Made a chicken run

If you've never read about me and chicken, check out some of my earlier posts on chicken, complete with pictures. For this post I won't slow you down with my step by step process. In a nutshell, I buy the bone-in, split chicken breast when I can get them for $.97 - $.99 per pound.

This time I bought 6 packs with an average cost of $2.80 per pack. There were 2 breast portions per pack but they were all HUGE! Seriously, like the Dolly Partons of chicken.

I removed the skin from all breasts and cut away the fillet portion to create my own, skinless, boneless chicken breast. Next, I threw what was left of the check breast portion into a pot to boil. You would be shocked at how much chicken is still left on there.

Now, Jason and I go through the cooked, shredded chicken much faster than any need for the whole breast, so I also throw all but 4 of the cut away breast portions in too to boil. (The reason I didn't leave them in tact if I was going to boil them away if for more even cooking times with the rest of the breasts portions).

After boiling, Jason and I picked the cooked chicken off the bone and pinched up the cooked chicken breast fillets and sectioned the meat out into baggies that will be frozen. This time we were able to get 15 bags of meal-size portions of cooked chicken for us. We use these for pizzas, quesadillas, enchiladas, pot pies, and a ton more recipes. We also have the 4 raw chicken breast portions that were also put into baggies and frozen as well.

So, for roughly $16.80 and a little time on Thursday, we were about to get 17 meal-size portions (for us) of chicken prepped and ready. I can't tell you how much money this has saved us and even more time. It takes no time at all to defrost the shredded chicken and it's ready to go.

New (to me) table for my living room

We have a column in our living room that I've placed chairs on either side of, but I though we still needed a small table between the chairs to make it more functional when we have guests. 

Lucky for me, I found a table that would work very well at the Goodwill store for $9.99 that just needed a little TLC.

Here is the table before, although Jason had already taken the top off and started to sand it before I remembered to take a "before" picture.

I love that it has the lift-up top and plenty of deep storage. You can never have enough storage!

We removed the hardware and gave it a good sanding and then painted both the table and hardware.

Here is what it looks like now.

Tada! So for about $15.00 total between the cost of the table and cost of the paint, we have a new (to us) table with plenty of storage. I love it!

Now here it is in the living room in it's new home between the chairs.

I love being able to find things that we need for such a small price and making them ours. I find that a lot of the second hand furniture that you can find has a lot more character than new pieces these days. It also seems to hold up better than furniture built today.

So the next time you need something, why not try to find an interesting piece at a thrift store, yard sale or antique store and make it your own.

Spaghetti Sauce

This morning I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce and portioned it out to freeze for quick meals later. I don't like onions and it's hard to find a commercial spaghetti sauce without onions so I have always just made my own. Trust me, it's very, very simple and has no recipe. I just use tomato sauce and sometimes tomato paste and then add whatever seasonings I have on hand to taste. That's it.

Then I put it in small, meal-size containers and freeze it for later use. We normally eat angel hair pasta which cooks super fast, so even on crazy days we can have homemade spaghetti on the table in about 5 or 10 minutes!

You might think that the sauce is pretty plain and it is but I do add a good bit of seasoning plus keeping it plain for freezing allows you to add whatever other ingredients you have on hand the night you cook it. Sometimes if I have ground beef already browned I will throw it in. I also sometimes put green olives in my sauce (Jason is crazy and doesn't like green olives). My point is that you can make it your own before you eat it.

We also use the healthy pastas. You know the ones that taste like white pasta but are better for you. So not only is this a make-ahead, quick and versatile meal, it is also healthy. What more could you want?

I took a picture for you guys but apparently didn't send it to the computer before deleting it.

New (to me) TV for my sewing studio

I mentioned earlier than I'm sewing more now. When I purchased my new longarm machine and frame I needed more room than I had available upstairs so I moved my sewing studio into our basement. It's an unfinished basement but my very sweet husband has been doing what he can to make it a great space for me. Plus, having all that space is wonderful and I'm much more organized now that I have lots of pegboard to use.

