Bay Area Mommy-Nomics

San Diego Trip

2011-05-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

Our San Diego trip was great. It was a super long drive (we averaged 11 hours each way!) but the girls did great and we loved seeing our relatives.

We stayed at the Doubletree Club in San Diego (Hotel Circle). We got a family suite (a hotel room with a king bed and a separate room with a bunkbed for the kids). I booked the hotel on hotels.com (going through ebates for 3% back) and I sent in my rebate for $20 for staying at least 3 nights.

We saved money by eating breakfast in our room. I brought a box of cereal, some hostess donuts, some muffins that I made, and I bought some milk and juice when we got down there. One morning we went to my in-laws and ate breakfast there. We used paper cups, plates, and utensils.

We didn't eat out very much, except for when we were on the road. We were lucky to have lunches and dinners with family and friends most of the time. Otherwise, we ate some snacks that I had packed and/or bought when we got into town.

When we did order out, if I could split the kids' meals, I did. This kept the cost down. Those kids' meals are expensive! In fact, the morning we drove home, we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. I ordered one order of pancakes, which had three pancakes: one for each girl. : )

One thing that helped keep our kids (and us!) sane on this trip was the Disney Songs and Story CD's. They have 5 songs from a Disney movie and then a narration of the story (about 10 to 15 minutes). It really kept my kids' attention. We didn't use videos, which I was really happy about, too. The CD's come in lots of the Disney movies and you can get them on Amazon or half.com (which is where I bought mine).

April Savings Report

2011-04-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

This month has flown by! We did go on our San Diego trip and I'll report on that later. First I want to write down what I was able to save this month.

I was able to set aside $25 from last month's grocery budget to spend on groceries for our trip. I also put aside $40 from this month's budget, giving me $65 to spend. That was definitely a big help!
I reduced the amount of my grocery budget by $10 this month, bringing it down to $470 for our family of 5. I was able to do it! That is $10 extra in my savings fund.
I cashed in my coins from March: $31.82. That's a little bit high because I found a piggy bank with a bunch of coins in there. : ) I got a gift card to Amazon for that amount, used it to buy diapers and wipes, and then put the cash from my envelope into my savings jar. I rounded it up to $32.
I came in $10 under budget in groceries in March and added that to my savings fund.
My rebate check for $3 came from Rite Aid.
I found a dollar in my pocket. : )

That adds $56 to my savings fund, which brings my total up to $503.05 saved since February 1, 2011! Only $100 more to go!

We seemed to have some extra expenses this month: the girls needed new church shoes and some new clothes for the trip, my newspaper subscription was paid, which I wasn't planning on, our housecleaners cashed the checks for March and April in the same month...anyway, I don't have any extra money to funnel into next month's grocery fund. : ( Oh well. But it feels really good to come in right on target for our budget, though. In fact, we didn't have to take any money from our vacation fund to cover the cost of gas for our trip or our meals on the road. That is such a blessing!

Speaking of blessings, I have been amazed at the blessings that come from being a good steward over the money and goodness that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. He is aware of us, even when the things we want/need seem insignificant. As an example, last week I was at the store and really wanted to buy some strawberries. They were a little bit expensive but I was just craving those sweet juicy fruits! I decided that if I had enough money when we got back from the trip, then I could buy some strawberries.

The next day, my parents came over and my dad brought me some strawberries that he had gotten earlier in the day. I was speechless. Those strawberries didn't mean that much to my dad (he was just being thoughtful). But he couldn't have known what they meant to me. : ) Have you had any experiences like that as you've tried to save your money?

March Savings

2011-03-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Husband and I switched our money management over to Mint.com this month. It's nice to be able to see everything updated so quickly! We also decided that it would be best for our budget to deposit the cash that I have set aside when I use the credit card so that our numbers are a little more accurate. I deposited what I had on Monday and will get cash out on April 1st, so we'll see how it works.

This is what I was able to save this month:

I signed up for Offermatic at the beginning of the month and they sent me two great offers: one for $15 off a $30 purchase on Amazon (hello diapers!) and another for $10 off a $20 purchase at Target. I took advantage of both of those offers, adding $25 to my vacation fund!
My mom paid me back for the birthday cake I picked up for my grandmother's birthday last month. I decided that I'd add it to the fund since I already took it out of my grocery budget. That adds $16 to my fund.
I got a $20 check from Toluna for completing surveys.
$20 in cash from what I took out of last month's budget overage.

That's a grand total of: $81.00! Nice!

I did cash in my coins this month, but I decided that since I already made my bank deposit this month, I would add it in to next month's savings deposit.

So...that brings my amount saved up to $447.05. That's 3/4 of the way there!

How is your vacation savings going?

February Grocery Breakdown

2011-03-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be interesting to see how I spent my grocery budget this month. I loosely assigned my purchases to categories, just to get a general idea of where my money is going. Here's how it turned out:

Baby items (diapers, wipes, pull-ups): 13.7%
Treats (ice cream, cookies, etc.): 11.3%
Milk: 9.9%
Drinks (juice and juice boxes): 9.5%
Snacks (includes both healthy and not-so-healthy ones): 9.1%
Dairy items (eggs, cheese, cream): 8.2%
Home (tissues, toilet paper, dishwashing detergent, etc.): 7.2%
Staples (peanut butter, rice, pasta, etc.) 7%
Produce: 5.7%
Meat: 5.5%
Condiments (salsa, sauces, dressings): 4.5%
Health items (medicine, feminine products): 2.4%
Breakfast (mostly cereal): 2.1%
Beauty: 1.2%

I realize these are very general categories, especially staples and snacks! But, as I said before, I just wanted to get a general idea of what I was spending money on. One thing I noticed even before I did this was how much I spend on juice for my kids. I know juice is such a no-no and I admit that I use it as my crutch. Juice boxes are given for a treat in lieu of candy bars and chips, and my kids rarely drink soda, so that's how I rationalize it. I do know that I need to get them to cut back and I've started to do that already.

I'm happy that I spent more on produce than I did on meat (although just barely!). I would like to see my produce numbers go up and my meat numbers stay low.

I'm not surprised that most of my budget goes towards diapers! We are in the middle of potty training and hopefully I will see this number go down over the next few months!

The treats category was rather high this month, but I do have an explanation: (1) It was Valentine's Day this month so some of those items were treats for Husband and the tiny babes. (2) We hosted a Valentine's Day party and some of those treats were for the party. (3) It was also my grandmother's birthday this month and I picked up the birthday cake. Whew! A lot of celebrating!

I think it will be interesting to see how these numbers change as the year progresses. Have you ever wondered which categories your family spends the most money on?

February's Cash Only Experiment Report

2011-02-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

I have to say that I loved doing this cash-only experiment this month. I'm going to continue on in March, but I wanted to mark down the results from February:

I was under my grocery budget by $13, under my clothing budget by $15, and under my household budget by $38 for a total savings of $86! I decided to add some of this overage to next month (especially since March is a long month for me as a tax widow!) and I took out $20 to put toward our San Diego vacation. This $20 will show up in my savings for next month.

I was able to "cash out" three giftcards this month. When I used a gift card, I took the cash out of my envelope for that category and put it in my savings jar. This allowed me to add $50 to our San Diego trip.

Every time I got change back from a purchase, I put the coins in my savings jar. This past Saturday I took one of my daughters with me to cash in the coins at a Coinstar machine. If you choose to receive a giftcard instead of cash, there is no counting fee. I chose an Amazon gift card and ended up getting $12.35 from my spare change! I took $13 out of my grocery budget to put in our savings jar and used the gift card to buy wipes on Amazon. With the gift card, my out of pocket expense was only $0.02!

We got our "big fat check" from Ebates this month: $40.05. That money went into the savings jar. We also got our rebate check from our American Express card (that we have through Costco). I was shocked to see our rebate was $263.00! That money also went right into the savings jar.

The only downside was that I did use my credit card for some things (like Costco) and just took the cash out of my envelope and set it aside. We decided not to redeposit this extra cash at the end of the month only to have to turn around and withdraw cash at the beginning of the month, so all the cash I saved will be redistributed into our envelopes for March and we will see the savings from February at the end of March. (We use Microsoft Money to keep track of our budgeting.) Not a big deal in the long run, but it did make us a little cash poor this first month.

So in summary, here is what I was able to save in my first month at this cash-only experiment:

$50 from "cashing out" gift cards
$13 from saving spare change
$263 from credit card rebate
$40.05 from Ebates

...for a grand total of: $366.05!

The total cost for our hotel stay in San Diego is $610. So with the savings from this month's experiment, I have already covered more than 1/2 the cost! I am so excited to start saving in March!

Cash-only experiment begins!

2011-02-05T11:42:00.001-08:00

Remember when I tried to do my version of the cash-only experiment? It worked "okay" but then the holidays started sneaking up on me and I totally cast aside my coupons and deals and forgot about the importance of budgets.

Then, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to eat better: healthier, purer, happier food. (Well, stuff that makes me all those things.) And that kind of food is expensive, especially when you don't try to plan your shopping...at all.

So, here we are at the beginning of February and I've decided to take the plunge into the Cash Only pool. Here's how it's going to work:

*One envelope of cash for groceries for the 1st through the 15th of the month.

*A second envelope of cash for groceries for the 16th through the end of the month.

*An envelope of cash for what we call "household" items: books, ink, stamps, and pillows are just a few examples of things that fall into this category.

*Finally, an envelope of cash for clothing purchases.

I chose not to have a grocery money envelope for each week because I don't like trying to figure out how much money to put in each week, especially when it's a week with fewer than 7 days. This way, I just take my monthly budget and divide it in half. Done.

We are taking a trip to San Diego in April to visit my husband's family for Easter. So I've decided that any extra money that I get (through savings, rebates, etc.) will go into a little fund for that trip, to help defray the costs.

In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the amounts for each envelope:

*Grocery #1: $240

*Grocery #2: $240

*Household: $100

*Clothing: $100

I'll be posting updates with my progress to let you know what type of things I can get on this budget and how much I can save toward our San Diego trip!

***

For those of you wondering if we are still going on our European Tour...well, plans have changed a bit. Two of the friends are now pregnant and won't be able to take their babes out of their respective countries until later in the summer, when one friend will be returning to the States. It looks like there will be a scheduling conflict for all four of us to be together at one time. However, we are still trying to make a trip to Europe to visit those friends who will still be there this summer. I'll keep you posted.

Here and there

2011-02-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

It seems that I feel blogging has to be an "all or nothing" deal. Either I'm fully into posting my thoughts or I'm fully into mommy-hood...and of course being a mommy trumps all other endeavors.

But I've decided that I'm not going to beat myself up about some breaks in between posts. I'm still trying to find the balance that comes with three small children! I hope you will still come and visit from time to time.

Groupon Deal: The Produce Spot

2010-09-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Have you used Groupon yet? Lately, these group deal sites have been popping up everywhere, although Groupon is the first one that I have heard of. I've bought a few restaurant deals, a 50% off Gap gift certificate, and a $20 Soap.com gift certificate for $10.

I get a daily email with the Groupon for the day (there is one email for San Francisco and one for San Jose; I subscribe to both).

Today's Groupon for San Jose is a $20 gift certificate to The Produce Spot on Berryessa Road in San Jose for $10. The limit is one per person, but you can buy 2 additional ones as gifts. The Produce Spot carries organic and conventional produce, some baked goods, and dairy products. I have not been to the Produce Spot, but I have been to a similar store in South San Jose.

So if you are ever in the area of East San Jose and would like to stretch your grocery budget a little further, maybe it's a good idea to pick up this Groupon today!

***You have until Midnight Tuesday night (tonight!) to purchase this particular Groupon, but you have until March 29th, 2011 to use it.***

Super Savings Saturday

2010-09-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Boy, I haven't done one of these in awhile. But I got to thinking that seeing others get deals like this inspires me, so why not return the favor?

I went in to Rite Aid this week and picked up:

2 Huggies Jumbo Pack diapers, $8.99 each

1 Huggies Pull-Ups, $8.99

2 Kotex pads, $3.50 each

Oh, and a bag of Cheetos because my girls were being so good. Add in another 89 cents because I get 10% off non-sale merchandise with my wellness+ card. I love that little perk.

Total before coupons: $34.86 plus tax

I was rushing to find coupons because my coupon stash is a bit disorganized at the moment. I tried to print a coupon for the Pull-Ups ($1 or $2) but I couldn't get it to work. I also forgot to get a coupon for the Kotex, which I'm sure I had. But the time wasn't worth the extra $2 or $3 bucks I would have saved since my kids were going crazy while I looked for coupons!

I did have a coupon for a free Jumbo pack of Huggies diapers from their Enjoy the Ride Rewards. Subtract $8.99 for that. Then I had a $5 off a Jumbo pack of Huggies diapers from Recycle Bank.

-$13.99 for the above coupons

-$1 video values Huggies coupon

-$2 video values Huggies coupon

-$5/25 coupon

Total: $15.10

I paid with $15 in giftcards I received from the skincare rebate at Rite Aid this summer, so I spent 10 cents out of pocket.

And I got $9 in +Up Rewards (3 $2 from Huggies and 1 $3 from Kotex).

Plus, I will get a $10 giftcard for the Kimberly-Clark rebate since I spent more than $25 on K-C products.

Even with the Cheetos, it's a $4.10 moneymaker!

Whole Foods' Chicken Sale Friday

2010-09-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

This Friday only, my local Whole Foods is having their Rocky fryer chickens on sale for only 99 cents/pound. This is a great price for good quality chicken. I think I'll stop in and pick up a couple of chickens for my freezer.

Check with your local store to see what they've got on sale this week.

The Hunger Challenge Debate

2010-09-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

I read a post on BlogHer about the SF Food Bank's Hunger Challenge last week. Several different bloggers participated in the challenge, which was to eat on $4 per person/day. Apparently that is about what people who are receiving food stamps have to spend on groceries.

After reading some of the posts about getting by on bean and cheese burritos with not enough money for fruits and vegetables, I started to wonder if I could feed my family on the Hunger Challenge amount. Let's see: $4 per person (we have 5)/day works out to $20/day...or $560 per month! In 2008, the maximum a family of 5 could receive in food stamps was $698!

I was shocked because my food budget is less than that...by more than $100/month. So while it is difficult to hand someone a $5 bill and say "This is all the money you have to buy food with today", if you look at the bigger picture, it's not that hard to eat (and actually eat well) on such a "small" amount.

One blogger who got it right is Kimberly from PoorGirlEatsWell. I like the way that she makes her food as appealing as possible, because that always makes it taste better. She also uses what she has on hand instead of running to the store for an ounce of some obscure spice that you'll never use again. I'm definitely going to check out her blog for some inspiration as I prepare my weekly meal plans.

