April 2011
Vegetarian Taco Salad & A Lemon Mojito {Recipe}
I don’t know about you, but all these pre-Cinco de Mayo grocery sales have definitely gotten me in the mood for Mexican food. Our little garden is growing like crazy. We now need to pick lettuce almost every single day. The natural solution? Vegetarian Taco salad of course! (At least for Husband and I. The girls aren’t really into salads yet so they got nachos.) It was super easy, fast, & delicious. Pretty much a perfect meal! Our Ingredients: Step 1: Brown the “meat.” (Like always, I used vegetarian protein crumbles but ground beef or turkey would work just as well.) Add taco seasoning & water according to package directions. ... read more
thursday shopping 4-28-11 (& weekly shopping linky)
It was another fabulous day at Publix so I decided to make another little video. Here is what I got: At Publix I spent $0.17 for $126.77 worth of groceries, a savings of 99.99% With one $5 off coupon left to scan, my total was only $3.79, which meant that it wouldn’t work. I quickly added a travel pack of Wet Ones to put me over the top. It was the first time I’ve ever had to add more in order to spend less. Grocery Breakdown: (1) $5 off $30 purchase (Winn Dixie Weekly Sales Flyer) 2 Marie’s Dressing, 11.5oz, BOGO @ – $3.29 (2) $1/1 Marie’s Product printable Final ... read more
30 Fabulous Gifts for Mom Under $30
You may recall that last month I totally blew it and forgot my mom’s birthday. Oops. She has long since forgiven me, but I still feel terrible. Luckily Mother’s Day is coming so I now have a chance to make it up for her. I’ve been doing a little online “window” shopping, and I have found so many great gift ideas that I just had to share them. (Husband, if you’re reading, hint hint.) And because this is Living Well Spending Less, you can bet that everything on this list is a great deal! Because the only thing better than finding the perfect gift is the perfect gift at a ... read more
Party DiY: How to Make a Paper Party Hat
I think I might be addicted to scrapbook paper. I’ve never made a single scrapbook but that pretty paper is just so darn useful. I want to use it for everything. I don’t think I could throw a party without it. Last August I made these paper party hats for Princess’ Crafty Pool Party, (along with about a billion other craft projects, mostly made from scrapbook paper.) The hats turned out super cute and since then, I have had lots of people ask me how to make them. So today, since I decided to make some new ones for Trouble’s upcoming Sweet Shop Party, I thought I’d do a little paper ... read more
monday shopping: 4-25-11
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Ours was very low-key, but nice. I spent a few hours preparing my shopping lists so I’d be able to get an early start this morning. I could tell it was going to be a pretty good week at Publix, and when I got it all done I could hardly wait to hit the store. Even in my excitement, I wasn’t quite expecting it to be my best grocery shopping trip EVER. (But it was!) Here is what I got: At Publix I spent…wait for it…ZERO for $176.10 worth of groceries, a 100% savings! Free chicken nuggets, free tampons, free ... read more
Princess & Trouble’s Everything Cookies {Recipe}
Princess has been begging to make cookies for weeks now. I love to bake, but I don’t like having cookies around because then all I want to do is eat them. And yes, even though we baked them just a few days ago, they’re already long gone. But just the memory still makes me drool. I even tried freezing some of them to prevent myself from eating them all right away. But they taste delicious frozen too! (Especially two of them sandwiching a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmm….) And for those of you who are baking challenged, don’t worry. They are practically foolproof. We barely even measured. I ... read more
thursday shopping 4-21-11 (& weekly shopping linky)
I woke up this morning full of shopping ambition. The girls were invited over for a play date, which meant a rare morning of child-free shopping for me. I prepped lists for Target, Walmart, Publix, CVS, & Walgreens, certain that alone I’d have no trouble tackling all 5 stores in just a few hours. Unfortunately I was so enthralled by the luxury of actually being able to smell the roses (literally), I got quite distracted by the incredible selection of herbs in the garden department at Walmart and completely lost track of time. I decided to scrap the rest of my plans, made a quick stop at CVS for eggs ... read more
how to maximize your coupon savings
