Our Debt Free Journey So Far

Hello friends! I thought it might be time to check in with you and let you know how our journey is going. The reason I haven't so far is that not much has happened. We have been building our emergency fund just fast enough to have something come up and drain it completely.
Don't get me wrong I am so happy to have had it when we needed it but at the same time I feel like we are spinning our wheels a lot of the time.

Thankfully, god will provide and Eric got a raise! This should mean we can quickly build our emergency fund instead of it taking months and months and we can really start kicking our debt to the curb!

What I want you all to know about this journey is it can be frustrating and you are going to go through tough times and you might even fall of the wagon once in a while, but get back up! It's worth the hardship.It's worth the extra effort and self discipline. Hang in there, God is with you and if you ask for his help, you will get it.

Have a great day lovlies!

Stuffed Green Peppers

Hey there everyone! It's been a little while since I posted and I wanted to share my stuffed green pepper recipe with you. It's SO easy and so flippin' good! Let's get to it!



4 large green peppers washed and cut in half length wise stem and seeds removed
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 little swirl in the pan of olive oil
2 cups cooked rice
1/2 of a bunch of fresh parsley chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 T or more to taste Worcestershire(who can say that word? If you can you are my new hero) sauce
1 lemons worth of juice
1 T each basil, oregano, and fennel seed
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
a few grates of parmesean cheese

Preheat your oven to 400.

Cut and prepare peppers, cook peppers in oven on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until soft. Once peppers are done turn down the heat to 375

While the peppers are cooking, put a little swirl of olive oil in your pan and brown your meat with your chopped onions and dried herbs.

Once the meat is done add the Worcestershire sauce and the tomatoes then stir in rice, lemon juice and garlic.

Once everything is combined and warmed through remove from heat add parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff par-baked peppers with the filling and top with cheese.

Place into a oven safe casserole dish I think we usually use a 9x12 glass pyrex dish.

Cover your precious pepper babies with aluminum foil and place into the oven.

Cook for 20 minutes, remove foil and cook 5-8 minutes more until cheese is slightly browned and bubbly.

Then eat it, it's so good, I know!! You're welcome. I love you.

One of those days...

I live in a city and though the part I live in is pretty safe, there are a lot of other parts that aren't and they are closer than I would like. I keep hearing about the wheels on neighbors cars being stolen and car windows shot out.

*sigh* Today is one of those days I feel pretty discouraged. One of the main reasons we are working our sweet little tails off paying of debt is so we can move out of the city. It just seems so far in future, so very far.  Why is that when I feel like this I want to spend money? I want to go out to eat or do something fun. Totally opposite of what I should be doing to get to my goals. Do you guys have days like this? When the light at the end of the tunnel is so faint you think for a second maybe I should turn back? Don't worry peeps I won't. It's just one of those days.

Cheesy Zucchini Thingies

Hey you! How are you? You are looking stunning as usual, thanks for dropping by! I thought I would share with you guys the easiest, yummiest, laziest way to make zucchini I have come across yet. Try it, trust me you won't regret it.
P.S. I take really crappy pictures of food. It's good I promise. I don't think I have a future in food styling though :)

2 Medium zucchini
about a 1/4 cup of cheese (I used Provolone and Parmesan)
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
olive oil spray or enough to brush onto the zucchini
1 Roma tomato sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
splash of balsamic vinegar (optional but tasty)


Preheat oven to 425

Cut zucchinis in half length wise then in half crosswise and then in half lengthwise again. I am sure there is a way easier and more understandable way to put that but the little dude still isn't sleeping through the night and my brain is well...mushy.

Brush or spray zucchini with olive oil

Sprinkle on salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder.

Put on cheese.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes, add tomato slices and cook for 5 more minutes

Finish with a splash of balsamic.

Eat it, it's so good.

10.68 Target Haul

Hi guys! You know how much I love Target. Here is yet another Target Haul. If you don't have the Target Cartwheel app, get it silly! Also, you can text offers to 827438 and get mobile coupons you can use with cartwheel offers AND target coupons AND manufactures coupons. I mean, really. C'mon now, ridiculous savings! Watch the video to see how I did it. OK love you, bye.

Disappointing Aldi trip

Hellllo blogosphere! I decided to check out Aldi after hearing so many people say positive things about the prices and the products. I have to say, I didn't see the appeal. Nothing really struck me as a great price. As a couponer a lot of my buy prices are under 1.00 so that could have tainted my view.

There sale produce is a great price but it was either not there or what was left was rotten. I will try a different one in my town before I say no thanks to Aldi's forever. I will however keep taking their ad to Walmart and price matching it for produce that isn't rotten or gone.

What do you guys think of Aldi? Did I just go to the worst one ever? 

Grocery Haul 5/1/14

Hello friend! You look so nice today!! Here is our latest grocery trip.

I talked through the breakdown on the video. If you have any comments or questions, let me know. We started our debt snowball yesterday. We are PUMPED.
OK, love you bye!

