Kids

My daughter has been battling a stomach bug, since last Wednesday. She has occasionally thrown up, nothing consistent. In case you are wondering, I don’t clean up throw up. YUCK. It  becomes two messes for me to clean up and I really don’t need more to clean. I am glad that she is finally at the age that she knows she better run with all her might to make it to the bathroom in time. And YES! she has made it each time. I gave her a washcloth to clean off the seat of the toilette and another for her mouth. I even got her some water to rinse her mouth out with. All from afar. I have a very weak stomach for that. I am happy to say we only had one mess this time.

I had a lot of energy yesterday and planned on getting all caught up on clipping my coupons, I am about 3 weeks behind. AUGH! I put little face down and of course he did not go to sleep right away. I then get a call from the school nurse she has done it again. Before I leave the house to get her I call the dr. to make an appointment. Something is obviously wrong. What she eats needs to stay down. Meanwhile I got a call that morning that my stepson was not feeling well either and that I may need to pick him up if he is sick.

So I ask the nurse if she had seen him and she said yes, but he was not running any fever so she sent him back to class. I get little miss and we all head to the dr. The Dr. did some tests and determined it must be a virus and gave us some nausea medicine. My daughter hates the word medicine and all forms of it. She was not excited.

As we are leaving the Dr. I get a call. It is time to pick up child number two. So I head back to the school once again to pick up sick child number two.  He did not throw up, but just felt bad. Again no fever. So on our way home, which is about 5 min. Little face falls asleep in the car. It is 2:00 way past nap time. More like wake up time and he is out. I get little face out of the car very carefully and place him in bed. Get all sick children on the couches. I always make sure I provide them with a large open container to catch anything that might come up. I also make sure this is as close to their mouth as possible and inform them of appropriate places of disposal if needed. If they move they must carry the bucket with them. This is their new best friend until the queasiness passes. I am serious!

After a couple of hours little face wakes up and no incidents have happened, so on to homework. They have gotten into math homework I do not understand. I am glad they were both here so I could cheat and look of f of each other’s papers to see how they did it. My daughter and stepson are in the same grade and go to the same school. This makes it easier when they do homework and planning for family vacations.

And all of this to say, I got nothing done yesterday that I wanted to do. So is the life of a mother.

Money Saving Monday - CVS

If you haven't read my other couponing 101 articles over the past weeks I suggest you start at the first post and read through. This is a lot of information. Take some time to read each section and go over it before you dive right in. 

1. Part 1 How and Where to get Coupons 

2. Part 2 Go Shopping

3. Part 3 How to Save Big on Your Grocery Bill

Part 4 Drug Store Shopping

Shopping at the drug store is different than shopping at the grocery store. Most drug stores print their own money at the register. They want you to use this money at their store. Walgreens has Rapid Rewards RR, CVS has Extra Care Bucks ECB’s and Rite Aid has Single Check Rebate Program SCR’s. I am going to be mostly informing you on CVS today.

With the money they print for you at the stores, you can roll this each time you check out and not pay a lot of your money out of pocket, OOP.

HOW IT WORKS for CVS

First of all you want to make sure you get a CVS card. Ask for one when you enter the store before your first purchase. To register your card complete the form on line. You will receive additional coupons and sometimes ECBs through email. You can load these onto your card so next time you enter the store you can use your savings and not worry about finding a piece of paper.

Now you will need to scan your circular to see if there are any items you want or need that print ECB’s. Now look to see if you have a coupon to matchup with this item to bring your total OOP down even further. Please keep in mind the ECB prints at the end of the transaction. At first it is difficult to get started. Please check out Simply CVS for beginner $5 & $10 OOP scenerios she posts each week. Once you have checked out you will have ECB’s you can use towards your next transaction. Please be considerate of others

I roll my ECB’s a little differently than other people. I like to have ECB’s left over at the end, so I can get my items for the advertised price or free. I try to do all my purchases in one transaction with all my ECB’s and coupons at one time. This way I don’t have to worry if they are out of an item in order for all my transactions to work. I also know what I am going to spend before I get there. My budget is $5.00 on toiletries and $5.00 on diapers when I can get it.

THE LITTLE RED BOX

There is a little magic red box when you walk into CVS. This is a coupon dispensing machine. It spits out extra CVS coupons. You can stack or combine these with any additional coupons you may have to get items for free or really cheap. It frequently gives away free items. You just need to make sure you print it out. This is the first thing I always do when I walk into the store and see if it gives me anything good. This is a must in my book.

