Don't Forget to Enter!

You can win an amazing customized magnetic miniature wall art! Just go to my blog post about the Wall Art featured on the MoneySavingQueen.com and enter for your chance to win! There are lots of ways to get bonus entries.. plus I have improved the primary way to enter the giveaway. It's super easy!

Now there's no reason not to enter!



Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

918 Mom on the Move!

I have some exciting news! I have been featured as this week's Mom on the Move at 918moms.com. What an honor! If you want, head over to 918moms.com and check it out and learn more about my story of being a mom on the move!

New Campaign by Bzz Agent- What's Cheap Today

So Bzzagent has invted me to try out this new website to help you to save on all of your Black Friday and holiday shopping, Called CheapToday.com. Check it out and let me know what you think!

My $5 WalMart Challenge

I am not a fan of Walmart. If you have read my previous posts I hardly step foot in that place since I began couponing a year ago. In my opinion and experience, it's really hard to find GREAT deals there with coupons, plus I feel that Wal Mart's staff is not very knowledgeable about coupons. I feel like a criminal EVERY TIME I am in there.

Ugh.

So, when I received this $5 gift card in the mail a few weeks ago (they remodeled the one in my neighborhood- that's how I obtained the giftcard), I wanted to overcome the pain that WalMart brings me every time I step foot in the door. I decided that I would take this small gift and make a challenge for myself.

Get as much stuff you can with this $5 gift card using coupons. 

Easy? Not really. Doable? YES!


Here's what I got. Great job, Nessa!

All of this cost me EXACTLY $5.00 (after tax). Crazy, huh? If you don't believe me, I can take a picture of my receipt and post it on here later.. just let me know. :)

Here's the breakdown of prices.

FREE items (wow- you can get FREE items at Walmart- unbelievable!):

• Idahoan Potatoes
• Advil
• Cottonelle Wipes 
• Coffee Mate Creamers

The rest were close-to-free items

• Hungry Man dinners- $.98 ea (the husband was very happy about this)
• Quaker Oatmeal boxes- $.66 ea

See? It is totally doable and I was quite proud of myself. Pat on the back!

Share with me your best deals at Wal Mart. I would love to hear your stories!

Cooking from your Stockpile- Casserole Style!

This week's cooking from your stockpile is giving homage to CASSEROLES! We all love a good casserole now and then. You basically just toss the ingredients into a pan, throw it in the oven and Tah-Dah! A meal in a pan!

This week I made a Make-Ahead Breakfast casserole. This means you can make this the night before and throw it in the oven about 30 minutes right before you serve it. This not only saves time, but stress from having to rush around the kitchen early in the morning to feed your hungry family.

So here's the lowdown on the ingredients 

(and what I paid for them, of course!):

 

One Roll of Sausage ($.99 at Homeland)
1/2 Doz. Eggs (.99/doz at Homeland)
2 Green Peppers (FREE! at Target)
2 cups of Shredded cheese ($1.10)
1 bag of Frozen hashrowns (.80 at Target)
2 cups milk ($.50 or so worth out of the gallon)
Total cost for this meal= $4.38.  (FYI- this would feed well over a family of 4)

Preheat your oven to 375.

Take the roll of sausage and fry in a frying pan. Drain and let cool. Set aside.

Take bag of frozen hash-browns and spread it in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Dice bell peppers (make them small so they will cook thoroughly) and sprinkle them on top of hash browns.

Sprinkle half of the cheese over the hash-browns and peppers.

Once the sausage has been cooled, spread it on top of the ingredients already in the pan. Then layer the rest of the cheese on top of the sausage.

Crack all eggs into a mixing bowl. Pour in milk and whisk until all egg yolks have been broken and completely mixed with the milk.

After you mix the eggs, pour it into the pan. It should look something like this:

Put it in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or the egg has cooked completely.

My husband was the one who took it out, but he made sure it was done by taking a toothpick and inserting it into the middle until it came out clean.

After it's fully cooked, serve and enjoy! Yumm!



So, what are your favorite casserole recipes you like to make with your stockpile?

