A Steal of a Deal

I've been couponing for about 16 months now. I dabbled in the art of couponing our last few months in New Orleans and when we moved to Huntsville, I really picked it up. When we moved to Huntsville, we hadn't worked in approximately six weeks and money was tight, so I didn't really have a choice as to whether to save money. While we both have good jobs in Huntsville, I continue to coupon because I enjoy it and if I didn't, I'm afraid Dave Ramsey would yell at me and tell me that this is one more way that I can help us get out of debt. When I tallied our receipts from last year, I saved $4000 last year in coupons, so I would say it's worth it for the Wilkerson household. 

I'm not extreme like those on the TLC show Extreme Couponing, but I do have a stockpile of goods but it consists of our hallway closet. And if you were to see me out shopping, I may or may not have my couponing notebook with me and if you were to look in my cart you would worry about our diet because none of the ingredients usually go together. The point of couponing is to buy items at the lowest price and buy enough of it to last until the next time it goes on sale (between 6 weeks and 2 months).

I usually shop on Fridays. I don't work on Fridays and the crowds are significantly less with everyone at work. However, in the summer, the crowds are a bit bigger and my summer schedule does not always allow me to do such on any given Friday. Tomorrow, we're headed to Atlanta, so I went shopping tonight...in the middle of a summer thunderstorm. Needless to say, I was drenched several times, but I saved lots of money and that makes everything worth it. 

I went to Publix and here's what I got:

I spent $6.80 and saved $16.36 or 71%.

Remember, I said you buy things at their lowest price and buy enough to last until the next time it goes on sale. Hershey's syrup goes on sale a little less often than other goods, so I bought four bottles just in case. Here's the breakdown:

• 4 Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, BOGO for $1.10 each and then had $1/2 manufacturer's coupon = $2.40 for 4
• 3 Chex Mix, BOGO for $1.30 each and had $0.50 manufacturer's coupon that doubled to $1 = $0.30 per bag, $0.90 for all 3 bags
• Eckrich Sausage for jambalaya (after all, we did live in New Orleans for many years), on sale for $2, had $0.55 manufacturer's coupon = $1.45
• Colgate toothbrush, on sale for $4/2 (not a great price, but it was time for new toothbrushes in the Wilkerson household - no we don't share, I already had another one in the stockpile) with a $0.40 manufacturer's coupon that doubled to $0.80 = $1.20

$5.92 + $0.88 tax = $6.80 TOTAL

I went to SuperTarget and used a lot of Target coupons printed from their website. Here's what I got:

I spent $8.77 and saved $25.85 or 75%.

Here's the breakdown:

• Sugar (not on sale but we needed it, we live in the South and sweet tea is a requirement) $3.09
• Up & Up Face Wash $2.10 - $0.75 Target coupon = $1.35
• Up and Up Nail Polish Remover $0.97 - $0.50 Target coupon = $0.47
• Pillows (standard, no frills) $2.50 - $2 Target coupons = $0.50, bought 2, $1.00
• Up and Up Liners $0.87 - $0.75 Target coupon = $0.12
• Benadryl Itch Sticks $2.29 - $2 manufacturer's coupon = $0.29, bought 2, $0.58
• Sharpie markers, 2 pack for $1 - $1 Target coupon = FREE, used 4 coupons, 8 total markers for FREE
• Papermate pens 10 pack for $1.02 - $1 Target coupon = $0.02, used 4 coupons, $0.08 for 40 pens
• Aussie hairspray $4.54 - $1 off 2 Target coupon - $3 manufacturer's coupon = $0.54 for 2 bottles

$7.60 + $1.17 tax = $8.77


Each time I go shopping, my goal is to save 70% so I met my goal on both accounts. I used to clip coupons with my Papa when I was much younger. I think he wanted me to practice my scissor skills, but it also is a chore doing all that cutting...in the end it's definitely worth it and he would be so proud of my efforts!

Tie Dye with Sharpies

Apparently, the act of tie dying something with Sharpies is nothing new...however, it is new to me! I had read the idea on several blogs and was being crafty tonight so decided to try it out. I took a plain white shirt that was a bit worn out, just in case I messed up horribly. It started out like this:

I took a disposable cup and placed it under the shirt and wrapped a rubber band around it. I also took some old cardboard and placed between the layers of the shirt.

