If Bald were a Good Look for Me, I would have Pulled My Hair Out By Now

Wow, what a day! The best part is, that it is only 1:30PM and I am already about to pull my hair out. I am sure we all have these days and today is the day that I am having mine! Both boys (Jackson and Jacob) are being incredibly fussy and demanding, which means I only have 2 arms, but I need about 8! I am trying to be optimistic and tell myself that it can only get better. All I can say is tonight is definitely a night that I am going to the gym as soon as Paul gets home.

On a different note, I was very excited to go get the free paper that is delivered to my house ever Thursday because I knew it would have coupons in it. Sure enough, it had 3 sets and one of those sets had the Electrosol $2.50 Off coupon in it, so that means another box of FREE dishwashing detergent. I have also been checking out the Taylortownpreview.com site because they post all of the coupon ads that will be in Sunday's paper early, meaning I can get a job start on planning my Extreme Bargain Hunting shopping trips.

I did about 8 loads of laundry yesterday, meaning I am almost out of laundry detergent. If there is not some super deal that I can find to get detergent for Free this weekend, I am going to make my own. That should be interesting, but it makes each load of laundry cost about $.01. The recipe that I plan to use is one that I got from the Duggar Family Website.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Front or top load machine
4 Cups hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup Washing Soda

½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

Also, yesterday was our first day of trying to eat for $1 a day per person. It wasn't so bad, especially with all of the great deals I got on Monday. Paul even told me that my "Chicken Teriyaki" was excellent. Not that he ever complains about what I make for dinner, but I rarely get an "excellent" review. Please remember Jackson's milk is not factored into the meal totals.

Day 2: January 8, 2009

Breakfast

Paul:

2 Blueberry Muffins: $.20

1 glass milk (Free with cereal purchase at Kroger): Free

Jackie:

1 Blueberry Muffin: $.10

1/2 Brownie: $.05

1/2 Diet Coke: $.15

Jackson:

1 Blueberry Muffin: $.10

Juice/Water $.05

8oz Milk

Lunch

Paul:

Can of Progresso Soup (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): $.15

5 saltine crackers: $.10

1 cup Brown Rice (leftovers): Free

Jackie:

1 1/2 cup Brown Rice (leftovers): Free

1 cup Broccoli and Cauliflower (leftovers): Free

Brownie: $.10

Jackson:

Can of Progresso Soup (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): $.15

1/2 cup Brown rice and 1/2 cup corn (leftovers): Free

Juice/Water: $.05

8oz Milk

Dinner

Breakfast for Dinner Night

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes $.60

My Mom's Recipe:

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons quick cooking oats

In a mixing bowl, combine egg, oil, and milk. Combine flours, baking soda, salt and brown sugar. Add to egg mixture. Stir in oats. Pour 1/3 cupfuls onto a lightly greased pan. Makes about 6 medium pancakes.

6 Slices Turkey Bacon $.60

2 Eggs with Cheese $.22

=$.48 per person

Dessert

Paul:

Brownie with Ice Cream $.30

Total Spent for the Day: $2.94

Eating for $1 a day Per Person

I thought I would blog for a few minutes while Jackson is napping and before Jacob gets here (the 6 month old that I watch during the day.) I have been looking at other Mom's websites and I am really hoping that my step dad Randy will help me set up a really nice website so I can put lots of information about our journey to lead a similar life, while trying to get out of debt.

My husband, Paul and myself have decided to try and eat for as little as possible. We are hoping to stick to around $1 a day per person. I got this idea from another couple who blogged about a 30 day $1 a day challenge and from fact that the government only gives about $1 a day in food stamps for those on government aid. I am curious as to if it is possible to really eat for this amount of money and not have to sacrifice on nutrition. Our 1 year old Jackson, however will not have his milk included in these totals for the day because we all know milk is expensive and he needs it. I guess the main challenge is going to be in the meals that I cook and having Paul and I eat only one serving, so we then have leftovers for lunches. Some of you know that I am not the best cook, but I am going to try and get creative, plus find great bargains on food.

My plan is to log each meal and what it cost, so everyone else can see if we are successful in our $1 a day per person food challenge.

