My crazy crafty homesteading life!

Baking fool!

2016-04-05T12:20:00.000-04:00

Baking has always been a great part of my life! Yeast bread/rolls, sweets, etc.. Today I am all about trying to make english muffins. As you can see my dough has risen greatly!

I love my electric skillet, it gives me the opportunity to "bake" my english muffins.
One side flipped the other side baking. Next after these is danishes.

They actually taste pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The nooks and crannies were not as deep as the store bought kinds, but they looked pretty good. I think next time that they will be a little bigger. I used my medium biscuit cutter, my large biscuit cutter would be too big, we like breakfast sandwiches and the larger one would be too much. Ah the experiment continues.

I am grateful I have found a few great baking groups on Facebook and have made some great friends and discoveries. I am attempting to reduce some of the processed foods in my life and my latest experiments are helping!! I have been baking bread for a while and am completely in love with Debra Collins Easy White Bread recipe. I have turned it from bread to dinner rolls and others have made hamburger and hot dog rolls from it. Not sure about hot dog rolls, but hamburger rolls will be pretty easy!

I am not saying that all my food comes from a box, because it doesn't. I do have processed foods just like most people do, condiments, cheese products, pasta and sauces. I do not rely a lot on store bought canned items as I have been a canner for years and have a great supply of veggies, pickles, salsas, fruit and the odds 'n ends. This year my attempt is to get more tomato products canned. Yes I put up 14 quarts of spaghetti sauce, and that was not enough! Going for 28 or more sauce would be a great start!! Along with whole and crushed tomatoes and other tomato products.. maybe I will try my hand at ketchup and bbq sauces, but that is a discussion for another day!

What have you completely removed from your grocery budget and make?? I would love to know.

Melissa

March Madness

2016-04-04T20:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, so its not the typical March Madness surrounding basketball, my MMadness is around the weather!! Mother nature has deemed that winter is not OVER regardless if the calendar says SPRING!! Today's weather a mix of everything that is frozen!! Yep snow, rain, mist you got it! Tonight is suppose to have freezing rain and mist!! Yep slippery everything.

On another note, this past weekends spinning event went wonderfully!!! I bought some amazing fiber from a few of our vendors. Highland Handmades had this beautiful colorway that has the name "You never leave a party til the very, very, very end!" and HH Trees, pictured below! The picture does not do it justice.. it is VIBRANT PINK.. blinding!! I am hoping once spun, the black, grey areas will tone down the vibrancy!!

Definitely a color out of my comfort zone.. but it called to me!! I wish Highland Handmades had the other colorway up on their website, you would love it!

Tonight will be family night.. and who knows.. I may just try a new recipe

April Fool's Day

2016-04-01T09:34:00.002-04:00

Good morning, how many of you play practical jokes because today is April Fool's Day?? Mother nature is definitely playing a joke on us. Maine weather today is going to be in the high 50's, but then turn bitter cold over the weekend, with I dare say it...SNOW at some point Sunday into Monday. Yep the flowers are popping up, my peepers are peeping in the bog behind me. A very happy welcome to warmer weather, but like I said Mother nature is playing jokes on us!!

Crafty wise I was able to sit with my friends and spin last night! I finished one ball of this pale pink with white that will be amazing plied on itself after the other ball is spun. Not quite sure what I am going to knit/crochet with it, but it will be soft and beautiful. I have laid out the projects I have to make for this coming Christmas! I know its only April 1, but spinning to knit isn't a one day thing, so I will start early. I am actually pretty happy, I have been participating, over the last few years, in a secret Santa swap with my spinning group. Well this year I am ahead of the game. I have my fiber to spin and I have my pattern I am spinning for!! If you knew me, you would know I never really know what I am going to make with my yarn as I am spinning, I just wait for inspiration to hit me.

My homestead is coming along...with the warmer weather brings coop cleaning!! Yep Sunday if its nice I will be cleaning out my coop!! Yep get my coop clean from the winter poo pile up and give them some fresh footing and a "New" coop smell. Egg production is on the rise as the longer warmer days help my chicks turn from heat production to laying!!

Cooking this weekend is a definite thing!! Going to make another batch of homemade danish, Saturday night will make another batch of homemade yogurt, a new type of granola and whatever my fancy decides to whip up. I might try my hand at donuts!! What do you have on your agenda this weekend?

Odds n Ends

2016-03-15T14:31:00.001-04:00

What a weird weather pattern we have been having lately!! One day 50, the next 30.. Mother Nature is definitely in an unbalanced time this month!! I do know that I am not complaining!! I love the warmth, but also love the SNOW!! I know, don't hate me because I love it!!

