A Cookie Cutter Diva's Life

My biggest saves this week! Motts Juice .64 after sale and coupon
Crest Tooth paste $.25
Dog Treats/Bones B1G1 Free making them $1.50ea after coupon
V8 Juice $1
Steam Fresh Veggies $.50
Large Pudding Packs $1
Craisins B1G1 Free making them $.90ea
Waffles $.50
Finish Dish Washer Tablets $1.25
Jolly Time Popcorn $.20





I also scored some great groupons this week!
$20 for two to underground a fun place with lazer tag, golf, rock climbing and more (making it buy one get one free basically)
$16 for 4 people to the children's museum in the city!

My oldest daughter had her first pottery class this week down town at our favorite pottery shop! She's doing a month of classes and is so excited! She had so much fun!!



My youngest was sad she wasn't old enough to go so I will have to take her to paint something soon! She how ever had fun finishing up her school work while sissy was there and had to post this cute picture of her.. she has her own style for sure!

Last night I decided I wanted meatballs then I couldn't exactly figure out what I wanted with it but didn't want just regular spaghetti because I'm not a huge fan of spaghetti anyways! So I tried this new recipe and it was YUMMY! Good enough to make me eat spaghetti lol






Now you can make homemade meatballs if you like but I cheated since I had a bag of meatballs from a coupon which made this even more easy and fast! So I tweaked the recipe I found a bit

2 jars marinara sauce
1 package of spaghetti noodles
3 eggs
1 package of meatballs (or homemade)
1 bag of mozzarella cheese


Boil a pot of water and cook the spaghetti noodles. While they are cooking layer a baking dish with marinara and meatballs. When noodles are done cooking toss 3 eggs in and mix. Poor noodles over sauce mixture. Top with a bag of mozzarella cheese and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350. (note: if you're not using a bag of pre cooked meatballs you will need to cook the meatballs first as well)

So being on the freezer meal kick has saved me a ton of money because I'm meal prepping a lot more in advance and using a lot more pantry items all at once on more then one meal that save! A few people have asked how I'm doing my budget so low and I wanted to give an example of what I did this month! This is my meal plan but not in the order of what we eat them of course. I just make the plan and it's what we are in the mood for. We do a few "Fend For Yourself" Nights which have been a wonderful thing for me and started when I returned to work about 2yrs ago and was so busy and so tired that some nights it was nice to just have a night off and fend for yourself rather than spending on eating out or getting junk food so much. We were bad about eating out a lot when I worked as we are during sports season. Which is a huge reason why I picked up the freezer meals! I loved loved loved crock pot meals because they were easy for those nights to have it ready when coming in late but I needed a change of pace and a variety! So a lot of these meals below I made with a lot of things I already had at home. I also use a lot of coupons too and break my meat down in smaller portions and use more "filler" items to cut on cost too.

Because I use a lot of coupons and I stock pile so I can only buy items when on sale or with coupons most all of these meals cost me roughtly $3 a meal! So it was more roughly about $75 but we will say under $100 to give or take some!

Fend for yourself nights are simply just that! You find what's in the house that you can cook and that's what you get! It might be as simple as chicken nuggets or pasta that night! The only night that didn't count was our eat out night of course! And Pizza is not an eat out night it's Dijornios with coupons lol


Most of these recipes have been posted and you can find them by searching in the search area on the right. If not ask me about it and I will post it!








1) Deluxe Chicken Casserole
2) Lasagna & Salad
3) Burritos & Rice
4) Steak Stir Fry On Rice
5) Chicken & Dumpling Stew
6) Lemon Pepper Chicken & Veggies
7) Spaghetti & Salad
8) Taco Bowls & Beans
9) Fajita Chicken Bake
10) Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Rice
11) Chicken & Tomato Pasta & Salad
12) Crock Pot BBQ Chicken & Veggies
13) Pizza Casserole
14) Teriyaki Chicken On Rice
15) Creamy Pasta Bake
16) Chili Mac
17) Chili
18) Pizza
19) Teriyaki Chicken On Rice
20) Creamy Pasta Bake
21) Chili Mac
22) Lasagna Roll Ups
23) Chicken Fried Chicken Patties & Rice
24) Chicken & Dumpling Stew
25) Burritos & Beans
26) Eat Out - Date Night
27) Chili Cheese Dogs & Fries
28) Fend For Yourself Night
29) Fend For Yourself Night
30) Fend For Yourself Night

Well this has been one fun interesting week for school needless to say! lol My husband even came home one day and had a nice BIG WTH are you teaching my 5yr old moment when she walked up to him and said "Today mommy showed us lots of no no spots and people pooping out babies!!!"

