My Vacation

As I've mentioned a few times lately, we're leaving for the beach tomorrow morning! We will be staying at a beach in North Carolina with my parents and brothers and sisters. I am very excited; it will be our first "real vacation" since our honeymoon.

I am taking a total break from the computer during the week, so I will not be checking my blog or email. However, there is no need to stop reading Frugally Blonde next week! I have some awesome guest posts scheduled, including several frugal how-to's and even an article on frugal and chic style! Please stop by and check out the great posts that kind fellow bloggers have agreed to write for me.

For the two weeks after our vacation, the girls and I will be staying at my parents' house to get some more quality time with the grandparents and aunts and uncles. I will be back to blogging during that time, although I might not post quite as frequently as usual.

I hope you all have a great week, and Happy Summer!

Preparing Food for While I'm Away

Tomorrow morning, our whole family leaves for the beach for a week with my parents and siblings. Then for the two weeks afterward, my girls and I will be staying with my parents down in North Carolina, while my husband comes back here to work.

My husband is not a cook, but he does appreciate homemade food and is just about as much into saving money as I am! Both of us were committed to having him not eat an expensive and unhealthy diet of takeout while I'm gone, but at the same time I I knew that he would not prepare anything complicated for himself.

My solution: preparing simple food in advance. I've tried to get everything that he needs prepared so that all he has to do is grab it and put it in his lunch bag for work or heat it up for dinner. Here's what I've purchased and/or cooked:

Breakfasts and lunches (for work)

- individual cups of yogurt

- frozen sliced homemade bread with cold cuts to quickly put together a sandwich

- individually wrapped frozen quarters of homemade pizza - just grab and go

- individual baggies of snacks: trail mix, chips, homemade snack bars, regular granola bars

- a bag of apples (will keep a long time in the fridge and are easy to grab)

Dinners

- frozen lasagnas (I froze them in disposable 9-inch square pans, so they wouldn't be too huge for one person)

- frozen chili

- pre-formed hamburger patties & hot dogs to grill

(What can I say - he wanted "man food.")

Overall, this is pretty simple stuff, much of which I make anyway, and it didn't take too long to prepare. Probably the most time-consuming item was the lasagna. Hopefully it will make it easy for Michael to get what he needs to eat, so that he can concentrate on the projects on which he'll be working and be able to relax too.

Check out Frugal Fridays for more frugal living tips.

Special Day

Today is our 4th Anniversary. I can hardly believe it's been that long! It's been an eventful four years, and we've been greatly blessed.


I love you, Michael!


(Photo by the fabulous and highly recommended Laurie Johnson.)

Baby Food from Outside the Baby Aisle

I have a simple, and perhaps obvious, Works for Me Wednesday tip for you today, but it's one that recently occurred to me.

While feeding an individual cup of applesauce to my baby, I realized how much cheaper the regular applesauce was in comparison to baby food applesauce. And the only difference was a slightly more chunky texture, which my 9 month old has been able to handle for a while. I got 6-pack of regular applesauce cups on sale for $.99, making the cups $.33 each. That is versus a two pack of Gerber applesauce on a good sale for $.99 ($.50 per smaller cup).

I also realized that there are other items on the regular grocery shelves that are nearly identical to items sold in the baby aisle, but for a much lower price. For instance, you could buy Gerber Graduates jars of diced fruit for about $.89 each, or you could buy a 4-pack of Dole fruit cups for $2.85 or $.71 each. (This would be an even bigger savings if you got the fruit cups on sale and/or used a coupon).

I thought of several more similar substitutions; the baby item is on the left and the regular grocery aisle substitute is on the right. I'm sure there are lots of others you could come up with too!

Gerber puffs - Cheerios

Gerber pasta pickups - frozen mini ravioli

baby butternut squash - canned pumpkin

teething biscuits - biscotti

arrowroot cookies - graham crackers

baby oatmeal - regular oatmeal

We all know that you can save a ton of money on feeding your baby by making your own baby food, but it definitely does take some time and effort. The beauty of this suggestion is that you can still get the convenience of prepared and even individually packaged food, but without the extra markup for being packaged as "baby food."

Tuesday Tip

A quick, painless money saving tip every Tuesday

Use a discount dry cleaner. Regular dry cleaning prices are so expensive, but did you know that there are discount dry cleaning chains and independent stores that charge one flat low price for any item? A lot of them seem to charge $1.99, with some variation based on the area of the country.

My mom has been using a discount dry cleaner successfully for years, so when I discovered one near my husband's workplace, I started making the extra effort to go there. I would estimate we save a minimum of a couple of dollar per item on something like a shirt, and probably at least ten dollars on a larger item, such as a coat!

I have never had a problem with the quality of the dry cleaning, although I would probably not use them for something like a formal dress, just because of the extra detailing and delicate fabrics. However, for our ordinary needs, the discount cleaners is perfect. Check your phone book or Google to find a discount dry cleaners in your area, or check out Dry Clean Depot, motto "We clean your clothes, not your wallet." Now I like that!

