Wooza! This was a whopping big week for us. We had two BIG bills come due… car insurance and cell phones. Of which, both, I am calling about this week to see if I can not adjust and massage to our advantage. The cell phone I KNOW we can make MUCH skinnier. And I got to thinking, I really should drop Jessy because, well, she does not want to drive. She doesn’t even have a permit and she’s not interested at ALL in driving. So why am I paying for her to be on the policy??? Anyway, those two bills came in at $240 and that really was a big whallop against our spending for the week!

Here’s our percentages…

Kerosene/Heating 10%
Gas for Blue 5%
Animal Care & Feed 12%
Fast Food/Eating out 3%
Household/Food 31%
Extras 6%

We made 22 purchases at an average this week of $33 a stop! (Now that included the two big bills and really made it all outta whack… haha… but that’s okay, we’re in this for the 6 week haul!)

I was happier about the “extras” as we did much better this week. Only $47 this week and they were one visit to the Goodwill shop, one visit to a big garage sale at the fairgrounds and a visit to an Amish bakery. I considered adding the bakery visit to the foods category, but really, it was a treat and extra. Just one of those impulse buys! (A YUMMY impulse buy I might add!)

Since we did our extras at the thrift shop and the garage sale, we really scored big. Lots of goodies for pretty darn cheap. And it was fun, we had a nice afternoon out and all that. As entertainment goes, 3 outings with only about $12 or $13 spent on average is not a bad deal.

I was surprised to see that both the animal care/feed and the household categories were very similar to last week. It just might be what we are spending… Now this week, we had out share to the pig feed for our piggie that the neighbors are raising for us. He’s getting pretty big and I think I need to start setting aside a little cash for his “finishing school” trip. It will be around $200 for him to be processed. Cheaper if we don’t want hams and bacons, but frankly, that’s some of the best parts of a hog! So I want to make sure I have enough to do him up proud. I’m going to try and set aside $40 next week towards that. I’m not sure how much longer till it’s time but I heard last we were thinking April or so.

But, I digress.

Household again… kind of high. I think. High amount of our budget is going to food and drink. And not beer or wine kind of drink.. pop and fancy ice tea and all that. And shopping at the local EXPENSIVE grocery stores. I have GOT to stop that. Their prices are TERRIBLE…. The selection is not much better. I really need to use them as a OH MY GOSH emergencies… and start doing without if we run out.

Got to start using our Soda Stream more often. I like it a lot, but I don’t like the cola it makes. Haven’t figured out how to make Pepsi yet. Haha. I can make great other flavors but cola is still, well, not quite right. They did come out with a pure cane sugar mix and it’s well, better. Closer. But still, it’s a little too pricey too! One of the mix things only makes about 6 liters and it’s $9 bucks… plus shipping unless you have a coupon or something. I guess I just need to wean myself off the stuff, I know it’s not good for us, but it’s really our only vice!

Well, I did do something to correct one problem I am seeing. And that is the trips to the Dollar Store are eating up my dollars! Way too much extra dollars going into that trap. I guess I’m weak, but when I go in there for X and Y, I usually come out with Z and W And T and a few Rs and so on. I impulse buy there thinking I’m saving all this money. I guess I am, sort of… it’s just that most of the extras are not really on the list or needed. So my $15 quick errand ends up $24 or $33!

Well, for awhile now, I’ve known about a place online called Soap.com. And they carry all those name brand and less available, products at reasonable prices, delivered free if you hit a certain point ($39 bucks!) and that they often have coupons and codes and all that. AND importantly, you can go, shop for what you want and get done. It’s just a little harder to impulse buy odds and ends.

And I must admit, what really appealed to me was the lack of time and gas spent on the errand. We are at least 20 miles from any decent priced big box store. 30 if you want to have a selection of stores, etc. And 30 back. Right now, a trip to town is costing us about $15 in gas. And two hours of time, easy. And then add in some impulse buy junk and you’ve got another $10 bucks at least. Factor that against a familiar name brand product costing you 25 cents more or even a dollar for the bulk lot, then hey, that sounds like a winner for me.

And what is nice is that as you shop and place orders, your commonly used selections are in your “List” and so reordering is quick and easy and less likely to let you stray and buy silly things!!! AND… they are associated with 4 other sites… diapers.com, casa.com (home and housewares), yoyo.com (games and toys) and wag.com (pet supplies). And your order can cross through all 5 sites in one purchase.

Well, this sounds like a no brainer. I just had to give it a try. (Oh, and this is just me chatting about it all, no paid review or compensation! Although, Soap.com? If you want to give me a big credit or something, I suppose that I just might take it… haha…)

I sat down and browsed… their interface is pretty nice and simple. I needed a few things… paper towels, toilet paper, Tums, feminine stuff, Fruit Loops (Jessy’s demand), dish soap and for fun, some cheddar bunnies from Annie’s organics! (They are SO cute and SOOOOo good!) I found them all and was ready for my check out. They had a 20% your first order thank you, and I made sure I hit the free shipping mark… $39. And everything was decently priced, in fact a few things were a little less! And what was SO cool… is that they carry a bunch of eco decent brands like Method and 7th Generation and lots of organic stuff too, at really decent prices. After the discounts and such, my order was only $41. And would be delivered in 2 days. Not too shabby!

One trip to the dollar store can easily cost me that. $41. Yeah, sad but true. The only disappointment was that the dish soap was pretty small. But then, that was my fault. I didn’t realize that it was only the 10 ounce size. The little picture looked like my normal soap! I do think you need to be familiar with the sizes and such that you generally use of some items. The cereal was really decently priced… $5 for a huge double box. Around here, those are like 7 or 8 dollars! And when I went back to check, my dish soap was available in a 2 pack, large size that was about a buck less than the dollar store!!!

Okay, so now I’m hooked. I love it. I did feel a little funny that it was in two HUGE boxes! One box was packed full, but the second box was just the towels and a lot of nice packing material.

However, for us, that is a bonus, because we have a mail order company and this is some nice packing material. We will use it for SURE.

I felt a little funny, too, that the Fed Ex home fella was pretty far from his home as well. But thankfully, he said he was getting more and more deliveries out this way, and he didn’t mind at all. I felt a little better. After all, someone has to ship the stuff out here to the dollar store, too. It’s not like they make it in the back of the shop.

Overall, Im really pleased with it. It was fun and it was reasonably priced, delivered promptly, good products. And the nice big boxes and packing materials will find good homes… I’m thinking more for my raised beds and lasagna gardening, not to mention reshipping our own orders in!

I believe I am going to start a list of all the things that we might normally get at Walmart or the dollar store, and make a nice master list. And then we will wait as long as we can on these things and make one nice big order, once or twice a month. That will help to fill up the boxes better, and to make the trip worthwhile for our delivery guy. And will save us those 3 and 4 trips a week to shop! More time for critters and working and fun, hey, even naps! Ha ha ha… naps are a great fringe benefit!!!

Heck if I worked it right, I would only have to go to town for fun! And maybe fresh stuff like milk and meats… well, soon we’ll have plenty of pork, and we have our own chickens… once the garden gets going… hmmm… maybe we’ll only need to go out for Chinese food and garage sales!!! AWESOME!!!

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