My Third Beach Trip of the Summer
I’m going back to the beach! I’m leaving Sunday after 7:30am Mass so that I can have the entire day there (since I’ll miss tonight and tomorrow). I won’t return until Friday sometime.
I’m going to try to get a few posts written that I can schedule to post through the week, so keep on the lookout for those. 
My Beach Goal Met!
So here’s what I spent, rounded to the nearest dollar since I don’t have all my receipts on hand:
Two bottles of wine as gifts: $8
12-pack of Coors Light: $10
Two bags of Doritos: $4
Gas: $55 for entire trip minus 30 miles…so add in approximately $6 since I averaged about 21mpg to equal $61
Total: $83
I also found out that I should be getting back $7 or $8 from the $35 that I originally spent for my one night, since another person came and is staying for a couple nights. This would bring my overall estimate of $135 down to $110 or $111. Not too bad.
My Beach Goal
My goal is for this weekend at the beach to not cost me more than $100. I already paid my share for one night, $35, so I won’t count that. I should be able to get there and back on less than a tank and a half of gas…figure about $70. A couple bags of chips (less than $4 total), a couple bottles of wine (less than $7 total if I get that deal at Shoppers), a 12-pack of beer (less than $11?), and hopefully that’s it. Everything I’ll be eating I’ll bring in a cooler that I’m borrowing from B, and I already have it in my possession. I also have all the beach toiletries I need, too.
Crossing my fingers that I have a good time, don’t spend too much, and my car has NO problems at any point!
My Grocery Savings
Yesterday after work, I went to several places, saving money at every turn. First was the library. I returned six books and checked out another. Aside from the two books that I got with my Borders Reward bucks (costing me sixteen cents after adding seven chocolate balls to my purchase to make sure that I spent at least $15.00), I haven’t purchased a book since March at a Good Will and a book fair with super cheap books. Before this, I used to buy books constantly.
Then I made my way to three grocery stores. First I went to Shoppers and picked up three boxes of wine for $11.49 and ten cans of Chef Boyardee for $1/each. I go through one box of wine about monthly, depending upon how often my best friends come over and B comes over. B often pours me glasses to get me to relax because I think that he sees beer and wine as symbols of stress retreating. Anyway, I usually pay $14.99 for these, so I just saved myself $10.50 over the course of the next three months…maybe more than three months since my friends and I won’t be getting together for our weekly boxed wine day for the next two weeks (we also missed this week).
Then I went to Giant and picked up 30 Yoplait Light yogurts for 50 cents/each, a savings of 19 cents/each. There weren’t many varieties there because it was the last day of the sale, but that’s fine with me. Giant is also having a deal that when you buy six gallons of milk using your card (over whatever length of time), you’ll receive a coupon for a free gallon and I got that yesterday. Score! I also picked up two boxes of Kellogg’s cereal (Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes) for $5 total. Now I don’t need to buy cereal for a few months or longer. I picked up eight boxes of my favorite popcorn at 2/$4.00. I usually go through two boxes a month, so I’m set up for a long time.
Finally I went to Harris Teeter and picked up two bags of Doritos for the price of one. I’m taking these to the beach this weekend as part of my group contribution. I’m also going to bring a 12-pack of beer. I was considering bringing a case, but I know that I’ll probably have six or fewer beers on Saturday and I’m trying to keep this as cheap as possible. Which is difficult because I found out that we’re having a surprise party for two of my friends who are going. One of the birthday kids is my best friend, so I hadn’t decided what I was getting for her yet and wasn’t worrying about it. The other is the boyfriend of a friend of mine who I wouldn’t have gotten anything for under normal circumstances. I think I’ll just get them a bottle of wine each. Cheap, but I’m poor, so whatever. Those I’ll get today or tomorrow at Shoppers because they have a cool deal going on this week. Ten percent off when you buy at least six bottles of wine, plus a certain kind of wine is 3/$12. I figure I’ll pick up six bottles. Wine’s always good to have on hand or give as a gift in a pinch.
Anyway, that’s my saving money story of the week. I’m pretty sure that I won’t have to buy anymore groceries (except for what I’m getting tomorrow and some “female products”) until into September. *Crosses fingers*
Also, I’m still at 136! Yay!
My Vacation
I’m leaving for the beach on Sunday!!! Because of this I’ve saved a few posts that will appear on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week, so please come on by and have a good read. When I get back I’ll let you all know how 29 people survived in a 14 bedroom house for a week…especially since I just checked Weather.com and saw that scattered thunderstorms are predicted for EVERYDAY!!!! Ahh! I was planning on sweating off all my alcohol calories in the sun, but now I might have to actually work out in the tiny gym in the house…not drinking will not happen. 
If I don’t update after the vacation is over, you may assume that I drowned.
My Expenses, Expenses, Expenses
I realized the other day that I really have to start earmarking money for some upcoming expenses. I am way past due to have my oil changed, for example. I’m saving money by not taking it in, but I’m running the risk of much more costly expenses if I don’t, so I’ll use the $5 off coupon to Jiffy Lube from their website (instead of the $4 off coupon I received in the mail) this week or next. I realize that it’s probably much cheaper to change my oil myself, but I honestly don’t know how to do that, and I like going to Jiffy Lube and knowing that they’re looking at more than just my oil.
Along with cars, I’m going to have to pay for my car insurance in July or so. I pay the six-month lump sum up front so that I’m not charged an extra $4 a month. Last time, this total was around $371, but I’m expecting that to go up because of my accident.
I’m also planning some beach trips this summer. I’ll have one week in North Carolina at the end of July and one week in Ocean City, MD at the end of August. Both times I will have free lodging because they are family vacations; I’ll only have to pay for gas. I’d like to do a couple of day-trips, as well, where I’ll once again have to pay for gas, but not much else. I’d like to buy a couple of beach chairs, an umbrella, and a cooler, but I can borrow all of these from my parents, so I most likely won’t. Either way, the gas itself will be expensive, despite the 5% back I’ll be getting from it from my credit card.
The other major expense looming on my horizon depends on whether I move or not. That I won’t know until July, though.
I may start putting aside some money each month into my ING Direct Savings account to earmark all these travel expenses. The rest of my savings will continue to go in my Vanguard Prime Money Market account.