Have a quick and easy money saving tip to share for the Tuesday Tip? Email me, and I will credit you if I use your tip.

Weekly Wegmans Deals

My Wegmans deals are up at Frugal in Virginia. I did a big Wegmans trip yesterday, and I found a number of new deals!

Check out Wegmans new Organic Farm Blog. It looks like it is going to have some neat tips and recipes, and could be educational to view with kids.

Weekly Deal Roundup

The very best deals for your week, from the blogosphere and beyond . . .

This is so exciting!!! Apparantly, Harris Teeter will be doing super double coupons the end of this week, doubling up to $1.99!!! I am so bummed that I probably will not be able to take advantage of this, since we're leaving for the beach, but I can't wait to hear about the deals that others get. I've never been able to get a $1.50 coupon doubled to $3.00!

I used this coupon for a free beverage at Borders on Saturday, when I went to Borders to get a Father's Day gift for Michael. The barista said it was valid on any small beverage, so I got one of the elaborate cold chocolate coffee drinks worth $3.65. For free! This coupon is good for just a few more days.

If you need toys for any summer birthday parties, today might be a good day to buy them. Hearthsong, a company which carries a variety of high-quality and creative toys, has $1.99 standard shipping today only with code HSES. Look in their sale section; their are a ton of items under $10, so this has the potential to be an excellent deal.

If you know anyone who's getting married soon, let them know about Bed, Bath, and Beyond's registry incentive program. We registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for our wedding four years ago, but I don't think they had this program then. If they had, I'm sure I would have been all over it. ;-)

Finally, Restaurant.com is doing their 80% off promotion again. That means you can a $25 restaurant gift certificate to a partcipating restaurant in your area for just $2.00 with code DISH. As always, read the details and fine print for each individual restaurant, but this is definitely a terrific deal!

CVS Deals 06/21-06/27

Here are the best deals I see at CVS this week. Ashley at Frugal Coupon Living has the complete list.

I'm excited about getting 20 Soy Joy bars for free or better than free. I know the name may not inspire confidence, but I think these bars are pretty good. :-) I like to have power bars and granola bars on hand to keep in the diaper bag, to keep this hungry breastfeeding mommy from stopping at the drive through when she's out running errands!

The only catch will be that CVS may run out of the bars quickly. I'm going to try to make it there this afternoon, since I won't be able to go on Saturday morning this week, when they've usually restocked.

SoyJoy Bars $1 (get $4 ECBs wyb 4) Limit 5
$2/10 SS 5/31
$1/5 printable
B1G1 SS 5/31
= FREE – MONEYMAKER after ECBs

Thermacare Neck to Arm Wrap 1 ct $2.49 (get $2.49 ECBs) Limit 2
$1 printable$1 RP 3/29$1 RP4/19
= $1 MONEYMAKER

B1G1 Sobe Lifewater
B1G1 printable
= 2 for FREE

Tylenol - 20-24 ct $4.99 (get $2 ECB s) Limit 3
$1 RP 4/5
$1 RP 6/7
$1 printable
$3/2 RP 4/5
$2 RP 5/17
= $.99 - $1.99 after ECBs

Remember:
SS - stands for Smart Source (one of the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper).
RP - stands for Red Plum (another newspaper coupon insert).
P&G - stands for Proctor & Gamble coupon insert
The dates refer to the date of the paper that carried that insert.
ECB - stands for Extra Care Bucks.

You can read my introduction to CVS shopping here.

Menu Planning Monday

We're mostly eating from the pantry and freezer again this week. I'm trying to use up a lot of stuff before our vacation, so that I can make a fresh start when we get back. I am planning to shop at Wegmans this morning, but mostly to get food to cook for Michael to eat while the girls and I are in North Carolina.

And by the way, I finally cooked the Chinese Orange Chicken last week! Michael likes his Chinese food spicy, so we would have preferred some added red pepper flakes or something, but I thought it was really good. It tasted like getting Chinese takeout - but fresher and healthier.

Here's our simple menu this week:

Mon - Leftover roundup ;-)

Tues - Homemade pizza (save some for Friday), salad

Wed - Black bean tacos, fruit salad

Thurs - Pasta with Italian sausage, salad, bread

Fri - Leftover homemade pizza (on paper plates - we're leaving in the morning!)

Sat - Off to the beach!!!

Read more menus at Menu Planning Monday.

Target and Harris Teeter Deals

I hadn't been to Target for a couple of weeks, but there were several deals this week that sent me there again.

I was most excited about the chip deal. I usually buy a bag of corn chips every two weeks at Wegmans; it's our weekend treat. I pay $2.50 for the Wegmans brand chips.

With the deal that runs through today at Target, their Archer farms tortilla chips are on sale for $2.33/each. So already that was a savings for me. Add to that the $1/1 Target coupon on the chips AND if you buy two you get a free salsa or dip. So I ended up with 2 bags of corn chips and a jar of salsa for $3.66!

