Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organization

Pre-Garage Sale

We've been really busy with college visits and out-of-town guests, but we’re finally getting organized for our Garage Sale.

My husband and I decided to divide and conquer. He took the garage and miscellaneous shelves/storage areas in the house while I weeded through closets, one by one.

My husband did a good job cleaning up some dusty furniture, file cabinets and sports equipment no longer in use. My daughter definitely had an overstock of baby tees and blouses she could part with. I found a ½ dozen prom and bridesmaid dresses and a full dozen of nice dress slacks my husband hasn’t worn since we got married.

     
 

Combine that with 3 sets of old dishes, 4 sets of matching bedding, a small library of paperback books, a TV, boombox and stereo and I think our driveway is full.

We now have an almost empty closet we can now use for seasonal clothing. 
And remember the teenagers room? Messy room   Look at it now!

 

This is exciting!  We bought in-expensive dot stickers at the office supply store to price everything and bright neon cardboard for signs. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Save Money by Packing Your Lunch!

You can really save a lot of money and eat a lot healthier by bringing our lunch to work.   In fact, a few of us in the office formed a "Skinny & Rich Club" on Tuesdays last year in order to align on a date where we would all bring our lunches and eat together, at least one day a week. it was quite a gathering as people came upstairs from our medical division, and some guys came over across the parking lot from our IRWIN tools division. 

While the club disbanded due to hectic travel schedules, I try to make it a habit to still bring my lunch 2-3 days a week.

My favorites are:

1) Frozen Soup - see previous post on how I like to portion & freeze my soups

2) Leftover Dinner - I bring it in a Divided Premier to work and heat everything on foil in our toaster oven.

3) Salads - I put the ingredients (packed in little containers) in a large Premier and then dump & shake it all up when i get to work.  Our large containers are excellent for shaking and mixing dressing.

Here are 2 examples:

Left = Salad w/ Cranberries, Mandarin Oranges, Goat Cheese, Walnuts, Balsamic Vinaigrette

Right = Salad w/ Carrots, Ginger, Sliced Almonds, Asian Vinaigrette

What are your favorite lunches and how do you bring them to work ?

Being Organized to be a Grocery Deal Hunter

I recently found out that September is National Coupon Month.   What a reason to celebrate!  Those who know me realize I LOVE coupons and deals. So, in honor of this holiday, I dedicate today's post.

My love for grocery coupons started about 5 years ago when I started working on advertising for Rubbermaid and was learning how to plan and drop coupons in the Sunday newspaper for our food storage [Fun Fact - Officially, those are called FSIs - Free Standing Inserts].   So, I started to get the paper and look at it on Sunday to learn more about it, and soon became addicted to looking for myself!  It is now something I look forward to on Sundays - a good cup of coffee and my newspaper!

Just last night, I went to my local Harris Teeter and saved $27 on a $47 purchase.  So, I only paid $20 for my groceries.

I know there are a lot of experts out there (check out Jill Cataldo, she is my new favorite), but wanted to share my personal tips and tricks for how I stay organized to be a grocery deal hunter. 

1) ORGANIZE WHEN YOU CLIP

I have found this helps me to refrain from buying items I don't need.  For instance, I recently had to throw out 3 cartons of broth I had bought with coupons.  However, in the summer, not making soups, they expired and I ended up losing money by being overly coupon zealous.

Above is a photo of my organizer which is sorted:

a) By store. 

The front is for grocery. 

The back is for Target items like toiletries and cleaning supplies that are most efficiently bought at Target.   Even with tripling, Harris Teeter can be more expensive than the every day Target price on these items.  Every time I am going to Target, I take a look to see if I need anything that is in that section soon.

b) By Type of Purchase

Triple Coupons - Within grocery, there is a section for items to only buy when there are triple coupons at Harris Teeter.  For instance, I do not use mayonaise daily. But I sometimes use it for recipes. If there is a $.75 coupon (worth $2.25 on triple coupon times) and mayonaise costs $1.89, I will save it to get it for free in case I need it.

Everyday Shopping - There is also a section by area of the store - so when I plan my shopping list, I can quickly see if I have coupons

2) UTILIZE ONLINE SITES

A few of my favorites are SmartSource and Coupons.com for which you can sign up for weekly emails.  I like it being delivered to me because then I don't have to plan to take time to look for the savings.

3) ALIGN YOUR MEALS WITH STORE SPECIALS

I am so impressed with Harris Teeter.  They have an eVic program that you can sign up for weekly.  Every Wednesday, I receive an email with the items I frequently buy that are on sale and also what is on sale in the entire store.  It also alerts you if it is Triple Coupon Week.  I spend 5 minutes to plan my shopping and meals for the week.  I look for:

a) Things I already buy and have no preference on switching.  For instance, I eat fruit daily and yogurt for breakfast every morning.  When shopping, I switch between blueberries / strawberries / grapes as well as yogurt brands depending on the deal that week.

b) BOGOs.  For instance, this week, London Broil and Turkey Burgers are Buy One Get One Free.  So, I plan to incorporate those into my meals this weekend.

I hope you find my tips beneficial.  Please leave comments with any additional tips you may have for Organizing Coupons and Savings.