Thursday, September 30, 2010

Couponing: The Experience!

So, I've had some people that have shown interest in learning to coupon, and others that have asked me to teach them (or their wives, haha) to coupon, but since most of you aren't sure if you're interested enough to sit down and learn it, I thought I might entice you by sharing my grocery list total/details with you every week. This will also be a way for me to keep track of how I'm doing with it.

When reading these, keep in mind that I have only been couponing for 5 months now. The key to couponing is to be stocking up on items on sale that you need/use (most items go on sale every 6-8 weeks) and I have just gotten established with saving/using coupons and knowing the rules to couponing in stores.

For reference, B1G1= Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal. I put in red what my favorite deals were.

At Publix yesterday, I spent $38.08, and saved $31.91 ($10.16 of that was coupons). Here's the breakdown:

  • 2 Gal. Drinking Water (not on sale) $1.58
  • Shake N' Bake ($2.35 - $0.55 coupon) $1.80
  • 2 Large Jars Ragu ($3.55 each: B1G1 & $0.60 off 2 coupon) $2.95
  • 1 Can refried beans (didn't grab sale & no coupon) $1.25
  • 2 Jars Pace Chunky Salsa ($2.79 each: B1G1 & $0.60/2 coupon) $2.19
  • 3 Bags Knorr Pasta Sides ($1.29/each: B1g1) $1.94
  • 2 Bags Lays Kettle Chips (not on sale & never on sale but Shane likes them) $6.58
  • 2 boxes Martha White Muffin Mix (on sale for $0.75 & $0.70 each coupon) $0.10
  • 1 Bag Dove Candy (again, not on sale, and I wish Shane would have spotted the Nestle B1G1 deal before grabbing them) $4.29
  • 2 Boxes of Old El Paso Dinner Kits ($2.89 each: B1G1 & $1 each coupon) $0.89
  • Krusteaz Cinn. Crumb Cake Mix (2.59: B1G1) $1.30
  • Loaf White Sandwich Bread ($1: Publix Penny Item) $0.01
  • 2 Loaves Natures Own Bread ($3.49 each: B1G1 & $0.75 coupon) $2.74
  • 2 things of Country Crock Spread (1.99 each: B1G1 & $0.80 off each coupon) $0.39
  • 1 Can Pillsbury Grands Cinn. Rolls ($3.49 & $1 off coupon) $2.49
  • 1 Bag Bertolli Skillet Meals ($4.99 & $1 off Target coupon) $3.99 (I could have waited for the Manufactures $1 coupon in this coming Sunday's newspaper but didn't.)
So there you go! Some of these items I didn't even need, but I was getting such a good deal I purchased them anyway. Anyone need butter? If you're wondering why there's no meat, or anything to prepare dinners on this list, I have everything I need for dinners this week from the last few grocery trips this month. You should also know that Publix doesn't ever put their meats on sale; when it's about to go bad, they donate it to local charities. So, I buy and stock up on my meats at Sam's. I also usually buy milk at Sam's because it's only $2 a gallon there.

I love shopping at Publix because they:
1) double coupons that are $0.50 or less (7 of my coupons totals above were doubled)
2) take competitor's coupons (Target included at my store and there are a lot of Target coupons available online!)
3) take one Manufactures coupon and store coupon per item
4) don't require you to buy 2 items when they are B1G1. It'll just ring up as half off each!

If you are interested in couponing, visit www.southernsavers.com. This is where I learned to coupon, and the website makes it really easy! You can create your grocery list on the website based on what's for sale at your store, then under each item, it tells you what coupons you should have, or if it's a printable coupon, it lets you click on the link to print it.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

TOP 20 THINGS I MISS IN EL PASO, TX





1. CHICO'S TACOS

spacer.gifMy cousin Cassie and I would like to give Chico’s Taco’s a slogan, “It’s all about the experience.” No one can really experience El Paso, until they’ve tried Chico’s Tacos. This is a cheap fast food restaurant on the east side of town. It’s greasy, you don’t know if the meat is cow, cat, or human, it makes you feel terrible after consuming it, but it’s delicious and worth it.



2. DESERT AND ROCK YARDS

Funny Story. When Shane and I moved into our townhouse here in Pelham, AL, we were estimating what changes we would have to our utility bills going into a bigger place than our small apartment. I told him we needed to remember to water the yard so our grass would grow, and that would up our water bill. He thought it was so funny, he called his dad and told him the story (Shane’s family is from Louisiana). Needless to say, I found out you don’t have to water the yard to get grass here because it rains enough to make life greener here in the south east. Well, this is not the case in El Paso. People in El Paso have to water their yards to have grass, and if they want to conserve water, they have rocks put in their yards. I kind of miss seeing this.


3. FRANKLIN MOUNTAINS


I miss the mountains. If you look at the picture closely, you see some red dirt that in the middle of the mountain, and it’s kind of in the shape of a bird. The first high school I went to (Coronado High) got their mascot from this. They’re the Thunder Birds, which sounds like the lamest mascot ever if you didn’t know about the mountain.