Then today I went over to Harris Teeter because of this cheese deal. I know I've said that I don't do catalina deals for stores that I don't visit regularly, but this cheese deal is sooo good! Plus, the sale price was good enough that I wanted to go even before I knew about the catalina deal. I also got around the problem of having to use the catalina later by splitting my order into two and just using it on the second order.

For 5 packs (2.5 lbs.) of cheese, I paid:

$1.47/pack = $7.35
Used 2 ($1.00/1) printable coupons
Used 1 ($1.00/2) printable coupon (I think no longer available)
Paid $4.35 out of pocket
Got $4.00 off coupon, which I used for the Hefty bags and Yoplait yogurt deals I was also getting.
So I paid $.35 total for 5 packages of cheese!

Here's my spending this week:

CVS: $2.00
Target: $3.75 & $7.18 & $13.64
Harris Teeter: $3.77 & $9.46
Giant: $9.00
June spending: $299.63
Left in budget: $50.37

I just have to make a quick trip to Wegmans on Monday to get the rest of the supplies for the meals I'm leaving for Michael while we're visiting my family. I'm going to try to get of most of it within the June budget, but since the food is actually for July, I've decided to cut myself a little slack if I do. :-)

Saving Money on Grilling

It's Father's Day this weekend, and many families will be cooking out. I have so many memories of my family grilling practically every night in the summer and then eating outside on the deck. Yum!

However, between food, fuel, and accessories, the cost of grilling can add up, so I thought it would be useful to share a few ideas for saving money on this delicious summer pastime!

1) Plan ahead - As always, it's easiest to save money if you think in advance. For instance, we have a charcoal grill, so when I saw half a bag of charcoal on freecycle back in the winter, I requested it. It wasn't a ton, but it was convenient for my husband to pick up on the way home form work and was at least enough for a couple of free grilled meals. If you're looking for a grill or for grill accessories, it would be worth keeping your eye out at yard sales and on Craig's List before buying them new.

2) Stock up on sales - All throughout the summer you can find good deals on food for grilling, but the best deals will probably come up around Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. Use these times to stock up on meat to freeze, as well as hot dog and hamburger rolls, chips, baked beans, and condiments such as ketchup and BBQ sauce. Double and triple coupon events are also a great time to get deals; I've gotten free and almost free mustard and pickles several times.

3) Use energy efficiently - Since we have a small family, when my husband and I grill we try to grill enough for several meals, so as not to waste the charcoal. We cook a variety of different meats, and I try to use them creatively throughout the week. We've also experimented with hardwood charcoal, which is reusable until it's burned up. Another way to use the grill heat efficiently is to try to cook the whole meal on the grill and not heat up your kitchen at all.

4) Expand your recipe repertoire - Who says that you have to just grill steak and seafood? There are so many creative recipes out there, many of which use less expensive ingredients. My dad makes a great grilled pizza, which doesn't use expensive ingredients. Or why not try grilled meatloaf? Grilled potatoes? Grilled peaches? The possibilities are endless!

Check out Frugal Fridays for more frugal living tips.

Also check out Money Saving Mom for more ideas for saving money on Father's Day.

Photo credit: fotograf62

Frugal How-To's

Here are some great frugal how-to's I've collected from around the Web:

Uses for vinegar.

Homemade yogurt.

Salad from your yard.

Homemade spa treatments.

Let me know if you try any of these!

Photo credits: johannlg, Kreon, MDMCS, jadey919

WFMW: Keeping a Running Packing List

As I mentioned yesterday, we're getting ready to leave for vacation in less than two weeks. Packing for a long trip with two little ones tends to overwhelm me. They just need so much gear, and it's easy to forget something vitally necessary for their happiness and/or my sanity! Forgotten items also can tend to lead to spending extra money, as when we went on a day trip this Saturday and I was forced to buy an extra pack of pacifiers after having forgotten them.

After a recent trip, however, I came up with a method to my packing more organized. I saved the packing lists I had made from that trip, typed them up, and saved them in a computer file. That file is now my running packing list for every trip. Now when I start packing, I don't have to sit around and figure out what toiletries I use every morning or what I need to feed the baby. Everything is already laid out, and I just have to customize it for the particular trip.

On my list, I have included every single item we might need to bring on an overnight trip, from diapers to shampoo to my coupon box (of course!). I also included items that we might bring on some trips, but not others, such as hats and mittens for the winter and bathing suits for the summer. When I print out the list for each trip, I just black out the items that we don't need for this particular trip.

I also include some blank lines under "casual clothes" and "dressy clothes" to list the particular outfits I'm bringing for each person. That also helps when we're leaving, especially from someone else's house, to not forget a pair of socks or a shirt. As our needs change (for instance, when we no longer need slings or pacifiers), I can just update the file for the next trip.

Keeping a running packing list Works for Me!

Wegmans Deals

Your Wegmans deals for the week are at Frugal in Virginia. Next week I should have more, since I'll be shopping at Wegmans on Monday.

Check out this fun post for ideas of "Top 5 Things a Newbie Should Try at Wegmans."