How has your crazy craftiness been? Mine is gearing up for the Maine Spinner's Registry annual meeting and spin-in Saturday!! Wicked excited. Hours of spinning, shopping and of course talking with friends from across the state! Did I mention shopping?? There will be vendors for all my fiber needs, of course along with yours!!

On a side note, my lil brother recently found out he is having a boy!!! YIPPEEE!! Now to get my fingers and yarn a moving!! A diaper cover, hat and boots are in the works.. Question is, hunting or Harley?? He does both!!

Which one would you choose? Both? Camo? Harley?? decisions decisions!!!

This past weekend gave me the opportunity to try to create danishes from scratch!! A friend from Facebook shared her recipe and I will tell you it was AMAZING!! They came out sooooo good, even if I did miss a 30 minute rise before baking! I was asked to make them again!! So this weekend I will make them again..

What are you crafting??

name change

2016-03-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

A new title for my blog was a definite needed change!!! I do coupon, but not as an extreme couponer that I used to be. Yes I love extreme deals and will partake but my life involves so much more than that, and I love to share it all!!

I have had a love of crafts since I was at a young age. I learned to crochet from a paternal aunt when I was about 10. I am self taught at knitting(and still learning new techniques), being told I am not the typical knitter!! I am a 2-handed knitter, but I guess from the internet, I am not the only one!! I was asking the school nurse that I work with if I was knitting a stitch correctly, as she is a profound knitter, and it so happens she decided to try to knit the way I did and she did and says its so much faster. I guess I would say I am a Continental knitter!! I hold my yarn as I do when I crochet! And guess what it works for me!! Learning to purl was definitely one of those things that took concentration and the biting of the tongue! Once I got the full hang of it, I just went to town. Last year I taught myself how to cable.. LOVE IT!! This year I am working on a KIL that is a shawl. It will be one of the biggest projects I have done, knit wise.

I have further expanded my love for crafts with spinning!! I love spinning my own yarn and knitting with it!! I have entered them into some contests at my local Fiber Frolic over the past years and have won a few ribbons!! Its a relaxing craft where I can spin and watch tv, not worry about counting stitches or nothing, just drafting and letting my wheel do its job and twist away.

My life this time of year is definitely a busy one, working full time during the day, full time at my tax office, doing my Pampered Chef on the 2 nights that I am free! Oh yeah, not sure if I have ever mentioned my love of Pampered Chef... I love it so much I decided to sell it!! Yep and yesterday started the new season with the new Catalog!! New Products, New promotions.. Have you Pampered Chef-ed lately? The new products are going to be amazing tools to help when canning season comes upon us!!

Until then
Craft On

Melissa

Some YUMMY Roving named Pissed off Hummingbird by Highland Handmades here in Maine

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2016-02-19T17:30:00.002-05:00

This week is February break here in the Northeast!! I have the week off from school and yesterday I had the complete day off from H&R Block!! I enjoyed the day off by heading to Oxford Casino to earn the lunch buffet and try my luck at the slots!! Oxford did not disappoint this trip.

Today of course is another day in the tax office.. I am pretty excited though, I found out that I have had 4 clients win the 1000 people win 1000$$ giveaway that H&R Block was doing as a promotion. 4 clients.. OH MY I am excited for them, I have been able to take a photo with one, 2 others came in while I was at my full-time job and the last one will be in next week and I am hoping I am there to congratulate her and take our photo with her check!!

Daytona 500 is Sunday and I know what my husband will be doing, you guessed it, watching the race that starts the Nascar season!! I will be working on my office/spare room/craft room. Yep it is one room with multiple uses!! Office for my Pampered Chef business, www.pamperedchef.biz/melissagregoire (didn't you like that plug?) spare room for guests and craft room for my sewing, rug hooking and other crafts. Phew lots of stuff for a small space!!

Monday February break is over and back to the grind stone for me!! FT day and FT night!! I love it, I have been helping people for over 10 years with their taxes and love every minute of it. I have families whose children are now in college, some are now married and have children of their own. I always get excited when I hear the stories of their year, milestones, upsets and family trips.

Thinking of changing my blog from Coupon Craziness to another name... Not quite sure what though. What are your thoughts?? If I choose your idea, I will send you a goodie!!

