So it’s the one room in the house that I’m particularly picky about. I think of it as ‘my office’ and, judging by how my family leaves it entirely to me to clean, they think of it that way, too. But like any heavily-used office, it’s starting to show signs of wear and tear. In fact, of all the rooms in my house, it’s the one most in need of work.

The problem is that redoing any one thing pretty much means redoing it all. Some days I can’t wait to tear up the porcelain tile floor which, because the previous homeowners were childless, is white of all things. Needless to say, in a house with two cats, a messy adult male, a rambunctious tweenage boy and an avid home cook, that floor needs to be mopped at least once a day. (Not that I do it, mind you, though I should.)

But if we replace the tile with hardwood flooring, as I’d like, we might as well install new kitchen cabinets, possibly with a granite top instead of the laminate we currently have (and hate). That would really give the room a whole new look and, since they’re so affordable, maybe even a new layout, too. Of course, then we’d need new door- and drawer-pulls, a farmhouse-style sink, a new faucet and, oh, maybe new appliances while we’re at it.

In other words, once we get started we’ll be working on our kitchen for weeks, if not months. That means weeks, if not months, when I won’t be cooking, baking, canning or otherwise playing around in the kitchen. Months of takeout. Months of eating at restaurants where someone else does the cooking, the dishes, the sweeping up afterward. Months where I don’t hear my son or husband complain that I’m serving too many vegetables and not enough meat, or that the meat is fine but there’s not enough of it, or that there’s enough of it but they wish it was more/less spicy, more/less salty, more/less done.

Wait, why am I putting this off?!

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For one thing, our budget can barely cover the air-conditioning bill required to keep my hot flashes, as well as the smell of a sweaty pre-teen boy, from stinking up the place. Then there are the mood swings, both his and mine. His usually strike when he’s tired, which happens in the half-hour before dinnertime. Mine usually strike when I’m both tired and still have obligations, like making a meal for said dinnertime. For the most part, we’ve learned not to be in the same room during those stressful thirty minutes, but every so often his homework runs longer than usual. That’s when my husband will come home to find both my son and I barely speaking to each other not out of anger, but out of restraint: we’ve learned that conversations at that point are likely to lead to tears (his), grinding teeth (mine) and drop-dead stares (both of ours).

Unfortunately, my husband has completely forgotten what he was like during his own puberty, and of course he has absolutely no experience being a menopausal woman. As far as he’s concerned, both my son and I can simply “walk off” our hormonal mood swings. Maybe that’s true for a pre-teen boy with a full head of steam, but the very LAST thing a middle-aged man out to tell his wife when she’s experiencing the bloating, mood swings, exhaustion, and hot flashes of The Change is to “just walk it off”.

Because, well, she just might keep walking and never come back.

The good news is that I no longer am looking to my husband for understanding about any of this. I don’t have to now that there’s a website devoted to what we’re going to call the “menopausal community”. GotMenopause covers it all, from peri-menopause all the way through those post-menopausal years when you’re finally, finally getting back to the real you. There are articles as well as forums, and they’re building a nice little social network over there.

In other words, the next time my husband suggests I just “walk off” the insomnia, brain fog and those horrible, horrible hot flashes, I’m going to do just that. But, instead of walking out the door, I’ll make a path to the computer.

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I typically do not want to spend any more than 1/2 hour on prep. Cooking time doesn’t matter; once it’s simmering or baking, I don’t care.

This might not sound like a challenge to you, but I’m the type of person who slices, dices and chops throughout the day then stashes my ingredients in bowls in the fridge until I’m ready to really get started on making dinner. So, after scratching my head a bit, I decided to delve through my archives. Whaddya know, it turns out I do have some “easy-ish”* recipes among my various blogs!

(*NOTE: When I say “easy-ish”, it really depends on your knife skills. Some people spend 5 minutes dicing an onion that only takes a minute for someone else. If the prep work seems like a chore, use a food processor’s slicing blade, or buy pre-sliced veggies from your grocery store’s salad bar!)

