I often get the question in my classes, “What do you feed your family?”. Since there is an interest I thought I would start a new feature called “What’s on the Menu”. This will be a sampling of what I am feeding my family using my food storage and pantry storage. My intention is not to tell YOU what to eat but give you an idea of what we eat. I would love to hear your ideas as well. They can be shared by emailing me at theobsessiveshopper@live.com.

My vision is to share a picture, the recipe if applicable, and the cost break down of the items purchased to make the meal/item.  Hopefully this will inspire us all to use the items we get each week for less in our everyday meals, snacks, and treats as well as give us ideas and new recipes to try. My intention is not to compete with other blogs who may do this too but to share what my readers and I are doing with our meals. Enjoy this new feature and Bon Appetite!

 Scrambled eggs topped with cheese, fresh strawberries and cherries, Betty Crocker Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Eggs- .99 a dozen @ Smith’s this week (ran out of eggs? Visit this site for an ingenuis way to save breakfast!)

1/4 cup cheese- $4.74 for 2 lbs Tilamook brand on sale at Albertson’s this week 

Strawberries- .88 for 1 lb package In store special from last week, sorry!

Cherries- $1.99/lb At Smith’s and Associated Food stores this week

Betty Crocker Cinnamon Streusel Muffin Mix- from my pantry

 EGGS-I am not a huge egg fan but when I do make them for my family I do half egg whites and half whole eggs. I like to think I am cutting down on fat and cholesterol. I also use water instead of milk and mix well together with a fork until the eggs are all combined and almost frothy. Then pour into an already heated pan with either melted butter or sprayed with Pam (bought on sale for .90, of course). Stir your eggs with a figure eight movement and be sure to take them off just before they loose their shine. They will continue to cook in the pan before you serve them. If you wait until the eggs are dull they will be overcooked and dry. Sprinkle a little cheese on top right after removing from heat (optional but this is a great way to mask the egg flavor LOL)

FRUIT- So what if you bought all that fruit and you are afraid it will go bad? Use your freezer! I slice my strawberries and portion out about 1-2 cups to a quart freezer bag, then freeze. I use these frozen wonders to top waffles and pancakes. Just thaw and sweeten if desired (you could also sweeten before freezing just sprinkle 1/4-1/2 sugar over berries in baggie). I also freeze my berries whole on a cookie sheet then transfer to baggies later. I use them as snacks (grapes and cherries are awesome frozen), in smoothies (remove pits and stems before freezing if using in smoothies), thaw and use in muffins, cakes, and cookies.

Next time your family’s favorites fruits are on sale load up and freeze the excess for use later in the year. You may have to start saving your savings money to buy a bigger freezer!

Filed under: Breakfast, My Kitchen Tips, What's on the Menu | No Comments »

UPDATED!!!!!!

I am such a nerd! I was trying to perfect(I truly have issues here) my fan page amongst other things and deactivated it! I am very sick about it so if you were a fan once before you will want o become a fan again at the new link updated below.

I wanted to share with you two easy ways that I have found I can stay in touch with you. I have set up a Facebook Fan page and a Twitter page which I have found to be easier to update more often keeping us all in the know. I hope you will visit me on either of these two new tools and stay in touch! Make sure you share with your friends too! I will be giving away a Grocery Gift Card for every 100th fan or follower!

Filed under: Give Aways, tools | No Comments »

For those of you who have come to a class you know that I have warned against using coupons that you get from well meaning friends via email. I recently received such an email this week containing two PDF files for “free” product. A few things had me questioning the validity of these coupons right off the bat. I wanted to share with you some tips in protecting yourself from committing coupon fraud unknowingly.

1. A PDF coupon should be your first alarm that something is not quite right. Printable coupons from the internet have set limits and can be printed only twice, protecting the manufacturer AND the grocery store from loss of money.  A PDF coupon has no limits therefore hundreds of them could possibly be printed.
2. No unique serial number is another dead give away. Valid printable coupons will have a unique serial number printed on them to help the store determine it’s validity. Copied or PDF versions will not have this again proving that it is not official.
3. High value of a coupon is extremely rare. This should be another big clue. Keep in mind that when a valid coupon is used at the grocery store the store will be reimbursed face value by the manufacturer plus usually an eight cent fee is paid to the store for processing. In cases of fraud the store will not be reimbursed therefore they loose ton’s of money.  Which in turn may cause the store to be wary of printable coupons in the future or even deny any use of  printable coupons all together as store or corporate policy.
4. Reimbursement policy is missing. Sure it says that the manufacturer will reimburse the retailer and it even has an address for redemption but a lot of other things are missing including the “Max Value” that the coupon can be redeemed for. This is especially important on Free coupons.
5. No expiration date? There may be some valid coupons with this very generous expiration however when we take in all the other red flags on these particular coupons this is a sure sign of fraud.

