"Mama said there'd be days like this"

"Mama said there'd be days like this,

There'd be days like this, my mama said"

UGH. Cold.  I've have an aroma of Vicks & Bengay.  Sexy I know.

But you gotta do what you gotta do, mom's don't get sick days.

So the inevitable question today is: "What's for dinner?"

Praise the Lord I worked my tookis off this summer canning everything I could get my hands on!

Tonight's dinner "Chicken Enchilada Soup"

Cost $2.00

1 piece chicken breast

1 can black beans & corn

1/2 lg onion

2-3 cloves garlic

2-3 tomatoes

1/2 qt of salsa or taco sauce

2 C water

Grill chicken in pan.  Then throw chicken & everything else in the crockpot.  Cook on low 4 hours or until tender.  (I grilled the chicken right out of the freezer.)  If you don't have enough salsa or taco sauce go here to learn how to make your own http://www.thethriftyhomemaker.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-can-make-taco-seasoning.html

Doesn't this look wonderful & filling.  This homemade soup is easy peasy. I have enough to last for at least a couple of dinners for more than 1/2 the cost of what I could get at a restaurant.

My Target Transaction

I made a trip to town thinking it's after Christmas, a Wednesday & pouring rain so there shouldn't be a lot of people & I was right.  This is a quick trip into Target.  I spent $2.05, before coupons $15.10 total discount 86%! 



P.S. If anyone has any extra $1/1 Mr. Clean Magic Eraser's please let me know.  I just found my youngest coloring on our cabinets with crayons :(

Homemade Carpet Cleaner

When I started this blog it was just a quick way to get my thrifty ideas to my friends who were interested in saving money.  I wanted this blog to be a sounding board, where people share their ideas & give their comments on my posts.  Here is one thrifty recipe from my high school friend, Wendy.  With Christmas just around the corner & family coming up my carpets are looking a bit dingy so I'm going to try this:

This recipe sounds a little weird, but we swear by it. My husbands aunt gave us the recipe and we tried it on the carpets of our old van which were horrible from toting toddlers and their food around. The carpet looked almost new afterwards. I use it as a pre-treater too. I just put it in a spray bottle and spray on the bigger stains and let it sit for awhile.

1 cup Ammonia
1/2 cup Wisk liquid detergent (I use Purex HE and it works good too)
1 capful liquid fabric softener

Mix it all together until it is a uniform consistency and then use it in your cleaner.
My carpet cleaner is a Hoover that the soap goes in a holder on the side, I assume if you put it in one that the soap goes in with the water you would just pour the same amount as you would the regular soap.

I'm sick, what's for dinner?

So it seems that I'm getting sick.  It's times like this that I'm thankful for my stockpile, coupons & my canned foods.  This is what's on the menu tonight:

• Bake potatoes (sorry boys I'm too tired to mash them)
• Pear sauce
• Broccoli
• Cube steak (it was round steak, but the meat dept. ran it under the tenderizer a couple of times & turn it into cube steak)

This wonderful meal cost approx. $2.54.  How? Meat deals @ Safeway 30% off, potato deal @ Fred Meyers, & free pears & broccoli.  How free pears & broccoli?  Gleaning my friends, gleaning. 

Gleaning is basically going to a farm whose produce will go bad & picking it for free.  I had never heard of such a thing until we came to Oregon.  Farmers give away their crops due to a number of different reasons; their main reason is that the processing plant is full & won't accept any more deliveries.  Why have it rot in the fields when it could be on someones dinner plate? So I always ask if I can get more so I can donate to the food bank.  Their answer is always "Yes, take as much as you can." 

Find out if your area has a gleaning association, this is a good way to get good fruits & vegetables for free.

I think there were over 30 acres of broccoli.  We had 4-5 garbage bags full to give away!

A husband friendly coupon transaction

So my wonderful husband said he'd go to the store for me since he's working in town now.  So he headed over to "The Mart Who Must Not Be Named" and did this transaction.  We're growing our stockpile of pasta, it's a staple in our house.  Use $3/1 Panko from their website & "The Mart Who Must Not Be Named" price for the Panko was $2 & they will use any overage to be applied to any items in the transaction, so he bought pasta.  The total for this transaction was .16!  He's a wonderful guy!

Here's an easy coupon transaction

Here's an easy coupon transaction, if your Safeway store doubles, you can get all 3 FREE!  If you don't eat this, this is something that you can give to your local food bank.  Right now Nissin Big Cup Noodles are .50 each. Use 11/6 SS (Smart Source) $1 off /3.

That's how you coupon, baby!

Drum roll . . .  $27 + change.  Given that each diaper box was $19.79 before coupons, I think I did wonderful.  Each box was $9 + change & the coffee creamer was free.