Mrs. Fisher's Findings

Z-man's artwork from school

2011-10-27T14:34:00.002-05:00

Everyday we pick up the boys from preschool, they always have a stack of artwork to hand to us. I have a growing pile of papers on our office desk. I'm not sure what to do with all of them, so yesterday I figured that I could take digital photos of them. It's not a new idea, but I finally got around to taking a few that their teacher sent home with them.

Here are some sneak peeks into Z-man's Preschool:

Weekly Grocery Shopping Trip = $53.32

2011-09-23T16:01:00.004-05:00

So, after a co-worker of mine joined a challenge this past week called SNAP hunger challenge, I was challenged to look at our grocery budget even more. The challenge was to live off of $30/week per adult in the household. This is the average amount given to individuals on the SNAP program.

That is $10 more than what we spend on groceries a week! So I've come to realization that it was not realistic to be living off of $50/week on groceries. I've talked it over with my husband, and I think that we are going to increase our grocery budget to $60/week. And planning meals is a must!

My husband and I also recently have started buying all our meat from a local farm called Triple S Farms.

Last week we spend $33 on ground beef, chicken, and bacon.

Here's what Z-man and I got this week for groceries:

Aldi's = $33.60

Big Lots = $9.60

Lots of snacks! Z-man picked out the Oreo's and the other cookies are for snack that Pudge is going to bring to preschool.

County Market = $10.12

They had some awesome deals that made items $0.88! So we got some more pasta and red sauce. The Fisher's almonds were in the clearance cart for $1.50. The soda pop is for a party that we're going to this weekend.

Total spent on groceries this week was $53.32.

Crockpot: Pumpkin Spice Latte

2011-09-23T15:01:00.002-05:00

This recipe was too good NOT to share with you all, especially since the weather is just right for a cup. I found this recipe through A Year Of Slow Cooking's blog.

You combine these ingredients in a slow cooker:

-2 c. milk

-2 Tbsp. canned pumpkin

-2 Tbsp. white sugar

-2 Tbsp. vanilla

-1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice

(or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. cloves, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg and a pinch of ground ginger)

-3/4 c. strong brewed coffee

This just would be a great recipe if you're having friends over!

Briella's Boutique - Savoy, IL

2011-09-10T14:37:00.005-05:00

If any of you local readers are looking for a great resale shop, this is it! Briella's Boutique is a fairly new cosignment shop, with some great deals. They have a variety of items, from kids clothing to dog clothing! :)

We happened to stop in this morning (my two boys and I), and low and behold, it was storytime! They have a story hour the 2nd Saturday of each month at 10:30, so we came at just the right time! They read a story to the kids, then have a craft, and then get to take home a snack. Wait, there's more! If you bring your kids in, then you get 10% off your purchase! (I'm not sure if that's everyday, or if it was just today). I was blown away by their attitude towards kids, it was a great feeling knowing that my kids were not a nuisance in their store.

So, if you're in the area, by the Walmart in Savoy, stop by to see their shop. I highly recommend it! I got a new pair of shoes for $24, and a new top for $5. And I love the fact that it's a form of recycling. I'm going to have to start co-signing my boys clothes there, because for us, All Things Kids, is further away from us than Briella's.

Briella's Boutique

503 S Dunlap Ave.

Savoy, IL 61874

M-F 10-6

Sat. 10-4

So, if you get a chance and are in the area...check it out!

Groceries this week = $60.74

2011-08-28T16:42:00.003-05:00

Big Lots = $4.14

Mmm...Nutella!

Tried out a new Farmers Market this week. It is located by the Police Station in Champaign, and is open from 3-7pm. It's a rather small market, with only a few tents, and one huge pork roast! It smelled awesome! There was even a small sprinkler set out for the kids on behalf of American Water. My boys loved it!

We stopped by towards the end of the evening, around 6:30pm, so I think the lady selling the onions was wanting to get rid of them, because she gave me 8 for $6!

We used out WIC Farmers Market Coupons, so total these all cost about $12.

Aldi's is becoming one of my favorite stops for grocery shopping, because our printer is not printing out any coupons for me...no matter what I do. So Aldi's it is. We're going to try their frozen salmon this week. I hope it's tasty! Total = $46.88.

We also stopped at County Market, because we had a couple of store coupons, and had to pick up some items that Aldi's didn't have. Total = $9.72.

So, that's our weekly grocery shopping. We try to spend under $50/week. This week's total was $60.74. Last week we were under budget, so we used that leftover money towards this week.

Grocery Shopping This Past Week = $23.21

2011-08-21T20:58:00.003-05:00

I made lots of random quick trip to County Market this week, so nothing big to be pictured here this week.

County market trip #1: 12.48

I was excited to see yogurt marked down to $0.25/container! We had lots of tomatoes from grandma's garden, so I picked up some bacon for some BLT sandwiches.

County Market Trip #2: $7.73

"Millions of peaches, peaches for me..." - We are slowly teaching our boys that song, because they are eating peaches like they're going out of style!

And then not pictured:

Walgreens: $3.00 spent on Twizzlers Pull-n-Peels!

Total spent on groceries this week: $23.21. This is out of $50/week budgeted for groceries in our household. Last week I over spent, so week we were making up for it.

Grocery Shopping this week: $68.79

2011-08-14T12:31:00.005-05:00

This week we did pretty good with lots and lot of cereal! The price I will pay for cereal is $1.25 or less, and this week, we found lots for only $0.99/box!

Below is Schnucks (in Savoy) = $15.17
We hit up the clearance isle and always seem to come away with cereal. Broccoli was on sale for $1/lb, and the cilantro was for some homemade salsa.

We forgot to take a photo of this prized snack for only $1!

Pictured below is from County Market = $40.26
We had several trips to C.M. this week to hook up lots of cereal for only $0.99/box! Yum! I think we'll be stocked up for quite awhile!

Target = $9.36
I got a chance to go shopping by myself for a couple of hours, so naturally, I went to Target. I was mostly looking for snacks at work, and here's what I came away with:

Dollar Tree = $4
I also stopped at Dollar Tree for some staple pretzels, which are also a great snack at work!

So, total, we did go over our budgeted $50/week on groceries, with a total of $68.79. I will have to take that into consideration for next week's groceries, and I will only be able to spend $31.21.

Thanks for reading, it keeps me accountable to my shopping habits!

From Trash to Treasure!

2011-08-09T14:18:00.004-05:00

So, this find wasn't exactly out of a dumpster, but it was for free next to someone's trash bins! Isn't it so cute! I'm not really sure how long the boys will want to play with it, since they've got their bigger bikes. But I thought they might have some fun out of it for awhile. Later on I might sell it.

It just needs one more screw to make it stay together, and it's as good as new!

Grocery Shopping for this past week = $49.47

2011-08-07T17:37:00.002-05:00

Aldi's = $39.25

Schnucks = $10.22

Total spent in one week = $49.47. We have budgeted for $50/week on groceries, so we did good this week!

Last Week Re-Cap

2011-08-01T14:29:00.005-05:00

Summer is just flying by! I can't believe that it's August 1st already!

I just wanted to re-cap last week, since I never got around to posting anything.

We seriously did something every HOT day of the week, because my husband decided to take a week off to spend some time at home after a week at Leadership Lab.

Here we are with family watching a softball game at Dodds Park in Champaign. My sister-in-laws fiance was playing a game and it was fun to see him play and cheer him on.

Last week my husband desperately needed a haircut, and with this hot and humid weather, I don't blame him for wanting it chopped!

We are in need of a good pair of hair clippers. The last one I purchased off of Amazon was a waste of money! Anyone recommend a good hair cutting kit?

On Saturday we took our boys to go fishing for the very first time in their lives! It was a very exciting moment because I guess I always figured that little boys need to learn how to fish.

There was a free program with the local Forest Preserve, where they had older gentlemen showing kids how to fish. It was fun, because they had prizes for the most fish caught, the biggest fish, and the best sport. Z-man caught 2 bluegill that were about 4 inches long, and Pudge caught one.

It really was a nice summer day, but the boys didn't have a long attention span, so we packed a picnic and brought that along with.

And yesterday, we had the pleasure of going to a pool party with the youth from church. This is always a blast, because our boys are able to bring their floaties and really get some exercise. These floaties aren't allowed at the public pool, so they were very excited to bring them to the party.

And the water was so warm, it was like a relaxing bath before bedtime!

Here's Z-man showing the rest of the youth how to play a zombie game he had made up. It was really cute seeing him want to lead the game even when all the other kids are in Jr. High and High School aged.

Overall we had a pretty fun week, and ended up saying good-bye to my sister who has been living with us since Easter. WOW, that went fast!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Grocery Shopping for this past week = $49.01

2011-07-30T16:35:00.003-05:00

This week was pretty good! I was very excited about County Market's Penny Pincher coupons! There were so many in that booklet that we could use! If you have any extras, please send them my way. Here's what we came home with...

Schnucks = $6.67

County Market: $26.85

I used lots of Penny Pincher coupons!

Our Garden and Grandma's Garden: Free!!