It seems like saving money is on everyone’s mind these days. And really, unless you are one of the very lucky few who don’t have to worry about money, who doesn’t want to save as much as possible, at least on all those boring necessities like food and diapers and toilet paper? A lot of beginning couponers ask me what they are doing wrong when they only save 30 or 40% at the grocery store. The simple answer is absolutely NOTHING! A 30% savings is a really great start! Saving money with coupons takes time. Even if you could go out and do a mega shopping trip like on ... read more
orlando getaway
It was a very good trip. And I’m exhausted, but happy. I was reminded of how important it is to just play sometimes. I too often get caught up in all the things I “need” to do and forget that my most important job is “Mom.” We had a lot of fun. We met up with some close friends from Seattle who were vacationing in Florida. As you can see, we share a fetish for dressing our girls in matching outfits. Because if 2 matching girls are cute, 4 matching girls are even cuter. They matched at Sea World, too. (Even Shamu was impressed.) I was going to take the ... read more
the lwsl community
I am still out-of-town on my little mini-vacation, which means no Sunday shopping results today. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to stop by Walgreens and CVS later this week because there are definitely quite a few good deals I’d like to grab. And I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but for the first time in almost a year, I was having so much fun playing that I actually forgot to buy my Sunday papers yesterday! I’m trying hard to not let that bother me, since I’m pretty sure 10 years from now I won’t remember missing out on a few coupons, but I will remember ... read more
Vegetarian Baked Ziti For a Crowd {Recipe}
I’m on a little mini-vacation in Orlando with my family this weekend. Sometimes it is just nice to get away for a few days. Even a 2 hour’s drive can feel like a whole new world! But today I thought I’d share a stockpile challenge I had earlier this week, when it was my turn to provide the meal for our small group meeting at church. Preparing food for a big group of people can often get expensive quickly. But it doesn’t have to. I decided to prove it, if only to myself. I wanted to see if I could make a tasty main dish and appetizer for more than ... read more
thursday shopping: 4-14-11 (& weekly shopping linky)
Thank you so much for all your great comments and questions these past couple weeks! Your comments always make my day and I am happy to see so many new people wanting to learn about coupons. I try to answer as many questions as I can, but I can’t always get to them all. But there are a few recurring questions that keep popping up. So I thought I’d make a video to answer some of them. Because coupon shopping with 2 small children isn’t quite chaotic enough. Or because I’m a little crazy. I’ll let you be the judge. And here is what I got: At Publix I spent ... read more
Once-a-Month Cooking {30 Meals in One Day}
For me the hardest thing about extreme couponing is figuring out what to cook with all that food. In fact, I started posting stockpile meal recipes each week for that very reason. Because, really, what good is getting everything at rock-bottom prices if you have no idea what to make? I first heard about once-a-month (OAM) cooking here, on one of my favorite blogs, Under the Sycamore. The concept intrigued me, but I found it far too overwhelming to even seriously consider. I mean, really, how do you know what recipes are going to taste good after being in the freezer? How do you know how to best prepare them ... read more
Sweet Soda Shop Party Inspiration
Trouble is almost 2. Can you believe it? No, I can’t either. My baby is not a baby anymore! But while I am feeling a little sad that she’s growing up so fast, I can’t help but get excited about the prospect of planning a birthday party. It is, after all, my very favorite thing to do! A few weeks ago I ordered a few things for the girls from my favorite kid’s store, Gymboree. Everything–including sale items–was an additional 30% off AND I had a coupon for 20% off my entire order. It made me a little giddy & I couldn’t resist taking a peek at the birthday ... read more
sunday shopping 4-10-11
Happy Monday! After a busy day of cooking (for me), working in the yard (for Husband), and playing (for the girls) on Saturday, we had a much-needed low-key day at home yesterday. I almost skipped shopping altogether, but I did manage to sneak out last evening to grab a few bargains at Publix and CVS before snuggling into bed to watch our favorite reality show. Husband and I have very different taste in television (and almost everything else), but we’re both hooked to the over-the-top drama of Celebrity Apprentice. It is such a guilty pleasure. Can you believe that Gary Busey? Oh my goodness, what a nutcase! Anyway, here is ... read more
