Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I am Now Teaching Lunchtime Seminars

Free 30 Minute Lunchtime Seminars

Have you heard that children benefit tremendously from eating dinner together as a family? A recent BYU study credits family dinners with great benefits for working mothers by reducing conflict and strain from working long hours. "Parents, not just kids, benefit from time eating together”, says Jenet Jacob, an assistant professor of family science at BYU and lead author of the study.

Our company will teach your employees how to:

‘Plan Better. Shop Better. Live Better.’

Empower your employees to:

• Learn Menu Planning Skills
• Learn Shopping Strategies to save money at the grocery store
• Learn how to balance their time so they focus on work instead of what to fix for dinner

By teaching your employees that a little preparation can go a long way, our lunchtime seminars will help your employees feel less stress on the job and in turn, become more productive. This presentation is geared towards the person most responsible for the grocery shopping and meal preparation which could include anyone (women, men, married or single).

If you are looking for ways to help your employees be more successful at work and at home, please consider scheduling this valuable FREE presentation. Call Lisa at 801.836.2110 to schedule your lunchtime presentation today.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A Whirlwind Shopping Day!

Today was payday so it was time to do my twice-a-month major shopping trip.  I had already taken the following steps:
  1. My Master Menu has been planned for the month of December
  2. I had inventoried my Prepared Pantry to see what I needed to purchase to complete my meals for the rest of the month
  3. I went through my coupons to match them to items I needed
  4. I had made my lists for the 4 stores I was going to shop at to get the best deals possible
  5. I had my shopping list ready to go at 9 a.m.  
My shopping list looked like this:

Smiths
  • Pasta Roni - sale price 10/$10
  • Cheese-its - sale price $2.69 each and after purchasing 3 I got $3 off - PLUS I had a $1.00 off 2 MANUFACTURER'S COUPONS
  • Bananas - sale price $.39 lb
  • Chef-Boy-R-De Ravioli - sale price 10/$10 plus I had a STORE COUPON for $1.00 off 5
  • Kroger Butter 1 pound - $.99 - in store sale price
  • Cutie Oranges - $3.99 plus I had a .55 off one MANUFACTURER'S COUPON
  • Stouffer's Lasagne - $8.89 plus I had a 1.00 off one MANUFACTURER'S COUPON (FOUND ONLINE) - I bought 3 and received a $4 off my next shopping trip catalina
  • I also bought some Kraft colored mini-marshmallows to make some fun Christmas cookies.

Retail total $94.04 - paid $61.86 - saved 35% - plus have $4.00 in free groceries next shopping trip plus I received a $.10 off fuel rewards up to 100 gallons

Albertsons
  • Cheetoes/Fritos $2.89 each paid .99 with STORE COUPON
  • Tropicana OJ $3.99 each paid $2.39 with STORE COUPON
  • Tillamook Brick Cheddar 2 pound brick $6.99 paid $4.99 with STORE COUPON
  • Darigold Butter $2.79 paid $1.79 with STORE COUPON
  • Green Giant Steamers Vegetables $2.39 paid $1.59 with MANUFACTURER'S COUPON
  • Tyson Bag Frozen Chicken Breasts $6.99 paid $3.99 with a CATALINA COUPON that I received on a previous shopping trip

$73.61 Retail paid $43.15 saved 42% PLUS I received a $5.00 off your next shopping trip catalina coupon to use on my next shopping trip!

Walmart
  • Purchased several small trial size items for Christmas Gift Bags I am putting together, including Blistex Lip Balm that I had a .55 off coupon for
  • Purchased stocking stuffers, including Chocolate Oranges for $2.88 and I had a $1.00 off coupons
  • Air Freshener
  • Several medications - I had MANUFACTURER'S COUPONS as well as a MANUFACTURER'S COUPON (FOUND ONLINE)
    • I purchased 1 store brand and all the rest name brands
  • Gum
  • Wall Calendar & small message board
  • A couple of last Christmas gifts

$116.54 retail and spent $93.04 saved 21% with coupon savings

Costco
  • Tillamook Shredded Cheddar
  • 4 packages frozen Egg Rolls (18 count) 7.59
  • Christmas gift
  • Head & Shoulders
  • Hot Pockets & Lean Pockets
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Sour Cream
  • Skim Milk
  • Electrasol
  • Mandarin Oranges
  • 5 dozen Eggs

Spent  $128.62 (with $12.00 in COSTCO COUPON savings)

I checked at Walmart before I shopped at Costco to get a per ounce price and these items were all better priced - EVEN if I had used coupons at Walmart.

BOTTOM LINE: I spent 1 hour preparing creating the shopping list, matching coupons and doing an inventory of my pantry/freezer.  I spent 2 hours shopping and putting items away.  I will now only need to shop twice the rest of the month for milk and fresh fruits and vegetables.   Those trips should take less than 30 minutes total.  ALSO, I have $9.00 to use at the grocery stores for other items that I may need/want.

I have 4 teenagers (ages 12, 14, 16 & 18) and will have them home for 9 days at the end of the month for Christmas break so I needed to make sure I had items for lunches and snacks. Also, many of the items I purchased will last much longer than the two weeks for the pay period.

Retail cost of my items $424.81 and I spent $326.67 saving $97.84.  With 3 hours worth of work and a ton of time saved the rest of the month - I figure I just paid myself $32.61 an hour!