Internet Problems

We are experiencing some difficulties with our main computer today. It's kinda been on the fritz for a few days, but today it wouldn't do much of anything - including access the internet.

Until it is fixed I won't be updating the blog. Hopefully Hubby and I can figure it out and get things up and running again in the next day or two.

Many thanks to my loyal readers - your patience is wonderful.

Sharon

Goals 4/27 - 5/2

It's been a few weeks since I've posted my goals and I gotta tell you this is a bad thing. I have not been nearly as productive the last several weeks. The clutter in the house is quickly getting out of control again (as if it was ever in control! Ha!). I really think part of it is because I didn't have a list to keep me on task so much. So, without further delay, I'm going to post my Goals for today and for the week.

For Today:

Read Colossians; Start list of 25 observations
Sort Laundry
Wash/Dry 3 loads of laundry
Fold today's laundry plus 3 loads from last week!
Make 10 oatmeal packs
Deposit paycheck
Update checkbook/pay bills
Clip Coupons
Sort Coupons
Make Dinner - Beef Stroganoff in crockpot
(Yikes, this is a big list; will I really get all this done? Hmm, maybe not since it's already 10:30 and I haven't started yet!)

For the remainder of the week:

Read Colossians 4x
Clean off back table
Clip Coupons
Sort/file Coupons
Make Disinfecting Wipes
Swish/Swipe Bathroom 3x
File paperwork
Mop Kitchen floor 2x
Ship package to Oklahoma
Read with kiddos: 5x each child
Make Ahead: yogurt, spaghetti sauce, 1 batch muffins, cookies(?)
Blog: 1 new recipe, update on grocery goal, Safeway deal ??
Clean at Dad's 1 day
Meet with Small Group Wed am
Make 1/2 cake for Joseph's 1/2 birthday
Go through summer clothes with 2 kids; pull outgrown clothes, make list of needed clothes


As always this is an ambitious list. But, if I don't write it down I won't get half of it done!

What's on your "To Do List" for the week?

Safeway: Spent $24; Saved $26; Got $13 for Next time!

I am generally not a Safeway shopper. In my town, they usually have the highest prices on almost everything. However, sometimes, they have really great sales that I just can't pass up.

This is one of them. I'd been browsing around my favorite blogs this week and came across MoneywiseMoms' and her series Living Well, Feeling Great deals at Safeway this week. Knowing that I had a big stack of Skippy peanut butter coupons and that I wasn't likely to see this good a deal again in a loooong time, I decided to go try it out for myself. I was so psyched over this I begged hubby to go with me to help me keep my head math straight.

I ran into a little trouble at the beginning when I stopped at the Customer Service to check this store's coupon policy (I've found this to be very helpful recently). I was told they do not take more than one coupon of the same kind. That really threw me as it completely blew my peanut butter deal I was counting on. It also slowed me down considerably as I now needed to combine more items so that I only used one of each coupon.

The more I thought about it the more I thought that was probably wrong, so I sent hubby to talk with a cashier. He went with peanut butter and coupons in hand. Sure enough there'd been a misunderstanding. They do take more than one of the regular newspaper insert coupons; it's the printable internet coupons for which they only accept one.

Anyway, here's what I came home with:



The total before sales & coupons was $50.74.
Total after sales & coupons: $24.55 (52% savings).
Plus I came home with $12.00 in Catalina OYNO coupons and a $1.00/2 coupon for Deer Park.

Here are the Coupons I used:
Free Safeway Sloppy Joe
Free Safeway Salsa
6 $0.40/1 Skippy Peanut butter (all doubled)
$1.50/2 Bertollli Pasta Sauce
$0.55/1 Reynolds (doubled + I'll send in for rebate.)
$1.00/1 Barilla Tortellini
$1.00/1 YoPlait yogurt

The two free coupons came in the mail.

This was such a great deal; I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to stock up some more on peanut butter and yogurt. The sale continues until May 5 so I've got some time. Be sure to visit MoneywiseMoms for more details and to see other great Safeway deals!

Don't Throw That Out

I was back at my Dad's yesterday. My sister and I are in the very slow process of cleaning out his house. In the course of cleaning out a drawer or a shelf or something, my sister said, "Hey Sharon, you might like this."

