It's moving day!

I've decided to move to Wordpress. It's been fun here and I will miss my pretty colors, but it's time for a change and what better way to begin than with a fresh new template with a new host. I finally took the plunge and bought my domain so here it is: http://www.startingtosave.com

Hope to see you there!

Earth Day Freebies!

Well if you haven't gotten on the band wagon in terms of getting reusable grocery bags yet, here's your chance! The following are all different places where you can get yourself a reusable grocery or shopping tote, as well as a reusable lunch bag (I didn't even know those existed!). Most of these come from Money Saving Mom, if it's from someone else I'll let you know.

Whole Foods has a coupon for a Free Reusable Lunch Bag as an extra perk for Oprah viewers (and isn't everybody?)

If you bring in 3 empty plastic bottles to the Disney Store on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, they will give you a free gift (a shopping tote). Go here for details.

Go here to find out where you can print out a coupon for Walgreens to get yet another free tote . Not to mention an additional 15% to 20% off eligible items in the store. Not a bad deal. I think I'll be taking advantage of this one myself.

This one is mine: Check out your Albertson's flyer this week and there might be a coupon for a free reusable tote in it. Plus this one is good from 4/13-5/31, so if you get tired of or don't feel like running all over town picking up free totes, you can get this one on another day!

Here's another one you don't have to run right out for. Go here to find out where you can print a coupon for a FAR (Free After Rebate) package of their new 100% recycled Reynolds Wrap foil. You can take advantage of this rebate if you purchase anytime from now until May 4th, but you need to print out the form today!!!

That's all I see so far. If I see any more I will be sure to pass them along. Who knows maybe you will be able to take advantage of it if you see it in time :)

Random Blog Sightings

I've recently decided that even though my blog is far from well viewed, there are many among my few followers that don't take the time to scour the blogosphere like I do and may miss some more important postings. In this spirit I'm going to take part in a practice that many other bloggers have and share some things I've come across in my searching.

The first of what I'm sure will be many worthwhile shared posts comes to us today from Money Saving Mom

Here she asks her readers about still being frugal while attempting to address food allergies. I know some of my readers have this issue, so I thought I would pass it along.

Enjoy!

Toys R' Us Easter Party!

This Saturday from 12-2 pm Toys R' Us is hosting an Easter Party!

Head on over to Good Deal Gal to find out all about it! Or as much about it as anyone knows ;)

Making up for lost time

Well I'm well enough to start shopping again, but it's taking a lot out of me, so no pictures yet.

I went to King Soopers at the tail end of last week's sale (as I seem to do most often) to take advantage of the Quaker deal. Since Last week was spring break and I'm not crazy enough to try to take my 3 kids shopping (especially when sick), I had to wait for school to start up again.

I was sitting on a ton of Quaker coupons but you could only do 4 at a time so it took 4 transactions.

#1.
4 boxes Cap'n Crunch (2 berries, 1 without, 1 peanut butter) - used 4 $.50/1 coupons (doubled) 4/$10 less $4 if you buy 4
2 Kroger Cottage Cheese $1 each
3 Kraft Shredded Cheese (2 mozzarella, 1 cheddar) 3/$5
2 3 lb bags Red Delicious apples $2.99 each

Total Spent: $15.77
Total Saved: $16.65 or 52%!

#2.
3 Quaker True Delights bars - used 3 $1/1 coupons
1 Quaker Fiber + Omega 3 bar
total for these 4/$10 less $4 if you buy 4
1 Eggland eggs $2 each
1 3 Musketeer Minis $3.39 (had a .50/1 coupon but forgot it)
1 10 lb potatoes $3.99
1 tub Country Crock Calcium Margarine $2.49
2.46 lb bananas .69 lb

Total Spent: $17.45
Total Saved: $12.56 or 43%!

#3.
4 boxes Quaker Life (3 regular, 1 maple brown sugar) - used 2 $1/2 coupons
4/$10 less $4 if you buy 4

The checker also let me use the missing .50/1 coupon from before (doubled)

Total Spent: $3.36
Total Saved: $ 8.76 or 74%!

#4.
4 boxes Quaker Life (3 regular, 1 maple brown sugar) - used 2 $1/2 coupons
4/$10 less $4 if you buy 4

Total Spent: $4.38
Total Saved: $7.76 or 65%!


Grand Total Spent: $40.96
Grand Total Saved: $45.73

It's always nice to come out ahead :)

Check out the latest deals and matches AND Mr. Linky at Let's Go Krogering on The New Frugal Mom!

Culinary Catastrophes - Bubble Pizza

It's time for another attempt to create something new for me in the kitchen and to see what I end up with.

Today I'm making Bubble Pizza. Of course, this wouldn't be my blog if I had all the necessary ingredients, my kids were willing to eat the ingredients or some part of me didn't interfere with the step by step procedure. With that in mind, here we go...

I started out with refrigerated grands biscuits (as opposed to the frozen package in the recipe). They also happened to be butter flavored, so I'm not quite sure what that will do to the flavor. Has anyone ever ordered buttered pizza before?

I also opted not to cut up the biscuits into quarters because, honestly I couldn't figure out why I should use an entire jar of pizza sauce when I had no toppings whatsoever (at least available to me right now). I placed the biscuits in rows of 2 and there was enough room in the baking dish for all 8 of them. I pushed down the center of each one to create a little grove for the sauce and ladled a spoonful or so of sauce into each one, smoothing it out.


I was going to try to take pictures , but I forgot so this is a few minutes into the oven.



I put them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes (the package says 13-17) and then removed them to add the mozzarella cheese (I had the right cheese this time) sprinkled on top and then put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes.




