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Monday, August 26, 2019

Trying a New Pattern for Hand-Crafted Earrings and High Hopes for September's Grocery Budget


Thank you to all of you who participated or read along (live or later) with the live chat on Saturday. It's always nice to have people to hang out with and chat about things we have in common! I hope that this was as helpful for you as it was for me.

I made another pair of earrings last night and wanted to show them, here.


The design is a trefoil, and I felt it was easier than the Celtic cross earrings. I began and finished with this design in under 2 hours. I am also looking at making a couple of twisted wire bracelets as Christmas gifts, to accompany the earrings. Updates to come . . .

So, this is the last week of the month. I am putting together my grocer shopping list for September and have a couple of pieces of good news for our grocery budget.

I already mentioned that I think we can spare an extra $10 from other areas to add to groceries. In addition, I received a $5 off coupon for Fred Meyer, which I'll use on Senior day, and a $2 off any product from the Simple Truth brand. ST is the brand that I usually select for soy, almond, or coconut milk, and it is a store brand, so I'll also save 10%. That means a 1/2 gallon of coconut milk will cost me about 45 cents. I had this deal a couple of months ago, so I'm thrilled it is being repeated. Other good news in groceries -- over the weekend, I had a coupon for butter for $1.99 per pound, limit of 5. I bought the limit (and picked up 2 freebies while there). My "good" price for butter has been $2.51/lb on Senior day. With this weekend's deal, I saved a total of $2.60. $2.60 may not sound like a lot of money to many people, but when your budget is so small, $2.60 as a percentage of the overall budget, makes a big difference in what I can buy. Now with 5 extra pounds of butter in the freezer, I can skip buying butter for several months, or until I find this price again (which might happen right around Thanksgiving). This frees up a few dollars each month for other food items. 

All combined, we'll have about $20 extra dollars for food spending for September. I'll post my list later this week.

I've been fortunate to find several bargains on groceries lately. Have you been finding any particularly good deals on groceries this month?


Seeing as it's the last week of August, I thought today would be a great day to hit the beach. picnic lunch, check, frisbee, check, sketchbook and camera, check, sunglasses/sunscreen, check. A budget-friendly way to spend some precious time with my two daughters. I hope that you all have a great day today!

8 comments:

  1. Our price of lean ground beef just went up 30¢ a lb. and is now $3.59. I should have bought more a couple of weeks ago.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the earrings. They look amazing!!

    I’m so glad you got a coupon for your soy milk. That deal on butter is awesome! We have had no deals on butter and I was hoping to start building a supply but I guess I will just wait it out. Hopefully in November I can get some at a great deal.

    Can’t wait to see your September list. I have been working on mine and I cut the grocery budget again so I need to practice more of your skills to help me stay focused!!

    As always thanks for the inspiration!
    Cathie ♥️

    ReplyDelete
  3. All your recent heavy-duty frugality has been inspiring me and I'm working on using up random items from the pantry and fridge in our meals. It's a little easier now that I'm not gone from home as much for my job.

    Thanks for all the inspiration!
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Lili! I grabbed the 5# of butter as well. I found several sales with bell peppers at 2/1.00. I grabbed 15 total. I have chopped and sliced them and put in the freezer for the up coming months. Our Dollar General had an additional 50% off clearance and I stocked up on healthcare items. Several items were free with coupons. We also had a sale on canned salmon at 2.50/can. Salmon is running over 4.00/can here. I grabbed 4. I should have gotten more. That's all I can think of now. Love the earrings!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Cheryl,
    Ouch! Don't you hate it when you an item you've been regularly buying suddenly jumps in price before you can stock up?
    I hope you can still find it on sale from time to time and can stock up, then. Or, that you find an alternative place to buy ground beef.
    Best of luck with this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cathie said...
    Love the earrings. . .We have had no deals on butter and I was hoping to start building a supply but I guess I will just wait it out. Hopefully in November I can get some at a great deal. Can’t wait to see your September list. I have been working on mine and I cut the grocery budget again . . .


    Thank you.
    Yes, I hope that you find butter deals this fall, too! Since I could only buy 5 pounds at that price, I'll be adding more when the holiday baking sales start up. I'm doing everything I can to stretch the butter that we do have. I posted today about some of the ways we're making butter last in ur house.

    I'm still working on my list. Good luck with yours.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cat said...
    All your recent heavy-duty frugality has been inspiring me and I'm working on using up random items from the pantry and fridge in our meals. It's a little easier now that I'm not gone from home as much for my job.


    You're welcome! I do agree with you that staying frugal, especially with cooking/providing meals is a lot more challenging when you're occupied with something else, like paid work or classes. There's only so much that we can do in a day, so we have to pick and choose.
    Good luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lona said...
    I grabbed the 5# of butter as well. I found several sales with bell peppers at 2/1.00. I grabbed 15 total. I have chopped and sliced them and put in the freezer for the up coming months. Our Dollar General had an additional 50% off clearance and I stocked up on healthcare items. Several items were free with coupons. We also had a sale on canned salmon at 2.50/can. Salmon is running over 4.00/can here. I grabbed 4. I should have gotten more. That's all I can think of now. Love the earrings!


    Thank you! Oh, you got quite a few good deals, too. I'm waiting to find peppers on a good sale. Then I'll buy as many as I can to chop and freeze. What a deal at Dollar General! Our Dollar Tree has a clearance rack, so I always check there. Keep up the great work, Lona!

    ReplyDelete

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