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Here's What's New  I tried to keep our grocery spending lower this week – which will give me some wiggle room in the budget to make some bulk purchases the next couple of weeks! We’re going to visit family and friends back in Michigan, and while we’re there I’m excited to go to my all-time-favorite Amish bulk foods store, as well as the “Honey Farm” where we buy raw honey. For meat this week, I will be cooking up a turkey from the freezer (I always stock up around Thanksgiving when they go on sale – and I’m down to the last one!), as well as venison (thankful for a husband who loves to hunt!). We’ll be using milk from the freezer. 
Walmart (Harris Teeter was running a 2-day sale last weekend on eggs, but rather than drive a few miles to Harris Teeter for just one thing, I price-matched at Walmart since it is less than a mile from our house) 2 cartons (30-ct each) eggs – $2.37 each (price-matched Harris Teeter) - $4.74 1 gallon Orange Juice (price-matched Food Lion) – $3.49 Total: $8.23  
Harris Teeter (Super Doubles this week, up to $2 coupons – wahoo! I made two separate trips, and below is the combined totals) 2 packages Reynolds Cupcake Liners (@$1.19 each) – $2.38, used $1/2 Reynolds printable (doubled) plus $1/2 Harris Teeter evic - $0.62 MM on 2 after coupons 1 Gillette Deodorant – $5.49, used $2/1 Gillette printable (doubled) plus $2/1 Harris Teeter evic - $0.49 MM after coupons 2 cartons organic Evolution Organic Greens Juice ($3.99 each) – $7.98, used 2 $2/1 printable – NLA (doubled) – FREE after coupons 3 packages Perdue Simply Smart Chicken Nuggets (B1G1 @ 7.99) – $11.99, used 3 $2/1 Perdue printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons 2 (36-ct) packages Chinet Plates (B1G1 @ $3.69) – $3.69, used 2 $1/1 Chinet printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons 4 (40-ct) Truvia ($3.75) each – $15.00, used 4 $2/1 Truvia printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons 3 cartons So Delicious Coconut Milk ($1.50 each) – $4.50, used 3 $1/1 So Delicious Dairy Free Product, exp. 9/30/14 (SS 06/15/14) (doubled) – FREE after coupons 2 (6-ct) packs Zevia ($3.33 each) – $9.99, used 2 $2/1 Zevia printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons 4 boxes Muellers Pasta (B1G1 @ $1.99) – $3.98, used 2 $1/2 Mueller’s printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons 2 jars Earth Balance Peanut and Coconut Spread (@$2.50 each) – $5.00, used 2 $1/1 Earth Balance printable (doubled) – $0.50 each after coupons 2 packages Hefty plates (B1G1 @ $2.99) – $2.99, used $1/2 Hefty plates printable - $0.99 for 2 after coupons 3 boxes Horizons Macaroni and Cheese ($1.25 each) – $3.75, used $0.55/1 Horizons printable (doubled), $1/2 Horizons catalina printout (doubled), and $0.55/1 Harris Teeter evic - $0.10 for 3 boxes after coupons 2 boxes Cheerios ($2.00 each) – $4.00, used $1.10/2 printable (doubled) – $0.90 each after coupons 2 boxes Total ($2.00 each) – $4.00, used $1.10/2 printable (doubled) – $0.90 each after coupons 2 (24-ct) boxes Lipton Tea (B1G1 @$3.29) – $3.29, used 2 $0.75/1 Lipton printable (doubled) – $0.29 for 2 after coupons 2 Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce (B1G1 @ $2.29) – used $1/2 Sweet Baby Ray’s printable (doubled) - $0.29 for 2 after coupons 2 bags Lays Kettle Cut Chips ($2.50 each) – $5.00, used $1/1 printable – NLA (doubled) – $0.50 each after coupons 1 package Huggies Pull-Ups – $8.99 – used $2/1 Pull-Ups printable (doubled) plus $2/1 Harris Teeter evic - $2.99 after coupons 1 bag Milky Way Unwrapped Bites – $3.69, used $1/1 Unwrapped Bites from RP 06/15/22 insert (doubled – I needed these for a baking project for VBS) – $1.69 after coupons Baking Powder – $1.27 1 bag (3-ct) Reduced Avocados – $1.00 ~Received $2.15 refund at Customer Service for the Fiber One/Nature Valley Bars that rang up incorrectly last week Total after all sales, tax and coupons: $12.23 
Local Farmer’s Market 3 heads of reduced Broccoli @ $0.79 each – $2.37 1 reduced Cabbage @ $0.29/lb – $0.97 1 head Romaine lettuce – $1.29 3.25 lbs reduced ripe Strawberries – $2.99 Total: $7.62  Fresh Produce from a Friend’s Garden Total: Free (Thanks, Kathryn!! :)) Weekly Total after all sales, tax, and coupons: $28.08 Weekly Menu Plan Breakfasts Scrambled Eggs and Toast, Avocado Smoothies, Cereal x2, Oatmeal x2, Zucchini bread Lunches Macaroni and Cheese/Strawberries/Cucumber Slices, PB&J on Homemade Bread/Carrot Sticks, Build-Your-Own Tossed Salad with Hard Boiled Eggs, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches/Chips/Cucumbers, Veggie Omelettes/Strawberry Smoothies, Leftovers x2 Dinners Meat Potato Quiche, Roasted Broccoli, Strawberries Chicken Nuggets, Homemade Oven Baked French Fries, Sautéed Green Beans Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Pull-Apart Oat Rolls, Tossed Salad Best Chicken Pot Pie (I will be using turkey), Steamed Broccoli Broccoli/Cheese Baked Potatoes, Easy Whole Wheat Muffins, Relish Plate Grilled Turkey Burgers on Homemade Buns, Grilled Broccoli, Creamy Milk Rice Venison Roast/Potatoes/Carrots in the Crockpot, leftover Pull-Apart Oat Rolls 
