Getting Back To Couponing

I know I haven't posted in quite a while, and all I can say is what a wild few weeks!  Sometimes life just happens and you have to take a step back and deal with it.  I think the main thing was that I had taken on too many tutoring hours and that just made everything spiral out of hand.

My hours have calmed down now, and I am slowly but surely getting things back to normal around here (well, I was until my daughter got sent home with round 2 of headlice in 5 weeks time!  That caused a bit of extra laundry and time restraints!)

But, yes I am still around.  I am trying to refocus on my wise spending habits, as we had taken a detour through lack of menus and fast food drive throughs!  I've gotten all my coupons back in order, and for some reason that really helped me realize that there were really good deals to be had at the grocery stores this week!  (It's amazing what being familiar with your coupons will do!)

I was afraid I had completely forgotten how to use coupons it had been so long, but I think I did pretty well with an angry 3 year old in tow!

I went to two stores today:  Kroger and Albertsons.   I have been finding good milk markdowns when I go to Kroger, and today was no exception.   It wasn't necessarily a great "deal" today, as the mark down made the price the same as I would have paid at Aldi, but it saved me a trip to Aldi to get milk, so I was pleased.

Here is everything I got at Kroger:

I got 2 sets of mega items, plus a few other items we needed, and I spent $30.44 in all.   I thought that sounded a little high, but I was pleased still....until I just started looking over my receipt!  Those two jars of cheez whiz that you see marked for $0.35 each actually rang up for $4.29 each, so I was overcharged by nearly $8!  (I might have noticed had the angry three year old not been trying to grab candy!)  I will be going back down there to get my refund this afternoon!

After Kroger, I ran into Albertsons for a few of the frozen items they had on sale:

After coupons, I ended up paying just $5.89 for all of this.

I am stocked back up on fish sticks and chicken nuggets for a while, and I got them at below Aldi prices (that is my comparison these days).  I'm going to attempt to curb our late night pizza cravings with  frozen instead of Pizza Patron.  I've got some easy breakfast that will be a treat for the kids because we don't have them often and they are getting bored of the same old options.  I'm excited about my Silk because it's been soooo long since I've bought some, and I am ready for egg dying I do believe.

Did you get any good deals this week?

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Menu Plan Week 9--From The Freezer

I know I have been really quiet around here from quite some time.   It's just been crazy, hectic, busy, sickly times around here and a lot of balls got dropped along the way.   Well, ok...all of the balls got dropped along the way.   It feels like the whole month of February was one big flop around here, but I'm not going to worry about that.   I'm picking up and moving on.

A big part of moving on is picking back up on routines I had set in place.  One of those routines is making a menu plan.   I went the entirety of last week without a menu plan.  I did not like that.  Nope, nope, nope.

I had even gotten my bountiful basket last week, and haven't really known what to do with it:

We did have some salads and wraps, and I made 3 loaves of banana bread.

What really saved us was having a freezer full of meals.   I had been trying to plan easy meals for my husband to prepare while I was off tutoring...and last week that turned into...hey just grab something out the freezer ok?  I gotta run, bye!  But it worked.  We did eat out at Cici's on Friday night and pick up Sonic on the way home from Awana on Sunday, which is not ideal, but that's what happened....

So this week I'm trying to get back into forming a plan, but I'm also trying not to further overwhelm myself, because I have a lot of housework to catch up on and my mom is coming to stay with us on Saturday, so there's a little extra prep work involved in getting the room ready for her.

That being said, I'm keeping it pretty simple this week, and pulling from the freezer a lot (I've still got 34 meals ready to go in there!)

Monday:  I had bought some tortillas and tortilla chips and tri-colored peppers with the intention of thawing the chicken breast sometime this week and making fajitas.   Not gonna happen.  I will slice and freeze the peppers for when it does.

I decided to pull out the last tortilla soup tonight, and we will just have the chips and tortillas with that.   I even have frozen homemade salsa.

Tuesday:  I'll be tutoring.  They will pull a container of gumbo out of the freezer.

Wednesday:  Turkey Pot Pie

Thursday:  Italian Sausage Soup from the freezer and I will try to slice and fry up the small eggplant from our bountiful basket on the side.

Friday:  Tilapia  and a yet to be decided side dish

Saturday:  Burgers

Sunday:  Fried Fish and homemade fries  (I've still got a whole bag of small potatoes to use up from my basket).

I also need to use up the leeks.   I was considering just chopping them and freezer them in small portions until I needed them.  Has anyone ever tried this?  I have honestly never used a leek before, but they had a very strong oniony smell to me, so I assume that's about what they taste like.  I'm open to any advice or suggestions on that because I'm getting another basket on Saturday and they need to be out of the fridge by then.

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Menu Plan Week 7 (And A Week 6 Recap)

You may have noticed that I skipped posting last weeks menu plan.  You may have even noticed that I pretty much skipped posting last week, period!

It was a pretty crazy week around here!  And mostly unexpected at that!

Let me give you a brief run down of what's been going on.

Last week:

• Tax Refund Came  (Paid off last two payments on our Jeep!  Woohoo!)

Saturday:

• Picked Up Produce Basket

Two cabbages, huge english cucumber, huge sweet potato, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, spaghetti squash, apples (3 lb bag plus 2 loose), 5 pears, bananas, and 13 blood oranges.

• Begin Making Menu
• Husband decides that he'd like me to end my no buying meat challenge early.

