Menu Planning Week 5

So 5 weeks into the challenge and again we hit 6 out of 7. This is going to help when we have our new pantry set up as we will only have the food for the menu in the kitchen.

This week
S - Help yourself
M - Soft tacos
T - crock pot bag meal (these are meals we set up once a month from market on the move
W - Breakfast for dinner
T - Chicken Puffs (thanks Piniterest)
F - BBQ Meatball sliders
S - Chicken Thai Bites

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Thats the wrong way! Pt 2

So a week back I was looking at how you can use things the wrong way, I posed this question to the individuals at WUC and boy did they have some awesome ideas. Part 1 is here

My favorite has to be the many, many, many uses for a simple dryer sheet. Now the ones above I stocked up on with a very special coupon last year that gave me the 40ct free plus lovely overage.

So how many ways can you use a dryer sheet

1 - Traditional, in your dryer!
2 - Cut one up and place in your drawers for lovely smelling socks
3 - In your air vents as an air freshener
4 - Use to pet your dog with it in between bathes...it really works on de-smelling them
5 - After you have used them in the dryer, dust or dust mop with them, they suck the dust to them, thanks to static energy.
6 - I learned that they can be used to tame static in hair
7 - Use in the bottom of a grimy pan, add hot water and soak for 30 minutes.
8 - Shoe refreshers
9 - Cat litter box deodorizer
10- Car freshener, under the seat
11- Use to shine chrome



Now I tell you, toothpaste is the EASIEST thing to get free with coupons.

Uses of toothpaste:

1 - Clean your teeth
2 - Filler for nail holes in walls
3 - Burn care (PLEASE ONLY MILD BURNS) the mint helps cool
4 - Stove top cleaner
5 - Acne solution, helps zits come to a head
6 - Sneaker whitening
7 - Clean jewellery
8 - Mosquito bites, to calm the itching

What other ideas do you have?

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The Big Waste

So we watched a show on food network called "The Big Waste' and wow did it bring a lot to light. Now I have always known that there was a major food wastage issue in this country but I had always thought it was because food went 'bad' not that it wasn't perfect.

The premise of the show was 4 celebrity chefs had to make a dinner for 100 people, the catch being it had to be wasted food. Food that no-one wanted. Now I imagined that they would be boiling mold off vegetables, picking tiny pieces of fruit from rotten and that the meat would be some fermented delicacy as that was all they could do with expired flesh. After all in this tough economy, surely we are mindful of the produce we use, milking each piece to provide substance.

I really had a picture of them taking an orange and saying 'look these three segments are still good, lets do something to kill the bacteria'. Thats what you expect! I mean really some of the things that they were finding were insane. A restaurant ordered too much fish so they sent it back and because it was this mornings catch instead of this afternoons, THEY COULDN'T SELL IT!

Now I am going to sound really dumb, I mean I should have been blonde with this thought. No offense intended, it just makes me think of a blonde style joke. I thought all carrots were STRAIGHT, you know bugs bunny style, but the only reason we don't see carrots that have grown around rocks and have weird and wacky angles is because people want straight and taste isn't what they want, they want pretty.

"Why did the blonde throw away the fresh carrots....because they didn't match the cartoon picture!" (PLEASE AGAIN NO OFFENSE INTENDED)

Or the joke about throwing bananas away because they were all bent!

Another thing I learned about was the FREEGAN lifestyle, this made me research freegans, its a very cool idea, not for me, but still I get it. There is a lot of sharing in the community, reminds me of times in villages where if someone had milk and needed corn, there was not only barters but a free exchange as there was a trust that someone would be there for you later. Its a sorry state that we don't feel as neighborly to one another as times gone by, unfortunately with good reason, this generation has been taught to be given an inch they can take a mile.

SO what can we learn about this lifestyles and the waste around us, how can we save money by taking this information to heart?

