Apr 11
Everyone,
This week’s question at Multiples and More is about shopping. Grocery shopping.
How do you save money at the grocery store? What are your best tips and tricks?
I love to shop. Even shopping at the grocery store was fun. I think that comes from when I was little my Mom went to the grocery store with a carnival inside it. Seriously, it had rides, games, cheesy popcorn, etc. I couldn’t tell you why, but I can tell you that I went almost every week with my Mom. Most of my allowance went to the skee ball machines. I got really good. I was saving up my tickets to get a tv for my room but then we moved.
When we got married, the guy who married us gave us some advice. He told us to go grocery shopping together. And I think we always have. Except when I was on bed rest with the twins, then Juice went by himself. But now we take everyone and make it a fun family outing. Butterfly knows all about coupons, sales, and which stores have the best carts and free samples.
As for saving money, I go through cycles of coupons. Sometimes I LOVE them and I once got $200 of groceries for $68. I kid you not! But I get tired and frustrated with them all sometimes that I stop using them. I always go back to them eventually.
Currently I am in a no using phase. But here are a few tricks from when I was using. (Sounds like a drug, and sometimes it is!)
- Match up your weekly ad with your coupons. Sometimes stores have coupons inside their ads that you can stack with your manufacturing coupons. Watch for the stores that are doing double or triple coupons! GO THERE.
- Match your meals with what’s on sale this week in the ad. If chicken is on sale, plan on eating it that week. If London Broil is at an amazing price, plan a few meals around that.
- Keep a “rock bottom price” list for things you always buy. Grocery stores cycle through sales as well. If you can stock up a little on sale price chicken, you won’t have to buy it at full price later.
- Stretch those meals. If you bake a whole chicken (delicious with olive oil and rosemary!), save the left over meat for chili the next night. Toss the carcass in a big pot with leftover veggies and water and make your own chicken broth. There are so many different ways to use one thing for several meals. Be creative!
- Make your own. This is something I’m exploring right now. I can buy ingredients to make my own pancake mix that would cost much less than the ready made mix. I can make as much or as little of, say, salad dressing as I want. It tastes SO much better and is much healthier for you.
These are just a few tips that seem to have worked for my family. Here’s a few websites for you to look over. I got most of my ideas from them!
Deal Wise Mommy
Freebies 4 Mom
Money Saving Mom
Beyond grocery shopping, the site I use the most is called Swagbucks. It is a free site to use. You just search the web through their portal (very similar to google) and they give you ‘bucks’ for searching. Add up those bucks and you can redeem them for free stuff from their website. It’s kind of like when I was saving up those tickets from skee ball when I was young. Only instead of turning in the tickets for a tv, I’m turning in my bucks for amazon gift cards. So far this year I’ve earned over $100 for doing nothing that I don’t normally do on the web. Seriously, it’s amazing. Try it out! You have nothing to loose! (Neither do I, I get a bonus if you sign up.)
Safire
Safiregrocery shopping
Mar 20
Everyone,
Today was a big day. We had lots going on. But isn’t that always the case for a Saturday?
We started the day of splendidly by going to bed after midnight last night. Juice is building a bridge and I was doing that work for my brother. Yes, Juice is building a bridge. Technically it’s a truss. He’s explained it all out to me and I nodded in the appropriate places. 
Also today I took another big step with my new blog. It should be coming up by mid-May (or sooner!) so be on the look out for updates with that. I am so excited to have a permanent place online. You guys will come and see me over there, right? Especially since once I do move, I’m not going to update this blog again.
We got all dressed up in our pjs and headed over to our favorite ice cream place for PJ day. We all got free ice cream (even the dog) and chatted with several of our friends that were there.
Juice had a meeting at church tonight and I fed the kids nachos and applesauce for dinner. Everyone also got a bath. Pirate no longer smells like the hospital. I’m sure he feels better too!
Once Juice got back, it was time for me to run to the store. We have had no breakfast stuff for about 3 days now. We ran out of cereal, oatmeal, eggs, everything. A quick trip and now we are set to eat breakfast again!
The rest of the night has been spent making a bridge (Juice) and working (me) and listening to Professor cry because he can’t breath. Yes, we are all coming down with lovely colds and I’m so excited for the summer and no sicknesses!
Now it’s late and I should sleep.
Safire
Safirebaths, grocery shopping, ice cream, Juice.
Nov 21
Everyone,
I seem to always be really busy huh? And I don’t know why the past few weeks have been really busy but they have. Next week I have nothing but Thanksgiving (more on that later) and it should be a quiet week.