Monday:

• Went shopping.  Bought 9lbs. of ground beef, 6lbs of pork chops, and 3 lbs. of tilapia for under $30.
• Get home, put everything away, begin fixing lunch....my phone rings...
• It's the school nurse....seems the head lice epidemic going around school has made it's way to my oldest  (yeah...she's got thick curly hair and is waist length when wet...)
• Go get her.
• Still determined to get cabbage rolls made that evening....begin boiling cabbages and peeling leaves.  
• Husband gets home..leave him stuffing and rolling (one batch to eat and one more to freeze) and go to get lice shampoo.
• Wash hair.  Comb Hair.

Tuesday:

• More combing
• Notice younger one is coughing a whole lot

Wednesday:

• Return oldest to school
• Bring youngest to doctor

She was not happy about it.

• Tonsilitis
• CVS for antibiotics
• More freezer cooking  (rest of ground beef...burgers, meatballs, spaghetti sauce)

Thursday-Saturday:

• Clean kitchen and attempt to catch up on 18 loads of laundry and bedsheets.
• Antibiotics are upsetting little ones tummy.  =(

Sunday night:

• When I dropped my kids off at Awana, I heard a hissing noise....
• It was coming from my tire....=(

Add to all of that the 13+ hours I tutored last week, and you can understand why I didn't have a chance to get any posts up.   I did make a menu plan last week, and we actually did a really good job of sticking to it (besides grabbing Wendy's last night with all of the tire fiasco).

But today begins a totally new week, and I'm ready to get things back on track around here!

I will be restarting all of my habits I've been trying to form and keep up with because they totally tanked last week.

I was able to use up the cabbage (cabbage rolls), sweet potato (fries to go with our burgers), some of the spinach (put on the burgers instead of lettuce), half the cherry tomatoes (sliced in a pasta salad for lunch saturday) and about half of the fruit between snacks and lunch box.

So to use up the remaining produce, here is my plan for this week:

Monday:  Baked Pork Chops, baked potatoes  (I still have a bag of baking potatoes left from my previous basket), and sliced cucumbers.   I will bake all of the pork chops I bought last week, and freeze at least two portions.  

Tuesday:  Soup from freezer (I'm tutoring)

 

Wednesday:  Spaghetti Sauce (made and frozen last week) over spaghetti squash.   We've never tried this before so I hope we like it!

Thursday:  Quiche from freezer (I'm tutoring)

Friday:  Meatballs (made and frozen last week) and cauliflower mash  (never tried this before either)

Saturday:  Red Beans from freezer  (tutoring again)

Sunday:  Pancakes

I'm loving how getting these produce baskets is encouraging us to try new things, and we have liked just about everything I've made with the produce.   My girls get so excited to see what we get!

If you are interested in ordering a basket for yourself, you may visit the Bountiful Baskets website and see if there is a location near you.   Ordering begins at noon on Mondays for Saturday pick-up (friday night in some places) and lasts until Tuesday or until the site sells out.

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This Valentine's Day, Help Give Anthony A New Heart

Today is Valentine's Day, and I'm sure that if you go out in public anywhere today you are going to be inundated with images of hearts.   Hearts have become a symbol of love, and everybody loves to talk about love on Valentine's Day.

I don't want to discuss love today, but I do want to discuss hearts.  I am going to tell you about a young boy living in Marshall, TX who is in need of a new heart.  I do not normally post things of this nature, but this boy's story has touched my heart, and I am hoping that it will touch your heart as well.



This is Anthony.

From the outside, Anthony looks like any other 10-year-old boy. He is an honor roll student, is active in his local church, and loves soccer, Legos, Star Wars, and magic tricks. He is seemingly normal in every sense of the word.

But unlike most 10-year-old boys, Anthony has been fighting a relentless battle against congenital heart disease, enduring multiple surgeries and procedures, countless hospitalizations, and two life-threatening infections to his heart. His heart is now so compromised that no medicine, no catheterization, no surgery can help it. At the recommendation of his doctors at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, he is now waiting for a life-saving heart transplant.

You can read more about Anthony's story in this very heartfelt post from my dear blogger friend and personal friend of his family and also in this write up about him from the Marshall, TX newspaper.

Please watch this brief and heart felt message about Anthony from a good friend of his, and the daughter of my good friend and fellow blogger.

Like many families who are unable to shoulder the significant financial burden of transplant and the lifetime care it requires, Anthony’s family has entered into a relationship with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, a national non-profit organization which assists families in raising funds for transplant-related expenses. Funds are raised for COTA in honor of Anthony and can only be used for expenses directly related to his transplant related expenses. All gifts are tax deductible and 100% of the funds raised will be designated for his use.  

The family asks for your prayers and your help. Providing for Anthony’s medical future is not an option. It is a necessity.

My blogger friends and I are coming together today, February 14th, to ask for your help.   We are asking people to visit Anthony's donor page and GIVE $1.40.   That's it!  That is a very insignificant amount to most of us--half a cup of coffee from Starbucks!-- but it would mean so very much to Anthony and his family.

We are also asking that you share our posts.  Get the word out about Anthony to all of your friends.   Even if you can't give, help us make this go viral!

If you wish to keep up with Anthony's Story, you can do so by liking Anything For Anthony on facebook.

Secure donations may be made online at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforAnthonyPH/

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Today's Shopping Trip: JCPenney And Kohl's

This morning, strangely, I was feeling like getting out of the house.  This is pretty unusual for me, and doubly so since I had not slept well.

But, I remembered that I had these....

That's $10/$25 to JCPenney (attached to inside cover of the advertisement book that came this past week) and $10/$30 to Kohl's (stuck to the front cover of my newspaper on Wednesday morning).

Now, I VERY rarely ever shop for clothing items, as it is just not in the budget most months, but as my husband was on top of things with the taxes, and filed them as soon as he received his last W2, and had it direct deposited, we were thrilled to find out that our refund came on Tuesday!

