Tag Archives: summer

Couponing Update: My Summer Stockpile

2 Jul

I had to break my own rule and make an overflow spot for all the shampoo and conditioner I’ve stockpiled.

It’s official.

I’ve saved $1053 at CVS since January 31.

I’d never couponed a day before that.

I’m completely blown away by how much you can save when you coupon. I still can’t help but kick myself for not doing it sooner.

Today for example, I went in to CVS just to buy my newspaper. I went to their red coupon machine in the store though, to check and see what store coupons came out.

Tons of coupons came out. And $5 Extra Bucks from a previous Beauty Club purchase. Since I was there and since I wasn’t planning on coming back for a while, I decided to see how I could best spend those $5 Extra Bucks and combine them with the coupons that came out of the machine.

I bought:

1 Cranston Herald 50 cents

1 Hershey Simple Pleasures (on sale $3 but normally $4.59)
2 VO5 Shampoo
2 VO5 Conditioner (on sale 79 cents each for all four)
2 CVS body wash (on sale buy one get one 1/2 off)
I had $3 in coupons for the chocolate ($1 from the CVS machine  and one for $2 from the mail that I’d stuck in my pocketbook the day I got it.)
I had no other manufacturer’s coupons with me but the machine had given me $1 off the body wash and $2 off shampoo or conditioner.
I saved $14,  I spent 74 cents out of pocket.
I’d saved so much that at the register my balance was negative and they can’t give me back money so I had to send my kids back to the aisle to get more stuff. Twice. We finally got it up to the 74 cents, so I could leave.
Anyway…..
About six weeks ago or so, I set a goal for myself. Knowing that my couponing was going so well, and knowing that my paycheck can be significantly less over the summer when school is out (less hours I’m available to work and less school news to cover), I decided that while my pay was consistent and while my kids were in school–I could shop alone, and concentrate, I’d start stockpiling as many non-grocery items as I could for summer. I’d use my Extra Bucks at CVS as wisely as possible between then and now. I’d use my coupons and my Target Red Card as wisely as I could also. I’d get us set up so that other than fresh fruits and veggies, and meats, I’d have as much as possible on hand so that we spent less over the summer and used up what we had.
(I still shop mainly at CVS and Target because they allow the stacking of their store coupons together with manufacturer’s coupons and they have great sales. CVS is my top favorite spot because of the added Extra Bucks.)

I won’t need toilet paper or Lysol wipes all summer long.

I tried to utilize the sales to my advantage when I could, especially the ones at CVS where I had coupons, a sale, their own store coupons, and received Extra Bucks back on top of it. I got three cases of water for free, six tubs of laundry detergent for free, four cases of toilet paper for free, shaving cream, cereal, body wash, allergy medicine, and lots and lots of shampoo and conditioner, all for free. I had four tubs of Lysol Wipes until just before I took this picture.

I was stocking up, for sure.

And meanwhile, my regular grocery spending has been shrinking every month.
Did you know that Suave deodorant is just $1.37 at CVS before coupons? Get a $1 off and you’re paying 37 cents. That happens all the time.

One of my favorite days I saved $99 at CVS. I got 32 items:  23 bottles of shampoo and/or conditioner, two bottles of laundry detergent, two toothbrushes, one toothpaste, and four deodorants, all for $36 (including tax). I had utilized the manufacturer’s buy one get one free coupons, plus CVS coupons and sales, and Extra Bucks. I was so excited when I left that my hands were shaking.
Not to mention that for every $50 you spend at CVS on beauty items (which includes all the shampoo and conditioner) you get $5 back in Extra Bucks on one of your next trips. So I knew I’d have more money to spend.
At the end of each quarter you get 2% of your spending back (including prescriptions, which we have quite a few of during the year) and I earned $16.50 to spend after July 1. Of course, I’ll find the best way to stretch that with sales, coupons (both CVS and manufacturer’s) and see if I can earn any additional Extra Bucks back.
Last week, I spent $24 ($20 before tax) and got a men’s razor that came with two refill blades, a pack of 5 refill blades, two bottles of vitamins, four mascaras, and two 12 packs of wet Swiffer cloths. I saved $59. I’d gone in specifically because I needed the razor and Swiffers, and I had coupons for them all; both CVS coupons and manufacturer’s coupons. But, when I got there, there were sales, and Extra Bucks were earned on the razor (which ended up being free with all my coupons), which paid for one of the packs of Swiffers, and I earned $5 more Beauty Club Extra Bucks with the mascaras. (The mascaras were buy one get one free with my two BOGO manufacturer’s coupons plus I had four $1 off coupons too, that I was able to use.)
And so it goes and goes and goes.
I don’t want to spend my summer scanning sales, cutting coupons or shopping with my kids. I want to be outdoors, with my family, having fun. So now, we dip into the stockpile and see how long it lasts us.
And you know I’ll keep you posted!

