Monday, July 6, 2009

Kmart Doubles

Kmart is doubling coupons up to $2 again. Unfortunately the stores in my area are not having them. I looked up all the Kmarts in the area and the NY ones are not running the coupon doubles, BUT if you are near one of the Pennsylvania locations in the northern tier, they are running this special. Sayre, Towanda and Williamsport are all running the coupon doubler. So, I am thinking about stopping at the Sayre location when I go visit the parents who live in the Valley.

There are some rules (of course):
  • Coupons up to $2 will double, but no overage will be applied
  • You can only double up to 4 like coupons.
  • Maximum coupons doubled is 10
  • Internet coupons are accepted and you will have to pay tax on the pre-coupon amount.
  • You have to have at least $25 worth of product to have your coupons double
If you'd like coupon matchups for Kmart, go check out Money Saving Mom's blog post.



Lisette

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day



Have a cookout to go to? Don't know what to bring with you? Looking for something to make at the last minute? Check out these recipes: (I am so glad AllRecipes is back up! yeah)
Enjoy the food and fireworks. Happy Independence Day!!



Lisette

Ecostore Shampoo and Bodywash Review


about ecostore


Ecostore’s purpose is to create a healthy sustainable world. Ecostore loves making a difference in people’s lives. We are passionate about improving the planet and have spent more than 15 years bringing you everyday household products that are safer and healthier for you and your family. We love hearing from people whose eczema or allergy symptoms have improved or sometimes disappeared all together just by switching to ecostore.

And the wonderful news is… we don’t compromise on performance either. Our plant based cleaning products are just as effective as the leading supermarket brands and our body and baby care ranges are gentle on your skin and are simply beautiful to use. (They smell great too!)


My Review

I received an email a few weeks ago asking me if I I would like to pick out two products from the ecostore to test and review. I figured why not? I looked at the web site and chose baby shampoo and body wash. About a week later, I received the box from the ecostore. I opened the box to find packaging peanuts. I thought to myself, how could they be eco-friendly if they are using these? I looked at the paperwork and it said that the peanuts were made from soy and that all paper and box were made from recycled products. Aaahhh. Well that's better.

Of course, me being me, the first thing I did was smell the product. LOL. It smelled clean. There is a slight citrus smell too them, but they smell awesome. I have tried other products that were free of chemicals and didn't like them because they really didn't have any smell to them. I like my kids to smell like they just had a bath. Do you know what I mean?

I used it first on my son. The hai
r lathered up nicely with only a minimum amount of shampoo and rinsed out easily. The body wash cleaned him up well but didn't make his small patches of eczema worse. After his bath, he smelled clean and his looked clean and shiny.I used it on my daughter also, and she came out clean and smelling great.

I would recommend this product to any mom who is concerned about the products they use on their kids. The price is the only thing that would concern me, because I am so frugal. At around $11 a bottle, it's a little pricey for my taste. Although, you do not need a lot of the products to get your kids clean, so it lasts quite a while. I have two kids and we still have both products left after several weeks. I did do a search online, and found many of the organic and chemical free body products for babies to be around the same price. Shipping was quite reasonable(considering it was coming from New Zealand) at $5.99 for both the bottles I received.

Once we have a steady income coming in again, I may think about actually ordering more of the shampoo (we use more of this than the body wash) because I do like it so much. If you are looking at finding a natural product to use on your kids (or even yourself), take a look at ecostore.

Note: I was not paid for this review, although I did receive the products mentioned for my own personal use.

Lisette

Friday, July 3, 2009

Frugal Meal Friday 7/3


Photobucket


Every Friday I will be sharing with you a frugal recipe. These meals will average $5 or less for a family of four, and many will give you lots of leftovers for lunches. If you have any recipes you would like to share with others, please feel free to email it to me at: couponqueenofcorning @ hotmail.com and I will include it in my Friday's posts.



