A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Hunter's Dr. Seuss Nursery

2011-09-18T20:34:00.001-07:00

This is for Pinterest, Hunter's Dr. Seuss Nursery. My Piece de Resistance at the time... I loved being in this room with him (although I did steal it off the internet originally). Was done by copying pictures from the books onto overhead slides and projecting them on the walls with overhead projectors. Do the color work first, then do the black detail with an artist's brush over the top. Try your hardest not to move the projector while you're doing it because you will NEVER be able to line it up again!! And also, one perfectionist to another, don't be too anal. It will take too long. No one knows if your lines are EXACTLY like the book, just get it reasonably close, eh ;-) Click for full views of pictures, I can't remember how to resize!!

Sales ending 2/2- Kroger Mega Sale!!

2010-01-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

King Soopers MEGA sale!!

King Soopers (Other)

Safeway

Albertson's

Deals through 1/19

2010-01-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

King SoopersThanks again to melziemom.blogspot.com for some great Kroger matchups for this week!

Safeway

Albertson's

Deals through 1/12

2010-01-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

Safeway

King Soopers

Albertson's

Long time no deal! Sales thru 1/5/10

2010-01-04T01:57:00.001-08:00

Sorry, work got the better of me... here's the deals through 1/5/10
Albertson's

Kroger/King Soopers

Safeway

Deals through 10/27- click on picture for larger (readable) image

2009-10-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

King Soopers

Safeway

Albertson's

Deals through 10/20

2009-10-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

King Soopers/Kroger

Safeway

Albertson's (still a short list, I haven't had time to finish it-- look for spend $10 save $2 matchups in store!!)

Early Early matchups

2009-10-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

King Soopers/Kroger
Safeway/Von's

Albertson's (LLC, not Market)

Grocery Matchups through 10/13

2009-10-12T03:58:00.001-07:00

King Soopers

Safeway

Albertson's

Sales ending 10/6

2009-10-02T13:08:00.001-07:00

Safeway

King Soopers

Albertson's

Back to the deals- sales ending Tue 9/29

2009-09-28T03:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I've been out of the loop for a week or so!!

King Soopers

Safeway

Albertson's

Albertson's prices don't apply to stores that are closing!!

I hear it's going to be a great couple weeks at Walgreen's too! I'll try to post some deals to there but I get those from the fantastic crew at Babycenter on the board: Coupon Deals for Bargain Hunters!!

Grocery Matchups through 9/15

2009-09-11T12:19:00.001-07:00

King Soopers

Safeway

Albertson's

2009-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Albertson's matchups thru 9/8:
Safeway Matchups thru 9/8

Wee man and his new crutches

2009-09-04T08:10:00.001-07:00

He got fitted for a smaller pair on Wednesday though because these are too big. But still, my man is growing up!!! And grown up enough to eat corn on the cob!!!!

2009-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Kroger/King Soopers Matchups thru 9/8:

Grocery matchups through 9/1

2009-08-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

SAFEWAY

KING SOOPERS MEGA DEAL

KING SOOPERS REGULAR DEALS

ALBERTSON'S

All You Winner to be announced today!!

2009-08-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

The top 10 does not include me but they are a well comprised list of savings professionals!! Check out the All You Blog to catch the winner today! Any of the finalists is well deserving of the honor. I feel privileged to have competed in your presence!!

Oh and I have to sadly add, our High Fructose Corn Syrup official challenge is on hold. Hubby is not ready for another challenge yet but that doesn't mean I can't start bringing home better choices for us all. So stay tuned, hopefully another challenge will emerge (and be agreed to) in October. I have also toyed with doing a month of only home-prepared food. Zero packaged food. We'll see ;-)

Safeway/Albertson's this week

2009-08-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Albertson's:

Safeway:

Melissa's Kroger giveaway!

2009-08-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Melissa, a good friend from Babycenter Coupon Deals for Bargain Hunters, is giving away a $30 Kroger gift card courtesy of Pepsico, General Mills and MyBlogSpark. Visit her blog for details on how she's saving at this week's Kroger Mega Sale and how you can enter to win the gift card!

Here's my little schpeil on Melissa. She has the best blog for Target matchups and meal plans complete with recipes. She shops for her family on $40 a week and she finds amazing deals! Even if you don't want the gift card, check her out for her amazing shopping tips and budget planning!!! I have followed her blog for over a year now and can't live without her tips!!!

Here's the matchup's for Kroger/King Soopers this week too, Mega Deals:
Just found this coupon over the weekend, save $1 on Naked Juices PDF. Thank you SlickDeals!! GREAT for Hunter since they sell a fantastic juice with Flax Seed Oil in it to boost calories and fat in his diet!!

Regular deals:

On to the next challenge!

2009-08-18T09:12:00.001-07:00

I have hardly shopped at all since the Knorr/All You challenge ended but I got my coupons together and got out yesterday (between therapy appointments and a sick little girl). I started looking more in earnest at what has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. I knew it was in a lot of things, but it wasn't actually as bad as I had prepared myself for!!

Marshmallows: Kraft has corn syrup in it but not HFCS!! Still waiting to see if the Rice Krispies do (Yay for vocalpoint coupons, hoping we can still eat them!!)

Bread: Yep, it's in most store brands and cheaper versions. I used the Earth Grains coupon (R 7/26) to get loaves for $1.50 each at Kroger. I got Oat and Wheat Berry. They're really soft and not too "grainy". Looking forward to a sandwich :) Got some Orowheat english muffins too. Pricey, but less so than Thomas' (although Thomas' don't have HFCS either)

Snacks: This one will be tough. Candy is a huge bribe for my kids. We use it in therapy all the time for Hunter. THANKFULLY, his favorite, Sour Patch Kids, just have sugar. And in moderation, I have a hard time minding. They don't get candy that much but I'm glad it's just pure sugar than a modified version. I think fruit snacks and other processed goods are out though.

Condiments: Here's a tough one. My kids eat a lot of ketchup. I pulled out the 2nd meatloaf out of the freezer last night (I made it during the All You challenge and froze one). Ketchup on the top for the kids... well most have HFCS in them and from what I hear, most without aren't all that palatable. So we will be on the search for one that is. BBQ sauce too. My mom has a wicked good BBQ sauce recipe that I'm going to have her send me and I'll make some. No better way to know what's in your food than to make it yourself, right?!?

Yogurt: Again, need to get back to making our own. Some brands are good about not using HFCS but others aren't. Labels labels labels!!

Cereal: Another big challenge. The fam eats a lot of cereals. It will be hard to substitute non-HFCS cereals, especially since many of them don't use "kid enticing" characters and both my kids are to the age that the flashy, cartoon-y boxes grab their attention.

Drinks: Wow, it either has HFCS or artificial sweetner these days!! The Santa Cruz organic lemonades are a good deal for this one, they use cane sugar. But organic doesn't mean "healthy". They're only 15% juice. I'll dilute with water, as I usually do. Healthier than artificial colorings and HFCS I guess. I have started sending Hunter to school with his own juices. They drink juice twice a day there and I've seen the options sometimes... I'm not a huge fan. I don't know how I'll mitigate the kids' school food. I don't want to send them with everything so I will have to let some things go, like the bread the school serves, but I will send some snacks and drinks to substitute. Yep, I'm going to be "THAT" parent LOL

So we'll make our push towards the goal of HFCS free for September. We'll read more labels and make smarter choices. The meal planning has been important to me and I'll keep that up. If I get things done a little bit ahead of time, meal times are more enjoyable and not so rushed.

OH, and on a completely NON challenge related topic. Ryanne has almost earned her SECOND Barbie!! We set up a chart where she marks off the quarters she earns and then colors in each dollar level she reaches. She has to get to $6 to get the beach Barbie. She sets the table each night for a quarter and if she puts the clean silverware away out of the dishwasher, that's another quarter. She has been very diligent and now she's almost there. I can't wait to take her with her own money to buy it. I think she's really getting the concept and I am excited to see how she cherishes that toy she EARNED. She has talked about it for two weeks and now that we're near the end, she's getting more excited.

Late Matchups, good through tonight only (sorry so late!!)

And just so you can get to know us better, here we are in all our glory!

2009-08-10T00:17:00.001-07:00

This was at the wedding on 8/1. It was such a good time! (oh, and yes, it looks like I tacky put Hunter in white socks... those are his braces and they don't fit in his shoes if I put socks... ie: black socks... over them). He was so handsome, no one noticed!!

And the final tallies on all the challenges!

2009-08-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this is the last tally!! We did great in my opinion and still got to have some fun and everyone got their very favorite meal at least once! Congrats to all the participants, I learned a lot and really enjoyed sharing :)

For the All You challenge, family of 4, using no stockpile, no spices, nada:
Week 1: $98.07
Week 2: $91.67
Week 3: $74.32
Week 4: $37.89 = $303.93

Including food items I theoretically “bought” from my stockpile (at “going rates”) because we all need things like sugar, spices and those little things we take for granted that we just "have":
Week 1: $119.52
Week 2: $109.44
Week 3: $74.32
Week 4: $40.90 = $344.18
Absolutely everything we put in our mouths that wasn't from a different location (like my desk drawer at work or eating with the inlaws) is included in this total.

For our challenge of starting our life from scratch for 4 weeks- includes HBA & other life items like clothes and kitchen items (some theoretically bought from our stockpile at the “going rate”):
Week 1: $179.46
Week 2: $204.74
Week 3: $122.38
Week 4: -$75.68 (yard sale!) = $430.90 Which is under our $500 goal!!!

We did it! Congrats to my family for being so flexible and daring enough to try this. To wear the same clothes every day, to give up the luxuries we'd become accustomed to... everything. Especially to my dear Husband for putting up with my crazy ideas and agreeing to play nice :) Thank you :)

So here's the final tally sheets. I hope you can join us for a less in depth but hopefully just as interesting month of getting rid of High Fructose Corn Syrup starting Sept 1 (and hopefully for a long time thereafter)!!

Yardsale Tallies!

2009-08-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well, like I said, I did great on the sale overall. Traffic in our area isn't exceptional so I make less than most, but here's the tally for this challenge of items I bought during the challenge, what we used of it, what we gave away (I took 5 toothpaste, 5 toothbrushes, 5 maxipads and 5 deoderants to Children's when we had our appointment for Hunter's Botox). We sold what we could and I am actually shocked at the profit and what we can deduct from our tally totals. $87.79 in profit (what we made vs. what I paid for it), and $137.75 cash that we made on the sale from those items that I can deduct from our final totals. I don't know how that will work for the All You challenge being as it was all from items purchased in weeks 1-3 and I sold them in week 4. But for the fire challenge, it will bring us back under our $500 goal and we'll make it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited to have made this challenge a success for us!!!!

Here's the tally:

Some notes on the Asterisks:
*Yes, I took a hit on the Koolaid, but really, I didn't. I bought the Koolaid to get the free sugar so ($1.40 for sugar and Koolaid was better than $1.88 for sugar, right?). So we don't drink that so selling it was just a bonus to getting a discount on my sugar.

**Crest Prohealth. Yes, took a hit there too. But again, not really. I used a coupon and I'm getting 100% back on Single Check Rebate from Rite Aid, so still a money maker, just takes a little longer.

***Glade Plugins. Seems like very little profit for the effort, but also remember I made an extra $1 each on the warmers by catalina for OYNO purchases. They usually sell better and the Sense-N-Sprays always rush out the door at $3 here!!! I'll save them for next time. We don't use much of them in our house.

Pampers were the best money maker. Yes, I have put my son in the Dora training pants in the spirit of the challenge. I have looooooots of pictures to prove it LOL (and for blackmail). But they don't fit great and ergonomically, it's easier to use Huggies on him because they have re-attachable sides.

Deoderant, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste never fail to sell out. Cereal and Crackers do well for me too. Sauces are alright, but they have bad days too. Usually Razors fetch a better price too. But I've always had Gillette in the past. People prefer Gillette apparently!! Spice packs don't sell well. I have so many. So I'm trying to cook with them LOL I do donate a lot of items that just don't sell well. They're great food and if we can't eat them and people are hesitant, someone needs them out there :)

I highly recommend doing the yardsale. It's not all that much work, mostly just getting tables up and prices up. I keep the printed signs from each one and the signs that go on the corners too attract people I borrow from my realtor neigbor (Thanks Kel!!).

I keep things that I buy that we're going to use on my stockpile shelves. The stuff I know is for sale I sort into boxes according to what price I will sell them at then just bring them out and set them up on sale day onto tables by price. I constantly re-evaluate too. If it's not selling, I move it to a lower priced table or switch the signs. I sell about 40% of my stock for $1 a piece, just because people like that price. I try to do a 4-5 hour yard sale once a quarter but I can do more if stock or monetary needs dictate!

Mystery Shop outcome for the day

2009-08-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

I had 3 shops and each reimburses $14. You're required to buy $9 but anything more is your payment. I bought some cards and some salmon lox. Some things I normally wouldn't buy but when it's paid for, I try to get things I wouldn't budget in all the time. You do have to buy a deli item and one clerk gave me heavy, overpriced cheese, but what are you going to do?? The Tide was a good deal at $3.71 each and I got Scott some more Old Spice deoderant, which is all he'll use... And some more diapers and milk and eggs. Not bad. Overall, I spent $32.39 OOP and I'll get back $42 so net net, I made $9.61 :) So I won't be counting that in the All You total, plus or minus because (1) we budget it differently and (2) it's a net income in the end and they usually pay out in about 2-3 weeks so I'll see the money before the end of our budget cycle in August. I'll probably sub total it both ways for the All You challenge because I'm not sure how they'd count it actually, but I don't think it counts to me personally...

Wanted to add Grocery matchups for today and tomorrow... Not a comprehensive list by any means, but what I could get together tonight!

Sunday 8/9 Recap

2009-08-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Last Day of the Challenge!!! What a ride. I've learned a lot about how to value and run my stockpile and what we really need in life vs. what we don't. I'm excited to stop wearing pink (and so is Ryanne surprisingly). I'm excited to have a selection of shoes to choose from, although I reconfirmed I don't need an extensive selection, just well selected. Scott is excited to eat the snacks I have in stock but little does he know that this fresh food, healthier cooking and eating is continuing. I'd like to stay away from packaged snacks and also continue to reduce high fructose corn syrup in our diets. I know I see a change in the kids when they've eaten it. I think that will be our next challenge... Sept 1- Oct 1 we will eat no HFCS. So... if you're into the challenge mode now, join us (if you don't already do it) or follow our progress here, we'd love to have you!! Thanks everyone for reading and/or participating in the All You challenge and our modified fire version. I look forward to further challenges :)

Today I have 3 mystery shops at the local groceries. Not at the stores I usually shop but I got 3 in a close proximity so it makes it worthwhile. They reimburse $14 but you have to spend at least $9 after coupons. I use a mix of coupon shopping and get things we "need" but don't have coupons for. That way we can offset higher cost or no coupon items with the mystery shop. I have to buy a deli item (I usually buy a slice of cheese or meat) and an item that goes under the cart (I usually buy a gallon of milk). But we've got a lot of milk so I'll only get one more gallon and figure out something else to buy. Probably paper towels (we've been without them all week on the challenge) or something to donate. I'll post the mystery totals separate from the All You since I don't count mystery amounts above the reimbursement because like I've mentioned before, we count them separately when budgeting because they're reimbursed.