So, since we actually did have the funds at the moment, it seemed a shame to let these two coupons worth an extra $20 in savings go to waste!  I thought I would just ride over to these places and see what I could find.   I had been wanting to get some new shoes for my girls, and he was in need of some new polo shirts to wear to work.

I had browsed JCPenney's clearance on their website before I left, and I saw some cute shoes and winter coats very cheap, but I did not see anything of the sort in store.   In fact, I could not find anything at all for my girls at JCPenney, so I decided to browse around for myself and my husband.

I was able to find him 3 shirts marked down to just $5 each (two were originally $25 and one originally $14).  I also found two shirts for myself one was marked $4 and the other marked $6 (both originally $14).  I was thinking this would be perfectly $25 and I would be able to use my coupon.  However, the $6 shirt rang up $5 at the register, so I was $1 short.  I ended up tossing in an overpriced Godiva chocolate bar ($3) sitting near the register...

Here is what I got at JCPenney, minus the chocolate.  My total OOP including tax was $18.40.

Hard to tell, but there is a grey, green, and maroon shirt for my husband up top.

By the time we left there, it was nearly lunch time, and my little one wanted Cici's.   I obliged, since it was just down the street and we weren't done with our shopping escapades yet.  So there went most of my coupon savings from JCPenney, but I suppose that is alright.   We did have to eat!

Then we went over to Kohl's.   It took me a little less time there, since I had already shopped for the two of us, so I simply made a beeline for the shoes.   I found a cute pair of dress shoes for my oldest marked down for $8.99  (originally $44.99!)  I found a cute little pair of brown casual/dressy shoes for my little one marked down for $5.99 (originally $29.99!)   They had several sizes, so I took the advice of my good friend, and went ahead and bought the next size up as well!  Then I went over to the children's clothing department and finished off my $30 needed to use my coupon by grabbing a tutu skirt for the little one marked $4 (was $20), and a nightgown with sleepmask for the older one marked $6 (was $30).

My total OOP with tax there was $22.70, and according to my receipt, I saved $134!

In all today at both stores, I spent $41.10 on items that retail (not that I would ever pay that much!) for $246.97!  That's a total savings of $205.87!  So I guess a little splurge on lunch is justifiable!  ;)


Did you do any shopping today?

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Albertsons Mega Sale: Saved 78%

Yesterday morning, after I had a glance at the new sale ads, I was spending my 15 minutes working on my coupons.  I was clipping the 1/27 SS, and noticed that there were coupons in there that matched with the Mega Sale going on at Albertsons this week.

Since I was already clipping the coupons, and since I was already heading down to the library, which is just another block or two away, I decided to leave a little bit early and run by Albertsons before the library.

I had made out my list of the 10 items I was going to get, and I brought only those coupons along.    I quickly grabbed the items and was on my way.

Here are the things I grabbed:

Total Shelf Price:  $22.50
Total Sale Price:   $17.22 (minus $5 mega sale coupon = $12.22  Already 46% Savings.
Price Paid After Coupons:   $5.02   78% Savings

The cashier laughed when I showed her my list and that was exactly the price I had pre-calculated.  ;)

Albertsons has also begun it's Monopoly game once again.   I love the Monopoly game, not because I think I will win (but you never know!), but because sometimes those little blue game pieces contain coupons for FREE items, and sometimes they contain coupons for items that will be on sale at some point during the promotion (so hold onto them!)

This time, I only got one for 2 free game tokens, but that is just fine with me!  In the past, I have missed out on many weeks of this sale because I just did not have my coupons together, but right now I am almost completely finished getting all of my coupons clipped and filed into my binder, and I am going to be very intentional about shopping at Albertsons each week that I feel it is worthwhile so I can make the most of this promotion.

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7 Decluttering Tasks For The Week

Last week I showed you some of the progress I had made in my older daughter's room, and told you that I planned to spend this week working on their rooms a little bit more.

I did spend Monday - Friday working in their rooms and they were looking pretty good, though not quite finished.  I was VERY busy tutoring on Saturday afternoon so I did not get a chance to do any decluttering on Saturday.   I meant to double my time in my younger daughter's room on Sunday, but they had gotten all the stuffed animals down, and I had told them that we needed to get rid of some of those, and they had been bugging me to help them do that (why they were so eager to get rid of their toys is beyond me, but I'm not complaining).

They are pretty attached to most of the stuffed animals we have, and they also all have names, which I was not aware of (either that or my daughter was just making them up on the spot, which is also possible).  Even so, we were able to fill a garbage bag full of animals they were willing to part with.  19 in all that will be leaving the house!

I know this little task took up *at least* half an hour, but I still intended to go spend 15 minutes in the little one's room.   However, a more pressing need presented itself in the kitchen.  It was called "I had this food in a container to freeze and I cannot find a lid for it."  Thus organizing of the plastic container cabinet commenced.   No lid was found, but another suitable container was.

So this week, I return to their rooms.  

I have already done my task for today, which I think took me about 20-25 minutes.   I finished up sorting and putting away all of her toys, and then I vacuumed.

Tuesday and Wednesday I will tackle the younger one's dresser and closet.

I'm expecting to finish up all of that early on Wednesday and be able to move on to the older one's room and work on her dresser and closet for part of Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday I will begin the moving around of games and books that did not happen this past weekend.

This weekend, weather permitting, I will be working on tidying up the back yard.   I also want to get some gardening done, so I am hoping that it is a lovely weekend, but I will also be very busy tutoring again, so I might have to recruit some help from the rest of the family for this one.