Big Lots = $15.49

Total spent on groceries this week was $49.01, out of a $50/week budget. Did you score any good deals this week?

Grocery Shopping for the week = $48.32

2011-07-23T14:15:00.002-05:00

I wanted to explain that I haven't been using coupons on grocery shopping lately, because our computer that I had been using to print coupons has since died. So therefore, I have not been hitting up the stores for great deals anymore. I've mostly stuck to Aldi's and the sale items.

If you are from the Champaign area, I highly recommend checking out The Frugal Family's Blog. She has a wealth of information on her blog and she's local!

This week wasn't too exciting. Here's what I bought at County Market for $15.56. The M&Ms were a splurge. I had been craving chocolate!

I also stopped at Aldi's because we needed a few staple items in our home. Total spent for below items: $32.66.

Total spent this week on groceries was: $48.32. This is according to our $50/week grocery budget.

Garden Update & Surprise Squash Plant

2011-07-11T21:56:00.009-05:00

Our garden is taking off at full speed! Here are our raised beds:

Our tomatoes are doing well. They need better staking, but here's one of our Big Tom's!

And here are a couple of our surprise squash that we have no idea what it's going to be. It's exciting to find out!

We think it might be watermelon. Possible a seed that was thrown into the compost has now taken over most of the garden walk-ways.

And I'm so proud of our broccoli for forming this past week! I had my doubts as to whether or not it would produce anything.

And our beans are also taking off and climbing over everything around it:

Now all we need is some good rain to fill up our rain barrel!

Grocery shopping for 2 weeks = $62.66

2011-07-10T13:42:00.006-05:00

Okay, folks, I know I haven't posted a photo of our groceries in awhile, so here's one of our latest. I couldn't (for the life of me) find out how to rotate this photo, so I'm posting it sideways. Sorry about that.

This photo is from Aldi's and we spent $58.03:

Then we stopped at Schnucks to get some items they didn't have at Aldi's. We also stopped by their clearance isle to find a box of cereal for $1.56. Our boys love that cereal, so I picked that one up as well. Total spent here - $4.63.

Total spent: $62.66. Not too bad for 2 weeks of groceries. How did you do this week?

Aldi's Ad Online!

2011-06-27T14:01:00.004-05:00

I'm super excited that Aldi's website now has their local ad's online. Where as before I was just basing their prices from Coupon STL's blog. And most of the time, those prices didn't match our store in town. So, hooray! Aldi's ad prices start on Wednesday's. And for those of you who've never shopped at Aldi's, bring a quarter for their carts! For more details on how to shop at Aldi's check out Chambana Mom's blog.

Ahh, sweet relief....

2011-06-27T13:39:00.003-05:00

Ahh, sweet relief with this McDonald's coupon, Buy One Get One Free! If you haven't tried McDonalds Frappe's, they are SOOOO GOOD!!! So if you're looking for some summer relief, print one out and put it in your car, just in case.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom.

I loved Iced Coffee!

2011-06-23T13:44:00.003-05:00

I love Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee (especially the carmel mocha one). So last night I decided that I would try to find a recipe on how to make it. A lot of the recipes online say to brew the coffee and then store it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Today, I check my home page (www.moneysavingmom.com) and there's a post on how to make your own Iced Coffee! How weird is that? Suzanne's blog, Pie Birds, Buttons, and Muddy Puddles, has a step by step guide to making DD's Iced Coffee. Check it out!

Meet the Carter Family

2011-06-22T15:17:00.005-05:00

I was surfing the internet today and stumbled upon this video about a family who is going to become more frugal. It is about a writer named W. Hodding Carter, who writes for the Gourmet Magazine. His writes a column on Gourmet's website. I wanted to share this video with you to inspire you like he did for me:

$1 Kid Movies this Summer

2011-06-21T21:50:00.002-05:00

$1 kid movies at Savoy 16 theater in Savoy, IL! Check it out here.

Garbage Find!

2011-06-16T18:06:00.003-05:00

I was on my way to work early this morning, and look what I found!

It was garbage pick-up today, so there were lots of cans out. I always keep my eyes peeled whenever this day comes along. This stereo system was sitting on top of someone's garbage can! The thing that made me stop, was the fact that the remote control was taped to the top. This made me think that it could possibly work!

So, I couldn't wait to get home to see if it worked. I didn't have high hopes, but once I plugged it in, the screen came on! Once I hooked up the speakers, I found out that it's in pretty good shape!

What a great find through "dumpster diving!"

Frugal Tip #578

2011-06-15T15:17:00.002-05:00

Frugal tip #578:

Always ask your friends who are moving if you can shop in their fridge/pantry before they move!

My dear friend, Beth, is moving far far away and I don't like to think about it, but alas, the time is coming...

She let me come over to her home and "shop" in her kitchen! Here's what I came home with:

I was especially excited about all the flour that she let me have! She gave me 3 full bags! One of them was all-purpose, one was whole wheat, and the other was bread flour. It's especially handy when I had flour on the shopping list already.

Also, since the moving people can't technically pack cleaning items, it's fun to see what people leave behind. We'll be well stocked on tampons and cold medicine for awhile now.

Thanks, Beth, for all the groceries and fun memories! You will be missed.

Living Social: 2 Movie Tickets for only $9!

2011-06-09T19:14:00.003-05:00

Here's a great deal that you don't want to miss...Living Social is having a sweet deal through Fandango where you can get two movie tickets for only $9! That is a great deal, especially since there are some great movies out now (X-Men and Super 8, in my opinion).

Click on the link here to sign up for Living Social and then you will get an email confirming that you ordered your tickets, and within 48 hours, they will send you a code for Fandango's website. That is where you will order your movie tickets. To find out if you have a movie theater near you that is participating, click here.

This deal expires on June 10th, so hurry on over and order your tickets today!

B&N BOGO Smoothie Coupon

2011-06-08T13:45:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share a great coupon with you all. At Barnes & Noble, use this coupon to buy one smoothie and get one free! Just the sound of a free smoothie will send me straight over there!

Enjoy! This coupon expires on June 13th.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Galena

2011-05-30T10:24:00.010-05:00

If you've never made it up to Galena, IL, I highly recommend it. This has been (I think) my fourth visit up here, and it's still very enjoyable. We came up here this Memorial weekend for a family wedding, and stayed in a hotel with a water park indoors. The Country Inn and Suites is a very nice hotel, especially if you have kids. Our boys loved every minute of it!

The trip took us about 4 1/2 hours, but it went by very smoothly with our two boys. We were prepared and brough a couple electronics, and lots of books! We also stopped for lunch with the rest of our family.

There were lots of things to do in Galena, we went out to eat on Saturday night to Vinny Vanucchi's and had some great Italian food. Here's a couple photos before we ate. It was also nice hearing an accordion playing as we window-shopped.

Since we were in Galena for a family wedding, there was a complimentary bus/trolley ride to the farm where they were being wed. The boys loved riding the Charter bus and the trolley!

They even had apple cider for the kids in champagne glasses.

Also, the bride was brought down the farm in a horse drawn carriage. How romantic! We got a photo of it in the background of my sister-in-law and her fiance!

In between swimming at the hotel, and hanging out with family, we tried to get a nap in here or there.

Of course, we always try to stay at hotels with a continental breakfast, and I'm so proud of our family for staying green while everyone is using styrofoam. We use our picnic set we got from our wedding and use that when we go down for breakfast, and just wash them when we get back to our room. We sometimes get funny stares, but other than that I think we're making a difference.

And don't forget the plethora of snacks that we always bring with on trips outside the home! This time we hid them in the hotel dresser drawer.

And before we check out this morning, we had to make one last pit-stop at the pool before we left.

How did you spend your Memorial day weekend?

Garden Update - 5 /27/11

2011-05-27T14:50:00.002-05:00

Our garden has gone through some tough weather lately. They've been through some wild winds from a possible tornado, they've gone through super hot weather to really cold weather. And I have to keep reminding myself that they will be stronger through all of it.

Our backyard is growing very well. Check it out:

(pictured above: Peas!)

(pictured above: Corn that something is eating)

(pictured above: side garden - bottom to top - Tomatoes, Zucchini, Green Beans)

(pictured above: Fresh Greens - Kale, Spinach, Lettuce,
Red Leaf Lettuce, Brussel Sprouts)

(pictured above left to right: Broccoli, Peppers, Tomatoes)

(pictured above left to right: Broccoli, Peppers, Peppers)
There is a line of salad greens, and green beans in the top section.

(pictured above left to right: Daisies, Parsley, Rainbow Collard Greens, Peas)

(pictured above: Basil)

(pictured above left to right: Empty pot, Tomato and cilantro,
Jalapeno Peppers, Tomatoes, Rainbow Collard Greens, Chives, and another empty pot.)

That's all for now. What's growing in your garden?

Go Green: Picnic Style

2011-05-26T14:27:00.002-05:00

I got an email today on how to have a picnic and produce zero-waste at the same time! Brilliant! I wanted to share that email article with you today, so that you can prepare as you set out on your Memorial Day festivities.

