Frugal In Florida

I don't know why, but I love to read what other bloggers are buying at the grocery store. Yeah. I guess you could say I'm obsessed with food ... but I 'think' I have a healthy relationship with it ;-) So, with that said, I thought, what the heck, I'll try to share my weekly grocery trips ... and if everything is going according to plan, you would even get a picture or two ... but of course, things don't always go as planned ... but this week, I DO have pics! A bonus for me to share weekly is to keep my grocery budget in check (hopefully!) *My goal for 2016 is $100 per person, per month. That's $300.00 a month, based on my household right now. I need to figure out how to add in the additional visitors, friends, family members that frequently come for dinner and happy hours ... but that is my intended upcoming budget! Oh ... and possible Whole30 to boot in January for two of us! So ... we had a trip up to Northwest Indiana this last week. Flew out on Th...

My dad fell the other night and hit the back of his head pretty hard. Needless to say, 2 days in ICU for head trauma and bleeding on the brain adds a little stress to my life ... he's definitely showing signs of a stroke, right side of face droopy, unable to move or lift right arm, unable to grip with right hand and slurred speech. Never a dull moment :-( Sunday morning the nurse said that he has discharge orders BUT they are following up on recommended rehabilitation ... he can't get out of bed, he can't use his right arm or hand, uhm, yes, he needs some rehab before he goes home ... I've asked that they inquire further with the doctor. Just found out that he will be going to a facility for Acute Rehabilitation (which is the place that we both love in that it's a nice facility, good care and very very active in treatment). Anyway. So when I went to see him on Saturday morning, I stopped at Costco, I mean, heck, it's less than a mile away, I had a running li...

Yes, I suppose it's best to say that the Pantry / Freezer Challenge is O V E R ... as much as I hate to say it ... We did clean out a lot from the Pantry ... and quite a bit from the Freezer ... although Hubby would disagree ... and the money NOT spent on food this past month has helped me assist my sister who was in a bad place and hopefully, my boost of cash in her direction has gotten her on steady ground where she will feel confident to continue forward (just a side note, I'm well aware of what it feels like to have NO money and NO where to turn ... I've been dirt poor and I've been well off ... and I will never let someone who means a lot to me be dirt poor, if I can help them alleviate some of the stress, financially, I will) So. I took a day off in the middle of the week. Hubby and I were originally going to do a boating day mid-week ... but then he got swamped, we found out it was mini-lobster season and well, I said NO I'm not giving up my day off. So, ...

It's been a while since I've been to Costco ... oh, I guess 2 months or so? Maybe a little longer? I could really go look and see, but that's ok ... I'll take it at 2 plus months. And yes, I did have a list. A long running list that I've had on my phone just waiting for THE DAY. Sadly, THE DAY was the same day that Sonny Boy wanted to come along too ... never bring along a 22 year old athletic, lean, mean, handsome, eating machine ... he's distracting to the OTHER shoppers AND has a tendency to find things that are really good and healthier (for him) ... ugh. Gotta give him credit, he forked over his grocery money for the week while we were in line ... $60. Good grief kid. I may have had a tear or two in my eye. Ok ... so here's the damage: 30 count baked chips $12.39 (kid) multi pack of sponges $12.49 less $2.70 - I'm tossing all the old ones I have this weekend! large container of cat food $16.89. As soon as I go to the store and buy REAL c...

When I was off on President's Day, I headed out to Costco early in the morning since it was a day when I could shop that was NOT a weekend day! If you've been to Costco, you know that the weekends are NOT the time to shop! Apparently, everyone else in town had the day off too ;-( ... and the snowbirds were grabbing their chickens and NOTHING else, pushing those big carts around and rambling in their northern language ... ugh.  What bothers me more than anything is leaving the cart blocking the aisle while you ramble on and on with your shopping mate about a product. Seriously. That's the equivalent of stopping in the middle lane of the interstate in my opinion. MOVE OVER! Ok. That's enough of that rant ;-) ... just saying. So. I went with a very specific list. And pretty much stuck with it. A few things I did NOT buy and a few things I did buy, even though it would appear the price has increased. Here's how the trip went down ... 2 12 ounce containers of lu...

