Donate, donate, donate!

For those of you who don't know, I was very fortunate to be able to help start a food pantry at my church. Well, it is slowly but surely getting built up! It makes me so excited to know that people are donating...and to know that we are making a difference!

Since I buy several items for next to nothing (or NOTHING!), I am able to donate, donate, donate! I thought it would be a great idea to teach a coupon class at church. That way, church members and their friends can learn to save money for their family. At the same time, they can donate a lot of the  free items that they are getting because of shopping smart. Who needs 15 tubes of toothpaste, anyway?? I have taught one official class at the church, and I can't wait to teach another one!

Yesterday and today I have been going through our stockpile. For those of you who may have just started using coupons, it takes about 2-3 months to build up a complete stockpile. You'll know when your stockpile is complete...trust me! Usually, you will have at least two of every non-perishable item. Remember, these are all items that are unopened. You should have one of each opened item kept separate from your stockpile.

To start, I emptied all of the cabinets. (We live in an apartment, so we don't have an actual "pantry"... we sure could use one, though!) Once all of the items were out of the cabinets it was easy for me take an inventory of what we had. I began sorting through the items, separating the ones that I was going to donate to the church food pantry. We had a total of [don't laugh] 26 boxes of pasta, 18 jars of pasta sauce, 11 cans of diced tomates, 8 boxes of Zatarain's rice, 10 muffin mixes and 8 salad dressings...just to name a few!

Guess what? Caleb and I don't need all of that food, so some of it will be donated! That's quite a bit of spaghetti for quite a few people!

Even if you aren't a crazy coupon person, you can still help. Giving just one box of spaghetti WILL make a difference! There are several places to donate. Just check your local food bank, churches, and other non-profits. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE :)

Brace yourselves, people. Here is our grocery stockpile...keep in mind that this is only for two people! I wanted to show you so maybe you can get an idea of what a stockpile is. The bathroom & laundry room stockpile (cleaning supplies) will be posted shortly, so check back!

Baking Stuff

We don't eat that much cereal, so we only have 5 boxes!

Mobile's Market on the Square

Market on the Square takes place downtown on Cathedral Square every other Saturday through July 31. It's a great place to buy fresh, locally grown produce...Tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn, breads, pies, watermelon, seafood, flowers, plants and more! Arts and Crafts tents will also be set up.

The next Market on the Square is this Saturday, May 1, from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Don't miss out!

Shopping 4/28

The first photo is from my quick Winn-Dixie trip. Winn-Dixie currently has their Classico pasta sauce on sale B1G1. If you printed the B1G1 Classico coupon from coupons.com last week, you can score some completely FREE pasta sauce! For example, if you have (1) B1G1 coupon, you can combine that with the B1G1 sale to get TWO jars FREE. With the Winn-Dixie B1G1 sale, they are paying for one jar. Your B1G1 coupon pays for the other jar. Get it? If you have (2) B1G1 coupons, you can combine that with the B1G1 sale to get FOUR jars FREE. And so on...

6 jars of Classico pasta sauce
2 recycled aluminum Reynolds Wrap

TOTAL: $2.37
Saved: $24.72  
That's savings of 91%!

The next photo is my Publix trip. Now, before you completely freak out about my totals, you need to realize that I had $15 in Register Rewards that I used toward this purchase. For the newbies, Register Rewards (RRs) are manufacturer coupons that print out of a catalina machine after you checkout at Walgreens. These RRs can be used at Publix. They are like CASH!!

Also, I have made a promise to myself. THIS IS MY LAST PUBLIX TRIP FOR A WHILE! We do NOT need anymore food, so we will be living out of our pantry for the next few weeks (alright, months). Anyway, I hope I can keep my promise. 

Order Total: $5.96 + tax

Saved: $96.88

That's savings of 94%!!!

*This photo includes some stuff to keep & some stuff to donate

What I bought:

3 cans of Hunt's diced tomatoes
1 pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pack of hot dogs
1 loaf of bread
1 bag Fresh Express salad
1 pack of Immaculate Baking refrigerated cookie dough
1 pack of strawberries
1 box of Princess fruit snacks (yes, they are for me. I love those things!)
3 boxes of Chicken Helper
2 64 oz. bottles of Juicy Juice
1 bag of Sunchips
1 4pk of Mott's apple juice
1 bottle of Aleve
4 boxes of Zatarains rice mixes
4 bottles of Ken's salad dressing
2 tubs of Dean's dip
1 box of Banana Babies (dark chocolate covered frozen bananas!)
3 Lunchables
1 Old El Paso soft taco dinner kit

Coupons used:

10/50 WD
$15 RRs
1/3 Hunt's tomatoes MQ
1 FREE Immaculate Baking refrigerated cookie dough
1/1 Kellogg's fruit snacks MQ
.75/3 Chicken Helper MQ
1/2 Juicy Juice MQ
1 FREE Sunchips MQ mailer
1 FREE Aleve MQ mailer
(2) .50/2 Zatarains rice mixes MQ
(2) 1/2 Ken's salad dressing MQ
1/2 Dean's dip MQ
1/1 Banana Babies (Publix Q)
(3) 1/1 Lunchables (made each Lunchable FREE!)

