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Military Families: Save money by shopping at the Commissary!

March 14, 2015Abby H.

For those who do not have a close friend or family in the military, the commissary is the on-base grocery store. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates the military Commissaries throughout the world. Active duty military, guard and reserve members, retirees and qualified family members may shop there. Authorized shoppers need only show proper military ID to use the commissary.

There are 5 commissaries in San Diego:

MCAS Miramar (Mira Mesa/Miramar), Naval Base 32^nd Street (Downtown), North Island NAS (Coronado), Imperial Beach, and Camp Pendleton. There is a Commissary withing 30 minutes of where ever you live in San Diego. There is also a small PX/snack shop/gas station in the military housing up at Murphy Canyon (off interstate 15 at Aero Drive).

If you don’t live in the San Diego, CA area, don’t fret there may be a commissary close to you! To find the commissary closest to you, visit here.

Commissaries charge the wholesale price +10-20% for goods sold in the commissary, and there is a 5% surcharge at the end of your order. What this means for military families is that you can buy food and toiletries for much less than you can at the civilian grocer. The surcharge covers the payroll for cashiers, the electricity bill and other administrative costs.

Without using coupons, the average commissary shopper saves 30% over civilian grocery prices. When you combine the lowered prices at the Commissary with coupons, you will be saving 60-70% over civilian grocery prices. To learn about the coupon policy for the commissary, visit this page. It also includes a lot of great FAQ and some videos.

If you are new to base shopping, here are some things you need to know:

There is no sales tax on taxable items at the commissary: Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, dog food, etc.. There is no tax on food in CA.
The commissary gets crazy busy the weekend of payday. As in you’ll wait in line for upwards of an hour to check out. It’s seriously insane. Try to go a few days after payday to avoid the craziness.
The baggers do not make an hourly wage. They work only on tips. Keep that in mind. There are tip boxes at each checkout stand. My mom generally tips $5-8 for her monthly grocery trip, but she pushes her own cart to the car and loads her car up herself.
There are a large number of tear pad coupons available. They usually have a long expiration date, and are only good at the commissary. Usually, these items that have a pad of coupons next to them are on special, so when you combine the sale price with the coupon, it’s a steal. In that case, buy a couple extra of the items that you find to be on your list or that you know you will use.
You can use manufacturer coupon (from newspapers and printable coupons) at the commissary. State-side locations only accept valid, in date coupons. Overseas locations accept expired coupons, up to 6 month after their expiration date.
Right inside the door of most commissaries is a newsstand type rack with coupon inserts and circulars. Take a minute to pull your cart over, and flip through them. There are always great coupons in them. Don’t forget a tiny pair of scissors!

The commissary has a website. DeCA’s website has a lot of great info, including sales information, shopping lists, and did you know that the commissary also has a savings card that you can load e-coupons onto? You can pick the card up in the commissary, and register it online, load coupons and you’ll be saving even more in no time.

The commissary is a full service grocery store. Most larger locations have butchers and grind their own hamburger/ground beef several times each day, a full produce department (with limited organic produce), a bakery, and a service deli where you can get meats and cheeses sliced, and even a deli sandwich made to order! Most commissaries have organic food, gluten free food, various ethnic foods (South American, Pan Asian, European), and a large variety in name brands. There is no generic brand as DeCA does not manufacture food.

Most commissaries are very large. At MCAS Miramar for example, if you are to walk up and down each aisle in the entire store, you will have walked 1 mile at the end of your trip.

Most Commissaries have a case lot sale each year. Commissary Case Lot Sales are held during both the May and September timeframe each year. The sale dates for each store will be available at least a few weeks prior to the sales commencing. Check your local store during the April and August timeframes for more information.

If you have never shopped at a commissary before and you have base privileges, I recommend that you go at least once. You’ll be surprised.

Oh, one last thing… Don’t forget the scratch and dent section! The one at MCAS Miramar is pretty big.