BAG TAG

CVS has a bag tag program. You can purchase this little tag or sometimes it gives you a free one at the magic red box. Every four times this is scanned it will print you a $1 extra buck. Yup that is FREE money just for visiting the store. You can only use it once each day and it only will scan after an item is scanned.

BEAUTY CLUB

On more program CVS has is the Beauty Club. This is free to sign up. To sign up look near the register to see the Beauty Club tear pad. Just hand this to the cashier when your make your first purchase. For every $50.00 you spend you will receive $5.00 back.

QUARTERLY EARNINGS

CVS will add up all your purchases before ECB’s and Coupons and give you 2% back at the end of every quarter. You can receive this at the little red box or it will print at the register. Again free money you can use to purchase additional items at the store.

Things you need to do when you go to CVS:

1. Get a CVS card – Sign Up on line

2. Get a Bag Tag – You may need to pay $1.00

3. Sign up for the Beauty Club – FREE tear pad at registar

4. Scan the red box when you go to the store.

Items I often get at CVS:

Razors – FREE

Make up – FREE or $1

Nail Polish – FREE or $1

Food – FREE or CHEAP

Milk – CHEAP when on sale

Hair Care – CHEAP

Diapers – CHEAP

Friday Finals 11 4 11

I wanted to thank everyone who voted for me at Top Mommy Blogs. I am now #3 on the Frugal Living page and I am ranked 116 overall.  It only takes a second to vote by clicking Top Mommy Blogs and that gets me one vote. Let’s see if my readers can get me into the top 100 this week! I would be so delighted. Now on to shopping…

Last week the most viewed were:


1. Weekly Shopping
2. Saving a Bundle
3. Saved by the Sale

Stop by these ladies sites to view some awesome savings!

I went shopping at Kroger twice this week, since my parents came into town and I needed a few things. Hence, the tiny shopping trip listed first.

Kroger shopping

1 Kroger corn chips $1.00
4 Barrilla pasta $1.00 - 4 $0.55/1 Barrilla Pasta SS 09/18/11
            - Final $0.45 each
2 lunchmeat $2.99

I spent $8.78 and saved $3.72 on $12.50 worth of retail food. My parents came into town and we wanted sandwiches. I didn’t have any lunch meat, so I had to go to the store.

Kroger # 2

3 Kuerig coffees 12 Pack $4.49 clearance rack reg. $11.88 each
2 Sour Cream $1.00 each
2 lbs Cheese $2.99 each
1 Planters Peanut butter $2.50 - $1/1 Kroger eCoupons
            -Final $1.50
1 Package Sliced Cheese 1lb. $2.99
1 lb carrots $1.00
1 turkey @ $0.59 lb $6.82

$35.74 and saved $18.12 on $53.86 worth of groceries retail. This is more savings, since the Kuerig coffees did not reflect as savings on the receipt. I could add another $15.00 in savings and value. I bought peanut butter because of the $1.00 ecoupon and the Peanut crisis. I have enough to last until June. So if any more sales come up. I will get some more. 

Walmart Shopping

No Pic

1 Huggies Slip on Diapers $9.49 - $3/1 Huggies slip on diapers

            -Final $6.49

Overall this week I spent $51.01 on family needs and saved $24.84 on $75.85 worth of Grocery needs. This is more savings, since the Kuerig coffees did not reflect as savings on the receipt. I could add another $15.00 in savings and value.

I need cheese. If anyone has any good cheese deals out there PLEASE let me know. I am having a difficult time.

I didn’t feel like I got a whole lot for my money this week. I seem to be in a bit of a slump. Does anyone else feel there are not as many GOOD deals out there as there used to be?

How did you do this week? Please share your shopping trips below so others can see and learn how to save. 

Whatever Wednesday - Popcorn Cake

I know some of you have been wanting to know how to make the fabulous Popcorn Cake I made for my daughters 10^th birthday movie party. Today I am going to share the simple instructions on how you can make this cake on your own for a Movie Party or Popcorn Birthday Party. You can see the other decorations I used for her Movie Party.

