Birthday Freebie Update

Back in June I had posted a list of birthday freebies you can get. Well, since I just celebrated my birthday, I've discovered a few more that I need to add to the list. It has made my the weeks around my birthday such a fun time!

* GGP Mall- First check to see if your mall is part of this group and if it is, join The Club and you'll likely get a voucher for a free $10 mall gift card. I say likely because I got one but my husband didn't- but then he never gets any gift card offers from them. Thanks to reader Sarah for the reminder about this!

* Maggie Moo's- Join the Email Club and you'll get a coupon for a free Kid's sized ice cream creation

* Rita's- Sign up for the Birthday Club and you'll get a free Italian ice on your birthday!

* Sonic- Sign up for the Sonic Cruisers Club and on your birthday you'll get a choice of one of three birthday freebies: medium Tator Tots, regular cream slush, or medium drink.

* Swagbucks- Join Swagbucks and you'll get 50 Swagbucks on your birthday! I didn't post this one earlier because I can't figure out where I added my birthday to get this. Anyone know?

Any more that you all know of? I'd love to know about them!

Groupon: $6 for Two Reg. Quiznos Subs

I don't often post daily deals anymore, but this one is one that I thought many of you might be interested in. You can purchase a Groupon for $6 for two regular subs or two salads at Quiznos ($12.98 Average Value).

This Groupon can be used at most Quiznos locations, although there are a few that don't participate. To find locations that are Groupon participants just go here and enter your zip code.

I love purchasing deals like this to use when we are traveling or just for those times when we suddenly decide to eat out due to crazy schedules. It's one of the little ways that we can save.

Tasty Tuesday: Muenster Chicken and Mushrooms

This is one of our favorite ways to eat chicken. It's a great combination of some of our favorite things- chicken, cheese and mushrooms. And while it's easy enough to prepare for a yummy dinner, it's also tasty enough to serve to guests for a special meal.

Muenster Chicken and Mushrooms

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1-2 eggs
Muenster or Swiss cheese (approx. 8 oz.)
8-16 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1-2 c. chicken broth
2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
Salt

Cut chicken into thin pieces (this helps the flavor get through more), dip in egg, then bread crumbs. Salt lightly then lightly brown in oiled skillet. Arrange in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Top chicken with sliced or grated cheese and sliced mushrooms. Pour broth over all.

Cover with aluminum foil an bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Remove foil, baste with broth and bake another 10 to 15 min.

For other recipe ideas, check out Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday, Blessed with Grace's Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesday, Mandy's Recipe Box's Totally Tasty Tuesdays and All the Small Stuff's Tuesdays At the Table.

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?

Weekly Spending Summary

I didn't do much shopping this week and it felt kind of good. I need a week like this every now and then!

Total Spent: $15.65
Total Saved with Coupons: $48.61
Total Saved with Sales: $31.24
Total Saved: $79.85

Rite Aid: $0.98
Saved with Coupons: $23.75
Saved with Sales: $11.95

I was in desperate need of Kleenex (went through a box one day last week thanks to a cold!) so I was pretty happy to be able to stock up again at a good price.

Giant: $14.67
Saved with Coupons: $24.86
Saved with Sales: $19.29


I actually got two packs of razors, both free, but gave the one pack to the cashier. She was so tickled and I had fun being able to bless her with my freebie! The ice cream was a pretty good price so I decided to stock up a bit since I know we'll be using it over the next couple of week for different things. And the milk was free with some catalina coupons from a cereal deal that I did earlier.

Weekly Spending Summary

I actually did quite a bit of shopping this week even though I decided to skip going to Rite Aid. I was running out of several basic things and had kept putting off going to the different stores to get them. I finally bit the bullet and went this week.

Total Spent: $54.27
Total Saved with Coupons: $6.50
Total Saved with Sales: $1.32
Total Saved: $7.82

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $1.50
Saved with Sales: $0.30

It looks like I failed to take a picture of my "huge" purchase- 1 Balance protein bar. I wouldn't have even bothered to go to CVS this week except that I had to take care of the glitch last week with my Extra Care card. They gave me the money back on a gift card, which was fine with me.

Giant: $0.36
Saved with Coupons: $5.00
Saved with Sales: $1.02

It must be the week for missing pictures, because it appears that I forgot to take this picture too. I know I bought a gallon of milk (which I had a free catalina coupon for) but I'm not sure what else I got. :(

Walmart: $9.96


Aldi: $14.77


Centerville Bulk Foods: $12.85


Creekside Bulk Food: $16.33


I hardly ever go to this little store, but I was close by and knew that they had eggs and butter cheaper than I could get them anywhere else, so I decided to stop in.

Credit: $4.23
- A return at Rite Aid.

Tasty Tuesday: Zucchini Quiche

It's zucchini season and we've been loving the zucchini's that friends have given to us. The other night I tried this quiche and we decided that it is our new favorite zucchini dish. It's easy and so yummy that when I got hungry after going to bed, I ended up getting up and eating the rest of the quiche from dinner!

Zucchini Quiche

1 c. chopped onion
1 c. Bisquick baking mix
4 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. parsley
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 to 3 1/2 c. zucchini, grated

Mix all ingredients except zucchini in a bowl. Stir in zucchini and pour into a buttered 9" pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 min. or until brown.

* I added a bit of basil and also sprinkled maybe 1/4 c. mozzarella cheese on top (because I was afraid maybe it wouldn't be very good!) but I really think it would still be really yummy without either of those things.

For other recipe ideas, check out Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday, Blessed with Grace's Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Fudge Ripple's Tuesday Night Supper Club, 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesday, and All the Small Stuff's Tuesdays At the Table.