Go Green: Picnic Style

Thanks, Ebay Green Team!

Celebrating 8 Years of Marriage!

2011-05-25T21:10:00.006-05:00

My husband and I just celebrated our 8th year of marriage this week, and we were very excited to find the opportunity to get away together. My gracious mother took on the role of grandma and babysitter for us, while we drove up to Starved Rock and camped out (without the kids!!!) Sometimes it's very necessary as a married couple to spend some time away from your children to really appreciate them.

I have to admit, that I didn't think of going camping for our anniversary, all on my own. I actually "googled" cheap ideas to celebrate marriage, and camping came up as one of the ideas! Brilliant, I thought to myself! My husband and I both love to camp, and what better way to relax and enjoy each others company than to do something we both enjoy.

I asked around to see what other people could suggest we do while we celebrated while going camping, and someone from church suggested that I bring some fancy glasses and a bottle of wine. Thinking ahead, I knew that we probably wouldn't be allowed to bring in alcohol to the camp, so instead we brought some good ol' Ginger Ale.

Here are some fun photos that we took on our anniversary camping trip:

If you're wondering what we cooked on this special occasion? Well, some simple items, really.

And to bring that hunger about, we went on a nice hike before lunch:

So, that's it for now, just wanted to share some photos from our anniversary!

Grocery Shopping for 2 Weeks = $104.32

2011-05-21T14:50:00.005-05:00

(Pudge excited that I splurged and got some "Cloud Cakes")

My sister and I pulled out our cookbooks and pulled together a list of meals for the past week and this upcoming week. So the photos below will be for those meals. We mainly went to Aldi's and County Market for our shopping adventures.

We usually have $50 set aside for groceries each week, and since we were planning for two weeks, we had $100 to use. Also, last week we had $19.96 extra to spend this week, which allowed us to spend $119.96.

Aldi = $57.22

County Market = $41.10

We went shopping here the day that the Penny Pincher coupons expired, so it was fun to see everyone using up their coupons before they expired. We stocked up on the brownies, since they were only $0.27/box (with manufacturer and penny pincher coupon combined)!

I forgot to get this bag of potatoes into the photo above, so here it is:

I also purchased some falafel and couscous at a local store in town. I forgot to get a photo of that purchase, and that cost $6.

So, that's pretty much all we bought for this past week and this coming week.

Total came up to $104.32.

Buy One Get One: Caribou Coffee

2011-05-21T14:45:00.003-05:00

This weekend, if you show this coupon at a Caribou Coffee joint, you should be able to buy one, get one free. I've been loving the coffee drinks lately, so this is a great deal! I know that there are a couple Caribou Coffee places in the County Market's here in Champaign, if you're looking for a place to use this coupon.

Enjoy! Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Homemade Pretzels

2011-05-17T22:17:00.008-05:00

Photo taken by Amber

My sister has been so helpful, that she took on the task of making these pretzels. I was her coach along the way. We decided to not make the "bites" instead we just made our own creations. This recipe was taken from Two Peas and Their Pod's blog, and they sure did turn out tasty!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Adapted from Bobby Flay

Soft Pretzels: 1 1/2 cups warm water 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 package active dry yeast 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour Vegetable oil 3 quarts water 3/4 cup baking soda 1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water Coarse sea salt

For the Pretzels: Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Remove to a baking rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating. Serve with cheese sauce, recipe below.

Cheddar cheese sauce: ½ Tablespoon unsalted butter ½ Tablespoon all-purpose flour ½ cup milk 8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

For the cheese sauce:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar cheese until smooth and all of the cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

*If you want to make cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites-instead of adding salt, sprinkle the bites with cinnamon and sugar. For the frosting mix-soft cream cheese-about 3 T, powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a little bit of milk. Whisk together. Add more milk if it is too thick, if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. I don’t measure. I just guess until the consistency is right.*

Touch-A-Truck Tomorrow!

2011-05-17T13:40:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let all you moms and dads know that tomorrow (Wednesday, May 18th) is Touch-A-Truck day at Centennial Park here in Champaign! If you've never been to it before, be sure to mark this one on your calendar.

The event will begin at 10am and end at 1pm. It's a great event for all kids from ages 2-5.

Also, there will be free ice cream from Marble Slab! The whole event is free, so come on out!

Grocery Spending this Week = $30.04

2011-05-13T18:57:00.004-05:00

This past week wasn't too exciting for grocery shopping. We've been doing well with making meals and using up what we have in the pantry.

Big Lots = $7.40

Stocked up a little bit on bread, since they had a few loaves of bread on sale for $1.10.

We made a couple trips to County Market to pick up some staple items in the home.

County Market = $8.05

I was especially excited about the Dole Salad mix, because they were on clearance for $0.99/bag, and then I found a coupon on one of the bags for $1 off 2 bags! That made one bag free!

County Market = $14.59

We made 5 pizzas for Mothers Day for my in-laws, so these items below were for that occasion. Again there was a clearance on the Dole Salad mix, and I found another $1 off 2 bags...that made one bag free!

So, total spent on groceries this week was only $30.04. We usually set aside $50/week on groceries. How'd you do this week?

CVS & Walgreens

2011-05-06T15:19:00.004-05:00

Pudge and I went to CVS and Walgreens this morning and here's what we got for $9.06:

We also got $2.77 ECB (Extra Care Bucks) from CVS, and $2 RR (Register Rewards) from Walgreens. So, I will use that on our next trip there.

If you're curious where I get my deals from, I check out Coupon STL's blog every week!

Grocery Shopping the Past 2 Weeks = $71.44

2011-05-06T14:47:00.006-05:00

County Market this week has some great deals with their Penny Pincher coupons. I've combine a majority of their store coupons with Manufacturer coupons. For example, the photo below I only spent $1.83! I used the Duncan Brownie coupon ($o.77 each) and stacked it with a $0.50 coupon online, so I only spent $0.27/box!

Same sort of deal with the Eckrich hot dogs...I used their penny pincher coupon ($0.99) and stacked that with a $0.55 coupon. That made each package cost $0.44!

County Market = $1.83 (saved $8.12, which is 82%!!)

County Market = $19.49 (Saved $15.23, which is 40%)

Holy Strawberries!!! We got 4 lbs. for $4!!! Hello, smoothies!!!

Big Lots = $23.21

I was so excited to find the Apple Jacks on clearance for $0.25/box!!!

The Wheat Thins were only $2/box!!!

The Wesson Vegetable Oil was only $5, so broken down that was a far better deal than buying 3 bottles of oil.
County Market = $26.91

(No, I did not buy that girl in the photo!! :)

I used a lot of the Penny Pincher coupons to make my total bill way less than normal.

Total spent on 2 weeks of groceries came to a total of $71.44! We have $50/week budgeted for the summer (now that my sister is living with us), so this week we stayed under budget!

Champaign Bike Sale

2011-05-05T22:01:00.002-05:00

I thought I would pass on this information if you're looking to sell a bike or buy a bike here in Champaign.

Thanks, Nancy H., for passing on this information.

Last Call - Consign Now

COMMUNITY USED BIKE SALE

Hosted by Champaign Cycle

Sat. May 7, 10 - 5 Sun. May 8, Noon - 4

At 506 S Country Fair Dr., Champaign, IL 61821

Click on the link for hours and location business hours.

Don't miss this opportunity to clear

your garage of an unused bike.

Sell your bike or donate it to Habitat for Humanity

Do you have an old bike in your garage that you no longer want?

Bring it to Champaign Cycle to be included in the 2nd Annual Community Used Bike Sale. If the bike sells you receive the sale price minus a 10% consignment fee which goes to Habitat. If the bike doesn't sell you can either pick it up or you can donate the bike to Habitat for Humanity or you can simply donate your bike initially. You will receive a receipt for a tax deductible contribution, you will have more room in your garage, and you'll have the satisfaction of helping a local charity.

The profit from the consignment fee goes to Habitat for Humanity.

Champaign Cycle will receive no money from the sale.

See below for all the details

Do you want to buy a good used bike, trailer, or trail-a-bike?

Come to Champaign Cycle during the sale for a good used bike. We will inspect all the bikes and they will be in good operating condition. We will have a checklist detailing the condition of the bike hanging from the handlebars. Since the owner,

not Champaign Cycle, will be selling the bike there is no warranty from Champaign Cycle. However, we will do our best to honestly represent the condition

of the bike and answer questions about the bike.

So please stop by during the 2 day sale to inspect the bikes.

_______________________________________________________

Attention used bike owners who want to sell their bike:

1. Your bike must be in safe operating condition to be included in the sale. We will inspect all bikes when you bring them in. The tires must hold air, and brakes and gears must work. If you wash the bike and inflate the tires before bringing it you will have a better chance of selling it. We will fill out a checklist which will be on the bike during the sale listing the condition of major elements of the bike. If the bike needs repair to be in safe operating condition you can repair the bike or we will repair the bike for you at our normal repair rates. If the bike sells we will deduct the repair cost from your sale price. If your bike does not sell and you donate it to Habitat we will remove the labor portion of your repair bill, which will be a further donation to Habitat from Champaign Cycle. For the sale to be a success for both the seller and the buyer we must present the bikes in good condition.