Be well

Melissa

April 16, 2014

2014-04-16T08:20:00.001-04:00

Got to love spring.. or wait winter?? Sprinter?? Either way my school's district had a 2 hour delay today due to some nasty stuff that came down overnight!!! Yep you guessed it SNOW!!! My house had about 2+ inches and the city I work in looks like it got that much as well. The sad thing is that yesterday was about 50 degrees then the wind picked up, cooled everything down and then the rain started!!! Some time after 9ish when I got home from the tax office the rain was heavy and the temp was cool... I would say we got a mix of freezing rain/snow until the wee early morning hours where it decided to switch to complete snow.. I know when I opened(forcefully) my screen door the crunch under the blanket of white was apparent!! My road was a mess with areas of solid ice and slush!! The sun has popped out through the clouds, the temps are suppose to rise, and the white stuff only adds nitrogen to my garden!!

Happy Couponing

Melissa

Final day!!!

2014-04-15T10:58:00.000-04:00

I am delighted that tonight after the tax office closes, my season 11 or 12(I forget how long) is complete!! Another tax season to be over!!! Do not get me wrong... I love helping people with their tax situations, but long days and nights between two jobs towards the ends is definitely exhausting!! My husband looks forward to having a wife on a normal basis and not one who is home for about 1/2 hour then crashes for the night!!!

I am grateful that my coupon stockpile has got me through another tax season and my couponing kicks back up.. not that I do not coupon during tax season, its just less intense. I have scored free deals at Shaw's over the last few weeks.. Free yogurts, Yoplait greek blends(yummy), free pasta and alfredo sauce and of course some free pasta!! Shaw's had a great deal on frozen veggies, even though we do not eat them per-say, I did grab broccoli and a few bags of it!!! Chicken divan, chicken hobo packs, beef and broccoli.. hey minds well get it stocked up for cheap/free.

I look at my stockpile(or just a pile now) and think OMG, my toothpaste is down to 1 tube, deodorant well I better get going because 1 does not do 2 people if we empty ours at the same time, toilet paper needs to be bumped up along with some other essentials... That is totally fine with me, as I intend to live off what I have in stock to help during the 3-4 months of tax season and it serves me well.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new deal is waiting!!

Happy Couponing!!

Apples apples everywhere!!

2013-10-16T10:55:00.000-04:00

I started my weekend journey with the last run to the apple orchard... far and few in between... I was up and down ladders all morning to pick all that I wanted for my final apple canning feat. This weekend's round involved apple sauce, apple pie filling, apple butter(my first time) and to top it all off, apple jelly from the peels and cores(Thanks Angie).. well as of today my apple jelly has not set up yet... so with a little advice I am going to re-boil it.. this time over flames instead of a glass top stove!!! Here is hoping this afternoon's adventure ends with success of apple jelly!!!

Pie filling and apple sauce

Why throw out those peels and cores.. Make jelly with them!!! I stored them in my refridgerator until I had enough to fill the pot I was going to use. This is my turkery roster rounded...

Apple peels and cores

After all was said and done... I drained 6 quarts of liquid apple goodness added the sugar and set it to boil.. If anyone has every attempted to boil large amounts of anything on a flat top stove you will definitely understand how long it took to boil... I believe it has not completely set up yet, due to lack of rolling boil so this afternoon I am gonna pop open the 7 quarts and 4 pints and bring it to a rolling boil over flames!!! I love my out door cook stove(Thanks hubby). Have propane will boil.. This year I am going to ask my hubby for one of these beauties..

Cadco CSR3T

They are about 100-120$$ depending on where you buy them, but this coil burner will be much easier for canning and cooking(lobster pot, corn, etc.) where a flat top just does not keep constant heat. The second wonderful thing about this bad boy is that I can do Pressure canning during the winter inside.. Kinda hard to keep a canner up to temp when the outside air is about freezing.

Happy Wednesday :)

Melissa

Freaky Friday

2013-10-11T10:53:00.002-04:00

Today is a workshop day at my school and we have a state science meeting... so we have some great displays and a former high school friend from Wildlife Encounters is here with some of his animals that he travels with and educates students with. We also have an indoor planetarium... haven't had the pleasure yet, but hoping to get in today to see it.

Last nights entertainment was brought to me via the Toy Auction... every year a local hall has a toy auction every Thursday night and there are a number of things that can be bid on, from toys to food items, from auto supplies to clothing. One of the best things about the auction you can get some stuff reasonably cheap, but the funnest is the people watching... I swear you would think we were inside a circus with the outfits(or lack of) these people come in wearing.. There was this guy in front of me who's fruit of the looms just didn't cut it, if I had some wall putty I would have filled that crack!!! What the Hell is all I have to say. My group of friends that go and I laugh, are loud and have a good time.

