I have a hugely thick binder full of every insert that is still active, as I semi-explained in the last couponing post. I'm going to go in to the "Why?" in more detail in this one.
The "why" is actually really simple- because you never know when a deal is going to drop out of the sky.
For instance, I was skipping along happily this past April, browsing some of my favorite coupon sites, when I saw a listing for a pet treat coupon and deal. I grabbed my binder, flipped to my 2/27 inserts and took out the Redplum insert. There it was- $2.50 off any Purina Pro Plan Roasted Slices dog treats.
These treats run around $4-$5 normally, which is more than I will spend on dog treats. However, they were on sale at PetSmart for.. dun dun dun... $2.50.
Yep, I walked in, picked up a package and walked out with them for $0.19- the cost of tax. It's a way my newspaper keeps paying for itself beyond the initial coupon clipping!
Hold on to your inserts until every coupon is expired. I may recycle inserts if there are only a few coupons still active in there, but I keep these pages and they go in the front pockets of my binder, or the individual coupons go in to my "Maybe" small folder. You never know what deals are going to pop up later and you sure don't want to know you had that coupon and tossed it away- especially if it means free $5.00 dog treats!
It doesn't take much time or effort to keep the inserts. You can even just paper clip them and toss them in a box if you want to, though this is less tidy and makes it harder to dig through them quickly. My binder stays on one of the bookshelves in the living room. I date the insert with a sharpie marker and put it/them in a protective sleeve in order by date. Voila! It takes perhaps 2 extra minutes of my life each Sunday and I can't tell you how many great deals I've been able to take advantage of because I keep them.
-Kristen
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Marinades
We often will soak chicken breasts in Kraft Zesty Italian (or any Italian) dressing overnight (in the fridge) and grill it the next day. It usually gives the meat a slight flavor, which is nice.
However, I recently made the decision to start freezing the chicken in the marinade. That way I could grab a bag of frozen chicken and by the time it thawed, it was already marinated and ready to go. It started out mostly as a time saver, since the chicken freezes to the freezer bag, which meant I had to wait until the chicken thawed to pour in the dressing.
However, from the very first time we used one of the "flavored" bags of chicken, I discovered that this REALLY lets the meat soak up the flavor of the marinade.
So, if you know that you like it a certain way, just go on and mix your marinade and freeze your meat in it. It saves time and effort later on and will REALLY have a delicious flavor. I use this for both chicken and steak and it is such a flavor burst- yum yum!
-Kristen
However, I recently made the decision to start freezing the chicken in the marinade. That way I could grab a bag of frozen chicken and by the time it thawed, it was already marinated and ready to go. It started out mostly as a time saver, since the chicken freezes to the freezer bag, which meant I had to wait until the chicken thawed to pour in the dressing.
However, from the very first time we used one of the "flavored" bags of chicken, I discovered that this REALLY lets the meat soak up the flavor of the marinade.
So, if you know that you like it a certain way, just go on and mix your marinade and freeze your meat in it. It saves time and effort later on and will REALLY have a delicious flavor. I use this for both chicken and steak and it is such a flavor burst- yum yum!
-Kristen
Monday, September 5, 2011
Rain!
Hooray, it's raining! Not that it's going to do us a whole lot of good- the grass is dead, the garden is fried and we're barely getting any rain right now (which is actually a good thing, flooding is a possibility after the extremely dry summer we've had).
Our dogs are all prissy little things. Oh, it's raining? No thank you, we don't want to go outside to potty. Oh, it was raining at one time and now it's just a little wet? But our precious feet will get damp! They drive me crazy. They spend more time outside trying to find a dry place to hide until they are allowed to come back in than they would if they'd just go out and do their business. Trust me, I don't want a wet, muddy dog running around the house anymore than they want to be wet and muddy.
Oh right, I forget how miserable and neglected our chunky, spoiled rotten, indoor-98% of the time dogs are. Yes, so completely unloved.
Meh, their little attitudes aren't going to keep me from enjoying the rain, even though I know I'll be ready for sunshine after this rainy week.
-Kristen
Our dogs are all prissy little things. Oh, it's raining? No thank you, we don't want to go outside to potty. Oh, it was raining at one time and now it's just a little wet? But our precious feet will get damp! They drive me crazy. They spend more time outside trying to find a dry place to hide until they are allowed to come back in than they would if they'd just go out and do their business. Trust me, I don't want a wet, muddy dog running around the house anymore than they want to be wet and muddy.
