Frugal Friday

Well, since Wednesday's week in review didn't work, how about Frugal Friday?  One of the things I've been priding myself on lately is doing really well at the grocery store.  I've been doing the grocery game since about February, and my pantry is pretty well stocked.  As you can see from my blog margins, I like to find ways to be frugal with our money and conserve resources where I can.

I've been to the store twice this week.  I've seen people on forums list individually what they bought and saved - well, I won't do that here.  I'll just give you a quick rundown.  At Ingles, this week, I bought things like Dole fruit cups, Cascadian Farms cereal, Adam and Eve organic apple juice and Mission tortillas, plus milk and eggs, organic chicken breasts and a roast.  A few other little things filled the basket.  The total before coupons and sale prices was around $90.  I actually spent $65.  The trick is matching sales with coupons.

Today, I did better at Kroger.  I used to think - no way am I shopping at Kroger, it's too expensive.  Now, it's my favorite place to go.  I got 20 Met-RX protein bars for Trey at $0.67 each, plus fresh bag salad, strawberries, Coffeemate creamer, Sargento cheese, pepperoni (we had pizza tonight) and vitamins.  Again, before they started discounting everything, I saw the total was $92 and change.  Then they scanned my card and coupons and I walked out of there paying $37.  I want you to notice that I'm not buying that many store brand items.  When I do the math, I'm getting these name brands for LESS than the store brands.  If it hadn't been for the Grocery Game, we would never have been able to do this.  If you're curious and decide to try out the grocery game, be sure to include me as your reference.

I have also started taking my bags to the store.  I've gotten the Kroger shopping bag for free (by going to their website and designing a bag, along with a gazillion other people) and a free bag from Earthbound Farms for filling out a survey.  I have other tote bags that I use, too, if those two aren't enough.  If I happen to forget my bags, which I still do, I ask for paper.  Not only do the baggers put more in each, so I'm not carrying 15 bags for 20 things, it's easier to recycle.  I just put them in with my newspapers.

Another frugal tip is we use cloth napkins.  I found some plain white jersey fabric at a yard sale that I paid $0.50 for and cut it up into about 15 or so 12x12" cloth napkins.  I don't care if they get stained, they're cheap, and I just throw them in the wash when they get dirty.  We're not filling up the garbage with paper napkins nor spending money on more.

We've started recycling, too.  We hadn't been recycling for a while but there is a new recycling center just down the road so we started again.  I'm amazed at how much less trash we have now.  

Hopefully, I'll have more ideas and links next week.  Maybe this will be easier to do than the Week in Review.  Now go, be frugal!