As the first day of school rapidly approaches and all of you are seeking out the best deals on pens, paper and school supplies, I am sure that one other thing is in the front of your minds: clothes. Odds are your kid is a little bigger than last year and his or her clothes have suffered at the hands of playgrounds, ketchup, and brightly colored markers. As you head to the stores to help your kid look sharp I hope I can help point you in a good direction.
I have posted a lot in the past about awesome deals at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls and they must have noticed. Recently I was asked to be one of their back-to-school spokespeople!!! I’m giddy just typing it. First I love their stores, but to get to be spokesperson for anything is just awesome.
Why T.J. Maxx & Marshalls??
They are the leaders in “Off-Price” clothing. Everything is the name brand, and same-as quality of the department store but the price is between 20-60% lower than in a department or designer store. That means your kids get exactly the look they want and you save a ton!
Some people think it is because they are have small flaws or off season. Wrong! All items are exactly the same as the item in the more expensive store and each store gets over 10,000 new items each week and they work hard to stay in season and with the trends. To stay in season they have buyers out all year working with designers. They like to call themselves “opportunistic buyers”. This means that are always looking for any opportunity to help you score a deal. An example: A Top name shoe designer makes too many shoes for an order with department stores, Marshalls swoops in and buys what’s left to put in their store!
Over the next six weeks we are going to have some fun contests and I will share some tips on truly getting the most for your money shopping TJ Maxx and Marshalls!
A Savings Challenge::
Over the next 3 weeks when you head out to T.J. Maxx or Marshalls and find an awesome deal (like the dress we found a few months ago), take a picture of it with your phone or bring it home and take a photo. Email me your photo and we are going to have our own contest. You guys will get to vote on all the entries and decide the best Marshalls T.J. Maxx deal.
The winner will receive $250 in giftcards for T.J. Maxx or Marshalls (winner’s choice).
Two things to not miss today:
- $1.50 off Planters Flavor Grove Almonds printable (available every Wednesday)
There are great deals on school supplies at Publix this week. Throw in two new coupons and it gets even more fun:
Sharpie Highlighters B1G1 at $2.99
-$1/2 Sharpie Highlights printable (makes it 99¢)
Pilot Pens 50% off
-$1 off Pilot Pens printable (makes it FREE)
Don’t have a Publix? That’s okay these coupons are bound to come in handy for other deals!
(thanks Stacey!)
Tips for Back to School Shopping
With school just around the corner and kids needing so much it can be a very stressful time when shopping on a budget. Here are some tips to help you get your kids back to school without breaking the bank!
Make A Plan: Starting early make a list of everything you need and spend a few minutes each week seeing if there are any deals out for your needs. Grab a little at a time over the next few weeks as items come on sale. (Using the school supply round up might help too).
Shop tax free days: Many states have days before school starts where you can get clothing and school supplies tax free. Many stores take advantage of this and offer very good sales. So, you can shop on these days to get discounts and not pay tax.
Buy Better Backpacks: As children get older, buying a better quality backpack can save money in the long run. It cost more upfront, but it will prevent you from having to replace it after a year or two. Some brands such as L.L. Bean will even replace your back pack if it messes up.
Limit Branded Items: While your child may love to have a princess notebook, a plain colored one will cost much less and still do the job. Avoid buying items that cost more just because of the brand or the character on them. Compromise on one branded item if need be.
Compare Ads & Price Match: For school supplies it is important to look at all your local circular ads to see where you can get items the cheapest at. Then, pick one store and have that store price match the other stores to avoid going to a ton of different stores.
Look out for coupons: Around back to school shopping time, many stores will put coupons in their ads. So look for coupons for clothing and school supplies in store ads.
Do you have any other great tips for back to school savings??
H-E-B has a great summer reading club. Just have your child read 10 books or read 10 books to them if they are too young. Write each book on the form and initial it as the child reads the books. After your child has read 10 books mail in this form by October 1st. Your child should receive their t-shirt in 3-4 weeks.
(thanks savethecoupons!)
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Mission Foods. All opinions are 100% mine.
Sometimes the best meals are the simplest. Mission Foods recently sent us some tortillas and a challenge to cook a meal for a large group for under $10. This became even more challenging adding in our new healthy eating diets. When I think of tortillas my brain instantly goes to melted cheese and sour cream. So I tried to rethink a fajita and make it as healthy as possible.
My plan:
- Load up on the peppers and onions! These are zero points for us weight watcher folks (super healthy for everyone else).
