Shop 'till you drop

Well school has started here and the back to school shopping has begun. Retailer after retailer is fighting for our hard earned dollars. With some careful planning, getting our kids never ending school supplies purchased doesn’t have to burn a hole in our wallets.


For the past few weeks waiting for the newspaper boy to deliver the Sunday paper has had me just as excited as Christmas morning. (Unfortunately, that is the first sign of coupon addiction.) What deals would be nestled in the center of that paper. This Sunday was like hitting the jackpot! OfficeMax was the winner of my buck this week. I spent $1.04 and brought home: 12 packages of filler notebook paper, 13 one subject spiral notebooks, and 2 packages of pencils. Pretty good deal if I say so myself. Last week they paid me to buy pocket folders and highlighters. I left the store with an extra $2.00 in my pocket and my merchandise. How did I do this you say? Well OfficeMax has a max perks program. With this program if you return your empty toner cartridges to them, they will give you $3.00 per cartridge on your max perks card. All you have to do is print your coupon and you have max perks money! Well, folders were on sale for 5 cents and highlighters for a dime. I gave them my maxperks coupon, and they gave me cash change in return. It felt pretty rewarding I must say.

Another deal to keep in mind is Wal-Mart will price match the competitors pricing. So you don’t have to waste your gas going to several stores. Just bring in the competitors sale ad then let the clerk know you will be price matching. This saved me a ton of cash and time shopping for this school season.

Now I will have to wait anxiously for next Sunday’s entertainment. Happy school shopping

Canning or Preserving

I have been really busy this past week canning green beans and peaches. I am blessed to have a wonderful producing garden. Anyone with a little bit of room can save themselves quite a bit of money putting in a small garden. This year we have 4 tomato plants, potato plants, 2 20 foot rows of green beans, 1 row of beets, 1 summer squash plant, 1 zuchinni plant, 5 cucumber plants, 1 row of red onions, and 1 row of snow peas. I believe that is it. Whew, sounds like a lot anyway. Our garden is about 12x24. We also have our jalapeno peppers in pots on our patio. They do wonderful there. Planting from seed really gives you the best bang for your buck! I have spent on this years garden about $20. But we have harvested and canned about 75.00 worth of vegetables.

Canning and preserving should be a number one skill on your list. It is very simple, and with the canning bible "Ball Blue Book" it is very easy. This book has several how to's and great recipes. Any person can put in a small garden. If you have limited space plant veggies in your flower beds, or in containers. But watch out, it is very addicting! Also, only plant what you know what your family will eat. I know this sounds like a no brainer, but as you are standing in front of the seed display at your favorite store, there will be things that you will want to try. I try to limit the new stuff to 1 variety per year. It is very easy to get wrapped up. But by planting things you know what your family likes, the waste is nil.

If you cant garden, visit your local farmers market. You can buy fresh produce at a better price than the grocery. Also if you go just about closing time, the deals are abundant.

I hope you find this tidbit useful and feel free to email me at athriftythought@gmail.com for any questions.


Amanda