Oh right, I forget how miserable and neglected our chunky, spoiled rotten, indoor-98% of the time dogs are. Yes, so completely unloved.
Meh, their little attitudes aren't going to keep me from enjoying the rain, even though I know I'll be ready for sunshine after this rainy week.
-Kristen
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The Art of Couponing
I'm going to be doing some "How I coupon" posts over the next few weeks. They will all be tagged under the listing "couponing" so they are easy to find in the future. Hopefully you'll find it interesting or pick up some tips and tricks.
With couponing, there are four main sources.
1.) Newspaper. I get it only on Sunday to get the coupons I want.
2.) Online: There are a lot of printable coupons out there, like coupons.com and smartsource.com. Not to mention Target has store coupons on their website that you can often stack with manufacturer's coupons to get the items free or way cheaper.
3.) In freebies. A lot of time the freebie doesn't matter as much as the $1.00 coupon you might get! :D
4.) Online Coupon Clippers. This one actually might really benefit larger families. I know several folks that have large families and buy multiple papers. That works out great when there are a lot of coupons they need, but when it's a lean week, that's a lot of wasted money, in my opinion.
So first, call your newspaper up and see if there is any kind of intro price or offer. I'm getting 4 sunday papers free because it's an introductory offer! I'd buy them anyway, but this way I get $6.00 value for free. Hehehe.
I am super-uber organized with my coupons. It's seriously the ONLY time I'm this organized. I have two small folders and a binder that keeps them all in order.
#1 is the small accordion folder I have with me all the time. It contains the coupons I know, without a doubt, I will use. I have it organized categories- "Pets" "Food" "Health/Beauty" "Household". I leave two empty folders at the front of the folder. The very first one is for me to put the coupons in as I put the item in the cart, so they are all ready at the check out. The one right behind that is so I can put all the coupons I know I'll use in that shopping trip.That way, everything is organized and I don't have to hunt my coupons in line or while I'm trying to shop crowded aisles.
#2 is the small accordion folder for coupons I might use. I have them organized alphabetically and they are ones that I might use if the price is right, or ones for items that I'm unsure of the price. I grab it for shopping trips, along with #1.
#3, the big binder, contains all the other coupons. I keep them in each insert they come in (Redplum, P&G and Smart Source). This one stays at home. I use it to price compare on blogs and in the newspaper. If I can get something free that I wouldn't normally consider getting, I will use the coupons, but that's about it. This is the one that takes up more time than the others, but it so worth it! So these I keep "just in case" a deal comes up that makes an item I don't normally want or won't use free. Then you can either give it a try, donate it, or use it to get overage and get money off on your bill! Sometimes the items make good Christmas Gifts or would work to put together a gift basket. Sometimes it's just really expensive brands, so when the stars align you can treat yourself to a fancy lotion or chocolate for very cheap!
Keeping them organized takes a bit of time, but I love it. I probably spend a half hour on Sundays clipping coupons, organizing them and comparing sales papers. It's time I'd otherwise be online, so I'm not losing much.
-Kristen
With couponing, there are four main sources.
1.) Newspaper. I get it only on Sunday to get the coupons I want.
2.) Online: There are a lot of printable coupons out there, like coupons.com and smartsource.com. Not to mention Target has store coupons on their website that you can often stack with manufacturer's coupons to get the items free or way cheaper.
3.) In freebies. A lot of time the freebie doesn't matter as much as the $1.00 coupon you might get! :D
4.) Online Coupon Clippers. This one actually might really benefit larger families. I know several folks that have large families and buy multiple papers. That works out great when there are a lot of coupons they need, but when it's a lean week, that's a lot of wasted money, in my opinion.
So first, call your newspaper up and see if there is any kind of intro price or offer. I'm getting 4 sunday papers free because it's an introductory offer! I'd buy them anyway, but this way I get $6.00 value for free. Hehehe.
I am super-uber organized with my coupons. It's seriously the ONLY time I'm this organized. I have two small folders and a binder that keeps them all in order.
#1 is the small accordion folder I have with me all the time. It contains the coupons I know, without a doubt, I will use. I have it organized categories- "Pets" "Food" "Health/Beauty" "Household". I leave two empty folders at the front of the folder. The very first one is for me to put the coupons in as I put the item in the cart, so they are all ready at the check out. The one right behind that is so I can put all the coupons I know I'll use in that shopping trip.That way, everything is organized and I don't have to hunt my coupons in line or while I'm trying to shop crowded aisles.
