Extra 20% off at Kohl's

From Wednesday. November 30th to Monday, December 5th Kohl's is offering an extra 20% off discount for your entire purchase.  This discount applies to everything, including discount, clearance, and sale items.  To receive the extra savings, enter code HOLLY20 at checkout.

$10 Off of $50 Purchase at Shopko

From Thursday, December 1st through Friday, December 9, Shopko.com is offering a $10 discount off of a $50 purchase.  This discount applies to total purchase, including sale, discount, and clearance items.  To receive the discount, enter coupon code GIFTS50 at checkout.

Thanksgiving Giveaway Winner

I drew names at random for the Thanksgiving Giveaway, and the winner is jfresh20!  I will be contacting you so you can collect your doily.  Congratulations!!!!

Thanksgiving Giveaway - Sage Green Handmade Doily

Sign up for my Thanksgiving giveaway!  I have many things to be thankful for, so I wanted to have a giveaway in honor of the Thanksgiving season.  There are several ways you can enter, and you have more than one chance to win.  To enter:

     1.  Leave a comment saying what you are thankful for.

     2.  Become a follower of my blog:

          -leave an extra comment saying you are following my blog.

     3.  Share my giveaway by posting it on Facebook:

          -leave an extra comment saying you shared on FB.

The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on Saturday, November 19th.  If you don't have an email address linked in your commenting username, make sure to leave it in your comment so I know how to contact you if you win.  Good luck!

    

To Coupon Or Not To Coupon - That Is The Question

We've all heard stories about people who clip coupons and save tons of money off of their grocery bill.  I am always amazed at how they manage to do it - it has never worked out that well for me!  Saving lots of money on your grocery bill, whether you coupon or not, does take some planning.  My planning often involves reading the weekly grocery ads and planning my shopping trips accordingly, as well as planning connections with local food producers when they are selling their products.  My planning has also recently included ordering and picking up produce and bread products from the Bountiful Baskets food co-op. 

While I do use the occassional coupon, depending on couponing to regularly save money on my groceries has never been a successful strategy for me.  Much of my grocery shopping lists consist of whole, fresh, foods - I do alot of my cooking from scratch.  I have never had much success finding coupons for these types of food.  They may be out there, but so far they have eluded me!  For things like meat, milk, and honey I have been able to find local producers that offer a higher quality product for similar, and sometimes cheaper prices, than the grocery store.  One of the things I like about buying locally is that I am also supporting my local economy and food producers, as well as receiving a high quality food product in return.  I live in a state where agriculture is a large industry, so my access to these food producers may be different and more affordable than if I lived somewhere else.  I have also wondered if couponing success differs upon where you live.

How do you save money on your grocery bill?  Do you coupon successfully to save large amounts on your grocery bill?  Share your stories!  I'd love to hear your ideas!

P.S. Be sure the check out my handcrafted doily Thanksgiving giveaway!

It's Time For The Annual Safeway Turkey Sale

Ad picture from http://www.safeway.com/

Every year, Safeway sells Thanksgiving turkeys for pretty much unbeatable prices.  You can always buy just one turkey for your Thanksgiving meal, or you can take advantage of the sale to have very affordable poultry for the rest of the year.  If you have the storage, this is a great opportunity to stock your freezer.  If you don't have the storage, you can always cook your extra turkeys right away, then take the meat off of the carcass and freeze the cooked meat in storage bags or containers.  You'll still have the extra meat, but it won't take up as much space.  In the past, we have used all of the extra turkey for things like sandwiches, turkey noodle soup and turkey noodle casserole.  You can use almost any recipe that calls for chicken and insert turkey in its place. 

For the sale this year, the terms and conditions have changed a little bit.  It used to be that a minimum purchase of $10 was what would qualify you for the good deal.  This year, the minimum purchase is $25.  The prices on the turkeys have also gone up a little bit, but broken down to price per pound, it is still a really good price for meat- it averages out to be from $.50 to $.87 per pound, depending on which turkey you buy.  That is an incredible deal!  The turkey prices are $6.99 for an 8-12 pound Safeway turkey, $7.99 for a 12.01-16 pound Safeway turkey, $9.99 for 16.01-20 pound Safeway turkey, and $11.99 for a 20.01-24 pound Safeway turkey (these are the prices according to my local Safeway ad - you may want to check your local ad at http://www.safeway.com/ to be sure of the prices in your area).  Each turkey is limit one per household per day, but you can buy one of each kind at the same time.  This sale is good through November 24th.

As far as cooking the turkey goes, we have found that an electric roaster is the best way to go.  It saves energy costs because it is a smaller appliance, and it also cooks quite a bit faster.  The awesome turkey recipe I use is posted here.  My turkeys have turned out excellent every time I have used it.

P.S.  Be sure to check out my handmade sage green doily Thanksgiving giveaway!