Saturday, November 22, 2008

Daily Dose

Mark chapter 8

verse 34-38

Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Friday, November 21, 2008

Chocolate Chip Muffins!

I've been wanting to join in all the fun of making and freezing muffins for future breakfasts. So today I finally made a double batch of chocolate chip muffins to get started. This would be my husbands favorite and kids too! I thought maybe someone else would like the recipe


Chocolate Chip Muffins
2Cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup veg. oil
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips
topping
3T. sugar and 2T. brown sugar--mix
--preheat oven to 400 and grease bottom only of pan
--combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, choc. chips, and salt ...mix
--in another bowl combine milk, oil, and egg--blend
--add dry ingred. and stir until moistened
--fill muffin cups 2/3 full and sprinkle with topping before you bake
--bake at 400 for 15-18 min.
They haven't been officially tested yet but I had one and I thought they were really good!!
Enjoy!! for more recipes visit here or here!!

Daily Dose

Mark chapter 7

verse 14-15

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean' ."

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Daily Dose

Mark chapter 6

Verse 50b

"Take Courage! It is I. Don't be afraid"

verse 56b

They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

"Couponing" part 2

If you missed part one you can see it here! Yes I'm finally getting to part two!

So how do you "Coupon"? I'm sure there are many ways people do this, you really just need to start and give it at least 3 months to see how it works for you! I do believe that everyone can save a lot of money off their monthly budget with couponing. Even up to half off!

The best I can do is tell you how I do it. Then you can go from there and tweak it to fit your style.

First you have to start buying Sunday newspapers. I buy 4 each week. I buy 2 Chicago papers and 2 local papers. You will find that the "Big City" papers have more coupons in their inserts. It will take you several months to get your coupons built up but you can begin right away saving some money.

I have the two local papers delivered to my house. One subscription is 7.00 and the other is 6.00 for the month. Then I also spend $5./2 Chicago papers each week. So each week I spend about $8.25 for the 4 papers. This might sound like a lot but I have cut my grocery bill by over $200. per month. So it's well worth it for me!!

Second you need to clip all coupon in the inserts and file them away. Yes I clip almost all coupons. There are very few exceptions. Then find some way that fits you to file your coupons. There are many methods to doing this. I use a binder that has baseball card holder pages in it. Then I file them by category so I can quickly flip through the binder to find any coupon.
I will try to do a post about filing coupons sometime in the near future!!

Next you need to begin planning menus and stick with it. (You can see some of our menus here) As you build your stock it's best to make your menus around what you already have on hand. That way the majority of your budget can be spent on items that are on sale and you have a coupon for.

Then each week I spend a few hours (this can take a lot less time but I enjoy looking for the deals) looking at ads for the four stores (Meijer, CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger). I just look for items that I will use or can use that I also have a coupon for. Then I will buy multiples of that item so it will last for a while. It's amazing for the 8mo. I've been doing this that there is always several items each week very cheap or free. While I'm looking at the ads I just pull the coupons out of my binder and make a groc. list all at the same time.

There are several places that even do the research work for us!! Two big ones I check often are hotcouponworld and moneysavingmom

Then all that's left is actually doing the grocery shopping!!! It usually takes me about 2 hours to visit 3-4 stores. I'm not in any stores for very long since I'm not filling my cart completely up! That isn't much more time than it used to take me to go to Walmart and Aldis!

So for our family of 6, I have kept our grocery budget to $55. per week or $220. per month. This includes EVERYTHING except the Sunday papers. I used to spend around $450./month, I went over a lot and could only buy exactly what we needed (no stock)! It works best for me to simply get the $55. out in cash, that way that's all I can spend.

It's still amazing to me to see how our stockpile has grown and how our freezer has filled on this small budget.

If you have any question or if something doesn't make sense, please leave a comment or email me. You won't be bothering me! I'd love to help you save a lot of money on groceries!!

Groc. this Week

Well my usual Friday trip got moved to Wednesday this week. My hubby needed some things in town so I figured we might as well save a trip on Friday. Plus you can't give up a trip to not take any kids into the stores!!!

Anyway here is what I got (it's in 2 pics). Don't mind the little muchkin eating yogurt in the background. I was able to get 4 -6packs of Yoplait for free!! He had to start enjoying them right away!!

Here is my totals--I thought it was a great week and I got a lot of food!
Kroger $15.31 (receipt says 73% total savings) I love to see that above 65%
Meijer $ 27.64
----------------
total $42.95
I will probably spend $3. on frosting (raincheck) and shredded cheese at Walgreens.
I also have spent a few dollars at CVS this week on milk.
-----
total with walgreens and Cvs is around $48.xx
This means I have enough to go get about 3 packs of hamburger at our local butchers and still be in my $55. budget!!!
Great week!! How did you do??
This shopping trip is actually still on Krogers sale last week, which ended on Wednesday. I will post the sale that starts on Thurs. soon!