I think that I've made this 15 minute daily cleaning task a solid habit of mine by this point, but I think it is about to get a little bit harder for me to keep it a habit, and that is just because I am running out of things that are in desperate need of decluttering.   I'm sure if I look around a little more closely then there will be plenty that jump out at me that have been there all along and I just choose not to see them. ;)

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Menu Plan Week 5: From The Freezer

I  made one tiny change in last week's menu.  I realized that my dishes that I normally make and freeze my casseroles in were the larger size that I had bought last time, so when I made my shepherd's pie, I knew I wouldn't be able to make a separate one to eat and one to freeze like I had originally planned, so I just make a big one and we had leftovers, so I am moving the gumbo to this week.   I was still able to put 2 containers of beef stew into the freezer.

I have now completely run out of dishes that have lids to freeze things in, so I am trying to clear some of those out of my freezer this week.  That means much less freezer cooking.   I am still making one pot of soup to use up some vegetables though.

This is going into week 5 of my no meat buying challenge, and my freezer is still staying well stocked.   All I really have left uncooked is a bunch of chicken, a bit of country style pork ribs, and some fish, though.  I might have to get creative with those, but I think I can make it happen.

I'm still trying to be very intentional about planning meals that are easy for my husband to pull together on nights when I am tutoring and he is having to juggle dinner, homework, and making his own lesson plans.

Here is the plan:

Monday:  Homemade pizza  (using up some bell peppers and some pepperoni I bought this week...that doesn't really count as meat, right?)

Tuesday:  Ham and Vegetable soup  (I'm tutoring, but it will be cooked and ready before I leave)

Wednesday:  Leftovers  (and freeze some...3-4 most likely)

Thursday:  I'm tutoring -Gumbo from the freezer.

Friday:  Potato Soup from the freezer

Saturday:  Spaghetti from the freezer

Sunday:  Awana night--hubby making pancakes  (he actually experimented with some egg filled ones last night that were not too bad...interesting for sure!)

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January Update And New Habits For February

At the beginning of January, I shared with you a few habits I was trying to form for the month.  I said that once I formed these habits, I would slowly add more things to my list.

Here is what I had listed for January:

1 load of dishes/laundry everyday:  (doing very well with this)
15 minutes of decluttering each day:  (doing very well with this also-you can read about my daughter's room and my bathroom)
Remove a like from facebook and unsubscribe from a newsletter for each of my 3 emails each day:  (This task has been completed for the most part.  I can see I have friends on facebook once again, and I was beginning to have to do some real searching for something that I was ok with unliking, so I think it's safe to stop that one.   Two of my email accounts have not gotten anything unsubscribable in days, and I just skim what comes in and take care of any that I don't need right away~hey, that sounds like a habit!.   My third email account will take some more time, though.  It's a "junk" account I've had for YEARS so I'm now focusing my attention on this one).
10 minutes a day on coupons:   (this is going really well.  I have gone through all of my older inserts and I am currently in the process of getting my binder back in functional order, so I am clipping the newer ones and filing them.  I have gotten through January 6th clipped and filed and I am doing one set of inserts a day (I have 2 copies of most) and then I'm done.  I expect to be all caught up on this (including those I get in the mean time) by mid february, and then I can devote my 10 minutes a day to planning trips.)
Bible and vitamin: (two things I said I'd been skipping for far too long.   I have been doing both, with the exception of a few missed days of each.   I am feeling much more energetic!)

For the month of February, I intend to keep up each of these habits, making any changes necessary, as well as attempt to add on the following:

Eat Breakfast:  I've been letting coffee count for WAY too long.
Exercise:   I've been dabbling with this and spending about 5 minutes playing around on my new exercise ball.  I know that I seriously NEED to stretch and strengthen my muscles because I'm far too young to have the pains that I have, so I'm trying to make this a priority.
Bedtime:  It needs to happen earlier.   I've been making progress for a few days, but then I will nap, or have late coffee and can't sleep, or get caught up in a book and stay up til 1:30.   One day this past week I went to bed at 9:30, and woke up at 5am feeling fabulous!  Both are a little earlier than necessary and I ended up crashing that afternoon, but its something I'm working toward.  I have a goal of 10:30 and 6, but going to bed that early goes against my very nature, so this is going to be a tough one for me.
Program Coffee Pot The Night Before:  It may seem silly, but those few minutes saved in the morning when it does happen are very lucrative!
Study:  Since I am tutoring these days, I thought I should spend some time brushing up on my knowledge.  I want to start out with about 15 minutes reading through a textbook each day, and perhaps expand to more if I see fit, but every little bit helps!


These are just a handful of things that I think will make life run a bit more smoothly for me right now and in the long run.

Do you have any things you are working on this month?

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My $2 Bathroom Counter Organization

My house has two bathrooms, one in the hallway, and one in the master bedroom.   The one in the master bedroom is very tiny.  There is almost no counterspace left around the sink.  A few of our grooming tasks to get done in there, such as my husband's shaving so that the razor is not within the reach of little people, but for the most part, we all take care of our daily brushing and deodorizing and whatnot in the hall bathroom.

That means that a lot of things belonging to a lot of people get left in that bathroom.  That has usually meant a very messy countertop.  And try as I might to keep things neatly lined up and wiped down, it never lasted very long.

I'm going to share a very old picture with you (I had to search WAY back because there just aren't many dirty bathroom pictures taken, and I had not thought to snap one before I started), but in the years since not much has changed, sadly.   The child in this picture is now in 1st grade, but I've since had another one of these running about, and I've had the same scenario play out, so yeah...

What a messy sink!  (Cute kid though!  She had asked for privacy to go potty!  Ha!)  I was sick of it!  And my youngest is now old enough to know to put things where they go, so a couple weeks ago when I was cleaning this bathroom, I was brutal.   I was throwing away toiletries we were never going to use, some of which had even expired.  I decided only the necessities would stay.    But that was still looking pretty messy to me.

