Great freebies from Vocalpoint

If you haven't signed up with Vocalpoint, you should! They give you lots of free samples & great high-value coupons. Next week they're doing a promotion for Del Monte Fruit Naturals in juice, not syrup. That means you'll be able to score some free most likely. I love being a Vocalpoint member. just copy & paste the link into your browser to register & then check back here on Tuesday to get the exclusive savings code.
vocalpoint.com/registration/screener.aspx


Here's the savings link:
vocalpoint.com/FruitNaturalsCoupon

Labor Day Marsh Haul

Marsh again tripled coupons to 99 cents this weekend. Tomorrow's the last day they're doing it. So, quickly-here's what I got: (No pic this time as I split it between 2 trips)
6 4 packs Hunts pudding
3 bags PB & Choc Bugles
6 boxes Quaker chewy granola bars
1 Clif Mojo bar
2 jars Mt. Olive dill relish
2 cans Dole pineapple juice
2 jars Planters pb
6 lbs Domino sugar
1 sm box Bisquick
1 jar Barilla sauce
4 bottles Kraft dressing
1 can Red Gold tomatoes w/ chiles
2 lg bottles Heinz ketchup
2 bottles French's honey mustard
1 gallon milk
4 cans Dole tropical fruit salad
2 bags Rhodes frozen rolls
1 box Honey Nut Cheerios
2 boxes Totinos pizza rolls
2 32 oz Yoplait yogurt
1 4 pack Yoplait original
1 pack Yoplait parfait cups
1 Gerber toddler meals
1 bag Chipotle Chex Mix
4 cups Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt
2 cups Yoplait Greek yogurt
2 bags Temptations cat treats
1 sm bottle original Dawn
2 2 packs Gum Crayola toothbrushes
1 Gum toothbrush
1 sm bottle Tabasco
2 50 oz Era
1 Choreboy scouring pad
1 Suave deodorant
2 packs Sargento sliced cheese
Total before coupons: $193.03
Total after coupons: $53.03
Close to 75% savings!!!!

Meijer Haul

This is a few days late-we've been pretty busy this week. The boys had an old friend come over for the weekend & they went back to school this week. Felix is practically crawling, & spent 4-5 days rocking back & forth before learning the army crawl tonight. No cats are safe now. :) Amongst all the business, we managed to get a bit of shopping done. We shopped Meijer's special Saturday sale. We didn't get as much as we could have, because we had to run to Greenwood to pick up some stuff my mother-in-law bought off Craigslist & Joel had to work that afternoon, so we were pretty rushed. Here's what we managed to get though:

2 lbs local green beans

1 pkg Smart Deli fake lunch meat

1 box cornstarch

6 nectarines

1 lb tofu

3 lbs apples

4 tubes Nivea lip balm

1 lb sour cream

2 lbs Oscar Mayer lunchmeat ( for Joel)

1 cucumber

8 oz portabellas

5 bags Meijer brand chips

4 bottles Lysol all-purpose cleaner

4 bottles Lysol toilet cleaner

1 lg tub organic salad greens

1 bottle hoisin

2 gallons milk

3 sm tubs margarine

2 lbs sliced Kraft cheese

1 lb Philly cream cheese

2 containers Activia yogurt

6 bottles Suave shampoo

2 4 pks parfait yogurts

1 bunch green onions

3 coloured bell peppers

1 local cantaloupe

1 lb hummus

4 Suave deodorants

1 other produce item I can't remember

Total spent: $85

Total saved:$86

Right around 50%-not as great as my other hauls lately, but not too shabby, especially considering there were several stockpile items. I was able to pass on some of my stockpile items this week to my oldest son's girlfriend who just got her first apartment & enrolled in college. It didn't even leave much of a dent to help her out, which is pretty cool.