1 - Menu plan, use what you buy, you paid for it!
2 - Market on the Move - a system where you can purchase large bulk quantities from farmers that would go to waste for mere pennies on the dollar.
3 - Talk with stores and see if you can negotiate a deal to purchase things cheaply before they are thrown out, a lot of the time this is for cosmetic and not for expiration.
4 - Shop clearance meats - They are still good, we FREEZE them the same day.
5 - Utilize pick your own - Some offer discounts for 'floor' produce which you can still inspect and choose your own
6 - Buy in Season - This is normally the cheapest anyway but by using seasonal produce you rotate your menus and can be supporting small farmers.
7 - Dumpster diving is not for us, but if you choose to, research your laws and what you are looking for first.
8 - Talk with butchers - They may have opportunities to buy that they are just not advertising.

I swear I have a different outlook on food, how often would I have passed up an item that was imperfect in shape but perfect in taste?

How far would you go to conserve food?

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Kitchen Catastrophy!

There is just so much wrong with this little kitchen, and please excuse the dishes, I hadn't done them yet. I do love the little 'window' cut out though, its a keeper.





Ok so I said that the kitchen deserves its own special post.

So NEED TO DO :

Working oven, right now one half of the oven works so we have to rotate so we don't have one undercooked half and one burned.

Fridge that is not held together with tape on the crisper, shelves etc, also preferable one that is not a freezer on the top shelf in the fridge.

Storage, lets just say that there is none as you can see by my stockpile

Cabinets that are secured to the walls and not rotten in places

A Sink that is not clogged (We fixed with our handy dandy father in law and $15 in pipes, this would have cost $200 to call a plumber).

We Want

Country white cabinets
Black Granite counters
Stainless Steel appliances
A DISHWASHER
A layout that works
A 5 Burner stove top


The plan is to close the smaller of the two doors into the kitchen from the living room so we can make a U shaped kitchen, rip everything out and start from scratch. We will need to do new electrical and plumbing as well as replace the tile floor. Then on the dining area side, we are going to take the dining table to the Sun room and have a china hutch there as well as the 'time out chair'

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App's for inventory

So if you know me I am a total nut when it comes down to organization. The problem I have is finding the right system for each thing I want to organize, so until I have perfection I live in 'organized chaos'.

So hubby found an app yesterday for Android, Grocery Tracker and yes its a FREE app. I refuse to pay for anything I don't need to. I played with it for a couple of hours yesterday and I love it. There are a couple of things I wish it did (I will be jotting a little note to the developers, as they request) but all in all, LOVE IT!!!



So as you can see from the menu, you have inventory and shopping lists, in the shopping lists section you can program stores and their coupon policies as well as local tax rates. On this program you can put your item in as well as the coupon. Add as you are going around the store with the bar code scanner...NO MORE SURPRISES at check out.

Now here is my yum moment. How we will be using our stockpile is almost like a grocery store inside the home. When we buy items that are for the stockpile they will be inventoried in to the pantry, each week after we have designed the meal plan for the week, we are going to go into the pantry, 'shop' and then 'checkout' using the app.



Now the app has a couple of features that are phenomenal, first you can decide on each item what your 'warning' point is. Such as Cream of Mushroom soup is a staple in our home and if I was to go below 25 cans I would start to worry, so I place 25 on my 're-order' option and can run a report of what I have gone below on so I know what deals I need to find. It also has a prediction function which looks at what you have been putting into inventory and taking out so it can predict what you may run out of this week.

I can also Email the entire inventory to myself to review and place into a worksheet. My desire to be organized is coming to fruition.

(I have not been contacted to provide this review, this is just my experience)

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Menu Planning - Week 4

WHOOHOOO!!! 6 out of 7, we rocked it last week. One of the new recipes we tried was so easy and yummy so I think it warrants a share!




Taken from A year of Slow cooking
--4 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
--4-8 slices of ham (
--4-8 slices of swiss cheese
--can of your favorite cream-of-something soup (We used Cream of Chicken)
--2 T low fat milk

The Directions.

