How I Plan My Shopping Trips and Some Tips

I just got back from a CVS run and got a great deal on diapers. And it got me thinking that some of you would probably find it helpful if I outlined a little just how I plan my trips to maximize my savings.

The first thing I do when planning my shopping trip is to go to For the Mommas and look at her deal post. I then jot down the items I want to get and the coupons she has listed. I also always skim through the comments because often other readers will leave helpful information about deals and help me save even more.

If I see an item that I thought maybe there was a coupon for that I don't see listed I go to Hot Coupon World and check their coupon database just to double check. Sometimes a coupon will show up there that Shannon at For the Mommas missed.

Today I was trying to figure out if I should do the Pampers diaper deal. It was pretty good but I wanted to make sure that in the next couple of weeks there wouldn't be a better one, so I checked out the next couple of week's ads over at iheartcvs and discovered that although Pampers will be on sale again in a couple of weeks, this is still a better deal. And so, based on that, I decided to go ahead with the Pampers diaper deal I was planning to do.

Once I get my coupons all together, I head to CVS. Once I'm there I always scan my Extra Care card at the little CVS coupon machine that is inside the front door. If you don't know where the machine is in your CVS, please ask someone! You'll get lots of extra savings from the coupons that it prints out!

This is the deal I did this week. By combining manufacturer coupons, CVS coupons and the Spend $30 get a $10 gift card promotion I was able to get diapers for $4.33/pack plus I also got a package of wipes free AND I will get a coupon for a FREE package of Pampers diapers as part of CVS' buy 6 jumbo packs of diapers get the 7th free promotion. Now while $4.33 isn't the absolute best price for a pack of diapers, in my mind at least, it's still good. And the fact that I will get another pack free since this brought my total buy amount to 6 packs and since I also essentially got a package of wipes free, I felt like this was a pretty great deal.

Okay, are you confused yet? Let me try to lay it out more clearly and see if it can make more sense.
Here's what I bought:

3 packages Pampers diapers @ $9.50 ea. ($28.50 total)
1 Puffs tissues @ $0.99
- (needed this to reach a total of $29.40 at which point I qualified for the spend $30 on specific products get a $10 gift card promotion)
1 Pampers wipes @ $2.49
- (this was not included in the buy $30 get a $10 gift card promotion)

Total: $31.98

Here are the coupons I used:

$2.00/2 Pampers diapers coupon
$1.00/1 Pampers diapers coupon
$1.00/1 Pampers wipes coupon
$4.00 off when you buy both diapers and wipes
- (CVS coupon from the coupon machine I mentioned above)
- I was not planning to buy the wipes but since I got the CVS coupon I realized that buying them would actually save me MORE money since I could combine the Pampers manufacturer's coupons with this CVS store coupon. So not only did I essentially get the wipes free, it also saved me some more off my diapers purchase.)

Total after coupons: $23.98

I then qualified for a $10 CVS gift card since I had spent $30 on qualified items. Deduct that from the $23.98 and it's like paying $13.98 for all of the above items.

I hope that you could follow all of that and learn something from it. Basically I wanted to give you some of the resources that I use and help you see how combining various coupons with promotions can really maximize your savings. Here's a recap of what I posted above:
* Check out For the Momma's coupon match-ups- I've found her to be the most thorough and the easiest to follow.
* Read the comments on coupon match-up posts. They often are a wealth of information and can help you save even more!
* You can look at future ads at iheartcvs (there is also and iheartriteaid and iheartwags- for Walgreens).
* If there's a product you want to buy that you don't have a coupon for, check Hot Coupon World's database to see if you can find one.
* Combine store and manufacturer coupons as much as possible to save even more.
* Watch for promotions such as the Buy $30 get a $10 gift card and see if you can use them to get items you need to save even more. Remember though, if you DON'T need the items, you really are not saving anything buy spending money to get a $10 gift card!

Do you have any questions about how this works? Any other resources or tips for saving when you shop? Please feel free to leave a comment! I love when you do! :)

10 Tips for Wasting Less Food (Part Two)

Yesterday I posted the first five tips that I've used to waste less food. Now here are the other five:

6. Save those egg whites/yolks. I always hate when recipes call for just the yolk or white of an egg because then I have to figure out what to do with the rest of it! Did you know that you can substitute egg yolks and whites for a whole egg? One whole egg = 2 egg whites (may make baked goods less tender). One whole egg = two egg yolks (in sauces, custards, and cream fillings). Or if you don't like those ideas, simply throw the extra egg yolks or whites into your scrambled eggs. Trust me, you'll barely notice the difference!

