More Than a Little

Maybe I just have a short attention span, but I am always forgetting if I have used the last of the money on my Walgreens gift card. Since it gets reloaded for the next month, I want to keep it in my wallet, of course, but then I try to use it and I feel like a big dork at the checkout. (Even more of a big dork, that is.) I had a wild and crazy idea today, though–when I scan it and it hits a zero balance and asks for another form of payment… I stick it back into my wallet backwards. Instead of seeing the pretty front part of the card, I’ll see the plain white and know that it’s empty. That should save me a little bit of hassle for the next few weeks.

By extension, putting the card in backwards could work for any card (gift card or credit card) that you wanted to keep handy but not use for whatever reason. Of course, if you’re really never planning on using it, then you might as well throw it in a firesafe box at home and reduce the risk of it being lost or stolen.

When I make meal plans, I don’t necessarily plan on making every item on the exact day I listed. IMy real goal is to make sure that there are ingredients for every meal, every day.

I did pretty well last week–I made everything on my list except pizza. I’ll put it on the list for this week. I also did not come up with the meal plan in time for our shopping trip yesterday, so I am creating the plan around things I know we have.

The Meal Plan for the week of 2/8
Monday: Mexican rice (seasoned rice with ground beef, corn, tomatoes and cheese)
Tuesday: homemade pizza
Wednesday: fettucini alfredo with spinach
Thursday: grilled cheese and tomato basil soup
Friday: broccoli casserole and mashed potatoes
Saturday: Valentine’s Day, and it’s rumored that my parents will be keeping Evelyn so I can go out on a date! Yay! :)

My grandfather used to give us all a Sam’s Club membership for Christmas every year.  When he stopped bothering with that, we missed it and started paying the membership fee on our own.  The last few times we were there, though, we didn’t buy much, and actually thought the prices were fairly awful.  Our membership expires in March, so we decided to make one last trip this month to see if there was anything we would want to buy while we still could, and make sure we still wanted to cancel.

I could not believe how expensive many things were!  I saw people pushing their carts around, and they were packed to the brim with giant boxes of things that I knew were overpriced.  Cereal! You buy a giant box with two bags in it for $6 or $8.  That’s the same as or more expensive than regular grocery store prices.  Lay’s Kettle chips were two for $5.88–the regular price at Walmart is $2.50.  Diapers were approximately as expensive as regular retail at other places, when adjusted for buying a gigantic box.  (I might argue that diapers are one of the few places that a gigantic box purchase might be considered a convenience, though.)  Not just that, but I distinctly remember paying about $6 for a box of Rice Krispie treats two years ago. They’d raised the price on the box to $8.57 yesterday.  M’s favorite, though, is that you actually pay quite a bit more to buy a 25 pound bag of sugar as opposed to the 10 pound bag of the same brand sitting next to it.  And yet, people were pushing these buggies around like they had just found the deals of the century.

That doesn’t mean that there are no good deals to be found.  Yesterday, we bought three cases of bottled water. We drink filtered water as well, but like to have the bottles on hand.  They were about the same price as Walmart, but you got more bottles for that price. ($3.88 for 30 bottles of Nestle as opposed to 24 bottles at Walmart.)  They also have good prices on books and movies and electronics.  Individually packaged snacks (for resale) are probably a better deal than at the grocery store, though those are pricey to begin with, of course.  Meat is often a good price–we bought some fresh chicken last time we were there at a good price.  We live forty miles from our nearest Sam’s, so meat/dairy is not something that we routinely buy there for practical reasons.  I have some fantastic baking sheets from Sam’s, too.  They’re abused regularly and look almost as good as new, and they were pretty inexpensive.  My husband enjoys their selection of cheeses. Office supplies and children’s clothes are sometimes decent (if not completely overwhelming) deals.   The personal care items… well, honestly, I didn’t bother going through those aisles.  Shampoo is free or it isn’t a good deal. ;) Spices are actually a really good deal, in my opinion–you get giant containers for about the same price as you pay for little ones in the supermarket.  Of course, I’ve been buying them at CVS lately and working them into my ECB deals so I don’t really pay for them at all, so the only one we bought yesterday was peppercorns.  ;)

Of course, a large part of the problem here is that in the last year, I started couponing and watching the sales prices more carefully, so I am paying attention to these things more.  I can buy most of the food items for much cheaper with a coupon matched with a good sale.  I think that as a general rule, Sam’s is probably a good value for people who do not pay strict attention to the sales cycles, do not use coupons regularly or for stocking up on basic supplies.  It can pay for itself with a few larger-ticket items, certainly.  They have laminate flooring for a decent price, and of course, any electronic item.  I am guessing that for many people, a few items that cost a little bit more at Sam’s would be outweighed by the general savings on the other stuff.

