November Challenge: Day 23, 24, 25 and 26

Nov 23rd:
$ 16.57 Kids play center
$36.68 Sushi

Nov 24th:

NO SPEND DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Nov 25th:
$ 3.81 Mc Donalds
$ 10.00 Burger King
$ 15.87 London Drugs (used $85.99 in coupons)

Below is a picture of my shopping trip at London Drugs. This store allows multiple coupons for one product, there are certain rules and restrictions, but it works for me :).

Nov 26th:
$ 11.56 Grocery
$ 30.02 Gas
$ 2.36 Chips
$ 13.20 London Drugs (used $69.23 in coupons)

November Challenge: Day 19, 20, 21, 22

Eeep I've been so bad with this blog, haven't been writing in it simply because I haven't felt motivated to do so. So about my spending, it's been good and bad, lets get started:

Day 19:

$ 15.83 - Grocery

$ 11.51 - Fruit and veg

$ 83.00 - Shoppers Drug Mart, this shopping trip was a mix of kids medicine, $1 4 packs of soap, $2.00 face wash and food. We attained enough points to get about $20 off our next shopping trip, however we will be banking these points for even more savings. 

Day 20: 

$ 36.68 - Sushi

Day 21: 

No Spend Day!!!!!

Day 22: 

$ 2.00 - Chocolate for my birthday girl's cupcakes

$ 13.72 - Toys R Us ( Amazing deals here! I was able to get 10 hot wheels, 2 stainless steel spoon and fork sets with Toy Story and Princess characters on them and a  25 cent pack of birthday candles. As a bonus I got 5 airmiles yeaaa :-) )
$ 69.00 - Oil Change

Tomorrow we might be heading over to Chuck E Cheese's, we have a $26 coupon which includes a large pizza, 4 drinks and 20 tokens. There is no admission fee, and I think this price is fair for the four of us, I will of course be bringing along extra food for us to eat elsewhere. 

November Challenge: Day 18

My husband went to the mechanic today and all I can say is thank God, fixing the car wasn't an expensive repair, although it was sure an inconvenience. Turns out there was something wrong with the electrical board and since my husband knows the mechanic and paid in cash, it only cost us $200 plus $10 in doughnuts and coffee from Tim Horton's. Here's today's spending:

$ 200.00 - Car repair

$ 10.00 - Tim Horton's 

$ 5.00 - Burger King

November Challenge: Day 16 and 17

Ha, can you believe it after all that has broken down lately, our car, our wonderful 1997 Chevrolet van is ill. It came out of nowhere, she just won't start. We depend on our car pretty heavily; to take our daughter to preschool, to take my husband to work and to go to various places to get great deals. I'm so sad, I know it's dumb to love a thing, but this car has such great memories, we took our first family road trips in this car....hmmfff. God willing she won't be too expensive to fix.

Back to the challenge! Yesterday's spending is as follows:
$ 7.08 x 6 tins of pringles (used $3.00 in coupons)
$ .99 Clearance dessert
$ 85.00 Gas (ha ha jokes on us)

This afternoon, before the car died, we headed over to Old Navy to use our "save $10 when you spend $20" coupons, my husband had one as well as myself. I picked up somethings for my kids from the clearance section which also had an extra 30% off the last ticketed price, while my husband was able to find himself a nice sweater for work. Today we spent:
$ 1.67 Muffin and tea at Mc Donald's
$ 15.64 Husband's sweater
$ 11.85 Kids clothing

Cute stuff, almost wish they had these in my size.

November Challenge: Day 15

Here we are half way through the month, and I'm feeling like this challenge is under control. Two days ago I mentioned that we still had to pay for our daughter's preschool, well thank God, we were approved for a subsidy that will cover all but $8 of the monthly cost. We will also be reimbursed for September and October, this little bit of unexpected extra money is going straight to the bank!

Today's spending was great, we headed off to Whole Foods to use one of the two vouchers we purchased. The total bill came to $21.15, but I only spent $11.15 in total thanks to livingsocial, and since the $10.00 was already calculated on November 9th, I only spent $1.15 today. Wahoo.