1. Here’s an baked salmon recipe that’s diet-friendly, too.

2. What could be easier than a pot roast you stick in the oven and ignore? Made with eye of round — a less-expensive cut that comes out surprisingly tender when cooked this way — this one’s easy on the budget. Plus, the leftovers make for great roast beef sandwiches, au jus or not.

3. My family loves crockpot Steak Pizzaiola served with salad and a crusty loaf of bread.

4. While we’re talking about crockpots, here’s my Sin-free crockpot lasagna. (Now that I’ve looked over that recipe again, I think we’ll be having it later this week.)

5. Then there’s my Slow Cooker Chicken with Olives, that’s not only a one-pot meal but my most-searched recipe.

6. One more for the crockpot, this is the easiest BBQ chicken I’ve ever found. Serve it on warm rolls with tossed salad and jacket potatoes for the taste of summer barbecuing any time of year!

7. We try to keep an eye on carbs around here (okay, we don’t, but I sound SO much more ‘with it’ when I claim otherwise), so I came up with a flourless chicken piccata. (Bonus recipe: substitute peeled shrimp for the chicken!)

8. Speaking of shrimp… how about super easy shrimp linquine?

9. I almost hesitate to share this one, because it’s my 5-star recipe and I’d hate to find out that everyone who’s raved about it has actually been lying. But here’s a 10-minute Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Butter Glaze that’s delicious enough for company.

10. We love soup in the winter, especially because it gives me a chance to sneak veggies into my family’s diet. This Southwestern Turkey Soup is my go-to on the day after Thanksgiving, when I’m trying to use up turkey, but I’ve been known to make it with leftover roast chicken, too.

11. And here’s a chicken tortilla soup, too!

12. This Garlicky Chicken with Spinach just needs a side of rice, mashed potatoes or quinoa cooked in broth to make a complete meal.

13. AND 14. Love lamb? Here are two ways to try it: lamb ‘piccata’ patties, and herbed leg of lamb. Yes, they really ARE easy-ish!

15. Too tired to cook from scratch? Try this Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings.

16. More interested in a sandwich? This Muffaleta recipe makes a filling dinner… and the next day’s lunch… and the day after that….

17. Finally, here’s a spicy and hearty beef stew recipe that was handed down from my great-great Aunt who made it without the veggies, as did my mom. I added veggies to make it a one-pot meal, but it’s great either way.

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This week’s freebies:

» Get a free Shout Color Catcher sample. Just like their page on Facebook!

» Take the Eucerin skin care pledge and get a free sample of Eucerin Everyday Skincare Protection SPF 15 lotion. Good stuff!

» Check out Calvin Klein’s latest fragrance, ‘Beauty’, by ordering your free sample.

» Get not only a free sample, but great coupons for Invisible Glass Wipes. (If your kids are like mine, they can’t keep their hands off of your car windows. These are super handy to keep in the glove compartment for fast cleanups!)

And now, to jump-start your mornings — and your savings:

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»Free sample of Dove Daily Treatment conditioner.

»Armani Sport Code cologne sample (link is to the far right).

»I ordered this Dentek Floss Pick sample a couple of weeks back, and the “sample” was a full package AND a coupon. Lucky me, since these are a daily must-have in my book!

»Sign up for Dave and Busters Reward Program and get a free $10 in game play. Plus, you’ll earn an additional $10 for every $100 you spend there on food and drinks.

»You may already know that during the month of August, kids eat free at iHop from 4-10 pm. But did you also know that if you join the iHop Pancake Revolution you can get a free meal on your birthday AND offers for big discounts the rest of the year? (Last month, they sent us a $5 off coupon. This month? An offer to buy one entree and two beverages, and get the second entree free. Needless to say, we make iHop a regular Sunday morning stop!)

That’s it on the freebies today. Be sure to visit again soon for my latest finds.

Oh, and look soon for grocery and household item coupons you can print from home!

UPDATE: Kimsch found Downy samples!
 
