Here is a great recipe for "rainbow" cupcakes that would bring a smile to any kids face for a special occasion. fun and easy to do. The down side.. thats a lot of foodcoloring, and organic food coloring isn't cheap. I guess this one is a pick which is more important, cost or healthy(ier) for you.
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/taste-a-rainbow-cupcakes-842128/
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
a question I had ..so you probably did too!
I pulled this out of Jillcataldo.com 's FAQ. I found it extremely helpful, and figured you might as well!
How do I know when an item is at its lowest price in the 12-week cycle?
As shoppers, buying the things we need when the price hits its 12-week low saves us the most money, especially when we use our coupons to bring the price down even more. Typically, a product is at its 12-week low when the sale price is 50% less (or better!) than the non-sale (shelf) price of the item. If a price drops to half of what it usually is, or less, it's a buy! Sites like www.couponmom.com, www.grocerygame.com, www.groceryguide.com and www.mygrocerydeals.com help track the sales for you and let you know when an item is hitting the 12-week low.
Also, after a while, you will just start to "learn" what good prices are for the items you buy frequently. Typically, it takes 12 weeks for you to go through the cycle and start to notice the highs and lows for everything you buy. Remember too that every item is on its own, independent 12 week cycle. If cereal is low this week, pasta could be high, and so on. Each product and product category cycles independently of the others.
How do I know when an item is at its lowest price in the 12-week cycle?
As shoppers, buying the things we need when the price hits its 12-week low saves us the most money, especially when we use our coupons to bring the price down even more. Typically, a product is at its 12-week low when the sale price is 50% less (or better!) than the non-sale (shelf) price of the item. If a price drops to half of what it usually is, or less, it's a buy! Sites like www.couponmom.com, www.grocerygame.com, www.groceryguide.com and www.mygrocerydeals.com help track the sales for you and let you know when an item is hitting the 12-week low.
Also, after a while, you will just start to "learn" what good prices are for the items you buy frequently. Typically, it takes 12 weeks for you to go through the cycle and start to notice the highs and lows for everything you buy. Remember too that every item is on its own, independent 12 week cycle. If cereal is low this week, pasta could be high, and so on. Each product and product category cycles independently of the others.
the coupon queen
Every sunday I eagerly get out of bed and dash out for the sunday paper for two..well, sorta three reasons. One is the coupon inserts of course, I'm going to skip the second reason momentarily so I can go back and talk about it far more in length .. the third reason is because I like to scour the ads, I usually do this online, but it's easier to look them over when they are in my hand.
The second reason, is something I sorta chanced upon finding. A sunday column by a lady name Jill Cataldo. She is known as the coupon queen. I Love her. She has taught me soo much about coupons. (yes some of my friends have taught me a great deal as well, but I think Jill's column and website have been the most eye opening.)
She even offers classes, which I've really thought about attending. Each week I tear through the sunday paper pulling out the coupon inserts, the weekly ads that interest me, (yes, the comics), and Jill's column. If your paper doesn't offer her column look it up on her website, I'm betting you will be glad you did.
My friend Bekah had told me to write to companies and tell them when they have done well, or done bad, and you'd be surprised by what you get from them. She is right. Each time I have wrote to a company to express my disatisfaction with a product-- it went stale before the exp. date, it broke my kid out, etc, I've recieved some very nice coupons. I tried writing to a company to tell them how awesome their soda was and asked if they ever offered coupons... so far they haven't replied. boo!
Jill reinforced this idea though, saying to write to 3 companies daily to tell them how much you love their product and ask for coupons. Many apparently have no problems giving out coupons when they recieve compliments. I definetely prefer handing out compliments more than I do complaining, so I'm going to attempt this. I will still be the first to complain when something isn't right, after all, thats my hard earned money I'm paying for something and I'd like it to be as good as they claim. I don't care how "perishable" bread is...if 2 bags mold within 2 days.. something isn't right.
so.. that being said. I highly reccommend you check out Jill's website! I think you will be glad you did!
http://www.jillcataldo.com/
The second reason, is something I sorta chanced upon finding. A sunday column by a lady name Jill Cataldo. She is known as the coupon queen. I Love her. She has taught me soo much about coupons. (yes some of my friends have taught me a great deal as well, but I think Jill's column and website have been the most eye opening.)
