What's for dinner?

Last night i did the prepwork for tonight's dinner: Carrot and Red Bell Pepper Soup which i modified slightly. i used whole baby carrots and when i get ready to finish it tonight, i will use fat-free evaporated milk instead of the soymilk. i also omitted the onion

Cost:
1 bag baby carrots ($1.00 at 99cents Only Store)
2 red bell peppers ($1.00 at 99cents Only Store)
1 can carnation fat-free evaporated milk (free w/coupon @ kroger before thanksgiving!)
balsamic vinegar and lemon juice (pennies)

Will serve with:
french bread (99 cents at kroger)
and 1 pork loin chop for hubby (who thinks it's not a meal unless he has a slab o' meat!) (.50 - sale at Kroger $1.99/lb)

Total cost: less than $4 (and there will be soup leftovers to share with my neighbor and take for lunch)

Kroger Mega Deal deals

I am far too lazy today to get out my camera, and besides, i already put all the groceries away. . . over the past few days, i've made multiple trips to kroger to get good stuff for free using coupons combined with their Mega Deal event.

today's trip:

1st transaction:
3 ro-tel tomatoes
3 green giant valley fresh steamers
3 cattleman's BBQ sauce
1 Frank's hot sauce
1 Kroger liquid coffee creamer
1 32 oz tub Country Crock Omega-25 spread
Total OOP after coupons and Mega Deal discount: .76!!!

Transaction #2
3 ro-tel tomatoes
3 green giant valley fresh steamers
3 Kraft shredded cheese
1 Lay's Wavy chips
2 quarts fresh strawberries
Total OOP after coupons and Mega Deal discount: $6.00

Transaction #3:
3 ro-tel tomatoes
3 green giant valley fresh steamers
3 nestle tollhouse refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 Hormel chili - no beans
6 reese's whipped bars
Total OOP after coupons and Mega Deal discount: $1.85

I have a couple more rotel coupons and maybe 2 more green giant coupons, so i'll make one more trip. then, no shopping for me for a while, as our cupboards runneth over (and over and over!)

Great contest - Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers

Brianna is having a contest to give away Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers and coupons to two lucky winners. I'd love to be one of them!

Easy Peasy Dinner

Today I used a recipe for Taco Soup made in the crockpot. I modified the recipe a bit. Last night I browned 1 lb of ground beef. This morning I tossed the ground beef into the crockpot with about a cup or so of leftover frozen corn, 2 cans ranchstyle beans, 1 can tomatoes and green chilies, 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, one package of ranch dressing mix, one package of taco seasoning mix and about 10 ounces of water. I cooked the soup on low for about 8 hours while I was at work, weight training, and then CVSing. I put some grated cheese and a dollop of sourcream on my soup. M added grated cheese and crunched up tortilla chips. Verdict - I thought it was fantastic, but M would like fewer beans in his next time. Definitely a keeper recipe! We each ate two large bowls, and I have enough left for lunch tomorrow and Friday for myself. All for roughly $5, using coupons. It was $1 for ground beef on sale, the corn was free with coupon, ranch style beans .65 each, diced tomatoes and green chilies .59, fire-roasted tomatoes .40 with coupon, taco seasoning .34, and maybe .50 for the cheese and sour cream, totaling $3.83. I'm not sure about the cost of the ranch dressing packet as I had it in my pantry, and have no idea when or for how much I bought it.

I highly recommend this recipe for an easy meal for a cold evening.

I LOVE to get paid to go shopping!

Today's post-workout CVS trip:

Transaction #1
Bought:
$9.98 (2) Children's Throat Coolers
$0.90 (1) box 40 xmas cards on 90% clearance
$1.49 (1) pair L'eggs black tights on clearance
$3.94 (2) boxes CVS brand snack crackers

Used:
-$3.00 $3 off any CVS brand purchase
-$4.98 B1G1 Free Children's Throat Coolers

Paid with:
$0.99 ECBs
$6.99 ECBs
$0.92 on GC received free with transferred prescription

Received:
$9.98 ECBS on Children's Throat Coolers
$2.00 ECBs on CVS brand snack crackers

Transaction #2
Bought:
$19.96 (4) Children's Throat Coolers
$ 7.00 (2) Purina Beggin Strips
$ 3.94 (2) boxes CVS brand snack crackers

Used:
-$3.00 $3 off any CVS brand purchase
-$4.98 B1G1 Free Children's Throat Coolers
-$4.98 B1G1 Free Children's Throat Coolers
-$3.50 B1G1 Free Beggin Strips

Paid with:
$4.00 ECBs
$4.00 ECBs
$2.00 ECBs
$4.42 on GC received free with transferred prescription

Received:
$19.96 ECBS on Children's Throat Coolers
$2.00 ECBs on CVS brand snack crackers

NET PROFIT:$11.13 for buying all this stuff.

The Children's Throat Coolers will go to a relative for her 2 yr old, and the treats are for a friend's dog, but the rest is stuff we'll use ourselves.

Debt Busters 2009

Thrifty Florida Mama is hosting Debt Busters 2009, for those trying to reduce and/or get out of debt this year. I've joined.

Before we got married last March, my husband and I attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We were already pretty much on the same page financially speaking, but taking this course really helped us to be able to articulate our goals and see where we had differences. Neither one of us like to be in debt. He had paid his truck off in October 2007. I was able to pay my car off in December 2008! I've kept my credit card paid off each month for the past several years, so I was fortunate not to have any of that kind of debt. He brought a small amount of credit card debt into the marriage, as well as a house with a mortgage. I brought a house with mortgage and student loan debt. We're living in "my" house, and this summer plan to put his on the market. Because his mortgage has very little left due, we'll be able to pay it off with the sale, and put a substantial chunk into a retirement account.

So, this year, here are our stats starting off, not including the mortgages:

M's credit card: $1600
My student loan debt: $103,073.83 (yes, you are reading that right! let's just say I have too many degrees and leave it at that!)

Goals for this year:
1. Pay off M's credit card by April (Note: we have separate financial accounts, and he won't let me just pay this off, or i'd have done it last year)
2. Pay at least $1500 each month on my student loans
3. Continue paying an extra amount on my secondary mortgage each month
4. Sell M's house, pay off his mortgage, and put remainder in retirement account

Additionally, I plan to continue funding our savings, but this amount varies month-to-month depending on what's "extra" in our budget. I know Dave Ramsey's baby steps are to pay off all non-mortgage debt before building up your emergency fund over the initial $1000 and before adding to retirement funds, but based on several factors, we have decided to balance debt-payoff with savings.

M owns his own small construction business, but draws a regular salary from it. I'm self-employed, and so have a variable monthly income. I also work in a field that is currently experiencing a downturn, so my "job security" is questionable. Since I've been self-employed for several years now, I would not qualify for unemployment benefits if my job is lost.

As the year progresses, if things look more stable in terms of job security, I will pay more on my student loans. Unfortunately, even with such large payments, most of what I'm paying is still interest. Ideally I can pay the entire blasted amount off by 2015.

I'm confident that by being cautious with spending and by trusting God for his provision for us, we can meet these goals.