Groceries for the week of 4/25 to 5/1

I decided to do something different this week and instead of a picture and a description, I'm putting up a video! Yay for variety ;) We had an extra 10.00 for groceries this week, love when that happens.

There were a few coupons and price matching I did.

Ritz Crackers with Bacon- Free after sample coupon offer at walmart.com
Daisy Sour Cream used a .45 off coupon I got after emailing them and asking for coupons- 1.46
New York Cheese and Garlic Croutons .50 printable coupon- .69
Baby bella mushrooms were a price match from Aldi's .79
Grape Tomatoes were a price match from Aldi's for .99
Cucumbers were a price match from Aldi's .29 each
The orange has a .25 rebate from checkout 51 making it .25
The apples had a rebate from saving star for 20% back they were 1.00 a lb at pick n save ended up being about .79 for the apples
McCormick Taco Seasoning- used a .50 off 2 coupon made them about .26 each
Kit Kat bar was free after savibgs star rebate (Friday Freebie)
Tic Tacs were free after rebate from shopium and were 20% off at saving star (MONEY MAKER +.20)
Chicken breast was 3 lbs for 5.00 at pick n save

The rest was normal Walmart prices.

The DH Extreme Couponing

My husband is so crazy! He was too excited about the coupon I gave him. If you participate in the Fresh Express salad swap program , you too can have your significant other think they are the best shopper ever! Oh, and you can have free salad too.

We are starting our Debt Free Journey!

We saved up our emergency fund! I didn't think we could hit the goal as quickly as we did! One month! i am proud of us!!
We started our envelope system this week and have already found it needs to tweaking, like DUH we need to buy clothes once in a while. I think it's going to be an ongoing process, figuring out what we need and how much we need for it.
Now it begins, paying off all of the debt we have including our house! Wish us luck this is going to be a looooong journey. Expect many frugal recipes to come.

OK love you, bye!

Apple Salad Yumminess

This is my Aunt Linda's recipe for apple salad with my Mom's tweaks. It's creamy and sweet and heavenly. You will love it, I just know it.

5 Apples (chopped)
2 Bananas (chopped)
1/2 cup grapes (chopped)
1 cup Miniature Marshmallows

1/4 cup Miracle Whip

2 cups Cool Whip

3-5 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

Splash of milk
1 t vanilla extract

Mix Miracle Whip with Cool Whip and vanilla in a large bowl

Add powdered sugar to taste (3-5 T or slightly more) 

Can add a little bit of milk if it seems too stiff.

Add marshmallows

Stir in apples, bananas and grapes

Chill several hours or overnight.

Groceries for 4/18-4/25

This is what our 20.00 budget allowed for this week. We shopped on two different days so there are two different pictures..I know what you are saying, that is not much! Where is the meat? It's in my stockpile freezer silly! Where's the milk? We don't drink much and we using a lot of the coconut milk in our stockpile for cereal. The cool whip, mayo, half the grapes and two bananas are for an apple salad I am bringing to my parents house for Easter. The recipe will be in the post right after this one. I take no credit it for it's my Aunt Linda's recipe.  The sweet potatoes and left over bananas are for making baby food the the little dude. Want to see how we eat on a budget? Check out our youtube channel.

OK the breakdown:

Pick n Save:

1 Cool Whip on sale for .88
2 Ranch Dressing on sale buy 1 get 1 free for 3.59 used a 1.00 off 2 coupon from last Sunday's paper 2.59 for two

.51 lbs Romaine lettuce 1.29 a lb .66

1 bunch cilantro .79

Piggly Wiggly:

2 sweet potatoes 1.21

4 bananas .86

2.49lbs broccoli crowns 1.97

Helmmans 30 oz jar mayo on sale for 2.99 used a 1.00 of 1 coupon from last Sunday's paper 1.99

1 lb Food club unsalted butter on sale for  1.99

.47lbs Red Seedless Grapes 1.64

1 green pepper .88

1 Dannon Oikos- Friday freebie from saving star- FREE

1.40lbs romanine lettuce 1.81

2 roma tomatoes .37

1 bunch green onions .59

1 loaf Food Club wheat bread 1.49

Total- 19.72! Yay! I made up for the deficit from last week. We were able to put 65.00 in our emergency fund because of the grocery savings. That brings us to 681.00 we are getting closer to our 1,000 fund faster than I thought we would. Go us!

Black Bean Dip Heaven

Heeeellllooo delicious bean dip! Have you ever had bean dip for dinner? You should! Seriously, no I'm being for reals. Do it. My family affectionately calls this nacho pile. It may not be beautiful but it is so tasty you don't even care. The recipe to make the beans is here. The changes I made are  I add a half a packet of taco seasoning to them, used black beans in place of pinto beans and a can of green chilies in place of the hot pepper. I love the spice, DD can't handle the spice.

Here's the rest of the recipe:

8-10 oz salsa
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions chopped
1 bunch cilantro chopped
sour cream (optional)
lime wedges (optional)
chips (mandatory)

Preheat oven to 400
Mix chopped cilantro into the beans, saving some for garnish
Spread beans in a 8x10 or so casserole
Pour on salsa and spread over beans evenly
Sprinkle on chopped green onions
Cover with shredded cheese
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly
Serve with sour cream, chips and garnish with cilantro and lime juice.

