Am I too busy to coupon?

Hi again, remember me? Sorry about the hiatus, school work hit me like a truck, and while I am still crazy busy, maybe even more so right now, I thought I'd take a break to come back and visit you. Hopefully with some more consistancy. :)

The other day at Pick N Save (double double daze!), a customer and I struck up a short conversation while we were searching for items on our list. I was discouraged that I could not find the yogurt smoothies I had on my list - they would have ended up being only $.16 after double coupon! I had never bought one before, and I was looking forward to trying them. The lady sounded surprised when I told her how much they would have cost me, and she responded "oh, I don't normally coupon, I just want to use these up." I laughed as I showed her my coupon binder, to which she responded "Oh, I don't have that kind of time."

Do I have that kind of time? How much time does she think this takes me each week? Do I come off like one of the crazy people on TV who spend 40 hours a week? I was surprised by her comment - sort of. Yes, I am a crazy lady with a coupon binder, and other couponers recognize me in the store because of it. I had one lady that same day, ask me if I was on my first, or second around... well in general, I only have enough time and money to shop once, but oh boy wouldn't it be nice to have the time to make two lists?! :) But even if I AM one of those crazy binder ladies, I don't buy ten papers, I don't jump in recycling bins, and I don't spend 40 hours cutting coupons. So how much time DO I spend?

Well, since school is in full swing, not as much as I used to but my stockpile is still growing, and we are eating delicious dinners for little money. In general, it all starts with Sunday morning and the paper. I used to have it delivered, but since I never had time to actually read the paper, getting everyday was a waste of paper, and money. Now I drive into Cascade in the morning, and pick one up.
 It usually takes me an hour or two to clean out expired coupons, cut the new ones, sort, and file. Now mind you, I usually do this in the livingroom, on the floor, with a DVR'd tv show playing on the tv... relaxation time!!
As for making the lists, I will pull up the ad matching blogs I have saved, and take a half an hour sometime during the week. Another night, I may pull out the ads from Sunday's papers and make a list of things I am interested in. That is maybe another half an hour. Then another night I will look at my list, pull out all the coupons I can use, and print others. Since I already sorted my coupons, it is easy to see what I have, and what I need. Then on shopping day, I grab my binder which has all my coupons and my list, and I shop. Shopping for me, used to take forever - because I would wander the store aimlessly trying to decide what I wanted, or what I could afford. Then came coupons! Now I know what I want, and how much it will cost, so grocery shopping takes half the time!

So if we estimate 4 hours of couponing a week (a little less if you count the time I save in the store now), and 40% savings on groceries, then I would say couponing is well worth it for me. Also, since we live off a construction workers pay, that stockpile of extra products under the stairs leaves me with a nice feeling of security knowing I won't have to worry when the weather turns nasty and Cecil is home for an entire week. We just skip the grocery shopping that week, and snuggle in with a bowl of 'mater soup and grilled cheese and enjoy our extra time together. :)

Yes, I think I have enough time for coupons. :)

Magical new ways to save money!

Hello Ladies!

I am in such a great mood today, I could float away!

First things first, it is almost time to start school... which means money spent on textbooks... ugh. Now as I'm sure you can all guess, I am the queen of buying used textbooks and previous editions (because most of the time the difference between the third and fourth editions of a book are the cover art, the color of the text on page 27, and $138.00). Now sometimes old editions don't exist, or really ARE different, Or sometimes those books cost just as much as the current edition (me thinks someone has discovered what I discovered, LOL). In those situations, I usually toy with the idea of renting, because the dollar amount is so much smaller, but I usually cave and pay full price... Why, you ask? Because renting means the book isn't mine, so if I fall asleep while studying for finals and spill my Redbull all over my textbook, now I owe big time. OR what happens if I forget to take that book out of my bookbag and mail it back? Yep, I owe again. Mailman drops the box in a puddle of mud then runs over it with his truck? Yep, I owe... My new found solution?

KINDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had been toying with the idea of getting a Kindle for a while, something light and handy to take with me so I always have something to read, but lets face it, $189 book is hard to swallow, so I waited. Then I discovered the Kindle apps. First I downloaded Kindle for PC. It is free to download from Amazon.com, and Amazon often has wonderful books you can also download for free.