Canning and couponing are on the agenda this weekend.. gonna try to squeeze in an orchard visit then 3 day weekend involving canning and more canning... apples are on the menu.. left a message with a local farm stand to see if they had any tomatoes left to attempt a few more tomato items( Angie's tomato soup and definitely salsa). Maybe next year I will try my hand at ketchup(catsup) whatever way you spell it, my daughters go through this condiment like it was water and I would love to can my own and get one more item off my grocery list...my version will be all natural veggies with no added preservative crap... but alas it will have to wait until next year.

Happy Freaky Friday

Melissa

Wonderful Wednesday

2013-10-11T09:31:00.004-04:00

I am an advisor for the graduating class of 2017 and this week is our Spirit Week... Today's theme was Western Wednesday and after school we are decorating our spirit hall... Themes for halls this year included Romance(ours), Comedy, Horror and Action. So my class has decided we are going to do cheesy tunnel of love.. and the end of our hallway will be the Chapel of love!!! I know I know cheesy, but I think it will be fun.

With Valentine's day so far away, there was no chance of us finding any cupids.. so the Google searches revealed some nice cut outs we are going to use..We have cut out hearts and come have cheesy pick up lines. I can not wait to see it finished and just laugh at the fun we are going to have. Streamers, fake church at the end, flowers, red everything.. what could be better??? thank goodness we can not bring any kind of water items.. 2nd floor does not hold water well..

Tonight will continue my canning adventure!! Tonight will be some apple pie filling and I have learned that 1 inch of head space is never enough, I have had to go to 1.5-2" only because of the expansion I do not need it to pop out of the lid again(First time canning pie filling last year). I think I will try to go picking this weekend if the orchard is open and finish more apple pie filling and apple sauce.. then the final leg will be apple jelly.. Thanks Angie from http://bigredcouch.com/journal/ she has definitely opened my eyes with some great recipes to can and helped me become more self sufficient with great canning tips/recipes and excellent advice. I love to look at my canning rack and see what I have put up this year and what I do not need to buy!!! I definitely can do more and are in the process of planning next years garden to harvest more.. Gonna have to try turnips and who knows what else..

Have a happy canning/couponing day!!

Melissa

Homesteading

2013-10-07T10:09:00.003-04:00

I know quite a few people who are homesteaders and have the ability to grow and stow.. which is great.. I try to grow what I can, stow what I can, but I do not have the ability to have animals more than chickens(yet).. I will tell you that I am in complete awe of people who have the ability to raise their own meat and dairy.. I am learning the art of cheese-making(December for a class woohooo excited) and hoping to learn how to make soap.. heck home-made soap last longer than store bought, plus it will have better benefits.. The more I learn the more self sufficient I will become!! The more I can make the less I am dependent upon big stores...Heck I might have to find a local farmer who I can barter with... Canning services for meat.. hmmmm could be something there... now to find the farmer..

I love to coupon and it definitely saves me money.. I love to grow a garden because it gives me the ability to can all that yummy-ness and put it up for winter months and months where the paychecks do not stretch... Who doesn't like fresh tomatoes from the garden in salsa, spaghetti sauce or just over elbow noodles??? I love baking apple pies with the apples of the season!! of course pears in lite syrup are yummy too.. and who doesn't love pickles or applesauce?? My oldest daughter always grabs a quart or two when she is home.. man I need to get more made if she continues at this pace... I grabbed tons of green beans and put them up along with some yummy carrots... the only veggie I didn't get was corn.. but its ok.. if I have to force myself to buy 1 veggie all winter I guess I can suffer with corn.. Potatoes I have gotten from a local farmer who sells them for 20$$ for a 50 lb bag.. and some of those are going into jars this week for the winter season as even if they are in my cool basement, they never seem to last long enough before the sprout begins.

Preserving food is not hard to do at all.. Yes it can take time, but it is so worth it when you are finished and you have that food item to use instead of a store bought item!!! I always practice and use safe canning guides.. Botulism is nothing to play around with... Pressure Canning and Water-bath Canning are the 2 tried and true ways to preserve your harvest... Now you are probably thinking oh my god not the pressure canner I have heard horror stories of how my grandmothers grandmother blew up her kitchen.. Well not so true these days.. Yes a pressure canner is a piece of equipment that must be respected as with all equipment, but with proper use, you will never have an explosion. I have 2 pressure canners, one Presto (from Walmart) and one All American Canner, made in the USA and it is pricey, both I use regularly and both are different.. my All American has no gasket, it is a metal to metal seal with 6 pieces that hold the lid in place. My Presto has a gasket and it twists to lock into place. Both can hold 7 quarts at one time and that is what I mostly do. Each has its own water requirements, but both work with a weighted system for pressure regulation. If you live around my area and ever want to learn sometime time.. just give me a holler I am sure I will be canning something and will show you the process.. and if you want to learn more about safe practices here is the site I swear by.. of course its a government site, but they have tested and certify that if you follow the guidelines correctly your food will be safe for consumption. http://nchfp.uga.edu/ The National Center for home food preservation... You can actually download the entire book as a pdf.. heck print it double sided, hole punch it and put it into a 3-ring binder for your reference.