#2 is the small accordion folder for coupons I might use. I have them organized alphabetically and they are ones that I might use if the price is right, or ones for items that I'm unsure of the price. I grab it for shopping trips, along with #1.
#3, the big binder, contains all the other coupons. I keep them in each insert they come in (Redplum, P&G and Smart Source). This one stays at home. I use it to price compare on blogs and in the newspaper. If I can get something free that I wouldn't normally consider getting, I will use the coupons, but that's about it. This is the one that takes up more time than the others, but it so worth it! So these I keep "just in case" a deal comes up that makes an item I don't normally want or won't use free. Then you can either give it a try, donate it, or use it to get overage and get money off on your bill! Sometimes the items make good Christmas Gifts or would work to put together a gift basket. Sometimes it's just really expensive brands, so when the stars align you can treat yourself to a fancy lotion or chocolate for very cheap!
Keeping them organized takes a bit of time, but I love it. I probably spend a half hour on Sundays clipping coupons, organizing them and comparing sales papers. It's time I'd otherwise be online, so I'm not losing much.
-Kristen
Saturday, September 3, 2011
What a day!
What a fun, low stress day yesterday!
River officially turned 8 weeks old, so we treated her with Frontline. It makes me unreasonably happy to see those awful little fleas shrivel up and die. We treated the cats and the other two dogs too.
Tim and I headed out to the Farmer's Market. I love it so, so much. It's so much fun to wander the aisles and see the wide variety of different produce. One place had 8 different kinds of eggplant! I don't eat eggplant, but some if it was so pretty I really wanted to buy one just to look at it.
The scent of scuppernongs and muscadines was heavenly. If I ever get a house of my own, I'm planting muscadine vines all over the place. I can't smell them without remembering the home I grew up in and the summers where I played outside almost exclusively. If I wasn't playing outside, I was reading outside. Ahhh.
We ended up buying 10 pounds of tomatoes (only $0.69 a pound) and a few green peppers. Tim also found a bag of raw peanuts, which made his life complete. I regretfully passed by the muscadine cider. I'll definitely be heading back later to grab a jug!
We ran a few other errands and stopped by Chick-fil-a for a small ice cream. Yum yum, I could eat it every single day. I'd be as fat as a pig, but it would be worth it!
We came home and made another batch of salsa. I let Tim add in some habaneros (the last in our garden). Unfortunately, I ran out of canning jars. I guess I'm going to have to buy another dozen or two of the small 8 oz. jars. Once Fall officially hits, I'll need them for apple and pumpkin butter anyway.
It was a day where not a whole lot of exciting events happened- it's not like I came on here to say We went to Disney World! Over all though, it was a fantastic day!
-Kristen
River officially turned 8 weeks old, so we treated her with Frontline. It makes me unreasonably happy to see those awful little fleas shrivel up and die. We treated the cats and the other two dogs too.
Tim and I headed out to the Farmer's Market. I love it so, so much. It's so much fun to wander the aisles and see the wide variety of different produce. One place had 8 different kinds of eggplant! I don't eat eggplant, but some if it was so pretty I really wanted to buy one just to look at it.
The scent of scuppernongs and muscadines was heavenly. If I ever get a house of my own, I'm planting muscadine vines all over the place. I can't smell them without remembering the home I grew up in and the summers where I played outside almost exclusively. If I wasn't playing outside, I was reading outside. Ahhh.
We ended up buying 10 pounds of tomatoes (only $0.69 a pound) and a few green peppers. Tim also found a bag of raw peanuts, which made his life complete. I regretfully passed by the muscadine cider. I'll definitely be heading back later to grab a jug!
We ran a few other errands and stopped by Chick-fil-a for a small ice cream. Yum yum, I could eat it every single day. I'd be as fat as a pig, but it would be worth it!
We came home and made another batch of salsa. I let Tim add in some habaneros (the last in our garden). Unfortunately, I ran out of canning jars. I guess I'm going to have to buy another dozen or two of the small 8 oz. jars. Once Fall officially hits, I'll need them for apple and pumpkin butter anyway.
It was a day where not a whole lot of exciting events happened- it's not like I came on here to say We went to Disney World! Over all though, it was a fantastic day!
-Kristen
Friday, September 2, 2011
Live Flowers- a waste of resources.
This post originally appeared on my blog "Keep Saving".
Tim gets a little peeved at me every now and again, mostly because I don't allow him to buy me flowers.
"Awwww" you're saying, "Why not? He just wants to be sweet!" I appreciate that sentiment. However, I look at it in this (maybe somewhat cynical) way.