She'd found a little book titled "Don't Throw That Out!" It's was published by YankeeBooks in 1998. Finding this this book was no big surprise as my Dad was generally a very frugal man and believed strongly in completely using something before throwing it away. Growing up we were frequently admonished to reuse an item or pass it along to someone who could use it before we threw anything away.

There were many tips in the book that I already use. Some were a bit outdated (uses for metal coffee cans); and some were a bit outlandish (in my opinion). But, many were useful. So, today, I thought I'd share 10 tips from this little booklet.

1. When cleaning your fish tank water, save the water for your garden or houseplants. The algae or other waste are good for the plants.

2. Banana peels are good for fertilizing roses, vegetables and houseplants! Let them air dry until crip. Then crumble. Add the pieces of peel to the planting hole or potting soil.

3. A mop or broom handle can be reused as a garden stake or to replace a broken handle on another tool.

4. The bags from cereal boxes can be used to store produce in the fridge.

5. Use wooden chopsticks from Chinese restaurants to stake small seedlings.

6. Orange and lemon rinds will deter cats - and sometimes squirrels - from digging there! Bury the rinds a few feet apart just under the surface of the soil.

7. Old computer mouse pads make good knee pads for working in the yard or garden.

8. Use cotton wads from vitamin or medicine bottles to remove nail polish.

9. Pry the cap off an empty roll-on deodorant bottle. Rinse it out, fill with thinned poster paint, snap the top back on. Let children paint with their new roller! (I thought this one was especially ingenious for those with toddlers.)

10. Cut the end of a drinking straw on a diagonal to make a bubble blower.

What are some of your best tips for reusing common items? For more ideas on reusing cardboard boxes and many other frugal ideas visit LifeAsMom.

Meet Dog & Rabbit

Meet Dog, Rabbit and Rabbit's brother:

These animals are my children's faithful companions. And they definitely worked for me when the kids were toddlers and still taking naps.

Dog was the first on the scene.

He came into our lives just a few weeks before my son was born. In those days he was furry, fully stuffed and his seams were completely smooth. But the best part, for me anyway, was that he is washable! When he turns from "Dog" into "Grubby Pup" I can toss this puppy into the washing machine and dryer and in just a short while he is clean, germ free and ready for play. This has been a wonderful attribute. As my son's animal of choice he has seen more than his share of dirt and bodily fluids. But, a swim in the washing machine -- even in the middle of the night -- and he can return to his favorite friend without this momma worrying about any ick he may transfer.

The second thing I really love about this dog is the bell in his butt. Yep. Dog has a bell in his butt. After Joseph could roll over, I started putting this dog in his crib on a regular basis. They quickly became fast friends with Joseph chewing on Dog's tag or more likely his tail. But I realized the best part came a few months later when Joseph woke up from a nap.

He woke up, rolled over, grabbed Dog, and shook him. Dog's bell rang and I realized "Hey, he's awake!" Ha! I didn't have to go in and check on him every 10 minutes. I didn't have to wait for him to cry. I just waited for the bell. And like a timer going off I knew - He's done! This made my life a lot easier.

There was just one problem. There's only one of him. This became an issue when carting Dog back and forth to daycare or over to a friend's or Granddaddy's. If we left him at home we had to find a substitute. My son accepted these substitutes, but not joyfully. Dog was always the favorite and life just wasn't as perfect unless he was there.

Two years later, Rabbit & Rabbit's brother (Yes, I know they're pink) arrived in our house. I was so pleased with the success of Dog that when I was pregnant with Cora (now age 5) I went in search of another animal. This proved a bit more difficult. I knew from experience that the animal had to be washable. But I also wanted one that made a noise; preferably a pleasant noise. It took quite a bit of searching, but eventually I found Rabbit. Rabbit also is washable and Rabbit has a rattle in its head. This solved two problems. I could wash it and I could hear it. But I, now being an experienced mom, realized that I needed two animals, not one. So, I bought two.