OK gotta go, love you, BYE!

It's Pizza Night!

Oh the joys of homemade pizza!! So tasty so much cheaper than take out or delivery. I use our bread maker to make the crust, I used Great Value pizza sauce, it's only a buck and it's really tasty! Here is our recipe for the crust and pizza, just follow your bread makers directions for the order of putting stuff in the machine.

8 oz water
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil
3 c all purpose flour
2 T Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 1/2 t yeast


Set your machine to dough cycle
Once dough is done roll out and place on your pizza pan.
Preheat your oven to 425. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to prevent bubbles. Brush on a small amount olive oil and sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Bake for 8 minutes, add whatever topping you like and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes. YAY PIZZA!

We added a nice big salad to our dinner.You should too, eat your greens, I love you.

Mexican Fiesta Day Two!

Doesn't it sound SO much better to call these two days of eating leftover chicken a fiesta? I mean which would you rather go to a two day leftover chicken party or a Mexican fiesta? Yeah, I thought so too. Anyways onto the fiesta! Tonight I made sour cream chicken enchiladas and can I just say...... YUM!
So much so that my family is fighting over the leftovers. This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper. See all those caps? I mean business amigos, serious delicious business.
The recipe is from the skinny mom website and can be found here. The only thing I changed, and no I can't ever leave anything alone was to sub the canned tomatoes for salsa.
 Go and make this recipe and eat it. You're welcome, love you, bye.

Yummy Chicken Taco Salad

I decided all the chicken we had saved from out 10lbs of chicken we made yesterday was going into some sort of Mexican dish .I took all our leftover shredded chicken and heated it up with a cup of water and a packet of taco seasoning.
Day one of this two day Mexican Fiesta is taco salad! I L-O-V-E taco salad. I could live on it, like forever and never ever get sick of it.
This is a super easy recipe and I will give it to because I love you.

2 cups taco flavored shredded chicken
2 cups spinach
2 cups lettuce
2 roma tomatoes chopped
1/2 red onion diced fine
2 green onions chopped
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 bunch cilantro chopped (optional, but we love cilantro)

Toppings:
crushed tortilla chips
salsa
sour cream
ranch-taco dressing (mix ranch dressing with taco seasoning to taste)
shredded cheddar cheese

10 lbs of Chicken!

Our awesome neighbor gave us 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters!! We put them into 2 crock pots one with oregano, salt, pepper, basil and herbs de provence. The other crock we used salt, lemon pepper and oregano. YUM! We shredded it all up and had lemon pepper chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner that night.Then we froze about 2 cups. We saved 4 cups to use throughout the week. We took one of those four cups and mixed with some BBQ and finely diced red onion, stuck it on some hamburger buns leftover from our BBQ and sent them over to our neighbor to say thank you. We love our neighbor! So much chicken!

First week of the super tight 20.00 a week budget

So all of this cost a total of 20.53. Well right off the bat I am .53 over in  my food budget. Dang. I'm wondering if I can actually stick to this 20.00 a week budget. Let me explain what I mean. After taking a look at our budget, in order to get our emergency fund built up quickly we will have to take some drastic cuts. These cuts are temporary just until the end of April. We are basically eating through our stockpile and only buying dairy and fresh produce. Because of my couponing we have quite the stockpile built up.

For the next couple of weeks I will be posting a little differently. I will be posting what I got and then what I am making for that week. It might help give you guys some ideas. Cross your fingers we can do this, without having to eat ramen every night.  Especially since we don't have any ramen.

What was bought:

Piggly Wiggly

2 bags Fresh express bagged baby spinach- 1.99 each used a 2.00 off 2 coupon

1 bottle of lime of like juice 1.70 (check out what is going on with limes right now, crazy!)

1 red onion 1.21

1 5lb bag russet potatoes 1.79

.87 lbs Roma tomatoes .60

1 bunch green leaf lettuce .85- used 20% back from saving star 

1.59 lbs broccoli crowns 1.26- used .25 cash back from checkout 51

Walmart

1 can chickpeas .68

1 can kidney beans .68

1 can great northern beans .68

1 bunch parsley .74

1 yellow onion .57

1 deans ranch dip- used a free coupon I got after writing to the company 

1 16 oz daisy sour cream 1.98- used a .45 off coupon from writing the company

1 cantaloupe 1.19-  price match from Aldi's 

16 oz strawberries 1.29- price match Aldi's

1.38 lbs red grapes 1.37- price match Aldi's

Pick N Save:

3 packs of buns .88 ea- 2.64

4 Granny Smith apples 1.60

Meal 1

We are having a BBQ because my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew will be visiting us this weekend. That's why we bought 3 packs of buns. We are not crazy bun eaters.

So for the BBQ we are having:

This bean salad, these pork burgers, grilled Italian sausages and hot dogs (from our freezer stock). 

For dessert I am making a fruit salad that is just cut up melon, strawberries, grapes and blueberries with a couple squirts of lime juice.

