for better or for worse, Extreme Couponing is coming back.

TLC aired a special called Extreme Couponing a couple of months ago.  To their surprise, the show was a hit, and they've made it into a series.  The first season will start airing on April 6th, and if you're already couponing, you WILL be affected by it, even if you don't watch the show.

Strangers and cashiers will see your coupons in your hand and ask if you're "like those people on TV".  Your favorite stores might have the shelves cleared of their sale items earlier than you're used to.  You'll have more "competition" out there.  Drugstores might impose more limits on their sale items.

The problem with the show- at least, last time- was that it didn't teach responsible coupon usage.  I talked about this at length when the show first aired.  Yes, it's great to get a good deal, and yes, if you can stock up you should-- but you should NOT clear shelves unless it's the last day of a sale.  Three of the four couponers shown on the first episode bought more items than their family could possibly consume in a year.  What's the point?  Why bother getting free stuff if you're just going to throw it away?

I'll be watching the show then it airs- and it might feel a little like watching a horror movie through my fingers.  Anyone else planning on watching?

menu plan Monday, on Tuesday.

I love having our menu planned out every week, but I have a really hard time actually doing the planning.  I'm just too easily distracted by everything else in the world to sit down and concentrate on SEVEN WHOLE NIGHTS of dinner.  So sad!

I will say though-- menu planning each week is a HUGE money saver for us.  First of all if I've taken the time to buy ingredients for a particular meal, I'm mush less likely to go "ahh, who cares" and order take-out instead.  Secondly, it cuts way down on impulse purchases at the grocery store.  Thirdly, it helps me to remember on the days that I need to start prepping the meal early (to get the crock pot going, or to marinate something, or my nemesis- remembering to defrost meat in time).

In the past I've tried a couple of different meal planning services- e-mealz and Dine Without Whine.  While they were a great starting point for me, I found that most of the recipes they offered were things my kids (or I!) would never eat, so I've gone off on my own.  Every week I try to plan meals based on what's on sale that week, and what we have on hand and in the freezer.

I love looking through Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.com where literally hundreds of people post their weekly menus.  I get some great ideas there!

So with all that said, here's our planned menu for the rest of the week, in no order whatsoever...

-Baked Ziti (Tom made this for Game Night at church on Sunday and it was so good, we want it again!), salad, garlic bread
-Individual Meat Loaves (last time I tried an Ina Garten recipe but this time I'll just wing it), peas
-Macaroni & Cheese (Tom's specialty, made on Thursdays when I'm at gymnastics with Charlie in the afternoon)
-Salisbury Steaks, mashed potatoes, salad
-Huli Huli Chicken (from America's Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution), asparagus
-we usually get pizza Saturday night
-one night of leftovers!

Do you plan your meals every week?  Or are you thinking of trying?  I'd love to hear about it!

my Sunday shopping scores

Yesterday was my best shopping day so far.  EVER.  I didn't feel like I bought a lot of things, and I only went to 3 stores, but I walked away with a profit at each of the stores for a whole day of moneymakers.  Here's how I did it!

CVS
1 Physician's Formula Cover Stick
1 Physician's Formula Organic Jumbo Wear mascara with Try Me Free peelie
1 Colgate toothbrush
-------------------------------
subtotal: $19.23
- (2) $5 off Physician's Formula Qs (from their promotion a few weeks ago)
$1 Colgate toothbrush Q
------------------------------
spent $8.23 (used $6.99 ECB and the rest in cash)
earned $16 ECB
----------------------------
$7.77 MONEYMAKER plus will get a $9.99 rebate- $17.76 profit total


Rite Aid
18 packs of Trident Vitality gum (yeah that's right, and I'll go back for more at the end of the week)
2 ScunciGirl headwrap 6-packs
1 Scunci elastic 24 ct.
4 random Revlon beauty tools
2 Old Spice deodorants
2 Old Spice bodywashes
4 Stayfree packages
-----------------------------------------
subtotal $50.64
total coupons used: $46.40
----------------------------------------
total spent OOP:   $5.47 (used $4 +UP rewards, paid $1.47 in cash)
earned $12.98 in +UP rewards (and I need to buy 1 more Revlon tool to earn another $4 UP but I'm not counting it in the total)
----------------------------------------
$7.51 MONEYMAKER plus $1 SCR... total $8.51 in profit


