CC's Great Aunt's Bread


Image from taste of home   

I love me some homemade bread fresh from the oven, This is a great recipe to make when you want to spend the morning doing something but not really doing much, also its a great recipe to make when you can't go anywhere (think of those long winter days in February.)

Cc's Great Aunt's Bread (20 min, prep time, 3 hour rise time, 40 min. bake time) makes 4-5 loafs
1 cup warm (hot) water
2 pkg yeast
1 TBL sugar
1 tsp. salt
mix the water and sugar together, let the sugar dissolve. then add the rest
1 cup warm milk
1/2 stick of melted butter
mix these ingredients in  with the yeast mixture
Add to the mixture:
3TBL. sugar
3tsp. salt
3 cups water
2 eggs
10-13 cups of flour ( I like to mix flour, so I use about 1 cup of wheat germ, 3 cups whole wheat, and 9 cups of white flour you will use about 5 lb of flour but not all of it, oat meal is also yummy to use)
you want to add enough flour that the dough isn't sticky. kneed the bread, until there are no bubbles, or if you use a stand mixer for about 3 minutes on the second setting
Then grease your bowl, let the dough rise, push it down kneed it for about 3 min. do this another time (x2) (This process takes about 2 hours total)
Divide the dough into 4-5 loafs pans let it rise again, (1 hour)
bake at 350 for about 30-45 min. if desired melt butter and brush on to freshly baked bread let it cool.

Welcome mom's

Coupon SAHM I AM, after toddler story time our first class
Jenny, Anya, and I feel pretty awesome having a good crowd come out and listen to us ramble on how to use coupons at our coupon class last night, we love sharing our talent of saving money (our hubbies can't complain either) As this is a new blog, (it's been up about 2 weeks,) We want you to know that we take saving money seriously. We understand that in our society us women folk are the ones that are "in charge" of what the family eats, We take this very seriously, sometimes at the end of the month we will slip in pb and j for supper, and the dreaded grill cheese instead of let's say stake for supper but as women I think it's great that we have the freedom to chose what our family eats. That is why we felt so strongly to make a blog about saving money and how to put food on the table, we all know there is a better way to save money, keep our family healthy and not go crazy at the grocery store, unless you use your coupons, then you can call yourself the crazy coupon lady, like my husband and friends call me.
We hope you enjoy our blog, leave comments, we are self absorb and love when people have something to say to us, We hope this is a blog that you can come too to get inspired to do your grocery shopping without spending too much money

Happy Savings

questions: how do you start your stock pile?


my small starting out stockpile
What's up with stockpiling?

When you coupon stock piling is part of saving. It's a good idea for every one to have a stock pile (food storage) in their home, but you can't coupon without getting a good stock pile.

So how do you make it work for you? So let's say you are ready to save about 30%-40% on your grocery bill. you will set aside about 10%-30% of your budget to "rock bottom prices" these are the items that are on sale with a coupon, you buy as much as you can with the coupons you have. For example if peanut butter is on sale for a $1/jar. and I have a .50/2 (.50 off of 2 jars)  off coupon for that brand of peanut butter. I can get peanut butter for .75 a jar So I stock pile, If I have 6 coupons that means that I now can get 12 jars of pb at a rock bottom price, I then will not have to buy pb for 6 months. It then snow balls, until you get up your stock pile and then, you only have to spend money on your dairy, produce, and things that don't last long and with your Grocery bill and/or budget you can then spend more money on stock piling so then you are able to save 80% on your grocery bill. Although it does take time to stock pile, for myself it took about 6 months to see getting my grocery list to save 60%-80% from my starting point to buying what's on sale with a coupon items. The key is to know how much you are willing to spend on that item.

Other tips for Stock Piling
So maybe you don't have room for a stock pile, what can you do to save money?
Start small, make a list of 5 of your go to meals that you make. list the ingredients you need for that meal, collect the coupons and then wait till that item goes on sale. Then buy what you can with your coupons you have, that is your stock pile, now you have some of the ingredients that you need at a rock bottom price just waiting for you to use them up. For a simple example I will take my most recent trip to the Wags (Wallgreens) I knew that Dove Chocolate candy bars will be .12 a piece with my coupon on sale. I can use the chocolate for chocolate cookies that our family loves. So I buy what I can and store them, I will not have to buy chocolate chips for a couple months because I got a great deal on chocolate. That money I was going to spend on my chocolate chips can then go towards my next item on my list to stock pile.  Sometimes it takes some creativity to say hay I can  use that in something different than just eating a bar of chocolate. That's how you save money.

Questions: It's cheaper to go with the Generic than use my coupon

I have had a lot of people say every time I go to the store I have my stack of coupons at hand and ready to go but when I get there it's always cheaper to buy the generic than the brand name so I then only use one or two from my stack of coupons what's up with that?

