Thrifty Thursday---coupon plans and a free rain barrel!

In an attempt to regain at least a part of my pre-homeschooling life, I'm going to post a "my frugal life" update each Thursday.  Why Thursday?  Well, that's when the grocery chains update the online ads for the next cycle, which begin on Fridays, AND the day the local free paper is available.  Some weeks the local paper is a great source for coupons! 

I just checked the online coupon previews and the Smart Source for this Sunday doesn't contain anything that would make me go check the newspaper boxes downtown.  The ads for Pathmark and SuperFresh are equally disappointing.  The turkey promo doesn't start until next week, bummer.  ShopRite isn't starting until 10/17!

Acme's ad isn't up yet but online chatter shows a ConAgra buy $25/get $10 oyno.   I have 3 gallons of Wesson canola oil and about 40 boxes of Swiss Miss hot cocoa (yum, mocha!) for the kids from last winter's ConAgra fest---------I rolled those cats all week long, spending maybe $5 total out-of-pocket including non-ConAgra items (veg, fruit, dairy).  That was a fun week!  But this time, nothing is jumping out at me.  The sale prices on items we'd use (Wesson, Pillsbury flour, Pam spray) seem high, and without good coupons the price spread between the regular shelf price and the sale-price-after-coupons isn't large enough to work out to free items.  But I've been wrong before, so I'll reserve judgement until reports come back tomorrow from early Acme shoppers.

Last night I was one of 25 lucky city residents to receive a free 55gal rain barrel!  A few weeks ago, an email was sent from the city advertising a free storm water management seminar through the county extension service.  The first 25 residents to register would receive a free rain barrel, with others receiving info on how to make one themselves.  I called within 45 minutes of the email being sent and was 24 of 25!!  I'm so happy I decided to look at email that day during lunch as I've been wanting a rain barrel for YEARS.   I'd love to have several in the back, one by the hops and herbs and two connected in series by the veggie garden, just for starters.

Check out this beauty:

We'll put it up on cinder blocks and use the bottom outlet for a hose.  The midsection outlet will be used eventually to connect this barrel to another.  We'll chose one of the top outlets for an overflow hose to direct excess water away from the house.  The top of the barrel is a fixed lid with three screened holes---no insects to worry about.

There's only about 4 weeks left for this rain barrel season....but we'll be well-equipped for next spring!

Thrifty Thursday

Avert your eyes if you don't want to read a non-homeschooling post!  I thought it was about time the real Karen, not the homeschooling Karen, made an appearance ;)

This week in frugality:
*I used up the remaining $3.00 off meat/chicken catalina coupons from the semi-annual Old El Paso deal (buy 6 items get the $3.00 off coupon-----I had coupons for $.50/1 OEP rice packets which were on sale for $.75 in a Betty Crocker promotion, resulting in $.25 overage for each packet purchased AND the meat cats for every 6.  I started with a "few"---100!!).  My best score was 7+lb of ground beef for $0.18 out-of-pocket!  The beef was priced at $1.99/lb but each package was marked down by $2.00.  I stood there for a while, protecting my stash, while doing the math to figure out the lowest out-of-pocket total.  Yep, geeky like that too.
*I made a quadruple batch of lasagna, one to eat and three for the freezer.  Sorrento mozzarella was $1.67 per 16oz package at SuperFresh, limit 3.  Sorrento ricotta at ShopRite was at my buy-lots price of $2.99 for 3lb container.  I bought the max of 4 and will return to ShopRite tomorrow for 4 more. I adjusted the usual recipe to split 3 lbs of mozzarella and 6lb of ricotta over the 4 9x13 pans of lasagna.  Couple that with the practically free ground beef, tomato products from last winter's sales, and 2 boxes of ShopRite brand noodles, and we have 4 dinners plus 4 lunches for $14! 
*More very inexpensive ground beef (again, those $3.00 cats sure helped---I started with 15 hehehe) became 4lb of Italian meatballs (cooked prior to freezing) tweaking FishMama's meatball/meatloaf recipe (blog is LifeAsMOM).  I also made 4lb of BBQ meatballs using Pioneer Woman's recipe, baking one meal's worth with the sauce and freezing the others uncooked/unsauced.

We hardly ever eat ground beef as ground turkey had been less expensive by far.  Now both sale prices are the same.  Bleh.  Since I drain the fat from ground meat after cooking, the type of meat doesn't really matter for health purposes.  Ground beef does make a better meatball and meatloaf than ground turkey.

All that food is sure going to taste good when I just have to pull it from the freezer during this fall and winter...

I just read the ad previews for this next grocery store sale cycle.  Nothing exciting again this week.  I hope turkey time starts soon!  I still have one turkey in the freezer from last year (scored 3 free ones) which I plan on cooking this weekend or next week.  I've been collecting rainchecks to combine with coupons and saving all the free coupons that come in the mail to add to my turkey totals at whichever stores participate this year.  Last year frees didn't count at ShopRite, which was a major disappointment, so I shifted much shopping to Acme.  It would be nice to get 3 turkeys again this year, one for Thanksgiving dinner, one for late winter and one for whenever we need the cooked meat.

It's pouring today in the mid-Atlantic so my usual Thursday routine of checking the local free paper for coupon inserts has been disrupted.  I hope to get out this afternoon before picking up Older Sister at highschool.  Once I know what coupons I'll be able to snag for free, I can plan out next week's shopping trips and potentially order coupons from a clipping service, if there are any really "hot" coupons!