I think I can, I think I can

Super Savings Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:46:00 +0000

What a week. I managed to find a few good deals!

Walmart

Mentos gum isn't the only thing I bought! Thing 1 got all gung-ho and put everything up before I could get pictures

Here's some of the deals:

Mentos gum $1.28 each-$0.55=$0.73 each(6)

Blue Bunny Aspen bars $4.18-$2=$2.18/box(got 2)

Hershey Kisses $2.50-$1=$1.50 each(3)

Crisco Vegetable Oil $2-$1=$1(1)

Philly Cream Cheese $1.50-$1=$0.50 each(2)

Nesquick Strawberry $3.24-$0.50=$2.74(1 canister)

Mt. Olive pickles $2.42-$0.50=$1.92(1)

Toys R Us

Many knows that TRU was running a spectacular deal on board games. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of spare money to take advantage :( I did get this for Baby Girl for Christmas. $3.99-$2 MIR=$1.99

Dillons

This was actually my second trip of the week. I had a Shortcut expiring on these 3 things and wanted to take advantage!

Pullups $9.77-$2 Shortcut-$3 coupon=$4.77

Nestle cookies(tonights dessert!) $2-$0.55 shortcut=$1.45

Tabasco $1.55-$0.55 shortcut=$1

Trip #1

everything here was bought with coupons, except for the cat food and a 20 ounce Dr. Pepper

Paid $22.19, saved $62.77

Total spent this month $200.63

Total left $199.37(set a limit of $400 fr the month)

Happy Veteran's day!

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Got Coffee????

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Our local McDonald's has teamed up with Ozarks Food Harvest and is offering cans for coffee. Bring in a canned food item and you can get a small hot chocolate, coffee, cappuccino, or iced coffee. This started November 2nd(runs through November 22th) and we've already donated 12 cans!

This is a great way to give back and get a tasty treat! Not to mention, thins out the stockpile. Right now there are great sales on soup, baking supplies, and more that are awesome to donate!

This definitely works for me!

menu plan monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Thing 2 is feeling bad so I'm not quite sure how well we will stick to the plan this week!

Breakfasts
Eggo waffles
Cereal
Eggs
served with fruit

Lunches
sandwiches
leftovers

Dinners
Pork chops, saffron rice, corn
Zatarains Jambalaya with smoked sausage, green beans
Spaghetti, salad, bread
Chicken nachos with olives and tomatoes
Cashew chicken, rice, carrots
Eggs, tater tots, bacon, peaches

Baking day wrap up

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:53:00 +0000

I need an "I survived baking day"button! Phew! What a workout for someone who's never done that before! It was fun at the same time. I really need to get more organized and definitely am planning NOW for the next one. Next time, I plan on borrowing pans from my mom because this would have gone a lot smoother if I had more to use.

Here's what I did:

Buttery Bread Machine Rolls. These are delicious! We ate half with dinner and I froze 12 for a later use. I plan on making a pan of these again for Thanksgiving

2 pumpkin pies. I'm taking these to my mil's for Thanksgiving dinner. I figured it would less stressful to make them now instead of waiting the day before.

Chicken Tetrazzini. We ate 1 serving at dinner Tuesday(delicious!) and froze 2 more for later use. I did end up using macaroni noodles because I had a supply of them.

48 muffins, 16 each of Chocolate Chunk, Blueberry, and Strawberry. I froze 3 bags of 12 and we have 1 container we've been munching on since Tuesday!

I also made a Sourdough bread starter!

I can't wait until next month. I'll prob do a lot of dessert breads, frozen cookie dough and maybe fudge to give as Christmas gifts!

Monthly review

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:15:00 +0000

I can't believe it's November already! It's seems like school just started! Here's some of the numbers for October

Groceries $572.12 $72.12 over budget.Ouch! I shopped way too many Mega sales! I also picked up a whole ham and turkey at various stores to stick in the freezers. A sickness resulted in some extras(herbal tea, popcicles, jello, and Sprite) that I hadn't planned on. November, I'm forcing myself to keep under $100 a week.

