Money Saving on Monday

Sorry for the late post, it is my hope that on Mondays I have the blog post up for you by 5AM. This way you can use my tips for your shopping that week.

1.) Tips for saving more money on your dinner plans from Sandra: Sandras-money-saving-tips (Food Network) Not only does she give you a few tips, but she also has some budget friendly meals. Check it out.

2.) Looking for the CVS deals this week. You need to check out Money Saving Mom's CVS Deals week of January-9-15-2011 Most of these are the same region to region. So, I am not going to repost these items, instead I will send you on over there. Besides she has an amazing amount of resources for you! I visit there weekly.

3.) Meal Planning: If you are new to it, I suggest you plan one week at a time to start. But, when you plan consider leftovers and how you can use them to make another recipe the next day. Not only does it save you time in some cooking steps, but it can also be budget friendly. For instance say I make Chicken Quesadillas one night. Then, I might prepare more chicken and use that seasoned Chicken the next night to do a version of Spicy Chicken Pasta. I'll also make an extra Quesadilla or 2 so that there are leftovers to pack in lunches.
I have a form I use to plan my meals and food shopping and I am happy to share that with anyone that wants it. I also have my planning for Little Man's lunch on this form to. It's a very simple form in word. I will eventually make it cute and a bit more designed the way I want it and then I will share it as a graphic on here. But, in the meantime, if you want what I have, I am happy to share. :)

4.) I often hear, I don't want to feed my family processed foods everyday and that is what all the coupons are for. Well, not all. But, I agree a lot of them are. Rarely do you see a coupon for oranges or apples. But remember your savings doesn't just come from coupons. It comes from knowing the prices of the local markets and knowing the best price. For instance, this week at Darrenkamps they have bananas for .39lb vs the .59 at the others. I got bananas for this week and bought some really green ones so we can have them next week at that price too! I also shopped the reduced produce bin this week at Darrenkamps. I got apples for .59lb vs my best deal otherwise was 1.19lb. Now, you might question the reduced bin. Yes, you have to look, but the apples I got were great! A mixed variety but all of the ones we got were ones we love. We are not hard to please in apple land. They also have a reduced bread department. I got some Wheat rolls for 1/2 off the orginal cost and they were still soft. :) They also have other reduced departments in this store and honestly you can find deals that are still good in any of them (dairy and meat included). Speaking of meat, Chicken breast is on sale for 1.39lb. (Boneless and Skinless).

5.) Darrenkamps has Chex mix BOGO and if you buy 5 or more you get $3.50 off your next shopping order. This means having 5 in your cart and since when Darrenkamps runs the BOGO what they do is slice the price in 1/2 you can buy only 5 and still save. These are on the 15 oz bags. They were the best price locally this week.

6.) Comparing prices example this week: Not only did you have the bananas and oranges--did I tell you that Darrenkamps has oranges for 4.99 for 8lbs. Where other stores have 3.99 for 4lbs? Yep, Darrenkamps was the clear winner this week for me. Another comparing price Manwich .88 at Darrenkamps, 1.00 at Giant, 1.25 at Weiss. Humm...wonder where I would get that. :)

7.) What's the best price? When do I stockpile what I can? Knowing your prices helps, but so does knowing the lowest price and when the sales will be. So, another project that I have is tracking the local prices of our 3 markets. I will do this over a 12 week period. I am going to be tracking what my family eats to see the pattern in sales, best prices, etc. If there is something you want me to track, leave a comment and I will add it to my list. When I am done tracking, I will share this list with anyone who is interested.

8.) So, it's obvious the bulk of my shopping was at Darrenkamps this week. I say that with a smile. Because honestly I love to shop there. The people are so friendly and helpful. My husband likes their meats. I like there produce (heck, even the reduced kind is fresh!).

9.) Smart Money Deals (The-best-time-to-buy-everything link) This article might prove helpful in saving money on other things.

10.) Clothing sale tips: Link

Tomorrow's Topic: 1st Steps to getting Organized. I am opening this up for Organization or other questions for future blog posts. I will be doing weekly blogs on organizing and the way I have it planned your house should be organized by the end of April. :) We will also talk about organizing your time.

Hope these tips help you this week. Don't forget, if you want something added to my tracking list, let me know and I will do that. Also, if you are new here don't forget to read the other money saving tips on the blog added here: food-budget-and-coupons and here at the stockpile post.