Monday, August 31, 2009


It's a little late (seeing as we already ate our Monday night meal, lol) & not too exciting, but I wanted to go ahead and get a MPM post up this week, since I am determined to be back on track this week :D

Monday- Grilled chicken teriyaki

Tuesday- Bringing a freezer meal to my sister's place (remember, she just had a baby!) - We'll eat it together

Wednesday- My old stand-by, Springtime Pasta (here is the link to an old MPM where I list this, the easiest recipe ever)

Thursday- Pork Chops with apple stuffing (I can't find this online to link up, it's in the Pillsbury Pot Pies & Casseroles book that is in stores now)

Friday- Beef enchilada stack (also in the Pillsbury book; if these recipes are worthwhile I'll take pics and blog about them)

Saturday- Out!

Sunday- Burgers/dogs on the grill

Check out the other menu plans over at Menu Plan Monday!

I love TGIFriday's Buy one meal get one free coupons! Here's another one, this one is good through September 7th. Click here to print it

Friday, August 28, 2009


Congratulations to the winner of the Ecostore USA gift certificate giveaway- kngmckellar! You have an email waiting from me to confirm. If you didn't receive this, please contact me.

For all the rest of us, don't forget to take advantage of Ecostore's awesome back-to-school promo where they will match your order item for item when you buy $50 worth of products (& you get free shipping!) Click here for the details!


Just a final reminder (& if you follow me on Twitter you've heard this 1,000x by now ;o) *tomorrow* is my Couponizer Brunch seminar at The Tortilla Press in Collingswood, NJ!

If you were planning on attending, but have not registered yet, please do so now by clicking here & using the Paypal button. There's still room for a couple of more, but I would need to know TODAY! (Well, duh, it is tomorrow, lol)

And for those of you coming tomorrow, I can't wait to see you! It is going to be a great time with some delicious food!

Thursday, August 20, 2009


A few months back Udder Covers, makers of a nursing cover-up, ran a special where they were giving away free pink or blue nursing covers if you paid $7.95 for shipping. I ordered a blue one as a gift and it came without incident. I didn't note the quality of it--because I had never purchased a nursing cover before--it seemed fine to me.

Well the Udder Covers deal is back, and I was getting ready to post it here with no reservations, until I discovered that there had been a bit of controversy about this deal in the past. (Check out this post (and comments) on Baby Cheapskate here)

The shipping price is now $8.95. If you are interested in a pink one for $8.95 (or waiting for a different pattern on backorder), here's the details below. Just thought I'd throw it out there, since this deal had worked for me in the past and I thought it was worth it!

Here is the email I received with instructions for ordering:

Hi friend,

I wanted to say thank you for ordering a nursing cover and let you know that we are now running a limited time promotion for 100% off ALL our covers (patterned and non-patterned)! You can get ANY of our covers for free ~ you just pay the S&H! We know that you support breastfeeding -so if you're not currently nursing, they make great baby shower and Holiday gifts. The promo code is "backorder1".


Go to www.uddercovers.com , click on "Shop Now" where it will then display all the nursing covers we offer as well as other products and sets. Select the product you would like and you will automatically be directed to the center of the page where you can enter in the promo code! This backorder promotion will give you a $32.00 discount off your total order no matter what you put in your cart! This promotion code is valid once per transaction so order as many times as you would like. Let all your friends know too!

Again, thank you! We could not have offered this discount without your past support!


Sincerely,
Jenny Pierce

Owner


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It was like I got paid $14.62 to take home the groceries you see in the picture!


I mentioned in an earlier deals post, a $25 in free groceries promotion that Kraft is running. Click here to go to their site and get all of the details including a printable shopping list of the participating products.

Even with NO coupons, you are still getting $25 in free groceries. With coupons, this deal is a moneymaker! Here's how it works: you spend $25 in participating products (*before* coupons). At checkout, after you pay, you will get a $5 catalina coupon for your next purchase. Also, a rebate form will print to get the $20 back in a rebate. The rebate is limit one per household.

Mindi at Moms Need To Know has a list of all the coupon matchups for participating products. Check out her list here.