 

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Plus, I hear there’s plenty of good swag to be had. In fact, I’ve simmered with jealousy when reading some of my favorite female bloggers write about the oodles of neat — and free! — things they’ve brought home from BlogHer over the years. But no one told me there were adult toys involved. Seriously?

Now, I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised. I know some of the women who’ve gone to BlogHer and, let me just say, not all of them strike me as wild and crazy kind of gals. Then again, last year’s BlogHer was in San Diego, California, and just about everyone is nuts out there.

In light of that fact, I have to say I’m rather surprised there weren’t any stories in the news about Mommy Bloggers setting off airport screening alarms because they’d packed their sex toy swag in their carry-on luggage. This tells me that either there weren’t a whole lot of women there scooping up the free gadgets, or they’d sobered up long enough to pack sanely.

Were you there? Which one describes you???

 

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Now, I know what you’re thinking: how’s a sample going to help me save money? The answer is: they often come with a coupon! Plus, if you’ve got a tween, teen or college-age kid, it’s always great to have a nice pile of free snack bars, lotions, shampoos and other items around. They make great rewards — you wouldn’t believe how many chores I can get out of my son in exchange for a chance to pick a snack bar out of my goodie box.

And, if your family’s anything like mine, the kids love to find their Christmas stockings crammed full with a variety of things. So why not cram them full of freebies? (What’s that, it’s too early to think of Christmas shopping? Pshaw. That’s one of the best ways to save money: buy gifts when they’re on sale!)

Here’s a sampling of some freebies I’ve found these past few days. I plan to make a regular feature of my finds, so check back here often for your one-stop freebie ordering page! (Note: As always, the best privacy protection is to set up a separate email account entirely for couponing or freebies.)

• Gluten-free protein bar from NoGii
• Toilet paper cover from Cottonelle (must have UPC)
• John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo sample
• Activia Selects Greek or French yogurt
• Homemade Simple Coupon book ($35 in coupons!)
• Ava coffee sample
• Back-to-school Post-It Notes
• Kashi cereal or snack bar sample

Enjoy!

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Oh, I’ve never had a complex about using coupons, nor have I understood people who think that using them in public is a sign of poverty. (Little known fact: frequent coupon users tend to be affluent, making $70k/year or more, which kind of raises the chicken and egg question, doesn’t it?) In fact, I’ve clipped coupons on and off throughout my life, just like my mom did and her mother before her, to save $0.25 here and $0.45 there. That’s the kind of couponing most of us think of when we turn up our noses and proclaim, “But I can save more by just buying the store or generic brand.”

If nothing else, TLC’s Extreme Couponing disproves that notion. The ladies and occasional gent featured on the show have ignited a couponing craze after viewers, including me, watched them take home literally thousands of dollars worth of groceries for less than the cost of a movie ticket. “Why,” the thinking goes, “if they can do it, so can I!”

Or, at least, that’s how I got hooked into serious couponing. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not racking up their kind of savings. I’d go so far as to say few people ever really do, and that even the people featured on the show don’t routinely score those kind of deals, either.

With cameras rolling prior to their trips, each and every one has confessed “I’ve never tried to make this big of haul before”, or some variation on that theme. The honest ones admit to using ‘extreme’ tactics to gather the hundreds of coupons they’ll be using on their trip, whether through buying up every copy of the Sunday paper in town or using coupon clipping service. One even went dumpster diving (with her kid and pregnant best friend, no less!) Yet another, Jaime Kirlew, went so far as to ask her store for an alphabetized list of every product they sell, and which aisle it’s located in, so she could prepare her coupons in advance. As to her “preparations”, well… let’s just say she’s been widely accused of coupon fraud, and it’s not the first time, either.

Point is: like many other people who tuned in, I’d hoped to walk out of the grocery store with cart after cart full of groceries, all for a mere $5. When that didn’t happen, my first instinct was to blame myself. Fortunately, my second instinct was to do some research on the matter and, like millions of other viewers, I came to the conclusion that this is just another ‘reality TV program’ that has very little to do with reality.