Household $56.82 $93.18 under budget. Most of this total was diapers for Baby girl. I got a lot of free dog food this month using sales and coupons

Medicine $58.75, $31 over budget. Usually I only have my regular heart medicine but this month I got a piece of glass stuck in my foot that had to be cut out. I had 2 antibiotics and pain pills I had to take. Then Thing 1 got the viral throat thing going around and needed some soothing relief for her throat.

Gas $87, yikes. I'm barely going anywhere!

Money made

$50 from car payment

$5 Jimmy John's gift certificate for submitting a craft idea

$10 gift card for listing this site's button on my page

I also cashed in some money from a couple survey sites but the checks haven't arrived yet!

wordless wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Baking Day Update

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Phew! I'm tired! And my list is no where as big as most participants! It definitely doesn't help I was awake until 3am and got up at 7. I successfully managed 48 muffins this morning. 16 each of Strawberry, Blueberry, and Chocolate Chunk. I divided them 12 to a bag/4 of each type, 3 are frozen and 1 more is left for the crew to eat the rest of the week. That should give us a bag of muffins each week for the next month!

My chicken, onions, and green peppers are chopped, waiting to be turned into Chicken Tetrazzini later. I'm serving it tonight and then freezing half for later. I also trimmed up the rest of the bag of chicken and divided it up. 1 portion is frozen, the rest in the fridge to be turned into Mexican Chicken later this week.

Later on tonight, I'm dusting off the bread machine so I can whip up some buttery rolls tomorrow. Also tomorrow, 2 pumpkin pies. I'm taking them to my mil's Thanksgiving and I might as well get them cooked!

Baking Day-November

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:51:00 +0000

I have a plan! Hopefully I can get it all accomplished Tuesday and Wednesday!

Muffins:Chocolate Chip, Strawberry, Blueberry

Money Saving Mom's Chicken Tetrazinni

Buttery Bread Machine Rolls

ADDED: 2 Pumpkin Pies

I know this isn't a whole lot, but I never tried to have a massive baking day and don't want to get too overwhelmed.

Homemaker's Haven

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:16:00 +0000

Over at A High and Noble Calling, Stephanie is hosting Homemaker's Heaven on Mondays. Hopefully, this will help my un-domestic nature get in gear! My biggest challenge is PRIORITIZING! I'm such a procrasinator!

Here's my list of tackles for the week:

Read 4 books that are due next Sunday that I can't renew because they are on hold DONE!

Repair clothing and couch cushions

Wash couch cushion covers

Wash cats, dogs DOGS DONE

Mop

Laundry IN PROGESS

Cut out coupons and organize DONE

File/toss paperwork DONE!

Start working on food inventory

School conferences:1 Monday DONE!, 1 Wednesday DONE!

Baby Girl's PAT educator on Wednesday DONE!

Clean up old sewing machine and list for sale

Take down Halloween decorations DONE!

Work on a project for the kids to do over upcoming 3 day weekend

Help Thing 2 finish up school project DONE!

Work on Baby blanket

Participate in Baking Day tomorrow:planned, 3 types muffins, dinner rolls, chicken tettrazini, and 2 pumpkin pies. DONE!

Plus, regular cleaning stuff(bathroom, dishes, etc)

Clean out truck DONE!

I might add more to this as I come across something that needs done. This should keep me busy!

menu plan monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Wow, November already! I can't believe Saturday me and my mil were planning Thanksgiving dinner already! Here's the plan for the week:

Breakfast

Cold cereal

Oatmeal

Eggs

Muffins

all served with a fruit

Lunches

Sandwiches

soup

leftovers

Dinners

Ham Steak, brussel sprouts, homemade rolls

Cheeseburgers, fries, carrots

Beef Stroganoff in the crockpot, green beans, homemade bread

Mexican Chicken, rice

Grilled Cheese sandwiches, soup

Chicken tettrazinni, corn, bread

Super Savings Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Dillons

Rice Krispies both FREE!

