Thursday, April 29, 2010

Awesome deal!



I found some amazing deals today at Safeway!!!! I got all this for only $1.23 Plus I will be sending in the rebate for $5 back for the scrubbing bubbles and windex! :) So really I made $4. 77.

Total should have been: $22.13
Total That I DID pay : $1.23
Total Savings: $20.19

The tortillas were FREE after coupons, and the cheese was only .69 cents after coupon! The cleaning supplies ended up being 54 cents! :)

AWESOME SAFEWAY DEALS!




Kroger has released a HOT new .75 Mission Tortilla printable coupon. The best part is that it is a manufacturer coupon, so it can be used at any store! Just click on your store of choice and then go to the coupons tab to access the coupon. Here are a few options for you to use this coupon this week:



Safeway
Mission Tortilla .99 with in-ad coupon and $10 purchase
-.75 Internet printable
=FREE! (AFTER BEING DOUBLED UP TO 1.00)

Grocery


Kellogg’s Rice Krispies or Froot Loops 12oz $1.99
-$1/2 IP HERE
Scenario 1:
Buy (5) Boxes of Rice Krispies or Froot Loops for a total of $9.95
-(2) $1/2 Internet printable
-$4 Catalina for buying 5 boxes of Kellogg’s Cereal *CAT DEAL DOES NOT START UNTIL 5/1
=.79 each


OR

Scenario 2:
Buy (4) Boxes of Rice Krispies for a total of $7.96
-(2) $1/2 IP
-$3 Catalina for buying 3 boxes of Kellogg’s Cereal *CAT DEAL DOES NOT START UNTIL 5/1
=.74 each B



Sara Lee Bagels $1.69 (Saturday and Sunday Only)
-.55 IP HERE
=.69

Safeway Select Artisan Angel Food Cake $1.79 (Saturday and Sunday Only)


Chicken of the Sea Chunk Light Tuna .44 each


Cheeze-It Crackers 7.5-9oz .99 (Saturday and Sunday Only)
-.75 IP HERE (If Duoz Cheeze-Its are included in the sale)
=.24 each

Kraft Salad Dressing .99 (Saturday and Sunday Only)


2-Liter 7-UP or A&W Root Beer .69 with in-ad coupon and $10 purchase
-$1/2 Peelie
=.19 each



Sargento Shreaded Cheese $1.69 with in-ad coupon and $10 purchase
-.75 IP HERE
=.69 each

Safeway Select Pizza $2.99 with in-ad coupon and $10 purchase


Buy (4) Windex for $1.99 each
-(4) $1 IP HERE
-$1 Safeway eCoupon
=$2.96
-(2) $2 Catalinas (through 5/16)
=$1.04 Money Maker!

Monday, April 26, 2010




So I'm not feeling the greatest, so here is the plan and hopefully it gets followed as good as last weeks!!! I was so proud of myself, I did go and stock up on some good stuff at Safeway, but only spent about 7.00 dollars last week!! So far this week I have spent $6.25. Grapes at Safeway are on sale, bread is only 88cents, salad is on sale for 1.00 each!!!!! Normally 2.79 so definitely stock up on those!!! Also baby carrots are on sale for 99cents! :)

Here is our plan:

Monday: MOPS (we eat there)

Tuesday - Pizza in a crock pot

Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan

Thursday - Meatballs / potatoes / green beans (make double batch to freeze!)

Friday - Leftovers (Hubby has a track meet, so this should make it easy!)

Saturday - Fajitas

Sunday - Taco's

This is fairly easy, and since I was sick and didn't get my freezer cooking done I am going to make double batches of the meatballs and pizza in a crock pot to freeze! Then hopefully this week I will feel good enough to work on that! :)

Eating out Update:
I ate out 1 time with a group of moms and Jeff ate out once(only b/c he was traveling) So our total for that is about $36.00 (mine was only 6! The hubby had the kids with him so spent a little more ;) )

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Budget Update

So as I mentioned before I'm working on making some changes! We will no longer be eating out 800 times a month. We are going to have $50 a month for this, and then only $400 for groceries!