The main point of the Hunger Challenge was made clear: there are people who are on food stamps who don't have the luxury of eating whatever they want. They long to be able to buy a cupcake at the corner bakery or even something from a drive-thru. With every bite they take, they are keenly aware that their bounty is steadily dwindling and the cupboard may be completely bare before they are able to get more assistance or find another job. Those of us who are blessed with full cupboards should be moved to share with those whose pantries are empty.

Dinner this week...

2010-09-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

I'm itching to use my crockpot again. I think that's the Fall in the air! Here's what I've got on the menu for this week:

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Spaghetti, green salad, yummy bread

Wednesday: Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, brown rice

Thursday: Dinner Swap Surprise

Friday:Tuna Rapscallions, green salad, green jello

Saturday: still not sure

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Dinner this week...

2010-09-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Is it the middle of September already? I'm planning for Halloween costumes and I bought a butternut squash the other day (the first of the season for me) to make my delicious butternut squash soup.

Here is what we're having for dinner this week:

Monday: Poppyseed chicken over angel hair pasta, peas, fruit salad

Tuesday: Pizza Margherita (didn't end up having this last week)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Zucchini quiche, green salad, fruit

Friday: Garlic shrimp, butternut squash risotto, green salad, homemade crusty bread

Saturday: Dinner at church

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Living Room Mini-Makeover

2010-09-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Husband and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in November. That got me wondering if it might be time to take down our wedding picture so prominently displayed in the living room and put up some pictures of the things that have come along since then...namely our three little girls!

I finally decided to get down to business and put up some pictures. I went to Michael's to take advantage of their great sale: all frames are 40% off plus there is a coupon from Sunday's paper for an extra 25% off frames! I took all three of my babes with me to pick out the frames. I also picked up some supplies to make a letter "J" for the wall as well. Total cost for four frames, wooden letter and supplies was about 60 bucks.

Here is the before (simple, but a little blah):

And here is the after:

I already had the "family" sign up on another wall. I also already had the three-picture collage frame holding newborn pictures of my twins. I made the "J" with some scrapbook paper and modge podge on a wooden letter. Most of the pictures were taken by my friend Shannon Montez (if you are in need of a photographer in the Bay Area, you should totally check out her website.)

I just love it. It was a bit of an undertaking trying to get it all together but it was worth it. I ended up also getting rid of some clutter from around the living room to make it look a little more "brand new".

The room feels so much more pulled together now. It helps remind me that the house is not just for the kiddos. : )

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-09-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

Check out the goodies available this week in Finney's Friday Free Stuff:

one free 12 ounce bag of Galaxy Granola
one free Polly Foot Primer from Foot Candy in Walnut Creek

For more information on to where to send your self-addressed, stamped envelope, click here.

Per Finney's website, Free Stuff offers are only available to viewers of KGO-TV. Sorry to my friends outside of the Bay Area.

Dinner this week...

2010-09-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Monday: BBQ with family (Happy Labor Day!)

Tuesday: ?

Wednesday: Crockpot chicken masterpiece over rice, green salad, jello

Thursday: Dinner swap surprise

Friday: ?

Saturday: Pizza Margherita

Sunday: Leftovers

I'm working on planning out the month's menu. I think it helps with grocery shopping to have a better idea of what the future brings. : )

What are you having for dinner this week?

Whole Foods' Grass Fed Beef Sale

2010-09-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

My neighborhood Whole Foods will have ground grass-fed beef on sale this Friday, September 3rd. $3.99 per pound is a super great price for this. That is about my stock up price for Whole Foods "regular" ground beef. Check to see if your Whole Foods store is participating in this sale...and then stock up!

Quarterly Cash Out

2010-09-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Normally I "cash in" my earnings from surveys and swagbucks once per quarter. It makes it a little bit more fun to get a big check, doesn't it? Well this past quarter I have been a little too busy to do many surveys...I don't have anything to cash in!

I do have some swagbucks that I will convert to Amazon giftcards (totaling $25), which is nothing to sniff at, but this is the lowest cash out that I've had in a long time! I guess it's time to do a few more surveys.

I know what I've been doing with that time, though. I've been trying to get a little bit more organized every day. And I'm still so tired because the littlest one still eats in the night. {I know!} I'm trying to play with my little ones and keep them from destroying the house. Three kids under three sure make a BIG mess.

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-08-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

This week in Finney's Friday Free Stuff:

Coupon for a free Philly Cheesesteak Burger from Carl's Jr.
Coupon for a free coffee candy bon-bon bar from the Bon Bon Bar in SF

For info on where to send your self-addressed, stamped envelope, go here.

Per Finney's website, all offers are available only to viewers of KGO-TV. Sorry to my friends outside the Bay Area.

For more on Finney's Friday Free Stuff and to see what other goodies he's offered, click here.

Dinner this week...

2010-08-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

The end of August. Where did the summer go? My goodness. September is already here. In the Bay Area, that means another month of summer temperatures...usually. We shall see.

Last week, I made PW's Shrimp Pasta in a Foil Package. It was so delicious. I enjoyed the leftovers for my lunches. Yum, yum. So this week, I'm turning to PW for inspiration again since I've got a leek and some bacon and goat cheese in my fridge.

Here's what we are having for dinner this week:

Monday: Chinese Chicken Salad, fruit

Tuesday: PW's Potato-Leek Pizza, watermelon

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: For dinner swap this week, I'm making my chicken enchiladas, rice, salad, and Jane's homemade frozen yogurt for dessert.

Friday: Ham and cheese paninis, butternut squash soup

Saturday: I'll figure something out when it gets closer.

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Shopping for Me!

2010-08-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

My closet has been so sad lately. Clothes stained by toddler tears and sticky-handed hugs, pulled out of shape by a nursing babe and little ones wanting attention. Getting dressed has become a dilemma: dress for battle with the kiddos or dress for the hot mama that I hope still lives inside me?

Earlier this week, I cleared out some items that no longer fit, flatter, or (as Pioneer Woman would say) make my skirt fly up. Then I found out that Gap was having their "Give and Get" sale (formerly known as "Friends and Family") this weekend and I could give my closet the boost it needed for a lot less moola.

I decided to check out the Gilroy outlets (since the Gap coupon works there, too) and took my three babes with me. Though they made difficult work of my closet boosting assignment (it is so hard to think "hot mama" when little ones are wrestling with mannequins), I did get some deals that will make getting dressed a whole lot more fun.

J. Crew Outlet was my first stop and I picked up two pairs of corduroy pants for $39 each. They fit like they were made for me; I couldn't pass them up.

At Gap, they didn't have too much for the kiddos, which made me sad. I really wanted to get them some cute fall clothes. I found a lot for me; their women's section is huge. I limited myself to one knit cardigan ($24.99 before my 30% discount) and my deal of the day: a pair of Long and Lean jeans ($27.99 before my discount). When I pulled on the jeans in the dressing room, I actually said "hello, old friend". They fit me that well.

I hope to check out Gap and Old Navy tomorrow to see if there is anything else I can't live without. I am bummed that this coupon only works in store: I really prefer to shop fromGap and Old Navy online, but I'll take what I can get.

To get your own coupon for the Give and Get event, just google "Gap Give and Get August 2010" and you should be able to print one out. And don't worry if you can't make it out this weekend; if history repeats itself, Gap will do another Give and Get event close to Christmas time.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-08-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

I received my July rebate check from Rite Aid this week for $12.99. That's a big boost from the past few rebate checks I've received!

This week's deposit:

$12.99 from Rite Aid Single Check Rebates

That brings my total up to $268.47 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Mommy's Junior Pre-school

2010-08-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have started "home schooling" my twins. Now, they are not even three years old, so I don't really consider it "school" but I wanted to have some regular time set aside to help them start to recognize letters, shapes, numbers, etc.

I've been doing a modified "Letter of the Week" curriculum. I choose one letter and focus on that for the week, working in other ways to also focus on colors (which they know really well) and shapes (not as well) and numbers (ditto).

This is only our second week, so I don't have a whole lot to report, but the girls are really enjoying it. Last week we did the letter "A". We colored a picture of an alligator, matched ants with a big "A" and little "a", made a 3D apple, and did a gospel lesson about Adam and Eve.

And now is a great time to stock up on supplies for our home school. Yesterday I went to Target and found some foam 1" blocks for counting and building shapes: a bag of 50 blocks was $1. They also had little dry erase boards for $1 each. I thought those would be great for helping them down the road a bit practice their writing. I've also picked up washable markers ($2 each at Target), glue sticks (25 cents for 2), white glue (20 cents each), and scissors (50 cents for 2 pairs).

There are also tons of places online to find worksheets and cute ideas. Some I've found so far:

It is bringing a little more order to our household and the girls love learning and playing.

Dinner this week...

2010-08-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Basically the last week of the month. Summer is winding down (did we even really have a summer here in the Bay Area?). The grocery budget is getting slim. Let's see what we've got cooking this week, shall we?

Monday: Rotisserie chicken, carrot souffle, green salad
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Pioneer Woman's Shrimp Pasta in Foil, salad, homemade french bread
Thursday: Dinner Swap Surprise
Friday: Church Activity, but I do need to bring a side dish. I might bring my sister's famous Ascini di Pepe salad. I've never tried to make it on my own!
Saturday: Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken, yellow squash, fruit salad, and biscuits. (We didn't get around to having this last week.)
Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was my first time with no deposits to report! : ( But we are back on track this week since I received my Big Fat Check from Ebates.

Have you been using Ebates? I never make a purchase online unless I check Ebates first to make sure I can't get some cash back. Even if it's a few cents, all those pennies and nickels eventually add up! There are no fees to join and you only need to earn $5.01 in a quarter to receive your check. Click here if you'd like to sign up for Ebates.

This week's deposit:

$10.67 from Ebates

That brings my total up to $255.48 saved since May 1st! One quarter of the way to my $1000 goal!

Traveling with Kids: Wine Country, Part 2

2010-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

We decided to rent a house for our trip to Napa. I found ours on VRBO.com (which has listings all over the world!). Traveling with kids changes your priorities about what you need when you travel. I knew I wanted a house because:

I wanted the kids to sleep in a separate room from me. They sleep better that way, so everyone sleeps better that way.
I wanted the extra space to spread out.
A backyard would be a great place for the kids to play.
A kitchen makes it so much easier not only for meals, but also for snacks. : )
It's more private/you don't have to worry that your crying baby is keeping up the neighbors.

Our little house was a 2 bedroom/1 bath but it had a little sitting room with a daybed, so it kind of worked out to be 3 bedrooms for us. One of the twins slept on the daybed, the other in her own queen bed, and the baby was in a pack and play in our room.

Some vacation rentals offer extra perks, like stocking your fridge with light breakfast food. Ours didn't do that, but we did have bikes in the garage that we could take out and we also had bathrobes in the closets.

Another bonus about vacation rentals is that the owners usually love the area and know almost everything there is to know. Our owners had several binders with different subjects: where to eat, what to do, etc. Our kitchen had cookbooks, many with local flavors and recipes.

If we do decide to stay in a hotel next time, I might check out the Embassy Suites on California Ave. I drove past it on my way to the grocery store, and it looked pretty nice.

If you are going to Wine Country without kids, I must recommend staying at The Cottage in the Vines. It is a one bedroom guest house in Sonoma. The owners are so friendly and take such good care of you. They delivered breakfast outside our door each morning, which we ate out on the deck overlooking their vineyard. I was unable to find their website, so maybe they are not renting at this time, but you can email them at info@cottageinthevines.com or call 925-216-5881 for more information.

We did not eat out with the kiddos. We decided that we didn't want the headache of it, so I cannot recommend a good place to take little kids. However, I did take the kids to a place for a light lunch. It's called The Little Gourmet (A Kid's Restaurant that's Grown-up Friendly). We got to eat outside. I ordered the girls each a smoothie and we shared a Monte Cristo sandwich. (I am very particular about my Monte Cristo sandwiches. This one was okay, but not what I like in a Monte Cristo. By the way, if you've never had a Monte Cristo, my favorite place to get them is at Bennigan's.)

The first night we ordered pizza from a local place called Papa Joe's. Really good pizza and good value. We ordered a large and had lots of leftovers.

Another night I got a marinated steak from Browns Valley Market in Napa. I also got an eggplant that we grilled with the steak and some stuff to make a salad. This is a nice, locally owned store and it was nice to shop in there. They also have pre-made stuff in their deli that looked yummy and plenty of goodies to make a sandwich. I walked right past the dessert display because I knew I would blow my budget there!

There were some main stream stores not far from our house: Safeway, Target, CVS. We got most of our provisions at Safeway, which kept our costs low. There was also a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods nearby.

One place you don't need to go is Oakville Grocery. It's supposed to be this quaint little grocery with delicious sandwiches and other lunch fare. We stopped there on our way to Sonoma Train Town (which really isn't on the way to Sonoma). I went in, just the twins and me. Just inside the door, I froze: the walls were lined with glass jars filled with delectable (and expensive) vittles for your picnic basket. What was I doing in there with 2 little kids?

I quickly grabbed a sandwich in their pre-made case and an Odwalla smoothie for the girls to share. I picked up licorice from their candy section (although I didn't have any, the girls ended up not eating it and Husband threw the bag away after eating one piece) and then waited for 10 minutes to spend $15 on three big cookies. My total for this lunch? $35. Yes: thirty-five dollars. I was so frazzled with the kids in there that I didn't even blink when she handed me my receipt. I just wanted to get out of there without further incident.

So, skip Oakville Grocery and pick up a lunch for 1/3 of the price at Trader Joe's. It will be just as delicious!

Have you found any great spots to take kids out to eat in Wine Country?

Dinner this week...

2010-08-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit under the weather. This fall-ish weather we're having has brought a little cold into our household! So I'm feeling like putting together a hearty stew and baking up some bread from the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" book that I finally got from the library. We'll see...

Monday: Stew? Homemade french bread?

Tuesday: Spaghetti, green salad

Wednesday: Sandwiches. Maybe chicken paninis.

Thursday: My turn to take dinner to my sister's family. Almond crusted fish, veggies, rice, and marshmallow cookie sandwiches for dessert.

Friday: Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken, yellow squash, green salad, biscuits

Saturday: Quesadillas with grilled veggies, watermelon

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-08-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Each week, Michael Finney shares a freebie on the ABC 7 5pm newscast. This week's free stuff:

Coupon for four free 6-packs of Refreshe soda at Safeway

To find out where to send your self-addressed, stamped envelope, go here.

Per Finney's website, all offers are available only to viewers of ABC 7/KGO news. Sorry to my friends outside of the Bay Area.

Sad eyes

2010-08-10T14:15:00.001-07:00

I had a busy morning. My baby girl had her one year checkup. Then we had park day. Then we had some quick grocery shopping to do. (Note to self: Shopping with all three babes is never "quick"...even when your list has only 5 items.)