Guest post from Laura of Life As A Loewen I love the way blueberry muffins can be eaten for breakfast, snack, or even dessert! This recipe is super-simple, (practically) fool-proof, and makes you the “muffin hero” in less than a half-an-hour! Even more, I love that this recipe is fairly healthy, using intentional ingredients to make a more nutritious muffin. It’s a great recipe use when blueberries are on sale! Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins Makes 24 muffins INGREDIENTS: - 4 cups whole wheat flour (feel free to use all-purpose as well)
- 2 cups milk (I used almond, but whichever type you prefer will work)
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- 6 Tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ pints of fresh blueberries
*Use as many or as few blueberries as you like. I love LOTS of blueberries, but make it to your taste. DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place eggs, applesauce, melted coconut oil and sugar in your mixer and mix well. Add a cup of flour, followed by baking powder and salt. Next, alternate your milk and remaining three cups of flour slowly being sure not to overload your mixer while mixing together on a low setting. Lastly, pour in blueberries, taking care to not over-mix as you want to keep the blueberries intact. Pour batter into greased muffin tins, filling each ¾ full. Bake 18-22 minutes. Enjoy! Try this recipe today and feel free to use your own variations to suit your family's needs. Either way, these will be a big hit and probably a new staple in your home! Laura is a mama of three littles {and adopting another!} trying to pursue Jesus daily. Attempting to be genuine and raw, Laura seeks to find the humor in everyday life. Laura shares her journey through faith, motherhood and marriage at Life As A Loewen. She’s passionate, sometimes loud, and always in the mood for cupcake ice cream.
 The view from my hotel room this evening
I flew into Dallas this afternoon to speak at a conference here tomorrow and Saturday. And as I was going about my day, I thought it’d be fun to share a few tips I’ve picked up on how to save money on business trips. Note I said business trips. That’s very important. You see, if you really want to save money, I recommend taking road trips. They are much less expensive than flying anywhere. Plus, you can bring a cooler and your own food. And well, they are usually just so much more economical in so many different ways. 
So this post is not written from an ultra-frugal perspective. Because well, business trips in and of themselves don’t tend to be ultra-frugal. And that’s okay. Usually, the value you are providing or receiving in return for the expense paid by your business or another business on your behalf makes it worth the investment. But I know that many of you do take frequent or occasional business trips, and I thought I’d share a few money-saving tips I employed today that might inspire you or spark an idea to help you save money. Because just these four things combined, save me hundreds of dollars every year. 
First off, always bring your own reading material instead of being tempted to buy an overpriced book or magazine from the airport gift shop. In fact, always bring a little more than you think you’ll be able to read. Because this way, if there’s a flight delay or some other delay, it can just become a relaxing reading time, instead of a stressful, twiddle-your-thumbs-with-nothing-to-do time. I save all the magazines that come in from our five or six current subscriptions in a drawer and then bring a few of them each time I travel. I also bring a few books. Usually a few too many… but hey, if we are stranded somewhere for 12 hours, at least I’ll have plenty of good reading material.  
Bring your own tea bags, too. I love hot tea — and it’s so soothing on your throat if you’ve been doing a lot of speaking/talking at events. I usually have a few tea bags in my purse and a few more in my suitcase and then I can make hot tea in the hotel room with the coffee maker or I can ask for hot water on the plane to make my own tea. Not only is a soothing cup of tea is a great way to unwind at the end of a busy day, but it’s much more convenient and much less expensive when you bring your own tea bags instead of buying a hot drink at the hotel or a nearby restaurant. 