Coupon Lingo-- One Coupon Per Purchase

I was recently confronted with a little coupon dilemma that I wanted to share with you all and explain the lingo to those who may not know.

Yesterday, I went into Staples because they had their Avery Removable Labels on sale for $1. Before going to the store, I went to the Avery website and printed 10 $1/1 coupons for this exact item (Go to the Money Saving Queen forums to discover more about this awesome deal!). The sale combined with the coupon made the item free, which is what you look for when you are a hard-core couponer. The more free stuff, the better!

I walked up to the register, handed the cashier my 10 products and then handed him my 10 coupons. He scanned one of the coupons, looked at the stack, read the coupon on top and the conversation went a little like this:

Cashier:"Unfortunately, we cannot accept all of these coupons. This coupon says one coupon per purchase."

Me: "That means one coupon per item. The coupon is for $1 off one Avery Removable Label product. I have 10 products and 10 coupons."

Cashier: "Ma'am, that's not what that means. You cannot stack these coupons like this. Staples does not allow stacking."

Me (and I am chuckling on the inside at this point): "What I am doing is not considered stacking. Can I please speak to a manager?"

So then the rest of the story is this: the manager comes up, tells the cashier if they scan then it checks out fine.

The cashier's demeanor changed completely from when I first walked up to the register to when I walked out the door. And it is just so frustrating to be seen as a "criminal" when I do all of my coupon-ing honestly.

I think the world will be such a happier place if these places would be educated on coupons. I mean, after all, they take the coupons. They should know how they work.

So here's a lesson on coupon lingo (Staples cashier: If you're reading this, I dedicate this post to you).

One coupon per purchase simply means one coupon per the discount posted on the coupon. So if the coupon says $1 off Any Avery Removable Label product, that means I can use ONE coupon per ONE item. If I have 10 of the same coupons, I can purchase 10 of the same items. If the coupon was one per order, the coupon would most likely say something like, "one coupon per transaction"

I am not making this up, this is the truth. You can Google it (or Swagbucks it if you want to earn points for free stuff! woohoo!) There are tons of websites that will tell you the same thing.

If you are caught in this position at a store, feel free to ask a manager. If they deny your coupons, respectfully decline their product and take your business elsewhere. After all, it's their loss. :)

Cooking from your Stockpile

I have been an avid coupon-er for about a year now. Since I discovered the Money Saving Queen's ways of saving, I have been traveling on this awesome journey and have never looked back. I have learned so many great things to stay frugal along the way. One of those ways has been Stockpiling.

When you get in the swing of the whole coupon-ing thing you will begin to fill your cabinets. This is GREAT because you don't have to make any last minute-type of runs to the store where you will be paying full price for dinner. You can just run into your pantry, grab your items and WAH-LAH!! Dinner!

And that's exactly what I did today. And you know what? This whole meal (including dessert) cost me (drumroll please!!!) less than 5 bucks!!! Start the sirens, drop the confetti! That's an amazing deal for a home-cooked meal for a family of 3!

So, do you want to know what I put together? Get your salivary glands flowing 'cause here we go!

Pork Roast with carrots, onions and Seasoning. Total cost- $1.99

I had a Hormel seasoned Pork Roast I purchased from Homeland for only $1.99 with coupon that I pulled out of the freezer. I stuck it directly into the crockpot. No thawing necessary!

On Friday I went to Target and got the fresh carrots and onions for FREE! I just cleaned and chopped them in half and put them around the roast.

I then put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pot and sprinkled salt and pepper on the top. I will probably let it cook about 6 hours. It will be tender and yummy and so tasty!


But we can't forget dessert!

Peach Cobbler (Some people call this dump cake. Whatever it's called- it's delicious!). Total Cost- $2

I found a can of peach filling in the cabinet and remembered I had a white cake mix as well. You pour the can of filling into a 8x8 pan and then dump the cake mix on top. Take the ENTIRE stick of butter (trust me- use the entire stick.The taste will be AMAZING and it will help crisp it up like a cobbler), cut them into little pads and layer them over the cake mix.

Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for about 45 minutes. Slap some ice cream on top or eat as is. It's SOOO good!!

What are some of your favorite stockpile meals that you cook in the crockpot?