My longarm frame is 10 feet wide, so you can see the need for space. I usually spend 2 or more hours at a time in the studio so Jason put a small TV down there for me to watch or just listen to music on. Well, it was pretty small and I had to squint a lot to see it but was grateful to have it nonetheless.

Then I was in the Habitat for Humanity resale store on Friday (to get more cabinet knobs) and saw that they had their televisions 75% off. Wow! I checked out the supply and found a 25" TV that would fit the bill nicely and get this, I only paid $12.50 for it!!!!

They had the televisions playing so I knew that it worked and a nice young man at the store even carried it to the front for me and then to my car for loading.

If you have a Habitat store, Salvation Army or Goodwill store in your area, make sure to check them out frequently. There are all kinds of goodies waiting for you.

New cabinet knobs

I was in the Habitat for Humanity resale store the other day and found some bronze metal cabinet knobs for only .50 cents each. They're normally around $2.00 each in the stores and these were brand new, still in the packs. I started with 7 for our master bath cabinets and loved them.

So I went back for 2 more for the guest bath cabinets. Then discovered that they matched the metal tile decorations that are in our kitchen. So, you guessed it, back to habitat I went for more. I will say that I did not make special trips for these. I took a chance and waited until I was already in town for other errands to get more to save on gas.

In total I bought 42 pulls and only paid $21.00 for all of them and they're brand new. In the store these would have cost me a minimum of $84.00.

Here are my old knobs. They were brass and I painted them black.

Now check out the new knobs and how well they look with the tile decorations.

I love saving money, especially when you get brand new items like these for next to nothing. Trust me, I would have never spent the $84.00 for these knobs in the retail stores but gladly paid $21.00 at Habitat.

Salsa at Home

I love restaurant salsa! In fact, in the past I would swing by the restaurant and get just salsa to go. Then I would make my own Mexican inspired meals at home using the good salsa. But it's not always convenient to get salsa from the restaurant. I have tried many, many times to make my own salsa but it has never turned out as good as what you get at a restaurant. I have also bought the salsa in the jars but it's way too chunky for me. I like my salsa smooth.

Well, the other day Jason brought home some salsa in a jar because he thought it would be more like the restaurant salsa, but it was still too chunky. But I had an idea, maybe I could put the salsa in the food processor or blender to break it down more to my liking. It had a great taste, it just needed to be smooth for my picky taste.

I checked online some and discovered that the blender was the way to go. So, this morning I dumped the jar of salsa in my small blender cup and hit puree.

I used my smaller, smoothie cup instead of the big blender pitcher to make sure the salsa would get blended well and to clean up a small container instead of a big one. I also let the cup sit on the blender for a minute to let the salsa drain down from the top and get to the blender blades. I rinsed out the salsa jar to get rid of the leftover chunks also.

And here's the after....

Wow! It's perfectly smooth! I'm so excited. I put the salsa back in the clean salsa jar and back in the fridge. It will be so much easier now to stock up on salsa and have it the way that I like it. Of course, if you don't want it as smooth as this, just don't puree as long.

You can use salsa for quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas and countless other meals or just as a side or snack with tortilla chips. If you like thin chips too, Tostitos now has a Cantina style chip that taste a lot like the chips you get at Chili's. They're so good and now with my smooth salsa, I'm all set.

New Start and New Blog

Well, now that you know I am not working anymore, maybe you're wondering what I am doing. I am getting used to being a stay-at-home wife, trying to get healthier and also I am quilting. That's right, I quilt. I am sure that I have mentioned that before but I have taken it to a new level now.

I now have a longarm sewing machine and frame that enables me to quilt easier and faster than before. Quilting is something that I have enjoyed for a long time and now I have more time to do it both for myself and for others.

I'm starting to dabble in making quilts for sale or by special orders. I have started another blog to share some of my older quilts as well as the new ones. You can visit my new blog at www.sewtonya.blogspot.com and I will also put a link on the side of this page to it.

I hope you enjoy seeing my quilts and sewing projects and who knows, you might see me set up at a booth one day selling them.

Thankful for Thriftiness

I'm sure thriftiness isn't a real word but it should be. The last time I published a post was about our paying the mortgage off and being debt free. I don't think that statement will ever be said or written without making me smile. That was around the late part of June and boy am I glad now because at the end of October I lost my job.

