Monday, June 10, 2013

Just for Fun: My Stockpile


Well, here it is...my stockpile! We finally bought some shelves to put everything in one place instead of having it all scattered all over the house. It is so much easier to just go to the shelves to pick out what I need. You'll notice these are all non-food items. My stockpile is upstairs, so it's not very convenient to store our groceries. Also not pictured is our stash of laundry detergent. I ran out of shelves so it is stored in the laundry room. Also, the cardboard box on the right is my Donation Box. I put things in there that I know we won't use...usually they are moneymaker items.

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a slight obsession with Excel, so naturally, I use spreadsheets to keep track of my savings. I have them separated by grocery savings and drugstore savings.

We have budgeted $200/month for groceries, so about $50/week. My goal is to save 50% each trip. We grocery shop at Meijer and Kroger. Here are my stats for 2013:
Average Weekly Spending: $52.61
Grand Total Worth: $1,938.05
Paid Out of Pocket: $1,209.92
Savings: $728.13
Total % Saved: 38%

We don't have a budget for drugstore items, but my goal is 75-90% savings each trip. We primarily shop at CVS, but also at Rite Aid, and Walgreens. Here are my stats for 2013:
Grand Total Worth: $839.36
Paid Out of Pocket: $218.53
Savings: $620.83
Total % Savings: 74%

I'm not quite where I want to be, especially with groceries, but still not bad. Check back in December to see if I've improved!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

What's Cooking: BBQ Pulled Pork


A favorite in our household. You can put the whole bottle of BBQ sauce in after you remove the liquid, but we prefer to add some then and put more on right before we eat it. Serve as a sandwich or eat plain.

Ingredients:
- 1 Center Cut Boneless Pork Loin
- 1 bottle BBQ Sauce

Cooking Directions:
1. Place pork in a crock pot.
2. Cover and set to high for 6 hours.
3. Remove pork and transfer to a large dish. Reserve all the liquid into a separate dish and set aside.
4. Shred the pork with two forks and put it back into the crock pot along with a little bit of the reserved liquid and some BBQ sauce.
5. Cook on high one more hour.

Source: www.skinnytaste.com