Just A Little Rant

I just need to vent a little about a couponing incident that occurred yesterday at HEB. After years of couponing I've discovered that some people who work at stores think they are the coupon experts when clearly they have no idea what they are talking about. I've had them try to tell me outrageous things and act like I'm the one who doesn't know what I'm doing when they've probably never used a coupon in their life. So back to yesterday, I've been under the impression and have found that some coupons have a store logo on it's face but is marked manufacturer's coupon at the top. I've used these coupons at any store without trouble many times. Yesterday my cashier looked young and a little inexperienced, I had two coupons with a Kroger logo on it but they were also manufacturer's coupons. She went to verify it with I guess a manager. She came back and told me I couldn't use them because they were Kroger coupons. I very nicely explained to her that she was wrong, she asked the manager to come over, I explained what I believed to be the coupon rules to her. She then told me that I was incorrect but she would let me use the coupons this one time but in the future I needed to understand that the manufacturer would only reimburse the store who's logo was pictured on the front. This may be true but I just had this funny feeling that she pulled this out of the air because she really wanted to have the last word and she was annoyed that I was using coupons (store employees do not like couponers). Don't think I'm going to let this rest, I'll find out if she is right or not.

Menu Plans, A Must Have This Week

When I sat down to plan this week's menu I realized it was going to be hard because I'm not going to have a lot of time to cook. Then next several days are full of birthday parties and The Kitchen Fairy jobs. Here is what Aaron and I came up with when we sat down to plan (I made him help because I wanted him on board, this makes things flow easier):

Friday- Eat Out
Saturday- Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches and French Fries
Sunday- Eat at Church
Monday- Dominoes Pizza
Tuesday- BBQ Sandwiches and Salad
Wednesday-Ham Casserole (this is depending on whether I have leftover ham from my catering job Monday night, if I don't have leftovers I'll pull some Honey Baked Ham out of the freezer and have chef salad)
Thursday- Chicken and Rice with Mixed Veggies

Wrapping Up The Week

I was pretty worried how I would do on my grocery budget after spending it entirely at Kroger on the second day of my two week period. Today finished the pay period with me only going over budget $23 for things like water and milk. I don't even want to talk about what I spent on coffee though, I might have to include a whole other line item in my budget for that. I'm going to try and stretch what I have over this new pay period and figure out how I'm going to wrangle in my out of control coffee cost.

I also completed my second week of doing http://www.flylady.net/ and I'm so lovin' it! The only thing that fell behind this week is my laundry, which I got caught up on today. I had such a busy weekend I only got one load of laundry done and Monday I only washed a load of sheets. The highlight of my week was getting some detailed cleaning done in my kitchen. I can't wait to start on my assignments next week, I love having the inspiration without the pressure.

A Great Find I Have To Share

Last year my mom started to do http://www.theflylady.net/ and she would at times pass on some tips that I found very helpful. After meaning to join myself for awhile now I finally did and completed my first week with it on Friday. Everyday you are sent a small list of things to do to maintain a clean house. Added in our some things to do to work on decluttering. I don't know how this works but it does! I hate how I have to either choose to clean all of the time to have a clean house or not clean at all to have fun, until now I've been unable to find a balance with this. This past week I spent very little time cleaning and my house stayed clean and my laundry was kept up with. Today, after a VERY busy weekend, instead of starting off the week with a mountain of laundry and a disastrous house I've just got my list of daily things to check off. I highly recommend that everyone give this a couple of weeks and see if it works for you, it's free and the worst that could happen is that you wouldn't find it helpful.

Menu Planning Day Is Here!

My family and I have become so spoiled to our little menu hanging on the side of the fridge, it totally takes the brain work out of meal time. Here's this week's menu:

Friday- King Ranch Chicken and salad
Saturday- Tacos
Sunday- Eat Out
Monday- Sausage and Fried Potatoes
Tuesday- Chicken and Rice Soup
Wednesday- Spaghetti
Thursday- Drumsticks and potato salad

The only thing I needed to make these meals are the ingredients for the King Ranch Casserole, this will come out of my The Kitchen Fairy money because I will be making extra for that. Other than that I was able to come up with enough meals from my stockpiles since I've already spent my grocery budget. So far I've only gone over about $20 so I'm pretty pleased with myself.

How To Start Saving On Groceries

I've had so many people come to me lately and ask how to start saving at the grocery store. After going through the steps with them I thought I should sit down and type it out.

Step 1: Before your next trip to the grocery store take inventory of your freezer, fridge and pantry. See how many meals or partial meals you can come up with from what you already have in the house.

Step 2: Plan at least a seven day menu including the meals you've just come up with. A great way to come up with menu ideas is to check the sale paper and plan from what's on sale. Then make sure you have every ingredient to prepare each meal, including sides and veggies. Make your grocery list based on what you need from the store to cook these meals. Don't forget to plan for breakfast, lunch, snacks and desserts.


Step 3: Now that you have your list made get out your coupons (if you don't clip them now is the time to start, my local library has a box where you can pick them up for free) match coupons with what is on your list. If the store has a great deal (especially if you have coupons to go along with it) on things you use regularly go ahead and buy two or three of them. If it's a great sale on meat you like then buy extra and freeze for another week. Doing this will slowly build you a stockpile so when there are weeks when you need to cut back on your grocery budget you can use what you have.

Following these steps will enable you to see a gradual savings and in a matter of months you should see a more significant one.