Then I had an idea that prompted a trip to the .99CentsOnly store.  I came back with baskets.  I was expecting to pay $1 each for them, but I actually found 3 packs for $1, so I paid $2 for 6 baskets.

Now we each have a basket on the counter.  We all know which basket belongs to us and we keep our stuff in our own basket.   We each have our own toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush (we can never find those in the mornings, and in cleaning I found enough to put one in each basket with leftovers!  Where have they all been hiding??)  We've got the shared handsoaps and mouthwash, but other than that everything is in the baskets.

It is still taking some training and practice on all of our parts.   The girls will bring a brush in the front to get me to help brush int he morning and we will leave it there.  They will leave their toothbrushes and toothpastes lying on the counter at times, but at least now when I ask them to put them away, "away" doesn't mean tossed on the counter at random.   Slowly, we are all getting there!

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It Never Hurts To Ask! (Saved 100% At CVS)

I had taken a long break from CVS shopping.   All of my ECBs had expired, and I wasn't really looking forward to paying the OOP expenses to get myself started again with some fresh ECBs.  Then I happened to notice that I had enough MyPoints to request a $10 CVS gift card.   While I was waiting for it to arrive, I stopped by CVS one day to browse for something they did not have, but I scanned my card, and out popped $6 in ECBs.   I guess having to get 6 prescriptions filled when I had bronchitis after Thanksgiving during the double ECB event ended up having an advantage!

So yesterday when my gift card came in the mail, I was excited.   I was almost out of shampoo for my kids, and I wanted to stock up using the Suave deal.

I went to the store and picked up 6 bottles of the 2-in-1, which is all they had left, but it is the kind we like because we have bad tangles around here.   I had two $0.50/2 from Sunday that I used, so my total came out to $11 plus tax, and I used my $6 ECB.  I was left owing $5 plus tax, and would get back $4 in ECB.   Not a bad deal.

I still had my expired ECBs in my coupon folder with me though, and I had heard that some stores accepted expired ECBs so I thought I would just ask.  The worst that could happen would be they would say no.   And they did say no to two that had expired in October, but I had another $6 one that expired mid December that she said was new enough to use, so she put it in and it zero'd out my balance.   I walked away with 6 FREE bottles of shampoo and $4 in ECBs for next time, and haven't even touched my $10 gift card yet!  =)

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What 15 Minutes Can Do! + My 7 Decluttering Tasks

When I shared last week's task list with you, I told you that I planned to spend some time decluttering my oldest child's room near the end of the week.  It was pretty messy to begin with, but little did I know that my youngest, being ever the little munchkin, was going to sneak in there while her sister was at school and wreak ungodly amounts of havoc towards the beginning of the week.

When it happened, I thought it unfair to make my oldest clean it up, and felt it too overwhelming a task for my little one to handle alone, and since it was already slated on the docket for Friday-Sunday, I simply ignored the mess for a few days.  But the mess continued to grow.

Come Friday morning, this is what was staring back at me from that room:

Yes, I know.  I cringed, too!

I did the best thing I knew to do...I put it off and went grocery shopping (which I had also been putting off until payday, so in my defense that was a necessary task as well!)  But alas, no little fairies had come to my aid while we were out and about, so once I had fed us lunch and put the little one down for her nap, I got to work.

I worked absolutely as fast as I could.  My goal for that day was simply to clear some space that I could work with.

Here is what I was able to accomplish in just 15 minutes:

My poor little weenie dog doesn't even recognize the place!

I was pretty pleased with the progress I had made that first day.  The next day I did more of the same, I finished cleaning up everything that was on the floor.

It doesn't look like I got quite as much accomplished this day, but I had the girls pull everything out from under the bed and I also cleaned underneath the table on the left that you can't see behind the door.   I also did not miss the opportunity to vacuum!

I still had the far right corner that is not visible on either of these shots to tackle.   In that corner are the closet and bookshelf, both of which had their contents spewed about.

This is what I tackled on Sunday.  Now I will admit that when my 15 minute timer went off, i had stacks of books everywhere, so I set it again and did another 15 minutes this afternoon just to not be leaving a mess in her room because I knew my stacks would not get left alone!

So after 30 minutes today, here is what I'm left with:

Why yes, that is a Barbie car bookend!

It's looking pretty good in here after only 1 hour total spent cleaning over 3 days, but I'm still not done yet because...well, when I cleared the floor....this is what I did:

So here is my plan for the week:

Monday:  Quick clean the floor in the younger one's room  (yep...they moved their mess making in there, and it just needs to be dealt with, plus she decided she wanted to sleep on the floor so its all mixed in with her bedding!)

Tuesday-Thursday:   Work in the older one's room

Friday-Sunday:  Work in the younger one's room and begin relocating some games/puzzles/books.

We have cleared all the toys out and rearranged the living room, and so I want to move some of the family games into some living room shelving.  My youngest's room was a former office, so it has lots of shelving on the high wall that we've utilized for games and puzzles, but we've often wanted them while she was napping and weren't able to go in and get them, so now that we've made some room in the front I'll be moving them in there, and putting some books for her on those shelves.

I need to make room some some more books we were recently given on the older one's shelf  (they are currently in a box in the garage), so I'll be doing a lot of relocating of things at the end of the week.

What will you be working on this week?

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Menu Plan Week 4

I am still working on my 2 month challenge of not buying any meat.  I am going into week 4 of that, and I still have PLENTY meat on hand to cook and/or cooked meat to use, and it seems like every week I put more meals back into my freezer than I take out!