So basically I have made fairly elaborate mini pizzas. Just sauce and cheese and nothing else. Beats English muffins in a toaster oven I guess. My prediction is that these will be a big hit as with no toppings my kids haven't met a pizza they didn't like LOVE. If something goes wrong I'll be sure to let you all know, otherwise tune in next week for another round of...




edit:I was right, my kids LOVED these! And having the biscuits butter flavored added a nice contrast to the tang of the sauce. I will definitely be making these again soon!

Saving my sanity at the dinner table (fully made dinners)

Well I'm coming off at least I hope I am an entire month of a flu-like-plague, or is it a plague-like-flu. As a result, even though I am well stocked with boxed meals and frozen meats, after this last week, which included a relapse of this bug, not to mention spring break, I don't have really anything complete to cook for dinner.

I'm working on making some more organized menus, but in the meantime, this is what I "made" tonight for dinner.

Betty Crocker - Roasted Garlic Potatoes
Green giant Steamers - Cheesy Rice and Broccoli
Fast Fixins - Popcorn Chicken

Believe it or not, it was a more complete dinner than usual, and it was a big hit! Maybe I'll be able to put more real meals together more often, in time, but for now, it's nice to know that my stockpile allows for an entire meal that feeds all 5 of us.

My boys are back in school this week, so I hope to replenish the things that allow me to turn my meat into a meal. Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll have another Culinary Catastrophe soon enough!

Culinary Catastrophes - Revisited

Well tonight I finally served the Mini Meat Loaf and Glazed Baby Carrots from my first escapade. I'm sorry to say that my efforts to steam the carrots resulted in over/undercooked (if that's possible) and on my second 2 minutes of cooking I actually exploded one half of the bag! Good thing it was on its side or that would have been messy. The mini meat loaves, however defrosted quickly in hot water in their bags and 2 minutes later in the microwave I had a meal ready.

Verdict: 4 out of 5 members of my family LOVED the meat loaf, 3 out of 5 loved the carrots, but I think that's my fault so I will definately be trying that again.

Stay tuned for my next round of...

One bad banana...

Spoils the whole bunch...or so I hear.

I promise this isn't becoming a food blog. I don't know nearly enough about it to make it my focus, but I have recently decided that I read way more blogs than any sane person would ever consider, and so I am going to start sharing info that my limited readership might be interested in that they wouldn't normally read elsewhere.

With that in mind...I read today over at Carrie's Cooking a great tip for extending the life of your bananas. Check it out. I always seem to be walking the tightrope between running out of banana's too fast or rationing them into the point where they brown. I'll take any help I can get!

Culinary Catastrophes...the results show

Well, as a result of not freezing but leaving the Lasagna Rolls in the fridge, I ended up with very tough edges BUT I beat my 4 out of 5 family members objective. EVERYONE LOVED IT! My picky 5 year old ate the entire thing and my husband informed me that I should be making this "more often, say once a week or more" ;) I guess we have one more item to add to the "my family will eat it" category. Whoohoo! Thanks New Frugal Mom!

I'll be sure to let you know how the rest of the meals end up working out just as soon as we eat them!

Culinary Catastrophes

I was thinking that in my ongoing efforts to try to find better ideas of what to cook, that I would chronicle my journey. Remember this is not the blog of an expert but rather a first timer who was never very good at saving, spending less, making real meals, etc. Might as well share it all. Who knows, maybe I'll manage to make a eatable if not somewhat tasty dish that 4 out of 5 members of my family (at least) will be willing to eat. Or, maybe I'll just add some "sure glad that's not me" stories that can make you feel better about your cooking. Here goes nothing...

I have started this series by attempting to make New Frugal Mom's Double Duty Dinner Lasagna Rolls and Mini Meat Loaf.

First off I should tell you that I have never made Lasagna other than Stouffer's before and as such I didn't even know the correct size pot to use to cook the noodles! I started with a pot large enough for my standard "Not quite Spaghetti" dinner, (not quite, because my 5 year old son refuses to eat actual spaghetti noodles so we alternate whatever random shapes he picks and add spaghetti sauce). I started the water boiling, put 3 noodles in and waited somewhat impatiently for them to soften enough to sink into the pot. After a good 30 seconds, it became clear to me that this was going to be an exercise in futility. I moved the (by this time) 5 noodles to a large stock pot along with the already boiling water. Add some more water to make up the difference in volume and another 3 noodles and I was finally ready to start the timer on the suggested 12 minutes for the lasagna noodles.

By this time I had already mushed up the meat loaf mixture. I'm not sure what cheese is typically added to meat loaf (as I have never been much of a fan and thus never made that before either), and the ingredients listed simply stated Sargento Cheese. Of course had I bothered to look at the detailed picture included on the site I might have noticed it was a mozzarella and provolone cheese mixture, but alas I did not and the result was the use of shredded cheddar cheese instead (because when I finally got ready to make this, it was all I had).

I mixed up the meatloaf and pushed it into my new silicon muffin tin. By this time, my poor lasagna noodles were ready (I hoped). Again having never used them, I made a beyond foolish not even rookie mistake. I pulled out a pair of tongs and promptly tore the corner off one noodle. It was then that I remembered that the directions stated to rinse them in cold water "to prevent them sticking" Now please understand that I make pasta on a fairly regular basis (see above) but whenever I undertake a new recipe I tend to get flustered and fail to use common sense, and this was two meals at once! At any rate I picked up the pot and strained the remaining noodles under cold water, leaving them in the sink.