We’ve all heard the saying to good to be true. Keep this in mind when you recieve emails with coupon attachements that have high values, and no expiration dates. When fraudulent coupons are used and accepted it usually gives us coupon shoppers a bad name. This is why I ask you all to use extreme caution and good, honest, ethical judgement when you shop using coupons. Fraud will save someone money but eventually it will catch up and harm the chances for the rest of us to continue to save money.

Filed under: Info, Printable Coupons | 1 Comment »

Haley Potts

for her advanced tip which is:

I’m one of those “clip all coupons” girls. so… I organize all my coupons in a file system. i just recently changed my medicine section from one large section, to having them alphabetized. my other sections are just “razors, toothpaste, hair care, etc.” but putting the gazillions of medicine coupons in their own alphabetized section has helped a lot.

Congrat’s Haley! I can’t wait to get your prize ordered and out to you. And thanks to CrunchyCute on Etsy for supplying the adorable coupon organizer.

There where quite a few really wonderful advanced tips. Thanks for sharing. If you want to review the Advanced Tips I have featured so far visit my Shopping Tips section and click on Advanced Tips.

DISCLAIMER: If you are not an experienced couponer yet please visit my Getting Started or The System post’s before trying some of these advanced steps. I don’t want a bunch of overwhelmed emails!

Filed under: Give Aways | No Comments »

You’ve been asking me about it and now I have some answers!

There are three more lists available and will soon be shown on my homepage. Until then here are the links to the Lists for:

Southern California

Eastern Washington

Idaho

As soon as I know more I will give you the information for free classes in these areas.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Since I took half of April off and because I really do have a great prize to give away I wanted to extend my Advanced Tips posts until May 15th. So to re-cap, if you have an Advanced couponing tip you use and if you email it to me with your address at theobsessiveshopper@live.com you will be entered into a drawing for this cute handmade designer cash/coupon organizer!

Courtesy of Crunchycute on Etsy.com

I will be doing a random drawing with all emailed entries. If your name is drawn you will get to choose which pattern you want and I will fit the bill (up to $17.97). These organizers are great for those Budget Buster shopping trips. I find them especially helpful when you have to purchase items in groups of dollar amounts or item amounts. I use my organizer to have my coupons grouped ahead of time. This helps me get through the register faster! To view the available pattern’s click this link.

My upcoming Advanced Tip will be on Online coupons. But before I get to that I wanted to share some good deals coming tomorrow. How fun to get a sneak peek!

As most of you realize it is so nice to have a well stocked pantry of food and household items. Starting tomorrow at Albertson’s there is a great opportunity to stock up on other essential items such as, feminine hygiene products, medicine’s, and oral hygiene products, from Johnson and Johnson. There is also a good deal on Kraft products. Thanks to Shelly at PYP you can take a look at the preview list by clicking here.

Happy Shopping!

Filed under: Advanced Tips | 2 Comments »

I am sure most of you would understand when I explain the reason for being so quiet in one word… SOCCER…  With three children (hubby counts right?) playing this year, games, practices, treats, uniforms, etc….. not to mention the other motherly, wife, and church leader duties that keep me going every moment of everyday, I have needed a hiatus from being obsessive. I haven’t stopped shopping (You can ask the store manager at Albies, I talked to him three times last week, I just couldn’t get enough! lol) I’ve had to stop thinking!  I’ve just rested from ALL my other labors (you do NOT want to see my laundry room, or kitchen, or bedroom, or kids rooms, oh my goodness I better stop…. please do not ask to see my house at all

If you can remember from the the video from the Fun with Food Storage Network re-launch I mentioned that was was stepping down from the “Buy It” role of the network. This was a very hard decision to come to. I have shed many tears as I wrestled with the questions of what I should do. I love being busy and helping others but I had to look at my life and decide what was my most important responsibility. With that I choose to put my family first. I was getting really tired of hearing myself say to the kids each night as I tucked them, “I miss you.” then thinking tomorrow I will portion my time better. It was just getting harder and harder and I was missing them more and more. You know you have been away from your family too long when you fold laundry, make dinner, read a story, and realize that you feel the best you have in months! Seriously I told my hubby that I had one of the best day’s ever just because I got all the laundry folded!

I do want so badly to help you and many more find peace and savings at the grocery store. Hopefully sharing my experience above will show you that letting go of things can be done. I have found that this is true of everything, feelings, activities, even people. All we need is a willing heart and hand the rest over to God. He loves us and wants us to be happy, not busy, HAPPY!

What is “happy”? Happy to me is the content feeling that comes into a heart -peace, love, joy. Happiness is a feeling that makes time seem to slow even just for a moment while you take in the emotion.

Today on the way home from kindergarten, my son picked a dandelion and handed it to me. When I took it from him, my heart stopped for a moment, a voice whispered in my head, “This is happiness”. I felt my heart full and content.

