yarn and stuff

Good morning friends and frenemies...taking some time to talk about something other than coupons and food shopping.    For those not in the know I Am The Yarnchik too.   When not couponing I am brandishing my sticks wherever and whenever possible. 

In the past week I have been inundated with orders for the super fun ruffled scarves shown below.

 

 

So, while I will still be couponing I will be focusing on filling orders in time for the holidays.   Please bear with me, my fingers will be wielding the sticks more than the coupons for the next few weeks.  

 

A Yarnchiks got to do what a Yarnchiks got to do.....CHICKS WITH STICKS



$47.48 spent

Hope everyone had a deliciously fabulous holiday.   I took a wee break last week and went slightly over budget....$88.94, but I will make up for it in the weeks ahead. 

Sorry no pics of today's trip, I put everything away quickly and then did not feel like getting it all back out to take the picture.  I spent $47.48 at ShopRite, the trip included two forty packs of Hefty plates, six boxes of Hefty freezer bags, two huge boxes of Finish Powerball tabs, rice for risotto (not on sale but what can you do...I feel like making risotto), a boneless chuck roast, a five pound bag of potatoes, 2 red peppers, bananas, 4 Yoplait Simplait yogurts, six bags of Birdseye Steamfresh vegetables and two Degree deordorants.

The yogurts are on sale for $0.50.   I had four coupons for $0.30 which was doubled to $0.60 so I made $0.40 on that purchase.   The $5.04 for all six boxes.  I use these a lot because I buy the bigger packs of meat and poultry and then split the packs for several meals. 

All in all it was a good trip.   I plan on making stuffed peppers, risotto and the roast this week.   My birthday was on November 15th and my daughter bought me a fun pressure cooker so I plan on kicking it old school and making some retro recipes.  Stay tuned true believers......

dinners

I realized that I have been telling you what I am buying but not how I make it work at home.   Like yesterday, the only meat/poultry item bought was my free turkey, so what are we eating during the week?

Tonight we are having lentil soup with some of the bread I have been baking.   I had the lentils on hand, and if I didn't lentils cost close to nothing so they would not break the budget.  I have cans of chicken broth that I bought last week and this week when it was on sale.  I bought the frozen spinach yesterday on sale.   You don't need much more to make lentils....some chopped onion, some chopped carrots, some garlic, a little salt and pepper and that is pretty much it.   I throw everything but the spinach in the crock pot, and let it cook all day, I put the spinach in for the last hour or so.   I will also make some elbow macaroni and put that in when I put the spinach in and that is it.   A healthy and inexpensive meal and full of iron...and plenty left over for lunch during the week.  

Ok, back to making whole wheat chocolate chip cookies.

http://deerunkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Try it, you'll like it!

Happy Sunday!

Good morning, hope you are having a great day!  

My shopping day was great today but this  budget is much harder than I expected it would be, especially as I donated about ninety percent of my stockpile to shelters to help with Hurricane Sandy.   But I am not giving up....yet.

ShopRite is really helping me keep the budget this week because I was able to get my FREE turkey!  My neighbor is also getting me a FREE turkey.   My lovely neighbors give me their free turkeys/hams and whatnot during the holidays and I make them soups, pot pies, breads, etc.   It is a win/win situation.

I spent $42.73 at ShopRite, more than I expected but I bought a few extras.   I wanted to make Egg McGlone Muffins so I had to buy some canadian bacon and some english muffins.  I also bought some creamer for my son per his request and it is hard to say no to such a simple request.  The rest of my trip was all sale items.   Kleenex hand towels are on sale and if you buy two you get a coupon for $1.50 off of your next shopping trip, I had two coupons for $1.00 off each.   I bought two bags of Gold Medal flour, I am in full baking mode today, white bread and cinnamon bread, along with chocolate chip cookies, Hershey baking chips are on sale and there is a coupon for $1.00 off of two in today's paper.  Five cans of Swanson broth, two boxes of Triscuits, 4 cans of Progresso soup, 3 bags of ShopRite cheese, (for homemade pizza), 2 blocks of Cracker Barrel cheese, 4 boxes Totino's pizza rolls, and three boxes of Green Giant vegetables.   One of those is spinach, I had a request to make lentil soup so I am making that tomorrow.  And last, my 18.55 pound turkey, of course I picked the biggest one I could find.  Total savings, $72.93!

 

 

So remember last week I received $4.00 in ExtraBucks?   This week I turned that $4.00 into two tubes of toothpaste.  Colgate MaxFresh, 6 oz. tubes, are on sale for $2.75.  I had two coupons for $0.35 off of one tube.  CVS does not double coupons so I got $0.70 off of the two tubes, bringing my total down to $4.80.  I then used my $4.00 ExtraBucks from last week and brought the total down to $0.80 for both tubes.    With tax I paid $1.18.  Best part, there is an ExtraBuck offer on each tube, $2.00 for each tube, and you could get two offers, so I received another $4.00 in ExtraBucks for next week! 

 

$43.91 spent this week!  Have a great day and great week and keep on keepin on.



$44.48 total

Happy Sunday!  I love Sunday mornings when the stores are empty...I can get my shopping done quickly and get home to enjoy the rest of the day.

