All Things Alicia

NSR - Back into the World of Couponing

For those of you that are wondering..NSR means "non-stamping related."  :)  It's a demonstrator term.

Today I jumped back into a world of couponing that I've neglected for a few years now.  I used to do The Grocery Game and get great deals, and have always worked wonders with coupons (thanks to mom:).  But a few years ago, I got busy with the kids and let it deteriorate.  And I didn't really feel the urgency to start up again or keep going.  I was starting to incorporate more whole foods, which there weren't many coupons for at that time, and the cost of the newspaper to get the coupons was heading up all the time.  Since that was the only I subscribed, I questioned whether it was worth it anymore. 

I've noticed over the past, about 18 months, there have been more coupons and deals on line and in free flyers that come with the junk mail, and that they were beginning to incorporate coupons for things like fresh produce and other non/less processed items and organic items that I actually buy. 

Well my friend Christy has recently become an avid couponer.  I went to her house last night and she taught me, very thoroughly, how to get a bazillion things I WILL use free or cheap.  I must say I felt old.  It's only been about 2 1/2 years since I stopped being a serious couponer, but in that 2 1/2 years couponing has changed drastically!  Christy taught me several places to find coupons online so I don't have to get the paper, and how to combine them with sales and coupon stacking in some places I've never shopped before.  For example, Walgreens.  You get can a lot of great stuff super cheap at Walgreens.  And because they give you rewards that work like dollars at the store, you can end up making money on several items each week!

So now I am jumping back in.  I arranged a new coupon binder (my old one was...well...old) and started printing coupons and looking for deals.  I decided to start small and try one store at a time.  I also wanted to know how hard it would be to take my three wee ones with me.  Shopping with them is not my favorite thing, but it is my normal thing, so I needed to make sure I could do it. 

Tonight I started with Target.  I kept my list short, really short.  For the first time in forever I actually didn't NEED anything right away at Target, so I stuck to my coupon list.  I got 14 items:

6 cans of Del Monte vegetable for $0.28 each

5 tubs of baby wipes for $0.27 each

3 boxes of stuffing for $0.79 each

14 items, $5.40.

Not bad.  I stuck to my guns about only getting items I use on a regular basis, and not buying a newspaper for the first few months (until I decide if I actually want to be that active with it again).  I actually could have gotten the canned veggies cheaper (I think $0.20 a can) but I didn't have the manufacturer coupon to stack with it, I just had the Target coupon.

Tomorrow I think I'll try CVS.

PS- Christy's blog is in the column on the right hand side of my blog.  It's "Life the Wong Way" if you'd like to check her out.

Help Me Out Here + The Dishwasher Experiment

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I really haven't had time to stamp recently. The day I did have time I started a few things but didn't finish any of them. I did have time at one other moment, but I really wasn't into it. Not into it?! I can hear your collective gasp. That's another sign that I should admit I might, maybe, possibly be slightly struggling with something I've only admitted to my husband and my friend Dawn. Not ready to admit it here. And seriously, I would love to make the time for stamping. I would love to be proactive about making time for it. 

So here's my question for you. How do you suggest I work it in? I would LOVE a workable idea here. Two things you should know to help me. 

1- I have 3 kids 3 and under. I don't have a guaranteed overlapping nap time (and won't for about a year) and I don't have time when they're at school. 

2- Due to the size of my family and the size of my house, my stamp space is now in the garage.  The garage is not a safe place for the kids to play and is not directly accessible from the house.  That means that I can't be out there stamping while my kids are in the house playing, etc...

If you have any ideas for me to get more stamping into my day, taking into account those two limitations, I would LOVE to hear them!  I would be ecstatic to make something work.  Leave me a comment if you have a suggestion.  Other than those two things I am willing to change just about anything in my life that help me make more room in my schedule for stamping.  

Next, the dishwasher experiment.

So I read somewhere (I don't remember where) several months ago that a way to conserve water is to not rinse your dishes.  The author's argument was that our dishwashers and detergents are made to blast food residue away and actually work better when there is sauce, juice, etc... on the dishes!  Her advice was to scrape off piles and bits and stick the dishes into the dishwasher without rinsing.   This may be old news to you, but I just got my very first dish washer last summer and this was news to me.  So I did a little experiment.  

 

*Note- This was not set up using the scientific method.  It is not valid and reliable data as defined by researchers.  I did not repeat the exact experiment the necessary three times to make it valid, but you can see the note at the end of the results to see how it has been repeated.

 

Here's the highlights of the load I put in without rinsing:

 

Hot choclate

 

peanut butter and jelly

 

 chicken noodle soup pan

 

And here's what came out:

 

perfectly clean hot chocolate cup

 

clean and shiny pot

 

I forgot to get the picture of the knife, but it was clean as well.

 

So it appears to have worked!  Since then I have continued to scrape and not rinse my dishes.  I have used 3 types of detergent and they have all worked well.  I would say only one word of warning.  Anything cheesy needs to be scraped completely.  Once it goes in the dishwasher, it gets melted on for eternity.  For that reason, I continue to rinse anything cheesy in addition to scraping.  I'm still cutting back on water and steps if I'm only making sure one thing is completely off right?