Homemade Rice Pilaf

Hello my frugal friends & happy Saturday!! Our weekend has not been ideal...our sweet 3 year old, Macy has strep throat. However, she is in good spirits...and hopefully on the mend!! Here's a new recipe for your weekend enjoyment!

Homemade Rice Pilaf 

2 tbsp of unsalted butter

1 tbsp of minced garlic

1 shallot, minced

1/3 cup of thin spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces

3/4 cup of brown rice

1 1/2 cup of chicken stock (or veggie stock if you prefer vegetarian)

1. Melt butter in pan and add garlic and shallot. Brown for 2-3 minutes

2. Next add spaghetti pieces and brown rice. Brown for 2-3 minutes

3. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover with lid for 15-17 minutes. 

4. Fluff with fork and enjoy!! 

The inspiration for this dish came from my family's love for Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf. We could eat the stuff non stop. Then I looked at the sodium level and was appalled. The truth is....Rice-a-Roni is a very economical choice....you can buy a box for $1. This recipe would be close to $1....but probably a little over. So...it might be a more economical decision...but this is the healthier option. My recipe drops the sodium from 970mg to just 220mg. So...for today...I'm choosing healthy! :)

Have a great weekend friends!

Jessica

Deal of the Day

Hello my frugal friends!! This weekend I had my bi-weekly grocery trip that produced some major savings. I was thrilled at check out at my favorite saving spot, Target, when I took my total from $86 to $50. That's right friends....I knocked $36 off of my bill this week. It's definitely a rarity that I am able to save that much with coupons....so you can imagine the high I had coming out of that store. You would have thought I won the lotto! 

Anywho...here is your deal from the trip. Believe it or not...it's really not a huge deal. The reason I saved so much on this trip was because of the abundance of coupons and match ups I had. It's amazing. I'm telling you...if you are not printing coupons from coupons.com....you are seriously missing out. 

SO...here's the deal...

BBQ SAUCE!! And believe it or not...it came from Walmart. I got each of these babies for the smooth price of $.50. Here's how:

I'd plan on ad matching these at Walmart from the dollar tree ad. Luckily...my friends at Wally World actually had it marked the way it should be. Each bottle was on sale for $1.00. I added a coupon from coupons.com and took a $1 of of the price. Leaving a grand total of $.50 per bottle. 

It's not a huge deal this week, but if you can get enough of your items down to this price...the savings is amazing. Keep you eye out for deals and post them in the comments or on my Facebook page. I would love to hear what you are saving on!!

Happy Shopping!!

Jessica 

Lasagna Roll ups

Hello my frugal friends!! I am so sorry I haven't posted in a few days. It has been a wonderfully busy few days for me. I am the proud new aunt of a sweet girl named Harper and my daddy came to visit from Atlanta! Needless to say, my days have been filled with joy and absolutely NO time to blog. So...welcome back! Tonight...I want to share with you one of my favorite frugal recipes. It's called Lasagna Roll Ups and here is how it goes. 

What you will need:

One box of oven ready lasagna noodles

15 oz container of Ricotta cheese (I use part skim to save calories)

1 cup of parmesan cheese 

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

2 cups of mozzarella cheese 

Here is how you create this yummy frugal recipe:

1. Boil noodles according to package instructions. Drain.

2. While the noodles are cooking, mix together ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and garlic powder together in a small bowl. Feel free to mix it up a bit. Throw in your favorite herbs or seasonings....really use anything to make it your own. When you are finished, you mixture should look like this:

3. Next, you will need to make the actual roll up. Begin by laying out your lasagna noodle.

then add a 'heaping' tablespoon of your mixture.

Roll the noodle and place inside of a 9x13 pan. 

once you have rolled them all, your pan should looks this

4. Next, pour your favorite spaghetti sauce over the top of roll ups and cover with 1-2 cups of mozzarella cheese. I go for two. :) 

5. Finally, cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After it bakes, remove the tin foil and throw under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to get it brown and bubbly. 

