Start Saving for College

August 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Start Saving for College

School is starting up soon and we will be sending our little ones off to learn as much as they can in those hallowed halls. Have you started thinking about saving for college for when they leave those school halls? Do you have a saving plan in place? Whether you already have something in place or not, you can sign up for a Upromise account.

This is one of the easiest ways to start saving for college. Get started now right in time for back to school. I signed up for Upromise when my daughter was just a baby. After you sign up you can enter your grocery and drug store savings cards and credit card numbers onto their very secure site. Then based on the products you purchase Upromise will make a deposit into your child’s Upromise account. You can tie these savings to a 529 plan or wait for them to build and take out a lump sum. Basically the more you spend the more you are saving for college for your child.

Upromise offers savings in all areas such as grocery coupons, travel, restaurant deals and more. For my coupon fans, they have coupons you can load or coupons at retail stores. There are more than 800 online stores and 8000+ restaurants to choose from. You are bound to find some where you can save. Just think of saving on nearly every purchase you make and having that money go towards your child’s college fund. I can’t think of a better way to save.

Easy Ways for saving for college:

  • Shop on line through Upromise
  • Eat out at participating Upromise restaurants
  • Go to the grocery store and drug store
  • Invite family and friends to share in the savings

What are you waiting for? Sign them up today to start saving for college as you send them off to learn.

Filed Under: Budgeting, Money Saving Tips

Higher Beef & Pork Prices – How you can save during this drought

August 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I know we have heard the hype on the news lately. So I want to inform you a little about what is or will be happening at the grocery stores soon and ways to save right now to avoid higher costs in the future.

Why does corn have to do with beef prices and milk?

The corn that is grown to feed livestock is more susceptible to drought conditions than the corn grown for human consumption. Therefore, it will be more expensive to feed cattle and pigs due to the drought in the Midwest corn growing area.

The Agriculture department expects groceries prices, including beef prices, to rise between three and four percent. This is at a much faster rate than normal due to these large drought conditions.

What can you do now, so this price increase won’t hurt your wallet?

According to USA Today article the beef and pork prices will drop over the next few weeks. Now is the time to stock up on these meat and dairy products if you can. Beef and pork prices will start to climb after a few weeks. We may even be facing a meat shortage over the next 6 months. We are at our lowest beef inventory since 1973.

What can you do to help your budget in during this time?

1. Go Meatless. Start by have at least one meatless meal a week that includes a protein such as beans or nuts. This will reduce your use of meat during the week and might even help your waist line!

2.Stretch what you buy.  If you buy 5 lbs of hamburger meat, divide that out into 6 packs for freezing. Now you can make six meals instead of five. 

3. Cook Once Serve Twice. Make large meals with less expensive vegetables such as soups and stews during the winter. A large soup or stew can easily be stretched it into more than one meal. 

4. Go Nuts. Include more seeds and nuts in your meals. Use nut butters for sandwiches. (or sun butter for those allergic to nuts)

Here are a few meals that might help your budget:

Corn Dog Muffins! – the kids will love them

Homemade Lara Bars – Great for Breakfast and packed with nuts and fruit

Easy chicken Cordon Bleu - Serve with rice to make this a meal!

Here are all the coupons I could find on products to help you save money right now:

Items that are Bold are meat items I recommend printing right now!

$2.50 off when you buy any THREE Mrs. Paul’s® or Van De Kamp’s® ParchmentBakes™  – Include a meal of fish!

$1.50 off when you buy any TWO Mrs. Paul’s® or Van De Kamp’s® ParchmentBakes™ - Include a meal of fish!

55¢ off when you buy any ONE MORNINGSTAR FARMS® Veggie Foods Product - Go Meatless

SAVE $1.00 on any one (1) package of Weight Watchers® Chicken Breasts, Tenders or Burgers -CHICKEN!

$1.00 off 1 package of Butterball Turkey Burgers  - TURKEY

$1.00 OFF any TWO (2) packages of Land O’Frost Premium®, DeliShaved® or Bistro Favorites™ - LUNCH Meat

 

$1.00 off when you buy any FIVE Balance Bar® Singles (1.76 oz) - extra Protein

 

$1.00 off when you buy any TWO Knorr® Homestyle Stocks - Stocks for Soups and Stews

 

65¢ off when you buy any ONE Knorr® Homestyle Stock - Stocks for Soups and Stews

 

$1.10 off when you buy any ONE Smart Balance® Spreadable Butter - Dairy Product

$1.50 off 3 12 oz. SPAM products  (I don’t think this fall under healthy, but I ate it on salads growing up)