7. Freeze extra grapes, bananas, strawberries. Frozen grapes are actually rather good and you can always throw the bananas and strawberries into smoothies.

8. Use that leftover coffee. Have you ever thought of freezing leftover coffee as ice cubes and using them in your iced coffee drinks or to cool down regular coffee? I also often use leftover coffee to make my own iced coffee. In fact, I often make a concentrate with the linked recipe. I simply mix the coffees and sugar together and put it in a jar in the fridge. Then whenever I want some iced coffee I fill a glass maybe 1 in. full of the concentrate and then fill the remainder with milk. Let me tell you, it's WAY to handy to have around!

9. Save that sour milk! Did you know that sour milk isn't actually harmful for you? If we have milk that goes sour I simply use it in recipes for pancakes or cake that call for buttermilk and it works like a charm. And if you can't use it right away, just freeze it and pull it out when you need some buttermilk.

10. Know what's in your cupboards, fridge and freezer. In other words, be organized. If you aren't, chances are you have food getting stale or unusable on you and you're throwing it out. And when you throw out food, in a sense it's like throwing out money.

I've found it helpful to make up a list of things to use up and then I look at that when you plan our meal or menu. For me it's much easier than trying to keep a mental list of things that need to get used.

What things do you do to cut back on food waste?

The Cheese that Made Me $0.80

I got back from Weis a little while ago feeling both frustrated and happy. Frustrated because they were all out of the cereal I was going to get for $0.50 (I got a rain check) and happy because I made $0.80 on cheese that I had figured I'd pay $2.00 for. Yes, you read right, I got PAID to buy cheese!

So what happened? Well, when I was ringing up my two blocks of cheese I realized that instead of ringing up at $2/each they were ringing up at $2.40/each. So after I rang up the cheese I headed to customer service to get my $0.80 back. Then about the time I thought about the fact that they might have an accuracy scan policy, the gentleman at customer service informed me that I'd get the whole $2.40 back for the one block since it didn't ring up correctly plus the extra $0.40 for the other block. I also had two $1 coupons for the cheese which resulted in me actually ending up with $0.80 extra in the end.

There are two reasons I am telling you about this little incident. One is because it was a good reminder for me to always check my receipt. I had bought 2 blocks earlier this week and never noticed that they were ringing up wrong. It really does pay to look over your receipt and make sure that everything rang up at the correct price.

The second reason is to remind you that many grocery stores have an Accuracy Scan Policy. This simply means that if an item doesn't ring up at the shelf price, you will receive that item for free. This is typically only good for the first item and any item after that you just receive the adjusted amount for whatever you were overcharged for the item. So really, although it's a pain to have to fool with going to customer service when an item rings up incorrectly, you do usually make out pretty good.

Now, I think I'll go enjoy a slice of that delicious sharp cheddar cheese that made me money! :)

Planning Ahead: An Easy Way to Save

Okay, so I'm writing this post as much for myself as for anyone. I've realized lately that I need a serious reminder of this! But wait, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, am I not?

One of the easiest- at least in theory- ways to save is by simply planning ahead. What I mean is that you always keep the basic items you need on hand and if you know you are going to be needing something special for say, a party, you try to get that at the lowest price possible ahead of time.

What is the advantage of doing this? Well, think about it. Say you can typically get butter on sale for $2.50/lb. but, because you didn't plan well, you run out of butter and realize that you need butter NOW. So you run to the store and the cheapest butter you can get is $2.80/lb. You just "wasted" $0.30 by not planning ahead. True, often your savings might be less than $1.00, but it really does add up!

Here are some tips for saving by planning ahead:
1. Know what you typically use and the lowest price you can usually get it for.
I try to know where I can get items like flour, sugar, oatmeal, butter, ketchup etc. for the absolute lowest price possible. And my goal is to either get the item on sale for lower than the lowest buy price or else to get them at the store I can get them the least inexpensively, paying regular price. Yes, this take a little planning, but it really does help me save.