I used a 4qt for this recipe. If you only have a large, consider upping to 6 breast halves--(psst. if you do up it, you don't really need another can of soup. Unless you do 8 halves. Then you should use another).

Spray crockpot with cooking spray or use the slow cooker bags.

Pound chicken breasts flat (put them in a ziplock before you pound so chicken juice doesn't spray all over the kitchen grossing you out, and necessitate a call to the local Hazmat team).

Put a slice of the ham and a slice of the swiss cheese on the chicken breast and roll it up. Put it into the slowcooker, seam side down. If desired, top with another piece of ham and cheese. Continue with the other pieces. It's okay to stagger-stack the chicken. It will still cook nicely for you.

Open can of cream-of soup. Pour into slowcooker. Put the 2T of low fat milk into your empty can and swirl it around to get the remaining stuck on good stuff. Pour that in, too.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has begun to brown on top. I took ours out for exactly 4 hours on high. It was cooked through, but could have stayed in longer to gain some color.

I added rice, green beans and corn after a couple of hours and ended up with a 'fake' risotto side, even better it was a one pot cook which means less dishes. I just lifter the chicken on to the top of the rice mix.

So Next week, now that we are feeling brave.

S - Crunchy Beef bake
M - Chicken and Broccoli
T - BBQ Bean Casserole
W - Pork and Apples
TH- Caribbean Casserole
F - Curried Chicken Crepes
Sa- Beef and Couscous.

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Making this our dream home!

So we have calculated and manipulated money and this would turn the home into a dream home that we would live in forever and ideally retire as other wise it is so not worth the cost.

We have set ourselves a budget. This would give us 2 remodeled bathrooms a complete redo on the kitchen, a redesign on the pool complete with hot tub. A homestead back yard, with built in grill, three bedrooms, a dining room, office and full size pantry (or 4th bedroom size). A space that could be a dinette, but we will use otherwise. A fully landscaped front and back yard. Fencing all around the front.

The kitchen will have french door refrigerator, 6 burner stove and double oven. White country cabinets and black granite or marble counters. A dishwasher that does not have a human name, lighting in every room, new flooring throughout and be a tranquil haven. We will also increase our square footage of living space to 1800 and add AC into 4 rooms.

We are giving ourselves $75,000 to save almost $100k on the quotes! and 10 years to do it all.

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How much? How you get ripped off! - Home Renovation

So to estimate the costs on everything we need to do to make this home our dream home I used a combination of estimates and Service Magicshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif pricing tools.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE ~ THESE ARE ACTUAL QUOTES AND ESTIMATES. They are not the larger quotes either, this is average if not the lowest quotes I could get.

From Top to Bottom

Roof - $8070
AC - $5500
Swamp - $372
Windows - $15295
Kitchen - $20622 (not including appliances)
Appliances - $7315
Bathroom - $8520 Times 2
Electrical - $5125
Flooring - $10780
Moldings - $1884
Pool - $20000
Trees - $1500
Grass(fake)- $10000
Landscaping- $4200
Painting - $15000


Total of $169253!!!!!!!!! This is if professionals were to do all the work, my goal is to do everything ourselves except the pool as I think that is the one job we really cant do.


*Update we saved $13570 already! It turns out that the damage to the AC unit and the roof were caused by a horrendous hail storm, thank goodness for home owners insurance. The company were good enough to cover our deductible if we went with them so we got the roof and the AC unit FREE. Because we had been sensible and had home owners, who never know when you will need it!*

We have also started on our enclosure we will add more details on another post and I am in the process of painting the house. FIL had a paint sprayer and in a matter of a couple of hours the bulk was sprayed and I am now doing the detail work myself. This was quoted at $4000 and so far we have spent $390 on paint and supplies. A little hard work goes a very long way! The quotes were high because I wanted a detailed 2 tone pain job!

More updates to come.

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Cheapskate Renovations - lots of pictures!

