Godsfaith’s Weblog

CVS

I bought some good stuff for gift baskets this week at my favorite stores!

4 Glade candles = $10

4 Glade Glass scents = $10

- 2 $1.50/2 Glade candles (10/12 smart source newspaper)

- 2 b1g1 Glade glass scents (10/12 smart source newspaper)

-3/$15 cvs coupon

$10 bucks out of pocket (I used my extra bucks)

$10 extra care bucks back = FREE

Walgreens

10 Hershey special dark candy bars at $.89/ea

5 coupons for b1g1 free (give cashier this coupon first so they will take off $.89 cents x 5) 11/9 smart source newspaper insert

1 in ad coupon from Walgreen’s flier for $.39/ea Hershey candy bars

= FREE (DID I SAY FREE CHOCOLATE?)

Now, if you are scratching your head on the walgreens deal…here’s the thing, each walgreens store is different. Mine doesn’t bother with the limit on the in ad coupon, cause they know me. I am always polite! I always share my deal cheat sheets with the cashiers. I also always check out at photo to avoid jamming the line! They like me at my Walgreens, It is hilarious really….They greet me with, “Watch out, here comes the best shopper in the world” I say, “gather round, let me teach you”. So, the order of the coupons is important too….if you gave them the in ad coupon first, you would walk out paying about 2 bucks for your candy bars, because it would reduce the price to $.39. Then, when you gave them the b1g1 coupons they would only take $.39 off instead of $.89 x5…..did ya get that? Well, enjoy your free stuff!

Faith

Yep, it is Monday…I have a baby who thought it would be funny to put her toys in my coffee cup this morning while i visited the ladies room……and paint the coffee table with coffee, yep……it feels like a monday…

We are baking pretzles this morning……and jammin’ out in the kitchen.

Faith

Do you ever get stuck in a cooking rut? I do…..I have a collection of recipes that I use frequently, that are quick, healthy, and pleasing to picky children and husbands the whole family! One of these is basic garlic sauce.

3-4 tbsp of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1/2 onion (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Put these items in a sauce pan over medium heat, saute until the garlic and onion are soft and translucent. (this step is where you add any other veggies you want in your past, I like zucchini and bell pepper) Add to this:

2 tbsp of Italian seasoning and a cube of chicken bullion…stir until bullion is dissolved…add to this…

1/8 cup flour….stir until oil is absorbed by flour….add to this…

2-3 cups water

bring to simmer until it is slightly thickened…if it is too thick add more liquid, but wait until it has simmered before you determine if it is thick enough. start with two cups….go to three if you need it.

A cool trick to turn this into Alfredo sauce is to replace the water with milk……all other ingredients are the same…when it is done cooking,  remove from heat and add 1 cup of your favorite Italian cheese (Parmesan, Romano, or whatever you have on hand)….

to turn it into mac and cheese, go with the milk instead of the water, remove from heat when thickened and add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (more if you want it really cheesy)

pour over cooked drained pasta of your choice! 10 minutes, easy and a crowd pleaser…easy to switch up and get you out of a rut!

Faith

The Mission: Pantry items (n’stuff) for as little as possible……(insert James Bond theme here)

The Plan

2 soft soap body washes 7.98

-2 $1 coupons (coupon)

= $5.98

4 libbys pumpkin $3.98

-2 $1/2 coupons (coupons) just register and go to promotions to print two of em

= $1.98

8 progresso soups $10

-4 $1/2 coupons (coupons) you will need to print two from two diff computers

= $6

4 Kellogs cereal $10

-4 $1/1 (coupon) print two from two computers

= $6

1 Baking powder

= $.50

2 betty crocker frosting $1.98

- 2 $.55 (coupon)

=$.88

Grand total after coupons is $21.34

-$5/$20 (coupon)

=$16.34

You will get back $4 rapid rewards for the soft soap and $2 rapid rewards for the kellogs

which means you actually are out $10.34 for all that stuff… (I have a gift card) so, I pay nothing

Faith

Laundry is not my friend! I despise laundry day (like I should really complain about 3 loads a week)… Well, let’s go back to last Saturday. A lady at church gave me two boxes of clothes in my daughter’s size. They had been through both of her girls…well, I was so amazed at the condition of these clothes….absolutely impeccable! Stain free, pill free, nice lookin’ used clothes! (mine are lookin kinda sad after a month) I began to wonder what in the world I was doing wrong reevaluate my laundry process…. So, I turned to the trusty Internet… and wouldn’t you know it, I found some easy ways to correct my laundry woes….

#1 Don’t use fabric softener… This was an epiphany, (why oh why should I not use fabric softener?) I LIKE  the smell! The short of the long is, they wear the clothes out faster by chemically softening (breaking down fibers) your clothes! I am switching back to the nice smellin ‘anti-static dryer sheets.

