Halloween 2012

My kids dressed up as a soldier and Snow White for Halloween. Too bad hubby was on duty that night, only the kids and I went trick or treating. It was extremely cold and roads were slippery so after two blocks, we decided to head home.

I'm so glad Leila stopped dressing up as a furry animal this year hehe. And the best part? I scored next year's Halloween costumes at 75% off. I'm just hoping they won't change their minds next year :P

Cheap Finds

We try to set a budget every time we buy groceries but obviously we're not trying very hard (lol). We usually do the bulk of our groceries at Superstore but there are specific items that need to purchased at Walmart or Costco and of course, at the Asian supermarket as well.

At Superstore, we usually buy the boxed chicken for just 14.99 CAD and it's 5kg. We used to buy a bag with 2 kg of chicken thighs for more or less 9 CAD and it's like good for two weeks only compared to the boxed chicken which lasts more than a month. We also love the box of bacon ends which is pretty cheap at 5+ CAD. They also sell those Yakult like products at 1.50 CAD/5pcs way cheaper than those available at the Asian supermarket.

My hubby also prefers to buy large bottles (I mean really large ones) of soy sauce, liquid seasoning, cheez whiz because he says they're cheaper which is true by the way. Our sugar is a 10 kg bag while our bag of flour is 5kg, with that much we don't have to buy twice a month or even on a monthly basis. And getting the ones on sale are always, always a huge help and I'm just glad I'm not a brand conscious person. I could give up Coca-Cola products for PC brand sodas. The PC orange soda tastes so much like Royal, they are soooo goood! Lance's preferred crackers (Skyflakes) is also cheaper at Superstore so we make sure that we buy it there. They also now have a huge selection of products from the Philippines, bigger than what they used to have saving us trips to the Asian supermarket.

If I like doing groceries at Superstore, I like Walmart for other cheap finds as well, kitchen stuff, toys, clothes and food that are on sale. Their jello is cheaper compared to the ones at Superstore. We also like to buy shrimp and other seafoods there.

But if you're really buying buy the bulk, Costco is the right place. We go there to buy a couple of things but mostly to look around, sample the food and eat hotdogs. Their hotdog is the best tasting hotdog I've ever tasted here. I like to buy vegetables there, they last longer and they are so fresh. My bag of spinach is from Costco, very cheap and the size of the bag is just right, not too big , not too small.

Becoming cheap is a process but it doesn't guarantee that you'll stay within your budget because we usually don't. We end up buying these cheap finds, add them all up and before we know it we are over budget again. Shopping is fun and sales are more fun but it all boils down to how much money you're willing to spend (the more, the merrier!)

Coupons!

Watching TLC's Extreme Couponing makes me want to do what those extreme couponers do. Imagine saving thousands of $$$ and paying less than 50-90 % of your actual bill? Amazing, isn't it? And their stock pile is another story, it's like having a grocery of your own at home. That part, I don't like. I don't need way too much stuff that I won't need for a month's use. It would be neat, yes, but why stock that much? Anyway, the savings are the part I like the most. Makes me wanna search for coupons online, print them out, put them in a binder and head out to the supermarket!

I do have coupons which I requested online but I haven't tried printing, I receive them mostly through the mail but my coupons are nothing compared to those extreme couponers. They do devote a whole lot of time couponing and some would even have trips to the dumpster to recover coupons, no wonder they're called extreme couponers. I wish I have the guts to be one :D

It's actually fun from the moment you get to choose the coupons, receive them in the mail then I let my son cut them out. He keeps asking why we need those so I start to lecture him about saving and hopefully he learns something. Then I look at the expiry dates before sorting them out. Yesterday, I got to bring them to the supermarket and we saved 10 CAD by using the coupons. It's not much but it's ok, wait until I become an extreme couponer!