So, we totally reaffirmed our decision to not renew.  If we want to go back sometime, I’ll keep an eye out for a free one-day pass, or we’ll wait until December. My husband’s employer gives its employees a $500 Sam’s Club shopping spree every December (which is loads of fun, as you can imagine!) You have to be there on a specific Saturday morning, and what you don’t spend in three hours, you lose.   There’s no way that we’re saving enough money on the few things that we buy to warrant paying $40/year at this point.  It might be different if there was one in town that we could stop in at more frequently–I don’t know.

If you want to try out Sam’s membership yourself, right now you can use a one-day pass and avoid the 10% upcharge that they usually give to non-members.  Print out the .pdf coupon found in this slickdeals thread.  Technically, I suppose you could print it out as many times as you wanted–it’s good until March 31.  It does specify that you can’t pay by check. Sam’s is just about the only place we always paid by check because they charge a fee for using credit cards, or at least they did the last time we tried it. That was several years ago, and I suppose it’s possible that they have changed their policy (though I wouldn’t count on it.)  Cash is always welcome, though!

I received a very fun envelope (or what was left of one, before the postal service got a hold of it!) this afternoon!

These are the coupons from the coupon giveaway held by That’s Just Nifty Thrifty! I was so excited to receive them. :) I have only had time to rifle through them quickly, but am looking forward to sorting and filing them as soon as I can!

Thanks again!

(Also, Evie saw the pile of coupons on the floor and ran over immediately, saying “SHOPPING!”, which is pronounced taw-ney in Evelyn-ese. I fear that at twenty months, I have already warped her delicate little brain.  Her hands are hovering just outside of the picture. It’s amazing that I managed to get one without baby parts included.)

I had been stuck at home all last week because of the ice storm, so on Saturday afternoon, my husband let me go shopping without Evelyn.  I enjoy shopping with her but it is such a rare and beautiful thing to get to do all my shopping without being distracted by a baby, or having to drag her in and out of the carseat over and over! So nice!

The first Kroger I went to did not have the correct sales running, it seemed, so I just bought some basics and didn’t even use coupons.  It was a complete madhouse with all the SuperBowl shoppers, so I was a little frazzled. I guess I was more upset than I thought at not getting any particular savings on that run because I ended up trying for one of those five-finger discounts that I’ve heard about!  I was putting my stuff in the car when I noticed the hot dog buns hiding behind my purse.  I took them back in and paid for them, of course, but I had to laugh.  I am all about getting things for free but let’s not get carried away. :)

Highlights:
.09 Green Giant Steamers (I have 17 coupons left and so I asked for a raincheck.  My first raincheck!)
YoPlait Plus and FiberOne yogurts, free after coupons and ecoupons.
many, many boxes of Life cereal for a total of $1.49/ea. It’s not the best cereal price, but Life is my favorite cereal and I buy it without coupons

This is CVS on the right and RiteAid on the left. I also went to Walgreens for more profitable toothpaste.

CVS Highlists:
2 boxes of throat coolers! BOGO coupon for a profit of $4.99. I have been looking for these all month and had finally found three in another town, so I did finally get my five boxes.
2 NutraTrim gum… also the first time I’ve seen them in stock, so I bought them.

Rite-Aid Highlights:
GoodNights sleeping shorts – free  after coupon, SCR and $5/$25 Rite-Aid coupon. I don’t need these and hope I never do, but they’ll  go in a yard sale just fine for the price. :)
Veet – $1 profit after SCR  and coupon.

Evie “helped” me with the product displays and some of the items may have gone missing from the pictures.  That’s the trouble with toddlers… they’re very busy all the time!

Everyone says this but it’s true–the best way to cut your grocery bill is to plan your meals for the week. It’s the best way to handle your groceries even if you’re not trying to save money, though, because you never have that “what’s for dinner?” question hanging over your head, and you always know that there are ingredients available for good, healthy meals to fix.