Thus, we brought home Rabbit and Rabbit's brother. One lived at home and the other lived at Daycare. This meant I didn't need to worry with remembering the animal every morning and afternoon. This made life easier.

Washable animals with a bell in their butt - definitely works for me!

For more great ideas visit We Are THAT Family!

Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops

This is my family's favorite recipe for pork chops. The orginal recipe came from Giada DeLaurentis on the FoodNetwork. I have updated it and added my personal notes. 

Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup grated Parmesan*
• 2 large eggs, whisked
• 1 Cup Italian style bread crumbs**
• 4 porkchops (1/2 - 3/4" thick) - bone-in or boneless***
• salt & pepper to taste
• 6 Tblsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Lay out 3 pie plates (or other similar size container with sides). Place Parmesan cheese, whisked eggs and bread crumbs in 3 separate pie plates (one ingredient in each container).
2. Sprinkle pork chops with salt & pepper on both sides.
3. Coat pork chops with parmesan cheese on both sides; pat to adhere.
4. Dip chops into eggs, turn to coat both sides.
5. Dredge pork chops in bread crumbs; turn to coat both sides. Pat to adhere.
6. Heat 3 T oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chops in batches if necessary; cook until golden brown and center reaches 150° (~6 minutes per side; longer for thicker chops). (DO NOT try to "hurry" this up by raising the heat; the pork chops will scorch on the outside and be underdone inside.)
7. Transfer to plate; serve.

Notes:
* The original recipe calls for freshly grated Parmesan, but I rarely use it because of the expense; the recipe is wonderful either way.
** Regular bread crumbs with 1 Tblsp Italian seasoning mixed in works fine.
*** I've used both bone-in and boneless pork chops with great success.
My digital probe thermometer and my long-handled tongs are essential tools for this recipe. The recipe is easily cut in half for our family. We find 2 pork chops is more than enough meat for 2 adults and 2 young children and often have about 1/2 pork chop for leftovers.

This recipe is linked to:
Kitchen Tip Tuesday @ Tammy's Recipes
Tempt My Tummy @ Blessed With Grace and
Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam

April Kids' Picks - Reading

Joseph (age 7) recommends:


Kapow! by George O'Connor This is a great book for any young boy, or girl, (4-7 yr olds) who likes super heroes. My son has taken to checking it out of the library - frequently. The young boy and his friend are transformed into super heroes, "American Eagle" and "Bug Lady", and we, as readers, get to float back and forth between the real world in the boy's home and their imagined world. My son loves it because he gets to see into someone else's imagination. One reason I love it is because it reinforces his creativity while at the same time reminding him to be responsible about when to use his imagination and when to turn it off. I highly recommend this book.

Ker-Splash! is the follow up to Kapow! This time the kids are at the beach and battling a super-villian (who stole their sand crab) with the help of a younger brother, "Manphibian". This story deals with sibling relationships as well as bullying. I love the lesson learned by the two children as their own poor choices get turned on them. The clear colorful illustrations in these books were what caught our attention. But the story and lessons are what keep us coming back.

Cora (age 5) recommends:

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor is a delightful story for any girl (age 4-7) who loves to dress up. Nancy is a little girl who loves all things fancy. "Yellow is plain, gold is fancy," she informs her audience and her plain family as she teaches them how to be fancy. My daughter loves this book simply because it highlights the fancy things she also likes. I love this book because it capitalizes on her imagination and teaches her new vocabulary (stupendous, posh)! (Is there any little girl who hasn't discovered these books yet?)

Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly is a wonderful addition to the very popular Fancy Nancy series. In this book Nancy is fully enamored with butterflies. She is elated when she is invited to her friend's butterfly birthday party. But, her mother informs her she cannot go because it is at the same time as her Grandparent's anniversary party. (Mad is way too plain for how she feels!) But, the fancy party turns out to be just her style! One more great addition to a delightful series.


For more children's book recommendations visit 5 Minutes for Books.

Chocolate Crinkles

Hands down these are my family's favorite cookies.

We had these every Christmas when I was growing up. When my brother got a job 2000 miles away and came home for a brief vacation over Thanksgiving weekend, his one cookie request was Chocolate Crinkles. When I ask my kids which cookies to make at Christmas, these are the first on the list. I make at least a double batch and often a triple. They're still the first to disappear - usually before Christmas day! When my son was earning a reward for good behavior - these were the cookies he requested.

