a pan of brownies yesterday from my stockpile. I have a favorite law office that I work for. They are a great bunch of kids (even the lawyers are kids!) and I take them baked goods pretty often. Shh! Don't tell my other law offices that this one is my favorite. I don't take goodies to any of the others I work for, except at Christmas and Easter.

I'm sure that I will take a plate to my neighbor tonight. It hardly seems worth the effort to cook if I don't share.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the best part of tonight's dinner; Sister Schubert's rolls. If you've never tried these, splurge on a bag the next time you have a Q; they taste absolutely heavenly. The great thing is that you can take out only one or two and reseal the bag. No need to prepare a whole pan. Also, they only take 5-8 minutes to warm and brown in a toaster oven.

I don't think I will prepare a dessert tonight. I've been going overboard on the snack type items lately and I need to eat more nutritiously. Cookies are hard to stockpile; they disappear as soon as they get in the house!

Well, dinner's about six, so come on over!

Some added bonuses yesterday.

I received a $25 CVS GC in the mail yesterday from MyPoints. I also received $2 in rebates. Now, I've got a little wiggle room to stay within my ZERO out of pocket spending for July.

When I started this blog, my intent was to show you how to use your stockpile and maximize what you already have. Somehow, my blog has been highjacked by my health problems. I know it doesn't help a family of four to learn how to better use their stockpile when all I ever tell you is that I didn't eat today because I didn't feel like it. I really wanted this to be all about couponing, getting free GC, and using stockpiled items. I did use one stockpile item yesterday; I ate a small can of pork and beans. Other than that, I did finally get around to baking a loaf of bread. I tried to eat a sandwich but that didn't work out too well.

I am determined to have some spaghetti tonight. It's been in the fridge a couple of days and I don't like to keep leftovers more than just a few days. I have garlic toast and garlic loaves in the freezer, so, I will probably prepare some bread to go with the spaghetti.

I really enjoyed being able to use so many free Qs yesterday at the grocery store. My regular cashier was on duty and he even made a remark that my coupons were more than twice than the amount I "paid" with my free GC. He is really on my side when it comes to couponing. If the machine balks at something, he will just have the manager come key in his code and then keep on taking off the Qs. He has been there so many years that management doesn't even ask him why he needs their key and code, they just do it.

One item that I really need right now is a box of the Reynolds Handi-Vac bags. I had a Q that expired yesterday. My usual store doesn't even carry that product yet. I would have had to go to Wal-Mart and pay cash and I just wasn't willing to use my rebate money that way. I can wait. There will be other Qs for it and hopefully my store will start carrying it soon.

I used some of my free gift card today.

As I have mentioned before, freezing Lactaid doesn't work. It doesn't work for 1/2 and 1/2, either. I had to throw away 2- 1/2 gallons of Lactaid and 1 quart of 1/2 and 1/2. Because of that, I had to go to the store today for those items and I thought that while I was there, I'd redeem some of my free Qs. I had 2 free Honey Bunches of Oats and a free Jello-O singles in order to get the free cheese. I was able to get a 2nd free cheese by buying 3 packages of Kool-Aid at .20 each. The new Pantene Beautiful Lengths was on sale for $3; I had a manufacturer's Q for $2 and a Bi-Lo Q for $1. Basically, I paid for the milk, the 1/2 and 1/2, and tax. My total after Qs was $6.98. That leaves $9.55 on my GC for the rest of the month. I redeemed $17.69 in Qs.

I had a new prescription filled today and received a $30 CVS GC. I saw my gastro doctor (actually, nurse practitioner and she's smarter than the doc!) today and she thinks that I may have acid reflux with atypical symptoms. She thinks that might be triggering the esophagial spasms and some hoarseness that I have been experiencing. She's concerned about my weight loss, 12 pounds since I saw her 6 months ago. Anyway, we are going to try Prevacid for a while and see if it helps with the spasms.

So, to recap, I have at my disposal for the rest of the month, $2.80 cash from rebates, $9.55 Bi-Lo GC, $50 Rite Aid GC, and $30 CVS GC.

I know ya'll think I'm holding out on you.

Some days, I just cannot face food. I made a grilled cheese sandwich today and ate 1/2, gave the other 1/2 to the cats. Oh, by the way, I used the heels of the loaf because I forgot to bake bread today. When I thought about it at 3pm, I figured it was too late to start. Anyway, dinnertime rolled around and I just couldn't muster up enough physical or emotional energy to prepare something. I had a 1/2 loaf of garlic bread from last night. I popped it in the oven for a few minutes and had some Jarlsburg cheese and a glass of wine with it. Some days, food just doesn't get me excited. In fact, the two times I ate anything today, it was only because I knew I needed fuel for my body. There was no desire in me for any food.

