The Diaper Challenge

Diapers are one of the biggest expenses you will endure when you have a baby.  There are different brands, each with different prices.  For almost all of us.....we want our baby to have the best, even if that means buying the most expensive diapers.  However, there are those of us that would rather save money buy buying the generic brands.  I'm not knocking generic/store brands at all.  In fact, I fed my son on store brand formula (if you want to know why I chose store brand formula to save a ton of money, check out my blog post about baby food).  I was 17 when I gave birth to my daughter.  So the cheapest diaper option is what I chose.  I quickly learned that this wasn't gonna happen  Between two babies, I have used Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, and store brands from Walmart, Target, and my local grocery stores.  After much trial and error, I quickly learned that while a popular choice, Pampers didn't work for either baby.  They are also the priciest out of the brands I listed.  Huggies worked very well, but being on a budget meant I couldn't afford to keep my babies in them.  I found out that Luv's worked just as well as Huggies for me, for a fraction of the cost.  But this wasn't good enough for me.  How else could I save money?  My son can't handle the generic diapers at night because he pees a lot and they leak everywhere!  I have found that by using the generic diapers during the day at home, and saving the Luv's for nighttime or when we are out, I have cut my diaper budget in half!  It's amazing what a little patience and planning can do! 

What brand of diapers do you use?

Couponing for Thanksgiving: Part 2

As you know.....my family is on a strict budget in order to keep us as stable as possible in this very unstable economy.  So my plan was to use coupons for Thanksgiving.  I gotta say....it worked better than I thought it would!  So here's how it went:

Originally I was only hosting a small group of people on Thanksgiving....but that changed rather quickly!  Now I am hosting for my husband's entire family!  EEEEK!  Along with getting enough food to feed the masses, I still had to shop for my own household (two weeks worth of shopping to be exact!).

My local store runs a special once a month: $10 off of $50 or more (this sales excludes milk and turkeys, don't know why...but it does!)  Now....since you can only get the $10 off once....I had to make two trips that day.  I stratigically bought items that would result in me getting catalina coupons good for my next trip (which would be about 20 minutes later)!  I would rather not get into details about everything I bought, but to sum it up, my first trip was $70.47 before coupons....after coupons, I only paid $19.78!  A 72% savings!

Now, for my second trip, I had to get the turkey.  I needed to get the biggest bird they had to feed everyone and have leftovers for me!  If you remember, I could not use the turkey with the $10 off deal, which only meant I had to get $50 worth of groceries plus the turkey.  My total before the turkey was $82.15 (no coupons scanned yet).  I got a 21.99 pound bird @ $1.39/lb which cost $30.57.  Now, my store was running a special....the turkey would be $.67/lb if I bought $50 worth of groceries with it!  This dropped $15.83 off of my bird!  Before coupons and before my turkey savings, my total was $96.89.  After the $15.83 turkey savings (biggest coupon EVER!) and my coupons, I only paid $35.47!  A 62% savings!

My store does not double coupons...but if they did....boy....I may have walked out of that store paying almost nothing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's For Dinner: Leftover Chicken

Wednesday night I roasted a whole chicken for dinner!  Of course there were a ton of leftovers!!!!  Thursday is bowling night for my hubby!  So dinner has to be quick!  So here is my Leftover Chicken Pot Pie Casserole:

Leftover chicken
Leftover veggies (broccoli, green beans, carrots, peas, etc...)
3 cups of rotini noodles (cooked al dente)
1 can cream of chicken soup (or any cream soup you like!)
1/3 cup of ranch dressing
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
1/4 cup of milk (I use 1%)
Croutons (I use the Texas Toast brand, they come in a bag, so use one whole bag)
1tsp. garlic powder
Pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350.  Boil noodles until they are al dente.  You don't want to cook them all the way since you will be baking this dish.  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour mixture into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle with more pepper to your liking.  Bake the casserole for 20 minutes.  The noodles should be fork tender at this point!  And viola'!  Dinner is served in less than 25 minutes!

Serves 4-6 people depending on how hungry your bunch is!!!!

About me...

Before I get too far, I find it may be necessary to tell you a little bit about me. I am a wife and stay at home mother of two. My Daughter Sophie is going to be six this month and my son Austin was born this August. My husband and I purchased out first home this June. We found a foreclosed home that was being sold for less than half it's appraised value. The general condition of the house was great, just a whole lot of cleaning. I grew up in a household that was well below the poverty line. A lot of my money savings tricks and cheap meal ideas I learned from my mother. She had to put together meals for our family of six with only a few dollars in her pocket, organize her priorities, and learn how to use sales in conjunction with coupons in order to get the most for your money. My husband and I are young, 23 and 24. So we are learning from our mistakes, and making things up as we go. This is going to be one heck of a journey, and I plan on sharing my secrets, tools, and tips.