Sensible savings- Key tips to survive

Made a shopping trip today as it seemed the baby wanted to "GO", as she exclaims. I knew I had to get mouth wash anyways and wanted to stock up on more Puffs tissues for allergy season which are on sale for .99 each and I have a coupon for .25 off 3. CVS had a special in their ad with a 20% off savings "pass" for any non-sale item which was perfect for the purchase of my Listerine, and I had a $1.00 off coupon to use!

 

 

As usual, I scanned my card at the savings center to see what coupons were now available and found I had earned my $5.00 beauty bucks reward! Right next to the savings center scanner was the end cap display of Folgers coffee which was on sale for $6.99. I had no intention of purchasing this as I believed that it was only good for the usual classic roast, and they never seem to carry the Special Roast my husband loves; but I was happy to be proven wrong as it was staring me in the face. I HAD TO pick up a  27.8 oz can, which I got for a whopping $1.99! My 1.5L Listerine was only $4.99 and I got each 100 CT Puffs for .91 each! Saving my family 64% off the regular retail price and stocking up on items we need.

 

 

 

Here are some vital tips to saving money and maintaining a stock pile with out breaking the bank.

• Know the deals by giving yourself time to recognize the best prices on items YOU NEED
• While it is good to keep a stock pile, don't buy because you can get a great deal at the expense of blowing your budget.
• Check out the generic items and lesser known name brands of the equivalent items your family likes. Many items at stores like Aldi's are as good of quality as the name brand items on competitor store shelves.
• Just because you see a "cheaper" item at discount stores, such as Aldi or even the big box stores such as Walmart does not mean you can't get a better price at other stores. The common misconception of these stores as being over-all cheaper than competitors is not always fact. Watch ads, check coupon policy's and offers!
• Set a monthly budget. Many stores will only have 1 great ad during a month so allow yourself to stock up when you can and make up for the over spending another week in the same month.
• Use spread sheets! This allows you to track your spending and keep up with your budget. **My finding is to track purchases for Grocery/foods, Beauty, Health (non-pharmacy) and tax- ables; but don't include sales tax on your totals, it will throw off your tracking.
• Don't worry about expiring coupons! It's not the end of the world... Worry about having what your family needs WITH OUT breaking the bank. You can always donate expired coupons to service men/women/families or start a coupon club to share or swap. 

Keep your goals in sight and don't allow yourself to get caught up in the adrenaline rush of saving!

Kudos to other sites and blogs

I have heard many other domains and blogger's complain about people stealing their pictures, recipes and more and calling them their own on their pages. While I totally understand their frustration because it takes so much time to make, write, post etc a blog; not to mention create and share recipes, I would also be frustrated. I personally think blogging is difficult enough as I rarely have time to focus on a page with my kids; I have a hard enough time writing out what I make for dinner. I learned cooking from my mother who was a professional chef and never measured and rarely wrote any recipe on paper. I also personally live my life as the hectic stay at home mom that I am and finagle meals with what ever is in my pantry. I do meal planning for each month which makes my life much more organized, thus helping my life be a little less chaotic.

 

 

 

So there are some sites I think deserve a look as I have found them very helpful in my life and many times I find great info. They're hard and diligent work does deserve attention!

 

http://couponinginbirdland.com/ Our local grocery store is a subject of discussion I have had before. Allie works very hard and searches many other blogs to give the most info to everyone and herself as she is a thrifty shopper such as myself.

 

 

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/ I have found great info on her blog to help with canning recipes and many others offer up their own recipes here as well.

 

http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/2012/08/chocolate-chunk-smores-brownies.html I like her baking, though it seems a bit on the professional side, you can easily decipher how to use every day baking with items with in your own pantry. Many many recipes and wonderful pictures that will make you drool!

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/ I absolutely love her page as it has Lots of info and recipes that she shares. Very close to myself in the love of home style cooking. I have found all kinds of information on her site from cooking to gardening to surviving on the homestead.

 

I am always looking out for information relevant to our homestead and life as I believe I will never stop learning what life has to dish out.

Was thinking how in 2006 I had my absolute worst day but my best night ever; it was that night by a little fate I met the most wonderful man. We instantly found there were so many similarities and coincidences that there just had to be a reason we both were there at that moment in time when neither of us had planned to be. That very day on March 24th, we became great friends and soon found ourselves faced with more. He accepted me with all my faults and frustrations which is a huge feat. He said he never planned to have children in his life, though he loved them so much and was so wonderful with them; then he found himself with a woman with 2 children. I told myself if I had ever divorced my then husband I would NEVER marry again, and I so meant it. Here we are, now with a little baby angel, Emily; two wonderful children, 3 dogs and a farm.

I truly believe that there are those persons in life who you are intended to be in their lives. Fate will have a funny way of putting you and your soul mate together as well, it's just up to you both to make that leap. I know it has been SO FAR from easy on everyone to get to be happy finally, and yes it does make it difficult; but I would change NOTHING! I love my wonderful family!!!!

Hosting A Yummy Easter

I have to say for me to pull off a near stress free holiday event at my home is a huge feat for me. Growing up as an "only child" in my parents home, we had not family relations anywhere near us. My parents never hosted ANYTHING at their home; unusual as it sounds I guess. Maybe it had to do with my mothers background of being a professional chef who would cook for a restaurant and cater; It possibly burned her out with the idea of having something in our home. That's not to say she never cooked for people as we celebrated our holidays with my parents best friends who lived across the street from us. My mom would also cook for the majority of the neighborhood kids as well because my home was the place to go.

 

I try to be a good hostess as I love to prepare great food and experiment on friends and family with new recipes and creations, yet I always seem to find it very stressful and can not figure out how people make this seem easy. This Easter was a bit different for us. We really thought with how our finances were, we would have to skip the holiday or at least postpone it; somehow my amazing husband managed to sell some fairly valuable items within his Ebay store and it allowed us to not only pay some looming huge and potentially devastating bills but afforded us to also host the holiday as well. I especially felt excited about this as I could repay the debt of my sister in law doing the same for Christmas, when we were in the hole (so to speak).

 



 

 My wonderful mother in law helped with making some food as well and I am so happy to say she left me the left overs (don't fall down... I know I hate leftovers, but these I LOVE). She made her famous potato salad (I will add the ONLY potato salad I will eat) and my love- deviled eggs! She also made some scalloped potatoes as well.
I not only made the ham because I really wanted all the left overs I could to freeze and use up, but I could cook off the bone for my husbands favorite split pea soup at a later date. I made homemade lemonade for everyone, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole and a couple deserts.... OK, when do I not go overboard?! Yes, I made several deserts! Made fudge brownies with cinnamon toast crunch frosting 

 I tried a cake recipe I found on Pintrest from justapinch.com called Easter Bundt cake. This recipe seemed to be missing something totally in the details on what it was that filled the center of this cake. I was not going to make this but realized I had mini-chocolate chips and Heath bits of Toffee in the cabinet and thought it sounded great!

 

At the last minute I decided to make something else with make something I would want to try (yea, I really don't eat chocolate- I'm a salty kinda gal), and I also found it on Pintrest thanks to flourmewithlove.com, called Stuffed Cinnamon rolls. I still have not tried them as I ate way way too much food yesterday, but I am looking forward to it tonight! Yum!

 

I am very happy to say all went off with out a hitch and everyone had a great time, including my 20 month old who went w/o a nap and was still my sweet angel. She loved finding Easter Eggs!