I am the coupon queen!

Yesterday we went grocery shopping at Dominicks, the regular grocery store instead of shopping at Sam's Club or Food4Less where we generally shop for food. I wanted to drop by Dominicks to make a deposit at the bank and just to pick up some items on sale. I decided to do my homework first.

I looked at their website to see if there was anything I should pick up on sale while I was there. They had 93% ground beef on sale for $1.89 and a few other things I wanted to pick up on sale. I saw that I could make a grocery shopping list from their online weekly ad and so I did that. They had a coupon section where I could load coupons into my club card and not have to use paper coupons, they also had printable coupons, and a link to Proctor & Gamble brand savers, which I joined. I also visited upromise and coupons.com and sites of products which were on the shopping list that I didn't find a coupon for already such as Progresso soup and found coupons around the web. We also picked up a Sunday paper. Clipped and loaded, I was ready to go shopping.

With all the coupons in hand, it did take a bit longer to shop. We filled the cart with mostly sale items and proceeded to the checkout hoping for the best. I've done this type of thing to a lesser degree before and have saved $20-$30 at the store. I was expecting at least $60 off the bill. When the total came to nearly $330, I was a little anxious, thinking we bought too much stuff. I handed the checker my handful of coupons taken off the web and a couple of coupons that were on packages. Those totaled $8.10 (a bit disappointing). Then he swiped my loyalty card. The total started falling... and falling ... and falling. I said come on ... please get it under $200 and lo and behold, the total went down to $199.49. Whew! Oh, and I also earned United miles, gas credits and money towards my daughter's college fund.

I saved $121.78 on groceries (nearly 40%).

Try this sometime. Doing the prep work really pays off.

Kat
the coupon queen

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

All the ads promise miraculous results.... lose tons of weight really fast. In reality, most people should only strive to lose about a pound to two pounds per week. Knowing that eating 3500 more calories than you burn adds up to a pound, cutting 500 to 1000 calories a day along with adding exercise should help you reach this goal. You should, however, not eat below about 1200 calories per day. That is not healthy and can slow down your metabolism. Don't starve yourself. Eat healthier foods with high fiber, protein and water content. These are the things that help you feel satisfied. Good luck.

New Year ... New You

It is a fresh new year and a time to restart your commitment to getting back into shape. Not every diet works for everyone so you have to find the plan that you are most comfortable with and make a strong commitment inside yourself to reach your weight loss goals. Whether you are trying to lose 10 pounds or 50 pounds, it all depends on YOU and what YOU do. It is a lifestyle choice.

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that weight loss is as easy as taking a pill. Sure, there are diet aids that can boost your metabolism or block fat absorption in your body, such as Alli, but at what cost... and for how long. There is no magic pill. You still need to diet and exercise to lose weight. If you wish to take weight off and keep it off, you have to burn at least as many calories as you take in and to lose weight you need to burn more. It is as simple as that. May 2009 be your most successful weight loss year ever!

Yogurt Parfait

Yogurt Parfait

1.5 cups of Yogurt
2 Tbsp. Of honey
.5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
4 tsp. Of low fat granola

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, honey and vanilla extract. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and smooth. Place strawberries evenly among four dishes. Divide blueberries among 4 dishes and top each with 3 tablespoons of yogurt. Divide raspberries among 4 dishes and top each with remaining yogurt mixture. Garnish with teaspoon of the granola.

All I want for Christmas is a Gazelle

Just in time for the Holidays. 10% off all products!! . Great gift ideas. Some items have a limited quantity so order today.

debate

Teetering on the edge

Sometimes I get so disgusted with myself. All I have to do is maintain my weight and stay under 140 pounds in order to sustain my lifetime status in Weight Watchers and attend the meetings for free. I blew it this week, but I am right at the edge. I really should be able to turn this thing around but I am wanting to eat all the time and I am finding it nearly impossible to stay around 18 points per day. Who can live on that without eating only bunny food?

This weekend is going to be especially challenging as I will be away from home at a con and eating out a lot. I'm thinking that if I bring in some healthy snacks such as fruit to keep in my room and try to stick to salads most of the time, I should do OK. There is a lot of temptations around though.

Weight Watchers points on Peapod

I just put in an order at Peapod for the first time in several months and discovered a great new feature called Nutrifilter. It allows you to set dietary restrictions and will display related information to help you make the best choices for your particular situation. I chose Weight Watchers so now on most of the products the calculations are done and a little box appears with the points value per serving. Let me tell you, this is really cool. I know many products already have points listed, but those are generally frozen entrees such as Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine. This gives you so much more for all product categories.

Weight Watchers is not the only option. You can choose peanut-free, gluten-free, high fiber, low-sodium, etc. One day I may look at a gluten-free/Casein-free diet for my son and this will be very helpful. Peapod started in the Chicago area and has since expanded to other regions. It is a wonderful service. I love to order from Peapod when I need to re-stock my heavy stuff, like laundry detergent, bottled water and canned goods.Check it out.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

This just out from hungry-girl.com:
Tomato Alert!!!

Wondering what to make of this whole tomato salmonella fiasco? Here's the scoop. The FDA is recommending that people do NOT eat raw red Roma tomatoes, raw red plum tomatoes, raw red round tomatoes, or products containing them (unless said tomatoes have been grown and harvested in select areas listed on the FDA website). Restaurants and grocery stores have been advised not to serve or sell these tomatoes, as well. Tomatoes not associated with this salmonella scare are cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home. For more information on this, click here for the latest updates. FYI, experts say simply washing your tomatoes really well is NOT enough to get rid of the contamination, and the FDA does not recommend cooking these tomatoes either. So stick with those tomato types not associated with the outbreak -- at least for the time being!

Checking in

I'm finally over my horrendous cold that just about killed me for two weeks and now my guy has it. He did teach me how to make homemade lime juice today though. He had picked up a gizmo somewhere along the line that looked sort of like a thick ice cream scoop. I had played with the thing but it made no sense because it seemed like the holes were on the wrong side and I squirted lime juice all over. The way to do it is to put the round end of the lime against the round part of the juicer and squeeze the tool to flatten that lime. It is pretty cool and kind of like squeezing a garlic press. Apparently this type of juicer is popular in Mexico and Latin America. We juiced two limes per glass of water. Yummers!