But today was really busy. It started off this morning with my trip to the “share church” where I helped bag over 100 bags of meat and over 100 bags of veggies. This is so much fun for me. I look forward to doing it every month. This month I came home with a turkey, a bag of meat and a bag of veggies, and all the stuff to make a turkey dinner (green beans, stuffing, pies, etc) for only $45. Nice!
Juice and I spent the next half hour or so reorganizing our freezer so we could put all the food in. We are desperate for a big chest freezer I think since I keep jam packing the little one above our fridge. I am on a no freezer items ban until we can see light in our freezer again. Okay.
I spent about half an hour in the attic today looking for blanket sleepers for the boys. I know when Butterfly was little I used to buy her blue and yellow and green sleepers so I could hand them down to the next kid. Butterfly had some pretty cute clothes! I found all her newborn stuff and it’s hard to imagine her being that small. I did also find the blanket sleepers and that is what the boys are wearing tonight for bed. Professor looks so cute and cuddly in his bright blue sleeper tonight. However, Pirate looks a little stretched. Could it be that he is TALLER than Butterfly was at this age?! It’s late or I’d go look in my archives and find out. Either way, I’m going to have to go get more sleepers in a bigger size so he will actually be able to wear them all winter long. Sigh…I have twins that can’t share clothes!!
While I was in the attic I did a quick look over of my Christmas pile and realized I’m going to have to spend time up there organizing it and figuring out exactly what I have. This is the problem of buying all year long…I forget what I buy! During this time the boys were sobbing at the ceiling because I was up there without them. Poor kids.
We also went to the store (no freezer stuff) and I got a free knife and a free juicer for answering questions at one of those sales tables in the $200 store. I am also a sucker and bought what he was selling. I’m excited about it too!
After a nice lunch of hot dogs, we ran to another store to get a few last minute things for Thanksgiving. Mostly I needed dried cherries and this store is the only place I know where to get them in town. I just happened to buy a few more things while I was there. Like sparkling blueberry juice. How tasty does that sound?!
Once everything was put away, naps were needed. Me included. I slept for almost 3 hours. So did the kids. I woke up with a splitting headache and it hasn’t gone away all evening. Dinner, bath, bed. Then, silence. Ahhh…sleeping children!
I have just spent the evening going over my Christmas list and buying online the rest of what I know I needed to buy. I am almost all done. My goal is to finish this up coming week and get everything sent to Utah by the 10th of December. That should get it there on time for Christmas. Right Mom and her UPS friends?
Yet another busy and full day!
Safire
Safiredaily list, grocery shopping, internet shopping, Share DC
Jul 31
Everyone,
Juice finished his work early this week and has a 3 day weekend for himself. Yay! We decided to go all out for his day off and let him sleep in until about 10am.
Juice and I were able to clean up our room a little bit and put at least 4 things in the attic and threw away one big garbage back of stuff. I am amazed at how much stuff has just gone into our room and stayed there. We dusted, straightened and de-cluttered for almost 2 hours today.
After the boys’ first naps, we took everyone over to the big warehouse store for lunch and grocery shopping. It’s sad when you run out of toilet paper.
As we were coming home, a HUGE rainstorm hit. We sat in the car in our parking lot feeling the car being pelted and blown around. I wished for a garage. Juice was kind enough to run inside and grab our big umbrella and took everyone inside.
Once inside, we had another round of naps. This time Butterfly actually took a nap. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was grouchy and cross all evening. Finally Juice gave her a kiss on the forehead and announced she was burning up. Yup, 103.4 degree fever. (She took the thermometer under he tounge and kept it there!) She went to bed early and Flower and Juice and I stayed up watching movies from Netflix.
Safire
Safirecleaning, grocery shopping, movies, rain
May 22
Everyone,
We went to another birthday party today. This time it’s for my good friend AJ (Lolli’s last baby). She and I actually became friends because of these two little kids. We were pregnant at the same time and had our babies 8 days apart. (Yes Splats, his birthday is Strong Bear’s birthday too.) We spent a lot of time talking in the nursing lounge at church. I was a brand new mom and looked up to her to see what she was doing with #5.
Now I still look up to her and Butterfly and AJ play well together. Probably because they have been playing together from very early on. 
Either way, I hope these two stay friends. (PS- This picture is of them over a year ago…they have grown up so much!)
Since it was AJ’s birthday this week, we had a party. Lolli invited 3 other kids AJ’s same age (Butterfly being the only girl, didn’t stop her!) and of course, my boys and another younger sibling of one of the boys (I think she is almost the same age as the boys) and an older sister (much older, 11 I think…she is home schooled). We went to the park by their house and the kids played so much! We had cupcakes and little snacks and opened presents and swung on swings and ran and ran and ran. Butterfly had a ball.
