Jessica Graduated!

My cute little sister, (I say little, but she's actually 3 1/2 years older than me) Jessica, graduated from Texas State University on Friday! Jessica received her Masters and Certification in Elementary Education. She even received a snazzy diploma holder (shown below) when she walked across stage. Way to go Jess - we are proud of you! She is currently looking for a job, so if you know of any open positions in Austin, HOLLA!


NOTE: I definitely can't post a picture of my parents without speaking to how freaking cute they are - don't you just want to run up to them and give them a big hug and a kiss?

Frugal Friday - I Got Nothing

My apologies... I did not have time to post on Friday or Saturday due to my participation in some of the most fun wedding festivities I have ever been a part of! Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. JR Baker! I'll post details and photos later. You will probably be able to see some of their sweet photos within in the next week, here: www.shaunmenary.com. Shaun is such an awesome photographer and I would highly recommend his services to anyone wanting to get some B.A. photos!

So I did not receive cost savings from any of my purchases this week, BUT I only bought a couple of things throughout the week so I'm not too sad about it. One way I did save money was by making cheese and chicken quesadillas with Ali and the McCurdys! Ali and I went over to Kristen and Dave's to make dinner and watch the season finale of the Biggest Loser, which you know is a favorite show of mine. Helen won after losing a whopping 140 lbs. WHAT?!?! I've been working out for 5 months and I can't seem to lose even 10 lbs! Oh well, what are you going to do?

Frugal Friday!

Wednesday, May 6th: Oh, Wednesdays... I just love you! Most people would say that Friday is the best day of the week, but I'll venture out and say that Wednesday is. Not only am I encouraged on Wednesdays that Monday now seems so far away and I've already made it through half of the week, but Wednesdays are always an exciting day for me. Why? Because the weekly grocery ads are delivered to my mailbox on Wednesdays. If I have to run home after work to change and head out again, I always stop to check the mail so I can read the ads at red lights, only after checking for found money of course. On another note, I am in two weddings this summer and the last thing I want to be referred to as is the "fat friend" in the wedding party. That being said, I've recently gone on a healthy food kick. Market Street has a lot of fruits and veggies on sale this week and I decided to take them up on a couple of their offers. Red leaf lettuce is on sale, 3 for $2.00. I decided to get one because I didn't want the others to go bad if I didn't eat them soon enough. Original Price: $1.29; My price: $0.66. I also got a couple of bell peppers; one yellow and one orange. Original Price: $3.58 (that jack is expensive); My price: $1.98. Total Savings: $2.23 or 46%

Thursday, May 7th: Today, my friend and co-worker, Angela, told me about a sweet deal. Some might find it hard to believe that she knew about a deal before I did, she is actually one of them. So apparently Oprah mentioned on her show earlier this week that KFC was giving away free food. WHAT?! FREE FOOD?! Yeah. To thank my readers, I've posted the coupon below. Print it off and go get you some! I know it's small, but the coupon says that you get 2 pieces of grilled chicken, manager's choice. What does "manager's choice" even mean? Probably that they take the two smallest pieces that have been under the hot lamp the longest. The free food doesn't stop there. You also get 2 individual sides and a biscuit. Please note that KFC is hoppin' on Mother's Day and your coupon will not be accepted on Sunday. I never thought that the meal a mother might want on her special day would come from KFC, but hey, it's your day mothers and you can get what you want.

OFFER FOR MOTHERS: KFC won't accept your coupons on Mother's Day, but Pei Wei will! Find the offer HERE, print it out, and have your husband buy lunch/dinner for the rest of the family and yours is on the house!

I have been trying to think of fun/creative gifts to give to friends as a wedding or birthday gift and I finally found what I've been looking for! My Real Simple magazine came today and let me just tell you that it is the best Christmas present I've ever gifted myself with. It is also another piece of mail that excites me! Not only is the June issue of Real Simple packed with great organizational tips/ideas and recipes, but it also has an advertisement that got my heart rate pumping when I saw it. The ad is for personalized stationary, note cards, and much more! The website is: http://www.expressionery.com/. The ad also mentions a promo code for Real Simple readers, and indirectly, followers of my blog. Use the promo code "junesimple" and expressionery.com will take 40% off your entire order, now through September 30! In addition to receiving 40% off my entire purchase, 3 of the items I purchased were already 30% off the original price. I can't provide you with too many details because I am pretty sure the recipients of the items I purchased read my blog, but I got some personalized things for some people. Original Price of total purchase: $225.16. My price of total purchase: $82.62. Total Savings: $142.54 or 63%.