Stop & Shop
12 boxes of General Mill cereal, bought in 3 transactions of 4*
--------------------------
subtotal $40.78
used $8 in internet printable coupons
earned $6 off each of these 3 transactions= $18 off
-----------------------
spent $6.73 PLUS earned 3 coupons for a free gallon of milk (any flavor or brand up to $4.50 each)
-----------------------
total $6.73 in profit


grand total for Sunday shopping: $33 profit
*only 8 boxes of cereal are pictured because I gave 4 to the Framingham Survival Center as I exited the store, which felt awesome.  I LOVE donating items, and most of what I bought on Sunday will be donated to various places.

how to make freebie offers and giveaways work for you

I read a lot of different blogs about saving money.  I've "liked" a lot of them on Facebook so that I can get updates quickly, and when a company is giving away something for free I get bombarded with posts about it.  I used to think "oh, I don't want to get signed up for junk mail so I'll skip it" or "geez, I don't even USE that product, why would I want it for free?" and I'd just pass on by.  But as it turns out, these offers can turn into "moneymakers" at drugstores or supermarkets, if you know how to work them the right way!

Let's take an example from a giveaway I posted about on Facebook a couple of days ago:  a coupon for a free box of John Freida hair color.  When I get this coupon in the mail, I'll keep my eye out for any promotions at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, or my local supermarkets that allow you to earn rewards on John Frieda products.  Take CVS: it's possible they'll run a promotion where you buy a box of this hair color and earn $2 ECB back.  They're not counting on you having a coupon to get a free box!  You can use your freebie coupon to turn your free hair dye into a moneymaker- and then, if you don't use hair dye, just give the box to someone else or donate it to a women's shelter.

I suggest you create an email account to use when signing up for offers like this- a spam email box, per se- so your real email box doesn't get clogged up with promotional emails.  I also like to sign up for mailed freebies using my maiden name.  I know it's not affording me any privacy, but I feel like I'm not selling my real name to advertising firms.

Have you ever made a freebie work for you?  I'd love to hear about it!

the power of a stock-up price list

When I was young my mom had a book called The Tightwad Gazette.  In it, author Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced "decision"- man, I thought that was the COOLEST name) gave a million different frugal tips and tricks, including keeping a price book for the various items you buy often at the grocery store.  When I started trying to save money on groceries this past fall, I was completely at a loss as to what was a "good" price and what was an "woah, amazing, stock up now" price.  I'd never paid enough attention to most items to really compare pricing.  If anything, I'd see a sale tag and think "it's on sale, must be cheaper!" and that was about it.

I now have my very own stock-up price list on various family staples, and I'd like to share it with you.  I developed it in part by using a form that came with Grocery University, which I found pretty helpful in learning to stack coupons and stock up on sale items.  Last week Money Saving Mom posted her own stock-up price list, which I love to look at-- she's in the Midwest, so her grocery prices are very different than mine here in Metro Boston.

I think that a stock-up price list would be helpful for ANYONE, even those who are just starting out on trying to save money, or those who only shop for one or two people every week.  My suggestion is to initially make yourself a list for the 10 grocery or health & beauty items you buy the most often (milk, bread, yogurt, eggs, diapers, Cadbury Mini Eggs- you know, household staples) and then just quickly write down the cheapest price you see for that item each week.

Of course, prices will also vary based on how often your family eats particular foods, if you have enough freezer or storage space to really stock up in bulk when the price is low, if you have access to "good" coupons, etc.  With that said, here's my own stock-up price list.  I hope that my list will help you compare what you're currently paying at the store, so you can get a better idea of what's a good price for you.

