$25 Grocery Challenge: The beginning...

My buddy Jaime over at A Little Bit Moore does a $25 Grocery Challenge every week. She spends $25 or less on groceries each week using coupons. Now, I'm going to do the same. Thanks for the inspiration, Jaime!!! We buy all our meat at Costco so you won't see any meat on the challenge list. I'm hoping this will help me save money and get better at using coupons.

On that note, Jaime is coming to my house in a couple weeks to do a "Coupon Party" for some of my Huntsville friends. We're going to eat, drink and learn how to save money using coupons. I can't wait! It will be a fun girls night.

Okay, here is the start of my $25 Grocery Challenge.



1 bag of Rold Gold pretzels
3 bags of Yoplait smoothie mix
1 gallon Publix milk
1 package of Oreo cookies
1 bottle of Aussie shampoo
1 can of Aussie hairspray
Bananas
2 boxes of Kellogg's Special K cereal
1 package of Buitoni refrigerated pasta
2 jars of Pete Pan peanut butter

Total spent: $15.47
Total saved: $28.73

I didn't get much this week because I spent a lot last week. Before I started using coupons I thought, there is no way people can eat a normal dinner every night when they are buying this random stuff using coupons. But, you can!!! I'm going to put down what we eat for dinner each night to show you that you can eat normally when you only buy foods that have a coupon AND are on sale. Jaime does this too and I think it's a great way to encourage people. Happy Couponing!

Wall of Hope...

I think I've decided on a wall color for my dining room. It's Behr Aged Parchment. Here are some pics of test patches. I really hope I made the right choice. If I didn't, at least it won't be as expensive of a mistake as my chairs.

What doesn't belong?

Look at this picture. Can you tell me what doesn't belong?



I'll tell you what doesn't belong. Those freakin' red chairs!!! Ugh!!! I really like those chairs, but they no longer go with the picture in my head. I want to paint the walls a lighter color, have the furniture re-stained darker, add a light colored rug and hang my beautiful chandelier. My only option is to have the chairs recovered. Dang it!!! Do you know what material almost went on these chairs? Material that would have perfectly complimented everything else that is now in the dining room. Material that I bought for like $10 at a discount fabric store in Tennessee. Material that I told the guy who re-covered my chairs he could keep because it was cheap and I wasn't going to use it anyway. So typical. Oh well. I'm done griping. I'm just going to start looking for new fabric...and a part-time job. Below is a picture of the chandelier that is on its way. I'm really close to having one room of my house DONE!

Kindle Book Review

The Kite Runner. Wow! Awesome book. You really, really need to read it. The author is a such a good story-teller. I can't wait to read 1000 Splendid Suns also by Khaled Hosseini.

New Year's Day Publix trip.

I celebrated New Year's Day at Publix :)They had a lot of snacks on sale so I stocked up! The check-out lady was doing a lot of brow-furrowing as she rang me up, but seemed to know what she was doing. When I got home and looked at my receipt I realized she had charged me for 3 boxes of Cheerios (I only bought 2) and they didn't ring up as Buy One Get One Free. Joey went back and they gave him a refund without any problems, almost $10.

I heart Publix!

Here's what I got



Not a bad trip, but not a great trip. I spent $51.66 and saved $51.21. I spent way more than I usually do, but starting next week I'm really going to concentrate on my stockpile. I really let it go over the holidays so it's time to get back on track.

After my Publix trip, Joey, Finley and I had lunch at Katie and Wade's house. Finley and Abby played together. We had delicious Santa Fe soup. The perfect food for this rainy day. The rest of the day will be spent in our pajamas alternating from napping in bed to watching tv on the couch. Happy New Year!

Ugh! I just realized I didn't get my free cookies with milk purchase! I need to start checking my receipt before I leave. I should have saved another $3.19.

Kindle Book Review

My sweet husband got me a Kindle for Christmas. I have wanted one for so long!!! So far, I've read Water for Elephants and The Help.



Water for Elephants was really good. Simply put, it's about a guy who loses everything and joins the circus, falls in love and lives happily ever after (with bumps along the way of course). I'm so glad they are making it into a movie with my man Robert Pattinson and the lovely Reese Witherspoon. Yay! The book was a lot like The Notebook. It went back and forth between the actual story and the main character living in the present as an old man in a nursing home. Also, the book was basically a love story, but once they get together their are no details of their life together, just like The Notebook. You do find out they had kids, etc., but no details. Overall I really liked it. It was an easy read and not too long.



The Help was awesome! It's about black maids and their white employers in Jackson, MS in the early 1960s. I say that I liked it, but I do have a lot of complaints about the book. First of all, the chapters are broken down by character so each chapter has the name of a different character in the book and it's told by that person. The only reason I didn't like this was because I would be dying to find out what happens to a particular person, but then I would have to read 4 or 5 chapters before I got back to their story. I remember that was something I didn't like about The Poisonwood Bible because one of the characters was really boring and I would end up skipping her chapter to get to the good stuff. I didn't skip any chapters in The Help, though because all of the characters were interesting. Another thing I didn't like was that if left you wondering so many things at the end of the book. I'm sure the author does it on purpose, but it was like the book ended before it was supposed to. I felt like one more chapter with a little tidbit about how each person's situation turned out would have made me feel better. Oh well. The last thing I didn't like was during the whole story one of the main characters is trying desperately to find out what happened to her beloved maid who disappeared while she was away at school. No one will tell her because apparently it's so awful it will crush her. When the story finally does come out it was a huge letdown because it really wasn't a big deal. I even re-read it to make sure I didn't miss something. So even after all that complaining I will say I really liked this book. The story is really good and it was hard to put down.

The List: Update

Run a 10K: I bought some fancy new running shoes which I hear is crucial when you are training to run a race. I went to Fleet Feet in Huntsville. They don't play. They measured my foot and couple different ways and then put a pair of test shoes on me and made me run on the treadmill. Then we watched the way I run in slow motion on tv while the guy told me abut the way I run and what kind of shoes I need to correct any problems. Basically, I already knew that my ankles go in towards each other. I've been aware of my knock kneed self for a long time now ;) He brought out a couple different shoes for me to try, but I really liked the first pair I put on. Here's what I got.



Monday I walked around my neighborhood and then yesterday I had to run for 20 minutes. It was hard! I told myself not to look at my watch for as long as I could, but I broke down and peeked when I had been running 11 minutes. I told myself I was halfway through and I could do it. A couple times I slowed down to barely a jog, but I did my 20 minutes without stopping. Yay!!! My legs were like Jello afterwards. My knees started hurting right after I started running, but they stopped soon after. Later that night they were both hurting pretty bad. They feel good today so hopefully I can do my 20 minutes again with no problem.

Decorate my entire house: I ordered a dining room chandelier with a gift card I got for Christmas and I painted and framed my chalkboard for the kitchen. I also got two lamps and a mirror for the dining room. Operation Make This House Look Like Adults Live Here is under way. Once I get my chandelier I will post pics.

I hope everyone has a fun New Year's! We are headed to a new Huntsville friend's house to party all night long...or until Finley gets tired and we have to go home :)