Thanks Lolli for another fun day together!
After the party, Juice was home and I went grocery shopping. And then I came home to the house in chaos. The boys were screaming for me, Juice was feeling ill (stomach thing) and Butterfly was cross. I got everyone fed, changed (not Juice), soothed and back in order. Guess I’m doing okay at this mommy thing so far. Once the boys were in bed, Butterfly and I went off to buy more birthday presents for our last party next week.
We also stopped by the mall because the camera store there is closing and I wanted to see what they had (next to nothing). We got some milk shakes and came home. It was nice just to have some time with Butterfly and not have to worry about who else to take care of.
It was a great day but I am beat!
Safire
Safirebirthday parties, grocery shopping, Lolli, shopping
Jan 24
Everyone,
I have felt this building. I know what this is. Periodically when Butterfly was a baby, I went through phases when I have been touched out. The fact that she was attached to me pretty much 24/7 made me not want to have any other living person or thing (talking about the dog here) touching me or near me at all. I remember during my mom’s class at the hospital when Butterfly was a baby we talked about this. Our nurse/instructor said that it was perfectly normal. That day I told Juice all about it and we laughed a little bit. Normal? Pwhsss… It will never happen to us!
Well it did. And today, it did again. I was really surprised that it didn’t happen sooner with the boys with all the holding and toddler climbing I do during the day. And I don’t know why today was the day that I don’t want anyone touching me. But it is.
Luckily, today is a Saturday and Juice is home! We went grocery shopping…where I wore a sleeping baby the whole time. Wow Professor is heavier when asleep. And I saved about 30 dollars because the store was tripling coupons. Yay!
Juice took a nap. I took a small nap. I made pizza all by myself. I picked up my food from the share program and got 2 huge green cabbages. Any ideas what to do with these things?!
It was a good day. Other than the fact that I didn’t want anyone near me.
Poor Pirate is sick again. He has two very bright cheeks and a snotty nose. He has a hard time nursing. It’s more of a nurse-pant-through-mouth-nurse-pant-through-mouth thing. Poor boy. I don’t know why but he always seems to get the worst of any cold we have. Pirate is awfully snuffily, but no snot yet. And Butterfly sounds congested and throaty when she talks.
I hope I have planned for 9am church a little better today. The boys are sleeping in their church clothes so all I have to do is change their diapers and go. I noticed the other day that they are spitting up MUCH less. Hopefully they won’t have a huge diaper blow out or leak. But if they did, it would make me late anyway. I’m going to lay out Butterfly’s clothes tonight and actually get up when my alarm goes off at 6:30am. (Ugh…unfair to have to get up so early! Earlier than the boys!) Because if I want a shower, I need to get up earlier.
I am looking forward to an evening watching a movie with Juice and no snuggling involved. Hard to imagine, I know. But really, I just need a little space. And about 2 extra hours in the morning. (Oh wait, that would make it 11am church…I’ll get that next year.)
Safire
Safirechurch, grocery shopping, no touchy days, Share DC, sickness 2009
Jan 10
Everyone,
Today Juice and I tried to run some errands (got them all ran, but didn’t get anything but diapers. Boring!). One place we did try to go was to the new grocery store in town. It replaced our regular store when it closed down. I had heard a few things from some friends about it (like they have rabbit in the meat section) so I had to see it for myself.
Apparently it is a Korean grocery store because absolutely everything was in Korean. I had no idea what most of the things were. There was produce I had never even seen. Really long mushrooms, gray fruit (although it could have been a vegetable for all I know), and other stuff. They even had a bunch of live fish in tanks. We were looking at them when a hand plunged into the tank, grabbed a fish, and then promptly cut off it’s head right in front of us. Wow. (They also had crabs, lobsters, eels and abalone in the tanks.) My favorite thing was the small silver chopsticks with a small silver spoon for babies. I really really wanted to buy these for my kids but I suppose I would have to learn to use chopsticks to use them!
The other half of the store was all Hispanic things. Most of this stuff I was familiar with. Wow you can buy 10 lbs of beans there for about 6 dollars. Food storage here I come! And the spices…Juice was drooling over the spices.
This was an interesting experience. The store was JAMMED PACKED. We used to go to this location every week for about 4 years and I have never seen more cars in the parking lot. This is one of the reasons why I love living here. You never would have this kind of experience within walking distance of our home in Utah!