How do I know so much about the commissary? I grew up in a military family, in a military town, and I grew up shopping on base with my mom. Occasionally when she has a large shopping trip, I go with her as her guest and push the cart (it gets really heavy too!!). I can’t buy anything, as my military dependent ID card has long since expired, but I get a good insight to prices, deals, and sales. It’s a very fun store to coupon fairy at!

Shopping for healthy food with coupons: It can be done!

March 11, 2015Abby H.

One of my goals for this blog is to show you all how to save money and continue to eat the same healthy foods you already eat, or give you new avenues for saving so you can afford more of the healthy foods you like that you can’t find coupons for.

Today I went to Ralphs. For $7.30, I bought all of this:

That’s 10 1 lb. packages of Driscoll’s Strawberries and 3 cartons of Dream Blends nut milk. I used ten Driscoll’s coupons I earned from the Driscoll’s Advisory Panel and three Dream Coupons that I printed from a recent Facebook Campaign (they are no longer available).

The Strawberries were $1.48 on sale and I used a .75 off coupon on each package, for a total of $.73/each.

The nut milk was marked down to $1.79/each and I had $2.00 off coupons. Because the coupon price was greater, the cashier adjusted the amount of the coupon on her register, so I received the nut milks for free.

But, what am I going to do with 10 lbs of fresh fruit? I’ve already chopped up 5 lbs and put them into snack size Ziploc bags. They are chilling in the freezer, perfectly portioned for smoothies or to go into yogurt.

Henry is taking two pounds to school tomorrow to share with his class (his school has a no baked goods/candy for birthday celebrations rule).

One pound we will eat tonight, and the remaining two will be served at Henry’s birthday party on Saturday. Ten pounds of fruit doesn’t go all that far when you have two guys that LOVE fruit!

If you follow a healthy diet and are looking for more coupons on the products that you regualrly purchase, here are a few suggestions:

Check the websites of the products you like. You’d be surprised how many have printable coupons on their websites! That’s how I found out about the Driscoll’s Advisory Panel!
Don’t forget to check websites like Coupons.com, Redplum, Smartsource, CommonKindness, and Hopster for healthy printable coupons. Common Kindness and Hopster specialize in “whole” food coupons.
Don’t skip out on the money saving apps! This article has a pretty comprehensive list of money saving apps.

Recipe: Butternut Carrot Bisque

March 11, 2015Abby H.1 Comment

Bisque. It’s gotten a bad rap. Rich, creamy, laden with calories.

If your refined palette demands a creamier texture here is a secret cooking ingredient: Evaporated Milk. It’s got a rich, velvety mouth feel that mimics cream in soups, but it’s got a fraction of the calories. And it’s shelf stable, so you can always keep a few on-hand.

Butternut Carrot Bisque

Ingredients:

1 bag of cut up Butternut Squash (about 22 ounces- About the same amount of flesh from one medium sized Butternut Squash)
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 T. butter
10 oz Wild Veggie™ Carrot Puree
4 cups Stock (your choice, I either use vegetable stock or chicken stock)
Salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste

Directions:

In a large stockpot, saute onion in butter until the onions are translucent.
Add in butternut squash and continue to cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until squash is soft.
Add remaining ingredients, and cook on low for 20-30 minutes, allowing flavors to blend.
Prior to serving, process in a blender in batches (I use our Ninja), or use an immersion blender.
Serve steaming hot with biscuits. YUM!

This also freezes really well, so if you have leftovers, freeze them for a night that’s begging for soup!

Getting Crafty at Home: Frugally!

March 7, 2015March 7, 2015Abby H.1 Comment

Henry loves Animals- All Kinds. So a few months ago we decided to do a craft that focused on his love of sea life. I try to do a craft with him 3-4 days a week in the morning after breakfast. And we do it on a budget. I spend no more than $10/month of craft supplies. I’ve posted my money saving tips for crafting at the bottom of this post.

Making our Aquarium took a few steps.

Gather supplies: Construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. We also use a lot of glitter glue.
Cut out “water” and glue/paste it to large piece of craft paper.
Then we selected 4-5 sea animals the he likes, made them out of construction paper (and pipe cleaners for the crab!), drew faces on each animal based on what the animals do (mean face for crab because he pinches, big open mouth for the hungry piranhas). We made a few of the sea animals 3-d (anemones and jellyfish and crabs legs and pinchers).
If you aren’t sure what kinds of sea creatures to make, check out Octonauts (they are on YouTube), or other nature shows for kids (we also like Wild Kratts). There are tons of cool books about undersea creatures aimed at kids at your local library.

If your kids aren’t into undersea animals, here are a few other fun crafts with animals:

Make a goldfish bowl: Start by pasting goldfish to fishbowl shaped paper and use water colors to paint the water in the fish bowl.

We also love to make what Henry calls “Going to the zoo”: Draw animal cages on paper or make them out of pipe cleaners or stick pretzels and put different animal crackers in the cages. We do this before a zoo trip. I try to keep 2-3 zoo maps with our craft stuff too, so we try to find the animal cracker animals on the zoo map too.

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Caterpillars: I cut out wiggly caterpillars from green construction paper. Then we glue pom poms to his body (because caterpillars are fuzzy), add googily eyes and draw a mouth. Sometimes we add antennae.

To make our crafts more educations, during our craft time, we talk about the sounds that the animals make, where they live (habitat), what do they eat (meat, plants, both?).

Sometimes we make Monsters. This is a great opportunity to talk about different body parts, and how people and animals are all different. Here is a photo of out Monster assembly line:

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We try to do a craft each day: drawing, painting, cutting paper into shapes. These activities help foster his creativity and imagination, and they help hone his motor skills. To keep Henry engaged, I select crafts and activities based on subjects that are of his interest.

Tips to keep daily/weekly crafting frugal:

We re-use all kinds of stuff: paper towel or toilet paper rolls for kaleidoscopes or pirate spyglasses, magazines for pictures in collages, cardboard egg cartons make caterpillars, clamshells, baby chickens, or spiders.
Dollar tree and 99 cents only have great selection of craft supplies like construction paper, glue and glue sticks, googly eyes, jingle bells, pipe cleaners.
I try to make a batch of playdoh each month. I use glitter and food coloring to make the playdoh a little more fun. We use playdoh to crafts and creative play. I’ll post my Fool Proof Play dough recipe later this weekend.
Stuff around the house that isn’t strictly a craft supply can be used: cupcake liners make flowers or butterfly wings, q-tips, sponges (cut them up to paint), potatoes (stamping or painting).
Using stuff from nature: Henry loves the little “pokey balls” from the Chinese elms. Right now they are porcupine puffer fish, but in the past they’ve been all kinds of fun stuff. Paint leaves, use cat tails as paint brushes, gather small sticks and use them to make houses, stack them up, or paint them to use another time.

Score a free Mug from Tiny Prints (Today Only)!

March 7, 2015Abby H.

(This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase via on of the links I post, I may receive a small commission).

I love picking up these mugs (and really any photo related gift item) when they are free or pay shipping only. I try to buy a few throughout the year and stash them in our gift closet. I just use photos we’ve taken over the past few months to make cute keepsakes. They make great holiday gifts for grandparents.

Through today only, you can score a free 11 ounce customizable photo coffee mug (pay shipping and any applicable sales tax only- about $7) when you spend at least $1.00 at TinyPrints. Not sure what to buy? Tiny Prints has great Address Labels (I am a huge fan of address labels- I go through a lot of them!). These are the Address labels Henry just helped me pick out.

To take advantage of this great deal, remember to use coupon code TPFREEMUG at checkout. This deal is only valid through 11:59 Pacific time tonight!

Now for the boring fine print:

Offer expires 3/7/2015 (11:59 P.M. PT). Use code TPFREEMUG at checkout to enjoy one (1) free mug. There is a $1 minimum purchase required for this promotion. This offer is not applicable to previously placed orders or toward the purchase of calendars, photo books, gift certificates, personalized postage stamps and Erin Condren weekly planners. Offer cannot be redeemed more than once per account, household and/or billing address. This particular offer code can only be redeemed once. Offer is only valid on Tiny Prints and is not applicable to third party or partner websites. To prevent fraud or abuse, we reserve the right to discontinue or modify this offer or cancel any order.

Dial Miracle Oil Body Wash Review and Giveaway

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015Abby H.6 Comments

Taking care of my family is important to me, so I’m always on the look out for new products, services, and fun stuff that can enrich our lives. Recently Purex Insiders offered me the opportunity to try out the new Miracle Oil Body wash from Dial. After doing a bit of research on the key ingredient, I jumped at the chance.

The “Miracle Oil” is Marula Oil, which comes from the nut of the Marula tree. It’s found in several countries in Africa, and not only is it used in cosmetic preparations because it contains vitamin E, but also linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is a fatty acid that provides moisture for skin- it is readily absorbed by the skin, so it leaves the skin supple, not shiny and greasy (very important!).

Dial uses all of the goodness contained in the Marula Oil to formulate a body wash that left my skin soft, supple and moisturizer throughout the day. This new body wash is formulated with Micro Oil Technology for a luxurious, clean-rinsing lather that leaves skin feeling clean, soft and smooth. It smells light and exotic, and the scent lingers all day. Lil’ Man told me, “Mommy, you have a good smell!” The scent is pretty unisex, so it’s great for the whole family, especially if multiple family members have dry skin (and with the cold this winter, I know we are all suffering!). I love that it makes so many lovely, rich, moisturizing bubbles!

Dial® Miracle Oil Body Wash is available at Target and other Mass Merchandisers. You can enter to win your own bottle! I am giving away 1 coupon for a free bottle, so one lucky winner will get to try the exotic, moisturizing body wash.

To enter, check out the Rafflecopter widget below! Don’t forget to comment with your biggest skin care concern this winter to get your first entry in!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Dial brand provided me with a sample of Dial Miracle Oil Body Wash in exchange for a product review. However, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Essential Oils: Taking care of yourself naturally (and a review)

March 1, 2015Abby H.

Having spent a few years as an esthetician, I’ve seen and heard of people using all kinds of weird things on their skin (like the lady who scrubbed her face with Comet and used Listerine as toner), but the one thing I’ve always recommended for most people is using Essential Oils in their homes for skin and body care.

Unfamiliar with Essential oils? Wikipedia defines them as, “An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.”

Very few oils are ok to use neat (straight out of the bottle), most need to be diluted with another compound to be safety used on the skin. I like essential oils because not only do they smell great, but many can help with health issues.

I wanted to highlight a few essential oils and give you a few ideas on how you can incorporate them into your life. Because you don’t need many drops for most uses, one bottle will last you a while. And most of the other ingredients for the recipes below include items that you may already have in your home! Thanks to InstaNatural and Tomoson, I was able to try Lavender and Peppermint essential oils for free recently.

Lavender: It is great for helping you relax, and to lull you to sleep.

Linen spray is awesome for helping you unwind after a long day. Spray your pillows and bedclothes about 20 minutes before bed. Take a few deep breaths when you get into bed and you’ll be sleeping like a teenager (we all know that babies don’t sleep well) in no time. I like mixing 20 drops Lavender oil with 1 part vodka (the cheap stuff or rubbing alcohol), and 2 parts distilled water. Pour into a spray top bottle (like these).

Relaxing body moisturizer is wonderful way to calm down a child that doesn’t want to go to bed. Just mix 3 T. of room temp. coconut oil with 10-20 drops of Lavender oil. Let the mixture sit overnight. Scoop out a little bit and work it between your hands until it’s melted and massage it onto your clean kiddo. I do this for Lil’ Man on those days when he just won’t go to sleep. I rub it onto his back, shoulders, and chest. By that time, he’s pretty calm and ready for bed!

The InstaNatural Lavender oil was very mild- Perfect for use right after a bath on Lil’ Man’s back and feet. He slept for 13 hours, I think that might be a new record!

After Lavender, my next favorite essential oil is Peppermint. It’s very invigorating, and clean smelling.

Body Scrub can be made with any Essential Oil, but I love using Peppermint oil. Mix 1 cup sugar (white or brown, your choice), with 1/4 c up of room temperature shea butter or coconut oil, and 20 drops of essential oil. Mix together and store in a jar with a tight fitting lid. You can also use salt, but it’s a lot more abrasive.

Decongestant A simple DIY trick to help release that awful stuffy nose you or the kiddos have is to drop a few drops of Peppermint Oil into a diffuser (like this one) and breathe deeply. Peppermint oil really helps you breathe when you are all congested. You can also drop a few drops into a basin of very hot (steaming) water, put a towel over your head, lean over the bowl (using the towel as a tent) and breathe in the steam. You’ll be feeling better in no time! If you have very sensitive eyes or skin, I’d avoid the “steam tent”.

I used theThe InstaNatural Peppermint oil this morning! I whipped up a batch of peppermint scrub this morning, using kosher salt and coconut oil in a repurposed cream cheese tub. I’ll be using it to give my self a pedicure tonight. The abrasiveness of the kosher salt will really help exfoliate the dry, rough spots on my heels. I’m breathing clearly just from smelling the oil while mixing up my batch. I’ll report back with an update after my pedicure tonight!

I want to thank the great people over at InstaNatural and Tomoson for the chance to review these essential oils. I was not financially compensated to review these products, however I received a bottle of each oil free to facilitate my review. I only recommend products and services that I feel may be a good fit for my readers.

When being frugal isn’t easy…

February 24, 2015Abby H.

"Hot Diggity Dog! .25 off a 48 pack of Toilet Paper!" Courtesy : thegraphicsfairy.com — “Hot Diggity Dog! .25 off a 48 pack of Toilet Paper!” Courtesy : thegraphicsfairy.com

Being Frugal ain’t easy sometimes, kids. I won’t lie.

It’s not always carts of free groceries, double coupons, and mail boxes fulla rebate checks.

Sometimes it’s getting stuck with a cart full of free food that’s yucky (once I bought a bunch of dinner kits that were free after coupon, but they tasted like what I imagine dog food resembles), a newspaper full of .35 off a huge package of already very expensive toilet paper, and an empty mail box (or a mailbox full of bills-Even Worse!).

These are all experiences that every couponer and frugal person goes through.

How do I keep my head up during the hard times were it seems like no matter how I try, money is just pouring out of my hands, and I can’t get a handle on it?

This too shall pass! It’s hard to believe, but everyone goes through it. Even frugal folks like me!
Count your blessings. And while you’re at it, inventory your pantry, fridge, and other stockpiles. Know what you’ve got on hand, and find ways to use up what you’ve got- That will help you get spending under control.
Make a plan. How can you: Repair, upcycle, use up or do without? Don’t forget local community resources like freecycle, Craigslist free section, and your local branch of the Buy Nothing Project to help you find what you need.
Forget about the Joneses. Everyone wants what’s new, bigger, better, faster. Get out of that mindset. Forget about what your friends and neighbors have, and focus on what matters. Family, friends, and being a good person (seriously!). If you ever find yourself thinking “What kind of dining set defines me as a person?” maybe it’s time to re-assess priorities.
Don’t spend money. For some people, shopping is catharsis. Buying new things makes you feel new, but at the end of the day, how did all this stuff get paid for? If you gotta get out and shop, check out a local thrift store. Support a charity and save some money.

How do you keep your head above water when living the frugal life gets hard?

DIY: Stuff Animal Bean Bag Chair

February 23, 2015Abby H.

Lil’ Man has a lot of stuffed animals. He’s got some in a hammock like this one, but it’s not enough space.

IMG_1812-1024x757 Witness the 45 gallon Sterilite tote on wheel crammed full. Now We’ve weeded out the ones he doesn’t play with or like, but there are still a lot.

I’ve been looking online for better storage methods, and I came upon a few sites suggesting a “bean bag” chair. You can buy a bean bag chair cover for about $20, or if you’ve got a little craftiness in you, you can make one of your own for a lot less.

Basically you are making a large drawstring pouch.

All you need is:

3 yards of 60 inch wide fabric or a twin sized duvet cover (scour thrift shops)
3 yards 1 inch wide(or wider) grossgrain ribbon
Pins, scissors, sewing machine, thread

IMG_1809-1024x764 I used a queen sized duvet cover that I found at Amvets. I washed it and turned it inside out. I trimmed it down to 86(width) x60 (length). I kept the top with the snaps (the 86 inch side), and one adjoining side.

If you are using fabric, fold the fabric in half, the long skinny way, so the selvedges (that’s the edges that are already finished-sometimes they have writing on them) are at the top and bottom of what will become the bag.

Now the the bag is sewn together, fold over the top and stitch it down. This is called a casing. You’ll need to leave a gap of about 1 inch, so that you can thread the ribbon through the casing.

Here is what the casing looks like on the other one I made:

Because my duvet already had a finished top, I snipped little holes in the top casing and threaded my ribbon through, using the safety pin. Attach the ribbon to your safety pin and guide through the casing.

Then, I turned it right side out, stuffed it full of friends, pulled the drawstring tight, and it was ready to be enjoyed as a bean bag chair in Lil’Man’s room in a corner with some books.

IMG_1817-1024x764 As you can see, Woody and Salmon Fish are kicking back.

There are tons of tutorials. Many call for a piece of mesh to be sewn in, but it’s a PITA to sew down (it moves even when pinned down), so I opted not to do that. and really, if you need to get into it, just open the drawstring and start fishing for toys!

You can also use an old top sheet in whatever size you have, just cut it down to fit. Our toy bag chair is large because of all of the toys Lil’ Man has, but if you’ve got less, feel free to make the bag smaller. Conversely, if you have more, make it bigger!

Saving time and money with meal planning!

February 18, 2015Abby H.9 Comments

One way to keep on the frugal track is to meal plan. If you’ve never meal planned before, it can seem daunting. Here are just a few tips to get started.

Inventory your pantry, freezer, and fridge. I use these worksheets. I keep them in plastic sheaths taped to the fridge and inside the cupboard. That way you know what you’ve got on hand without having to dig. I update them every week.
Check out your favorite grocery stores weekly circular online before you hit the market. You may find that chicken is on sale that week- in that case, plan to cook more dishes that involve chicken. To save the most amount of money, eat what is in season and what is on sale!
Make a list of the types of dishes that your family already enjoys. Make a list of the ingredients for each recipe. Check off the ingredients you already have on hand.
Gather up some recipes that you’ve wanted to try for a while. Make a list of the ingredients the recipes call for that you don’t have on hand. I try to add in one new recipe each week.
Decide what you want to cook for dinner each night (based on what’s on sale, recipes your family likes, and maybe 1-2 recipes that you’d like to try that are new to you). I try to have one night where we eat up leftovers. I also make a green salad to go with dinner that night.
Plan on having the ingredients for a few easy meals on reserve in the pantry/freezer. Sometimes your day goes south and you don’t have the time/energy to make what’s on the menu for a certain night. Having something easy to make waiting in the wings keeps you out of the drive-thru! I try to plan the extra meals around stuff that we already have in the cupboard. If you don’t have any “extra” food, plan on buying the ingredients for 1 extra meal each week for a month. It can be as simple as a can of soup and grilled cheese- No need to be gourmet every night!
Write a list of all of the ingredients that you need for your weeks menu that you do not have on hand.
Look online and in inserts for coupons. To save time, use a Coupon Database to locate coupons. I like Couponmom’s Coupon Database– it’s separated by state!

It can take a few weeks to a month to get into the meal planning groove. Give yourself grace and realize that it doesn’t come easy to everyone!

Now, if that is too much work, there are websites (and companies) dedicated to helping you meal plan. eMeals is one of them- It’s not free, but it’s pretty cheap ($5/week or so). They ask you a bunch of questions about your family, diet, and where you live and they supply you with grocery lists based on your dietary needs and where you live and shop.

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