I got the cool shopping cart with the car on the front so the twins could entertain themselves while I shopped. I even gave them books to peruse. Somehow, the itch to get out and cause havoc got to them...and it all came to a head at checkout.

It wasn't anything that I haven't been through before: wandering away, picking up every piece of candy at the checkout, touching the self-scanner so it won't work (why do I go through those lines?!), the ONE coupon I had didn't work so I had to rescan all my items (and didn't buy the item with the coupon).

By the time we got out to the car, I was DONE. Get in the car. Get in your seat. Please don't whine. I turned up the music to help drown out the sound of little voices, the pitying and sad glances of passers-by at the grocery store flashing in my mind and making my blood boil a bit.

Sad? Don't be sad for me. Yes, I had a rather arduous trip to the grocery store. But I'm not sad. My life as a mommy is far from glamorous, but I make up for that in payments of kisses and hugs.

It's all about balance: tempering the hard times with the good, blocking out the lack of sleep and the ruined wardrobe and the piles of dirty laundry that lurk around every corner. Replacing those with images of popsicle smiles and snuggling your once-tiny babe into your squishy tummy (who needs rock hard abs?).

Every day the challenge begins anew to love and teach and guide my little ones and take a deep breath when they spill the milk or say "it's mine!" one hundred times.

Sad? No, don't be sad for me.

Food Storage: What to store?

2010-08-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

I know that food storage can seem overwhelming when you don't know what to store. If I could just find a list, then that would be great! Well there are lists, with things like fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. You just need to tailor it to your family.

One really good idea is to write down 10 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, and 5 snacks and desserts that your family enjoys. That way you can see what ingredients your family leans toward. You may have to make adjustments for meals that can be made with only pantry items.

I haven't done this exercise yet, so I'm going to try it:

Bay Area Mommy-nomics Food Storage Menu

Breakfasts:

Oatmeal made with quick oats and evaporated milk, a little bit of brown sugar, and bananas and cinnamon on top. If I didn't have fresh bananas, I'd use frozen blueberries or frozen peaches.
Steel cut oats made with water and a little bit of powdered milk, a splash of vanilla, and topped with jam or maple syrup.
Cold cereal
Pancakes. I make mine from scratch, so I'd need milk or water and eggs along with my dry ingredients.
Toast with peanut butter.
Blueberry Muffins
Pioneer Woman's Egg in a hole
Scrambled eggs with cheese and a little bit of green onions
Waffles
Cinnamon rolls with yogurt and fruit

Lunches:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Egg salad sandwiches
Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup
Quesadillas with grilled vegetables
Macaroni and cheese
Bagels with cream cheese
Smoothies
Scrambled eggs
Chicken salad sandwiches
Soup

Dinners:

Chicken Enchiladas with rice and vegetable
Meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and carrots
Spaghetti with vegetable or fruit on the side
Poppy Seed Chicken with angel hair pasta and peas
Black Bean Burritos
Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries and fruit
Quiche with fruit
Pizza
Chili and cornbread
Hamburgers with sweet potato fries

Snacks

Popcorn
Crackers (wheat thins, Ritz)
Dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries)
Banana bread
Tortilla chips with salsa

Desserts

Chocolate chip cookies
Brownies
Atomic popcorn (super sweet!)
Chocolate pudding
Cupcakes

Whew! That was kind of hard for me! How did you do? Come back week for the next step!

Dinner this week...

2010-08-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Some friends are in town and we are having them over for dinner this week. We've also got leftovers from Baby Girl's first birthday party this weekend. Here's what I've got planned:

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, green salad, jello (as requested by my girls)

Wednesday: Pizza

Thursday: Dinner Swap Surprise

Friday: Garlic shrimp, butternut squash risotto, green salad

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Leftovers

What's on your menu this week?

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-08-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

In this week's Finney's Friday Free Stuff:

Free bag of Attune Probiotic Granola
Coupon for a free dessert from San Francisco's Orson Restaurant

For information on where to send you self-addressed, stamped envelope, click here.

Per Finney's website, free items are available only to viewers of KGO-TV. Sorry to my friends outside of the Bay Area.

Deposit to the European Tour Fund

2010-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

I cashed in several gift cards in July. I'm still using my version of the cash envelope system, so I just deducted each gift card amount from my "cash". Now I'm transferring that money out of my grocery fund and into my European Tour Fund!

This week's deposit:

$10.80 from Visa giftcard I received from Rite Aid SCR
$20.54 from Target giftcard that I found in my wallet. Nice!
$20.51 from Amazon giftcards I cashed in to buy my wipes. Most of that was from money earned doing surveys for Valued Opinions.

That brings my total up to $244.81 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Cage free chicken drumsticks $0.99/lb.

2010-08-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to feed my family healthier food options. That includes eating better meat and dairy products (antibiotic free, hormone free, vegetarian feed, cage free, etc.). That is not always the most wallet-friendly choice, however. And I admit that lately, I've been picking up irresistable deals in the marked-down meats' section of my Safeway.

With a new month comes a recommitment to put my money where my values are. I went to Trader Joe's to pick up some chicken breasts this week. I ended up getting their chicken tenders at $4.99/lb. Ouch.

So I was excited to see the weekly specials from Whole Foods this week include their Rocky Jr. drumsticks (cage-free and antibiotic free) on sale for $0.99/lb. in a value pack. That's my stock up price for drumsticks at Safeway!

There you have it: a healthy choice that doesn't break the bank.

Prices are good from Aug. 4th through Aug. 10th. Check your local store's ad to make sure these prices are available in your area.

Field Trip: Berry picking

2010-08-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I took our kiddos to pick berries at Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport. (Uh, where?) Well, it's between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, tucked away outside the tiny town of Davenport (population: 367).

Swanton Farms has U-pick ollalieberries and strawberries now (although I think ollalieberry season is winding down), blackberries at their Coastaways Ranch, and kiwi in the winter. (How cool is that?)

We started off with the ollalieberries. C just wanted to eat them. They are a little bit of work to get, but oh, so juicy! (You want to pick the black ones, not the red ones, remember.)

Then we headed up a little hill to get some strawberries. Again, C just wanted to loll in the field and eat berries until her little tummy was full.

After we paid for our bounty (ollalieberries were $4/pound and strawberries were $2.50/pound, and everything is organic), we had a little picnic at one of the tables they have there. Finally, we washed the kids up (as best we could) and drove along Highway 1 to head home. Such a beautfiul sight to see the ocean along the way.

What did I do with all those juicy berries? First, I made some ollalieberry jam, courtesy of Swanton Farms' recipe here. Oh my goodness, it is so yummy. I must get myself some ollalieberry plants, stat!

I had fewer strawberries than ollalieberries, but we just ate those as fast as we could: on shortcake, in yogurt, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in smoothies. We picked the bright red little ones. So delicious!

There are several U-Pick farms in the Bay Area. To find one near you, hop over here.

Food Storage: 3 month supply

2010-08-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, I did a little post on food storage 101...an introduction to food storage, if you will. Last week, I did a presentation on food storage for some women in my church. Let me tell you, I learned so much from preparing for that night!

I went through our food storage and calculated that we had about two weeks worth of food and only three days' worth of water. Husband and I talked it over and decided that food storage was very important to us, so we are going to try to have a three month supply, as is suggested by our church leaders.

We determined that we would make a commitment to have 3 months' worth of food storage and two weeks worth of water in six months' time, by February 1st, 2011. I'm sharing this with you so that (a) I can be held accountable for this commitment and (b) maybe you'll get some idea of how this is accomplished.

I am not an expert in this area and am learning a lot as I go, so you are welcome to learn right along with me.

I've divided up what we need to store for each month, although depending on sales, some months I may get more of one thing and less of another. Here is my outline for this month:

Grains (wheat, flour, cornmeal, popcorn, oats, etc.): 49 lbs.
Legumes (beans and lentils): 3.15 lbs.
Powdered milk: 2.3 lbs.
Cooking oil: 0.79 quarts
Sugar or honey: 4.725 lbs.
Salt: 1.16 lbs.
Water: 9 gallons
Canned fruits: 37 cans (these are the 15oz. size)
Dried fruits: 0.75 lbs.
Fruit juice: 3.6 bottles (these are the half gallon size bottles)
Canned vegetables: 37 cans (these are 15oz. again)
Proteins (canned or frozen chicken, tuna, beef, etc.): 19.76 lbs.
Evaporated milk: 43 cans
Processed cheese (powdered and/or frozen): 5.9 lbs.

Now these may seem like crazy numbers to you, and it did to me, too. I got these numbers from a blog called Totally Ready. Our three month supply is supposed to be food that we eat on a regular basis, so I think that as I go through this exercise, I will see more of what we actually eat and can fine tune my storage for our family.

For example, I have a few cans of Manwich sloppy joe sauce. My family loves it and yes, I consider it a vegetable. : ) I also have a freezer in my garage and I have frozen fruits, meats, and vegetables and some grains in there, so I'm counting those items as well as the items in my pantry.

Another example: evaporated milk. 43 cans? I don't think I've even used 1 can in the last 3 months! But I've been reading another amazing website called The Prudent Homemaker and she talks about how you can use evaporated milk for a lot of cooking and it tastes better than powdered milk. I would definitely use it if I had no source of income to buy fresh milk, but I don't think I need that many cans to round out my three month storage.

So we'll see how things go. I'd love to hear how your food storage efforts are going as well!

I also thought I might do a post each week with what I think are good items to add to your pantry (at their best price) to help you fill in the holes in your food storage.

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-08-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Every Friday, Michael Finney shares a freebie or two with those who watch channel 7's five o'clock news. This week's freebies:

One free week of yoga or one free 30 minute Pilates session at Yogaworks Studio

One free individual chocolate fondue from the Melting Pot in San Mateo.

All you need to do is send in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For more information, check it out here.

Dinner this week...

2010-08-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

It's a new month, which always gets me excited to start planning some dinners. I'm trying to plan the whole month out this time. I think it might help me look for some deals ahead of time.

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Pizza bianca with goat cheese, green salad, watermelon

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: My turn to take dinner to my sister's. I'm making Cheesy Chicken, wild rice pilaf, carrots, and whole wheat chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert. Yes, these cookies are healthy and yummy. I like to add M&M's. You know, to make up for the healthy stuff.

Friday: Grilled steak, potato bundles, grilled corn on the cob (6/$1 at Safeway!)

Saturday: Date night. Husband and I are going to have a picnic. I'm going to pick up some treats at Trader Joe's, like cheese and crackers, grapes, and maybe some delicious bread.

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner?

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-07-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

A little housekeeping note: Finney's Friday Free Stuff will now be published on Mondays.

Have you been sending in for your free stuff? I have! However, this week I got one envelope returned to me, but it had been opened, so there was no coupon inside. : ( And, the Safeway ice cream freebie ran out so I got a coupon for a free box of crackers instead. : ( : (

Oh, well. There's always more free stuff on the horizon.

Traveling with kids: Wine Country

2010-07-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off my report on our trip to Napa because I could not find my camera. Lo and behold it has finally resurfaced!

Husband and I took our three little girls to Napa earlier this month. We needed a change of scenery, a break from the day-to-day. Whenever I told people we were going to Napa, they would say, "what are you going to do with the kids"? It seems that Wine Country has gotten a reputation for being an "adult only" destination. But Husband and I aren't wine drinkers, so we were looking for alternative forms of entertainment anyway.

After lots of research, I made a list of potential spots we could visit and then we just played it by ear each day. So where did we end up?

We crossed over into the Valley of the Moon and visited Sonoma Train Town, which was just perfect for our little crew. They have a scaled-down train that travels a delightful little track through tunnels (S loved that part), over bridges, and past waterfalls.

Your train ride stops part way at a little town where they have a petting zoo set up and a town that's built at half-scale.

After the train ride, we bought tickets for some of the rides (5 tickets for $10, or $2.50 each). Each ride is one ticket. I rode the ferris wheel with the twins. Let's just say that once I got to the top I realized why I wasn't so keen on riding with two wiggly two year olds! But S had been dying to ride the ferris wheel since she saw one on the Fox and the Hound 2 and when she couldn't ride the ferris wheel at the Alameda County Fair because she was too little, she was devastated.

The girls then rode a Dumbo-like airplane ride. There was also a carousel and a little roller coaster. Thomas the Train Engine fans will love the little depot where all the trains are housed.

Summary: Good for little kids (under 5 is best, but kids up to 10 would probably like it). Not too expensive at $4.50 each to ride the train (babes under 1 year are free). You can see everything in about an hour or two.

We left the Train Town and picked up some Slurpees at a 7-11, then headed towards Sonoma's town square. There's a playground and a little duck pond. The town square is my favorite thing about Sonoma. It is so cute with fun shops and restaurants, although I wouldn't take my little kids into any of them!

Another day we headed up to the tiny town of Glen Ellen to swim in Morton's Warm Springs. It is a bit of a drive, but the layout of the "resort" is nice. There are three pools: one about 6 inches deep for babes. It is big enough for lots of little ones. The second pool has a shallow end about 2 1/2 feet deep and the deep end is about 3 1/2 or 4 feet deep. One of my twins went in there with Husband and loved that she could stand up in the water. The third pool is big and deep enough for the big kids.

They have a little snack shack with your regular "shack" fare of hot dogs, pizza, and ice cream. I forgot to pack swim diapers and they had them for sale there.

Summary: It is a little bit expensive ($8 for adults, $7 for children over 1 year), but if you were going to spend the day there, it would be worth it. It is a lot less than the other natural springs pools (Calistoga is $25 per person over $1). This would be super fun for a big group with the picnic area and different pools: something for everyone at Morton's.

Other places on my list that we didn't get to this time...

Napa:

Napa Firefighters Museum in downtown Napa. I actually walked past this when it was closed and it looked pretty cool, though not for my under 3 crowd. I think I would wait until the kids are 5 to take them here, unless they listen when you say "don't touch". It is a very small museum, so it would be fun to stop in if you are exploring downtown with your little ones.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. I didn't get to see this, but it sounded cool. The park supposedly has lots of picnic tables and playground equipment with a trail that winds along the Napa River.

Calistoga:

Old Faithful Geyser. We didn't hit this one for two reasons: (1) it would have been $8 per adult and (2) we were worried about keeping our little ones far enough away from the spewing hot water. Maybe in a few years.
Sharpsteen Museum. A cool museum for little ones about the history of the Napa Valley with exhibits that change often. Admission is free.
Pioneer Park is across the street from the museum and has a gazebo, picnic tables, and climbing structures. There is also a stream to play in. It just sounded so quaint to me.