So I have to admit, I am a cheapskate, a frugalista, a coupon clipping fiend! So how can I take what I know for grocery shopping and take it and put it into our home.

Let me fill you in a little bit more, last year we purchased our first home! YAY for us! We were warned that it needed major work, that the price seriously reflected that. We were just in love with the style of home and the fact that because of the price our mortgage could be paid off in less than 10 years! YES TEN YEARS! How much money would that save.

Tip- save yourself thousands by paying a little extra on your principle! It reduces the over all amount of interest and also in the long run the term of your mortgage.

Look at the house from the front, I have called this the Gingerbread house since we moved in, I love it and I have been inspired to turn it into an Old English Country Cottage. Two reasons really, one I want a taste of home and two I want to look different from everyone else.

Its so cute! What you don't see is that the air conditioner and swamp cooler are on the last legs, part of the roof is damaged, the tap in the front leaks, the front yard is full of dips, the sprinkler system wasn't put in right, the windows no longer fit the frames.



So this is the front room after we moved in, we had an Asian theme from our old house, what the picture doesn't show is the very bad paint job and old electric, no light fixture among many other issues!



Basic hall leading to the 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. One bedroom is currently being used as an office!

Bad paint job and moving laminate floor!



Our before bedroom image. This room is SMALL!!! Even smaller now we have a King Size bed! But I am of the belief that bedrooms aren't to 'hang out in' but an escape, so fix the electric, the paint job, the floor boards, renovate some storage ideas and make that haven!




Our master bathroom, complete with shower that doesn't work and cracked shower pan. Some obvious damp damage etc.



The nursery/X's room. This has a bigger closet so it will become the girls bedroom, just because boys clothes tend to lean to ones I can put in drawers rather than hang. The blinds are falling apart, its painted peach and the inside of the closet is a very ugly magenta. The light fixture doesn't work either!



This will be the boys room, currently its the office/slash if it doesn't have a home it lives here. Same list of problems as many of the rooms.



The main bathroom, I think my favorite problem is when they screwed an electric wall plate on the kitchen wall with a screw that was a little too long and the tip of the screw has come through the shower wall. Can we say ZAP!



The patio has the most potential, the concrete has cracked with grass growing through it! BB gun bullet holes from when someone decided to use the wall as target practice!



Now in Arizona a pool is almost considered a necessity, after the summers are brutal at least! Yet this is a diving pool with an eight foot deep end, not exactly kid friendly and the pump is on its last legs!.

The laundry room, I dont have before images as the water heater bust and rotted the wall.studs so we already did some work but I will take some midway pictures and then after once I am done.

The kitchen deserves a post all to itself, its original from the 60's, rotted wood, not space aware at all and needs gutting! The appliances don't really work and DH hates that there is not a dishwasher.

This is a challenge, and I i tend on raising our family in this 1600 square foot home, including up to several kiddies once God allowing we have them!

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Are you Pinterested?

So I caved, I had to know, what is Pinterest? So I posted on my facebook asking, no begging for an invite. I hang my head in shame and admit it is an addiction.

One of the 'pins' floating around is "Piniterest, where women plan imaginary weddings, dress children they don't have and decorate houses they can't afford!' Do you know how true this is?

Let me explain a little about what it is. Piniterest is a virtual cork board where you pin anything from inspirations and dreams to sewing patterns and outfits. Really it is a glorified bookmark system as it doesn't store the recipes but rather the link to the page it is on the web.

Yet it is an improvement over the bookmark as it notes it as an image instead of the fee words you use in a bookmark.

I am in the process of a major renovation to our home and the ideas I am finding are out of this world. It is supposed to be the latest and greatest thing and I have to say I am loving it!

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Meal Plans Week 3

You know we did better last week we accomplished 4 out of 7 meals, YAY us!

