Pick your own produce

A few Saturday's ago my family and I spent the morning picking our own blueberries! It was a great family activity and the part that made mom really happy was that we got 4.75 pounds of blueberries for just $4!

We went to

Bear Mountain Blueberry Farm
8227 Clayton Cove Road
Springville, Alabama
681-8656

Look for farms in your area. Pickyourown.org is a site that can help you locate farms in your area. It's a great way for the family to get out as well as get a great deal on fresh produce!

What to do with the bags sheets come in

I just bought new sheets at Christmastime (thanks Grandma!) and it killed me to throw out the thick, plastic, zippered cases they came in. So what is a mom to do? Upcycle!

I simply sewed a strap to the top (that's the black thing you see). The strap was a thick piece of ribbon. It's as simple as that.

There are pouches in the front and back where the labels for the sheets went. You can stick a picture, label, or card (as seen here) in those pouches and fill your new bag with whatever you want. I chose to hold my handmade cards in this one. But I thought that yarn would be a great thing for these to hold. You could even punch a large eyelet trough the bag and string the yarn through to keep control of the yarn for a project you are working on!

The value of a penny

If I haven't convinced you to use coupons before maybe this will help...

The total cost of all of the items you see here is 1 penny.

Yes, that's right, that penny that was on the ground that you didn't pick up, was picked up by me and I turned it into all of this!

Using a combination of store sales, coupons, free samples, and CVS's extra care rewards program the total cost of everything ended up being one penny. I bought $40 worth of items that day that
are not pictured here but these were just a penny. Ahhhh.... it feels so good.....

What are you waiting for? Get couponing today!! http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ has helped me learn the tricks of the trade. Let her help you too.

Publix Weekly Penny Item

As if you needed another reason to love Publix here is one more - the Publix penny item!!

Each Sunday and Monday Publix has a mystery item that they price at just one penny! That's right, one penny! You might as well consider it free.

How it works: You must buy $10 worth of groceries (before coupons and the original cost of the penny item is included) and you can only get one item at that price per visit. There is a coupon in the ad in the Sunday paper but many stores do not require it. The Publix on 31 in Vestavia and Hoover, Alabama do not require the coupon. Make sure the checker discounts it though if you don't have the coupon.

Items that have been the penny item recently have been, apple juice, toilet paper, tortilla chips, salad dressing, window cleaner and more.

I save my shopping for Monday and there are two stores close to my house. I will go to one in the morning to get most of my items and get a penny item then. If there were items that the first store had sold out of I will then go to the other store to get the rest of my items and get another penny item.

Don't forget that Publix doubles coupons up to $.50 and you can pair a manufacturers coupon with a store coupon to maximize your savings. Also, don't forget that they also take competitors coupons so all those Bruno's $5 off a $30 purchase (pre-coupon savings) can be used as well.

What to do with old formula cans

I love formula cans, there are so many uses for them. You can decorate them to hold anything you want. I have cans decorated all over my house to hold pencils, craft scissors, craft hand punches, candy, cotton balls, crayons, and more! You are only limited to your imagination. They can also be decorated and used to give someone a batch of homemade cookies or candy. There can be a sharp edge around the inside so make sure that if a child will be using it you take precautions to cover the sharp edge with fabric or felt.
I made these little Halloween candy jars using fabric, felt and a hot glue gun. I made a little bag using some fabric I had lying around and glued the edge to the outside of the can. This is to be kept inside the can to cover the can. I then wrapped it with felt (to cover the edge of the bag) and added felt accessories. On the cat, I added wire whiskers. The other is made just using paper, glue and a few scrapbook accessories.

A great way to upcycle those formula cans!

Make Your Own Coupon Keeper

This picture is just another reminder that buying with coupons and store sales has its rewards. All of the items on this table cost me just under $25. Also, another reminder that the WIC program is a great way to be able to give your babies the nutrition they need. The items on the Lazy Susan in the center (cereal, milk, cheese, juice and eggs) were from WIC. To view my previous post about WIC and to see if you qualify click here.

Now... onto the coupon keeper....

Here is to all of you who say "If you haven't used something in 6 months, get rid of it." Well, I have a hard time following that principle because of days like today. I was in desperate need of a larger coupon holder and I didn't want to have to buy a binder and business card holder inserts. I estimated that to do so would have cost me around $10-$15 which would have defeated the point of all my coupon clipping these past few weeks.

So, this morning I went digging in an old drawer and found a picture holder from the 7th grade (yes, that would be 15 years ago). Thank goodness I didn't throw it out! There were a few crummy pictures in it and I hadn't touched it for years. I took the pictures out and created paper tabs (I cut my tabs using my Cricut but you can just fold over rectangles of paper) and stapled them to the inside. I then sorted my coupons.

Simple as that! They are now organized, easy to view, and easy to find. Now I won't be flipping through my messy stacks of coupons trying to find what I am looking for. It's a great way to reuse all those picture books you are not using.

What to do with old cookie sheets

Here is an idea for what to do with an old cookie sheet. Mine were rusty and it was time for them to die. But since I can't just let things go I had to find a new use for it.

I made this one into a Christmas countdown calendar. I just painted the old cookie sheet red and glued on paper to create the design I wanted. I used mod podge over the whole thing to seal it up. The scalloped square is just a piece of chipboard I had laying around in my scrapbook supply box, I painted and decorated it and glued magnets (I used advertisement magnets that I cut up) to the back. This part moves from day to day. The last two days are glass magnets that I made (using cut outs from magazines), one with Santa and one with Jesus.

