I taught school for 10 years and have been home for 5. Still, every August hits our household with a long to do list! Andy spends long hours working in his classroom to get ready for the new year, and this year, I spent time getting Nathan ready for Kindergarten. School supplies were easy. Uniform shopping? That was a bit more challenging to find shorts and pants (on sale) that would fit and met our uniform requirements. On top of that, it was back to shopping more regularly now that we were home from all our travels. August found me just barely staying under our monthly $400 budget. And by … Read More...

It's taken me longer than I anticipated to wrap up my month of shopping in May. There were so many deals this month - especially on diapers! I am happy to say that I stayed $5 under my monthly $400 budget in May. For those of you who love seeing how I shop, here are the pictures and highlights from my shopping trips in May. Remember that I stock up when there are sales so my trips don't always look balanced - but we eat well! :-) I'll start with one of the last trips of the month but one of my favorite ones deal wise! Meijer had hamburger on sale for $1.79/lb around Memorial Day. I … Read More...

Many years ago, I started sharing my grocery shopping trips here on the blog. It quickly became one of the more popular features, but it took a lot of time for me to write those posts every week. Since some readers didn't have access to the local deals either, I eventually decided to drop it. Still, I continue to receive questions about what I am buying with our grocery budget every month. So, after many requests, I've decided to revive the grocery posts for those who are interested! My goal is to give a brief summary of each trip (with a picture) and specific prices so you can see exactly … Read More...