This lack of interest in food is new territory for me. I think I mentioned before that I used to weigh 280 pounds and am now at 118. Even after my surgery, I still thought food was my friend. Gradually, though, I came to understand the relationship between body and food as fuel. I was doing fine for several years. Lately, I just can't get with the program to eat. Last night, most of the spaghetti went to the cats. I no longer eat for comfort, friendship, or any of those other emotions that make us overeat. My dad has been getting on me for not eating (I'm 52 years old, for goodness sake!) and suggests that I drink protein shakes or something with some nutritional value. I think that's a little extreme. I do confess, however, that there's something going on that I don't understand. I saw my doctor a few weeks ago. I failed to mention my lack of appetite. He could see that I'd lost quite a bit of weight since last visit, but, he didn't address it. Of course, I call him Doogie Howser (not to his face) as he is young and still wet behind the ears. Most of the time when I see him for a complaint, he just brushes me off. I guess he thinks I'm just an old lady who likes to complain. Believe me, there's nothing I'd like better than to be in perfect health.

So, the short story is that I didn't use any stockpiled items today. I'm still staring at weeks' worth of food and I just don't want it.

I made spaghetti, but, a day late.

I think I said yesterday that I was going to make spaghetti last night. Well, I got lazy and just popped a single-serve entree in the microwave. Tonight, though, I made the spaghetti sauce. I had some ground beef already cooked, just waiting in the freezer. I used a jar of sauce ( a stockpile item), used some of that minced garlic I keep in the fridge, and used a loaf of garlic bread (a freezer item). Actually, I used 1/2 of the garlic loaf. That was still too much but it's pretty hard to divide it down less than 1/2. I don't usually like to eat the same thing two nights in a row, but, Italian food is my exception. I had lasagna last night, spaghetti tonight, and I'll probably have some leftover spaghetti sauce tomorrow night, as well.

I guess I'll have to bake a loaf of bread tomorrow. I'm down to the heels from the last loaf I purchased and I don't really want to use my GC for a loaf of bread when I can make my own. The only problem with baking my own bread is that, since there are no preservatives in it, it's only good for a couple of days. I'll likely be able to make a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches with it before it's too stale to use. Then, I'll chop it up, put it in the food processor, and make bread crumbs with it. They freeze well and you always have bread crumbs on hand when a recipe calls for it. I've seen the prices of those little canisters of bread crumbs at the store. Considering that they just did what I described, it seems pretty darn expensive.

I learned something new about my cats recently; they love spaghetti. I don't mean they pick the meat out of it, I mean that they eat the spaghetti noodles. It's a funny sight. It's probably not good for them, but, I guess once in a while would be O.K.

I'm going to have to seriously take a look through some of my cookbooks for some chicken ideas. That, and meatballs, are the only meats I have in the freezer.

I finally used some stockpile items.

I decided to make something for dinner last night, something I hadn't done in several days. I had some chicken breast tenderloins in the freezer and, even with my limited ability to cook meat, I came up with something quite tasty. I marinaded it in a sesame ginger marinade (stockpile item), I cooked the chicken in marinade with pineapple (another stockpile item), added a bell pepper from my dad's garden, used some cornstarch to thicken the sauce, and served over a bed of rice (another stockpile item). I also made some peach puff pastry (a frozen item) for dessert. My neighbor wasn't home yesterday evening, so, I am going to take some leftovers to him today.

I'm thinking of spaghetti for supper tonight. I have the ground beef already cooked and in the freezer. I usually use Buitoni or Barilla jarred sauce. I will use any brand if I have a Q; those just happen to be the ones I've had Qs for most recently. I also have some garlic bread loaves in the freezer, so, I guess I have a meal just ready to go.

I think I reported several days ago that I had purchased some Lactaid milk and frozen it. I had read on HCW or perhaps somewhere else that milk freezes well. I'm afraid I must report that freezing Lactaid ruins it. I thawed one a couple of days ago and it had completely separated. You could have shaken the thing for a month and the milk wouldn't have mixed with the watery part. The cats wouldn't even drink it. Lesson learned. Thankfully, it was on a special price and I had a $1 Q, so, my loss is not great.

