Holiday Shopping

I was trying to hold off buying anything since we are pretty well stocked still. But of course with Thanksgiving there had to be something we needed. I am lucky enough to have great parents who always host Thanksgiving. We all chip in and bring stuff to help Mom out. Our contribution was fruit salad…with real fruit…something we didn’t have, lol.

So off the a new Kroger I went with 3 kids in tow and got to meet a reader Lauren who had a huge coupon binder. Go Lauren!

4 Minute Maid Enhanced juice $3.33 each used FREE item coupons that took off $3.99

2 tubs Stonyfield Farm yogurt $3.89 each used FREE item coupon

1 cup Stonyfield Farm yogurt $1.19 used FREE item coupon

1 Philly cream cheese $1.69

Not pictured:

1.58lb grapes $3.93

1 carton strawberry $2.50 used 50¢ coupon doubled

1 carton raspberry $2.99 used 50¢ coupon doubled

9 gala apples $3.00

2.78 lb bananas $1.08

2 cans mandarin oranges 89¢ each

2 tubs whipped topping 89¢ each

OOP $14.13

also spent $6.99 on a half gallon of Blue Bell (yes I know it is on sale cheaper everywhere, lol)

balance of budget for the year $59.94

total saved for the year $3874.86

if you are in Houston you can get FREE samples of the Minute Maid Enhanced juice here:

Discovery Green Illuminated

Place: Discovery Green (1500 McKinney, Houston, TX 77010)

Date: 11/29/2009

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m

Groupons!

I will admit I had no idea what Groupons were until a month or so ago. For those who don’t know, Groupons are online coupons.

How It Works

1. Each day we feature something cool to do at an unbeatable price.
2. You only get it if enough people join that day… so invite your friends!
3. Check back the next day for another awesome Groupon!

I have my Groupon account set up to email me the deal in case I forget to check it and I also follow them on twitter.

Today’s deal was so awesome I had to join! It was teeth whitening for 69% off the normal price, something I had been saving for anyway! The deals of the day might differ by city too, so make sure to put in your city to find your deals.

Earning Gift Cards

I just earned three more gift cards the past week! Just in time for some holiday shopping and eating out.

The $25 Panera Bread card was earned from MyPoints. For those who don’t know you get points just by reading emails. You can get they from purchasing things through their site, but I just read the emails and take the surveys so it does take a little longer. Once you earn enough points you can cash them out for different gift cards.

The two $10 gift cards were earned from Swagbucks. For those who don’t know Swagbucks is an online search engine similar to google where you earn points for your searches and can cash them out for gift cards or prizes. Most of the gift cards through Swagbucks are e-cards but you can also get a few different cards mailed to you for gift giving.

Shameless plug here

My daughter entered a contest and would love some comments or “likes” please. Judging ends next Tuesday.

Go here to view the video and “like” or comment please.It is a Chili's contest on Facebook.

Some people have said they can't comment on it, I am guessing because you are not "friends" but if you could at least "like" it that would be great.

She wants to go to San Francisco next summer and winning this would help out in a big way!

THANK YOU!

Picking Dinner…literally

I was pleasantly surprised by what my garden has brought me this week. This is the first time I have ever had a fall garden and the best part about it is all the plants are from the spring garden!

I decided to use part of my harvest to make stuffed bell peppers.

What you need:

bell peppers (duh)

1lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked rice

2-3 tomatoes

onion

salt & pepper

 

Cook rice according to directions.

 

Cut tops off peppers and scrape out all seeds and membrane, place in a pot and cover with water. Boil for about 5 minutes.

While rice is cooking and peppers are boiling brown meat and onions. Drain then set aside.

Combine cooked rice, meat and diced tomato. Season to taste.

Drain peppers from water and stuff with mixture.

 

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes and enjoy.

My mom used to make this but would just put the raw meat in the raw peppers and cook it that way. By pre-cooking the meat you can drain any fat and by precooking the pepper is retains the moisture.