They are sweet chocolaty yummy goodness.

But, BE WARNED: They are not healthy. They will not last long. And they are messy.

Chocolate Crinkles
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (melted)
• 2 Cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
• 2 Cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• ~1 Cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Melt chocolate in double boiler over low heat.
2. Combine: flour, baking powder, and salt in medium size bowl.
3. Mix together: melted chocolate, oil, granulated sugar in mixer.
4. Blend in eggs, 1 at a time until well blended.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Stir in dry ingredients.
7. Chill several (at least) 4 hours or overnight.
8. After chilling, drop by teaspoon-size balls into powdered sugar and roll to coat.*
9. Place about 2" apart on well greased baking sheet.
10. Bake at 350° for 8-9 minutes.
11. Remove to cooling rack.

Yields: about 6 dozen cookies.

Notes:
* I use a small cookie scoop to make the balls and drop into the powdered sugar. The dough is extremely sticky, so if you're rolling them by hand, be prepared to scrape your hands every few minutes.
As the cookies bake they spread, the powdered sugar creates cracks or "crinkles" and the chocolate shows through.
To store these, layer in an air-tight container. Place a sheet of waxed paper between each layer. They do not store well in ziploc bags.

Please visit LifeAsMom for more great cookie recipes.

And for more great recipes visit: Tasty Thursday @ SouthernFriedMama.
For more great stuff, visit Things I Love Thursday @ The Diaper Diaries.

Bluebird

This is why I love Spring! Our bluebird returns.

I'm sorry I couldn't get a picture of him in flight. He's gorgeous!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5MinutesforMom.

And for More stuff people love visit Things I Love Thursday@ TheDiaperDiaries.

Cheat Sheet for Meats

I love to cook. But, I have a lousy memory about what temperature meat should reach. Every time I cook a chicken or chicken parts or pork chops or pork roasts or meatloaf or, well any kind of meat, I find myself scrambling to find the safe temperatures for that particular meat. Is it in this cookbook? or that one? Oh - it's on the thermometer. Oh. No, it's not. It rubbed off of that thermometer. Maybe it's on this thermometer! Ugh.

So, I finally decided to create for myself a cheat sheet.

I wrote down all the meats I regularly cook and their required temperatures on an index card and taped it to the inside of a kitchen cabinet. Now, I don't have to go searching through cookbooks or thermometers where the print has rubbed off from use. When I need to know what temperature the porkchop should be I just open up my cabinet and use my handy little digital probe thermometer and --- Wahlah! problem solved.

The cheat sheet definitely works for me.

What to do with 10 pounds of Sweet Potatoes..,

A while back I bought 10 pounds of sweet potatoes. They were on sale for $0.39/lb and I stocked up.

Here's what I made with all those sweet potatoes... Mashed Sweet Potatoes (my son's favorite veggie) and Sweet Potato Biscuits (my new favorite biscuit recipe) .

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• Sweet Potatoes
• butter
• brown sugar
• cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Scrub sweet potatoes
2. Bake sweet potatoes at 350°, or until they give.*
3. Let them cool enough that you can handle them. Peel skins, they should come off easily.
4. Put 3-4 peeled sweet potatoes in food processor; pulse until nearly mashed.
5. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of butter, 2-3 Tablespoons of brown sugar, cinnamon if preferred.
6. Continue to process until sweet potatoes reach desired consistency.
7. Serve immediately or place in freezer containers.