Menus:
Breakfast: Pancakes and homemade syrup. We ran out of syrup so we made some by melting 2T of butter and folding in brown sugar until syrup consistency. About the same calories as syrup but no HFCS and the kids ate it up!! Served with Raspberries and a strawberry/banana smoothie.
Snacks: Pineapples and raspberries. Granola bar and milk.
Lunch: Leftover Greek dinner (meat, salad and sauce). Made some toast with butter for the kids so they'd get a few carbs.
Snack: leftover pasta/veggie salad from last Sunday. Last of it. Served with Milk. Ryanne had the last of the raw broccoli with ranch too.
Dinner: Porkchops marinated in lite Zesty Italian dressing, then a crust of bread crumbs and mozzarella and italian seasoning (thank you Marcia for the Cuisinart!!!). Served with Mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed zucchini (in olive oil and garlic). One note, the porkchop looks huge but I didn't trim the fat first to keep in the moisture when I froze it. Two porkchops fed all 4 of us more than adequately but they're not as big as they looked after having the fat trimmed!!

Saturday 8/9 Recap

2009-08-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

What a busy day! Started bringing up stock at 5am and were pretty much ready for customers at 8:00 and they came promptly at 8!! I made $318 total but I have to separate out what of that was part of the Fire challenge and not. I gave 5 toothpaste, 5 toothbrushes, 3 razors, 3 maxipads and 1 box of tampons to Children's but put the rest up for sale. I sold out of toothbrushes and toothpaste, all but 2 packs of the pullups and only sold a few of the maxipads. The Glade airfreshener didn't sell as well as I'd hoped but I sold about half of them. I sucked it up and put the Johnson's lotion up for sale. People had issue with $2 a bottle so I only sold 3. Which didn't bother me, more for me to keep and use :) I put a lot of other stock up that isn't included in this so it doesn't all count. Lotion and pasta sauce and cereal always sell well. As does shampoo and conditioner. Oh, and I sold all but one of the razors but they went for a lot less than Gillette razors so that was a bummer. Kraft dressing and BBQ sauce was quick to go at $1 and $0.75 respectively. Once I can compare to the "how much I spent" totals, I'll let you know how much I made on the sale that qulifies for the challenge :) Here's the money though LOL

Menus

Breakfast: I had a granola bar and a Propel water. I was busy from 8-9 and didn't get to pause until then. Scott and the kids just had cereal because I was too occupied to help :( The kids love cereal morning though so I can only feel so bad.
Snacks: Cheese and crackers with pineapples. I had a peach. YUM!
Lunch: Peanut Butter and jelly tortilla roll ups. Zucchini strips and ranch. Milk.
Snacks: Grapes and crackers. Chocolate milk :)
Dinner: I haven't made this dish for over a year and it is seriously my favorite. The kids loved it and Scott tolerated it. Chicken Spaghetti!! Scott had a salad too and the kids and I had some canned green beans. The kids got the leftover ice cream pie for dessert and Scott had a beer and some popcorn. I treated myself to a beer after my hard day's work :)

Chicken Spaghetti

1 pint can tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 C. chopped green pepper

1 C. celery, chopped
8 oz mushrooms (pre-sauteed or canned)

1 small jar pimientos

8 oz green olives, sliced

1/2 - 1 # cheese (I used 1/2 regular, 1/2 2% and it separated a little but tasted great!!)

1.5 # spaghetti (I only had bought 1 # and you could tell, I wish I'd used more), cooked al dente

1/2-1# chicken, cooked and cubed (I broil but you can microwave ~ 6 minutes/#)

Sautee onion in a large pan (use a little spray oil if you need), when nearing translucent, add celery, mushrooms, peppers, pimientos, tomatoes and chicken. Sautee until warmed. Fold
chicken mixture into pasta and fold in cheese and olives. Bake at 350*F for 30 minutes.

Friday 8/7 recap

2009-08-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

Again, went in at 5:00 again so that I could leave early and take the kids to the pool before SIL/BIL and the cousins left. They had a BLAST!!! Then tried to get the kids to take a nap so I could get ready to have dinner guests. Busy day but every minute of it was so worth it. Spent a little too much on the stuff I served but it was well loved.

Menus:
Breakfast: I accidentally skipped breakfast. I didn't want to eat at 5:00 yet but got so busy it was time to leave before I got to eat. Scott and the kids had Kashi waffles and peaches and milk.
Snacks: Ritz crackers and cream cheese. And Raspberries and apple juice.
Lunch: PB&J sandwiches and crackers. SIL brought watermelon and juice for the kids.
Snacks: Raspberries, grapes, milk, monterrey jack cheese and crackers and I made a cream cheese dip with cream cheese and McCormick lemon spice marinade (really actually quite good!). Our friends brought spanikopitas from Costco too :)
Dinner: Our friends brought pork souvlaki for skewers and yogurt tahiki sauce. The pork was marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and salt and pepper. The yogurt sauce was cucumber, greek Oikos yogurt and dill and lemon. My recipes for salad and greek rice pilaf are below. I used a coupon for a free Coldstone pie that I'd had FOREVER. We got the Smores flavor... sooooo good!!

GREEK TOMATO PILAF from COOKS.COM
2 med. tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp. chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter
2 c. water (I used 2 C. of the broth from my crockpot meal and no boullion)
1/8 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant beef bouillon
1 c. uncooked rice
Cook tomatoes and onion in butter for 2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, simmer with cover on for 14 minutes. Do not lift cover or stir. Remove from heat, fluff rice with fork. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese (I didn't, it was fine). Makes 8 servings.

GREEK SALAD from MEDITERRASIAN.COM
Greek salad, or horiatiki, is a rough country salad of juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumber, sliced red onion, green pepper, crumbly feta cheese and plump kalamata olives. Serve this delightful combination as a side dish or as a light meal with some crusty bread.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic—minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish
3 tomatoes—cut into wedges
¼ red onion—sliced into rings
½ cucumber—sliced into thick half-moons
½ green pepper (capsicum)—julienned
4 oz (120g) feta cheese—cut into small cubes
16 kalamata olives
PLACE the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake to combine. PLACE the salad ingredients in a large bowl. POUR the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. Garnish the Greek salad with a little freshly ground black pepper. (FYI, I used a balsalmic Greek dressing from Kraft, just out of laziness and lack of Oregano but this dressing would be wonderful).

Thursday 8/6 Recap

2009-08-08T20:24:00.001-07:00

I got into work at 5:00 to make up time. I really hate not seeing the kids in the morning. But I had a lot to do and I really wanted to be able to make it to Cousin Molly's birthday at Casa Bonita (HORRIBLE food but SO much fun for kids). Forgot my camera again :( In a nice turn of events we brought B1G1 coupons and Scott's sister and brother-in-law bought dinner!! So we bought tokens for gaming and gave them one of our Bushnell weather monitors that will be free after Rebate from Walmart :) It really was fun, even though the food really really hurt my stomach LOL

Menus:
Breakfast: I had yogurt/cereal, Scott had a breakfast sandwich but had to use lunchmeat on it so he scrambled it into the eggs. The kids had bananas and milk.
Snack: The kids got to go to the county fair and the in-laws got them funnel cakes YUMMY! They got bananas too, just for balance.
Lunch: I had a Marie callendar meal and the kids had black bean and chicken burritos with ranch. Scott had a chicken burrito with salsa (he doesn't care for black beans). They had canned green beans too.
Snack: Ritz crackers and cream cheese. Grapes.
Dinner: The most gas inducing Mexican food ever... And chocolate cake for birthday cake (not my favorite, but ate it). The kids had chicken nuggets and oranges. The kids had a great time though!! I hope I get some pictures from SIL :)

Wednesday 8/5 Recap

2009-08-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Had to leave early for my PT so busy day. Nice feeling like I have everything we need and not needing to shop.

Menu

Breakfast: More of the same. Scott had cereal, I had my yogurt/cereal (although not until 10:30!!) and the kids had pineapple and toast and milk.

Snack: Scott and I had granola bars, exciting, right?

Lunch: I had leftover shrimp pasta and Scott had leftover pasta salad from Sunday and a sandwich.

Dinner: Chicken fried rice and oriental salads.

Chicken fried rice

Pre-cooked rice. Day old works great if you make it with another meal to save time.

You can use oil. Sesame and coconut give good flavor. To reduce fat (even though you can add good fats here by picking the right oil), you can use olive oil spray.

I pre-sauteed mushrooms and scrambled some eggs to add and prebroiled 1# chicken and added 1/2 # chopped and saved the other 1/2# for later.

Spray pan or preheat oil and add rice. Allow to sit without turning for a few minutes about 3 minutes at a time. Push rice back, add a little more oil or spray again and put the rice down again. 3 minutes at a time, 3-5 times with the same process. Then add frozen vegetables or fresh vegetables. When they're warmed add the pre-sauteed items and soy sauce and serve!

Tuesday 8/4 Recap

2009-08-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Got to take Ryanne to gymnastics, that was fun. Then we got to shop a little together. She helped me pick out produce and carry the bags. We got $4.50 off for each of our free milk catalinas which meant we got to get everything we needed for my favorite dish on Saturday: Chicken Spaghetti!! Great day, enjoyed spending more time with the kids :)

Menu

Breakfast: My usual, Scott had cereal and the kids had toast and pineapple.

Lunch: I had two sandwiches because I was starving (AND they had cheese, yum!!) and Scott had a sandwich and a strawberry smoothie.

Snacks: I had a granola bar and Scott had sunflower seeds and a granola bar.

Dinner: Shrimp and tomato pasta again. We had the shrimp in week 1 and this has been going over so well and it's so easy and fast so we had it again! Has veggies in it, so we had side salads.

Shrimp and Tomato Pasta

1/2 # Shrimp, sauteed (I use a few sprays of olive oil, not much is needed)

2 cans tomatoes

broccoli, garlic, onion, mushrooms (sautee with shrimp), use any veggies you like!

sautee everything except tomatoes and stir in tomatoes at end. Serve over pasta (we have wacky mac on hand).

Monday 8/3 Recap

2009-08-07T12:38:00.001-07:00

Time to get caught up with daily updates! Monday was another busy day with appointments and errands. Not much notable though. We went over to the in-laws for dinner again with the last of the extended family. We brought everyone snacks for the road the next day (granola bars and lemonade) and we brought the makings for homemade ice crem (YUM!). Hunter had great therapies and Ryanne thought it was fun to get to see cousin Molly more :)

Meals
Breakfast: English muffin breakfast sandwiches for the boys. Ryanne got some frosted mini wheats and fruit and I had my usual, even at home.
Snacks: Hunter had a tortilla wrapped up with ham, lettuce and cream cheese. He didn't eat much so I ate the rest. Then he had grapes, granola bar and a boost drink.
Lunch: I took Hunter to KFC for another free grilled chicken meal. He did great, about 350 calories. Although that left 650 for me :( Scott had the last of the chef salad (which he said was soggy- boo!) and a BBQ chicken sandwich leftover.
Snack: Pineapple bites, crackers and milk
Dinner: Lasagna, salad, bread and homemade ice cream.

Tip catchup!

2009-08-07T07:43:00.001-07:00

30. Furniture Banks. I posted this down below but I didn't put it in tips and I think it's worthy... http://www.furniturebanks.org/ You can find one near you. Now, this is only if you really CAN'T afford furnishings for your house. This is an amazing service and I'd hate to see it abused. They provide free home furnishings for those in need. So check it out if you have no other resources or if you have something to give, I know they'd appreciate it!!

31. Practice the art of Giving! I know, this doesn't seem like a tip, but it is. By giving to charity and giving to others, we ourselves learn the value of what we have. Start by getting whatever you can "free" and giving it away (like toothpaste or laundry soap) and then, as money allows, start to give things requested specifically by charities or even monetary donations.

My personal favorite place to give is Children's Hospital. I never go to TCH with my son without bringing some toys and some toiletries. They gave me toiletries when I needed them when I was afraid to leave his bedside and they always offer my son a toy when he's had a difficult procedure. And what those things meant/mean to me is more than you'll know. I want every parent and child to have those things.
And the Special Olympics was always one of my favorites, even moreso now that my child is eligible for them. But I know their fundraising has gone awry lately and not all money goes to the kids so I like to find quality sports equipment to give them: balls, nets, pads, shoes, etc.
And finally animal shelters. It is not the animals' faults that humans brought them here with no plan by not spaying or neutering their pets, or properly caring for a pet that they gave away. I love the shelters that try to give every animal a chance.

Those are my favorites, but find something near to your heart. If giving of items isn't a possibility for you, try to find some time to give. Clean up a park, shop for someone who can't get out and shop for themselves, walk a Humane Society dog... anything. It not only benefits those who receive it, but you will benefit as well, I promise.

32. Make your own entertainment. My children have had no more fun than making their own "dollhouse". It's just a box to you and I. But to them, they've decorated the walls, made their own wall paper, their own couch, a flag out of a pencil and castle tops out of toilet paper rolls. Maybe this won't be the talking Barbie house that they'll love some day but right now they're so excited to add something new to it every weekend and it's the very first thing they show off when people come over. And you wouldn't believe how well both of them treat it. It is THEIRS, they OWN that and treat it with so much respect and love. It's not fancy but they are proud of it and I'm proud of them!

33. Go to the company websites of your favorites. Many companies are now offering special offers or coupons through their websites. And if you contact companies and tell them about a positive or negative experience, they'll usually send you some coupons as well. A dear friend from Babycenter "V- pastachic" put together this list of companies emails/websites that you can start from. I miss her presence on our board dearly but I hope her hard work and compilation can help out some others!! http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dfk9rdxc_5fbhm6wfr

34. Make your own yogurt!! We eat a lot of yogurt at our house and it's so good for you. There are many recipes out there but the one I've been following when yogurt is too pricey is crockpot yogurt from Stephanie at crockpot365: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html I like to add strawberry puree or other berries to ours. I'd like to get better about using her recipe all the time though. It's not too hard and you'll be surprised how much better fresh, homemade tastes!! I just got lazy with all the Yoplait deals this last month. AND it's great for little one's who need the extra calories because it's so hard to find cost effective whole milk yogurt without a bunch of additives in the stores!! Wow, that reminds me about that fact and I'm definitely making some this weekend :)

Gracious, that makes 1 tip per day since July 7 through Aug 9, which is the official end of the All You challenge. That was my goal and I can mark it off! I hope everyone got a little something out of them, maybe 1 or 2 that you hadn't seen somewhere :) I've loved seeing the tips from others as well so thank you also!! I hope to keep posting tips but I may not be able to keep up the one per day pace, we'll see ;-)

Week's menu and a few ending thoughts

2009-08-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, why do I ever think the weeks will get easier? I have been telling myself that for months!! This week is no exception with lots of appointments and family still in town! I planned menus in my head but we have a lot extra so who knows if I'll need to shop or not!!

