April Spending Totals

Good Morning,

How is everyone this morning? I'm working on a few chores, laundry, bookkeeping. Then I'm going to play some with my new toy. The Cricut Explore!! It came last Saturday, but I haven't had much time before this weekend to play.

So I'll be quick with this post.

Grand totals for April:

Grocery: $260.63 (this includes Easter dinner for 5) and actually I received $20 from my mom towards dinner (thanks Mom) so in reality I only spent $240.63 :0)

Kittens: $35.40 (we now have 2) Calvin joined us April 17th. Bailey's getting used to him LOL

Household: $45.24 (awesome!!) I know not every month will be that good.

Gifts: $ 34.00 (Easter)

I'm going to sign off for now, time to switch laundry and make soup to go in the crock-pot for dinner tonight. Then!!! Explore Time!!!! :0)

Have a great day everyone. I'll try to take some pics of my craft time and post them later.

Karen

Gift Bag & Baby Congrats Card

My youngest son and his girlfriend are expecting. I'm going to be a grandma!!
Below is the gift bag and card I made for them.


Thanks for looking.

Crafty Post

Hi,

Here's some actual "crafty pics" Yes I do get in the Hobby Room every so often :0)



This is Aaron's birthday card and banner I made for his 21st birthday. The banner came out cute, it's hard to see in the picture. I hurried to get it done before his party. Had some help from Matt and Sarah.

Week 2 Update

Hello,

Totals for week 2

Grocery: $78.92

Pet: $15.36 (decided to break this down from main grocery total)

Household: $7.99

Remaining grocery budget for the month: $110.29 (a little scary, but I picked up meat this week that will give us 4 meals)

Made a new soup this week Sausage & Veg from Not Your Mothers Make Ahead and Freeze website (goodcheapeats.com) I left out the cheese tortalini and I'll add whole wheat penne instead. Very tasty and only 7 WW pts without the pasta. Surprisingly.

Thanks for stopping by, I'm going to try to upload some "craft pics" while I have the computer.

Karen

Grocery Update

Hello, Week 1 (April) Grocery Update, Grocery: $ 60.79 Entertainment: $10.59 Gift: (bird for Bailey) $4.23 Household: $3.48 I played in the Hobby Room for a little bit this afternoon. I made tags for all my embossing folders. (Saw this on Joy's blog) It was nice to be in there and play for a little while. Made ribs, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner. Have a great week everyone. Once Upon A Time is coming on soon.

March Budget Update

Hi, I had to change my font for my posts. I found it hard to read the totals. Here's how I did this week: (Will also post my totals for the month as my next shop with be 3/28) Grocery (Shaw's): $57.66 Household (Walmart/Shaw's): $94.15 No Party stuff this week Total's for March: Household: $103.65 (better than last month, I think Walmart 1x/month is the way to go, even if it's a trip south. If I combine it with a grocery shop it's not so bad mileage wise) I also need to figure in that we have another "member" in the family now "Bailey" kitty litter and food run $20-$25/month. So I guess my new household budget should be $105. Grocery Total: $245.97 (Under budget by $4.03) Party/Entertainment(in house): $89.95 Not too bad, I think I did pretty good. My checking acct thinks so :0) Have a great Sunday everyone. I'm off to play with my new stamps. Hoping to post some pics later. Thanks for stopping by Karen

Grocery Total from February

Hi, Sorry I'm behind on my posting. It's been a rough couple of weeks with birthdays and what not. 2/24 Kinney Drug (household) $43.70 Total household spent for February: $117.90 ( I'd like to see this around $80) Total Party/Entertainment: $42.70 (travel items, Valentines Day, Super Bowl Party & Daytona 500) Pretty good there Total Groceries: $231.65!!! Hey!! We did it! Budget was $250.00 On to March: Counting 2/28 shop in March (party/entertainment will be higher this month, 2 birthdays) 2/28 Shaws/Village Market (b-day parties) $64.92 (not bad considering I feed 6 people a steak dinner, cake & an appetizer for 2nd party. 2/28 Shaws & Mehurons (groceries) $77.42 No household purchases. 3/9 Shaws (groceries) $45.91 Party $7.98 Household $4.21 3/15 Shaws (groceries) $64.98 Party $12.05 Household $5.29 $61.69 left for groceries next week and about $70 for my household shop. Thanks for stopping by, have a great week! Hugs, Karen

