The Sweet Life On A Budget

  Slowing down and taking the time to enjoy our surroundings is essential to Living the Sweet Life On A Budget.  Whether it is enjoying nature or the beauty of city architecture, taking time to stop and appreciate beauty wherever you find it is important.   Our Rich Backyard Life looks at the beauty that is surrounding us, whether it is animals, flowers, buildings, locations, or anything else that we can appreciate in our daily travels.   The Pond in Winter I love black and white pictures and  the snow makes the pond look lovely.    Christmas Lights Walk One of our favorite things to do in winter  is to walk around our community and  look at all of the beautiful lights at Christmas. Fresh Snow After a snowfall my neighbors  trees look magical.  What beauty were you able to find in your backyard?  Leave a comment or picture below?

  Our meals need to be nutritious, clean, flexible, quick and cost effective. Between our work schedules and after school activities, we need to carefully plan our meals so that we do not end up ordering out.   Instead of guessing regarding our food budget, I looked up the Official USDA Food Plans as of December 2020 which was enlightening.    Since, we have 3 members in our household and use the thrifty plan, the food only weekly budget would be $123.40.  However the monthly SNAP benefits average $125 per person or about $260.00 per household.    Goal: $500.00  What did we spend?  Week 1- $108.97 Kroger: $87.83 Meijer: $21.14 Rebates- $9.65 IBOTTA: $7.55 IBOTTA: $1.10 Kroger Cash: $1.50 Week 2-$84.37 Kroger: $84.37 Rebates: $7.44 IBOTTA: $7.44 Kroger Cash: $2.19 Week 3: Week 4- Week 5-  Total: $193.34 Rebate Total: $17.09 Final Total: $176.25 NOTE: Rebate total DOESN’T include Kroger Cash or Refunds because they wi...

    Making small changes that have big results.  On Friday’s I share the weekly deals that cost less than $1.00.   These deals help to keep us in our budget and living The Sweet Life.  Although I do not advocate shopping at a large number of stores during this health crisis, if you are going to a particular store that has a deal- just pick it up too.       CVS Deals (January 3-9, 2021) All Mighty Pack (19 ct)  Cost: 2.99 Coupon: $2.00 (1/3 RMN)  OOP/Final Cost: $0.99 Crest- Pro Health and 3D White   Cost: 3 X $3.99 = $11.97 Coupon: $2/1 (January P&G) x 3 = $6.00 OOP: $5.97 ECB: $5.00/3 Final Cost: $0.97/3 or $0.33 each  ** Look for CRT’s to make this deal FREE There are a few possibilities for under $1.00 products, but they are dependent upon which CRTS become available on Sunday.   Come back next week and check them out.  (January 10- 16, 2021) Poparazzi Nail Polish  Cost: 2/$5.00...