Ready for the best part of this dish....it's only $1.30 per serving!!!! Yep...it's a frugal find!! :)

Here's why....NO MEAT!! I read on a couponing blog one time that the best way to save is to incorporate a few vegetarian meals per week. This sooo helps our budget. But...if you have a few extra bucks...I'm sure hamburger....or chicken...or sausage would be amazing in this! 

Enjoy!! 

Jessica 

Deal of the Day

Hello my Frugal Friends!! Today's Deal of the Day comes from my friend, Amanda Williford. She sent this to me this morning and it's a doozy!! If you use Arm & Hammer (Munchkin) baby products....pay close attention to this one!! And of course...it's from my favorite frugal stop...Target

So...here it is, Arm and Hammer Diaper Pail Refill Bags on sale for $3.59. This is normally $12.49...a huge saving. Use you Red Card and that's $ 3.41!!! I soooo wished I used this type of pail. Get over there now!! 

If you don't have the a diaper pail, you can also use these products 

We lovingly call these the stinky bags. :) Happy Saving my Frugal Friends and a special thanks to Amanda for tipping me off on this deal! 

Deal of the Day

Aren't you lucky?!? Two blog posts in one day! :) I had to share a deal I got this week at my favorite store, Target. Thanks to the girls at Surviving the Store for tipping me off on this one (it would be very smart of you to like them on Facebook!!).

Here we go! The deal is.....

DIAPERS!! 

As you can imagine, we go through a few of these with twin 3 month old boys! :) So...here is how the deal works. Target had a special on a box of Pampers Swaddlers size 1 160 count for $34.99. Not a bad price at $.22 a diaper. Here is where the deal comes....If you bought two packs, Target gives you a $20 gift certificate for you next purchase. I coupled that with a coupon and saved big! Let's break that down:

2 boxes of Pampers Diapers at special price: $69.98

Minus $20 gift card from Target: $49.98

Minus $1.50 coupon from Coupons.com: $48.48

Minus 5% off from using red card: $46.06

Grand Total for 320 diapers....$46.06...that's $.014 a diaper or a savings of 35%. Not a bad deal of the day!! HURRY!! This one only last until Saturday!! I checked today and the coupon is still available at coupons.com. 

Happy shopping my frugal friends!!

Jessica 

Let's talk Groceries...

I've had several people ask about my grocery habits. To be honest, I'm a wanna be saver...but I'm making progress. I feel like it's a work in progress for most people. I desperately want to be a crazy coupon lady...I just haven't earned my badge yet. :) So...here is how I do it:

First of all, couponing would be SOOOO much easier if I lived in a land with Kroger, Rite Aid, etc. However, I live in Walmartville, USA....also known as Northwest Arkansas. So...my couponing is limited. I choose to go to three separate places when I shop.

1. The first stop is at Aldi. So...let me just tell you!! I know that there is this notion that Aldi is some tainted place...it's NOT!! I stinkin' love Aldi. I buy amazing products at Aldi that feed my family and really, really, really keep our family on budget. My favorite items from Aldi are baking and spice items. They are incredibly cheap. What would cost you $5-$6 at Walmart only costs $1-$2 at Aldi. The quality is wonderful. When my shopping begins, I shop at Aldi first. I try to get everything I can there. I've also recently found the Aldi App. 

I love this thing!! It allows me to see what is on special that week and plan my shopping trip better. It also has the weekly specials on it. So, if for some reason my local Aldi is out of what I want or if what is left isn't as nice as I would like, I can use it to ad match at my local Walmart. A total win-win. Not to mention, it's a free app...so why wouldn't you have it??