I can't tell you how much it helped us knowing that we didn't have that house payment to try and make anymore, let alone on one salary with all the day to day bills. As a family we decided that it would be best for me to not return to the job market. So with a lot of budgeting, money watching and more of our being thrifty, I think we will be okay on one salary.

It's still scary but I can't tell you how glad I am that we've been thrifty all along and also worked so hard to get debt paid off. I wish I could help more people to see that being frugal or thrifty doesn't have to be a bad thing and can often be your saving grace. It was for us.

WE DID IT!!!!!

On June 28, 2012, if you heard some weird shouting and giggling around mid-morning, that would have been me. I was making the final payment on our mortgage and becoming debt free. Every time I think about it, I just break out into a big smile. It took us a long time to get to this point but we made it and I have to tell you, it feels wonderful. I can't tell you how freeing it is to know that you own your home and other belonging free and clear and no longer have to make payments on them or worry about loosing them. I can also tell you that it was worth every moment and every money saving practice to get to this point. My most important message is that it can be done, by regular people and that it's worth striving for.

From my posts, I've shared a lot of the ways that Jason and I have saved money in order to be able to pay extra towards our mortgage. Some were a little unusual but I think most of you would agree, that none were extreme or difficult to do. I know that everyone has different circumstances and obstacles to overcome, but I believe in my heart that if being debt free is something that you really, really want to achieve that for most people, it can be done.

Are you wondering if we went out for an expensive dinner or huge shopping spree to celebrate? It's funny because the day we paid the house off ended up being such a long day for both of us, that we celebrated with Chef Boyardee! How's that for fine dining! And a few days later, I did go shopping, but it was to my favorite Goodwill store (got 6 "new" shirts for less that $30). We're both still thrifty at heart so why stop now.

We do plan on making some purchases that we've been putting off to concentrate on the mortgage, but you know us, nothing extravagant, more like a new dish washer and maybe a laptop computer. We plan on saving the extra money that we will now have to pay cash for new purchases including vehicles or home repairs so that maybe, just maybe we will never be in debt again. Of course, who knows what the future will hold, but I really do hope we can stay debt free for a very long time.

Are you wondering about the debt chain? Well here are the last few chains that we ripped apart before throwing that sucker in the trash!!!!

I haven't shared this triumph on Facebook or with very many people at all for that matter because while I would hope that people would be happy for us, I know that for many this is a very tough time financially. I would never want to make someone feel bad or feel like I'm bragging instead of me just being happy that we've met our huge goal.

I do believe though that if more people would follow more money saving practices, that times like these wouldn't have to be so tough. With emergency funds, living beneath your means and other practices, I feel that more people would be able to ride the ups and downs of the economy with less stress and more peace of mind and security. To me, that's worth so much more than the things money can buy.

Easy way to save on those energy bills

I recently found an item that I wanted to share with you that not only cuts down on your energy costs, but also has great additional features as well.

It's tinted window film. For my purposes, I chose the black film that would not only cut down on the heat from the sunlight, but also on the sunlight as well. You can still see through the window but the film cuts down on a lot of the light that comes in. This is perfect for people who sleep during the day because of shift work, or people like us who go to bed early (when it's still daylight outside) because Jason has to get up so early for work.

There are also a lot of other types of film that just have the energy savings, have mirrored effects, and many other decorative styles that all still help out with your energy savings.

I'll admit that I was nervous at first thinking that it was going to be horrible to try and put it, but it was pretty easy. It is really simply to put on the windows, very quick and almost fool proof.

Check out the difference in our office with just one window done with the black film. See you can still see out from the inside but it cuts a ton of glare out and lots and lots of heat. Our office gets super hot in the summer, so this will help out.

Here's a picture of the first window that I finished in our bedroom. I honestly think it adds to the view (until I covered it with the blinds and blackout curtains). It also helps us out when we go to bed to have a dark bedroom to sleep in even though it's still light outside. The blackout curtains and blinds were just not dark enough.