Santa Rosa:

A bit of a drive, but still considered part of wine country, we wanted to visit Santa Rosa as Husband had briefly considered a job opportunity there. We didn't get to make it this time, but I really want to check out Howarth Memorial Park. Apparently they have a playground, pony rides, petting zoo, merry go round, and miniature train. They also have a splash pad and ice cream shop, which sounds perfect for the summer time! What sounded really fun were the teepee huts and an "extensive kid-sized Old West town". We're definitely going to try to work that one in next time!

Have any of you found a great place to take kids in the Wine Country?

Tune in next week for more on where we stayed and what we ate in Wine Country!

Deposit to the European Tour Fund

2010-07-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Two rebates this week. One is from Rite Aid. The other is from Gerber (remember this?). Here's this week's deposit:

$2.00 June rebate check from Rite Aid
$2.50 rebate check from Gerber "Try Me Free"

That brings my total up to $192.96 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Dinner this week...

2010-07-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

It's the end of the month and it feels like it is going to be a busy week. I'm giving a presentation on emergency preparedness/food storage at my church this week, so I've been doing a lot of research for that. It's also my littlest one's first birthday next week and I'm making party preparations! I'm all about keeping it simple, thus the frequent use of leftovers on the menu.

What we are having for dinner this week:

Monday: Stuffed shells with marinara sauce, green salad, garlic bread

Tuesday: I'm thinking of doing a roast in the crockpot. (tonight, if you're interested!)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Dinner Swap Surprise

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: I never made that pizza I mentioned last week. I think we'll do that tonight.

Sunday: Leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-07-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

In this Friday's Free Stuff:

one free large Real Fruit Smoothie from McDonald's
one free Cobb Salad from the Royal Exchange in San Francisco

For more information on where to send you self-addressed stamped envelope, click here.

Per Finney's website, Finney's Friday Free Stuff is only available to ABC7 viewers. Sorry to my friends outside the Bay Area!

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-07-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

This week I received a check from Kraft for the rebate they had in the Back to School coupon book. (You could submit a rebate for 2009 and 2010.) My check was for $20, which brings my total up to $188.46 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Save on baby supplies at Amazon

2010-07-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried using Amazon to get your diapers and wipes? Amazon offers a 15% discount when you sign up for their "Subscribe & Save" service, which signs you up for automatic deliveries every 1, 3 or 6 months. The great thing is that you can change your delivery frequency at anytime...or even cancel it altogether.

Right now, Amazon is offering an additional 15% off their already marked down price, making their Subscribe & Save option even better.

I just ordered two boxes of Huggies wipes through Subscribe & Save. Each box had 3 refills with 216 wipes in each refill. After discounts, each box cost me only $12.16! I used a giftcard I earned taking surveys to lower my out of pocket expense. Nice!

Shipping is free for Subscribe & Save items, so you don't have to meet the $25 quota they normally reserve for free shipping.

***Update: I just checked the price on these and it has gone up to $14.22, which is still a great deal at 2 cents per wipe. Amazon's prices do tend to fluctuate. The Pampers wipes are actually a better deal right now at $13.47 for 720 wipes or 1.87 cents per wipe.

Bed Bath & Savings Beyond

2010-07-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine works at Bed Bath & Beyond and told me a few little known facts:

You can use expired 20% off coupons (you know, the ones you seem to get all the time until you actually want to use one)
You can use more than one 20% off coupon in one transaction. In fact, you can use one 20% off coupon for each item in your transaction.
If you don't have a coupon at the time of purchase, you can come back with your receipt and your coupon and get a price adjustment...whenever! There is no time limit!

So earlier in the year, I bought two new slipcovers for our couches at Bed Bath and Beyond without a coupon {gasp!}. (For shame, I know.) Then my friend told me about the little known facts above. After misplacing the receipt and miraculously finding it after cleaning out my junk drawer, I decided to put it to the test.

Today I took my receipt and two 20% off coupons (one of which was way expired) to get my price adjustment. And guess what...I walked out with $40 some odd dollars back on my Visa card. Suh-weet.

I was feeling so great about how smart I was when I walked out into the parking lot only to see that I had left one of the sliding car doors open. Doh! Oh well. I guess you can't win them all. : )

So check your filing system for old BB&B receipts and see if you can make some money out of nothing today!

Dinner this week...

2010-07-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have some repeats this week because last week was still a little up in the air, planning-wise. The beans I was supposed to make DID NOT turn out. It's not PW's recipe, this is the third time I have tried to make beans "from scratch" and it didn't turn out any of those times, so I'm stumped. Any suggestions would be great!

Monday: Spinach & onion quesadillas

Tuesday: BLT's

Wednesday: Spaghetti night, green salad, maybe some garlic bread

Thursday: My turn to take dinner to my sister...still thinking about that one...

Friday: Chicken paninis?

Saturday: Tacos in the slow cooker

Sunday: Dinner at my parents' (didn't go last Sunday, but definitely going this Sunday)

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-07-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Living in the Bay Area, surely you've heard of Michael Finney from Channel 7's "7 on your side". Did you know that every Friday in the 5pm newscast, Michael Finney offers his "Finney's Friday Free Stuff"? It's completely free, all you have to do is mail in a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

I've gotten a few of these great free things, including a free large, one-topping Papa Murphy's Pizza and a coupon for a free frozen appetizer from Safeway.

Each Friday, I'll post the details on Finney's Friday Free Stuff for the week. This week's offers are:

Free Hunt's tomato product

Free Safeway Select 1/2 gallon of ice cream

Click here for information on where to send your SASE.

Per Finney's website, offers are available to ABC7 viewers only. (Sorry to my friends out of the Bay Area.)

Traveling with kids: Sacramento, part 2

2010-07-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I talked about my trip to Sacramento and highlighted some fun places to take the kids. Today I'm finishing up by sharing where you could stay and some kid-friendly eating establishments, if you're planning a trip to our state's capitol.

Where to stay: There are lots of hotels in the area, with all different pricepoints. We chose to stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites in West Sacramento. Each party got a king-sized studio suite, which was very nice. We got a crib for the baby, and put it kind of in the closet, so it was out of the way and a little more quiet. The twins slept on the pull out sofa and Husband and I got to sleep in a king bed. The room had a mini-fridge, microwave, coffee maker and a little sink. It was right off the freeway, but not so close that you heard all the cars.

On the other side of the freeway, there was a large shopping center with a Super Wal-Mart and lots of restaurants, including Chipotle (which is where we got dinner one night). We almost went to the In-N-Out Burger right across the street from the hotel, too.

We spent lots of time in the swimming pool. We also enjoyed the complimentary breakfast: muffins, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, and make your own waffle (just to name a few items). The room was very nice and for less than $100/night, I thought this was a great deal.

Where to eat: Finding a kid-friendly restaurant seems to be the most difficult trick of all. I'm not an expert on Sacramento (in fact, this was my first visit there!), but I can share with you the two places we went out to eat with the kids.

Logan's Roadhouse: with the music blaring and the peanut shells on the floor, no one will complain when your kids are screaming or the make a huge mess. I ordered the half rack of ribs with a baked sweet potato. So good. In fact, probably the best ribs I've ever had. And the rolls...oh my goodness. My kids each ate a whole roll and I ate 4...and then I lost count. Warm and floury goodness, those rolls. The juke box is free and the atmosphere is laid back.

Kids' menu: I ordered mac & cheese for one of the twins and chicken tenders for the other with french fries and cinnamon apples (I split these between the two). They got milk to drink. The girls ate a decent amount, but it was a little hard to concentrate with so much going on.

Joe's Crab Shack: This was the most fun I've had at a restaurant in a long time. There's loud music (again) and this location (in Old Sacramento) had an awesome view of the river. I ordered the snow crab (with garlic and herbs), which comes with new potatoes and corn on the cob. It was a little bit of work, especially with the kidlets getting antsy, but it was so, so good. And be sure to try the Crazy-Good Crab Dip. It definitely lives up to its name.

Kids' menu: I liked the selection on their kids' menu. I ordered Cheesy Mac for one twin(again...hey, she loves cheesy noodles) and pizza for the other with applesauce for both this time and milk to drink. The portions were plenty big enough for big kids. My hungry little one ate almost the whole huge piece of pizza! I fed some of the applesauce to the tiny babe.

We were there a long time. It was a little slow because it was 4th of July weekend on Saturday at lunchtime. The servers danced twice, which was really fun. My brother-in-law and I actually got up to join them for part of the second song. Definitely some good times!

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-07-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

I received three checks for completing surveys this week. All three were from Pinecone Research, which I love because they always pay promptly and I sometimes get to try out some cool stuff.

$9.00 in checks from completing Pinecone Research surveys

That brings my total up to saved $168.46 since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Traveling with kids: Sacramento

2010-07-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, my brother met up with our family in Sacramento for a mini-reunion. Since our group had four kids 4 and under (plus 2 babies), we decided to make it a "kid-focused" trip.

Our first stop was Fairytale Town. I was really excited about this little place. Size-wise, it was perfect for our group. We didn't get separated too easily and when we did, it was fairly easy to track the others down. We arrived right before closing time, although they will let you stay an hour after closing time if you are already in the park. My sister had a coupon for 20% off that she printed from the Entertainment Book, and all but one of the kids were free, so our group got in for a pretty good price.

The downside to going at closing time is that all the animals had already been put away. Bummer. We could peek at a few of them in their cages, but that wasn't quite as exciting.

The biggest hit of the park? There were two: the treehouse slide, which my nephew desperately wanted to tackle head first, and the Crooked Mile. My girls walked that crooked mile half a dozen times and were not one bit tired of it!

Summary: Great for little kids (under 5). Perfect price, especially for going with bigger groups. You can easily see everything in about an hour or so, perfect for those short attention spans.

The next day we hit the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. We didn't get in to the museum because the train was leaving. It's an actual train that takes you on a 40 minute ride along the river. We were on the first train of the day and it was a little crowded, but nice to be able to just sit. All the kids were good about staying in their seats. The train does stop at the halfway point and turn around, so you're free to get up and walk around during that stretch, which is good for the kids.

Old Sacramento is so cute. They have lots of different shops (especially candy shops) and even in the heat of the day, the shaded sidewalks are nice to walk down. We stopped to get an ice cream bar from one of the stores as we took in the sights.

Summary: A must see. Great for all ages. You can gauge this to suit your budget. Train rides are $9 per person, with kids under 5 free and kids 6-17 for $4. The same prices apply to a visit to the museum. Even if you don't ride the train, it's fun to walk around downtown and see the train leaving from the depot. Several people are dressed in period costume, which is always fun. There is paid parking at the nearby garage, but several stores and restaurants offer validation.

Tune in tomorrow for more on my Sacramento trip, including where to stay and eat.

Dinner this week...

2010-07-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

No more traveling...it's time to get back into the regular old routine. I'm actually looking forward to that! Since we spent a little extra money on our recent trips, I've got a hankering for some basic eats. Here's what we're having for dinner this week:

Monday: Dinner Swap Surprise (I am really grateful for this since my cupboards seem a tad bare.)

Tuesday: Bruschetta and watermelon

Wednesday: Pioneer Woman's beans and cornbread

Thursday: Fish tacos, fruit salad

Friday: Spinach and onion quesadillas (so simple but they are really good!) and maybe a light salad on the side, either something with strawberries or oranges.

Saturday: Homemade pizza night. Jane posted a suggestion for pizza that sounded really yummy.

Sunday: Dinner at my parents' house

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-07-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Did you know that every Friday in the 5pm newscast, Michael Finney offers his "Finney's Friday Free Stuff"? It's completely free, all you have to do is mail in a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

I've gotten a few of these great free things, including a free large, one-topping Papa Murphy's Pizza and a coupon for a free frozen appetizer from Safeway.

Each Friday, I'll post the details on Finney's Friday Free Stuff for the week. This week's offers are:

Free Chiquita Fruit Crushie, available fora limited time in certain Bay Area Safeway stores(click here to download your coupon)

Two free weeks at Crunch plus two personal training or Pilates sessions. (go here to fill out the form for your guest pass)

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-07-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

This week I'm depositing the extra money I saved from June's grocery budget. I cashed in some Swagbucks for $25 in Amazon giftcards and used those to order some diapers early in the month. I took that $25 in "cash" out of my weekly envelope so I wouldn't spend it.

I also got a $35 pre-paid Visa from Rite Aid for one of the rebates from April (I think). I used that on some of my purchases and took out that "cash" from my envelope, too.

So here's my deposit for today:

$25.00 from Amazon giftcards/Swagbucks
$24.20 from money spent on pre-paid Visa

That brings my total up to $159.46 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Dinner this week...

2010-07-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

This week we've returned from one vacation and are leaving again, so we'll be keeping it simple.

Monday: Dinner out at the Alameda County Fair! Most likely something on a stick.

Tuesday: Taking dinner to my sister's: White Chili Casserole, Ina's Fresh Corn Salad, watermelon wedges, and Prudence Pennywise's Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Raspberry Bars for dessert (except I used homemade strawberry jam instead of raspberry)

Wednesday: Clean out the fridge...maybe quesadillas

Thursday: Vacation in Napa. Eating out.

Friday: More vacationing in Napa. Find something yummy to cook at the house.

Saturday: Still vacationing in Napa. Eat out or cook? We'll decide on the fly.

Sunday: Coming home to an empty fridge (again!). More sandwiches?

Hopefully I'll have a more exciting menu for you next week. What about you? What's for dinner?

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-07-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know that every Friday in the 5pm newscast, Michael Finney offers his "Finney's Friday Free Stuff"? It's completely free, all you have to do is mail in a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

I've gotten a few of these great free things, including a free large, one-topping Papa Murphy's Pizza and a coupon for a free frozen appetizer from Safeway.

Each Friday, I'll post the details on Finney's Friday Free Stuff for the week. There is nothing to send away for this week, but the freebies Finney mentioned were:

Buy one, get one free any barista beverage at Tully's coffe July 2nd-July 5th
Kids eat free at Ikea through July 5th (no adult purchase necessary)
Free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's for volunteering (see info here)

Cash Envelope Experiment Update: June Report

2010-07-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

According to our Microsoft Money software, I was under our grocery budget by $22.49, which is really great. It's actually more than that because I have a little bit of cash in my wallet that I'll use next month, so it will all filter through in the end.

I attribute my success to the cash envelope experiment. I wrote down each receipt total and then would take the "cash" out of my envelope so that I could actually see how much I had left. I always rounded up, so I think I saved around $3 in spare change alone.

Most importantly, I had to weigh my purchases more carefully: do I really need this? If I buy this, then I won't have enough money to buy that...is that okay? What's the best way to stretch my money this week/trip/etc.? Don't assume that it was time consuming because it wasn't. It was just a little reminder every few days that someone is watching you. (In a good way, of course.)