Menu this Week: Skipping Grocery Shopping

Well, as you can tell, my weekend was a bit crazy and the week got off to a busy start, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. Luckily, I don't have to do any grocery shopping this week. Although it is the week for my two-week shopping trip, I decided to skip shopping this week for various reasons.

We have plenty of food in the house, and so I was excited to challenge myself to plan a menu literally without buying anything. I stopped at Giant yesterday for just milk, fruit, and yogurt (three necessities for us), but other than that, we'll be eating from the pantry and fridge this week. Here's our menu:

Mon - Pepperoni pasta, salad

Tues - Meatloaf, noodles, canned green beans

Wed - Chinese Orange Beef (This has been on my menu for weeks, but I keep not ever making it! Maybe this week?!)

Thurs - Leftover meatloaf

Fri - Grilled tilapia, oven fries, spinach

Sat - Tacos, fruit salad

Sun - Something with grilled flank steak (Father's Day!)

A week from Saturday, June 27, our family is leaving for the beach for a week! Hooray! Afterwards, the girls and I will be staying with my parents for two weeks, while Michael heads back home to work. So next week I plan to make a big Wegmans run on Monday to get some food for the trip as well as food to leave Michael for while I'm gone.

Currently my grocery spending for June is at $259.83. It's somewhat higher than normal, since we did some extra spending on a BBQ we hosted. However, since I'm skipping shopping this week, I hope that I can still make my Wegmans trip next week and any other deals I pick up stay within the June budget, leaving the July grocery budget available for some treats at the beach.

Hope your week got off to a great start!

CVS Deal this Week

I've skipped CVS for a couple of weeks now, but I plan to get back into it this week. Your CVS deals for the week are at Frugal Coupon Living; here are my favorites:

B1G1 Dry Idea Roll On Deodorant $4.49
$2 printable
= $.25 each (use 2 coupons)

Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste, Rinse or Oral B Floss or Super Floss $2.99 (get $2 ECBs) Limit 1$.50 P&G 6/7$1 P&G $120 Rebate Coupon Booklet (no longer available)
= FREE - $.49 after ECBs

Schick Quattro Titanium Razor or Trimmer $7.99 (get $3 ECBs) Limit 3
$4 RP 4/19 (expires Sunday 6/14)
$4 SS 6/14
$4 June All You Magazine= $.99 after ECBs

Kellogg’s Cereals includes: Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes, Corn Pops, Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, or Apple Jacks $1.88 ea
$1 RP 6/7
= $.88 each

Aveeno – Select Products (get $10 ECBs wyb $20) Limit 1
$1.50/2 SS 4/5
$1 SS 4/5
$2 RP 5/31
$2 printable
$2 printable
$5/2 printable
$10/3 printable
= at least 50% off (Definitely a great deal for Aveeno products!)

Remember:SS - stands for Smart Source (one of the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper).
RP - stands for Red Plum (another newspaper coupon insert).
P&G - stands for Proctor & Gamble coupon insert
The dates refer to the date of the paper that carried that insert.
ECB - stands for Extra Care Bucks.

You can read my introduction to CVS shopping here.

Weekly Deal Roundup

The best deals for your week, from the blogosphere and beyond . . .

Coupons.com has some good new coupons up, including:
- $5 off $25 at Rite Aid (pair with Rite Aid deals here)
- $3 off Huggies Pure and Natural diapers
- $.50 off a Del Monte Gold pineapple
- $1.50 off two canisters of Country Time lemonade mix (perfect for summer!)
(You can print these from the coupon widget on my sidebar; just click "see all coupons." You should be able to print two per computer.)

At Target this week, you can get free Softsoap Ensembles and very cheap ice cream and Pull-Ups. Check out Money Saving Mom's list to find out how to score these great deals.

This is a great deal: get McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009 3-User for free (a $60 value)! Ashley at Frugal Coupon Living has the info.

Ashley also has a link to a coupon for a free 12-oz. beverage at Borders through 06/18. To me, there's something so relaxing about browsing a bookstore with an indulgent coffee drink. :-)

Finally, Frances at Frugal Fairhope has a pretty complete list of free or very cheap summer movie programs for kids. These are a great deal, so hopefully there's a theater near you!

My Target Prices

The other day a friend was asking me whether she got a good deal on chicken, and I was thinking that sometimes it is hard to know what constitutes a good deal. Just because a store advertises something as "on sale" does not mean that it is a significant savings over the regular price or that the item is not a much better deal at another store.

For a while, I was keeping a detailed price book, but that started to become difficult to keep up with, especially with all the fluctuations in food prices in the last year. However, as I kept the price book and as I traveled farther on my grocery-saving journey, I did start to be more and more aware both of the regular prices of items and of what kinds of deals it was possible to get. Now for many items I have a "target price," which I try to get when I buy the item.

For me, my target price is lower than the regular price of the item but is a price that with smart shopping I can get a good portion of the time. In general, it is the highest price I like to pay for the item. Sometimes I can get the item for less than the target price, and occasionally, if I really need the item, I resign myself to paying more.

