Deal Alert

Happy National Flip Flop Day! In celebration of this holiday hop on over to Tropical Smoothie to get a FREE 24 oz Jetty Smoothie. The first 500 customers who enter wearing flip flops will get a free Jetty Punch smoothie. I have not called ahead to verify our T.S. is participating- but they did last year!

Kroger Deals

Below are the deals that stick out to me as I glance through the weekly flyer:

Sanderson Farms Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenders on sale for $1.77/lb
Time to stock up!

Red Bell Peppers on sale for $0.99 each

Fresh Blueberries only $1.49

Bounty Single Roll Paper Towels on sale $1
Use $0.25 off 1 from 6/7 PG
Final Price: $0.50

Kool-Aid Drink Mix on sale 10 packages for $1
Use $0.50 off 10 from coupons.com sidebar
Final Price: 10 packages for FREEEEE

McCormick Grill Mates or Grinders on sale for $1
I am confident there are $0.50 off 1 coupons I just couldn't find them
Final Price: FREE

Suave Deodorants on sale for $1
Use $0.50 off 1 from 5/17 RP
Final Price: FREE

Washington Cameo Apples for $0.99/lb

Walgreens deal alerts

Here are my favorite Walgreens deals for the week:

Maxwell House Coffee 11 oz on sale 2 for $5
Use $2 off 2 from coupons.com sidebar
Final Price: $3 for 2

Cottenelle Fresh Wipes on sale for $1.99 with Walgreens Flyer coupon
Use $0.50 off 1 from June ALL YOU magazine
Final Price: $1.49 (can you say "wet wipes for adults" I don't think this sounds pleasent at all but if you have wanted to give em a try- now would be a good time to buy!)

Right Guard or Dry Idea on sale for $0.99 with Walgreens Flyer coupon
go to coupons.com sidebar to print a $2 off 1 for Dry Idea
(make sure to hand in manufactuerer coupon before walgreens coupon!)
Final Price: FREE to $1 in overages

Bryer Ice Cream for $3.99, buy ice cream and get FREE 2 L of A&W Rootbeer or Sunkist
Use $1 off 1 Bryer Ice Cream coupon from 5/17 RP

Final Price: $2.99 for ice cream and root beer

Schick Quattro Razor for Men, on sale B1G1 FREE at $9.49
Use 2 $4 off 1 from 6/14 SS
Final Price: $1.49 for 2


REGISTER REWARDS

St. Ives Bodywash at $2.99, Get a $2.99 RR when you buy 1
Final Price: FREE

Select Unilever Products: Buy 6 get $4 RR, Buy 8 get $8 RR

• Ragu/Skippy 2 for $4
• Hellmann's Mayo 2 for $7
• Lipton Tea 2 for $5

Best Scenario with thanks to Thrifty Mama:
Buy 4 Ragu and 4 Skippy PB
Use 2 $1 off 2 Ragu coupons here AND 2 $1 off 2 Skippy coupons from 4/5 RP
Final Price: $4 for 8 items!

Purex 3 in 1 for $5.99, Earn a $2 RR when you buy 1
Use $2 off 1 from 6/14 SS
Final Price: $1.99 after coupon and RR

Johnson's and Johnsons Baby Powder 1.5 oz for 2 for $2, Get a $1 RR when you buy 2
Use 2, $1 off 1 from 3/8 or 4/26 RP
Final Price: FREE plus $1 in overage

Thrifty Thursday

Hi Ladies- boy will I be glad when next week is over and I can stop feeling so guilty about these sorry posts. I have always lived by my Dad's saying "If you can't do something right, don't do it at all" and here lately I don't feel I have it in me to "do it right." I do have your Walgreens and Kroger deals ready to post but I am going to ask you to head on over to nwadeals.net for your Target deals. While there check out her Walmart deals. As always I would looooove to hear about any deals you have run across!

