We Joined a Gym - Club Hasay Update

I know it's not the most frugal thing, but after a lot of thought and discussion, hubby and I have joined a gym. It is less than $50 a month and we can go anytime we want because they are open 24 hours a day. We decided that our health was just too important. Hubby's family has a lot of heart disease and he needs to be preventative. He would also like to lose about 20 pounds. I need to lose weight because I just feel crappy about myself a lot. I really want to fit back into the clothes I wore before I had the last two kids. I was about 165 when I got pregnant with dd three years ago and that is my first goal. Then I will work on making it to 145.

In order to pay for the gym, I told Ben we would have to get rid of the cable. I didn't think he would actually do it. God forbid he miss his Mets. But, two days later he said he would really like to sign up for the gym. He had gotten a free pass for the week so he knew he wanted to get a membership. He will now be watching his baseball games at the gym or listening to them on AM radio. I think we will all be healthier without cable. We will still have channels 2-13, so the little ones can still watch PBS and we can still watch the news. And we will also have Internet, so if we really want to watch something, we may be able to do it online.

My first workout was Saturday morning. There was only about 8 people in there when I went. It was nice too, because there were no really buff people in there. Most of the people were at least 10 or 20 pounds overweight, so that made me feel better. They had some really awesome machines, but some of them took me a little while to figure out because they were so new and different from what I used a few years ago at a different gym. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill, then 3 reps of 12 on an ab machine, a leg machine, and a shoulder press machine, then I did 20 more minutes on the bike. I felt really good afterwards.

I didn't get to go to the gym yesterday because we were working on the garden all day, but I still got a really good workout. I am hurting today that's for sure. LOL. But that means I did work, right? I figure maybe I will go to the gym after my class this afternoon, but I am not sure when hubby plans on going, so that may change. I need to do up a workout plan sometime in the next few days. I have always been knowledgeable about nutrition and fitness, just always lacked the motivation to move my butt. Hoping that will change now.

BREAKING GROUND ON OUR NEW GARDEN

I am SO exhausted! We went up to our land and started getting our garden ready. It's a new garden so we also have to get rid of the sod!! How I wish we had rented a sod remover first and then the rotatiller. It's going to be quite a bit of work to get that sod out of there. But we will get it done this week.

The stupid rotatiller cord broke while hubby was tilling the ground. He had about 3 or 4 more rows that he needed to do a second and third pass on. So, we were pretty close to getting it done. He tried to fix it, but it didn't work. Of course, he can't move this monster of a machine, because it won't roll unless you have it started up. And there is no way someone is going to pick that thing up! LOL. So, tomorrow morning he is off to the rental place to find out what they want to do about it.

The kids had a blast too. Little princess was having so much fun digging in the dirt and my older son kept having to chase after the little guy because he didn't stay in one place for long. LOL. Of course, there we were on 14 acres (our land plus hubby's uncle's) that he could roam around on and all he wanted to do was go up and down the steps! LOL.

I am hoping we will be able to get our vegetables planted sometime this week and then we will be putting up a fence around the garden - so the bunnies and especially the deer don't eat our food. I am dead tired and ready to go to bed. It's not even 11 o'clock yet. That's crazy for me. I am usually one of those people who stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning. So, off to bed I go. Hope everyone had a wonderful day (and enjoyed the beautiful weather if you live in the Northeast). Good night!

Beautiful Weather This Weekend

We are getting ready to have some beautiful weather up here in New York state. It's been pretty chilly the last few days and mostly rainy. Today it was pretty chilly - it's 38 degrees right now at 10 pm - but at least the sun was shining. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 77 and Saturday's is 84!! NICE!!!! It's supposed to be in the 70s and 80s until next Wednesday, when we will have rain and be in upper 60s. I can SO deal with that!!!