New to canning start small.. try jelly, apple sauce, try anything that used water bath canning.. then start slowly with pressure canning and viola you are a canner and starting your homestead. Grow it and Stow it.. one of the Facebook Pages I follow always says Grow it Stow it.. and he is right.. the more you grow(or purchase from local farmer) and the more you stow the healthier your family will be and the less dependent you will be on box stores when the Crap hits the fan.. Again if you ever want a hand, have a question ask me!! If I can not find the answer I have good resources and good friends who do!!!

Couponing and Canning.. two of my favorite food things.. Hooking and spinning, crocheting and knitting a few of my favorite crafts!!! I still keep trying to talk my husband into a few small animals like goats/sheep.. heck even pigs.. but alas I do not have a barn type shed for their housing.. hmmm guess I am gonna have to learn to build... can not be too difficult.. Watch out you-tube.. I just may come visiting for some helpful ideas.

Happy Homesteading!!

Melissa :)

Todays chat

2013-10-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

Coupons!!!! I know I know some of you are like get real Melissa.. but tell you what.. with the government in shut down(for who knows how long) will you be able to get things for your family if you loose more than half your income??? Jen and I have taught a lot of people how to coupon and I still am in awe of what I see people drop big $$ at the grocery stores... I know it can be a bit time consuming depending on the sale.. but saving almost 70% is worth it!!! Hell if I save 50%% I am happy.. that is less money that I have to give to a conglomerate and more in my family's pocket..

Take the current sale at shaws..GM cereal(lucky charms, cheerios, etc) are on sale for 1.88 each... I had coupons for both I paid less than .30 a box.. normal price on those bad boys was 2.99 I will take that any day of the week. I even stocked up on Hamburger helper..Why not when normal price is over 2$$ and I got it for .38 I may not eat it but once in a while as a quick busy night meal, but for that price its worth it! I was able to score 4 boxes of cheerios, 4 boxes of lucky charms, 12 boxes of hamburger helper, 3 pound butter( on sale 3/5$$) 12 grands jr biscuits, bananas and strawberries all for under 30$$ I saved over 67% ... Now will I eat all those biscuits.. before they expire.. YES.. they do not expire until January and with the cold weather coming.. a lot of stews and soups are on the menu.. cut them into thirds, roll them in sugar and cinnamon and butter, quick easy monkey bread...

The biggest thing I hear is "there are never any coupons for anything I use".. OK Seriously. I have seen coupons for everything from butt paste to hemorrhoid cream, from toothpaste to toe nail fungus and everything in between. There are things I never pay money for.. that list is different for most, but my big ones are shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, razors some food products and heck some times if I am paying attention toilet paper.. do you use any of that stuff??? I don't know about you, but I brush my teeth at least 1 time per day...deodorize every day, shower every other...I know you are saying, Yeah but I use xyz brand.. Ok I hear ya.. but there are coupons for those!! I am only loyal brand to 2 items.. I must have Miracle Whip and I must have Diet Pepsi... everything else doesn't matter... to me coupons have allowed me to break my brand loyalty.. Hell to be honest here, my only loyal brand before coupons was the store brand..

Sales always cycle around.. if you watch any of the ads for local drugstore/pharmacies you will see they all basically have the same deals.. each offer a "reward" with purchase, sale price that "Can not be beat" and other gimmicks to get you in the door.

Stick with me and I will show you how to get it cheap or free!!! :)

Coupon on!! Melissa

Schools out

2013-06-12T11:47:00.001-04:00

Today is officially the last day of school at the school I work at, I have 5 days left until I am officially done for the summer...Ok not completely done as I will put in 7 days from July-September, but the majority will be over!! I look forward to a summer of gardening, canning, spinning, couponing and just plain relaxing!!!

Hope to get blogging more each day!!

Until then Be Good!!

Craziness indeed

2012-10-18T08:51:00.001-04:00

I do not know how many of you have ever been to a toy auction, but I will tell you that you will see everyone from every walk of life... And I mean EVERY walk of life.

My local toy auction happens on Thursday nights at Crystal Falls in Chelsea. It usually costs 2$$ to get it and the auction starts at 6pm and usually gets over around 930ish.. Now as the season progresses closer to Christmas the auction will run later each week. The bummer is you are not allowed to bring it outside food(with the exception of drinks) so you have to buy it there... they do have sandwiches, hot dogs, chips and soda if you feel the need to munch.