When you arrive at your location, if at all possible, find a place nearby to purchase a case of water or even a 6-pack of water bottles (if it’s a short stay). This encourages you to stay hydrated while you’re busy in meetings or at a conference, and it’s also so much cheaper than buying individual water bottles from the hotel or venue where you’re at. We also often stop by the grocery store and pick up some food for snacks/meals to extend our travel food budget. Not only is this so much less expensive than eating all your meals out or grabbing snacks from the hotel gift shop, but it’s also much more convenient if you’re needing to eat a quick snack (as I often do) to give you stamina before you go on stage or into that three-hour intensive meeting. 
The fourth photo I took today was of my beloved suitcase. I bought this suitcase off of Groupon at a steal and it has traveled many, many miles with me and saved me well over a thousand dollars in the last year. Why? Because it’s roomy and can fit enough stuff in it for up to an 8-day trip. Which means I never pay for baggage fees — which add up very quickly when you usually travel a few times per month! When I started traveling regularly, I created a “system” of sorts for packing and have pared down to the essentials I need for trips + a few extras. I typically always pack almost the exact same thing every trip. (Yes, I don’t have that many outfits so I wear the same progression of 2-3 outfits for almost every trip until those outfits wear out or the seasons change! It might seem really boring, but it actually simplifies things so that packing for a business trip usually takes me very little time.) You can see a peek into my packed-for-an-8-day-trip suitcase here, if you’re interested. What advice or tips do you have for saving money on business trips and/or while traveling? I’d love to hear so I can get some new ideas to try! 
A testimony from Jill About a month ago, my husband and I received a letter in the mail that the escrow balance on our rental home was short by $1351. After doing some research, we found that we had been paying taxes only on the land the home was built on and not on the home itself. We had two months to come up with the money — and we were worried since we just completed an out-of-state move and I recently became a stay-at-home mom. I started going through our home looking for anything I was willing to sell. I sold purses I no longer used, business supplies and products from a direct sales company I was no longer part of, a coffee table we had no room for, kitchen items I no longer used, a bridesmaid dress from a wedding I was in, and many other items. After only 1 month, I had enough to pay the bill! Here is the breakdown of how we saved up enough to pay this bill: Put items in a garage sale at my parents’ house — $186 Listed items on local Facebook yard sale pages — $762 Carefully reviewed the escrow bill and called the mortgage company. We found that our homeowner’s insurance had been paid twice, and we received a check back from the insurance company for $562. Not only did we have enough to cover the expenses, but there was money left over! I am still listing items on the yard sale sites because I have learned that I truly do not need so many of the items I have in my home, and less is more! Jill is a wife and a stay-at-home mom to her 8-month-old daughter. She loves finding deals, bargain shopping, and working hard to become debt free. Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Health Food Store 2.21 lbs Zucchini/Squash @ $0.79/lb – $1.75 0.80 lbs Green Beans @ $1.29/lb – $1.03 Total: $2.78 
Aldi
2 pkg Red Grapes – $1.78 each (I was SO excited about this price! This is the cheapest grapes have been in our area for a long time!) 1 can Black Beans – $0.59 1 lb Butter – $2.40 1 Pineapple – $1.29 1 pkg Flour Tortillas – $1.19 4 Plums – $0.29 each 1 Cucumber – $0.59 1 box Saltine Crackers – $0.89 Total: $11.67 
Dillons
1 gallon Milk – $2.99 1 pkg Kroger Cheese – $2 1 pkg Yogurt – Marked down to $0.99 2 Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade/Orange Juice – $1 each, used 2 $0.50/1 coupon from the 6/15 RedPlum insert – $0.50 each after coupons 1 dozen Eggs – $1.50 1 bag Tyson Frozen Chicken Breasts – $6.99 1 Bear Naked Energy Bar – $1, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon 1.44 lbs Broccoli @ $1.59/lb – $2.29 Total: $17.76 Total for all grocery items: $32.21 Menu Plan for this Week Breakfasts Cereal, Homemade Granola, Eggs, Toast, Smoothies (with frozen fruit from the freezer) Lunches Macaroni & Cheese, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Fruit/Veggies/Crackers, Cheese Quesadillas, Leftovers Dinners Chicken & Rice Casserole, Steamed Broccoli French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit Black Bean & Cheese Quesadillas, Veggies (from freezer) Italian Chicken, Freezer Biscuits, Steamed Broccoli, Baked Potatoes Stirfry (using squash, zucchini, green beans and chicken), Sliced Apples (from last week’s shopping) Dinner with family Deer Roast, Freezer Biscuits, Peaches (from canning I did in the fall) | 