The kids will have plenty of time to go outside and play! They haven't been able to the last few days, and the little man has not been too happy about it. I want to take my camera out and get some pics of nature and the kids also. The trees are getting their buds and the grass is getting so green!! I'm just so happy to have nice weather again. Can ya tell? I'm also going to try to fit in a nice walk each day on the weekend. The kids enjoy it and mom gets to work off some of the flubber.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

1. As you may know, my laptop's keyboard has seen better days. It had gotten to such a state that I was missing 3 keys and one wasn't on there right. I really hate laptop keyboards! The keys are extremely difficult to put back on and doing so is an exercise in patience. Friday night I decided to look up what could be done about my poor laptop and after doing some research, I decided to check out Ebay and see if I could find a new one. I found one where I could buy it right then and it was priced really well - $18 including tax and it had free shipping. So, I was sold.

When I got home from my class today, my husband had a surprise for me. He had installed the new keyboard (I was all prepared to spend some time doing this at some point this week). He figured he would surprise me since I was not here when it came. What a sweet husband I have. One less thing I have to do.

2. It is going to be a very busy evening. I got home a little after 3 from my class. Now we are all just getting around because I have an appointment at the library at 5 and at 5:15 baseball practice starts. I am going to be dropping hubby and the kids off a little before 5 and then running over to the library. Thank goodness it ended up being a decent day. In all likelihood we will be grabbing something at a fast food place after practice, as much as I don't want to.

3. My husband got a free week pass for a new local gym that's open twenty four hours a day (you use a card to get in). Well now he really wants a membership. Of course, he is on unemployment, so that isn't going to happen. I told him we could get rid of the extra cable (this would save us $40 a month) and then we could afford a gym membership. He wasn't too keen on that idea because then he would be missing his precious Mets!! lol. I would love to go to the gym too (believe me, I need to lose about 60 pounds) but I think I would rather pay the bills!!

4. I hate IE6 (internet explorer 6)! It doesn't like my signature because it doesn't like pngs. So all you out there need to upgrade to at least 7 or, better yet, use Firefox. just kidding. lol. But 7 does support these other graphic files, so it is better. I will be changing it to a jpg with the pages background behind it so those with IE6 will now be able to see it correctly.

I have a test in my Business Statistics class on Thursday, and this is some hard stuff. Let me tell ya. So, between now and then I will probably not be posting much. So I will wish you all a great Earth Day, one day in advance.

Contest over at Frugal Upstate

I just wanted to let you all know about a contest that Frugal Upstate is having on her blog. You can win a Little Bissell, Green Works products, White Cloud Green Earth products, Tide ColdWater, and a Brita water pitcher. This contest is in celebration of Earth Day. All you have to do is go over to her blog and leave a comment with an idea that is both frugal and good for the environment. Easy right? Go over and visit now, ok?

Beautiful weather and my crappy laptop!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in upstate NY. 70 degrees, sun was shining. Beautiful!! We had the kids outside most of the afternoon and evening, until we went to the store. We went to to Tops and did REALLY well on sales.

Today is supposed to be just as nice. Dh will be gone for a while - he's at the mall taking the defensive driving course. This will save us some money on insurance. When he gets home we will be walking to Family Dollar to look at cell phone chargers for the car. They have LG ones that I think will fit our Net10 phones for $6. They come with 3 different tips so we will only have to buy one if it works with both phones.

Speaking of spending more money..... grrrrrr... I ordered a new keyboard for my laptop yesterday. My keyboard is just beyond repair. My pgDn button doesn't sit there right. Those little white pieces that go under the buttons are just a big pain in the butt. I'm missing one for down key and the one for my space bar broke. I found a new keyboard on Ebay for around $18 including tax (some other places wanted close to $30) and now I just have to wait to get it. Then the fun part will be trying to put it in, but at least I have a manual for that so I should be able to do it.

I've had this laptop a little over a year and it's a piece of crap. My husband bought a refurbished Gateway and it's awesome (it's what I am using right now because of my keyboard). Maybe it's because of all the stuff I added to mine. I don't know. I've tried to restore it several times and it never works. So, this summer, after my classes are done, my big project will be to get all the pictures on CD and copy everything. Then I will be restoring it back to factory standards. Putting it all back in will be a chore also. Then, hopefully, the laptop will work and run better (the thing is just so slow right now). Maybe then I will be able to put off getting a new laptop for several years!

