Going on Vacation

I will be away from the blog world for a while. We are leaving for Phoenix AZ next Thursday July 2nd and will not be back until Saturday the 10th. Does anyone know anything fun and frugal for us to do while we are there.

Here are a few things we are doing to save money before we leave and while we are there.

For starters, I am not buying any more groceries until we get back. We have been eating from our stock pile other than what I bought last week. We will be working over the next week to eat all the fruit and produce we have so nothing will be left to go bad.

We will be taking all snacks and drinks with us for the long drive. Gas station stuff is very expensive.

We are taking with us spaghetti sauce, hot dogs from the freezer, lunch meat that we already have and some mustard, relish, salad dressing etc. We will be staying at my father-in-laws house and will be cooking several easy meals while we are there instead of eating out all the time. We have the room to take extra items. I don't know much things costs there and these were all bought for a few cents or free.

I hope everyone is having a great summer. I will be back to blogging sometime the week after we get back.

Be on the lookout for these coupons!

I went to Country Mart right after work today to stock up on some of the good deals they are having this week. I got ground chuck $1.59 lb, patio steaks $1.89lb, and boneless pork chops $1.89lb. My goal is to buy meat when it is under $2 a pound except for some cuts of steak which I can't find that cheap. I got 4 bottles of A1 on sale for 2/$5 and used 4 of the $2 off coupons from last Sunday's paper. I also got strawberries on sale for $.99 a lb carton and 2 red peppers for $.79 each. My total was $19.XX. When I got home my neighbor who is also a couponer gave me some of the coupons you see below. (same coupon pic of front and back) Since we have good coupons for Kraft BBQ sauce and A1 matched with the good meat sale, I will be making a trip to the store again. These coupons were found at a different grocery store by the sauces. Be sure to be on the look out for these. Meat is one of those areas I have a hard time saving money.

The best part is, these coupons do not expire until October.

Rolling those Walgreen's Register Rewards

I started out the week Sunday buying 3 bottles of St Ives Body Wash. I did 3 transactions with a total of $3.27 and got back a $3 Register Reward. I went back yesterday on my lunch and did 2 transactions of 3 John Freida's hair care less $3 coupon and a filler item to use the $3 Register Reward, Each of these totals came to around $5.50 and I got a $5 Register reward. Then I went after work and I did 2 more transactions and got the pop at 4 twelve packs for 4/$11 and used the $5 Register reward from previous transactions spent $6.55 and got back a $2 Register Reward for each transaction. Did I spend too much money at Walgreen's this week? Yes and No. I try to buy hair care and body care products when they average $.50 or less and after register rewards they equaled less than that. We were out of soda and have lots of summer things planned where we will need canned or bottled drinks and we try not to buy caffeine so this wasn't a bad deal. I still have more Register rewards to spend so I guess it was a ok week at Walgreen's.

Painting

This past week I painted my step-daughters bedroom. (The reason for not posting or Grocery shopping.) She picked out some bright color swatches at Home Depot. I price shopped the paint there and at Wal-Mart. The primer was about $3 less a gallon at Wal-Mart than at Home Depot. The rollers and the brushes were also less at at Wal-Mart so I got those there. The paint was $1 more at Home Depot than Wal-Mart but decided to get the paint there since that is was where the swatches were from. When I got to Home Depot. I told the guy at the paint counter what I wanted. His first comment was, "Those are really bright colors" and gave me a really strange disgusted look. The colors I choose to paint my house is none of his business! I told him she was turning 16 and I thought she should be able to have the room of her choice (with in reason). He then told me because the swatch was Ralph Lauran I could only have it mixed in Ralph Lauren paint. This paint is over $30 a gallon. I didn't want to paint a kids room in that expensive paint. She may change her mind in a year. I told him I wanted the paint that is around $17 a gallon. He then told me their cheapest paint was $22 and wasn't she worth the add'l $17 for the good paint. By this time I was Mad. I have had paint mixed there several times and have never had a problem. I told him I would just have it mixed at Wal-Mart where I can get it for $15-$18 a gallon. I went back to Wal-Mart and the lady there was so nice and helpful. They were able to look up the Ralph Lauren Color on the computer and mixed it to match the swatch perfect. I got the 2 gallons for $32. The nice associate at Wal-Mart told me that they can mix any color. That it sometime takes a little while to look up the color. She said the only thing she recommends mixing where you get the swatch from is Red.

Sometimes couponing can be so frustrating! I have already scanned the net for the deals at Walgreen's next week. I have some register rewards that are expiring Monday. I have checked and the inserts we got in our area do not have the St. Ives Body wash or the Right Guard coupons. It is so weird how some areas get one thing while the other doesn't.

You never know what you are going to find. . .

Last weekend was our city wide yard sale. After dropping the kids off for their last day of school on Friday, I stopped by a sale and bought this portable DVD player for only $10. I am so excited about this as we are planning a really long trip with the kids. My mom and I got up early to hit all the sales last Saturday and I must say we didn't find much at all to buy. It was a little disappointing. With about 50 sales in the paper we should have found alot. This weekend I got my hair done at 8 am on Saturday so I stopped at 2 sales. One I didn't find anything at and the other one I bought this basket for the yard at only $5. It's alot heavier than I thought it would be. I also got some DVDs for only $1 each.

Just goes to show you never know what you will find. I'm so excited about the basket. I have admired these in people's yards forever.

Trying not to waste meat

I try not to waste any kind of left over food. I have a veggie bag in the freezer that I put the little bits of vegetables in that we have left after supper. It makes great soup later. I know lots of people do this, then you have your bag of mixed vegetables ready when you want soup. What do you do with your left over meat? Some times we will have a half a pork chop, chicken, steak, etc left over. We do take leftovers for lunch and then usually let the dogs or stray cats have the rest. I would rather us eat the expensive meat. I came across this recipe that uses meat scraps so I think I may make a meat bag in the freezer and try this when it gets full. I will scale the recipe down as it looks like it would make alot.



Barbecue Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
2 large yellow onions -- peeled and chopped
2 large green peppers -- cored, seeded, and chopped
1/2 bunch celery -- trimmed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 pounds barbecued meat scraps
2 cans (28-ounce size) crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock8 ounces frozen cut okra2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Louisiana-style hot sauce

Directions:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions, peppers, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 20 minutes. Add garlic powder and season to taste with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high, then add 1 cup water, meat, tomatoes, and chicken stock to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until meat is fork-tender and falling apart, about 30 minutes. Add okra, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tablespoon hot sauce (or more if you like) and continue cooking until okra is tender and gelatinous and gumbo has thickened, about 15 minutes.

I think this will be great with BBQ season here. What do you do with your left over meat?

Edwards

My freezer is running low so I have been watching for meat on sale. Before the sale ended on Tuesday, I went to Edwards and got 2 roasts, a 3lb bag of boneless skinless chicken, a roll of ground turkey and 2 hot pockets for $13.08. I try to buy meat when it is under $2 a pound. The roast was on sale for $1.99lb and I can't wait for shredded beef taco's and BBQ beef sandwiches. I will cook these meals in the crock pot which will not heat the house up too much. The chicken was a 3lb bag on sale for $3.99 which is a good buy. You might want to check and see if your store has the single single Hot Pockets. At this store they are $1.00 and with the $.50 coupon from a couple from a couple of weeks ago that doubled made these free. The coupon reads any one Hot Pocket so they accepted it. Now I need to look and see if I have any more of those coupons. They are great for the kids to fix for themselves while we are at work.