Tuesday, March 25, 2008

March Totals

I haven't filled out my secret shopping/money totals for a while-- so here's March, just to keep my honest.

This might take a wee bit to tally, as I've been swamped getting ready for the big consignment sale.

Pizza secret shops:
4 free large pizzas ($12 each=$48) +22.50 in $$
Chain restaurant secret shops:
3 free meals (had coupons) $51
Survey check : $8.00

Total'd thus far: $129.50

Monday, March 24, 2008

Menu Planning Monday


I've decided to add a menu planning aspect to the blog. Menu planning helps me keep my sanity- and also helps me stretch my dollar. For ideas on your own-- check this cool site by clicking on the picture.




This week (March 24th) the menu goes like this:



Monday night - pizza leftover from the weekend -AS PLANNED!
Tuesday - lasagna (make an extra one from the freezer) I actually have a pizza shop this night, but we are pizza'd out-- so will save the pizza for later. I have browned ground beef in the freezer, divided into 1 pound portions. If you do not have ground beef- brown some extra pounds and put them in the freezer when you brown the meat for the lasagnas.
Fruit salad
rolls
Not quite as planned. Picked up a 99 cent/lb brisket on Monday night- left it wrapped in foil with Adobo seasoning in the crockpot all day. (okay only 1/2 of it..) so we're having that and the girls are eating pizza.
Wednesday - Ultimate Grilled cheese sandwiches
green bean casserole (left over)
sweet potatoes (left over)
Thursday - Tonight is Dance Competition dress rehearsal so we're packing ham sandwiches (left over) along with water and fruit. Hubby will have to make do with leftovers.
Leftovers as planned!
Friday - Slow cooker enchiladas found on Motherhood for Dummies site. Looks yummy!

Now that it's Spring and getting warmer here-- it's time to start drying the clothes outside again. I'm currently only drying towels, jeans and large items on the line.

Cheap item of the week:
This week we took over some of our own car maintenance. This started with changing our own air filter on the van. (This took a few minutes of internet research to discover how to get to it!) Then we changed the oil and filters on both of our cars. This violated one of my major rules for Rubber Dollar-- spending money to save money. This is because we bought service ramps (about $30 at Wally World). However, we've been having some "van issues" and they seemed like a good investment.

Money spent:
two oil filters $14
9 quarts of oil $21.10
air filter $39
ramps $30

Total spent: $104.10

At the garage:
oil change $29.95 x 2 = $59.90 (this is the coupon price for our van)
air filter change for Dodge Caravan $89
Total charge: $148.90

Savings after first round: $44.80
Not bad!