I don't quite feel ready to move on to real cash only...yet. I like my credit card rewards (especially at Costco) and the ease of swiping a card when you have three crowing birds in your shopping cart really cannot be overstated.

At the outset of this experiment, I said that I would put whatever was leftover from my grocery budget into my European Tour Fund. Husband is not convinced of this idea. We do have miscellaneous expenses that crop up (like dance class or other things that you don't necessarily budget for) and my scrimping equals a little more saving in other departments, so that's fine with me.

Don't worry: I've still got some tricks up my sleeve to infuse some cash into my fund.

I am really excited to get into July's budget and start saving away. I just need to sort out my Monopoly money first.

Deposit to European Tour Fund: My first $100!!!

2010-07-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have two items to deposit this week:

I received my May rebate check from Rite Aid for $2.00.
I also got some money for my birthday (June 17th). I thought about how much of my birthday money to set aside for my European Tour Fund and I decided on $31.00 (since I just turned 31!).

These deposits bring my total up to $110.26. I've reached my first hundred dollars in my fund!

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Where to take the kids around the Bay: Oak Meadow Park

2010-07-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the cool places around the Bay to take the little ones. Kids are out of school and there's suddenly nothing to do! Since I'm in the South Bay, I have more experience down here, but I'd love to hear about other places nearby, too.

Last week I took my kids to Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. There are two playground areas (one for bigger kids and one for toddlers) that include an actual airplane and firetruck. It's pretty cool. What I love about this park is that they have a carousel and a train ride. Kids 2 and under ride free on both. Ages 3 and up are only $2 each per ride. During the summer (June 15 though Labor Day), the train and carousel run daily 10:30am to 4:30pm.

My girls loved the train ride and every time they ride the carousel they say it's just like Mary Poppins! : ) After our carousel ride, we stopped by the little snack shack and each girl got a "snowball" (a snowcone) for only $1 each. They have hot dogs, popcorn, and drinks and I think everything is $1.

Saturday, July 10th is the carousel's 100th anniversary. They'll have lots of fun activities for all ages from 11am to 2pm.

There's a big open field for those little ones who like to run and Oak Meadow Park is connected to Vasona Park by walking/biking trails. There are geese and ducks by the lake and there are several beautiful picnic areas.

Sometimes there is a parking fee at Oak Meadow Park and almost always at Vasona.

I feel like I'm stepping back into a simpler time whenver I visit this park. It is so beautiful, really well-taken care of, and all the guests really enjoy themselves. The staff is great at the carousel and the train. Its proximity to the cute shops and yummy restaurants of downtown Los Gatos doesn't hurt either. : )

...so you can rest medicine

2010-06-30T13:26:00.001-07:00

Saturday I came down with some kind of cold. I tried to push through it, especially since Husband left before the dawn on Sunday for a work trip to the city of brotherly love. No matter how I've tried to ignore my sinuses, the cold lingers.

As I lay in my empty California king bed last night, my eyes burning from my inflamed sinuses, I thought about what would really make me feel better: more sleep? someone to take the kids for even an hour? That old Nyquil commercial popped into my head and thought I'd come up with one of my own version. Because, the regular Nyquil wouldn't do much for me (in fact, it always keeps me awake...go figure).

Introducing Bay Area Mommy-Nomic's Super Nyquil for Sick Mommies:

The sniffling,
sneezing,
sore throat,
achy,
fever reducing,
toddler muting,
wet nurse for crying babies,
crisp sheeted bed in a quiet room with only the sound of the rain on the roof,
dishes done,
laundry folded,
dinner cooked and children fed,
babies bathed and dressed for bed,
deliver your favorite breakfast in bed after letting you sleep in as long as you wanted,
so you can get your rest
medicine.

Now that's not too much to ask, is it? : )

July 4th Summer Sale at Gilroy Outlets

2010-06-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

Did yesterday's post whet your appetite for some outlet shopping? It got me thinking about how long it's been since I've stopped in to check out all the great deals they always seem to have there.

If you're going to be in the South Bay, Gilroy Outlets is celebrating July 4th with their annual summer sale. On top of the discounts I mentioned at Gap and Banana Republic, several other stores will have some pretty great deals, such as:

BCBG Max Azria: 30% to 50% off
Book Warehouse: 10% off your entire purchase July 2-5
Champion: Entire store is 40% through July 11
Ann Taylor Factory Store: Entire store is 40% off lowest ticketed price through July 6
Carters': $3.99 clearance sale through July 7
Coldwater Creek: 40% off Storewide Sale through July 11
Eddie Bauer: Super Sale with savings of 20% to 70% through July 13
J. Crew: 40% off all women's footwear and accessories, graphic tees, Jackie cardigans, and denim through July 7, Kids' flip flops $6.99
Lucky Brand: 25% off lowest price July 1-5, 30% off your purchase July 10-11, and denim is buy 2, get 1 free July 15-18
OshKosh B'gosh: Clearance sale through July 7

For more July 4th weekend deals, check it out here. While you're at the website, sign up for the VIP Shopper Club. You'll get extra coupons and updates on sales and special events at the outlets.

With over 145 shops, you are definitely sure to find a deal! And I never make a trip to the Gilroy Outlets without picking up a caramel apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. In fact, I'm craving an apple pie one right about now.

Outlet shopping this weekend

2010-06-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Does the upcoming holiday weekend make you think "shopping"? Well here's a way to make your money go a little further at Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Stores. July 1-6, Gap Outlet is having a big sale, with up to 70% off original prices. Banana Republic Factory Stores are advertising 40% off everything in the store.

In this past Sunday's USA Weekend, there was a full page ad about the sales, with two coupons attached. One is for 15% off your Gap Outlet purchase of $75 or more and the other is 15% off your Banana Republic Factory Store purchase of $100 or more. This could work out to be a pretty great deal if you need to stock up on some summer clothes for the kids (and maybe something for yourself, too).

Not sure if there's an outlet store nearby? Gap and Banana Republic have Outlet stores in the following Bay Area cities:

Milpitas (Great Mall of the Bay Area): Gap and Banana Republic
Gilroy (Gilroy Premium Outlets): Gap and Banana Republic
San Leandro (Marina Square): Gap only
Tracy (Tracy Outlets): Gap only
Napa (Napa Premium Outlets): Gap and Banana Republic
Vacaville (Vacaville Premium Outlets): Gap and Banana Republic
Petaluma (Petaluma Village): Gap and Banana Republic
Folsom (Folsom Premium Outlets): Gap and Banana Republic

Traveling outside the Bay Area for the holiday? Check here for more outlet locations.

Dinner this week...

2010-06-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

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It's the last week of the month and I'm finally coming up with a menu plan? I guess that gives you an idea of what it's been like around here. Crazy and more crazy. I think it's the good kind of crazy, though.

Monday: Dinner with my parents.

Tuesday: Dinner Swap Surprise (It's my sister's week to bring dinner over.)

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner, probably blueberry pancakes or waffles

Thursday: Rotisserie chicken from Costco, carrot souffle, and green salad

Friday: We'll be in Sacramento, going out to dinner with family.

Saturday: Ditto.

Sunday: Coming home to an empty fridge. Probably sandwiches.

Super Savings Saturday

2010-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

I was feeling the crunch this week. We were supposed to have guests over for dinner Saturday night, but they ended up not being able to make it. Instead of scratching my head over how I was going to feed their family and ours with the $14 I had left for the week, now I was able to see what I could get to carry us through to next week. Here's what I ended up with today:

The picture above is of my combined shopping trips to Safeway and Smart & Final Extra. At Safeway I got:

2 bags Baby Goldfish crackers $0.88 each. Used $0.50 e-coupon (from shortcuts) and two $0.50 internet coupons here.
Goldfish graham snacks $0.88. Used $0.75 e-coupon (from shortcuts).
2 Lucerne cream chese $0.99 each. Used $1/2 coupon from the Dairy booklet they had up in the Safeway stores over the last few weeks.
Lucerne string cheese $1.50. Used $1 catalina I got from a previous purchase. (It also printed out a $1/2 string cheese catalina for me that I'll most likely use next week.)
Tropicana OJ $3.99. Used free item coupon.
Yoplait Fiber One yogurt $2.00. Used $1 e-coupon and $1 internet coupon. (It should have taken off two e-coupons, but at least it was still free. Oh well.)
Gallon milk $2.59

My total at Safeway: $4.46 (I saved $18.66 or 81%!)

I just discovered there was a Smart & Final nearby. At Smart & Final Extra, they have the mini-warehouse stuff, but it caters more towards super markey shoppers. There is more produce and more grocery store type items (smaller packages). Check here to see if there's a Smart & Final Extra in your neighborhood. There I picked up:

5 bananas $0.59/lb. = $1.21
3 Roma tomatoes $0.59/lb. = $0.45
1.8lbs. red grapes $0.69/lb. = $1.26
5 Nectarines $0.79/lb. = $1.17
Seedless watermelon $2.99

My total at Smart & Final Extra: $7.08 (I saved $5.08 or 42% without using any coupons.)

My total for the picture above was $11.54. The best part? I was under my budget by $2.46. Not a ton, but pretty good considering I started the week at $30 less than usual because I went over so much last week. (See more about my cash envelope experiment here.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go fix myself a little fruit salad. : )

Finney's Friday Free Stuff

2010-06-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a few of these great free things, including a free large, one-topping Papa Murphy's Pizza and a coupon for a free frozen appetizer from Safeway.

Each Friday, I'll post the details on Finney's Friday Free Stuff for the week. This week:

Large McDonald's Frappe
Eating Right Yogurt Salad Dressing from Safeway

Click here for information on where to send your SASE.

One of those days

2010-06-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

I have three little girls. My twins are two and a half and my littlest babe is almost 11 months old. I love them. I love them a lot. But somehow they can push the right buttons to make me want to tear my hair out. Yesterday was one of those days.

I was going to make some homemade lemon sorbet to bring over to my sister's house for our dinner swap. (Every other week, I bring dinner to her on Thursday nights and vice versa.) All I had to do was pour my mixture in my ice cream maker. Well I couldn't find all the parts to the ice cream maker. Then when I did, somehow they didn't fit. So I had to stand there and hold the lid on while the ice cream maker worked. What were my girls doing? Screaming.

They wanted juice, they wanted fruit snacks, they wanted chocolate milk, they wanted cereal, they wanted to watch Dora, they wanted to watch George, they wanted to go outside, they wanted a spoon, they wanted a fork, they wanted a big girl glass, they wanted a sippy cup, and on and on and on.

They were supposed to be eating lunch. I realize that it wasn't the best timing to get the sorbet made, butI was so frustrated that I wasn't thinking straight.

I tried to get on the computer to see if I was missing something...but the tiniest babe (or someone helping her) and turned off my computer at the power strip. I had to reboot everything...and then the internet wouldn't connect...no matter what I did.

I gave the girls some of the lemon slushie to quiet them so my mind could settle for a minute. Finally S took the cup of melted lemon slushie and poured it all over the floor. And I was done.

I picked her up and put her in her bed. Goodnight. Shut the door. Picked up C and put her in her bed. Goodnight. Shut the door. More screaming ensued while I fed the baby and tried to fix the computer.

When I went to put the baby down for a nap in the room she shares with S, S was snoring away, peacefully as ever. I know they aren't trying to help me learn patience. I know that they are little. But I forget sometimes.

Sometimes Mommy needs a time out, too. So if you're a Mommy reading this on your time out, know you are not alone. Hopefully some of these posts will help make your life a little easier so you can spend your happy time with those little ones.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-06-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

This week I received a check for a class-action settlement that I was a part of. I chose the cash settlement as opposed to the discount on future bookings (this was a settlement against Expedia). My share? $2.42...and it's going straight into my fund.

That brings my new total up to $77.26 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Gerber Yogurt Blends: Try Me Free

2010-06-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at Safeway, I saw the new Gerber Yogurt Blends. One of the flavors (strawberry banana) had a "Try Me Free" sticker on it. I had a $1.00 off coupon that Gerber/Good Start had sent me, so I decided to give them a try. They are priced $2.50 at Safeway this week.

For the rebate, you need to send in the little form, the UPC code from the package, and the original receipt with the proof of purchase circled. The purchase dates are from 3/1/10 through 11/30/10, so you have plenty of time to seek these out at your local store.

It also gave me a $1.50/2 Yogurt Blends catalina at check-out, so if you really like them, you could get three for $3.50 (after catalina and rebate). Even lower if you got hte $1 off coupon from Gerber/Good Start. (If you don't get coupons from them, you can sign up here.)

Places to take the Kids: Vacation Edition

2010-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Husband and I are planning a vacation for our little family. Actually, we have two trips planned and I'm excited to report back to you when we return. One is a short visit to Sacramento (we'll be going with some of my siblings, their families, and my parents) and the other is a trip to Napa. Since my babes are still really little, I'm trying to find some ideas for places to go, things to see, and places to eat.

I'm putting out a call for Vacation Ideas with kids, espcially in the Bay Area. What are some fun things to do while vacationing in this great state of California? We are so lucky to have so many wonderful things nearby: mountains/camping, beaches, wine country, urban life, etc. Frugal/inexpensive ideas would be great!

Cash Envelope Experiment Update

2010-06-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month I started an experiment. After three weeks, I've got to say that I really like the cash system. It keeps me accountable for all my purchases and makes me really think about what I need.

After Friday's diaper purchase, I was over on my weekly budget by about $30. I borrowed that from this week's envelope, so this will definitely be a slim week. I'm enjoying the challenge of trying to create something from a small budget!

Super Savings Saturday

2010-06-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Friday I went to a new Safeway that I've been wanting to check out. It's smaller and geared more toward "city living". They touted superb produce, so I thought I'd check it out...with my three kids in tow.

I was just getting a watermelon and a cantaloupe for a Father's Day fruit salad. Then I saw a little cart piled with Pampers. As I got closer, I saw the 50% off sticker on each of them.

The Jumbo packs ended up being $5 each and the big box was $11. Then I remembered that I had a ton of Pampers coupons waiting to be used. I put five jumbo packs and one big box in my stroller and headed to the checkout.

To make a long and exhausting story short: my tiny babe was pretty much okay, one twin was whining the entire time I was at the checkout while the other twin did a little dance for everyone. The checker was not as familiar with things as I was and I kept having to tell him what to do. Finally, when I handed over my six $2 coupons off the Pampers, he wouldn't let me use them! I told him to go ahead and ask the manager, thinking for sure she would agree with me. Nope, she told him not to let me use the coupons. At this point, I was over it, so I took my 1/2 off diapers (which was a good deal anyway, but could have been a GREAT deal) and left the store.

I do plan to write a letter to the store manager about this. I also plan never to set foot in that location again!