I thought I would share a few of my target prices for items that I regularly buy. (Remember, I live in the Washington DC area, so I assume that my grocery prices are on the higher end of the national average.)

Meat - $1.99/lb. - With stocking up on sales, I can almost always get the club pack of ground beef or bonless chicken at this price, and occasionally I can get pork chops, pork loin, or top round steak.

Eggs - $.99-$1.19/dozen - If I can't get a $.99 sale, I try to get the 30 eggs for $2.97 deal at Harris Teeter.

Yogurt cups - $.45/each - This is the regular price of the Wegmans brand yogurt, which is perfectly good. Lately I've been able to get Dannon and Yoplait for even less than this price at double and triple coupon events.

Cereal - $1.00/box - You need a good sale and a good coupon to get this price, but there have a been a lot of high-value internet coupons for cereal in recent months.

Granola bars - $.15/bar - I can often get them for less than this price, but I try not to pay more.

Brownie mix - $.50/box - With a good sale and a coupon

Toilet paper - $.50/roll - For double rolls of a decently soft brand.

Paper towels - $.75/roll

Diapers - $.13-$.16/diaper (depending on size) - This is the price of my usual Walmart brand diapers, and it's very rare to find a better deal per diaper. If I do find one, I snatch it up!

I'd be interested to hear your target prices for basic items. How do they compare to these?

For more frugal living tips, check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.

Bonus Deal Roundup: Mall Edition

I decided at the last minute to drive my husband to work this morning and take the car to the mall. I needed to pick something up that I had ordered, and I was in desperate need of some summer shirts. I rarely just go out to buy myself anything, but I was seriously down to about three shirts that fit!

Well, I did end up with some shirts that I'm happy with, plus I ran into some other great deals. I just have to share!

The shirts I got were the modern fit tee from the LandsEnd shop at Sears. I am excited because they're reasonably cute, long enough, not too low-cut, and since they're from LandsEnd, I'm sure they're indestructible! They didn't have many colors in my size, but I discovered that if you order from the LandsEnd catalog in a Sears store, you get free shipping to your home! So I was able to order additional colors right there.

Of course, on my way to find shirts for myself, I got sidetracked by looking at clothes for my girls. I discovered by chance that Gymboree's boutique affiliate, Janie and Jack, is having a huge "season finale" sale. It was mostly spring clothes, which I thought was amazing, since it's not even summer yet. The prices were excellent for Janie and Jack, although still not as cheap as I would usually buy. However, I did find a few winter items scattered throughout the sale, and those prices were amazing. I bought an adorable part lambs wool sweater suit for the winter for the baby for $6.99 (original price $42)! The saleslady said the sale was just starting, so go now for the best selection.

I couldn't resist going into Bath and Body Works when I saw they were having their semi-annual sale. I headed right to the 75% off rack in the back of the store. In my store, they had some very cute summer pajama pants and matching robes for about $5 for the pants and $7 for the robes. The saleslady was actually modeling them for everyone! I didn't need any pajamas right now, but I did get a nifty travel toiletry set. It is a little suitcase with three little bags inside that come off with velcro. It just looked like the perfect thing for our upcoming trip, and at 75% off the original price of $18, it wasn't too much of a splurge.

Finally, the item I was picking up was something I had ordered online from JC Penny, using the $10 off deal. The shipping was a couple of dollars less to have it sent to the store, and considering the other deals I got, I was glad that I had to make the trip the mall!

Local readers, if you're interested in looking for any of these deals, I was shopping at Dulles Towne Center Mall.

How I Control My Couponing

Last week I shared my perspective on couponing, and I mentioned that I would also share how I keep my couponing under control. I will be the first to admit that "serious" couponing and bargain hunting takes somewhat of a time commitment. As I've mentioned before, I think of it as a somewhat of a part-time job for myself. However, I have two little girls under the age of three at home, and time with them is my first priority. Also, as my husband and I still share a car, I have to be realistic about how many errands I can actually accomplish each week.

However much or little time they have, I think everyone eventually has to set some limits to their bargain hunting, otherwise they risk making themselves crazy or getting burned out. No one can take advantage of every single deal! It has really been helping me lately to set some "rules" for myself, so that I make the best use of my couponing time. Some of these were inspired by the example of other frugal bloggers (especially Crystal at Money Saving Mom), and others I developed purely through trial and error. Of course, everyone's rules will be different, but I hope these are helpful to some of you.

1) I don't cut out or file extra copies of coupon inserts. I get the Sunday Washington Post each week, as well as the Red Plum inserts by direct mail every Wednesday (since the Post no longer carries them.) Each week I try to cut out all the coupons and file them in my large coupon box. However, I also get an extra copy of the Smart Source insert from a local paper, and my mom and sister also send me extra coupons. For a while, I was always behind on cutting out and filing all the coupons, so lately I have cut back. I cut out and file one copy of each coupon, and just keep the my extra inserts and coupons. Before I shop, I try to go through my extra coupons and take out any extra copies that I think it's likely that I'll use. I usually have planned out my great deals beforehand, so I basically know what coupons I'll be using. Of course, I'm risking not having the extra coupons for an unexpected deal, but it's a risk that worth it to me for all the time I'm saving.

