Food Thoughts

It really is not necessary to buy four boxes of Rice Krispie treats, four packages of Keebler cookies and eight boxes of cereal (four Special K and four Raisin Bran/Crunch) in order to save money. I did this.

I did have a use for the cookies-- dessert for a dinner we were going to. And the family really enjoyed the cereal, but we went through more milk than usual, which is expensive.

The Special K with freeze-dried strawberries is pretty good. And the Rice Krispie treats were a hit with the kids at church (until they were trumped by the Queen's Ring Pops. ;o)

I am getting a $10 rebate. I paid around .75 for each box, if I am remembering correctly, between the discounts at Kroger and Walgreens and the rebate.

I actually had clipped what I wanted and set these particular coupons, unclipped, next to the trash, following my new 'clip only what you would normally buy' policy, but then I saw what great deals I could get. I remembered the invite to dinner, and how seldom I bring dessert for church lunch, and how hard it has been lately to get up early *and* make breakfast.

The DHM has written a great post at Frugal Hacks on how spending money is not saving it, which I was so glad to read. Triss and I especially enjoyed the commenter who remembered the saying about the elephants and the quarter. (Two elephants for a quarter is a good deal if you have a quarter and you need two elephants-- otherwise it is an outstanding debt and a backyard full of elephant dung.) I sometimes fall directly into the trap of marketers and retail games. You really can save money with coupons, though, if you are careful.

(Updated to add: I have to tell the great deal we got at CVS this week. Mr. Honey and Cornflower both needed prescriptions and I had two coupons for $30 gift cards for prescription transfers. I was able to transfer both prescriptions and received the gift cards. I used one of the gift cards to pay for the second prescription, and then purchased a month's worth of Tresemme shampoo and conditioner for the girls and I. We have a lot of hair at our house, and are trying to stay away from parabens. Tresemme was on sale at CVS this week, and is the only inexpensive shampoo/conditioner I have found so far that does not contain parabens. And I still have more than half the second gift card left. So this deal turned out better than my frivolity with the Kelloggs products.)

We received a little cash for our anniversary, and after an nice, inexpensive meal at PeiWei, we spent the rest on meat, cheese and other protein sources. We tend toward hypoglycemia at our house, and have been eating a *lot* of beans. No one else has complained at all, but I am heartily sick of pintos.

So now we have meat for a month. Yay! I am not making meat meals every night, but it is nice to know it is in the freezer.