Our groceries amount thus far is at about $175.00 not bad!!! Our eating out total is at $6.41!!!! The eating out was all on me! I ate out with some friends and the kiddo's. A fun thing to do! To save money we like to go where there is a buffet because all the kids eat free!! I'm sure these restaurants love to see us coming! 3 adults and 5 kids! :) It is fun none the less and we always have a great time!

My $50 budget for this week hasn't even needed to be used however I did spend 1.52 at Safeway! :) Keep checking back for updates!

**If you have any budgeting tips feel free to comment!

SAFEWAY DEAL!!!!!


So I'm very excited about this. This would be my first BIG deal that I have gotten with coupons.

So with this I bought 4 Windex, and 4 bags of cookies. (2 of the bags not pictured) I did split this into 2 orders. Here is my scenario.

First Order:
4 Windex on sale for 1.99
Use 4 $1/1 coupons
Make this .99 cents each. Plus get $4 in catalina's back!
Final Cost: FREE

Second Order:
4 Bags of cookies $10.00(I used these for snacks at a fundraiser!)
Cost on Sale was 2/$5
Use the $4 catalina's
Total $6.00

Plus I had a Johnson mail in rebate for the Windex for $5 so the total cost for this whole trip was only $1.52!!!!!!!!!!!! I was incredibly pumped about this!!! :)
The total cost before coupons would have been $21.12, so my total savings was $19.60

Thursday, April 22, 2010

TWO VERY KID FRIENDLY AND DELICIOUS RECIPES!

The first one is the Hashbrown recipe which is already posted!!! Then there is this amazing one from All You magazine I highly suggest!! Even my picky eaters ate them!!!!

6 pieces of ham
1TBL veg. oil
1 small potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch. (I used 2 cups of hashbrowns)
1 small onion finely chopped (I used minced onion)
1/2 red bell (I omitted this)
8 Large eggs
6TBL milk.

Preheat oven to 375. Mist a 12 cup muffin pan with spray. Cut each slice of ham in half and press 1 pieces into each cup. (I used whole pieces b/c mine weren't that big)
Warm oil in skillet over med-high heat. Cook potato, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add onion and pepper cook until softened. About 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and divide among muffin cups.
In a bowl mix eggs and milk. Pour egg mixture into muffin cups so each one is about half full. Bake until eggs are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Let stand on wire cooling rack for 5 minutes. Remove frittatas from muffin tin and serve warm, or let
cool completely and serve at room temp.











I made this last plate for the hubby for lunch. He didn't get it until I said hey look at the face!!! :)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

YARD WORK!

Sooo today, we spent the evening cleaning out the old grubby bushes out and now you can see the beautiful tulips growing!! The garden has finally been rototillered,(sp) and tomorrow I will be planting onions and carrots!!! :) WHHOOO HOOO!!
Check back tomorrow for 2 new awesome recipes! :)

Monday, April 19, 2010

COUPON SUCCESS!!!

Well, I'm very proud of myself!!!! I went to safeway to stock up on the cereal that was on sale. Plus found a 2 free items, and a couple other great deals. I also checked my receipt before I left the store (tip from moneysavingmom.com) and saw that one of the coupons didn't ring up right so I got ANOTHER $3 back! :)

10 boxes of cereal
Used 2 $1/2 gm cereal
2 $1/2 kellogs
$1 off of milk with a purchase of 1 kellogs box

Colgate toothpaste was on sale for 99 cents and I used a 1.00/1
FREE

Colgate sensitivity was on sale for 2.00 used 1.00/1
1.00

Side dish 2.99
Safeway in ad coupon FREE

I was pretty excited that I only spent $14.00 on all that. May not have been the best deal out there, but I was still pretty amazed!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Monday Menu Planning



Monday 19th - BBQ chicken - I have the Chicken already marinating in BBQ Sauce, will grill it and have green beans and Strawberries with it!

