Some deals for you to look for

• If you have the $1 off Rhodes coupon look for the small 12 ct package in the freezer section for about $1.29. This will score you some rolls for about 29cents!
• If you have the BOGO coupon (from the papers) for Magic Erasers and the 75 cent coupon (from Home Made Simple) you can use them both and get (2) 2ct packages for $1.25 total.
• Look for $1.50 off peelies on the Precious Mozzarella.

After spending some time reading blogs with Walmart matchups, printing coupons, and organizing my coupons I made a solo trip to Walmart.  It’s not my favorite place to coupon, but I knew it was time.  I planned to take my time and see how many deals I could find in addition to the things I knew I was looking for.  I was pretty happy with how the trip turned out.  Many of the things in the picture were things we were completely out of, a couple were things I had great coupons that I thought might give me some “overage,” and the rest were things I knew we would use that were great deals.

My total before coupons (including sales) was $53.49

Amount saved with just coupons $23.25

Number of items purchased-27

Number of coupons applied to products (some were BOGO) -25

My total after coupons was $30.24!

I was very happy with this total because like I said before this trip was not just a “stockpiling/couponing trip” it was largely a trip for things we were out of (dish washing detergent, dish soap, oatmeal, deodorant, a roll of paper towels (rather than our former Costco pack), butter etc.)

The other thing that was great about this trip was that almost all the food products I purchased were healthy, natural, or organic.  With the exception of the biscuits and the Yoplait (still fairly healthy) most of the food was minimally processed and free from weird ingredients (the turkey bacon might be semi-questionable, but it is a rare treat and better than regular bacon).

The reason that I show my what I purchase at stores occasionally is so that you can see how much I can get for my money, and that you don’t necessarily have to live off junk food if you coupon.

Hints-

• Go later in the evening when the store is slow and easy to navigate.

• Double check all your coupons before you hand them over to make sure they are for the right product and not expired.

Have you had a great trip lately? Tell me about it or post about it and share the link!

You know me, I am always a girl with a plan. Vacations are no different.  And I LOVE Disneyland. Here are some of my tips to help you have a smooth trip and save money.

Here is our basic plan.  We bought annual passes for my husband and I (the Deluxe ones) with the plan to take two trips inside of a year. This makes it much cheaper that buying two sets of park hopper tickets.  Our children are under three and are free.  We stay at the Howard Johnson with the entertainment book rate to get our rooms at $69.99 a night.  We drive to save money, bring lots of our own food, have a vehicle available to go eat at cheaper places, explore other areas, and take more stuff than we could if we flew.  (Our annual pass also gets us 10% off at most restaurants.)

Here is a more detailed information to use when planning a trip.

When to go and where to stay.

• It is almost always cheaper to book your vacation yourself.

• Go during the off season-You will get better hotel rates, cheaper plane tickets if you fly, and have fewer crowds to deal with.

• Stay off property-Our definite first choice is the Howard Johnson with their entertainment rate (you will need a current card when you check in).  Go visit their message boards to familiarize yourself with how the rate works.  Basically, they have stellar rates ranging from $59-$99 dollars per nights based on your room choice available during certain dates.  They open up dates a few months in advance and then close and open specific dates based upon occupancy.  I plan our vacations around when the rates are available.  We stayed there for the first time in April and loved it. We are currently planning out next vacation and will also be using the entertainment rate.  After MUCH research we decided to stay in the NQQ2 rooms which are $69 dollars a night.  We loved it and will be staying in the same type of room again.  I looked for a week that had multiple dates available in a row and then booked the other non-entertainment book rate night at the best rate they could give me. I continued to watch the date (I am friends with them on Facebook and get notifications when the dates change) and was able to get that Saturday night at that great rate also when it became available.

• HoJo Pros-Great new pirate themed water play area and a separate pool area.  Clean and well manicured grounds. New beds in many of the rooms. Great customer service.  Best value of any of the nearby hotel options.
• HoJo Cons-Completely within walking distance, but a little farther that some other hotels. No continental breakfast. (You can easily purchase your own breakfast items for much less than the amount you would spend to stay at a different hotel that provided breakfast.)

• If you have a large family the best deal I have seen would be a new “Pirate themed Kid Suite.” These are basically like two adjoining rooms. One with a bunk, pull-out, and bathroom. The other side with a king bed and second bathroom. If the entertainment rate is available you can get this room for $99.

Disneyland Tickets

If you are at a place in life where you think you would be able to go twice within a years time consider buying an annual pass. The Deluxe option allows you access 315 days of the year for $289 (recent price increase). You will also get discounts with this pass.

As an example a  four day Park Hopper pass is currently $169 for children ages 3-9 and $199 for adults.