I had stopped in at Costco's a few weeks ago at Hubby's request ... imagine that!? Of course, I was only supposed to be picking up things for the party but I also had my own little Costco list going ... you know how I love lists!! It was a big trip. Bigger than I had anticipated ... I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to make Costco a CASH ONLY store as it seems to be my budget blower lately ... 2015 Resolutions, here we come! Either that or learn to make do without going there .... sad, sad day folks! Keep in mind that i put back the 3 bottles of my favorite champagne ... the price was just a tad over $40 and it was $5 less than the cheapest price I've seen this season) Here's what I picked up ... 2 pkgs of baby romaine lettuce @ $4.29 each bag of organic sliced apples (8 pk) $8.79 bottle of Santa Margarita $17.89 (one of the cheapest prices I've seen in a while) 2 trays of cheese slices for crackers @ $11.39 each 2 pkgs of 3 pack english...

After holding out for quite a few weeks and doing a little comparison shopping on the side at the local grocery stores, the Boy and I headed to Costco early on Saturday morning ... My main mistake was taking him with ME! Uggg. We did get some good stuff that we needed/wanted at a way reduced price compared to the stores locally ... such as the Brown Basmati Rice ($3.99 per bag in all the stores) for $11.49 for a 6 pk. Um, hi, that's like half the price ... and I never see a sale on this stuff. I did buy quite a few things that were NOT on the list ... and didn't pick up a few things that were ... the cart was overflowing and for that reason alone, I'm glad the Boy came along, he got his workout pushing that thing through the crowds ... Here's what we got: * 2 bottles of Kirkland brand Golden Margarita Mix (premixed WITH tequila) $9.99 each ... this is definitely the same stuff as the Golden Margaritas I buy for $19.99 a bottle ... SOLD from here on out! (yes, ...

I'd like to make this a no grocery shopping week ... but don't know if I can. How about if I give myself $20 only? That's more doable. I need: bread (Sonny Boy is home) milk hash browns (still on sale, can get 2 large bags for about $1.50 ... need for soup and Hubby cooked up 2 over the weekend) salad stuff cat food/litter while on sale. Seriously, I don't need to buy anything but the first 2 items, and even that can wait. The rest of the stuff, well, hash browns are a 'stock up price' and the cat food is free when you buy the cat litter. I do need to get the Christmas shopping out of the way. As I'm not all that festive, and pretty much financially tapped out at the moment, things will be simple, gift cards, lottery tickets, sparkling juice (yes, my kids are getting a bottle bag this year!), ear buds, candy, led flashlights, and if I can find them cheap enough, all in one tool set. I've got a pretty specific list of things to get and jus...

Ummm. Yeah. We all DO know that, right? Uh huh. Stopped to pick up some ink for the wireless printer. Out of black. Like, blank pages print, that's how out of black I was :) So imagine my squeak when I saw that they had the had the ink for $13.89 AND if I bought TWO I would get a $5 gift card. SWEET MOMMA! I bought 4. Then I also bought a LARGE curling iron (new haircut is just so hard to deal with) AND a set of LARGE regular rollers ... and (of course there's more!) a hand rake and hand shovel for gardening. Ummm...total? Oh, about $80. Good lord. Focus Focus F. O. C. U. S. *Had I been smarter, I would have done 2 orders and used the $10 gc towards the hair stuff, you know??

In this case, BJ’s Wholesale Club. As you may have noticed from reading some of my earlier posts, I can’t decide between Costco and BJ’s. Well, I can, but, no, I can’t. As we were all home due to Tropical Storm Fay on Tuesday (and she is still making news!) we of course got a little stir crazy. Ds wanted/needed to get stuff for lunches (see my later post on the agreement we’ve made for lunches this year), the weather was ‘clearing’ up which means the winds were finally below 30 mph and the rain was coming every 20 minutes instead of 5 (could almost time it!), we decided to go to BJ’s. Costco was out of the question because a) it’s much further away and west, where the rain & winds were probably MORE constant , b) it was 4pm and I didn’t want to go into the early evening hours shopping and c) I had a visa gift card – Costco only accepts debit cards & AE credit cards. Off we went. Noticed the gas was 2 cents cheaper than my local station. A LOT of people in the parking lot…...