Total Weekly Savings: $144.77 or 63%.

Frugal Friday!

Wednesday, April 29th: Oh man! Today was such a great day, in regards to free stuff! Ali's friend, Matthew, brought Chick-Fil-A over for dinner tonight out of the goodness of his heart; Love that! FREE dinner.

My sister, Kristen, gave me the inside scoop today - literally! Baskin Robbins was offering $0.31 scoops of ice cream tonight from 5:00 -10:00 pm. After our Chick-Fil-A dinner, we headed down the street to hit up Baskin Robbins. Original price for 2 scoops of ice cream: $3.69. My price: $0.62. Total Savings: $3.07 or 83%. Good thing I worked out tonight or else I would have felt really guilty about eating Chick-Fil-A AND Baskin Robbins in the same night. Phew, close call.

Frugal Friday!

Tuesday, April 21st: There are two people at work who really helped a sister out last Friday. In honor of Earth Day, we gave our employees the opportunity to exchange 10 plastic grocery bags for 1 reusable grocery bag. Each office was supposed to receive their bags directly from the vendor, but there was obviously a miscommunication along the way because all 1,000 bags ended up being sent to my attention. Long story short, I had to repackage all of the bags and overnight them to 21 different locations. I received the bags at 3:00 pm and needed to leave the office at 4:15. YIKES! Doug dropped what he was doing to help me and Jenna stayed late to make sure that all of the packages went out on time. I wanted to let them know that I was super grateful for their help and decided to get them their favorite drink from Sonic. I decided to take a late lunch so I could hit up Sonic during their Happy Hour, which is from 2:00-4:00pm everyday. Regular priced medium drink: $1.40. Happy Hour medium drink: $0.70. Total Savings: $1.40 (I got two drinks) or 50%.

Dave is out of town this week and Kristen wanted some company tonight. I didn't want her to have to make dinner so I opted to pick something up for both of us on my way over. The meal of choice? Pei Wei. I discovered a couple of years ago that if you walk into Pei Wei and place an order to go, you get a complimentary drink while you wait. I'm all about free stuff and people watching, so I don't mind having to wait 10 minutes for my food. I also learned that the Kids' Wei Honey Seared Chicken is significantly cheaper than the adult meal and although the portion size is not the same, it is still more than enough. You can add a kids drink to the the Kids' Wei for only $0.50, but if you are an adult, you have to get an adult drink at the regular price - no kids' drink for you! Since I was placing my order to go, the cashier had no way of knowing if the order was for Kristen and myself, or for my pretend children who were starving at home and both craving a Diet Coke. I got two Kids' Wei meals, both with a diet coke (no ice, idea compliments of my brother in-law, Evan - the coke is already cold, ice waters down the drink and it takes up space that the diet coke could be occupying) AND a complimentary adult size Diet Coke. Price for 2 adult meals with a drink:
$19.00. Price for 2 kids meals with a drink: $8.50. Total Savings: $10.50 or 55%. HOLLA!

Be sure to check out BurbMom to see how much my friend Holly is saving by playing The Grocery Game this month!

My Little Rascal

Please just marvel at the cuteness that is my niece, Katelyn - 20 months this month!