Couponing 101 Part 2

This is the second part of my article on the basics of couponing. If you would like to read the first part, click here.

I personally save any coupon for a product that I will buy if I can get it dirt cheap or even free. For example, we don't usually use Land O'Lakes butter,but I will put it in my coupon holder just in case. So, this week I do have a coupon for it for $.55 and I found it on sale for $1.69. It can be doubled at this store so I will paying $.59 for a pound a butter. Pretty good price huh? You know those coupons they have near products in the stores (they are called blinkies), grab a couple of them if it is for a product you might possibly use. Usually the product is not on sale anyway, so just put it in your holder.

Most store ads come out on Sunday. What I do to prepare on Saturday night is go through my coupons and throw out expired coupons. Besides getting rid of bad coupons, I am also refreshing my mind on what coupons I have. I also personally have a spreadsheet where I keep track of what coupons I have, when they expired and the quantity. I can easily delete and add more coupons and when I want to find a coupon I just click on control-f. I can also print this off and take it with me when I have a lot of coupons in my holder (which is the current state).

Many store ads are online, but you may have a local store that is not. I find it easier to look at a paper ad anyways, plus I am buying a paper for the coupons so why not make my life easier. The front page of the ad is where you will mostly find the best deals, these are commonly referred to as loss leaders. These are meant to lure you to the store and get you to spend money on other things that aren't on sale. Don't fall for this trick. Only buy things that are on sale!

Look through the ad and write down anything that seems like a good deal. You may want to start keeping a price book or a spreadsheet where you can write down who has the best regular prices on things. Be careful, because sometimes they may say it is on sale, but you're only saving pennies. Make sure you only write down things that you may use or eat. Buying stuff to only throw them away is wasteful and you are throwing your money in the garbage.

After looking through the ad, look through your coupons and see if any of them match the sale price. A $.40 coupon may not seem like a lot but if your store doubles coupons then that is really $.80 off that item, which may end up making it a pretty good price. Check with your store about their coupon policy. After looking through your coupons, go online to A Full Cup or CouponMom and see what printable coupons are out there that match your sale prices. Again, check with your individual store to see if they accept Internet coupons (Some Walmarts do and some don't).

Don't forget to look at ads for CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid if you have any of these near you. Many times you can get products for really cheap or even free. Walgreens has Register Rewards where if you buy a certain product or products you can get money off your next purchase at Walgreens. CVS also has a similar program, although I do not know the name of it since there is none around here. Rite Aid has rebates where you can get a certain amount back or you can even get it for free. Walgreens has rebates also, but they are ending and this will be the last month.

Put all your coupons that you plan to use in one spot. I usually paperclip mine together by store and place in the front pouch of my coupon holder. An envelope labeled with the store would also work really well. As you're walking through the store, don't forget to look at clearance items and other unadvertised sales while you are picking up the things on your list. You can really save some money if you can combine these with a coupon. This is really why I cut out any coupons I could possibly use. If I find something on clearance and have a coupon in my holder, I can usually get somethings for cheap. Plus you really never know what you will find on clearance where.

What I usually do as I am putting my items on the conveyor belt is keep a running total in my head. So then I know about how much my total is going to be. I can't always do this, because of the kids or whatever else, but I like to when I can. Make sure you give the cashier your store bonus card if there is one for that store before ringing up. Try to watch the prices as they are ringing up. It's a lot easier for the cashier to fix them at that point, then for you to have to wait at customer service for them to do it. After everything has been rung in correctly, hand the cashier your coupons and watch your total go down.

You may not pay $5 for $100 worth of products, but you will save. The more you use coupons and sales, the better you will get at it. Usually at grocery stores I can save about 50%. At drugstores, it is usually 60%-80%! Your savings will also depend on how good the sales are and what coupons are out at that time. Sometimes, you are just not going to find that good of deals and other times there will be tons. Make couponing and saving money a challenge and it will make it more fun. Shop several different stores as long as you are not going out of your way.