4. BYLER’S HOUSE DURING HALOWEEN

If you have ever traveled down Belvedere Road on the west side of El Paso, chances are you have taken notice in an old white truck parked on the side of the road with “Jesus Saves” spray painted in blue on the back of it. This truck belongs to the Bylers, and I have seldom seen it anywhere else but parked on the side of the road by their house. Anyway, the Bylars are the coolest family ever, and their favorite time of year is fall, and favorite holiday is Halloween. They deck out, and it’s the best place to stop for anyone in the neighborhood on Halloween night.


5. MAGIC PAN

The Magic Pan is my favorite restaurant of all time. It’s kind of a girly place. It’s a little restaurant and shop tied together, and this restaurant has the perfect food for the perfect atmosphere. They serve soup/ sandwich kind of stuff (gourmet and delicious) and you have the choice of sitting inside or outside in their garden patio area. At one point in time my mom and I were coming in every Saturday for lunch, and had a the same waitress every time, whom eventually stopped asking us for our order and just brought what we wanted to us within 5 minutes of us sitting down. I love this place so much I wish I could influence them to set up a restaurant here in Birmingham


6. THE GREENERY


Oh, the Greenery. Think of any muffin you would like to enjoy. The Greenery probably has it, and it’s delicious. They, like the Magic Pan, are a soup/salad/sandwich kind of place, but they also have a really good breakfast selection.





7. CASA JURARDO


Casa “Jurardo” is hard to pronounce for my family, so we refer to this delightful restaurant as “Casa J’s.” Their salsa is my favorite, which is why I brought it into my “Top 20” list.






8. AVILA’S

There are two Mexican restaurants that are owned and operated by the same family have been around for years, and years, and years and they are Leo’s and Avila’s. My family, and my family’s family used to go to Leo’s on a regular basis, but then my family soon discovered their family’s other Mexican restaurant Avila’s. I would come with my family every Friday night to eat dinner at Avila’s. Not only do I love the food, and the free sopapillas, but what I really enjoy about this place is when I walk in I feel like I’m at my family reunion. Most of the staff has been there since I was an infant, and I delight in seeing everyone when I come visit.


9. THE MEXICAN STORE THAT'S BEEN “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” FOR 3+ YEARS


This is probably Shane’s favorite thing about El Paso. There’s this Mexican Store in the mall that has been supposedly going out of business for probably 3 years now. Their stuff is fairly cheap, and Shane loves to pick up his El Paso souveniers here.





10. MARIACHI BANDS


Ok, this is obviously not a pure El Paso thing, but how often can I see Mariachi bands in Birmingham, AL? I remember seeing a mariachi band play at the first high school I went to during our lunch break. How many people can say that in the southeast?




11. JACKSON'S


There’s really nothing super special about Jackson’s, other than they are a local restaurant that has been around for years, and are really delicious. I like their burgers. And everything on their menu.







12. TAX-FREE GROCERIES

Enough said.



13. THE FACT THAT I LIVED IN TEXAS BUT WENT TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY IN NEW MEXICO



Where else can you go to TX, NM, and Mexico in the same day?






14. BLOWING UP 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS IN THE DESERT


Cause we don’t have to worry about forest fires.





15. THE WALKING TRAIL ON RESLER DR. WHERE THE CITY IS TO YOUR LEFT, AND DESERT AND MOUNTAINS ARE TO YOUR RIGHT



16. THE FACT THAT WHEN IT RAINS, IT FLOODS


It’s obviously not cool for the semi truck in this picture, or any of the houses that get damaged, but it’s fun when you’re a kid and you get together with your neighborhood friends and basically swim in the street. There’s no real drainage for rain because I guess it doesn’t rain often enough to justify it.



17. SCORPIONS IN POPSICLES


Not an El Paso original, but not something you would see…definitely not something you would see kids eating here in Alabama.






  1. PUTT PUTT GOLF, ADVENTURE ZONE, AND BOB-OS.



I thought it was normal for people to have several places in their local town to play putt putt golf, go cart, and archade games, but apparently not.





19. THE CITY LIGHTS



You can’t see that when there are trees everywhere. The star on the mountain is pretty cool too. I miss seeing that.




20. COWBOYS AND RODEOS



I think any man that puts on a cowboy hat looks way hotter than without. Maybe that’s the Texan girl inside of me, but yeah.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

FREE WRITING!!!!

So, we haven't blogged on here in a while, and I want to blog about something, but haven't decided what yet. Sorry I never continued my last post in January, but I'm no longer interested in the subject and it's not important enough to continue. I will say we did do as we said (invited our neighbors over for dinner and giving stuff away kind of things) and the updates are our neighbors were not interested or "too busy" to come over for dinner, but we might watch a football game this semester.

On to my new subject. Since I couldn't find a topic to write about, but really wanted to write, I decided to free write. My English teacher in high school had us free write sometimes and I loved it. All it is is writing what you're thinking and not stopping until a timer or something goes off. So, here it goes!