Food Storage 101

2010-06-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

What do you know about food storage? What would you like to know about food storage? I feel like food storage and money saving go hand in hand. The leaders of our church have counseled us to have enough food storage for our family for one year. Does that sound like a daunting task to you? It does to me too. But it is to help us in case of unemployment, decrease in income for miscellaneous reasons, disaster, etc.

Recently, our church leaders have "lowered" the time period to three months, mainly so people don't get so overwhelmed with the idea of food storage. So that is my goal right now: to have enough food stored to feed my family for three months.

How long do you think you could feed your family on what you have in your cupboards? If you have seen the natural disasters in the news, you know that sometimes it's not always an option to run to the store. What about in times of storms or blackouts? Here in California, we are most susceptible to earthquakes and our cities being under strain (at the very least) in the aftermath.

I am not here to get on a soapbox about food storage. And I'm definitely not here to preach a sermon. But what a lot of other money-saving bloggers call "stockpiling" I call food storage. And I want to build mine up. I'm going to post about my endeavors every now and then, so if you're interested, follow along!

To get things started, I wanted to show you how I have my food storage set up right now. Although I have a "pantry" in my kitchen (a set of double tall cabinets), most of my food is kept outside in the garage, unless it would spoil too quickly from heat out there: salad dressings, sauces, stuff like that.

I have two large plastic shelving units that we bought at Target. I think we got them on sale for about $35 each. I try to group things that go together: cereals, crackers, juice, etc. and then I have a shelf with ingredients: cream soups, diced tomatoes, chicken stock and another shelf with "meals", like chili, tuna, soups, and things like that.

On the very bottom shelf I have a storage of water. We have filled cleaned used juice bottles with water. We will rotate those out every 6 to 12 months. In an emergency, they say you should have a gallon of water per person per day. Obviously this is not enough water for my family of 5 for 3 months. But that is something I will have to work toward. I think here we have enough for our family for three days, which should be the bare minimum.

I hope this is not totally overwhelming. Sometimes when I think about it, I wonder how it can be accomplished. But we have been advised to do it slowly and thoughtfully, and not to go into debt to do it.

I'm interested in your thoughts on food storage and welcome your questions. Look forward to more posts on food storage!

I like Costco

2010-06-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I like Costco and I'll tell you why: they do have great prices on things and I don't have to worry about coupons (unless I use their monthly coupons). Some people don't like Costco because they think they can get a better price at the regular grocery store with a sale and coupon (which is true for some items). Others don't like Costco because they think the package sizes are too big and wasteful.

Well for me, for lots of things Costco is the place to go. I thought I'd highlight some of those things, especially since I went there today.

Four gallons of apple juice: $6.59/2 gallons. There is a coupon in their coupon book for $2 off, making these $4.59/2 gallons or $1.15/half gallon. To compare, this week Safeway has 1/2 gallons of Mott's apple juice on sale for $1.49 each when you buy 8 or more participating products. $1.50/half gallon is my target price for apple juice. If I see anything lower, I try to stock up a little bit.

Two and a half pounds Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese: $7.49. To compare, Safeway has these on sale (ending today) for $7.99/2 pounds, which works out to $4/pound. Even with the $1 off coupon that I have, that brings it down to $3.50/pound and the Costco one is $3/pound. I love Tillamook cheese and have tried the "store brand" cheese. That's good, but this is better...and I'm willing to pay a little extra for it.

Two gallons organic milk: $10.49. This is the best price I've found on organic milk. Safeway's O Organics brand vascillates between $5.79 and $5.99/gallon, so every time I buy this instead, I save 54 cents/gallon, which adds up when you end up buying about two gallons per week!

Finally, 3 pounds of bananas: $1.32 or $0.44/pound. Safeway is almost always $0.79/pound for bananas. The only other place that has a great price on bananas is Trader Joe's at $0.19/each, which I think they say works out to $0.43/pound, so I buy bananas there, too.

Total spent at Costco: $28.48
What I would have spent had I bought the same stuff at Safeway: $33.27
Savings: $4.79

As you can see, sometimes it does pay to shop at Costco!

Menu Plan Monday

2010-06-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

I've been a little lax in the menu planning department lately. I'm not sure why. Just a few months ago I was planning out a month at a time and really loving it. But then I read a post on This Week for Dinner when Jane interviewed the author of French Women Don't Get Fat. The author, Mireille Guiliano, said that she doesn't plan meals, per se. Instead she goes to the market and finds what looks good and then builds her meals around that.

I've tried to adopt that approach, although it is a little different. I'm trying to hunt down sales a little bit more and then "shop" from my pantry for the week. I'm also looking at cooking blogs and leafing through my cookbooks for ideas still, but I'm not "planning" as much right now. We'll see how it works out.

I think this comes from being a true Gemini. The symbol of the Gemini sign is the twins, which means that a Gemini is almost always changing her mind and is often a study in contradictions. I think this is why it has been hard for me to stick to one method of budgeting, meal planning, etc. for very long. I fear it is something I will have to work to overcome. Although, the flip side to that is that I never get in a rut! : )

Super Savings Saturday

2010-06-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

I don't have a picture today but I did hit Target and Safeway for some pretty great deals. At Target:

Strawberry Shortcake bandages $1.37 after coupons (should have been $0.37, but the cashier didn't end up scanning my second coupon. Bummer.)
Princess BandAids $0.44 after coupons
Shout stain remover $0.42 after coupons
Ritz Crackerfuls (used free coupon)
Oscar Mayer lunchmeat (used free coupon)
Kool Aid Fizz drink (used free coupon)

Target total: $2.53

The higlights at Safeway:

2 Bulls Eye BBQ sauce $0.99 (free after $1 off coupons)
2 Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls $0.79 each after coupons
2 dozen eggs $0.99 each with in-ad coupon
Gogurt $0.99 after coupon
Oscar Mayer turkey bacon (used free coupon)

I ended up saving 77% at Safeway today ($43.35).

The best part is that I ended up $13 under on my weekly budget. I'm adding it to next week's allotment. It will be nice to have the extra wiggle room since we are hosting Father's Day this coming week and we're having a couple over for dinner the following week.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-06-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Another deposit to the European Tour Fund:

I received my April rebate check from Rite Aid for $6.50 and I received a cash out from Opinion Outpost for doing surveys for $11.70, which brings my new total up to $74.84 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

House Party

2010-06-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

I hosted a House Party this weekend for the Ball Canning Company. It was a fun way to get together with some of my friends and try out their canning products. We canned some strawberry jam...delicious and so very easy.

This is also the reason that I went over my budget this last week: I bought a 4 lb. package of strawberries at Costco to use in our jam. When I pulled them out for the party, more than HALF of them had gone bad! My friend ran to the store and bought four more pounds of strawberries so that we could make the jam. : ( Of course, when I go back to Costco I will have to let them know about this...

House Party is a win-win-win situation: the company wins by getting the word of mouth out about their products, you win by getting some great goodies to keep, and your friends win by getting to attend a fun party and take home some treats of your own.

For this House Party (my third), the GENEROUS Ball Company sent me a water canner with rack (very nice), a smaller plastic rack (called a Discovery Canner) that also came with three jars, a canning utensil set (jar lifter, magnetic lid lifter, funnel, etc.), coupons for free jars, coupons for $ off jars, and more. It was such an amazing "party pack". My friends got sent home with goodie bags with coupons and some pectin to make their own jam as well as the fruits of our labors.

If you're interested in signing up for a House Party, check out the available hosting opportunities here.

An Experiment

2010-06-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've been following Money Saving Mom for almost two years now and I know she really likes using the cash only/envelope system. I like the ease of using credit cards and even though we always pay our balance off each month, it did seem like it was a lot easier to go over budget.

I decided to try it, but in a transitional way. I got out my Monopoly money and divided it among the 5 "weeks" in the month of June, putting it in 5 different envelopes. When I make a purchase, I write it down on a piece of paper that I keep in the envelope for that week and then I take out the "money". I round up so that I don't have to make change, thus increasing my savings.

My plan is that whatever I save this month in groceries gets to go to the European Tour Fund. With this in mind, I carefully (oh, ever so carefully) planned out my grocery expenses for the week. I even hosted a little House Party this weekend (more on that in a bit) and factored that in. I'm happy to say that for the first week of this experiment, I was only $1 over on my budget...and I'll explain why in my next post.

It's kind of fun and it's really helpful to see exactly how much I have left. The visual is helping me to rein in my expenses and see which ones I really need. If this experiment goes well, I might just go to actual cash....we'll see.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

2010-05-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

I got a Big Fat Check in the mail this week from Ebates. I do all my online shopping through their site (if I can). I then get a check every 3 months with my savings from the previous quarter. This month I got $6.64.

The total in my European Tour Fund is now $56.64. Every little bit helps!

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

If you want to save money for your own special fund by shopping through Ebates, click here to sign up.

Strawberries

2010-05-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

image

I bought 4 lbs. of strawberries when they were on sale at Safeway 2 weeks ago for $3.98. I couldn't pass up such a deal, even though my strawberry plants are producing a sufficent amount to keep us in strawberry deliciousness.

So what am I going to do with all those strawberries? Smoothies and jam, my friends.

Frozen strawberries cost at least $2/lb. Why not hull and freeze my own for half the price? Just wash the strawberries, hull the tops and I slice mine in half. Then I line them up in a single layer on a cookie sheet and stick them in the freezer. Once frozen, I put them in baggies in the freezer where I can see them easily. They then become the perfect thing to throw in a smoothie.

Homemade jam is not as scary as it sounds...and it is so good! Here's my go-to recipe for "Old-fashioned Strawberry Preserves" (from epicurious):

about 6 cups fresh strawberries, hulled

2 cups sugar

Place hulled strawberries in heavy large saucepan and mas coarsely. Cook strawberries over medium heat until beginning to thicken, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

Add 2 cups sugar and stir until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds on spoon, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat. Cool. Refrigerate in airtight container.

I usually do small batches at a time so that I don't waste the jam, as I think about 1 month is the max I would keep it. I also don't always put in the full amount of sugar, especially if the strawberries are really sweet. This is a really good way to use the overripe leftover strawberries in your fridge: just use a 3:1 ratio of strawberries to sugar.

Now the next time you see a great deal on strawberries, you've got two ways to put them to good use!

Super Savings Saturday

2010-05-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am a CVS newbie. Long's just switched over to CVS in our area last year and I've been hesitant to try it out (despite all the great deals I see people getting on other blogs) because I was afraid of the ECB: the Extra Care Buck.

I was afraid of it because I didn't like the pressure of feeling like I had to go back into the store to redeem them. But my European trip has really prompted me to get back in the coupon game again, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's what I got today:

The first transaction:

2 Crest ProHealth Toothpaste @ $3.50 each

-2 $0.75 coupons from 5/2 P&G insert

-$2 ECB's I got from my Winter spending

Total: $3.98 out of pocket and I got $7 in ECB's

Second transaction:

1 Jumbo pack Huggies $8.49

2 Reach floss @ $1.99 each

-2 $1 coupons for Reach floss

-$3 coupon off Huggies

-$7 ECB's from transaction #1

Total: $1.65 out of pocket and I got $6 in ECB's ($2 for Huggies and $2 each for floss)

So I ended up getting everything in the picture for $5.63 and I have $6 in ECB's to spend for next time!

I chose the toothpaste and the floss because they gave me a lower out of pocket cost and I ended up "making money" on them by using coupons.

I also stopped at Nob Hill this week to pick up their super hot s'mores deal:

1 box Honey Maid graham crackers

1 6pk. Hershey's chocolate bars

1 bag Jet-puffed marshmallows

Total: 99 cents!

Sweet! You can find the e-coupon here. I think this is good through this Tuesday.

Free HydroMassage for Mother's Day

2010-05-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

HydroMassage is offering a free massage to mom's next week (May 9 through May 15th). They have several locations in the Bay Area. Print the coupon to take advantage of this sweet deal. I'm actually considering trying this out!

Earth's Best Organics: Sale at Babies R Us

2010-05-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

This week I stopped in to Babies R Us to get some baby food for my 9 month old, who is now ready to try some meat in her diet. The 1st and 2nd foods jars (4oz.) of Earth's Best Organics are on sale 10/$5. If Id' had a coupon with me (like $1/7 here), it would have been an even better deal, but it was pretty good just the same.

The 3rd foods jars (6oz.) are 10/$10. These prices are good until 5/8/10.

Saving money for my European Tour!

2010-05-05T13:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not a rock star, but I am planning on going to Europe next year. Two of my friends are living there with their little families and we want to go visit them in their new homelands. There are four of us girls who are going to get together and we decided to take a cruise. All four of us are married, but I'm the only one who won't be bringing my little ones along. (I need a break!)

As I checked out some potential cruises, I realized that we were going to have to save some money for this trip. Inspired by Couponing to Disney, I decided to take the money I save from coupons, rebates, surveys, and any other hair-brained schemes for money-making I can come up with and put it towards my European vacation fund. My goal is to save $1000 by the time we leave next May.

I'll track my progress for you. Maybe you'll want to start some sort of fund for yourself...

I'm starting the fund off with $50 in checks I received from rebate checks and surveys. And we're off!

I'm back...

2010-05-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I took a totally unexpected break from blogging...with no explanation. And now I come back, acting like nothing ever happened?

Well, I took a break from blogging over a year ago because I was in the throes of morning sickness with twin little girls to take care of and I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed.

Okay, a lot bit overwhelmed.

I've thought many times of coming back and have always found a reason not to (or a reason found me). But now I've got a little more experience under my belt and some new ideas I want to try, so you're welcome to come along with me. : )

Now I have three little girls and am trying desperately to maintain my monthly grocery budget while keeping three kids in diapers...and eating healthy.

That's another thing: we are cutting back on meat. The meat we do buy will be responsibly farmed (to the best of my knowledge, of course). I've been buying our meat at Whole Foods and other grocery stores that have hormone-free/antibiotic-free/vegetarian feed meat and poultry. Because that's more expensive than the 99 cents a pound stuff I was buying before, I've had to change my strategy. Less meat, but better quality.

I'm also trying to work in more organic food and more locally grown food. With the three little ones, I've decided not to do a garden per se this year. I do have strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I also have a grape vine that I planted this year. And I have a 5 in 1 tree with yellow peaches, white peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots. So I'll be growing some of my own stuff. If I can get a few minutes to get some weeds pulled and ground worked over, I might get a couple tomato plants in. We'll see. I'm more about being realistic with my time and energy now. (Baby is still not sleeping through the night...9 months later.)

So there it is, what's been going on and what will be going on. Sorry to leave you in the lurch. Some things will be the same, but I think there will be some brand new stuff around here. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Dinner this week...

2009-02-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

After a less than spectacular round of recipes last week, I'm going back to some old stand-bys. I am trying the cauliflower soup for the first time, though. However, Pioneer Woman's recipes have never failed me in the past...