It should be noted that as I had prepackaged food saver bags of 1 lb of ground beef, that I opted to use only 1 lb of ground beef as opposed to the 1.71 lbs or I assume roughly 1 3/4 worth that was listed in the ingredients list. I had already opted out of the onions and peppers so I used the 1/4 lb of ground beef left over from the amount needed for the meatloaf and fried it up in a pan. After frying it up I added the sauce and cheese (again Cheddar) and mixed it all together for the Lasagna Rolls.

I took the meatloaf out of the oven and let it cool on the stove, pulled out a cutting board for the lasagna noodles and ladled it with no where NEAR 3 tablespoons of the meat, sauce and cheese mixture. At this point the lack of mozzarella cheese became impossible to ignore, but being a cheese obsessed household we have a steady supply of string cheese. I used two sticks to painstakingly string tiny strands of cheese to cover my six (not 8) rolls, some of which definitely have more meat in the meat sauce than others.

I rolled up the lasagna noodles, made up some more sauce (sans meat) and ladled some of that onto the top of the rolls. Then I took the remaining half of a string cheese and used it to cover in strips the top of the rolls. I put the dish covered with foil in the oven, along with the meatloaf tin. I'm not sure just how much grease should have been associated with the meatloaf cups but in an effort to fully cook the meat I stuck it in for 3 of the lasagna's 20 minutes.

I took the meatloaf tin out and let it cool, eventually placing the cups on a paper towel in an effort to soak up some more of the grease. After removing all the grease I could, I placed them all in a food saver bag, making sure to separate them slightly. I sucked out most of the air and hit the force seal button when it became apparent that the grease was encroaching on the top of the bag, thereby preventing any sealing from taking place.

Meanwhile I took out a 1 lb bag of baby carrots, poured half into a food saver bag and added the brown sugar, butter (in this case margarine) and cinnamon. I sealed that bag without sucking the air out (as I hope this is what you do in order to steam it in the bag), and took the lasagna rolls out to cool. It could be the minimal cheese and could be the missing two rolls but whatever the reason they look nothing like the picture on the site.

I didn't have time to make the Twice Baked Potatoes.

This entire process took New Frugal Mom less than an hour. Me? I came in at just under two hours! On top of that, since I am freezing this for dinner another time, I don't even know how good it's going to taste! But, I'm finally finished with the beginning process. Technically all I have to do when I'm ready to eat it, is put them in the microwave, so I shouldn't be able to mess that up, but we'll see ;)

I'll check back in to let you know how it ends up tasting!

Saving my sanity at the dinner table.

As I have mentioned before I have been following some cooking sites in the hopes that I can add some easy things to the dinner menu that my kids will actually eat!

Recently I came upon a few other recipe and cooking sites that have led me to even more. I started out building up a stockpile, but the plan has grown to building up stores as well. After checking out a guest post on $5 Dinners by Once a Month Mom I was led to another site FSME or "Food Storage Made Easy".

I sit here with my freezers and fridge bursting at the seams and yet I still struggle to figure out what to make for dinner that night. I'm still sitting on two frozen turkeys and boy do they take up space! I looked at OAMC but what would be the point with no room to freeze anything? Thanks to the Once a Month Mom, I now have list of 10 tips for organizing your freezer. Then I can go to the FSME site and follow the baby steps training to organizing my food storage and then back to OAMM and I can start setting up dinner to be ready whenever I need it.

I'm sure that having a food storage is designed to be saved and not eaten until the SHTF (**** hits the fan) but being able to organize it allows for me to be more organized with the food I do plan to eat. The thing is, the world doesn't have to come to an end for a food storage to be useful. With everyone out there feeling the pinch financially or having lost their jobs entirely, not having to buy groceries for awhile, could be a big help. On the other hand making dinners to freeze for later is sure to make for an easier time when it comes to dinner as well.

All that's left is for me to get the kids to eat it ;)

If cooking a month all at once is too big a first step, check out this Double Duty Dinners post over at The New Frugal Mom. Most often I can't get my kids to eat what most other creative dinners people come up with, but I think I may be able to have success with this one.

Wish me luck!

Super Savings Saturday

Well it's been awhile since I first got sick and I am just now coming out of it (I hope). I managed to get some good deals over the course of the week. No pictures this time but I do want to share the totals.

Albertsons: My store's deals are Wed-Tues. I went once on Tues and once on Fri
Tues-
Spent: $58.05
Saved: $58.47

Fri-
Spent: $35.91
Saved: $44.43

King Soopers: I went once for the old deals on Tues
Spent: $26.92
Saved: $12.81

Walgreens: Two and a half transactions for this one.

First:
5 Huggies wipes at $6 each
5 $5 off coupons
Total spent $5.43
Saved: $31.95
plus $10 RR printed out

Second total Spent: 32.73 after $10 RR used
Saved: $28.20

This included 3 Sambucol items for $13.99 with a $4 IP $10 Easy Saver coupon, but I forgot the $10 one so the above total should have been $1.95 spent. I later went back and they gave me the $32 difference back. I bought a set of gloves for $3.99 and received $28.25 back.

Not the greatest amount in the spent categories but as I said, I've been sick and I had to make up for some of the things I needed and hadn't bought earlier.

Want to see other great savings?? Visit MoneySavingMom

You learn something new every day.

I live in a place populated with just about every major chain of stores I can think of. Safeway, Kroger (King Soopers), Albertsons, Super Walmart, Super Target and Kmart (they removed all the Supers). But of the 3 major grocery stores, I was under the impression that only King Soopers doubled coupons and even then, only .50 or below. Then I discovered that Safeway not only doubled .50 and below coupons, but they also double anything else above .50 up to a total of $1 or .99 I never paid that much attention. I thought that was unique in my area, until I discovered by a fluke that King Soopers does the doubling up to $1 as well! This opens my options considerably, especially since King Soopers is much closer to me than Safeway.