She even offers classes, which I've really thought about attending. Each week I tear through the sunday paper pulling out the coupon inserts, the weekly ads that interest me, (yes, the comics), and Jill's column. If your paper doesn't offer her column look it up on her website, I'm betting you will be glad you did.
My friend Bekah had told me to write to companies and tell them when they have done well, or done bad, and you'd be surprised by what you get from them. She is right. Each time I have wrote to a company to express my disatisfaction with a product-- it went stale before the exp. date, it broke my kid out, etc, I've recieved some very nice coupons. I tried writing to a company to tell them how awesome their soda was and asked if they ever offered coupons... so far they haven't replied. boo!
Jill reinforced this idea though, saying to write to 3 companies daily to tell them how much you love their product and ask for coupons. Many apparently have no problems giving out coupons when they recieve compliments. I definetely prefer handing out compliments more than I do complaining, so I'm going to attempt this. I will still be the first to complain when something isn't right, after all, thats my hard earned money I'm paying for something and I'd like it to be as good as they claim. I don't care how "perishable" bread is...if 2 bags mold within 2 days.. something isn't right.
so.. that being said. I highly reccommend you check out Jill's website! I think you will be glad you did!
http://www.jillcataldo.com/
some recipes that look really good
AS I posted previously.. All You is my newest favorite magazine. They have a TON of coupons, recipes, tips, ideas and even exercises, It's just an all around great magazine, and the coupons alone pay for the subscription! Here is teh recipes from the July issue. some of my favorites that I want to try are nectarine-raspberry hand pies, roasted peaches with cookie crumble and slow cooker baked ziti, and slow cooker pulled pork.
I really don't think you can have too many crock pot recipes, especially in the summer when the last thing you want to do is heat up the house by cooking dinner!
http://www.allyou.com/food/recipes/
Enjoy!!
I really don't think you can have too many crock pot recipes, especially in the summer when the last thing you want to do is heat up the house by cooking dinner!
http://www.allyou.com/food/recipes/
Enjoy!!
stockpiling groceries 101
Many of you have been asking me what teh best way to save on your grocery bill is. Well, All you Magazine (one of my favorite magazines!) has made that answer extrmemly simple for me. here is a great article from their July issue.
http://www.allyou.com/budget-home/money-shopping/save-on-groceries-stockpiling-food-00411000068289/page10.html
You will have to click on each individual step, but it's well worth reading!
"but missy, I don't have the money to spend that much extra right now". Truth is... neither do I... but, what I've been doing is similar. I make my list based off the recipes I plan to use. Then, I search online for every and all coupons I can find to help me get extra savings on these items. I bring my coupons in a seperate envelope that I will mostly likely be using, but I bring ALL my coupons along, in search of those amazing deals. If I find something on sale for dirt cheap and I have coupons, I spend a lil extra of my grocery budget to stockpile, that way, I won't have to buy it the next time at a higher price. It's the best I can do until I can get that big stockpile of my dreams to really reduce my grocery bill.
http://www.allyou.com/budget-home/money-shopping/save-on-groceries-stockpiling-food-00411000068289/page10.html
You will have to click on each individual step, but it's well worth reading!
"but missy, I don't have the money to spend that much extra right now". Truth is... neither do I... but, what I've been doing is similar. I make my list based off the recipes I plan to use. Then, I search online for every and all coupons I can find to help me get extra savings on these items. I bring my coupons in a seperate envelope that I will mostly likely be using, but I bring ALL my coupons along, in search of those amazing deals. If I find something on sale for dirt cheap and I have coupons, I spend a lil extra of my grocery budget to stockpile, that way, I won't have to buy it the next time at a higher price. It's the best I can do until I can get that big stockpile of my dreams to really reduce my grocery bill.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
soul searching for answers
Have you ever been trying to figure out where life is taking you, and if your dreams will ever come true? If so, have you ever had something that isn't a direct answer, but is enough of a "clue" that you just had to pay attention?