$1.00 off One Half Gallon 8th Continent Soy Milk - Milk alternative

$1.00 off (1) One NEW! Almond Plus from Coconut Milk  - Milk Alternative

$1.00 off One Half Gallon of Rice Dream - Milk alternative

$0.50 off two Yoplait Greek yogurts  - Dairy

$0.40 off six Yoplait Yogurts - Dairy

$0.75 off ONE Yoplait Frozen Smoothie  - Dairy

$1.00 off five PowerBar Products  - Protein

$1.00 off 1 Jamba All Natural Frozen Smoothie Kit  - Dairy

Sources used for this article:

USA Today

 Associated Press

Filed Under: Budgeting, Money Saving Tips

Stop Throwing Money Away

May 8, 2012 by 1 Comment

I hate buying things that I have to throw away. It is like just taking your money and throwing it in the trash can. The only thing that I don’t mind and will not reuse is toilet paper. I am sure you have my back on this one. However there are some alternatives when it comes to other products around your home you use every day. 

Frugal Money Saving Ideas

One thing is paper napkins. Yes, it is important to be tidy at the table. But we don’t need to create waste in doing so. The best solution I have it using cloth napkins. Buy a couple of sets for your family. This will add to your laundry a little bit, but this is also a good job for someone to help out. If you can find them at the dollar store or Target great! You could even make your own. Don’t go all out buying something nice. These are going to get dirty and stained. Save the good ones for when company is coming over. 

Make your own cleaning cloths. I love the convenience of using Clorox wipes. But did you know you can make your own and just wash them? Yes it is true. Grab some old t-shirts that are holy, I mean that have holes in them. Your husband old t-shirts are the best. Cut them up to a preferable square shape and keep one of your cleaning cloth containers or you can use a baby wipe container. Mix about 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon bleach and 1 teaspoon dish washing liquid and put the cut up cloths in there. When they get dirty just pop them in the washing machine. Wash them like you would normally in the wash then place them back in the container. How easy is that? You maintain a sanitized cleaning cloth and for only a few pennies. I like things for pennies.

Paper towels. I have around 7-8 hand or kitchen towels and wash cloths for the kitchen. I use them frequently during the day for spills and things. At the end of the day I put the one used in the dirty clothes and grab a fresh one for the next day. This soak up more than a paper towel would and by rotating it daily bacteria does not grow, since I am only using it one day.

No More Baggies. I don’t buy baggies very often. I usually pack lunches in plastic containers, even the chips. When they get home I just pop the containers into the dishwasher. This eliminates buying a bunch of plastic bags that will be thrown away. Don’t get me wrong I do buy them, sometimes it is just better to put it in a baggie. I do try to be creative and see if I can get by using something that can be washed instead.

These are not only several frugal ideas, but also a few eco friendly ideas. Think about the amount of waste you are reducing by not throwing away all those things. Then think about the money you are saving by not purchasing these items every few months. That is saving pounds4pennies.

Here are some more ideas to reduce, reuse or recycle:

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Money Saving Tips, recycling, Ways to Go Green

Reuse Ideas

April 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In keeping with the theme for this month of Earth Day today’s topic for Money Saving Monday is REUSE IDEAS. One of the best things you can do to save money is to reuse items instead of tossing them after one use.

REUSE IDEAS

One item that I reuse a bunch is plastic zip baggies. Most of the time I put things like muffins to freeze or snacks in these. I simply wash them out and let them dry and use them again. I will do this several times before being tossed. This helps reduce waste in the landfill and also helps my budget by not having to buy baggies as frequently. As I have said before I hate spending money on things that get used once and then are throw away.
Another item I may use twice is aluminum foil. If I am baking biscuits or something that really doesn’t stick to the foil. I will wash it off and reuse it again. Then I will fold it up and place it in the drawer and then flip the sheet over and use the other side. I normally use foil on my baking sheets, so the baking sheets stay nice and clean and provide an even baking surface all the time.
If you are a couponer and you print lots of coupons like I do, you have a lot of left over pieces of paper. I will take these and save them for the kids to color or to make additional craft projects. These little pieces of paper are stored by the art supplies and can be used for cards or whatever they can imagine. We always have scrap paper for a project.

 

Have you seen these fabulous things people have made using toilet paper tubes? I have been in awe myself. I even made this fabulous little mirror for around $3.00. Here is the link to my toilet paper tube mirrorproject. I think when summer is here I will have more time to make some of these little projects. We will see.
One last awesome reuse idea is to repurpose clothes. This is another thing I am pinning a lot of lately. Taking old t-shirts and using them to make skirts, shrugs or tanks. These are awesome little one hour projects that look so cool and easy to make. I can’t wait to give these a try.

