How do I Start Couponing?

How do I Start Couponing?



So I get asked "How do I start couponing?" when I tell people that the total for the products in the photo to the right was only $4. I have tried to answer it so many times it just made more sense to make one place where all the information can be found. I do not have the time to compile daily deals but I will point you in the direction of where you can find those...




Things to figure out first:

Which stores do you want to focus on?

• We have a Safeway/Vons down the street as well as a CVS. So those are the two I focus on. I do not generally go to Albertsons because I have to consider my time spent and I would rather add Target once a month or so instead. So if you have work, school and/or kids then you need to consider what time you have left for this. It may save you a few dollars but what time are you "spending" on this? Also, as a beginner you should stick to 2-3 stores until you learn the ropes, you can add or skip stores whenever you want.

Where will you get your coupons?

• Print your own- see if ink refills are alailable for your cartridge; use "copy" paper: print with your black cartridge ONLY and on draft mode; when coupons print 1/page flip it over and reprint on the other side as well.
• See if your local paper will do a Sunday Only paper delivery. It is generally MUCH cheaper than going to the store, and you will always have it of you are out of town, sick, etc.
  
• Friends & Family- use their magazine subscriptions, the Parade insert, Grocery store booklets, recycled newspapers- It all depends how much time you want to invest, but if people know you are always collecting coupons, then they will often save them for you. Look for coupons everywhere!

How do you want to organize them?

• Coupon organizers favor two styles the best; file folder organization and binder organization. File folders use accordion style coupon books and sort coupons by type. I use this method and have two accordion books, one for food and one for non-foods. They are organized into categories like frozen, canned, cereal, dairy, and snacks. The binder organization method uses a 3 ring binder with baseball card inserts (or 4x6 photo inserts) and the coupons are slid into the slots and easy to flip through and find. There are pros and cons to each, but either method should be easy to start with items from dollar stores so you can see which works for you.

Where are you going to put all these things?

• Consider a hallway closet, under the bed containers, garage racks. Any house, condo, apartment or even modular home can have a stock pile. Why have one? Because when you run out of shampoo it will not have a coupon nor be on sale, of course! So "stock up" when it is cheap, and you always have what you need! Here is part of my closet, each of these items are new and unopened waiting for its turn in the bathroom. Below I have cleaning products as well as medicines and band-aids. I recently took out items for a 'stock pile swap' and have not yet sorted the new items in (more on that below!)

On-line coupon match-ups

Each week the grocery stores come out with their flyers and the papers have their coupons. If you want you can spend hours sorting and searching, OR you can check out these sites and let them do it for you. These are my favorite sites, but you will find more, depending on the type of shopping you do and different stores you choose to go to. You will find more, as often sites link to each other to promote business. In addition to coupon match-ups they post store deals and internet promotions!

These sites are laid out like blogs, and each post is full of information and links for you to search through. Some blogs have the same promotional special or deal, some have new ones, you have to search through them. Try spending 20 min per day or an hour per week, it just depends on how much time you have or if you are searching for a certain deal. The way the deals are shown is like this:

This is from KCL and listed under CVS for this week. There will be the product, and the shelf price. Then below will be the coupon (with the magazine and date it was found in) or the link to take you to print your own. Below is the "final price". Each computer will print off 1-2 coupons, try hitting refresh after your coupon is printed and it will re-set and give you another copy most times.

Stove Top Stuffing, 6 oz $0.77
$0.50/1 Stove Top Stuffing – (coupons.com)
Final Price: $0.27 each

Also, most companies have a Facebook, and offer coupons through their page, so search for your fave items and see what you find!

Now you are ready to start couponing... Good luck!

And one F.A.Q.-
"But even if it is free, why get it?"

• Donate it to your local shelter. It costs you nothing but tax, but will help others so much. It will teach your children kindness and how can you put a price on that?
• Okay you want it to benefit you AND others? At CVS they give Extra Bucks based on your spending per quarter, spend more, get more... so "spend" more!
• The best reason?! Have a Stock Pile Swap! Get together with your friends and trade products, coupons, sample sizes and things you have too many of, or will not use, for products you want or need! We recently had one with over 200 items and it cost us nothing, and everyone went home with new items!
  

