{A simple, green, homeschooling family of six learning to thrive with less on a modern-day Iowa homestead.}
It’s Frugal Tuesday! I feel like I’ve been in a massive spend money mode lately. Between Christmas, my daughter’s birthday, and a mini vacation to Chicago {including Trader Joe’s, Ikea, & the American Girl Doll Store}, buying boots for myself, and drooling over Le Creuset’s 7-1/4-Quart Round French Oven {anyone want to send me one [...]
Happy Tuesday! Today’s Frugal Tip is all about Gift Cards. Buying gift cards this time of year can be a great way to save money because there are all kinds of incentives around the holidays. Here are some of the ways I’ve saved money in the past buying gift cards. 1. If you’re lucky enough [...]
Have you ever shopped at Abe’s Market? They recently started a sample program where you can choose any three samples and have them delivered to your door for $2 – shipped. It’s a great way to try their natural products before you commit to a big money outlay. A couple weeks ago, Abe’s Market [...]
I’m convinced grocery prices are going up and the good deals are getting fewer and are harder to find. When I first started blogging a year and a half ago, I had a pretty easy time holding my grocery budget steady at around $250 a month – for my family of 6. But that’s not [...]
My friend Michele and I went to an Amish produce auction this morning in Kalona, Iowa. It was a lot of fun and I brought back some great produce. I’ll share the details about the produce auction later, because, even though I had enough foresight to take my camera, I left my memory card in [...]
Here are the best deals I see this week. I print this list out and take it and the ads with me when I go grocery shopping. It’s super easy to use this list to price-match at Walmart or Fareway, or it lets me know what I think are the cheapest weekly items if I [...]
My daughter and I also stopped at Fareway yesterday to pick up super cheap boneless, skinless chicken breast. I love Fareway’s meat counter. They’ll package any size you want and wrap for free. Their meat is free of additives (like saline solutions) and best of all, they price match to HyVee. HyVee has chicken on [...]
Here’s what I bought this week: At Walmart & HyVee ~ Walmart – total before coupons and price matching: $62.06 and after coupons and price matching: $28.66! That’s a 53% savings!! My favorite deals at Walmart – 5 ct Zyrtec for .26 after $5 coupon from here, as well as free triscuits and hair gel [...]
In addition to my beef purchase, here are my grocery buys this week. Out of pocket, I spent just under $5. Yes, that’s right! All those groceries cost me under $5! I split them into 2 transactions because I had 2 – $5/25 coupons and 2 – $20 catalinas. Since I could only use one [...]
First up, Walmart ~ I spent way more money on groceries this week than I normally do…Here’s hoping I can refrain for the rest of the month and stick to my budget! I price matched at Walmart using my list here. After price-matching and coupons, I got my total down from $67.84 to $39.81 for [...]
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