I don't know if it's always been this way with my grocery stores, but according to
grocerycouponguide coupon policies seem to be changing across many stores all over. What about you? Have you noticed any coupon policy changes?

Get paid to buy Pillsbury rolls!

Not a bad deal. This month I have tried not to go shopping unless the stores were paying me to and I have done fairly well. Looks like I'm going to have to go to King Soopers this week and get paid to buy some more Pillsbury rolls. My poor fridge is sagging from the weight of all of the ones I bought back when Albertsons was quadrupling .25 coupons. Of course having Pillsbury rolls already baked at all times isn't necessarily a bad thing. I also found a recipe for Bubble Pizza Thanks to Shop Smart in Vegas for the link.

Mmmm Yummy! So if you are anxious to know how to get this deal to work for yourself so you can find cool things to do with your rolls, check out I am a Money Magnet for a complete break down. Then look around as she shows you some great ways she made this deal work!

edit: I discovered when I went today that the 10/$10 deal is for the mini containers of cinnamon rolls. I didn't find any when I went out last time but I will look if I make it that way again.

The beauty of a blogroll.

So I was scanning through a few of my lesser read blogs in an effort to catch up and I found myself on a blogroll chain. I bounced from one blogger to a blogger in their roll to one in their roll and so on. I found myself at a very entertaining blog called Taking what is left. She had a link to the Typealyzer. This site will analyze your blog and give it a version of the Meyers-Briggs test. How cool is that?

Looks like mine is:

ESTP - The Doers



The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.









Well I guess if you take out the outdoorsy portion, that's pretty much my blog. I definitely get more steam out of starting a project than finishing it, as evidenced by the ugly gaps in posting here, but I'm working on it :)

What about you? How does your blog score?

Kmart doubles $2 coupons

For those of you who haven't received this information somewhere else, Kmart is doubling coupons up to and including $2 coupons. I went yesterday bought $60 worth and spent $20. Go here and here to see detailed breakdowns of how other people did and coupon matchups.

Make sure you print out your $5 off $50 coupon first!

Lots of BOGO or FREE food!

Ok lets start with the FREE stuff first.

Wendy's Free $1 menu item

Texas Roadhouse Free appetizer

Chilis Free chips and queso

And now the BOGO deal

Denny's B1G1 coupons

Finally

B1G3 Free Zone Perfect

all of these brought to you by
Money Saving Mom

They like me they really like me!

I got a blog award! How cool is that? Thanks so much Marianne for letting me know you like what you've been reading!



Here are the rules for the Honest Scrap Award:

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Show the winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” There’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

1. I have 3 children, at least 2 of whom have special needs
2. In the 10 years I have been married I have only lived in one place longer than 2 years and no we are not in the military.
3. Most of my current friends have never seen my natural hair color.
4. My closest family member resides more than 900 miles away.
5. All of my female friends living near me are teachers.
6. I am not a techie but I surround myself with them.
7. I have only been actively saving money and using coupons for a little over 8 months
8. My favorite color is purple
9. I am not a terrible cook but not a terribly inventive one either
10. 3 out of the 5 members of my family all have birthdays in July

Not the best list but it's my first time filling one of these out.

And now it's my turn to share the love!

1. Money Saving Mom
2. Moms Need To Know
3. Chief Family Officer
4. Playgroups are no place for children
5. If only I had Super Powers
6. List Mama
7. Common Sense with Money

For those of you who have never heard of me before, I've been watching you and I really enjoy reading your blog! Hopefully I'll be able to comment more often (or at all) from now on.

Even easier than "Easy"

Contrary to my recent posts about baked goods, I am far from a consummate chef. My all time favorite book is one called Help my apartment has a kitchen!. Recipes are listed in order of very easy, easy and not so easy. Their Teriyaki Chicken is a favorite in our house, even loved by my beyond picky 5 year old! Problem is, for someone one like me it's still a bit of work, you have to use up a big bowl large enough to hold the chicken and mix all the ingredients together and then find room in your fridge for such a bowl for 2 hours or more!

I just stumbled onto this site Dinnersonme on my never ending search for ideas to cook for my family. I haven't looked through it very long, because on the first page I saw there was a link for teriyaki chicken. Unbelievable! 4 ingredients, put them all in a bag with the chicken and let it sit. NO DISHES! I can't wait to try it.

What about you? Do you have any really simple recipes you swear by? I'm always looking for other ideas.

Kashi Secret Contest

I don't know how many of you have already signed up for Kashi through one of their promotions, but if you go log in you get entered in a contest for a years supply of Kashi products! I went to go get this Free Kashi frozen entree that I found on MNTK. Sadly most of the time if you are already a member these promotions do not apply though. I decided to try anyway (as I always do) and this time the free entree is for everyone! On top of that if you register with them or log in as a member you are entered in the contest I mentioned. What a great deal!

When I say this is a secret contest, it's possible that they mentioned it in my email but since I get sooo much email in my folder I may have missed it.

Pampers users

I'm a Huggies girl myself, I don't have any little ones in actual diapers and I'm not a fan of Easy Ups, but for those of you who do use Pampers here's a great way to get an extra $1.50 coupon.

When good couponers go bad!

My stockpile is overflowing! I should be able to go without buying even milk, eggs or bread for some time. I still need to build up my chicken and beef stores but if I HAD to go without buying anything I could do it...I think.

Unfortunately during my newbie days I went coupon crazy! I bought everything that was 75% or less with the benefit of a coupon, and if I could buy it for free, you'd better BELIEVE I bought that too! When I looked on the bags of free things, it was easy to forget about little details like expiration dates and to worry that these oppertunities might never present themselves again. As a result I hoarded most of my items and now they are useless.

