11/28/2012 Shopping Trip and Freebies!

So this week my mailbox was pretty empty. I was able to get a free 8X10 print from Walgreens, a Steelers towel, and a free local newspaper.  

Weekly Shopping Trip

I decided to go grocery shopping today instead of waiting till tomorrow. I did pretty well, spending only $49.58! I bought a few things that weren't necessary and some things that weren't groceries. Selah destroyed my receipt so I wasn't able to look at it. Here are the items I can remember and the prices are guesstimates:

Milk $3.48

Creamer $1.98

Bread (2) $1.30

Christmas Tree Cakes $1.50

Tomato Paste (2) $0.30

Zzz Quil  $7.78

Wipes  $1.70

Cheese Puffs $1.98

Sketties (2) $0.78

Pasta  $1.98

Cream of Mushroom Soup (2)  $0.76

Alfredo Sauce

Orange Juice  $1.98

BBQ Sauce  $3 

Sugar  $2.88

Hot Dog Buns $2

Hot Dogs  $0.98

Cereal $3.98

Granola Bars $2

Chili (2) 0.76

Bag of Ghirardelli Chocolates $4.95 (free after coupon)

Turkey $2.98

Chili Mix $0.98

Once again I'm not sure on the prices, but they are around the right price. If you notice I didn't buy meat. I stocked up last week when Food Lion had the meat on clearance.

This week I plan on making:

Chicken Alfredo 

 (made from the whole chicken I cooked, pulled off the bone, then froze)

Deer Chili 

(1pound deer meat, 1 can of tomato paste, 1 can beans, 2 cans of chili, chili mix & whatever else I throw in)

Hamburger Helper 

Stir Fry

 (Chicken Voila $3.48)

Boston Butt with mashed potatoes and a veggie. 

Will have tons of leftovers! I smother it in Lawry's Seasoning Salt and cook on low all day in crock pot

                                        Last week we had: 

                                                  Chicken Nuggets and Mac and Cheese

              Crock Pot Roast (my roast was on sale from Food Lion) greens, corn recipe is below                                                                    - http://bubblecrumb.blogspot.com/2011/02/crock-pot-pot-roast.html

                                                         Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing                                                                                                                   - http://team-t-adventures.blogspot.com/2010/01/easy-crockpot-chicken-stuffing.html

                                                Thanksgiving my mom took us out to eat. 

One night Drew surprised me with Sushi for dinner. Selah had a Gerber Graduates Meal and fried rice. 

                                                                    Hamburger Helper

                                               Pork Chops, green beans, and mashed potatoes

This Weeks Freebies!

Here are the samples I received this week. Below is a Bic Hybrid 4 razor with extra cartridges and a Kashi bar brownie with coupon. Not sure if the razor has a coupon with it or not, I haven't opened it yet. 

Below is two sample packs of Green Mountain Coffee which each include a coupon and have 4 k-cups per sample. I also received a coupon for a bag of Ghirardelli Chocolates for free up to $5.

Craft: Hairbow holder

Recently I was asked if I would start posting my crafts and how to do them on my blog, so here goes!

Before my daughter was born I decided to make hairbows for her. It was something fun that I could do to keep myself entertained while on bed rest. After making the bows I realized I had no where to put them. After searching the internet for ideas I decided to make my own hairbow holder, rather than buying one from a boutique. I didn't take step by step photos of the process, but if you need help just comment and I will help in any way possible.

What you will need:

Canvas

Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Paint

Ribbon of different sizes

I was able to make my hairbow holder for free! I had all of the items on hand including the paint and matching ribbon! Some of the ribbon came off of her baby shower gifts, some even were tied to onesies. I always save the ribbon that comes on anything I buy or get!

If you need any supplies simply go to Michaels.com and print off a 40% off coupon for 1 item. You can use that for one item that is not on sale. I would print of several coupons and just go twice a day to the store. I also live only 10 minutes from Michaels, so it wouldn't be a big deal for me. After you use the ribbon for the holder, whatever you have left you can use for hairbows! 

Step 1- Paint the canvas the color you would like

Step 2- Measure out ribbon, make sure it is enough to go to the back of the canvas so you can glue it to the back canvas

Step 3- Glue ribbon to back of canvas. Make sure you leave some space between the ribbon so the bows won't be cramped. Also make sure the ribbon is straight.

Step 4- Let glue dry

Step 5- Enjoy! 

This picture was taken before I had all her bows on!

How it looks now:

Grocery Trip 11/15

This past week my husband has been out of town doing a gun class for work, so I really didn't cook anything. When I went grocery shopping I decided to put more money towards stocking up my meats and then I decided to buy more coffee, tea, paper towels, and snacks/food for Selah. Anytime you have a stocked kitchen and don't need groceries, is a perfect time to stock up! It took me forever to make Drew understand why I was shopping even though we were gone all week and didn't need to buy groceries. Since we only buy for the week, it makes it almost impossible to "get ahead" and "stock the pantry."
     Walmart had their Campbell's chunky soups on sale for $1.50 rather than $1.90 like normal. Normally I would just buy the walmart brand for $1.70, but not only was the Campbell's cheaper, I also had coupons that I printed off of coupons.com. They also had their "cream of" soups on sale for $1. It isn't that great of a deal, but I really didn't want to go to different grocery stores.
      While watching Extreme Couponers, I saw this lady from Swainsboro, where my husband was in the National Guard at, and so I facebook stalked her and added her, then found her website and added her. Her website is AWESOME! Here is a link:  http://fun2bfrugal.com/  I am big on supporting America and I am also big on supporting people from Ga, so I will now be following her blog. Side note; I only buy Williamson Brothers BBQ sauce, because the people that make it live in Canton, Ga. :) Unless I can get a different sauce for free, then I will get the free one. But anywho, check out her website and see the deals. It is great because she does her deals based on Ga prices. Sometimes people from other areas have prices that are much different from my area.
    While stocking up on meat I found a Boston Butt on clearance and a chuck roast on clearance. I have gotten the Boston Butt for much cheaper before, but I figured with Drew out of town I wanted to surprise him with his favorite meal when he got home. They also had sausages on sale which had a coupon on them, but sadly, I am out of freezer room so I decided not to get them. I also received a coupon at the register for $2 off my next purchase from Food Lion!