We must respectfully decline any bikes for the sale which are not in safe operating condition.

2. You will set the price you want to receive for your bicycle. We will give you our opinion on what is a reasonable price for your bike but it's your bike and you set the price. We will suggest prices which are fair for both you and the buyer and which will make it likely that the bike will sell.

3. We will accept used bikes for the sale through Friday May 6

during normal business hours. Click on the link for hours and location.

4. Please email us if you want to sell your bike at the Community Used Bike Sale. It would be a great help if you would email us before you bring in your bike so that we can plan better for this event. We will reply to you to confirm and will inform you of any changes or additional information.

Email us at usedbikesale@champaigncycle.com with any questions.

You can check what's on sale at Champaign Cycle anytime.

Last year we sold 84 bikes , this year we expect more so don't delay.

Starbucks

2011-05-04T14:39:00.003-05:00

Starting May 6th-15th, Starbucks is having half off frappucinos from 3-5 pm. If you're a coffee drinker, or just love the way they taste, this is the time to stop in! For more details, click here.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Craigslist Purchase

2011-05-02T14:47:00.003-05:00

I am very excited to show off my latest purchase on Craigslist recently. A Sit and Stand Stroller! I was checking them out at Target the other day, because I needed a stroller that would fit my 4 year old and 3 year old on long walks. They retail for $175! Ouch! There's no way that I would pay that much for a stroller, even if it's what I wanted.

So I've been diligently checking out Craigslist to see if anyone in town was selling one, and I found one the other day! They were selling the stroller for $70!! Woo-hoo!!

Now that summer is arriving, I am more likely to take the boys for long walks, even to get some groceries! Thank you, Craigslist!! So, if you're looking into making a big purchase, check out online to see if someone is selling a used one, first.

My Favorite Things

2011-05-02T14:45:00.001-05:00

Here is one of my favorite things:

Lilacs!

Our New Addition

2011-05-02T14:37:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to share with you all our new addition to our backyard! I've always wanted a rain barrel and now my next hope is to have one under all four corners of the house. And if you're curious where we got it, we got it for free!! Yup, my neighbor was getting rid of his, because he never used it anymore!

Of course, with all the rain that we've been getting here in central, Illinois, it didn't take long to fill that barrel up.

I'm sure our neighbors also enjoy seeing a rain barrel instead of all the 5 gallon buckets I used to have on that corner of our garage.

We've also had this rain barrel up since Earth Day, so we've made it one of our Earth Day projects. Do you have any rain barrels at your home? If so, how many?

Busy Baking Day

2011-04-27T21:19:00.006-05:00

I was a busy girl today, let me tell ya! I can't remember the last time I baked/cooked pretty much all day long. It was very rewarding in the end, though, having my husband come home and say "This house smells fantastic!"

This morning, Pudge helped me get started by making some homemade granola, yum! We went out last week to pick up all the ingredients, we just needed more honey. I found a bunch of different kinds at the County Market on Duncan Rd. here in Champaign. My husband suggested we use local honey, because of the benefits it could have on allergies.

We made enough granola to fit into 2 (9x13) pans!

Then we found this huge Kellogg's container to fit it all into. I would have to say that that's equal to about 4 boxes of store-bought granola!

I've also been on a kick of making our own sandwich bread. Since we went to Sam's Club and got flour and yeast, why shouldn't I? The recipe I have makes about 2 1/2 loaves. I got the recipe from The Frugal Girl, and you can check it out here. She also wrote a great article on comparing the price of store-bought bread to homemade bread, I highly recommend reading it.

I also made some homemade pumpkin rolls, and those were equally as delicious. Those were made for a family who just had a baby and is a part of the Mothers and More group I'm involved in.

I also made that family a Beef and Barley Soup in the crock-pot. So our house was smelling great by the time the rolls were done!

So with all that being said, I feel like such a home-maker! It's a great feeling knowing where your food comes from. Have you made anything from scratch this week? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

Wednesday: $0.31 Ice Cream!

2011-04-26T21:31:00.004-05:00

If you're in the mood for some cheap ice cream, on Wednesday night from 5-10pm, Baskin Robbins is having $0.31 scoop night! It's been tradition for our family to go (this will be our 3rd year), because they also have a fire truck parked in the parking lot so that the kids can check it out! You can get up to 3 scoops, one time only. So I recommend getting those 3 scoops!

For more information and details, click here.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Here are some fun photos from the past 2 years of my family attending this event:

(2010)

(2009)

Grocery Shopping this week = $60.38

2011-04-22T21:47:00.003-05:00

We went over our budget of $50 this past week by $10.38. Here's what we got:

County Market: $19.95

(Not Pictured: Apple Jacks, Pops cereal)

Aldi: $22.00

Can you tell that we like apples here in the Fisher household? Specifically two little boys! If you total up how many bags of apples I bought over the past week, it would total up to 4!!

Meijer: $18.45

Eggs were only $0.99 this week, so I got a couple dozen. $0.99 and under is the only price I try to pay for eggs. The rest of the items were to use to make granola and granola bars.

So, total for the past week was $60.38. This coming week we're going to try better at making a meal list and finding ingredients to keep up with them. Thanks for stopping by!

Free Coffee!

2011-04-21T21:33:00.004-05:00

For those of you coffee lovers out there, head out to Caribou Coffee on Earth day (Friday!) with your reusable cup and get a free cup of coffee! For more details, click here.

Free Tree on Earth Day!

2011-04-20T15:24:00.002-05:00

If you're in need of a tree, head over to Lowe's on Earth Day (Saturday, April 23rd) and they are giving away 1 million trees! What a great idea!

Thanks, Moneysavingmom!

Garden Update

2011-04-17T21:49:00.009-05:00

It has been a busy week, let me tell you what. My awesome husband entered a radio contest and won! He won not 1, but 2 truckloads of screened garden compost! (only we could be excited about this, I know...) He won it from WIXY country radio, and the screened compost is from Urbana Landscape and Recycling Center (which is a great place to go!). So we've been busy trying to disperse this huge pile that accumulated in our driveway.

Before I show you what our yard looks like now, I wanted to show you a before picture. This is from last summer, and see how we only have a little garden on the left...this summer it's going to be twice as big as that!

My sister and husband did most of the hard work while I took down some laundry that was drying outside (and watched the kids). They were such troopers shoveling the compost out of the truck and hauling it to where it needed to go.

Here is Z-man with all our veggie plants as they "harden" outside in the sun. The boys love to help water the plants.

Here is a photo of our backyard with the idea that we are going to plant a couple rows of corn along the fence. This is before we put compost on it:

And here is my sister spreading that rich compost over it:

This a view from our deck of the two raised "beds" that we saved from the landfill. Someone was going to throw theses two Captain-type beds away, so we figured that we'd try to reuse them, and here's what it looks like now.

I am so excited to start planting seeds and transplanting the plants that we have indoors. If only the weather would start warming up. Are you growing any vegetables or have started your gardens yet? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Free Sam's Club Entrance

2011-04-12T09:24:00.004-05:00

If you need to stock up on supplies from Sam's Club, this weekend is your weekend! From April 15-17th, you can get a free entrance into Sam's Club and there are no extra charges. Click here to find out more information.

I heard through the blogging world that if you bake from scratch often, then stocking up on baking yeast at Sam's is the best deal around. So I might be heading out there for that same reason.

Do you have any good deals that you stock up on at Sam's?

Thanks, MoneySavingMom!

Salvation Army Thrift Store

2011-04-11T06:41:00.006-05:00

I haven't been to any thrift store in a long time, mostly because we don't need anything right now. But the other day, I couldn't help myself and I had to stop in the Salvation Thrift Store on John St. It was after my doctors appointment, so I had no kids with me and I was all by myself. I love those moments.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you what I found. A pair of shoes for Pudge! I've been looking for awhile now for some simple shoes that he can just slip on, and I told myself that I wouldn't buy any for full price. So, I was thrilled to see them at the thrift store!

They have super heros on them and were a little dirty when I found them. But once I brought them home, they cleaned up pretty nicely! Plus, they have velcro, so Pudget can put on the shoes himself. Here's a photo of them:

And the best part about them was that they were only $1.63!!! Now, that's a steal! Have you found anything at a thrift store lately?

Meet My Sister Amber!

2011-04-08T15:47:00.004-05:00

Meet my sister, Amber! She has come to live with me and my family this summer. She got a job in Savoy and will be living with us till August. I like to say that I never knew how I lived without her here. It really has been a blessing in disguise, because it's just nice to have another adult around to help.

Here she is with our mom and dad:

I told her that I would pick out all the photos that I had of her eating, because that is mainly what this blog is about...

We are going to increase our weekly grocery budget by $10, because there is another mouth to feed in the house now.

She is so good with our two little boys, too! It's nice to have a live-in babysitter as well!

So, welcome to our home, Amber!

