Crazy Snapfish Deals

There are bunch, so be sure to check out their website today! Deals include 100 Free Prints, when you buy 2 8x10 and BOGO photobooks.

A great one for holiday shopping though, especially if you are shopping for grandparents or godparents, is buy one caledar, get two FREE! Enter 1CAL2FREE by Oct 31. Deal is for 12x12 wall calendars.

Red Envelope 70% off today birthstone necklace

Check this out! Regularly $79.95, today its $23.99!

What a great Christmas present or even birthday present...no matter what time of year the bday is!

Saving more this week

The Monkey got sick with either food poisoning from bad fruit or just a quick virus. Either way Tuesday was lost completely and today we have watched more Barney than I care to remember.

The bright side (always have to look for it) is that I didn't cook today because, in part, we had so much left over from last night. So the crockpot meal I was going to make will be bumped to next week.

As for last night's version, which I mentioned here, it turned out pretty well. Next time I will add less broth (even at half the rec'd amount it was still too soupy) and a bit more than a TB of flour. My hubby loved it though, so thats always a good sign.

Stay dry and safe, the weather outside today is insane!

Send me your deals...

...and spread throughout the Blue Patch Couch universe :) Email me or FB me deals you find and I will share as soon as The Monkey lets me!

Today's deal comes from Erin in Alabama. Get a head start on holiday shopping! Get this pink razor scooter from Amazon shipped for $24.

(thanks to couponing for disney for the original post)

Our food diet this week

In my efforts to eat what we already have, this is our menu for this week.

Tonight: hamburgers (we had the meat), paid $1.17 for buns at Harris Teeter. Total out of pocket cost: $1.17

Tuesday: crock pot recipe found online. Have never tried. Its called Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup.
The ingredients: 1 lb chicken (check); 2 cans of black beans (we have one that I have been dying to figure out a way to use so check); 4 cups chix broth (we have this, but I am only using 2 so as not to make so runny); 1 cup mushrooms (we didn't have so bought a package of slicked for $1.79, using half on Wednesday-see below); 1 cup frozen corn (check); 1 jar of salsa (we have almost a complete jar, so check); cumin 1 1/4 tsp cumin(check, will probably use more, I love cumin!); 1/2 cup sour cream (check); shredded Cheddar cheese to sprinkle at end (check). Total out of pocket cost, $1.79/2 = 89 cents.

Wednesday: Guinness Beef Stew in the crock pot. I have had this recipe for years. I thought it was a version of Rachael Ray's but can't find online. So here goes.
2 1/2 lbs stew meat (I have 1 lb, so am halving everything, check); 5 TBSP of flour (check); 1 tsp salt (check); 1/4 cup olive oil (check); 2 medium yellow onions (didn't have so bought for 79 cents at Trader Joes); 1 can of Guinness (check..hey we are Irish, of course we have Guinness on hand); 1 lb baby carrots (check); 1/2 eggplant (didn't have so bought for $1.49 at Trader Joes and will cook the rest shortly); 1 cup of mushrooms (see above, check); 2 cloves garlic (sorta check, I have minced garlic in the fridge so will sub this); zest of an orange (didn't have, so bought one for 69 cents); fresh parsley (subbing dried); fresh thyme (subbing dried); bay leaf (check); one stalk celery (check). If you want how to put together, email me. Total out of pocket cost: 79 cents (times 2) + $1.49 + 89 cents + 69 cents = $4.65

Thursday: leftovers from either Tues, Wed or the pizza from last week.

Friday: on the road for family wedding

Saturday: wedding dinner

Total cost (clearly not including our dinner from Sunday night): $6.71!

Planning this out helped me a lot. As I have said before I am going to try to do this more often.

Night!

October was a bust

The best part about October is that it is almost over. We blew past all our budgets! But hopefully by getting in the swing of things now this will help us come the holidays.

Last night we had an awkward moment, so to speak. We went out to dinner to celebrate a family birthday. Our meals (the 3 of us) came to about $40 with tax and tip. But since it was a celebration originally there was talk of splitting the bill 3 ways. This would have made our portion $95. I couldn't do it. I was embarrassed, yes, but I couldn't do this. I felt a bit like Phoebe (or was it Rachel) and Joey in an old Friends episode where one had a salad and was going to pay $50.

I honestly told my brother and SIL we couldnt do this. They didn't seem upset and just said pay what you could. So we chipped in for the birthday boy dinner and added extra for tax and tip. Our total was considerably less than $95, and while it was momentary embarrassment, I can deal. Having an extra $40 on Amex when we can't afford it is not a good idea. I think/hope my bros understood.

Hopefully November will be better. We have a freezer full of food so we should be able to make most meals at home. And my husband and I came to an agreement about his lunches. It understandably gets boring have a deli sandwich every day. So he can go out once a week. But if he chooses to go out twice (ala last week) then the following week he can't go out at all.

We are making headway and I firmly believe all our struggles and money saving lessons are going to help us when (and not IF) we become more financially sound.

Happy Monday!

Half off Body Shop with Groupon Today

This will go a long way at Christmas Time!

Groupon is giving away $40 worth of Body Shop products for $20! Click here for the details!