Shopping Break

Do you ever need a break? I've decided that I will take a few weeks off from coupon shopping - unless I see some great deal on yogurt! (We use a lot of that!)

That is one of the great things about "Stockpile Shopping" - you have a stockpile! So I plan to use it for the next few weeks and just make an occasional trip to Aldi's for the bare essentials. I LOVE October - is that weird? It's one of my favorite months, with the crisp morning air and warm afternoons, (I even like the rainy days) and I plan to enjoy it as much as possible.

You know, it's OK to give yourself a break! The deals will be there when you are refreshed and ready to cut the coupons and look at the sales papers. And if you miss a deal - well it's not the end of the shopping world!

So, I challenge you - if your pantry looks like mine - (nicely supplied), take the month off! Maybe, use the time to make some Christmas gifts and you'll be saving money both by not shopping and by making gifts that you might otherwise buy.

I plan to do a yard sale this Saturday. I've been wanting to do it all summer. This Saturday is to be 80 and sunny so this is it! Hopefully I'll make some money to use for Christmas gifts etc.

So, what would you do with the time off from shopping and with the extra money you could save if you took a week off - how about a month off? I figure I can cut my normally $50 food bill to around $10 - $15 for a few weeks by just getting the necessities. ( Milk, salad, veggies, chicken), and I will have enough extra time in the week for a trip to the zoo with the kiddies!

Becoming a Thrifty Shopper- Part 1.

This was originally posted on 5/5/08. I thought with all the talk about money in the news this would be a good time to revisit this series.

I am starting a series today on "Becoming a Thrifty Shopper". I plan to talk about the motivation behind this goal, how to start, couponing, Internet resources and some of my favorite stores.

Motivation - Getting in touch with my Frugal Side.

It seems to me like every time I turn on the news, the radio or read the paper, the main topic of conversation is this economy! Just the rising price of gas has forced us to cut spending in other areas of our budget. 4 or 5 years ago we were only spending about $40 every 2 weeks for gas for our 2 cars. We are now spending $100 every 2 weeks and we only keep it to $100 by careful planning and cutting our as many unnecessary trips as possible. (My husband drives around 30 -45 min. to work)

Currently our income is around 15k less than it was a year ago. (My husband's job in the mortgage banking industry was a casualty of the housing slump.) I know I'm not alone in this situation. There were 900 other co-workers that lost their jobs, along with my husband, when HSBC shut down their mortgage operation last year in Carmel, IN. But thankfully, our situation was different than many of them because after we got married, my husband and I set as a goal, to live as debt free as possible. And because of that, he was able to take a position earning much less, with an excellent company, in a field he is much more interested in - 401K investments.

I have to admit, during the housing boom, when mortgages were selling well, and our income was increasing, I wasn't as in-touch with my frugal side. But the economics of this time have given me a great incentive to save all I can. Really, I've always been a good shopper. I do like to get the most for my money and I LOVE to get a good deal! My family actually jokes that I can smell a sale a mile away (and I sometimes wonder if they take me shopping for my company or for my sale sniffing nose!)

Seriously, however, I personally have several motivations for being a "Thrifty Shopper". And if you want to successfully join the ranks of the coupon cutting, super saver moms, it would be good to think about why you're going to spend some of your precious time engaged in this endeavor. You need a motivation a goal or maybe several, to encourage you that your effort and desire to cut your family's spending is worthwhile. Because it really is!

I will pick up next time with some of my motivations for frugality and a bit about how being frugal has helped us accomplish some of our financial goals. What are your motivations? Why do you feel the need to cut this are of spending. Feel free to comment below.

Free Museum Day - Saturday, 9-27-08

Here is a great FREE activity for this weekend!

Smithsonian Magazine is advertising a "Free Museum Day". It is THIS SATURDAY - September 27, 2008! That's not much time to plan - but it's worth checking out!

"Enjoy free general admission for you and a guest to hundreds of museums and cultural venues nationwide."

You can print a pass here that will get you and a guest into one of hundreds of museums participating in this program.

To see if there is a participating museum near you go here to check out the map.

We participated in this 2 years ago and had a great time going to Conner Prairie a local living history museum that we could not normally afford to visit. This museum would normally cost us $29.00 for the day.

Yummy Breakfast on the Cheap!

So here is my Very Yummy breakfast I made with my almost free stuff!

The Eggos are from Meijer - on sale + coupon for less than .75 a box.

The Yoplus yogurt has had tons of coupons and printables out there - I can usually get it for around $1.00 a 4-pack. Here is a coupon link.

The peaches were given to me by a church family that has peach trees!

And on top is a sprinkling of Honey Bunches of O's "Just Bunches" - that is the best yogurt topping! Walmart sells it for $2.50 and there were $1.00 off coupons out recently. I don't usually pay $1.50 a box for cereal - but I love it and can make a box stretch by just sprinkling a little on my yogurt!

Samantha has a post and giveaway here asking what do you do with all your extras! We've used up the Kool-aid. I bought lemon-aid flavored and took it on vacation with my husband's family!

Where Have We Been? - Fun Day!

To those of you who come to The Savings Swap on a regular basis, you have noticed I have been very negligent at my blogging lately!

So what have I been up to? Well, as you can see here I went bowling! Okay, that was just one afternoon! But, I have had my parents in visiting from out of town for 10 days.

Last week we expanded our "Fun Day" and included Grandpa and Grandma. Little Z earned enough passes from the summer reading program to take us all Mini-golfing and bowling! We had a great day and even rode the go-carts and played some arcade games.