Health & Beauty/"Drugstore" items

Bandages — .50/box
Deodorant — free to .25 each
Floss — free
Liquid Soap — free (if I can't get it free, I fill our hand soap dispensers with body wash)
Lotion — free (though to be fair, we don't use a lot of lotion)
Mouthwash — 2.00 (I get particular types for Tom and the girls)
Pain Relievers — 1.00 per bottle (many "PM" versions are free each week)
Razors — free (I stock up as much as possible during big sales)
Shampoo/Conditioner — .50 per bottle
Shaving Cream — free
Toothbrushes — free (though I got Tom a free Sonicare in the fall, and now I'm stuck buying refill heads for it- OUCH.  They're pricey!)
Toothpaste — free

Refrigerated Items

Butter — 1.69 per pound
Deli Cheese — 3.99/lb (my girls LIVE on American cheese)
Eggs — 2-00 per dozen- I have a REALLY hard time getting "cheap" eggs.  It's not like I can freeze them!  They tend to be an item that I get as cheap as I can every couple of weeks, but I don't "stock up" and if I have to pay more, I pay more.
Milk — 2.99/gallon- this is the cheapest price I EVER see around here.  I don't freeze milk, so I generally buy 2 gallons when I go shopping and they'll last us 5 or 6 days.
Greek Yogurt — .75 each- we prefer Greek and it's really expensive!

Produce

Bananas — .49/pound if I can get them that cheap
Grapes — .99/pound or less
Salad — 1.99 (I buy it bagged- I know, I know)
Salad Dressing — free
Strawberries — .99/carton
Carrots, mushrooms, celery —.99 per bag, or package

Frozen

Frozen Meals — 1.00 each (for Lean Cuisine type meals, to have as lunches)
Frozen Pizza — 3.00 each (we don't buy these often)
Frozen Vegetables — .50/bag or less (they go on sale so often, and there are lots of coupons available)
Frozen Breads- 1.00 each- for things like garlic toast, which are a nice treat

Meat

Beef, Ground — 1.99/pound
Chicken, Boneless Skinless Breast — 1.99/pound or less
Chicken, Whole or bone-in breasts or thighs — .99 per pound
Pork chops, boneless — 1.99/pound or less 

We don't eat a big variety of meats, as you can tell.  In general I won't pay more than $2/pound unless it's a special occasion.

Dry/Canned Goods

Bread — 1.49 per loaf or less for whole grain white bread
Brownie Mix — free
Cake Mix — free
Canned Tuna — .50 each (I have a really hard time finding "cheap" tuna- the normal sale price around here is $1 a can)
Cereal — free- .50 per box (I pay more for Kashi for Tom)
Chocolate Chips — 1.50/bag
Crackers — .75/box
Flour — I don't honestly know, I just buy the store brand or whatever's cheapest
Honey — I have a hard time getting this cheaply- the best I've done is 8.99/36 oz. at Target
Jelly — .50/jar
Ketchup — 1.00 per bottle
Mayonnaise — 1.00 per jar
Mustard — free
Oats — 2.99 per cannister
Pasta — .25 per box (Barilla)
Peanut Butter — 1.00 per jar
Spaghetti Sauce — .50 per jar
Sugar — same as flour- I just buy whatever's cheapest
Syrup — we only use real maple syrup, which is never cheap!
Tomato Paste — free
Tomato Sauce — free

Do you keep your own price list?  Do you think having a price list would be helpful to you?

What does any of this have to do with goldfish?

My two girls are big fans of salty, cheesy snacks.  They're not big eaters, and I don't ever remember a dinner where I didn't sit between them at the table, saying "take a bite.  Take a bite.  Take a bite!" over and over- but give them some sort of cracker, or some cheese, and they'll eat it by the handful.  They love Saltines, they love Cheez-Its, and they REALLY love Goldfish.

You know... goldfish.

A couple of years ago, our lives were very, very different.  I worked full-time for the years that Tom was in grad school.  He worked a few part-time jobs, but I was really the breadwinner for the family, and Tom was the primary caregiver for our kids.  My mom was fond of saying "he's their Dad AND their Mom!" which would always make me grimace, but I understood what she was saying.  The girls got to have Daddy home with them every day.  Tom was super dad, driving them to school, packing lunches, doing their piggytails and picking out the appropriate leggings to match their dresses.