Meal 2 will be leftovers from the bbq

Check back for the rest of the weeks Meals!!

Why are you so cheap?

So I realized we have never been formally introduced. How rude! Hi, I'm Courtny I have a wonderful husband, an amazing teenage daughter and a bouncing 9 month old baby boy and we are on a tight budget.



It all started a while ago. I  realized a while ago that a lot of our bills were out of our control. You can turn off the lights and hang your laundry you can turn down that thermostat but if the energy prices rise like crazy you can't control that. You have no say. So I started cutting in areas I could. We said goodbye to cable, expensive cell phone plans and regular home phones. We switched to netflix, magic jack and tracfone (just for emergencies on the road). It was still not enough.

Then a light bulb went off. We were spending a TON on food. For a family of 3 and a half we were spending close to 800 a month. That is crazy high! How did we even have that much money? We didn't. That's when glorious coupons entered my life and saved it. OK maybe that's dramatic but it felt that way. We started saving 600 dollars a month and it didn't even change the way we ate!

Now we are trying to build up or emergency fund so things have gotten even tighter. I am no longer afraid of that, I welcome the challenge. Join us on our adventure to save money and have fun doing it.

Alright love you, bye!

Spaghetti Night For 1.06!

Ok you all know how much I love Target! Amazing pasta and sauce deal going on this week! The pasta sauce ends up being 0.60 each and the pasta 0.46 each. That makes for a CHEAP meal! Just add some veggies to the sauce, a salad and a fruit and you have a healthy frugal dinner!

On to how to get the deal.

First things first Target has their pastas and pasta sauces on sale for 25% off.

Go to targets coupon section of their website and print out the 1.50 off 3 market pantry sauces and the 1.00 off 3 market pantry pastas.

Go to your cartwheel account and add both the market pantry pasta for 5% off and the market pantry pasta sauce 5% off offers.

Then go to Target and buy it! Bring a friend or significant other if you need more than 3 of each because the coupon limits are one per guest.

GET OUTTA DEBT BEANS & RICE RECIPE!

I can't wait to try this frugal yummy looking recipe. This is definatly going into my dinner rotation next week because we were just gifted 10 lbs of brown rice! These guys have a great money saving youtube channel defiantly check them out.

Rollin down the street savin' money, eatin' on beans and rice laaaaaaaaaid back with my mind on my money and my money on my mind. OK I'm done now.

Dinner!

Heeelllllloooooooooo blogger!

Tonight I am making something completely made up by me for me (oh and those people who keep hanging around me calling me "wife" and "mom").

It is cheap, cheerful and tasty. It's also a use up what I have on hand kinda dish. Soo here it goes. Sorry I was going to take a picture but my family inhaled it before I could. I guess that's a ringing endorsement.




Unstuffed cabbage rolls

4-5 big cabbage leaves (Blanched)
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 28 oz jar spaghetti sauce (or homemade of course!)
2 T Italian seasoning
1 T Basil
1 t fennel seed
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic minced
6 oz Italian shredded cheese
 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs
1 or 2 T Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 375
Start a large pot of water boiling to blanch the cabbage once boiling add cabbage leaves and cook until soft and bendy, cut into strips.
Season turkey with Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper and fennel.
Cook turkey, onion and garlic in a large skillet
Drain any fat from turkey mixture
Add spaghetti sauce and rice, stir
add Worcestershire sauce and taste to see if extra seasoning is needed
add 3 oz of cheese to mixture and stir to combine
pour mixture into a 8 by 11 baking dish
place cabbage leaves on top of mixture
put remaining cheese and bread crumbs on top
bake until golden brown  about 20 to 25 minutes

What's for dinner?

Hello blogiverse! For dinner tonight I am making this. I am making a few changes to the recipe though. I am using frozen corn instead of canned, salsa instead of canned tomatoes and ground turkey instead of ground vegetarian crumbles.  Why you ask? Why would you do this? What's  the matter with you? It's because it's what I have on hand. Learning to cook with what you have will save you a million little trips to the store and hundreds of dollars. As long as the substitution makes senses it should go off without a hitch.
Confession time, after writing this I realize I am actually making this tomorrow. Today I am watching a friends 2 year old along with my own little, then taking the teenager to the orthodontist and then going to work. Ugh, tonight might end up being hot dogs or cereal or some other kind of I give up meal. No going out out to eat though. DH and I are doing a 31 day no spend challenge. For a deal queen like me it's been rough and it's only been a couple days so far!! I will keep you updated. Time to go and enjoy my last couple minutes of quiet today.

How to save A TON on your groceries

This food pictured above only cost me 54.19.
You can learn how to do this. It's so easy!
Here are the tips and tricks I use to save us the most money at the store to keep our family afloat.

Shop the sales! OK everyone first thing first and the most important thing to save you money. Seriously, don't buy things at full price. If you just go to the grocery store and throw things in your cart without shopping the sales you are paying DOUBLE if not TRIPLE what a person who shopped the sale would pay. 