Triple Coupons at Marsh

Marsh is tripling coupons today & tomorrow. There's a limit of 2 identical coupons for 2 identical items & they triple up to 99¢. A lot of great deals out there to be had. Here's our Marsh haul:

Included herein aside from Gwen the kitten-
2 loaves Sara Lee wheat bread
2 Yoplait Greek yogurts,
2 4 pks Yoplait
2 4 pks Yoplait parfaits
2 bags peanut M&Ms
2 8 pks Keebler cracker sandwiches
2 sm boxes Bisquick
2 boxes Betty Crocker cake mix
2 tubs BC frosting
2 jars Smuckers jelly
4 boxes Nature Valley granola bars
3 boxes GM cereal
2 boxes Nature Valley granola thins
12 rolls Angel Soft toilet paper
8 rolls Paseo paper towels
1 half gallon Silk coconut milk
2 bunches collards
1 tub Land o Lakes cinnamon butter
1 tub Helluva Good sour cream dip
2 boxes Cheese Nips
2 boxes Triscuits
2 Degree deodorants
2 St. Ives body washes
1 box Barilla pasta
2 French's dijon mustard
2 Dial handsoaps
1 Philadelphia cooking cream
2 bags Yoplait frozen smoothie fruits
4 boxes Totinos pizza rolls
3 boxes Toaster Strudels ( I haven't bought them in years-so terrible for you-but I'll let the teens eat them once in a while for the price I paid.)
All of this rang up to around $171. I paid $57. I saved $114 on this trip, for a 67% savings! I love to save at least 65%. It's such a great feeling getting so much stuff for so little. Even my husband gets into it, happily searching for coupons online & anticipating how much we save. I don't bother using a calculator; he's great at math & does complex problems in his head. I love going grocery shopping with him. Tomorrow, Meijer is having a special Saturday sale I'm hitting up. I'll report back then with pictures.

Best Haul Yet!

Went to Meijer & took advantage of the weekend BOGO sales, along with a great deal featuring Kelloggs products. They gave you $10 off 3 packs of Fruit of the Loom, meaning I got all 3 packs for $2 total. :) This was my best haul yet. I spent $55 & saved $83! The rundown:
14 boxes General Mills cereal
4 boxes Post cereal
1 dozen eggs
3 packs Fruit of the Loom tube socks
6 boxes Nature valley granola bars
2 boxes Snackwell bars
1 bottle apple cider vinegar
3 regular sized jars Skippy peanut butter
4 boxes Keebler cookies
3 botttles Wishbone dressing
12 rolls Quilted Northern toilet paper
2 boxes fruit snacks
1 lb raw blanched almonds

Kitten was not included as a premium...definitely didn't get a new CATalina! ....ba-dum-bum! rimshot! :)

Another fantastic Haul & Terrible Parenting on display

 Took advantage of Meijer's 10 for 10 sale & managed to get all this for $58:
4 69 oz Arm & Hammer laundry detergent (my favourite deal)
4 6 oz Chex Mix
4 cans Fancy Feast
5 bananas
6 coloured bell peppers

2 loaves bread
1 hamburger bun pack
1 french baguette
4 sm boxes Totinos Pizza Rolls
2 Kraft veggie mac & cheese boxes
1 head broccoli
6 nectarines
1 bag Marzetti croutons
1 Betty Crocker brownie mix
1 Betty Crocker carrot cake mix
2 34 oz Ajax dish soap
4 sm boxes green Giant veggies
1 pack of  8 tortillas
2 king size Reeses Cups
4 boxes Suddenly Salad
2 cans chickpeas
3 8 oz packs portabellas
8 oz feta
1 13 oz bottle Pantene

Quite a great haul. We actually got an additional $21 as well, but that was all WIC stuff, so doesn't really count. :) We stopped at Wal-Mart before heading to Meijer, & are both glad we did. We normally won't shop at them if we can help it because of their shoddy quality & deplorable business practices, but we figured that by getting stuff for free from them, it's harming the corporation slightly. Besides, I haven't been to one in over a year, so it's not like I'm part of their huge greedy machine. Anyway, while there picken up a nearly free paint sample & a great deal on Oxi-Clean spray, Joel found a 2 pack of large Nyquil bottles. He even found them in the more palatable cherry flavour. They were marked down to $7, but still bore their original tag of $15. At the register they rang up as $5. Score! All in all, a pretty great day of shopping, although we unfortunately got to witness some terrible parenting: a lady telling her 3 year old daughter to shut up multiple times & something I didn't see, but when Joel told me about made me furious. If I would have seen it, I would've marched over, Felix strapped to me, gave the lady $3 & told her not to talk to her child that way. Apparently, this Amazon of a woman was berating her son, who was about 12, holding a leaking gallon of milk. She was berating & yelling at the poor guy, calling him a worthless piece of shit, dumbass, etc. saying that because of his uselessness she was out a gallon of milk. Seriously, I would've flipped if I heard it. Joel said it didn't register what he had witnessed til we were already in the car, but yeah, terrible parenting. Poor kid.

CVS First-Timer

CVS was running a great deal this week-When you buy $20 of Schick or Playtex items, you get back $10 in Extra Care Bucks. I had a ton of Skintimate shave gel coupons, as well as some razor ones due to expire in a few days, so I thought I'd go try out this whole ECB thing. CVS is great in that your total is counted pre-coupon, so getting to $20 before you add in any discounts is quite easy. I also had 2 Ben-Gay coupons for $5 off. They were regularly priced at $5.99, so I got them for $1 each. Yay! Anyway, after adjusting for ECBs, I spent $28 & got all this. The shave gels were normally $4 a piece, & were on sale for $2.19, & I had coupons to snag each for a dollar or under. It came out to be a  savings of $65!!!! Incredible...
The Haul:
2 Bengay creams
1 Shick Intuition razor w/ moisturizers (reg. $11)
1 pkg refills for aforementioned razors (also reg $11)
3 Crest toothpastes
4 Edge shave gels
2 Skintimate shave gels
6 Skintimate shave creams
Not bad for my first go couponing at CVS.

Lucky me

I'm still waiting on a few winnings, but it appears I'm on a streak. For every 40 or so giveaways I enter, I win one. In the past couple days I won a Savvycents coupon organizer wallet & a Bee All Natural organic lip balm (I chose grapefruit.) & Bee All Natural organic baby powder-I chose natural/unscented. I'm really getting into entering these giveaways while I'm sitting watching TV. Felix is asleep in my lap, so I'm pretty much a captive audience. Kind of unrelated- I love sleeping with him & snuggling with him. I love the ease with which I can nurse while cosleeping, but I wish he would sleep in his crib at times so I can get off the couch or have his brothers hold him at night without him waking up. I need to stretch & pee at times, ya know? Anyway, can't wait til my winnings come in. Still waiting on:
scrapbook templates,(Gave up for lost-no response from sponsor)
Sip & Go, (collapsible water pouch)
Bee All Natural lip balm & baby powder,
Savvycents coupon organizer
I think that's it. I'd love to win some diapers though. I need my luck fairy to send my mojo that way. :)

Kroger Haul

Here's this week's grocery haul. Got a bunch of produce at Aldi & with the sales going on at Kroger this week, along with coupons, managed to get everything we need (as a family of 5) for a week for $75! I didn't even use WIC checks this week. Here's a pic of everything we got at Kroger. There's a few things I didn't need, like the Thermacare & Advil thrown in, because hey, it was under a buck. What we got from Kroger: 2 regular size boxes of Rice Krispies, 2 regular size boxes of Cocoa Krispies, 2 ct. box Thermacare wraps, 2 boxes 24 ct Advil, 10 oz cherry tomatoes, parsley, bok choy, Beech Nut baby juice, Beech Nut baby oatmeal, 6 pack Quilted Northern,( the only thing I paid full price for) 2 big bags of store brand marshmallows, which I won't eat because of the gelatin, but will donate or my husband will eat them or something-got them free for buying the cereal, 8 bottles of Honest Tea, 2 half gallons almond milk, 1 bottle Nivea for men body wash, 3 cubes Kleenex, 2 tubs vegan margarine, & a 50 oz bottle of Wisk. We paid $38 & saved $52! 60% savings-not too bad..