Monday: Lasagna Dinner at in-laws. We brought the fixin's for homemade ice cream for dessert!!
Tuesday: Tomato/shrimp pasta. WOW, my kids have shown a new interest in seafood!!
Wednesday: Chicken fried rice, oriental salad.
Thursday: Taking Neice to Casa Bonita for her birthday (yikes $$, will use a gift card to pay for some of it!!). If you live in Denver or have seen Southpark, you know Casa Bonita. People don't go there for the food... only the Sopapillas and the entertainment... but you're required to buy food.
Friday: We're having more friends over. They're bringing pork souvlaki with yogurt sauce and I'll make Salad and side dish and we'll get our free Cold Stone pie for dessert :)
Saturday: Chicken Spaghetti! My personal all time favorite! Been waiting forever to get to eat this one LOL Scott tolerates it because it is my favorite
Sunday: Porkchops with italian breading. Mashed potatoes.

And some closing thoughts as the challenge winds down:
Yes, people have finally noticed that I've been wearing the same clothes EVERY day. Unfortunately, my backup outfits all had pink shirts. And I had on a gray shirt the night we started. So I have worn a ridiculous amount of pink this month. No one even noticed that I wore the same jeans every single day or that I wore tennis shoes instead of more attractive footwear. I'd put on my work steel toe tennis shoes at work and no one mentioned anything about my wardrobe until this week when someone said "you haven't worn white in a long time" (I wore the button down shirt my SIL handed down to me for the bridal brunch) and I explained the challenge :)

If my daughter never wears her pink shirt again, she'll probably be thankful. She expressed her desire to wear something different this past week as well. It's good rehearsal for her because she's starting 4K in 2.5 weeks and they wear uniforms!! She'll get used to wearing the same thing again and again so it's good practice ;-)

Laundry. Oh dear lord. Laundry. I've had to do a load every day. To keep fresh socks and underwear and keep up with Hunter, the newly crowned messiest eater on the planet!! Tip 29. Keep clothes looking newer, longer. Thank ALL THAT IS GOOD for Oxiclean and Oxiclean knockoffs and stain sprays. First I spray stains, then sprinkle oxiclean on it and spray again to make a paste. Let sit for 24 hours. NO LESS OR IT DOESN'T FULLY WORK!!! Then launder. Hunter has had spaghetti sauce, chocolate ice cream, fruit stains, etc. on his clothes. I've been pretty successful at keeping them close to wearable but it's close... I'll be looking forward to putting him in some new diggs too. He's so handsome, he should have variety too :)

My husband. My dear dear husband. And his impulse buying and McDonalds fixation... He did very well this month. I know he went out and that's okay. We don't live in a vacuum and he deserves to reward himself too. So I have decided that from now on I'll just build it in our budget. $20 a month that he can eat wherever he pleases whenever he pleases. We can live without it and it keeps him sane. I will however start giving him cash and he will continue to use coupons (I'm teaching him well LOL) so he can make it last. How funny to give him an "allowance". But I give myself one too so I don't feel bad!!!

And our yard sale... I will have to make a pre-tally of what I'm selling off the fire list and back calculate the profit. I have a lot of toothpaste, vitamins, toothbrushes, glade air fresheners, deoderant, and maxi pads that we don't need so hopefully that will bring us back under our $500 goal for the month. Cross your fingers!!

It's hard to believe it's been 4 weeks already!! Sometimes it seemed long but in hindsight it was the blink of an eye. But isn't that how life usually goes? Try to soak some of it in each day between blinks. I have learned amazing amounts about what we need, what we value and what we used to think was important but is just frivolity. This yard sale is going to be massive. I'm getting rid of our huge stockpile and everything we found we could do without!! So if you're in the Denver area, come on by, I'll have something for you :)

2009-08-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

28. My tip for the day on cheap entertainment. Scale up that board game! You'll need:
1. Kids who understand taking turns and moving spaces games,
2. chalk,
3. dice and
4. a sidewalk (or squares drawn on a large cement area).
Write instructions on some of the sidewalk squares like "move 3 spaces", "lose a turn", "go back one space", "do 5 jumping jacks", "turn in 4 circles" etc.
Roll the dice and let the fun begin!
Whoever gets around the block or to the end of the block first wins!!

It's nice to get them outside and moving while the weather is cooperative :)
Stole this one from the "Heart of the City" comic strip!!

Tip O'the day!

2009-08-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

26. Carry your coupons with you and check out your store's clearance section(s). Our Kroger often puts Tribe Hummus on clearance near the deli and with the 0.75/1 coupons on http://www.coupons.com/ and http://www.smartsource.com/ I can often get free Hummus. And I got our Pur water pitcher for $2.50 as well which has caused DH to drink more water at home! It's amazing the unadvertised deals you can find. Now, I know this doesn't play into the "stick to the list" idea but I have found that for stockpiling purposes I can get many items for pennies or free by shopping this way. The other night I was on my late night Tuesday trip and saw Ester C vitamins for $4.26 and the sale ended that night. With the $5/1 coupon that was out the week before, they were free or better! So it didn't add to my total at all and we can use the vitamins or sell them at the garage sale. And diapers were on a deep discount 2 weeks ago too with the old style packaging of Huggies for only $4. After coupons, 30 diapers for $2!! I have so many examples. I tend to only buy items off the list if they're on this deep discount or free but it's really helped build the stockpile up.

27. Make your own Laundry soap!!
Here's my recipe for homemade detergent:
2 cups Water (boiling) + 2 gallons hot water
0.5-1 Bar soap (grated- I like FelsNaptha but Ivory or Dove works fine if it's on sale)
1 cups Borax
1 cups Washing Soda
1 Cup Oxiclean or equivalent (keeps clothes from looking dingy, especially with hard water)

Into a large pot, grate the bar of soap into already boiling water and stir until soap is melted. Reduce heat to low and add the Borax, Washing Soda and Oxiclean. Stir well until all is dissolved. Add 1 gallon of hot water, stir until well mixed and allow to cool.
Cover for storage and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. It will gel so you'll have to stir it or shake it each time.

I like to let it cool and then store in old laundry bottles, then I can shake it and pour it like regular. LET IT COOL if you do this though or it will expand and explode out the top (messy, trust me LOL).

And I usually buy 1 bottle of Tide on sale and mix in 1/2 a bottle with this recipe too. That way my laundry smells like my Tide that I love but costs sooooo much less ;-) You can also double this recipe if you have a big container like a big 5 gallon bucket to store it all in (covered).

Two more tips!

2009-08-03T02:59:00.000-07:00

24. I have been meaning to post this tip too but just haven't... Farmer's markets! Really, they're hands down better prices than the stores. Many cities will have them at least on Saturday/Sunday and you can buy your produce for about a third of the price of retailers in many cases. To save even more, go toward the end of the day and sellers give deep deep discounts to get rid of their merchandise. The selection isn't what it was at the beginning but you may surprise yourself with what you can find to make with Kale, Arugala or turnips. And the fruits and veggies you love are probably still as good or better quality than the stores!

25. Also, check with your local grocery. When produce isn't "pretty" anymore, many of them just throw it out!! See what you can work in the way of a discount for this produce. Sometimes stores will sell at a deep discount to a "salvage store" that will sell at a deep discount from another location. Check here for a salvage store near you: http://www.andersonsmarket.info/directory . No longer "pretty" doesn't mean it's not still healthy and nutritious!!

Week 3 recap and month to date

2009-08-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

All you total only $73, even with a bum Mystery shop pizza and McDonalds!! Our newly built stockpile is already starting to really save us money :) But for the fire challenge, we're at $505!! $5 over our goal. Now.... I could be concerned, but like I said before, we're going to have our yard sale on Saturday so some of that money will come back. Toothpaste will go for $0.50-$1, deoderants too, Glade plugin + refill will be $3, maxi pads $2, razors $3-4. And although I got many of them free or better, the total will offset other purchases like clothing, propane refills, and other necessities. I am still hopeful that we'll come in under our $500 goal.

I am still waiting on the exact total for McD's to post up that final copy, but all in all, I thought it was a fantastic week.

And here's the totals!

Sunday 8/2 Recap

2009-08-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

WOW! Caught up finally!! A day to get caught back up. We had a birthday party in the afternoon and our neigbors over for dinner (they brought buns for the sandwiches) but it still seemed slow in comparison to the last few days. Got the cars unloaded and adequate naps due to the HORRIBLE night's sleep obtained by the kids. They got to play with their toys and watch some TV. It was much needed down time!! And on to week 4 of the challenge too!!!!

Menus
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, english muffins with cheese or butter/jam, grapes, milk and juice (and some muuuuuuuch needed coffee LOL). I had my eggs with spinach instead to get rid of some of the FAT still on my lips from the reception. Most Hors d'ourves are not low fat items...
Snacks: Ritz crackers with cream cheese, pineapples, juice. Crackers and cheddar cheese and grapes for Hunter.
Lunch: Kids: PB&J baby. Edible high calorie goodness LOL The kids also had buttered noodles with peas (wacky mac, buttered and stirred with frozen peas). The adults had turkey sandwiches instead.
Snack for Ryanne and mom: Ice cream at the party. Okay, still on fat overload but who can resist a sundae bar?!?! I just stuck with ice cream, lite Hershey syrup and a couple of marshmallows. Ryanne went all out of course AND had a cupcake.
Dinner: Crockpot BBQ chicken sandwiches, Wacky Mac pasta salad, green salad and milk, lemonade and 1 beer per adult (except me who had to go to work!!).

Crockpot BBQ chicken:
2 # chicken breast or chicken breast strips
2 bottles BBQ sauce

I pre-broiled the chicken so I could shred it before putting it in the crock pot. You can put it in whole, even frozen if you like and cook in the sauce and shred after cooking, it was just easier for me to do it ahead of time and cook for less time. I broiled until cooked through and then fork shredded. Put in both bottles of BBQ sauce and rinsed with about 1/4 cup of water per bottle to get it all out. Served on buns with optional cheddar cheese slices.

Green salad:
Used the Sargento Salad finisher I have a rebate coming for. Added a package of Healthy One's ham (sliced), 3/4 cucumber (chunked), some extra Kraft cheddar cheese shreds and Marie Callendar's croutons to a bag of lettuce. Choice of dressing for everyone.

Wacky Mac salad:
Really, just add any veggie you can to an al dente cooked package and toss with italian dressing or Ranch. I used:
4 slices of bacon, pre-cooked in microwave and towelled off, then chopped.
1 zucchini, some cooking spray and 3 cloves of garlic. Added the bacon pieces and sauteed lightly.
1/4 cucumber, chunked
The only 3 tiny tomatoes to survive the hail, damaged areas chopped off & tomato chunked
5 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
4 ounces chopped baby carrots
6T Lowfat italian dressing

Saturday 8/1 Recap

2009-08-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

The big wedding day!! Crazy food day though. Trying to get everyone enough calories and adequate sleep to make it somewhat into the 7:30PM starting reception (when that's normally bed time!!!). There was no meal at the wedding but it was appetizers so we had to supplement the kids' meals. The adults just managed. Father in law was gracious enough to get us all a hamburger and fries to share before the ceremony too :) Beautiful ceremony and the bride and groom had the best time :) My kids wouldn't leave the dance floor until 11PM!!!!!! Horrible night's sleep but we'll even that out next week.

Menus
Breakfast: Pancakes and grapes. Cereal and yogurt. Apple Juice
Brunch: Bridal brunch for Ryanne and I. Just light brunch fare: mini quiches, pumpkin bread with chicken salad and mini scones. She got plenty for her dietary requirements though. And we had a lovely tea (she called me "Me Lady" like 4 times LOL too cute).
Late lunch between naps: PB&J, Chef boyardee raviolis, pineapple, canned green beans, vienna sausages, milk and Sunny D. Ritz crackers with cream cheese for Hunter. In the car on the way we had granola bars and Boost drinks and then shared the hamburger and fries when we got there.
Appetizer dinner: Various shrimp appetizers, bruchetta bites, ham/cream cheese rolls, ice tea & lemonade, soda and 2 glasses each of beer/wine.

Friday 7/31 Recap

2009-08-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

One more day until wedding day! I took the bride to the spa in the morning and then had to work in the afternoon. We met back over at the inlaws for dinner. Scott met his brother in law and our niece at McDonalds with the kids for lunch. Like I eluded to before... what a rip off. To feed 3 kids and one adult for $12?? For crappy food??? Not the deal it used to be. I had another lunch meeting so yay for me LOL

Menus
Breakfast: Kashi waffles (for me and kids), pineapples for kids, strawberry/banana smoothies (made in the cuisinart- added peanut butter to the kids' one). Scott had cereal and we both had smoothies too.
Snacks (AM/PM): Crackers, cream cheese, ham, cheddar cheese sliced, pineapples, boost drinks and Apple Juice.
Lunch: McDonald's for Scott and the kids. He got them milk, apples and chicken nuggets so not horrible. But he had to share his fries :) I had a roast beef sandwich, baked cheetoes and a diet coke at my meeting.
Dinner: Ham sandwiches and leftover steaks. Corn on the cob and salad. The kids got Starbucks Ice cream again and I had the most decadent slice of carrot cake ever! Dad got to have another beer :)

Thursday 7/30 Recap

2009-08-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

Rehearsal dinner day! Hunter had AM PT and I had PT for my hips so I just took the day off work. I had to finish the programs before the rehearsal so I needed the time for that too. Dinner was great, I brought some salad toppings, salad dressings and the Starbuck's ice cream as my contribution. We also brought two 6 packs of beer for the incoming relatives. Nice rehearsal although it was raining. The kids had fun playing in it :)

Menus
Breakfast: Kashi waffles, Scrambled eggs with cheese and ham, bananas. Apple juice to drink.
Snack: Ritz crackers with cream cheese, Pineapples, and milk.
Lunch: PB&J sandwiches (you're going to see a lot of those for the next few days, fast, high calorie and the kids will eat them!!). Mom and dad had the leftovers. Pineapple and Sunny D.
Snack: Granola bars, Sunny D (sad I bought this stuff, great price but I don't like them drinking it!!!). Grapes.
Dinner: At the in-laws. They served steak and salad for the adults. My kids wouldn't eat the hamburgers or hot dogs they had and ended up eating much of my steak LOL Veggies with ranch on the side. (oh, and 2 glasses too many of wine for the tired mama). A beer for dad. And the starbuck's ice cream for dessert.

Wednesday 7/29 Recap

2009-08-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

The month is nearing an end!! I was up at 5 to get Hunter to his botox appointment. I packed a wonderful breakfast/lunch bag and forgot it at home!!! GRRRRR!! So forgive the lack of nutrition in our morning LOL But no late night shopping, nowhere to be in the evening... ahhhh..... Last night before wedding chaos sets in!!