This is huge actually eating what we have planned and instead of waiting till the last minute. We had to make some changes to Saturdays but it was basically the same pot roast, you see we had invited the missionaries to dinner and it turned out that one of them had a dairy allergy. Out went mashed potatoes, in came roasted, out went brown sugar butter carrots and we used a dairy free 'butter' that we had got for FREE with coupons and I had to make some changes to the pear crumble and cream desert. All in all we did very well.

So far its Sunday and we have already successfully had our 1st dinner of the week.

S - Frozen Pizza
M - Chicago Steak Burgers
T - Sweet n Saucy Meatballs
W - Stroganoff
TH - Fajitas with Rice
F - Slow Cooker Chicken Corden Bleu
S - Gnocchi and Alfredo.

We are hoping to at least hit five this week!

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Thats the Wrong Way pt1

So one thing I have found since couponing is the multiple uses a lot of things have. It can help be a little adventurous too.

Some of the things we have found to be multi purpose are

* Baby Wipes - not just for babies, they work great on many things
* Muffin Mix - double the milk and it makes yummy waffles that seem that you have spent hours making
* Salad Dressing - We also use these as meat marinades
* Biscuits - roll them out for Pizza
* Fabric Softener sheets - drawer fresheners and good static sheets to get dust (after they have gone through the dryer)
* Floss - strong craft thread
* Plastic grocery bags - We haven't bought trash bags in over a year!

This why I tell people that even if you don't think you will use it and its free after the coupon, get it...you will surprised at what you can do!

What have you used something for that it wasn't intended to be?

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Chaos can Reign Supreme

So I love the 'baby Blues Comic', it is so realistic and they love to say what everyone is thinking but scared to point out.

Today I felt like this, I had the living room so pretty and in comes my almost 2 year old tornado and 10 minutes later all my hard work was undone. Every single book, toy, block came out as well as almost every ball out of his ball pit. DH wants to get him more balls for his birthday, not happening. The cushions no longer belonged on the sofa, they became the new floor cushions and then he proceeded to sit in the boppy with activity center (His 4 month old sisters toy) and played.

When I asked if he wanted to help me clean, I got a very straight answer. NO! Followed by more things being taken out. Fast forward to me sitting down and enjoying play time all while cringing about whose neck is getting broken by tripping over what toy.

Somehow I have managed not to clean any of it up yet and I really am not stressed after all Baby Blues has it right, give him 5 minutes tomorrow and I swear he will make it worse than he did today!

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The Good HouseWife Guide

The Good Wife's Guide - 1955 (This is rumored to be a hoax)

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

Part of me thinks this is just a nice way to express love, after all my hubby works, comes home and really does help around the house and with the kids. He cooks too, wow I have a keeper!


Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

Refreshed with 2 children under 2? Miracle more like!

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Let him watch X's latest stunt and I guarantee laughter

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dust cloth over the tables.

This is actually on my to do list this year! I would love a clutter free, organized home I just have a 2 year old tornado who doesnt agree!

Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

One word...ARIZONA! what is a 'cooler'moneth

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.


Hang on, thats not happening!


Be happy to see him.


Super easy, I am happy to see him, I need a break for 5 minutes!

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Warm smile, or look of desperation, the walls are closing in.J/K


Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

This is where the nod, smile and agree comes in! Its a well learned trick to give the impression that you are listening. Just focus on pointer words and you will be with it

Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.


This is where, in my mind of course, that there is only 62 jobs that the stay at home mother and wife accomplish and the husband at work accomplishes one.

Your goal: To try and make sure your home is a place of peace, order, and tranquillity where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

I want that for me too!

Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

No, its actions plans and resolutions. Remember that the loud clunking noise is only something happening and that maybe he could in his manly ways save you from the distress by allowing you to swoon over him as he works to repair it.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

The indentation in the couch in front of the TV doesnt count?

Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

Crap, I do this and hubby knows somethings wrong, apparently I can seem a little psychotic when I talk too softly.

Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.


Question? No we discuss so I fully understand his plan and can conform to it, meanwhile convincing him my plan is his plan.

A good wife always knows her place.