If you bought a pass every other year you could visit once when you first purchase your pass, once right before it expires, then skip a year and purchase one a year later and do the same thing over again.  Thus, going about every year but only purchasing the pass every other year and taking two vacations within the passes one year window.

If you want to visit other parks in Southern California look into buying a “Southern California City Pass.” These are often available at Costco and are usually cheapest there.

Food

Pack some of your own food-We take a cooler, bring food, and stop by Trader Joe’s when we are running low.

If you are without a car you could take a taxi to the store to get some food, or if your order is for $50 or more Vons will deliver groceries for free to your hotel!

Pick the places you want to eat with your family ahead of time. This will prevent you from eating at the nearest place when your child has a meltdown from hunger.  Look at what foods are available where in the parks to get the most for your money and allow you pick things your children will actually eat.  It will also help you stick within your budget. The DIS message boards have a great database with all the restaurants, meals, and prices.

Here is a spreadsheet with menu items organized by price (low to high) created by Hurleysweety from DISboards. It has a tab for counter service at both Disneyland, California Adventure, and one for table service restaurants in both parks.  Such a fun tool that will help you find the most inexpensive foods in the parks easily.

Eat at at counter service restaurants in the parks rather than sit down the majority of the time with a few “special meals” planned.

Our favorite counter service

• We like Red Rocket’s Pizza Port (DL),
• The Corn Dog cart on main street (DL)
• Taste Pilot’s Grill (best burgers, chicken sandwiches and tons of toppings you add yourself) (DCA)
• Pacific Wharf Cafe-Great fresh food. Bread bowls, sandwiches, and salads. (DCA)
• BEST DEAL-White Water Snacks at the Grand Californian Hotel (Exit DCA near Grizzly River Run into the hotel property and ask for directions). Best food value on the property. Try the nachos, french dip, or breakfast sandwich.
• Watch the Billy Hillbillies and eat the food at the counter service restaurant there or have a sundae there. (DL)

Places with great ambiance or great food for “special meals” treats.

• Blue Bayou-This is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Expensive, but cheaper for lunch. Make a “priority seating” for this restaurant. (DL)
• Carnation Cafe-Great baked potato soup, Sandwiches, etc. (DL)
• Cafe Orleans-Pommes frites, Mickey shaped beignets, Monte Cristo sandwich,
• Plaza Inn Restaurant- Good chicken dinner (DL)
• Rainforest Cafe-If your kids would appreciate it it’s a fun place to eat. (DD)
• Wine Country Trattoria-Italian (DCA)

Downtown Disney’s best food deals-

A couple of the large restaurants in Downtown Disney also have walk up counter service windows with more basic menus.  This is a great way to eat at some of these places without spending as much.

We like…

• Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
• Tortilla Joe’s walk up window

You could also try…

• Jamba Juice (fills you up for a good price)
• Wetzel’s Pretzels (good pretzels and pretzel dogs)

Save more money by eating outside of the parks- In and Out (short drive), McDonald’s (walking distance). Or for sit down meals try Mimi’s (near HoJo) or Millie’s (walking distance).

Places to avoid-Captain Kidds (gross), IHOP (overpriced)

Spending

• Bring some little souvenirs from home (t-shirts (especially expensive in park), light sticks, stuffed Disney characters they already own), and then let each kid pick out ONE thing near the end of your trip after looking throughout your trip.  Let them know the plan ahead of time and tell them they can save up if they would like a little more spending money.

• Pack smartly to avoid extra expenses- Will you be traveling during a rainy season? Bring your own ponchos which will be much cheaper from somewhere like Walmart. Make sure every person brings a hoody or light weight jacket to avoid purchasing a $60 dollar sweatshirt when someone gets cold or wet.

Hints-

• First aid station has water (and of course first aid supplies and medications). Bring your own water bottle and refill it there rather than the drinking fountains.

• If your family can’t survive on water alone, bring some of those little drink packets to mix into your water bottles so you don’t end up spending $3 or a drink.

• Get a headache?……Before purchasing medicine from one of the little stores in the park, check and see if the first aid station has something you could have free of charge.

• Sign up for Mimi’s  E-Club for restaurant coupons about 2 weeks prior to your trip.  They sent us a great coupon we were able to use to get a free breakfast (not BOGO).  This is especially great if you are staying at HoJo since it is right there.

• Have the Photo Pass people take pictures with your camera at all the great classic places in the park.

Abbreviations

DL- Disneyland

DCA- Disney’s California Adventure

DD-Downtown Disney

HoJo- Howard Johnson

I get excited just thinking about this stuff! Can’t wait for our next trip!

Anything confusing or have a question? Leave me a message and I will respond in the comments section.

Here are some of our pictures from my favorite moments the last couple weeks.

Our little ducklings showing some team love.

“First day of school.” Who doesn’t like a few extra songs and stores and some front porch photos.

