February monthly grocery bill at $57

We are almost to the end of February and we survived Valentine's day and still stayed under our budget.  We only have 5 days left in this month including today and we are at a total of $57 for the month.  We will go to the store today or on Friday and get some more things, Kroger has banquet dinners for 58 cents and we have coupons so we wll get these for free.... Yea buddy, that is what I am talking about.  LOL.......

I am having trouble with finding fresh produce like salad for example for a reasonable price, so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Suggestions:  Spend a little time not a lot of money to save on groceries!

Holiday shopping - is that in your budget?

How can you shop for a holiday and still stay within your budget? 
Do you compromise on what you get or do? 
Do you just blow your budget? 

We have 4 daughters, we are big on holidays of any kind....
We don't compromise, we want our girls to feel special you only have that time in your life...
  Our girls are really big into everything and let us know well in advance that there is a holiday coming up.
We just celebrated Valentine's day, and yes my girls are big candy people as well as gifts for their friends.  My challenge how to do this on and not break the budget.  This is what we did.  Everyone got their favorite dish for dinner no matter what it was as long as it was a homemade something.  We did a heart shape cake and frosted with pink icing.  We bought candy and cards at walmart and then discovered that Kroger had them for a less expensive price.  Thankfully we only got one of the girls valentines at walmart and had a coupon for it.   Went to Kroger and got the other girls theirs.
We always have construction paper and supplies etc.  The girls made their sisters and us elaborate cards and paper flowers...  They had Valentines for their friends and the girls did not want for anything.

Challenge One - Shopping for a budget Special Events

I am a huge list writer, I learned a long time ago that stress can set in and even the best of intentions you could forget! or can forget!  When I go out of the normal routine or out of the ordinary for my crazy life in such a fast pace if I do not write it down I forget or it gets put on the B list.  The list that you never seem to have the time to get to.  So I write everything down and try to think outside the box.

On Special events think outside the box, look at things that are on sale for one holiday and think ahead.  Could I use these for a theme?  Can I use hearts for example for a mad hatter tea party?  Can I use bunny objects from Easter?  Can I use flamingo from luau theme?
Take a little time even 20 minutes and think about it.......

Suggestions: keep a notebook and a pen to write things down or a recorder.

Challenge One - Planning a Special Event

Planning a special event can be challenging especially under a budget.  If you are wanting a professional cake however cannot pay the price consider this:  Most grocery stores and bakeries will let you purchase their cupcakes or cakes un- iced frozen just like they get them for a very good price.  You can buy 24 cupcakes white or chocolate un-iced for $5 let me tell you what a deal!!!  Also round cakes can be purchased un-iced.  So call your local grocery store bakery and ask.....

Suggestion:  Call local grocery store for deals in their bakery...  You will be surprised!!!

challenge One - Organization

I have had lots of people ask me about my database that I created.  I created it in Microsoft Works.  I am converting it to another format, but I have found that it has a few glitches.

But like I said previously you can do this with notecards to make your list for the month or even break it down to 2 weeks if a month is to demanding.  It was a bit overwhelming for me hence the database LOL.

Suggestion: Organization know what you have and what you need.  Write it down or print it out, unless you have a photographic memory, in which I do not!!

Challenge One - 26 Cents a Can Del Monte Vegetables can we say savings!!!

Can you say savings "Hello" and with coupons we got these absolutely free.... 20 cans FREE.......

Suggestions: Coupons and savings....... plan ahead.

Challenge One - The staples, the basics

The basics or staples....  What you need or what you and your family use every day.

We as a girlie household go through:
Paper products: Toilet Paper - we go through so much TP that we should own stock in a TP company.
Fresh don't last things:  Milk, bananas, eggs, salad and bread.
We eat tons of banquet chicken, chicken patties, chicken nuggets, chicken strips......
So these are the things I always look for on sale!! or a coupon for them or any savings at all....
Order things online and have them shipped to you.  You would be surprised of online specials or first time or sample offers. 
We used to eat a lot of hamburger meat however we have changed to turkey meat besides hamburgers we use turkey meat in almost all of our mixes.  Even in my meatloaf, I use turkey and no one can tell the difference.  Let's face it we have some picky picky eaters.  If they do not see me doing it they do not know.  Not that deception is really part of the thing here; however my family does not know the difference until they catch me doing it. 
Now I know that there are some recommendations out there to water down the milk or water down the ketchup.  I don't do that except in recipes I will water down the milk if I do not have canned milk but only to use in the recipe not to give to my family to drink.....  Nor do I mix up evaporated milk to give to my family to drink.  Now there has been suggestions to get milk on sale and freeze it.  Yes we tried it, but when it was thawed out I did not like the taste of it and neither did my family.
Someone suggested to buy eggs and freeze them.  Now it is to my understanding that this is the way they come for restaurants so we are going to try this and see how it works out.  Also on the eggs if you know someone who raises chickens you might want to see if they will give you, trade you or sell you eggs.  Even at $1 a dozen you are getting a good deal.
Suggestions:  Go to your friends and family and see what they do, every little suggestion could be worth a savings!