Yep, as part of an equal union that has discussions and deliberately tries to put each other ahead of themselves to create a loving and calm environment. Plus the Family Proclamation puts it right there for ease.

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Week 2 Menu Planning

So last week was a, I will say challenge. Out of 7 planned dinners we accomplished THREE. Yes a four day failure!

But to put it into some perspective, we had dinner at the in-laws once - very yummy, they had made too much and called before I started cooking. X loved it and had 2 plates full. We ate out once and had take out once.

The idea behind the menu planning is that we save money by not eating out, so this week we will do better, I promise!

from last week, we didnt care for the veggies with the Mesquite chicken Marinade but the chicken was good. Note to self marinade chicken and make kabobs for next attempt. The sante Fe pasta is an oldie but goodie, the meatloaf was not on the planned day but was very good. We use oatmeal instead of crackers/breadcrumbs and then it all went down hill. To our defense we did have some sad news on Tuesday and I have been feeling a little down from it. So taking care of myself, my hubs and my kids to a bare minimum took most of my energy. I am feeling stronger this week.

So we took some of last weeks misses and decided to go for them again.

S - Chicken Quesadillas with fiesta potatoes (from top secret recipes)
M - Sweet and Sour Pork Kabobs
T - jack Daniels BBQ Salmon (if you know my husband, this is a double shocker as he doesnt like fish but is willing to give this a shot)
W - Bag of chicken - this is one of the pre-prepped chicken and veggies we have in the freezer
T - Sweet and Saucy Meatballs (this is a recipe from your life uncommon blog)
F - Chicago Burgers (This is a pre mixed season from Weber and super yummy)
S - Slow Cooker Pot Roast - We have the missionaries over for dinner so I may experiment with a desert also.

Week 2 challenge is under way!

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Loyalty is for the Dogs

Yep, I am talking about Brand Loyalty. 3 Years ago I had things I liked, it had to be Secret Deodorant, it had to be Charmin toilet paper, it had to be Aussie shampoo. I wouldn't even try anything else. It wasn't that I had found something that worked above everything else, it was that I didnt want to change.

Now there are things that I am super loyal to, Huggies Diapers is one. This has been through careful selection and trial and error. I received a bag of LUV's diapers for our 1st baby shower and they leaked. We tried Pampers and that chemical nasty burn was horrendous. With Huggies we have no rashes and no leaks unless its obvious that it was just that much pee.

Now for food, I was convinced that the store brand was saving me a fortune. Yet I still had a few things that I was particular on, Ben and Jerry's being one of them. Still cant beat Ben and Jerrys!

So we decided when we started this couponing lark that if was free we would try it. Now if its 90% off and we are even slightly interested we will try it. We have discovered that we have actually been more adventurous since beginning this endeavor. One of our favorites are marinades, more often than not they are free and so many flavors, Grill Mates Zesty Herb marinade is so good and we would have probably not grabbed it before because it wasn't the store brand.

We got probably 50 packs of marinade that were free and what we do is this, we recently discovered Market on the Move, these are a large bulk of veggies for very cheap. 80lbs for $10. We got squash, zucchini, egg plant, tomatoes, corn, green beans and melon. We picked up 20lbs of boneless skinless chicken the night before and when we got home we split the chicken into 20 freezer zip lock bags, added a couple of pounds of quick blanched veggies and a marinade. Sealed it up and threw it into the freezer. This became 20 quick meals for less than $2 a bag. Something we would have never done before couponing.

Now this is probably TMI, but another discovery was Old Spice...I adore the smell on hubs and this was out of the bracket pre-coupons, he wasn't/isn't into aftershaves and smellies. He just doesnt want man funk to be his brand of smell, but the Fuji Old Spice spray is so good I love it when he wears it.

We have tried the veggie pastas and they are just delish, the egg noodles are so good in quick meals and the Uncle Bens Minute Rices are great for a last minute fix up. Now the Steamfresh vegs and lightly sauces went on sale for 10/$10 and we had a 50c off 1 (our store doubles)= Free and they are unbelievable, the red potatoes in rosemary and garlic...YUM!