I have to pick up Shane at 8:30 I think so I have about 30 minutes to type. I'm sitting on the couch next to my mom and her boyfriend. My mom's boyfriend started coming over on Tuesday nights to eat my dinner I cook, and I allow it because he pays me, which means more free groceries/ food for Shane and I. The boyfriend is an alright guy, but still too awekward to talk to him. I cannot spell awekward. It's amazing that I passed English classes in high school and college because I suck pretty hard at spelling and grammer. I love food. I love cooking and eating, but I've been sick for the past 48 hours, which makes me sad because I haven't been able to enjoy my meals like normal. Shane says that if I didn't worship God, I'd worship food. It's true. Good thing I love God because if food was it for me i'd be fat and lonely. I've been watching this show lately called Cake Boss and it's pretty awesome. It's about this bakery in New Jersey and this Italian family owns/ operates it and makes these amazing and intricate cakes but they're so good they charge $1000 to $2500 for each cake they design. They're so cool though that I'm thinking I really need to start learning how to cake decorate. I'm really interested in it, but I am very subborn and try to learn things on my own without asking others to help me. If you see that I am interested in doing something, and you're good at it, you should teach me and make me learn. I went to a sewing class that taught me how to use my sewing machine, but because of that all I can make is ghetto placemats. I'm so stubborn about learning it on my own that I haven't asked and I have some people wanting to teach me, but I just don't ask. I need to work on that. Anyway, cakes are so cool and it looks like fun. I want to play with fondant because it looks like it's as fun as playing with play-doe. I hear it doesn't taste as good, so I figure i'd cover all my cakes with buttercream frosting and then lie the fondant over that. That way people can enjoy the cool designs on the cake, but peel them off and eat a delicious cake. I also notice they do this in Cake Boss. I would like to go to New Jersey and ask them to teach me but I understand from their online reviews that you have to wait 3 hours just to buy an $18 cupcake. I think it's worth it though. I also want to design cupcakes. Man there's so much I still need to do. I need to learn how to make stuff that's more complicated then placemats, and how to design cakes. Then I'll have passed my own housewife class I have designed for myself. You know when I lost my job last year and we decided I should become a housewife, I was really scared and afraid of what people would think and say about me. I had and still have people think/ say stuff about me that I feared would happen, but I don't care about that anymore. I'm learning that the people that are saying/thinking stuff don't know me well enough to be doing that, and I know I'm doing what God has called me to do, so think what you want, but I'd be dumb not to follow God's will for my life. It's funny how when I really want things and don't get them, how i'm better off without them in the end. Shane and I really wanted this '05 Murano from this car dealership here in Pelham that was souped up (leather seats, back-up camera, sunroof, adjustable/saved drivers seat, etc) but the financing just wouldn't work out (I am talking about this car because our car was totaled in July and if you've ever had your car totaled, you know how quickly you have to get in a new vehicle). Anyway, we found this Murano before our rental was taken from us and we didn't get it. I cried all day. We went to Carmax that evening and they had a blue Mazda CX-7 um...lost my train of thought because I'm watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition. This show is soooo cool. Anyway, so the CX-7 worked out and it's an '07 with 33k miles whereas the Murano had 90k miles. So, God knew what He was doing when He wouldn't let us get that car. This show is so cool, oh no....Mark (the mom's boyfriend) just started singing "I wanna be a cowboy baby" by Kid Rock. Ok, so this show is so cool. Anyway, we're at a comercial. I can't spell. I am sitting next to my mom and her bf to make sure they don't start making out. Gross. I only have 10 minutes though. Ok. What I love right next to food is traveling. We're trying to decided where to go for our Anniversary this coming year. We go out of town every year during our anniversary, because, why not? I think it's the best time of year to vacation and get away from distractions. For our honeymoon we went to Destin (I LOVE Destin and am so glad the oil is gone from the beach!). Our 1st year anniversary we went on a cruise to Mexico. Our 2nd we went to Disney World. The last one was Vegas. This year I think we want to go on a cruise, but I think we want to try out Royal Caribbean this year instead of Carnival. But I don't know. We'll see. Ugh, stomache's starting to hurt again, but there's only 5 minutes left. Something I wanted to blog about was missionaries and why we think they need to live in poverty. But, I came to the conclusion that if we think they need to live in poverty, then we need to live in poverty because we think we're doing missions everyday. So, there ya go. Stomache hurts, but i've lost 3 lbs since yesterday! I would like to keep it off as I am trying to lose 30 lbs, but I would like to do it in the healthy way. I'm the fattest I've ever been, which I guess isn't so bad since i'm not obese, but I've never lost 30 lbs before. But, we have an excersize bike sitting in our living room and it's been helping a lot, especially since that's where we spend the most of our time when home. I've been like a hampster with that bike; just constantly on and off. Other than my stomache problems, I've been feeling better and energetic with that bike. I need to start dancing to my Zumba dvd's, but I need to do it when Shane is not there because he makes fun of me. 1 minute left. Oop! Times up! Good night to all!