Diary of a Frugal Shopper

If you know me, even just a little bit about me, you know that I am frugal. I learned the art of being frugal from my father and I am forever grateful. My sisters and I were introduced to the world of frugality early in our lives. Growing up, my dad had us all looking out the window for coins at each red light we came to. If he saw a penny he would jump out of the car to grab it. I would shield my face from onlookers as they tried to identify the girl with the crazy father. I'll admit that sometimes, when I did see a penny and we weren't the only car waiting at the light, I wouldn't say anything because I didn't want to have to get out and grab it. In my defense, I was at that awkward stage in my life where I truly cared about what everyone thought of me. Now that I'm older, I find myself looking out the window at each red light I come to. I've also added drive-thru windows to my list of places to find coins. I rarely buy clothes at full price and I compare price per ounce on products at the grocery store to find the best deal. I've also learned which stores have the best prices on certain items. Side note, but a very important part of the saving equation, I love games. I love games mainly because I enjoy winning. I make everything into a game. I think that's why saving money is so exciting to me, because I get to win all the time! While we are on the topic of saving money and games, let me go ahead and break it to you, that if we're playing the game, "Which grocery store has the lowest prices," Tom Thumb always loses... always. The frustrating thing is that Tom Thumb is less than a mile from my apartment so when I just need one item for a meal I'm cooking, I end up going to Tom Thumb. I never walk out of Tom Thumb feeling good about my purchase. Shameless plug: Market Street and Sprout's are the grocery stores to shop at. All of this to build up to the reason for this post. I was thinking the other day of just how much money I've saved over the years from planning, being patient and being frugal. I thought it would be fun to document my savings and show the world that it is possible save money without sacrificing anything.

What better way to share my documentation of savings than to post it on my blog? This will be my first of many entries entitled "Frugal Friday." Each Friday, I will tell you how much money I saved during the previous week, Saturday through Friday. Let the documentation begin:

Saturday, April 11th: I have about two more showers until I run out of my favorite shampoo and conditioner, Biolage. Biolage is expensive, so I definitely have to wait until it goes on sale. Typically this sale is buy one get one free - sweet! My second favorite shampoo and conditioner is "Dangerously Straight" by Herbal Essences. Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner was on sale at Market Street. Original price: $3.49/each. My price: $2.99/each. I've also been needing some more mascara. Market Street also had the mascara I use on sale. Original price: $7.69. My price: $4.99. Total savings: $3.70 or 25%.

I've been needing new work pants for a while now, but haven't found any that I've loved. It's hard for me to see the price of dress pants and not throw them down in frustration, but my mom has convinced me that if I find a great pair of dress pants, I'll have them for a while and I need to see it as an investment. That being said, I went to Banana Republic today with Kristen and Dave to find a shirt for Dave. While in the store, I found myself two pairs of pants that I really liked. I tried them on and loved them. Score. Dave did not purchase a shirt, but he did find a nice one at Sam's later that day for way cheaper than any shirt at Banana Republic. It's time to tally my savings. Pair 1: Original price - $89.00. My price - $24.99. Pair 2: Original price - $110.00. My price - $44.99. Total savings: $129.11 or 65%.

Monday, April 13th: I went to Bed Bath and Beyond today to get my friend, Jamie, a wedding present. Happy wedding Jamie and Charles! My salad spinner is one of my favorite items in the kitchen, so I couldn't help but to get them the salad spinner they registered for. It was $29.99, but I had a $5 off coupon. Original price - $29.99. My price - $24.99. Total savings: $5.00 or 17%.

Today is also my dad's birthday! Happy 60th birthday, dad! Last year, I made him a book titled, 59 reasons I love you. This year, I made him a book titled, In the Words of My Father: A collection of My Father's Sixty Most Commonly Used Phrases. I used the Office Depot print on demand function online. Before I checked out, I googled "Office Depot Coupons" and found a coupon for 15% off my purchase. Apply coupon code, please. Original price - $10.14. My price - $8.62. Total savings: $1.52 or 15%.


Thursday, April 16th: The weekly grocery ads come out every Wednesday. The two main things I look for in the ads are Blue Bell ice cream and produce. I have been waiting for Blue Bell to go on sale for quite some time. I'm not sure how the grocery stores do it, but they all manage to have it on sale at the same time. Why they can't take turns and each have their own week to have Blue Bell on sale, I have no idea. Does anyone know the answer to this question? Moving on, I was looking over the ads and saw that Kroger had the best price on Blue Bell. I could get a half gallon at Wal-Mart for $3.67 or get 3 pints of ice cream at Kroger, which means 3 different flavors, for $3.97. Well, I decided to go to Kroger to get 2 pints of ice cream, Southern Blackberry Cobbler and The Great Divide - party on my pallet! Original price - $1.99/ea. My price - $0.99/ea. I also went to Market Street tonight to get some lunch meat, House Smoked Turkey. It's a Market Street original and not to mention, my favorite! Guess what? It was on sale! Original price - $6.29/lb. My price - $4.99/lb. I got 1/2 lb. Total savings: $2.55 or 36%.

Total Weekly Savings: $141.88.