The simplest answer is that, you are not waiting to use your coupon. Most of the product coupons you will collect will not be cheaper than the generic brand until they go on sale. You must wait and cash in on the "hot deal" when you can pair the sale item with the manufacture's coupon to get the 60%-80% that we say you can get. That is why we stockpile, and get a 6 month's supply of one item in that sale period. You can bet that in another 6 months that item will be on sale again with a coupon.
my favorite tip is to go onto couponmom.com and find the store you want to shop at and see what percentage  you can save during the store's sale and use those coupons that say  you are able to save 80% on this item that's when I stock up and save.
For more information Go to our post baby step 3, how and when to use coupons

Hy-Vee 3/30/11 - 4/5/11


4 12pk coke for $13 with, store coupon 4 for $11
jumbo princess green seedless grapes $1.28 lb

Stock UP:
Save $5.00 Off your next shopping trip when you buy any 5 participating Kraft Foods product
Crystal light $2 = $1 each when you buy 5
Kraft cheese chuck or cuts $2 = $1 each when you buy 5
2-3 ss $.55/1 Kraft American cheese single $1.99 = $.45 each with 5 coupons
Jello-pudding, gelatin,temptations $2.77
Oscar Mayer hot dogs $1.67
and others

Hy-Vee Tomato Paste $.50
Texas Sweet Yellow Onions $.59 lb
Huggies Diapers $8.99
2-20 RP $1/2 Hefty OneZip Storage Bags $1.50 = $1 each when you buy 2

cucumbers $.69 each
exotic mangoes $.77 each

2-day Sale Friday and Saturday April 1, 2 2011

Strawberries 2lb pkg. $2.18 (only $1.09 lb Yumo!
Hyvee Milk half gal $1.28!!!!!!

3/6 RP $1/2 Kellogg's Cereals, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies $1.38 plus remerber you will get this:FreeMilk (3/18/11 - 4/09/11)

•Buy 3 or more Kellogg's Cereals 8.7 or larger; Get 1 coupon for free milk (up to 3.59) off of your Next Shopping Order (Stock up Time)

3/13SS $1/2 Kraft shedded cheese 4 for $5 Plus remember you will get this:Kraft (3/27/11 - 4/05/11)

•Buy 5 or more participating products, and get $5.00 off your next shopping order!!!!!!

Hy Vee




Go to Hereunder Helpful-Ideas for:

Coupon Match-UpsAfter clicking on the weekly match ups, you will see there:
coupon policy.
Source: www.pennypinchinmom.com


Catalina National Offers:

Kraft Jell-O (3/04/11 - 3/27/11)

•Buy 2 participating products, get $1.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 3 participating products, get $2.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 4 or more participating products, and get $3.00 off your next shopping order.
Reach Toothbrush (3/06/11 - 3/29/11)

•Buy 2 Reach Toothbrushes; Get $1.00 off of your Next Shopping Order.
•Buy 3 Reach Toothbrushes; Get $2.00 off of your Next Shopping Order.
•Buy 4 or more Reach Toothbrushes; Get $4.00 off of your Next Shopping Order.
Kellogg's Cereal & Free Milk (3/18/11 - 4/09/11)

•Buy 3 or more Kellogg's Cereals 8.7 or larger; Get 1 coupon for free milk (up to 3.59) off of your Next Shopping Order.
McCormick Pre-Easter (3/18/11 - 4/10/11)

•Buy 2 participating products; get $1.50 off next shopping order.
•Buy 3 or more of participating products; get $2.50 off next shopping order.
Del Monte Dog Snacks (3/21/11 - 4/21/11)

•Buy 2 participating products, Get $1.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 3 participating products, get $2.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 5 or more participating products, and get $3.00 off your next shopping order.
Kraft (3/27/11 - 4/05/11)

•Buy 5 or more participating products, and get $5.00 off your next shopping order.
Lean Cuisine & Skinny Cow (4/06/11 - 4/12/11)

•Buy (6) Lean Cuisine and (1) Skinny Cow Multi-Pack, and get $5.00 off your next shopping order.
California Pizza Kitchen (4/18/11 - 5/15/11)

•Buy 2 participating products, Get $1.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 3 participating products, Get $2.00 off your next shopping order.
•Buy 4 or more participating products, get $3.00 off your next shopping order.
Post Pebbles (4/22/11 - 5/15/11)

•Buy 2 participating products, get $1.00 off next shopping order.
•Buy 3 participating products, get $2.00 off next shopping order.
•Buy 4 or more participating products, get $3.00 off next shopping order.