What we have learned if its cheap enough get it, if you dont like it...there is always someone who will. We have learned that we can not be loyal to anything (other than huggies) and if its on sale that's what we will get. The money we save means that we can be loyal to Ben and Jerrys and Hubs Jif Peanut butter, we get to try lots of smellies and personal products as well as some unique meals that we might not have tried before coupons.

So try use a coupon, you never know what adventure you may get.

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Mad Panic - When you run out!

You know what I am talking about, its the one week/paycheck where every penny counts and you can't afford to run out and buy very much at all. This is always the week where you run out of ...insert any item here... and you just dont know how you are going to make the week work.

For us its the first week of the month, mortgage is due, car insurance, phone bill plus a bunch of other bills and it used to always be the panic week. Somehow before I began couponing it never struck me to have whatever I would run out of bought the week before when money was slightly easier to work with. Now we don't have this issue but it struck me why I am so grateful for my stockpile this week, let me explain.

Last night I was refilling the diaper box (a small box in the front room where I keep a few diapers for each kiddo close at hand) and I saw that both bags of diapers were on the last 5. Before couponing we would have been talking about who we were going to put off paying so I could buy diapers, and with 2 different sized kids, it automatically means 2 packs minimum. Now X is in size 6 which only come 20 to the pack unless I buy the box so that would mean 2 packs, A's still come 42 to a pack so its a total of 3 packs, a minimum of $30. I know, not a lot of money but when you are living paycheck to paycheck like we were, its a huge $ amount.

We also used the last cheese slice, the last slice of bread, the last out of a bottle of BBQ sauce, emptied the box of cereal, had 1lb of chicken in the fridge. Two years ago this meant a week of ramen noodles and possibly a well timed visit to Grandmas house.

We have all been there, whether you have run out of an essential like diapers or toilet paper of something you like to have in like the BBQ sauce. The nice thing with stockpiling and coupon clipping is that I just went shopping in the next room. I grabbed a couple of bags of diapers, some wipes, a loaf of bread out of the freezer, a new box of cereal...looked at our 'new menu plan' for the week and just did a mini shop with a $0 check out as it was already in our home.

Here is the huge secret! Try and have 12 weeks of any product on hand, the average sales low is every 12 weeks. This has also helped when hubby lost his job, he was only out of work for 2 weeks for which we are very very grateful, but we didnt have to worry about what we were going to eat, if we could buy toilet paper, diapers or anything like that. We just went shopping in our pantry. Fast forward 16 months and what was a stockpile that filled our pantry to bursting and a little chest freezer has grown significantly. We have a total of 4 freezers (if you include the one attached to the fridge) and we have created a room just for our stockpile. We rotate everything and have lost no food with expiration dates or the likes.

So I encourage everyone to start a stockpile, just one extra can/box/roll helps. Unfortunately no-one knows what the future holds, whether illness, unemployment or a zombie apocalypse. Being prepared is a good thing!

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Size Matters! and other Tricks

 

So size matters.....in coupon land. Basically one of the best pieces of advice I can give is that with coupons you buy the smallest size allowed on the coupon. This nets to free or almost free product instead of paying $3 for a $4 item. We have been trained to believe that the bigger the package the bigger the savings. Yet with coupons its the opposite. Here is some math for you

Toilet Paper

4 pack is $2.49 (62c a roll)
8 pack is $4.49 (56c a roll)
12 pack is $6.49 (54c a roll)

Your coupon is 55c off any pack and your store doubles

1 x 4 pack is now $1.49 (37c a roll)
1 x 8 pack is now $3.49 (43c a roll)
2 x 4 pack is now $2.98 (37c a roll)
1 x 12 pack is now $5.49 (45c a roll)
3 x 4 pack is now $4.47 (37c a roll)

One of my favorite things on this is toothpaste. A lot of the time there is no size limit on the coupon and the trial size is 97-99c. Because toothpaste coupons come around almost weekly I would rather pay zero and have 20 trial size toothpastes than pay $5 and have 5 large toothpastes.

