The Grocery Game

Here is the web site you go to to find out everything I do to save money shopping. My friend Julie told me about this website, so I did not come up with these great ideas. A little disclaimer it takes a lot more time than the web site says and it can be very frustrating. In the end I always decide that its worth it though.

In a nutshell what you need is:

1.A sunday paper where you get all of the store and manufacturers coupons.

2.You clip and organize the coupons however you want (I do this every Sunday after the paper comes, it usually takes me about 45 minutes). I organize my coupons as follows: Beverages, Cereals, Desserts/Snacks, Canned Goods, Other Food, Toiletries, Drugs, Paper Goods/Cleaning, Refrigerated, Frozen, Restaurants/Dates.

3. A subscription to Teri's list which is $10.00 a month, the first month is only $1.00 trial month.

4. Pick one store where you want to shop the sales. I chose Albertsons, because they take competitors coupons as well as manufacturers and have great sales.

5. Sunday night I print out all of the items I think I need from Teri's list that show the sale items at Albertsons. I take my manufacturers coupons and my store coupons and go monday morning. The sales go sunday through tuesday, and I find that if I go first thing monday morning it is easiest.

*Another disclaimer. It takes a few months to really start seeing results, becuase you slowly build up your coupons. Like I said it does take some time and energy but I use to spend at least $200.00 a week on groceries and that was shopping at walmart! Now I spend anywhere from $40.00 to $100.00 a week on groceries.

*Another perk of doing this that may seem frustrating at first, is you really build up your food storage, because you buy canned goods/paper goods/toiletries when they are on sale so you stalk up. Teri's whole idea is that by stocking up when things are on sale you will spend less in the future. So at first when you go shopping you may be frustrated because you aren't actually going for things you need, but over time it will pay off.

You can read more about this on the website I gave you. Good luck for those who are willing to put in the effort. It took a little while for me to get in the groove of this and every month I told Jaron I was quitting, but it really has paid off and it gets easier as time goes on.

Untitled from Jessica Brown on Vimeo.

Straight from my mind to the computer. . .

Olivia is finally asleep after a rough day, and I should be napping because I woke up to go shopping at 6:30 am, but I thought, hey why nap when I could blog? :) Actually I'm due for a blog. I'm sick of looking at those green bags.

Here are a couple of photos of some fun outings we have taken in the last few weeks:

Snoqualmie falls, fully charging (photo taken right after all of the flooding happened a few weeks ago).

Woodland Park Zoo on Martin L King day

West Port Waves
Jaron came home from surfing this, and excitedly showed me this picture taken the day he surfed at Westport two fridays ago and said "Look Jess, doesn't that just look like fun?"
Totally! If you like freezing cold water and ginormously scary looking waves, it looks like great fun! (Ok, so, deep down I was seriously impressed with him).
Look for the little black hooded figure out in the waves to get some perspective of the size of the waves.

And now for something really random:
(I told you this post is coming straight from my brain)

I'm happy because:

1. Today I hit a record with my bargain grocery shopping, spending a measly $36.85 for a whole week worth of groceries plus some food storage and toiletries, and saving a whopping $82.64!
I will explain in a later post how I do it for those who are interested in some serious bargain grocery shopping.

2. Last night, while I rested, Jaron voluntarily folded and put away the hugest pile of laundry you have ever seen, which I had been dreading and putting off for oh. . .four days. Why am I so lucky to have such a sweet husband? Everytime I walk around the corner and see that empty basket I just get giddy inside. Thanks again Jaron! Your the best!

3. This weekend Jaron and I went to work to put together the new nursery. By new I mean color and decorative switch to accomodate a boy and a girl.
Thanks to the help of a good friend, I found baby boy bedding and decor for 20 bucks on craigslist, and found this darling bedding on sale at Ikea for Liv:

The sheets were $1.99!
I love Ikea!
And here is a small little sneak peak at the new nursery/toddler room:



More pictures to come!