After making, and consuming, this past week's menu, I returned to my freezer a large bag of frozen green beans, a large bag of cooked and shredded chicken, and 4 larges tubs of italian sausage soup.  Also, the small roast that I worried may not be enough for the one meal of leftovers I had planned, actually fed us leftovers last night AND lunch today as well.

This week I've picked up a few more tutoring hours, and the vegetables in our bountiful basket this week were more of the seasoning and flavor additive variety than the type to actually plan a meal around, so I'm keeping it pretty simple this week, and I will likely just dice and freeze these for later use.

Here's what we got in our produce basket this week.  I love it!

Here's the plan:

Monday:  Pork chops (cooked and in the freezer) with mashed potatoes (I had a 5lb bag already in my pantry, so I've got lots of potatoes to use up.  Making a big batch of these.  They freeze well!) and a vegetable.

Tuesday:  I'm tutoring---Vegetable Beef Soup (from the freezer)

Wednesday:  Shepherd's Pie using the mashed potatoes I made on Monday and some cooked ground beef I have in the freezer.   Will make one to freeze and one to eat.

Thursday:  I'm tutoring--Gumbo from the freezer

Friday:   Beef stew in the crock pot using some beef shank I have in the freezer, the very last of the carrots I have on hand, and some of the potatoes I have.

Saturday:  Leftovers

Sunday:   Awana night--Pancakes


What's on your menu this week?

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Lots Of Shopping!

I hit up three different stores today.   I went to Target to take advantage of a pet food deal, stopped by a different Aldi than I normally go to, and then Albertsons on the way home to take advantage of their Buy 6 Save $3 deal.

Here's what I picked up.

At Target:

I had a Target store coupon for $5 off your choice of 2 of 4 Purina items.  Large bags of dry food were on the list.  I also had a $1 off each of them to stack, so I saved $7 total and paid around $15 for both bags and those will easily last the entire month.  

The Activia was 3 for $5 ($1.67, so I used a $1 off).  I used a $1 off the yeast from my latest All You (its a good $3 cheaper there than grocery stores!) and then I picked up the tea on clearance for $1.18, using my $0.75 off coupons, and then a learning tool for the little one from the dollar bin.

 
Total spent:  $22.08

At Aldi, I didn't grab a picture.  It was normal everyday stuff...milk, TP, butter, etc.  Spent $19.79.


At Albertson's I got Capri Suns and Peanut Butter!

  I had to buy in groups of 6, and I had 2 B3G1 FREE Capri Sun ($1.49 each wyb6), so I needed 4 more items to make 2 sets.  The Planters peanut butter was on sale for $1.69 wyb6 (pb is $2.29 at Aldi).  I had only 1 $1/2 coupon, but I didn't mind because it was still a good price, and we were nearly out!  All the creamy were gone on the shelf, and I *almost* got 4 crunchy, but then i noticed up top, the natural creamy was included in the sale.  The jar was a teeny bit smaller, but to me losing 1.3oz was worth getting rid of some additives and a ton of sodium, and maybe even more importantly, not having to hear my eldest (who would gladly sit and eat an entire jar of peanuts!) whine about how she doesn't like crunchy.   Children are such enigmas.

I spent $14.44 total at Albertsons, so that puts my total for the day at right around $54.

How did your shopping go this week?

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How To Freeze Vegetables So They Don't Stick Together

It never fails...you have frozen some excess produce to prevent it from going to waste.  You tossed it all into a big freezer bag and shoved it in the freezer.   Then, you need just a little bit of it for a recipe, only to find a huge icy clump!  *Commence dropping said bag on kitchen floor to break up clump and retrieve correct amount of veggie*

Happened to me ALL THE TIME!  Then my husband had this bright idea and we decided to try it and it worked like a charm.

Here's what we did  (I'm show you using the fresh green beans I prepared and froze today):

First, prepare your vegetable the way it will be eaten.  In this case it meant snapping off the ends and snapping into smaller pieces.

Rinsing in my sink.

The snapped pieces went straight into a pot.

Once that is done, I filled the pot with water and boiled them on the stove top for about 10 minutes.   Not long enough to get them soft, but just long enough to begin the cooking process, so it doesn't take quite as long when you prepare them to eat.   This is what is done to the ones you buy frozen at the store.

Once they have cooked a bit (but not fully), drain them, and lay them out in a single layer on a baking sheet, and put them straight into the freezer.   In the vegetable factories, the machines pay them out flat on a conveyor belt, and send them through a section that flash freezer them in this manner.

Once they are frozen, simply toss them all into a freezer bag.  Now you can easily grab as many or as few or your vegetable as you need.  Make sure you put them back into the freezer right away before they begin to melt, or they will refreeze together and get stuck.

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Week 1 Update + My 7 Decluttering Tasks For The Week

Last week I shared my plan to spend just 15 minutes each day decluttering my home  (giveaway winners have just been contacted, so check your email!)

I told about how I would be looking around my house each weekend and coming up with a list of 7 tasks to tackle that week, one for each day.

Last week my tasks were:

Top of Hutch/Fridge/Microwave
Tea/Coffee/Candy Cabinet & Utensils
Cups & Glasses
Under Kitchen Sink (Also had time for pots and lids, hutch drawer (will cooking utensils) and dishtowels)
Hall Bathroom
Hall Bathroom Again
Master Bathroom



I followed my list to the letter, continuing on to another kitchen area if I still had time left on my timer, and I got a lot more done than I expected to!  There are a few kitchen tasks that I need to tackle (like that pesky tupperware cabinet!) but I decided to go ahead and move on, and start a list of those for later.