But I didn’t stop couponing. In fact, I’ve stuck with it and, through trial and error (and a couple of tricks I share below), I’m getting pretty good at it as you can see by the pictures of my receipts up there! So, without further ado, here are my five best tips for cutting your grocery bill with coupons… realistically:

1. Get coupons wherever you can find them. For me, that’s the Sunday paper: I get at least two copies per week, sometimes as many as four. (Many coupon masters recommend one paper per person in your household, plus one as a general rule of thumb.)

Now, I know some of you may say you just can’t afford that many copies. Let me put it this way: last week alone I found $27 in coupons in one newspaper. I bought three, for a total savings of $81 in coupon savings. My total cost for the papers was $6.48. That means I’ll be saving $74.52 over and above the cost of the papers themselves!

I also subscribe to All You magazine which contains anywhere from $50 to $110 in coupons each month, so it also pays for itself. Many other magazines contain the occasional coupon, too. Clip them.

Other sources:

• Product packaging — always check inside the box!
• Swagbucks (under Earn > Coupons). Once you’ve signed up, you have access to not just coupons, but ways to earn money doing things as simple as answering a daily poll!
• Printable coupon sites like SmartSource.com, Coupons.com, RedPlum.com and Mambo Sprouts (which offers coupons on organic foods, even!).
• The manufacturer’s own website or Facebook page. (For instance, last week Nestle offered a free Drumstick ice cream cone to Facebook fans. Let me tell you, nothing tastes as good as free!
• Your grocery store’s website. These days, most stores offer ‘digital coupons’ on their websites, which ties your frequent shopper card to digital coupons so you don’t even have to print them!
• The public library. Surprisingly, ours has a pretty good coupon swap shelf. You drop off the ones you don’t want, and pick up ones you’d like. Of course, it’s bad form to pick up more than you drop off, so keep that in mind!

2. Track your coupons. Here’s where I confess I’m a bit OCD, because I now have so many coupons in my fancy-schmancy coupon binder that it’s difficult to remember what I have, and what’s about to expire. So I created a simple spreadsheet in Excel, and once or twice a week I take time to enter my new coupon info into it. Now, when I read about a good sale I can find out in a few keystrokes if I have a coupon to go with it or not. I even uploaded mine to Dropbox so I can access it from my iPhone when I’m in a store and tempted to buy something without a coupon in hand. Of course, once I’ve used a coupon I delete it from my spreadsheet!

But you don’t have to be OCD, or even keep your own database going. Many master couponers simply file their Sunday inserts by date in hanging folders, then let other websites tell them which coupons to pull to match sales. (More on those other websites in a bit.)

3. Know your prices. Okay, here’s where I reeeeeallllly come across as OCD: I keep a Price Book, also in Excel, and also uploaded to Dropbox. This is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things I’ve done to shave money off of our grocery bill.

See, like many shoppers, I’ve fallen for the ‘low price’ claims in the store flyers, only to find out later it wasn’t that great of a deal. I’d also noticed that some items seem to get marked down in regular cycles, and that no two stores ever have the same price, so I simply started keeping track of those things. Now when I read a sales flyer offering fryer chickens at $1.19/lb I know whether that’s a good deal or not. (It’s not. And, incidentally, my Price Book also made me see that buying a whole chicken on sale for $0.44/lb and cutting it up myself was an even better deal than any store would ever give me!)

I know, I know. You’re probably thinking I don’t have that kind of time! Look, if you have time for Facebook, you’ve got time to do this! It takes me 15 minutes a week to enter in coupons into my spreadsheet, and another 15 minutes a week to enter prices. That 30 minutes per week has paid off BIG TIME in savings!

4. Match coupons to TRUE sales prices. You’ll be able to recognize them yourself if you keep a price book. But… if you don’t have time for that, SavingsAngel.com is a site that — I can tell you from personal experience — pretty much does everything but Step 1 for you (and, actually, when it comes to finding printable coupons on the web they do that for you, too!) They tell you what’s on sale, how good the sale is, which coupons to match to the sale, and even let you print your customized shopping list for a HUGE assortment of stores… including Canada! Yes, it’s a $20/mo. membership (first 2 weeks are only $5). But in my first day of shopping after signing up with their service I saved enough to pay for three months of my membership!

