Thrifty Thursday

 Week 4/5

Here's how this past couple weeks have gone:

Stuck to my $100 grocery budget--Last week, No. This week, YES! I had a small grocery list & was able to stock up on a lot of the essentials as well as some meat. Bonus!! This will help a lot in weeks to come.
Stuck to my meal plan--Check & double check!! I rearranged some meals again to different days so they would work better with our family's schedule, but we did stick to plan.
Saved Money--Check!! We were able to stick with 100% cash only spending during our beach trip. I also had $45 dollars left over which shall be put to use on my next home project! Also, I stopped buying my daily Starbucks coffee drinks. That alone has saved us $5.12 daily. Since I don't drink it, neither does K. We have saved ourselves approx. $80 in the last 10 days. That's insane!! I now make my own iced coffee at home.
Finished a home organization project--Check!! It will always be a work in progress as I add new recipes to it, but my meal planning/recipe book is done! I also have my September calendar all written out on my whiteboard & hanging on the fridge.

Current week's plan in front

All divided nicely into sections

Started a home organization project--Check! Coupon organization at it's best. =) I forgot to take pics so I guess I will either add those in later or post them next week.
Swagbucks--1702.With little to no effort here at all.
Coupons--Check!! Took major advantage of in-store coupons this week along with several manufacturer ones. Total savings=$7 at Target (baby stuff & coffee) + $6.38 at Fred Meyer. I definitely went above & beyond my $10 goal this week!!

Deal of the Week: Everything! I only bought 2 things this week that I didn't have a coupon for or weren't on-sale besides produce. =) Proud of myself. If only every week could go this well.

Every thing we had this week was good. My absolute favorites this couple weeks were homemade spicy meatballs (which we ate with spaghetti one night & made meatball subs out of the next night) & the brie stuffed chicken. We will definitely be inserting these into the normal rotation. =) In my opinion the baked salmon was just okay (K loved it!) & the Beef skewers with tzaziki  were outside the norm for me, but I did like them & will probably make them again.

I'm excited to continue trying new things in the week to come as well as introduce some old favorites back into the mix. It's nice to finally have a book I can refer to & will make my meal planning MUCH easier in the future. Once I get a plethora of options all in one easy place, it will make this whole thing a snap!