First time playing in the sand at the beach.

Today you should be able to find 2 inserts in your paper. (1) Smart Source and (1) Red Plum. Go visit Bargain Briana to see her lists of  “highlights” get an idea of her favorites.  This might help you decide if you want more than one paper. I am thinking that one paper will do me this week.

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Here are some of the sweet things I have scored lately (almost all of them through the mail).  The freebies and coupons that accompany them are from the last month or so, and the magazines are from the last couple months.

Interesting items include:

2 coupons for free boxes of cereal, 2 free Hallmark cards, lots of laundry product samples, roll of toilet paper (first time I have gotten that), a free mini spray bottle of natural cleaner, some really fun magazines, and some magazines I mainly sign up for because I like their coupons (i.e. Oprah and Parents).

Update 9/20-If you still have not redeemed your gift card the people manning the booth should still be there through least part of the afternoon Sunday. Hurry down there if you signed up and have not picked yours up yet!

Also, if you happened to have spent $75 dollars total at Salem Center between Thursday and today (Sunday) you can also get a free $10 gift card to use anywhere in the mall.

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If you signed up for one of the $10 gift cards don’t forget that you can redeem them starting today and continuing through Saturday! (At Salem Center it is September 17 – 19…other malls redemption period may be different.)

Bring your printed voucher and identification to the “Shop Smart” event  to pick up your gift card. If you don’t see anything out in the open just ask a security guard where the mall office is.

If I find out specifically where you can pick up your card at our mall I will update this post.

Happy Shopping!

One of the easiest things to do to be a good steward of your grocery money is to not let food go to waste. No coupon clipping or trip stragegizing involved here.  If everything you cook and buy gets eaten you will save tons.  It is harder to quantify your savings on this one, but I would say that most families throw out about 1/3 of the food they purchase.

Most food goes to waste because:

1)It goes bad before it was used.

2)More was served than the person could eat.

3)People do not eat their left overs.

Putting it simply, if you actually used those groceries you would have a 1/3 savings because you would be eating that food rather than purchasing new because it went to waste.  This is something we are not perfect at, but have gotten much better at remembering.  Because we have slowly changed over to cooking from scratch when possible, (rather than eating out or making overly processsed foods) our leftovers are also a lot more appealing.

Things that will help you make use of all of your food:

• Put leftovers or prepared food in clear containers so that you can easily see what you have.

• Cook meals that can “roll” from one meal into the next by leaving simple ingredients separate in your fridge after cooking.  You can then easily turn last nights leftover ingredients into tonight’s new meal by serving it a little differently. (More on how we do this to come.)

• Watch out for those “bins if death” that can be the place product goes to die.  Know what is in them and keep them clean so that you are eating all of your fruits, vegis, and herbs before they go bad.

• If you see or know that something might go bad before you can eat it, throw it in the freezer. Most foods can be frozen to preserve them.  This works well with most fruits and vegis if (some need to be cleaned and cubed), bread, leftovers, soups, meat, deli meat, tortillas, grated cheese, cookies, …almost everything.

• If you make a big casserole that seems like more than your family will happily eat before it goes bad put some of it in a small pan and freeze it unbaked.  We often do this with macaroni, stuffed shells, enchiladas, etc.  We do all the preparation and often make a little extra and put 2/3rds in a big pan and bake it, and put the other 1/3 in a separate smaller pan and freeze it unbaked to eat later. (When I am taking about cooking and say “we” I am almost always referring to my husband.  He is a wonderful cook and does most of it at our house:)

• Keep things closed tightly in your pantry.  I love these cheap little clips from Ikea to keep things from going stale…bought them on a whim and LOVE them.

• Keep all your open containers of food in your pantry together so that you eat the old stuff before opening new boxes and bags.

• Rotate stuff to the front of the fridge and freezer that needs to be eaten first.

• Make a list on the front of the fridge for your older family members with ideas of meals and snacks (so you have some help eating the things that won’t last long).

• Serve your younger eaters their meals in “courses” so that aren’t overwhelmed with their choices and just pick their favorites out and leave the rest.

Be resourceful to see if you can use everything you purchase without letting it go to waste.

Hint-When you buy natural foods (which should be preservative free) they will expire and mold much more quickly.   Unless we know that we are going to use them right away, we often put them straight into the freezer.  This is especially true for baked goods.

Have any suggestions on how you keep from wasting food? Share them!

Sign up here today to receive a coupon for $5 off Luvs (I think they will be sent in the mail). Since they often go on sale for not much more than that you should be able to get a great deal.  Although we cloth diaper during the days, we use disposables for nights and I always pick up diapers when I can get them super cheap.  We have tried Luvs and found that they work very well for us.  I believe that there are a limited number of these and are only available today so sign up quick!