Tuesday 20th - Mini Ham Frittata's (recipe from All you magazine page 106)

Wednesday 21st - Hasbrown Casserole *I added ham with mine!! I actually just made it up today (4/19) and instead of cooking it put it in the freezer!! Now it will save me time on Wednesday! :)

Thursday 22nd - Stouffers frozen Meal (I have a coupon ;) )

Friday 23rd - Chicken Wraps (either fajitas or with lettuce)

Saturday 24th - Leftovers

Sunday 25th - This will be my freezer cooking day, so we will be buying a chicken already cooked from Safeway! :)

Recipes:
Hashbrown Casserole:
1 kg bag hashbrowns
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
500 ml sour cream
grated onion (just a bit, about half a small onion)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or more if you like it cheesier)
Parmesan cheese
mix all ingredients together, it helps if the hash browns are defrosted for a bit it makes for easier mixing.
Place in a 9x13 casserole dish. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese. Bake in 350 oven for 1 - 1 1/2 hours till golden brown.
Cover with tin foil for about the first hour.
They freeze awesome and you can just take one out in the morning and cook it at dinner time!!
**Add in cubed ham? or chicken?

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Budgeting

So... as much as I DON'T want to admit this. We spent over $200 eating out this month!!!! OUCH!!! I'm a huge fan of eating out, however, I usually find the good deals to do so, not so much this month! In order to work on our budgeting I am going to try and stay on a $400.00 budget for groceries and $50 for eating out! Here's my plan.

$200 grocery trip after Jeff get's paid. Buy all the things we will NEED for the month. ie... Toilet paper, diapers, snacks for the month, and so on.

Then I will allow myself $50 a week for other shopping needs. Ie.. Fresh produce, bread, milk, eggs, and so on.
**Hopefully with good deals and coupons this should be pretty simple. I'm buying 2 bags of freezer chicken in my big trip so hopefully that should cover most of the month. The big trip also covers my freezer cooking meals and so that should cut the cost down on the weekly meals. I'm planning on making enough freezer meals for about 15-20 meals. I'm hoping this will be helpful in the not eating out category!! I will post all my spending on eating out(no matter how awful!!) and grocery shopping along with any amazing deals I've got!!!

A great website to help you if you are just starting is www.hip2save.com . This website courtesy of my awesome friend Jen B! :)

Safeway Deals for Chadron!

So the WHOLE family was in bed by 9:00 except me of course! :) I got to look through my new All You magazine (fabulous by the way) I found a few coupons I would use, and then compared them with the Safeway sales as I was coming up with my menu for next week. Here are the coupons I plan on using.

*Colgate $1/1 - on sale for $.99 at safe way
Final cost - FREE

*Free creamy mash potatoes (coupon in flyer plus your safeway club card)

*Cereal is on sale for buy 5 for 1.50 each. I have a
$1/3 General mills and a
$1/2 Kelloggs
Total: $5.50 for 5 boxes, not bad for Chadron!

Needless to say I'm way excited about this trip, it will only cost me $11.00! :)

Coupons!

So yesterday was my first attempt at using coupons!! For some reason I was actually nervous about handing them to the cashier! I took the advice from hip2save.com and handed them to her 1 at a time, so she would be sure to get them all!! Granted I only had 6 but still! I saved about 5 dollars, which isn't much, but a great start! :) Plus, I had planned on buying a few more things that I had coupons for which would have been free and had overage, but our awesome Walmart didn't have them in stock!!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Gardening time!

Over the weekend we worked on our garden!! We also decided what we would grow. Our garden will consist of tomatoes, green peppers, peas, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, Carrots, Onions, Okra, Watermelon(maybe) and I would like to get some little pots of strawberries growing as well. Hoping to line the garden with these in separate planters. I am not a green thumb person, so I have already killed one round of seed plants :(. So this time I've got 2 tom, 2 okra, and 2 bell pepper plants going. I'm doing my best to keep these alive!! We'll see how it goes! I will update you on that as soon as we see some plants growing!
Also, once it's not so windy out the kiddo's and I are going to be planting some flowers and fixing up a little area in our front yard that needs some love! :)

Monday, April 12, 2010



Monday 12th – Dinner with Friends

Tuesday 13th – Calzones for the family (me: potluck with my bible study girls)

Wednesday 14th – Meatballs (make extra batch for freezer)

Thursday 15th – Chicken Parm

Friday 16th - GooLash(Meat, corn, greenbeans, and pasta)