Grocery Spending for 2 weeks = $98.48

2011-04-08T15:30:00.008-05:00

If you haven't read in my earlier post, we are increasing our grocery budget to $50 a week, because we have an extra mouth to feed in this house for the summer. My sister has come to live with us and work for the summer. So, instead of $40/week for groceries, we've increased it by $10/week.

County Market = $31.32

CVS = Free with using my Extra Care Bucks.

County Market = $2.01

I used some "penny pinchers' and combined them with a manufacturer coupon and got each box for $1!

Aldi's = $65.17

I love Aldi's, what more can I say...

Total spent for 2 weeks of groceries = $98.48

Free Summer Bowling for Kids!

2011-04-05T08:40:00.003-05:00

This program is back again this summer, where your kids can bowl free all summer long!

Kids Bowl Free allows your family to bowl 2 Games FREE everyday all summer. Plus, there is a family pass option where parents, grandparents, older children that don't qualify for the Kids Bowl Free passes and babysitters can join in the fun and get the same great 2 FREE Game offer every day.

Visit http://www.KidsBowlFree.com for all the details.

To find a local bowling alley near you that's participating click here. If you're in Champaign or Urbana, Old Orchard Lanes in Savoy, IL is participating!

Plus, when you register please enter my email address (samanthadorothyfisher@yahoo.com) so our family is entered to win some great prizes including Gas Cards, Amazon.com Gift Cards, Weekend Hotel Trips, Restaurant Gift Cards and many more!

Please recommend copy and paste my email address in the "Referred By" field on the registration page and we'll both be entered to win.

As soon as you register you'll receive an email to confirm your email address. You can then let other families know about Kids Bowl Free too...and have a chance to win these great prizes and enjoy all of the FREE Bowling!

Enjoy!

Grocery Shopping this week = $20.13

2011-04-02T19:12:00.005-05:00

The picture above was from County Market. I spent $20.13 on the above purchases. I was really excited to see that the Smart Taste Pasta was only $1/box, and I had a bunch of ($1 off 2 boxes) coupons. Also, the McCormick spices were free.

My receipt said that I saved a total of $25.82 which is a grand savings of 57%!

We usually set aside $40 as our grocery budget, so as you can tell, we're a little under this week. I can use that money this coming week for better sales. Thanks for looking!

Homemade Donuts

2011-03-31T14:35:00.003-05:00

I wanted to share a recipe that has been passed down from my husband's side of the family. Homemade donuts!! It's super simple to make them, and fairly cheap.

All you need to make these tasty treats is a package of biscuits from the store, vegetable oil, and sugar.

All you need to do it use a bottle cap to make a hole in the middle of the biscuit, and you've got donut holes!

While you are preparing the biscuits for donuts, heat up the oil in a saucepan on the stove.

Then add the biscuits to the oil. When one side of the biscuit is cooked, then flip it over and let the other side cook.

When they are cooked, place them on a plate with sugar on it and roll them to coat them.

Then, eat up!

Lack of Blogging Lately

2011-03-29T14:49:00.002-05:00

Hello readers! I just wanted to give you a little update on why I haven't been blogging as much as I would like lately. I've started a part-time job at Metri-Tech a couple weeks ago, and that has taken up much of my evening time. While I enjoy my job and enjoy that paycheck every two weeks, I also miss the time that I could be spending with my family. I guess it's just one of the things that I will have to sacrifice for now. My job is only temporary till June, so this job is giving us extra spending money for later.

Also, my youngest sister has recently moved in with us for the summer. She has found a job in Savoy, IL and will be staying with us until school starts up for her in August. It's so nice to have adult company around the house and she's very good with the boys. It's just nice to have her around!

Since the weather is starting to warm up, I've been doing little projects around the house outside. I have big plans for rows of corn in our backyard, two raised beds, along with our normal garden beds. So, that also has been taking up some time that I could be blogging.

I appreciate your patience as I try to accomplish so much in (what seems like) such little time.

Grocery Shopping this week = $15.26

2011-03-25T13:53:00.004-05:00

I tried hard to stay out of grocery stores this week, because I knew that my budget was tight this week. I went over my $40 budget last week, so this week I only had $11 to work with.

Here's what we came home with:

County Market = $15.26

I will take out $4.26 of next weeks budget to cover for the overage. Stay tuned!

Grocery Shopping this Week = $53.38

2011-03-19T10:24:00.005-05:00

I headed to County Market two times this week. It's tempting to go there more often, because I pass it on my way to work, and they are open 24 hours.

The picture below was using most of my in-store County Market coupons.

Total for picture below: $18.41

This was my second trip to County Market. I stocked up on more cheese and got some fruit snacks for really cheap!

Total for picture below: $25.07

I also went to Schnucks, because of a General Mills Catalina Coupon that printed $3 when you bought 5 items.

Total for the picture below: $12.05

I got back $6 in Catalina coupons to use on my next purchase.

Total spent this week on Groceries: $55.53

This is based on a $40/week grocery budget.

(Last week I went over my budget by $13.38, and this week I went $15.53, so I will only have $11 for fresh fruits, etc. for next week.)

------- Not Included in Grocery Budget --------

I also wanted to let you know that I got a great deal in the clearance section at Schnucks on Mattis. The Green Works bottles were only $1 each! The air fresheners were $0.75 - $0.50.

Total spent for the photo below: $8.05

Update On Our Garden Plants

2011-03-14T13:52:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to update you all on how our garden seeds are growing indoors.

The peas that we planted in the baseball card holders are doing GREAT! I know that they love the colder weather, so having them hang on a cold door is a plus.

It's even fun to teach the boys about the roots that they can see through the holders.

Here we have some Yellow Pear Tomato plants that have sprouted, and doing well:

Other than this, we're still waiting on the regular tomato plants, the pepper plants, and some flowers that I thought I'd start indoors this Spring. Have you planted anything yet, and how are they doing?

Walgreens Run = $1.25

2011-03-11T23:00:00.003-06:00

I was excited to see a deal on Children's Medicine this week, especially since our kids have been sick all week with a fever and cough.

Here's what I snagged at Walgreens for only $1.25:

For more information on this deal, check out MoneySavingMom's post on how to get this medicine for real cheap.

Grocery Shopping this week = $53.38

2011-03-11T22:51:00.004-06:00

This week was kinda rushed, because I started my new job this week, so I'm not really sure what I bought. I stuck mostly with Schnucks this week, because they had some good deals. I also went to Big Lots when they had the 20% off entire purchase day.

Schnucks: $3.86

$1/bag chocolate chips, had 2/$1.10 off 2 coupons.

Big Lots = $10.68

I only saved $2.67 with the 20% off discount.

Schnucks = $38.73

Here's Z-man in the photo, he was sick that day, and I think all that food was overwhelming to him. I saved $31.75 (said my receipt!).

Total spent for one week: $53.38. We usually only have a budget of $40/week, so I will take out the overage in next weeks groceries. Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade Suet for Birds

2011-03-09T14:10:00.004-06:00

My neighbor recently broke her ankle, and has asked the boys and I to feed her birds in her backyard everyday. Before I met our neighbor, I didn't know anyone who loved birds more than her. She has tons of birds who frequent her backyard for the plethora bird food she provides. These birds range from cardinals, to tiny baby birds (I'm not a bird person...yet!).

Anyway, we were talking one afternoon about the suet bird food that she puts out for the hummingbirds. She mentioned that I should try to make my own and see if the birds will come. I said that I usually have bacon and ground beef grease leftover whenever we cook, and sometimes I wish that we could reuse it. So, therefore, I am experimenting with that idea.

I've heated up the leftover bacon grease, combined some peanut butter, oatmeal, nuts, and cheap bird food to it. Then I froze it to make it solid. Then I cut it into fourths. I then hung up a netted bag in our tree, so that the birds can eat it (instead of the rats! Eww!)

So far, through my experimenting I have seen a couple of birds on our deck, but they weren't really interested in the suet. The squirrels are a different topic! They are sniffing around, and playing with the bag I hung in the tree. I think they're more interested in the peanuts and peanut butter than anything else.

Here's another blog I found that tried making suet as well:

Peanut Butter Suet

Our Garden Is Started!

2011-03-05T15:04:00.003-06:00

I'm happy to say that our garden has been started, indoors, of course! This is my absolute favorite time of winter...when I get to start our seeds for Spring! Last year we started a few days earlier than this year, but I'm sure we'll be fine in the end.

We planted a ton of tomatoes, a ton of peppers, some peas in the baseball trading card holders, and some flowers.

I'm experimenting with the flower seeds that I collected last year, to see if they will actually grow. If so, I won't need to buy any annuals from garden stores this year!

I'm also experimenting on growing peas in baseball card holders. I found this idea in the recent Family Fun magazine that came in the mail. All you need are baseball card holders, some suction cups, and a hold puncher. We'll see if they grow! I'm just afraid that the window is too cold. That's why I put pea seeds in them, because I know that they like the colder weather.

I'm very excited about our garden this summer, because we're planning on having a few raised beds. So that means, there's going to be a lot more room for our veggies to grow!

Have you started digging in the dirt lately?