Popcorn Cake

Movie Party Ideas

1. First I started by baking two cakes. One butter and one chocolate. Click to print Betty Crocker cake and icing coupons. You can decide based on what you already have in your pantry. I think butter is the best tasting cake. Let’s face it, it’s cake who is counting calories anyway. I used two 9" cake pans for each cake. To make sure they have the same amount of batter in each pan, use an ice cream scoop and alternate between pans. The cakes will come out even. 

2. After I baked the cakes, I took them out of the oven and let them chill for 10 min. I inverted them on a cooling rack, then set them to cool in the fridge. If I have time I chill them over night. Otherwise it is best to let them sit for at least two hours in the fridge to cool.

3. I cut the tops off the cakes with a serrated knife to even them out. I just eye balled it, but if you have a cake leveler, then use that. Since, I never throw anything out. I kept the leftover cake to bribe little face when he goes on the potty. It worked great. We are almost there!

4. Then I stacked the cake layers alternating butter and chocolate onto a round cake pan. In between each layer I placed a small amount of icing to glue them together. Next is the hardest part of the whole cake. I placed my serrated knife at an angle and cut turning the cake stand to keep the knife at the same angle around the entire cake to make the Popcorn bowl shape for the cake.  Wipe gently to remove any remaining crumbs around the edge and wipe your cake stand free of crumbs. Again you can discard the cake, but that is a crime in my house. I mean it is cake! When you are done this should resemble a Popcorn Bowl.

5. I used nearly an entire can of icing on the outside of the cake with a cake knife. Be a little generous here. You want to capture all the crumbs in this layer of icing. Place in the fridge for about 10 min or more.This is the crumb coat. Don’t worry about all the little chocolate flakes you see in the icing. They will disappear in the next coat. A cake knife is a great purchase if you plan on making cakes. Spreads icing like a dream. 

6. Yes you will need another tub of icing. I used nearly ¾ a tub icing the next layer. This will make all those crumbs disappear. Generously spread icing over the cake again. Now you should have a white cake.

7. This is where the magic happens. Get the strawberry Fruit by the foot. I opened every package until I found the one with the straight lines. Then I measured the cake from the stand to the top. I cut many strips to this length. To create the smaller lines, I cut one strand in half lengthwise.  Start placing them on the Popcorn cake. Two small lines then one thick one, alternating in this pattern around the outside of the cake. Once finished let the kids eat the fruit roll ups this helps keep them quite while you are concentrating on the cake.

8. I took some of the icing and used a red tint to make it red. Be sure you make enough. It is difficult to get the same color. I don’t have a pastry bag, so I placed the icing in a sandwich baggie and cut a small tip and fed the icing through. This is where you can get decorative. I just used small circles at the top of the cake to cover where the fruit rollup stripes end and a straight line at the bottom with the red icing to seal it to the bottom.

9. Now what you have been dying to know is, how did you make that popcorn on top? While you are doing all the above steps, have the birthday person and extra help squeeze two small marshmallows together with their fingers until they stick. Squeeze hard. I used nearly half a bag of marshmallows. This makes awesome looking Popcorn for the top of the cake.

10. Finally I got another Ziploc bag to place all the Popcorn marshmallows in and sprinkled it with yellow decorative sugar. This made it look like buttered popcorn. Shake the bag to get the yellow sugar everywhere the marshmallows stuck together. Keep them in the bag. 

11. Cut from and extra popcorn bag or print the words "POPCORN" in red ink to make the popcorn logo. Glue it to the cake with some icing. 

12. Right before the party started I let my daughter decorate the top of the cake with the Popcorn marshmallows. The more the better. You want to do this last, otherwise you have crunchy marshmallows, instead of soft ones to eat. I normally don’t like candy on cakes, but this was just right and  tasted fabulous for her movie party.

When cutting this Popcorn Cake remember only small pieces are needed, since this is a four layer cake. This picture is one I made for a friend who also had a Movie Party and this Popcorn cake served over twenty guests. 

Please share if you make one. I would love to see your pics.

Friday Finals 10-28-11

Wow what a night. First my daughter had a soccer game after the cold front blew in while it was raining. The sign of a true athlete will play in the freezing rain. The sign of true love is the parents who sit there and cheer them on.  It was very cold and it took me a long time to warm up. Then to come home and stay up late to watch the Rangers loose last night makes for a very slow day today. Lots of caffeine has been consumed to write this post. Since I normally prepare my shopping post on Thursday evenings, I just didn’t have time last night. I will post what I spent and how much I saved. Then maybe later tonight I can update this post.

