Meal Plan for the week of April 4-10

Though our eating out challenge from March is over (we failed miserably!) I find that I do so much better when I have a plan. Even though I'm home almost always I am busy teaching and taking care of things in the house and hate it when I don't really give dinner a thought until 5:00 or so. Uh-oh. Yeah, by then it's a little too late. When I make a plan in writing I usually stick to it and dinnertime is much smoother.

Here is what we will be having for dinner this week.

Monday: Chicken alfredo & salad.
Tuesday: Pork roast in the crock pot, potatoes, steamed veggies.
Wednesday: Chicken fingers & macaroni and cheese. We almost always do this on Wednesdays to get to church on time.
Thursday: Breakfast for supper. Again, we almost always do this on Thursdays because I have a lot of prep for our Friday activities.
Friday:Chicken stir fry with veggies and rice.
Saturday: BBQ pork sandwiches, (leftovers from Tues.) potato salad, corn.

Saving and Spending Totals for March

I'm sorry this is several days late in coming. I'm also sorry for how seldom I've posted the last few weeks. I don't know what else to say other than life happens. We've been super busy trying to wrap up year-end school projects, I've had work things going on...it's crazy just being a wife and mom mostly! But I am back and am constantly trying to stay on track to let you all know of the best deals around town.

On with the totals! I deposited $256.00 this month into the savings account just from coupon savings and rebates that have come in.

Rebates in March
3-2 $10.00 Kraft
3-5 $15.00 Olay Renegenerist
3-8 $10.00 Heineken NBPR
3-9 $8.00 Coors NBPR
3-16 $10.00 Coors Light NBPR
3-20 $8.00 Coors NBPR
3-25 $10.00 Rite Aid SCR

It was a great month in rebates, many of these I sent off in January so it certainly isn't immediate gratification but still fun to get free or almost free stuff!

I didn't keep up with the $ amount of donations in toiletries but I know that we did a good bit especially considering that I hardly shopped this month, I missed 1 week altogether!


Our spending this month was $215.00 or an average of $53.00 weekly. I know that is much better than I was spending last year but I am trying to stay under $50.00 a week so I will continue to fine tune my spending.

Do you track your spending/savings monthly? I highly encourage you to do this, it will really open your eyes to the amount of money you could be saving. It may open up a way for your family to take that dream vacation, afford a new car or meet some other need in your life. Hope that helps!

Potty Training DVD for free!

We all love great deals on diapers but the greatest thing is to finally get our little ones into "big girl/boy pants." Huggies wants to help and they are offering a free pottytraining dvd to get us started. Hurry on over and sign up here.

Some of our favorite chicken recipes

Deviled Chicken under $5.00

1 ½ -2 lb boneless/skinless chicken breasts ($3-4 when chicken is 1.99 lb)
½ stick butter ($0.25 real butter, $1.99 lb)
3 T. mustard (free)
3 T. Worcestershire (pennies)

Cut raw chicken into bite size pieces, place in baking dish. In the microwave heat butter until melted. Stir in mustard and worcestershire. Pour over chicken in baqking dish. Cook, covered, at 450 degrees for 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve with rice (free) and frozen Green Giant or Birdseye veggies ($0.20 to 0.40.)


Salsa Chicken Approximately $6.50

1 ½ -2 lb boneless/skinless chicken breasts ($3-4 when chicken is 1.99 lb)
1 cup salsa (around $0.50 - 0.75)
1 cup frozen corn (Birdseye veggies, $0.10-0.20 for ½ bag)
1 bell pepper chopped, large pieces (varies depending upon the season)
½ pouch taco seasoning ($0.25)

Cut raw chicken into cubes and cook in skillet, once it starts turning white add seasoning, corn, pepper and salsa. Heat until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Serve over hot noodles and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Mmmmm.

1 box rotini or bowtie pasta ($0.69)
1 cup of shredded cheddar ($0.60)


Crock pot NO PREP Chicken Approx. $5.00

1 lb frozen chicken breasts ($2.00)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (about $0.79) I make my own from scratch-super easy!
1 can cream of chicken soup “ “ “
1 small onion, diced (pennies when bought by the bag)
1 bag frozen veggies ($0.20-0.40)

Place frozen chicken in crock pot, pour frozen veggies over chicken. Pour both cans of soup over veggies. No need to stir, cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Super easy, tastes like chicken pot pie. Yummy! I usually serve with can biscuits or crescent rolls ($0.99)

Princess and the Frog Dvd at Target for $.58!!

Yes, you read that right. Today, Target (and WalMart) released the dvd of The Princess and the Frog for $15.99. Here's how it goes.

Scenario:

Pick up the Dvd, on sale for 15.99 & use the $5.00 printable coupon here
Purchase 2 boxes of character Band Aids for $1.82 per box. Use 2 $1/1 from RP 1/3 & 2 Band Aid store coupons here.
Purchase all and use your reusable bag (deducting $.05)
You should pay $12.35 in store and be able to redeem these two MIR.

#1 Band Aid rebate form for $5.00 here
#2 This rebate is a $5.00 from Success Rice when you buy two. here. There is a 50c/1 in the 1/31 RP (exp 3/31).

So, you are out $2.35. Hey, I can't do anything about tax, but I think this is still a pretty good deal

No Eating Out in March...How's That Workin' for Ya??

Well......we were doing really good. Until. I started getting sick. Face it, if mom doesn't do it, it just doesn't seem to get done. They did their best I guess, limping along Friday night eating a dinner that was easy to heat up. But today, my husband had to work all afternoon, he wanted something good for lunch (and I don't really think he meant a can of soup) & the next thing I know we are sitting in a booth at the mexican restaurant. Uh-oh. The upside - we didn't spend as much as usual. We were missing 1 kid today (don't worry, I knew where he was!) and I wasn't very hungry due to the fact that I can't taste anything. But, I did want to report this, to stay true to you...my 16 followers.

C'mon peeps, tell your friends about me! :)

We will begin again tomorrow. Pick ourselves up, dust off the taco crumbs and try to stay on track the rest of the month.
So...have you been able to stick to it?

Have you been Swaggin' ?

Remember me telling you about the AWESOME search engine, Swagbucks, that actually pays you to search? Well, I wanted to give you a quick update to let you know of my progress. In just 6 weeks I've earned $25.00 worth of Amazon gift cards! Yay! And, it didn't cost a dime! Okay, I have approximately 40 more weeks until Christmas, at this rate I could earn about $200.00 toward paying for Christmas. Not too bad. You can do this too, at the top of my blog there's a Swagbucks banner, click on it and receive 30 Swagbucks just for joining. It's that easy. Don't stop there though. Invite your friends to join as your referrals and you win more bucks. Let's all challenge ourselves to pay for Christmas this year with Swagbucks. Good luck!