Even though I do a lot of shopping through the week, my husband and I tend to do most of our meal planning and additional grocery shopping on the weekends. I probably should consolidate that, but we have to go out on Sunday to get a paper anyway, and then my husband often wants to go pick up non-food items at WalMart anyway. When the stars align just so, those two things combine, and he takes our daughter with him and I get a whole hour all to myself. So, my motivation for getting rid of the weekend grocery trip is pretty small. ;)

I am always curious as to what other people have for dinner, so here’s my list.

The Meal Plan for the week of 2/1
Sunday: potato ham casserole — I took pictures and will post a recipe later
Monday: Texas-style Chicken with Spanish rice
Tuesday: Homemade pizza (pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms and onions)
Wednesday: Crockpot macaroni and cheese, some sort of vegetable
Thursday: “small stuff” (our term for those meals where we find whatever we want to eat separately–I am planning on being out of town most of the day so I’m not planning on cooking. It will probably involve hot dogs for M.)
Friday: Man-pleasing breakfast casserole, possibly with coupon-acquired biscuits if I’m feeling  motivated

The Toddler Menu:
Fruit.
Cheese.

I really hope that she starts eating other things eventually.. :)

Lasagna is one of the dishes that I am known for making. It’s not going to win any awards for authenticity but to be honest with you, it’s really good and I would rather have tasty food than authentic food, so I never worry too much about it.  It’s not the

K’s Lasagna

3/4 to 1 pound ground beef (you can get by with less meat in this if you want)
1 jar pasta sauce. traditionally, Ragu, but it doesn’t matter. Or, make your own.
lots of shredded mozarella cheese
1 box lasagna noodles
cottage cheese
1 can mushrooms (”optional”)

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, put beef in a saucepan and cover with the sauce. Add mushrooms, unless you are cooking for someone who won’t eat mushrooms. ;) It’s the one ingredient that I try to keep in mind , since I know lots of mushroom-picky people. Cook until meat is done–keep it covered unless you like having pasta sauce splashed all over your stove, walls, floor and shirt. Don’t brown the meat first because that would be so, so wrong.

When everything is cooked, it’s time to start assembling. In a 9×13 pan, put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom, along with a bit of cottage cheese. That’s just to keep it from sticking so I don’t go too crazy on the bottom layer. Put a layer of noodles in the pan. If you’re lucky, they’ll fit perfectly, but otherwise, just piece it together. After this, layer meat – cottage cheese – mozarella cheese and repeat until you fill the pan or run out of ingredients. Each layer should be pretty thin, but you can go wild on the top with the cheese. I let M assemble it once and we had a cheese lasagna with a touch of sauce and noodles, and while it was GOOD, it is probably not what you’re looking for in a lasagna. Bake in a 350 degree oven until done. (My husband hates it when I say that.) It’ll take somewhere around half an hour, but it will look melty and bubbly when it’s done.

I make it like this because this is the way my mommy told me to do it the first time I called her to ask, after I got married. Recently, we had a discussion about how to make it and she started talking about the egg that you mix in with the cottage cheese. She did not mention an egg to me when she told me how to make this, so I never add it. Also, the cottage cheese is not gross. You can’t tell that it’s in there, except it makes it much less dry, and gives it a better texture, than it would be if you left it out. I suppose than an actual Italian recipe would use ricotta instead.

Enjoy! If you don’t run out of time because of a screaming baby, serve with garlic bread, baked with a bit of cheese if you’re fancy, and a salad. If you run out of time, no one will say anything about the lack of side dishes because they’re really not that necessary, and if they do, then make them do the dishes for being so ungrateful. :)

I have been snowed in all week, minus the one trip out on Monday with my mom and aunt, and I am missing my little errands. I have things to buy! Places to go! ECB and RR to roll! And if I have to look at these walls one more day I may go insane!

The truth is, the original reason that I started couponing is that I needed to get out of the house. I am not terribly social, and when Evelyn was tiny, I didn’t mind staying home all week by myself in the slightest. At that time, my mom would come down to visit about once a week and then once every other week, and when my husband was home on the weekends, we’d do most of our errands. Traveling with an infant is a skill that has to be learned like any other, and I really didn’t get out much on my own until she was bigger. I could have, but I didn’t feel the need, so I didn’t. That was enough social interaction for me. I was newly in love with a tiny fascinating creature and we didn’t need anyone else. Or… well, doesn’t that sound sweet, anyway?