This is what I did:
Bought 7 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups @ $1 each. Used a b1g1f coupon & a 2 free cups coupon I had from Kraft FirstTaste. Used the b1g1f coupon from last week's paper & a $0.55 off 1 coupon (that doubled to $1.10) I received from some other mailer. After the coupons I paid $1.90 & got credit for $7.
Bought 1 Capri Sun juice pack box for $2. Used a $0.75 off (that doubled to $1.50) that I received in a coupon mailer. After coupon I paid $0.50 & got credit for $2.
Bought 3 packages of Kraft 2% milk shredded cheese @ $1.66 each. Used 3 $0.50 off coupons that were in a tearpad at the store a few weeks ago (that doubled to $1 each). After coupons I paid $1.98 & got credit for $5.
Bought 1 DiGiorno Flatbread @ $2.50 and used a $1 off coupon from a recent mailer. Paid $1.50, got credit for $2.50.
Bought 1 CPK frozen pizza @ $5.50 and used a $1 off coupon from this week's paper. Paid $4.50, got credit for $5.50.
Finally, I bought 1 bottle of A1 @ $3 and used the $2 off coupon from this week's paper. Paid $1, got credit for $3.

Total credit towards promo: $25. Total amount spent after coupons: $11.38.
Received $5 Catalina for this promo and also a $1 Catalina for purchasing 2 cups of Velveeta shells. After I receive the $20 rebate it will be a $14.62 money-maker!

I know that I had a bunch of unique coupons, but even if you do this without ANY coupons, you are still nabbing free groceries! Be sure to hurry as the last day for this deal is 8/23!

Monday, August 17, 2009


Confession: I didn't do so hot on my menu plan last week. With the birth of my nephew, having an open house and the other activities of the week, I didn't cook as much as I had hoped I would. On a high note, the Chicken with White Wine & Artichokes was a really good recipe and I'll definitely have to make that again soon!

Monday- The hamburgers & hot dogs we were supposed to have yesterday ;o)

Tuesday- The Red Beans & Rice recipe from last week (still have the hankering & the ingredients)--gotta warn you, the link is from Dinner Tool and makes my computer run really slow for some reason.

Wednesday- Overnight Salmon Bake to use up a can of salmon. Note: You can use a can of condensed mushroom soup instead of white sauce--definitely what I will be doing.

Thursday- Grilled bbq chicken

Friday- Broiled tilapia with capers and breadcrumbs

Saturday & Sunday are both out! Spending time at the beach with family. =)

Need some recipes/menu ideas? Check out the other menu plans at Menu Plan Monday!



Recently, I was contacted by Ecostore USA to review some products and host a giveaway for my readers. You may or may not know that I'm not so fond of doing reviews--it just seems like too much homework for me and I'm not a fan of accumulating *stuff* at this point in my life--but I could NOT pass this one by.

Ecostore USA makes Cleaning, Baby & Personal Care products that don't contain any dangerous chemicals (in fact, their slogan is "No Nasty Chemicals"). I was interested in trying out the cleaning products because I've been cleaning the house constantly getting it ready for showings, etc. and I have been trying to use safer/greener products since Rayna was born.

Ecostore USA sent me the Citrus Spray Cleaner and the Toilet Cleaner. (Click the links to read the ingredients of each one). I've used them a bunch of times by now and I really loved them both. The toilet cleaner worked great and was the perfect consistency where it clung to the bowl and slowly dripped down, but wasn't watery. The spray cleaner covered a really wide area with each spray so you use less. As a matter of fact, Ecostore "super-concentrates" all of their products so you save money by using less. Both products I tried had a natural citrus-ey smell to them--kind of smells like powdered lemonade.

I have definitely become a repeat customer after using the toilet cleaner especially. I have tried tons of eco-varieties of toilet bowl cleaner and none of them cling to the rim as well as Ecostore's. The next product I can't wait to try? Their Auto Dishwash Powder. I hate regular brand dishwasher soaps because they almost all contain bleach--even Palmolive "ECO" is almost straight up bleach--and I manage to ruin my clothes constantly...d'oh!

Are you interested in going green? Ecostore USA is running an awesome back-to-school promo for orders right now where they will *match* your $50 order product for product!! Just enter code 2for1 at checkout! And one lucky QMB reader will WIN a $25 gift certificate to Ecostore USA to use on whatever products you'd like!

Here's how to enter:
First, read more about Ecostore USA here and check out their full line of products including cleaning products, baby care, & bath and body products. Then come back here and leave a comment telling me what product you'd love to try.