I'll be the first to admit. I'm not the most religious person on the face of the planet. I believe in God, and say prayers occassionally, but I typically don't base my day around thinking a supreme being will answer my prayers, hopes, wishes or desires. There have been times my faith has been pushed to teh very brink, and chances are, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to believe that some day I will see my sister, grandparents, and anyone else I have lost, that I love dearly, I very well may have lost that faith altogether. ...but then.. there are times, where something happens, that can only be described as divine intervention, so to speak. Faith is renewed.
This is sorta one of those things.. It's not an undenyable divine intervention for me.. but from whatI can tell, it was (in part) for the people who's story I read. My part of it, could easily be chalked up to "fate', "random chance", or even just plain old "luck".
Enough rambling. I happened to see status on FB from one of my money saving blogs I really like, that said something about no more renting for them, and 100% down for their house. This piqued my interest to say the very least and I went and read the entire story, and am eagerly awaiting the final post.
She talked about living debt free, no school debt, no car debt, no house debt. What an amazing concept. How different would out lives be if we had no debt at all. Unfortunately this is impossible for me since I already have school loans racked up, and we currently have a car payment. But.. what if I could make those debts disapear, and then save for a house of our dreams? It's a big dream.. it's a monster step...but.. ultimately.. I think it just might be doable. How awesome would that be? Admittedly getting there won't be much fun. The budget will have to go through some drastic cuts...which I'm not sure I want to eat mac and cheese only for the next 5 years.
As a result you may soon se some major changes to this blog. It might begin to start looking a bit more like a savings blog, with some other stuff still mixed in. You may start seeing ads for coupon sites, or other reputable companies. Don't worry.. I'm not about to sell my friends and readers out to just "anyone" for the sake of making a buck. Just like when I pass on a deal I have saw on FB, I will continue to be picky when posting deals. When possible, I will still post all the best deals on nonprocessed foods, and things that are more along the back to basics line of thinking.. but.. when you really stop and think about it. Saving money is going back to basics also. Our grandparents scrimped and saved and used everything to it's fullest potential. Some of them even went thought hte great depression, and their thinking was greatly influenced from that. So, even by posting deals, I'm not straying from my "back to basics" mentality, I'm just embracing it in the fullest way possible.
May our journey to saving money, eliminating processed foods, etc, be fruitful and rewarding! Thanks for coming along with me during this time of transitioning
I'll be the first to admit. I'm not the most religious person on the face of the planet. I believe in God, and say prayers occassionally, but I typically don't base my day around thinking a supreme being will answer my prayers, hopes, wishes or desires. There have been times my faith has been pushed to teh very brink, and chances are, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to believe that some day I will see my sister, grandparents, and anyone else I have lost, that I love dearly, I very well may have lost that faith altogether. ...but then.. there are times, where something happens, that can only be described as divine intervention, so to speak. Faith is renewed.
This is sorta one of those things.. It's not an undenyable divine intervention for me.. but from whatI can tell, it was (in part) for the people who's story I read. My part of it, could easily be chalked up to "fate', "random chance", or even just plain old "luck".
Enough rambling. I happened to see status on FB from one of my money saving blogs I really like, that said something about no more renting for them, and 100% down for their house. This piqued my interest to say the very least and I went and read the entire story, and am eagerly awaiting the final post.
She talked about living debt free, no school debt, no car debt, no house debt. What an amazing concept. How different would out lives be if we had no debt at all. Unfortunately this is impossible for me since I already have school loans racked up, and we currently have a car payment. But.. what if I could make those debts disapear, and then save for a house of our dreams? It's a big dream.. it's a monster step...but.. ultimately.. I think it just might be doable. How awesome would that be? Admittedly getting there won't be much fun. The budget will have to go through some drastic cuts...which I'm not sure I want to eat mac and cheese only for the next 5 years.