What about amazing on-line deals?!

Yes, there are some amazing on-line deals out there. I never pay full price for anything and yet my family has good quality items at a fraction of the price. How? I am always looking for the best deal out there. Below is my receipt for a Shutterfly.com order from this week:


You will notice the total spent was $2.52, and I received 12 photos, 2 being very large prints. I received credit by way of a Target "baby registry" credit that was un-used by a friend, and an online promo code for free shipping.

We recently went to the San Diego Zoo and after a little searching found a coupon for $4 off each ticket AND a free plush. We were going to buy the tickets no matter what, so why not search for a better deal?

Do not buy ANYTHING on-line without first Googling the name of the site and"promo code" because most stores have promo codes and you will find some for free shipping, % off and some for free items. Isn't it worth the few minutes checking?


Some other places I check:
Woot.com
No More Rack
Groupon

Just remember, if you don't have the money, or weren't going to be buying something, it is NOT a good deal. But if you know a wedding/baby shower is coming up, or a birthday, these can offer you gifts at a fraction of the price.

Yellow Chicken Curry

Yummy!

3 medium Potatoes White New Potatoes
1 medium Onion
1 can (13.5 oz) Coconut Milk
3 tablespoon Vegetable oil
3 tablespoon Basil
2 whole Chicken breasts sliced thin
3 cups Steamed White Rice
2 1/2 tablespoon Spicy Curry Powder
1 can (8 oz) Bamboo Shoots drained and rinsed
3 cloves Garlic minced
2 tablespoon Minced Ginger

Yellow Chicken Curry

Prepare the steamed rice in the rice cooker according to directions

Prepare
potatoes: Peel the potatoes, and dice them into even, 1/2" cubes. In a
medium saucepan, bring water to rolling boil. Boil for about 4-5
minutes -- do not overcook -- you want them fork-firm -- "al dente",
not fully cooked. Run under cold water immediately for a minute or two
to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Wash and dry the chicken breasts. Slice them thinly, into bite-size pieces.

In
a small container, mix curry paste -- add the minced ginger, minced
garlic and curry powder together until blended.

Bring
a large saucepan to medium-high heat; add vegetable oil. Saute the
sliced onions for 2 minutes, until just tender
(not brown), and add the chicken. Cook the chicken over medium-high
heat until opaque, not brown, approximately 3-5 minutes more.

Reduce
the heat to medium and add the curry paste and stir it in rapidly
(don't let it scald on the pan). Add the coconut milk, stir to mix
well, and heat over medium heat.

Serve over rice and top with
basil, or, for a more traditional presentation, serve it separately
with steamed rice, and allow everyone to take their own proportions.

Freezing
for advance-meal prep: Just prior to adding the basil, you can cool
this recipe, and freeze it (without the basil.)

National Margarita Day

National Margarita Day

February 22 is also National Margarita Day. What an inspired idea
for a holiday! There are a myriad of margaritas–traditional, lime
flavored ones, peach margaritas, strawberry margaritas, even chocolate margaritas. To help you celebrate, here are a few links to my favorite margarita recipes:

• Traditional Margarita
  
• Frozen Peach Margarita
  
• Cranberry Margarita
  
• Pommegrante Margarita

Another year is over

And so I noticed I haven't posted so much this year! Apparently I have been busy! What was I doing? School, kid, life. Stuff happened. I will combine my blogs so that this is the main on, and back date my posts so they fill in the last year. I will get on this as soon as possible!

Some people need more than help....

sometimes they need to fall flat on their face to be able to change. So good-luck. I hope your hidden drug adsome times they need to fall flat on their face to be able to change. So good-luck. I hope your hidden drug addiction and lies were worth losing your family over.diction and lies were worth losing your family over.

Toddler Needs

Good to know!

