Frugal Friday: Clean Your Kitchen

(First, I know it isn't Friday. I'm playing catch-up. Give me a little time to get into a workable schedule!)

Now you may be wondering how the act of cleaning your kitchen is frugal. Don't fret, I'm going to tell you!

One very good way I have found to be frugal is cooking at home. This is much more frugal than eating take out or even quickly cooking convience food. It is much easier to cook at home if your kitchen is acutally clean. I am also including having all the dishes clean in this exercise as well.

Scenario #1: Sunday is Mike's birthday. I have decided to make him a cake. I walk into the kitchen and there is no where to work. Dirty dishes and trash cover every inch of workspace. I become discourgaged and decide it is just easier to go to the store and purchase an already made cake than make him one.

Result: Dirty kitchen, dirty dishes, and an unplanned cake purchase $$. Not frgual at all.
Cost: $10-$15 (I will double check the actual price the next time I'm at the store.)

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Scenario #2: Sunday is Mike's birthday. I have decided to make him a cake. I walk into the kitchen where everything is clean and put away. I gather the ingredients and tools, proceeding to bake him a lovely homemade cake.

Result: Clean kitchen, clean dishes, and a lovely homemade cake. Very frgual.
Cost: $0 I already have all the ingredents on hand. No additional purchase required.

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Both scenarios are very similar yet yeild very different results. On top of spending extra money I would be purchasing a cake with extra sugar and additives in it. Yuck! I would prefer the cake where I control what goes into it and how much. We don't care for much frosting so I would lightly frost or even glaze a cake for Mike. Find that at a store.

My challenge to you is simple. Go clean your kitchen and dishes. This will allow you to bake and cook at home. This will result in more nutricious and more inexpensive meals. Simple and frugal, my favorite!

Where to begin?

I'm sure you may be wondering where you begin with all this. Trust me, it can be overwhelming. I'm going to help you out here.

1. Take an inventory of what you already have!

This may sound like a no-brainer. Think about it for a moment. How many times have you been walking around the grocery store thinking about what you have at home? This has two outcomes. You decide you don't have something and buy it, only to get home and find several already there. You couls also decide you have something at home and forgo buying it, to get home and there is none to be found. This results in another trip to the store and more money spent. Not very frugal!

This doesn't have to be very complicated. Grab a notebook. Open the frige, what are you out of? What is almost empty/gone? Write it down.

2. Write out a rough draft of a menu for the week.

Take note of your schedule when you do this. If you know you are going to be busy one night, plan something easy and quick. You don't want to plan an eight course meal on the night you are going to be running errands.

Check what ingredients you will need to purchase and write them on the shopping list.

The reason this is a rough draft is because you may get to the store and find a much better deal on something else your family loves. You can just swap out the meals and their ingredients.

Don't forget snacks and beverages!!!

3. Sit down and have a snack and something to drink.

NEVER, EVER, EVER go to a store hungry or thursty. You will make stupid and evpensive purchases. This is not frugal at all. I toss a water bottle in my purse and grab a snack on the way out. Gum also helps prevent sweet cravings while shopping. You can always see me chewing my gum and drinking my water. When we used to shop primarily at Big Y, we used to always grab a slice of pizza and a soda while checking out the flyer. I like their cafe area, nice thinking!

4. Don't forget your coupons, list, and reusable bags.

It doesn't do any good to go through all the work and leave it all behind. It would be a shame to drop the ball at this point in the game.

5. Now, go shopping!

Keep an eye out for a great deal. I was at the store tonight and steaks were marked down to $1.23-$2.00 each. That wasn't on my menu for the week, but you can be sure it is now. I was surprised to find it that inexpensive. It worked out to be cheaper than what I was planning on buying. I saved money and Mike gets his steak. It's a win-win!

6. When you get home, do prep work and put everything away.

Need to repackage anything? Do it now. Freeze things that are needed later in the week. Put things away where they belong. The more work you can do now, the easier it will be for you to prepare meals. The easier meals are for you to prepare, the more likely you are to make them. It isn't very frugal to buy food, not cook it, and end up throwing food away and ordering takeout.

7. Finish your menu and post it.

I leave mine on the fridge in a plastic sheet protector. One night's dinner might get swapped with another as plans change. It is much easier to do this with the menu in plain sight.

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That's really all that it takes. Start here and you will see your savings adding up in your very first shopping trip. There is nothing quite like instant results!

Happy couponing!
~Aimee~

More Healthy Choice Soup

Just because you don't have enough yet, Healthy Choice soup is on sale again this week at Shaws!!! I'm going to have to start making soup forts in my dining room soon. I'm running out of places to keep it. Just in case you are wondering, I LOVE the chicken noodle. I can't stand the Italian Wedding Soup. The Beef Pot Roast is ok, but not very meaty (according to Mike). Let me know which flavors you like.

Healthy Choice soup (15 oz) is on sale for 4/$5. There are coupons located right in front of the soup for $1 when you buy 3. There is a promotion that is still running where you buy 10 cans and a coupon prints for $10 off your next order of $10 or more.

Here's what it would look like:

But 10 cans ($25 before card is scanned, $12.50 after card)
Use 3 coupons from the small black coupon machine right in front of the soup, save $3

$12.50
- 3.00
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$9.50 out of pocket
+ $10 coupon (from the coupon machine at the register) good on your next order of $10 or more.