Menus
Breakfast: Scott had a breakfast sandwich and I had my usual. Ryanne had fruit and milk and an oatmeal raisin granola bar when she got up. When we found out Hunter didn't have to undergo anesthesia he was excited and hungry!! (He has to fast for anesthesia). I had some granola bars in the car that I was going to take to work and we both had those. The nurses got him a juice box and he had two granola bars. I had four LOL
Snack: When Hunter went back to school (botox isn't that bad, he took it so well), they were having snack. I got him a Boost drink and added some butter to his crackers (we keep butter at the school to augment his snacks).
Lunch: I forgot my lunch (it was in the packed bag) and had to eat my remaining meal in the freezer at work. Turns out it wasn't mine but I could have sworn it was. Caused quite a rift and I was horribly unaware that it would. Anyway, I'll buy the person a new freezer burned flatbread melt. Scott had leftover meatloaf on bread as a sandwich. He had ritz crackers and a few almonds for snacks.
Dinner: I broke down and borrowed my neigbor's cuisinart. Just can't live without it. I got some discount salmon and made a wonderful nut crust with raspberry dressing and a "cream sauce". Scarfed down by the whole family!! Even the kids!! Got some frozen peas and made a rice/pea side dish and served side salad and milk to drink.

Almond crusted raspberry salmon
Nut crust, blend until uniform consistency in cuisinart:
2 oz. almonds
2 slices toasted wheat bread
1 T sour cream
1/2 T reduced fat raspberry salad dressing
1 tsp italian seasoning

Spray cooking pan with cooking spray and place salmon in skin down. Top with almond crust and drizzle with an additional 1 T raspberry dressing. Bake at 400*F for ~20 minutes until salmon is consistently non-opaque. Topped with cream sauce and additional 1/2 T raspberry dressing.

"Cream" sauce
2 T. reduced fat butter (I use Smart Balance)
2 T flour
3/4 C. skim milk
3/4 C. whole milk (or alternatively to splitting the milk, use 1/5 cups of 2% milk- you can use skim milk exclusively too, the sauce is lower fat and just a little thinner).

Preheat milk in saucepan or microwave (sauce pan works best) and set aside. Melt butter and fork stir in flour until it makes a paste. Slowly add the warmed milk, whisking constantly. Simmer on medium-low until sauce thickens. Whisk constantly for best consistency. Serve warm.

Veggie Rice
1.5 C rice
2 cups water
1 cup broth (I use crockpot leftover juice)
Frozen veggie of your choice (mushrooms are nice too), 3/4 - 1 cup.

Pre-braise rice in pan with a little cooking spray. It will turn a slightly whiter color. Add water and cook on medium-low heat until almost all evaporated. Add broth and veggie and cook until rice is done.

Tuesday 7/28 Recap

2009-08-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

A better day. I felt better after some sleep although I stayed up a little late doing wedding programs. I had my last great shopping trips to King Soopers (Kroger) and Safeway. Big scores on Kleenex, toothpaste, crackers and Apple Juice. One run in at Safeway where the Super coupon on the Ritz crackers didn't ring through. Totally my fault since I was at a self check lane but I went to Customer service to have it fixed. The guy was quite rude (par for the course in Boulder, my local SW is much nicer). Anyway, he proceeds to tell me I didn't spend $20 so the coupon didn't go through (without noticing that the Motts coupon did and I did spend $20 before coupons, which is the requirement). So he refunds the whole $3.49 plus tax!! Okay, if you're going to lecture me instead of just refunding my $1.50, fine with me, lecture away!! And I got my P&G Esaver money back on the Pur pitcher as well from Kroger :) And the glade warmers didn't print the OYNO catalinas so they refunded me that in cash as well. That again, was my fault because I tried to "roll" my previous OYNO catalinas without thinking but the new manager at my King Soopers is FANTASTIC and had no problems just giving me cash. I tell you, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kroger/King Soopers and won't shop another one unless mine is out of something. They're the most friendly, well stocked, coupon friendly location out there. HUGE PROPS!! Same goes to my Safeway, they are a close second. No comment on my Albertson's though LOL Only one day cashier that I like there and I usually have to shop at night :(

Menus
Breakfast: You know what I ate LOL, kids had juice, dry cereal and grapes before school. Scott had cereal again too.
Lunch: I had a lunch meeting (YAY! Roast beef sandwich, orzo pasta salad and diet coke). Scott had a sandwich for lunch and leftover pizza and sunflower seeds as snacks. He also had some chips and salsa.
Snacks: Ryanne had gymnastics so a boost drink and a granola bar for her. Scott had a granola bar as well.
Dinner: Meatloaf. Veggies built into this one so we just had salads on the side. Served with milk. The kids got to have some Starbuck's Hot Chocolate ice cream for dessert (they were very excited, this is the one flavor of Starbuck's that doesn't have caffeine in it by the way).

Meatloaf
This is as I made it this time, traditionally meatloaf can have anything added to it. It's meant to use up what you have available. I highly recommend using up veggies about to go bad (zucchini, green beans, carrots, etc.) but I used what we had. I found some clearance baby food that I used to add veggies this time.

1 # ground beef (turkey works quite well for meat loaf too)
2 jars of baby food- green beans
1/3 C. ketchup
2 eggs
4 slices wheat bread
1/4 cup parsley (dried- although I much prefer fresh!!)
1 tsp garlic powder
Remaining spinach leaves I had in the drawer

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix to the point that they'll hold together, don't over mix. Place in baking dish and top with ketchup. Bake at 375*F for 50-60 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Drain off any oil if any separates. Ground turkey will not have this problem.

TIP FOR THE DAY
23. Puree and save. When your fruits or veggies are about to go bad, steam and puree them and freeze them in ice cube trays (when frozen, store in a quality freezer bag or better yet, double bag to prevent freezer burn). You can thaw them out to add nutrition to many meals without your family even noticing. Use in sauces, meat loaf, dips and anywhere else you have a large item list in cooking!!

Monday 7/27 Recap

2009-08-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Busy day, as always. Scott's in the midst of earnings season and that leaves me more duties around the house and with the kids. I got a STUNNING night's sleep Saturday which carried me through Monday nicely. I took a 1/2 hour nap before Hunter's OT and that was all I needed. I got to have an hour long dumpster dive and we had 3 great therapy sessions. And Ryanne had a horrible gymnastics class but they let us attend a class on Tuesdays which will be her new permanent class and it was a much better fit. I had my Mystery Shop fiasco Monday. I preassigned to do this shop once a month through September. I have no record of an email from the company but they say they emailed to let shoppers know they were all cancelled. Anyway, I ordered the pizza as we left the library (our books were due and we got some new ones) and when I went to enter the data the shop wasn't on my template. SUCH a waste of $15 :( And there's not much I can do to get it reimbursed either. But when they called me for a special favor to do a shop for them on Wednesday I was not very inclined to help them out either, so it goes two ways. Anyway... here's the menu recap :)

Menus
Breakfast: My typical yogurt/cereal. The kids had grapes and leftover pancake sticks from the weekend (I put syrup on them and microwave until just warm and then cut into sticks, easy handheld breakfast!). Scott had cereal with milk and a yogurt.
Snacks (AM/PM): Ham pinwheels (cream cheese, ham slices and tortilla wrapped up), PB&J, carrots and ranch. Juice.
Lunch: The rest of the ham pinwheels for Hunter, a Boost drink and an apple. Scott and I split an apple and had Marie Callendar's meals.
Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza, green beans, milk.

WOW, WHAT A WEEK!

2009-08-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

I know I have been absent. It has been a whirlwind week for my sister in law's wedding. Family events to attend, programs to make, brunch to help organize and outfit... I haven't been able to find a moment to get on the blog!! While I always have a lot to do, this week was beyond exception! Hunter had his latest round of botox as well and 2 extra therapies this week to boot. I haven't slept and I'm glad to be somewhat returning to normalcy this week! I think we were under budget last week but I haven't tallied to be sure. I had a mystery shop on Monday (or so I thought), I pre-assigned these shops monthly and I ordered my pizza and went to do my paperwork and the shops were gone. Apparently they were cancelled by the client and I don't have a record of an email so there's $15 of eating out that won't be reimbursed and we didn't need! Second we met our Brother in Law and Niece at McDonald's for a play date and that was $12 down the tubes. The playlands are great but has anyone else noticed that fast food is no longer the cheap alternative???

Most my shopping trips were under $10 and I spent a large majority of the money on Kroger's mega deal restocking our Kleenex and buying some items for garage sale. I'll have our quarterly garage sale this weekend and hopefully many of the toiletry items will fetch us a net positive on our expenditures for the challenge :) I'll update more on that as the week goes on. And we had our neighbors over for dinner Sunday night!! Everyone was pleased with the meal and we did it all for under $15, including beer for the adults (except me who has to work) and lemonade for the kids :) I will get my tallies for the week and post them up soon!! It takes me awhile to enter the receipts because it's so hard to figure out tax around here. There's a base tax and then the second tax is based on a post-coupon amount and it's important to match them up and figure out what coupons (if any and how many) were missed. Anyway... the rest of the updates coming soon with some great recipes from the week!!

Grocery Matchups thru 7/28

2009-07-27T00:24:00.001-07:00

Kroger Mega Deal is still the best around... Ritz for $1.88 at Safeway (with in ad q) will yield you ritz + Free wheat thins. And there's a printable out there for chiquita bites (if it's not reached it's limit). Wacky Mac at Safeway is free this week too!

Week 2 Recap!

2009-07-26T23:18:00.001-07:00

Well, we made it again! It's actually more than we usually spend because I'm buying things I normally wouldn't buy but we're on the challenge. But it will all get used. If it's within my maximum price to pay, it's worth it.

With the All You challenge (with the twist of no stockpile usage), we came in at $91.67 for food. With the "theory" buys so as not to include previous stockpile, I spent $98.63 on food :)

But the fire totals aren't as impressive. I stockpiled lotion, razors, vitamins, rubber gloves, wipes and diapers this week too. Scott's Proactiv was $10 "theoretical" but worth it. It's the only thing that works for his skin and he was annoyed with not "having" it. The propane refill cost a bit but it's something we'd probably have to do in the event of losing everything and grilling is so wonderful and healthy in the summer. I broiled the BBQ chicken last week but real BBQ was better. Killer diaper deal at Rite Aid too. I'll try to hit a couple tomorrow. So worth that price. And we stocked our "treasure box" so the kids can earn rewards at the end of the day. It's really motivating Hunter to take steps and Ryanne to stay accident free (she has a tendency not to stop what she's doing and potty).

We have $116 to spend for the next two weeks on the fire challenge so this week will have to pare down on the spending in general. But we should be fine. I might buy another pack of beef but we have pork, chicken and shrimp to use this week and a Pizza mystery shop tomorrow, wedding rehearsal dinner Thursday and wedding Saturday. Here's the total sheets!

Sunday 7/26 Recap

2009-07-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! Caught up in recaps!! Quick trip to King Soopers today (Kroger). Hit 3 more mega deal groups of 10, many with overages. Playtex gloves are the best one right now. And I bought more Sunny D smoothies. Don't love the artificial stuff but hopefully I can bring them to work to share and the kids can have them now and then. I have to go back with my Kashi coupons, I guess they didn't make it out of my pocket!! Got some of the Bushnell weather monitors too, Scott is very excited and I'm excited to have gifts in reserve when we need them! Now just to wait for the rebate to come...

Menus:

Breakfast: Kids had Kashi waffles. We've been giving them the yucky HFCS syrup but I try not to put too much on there. Scott fed them so I don't think they had anything more than that and milk. He had a breakfast sandwich with the last english muffin. I just had a yogurt and what was left of Hunter's waffle.

Snacks: Granola bars and juice.

Lunch: Requested Mac-N-Cheese (the last of the cups I bought). I made them eat a yobaby first. And they each had a piece of bacon. If they weren't so active I'd think heart attack on a plate! No one would touch the green beans (rare for my crew). Scott and I were naughty too and just had some chips and salsa. Although we were good on the portion control.

Snacks: Buttered pasta, cheese sticks (cut from block), boost drinks. They got bananas at the store.

Dinner: I had planned on meatloaf but didn't have time. Made up this raspberry-walnut chicken instead! Served with rice, green beans and milk. (last of the green beans).

Raspberry Walnut Chicken

2 slices of bread, toasted

2 oz. walnuts

1 oz feta cheese + 0.5 oz feta cheese

2T Lite Raspberry vinaigrette + 1T Lite Raspberry vinaigrette

1 # chicken (I only used ~ 1/2 pound but there was enough topping for 1#, use 1 more slice bread if it's not enough for you)

It'd be best to cuisinart the topping (bread, walnuts and 1 oz. feta). But if you don't have one (like me under the fire challenge), then crush walnuts with a heavy something (olive oil bottles work great, as do oil spray bottles), crumble the bread and feta and fork mash. Marinade the chicken in 2T lite raspberry vinaigrette. Spray bottom of pan and place chicken in. Top with topping. Bake until juices run clear and meat is no longer pink. (~30-45 minutes for 1#). Drizzle with 1T more dressing and crumble 0.5 oz more feta on top and serve.

Saturday 7/25 Recap

2009-07-26T22:47:00.001-07:00

It was a busy day shopping. Scott didn't feel spectacular so I took the kids. They were good for the "most" part ;-) Freebies and cheapies at Walmart (check lists I'll post in next post). Target had $1.68 2 packs of sippie cups and Ryanne found her very first bargain! She saved her money to buy something and was insistant on a Barbie. I got wind of a clearance at Target and we went. None of the clearance ones but she was insistant. We worked out a deal where she would work off the rest of the barbie with 10 chores at $0.25 a pop. She had $3.50 and I spotted her the $2.50. Well, it rings up $1.32!! Here she is in all her glory. Ryanne could not be happier. I also got a bunch of things from the dollar spot to put in our "treasure chest". She gets an item at night if she has no accidents and listens well. Hunter gets an item for 3 steps "unassisted".

Oh and a score in the mail!! My Huggies "Enjoy the Ride Rewards" gift cards came!! $50 on Mastercard prepaid cards!! SCORE!!.

Menus:

Breakfast: Pancakes, what else?? Never fails on a weekend they want them. Served with barely touched yogurt and the last orange. I had a fried egg and a piece of toast and a yogurt. Scott had a yogurt when he got up but didn't much feel like anything else.

Snacks: Everyone was asking for cereal. So cereal they got (miniwheats). I snuck some pudding in Hunter's milk (Bwaaaahaaahahahaha). They also got cheese sticks before bathtime.

Lunch: PB&J sandwiches, the last plum. MESSY!!! And "Dora Drinks" (Yoplait kids drinks). They are little addicts with these. I have to ration them!! I had a meat/cheese sandwich and finished off 1/8 of a sandwich from Hunter's plate. Scott had a Marie Callendar's.

Snacks: 2 Boosts, sample crackers in Walmart, bananas in Walmart and boxes of raisins found in my purse. Yeah, I scrounged at the end...

Dinner: SO not in the mood to cook. I wanted nachos so badly. So I made chicken quesadillas instead. I used 2% cheese on the adult ones. It doesn't melt quite as well but still tastes fine. I sauteed the chicken and onions and put them in them and melted in the oven. I served green pepper sticks and a salad with it. Kids got ranch dressing, the adults stuck with salsa.