8 can HC soup $8-4 $0.75/2=$0.50 each

4 Bar S Hot dogs $4-2 $1/2=$0.50 each

Purina Cat Food $.99

2 Deep Fried Turkey deli meat $3 each- $1/1=$2 each

Wonder bread $1.79-$1/1=$0.79

8 NV Nut clusters $2.50 each-8 $1/1coupons-$4.80 shortcuts/cellfire ecoupons=$0.90 each

Walmart

Kashi cereal FREE!

Cat Treats FREE!
Cesar Bistro FREE!

Wanchai Dinner $2.34

Spam $2 each-$2/3 Hormel product=$1.33 each(I don't much care for these, but with winter coming and the weather such an unknown, these are good to have in case of power outages. Plus Joe loves it!)

Canned chicken $1.74 each-$2/3 Hormel products=$1.07 each(same reasoning as the spam)

Pet Warehouse

5 pound bag Eukanuba $0.75(used free bag coupon, just had to pay tax)

And my best freebie of the week:

My local Moms Like Me group hosts some awesome giveaways. This week was 4 tickets to Lord Of The Dance. I won! I also won a meet and greet with the 4 main dancers but due to difficulties finding a parking space, we were too late. No worries, the seats were 3rd row! The show was awesome! It was great to take the Things out to do something since the last few weeks have been tight financially.

Ticket value $51.75 EACH!

wordless wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Buddies

works for me wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:49:00 +0000

Life with a toddler means everything is a canvas, especially if you step away for 5 minutes :) One trick I picked up in daycare was a great way to get marks off tables. It's a can of this:

A good cheap can of shaving cream(although, I've only used to foam type, never the gel)

Take a table that has marks on it and spread it all around. You can make this a fun playtime for your child too and let them do it!

Let it set until it's dry. Then take a rag or sponge with a gentle scrubber, get it slightly damp, and wipe off the table.

My table is marble so it required a little scrubbing.

Wipe off with a clean rag to get any residue and voila! No more marks!

This definitely Works for me!

Menu Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:32:00 +0000

The last week in October. Wow. Anyone know where it went? I spent all last week dealing with a sick Thing 1(viral throat infection, not the flu, thank goodness) This week is busy, busy, busy, so I have some fast and easy meals.

Breakfast

Cold cereal

Bagels

eggs

all served with a fruit

Lunches

Sandwiches

Soup

Leftovers

Dinners

Fried potatoes with hot dogs

Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn

Ham or sausage, egg and cheese on English Muffins, fruit salad

Ham slices, brussel sprouts, homemade rolls

sloppy joes, curly fries, green beans

Tacos

Pumpkin shaped pizza(halloween), salad

Super Savings Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Dillons

not a personal best on OOP wise, but I got a ton of stuff! Some of the highlights:

17 cans of Chunky Soupfor $0.65 each

Free Eggo Waffles

2 free boxes of Cheezits

Free box Kashi Cereal

3 Breyers ice creams for $1.49 each

6 healthy choice dinners for $1.30 each

Ham @ $.89 a pound

Pork Roast @$0.99 pound

Purina Cat food for $0.99

Total OOP $56.21, saved $83

Pet Warehouse

Thanks to a recent coupon for a free bag of Eukanuba puppy food, I was able to track it down at Pet Warehouse. 5 lb bag, only had to pay the $0.75 tax!(and I have 2 more coupons!)

wordless wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Like I need another reason to be on the computer more...

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:53:00 +0000

One of my Facebook friends posted that she is doing a 365 day photography challenge. She recently bought an awesome new camera and to get more familiar with it, she is posting new pictures every day. I decided to join in because almost a year and half ago, I bought a Nikon Coolpix P80 and I am very intimidated by it! Hopefully this will make it my all occasion camera!

Here is the link to my photography blog, please keep in mind I am no expert!

Menu Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Another week, another menu. I think I'm getting cooking burnout. I'm trying to use my crockpot once a week but coming with ideas is producing brain drain.

