Saturday's Savings

I didn't save so much today. I actually SPENT a pile! I picked up the car at the collision shop and my deductible was $250. That's it... quick... easy... and out the door... $250 gone with the wind! And not something we budgeted for although we do have some back-up funds available. Thank goodness.

There weren't as many super deals this week... or maybe it's just that I lacked the enthusiasm to dig for them. I did pick up some Glade scented oil candle refills for cheap. Sale, rebate, and coupon yielded $1 each for 3. Not bad considering they are usually $2.99. Also picked up a Renuzit Pearls Scents. I had one before and LOVED it. It smells so wonderful, clean, and lasts for a long time. With sale, rebate, and coupon I paid all of 49 cents for a $3.59 item that I LOVE. Well worth it.

I splurged on a bird bath that was on sale too. I always wanted one but am too cheap to spend $50 plus. This was $12 and is actually quite nice. I put it together and it's on display in our flower-bed infront of the big window. The kitties are gonna LOVE this!!!! Although...Re-Re says that someone will probably steal it. That's what happened to my mega-cool bird feeder a while back. I'm still sore about that. Oh well... I'm loving my new bird bath for now.

So this week we really did NOT need much in the line of groceries. Being that the car was an added expense, I successfully shaved the budget a smidge. I did not use any coupons at the grocery store, but bought items that I would normally not have coupons for anyway - including meat. Less than $35 later, we have multiple meals for the week and enough for other weeks too.

I got 3 pounds of lean ground meat and browned it already. I packed it into 1 pound bags in the freezer for easy meal making later. I also learned from reading someone elses blog that if you rinse your ground beef after browning it that you can shave a couple fat grams per serving. I've done this a couple of times. Don't tell my hubby though... what he doesn't know doesn't hurt! HA! Oh and also don't tell him that I did the same thing with the ground sausage! I'm telling you - it's worth it. It tastes the same but is healthier. That's awesome!

I also signed up for savings perks with CVS and Walgreens although I hear that it will be about a week or two before my card arrives. I've read a lot about others saving big there... and will be scouting for the best deals all around in the weeks to come.

So that's about it for Saturday's Savings... I may not have saved a lot of money, but by browning some meat I am saving a lot of time on future meals.