Friday 7/24 Recap

2009-07-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we're doing great on the week! I will probably shop this weekend but mostly stockpiling, which is what I was hoping to do on this challenge. Stopped by Rite Aid on the way home and got 4 packs of Pampers Easy Ups, size 5 (girls) clearance for $2.87 each. And 2 packs of RA brand refill wipes (240 ct) clearance for $1.74 each. 2x$2 coupons from P&G Year of Savings book and 2x$1 coupons from P&G insert for a total of $10 and change on a gift card!! I was going to try to do the Huggies deal with SCR's but it was too much work with only 1 day to go on the deal. Still, 4 packs of diapers and the equivalent of 6 packs of wipes (each pack had 3 packs in it) for $10? I'll take it :)

Menus:
Breakfast: C'mon, you know what I ate already... Scott had one of his now famous breakfast sandwiches (I need to buy more english muffins!). The kids shared the last of the canteloupe and had the last of the Fruit2day mixed with Sunny D.
Lunch: We both had another Marie Callendar's Pasta Al Dente. I LOVED the tortellini but it had more calories than the shrimp dish I had last time. Scott was still lukewarm on his but I thought they were great.
Dinner: Ryanne had been begging for stroganoff (her favorite) so I bought two cans of cream of mushroom soup and "bought" a can of Albertson's mushrooms (we have so many, didn't want to actually spend on that right now, would rather wait for a sale). They scarfed it down with a couple of green beans, but the stroganoff was the desired part ;-)

Theresa's world famous stroganoff
1# beef, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cans condensed mushroom soup (use low sodium if you can find it)
1 can Beef Consomme (or 1.5 cups beef broth of some sort: ie: boullion, or I used the broth from our crockpot from Wednesday)
1 can mushrooms
1 bag pasta (we use Wacky Mac- a bit of veggies in them and they're cheap on sale + coupon!)
Sour cream optional

Sautee beef and onions in large skillet. You can use butter, I choose to use a cooking spray. If you use butter, when the meat and onions are done you'll want to add a Tbs. of flour to soak it up. Add mushroom soup, beef broth and mushrooms to pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. For the higher fat version I add sour cream at the end. It's very rich and delicious but it's just as good without it. Serve over pasta :)

Hmmm, missing the picture. I'll try to find it :)

Thursday 7/23 Recap

2009-07-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a busy day. Ryanne ended up going home with Nana after dinner so they could go to a fire station presentation in the morning. She walked out with her backpack like she was leaving for college "Bye Mom!" She yelled without turning around LOL. Hunter was not pleased in the morning that Ryanne was not going to school. His routine is to go to her room and get a kiss. Well Taylor was in the seat Ryanne was in, with her blonde hair, wearing nearly IDENTICALLY what Ryanne wore the day before. Hunter went up for a kiss and she looked at him like he had 3 heads!! I was hoping we'd go in and he'd see that she wasn't there, we'd wave at the teachers and be alright. HA, silly mommy. He melted down. Finally realized he'd be okay and we were off. I had a PT Thursday for my hip so Scott was lovely enough to make dinner :) No shopping as it was a busy work day and having PT...

Menus:

Breakfast: Hunter had canteloupe before going to school. He won't drink much juice without Ryanne's example. We're watching his weight though to see if he still needs supplement at school. He's doing great so far though, up 0.3 pounds! Scott had cereal and I had my regular cereal and yogurt.

Lunch: One of my "D'OH" days. Forgot my lunch. So I had to see what I had stashed in the freezer here at work. I have a Red Baron pizza and a lean pocket left. Someone decided a Hot Pocket pack with the big KPK on it "DO NOT EAT" didn't mean it wasn't theirs. I had the lean pocket quesadilla and I was still hungry but didn't eat any more. Scott picked Ryanne up and had Spaghetti with his parents.

Snack: It was too late to take Ryanne to school, the other kids were napping. So she got a yogurt and daddy let her have some pudding!! She had a piece of toast and a piece of cheese too.

Dinner: Scott BBQ'd the other 2 chicken quarters. The kids scarf these down so it keeps our portions reasonable. I made baked yam fries with a little butter and brown sugar. Those go over so well!! And we had salads. Everyone is loving salads this summer! The kids got Yoplait kids drinks too, they were so excited!! The kids had pudding for dessert and the adults splurged and shared a bag of popcorn (the lowfat variety though, yay us!!)

Baked Yam Fries

Pre-Bake yam in microwave or oven.

Cut into slices and place on cooking sheet.

Melt Butter (light preferred) in microwave and stir in 1T brown sugar

Bake in oven until browning on top.

Wednesday 7/22 Recap

2009-07-26T21:46:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't kept up on the recaps. Seems I can do tips or recaps :P I get caught up eventually though!! Wednesday was fairly uneventful. Worked, went home, Scott made dinner!! I didn't do any shopping and that was nice. It's nice when you can just know you have enough of whatever you need at home :) My thought for the day is how much I miss good pots and pans though. After the sandwiches last night, I realized how much we use ours and how bad they've gotten since the wedding (we got them off our registry). I think Christmas will be a good time to ask for some new ones from the hubby. I'll give him a 20% discount to Bed Bath and Beyond and give him a gift card I've earned from mypoints, or my work's reward programs or something and we'll get some new ones. I love the teflon non-stick. I find I use much less oil or butter with them. Anyway, that's the thought for the day :)

Menus:
Breakfast: I had my yogurt and cereal at work. Scott has become quite adept at making breakfast sandwiches for himself with the bacon, cheese, eggs and english muffin's we've had! 3 minutes, all microwave he says. And far less preservatives than those store bought ones. Way to go honey! The kids had the fruit2day juice and some canteloupe. I made them some little hashbrowns from the leftover potato from the stuffed night but no go. They're fruit eaters in the AM.
Lunch: We both had the Marie Callendar's Pasta al Dente meals for lunch. I absolutely loved the shrimp one I had and Scott said the rigatoni was decent. I seemed more excited about mine :)
Dinner: I knew I would be running late so I set a crockpot!! Scott's mom graciously has been taking Hunter to his e-stem PT appointment every week and she stayed for dinner again. It was a beef roast, potatoes, onions, celery and the rest of the peppercorn McCormick pack. 3 cups of water and went all day. The meat was a little dissapointingly tough but not bad. Usually I'll add a 1/2 tsp. of meat tenderizer but didn't "have" it ;-) Served it with sour cream (for kids) and light sour cream (for adults), milk and a salad with a little feta cheese on it.

22. Tip of the day: Let the broth from your crockpot cool, skim off the top fat and save it from your crockpot for next time. It's more flavorful than water, you'll save on spices or you can even use it as beef broth in other recipes too!!

Deals O' The Day!

2009-07-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Not originally mine, but too good not to share.

Blockbuster Kiosk - FREE DVD Rentals
Have you spotted Blockbuster's new DVD kiosks yet? Well, according to their kiosk locator they are only in select cities right now (not even Phoenix!)... BUT, for you lucky ducks that have a Blockbuster kiosk near you, you can get FREE movies with these codes:
One FREE rental - use CKVPX9A7 (valid 7/20 - 7/27)
Rent One, Get One FREE - use CKVPX987 (valid 7/27 - 8/10)
Rent One, Get One FREE - use CKVPX9C7 (valid 8/10 - 8/24)

(taken from good deal gal blog and j_essica on BBC :) )

FREE BUSHNELL Weather forecaster
Walmart sells the Bushnell Weather Forecaster Radios for $50, down from $99. Find one at your store (you may have to ask for it, but look in the hardware area, sporting goods, or near the fans & thermometers) and will get it FREE after this $50 mail-in rebate. The best part is that the limit on the rebate is three! Can you say holiday gift for the special men in your life? Yeah! Thanks Money Saving Madness and Kristen at BBC!

Tip O'the day!

2009-07-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

21. Participate in research studies. Here's one for the mommies out there. https://www.lenababy.com/secure/languageresearch/Default.aspx Lena Language studies is looking for children ages 2-48 months for research in language development. You would record three sessions and they give you free clothing that the recorder fits in. My daughter did a study last summer that made us $680!! And now we got one for $100 :) They send you a recorder and you record them for a day. Then fill out a development questionnaire and send it all back in a prepaid envelope. Last time we had to do a session in Boulder, CO but I believe this new one does not require that. They're looking for typical children as well as children with development or speech delays.

There are other sites out there like mypoints and Ipsos that will pay you to take surveys. There's also Arquest which sends out diapers to be sampled and pays you $10 for doing so!! I'll let you know if I hear of another opening with them. But there are lots of places out there that will pay you for your time and opinion! Give it to them!

Tips catchup!!

2009-07-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

I said I'd post tips and I've been a'slackin'!! Keeping up with work, blog and kids has been a bit of a challenge so far. But I'm getting back to it. Next step is to post to AY more... But here's my tips catchup post...

10. Estee Lauder Freebie day! Visit your local Estee Lauder counter tomorrow (Thursday July 23, 2009) for a free 10 day supply of their new Advanced Night Repair! I can't see any restrictions but I assume supplies will be limited.

11. Free Hefty One Zip Bags at Walmart! They have the small boxes for $1 and there were $1/1 coupons in the 5/17 Red Plum insert.

12. Make your own "Happy Meal" Got this one back in the day from miserlymoms.com (I think). A reader suggested making your own meal, wrapping it up, getting little ketchup packets and a toy and having your own happy meal at home. My kids think this is just as much fun and then they can go out back and play on our play set. And it's healthier for them!!

13. Split and Save. Meat that is. Meat has gotten to be one of the most expensive grocery items out there. And the way it's produced and sold is wholly unsustainable in our current food economy. It's also one of the largest contributors to saturated fat in American's diets. For all those reasons and more. Split your meat. I used to toss in the whole pound of ground meat into my meatloaf. But I found that by adding a little more bread or another egg or a vegetable puree, half was plenty and our fat and calorie totals for the day decreased. Add veggies, bread, rice, potatoes or other grains for bulk. You won't miss it. My meaty family and I promise :)

14. Huggies Wipes. I never realized how wonderful these are. I know many people recommend cutting them in half, but that's not worked for me and my poopers ;-) However, use a huggies wipe next time you're out and your kid spills on themself. I got a slushie food coloring stain nearly out of my daughter's white shirt when we were at the zoo. And cleaning! If you have a flat top range, they clean the water burns etc. amazingly. Shower? Soap scum came right off!! Who knew!! They're fairly inexpensive and strong so one wipe will do a whole job too ;-)

15. Coupon organization. Ahhh, this could be a long one. There's so many ways. I dumpster dive (my husband will be mortified I told you that). So I have a lot of inserts. I keep them organized by date of insert. Then I cut out the high dollar q's and the ones for products we prefer. I keep those organized alphabetically because organizing by genre (meat, condiment, shampoo, etc.) was too hard for me to keep up with. It works for some people to organize that way though. I keep my coupons in a box and I have a shoulder bag to take it with me. That way if I'm in the store and I see something on sale I can just find the q and snap it up. I also use websites like taylortownpreview, pinchingyourpennies and hotcouponworld if I need to look up when a coupon came out. Sometimes I keep a printed list with me so I can find them as well, but lately I haven't. When I only had 1-2 inserts from a week I used to cut them all out and go off the list, but now that I have more to cut and I get older inserts from the dives, it just wasn't feasible to cut everything.

16. Keep your veggies fresh. Many of us have used a papertowel in the sack to keep lettuce and other veggies dry. Next time try a coffee filter! Lillyun (whom I met through PYP) told me about this and it works surprisingly better than a papertowel. No idea why, but it does. And you can get 100 basket filters for $1 on sale, so it's more economical than a towel too!!

17. Grow and keep your own spices. Ours were all just destroyed by hail on Monday night but usually this is a great saver. Plant from seed or get a small plant to start. Never let them go bad on the plant, just pick and save. Spices can be frozen in an ice cube tray with water or olive oil or dehydrated. Garlic too. Don't let heads go to sprout, they'll taste bitter. Chop and freeze in oil or water and just drop one in next time you're ready to cook!!

18. Set up a swap! We're all bored with our wardrobes, books we've already read and wrapping paper we used last year. Have your friends bring what they are looking to swap and just trade. It's amazing how some "new to me" clothes, books or household items will make you feel. For Free!!

19. My Soap Saver. You can use soap bits to make foamy soap if you use those dispensers. Boil in 1 cup of water and allow to cool. Or we prefer to pull out a new bar when the old one is down to the bendy-stick level. Use both bars in the shower and then stick them together. They won't come apart and you'll get each and every drop out of each and every bar, it just rolls onto the next bar.

20. Christmas saver. This one isn't as good as it used to be since more and more people send out the photo cards. But save your cards from the year and then next year when it's time to go through the cards, sit down for some family fun and look at all the ones from last year. Then cut out the card part or the decoration and use them as tags on this year's gifts. Good walk down memory lane and about how everyone has changed over the year and then free gift tags to boot.

I think that gets me caught up for tips! I'll keep posting the "equivalent" of one a day, even if I don't get to it every day ;-)

Tuesday 7/21 Recap

2009-07-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

GREAT trips to Kroger and Albertson's today. $45 at Kroger but that's split between HBA and Grocery. I got 7 of my very favorite Johnson's lotions for $1 each and I couldn't be happier. Well worth $1. Not $2, but $1 I'm excited about ;-) Wish I had more of those coupons. I bought a ton of Kraft salad dressing because I had "save off meat WYB dressing" and some for produce as well. So I am sure a lot of that will go into yard sale but that's fine, saved me a bunch to get 0.19 dressing and $2 off meat, $1 off produce. At Albertson's I got all the yogurt we'll need 12x4 packs) through this challenge anyway and some bisquick for pancakes (4 boxes) because I had mailer coupons, and 2 Dora yogurt drinks for the kids and 7 free Propel waters (although I found out they would have been overage at Kroger!! GRRR!). All told at Albertson's I spent $10.99 on all that and got 6 coupons for free milk through 8/4 (up to $4.50! If they won't give overage I'll buy organic). Very good deal.

Menus:
Breakfasts: I had dry special K cereal because I didn't have any more yogurt. Scott had a bacon, egg & cheese muffin sandwich and the kids had melon before they went to school.
Lunch: I had the leftover eggplant stuffing from the night before. Not as good reheated honestly. I haven't verified Scott's meal yet but he said he's not been cheating on the challenge so I'll trust him.
Dinner: Chicken salad sandwiches, leftover cheesy mashed potatoes, steamed green beans. Adults had water, kids had milk/oj. Kids actually didn't like this one and ended up scarfing down 2.5 PB&J sandwiches and Ryanne had a salad too. Normally I don't let them have something different but Ryanne was asking so nicely, I had to. Scott had Popcorn for dessert. I went and had more bargains for dessert :) (dinner picture will be uploaded tonight)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

8 oz chicken, diced
1.5 tsp italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic
3 strips bacon, chopped
3 T miracle whip
slices of Monterrey jack cheese or other personal favorite
(slices of tomato would have been perfect but I hadn't bought them yet)
Lettuce &/or spinach leaves
Whole wheat pitas &/or tortilla

Precook bacon in the microwave on 2 papertowels for 2.5 minutes to pull off some of the grease. Sautee chicken, bacon bits and garlic until chicken is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. Remove from heat and add miracle whip and italian seasoning. We were using up the pita's from last week's meal and only had two so the adults ate the pitas and the kids had theirs in a rolled up tortilla instead. Melt cheese on tortilla or in pita and top with chicken salad, tomato and lettuce/spinach.

