Day Thirteen of Our Quest

Reflection on some things from this week.
Groceries: We are focusing on only stocking up on sale items, no other spending! 

1. HyVee canned tomato sauce 4/$1.00- bought 6, we use these in lots of ways.
   
2. HyVee: 4 lb. ham $5.00- ($1.25/lb.)bought 1, will be sliced and cubed and froze for several meals such as bean soup or green beans, potatoes and ham!
3. HyVee: lettuce 79 cents- bought one, we will have tacos and one or two other meals using shredded lettuce this week.
4. Fareway: celery 69 cents- bought two because this can be used fresh or frozen!
5. HyVee: wheat bread 99 cents- bought one, wheat bread is more expensive for me to bake myself.
6. Fareway- Tombstone pizzas 4/$10- bought 17 ($42.50), cut off the UPCs and mailed in the rebate for $15 off our electric bill. $42.50-$15.00= $27.50 ($1.61 per pizza!). These are great for Butch to take to work for his dinner or a quick dinner when the older kids are not home.
7. Fareway: 93% lean Ground Beef $1.99/lb. in the 10  lb. roll- bought 2, cut these down to one pound packs and froze them, we use ground beef in many, many meals!
8. Fareway: yellow onions 3 lb./$1.28- (42.6 cents/lb.) Okay, we didn't get enough onions put out in the garden, mental note for next year!

The temperatures dropped so much this week that we had to turn our furnace on much sooner than I would like. But we did start using candle power! Yes, we use candles as little heaters and to assist in the lighting throughout the house, offsetting the use of electric. Two winters ago we lived in an all electric house when the ice storm knocked out the electric for three days. We maintained the temperature to a comfortable level by using candles for heat and light! (Jar candles are my favorite thing to receive for Christmas and my birthday by the way!) On top of everything, our house always smells soooooo good!

I have belonged to two online book clubs, Paperback Swap and Bookmooch for over a year and a half. You send books to people requesting them from you and get points then spend those points to order books you want. Since we have books everywhere in our house, this only makes sense to get new books that we want without spending a lot of money! This week Holden and Mickey have been surprised each day when the mail came with one of the books that they requested. I have a lot of points accumulated on Bookmooch so I let them each pick out books last week. They love betting whose book it is in the envelope that came. I am a cookbook fanatic and I have gotten so many books from my favorite chefs that I just could not justify spending the money to buy them new. I have several extra Rachael Ray books that I ordered though I already have them to give to a friend for Christmas!