Every week has different items, the most popular will come back every week or so, but the funniest and funnest is the grab bags... The grab bags are 1$$ a bag and you can not peek into them. The person whose bag contains either Bob's license or a raffle ticket gets to claim the prize. In years past I have seen the prize be 100$$ or higher, most times it is an item or two that were a big hit and he wants to give them away. Grab bags can have anything inside them, last week we got Salley Hansen nail polish, Revlon make up, Loreal face products and my friend got those instant nail polish strips. Stocking stuffer's for a buck.. you got it!!!

As of today there are 68 days until Christmas!!! I know I know, shut up woman, but its true.. Start now with some killer sales, toy auction deals, homemade goodies and crazy coupon deals. I have a dozen or so projects under way and I love giving and receiving homemade/handmade goodies. Yes I know some things can be purchased, but if you put the love and time into making it, it makes it that more special.. Christmas is not the getting for me... its the giving!!! If you are thinking I would love to make something... anything but have no ideas, check out Pinterest!!! They have tons of ideas, tips and tricks to help you become the crafty person you have always wanted to become.

Happy Thursday

Holiday preparing

2012-09-30T22:10:00.003-04:00

Ok so this is not my typical couponing post, but one of my favorite and most requested Christmas gifts is my crocheted pot scrubbers... Easy to make and safe to use on all types of surfaces. I love to use these on my stoneware, cooked on stains, and the things that need just a little extra oomph to get clean. The great thing is you can throw them into the washer, they are cheap enough to make so you could throw it away.

Ok now that I have rambled a bit I will get to sharing...

Items needed :
size K crochet hook
netting(in your choice of color) Available at Walmart
what I do with the netting is lay it out long ways, fold it in half and keep folding so it is easier to cut.
You need to cut 1 inch strips and tie the ends together...basically you are turning the netting into net yarn.

Once you get a few strips tied together you are ready to start!!

Terms: dc = double crochet
sc = single crochet
sl st = slip stitch

Guage is not important for this scrubber.

Make 2
Round 1: Chain 4, join to form a ring.

Round 2: Chain 3(counts as a first dc now and thru out). 13 dc in ring join with a sl st in 3rd chain. (14 dc)

Round 3: Chain 3, dc in same stitch, work 2dc in each dc around, join with sl st in 3rd chain.(28 dc)

If you want a medium sized pot scrubber finish off and repeat pattern for second scrubber.

(large) Round 4: Chain 3, dc in same stitch, * dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next stitch* repeat ** around join with sl st in 3rd chain (42 dc).

Repeat rounds 1-3(4) but do not finish off, place the back of the first piece of scrubber against working one(basically you are putting them back to back). Working thru both pieces sc in each dc around, join with sl st and finish off.

Now you have my favorite and most requested Christmas gift...

Note: When you come to the knot, I like to push mine to the back, so after you have joined the 2 pieces they are in the middle and not visible.

Coupon withdrawals

2012-04-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

I must admit that I love to coupon.. the recent Hannaford coupon was a blast to use and save!!! But my other couponing has been limited to a sparse thing here and there... Tax season has been its name, and has pulled me from the coupon game!!! I am glad that I have a stockpile and was able to draw from that as needed these last 11 weeks.. the count down has begun and 2 weeks remain for Maine taxpayers to complete and submit their returns... With that in mind I am gearing up for my spring/summer coupon drives!!!

What drives your couponing??? Is it the high of free, cheap, or necessity??? Mine is all!!! Coupons have definitely made a difference in my life and my familys as well.. Yes it does take a bit of time to start, organization is key, then learning the ins and outs of stores policies and of course the shopping!!!
Stick with me and I will help you step by step in starting on your own coupon journey!!!

Coupon fun!!!

2012-01-19T08:05:00.000-05:00

You know when you are walking the aisles of a store and come across some really good deals and on top of that you know that you have a really good coupon to make it free, the feeling is so wonderful you want to dance!!! Do you have a free/cheap item dance? Oh don't say no, you know you do!!! People will often give me a strange look and I just smile and simply say isn't Free Good???

Kathy Spencer, of How To Shop For Free, is currently running a great contest to win 10 of the coveted
3$$ off 3 Nabisco coupons... if you want a chance to win as do I, then go to www.howtoshopforfree.net and enter. Her website is a free sign up and the access you get to forums, coupon database, and the connection between her and us is amazing. We are a community helping each other to save!!! There are sub forums for stores all over this Amazing Country!!! pop on in, sit a spell and save!!!