Sunday Morning Coupon Preview

Want to know if you should buy the paper or not? Find out what coupons will be in the paper to to help you decide.

You can also print coupons from Redplum, Coupons.com, BoxTopsForEducation, Pillsbury, BettyCrocker, Kraft and EatBetterAmerica.

And you can also load coupons to your Kroger or Randalls cards with Cellfire, P&G, Unilever, Shortcuts and Upromise.

$5 Back on UP!

Buy two Birds Eye Voila Complete Meals and Disney’s UP Blu-Ray or DVD and get $5 back by mail. You can also print $1 Voila coupons while there!

Offer expires February 28, 2010 so you have time to do your holiday shopping and send in the rebate.

Time to re-load Cellfire coupons

Cellfire coupons have reset! If you have previously loaded coupons to your Kroger or Randalls store cards you still have time to use them before they expire, but you can also load the new, reset coupons to your card.

I normally load all of the Cellfire coupons to my grocery store card just in case a great hidden deal comes up while I am out shopping, that way I am always prepared.

In person launch of Atlantis STS-129 November 16,2009

Astronauts on the astrobus on the way to the launch pad STS-129

you can watch live tweets for all those at the #nasatweet up just search for #nasatweetup

http://twitterfall.com/

On the Road

I will be away from my computer for the most part until next Wednesday as I make my way to Florida for the NASA shuttle launch and tweetup.

If you would like to follow along on twitter the hashtag is #nasatweetup

Fun Events Around Houston This Weekend

 

Normally I don’t post about different events around town but wanted to share with you two great events going on Saturday. 

The first is Sustainable Livings second annual Drop and Swap in Katy. You bring in items in the morning to be recycled and then can come back later in the day to shop from items dropped off by others. There will be a fashion show by designers with items made from things that were dropped earlier.

The second is the 14th annual Children’s Festival in The Woodlands.  It does cost to get in, but if you use the code you can get BOGO tickets if you buy your tickets today. It is pretty cheap for all day entertainment.

Going Through Withdrawals

I don’t know if I should feel bad about my lack of shopping or good that I still have enough stockpiled to live off for some time.

I have several FREE items coupons that I want to use up before they expire at the end of the year. Most FREE item coupons can be obtained simply by emailing companies and asking for coupons.

Kroger

1 Stonyfield Farm tub $3.89 used FREE item coupon

1 Stonyfield Farm cup $1.19 used FREE item coupon

1 Pillsbury cake mix 94¢ used FREE item coupon from Kroger home mailer

1 gallon milk $1.99

1 Nasoya silken tofu $2.69 used FREE item coupon

1 Honey Nut Cheerios $5.19 used FREE item coupon

1 Coffeemate creamer $1.99 used $1 IP

1 Progresso broth $2.29 used FREE item coupon that took off $2.69 and 50¢ loadable

1 Fiber One yogurt $2.49 used FREE item coupon and $1 loadable

2 Always $4.39 each used FREE item coupons

OOP $1.09

Also got a $10 Kellogg’s Rebate back

balance of budget for the year $81.06

total saved for the year $3847.93

Family Portraits

This weekend I had the opportunity to get our family's portraits taken by Nena Metcalf Photography.  Nena specializes in photography for newborns, children, seniors, families and even engagements and wedding photography. She does in studio and on location photography for the Houston area. I love the pictures she took of my daughters and me! These are just a few of the 100’s Nena took.

Nena has also decided to extended an offer exclusively for my blog readers. When you schedule a session for December 23rd or earlier, your family's session fee is only $50 and you receive a FREE 8x10 and 5x7! It is the perfect time to get those holiday pictures taken.

And on top of that, of the families that book this special one family will be randomly selected to win a FREE SESSION with a digital image package for a Spring outdoor family session! (valued at $475)

To book, contact Nena at nenametcalfphotography@gmail.com

You can also check out her blog and facebook fan page to see more portraits she has done.

