Living like Martha Stuart

Recently on the Today Show there was an author that decided to live like Martha Stuart for a year. This may or may not be a surprise to you, but this inspired me! I may not be able to do exactly what she did but I decided to get started... She decorated (handmade) items for every holiday, hosted a huge Cinco De Mayo party and organized the whole house, I have begun this journey as of today. Step 1 for me: GET ORGANIZED! I am starting with my kitchen, closet, bathroom, then craft room. My goal is by the end of the week to have everything labeled, cleaned, and organized.

I wanted to share this year experience with you!! Hopefully, I can keep it up ;)

Where do I get the coupons?

So many people have asked me where I get my coupons... Multiple places! Every Sunday there are inserts: Red Plum, Smart Source, and P&G. Paducah sun is the worst and doesn't always have but I buy four papers on Sunday... I try to get Nashville papers from friends, Louisville papers ( you can get in eddy villa) and St Louis papers (you can get in mayfield) or the Paducah Sun. I do get coupons off eBay. For example, if I catch the deal early and see that something will be free with a coupon I'll order 20 off eBay and you only pay like $2!

I use couponmom.com to navigate my shopping trips and I print online coupons from coupons.com- limit of two like coupons per computer

I also have ibotta app on my phone and you get cash back via PayPal for buying products they post


Hope this helps :)

Did somebody say FREE?!?

That's right, folks! I got every one of these shave gels FREE! and the total for tax was only .39!!

How?

They were on sale for $1 at kroger
I had a .55 coupon (June Proctor and Gamble) (Remeber, Kroger doubles)

= FREE

Unfortunatley, between me, my mom and mammy we wiped Paducah out and the deal ends Tuesday so hopefully they get more before then!

$55 for less than $5

This was an EASY trip! Anyone can do it! Between buying newspapers and receiving inserts from Family and friends I had about 25 Proctor and Gambles for June! Thanks guys!!

The Crest toothpast is $1 at Kroger... My coupon was .50 off any crest toothpaste (REMEMBER THEY DOUBLE UP TO .55 AT KROGER) So, the toothpaste was FREEEEEEE!!!!!

The deodorant was on the buy 4 save $4. So, they were 2.29 each, if you bought four they ended up being $1.29 each. My coupon was in the PG and was $1 off ANY Old spice product... making them .29 EACH!!!!

The capri suns were also on the buy 4 save $4. So they were 2.29, only 1.29 after 4! I went to coupons.com and printed off $1/2 Capri suns! Therefore I paid $1.29 for 2 and only .29 for the other two! WOO HOO!

Kroger deals are Wed-Tues so these deals END tues night! at midnight!

Making meals for the week

I have had a lot of requests for recipes and tips for freezer meals. Once again, I cannot take credit. My mom got me started on them when she sold Homemade Gourmet and did her 4 meals in 4 minutes shows! Then of course Pinterest has done the rest. I used some homemade gourmet mixes that I had left and some others from a blog on Pinterest which I will post. All you do is get everythign ready, stick it in a freezer bag, label it then put it in the freezer. I always stick mine in the fridge the night before to kinda thaw then place it in the crock pot the following day! I am hooked on this now because I don't have to worry about dinner if I will be gone all day or if Cory has to go in at 4, but I am sleeping from a night shift. Here are some of the recipes I used from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html

I made this day of :4 thawed chicken breasts, 6oz. package of Stove Top stuffing mix, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 can of cream of chicken soup. Chicken on bottom - Stove Top over chicken, Cream of Chicken/Sour Cream mix on top. Cover and cook for 4 hours on low.
 Here is the rest from her blog.. I highly recommend to repin my pin and follow her! Or go to the website

Savory Chicken 

Lazy Day Stew

Sweet and Tangy MeatballsSweet and Tangy Meatballs

Sausage and Peppers

Getting $25 at DG for free

Yes, I order coupons off ebay. I always get anywhere from 20-100 and I never pay more than $3.I will lookat sales ads the day they come out and if I see items on sale, or 10/$10 at Kroger, etc... I get on ebay to find coupons for the sale item. Keep in mind that there are a ton of tricks to couponing you just have to learn! For example, CVS and Publix... If you have a $2 off coupon for toothpaste you can use it AND you can use your $2 off manufacter coupon... that is called "stacking" coupons

Kroger will double anything up to .60 so you have have a coupon for .50 off then its actually a 1.00 off at kroger :)
 Here is my example. I saw Pizza rolls were ten for $10 at Kroger. I got on ebay and found 20 .50 off any pizza roll (remember, they double at Kroger so they would be $1 off) Yes, I got all 20 boxes for free!!!


Here is what I do at the DG EVERY Friday or sat.
All coupons are in the P&G and I order the $3 any bic disposable razor on ebay

I get 3 bounce dryer sheets $2 each
4 things of BIC dispoable razors $3 each
4 things of  Crest toothpaste $1 each
1 thing of peanut butter $2.75
1 piece of .25 candy
My total is $25

I use:
$5 off $25 or more first (They print this on your receipt or you can print online if you sign up for DG mailing list)
 my $3 off any 3 tide, bounce, etc.
4 $3 off any bic razors
4 $1 off crest toothpast
$1 off Planters peanut butter (got these off ebay)
= $25 in coupons...

I pay $1.07- SALES TAX!!! I do two transactions every weekend! 

MY $119 TRIP FOR $15

This trip was lucky haha.
I bought 20 $3 off poise coupons from ebay (I only paid 2.75 for all of them) I did this because I saw the kroger sale ad and saw they were on sale for $2.99... You're right.... they were FREE!!

The tought thing about couponing is that many times the stores are out of the item. They were out of poise so I got a raincheck for the price. My coupons were good for a month so I wasn't worried... well, tonight I had to go to both Krogers but I was able to get 20 for free!! They were originally $3.99 so that is $79.80 worth of product FREE! I highly doubt I will use a fourth of these, so these will def be an item I donate if I am able to go on the Haiti mission trip or to a local organization! Remember, do your best to make this a ministry and serve others :)

My next stop was CVS. I forgot to mention in the beginning.. Couponing is soooo much fun and addicting but it is VERY time consuming. I spend every moment of my free time doing it. And when I shop I go to a million different stores. That is why you have to plan every trip and have your coupons ready!

At CVS: My husband LOVES the febreeze car sticks, we usually get us both some and some for his cruiser at walmart and spend $12-15. I saw in the CVS ad that if you spent $20 on febreeze products you got $10 back in ECB! ahhhhh!!! The fun things about CVS is the $20 is BEFORE coupons. So I trotted my happy butt into CVS and got 5 car scents(3.79 each) and one room spray (3.59) and gave them 6 $1 off coupons (from todays paper) My total before tax was $14ish dollars. I paid and got $10 back in extra care bucks to use on anything I want! (I am saving it for next week's trip)

So far, I  have gotten $102.34 for $14.

My final stop was walgreens... Now, I have to admit I am not good in here and it is very difficult. They are more strict and confusing :S

I had a free peanut butter from a last purchase so I got that... that was a $4.99 value= FREE
I had $3 register rewards from my last purchase so I used it to get carpet spray for the puppies. We typically spend 5.99-6.99 on spray at walmart. Well, The Woolite was buy one get one free!! I had 2 .50 off coupons AND I used my register rewards of $3.. So I spent less than $2!!
That was $17 worth of items for $1.89!!