Next, I downloaded Kindle for Android when I got my new phone. Now I have all those free books - in my pocket!

So how does this save money on my textbooks? Well I need a $110 book for my math class, which lasts 30 days. I could buy it used off of Amazon.com for about $50. That's not too bad I guess, but $50 for a book I will use for 30 days is a bit much for me. Guess what else was on the Amazon page? A button that says "rent this title on your Kindle" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For just over $20, I will have my book for those 30 days, on my home computer, AND my cell phone, plus all those web addresses listed in textbooks are actually clickable on my Kindle app! :) Now, not all of the books I need for my semester are available on the Kindle (but the most expensive one is!), but I think for those that are, I will go that route. No more stacks of outdated books that no book buyback wants. Nope, I will read it, then when class is over, it will go away!

Think of all the back pain I will avoid this way!

Craigslist!

Okay ladies! I'm back! Last Thursday I had my nasal surgery, so I was out of commission all weekend. I felt like I had the world's WORST head cold, AND they told me I wasn't allowed to sneeze or blow my nose... TORTURE! Yesterday I had the straws taken out of my nose, and may I just say for the record, I love breathing! I haven't breathed this easy, well, ever!

So, what have I done to save money this week? CRAIGSLIST! This whole weekend was pretty much lazy, so I found myself surfing the net, finding ideas for re-purposing furniture in my craft room. Since I was unable to yard sale this weekend, I perused Craigslist. You'd be amazed at the kind of things people are selling or giving away!

I am particularly proud of today's find. I made Cecil drive me to Keil to pick up a free heater :)
In our old farmhouse, the house heaters are never enough to keep the chill out of the air. We often resort to space heaters to drive the cold out of some of the rooms we are in. Obviously that is not a very cost effective (or safe) way to do things, so we had been looking into those Amish style Quartz Infra-red heaters. They do not get hot, just warm the air molecules in the house. The big ones we are looking at are a couple hundred dollars, but we think a good investment.

Then I checked Craigslist! Someone was giving away a free infrared heater! It in not as large as the Amish style, and is supposed to heat an area about half the size of the area the Amish one is supposed to heat. FOR FREE! The poster said she just didn't use it any more, tried to sell it with no takers, and she just wanted it out of her garage. SOLD! We plugged it in when we got home (yup, we turned on the heater when it was 80 out), and boy does it work! You could feel the heat come off of it, but the heater was cool to touch which is a great safety feature!

So, Craigslist is my new best friend! I will be checking the listings for wonderful useful items for good prices (or free!), and hopefully I can find a way to get the things our family wants and needs for a great steal!

Do you have any great Craigslist finds?

Pattypan!

Okay, so the chaos of coming home from vacation is beginning to wear off, and I had the opportunity today to go to the local (Plymouth) Farmer's Market. Yay for having food in the house other than camping food! LOL. I picked up quite a few veggies for $10. For dinner tonight we had chicken grilled on the Foreman Grill (not Farmer's Market fare) with lemon juice and rosemary, a salad of fresh greens with kohlrabi slivers, and my new favorite vegetable, Pattypan squash! After a little research on the internet, I decided to try it baked with salt, pepper and crushed garlic. I sliced them fairly thin and baked them for 20 minutes at 425. Ooooh yummers!

So the lesson for today is, always try something new! I've always passed up those pattypan squash because I had no idea how to cook it, but 5 minutes on Google, and I have a new favorite!

Chicken - $ 2.40 for two servings
Seasonings from spice cupboard - $0
Pattypan Squash - $1.00 for 2
Kohlrabi - $2 for 3 HUGE ones (anyone know any good Kohlrabi recipes?)
Fresh lettuce - $2 (half the bag made two yummy salads!)
Delicious healthy meal after an afternoon of shopping with the hunny - PRICELESS! :)

What are your latest farmers market finds? Please share!  :)

A camping we will go!