#2 Don’t use chlorine bleach… duh….I only use this on my rags from my rag bucket…

#3 Use a good stain remover on your clothes, and don’t wash in Hot….Hot sets the stains….hot dulls the colors..hot wastes electricity…hot is bad….new one on me, i always figured you throw the really stained clothes together, put in extra detergent and crank on the hot…woopsie…

#4 Turn clothes inside out (this sounds like too much work for me) I will try it on the jeans and see if it makes any difference…

So, this is what I learned….I want to try to take better care of the clothes around here. After all, not many mothers can say they only have to do laundry once a week. Might as well perfect it before having to do 15 loads a week like my best friend over at shipfullofpirates

Faith

These are some of the sites that gave me a great education in the area of how to get stuff for cheap and FREE frugality… I keep tabs on the deals… This week was Walgreen’s, I got an 8×10 photo, four coffee mate creamers, 4 cans of progresso soup for…….1.48….I put that on a gift card… Cvs, 4 St. Ives body washes, 5 Palmolive dish washing liquids, Garnier fructis shampoo, and 4 tubes of crest pro health toothpaste for……drumroll……..$.31…yes, i did say thirty one cents….so, this week I win…anyway, enough bragging. Educate yourselves ladies, cause if you can shave the price of these items off of your grocery budget…..duh, you will keep that money in your pocket!

moneysavingmom

iheartcvs

iheartwags

fromwagstoriches

coupon cravings

moneysavingmethods

Now that last link, we do this….it works. I have $1000 that proves it. Can we say Christmas? Thank You Lord!

Faith

What am I doing with all this cvs and walgreens loot my house is stuffed to the gills with? God has seen fit to bless me with? Here is my list o’ stuff with a mission…

Cereal, powdered milk, beans, jello, formula samples

….. all goin’ to the food pantry run by the Seventh Day Adventists. Thanks to my DH, I am armed with much prayer and information on why they are a cult. But, every month I go work along side these ladies and help em pass out food to the poor. These ladies love to talk about how good God is to everyone, and Praise God! I have been given many opportunities to testify to these ladies about how God is working in my life. We had a bible study with one of them (my husband used to work with the counter the cult ministries). Very interesting to see this happen….I might pop popcorn and sell tickets to the next bible study at our house.

anyway…..back to the cvs and walgreens loot

I have been chucking all the “good” items into a drawer all year for christmas baskets…. Expensive shampoos, razor gift sets, foofey wrinkle cream high end skin enhancers, face scrubs, face cleansers, nail polish, glade candle holders, fabric fresheners, candy (choc), gum, any goodie really worth recieving……think, things I would love to have but never buy for myself…….we make baskets to give when we are invited to someones house during the holidays, baskets for gifts to family, and of course we always load em with baked goods too!

DONATE!!!!!!!!!!

Babywash, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, disposable razors, shaving cream, diapers, wipes, and odds and ends from the pantry….

Christian Caring Center, our church supports this place and we feel it is a worthy donation site. The items are given directly to needy people and the Word is ministered to them there too!

So, my ridiculous stash that is junking up every closet in my house my Blessings from Above, have served the needs of our house and gone to help do The Lord’s work!! Woo Hoo for donation!!

Faith

Those lovely pumpkins that you have for decoration need to be dealt with. You have two choices…they either rot….or you eat em! I personally like choice 2. I adore pumpkin in three forms. Pumpkin strusel muffins, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin-Apple Strusel Muffins

Pumpkin Cookies

If you noticed that I go through Allrecipes, It is because the site rocks! I can pull up recipes and sort them by rating. It takes the guessing out of choosing between recipes. ‘Cause, if 300 people thought it was good…chances are I will think so too!

To break down a pumpkin, all you do is gut it. Bake it at in a covered dish until soft (little water in the pan helps), and scrape the pumpkin out. Mash it up, it freezes beautifully and you can use it in so many recipes. The obvious one that is not listed is pumpkin pie. Beats buying the canned stuff! Don’t let those pumpkins rot! In fact, I will be buying some on post-halloween clearance this week at my local produce spot! P.S. pumpkin is a vegetable in my book in any form, which means I will be eating pumpkin cookies this week for breakfast (this is my cookie justification this week)!

Faith

Ya know, we have a limited diet….and sometimes it is hard to get variety in. We all know we need variety to get proper nutrition. So, we have a stand by that covers a lot of bases.

Brown rice casserole

1c brown rice

2c water

1 tbsp chicken bullion

1/3 bell pepper

3 cloves garlic

1/3 onion

3 mushrooms

2 carrots

1/3 can spinach

1/3 c whatever meat ya have

Throw it in a pot and cook for 40 min, except the spinach. When your done cooking it, the rice will be soft….just mix in the spinach. I like to use ham in this recipe, it seems to make the dish. This dish fills a lot of nutritional requirements in my baby’s diet, and is an allergy free recipe.

Faith