Wednesday...

So far this week has gone pretty well.  We've been pretty busy the past several days trying to take care of various errands, projects, and meeting up with friends.  Last week and over the weekend we got price quotes on getting our house carpeted.  Currently, just our bedroom and the hallway are carpeted, and Ellie's room and the living room are hardwood.  I like the way hardwood looks, but I think carpet would be way easier for me to keep clean.  That might sound ridiculous (I've gotten many reactions to that statement), but if you have a dog, you know that the hair just floats around and you can never vacuum all of it up.  At least with carpet it will stick and then I can just run the vacuum over it.  Right now, I have to walk around using the vacuum attachment to try to get what I can, and then I use the Swiffer WetJet to try to get the dirt off the floor.  It's annoying, and I really just want to make my life easier.  Plus, we need new carpet in the bedroom desperately, and Ellie needs to have her room carpeted.

We also went to Roanoke over the weekend to have a Bradley class reunion, so that was fun, and Billy was actually able to come for once!  It's always nice to get together with other mommies and talk about what we're all going through.  

Other than that, I've just been busy editing this article, which I am happy to say I am now done with!  It took me way too long to buckle down and do it, and then I had to spread it out over several days so that I wouldn't pull my hair out.  It is now DONE...at least for the moment.


I did all of my grocery shopping on Monday this week so that I didn't have to worry about it later.  It took me 3 whole hours to go to Once Upon a Child, Target, Sam's Club, and Kroger, but Ellie was a little champ and didn't complain one bit (makes me a happy mommy)!  


My Target shopping trip consisted of picking up prescriptions, baby food, shredded cheese, and Clorox wipes.

• 13 2-packs of Gerber baby food: orig. around $1-$1.50 (depending on where you go), on sale 80 cents each, then used $4 in coupons = $6.40 or 50 cents each!
• 2 bags of Kraft shredded cheese: orig. $2.50 each, used $1.50 off coupon = $1.75 each
• Huggies travel size wipes: orig. $1.27, used 75 cents off coupon = 52 cents
• Up and Up liners: orig. 89 cents, used 50 cents off coupon = 39 cents
• Clorox multipack (105 wipes): on sale $4.99, used $1.50 in coupons = $3.50 or $1.16 each 

Total cost = $14.28

At Sam's Club, I bought 6 pounds of ground beef for $17.43 and 6 pounds of reduced-price chicken breasts for $9.  Total cost = $27.09.  We now have enough meat for 6 chicken dinners and 6 ground beef dinners...enough for the whole month!  This morning, I spent 45 minutes trimming and cubing the chicken for the dinners I have planned this month, as well as separating the 6 pounds of beef into separate bags.

 At Kroger, I bought our usual grocery needs for the week.

 I got the hot dogs for $1.62 each, the Folgers K-Cups for $5.99, pasta for $1, Kraft salad dressing for $1.69 each, 2 packs of baby wipes (Kroger brand) for 75 cents each, free Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and free bacon (gotta love those Kroger coupons they send in the mail every now and then)!  Total cost = 36.77


I spent more than $50 this week when you add it all up, but if I just add up the grocery items it comes to $65.27.  Then, if I divide the total amount of money I spent on a month's worth of meat by the 4 weeks it will last, my total for this week is technically $44.95.  I saved $30.89 with sales and coupons.


Sitting here going over my receipts just reminded me of something.  Last Sunday, I made a quick run to Kroger to get some things we needed for the Superbowl.  I bought a pack of sausage, tortilla chips, Velveeta cheese, taco seasoning, and a pack of ground beef....and I spent $20!  It was horrible....I couldn't believe how much money it cost.  I only saved 69 cents, and that was because of my Kroger Plus card.  I didn't do any coupons because I was in a hurry, but oh my gosh!  It's amazing how much money you can save when you take the time to coupon.


By the way, I feel the need to be honest about something.  Lately, I've been comparing myself to other people so much so that I've become jealous or gotten down about myself.  I have struggled with this my whole life, so it's not something I can easily give up.  It's definitely been a process trying to train my brain to think a certain way, but sometimes I'm still weak and I give in to the temptation to think that I'm not good enough.  It comes at the silliest moments...maybe when I'm reading a blog and I see that someone got a better deal than I did on an item, or I know someone who's lost all of her baby weight and I'm still working on it.  Regardless of what it's about, it's unhealthy and totally not worth it.  Sometimes, I think it helps hold me accountable for these sort of things when I blog about it.


I'm trying out some new recipes this week, so my plan is to take pictures and share the recipes later this week (but only if they turn out good!).  We'll see.

Ellie is awake and ready to go, which means I'm done here.  Will post again soon!