As a result you may soon se some major changes to this blog. It might begin to start looking a bit more like a savings blog, with some other stuff still mixed in. You may start seeing ads for coupon sites, or other reputable companies. Don't worry.. I'm not about to sell my friends and readers out to just "anyone" for the sake of making a buck. Just like when I pass on a deal I have saw on FB, I will continue to be picky when posting deals. When possible, I will still post all the best deals on nonprocessed foods, and things that are more along the back to basics line of thinking.. but.. when you really stop and think about it. Saving money is going back to basics also. Our grandparents scrimped and saved and used everything to it's fullest potential. Some of them even went thought hte great depression, and their thinking was greatly influenced from that. So, even by posting deals, I'm not straying from my "back to basics" mentality, I'm just embracing it in the fullest way possible.
May our journey to saving money, eliminating processed foods, etc, be fruitful and rewarding! Thanks for coming along with me during this time of transitioning
Learning from our mistakes
I made a few rookie mistakes recently in couponing. From what I'm told, it happens occassionally even to the pros. As long as you look at it as a learning experience, it's not really a mistake, right? Sure it cost me a little bit of extra money...Under $10, so it wasn't anything major, but it still aggrevated me. Plus, The awareness of what happened made me wonder how many other times I made that same mistake and just never realized it. I plan on sharing my mistakes with you, so hopefully you can learn from me, and not have to learn the hard way.
Mistake #1.
My first one, was a case of not being organized enough. I had 2 seperate orders sitting in my shopping cart, and instead of keeping them seperated (which with a 22 month old in the back of the cart, is impossible)I had everything together. The problem was, I didn't keep them seperate in my mind or on paper (which is FAR smarter!) I knew the items I had to keep apart to get the RR's, but my downfall came in that I seperated an order I shouldn't have. I was buying some Mitchum deoderant, which had a coupon in store to reduce the price to 1.99 instead of the almost 4.00 it was normally. then I had 2 catalina coupons for 1.50 off, leaving me with deoderant for a mere 49 cents. I only had one in store coupon, so I needed to leave them in the same transaction, or grab another sales ad for an additional coupon. Unfortunately, I didn't do this. So, one of my deoderants was 49 cents, teh other was much higher. I remedied the problem by returning it the following week. The downside was, I forfeited my coupon in doing so. Lesson learned. I keep all my coupons in an envelope and I have always wrote down what my shopping list is. Now I add to it by putting whether its a same or seperate transaction next to each item. Now I don't get everything messed up in my head :) Problem solved.
Mistake #2
I purchased a huge order of stuff, as I normally do, unlike most of the "scenarios" I see in the other blogs and forums. I never really understood why they did small orders, except when they were buying a bunch of the same item, then it made sense to me, because you can only get one RR per order (item, or groups of item in a RR deal).You can have multiple RR's print out as long as they are for different products. So, This particular day I had an issue with an RR not printing for a suave kids item I had purchased. The only reason I noticed was because I was trying to get two of them, so I had a seperate transaction. I asked the cashier about it, and she couldn't find anythign in the paper. I held back in getting the second one in case I read the sign wrong. It was a good deal and I didn't want to miss it if I read it right. 3.49 for the kids wash, with a 3 dollar RR back! I double checked the sign, sure enough, I read it right. So I asked one of the managers about it. They checked it out, and it was actually a misprinted sales tag, but they were willing to give it to me because it was posted. yay! Score one for me, and I was quite happy they were so nice. (so my mistake wasn't a complete bust that day!) The manager had asked if I had gotten my pepsi RR, and I assumed I did as I had a handful of RR's. He spotted one for 3 dollars and asked for that product so they could get me the correct priced RR. I was feeling pretty good, and headed home. I always check my reciepts when I get home as well as my RR's so I can see how well I did shopping. As I was going through my RR's, I discovered I indeed did not have a pepsi RR. I was ripped off by a $5RR. I called and asked what happened, if it was something I did. The cashier told me to come in and ask for Larry, the night manager, and he'd fix it if he could for me. Well, it was already almost 9 and it was at least a half hour drive. I wasn't going back anymore that night, since they were still out of some of the items I really wanted. I went back in a few days later, and got a different manager than I'd ever even saw before. She was nice, but not nearly as helpful and kind as the others. I asked her about my pepsi RR's, and discovered my flaw was that I used a pepsi RR to help pay for that purchase. Apparently you can't use an RR that you have gotten for an item from teh same company. So.. you can't use an RR for say Proctor & Gamble on any other P &G products.. which means, you can't buy gillete, or pampers, etc using an RR that you got for an Old Spice promo. If you do, you most likely won't get your RR's. oof.. lesson learned. The down side is.. some of those companies own a heck of a lot of other companes.. P&G being one of them! So, it appears there is a reason to teh maddness of the bloggers breaking things down into small scenarios. They are avoiding buying things with RR's for the same company.