Homemade pizza is on the menu for today. It tastes soooo good and is very frugal since you can add whatever toppings you would like. It is definitely cheaper than buying a sheet pizza for $20. You can use whatever pizza dough you would like. I use one from my Betty Crocker cookbook and it comes out great every time. Here are a few recipes I found online that you can use: pizza crust 1, Chicago deep dish pizza crust, and thin crust.

Now, we like our pizza crust thick, so I usually let it rise once, put it in the pan and let it rise again. This makes a really nice thicker crust. If you like your crust thinner, just don't let it rise for the second time.You will then want to bake the crust for 15-20 minutes at 375 until crust is just starting to get golden.

Now the fun part: adding the toppings. Add tomato sauce, pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce to the top of your pizza. I usually use about 1/4 of a jar of sauce and then I will use the rest within the next few days for chicken Parmesan, a spaghetti side, etc. Add mozzarella cheese or you could use any cheese you have in your fridge. Now just pick your toppings. I usually put chopped onions and peppers (I chop these up and freeze them for easy meal prep), pepperoni, and hot sausage (I usually use 2 patties from Aldi's) on ours.

After you have all your ingredients on your pizza, put it back in the oven and bake until cheese is fully melted. And enjoy. Add a salad or a veggie to round out the meal a little more.

The price will depend on what toppings you add to the pizza. Here is the breakdown of cost the way I make mine:
  • Pizza dough - homemade costs me about $.30
  • cheese - I buy on sale (keeps for several months) usually at $2 or less for 8 oz
  • 2 sausage patties - I buy a package of them for around $3.50 at Aldi's and I think there are about 18 patties so about $.40 if I use 2.
  • pepperoni - I buy the packs when they are $2 or less. I would say it costs less than $.50 for the pepperoni I use.
  • 1 onion - I can usually get several pounds for a little over $1. So, I would say this was about $.25
  • 1/2 -1 pepper depending on size - I buy these 3/$1.75 at Aldi's so even if I use a whole pepper it is still less than $.60.
So, for about $4.00 I can make a really tasty pizza. Adding a vegetable still keeps me under the $5 mark.

I made this last week and it was yummy! I also made strawberry banana muffins for dessert. These turned out yummy and I had the opportunity to use up a bunch of those free strawberries I had gotten. Here is the link to the recipe I used if you would like to make it: Strawnana Muffins.






Lisette

Thursday, July 2, 2009

All You Grocery Challenge

Looking for a way to challenge yourself to spend less money on groceries? All You magazine is running a Grocery Challenge that begins July 13 and runs for 4 weeks. The challenge is to only spend $25 per person a week. This would be $125 for a family of five. The nice part is you can use food from your stockpile or your garden, or even food that you barter for. As long as you aren't spending money on it, it doesn't count. All You will pick 10 finalists and the winner receives a $1000 grocery card and a year's supply of Knorr's side dishes, plus a chance to appear in All You magazine.

I have entered the challenge and am hoping to slash our spending for the next month dramatically. I have $200 for the month budgeted for food, but would like to actually spend less if possible. We shall see. So, for the month of July, I will be documenting here how much we spend on groceries, eating out, and even my husband's occasional coffee at the convenience store. Unlike the All You challenge, I will be including household and bath products in my overall grocery budget. The only thing I will not include is diapers. I have 3 packs left, but Rite Aid will be having some rebates this month that I would like to take advantage of when they have the packs on sale for less than $10. Even though I have quite a few Pull-Ups, I have a coupon for $5 off that expires this weekend so I will make sure to take advantage of that also. Thank goodness my little girl decided she wanted to start using the potty. This is saving us so much, since she only wears them at night now!

If you have any suggestions on how I can cut my food budget further, or would like to share how you are cutting your expenses, leave me a comment. And don't forget to go sign up for the Grocery Challenge.


