Publix

My sister is an expert on all things frugal.  She is the queen of deals and of getting a lot for a little.  It is really rather impressive.  Several months ago she informed me about the great deals you could get at Publix.  Publix does a weekly ad that includes lots of Buy 1 Get 1 Free options, which can make the things you buy already very cheap and even cheaper if you have a coupon.  She told me about all of things things she got for less than a dollar and even some things that she got for free.  I was skeptical at first because I have always seen Publix as the fancier, more expensive store (and it is if you don't shop the deals), but I have been testing this out and she is right.  Below is a picture of what I bought yesterday (not pictured is a 12 pack of double roll toilet paper).  I got all of this for $23.00. 

2 boxes of cereal (1 giant sized)
2 boxes of whole wheat pasta
1 box cake mix
1 box of margarine
4 bag of Nestle Chocolate chips
1 bag of Kraft Cheese
1 can of Progresso soup
1 large can of Lysol Wipes
1 pack 12 double roll toilet paper

All of these items are things I buy anyway and all of them were buy 1 get 1. You get the buy 1 get 1 price even if you only buy 1 of each thing.  The best deal I got yesterday was with coupons.  The pasta was buy one get one and I had a $1 off coupon when you buy 2, so I got both boxes of pasta for a total of .23 cents. .23 cents!!!!!! That is crazy! 

Normally, the chocolate chips would have cost me half of the total price of all I got.  I saved nearly $20 on items I buy all of the time.  The key for me, is not buying other things at Publix.  I check the ad each week and only buy things that are on sale and that I use.  I am not one of those people who go all out and dig in the trash for coupons and that sort of thing.  I actually put very little effort into this and I am still able to save a ton of money.  So thanks to my sister I have become a convert and between the Farmers Market and Publix, I am saving a ton of money on groceries.

Zoe

 I love going to festivals.  Normally, the largest purchase I make at a festival is a ceramic mug (I have a slight obsession with handmade mugs.)  At this particular festival my roommate found a mug and I found a dog.  Note to self: NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER follow the signs that say, "Pet Adoptions."  This is always a bad idea.  Of course, I found 1 that I loved and just had to have.  My roommate, Amy, is normally the voice of reason telling me that I cannot have another dog, but she failed me this time...she loved the new dog too. Here she is at the festival with a bandana on that says, "Your new BFF."  Who could resist this?

This dog was sweet, cute and she is a pit bull mutt and I have a thing for pit bull mutts.  I told the foster lady with her that I already had one pit bull mutt and the lady said, "Oh, you think she's a pit bull?"  I said, "Umm, yes.  What do yall think she is?"  She was apparently listed as a Sharpe mix.  Those people are out of their minds...this dog is no more a Sharpe than she is a dachshund.  They just don't like naming dogs pit bulls. 

Anyway, so I debated and debated about whether or not this would be a good idea.  I agonized over whether or not this was the right decision. I would not want to get another dog and it go terribly.  I am not the kind of person to return a dog, so once it is done it is done.  I decided that I wanted her and now she is the newest member of my family.  She is an unbelievably sweet dog.  A lot more like Cali than I first realized, but more so in personality than temperament.  Her name was Dani, but I wasn't a huge fan of that, so her new name is Zoe and she has picked up on it already.

She has a pretty quirky side like the fact that she ALWAYS lays like a frog....

...the fact that she cannot stand up if you pet her on the butt...she squats down....the fact that she scratches her back under the underside of the coffee table and the she loves to hide under the bed.  After working out some pecking order, her and Cali are best buds and my lap almost always looks something like the picture below.  Zoe is already a VERY loved little girl indeed!