First, I would like to apologize to all of you for me slacking off in the blogging world. This is new to me, and sometimes, I'm just not sure what to say, LOL. I will try very hard to become more talkative in the future. Want to help? Tell me what YOU want me to talk about! I do this for you!

Okay, so Cecil and I have been looking forward to a big family camping reunion since our vacation last year. We had a grand week planned, but in recent months had decided that since Cecil was just starting a new crane job this week, we should reduce our vacation to one weekend so he wouldn't have to take time off after his first week there. I was extremely bummed, but still excited that we could enjoy the weekend in our favorite Michigan town with family.

Fast forward to yesterday, Cecil's first day on the job. Well apparently, they are going to put the crane up this week, then they aren't sure what day the job will start. Cec spent all day in the blistering sun helping them set up the crane, and by the time he came home, he was fairly convinced that we could leave on Thursday instead of Friday. YAY! An extra day!

Fast forward to today - They will have the crane up and ready to go by the end of the day today, and they may not have him come back to start the job until maybe the week after next... who knows what that means? YEP! Longer vacation!!!!!!

So, here is my planning mission. Originally we were packing clothes for two days, we'd leave on the ferry late Friday night (technically early Saturday), and land in Ludington around 7 am on Saturday, camp Saturday night, and leave 8 pm Sunday night. All meals were going to be eaten out, since we were going to be pressed for time. NOW, we will be there longer, and eating every meal out would get pricey. SO, what would YOU pack for a week long camping trip? Here is my ideas:

• small propane grill
• air matress
• 9v pump (last year we forgot this - kinda makes the air mattress pointless, LOL)
• Small tent (someday I will own a popup...)
• Flashlights
• Lantern
• bug spray
• sun screen
• beach towels (yep, we're going to the beach!)

 Now for food:

• Hot dogs
• Smores
• burgers
• chips
• local fresh fruits (last year we found fabulous cherries, blueberries, and peaches at a roadside stand )

What other ideas do you have for me? We have a few more days to plan, and I want to bring as much of the food with me as possible, because I know our grocery store sales better than the sales over there. I think a trip to Aldi is in order! Any other tools I've forgotten now that we will actually be cooking at the site? How else can I save money on this camping trip?

Farmers markets, Zenni Optical, and other ways to save your family money!

We all know how important it is to save money in an economy like this, and sometimes coupons just aren't enough. I thought we could start a conversation of our favorite ways to save!

My first is to buy local. Food is cheaper if you don't have to pay for the gas to ship it to the grocery store! Another plus is the food is fresher and healthier, because the farmer's can pick it when it is ripe, and sell it instead of picking it early and forcing it to ripen in a truck. Anyone who has eaten a tomato right off the vine knows what I am talking about! :)

Tomorrow I will be stopping by the Plymouth farmer's market. Now, it is still a little early in the season, so I am not sure what will be available tomorrow, but it should be fun to peruse the local produce! Hours for tomorrow's farmer's market are every Thursday from 2pm-6pm at City Park. If you're in the Sheboygan area, check out the Fountain Park farmer's market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 7am-2pm.

Another large expense in our yearly budgets are those eyeglasses. How much did you pay for your last pair of eye glasses? I paid $8 plus $5.95 shipping. Yep! $13.95 for Prescription eyeglasses! You should all visit one of my favorite websites: http://www.zennioptical.com. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for eyeglasses, have your eye doctor give you a copy of your prescription, then visit zenni optical! The last time I got my eyes checked, I got my prescription, and picked out 4 adorable pairs of glasses, for between $8-12 each, and $5.95 to ship all of them. So that time I accidentally put my glasses through the washing machine and cracked the lenses? Yup, I was out $8. MUCH better than losing one of those $100+ pairs! :)

Zenni also does all the extra's for much cheaper! Prescription sunglasses, bifocals, anti scratch, transitions lenses, you name it, they do it, and cheaper! :) This is the perfect solution for glasses for kids too!

So, how do YOU save money? Do you have a secret money saving technique? Together, we can help each other survive in this tough economy!

Side note: Coupons are SOOOOO much easier to clip when you use a paper cutter! (see below post) :)