Happy couponing!

Please leave me any questions or comments.

Banana Bread

We have 2 overly ripe bananas. What do you do with brown bananas? Yep, it is time for some more banana bread!! YUMMY!! Making banana bread is pretty easy and very frugal. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare the batter and throw it in the oven. Then it's all about just waiting for it to bake. You can find a delicious banana bread recipe over at allrecipes.com if you don't already have one.

I am off to bake.

Don't Forget - coupon giveaway

I just wanted to remind everyone to come over to my frugal site - www.couponqueenofcorning.com - and help me celebrate getting my own domain. I am giving away over $100 in coupons, so come on over and visit.

Cake in a Mug

I posted this on my Coupon Queen of Corning blog, but I also wanted to share with my readers here, because it is so awesome.

Have you ever bought those single serve microwaveable treats? I believe they are from Betty Crocker. Anyway, I thought I would share with you a recipe I got from my husband's grandmother. It makes one serving, so no risk of overeating, and it's very frugal!

1 coffee mug
4 tbl. flour|
2 tbl. sugar
2 tbl. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tbl. milk
3 tbl. oil
3 tbl. chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of vanilla extract

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, if using, and vanilla and mix well again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip onto a plate if desired.

This is called the most dangerous cake recipe in the world because we are only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

$100 Coupon Giveaway

Hi everybody, I am having a contest over at my new domain. Coupon Queen of Corning. I am giving away over $100 in coupons. Come visit my new domain and say hi.

Changes to my frugal blog

I am working on getting my own .com for my Coupon Queen of Corning blog. I can do this through YoDaddy for $6.99 a year and go right through Blogger to create my posts for free. So, I will no longer be using my today.com blog account soon. I am hoping I will not lose too many readers. I am going to start adding content to my new blog and trying to let everybody know about the change. I will still be using this blog to chronicle how things are going while the husband is on unemployment.

Another Dreary Day

It's another dreary (and cold!) day here in upstate NY. It's 36 degrees and I would love for the sun to poke out from all the clouds. We had enough dreary days the last 3 or 4 months. I want the sun! I don't care how cold it is, as long as the sun is shining! We need a little nicer weather so that we can go get the garden ready for planting. We need to do quite a bit before we can plant so I hope it gets nice soon.

In our garden we are growing:

• broccoli


• lettuce


• onions


• spinach


• beans


• corn


• potatoes


• squash


• pumpkin


• carrots


• and even strawberries!!

Are you planting a garden this year? If so, what kinds of good fruits and veggies are you planting?

Target bargains for the week of 4/5-4/11

Here are some good deals that are going on at Target this week.

- Hershey's and other bagged candy $1.99

- 12ct easter eggs $.65 and easter grass 1.5 oz $.25

- Disney, Dreamworks and other select dvds $6.99. I went looking for Madagascar 1 and 2 on Sunday since both were supposed to be this price but they only had one copy of number 2 left. Also for this price is children's Easter movies.

- Disney movies $13.99 includes Bolt, Pinocchio, Wall-E, etc.

- Gilette Fusion Power razor for $7.99 and Gilette shave gel $1.89. Use coupons from Sunday's paper (if you didn't get one yet sometimes Tops has them for sale for a few days after) for $2 off the razor and $1 off the shaving gel. You then get a $5 giftcard, making these two things about $2!!

- Last week Target sent out coupons for baby products. You can use these coupons along with manufacture coupons (including internet printed ones) to get a great price. For the pampers and huggies diapers, wait until the jumbo packs go on sale for $9.99. You get the best price per diaper by waiting. You will end up paying $6-$7 per pack by using both coupons. For the huggies wipes, the cheapest way to do it is by buying the biggest pack. These seldom go on sale, but per wipe they are the cheapest. I bought a box yesterday for $12.99 and had a $.75 internet coupon and a $1.50 Target coupon. SO, that was a pretty good deal. If you don't already get
these coupons mailed to you, go to the Target website and signup.