Tons of opportunities for extra entries! Just be sure to leave a *separate* comment for each additional entry!
-Become a "loyal subject" and follow my blog
-Subscribe to my blog by email or feedreader
-Add my button to your site (leave your link!)
-Blog/Talk about this giveaway on another site (leave your link!)
-Subscribe to Ecostore USA's blog (click here)
-Tweet about this giveaway by posting: Check out & enter the @ecostoreusa giveaway on @queenmotherblog http://bit.ly/ecogiv - I can't wait to go green!

US entries only. This giveaway will end on 8/25 at 8PM EST - good luck!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

It has been ages & ages since I put up a Works for me Wednesday post. Seriously, at least 6 months if not longer. In that time WFMW moved itself on over to a different blog, but still has all the awesome tips you know and love. I still read a lot of them and every week I think "what could I put for WFMW this week?" and apparently nothing works for me anymore and time slips on.

This was one of my first ever WFMW topics, but I just had to mention it again because it is blowing up and working for me like crazy in the last couple of weeks: Paperback Swap!

You join Paperback Swap and list ten books that you don't mind getting rid of. Just for listing your books, they will give you two credits, so you can choose any two books in the system that you want. The person who has the book you want, ships it to you, it costs you a credit. When someone requests one of your books, you ship it to them, you earn a credit. So yes, there is postage involved, but everything else is free.

Since I've joined, I still pretty much never buy books. I've gotten cookbooks, biographies, best-sellers, etc. It is not just for paperbacks, either, I like to request hardcovers whenever I can.

I also signed up for their sister sites, Swap-a-dvd & Swap-a-cd, because you can transfer the credits between them. I have since gotten rid of a bunch of dvds that were collecting dust, and transferred those credits to PBS to get more books. The reason why it has been "blowing up" for me the last couple of weeks is tons of books that I had been wishing for were suddenly coming up ready for me to request. Today I just got Love is a Mix Tape, which I've been wanting to read for a while, and The Biggest Loser cookbook (which I so need) is on its way to me now.

Another way to earn credits is to refer friends. So if you want to check out Paperback Swap, here is a button. And if you would like to put me as your referrer, my user id is rms33--& I know it will work for you too! :D

PaperBackSwap.com - Book Club to Swap, Trade & Exchange Books for Free.


Be sure to check out all the other WFMW posts @ We Are THAT Family!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I was just contacted to participate in a wonderful event being held by ShopRite's Partners in Caring program called "Blog it Forward to Fight Hunger". ShopRite's Partners in Caring program was created by ShopRite back in 1999 to help fight hunger in our local communities--not just during the holidays, but year-round. Since its inception, ShopRite Partners in Caring has donated over $20 million towards the fight against hunger!

Now ShopRite Partners in Caring has teamed up with General Mills to create the "Blog it Forward to Fight Hunger" initiative to spread the word about this program and encourage community participation. As an incentive for bloggers to spread the word, General Mills and ShopRite will donate one box of cereal to an area food bank for the first 30 people who comment on my post!

All I'm asking for is 30 comments, and ShopRite & General Mills will donate 30 boxes of cereal because of my efforts! It can't get much easier than just leaving a comment here on this post! :)

My church has a local food pantry & I've been able to see first-hand just how food distributions benefit the hungry in our area. ShopRite Partners In Caring program supports 23 regional food banks and more than 1,400 charitable agencies. One easy way that you can support this program is to purchase products in the store with the ShopRite Partners In Caring shelf tag. That way, each time you are shopping for your own family, you are helping to feed other hungry families in our community.

To learn more about ShopRite Partners in Caring you can click here. Don't forget to leave a comment--your comment = 1 box of cereal!

Monday, August 10, 2009


This is a really simple one this week, because I have a bunch of different things going on, #1 being a nephew being born!!

Monday- Italian Chicken & Orzo (except this time I used canned mushrooms and added half an onion)

Tuesday- Slow cooker Red Beans & Rice (believe it or not, I've been having a hankering for this for a while now)

Wednesday- Spaghetti

Thursday- Going out with a friend, so hubby is eating leftovers :D


Saturday- Out!

Sunday- Hamburgers & hot dogs on the grill

Need ideas? Check out the other menu plans on Menu Plan Monday

Sunday, August 9, 2009

First, if you are new to working deals at Acme, please read the background info on this post. This will explain how the coupons double & how to print two copies of the printable coupons.