Go out to the car and drop off your soup. Now, go back in!

Buy 10 more soups, but instead of paying the $9.50 you are going to use your $10 coupon. Shaws won't give you money back, but you can use it to save $0.50 on something else in the store. This is called overage. You are using the soups to save $0.50 on something else. Anything you can find for $1 would be half off and a GREAT deal! Plus, seeing as you are buying 10 soups, ANOTHER $10 coupon will print.

Lather, rinse, repeat!!!

Happy Couponing!

Free Redbox Code 2/23

Here is a free code for any Redbox code.

S39XKT

Go enjoy a free movie!

Organizing Coupons

I am going to post how I organize my coupons. I'm sure you may be wondering how I do all this. Don't fret, I'm going to tell you.

But not today. I will update this post tomorrow with more details!

CVS ~ 2/22-2/28

Here are some good sales going on at CVS this week.

Colgate $0.88 (Limit 5)
"Save $1 on any adult or kid's Colgate toothpaste (4 oz or larger)"
Smart Source coupons flyer 2/22

Colgate $0.88
- 1.00 coupon
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.12 overage!!!!!

VO5 Shampoo and Conditioner $0.77 (Limit 6)
This is the cheapest I can find it for consistantly. I stock up when it is this price. It goes on sale every few months at this price. We have never needed more than 4 bottle of each between sales.

Walgreens ~ 2/22-2/28

Here are some good deals at Walgreens this week. I'll update as I investigate the flyers more.

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Excederin 20 ct. Express Gelcaps, 24 ct. tablets, caplets, or geltabs
Sale Price $1.99 with $1 in Register Rewards (Good towards your next purchase)

$1 Coupon

Buy 1 $1.99
- 1.00 coupon
-------
$0.99 out of pocket

Prints $1 Register Reward (good for your next purchase)

It's like getting it for FREE!!!
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In Ad Coupons

Royal Instant Pudding 4/$1 (good price)

Hunt's Tomatoe Sauce $0.39 (This is alright. You can sometimes find this for $0.33, but this isn't too bad)

Jello 2/$1 (NOT a good deal!!! This goes on sale for 5/$1 about once per month. Don't buy unless you need to.)

Potting Soil $0.99 (This is a great price. I bought some on of this on clearance last year and I still paid $0.75. It is good but a littly twiggy for my liking.)

Halls 2/$3 Use with 2 $1 off coupons and get 2/$1!!!!
$1 coupon

First Aid $0.99 (Not a terrible price. It goes on sale for 2/$1 once a month or so)

Aluminum Foil or Wax Paper $0.89 (This is a pretty good price

Printable Coupons

Here is a link to printable coupons.

Coupons

Free Redbox Code

For those who make it out and have Redbox at their Shaw's, there is a code that is good today for a free movie (actually, it can be used once per credit card). SHPNSVE2

Why didn't I think of that?

You've heard of Tuperware parties before. You've heard of Pampered Chef parties before. But have you ever heard about Coupon parties before?

Go HERE to read all about it!

Now that's something I would be interested in.

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Happy Couponing,
Aimee

CVS Colgate Deals

Here are some great deals this week at CVS! 2/15-2/21

Colgate Total Advanced toothpaste 4 oz. FREE after ECB (Limit 2)
You pay $2.99
ECB's - 2.99
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FREE

What this means - You go into your local CVS and select 1 tube of toothpaste. Now just go checkout. Hand over your card (if you don't have one, you NEED one for the deal to work!) for the cashier to scan. They will ring up the toothpaste and you will pay $2.99 plus tax. Your receipt will start to print and the computer will ::beep::. This means that an Extra Care Buck is going to be printed on your receipt. An ECB for $2.99 will be on the bottom of your receipt! Now bring your purchase out to the car. Cut the ECB off from the bottom of your receipt and head back into the store.

Select another tube of toothpaste and head up to the registers. Same thing as before, except this time hand over the $2.99 ECB instead of cash. Another ECB will print as well. You can use this on 1 more tube of toothpaste, but the computer won't print another ECB as the limit is 2 for this item. You could also use it one something else in the store. Or even use it to buy something else which prints extra care bucks!

Save $1 coupon here

Here's a deal using the coupons from above.

Using the $1 coupon

Buy 1 CVS Low Dose Chewable Aspirin 36 ct. at $1.99 and get $1.99 ECB! (Limit 1)
Pay $1.99
ECB - 1.99 prints on the bottom of your receipt
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FREE

Buy 1 Colgate toothpaste
$2.99
- 1.00 coupon
-------
$1.99 Use your $1.99 ECB from above

A $2.99 ECB will print for the toothpaste.

But 1 Colgate toothpaste
$2.99
- 1.00 coupon
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$1.99

You are going to use your $2.99 ECB from the first toothpaste, but notice the $1 difference? That is called overage. This means that you get $1 off anything else in the store. You need to buy it at the same time and they will not give you a refund. So buy your second toothpaste with something else you need in the store.

If you have coupons for your other item all the better!
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Happy Couponing,
Aimee

Welcome

Welcome to my brand new blog! This is a place for me to help others save money, show how we, not only live frugally, but thrive!

Now, on to the saving money!