Still Brown Baggin It

I must say I am ultra proud of myself! I took my lunch every day this week and I saved some money! YIPPEE! I also only bought one pop this week at $1.59. Not too bad!

So now I'm thinking what else can I do to save some money. Well there are three things we go through like mad in our house... Milk, Eggs and bread.... don't ask me why because I really don't know, what I mean is, yes we eat them but we seem to eat ALOT of them...

So what can I do about the milk? Hmmm not too much, the kids need it to help them have strong healthy bones and I cook with it alot so I don't think there is much I can do about that part of it except try and find a cheaper source...

OK so eggs... what can I do about the eggs? Well again, we eat them and we cook with them, sometimes though, I use an egg substitute. I happen to work for a company that makes that type of product so I can get it at a discount (otherwise I couldn't afford to buy that week after week). But the catch is that even with my discount a 14 egg count of egg substitute is still $1.40. So not too much I can do about that...

Bread... hmmm yep I can do something about that... I have to say I love Rotella Bread and I'm one of those people who do pay $2.00+ for a loaf of bread.

Before you ask, no I cannot buy the expensive bread for myself and then cheap bread for the kids because the kids... well they won't eat the cheap bread either!

The Bakery is actually really close to our house and I drive by it occassionally... and I happen to see a sign that said Retail Store... well I always assumed that they had a retail store because not every store sells Rotella Bread and I assumed that the pricing was just as high at their retail store as it is in a chain store. RIGHT and WRONG... one day I decided that I wanted to stop and take a look around... I was right in that they do have fresh frozen bread at regular retail prices but they also have over run and day old bread at huge discounts.

Now usually we go through 3 - 4 loaves of bread in a week. That is $6 - $8 a week. Now keep in mind that this is just for regular ole sandwich bread... yes we eat that much of it!

But if I go to the Bread Store I can get 4 loaves of bread, 2 packages of hamburger buns, 2 packages of hot dog buns, ciabata bread, dinner rolls and pizza dough for $7.40. So I figured out that when I buy all of this at the store I spend around $25 a week on that... so for a month I spend $100 and in a year $1,200. But if I go to the bread store... I only spend about $355 a year.... hmmm the bread store it is!

I'm starting to see where all my money goes... and it isn't because we don't make enough... it's because we don't spend it wisely! We need to spend it wisely!