Monday: Creamy White Chili with turkey, cornbread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Taco salad with Fritos (purchased for $1 at Safeway last week!)

Thursday: Trader Joe's marinated King Salmon, Beet & Goat Cheese Salad

Friday: ...still thinking about that one...probably eat out

Saturday: Pizza & salad

Sunday: Pioneer Woman's Mom's Cauliflower Soup, Cheddar biscuits

What are you having for dinner this week?

Safeway deals, 02/11-02/17

2009-02-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome Grocery Gatherers! Here are the weekly deals for Safeway. These prices are valid Wednesday, February 11 through Tuesday, February 17. I am using a Northern California ad. Your prices and coupons may vary.

President's Day 4 Day Sale: These prices are only good Saturday, Feb. 14 through Tuesday, Feb. 17.

All American Two Flavor Pie (cherry/apple): $3.99

Starbucks Coffee, 12oz.: $5.99

Safeway Select ice cream: $2.49

3-lb. bag fuji or braeburn apples: $0.99 each.

Coupon Match-ups:

Betty Crocker Cake Mix, Cookie Pouches, or Frosting: Buy 2, get 3 free (5/$4.98). Use $0.40 off cookie mix from 02/08 General Mills insert. Use $0.50 off frosting from 02/08 GM insert.

Charmin bath tissue, 6 mega or 12 big bath rolls, or Bounty Paper Towels, 6 or 8 rolls: $6.99. Use $0.25 off Charmin from 02/08 P&G insert. Use $0.25 off Bounty from 01/18 and 02/08 P&G inserts.

Huggies Big Pack Diapers: $20.99. Use $1.50 from 01/11 or 02/08 SS.

Nabisco large snack crackers: $3.99. Use $2/2 from 01/25 SS.

Hunt's Canned tomatoes: 10/$10. Use $0.40/2 from 01/18 SS.

Post Honey Bunches of Oats: 2/$7. Use $1/2 from 01/25 SS.

Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn: Buy one, get one free (2/$3.69). Use $1/2 from 01/18 SS.

Powerade: $0.88. Use $0.40 off Powerade Zero from 01/04 SS. (exp. 02/15)

Trident Gum: Buy one, get one free (2/$1.49). Use $0.75 from 01/18 SS.

Quaker Chewy Granola bars: $2.22. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.

Swiffer Dust & Shine: $3.99. Use $0.50 from 01/18 P&G.

Gain or Cheer Laundry Detergent: $4.99. Use $0.50 off Gain from 01/18 P&G insert.

Downy or Bounce fabric softener: $5.99. Use $0.50 off Downy from 02/08 P&G insert. Use $0.25 off Bounce from 02/08 P&G insert.

Yoplait Go-gurt: 2/$5. Use $1 printable here.

Pillsbury Crescent or Cinnamon Rolls: 2/$6. Use $0.55 off cinnamon rolls from 01/04 GM insert. Use $0.40 off cinnamon rolls from 02/08 GM insert. Use $0.35 off crescent rolls from 12/07 SS, 01/25 SS, or $0.25 off in 01/04 GM insert.

Pillsbury Frozen breakfast: $2.79. Use $0.35 off Toaster Strudel from 01/04 and 02/08 GM inserts.

Aveeno skin care: 20% off. Use $1 or $1.50 from 01/25 RP.

Olay Bar or Body Wash: $5.99. Use $1/1 from 01/18 P&G insert. Use $1/2 from 02/08 P&G insert.

Crest Advanced Whitestrips: $34.99. Use $10 from 02/08 P&G insert.

Sudafed or Benadryl: $4.49. Use $1.50 from 12/07 RP.

Tylenol Cold and Sinus: $5.99. Use $1 from 01/04 RP.

Slim Fast Optima Shakes: $5.99. Use $1.25 from 01/04 RP.

Kotex: $4.99. See 01/11 SS for several Kotex coupons.

Star Kist Pouch Product: 3/$4. Use Buy 2, get one free from 01/04 RP.

Super Coupons: There are several coupons in this week's ad, however there is a limit of one per transaction ($10 minimum) unless otherwise noted. Also, some of the coupons require that 2 or 4 items be purchased, so read the coupon carefully!

Hillshire Farm Thin or Hearty Sliced Lunchmeat: 3/$8.

Hormel Pork Tenderloin or Filet (1.15 to 1.7lb.): $4.99 each. Use $1 off Hormel Always Tender Product from 02/08 SS.

Mission Tortilla Chips: $0.99.

Sun Maid 6-pack seedless raisins: $0.99.

Signature Cafe Soups, 24oz.: $3.99

Safeway Bath Tissue or Paper Towels: $4.99.

Safeway Variety Breads: $1.49.

Phillips Shrimp Steamers: $4.99. Use $1.75 or $1 from 01/25 SS.

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats or Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks: 4/$6. Must buy 4. Use $1.50/2 mini wheats from 01/18 RP. Use $0.75 printable for fruit snacks here. Use $0.50/2 fruit snacks from 01/04 GM insert.

Safeway Clear Sparkling Beverage or Soda: $0.49.

Vitaminwater Variety pack: $9.99

Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent: 2/$7. Must buy 2.

Wesson Cooking Oil: 2/$5. Must buy 2.

Red Baron Single Serve Pizza or Tony's Pizza: 2/$4. Must by 2. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.

Listerine Mouthwash: $1.99. Use $0.50 from 02/08 RP.

Other Sweet Deals:

1-lb. sweet strawberries: 2/$6.

Jumbo Yellow or White onions: $0.49/lb.

Texas Red Grapefruit: 2/$1

Sweet Red or Green Seedless grapes: $0.88/lb.

Large hothouse tomatoes: $0.98/lb.

Safeway canned fruit: 10/$10.

O Organics milk, 1/2 gallon: $2.99.

Power Pump rewards are still accumulating so check your receipt to see how close you are!

Organic on the cheap

2009-02-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about eating healthier lately and especially for my babies. They drink organic milk and I buy mostly organic fruits and vegetables for them, but I still have been trying to "healthify" our meals. I think I had a major "light bulb moment" when I watched the Oprah show a few weeks ago that featured the overweight teens. Dr. Oz was talking about some of the foods to avoid (like white foods: sugar, flour, rice) and really reading labels.

Also, a few months ago, Dr. Oz was on again and asked the audience to select three foods to eliminate from their diet and three foods to add to their diet. After watching that episode, Husband and I read a few of the labels in our pantry and realized we needed to do better. Our three items to eliminate were: soda (which we really don't drink all that much anyway), bread that doesn't meet the "healthy" criteria, and cereal that doesn't meet the "healthy criteria". Our three items to add to our diet were: walnuts (good source of Omega-3), more fish (thus the once a week fish item on our dinner menu), and more vegetables (thus the subscription to the CSA).

As I started to buy more of these healthy items, I realized that I could get processed food really cheap (sometimes free!) but healthier items were going to be more expensive and my grocery budget was going to have to shift to make that adjustment.

One way that I integrate more organic and healthy-for-you foods is by shopping at Trader Joe's. I'm a big fan and the more I shop there, the more I love it. Their produce is often less expensive than the grocery chains or even Whole Foods. They carry both conventional and organic varieties, which allows you to realize that organic is not always that much more expensive.

Signing up for the CSA isn't necessarily cheaper. However, it "forces" me to add more fruits and vegetables to my family's diet, which is something I might not be motivated to do on my own. Also, I know the produce is picked in the last day or so and has not traveled from Chile or Mexico or even Texas to get to my table. The nutrients I need are still in the food! I'm willing to pay a little extra for these benefits.

Now I've heard that Costco is starting to jump on the organic bandwagon, but it has been ages since I've been there. I'm hoping to take a trip there soon to do some research (and maybe get a few free samples!), so I'll let you know what I find.

For those of you who already get great organic stuff on the cheap, how do you do it?

***I'm picking up our first CSA order today, so I'll give you a report later in the week!

Dinner this week...

2009-02-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited to start our CSA this week (Tuesday). I'm integrating my CSA items into my dinner plan, so I've got a few new recipes to try! Here's what our week looks like:

Monday: Three Pepper Halibut, black beans, rice

Tuesday: Farfalle with golden beets, beet greens & pine nuts; salad, yummy bread

Wednesday: Turkey pot pie (using leftover turkey from Saturday's dinner)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Top round London Broil steaks, potato parsnip puree, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, chocolate dessert (our Valentine's dinner)

Saturday: Dinner at friends' house

Sunday: Creamy White Chili (using more leftover turkey!)

What are you having for dinner this week?

Safeway deals 02/04-02/10

2009-02-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome Grocery Gatherers! Here are the current deals for Safeway. Prices are good from Wednesday, February 4th through Tuesday, February 10th. I am using a Northern California ad. Your prices and coupons may vary.

Amazing $1 Deals

These items are only $1 each!

1-lb. Eating Right Baby Peeled Carrots

Colored Bell Peppers, 1lb.

Lucerne Flavored Milk, 16oz.

Safeway Premium Breads

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, 8ct.: Use $1/2 from 01/18 RP.

Balance Bars

Safeway Select Artisan French Breads

Rice a Roni: Use $1/4 from 01/04 RP.

Dial Liquid Soap: Use $0.35 from 01/04 SS.

Suave: See 01/11 RP for several Suave coupons.

Lucerne Brick Cream Cheese, 8oz.

Oscar Mayer Basic Lunchables

Cornish Game Hens, Frozen Twin Pack ($1/lb.)

Roma Tomatoes, 1lb.

Kellogg's Fruit Snacks (Limit 8): Use $1/2 from 02/01 RP.

Fritos or Cheetos

Coupon Match-ups

5-lb. Clementine Mandarin Oranges: $4.88. Use $1 from 02/01 SS on Cuties.

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes: $1.99. Use $1.50/2 from 01/18 RP.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal: $1.99. Use $0.55 printable here.

Ball Park Meat Franks: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/25 RP.

Johnsonville Breakfast Sausage: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.

Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice, 89oz.: $4.99. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.

All Detergent: $4.49. Use $0.40 from 01/04 RP.

Kraft Salad Dressing: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/18 SS.

Nature Valley Granola Bars: 2/$6. Use $0.60 printable here. Or use $0.50 from 01/04 General Mills insert.

Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs: 2/$5. Use $0.35/2 from 01/11 SS.

Ziploc Storage Bags: $3.49. Use $1/2 or $0.40/1 from 01/11 SS.

Yoplait Yogurt: 10/$7. Use $0.40/6 from 01/04 General Mills insert.

Dannon Activia: 2/$5. Use $1 from 01/11 SS.

Nestle Cookie Dough: 2/$6. Use $1 from 02/01 RP.

Old Spice Deodorant: $2.99. Use $1 from 12/28 P&G insert.

Tylenol, selected varieties: $5.99. See 01/04 RP for several Tylenol coupons.

Mucinex: $9.99. Use $1 from 12/14 SS or 01/18 SS.

Colgate toothpaste, selected varieties: $0.99. Use $1 from 02/01 SS to get it FREE or use $0.75 from 02/01 SS, depending on variety on sale.

Love Your Heart

Get a free heart health screening in Safeway's pharmacy, look for heart healthy savings throughout the store, and pick up the program booklet to find over $25 in coupons (see pharmacy for details). I'm betting the coupon are good for many of the items featured in this section of the ad, so you may get even better prices than the coupon match-ups below.

Healthy Choice Steamers: 5/$10. Use $1/2 from 01/04 SS.

Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers: 2/$5. Use $1 from 01/04 SS.

V8 100% Vegetable Juice or V-Fusion Juice: $2.99. Use $0.50 from 01/04 SS.

Barilla Plus Pasta: 2/$4. Use $1/2 from 01/04 SS.

Kellogg's Smart Start: 2/$6. Use $1.50/2 from 01/18 RP.

Kellogg's Special K Red Berries: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.

Kellogg's Special K Bars: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.

Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request Soups: 2/$3. Use $0.50/2 from 01/04 SS.

Campbell's Healthy Request Condensed Soups: 10/$10. Use $0.40/2 from 01/04 SS or 02/01 SS.

Campbell's Select Harvest Soup: 2/$3. Use $0.50/2 from 12/14 SS, 01/04 SS, or 02/01 SS.

Other Sweet Deals:

Fresh Green or White Asparagus: $1.48/lb.

Kraft Cheese Shredded or Singles: $1.99

Save up to $10 on frozen restaurant brand items. See store for details.

Safeway Select Variety Breads: 2/$5.
Lucerne Milk: 2 gallons for $3.98. That's the lowest price I've seen in awhile!

Keep racking up those power pump gas rewards. It should tell you at the bottom of your reciept how close you are!

$5 off $20 at Rite Aid

2009-02-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Friday and Saturday only (02/06 and 02/07) use this coupon to get $5 off your purchase of $20 or more at Rite Aid. Nice!

I'll get this week's Safeway deals up later today!

January Report

2009-02-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why it was so tough for me to stay on budget in January. I ended up going over my $440 budget by about $40. I did spend a little more on diapers this month because I got behind on the diaper deals, so I'll try to keep up better this month.

I did get $35.98 worth of free stuff this month,though, including:

$9 in free gas (Safeway power pump rewards)
20 pk. Electrasol power tabs
Cascade rinse agent (from Right @ Home coupon booklet)
Classico pasta sauce (rec'd free coupon from mfr.)

I'm reducing my budget to $420 this month, which shouldn't be bad, considering there are only 28 days in this month! I signed up for a 4 week trial subscription to a CSA (community supported agriculture) and am really excited for it to start next week. I'm splitting it with my sister to save some money and to make sure that we use all that produce. I'll give you a report on how well it works for us. I'm hoping that by centering more of our meals around fresh produce, we will reduce our food budget.

I feel like I've gotten a little discouraged with my food budget because I'm having trouble finding the time to gather and organize my coupons, thus forgetting them before my shopping trips. Or I find out the item I've purchased is on sale the next week. Before my babies went to one nap, I used to plan my shopping during their second nap, but now that it's consolidated into one, I find myself using that time for other things! I know I need to get into a better schedule...they're not the only ones making the adjustment!

I hope you did well on your budgets for January. With the new month comes the chance to do better than before!

Dinner this week...

2009-02-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

So Menu Planning Monday has been moved to Tuesday...with a sick baby these last few days, it's been a bit hectic! (She seems to be on the mend.) So here's what our week looks like:

Monday: Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas, rice, salad

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Salmon & Asparagus Risotto, salad, delicious bread

Thursday: Eggs Florentine, fruit

Friday: Date night

Saturday: Turkey dinner (hopefully I won't forget to pull it out of the freezer this time!), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, homemade rolls

Sunday: Turkey dinner leftovers

What are you having for dinner this week?