You don't have to just make advent calendars. Since they are magnetic you can create a message board, a picture keeper, a place to display your child's art for the day, a weekly meal schedule, etc. The options are only limited to your imagination.

Frozen Pizza Bagels - Under $3 a dozen!

After last weeks post about coupons my mother said to me, "What are you going to do with all that food?" Well, here is one thing I did with it - made Frozen Pizza Bagels!

For less than $3 for the whole batch I made a dozen pizza bagles. Here is my reciepe and how to freeze them.

6 Plain Bagles
1/2 can spaghetti sauce
1 c. mozarella cheese
2 mushrooms diced
about 15 slices of pepperoni chopped

1. Lay bagel halves on cookie sheet with insides facing up.
2. Coat each one with a generous amount of sauce (some sauce will soak into bagel).
3. Top with cheese and toppings.
4. Lightly press down on the toppings so some sauce touches everything. (The sauce is like the glue of the frozen pizza. If your toppings touch even a little bit of the sauce they are more likely to stay on the pizza when it is frozen.)
5. Place cookie sheet in freezer for an hour or so. Once pizzas are frozen you can take them off the cookie sheet and wrap them however you choose for long term storage. You can place them individually in sandwich bags, wrap in Saran wrap, place in Tupperware etc. Whichever fits you, your budget and your freezer best is what you should do.
6. When ready to cook. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake on cookie sheet for about 10 minutes (approx. time. Make sure you watch them carefully all ovens are different!). You can also place them in the microwave for 2 minutes.


This is a great way to stock up on foods you love and not spend a whole lot of money doing it. These pizzas took me less than 15 minutes to prepare and saved me lots of money! And besides... who doesn't love pizza?!?

Why Coupons Are Awesome!!!

So I have some great friends who are amazing and have inspired me to start using coupons. The picture above is from my first trip trying out the coupon technique the pros use. I have to admit is was a complete success and I couldn't be happier. The above items should have cost me $92.23 (before taxes) but instead I saved $64.02 and all of this food only cost me $28.21 (before taxes). I was grinning form ear to ear as I left the store revelling in my new triumph.

Now, let me tell you how I did it...

How to get coupons: You can get coupons from the paper, blinkies and stands in the aisles of the store, from ads at the front of the store, from signing up for free coupons and freebies from the manufacturers site, or there are a plethora of websites that will direct you to coupons you can print from your computer. Here is one that I like called Money Saving Mom. Collect as many as you can.

Use them with Buy One Get One Free deals: I shop at Publix which frequently has B1G1Free sales. When chips are normally $4 and you can B1G1Free you don't have to buy two to get the deal you can just buy one for just $2. If you also have a coupon for $1 off you end up paying only $1 for the chips that were normally $4 saving you $3! Many stores also double coupons that are 50 cents or less. So a 50 cent coupon is actually $1. Where you can really stock up is when you have more than one coupon. Check your stores B1G1Free deals for the week and plan ahead. If your coupon is for more that the price the remaining money is called overage and is deducted from another item.

Here's a breakdown of some of the stuff that I bought today and the savings.

A-1 Sauce Various Flavors

• Originally $3.79.
• B1G1Free Sale Price $1.90
• Coupon $2.00 off
• Total for each $-.10

Oscar Mayer Beef Jumbo Franks

• Originally $3.99
• B1G1Free Sale Price $1.99
• Coupon $1.00 off when you buy 2
• Total for each $.99

Kraft Dressings Various Flavors

• Originally $2.99
• B1G1Free Sale Price $1.49
• Coupon $1.50 off
• Total for each $-.01

Betty Crocker Turtle Supreme Brownie Mix

• Originally $2.55
• B1G1Free Sale Price $1.28
• Coupon $.50 off when you buy two but was doubled so it was actually $1 off when you buy two
• Total for each $.78 plus there is a coupon on the boxes for 2 free movie tickets with 10 UPC's all I need is 4 more from other participating brands and I get to see Harry Potter 6 for free too!

Lenders Bagels

• Originally $2.09
• B1G1F sale price $1.05
• Coupon $1.00 off when you buy 3
• Total for each $.71

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread Assorted Flavors

• Originally $1.99
• 4 or $5 sale $1.25 each
• Coupon save $1 when you buy 2
• Total for each $.75

Triscut Assorted Flavors

• Originally $3.19
• B1G1Free sale price $1.60
• Coupon save $1 when you buy 2
• Total for each $1.10

I also got a dollar off of the roast beef from a store coupon and the olives weren't on sale, I just wanted them. :) As you can see the savings are significant and I'm not even a pro yet. A friend of mine bought $180 dollars in groceries the other day and only ended up spending $60 a savings of $120!

Think of what this will mean to your budget as well as your food storage. You never know what is going to happen if you will loose your job, a grocery worker strike or a natural disaster with take out the food supply. Won't it feel good to know that your savvy shopping and the food you have stored up will be there when you need it? Doomsday's aside - I'm just happy that I now have brownies on hand for all those parties and Church activities that I will be asked to bring a treat to!

Free Hot Dogs

We all pretend that we are disgusted by them but let's face it... everyone loves hot dogs!

Go get yourself a coupon for a free pack! Oscar Mayer is giving out coupons for a free package. Click here to sign up.