It was really special because Little Z decided that is how he wanted to spend his library points and earned them for this special day. I think it meant a lot to Grandpa and Grandma. Thankfully we had a wonderful day and beautiful weather!

We ended the week with a trip to the State Fair! What a great evening! Here are pictures from this year and last year. I always take Little Z's picture at the corn field to see how he has grown in a year!

2007

2008

My blogging will be spotty for another week or two because I will be on vacation and don't know if I will have any Internet access! I hope to be back soon!

More Sunday Paper Coupons!

WAIT - don't throw out your Sunday papers yet. In this week's USA Weekend insert there were some really good coupons. 2 of my 4 papers had $11.00 in coupons, including $1.00 off Listerine and J &J Baby - which are an ECB deal at CVS this week. I plan to go and get 5 Listerine.

Here is my deal:

Buy 5 Listerine @ $4.00 ea (= $20.00)

Use $3/15 (My store should still accept this although expired)

Use 2 -$1.00 off coupons

Use 2 -$.50 off coupons

Total = $20.00

Coupons- 6.00

----------------

Pay 14.00 in ECBs

Receive back 10.00 ECBs

Final Cost 4.00 or .80 cents a bottle!

That is a great price! My husband is a dedicated mouthwash user!

So if you are like me and just take out the coupons and sale flyers - go check your papers for the insert and see if you scored some coupons! There were several $3.00 off coupons also!

Here's what I got:

$3.00 off John Frieda

$3.00 off Prilosec

$1.00 off Curel

$1.00 off Carefree

$1.00 Stayfree

$1.00 off J&J Baby

$1.00 off Listerine

I Love Chick-fil-a

Anyone that knows me already is quite aware of this fact! I love LOVE - Chick-fil-a! We have been there twice this month. Once for the "Dress like a Cow" free chicken day and again the other day for Kid's night and it was also Customer Appreciation Week.


Here are a few fun pictures from our Chick-fil-a trips!


Now - to make it even more tempting to stop for some chicken, our local Chick-fil-a has started a free sandwich program. Bring in a gas receipt for over $35.00 and get a free sandwich. That is a great deal for us because we can just get a kids meal along with that and we're good to go!























The first photo is from "Cow Appreciation Day" and the second photo is from "Customer Appreciation Week".

What's For Dinner Wednesday? Baked Fish.

Here is a super easy and good way to use that Tilapia Fish from Meijer! The croutons are so much better than bread crumbs - you'll never use them again!

Easy Breaded Fish

3/4 cup crushed croutons ( I put them through the food processor for a few seconds)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1 egg
1 Tbs water
1 Tbs lemon juice (I've left this out when I don't have any and it's been fine)
1 lb fresh or frozen fish fillets - thawed, (pat dry with a paper towel.)

Preheat oven 350 degrees
Cover cookie sheet with foil - that non-stick foil works great. A stoneware sheet is fine too but might take a bit longer to cook.

In shallow dish, combine croutons, cheese and parsley flakes, blend well.

In another shallow dish combine egg, water and lemon juice, blend well.

Cut fish into 3 inch pieces ( I usually cut the fillets in half ) Try to make fish similar in size so they bake evenly.

Dip fish in egg mixture; coat with crouton mixture. Tuck thin ends of fish under to form pieces of uniform thickness.

Place on baking sheet. Bake in 350 over for 15 - 20 minutes, or until fish flakes easily and is not slimy looking. (Time varies due to fish size and thickness so I check by cutting one of the fillets open with a fork, when it looks done.)

Note: I just crush a whole bag of croutons in my food processor at a time and store what I don't use in a sealed container. It makes it easier and less work to make the fish the next time!

Let me know if you try this and how it comes out for you!

Meijer Fish Deal - last day!

Our sales change on Thursday, so today is the last day to pick up the Tilapia fish deal at Meijer. It is really a great deal. You buy 2 and get 2 free - also add 4 $2.00 off coupons from the Meijer Meal Box for a grand total of $4.00 for 4- 1 lb bags of individually frozen fish fillets. We love Tilapia it is a great fish to bake.

If your ads change on Sunday the deal might be past for you so check the Meijer website to make sure before you go.

I plan to go back today and get 4 more bags of fish. If you don't know what to do with the fish read my next post which will give you a great recipe for baking them. Even my fussy 5 year old loves them this way!

NOTE: To print the Meijer coupons go to the Meijer Mealbox and click on "Specials" you can the click on "Coupons".

ALSO: I have found out how to key in my own coupons using the Self check-out at Meijer. This is good because the coupons I print from the Mealbox never seem to scan! Push the button on the screen that says "Key in Item" and then just key in the bar code off the coupon - leaving off the last number - presto! I was able to use 4 coupons on the 4 bags I bought yesterday with no problem!

Monday Morning Messies

Here it is again another Monday morning! It seems like we always deal with the "Monday Morning Messies".
After the weekend it is time for a quick clean-up of the house. I like to clean up the Kitchen, make beds, straighten the rooms etc. before I do anything else.
















I really have a hard time thinking when there's too much mess in my house - it's like noise to me. I think that I must have ADDD (Attention Deficit Disorganization Disorder)















But, rather than just jump into the work this morning, I decided to take a few minutes to cut a few flowers from my garden to put on my kitchen window to enjoy while I clean up my kitchen!















Here are a few photo's of my flowers and my garden which is now blooming nicely!