While the boys are napping, I have some time to go through my purse and see where I stand. Last week I issued a challenge to my readers here and on hotcouponworld. Those who are doing it and starting to check in.

After one week, here’s where I stand–
I have only about $50 left out of my original $100. Ouch. Ok, at first glance, not doing so hot. Here’s where much of it went.
Farmers market-$15
Acme-$15
New shoes-$11
Zoo-$6

But, in addition to the cash I have left, I also have:
more than a half tank of gas
$21 in catalinas to spend at Superfresh
$15 gift card to Target
$40 in catalinas to spend at Acme
$38 in extra bucks to spend at CVS

And I’m owed $35 in rebates: three for $5 each from SC Johnson, $10 from Hydro, $10 from Aveeno. Hopefully they will get here before my other cash runs out.

I’ve used 5 stamps and haven’t touched the money in paypal.

So far I have actually really enjoyed this and am learning a lot. It’s really making me focus on every purchase that I make, and ask “Do we really need this or can I live without it?”  I’m also learning how much we spend on produce which is pretty amazing and focusing on not wasting produce. My kids are eating about $10 worth of bananas a week, which I hadn’t realized, and the baby would eat a pint of berries a day if you let him. Still, I’m not going to deprive them of healthier foods just to win a contest, so I’ll have to find it cheaper. I could have saved $5 at the market as I did not need the sticky buns or the fresh made bread. But I splurged on the stickies since it was my bday and the homemade bread made for some awesome tomato sandwiches.

The shoes–well, I actually broke my flip flop, and truth be told, I could have hobbled home that way with it. But I broke it at Peebles while I was there to pay my bill, and I had a 25% off coupon…….oh well, I don’t regret it. I got a very cool pair of born flip flips for only $11. The zoo was free since we have a membership, I just paid for the kids to ride the train. We’ve also been swimming which was free and to the New Garden playground when we went to the Farmers Market.

I also have several hundred dollars pending in focus groups, I’ve filled out several surveys online and had two phone interviews regarding participating in them, just waiting for the final call.

I’m also very proud of the fact that this week my husband was able to donate 484 separate items to the canned/non perishables drive at work. About 2/3 of that was from our already existing stockpile and the other third was purchased this week. So to be able to donate almost 500 things and only spend a few bucks, that’s great, and goes to help others down on their luck.

So that’s my first week of the contest. I’m definitely watching my spending more in the coming weeks and still have recreational things planned. Also, I’ll have to look at Giant deals so I can save on gas.

Happy couponing!