Ham Steaks

Each year, during Easter, the stores run ham on sale at a really good price. This year the lowest price I found was 87-cents per pound.
Compared to the regular price of $2.37 per pound; I got a great deal. The day I went to get a ham the store was sold out. But this was okay since I was able to get a rain check. My family loves to eat bacon and eggs; but with prices on the rise bacon is getting a little too high. So, this year I had my ham cut into steaks. (The meat department will do this for free).
These ham steaks freeze well.

I like to separate them with sheets of wax paper;
And place them in a gallon size zip lock bag.
The very end of the ham is also placed in the freezer for when I want to make a pot of beans.

Locally a prepackaged ham steak sells for well over 2-dollars per pound and I have seen it over 3-per pound. The cheapest bacon I can buy, when not on sale, is $2.50 for a 12-ounce package. So stocking up on ham steaks will save a lot of money over the next several months. And, fried ham steak with eggs is out of this world!

Coupon Tip

My notebook system is working well for my coupons with one small problem. The baseball card pages are sometimes too small for over sized coupons.

To solve this problem I took a page protector and divided it into 3 sections and stitched the dividing lines on my sewing machine.

I then took scissors and carefully cut a slit in each section.

My oversize coupons, as well as my printable coupons, now fit better and are easier to see.

Sewing the page protectors took a little time but was well worth it.

Organizing Coupons

Lately I have been spending time searching the Internet for a better way to store my coupons so I can find them faster when shopping. There were a lot of good ideas but the one that interested me the most was the binder method. I found this binder with zipper at the local thrift store. It has several inside pockets perfect for holding little extras.

Next I purchased a package of pocket dividers to hold sale flyers for the different stores I shop. Having these pockets has made it easier to trash old flyers when replacing them with new ones.

I next purchased plastic sleeves used for holding baseball cards; these were costly but worth it since I am now able to scan through my coupons very quickly.

My plastic sleeves are divided into sections and each section is labeled with categories such as meat/freezer, cereal/asst. breakfast, paper products, shampoo/conditioner, laundry.....

I am slowly sorting and organizing my coupons; so far this new system is working great.

Storing Celery

Recently I found large stalks of celery for 50-cents each. We use a lot of celery when making soup so I bought 4 of the largest stalks I could find. To store it I first rinse it well, cut off leaves and blemishes, and then cut it into bite size pieces. Elizabeth helped me cut all the celery today and she was very proud using a "dangerous" knife.

After all the celery has been cut I put it in plastic zipper bags; I usually put 1 1/2 to 2 cups per bag.

Next all the bags are put into the freezer; when I am making soup I simply add a frozen bag of it into my boiling stock and cook. I also store carrots the same way; it cuts down on cooking time since the vegetables become soft when frozen.

Thrifty Lunches

When we go to town it is usually for the whole day. Sometimes we order lunch from the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant but this can add up after awhile. So, one way we save on the cost of eating out is to bring lunch from home; and to make this fun we like to use vintage lunch boxes.Elizabeth thinks it is fun to use a lunch box even if it is only filled with snacks.

We usually bring iced tea or water to drink;

But today we brought some of our bargain orange juice.

Having Fun Saving Money

I am really beginning to figure out how to save money by shopping at CVS and taking advantage of the stores ECB program and using coupons. On Monday I purchased Bounty paper towels, 4 8-packs for a total of 32 roll, and paid 36-cents per roll. The dawn dish soap was 86-cents each, the Gillett razor was $1.99, the cotton swabs were $1.19 each and the gum was 75-cents per package. The Chex Mix was free, the tooth brushes were free, the cereal was free and the band aids were free. By using coupons at the grocery store I was able to get cereal for $1-per bag, colas for $2.33 per 12-pack and the tea for free.
I have been learning most of my strategies from http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Money Saving Tip

My husband is addicted to colas; he drinks them all day long and uses lots of ice. In the summer time I love to make and drink ice tea which means I use a lot of ice as well.
We looked into purchasing an ice machine but after seeing the prices I decided making ice in the ice cube trays was worth the little effort it took.
Working together my son and I can empty ice trays, refill them and bag up all the cubes in less than 10-minutes. When my freezer begins to get low I like to add ice to fill up the empty spaces plus when a freezer is full it wont run as often. In my area a 7-pound bag of ice sells for $1.19 so the savings is minimal but every little bit helps.

Saving Money With Coupons

A few months ago a friend asked me if I ever shopped at CVS and Walgreen’s. I told her very seldom do I shop at either because their prices are too high. Well, my friend then began telling me how people are able to save a lot of money shopping during the sales and by using coupons.

Now, when it came to coupons I very seldom used them. In my area we have no store that doubles them and most coupons tended to be for items I seldom used. But, after researching the internet I found several web pages and blogs that talked about saving money by using coupons. My favorite blog, that offers the most information, is Money Saving Mom.

I have always been a bargain shopper and I have always stocked up on good deals in order to save money. Learning to use coupons has been a very fun and rewarding venture. I do not get 25-dollars in groceries and pay less than 1-dollar but I am saving money on items we would normally buy.
On Wednesday I received an e-mail from Walgreen’s. Included in the e-mail was a coupon for 10-dollars off your purchase of 30-dollars or more. Here is what I bought;

12 pack Mountain Dew on sale 3 for $10 plus an in-store credit of $2
2 Walgreen’s dandruff shampoo $4.99 each on sale for buy-one-get-one-free
3 Chexs Mix on sale for .99 each
1 Gardetto on sale for .99 each
4 Walgreen’s allergy elixir $3.99, not on sale but I needed this for Elizabeth

I used a $1 coupon on the Mountain Dew, 3 $1 coupons on each bag of Chexs and my Walgreen’s $10 coupon. Before coupons my total was $39.90; after the coupons my total was $20.83
My next stop was Wal-Mart; along with other items I purchased 4-cans Old El Paso enchilada sauce, 1 bottle French’s mustard, 1 bottle Cattleman’s barbeque sauce and 1 bottle Kraft salad dressing.

I had a coupon for $1 off when you buy any two Old El Paso products; each can cost 96-cents so after coupons I paid 46-cents per can. I also had a 50-cent coupon for the mustard; the mustard was 83-cents so I paid 33-cents for the bottle. The salad dressing was $1.58 and my coupon was for a free bottle. The Cattleman’s barbeque sauce sold for $1.68 and my coupon was for 75-cents off so I paid 93-cents for the bottle. Plus, the barbeque sauce came with a mail in rebate for the total purchase price which means it will be free after I send in the rebate form and the 75-cents I saved with the coupon more than covers the cost of a stamp needed for the rebate.

Using coupons has turned out to be great fun. I have really enjoyed learning about them and I am getting better each time I use them.