Look through your local grocery ads every week and plan your meals around what is on sale. It might take a little getting used to but the extra money in your pocket will feel SO much better than buying what ever floated your boat at the store. Trust me on this, it's the biggest thing to save you money.

Price match! Walmart and Target are the two stores that I know price match. I have not price matched at Target but this is their policy.

 I always do my price matching at Walmart. It's easier because you can do it right at the register and their policy is very generous. Walmart's policy is found here. 

There are two main reasons that price matching rocks. You don't have to run to ten different stores to get the deals, gas is expensive people! You don't have to go by some of the rules in the grocery ads.  You don't have to spend 10.00 to get the price and you can buy more than what the ad might limit you to. Walmart will also take competitor coupons which is an awesome bonus!

Find and use coupons! Can't say enough about glorious coupons. They are free money. How could it get any better?!?  To get coupons get the paper and/ or find a coupon exchange.If you can find a store in your area that doubles coupons, DO IT. You can really, really maximize your savings if you take the time to plan your trip.  Find deal match up sites my favorite places to find coupons are coupon match up sites I love the data bases at the following websites; http://thekrazycouponlady.com/, http://hip2save.com/, and if you live in Wisconsin http://wisconsincouponmatchups.com/.  These are some printable coupon sites, http://www.coupons.com/, http://smartsource.com, http://www.redplum.com/ and
http://www.mambosprouts.com/.
 There are also store coupons. Walgreens and Target both have store coupons which can be combined with sales and stacked with 1 manufacturer coupon per item.

Combine coupons with sales! Whenever possible match your coupons with sales. If you get a great coupon but the product is not on sale, wait. It almost certainly will go on sale. This is how you save 50-75% on your groceries.  Once you can match the coupon and the sale try to get extra of that coupon.

Use shopping apps!

These free apps are a way you can stack, sales, coupons, store coupons and these rebates. These apps give you cash back for buying the products they have offers on. Each one will have a slightly different redemption process.

The ones I use are Saving Star, Ibotta, Checkout 51, and Shopmium. It's usually a limit of one offer per user but the offers change all the time. It's defiantly worth your while.

Start a stockpile! Sales run in cycles usually about 6-8 weeks. When a product your family uses hits a rock bottom price buy enough to last your family until the next sale. This way you can maximize your savings and not have to pay full price for the item when you run out.

Be creative!
Look into every avenue you can to save money. I looked into my Insurance program and found out they will give me 10% back on all "healthy" food at Walmart. What? Yeah, seriously. Create an account and look into rewards programs that your insurance company offers.
Always join any mailing list or loyalty program for food manufacturers. My favorite ones are kellogs family rewards, old orchard, and fresh express. Try checking the websites of your favorite brands.

Another way we keep our out of pocket cost down is by finding extra ways to add money to our budget. We participate in something called screenwise panel. By letting them monitor our internet usage (now I know this isn't for everyone) we get 60.00 a month. We use that to lower our out of pocket expenses on groceries.

You could also use  swagbucks. Swagbucks is a website where you can earn gift cards or cash by doing small activities, Internet searches and surveys. If you shop online link to the website through swagbucks to earn points as well. You probably won't be able to get enough to pay for your whole bill but every little bit helps, right? 

Target and piggly wiggly haul 3/3/14

This cost me 99.71

I have said this before, and I doubt I will ever stop saying it....I love you Target. Seriously head over heals in love with your sales. It's a great time to stock up on paper products and if you happen to have a little monster in diapers like this one

then you need to head out to Target like, um now.  We normally cloth diaper our little monster during the day. We only use disposables at night, on road trips or on days when I strip the diapers so these diapers should last us until he grows out of this size.The other great deal for babies is the up & up wipes these are very nice wipes and the price of  a penny a wipe is just too freakin' good.

So.... I have a confession. I am obsessed with raisin bran. One of my favorite parts of our yearly vacation is that the hotel has Raisin Bran in their breakfast buffet. Since I started really getting into couponing like a year ago I have been complaining that I could never get a good price on raisin bran. I refuse to pay more than .99 for a box of cereal that being said I haven't been able to buy Raisin Bran for a  year :C (epic sad face) I finally got it today! To me this is a huge victory. I will enjoy every bite, pinky promise.

So just to give you a brief overview of what I got for 99.71 :

444 diapers

436 wipes

72 rolls of toilet paper

1 febreeze

2 packs of cookies

2 candy bars

5 boxes of cereal

1 lb of chicken legs

8 cups yogurt

2 bags of salad

Ok on to the breakdown for Target:

2 packs of 222 diapers 34.49 a piece- buy 2 get a 15.00 gift card back- used 5% off cartwheel and 5% redcard discount bringing them down to 23.99 a box which breaks down to .11 a diaper!! That is an incredible price. Saved 20.99

$20 off $50.00 in household purchases deal:

3 packs of 24 rolls of Scott toilet paper on sale for 15.99 from 18.49 used 2- .55 off 1 coupons with the $20.00 discount and 5% redcard  Saved 29.66