Then, I grabbed my Sharpies and started making dots to form a circle. I drew six small dots like this:

Then I took another colored Sharpie and drew six more dots in the spaces I had left of the circle. The various directions I read said to use an eye/medicine dropper to place approximately 15 drops of rubbing alcohol on the Sharpie. I did not have an eye/medicine dropper so I improvised with a drinking straw.

As I dropped the alcohol on the marker, the ink bled in various directions and the various colored markers bled together.

Here is the mostly finished product. It's drying on the table right now.

It's not the best thing I've ever created, but it was fun and allowed me to be crafty because I already had all the supplies within my reach.

The Pineapple Incident

I love pineapple! 

This includes but is not limited to the eating of pineapple and pineapple flavored things, the smell of pineapple, the purchasing of pineapple (especially if I have a coupon), and the list goes on. I was recently introduced to this fabulous yogurt by my friend Pam and it is amazing. It can be served as a fruit dip, added to a dessert recipe (layered cake, yogurt, and fruit), or eaten alone. 

I even have pineapple mango wallflowers plugged in throughout our apartment. 

Last week, I was able to buy fresh pineapple at Publix for $1.25 due to an incredible coupon I had. Yummy!

A few months ago, I was able to buy a lot of canned pineapple for cheap due to a sale and a coupon. 

 Up until this point, I have done nothing with the canned pineapple other than have it sit on a shelf in my pantry. Then, I remembered a great recipe I had when I was younger called baked pineapple. With a simple phone call to my mom, I had the recipe and the baked pineapple was in the oven (yes, the toaster oven because it creates less heat and let's face it, it's already so stinkin' hot outside!)

 

 And after 20 minutes in the oven, it comes out like this -

It might not look appetizing but it's delicious. It tastes like a bread pudding of sorts with added pineapple. And before you ask, here is the recipe:

 Baked Pineapple

In a bowl combine the following ingredients - 

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon butter

12 oz. crushed pineapple, drained

(My can was 15 oz. and it was chunks instead of crushed, and it worked great!)

Pour the mixture in a casserole dish.

Cut 5 slices of bread into cubes and place on top of mixture. 

Melt a stick of butter and pour on top of the bread. 

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 or until bread is toasty on top. 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

Last spring, I planted a garden and had little success. This spring, I wanted to try again so I asked for a Lowe's gift card for my birthday so I could purchase all my supplies. First, let me define my garden. I live in an apartment on the second story. I have no plot of land so my garden must be contained in pots on my patio. Last spring, I tried the upside down tomato plant contraption. I wasn't sure it would work but I wanted to find out for myself. It produced four tomatoes. I may have produced more, had I remembered to water it. I also planted some flowers which were nice to enjoy but only temporary and a fern which the birds took over and planted a nest in. This spring, I decided to do something different. I saved my tomato plant contraption so I bought another tomato plant.

Here is the second harvesting of tomatoes: 

Clearly they are not ready to be picked yet, but they're turn red eventually and in the top left you can see another flower that hopefully will produce more tomatoes.

This spring, I have been much more diligent in watering and checking on my plants. But even with the attention to that very important detail, the cilantro I planted didn't make it.

 

Here is our jalapeno pepper plant, but it has yet to produce anything. It has flowers and the flowers stick around for awhile but eventually die or blow away. I'm hoping to see something soon. 

Now with the other pots, I have to confess, I am unsure of what all is growing in each pot. From the beginning, I didn't buy a different pot for every seed I had. I wasn't sure how successful I would be so I planted two things in each pot, hoping it would work but not willing to invest any more money than I already had. Here is the first pot, which I know has red peppers in it (hence the red pot), and perhaps some squash and/or zucchini. 

And here is the other pot that has beans and either the squash or the zucchini (whichever one isn't in the red pot). 

And yes I have 2 of those aqua globes that I found last year in Target's $1 aisle. They semi-work but I still water every day just in case that's not enough. I even asked my friend Amy to water my plants while I was away in Nashville at a work conference a few weeks ago. I'm trying to be very diligent in caring for them in hopes that they will produce a small harvest of food! My only regret is that when Jeremy and I owned a house with a large yard, I never bothered planting anything, not even a shrub.

A Sofa Shelf

I would like to take credit for this awesome shelf idea that we built behind our couch but ultimately I copied the idea from my friend, Meagen. Thanks to my mom, $20 showed up in the mail this week - I LOVE it when that happens! I knew my mom would not want me to spend it on bills or groceries but rather something fun so off to Lowe's we went. A piece of wood, some L brackets and some decorative tiles, here it is!

We even have some money left over!