2. Think ahead to what events you might be hosting or need to take food too.
When I look at sales and coupon match-ups, I try to think ahead to what extra things I might be needing in the next couple of weeks, and add those things to my shopping list. For instance in the summer I watch for sales on hot dogs and try to stock up when I can get them really cheap. Then when we decide to have a cook out or get invited to a picnic and need to take hot dogs, I don't have to pay full price for them. Over Christmas I know that I typically make homemade party mix. So starting in June, I begin to watch for sales on Cheerios and Chex cereal so that I am not stuck paying $2.00 for a box of cereal that, had I just planned ahead, I'd only have paid $0.50 for.

I got burnt twice recently with this. I had two birthday parties that I knew I was going to be having, but somehow I just didn't do so well at planning ahead and ended up paying way more than I normally would for several things. Yes, this is just life, but it still is annoying when I know that if I had just planned ahead I could have saved several dollars.

3. When you open a box of something, add it to your grocery list.
This might seem like a no-brainer to you, but I'm surprised at how many people don't do this. If you add peanut butter to your list when you open a new jar and you still have enough left to last you a bit, it allows you some time to look for a good price on peanut butter instead of being forced to pay top price.

How do you save money by planning ahead? What other suggestions do you have to be efficient at this?

Using Rainchecks 101

Back several weeks ago, reader Kathy suggested that I do a post on rain checks. She said, "I've been afraid to try them but it seems to really work for you." I thought it was a great idea and promised her that I would try to get a post up soon. Now more than a month later, I'm finally getting it done!

So...

What are rain checks?i
Dictionary.com defines it as a "coupon" or ticket entitling a customer to purchase at a later date and for the same amount a sale item that is temporarily out of stock." And that pretty much sums it up. If you go to a store and they are out of a sale item, they'll give you a rain check that you can use later to get that same item at the sale price. It's really quite easy and painless usually.

What stores offer them?
Drugstores and most grocery stores. I didn't realize for a long time that grocery stores offer rain checks and missed out on a lot of deals because our closest Giant is rather pathetic and often runs out of sale merchandise.

There may be other stores that offer them as well. (Obviously Target does according to the above picture.) Any one know of any? And if you are at a store and want to know, just ask them. The worst they can do is say, "Rain WHAT?!" :)

How do they work?
Say you go to CVS and they are out of the Gillette body wash that was on sale for $2.00 with an Extra Buck of $1.50. You can simply go to the check out and ask for a rain check for that item. In my experience both Rite Aid and CVS will write the rain check to reflect the Extra Buck or UPReward that you would get with the purchase. So in other words, you don't have to miss out on getting your Extra Buck/UPReward just because the item wasn't in stock and you had to get a rain check.

At grocery stores you have to go to the customer service desk which is a bit more unhandy because you shoot more time. But it's still often worth it.

The length of time that a rain check is good varies on the store. I think Rite Aid's rain checks say they are good for 30 days (I don't know if they enforce it.) CVS rain checks never expire. And obviously grocery stores will vary greatly. Just look at the fine print on the rain check and you should be able to figure it out.

What don't I like about them?
The thing that frustrates me with rain checks is that sometimes I have coupons to use an item and they expire before the item gets back in stock, so a rain check isn't much help in that case! On the other hand, sometimes another coupon will come along and I'll still be able to get a good deal.

And you have to remember to use them! I know, it's a no-brainer. But when I first starting using rain checks I buy the item and sometimes forget to give the cashier my rain check. SO annoying! And kind of along the same line is remember to ask for the rain check. I can't tell you how often I have left the store and gotten home before I realized I had forgotten to ask for a rain check for an out of stock item.

The Bottom Line...
As Kathy observed, rain checks have worked really well for me. I use them frequently and it sure beats running back to the store later in the week to get the good deal they were out of stock on!

So, do you use rain checks? What do you like or hate about them?

Is Shopping at Aldi Worth It?

I recently had a friend ask me that question: "Is shopping at Aldi worth it?" She was asking this primarily because she lives about 25 min. away from an Aldi store and was trying to decide if it would be worth her time to go once a month or so and stock up on some things. Guess what I told her. Yes. A loud yes (especially because she doesn't use coupons)!

My experience has proven that overall, Aldi is almost always less expensive than other grocery stores. And if you don't want to take the time to use coupons, then Aldi is definitely the store to shop at to save money! No, they don't usually have name brand items but I've been very pleased with the high quality of the Aldi brand items. And what's even better is that most if not all their items have a money back guarantee. So if you really don't like an item for whatever reason, you can take it back and they will refund you your money.

And even if you do use coupons, there are always those items that you just haven't been able to find a good deal on. That's when I head to Aldi.