I had to explain that we were learning about women having larger pelvic areas and they said so they could have babies and she didn't understand because I was not able to have my babies the right way and they were cut from my stomach via c section and she thought I was lying that babies were delivered the other way so we watched a nice educational video lol I never had to explain this to the other two because TLC's baby story did that for me all on it's own and I walked in on them with their mouths dropped in front of the tv! They also went to all of my prenatal appointments so nothing was ever kept hidden. It's a fact of life! lol

Her art work for science this week..






So to top it off my 2nd grader then proceeds to tell my husband later that evening about how we are made of slime and our bodies are full of it! Of course this is not at all what I said but that's what the 2nd grader took from it and I got another mouth dropping reaction from my husband! What I said when we were learning about the digestive system was "Well, the inside walls of your stomach are covered in a thick layer of mucus and This mucus protects the walls of your stomach from the acid."

And to end my week up she proceeded to tell me while picking up a few things at the grocery story tonight really loud after coming out of the bathroom at Walmart "Mom!!!! My pee's the right color yellow because I drank all this water at the babysitters last night!!!" Gold help me.. lol



On the lighter side of things one of their art projects this week was getting to make little cupcakes and paint them with a really neat craft kit my youngest got for her birthday! They had so much fun with that and she was very excited to share it with her sister! I love when they get neat little stuff like that for their birthday!






I had an exciting weekend as well and was very anxious to weight in this weekend and see how I have been doing since trying to get back on track with the start of the New Year (isn't that when we all do it? lol ) I've been doing really good with exercising and calorie counting and I'm down 3lbs and 3 inches on my waist!!! So excited!! I don't ever expect to be super skinny again but if I could even lose 20lbs and 10 inches I would be on cloud 9!

I scored a $10 Walmart e gift card today when shopping when I picked up some batteries on y trip out to refresh my healthy snacks to keep me doing good so that was a huge plus for my night! I also scored the toy I've been eying up for the little one I nanny $25 off online this weekend!!


And my husband and I FINALLY got out for a date night for the first time since this summer thanks to some good timing finally and my best friend being so wonderful and taking my two youngest so we could have some time! We went to see the new Taken 3 movie and then headed out to the city to have dinner at Outback with a gift card given to him when he coached this last fall for soccer combined with a 15% off coupon!! Gotta love when you get to relax even more on date night with some goodies like that!

Score at Bath and Body Works this week! I am always excited when I get Christmas Money and can hit up the semi annual sale at bath and body works and stock up for the entire year hehe
I got 8 lotions and 7 shower gels all for $2.00 after the sale plus my $10 off coupon!!

Don't miss out and go get yours while it's still going!

Some of my great coupon/stockpile the other day!!


6 - kids 2 in 1 wash $.38ea after coupon
20 - Gillette shaving gel $.38ea after coupon
23 - Hormel wraps $.60ea after coupon
24 - chow me in noodles $.33ea after coupon
90 - cans of cat food $.17 after coupon





These are just my "best" saves! I had 2 carts full of groceries ..after coupons some other deals
Bushes beans $.50ea
Check mix $1ea
Apple jacks $1.50ea
Lance cracker packs $1ea
Orville popcorn box 10pk $2ea
Tea bags $1.75ea
Bags of white rice $1ea
Skippy peanut butter $1ea
Squeezable Motts apple sauce $1.50ea
Cookie dough $1.50eA
Frozen pizzas $.55ea
Tyson chicken $4ea
Deodorant $1.79ea
Axe gel. $2.79ea
Ax deodorant $2.78ea
Toothpaste aqua $1ea
Proglide shavers $3.00e
Schick hydro shaver $1.40ea

Scores the other day!
Good To Go Packs $1ea
Cup Of Noodles $.08ea
Granola Bars $1ea
Fruit Loops $1.50
90ct Finish Tablets $4ea
Kitty Litter $3
Ziplocks $.90
Babyfood $.50
Oatmeal $1.50
Caress Soap $.22

One thing I can't stand is left overs or reheated food so I was really leary about trying freezer meals and didn't think it would go well. I had tried a few in the past and wasn't to pleased but my latest few have turned out to be a success! Not only have I liked them so far but thankfully everyone in the family has too!! Now I haven't tried the ones I'm posting just yet and they are in my freezer but the last blog I did try them all and they were amazing! Here is a picture of the red pepper chicken from the last blog made! YUUUUUMMM!!!