Planter Update

I know it's been a while since I wrote. I've been feeling really lethargic with it lately. I did manage to snap some pics of the progress the planters I won from The Simple Garden have made. In the lavender ones are basil, oregano, & cilantro. I rotate them every couple days since, as you can see, they start to grow towards the light. In the blue one, we have cherry tomatoes & more basil. You can see where everything got planted thanks to their included template. I'll have to thin these out once they get bigger, but for right now, they're kind of neat looking this way. I haven't had to water them all week thanks to the super dense potting soil that was included. it really has held moisture well. I can't wait to try the fruits & herbs of my labour! :) Bad pun, I know.

mail call

Got my winnings from Simple Garden in. The main planter is a cute sky blue rounded-edged square & we planted cherry tomatoes & basil in it. They sent me a lavender coloured 3 pack planter for the jr. sized planter as well, containing cilantro, more basil, & oregano. I love that the compressed soil & seeds(w/ a cool, handy template) were included in the kit. Great if you're not used to gardening or the world of botany, but fun & easy for this ex-botany major. :) I'll take pics of it & update the blog w/ its progress as soon as anything starts growing, but I'm super excited to see how these container gardens do.

Soreness

My boobs are sore! Felix has been latched on for nearly an hour. He's finally starting to get sleepy. He's drooling like mad & I hope his tooth(teeth) pop through soon. He polished off a whole small jar of sweet potatoes, so his appetite's definitely improved. Unfortunately, he's favouring the left breast, leading to the fun soreness issue. Hopefully, this doesn't continue for too long. He must be having a growth spurt in addition to his teething. As I type this, he's finally fallen asleep. Just hope the poor guys not in too much pain; his baby Tylenol's in the car.

New Family Member

Meet our newest family member. We haven't picked out a name for her yet. I like Ginger because she has peachy points, like a flame-point Siamese, but the eldest son is suck on Zelda after I suggested it. She looks like the kitten in the 'Take This. It's dangerous to go alone.' meme. She's tiny, only about 6 weeks old & has blue eyes. So far Regulus is terrified of her & Singapore is old & crotchety & therefore hates her. She has the endearing qualities of riding on shoulders, sleeping with her face lodged in the couch, & attempting to nurse alongside the baby, which I keep having to plop her back on the floor because I'm convinced the baby will get scratched. Apparently she thinks Felix is her littermate. :)

Yay! I'm a winner!

I've won a few giveaways recently. The first one I ever won was an instant flash giveaway & it was for a Green Sprouts bamboo baby spoon, fork, & bowl & a bpa free sippy cup. I recently put a couple of them to use. They seem to work well. The spoon is shaped perfectly for Felix's mouth & the bowl's a great size for his current small 'beginning to eat solids' meals & will work equally well as he gets older & eats more solids. I also won another time on a flash giveaway for some printable scrapbooking clip art, but the seller never came through, even after contacting the hostess. Oh well. I recently won a collapsible water bottle that I'm still waiting on & will probably do a review of once I've tried it out. Today I found out I won the grand prize in a giveaway from The Simple Garden & received their square planter set & the junior 3 pack set. That's about $50 worth of container gardening I just got for free! Yes! I'm super excited to plant some kitchen herbs in the 3 pack for my kitchen window. I need to have basil growing in there after the garden is done for the year. I'm not sure what all is coming in this set, but will definitely review it when it gets here. Now, if only I could win some cloth diapers, but everyone seems to enter those giveaways. I lucked out with these ones.