Purchase must be made in one transaction and is subject to participating items. Not available in Corning, Lamoni and Hy-Vee Drugstore locations. Other restrictions may apply. See store for details.


Now Wows

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NOWWOW - Awesome coupons that will make you say WOW! These exclusive coupons are good for a specific day and limited hours. Stay alert! You'll never know when you will receive a NOWWOW.


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Under Shop

Weekly Ads: weekly, online and special Ads (You are able to click on the products from the adds to make your shopping list, then you can print it with store coupons that you click on)

They also manufacture online coupons that you can print on there site

Free Healthy Eating for life book

I love freebies, and this is one that is near and dear to my heart, anything that can help educate on eating right and taking preventive measures to a healthy lifestyle is something I try to promote, so click on this link or you might have to copy and paste this link in your browser, and fill out the form. If you would like a digital copy of it instead you can download it at this link also!

http://www.cancerproject.org/resources/hefl/hefl_handbook.php

Baby Step 4:Learning Coupon Lingo

Baby Step 4: Learning the coupon Lingo
As you read sales, coupons, blogs, you will have to read the lingo. This is a glossary of the lingo
$1.00/1, $2.00/1, etc: One dollar off one product, two dollars off one product, etc.
BOGO: Buy one, get one.  Will usually end with “free” or “half off” meaning buy one, get one half off, or buy one get one free.
B1G1, B2G1: Another way to write ‘buy one, get one’.  The “B” stands for “buy”, the G stands for “get”.  The numbers indicate how many of a product you must buy to qualify and the number of products you get when you redeem the coupon or offer.  B1G1= Buy one, get one.  B2G1= Buy two, get one B2G2= Buy two, get two
ECB:  Extra Care Buck CVS pharmacy program; now renamed Extra Bucks.
EXP: Expires or Expiration Date
IP: Internet Printable coupons may be printed right from your home computer.  Usually limited to 2 prints per computer, download quick and safe printing software to be able to print securely from home.
MIR: Mail in Rebate, refers to rebates which must be submitted by mail.  These are the traditional rebates that require you to mail in both your receipt and proof of purchase in the form of UPC barcodes.
MFR: Manufacturer abreviation.
OOP: Out-of-Pocket; refers to the amount of money you will pay a store to make your purchase.  Does not include and after-purchase savings, coupons or rebates.
OYNO: On Your Next Order.  Store promos such as Spend $25, save $10 on your next shopping order.  OYNO refers to savings that you will not see on your first transaction, but that may be applied to your next purchase.  Most OYNO coupons have no minimum purchase.  If you spend $25 and receive a coupon worth $10 off your next order, there is no minimum purchase on that next order.  If you spend and value over $10, you may redeem your coupon.  If you spend under $10, you may use your coupon, but will forfeit the difference.
P&G: Proctor and Gamble manufacture a wide range of consumer goods and are one of the largest corporations in the world.  Proctor and Gamble puts out monthly coupon inserts filled with coupons for a variety of Proctor and Gamble produced brands, just a few of which include: Always, Bounty, Crest, Dawn, Gillette, Olay, Pampers and Tide.
PSA: Prices starting at; when a group of items are on sale, such as Fiber One products 25% off.  We might write “PSA $2.09″ and list a group of Fiber One coupons.  This means that the cheapest Fiber One product is $2.09 and prices go up from there.
Q: Coupon abbreviation.  (not used on TheKrazyCouponLady.com)
RR: Register Rewards.  Walgreens drugstore rewards program, and version of the catalina coupon.  Look for the same machines located at register, dispensing long receipt-like coupons that may be used on a future purchase.  RRs cannot be ‘rolled’ like catalinas.
RP: Red Plum.  Formerly known as Vallasis, Red Plum coupon inserts and website feature coupons from a variety of manufacturers.  Red Plum is part of Valassis Interactiv.
SCR:  Single Check Rebate, Rite Aid Drugstore monthly rebate program.  Each  month pick up your rebate booklet to see hundreds of dollars in possible rebate savings.  Shop with coupons, save your receipts and enter quick information online.  The SCR system stores all your rebates and totals them each month.  Request your monthly check be mailed to you and cash it like any other check!  No clipping barcodes or UPCs, no mailing or stamping an envelope.
SS: Smart Source. A marketing company, like RP, Smart Source coupon inserts and website feature coupons from a variety of manufacturers.  Smart Source is part of News America Marketing Co.  Smart Source coupon inserts can be found in most Sunday papers.
WAGS: Abbreviation for Walgreens Drugstore
UPC: Universal Product Code. Bar code printed on product packages that can be scanned electronically.
WYB:  When You Buy.  Some sales or coupons require purchase of multiple items.  When reporting a deal on KCL, we always include a final price.  Example:  Buy 2 Mint Milano cookies $2.00 each, use 2 $1.00/2 coupons, Final Price: $1.50 each, WYB 2.  You must buy 2 in order to use the $1.00/2 coupon, so the final price states “WYB 2″.
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary.  A phrase used to describe that an experience one shopper has may differ from your experience.  One store may allow you to stack additional promos and another location may not do the same.  Some stores, such as that ‘one’ SuperCenter, who do not have a universally enforced coupon policy will often let one customer do one thing and another do something completely different.  If we receive an email from a reader with a great shopping scenario, we might report it and say, YMMV until we see if stores nationwide are allowing the same scenario.
(Glossary information from the Crazycouponlady.com)