To help you see the savings yourself I made up a little price comparison chart. Check it out:

	Aldi’s Price	Other Store’s Sale Price (store brand)
1. Saltines	$0.79/ box	$1.29/ box (this week @ Weis)
2. Peanut Butter	$1.39/ 18 oz.	$1.59/ 18 oz. (this week @ Giant)
3. Canola Oil	$2.29/ 48 oz.	$2.49/ 48 oz. (this week at Giant)
4. Sour Cream	$1.19/ 16 oz.	$1.39/ 16 oz. (this week at Giant)
5.Cream Cheese	$0.89/ 8 oz.	$1.00/ 8 oz. (this week at Weis)
6.Cottage Cheese	$1.99/ 24 oz.	$1.69/ 16 oz. (this week @ Weis)
7. White Vinegar	$0.79/ 32 oz.	$1.00/ 32 oz. (this week at Weis)
8. Shredded Parmesan	$2.49/ 8 oz.	$1.00/ 3 oz. (this week @ Weis

And just for further reference, here's some of the regular prices of other items at our local Aldi:

1. $2.49 Sugar 5lbs.

2. $1.18 Brown Sugar 2lb.

3. $1.18 Confectioner's Sugar 2lb.

4. $1.69 Semi-sweet & milk chocolate chips 12 oz.

5. $0.89 Pineapple, crushed 20 oz.

6. $1.99 Salmon, canned 14.75 oz.

7. $1.19 Graham Crackers (reg. size box)

8. $0.79 Whipped Topping (small)

9. $0.55 Black & Northern Beans, canned 15.5 oz.

10. $1.29 Plastic Wrap 200 sq. ft.

So, do you shop at Aldi? What is your impression of the pricing/savings?

Swagbucks: What I Got For FREE!

Okay, so I love Swagbucks. I just got all of this ($26 worth) on Amazon for absolutely free thanks to them!

Silicone Basting Brush

The Bib (not the baby!)

Batteries

As I mentioned before I love Swagbucks. Here are some of the reasons why.

1. I can earn money for doing something I already do.

2. I can use the swagbucks I earn to get cash deposited into my Paypal account which I can then transfer to my bank account and use for whatever I jolly well please.

3. I can trade the swagbucks I earn in for Amazon.com gift cards. This is personally my favorite way of using swagbucks because you get the most bang for your buck this way. And plus, Amazon carries almost everything, meaning I can get anything from diapers to sweeper bags to batteries to drip pans for my stove FREE! Oh, and if you select items that qualify for free Super Saver Shipping, you don't even have to pay any shipping costs either.

4. They give out free swagcodes sometimes meaning I can accumulate swagbucks even faster.

Have you tried Swagbucks? If not, why? If so, what do you love about it, what have you gotten free thanks to them?

Saving on Meat- Part Two

Last week I shared with you how buying meat in bulk and then freezing it saves us money and time. This week I have a few more ideas that help us out. Maybe one or all of them will give you an idea of something you can do to further help out your budget.

* Replace ground beef with ground turkey. Not only is this healthier it is also cheaper. I find that I can get ground turkey for at least $0.50/lb. cheaper than what I can get ground beef. Now ground turkey does taste a little different than ground beef and you may find, like we did, that you just can't quite reconcile saving money and having food that you really do NOT enjoy. Here's what we have found works for us.

Instead of doing a 100% switch, I simply buy a package of ground beef and a package of ground turkey and then separate them out into individual 1lb. packages- 1/2 lb. ground beef, 1/2 lb. ground turkey. Honestly, we have not been able to tell any difference. Well, other than the fact that there is less fat when I fry it! And I have made burgers and meat loaf with this 50/50 mixture.

No, it doesn't save us as much as using all ground turkey would, but we can enjoy our food and it still save a little too.

* Never pay full price. To me this seems like it goes without saying, but I know there are some people that aren't used to this idea. Seriously though, you really don't EVER need to pay full price for meat. Every kind and cut of meat goes on sale usually at least every other month. The key is to plan ahead and stock up on enough meat to last you until the next sale. Once you start doing it, you'll get into the groove and it will become second nature. You'll also start seeing a pattern as to when your local stores run sales on each meat, which will help you plan more effectively.

* When buying meat look for yellow tags. What do yellow tags have to do with saving money on meat? A lot! Yellow tags mean that the meat is price reduced because it is within a day or two of it's sell by/freeze by date. Often you can get meat for the same price or less than a good sale. And if you can't use it right away, you can always freeze it.

Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam recommends asking your meat department manager when they do the meat markdowns. Most stores have a set time daily or weekly when they do them and that is your chance to get the best deals. I personally have just recently starting looking for yellow tagged meat and when I asked at several local stores, I was told they have no set time when they do it. So obviously it varies from store to store.

* Reduce the amount of meat in your recipe. I can almost see some of you raising your eyebrows about now. And to be honest, when someone first suggested this to me I was rather skeptical. I'm a meat lover and I was sure we would notice the lack of meat in whatever dish I made. It took me a little to get up the courage to try it, but I finally did. And guess what? That's right, we barely ever notice it!

If you simply switch to using 3/4 lb. instead of 1 lb. in most recipes, I assure you that you will rarely notice a difference. Now obviously this won't work in things like meat loaf, sloppy joes, or ham balls. But soup, casseroles and such like will do just fine with a little less meat.

* Replace meat with beans. Again, this won't work in just any dish, but I have found that most Mexican dishes taste wonderful with beans replacing all or part of the meat. In fact we prefer the one super quick Mexican skillet dish that I make with beans instead of meat. And we prefer our chili soup with double the beans and half the meat. The great thing is that you can still get your protein, just at half the cost.

* Make your own chicken broth. One of the side benefits of cooking chicken as I mentioned here is that you get chicken broth for FREE! Believe it or not I used to miss this whole blessing. Seriously.

When we first were married, I bought chicken in bulk and then baked it, chopped it up and froze it. One day I was on the phone with my mom and she was talking about this chicken she cooked for something and how she got so much broth from it. Suddenly I felt like I had just been struck with a lightening bolt as I realized what I had been missing out on!

Since then I have been cooking my chicken and love the rich broth that I get as a result. In fact, I think since I started doing that I have bought maybe 7 cans of broth, 6 of which was just last week when I bought them for $0.10/can and used them as filler to get my order to $15 so I could take advantage of a special bonus offer.


What do you do to save money on meat? I'm sure I have much more to learn about this whole subject and I'd love to hear from you all!

Saving on Meat- Part One

The Reward: 12 cups chicken broth, 22 cups chicken, and 13 cups ham.

Yesterday I was busy making granola, doing laundry, walking to the farmer's market and putting some food in our freezer. Meat to be exact- chicken and ham.

One of the ways I save money and time (time is money, right?) is by buying meat when it is on sale and then freezing it for use later. I have found it is almost always the least expensive to buy meat in family sized packs (5 to 10 lbs.). You don't have to have a huge family to buy this size package you know! We are only a family of three, but we have no trouble using the meat up before it spoils. You see, when I bring the meat home, I do one of several things with it.

1. I separate it out buy weight or pieces into freezer bags, date it and put it in the freezer. I try to put it in portions that I would often use, such as 1 lb. hamburger, 1 whole chicken breast etc.

2. I cook it and then put it in freezer bags or containers. Often when I get hamburger, I put some of it in the freezer raw and then cook up the rest of it. Once it is browned, I let it cool and then separate it into 1 lb. portions and freeze it. This makes it super easy to prepare a meal that calls for cooked hamburger. I simply pull out the cooked meat and if it needs thawing and I haven't planned ahead very well (shocking, I know!) I place the sealed container in a dishpan of hot water. It is soon thawed and ready to use. If I am making soup, I can easily just throw the meat in unthawed.

I do the same with chicken. I will cook chicken breast then chop it up into little pieces and freeze it in 1 cup, 2 cup, and 3 cup portions. Making Scalloped Chicken Easy Basil Ranch Chicken Wraps or Salsa Chicken Soup is now super easy.

3. Some meat such as ham sometimes comes pre-cooked, which obviously means I can skip the cooking step and just slice or chop it and then freeze it in whatever portion size I want. One of my favorite recipes that takes ham is Cream Cheese Potato Soup.

Yes, I may spend half a day cooking chicken and chopping it up for the freezer, but in the long run it saves me time.

Next week I plan to share a few more ways that I have found to save on meat, so stay tuned!

Do you think I'm crazy or do you do this too? How do you save money on meat? What have you found that works for you? Please share with us!

Deal Oz: Online Price Compare "Tool"

Do you ever order items online and wonder if you are getting the best price available? Maybe you just always go to ebay.com or Amazon.com and never think twice about it.