Below is just a few of the items I have had to throw away.



I have reorganized my stores and placed them in expiration date order. I am using up the items whenever and wherever I can, and I am going to have faith that the deals will be around again.

Cool stuff to find out about!

Forgive this Shameless plug for one of my favorite blogger sites *blush*

You've got to check out MNTK (otherwise known as Moms Need To Know).

Over the last few weeks I have gone stockpile CRAZY! I bought and froze a ton of grapes, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries! I found an article on MNTK talking about how she feeds her family on only $50 a week (be sure to check out all of this series). Part of this article links to a post on how to freeze just about anything and I kinda went overboard. The most important thing I froze was the blueberries. I have a child with food dye allergies and you'd be surprised how hard it can be to find blueberry muffin mix that doesn't have red dye added to make the blueberries look more purple! Nothing like that natural look to require unnatural dye. So I looked up some blueberry muffin recipes and when blueberries were .88 cents at Safeway a few weeks back I bought like 5 packages! I froze them using eHow.com.

The problem with baking any muffins, packaged mixes or homemade, in my house at least, is a case of hardware not working very well. My "nonstick" muffin tins quite frankly aren't and I have yet to produce anything in them that doesn't stick to the bottom or even worse burn! MNTK to the rescue again! Yesterday she shared with us how you can get FREE easybakeware products. I don't know if these are the infomercial style or not but they are guaranteed to work with a 60 day money back guarantee. PLUS since they are free all you really risk is shipping cost which is $7.95 standard or $1 if you sign up for a free trial of a service. You can get more than one item off the site too. Standard orders above $25 are free shipping, and they will take the most expensive item in your cart and make that one FREE.

I started off with 3 products, the muffin tins, some spoonulas (which I love) and some cool looking collapsible measuring cups. My total was 27 something aka free shipping, but I realized that I was trying not to buy things I don't need and after a quick web search, I found that spoonulas can go for as little as $14.95 considerably cheaper than easybakeware's price of $29.95 (which BTW was my most expensive item). In the end I restrained myself, bought my 1 item, my muffin tins, and signed up to get the $1 shipping. A word of caution, write down the number for the trial company (as MNTK urges) because at least for me, the email went into my spam and I almost didn't find it. Calling and cancelling is simple (I LOVE these kinds of companies). They know most of us don't really want the service so their first prompt is a cancellation option. You push the button a couple times and you are done. It takes 24 hours though so don't wait until the 6th day to cancel or you may find yourself with a bill!

The benefits of a stockpile (revisited)

In an effort to prevent the wastefulness of my earlier couponing days, I am actually using the items I buy. Imagine that, actually taking the things out of their neat little pile and putting them to good use!

To make sure that my Pillsbury crescent and grands rolls don't go bad I am baking them and using them as an addition to snacks and part of dinner. To appease my generous husband who gave me a kitchen aid mixer for Christmas, I am having cookies or brownies in the house most, if not all of the time. And to make sure that the countless boxes and pouches of Betty Crocker Potato mix doesn't go to waste I am having a side more often than not in my nightly dinners.

Perhaps this is nothing unusual to most of you, but for me it has produced enormous benefits! As a result of always having treats ready and that I am willing to give out, my 5 year old, who would rather starve than eat anything new, has been trying more of my dinners! You would be amazed just how much of a motivator a home made (or even store bought specialty) cookie can inspire a finicky eater. On top of that, my ability to make dinners that are eaten by my entire family has removed a level of stress that has been in our house since I can't remember when.

I can't wait to see what other benefits I can discover!

It never hurts to ask.

So I have been missing out on most of the good deals Safeway has had lately. Due to the fact that I am more than 12 miles away from any Safeway, my post office has neglected to include their flyer in my collection. I am in the area once a week so if I know the deals to get, I can take advantage of them. I can get a basic idea from MNTK but with a different name in a different state, the produce items don't always line up. On top of that, if you are in possession of a print flyer for any Walmart competitor (and let's face it, with all they sell who isn't) they will match your deal in their store! I can't say enough about this deal and even with all the issues I've had with Walmart, this particular benefit gets me in their store a whole lot more!

But I digress. At any rate, I called Safeway's customer service line and asked them if they could send me a weekly insert. They took my address and that was it, in 2-3 weeks I will once again be able to partake in the deals from the store that used to be my favorite, before I moved to the land of SUPERS. After all with, now FIVE stores to choose from, all of which hosting their own bakery...you still can't beat Safeway's French Bread (and now I find out they even slice it to your desired thickness)!

Who knows, maybe once I get my inserts I will be inspired to do my own grocery deals again, like I did in my last town.

Super Savings Saturday...(a bit late)

First I went to King Soopers


Total spent : 86.63
Total saved $121.77 or 59%


Then I went to Walmart to take advantage of cheap deli meat prices and some free items.

4 Oscar Mayer deli meat packages 2 each Roast Beef and Honey Ham $2.50 each down from $3
1 package sliced swiss cheese $2.42
1 package hot dog buns $1
1 bag of oranges (8 lbs) $3.98 (down from $6.98)
1 bunch of bananas .48
2 Cucumbers .68 each
1 bag Russel Stover Sugar Free turtles $1.50 (used $1.50/1 coupon to make it FREE)
2 J&J buddies soaps $.97 each (used $2/2 coupon to make both FREE)

Total spent: $21.02
Walmart doesn't break down your savings like the rest, but with the WAY cheap bananas, oranges, deli meat and the free items I'm pleased.


Finally I went to Target for almost free Kashi bars and WAY cheap milk.