Zone 4- Office and Playroom

Day 1- Tuesday

• Dust Playroom Furniture
• Sanitize Toys
• Clean Playroom Windows and Fan

Day 2- Wednesday

• Organize Craft Closet
• Playroom Baseboards and Floors
• Office Baseboards and Floors

Day 3 - Thursday

• Dust office Furniture
• Organize Desk
• Organize Cedar Chest

Day 4- Friday

• Clean Office Window
• Organize Coupon Center
• Organize Window Seat

Day 5- Saturday

• Dust Computer and other Electronics
• Sort Magazines and File
• Organize and Update all Files

Tidy Tuesday

Well thank goodness for the air conditioner man. He was my motivation for getting my house in livable order yesterday. As soon as DH told me that someone was coming over to look at our air conditioner I kicked it into high gear and spent most of the morning cleaning all the rooms that lead up to the air conditioning unit. Maybe we can schedule the bug man next week......
I'm ready to move!!!

For the rest of you Donna Wannabes- your zone posts soon!

Annual Budget Countdown-updates

Wow, I think it has been 4 weeks since I last did my annual budget countdown!

So here are the results of my spending from week 21-24 of 2009!

Week 21
Kroger Spent: $72.23
Kroger Saved: $27.44

Week 22
Kroger Spent: $78.91
Kroger Saved: $46.21

Week 23
Kroger Spent: $67.89
Kroger Saved: $31.93

Week 24
Kroger Spent: $72.15
Kroger Saved: $48.41

Totals for weeks 21-24
Total Spent: $291.28
Total Saved: $153.99

Total for 2009:
Total Spent: $2142.52
Total Saved: $1624.84
Total Left for year: $2857.48

Taco Roll

Here's a Family Favorite!!! Go here to see a step by step illustration from a past mealtime Monday post.

Taco Roll

2 cans of Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls
Extra Lean Ground Beef or Ground Sirloin
Taco Seasoning
2% Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
Shredded Lettuce
Salsa or Diced Tomatoes
Jalapeno Peppers (optional)
Fat Free Sour Cream (optional)

Brown beef, rinse and drain. Add taco seasoning. Unroll crescent rolls into triangles and then position triangles in a ring around a pizza pan. Pointy end of triangles sticking out of the ring. (This is where the pictures will come in handy- huh!) Spread seasoned beef around the ring. Wrap the pointy end of the crescent rolls up and over the beef. Bake in oven according to crescent roll package instructions and rolls are golden. Serve topped with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and if desired jalapeno peppers and/or fat free sour cream.

Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 triangle
Meal Plan: Calories: 155; 1 starch; 1.5 lean meats

I will serve this with Black Beans.

Tilapia Puttanesca

What in the world is Puttanesca? I don't know but it sure sounds yummy! And oh so healthy, might I add. This meal is bursting with monounsaturated fat- your heart is gonna love it!!!

Visit here for the recipe.

Tilapia Puttanesca

Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1/4th of recipe
Meal Plan: 182 Calories, 3 oz meat, 1.5 vegetable, 1/2 fat

I am going to serve this with rice and maybe a side salad.

Stuffed Green Peppers

I think it was Mary who gave me the idea of adding Stuffed Green Peppers to my June Menu- so thank you Mary!!! I gotta believe that allrecipes.com did something wrong on the nutritional analysis because there is no way a vegetarian green pepper could have over 700 Calories! Is there? Just in case I made some modifications to the recipe.

Go here to see the original 700+ Calorie Recipe!!!

Stuffed Green Peppers
Recipe Modifications: I used 1 cup brown rice, I used about 1/4th cup 2% shredded Mexican Blend cheese in each stuffed pepper instead of the swiss cheese.

Nutrition Information: based on my modifications
Serving Size: 1 stuffed pepper
Meal Plan: 250 Calories, 2 meats, 1.5 Starches, 1 Vegetable, 1/2 fat

Yum, Yum

Lemon Garlic Chicken- crockpot

Got to tell ya- I have never been a lemon chicken fan. BUT for some reason this recipe looked good to me. I did not love that the recipe actually required precooking before the crockpot- but really it wasn't that bad!

Go here for the recipe.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1/6th of recipe
Meal Plan: 193 Calories, 4 meats, 1/2 fat

I am going to serve this with rice and green beans

Mealtime Mondays

This week's meals only took 1 hour and 10 minutes to prepare:

• Tilapia Puttanesca x 2
• Taco Rings x 2
• Stuffed Green Peppers
• Crockpot Lemon Garlic Chicken

And at least that long to clean up- partly because I started cooking with a messy kitchen (trust me, it's bad around here!) I did not prep for the steak dinner because I want to get by the local meat market to pick up some really good steaks for Father's Day. Following is the prep/storage/eat schedule for the week.