My life plan, my family plan, had always been to stay home with my kids until they were at least school age.  But when Tom sat me down and talked to me about going back to school to become a minister, I realized that things were going to change, and why not?  I'd depended on him to provide for the family-- why couldn't he depend on me for a while?

Our family flip-flop went fairly smoothly, but I'm not going to lie.  I spent a good amount of time being jealous.  When I'd call home during the day and Charlie wouldn't want to talk to me because she was playing a game and didn't want to be disturbed, or when I was pumping for the third time in a day in an empty office at work and my boss banged on the door and told me she had to get in the room RIGHT THEN because she had to look for something "important" as I'm sitting at an empty desk trying to empty my brain so I can make more milk for my baby who is home with her daddy all day long, it was hard to remain upbeat about our current situation.

One day I was sitting at my cubicle talking on the phone to Tom, who was having a hard time with the girls at home.  I tried to be empathetic, but when I hung up I found myself complaining to my co-workers.  "Seriously, how hard can it be?  Put on a movie, throw some goldfish on the table, and call it a day!"

Well... now our jobs have shifted again, and I'm the one home full time with the girls.  Spending my days with a three year old isn't easy, just as it wasn't easy when Tom did it with our older daughter.  And yep, there are times when I follow my own sarcastic advice- I throw some goldfish on the table, distract the kids, and take a deep breath.  And keep going.

It's friday, friday, gotta get down on friday

1Get down?  Get down to the week's shopping list, I mean.  The grocery stores I shop at start their sales week on Friday, and since Rite Aid and CVS start on Sunday, I find that friday morning is a good day to gather any sales information I can from around the internet.

I've talked about Catalina (CAT) deals before- that's when you go to the grocery store and the coupon printer spits out a $ off coupon when you buy certain items.  These are usually a GREAT way to save at the grocery store.  For example, there are two frozen food CATs running this week at Stop & Shop, and they overlap.  One is buy $100 of frozen foods, get $25 off your next order- and the other is buy 6 of certain frozen items, get $5 off your next order.  As an example, let's take a look at Pillsbury Toaster Strudel, which are $2 per box and qualify for both deals- a "double dip".

6 boxes of Toaster Strudel @ $2 each= $12, earn $5 back
buy 54 boxes (I know... gross.  But stick with me here)= spend $108, and earn back:
-$25 from first CAT deal
-$45 from second CAT deal (you will have purchased 9 sets of 6 boxes each)
--------------------------------
total OOP $38 for 54 boxes, or .70 a box


Now, clearly I just used the Toaster Strudel as an example... I really hope nobody runs out and does this.  But it nicely illustrates my point, that CAT deals allow you to save money- even without using any coupons- if you're willing to sit down and do your math before you head to the store.

Wondering what I'm planning on buying this week?  Me too!  Well, I'll be taking advantage of the buy 6, get $5 off CAT above- I highly doubt I'll get anywhere enough to do the double dip with the buy $100 get $25 promo.  At a different store, there's a Buy 5, get 5 CAT running, so I'll take advantage of that to get Charlie more juice boxes for snack time at school.

As for Rite Aid this week- I haven't really looked yet.  I'm sure there'll be some decent freebies to pick up, but recently they've been playing around with limits on deals and it's been sort of tricky to shop there.  Hopefully I can come up with something good.

ETA:: I'm back from Stop & Shop and Shaws.  Both trips involved a Catalina deal.  Wanna see how I did?