2) I don't do mail-in rebates. I have established this rule for myself by trial and error, after several purchases where I planned to send in the rebate and never filled it out. It's hard sometimes to pass up a product that would be free after the rebate, but just remind myself how stressful I would find it to keep up with the paperwork. My only exceptions to this rule are if the rebate form can be filled out online or if it is a very substantial rebate (usually on a non-grocery product, like a new cell phone.)

3) I don't do catalina deals at stores at which I don't regularly shop. This is an important rule for me because of my limited transportation. Catalinas, in case you don't know, are coupons that print at the cash register at the grocery store. A lot of the great catalina deals out there are store coupons for money off your next purchase, e.g. "Buy 3 products, get a coupon for $5 off your next purchase." Often these deals will make the original 3 products very cheap or even free, if you count the catalina, but that is only true if you actually use the catalina on something you need anyway. Basically, these deals always require a return trip to that store, usually within a coupon of weeks, since the catalinas usually expire quickly. That's fine if it's a store that I visit regularly, but not if I have to make a special trip.

4) I shop at CVS, but I don't do Walgreens or Rite Aid. This rule goes with the one above. Playing the "CVS game" and constantly rolling over my ECB's requires me to shop at CVS nearly every week. Walgreens and Rite Aid have simliar programs, and we have all three stores in my town. However, I quickly discovered that I could not keep up with multiple programs, so for now I am simply sticking with CVS. I would consider hitting one of the other drugstores for a really fabulous deal, but not one that would require me to keeping going back (i.e., a catlalina-type deal).

5) I try to step back and let go. Some weeks I don't get all my coupons organized and my shopping trip is somewhat chaotic. Sometimes I forget a coupon or the cashier makes a mistake. Sometimes I forget to take advantage of a deal or don't have time. Sometimes I am too late to print a really good internet coupon. At these times, I have to just step back and let go of the pressure. I save what I can, and I'm proud of the money I am able to save for our family. Missing out on one deal won't really affect our bottom line too much, and there will always be more deals to take advantage of in the future.

More Works for Me Wednesday tips are here.

Wegmans Deals

If you're planning to shop at Wegmans this week, check out my deals at Frugal in Virginia!

Tuesday Tip

A quick, painless money-saving tip every Tuesday:

Join Ebates to get cash back on your online purchases. After you sign up for Ebates, you simply start at the Ebates site when you're doing online shopping. When you click on one of the participating retailers through the Ebates site and then make a purchase, Ebates gives you a small percentage of the purchase as cash back. Also, you can make bonuses by referring your friends to Ebates. (Full disclosure: I could make a bonus if you sign up through my link.)

There are tons of retailers that participate in Ebates. Some of the ones that I commonly use include Snapfish, Target, Ebay, and Restaurant.com. I joined Ebates around Christmas, and I recently just got my first check for $15. I don't place a lot of online orders, but it sure is nice to get a little something back when I do!

Weekly Deal Roundup

The best deals for your week, from the blogosphere and beyond . . .

Money Saving Mom shares how to print a coupon for $2.00 off A-1 steak sauce. This coupon is gold to me; we go through a lot of A-1. Not only does my husband love it, but it is my 2 year old's condiment of choice! Go figure.

Jenny at Southern Savers links to two ways to get Home Depot coupons. (Look at the comments to get the correct links.) Ever since we bought our house a year ago, Home Depot has been a big money sink for us. It's amazing how much stuff you can find to buy for your house there! Since we're gardening this year, the gardening club coupons should come in very handy too.

Angie at Baby Cheapskate reports on a 30% off everything sale at Gymboree. My July issue of Family Fun had a 20% off your total order coupon, which I'm sure could be combined with the sale, for great total savings. Also, there is a $10 off a $30 order deal at Crazy 8, Gymboree's lower-cost affiliate.

If you're in the market for clothing (or housewares), JC Penny sent me a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more! You can get this online with code GR8DAD. Use it to get a great discount on something you needed to buy anyway or to get something for close to $10 almost free!

Last week I got a catalog of scrapbooking supplies from Oriental Trading Company. I didn't realize that they carried scrapbooking stuff, but the catalog was huge. I was fairly impressed with their prices compared to a place like Michaels, so if you're a scrapbooker, they might be worth checking out. My catalog also had a free shipping offer for orders of $39 or more through June 18 with code QE1065729.

Finally, there's a free Redbox code for tonight. Happy Monday!

My Weekend Bargain

I didn't get any outstanding grocery deals this week, so I skipped my usual Saturday bargains post. However, I did get a great non-grocery bargain on Saturday that I just had to share with you.

I walked into Walmart with the baby late Saturday afternoon to quickly grab something and saw this standing on a large wheeled cart at the front of the store:

The tag read: $55, regular $219!!!

