April Spending (1st-9th)

April 1: $0.00 No Spend.

I brown bagged my breakfast and lunch like normal, & South County Boy ate lunch at home while he continued the job hunt. His second interview for Wal-Mart went well so we are waiting for them to call back in the next few days to offer him the job… I had a late lunch, so we decided to do "Breakfast for dinner" to help dent the eggs in the house before they expire in a week or so (he doesn't like just straight eggs, so I made French toast for dinner. And I just kind of munched around on a few things.)

April 2: $12.52 Spent.

While going to Costco after work, I was completely shocked to find how prices have sky rocketed in just a week! Milk is now $4.75 for 2 gallons, an increase of 13.4% from last weeks $4.19 price... a 2 lb cheese block is now $5.39, an increase 10.2% from the old price of $4.89... and eggs, which were $1.75 for 18 last week, are not $2.15 for 18, an increase of 22.9%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this is at Costco of all places... Either way, we picked up some Milk at Costco since in the grocery store milk is now 2.79 a gallon, so for 2 it would have been $5.58... it used to be $2.49 a gallon (12% increase). We also wanted to buy a 25lb bag of flour at Costco since we make our own bread and rolls at home, but they now only sell 50lb bags (which we can't store in the small condo), so we headed to Ralph's and picked up at 10lb bag for $3.79 (Thankfully its still the same price). We walked the store to check out other prices and we COMPLETELY LUCKED OUT... we found 3lb packages of ground beef marked down to $1.99, so we bought 2 and got 6lbs of ground beef for $3.98!!!!

April 3: $27.00 Spent

We had a fresh and Easy Coupon for $6.00 off $30 (no dairy, alcohol, or gift cards) so we headed over to Fresh & Easy with our grocery list to do the majority of our shopping there.

• Can of Kidney Beans (0.79); Cream of Mushroom Soup ($0.69); 2 cans of Tuna ($0.69 each); 2 small cans of tomato sauce ($0.39 each); Garlic herb marinade ($1.99); Mustard ($0.89); Shake & Bake Chicken box ($2.69); Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal box (10 Pouches) ($1.99); 5lbs Sugar ($2.99); 4 two liters of Mountain Dew ($0.77+ $0.10 CRV each); Bone in Pork Chops @ 1.99 lb ($7.62); 3 hearts of Romain Lettuce ($1.99); 3lbs of Organic Apples ($1.98); 6lbs of oranges ($3.49); Sales Tax ($0.25) Total: $33.05, minus $6.00 coupon with $.05 forgiven tax? total: $27.00

Last week we stocked up on Chicken Breasts, frozen veggies and other healthy simple staples, so this week our "NEEDS" were lower, so we stocked up on a few pantry staples that we use and like to keep on hand. We got the Mountain Dew because it was on sale and its South County Boy's favorite, and a real treat when he gets some. When he was bagging the groceries he picked up another $6.00 off $30.00 coupon that we will use next week. (If you shop at F&E, look by the bags when your bagging your groceries, they are normally in a little basket for people to take at the end of the conveyor belt...)

April 4: $44.91 Spent

We had a $10 off Bra coupon for Victoria Secret, and we had one of those gift cards with either $10, $50, $100, or $500 on it... so we headed to the store to see what kind of discounts we had so we could scope out a good birthday present for me. In the end I got a Really good bra for $27.52 so its in the birthday wrap pile. =) With a new bra from this purchase and the score we got from VS the other week with the undergarments... plus 2 books we found at the used bookstore, i'm done shopping with my fiance for my birthday.