I.D.E.A. Store in Champaign

2011-03-05T14:37:00.006-06:00

Last night was the first night that I entered the I.D.E.A. Store here in Champaign. My husband has always told me that I need to go there, and so last night, my husband, the boys and I ventured out. It is kinda in an odd location, and the door is on the side of the building, facing away from Springfield, but it's very earth-friendly inside! It's kinda like you're walking into a garage sale (in a good way!). There are so many random items that people donate, that you never know what you'll find in there.

Last night I found 8 red, glass bottles to go on my bottle tree in my garden. They were priced at $0.25/piece! Very reasonable!

I've accumulated 18 bottles now for my bottle tree that I will be making in the Spring. The volunteers at the I.D.E.A. Store were very helpful in giving me ideas and resources to make my bottle tree. They even said they'd like to see pictures whenever I finish my project!

This is what I'd like my bottle tree to look like eventually:

I got 4 (nearly new!) spools of thread for $1. I also got a garden book for $2, and a mesh bag to put my homemade suet in for the birds outside (post to come on that project as well). I also grabbed some used felt to make a pizza game for the boys to play.

So, if you have time, and are in the area, I highly recommend that you check out the I.D.E.A. Store to help you be creative!

Grocery Shopping = $49.70

2011-03-04T14:57:00.003-06:00

We made a trip to Aldi's this week to stock up on some extra meals this past week. When I need to stock up, Aldi's is the place for me. I just need to watch my budget when I go there.

This week I spent $45.31 at Aldi's, and I have about 10 meals planned out with those groceries!

Schnucks = $0.88

County Market = $3.51

*Sorry, no photo*

We bought some red grapes that were on sale for $0.99/lb. Also, we picked up some tomatoes for some BLT sandwiches.

---------

Total spent for last week was $49.70. We have a usual $40/week reserved for our grocery spendings, and since we only spent $25.42 on groceries last week....it totals out in the end.

A total of two weeks groceries was $75.12, making $4.88 leftover change. Not too bad!

Big Lots: 20% off Entire Order This Sunday 3/6

2011-03-04T14:52:00.004-06:00

Just wanted to give all my readers a heads up that Big Lots is taking 20% off your entire order this Sunday, March 6th. Just print out this coupon and head to their store this Sunday and stock up on snacks, furniture, garden supplies, and more!

I'm excited about this coupon, because I need to stock up on snacks in our home, and this is a GREAT store to do this at! If any of you Chambana moms want to join me, just let me know!

Recipe: Turkey Sliders with Homemade Buns!

2011-02-28T14:48:00.004-06:00

I got adventurous the other day when Z-man asked me if we could have hamburgers for dinner. My son never requests anything for meals (except cereal) so when he mentioned this, I was all for it!

I looked in our freezer and saw that we had frozen ground turkey, so I quickly took that out to thaw and then promptly went to the internet for a recipe. Here's what I found:

Turkey Sliders

20 oz. ground turkey

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 clove of minced garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic from a jar)

1/2 teaspoon each of dried basil and oregano

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Combine the ground turkey, the cheese and all seasonings. Mix together well. Shape mixture into 16 small patties. Place patties on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Side note: Our sliders came out of the oven with a lot of grease on the pan, so I just drained that and stuck them back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Homemade Slider Buns

1 1/4 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
INSTRUCTIONS
Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. As soon as milk simmers, remove from heat and stir in shortening until melted. Set aside to cool slightly (to about 105°F to 115°F).
Add warm milk mixture and remaining ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Mix on lowest speed until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium low and mix until dough is smooth and springy, about 4 minutes.
Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, add dough, and turn to coat in oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Punch down dough and turn onto a clean surface. Divide dough into 18 (1-1/2-ounce) pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth, round bun (keep the rest covered with the towel as you work). To do so, cup your hand around the dough, press down very lightly, and roll the dough against the surface to form a bun. Slightly flatten bun and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat to make 18 buns.
Set buns aside in a warm area until slightly risen and puffy (note that they will not double in size), about 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400°F and arrange the rack in the middle.
When buns have risen, bake in the oven until they are golden brown, crusty, and have an internal temperature of 190°F, about 15 to 17 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a rack, and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Thank you to CHOW for the recipe for these Slider Buns! They turned out great!

Here are some fun after photos of our Sliders:

Did you try a recipe this week that was out of the blue? If so, I'd love to hear how it turned out!

Decorating on a Budget

2011-02-26T15:21:00.003-06:00

I feel that decorating on a budget can easily be done if you are patient and willing to wait for a deal. I'm not an expert by any means on decorating, but I thought I'd show you a simple way you can use deals to decorate your home.

My family got our picture(s) taken at church for the church directory for free. The photographer is awesome! He is so patient with families with little kids, and is willing to take as many as possible to catch the perfect photo. When he is finished, he downloads them to a CD and we can take them home. Did I say that he does this for free? What a guy!

So once we got home to look them over, they were hilarious! Only because our kids are stinkers and would not look at the camera at the same time. We found this set of photos to be so funny that we sent them out as Christmas cards, and now we've made a collage out of them. Won't the boys love this when they get older? The photo in the lower right-hand corner is of Pudge sneezing on me and Z-man laughing and my husband looking stunning as ever! So funny!

I had our photo printed through Snapfish and got a 11x14 poster size photo for only $1.99 (including shipping). Sweet, huh?

Then I used a Dollar General 50% off household goods coupon, and snagged this black frame for only $3!

That means that I only spent a total of $5 on this whole project! So, this proves that waiting for the right deal, your project will eventually come together in the end.

Garage Sale Finds - $7!

2011-02-26T15:05:00.004-06:00

I headed out this morning to a garage sale at our church. There were a ton of people there, and I talked with Susan, a lady from our church who was a part of the sale, said that there were people lined up for 40 minutes before the doors opened. You can tell that people are itching to start garage 'sailing' again!

Earlier this week, I was talking with a mom at the library and she said that she likes to spray her daughters boots and shoes with rain repellent...because she knows that if her daughter sees a puddle, there's no stopping here. I feel the same way with my boys, and so I debated on getting some this week from the store. I'm glad I waited, because I found a full bottle at the sale for only $0.50!

I found a set of cloth napkins, a cute ream of paper for the boys to color on, and later to be used to print coupons on. I also found reusable cupcake liners! I've recently run out of paper ones, so I'm excited to try these to see if they really work. If they do, that means less waste on our end!

I also got 2 cartridges of ink for $5! Thanks, Susan! These usually retail for about $10 a piece!

Overall, I felt like I had found some really great green items to help reduce our waste. Total I spent only $7! Thanks for looking!

Grocery Shopping this Week = $25.42

2011-02-25T19:56:00.005-06:00

I just wanted to post really quick on my grocery spending this week. I've been staying away from the grocery stores, even though I've been wanting to go in. I felt that this week I needed to take a step back and just see what we could use from our pantry. Here's where I went:

County Market = $21.67

Schnucks = $2.68

Okay, this isn't the healthiest photo, but a woman's gotta have her chocolate!

Walgreens = $1.07

After using an in-store coupon and a manufacturer coupon, these cans of soup cost $0.33 each!

For the past month, I've been going a little over our $40/week budget. So this week definitely gets me caught up with those weeks I went over.

Walgreens: Free Collage Today Only (2/24)

2011-02-24T15:19:00.002-06:00

At Walgreens website you can get a free collage today only (2/24). Just head on over to Walgreens photo and select 'See Today's Deal' then select 'Redeem Now'. At your checkout, make sure that you 'update total' in order to have the coupon code applied to your total. Chose to pick-up in the store, and you won't have to pay for shipping.

Thanks, Frugal Girls!

Free Redbox Code Today Only (2/24)

2011-02-24T15:15:00.003-06:00

If you like Redbox on Facebook, or just click on the tab, FREEBIE, you will be able to get a code to get a free rental tonight (2/24) only. Once again, I love the free things in life!

Thanks, The Frugal Girls!

BOGO Chipotle Coupon!

2011-02-24T15:10:00.003-06:00

I'm sure everyone in the blogging world has found out that there is a Buy One Get One Free coupon to use at Chipotle. I'm just letting you all know that this is a great deal! If you watch a minute movie clip on Facebook, promoting the new NBC tv show, you'll be able to print off this coupon.

We have a Chipotle on campus and it is some very tasty foods. So if you've never been there before, this is your chance!

Three cheers for Chipotle!

I Love to Reuse!

2011-02-23T15:01:00.004-06:00

I thought that today I would show you some of the things that are in our kitchen, specifically some of the drawers in our kitchen. To let some of you know, I love to reuse things, especially things that I can use on a day-to-day basis. We have so many drawers in our kitchen that half the time I don't even know what to do with them. So I fill them with things that I don't want to throw out, but at the same time, don't know what to do with them. Here are a couple of examples:

I save the lids to our peanut butter jars, to put the boys' syrup in for breakfast. It holds just the right amount of syrup for their little meals.

I save the lids to the bouillon cubes. These also are perfect size for the boys.

I also save the containers that their applesauce comes in. These are great for their veggies at mealtime.