2 Gallons of 1% milk $2.49 each
4 Kellogg's Fiber Plus bars $1.88 each (used 4 $.75/1 coupons)
1 Kashi Soft Fruit bars $2.67 (used a $2/1 coupon)

At this point I discovered that my cashier had a VERY strict interpretation of the word "purchase". This has been my first time that I had actually experienced this objection and I almost forgot the proper response. Which is btw..."an item is a purchase...the collection of items all at once is a transaction, so as long as you only use one coupon per item it's still fine." Unfortunately I got myself a cashier that told me that "we" (I assume target) consider them the same thing. Ok so 3 more individual transactions of .85 later (1 Kashi bar $2.75 less $2/1 coupon) .

Total over all transactions: $18.38
Total saved (according to Target): $15.60


Saturday I made another stop at Albertsons to take advantage of the deals I didn't already get here.



2 French bread $1 each
8 Honey Bunches of Oats cereal $2 each (used $1/2 coupon, less .50 each for Big 10 Deal)
4 Boxes of Wheat Thins $2 each(used $2/2 coupon, less .50 each for Big 10 Deal)
3 Boxes of Ritz
AND
1 Box of Triscuits $2 each (used $2/2 coupon, less .50 each for Big 10 Deal)
4 SoBe Life Water $1 each (less .50 each for Big 10 Deal)
2 Dark Chocolate Chex mix $1 (used 2 $.50/1 coupon doubled)

Total Spent: $25.39
Total Saved: $57.38!


Topped it all off with a quick stop at Walgreens:

2 Reynolds Wrap Foil .89 each (used 1 $1/1 coupon...the other was returned to me)
6 Special Dark Hershey's Bars BOGO (used 3 BOGO coupons to get em all FREE)

Total Spent: $.85
It could have been less apparently, because they took the whole $1 value off the .89 foil. I wasn't able to use the last coupon because it would have had them giving me cash!

What I have learned...Awareness

Well it just goes to show no matter how much you think you know there is always more to learn. And so we begin another rousing installment of What have I learned.

1. Read the fine print. And by fine print, what I really mean is, read the small print, on the top, bottom or side of every single product. Otherwise known as the expiration date. Don't count on the store to be responsible for this. It's a big store, and I don't know who's job it is to check each and every item, but I have yet to find a store that has never slipped up.

Today I went to take advantage of the Albertsons coupon deals. I checked all the Pillsbury crescent rolls, grands and sweet rolls because in my zeal to keep my stockpile as full as possible, I have discovered a tendency to hoard as well, which I will get into later. I conducted an exhausting search to confirm all my items had the farthest expiration date I can find. I made a point to check the date on all of the Pillsbury products, but for some reason I neglected to check the rest of the items. So I get home and take my picture of my groceries and then begin the process of figuring out where everything is going to go and I discover that not one but all eight of my cans of frozen apple juice expired over 2 weeks ago!

When I run a deal in a store it takes a ton of planning, probably more than most sane people and probably more than my fellow couponers do. I run the sales, collect the coupons, make my list and then walk into the store (usually with my 2 year old). It takes forever to get through one store and I usually hit 2 or three in a day. Still, for all the time it takes me, apparently, I am still not taking the time I need to in the store. So now I need to make a point to check every single product for the expiration date, I'm sure I will miss some eventually, but with any luck the ones I forget to check won't be expired! Of course, this leads me to the next thing I have learned...

2. Stockpiling is not hoarding. As of right now I believe I have multiple packages of cookies,
more Pillsbury bread products, yogurt, cereal bars and who knows what else, ALL EXPIRED! As a result of all the deals I came across when I first started saving, I have a large number of various snack foods. Since I would normally not have bought them due to price, I opted to save them rather than add them to the normal rotation of foods and eat them along with everything else. As a result, I find myself with a pantry full of food and none of it eatable. Looks like I need to find a way to trust that I will be able to replace the food I use, otherwise free or not it's not worth getting it if it goes to waste.

3. Being a coupon snob isn't always beneficial. In my zeal to take advantage of free or better than free products from the beginning of my savings journey, I have developed a bit of an arrogance when it comes to paying more than the best price I have found. For instance, every month or so Albertsons seems to have milk for the equivalent of $2 a gallon. I buy the maximum I can each time and freeze the excess, hoping to have it get me over to the next sale period. Of course, freezing milk has it's own complications as I learned here. However, I find that my unwillingness to pay for milk until absolutely necessary if it's above my predetermined price is costing me more money and hassle over all. Turns out you have to be flexible and willing to pay a bit more than you'd like sometimes, because let me tell you, running out of milk in a house with three kids sucks!

4. Count your chickens...or in this case your items. Anyone who brings a 2 year old to the store knows you run the risk of having extra purchases tacked onto your bill. Last week I discovered to my dismay that my single box of Yogos fruit snacks had multiplied into 2 extra boxes, courtesy of my "helpful" daughter. Add that to the fact that my last King Soopers run had me buying an extra can of soup, an extra box of cereal bars and an extra cream cheese ALL without coupons. Some of these were items I'd forgotten to put back when my coupon went missing and some of them were due to a miscount in my cart scanning that I do before I check out. This is where being aware is really critical. I'm not entirely sure, yet how I plan to prevent this from happening in the future, as I tend to over fill my cart and can't always see every item, but once I figure out a way I'll be sure to share that with you all!

And that's it for this installment of What I have learned. What have you all learned in your efforts to be more frugal? Any cautionary tales for the rest of us? I'd love to hear them.

Swimming in soup and other deals.

What you are looking at is 37 cans of various flavors/brands of Campbell's soup.


I used 19 .50/2 coupons 6 each for Campbell's Select, Chunky Healthy Request, and Select Healthy Request, along with 1 Chunky soup.