Day 1: January 7, 2009

Breakfast

Paul:
Bowl of Lucky Charms and 1 cup milk: $.25
Coffee: Free at Work

Jackson:
Whole Grain Waffle and Lite Syrup: $.15
Half Apple Juice/Half Water: $.05

Jackie:
Instant Grits and 1tsp butter: $.10
Half a Diet Coke: $.15

Lunch

Paul:
Can of Progresso Soup (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): $.15
5 saltine crackers: $.10
2 Reese's Clusters (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): $.10
Water

Jackie:
2/3 can of Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): : $.10
Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Manager's Special bread): $.15
1/2 Diet Coke and Water $.15

Jackson
1/3 can Progresso Soup (Bargain Buy at Walgreens): $.05
1/2 Grilled Cheese Sandwich: $.07
Half Apple Juice/Half Water: $.05

Dinner

All of Us:
Grilled Chicken (From my Mom's freezer when they went Vegan): Free
1 1/2 cups Brown Rice $.50
Teriyaki marinade (Publix BOGO+Manufacture Coupon): Free
Steamed Veggie Medley: $.50
= $.33 a person

How I Get Free Items

A lot of people have asked me how I get stuff for free, so I have decided to start blogging about it. Unfortunately, with a 1 year old I have very limited time, so I won't be able to go into as much detail as other bloggers do. If you want major details on how to get tons of free stuff or discounted items check out this lady's blog, she goes into great detail and I basically follow her lead. The link is http://melziemomsbargains.blogspot.com/

Pretty much what I do is buy the Sunday paper and clip all of the coupons. I then organize them and wait for the items to go on sale at various stores. Many of the items that go on sale also have a coupon offered by the store, which they allow you to combined with the manufacture coupon that I got from the paper or the internet.

Plus, you can now load coupons on to your customer cards (ex. Kroger Plus Card) at various stores at either www.pgesaver.com or www.shortcuts.com. The store then gives you the savings from the Esaver, store sale, and the manufacture coupon. This makes the items free or very little in cost.

I will admit that this process can be time consuming, but I happen to find it quite fun to walk away with a trunk full of stuff that I paid very little for. Plus, I love saving money!

Just a Few of the Ways I thought of to Save Money to Put Towards Debt

Penny Pinching Our Way to a Debt Free Life

Ways to save:
Clothes Line Saves: $70 per year
Cloth Diapers or getting Diapers from the Pregnancy Center Saves $50 monthly
Make our own Laundry detergent Saves: $60 per year
Cut my Hair
Grow a Garden
Drink Water Not Diet Cokes Saves $40 monthly
Make my own All-Purpose Cleaner Saves: $50 per year
No Dining Out Saves: $25 monthly
Free Entertainment Saves: $25 monthly
Library Books
Making Gifts
Shopping Yard Sales
Reuse Ziploc bags Saves $5 monthly
Cut off cable Saves $50 monthly
Cancel Gym Membership Saves $40 monthly

These are just a few of the ways I have thought of to save money that can be applied to our debt. If any one has any suggestions please feel free to pass them my way!

My First Extreme Bargain Hunting Trip

Yesterday, I made my first bargain shopping trip. I have been planning this trip since Saturday, January 3, by organizing and clipping coupons, researching the internet to find out which stores had the best deals, and which store coupons I could match with manufacture coupons in order to get items for free or little cost. Overall, this was about a 10 hour process, but it was well worth it to save as much money as I did. Here are the items that I bought and which stores they were purchased at.

January 5, 2009 Bargain Shopping

Walgreens
2 Garnier Shampoos = Free
4 Progresso Soup = $.60
2 Reynolds Wraps = Free
3 Softsoaps = $.64 each
2 Reese’s Clusters
3 Wrigley’s Extra Gum
2 Hershey’s 100 Calorie Bars
1 Mott’s Apple Juice = $.79
3 AA 4-pack of Duracell Batteries = 2.25 each
1 Aquafresh Toothpaste
4 Quaker Instant Oats = $.99 each
Total w/ Taxes: $25.63
Total Savings: $63.20


Kroger Transaction # 1
o 3 Kellogg’s Cereals
o 1 Gallon Whole Milk = Free
o 4 Chunky Soups
o 1 Dozen Eggs = $1.35
o 1 24pack Diet Coke = $5.99
o 1 Special K Waffles = $.50
o 1 Colgate Toothpaste = $.50
o 2 Always Pads = $.50 each
o 1 Bag French Fries
o 1 Pillsbury Sweet Rolls = Free
o 1 General Mills Cereal = Free
o 1 Tombstone Pizza = Free
o 1 Oscar Meyer Lunch Meat = Free
o 1 Gillette Fusion Razor
o 6 4pack Cottonelle Toilet Paper = Free Each
Total w/ Taxes: $27.01
Total Savings: $50.43

Kroger Transaction # 2
o 3 Kellogg’s Cereals
o 1 Gallon Skim Milk = Free
Total w/ Taxes: $6.17
Total Savings: $5.99

Total Before Coupons and Store Savings: $174.33
Total Spent Before Taxes: $54.71
Percent Saved: 69%

The Kroger items were purchased with a Gift Card that we received for Christmas, so the total out of pocket expense was $25.63.

I could have saved about $4 more if I had handed the cash register attendant the coupons in a different order, but other than that I thought my first attempt at Bargain Shopping was a success!!