Monday- Taco Ring- I prepped up until final baking. I stored ring in fridge covered with aluminum foil. Tonight I will take out of fridge and bake.

Tuesday- Stuffed Green Peppers- Peppers are fully stuffed and sitting pretty in fridge (covered with foil) ready for final baking.

Wednesday- Crockpot Lemon, Garlic Chicken- I followed directions according to recipe and browned chicken before placing in ziplock storage bag. I added liquid to storage bag and then stored in fridge. Wednesday morning I will transfer contents of ziplock into crockpot and cook on low all day.

Thursday- Tilapia Puttanseca- To prep for this dish I simply dumped all the sauce ingredients into a freezer ziplock and stored in freezer. Thursday morning I will transfer sauce from freezer to fridge to begin thawing. I will then cook fish/sauce according to recipe Thursday Night.

Friday and Saturday- Pantry Challenge (I am going to try to not go out to eat for the rest of the month)

Sunday- Steak Dinner. Saturday night I will marinate steaks and store in fridge until time to grill Sunday afternoon. Happy Fathers Day!!!

Steak

I have not decided how I am going to prepare our steaks for Father's Day. More then likely I will just marinate in Worcestershire Sauce and sprinkle some of our favorite spices on the meat. The nutrition information will vary according to the steak you choose but the leaner cuts are gonna be the sirloin or the fillet! What a treat!!!

Kroger Deals

Don't forget to go to Kroger.com to upload the latest coupons to your Kroger card!! Cellfire had the best coupons if you ask me: Fiber One bars $0.40 off, Crystal Light $1 off, Yo Plus Yogurt $1 off to name a few.

As far as the weekly deals, as always refer to thegrocerygame.com for a complete list of deals- but here are the deals that stood out to me as I glanced through the flyer:

Kraft Cheese B1G1 FREE
(man, I think a ton of Kraft cheese coupons just expired from coupons.com)

Pepsi or Mt. Dew 2 L on sale 4 for $5, buy 4 and get 2 FREE
Final Price: $0.84 each
(This is a great deal on 2L, if you are planning any BBQs or get togethers this summer, stock up now and then volunteer to be in charge of drinks!!!)

Various Lysol Cleaners are on sale 50% off
Use various Lysol coupons found in 6/7 SS
Final Price: Varies but I'm sure is a great deal!!!

USDA Whole Boneless Sirloin Tip at $1.99/lb

Knorr rice or pasta packages on sale for $1
Use $0.50 off 2 from 5/17 RP
Final Price: $0.50 each

Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries on sale $1.97

Let me know if your excited about anything else!

Target Deals

Here are my favorite Target Deals of the week!

As always, go here to print out all the "target coupons" refrenced below. Remember you can stack target coupons with manufacturer coupons for double the savings!!!

Buy any 3 Special K cereals at $2.39 and get a FREE box of Special K crackers

Here is the scenerio found on MSM website
Buy 3 boxes of Special K cereal and 2 boxes of Special K crackers
Use 1 Buy 2 Get 1 Free coupon here and 3 $1 off 1 coupons from 6/7 RP
Final Price: $4.17 for 3 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of crackers

The following deal is the deal I am most excited about BUT I do not see it advertised in our local Target flyer so I am fearful it is not true for our area... but just in case it is an unadvertised deal I'm gonna still post it. Let me know if you try it!

Buy 2 Target Softsoap Ensemble Value Packs at $6 each, get $5 Target Gift Card
Use 2 $2 off 1 target coupons AND 2 $2 off 1 coupons here
Final Price: $1 overage after coupons and gift card!
(note: you will only be able to print 1 $2 off 1 manufacturer coupon so find multiple computers!)
FREE soap is almost as exciting to me as FREE toilet paper!

