Prepping for Hawaii

Hawaii is now only a plane-ride away. As I've been getting ready for this trip, I've taken some steps to save a few pennies here and there:

1. Checked out some books from the library, both guidebooks and pleasure-reading.
2. Bringing snacks to supplement our lunches on the trip. Grocery prices in Hawaii are even higher than California.
3. Talked to friends who know the area really well to let me know which restaurants are a good deal and which are worth splurging on.
4. Saved the magazines I subscribe to for the last few weeks so they are new to me when I read them on the plane. This way, I won't buy a magazine at the newsstand in the airport.
5. Parking our car in long-term parking away from the airport. This is the first time we've done this, so I'll let you know how it goes. (I'm not paying $22 a day again!)

Although I'll be in communicado for the next few days, I'll still have posts up and I'll have lots to report when I get back! Aloha!

Safeway deals 11/12-11/18

The 48 hour sale this week (Saturday and Sunday) has two deals you can make even better with coupons:

• Nabisco Snack Crackers (selected varieties, limit 4), 7 to 10oz.: $1.88. Use with $1/2 printable found here and get them for $1.38 each!
  
• Progresso Traditional Soup (selected varieties, limit 8), 18.5 to 19oz.: $0.97. Use with $1.10 printable here to make some money!

Other sweet deals:
Fuji or Granny Smith Apples, 88 cents per lb.
Wesson Cooking Oil, 48oz. $2.49 each. Use with $1/2 printable here to get them for $1.99 each when you buy 2!
PopSecret Microwave Popcorn, 3ct.: Buy one, get one free. Use with $0.50/2 coupon from 11/09 SmartSource to get them for $1.50 each!
Nabisco Ritz Crackers, 11 to 16.5oz.: Buy one, get one free. Use with $1/2 printable here to get them for $1.64 each.
Safeway Brown or Powdered Sugar, 1lb., $0.79 each

Baking season is upon us, so check your pantry to see what you need to stock up on. When the sales hit, you'll be ready!

In-home salon

I'm coloring my hair this morning. (Funny how the things you always meant to do start to line up as NEED to do right before a trip!) I have been coloring my hair on and off for awhile now, so I feel totally comfortable coloring my own hair.

Before I started clipping coupons and planning my shopping around sales, I would buy whatever haircolor was on sale...and the cheapest I could usually find was about $7. Which still beats the salon, right?

But I've picked up two boxes of hair color in the last month...one for $2 and one for $1. By combining store coupons, mfr. coupons, and store sales, I'm able to stock up on something I need for a much better price! This leaves more wiggle room in my budget.

Now, as I plan my weekly and monthly budgets, I try to leave a little room in them to buy the things that I'll need to stock up on should they go on sale. {Another one in this category is diapers!} It's so empowering to choose the price you want to pay for something, isn't it?

Good-bye Blockbuster!

A few months ago, I noticed a big red box near the entrance of my local Safeway. Taking a second look, I found that it was a DVDPlay kiosk.

If you haven't heard of DVDPlay, listen up: you can rent new releases for only $1! That's right...$1! You get the movie until 7pm the following night and additional nights are billed to your credit card at $1 each. Rent 10 movies and get the 11th one free.

I'll pick up a movie at the DVDPlay kiosk on Saturday after my grocery shopping and then return it the next day. It has made our movie night much more fun because we don't spend an hour wandering around the Blockbuster, trying to find something we both agree on.

Here's a deal for you: from now through November 13th, DVDPlay is letting you rent two movies for the price of one! So rent one for the kids and one for you, for just $1. It can't get any better than that, right? Just enter the promo code VOTE at checkout. Find your nearest DVDPlay kiosk here.


Say good-bye to $5 per DVD rentals and say hello to DVDPlay!

Pumpkin Time

I had a garden for the first time this year. It was so fun and I enjoyed going out to tend my garden. But as the summer wore on, and my little ones got more mobile, my garden became a bit neglected. Nevertheless, I grew three gorgeous pumpkins that have graced my front porch since the beginning of October.

Halloween is over and the time has come for my pumpkins to move beyond their decorative stage and become food for my little family. Today I chopped up one of my pumpkins, roasted it, and pureed it. I got 4 cups of pumpkin puree (yes, just like the stuff you get in the can) out of my first pumpkin.

The Pioneer Woman has a great tutorial on how to make your own pumpkin puree. Although it was a little bit more effort than opening a can (okay, a lot more effort), I felt like it was worth it. As the other two pumpkins meet their maker, my freezer will be chock full of orange delicious-ness. And I think I know the first thing I am going to make with my pumpkin:

PumPkiN SPice ChoCoLate ChiP CookieS

1 box spice cake mix

1 small can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, just the pumpkin) (or, about 2 cups of the homemade kind)

1 bag chocolate chips (about 2 cups)

Mix, drop and bake. (10 minutes at 350)

My sister introduced me to these cookies and they are so easy and so delicious! They are also relatively inexpensive if you can get the cake mix when it is on sale for $1 (which it usually is about this time).

Double Threes

Husband turned 33 last week. Our trip to Utah was his birthday present, but I still wanted his actual birthday to be special, so on the morning of his birthday, I gave him this:

{door images courtesy of Melissa at the Inspired Room}

Behind each door was a description of a birthday celebration: a special dinner, a treat, and an activity. Husband chose Door #3, which meant that we went out for hamburgers at The Counter. (Not really a budget-friendly place for burgers, but so good!) We also got a milkshake for dessert and then Husband got to pick out the rental movie.

We took the babies (they were so good) and the evening was a lot of fun. We didn't spend a whole lot, but by taking a few minutes to put this together for him, Husband's day was made a little more special. He loved it!

Two free mascaras...

I thought that Walgreen's might have a $5 off $20 coupon this week, but I haven't gotten anything yet. I did pick up my two free Almay mascaras earlier this week, though. (I didn't want them to run out!)

How can you get two free Almay mascaras? Well, Almay cosmetics are buy one, get one free this week at Walgreen's (ends Saturday). And Almay mascara is free after rebate this month. I also used a $1 mfr. coupon off each of them...so I made $2 on my free mascaras. Nice!

One more great deal I'll be picking up at Walgreen's is the Always Infinity pads ($4.99 this week). I just got my free sample with a $1 Walgreen's coupon. Combine that with the $2 P&G coupon from 10/5 (I think), get $1 RR and I get the pads for 99 cents. Get your free Infinity Sample from Walgreen's here. Visit Freebies 4 Mom to stay up to date on the latest and greatest freebies!