- Target also had a deal on the new Always Infinity Pads. This was not advertised in this week's paper but was on the end aisle near the pharmacy. Buy 2 at $8.99 each and get a $5 gift card. There was a $3 coupon for these in the paper, so if you can get your hands on 2 of these coupons you would essentially be paying about $7 for 2 packs.

Crazy Weather

This weather is driving me nuts. We live in the Southern Tier of New York state and the weather has just been crazy. One day it will be typical April weather: 40-50 degrees and raining or just dreary. The next day it will be sunny and 60-70 degrees. It's like every other day, Mother Nature can't decide if she wants it to be spring or summer. No wonder everyone is sick with this crazy weather!!!

What's the weather been like recently where you live?

TOPS DEALS 4/5

I got some pretty good deals at TOPS this week. Check it out and you have a TOPS near you, go over and visit. They have some pretty good deals this week. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it all. I wanted to get it put away before the ice cream melted and veggies thawed.


Betty Crocker Frosting. On sale for $1.50 - $.55 coupon doubled = $.40

2 Betty Crocker Potatoes. On sale for $1.25 each = $2.50 - $1 coupon= $1.25 both / about $.63 each.

2 Ragu spaghetti sauce. On sale for $1.67 each = $3.34 - 2 $.30 coupons doubled (60 cents of each) = $2.14 for both / $1.07 each.

2 Stovetop Stuffing. On sale for $1.25 each - no coupon = $2.50

2 Skippy Peanut Butter. On sale for $2.19 each = $4.38 - 2 $.40 coupons doubled (80 cents of each) = $2.78 for both / $1.39 each.

5 Campbell cream soups. On sale for $.75 each = $3.75 - $1 coupon in 5 = $2.75 for all 5 / $.55 each.

Snyder's chips. On sale for $3 - $1 coupon = $23.01 pounds of bananas for .59 a pound = $1.78

2 pounds of strawberries on sale buy one get one free - $4.99 = Paid $2.50 a pound

3 bags Steamfresh veggies. On sale for $1 each = $3 - $1 coupon off 3 = $2 / $.75 each.

Perry's half gallon ice cream. On sale for $2.50 - no coupon.

Kraft cream cheese. on sale for $.99 -no coupon

2 bags Fleisher bagels. On sale for $1.33 each = $2.67 no coupon

Spinach seeds for garden = On sale for $1.59

Gallon of chocolate milk - coupon for free gallon of milk any flavor up to $4.69 - FREE (we usually don't buy chocolate milk but it was free)

Total Before Savings: $63.42

BonusCard Savings: $20.24

Manufacture Coupon Savings: $10.64

Doubled Coupon Savings: $1.40

Total After Savings: $31.14

Couponing 101 - Part 1

Would you like to start using coupons but don't know where to start? Or maybe you feel like it takes too much effort to clip and use coupons? In this post, I will concentrate on the basics of couponing and how to get started, with less than an hour of your time each week.

One of the keys to using coupons is not to be too brand loyal. You will be able to use more coupons if you are willing to buy different brands. There are only a few brands that our family is loyal to and will not buy anything else. But I am also able to find coupons and sales for these items. When I find a coupon for one of these items, I buy extra papers or buy the coupons online, and stock up.


If you want to start couponing, you will need some sort of filing system. Some people use large binders with plastic insert pages that can hold baseball or business cards. Others use a small coupon holder. I personally use a coupon holder that is a little bigger than the regular sized ones. It holds all my coupons and still fits in my purse. I bought it at Target for $1.
There are several places to get coupons. The place where I get the most coupons, is the Sunday paper insert. When the paper has a lot of coupons in it that are good, I will sometimes even grab another paper. You can also find a lot of coupons online at places like: coupon.com, smartsource.com, and more. I have also bought coupons on Ebay stores for around $2 for 10-20 coupons. This is a great deal if it's for a product you use often. Just make sure you can use a majority of the coupons before they expire.


I will continue with Part II soon, so look for it.