Publix Coupons

August 31, 2010

Back in November of 2009, my sister started telling me about coupons. I’d tried clipping them in our super-tight money days, but never saved too much. It turns out, that’s because I didn’t know what I was doing! Clipping coupons is much more than cutting the ones out of the paper and expecting to save a bundle.

I started slowly, and before I knew it, I was saving almost as much as I was spending! She let me in on the secrets to shopping at Publix, a notoriously expensive grocery store, and after my first trip, I was hooked! It looked like this:

That’s right, spent $13.34, saved $35.90! That means I got $50 worth of groceries for $13 and some change.

So I went back again the next week:

I KNOW! Spent $12.10, saved $67!! (Some of the things I’d gotten I put in the fridge/freezer because I put them in the cart at the beginning of the shopping trip and they were warming up way too fast, so not everything is pictured.)

I still didn’t want to buy the rest of our groceries at Publix because I was getting tremendous deals at Kroger, too. Not quite like this, but I was saving at least half of what I was spending (ex: spent $70, saved $35). So I decided for 2010 I was going to keep track of everything I spent to see how much money I could save us in 1 year. I kept a spreadsheet and every time I went to the store, I documented it. For the month of January I spent $376.50 and saved $234.28. In February I spent $382.20 and saved $244.13 (this included 4 HUGE cases of wipes I got at Target. They were $14 for over 700 wipes. We’re only half way through them 6 months later!) Then in March I only had 1 trip to Kroger, spent $95, saved $48 before we got busy packing to move. Then we moved, Chloe was born, and things spun out of control. But now that she’s almost (GULP!) 5 months old, it’s time to get my butt back in gear.

I haven’t gotten a Sunday paper in months, so I’m WAY behind on paper coupons. I also didn’t plan this shopping trip until the last minute so lots of my internet coupons were no longer available. In total I missed out on over $25 in savings because I wasn’t prepared with my coupons. I’ve also decided it’s too much work to grocery shop in 2 stores, so now I’m doing 100% of the shopping in Publix. We have a Kroger the same distance from our house, but I’ve literally NEVER had a good experience in that store. It’s horrific. I’ve called the manager…twice…and he just doesn’t care. I’ll gladly pay a few dollars more for a cleaner store, OUTSTANDING customer service, and a better selection of produce!

So, I spent the morning planning a menu, a list, and getting my coupons together. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to do our shopping, but the girls were angels and we made it out alive! This is what we managed to pile in the tiny car cart:

Not the kind of savings I like to see. If I’d had all the coupons I needed, I would have spent $141 and saved $71. Which is what I like—save half of what I spend. BUT, this is food for 10 days, and we’ll have a guest for 3 of them. Sooo, that makes it a little better!

I’m also trying to get rid of all the crap from our diets. I no longer buy things with HFCS, we eat only whole wheat/whole grain whenever possible, and I stocked up on a few things I got great deals on. I got 4 cans of Cream of Chicken soup for free, 9-packs of juice boxes for $1.30 each, 4-cup bags of cheese for $3.50 each, boxes of GM cereal for $1.40 each, a free 12-pack of Coke, Pop-Tarts for $1.40 per box (and scored a $1/1 coupon on the bottom! Their coupons are usually $1/3!), Totinos pizza’s (I know, not healthy AT ALL, but *I* still like to eat junk sometimes!) for $.40 each, and bags of Mahatma rice for $.19 each.

For the next 10 days our dinners will be:

omelets
breakfast burritos
calzones
grilled chicken, garlic potatoes, fruit salad
meatloaf, mashed pot, green beans
stir fry
lasagna, caesar salad
tacos
hotdogs
chicken quesadillas

And I’ve got lunched and breakfasts in there, too!

So, do you want to know more about how I do it?

First, choose a grocery store. Most stores will double coupons that are $.50 or less. (You don’t need 2 coupons, they do it automatically–a rookie coupon mistake I was making!) Some will double to $.99. Some will even triple! If you’re grocery shopping at Walmart, I URGE you to stop. Find an actual grocery store in your town and call about their coupon policy. Did you know most stores will accept competitor coupons?!

**side note: JoAnn’s also accepts competitor coupons! Take your Hobby Lobby, Hancock, or Michael’s coupons there and they’ll honor them!

Next, see if you can find help online. There are lots of blogs out there who do a good chunk of the work for you. My favorite is

Michelle breaks every weeks sales ad down and matches it up with coupons. She knows ALL the coupons that are out there, I swear!

One of the reasons I like Publix over Kroger for coupons is because they publish their entire sale every week. 85% of my coupons are from the Internet and I have to print them before I leave home. I’d get to Kroger and find 10 or 15 things on sale I could have also used a coupon on. I don’t like to print and waste paper, but I like to be well-informed before my trip. With Publix, it takes the guess work out of the equation for me. Plus, Publix does BOGO sales that are phenomenal. They basically mark each item at half price, and allow you to use a coupon on each!

Once you plan your menu and your list, hunt around for coupons for the other things on your list. Good places to start are:

thekrazycouponlady.com (the Krazy Coupon Lady is FULL of good info for lots of other stores, too)

You can only print each coupon twice from each computer (so if you have more than 1 computer in your home, or 1 at work 1 at home, print 2 from each for even more savings!)

I’m back to buying papers and I’ve already started printing coupons for things I want to pick up next week at Publix. I just love the feeling of saving money!

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Shirr Amazement

August 29, 2010

Whew. Sorry about that horrible break I took. You know how life speeds up and days fly by in a blur and before you know it 2 weeks have gone by? Totally didn’t happen to me.

But I did have a faulty sewing machine, a sick baby that basically stopped sleeping (we did spend 3 hours in the ER in the middle of the night last week, so that didn’t help), a 2 year old cutting molars, and a total lack of inspiration. So instead of excitedly running to my machine after tucking the girls into bed, I’ve been opting for vegging on the sofa with a beer and my DVR. Not good for the blog, but great for my spirit. But I’m back, and I’ve got lots to share!

I had such a great time (and success) creating something for Sofie from one of my shirts, that I wanted to try it again. About 3 months ago my Mom brought some old plastic drawers I left at their house after college. While digging through one I found an old shirt I’d adored in my collegiate years but knew I’d never be able to wear again. I instantly knew it would be an easy transformation into a shirt for Sofie.

This shirt came from the Old Navy Outlet in 2000. Anyone who was anyone (in my circle) had it. We had to alert each other to our intended wearing days to avoid the awkward twin moment in the dining hall. But I loved it. Loved it so much that even before I ever repurposed anything, I knew I’d want to do something with this shirt someday.

It had a hidden zipper in the back, as well as an label. I needed to remove both, and they were easily taken out.

(with zipper)

I carefully wielded my seam ripper up and down the sides of the zipper. I also removed the stitching at the bottom hem.

And once the zipper and label were gone,

I stitched the opening closed along the previous crease made from the zipper.

And restitched the hem and the bias tape along the top.

I knew I wanted to shirr the back, but was a little stumped about how to fix the darts. Because even though she’s dying for them, Sofie doesn’t have boobs. Well, I shirred a little out of the box and decided to go from the end of one dart, around the back, and to the end of the other one. It gave me great framework, a stopping point, and I liked the effect.

And she liked the shirt! It’s long enough in the front to be dress length, but in the back her little butt would hang out. I suspect this will fit her great next year (and potentially the year after that, too!).

(Please don’t mind the wrinkles, I took her out of the car to take these pictures before we went in for lunch. I have to strike while the toddler cooperates…)

I have a few other shirts from my college days I kept that I’m anxious to refashion for my girls. I love seeing them in clothes that have special memories for me!

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How many hours are in a day?

August 22, 2010

I’ve been horribly absent this week. I have a good excuse, too! Well, actually, I have several.

For starters, I’ve had one unhappy baby. I took Chloe off her reflux medicine prematurely and boy have I been paying for it!! I had 4 or so days of extremely unhappy baby before I decided to put her back on the medicine. Then it took about a week to get built back up in her system and finally provide her with some relief. During that torturous time, she just wanted to be held. 24 hours a day. Holding a baby and sewing are 2 things that don’t go well together!

I also have a giant list of things people have asked me to make for them. At the top of the list is 7 shirt skirts for 3 different friends. Sounds easy enough, only now my sewing machine is refusing to shirr!! It’ll sew about 10 perfect stitches, then all of a sudden it goes completely haywire and there’s thread everywhere. I’ve spent nearly 2 weeks trying to figure out what’s causing it and I can’t figure it out. I want to rip my hair out! It’ll sew just fine, but not shirr.

I’ve started 2 different projects to blog about, but abandoned both in the middle of creation. One is a cool messenger-style man diaper bag for The Hubs. But I got nearly done with it and some things didn’t line up right and looked horrible and I refused to rip out the stitches and try again. I wasted almost an entire Sunday on it! The second project is an old shirt of mine I was turning into a dress for Sofie. It was supposed to be a 20 minute rehab, but I have to shirr the back to do it the way I want it, and my stupid machine refuses to cooperate.

So, I’m trying to chug away at the ever-growing list of things to make that are un-blog related. About 6 things are mid-project so I don’t have much to show. I did get this cute giraffe onesie made and mailed to a sweet new baby boy in Canada this week.

I’ve also been doing some cooking. I’ve stumbled across many recipes for soup lately, and it’s been sounding delicious. I typically can’t eat soup unless it’s cold out, and this mid-90s weather every day for weeks on end doesn’t jive with my soup craving. Until I stumbled on a recipe for bread bowls. I decided that day we needed to have beef stew in homemade whole wheat bread bowls. And we did!

I didn’t let my bread bowls rise long enough the second rising because the troops were starving. Next time I’ll plan further ahead so they’re a little bigger. Though truthfully, at this size we were able to eat our stew and all of the bread bowl.

And when you’re making them yourself, you can make mini bowls for the little people at your table!

For the bread bowls I used this basic recipe. But because I wanted to make it healthier, I changed it a little. For the initial flour mixture, I used 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups AP. Then as I mixed the dough and added more flour, I put in 1.5 C wheat and .5 C AP. So in total I used 3.5 cups wheat, 2.5 cups AP. I’m still experimenting with how much wheat to AP to use. Breads usually come out better when they’re around half each. Also, when I mixed my wet ingredients together, I substituted 3T flax seed for 1 of the TBSP of oil. Next time I’ll omit the oil completely and just use flax seed.

Commenters recommend making just 6 bowls instead of 8. I actually ended up with 9 because I split 1 of them into 2 Sofie-sized bowls. I think next time I’ll go for 6 and just give her some of the insides instead of her own bowl.

When I pitted my bread bowls to put the soup in, I kept the insides to use as my own bread crumbs. Can’t wait to make meatballs or meatloaf with them!

For my beef stew I used this basic recipe. But because I can’t make anything the way the recipe calls for it, I made some changes:

*I only had 1.3 lbs of beef stew meat. I tossed my cubed meat in flour that was seasoned with pepper and garlic powder before browning in the pot. It was delicious!

*I like my veggies to lose their crunch in soups, which I find short cooking times DOESN’T allow for. So I let them boil for 20 or so minutes after adding them. Because of this, I used 7 C of water and 1 C red wine. I didn’t thicken it with the cornstarch.

*I used red potatoes. Regular russet potatoes have a tendency to fall apart, but red potatoes hold their own. Even through all the boiling, they came out amazing!

*I didn’t have rosemary so I used rubbed sage, and I added 2 bay leaves.

I didn’t add any liquid while I took pictures because I didn’t want soggy bread bowls before we ate, so I added some before I served dinner. This smelled SO wonderful while it cooked that Sofie was begging me “Eat Mommy? Eat please?” I’m definitely looking forward to this hearty meal again!

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Baby Gift

August 15, 2010

It’s funny how the world works. I have a friend who asked me for a baby gift a year ago. She was giving it to a friend of hers (who I don’t know) for the baby she was about to have. A year later, she asked me for a First Birthday shirt for the same little girl. The next thing I know, my friend’s friend is asking me for a baby gift for her niece! I was so blown away!

She told me her sister wasn’t a big fan of everything pink, and that she liked dramatic fabric. She didn’t even care about seeing the fabrics I picked before I started creating because she trusted my judgment!! (One of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received!)

It took me a few days before I settled on the fabrics I decided to use. I wanted “girly” fabrics, but not things that screamed baby. I just hope Parker’s Mommy likes my choices, too!

Fuchsia. The new “baby pink.”

I’m so completely in love with this love birds fabric I backed the bib with!

I adore any excuse to use my lemon fabric!

This Heather Bailey Freshcut fabric is some of my all-time favorite. It’s girly and feminine, but not overly so. I made myself a dress from these two prints once upon a time. (Pre-baby, of course, so it no longer fits me.)

Welcome to the world, Parker! It was an honor making you such beautiful things!

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Cosmetic Bag Tutorial

August 11, 2010

Well, there could only be one winner. But I wanted to share how I made the bag so everyone can make their own!

You need:

-Fabric. I used 2 fat quarters and cut them to 14″ by 21″. You don’t have to use fat quarters, just cut 2 pieces of fabric to 14″ by 21″.

-One 14″ zipper

-One piece 14″ by 21″ fusible vinyl**

-One scrap piece of fabric 1.5″ by 3″ for zipper tab

**I found my fusible vinyl at Hancock Fabrics. It was only 17″ wide and was somewhere around $5/yard. Definitely using my 40% coupon next time! It was on the bolt with interfacings.

Apply vinyl according to manufacturer’s instructions. I was a little intimidated at first, but this was actually an easy process!

Take your zipper and lay it right side down on the right side of your outside fabric. Pin and sew. I prefer not to use my zipper foot when installing zippers. I know, I’m such a rebel.

Lay your inside fabric right side down, with the edge lined up on the zipper and sew. I usually do these 2 steps as 1, but the vinyl made the fabric slippery and it was easier to do them one at a time.

Open your fabrics to reveal the zipper. Turn the outside fabric back, fold along the edge of the zipper, and iron. **Make sure your iron doesn’t touch the lining fabric with the vinyl. It will melt the vinyl!!

Turn over and fold the lining down.

Iron with a piece of paper between the fabric and iron.

Top stitch along the zipper. You’ll need to go slow and help the fabric through because the vinyl will be a little sticky against your machine.

So now 1 side of the zipper is done!

Take the bottom of the outside fabric and fold it back up on itself, lining it up with the top of the zipper.

Pin and sew just like you did above. Then flip it over, take the bottom of the lining, and line it up with the edge of the zipper. Pin and sew.

Now open your zipper and turn the bag with the right sides out. **Leave zipper open for the remainder of construction!

Carefully iron down the outside along the edge of the fabric. the lining will be ironed at the same time, so make sure it’s not sticking out funny. You don’t want to melt your vinyl!

Then flip it over and iron the vinyl side. Don’t forget your paper!

Top stitch down this side, too.

Take your zipper tab, fold right sides together length-wise, and sew at 1/4″.

Use a safety pin to turn right side out. Iron flat with your seam in the middle of the inside. I then like to top stitch down either side.

Turn the bag inside out and lay flat with the zipper in the middle. Fold the tab in half, with the seam on the inside, and pin to the open end of the zipper.

Sew both ends shut using 1/4″ seam allowance.

Mark all 4 corners of the bag at 2.5″ from each edge. (Truthfully, if you understand bag construction, you should mark 2.5″ from one edge, and 2.25″ from the other to account for the seam allowance)

Cut out the corners.

Open each corner, and line the seam up in the middle of the flat edge. Sew across. Repeat on all 4 sides.

It will look something like this.

And for really nice results, when you sew the corners, make sure you sew your middle seam pointing down on both sides. I also like to clip my edges with pinking shears!