Couponing

Hey there everyone!

I'm trying to get back in to couponing. I struggle with weather it is truly worth it for me. I know financially it is. when you think PURELY financial, heck yea its worth it. The numbers don't lie. However, it takes me a LOT of time to accomplish coupon shopping. I have 3 children whom I homeschool, plus a 3 yr old I keep during the week, not to mention all the other things to keep up with that everyone has to deal with. I'm not special. I know there are TONS of people out there who TONS more than I do, and still successfully coupon. What I do is mediocre at best. lol But, I am trying again. and I keep telling myself that the money saved will be much better than being able to go to Sams twice a month.

Anyway, first I have to say a few things about my couponing. I only go grocery shopping at most twice a week, and usually not even that much. I pretty well pick one store that has the best deals that match my menu needs. And I have a rule. I only buy something that we don't eat on a regular basis IF and ONLY IF, it is DIRT CHEAP. I mean, like 50cents or less. Usually free. My kids aren't picky. They will eat pretty much anything I put in front of them. Because of this, and the ability to stay home and cook from semi-scratch, (there is no way I could cook every day if I had to go out of the house to work everyday-to those that do, Hats off to you!).. As I was saying, I don't serve convenience foods very often.  To be honest, the kids get gripy if I slack off on fruits and veggies and home cooked stuff. Tonight we got home late and I ended up doing a simple boxed pasta salad with added meat and cheese and they were upset because I didn't "cook" lol.

I digress..

• First rule: limit the trips!!! I live 20 minutes from the nearest store, so I gotta make it worth it.
• Second rule: don't buy things you don't normally eat unless it is REALLY worth it. Buying food you don't normally eat just because its a deal only wastes your budget unless it is TRULY a deal. I have no problem buying treats and special foods just because they are cheap. But when it cuts into my budget for feeding my children healthy meals, then I draw the line.
• Third rule: don't save/print coupons for things you will never eat/use. I don't use chemical cleaners. My husband has a special cleaning solution that he has used for years and I found it works just as well, so that is what we use. If you want the recipe, let me know, I'll get it for you. When I first started couponing, I found myself with TONS of cleaner coupons. I was spending SOO much time trying to figure out how to sort them and keep them where I could find them, then always ended up throwing tons away at the end of the month because they werent cheap enough for me to warrant buying things with those coupons.
• Make sure the difference between the generic and the brand name is enough for any extra that you have to pay. Many times it is cheaper to buy the brand name when you can stack coupons, but many generic/store brands are being discounted heavily enough that you can get them cheaper, so be careful.

Furthermore, don't buy more than you can store. Someone once told me, it's a 6 week cycle. buy enough for 6 weeks and you are good. Unless you really come on a deal that is once in a lifetime(or once in a year at least) don't overdo it. You will end up stressing over where to store the items and not remember half the stuff you have in your store.

So, this week wasn't that great for me. I didn't need a whole lot and the few things I needed weren't really on sale. I'll save you the specific details, and I didn't get pictures, but I'll share my totals.

Bi-Lo.
This is my stand-by. I usually find the best overall deals here on the foods we eat most often. I did find something out this week though. They don't double other store coupons. I had some really great coupons from foodlion and target this week, and they took them, so I saved a trip to foodlion, but missed out on those doubling. This week I had a LOT of produce (normal for us) probably $25-30 worth.

Sub-total before savings:     285.20

My savings:                           72.04

Sub-total after savings         210.37

So, I saved 72.04, with 26 coupons, and of course the bonus card deals. OH, and I got a $5 catalina coupon off my next purchase that I used today at Publix. So make that savings $77.04.

Publix.

I live 40 minutes from the nearest publix, so this is only a once in a while trip. Today I went there simply because I was in the neighborhood and they are the only local store I can find that carries the ziplock vacuum bags that I use for storing meats in my freezer. Thanks to the really good coupons in last weekends paper, I was able to stock up on these. They are the only bags that I buy brand name. Target brand works well enough for anything other than the freezer.

OK, since this was a small trip, I am going to break it down so you can sort of see how it is done:

I only bought 4 items.

I had 3 coupons:

$1/1 ziplock vacuum pump or refil

$1/2 any ziplock bag

$0.40/1 any ziplock bag *this doubled at publix*

Each of the 4 items I bought (all ziploc vacuum freezer bags) was 2.89.

2.89*4=11.56.

Now deduct the coupons.

1+1+.40+.40 (don't forget the double) = 2.80 for a current total of 8.76.

Now, remember earlier I got a $5 off your next order from Bi-lo yesterday. It said Manufacturers coupon on it so I was able to use it at Publix(be careful with these, sometimes they won't take them, I had to discuss it with the manager before they would take it, because they thought it was a "store" coupon and the dollar amount was too high). Anyway, deduct that and we are down to 3.76. Add our horrible tax and our totals come to:

Total payment 4.80

Total savings: 7.80

Not too shabby, but not worth a special trip. If I had needed other things like for a regular shopping trip, it wouldn't look nearly as good. But like I said I was in the neighborhood and I really needed these bags.

OK, last but not least:

Target. This is my favorite store. Many people argue that Walmart is better, but I cannot stand walmart. I used to be the walmart queen, no joke. we were there at least twice a week. then I realized that the store was literally making me sick. but that's another post.

I got many free items on this trip. The totals arent that impressive, because of another rule of mine. I don't specifically "coupon shop". Those people you see with these outrageous numbers ONLY buy what they have massive coupons for in that trip. those totals don't take into account anything other than what they have coupon deals for. If you pay attention to what they are getting, it does not usually take into account normal day-to-day groceries, staples, and necessities. yes, they are great deals and it is really and truly awesome how well they can do, I'm just saying my numbers aren't quite so impressive. I bought household items that were necessary, but high dollar. Anyway, here goes.

Total spent $68.68

Total savings $35.74

So for the week...

35.74

7.80

72.04

Total Savings = $115.58

That's 2 weeks worth of gas money for me :D

Happy Couponing everyone :D

ps.. having looked back at this long-winded post, I must apologize for the length :) Thanks for taking the time to read it if you have made it this far.

Muffin Tin Monday and The Kids Cook Monday

This week's kitchen helper is:

Nathaniel!!

Yea, he likes to look goofy for the pictures :)

The other two are always trying to get in on the fun.

The only muffin tins I have are 12 cup large tings and 12 cup small tins and I only have 2 of each with 3 kids. Obviously, that doesnt work too well, so we improvise :) Thanks to Michelle at Muffin Tin Mom for the fun tools we used :)

Here is what we ended up with:

Clockwise from upper left: string cheese discs, pear chunks, Salad, Pizza rolls, and rainbow grapes.

The kids really got a kick out of the pear food pick in the pears :)

We didn't use the egg mold this week, as Nathaniel doesn't really care that much for boiled egg, but I suspect we will use them next week, because Garret LOVES them!

If you are new to Muffin-Tin-Meals or have never heard of them, check out Michelle's blog below! I can't wait for themes to come back! Also, check out The Kids Cook Monday link as well to get ideas about how to involve your children in the kitchen! It doesn't have to be hard or stressful, even with little ones!

Have a great week and Happy Homeschooling!

Muffin Tin Mom's Blog

The Kids Cook Monday

Muffin Tin Mondays and Kids Cook Mondays!

Muffin Tin Monday and Kids Cook Mondays

Recently I was asked to participate in Kids cook Mondays. It is a program to help get kids involved in cooking and therefore promote healthy eating habits.

I have also recently found a blog Muffin Tin Monday. This is a simple concept. Serve one meal in muffin tins, bento box, small container or whatever you have really. I think it is a good way to ward off the stresses of Monday and make it fun and entertaining for the children and maybe get them to try new foods. I personally had never served a MTM (muffin tin meal) but was excited when they did a swap recently. I was lucky enough to be paired with the creator/author of MTM and got some really grooovy things :)

We got some adorable little forks and spoons, bird and bunny cookie cutters, a heart shaped rice mold, some really awesome boiled egg molds (CANNOT WAIT TO USE THOSE-- such a  neat idea) some paper food liners (like cupcake liners)some pretty picks with tags on them and a box to put everything in! (whew! I think that is everything, but I may have forgotten something lol)

Now, in my house, kids don't just cook on Mondays. They cook every day. A few months ago, we started a tradition in our house. The kids take turns on three different weekly duties: kitchen helper, set table, clear table.

The kitchen helper is responsible for sitting down with Mom at the beginning of the week and making a menu of all the meals that will be served during that week. Then, through-out the week, that child is responsible for helping to cook and serve those meals. The only rule is that they must have at least 1 fruit or vegetable and a protein at each meal. If I let them, on certain weeks we would have no meat whatsoever, and all fruits LOL

So today was our first ever MTM. Using all my new supplies (THanks MICHELLE :)) Garret and I worked together to make a wonderful meal. I hadn't really planned ahead on this one, so we had to make due with what I had on hand.

This is what we ended up with: Casaba melon (kind of like honeydew), cucumbers, and heart shaped bologna and cheese sammiches :)  The melon and cucumbers are cut into bunny, bird (banana), bat, and snowman shapes lol even though they are hard to see in the pic.

Garret is very serious about cooking.

This is a Casaba Melon bird... Garret thought they looked more like bananas though.

the heart shaped rice mold actually worked pretty well for cutting out the sandwiches

Overall I think it was a huge success. My nine year old (read "9 going on 18) tried to act like he didn't like the melon, but seeing as how he ate a third of it 2 days before, I think he was just being dramatic.

My daughter likes making that face for pictures btw.

If you want to join in the fun at The Kids Cook Mondays check out their website here .

If you want to join in the fun at Muffin Tin Monday check out her blog here .

I must admit that this meal and post were not written on Monday, BUT I have good reason :) Monday is Garret's SEVENTH birthday! I cannot believe my baby is going to be 7! (well, he WILL be 7 by the time this posts) Anyway, I didn't want to put it off and we really couldnt wait until Monday to do our first meal when all these goodies were sitting there waiting to be used, could we?  Eventually I hope to actually post these things on Monday, but well, lets face it, Mondays are crazy, and I'm only human LOL

TGIF

TGIF - Thank Goodness it's Friday

As homeschoolers, this doesn't always apply. Some weeks I dread Friday. Why? because it means our busy weekend is about to start. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all the things we do on the weekends but sometimes it gets so hectic it is hard to keep up. There is gymnastics, and grocery shopping (because it is MUCH easier to do with one child versus 3or 4) then family birthday parties (at least once a month), friend birthday parties, Errands to run for hubby, grass to mow, etc. Not to mention every other weekend is an "End of unit" for Erik and I, which means tests, homework due dates, and finishing up other assignments. Then of course there is planning for the following week of school for the kids. After all is said and done, we are oftentimes looking forward to the break that is Monday.

This weekend is not that busy, thankfully. We have gymnastics, and Erik and I have just started a new school term so we have lots of reading to do, but otherwise just the around the house things to be done. Today we are hoping to go swimming at the YMCA and I'm hoping to be able to read a bit for school while we are there.

I would have liked to be able to do some of my shopping today, but alas, I haven't got my coupons together. I really gotta get on top of that. Does anyone out there have a trick for staying on top of them? I print any time I see a good deal, but they end up staying on the printer until I absolutely HAVE to take care of it lol It's terrible.

Well, there you go, another one of my random posts.... hm... where did I put my tea?...