What I Saved: I heart clearance items!

Our weekend has been pretty uneventful - and I've loved it!  We spent a lot of time just hanging around the house, catching up on tv, and reading! 

Have I mentioned that I'm currently obsessed with White Collar? 

How can you not love a show that stars Kelly Kapowski?

I started watching the series on Netflix Watch Instantly and I'm hooked!

Also amazing, Matt Bomer is set to play Blaine's brother on Glee (and yes, I squealed like a girl when I found out!).

On to our typical Sunday topic: How much did I save this weekend?

I love the Meal Deal at HT this week!

Total Value: $97.45
OOP: $32.05
Total Saved: 67%

My best purchases include:

Colgate toothpaste at HT (2/$3)
Used $0.75 coupon from today's SS
Total: FREE

Schick Men's Shave get at CVS ($1.99)
Used $0.75 coupon from today's SS
Total: $1.24 plus tax

The best part of today were the clearance items I was able to scoop up at Harris Teeter today!

Glade Carpet Powder - select scents($1.32)
$0.55 coupon (printable)
Total: $0.22

Glade Room Spray - select scents ($1.99)
$0.55 coupon 2/12 SS
Total: $0.89

Carpet Fresh Carpet Powder - select scents ($1.09)
$1 coupon
Total: $0.09

Febreze Candle - select scents ($3.87)
$1 coupon P&G
$1 evic coupon
Total: $1.87

Dove Men's Bar Soap - select scents ($4.09)
$1 off coupon 1/29 RP - expires 2/26
Total: $3.09

I have to admit that I LOVE when I get great clearance deals at Harris Teeter!  I get really excited for some reason.

Question for the night: Any TV shows that you're currently hooked on?  Any great savings this week so far? 

Cold Day, Hot Soup

First, I use the word, "cold," very VERY loosely.  Living at the beach where it typically doesn't drop below 50 degrees I can't really complain...and yet, I still do...anytime it get below 60 that is!

We lead a rough life!

I'm am slowly turning into a Southern Belle...wait, no...a Southern GIRL!  A few things that living down here means though is that there is a limited time when wearing turtleneck sweaters is appropriate and soup is not as widely sold in restaurants as it is in the 'burgh and other Yankee cities!

I've found a few recipes lately that I really like.  Like I said before, I'm really digging my Everyday by Rachel Ray subscription.  Below is another winner from her December 2011 issue that I've modified a little.  It's perfect for a cold (or if you live at the beach, cold-ISH) day!

Cheesy Chicken-Potato Soup (Everyday by Rachel Ray - December 2011 issue) MODIFIED
Serves 4, Prep 5 minutes, Cooks in 20 minutes
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
2 cups leeks, chopped (white parts only)
1 1/2 lbs of red potatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
1 qt chicken broth
1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (this made it SO easy)
7 oz of shredded cheddar
4 tbsp of sour cream
Red pepper flakes

Prep your potatoes and leeks

In pot, melt butter over medium heat; cook leeks 2 minutes
Add potatoes and cook 5 minutes
Add broth; bring to a boil.  Simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

I always use granules instead of buying stock!

Remove one-third of the potatoes, reserve.
Puree remaining soup with 1 cup water (this part was tricky b/c my food processor was not big enough)
Stir in chicken, reserved potatoes, cheese and sour cream and red pepper flakes (to taste)

Serve topped with a little more sour cream, if you'd like

This was pretty easy and came out really well.  It would be really quick for lunch on a winter day.


Can you eat soup in warm weather?  What's your favorite cold weather food?

A Break From the Scissors and A Tasty Dinner

No, I'm not giving up couponing, I just feel like that is ALL I've talked about on this blog recently.  I never intended for this to turn into a coupon blog - there are already so many great ones out there and I don't think I can compete!

So, sorry to all of those I have bored with my % saved and my grocery trips for the past few weeks.  I'll start talking about fun stuff again, I promise!

My wonderful mother got me a subscription to Rachel Ray's Everyday Magazine for Christmas this year!

My Mommy and Me in Vegas a few years ago!

Note to self: You know you're a married woman when you're asking for magazines about food/cooking/etc for Christmas!

I've already gotten my first two subscriptions and I LOVE IT!