I save the containers that their yogurt comes in. We will be using these for our vegetable plants, come the end of February. We'll just drill holes in the bottom and we'll be all set! Very excited about this project!

We also reuse our Ziploc bags. Yes, I wash them and we use them until the holes start appearing. It's not that much extra work, and we don't buy Ziploc bags near as often as we used to. And I've picked up a little trick in the blogging world...when our dishwasher is empty, I just put the Ziploc bags in there to dry! Brilliant! The only reason we have a toilet paper roll in the dishwasher is because Pudge decided to throw that roll in the bath, so it was drying out!

Do you have anything that you like to save and reuse?

Target and Goodwill Finds

2011-02-22T14:39:00.002-06:00

I've been wanting to get out to Target the past couple of days, because I heard about the $5 gift card that you get if you buy 7 frozen items. I bundled the kids up and off we went. Let me tell you, if you live in Champaign, don't bother going for the frozen foods. They are renovating the entire food section, so they had limited amounts of frozen foods.

But if you are in need of some FREE jeans, I highly recommend checking out Target. Since they are turning our Target into a Super Target, almost everything is being marked down...including the women's jeans! Click here to print off a $5 coupon for women's jeans at Target. I scored 2 pairs today for free:

I spent a grand total of $3.03 for the items pictured above!

Then the boys and I went to the Goodwill in search for a picture frame. Unfortunately we didn't find a frame the size I wanted, but we got a couple of other good finds! Pudge is in the process of getting a new bike, and he needed a helmet. How great is it that we found one with Spiderman on it! He loves it!

I've also been on a hunt to find more of those Brain Quest cards for the boys. Specifically the ones with pictures on them to help them learn. We found one as well at Goodwill!

Total for the items below, $4.50! The helmet retails for $20 and the Brain Quest retails for $10.50! So we got a great deal!

Have you stopped into Target or Goodwill lately? I'd love to hear what you found!

Meal Planning

2011-02-21T15:48:00.005-06:00

I have gone back and forth about posting what meals we make from my grocery trips, because our family is so inconsistent with meals. We are HUGE leftover fans, so whenever we make a meal, it takes us about 3 or 4 days to finish that meal off. I think it's because we have two toddlers who eat like birds, so that leaves the real eating to my husband and I.

I recently went to a meeting with the Mothers and More group that I'm involved in, and the topic was Meal Planning. It seemed like a great deal of the moms there did not have meals planned out beforehand. Which made me feel better, because I'm that way too. I'm trying to get better though. So here's what I've come up with for this week's menu:

Breakfast:

French Toast

Scrambled Eggs and Toast

Omelets

Cereal

And More Cereal!

Lunch:

Usually leftovers from the night before dinner

Fish Sticks

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Canned Soup

Dinner:

Pizza Rounds

Chili

Tacos

Baked Potatoes

Chicken Salad

Spicy Cajun Chicken

We usually eat out once or twice a week, depending on if we're running errands or what-not.

I read once on someone's blog that they try to stick with a general theme each week, instead of beating yourself up about having to think of specific meals. Her idea was to simplify the meals to:

Soup and Salad

Pasta Meal

Chicken Meal

Beef Meal

Vegetarian Meal

Mexican Dish

Pizza

A couple of websites/blogs that I've found helpful or interesting when it comes to meal planning are:

OrganizedHome.com

MealsMatter.org

Meal Planning Strategies

Fresh Air

2011-02-19T14:44:00.006-06:00

The weather has finally started warming up and it feels great to be outside! Even if it is only for a half and hour, the fresh air feels so good. The other day we spent the morning at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, an excellent park to play at if you've never been there before! Even though it was a little windy, the boys had a great time. I wanted to share some photos with you all, and keep your fingers crossed that this weather is here to stay.

There was still lots of snow in some places, but we just threw on the boys' winter boots and let them have fun.

Pudge enjoyed crawling under the ladder.

Z-man was all over the place, running and jumping whenever possible.

Dad was a great help in playing and watching the boys while I enjoyed the company of other moms.

We thought ahead and asked some other families from Preschool to see if they wanted to join us on that sunny day.

We even thought ahead and brought a yummy lunch of PB and J sandwiches, carrots, apples, and pretzels. I love that our boys like to eat nutritious foods.

Overall, it was a great day! Have you made it outside this week? If so, I'd love to hear what you did!

Grocery Shopping this Week = $42.75

2011-02-18T15:31:00.006-06:00

I made two shopping trips this week. The first was to Meijer, because they were have a great deal on Gain Softner and Sheets. I don't include laundry items in my grocery budget, so I just put those items in the photo to show you that they helped me pay for other groceries.

Meijer = $13.45

I got $6 in Catalina's from purchasing the Gain, so that went towards my groceries.

County Market = $29.30

Pudge and I went to the County Market on Campus last Friday when they were having some great deals on only Friday and Saturday. My favorite was the Yogurt for $0.29 each, the Welch's grape jelly, 2 for $1, and the Biscuits were a $1 each, and if you bought 5, you got free eggs.

Total spent this week on groceries, $42.75. We have $40 a week budget for our groceries, so next week I will take $2.75 out to pay for my overage in this week.

Cupcakes From Scratch

2011-02-16T14:26:00.003-06:00

I have never made cupcakes from scratch, until Pudge's birthday. They were so easy and simple to make, that I had to share the recipe on my blog. I got the recipe from a cookbook that I got when my husband and I got married. It's titled, Betty Crocker's Cookbook, Bridal Edition.

Marble Cupcakes

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter

1 1/4 c. milk

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

3 large eggs

3 Tbsp. baking cocoa

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cupcake pans, or use cupcake liners.

2.) Beat all ingredients, except cocoa and baking soda, with an electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high seed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

3.) Before pouring batter into pans, remove 1 3/4 cups of the batter; reserve. Pour remaining batter into pans. Stir 3 Tbsp. cocoa and 1/8 tsp. baking soda into reserved batter. Drop chocolate batter by tablespoonsfuls randomly onto yellow batter. Cut through batters with knife for marbled design. Bake and cool.

Of course, I had my two helpers in tow. Here they are mixing the vanilla and chocolate batter to make marble cupcakes.

Pudge loved the batter, as you can see. He wouldn't stop licking his fingers, so I gave him the spatula.

The final results were shown here at the party. My husband, my sister, and I did try them before we frosted them...just to make sure they were tasty, and they were! My husband, who doesn't eat cake, had 2 of them!!

Great way to save a little money instead of buying a store-bought cake!

Pudge turns 3!

2011-02-15T14:49:00.006-06:00

Our little Pudge turned 3 on Valentine's Day. We had a party this past weekend, and it was a blast. It was a lot of fun to see him playing with other kids his age.

I also found a recipe on how to make cupcakes from scratch, and let me tell you, they were a hit! I'll will post the recipe later this week. I also wanted to send a shout-out to my friend Beth, who helped me make cupcakes for Pudge's birthday!

We even splurged and got a pinata for his party. Spiderman! I also learned that the strings hanging down from the pinata aren't just for decoration...they're to help young ones open up the thing! Brilliant!

It was a lot of fun to see Pudge interacting with other little boys and girls who came to his party.

Pudge got a lot of great gifts, and I'm sure that he'll be entertained for a long, long time!

Thank you to my sister, Crystal, for all the beautiful photos that she took at Pudge's party!

Grocery Shopping this Week = $44.90

2011-02-13T21:15:00.006-06:00

We have $40/week in our budget for groceries. Lately it's been kind of difficult to stay within our budget, so each week I take out the overage from the next week.

Schnucks = $13.17

I was very excited to take my mom with on this shopping trip to Schnucks. She was impressed with the savings that I showed her. We scored 10 bags of Malt-O-Meal cereal for free! Thanks, mom, for helping watch the boys while we shopped! Also, thanks to Coupon STL for her post on deals at Schnucks.

Dollar General = $3.10

The chips were free with a coupon, and my husband has a new love for Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa.

County Market = $10.67

Here I am just stocking up on items that we needed in our pantry. I only had coupons for the Bob Evans Sausage.

Big Lots = $16.06

I was excited to find a 10 lb. bag of flour for $3! I also stocked up on bread, each only $1.

This past week I spent $44.90 on groceries. In this total, I've included my overage from last week.

Homemade Valentines

2011-02-09T14:57:00.005-06:00

Every time I step foot into a store, whether it's a grocery store or a chain store, I see boxed Valentines that you can buy now. It's rather tempting as a mom, to just pick up a box and be done with one more activity on the "to-do" list.

I want to encourage you, if you're a mom and have Valentines to write up for your toddlers, to step outside the box and make your own! We had a few snow days here, and one of those days I just dug through our craft drawer and Z-Man and I had a blast just making our own Valentines.

We used a bag of suckers that we got from Halloween on clearance, and will attach them to our homemade Valentines.

Here's Z-man, having a great time trying to make the best Valentine he could with glue and random sequins we had.

Then I had Z-man tell me one thing that he liked about his classmate, or something the classmate does that makes him laugh. It was fun to hear what he had to say about some of them, and then I wrote those comments on the Valentine! It is a fun, personal note the parents can laugh at.