The deals are really less than stellar this week. There is a $10 rebate for Kellogg & Keebler products advertised on the front page of the circular, but this is the same "Cool for school" one that was in last week's newspaper insert (the one I did in my really killer deal) so if you've already done that, you can't do it again.

Printable coupon deals:

Healthy Choice frozen meals are $3 this week. There is a $1 off 2 printable available here making these $2.50 each.

Del Monte fruit naturals are $1 each this week (they are the ones in the produce section). There is a $1 off 3 printable here, making them $0.66 each.

Skinny Water is on sale for $1. There is a $0.50 off coupon here (click to page 2). After doubling, this would be free!

Newspaper coupon deals:

Del Monte fruit naturals are $1 each this week (they are the ones in the produce section). There is a $1 off 2 coupon from a recent insert, making them $0.50 each when you buy 2.

Glaceau Smart Water is $1 this week. There is a $1 off 2 coupon from a recent insert, making them $0.50 each when you buy 2.

Ball Park franks are buy one get one free. There is a $1 off 2 coupon from a recent insert that you can use, or there were $1 off peelies on the Angus beef varieties, which you could use 2 if you have them.

Lysol bathroom cleaner is buy one get one free. There is a $0.40 off coupon in today's paper that will double to $0.80 off. If you have more than one insert you could use two.

Other good deals:

Acme Split Chicken breasts are $1 lb. when you buy 3 lbs. or more.

Edy's ice cream is on sale for $2.88 and is part of a Catalina deal where you buy any 4 select ice cream products and you get a $4 Catalina coupon for your next shopping order. See pg 6 of the circular for all of the participating ice cream varieties.

The last page of the circular has a $5 coupon to use off of your meat dept. purchase when you purchase $20 in the participating products. They range from Aquafina water, Quaker cereals, Doritos, Tostitos, etc. Be sure to clip the coupon on the last page if you are going to do this deal.

See anything I missed, or have a question? Put it in the comments :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

All these groceries for $0.67 - TOTAL


It has been a while since I posted a picture of a shopping trip, but I just had to with this one. If you didn't see my post earlier of this week's Acme deals where I mention, in detail, the Catalina deal to get a bunch of food for under $3, then click here (the scenario that I actually did here came to $2.32 for me after factoring in the $15 catalina.) Today I did that deal and another sweet one as well. In Sunday's paper was a back-to-school rebate offer from Kellogg's. I was able to nab the 10 items required to get the $10 rebate for only $8.35! So on that deal it was like I'm getting paid $1.65 to pick up a bunch of groceries.

Here's the breakdown of what I did for the Kellogg rebate deal:
  • 5 boxes of Pop-Tarts - on sale this week 5 for $5 (must buy 5!). Used the $1 off any 2 coupon from Sunday's insert and the $1 off any 2 Choc. Banana Split or Blueberry Muffin flavor. I purchased two of the Choc. Banana Split and all the rest Strawberry, cause that's my favorite :) Total amount spent after coupons: $3
  • 2 boxes of Raisin Bran - on sale this week with other Kellogg's items for $1.67 if you buy 5. That works out perfectly because I need 10 items for the rebate & I had to buy 5 boxes of Pop-Tarts for the $5 price. So I used the $1 off any 2 Raisin Bran coupon from Sunday's insert.
  • 2 boxes of Pops - hubby's favorite cereal & part of the $1.67 promo. Used the $1 off any 2 selected cereals coupon from Sunday's insert.
  • 1 box of new Cinnabon bars - part of the $1.67 promo and there is a $1 off any box coupon on Coupons.com Total amount spent after coupons: $5.35
Grand total: $8.35 <- Submit $10 rebate will make it -$1.65 for all those breakfast items-- a moneymaker!

If you wanted to swing this deal yourself, then act fast, the last day for this sale is tomorrow.

Monday, August 3, 2009

First, if you are new to working deals at Acme, please read the background info on this post. This will explain how the coupons double & how to print two copies of the printable coupons.

Wow! I actually have an Acme post this week :D And can you believe that I'm actually not complaining about the deals this week? It seems like there's going to be some great sales on the horizon for back to school, which makes me very happy!