1 can febreeze (which I bought to make it up to $50) on sale for 2.74-used a .50 off coupon and with the $20 is count and 5% redcard discount brings down to 1.06 Saved 1.93

2 twin candy bars .79 each - used 15% off cartwheel , 5% redcard discount and a .50 off 2 coupon brings it down to .39 a piece. Saved .80

1 lb gold n plump chicken drumsticks 3.19 regular Target price- used a 1.00 off 1 gold n plump product Target coupon and a 1.50 off 1 printable coupon from signing up for gold n plumps email list and 5% redcard savings brings it down to .66. Saved 2.53

2- 13 oz packages chips a hoy cookie- Regular price 2.99 on sale for 2.39 used a 1.00 off 2 printable coupon from Facebook and 5% redcard discount brings it down to 1.80 each. Saved 2.38

2 packs up & up 216 count wipes- Regular price 4.99 on sale for 4.00 used a 1.00 off 2 printable Target coupon, 5% cartwheel and 5% redcard discount bringing it down to 3.16 piece. That breaks down to .01 a wipe!! Saved 3.66

5 boxes 18.7 oz boxes of Raisin Bran Regular price 2.99 on sale for 2.75 used 1.50 off 1 printable coupons from Kellogs family rewards, 1.00 off 2 printable from Kellogs.com, 1.00 off 2 printable target coupon, checkout 51 app 1.00 rebate when you buy 2 and a buy 5 get a 5.00 gift card promo brings it down to an amazing .55 each. Saved 12.20

Total saved at Target 74.15 

Total spent at Target 96.29

Piggly Wiggly breakdown:

8- 6 oz Yoplait light yogurt regular price .69 a piece on sale for .49 a piece used 1.00 off 4 printable coupon from coupons.com and a .40 off 6 savings star rebate brings it down to .19 a piece

Saved 2.40

2 bags fresh express green and crisp bagged salad regular price 2.99 each on sale for 2.00 each used a 1.00 off 2 printable coupon for participating in their salad swap program brings it down to 1.50 each. Saved 2.98 

Total saved at piggly wiggly 5.38

Total spent at Piggly Wiggly 4.92

So there it is a very successful shopping trip. 

Walmart haul 3/2/14

Hey bloggernites! So here are the latest deals I got at Walmart this week. There weren't that many deals I wanted to jump on so this list will be short or rather shortish for my couponaholic butt anyways ;)

5 pack of Mac and cheese (Walmart reg price of 4.28 used 1.00 off 1-5pk printable at coupons.com) .66 a box

4 cups yocrunch yogurt (Walmart reg price .60 each used 1.00 off 4 coupon from newspaper) .35 a cup

2 bags of hashbrowns (Walmart reg price 1.84 used .75 off 1 printable at coupons.com) 1.08 each

4 boxes rosemary Triscuits (price match pick n save 2.00 each and used 1.00 off 1 coupon I found this on hip2save website) 1.00 each

16 cups yoplait yogurt (price match .49 each piggly wiggly used .50 off 8 coupon from newspaper) .43 each

Sweet baby rays BBQ sauce 18 oz (price match walgreen for 1.50 and used 2.00 off 2 coupon I found the link for it on krazycouponlady) .50 each

1 pack Strawberries 16 oz (price match Aldi's .99) .99 ea

1 bunch Asparagus (price match piggly wiggly 1.49 a lb) I had a little less than a lb 1.40

1- 3 lb bag gala apples (price match Aldi's 1.99) 1.99 each

8- 64 oz old orchard juice (price match pick n save 1.50 and used 1.00 off 2 coupon from old orchard.com) 1.00 each

2 Jennie-o Lean ground turkey (Walmart 2.98 a lb regular price (used 1.00 off 2 coupon) 2.48 a lb

4 Snickers peanut butter squared candy bar (price match walgreens .49 and used 2 .75 off 2 coupons from coupons.com) .12 each- nice Easter basket stuffer!

1- shelf stable so delicious coconut milk (2.28 Walmart regular price used 1.00 off 1 printable coupon and 1.00 Ibotta rebate) .28 each

So a few stock up items especially the juice and the Triscuits. In my next post I'm going to explain all the tips and tricks to be able to have a week like this shopping wise and not having to eat triscuits dipped in juice and yogurt for every meal. I mean if that is your thing, go for it. I won't judge you.

Fresh Express Salad Swap

Warning, this post has many exclamation points. I may be a little excited about this.

So a lot of people think that coupons are only available for unhealthy food. Well that is just not the case. Check out fresh express salad swap. Fresh express is offering a rewards program! You can sign up online or download their free app. Once you sign up they will email you a 1.00 off 2 coupon, then for every two bags you buy and log you get another 1.00 off two coupon! To make it even super sweeter if you enter 15 bags in 30 days you get 50 coupons!!!!You read that right, 50 to use for a whole year! Pick n Save and Piggly Wiggly have the Fresh Express bags of salad on sale right now 2 for 4.00. 

What are you waiting for? Sign up silly!