I still would like to see how everyone else did this week, so LINK UP below! Here are the entries with the most links:

Saved by the SALE

Grocery Shop for FREE

Weekly Grocery Shopping

Frugal Stepmom

Walmart

I spend $31.27 and saved $17.10 plus more, since I did several price matches, on $48.37 retail.

Sprouts

$2.28 on fresh produce

Tom Thumb

I spent $12.43 and saved $22.80 on $34.72 worth of retail.

CVS

I spend around $10.00 Saved $6.00 on $16.00 retail at CVS.

I spent around $56.00 and saved $45.90 on $101.90 retail.

How did your shopping trip go this week? Link UP below

Whatever Wednesday - Movie Party Birthday Bash

First I wanted to say thanks for all of you who voted for me at the Top Mommy Blogs. I went from 480 to 127, and I am listed in the top five on the Frugal Living page. You can vote daily. Thanks to all my visitors!

This year my daughter turned 10. Yep she is double digits now. I can't believe it. Where did the time go? I remember she was born a little over two weeks after 9/11. I was thinking of what kind of world was I bringing her into. Things have not changed as drastically as I thought they might.

MOVIE PARTY IDEAS

She picked her party theme "A Night at the Movies." She wanted this to be a red carpet event. So I did my best to give her a fabulous Movie Party event on an extreme budget.

The Menu

We are talking eight 9-10 year old girls, so I wanted to keep the menu simple. My first thought is what do you get at the movies? Hotdogs are served at the movies. Remember the nearly 20lbs of hotdogs I purchased around memorial day? I still had some in the freezer. Then I thought nachos. My all time favorite and hers too. I purchased processed cheese for this event. One of the most expensive things for the party. I had plenty of salsa from this trip and I bought some chips. Then of course the most obvious thing at the movies popcorn. I didn't want to spend my time popping a million bags of popcorn in the microwave. I knew they could eat a ton from the last party she had. So I borrowed a hot air popper from a friend. I popped five batches of popcorn. Yes that is a lot of popcorn. Then I got all sorts of candy from CVS from their sale a couple of weeks ago and chocolate chips to mix in the popcorn purchased here.

Menu:

Hot Dogs & Buns

Nachos

Popcorn

Candy

Chocolate Chips
Popcorn Cake

By the way the plain chocolate chips were a big hit. Who knew? Hint hint if you are throwing a party soon, chocolate chips are cheaper than candy.

And of course, since it is a birthday party you will need a cake. I didn’t feel like buying one from the store. So I decided to make one instead. It is a Popcorn cake. Click the link to see how to make this fabulous cake. Super cute. I even made a Popcorn Cake of these for a friend who had a Movie Party.
 

She enjoyed putting the "popcorn" on the cake.

Decorations

I purchased a generic silver star set from the party store last year. I choose this since it would go with a lot of party themes and not be a one time purchase. We just recycled these and hung them around the house. I found a cheap red carpet at the party store we place outside our door. I colored large yellow stars with sidewalk chalk in front of the house to make it look like the Hollywood walk of Fame. (If I had a little more time I was going to write the girls name who were attending the party in the stars).

 I made her  a banner for her birthday. Her name is at the end, I do not want to share it to protect her identity. She loved it.

I found the popcorn buckets at Target for $1.00 each. And the paper ones at hobby lobby for 8 for $2.49. I couldn't find my coupon or it would have been cheaper. They made their popcorn buckets and filled them with candy and popcorn and everything. I didn't care what they ate as long as they had a great time.

For the table I used a red table cloth. I covered my cake dish with black tissue paper for the stand where the popcorn gift bags were. I also covered a bowl with black tissue paper to place the Popcorn cake on. I thought it looked fabulous for a movie party idea.

Entertainment

My husband borrowed the projector from his work and we hooked it up outside and put a large white sheet on the back of the house. He used a staple gun to tack it up. It looked great. I spread several blankets outside on the lawn where they could lay down eat popcorn and watch the movie. (not too much movie watching happened) They even had a popcorn fight and I didn't care since all of this was outside. I just picked up the blankets shook them off and I was done with clean up. Super easy.

Everyone had a great time! This was fun for me too, since most of the party took place outside I didn’t have a lot to clean up inside.