Tuesday Nights Shaw's Run

2011-07-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

I must say I am really loving this Shaw's sale... I will be sad to see it go Thursday.

I did a bunch of transactions and helped shop for a friend.. I got some of the Johnsonville Brauts.. OMG YUMMY... was cooking them until midnight so that my DH and I could have for lunch today.

Tonight I am taking the coupon night off..LOL going to West Bath for a purse party!!! can not wait.

Have a great night all.

Tonights Trip :)

2011-07-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

Tonight's shopping trip.. 3 boxes cereal, 12 boxes pop tarts, 4 smart water, 11 vitamin water, 4 viva towels, 4 pudding, 1 nature valley thin crisp, 4 gold fish, 12 crest toothpaste and 10 bailey's coffee creamer, gallon of milk!! first transaction was .17 second was .20 and third was .34 total was .71 OOP and I still have over 25$$ oyno cats to use.. wooohooo Thank you Shaw's and COUPONS

My oldest daughter will definitely be stocked up on Pop tars!! They will make the quick breakfast option if she oversleeps.. We will definitely not run out of coffee creamer anytime soon.. and the best part, it doesn't expire until December!!! The extra toothpaste will make a great donation to the local teen shelter!
Not only is this sale at Shaw's spectacular, I was making money on the Crest!!! I had qs that were .75 off one crest 4.0 oz or larger(which could double).. when you purchased $6 the Catalina Company was giving you a $2.00 oyno Catalina to spend and Shaw's was giving you $2.00 to spend.. so I made $4.00 on 4 Crest.. Gotta love that deal.. My store manager ordered extra Crest, because he knew this deal was a great way to boost sales :)

Sunday

2011-07-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

Today was an awesome day to go racing... Now I know what no couponing.. well I did pick up the paper and grabbed my 2 inserts!!! But will tell you it was a great Oxford 250, Kyle busch won!!! He ran an amazing race and defended his position when he finally got it!!!

Beautiful breeze, nice cooler day than this past week. It was GREAT!!! Tomorrow is work and the start to my coupon week!!! Have a bunch of stuff to grab and pack away for my college bound daughter!!! OH MY.. have a great night!!!

Beautiful day

2011-07-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Today was a day of rest.. no couponing for me!!! I got to spend the day with my family and relax by the lake. I hope you had a great day.. Tomorrow I will be at the Oxford 250 to see Kyle Busch.. it will be great.. of course I need to teach Cake decorating first, but by the time I get down there, it will be starting to cool off..

Happy Couponing!!!

Friday sale away!!

2011-07-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

Today was the start of one of the best sales I have seen in awhile at Shaw's... I must say several opportunities to earn $$ on your next order(oyno).. gotta love it!! Jeff, the store manager, was stacking shelves when I popped in at 9am. To his dismay the Bailey's coffee creamer he ordered never showed up.. He was going to have to "go to the dark side" to find out where it was.. All I could do was laugh!!!

Needless to say I made 2 trips to Shaw's today, this morning and this evening. I caught up with my cousin Jen and we walked around and scored great deals!!! Louise was the cashier tonight and Monica was our front end manager! There are several ppl that work at Shaw's who are the greatest ppl I know, they have to put up with a lot of crap from some unruly customers, but they are the first to say.. wow you did great with your coupons today. Chris, I believe an assistant manager, even asked Louise to turn her light off as Jen and I had a cart full and a fist full of coupons.

My bill was enormous and I brought it down to 17.80 my receipt said my coupon savings was 90++ dollars.. I am still thinking.. hmmm was it really over 100$$before qs??? But then I remember that savings also calculates in the Sale price vs. Shelf price.

So I wasn't able to score any toothpaste or toothbrushes because the store was out before I even got there.. but hey.. there will be trucks coming again before the end of the sale, but I did score more pop tarts, dish soap, water, cereal, vitamin water, honest tea, welch's juice, coffee, 2 things of oscar meyer meats and got 12$$ oyno back, so basically I saved over 95% tonight.. woohoo When I was walking out one of the self checkouts had 2 receipts that had spit out of its CAT machine, one of them was of course and advertisement for an oil change, but the other is for free bread!!! woohoo who doesn't like free bread???

The clincher of this sale was that earlier I had gone to get a few things and received store cats for 1.50$$ off any purchase of dish detergent 18 oz or larger, 1$$ off any granola or toaster pastry purchase, 1$$ of any juice purchase. Well I ended up with a couple of each, so I shared and gave Jen some.. why not share right??? We do that often, if I need a few qs and if she has extra ones she gladly shares, and so do I.. You can never tell what kind of deal you may find at the last minute.