Safire
Safirearound our town, grocery shopping
Dec 04
Everyone,
It’s that time of year when Juice and I make our big decision. Do we continue with our warehouse club membership or trade it the other one? What are the pros and cons of our store? Do we honestly shop there enough to warrant a membership? We have been with our current place for more than 5 years I think. My friend Chef was nice enough to take us to one today and let me browse for the prices/availability of things. So here’s my list.
Pro Current Place (CP)
-We know it.
-It’s a cheaper membership.
-They have polish dogs.
-Not as crowded.
-Plenty of parking.
Cons CP
-Major long lines that take forever.
-Employees are not stellar.
-They randomly stop stocking items that we use regularly.
-Not a great selection.
Pros of New Place (NP)
-Great selection!
-Great samples.
-Churros at the food court.
-Great counter wipes and picture printing (so Chef tells me).
Cons of NP
-Holy cow parking.
-And the people! I was overwhelmed with Butterfly and AJ running around.
-More membership.
-No polish dogs.
-Big store to learn.
-Opportunity to spend more.
They both have the staples we use. They both have big boxes of diapers (although NP had a bigger box…224 for 42 dollars. CP has 200 for 39 dollars. 24 diapers for 3 dollars more…worth it?) and the cereal we like. They both have things like cheese, dog food, laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.
Right now I’m leaning towards staying with CP. Yes, the employees aren’t stellar. Yes, I miss out on things like better selection. And no churros! But the press of people was just too much. If I couldn’t handle it, I know Juice would be a cross camper afterwards.
And really, it boils down to one point. At CP, they have polish dogs. And we love us some good hot dog.
Safire
Safiregrocery shopping
Nov 04
Everyone,
Juice came home early today and Butterfly met him at the door. “Daddy, today is a special day! We are getting a new leader.” Hopefully whoever it is, will be a good one.
I voted today. Juice voted today. We all voted at the same time. We walked down to our polling station with the dog because we are all about combining outings these days. The line was out the door, around the building, and swirled around on the side walk. As we got to the end of the line, people just coming out of the door were saying a 2 hour wait. Outside for most of it. I was never so grateful for the car seats for the boys because they block the wind. I stayed in line with them and Juice took Butterfly and Soot to the elementary school play ground and let both of them run off some steam. Look, another errand combined and checked off!
As I got closer to the door, they came back and joined me. We put Soot in her little dog carrying case and left her in the bottom of the stroller and took her inside with us. Yes, we took the dog voting. No one said anything. I don’t even think anyone noticed. They were too busy looking at the boys and all the whining she did was over shadowed by the crying of the boys.
Which was not much. Really, all the kids were wonderful. I bribed Butterfly with a doughnut and she was pretty good. She mostly played but when her attention span ran out, she watched a movie on my ipod. When we got home, I told her thanks for coming to vote with me and she said, “But I didn’t do anything.” I think she was a little put out that she couldn’t vote too.
Only about an hour of wait for us, and then it was walking back home and off to get free doughnuts. The parking lot was horribly packed (since there was a free coffee place in the same parking lot) and we waited in yet another line for our free doughnut. The manager came out and asked us to move the line inside. He stopped everyone after me and locked the doors. We got the last 2 doughnuts in the entire store. They were the good kind too, full of custard with chocolate on it! My favorite! By the time I got there, they were giving out one free doughnut per customer, not per I voted sticker. So I had to buy Butterfly’s. As we were sitting there eating our yummy doughnuts, another mom asked me if we had just been voting. I recognized her from the line. We chatted a little bit, and she asked if I was going to go get some coffee. No, thank you. She mentioned that the ice cream place in the same shopping center was giving away free hot chocolate. Oh really? Another mom piped up and said that the grocery store was also offering 10% off your purchase with your sticker. Sweet!
We walked over to the ice cream place in which I totally lied to Butterfly. I told her that the peach ice cream was pink. (The peach was on sale…that is one expensive ice cream place!) It was sort of pink. Just not the pink one she was pointing to. She had ice cream, I had free hot chocolate and we were both worn out.
Home for naps (which everyone did for at least half an hour today) at the same time! Yay! The boys woke up pleasant and we played for a bit and I did some email. Juice came home and we went right out to grocery shopping because 10% off could be good!
Well, turns out you had to have a coupon for the 10% off so no money saving here but at least we were able to get some grocery shopping done. We also had hot dogs at the store so that was good. All in all, a very productive, very busy day.
Juice even rearranged the furniture in our dining area to accommodate 2 high chairs. He swept the floor even. I love him.
Safire
Safirefree stuff, grocery shopping, voting