Saturday 17th - Steak/Cheesy green beans

Saturday, April 10, 2010

The ingredients I need for freezer cooking on the 24th

INGREDIENTS: (That I need)

10 lbs Hamburger
2 bbq sauce
carrots (1 bag)
No cook noddles
Cottage cheese/or ricotta (I have ricotta so I’m going to just use that!)
4bags Mozz cheese
2 boxes Spaghetti noodles
1 Jar of spaghetti sauce
3 jars Pizza sauce
2 bags Pepperoni
Canadian bacon
Corn tortilla’s
2 cream of mushroom
Bell pepper

Coupons/Sales I’ll be looking for are:
1. BBQ sauce
2. mozz cheese
3. spaghetti/pizza sauce
4. pepperoni
5. cream of mushroom

I will be sure to post the recipes so that you will be able to get your list together!

Mom, When I grow up I'm never going to do that!

Please tell me I'm not the only one!!! When I was growing up I remember continuously telling my mom every Saturday during cleaning, that my house was going to always be messy, and that I was NEVER going to hang clothes out on the line!

Today, I found myself cleaning, my husband shampooed the couch, and is now cleaning the windows!!!! Also, in effort to save money, I will be hanging clothes out on the line when they are done in the washer! SHOCKER I KNOW!!!! So today I challenge you to do something you never thought you would do when you were an "adult."

Friday, April 9, 2010

Freezer Cooking Menu for May

So if you know me, you know that I am not a cook. We eat out a TON! This is one thing I am trying to work on NOT doing! So, I've decided that this month I will be doing freezer cooking. So far all I have done for planning is put together a menu. (a really good one if you ask me!)

*Meatballs 4 pounds hamburger(makes 4 batches of 9 meatballs) (4 meals)

*Lasagna X2 8x8pan (2 meals)

*Spaghetti Pie (1 meal) (recipe from moneysavingmom.com)

*Calzones double batch (4 meals)

*5 pounds of ground hamburger (put in 1 pound bags)
*Tacos X2 times (2lbs)
*Pizza in a Crockpot X1(2lbs)
*not sure yest about the other pound

*10 Cups cooked diced chicken
*2 cups potpie (1meal)
*4 cups fajitas (2 meals)
*The other 4 cups will go in 2 2cup bags to make casseroles.

*Homemade Bread X2
*Make make extra dough and freeze for pizza?? Not sure yet.

Total Meals: 21
*Now if all this comes together! I will be shocked and amazed at myself. I will be posting my other plans and recipes for these meals in the next few days also!
*My goal for the month of may is to only eat out 4 times. Yes that might sound like a lot but that is basically once a week. For me that is fabulous! :) haha.. Hoping to make eating out a thing of the past! We'll see! May can be my experimental month!

If you have ANY idea's to make this easier PLEASE comment and let me know!! I'm always up for things being easier in my life! :)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Clear Out the Clutter Challenge: The hallway Closets and Coat Closet

So I've decided to Join Moneysaving mom in her "clear out the clutter" challenge! This may take a couple days! I can't believe I'm going to post the Before pictures... It is out of complete and utter embarrassment that I do this! :) I can't believe I EVER let it get this bad!

BEFORE: Coat Closet

Hallway Closet
Other Hallway ClosetSo... That only took a little over an hour!!! :) Not only did I get it clean, but I broke a sweat doing it! Now I don't have to workout! :) haha...






SAVE ON HUGGIES

This week at Safeway the Huggies pack are on sale for 7.99 with coupon from sales ad. If you go online and print the $3/1 Huggies pack you can get them for only $5!!!!

The kiddo's


My beautiful kids. Jared is 3 and Madisyn is 2! They keep me incredibly busy and I love learning new things from them everyday! They are my inspiration for the blog and saving money! :)

BEAR WITH ME!

So this is a new adventure for me. Bear with me as I learn how to use a blog!!! I am on a new mission to save money, use coupons, and be more of a homemaker! :) I am going to be making freezer meals each month and give you different Ideas and recipes to use! I am going to also let you know when I find good deals! :)