Ok, so I did some shopping yesterday at Acme, spending $24.60.    Today at ShopRite I spent $17.11 and saved $28.28.  The shopping add had a coupon for pork spare ribs, $1.49 per pound.   Those will go into gravy (spaghetti sauce), mmmm.....Betty Crocker potatoes are on sale for $1.50 and I had coupons for $1.00 off of two, so those were $1.00 per box.   That is an easy side dish on a busy night.  Swanson broth is on sale for $0.59 and there is a coupon in the Sunday paper for $0.40 off of five cans.  Don't forget the coupon is doubled, so you will pay $2.15 for five cans.    I need the broth to make the chicken pot pie that I am going to make with the chicken I bought yesterday.  Butter is on sale for $1.88, needed for the cookie order for this week.  OnCor dinners are on sale for $1.99 and I had two coupons for $1.00 of of two, so I bought four at $1.49 each.   This is something that my kids can make after school or work.  And of course I had to get the salt free chips for Jim's lunch.   All that for $17.11, not bad.

CVS made me so happy this week.   I love saving on cleaning products because they are pretty expensive and I use a lot.  Last week I received $6.00 in Extra Bucks towards my next purchase.   This week Scrubbing Bubbles and Fantastik are on sale, $3.00 each.   If you spend $12.00 you will get $4.00 ExtraBucks towards your next purchase.   I had two $1.00 coupons for Fantastik and one $2.00 coupon good on two Scrubbing Bubbles.  Combining my $4.00 in coupons and my $6.00 in ExtraBucks from last week I paid $2.77 for all four products and got the $4.00 Extra Bucks to use next time I go to CVS!!!!  

 

And that is it for this week.  $44.48 spent.   Have a great week!

63 percent saved

I had to do my Acme shopping today because I had a coupon that expired today and I was not going to lose a deal.   I spent $25.60 but $1.00 of that was a donation to the food bank so my shopping total was $24.60.   I saved $43.62.  (63% savings)  Did you know that Acme will truly double your coupon if the coupon is under $1.00?  So a $0.75 coupon is worth $1.50 at Acme vs. a $1.00 value at ShopRite.

Some highlights...Yoplait Greek Yogurt is on sale for $2.50, this is the two pack with or without granola.   If you buy two you will get a coupon for $1.00 off of your next order, no limit on this coupon.  I had four $0.75 cent coupons so I bought four two packs for $10.00, after my coupons were doubled to $1.50 I got $6.00 off bringing the four two packs to $4.00 and then I received two $1.00 coupons towards my next order.

Fiber One bars are on sale, along with many other General Mills products.   They are on sale for $2.88 but if you buy five you get $5.00 off bringing the price down to $1.88 each, $9.40 total. I had a coupon for $0.75 off of three, and a coupon for $0.50 off of two so I got an additional $2.50 off the total, bringing the final cost to $6.90.

Totino's Pizza Rolls are on sale for $1.25.  If you buy four you get a coupon for $1.00 off of your next order.  I had a coupon for $0.75 off of three so I received $1.50 off of the total making the 4 boxes $3.50.

I also bought some Domino baking sugar, brown and confectioners.   We have a large cookie order this week and I use the confectioners sugar to make the icing.  Three bags of Luden's Throat Drops and some boneless chicken breast finished off the order.   I will use the chicken breast to make chicken pot pie, chicken alfredo, chicken cutlets/chicken parm and I can also use in salads.  

ShopRite and CVS tomorrow....I am hoping to stay under $50.00!

$48.79, not too shabby

Week 2 and made the goal!   This was a challenge because of Sandy's unfortunate arrival....I have water on hand because I bought the three cases last week and still had water on hand from the last sale.   Making my own bread was successful so I have plenty of bread too, I made more this morning.

So I went to ShopRite this morning and was probably the only customer not buying water and bread.   I just wanted to get my sale items.   Canada Dry soda was on sale 5 12 packs for $11.00.   Hunt's products are on sale and if you buy 10 you get $5.00 towards your next order.  I bought six cans of diced tomatoes and 4 cans of Manwich which makes an easy dinner when you are short on time.   The only coupon I used was for Ellio's pizza, on sale for $1.99, the coupon was in this week's newspaper, the $0.75 coupon was multiplied up to $1.00 so the pizza was $0.99.  At the end of this trip I spent $47.53 and saved $40.09.   Some other items bought were 18 eggs, 3 packs of pork roll, three bags of frozen vegetables, 2 bags of fries and potato chips.

 

 

I then went to CVS and had another great CVS trip.   I bought a 50 count Advil PM and a 3 count of Thermacare wraps.   The Advil is on sale for $7.99 and the wraps are on sale for $6.79.   There are coupons for both in the newspaper this week, $1.00 off of each.   If you buy two you will get $5.00 Extra Bucks off of your next order.   You would pay $12.78 out of pocket and then get the $5.00 towards next week.   I had $12.00 in Extra Bucks from previous trips so I ended up paying $1.26 for both items and saved $15.20.   I received the $5.00 Extra Bucks and then also received a $1.00 Extra Buck since it was the fourth time I used my green bag.   Since Advil PM is $8.99 regular price I think this was a fabulous deal.

 

 

 

I hope I have everything I need to get through the storm but I am sure I do, a true couponer is stocked for all occasions.   Be safe and have a great week!