Well, I have a great little "tool" that will help you save money when you are buying items online- it's called Deal Oz. Deal Oz is a website that allows you to enter an item, such as a book title, and then see all the online retailers that sell that particular item and what price they charge for it. This obviously allows you to compare prices to ultimately get the most bang for your buck. In fact, if there is an online coupon available to help bring down your cost, Deal Oz will show that as well. And to help you out even more, you can enter your address so that shipping is calculated into the final cost of your item.

I've been using Deal Oz since I was in college 6 years ago and ordering text books. It helped save me lots of money and I became a loyal user. Until recently, Deal Oz was called Campus-i and could only be used to compare book prices (at least if my memory is correct). I was excited to learn recently that you can compare prices on almost anything now!

Perhaps you are still feeling skeptical that they will really find you the absolute lowest price on an item. Just for the record, I have at different times been curious and played Sherlock Holmes to see if Deal Oz was indeed giving me the absolute lowest price around. And I was very happy to find that they really were, every time!

I was not asked to do this Deal Oz review or reimbursed in any way. I simply wanted to tell you about another way to stretch your money a little further!

SheSpeaks

Look what came in my mail yesterday- chocolate! Yummy, beautifully wrapped FREE chocolate! Was I ever impressed. I had forgotten that I was going to get this as a result of being a member of SheSpeaks, which made it even more fun to receive.
Have you signed up for SheSpeaks yet? If not, why don't you do it today? It is a relatively new program, but so far I've received a free bottle of Aquafresh Iso-Active toothpaste and now these Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Peanut Butter Filling Squares. And an added bonus is that both items came with 6 coupons as well. You can't beat that!

Receipt Reminder

Just a reminder: always double check your receipt before you leave the store. I do this anymore out of habit and in the last 2 weeks it has saved me around $3. That is not much, but for a little bit of time at the service desk it is worth it to me.

I don't know about you, but it bugs me immensely when I am overcharged for something, even if it is only a couple of pennies. Probably silly, I know and I have learned not to sweat a couple of cents but it still bothers me just a bit.

Using Dried Beans

Beans...there is so much to love about them! They are healthy. They are cheap. And they make all sorts of dishes yummy.

About two years ago, I started to buy dry beans in bulk instead of buying them in cans at the store. I did this partly because I knew it would be a little bit cheaper and partly because I also liked knowing that my beans weren't loaded with salt and other additives. After experimenting with various methods (there's a bunch!) I have discovered that the one I like the best is called the Hot Soak Method. Here are the steps to this simple way of soaking and cooking dried beans.

First of all, sort your beans. Pick out any pieces of dirt, rocks or beans that have holes or are very wrinkled.

Next rinse your beans to remove any dust/dirt. Do not do this until you are ready to soak the beans as the water will start to begin the hydration process.

Now you are ready to soak the beans. Put your beans in a big pan and add 10 cups of water for every 2 cups of dry beans. Bring the beans to a boil and allow to boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for at least one hour but preferably four hours. (The longer you allow the beans to soak, the more the sugars break down which makes the beans more easily digestible.) Then discard the water and rinse the beans.

You are now ready to cook the beans. Return beans to pan, add fresh cold water to fully cover the beans, 1-2 teaspoons oil or shortening and 2 teaspoons salt, if desired. To avoid breaking the skins, tilt the lid to your pan and simmer the beans gently. Cook until tender.

I prefer to use my pressure cooker to cook the beans. It gets it done in less than half the time it takes to simply cook the beans. Since each pressure cooker is different, follow the instructions that came with yours to find out how to use it to cook beans.

Your beans are now ready to eat or to freeze. I like to do about 3 cups of dried beans at a time and then I freeze them in 2 cup portions.

If you are wondering at the savings of cooking your own beans here is what I have found. One can of kidney beans is $0.59 at Aldi (usually a bit more than that at other grocery stores). I can get dried kidney beans for $1.16/lb. at Walmart. Two cups of beans is 3/4 pound which makes approximately the equivalent to 3 cans of beans. So your cost comes out to $0.15 a can. Add about $0.10 (probably generous!) for electricity, water, oil and salt and it comes to $0.25 a can. That's a savings of at least $0.34!

A few other facts about beans:
* 1 pound of beans is a little more than 2 cups dry beans
* 1 cup of dried beans equals 3 cups of cooked beans
* 1 small can of beans is nearly 2 cups of beans

Vocalpoint

Have you signed up for Vocalpoint yet? If not, I'd highly recommend it! They'll send you free samples and coupons for all sorts of items with basically no commitment or interaction from you. (I was told by one of their reps that it is good to at least log into their website occasionally or click a link on the emails you receive so that you don't go inactive with them.)

