Dinner today was delicious, healthy and certainly hearty. I had all the items in the house....love my stockpile and planned shopping trips. I had chicken breasts in the freezer which I baked the night before. Brown rice, green beans from our local fruit/veggie stand, a can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup, ritz crackers and melted butter equals one great casserole. I also had purchased a mix of red leaf and romaine lettuce as well as grape tomatoes and cucumber in my fruit/veggie stand trip Monday. No spend day as far as I am concerned! Leftovers for tomorrow

We have snow on the way, but only about six inches. Traffic will be excruciating tomorrow, I am sure. Thank God it is Friday tomorrow!

I am scaling back on my CVS purchases; however, this particular week had some items that we like to purchase/use on sale and it was a perfect storm of coupon matching. Here is the breakdown:

3 boxes of Cool Touch Kleenex (LB likes these--bought them on a previous CVS trip): 50 cents per box

6 boxes of Wheat Thins: 83 cents per box

2 packs of Valentine's Kisses: $1 per pack

2 bags of Kettle chips: 65 cents per bag

I also purchased a loaf of wheat bread because LB doesn't like the Brownberry Oatnut I got on sale (I happen to like it, but oh well). I used the bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches with the homemade turkey soup stashed in our freezer. Background story on the soup: when I first started this couponing endeavor, it was around Thanksgiving and Turkeys were delightfully on sale. I bought one for around $5 with my coupons and froze it. I figured it would eventually come in handy as a cheap meat option. My mom soon after found out her markers were super high and that she would have to go back on chemo. Because she gets super nauseous, I decided that turkey soup might be a good food option for her, so over winter break, I cooked the turkey and made the soup. I froze a container for us and am pleasantly surprised to say it was REALLY good. I do need to figure out a better way of noodling the soup as the frozen noodles became soggy upon reheating. LB said he liked them as it kind of had a dumpling effect.

In any event, checked the ads for our local grocery stores this week and the only really decent deal going on is Tide at Jewel for $4.99 per bottle if you buy two with coupon. I have a bunch of $2 off Tide coupons, so will buy two for $2.99 a piece. I will also hit up our local fruit/veggie market for some cheap produce for next week's lunches and dinners. We've got rice, pasta and potatoes. Life is good

So I joined swagbucks.com and have already earned my first $5 Amazon gift card. I have decided that the better deal is to work towards accumulating as many $5 Amazon cards as possible. I will save these for my Christmas shopping next year. I have also decided to save any Target gift cards I receive for purchasing specific deals at Target rather than rolling them into another purchase. So will my earnings through savingstar.com as well. In the mail today, I received something regarding a class action law suit. What ever amount I receive will go towards the Christmas fund goal.

The grocery store in my area has this sweepstakes going on where specific items in the store get you game tickets. If you collect the right tickets, you can win grocery gift cards, cash, TVs, even a car. After months of collecting the darn things, I finally won a $2 gift card. I'm stoked. Mission complete--I won something! People at work have been complaining of all the work involved for nothing. I liked last year's promo better. I paid two cents for two non-stick beautiful pans. Ahhhh well, $2 for the win!

On the CVS note, I totally picked up some sweet deals this week. I had four 40 cents/1 softsoap coupons and they were on sale for 99 cents a piece at CVS. I now have a stash of five hand soaps in my closet. I also snagged eight tubes of sensodyne for LB and my mom (who can only use sensodyne due to the chemo) for $1.80 a piece and two free carmexes (the sensodyne usually retails for $5.99). I paid a total of $14 for $55 worth of merchandise and boy is my stockpile looking good. It's full of favorite brands all purchased at a fraction of the price. In fact, cheaper than I would generally spend on the "I need" list. I love this saving approach. So superior!