Coupon Sharing: Frosted Mini-Wheats

As a member of Vocalpoint, I am often sent free samples of products as well as coupons to share. This morning my little guys shared a sample of Frosted Mini-Wheats (and a banana) for breakfast.

Now it's my turn to share with you. I have 5 $1.00 coupons for Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Want one? E-mail me at doctorsfrugalwife [at] gmail [dot] com with your contact information.

And if you haven't joined Vocalpoint already...you should!

Update: See comments for a great tip from Jennifer at Saving & Giving when using these coupons...and then go visit her website!

Jean Snob No More!

I will admit that I am a "Jean Snob". I love designer jeans and I have been known to spend hundreds of dollars on one pair of jeans. Go ahead and gasp!

There was a time in my life when I thought that material possessions would heal the problems in my marriage and the hole in my soul where God should reside. Walking into Nordstrom's and trying on expensive jeans, being measured for alterations and being cheerfully handed my silver shopping bag made me happy.

I have since grown spiritually; healing my marriage, soul and bank account. Now the thought of not being a good shepherd of our money makes me want to vomit. Sorry for the word choice, but honestly that is what the thought of spending a ridiculous amount of money on jeans (or anything for that matter) makes me feel like...physically ill.

So why am I no longer a "Jean Snob", other than the spiritual/financial reasons? Because I found two great pairs of jeans for less than $20!

It all started with a coupon in the mail for Stein Mart...20% off two items. I also had recently found a check for $50 in a card from my birthday back in October. Deciding I would treat myself to something new, I headed to Stein Mart in search of a deal. My first stop was the clearance rack where I saw a pair of Seven jeans hanging. I quickly found a pair in my size as well as another brand, See Through Soul, that had a really cute wash and cut but that I had never heard of. With 9 pairs of jeans slung over my arm I headed to the dressing room. I narrowed it down to 2 pairs, both STS brand. The price tags said $49.98. I knew that even with the 20% off, I couldn't afford both pairs. I decided to walk around with them for a little while before making a decision. Meanwhile, I scoped out the other clearance clothing and jewelry. As I walked over to put one pair back on the rack I saw that the sign said "50% OFF RED DOT SALE"! The jeans both had red dots...and so did the earrings, bracelet, and crop jacket that I had picked up. I was able to purchase EVERYTHING! I was thrilled that I didn't have to put one pair of the jeans back because they were both super cute and I wear jeans 5 out of the 7 days of the week.

I always love looking at my receipt to see my savings. At Stein Mart they tell you what you would have spent if you had gone to the department store...$247.93...holy smokes! The guy checking me out was so great, he let me use the coupon on all my items and gave it back to me in case I wanted to use it again. Sadly my funds had been exhausted.

My point(s): When you go shopping set a budget and stick to it. Head to the clearance rack first and be sure to read the signs carefully (I rarely shop the rest of the store). Be open minded to new brands, you never know what you may find!

Five Ingredient Friday

I am linking up with Paige's Place for this fun blog carnival. Here was a great dish I made Tuesday night for the first time...very experimental...very good! Since I started using The Grocery Game, I have ended up with some random ingredients and ingredients I have never used before. In an effort to make a meal from what I had around the house, this is what I came up with. It doesn't have a name, other than GOOD.

1 box of bow tie pasta
1 pkg Jennie-O lean ground turkey - hot Italian
6 fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil (from our garden), chopped
1 cup bread crumbs/croutons (I used crushed garlic bread crisps from the quick-sale section of the bakery)

Prepare pasta as directed and brown ground turkey. While that cooks, slice tomatoes 1/4" thick.

Drizzle olive oil to coat the bottom of a large baking dish. Add pasta and ground turkey to dish. Layer sliced tomatoes, basil, and croutons in that order over pasta/meat. Drizzle with more olive oil, no need to measure or be exact.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Yummy and healthy too!

Coupon Tip: The Grocery Game

My first week with Teri's List from The Grocery Game was a success with a total savings of 46% at Kroger! I went to HEB also, but wasn't able to find all the deals on the list. The HEBs in our neighborhood are small, so that could have been the problem.

But as for Kroger...I saved a ton! I had a few coupons that weren't on the list that were about to expire (they were probably on previous weeks' lists) so I used them also. I made sure to add my eSaver coupons to my Kroger card to combine with my clipped coupons for a total coupon savings of $104.67!!!