I'm still looking for a way to prepare the whole chicken in the crock pot. Perhaps I will need to cut the chicken up so that it will cook uniformly. I just don't know. I'm waiting to hear from you.

I spent some of my GC today.

I'm sure all of you know about the great Q out right now, buy 3 Kraft, etc, items, get Kraft singles free. Well, my store had the $1.99 Jell-O singles BOGOF. I had .50 Qs for them. Doubled, that made all the Jell-O free and of course, the cheese was free with Q. We pay tax on food in TN, so, my total was 26 cents. That leaves $16.53 on my GC and $2.90 in my pocket to use for the rest of the month. I think I mentioned that I also have $50 Rite Aid GC that I received free, but, they don't carry much in the way of edible foods and I need more shampoo like I need a hole in the head.

There's no baseball game on TV tonight, so I might just cook dinner. I have plenty of canned goods, frozen veggies. Sometimes I enjoy a meatless meal. I could even bake a cake since I don't watch TV in the evening except for baseball.

I just received notice of my high school reunion this fall. It's been 35 years and I haven't kept up with anyone at all from high school. Name tags would be a necessity. I'm sure they all look old, except me, of course!

Bad news! There's a Food Lion a couple of miles from my house going out of business. Right now, everything is 30% off and you can still use Qs. It's killing me not to go on a stockpiling rampage there. I'm sure the store will be closed before July 31, so, it's just not in the cards for me to take advantage.

I spent some of my rebate money today.

As most of you know, it is almost impossible for a serious couponer to turn down something free or nearly free, even if you don't think you'll ever need it. I went to Target this morning and found the ReNu contact lens solution trial sizes for.99. I had 5 $1 Qs. I also had a Q for a free bag of cat food, which I will probably need before the month is out. So, everything free, plus tax, I spent $1.06. I now have $2.90 in my pocket for groceries and my Bi-Lo GC.

I guess I'm going to have to eat a salad again today for lunch. I don't want to throw any of it out and it has a pretty short shelf life. I dress it up with cheese, tomatoes, boiled eggs, and croutons. It really is a substantial lunch once I'm finished putting everything else in it!

Here's a link someone was kind enough to pass on to me.

http://www.bigoven.com/leftoverwizard2.aspx

It's a leftover wizard. You put in some ingredients you have on hand, leftovers of some type, and this site will come up with recipes for using what you have. That's a helpful site even if you're not trying to get through a whole month without spending any money for groceries. For me, I think it's going to come in handy. I actually have my own personal leftover wizard; her name is Debbie. My best friend of nearly 40 years is a whiz in the kitchen and can make something out of virtually nothing.

I have a question to pose to my readers. I have a whole chicken in the freezer. I would like to do something simple with it, preferably in the crock pot. I don't want to make BBQ out of it. Any suggestions? Does anyone have a crock pot recipe for a whole chicken, one of your tried and true specialties? I have one of those envelope seasoning packs for the slow cooker. It's an Italian flavored something-or-other. I also have Lipton soup mixes on hand. I have every description of meat marinade. I just don't quite know where to start.

I'm still living on refrigerator foods.

I'm not a rabbit and I don't think I could live on lettuce and carrots. I do, however, have a bag of salad in the fridge. I also have some tomatoes out of my dad's garden. I had a big salad today mid-afternoon with a glass of wine. If I want a snack later, I've got some yogurt in there. By the way, how can you tell when yogurt has gone bad? It has a zing to it to begin with, so, I guess you won't know by the tartness of it.

I received a Q today for a free bag of cat food. Good thing; I don't think my current bag will last the entire month. This free cat food came at just the right time. I hope I don't have so many cats in the near future. Three of them are getting "fixed" next week. I think they will be much easier to get rid of if they are spayed, neutered, and vaccinated. I can't quite get with the program with so many cats running around in the house. They all want attention and I've just got two hands! When I can't take it any more, I close my bedroom door. Then, I hear thumps and booms and other noises that tell me they are climbing, knocking things over, getting into things they shouldn't. I just turn the TV up a little louder. Problem solved!

This is the 13th day of my challenge. I'm up $3.96 from rebates and still have over $17 on a free GC at the grocery store. I have 23 more days and I think I'm going to do just fine.

I've decided to skip the CVS, Wags, and RA deals this week.

I looked over the ads for CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid and decided that there's not a single thing I need. I'm not even tempted to go to the grocery store "just to look around." You know how it is when you have coupons burning a whole in your pocket. "I can't let them go to waste!" I exclaim.