November Challenge: Day 14

This past week my camera died, less than 2 months after purchasing it. Turns out there is something wrong with the sensor and it was putting a black mark on the top 20% of my photos. I am very disappointed it's my youngest's second birthday on the 23rd and although I do have another camera, it's really not that good, as you can see from my recent photos. My Nikon 5100 was sent in on Friday and won't be fixed and shipped back to me for at least a month and that's if everything goes well. My juicer also died this week, it happened yesterday and the motor is gone. We bought this juicer in the summer at a garage sale for $10 new in package (so it seemed) and I only used it a handful of times with all the intention in the world of using it more often, now that can never happen and now I don't have the extra cash to buy another one. Boo hoo. On a happier note, spending was good and coupons were used, here's how we did:

$ 7.08 Six tubes of pringles (used $3.00 in coupons)

$ .99  Eight lemons in the clearance isle

 

November Challenge: Day 12 and 13

Day 12 of this challenge was another no spend day, wahoo! Today, day 13 is as follows:
$22.59 - Groceries
$16.22 - Fruit and veg market
$0.96 - Pantene shampoo and conditioner

The shampoo and conditioner were a result of coupon stacking at London Drugs, I had wanted to get a few other things, but unfortunately they were out. Normally I wouldn't head over to London Drugs for just two items.

I think so far this month is going pretty decent so far. However, I do still have my youngest daughter's birthday on the 23rd, my oldest daughter needs this month's preschool paid for and it looks like our car needs an oil change. I'm a little nervous about how it will all work out.

Recipe: Best Pizza Dough I've Ever Made

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup flax seed
• 1/5 cup ground chia 
• 2 heaping tablespoons thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar, flax seeds, ground chia, thyme and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface (I greased the pan with olive oil) . Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Pre bake dough (as shown in picture below) for 5-8 minutes then cover with your favourite sauce and toppings and bake in oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. 

This recipe made about two medium sized pizzas, the thinner the dough, the better. This pizza was incredible and it had nothing to do with the toppings. 

Enjoy!!

November Challenge: Day 11

I'm very proud of my husband and oldest daughter who spent the day out together, but spent nothing. Kudos to them. I, on the other hand bought a fish burger combo at Burger King. My addiction to fish burger Friday is unruly and even now I could go for another one. Sigh.

Today's total spending:
$5.00 - Burger King

November Challenge: Day 10

Today was a no spend day....ahh it feels good.

November Challenge: Day 9

Today I was so excited, I thought I was going to come here and announce that today was a no spend day, well it wasn't. It would have been a no spent day, DH and I said no to take out even though we were craving it, but then I saw the Whole Foods deal I posted about below. I love Whole Foods, we shop there as a treat when the HST rebate comes around or occasionally when we buy a few bulk items, making sure to keep the bill under or around $20. If anyone wants to grab this deal while it's still on, you've got two days to do it, sign up here for living social and here for the link to the Whole Foods voucher.

So after all that talk my total spent today was:
$20 - Two Whole Foods vouchers

Whole Foods: Pay $10 for a $20 Voucher Worth of Food...

....or just about anything else you like to buy at Whole Foods. Here in our home we try to incorporate as many organic products as possible, however it can be expensive. This coupon will most likely be used towards buying things from the bulk section like organic quinoa, unbleached flour, flax seeds and organic rolled oats.

Click here to purchase your $20 Whole Foods Voucher for only $10.

November Challenge: Day 8

Today is the third day of Eid and with the $2300 monthly budget in mind, my family happily skipped the restaurant today. We did however make a trip to the bakery, still much cheaper than going to a sushi restaurant....and then DH went to Timmy's for coffee with a friend. Here's today's totals:

$8.00 - Bakery 

$14.99 - Basmati rice

$4.48 - Kids chop sticks
$75.02 - Gas
$3.00 - Tom Hortons

So my family and I are currently addicted to sushi, I know it's terrible because spending money at any restaurant is a bad habit to get into. We go for all you can eat or get takeout about 2-3 times a month normally, so I wanted to get my kids their own chop sticks, they are only 2 and 3 years old and I thought it would be so cute seeing them learn how to hold and use them while they eat. 

Aren't these the cutest things?

This Is Why I Love My Husband

....well just one of the reasons. He brings me coupons!! Over the past two days he's brought me home endless amounts of brand saver and smart source. What more could a cheap person who loves to shop want?! I'm so excited, I can see many fun days at London Drugs ahead of me.

November Challenge: Day 6 and 7

Yesterday my family and I spent money on sushi (this is a favourite for us) as well as some money on food that was cooked up for some guests that we had over today. Here are yesterday's totals:
$34.06 Grocery
$2.00 Parking
$30.80 Sushi

I am proud to announce that today we spent nothing, not a penny, not bad considering today was day two of Eid.