My point in this post is to tell you to go sign up for The Grocery Game if you haven't already. If you are seriously interested, please use my e-mail as the person who referred you so that I can get credit in the form of free weeks. Leave me a comment and I will respond with my e-mail address.

***If you don't have a Kroger in your neck of the woods, don't worry, she has all the store across the country...just plug in your zip-code and select your stores.

***If you're not ready to commit...like I wasn't at first...you can try it for 4 weeks for just a $1. Even once you are a paying member, the fee is nothing compared to the amount that she will save you!

Restoring Order ***Updated***

Since I work full-time outside the house, I decided to make my use of only working (at work) until noon on Fridays to restore some order around the house. I started at 12:45 and here it is...2:15 and I'm done with all 5 projects! Amazing what can be accomplished when the little guys aren't around!

My projects:

- the pantry

- my glasses

- dresser

- chest of drawers

- night stand

Nothing annoys hubby more than my constant clutter! So I can't wait to see his face when he walks into our bedroom this evening!

I decided to tackle the pantry first, here is the before:

I am trying to be more frugal when purchasing groceries. As you can tell, it is really hard to see what I have in the pantry.

This task was surprisingly quick and easy...and I realized I needed to add sugar to my shopping list!

Next up, the glasses drawer, the source of many manic mornings. As an Optician, I have access to glasses at GREAT prices...so I have multiple pairs. This is the disaster I dig through to find which glasses I want to wear.

This is just the cases. Sadly, only 3 of the cases even had glasses in them...I found the rest while tackling the next three projects.

One of my favorite frame reps brought me a travel tray, this makes it much easier to find the glasses I want when I want them! I had forgotten that I had some of these. And this isn't all, one pair is on my face and another is off having new lenses mounted!

The dresser before:

And after, I redecorated a little also.

The chest of drawers before:

And after, I even found a place for the Christmas gift from my mother-in-law.

And the dreaded night stand:

It looks SO MUCH better, but I think I need to pare down my reading selection!

Thank you to Tilly for the comment about the books. I like the idea of a basket, this should also help to keep my collection under control by limiting the number of books that fit in the basket.

Thank you to Monica and Rebecca for the inspiration to RESTORE SOME ORDER!

A Sick Boy & A Dirty Sink

Sloan and I were on our way back from a morning appointment when I checked my voicemail. The dreaded call from daycare. We'd hoped the sickness was over and we could get away with sending Zachary to school, after all he didn't have a fever. But there's no way to disguise vomit...we were caught. After picking him up and a quick stop by the grocery store for the makings of the B.R.A.T. (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet, we were home. Zachary managed to eat a little and quickly surrendered to a nap.


I used this time to catch up on some blog reading when I came across the Fly Lady. As I came across her baby steps, I knew I could handle this guide to cleaning. Day 1, what a great place to start. Shine my sink??? Okay...


What I would have ordinarily considered a "clean enough" sink:



My sink now (I only did one side so far):



And while my sink was enjoying it's soak, I whipped up this:


When the sink cleaning instructions called for bleach, I was reminded of my sad excuse for an apron. Since our budget didn't involve a shopping trip, I got resourceful, I used up leftover material from a quilt I made for my mother-in-law. It's nothing fancy...but it's a lot better than my old one.

Turkey and Blue Cheese Meatballs

YUM! YUM! YUM!

Don't let the name fool you, these were amazing! Even the hubby who HATES to even hear the words "Blue Cheese" agreed that this recipe was a keeper.

I found the original recipe on Allrecipes.com, but adapted it to suite our taste. The original recipe seemed a little busy and wasn't kid-friendly. So, here's my version:

INGREDIENTS:

4 cloves of garlic

1 small or 1/2 large white onion

1 pound lean ground turkey breast

4 tablespoons blue cheese

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

3 egg whites

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO as Rachel Ray would say)

1 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning (you can use up to 1 tbs, I just don't like Oregano so I cut back)

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

(now if that's not the most random list of ingredients)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with Reynolds Release foil and set aside.
2. Pulse garlic and onion in a food processor until minced.
3. In a large bowl, combine onion mixture, turkey, blue cheese, bread crumbs, egg whites, and olive oil. Mix thoroughly.
4. Season with soy sauce, parsley, Italian seasoning, pepper, and chili powder. Mix well.
5. Roll the mixture into 2 inch balls and place on the lined baking sheet.
6. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and no longer pink in the center, approx 25 minutes.

I served this with a Vodka sauce over bow tie pasta and garlic sourdough bread. Don't forget the wine!

Check here for more tempting recipes.