Money Saving Monday

Step 3: Big Savings on your Grocery Bill

If you have been following my couponing series the past couple of weeks, you should have accumulated tons of coupons by now. You can read my previous two posts:


1. How to start couponing. Coupoing 101
2. Go Shopping


If you do not have a lot of coupons you can PRINT COUPONS for free. If you have started trying to acquire coupons, you have probably printed a ton off the internet in order to create a nice coupon stash. I know I did when I first started. I had stacks and stacks of coupons to cut. I had the whole family cutting them out for me for a while. Now it is under control.

Now that you have quite a few coupons and you have made your first trip to the store, you are ready to take it up a notch. How did you feel the first time you scored saving 60-70%? It felt great, right? I know it was great for me, since we needed food and we needed food fast.

Maximizing Grocery Savings
Let's talk about your next trip to the store where you are going to do a larger shopping trip and make a larger list. Go to a matchup website such as Saving Well Spending Less or Southern Savers and pick the items where you can save 60-70% on items. Now that you have more coupons you should find more items to matchup. You will want to find items at the lowest price, then purchase as many of them as you have coupons for. This way you will save the most on that particular item until it goes on sale again.  The major grocery stores have sales that are discounted below Walmart price to entice you to go there and do your normal shopping buying items on sale and items that are not on sale.

Make a Grocery List
Now it is a good idea to gather your coupons from the matchup sites and make or print your list. Keep your coupons in a separate folder or envelope. Before you check out, check your coupons to see if they match according to brand size and type. Count the number of items in your cart and make sure you have the same number of corresponding items to match the coupons you have clipped. Then proceed to the check out. Be nice to your cashier as you check out. Find out if they would like coupons as they scan the items or after they scan.

When you are checking out pay close attention to the scanned price of an item and also make sure all your coupons are scanned. This is much easier to do if you don't have your kids with you, but if you are like me, most times that is not an option. If not try to review your receipt before you leave the store. I saved over four dollars on a trip because something didn’t ring up correctly and went to customer service for my refund.  Always be courteous, especially if you can calmly explain the error they will give a refund.

My standard price to buy an item is below Walmart price or 50% or higher. It is a good idea to know your prices when you are shopping for an item. Walmart claims to have the best price. What that really means is they have the better than the stores normal price. I will share a price list with you in a later post. It is not quite complete, since many rock bottom prices are going up. The only thing I normally buy that is not on sale is milk.

If you can also take a moment to vote for me at Rate My Blog @ Top Mommy Blogs

1. How to Start Couponing. Couponing 101


2. Step Two Shopping


4.  Step Four Drug Store Shopping - CVS

Have you tried the first two steps in my series? Do you have any questions? I will do my best to help answer any questions you may have.

Friday Finals 10/21/11

Wowee wow wow! I have such exciting news to share today. First, I am a guest blogger at Grocery Cart Challenge. I am very excited and honored to be chosen. I came across Gayle’s site and notice she was feeding a family of six with $60.00 a week. I knew I could do this too! A few years back I was trying to feed a family of three on $30.00 a week. It was difficult, but I was able to do it. The most important thing I learned was how to cook from very few ingredients and make great meals.

The second piece of exciting new I have to share is I was accepted to the Top Mommy Blogs. In order to vote for my blog and check out other exciting blogs just click the brown button located on the left or the link provided. I just received the email last night. It would be very exciting to get at least one vote.

Now on to shopping! I didn’t stick to my budget very well this week. I was kind of winging it again. I didn’t have a great plan. We were out of some items I have been searching for the past couple of weeks and needed to purchase this week. I was able to get cheese and oil on sale, but purchasing both was a bit expensive. My husband and I were dying for some wings since it has been cold and it is football season. So I splurged for wings. I have been looking for weeks and just couldn’t find any on sale. In case you were wondering, yes, they were so delicious. Still cheaper than going out and buying wings at a restaurant.

I went to Kroger twice without much savings.

Kroger 10/16/11

2 Capri sun Juice $1.29 each – I need to buy juice for my daughters soccer game

4 Kettle Chips $2.50 each – 4 $1/1 Kettle Chips RP 09/25/11

            -Final $1.50 each

1 Kroger Tortilla chips $1.00

1 Pilgrims Wings $10.49 – Shelf price said $8.19 $2/1 Pilgrims Pride Chicken

            -Final $8.49 – Should have been $6.19

2 Mission Tortillas $1.00

1 Zapps Chips $2.19 – Splurge item for my hubby

I spent $22.47 and saved $11.14 on $33.61 worth of retail. I had two major splurge items this trip the wings and the Zapps chips. This change in weather has gotten me a little off my game. I am still looking for cheap snacks for soccer. If anyone know of any great sales, please share in the comments.