Check out the difference on the floor with the sun shining in. I put one foot on the left side (shaded) and one foot in the right side (not covered yet) and there was a huge temperature difference in just a few minutes of putting up the film on the left side.

The product that I used was easily found at our local home improvement stores and was honestly pretty cheap. Our bedroom windows were done completely with 2 boxes of film at $16.32 per box. I know we're going to get that money back very fast this summer when it's cooler in the house and we don't have to run the air so much.

The product not only blocks out the heat in the summer, but also keeps your heat inside in the winter to help with heating cost. You can check out the product website for the brand you choose for more information, videos and tons more information.

So far I've done the bedroom windows and the office windows, and I still plan on doing the windows in our garage. We're lucky that most of our heat comes in the back windows, so I don't have to do a thing to any of the front windows.

Here's to saving money and staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter for less.

Stretching your clothing dollar

I honestly dress better second-hand than I would be able to if I bought the items new in a retail store setting. Last week I found 11 tops at the Goodwill store and only paid $55 total for all 11 tops. Every single one of the tops were designer/name brand items some of which would have cost more new than I paid for all 11.

The store I went to had dressing rooms so that I knew each shirt would fit before I bought it. I got names brands such as Talbots, Cold Water Creek, etc. all for less that $5 each.

I love being able to dress well for less. I do like nice, quality clothing, but I love getting it at rock-bottom prices. Honestly, the items that I got looked practically brand new. I brought them home, washed them and now I have great new additions to my wardrobe that didn't break the bank.

I also check for clothing at yard sales as well. People get tired of what they have or their weight changes and you can take advantage of that. Everyone wins.

Don't be afraid to try second-hand clothing. You can find unique pieces to spice up your look for next to nothing.

Reusing plastic bottles

Wow, I can't believe it's April already! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but I hope to be better about posting in the future. I should have a little more time to get my thoughts down and to you now.

Well enough about that, let's get on with the information. I saw this on a website and thought that I would share it with you. I love to add flavored coffee creamer to hot chocolate or chai tea, so I had these bottles already on hand.

Well, after you finish with the creamer and remove the label, the container can be easily reused for all kinds of items.

I washed the bottle and lid out and dried, then I used the first bottle I tried for chocolate chip storage. There's a nifty spout to pour the chocolate chips out into your measuring cup, bowl or straight into your mouth (hey, I don't judge).

You could use it for kids' snacks, nuts or tons of other items. The sky's the limit. I also washed up a bottle that once held Bacon Bits for using the same way.





The bottles (or ones like them) make storing different items easier, helps them stay fresher and are easier to organize than bags.

What uses can you come up with?

Another Recipe for your Chicken Stash

I thought I would share another recipe that I used for our chicken stash. If you've read the blog before, you know that I buy the bone-in, skin on chicken breast when they're on sale and process them myself saving a ton of money. I've done a few articles on this if you want to look back and read the articles.

I have an easy pizza recipe to use with the cooked, already shredded bags of chicken that we have in the freezer. It also works well as a pantry recipe because the ingredients are on sale a lot and can be bought very cheaply with coupons.

We call this Italian Pizza, but I guess all pizza is somewhat Italian, so call it anything you want to. It is surprising how just a few simple ingredients turn out such a flavorful pizza.

First, I use a can of pizza dough:

Open the can and spread the dough out on your pan or pizza stone. You could also divide the dough up to make individual pizza for your family members. Next you will need a jar of alfredo sauce.

I checked the label on this particular sauce and it's only 90 calories for 1/4 cup, so I believe you could also make this a healthy alternative if you wanted to. Okay, now spread a layer of the sauce onto your pizza dough.

After your sauce is spread, you will add your toppings. I first added some of the pre-cooked, shredded chicken that I had in the freezer.

And I also added, on my half, some sliced green olives. Jason hates green olives (he's crazy like that) so I make sure not to cross the half-pizza line. I even put a couple of slices of olive on the very top before putting it in the oven to make sure we know where to cut the pizza and that Jason doesn't get any surprise olives.

Now, of course you can add any toppings that you like at this point. Go crazy, be creative and have fun. Next we need cheese of course. I try to get the Italian blend cheese for this pizza. It adds a lot of flavor to have more than one type of cheese on here.