After quickly checking to make sure that nothing was broken on it, I excitedly called my husband. We've really been needing some more storage in our bedroom, and we have problems finding cherry-colored furniture in our price range (cheap!).

Of course, we have one car, which I had, but luckily we live quite close to Walmart. My husband stopped mowing the lawn, and he and my other daughter walked over to Walmart, while I paced the store praying that no one else would buy it! When he saw it (and the price), my husband said, "Why did you even call me. Let's get it!"

There would have been pretty much no way to get this home in our car, so it was obviously meant to be that we found this piece at a store so close to home. I asked the manager if we could borrow the cart that the cabinet was already on, and she agreed. We left my driver's licence as security, and my husband rolled the cart home while I drove the two girls. I was able to help Michael carry it in the door, and then the husband of a friend helped him get it upstairs.

The piece was of course a floor model, but it is in remarkably great condition for that huge reduction in price. Michael says that it wasn't put together with perfect precision, and there is one small scratch on the side. These little imperfections don't really mean anything to us. I even already have one of those furniture pens that can cover up scratches.

The secretary (cabinet) is now sitting in our room at the end of the bed, perfectly matching the other furniture. It sure looks a lot nicer than the cardboard wardrobe box that had been sitting there since we moved last year. ;-)

CVS Deals for the Week

I didn't publish my top CVS deals last week, as Ashley at Frugal Coupon Living was on vacation. But she's back now, and here are my top picks of her list of CVS deals.

Gillette Fusion, Venus Embrace or Spa Breeze Razors $7.99 (get $4 ECBs) Limit 1
$4 P&G 6/7
= FREE after ECBs

Dawn Dish Liquid $1 (get $1 ECBs wyb 2) Limit 1
$.25 P&G 6/7$.50
P&G $120 Coupon Rebate Booklet (no longer available)
= FREE - $.25 each

Keebler Sandies Cookies $2
$1 printable= $1

Banana Boat Sun Care - excludes lip $7.19 and up (get $7 ECB wyb 2) Limit 1
$1 SS 5/3$2 printable
=$3.69 each and up.
(Great prices for sunscreen; stock up for summer!)

Colgate Adult or Childrens Toothbrushes $1.99 and up (get $5 ECBs wyb $10) Limit 1
$.75 SS 6/7= varies (at least 50% off)
(Stock up on toothbrushes!)

Remember:
SS - stands for Smart Source (one of the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper).
RP - stands for Red Plum (another newspaper coupon insert).
P&G - stands for Proctor & Gamble coupon insert
The dates refer to the date of the paper that carried that insert.
ECB - stands for Extra Care Bucks.

You can read my introduction to CVS shopping here.

Looking for Guest Posts

I going on vacation at the end of June (yay!), and I am looking for a few guest posts to publish while I'm away. Whether you're a blogger or not, if you'd be interested in writing a post on a frugal topic for this blog, please email me with a proposal. I am open to many different topics, as long as they fit with my theme of "living the good life on less." Thanks!

My Perspective on Couponing

If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that I am a dedicated couponer. (For instance, check out my recent double/triple coupon shopping trip here.) I have fun getting great bargains with coupons, and I save a ton of money. However, I believe that my posts also show that I am also a big fan of making food from scratch and that I also buy generic products.

Sometimes it seems like the two types of frugality -- couponing and what I'll call "simple frugality" -- are opposed. Specifically, the Tightwad Gazette, that bible of frugality, is actually somewhat negative about using coupons. The author posits that coupons just save some money on prepared products that will still be more expensive than making your own. Her style of frugality is very focused on buying ingredients and making everything homemade.

Personally, I believe that both approaches to frugality are important, and that the key is to balance the two. Without couponing, I don't believe that I could have reduced my grocery budget as much as I have and still be eating in a very similar way to how we always have (or better!). However, I would never be able to buy everything with coupons, so it's also been very important to focus on home-based types of frugality, such as cooking and gardening. I thought it could be helpful to go through some of the pros and cons of couponing, which will help each person make a decision about how coupons could fit into her life and budget.

The "pros" of using coupons are many. First of all, although it may be relatively inepensive to buy plain ingredients and whole foods, it is probably impossible to get them for free or a few cents, as I regularly get products with coupons. Furthermore, the products I am getting with coupons are usually name brands, sometimes even quite expensive brands, where without them I would have to be content with the cheapest store brand. Another fun aspect of couponing is the chance to try new products without spending extra money. Every so often I will fall in love with one of these new products, and as long as buying it will fit in my budget, that's okay.

Couponing can definitely have a downside. The argument that many people have against it is that it will make them spend more money by buying items that they don't need. That is definitely a danger, but I believe that it is one that can be avoided. Also, there is no doubt that using coupons takes some time and effort, although that can vary widely based on individual commitment.

Personally, I believe that the way to save the most money and to make the best use of my time is to combine couponing and "simple frugality." I try to get the best bargains available with my coupons (such as at triple coupon events), and then I fill out the rest of my grocery list with generic products and simple ingredients. I spend time clipping and organizing my coupons, but I also spend time baking bread and working in my garden.