It appears couponing isn't as easy as it once appeared, and there is actually some work involved.. but wow is it worth it!
Mistake #1.
My first one, was a case of not being organized enough. I had 2 seperate orders sitting in my shopping cart, and instead of keeping them seperated (which with a 22 month old in the back of the cart, is impossible)I had everything together. The problem was, I didn't keep them seperate in my mind or on paper (which is FAR smarter!) I knew the items I had to keep apart to get the RR's, but my downfall came in that I seperated an order I shouldn't have. I was buying some Mitchum deoderant, which had a coupon in store to reduce the price to 1.99 instead of the almost 4.00 it was normally. then I had 2 catalina coupons for 1.50 off, leaving me with deoderant for a mere 49 cents. I only had one in store coupon, so I needed to leave them in the same transaction, or grab another sales ad for an additional coupon. Unfortunately, I didn't do this. So, one of my deoderants was 49 cents, teh other was much higher. I remedied the problem by returning it the following week. The downside was, I forfeited my coupon in doing so. Lesson learned. I keep all my coupons in an envelope and I have always wrote down what my shopping list is. Now I add to it by putting whether its a same or seperate transaction next to each item. Now I don't get everything messed up in my head :) Problem solved.
Mistake #2
I purchased a huge order of stuff, as I normally do, unlike most of the "scenarios" I see in the other blogs and forums. I never really understood why they did small orders, except when they were buying a bunch of the same item, then it made sense to me, because you can only get one RR per order (item, or groups of item in a RR deal).You can have multiple RR's print out as long as they are for different products. So, This particular day I had an issue with an RR not printing for a suave kids item I had purchased. The only reason I noticed was because I was trying to get two of them, so I had a seperate transaction. I asked the cashier about it, and she couldn't find anythign in the paper. I held back in getting the second one in case I read the sign wrong. It was a good deal and I didn't want to miss it if I read it right. 3.49 for the kids wash, with a 3 dollar RR back! I double checked the sign, sure enough, I read it right. So I asked one of the managers about it. They checked it out, and it was actually a misprinted sales tag, but they were willing to give it to me because it was posted. yay! Score one for me, and I was quite happy they were so nice. (so my mistake wasn't a complete bust that day!) The manager had asked if I had gotten my pepsi RR, and I assumed I did as I had a handful of RR's. He spotted one for 3 dollars and asked for that product so they could get me the correct priced RR. I was feeling pretty good, and headed home. I always check my reciepts when I get home as well as my RR's so I can see how well I did shopping. As I was going through my RR's, I discovered I indeed did not have a pepsi RR. I was ripped off by a $5RR. I called and asked what happened, if it was something I did. The cashier told me to come in and ask for Larry, the night manager, and he'd fix it if he could for me. Well, it was already almost 9 and it was at least a half hour drive. I wasn't going back anymore that night, since they were still out of some of the items I really wanted. I went back in a few days later, and got a different manager than I'd ever even saw before. She was nice, but not nearly as helpful and kind as the others. I asked her about my pepsi RR's, and discovered my flaw was that I used a pepsi RR to help pay for that purchase. Apparently you can't use an RR that you have gotten for an item from teh same company. So.. you can't use an RR for say Proctor & Gamble on any other P &G products.. which means, you can't buy gillete, or pampers, etc using an RR that you got for an Old Spice promo. If you do, you most likely won't get your RR's. oof.. lesson learned. The down side is.. some of those companies own a heck of a lot of other companes.. P&G being one of them! So, it appears there is a reason to teh maddness of the bloggers breaking things down into small scenarios. They are avoiding buying things with RR's for the same company.
It appears couponing isn't as easy as it once appeared, and there is actually some work involved.. but wow is it worth it!
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