Notes:
*You can bake the sweet potatoes in the microwave, but when I'm cooking 10-15 at a time I find the oven is more efficient. I do not suggest boiling the sweet potatoes as this tends to make them too mushy.
The amounts of butter and brown sugar are up to your personal tastes. The amounts listed are how we like them, but you could use less (or more) if you prefer.
These freeze and reheat very well. I recommend reheating on medium to medium-low heat as they can sometimes scorch.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
(printable recipe) 

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups warm mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 Cup shortening or butter
• 2/3 Cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Bake 2-3 sweet potatoes (how many you need will depend on their size) in oven or microwave until they give. Let them cool, until you can handle them. Pull off skins. Place sweet potatoes in bowl and mash them with potato masher or fork.
2. Mix potatoes, shortening, sugar and salt together to consistent color and texture.
3. In small bowl, mix flours and baking powder together.
4. Combine dry ingredients with sweet potatoes a bit at a time until all flour is incorporated.
5. Roll on slightly floured board.
6. Cut into 2" circles.
7. Bake at 450° on a greased cookie sheet; for 12-15 minutes.

Notes:
These are scrumptious biscuits; really really good!
The original recipe said it makes 2 dozen. I get about 18 from it, depending on how thick I roll the dough.
I tried freezing these this time - it worked great. I baked them just 1-2 minutes longer, but they rose well and tasted great. I like baking them in the toaster oven because I can bake 4 for dinner and not heat up the oven!

Special Note: LifeAsMom is currently running a giveaway for Land O' Lakes butter. This is the recipe I posted as my favorite use for butter. It definitely makes these biscuits scrumptious.

For more yummy recipes visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ BlessedWithGrace.

And for even more, visit TheGroceryCart Challenge.

For ideas for frugal living, visit Frugal Friday @ LifeAsMom.

Loving God Is Like Baking A Cake?

As my few regular readers (I love you guys!) will already know, I have been struggling over the last several months about what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

I think, maybe, God has given me some of the answer.

In Matthew 22: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind."

As I have contemplated, prayed, and thought about these verses God has led me to this understanding: These commands to love God with all your heart soul and mind really cannot and should not be separated out into their parts, as I had been trying to do. They are a whole. They are a command to love God, simply, with all of who you are. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less. They are interwoven into something greater than their parts.

It's a bit like baking a cake: the flour, sugar, eggs, etc. are not nearly as tasty individually as they are when baked together into a new whole. Then, they become something wonderful. And in us, when we, -- when I -- when our hearts, soul ,and mind, combine to love God, it becomes something wonderful and miraculous. It isn't always an overwhelming emotion like when you fell in love, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. But it is still wonderful and miraculous.

So, the next step for me is to stop trying to taste the individual ingredients. Instead, I need to put my heart, soul and mind together and let God bake them.

Hmmm. Not sure how this would go over with a theology professor, but it's where God has taken me at this point. Loving God is Like Baking a Cake -- the whole is much better than the ingredients!

Frugal Easter Question

I have a frugal question for all those in the frugal blogosphere:

Have you ever tried freezing Easter candy? Did it work? How long did it keep?

I usually buy my candy for the kids' Easter baskets early enough that I can fill the eggs and donate the extra to the Egg Hunt. But I just didn't get it done this year.

So, now I have a good bit of extra chocolate candy and I'm wondering... could I freeze it?

What do you all think?

For frugal ideas that are actually, ahem, helpful visit Life as Mom.

10 Things in 10 Minutes

She Lives is gathering ideas for things that bring or show joy with the stipulation - you can do them in 10 minutes or less. So, here's my list.

10 Things that Bring me Joy in 10 Minutes or Less...
(in no particular order)

1. Color a picture with my daughter.

2. Read a chapter of one of the gospels.

3. Have a lightsaber battle with my son.

4. Make a batch of (box) brownies with my kids.

5. Read/Play Where's Waldo with my son.

6. Write a list of things to be grateful for.

7. Make and eat a bowl of popcorn.

8. (In June) Wash and eat a handful of fresh strawberries.

9. (In August) Wash and eat a fresh peach.

10. Play one hand of Crazy Eights, Old Maid or Go Fish with my kids.

Cheap Veggies!

Did you get your Shoppers ad today?

Did you notice this great sale....?

Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables are 10 for $10.00 this week. This makes them $1.00/bag. Pair that with the recent $1.00/3 coupon and your bag of veggies is only $0.66/bag! That's a stock up price in my book, even cheaper than I got last week with double dollar coupons!

Get 'em quick; the coupon expires on Saturday April 11!

My Favorite Cookbook

This is without a doubt my very favorite cookbook.