We also need a little seasoning, for the most recent pizza, I used this:

 

Now, cover the pizza with your desired level of cheese, but not too much. Then sprinkle some of the italian seasoning over the top as the last ingredient. Just a light sprinkling of seasoning over the pizza is enough. This is what mine looked like before going into a 400 degree oven.

You can also see that it doesn't have to be perfectly rectangle either, or round. Just do the best you can to make the slices somewhat even. You can use the instructions on the dough can for timing the pizza or just cook at 400 degrees until it is as done as you like it.

Here is what ours looked like. Jason and I not only disagree on how great green olives are, but also on how done we like our pizza. He was pleased with this level of "doneness" but I normally take it out of the oven a little sooner for a pizza a bit less "done". As long as it isn't burnt, I guess anything works.

Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Update on Breaking the Chains of Debt

I have written before about doing a red paper chain that represents our family debt and how we are trying to break the chains of debt and become debt free. The paper chain may seem silly, but it works great to have a visual image to focus on. I will also admit that it feel really good to tear those links off as we pay down the debt.

The previous post was called "Breaking the chains of debt!" from 7/30/11 if you want to check it out. Here is what our chain looked like then:

I wanted to give you an update on how it's going, but to also give you information on other ideas for your financial futures.

Just a few minutes ago, I updated the chain from our recent mortgage payment and thought about doing the update.

It really does feel good tearing those suckers off. You should try it. Not only will it help you visualize your debt, but it will also give you something tangible to focus on.

Drum roll please, here is what the chain looks like today:

The smaller it gets, the more excited I get! Jason and I have been working very hard these past years to try and accomplish this goal. No, it isn't quick or without some effort, but Yes, Yes, Yes, it is achievable. We don't make six figure salaries (not even combined) and we have the same ups and downs as everyone else, but we keep trudging along, doing what we can, and are almost there. I honestly believe that anyone can do this is if you really want it.

Since we are getting close to our goal, we thought it would be a good to sit down with a financial advisor to help set up our next goal or at least develop a plan. We didn't want to get to our goal of being debt free and say "now what"?  We want to protect our hard work and investment, and be prepared for our future.

We plan on looking at our investments, our insurance, taxes, future care needs, etc. to keep our debt freedom in check and our needs met. We're not well off by any stretch of the imagination, but we still want our peace of mind that comes with being prepared. It's not just the wealthy or those close to retirement who can take advantage of financial and retirement counseling. It's also never too early or late to get some help either, whatever age you are.

I will definitely report back when the last link is torn from the chain and we're officially debt free, or you will probably be able to hear me yelling and screaming if you stick your head out of the window.

Recipe and trick to less mess

I love trying new recipes, especially ones that have a good bit of flavor and not a ton of ingredients. I have a recipe for you to try and even a way to prepare it with a little less of a mess in the kitchen.

The recipe is for Chicken Tacos, but would also be a great recipe to use with Tofu. The ingredients are:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast (great use of our frozen chicken from earlier posts) or  firm Tofu
1 packet of taco seasoning (I used the reduced sodium version)
3 tablespoons of lime juice
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Flour tortillas
1 gallon-size baggie or freezer bag
Sour Cream, cheese, etc. (whatever you want to add to the taco)
Large cup (you'll see, this is part of the less mess trick)


Start by cutting the chicken or tofu into bite-sized pieces.

Now, take the large cup and baggie

and put the baggie in the cup so that the top of the baggie is out and over the sides of the cup.

This will be a mixing bag to add all the ingredients to. The top of the baggie stays clean and upright with the help of the cup.

Put the chicken (or tofu), taco seasoning, lime juice and vegetable oil into the bag.

Now pull the side of the baggie up to remove it from the cup. Tada, the top is clean and so is the counter and your hands. Also, seal the baggie closed so that you can mix all your ingredients together.