With a family of five, three of them being long-haired girls, we go through a lot of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and shaving cream, in particular.

In total, I’d stockpiled eight containers of shaving cream!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Bake Blueberry Pie

29 Jun

Everyone in our house loves blueberries!

I love summertime fruit. It’s so fresh and sweet, it’s very affordable and there’s so many choices. One of our favorites is blueberries and besides being just overall delicious, they’re super good for you too. Good thing, because we eat tons and tons of them.

A few years back my mom passed along an easy no-bake blueberry pie recipe to me that she found in our local newspaper. Aunt Molly is no relation to us!

I’ve used the recipe several times and even posted it on Facebook a couple of years ago, so some of you may have seen it already.

It’s fast, it’s easy, there’s no need to turn on the oven, and it’s yummy. Serve it with whipped cream or ice cream if you’d like.

Enjoy!

This pie is easy, tasty and pretty!

AUNT MOLLY’S UNBAKED BLUEBERRY PIE

INGREDIENTS

1 quart blueberries, divided use

3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

9-inch baked pie shell or prepared graham cracker crust

Whipped cream for topping, optional

Cooking on the stove, not in, makes this a cool recipe for a hot summer day.

DIRECTIONS

Put 1 cup of the blueberries in a saucepan. Mix water and flour together and add to the pan. Add sugar and salt. Start cooking on high until first bubbles appear, then lower to medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened and the berries are a deep color, 7-10 minutes. Some berries will pop. Remove from heat and let sit a few minutes.

Add remainder of uncooked berries to the pan using a spatula to scrape juices into mixture. Mix well and again let it sit a few minutes, then pour into pie shell. Gently level off. Allow to set and cool completely before slicing. It may take several hours for it to reach room temperature, or even overnight. Refrigerate after cutting.

Note: If using your own pie crust, bake it for 10-15 minutes until cooked and cool before filling.

Whipped cream makes a nice topping but so, too, does ice cream.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Recital Chicken

27 Jun

Recital Chicken!

My girls are dancers. Since they were toddlers they’ve each taken dance class, and this year is their 10th, 8th, and 5th year of dance, each.

This means that each year we are treated to their summer dance recital, a culmination of all their hard work and dedication that year. It’s usually a busy day when we have the recital with a small crowd for dinner and we’re always hurrying to get them to the show on time, so I need a really quick meal.

Hence, my Recital Chicken.

This is the chicken recipe I make every single year for the recital lunch or dinner either before or after the recital, depending on what time of day they dance. Its original name was Hellman’s Parmesan Chicken, and it’s courtesy of my mom, of course!

Since I only make it for the recital and I make it every time, I’ve changed the name to Recital Chicken. It’s quick, easy, few ingredients and can be prepped the day before. It cooks fast and we can sit down and eat relatively quickly, whether we are eating before or after the recital. I serve this with Grandma Grello’s Marinated Green Beans on the side, which can be made ahead of time also.

INGREDIENTS

*I usually have to double this because I’m cooking for a large group.*

1/2 cup Hellman’s Mayo (can use light, I never do though.)
1/4 cup grated Parm Cheese
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I thaw out the chicken tenders that are boneless and skinless.)
4 tsp Italian Seasoned dry bread crumbs (I use plain.)

Recital Chicken can be prepped ahead of time so you don’t have to do anything but cook it when you’re ready.

DIRECTIONS
Combine mayo and cheese.