I've been a member for about a year now and have gotten to try all sorts of things free including cereal, tuna, granola bars and more. My freebie lovers heart misses a couple of beats every time I see something from them in the mail. It's like having Christmas all throughout the year. I absolutely love it!

Ways to Save: Gift Ideas

A gift in a jar, given to me by a friend, for some yummy cookies

Do you love giving gifts but struggle knowing how to do it on a budget? Well, here are a few ideas for you. And remember, often the thought means more than anything. In other words, you don't need to spend $50 to give a meaningful gift!

* A simple, yet thoughtful gift is a pretty container filled with your loved one's favorite homemade cookies, candy or snack mix.

* Or for a different twist, give a gift in a jar. From soup mixes, to cookie mixes, to drink mixes, there are literally hundreds of recipes that you can do this with. If you do a simple Google (or maybe I should say Swagbucks!) search, you'll pull up all kinds of ideas like you'll find here.

* Wondering what to do with all the free photo deals that turn up? Use them! You can easily turn them into a simple, yet fun gift for a child. Simply print out pictures of family, friends, or even the child himself and put them in a little photo book or photo album. Most children I know love this personalized little book just for them and if they have far away friends or family, it is a great way to help remember who they are.
Looking for a cheap photo book? Walmart has some for $1 by their photo center.

* Another photo idea is to frame a few of your favorite pictures in some nice good quality frames. This is a great one to give to grandparents.

* If you have even a little sewing machine experience you should be able to pull off making these cute and cozy hooded towels. And if you keep your eye out, you should be able to get the towels on clearance for cheap. My nieces and nephews love their towels like this and I hope to soon make some for my own little guy.

* Make a little gift basket filled with snacks or cosmetics or some of both. You can use the free samples you receive or items that you buy and get free or almost free with your coupons. If you know of someone that is experiencing financial difficulty or just having a tough period in their life, this gift is one that is fun to just anonymously slip into their car or house as a fun, day-brightening surprise.

* Give a gift coupon. My husband has done this numerous times for me and I absolutely love it! So exactly what is a gift coupon? It is a homemade coupon that offers a free service or thing. For instance, you can say, good for one dishwashing, car wash/cleaning, 15 minute back rub, meal out at restaurant of your choice, breakfast in bed, etc.
You can be as fancy or as simple as you want in making these coupons. I'd say go for creative and make it fun. Once, my husband even used some old checks we had and instead of the dollar amount put in his gift such as a dishwashing. If you want to make it even more fun, turn finding them into a treasure hunt. I assure you, even grownups will enjoy this. I know from experience!

* Give a gift basket with most or all of the ingredients for one of your favorite dishes. I think any mom would enjoy this one!

* For children, fill a basket or gift bag with all sorts of craft items like construction paper, glue, glitter, tape etc. This can be done quite inexpensively and is something that can give them hours of fun and help stimulate their creativity.
My husband remembers one year when money was tight and his parent's did this as a Christmas gift for him and his siblings. Guess what? It was one of his favorite gifts ever and he still talks often of it!

I'd love to hear of your creative and/or frugal gift ideas!

Freecycle

Have you ever heard of Freecycle? If not I highly recommend you check it out.

I first heard of Freecycle from my husband's aunt and uncle who live in England. They mentioned in an email that they got some furniture from Freecycle. Being the curious person that I am, I googled it and was amazed at what I discovered.

Here is a brief definition of Freecycle from their website:
It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

That pretty much sums it up. If you go to Freecycle you can search for a Freecycle group near you and then sign up. You'll then be able to access the list of items people are giving away and requesting. And the neat thing is, when an item is listed, the location is listed too so you can decide if it is worth your time and gas to pick it up. It is free to sign up, the only thing that they ask is that you give as well as receive. Makes perfect sense, I think.

We have gotten several items from Freecycle including 2 single beds, a very nice adjustable card table, and an exersaucer baby toy. And I have had fun giving away a number of items as well.

I honestly wish more people freecycled. Freecycling is so easy and allows others to be able to enjoy the things you no longer need. Every time I go walking here in the city on trash day I am appalled at what all people throw away. Perfectly good stuff is sitting by the curb waiting for the garbage truck. It is pathetic...and almost makes a "dumpster diver" out of me. Well, not quite. But it does really bother me.