Degree men's deodorant at $2.49 (have not confirmed local price)
Buy 2 and Use 2 $1.50 off 1 target printables AND the $1 of 2 from the 5/17 RP
Final Price: $0.98 for 2

Ziplock bags at $2.49 (have not confirmed local price)
Buy 2 and use $1 off 2 from 5/10 SS AND 2 $1 off 1 target coupons
Final Price: $0.99 per box after coupons

Banana Boat Sunscreen Trial Size for $0.99
Use $1 off 1 from 5/3 RP
Final Price: FREE

Aquafresh Toothpaste at $1.99 (have not confirmed local price)
Use $1 off 1 target printable AND $1 off 1 here
Final Price: FREE

Walgreens Deals

Once again a sorry week at Walgreens. Most of the deals listed below I have gotten free before so it is hard to get excited about these deals.

But before I roll out the best deals I must tell you that today (and yesterday, but we are too late for that- sorry) you can print this $5 off $25 purchase to be used at Walgreens. The $25 is before coupons! I use to love this coupon back in the ol' EasySaver catalog days.... hmmmm (that is me reminiscing)

Purex 3 in 1 at $5.99, get a $2 RR
Use this $1 off here
Final Price: $2.99

Gillette Fusion Razor at $9.49, Earn a $2.50 RR when you buy 1
Use $4 off 1 from 6/7 PG
Final Price: $2.99 after coupon and RR

Gillette Shampoo and Bodywash for 2 for $8, Get $3 RR when you buy 2
Use 2 $1 off 1 from 6/7 PG
Final Price: $3 for 2 after coupons and RR

Johnsons and Johnsons Baby Powder for 2 for $2, get $1 RR when you buy 2
Use two $1 off 1 from 3/8 or 4/26 RP
Final Price: FREE after coupons and RR

Carmex at $2.99, get a $2 RR when you buy 1
Final Price: $0.99 after RR

Ban Deodorant for 2 for $3, get a $1 RR when you buy 2
Use 2 $0.40 off 1 from 6/7 SS
Final Price: $0.60 each after coupons and RR

Thrifty Thursday

Anyone else feel the deals have been slow to come by. I tell you what, I had gotten a little too comfortable getting free stuff all the time, I guess I just took it for granted. I got to the point I just expected to get AT LEAST one thing FREE every week- not anymore! I would love to hear how ya'll are doing on your savings adventures! I'll throw up a Mr. Linky for ol' time sake.

Wildcard Wednesday- turned Wordless

Sorry girls, it seems as though today's wildcard Wednesday became a Wordless Wednesday. I am still using the borrowed computer and do not understand how to upload pictures onto it, therefore I could not post pictures of a selected room this week, therefore no "Show Us Where You Live" post. Plus, can I just tell you I'm in a real funk. You've been there before... right? I think I am just completely worn out and feeling overwhelmed right now.... no biggie, I've been here before... I just felt you should know. Talk to you tomorrow.

zone 3- Bathrooms, Living Room, and Entryway

Day 1- Tuesday

• Clean Tub and Showers
• Wash Rugs
• Wash Shower Curtains

Day 2- Wednesday

• Clean Mirrors
• Clean Toilets
• Clean Sinks and Counters

Day 3- Thursday

• Organize and Clean Bathroom Cabinets and Drawers (inside and out)
• Dust Living Room Furniture
• Dust Entryway Furniture

Day 4- Friday

• Dust Bathroom, Living Room and Entryway Baseboards
• Vacuum/Swiffer Bathroom, Living Room and Entryway Floors
• Clean all Windows and Fans in this Zone
• Vacuum under coach seat cushions

Day 5- Saturday

• Organize Bookshelf
• Update Pictures in Frames
• Clean leather furniture

Tidy Tuesday- or Not!

Oh ladies- now that my days in this house are officially numbered I have Zero motivation to keep it clean. Just the other night I sat in the living room with DH and said "I have no motivation to keep this house clean" to which I hoped he would say "Nik, you have worked so hard to keep this house clean for the past 3 years, why don't you just take it easy for the next couple of weeks." He said nothing..... so I said "I sure was hoping you'd say Nik, you have worked so hard to keep this house clean for the past 3 years, why don't you just take it easy for the next couple of weeks." To this, he still said... nothing. oh well!

It is a good thing I don't know how to upload pictures on this loaner computer, because let me tell you it is gross around here. I am proud to say that I swished the commodes yesterday and I plan on doing some laundry sometime this week. But other then that, can't say for sure what will get done. I should be plenty rested up in the cleaning department to hit it hard in the new house. For the rest of you, your tidy Tuesday zone schedule will post soon!