Spread on chicken, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. For that nice golden brown color, we do a quick broil at the end for a few minutes.

I serve with rice pilaf which coincidentally takes about 20 minutes so they cook at the same time.
Happy Recital!

My three dancers

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Muffins on the brain

22 Jun

All I could think about was having another muffin!

I did.

I had muffins on the brain.

Ever since I did the peach muffin post a couple of weeks ago, all I could think about was making more muffins.

The following weekend I wanted to make the peach muffins again, but I decided it was too soon for peach. But, it wasn’t too soon for blueberry! I just happened to have fresh blueberries in my fridge.

I’m sure I have a blueberry muffin recipe somewhere. Probably dozens of them. But, I was lazy. I googled a recipe for blueberry muffins and I was not disappointed!

I was directed to my favorite spot: Allrecipes.com for “To Die For Blueberry Muffins” and they were.

To.Die.For.

It was the streusel topping that did it, I know. I’m a sucker for a cinnamon sugar topping.

Here’s the recipe. Try it yourself this weekend and see what you think. I know you’ll have muffins on the brain when you do!

Super easy ingredients. I threw in the whole pint of blueberries.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
  2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
  3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

An empty fridge is a good sign, but there’s still work to be done!

14 Jun

Just a few days to go and the fridge is looking nice and empty. No notices, reminders, menus….nothing until the end of August! Woohhoooo!

This is my empty fridge.

Three empty magnets.

It’s my equivalent of a “Gone Fishin’ ” notice.

No lunch menus, no field trip reminders, no field day notices, no project outlines, no calendar of who has music, art or PE on which day.

Nothing. Nada. Empty.

And so it will remain empty until the end of August when school begins again.

Whew…..

Big sigh of relief.

We made it through another school year. Down to just a Few.More.Days!

Then, nothing, just like on the fridge. Well not exactly nothing….

As a former educator, I am a proponent of doing school work over the summer. We read, we write, we do math and yet we still have tons of fun.

Here’s a list of Three Ways to Prevent Summer Slide (which is the regression that kids experience when they don’t keep up with what they’ve learned during the school year, through the summer months.) It’s from Scholastic, so the focus is reading, but we do it all. You can see the full article here.

See what you can add into your summer fun to keep your kids’ brains active as well as their bodies.

THREE WAYS TO PREVENT SUMMER SLIDE

1) Six books to summer success: Research shows that reading just six books during the summer may keep a struggling reader from regressing.

2) Read something every day: Encourage your child to take advantage of every opportunity to read. Find them throughout the day.

3) Keep reading aloud: Reading aloud benefits all children and teens, especially those who struggle.

Tags: , , ,

Taking advantage of the things around us

12 Jun

Of the six hours we spent at the Great Outdoors Pursuit event on Sunday, I think four of them were probably spent in the spray park, a huge hit with our kids.

Summer gives us a great opportunity. The weather is nice and we get the chance to be outdoors more and to explore the places around us that we don’t often have the time to explore during the hectic school year.

Our parks and recreation department has something each summer called “The Great Outdoor Pursuit,” and it consists of outdoor family events from May through August. Each event is free, lasts the day, and the locations change. Families will visit seven different outdoor state parks and forests throughout the summer if they participate in all of the events.

The Great Outdoor Pursuit “seeks to connect families with outdoor public spaces and inspire active outdoor lifestyles while educating them about environmental and health issues,” and as a recent participant in one of the events, I can say that they definitely achieved their goals!

We were able to attend an event this past Sunday and we were there from 11 am to 5pm, outdoors and active the entire day. There was swimming, boating, a spray park, archery, bounce house, and more, all day long. You could turn in any electronic devices you no longer use, in a safe and eco-friendly manner. There was plenty to do and even though the event officially ended at 3, we stayed on location for two more hours.

The day cost us nothing other than a few dollars for hot dogs but we had such a great day. The kids were exhausted by bedtime, always a good thing, and they can’t wait to visit again or to try out the next event.

We may not be able to do all of the events due to schedule conflicts during the summer, but the events are there and open to the public and free.

It’s just another example of how you can have tons of family fun on a small family budget and not be sitting inside in front of the TV, computer or video games all day long.