Monday July 20 Recap

2009-07-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Another busy day with Hunter's stuff and the Screamin' Weeman. We started at 8 and finished at 5. I did get a 1.5 hour nap today though (thanks Scott!! I needed that!!). His therapy days can often be like our weekend days with lots of daytime grazing. And usually a really horrid breakfast (today was no exception).

Menus
Breakfast: Yobaby (ate all), cheesy english muffin (ate none), plums, lemonade (ate and drank very little), for Hunter. Ryanne had some grapes before going to school. I took a quick 1/2 hour nap so missed breakfast but got an early snack. Scott had cereal.

Snack: Early snack between AM therapies for Hunter. Tortilla with cream cheese, deli slices of meat and fresh spinach leaves. Less cream cheese on my side and more on his. He scarfed them down!! And he had some grapes and green peas. Much better than the breakfast foray. And he had a whole orange by himself after his second therapy!!

Lunch: Scott had a sandwich for lunch and Hunter and I used my free baked chicken meal coupon at KFC (Thanks Oprah!!). He actually ate a lot of it which kept me from eating too much. Perfect!!

Appetizer: Hunter couldn't wait until Ryanne got home from gymnastics and the stuffers weren't ready so I gave him the rest of the green peas and melted butter on them.

Dinner: This was an experimentation and it went over well. Had to improvise because of not having everything "in stock"... Stuffed potatoes/eggplant. We had veggies from last week and I wanted to get them used up. Scott won't touch eggplant usually so I ate the stuffed eggplant shell and he and the kids had stuffed potatoes. I saved the innards of the potatoes for hash brown starters for the kids in the AM. We had water and milk for dinner. Popcorn for dessert because we have the calorie room and it was a rough day :)

Stuffed Potatoes/Eggplant (what I used, substitutions very easy)

1/3 of an Eggplant
2 Medium potatoes, baked just to tender (use all eggplants if your family won't whine like mine!!)
3 small zucchini/yellow squash (I steamed in the microwave in a Hefty One Zip bag, open 2" with ~ 1/4 C. Water)
12 fresh spinach leaves, washed and chopped
1/3 C. chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 packet McCormick Peppercorn Steak Grillmates
1 T Olive Oil
3/4 C. rice, cooked per directions
8 oz. chicken breast, cooked until not pink, but not overdone (I microwaved it).
3 T. Sour cream (I used lowfat for adults, regular for kids)
3 cheese slices (I used cheddar, but a strong swiss or goulda would be great)

Bake whole eggplant on a baking sheet at 425*F for 40 minutes. If only using a part, put the innard side down when baking, hollow out the innards when done and save for filling. Bake Potatoes to just barely cooked, hollow them out and save the innards for another dish.

Sautee Onions and garlic on stove with Olive Oil until onions are near translucent and reduce to medium heat. Finely chop chicken, squash and innards from eggplant and add to pot. Add Rice, spinach leaves and seasoning mix to pot. Mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and stir in Sour cream. Fill shells and top with cheese slices as desired. Bake at 425 until cheese is melted and filling is warm and bubbly.

Alternately, in my former, high metabolism, plenty of kitchen tools life... Cuisinart all the filling ingredients with 3/4 block lowfat cream cheese instead of sour cream. Wow, rich and delicious!!

And even my husband, so vehemently opposed to eggplant said, "that's a good one Hun!!" I then told him there was eggplant in it and he about keeled over ;-)

Sunday 7/19 Recap

2009-07-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

Another nice day. Hot but some cloud cover. I worked on my SIL's Bridal Brunch stuff and we cleaned in the AM. Just a heads up... cleaning on your hands and knees with a sponge, 1 bottle of multi purpose cleaner and some rags is not all that fun. Kids thought it was, but they got to stop when they got bored!! But it does the job. And the house is clean, so there. Then we went on a mystery shop to an entertainment site. The kids had fun and got to come home with a "toy". Shop pays $45 and we spent $37 on mini golf and tokens. So money making family entertainment! Can't beat that!!

Menus

Breakfast: Pancakes w/ syrup, Yobaby, cherries and lemonade for the kids (we're out of milk until tomorrow because we didn't start with a full gallon). Scott ate the rest of the pancakes and had coffee. I had a dry slice of toast, cherries and coffee and ate the few bites of pancake left on the kids' plates.

Snack: Pudding, apples, cherries. Kids had the last of the raisins on the way home.

Lunch: Lean pocket, plums, lemonade & Fruit2day drink, cheese sticks (cut from the block). I had a sandwich and Ryanne ate a bunch of it. I finished her pocket. Scott ate what was left on Hunter's plate and ate the last granola bar (that was diaper bag fare)

Dinner: London Broils, seasoned with olive oil, McCormick's seasoning (Montreal flavor) and water. Put them in a bag and beat them with the butt end of the olive oil bottle to tenderize. Cheddar mashed potatoes and the last of the canned peas. We had skim milk and we mixed the kids' milk with the second to last Boost drink from the diaper bag stash.

Saturday 7/18 Recap

2009-07-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Nice day. Took the kids for a hike (Hunter in the Backpack) in the morning and then ran errands all day. Meals aren't wonderful when we run errands, they're more like a consistent graze throughout the day so their "snack" category may look huge. Then we had dinner at our neighbor's BBQ. I brought some cream cheese that I owed her but she didn't ask me to bring anything else. I should have brought a green salad in hindsight!! She let me borrow the 1/2 cup of milk I'd need for Sunday and 1/4 cup of syrup for Sunday breakfast.

Menus
Breakfast: Toast with Smart Balance Butter, yobaby yogurt, apples, milk & Sunny D for the kids. I ate a slice of dry toast and some cherries. Scott had an english muffin breakfast sandwich (cheese, egg, bacon, muffin). And we had coffee (forgot to add coffee to all breakfast menus, but we drink it pretty much every day).
Snacks: Grapes, Fruit2Day juice, water, lemonade, cheese "sticks", meat/cheese/ranch sandwich, raisins (from diaperbag stash), pudding. I had a joint juice I brought from work.
Lunch: Kraft Easy Mac, Green Peas (canned), vienna sausage, lemonade. I had leftover taco salad and I think Scott had a sandwich (I'll have to double check, but he ate off the "proper" shelves)
Dinner: Hot Dogs, Pasta Salad, Black Olives, Milk, Veggie Tray, Chips (all from neighbor's BBQ).

Week 1: By the hair of our chinny chin chin!

2009-07-19T22:45:00.001-07:00

I still need to post updates for Saturday and Sunday but the first week total for just the All You grocery challenge is.... $98.07!!! Woo hoo! Under by almost $2!! Unfortunately that included having to return one of my beloved great deal on Olive Oil because of $11 at Starbucks, but hey, a win is a win.

This was pretty much starting from NOTHING, all scratch, no cheating (that I'm aware of). There were a few things that I had to use from our previous stores like milk and fruit and bread that I wasn't going to let go bad, so it would have been over $100 for the week in terms of the Fire challenge (including "theory" items, it was $119.52). But we've got a good stock going now and we have a lot of meat and sides so we'll do some more household items and stockpile building this week. Oh, and Kroger (King Soopers) trips!! Love that sale ;-) But really, we're a monthly budget family so we're doing alright. We expected to have to spend more initially to start rebuilding the staple goods.

And as for the full "fire challenge", we've spent $180/500. Higher than desired but you have to spend up front for these things. I'd like to be able to "buy" more clothes for the kids and another pair of jeans for me for work but we'll see how that pans out. I don't want to overspend just yet.

One great thing this week was that we found out we don't have to keep thickening Hunter's liquids! This is a HUGE savings. The thickener he used was a minimum of $25 for a big jug of it. We had to buy him little cocktail straws to drink from, but to go from Honey Thick liquids back to "Thins" (no thickening) is downright awesome. Way to go Wee Man!!

Other observations...
* Scott may not last. He is already unhappy with sandwiches and was sad he couldn't do an aus jus with the meat tonight. But he's managing and appreciating the lesson in minimalism as much as we all are. We're 1/4 of the way there!
* Chock Full O'Nuts Coffee is AWFUL!! Not even close to a substitution for New Mexico Pinon coffee, but I guess why it's so much cheaper, eh?
* Clearance diapers... great if they're Huggies or your kid doesn't have a sensitive bum... Hunter's butt looked like one of those monkey's in the zoo after using those Albertson's diapers for 2 days. They took both packages back but we're now out of diaper-bag-Desitin so hopefully it doesn't come back now that they're out of the house!
* Purex 3-in-1, good for cold washes, not so good for hots. The dryer part melts off before it ever gets to the dryer. Not recommended.
* Covergirl Outlast Lipstain, from my Bzz Campaign!! First of all, FREE (can't beat it), and decent makeup for second! I swear it wasn't just the color, it actually tasted like berries to me. And it actually did last for close to 4 hours, including eating a meal with oils in it. Their previous version was a bit cakey, this lipstain goes on as a color and you can put anything you want over it: gloss, chapstick, another color... but the key was that it lasted without the cakey feeling most long lasting lipcolors get. And my lips actually even felt a little more moisturized. I'd give it 4/5 stars (the color was actually a little too intense for my pasty-whiteness, but it blended nicely after about 2-3 hours).
* Mystery Shop! Got to do one today. The scheduler was a bit of a snot, but it was fun in the end and not too hard. Good free (actually money making) fun for the family.
* Cleaning, UGH, not fun with one bottle of cleaner, a sponge and some rags! But the house is clean... for now...
* Lots of "Borrowing" from friends and family, not ideal, but in a pinch, which one of us wouldn't go beg their mother in law for her Melanine Christmas dishes for a month?? I "borrowed" a 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup syrup, 1/2 cup milk (for Hunter's Sunday bottle), a vaccuum for the morning and an iron for an hour.

Friday 7/17 Recap

2009-07-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'll start this and edit as things change. Not as busy today, so that is fantastic! Put the final numbers in the grocery column and will return 2-3 items to hit the $100 mark. We have a lot of food though and next week will be more about buying sale items and regular stock items for a normal kitchen.

And wanted to be sure I added that Hunter gets an 8 ounce bottle at night still for the extra calories. I'm not putting it in every day but it's 6-8 ounces of milk usage (sometimes he doesn't finish his milk at dinner and we put it in the bottle and top off).

Menus
Breakfast: Kids had grapes and Sunny D (I don't love Sunny D, but the price was right and it's okay on occasion). I had my yogurt and special K (yogurts all gone now!!), Scott had the second breakfast lean pocket.
Snack: Well, for me anyway, 6 Rolo's from the boss' drawer. I will have to add to the candy drawer at some point too!!
Lunch: Lean pocket and an orange for me. Scott hasn't chimed in yet. Kids are at school.
Dinner: Taco Salads. Tortilla chips with lettuce/spinach, onions, cheese and ground turkey. Topped with salsa for the adults, ranch or sour cream for the kids. I will serve with milk/lemonade, raw carrots and steamed green beans. The kids can have pudding for dessert. If the adults can manage to not spend any more, they can have popcorn (bought out of theory so doesn't contribute to the AY challenge budget)

Here's the grocery matchups for my area... Safeway didn't have much but I'll be getting the Schick Quattro razors for $0.98 after q.

King Soopers Buy 10 get $5 off deal:

Other King Soopers Matchups:

Albertson's this week:

Friday 7/17 part 1

2009-07-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well phooey. Hubby just informs me that he spent about $10 at Starbucks whilst waiting for the car. That will put us over our All You $100/week total grocery/food by about $6. Not a problem in the grand $500 scheme, but in need of fixing for contest purposes. Looking at things we could return to make the number... I wish I could return that coffee from Albertson's. It's horrible. It's worse than the stuff they serve here at work!! I will probably be resigned to relinquishing one of my Olive Oil's at Albertson's :( And I was going to return the rice to Walmart anyway because I got a better price on the Bulk at Sunflower market. That will be $2.49 (or $4.49, depending if they refund the coupon or not) and $1.50. That should get us there but I'm sad to sacrifice the great price on the Olive Oil for starbucks!!

Here's the grocery/food tally for the week, before returns:

Thursday 7/16 Recap

2009-07-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Got to go to King Soopers (Kroger) on a break. I love the save $5 WYB 10 item sale ;) Got lots of staples like cream cheese, mouthwash, salad dressing. My favorite is Johnson's Lotion!! My ALL TIME favorite lotion. If I can figure out what I did with my $2/1 coupons from S 4/19, I will be stocking up on those. There will have to be room in the budget!! After the sale the big bottles are only $1!! And remember to check your catalinas that print out at the store. There have been some really good ones lately, like the $2/1 Listerine I used or $1/1 Yobaby.

And I was able to use my $2 off meat WYB Kraft dressings. Got 2# of london broil, 1.5 # chicken tenders, and $1 off produce WYB Kraft dressings for $0.13 cantaloupe. I had to go to customer service though because it didn't ring all the items I thought were on the sale. It was a hassle but I got more dressing and some more meat out of it. I was in too much of a hurry to plan anything else. LOVE the Smart Balance butter on sale for 50 cents too. This is a nicer, healthier option to the oil sprays or margerine that we had. I'll be getting a couple more of those. It's really easy as a calorie additive to Hunter's foods.

Menu
Breakfast: The kids had apples and milk again, then ate at school. Scott had a lean pocket breakfast pocket. I had yogurt at work with the Special K in it. Only one yogurt left here!!
Lunch: I had the leftover porkchop and rice and 2 plums. Scott went out to lunch with a friend who owed him lunch. He had chicken wings or something to that effect.
Dinner: BBQ chicken (leg quarters), corn (canned) and baked potatoes with sour cream and milk to drink. I normally like to add a green veggie, but the kids love corn. I miss the days when corn on the cob was 10 cents apiece too!! Maybe at the farmer's market next weekend!! The kids ate most my piece of chicken but that's okay, better for the waistline. Light Sour cream for the adults, regular for the kids. Butter on the kids' potatoes and corn.

Dessert: "Holy Crap That's Good Pudding". WARNING: You will gain a pound just reading this recipe!! This is not for the faint of calorie... seriously, should only be given to kids who need to gain weight or up their calorie/fat content. Don't count this against me as unhealthy, it's just what Hunter needs (and Ryanne burns so many calories, she's welcome to have it too). Oh, and I add a stick of butter at the end (or 1/2 cup butter from a tub). I use Omega 3 Smart balance butter. It's the right kind of fat for Hunter to go with all the animal fat.

