The Savvy Life

Practice What I Preach

In last week’s Budget Savvy Tidbit email, I made the following suggestion: True Club Card Savings When we save money at the grocery store through club card discounts or coupons, the amount you saved is listed at the bottom of the receipt. The next time they hand you that receipt, transfer the amount you saved from your checking into your savings account. NOW you have truly saved money! I decided to give it a try. We shop at Safeway which accepts a club card. Every week they have great sales including “Buy One Get One Free” and “10 for $10”. Since Paul and I hadn’t bought groceries for almost three weeks, our bill was much higher than normal. Also, this particular bill included Tide laundry detergent (I am a loyal Tide consumer) which was not on sale and 2 cases of Gordon Biersch beer for a party we are going to this weekend. The total bill was $198.37. However, with my Safeway club card I was able to whittle it down to $158.61 – a savings of $39.76 (20%!). I just transferred that $39.76 savings into my “fun” savings account. Not to sound cliché, but now I really feel like I saved that money. The trick is going to be having the discipline to do this every trip to the grocery store. I will keep you posted. Note: Still no luck with the puppy search. Write comment (0 Comments)

 

Quest for a Perfect Mocha

I really don’t have anything against Starbucks as a company. Just about ever weekend Paul and I will head over to one of the 21 stores located in a five mile radius of our home (not an exaggeration). Paul usually picks up a Frappuccino while I go for a classic mocha. The complaint that I have with Starbucks or any coffee joint for that matter is consistency. The coffee drinks are only as good as the person making them. If I am going to invest $3.30 and 400 calories then I want it to be good every single time. Over the weekend I had yet another bad mocha. Not being willing to waste the calories, I threw it away. When we got home, I pulled out our coffee/espresso maker and started experimenting. It took me about three tries before I was able to get the right mix of chocolate, sugar and milk for my particular taste. Although I wasn’t able to sleep that night (over-caffeinated) it was worth it. Now when I get a craving for a mocha, I’ll make it at home before heading out. I reserve the right to still pick up the occasional mocha while traveling or running errands. Note on puppy search: I struck out at the Martinez Humane Society this weekend. The mastiff/rotweiller mix puppy I found on www.petsearch.com had already been adopted by the time I got there. The search continues. Write comment (0 Comments)