Kroger 10/18/10

2 Gallons Milk $2.49

2 lbs Cheese $6.99 – Best price I have found. Cheaper than Wal-Mart

4 Progresso Soups $1.25 - $1/4 Progresso Soup Coupon GM 09/11/11

            -Final $1.00 each

1 Huggies Slip on Diapers $9.85 - $2/1 Blinkie in Store Slip on Diapers

            -Final $7.85

2 Bertolli Olive Oil B1G1 store deal $10.49 I was nearly out of oil

            -Final $5.24 each

3 Kroger Sweet Corn $0.88 each – I had an eQ for $0.60/3 that did not scan. Not Happy

            -Final $0.88 each

1 Kroger Oatmeal $1.39 on sale – Daughter wanted Oatmeal for the cooler weather.

4 Dr. Pepper 10 $1.00 each – 4 FREE coupons for Dr. Pepper 10 SS 10/09/11

            -Final FREE

I spent $40.39 and saved $24.44 on $64.83 retail. Milk went up again $0.10 a gallon. I have to say I loved it when milk was a $1.00 a gallon. I would buy four gallons a week and we would drink it all. Now I have to ration it a little at the house. I need to make sure little Face gets his share every day.

Sprouts

4.18 lbs Gala Apples @ $0.69/lbs - $2.88

3.88 lbs Golden Delicious @ $0.69/lbs. - $2.68

3.47 lbs Onions @ $0.49/lbs - $1.70

Bag Credit -$0.10

I spent $7.16 and saved $0.10 on $7.26 worth of produce. I plan on making homemade applesauce and maybe some apple butter today. I have seen these on others sites and I am itching to try it. If I do, I will share on Wednesday. I didn't take a picture.

Overall I spent $70.02 and saved $35.68 on $105.70 worth of retail food and diapers. Not the best, but there were not very many good deals this week.  I needed to buy cheese and there have not been very good sales for the past couple of months and very few coupons. I had two splurge items that really put me over this week. But these will last a while for us. I can make it stretch.

If you are just starting out I am posting a series on how to coupon every Monday. You can read my first article here and my second post here. Looking to print coupons you can go to Coupons.com.

How did you do this week? Please share your shopping trips below with the linky. If you don't have a blog please share your shopping trips in the comments area. You can share more than one trip; however, I do ask to keep the trips current. The best way to learn to save money is to share so others can learn from you experience.

Whatever Wednesday

I have exciting news. I am going to be featured as a guest blogger at Grocery CartChallenge  on Friday. Stop back by to see what I purchased this week and see my article posted there.

 I always like to find something different to fix the family. I usually try to travel around the globe for dinner ideas for the week so no one gets tired of any dish. My daughter is just like me. She asked the other night why we don’t have Mexican food every night. Both of us could eat Mexican food every night. We both love it. Especially if it involves queso of some kind. However, my husband like a variety of food.

This week we traveled to India for a different flavor with ground beef called Keema. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com App on my phone when I was looking for recipes with cardamom. I purchased this on major sale at Sprouts. See my shopping trip here. I love that I can have my phone in the kitchen with me while I cook and view the recipe without having to print it out and waste toner and paper. Plus I have my recipes with me where ever I go.

According to some of the reviews this is not a traditional way to make this dish and I did a few things different too to make it my own recipe. This made enough to feed all five of us with small leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 lbs. Ground Beef

1 onion Finely chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

½ table spoon Cardamom

¼ table spoon cinnamon

¼ table spoon cloves

A pinch of nutmeg

1 cup or 8 oz of tomato sauce

¾ cup beef broth (I used chicken because that is what I had. Still very tasty)

1. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, cook onions and garlic until onions are soft and translucent around 5mon.

2. Then add the beef and cook until evenly brown breaking apart with spoon until crumbled. Drain excess fat.

3. Stir in Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. (I measured it all so it fit in one table spoon)

4. Stir in tomato sauce and broth. Continue to cook on a lower heat until most of the liquid had evaporated reducing the sauce.