Turkey Taco Melts

Hey Y'all. I thought I would post what we are having for dinner tonight! It's a new to me recipe and it turned out pretty tasty. I'm still working my way through those .20 a can biscuits so I am googling my little heart out to come up with a recipe that isn't just a casserole topped with biscuits (which is good but gets old fast). So I found this recipe, of course I can never just use the recipe as is so here are all my tweaks.

Turkey Taco Melts:

1 can  (16.3 oz) biscuits (.20 with price matching and coupons at Walmart)
1 lb lean ground turkey (from Walmart price matched and coupon making it 2.28 a lb)
1 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained (Dollar Tree has these and I had a 1.00 off 2 Ortega product coupon making it .50 a can)
1 medium onion minced (from Walmart .79 3 lb bag)
1 cup frozen and defrosted or canned rinsed and drained corn (from my Target Haul .76  bag I used like half)
1 cup shredded cheese (I used white cheddar but you can use whatever you want)
3 T chopped fresh cilantro ( about half of my .74 bunch from Walmart)
1/2 c salsa (I bought a lot of salsa a month ago when Piggly Wiggly had a sale for 1.50 a jar of chi chi's salsa and I doubled a 1.00 of 2 coupon so .50 a jar)
juice of half a lime (.25 a piece at Walmart)

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease a cookie sheet
2. Cook turkey and onion in a skillet
3. Add salsa, black beans, cilantro, corn, lime juice and taco seasoning mix follow the directions on taco seasoning packet
4. Press out biscuits to 6 inch rounds
5. Spoon 1/3 c or so of the mixture and 1 T cheese into the middle of the round and then fold over the dough and pinch to seal.
6. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for  9-14 minutes.

Serve with salsa and sour cream.  We are pairing this with cut up celery, carrots, broccoli and ranch dip. I know that is a weird pairing. My family is used to it :)
Man this makes me think about Cinco De Mayo which is in May (umm duh), when it's warm and things are green.... *Sigh*

I LOVE Target Sales!

OK, Target; I love you and your awesome deals. I should write you a love song. Maybe I will, most likely I won't. I will however write this blog post and show you all how to get some awesome deals and then maybe one of you with far superior song writing skills can compose a song in my stead.

I spent 8.47 on this. 

Now you need to run to target and get these deals:

Market Pantry Pasta is on sale for 1.00 there is a cartwheel for 5% off making them .95 ea, then add the target printable coupon for 1.00 off of 3 making them .62 each!

Market Pantry Pasta Sauce is on sale for 1.00 there is a cartwheel for 5% off making them .95 ea, then add the printable coupon for 1.50 off of 3 making them just .47  each!

Market Pantry frozen spinach is on sale for 1.77 for a 12 oz bag there is a cartwheel  for 5% off and a printable coupon for 1.00 off of four bags making them 1.37 each! (this was my splurge)

Market Pantry frozen peas and corn are on sale for .99 a bag there is a 5% off cartwheel and a 1.00 off four printable coupon (I got 2 spinach and 1 corn 1 pea with this coupon) making them .76 each!


Up and Up (there are some GREAT up& up deals this week!) disinfecting wipes are on sale for 1.77 ea there is a cartwheel for 10% off and a 2.00 off 2 printable coupon making them .69 each!

Just to sweeten the pot I have a red card which saved me an extra 45 cents :) What will I make with these awesome steals? I'm not sure yet, I am sure spaghetti of some sort is in my future. Don't worry I won't eat the disinfecting wipes.

Oh and  P.S. I totally blew my grocery budget by 2.47. Dag-nab-it.

Cold and Soup

I live in Wisconsin and this winter has been cold and when I say cold, I really mean cold. Like consecutive days of negative temperatures, cold to the point where people consider wearing shorts when it's 20 degrees. Yuck! So what makes you feel better when it's cold? Soup! Well soup and money, money is nice anytime. So here is a money saving soup recipe because I love you.

Kale and Sausage Soup

Here is what you will need:

1 bunch of Kale any kind you like (I used curly this time because it was 1.18 at Walmart)
 8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms (.69 after price matching Aldi's ad )
1 large onion sliced into thin half moons (3lb bag price matched from Aldi's for .79 for the WHOLE bag)
1 lb Ground Italian Sausage (2.48 after price matching with Pick N save and 1.00 off 2 coupon)
3 Cloves of Garlic Minced
1 cup Dried Great Northern or Navy Beans (these are usually 1.00 or under for a 1 lb bag at Walmart)
6 cups Chicken Broth (I use celifiber chicken bouillon cubes they are yummy and no MSG if I'm out of homemade broth)
1 T Italian Seasoning
1/4 c Grated Parmesan (optional but delicious)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Now you need to:


1. Brown Sausage in a skillet  over medium heat
2. While sausage is cooking slice all your veggies
3. Rinse and drain dried beans
4. Drain Sausage and put into crockpot
5. Add everything else
6. Turn crock pot on high and go do something awesome
7. Check at 5 hours to see if beans are cooked could take up to 6 hours
8. Eat it it's good

We are pairing this with a salad and this. Using up those .20 biscuits y'all.