Holy Crap That's Good Pudding

3/4 C. sugar
4 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. flour
2 C. whole milk or use 1C whole milk, 1C cream
1 tsp. vanilla (or 1 T cocoa powder)

Stir sugar, yolks, flour and milk together in pot over medium heat until boiling.
Continue to boil for 5 min. (for thicker pudding allow to boil while stirring for another few minutes, you will feel it thicken and it will thicken more when it sits). Add butter and stir until mided in.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and let sit for a few minutes. If using cocoa, stir in with the butter.
Options: Eat plain or top with cinnamon or nutmeg. Or chill it and top it off with fresh berries! Freeze right away for an ice-cream like treat!
Told ya it was simple ;)
For Banana Pudding - Layer dish with vanilla wafers, top with sliced banana and pour pudding over top. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr.

Wednesday 7/15 Recap

2009-07-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Far less stressful than Monday or Tuesday, but still busy and jam packed! Mostly busy with work. Really annoyed with blogging right now as that formatting and text content are hard to modify and keep track of!!

Menu

Breakfasts: Kids got grapes before they went to school. Scott had a lean pocket breakfast sandwich and said it was pretty good!! I had a yogurt that I had in the fridge at work (2 Dannon Activia's left) and Special K red berries mixed.

Lunch: I had the leftover 1/2 pita with gouda, sausage, and veggie filling. I also had 2 plums. Scott had another type of lean pocket (yes, heaven forbid someone cook for him... he's not THAT inept in the kitchen!!).

Dinner: Italian pork chops, rice, green beans, spinach/iceberg lettuce, milk/water.

Italian pork chops

2-3 large pork chops
3 T italian dressing
3 slices of bread (a good way to use the heels of your loaves!!)- toasted and crumbled

In baking dish, spray to prevent sticking. Place pork chops, rub in ~ 1/2 to 1 TBS. Italian dressing to each one. Toast bread and either cut up or hand rip to make crust. Cuisinart is great for this if you have one!! Sprinkle toasted bread on dressing-chops. Bake at 425*F for 20-30" depending on thickness of meat.

Tuesday 7/14 Recap

2009-07-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

Not quite as busy as Monday, I had to work. Went to Sunflower Market aftwerwards to pick up the right cheese and veggies because my Mother in Law, Theresa, was staying for dinner after taking Hunter to his 2nd PT. I planned sausage and veggie pitas with gouda and fries. Of course, it's 95 degrees, I finish at Sunflower and the car won't start!! It took like 20 minutes. Then, (OF COURSE) right after I call Scott, it starts! The starting issue comes and goes so how much do you pay someone to fix something when they don't even know what it is and can't get it to happen on command?!?!

So... Menus
Breakfast~ Apples and whole milk for the kids getting up. Scott had toast and eggs again and I hit the ground running at work and did a naughty thing and skipped breakfast. By the time I looked up at work, it was 11:45 AM and time for lunch! The kids had their meals at school.
Snack: Okay, only me... candy in the boss' drawer. I don't like chocolate really but if you put caramel or something in it... I'm all on that train!
Lunch- I had the leftover pasta from Monday with some Ragu sauce and 2 plums. Scott had another sandwich with meat/cheese/mustard. He also had a large salad with leftover veggies and dressing, which were accounted for or "borrowed"
Dinner: Sausage & Veggie Pitas, fries, milk, and water.

Sausage and Veggie Pitas

1 # sausage, mild or hot

1 zucchini, sliced/diced

1 squash, sliced/diced

1/2 eggplant, sliced/diced

1T olive oil or several spritz's of oil spray to cook veggies

several thin slices of tomato

several thin slices of gouda cheese

italian seasoning to taste

Pita pockets, sliced in half

Sautee sausage in a pan and either sautee veggies in the drippings or use a cooking spray or olive oil to cook veggies to tenderness (you can use onions, peppers, squash, eggplant, broccoli, beans, whatever suits your family's tastes or whatever you have available). Melt ~ 1/2 ounce Gouda in each pita half and then transfer sausage, veggies and tomato slices to pita. Serve warm.

I so wish I had a picture of this one. It will be the priciest meal of the week but it went over so well!! The Gouda makes this one though, beware.... another strong cheese could be substituted, like Edam or Blue, but Gouda is usually the cheapest and the easiest flavor to mix. Squash and eggplant were on sale here but I loooooove mushrooms in this one. Find them if you can!! Broccoli and any other veggie du sale is perfect.

As far as the fries. I do normally keep oil in my fridge for frying occasions such as these where I'm in a hurry, better than having to start with fresh oil every time!! But pan frying potatoes with a little oil is better, especially olive oil,vs. deep frying. And baking with a light spray of butter flavor oil spray plus some garlic salt or italian seasoning yields the healthiest, tasty option.

Homemade french fries

Peel and slice potatoes to meet size and content you like.

Bake potatoes in oven, microwave or deep fry.

Spray microwave and oven potatoes with cooking spray and sprinkle with italian seasoning for flavor.

Bake at 425*F for ~20-30 minutes.

My mother in law stayed to help put the kids to bed (she's a saint) so that I could get the grocery shopping done. I managed to get to Albertson's, Safeway and King Soopers (Kroger) before 9:30.

One notable item was at Albertson's. Filippio Berio Olive oil. A $2/1 printable online plus $4.49 sale price made this item too good not to get 2. And I had 2 $4 OYNO catalinas from the Kraft cheese deal 2 weeks ago so I got some coffee too (which is actually horrible by the way!!). I got some diapers for Hunter off the clearance rack but Ryanne will still need some by Thursday.

And instead of buying large amounts of laundry items, I used a $2/1 coupon to try the Purex 3-in-1. You put the sheet in the washer and it washes and softens and then just transfer it to the dryer as the dryer sheet. Not a huge fan to be honest. Doesn't eliminate static here in dry Colorado and I question if it will get a whole large load clean or if you'd always have to use 2 sheets. We'll see... I'll keep using them because that's what we have, right?

Monday 7/13 Recap, day 1!!

2009-07-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

What a wild start. I slept 7 hours between Friday morning and Monday night. That's total people. I did take 2 hours of that time Friday to myself but the rest was to accomplish various things on my to do list, take care of the kids, and work. Have to prove Scott was wrong though, just a rough start ;-) Got 8 hours Monday night though, a record in my world!!

So worked all night with a 45 minute nap at about 2:30. PT at 8am, AWESOME!! Hunter got some new sticks to try to learn to walk with to prepare him for crutches in the next month or so. Then set him up with Barney and off to my MFR/PT for my hips. Hit Rite Aid on the way home (returning most of it... long boring story), and thought about going to King Soopers (Kroger). But had to get Hunter for his Swallow Study. He ROCKED it. One of the only kids to ever go from Honey thick to no thickness. Just has to stop chugging like a frat boy :) Then to Walmart to complete the day. We "bought" in theory from our stockpile and "borrowed" from neighbors to make it through until I could shop for the challenge.

Menu:
Breakfast: Kids had boost drinks when getting up (from diaper bag). Ryanne ate at school and Hunter had toast with cheese and eggs with cheese and ketchup. And they both had some grapes. Scott and I had fried eggs and toast and coffee. [bought: bread, cheese, ketchup. borrowed: coffee, eggs from neighbor across the street, as well as a frying pan, baked toast in oven on rack, coffee pot "appliance" provided at non-fire-diggs).
Snack: Hunter attempted to re-eat his breakfast. And had some more grapes and the rest of his boost.
Lunch: Scott ate a leftover porkchop so I accounted for it under theory. He also had an apple the neighbors gave us. I "purchased" a Maruchan yakisoba and tried to share it with Hunter. Stinker won't eat!! I had some of the grapes we "purchased" and so did he. He had a box of raisins from the diaper bag. I'm not a horrible mom people, he always eats this crappy for me LOL
Snack: Hunter had some grapes at Children's Hospital as we waited for our results and sipped on the remainder of his juice box from the study. He was awarded a lollipop from the diaper bag as well.
Dinner: well, afer finally shopping Scott and I had shrimp and tomato pasta and the kids just had pasta with sauce (although they ate a lot of the shrimps!!). And we had iceburg lettuce salads with tomatoes and dressing and milk. I thought about taking a picture of dinner every night but didn't think of it until Wednesday so I'll start then :)

Shrimp recipe:
1 package Wacky Mac (or is really great with Spaghetti or Angelhair, if price works!!)
2 cans tomatoes, seasoned if possible, (will save $$), drained
1/2 medium onion, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 # shrimp (or more, just rationing)
1 T fresh parseley (from neighbor's garden)
1 T italian seasoning

Sautee shrimp, onions and garlic in some oil spray or 1T olive oil. When the onions are translucent and shrimp are done add tomatoes (and I love to add mushrooms or broccoli when I can). Add spices to taste and sautee for 5-10 more minutes, draining excess liquid if needed. Cook Pasta Al Dente and serve shrimp and tomato mixture over pasta. Sprinkle Parmesean cheese if available.

Monday's thoughts with the Fire Challenge:

You have to cook in pots and presumably cut on cutting boards. We theoretically got 2 pots, 1 frying pan and a cutting board from my MIL. Hopefully tomorrow I'll add pictures of the utensil packs we would "buy" from the thrift store if given the real situation.
Toothbrush/toothpaste. Ask your dentist for a sample in a pinch, they're always happy to help!
Free household furnishing items are available to those really in need through various charities in major cities. If you needed a couch or something and really couldn't afford one, that's what they're there for. They're often called Furniture banks and here's a link to find one near you if you need something or have something to give!!! http://www.furniturebanks.org/
Jammies. Have you ever tried to get kids by on one pair?? Geeeez!! And try telling them, no, you have one clean outfit, wear it!! If you lose everything, be prepared for a fight from the tots.
Ask your friends and family. Most your older family have several older sets of dishes or that old set of pots and pans they haven't gotten rid of. Hey, for the price at the time, good way to get you off your feet.
While budgeting weekly may be necessary for some, per the All You Challenge, consider monthly and stockpile budgeting. Things go on sale in cycles. For instance BBQ sauce will be on sale through July only most likely, or just into August. If you like BBQ year round, wouldn't it save you money to buy a bunch at 0.08 a bottle or FREE or BETTER THAN FREE?!?! With coupons, you can and I am of the mind you should. So I am budgeting food weekly and the rest of our items monthly because I think that's a more long-term mindset.
Rushed? Make a sandwich. You'll save a lot vs. just running to McDonald's or wherever. Really, how hard is it to put bread, meat, cheese, condiments or veggies as you have available and can tolerate.... your waist and your wallet will thank you later.

Okay, I am sure there's more, but I can edit ;-) That's the meat of Monday!!

What we're leaving behind

2009-07-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

And before we really start... I promised stockpile pictures. I am so sad to leave this behind. It has become a comfort to know that you can just "go downstairs". Scott got me this shelving for Mother's Day (don't laugh, I secretly think it was the best present EVER!!). And we have TP in massive bulk in all the bathrooms, which is why even this much had to go to the basement. I promise not to use anything without "buying" it though :) Oh, and PLEASE don't laugh at my lack of organization in my cabinets... it's "on my list" LOL But all those bankers boxes on the sides are filled with things too. Spaghetti Sauce, meat marinade, deoderant, lotion, etc...

Here's my locker and drawer at work. Yes, I'm a fruitcake, laugh if you will. Those special K red berries are tasting GREAT so thank you to ME!! LOL

Cars: coupons, 2 strollers, 2 bags w/ 1 change of clothes each. Diaper bag, walker, shoes and clothes for Monday AM (including makeup). Yes, my car is often that messy. I live out of it, I swear!! Scott will kill me when he sees I posted these!

What a first 4 days!!

2009-07-16T21:14:00.001-07:00

So sorry I haven't been able to update, what a whirlwind!!
Monday: 8AM Hunter PT, 10AM my PT, 2PM Swallow Study, had to shop and theoretically "shop" since we were starting with "nothing". Hunter ROCKED his swallow study!! No more thickening, just cocktail straws, totally cool :)
Tuesday: made it through the first day!! Still no menu plan in place but I have a good idea of the sales. BUT they all end today, so MIL was nice enough to help the kids to bed while I got the shopping done. She came over in the early afternoon to take Hunter to his second PT and stayed because I was in Boulder and the *$%^$ car wouldn't start. It's either the starter or the protection mechanism of the key or the fuel line. They can't friggin diagnose it. Anyway, it finally started 10 minutes later.
Wednesday: Okay, meal plans falling into place, realizing how hard it is to be minimalistic already!! But it feels good not to have to worry about Mt. Olympus of Laundry ;-) work kicked my behind. I was slammed from the time I walked through the door. Tuesday wasn't much better but Wednesday was ridiculous. I hate being in process sometimes. Scott took care of Hunter's OT.
Thursday: Crappy but again busy day at work. SOOOOO excited for the Kroger $5/10 item sale. It's usually good stuff. Not encompassing a lot of items but some good ones. Hunter had a ST this afternoon. Good excuse to get out of work early since nothing was going right anyway. But already worried that Scott will slip by the end of this. He hates it, constantly asking what he's "allowed" to eat LOL And edited... he took the car in. Went to Starbucks!! Ugh, we'll have to return some things maybe, we'll see how that budgets out.

Whew!! I have to figure out how to post my excel spreadsheet that has the detailed amounts... As of Thursday we're at $82.11 out of the $100 for week 1 grocery and $140 out of the $500 total for the "fire challenge". I'll get to posting individual days and catch up tips next :)

Wow, 2.5 hours and it starts!!

2009-07-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

I have been soooooo busy this week! Work, family, and a sister in law's wedding to try to help with, I haven't posted any more tips!! So here you go, some catch up :)

3. Coupons. Ohhhh, the dread of every Walgreen's and Target cashier in North America. The biggest thing I hope to convey by doing this is that you can live well and save a LOT of money by using coupons to your advantage. It's all about matching the deal with the coupon to get the most bang for your buck. Then stockpiling things when they're on a really good sale or free so you don't have to buy them out of necessity. I started out using www.grocerygame.com (use my email pirnq@yahoo.com as a referral if you want to try their 1 month trial for only $1). Eventually I just learned to do it myself and use my other online references, referrals and friends to help me out. Some other great sites are www.hotcouponworld.com, www.slickdeals.net, www.pinchingyourpennies.com, www.afullcup.com, www.couponmom.com, www.taylortownpreview.com and my personal favorite: http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a7465/coupon_deals_for_bargain_hunters . All these sites have helped me track my coupons and find the sales to use them. Hopefully I can slowly impart some strategies to anyone choosing to read this blog :)

4. Never pay full price. My husband recently said to me as we used a $10 off when you buy $50 at Lowe's coupon at Home Depot: "I can't believe we ever pay full price for anything!" Yesssssss honey, NOW you're getting it!! You can use competitor's coupons at some stores. Joann Fabrics and Michael's take each other's coupons. Lowe's and Home Depot will accept each other's too. You can print off coupons online. www.retailmenot.com has the best selection of codes to use when you shop online. I too am angered whenever we go to a store and just "buy" now. Why pay full price??

