This morning I spent a bit of time in the bulk food department at our local Winco.  Most of the time bulk prices are better than prepackaged, and I love being able to buy exactly the quantity I want, especially of expensive spices that I don’t use quickly. Here’s another good thing about the...
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In yesterday’s post there was some discussion in comments about what I call ultra-couponing — you know, folks who are so good at working the coupon system that stores just about come out owing them money.  I had my yearly twinge of angst, wondering if I ought to once again try to get serious...
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I thought I’d be within my $700 budget this month. Until I found chicken tenders for $1.49 a pound at Albertson’s and boneless breasts for $1.25 at Wal-Mart.  $50 and nearly 40 pounds of chicken later I have enough chicken for 3 months.  Yeah, I’m $50 over budget for January, but every chicken meal...
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This afternoon I’ll be over on Good Housekeeping’s Facebook page chatting with folks about keeping that grocery budget down. Come join us!  And for folks who wandered over here from there, welcome!   For more money-saving food ideas, check out these posts from the Owlhaven archives. Only have a few bucks for groceries this week?...
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Since summertime I’ve been trying to do all our grocery shopping with cash, which has really helped keep our grocery budget down. My monthly goal is $700. You can see in the sidebar how we’ve been doing. Most months since I started with the cash we’ve kept it right around $700. Two exceptions– in...
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Years ago in the midst of parenting many little children, at least one of whom always seemed to be sleeping with us at night, we bought a king sized bed.  We bought the cheapest one in the store, at that time valuing size over quality.  It was $500 or so.  That mattress didn’t prove...
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The other day someone emailed me asking about dieting on a budget.  She said she’d tried losing weight before but had found all the diet food to be prohibitively expensive.   Though running has helped me lose a few pounds lately,  I am no expert on dieting. But the thing that I’ve read over...
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(Note:  See my review of Crocs Toning shoes here) Lots of people wonder how it is possible to clothe large numbers of children without going broke.  I figure that John and I spend $100 or less a month on clothes for 8 kids.  I like our kids to look nicely dressed and reasonably stylish. ...
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My blog time in the last few days has been spent over at Cafe Mom, talking about one of my favorite topics, affordable food. If you submit a question for me over there, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a copy of FAMILY FEASTS.  And welcome to any visitors from Cafe Mom. ...
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(also: why I may go WAY over my grocery budget this month) This morning we got to pick up our beef from the butcher, 618 pounds of it, for which we paid the butcher $408.  Factor in $250 for the steer at auction and $250 or so in hay, and I figure we probably...
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