Still eating out of the fridge. Had a gigantic salad today with a glass of wine. It's dinner time now but a baseball game just came on, so, I guess I'll have a glass of tea and a few Goldfish. I truly enjoy watching baseball, but, from the comfort of my own home. A beer doesn't cost $7.50 at my house.

I thought it would be harder to stay out of the grocery store when I started this experiment. When I first started, the urge was still there every day to go to the store "just for a thing or two." That urge is diminishing as the days go by. I might actually be able to go through July 31 without spending any money out of pocket on groceries.

I received a rebate check.

I received a $3.49 rebate check yesterday, add to that my .47 left from the last one, and I have a whopping $3.96 to work with in addition to my GC.

I haven't decided if I'm going to do any "deals" this month at Rite Aid. I have $50 in GC there and could easily do some of the P&G deals. The thing is, there is nothing in HBA that I should even be looking at. I have probably 75 bottles of body wash, more than 50 each of shampoo and conditioner, more deodorant than an octopus needs, at least 40 tubes of toothpaste, and about 50 or 60 toothbrushes. I have a variety of band-aid sizes for any kind of boo-boo. Let's face it, I've let it get out of hand.

I'm still grazing off of refrigerator items. I don't particularly like salad, but, my tomatoes are beginning to rot and I hate to waste any more of them. I have a bag of salad on hand, so, I guess I could add enough other stuff, like boiled eggs, bacon chips, and croutons, to make a meal out of it. No, I don't call that diet food! I like solid items in my salad. Lettuce is about 95% water. It needs more "stuff" in it.

Bad news about the frozen strawberries. I thawed them and ate some with a piece of pound cake. Didn't eat any the 2nd day, but, on the 3rd day, went back to have some and they were rotten! So, if you buy frozen strawberries, make sure you're going to use them all the day you thaw them. They don't last at all. Now I have a pound cake and nothing to put on it. Oh, maybe I do have something to put on that pound cake after all. I have a can of apple pie filling. Heat it, spoon it over the cake, maybe add a little cool-whip. Oh, boy, using up a stockpiled can of something!

Reynolds Handi-Vac

I don't usually do product promotions, but, I'll have to say that the new Reynolds Handi-Vac is a great little gadget, especially if you live alone or if it is just 2 of you in the household. I sometimes buy shrimp (only if it's BOGOF!) and a pound is just way too much for me to eat. Also, if you keep it too long, even in the original packaging, you will get freezer burn. Now, I divide up a bag of shrimp in individual bags, using the Handi-Vac. I'm getting a much better result and I can limit myself up front as to portion control. It also works well when I pre-cook my ground beef for spaghetti sauce. I brown the meat, fill a bag with as much as I want for a jar of sauce, and freeze. All you have to do is add it, even frozen, to the sauce and heat until the meat is hot and the sauce bubbly. When I am feeling especially "Betty Crocker-ish," I will do several of these and freeze.

I am traveling about 150 miles today and will be staying overnight. The hotel I'm using has a fridge and microwave, so, I may just take a single-serve entree with me and eat in. I used to get all excited about finding new restaurants when out of town; now, though, I just don't want much to eat and feel that I'm wasting a lot when I eat out. When I do go out, an appetizer is all I can manage. It's too bad there won't be the usual Q inserts in tomorrow's paper. I'm going to a major city where I am sure the inserts are better than mine. My trip would be at a time when I can't get any better Qs! Of course!

Happy 4th of July!

A great and happy 4th of July to everyone. I hope all of you have someone special to spend it with. For me, well, I decided to work a bit today. I have some witnesses I need to locate and I thought today would be a good day to catch people at home. Perhaps it will work out for me.

I'm going to have to do some serious fridge cleaning today. I know there are things lurking in the back that need to go OUT! I ended up feeding the leftover hot dogs to the outdoor cats yesterday. I figure if they can eat an entire dead bird, they can eat some "expired" hot dogs. I've gone on a grilled cheese sandwich kick. I have one nearly every day. I'm sure that soon I will become tired of that and switch to something else. In the meantime, I have an abundant supply of cheese slices. Usually, I make one, eat 1/2, give the cats the other 1/2.