5. Water usage. Now, Colorado has this ridiculous law that they don't want you to save rainwater or the water going down the drain because it's supposed to go downstream as part of an asinine water rights thing they signed way back when. Well guess what, you charge me for what comes out of my tap. I pay, it's mine. And rain is not your right to govern. So there. Anyway, we all know the "water your flowers and plants with collected water". But you can also use it to help fill your washer when you wash your clothes. Soap it up and wash the car. Fill the kiddie pool. Give the dog/cat water. Fish would much prefer rain water to chlorinated city water. Rinse your hair with rain water if you want cleaner hair. Fill your sink and wash your dishes. Boil pasta in collected water (use a clean pot). Water the dead/dry spots on your lawn. There's a lot you can do with it. Be creative, you paid for it if it came from your tap and if it came from the sky? I seriously don't think imminent domain applies...

6. Thrift Stores. Now, I'm hesitant to put this one down. Lately the stores around here have been trying to charge $8 for a pair of used jeans. I DON'T THINK SO!! But if you can hit them when certain tags are half off or search for the better deals on the rack, there's still plenty to be found. That's where I'll fill a large part of my $100 household budget.

7. Free Days. You have to have a bit of patience for these because lots of people like the word free. It will not be you and one other person at these free events, be ready for crowds. This summer you can get free movies on weekdays or free bowling in your area (links to come I hope). The Zoo, the Natural History Museum, even sporting teams put out coupons (we have one for the Rockies this summer) for free admission days. Look on the websites and see what they say. As long as you aren't people claustrophobic like I am, then it's a good way to get free entertainment.

8. Cut dryer sheets in half. Really, a little goes a long way. Half a sheet will reduce your static level the same and you'll still get the same fresh smell.

9. Check your Grocery Receipt. Guess what, it's a computer, it screws up. A lot. Several stores have a policy that if it doesn't ring up right then it's free. Or at least they'll refund you the difference. Unfortunately, nearly 80% of my receipts have this affliction. It saves me a lot by month's end just to be vigilent about it.

I think that gets me caught up to now!! I'll have the first installment of the All You challenge very soon. I've already screwed up and worn the wrong shoes to work tonight and didn't put an extra set of workout clothes in the car. But, I guess it's all part of the challenge :) I have pictures of the stockpile I'll be leaving behind and I'll post them tomorrow. Hopefully I can figure out how to post an excel spreadsheet too so people can follow our totals. Tomorrow's a busy day too so we might end up eating 0.69 Hot/Lean pockets for dinner. But maybe not because I'm pretty sure we'll be eating them for lunch at least!! The health aspect won't kick in until I can get to the grocery store in earnest. There will be a few "theoretical" buys for tomorrow and maybe on real trip. We'll see what I can accomplish on no sleep and a 1.5 hour window to do it all in!

Money Saving Tips of the Day Tuesday 7/7

2009-07-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

I rarely make it on the computer on Mondays! So here's two tips, thought I'd get in the swing a little early for the challenge :)

1. You'll notice my first new addition to the blog... SWAGBUCKS! I've been using this search engine for a few months now. They reward you with "Swagbucks" for searching the internet like you normally do. You can redeem these for prizes and best of all it's FREE. I have been accumulating Amazon gift certificates because they seemed like the best value but they have all sorts of prizes. They even added a PAYPAL prize, $5 deposited right into your paypal account!! I got some workout DVD's for free with my Amazon gift certificates and my next purchase will be a Steam Mop for our house. Click on the banner to the left and join in. It doesn't cost you a thing and it can help you save up for some things you want that aren't necessarily "in your budget". Happy Swagging :)

2. I'm pretty bad about this one but it really is a time/money saver.... PREPLAN YOUR WEEKLY MENUS. Hopefully this challenge will get me back on track with this one. One night a week (whatever is good for you, I usually do Tue/Wed because that's when the new grocery circulars come out and I can plan to incorporate sales), take inventory of your shelves, fridge and freezer. See what you need to use up and incorporate those items into your menu for the week. Next, write down what you don't have but that you need for those dishes and that's your shopping list!

You won't be as stressed coming home, not knowing what's for dinner
You won't let as many boxed items, produce items or leftovers go bad because you're taking constant inventory
You won't overbuy at the store because you'll know what you do and don't need
You can plan to incorporate sale items into that week's menu!

Really, this is a super saver on so many levels!

POST #3: Things I've thought about...

2009-07-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

First, who the heck are we??? I'm Kristi and my Husband is Scott. We live in Colorado. It's a nice place, but not the cheapest on earth! We have a 3.5 year old daughter, Ryanne, and a 2 year old son, Hunter, who has Cerebral Palsy. We also have a little Miniature Pinscher dog named Molly (so if you're looking for one, come take ours!!! LOL). We have been spend-thrift for nearly 2 years now and it's a way of life. I hope this challenge will break our conceptions of need vs. desire even more and we can shift the way we think by participating.

So, on to the meat of the post... things that we will "have" in our scenario.

1. Luckily, I pre-pack the diaper bag and keep it in the car Sunday nights in preparation for Monday therapy appointments. Included are:

6 diapers for Hunter
2 pull ups for Ryanne (she needs them at night and is often asked to spend the night with relatives on short notice, so we stock them)
toothbrushes and toothpaste for both, see reason above
A comb and a brush and hair ties for Ryanne
packets of thickener for Hunter
Some snacks, usually 2-3 granola bars, a few mini boxes of raisins and some Boost or Ensure or Pediasure drinks for Hunter.
An extra pair of socks for each child.
An extra change of clothes for each child and usually 2-3 pair of underwear for Ryanne.
Some cups, straws and a pacifier for Hunter. We need the binky for meltdowns (although I'm hoping to break him of the dang things during this challenge) and the cups/straws are so we can give him his thickened liquids when we're out and about.
Tylenol chewables and Advil liquid (you never know when you'll need it!!)
Crayons and other fun stuffs to occupy when we're out.
Diaper cream
A small bottle of J&J Baby wash... again, you never know LOL
A few travel lotions
Sunscreen
Wipes
A Barney video. Yes, Hunter is bloody ADDICTED to the big purple oaf. He watches the video in his 10:30 therapy session, it keeps him calm.

2. There are a few things I am able to stock at work. I have my own office and a locker room downstairs. All these things will still be available to us for use in the challenge.

About 2 sets of workout clothes and two pairs of tennis shoes
I keep a hair pick, brush, full sized shampoo, conditioner, lotion and deoderant for after workouts. I also bring a change of clothes and my makeup on Sunday nights. I work Sunday nights and I like to shower before coming home for "therapy day Monday". So woo hoo, I won't have to restock my makeup and I'll have 2 changes of clothes!
I have been bringing a yogurt for breakfast but I keep 1-2 boxes of cereal in my desk so I don't have to lug them back and forth.
I keep a box of kiddie granola bars for snacking
I keep copious amounts of gum at work because I chew it like it's going out of style
I keep Joint Juice and Vitamin Water 10's in my desk from the recent Safeway sales. I prefer them to the other beverage options during the day.

3. We keep a change of clothes for everyone in each car. Not the most stylish fare, but you'd be surprised how often we tap into them. There are also wipes in each car and 2 emergency diapers stocked. Hunter's walker is also in the car on Sunday nights. Can't live without that!! And we'll assume we save his shoes and AFO braces ;-)

4. I keep my coupon stock in the car. It's in a banker's box and I also tote my clipped coupons back and forth to work because I get the chance on my break sometimes to hit the stores that are closer to my work. Just another time saver ;-)

5. Since we DO have such a significant stockpile, I will "theoretically" buy some things. I will price them out, (less coupons of course), and they will "count against" our $400 total, regardless of actually purchased or not. If it needs to be "bought", it will be tallied as "spent", regardless if actually purchased or not. This way, we actually hold ourselves to the rules of the contest without expending 400 unnecessary dollars. I will keep detailed record of this in a way that will hopefully make sense to a viewer.

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of for now. I will hopefully post the expected menu for week 1 soon. It's been a busy couple of weeks and I haven't really got to prepare for this much, but I guess that fits better into the challenge now doesn't it??? I won't even know what's on sale for next week until Wednesday, hope it's a great 1st week!!!

The next day POST #2

2009-07-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

June 23, 2009 (Tuesday)

It’s now Tuesday. I slept my typical 5 hours on it, got up and worked out and I’m still really excited to do this. Our grocery budget (including Health & Beauty) for our family of 4 is currently only $350-$400 a month and we do fine. And I have a massive stockpile built up in the basement and in the stockpile cabinets in the kitchen. So we could go a whole month and not buy a single thing. However, my creative self has come up with a way to challenge ourselves.

Our modified challenge will be a role play. The scenario is that our house burns down on the night of July 12 (sad and morbid thought, I know, but stay with me). It is good fortune that I work Sunday nights so I will have all I have in my car usually (diaper bag, coupons, etc. I will take a picture soon to show you my typical trunk contents on a Sunday night). We will assume saving the second car as well. But the stockpile is gone. All our household items are gone. We are starting from scratch! Rules for my game, so as still to maintain the basic rules of the All You contest:

(1) We will assume we will have a place to stay at a friend’s rental apartment or some such for 1 month. Has water, electricity, sewer, trash, furniture and appliances, but nothing else like dishes, utensils, detergents, etc.
(2) $400 grocery budget. Will also include health and beauty items in our scenario. Here’s where tips and tricks I’ve learned should really benefit us. From making homemade laundry soap to getting items for free on sales with coupons.
(3) $100 household item budget. Plates, cups, silverware, clothing. We don’t have to “buy” all this. I will price out thrift store clothing, yard sale, etc. to “buy”. I will be honest and log everything, but we have plenty, I don’t want to buy $100 worth of stuff just for sake of contest. But we will only use what we’ve “bought”, this will mean more washing and more re-using, something we should get used to anyway.
(4) We will entertain friends at least once. It’s something we have always done and I don’t want to stop that just for the sake of bargaining.
(5) We will maintain our low-fat, high-flavor diet for myself, my husband and my 3.5 year old daughter. But my 2 year old son with Cerebral Palsy has weight maintenance issues and aspiration issues. We have to specially thicken his liquids and he has to eat a higher fat diet. We will accomplish both these objectives within the $400 budget.
(6) We have some herbs and tomatoes in pots near the house. I will assume they made it so we can still use whatever matures during that month.
(7) Our children are in daycare at least 4 days a week and they receive breakfast, lunch and snacks there. This will not change so I won’t be including their food there in the totals of the budgeting. I have to provide extra fat snacks, juice and milk for the 2 year old given his dietary needs but that and all other food purchased for consumption will count in the totals, whether actually consumed in this month or not.
(8) If I buy coupons for use, that will be included in the budget totals.
(9) I will attempt to “begin” rebuilding our stockpile. I will find the best deals and use at least some money toward rebuilding the stockpile. Still, it counts in the $400 budget.
(10) We have a wedding that month but all our clothes for that occasion are stored at my in-laws, so no replacement of those will be necessary.
(11) I will post 7 money saving activities for the week. I don’t always get to an activity per day but I’ll make it up with 2 activities on the weekend if necessary.

Those are all the rules I have for us right now. I think it will be a challenge to curtail eating out, even though we only do it 1-2 times a month and we usually use http://www.restaurant.com/ gift certificates purchased at 70-80% off when we do. Still, I want to prove to ourselves, if no one else, that minimalism can be achieved and the results can be just as satisfying and rewarding.

So, after sleeping on it, coming up with a plan and rules, I am excited to throw my hat in the All You Grocery Challenge ring, neener neener Hubby!! Stay tuned for menu plans and detailed purchase lists :)

All You Grocery Challenge! POST #1

2009-07-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting this blog as a place to log my actions for the All You Grocery Challenge July 13-August 10, 2009. I hope to keep it up as a place to post savings and coupon matches when I'm done but until August 10, I assume it will be devoted to the challenge. I'm new to blogging so forgive my very gradually-inclined learning curve!

Here's how it all began... June 22, 2009 (Monday)

Check it out here and join in!! It's good for everyone to be challenged!!

I just learned of this contest (on 6/22/09). I got quite excited of course. Here was a contest to do what we already strive to do, plus challenge ourselves a little bit. I ran in to tell my husband I had a way to maintain our low budget, give ourselves a little challenge, and possibly earn a little reward. And that maybe, by doing this, we could earn a little towards a family vacation that we keep putting off for lack of money. Here’s how that interaction went with my analytical, pessimistic, financially minded hubby:

Me: “Honey, there’s a contest that we can win $1000 for groceries! We should enter and count any winning toward a vacation!”

Him: “What do I have to do?” (insert snarky pessimism here)

Me: “I will set aside some shelves and you have to eat/live/etc. off of them for one month”

Him: “Sounds hard. How many winners are there?”

Me: “Well we could use the stockpile but I think we should try to do this from scratch, just to prove we can. There’s one winner but I think it would be a good challenge anyway.”

Him: “One $1,000 winner? What are the odds you win? What’s the expected value?”

Me: “I didn’t see runner up prizes, but I think we can do this. The expected value (E(V)) is just an added challenge.”

Him: (pulling out calculator), “So even with 2000 entrants, that’s an E(V) of 50 cents. Hardly seems worth it.”

Me: “Yes, but it’s the challenge and a growing opportunity, we already basically do $400 a month grocery living anyway.”

Him: “You’re nuts, let’s make a list.” (So appropriately he began writing it on the Wall Street Journal)

(1) Cost Benefit analysis: $1000 for all those extra hours of work. You already spend so much time on your coupons (~ 1 hour per day).
(2) Odds that you win- - Expected Value (again, snarky smirking).
(3) Take $5 and buy a lotto ticket for super low $20million jackpot, E(V)= $0.51.
(4) You work 40-50 hours a week.
(5) You have to drive at least 6 hours a week just to work and therapies
(6) You’re a parent to two toddlers (3.5 and 2 years old).
(7) The 2 year old has 5-6 hours of therapy a week for his Cerebral Palsy, which you take care
of.
Math: 168 hours a week – 45 work – 6 therapy – 6 driving – 7 coupons – how much for shopping? 4? – Housework (1/day=7) – Kids (2/ week day=10) – Kids (12/ week end=24) the additional hour per day you’re likely to spend on this (7) = 50 hours left/7 = 7 hours per day left. For hopefully spending more time with the kids during the day, or all the other things you’re involved in or ME or HEAVEN forbid SLEEPING!

Me: “Anything else Danny Downer?”

Him: “You’re not seriously considering this are you?”

Me: “Yes. And I’ll put it in your math terms. I only sleep 4-5 hours a night anyway. We’ll drink less often and go out less often=money savers anyway and good for us. I’ll coupon and shop WITH the kids, you know they love the store and practicing their cutting. It would be great Occupational Therapy for Hunter to cut more paper or practice pushing the cart at the store. I might ask you to do a little more housework, is that an issue? And who needs TV, we were going to cancel it anyway. We have Barney on tape.” Math: 168 hours/week
– 6 therapy – 6 driving – 10 coupons/planning/journaling (I type fast) – 45 working –
Kids (2.5/week day=12.5) – Kids (12/week end= 24)- housework (1/day=7) – 4 shopping
= 94.5 hours left/7 = 13.5 hours left in a day. See, piece of cake.”

Him: “Sleep on it, you won’t be so gung ho in the morning.”

Me: “Hmph.”