Guest Post: Money Saving Tips on Printing Coupons

Guest Post by Michelle at Frugal and Thrifty Mama.

• We all know it can get expensive rather quickly buying ink cartridges. We have a Dell printer and I was buying our cartridges directly through Dell. I always cringed whenever it was time to buy more ink. So I was excited when I discovered I could by remanufactured cartridges through 4inkjets. I can save 30% by ordering my cartridges through them rather than Dell. So far I have been pleased by the quality of printing and the cartridges are lasting just as long as they were when I got them through Dell.
• Print your coupons in black and white. In your printer settings you should be able to choose to print color images in black and white.
• When printing some coupons, the coupon will print with a picture following the coupon. When this happens, I normally wait until I see the entire coupon has printed then I quickly press the "stop" button on our printer. You'll save alot of ink this way! Unfortunately there are a few coupons that the picture prints out before the coupon and there's no way to avoid that.
• To save on paper, buy it at Staples when they have a good sale. In the 3 months I've been "couponing" I've seen 2 different times that they've had a deal when you bought a ream of paper you could get 90%-100% of your money back via a rebate. When I run across a deal like this I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks Michelle!
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Several ways that I have found to save in addition to these:

• Get your ink cartridges refilled at Walgreens. They can't do quite all cartridges but our is one that they can and I have been pleased with the way that they print. Cost is $15 for black or color.
  
• Print your coupons on the back sides of already used paper. Just be sure that there is no personal information on the back side of the coupon!
  
• Set your printer to the "quick print" option if it has one. That is the only way I ever print with my printer and my sister just informed me that it looks better than what her printer does on the regular setting. As long as the bar code is clear enough that it scans that is all that really matters.

Free Music

One of my favorite recent discoveries has been Pandora.com. This is a site that allows you to listen to all kinds of music free. Basically you choose a song or artist that you like and then it will play songs on that "station" that are similar. You can create all sorts of stations, each with different types of music. For instance, I have one station that is worship style music for when I want a pick me up. Another is more relaxing music for those times I need some calming down. And another is just a fun station for whenever I am in that mood.

A neat feature that I have found helpful is that if a song plays and you really don't like it, you can give it a thumbs down and it will not play again. If you give a thumbs down twice to the same artist, well then that artist will never play again.

I have discovered some new artists that I really enjoy as a result of Pandora. And just so you know, if you do take a liking to a certain song or artist, you can click on links and learn more about them and even find places to purchase the music or CD.

Check it out and have fun listening!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Okay, so I am officially sold on homemade laundry detergent! I've been thinking for months of trying it after reading about different bloggers who love the stuff. But see, we have really hard water and from what I was reading, people weren't really happy with the results of the stuff when they used it in hard water. I mean, I didn't feel like making a 5 gallon bucketful of detergent only not to be able to use it! So, I kept putting it off. But every time I used my store bought detergent I would feel almost guilty thinking of the money that was literally washing down the drain.

Enter my friend Jewel. She was "bragging" about how she loves this new detergent she made and how simple it is to make and how it is sooo cheap and how it just smells so nice. Well, I got brave and asked her if I could try a little and she was of course more than happy to give me a quart. The next day, with a bit of reservation, I loaded my washer, added the homemade detergent and shut the lid. "Here goes," I thought and waited eagerly to see what the results would be. And guess what...it came out clean and smelling fresh! So I tried it on towels; same story. Logan's soiled clothes; same story. And now today I gave it the real, true, see what it's made of test: I washed my husband's very dirty work clothes with it. I'm talking he-works-in-construction dirty.

I put the detergent in and decided to add just a little bit extra for good measure, then closed the lid and anxiously waited for the load to finish. In fact I checked twice to see if it was done yet. Well, my sister-in-law is staying with us right now and she actually took the clothes and hung them outside before I did since I was taking care of Logan. Well, as soon as I could I dashed out and eagerly fingered the different pants and shirts. I was so excited to see that they were clean- very clean in fact.

And so I'm sold. I will definitely be buying the ingredients for this detergent and making it. Sounds simple enough to make and according to Jewel it is. And of course, I am all for the fact that it is going to save me LOTS in my budget!

Here is the recipe, originally from the Duggar's website:

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

I'm curious, have any of you tried homemade laundry detergent? If so, have you liked it and what recipe did you use?