“Snag that while you are out…”
“Oh there’s a drive through coffee shop out this way” (These are few and far between in my area)
“The kids are hungry, let’s grab…”
“Momma, can we get _______”
But I combatted it with the snacks in my bag, a bottle of water, and when we had to stop at Safeway for an “absolutely necessary” item I got creative.
First, because my husband has type 1 diabetes prescriptions are on the “absolutely necessary” list along with bills and rent. (Also on that list milk (whole for Camper and soy for Cashel); bread/tortillas, eggs, and cheese.) Although 5 days in the bread is seeming less “necessary” because I’m researching baking some of our own.
All that to be said there as a non-typical prescription I had to pick up today. I’m thrilled because my husband is really on board this month and helping out. When he told me I needed to pick this up he also handed me a coupon that made it cost us only $4.30 instead of our usual $25 copay. SO… we saved $20.70 on an “absolutely necessary” item. My husband is amazing. He has always been on board when I’m working hard to save money and has even been known to jump on the crazy couponing band wagon when necessary. 🙂
So while at Safeway we hit the bakery up for a free cookie, the boys won the baker’s heart with their adorable “please may I have a cookie” and “cookeee peese” then a sweet “Thank you!” and “cuckoo” (how Camper pronounces “thank you”!) Then we waited for the prescription and finished our trip by bee lining it to produce. Safeway gave the kids “banana cards” and so they each get a free banana on every trip in. YAY for free produce! The next time we have to go in we may save them for smoothies or banana bread.
Then home for lunch – yay for not hitting up something on our way home. They were quite full from snacks and our Safeway stop but Cashel still ate spaghetti squash with marinara and meat for lunch! He’s a bottomless pit even at 3. And… I got to dive into my Day 5 challenge. The challenge was to replicate a restaurant favorite at home. I love Mexican food so last night I put my soaked pinto beans in the crock pot. Today… DELICIOUS bean and cheese burrito. Yummmmm!
Yesterday I shared the links for two recipes that I found that I knew could help guide me in cooking my dried pinto beans into delicious Mexican beans. And boy was I right. I was able to use what I had on hand – I did have to make couple substitutions or alterations – but they were delicious and I’d probably do it the same way again. You can get my recipe here!
What I did spend on….
– Gas at Costco. I did a fill up since I was near our Costco for a morning appointment. ($41)
– Prescription (used discount card!) ($4.30)
What I resisted spending on today…
– Coffee out (even though we are out of some things I made what we had on hand work and took a
morning cup of Jo with me!)
– Lunch out. I tided us over with snacks in my baby bag and water, then got a cookie and banana at
Safeway til we could get home for a real meal. Hubby also packed his lunch!
– No “quick stops” while it was convenient. Telling myself we have what we need at home.
– I did not grab an 8ox container of yogurt at Safeway or kcups (knowing I want to make my own
yogurt this month, and I noticed hubby is running low for the month.) instead I decided to ask my
local Buy Nothing group. (PS I’m keeping a list of the things I asked for and received from this
group and will share at the end of October!)
Tips I learned…
– Know about local, nearby freebies and utilize them when you can.
– Don’t be afraid to cook with what you have, look up sufficient substitutions, and try new recipes!
– I wrote a to do list in the morning that included where I needed to stop while doing errands, this
made me commit to no frivolous stops. I also wrote a list of what I hoped to accomplish during nap
so that helped me stay focused.