After you have removed and closed your baggie and mixed and mushed everything around, this is what you'll have. And it's ready to go into your pan. (No, wait, there's more. If you enjoy freezing meals for later use, you can put this in the freezer at this stage for a very quick meal at a later date. Simply push as much of the air out of the baggie as you can and seal the baggie. It's also useful to write what the meal is on the outside of the baggie to help you identify it later.) When you're ready for it, simply take out of the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator and proceed to the remaining steps.

I used a non-stick pan, but you can also use an indoor grill (like a George Foreman grill). Since the recipe has vegetable oil already in it, I don't add any more oil. You can spray a little non-stick spray if you are using a pan you think the meat will stick to.

Cook chicken on medium to medium-high heat until it is cooked all the way through. Now you're ready to start your tacos.

I normally spread sour cream on my tortillas to act as a glue, then put some chicken and cheese on it. Feel free to add anything and everything else you think would be good on too. For so few ingredients, these tacos pack a flavor punch and are simple to boot.

Fold tortilla over like a taco and enjoy.

Couponing & A Great Publix Trip from 2/3/12

For a while now, I've been off my couponing game. You know the routine, you get sick or super busy and things get pushed to the side. The next thing you know it's weeks down the road and you're behind. I have been trying to get my couponing game back and to also evaluate my strategy and maybe step my game up a little. It's still a work in progress, but a girl has to eat, so off to Publix I go.

Even with all this motivation, I still only have so much time to work on coupons, so you won't see the crazy numbers from me that are seen on the extreme couponing shows, but I do okay and that's enough for me.

My latest trip to Publix was on February 3, 2012 and I was prepared for a decent trip at least. Here are my photos from the trip.

I won't bore you with the list of what I got, but I think the pictures are good enough to see the items well enough.  I ended up paying $71.79 out of pocket and saving $96.03 plus I received a free $10.00 Publix gift card to use next time. Not too shabby, and I was happy with it. Of course, I want to save a little more, but I was still very happy with this trip. I may have even converted a few people to couponing.

The guy behind me in line kept moving closer to me and looking over the counter at my coupons. I thought he was getting angry at the speed of my checkout, so I apologize for it taking a few extra minutes. He didn't say much and started texting. When my final total came up on the screen with the amount I paid and the amount I saved, he leaned over and asked if he could take a picture of the screen! It seems even modest saving still inspire these days. I also had a couple of ladies ask me for couponing information which I am happy to send them.

One of the managers ended up bagging for me (even cheering for my savings total) and taking my groceries to the car. While we walked to the car, we talked about how crazy couponers are ruining it for the average, normal couponer who just wants to save their family money and maybe be able to donate items to charity.

So, if you decide to give couponing a whirl, please be respectful of your stores, their employees, their policies and other couponers. It works out better for everyone in the end if the coupon programs keep going, allowing us to continue to save money for our families and others.

Saving Money on Medication

I have to take a good bit of prescription medication, but luckily most of it can be filled in generic form or has a low co-pay for me. Well, I recently started a new medication that is neither cheap or in generic form. It is very expensive to produce and well, the company passes that expense on to us, the users. I had a month's supply of samples to make sure the drug was going to work before dealing with the expense and fight with the insurance company.

It worked! Which I was very happy about, but honestly was also worried that I had finally found something that worked but wouldn't be able to afford it. I had read horror stories online about the co-pays even with insurance. While I was digging around online for information, I came across a prescription support card for the medication. I had to have regular, consumer health insurance (which I did) and have my insurance company to approve me for it.

After seeing my doctor for the prescription, I called and activated my support card and waited for my doctor and my insurance company to fight it out over authorization. Go Doc, Go!

Surprisingly, I received a phone call from the insurance company with the approval and I was off to the pharmacy.

The retail price for this medication per MONTH is $2287.00. Can you believe that? What do they make this stuff out of unicorn tears? Well, my insurance company footed the bill for $2,242.00 leaving me with a co-pay of $45.00, which I would have been happy to pay. Then the prescription card kicked in and paid the co-pay leaving me with zero to pay for the first 6 months and only $10.00 to pay for the next 6 months.

The pharmacy tech told me that there were all kinds of prescription cards if people would ask for them or check online. Why pay more than you have to on anything, even prescriptions?