Money- Flowers cost money. Sometimes (for the cheapo bouquets) it's only $5. A "nicer" arrangement from Walmart is $10-$15. So let's say he gets a "nicer" Walmart arrangement 4 times a year- That's up to $60 with nothing to show for it and we're still on the very cheap end of the flower-giving spectrum.
Mess- We have cats. Cats eat anything and everything they can with the sole hope that it will make them puke their guts out on something that is meaningful to me, or on a hidden part of the carpet that I'll step on. If we imagine I can keep the flowers safe, they start to rot, droop and the petals fall within just a few days of getting them.
So- so far we've wasted money and created a mess to be cleaned up. YAY for flowers!
Live plants are a much better investment in my opinion- something that can be potted or planted outside. They last longer and the mess is less- plus it's outside, so who cares? Unfortunately for me, I'm an indifferent gardener. I have the ability, but get bored easily unless it's the veggie garden.
Silk flowers make a good alternative to folks who need the color of flowers inside the house- no mess, no maintenance and the higher quality flowers look extremely realistic!
My personal favorite are alternative flowers. I have a half dozen wooden roses in a vase on the trophy cabinet. I also have several strange blossoms- they are made of wire and what looks like pretty colored panty-hose type material. I can't forget my pair of pumpkin seed daisies! All my alternative flowers end up costing around $1 each and they'll last close enough to forever for me!
-Kristen
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Ugh, what a waste!
I despise, I mean despise, cleaning out the freezer or the fridge. Hate it. Hate, hate, hate, hate it.
I cleaned out our freezer tonight, which is really what got me feeling grumpy.
First of all, it's gross unearthing something Tim swore he was going to eat that is now green and hairy and not even close to it's original smell- yes, one or two things in our freezer were so old and freezer burnt they were now green. No, I didn't smell them, I can only imagine that horror.
I hate thinking about how much money we wasted. Chicken, beef tips, bananas (for the rabbits), yogurt (I'm a freak, I only eat it frozen), odds and ends of bacon and sausage- even a pair of steaks that were epically freezer burnt.
I found a container of brunswick stew from a church fundraiser (so double what it's worth and that's what we paid) that was so disgusting I threw the container out as well, rather than deal with it. That's a lot of money in the trash can outside right now.
Yes, I could have boiled the chicken and cooked up the hamburger and given it to the dogs in small pieces- but that means I have to remember to do that. Not only that, I have to take the time and effort to do it and really, I just wasn't feeling it. I also don't want to foster picky-eating tendencies in my animals.
What has really helped me cut down on how much waste we have in the fridge is actually to have less food in there. If I keep on top of tossing out that last quarter cup of milk, the 2 ounces of leftover orange juice, etc. I am better able to see what I have. I can also keep track of just how long that package of cheese has been in there.
I'm hoping I can do the same with the freezer. It's now very organized (though I'm expecting that to last only until Tim rummages around in there for the first time).
Hey though, at least we won't need to buy chicken or steak for a while!
-Kristen
I cleaned out our freezer tonight, which is really what got me feeling grumpy.
First of all, it's gross unearthing something Tim swore he was going to eat that is now green and hairy and not even close to it's original smell- yes, one or two things in our freezer were so old and freezer burnt they were now green. No, I didn't smell them, I can only imagine that horror.
I hate thinking about how much money we wasted. Chicken, beef tips, bananas (for the rabbits), yogurt (I'm a freak, I only eat it frozen), odds and ends of bacon and sausage- even a pair of steaks that were epically freezer burnt.
I found a container of brunswick stew from a church fundraiser (so double what it's worth and that's what we paid) that was so disgusting I threw the container out as well, rather than deal with it. That's a lot of money in the trash can outside right now.
Yes, I could have boiled the chicken and cooked up the hamburger and given it to the dogs in small pieces- but that means I have to remember to do that. Not only that, I have to take the time and effort to do it and really, I just wasn't feeling it. I also don't want to foster picky-eating tendencies in my animals.
What has really helped me cut down on how much waste we have in the fridge is actually to have less food in there. If I keep on top of tossing out that last quarter cup of milk, the 2 ounces of leftover orange juice, etc. I am better able to see what I have. I can also keep track of just how long that package of cheese has been in there.
I'm hoping I can do the same with the freezer. It's now very organized (though I'm expecting that to last only until Tim rummages around in there for the first time).
Hey though, at least we won't need to buy chicken or steak for a while!
-Kristen
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