I often wonder if because it may be free or dirt cheap does it taste better, clean better, smell better, wipe better??? I can not answer to that but I can say FREE is for ME!!!

Have a great night, try to stay out of the humidity and heat.. as Maine has set a record not achieved since 1079!!! It was hotter in Maine then Florida!!

Target run

2011-07-21T22:09:00.000-04:00

I must say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Target with their coupons/sales and allowing you to stack a manufacturers coupon with a target coupon with the sale to make the item cheap if not free!!! Who else pays you .50 per roll to take it out of the store??

3M the makers of Scotch tape released a Welcome pdf that contained 1$$ off any Scotch magic tape, last week Target had them on sale for $1.. free easy enough, this week Target had them on sale for .50 so basically I made .50 per roll to take them out of the store. Even if I didn't have the coupon from 3M I had Target's store coupon for .50 off any scotch magic tape.. free again, but they couldn't be combined, because the amount of coupons would have over exceeded the amount the tape normally was priced at.

My oldest daughter had a College meet and greet tonight in Portland, so on our way down we stopped at the Target in Topsham. Found the room essential pillows that are normally priced for 2.50$$ and I just happen to have my coupons with me that was 2.00$$ off any room essential pillow.. So I picked up 4, my DH goes thru 2 pillows a month just about.. so 2.00 for 4 pillows wasn't bad at all I figure.

While I was there I cruised thru the HBA and found their clearance end cap. I was able to pick up Dove Men+Care body and face bar(4 packs).. it was on clearance for 4.79, I just so happened to have my complete coupon binder and had my 4$$ off any Men+Care body and face bar manufacturer coupon.. making them .79 each.. so I picked up 5, they even came with a trial size of dove men deodorant. If he ever gets sick of all the body wash I have gotten him, now he has 20 bars of face and body soap rated #1 by dermatologists. All for under the clearance price of one.. I love COUPONS!! Now if I would have had the Target coupon which was 2$$ off 2 dove men care products they would have been FREE.. but hey I wasn't planning on picking it up but clearance called. I am definitely thinking when Target rolls out coupons every week, I may just have to print them out and carry them just-in-case..

Tomorrow starts the sale of enormous magnitude at Shaw's and I am hoping that they are stocked and ready to rock, as I know myself and the surrounding couponing community is ready to pounce and take hold on the great deals coming!!!

Tomorrow's weather is going to have me beside the lake visiting my parents and grandmother. Gonna be a scorchah(as we say in Maine). If you know of any elderly people that live close by, stop, check on them, offer to do something that the heat isn't allowing them to do, just let them know you were concerned and wanted to peek in on them. I know they will appreciate it.
Stay safe!!!

My journey

2011-07-20T13:12:00.000-04:00

I know most people think that couponers are a breed similar to those seen on TLC's Extreme Couponing, but I must tell you that it isn't always the case. I coupon.. Its not a bad thing at all. I am amazed at the stuff that I can get cheap/free. Yes I am the woman in-front of you in the checkout lane who hands over the stack of coupons that I have in my hand, or I pass them one by one to the cashier!!! I do not like paying full price if I can help it.

My coupon craziness all started almost 2 years ago when my dear cousins wife, after posting all her hot scores/deals, showed me how to become coupon crazy (LOL) and get my home stockpile growing. I won't lie to you, sometimes you will be spending hours and hours looking, organizing, clipping and scouring the internet looking for the holy grail of deals others you will be moments of time just organizing for the sale.

This Friday will start an awesome sale at my Shaw's supermarket. I have already begun clipping, sorting and counting out my deals. There is a bunch of stuff going to be FREE or MM(moneymakers). Good way to stock up on some things that do not normally have the Catalina deals that are attached to these ones. Is it bad that I am planning for a sale that will not start for a few days?? Not in my eyes.. the better prepared I am the easier it will be for me to walk in, score my deals, check out and away I go.. Here is your first lesson, MAKE a plan of attack. If you have your coupons and sale organized the faster you will get in and get out of the store.

Second lesson, get organized!!! Decide how you are going to organize your coupons... its key! There are many ways to organize, I organize by category and have them sitting in a binder, tucked inside baseball card holders. I also only cut 5 sets of coupons the rest I file by date in an accordion folder with the tab reflecting the issue date.

Third lesson, don't use the coupon the week it comes out, normally the item isn't on sale for a week or so after.

Start slow, pick 1 or 2 items that you buy constantly, if you are a store brand(like I was before I started to coupon) pick the name brand that you would like to replace it with, search one of the many websites to see where it maybe on sale that week, then check to see if there is a coupon. Match the sale with the coupon and viola cheap/free items!!!