So, the next time you're at the doctor's office, ask for samples to try the medication out first, then check for prescription cards to help save even more money.

Wheeling and Dealing at CVS again

I'm on a good bit of strong medicine and so I need to take an acid reducer each day to protect my stomach from these medicines. I normally get either Prilosec, Prevacid or the store brand depending on which one I can cheaper or get a better deal on.

Well, I noticed last week that CVS had their store brand acid reducer as part of a deal that if you spend $30 on certain items, you would get a $10 CVS gift card free. I checked the coupons that I had for the name brand medicines and price checked at Publix (I had double coupons there) but the CVS deal was still the better deal hands down. Now, I noticed when I was reading the ad that there was a limit of 5 free gift cards per person per week. I thought to myself, who would spend $150.00 on something in one week? Well apparently this chick, that's who. The more I thought about it and did the math, I would be saving a lot of money with this deal and have enough acid reducers to last me about 9 months. I mean, I have to take them everyday so it's not like they won't get used.

So, in the end I came home with 6 of the 42 count boxes and 2 of the 14 count boxes which is enough to last me a little over 9 months and actually had me spending only about half per month what I had been spending for it with coupons.

AND the best part, I also came home with $50 in CVS gift cards that I can use on anything. I plan on using them to earn Extra Care Bucks and see how long I can go without spending any of my money at CVS.

CouponChief.com Review

Who likes saving money, raise your hand? You know my hand is raised really high, well as high as someone who is 5'2" can raise their hand. A cool coupon website was recently brought to my attention that I wanted to share with you. We all know that you can sometimes get amazing savings by shopping online (and with free shipping, even save time by not going to the actual store), well you can also save even more with this great website.

The website is CouponChief.com and it's definitely worth checking out. This site has coupon codes for all your online shopping needs. Seriously, I tried to "stump" the store list and every store that I tried was listed on the site. I also checked out the site for some of my recent purchases before finding CouponChief and I missed out on a good bit of savings. I won't let that happen again though, I'll check this site out before making any online purchases.

Before you make your check out online, simply check the site for coupon codes to use on your purchase. Then, copy the code you would like to use. When you check out with your purchases, simply paste the code into promo code area of the checkout screen. How easy is that! You were going to make those purchases anyway, why not save some money in the process without barely lifting a finger. Well, you do have to lift them a little on the keyboard, but not much.

If that isn't good enough, you can also create a profile on the site to share comments with other users, rate the coupon codes you used and even share coupon codes that you have. When you share coupon codes, you have a chance to get paid for sharing. What's better than saving money? Getting paid to save, that's what!

So, the next time you are going to buy something online, check out CouponChief.com first to save even more money. Don't spend more than you have to and save the difference. Happy Shopping.

Splurging a little, but trying to save money doing it.

I have been thinking about getting one of the Keurig single cup brew systems for a while, but since I don't drink coffee, I thought it would be a waste of money just for tea, latte and cider. Well, I finally decided to just go for it since Jason drinks coffee a little and I think I would get a good bit of use out of it for the other drinks.

You know me, I don't just run out and buy something. I must first make sure that I'm getting the best deal I can without turning into the guy off the movie "A Beautiful Mind". You know, price charts and numbers scattered all over the wall while I feverishly calculate non-stop. I like to save money, but sanity is important too!

After my research, I decided that Kohls was my best bet. We decided on the Mini brewer since we're not huge coffee drinkers and saw no need for the machine to constantly keep water warm for us. Even without the reservoir and the need to pour the water in right before you brew, it still takes under 2 minutes. I can wait 2 minutes. The Mini brewers were on sale for $99.99 plus I had a 30% off coupon (I know you're shocked I had a coupon right). That brought the price of the unit down to $70.00. I went ahead and bought the refillable K-Cup and a couple boxes of drinks, which I also got to use my 30% coupon on. My total was a little over  $100 for everything mentioned which meant that I also got $20.00 Kohls Cash back to use at a later date.

I also had $22.00 in Staples Rewards to use too, so I went to Staples after work the other night was able to get 2 more boxes of drinks for only $1.98 out of pocket. I plan on using my Staples Rewards and maybe my Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks to keep us in cheap to free k-cup drinks. (See previous posts for more information on Staples Rewards and Swagbucks).