2 to 3 years old:
Boys and Girls: 1,200 calories
1 cup of fruits
1.4 cups of vegetables
4 oz whole grains
3 oz meat and beans
2 cups milk
4 tsp oils


She gets enough of everything she needs, she just grazes and it looks like she doesnt eat enough, but she does! She gets the fruits, whole grains and milk no problem, its giving her the meat she doesnt like as much lol

Job Offered

Job: Mom

Job Titles and Duties: teacher (must be proficient in all subjects and all grade levels, including and especially early child education), motivational speaker, cook (short order, gourmet, and group cooking), maid (hourly, daily, and seasonally cleaning), accountant (accounts receivable, accounts payable, tax preparation, and budget overseer), decorator, party planner, organizer, driver, grocer, nurse and doctor, hair dresser, sleep specialist, singer and songwriter, family documenter, photographer, fashion coordinator, mediator, security, task master, sanitation specialist, personal shopper, administrator, nutritionist and dietitian, lactation specialist, prayer warrior. Other duties and titles to be added without any notice--old and new duties must be accomplished with excellence or clients will file complaints.

Hours: 7am-9pm (subject to change without notice), seven days a week--no holidays or vacation time. Must be on-call 9pm-7am. Lunch breaks: may be as long as three hours or as short as five minutes (subject to be removed completely without any notice). Bathroom breaks: none available.

Pay: $0.00

Additional Rewards and Benefits: You will experience more joy then you ever thought possible and make an eternal impact on the world through raising your family.

Green gummies

I hate green gummies... lol.. and this just made me laugh so much!

http://www.illwillpress.com/GBGY22.html

So tired...

So I am woken up by a little earthquake, we call her Kaylee, pounding on the door and screaming "MaaMaaa!!" this morning. The door for her room is right next to ours and I open it and jump back into bed where it is warm. I figured out the heater wasn't sprung forward and we weren't getting heat at the right time so it was still cold. Kaylee makes her way into my room and pulls the blankets off of me and says "Hi Mama!" and tries to crawl across me to find Matt. She holds her hands up and says "Dada?" and I tell her he is at work. So she decides to browse our room while I'm in bed and brings back my lotion (oh-shee) and Matt's safety glasses. She then starts to count the oranges on her jammies (she can count to 6 now) and then run around chasing the cat. She finds her magna-doodle and spends time with that before she is off on something else. In 10min she has destroyed my room and I didnt gain any sleep.

I used to be able to pull her into bed with me and get another 30min of sleep.... not anymore! Where does she get this energy? I need lots of sleep plus coffee just to be able to keep up with her!

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache & Peanut Butter Frosting

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache & Peanut Butter Frosting

INGREDIENTS:
The Cake:
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup pureed bananas (from 1-2 fully ripe bananas)
The Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ounce unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted, or more to taste
1/2 cup peanut butter
mini peanut butter cups for garnish

The Chocolate Ganache:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup



INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl; set aside. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk; set aside.
Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment beat the butter for 30 seconds. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg, and continue to beat on high for 1 minute, until the butter is creamy and touches the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sugar in a slow steady stream and beat for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture appears light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is combined.
Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition, and mix until well combined. Fold in the banana. Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out free of uncooked batter. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and place on a rack to cool completely.
For the ganache: Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the cream and corn syrup into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then slowly stir the mixture to blend well. Let cool to about 70° on a thermometer or until firm enough to pipe or spread.
For the cream cheese frosting: Combine the peanut butter, cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the powdered sugar, beating well until incorporated.
To fill & frost the cupcakes: Fill a pastry bag with a 1/4-inch metal tip with the chocolate ganache and insert tip into the top of each cupcake. Squeeze the bag until you feel a slight pressure, which should put approximately 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of chocolate in each cupcake. You should only squeeze for a couple of seconds. Alternatively, cut off the top of each cupcake, scoop out a bit from the center and replace with 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of ganache, or place a dollop on top of the cupcake and frost around it. (You should have about 1/3 cup of the ganache left, which can be stored in the refrigerator for future use or used for garnish.) When all the cupcakes are filled, frost them with the cream cheese peanut butter frosting.
Yields 12 cupcakes PER CUPCAKE: 295 calories, 3 g protein, 42 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat (8 g saturated), 53 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium, 0 fiber.