I really want to bake cookies every time I read this issue!

Confession time: I am currently seeking treatment for a DINNER RUT.  I was starting to DREAD menu planning for the week.  In my mind I was cooking the same thing over and over!  Darrin didn't seem to mind, although I'm pretty sure he'd eat the same thing every night if I cooked it, just to make me happy!

He's so good to me!

I decided it was time for a change!  So after much blog reading, magazine scouring, and soul searching...okay, maybe that's taking it a bit too far...but anyway, I started feeling pretty adventurous and have started cooking outside of my comfort zone.  And man am I digging it!  This little Italian girl is backing away from pasta and sauce and embracing some new things.

I really like the following recipe and hope you all do to.


Glazed Pork Loin with Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes (Everyday by Rachel Ray - December 2011 issue)
Serves 4, Prep 15 minutes, Cooks in 50 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs pork loin, tied
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp grainy mustard
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 lb brussels sprouts, halved lengthwise
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
thyme
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 bear, cut into chunks

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and place in the center of a roasting pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the mustard, vinegar and brown sugar and brush over the pork.  Scatter the brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and thyme around the pork.  Sprinkle with oil, any remaining mustard mixture and salt and pepper.  Stir to coat.

Place and oven and roast, tossing the veggies occasionally until they are almost tender - about 30 minutes. (At this point the recipes says if the veggies stick add 2 tbsp of water, but I didn't have that issue).

Stir in the pear and roast until the veggies are tender and the pork is at 150 degrees (about 15 minutes).
Let the roast sit for 5 minutes, then thinly slice and serve with the veggies.

I served with extra mustard for dipping!

If you're looking for something really good and pretty easy, I highly suggest giving this a try.  Lots of veggies and lean pork make it a pretty healthy meal!


What's your favorite pork recipe?  Have you ever been in a "food rut?"

Harris Teeter Super Doubles: The Final Counts

WOW!  Yep, that's all I can say.  This was a great Super Doubles event for me at Harris Teeter.  It's always made even better by the amazing staff at the Harris Teeter I shop at.  They go above and beyond for their customers and it's great!

I've been posting updates throughout the week of how I've been doing.  You can find those here:
Round One
Round Two
Round Three and Four

Here are some final numbers. 

I made five trips to HT, some I have photos of and some I do not.

Trip One

Trip Two

Trip Four

BIG trip!

I've broken down the first few trips and those links are above so I'm only going to talk about my big trip here.

Some of the big things for me are:
4 boxes of Fiber One bars
4 Greek yogurts
3 Coffeemate coffee cream
2 bags of chips
B1G1 Steak
Johnsonville Chicken Sausage
Lite Kolbasa
Blue Bunny ice cream
gud Handsoap (To make it really work out for you, only buy one per transaction.  It ends up a MM if you only do one per transaction but you end up paying about $0.49 if you do two in a transaction).

I forgot batteries for Darrin and since the gud ecoupon reloaded for me I decided and trip off one more coupon and make $1.24 that I applied to the batteries we needed, so that was my fifth (and final trip).

Overall Super Doubles numbers look like this:
Total value: $262.60
OOP: $54.56
Total savings: 80% (which I am really happy about!)

To be totally fair though, I did run to Target for some Lean Cuisine meals and vitamins for Darrin.

My weekly totals therefore look more like this:
Total value: $281.05
OOP: $68.81
Total savings: 76% (which I'm still happy about!)

Any of my Southern friends hit up Super Doubles at HT?  How'd it go for you?  Any other great savings this week?

HT Super Doubles: Round 3 and 4

There are so many amazing deals right now that I am LOVING this HT Super Doubles week!

Yesterday I stopped in to pick up a few quick things.  I was able to get:

Lysol Neutra Air Fabric Spray (3 bottles)
Smithfields bacon (1 package)
Kikkoman soy sauce (1 bottle)

Total value: $23.93
Total spent: $2.93
Savings: 88%

How I did it:
Lysol was on clearance for $2.82
$1 off coupon from SS 2/5
Total: $0.82 each

Smithfield bacon evic speical $2.47
$1 off coupon from SS 1/29
Total: $0.49

Kikkoman soy sauce $1.59
$1 off coupon (printable)
Total: FREE

I also had a REALLY successful trip this afternoon:

Total value: $30.09
Total spent: $3.00
Savings: 90%

Here's what I got:

McCain Sweet Potato fries (2 for $5)
$1 off coupon (printable)
Total: $0.50

Smithfields bacon$2.49 on evic
$1.00 off coupon SS 1/29
Total: $0.49

CrunchMaster crackers ($1.99) - purchased 2
$1 off printable coupon x 2
Total: FREE

Pure Protein bars (2/3.00) - purchased 2
$1 off printable coupon x 2
Total: FREE

Wholly Guacamole ($2.79)
$1 off printable coupon
Total: $0.79

gud Handwash ($4.99)
evic offers
$1 off printable coupon
$0.50 evic coupon
Total: -$1.24 - OVERAGE that I got to use!

MY SUPER DOUBLES RUNNING TOTAL:
Total value: $103.28
Total spent: $9.75
SAVINGS: 91%

My big trip is tomorrow - stay tuned to see how it turns out!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles: Round 2

Another successful night at Harris Teeter! Last night I had some huge savings that you can read about here.

A look at what I got!

Total value: 29.76
OOP: 6.17
Savings: 79%

Here's what I got:

McCain Potatoes (2)
Used 2 $1 off coupons (printable)
Total: $1.00

Mrs. P's Tilapia (2)
Used 2 $1 off coupons (printable)
Total: $1.69

Johnsonville Chicken Sausage (1)
Used 1 $1.50 off coupon
Total: $1.99

Al Fresca Chicken Sausage (1)
Used 1 $1 off coupon and a $3.00 off sticker (printable)
Total: $1.49

Total spent during Super Doubles so far: $6.75
Total saved:  42.51 (86%)

I don't think I'll make another run until Sunday when I typically do the grocery shopping.  I'm looking forward to even more savings when the weekend evic specials come out!

First Super Doubles Trip

I had a really great night at Harris Teeter.  They were already out of a few of the freebies I was hoping for, but I was able to get many of the items I had planned on getting tonight.

Fiber One bars (4 boxes)
$1/2 printable (2)
$.40 off evic coupon (2)
Total $3.20

Smart Balance Milk
$1.50 off
Total FREE

Riccola cough drops (2)
$1/2
Total $0.18

Kikkoman Soy Sauce
$1 off printable
Total FREE

Zone Perfect Bars (2)
$0.55 off
Total $0.58

Total value was $19.50

I should have paid about $4 for all of this BUT because they had an issue with the self scan station I was at I got the Fiber One bars, milk and cough drops FREE!  I purchased the other two items at a different HT so I paid $0.58 before tax!

That's a 97% savings!

I'm really excited, considering I waited until 7:00pm to make my first trip!

Total

A Romantic at Heart

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I know I'm a big romantic sap when it comes to the "official Halmark holiday" but I am perfectly fine with that.  I was even more sappy this year because it was my first Valentine's day as a married women!

This did NOT make Darrin happy!

Our Valentine's Day celebration spanned several days (mainly because I wasn't a huge fan of dinner at 8pm on a Tuesday night, when I have to work the next day). 

We started early on Saturday with an afternoon viewing of The Vow!

I know, I know, I really take the cheesy V-day as far as it can possibly go...what can I say?  I've watched one too many romantic comedies I guess?

Anyway, I thought this was the perfect way to start our celebration.  Although I totally think most of the great parts of this movie are shown in the previews but the chemistry between Channing and Rachel was amazing! 

After that I got a wonderful gift from my husband! 

Love Birds!

We had dinner reservations that night at Catch.  If you're a fan of Top Chef you may remember Chef Keith Rhodes from earlier this season - corn tortillas anyone?? Anyway, Catch is his restaurant and if he was eliminated first this season the winner must make food that is indescribable!  We LOVE Catch.

And here is why...

To start the evening

Winter root vegetable salad with goat cheese and vinaigrette

I obviously couldn't wait to try my seared tuna with lobster stuffed dumplings and edememe pesto

Darrin's BBQ chicken with mac and cheese didn't last very long!

I think Darrin was starting to get a bit annoyed with my picture taking at this point!

Such a trooper :)

Not to make anyone too jealous but this food is beyond amazing!  We didn't have one bite of food that we didn't love! 

Burbon chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake with chocolate mousse

The only damper in the evening was the news of Whitney Houston's death.  Did anyone catch Mercedes' version of "I Will Always Love You" on Glee this week? Loved it!

Now, I'm sure you're shaking your head and rolling your eyes at this point and begging me to find the antidote for the arrow Cupid must have struck me with, but I promise I'm almost done!

Tuesday I got a wonderful surprise at work when Darrin showed up for a lunch date and these:

Love my flowers!

I cooked manly meal for dinner in hopes of wiping all memories of hearts, and flowers, and chocolates from Darrin's mind and we just spend the night hanging out at home!

Steak, mashed taters and asparagus

 So I must say, for a "holiday" that really isn't, February 14th was pretty great this year!

Did you do anything for Valentine's Day?  Do you love to celebrate with the ones you love, or do you find it to be a day you'd rather wasn't?

What I Saved: Lots of Freebies!

It was a weekend of freebies for me!

I scored a lot of great deals and was able to get several items for free or less than $0.20! 

I started on Saturday be stocking up on some meat at Harris Teeter.  I was able to score a $20 off $20 coupon last week and used that on meat.

All of this cost less than $2.00:

My trip on Sunday was equally successful!  I got a $10 off $50 reward in my evic email so I was excited to use that. 

I was able to pick up a lot of yogurt, several Nivea lip balms, hair products, and a lot of produce and meat again. 

Finally, I hit up CVS and got a few great freebies.  I scored some toothpaste and shaving gel.

My totals look like this:
Total value of items: $184.97
Total spent: $54.05
Savings: 73% (this includes a $4 ECB at CVS)

Like I said, I got several freebies this weekend.  I'll break then down for you so you can try and get them as well:

First at HT:
6 Nivea lip balms (2 for $3.00 on sale)
Used 3 $3 off 2 coupons from today's (2/12) Red Plum
Total: FREE

3 got2be hair products (B1G1 at HT)
Used 3 $3 off coupons from today's (2/12) Red Plum
Totals $0.58

Activa yogurt 4-pack (2 for $4 on sale)
$1.00 off from today's (2/12) Smart Source plus $1 off evic coupon
Total: FREE

At CVS:
2 Colgate Advanced Toothpate (on sale for $2.75 each)
Used 2 $0.75 coupons from today's (2/12) Smart Source
(I also had $3.87 in CVS ECB's that I used)
Get back $4 in ECB
Total: FREE

1 Skintimate Shaving Gel
Use $4 from prior transaction
Get back $4 in ECB
Total: FREE

Who doesn't need toothpaste and shaving gel right?  And you don't even need a coupon with the shaving get! 

Well it's time for me to get ready for Super Doubles at Harris Teeter this coming weeks.  The deals look amazing! 

Any great savings this week?  Are you watching the Grammy's?  Any plans for Valentine's Day?

Darrin and I celebrated Valentine's Day this weekend with an amazing date day on Saturday.  Check back later in the week to see how we spent the day and what an amazing husband I have!

All By Myself!

Okay, I'm not ashamed...I'll come right out and say it:

"I LOVE GOING TO THE MOVIES ALONE!"

Don't get me wrong, I love date nights with the hubs and girls night out with my friends, but there is something totally awesome about sitting in a movie theater alone for a few hours.

Plus, I get these all to myself:

LOVE movie theater popcorn!

This weekend I treated myself to an afternoon at the movies.  I had been dying to see One For the Money and Darrin wasn't feeling it so I went myself.

First, I LOVE Janet Evanovich and all of her books.  My goal is to write my own series of books that have the same wit and humor as everything she has written.

Second, I adore Katherine Heigl (and Jason O'Mara and Daniell Sujata are pretty easy on the eyes). I was struggling with her as Stephanie Plum but she totally nailed it!

Jason O'Mara as Joe Morelli

Daniell Sujata as Ranger

And third, the movie was shot in my hometown.  Well, actually a town or two over, but I'm still claiming it.  If you're from Western PA and go see this movie you will totally recognize the charm that is the 'burgh's suburbs.