car crashes

On what was his 2nd day of stickshift driving lessons after getting his permit, my 17 year old son crashed the car & totalled it. Thankfully, it wasn't the new car (It was the 13 year old beater we got for free that my husband uses sometimes to get to work if I need the main car.) & no one was injured aside from some bruising & shoulder pain. He was going up the block to Rally's to get some ice cream with some BOGO coupons we had after taking the recycling out to the neighbourhood bins. My husband said he saw the oncoming car, but that my son apparently panicked when releasing the clutch & slammed the gas instead of the brake at the same time, T-boning the other car, deploying their airbags. The other car's occupants were pissed until they found out he was  a teenager with a new permit just learning to drive. They had to call a friend to come get them, since they were a couple hours from home, but we've been in contact with them & the insurance companies, since we were at fault. So, we're a one car family again & I just wonder how much my insurance will go up after this. :(

Banh mi

We had banh mi sandwiches again tonight. If you don't know, it's a Vietnamese sandwich stuffed full of goodness. OK, really-it's a sandwich stuffed full of disparate ingredients that somehow end up tasting great together. Most of them have bbq pork or shrimp, but I made up a quick marinade, pressed some tofu for an hour & then mixed it together & baked it for an hour, The do chua I had already made, sitting in the fridge from the last tine we had banh mi. Do chua is the ingredient that makes people look at you weird when you mention what it is. It's quickly pickled daikon & carrots. It smells like fermented farts when you open the container, but tastes slightly vinegary, slightly sweet, & imparts a slight crunch to the whole affair. Top everything w/ mayo, cilantro, a splash of soy sauce & jalapenos or a splash of chili oil. I left it out since I had added some sambal oelek ( Indonesian chili sauce) to the marinade. Traditionally there should be some pate ( I keep meaning to do a mushroom pate) & Japanese mayo, which is apparently richer. I don't think I've ever had it. Anyway, makes a quick, surprisingly tasty, & unusual sandwich. Once you've had it, you'll find yourself craving the tangy crunch of do chua mixed with mayo. Ours was vegetarian, & only missed being vegan because of the mayo. Obviously, vegan mayo totally works here too. Yum!

This week's menu

OK, here's what I'll be making this week for dinners: Egg sandwiches w/ schug (kind of like an Israeli aji sauce)
a big green salad w/ edamame, roasted beets, not sure what else, & a loaf of crusty bread, sage brown butter pasta & roasted Brussels sprouts, BBQ seitan sandwiches topped w/ broccoli slaw w/ watermelon gazpacho, & banh mi sandwiches, which is a leftover from this week I haven't made yet because I didn't buy enough tofu. Meijer seems to have some good sales, so I'll hopefully get some good deals between that & coupons. I'll post pics of the meals when they get made.

menu planning

I'm sitting here in front of the laptop w/ the baby sleeping on my lap. He's been taking 5 minute naps all day, totally frustrating. Whenever I try to move him to the crib he wakes up-not great for trying to wean him to his own bed. My hips & arms are killing me from the extra weight supported on them while I'm stuck on the couch for hours. I love him, but he's been extremely needy the last couple days, needing constant entertainment. I know, he's teething, but it gets frustrating. Anyway, I'm looking at Tastespotting trying to figure out what we're having this week & match it to coupons. Haven't really found any good coupon matchups for stuff I want. Why are there never any cloth diaper coupons?! Yay disposable society. So far I've got a large entree salad, possibly w/ some roasted beets & edamame, but not sure yet, some pasta w/ brown butter & roasted Brussels sprouts, & an egg sandwich with a spicy Israeli sauce. I need to get some local eggs this weekend. I really hate buying eggs that aren't from humanely treated, loved as pets chickens. I still have banh mi to make too, but I didn't get enough tofu last week, seeing as how I used both packs last night. I've apparently been feasting on cilantro since I've had 2 recipes this week with it & (so far) 1 with it for next week. Interesting fact: If you hate cilantro, you can train it out of you. There is a gene whose only job pretty much is to either make cilantro tasty to you or taste like soap. If you fall into the latter, the more you eat it, the more the gene will change until eventually you like cilantro. I can see how people say it tastes soapy, but I still like it, but it wasn't always the case. Anyone cooking anything awesome this week?

Introductory post

I'm sitting here watching ABC Family programming. Whee. Boring. Figured I'd demolish my old private blog & create a public one people could actually follow. Not much to see in this post.