Hello Saturday!

Every other Saturday is busy for us, lovelies.  We are the site managers for our neighborhood Bountiful Baskets.  We get awesome produce and have met some very cool people.  The only thing about it is that we (yes, the entire crew) are up uuuuber early in the morning.  So when we get back home before 8am, I usually use the rest of the day to get things done.
Kale Chips:  Kale rubbed with olive oil and season salt and baked for 8 minutes on each side. So yummy!!

DIY laundry detergent made with lavender castille soap (the Ivory soap was way too soft to grate. Dr. Bronner's castille was perfect) the ingredients on the table and grapefruit essential oil. Smells so good!! At an average of 3 cents per load, and safe for cloth diapers, who can argue? I'll let you know how it cleans!

I made dinner and S1 suggested lettuce wraps for the ground beef.  What an awesome kid.  The lettuce wraps and coconut rice were delicious.  Craving one right now, but I am spent.

Extreme Couponing.

Lovelies, I enjoy a good deal.  The least amount of money for the best deal out there always makes me happy! I love that my grocery store upgrades all coupons to $1 and stacks coupons from the specific store and the manufacturer, and I recently graduated my coupons to a binder.  Yes.  Even I was surprised about that.  The thing is that I needed more space and slots for my savings!  It has paid off handsomely!  I have saved an average of 50-60% on my grocery bills so far, which I thought was pretty good!! Until I watched 'Extreme Couponing' on TLC.  OMgoodness.  Are these people geniuses or insane? Are they stockpiling or hoarding? All I know is that I want to be able to save 98% on my grocery outings!  One thing I did notice while watching the show was that these people buy things that they don't really need- who needs 100s of boxes of pasta or 300 sticks of deoderant? Granted, one extreme couponer was making care packages for soldiers but he was the only one who seemed to be sharing the wealth.  Also, these people appeared to be extreeeeeemely stressed out when clipping coupons and when they went through the checkout line.  One lady was actually turning red and sweating!
To me, couponing should be enjoyable.  I don't clip coupons for items that I do not typically use or need.  Many of the Extreme Couponers clipped everything!!! Stuff has expiration dates and you cannot tell me that a family is going to get through a garage full of grocery items before something goes bad (don't let me start about the preservatives that maintain these products for however long!! Post for another time).  I suppose it can be done if it's a large family but really, what is a couple with no children going to do with an ever-growing stockpile of shampoo/pasta/butterfinger chocolate bars? It kind of boggles my mind, lovelies. These extreme couponers are spending 20 and more hours per week, searching, clipping and making their lists.  A few of them go to stores more than twice a week.  I couldn't do it.  Like I said, I love a great deal but I love my sanity and peace of mind more.  Just my humble opinion!
Can I tell you what I scored for free today using coupons? 5 bags of Graham Goldfish, 1 container of Mentos gum, two tubes of toothpaste, a bottle of Metromint water and a 4.4lb bag of brand name dog food.  Not too shabby right? ;)

DIY foaming hand soap.

Tired of waiting on a Bath and Body Works sale so that you can get their foaming hand soap? Wait no more lovelies, as I have come accross an amazing (and green) recipe so that you can make your own!! I am probably totally late to the party on this one and I don't know about you, but even though I love the BBW foaming soap, I find myself diluting it just so the scent is not so strong.  Hubby can't use it because even me diluting it, he has an allergic reaction to the smell.   With this super easy recipe, you can choose your own scent and strength.  YUM!

You want the recipe? Do ya? Lovelies, it really works.

Pure and Natural Diva

So we have the green factor, using earth friendly ingredients plus we're recycling the empty BBW foaming soap bottles.  Pretty decent deal! I made two bottles this morning using Dr. Bronners.

Let me know if you try it! Leave a comment about how it works for you!