Extreme Couponing

Watch this video!

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Publix 4/21

I must say...this was a pretty good trip! I LOVED shopping this week. I had a few fans in line behind me at checkout. I told them I had tons of coupons (just in case they wanted to go to another checkout lane), but they wanted to see my savings. They were completely amazed! One guy even asked if I could do his grocery shopping :)

Order Total: $7.47 plus tax (almost $4 of this was for the pack of ground beef!)

Saved: $76.04

That's savings of 91%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What I bought:

1 pack ground chuck
2 boxes of Cheez-Its
2 Windex multi-purpose cleaners
2 Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner
3 cans of Campbell's Chunky soup
1 box of Scotties tissue
3 boxes of Mueller's pasta
2 boxes of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest pasta
2 boxes of DelMonte fruit chillers
3 4-packs of Yoplait Yoplus yogurt
2 boxes of Toaster Strudels
1 jar of Mt. Olive pickles
1 bag of Betty Crocker cookie mix
2 bags of Steamers-frozen veggies
3 bags of Cascadian Farm organic frozen fruit
3 bags of Cascadian Farm organic frozen veggies

Coupons used:

WD $10/$50
2/2 Cheez-Its (Wags Q-April booklet)
(2) 1/1 Windex MQ
(2) 1/1 Scrubbing Bubbles MQ
(2) 1/1 Scrubbing Bubbles (CVS Q) -- made both Scrubbing Bubbles free
1/3 Campbell's Chunky soup MQ
1/1 Scotties tissue MQ -- made it free
1/3 Mueller's pasta MQ -- made them .10 each
1/2 Ronzoni Healthy Harvest MQ
(2) 1/1 DelMonte fruit chillers MQ -- made them .66 each
(3) 1/1 Yoplait Yoplus MQ -- made them .25 each
(2) 1/1 Toaster Strudels MQ -- made them .10 each
.55/1 Mt. Olive pickles MQ
.40/1 Betty Crocker cookie mix MQ
(2) .50/1 Steamers frozen veggies MQ
(3) 1/1 Cascadian Farm organic frozen fruit MQ
(1) 2/3 Cascadian Farm organic frozen fruit (Publix Q)
(3) 1/1 Cascadian Farm organic frozen veggies MQ
(1) 2/3 Cascadian Farm organic frozen veggies (Publix Q)

Publix 4/14

Another great trip for me! We didn't need much since we have a complete stockpile now. I basically just got multiples of the items we were running low on. This food will last us quite a while (especially the pizzas :) I will also be posting my food pantry donations soon...

Order Total: $20.13 + tax
-$5 SC Johnson rebate (for 3 scrubbing bubbles)
Grand Total: $15.13 + tax
Saved: $89.80
That's savings of 86%!!!!!

What I bought:
2 boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal
1 jar of Prego pasta sauce
1 box of Duncan Hines muffin mix
2 jars of Peter Pan peanut butter
1 vitamin water drink
3 tombstone pizzas
1 celery
1 bag of carrots
2 packs of Keebler cookies (one's for mom!)
2 boxes of Quaker oatmeal
1 Naked Juice drink
2 boxes of Orville SmartPop popcorn
2 Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaners
1 Scrubbing Bubbles toilet brush starter kit
1 Scrubbing Bubbles toilet gel
2 Glade Relaxing Moments candles
4 packs of Fiber One yogurt (raincheck from a few weeks ago-each pack was .25!)
1 loaf of bread
and 7 BOXES of muellers pasta!!! (each pasta box came out to .10 each!)

Coupons used:
1.50/2 Kellogs cereals
1/1 Duncan Hines muffin mix
1/1 Orville SmartPop popcorn
1/2 Orville popcorn (Publix Q)
1/1 Prego
1.50/4 ConAgra products (peter pan & orville)
1 FREE vitamin water
1.50/3 tombstone pizzas
2/2 Keebler cookies (Wags Q)
(2) 1/1 Quaker Oatmeal
FREE Naked Juice WYB 1 Quaker Oatmeal
(2) .75/1 Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner
1/2 Scrubbing Bubbles products (Publix Q)
1/1 Scrubbing Bubbles toilet gel
FREE Scrubbing Bubbles toilet brush starter kit WYB toilet gel
2/2 Glade candles
1/2 Glade candles (Publix Q)
(4) 1/1 Fiber One yogurt
(5) .55/1 muellers pasta
(1) .55/2 muellers pasta

A few of my favorite things...