Lisette

Walgreens Quick Trip 7/2


After my interview this morning, I decided to stop by Walgreens and get a few things. Here is what I got:
  • 2 boxes of HaganDaz ice cream bars. On clearance for $2.14. Had a $1 coupon making them $1.64 each
  • 2 cans of Pringles (for the holiday weekend) $.99 each. Had $1 coupon off 2, making these $.49 each
  • 4 boxes of Shells N Cheese $1.67 each (awesome price!) Had 2 coupons for $1.50 off 2. So, they were 4/$3.67 or about $.92 each (I add ingredients to these to make them a more rounded meal)
  • Dawn dish detergent $1.99. Used Walgreens coupon to make it $.99 plus a $.50 off 1 coupon, making it $.49

I then used two $3 register rewards. The register wouldn't let me use my other one that was for $1, so I will use that next week.

Amount before savings: $27.23
Sales savings: $12.23
Coupon savings: $12.50
Amount paid: $2.50 (saved 90.8%)



Lisette

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Giveaway: All You Magazine Subscription

Have you ever bought an All You magazine? If you haven't, you should really pick one up sometime. They are filled with awesome coupons, that are usually better than the Sunday newspaper inserts. Would you like to win a subscription to the magazine? Go to MommySnacks to enter to win. Contest ends next Tuesday.


Lisette

$55 Coupon Booklet

Wow. It's crazy how they start pushing school clothes and sales right after school is out. My son has barely been out a week and I am seeing stuff for back to school already. uuggghh.

Well, I did find something I think you would all like. You can get a booklet for $55 worth of Nabisco/Kraft coupons. Click here to go sign up.




Lisette

Tops Trip 6/30

We made a pit stop at Tops last night. Didn't get too much but I did get some good deals.
  • 2 bags of 8 O'clock coffee - Buy Onet at $4.29 get one free plus I had a $1 off Tops coupon that made these 2/$3.29 = $1.65 each
  • 2 bags of 8 O'clock coffee - Buy One at $4.29 get one free - no coupon but still an awesome deal at $2.15 each.
  • Reynolds aluminum foil 75 sqft $2.99 minus $1.50 coupon making this $1.49
  • 3.07 pounds of bananas at $.59 = $1.81
  • Marcal facial tissue $1. Use free coupon which expired today to get this for free
  • 2 packs of margherita pepperoni $2 each. use $1 off 2 coupon to get these 2/$3
  • 4 containers of Breyers yougurt $.50 each. No coupons unfortunately but still a decent price
  • gallon of Tops skim milk $1.99

Total Before Savings
: $32.93
Total Bonuscard: $12.56
Total coupons: $4.50
Total Spent: $16.19 (including tax)
Saved about 50%




Lisette

Words of the Week Wednesday 7/1


It is Wednesday again and time to provide my readers with links to sites that I found interesting in the last week.

Many times I have trouble coming up with meals and recipes for dinners. The following sites are very helpful to me each week as I try to save money by planning my meals.
  • My favorite recipe site is AllRecipes.com. I think I am on this site at least three or four times a week. The other day I was trying to find recipes for strawberries (my hubby's grandma gave us about four pounds!) and found an awesome recipe for Strawnana bread. This recipe produced an awesome banana and strawberry bread that just tastes awesome! I will have to make some more now that I have some more bananas. YUMMY!!! They also have a feature where you can enter your ingredients that you want to use and it will find recipes that have these. You can also tell it to exclude certain ingredients. It really is one of the best sites I have found for recipes.
  • $5 Dinners is an awesome blog where Erin shares with her readers recipes for families that are healthy but do not cost a fortune. She shares her monthly meal plan at the beginning of the month (I used to do monthly, but lately have been having trouble just getting my weekly meal plan done) and proves that you can make dinner for a family of four for less than $5 a day.
  • If you would like to start meal planning there are various ways to organize your meals. You can use a spreadsheet, a calendar made using word processing software (if you don't have any on your computer you can download Open Office for free), or even just a pen and paper. I also found a lot of free meal planning information at Meals Matter including shopping list, daily meal planner, and more.







Lisette