It's EARTH DAY! (and my icky little secret)

What did you do to reduce your carbon footprint today? We recycled, upcycled and put a TON of stuff aside for donations.  Whew! OK, we have been working little by little on getting rid of stuff and getting reorganized, but then we saw a bug. Then we saw a few more.  We tried to get rid of them with a spray mixture of water, dish soap and peppermint oil but they just kept coming! I HATE BUGS. We caved and called the bug man who also happens to be our former neighbor. Because of having to get stuff out of the bug man's way, we had amp up our upcycling and donation efforts.  I have a lot of stuff in organized piles, ready for proper containers or 'get this out of the house' pile.  This weekend will be dedicated to our produce co-op, purging out the stuff we don't use and organizing the stuff we do use.  It has been a long time coming. *sigh* Happy Earth Day! (Oh, I almost forgot, I bought some cool cloth diapers for the noob today! I had to. They were on sale and they are super cute!)

New Year's Eve Score!

To get the jist of this story, I have to start from what happened last night.  Last night, I sat at my kitchen table organizing new, expiring soon and expired coupons.  In pile of 'expiring soon' coupons were two  $3 off Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal, expiring 12/31. I got the coupons in the mail from Vocalpoint! (Sign up for coupons and samples in exchange for feedback).  As you may know, this cereal sells for about $4-$5 per box.  Target has been the least expensive so far at $3.69. So with the coupon, I'd be paying just 69 cents per box right?  Cool.  I stashed the coupons in my purse and figured that if I was up to it, I would go to Target, even though it's out of the way from my work-home route.

Fast forward to today- I happened by Fry's (which is right on my work-home route) and went to the health food section.  Well low and behold, GoLean Crunch was on sale for......


wait for it......











$2.99 per box!!!! So- 2 boxes at $2.99 per box, plus two $3.00 off coupon equals FREE plus change back.  Yes honey, I scored two free boxes of GoLean Crunch plus 2 cents back into my pocket. Gotta love it. ;)

Coupon Thursday!!!

Alright good people, I love coupons.  I use them and have actually learned a lot about store coupon policies, 'stacking,' how to organize and when to use them in order to get the best possible deal.  I don't have a big binder, but I do have a coupon wallet.  I have seen some really great ways to organize coupons according to store, item, discount, etc. I will post ideas (and who came up with them) as I blog.

There are a TON of wonderful blogs devoted to nothing but amazing deals and super coupon scenarios.
Two of my favorite blogs on coupons, deals and scenarios are It's Hip to Save and The Krazy Coupon Lady.

For awesome printables, start with www.coupons.com (link on the right sidebar!).  I'm not sure about your local grocery stores, but my local Fry's is making all coupon values $1, which is fab if your manufacturer's coupon is 35cents or something like that.  I can usually get out of the store saving about 50% on my groceries between coupon and my Fry's card.  Not too shabby!

If you are new to couponing, start slow.  It can get overwhelming.  I can't understand why people would shop without coupons, especially with how expensive even the essentials are!

Do you coupon?  Tell me about your experiences!

How did I miss this?

How on earth did I miss the site Happy Bambino after two babies since 2007?  This is a site after my own heart, encompassing breastfeeding, babywearing and earth friendly products for mama and baby.  Plus if you are local to the area- Madison, Wisconsin, you can go in for workshops on labor and delivery (including prenatal yoga!), breasfeeding, infant massage, signing, cloth diapering and an array of other pertinent topics! Wow!!!! The prices on items from nursing bras to slings are very competitive.  The site is going on my 'Cool With Me' list for sure. 

Right now the store/site is having a slew of giveaways, celebrating 5 years in business.  Way to go! I am looking forward to getting to know this site better!

I love to save money!!

You will quickly learn this about me! I love to save money whenever I shop and then tell people about how much money I saved! My husband will even tell friends that he is fully aware that I never pay full price for pretty much anything that comes into our house! Haha.
Anyway, a great way to save on items (especially baby and kid stuff) is to find a site like Baby Half Off.  This momma features brand new items, one at a time for rock bottom prices.  She lives in the same state as me, which puts her on my 'cool with me' list! So here is the first of my many money saving links! Enjoy!