Now for the rest of my shopping trip.


5 packages of strawberries $.99 each
6 powerade zero bottles $1 each (was supposed to use .40/1 coupons but forgot.
2 SOBE Life Water $1 each (less .50 after Mega deal)
1 Brick of Tillamook Cheddar $18.99 (nobody but King Soopers carries them)
2 Mountain High Yogurt $2.50 each (used 2 .50/1 coupons doubled)
1 Green Valley Steamers $1.59 each (less .50 after Mega deal, used .50/1 coupon doubled)
5 Fiber One bars $2.69 each (.50 less after Mega deal, used 4 .50/1 coupons doubled...lost one)
2 Nature Valley bars $2.69 each (.50 less after Mega deal, used $1/2 coupon)
2 Betty Crocker cookie mix $2.39 (used .40/1 coupons doubled)
4 Martha White muffin mix $1 each (used $1/4 coupon)


Total spent for contents of both pictures: 86.63
Total saved $121.77 or 59%

Now I just need to learn how to freeze strawberries so they are eatable when defrosted.

Check out the latest deals and matches AND Mr. Linky at Let's Go Krogering on The New Frugal Mom!

Albertsons unbelievable deals part 1

Albertsons is doubling (and more) coupons again!!! From 1/27 through 2/3

.50 and below doubled
.33 and below tripled
AND
.25 and below QUADRUPLED!!!

I plan to share in detail the deals I hope to accomplish but after spending way too much time getting ready for this. In the meantime check out this post by Hot Coupon World listing the majority, if not all of the .25 coupons that are left available from various places, inserts, peelies etc.

So many deals so little time...

King Soopers shopping trip 1/18/09

12 Cans Campbell's Chunky soup 1.25 each. Used 6 $.50/2 coupon (doubled)
4 packages of blueberries 10/$10
2 Boxes Kroger brand generic (Ritz Crisps) $1.99
5 Packages Kroger brand pudding $.90 each
1 Box Better Cheddars $2.20
1 Package Value brand Semi-Sweet chocolate chips $1.32
1 Package Tyson Chicken nuggets $6.99. Used $1/1 coupon
1 Package Kroger brand Boneless, Skinless chicken breasts $8.99
2 Bags Doritos (Nacho not pictured) $1.97 each

Total Spent $46.98
Total Saved $43.37 or 49%

King Soopers Trip 1/22/09
MEGA 10 DEAL


3 Loaves Mountain Fresh bread .69 each
1 French bread $1.49
1 Hershey's Syrup $1.91
1 Box Kroger Graham Crackers $1.69
1 Box Lotion Kleenex $1.59 .40/1 (doubled)
1 Bunch Bananas $1.85
4 Quaker Oats Rice Crisps 10/$10. Used 1 $1/1 coupon
7 Fiber One Bars $2.69. Used 7 $.50/1 coupons (doubled)
6 Nature Valley Bars $2.69. Used 6 $.50/1 coupons (doubled)
1 Orville Redenbacher Simply Salt Natural popcorn $2.19. Used $1/1 coupon
2 1 lb packages of ground beef $4.79 BOGO
1 Bag Wavy Lays Chips $2.59
3 Boxes Yogo fruit snacks (my 2 year old snuck 2 extras in) $1.99 each
6 Green Valley Steamers $1.59 each. Used 6 $.50/1 coupons (doubled)
1 Nice n Soft flushable wipes $1.79
1 Box Cap'n Crunch Cereal $2.49. Used $.50/1 coupon (doubled)
4 Boxes Life Cereal $2.49 each. Used 2 $1/2 coupons
2 Boxes Tropicana OJ $2.99 each. Used $1/2 coupon
1 French's Mustard $1.69 Used $.50/1 coupon (doubled)
1 Kroger Cottage Cheese $1.99
2 Glade warming gel refills (special 3 packs) $2.62 each Used $2/2 coupon
Add in an additional $15 taken off the total for the 3 sets of 10 items...

Total Spent $63.92
Total Saved $92.90 or 60%

Of course now I am sitting on some 20+ boxes of cereal bars in the middle of a peanut crisis...crossing my fingers they won't be recalled as well.

Check out the latest deals and matches AND Mr. Linky at Let's Go Krogering on The New Frugal Mom!

Quite an eventful day for everyone!

There's a run on canned goods and cosmetics

So today's the day. Inauguration day, or the beginning of the end of the world as so many people seem to think. It's amazing how so many people of different walks of life have become united under a single cause. Democrats, liberals, republicans, conservatives alike. NONE of them are looking forward to today.

It's time to run (don't walk) to your nearest grocery store. Not, that everyone is going to be needing canned goods and not that I'm advocating the end of the world, but considering the moratorium on peanut products right now, many people are going to be cleaning out the supplies of the canned goods on sale to make up for the lack of food they can eat that's already in their pantries. I know I personally have lost access to at least 1/3 of my inventory due to the detailed and specific instructions handed down by the FDA basically in a nutshell they say not to eat ANYTHING containing peanuts except peanut butter, until they get more information. Meanwhile I'm sitting on stockpiled food laced with, containing or having sat next to peanuts that I can't eat! So for those of you looking for canned goods, for whatever reason.

Albertsons has Chef Boyardee ravioli on sale through today for .88 a can
King Soopers has Cambell's Chunky soups on sale 4/$5 $.50/2 coupons doubled make $.75 a can.
I'm sure there are other deals out there but these are the ones I have personally taken advantage of. Don't forget Walmart will match any prices for an identical product, so if you don't want to run all over town just take your weekly sales flyers to Walmart and kill all your birds with one stone. Of course they don't double your coupons so you need to keep that in mind.