If you have been putting off getting your coupon collection started this is the week! Last week there weren’t any inserts in the Sunday paper because it was a holiday, but this Sunday there should be 5. If you are a local (in the Salem, Oregon area) you might have the best luck finding all of them in the Oregonian paper.  Sometimes the Statesman Journal does not have all the inserts.

This weeks inserts include: 2 SmartSource, 2 RedPlum, and 1 General Mills.

Head over to Attention Target Shoppers to see a list of the coupons they will include. You can then decide weather or not it would be worth it for you to pick up an extra copy or two.

This is a Public Service Announcement!

This morning as I was preparing for family pictures I decided to look for that one missing hat I needed to reach Gymboree Matching Bliss (G.M.B.) (don’ t judge me, I used coupons).  I figured I should look in the diaper bag to make sure it had not been shoved in on some recent outing.  As I was pulling things out of my very full bag I was surprised by the lack of importance of the things I was carrying.  The bag was full, but there was nothing very interesting in it. (Kind of like, “The lights are on but nobody’s home”).

That is until I reached the bottom.  I was hoping to find a cupcake hat, and what I found instead would frighten anyone…..”WHAT THE  PETUNIA PICKLE BOTTOM IS GOING ON DOWN HERE”?  The further I got down I was realizing things were starting to become attached to each other by magical mystery sticky stuff.  Then I found something even worse…..the black fuzz of death! MOLD, yes, mold.  Now it was not as bad as last time…..yes there was a last time (and I don’t want to talk about it)….but the black fuzz of death is never a good thing.  I am not sure how it happens,  I am a fairly clean person, I try and never throw nasty stuff in my bag, everything kinda has its own spot and has a bag to go into…..How could this be happening again? Maybe it is because my bag is really deep and can hold tons? Not sure.

But, it’s a good thing my bag is washable! So, inside out it goes on a gentle cycle cycle with mild soap after a good scrubbing with an old toothbrush.  After that it will get a rotisserie treatment in front of a fan.  It will be as good as new (sort of) tomorrow.

Let this serve as a reminder to dump those bags occasionally!

Am I the only one that has had a  gross experience that gives new meaning to the word “grab bag”?  Hope not!

Now where IS that cupcake hat?

After using coupons for awhile and constantly being on the quest to save ourselves money, I realized that there were many things that we buy that we might be able to do with out (or use much less of).  After I started cloth diapering I was especially aware of paper products that could be replaced with a cloth alternative.   Here are a few things we have either completely done away with, or have reduced our consumption of.

• Paper towels (Still hard sometimes.)
• Dryer sheets (Almost never use them.)
• Napkins (We don’t seem to need them often, and use some type of cloth when we do.)
• Tissues (We use toilet paper or cloth wipes for the babies)
• Disposable party supplies/decor (I have fun using my own dishes and try to get creative to use things I already have as decor)
• Cheap disposable containers (We use glass which should last for a very long time)
• Zippered plastic bags (We use fold over sandwich bags (much cheaper) or our glass reusable containers when possible.)
• Disposable dusting tools (Unless I can get them for close to free, I use a cloth diaper or old sock.)
• Cotton balls (Used to use them for makeup removal and face washes etc. and now use cloth for almost everything.)
• Garbage sacks (We only use them in our kitchen garbage which seems to last us a few days)
• Water bottles (We used to purchase a case at Costco occasionally for water on the go. Now we use metal water bottles.)

Now I am not saying that by not purchasing cotton balls you will save loads of money. Obviously some changes will save you more than others, but it is nice to simplify your life, reduce waste, and save time and effort (by not couponing and shopping for unnecessary items).  Start paying attention to the things you go through the fastest and try to think of a reusable alternative or just stop buying them all together.

*Even though many of the disposable items in our home have been replaced with cloth items, I have not seen a large increase in laundry at all.  Most of these types of things are small and can easily be tossed in with loads I would already be running.

Things your family might use that you could find an alternative for or stop using.

Little paper cups in the bathroom.

Paper plates, cups, straws, and plastic silverware.

Disposable floor cleaning systems.

Small hand soap containers. (Refill them over and over or use decorative ones that will last.)

Small jar candles (Fairly expensive and create waste.)

Ways to know you are succeeding at reducing your consumables.

Your have less trash than you did before.

Your shopping lists are shorter and more basic.

Your consumable products are lasting you longer.

You find you run out of kitchen towels faster.

Your family is following suit.

Start phasing out a couple items at a time.  Explain to your family why you would like to make these changes and get them excited about saving money and helping the environment.  You will be so thrilled when an errand to Walmart or Target does not become an $80 dollar trip.  These types of changes will help you spend your “grocery” money on exactly that…GROCERIES!  How exciting is that!