When I got to Friday, I did not get to start on the bathroom.  Instead, I did a fast search and tidy all around the living room because we had misplaced a DVD from the library.  Not it the plan, but it was a necessary change, and we finally did locate it.

I spent the weekend days working in the hall bathroom, and will even need a third day at the very least to complete that one, so I haven't gotten to the master bathroom yet.  I am rescheduling those for this week.

Here are the things I plan to tackle this week:

Monday:  Day 3 in Hall Bathroom  (If anything remains to be done, I will list it out and move on)
Tuesday:  Master Bathroom
Wednesday:  Master Bathroom Day 2 (I think I'll likely need two after having worked in the hall bathroom)
Thursday: Linen Closet (towels and sheets)
Friday-Sunday:  Spending Time in Oldest Daughter's Room


In the bathrooms, I am going through everything under the cabinets and in the medicine cabinets, clearing tossing, straightening, consolidating.

In the kids rooms I plan to be grouping like toys and finding proper homes, and hopefully finding some that can leave the house!  I always do the older one's first, and move outgrown toys/clothes to the younger one's room.  Then I declutter the younger one's room and box up outgrown toys/clothes from there.


This is my plan for the week.   What do you plan to get done?

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Menu Plan Week 3: Finishing Up The Produce

In last week's menu plan I shared a few things I planned to cook using parts of meals that I had in the freezer.   Surprisingly, when I took all those pieces out of the freezer, and turned them into meals that we ate for 6 nights this week, I turned right back around and put 5 meals back into my freezer--2 potato soups and 3 gumbo!

I've still got some of that produce from my basket remaining (brussels sprouts, carrots) and I picked up some produce at Aldi yesterday (spinach, broccoli, and roma tomatos), and I also still have some green beans that I picked up at Fiesta earlier last week (I'm going to blanche and freeze these for later use), so here is what I plan to do to use this stuff up, then I will be anxious to see what I get in my basket this Saturday!

Monday:  Turkey Pot Pie (from the freezer).  Take out whole chicken to thaw.

Tuesday:  I'll be cooking a whole chicken in my crock-pot.  We will eat this rotisserie style chicken, with some herb stuffing and roasted brussels sprouts.

Wednesday:  After I shred the remainder of the chicken and freeze it, I will boil the bones and use the chicken stock for an italian sausage soup.  This will use up some spinach, carrots, green beans, and roma tomatoes.

Thursday:   Leftovers, and maybe 1 more to freeze.

Friday:  I have a small pork roast in the freezer, so I will be cooking this in some gravy in the crockpot.  Will toss whatever carrots we have remaining into the gravy.

Saturday:  Leftovers.

Sunday:  AWANA night.  Hubby making pancakes.


I'm going into week 3 of my 8 week "no buying meat" challenge, and I still have plenty left in my freezer.

I spent under $40 last week on groceries.  I went to Aldi yesterday and spent $26.xx on some produce and things we were needing.  I'll be ordering my produce basket ($16.50) on Monday (for Saturday pick-up), and don't think I'll be doing any more shopping for the week (at least until payday on thursday), so I'm set to have another very low spending week.

What are you eating this week?

Want to see more menus?  Visit Menu Plan Monday.

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Kroger and Albertsons: Stocking Back Up (Slowly) 71% Savings

A couple weeks ago I told you my plan to spend just 10-15 each day getting my coupons back in order.  I told you also that I was going to ease my way back into coupon shopping, as I had taken a hiatus of sorts.

Today is January 18th, and I am happy to say that I have spent my allotted time working on my coupons each and every day for the past 18 days.

I did not make it to the store to do any shopping with coupons at all last ad week, so today I thought I would hit two stores.   Now I'm still taking things slowly!   I used 5 coupons at Kroger and 4 at Albertsons!  But I snagged some pretty good deals and a few freebies.  Plus, I began stocking back up on some items we were running out of.

Here's what I found at Kroger:

7 Dial liquid soaps @ $1 each, used $1/3 from 1/13RP  and $2/4 printable (looks like it's no longer available) =  $0.57 each average cost for all 7

1 Ken's 9oz dressing @ $1, used $1/1 from 1/13 SS = FREE

Lever 2000 @ $1, used $1/1 from Jan. All You = FREE

Beyond Cat Food @$2.99, used FREE coupon from 1/13 RP = FREE

4 half gallons of milk (that don't even expire until 1/30!) marked down to $0.49 each  (That's $0.98/gallon!  I normally spend $2.49 for 1 at Aldi!!!)

Shelf Price:  $24.16  (estimating the milk's normal price at $1.49--could be low)
Sale Price:   $13.95  (Already 42% Savings)
Price Paid After Coupons:   $6.01    75% Savings


I left Kroger stocked up for a little while on milk (two will likely end up in the freezer), and stocked up for a LONG time on hand soap.



When I left there, I drove a couple blocks down the street and went to Albertsons  (I always try to go to both places and grab what deals I can if I'm making the trip that direction anyway).

I only intended to buy $4.71 worth of items in Albertsons (I had my list made and all added up), but when I got there I found a few extra items that I could not pass up.

4 Chef Boyardee @  $0.88 each, used $0.50/4 from 1/13 SS (doubled)  =  $0.63 each

2 Swiss Miss @ $0.98 each, used $0.50/2 from 12/9 SS  (doubled) =  $0.49 each

1 Carmex @ $0.88,   Used $0.30/1 printable (tripled to .88) = FREE

Colgate Toothbrush @  $0.88, used $0.75/1 from 1/6 SS  = $0.13

(tried to snag same deal for the toothpaste, but they were all out)

Zote @ $1.19  (decided to grab this when I got there--planning to attempt homemade laundry detergent if I can find the final ingredient)



Then, I found the clearance aisle.   Ok, well I had already picked up the $0.99 5-pack of chocolate glazed and rainbow sprinkled day old doughnuts, but then I found the real clearance aisle.