This can be served over rice or noodles. Depends what you have the most of in your pantry. This is fabulous burst of flavor from the traditional foods we are used to eating. The husband and the kids loved it. The Cardamom can be expensive. But if you viewed my post, I purchased just a little while it was on sale and that will make four to five dishes. Supper yummy and something different from what you might normally eat.  I just love it. This meal in now in our meal rotation. 

Hopefully I won't have as many problems as I did with my Friday Linky. Do you have any recipes you would like to share? Link up below. Hopefully I won't have as many problems as I did with my Friday Linky.

Tips for Tuesday

I have a bunch of coupons. Now what?  You are so excited you want to rush out to the store and buy everything you now have a coupon for. However, that will not save you very much money and you will be extremely frustrated. In order to save using coupons you need to have a lot of coupons and you also need to create a stockpile. You cannot do this over night. This will take some time.

Pick the Store Where You Want to Shop

You should decide which store you would like to shop by looking at the weekly flyers sent to you in the mail. I receive mine on Tuesdays for sales starting on Wednesday. Stores like WalMart might have the best everyday pricing available; however, stores like Kroger and Tom Thumb, in the Dallas area, will have several items at a DEEP discount sale, a better than WalMart price. The real secret is to buy at the below WalMart price and to purchase a lot of an item to last you until the next sale.

Now look through the flyer you have received from the store. Is there anything in there you have coupons for? Is that a really good price for the item? If not keep looking try to find at least three to four items you have coupons for, on sale and you want to eat.

Find a Match Up Site

Check out coupon Match-Up websites to help you in your search. I usually use Saving Well Spending Less or Southern Savers. Southern Savers indicates which is a great stock up price by a little acorn. This is great for beginners. Saving Well Spending Less will let you know if there is a great match up or deal idea for items. These have the items listed with the matching coupons and where to find the coupons.  You can make your list of three to four items and print it from the website with the corresponding coupons.

Print Your List and Gather Your Coupons.

Simple Steps:

1. Find the store you would like to shop.

2. Go to a Matchup Site check prices and coupons.

3. Print your list and gather your coupons

4. Go shopping and start saving

It is important to start small to see how much you can save on your shopping order with the sale and coupons. If you go while you are doing your normal shopping trips you won’t see the big savings and may get more discouraged. I know when I saw my first 60% savings receipt I was really excited.

You will need to buy at the lowest price and purchase enough to last you until the next sale. This is known as stockpiling. You may also need to make trips to several different stores in order to get the best deals possible.  Another option is to price match at WalMart, but many stores have deals that are unadvertised where you can still get great deals by shopping around the store. I will talk about price matching WalMart in a later post.

I would say it was a comfortable three months before I was able to create a stockpile and have enough food in order to create any meal I wanted from my stockpile. This is something that will take time to create and mold into your family’s eating habits. If you are concerned about stockpiling and how to store your food I will be posting more on that in the next couple of weeks.

If you missed the first part in my series, go my How to Start Couponing series to start from the beginning.


You can continue on in this series by reading: 

3. Step Three to saving BIG on your Grocery Bill


4.  Step Four Drug Store Shopping - CVS

Let me know if you have any questions. Have fun shopping and let me know how you do!

Money Saving Monday

I love this fall weather. I am still waiting for the first big cool front to come our way. It should be here tonight. It will be time to bring out the big blankets and fuzzy pajamas. This is going to be excellent snuggle weather.

I would love to share some tips I use to help save a few dollars on heating during the winter months ahead. Muffins and breads will now be on the menu at our house more often, since the house will not get so hot from all the baking. After I finish baking, I leave the oven door open to help the oven heat the rest of the house. This is not recommended if you have little ones. Or at least make sure they are not around the oven. This makes a huge difference in warmth in the living areas where we normally hang out.

I love to use my crock pot for making meals too. When I am cooking something in the crock pot, I usually will place it on the counter by the living room. This is where it will cook all day and provide some heat to our common area. I am cooking a great meal for my family and heating the house. How great is that?

My dishwasher is the next source of warmth during those frigid winter months. After the cycle is done, I will open the door and let the heat and steam rise. This also provides some much needed moisture in the air during the dry winter season.

 If I can have all three going at once; the heater may not come on for quite a while. I am creating wonderful meals for my family and clean dishes. I can’t think of anything better!

Do you have ways where you try to create additional heat in your home without using your heater? Please leave a comment below.