November Challenge: Day 5

Here is today's spending:
$43.23 Cable/Internet
$7.20 Subway
$29.25 Grocery
$2.88 Scrubbing Bubbles Daily Shower Power Sprayer


The Scrubbing Bubbles is a repeat from yesterday, I bought three again from London Drugs and stacked $23.97 in coupons paying only $2.88 in taxes for all three, the lady adjusted the coupons this time that's why I paid three cents more this time around, it's not a typo. 


Just a warning to you and to my wallet, tomorrow marks the beginning of four days of holidays. Ahh, but my spending shouldn't be that bad, I buy our kids gifts year round when they are on sale or new in package from a garage sale or swap meet. This year my youngest is getting a Mr Potato Head we found at an outlet store for $5 while on vacation this summer and my oldest is getting a Toy Story doodle board and book that we found brand new at a swap meet for $6. Both of our kids will also get goody bags filled with the clearance Halloween candy that I bought this week, as well as a good condition play kitchen that we found by the recycling, we have cleaned it thoroughly and I know that I know they will enjoy it. 


Bracing for tomorrow :P. 

November Challenge: Day 4

Today's Spending was alright, not too bad and I got a great deal on Scrubbing Bubbles, thanks to stacking coupons at London Drugs again, very happy that I only paid the taxes.

$2.85 Scrubbing Bubbles Daily Shower Power Sprayer
$5.00 Burger King (Me)
$2.50 Skytrain 
$2.50 Pizza (Husband)

Recipe: Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie

Ingredients

Topping

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling

• 3 large Granny Smith apples (or simular), peeled, cored, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 2 cups whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 3/4 cup sugar
• *For the bottom part of the pie I purchased 9-inch deep-dish frozen pie shell.*

Directions

For filling stir together apples, cranberry sauce, and sugar and pour into pie shell. 

For the topping mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until all ingredients become crumbly and sprinkle on top of filling. Bake @ 400 F for about 40 minutes or until filling starts bubbling up to the top. 

Enjoy!

November Challenge: Day 3

Today's expenses are as follows:

$10.95 Bank Fees
$8.00 Chicken and Beef
$12.90 Fruit and Veg
$5.79 1L Olive Oil
$2.95 Scrubbing Bubbles Daily Shower Power Sprayer 



My husband did the shopping today, he did well but I would have skipped the meat because we have some in the freezer already. If it were me shopping I probably would have replaced the meat with clearance Halloween candy, so I guess in the end he did better than I would have. The one thing that needs to change here is the bank fee, it seems way too high, this fee is the same every month, I don't even know the amount of transactions we are allowed every month at this rate but I'm thinking we do about 10 withdrawals or transfers a month and that includes writing cheques. One more thing I have to mention is that the Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner was bought at London Drugs and was on sale for $7.99, I was able to use $6.00 in coupons and then the rest was tax. This purchase honestly was not a need but a want, it also comes with two AA batteries so that is my justification and I'm sticking to it.

November Challenge: Day 2

Today I had only one thing in mind when it came to spending money, and that was discount candy and chocolate. Shoppers Drug Mart has 50% off all their Halloween candy while London Drugs has at least 50% off, but their selection is a little slim, at least it was at my London Drugs. Today's total spending was solely on chocolate and candy which came to $22.46.

These should last until boxing day when I plan on buying even more 50% off holiday candy. Yumm. 

November Challenge: Spend Only $2300 on Everything!

Today marks the first day of my spend only $2300 on everything challenge. This month I've challenged my family to only spend $2300 on everything we need including rent, heat/hydro, gas, food, phone...well you get the idea, $2300 on everything.

I just started keeping track of our expenses this September so I only have two months of totals, but it gives a general idea of how we spend our money. For the month of September our total spent was $4168.27, $388.33 was on groceries, $177.43 was on takeout and $266.70 was on gas. As for October we spent $3119.64, $459.09 was on groceries, $170.98 was on takeout and $170.04 was on gas. As you can guess spending only $2300 is a lofty goal for our family of four, especially considering our rent is $1100, but as you can see we are up to the challenge.

Spending Day 1:
$1100.00 - Rent
$30.00 - Gas
$8.08 -4L Milk and a dozen eggs
$3.98 - Two boxes of cookies