Thanks for understanding my break. I feel so indebted to my Heavenly Father for the sweet blessing it has been to be a part of The Fun With Food Storage Network. To touch lives, make friends and learn so much about myself. I LOVE being in front of people and sharing my experiences. I will continue to teach classes and share my experiences with you on this blog. It may not be everyday that I get to share a tip or lesson. I pledge to put my children first and am so grateful to you all for your love, support, and prayers.

Filed under: Life Lesson's | 3 Comments »

We are members of the Fun With Food Storage Network where we teach you how to Plan, Buy, and Eat your food storage. Well, it’s the moment you have all been waiting for! The Fun With Food Storage Network Site RE-LAUNCH! The new site is a combination of feedback and great ideas we got from our readers on how to make the Fun With Food Storage Network more useful.
To celebrate the relaunch, The Network is giving away a WonderMill Grain Mill (Courtesy of WonderMill), and a few other surprises as well.
For details on how to enter the GIVEAWAY visit the new Network Blog, which is just one small part of the BRAND NEW FUN WITH FOOD STORAGE NETWORK website! Come on over and explore the new site!

Thursday I will resume with another Advanced Tip. Be sure to send your tips to me at the obsessiveshopper@live.com to be entered into a drawing for the cutest little…….. check back on Thursday to see what it is!

Filed under: Advanced Tips, Give Aways, Network | 2 Comments »

Rebates

A rebate is an amount paid by way of reduction, return, or refund on what has already been paid or contributed. It is a type of sales promotion marketers use primarily as incentives or supplements to product sales. The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common. A MIR entitles the buyer to mail in a coupon, a receipt and barcode in order to receive a check for a particular amount, depending on the particular product, time, and often place of purchase. Rebates are offered by either the retailer or the manufacturer of the chosen product. Large stores often work in conjunction with manufacturers, usually requiring two or even three separate rebates for each item. Manufacturer rebates are sometimes valid only at a single store. Rebate forms and special receipts are sometimes printed by the cash register at time of purchase on a separate receipt or available online for download. In some cases, the rebate may be available immediately, in which case it is referred to as an instant rebate. (this information came from Wikipedia)

Rebates are an Advanced Tip because they can be time consuming and have several steps in order to get money back. Here are some helpful hints that I have used to help me with rebates.

•    Be sure to read rebate forms thoroughly. Some things to look for are;

• Can you return a copy of the receipt or does it have to be the original? This is helpful especially when you are redeeming several rebates on one product.

• What do you have to purchase in order to redeem the rebate? Check to see if you use or will use the products required for purchase in order to get a rebate. Remember that you want to keep your purchase cost down in order to get a good deal. If you don’t use something required for a rebate then don’t feel like you have to do the rebate.

• Do all the products have to be on one receipt?

• What are the dates for redemption?

• Do you have to send in UPC codes cut from the products purchased?

• How many rebates can be redeemed per household/address?

• When can you expect the rebate to be returned?

• Can I track the status? If so how; by phone or website?

•    Turn rebates in as soon as you can. For me I have found that if I wait I tend to forget then I lose out on the great deal. When possible I try to get everything together as soon as I can and get the rebate mailed off.
•    Track your rebates. Some rebates inform you of a website or phone number to call in order to check the rebate status. I have a hanging file folder just for rebates. I make a copy of the form for my information. I date it with the date I mailed the form in then I also write down when I expect the rebate to be returned. I then look in that file about once a month to see what is out there still and what ones I have received. If I run into one that is over it’s expected due date I then look into the status by phone or web.

I find rebate forms in the coupon packets from Sunday’s paper, at the store usually on tear-off pads in front of a participating product, or reading posts from the PYP Forums.
If you know of some helpful sites feel free to email me or post a comment with the address.

At the end of April. I will be giving away a cool/pretty tool to help you organize your coupons for shopping day. To enter all you have to do is submit an advanced couponing/shopping tip. I will enter every entry in the drawing that will happen at the end of the month. So please email me your tip, name, and address, at theobessiveshopper@live.com. Then check back each week as I unveil an advanced couponing-shopping tip.

DISCLAIMER: If you are not an experienced couponer yet please visit my Getting Started or The System post’s before trying some of these advanced steps. I don’t want a bunch of overwhelmed emails!

Filed under: Advanced Tips, Training: Shopping | 1 Comment »

This is a show off from Lesley J.. She did a great job using the sales this week and stocking her pantry with the things her family uses.

Total: $209.22

Out of Pocket: $78.41

Saved: $130.81

63% Savings

Lesley had this to say:

I’ve only been using your system for about a month, so to see the total drop so drastically was amazing.  I actually wanted to go grocery shopping this week.

Filed under: Savings Success, Show Offs | No Comments »