Is there anything you reuse to save money? I would love to hear from my readers. Leave a comment below. If you have a recipe or crafty linky party, share your links on my Linky Parties Page.
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Filed Under: Frugal living, Money Saving Tips, recycling

How I Save Money by NOT Eating Cereal for Breakfast

March 19, 2012 by 3 Comments









I rarely buy cereal any more. There are some great cereal deals out there right now and I just don’t feel the need to buy cereal when I have great items I can make for breakfast ahead of time and freeze.

Here are a few items I like to make pancakes, muffins, french toast and hard boiled eggs and sausage. I make extra on the weekends and freeze these to eat throughout the week. Just simply pop them in the microwave for a minute or two and you have a quick and easy breakfast. 


Cinnamon Swirl French Toast – $1.44 for a family of Five
Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins – Fruits and Veggies in a muffin
Make Your Own Muffin Mix  – Don’t buy prepackage muffins, make your own to have on hand at anytime
Healthy Smoothies for Kids – My kids think they are getting Ice Cream for breakfast $0.50 per serving
Then kids were lucky enough I made the Cinnamon Swirl French Toast and Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins last week for them to choose for breakfast.

My grocery money for high carb cereal is now going towards wholesome ingredients such as multigrain pancake mix, eggs, fruit and whole wheat flour while trying to stay within my budget of $50.00 a week for a family of five.


Do you have any great breakfast ideas other than cereal for breakfast?


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Filed Under: Frugal living, meals, Money Saving Tips

Recipe Cinnamon Swirl French Toast

March 14, 2012 by 14 Comments

I normally get the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread loaf at Kroger when it is in the discount section for $1.00. I take it home and freeze it right away. This recipe will feed all five of us for one meal; However, I like to make this on a weekend afternoon on my electric griddle and freeze it, so the kids have this for breakfast instead of cold cereal. I warm it up in the toaster on a higher setting and press the frozen button. This past week they were lucky enough to have freezer muffins and Cinnamon Swirl French Toast to choose from.

If you do not have an electric griddle here is one from Amazon that is very similar to mine. This makes an awesome gift too.



~   ~   ~
Cinnamon Swirl French Toast
1 loaf Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
4-6 Eggs
½ Cup of Milk


1. Toast both sides of the Cinnamon Swirl bread on and electric griddle set for 350 degrees for a couple of minutes on each side or until starting to turn golden. After the bread is toasted allow to cool for a few mintues. Otherwise the bread gets too soggy.
2. Take 2 eggs and crack them in a large flat bottom bowl and add ¼ cup milk. Mix well.
3. Dip the bread in the egg mixture and let it soak a minute or two on each side. The egg should soak into the bread. Keep dipping pieces until the egg mixture is gone. Once gone add another couple of eggs and the remaining milk until all bread is soaked and on the griddle.
4. Spray electric griddle with spray oil and lay the egg soaked bread on the electric griddle. Let fry for a couple of minutes. The egg will get brown around the edges of the toast. Flip and let the other side brown.
5. Once complete serve with powdered sugar, apple butter, apple sauce or syrup.
~   ~   ~
Last time I made Cinnamon Swirl French Toast I only used four eggs and a little milk. This costs me $1.00 for the bread and $0.44 for the eggs. So for the main part of the meal I spent $1.44 to feed a family of five for breakfast. This meal includes protein, carbs and a fruit.
How much do you spend on breakfast for your family?

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Filed Under: Frugal living, meals, Money Saving Tips, Recipes, Time Saving Tips

Tips 4 Tuesday – Why I Never Shopped at Walgreens. Until TODAY!

February 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
One thing you have to realize when you are first starting to coupon is you can’t always get all the deals all the time. There are just too many stores and the amount of gas you would use would offset the saving you were getting anyway. That is mainly why I never shopped at Walgreens. It was too far away for me to justify making a trip out that way to get just a few items each week. Even if it was FREE. Since most of the time the FREE item was gone off the shelf by the time I got there. So all I did was waste gas and drive around for nothing. I spent time planning my scenarios, gathering my coupons. Instead of being excited about the awesome deals I was about to get, all I got was disappointment. This was not worth my time, gas or energy. I did this on several occasions. I vowed I would not go to Walgreens anymore.


Until now! I just realized that there is a Walgreens close to my son’s preschool, since this is on my way and I won’t waste any gas money. I thought to myself “How can I now add Walgreens into my shopping rotation?” I stopped by there today, and the cashiers were so much nicer than the Walgreens closest one to my house. Someone in the aisle even asked if I needed help. They even had a ton of the sale items still in stock, and it was Tuesday. I was very impressed and I will go back to this store.

My new plan of savings is to hit Walgreens and CVS on Tuesdays. Then do my grocery shopping at Tom Thumb, Kroger and Sprouts on Thursdays. This way I will not waste any gas, since all of these are on the way home from my son’s daycare. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the closest to when the new sales cycles start for those stores. Woo Hoo more savings!