When she got a little older, though, the days started dragging by, so I started taking her shopping. We would go to WalMart and I would wander through the aisles and find all sorts of things that I suddenly needed to buy. I’m thrifty by nature so I wouldn’t often give in to temptation, but I admit that brought home a few things that I wouldn’t have bought if I hadn’t been bored. I distinctly remember a sunhat with pink flowers and polka dots as an example of that. She hated having things on her head, but it was so cute! Of course, as it turns out, that hat turned out to spark an obsessive love for hats in her, and though she has LOTS of hats now, it’s still my favorite and it was just a dollar, so maybe that isn’t the best example after all.

Anyway, at about that same time, I came across the idea of the drugstore game and extreme couponing somewhere online, and I saw it first as an opportunity to get out of the house without a real financial impact. It gave me an errand and a purpose, for I also dislike aimless browsing. It was good for Evelyn, too, because she likes to get out of the house, too, and she has learned how to behave while in public, too. She sits calmly and eats crackers and Cheerios most of the time. I know that in part, I am just lucky that she has a personality suited for this sort of thing, but I also know that she can handle these shopping trips in part because she’s used to it.

It didn’t take me too long to see how much money we had been wasting all this time, though, and so I got a little more involved with it and then a little more organized about it and suddenly, it was a hobby. My husband stopped working at his second at-home job and then the money became more than a game, but a way to extend the amount of time I can stay home with my baby. The less we spend, the longer we can handle living on one income. It’s simple math, and I love being able to have some impact on our economy even though I’m not working at a “real” job anymore.

All that just to say… I really want to get out of the house tomorrow. Please let it warm up a little so everything will melt.

Staples Custom Printing has a $20 off $20+ coupon for custom rubber stamps using the code 47328. The coupon is valid on the following models: ACCU-STAMP, EVOSTAMP, 2000 Plus, Green Line. Thanks to Slickdeals. If one were say, just buying a new house and needed address labels, they might think about buying one of these!

I have a hard and fast rule about bargain shopping, and that is that I have to think very carefully about whether or not I actually need the item at its final price every time, even if it’s a super deal. If it’s free–sure. (Even then, I calculate how much tax I’ll be paying as part of my final price.) And that’s why I finally closed the browser window on the checkout page. After applying the coupon code and adding tax and shipping, this would have cost me $5.08 and while that’s stupid cheap, I really don’t need one so I decided against ordering it. I have a pile of stickers in my basket that I can’t seem to finish using before I get another batch in the mail from some non-profit or another. But if YOU need a rubber stamp, then this is a great deal. I’m tempted to buy one for my teenage niece. I would have loved that when I was a teenager. Of course, I was a geek and she isn’t, so maybe not.

I told Carrie a while back that she should make a peach cobbler for dessert. There is really nothing that is as easy to prepare as this cobbler. She was skeptical that this would turn into any sort of actual baked good when I described it, so I am offering photographic proof.  Also, I am greatly looking forward to snack time today.

First, the “recipe”.

Preheat oven to somewhere around 350. I did 375 because my oven is quirky and last time I made it, it took way too long. Put a stick of butter or margarine in a baking pan. We usually use 9×13 ones. Stick it in the oven until it melts.

Meanwhile, mix together one cup each of sugar, milk and self-rising flour in a bowl. (Hence why we call it one cup, one cup, one cup cobbler.) Although it’ll be easier to mix if you do the milk and sugar first.. honestly, it really doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps. The batter will be runny and kind of gross. Add a healthy shake of cinnamon. (I guess you could add nutmeg too, but I don’t care for it much.) When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the oven and dump the batter on top of it. Open a large can of peaches and spoon them onto the top of the whole mess. Don’t put too much syrup in there, though it’s not that important that you drain it or anything.

Ta da! It will look like this:

I think we can all agree that that mess is not good eats. Trust me here, and just stick the whole thing in the oven for a while. I baked this one for about fifty minutes, but again, my oven is odd so really, just keep an eye on it after it’s been in there a while.

When you pull it out, you will have something that looks like this:

Throw some vanilla ice cream on it and enjoy! Best served warm and bubbly, and hey, there’s fruit so you can pretend it’s healthy. Save a corner piece for me, would you?