Daily Dose

Mark Chapter 5

This chapter has several miracles that Jesus performed. His power is amazing!!

verse 34

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you . Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

verse 36b

"Don't be afraid; just believe"

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Weekly Menu

Here is our menu for Nov.24-30 I know I'm weird I plan a week ahead but it's the only way to do it since I groc. shop on Fridays Anyway...
-------------------------
Mon. Lasagna in crockpot, salad, applesauce

Tues. Meatloaf, potatoes, beans, veggies

Wed. Pancakes, eggs, sausage

Thurs. Thanksgiving meal at inlaws--not sure what I'm taking yet

Fri. *Shopping* --who has time to eat!! just kiddin'-- nachos and cheese & snacky foods (easy)

Sat. homemade pizza or book its from Pizza Hut??

Sun. Thanksgiving meal at my moms--not sure what I'm taking here either...
--------------------------
For this weeks meals I have to get cottage cheese, lasagna noodles, eggs, and cheese whiz. probably will pick up pizza sauce and pizza crust just to keep stock up.

Have a great week!!

Daily Dose

Mark chapter 4

verse 40
He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Monday, November 17, 2008

The First Snow~

From the moment the kids got up this morning and saw the snow
they were itching to get out!! Here is a couple of pics







Daily Dose

Mark chapter 3

verse 29-30

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."

Verse 35

"Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Meijer 11-16

Meijer has some good deals this week.. be sure to check out their ad here.

This is what I see... remember most Meijers double MQ up .50cents.
You can get additional coupons at their Mealbox site (MB) here just click on Specials.
--------------------------------------------
Green Giant Steamers .89cents- 1MQ = free

Cool whip .89cents -$1/2 mb= .40cents

Progresso broth 3/$5. =1.66-$1./MQ= .66each

Meijer noodles 1.19 each --not great but I haven't found many deals on noodles..

Idahoan potatoes- $5./5- .75/3 printable =.75cents each

Pillsbury frozen grands bisq $2. -.40MQ= 1.20 each

Argo corn starch or baking powder 1.29- .45 MQ= .39 cents

McCormick extracts --25% off -.25cent MQ -$1/2MB= anyone know aprox how much this is??

Knorr sides $5./5= buy 5 and use .5o/2MQ, .50/2MQ, .60/1 printable, and $1./5 MB=1.40/5

Pillsbury pie crusts 2.- $1/2MQ -$1/2MB= $1. each

Ragu sauce- 3/$4.= 1.33 -.50/2MQ -$1./2MB= .33cents each

Pillsbury sweet rolls 4/$5.= 1.25-.30MQ= .65each

Pillsbury crescent rolls 4/$5.=1.25-.35/1MQ -$1./2MB= .05 each

Keebler pie shell- 1.33-.25MQ= .83cents
----------------------------------------------------
What do you see that I missed!! let me know in the comments

have a good week!

CVS


There are a few deals this week at CVS I will list them and then fill you in on my transactions today!!

Zantrax 4.99 get 4.99 ecb
Loreal Age perfect 15.99 get 15.99 ecb $1.MQ
Duracell batteries buy $20. get $15. ecb...$5./2 CVS Q, .75 MQ prices vary from 5.29-9.99/pack
------------------------------
I did 2 transactions today because of the battery coupon and because I needed to use the ecb from trans 1 for trans.2

trans 1
5.99 duracell batteries
5.99 duracell batteries
15.99 loreal age perfect
---------
-1.00 mq for loreal
-3.00 crt $3./15 purchase for cosmetics
-5.00 $5./2 duracell batt. CVS
-2.00ecb
-2.00 ecb
-2.00 ecb
-2.98 ecb
-4.00 ecb
-4.00 ecb
--------
2.20 oop got back 15.99 loreal

trans 2
2.99 milk
2.99 milk
2.99 milk
5.99 duracell
5.99 duracell
1.99 chicago paper--they only had 1 for me at gas station this morning)
1.00 news sun paper--decided to buy an extra because the Q were pretty good this week-total 5 papers
-----------
-.75 duracell mq
-.75 same
-5.00 $5./2 duracell batteries...I found these above the display. I could hardly believe they were there. I rarely find tear pads at our CVS. make sure you look all around, I almost missed them.
-15.99 ecb
------------
1.45 oop got $15.oo ecb back for batteries

so totals at the end---I spent 3.65 oop used 33 ecb and got back 31 ecb... 2ecb lost...so total oop and ecb was 5.65 for 3 gallon milk, 4 pack batteries, 2 papers, and loreal.

not bad...thanks CVS!!

Daily Dose

Psalm 8

verse 9

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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