Stop & Shop
1 McCormick Rotisserie Chicken spice mix
1 McCormick Vanilla Extract
2 Toaster Strudels
2 Orieda Steam & Mash potatoes
2 Yoplait Frozen Smoothie Mixes
1 40 oz. Bisquick
1 Kikkoman Soy Sauce
1 lemon juice
--------------------------------------
total before savings: $33.43
coupons used:- $9
CAT for frozen items: -$5
--------------------------------------
total after sales, coupons and CAT: $15.47

Shaws
1.5 lbs. red grapes
1 16 oz. pack of strawberries
1 pk. Joseph's oat/flax wraps
5 Capri Sun 10 packs
------------------------------
 total before savings $27.12
coupons used: NONE! (I know, right?  Sad.)
CAT for Capri Sun: -$5
-----------------------------
total after sales, coupons and CAT: $13.38

So a little over 50% saved...

A quickie for you.

Not an afternoon delight.  That's different.  I like the marshmallows*.

Anyway.

I've been really, really sick.  You don't want me to go into details, but let me just tell you I've only been able to "eat" liquids for the past 3 days and I generally feel like my throat was attached by a pack of irate Rite Aid shoppers who just missed out on free cans of  tuna fish.  So I haven't been shopping (or doing much but sleeping) but do you know what this means?  It means the batch of chicken stock I made last week was a LIFESAVER for me.  I drank all of it over the course of 2 days and not only was it tasty, but I'd like to believe it was more nutritious than the other soup options I had in the house.

I decided to venture out into the world again this morning for a test run to see if I could re-enter the land of the living.  I hit RA, and apparently I got there just after their most notorious smash & grabber left.  I actually saw her, running (yes RUNNING) out of the store with a huge grin on her face, throwing a bag in the car, then heading right back in to do another transaction.  When I got up to the register my resident MOLC (mean old lady cashier) confirmed my suspicions and told me that the last customer had just bought a ton of nail polish and lip gloss.  Oh well.  Funny to actually see it in person, when it's not me getting the deals!

I hit Stop & Shop and did much better.  They're having a deal- buy 4 General Mills cereals, get an instant $6 off AND you get a catalina for a free gallon of milk.  I had printed a bunch of coupons for different GM cereals off various sites, and was able to get all of the following:

8 boxes of cereal (Cheerios (different flavors), Chex, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
14 Yoplait Greek yogurts (regularly .99, sale .89, I had a total of $2.80 worth of coupons for these)
2 gallons of milk
-----------------------
total before coupons, sales & promotions: $49.76
I paid: $15.57 (and $9.66 of that was yogurt!)

That's .73 a box for the cereal, not even taking into account the 2 gallons of free milk you earn.  And ALL of the coupons I used were internet printables, so you don't even need to hoard coupon inserts to get this deal!

*This is a Glee joke.  Sorta.  Sorry.  Told you I'm sick.

It's a cooking day for sure.

A week or so ago, I saw a great blog post about using 5 chicken breasts to make 5 meals.  I'm all for stretching our grocery budget, and this article talks about how to use bone-in chicken breasts to the fullest extent.  I had to hit Shaws yesterday, so I decided to take the plunge.

If you know me, you know that I'm bone-a-phobic.  I never eat meat on the bone.  It's not that I care that it's a dead animal-- it's that I'm too freaked out about chomping down on a piece of cartilage, or a splintered bone that'll poke me in the gums, or- God forbid- a vein.  Ugh GROSS.  So when I shop I buy boneless chicken breasts, boneless pork chops, and on and on.  If I go to a restaurant I ask the server if the dish I want to order is boneless, and if not, I order something else.  So this"experiment"  is a biggie for me, and not easy!

First, I skinned the chicken and put the removed skin aside.  I cut the chicken breasts off the bone and chopped them up into bite-sized pieces.  These I split into 3 freezer baggies, labeled, and froze them.

The chicken ribs went into a stock pot with enough water to cover them, and I boiled them for 30 minutes until the remaining meat on the bone was cooked through.  I then removed the ribs from the water, cooled them, and used my hands to pick the rest of the meat off the bone.  This got me about 1/5 cups of shredded chicken, which I also labeled and froze for future use.

I then heated the oven to 475.  I roughly cut up 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks, and 1 onion.  I threw all the veggies into a roasting pan along with the chicken ribs, and the skin I'd removed earlier, and 4 big cloves of garlic, and roasted all of it until the veggies were browned and the house smelled delicious.

