Dreadful Penny

There hasn’t been much to write about, but I thought I’d check in with my weekly shopping post.  Busy day today.
Rite Aid - Great day at Rite Aid.  Got Olay cleanser, nail polish, shampoo, conditioner, a power razor, two disposable razors, and a can of shaving cream.  Paid $26.34 including tax after coupons, earned $25.45 […]

Things are actually calm here for a few days.  I have to run a couple of errands and I may turn it into a field trip: browsing the library and taking my laptop along to Starbucks for a latte (prepaid) and wifi (free with my card).  I’ll be making one stop at a drugstore today, […]

Last week’s total was nice and low.  Now, I’m feeling dissatisfied with my prior attempts to keep our weekly spending on groceries and household items around $100.  Lower!  Lower!  The meat for our meals this week is coming straight out of the freezer, so I could get by with picking up nothing but a few […]

Hmm.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently featured an article about coupon usage by region that made me think about my upbringing (via Common Sense with Money).  Check out this list:

I grew up near Buffalo.  Not far from Rochester or Syracuse.  Only a couple hours from Pittsburgh.  Those are four of the ten most coupon-using cities!  […]

Over at Northern Cheapskate, Christina wrote about book rentals and pointed out that (hello?) most areas of our fine country have free public library systems.  This reminded me of something my husband mentioned earlier in the week.
On Saturday while our house was being used as a movie set, he spent some time hiding out at […]

This is the unseen side of financial stress in a family doing the “right” things: a weeping woman sitting on the floor of a closet, surrounded by piles of paperwork, as her husband tries to comfort her and undoubtedly feels a heavy burden on his own shoulders.  That was the scene at our house less […]

Here goes.  Estimates below, updates will be in orange.
Rite Aid - Nothing special this week, so I’m not stopping in.
CVS - Expected spending of $3 for a couple of American Greetings cards and 2 packs of gum, after coupons.  I’ll pay with ECBs and should be able to make up the difference with pocket change. […]

On Friday night, we took Kid Dreadful to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert.  I packed a picnic dinner, we had a great location in the lawn seating area, the weather was beautiful, and the concert was terrific.  As we walked to the parking lot, we were all in excellent moods.
Then I saw a look […]

Just when I get to a point where I’m satisfied with what we’re spending for food and household expenses, I find something like this: a blog written by a woman who buys the same for a family of 4 on an annual budget of $800.  $800 per YEAR, I said.  Criminy.
Now, we’ll never eat the […]

Last week, I posted my estimated and actual weekly grocery/house/personal care spending.  While that was probably boring to anyone else who saw it, I thought it was a useful exercise to help me stay on track, and I’m doing it again.  This week, I’m forgoing most stock-up purchases (unless the product will be a net […]