We also had to meet my mom up at Stein Mart to look at a dress she wanted to buy to wear to the wedding. Regardless of her earlier aclimations of wanting to be apart of the wedding process now because she felt guilty, and how she wanted to find a dress with some type of Blue in/on it to match with everyone else after all.... She was adamant that she was going to buy a particular dress regardless of what i thought--- the only one she bothered to try on. (Why did I have to go to the store then?/?/?) and its not blue either... it doesn't look bad, and its not ALL black, but it doesn't look great either... but my option didn't matter, again. While we where there, she decided to let slip that My sister, her fiance, my mom, and my mom's boyfriend all went to dinner as a family at this nice new mexican resturant with a band and everything... (We weren't invited, called or asked to come to the "family outting" because my mom suggested that resturant for my fiance's and my birthday dinner in a few weeks, and we asked to go somewhere else because we make mexican food all the time at home and for a special treat, we'd rather go to a different place (especially since mexican isn't his favorite food type and its his birthday celebration too)... but even though in the same conversation I told my mom we would be happy to go there another time with everyone, we didn't get invited at all... instead she tells me all about it, and then drops the bomb that her boyfriend came too, and it was nice for the "family" to all be together....) While my fiance was roaming the store while I was with my mom, he found a new watch to replace his broken one so i picked that up for his birthday. We are also going to get him a pair of Rainbow sandles too since he's been wanting a pair since he last lived in California all those years ago. The watch was $17.39. We are "house & dog" sitting for the family i'm staying with from church this week, and they left us $60.00 with a note that said to use it for odds and ends or to go out and get dinner, see a show, or something. So we are using some of this to go towards our presents to each other for our birthdays since my CC rebate that I cashed in hasn't come in the mail yet.

April 5: $56.20

On my way to work I got Gas for my car... ($56.20 since gas is now $4.09 a gallon) Cringe.

April 6: $7.48 + 21.28

One of my bridesmaids and my "bro" are coming over tonight so we can see people!!! We are going to make homemade pizza (since most of the ingrediants are already on hand and what we need to buy is cheaper than dinner for 2 out). We did pick up Mozzerella (6lbs shredded, the only way they sell it so a bunch is now in the freezer) cheese from Costco ($12.99) and I accidently bought salami ($8.29) instead of Pepperoni and didn't notice till I was on the freeway home. Since I hit the costco by my work i'll be taking it back to the store on Saturday after my shift, but until then it counts as spending... I also bought real Pepperoni ($3.00), Mushrooms ($2.50), Deli sliced cheese ($0.99), and a can of Tomato Paste ($0.99) at ralphs. It was nice to hang out with my friends... and now I have a date set for my bridal shower =)

April 7: $30.08 and a refund check of $15.07!!!

My fiance went to his third interview with Walmart and got a job offer!!! on the way home he stopped by the rainbow sandles store to pick up his birthday present from me since he had already used the gas to get down there and it was on the way home... but his size isn't in so we will pick those up next week... which is actually quite convienient in more than one way. He broke his only pair of sandles yesterday. He added some gas to his car on the way home $30.08. He didn't fill all the way up because gas was $4.12 a gallon and he didn't realize its cheaper out by his work (so he'll just fill up down there.) But yes!!!!! He has a job. Its $9.20 a hour and in a few days he will get called in for orientation and get a schedule. I've already looked online and Walmart has a 401k with a 6% employer match, so the nano second he's eligible we are putting 6% of his salary away. I'm also investigating their health insurance to figure out if its cheaper for him to get insurance through Walmart if and when he's eligible. We also got a refund of $15.07 on my fiance's car insurance because this month he turns 25... so I think we may also get a check for me next month since I turn 25 as well. =)

April 8: $808.18 (& Saved $86.36)

I paid the mortgage principle and interest, MIP & Property Tax today. Its the first time in over a year that I haven't added any extra to the mortgage. Must have my EF first... that's the new montra. (I've been listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio lately). I also put $86.36 into my emergency fund (which would have been the extra tacked onto the mortgage.)

April 9th: $20.65 and received a CC rebate check for $75

I took back the Salami to Costco, and swapped it out for 2 gallons of Non Fat Milk ($4.75) & a 3 lb bag or tortilla chips ($3.39). Since I return the Salami, these items were essentially free in terms of the budget since they equaled the price of the Salami. I also picked up 4 cases of water for the wedding so I can begin to put the personalized stickers on them tomorrow with my friend. The Water bottles with CRV came out to $20.65 so that will be taken from the wedding budget. Tomorrow I will be ordering the supplies to make the wedding programs, and invites for my June bridal shower, and in the process will be getting a lot of free swag from Vista Print... and doing a grocery run, so it will be a spendy week for me. I also got my CC rebate check I requested in the mail for $75!!!! So we have that extra money floating around in the budget too now.