Sunday, July 31, 2011

Monthly Savings Tracker

I had a friend come by last week while I had coupon inserts, scissors, and piles of coupons spread across my table. She asked me how much money I saved by using coupons and I didn't have an answer better than "lots."

It really got me thinking and I've given myself a challenge. I'm going to track my savings during the month of August.

If you're up for the challenge, I'm posting a link to the excel spreadsheet I made. It's really basic, but I thought I'd share what I'll be using.  I'd love to hear at the end of the month how much you've saved!

The Monthly Savings spreadsheet can be found HERE.  There is an example at the top so you can see how to fill it in.  This can be downloaded by going to File, Download, and then using the spreadsheet to fill in your own numbers.

FREE Clothing Fair - Saturday August 6th

(picture credit)

The Annual Sparks Stake Clothing Fair is this week! This is a great opportunity to clean out your closets and donate unused clothing, as well as "shop" (for no charge) for clothing items for you and your family.

Clothing donations can be dropped off at the LDS church (2955 Rock Blvd, Sparks, NV) any time from 2:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. on Friday, August 5th.

"Shopping" is open to the community from 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m on Saturday, August 6th.

You do not have to donate clothes to be able to shop. You do not have to show ID, be a member of this church, or give your firstborn child. There are no strings attached.

I've been to this clothing fair before when my boys were moving up in size and I needed a few things that fit. The clothing was arranged by size and it was fun to sort through and find treasures. It's like my boys keep quoting from Bedtime Stories, "For FREEEEEEE? Sounds good to MEEEEEE!"

Hope to see you there and feel free to spread the word to your friends and neighbors!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Zucchini Bread

(My boys of summer enjoying a slice of zucchini bread.)



I missed the boat on my garden this year. I managed to get a few things planted before prego sickness hit but nothing like usual.

Lucky for me, I have generous gardening friends. When Sheila brought me a beautiful zucchini earlier this week, I knew I wanted to turn it into some yummy zucchini bread.

I found an AMAZING recipe on allrecipes.com that turned out so moist and yummy. The recipe makes two regular-sized loaves but I'm sure it would make great muffins or mini loaves too.

This bread also freezes well if you're wealthy in the zucchini department (which many people tend to be this time of year) and need to use it all up.

You can find the recipe HERE. Enjoy!

It's Been a Long Time...

since I've been on the blog. It's been a long time since I've been couponing! In fact just this week I eased myself back in with a little Walgreen's shopping.

You see, we're having another baby around here! With pregnancy comes sickness for me, so we've been laying extremely low. I'm hoping to be feeling back to my normal self very soon.

While I've been sick and not able to do much, I've thought a lot about how nice it is to have a stockpile for times just like these. I couldn't even look through the grocery ads without feeling ill...there was no way I was stepping foot inside a store!

Willie would bring home milk, bread, fruits & veggies, (and odd cravings I had now and then) but I'm sure he's glad he didn't have to do the FULL shopping for our family of six. He had enough on his plate caring for us while I've been down for the count.

I also figure having our stockpile on-hand saved us money. Had Willie needed to purchase typical needs for our home, he would have stopped at the closest store on his way home from work. No time for bargain shopping! Buying diapers, wipes, toiletries, and food all at full price would have really put a ding in the budget.

Once again, buying ahead when things are on sale and saving them for when needed (so you don't have to pay full price!) has saved the day. I've missed couponing and I'm excited to get back in the game!

I probably won't be blogging very often. There are so many couponing blogs out there, why repeat it all? Plus, my friend Jill (who often did posts for the blog too) has moved, leaving me once again to be a lone blogger.

On the sidebar is a list of my favorite blogs if you need more to read, and I was just emailed about this new one too if you want to check it out. It's called The Swap and it's a blog done by local Northern Nevada gals looking to swap info about great deals.

Happy couponing!