Waste Not, Want Not

Let me be the first to say I am not the best at this concept. It took me years to really and truly understand the full meaning of “Waste not, want not.” I mean, I got it as a teenager, but when you hit a point where there are a few days in every month where you wonder if you had only cooked ¼ pound less hamburger each time you used it if you would have enough for dinner that night, you then understand this meaning. I’ve been trying very hard to quit over cooking. Having been a short order and/or buffet cook most my life, this has been hard. I’m happy to announce that if there are leftovers I save them AND use them within a few days (sometimes I forget, but not near as often as it used to be). I also was one of those people who never took my lunch/dinner to work/school. Now I do about 90% of the time (there are a few days I don’t have leftovers and forget to make a sandwich, I cringe at paying $1.50 for 1 single Hot Pocket). One evening we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We had ½ a pack of noodles left (I’m learning to cook these less too) and about a cup of sauce and 5 meatballs…..well, I could’ve made a big lunch for me one evening….but I would’ve still had more noodles left over. So instead, I took out an 8x8 foil pan and mixed it all up and froze it as a spaghetti bake, when I cook It for lunch for myself, hubby, and 3 year old I will have fed 3 instead of just myself! No waste that night!!!

I’ve been trying to find ways to save money in every aspect of life. Not just couponing, GASP! Although, that is my major source of savings, here are some other tips I have found extremely helpful. Freezer cooking (Once A Month Cooking). Making my own laundry detergent 25cents a gallon BOOYAH!). Making my own dishwashing detergent. Watering down my dish soap for the sink. Recycling. For entertainment Netflix has a deal to get movies thru your Wii for only $9.95 a month! How awesome is that? (We don’t have it yet, but it’s still awesome!!) For the cell phone, we use the straight talk phone from Wal-Mart. Unfortunately in this long road to realizing how to save I ended up with bad credit. This phone is pre-paid, no credit checks, and you can never go over on your bill! Sure you pay up front for the phone, but after that, tax and all I’m out $47 for UNLIMITED talk, UNLIMITED text, and UNLIMITED data. All that unlimited is great when you have your phone in you pocket and realize the internet got pushed on because you forgot to lock the key pad! lol, I’ve just really come to love anything prepaid and unlimited so that hit them both! I’m sure there are more but that’s a start!

Well after arranging coupons all week, I got to CVS to realize that I was missing some Internet coupons I had. Got home, and you guessed it, still on the printer! C’est la vie!
Unfortunately it was truck day and I couldn’t find a few items, but as usual the SUPER, SWEET employees wrote me out some rainchecks for later! They rock! I was able to pick up some Listerine, Kellogg’s, Glade Plug Ins, M&Ms and gum. Let’s not forget a few clearance deals too! After all is said and done, and many searches to find my receipts, here are my totals. All in all a good day, would’ve been better if I didn’t have Eliza tagging along wanting snacks, stickers, and other goodies. Also just noticed that some nail clippers rang up wrong too L , should have saved another 69 cents….that was at Kroger. Here ya go! CVS…Retail $84.10, out of pocket (pretax) $7.44, savings 91.15%. Walgreens $2.20 (wasn’t on sale but it was a cheap day planner, they didn’t have what I went in for this time). Kroger retail $26.80, out of pocket (pretax) $16.45, savings 38.62%.…Grand Total for the day. Retail $112.90, out of pocket $25.89 savings of 77.07%!!!! It’s great totals like these that keep me going back for more!