First, I caught on Moms Need to Know this post about a really great deal that Kraft is doing in conjunction with Acme (pretty much $25 of free groceries!), so check the list of participating items here and try to hold off on buying those until this deal starts on Friday.

Ok--here's the best deal scenario of them all, and the best thing is that you can do this really well with just printable coupons. So send this post to your non-coupon-clipping friends and they can do it too!

There's a Catalina promo for Unilever and General Mills products where you buy $30 of participating products and you will get a $15 Catalina (register) coupon for your next shopping order. Take note that you can only earn one of these $15 Catalinas per transaction, so if you are interested in doing this deal more than once you will need to do more than one transaction. Also, the best part about these deals is that the $30 you need to spend is before coupons, so you will really spend much less and still get the $15 coupon! :)

Check the pullout page for the complete list of participating products, but tons of these items have both circular coupons and printable coupons available on Coupons.com and Smartsource.com right now. Here is one example scenario for you with coupons all currently available on Coupons.com:

  • Buy one bag of regular Chex mix and one bag of chocolate Chex mix at $1.66 each. Use one of each $0.50 off printable - there is one for regular and one for chocolate ($0.50 off will double to $1 off). Total credit toward $30 = $3.32 - Total price after coupons = $1.32
  • Buy three boxes of Hamburger, Tuna or Asian helper at $1.50 each. Use one of the $0.75 off 3 boxes printable (coupon will double to $1.50 off). Total credit toward $30 = $4.50 - Total price after coupons = $3
  • Buy one Macaroni Grill dinner kit. Use the $1.10 off one printable. Total credit = $3.99 - Total price after coupon = $2.89
  • Buy two Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters. Use the $1 off coupon. Total credit = $2.50 - Total price after coupon = $1.50
  • Buy two boxes of Kix cereal and print two of the $0.75 off one coupons ($0.75 coupon will double to $1.50 off). Total credit = $4 - Total price after coupons = $1
  • Buy two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and print two of the $0.55 off one coupons (will double to $1.10 each). Total credit = $4 - Total price after coupons = $1.80
  • Buy two boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks and print two of the $0.40 off coupons (will double to $0.80 each). Total credit = $4 - Total price after coupons = $2.40
  • Buy two boxes of Betty Crocker shaped fruit snacks and print the $0.50 off two coupon (will double to $1 off). Total credit = $4 - Total price after coupon = $3
  • Buy one BC cake mix at $1 and one can of BC frosting at $1.50. There is a coupon that requires you to buy both and take $0.50 off (will double to $1 off). Total credit = $2.50 - Total price after coupon = $1.50
  • Buy one box of Fiber One snack bars at $2.50 and print the $0.40 off one coupon (will double to $0.80 off). Total credit = $2.50 - Total price after coupon = $1.70

In my scenario here, you will have met the $30 purchase quota ($31.31) and the final price you really pay after coupons is $17.41. Then at the end of the transaction, the $15 Catalina coupon will print out, pretty much making it $2.41 for all of those groceries! Of course you can modify this deal based on what you need or use and the final total may vary a little bit. But especially if you do this deal before your weekly shopping (if you have that kind of time, lol) you can head right back into the store and use the $15 coupon for the rest of your groceries and really lower how much you spend out of pocket on one day.

The other deals for the week:

There is another Catalina deal where you purchase $20 in Proctor & Gamble products get a $5 Catalina coupon for your next purchase. Check the circular for all of the participating products (Charmin, Bounty, Puffs, etc.), but there are coupons available in the P&G Brandsaver insert from Sunday's paper.

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts 8 ct. are on sale 5 for $5 (must buy five!). There was a Kellogg coupon insert in Sunday's paper that had two coupons to use here, one for $1 on any 2 Pop-Tarts and a $1 on any 2 Blueberry muffin or Chocolate banana split. Use them both and get 5 boxes of Pop-Tarts for $3. That's only $0.60 each!

Eggo Waffles 10 ct. are buy one get one free at around $3.59 each. There is a $1 off 2 coupon in the Kellogg insert making two boxes $1.30 each.

Finally, there's a bunch of buy one get one free deals throughout the circular and on the back page. These include Tyson Chicken strips, Herr's Tortilla chips, Oscar Meyer bacon, Hatfield deli ham, and more.

Find any awesome deals or have a question? Leave it in the comments!