I picked up 4 girls stationary/hair accessory sets for $1.49 each.   I have a first grade daughter and we've had birthday party invites left and right, so I figured that these would be a nice thing to have on hand!

I picked up a 100 ct. pack of dryer sheets marked down for $1.00.  We were all out and I had forgotten to put them on the list yet again, so that was a nice surprise.

Then, there was a 5-pack of red and white swirly straws for $0.20.  My girls love fun straws so I grabbed one.


Total Shelf Price:  $43.09
Total Sale Price:  $16.59  (Already 61 % Savings)
Price Paid After Coupons:  $13.65 with tax     68% Savings


I spent a total of $19.66 today on items that retail for $67.25.  That's a 71 % savings overall.



My daughter asked to hold my receipt when we got back in the van.  When I handed it to her, she exclaimed "Hey, it's supposed to be long!"  I suppose she had gotten used to me doing much larger shopping trips.  ;)

My grocery spending for the entire week this week was probably my lowest ever.   On Sunday, I spent roughly $8 at the 99cents Only store, and on monday I spent roughly $10 at Fiesta, so I spent less than $40 for the entire week this week.  Of course, it could have been even less without all of those Albertson's impulse purchases!  But I think I got some great deals today!


How did your shopping go this week?

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Borax Review + A Chance To Win Some!

As a member of the Purex Insiders, from time to time, they send me a product to try out.

Most recently, I was sent a box of 20 Mule Team Borax, an all natural laundry booster.

Honestly, I haven't opened the box that I was sent yet, because I had a box of my own sitting around not being used.   I had bought it a while back because I saw it listed as an ingredient in some homemade laundry detergent that I planned on (and still do!) getting around to making one of these days.

Aside from that, I didn't really know what to do with it.

Well, aside from playing...

Flubber Recipe (adapted from pinterest, and this site):
roughly 1 cup warm water
1 8oz bottle of glue
2 tsp borax  (more or less until right consistency)
Mix in a bowl and stir well.

My girls had absolutely sooo much fun playing with this stuff, and it keeps in a bag for a LONG time (well until it gets left open and shoved in some crevice to be found months later...., so I'm not exactly sure how long.)


When I got my got my box with my Borax, I read over the information they sent along with it with interest.  It suggested adding 1/2 a cup to each load of laundry, to boost your current detergent's cleaning power.

It is an all natural mineral (sodium tetraborate--because I'm a chemistry nerd like that) that is produced from the recurring evaporation of seasonal lakes.  They remove it from the ground, clean it, box it, and sell it.  No other chemicals needed.

They claim that it will naturally soften hard water, improving your detergent's cleaning power (because most of your detergent simply binds to the calcium and magnesium ions in your hard water and sink to the bottom of your washer, never coming into contact with your clothes!), and helping stains from being re-deposited back onto clothing.

I was intrigued by this, so I began adding the suggested half a cup to each load of laundry.  I can't say for certain that it is making a huge difference on my laundry in general, but I haven't noticed many new set in stains lately, and having a 3 yo, there are usually a few!

I did note one stain in particular.  I had gotten a new dish towel.  A bright white dish towel.   My husband used it, as dish towels were meant to be used...to clean up a nasty kitchen mess.   I thought my new towel was done for, but after washing with the Borax added, I can barely see the faintest trace of where the stain was.


Want to try Borax for FREE?  Here's your chance!  Borax is currently running a Fresh Year, Fresher Laundry Sweepstakes on their Facebook page.

Grand Prize is $1,500, and other prizes include 171 coupons for a FREE box of Borax.

Enter today for a chance to win!

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My 7 Decluttering Tasks For The Week

Yesterday, I told you how I was spending 15 minutes each day, setting my timer and tackling a small task (or two, or three) until the timer goes off, and then I stop.   (I'm also giving away 3 copies of a fabulous e-book on getting (and staying!) organized!  Enter to win here.)

I told you that on Sunday's while I was coming up with a menu plan, I was also going to be looking around the house and finding the 7 areas that were annoying me the most, and those were going to go on my list for the week.

Here are the items I listed out for this week:

Monday:  Top Of Hutch/Top Of Fridge  (I actually had 5 minutes left and I also tackled the top of the microwave and my cookbook/random kitchen thingy cabinet up above my stove-it wasn't even on the list!)

Tuesday:  Tea/Candy/Coffee Cabinet, and Utensil drawer.  (I've done this already this morning, and I still cannot figure out how mo many crumbs get into the back of a drawer that mostly remains closed!  Also...way too many medicine dispenser thingamajigs! Toss, toss, toss!)

Maybe I can remember that I have tea now!  And ALL the candy is consolidated into those bags instead of loose all over the bottom shelf.

Wednesday:  Cups/glasses.   I also had top of microwave on this day, so I'm sure I'll need one more thing.   Perhaps the cabinet with the pots.  

Thursday:  Under the kitchen sink  (cleaners, bags, wraps..all that stuff jumbled together again, and I think I'm out of some things, so I'm going in!)

Friday:  Hall Bathroom

Saturday:  Hall Bathroom.   I think it will take two days.

Sunday:  Master bathroom (which happens to be much smaller than the hall bathroom)


So that right there is my plan for the first week of this 15 minutes of organizing habit I'm trying to form.  On Sunday I will update on how this week went, and share next week's list.

Do you have any plans to get organized this year?   Care to join me in this?  Tell me your list in a comment!

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