The Beginning

Hey there interwebs!

I had a great coupon-a-venture at Walmart on Friday. Price matching is SO so great! If you hate Walmart, this is not the blog for you. I kinda love Walmart.
I got A LOT of stuff I spent 94.00 which for me is a lot, considering my weekly food budget is 50.00. That means no matter HOW good the deals are I have to skip out all but 6.00 this week. :C <--- that is my epic sad face. I'm a dealaholic....for reals.
Soooo I did a lot of price matching and couponing and got some good deals. One of which is Pillsbury crescent rolls and biscuits in the oh so scary popping can. I got them for an average of .20 a piece using a price match from pick n save along with a competitor printable target coupon AND manufacturer coupon. Yes, my Walmart lets me do this, which rules. So now I have quite a few cans and am looking for things to do with these, so you will see quite a few posts about these. Rest assured it's not all we eat and it's always paired with a couple servings of veggies and fruits. This is by no means a health blog though, this is just a blog about savin money and making the most of what we have.

OK so these are some of deals I got and upcoming recipes or links to them:
(I am not listing everything I bought just the good deals I got)

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls .20 Ea (Price Match 1.00 Ea  Pick n Save, Competitor Coupon Target 2.00 of 3, Manufactures Coupon .40 off)
Pillsbury Grands Biscuits .20 Ea   (Price Match 1.00 Ea  Pick n Save, Competitor Coupon Target 2.00 of 3, Manufactures Coupon .40 off 2.)
Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls .50 ea  (Price Match Pick n Save 1.00, Printable Manufacturer Coupon 1.00 off 2)
French Bread .88 (Price Match Piggly Wiggly)
Gorton's Fish Fillets 3.50 (Reg Walmart Price but there was a deal with a peelie)
Birds Eye Frozen Green Beans (Free with purchase of Gorton's Fish!)
Tyson Frozen Breaded Chicken Breast Tenders 3.25 (4.00 Reg Price .75 off 1 Coupon from Newspaper Insert)
Ortega Taco Seasoning Packet .18 Ea (1.00 off 2 Ortega Manufacturers Coupon)
Del Monte Canned Tomatoes .63 Ea ( .50 off 2  Manufacturers Coupon)
Kale 1.18 (Reg. Price and a very good price!)
Celery .98 (Rollback Price)
Broccoli Crowns .98 a lb (Reg Walmart Price! I was going to Price Match for .99 a lb)
Green Leaf Lettuce 1.38 Ea (Reg Price and a very good price!)
Cilantro .74 Ea (Reg. Price and a very good price!)
Asparagus 1.98 a lb (Rollback Price)
Roma Tomates .79 a lb (Price Match Aldi's)
Zucchini .79a lb (Price Match Aldi's)
3 lbs Yellow Onion Bag .79 (Price match Aldi's)
8 oz Mushroom Box .69 ea (Price match Aldi's)
Limes .25 ea (Rollback price)
Jenni-O Lean ground Turkey 2.28 a lb (Printable 1.00 off 2 on coupons.com)
Johnsonville Smoked Chicken Sausage Links 2.00 Ea (Price Match Pick n Save2.50 and printable Manufacturers 1.00 off 2 coupon from coupons.com)
Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage 2.48 a lb (Price Match pick n save 2.98 and 1.00 off 2 printable Manufacturers coupon from coupons.com)
Barilla Whole Grain Pasta .66 (Price Match Pick n Save 1.00 Manufacturers Coupon 1.00 off 3 from newspaper insert)
Chocolate Toast Crunch .50 ea (Price Match Pick n Save 1.50 and Printable 1.00 off 1 coupon from general mills website)


Pretty good deals now....to make things!!


Bacon Egg and Cheese Rolls

My first creation was Bacon Egg and Cheese crescent roll ups because we needed something really quick to make and take to eat before my DD volleyball game.

This is so easy, it's not even a recipe. But they were SO yummy. Sorry I have no picture we were in a a big hurry.

You will need:

3 eggs
6 slices cooked bacon halved (we used Turkey bacon from Walgreens a couple weeks back it was .99 and we used a .55 off coupon!! .45 turkey bacon!!)
4 Slices of cheese cut in half (any kind you like make sure it's not cut to think)
1 can crescent rolls (.20!! from walmart)



1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cook your bacon however you like, pan, microwave, oven. Drain and set aside
3.Scramble eggs but try to make them sort of in a sheet try not to make them into little pieces or you will have a hard time rolling them.
4. Open  Crescent rolls and unroll dough.
5. Take one triangle and add a small portion of egg, just enough to cover the big part of the triangle.
6. Put bacon and cheese on top of egg
7. Roll up and place on a baking sheet
8. Bake 10-12 minutes

I didn't calculate the price of this let's just say it was cheap, stupid cheap.

I also made these Pepperoni Rolls using the same technique they went over well with everyone, how could it not?
Side note the Dollar Tree takes coupons! There is a dollar off 2 Hormel Pepperoni printable at coupons.com right now and dollar tree sells Hormel Pepperoni so go get your .50 pepperoni!