So far in my mail I have only received a coupon for a free large bag of Ghirardelli Chocolate. Not great, but not bad! 

Sandwich meat on sale!!

Today my friend Matt asked if I wanted to go grocery shopping with him. He likes me to go with him that way I can help him find deals and not buy unnecessary items. While shopping look what I discovered! I also want to add that each pack had a stick on coupon for $0.55. Not only did I get the sandwich meat on clearance, I had a coupon too! I ended up paying $2.40 for a total of 18oz of ham!

Freebies!

There is nothing like getting free stuff, especially if you don't even have to leave the house to get it! I follow a few blogs, which show up on my facebook. The pages are: hunt4freebies https://www.facebook.com/Hunt4Freebies, centslessdeals https://www.facebook.com/CentsLessDeals?fref=ts . I also shop at 1saleaday.com, dailysteals.com, nomorerack.com, and shadora.com. Everyday they have new deals for great prices. Some days they even offer free items. 

Below this is a picture of the items I got free last week: A pair of panties from Victoria's Secret, Perfume from Victoria's Secret, a beauty bag with coupons and samples from Target, a coozie from Chubbies, K-cups from Green Mountain, and a sample of hair stuff from John Freida. 

Below is a picture of most of the coffee stuff I have gotten FREE within the past 3 months. Missing is a few K-cups and 2 Tumbler cups, they are at my moms. Also, each item came with a coupon. The only thing that didn't come in the mail was the red Target thermos that Drew got from Target. They handed them out to the Savannah cops :) I had much more K-cups than this, but I gave them to my father-in-law since I don't have a Keurig. Yet!

Not every week is a great week for Freebies, but some weeks I get something in my mail everyday! 

   

My 11/8 Shopping Trip

          I was very disappointed this week when I saw what sales were going on, or I should say, lack of sales. The only coupon I could find to go with what I was buying was one $0.40/2 Cinnamon Rolls. Normally I would take this to Kroger since they would double it, but it wouldn't be worth it to go there for just one item. I was pretty good on meat, I just needed boneless skinless chicken breasts, so I only went to Walmart.
         I knew I would be spending a little more because I needed a lot of prep/fridge items (aluminum foil, mustard, sour cream, butter, onion soup mix, Lawry's seasoning salt, zesty Italian mix) I decided to go ahead and buy the large sizes instead of small ones which would have helped me stay on budget. I spent right at $65, tax included. I also was a little bad and bought some junk. They had a pumpkin cheesecake on sale for half price and Drew requested Christmas Tree Cakes. I tried to find a wine to buy, but there were just so many. Any suggestions on a nice sweet wine that isn't real expensive?
        Selah was a pretty good helper today. Once I got past her throwing her shoe off in the middle of us going across the crosswalk with cars waiting to go, we were fine. She only flirted with one man today. I don't  know what it is, but everytime she see's a young 20something man she thinks she has to wave, blow kisses, and talk to. The coca-cola man was her friend today. While looking at butter she starts saying very loudy "hey hey" while waving and smiling. I looked around and saw a nice looking coke man waving back. I swear my daughter is the biggest flirt!  

My Items and Prices:

$1.18 GV Bread
$2.97 Alumiunum Foil
$1.94 Pumpkin Cheesecake
$0.74 X 5= $3.70 for 5 cans of GV Spaghetti and Meatballs
$1.50 Christmas Tree Cakes
$2.97 GV 24 pack of Waters
$2.48 White Rice
$1.00 Stuffing
$1.24 Onion Soup Mix
$1.48 Zesty Italian Mix
$3.64 Duckes Mayo (only the best!)
$0.92 Mustard
$2.68 Sour Cream
$2.78 Tub Butter
$1.78 each 2 GV Cream Cheeses
$2.48 pound of hamburger meat
$6.48 bag of Boneless Chicken Breasts (not my best deal)
$1.78 Lawrys Seasoning Salt
$1.98 each 2 Cinnamon Rolls
$2.38 Ham
$2.88 Sliced Cheese
$3.48 Milk
$1.98 Bounty Paper Towels
$3.50 Cereal
$0.40 off coupon
Total $64.65

I also bought Selah a few stocking stuffers and some non grocery items, so excuse if my math is wrong. I had to take those items out of the total.

Next week, since I won't be needing to buy waters, mustard, mayo, butter, seasoning, cheese, stuffing. I will probably buy some more soups, maybe a frozen lasagna, some frozen hamburgers to grill, and hopefully a boston butt. I will still need bread, milk, paper towels, and I will need to get Selah some more snacks and some fruit. Next week I will also buy the drink mixes Drew likes. If you learn to move stuff around that you don't need every week, when you do need it you just make it where you are only buying one of those items a week. Like with Dishwasher detergent, buy it one week, regular detergent the next, then cleaners the following. Get a dry erase calendar for the fridge and keep up with what weeks you will need certain items. I also keep a magnetic grocery list on my fridge and when I run out of something I write it down immediately.