Laughing again

Well at least I can say that the birds are happy around here.  Got the one bird in a bigger cage also.  Between cooking and cleaning around here and my Husband who wants to spend money at this point I am at odds on what to do.  So I will be going fairly cheap around here during the week while the Hubby is gone.  It is nice to a point being married to a truck driver.  When things break down you learn right quick in ways to fix things around the place or call a repair guy/gal.  When I say calling the repair person is meaning as I am not going to try to fix the furnace without not knowing what to do.  Anyway the Sunday paper is always good around my place.  With the coupons and sales I will end up takeing the stores for a ride around here as normal.  Pluss the store that I am going to I will end up with alot more off the gas than some expected around here also.  Now I do not know what all specials in other areas at the grocery stores are at this time at all.  When you can get money off of gas it is always a good thing in a tourist town.  With everything going on and my husband wanting to spend I will save money when I can around here thru the card, coupons, and sales ads around here.  The card is for the double coupons, sale items, and sometimes savings on the gas depending on where you go.  With the Kmart card you get money on the card.  With the Pilot card depending on how much gas you get you get points for store items and free showers.  With the 18 wheeler drivers it helps to get a free shower during the week also.  I will post in how much that I have saved with the coupons and how much I get off of the gas later on.  With the Kmart card I know I have $5.07 already.  That will help in December and January for some things.  Now with alot of the economy folks are strugleing around here.  Also the food prices went up along with the gas prices around here.  My Husband jokes that I am the coupon queen in the area.  Some folks have me totally beat in the area.  I do try alot of the times with coupons around here.  When I can get something on sale along with a coupon I am better off.  It also helps with 2 or more papers when the coupons come out.  When the coupon states like 50 cents off of one item and it is like 2 for 3 dollars you can use 2 coupons on the sale item also alot of the stores will double the cents off coupons.  There are also times around here where one of the stores will have the double of the dollar coupons, or triple off the cents off coupons also.  Tag that with the sale items you can do well at the stores.  Then there are the rebates also.  I have not played with the rebates and the coupons as of yet.  I will admit to it.  Now with some folks around here they are happy that they save 400 dollars a year on the coupons.  With me I save at least a grand around here with the coupons.  It depends on where you go to for the shopping and what your family wants.  I have a mix of food around my place between the store brands and name brands.  I know some folks hollar when there is a hodge podge in the cart.  With me I get alot of chicken and build the meals from there.  As I say mix up the meals with some things anyway.  With the coupons that helps.  If you have children in the household you think about 3 meals a day pluss snacks.  It does not mean you have to cook a full course meal also for all 3 meals in the household.  When I say mix it up in the household you may get one night or one lunch the same a month.  With me I tend to get like chicken and potatoes one night then chicken and veggies with stuffing on another night.  Or there have been nights were we have chicken soup also.  There are alot of combinations for everything.  That is why I sit down and plan a menu for the month around here.  It takes about 15 minutes once you get use to it all.  When you have 3 meals a day it takes a bit longer.  Once I get the main plan out I go from there.  It includes leftovers also around here.  If I make meatloaf here I know I have leftovers so that will go for the week when I am alone and do not feel like cooking.  When you plan out for the meals it makes it alot easier on the person who has children in the home.  Then you know ok lunch is this since we have leftovers from last night.  Also since alot of what I make is from scratch around here and it does not bother me to have pasta and a few other things during the week for leftovers here in the can.  You can mix up the leftovers and make them into a new meal also.  I know some are thinking that I have done lost my mind.  All I am saying is if you make a whole chicken and there is enough for a cassarole make the cassarole for the place.