2. The next stop on the tour is my local Target store. I must admit that I have a secret obsession with Target. I love that place. I love everything about it. My wildest dreams would be fulfilled if Northwest Arkansas would build a super target. :) Anyway, my local target does not have all the groceries that some of the bigger cities enjoy. However, it has almost all of the frozen and dry goods. So...whatever I didn't find at Aldi, I do my best to find at Target. My favorite part about target is that they allow you to use a manufactures coupon and a target.com coupon on the same product. This is how I saved so much money on the Colgate products we discussed on Saturday. It's simple really, get a local paper and cut coupons. Then go to Target.com weekly and print out their online coupons. Here is a look at what the website looks like

all you do is snip and print!! The other MUST DO at Target is the Red Card. I have my sweet friend, Betsy Dawson to thank for this one. Target makes two types of cards: the typical credit card (no, no friends...not a good idea!!) and a Target Debit card (this is what I have :). The great part about the Target Red Card is that you get 5% off every time you use it!! Not to mention, if you fill 5 prescriptions at the Target Pharmacy, they will send you a coupon for a day of 10% off. It cost you nothing, has no annual fees and come straight out of your checking account. If you want to save money...you have to do the Red Card. 

3.The last stop in Grocery Wonderland is Walmart. To be honest, it's my last stop and I buy as little as I can there. The reason...Walmart is not coupon friendly. They don't double, they offer no specials and really...when things are "on sale" it's usually not much. My big success a Walmart comes from ad matching. Thanks to my wonderful friend, Erin Staples, I found an app that is amazing for this. It's called Weekly Ads:

You use the search bar at the top to look up any stores ad for the week. You can then use the add to ad match prices at Walmart. All you have to do is show the cashier the picture of the ad. Walmart claims you don't have to have the ad with you....however....every time I've asked for an ad match, they ask for the ad. Funny how that works. :) 

So...that's it folks...that's how shopping goes in my house. I've also become a new fan of coupons.com. You can get great coupons that are not in the Sunday paper. I'm also friends with a group called "Surviving the Stores" on Facebook. They constantly update with deals and coupon match ups that save big bucks!! 

Happy shopping my frugal friends!

Jessica 

Grocery Deals!

One of the things I promised is to post deals that I find. Here is your first deal!! As many of you know, I love coupons. Now, I'm not a crazy coupon lady. I would love to be, just haven't made it to that status yet. :) Don't worry...I'm working on it. 

Just for your info...I will post the deals I find when I go on my shopping trips. That will be every other Saturday. Here are my finds for today...

My first find is this set of lovely Colgate products. :) I love Colgate total for my toothpaste and love even more that they provide coupons almost every time I'm in need of restocking. Here's how today's deal worked. 

Original Price for Colgate Mouthwash: $5.99

Original Price for Colgate Toothpaste: $3.69

Would be total: $14.57 for all three 

I paid: $5.12 for all three!!!

Here's how:

First off, Target had two specials on these products that anyone can get

1. The Colgate Toothpaste was on sale for $2.99

2. If you purchased two Colgate products, you received the third for free. So, I paid nothing for the second box of toothpaste. 

Now...here is where my brain power comes in. :) My favorite part about shopping at Target is that they allow you to use both manufactures coupons and their own online coupons on the same products. I used three coupons for these three items (2 manufactures, 1 Target). The coupons I used were $1.00 off toothpaste, $2.00 off the mouthwash (both manufactures coupons from the Sunday paper) and $1.00 off when you buy both (from Target.com). Couple that with my Target RedCard that saves me 5% every trip and you get a grand total of just over five bucks!! So there you have it folks!! A HUGE DEAL!! It's really ridiculous how excited I get about saving money. :)

One last quick deal for this week: 

Target is running a special for 5 packages of lean pockets for $10. That's saving $ .89 a box or $4.45. If you break that down, it's a $1 per sandwich....I can't make a PB & J for that!! Not a bad deal for a quick lunch/breakfast! 

Anywho....there are my deals for today!! I saved a lot on my trip today...which is always exciting. I plan on writing a post tomorrow about how exactly I do all of my shopping. Check back for that! :) See you then! 

Jessica 

Well...here we are...