Lets face it, other than free there is another advantage to trial size....less for the kids to attempt to clean the mirror/wall/floor/sink with than with the full size package. This in itself makes the difference, would you rather clean up 6.4oz or 0.8 oz of sticky goop?

Another 'trick' manufacturers do is that they place the picture of the larger items on the coupon so that you automatically try and buy those. For example Huggies Wipes say 64 count and above, I have seen pictures of the 64count in the plastic tub as well as the 320 count refill packs. But you will save at least 50c by buying the 72count refill in the squishy pack. If you already have a tub, just refill it and you still get the rewards points on the refills.

They also picture the most expensive item, I have seen this on Crest toothpaste coupons, it says on 'ANY' crest and pictures the gel pump which is normally 5 times the price of the regular tube.

Now I am probably going to get a couple of eye rolls at what I am about to share, but coupon decoding when done correctly is a huge plus! On the barcode of the coupon the first 5 numbers relate to the product(after the very first number) and if the coupon on the product match you are good to go. NOW THIS HAS TO BE DONE CORRECTLY! I have used this when checking the above huggies check to make sure I could use the coupon, I have also used it when the coupon has multiple items pictured but not the one I think it can be used for.

My most recent example is I had coupons for 50c off any Mahatma Rice, My store doubles and they had the small Mahatma seasoned rice for 10/$10. Now the coupon said any rice but had pictures of white, jasmine, brown rice all the 1lb bags and this was 'seasoned' rice. Now did it count because it was seasoned, there was no size requirement and it did say any. Now I wanted to avoid the BEEP because I do try and do everything ethically so I checked the barcode and yep it matched. I had zero problems at the check out. I do NOT endorse using this to go around size requirements or even using the coupons on products that do not match. I use this purely as a second check to make sure I have the right product when I am not sure.

The next trick with the barcodes is for those who have stores that double. Quite simply the coupon barcode will start with a 5 or a 9. If it starts with a 9, the coupon will NOT double.

I hope that these couple of tricks help! I will be adding more!

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Menu Planning Is Hard

No really, it is very difficult. So last night both kids were asleep and hubs and I sat down to write the menu plan for the coming week. Now part of the reasons was that we were sick and tired of the same meals as well as last minute pickings for Dinner.

All day I had been thinking how easy this was going to be! We would start and have plans for weeks not just one measly little week. After all we are both creative individuals when we want to be. We would only be looking for 2 new recipes and 5 good tried and tested recipes. Problem is when you are in a rut you cant name recipes that you make on a regular basis becomes too hard and the ones you can name you are already burned on them because you have eaten them way to often. This menu planning is coming in a nick of time.

I am sure that they will get better and more adventurous as we progress.

Sunday
B ~ French Toast and Oranges
L ~ Pizza Rolls
D ~ Mesquite BBQ Chicken with summer squash and Zucchini
Monday
B ~ Cold Cereal
L ~ PB & J Sandwiches
D ~ Sante Fe Pasta (Phili cream sauce with pasta and lots of veg)
Tuesday
B ~ Waffles
L ~ Grilled Cheese
D ~ BBQ Meatloaf with Scalloped Potatoes and veg
Wednesday
B ~ Oatmeal
L ~ Gerber Ravioli for X and microwave meal for momma
D ~ Jack Daniels Salmon
Thursday
B ~ Cold Cereal
L ~ Macaroni and hotdog
D ~ Chicken Quesadilla
Friday
B ~ Poptarts
L ~ Leftovers
D ~ Sweet and Saucy Meatballs
Saturday
B ~ French Toast
L ~ Crescent Dog
D ~ Jenni- O Turkey 'loin' with salad and veggies

Not ready to add snacks into the mix yet, like I said we will get better slowly and surely

It should get easier, right?

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