Baby Step 3; Learn how to use your coupons


I always thought even with the coupon it was cheaper to go with the generic brand then when  you use a coupon for the name brand, I would then end up buying the generic item. So how do you save with the coupons to get those great deals?
1.The best way to do this is to match the sale item with the coupon. Couponmom.com has the best resource to find the best deal with the coupon, look at my post here, to get more information. 



Other ways to match the sale item with the coupon is to use your local adds and find the deals with your coupons.
2. Stacking coupons,  that's when you can use a manufactures coupon with a store coupon, you can't use 2 manufacturer coupons on one product but you can do one store coupon with 1 manufacturer coupon on one item.
When you are just starting out, you will want to learn and understand how sale cycles work, use that information and old receipts from last month and/or year to see when things were on sale so you can make an inform decision as to see if a deal on deodorant is a good deal or did it go on sale a week later for half the price.

Baby steps; Step 2 Finding your coupons


Now that you can grocery shop with a list it's time to FIND THOSE COUPONS!

There are two great sources, you must use them both if you plan on saving big.
Sunday coupon's and online coupons

There are the Sunday paper inserts called, Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP) or Proctor & Gamble (PG). We recommended that you get at least 3 copies of these inserts every week if you want to see big savings. You get 3-6 coupon inserts a week so you can stock pile when the item goes on sale, that way you have a 3-6 month supply of that item. So when the item is on sale again you can get it with a coupon and not rush out to get it when you have to pay full price for it. Who wants to do that?

Ways to get coupon inserts would be to ask family and friends to save the inserts for you, Ask local businesses to give the inserts to you, or Jenny's favorite way: Dumpster dive for them.. (more on that later.)
 
If you want a bunch of one coupon you can go to a coupon clipping site or ebay and order some coupons online. A good rule to follow is if your paper subscription is less than $2 per paper it's worth that in coupons.
The other way to find coupons is to print them online.  go to  coupons.com smartsource.com redplum.com and other blogs to print coupons.

If you are not sure you need all those coupons, I am here to say YES you absolutely need all 3-6 inserts to save, it will pay for its self in the first Shopping trip of that month alone. If you are not sure about spending that much money per month use the online coupons you print to see if you do like using coupons. The downside to only using online coupons is you can only get 2 prints per coupon, were if you had 6 coupons you can triple your deal.

Baby Steps to saving money with coupons Step One



Ready to start couponning  but might be a little shy? Let us show you how. Although there is no fast way to save big with your coupons, you will find that a lot of baby steps will lead to a bunch of savings by using coupons. I feel that as soon as you start seeing the rewards of using coupons you will feel empowered saving at least 60% on your grocery bill every time. These are your baby steps:

1st step, learn how to shop. Yep it's a learning curve that no one told me about, a trial and error sort of thing. Of course you want to shop the way that works best for you, however you might try some of these ideas to see what works the best.
1. always go shopping with a list.  I seem to buy way to much stuff, or junk that I don't use when I don't follow my list, or I forget the one thing I went into the store to get. For example, opps I forgot the milk again..GRR right?

2. plan your menu ahead of time, and go shopping weekly. That's right no more running to the store in the afternoon and spending who knows how much.  And no more major monthly shopping trips. As a mom who have done both, the monthly shopping trip is the worst, you spend more than you should and yet you are still going to the store in a couple of days for produce, yet again spending money on other things.
3 Going to the grocery store a lot. For me, I usually am in the store at least three times per week but only buy my groceries once a week if I can get away with it. What the heck am I doing in the Grocery store the other two times? I am looking for sales, unadvertised deals and seeing when the produce  get stocked and planning my shopping trip, making notes on if I need to find a coupon for an item that is on sale that I missed. Some stores, will even raise their prices 1 or 2 cents during the weekend because they can get away with it. if I am going grocery shopping I am looking for the best deal  I can get, just like buying a car.
4. Stocking up on the Item at it's cheapest price. Have most of your item on that list should be sale items, or items that have coupons with them or if you are really good the items on your list will be on sale with a coupon.
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