Well...after years of thinking blogging is a good idea, I've finally found the nerve to start one. Hi! I'm Jessica. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a 28 year old mother to three that lives in Northwest Arkansas with my husband and children. I've lived in Northwest Arkansas my entire life and to be honest, I'm not sure I could ever leave. I love this place. My world has changed drastically in the last 12 months and that is how I got here....sitting at the kitchen table...writing a blog. 

My husband and I have been married for 6 years (as of this Sunday). After only two short years of marriage, we decided two was too few and in October of 2009, I gave birth to Macy. That child is my whole world. She is literally me reincarnated. You always hear that you will pay for your child hood with your own child. That is so incredibly true. Not only am I paying for it...I'm living it AGAIN...just instead of being me...I'm now my mom! The funny thing is I wouldn't change one second. That girl is perfect. She if funny and crazy and a pain in butt. I love her. :) 

Last summer, Trace and I decided that maybe it was time to think about making our family of 3 a family of 4. We quickly got pregnant and I was excited to welcome a  new baby in February of 2013. However, within just a week of finding out I was pregnant, the joy turned to sorrow when we learned that I actually wasn't pregnant. We're not sure if I just received a false positive or if my body created something called a "fantom pregnancy," but either way...no baby for the Skordals. I was devastated. Way more devastated than I ever thought I could be. The worse part is I felt like my devastation was completely ridiculous. There was never a baby...so why was I so sad. I told Trace then that I wasn't ready to be a new mom yet. I wanted to wait. However, The Lord had different plans for our home. In July of 2012, I went to the doctor with a chest illness and one short blood test later showed that the Skordals were having a baby. I didn't even know how to react. The worst part is that I refused to be happy...at least for a while. I had to make sure that there really was a baby in there. Not just another hoax my body liked to play. My doctor suggested we run another blood test to be sure the pregnancy was "viable." Three short days later, the phone call came. Not only was I pregnant, my levels had tripled (a normal pregnancy would double during this time). Which meant that everything was great and we were having a baby. I was ecstatic!! A few short weeks later we learned more about those overachieving blood levels during our first ultrasound. To our surprise, we weren't pregnant with a new baby...we were pregnant with TWO babies! 

27 short weeks later and we welcomed Jackson & Dawson at 36 weeks gestation. I'm told I'm one of the luckiest twin mommas around. The boys were born weighing in at 5lbs 12oz (Jackson) and 4lbs 15oz (Dawson). Though the were considered premies by birth date, the boys never showed any signs of trouble. We went home 3 days later and the boys now weigh in at around 11 pounds each. 

Twins brought a ton of change to our world. Besides the double duty of EVERYTHING, we also had the new financial burden. My plan was to return to work as a high school teacher the August after the babies were born. Unfortunately, when you go from having one child that is 3 to 3 children under 4, daycare cost gets complicated. In fact, it's more than my salary...and I have a Master's degree people! So...here I am...mom to three, staying at home in a crazy financial situation that will either break me or make me. The truth is, I've never wanted anything more. I feel like The Lord calls me to stay home, but I've always been too afraid to answer the call. Too afraid that we won't survive the financial strain. Too afraid that I couldn't hack it as budgeting goddess. My answer was to pray about it and hope he would answer. Answer he did.....times TWO!! Now...I don't have a choice...I'm home. The funny thing is...I've never been happier. I'm terrified of what tomorrow brings when it comes to finances, but would honestly rather eat Ramen Noodles (which I love P.S.) every day for the rest of my life than spend one more day away from these babies. This is where I'm meant to be and I feel peace in that. Hopefully our bank account will too. 

So....here's what you can expect. I've never had a challenge that I didn't face head on and that is my plan with this whole Stay at Home Mom thing. The title of the blog is a Chronicles of a Frugal Mom. Needless to say, that's what you'll find  here. I plan to share coupons, secrets, special finds, recipes, and more as I adjust to this new frugal lifestyle. I've go one year to make this work.....here goes nothing! 

Jessica