There's going to be baseball on TV today starting at 1:00pm and going right through tonight. You can guess that I won't be found in the kitchen cooking anything today. It will be a day to forage in the fridge and come up with enough to satisfy me. I'm going out of town tomorrow, just for one night, so, no meal planning for tomorrow. I'm sure that by the time I get back on Sunday, I will only want to pull some frozen single-serve entre out of the freezer for dinner. So, that means I need to start thinking about menus for next week. I see a lot of chicken in my future! I can fry it and I can use it in stir-fry. I guess I need to pull out a few cookbooks and look for some alternatives.

I'm still within my ZERO grocery budget for the month. I have some GC and a whopping 47 cents to work with. I am having a bit of grocery shopping withdrawal. The July ECB book just came out at CVS and I'm sorely tempted, but, I shall prevail!

I spent some of my rebate money today.

The day I started this experiment, June 26, I received a $3.49 rebate in the mail from a past purchase. I had decided that rebate money could be spent during this period. On June 29, I spent $2.27 of it, leaving me $1.22. Today, buying some grocery items at Walgreens, I spent .75, leaving me with .47 to "play" with.

I had a $5.50 Register Rewards coupon from Walgreens that expired tomorrow, so, I thought I'd better make use of it quickly. I found the 24 oz. Dole peaches in the plastic jar 2/$5. That is about what I would pay at my regular grocery store, so, I thought it was a pretty good deal, considering the coupon I needed to use. I had to buy a "filler" item to get the total to $5.50. I chose a candy bar @ .79, so, after coupon, I owed .75, which was mostly tax.

Until I receive more rebates in the mail, I will have to rely exclusively on the gift cards I have on hand; Bi-Lo and Rite-Aid. I also have ECBs for CVS, but, tax still has to be paid on purchases at CVS, so, I'll have to wait on a rebate before I can redeem my ECBs. I know some couponers could go into CVS with $11.99 in ECBs and have .47 or even less in out-of-pocket, but, I don't think I'm at quite that level.

I haven't been cooking much lately.

I was going to WOW everyone with my culinary skills by using unusual or obtuse grocery items. The fact is, I just haven't felt like eating much for the past few days. Yesterday, I made a pound cake from scratch (haven't done that in a long time) to go with some strawberries and cool whip. Other than that, I ate one ounce of cheese, 4 Ritz crackers, and a handful of Goldfish. I have several things in the fridge right now that I need to either eat or GASP! throw away. So, I'll be foraging from the refrigerator for the next 2 or 3 days. I've got hot dogs, buns, and slaw, yogurt, salad, some bacon that I need to use or it's going to expire, and plenty of cheese slices for sandwiches. Hmm. A grilled cheese and bacon sandwich today would take care of some of those things.

I'm an old maid, no children, so, tomorrow, the 4th of July, will just be another day for me. I don't think my parents have planned to do anything special, at least, they haven't told me! As a matter of fact, I have some papers to serve over the next few days. I will probably work tomorrow as most people are off work and I will be able to find my witnesses at home a lot easier than usual. Oh, I am a private process server. I have a few law firms as clients and I serve lawsuits, witness subpoenas, and the like.

Hopefully, by Monday I will be back in the mood to eat and cook up something healthy. I guess my neighbor will be glad, too. I haven't taken him anything to eat since last Friday! I know he doesn't depend on me for all his meals, but, I guess I've spoiled him by taking dinner to him so often. Taking him dinner also inspires me to cook sometimes when I normally would just snack or forget about eating altogether. O.K., I'll tell you the real reason I haven't been cooking lately. Dinnertime interferes with watching a baseball game on TV. I watch no television at all except baseball. Well, during basketball season, I will occasionally watch women's college roundball. If it is not baseball season, though, I rarely turn on the TV. There! That's my secret. I don't let too many things interfere with my baseball games.

I do not have a stand-alone freezer. I have a standard refrigerator with freezer compartment on the top. In addition to that, my dad has a fridge in his workroom and I use the freezer compartment for my overflow.

I have been couponing for many, many years. I recall as a young teenager, I would go to town (yes, there was a time before malls!) on Saturday and buy all my own toiletry items. Once, I went into a drugstore and had a coupon for everything I bought. The cashier called the manager and said, "She can't do that, can she? She has a coupon for everything!" Of course, the manager assured her that it was O.K. to do that, but, I often received that kind of "greeting" from cashiers.

I have to give credit where credit is due; I was not that knowledgeable about the ECB program at CVS and the Register Rewards program at Walgreens until I joined Hot Coupon World. I learn something new there every day. It is a forum made up of very generous people who will share their wisdom and experience to benefit the entire group. If there's an unadvertised deal somewhere, someone on HCW will post it. Wow! People helping people! What a concept!