- Don’t use Olive Oil from a bottle, but instead Olive Oil or Vegetable oil spray. You will use a lot less and thereby not add a ton of fat and calories.
- Grab Fat Free Sour Cream and Cheese made with 2% milk.
- Most Salsas are also zero points (super healthy) but we went another step with black bean salsa to add some more fiber and protein.
- Skip the chips or rice, just add steamed green beans or another vegetable on the side.
Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of Chili pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 onion
1 second spray of Olive Oil Cooking Spray
Mission Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Shredded Cheese, 2% milk,
First put the meat, honey and chili pepper together. Then throw it all in one big pan.
7 minutes later dinner is ready!
The grand total for this meal: $6.64 and it made enough to serve 5 people easy.
Total points for the meal = 5
If you are up for a tortilla menu challenge then check out the Mission Menus Challenge. Now through August 9th, you can enter for a chance to participate in a cook-off in The Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles. The winner of the cook-off will receive a $10,000 kitchen makeover!
To enter, send in a “budget-friendly” recipe. The meal must cost less than $10, be able to feed 5 people, include Mission Tortillas, and be your own unique creation.
I know you guys can handle the $10 part of the challenge so get your gears working. Let’s see if a Southern Saver can win a round-trip to LA and hotel accommodations for two and then win that kitchen! Feel free to use the comments below to do some brainstorming.
This Friday, July 9th, you can go to any Chic-fil-A dressed as a cow to receive a free Chic-fil-A meal. This one should be fun (totally embarrassing) for the whole family! You should probably call ahead but, in all seriousness, what kind of manager would say “no” if you walked into Chic-fil-A dressed like a cow and asked for a Chic-fil-A meal? Find the closest Chic-fil-A to you.
Also, just in case your costume is really good, there is a photo competition on Facebook. Simply upload your best picture of you or your kids dressed as cows on July 9th . The picture to get the most votes before July 31st gets free Chic-fil-A for a year!
Many of you have asked for an update on the Food Bank nominations for the June All You Fundraiser donation. Remember you can still vote (as many times as you like) through Wednesday night at 6pm.
The top Food Banks so far (in no particular order are):
- Community Helping Place
- Crosspointe Community Food Pantry
- Fortified Hills Baptist Church Bread of Life Ministry
- Foodbank Of Virginia Peninsula, Inc.
- Grace Klein Community
- Greer Relief Agency
- Helping Hands
- Lawrenceville Co-op
- Lighthouse Food Pantry
- Lowcountry Food Bank
- St Vincent De Paul
The form is working again at the link above, please do not leave nominations in the comments here I will not be able to compile them together.
Southern Savers readers continue to amaze me. Today we are getting some help from fellow reader Damien. Apparently everything you need for Ratatouille is on sale at Publix this week, excluding the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette, Red Onion, and the seasonings. Make sure to go to the full Publix list to find the items on sale.
Here is his recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Lg Eggplant
2 Medium Squash (Zucchini or yellow or one of each)
2 Bell Peppers (Green is on sale this week)
8oz of Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette (B1G1 Ken’s Dressing SS 5/09 exp 6/30)*
2-3 Fresh tomatoes (or you can use a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes from stock pile)
2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
Salt, Pepper, Parsley, and Basil (to taste)
2 Tbs. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1-2 Cups of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (Sargento is on sale)
*You can substitute a small can of tomato sauce for the vinaigrette if you do not want to purchase the vinaigrette and have tomato sauce in stock… although the taste will not be quite the same.
Instructions:
1.) Slice eggplant into rounds and then quarter the rounds. Slice squash into rounds. Dice onion. Slice peppers into strips and cut into smaller segments (2-3 slices per strip). Add all these ingredients to a large sauce pan or stock pot along with the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette and cook on medium-high heat for 8 minutes.
2.) Meanwhile dice tomatoes if using fresh tomatoes or drain tomatoes if using canned tomatoes. After the 8 minutes of cooking from step 1, add tomatoes and seasonings, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
3.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add contents of pot to a 13×9 casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan Cheese and Mozzarella Cheese (really you can use as much cheese as you desire here). Then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes (until the cheese is nicely melted).
Note: for a Vegan version of this recipe, simply eliminate the cheese and baking step, and cook for a little longer on the stove-top until veggies are completely cooked through.
This makes a great vegetarian entree or can be dished out into smaller portions as a side dish (leftovers can be frozen for future meals). As an entree, this should serve about 6 people.
If you are a more visual person Damien even has a Youtube video walking through the recipe.
(thanks Damien!)