With just a little bit of looking around, you can find events near you that can keep your family busy and active all summer!

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

A word about Summer and The Whole Bag of Chips

11 Jun

We spend tons of time outdoors in the summer!

Summer is coming! School days are numbered now, down to the single digits, thankfully.

Summer is my absolute favorite time of the entire year. I love having my kids all home and I love having no set schedule. We spend lots of time together as a family, since the majority of Don’s time off as a school administrator takes place during July and part of August. It makes up for the zillions of hours he spends at work during the school year. When he went to work for a full day this past Saturday, I knew in my head that Summer is coming, and that made it an easier pill to swallow, knowing he’d be gone for the day on a weekend, normally our family time, but that soon we’ll have lots of time to spend together with him.

I started this blog on September 25 and since that time it has had over 15,000 hits. I am thrilled with the response it’s had.

However, like I said, it’s summer.

As a work-from-home-mom-writer, I find it hard to balance all the hours of computer time I have to put in with the time I want to spend with my family, but this year with them all in school all day, it was easy–I just type when they’re not here during the days, or when they’re in bed at night.

During the summer, not so much.

Therefore, during the next couple of months, until school starts again, I can make no promises as far as my blog posting schedule. Right now I post five days a week consistently, never missing a day.

I can promise you this: summer won’t be that way. I’ll be working my regular newspaper job as always, but the blog will be on hiatus temporarily, while we’re off doing our family thing.

Family First. Always.

If I have time to post I will, as often as I can, but I will not make a commitment to any type of schedule for the summer. I’m sure you all understand.

Enjoy your own summer, enjoy your kids tons and tons while you have them home. As we all know, it won’t always be that way. They won’t be little forever and we will wish we had this time again. Cherish every single minute, even the tough times. (Yes, my kids bicker constantly too.)

Happy summer!

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Big Salad

31 May

You can load almost anything into a salad.

Anyone out there a Seinfeld fan?

Anyone remember the episode with “The Big Salad?” According to The Big Salad’s very own Wikapedia page, “”The Big Salad” is the 88th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the second episode for the sixth season. It aired on September 29, 1994.”

So there you go. More information than we needed to know about that episode, and there’s even more if you click on the link to the page itself if you so desire, but that’s not crucial today’s post.

I recently got one of those AllRecipe.com emails for a Wonderful Berry Salad and when I clicked on it to see, it was a Raspberry Walnut Dinner Salad which looked so good and reminded me of my Strawberry Salad from a few weeks back. But it also reminded me of The Big Salad episode on Seinfeld and the fact that we often will make a Big Salad ourselves either as the dinner or to go alongside the dinner.

The one shown here is one we made a few weeks back. The thing I like about salads is 1) you can put just about anything you want in them and 2) people can eat what they want to and skip the rest that they don’t like, so basically it’s something everyone likes. I often get tired of the traditional lettuce/tomato/cucumber salad, and throwing in random “stuff” makes it more fun to serve and eat. I like hearing my family say that the love this part or that part of the salad. The salad above has lettuce, olives, craisins, cheddar cheese, strawberries and grape tomatoes.

So the next time you’re at a loss for what to make, consider The Big Salad. See what you have in your house and throw it all in there!

Enjoy!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

If it’s free, it’s for me

30 Apr

Recently I’ve taken up couponing, as many of you know. I’ve written about it in both February and in March. I’ve loved being able to save lots of money for my family with coupons and with additional money-back rebates, and I’ve loved the challenge of it all. I’m a bit obsessed.We’re not rich by any means, but we’re saving more money than we were before, and that’s important to me.

However, I’ve always been about saving money, even before I discovered the couponing obsession. I’ve always been good about taking advantage of a good deal or even better, a free deal. My motto is always “if it’s free, it’s for me,” which is not something I made up, it’s just something I tend to live by, especially when trying to save money for my family.

As a mom who has chosen to give up a full time job in order to be home to raise my family, I’ve always considered it my personal responsibility to be as frugal as possible to make up for the income I do not bring into our budget. I feel that it’s important for me to be home, and therefore it’s just as important for me to work hard to make money and equally as important to work hard to save money, and I always have.