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Filed Under: Couponing, Couponing 101, Frugal living, How to Start Couponing, Money Saving Tips, Time Saving Tips, Walgreens Shopping, Weekly Shopping

Money Saving Monday – Maximize Savings on Clearance Items at Tom Thumb

February 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Just a few things first. My DI team made 6th place at our tournament. We are thrilled with the results. The team worked so hard and they are excited they placed this year. Now I can focus a little more time on my blog.

Second; don’t miss out on my giveaways. They are both ending March 1st. If you haven’t registered do it now before it is too late. There will be 3 winners for Purex Laundry Detergent FREE product coupon and 3 winners for Purex Ultrapacks FREE product coupon. For a total of 6 possible WINNERS! Super easy entry.


Lastly, I just love yogurt and I hate paying full price for it. I have to say Yoplait is my favorite yogurt. It is just thick and creamy and I love most of the flavors they make. I am always looking for ways to get this stuff cheaper. I like to shop the clearance bins for maximum savings.We eat yogurt pretty quickly around here so it won’t ever go to waste. I can usually buy what we will eat before it expires. Here is a scenario you can try to get any clearance items even cheaper at Tom Thumb.



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Using Coupons on Clearance Items at Tom Thumb


In each store, there are several clearance bins for items reduced for quick sale. One in dairy, meat, dry goods and produce. If you are a newbie, you should start trying to familiarize yourself where these little gold mines of savings are located at each of the stores you shop. You can really score some great deals in these areas. Check the product thoroughly and make sure it is in good condition before you buy it. Also check the expiration date on perishable items to see if you will use this or freeze it before the expiration date. It is also a good idea to find out what day they move certain items to the clearance bins to get them when they first hit the sales rack.

Tom Thumb has several clearance bins throughout the store to shop. Notify the cashier you have a clearance item(s) before they begin to check you out. It is best to set these aside or have them ring them up last, so you can pay attention to how they do it. The clearance item is supposed to be rung up first at full price, then scan the red clearance bar code. Always check this when they are checking you out, and . If not done this way your item may still ring at full price. You may experience some problems if the product is not scanned correctly.

Since they scan the product at full price then take the discount off after, you can still use a coupon to maximize your savings. This is great when it can also be a coupon that can be doubled or tripled.

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I haven’t had any problems trying this scenario at Tom Thumb. Now I am testing this at Kroger. I have used it on a couple of items with success. Have you had any successes using coupons on clearance items at Kroger?

Filed Under: Couponing, Couponing 101, Frugal living, Grocery Sales, How to Start Couponing, Money Saving Tips, Tom Thumb Shopping

Tips for Tuesday – Make Ahead Muffins

February 7, 2012 by 4 Comments

When I first started my extreme couponing journey a year ago, I loved the thrill of getting things for free or really cheap. However, when I really looked at what I was buying, it was a lot of junk food or unhealthy food. I really didn’t want to be feeding this to my growing children. I wanted to feed them nourishing food for their growing bodies.


We were spending way too much on food, since we were now on a single income.  I needed to also stay on a strict budget. When I was looking at what I could do, I knew I needed to cut back on the grocery budget. When I was a single mom a few years back, my daughter and I survived on $20 a week for all our meals. I thought I would try to do the something similar with a family of five. I would spend $10 per person per week for my grocery budget.

I like the fact of buying muffins in the package and opening them up and pouring a few ingredients in then baking them. Ta Da you then have muffins. I also realized in order to provide better food I needed to get back to the basics and start cooking more things from scratch. I was staying at home now, so I had the time right? So I thought. I was just as busy if not busier. How could I provide good food and save time?

I remembered my “Joy of Cooking” cook book had a recipe for making muffins by listing the dry ingredients then telling you what to add to make variations of these muffins. Here is the simple recipe and a few variations you can use:

1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour (I use whole wheat, I haven’t noticed to much of a difference)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons double-acting baking powder (I use a little more, since I use whole wheat)

I simply make a few ziplock bags with these dry ingredients in there. Then I have a little print out of the wet ingredients:


Dry Ingredients for Muffins:
Beat in 2 eggs
2-4 Tablespoons butter melted
3/4 cup milk

Combine all the ingredients and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Blueberry or berry muffins add:
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup berries

Pumpkin:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup Pumpkin

Then I have my own prepackaged muffins I can whip up whenever I want. 


I must say the best gift for a new bride would be ”Joy of Cooking ” cook book. It is very educational and has a recipe for just about anything you would want to make.  

Learn couponing strategies by reading my
How to Start Couponing Beginners Guide
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Do you have any great time saving tips? How do you save time during the week?

Filed Under: Frugal living, meals, Money Saving Tips, Recipes
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