I had kept the water in the stock pot from boiling the ribs, so I skimmed the gunk off the top of the water, then threw all the roasted goodies (except the garlic and the remaining chicken skin that hadn't cooked down) into the stock pot with the chicken water.  I smashed the garlic cloves, then added them too, along with 2 bay leaves, a tablespoon of thyme, and 8 black peppercorns.  I added more water, enough to cover everything in the pot plus another 2 or 3 inches.

I boiled all of this, then turned down the temp and got the stock to a good simmer.  And that's where we are now.  Simmer, simmer, simmer.  It's been going for almost 4 hours now, and it looks (and smells!) great, but not tasting "done" yet so I'll leave it be.

Once I feel it's done, I'll strain it all through a fine strainer and put it in a bowl in the fridge so the fat will rise to the top and solidify.  Once it's cooled, I'll remove the fat and then freeze the stock in small containers for future use.  Awesome!

I don't think I could have gotten this much use out of boneless chicken breasts, and just looking at that simmering pot of stock makes me feel like some sort of kitchen wizard.

It doesn't always work out.

I feel the need to share this story so you can see that, even with the best intentions, sometimes the deals don't work out for me (or you, or anyone- even the Extreme Couponers).  Three weeks ago, before I left for vacation, Rite Aid was running a sale on Dove Invisible Solid deodorant- buy 2 for $4, get $2 +UP back.  When the math works out, a customer would be getting this deodorant for $1 each, which is a good deal... but there's more.  See, there was a $2 off any Dove Deodorant coupon out at the same time.  Suddenly you could get both deodorants for free, THEN still get the $2 +UP back, for a profit of $1 per deodorant.

All of the deodorant I had in the house was men's, from the big Gillette/Old Spice sale a few months ago.  I hadn't yet seen a good deal on women's deodorant, and once I'd gotten used to free health and beauty products, well, I just couldn't bring myself to spend money just to get girly smelling armpits.  I was using a stick of Old Spice in the Fiji scent ("smells like palm trees, sunshine, & freedom" according to the label) and while it wasn't girly, I also didn't smell like I'd gone swimming in Drakkar.  But a chance to get some free women's deodorant?  I was ON IT.

I had ordered a few extra coupon inserts for the week that the Dove $2 off coupon came out, so luck was on my side when I went through my binder and found 8 coupons for the deodorant.  I scoped out my Rite Aid in Saturday night- they had 13 Dove's in stock.  "Great", I thought. "I have 8 coupons but I won't buy 8, I'll just buy 4 and leave all the rest for everyone else."

So Sunday morning rolls around, and I'm not able to go to Rite Aid when it opens, but I get there around 11:30.  I go straight to the deodorant aisle and immediately see it-- the empty shelf where all the Dove used to be.  Crap.

No worries though- I decide to just get a rain check.  That way I can still use the coupon, and get the sale price, but I won't get the +UPs.  And that's OK- I love "moneymakers" but I also love free! So from this point on, I dutifully check the Dove area every time I'm back in the store.

This past Saturday, I check RA one more time.  They never got in any more Dove, and my coupons expire the next day, so I know I'm stuck.  I've got to use the coupons or lose them.  I head over to Shaws because I remember they were also running a Dove promo, and I'm not sure what the specifics are, but I'm hoping I can still snag a deal, even at the last minute.

As I browse at Shaws, I realize that the Dove promo had ended THE DAY BEFORE.  The day before!  The deodorants are on "sale" for $2.99 each now- but can you see how paying .99 each for them is so hard when I was originally going to be PAID $1 to take each stick home?

So what did I end up doing?  I found a stick on "clearance" for $2.79, and I bought it.  One stick.  79 cents.  And threw away the other 7 coupons.

But, you know... 6 months ago, I would bought the deodorant at 2.99 and thought I was getting a deal.  Heck, a year ago, I would have bought whatever deodorant I liked the scent of the most and not even LOOKED at the price!  Deals don't always work the way you want them to, and it's just not worth beating yourself up over.