What is your blood type?

Did you realize blood is one of the easiest gifts to give? Many people depend on blood donations each day.

There is a constant shortage at blood banks especially around holidays, after disasters (Fort Hood shooting) and in major medical cities.

With several Gulf Coast blood centers around Houston, it makes it easier to donate. For whole blood donations you can just walk in but for platelet donations you have to make an appointment.

This is Ava. She is a two year old that was diagnosed with medulloblastoma on September 23rd of this year and is being treated at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

You can make direct donations of red cells to Ava if you are O+ or can donate platelets if you are any other blood type. To make a direct donation for Ava Klein you will need this number #3778478.

If you donate directly to Ava Klein, come back here and leave a comment after doing so, I am going to offer a giveaway for those donating for her. In addition to that you also get some yummy cookies and juice afterwards. Yes, it can be a bit scary to donate and if you are there when I am you will notice me probably passed out...but you survive and deal with it.

In addition to the free juice and cookies you earn points by donating that you can then save to get some great gifts with.

Super Easy Eggplant Parmesan

My Fall garden is doing pretty well and I have tons of Japanese eggplant. I decided to try and easy version of Eggplant Parmesan.

What you need:

4-5 Japanese eggplants or two regular
bread crumbs (I used flavored chopped up croutons)
Parmesan cheese
pasta sauce
salt and pepper
Italian spices



Cut your eggplant into 1/4 in thick slices and line an 8x8 baking dish with them. combine bread crumbs and spices. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top then add a layer of Parmesan cheese. Repeat second layer the same way.

Bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Then add pasta sauce to the top covering entire dish. Bake another 15 minutes.

No groceries but stocking up on gifts!

As you may or may not have noticed I have not been doing much grocery shopping at all. I am hoping to stretch the remaining balance of my $800 budget until the end of the year.

But being that the holidays are creeping up I have had my eyes out for great deals for the girls and family for Christmas and birthdays.

I knew Target has a great deal on Wii games this week, buy 2 get one FREE. But not until I read Kingdom First Mom’s post did I find out about the $10/2 Target coupons to go with the great sale!

Many games are $14.99-19.99 with the more popular games being $19.99-39.99. I was able to pick up 6 games for a total of $53.xx which included tax and used 3 $10/2 coupons!

TIP- if you are planning on buying more than one set of 3, group like prices together so your FREE one will be the lowest price in the group of 3 and not just the cheapest ones purchased.

To add to that Big Lots will have a sale on Wii games starting Sunday for only $10 each.

Wal-Mart is having a pre-black Friday sale starting Saturday morning at 8am, Nov 7th. X-box 360 will be $199 and you will also get a $100 gift card with that!

Sunday Morning Coupon Preivew

Want to know if you should buy the paper or not? Find out what coupons will be in the paper to to help you decide.

You can also print coupons from Redplum, Coupons.com, BoxTopsForEducation, Pillsbury, BettyCrocker, Kraft and EatBetterAmerica.

And you can also load coupons to your Kroger or Randalls cards with Cellfire, P&G, Shortcuts and Upromise.

Hurry and load your cellfire coupons

Cellfire will reset their loadable coupons tomorrow, so if you have not loaded this batch on your grocery store cards hurry before it is too late.

New coupons will be available to load tomorrow, but any that are loaded before then will still have two weeks before they expire. I found it convenient to load them ALL just in case I might need them vs lose out on them or not have them loaded when I find a deal. You can have up to 50 Cellfire coupons on your grocery store card at once.

In addition redplum and coupons.com coupons have reset which means if you already printed some coupons they are available to print again!

Cheap Cereal Stock up Deal at Target

Target has select Kellogg's cereal on sale "buy 3 get 1 FREE" through Saturday, November 7th. Cheapest item will be FREE.

To make it an even better deal you can print out Target coupons for $1 off as well as manufacturer coupons here, here and here.