Why?

Because basically... I wrote it.

No, I didn't create the recipes in the cookbook (well, not most of them, a few are my own creations), but I did write my favorite recipes in it.

This was given to me several years ago. At the time, as a busy career woman who did little cooking, -- it sat on the shelf ... completely empty ... for several years.

Then once I had children and my interest in cooking and serving my family healthier meals grew, I pulled this off the shelf and started entering my favorite recipes.

The book is already broken down into sections, you just transfer your recipes to the pages in the book. I really like this feature, because it allows me to tweak recipes the way my family likes them and then, I can write the directions the way I want them - because my control-freak-self has to have them written my way!.


See that.


That is my recipe for Honey Garlic Chicken. Definitely a family favorite. I'm making that tonight for a friend who just had surgery.




And this one is my Whole Wheat Banana Chip Muffin recipe. I've since removed the applesauce - it made them too heavy and they didn't rise properly.

I love that I can have all my favorite recipes in one place. This has become my "go to" cookbook. It doesn't live on the shelf with the other cookbooks; it lives on the counter. There is rarely a day that goes by without me using some recipe from this book and there's never a week I don't use it - unless I'm out of town.

This personalized cookbook definitely works for me.

For more great kitchen tips visit Tammy's Recipes.

Perfect Boiled Eggs

With Easter, dyed eggs and egg hunts, right around the corner I decided to post my recipe for Perfectly Boiled Eggs. And I do mean perfect. The recipe originally came from Emeril LaGasse at FoodNetwork.com.

Perfect Boiled Eggs
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
1 dozen eggs
water to cover eggs
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Place eggs in pan and cover with water. Season with pinch of salt.
2. Place pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Cover with lid. Let eggs sit for 11 minutes.
4. Drain and cool the eggs for 2 minutes in ice water.
5. Drain and dye or peel eggs.

Notes:
This recipe ALWAYS works. I never get green tinged eggs and they peel wonderfully. The timing is crucial. Too long in boiling or hot water and they'll be green around the edges or difficult to peel.


This post is being linked to:
Kitchen Tip Tuesday @ Tammy's Recipes
Tempt My Tummy @ Blessed With Grace
Tasty Tuesday @ Forever...Wherever

Flour! Flour! Flour!

Inspired by this post by FishMama and this post @ TheFrugalGirl I decided to seriously look into flour prices in my local ads. Both of them discussed stocking up on flour because of the good prices right now. They 5 lbs of flour for just $1.50 - and it wasn't at Kroger! I was mildly interested when I read FishMama's post, but Frugal Girl is more local -- she got hers at Weis. So that definitely intrigued me. We have a Weis about 20 minutes away. That's doable, since I'll probably be up there on Tuesday.

Then I checked my price book, the cheapest I've seen whole wheat flour since last may was $2.19, and that was for the store brand. So I looked into the deals a bit more, Shoppers has the best price for my local stores, so I decided they were my best option. Today I went back to Shoppers and took advantage of their $1.89/5 lbs sale.

So, here's the deal, I bought 18 bags - 90 pounds of flour!
All this flour cost me $29.22.
In addition to the flour sale, I bought one reusable bag @ $0.89, and I had two Catalina "On Your Next Order" Coupons that reduced the final out-of-pocket. That leaves me with about $4.00 to spend for the rest of the week! I think it'll be enough to cover milk and eggs, since I'm already pretty well stocked.

I really debated about buying this much flour. Would I really use all this? I don't have a lot of room in my grocery budget this week. I've been doing a lot more from scratch baking and cooking in the last several months. And, since all the Gold Medal flour was on sale I could get the best price on bread flour and whole wheat flour as well as unbleached flour. I remembered reading at TheFrugalGirl that flour isn't likely to be on a good sale again until Thanksgiving. That's 8 months of baking, waffles, pancakes, and (maybe) even bread. With this much bread flour to work with I might actually learn to make bread instead of bricks? I finally decided to go for it.

Now ,I've completely eliminated and rewritten one whole page in my price book. Two pages worth of notes has been crossed out and rewritten with one line!

Coupons & Catalinas

Coupon Inserts:
Did you get a newspaper yesterday? There were 5(!) inserts in yesterday's paper. I was so wowed by the coupons, I went and bought 3 more papers. The clerk thought I was nuts, "You want all of these? They're all the same!" I told him there were 5 coupon inserts in that paper and that I would make more money from the coupons than I would spend on buying the papers!

Catalina Coupons:
During my recent trip to Shoppers I received two Catalinas coupons for money off my Next Shopping Order (NSO). Here are the details I could find.

Post Cereals - 3/27 -- 4/19/09
Buy 3, get $2.00 off NSO
Buy 4, get $3.00 off NSO
Buy 5, get $5.00 off NSO
All items must be purchased in one shopping order; not subject to doubling.
I got mine at Shoppers, but it is a Manufacturer Coupon and, therefore, should be usable at any store that accepts manufacturers coupons; check your store's policy to be sure.

Dole Mandarin Oranges
$0.75 off NSO
There is no other information on the coupon about what the requirements are for this coupon.
I bought 4 large cans of Dole Mandarin Oranges, but Gina @MonewiseMoms only bought 3 and got the same coupon. This is also a Manufactuer coupon and should be good at any store that accepts manufactuer coupons; check your store's policy to be sure.

$40 Challenge - 1st Week

Ummm. I blew it. This was the first week of our $40.00 Grocery Challenge and I went over budget. Ugh. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

I got a bit overzelous at Martin's and Shoppers this week. Both had good sales going on and, well, I blew it.

Here's how the week shaped up:

First up, Martin's:

I went to Martin's early in the week because they had sweet potatoes on sale for $0.39/lb. They won't be that cheap again until Thanksgiving, so I stocked up - about 10 pounds of sweet potatoes. They're also the only place I can find the really large boxes of dry milk which I needed.


Total before Sales & Coupons: $41.21
Total after Sales & Coupons: $24.94

Coupons used:
$3.00/$30 store coupon
$2.00/next order Catalina coupon from the recent Kellogg's deal
$3.00/1 Infusium coupon
$0.50/2 Domino Sugar coupon, doubled

This wasn't the best trip I've ever had, but it did pretty well and I'm was under my budget for the week at this point. The powdered milk was the most expensive - $14.55 for 20 quarts = ~$0.27/ 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Real milk is definitely less expensive, but I use this in our homemade yogurt and in the hot chocolate mix I make. The sweet potatoes I've baked, mashed and frozen for future meals - just over 7 pints. Bananas & celery are both cheaper at Shoppers this week, but then I'm not sure I could use my $3.00/30 coupon, so maybe it was a wash.

Second up, Shoppers:

I went to Shoppers today, Saturday, because they're running double $1.00 coupons through tomorrow. I really wanted to avoid going to the grocery store on Sunday again, so I was determined to go. I also was fortunate to find a website that does coupon matchups for Shoppers. If you frequent Shoppers, you should definitely visit RedemptionUnlimited. I'd also checked out Gina's (MoneywiseMoms) trip The problem with my trip came when my calculator died in the middle of my shopping! I looked at it and suddenly, everything I'd entered was gone! Very frustrating. So at that point, everything was done with my leaky brain.



Total before Sales & Coupons: $90.26
Total after Sales & Coupons: $32.31 (64% savings!)
Plus: $5.00 Catalina (Post Cereal); $0.75 Catalina (Dole Mandarin Oranges) for Next Order