Sometimes when you work so hard for your family and to save money, it doesn't hurt to reward yourself or your family a little. Just make sure that you can afford to do it and that you still try to get the best deal that you can.

I think I'll go brew a cup of hot apple cider now! Yum.

Chicken Math

I won't bore you to death with more pictures of me getting chicken ready for the freezer but I did want to pass along some of the information.

If you're new to the blog, I like to buy skin-on, bone-in chicken breast when they get to around .98 cents per pound. Then I remove the skin, take kitchen scissors and remove the breast part of the chicken (the boneless breast fillet) and then boil the rest of the chicken. I'm able to pull tons of chicken off what's left after it has cooked. I pinch it off the ribs and put it in baggies. It's cooked and ready to go for all kinds of meals. There is a ton of information and pictures earlier in the blog if you're interested.

Well, I bought 4 packs of chicken the other day for .98 center per pound and spent about $17.00 total for the 4 packs. Jason and I processed the chicken today and were able to get 13 meals out of it including the cooked shredded chicken and the chicken breasts that I froze raw. That breaks down to around $1.31 per meal for the chicken. Pretty good in my book.

I was also thinking about what you get for your money as I was doing this. The chicken breast that I get when I do this are HUGE! The comparison between these breast and the boneless, skinless breast that you pay $2 or $3 per pound for is like comparing Dolly Parton to a fashion runway model. So, even if you didn't want to cook the remaining breast for the extra meat and just cut the breast portion off, you would still be getting a much larger piece of chicken for a fraction of the cost. And all you had to do was pull a small amount of skin off and take the scissors to the breast portion. Not much work, but a lot of savings. Of course, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the remaining chicken of course. I can sometimes get as much as 3 pounds of cooked shredded chicken just from what's left on the bone after I cut the breast portions off.

Manage Your Stockpile and Donate to Others

I was going through some of my stockpile the other day and realized that I had way too much toothpaste. When it's easy to get it very cheap or free, you sometimes end up with more than you need or could even use. I pulled out the toothpaste and dental floss and we had over 25 tubes of toothpaste. Since sales run every 6 to 8 weeks, you really don't have to stock supplies floor to ceiling, just until the next sale comes along. I kept about 6 tubes of toothpaste and 5 packs of floss and decided to give the rest away.

A friend from work was taking up donations for basic needs, so I started boxing stuff up to donate. When you get enough for your own family and can still keep getting items cheap or free, why not make a donation stockpile? Trust me, anything you are able to give will be great appreciated and you won't have to spend a lot of money to really help someone out.

When it was all said and done, this is what I was able to give on short notice. I plan on getting a box to start putting items in it just for donation. I encourage everyone to try that and send me information or pictures on your donations.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Publix trip for 11/17/11

Jason met me after work yesterday and we did a little shopping, had dinner and hit Publix before going home. I had another good "stocking up" trip.

I spend $54.69 out of pocket and saved $76.85. That's a savings of 58.4% off my grocery bill. I'm satisfied enough if I save more than I spend.

It still blows my mind to think about someone spending $131.54 for what you see. Thank you coupons and sales.

I do think it's funny though how I buy things usually in multiples of two.

Good Deals at Target

Jason and I went out to do a little shopping today and I found a couple of deals at Target. These coupons were still available the last time I checked in case you're interested. You can get the Target coupons from http://www.target.com/.

I got 4 packs of Reach dental floss and 1 sleep shirt for $2.15 total (tax and all).

I had a Target coupon for $3.00 off any sleepwear. Naturally, I headed straight for the clearance section and found this sleep shirt marked down to $4.98. After applying the coupon, I paid $1.98 for the shirt.

The dental floss was $.97 each. I had two Target coupons for $.50 off the dental floss, plus 2 manufacturer's coupons for $1.50 off two. After all the coupons were applied, Target paid me $.12 to take the dental floss off their hands and the overage was applied to my remaining balance.

It is so much fun to get stuff really cheap, free or be paid to take them!!!!