Today in the mail I received our free Kodak photo book of our April Vacation activities. In fact,  just about all of the photo books in my cabinet were free.

This week I also received our free sample of the new Quaker Oatmeal cookies and a free magazine to start my year-long free subscription. We gave up all paid subscriptions when we cut back on our budget a few years back.

Yesterday I received a free makeup bag full of make up and coupons from Target and free lotion samples from another offer.

Our dog’s been eating free dog treats on and off for weeks and I’ve been drinking free Gevalia Coffee mixed in with my Price Rite brand coffee.

Next weekend we’re taking a free family photo to replace the free family photo that’s been on our wall since my youngest was a toddler.

When we visited family in California two years ago, our whole family got into Disney for free.

Our kids all got into Legoland on that same trip, for free.

It can be done.

Now obviously everything in life isn’t free, but there’s lots of opportunities out there to have fun for free, and to get a few items here and there for free as well. And in this economic climate, free is good. Many of us are struggling, so every little bit helps.

Summer is coming and there are lots of things out there you can do for free. There are some free things we take advantage of every year.

I’ve already signed my family up for the AMF summer bowling program where you can bowl free all day every day from May to September.

I’ll sign up for the free summer programs for my kids at our local library and we’ll frequent the free music concerts that are held all summer long across the state.

On Wednesday afternoons we’ll try to make it to AC Moore for their free craft every week throughout the summer and should we want to take in a movie, there will be several theaters that offer them free throughout the summer.

We’ll check out the list of museums that offer free entry on Fridays and maybe do a day trip.

Doing things for free will give us more money in our summer budget to do special things as well, like getting ice cream after those free music concerts or maybe purchasing the featured craft at AC Moore if they especially love it, with a coupon of course!

What kinds of free things do you take advantage of during the year?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saying Goodbye to Summer

2 Oct

Today is October 1, and this week the weather is supposed to turn into typical fall weather. We’re in the midst of work and school routines with soccer, dance and Girl Scouts in there too. As I look around my house, I see the typical transitional things happening, like the basket of bathing suits in the hallway, leaving the bedroom closet to make way for cooler-weather wear and the laundry basket of tank tops and sleeveless dresses ready to go up into the attic.

I realized today though, it was time to take down our Summer Vacation sign. I hated to see it go.

Our Summer Vacation sign ended up being so much more than I originally intended it to be!

On the last day of school in June, my youngest daughter, Alex, was still a half-day kindergartener. I wanted her return home on the last day to be special, just like I do for her sisters at the end of the full day. I wracked my brain for something special for her to do while we waited for all of them to be together at the end of the day for the full-fledged celebration. I came up with an idea: I would write out a banner for her to color and we’d hang it up to surprise her sisters when they got home.

At first I just wrote out Happy Summer Vacation and left it at that. Then I decided that she and I would think of all the things we like to do over the summer and I’d write them all over the banner to fill it up a bit more. So that’s what we did and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon together.

We put the sign up on the wall and I kind of thought that once the other girls got home and the banner had been seen, that would be it. Little did I know how big a part the Summer Vacation banner would play into our summer and how sad I’d be today when I finally took it down.

We began marking the banner with little star stickers each time we did one of the things on there and it became a sort of bucket list. The girls would take turns placing the stars. They also began adding things that either I’d forgotten or things we were adding to our summer plans. People would see our sign and talk about it when they visited, the kids would share with them the different summer experiences they’d had. One cousin was so happy to see themselves listed on the banner since we visit them at the end of each summer, and our other cousins were thrilled to be on there as well, since they visit us each summer.

We found too, that even though there were things we thought we’d do, they didn’t all get done, but at the end of the summer we discussed how although we’d missed some of the things on our list, other things replaced them that were just as good, or better.

In the end, this was one of our best summers ever. Our kids are at great ages to be going places, doing things, and enjoying time together. In addition to all of the “usuals,” we got a dog, we went camping; we really did do some extra-special things this summer.

I’m so glad that I have this sign, which I’ll keep in our memory box, so that we can one day look back at our Summer Vacation 2011 banner and remember it all.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →