I Paid 17 Cents for a Big Bag of Groceries - No Lie!

I used to be a coupon grocery shopper just like my mother and her mother before me.

Then Husband took over the cooking. Husband cooks from scratch. You know from items that don’t have coupons, like fresh vegetables and big boxes of pasta?

My coupon use dwindled. After cooking this way and shopping accordingly I started saving just as much or more money because I wasn’t buying expensive prepackaged, full of sodium, high waste food just because I had a coupon, sometimes even when the store brand was cheaper.

The final nail in the coupon clipping coffin is when I discovered that I could save more money shopping for my staples at Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and my summer farm market – three stores that don’t accept coupons.

Of course, you mileage may vary.

Now I’m totally out of the habit of clipping, tracking, and using coupons before they expire. In fact, on those few times when I remember that I have a coupon for something, and want to use it, more often that not it’s expired.

Some women make the coupon thing work for them. Tara over at Deal Seeking Mom makes couponing an art form. She tracks coupons and rebates, restocks only when she has a coupon, plays the CVS game, etc. I have to give a big tip of the hat to women like her who can buy $100 worth of groceries for like 10 bucks after coupons and rebates.

I never knew how they did it, until now. I ended up with a bunch of coupons for free items from various summer events and whatnot. I was bound and determined (especially in this economy) to use those coupons before they expire.

I ended up at Giant Eagle because they carried all of the things I had coupons for. Since this was a side shopping trip and not a real “hey we need groceries” trip I decided to get only the stuff I had free coupons for which came to $42.48.

I handed over my fist full of coupons to the cashier. I was nervous about handing over so many coupons at once. I hoped they didn’t think I was trying to pull a fast one on them. I wasn’t. I was just being cheap. The cashier gave me the stink eye as she worked her way through all of my coupons because there were a lot of them.

But it paid off.

Big time.

I end up paying 17 cents for a huge bag of groceries!

For sales tax.

17 cents people.

Here’s the haul:

12 organic Stonyfeld Greek Style yogurts (I always wanted to try this stuff. I got my chance. It’s yummy!)

2 organic Ragu spaghetti sauces (We usually make our own sauce.)

1 reduced fat Weight Watchers yogurt (I usually buy big tub o’ plain yogurt and flavor it with fruit or jelly. Pre-flavored yogurt was a treat!)

1 Milky Way candy bar (An addiction of mine that goes way back. I try to keep that in check by avoiding vending machines…let's pretend I'm successful at this shall we?)

1 carton of Tropicana orange juice (I usually get concentrate packaged in a recyclable cardboard and metal tube.)

1 Tide Stain Release Stain Fighter (Think oxygen bleach with added petrochemical stain fighters) that may or not make me break out into a rash (out which happens when my clothes have been washed in Tide detergent in the past.) I’m willing to risk this because of price (Hi Recession!) even though I’m not thrilled about some of the ingredients. If it doesn’t work for me, I know someone who uses it. I’ll give it to them.

Fortunately, I can recycle everything except the candy bar wrapper and the plastic wrap around the stain stuff. Good thing. Most of these items are higher waste treats than I normally buy.

Still even with the higher waste treats, I’m giddy about the 17 cents thing because it will never happen again in my lifetime.

Ever.

I generally stick to store brands. You know the ones that are cheaper even if you have a coupon for the name brand equivalent? And sometimes I just like the store brand better. Like generic corn chips. I don’t know what it is, but I like the generic ones better than the real live name brand corn chips -  maybe that’s just me. And irony of ironies, the generic corn chip doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it (something I try to avoid) unlike the name brand. Happy cheap surprise!

Do you use coupons? Have you ever had a big shopping savings score?

Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or the Condo Blues Email newsletter.

How to Preserve Fresh Herbs

I love cooking with fresh herbs. Unfortunately, when the winter snows come, there goes the fresh herbs I have growing right outside my kitchen door in pots on my patio. This year, I decided to take my cue from the small furry squirrels that are currently gathering nuts for their winter siesta and try my hand at preserving fresh herbs from my herb garden for winter.

The two main methods for preserving fresh herbs are drying and freezing. I’ve done both. Here’s how.

How to Dry Fresh Herbs

The big thing with drying herbs comes down to timing. It’s best that the moisture leaves the herb quickly for maximum flavor. However, if you dry the herb too long and at too high a temperature, you will fry the herb and lose a lot of the flavor of the herb in the process.

One way to get around this issue is to dry your herbs in an electric food dehydrator. Most electric food dehydrators have temperature controls and timers so you can easily set the dehydrator to do its thing and in a short amount of time come back to nice dry herbs ready for an airtight container in your pantry or cupboard. If you don’t own your own food dehydrator you might be able to borrow one from a friend or relative (just return it to the owner in a clean state in a reasonable amount of time please.)

If you want to save electricity (and at these high prices who doesn’t?) there are also several non-electric food dehydrators available for sale. Just be advised that they will take a little longer to get the job done than the electric variety for obvious reasons.

I don’t use the food dehydrator method for one simple reason: I don’t have one.

However, you can still successfully dry fresh herbs without a food dehydrator. The key is to allow air to circulate around the herbs while they are drying so the herbs dry evenly and do not mildew due to moisture buildup. That’s why when I first tried drying herbs on a cookie sheet it didn’t work out very well. However, I did come up with three very easy and inexpensive methods for drying fresh herbs.

• The first method is to put the herb leaves in a small paper bag (one herb per bag please) and put the bag in a cool dry place. Every once and awhile shake the bag to loosen up the herbs and check if they are completely dry or not. Once the herbs are completely dry, transfer them to an airtight container (leftover spice bottles work well for this project) and store them in a cool dark place, such as a cupboard or pantry for further use. 
• The second method is best for drying herbs with small leaves like thyme, or when it’s time to cut back the plants in your herb garden. Cut the stalks of the plant and tie them into a bundle using a rubber band, string, ribbon, etc. Hang the herb bundle upside down in a cool dark and moisture free place to dry. Once the herbs are completely dry, transfer the leaves to airtight containers and store them in a cool dark place, such as a cupboard or pantry for further use
• The third method is to pick the leaves of the herb and put the herbs on a piece of window screen or elevated cheesecloth (I put a piece of cheesecloth on a wire cake rake and it worked out OK) and put the herbs in a cool moisture free place to dry. You can cover the rack with an extra piece of cheesecloth if you are concerned about dust getting on your herbs while they are drying. Again, once the herbs are completely dry, transfer the leaves to airtight containers and store them in a cool dark place, such as a cupboard or pantry for further use.

How to Freeze Fresh Herbs

Freezing fresh herbs is much easier and quicker than drying them. Many cooks consider freezing herbs the best way to preserve the herbs flavor, color, and nutrients. Unfortunately freezing leaves the herbs a little limp and lifeless so they are best used in cooked dishes. Here are two easy and inexpensive methods for freezing fresh herbs.

• The ice cube method. Wash the herb leaves and break or chop so the leaves so they fill a section of a standard ice cube tray. Fill each section of the ice cube tray with the herb; add just enough water to the tray to cover each section, and then freeze. Once the herbs are completely frozen into cubes, transfer the cubes to another airtight container in your freezer. The added bonus of this method is that when it’s time to cook with your herbs, you already have a measured amount to grab from the freezer and go to your stove.
• The just freeze it method. Wash the herb leaves, put them in a container, and stick the whole thing in the freezer. This method works at preserving the herbs put can make it difficult to thaw out a small amount of your chosen herb from the larger herb ice cube sickle.

Now that you know how to preserve your fresh summer herbs you can easily go to your cupboard or freezer in winter, grab those herbs, and get cooking!

Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or the Condo Blues Email newsletter.

How to Paint a Door

Under our unofficial You Broke It, You Fix Rule my repainting of The Condo's scratched and scruffy front door was long overdue.

Did I mention that it was my fault the paint was scratched and scruffy because I used various loops of tape, hangers, and magnets to hang things on the door in the first place? Yeah. My bad.

Fortunately, repainting the front door was a quick no cost project because the builder left us some touch up paint. So while it may or may not be an environmentally friendly outdoor paint (I suspect it isn’t) using the paint you already have on hand is an environmentally friendly practice (saves money too) so that’s what I did.

Here’s how I did it.

How to Repaint a Metal Exterior Door

1. Wash the door with a mild soap and water solution. I used diluted Basic H. Dish detergent great works too.

2.  After the door is dry, sand down any rough patches or peeling paint with sand paper or a sanding block, if needed.

Looks like this door could use a bit more sanding

3. Apply painters, masking, or another type of low tack tape around the doorknob, lock, hinges, etc. to protect them from possible paint splatters. (Guess how I know what happens if you don’t.)

4. Place drop cloth under the door and around the possible paint splatter zone.

• Tip:Never cheap out on paint! However, you can cheap out on drop cloths. Reusing an old sheet or holey tablecloth (as in tablecloth with a hole in it, not a religious artifact) for a drop cloth works very well for this project.

5. Apply an outdoor paint to the door with a paintbrush or use spray paint that’s made for metal and rated for outdoor use. Try not to get paint all over yourself in the process. Unlike me.

Yep, that's my foot. It got worse shortly after I took this photo.

6. Apply a second coat of paint and/or touchups, if needed, after the first coat of paint dries.

7. Remove the painter’s tape.

• Tip: Follow the edge of the painter’s tape with a utility knife before you remove the painter’s tape to keep the tape from feathering or stripping off fresh paint when you remove the painter’s tape.

8. Marvel at your newly painted door!

Proof Why Using Cheap Paint is a Bad Idea

Until I found the perfect set of porch chairs I decided to repaint and revamp a couple of doctor’s office chairs that Husband had from his bachelor days. Since I hated these chairs with a fiery vengeance and thought they would be better served as firewood, I didn’t want to invest a lot of time or money into their makeover. I bought a couple of cans of cheap spray paint from Dollar General and got to work.

The chairs didn’t look so hateful. After surviving Hurricane Ike, not finding anything the right scale that I liked, and the price being right (free) I decided they could stay.

That sealed my fate. *Enter the Condo Blues whammy.*

After two winters of this…

I now understand why it really ticks off The Home Improvement Gods when you use cheap paint and clearance apparel fabric for outdoor upholstery. You get this.

And this.

As my next door neighbor so wisely said to me, “The dollar store is good for many things. Paint is not one of them.”

Have you ever had a cheap fix end up biting you in the wallet?

Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or the Condo Blues Email newsletter.




For some more successful Trash to Treasure Tuesday projects, check out Reinvented.

HairZing Giveaway!

HairZing is an elasticized double comb hair accessory. I got one at BlogHer and after a slight learning curve about how to put the combs in (which would have been less if I actually read the instructions that came with the thing or watched the online videos first) I wore almost every day for two months straight because it made getting up and out the door with cute hair quick and easy. I think I tried all 14 hairstyles the first week I got it.

All photos courtesy of HairZing

The metal combs hold the HairZing securely in my thick hair (although I wouldn’t go jogging in it.) I really like that their HairZing has metal combs because my hair is so thick I often break plastic combs. The little beaded net on the back contains all the stray hairs that normally need corralling when I put my hair up without the any of the extra pins, clips, sprays, gel, etc. I normally have to use. I wish I had this when I grew out my short hair! The HairZing works in all hair types - long, short, thick, thin, curly, and straight.

HairZing is an ethically made product in Kenya and China. In both countries women form their own beading collectives, are able to earn fair wages, and control their working conditions where jobs near their homes aren’t plentiful. This makes me like my new little hair doodad even more.


Win a HairZing! *Closed*

HairZing has offered to sponsor a giveaway! One Condo Blues reader will win a HairZing. Here’s how to enter:

Go to HairZing, take a look around, and leave a comment on Condo Blues as to which style is your favorite.

You can earn extra chances to win by doing any of the following after you’ve made your initial comment on my blog:

1.  Blog about my contest with a link back to Condo Blues. Please leave the URL of your blog post so I can verify it. 
2. Subscribe to Condo Blues by Email. (Yep, this is new!) 
3. Subscribe to the Condo Blues RSS feed. 
4. Follow Condo Blues on Twitter AND tweet about the contest. Please leave your username and the URL of your tweet in your comment so I can verify it. 
5. Put my Condo Blues button on the sidebar of your blog.

You must leave a separate comment for each method you used to enter the contest. If you choose to use every method of entry, you have up to six chances to win! HairZings make great stocking stuffers – so guys you can enter the giveaway and give it as a gift to the woman in your life.

Please make sure that you leave a separate comment on my blog for each method of entry because I will use a random generator to select the winner. The HairZing Giveaway will run from September 21, 2009 – October 4, 2009 12 midnight EST. Good Luck!

This contest is open to US residents only. I will not share your email address with any third parties because I hate email spam probably more than you do. Seriously.

Talk Like a Pirate Day and Flip Flops - What Could be Better?

Ahoy! My name’s Captain Blitzkrieg the one eyed Pekingese Pirate Dog and I’ve commandeered this here blog in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrrr!

First I’m going to start celebrating in a big way by chewing on my favorite skull and crossbones toy Mr. Squeaky.

Next, I’m sending Lisa out to hoist The Jolly Rodger! Looks much better than the football team flags our scurvy dog neighbors have flying from their yardarms.

Then I’m going to put Lisa’s carpentry skills to the test and have her remake The Condo into a pirate schooner so I can sail it down the streets and plunder treats from all my favorite pet stores.

And last but not least, I’m going to announce the winner of the Feelgoodz Flip Flop giveaway  because that scallywag Lisa hasn’t done it yet. I threatened to keelhaul her unless she told me the name of the winner. And the winner is…

lmkirb!

Congratulations lmkirb! You’ll be sportin’ some mighty fine footwear soon.

Now for the rest of ye who didn’t win these fine natural rubber flip flops, don’t go plannin’ to swipe lmkirb’s winnings. Feelgoodz is offering Condo Blues readers $5 off a pair of Feelgoodz flip flops! Just e-mail Martin Roth (VP of Sales) at martinroth89 (at) gmail (dot) com with the code CONDOBLUES and he’ll arrange the payment and shipping particulars with ye.
 

So take a break from what ails you and celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day with me. Start by repeating the Pirate Vowels and work your way up from there. Hop to it me hearties! Repeat after me,” A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes - Arrrr!”

The Devil’s Teacups?

I always have to check out the clearance section at Anthropologie, because, um, – clearance sale – need I say more?

And sometimes some of the things for sale at Anthropologie are truly vintage, not just vintage style. Bonus.

From afar I saw some vintage (?) tea cups in a bin on the clearance table. I walked over to get a closer look.

I saw this.

Yikes!

And then I backed away from the display veerrrry sloooowly. I thought it best to leave them as they were. You know, just in case.

This post is part of Thrifty Thursday.

Potato Chive Bread

Now that summer’s officially over (boo!), and everyone’s garden is bursting with extra food that they want to give me (yay!) I have potatoes a plenty. It’s the perfect time to make a loaf of Potato Chive Bread in the bread maker.

You will need

1/3 cup shredded potato (a food processor is great for this project)

2 teaspoons margarine or butter (I prefer butter, I think it tastes better in baking)

1 cup milk

2 ½ cups flour (I rarely use bread flour in my bread maker and it still turns out great)

2 tablespoons chopped chives (fresh if possible)

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Notice I didn’t mention local, organic, etc. type of ingredients for this recipe. I did that on purpose because I’m not sure what’s available in your area. The last time I made this bread, I went local. The potatoes came from my in-laws garden and the fresh chive came from a pot on my patio. I know you can’t get those.

If desired, cook the shredded potato in the margarine/butter until tender and brown. I didn't do this and my bread came out OK because I have a bread maker that pretty much pulverizes everything like fruit, raisins, etc. I shredded the potato in the food processor first, for thorough cooking and easy pulverizing. Your mileage may vary according to the quirks of your bread maker.

Select the 1 pound loaf size on your bread machine (if applicable.) Add the ingredients in the order listed and according to the manufacturer’s directions. Start the bread machine and wait until done.

Optional: Take this bread to a family reunion and amaze them with your bread making skillz.

A New Use for Old Nail Polish

I ran over a broken glass bottle and got a flat tire on my bike. I also got a major workout because I had to push my bike 3 miles home instead of riding it. That’s the “Blues” part of Condo Blues in case you’re just joining us, *sniff*.

I have no idea how to change a bike tire, especially the back tire because it requires taking off the chain assembly. The gears and chain were a little wonky and I was putting off having someone look at it anyway.

Time to call in a pro.

I sucked it up and took my bike to a Serious Cyclist Shop that did repairs. The type of store that sells real bikes to Lance Armstrong types and expensive touring bikes (no gears – WTHeck? We have hills) to frou-frou moms who ride in very flat neighborhoods (not mine.) Husband and I fully expected to be soaked for the repair and the tire, possibly costing more than my bike.

Did I mention that my bike is a Toys R Us special?

Made for kids?

Yes I’m that short. I have to ride a kid’s bike. *sigh*

Fortunately, the folks at the bike shop were just plain awesome. They didn’t bat an eye when I wheeled Destiny into the shop, fixed my flat, dewonked my bike chain, and pumped up the tires on both my bike and Husband’s to proper level to the tune of only 8 bucks – the cost of the new inner tube.

Then the guy says to me, “Are you having any difficult rides with this bike?”

“Yes” I say, thinking uh oh dude’s going to try to sell me a new bike (which I’d love, but I don’t use the current one enough to justify a new bike just yet. Plus, there’s that whole adult bikes are too big for me issue.)

"Thought so, you’re riding with the seat too low” and then he set it to the proper height for me. I had the best 8 mile ride of my life with properly inflated tires and the seat set at the right height (plus the ride was on a nice flat bike trail, unlike my other rides when I try to commute on rough potholed and patched city streets that don’t have berms for bikes.) Bliss!

Now, here’s the thing. That seat isn’t going to stay at the proper height for long. My bike has a latch were I can remove the seat after I lock it up to deter theft (and look uber cool walking around carrying my bike seat afterwards, like a real serious cyclist type.) I knew the next time I removed the seat that I wouldn’t put it back on at the same height without some sort of indicator. Tape and permanent marker didn’t stay on very well and weren’t very permanent.

Enter the nail polish. A little line of nail polish is all it took to make a discreet and permanent reminder

The fact that the nail polish coordinates with the color of my bike’s reflector is a nice bonus.

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Grow Flowers in Old Lawn Chairs

Here’s a seriously cute creative reuse project for those old 50’s style lawn chairs – turn them into flower pots!

I was be bopping along one of my favorite shopping haunts and found these little beauties outside a shop as an art piece.

They look a lot nicer than my mushroom patio chairs too.

Looks easy enough to duplicate. Find some ugly 50’s style lawn chairs, paint them a wild color (I’m digging the hot pink), stuff them full of dirt (tricky I suspect), and plant a bunch of succulents or any other type of water-retaining plant. (I suspect cactus might look tad inhospitable. Ouch!)

Watering them every once and a while might be a good idea too.

This post is part of Trash to Treasure Tuesday.

Make the World’s Best Peach Smoothie

I came back from the farm market with a big bunch of fresh peaches. It’s warm outside and I’m in a festive mood – peachy in fact – why not kick back on the front porch with a homemade peach smoothie?

Ingredients
2 peaches
2/3 cup or so of plain yogurt (I had a single serving size of yogurt so that’s what I used.)
1 heaping tablespoon of apricot jelly (because we were out of orange juice. A splash of OJ works too.)
Spash of rum for fun (optional)


Make it

1. Peel, pit, and slice the peaches.


2. Blend the peaches, yogurt, jelly/juice, and rum in a blender until smooth.


3. Chill in the refrigerator until cold (if you can wait that long.)


4. Pour into a festive glass* and enjoy!

*The festive glass is a hand painted martini glass I found at TJ Maxx and More marked down in the clearance aisle. A serious Big Game Bargain Huntress score!

Hip Green Deals

I work on my Christmas shopping all year round. It saves me time. It also saves me money, because I often buy things on sale – and under my per person gift budget but often looks like I spent more than my per person gift budget. I love when that happens.

It also gives me time to find meaningful gifts for some of the girly girl fashionestas that are insanely hard to shop for on my gift list – think teenage girls. It should be easy, but it often isn’t. I need all time I can get when looking for those gifts.

I found a few things on Hip Green Deals that may work. For them and quite frankly for myself. (I like to be girly and fashionable too, it’s not all about power tools with me.) Hip Green Deals is a web site that sells one cute, fashionable environmentally friend item a day – jewelry, accessories, health and beauty items, etc. at a discount (hello, ears perk up at the word “discount”!) That’s the good.

The not so good is once they sell out of their item of the day, it’s gone. The next item won’t be listed until the next day so you have to keep checking the site every day, which could encourage over shopping if you’re not careful. I’m going to try to keep that in check by following them on Twitter to get tweets on the daily deals and check it out if it sounds like a good fit.

Has anyone tried Hip Green Deals? What did you think?

Bye Bye Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree

Remember that yellow ribbon I tired around the tree in my front yard because I had a loved one in the military who was deployed to Iraq?

Great news! I took it down today!! My soldier is back in the US and home safe.

I like the tree better this way, don’t you?


This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.