• $44 Costco
• $165 Meijer

What’s your grocery budget per person in your household? I’m having a very hard time getting a grip on a grocery budget and think that ours tends to inflate far beyond what is appropriate.

We did major grocery shopping yesterday (including spices, condiments, and baking ingredients which should last quite some time) and expect our purchases to last us until next payday.

Working in the food industry and talking with clients, they are anticipating an additional increase at the grocery store of 15% by the end of the year and are adjusting their budgets accordingly. I know out budget can’t take a 15% hit on groceries right now, so I’m trying to tighten things up. It’s bad enough that we don’t have the extra money for Pigeon Forge cabin rentals, but to not have enough for groceries is unacceptable and bad budgeting.

My husband and I went to the horse track last night with my parents (I know it was the second weekend in a row, but it is so much fun!) and I’m so surprised by the amount of fun we have for just a few bucks!

The local horse track is FREE to get in, snack food from concessions is cheap, and if you play the specials, you can bet on every race for $0.10 a race and still have a decent chance of winning a few bucks!

We started with $20 each last night, and my husband played all night with his money and I came out $90 ahead! I keep joking with my husband that I did so well betting on the ponies that I’m going to throw away my resume templates and become a bookie!

• $9 Target

Thanks to a Target gift card, I bought my sister a birthday present, new pillows for the couch, cleaning supplies, and replaced my Nike Plus iPod attachment for a whopping $9!

I also stopped by the jeweler to replace the back to my diamond earrings, and the sales person gave me a new back for free and cleaned my rings.

It was a good day.

Haven’t had one of these days in a while, so it feels really good to have two in a row.

• $0

We’ve also accumulated quite a few gift cards in the past week from various sources, so I’m excited that they will leave a little extra wiggle room in this month’s budget.

• $50 BP
• $50 Target
• $15 Meijer
• $100 Visa gift card

I spent a good amount of my free time blogging, recruiting new readers, and making those new readers feel welcome and comfortable enough to join in the fun. A great way to engage my readers is through Zookoda, an email marketing tool that lets me contact my readers and update them on special blog posts, blog contests, or anything going on in my little slice of the web.

I organize a lot of email campaigns for work, but none that are as user friendly and fun to use as Zookoda. Zookoda lets me generate simple subscription forms for my readers to join in the fun and a button to display the number of current subscribers which is handy since the more people that are on your list, the more new readers will be compelled to sign up!

Once I have subscribers, I can start designing campaigns and scheduling broadcasts that have the same look and feel as my blog and send them directly to my reader’s inbox. I can then immediately begin analyzin results by accessing reports that let me know who read my emails, which addresses are good and which are bad, and lists of new subscribers.

The best part about Zookoda is that it is free to bloggers. There are no monthly fees or contracts to sign like other emarketing programs (I won’t name any names, but you all know who you are!). It’s a truly grass-roots approach to increasing my blog readership and building a relationship with my audience.

Zookoda falls under the IZEA family of blogging related companies, and as with every program they design, the functionality is top notch allowing bloggers new tools and resources on a grand scale.

Are you getting a tax return this year? Is it a couple hundred dollars? A few thousand dollars? How about taking a tiny bit of that money, and doing something good with it!

My friend, Laurie, is walking in the Dallas Breast Cancer 3-Day this year, and her team, 60 Miles or BUST, has a set a $3,000 goal and are almost half way there. Laurie is doing everything from baking cupcakes to giving away Save the Ta-Tas t-shirts, so make sure to visit her team blog for the latest on fundraising and training, and donate to her team goal.

The IRS reports that the average tax return jumped $200 this year to $2,436. Would you miss 1% of your return? Probably not. Would it help 60 Miles or Bust reach their $3,000 goal? You bet!

If you donate to Laurie’s walk, make sure to leave a comment here, and I’ll match the first $100 in donations!

I love a company that has a great product and a sense of humor.

Big Ass Fans makes some of the largest Industrial Fans you’ll ever find. They come six to twenty four feet in diameter and can move insane amounts of air over large areas like warehouses, convention centers, and zoos thanks to their sheer size, not speed.

Big Ass Fans not only keep the air cool in the summer and warm in the winter, they improve airflow to control condensation, and use minimal energy to keep electric bills in check.