Superbowl Weekend Safeway Savings

2009-01-31T12:25:00.000-08:00

***Updated with Coupon Match-Ups!***
In Sunday's paper, you should find an insert from Safeway with some additional deals that extend from Sunday, February 1st through Sunday, February 8th (except for the last page, which goes through Tuesday, February 3rd).

Sweet deals:

Sunday, February 1st: Spend $25 in groceries in a single transaction and get a Signature Cafe Pizza FREE (cheese or pepperoni). This is only valid on Sunday with Club Card and coupon.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (02/01-02/03): Save $10 off your grocery purchase of $50 or more with Club Card and coupon. Some exclusions do apply and your total must be $50 AFTER Club Card savings and manufacturer coupons (and Safeway coupons). Still, you can do a lot with an extra $10 to spend!

Super Coupons valid Sunday, Feb. 1 through Tuesday, Feb. 3:

(Must use Club Card and coupon to get savings)

Mott's Apple Juice, 64oz.: $0.99. Limit one with minimum $10 purchase.
Large Raw Shrimp, sold in a 2 lb. bag: $3.99/lb. Limit 1 bag with minimum $10 purchase.
Cheez-It Crackers: $1.88. Limit 2 with minimum $10 purchase.
Oroweat Variety Breads: $1.99. Limit 1 with minimum $10 purchase.

Super Coupons valid Sunday, Feb. 1 through Sunday, Feb. 8:

(All items are limit one with minimum $10 purchase, except for Palmolive, which is a limit of 2.)

Pantene Shampoo or Conditioner: $5.99
Dial or Tone Bars or Body Wash: $2.99. Use $0.35 off Dial bars or $1/2 Dial body wash from 01/04 SS.
Colgate or Crest Toothpaste: $1.99. Use $1.50 off Crest from 01/18 P&G insert. Use $1 off Colgate from 02/01 SS.
Safeway Disinfecting Wipes: $1.99
Glade Candles: 2/$3. Use $1.50/2 from 02/01 SS.
Fancy Feast Variety Pack: $10.99. Use $1 from 01/11 SS.
Palmolive Dish Detergent: $1.99. Use $0.25 from 02/01 SS.
Downy or Bounce: $8.99
Kleenex Facial Tissue: 2/$2

Safeway in-ad coupons good through Feb. 8:

Signature Cafe Regular Size Sandwich: $3.99
Signature Cafe Soup, 24oz.: $3.99
Signature Cafe Salad, 12.5 to 16oz.: $3.99
Free Signature Cafe Side Dish with Purchase of Roasted Chicken

Coupon Match-ups:

Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.
Johnsonville Breakfast Links: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls: 2/$5. Use $0.35 from 12/07 SS or 01/25 SS.
Post Cocoa or Fruity Pebbles: $1.99. Use $1/2 from 01.25 SS.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal: Buy one, get one free (2/$4.69). Use $0.70 from 01/04 RP.
Nature Made Vitamins or Schiff Move Free: Buy one, get one free. Use $1 off Nature Made from 01/04 or 02/01 SS. Use $5 off Schiff from 01/04 SS.
Airborne Health Formula: Buy two, get one free. Use $2 from 01/04 SS.
Tylenol or Motrin: $8.49. See 01/04 RP for several Tylenol coupons.
Zyrtec: $18.99. Use $4 from 11/23 SS.
Hershey's or Marse Large Stand Up Bags: $7.99. Use $2/2 Hershey's from 01/25 SS.
Ziploc Food Storage Bags: $3.49. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.
Duracell Copper Top Batteries: $5.99. Use $0.75 from 01/18 P&G insert.

***Also, spend $25 on Kimberly-Clark products in one transaction and receive $5 off your next shopping order. More details in the SmartSource insert.***

Best laid plans...

2009-01-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

Last night we took my grandmother out to dinner. She's a widow and we enjoy getting to visit with her one on one every once in awhile. Plus she loves to get out and be social. I had it all planned: we were going to Olive Garden. I bought a giftcard at Safeway (to earn points for the power pump gas rewards) and there was a coupon in the 01/11 inserts for $2 off each entree. Perfecto!

We had to wait for Husband to get home, so I fed the girls their dinner and planned on letting them snack at the restaurant. They would be up past their bedtime, but I figured they'd be okay.

The first problem we ran into was ridiculous traffic! Oh my goodness, it was a mess. Since Olive Garden was about 15 minutes away in good traffic, there was no way we would be able to do it in this crazy gridlock. Quickly, we decided on an alternate restaurant that would be close and kid-friendly.

By the time we ordered our food, the girls were done. I walked them around the restaurant and the diners got a kick out of them, thankfully. (It was Carrow's, and there were a lot of senior citizens there who thought they were so cute.) The food came and the girls ate for, oh, about one minute. Luckily Husband is a fast eater! The girls were so wiggly and then one of them started crying and fussing...Husband eventually took them out and said, "I'll meet you in the car."

I felt so bad. Husband is in the car with two crying babes, I'm trying to eat something, and I feel like I'm making my poor grandmother shovel down her food so we can go home. Arrgh! I profusely apologized and of course she understood. We decided that next time we would have her for dinner at our house. 16 months is not a good age for dining out!

So after all is said and done, I still have the Olive Garden giftcard...and I'm desperately craving their breadsticks and salad! Maybe we'll try it one more time...

Safeway deals 01/29-02/03

2009-01-28T16:14:00.001-08:00

Welcome Grocery Gatherers! Here are the Safeway deals for Wednesday, January 29, through Tuesday, February 3, 2009. I am using a Northern California ad. Your prices and coupons may vary.

72 hour Game Day Sale

These prices are good Friday through Sunday, January 30 through February 1, 2009.

12 pack Coca-Cola or 7-Up: 4/$7.99 with card and coupon.

Johnsonville Bratwurst Sausage: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.

Large Hass Avocados: $0.67 each

12 pack Corona: $9.99

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza: $3.99. (I love the BBQ Chicken one!)

Coupon Match-ups

Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/04 RP.

Campbell's Chunky Soup: $0.99. Use $0.50/2 off Chunky Healthy Request soups from 01/04 SS. Or use $0.75/2 off Chunky Fully Loaded soups from 01/18 SS.

Nabisco Snack Crackers or Toasted Chips: $1.69. Use $2/2 Ritz, Wheat Thins or Triscuits from 01/25 SS.

Cheer or Gain Laundry Detergent, 150oz.: $12.99 each. Use $0.35 off Cheer from 12/28 P&G insert. Use $0.50 off Gain from 01/18 P&G insert.

Tyson Breaded Chicken Selections: Buy one, get one free (2/$4.49). Use $1 off any Tyson breaded bagged item from 10/19 SS (expires 01/31/09).

Gorton's Shrimp Temptations: Buy one, get one free (2/$9.99). Use $1 printable here.

Hillshire Farm Thin or Hearty Sliced Lunchmeat: 2/$7. Use $0.55 off any lunchmeat 8oz. or larger from 01/04 RP.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes: $1.99. Use $1.50/2 from 01/18 RP.

Cottonelle Bath Tissue or Viva Paper Towels: $12.99. Use $0.35 off Viva from 01/11 SS. Use $0.50 off Cottonelle 12 pack+ from 01/11 SS.

Folgers Coffee: $6.99. Use $0.25 from 12/28 P&G insert.

Huggies Big Pack Diapers: $20.99. Use $1.50 from 01/11 SS.

Nabisco Ritz or Nilla Wafers: 2/$5. Use $2/2 Nabisco crackers for Ritz.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Bars: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/11 SS.

Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn, 3ct.: Buy one, get one free (2/$3.69). Use $1/2 from 01/18 SS.

Star Olive Oil: $6.49. Use $1 from 01/11 SS (expires 01/31/09)

Quaker Oatmel: 2/$5. Use $0.60 from 01/04 RP.

Cascade Auto Dish Detergent: $4.49. Use $0.50 from 12/18 P&G insert.

Air Wick scented oil refills: 2/$6. Use $1/2 from 01/04 & 01/25 SS.

Dennison's Chili: 10/$10. Use $0.50/2 from 01/11 SS.

Hillshire Farm Lil Smokies or Smoked Sausages: 2/$5. Use $0.35 off Smoked Sausage or $1/2 off Lil Smokies, both in 01/25 RP.
Kraft Singles, 12oz.: $1.99. I've seen some coupons in store that might work for these. They are $0.75 off any Kraft cheese product, even though the picture is of Kraft string cheese. Check it out when you go to see if they have them at your Safeway.

Yoplait Go-Gurt: $2.99. Use $0.35/1 or $0.75/2, both from 01/04 General Mills insert.

Totino's Pizza Rolls: $6.99. Use $0.35 from 01/11, 01/18, and 01/25 SS.

Eggo Waffles: 2/$4. Use $0.75 from 12/14 RP.

Ball Park Beef Franks: 2/$5. Use $1/2 from 01/25 RP

French's Mustard: 2/$3. Use $0.50 from 01/18 SS

Dixie Value Pack Plates: $3.99. Use $0.35 from 11/16 RP.

Beggin' Strips: $10.99. Use Buy one, get one free from 01/11 SS.

Aquafresh toothpaste: $1.29. Use $0.75 from 01/04 SS.

Gillette Mega Event: Selcted Gillette Brands are 20% off (including deodorant and shower gel). See 11/30, 12/14 and 01/18 P&G inserts for Gillette coupons. (11/30 coupons expire 01/31/09.)

Tums Antacid: $3.99. Use $1/2 from 11/16 SS (expires 01/31/09) and 01/25 SS. Or use $1.25 from 01/25 SS.

Advil: $5.99. Use $1 from 01/25 RP.

Thermacare Heatwraps: $5.99. Use $1 from 11/30 P&G insert (expries 01/31/09) or 01/04 RP.

Other Sweet Deals:

O Organics Baby Salads, 5oz.: $1.99 each

Red or Green Seedless Grapes: $0.88/lb.

Vine Ripened Tomatoes: $0.98/lb.

Oroweat and Entemann's Mix N' Match Sale: 2/$5

Buy 5, Save $5

Mix and match any 5 items below to save an additional $5 off your total at checkout. The ad says to look for "Buy 5, Save $5" tags on participating items, so perhaps there are more that qualify.

6 pack Pepsi or Aquafina: $3 each. $2 each after savings.

Doritos Tortilla Chips: $3 each. $2 each after savings.

8 pack Gatorade: $5.50 each. $4.50 each after savings.

8 pack Pepsi Fridge Mates EZ: $2 each. $1 each after savings.

See anything I missed? Let me know!

Re: Would you do this if you didn't have to?

2009-01-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

I was reading Mercedes' post today, asking her readers if they thought they would still try to save money, even if times weren't "tight". It made me think about the last few months since I started "couponing". We haven't saved a ton of money yet (though I have a feeling that once I get the hang of things, we'll see more savings add up), but I have appreciated being held accountable for our budget.

I believe that we should be stewards over the blessings we have been given. That means our family and children as well as our home and our money. A wise steward should spend her money wisely. These past few months, I've paid more attention to how I'm spending our grocery budget and trying to find more creative ways to stay within that budget. One advantage of this is that we have a little extra "found" money to put toward our car loan, and when that's done, it will go toward saving for a house.

We never know what life will bring us. The skills that we learn in our times of trial can help us throughout our life, rainy day or not. So even if there comes a day when I don't "have" to do this anymore, I think I will. I love the freedom of living within our means. (One of my dad's favorite things to say is: "The worst place in the world to live is just beyond your means." See, some of his smarts did rub off!) I am grateful that we don't have to live paycheck to paycheck because we are being responsible with the money we have.

Let's face it: it's not easy to live in the Bay Area, especially on one income. It's a sacrifice that Husband and I decided to make so that I could be home with our little ones. Sure, we could have a nicer house and fancier cars and eat out all the time, but we'd miss out on other things. Saving money and living frugally is allowing me to have the greatest job for me: being able to stay at home and raise my beautiful little girls.

What do you think? Would you do this if you didn't have to?

A different kind of date night

2009-01-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

One of our New Year's Resolutions was to go out on more dates! This past weekend, Husband and I went on a little bit different kind of date night. We're always looking for something besides that "dinner and a movie" routine. We went to dinner and then over to Borders, where we used our buy one, get one free coupon to get 2 hot chocolates (coupon good through March 3rd!). We browsed around a little bit, then headed to the magazines to check out some of our favorites. Then we found two comfy chairs in the corner and sipped our hot chocolate while flipping through our magazines. We only stayed for less than an hour, but it was so nice! We got a chance to talk (about things other than babies) and have some quiet time. So fun.

Valentine's Day is coming up, so I'd love to hear what plans you have for making this day special...and not too pricey, of course!

Dinner this week...

2009-01-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

It's Menu Plan Monday! Man, I really struggled with the menu this week. Partly because the turkey I intended to make is still in the freezer, so my week of leftovers is out the window. Also, I've struggled to keep within my grocery budget this week, and I'm drawing a blank when it comes to delicious, inexpensive food. *sigh* Here's what this week's menu looks like:

Monday: Leftovers (the mac & cheese I made last week was delicious, but it made WAY too much! Next time, I'm going to cut the recipe in thirds...seriously. And, it wasn't the recipe I linked to, it was the "healthified" mac & cheese recipe in this month's issue of Real Simple.)

Tuesday: I'm still trying to figure that out!

Wednesday: Salmon (frozen, from Trader Joe's) with mashed potatoes and zucchini/yellow squash

Thursday: Eating out

Friday: Spinach & onion quesadillas w/peach-pineapple salsa, arugula citrus salad

Saturday: Salad night (build-your-own)

Sunday: Super Bowl party at my parents' house. I'm bringing seven layer dip (from January's issue of Martha Stewart Living. I'm still looking for the link).

Free Bath & Body Works Signature Item

2009-01-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

I hit the mall today because I am attending a double baby shower tonight and I needed some BabyGap gifts, stat! Thanks to Money Saving Mom, I quickly printed off this coupon for a free signature item from Bath & Body Works, just in case the babies would let me venture in.

Bath & Body Works is having a mega sale right now. They have redesigned their signature line with all new packaging (very fancy and very beautiful), so all the "old" stuff is on sale. A lot of other items are on sale, too. Since the coupon is a free signature item with ANY purchase, I picked up a travel size of the Warm Vanilla Sugar bubble bath for $1 and then a full size of the same for my free item. My mom loves that scent (and bubble bath), so I'll probably stick it in with her birthday present (the full sized one...the travel size is for me!).

I love how finding coupons and deals like this can help me to be more generous with the people I love. Normally, that bottle of body wash would have cost $12! But now, after only paying a buck, I can give my mom something else fabulous too.

The coupon expires January 25th (Sunday), so you have a few more days to stop in and get some inexpensive goodies!