How far we've come...

I have been looking back at the years we've been married, and the things we've been through. We've had quite a few ups and downs. Our finances have been good, bad, good again, and back to bad. I am so grateful to my wonderful sister-in-law for introducing me to, and teaching me the tricks of couponing. I've learned so much from her in a year and a half. I'm teaching those around me to frugally live and still stock up. The things I have learned have blessed our little family in so many ways. When times were at their hardest, we were able to go a few months with only "fresh food" grocery shopping (milk, eggs, bread, produce, ect). I haven't bought a tube of toothpaste in over a year, and I probably won't have to for another year! I've been able to donate to others, and bless other families with our surplus. I feel incredibly blessed to have learned the skills I need to help get our family out of debt and still prepare for uncertain times.

I tried out another 'dented can' type store. It's called The Grocery Outlet. It's a chain store, and there's only two in our state. I went there last week, and was VERY impressed! I got quite a few things for hardly any money. Most of their product is 'promotional' products that are out of date. For instance, I got some Rice Krispie treats that had red and green pieces in them for Christmas. They had a bunch of Valentine's Day stuff. I'm going to make a trip a few days after Easter to see what kind of deals they have.

My next adventure is going to be trying the "homemade" products. I made some homemade laundry soap, and I've only tried it once. It seems like it worked good, but I want to try it some more. I also want to try dish soap, and maybe even cleaning products. I'll be keeping my eye out for recipes!

Three years

My wonderful husband took me on a spontaneous one-day trip to Tombstone for our three year anniversary! We had so much fun and got to spend the day together. Three years ago, we promised each other the world. Our first year went by with a lot of dinner experiments, a few tears, and lots of laughter. Our second year showed us that our love will survive, even when money is tighter than it's ever been. Our third year taught us about what happiness is all about. I can't wait to spend an eternity loving and learning alongside my very own Prince Charming!

Update

Okay, so the dented can store... was a dud. The items were not any cheaper than Wal-Mart, and even some things were more expensive! For instance, they had Great Value brand pasta for $.99, but it's only $.82 at Wal-Mart, and the boxes aren't dented! Ha! The concept is a good one, but the store we have close by isn't a good deal.

On the way home from there, I stopped at a Holsum bakery outlet. I got two packages of sandwich thins, a package of potato rolls for dinner, and a box of donut holes for $5.67! I'm definately going to shop there more often!

Yesterday and today I did a lot of freezer cooking. Last night, my husband and I made three tater tot casseroles and three shepherd's pies for the freezer. This morning, I made a pot of stew and a pot of chicken potato cheese soup, and froze that individually in freezer bags. I also made two pans of chicken enchiladas! We now have about 25 meals worth of food in our freezer! Woo hoo!

So many different ways to save...

I haven't been shopping much lately, because I stocked up quite a bit on the Fry's Mega Event a few weeks ago. However, I've taken a few of the suggestions from coupon blogs I have read, and I'm trying to implement them.

One of the suggestions is doubling the recipe when I cook, and freezing the extra. Just tonight, my husband pulled out one of the frozen casseroles and stuck it in the oven. I am excited to keep this up, so hopefully we'll cut down on our last-minute I-don't-know-what-to-fix-so-we'll-eat-out habits. :)

We've also tried eating out of our pantry. I used to look in the pantry, see a package of torillas, and think, "I can make chicken enchiladas!" But then I end up going to the store for chicken, sour cream, onions, celery, and cheese. So I wasn't really saving any money by trying to find something in the pantry. Now, I've started putting entire meals together out of pantry items. I made chicken salad sandwhiches earlier with ingredients all from the fridge and my pantry.

I was researching on the internet at work tonight, and found a store nearby that sells the cast-offs from grocery stores. Stuff like the dented cans and boxes that can't be sold in the grocery store. I am going to go check it out this week and see whether it's a good deal or not.

I've also signed up for quite a few sample items from different companies. I've read that a lot of people can get some good products from just requesting free samples. So in 6 to 8 weeks, my mailbox should be overflowing! :)

I may or may not be successful at all of this, but one thing is for sure, I'll continue to cut the coupons from the Sunday paper and organize my shopping trips!

It's been quite a while...

Yes, I know. I'm officially the worst blog updater ever. But I'm going to be better. I'm getting back into clipping coupons and saving tons of money, so I'll be posting pictures of my shopping trips. This one was from Monday. I had two transactions at Fry's. I spent a total of $9.51 and saved $136.29!!! Now we have frozen vegetables to last us for months!

More Pictures!

Here's some more pictures from our trip.

Our Trip to Cali

Yeah, I officially suck at blogging. But there's hope. We just got home from San Diego, and took TONS of pictures! Over 500 pictures! In 4 days! So... here goes nothin!