The key is to figure out what frugal strategies fit into your individual lifestyle. I am a stay at home mom, and although my girls certainly keep me busy, I also consider couponing and bargain shopping to be a part-time job. Saving money, instead of earning money, is a way that I help provide for my family. On the other hand, a mom who works outside the home may not be able to spend as much time either couponing or cooking as I do, so maybe she decides that she will buy mostly generic products. Someone else who doesn't enjoy cooking might really get into couponing, in order to get convenience foods for a lot less money.

As always, it is important to figure out your priorities and lifestyle contraints and decide what types of money saving are practical. I would also encourage you to be open to trying new strategies, which just might work for you!

For more details on common misconceptions about couponing, check out the first two installments of Alyssa's series here and here. Also, next week look for my post on how I manage my couponing and control the time that I spend on it.

For tons of frugal living tips and ideas, check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.

WFMW: Rotating Toys

Today's Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family is the "Mom, I'm Bored" summer edition. One of the ways I've been staving off boredom in my girls lately is by rotating their toys.

I had heard this advice before, but I just started to follow it, and so far I'm very pleased with the results. Old toys seem new again after being put away for a while, and it reduces the clutter and mess in my living room at any one time. It's also been a good opportunity to remove broken toys or random odds and ends and just straighten up the toy area.

I didn't really feel that my older daughter has an excessive number of toys, but I was interested to find that when I reduced the number of toys out she actually plays better with the ones available. And of course, this saves me from buying new toys whenever the girls seem bored with what they normally play.

Here are the before and after pictures for this month's rotation:

For now I'm trying to rotate the toys at the beginning of each month. That seems like long enough to make the toys that come back out exciting again. When I brought out her Little People airplane a few days ago after a month in the closet, my daughter was so excited and has been playing with it since.

This strategy is especially important for us since we don't have a playroom, so the girls just play in the living room. Controlling the number of toys that are out keeps the area a lot calmer for everyone!

Wegmans Deals

My Wegmans deals for this week are up at Frugal in Virginia!

Frugality in the News

This is a very interesting article with the conclusions of a researcher who has actually researched the phenomenon of frugality. He concludes that about 15% of the population are seriously frugal.

This school district in Fresno is actually planning to refund employees some of their health insurance premiums for the year, since the health costs were lower than expected! I think it's so neat that the administration and employees were able to work together to cut costs and save everyone money.

Some small businesses are actually expanding and prospering in the recession, because they provide products that help save large companies money without resorting to layoffs. Neat!

Has anyone been following W. Hodding Carter's Extreme Frugality column in Gourmet magazine? Overwhelmed by their debt and a lifestyle that was beyond their means, he and his family of six have now committed to living on $550/month after mortgage, taxes, insurance, and credit card payments. The several columns that I have read have been interesting and amusing. Check it out!

Tuesday Tip

A quick, painless money saving tip every Tuesday

Set up automatic deposits from your paycheck to your savings account. I had read this advice many times before my husband and I finally set it up a few months ago. It truly is amazing that money out of sight is out of mind! In the past, even when we had a monthly savings budget, it was easy to forget to deposit it or to put it off because we had a lot of expenses in a month. However, now that it is automatically taken out of my husband's paycheck, we just can't and don't spend that money. We know that it is available in an emergency, but meanwhile it is accruing interest and adding up quickly.

Weekly Deal Roundup

The best deals this week, from the blogosphere and beyond:

I don't see too many grocery deals yet for the week, but I'm sure some will come up later. For now, here are a few other random goodies:

Get your Home Made Simple coupon booklet. These always have good coupons for cleaning products, including one for a free product.

Angie at Baby Cheapskate reports that Pediped.com is having big sale on their beautiful, soft-soled shoes for babies and toddlers. My younger daughter received a pair of these as a gift, and they are both gorgeous and sturdy. I think that good shoes are important, even if I have to spend a bit more on them, so I am excited about this sale. It also benefits the Make a Wish Foundation.

Baby Cheapskate also has a helpful roundup of sales and discounts on baby and kids products to look forward to in June. Check it out here.

If you have a Border's book store in your area, check out their bargain rack. I was at my local Borders yesterday, and they had several racks of books outside the front of the store for just $1.00! I didn't find any wonderful titles, but I also didn't have much time to look. You can't beat a dollar for a new book!

June Printable Coupons

There are some new printable coupons up for June! The best ones I see are some new General Mills cereal coupons, including:

$.75/1 Fiber One cereal
$.55/1 Reese's Puff's cereal
$.50/1 Lucky Charms cereal

Also check out:
$.50/1 Chex Mix
$1.00/1 Keebler Sandies cookies (combine with a sale for a great deal!)

Other good coupons still available from last month include:

$.75/1 Kraft deli deluxe cheese
$1.00/2 Kraft cheeses
$1.00/1 Kraft BBQ sauce

To print any of these coupons, just click "see all coupons" on the pink coupon widget on my right sidebar.