Quick trip to Redner's

3 packs luv's jumbo - $7.59 each , used $5/1 Qs on each
50 packs of koolaid - sale 10 cents each
3 friskies cat treats - used free item Q
3 gallons gatorade $3.29 each

OOP - $24.31 + tax

Huge Shopping Trip

*Preschooler not included. A better picture of the loot can be found here and here



Walgreens -
3 3pack puff's tissues used 3 $1/1 Qs
2 binder tab dividers (2/$1)
2 school glue (2/$1.. and kicking myself cause they had it 4/$1 at walmart)
2 glade oil candle refills used $2Q
1 walgreen's lightbulb (FAR this month)
m and m's for DD
used $10 worth of RR

OOP - $4.27 ($1.05 tax)
Noticed I was charged twice for the lightbulbs, so I will have to take my receipt back. Then my OOP should be about $2.25

Walmart
I did buy some other things, such as food but here are the highlights.
6 1 subject notebooks -5¢ each
6 huggies clean team, $1.64 each, used 3/$2 Qs
4 cascade rise agent - used free item Qs
4 glade scented oil warmers - $3.37 each used $4 Qs
5 capri sun - sale $1.75, this is the cheapest I have seen it in my area.

Before coupons $68.83
After Coupons - $36.44 (including $35 of food I did not have coupons for.)
Over $3 overage for the glade!

Price Chopper -

A friend was looking for some of the deals on the mustard and cat food I posted the other day. They were out of stock, but we did hit some reduced bakery. Two loafs pumpernickel bread, a loaf of garlic bread, a package of dinner rolls and and a loaf of english muffin bread for $7.75.

Thrift store -
shelf (see in pic above) $1.91
Anne Geddes teddy bear doll $1.91
two plastic containers - $1.21

There are not words for how ecstatic I am over finding that deal on the shelf. This fall, I am beginning to homeschool my daughter and was really needing something to organize her school supplies. Below is a picture of the shelf after I organized it. The blue bins on the bottom shelf are the ones I purchased from the thrift store. If you are wondering, the white container to the right is cat food, I forgot to move it.

Cooking on the cheap.

First off, I love my crockpot. It was a gift last Christmas from MIL. My previous one, was from about 1975. It worked fine, but it was rather small and had seen better days. However, the new one is HUGE. There is a 6lb+ whole chicken under the veggies. This recipie should serve atleast 2-3 meals for my family of two adults and one three year old.

Crockpot roast chicken with vegetables.
(measurements are estimated)

1 whole chicken (mine was about 6lbs)
8 or so potatoes, cubed
1/3 bag baby carrots, cut in half
3 chicken bullion cubes or about 3 tablespoons powdered chicken base
butter, I personally used two sticks.
salt and pepper to taste
any other seasonings you'd like (I used some garlic and some McCormick lemon herb seasoning.)

Stick all in crockpot and cook on low 8+ hours or high 4+ hours, depending on the size of the chicken. You could also use chicken legs or breasts if you're crockpot isn't large enough.

When I saw whole chickens on sale for 59 cents a pound, I bought six and stocked up my large freezer.

Noodles with Sauce and eggplant and zucchini.
serves 3-4

1/2 box pasta
1 jar/can spaghetti sauce
1 small to medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 small to medium zucchini, peeled and cubed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

While pasta is boiling, heat a large skillet and add some olive oil. Add vegetables and and stir occasionally until tender. (About 10 minutes.) Drain pasta and add in sauce and cooked vegetables. Mix well and heat through.

The best part of this recipe is the eggplant and zucchini were free! A friend's coworker shared a bunch with her and the other day she brought me a small eggplant, medium zuchinni and 3 cucumbers.

Cucumber Salad - With this recipe you can make as much or as little as you need. It tastes much better the next day.

cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
vinegar
salt
sugar
water

After slicing the cucumbers place them in a large bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Let stand about 15 minutes until it looks like most of the water has been brought out. Rinse cucumbers. Wring them out and place in a clean bowl. Mix equal parts vinegar, sugar and water. You can adjust to taste. It shouldn't be to sweet or to sour.

Walgreen's and Price Chopper.

Sorry for no photos again, it was late when I got home and I just wanted to get everything put away.

Price Chopper -
10 glade aerosols - sale 99¢ each used 1 $2/2 glade and 5 b1g1 free coupons
7 French's mustard - sale $1 each , used 6 50¢ coupons (doubled) and one $1 coupon
1 spongebob bandaid - $1.50 sale , used $1 coupon
2 smuckers dark chocolate with mint ice cream topping marked down to $1.06 each
Kraft singles cheese - used free cheese wyb 3 kraft products (3 packets of koolaid 39¢ ea)
3 Purina healthful life cat chow 16oz bags - Sale $1.50 each, used $1 coupons

No coupons for these but still a pretty good deal!