Here's the plan

Breakfast:

Cold cereal

bagels

eggs

all served with a fruit or juice

Lunches

sandwiches

soup

leftovers

Dinners

Leftover Veggie Soup(made in the crockpot Saturday), bread

Creamy basil chicken, pasta, salad

Chili, cornbread

Chicken Cordin Bleu, rice, green beans

Italian Sausages, fries, corn

Super Savings Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:15:00 +0000

The deals just weren't happening for me this week. I did manage to find some marked down Brats and Italian Sausages. I grabbed all they had because they are 4 meals for $2.53 each. I always miss markdown meats,so I was happy to find these!

Frugal Fridays and Works For me Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:26:00 +0000

I originally posted this on Frugal Friday but it's definitely a thing that Works For Me!

A few weeks ago, I bought a picture frame at a yard sale. I wasn't too thrilled about the color, but liked the overall look of it. At $0.50, it was also I price I couldn't pass up, especially since it still had it's original $12.99 price sticker still on it! So I gathered some supplies and set off for the makeover!

First, I spray paint it black. The paint was left over from another project

After I let the black paint dry, I got down my acrylics and started brainstorming. I decided on an Asian accent, since I'm trying to redo my bedroom. I painted my design, let dry and Voila! A new to me, nice looking frame.

The best part, I was writing an article for my local Moms Like Me magazine(or Parent and Family, depending where you are) and included this as an example. Technically, I got paid to do this.

Next time you are at a yard sale(or just looking in your own house), ask yourself what simple things you can do to freshen an item up before you pass it by or toss it out!

Check out more frugal ideas at Frugal Fridays!

Recipe Swap

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Yummy Snickerdoodles, great with a cup of hot chocolate!

Ingredients:

1 c. soft shortening

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs (can use powdered eggs)

2 3/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions:Preheat oven to 400. Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs well. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Roll dough into small balls. Roll each ball into a mixture of 2 T. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-8 minutes (don't overcook!).

for more goodness, check out The Recipe Swap!

Menu Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:34:00 +0000

With all the crazinees that began here last night, I almost forgot to post this.

Breakfasts

Bagels

Eggs

cereal

all served with fruit

Lunches

sandwiches

leftovers

Dinners

Spaghetti with italian sausage, salad and cheesy bread

bbq beef, mashed potatoes, corn

pancakes, sausage, fruit salad

beef stew, bread

steaks, fries, green beans

Super Savings Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:02:00 +0000

I found a few deals this week.

Dillons

Wonder Bread $1.79-$0.55 shortcuts-$1 mgftr coupon($0.55 rounded up)=$0.24! I don't usually buy white bread but hard to pass up for that price!

Eclipse gum $1.19 each, used 2 BOGO=$0.59 each

BC Cake mix $1 and frosting $1 - $0.50 shortcuts WYB cake and frosting= $1.50 for both

Kelloggs Poptarts 10@ $1.98 each used 10 $0.55(rounded to $1)=$0.98 each

Walmart

Dinty More meals $1.98 each used 1 BOGO coupon=$0.99 each(we don't have a microwave but if the Things go to my mom's, they have an easy meal to fix)

King Hawaiian Snacker rolls $1.58 each, used $1/2=$1.08 each(I love these things!)

Juicy Juice $2.66-$1 coupon=$1.66

Carnation Instant Breakfast $4.56-$1 coupon=$3.56(a favorite of the the Things)

Glade candle $3-$3 on Glade soy=FREE! I wished I had more of those coupons!

Menu Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:31:00 +0000

A few changes in our nightly plans last week, resulted in a few uncooked meals as we opted for sandwiches to avoid time crunches. That's fine we me, that means I can do some stocking this week!

Breakfasts

Poptarts

Bagels

Eggs

Toast

all served with a fruit

Lunches

Sandwiches

Soup

Leftovers

Dinners

Steaks, scalloped potatoes, green beans

Baked potatoes with various toppings

Lasagna, salad, bread

Chicken fried rice

Chef Salads, crackers

Grilled cheese sandwiches, soup

Macaroni grill dinner, veggies