So, I encourage to be creative and pull out some random craft items that your kids can put together, and see what they come up with!

Thanks, Mom, for taking these photos!

How to Build a Snowman

2011-02-08T18:06:00.008-06:00

I know it may sound ridiculous, but I have googled how to build a snowman before. Out of all the snow (14 inches for Champaign, IL!) that we've gotten this winter, I have finally mastered how to make huge snowmen! I can't remember the last time that I had accomplished this feat, so I was bound and determined to make at least one snowman this winter. And not only did I make one snowman, I made 5 the other day! I know, I'm awesome!

The weather was a warm 34 degrees out. The sun was shining and my husband was kind enough to let me play in the snow, without my two toddlers running around to keep track of. So the land was all mine! I had a ton of snow to work with, and I made 2 huge snowmen, and 2 small ones, to represent my family. (okay, maybe not huge, but adult!)

This was the first snowman I built with the boys around, this was on Sunday. Then in the afternoon, I cooked up 4 more snowmen!

I've figured out that in order to make a snowman, the weather needs to be warm enough so that you can pack the snow.

Make sure that the middle section of your snowman is not too heavy, so that you can lift it up onto the bottom section.

Find the items you want to embellish your snowman before you are full of snow, so that you don't have to track snow inside your house.

Build your snowman on a level ground, so that they don't fall and cause a domino effect on the surrounding snowmen! (lesson learned!)

If you don't want your snowman to melt right away, check the weather forecast to make sure that the following week is in the single digits!

Have fun and stay warm!

If you're curious about snow sculpting, here's a great video clip of the snow sculpting competition in Rockford, IL.

Grocery Shopping this Week = $44.89

2011-02-04T15:14:00.007-06:00

This week was kinda a catch-up week. We had a couple of meals that we didn't make last week, so that helped with this week. And we also depended on our pantry for alot of our needs this week.

Here's the update on Grocery spending for this week...

First of all, I spent too much last week, so I'm taking that into consideration this week.

overflow from last week = $17.15

Target = $14.25

Walmart = $13.45

Total = $44.89

I am still a little over our $40/week budget, so I will take that out of next week's budget. Someday I will catch up!

Groupon Deal: $20 B&N Voucher for $10!

2011-02-03T20:24:00.004-06:00

If you love Barnes & Noble, or need a gift to give to someone, this is a great deal! Groupon is offering a voucher of $20 to B&N for only $10! There is a limited amount available, so get yours as soon as you can. The voucher expires April 11, 2011.

If you use your Discover Card, you could also get 20% cash back.

Thanks, Common Sense With Money.

Sensory Boxes

2011-02-03T14:27:00.005-06:00

I've always wanted to make a sensory box for both my boys. Z-man has a HUGE one in his classroom at preschool, and I've read about them before from Pink and Green Mama's blog. So I finally went out and purchased a couple of small plastic tubs from the Dollar Store.

I filled them up with rice and oatmeal, mainly because those were the two things we had alot of in our pantry. I even colored some of the rice blue for a fun and wintery look. I found a handful of random little wintery toys, and tablespoons and cups for the kids to use in their sensory boxes.

I feel that these boxes help the kids learn responsibility, especially with cleaning up after themselves. Here's Pudge vacuuming up his mess after he realized what had happened. Yes, these boxes can be messy, but I think that's how they learn.

Overall, the kids really enjoy playing in these boxes. Z-man even said that they feel like they are playing in a sandbox! Next time I fill their boxes, it will be with something new! Have you ever made a sensory box for your kids? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Target: $15 Rainboots for Women - Today Only!

2011-02-01T14:36:00.003-06:00

Today's deal on Target's website is for women's rain boots! They are super cute and if I had some extra money, I'd snag a pair. (anyone want to get me some for my birthday? - I like the red ones, size 9).

This deal is only for today, Feburary 2nd, so hurry!

Thanks, The Budget Mommy.

My Husband's Trip To Goodwill

2011-02-01T13:36:00.003-06:00

I have found out that my husband is fully capable of finding great deals on his own! The other day he tore a hole in his favorite pair of jeans. I mentioned to him that Bergners and Kohls were having 70% off their winter clothing, so he should check it out to see if he could find some good deals there. Low and behold, my husband went to Goodwill first, just to see if there was anything his size...and he came home with 3 pairs of pants and 3 shirts! I was very impressed.

Then he told me of how he got paid to bring these clothes home. First of all, he had a gift card to Goodwill, so he used most of that for his bill. And while he was trying on the pants he bought, there was $1 bill in one of them! So when he went to the register and used his gift card the total came up to $0.45, so he used his $1 he found to pay for everything! How clever! So, technically, he got paid to shop at Goodwill.

Isn't that a great story to tell? My husband is so genius!

Schnucks: Free Cereal!

2011-02-01T13:12:00.005-06:00

There are a bunch of great deals this week (Feb. 2nd - Feb. 8th) at Schnucks!

Malt-O-Meal Cereal = $1

use $2 off 2 coupon in 1/2/11 SS insert

Free after coupon!

Check out the post that Coupon STL has to check prices and match up coupons.

Homemade Bread From Scratch

2011-01-31T12:13:00.006-06:00

Have you ever tried making bread from scratch before? If you haven't, I've got a recipe that you should try out. This recipe does not require a Kitchen Aid or a Bread Machine, so if you've got two hands, it'll turn out fine.

White Sandwich Bread

5-6 c. all-purpose flour

1 pkg. (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast

2 1/4 c. milk (you can also use water)

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. butter or vegetable oil

2 tsp. salt

1.) In a large mixer bowl, combine 2 1/2 c. of flour and yeast.

2.) In a saucepan or in the microwave, heat milk sugar, butter, and salt to 115-120 degrees.

3.) Add hot liquids to flour and yeast. Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at high speed for 3 minutes.

4.) Add enough additional flour to make a soft, but kneadable dough, and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

5.) Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

6.) Punch dough down, divide into two pieces, and roll into a rectangle, about 6"x18". Starting from the short end, roll up jelly-roll style and place into two greased 4x8 inch loaf pans. Cover with wet tea towel and let rise 30-40 minutes, or until doubled.

7.) Bake in a preheated 350 degree over for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.

Recipe taken from The Frugal Girl.

Target: Kellogg's Cereal = $0.25/box!

2011-01-30T14:08:00.003-06:00

I know, I know, you're probably thinking that I can't get any more cereal, right? We'll here's another cheap find on cereal for this week.

Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cereal is 2/$5

Use two $1/1 coupon from 1/23 Smart Source insert

Combine with BOGO Target coupon

Total = $0.25/box!

Thanks, Common Sense with Money!

Grocery Shopping this Week = $57.19

2011-01-30T13:54:00.005-06:00

Can you say, cereal this week?? It's a staple item in our home!

I was feeling under the weather earlier this week, so I asked my husband if he'd be willing to do some cooking. I picked up some "out of the ordinary" items at Meijer this week, which made my bill a little higher than usual. So I'll be taking that out of this coming week's budget.

Before I got sick, I made sure to snag that Honey Bunches of Oats and Ken's dressing deal at Schnucks.

Schnucks = $8.15 got back $5 Catalina

County Market = $6.08

Meijer = $42.86

We're going to try a couple of new meals this week. One is for a Thai dish that a Mothers & More mom recommended. Kinda excited to try a new recipe!

We have $40 a week budget for our groceries. Sometimes it's quite easy to stay in that area, while other times, I need to compromise the next week's budget with this week. Stay tuned to see if I can make that happen!

Winter Fun!

2011-01-28T10:57:00.002-06:00

Looking for something simple and frugal to do with your kids in this never-ending winter? I found an idea in my Family Fun magazine, where you fill up squirt bottles with water and food coloring, and let them "paint" the snow!

We didn't have any squirt bottles on hand, so we stopped in our local Dollar General and they had some huge bottles for (you guessed it...) only a $1 each! I'm sure if you have some bottles lying around the house, this would be an even more frugal activity for your kids.

There has been snow in Illinois for the past 2 months, so we have had many clean canvas' for our squirt bottles for quite some time! The boys love it, and as long as we have gloves and a hat on, they could spend quite awhile outside.

Try it out and let me know what your kids think of this fun idea! Or better yet, share your winter ideas here!

Schnucks: Cheap Cereal and Dressing

2011-01-24T10:19:00.004-06:00

Until Tuesday, 1/25, Schnucks is having a sale on Honey Bunches of Oats cereal for $1.77/box. When you buy 5, you get a $5 catalina to spend on your next shopping order. Combine that with the $1/2 boxes coupon in 1/9 SmartSource insert.

Buy 5 Honey Bunches of Oats = $8.85

Use (2) $1/2 boxes coupons = -$2

Total = $6.85

Receive = $5 catalina coupon

Total each box = $0.37 each!

Also, Ken's Steak House Salad Dressing is on sale for $1.29, combined with $1/1 coupon, found in 1/9 SmartSource insert. You'll get a bottle of dressing for $0.29!

Thanks, Coupon STL.