Saving Cash – Day 1 - The Two Weeks are Over. What now???

We are dedicated to holding onto the $1300 we saved in the last two weeks, so that means we have to be careful as we re-enter the spending scene!

I know you probably want to know whether we went overboard. Old habits die hard, so my husband stopped for a coffee on the way to work. He also desperately needed to fill his car up with gas. I'm not sure if he took his lunch today, or if he will buy it.

What is it that people say about best laid plans? Yesterday, I planned my two-week menu plan, wrote a shopping list, organized my coupons, and then got online with Safeway, one of our grocery stores. I could get free delivery since it was my first on-line order with delivery, and through www.ebates.com I could earn another 1% in cash back. Great, I thought. I spent well over 2 hours carefully examining the best deals by price per ounce, or price per pound, and then comparing store brands with those for which those I had coupons. I thought I was being so savvy…until I finished around 11:45 pm last night, exhausted, and watched my computer freeze up. No chance to print a list, no nothing. And in the blink of a bloodshot eye, all my work was lost. Calmly I went to get ready for bed, and checked back with the computer, and sure enough, everything was still frozen and gone. How frustrating! I thought I was being so frugal, clever, and time-saving to place my order for delivery later on Monday. Oh well.

You all probably thought the first thing I would do today would be rush to the grocery store. After a breakfast of homemade bread with no-salt almond "butter" for me, and a bowl of cereal with milk and bread with butter for my son, we finally got him off to pre-school. I rushed off to my pre-paid training class at the gym. I got in a good workout before heading to the doctor's office. On the way there, I realized there's a small supermarket with great prices on fresh produce, so I stopped in and zipped through the produce aisles. On the way to the checkout, I saw some good steaks for $5.99 a pound, so I grabbed a pack for dinner tonight. That was an awesome quick trip to the store; I was in and out in less than 12 minutes, and spent less than $30. If I wasn't so annoyed about my computer freeze-up last night, I would probably go and compare prices, because I am 99% sure I saved quite a bit by going to International/Grand Mart. If I get inspired later, I probably will check it out.

In the meantime, I checked out the weekly sales flier for another grocery store, Harris Teeter, and made a quick and easy shopping list based on sales items we need to buy. I printed it quickly after finishing this time, and after my daughter is home from school, we'll head to the grocery store.

Lastly, here's a printable tide coupon to share. https://tidetotalcare.safeprocessing.com/?utm_source=identity_tidesite

We are completely out of laundry detergent, and I think the Tide brand is on sale at Harris Teeters, so hopefully I'll get a good price with the coupon too! I just signed up for the coupon, which is going to be sent to me in a few weeks… In the meantime, I did find a Tide coupon from the Sunday supplements, but I'm not sure if that was this last Sunday or the one before. Hopefully you can find one before you are out of detergent too!