So this is my last round of freezer meals! I made 6 this time! I found these on pinterest with gracefullittlehoneybee











Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken and Veggies (makes 2 meals)

2 green peppers, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
3 onions chopped
6 red potatoes, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 frozen chicken breasts
1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 bottle of BBQ sauce
(Split ingredients into two bags and freeze)
Cook in slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours








Teriyaki Chicken (make recipe x 2)

3 frozen chicken breasts
1 cup Teriyaki sauce
1 cup water
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Serve over rice.







Creamy Baked Pasta (make recipe x 2)

16 oz pasta, cooked and drained
1 jar pasta sauce
8 oz tub sour cream
1/4 c parm. cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Saute Onions
Mix all ingredients in pot over medium heat until all ingredients are combined.
Pour in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake @ 350 for 30 min (45 min – 1 hr if frozen)





Chili Mac Casserole (make recipe x 2)

16 oz pasta, cooked and drained
1 can chili beans
1 packet chili seasoning
1 onion, chopped
1 can Rotel or stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar
Mix all ingredients in casserole dish.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake @ 350 for 30 min (45-1 hr if frozen)

I love that not only can I coupon now but I can save even more money with these great money saving apps! Some give me money back on purchases, some earn points that I can exchange for gift cards and walmarts savings catcher compares all the prices for me and makes sure I got the best price and if I didn't deposits it back on a gift card for me!

1) Snap groupon

https://snap.groupon.com/app?ref=25a91b9c3093f0e6



2) Jingit

https://www.jingit.com/?ref_id=393094&s=e



3) Berry cart

https://www.berrycart.com/rf/UkjtojJp



4) Shopmium

Shopmium.com/en/app

Use my referral code! YEAGKUPM



5) CheckOut51



6) SavingStar



7) target cartwheel



8) Ibotta

https://ibotta.com/r/hpgycq

We ended up a wonderful Christmas with a visit from my father in law and his new wife! He recently got married this year after his wife passing away who had been sick since my husband was a teenager. He loved her so much and lived his every moment for her and grieved greatly when she passed but it is nice to see he was able to move on when many can't find happiness again. Both my husband and I are so thrilled to see him happy again and to see someone who cares for him so much and takes care of him too! It is his turn to be taken care of and I know his late wife would agree and would be so happy to see he is cared for so well!

Though I couldn't convince my husband to go out for New Years Eve and even wound up having 2 of my kids get sick early in the day.. I did convince him to let me sneak out for awhile with some friends! I haven't been out in a long time on New Years Eve so it was a long over due much needed night of fun! Maybe a little to much fun haha





I'm not making new years resolutions because you know that whole stigma of having to resolute and stick to them just kills it and makes you not stick to them half of the time lol but I do have a few things I hope to accomplish and focus more on this year!

1) Lose 10-20lbs by summer!
2) Start Christmas shopping in January! That's right I want to start now so I can get deals all year round and pull off what I did this last Christmas but even better!!
3) Get more swag! I slacked off swagbucks for awhile and when I really put the effort into I reaped some nice benifits but can you imagine what i had done had I actually started in January and stuck with it a little more? So I'm going to try my best to do that this year!
4) I got off track with couponing last year and my check book could totally tell! It was hard managing couponing, working and being a busy mom of 4 but I started back up over summer and stock piled again and I will stick faithful to this! I need to get better about keeping up with my stock pile and finding the best deals!
5) More one on one time with the kids! I do a lot with my kids but I really want to focus more on getting independant time with each kid! Yeah that's a joke with 4 kids lol but I will do this as much as I can rather it be a board game with just that kid or taking that kid with me to the store! I need that bonding time! They are all so different and with a teenager in the house I'm feeling myself get a little mopey that I don't have much more time and I love learning more about the little man he has become!