First of all...
Showing posts with label coupons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coupons. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Is it Smokey Mountains or Smoky Mountains?

I know all I would need to do is google and I could know the possibly definitive answer to that very question. I'm not going to google.

 I wanted to actually write that last sentence as: I'm not going to though. However, we all know that is a dangling dangle of a sentence ending, so I restrained myself.

It was chilly last night, maybe as low as the high 40s and I swear the leaves changed a bit overnight.  So it appears that right on time, Fall has arrived. Excellent!, I say.  I also say, no hurry to turn on the heat, let's enjoy some sweater weather and throw another blanket on the bed if you are cold.  Better yet, take one of my dogs, they warm up a bed.

Thinking of blankets and cool temps reminds me of socks.  This in turn, makes me think of my boys and their always dingy white socks.  That last thought leads me to a coupon I have coming to me via Vocalpoint.   You could get a coupon for the new Vivid White from Tide too, if you were my facebook friend.  Click here if you'd like to do that, and if you already are, just check my page for the coupon link.  OH I have high hopes that this will help my laundry! I'll keep you posted on the results!


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Good Freebie from Suave!

I got this in an email from Freebies 4 Mom today:  Suave Beauty is giving away 50,000 full-size Suave Professionals Keratin Infusion line products .  You just go to Suave Beauty on Facebook and click on the giveaway button after you 'like' them.  It took a little while to load, but I filled out the form and looks like I am good to go.  So they are not at the 50K limit yet!

 
And Speaking of saving money, my copy of  "The Money Saving Mom's Budget" has arrived and guess what chapter one is all about?  Setting Goals.  How timely!  That is what I am working on right now.  So my goal is to implement a budget for our family for 2012.
 
If you go to her webpage today 1/17 she has a post up to enter to win a copy if her book!  I got mine by clicking her link and ordering it from Amazon with my $25 gift code for Amazon I earned from using My Points--so my copy was free, woo hoo!

I need to work on getting together meal planning, lately I have been trying to figure out a way to organize my coupons....

And yesterday I found a great way to organize recipes, goals and things I want to look into online.  It is called Pintrest.  Online bulletin boards, fun to make, fun to use, and probably a big time waster...

Here is my page.  I do hate the clutter of recipes cut out of magazines, so Pintrest can definitely help with that, as well as keeping an accessable list of books I want to read. So many ways to waste time, so little time to waste. 

 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Grocery Shopping Woes

I need to go grocery shopping, not the grab a few things kind, but the overflowing cart kind. A shoebox stands in the way of me shoppping.  Why you ask?  Well the shoebox is full of all my coupons which need to be gone through and organized and I need to match up the coupons with the deals. I can't go to the store and buy a few items knowing that in the shoebox is a coupon for say 50 cents off.  I just can't!

And then there is the Thanksgiving factor! When can I get 'the best' deal on a Turkey?  That time is not here yet.  But it is coming, I know it! I love a yummy turkey dinner, so I'd like to plan my shopping to allow for purchasing two turkeys at rock bottom prices.  And then I've been thumbing through the beautiful chock-full-of-awesomeness that is the Food Network Thanksgiving issue.  So many sides and so little time!



This leads me to rant-like statement.  You know what I don't get?  Meat in stuffing.  Why put sausage (for example) in stuffing?  It's a side dish.  Side dishes should be meat-free--only exception being the addition of some bacon.  Bacon is always welcome.

Lastly I have one major wrinkle to consider in this weeks shopping, and that is that the microwave has gone kaput.  Poorly played Kenmore Microwave.   Just when it's your time to shine as we make our way through the whirlwind that is holiday cooking, you go and kick the bucket! 

Quick Recipe
We had a couple uncarved decorative pumpkins so today I cut the top off one and Anna scooped out the guts and we made a batch of late-season Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Totally Tastefully Simple
1 batch of washed pumpkin seeds
2 tbsps of  Our Roasted Garlic Infused Oil
a sprinkling of our Seasoned Salt

Mix the first 2 ingredients in a small bowl then take a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam and spread out the pumpkin seeds.  Sprinkle on our Seasoned Salt and roast in an oven for about 15 minutes at 425.  The seeds are done when they are golden brown and a little crunchy.  Watch time, do not let them overcook because they are so much better before they are burnt. :-D


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Tales from the Frugal Side

If I had a dollar for everytime someone I saw in my daily travels remarked upon how bad the economy is currently; I'd have a nice Christmas fund at this point. Maybe I should get a portable credit card scanner, see if I can collect on that "if I had dollar for everytime." Much to my dismay, I'd have to say the odds of collecting those dollars would be very slim. So let's get onto my patent pending Tales From the Frugal Side.

  This week in Frugalville* had it's ups and downs.

1. Once again this year, I used a few coupons and purchased Halloween candy well in advance of the holiday. Once again I planned to hide the candy. Once again this year, the candy I bought is gone before Halloween. The lesson here is that planning ahead when it involves chocolate or Twizzlers is a bad idea. Procrastination has its place.

  Score on purchasing Halloween Candy with coupons: C

2. I met The Man for a fine dining secret shop at a steakhouse downtown. The requirements for what needed to be ordered were not in line with the reimbursment. I will only be reimbursed for about 50% of the total cost of the meal, which is not the goal. The goal is to be reimbursed for the meal as a payment for a detailed report. Icing on the cake was that the steak wasn't good and the service was subpar. We could have had a fantastically yummy meal at  Coopershawk Winery AND  Chucks Southern Comforts Cafe!

Speaking of Chucks, clear your schedule and set the DVR! Chucks Southern Comforts Cafe will be on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Monday October 24th at 9pm! If you have ever been to Chucks you know Guy Fieri is going to love everything!

Score on secret shop steakhouse: D

Score on Chucks being on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives A+!

3. Making bread from scratch. Many a frugal living blog talks about how much cheaper and awesome it is to make your own bread. I was looking in the cabinet and saw that I had 2 packets of active dry yeast that were fixing to expire. Normally I don't say fixing, but making your own bread will turn you all kinds of country. I googled 'easy homemade bread recipe' and I was off to the races. All went well until I noticed my bread wasn't rising. At this point I could have thrown in the towel and threw out the dough, however, since I had spent 10 minutes kneading the dough, I wasn't ready to quit. I returned to google 'my bread won't rise.' and found out that if your bread won't rise it can be salvaged! You have to take more yeast, one or two tablespoons and mix that with a teaspoon of sugar and 2 oz of warm water and mix that together. Next wait 10 minute to make sure the yeast gets foamy, that's how you know it is active. It was active! The next step was to mix that into the dough. This step was gooey and icky. But it worked!
Score on Baking Bread: B- (great sense of accomplishment, but time consuming!)




*Frugalville where are the women are Couponers, the men cut their own grass, and the children wear hand-me-downs.