3 small bottles gatorade - grocery markdown 50¢ each
Keebler cookies - b1g1 free sale
2 delmonte spaghetti sauce - $1 each
Play make up set , sale $1.99 (putting this aside for Christmas for DD)

I did buy a few other things I needed but were not on sale. Overall I saved $38.65 and spent $33.95. ($1.04 tax)

Walgreens

4 glade scented oil refills sale - $4.49
2 glade scented oil candle refills sale -$1.99
scrubbing bubbles action scrubber starter kit - $5.79
4pk expo dry erase markers -sale $1.99
4 special k bars - sale $2.50 each
1 toy horse - clearance $1.49

I used $12.25 in coupons, tho I can't remember right now which coupon amounts went with what. I will also get nearly $15 back in rebates. Walgreen's ESR has rebates for the glade and the action scrubber. The action scrubber had a try me free rebate too. I used a $2.75 coupon on this so it makes it a money maker of about $4.25, not including the extra 10% that is added for loading my Walgreen's rebates onto a gift card. In addition to this, I got two $5 register rewards for the special k promo. I should have only gotten one, but the machine printed two and I wasn't arguing. The toy horse will be put away for Christmas for DD. My mom (who usually shops with me) also bought the other horse that was on clearence. For under $5 I already have 3 gifts for her.

Coupon Organization.

Over the course of the time I've been couponing, I have tried several different ways to keep them sorted and organized. I started out with one of those little accordion files. Then, I moved to a photo album. Then, I moved to two 6qt shoebox size storage containers. Inside the categories were separated by envelopes. (One food items and one non-food.) Today I decided to move on to a binder. Inside there are full page sheet protectors, labeled by category. Inside each page, the multiple Qs are stapled together. Hopefully this will make it easier and faster to find what I am looking for.


I still need to finish my other binder for food coupons. I definitely enjoyed getting everything organized this afternoon. I wonder why I had not decided to go with this system sooner. I think, compared to ways I've tried in the past, that this system will be much easier keeping up with filing and purging expired.

Frugal baby gifts.

Since my mom and I were invited to a baby shower for her co-worker, and Walgreen's recently had a diaper deal, I decided to make the mom-to-be a diaper cake. I'd never made anything like that before, but with the cheap diapers, what a better time to try it out.




















Here's what I used:
(almost) 2 packages of size 3 diapers - about $5
6pr baby socks - $2
1 trial size pack of baby wipes - free after Q
2 rolls of purple ribbon - 97¢ each
1 0-3m tshirt - $1
piglet ice pack - $1
decorative baby rattles - 6/$1
stickers - 50¢
baby spoons - 2/$1

The white ribbon, decorative pins and trial size products MIL gave me. I already had the rubber bands, straws, yarn, pink ribbon and platter at home.

I'm so excited that for about $12 I could make up such a nice gift.

I also did a nice little basket of "mom" goodies for her, all from my stockpile.
The basket contained:
shampoo
conditioner
body wash
bar of face soap
lotion
facial moisturizer
pack of feminine pads
deodorant
toothbrush
toothpaste
small pack of tissues
razor
shaving cream

Since all these items were from my stockpile, I am not sure on the cost. I will estimate $10. The basket, bow and tulle I all had at home.

Walgreen's, Price Chopper, and JoAnn Fabrics.

Sorry for the delay in posted, but I have been out of town.

Earlier this week I purchased a few things at walgreen's. I apologize for the lack of photo.

2 tuff trash bags B1G1 free @ $3.99
3 skintimate trial size - 99¢ each , free after 3 $1/1 man Qs
starbucks fraps - 4/$5 (after IVC Q) (Didn't need them, but oh so yummy!)
2 2pk white out - B1G1 @ $1.99
4 96sheet construction paper B1G1 @ $1.99
3 24pk paint set, 1 10pk paintbrush B1G1 @ $1.99
1/2 gallon milk $2.79

OOP - $22.72, $1.02 which was tax
Total Savings - $23.53


My Price Chopper trip was pretty awful, coupon wise. Unfortunately there were alot of things that I needed that I could not wait for a sale. I did, however get some colgate toothbrushes and softsoap handsoap B1G2 free. The toothbrushes were about 75¢ each and the soap 50¢ each.

No coupons at JoAnn's but alot of good deals.




Monkey coat hook - $1
2 purple ribbion - 97¢ each
Princess wall hanging - $1
fairy wing kit - 97¢
princess picture frame kit - 97¢
foam flowers - $1
2 fabric remnants 49¢ each
pink glitter flower stickers 97¢
baby stickers 50¢
2 toddler books $1 each ( DD got those for sitting in the cart the whole trip.)
2 calender making kits $1.97 each

OOP $16.19 (92¢ tax)

Most of this will be put away for preschool craft projects for DD, or in the case of the calender kits, assembled as Christmas gifts.