I am relying heavily on members of HCW and readers of my blog to help me find ways to use all the items in my stockpile. For example, I mentioned that I had a dozen cans of French's onion rings, but, had never used them and didn't know how to use them. I received several suggestions from others. Meal planning is pretty easy right now; I have enough of "standard" items to put together a meal without much thought. As the month goes on, however, I may be putting out a call to ask how best to use a certain food item.

I did use some of my Bi-Lo GC yesterday. I purchased about $18 worth of goods, had coupons that brought it down to $3.21. That leaves 16.79 for the rest of the month on that card. I can hardly ignore the sales flyers in the Sunday paper; on Sunday I used $11 in RRs plus 3.19 in Qs for food at Walgreens. I really went to get an ink cartridge refilled, but, when I found a few items at a very good price, I decided to use the soon-to-expire RRs on food there. In addition to getting that food free, I also had enough of RR to discount the price of the ink cartridge refill. Of course, I do not consider that a grocery item; it goes in my "office supplies" budget line. I also paid a visit to CVS; again, about $18 worth of goods, my final price, 28 cents. I bought a mascara for my niece for Christmas (I Christmas shop year-round), so, I felt like I was O.K. with putting that 28 cents into the "gifts" budget line.

I have received a $3.49 rebate check since beginning the challenge. I have spent $2.27 on groceries with it, so, I have $1.22 "in my pocket" if I need it.

I am not going to substitute eating out for working on my challenge. I usually budget $50 per month for eating out and that includes everything from a cup of coffee at McD's to a nice meal at Chili's. I have actually been way under the $50 mark for several months. I also have many GC to different restaurants that I have received for no money out of my pocket. I don't plan to use all of them in July, but, they are available if I want to take an evening off.

I don't usually eat 3 meals a day. I used to weigh 280 pounds, had gastric bypass surgery, now I weigh 118. I usually eat something light for lunch and try to eat a healthy dinner. That doesn't always happen, but, that's the plan! Sometimes I get lazy about planning and preparing and I just go for the frozen, single-serve entree in the freezer. I have a few of those right now and have free coupons for 5 more. See, it can even be free to be lazy and not cook!

I have several packages of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and tenderloins in the freezer. I admit that my knowledge of cooking chicken is quite limited. If anyone has a recipe they'd like to share, I'd be happy to have it. I have loads of rice, probably 50#, so, if you have a recipe with chicken and rice, that would be great. I have a jar of roasted red peppers on the shelf if you can incorporate that into something tasty. I also have many bottles of meat marinade, Lawry's, Mrs. Dash and the like. How best to use those with chicken?

I look forward to hearing from you with your recipes and suggestions. I want this month's challenge to be fun.

Overview of the July grocery challenge

Looking over my stockpile, I realized it was time to use, not obtain more. I keep my grocery records a bit different than other couponers; I include all edibles, non-food consumables, and cat food and litter in my grocery budget. I know some people pull out just edible foods and put that in their grocery total; maybe I'm just too lazy for that, but, keep in mind that I am talking about most everything you can buy at a grocery or drug store when I talk about my grocery budget.

I decided in June that I would go on a ZERO grocery budget for the month of July. I didn't run out and buy a lot of stuff to get me through. I did my regular frugal shopping as usual. I was so excited about doing this that I actually started on June 26, 2008. It will go through July 31st.

My rules are pretty simple; I will spend no money out of pocket for any grocery, non-food consumable, or cat supplies for the month. I do, however, have a couple of GC I have received free and I consider them fair game for the month. I will also use any rebate checks I receive during this time period. When the month started, I had a $20 Bi-Lo GC, a $30 Rite-Aid GC, $11.99 in ECBs, and $16.50 in RRs. I will be receiving a $20 Rite-Aid GC any day (I traded a Victoria's Secret GC for it) and I will receive a $30 CVS GC on or about the 14th of the month. In my usual bookkeeping, when I have a store specific GC that I received for no money, I count them as coupons.

So far, since beginning the challenge, I have used $11 RRs at Walgreen's and some (sorry, I don't remember) ECBs at CVS. I have also spent part of a $3.49 rebate check I received a few days ago.

I live alone, but, have several cats. Usually, when I cook a meal, I take part of it next door to my 85 year old neighbor. I guess you could say that I'm cooking for two.

I will be reporting to you how I finance this challenge and sometimes about the meals I prepare and new ways I have found to use the items in my stockpile.