Tag Archives: living frugally

Jan 10 2011

Saving with Coupons

I posted a while back about using The Grocery Game online system for couponing. I tried to follow the method for a few weeks but it didn’t work out for me.  I’m not saying that it’s not a good system, it just didn’t work for me for a few reasons.  I have very limited storage space in the house we are renting.  I really can’t buy in large quantity and store food.  The second problem is now that we are doing the South Beach Diet I don’t want or need to buy the types of foods that are tracked.  I don’t need to buy chips, cake mix or cereal.  All I really need to buy is vegetables, meat, dairy and just a few odds and ends.

Last week I saw a show on TLC called Extreme Couponing.  These people were taking coupons to a whole new level.  One was totally obsessed, and was more like a hoarder with three rooms of her home dedicated to holding her “stockpile”.  The rest were not that over-the-top with their stockpile of foods, but had enough on hand to last them about a year.  Most of the food they purchase is free after coupons – getting $700 in groceries for about $12.  This is a video from YouTube of one of the shoppers.  She calls herself the Krazy Coupon Lady and has her own blog with information on saving with coupons.

I’m going to try a different approach to shopping and saving money.  I’ll look through the ads to find which meat and vegetables are on sale and plan my menu around that.  I may still use online coupons – from Red Plum and Smart Source to get things like toothpaste and dishwasher soap at a discount, but then again, I may do just as well with the store brands!

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Dec 16 2010

Quest for the perfect cinnamon roll

It’s the holiday season and that means baking and gift giving.  Paul has a lot of co-workers so rather than buy gifts, I’m making a batch of cinnamon rolls for him to bring in to the office on Friday. 

I had never made cinnamon rolls before, so I consulted my cookbook and found a basic recipe.  Tuesday night I made the first batch. They turned out alright, but they were small and there wasn’t enough sugary stuff between the layers.

So yesterday I called my mom to get her recipe. It’s the same method with a few minor adjustments.  And they turned out great.  Thanks Mom! Tonight I will make Mom’s recipe again and slightly under-bake them so I can finish them off in the morning.

Here’s the recipe if you are wanting to make a batch of your own:

3 1/2  c. flours
1 1/4  c. milk
1/4    c. sugar
1/4    c. shortening
1      tsp. salt
1 egg
softened butter (not melted)
sugar & cinnamon to taste

  1. Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the yeast in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Put the mil, sugar, shortening and salt in a saucepan on the stove and heat until the shortening is almost melted and the temperature is approx 115 degrees.
  3. Add the warm liquid and egg to the dry mix and beat with a hand blender for 30 seconds.  Beat an additional 3 minutes on high.
  4. Add the remaining flour and mix by hand. Knead on a floured board a few times (8-12 strokes) until dough keeps together.
  5. Let the dough rise in a greased bowl until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
  6. Punch down the dough and let rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread with the softened butter.
  8. Sprinkle on a generous amount of white sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.
  9. Roll along the long side and pinch the edge to seal.
  10. Cut into rolls and place in a greased pan to rise, 30 minutes to an hour.
  11. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until tops are browned.

Yummy!  Can’t wait to start on the gingerbread, sugar cookies and Scotchbread cookies.  And then there’s the caramel, English toffee and peanut brittle.  Better get going, only 8 more days until Christmas!

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Nov 16 2010

Results from Week 1 & 2 of The Grocery Game

Am I winning at The Grocery Game?  So far, I’m not sure.   The only store they produce a list for in my area is Safeway, which is about 12 miles from my house.  To be fair, I live outside town so any store is a little bit of a drive.  But this store is an extra 7 miles compared to my usual place.

Once of the things I have to get used to is the schedule.  It takes a little bit of work to go get a paper on Saturday and then figure out a shopping list, gather coupons and be ready to shop Monday or Tuesday.  The new store ads come out on Wednesdays, so if I wait that long it will be too late.

I’ve also had a lot of things working against me.  I’ve had both kids with me on both shopping trips.  Normally I shop when Sean is at preschool so that I only have one child to wrangle.  The first time we got a late start and ended up at the store near lunch time.  The kids were both cranky and fought the entire time.  Sean had a screaming melt-down in the store and I had to go directly to the check out without finishing shopping.  I would like to have ditched my cart and left, but I had invested so much time into shopping that I couldn’t just leave.  And then, I’d still need to shop so that wouldn’t really help my situation. 

The first trip I spent about $80 and had 45% off regular prices from club-card and coupons.  That was good, but I didn’t manage to buy meat due to my child having a screaming hissy fit in the meat section. 

This past Tuesday I spent $110, which is still less than usual and had 30% savings.  That was not as good as I had hoped, but I also bought several things that were not on sale. 

So, live and learn.  I will keep going with it for at least the free-trial period, and maybe through one 8-week paid subscription.  At least I’m starting to get the layout of the store down, which will prevent all the back-and-forth, and circle-back again trips though the aisles!

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Nov 2 2010

Time to get frugal on groceries!

At the MOPS meeting I attended (or tried to attend before my child had a melt-down), one of the women spoke about using The Grocery Game website to maximize coupons and save a bundle on grocery bills.  She brought in receipts with 50 to 60% savings.  This was not the first time I’ve heard of the Grocery Game.  I actually looked into it after seeing something on TV about the lady who started it. 

I’ve  tried with some success to use store coupons in the past.  It does require a little more preparation and organization than scribbling a list and running to the store.  Now that I have a little more time in my days I think I will give it a try.  The trick will be getting the local papers on Saturday and Sunday to get those coupon books.  I figure for $1.25 for the site and about $3 in newspapers it wouldn’t hurt to try.  I should at least break even with my investment of $4.25 per week in savings. 

I missed this weekend’s papers, and I’ve already shopped, so I’ll wait until Sunday to start and report back to you all.  Wish me luck!

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