Well, after having gone six days without spending anything (other than rent, utilities, insurance) I broke my no spend block.

I decided after looking at the coupon list for this week that there weren't enough coupons to justify me buying the paper, and I'll just wait for the one or two that looked interesting until my Coupon Club on Tuesday. Today also wasn't my laundry Sunday ( I go to the laundromat every other Sunday) so I got to sleep in and lolligag a bit. Good thing too, cuase I was up till nearly two a.m. watching S*x in the City Season 1, Disc 2. That show is addicting. I mailed back the two discs today (well, they'll be put out tomorrow) and am anxiously awaiting Season 2.

My shopping today started at Wal-mart for one thing and one thing only (which actually was a bit difficult because there were some great clearances going on!) I got my Sunbelt Granola Bars (the ones I've been so tempted to stop by and buy all week.) I got two boxes of them, and am going to allow myself two a day, which will make them last two weeks. They are so yummy, I actually like them better than Quaker Granola bars (which is what I used to buy in large quantity from Sam's).

After Wal-Mart I went to the Mrs. Baird's Thrift Shop. I got a pkg of corn tortillias, and a loaf of Orrowheat Health Nut bread. When the lady rung me up, she let me pick something off of the free shelf even though I hadn't bought $6 of items. I'm not really sure why she did that, but I was happy to take some hot dog buns for free.

My last shopping stop was Kroger's. I was a bit dissapointed that the banana's had gone up to $.44/lb (from $.39) but I still wanted the banana's. Man, I remember when they had them for $.19/lb - boy did I ever stock up then (for banana bread -yummy!) Anyway, the applesauce was still on sale, so I got 4 more packages of that. I'm all set for the next 54 school lunches (for my fruit). I also got some Mozzarella cheese (shredded). I checked the price for the block, and the price for the shredded, and the shredded was actually cheaper (by $.35!). I plan on making myself some quesedilla's (partly why I got the tortillia's). Say, anyone know the best way to freeze quesedillia's? The last item I got was ketchup - not that I needed it, but I had a coupon that made it only $.09 (32oz bottle).

After my shopping was done, I went to the library. I returned a number of books, and picked up a book they had on reserve for me. -- the "Make a Mix" book another poster mentioned. Wow! This is an AWESOME book! I was especially amazed because it had a recipie in there for my Aebleskieber's! Not only that, but it gave a suggestion as how to make them if you didn't have the pan - use a muffin tin! I would've never have thought of that! Saves a lot of time too. I'm going to have to suggest that to the couple of parent's who asked me for the recipie. I have the feeling that I'm going to start hunting for my own copy of this book!

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do for my student's for V-day. I really don't want to buy one of those $5 boxes of premade cards/candies - cause they're usually for 32 - I only have 11 ! I think I'm going to go the Wal-greens tootsie pop route again, and maybe handmake some cards to go with them. That way it'll only cost me $1 plus a little bit of time. I hate to admidt this, but last year I had bought a box of Valentine's w/candy on clearance (I think it was maybe $.50) but then in October I was feeling really stressed out and NEEDED some chocolate - so ended up eating that candy. That would've been nice to have had on hand right now.

I ate the last piece of the lasagna I made last Sunday today for brunch, and decided that I would make a Special K Roast for this week's lunches. I checked, and I had all the ingredients on hand. I was glad I'd heard that tip about turning cottage cheese over to make it last longer - cause I'd bought that cottage cheese sometime before Christmas (great sale w/coupon!) and it was still good to go. I also decided that as long as I was getting my little chopper thing dirty, that I'd go ahead and chop up as much walnuts as would fit in the cottage cheese container (that I used in my lasagna last week).

After I got done with my lesson plans at school, I stopped by the park and did a good, steady paced 30 minute walk. Yay! I'm proud of myself. This is the first time I've done this in a LONG time - first real exercise (other than tennis lessons) in MONTHS. I am going to get myself back on track and I AM going to lose the weight I regained over the past year and a half!!!

Alright, let's see how much damage I did today.

Spending Log:
Today:
Wal-Mart: $3.38
Mrs. Bairds:$2.18
Kroger's :$8.87

Total: $14.43

Total Gas/Groceries (Jan 30 - Feb 6):
$42.70 -- Wow! I think I might just make my goal of only $90 this month!

No Spend Days: 6/12

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura