Back to School 2011

Another First...Day of school, that is.

Signs from HowDoesShe.com

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Wordless Wednesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom.

Raley's Grocery Shopping Deals

Another week, and another shopping trip.  I've noticed so much press about shopping with coupons, from "Extreme Couponing", which really seems a bit -ahem- extreme to me.  Some of it is a little bit like Hoarders, but with household goods and groceries.  Makes me think about "everything in moderation".  I really don't have the time or inclination to do the extended hunts, but with what I can easily get my hands on and spend a few hours a week organizing, I save a ton on what we use daily.  I've also been able to slowly add to our food storage, camping boxes, and 72-hour kits, and I'm saving aside the shelf-stable items for school lunches to be packed.  I've also bought school clothes and school supplies for next to nothing, just by watching the ads, shopping in clearance, and using coupons.  It's been a huge help and blessing, because I'm not feeling as stressed!

Here is my breakdown for Raley's this week.  You can see last week's shopping trip here.  By signing up for an account I get a weekly e-mail with the e-coupons.  Raley's also allows "stacking" store coupons with manufacturer coupons.  Yay!  They even accept their own Raley's e-coupons printed in black and white.  That way I can save my color ink, too.


E-coupon for 1.99 on Kraft Philadelphia Cooking Cream.  If I plug in zip code 10001 at Coupons.com, a coupon for 75cents off of one can be printed. I pay $1.24 for one.

E-coupon for 1.99 for 8 oz Tillamook Cheese.  I printed a $1.00 off any Tillamook Sliced Cheese by "liking" Tillamook on Facebook.  This offer is available until August 15.  I pay 99cents for one.

E-coupon for FREE Packaged Iced Cookies from the bakery when I spend $20.  I pay nothing!

E-coupon for Hormel Natural Choice Lunchmeats or Chicken Strips 6-8 oz.  1.99 each, limit 4.
(Hormel has coupons on their website for other items, but not for the lunchmeat.  You have to register to print these coupons.)

Store Sales:
Emerald Nuts, $2.99 each for 16 oz.  I'll use a coupon for Save $1.50 on 2 to make them $2.28 each for 2.

Pop Secret Popcorn 10.5 oz.  2/$4.00  paired with a coupon to save $1.00 on 2 to get them for $1.50 each.

Mezetta Peppers, Artichoke Hearts or Capers are $1.50 each, with a 50cent coupon from the August 26th All You magazine I can get a jar for $1.00.

Bartlett Pears are 59cents a pound, way under my $1.00/pound limit for fresh fruit.

Meat sale!  Buy one get on free on select meat cuts.  I'm getting Pork Spareribs for $3.49/lb, with similar size packages that comes to roughly $1.78/lb.  Under my $2.00/lb. limit for meat. (I have a $1.00/lb. limit for chicken.)

All of these are items that we regularly use, and I'm not spending more because I'm getting a great deal.  That defeats the purpose!  And then we eat junk.  I'm not opposed to junk.  Everything in moderation.

Simplifying my Scrapbook Page

While I haven't been doing a ton of scrapbooking lately, I've been trying to scrap some of last school year's photos.  That way I won't feel quite so overwhelmed when I start to print this school year's photos!  When I was looking at the pictures of the scrapbook pages, I noticed a common design thread running through these pages:  Grouping my photos into a block.  

There are a few reasons why I think that look works for me:

1. It takes the guesswork out of trying to position my pictures in just the right way.
2. I can fit a lot of pictures onto one page or a two page layout.
3. I use a lot of 4x6 uncropped pictures, and I don't like to overlap them very often.

Even though these two pages can stand on their own, they also work as a two page layout.

One more thing I used a lot on these photos and pages was a thin line of white paint to make the photos or paper stand out without cutting extra mats.  In the Pumpkin guts single page above I double matted the finished Jack-O-Lantern photo, but grouped the three related photos together with a single mat behind.

As you can see, the Halloween pictures were out that day!

I'm linking here!