We made it!!

On October first I had just under $50 in my wallet, which meant we made our $400 a month challenge. I'm sorry I couldn't keep up with the posts, if you're my friend on facebook you got a small taste of the crazy tornado our lives became at the end of September. I am just glad Baby boy is safe and sound. That was scary.

Walgreens and Tilted Kilt today!

Yesterday the hubby and I hung around the house relaxing. He did homework for his Masters course and I played with the baby. It was nice to unwind and enjoy being a family. And we didn't spend a penny. I love that we can do nothing with each other and it is still a fabulous day. I am very blessed.

Today though we ran errands and went out to our favorite wings place, the Tilted Kilt. It is like a Hooters, but less clothes and better wings. Total spent $36.07.

 Awful lighting and it is from my phone, but I think you can get an idea of the uniform. 

Great wings though.

Spent $11.65 at Walgreens. I was actually over charged $3 because the Manager didn't use the coupon. (Today I went to a different Walgreens than I normally do, which was a mistake. It took three tries and over 20 minutes for them to ring everything up. Yes, I called customer service. There is no reason to be rude to me because they kept making mistakes.)

Still, even though I was overcharged, $11.65 is pretty good for 4 boxes of bars, 2 things of juice, 2 boxes of tampons, 6 packs of gum, and 2 P.F. Chang's meal kits.

To get these deals and more, head over to MommySavers CVS Savings and Walgreens savings!

Left for the month $179.54. The month is almost half way over! Only two more weekends left!

A night on the town!

The hubby and I went to Chili's last night and ate off their 2 for $20 menu. They gave us a discount because my husband was in uniform, so with a 20% tip our bill was only $26.

Thanks Chili's!

$227.26 left for the month!

(I need to start carrying my camera with me so I can take more photos.)

$68.24 Spent today at Meijer

Today was a big grocery shopping trip. Had to buy dog food and meat (cringe!). Very rarely are there coupons for those items. But this is part of the challenge, to live off $400 for a month, and that includes our 120lb Rottweiler and his appetite. (We go through a 44lb bag a month with the SoBester.)

Left for the month: $253.26. Hopefully we won't need any more food for awhile!

I still managed to save over $40 though!

CVS trip, spent $22.36

CVS is having one of their fabulous diaper deals, where you buy a box and get $10 ECB. I LOVE these!! I always get a box when this sale is happening.

For these and other CVS deals check out MommySavers: CVS and Walgreens

Total left for the month: $321.50 (I know I said diapers were not included in our monthly challenge, but we discussed it before I went shopping and we're going to try!)

Fall Festival Tempations.

I was tempted today. Very, very tempted. All I wanted to do is blow through the $350 in my wallet and fill our house with absolutely adorable handmade crafts.

This weekend is a festival in the town we call home. It was full of booths and vendors selling their crafts. Handmade and handpainted beautiful things. We still have tons of bare space on our walls. I want pieces with character so it will take me a while before our house is finished. It is a work in progress. (Plus your next place could be incredibly small. You never know with the Army.)

And we, or I, didn't spend a DIME.We even walked the 1.5 miles (one way) there so we didn't even spend money on gas or parking (which was $10!!!). My dogs might be barking, but at least we got some good exercise in and got to see some pretty things.

FREE fun!

There is a playground park in our neighborhood here in Illinois. It is a really nice playground too! The hubby got off work at 1500 (3pm for you Civilians) and we decided to take little man.

Yes, it was chilly enough for a sweater.

Needless to say, we had fun. And it was FREE!!!

Today was an expensive day.

Well... Today was an expensive day. We had to get water softener for the house and other things.

Here is what we paid:
- $21.83 Menards (We will be getting a $6 rebate in 4-6 weeks)
- $9.89 Dominick's (6 Pepsi 12packs for $1.50 each and 4 Del Monte Smoothies)
- $.18 Wal-Mart (Two bottles of Gain Dish Soap)
- $2.92 CVS (Two Schick Intuition razors and a bottle of Dawn)
- $13.56 Pop-eyes (Dennis and I had a special treat at the office with Top, we bought him lunch too)

Total spent = $48.46 eek! That's a lot! It's alright because we are still in our frugal mindset and haven't given up.

$343.86 left for the rest of the month!

Day 1 $1.53 spent at Meijer and $6.23 at CVS ($7.76 total)

Yup. A $1.53 for 5 boxes if pasta, 6 cans of tomatoes, and 1 package of Kraft sliced cheese. My Cashier said, "Whoa! You did good!"

I'd say this a good start for our $400 challenge! $392.24 left.

$400 a month?!

For the month of September my husband and I will be living off of $400. That is all we will spend on groceries, entertainment, toiletries, clothes, pretty much everything! I have been looking over the past few months and wondering where has all our money gone?

I will chronicle every shopping excursion and share our success (or failure) with you. Wish us luck!

The Rules:
Not restricted by the $400: diapers, formula, gas for cars, medical expenses, monthly bills (like cell phone, car payments, gas, electricity, etc.).
I am going to keep all receipts from this month.
Cash ONLY! I will pull out $400 tomorrow and put in my wallet. Once that cash is gone, oh well!

Wish us luck!