...from the HGTV marketplace.

Decor Ideas

I absolutely love everything made by Ballard Designs. Even though their stuff is a little pricey for me, it still gives me some great decor ideas. You could always use some new ideas, right? Click HERE to sign up for their free catalogs!

They also have a floor plan grid, along with furniture for every room. Click HERE to download your copy.

What I'm loving now from Ballard Designs: These pendant lights!

I'm on the Bargain Buggy's site!

Great news! A few days ago, a wrote a letter to the Bargain Buggy (Shannon). For those of you who don't know, Shannon has taught me EVERYTHING I know about couponing. I started reading her blog when I got married last October, and I guess you could say I've been in love with coupons ever since. She absolutely loved the letter, and she decided to share it on her site!! I was so excited!!

Check out the full letter HERE!

Look what I found!

Yard sales are a great way to find stuff for cheap! Even if you find something that's not the prettiest  thing in the world, you can always make it cute by adding a personal touch.

I got this for 50 cents at the church yard sale. I'm going to paint it (maybe), add some ribbon, and use some pretty scrapbook paper to line the back. It's hard to tell, but the biggest section is a corkboard, and the slots above it are for photos. It's also got two little hooks on the bottom. I'm probably going to hang it in the entryway right when you come into the apartment. It's a great place to hang our keys!

This vase was 50 cents, too. Now I just need some flowers for it!

This wasn't from a yard sale, but I did get it at Hudson's for just a few bucks. It's going to go in the laundry room. The Hudson's on Hillcrest is closing later this month, so be sure to check them out. They are lowering a lot of their prices!

Publix 3/27

I needed meat this time around, so the trip was a little more expensive than usual. But it's was still a pretty good trip. I actually have fun going grocery shopping, especially at Publix. It's relaxing! (Don't judge me)!

Order Total: $25.40
Sales Tax: $4.04
GRAND TOTAL: $29.44
TOTAL SAVINGS: $76.20
That's savings of 75%!

What I bought:

Bananas
Fresh strawberries
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Muffin mix
1 package of Bob Evans mashed potatoes
1 large bag of baking potatoes
2 Lysol 4 in 1 cleaners
1 bottle of Cascade
2 Dove hair care products
2 cans of Dole pineapples
4 jars of Classico pasta sauce
1 box of Chocolate Cheerios
2 bottles of Herbal Essences shampoo
1 box of Wheat Thins
1 package of Keebler cookies
2 packs of Chinet dinner napkins
1 container of pulled pork
1 bag of salad
1 package of Ground Round
1 package of Ground Chuck
4 bags of frozen veggies
1 Kraft salad dressing
1 tub of butter
1 large jar of Mott's apple sauce

You can never have enough Toby in your life!

He likes showing off for the camera :)

Coupons need a home, too!

Oh my goodness! I haven't posted in two weeks! Sorry about that, guys. I will try catching up this week.

First things first. I promised I was going to post photos of my new and improved coupon binder. This is a great way for me to stay organized, and I am absolutely in love with it! Before I started using a binder, I was clipping all of my coupons and putting them in this VERY small accordion filer.

Then I "upgraded" to this larger filer.

As I started becoming a serious couponer, I realized that this was not going to work for me. I was out of room, and it felt like complete chaos. Although the binder method is probably the most time consuming, it is what works best for me. That's what is important -- finding a method that works for you! Because I have been getting more than one set of inserts from the paper on Sundays, I couldn't just file them in a filer by category. Whenever I needed a specific coupon, it would take me forever and a day just to find it.

So, after that long introduction...here's Big Bertha!

The front.

The little flap on the front...this is where I put my coupons that I am going to use on the day of a shopping trip. This helps keep them all together so you aren't fumbling around when you go checkout.

The inside...the pink pouch is where I keep all of my store coupons and free item coupons.

Labeled by category.

The pages...these are baseball card inserts that you can find at Target or Walmart. You can also use photo album size pages for larger coupons.

Lots of pages!

A pocket for scissors and a pen in the back. I need to get a little calculator, too.

I also have dividers in the front (left). This is where I keep my AllYou  magazines and my Publix coupon booklets.

I have to be able to physically see all of my coupons (some people may say I'm anal retentive...but hey, whatever works), and that's why the binder works best for me. And it's so pretty :)