Finally…

5. Stock up sufficiently on the best sales to get you through until the item is back on deep discount again! This is known as ‘stockpiling’ which, when performed by the TLC Extreme Couponers, verges on hoarding. I’m not talking about buying 100 bottles of mustard just because you can get them for $0.10 (or free). I’m talking about buying enough at a deeply discounted sale price, topped by additional savings via coupons, to meet your family’s needs until the next time you can do that very same thing.

Why stockpile?

Let me give you an example from my own family. My son and husband both absolutely love breakfast cereal, and not just for breakfast, either. To both of them it’s also a perfect snack (and it beats potato chips!), as well as their favorite pre-bedtime nosh. (How they stay thin is a mystery to me!) On average, they go through 3 boxes of cereal per week. According to my price book, cereal goes on true sale every 3 months. So let’s look at the math:

Without coupons, regular price: 3 boxes of cereal x $2.89 = $8.67 / week (with weekly trips to the store to get more)

With coupons, regular price: 3 boxes of cereal x ($2.89 – $0.50 off coupon) = $7.17 / week (with weekly trips to the store to get more)

With coupons, at sale price 3 boxes of cereal x ($1.99 – $0.50 off coupon) = $4.47

AND since that’s almost half price, getting to the next true sale means I buy 36 boxes of cereal at the sale price with a coupon on each because I’ve been so diligently saving them waiting for the true sale to occur. (To finish the math, that’s 36 boxes of cereal x ($1.99 – $0.50 off coupon for each) = $53.64… roughly what I’d have paid for 6 weeks of cereal at regular price. Since we’ve got plenty of space in the basement, taking advantage of these kind of deals works very, very well for us.

Do you have to stockpile all at once? Heck no. I still have regular groceries to buy on a limited budget, so I use as many coupons as I can to free up as much money as possible. Then, with the money I’ve saved I stockpile the best-priced items for later. Not only am I getting things I know we’ll use at a significantly lower cost (sometimes as little as 1/4 the original price, sometimes even free!), but I now have fewer things that I have to buy each week because I’ve already bought them. Some of that excess goes toward stockpiling more things and some of it goes toward the fund for the family cruise I’d like to take some day.

And to think, clipping coupons just might get me there!

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But this morning when he came downstairs I was checking out the nautical-themed Costa Brava line of boys clothing from Tea Collection. So imagine my surprise when, glancing over my shoulder, he proclaimed they were “cool looking clothes”.

I’d already been taken in by their crisp lines and retro vibe, and the way the entire clothing line evokes summers in Hyannis Port, or maybe Charleston — some sunny place where the air smells of saltwater and warm grass. You know, the lazy kind of summer a mother daydreams about, as if dressing a kid in a certain style could actually change how that kid behaves. Or so, at least, I’d been telling myself when I started to close the browser window.

“Wait, Mom,” said my Big-Eyed Boy (in a voice that I can’t help noticing is starting to get husky). “I’d look pretty cool wearing that t-shirt when we’re fishing at the lake this summer, don’t you think?” Right then, as the sun streamed through our kitchen windows to light up the golden strands in his hair and the breeze carried in the scent of fresh-mown lawns, I realized that, yes, he really would.

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So yesterday, as I waited in my minivan for my son to get out of school, I found myself barely able to read email on my iPhone because the screen was so grimy. Makeup, lotion, fingerprints — they were all there, and no matter how I tried cleaning it with the hem of my t-shirt I just couldn’t get the thing clean. Then I remembered, alcohol makes a great glass cleaner, right? And there was that pump bottle of Purell sitting conveniently in my glove box, right next to the travel pack of Kleenex.

Sure enough, the stuff worked great. Better, even, than the expensive lens/monitor cleaner with microfiber cleaning cloth I’d bought at CVS (and have somehow since misplaced). While I was at it, I cleaned my sunglasses and rear-view mirror. Can you say sparkleeeeeeey?

I love it when inspiration strikes.

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