On top of it all, the first preview that played was for The Hunger Games!  Let me tell you, I cannot WAIT until March 23rd!  I'm a little nervous that the movies will let me down because I loved the books SO much (I finished the first book and immediately read it again!).  I also have a feeling that while I adored Peta in the books I'm going to be pulling for Gale in the movies - this is similar to my issues with the Twilight books/movies.  I'm 100% team Edward when I read the books but I switch sides and root for Jacob when I watch the movies.

That said, it was a wonderful afternoon at the movies.  If you haven't seen One For the Money yet, I highly recommend it.  And if you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, walk RUN to your nearest library or bookstore and pick up a copy!

So I have to know...going to the movies alone: Yay or Nay?  Any movies you can't wait to see?

What I Saved: Time to get ready for Super Doubles!

My Sunday's are starting to develop a really nice rhythm. I get up, check out a few couponing blogs, get ready for the day, get my Raleigh papers at Books a Million, then there is Church and lunch with Darrin and finally grocery shopping and cooking dinner.

I'm sure that may seem boring to some, but I am really liking the way my weekends flow!

I mentioned last week that people show up and stand in line for the 10am opening at Books A Million.  I got there this morning at about 9:15am and even though it was POURING down rain, a woman got out of her car at 9:22am to stand in line!  Honestly, my first words to her when I jumped in line was "Really, you didn't want to stay nice and warm in your car??"

I got my three newspapers though and had fun chatting with some of the other couponers in line.

My savings this week were pretty decent and break down something like this:

Total value: $179.43
Out of pocket: $61.53
Savings: 71%

I didn't go anywhere but Harris Teeter this weekend and I also did not use ONE printable coupon.  I find it pretty amazing that I was able to save that much with just the coupons I get by buying a few Sunday papers.  It makes me feel a little better about the insanity that is standing in line for 40 minutes in the rain!

I forgot to take a picture of what I got today, but here is a look at a few of the things I was able to pick up on Saturday!

I'm also super excited because (and unless you're living under a rock, you probably already know this) Lowes Food's is having a Super Doubles event starting Wednesday and Harris Teeter is having their Super Doubles event starting the following Wednesday!  I can't wait to see what sales they having to go along with those events!

Well it's time to go cook some wings for the hubby while we watch football.  Although I'm loving being in the kitchen since I was able to get this made last night:

Pretty new cafe curtain! 

I'm starting to feel very domesticated!  Maybe this whole wife-thing isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be!


Did you do anything fun for the Superbowl?  Did the team you were pulling for win?

And It's Done!

So a few weeks back I mentioned my plans to paint a dresser we had in our garage.

Darrin had this piece of furniture before we got married and it's a nice piece...it just did NOT go with our house.

He wanted to keep it though.  And since I take up almost all of the closet and drawer space in our bedroom I realized he had a point (SHHHHH, don't tell him I said that!)

I was going for a shabby chic look and it was a surprisingly easy project and VERY inexpensive.

I started with the doors:

The design work was the hardest thing to clean!

I removed them, took off the hardware, cleaned them pretty well and sanded them just a little with fine sandpaper.

Then I took them outside and SPRAY PAINTED them.  Yep, that's right, I used spray paint.  It was so easy and it really let me achieve the distressed look I was going for.

From there it was a breeze.  I did all three drawers next.  Again, removing the hardware, cleaning them and doing a bit of sanding. Then just spraying on the paint.

Finally we took the base outside and after cleaning and sanding I started painting.  I wanted to make sure I really achieved the distressed look on the main part of the dresser so I took a little bit more time, but not that much.

When all of the pieces were finished and starting to dry I started working on the hardware.  Honestly, this was the hardest part.  The pulls are brass and difficult to get the paint to stick. I used spray paint intended for all types of material but I couldn't get it to stick that well.  I ended up with a very blue hand!

After a full night of drying we were able to put all the pieces back together.  Take a look at the finished product!

The finished product

I'm really pleased with the way this project turned out!  Honestly, while it took me two weekends to get this finished I really only spent about an hour and half total on everything and the total cost was about $15!

Up next...a cafe curtain for the kitchen window!

Any fun projects you've been working on around your house?  Anything you've been putting off?