New Gluten-Free Corn Chex

After much excitement and anticipation, I finally found the new boxes of Gluten-Free Corn Chex and our local Walmart today for $2.98/box! Not having to spend $5.00 for a tiny box of gluten-free cereal at the health food store is really exciting!!! I promptly grabbed my $1.00 off three boxes coupon and piled the boxes into my cart. I can't wait to try them!!! Maybe I'll have a bowl tonight before bedtime instead of my usual ice cream???

Belated One-Year Anniversary

Well, it's was one year ago on the 12th of March that I had my neck surgery. I remember it like it was yesterday even though it's been a long, painful year. Things are better now. I still have occasional issues with nerves buzzing, hands shaking, sore muscles and weak limbs. Not anywhere near what I had before surgery or in the long months following. Yes, I still have to be very careful. Over the weekend, I helped my husband clean up the yard from the December ice storm we had. I was well aware that I can't do the things I used to do, the same way I used to do them! But, it felt soooooo good to be working outside!!! We haven't taken a long car trip since last July. I'm wondering what will happen this year when we take the five-plus hour drive to the Cape. Time will tell. I do know that sitting around for long periods of time is not my friend. No more couch potato! With the weather getting warmer (finally!!!) and that joyful sun shining, I know that I will be outside walking around the neighborhood as often as possible. I'm looking forward to all the activities that Spring and Summer bring and hoping that I'm up for the challenge!

Grocery Savings

Well, it's Monday. I decided to look back at lasts week's grocery receipts and see how I did. From 3/11 - 3/15, I ended up spending $204.97 for groceries. Groceries includes food items, paper goods and bathroom items. I used $25.20 in coupons. I also used Couponmom.com to match the coupons with store sales and got some pretty good deals along the way. Some of my best deals were buying four packages of four O-Cel-O sponges (regularly $2.49 each or $9.96/4) for 99 cents each and then using two, $1 coupons. So, I really got four packages for $1.96. 49 cents/package. I also bought six boxes of Wheat Thins (regularly $1.89 each or $11.34/6) for $3.00. These will be going to the local food pantry. I do try to donate food on a regular basis. It's the right thing to do! 50 cents/box. I actually made 75 cents on a big tube of Colgate toothpaste that was on sale for 2.99 at CVS. They gave me $2.99 in Extra Bucks (so item was free) and I had a 75 cent coupon. Cool. 75 cents in my pocket plus $2.99 Extra Bucks to spend on something else! My total grocery bill Month-to-Date is $470.08. I have used $58.25 in coupons. I guess that's pretty good so far. I'll be trying even harder in the next few weeks. I'd love to see the store end up owing me money at the check-out! If I could only find a store in my area that would give double coupons!!!

Clip...clip,clip...clip, clip...clip, clip...

That clipping sound is the sound of coupons being clipped out of the Sunday paper. If you come to my house, you will hear a lot of that going on. Still in my never-ending sinus headache hell, I decided to do something constructive and try to get my mind off of my throbbing head! After doing a little Quicken report the other day, I realized that our monthly grocery bill has crept up to almost $1,000 last month! Eeeek! I'm not even sure how that could have happened! There's only three of us! I need to get our grocery bill down to a reasonable amount this month. My mission....cut our monthly grocery expense in half. Yes, half. Hopefully more than that at some point, but, baby steps.... So, I've been doing a lot of research. After Stephanie Nelson, "The Coupon Mom", was on the "Today" show last week, I decided to re-visit her website and try to come up with a plan. On the "Today" show, Stephanie bought over $100 worth of groceries for 25 cents. Yep. I was hooked. Now, I've always clipped coupons. I've always used coupons. I even took an adult ed class several years ago on grocery shopping strategies. But...I've never saved as much as I think I probably could. This time, I'm getting serious. I bought 3 copies of the Sunday paper and scarfed up my mother's copy. I pulled the list of local store deals from Stephanie's website. I sifted through the list for items we use and found coupons to match the sales. When I go shopping on Thursday...I'll be ready. Stay tuned!