Coupons used (ALL coupons doubled except the free milk):
Free/1 gallon of milk (Catalina from Kellogg)
1 $1.00/2 Post cereal (manuf. coup.)
1 $1.00/2 Post ceral (store coup. - mine doubled!)
2 $1.00/2 Post Select cereal (manuf. coup.)
(6 boxes Post cereal free after coupons, Catalina and $1.00 extra earned for next order)
2 $1.00/1 Bounty papertowels (free after coupons)
2 $1.00/1 Starkist Gourmet Seas (free after coupon)
2 $1.00/1 Quaker Rice Snacks (free after coupons)
2$1.00/1 McCormick spices (pepper grinder - free after coupon)
2 $1.00/2 Barilla whole grain pasta (free after coupon)
2 $0.50/1 Barilla Piccolini pasta (free after coupon)
1 $0.75/1 No Yolk noodles, printable (free after coupon)
1 $0.50/1 Wacky Mac, printable ($0.25 after coupon)
1 $0.65/1 Clabber Girl baking powder, printable ($0.29/each after coupon)
2 $1.00/3 Dole canned Fruit ($0.33/each after coupon)
3 $0.50/1 Betty Crocker Tub frosting ($0.50/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/2 Palmolive dish liquid ($0.59 after coupon)
2 $0.55/1 Barilla pasta sauce ($0.90/each after coupon)
1 $0.65/2 2 lb/bag Dominio sugar ($1.07/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/1 McCormick spices (ginger - $1.29/ech after coupon)
2 $1.00/3 Birdseye Steamfresh Veggies ($1.33/each after coupon)
1 $0.55/1 Ziploc Steamer bags ($1.35/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/3 Jello pudding + 1/2 gallon milk, printable

Total Spent this week: $57.25
Total Saved: $73.25

I'll have to take next week's grocery budget down to $33.00 to make up for the overage spent this week. If I pay attention(!) and take a working calculator, this shouldn't be too difficult. We're already very well stocked on meat, produce, eggs, & milk, so unless something comes up when I do menu planning I don't think I'll need much.

Now, so long as I don't get sucked in by another good sale!

April Grocery Challenge - $40/week

We've set ourselves a challenge for the month of April: $40/week on groceries.

Last weekend I took a good look around at our stockpiled groceries. We have lots of meats stockpiled in our freezer, all bought on good sales. We have lots of breakfast stuff stockpiled from recent cereal coupon/sale matchups. And in general we're just well stocked on most other stuff we use on a regular basis.

So, I decided this was a good time to set myself a challenge. So, here it is: We're going to limit our grocery budget to $40/week for the month of April. My plan is to use that $40 predominately on perishables - produce and dairy most likely. And, of course, that will also include any eating out that happens as well - that's the piece that will be harder for my family! (just a side note-- the picture is from a grocery trip last summer; not recently).

While for some, like Crystal Paine @ MoneySaivngMom, this may not be a big deal. For us this is huge. I used to spend at least $120/week on groceries and since starting to seriously clip coupons and watch sales about 18 months ago, I've gotten down to spending about $80/week. So, to go for $40 is a gigantic challenge. And we do'not live in Kroger-land where free toilet paper is an option. The closest Aldi is a 25 minute drive. And in general, I find that prices in the Mid-Atlantic are a bit higher than many other parts of the country.

We do, however, have CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid within 2 miles of home. We also have 4 grocery stores within 2 miles of home -- Food Lion, Shoppers, Safeway and Martin's. Right now, they're all doing a pretty good war on who has the best coupoon policy. Three of those stores have some form of double coupons. And two of them have been sending store coupons to their loyalty customers.

So, this seems like a good time for this challenge. Using what we already have on hand will be my primary strategy. I will still clip coupons. But I will have to really concentrate on getting those coupons clipped and filed by Monday so that I can hit the drug stores early in the week. The really good deals tend to be gone by Wednesday in my neighborhood. I'll also have to increase my price comparisons, coupon matching and menu planning for this challenge to work.

I'll be sure to update our progress each week. Come follow along. Keep me accountable!

For more great tips on living frugally visit, Frugal Friday @ LifeAsMom

Summer Schedule - Backwards WFMW

Help! I need a summer schedule for my kids.

I have two children who will be home from school (PreK and Gr. 1) for Spring Break next week. This is a good opportunity for me to try out a summer "we're all home all day" schedule.

Last summer was a disaster. We were home, inside, far too much. I spent far too much time concentrating on the "keeping up the home" tasks and as a result, the kids did not have enough routine, too little responsibilities and spent too much time in front of the TV. I am determined not to make the same mistake again.

I need a routine that will get them the exercise and play time they need, but that also includes a chore time, and reading/academic time, as well as enough time that I can get my "homekeeping" chores done as well.

SO, please send me your ideas... web links are fine too. I'm open to all suggestions.