Conversation with a 2 year old

"muk" "muk"
"what? oh milk"
"okay!"
"please?"
"lease lease"
"here you go"
"kankou"
"your welcome"

Help spread the word

Tell three.org

Why It's Important

Why is this important? It's important because California voted to get
rid of marriage rights for our community. It's important because 29
other states have done the same. It's important because LGBT people get
fired from their jobs just for being who they are, kids get beat up in
school for seeming "queer" while school administrators do nothing about
it, and same-sex couples can't foster or adopt while children in need
go without homes. Isn't it getting old?

The good news is that equality is coming into style. We
don't have as many supporters as we need (yet), but the community of
straight allies is growing. LGBT visibility has brought a lot of
progress, but the research we've seen says that being out and visible
is not enough (read it here
if you don't believe us). What changes people's hearts and minds and
gets them to support equality is having had personal, close
relationships with gay people. Relationships where – through
conversations – straight people learn what it's like to be LGBT.

Yes, the fifteen-year-olds of this country are
overwhelmingly supportive of our rights. But if we don't want to wait
around for today's teenagers to become middle-aged before we get
equality, we're going to have to get more people to support us. And the
best way to do that is by Telling 3.

Prop 8, yes voters

big⋅ot

  [big-uht]
–noun a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bigot

Prop 8 results, undetermined!

Results Status:

Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.


Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.


Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.


It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.


As of this point, the election is too close to call.


Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.


Geoff Kors
Executive Committee
NO on Prop 8

Kate Kendell
Executive Committee
NO on Prop 8

ELECTION WORKER!!!

They called! They want me!! I GET A NEW PIN!!! (Ive done this 4 times before, and have quite a collection going)

Im going to be a Poll Worker for the 2008 Elections

And something for the kids!!

3. BLACK HALLOWEEN PUNCH (Mocktail)
{via All Recipes}

Ingredients:
1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened grape soft drink mix
1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened orange soft drink mix
2 cups white sugar
3 quarts cold water
1 liter ginger ale

Directions:
Stir together grape soft drink mix, orange soft drink mix, sugar and water until solids are dissolved. Combine with chilled ginger ale just before serving. Dip the frozen hand briefly in warm water, then peel off the glove. Float the prepared hand in the punch bowl for a ghastly effect.
To make a frozen hand, wash a disposable glove, fill with water, seal with a rubber band and freeze until hard.

Things you learn on the internet

10. Keep the refrigerator vegetable drawer dry and free of smells. Line the bottom with newspaper.

1. Diffuse the flash on a camera. When you’re taking a close-up, soften the brightness by placing a coffee filter over the flash.

6. Prevent soil from draining out of flowerpots. When repotting, place a filter at the bottom, over the drainage hole, then add the soil.

What we want to get for Kaylee

We will just get her one gift for Xmas... one BIG ONE!

http://www.littletikes.com/toys/deluxe-wooden-kitchen-laundry-center.aspx?N=12

Its soo cute, wooden and perfect for her! The one she has is small and I'm looking to expand because she plays with it every day! We aren't sure if we will be selling this one to help pay for the new one, or using both and making an L shape kitchen for her....

Come Join Us!!

Mickayla and I have joined the No on Prop 8 movement and you can too!!

Statewide Election Visibility Sign Up

Be part of the largest grassroots visibility effort this state has ever seen.

Picture it: 10,000 people from Eureka to San Diego—standing together, waving signs and talking to voters. This is our moment to show California and the nation that we will not tolerate unfairness and inequality.

From Thursday, October 30 through Tuesday, November 4, we need 10,000 volunteers on the ground—5,000 on Election Day alone.

http://www.noonprop8.com/action/gotv