If, instead of stocking up you'd rather party today TGI Fridays is throwing a big party at all locations. Card members even get double stripes. They are also offering free Red and White chips and salsa. For more information click here.

As for cosmetics, if you happened to have purchased any cosmetics in department stores between May 1994 and June 2003 you are eligible for $20 in free makeup Today through the 27th! Thanks to MNTK you can click here for more details.


Seems like today is full of things to take advantage of!

Falling for Albertsons all over again!

Lately there have been some deals at Albertsons that along with my coupons were too good to pass up! I tend to get my shopping there done at the tail end of the weekly sales so this week I went twice. Once the Tuesday before the deals ended and again on Wednesday of the new sales.

Albertsons deals week of 1/7-1/13


11 boxes of various flavors of Quaker instant oatmeal on sale for 1.87 each. Used 9 $1/1 coupons, 1 $1/2 coupon
2 boxes of Fiber Oatmeal to go bars at 1.87 each. Used 2 $1/1 coupons
4 apple pears at 10lbs/$10
3 half gallons of 1% milk at .97 each
1 Loaf of french bread at .88 each
3 Rubbermaid premiere containers various prices. Used 3 $1/1 coupons
1 Rubbermaid produce saver Used 1 $1/1 coupon
1 Baby sunblock 50% off

I broke this into two separate transactions and due to my lack of organization lost the receipts (it's been a rough week) but I spent approximately $30 over the two transactions and saved close to $70

Albertsons deals of 1/14-1/20
EVERYTHING on this screen started at $1.88 or less! (with one exception of $2.50 for the strawberries)



Strawberries $2.50
Orange Creme bars $.88
2 boxes of Cinnamon Chex $1.88 each. Used 1 $1/2 coupon
2 packages Yo-Plus $1.88 each. Used 2 $1/1 coupons
3 boxes Fiber one bars $1.88 each. Used 1 $.50/1 coupon and 1 $1/2 coupon
1 box Nature Valley bar $1.88 each. Used 1 $.60/1 coupon
3 boxes Chex mix bars $1.88 each. Used 1 $1/1 coupon and 1 $1/2 coupon
1 box Multigrain Cheerios $1.88 each. Used 1 $.75/1 coupon
1 box Wholegrain Total $1.88 each. Used 1 $.75/1 coupon
1 box Honey Kix $1.88 each.
2 boxes Kix $1.88 each. Used 2 $.75/1 coupons
2 bags 1lb baby carrots $.88 each
1 loaf French bread $.88 each.
2 loaves wheat sliced bread $.88 each

1 12 ct large eggs
1 loaf wheat sliced bread
1 gallon 1% milk
ALL OF THESE FREE! (WYB 10 of the above products)

Total spent $31.06
Total saved $57.04

I can't wait to see what they have next week!

My new years realization

I've fallen off the wagon, I'm trying so hard to save money on everything that I am spending more than I need to, because I don't have to buy them. Check out this guest post on MSM. Spending less vs. Saving more? An interesting distinction and one I think I will start paying attention to from now on.

I LOVE Big Government...don't you?

Ok so I was checking my normal plethora of blogs and I came upon this wonderful gut wrenching piece of news. For those of you who get the majority of your children's clothes second hand, this information is devastating!

Turns out after Feb 10th 2009 a major law goes into effect that will basically render the second hand clothing business obsolete. Not, I'm afraid because no one will need to purchase those clothes, but more, because no one will be able to afford them anymore.

Check out Babycheapskate for full details as well as links to actual articles addressing this. For those of you who using local consignment stores, pay particular attention to the LA Times link as the founder of Kid to Kid expects to "lock our doors and file for bankruptcy".

Isn't it nice when someone decides to step in and "solve" the problem at the expense of everyone else? I'm sure there was another way to address this concern without making so many suffer in the process.

What I have learned...The holidays.

Well it's been awhile since I've had worthwhile lessons to share, but over the recent holidays I have come across quite a few learning opportunities, so I thought I would share with you...

What I have learned.

1. Keep track of your stockpile, never think because you have a bunch of a particular item that you are safe! Over the holidays I have managed to run out my frozen milk stockpile as well as my multiple jars of Prego Spaghetti Sauce. Not to mention I was this close to running out of bread, of which I try to have at least 4 in the freezer at any one time.

2. Pick a squeal point. When it comes to holiday shopping, it's a fine line you have to walk between getting the best deal and losing the deal entirely. I found out the hard way when I watched a kitchen aid stand mixer go from 189 to 209 to 229 and finally (I thought) settling at 249. I know you are not supposed to chase a stock as it goes up, but let's be realistic here, if you were chasing a stock that was rising from 10 and you bought it at 15 and it stopped at 60 you'd still think you got a good deal. This is where a price log comes in handy (not that I would have thought to be tracking kitchen aid mixers) because no more than a week after I finally got my dream mixer the price went down again back to 229! It could just have easily not. What have I learned? You need to decide how much you are willing to pay and be willing to wait for it or not get the item at all. Tracking the price of an item only serves to heighten the fear and anxiety that maybe the item will not go down any further. Pick a squeal point, how much you are willing to pay and stick to it! Sometimes it hurts not to get the thing you really want, but sometimes the price tag stings just a bit more.

3. Price matching is your best friend! As I mentioned here, I managed to avoid nearly all the Black Friday Chaos by arming myself with everyone else's ads and walking into Walmart well after the door buster madness had thinned out. Turns out I could have done even better had I been paying attention and gone back out the day after Christmas,which I had made a point not to do. I discovered at MNTK that you can make even more money by using price adjustments. Definitely something to keep in mind next year.