Grocery Budget Update x 2wks

Hi Everyone, Sorry I missed posting last weeks grocery totals. Where did the week go? I think I've done pretty good with my budget. Totals for week of 2/16 Grocery: $58.91 Household: $14.48 Total: $83.39 Totals for week of 2/23 Grocery:$64.43 Household:TBD (making a run to Kinney's after work tomorrow) Party: $25.00 Total: $89.43 I'll update my monthly totals after tomorrow's household shop. I need to tally up what I've spent so far this month on household items. Hoping to keep it at or below the $70 mark. Off to the Hobby Room, although I should go for a short walk. I've been inside almost all day, cooking and visiting with the kids. They were over for the race. Too bad it's been rain delayed for most of the afternoon. Have a great week everyone!!

Valentine

Valentine for my BF :0) Picking him up at the airport soon. 

I used CTMH's Sweetheart Paper Pack for this card. I'm sure it's retired by now, I've had it for awhile. Thanks for looking. Have a great Saturday. 

Week #2 of The Great Pantry Challange

Made it under budget again this week!!! Of course I was only buying groceries for myself, BF is away for work all week. Total Grocery $$$ spent: $45.97 I spent an additional $11.00 for travel items & a box of chocolates for BF. I'm not counting that in the "grocery" total. But even if I did I still made it under budget :0) Tonight is "Hobby Night" Bailey and I are going to work on Valentines. I'll let you know how that goes. Hmmm...... crafting with a kitten......

Pantry Challenge Week #1

Today I did the weekly grocery shopping and what I'm figuring to be the 1st of the bi-monthly "household" shopping. I'm trying to get away from Walmart and shop at our local Kinney's and supermarket for our household products. We'll see how I fare with that. I may have to bite the bullet and return to Walmart if the pricing is too high at the local stores. Here's how I did:

Household items: $59.72 ( usually spend about $80 per month @ Walmart) I'm figuring I'll have to make another trip later in the month for paper products when we run low.

Groceries: $62.34!! Under budget by $0.16!!

Superbowl Party: $6.77(plus 5 lbs of pork roast I bought last week that was marked down really cheap) Not counting this in the regular food budget. Going to count it separate as "Entertainment" What's a good "Entertainment" budget?? $50/month for in home extra's?? BF and I usually go out Friday nights but haven't in the past 3wks due to other commitments. We swap paying and it usually runs $50-$60 each time. Definitely an area where we could cut back.

Total Spent: $128.83

Thanks for stopping by.

Karen

My February Grocery Challenge (not a crafty post)

Hi, this isn't a crafty post but it's something I've challenged myself to do for the month of February.
I'm an avid follower of Jessica Fisher's Good Cheap Eats blog. She did a pantry challenge for the month of January. To use up what she had and save a little $$. She has a great freezer cookbook out "Not Your Mother's Freezer Cookbook". It's a great book on how to stretch your budget and have home cooked meals any night of the week. (with a little planning) So........ My challenge is a grocery budget of $250 for the month of February. Yeah I know sounds low, but Jessica did it on $600 for a family of 8. Our family of 2.5 should be able to do $250. BF doesn't know about this "plan" yet LOL 2.5 = BF, myself and Bailey the kitten. He's little so that's where the .5 comes from :0)

What’s a Pantry Challenge?

A Pantry Challenge is simply a devoted time to eat down your food storage so that you can

1. save money
2. avoid waste
3. shop better in the future
4. spend less time in the store.

Check out Jessica's blog @ www.goodcheapeats.com 

CTMH website

visit my CTMH site karenkrafts09.ctmh.com

If anyone can help me put this as a badge. Please help. I'm stumped.