How to get a free bottle of barbecue sauce and what to do with it once you do.

Hehe....I love this coupon game.  Especially when it works out that I can get something for free.  Pretty amazing. Anyway, if you like barbecue sauce, go here and get the 75 cent off KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.  If you then take the coupon to Lowes Foods, they just happen to have the little bottles of KC Masterpiece on sale from $1.99 to $1.50 this week.  They also double any coupon up to 99 cents, so when the 75 cent coupon is doubled,  TA DA.....your barbecue sauce is free.

Here is a quick and simple, but tasty idea of what to do with it - BBQ Chicken Salad.

You will need for sure:

1 chicken breast per 2-3 people

onion

lettuce or salad greens

tomato

cheese  (I prefer cheddar)

bbq sauce

ranch dressing (Hidden Valley is the best!!)

Other options:

shredded carrots

sliced cucumber

bacon bits

croutons

any other salad item that you like

Cut the chicken into cubes and saute in a little bit of olive oil.  Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.  When almost cooked, add sliced onion to the pan with the chicken and cook until the onion has carmelized.  Add barbecue sauce to the point of sauciness that you like and heat through.   Using the lettuce, tomato, cheese and whatever other salad fixings you like, make a salad.  Hold the ranch until later though.  To the top of the salad, add the bbq chicken mixture and then add the ranch.  Tastes just like a BBQ chicken sandwich without the bread. I bet you will have it more than once!! :o)

If you do try it out, let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas of how to improve it.  Thanks. 

Food Lion Drama

Act One:

 Lorena, being ever so frugal, is at home checking out the weekly specials at the different grocery stores. She compares the specials to the coupons that she has to see if any of them match.  She knows this is the way to get the best deals.  Discovering that Food Lion will have the Michelina and Lean Gourmet on sale over the weekend for 77 cents each and knowing that she has four 'one dollar off every five' that you buy coupons (two for Michelina and two for Lean Gourmet), she decides this would be a great deal since it would make them only 57 cents a piece.

Act Two:

   One the way home from the zoo on Friday, Lorena stops at Food Lion. She runs in quickly to get a few of the things that she knows are on sale and that she has coupons to match.  She is excited about the 12 pack Cottonelle that she got on sale for $4.99 and also the 75 cents off coupon making them only $4.24 a piece.  Add to this diapers and a few other things. But she is mostly excited about the Michelina and Lean Gourmet that she buys.  20 to be exact, because she knows that they are on sale for 77 cents a piece.  After purchasing her items and returning to the car, she is reviewing her receipt on the way home (don't worry, husband is driving) and realizes that the Michelinas rang up for 77 cents, but the Lean Gourmets rang up at $1.69. Frustrated at missing this while they were being rung up and then second guessing whether or not they were really on sale, she quickly runs to the computer on her arrival home to check.  Yes, the online ad says that Michelina and Lean Gourmet are both on sale.  She prints out the ad and tucks it, along with the receipt, in a safe place for her next return visit to the store.

Act Three:

    Early Monday afternoon Lorena heads back to Food Lion for a few things, both kids in tow.  She heads into the store and patiently waits for someone to show up at the Customer Service Desk.  When the lady arrives, Lorena nicely explains to her that what she paid for the Lean Gourmet did not match what was advertised in the online ad.  The lady goes and confers with a couple of other coworkers.  They discuss the issue and the lady returns with the store ad showing that only the Michelina were on sale not the Lean Gourmet.  Lorena shows her again where the online ad shows as you scroll the mouse over the Michelina that both Michelina and Budget Gourmet are on sale. The lady points to the bottom of the page on the store ad where it says they are not responsible for typographical errors.  Therefore there is nothing that they can do. It is an error from the corporate office and they are not responsible for it at the store level. She calls over both of the other coworkers who try to explain the same thing to Lorena and they tell her that the only thing that she can do is go home and bring back the Lean Gourmet and they would be happy to exchange for the Michelina at the 77 cent price.  Lorena is not very happy since she would have to spend quite a bit in gas to go home, get the meals and bring them back, not to mention that it is not an easy task to get two little ones in and out of the car a multiple amount of times.  Lorena gets very frustrated at this point, and as they are saying "I am very sorry" to her (which she doesn't exactly believe), she departs the store without making any purchases and considering never returning there again.  She proceeds to Walmart where she purchases the items she needs.

Act Four:

    Lorena comes home and writes a nice email to the corporate office explaining the whole situation.  At the present time, she is anxiously awaiting the reply to see how the story will end.

What I am up to these days...

 Well, some of you know and some of you don't (so I will share) that I am working hard this nest year to try to become more disciplined in my life.  I know some of you are shocked to hear me saying this because you think I am disciplined already, at which I just laugh.  In all honesty, I put on a good front. Anyway, my goals are to be more consistent in my quiet time, spend more QUALITY time with my kids and husband, keep up with things around the house better, and bemore disciplined in my spending.

    I have been trying to do "school" with Josiah three days a week. We have been doing a lot of coloring, painting and gluing and it has been a lot of fun.  One day soon I will have to post a picture of the wall of stuff he has done.  It is rather cute. And yes, I have to help him out a lot, but give him a break. He is only 2! :o)

    I have given myself a spending budget, not because I have to have one, but because I wanted one. I only have an allotted amount of money for the week to go spend on food or whatever else.  If I am under, I get to put what is left over in the "bank" for whatever I want to save it for.  If I am over, I have to pull money out of my "bank" to make up for the difference.  It makes me think twice about that large sugar-free vanilla iced coffee that I have to have from McDonalds.  (Okay, so I don't think twice about the coffee, but maybe the double cheeseburger?!?) :o)

     Another thing I have done is to start using coupons again when I can. I used to use them all the time when I was single and living on a Christian school teacher budget.  There is really no reason that I shouldn't still do it now, even though I have a husband who is supporting me and I am not on the limited budget that I once was.  I want to be responsible with the resources God has given to us, so I want to try to cut expenses where I can.

    All this said to say that after lunch at McDonalds today, I went with the kids on a trip to Walmart.  Here is my purchase:

 The entire purchase before tax is worth 24.44.  I paid 15.56, including tax.  Without tax, 14.69.  When you take out the eyeliner that I didn't have a coupon for (and it comes out of my personal budget), everything was 11.91.

Here is the breakdown:

Toaster Strudel - 1.88         $1 off coupon         Price paid:  $0.88

Deli Creations - 2.50 $1 off         $1.50

Juicy Juice - 2.57 $1 off        $1.57

Kotex pantiliners  - 1.00 $1 off FREE

Granola bars - 2.58 $1 off $1.58

Wet ones - 0.97 $0.75 off $0.22

Baby soap - 0.97 $1 off -$.03

Diaper rash cream - 2.24 $1 off $1.24

Now I know this is not as incredible feat as some others have achieved (i.e. Pam & Sherri), but I felt pretty good about it.  I find couponing to be somewhat of a game.

Just a note on the Juicy Juice - the 64 oz bottles were priced $2.57 and the 46 oz were priced $2.67.  Go figure.

Well, since spending my time blogging on the internet when I have other things to do is not being disciplined, I had better run.  I will return when I am caught up.....