Going Green

Ok, so I'm no die hard tree hugger, but I do like to help out as much as I can with keeping this beautiful earth clean. Today I bought some re-usable grocery bags at Winco. Totally worth the 88 cents! Not only will I be saving the environment from thousands of un-recyclable grocery bags, but honestly these little gems are way easier to load and carry things home in. Another benefit is that I get six sence back for each bag I use at the grocery store, so they will pay themselfs off after 14 visits to the grocery store. Then, from then on I will make six cents a bag each time I use them from there on out. Saving the environment, and making money. . .worth it! :)

New Years Resolutions

I am hereby announcing my new years resolutions. Ok so maybe just one new years resolution and that is TO EAT CHOCOLATE EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS YEAR!!! :) Mmmmm. . . I've already done it everyday so far, so I'de say I'm doing great with my goal! Ya see the key to success with goals is to make ones that you actually want to keep. :) Now didn't I have a little pile of chocolate chips somewhere that I was munching on. . .

THE TERRIBLE TWO's ARE UPON US

"Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!"

Here are some of the things Olivia has taken up of late:

-Screaming for no reason at all
-Fighting everything, everyday, all day, from something as simple as getting a diaper change to putting on shoes.
-Hitting
-Spitting
-Drawing on furniture
-Not going to bed
-Staying up at night
-Throwing her food (we've reverted back to 6 month old behavior)
- Wanting one more book, one more song, for hours on end
- Did i mention staying up at night?

I still love you little one, but Please Please Please get this out of your system before February 26th!

I'm so tired. . . I think I'll go to bed now, oh wait I can't because Olivia has learned how to turn the light on in her room, and is still in there crying for her blanket which is right next to her arm. I've already been in four times to turn off the light. I tried taping it, but she kindly removed my tape job.

Night Night. Sweet Dreams. If you get to have any.

This One's For You Kel!

Recent Hair Choppage

Now its your turn to post some pictures!

Tortilla Soup

So, I'm always on the look out for new recipes. I swear for the first three years of our marriage our diet revolved around 8 or 9 basic meals that I cooked over and over and over and over. Only in the last year and a half (since i have had more time at home) have I tried to expand my cooking horizon a little. I know this is not a food blog, and I don't intend it to be, but I wanted to post this on my blog because this is an easy, cheep, delicious recipe that literally takes 10 minutes of preparation time and I wanted to share it with all of you who are also sick of your own usual recipes.

I found this recipe on the Sister's Cafe blog and thought I would try it. It didn't turn out very good, and I was seriously bummed because the recipe made a lot of soup, and I was really looking forward to an easy left overs night. Well the next day I threw in a bunch of ingredients and messed around a bit and it turned out great! In fact, it was pretty darn close to the most delicious tortilla soup Jaron and I have ever had in our lives, down in Sayulita Mexico. So, here is my improved Tortilla Soup recipe (still only takes 10 minutes prep time). And the best part is: Olivia can eat it too! Yay!!

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup I used a big pot on the stove and just cooked on low)

4 chicken breast halves
2 15-oz cans black beans, drained
2 15-oz cans Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 cup MEDIUM salsa (not mild)
1 4-oz can chopped green chilies
1 14 ½-oz can tomato sauce
Tortilla chips, not optional :)
1 can chicken broth
1 cup rice milk
a handful of fresh, cilantro (chopped)
1 can rotelle
1 can corn
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I prefer sharp)
tortillas
Avacado
Combine all ingredients except chips, cheese, and cilantro in large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8 hours. Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice or shred into bite-sized pieces. Stir into soup. To serve, put a handful of chips, a little cilantro, cheese, and sliced avacado in each individual soup bowl. Ladle soup over chips. Top with a dallop of sour cream.

Enjoy!!

Snap Shots

Getting ready for a Sunday afternoon nap in her new bed:

Jumping on the bed in Mom's hat and feeling pretty hot: