In 2007 the tweaking meant I built new storage shelves in the storage room (see photo). In 2009 it meant buying the new Bosch mixer so I can make delicious bread more regularly and quickly. And now 2010 is turning out to be a paradigm-shifting year for the Weibel-food-way!
Yes, I still drove down to Chicago and picked up 300 lbs of wheat, 150 lbs of rolled oats and 50 lbs of dry milk powder, brought it home and packaged it in buckets and mylar bags and labeled everything beautifully with precise organization (see photo). But let me just TELL you about the biggest change in my frugal-living-bake-from-scratch-shopping methodology: COUPONS!
I saw my friend Jen sitting on the lawn last fall, flipping through a 3-ring binder and pulling papers out of the plastic sheet-covers. She let me know she was doing her hobby--- clippin' coupons. I thought she must be a little crazy, because it seemed like a lot of work and hassle and I was sure the payoff must be average (besides, coupons are a gimmick to get you to buy high priced stuff you didn't really need, right?) Nevertheless, I kept thinking about it and checked out her favorite website: www.thegrocerygame.com The video there does a fine job explaining how couponing can really save you money (That is, wait until an item goes on sale, AND use a coupon, AND use it at a store that will double it. The end result is really cheap food!)
I decided to give this thing a try, and was tipped off to MY favorite site: www.pocketyourdollars.com which gives me a list of the items on sale at my store (Copps), and tells me where I can find the coupons I need to match up. I do get one copy of the Sunday paper (many couponistas get multiples), but I've found that most of the coupons I use are the ones I can print off the internet (you can print a coupon twice). When I do need a coupon that was in the newspaper in some previous week, the website tells me which week to look in (I have my own 3-ring binder, and each week's coupons go into one plastic sleeve, so I don't even have to clip them unless I need them.) Oh thank heavens for the ladies who did all the research and make it so easy for me to save a buck!
When I began doing shopping runs, I thought that it would be rare to get items for free, but it turns out that each week there are 3-4 items that I end up gettting totally free, and since I have multiple copies of each coupon (I own a couple computers), I get several of the free items. Wahoo! Each order has to be $25 before you can get 5 doubled coupons, so I fill up the rest of the order with sale items and more coupons.
Each week that I "play the game" I get a little better and a little faster and a little more organized. I think that after 4 weeks I'm doing super well. Last week my receipts said the value of my orders was $250, but I paid $50. What a rush! The best part is that my kids are enjoying the yogurt and Bagel Bites and canned soups, etc. AND the store has a rewards program so I've been saving $0.50/gallon on gas, too. Wowzer. I'm definitely in stage one of coupon-zealousy.
After Clementine was born, I took a bit of a break from having 100% home-cooked meals. I let the boys get hot lunch A LOT (at $2.25/day that was $100 each month!) and on evenings when I taught music classes I experimented with frozen lasagnes and other things we've never tried before. Now, we're still getting the frozen dinners that make MY life easier, but for a cheaper cost AND the boys are getting to take fun stuff for lunch at a very cheap price! The other meals I make are starting to be based on what I see in the fridge from the previous bonanza that needs to get used up.
I decided to buy the kids thermos funtainers so they could take hot leftovers for lunch, and much to my delight they were on clearance at Target for $3.50 (normally $12-$15)! So, for the past 4 weeks everyone has been loving hot lunch from home. Sometimes it's leftovers, and sometimes it's Bagel Bites or other grocery-game freebies that the kiddos love. I think funtainers are a permanent part of the Weibel way.
And the final biggie for 2010 is my new chest freezer. I decided to go with 14.8 cu feet, and it's quickly getting filled up with grocery-game loot. The real beaty of the freezer is the capability to easily save my garden produce that I'm planning to harvest from the all-new Weibel 200 sq. ft. garden plot. We have taken out 8 trees to make space for the plot, and haven't I mentioned that March is traditionally Weibel Family Garden-Planning Month?
My shelves are sturdy and anchored to the wall.
Look at all those empty glass jars longing to be filled with produce. (The full tomato jars are hard to see, but we got 40 quarts finished off just as Clementine was born in 2009.)
Buckets and buckets and buckets. Sealed tight with oxygen-absorbing packets inside. Small green sticker-dots on the buckets are a code to let me know which are open, and how full they are. I use green dots because the hundreds of red, yellow and blue dots are used in my keyboarding classes to label the chords!
The funtainers. My favorite small purchase of 2010!
What should we name this lovely darling? Doug laughed when he saw how excited I was when it was delivered. He said he'd never seen anyone so excited about an appliance.
1 comment:
AWESOME job Gina! Seriously. I love how organized it all is. :) I'm going to check out those sites and am excited to see your garden. I also need to find a store that doubles coupons here.
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