Good morning!
I tucked the kids into bed around 7 something and I fell asleep before 8. I have to do this every once in awhile and get caught up on my sleep! Since I didn’t get around to it last night, I published TOP Foods and Safeway first thing this morning. Looks like some pretty decent sales!
Today I get to pick our car up from the shop and pay a $500+ bill. Apparently when the check engine light starts flashing – that’s a bad sign? It’s been flashing a few weeks. 🙂 Our little car has been in and out of the shop for the last year and the check engine light comes on all the time. Thankfully it’s so old it’s been paid off a long time, but these kind of expenses are never fun. How do you budget for emergency car repairs? If you drive, car repairs are part of that luxury/convenience of a vehicle – so it’s always a good idea to have an envelope or account where you can tuck away a little each month, even if it’s only $10 or $20, just in case. If you don’t end up using the cash on repairs it can always be there, just in case, or help you when the day comes to buy a new or different vehicle. Apparently we need new front tires, too – where is your favorite place to buy tires?
Yesterday I shared a little DIY Valentine idea for Valentine Marshmallows on a stick. Even if you don’t make them for a class, they are a fun project to do with the kids and the possibilities are endless! I also shared a Haribo Gummi Bear Valentine from the day before!
Don’t forget to head over and enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card!
COUPONS
$1 off Diamond Nuts 8oz or greater
$3 off My Week With Marilyn DVD or Blu-ray
$1 off any 2 Cranberry Naturals juice drinks
$2 off any one Spectrum Supplement product
$1 off Two 64oz Old Orchard 100% Juice Blends
$1 off any 2 Healthy Balance juice drinks
$3 off Oogieloves in The BIG Balloon Adventure
$1 off 4 Old Orchard frozen juice concentrates
$1 off any one (1) Sunlight Dish item
Find more printable coupons on Coupons.com.
FAVORITE DEALS
And this deal is HOT – check out the Zaycon Chicken Sale – it’s LIVE! Learn more about Zaycon chicken here. I encourage you to head over to the Queen Bee Facebook page and read all the reviews from fellow Queen Bee Readers. They love it. I love it, I just bought a case and I have some defrosting in the fridge for dinner tonight. It really is good chicken.
Save up to $50 on a Kindle Fire HD when you use coupon code FIRELOVE at checkout! Kindle discount codes are rare, especially this time of year.
RECIPES & MEAL PLANNING
Last night we had chicken fajitas for dinner. This is one of my favorite stockpile meals – because you can have pretty much everything in the freezer or the pantry. The chicken was frozen Zaycon chicken (which is on sale again!), the peppers were from this November when I froze a bunch of them (they turned out great when tossed into the pan still frozen!), frozen homemade slow cooker refried beans, even the tortillas can be stored in the freezer when you find them on sale – just take them out to thaw ahead of time because the microwave will make them rock hard. When I stopped into QFC yesterday I picked up a bag of marked down ripe avocados for only $0.25 cents each, some $0.69 cilantro, some $1.50 sour cream and $0.99 Wholly salsa (after coupon) – and we had a delicious dinner for just a few extra dollars out of pocket (and leftovers today!). If I really wanted to over do it, I could have added some homemade spanish rice in the rice cooker from the Rotel tomatoes that have been on sale the last couple weeks.
This is a long winded example of why it benefits you to stockpile items when they are on sale. If I hadn’t stockpiled the ingredients when they were on sale – the peppers were currently $0.79 – $1.50 each at QFC, the chicken would have been $2.99/lb and the tortillas $2-3 a package. Buy items when they are on sale and stockpile them or freeze them. For fresh items – find them on sale and combine them with your stockpile to create inexpensive meals!
Here are this week’s grocery match-ups and deals: Albertsons Fred Meyer QFC Safeway Costco February coupon match-ups and Winco!
FOR THE LOCAL NW FOLKS
West-Olympia friends – I got a comment yesterday on my Whole Foods coming to Olympia post that supposedly a Walmart Neighborhood Market is planning to go into the Cooper Point Plaza. Have you heard of this? This is certainly an intriguing rumor. I only recently heard about Walmart Neighborhood Markets – apparently they are smaller versions of the big Super Walmart stores and Walmart has plans to open hundreds in 2013. Anyone know the details on this?
Westport Inn – Westport, WA – One- or Two-Night Stay for Two with Optional Beverages. Two Kids 16 or Younger Stay Free. Combine Up to Four Nights – start at $79 (reg. $140)
Lacey, Washington friends – There is family-friendly event coming Sunday that should be a lot of fun and go to a great cause – Timberline High School (THS) is having its second Annual BlazerPalooza on February 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Timberline High School Theater. Admission is $3 for students and $5 for adults. The concert this year will be in honor of Swannee Pearson. The money raised will go to the Pearson family to help with costs incurred during Swannee’s struggle with cancer. BlazerPalooza is a concert involving THS rock bands. Student and staff bands will perform. It will be a rocking evening of classic song from the 60’s – 90’s (yes, Nirvana can be classic). Donations will be accepted, if your able! See this flyer for more information (PDF)
Seattle, Bellevue area – Trophy Cupcakes and Party – Multiple Locations $19 for One Dozen Classic Cupcakes ($38.50 Value) – Groupon
Lower Queen Anne – Teatro ZinZanni – $149 for Groupon-Exclusive Performance of “Dinner at Wotan’s” and a Five-Course Meal for Two on March 17 or April 21 ($286 Value)
The Orenco Hotel – Greater Portland, OR – One- or Two-Night Stay for Two in a Manor Queen Room with Wine Tastings, Valid for Check-In Thursday–Sunday – start at $99 (reg. $209)
Warm Springs, OR – Kah-Nee-Ta Resort & Spa – One- or Two-Night Stay for Two with Pool Access. Up to Two Kids 13 or Younger Stay Free. Combine Up to Four Nights. – from $79 (reg. $160)
ONLINE DISCOUNTS & PROMO CODES
Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day – Bosch RA1181 Benchtop Router Table for $134.99 shipped!
REI Deal of the Day – Osprey Manta 20 Hydration Pack – 100 fl. oz. – $59.93 (reg. $129) – ships FREE
FREE e-book – Good Eating’s Creative Pasta: Healthy and Unique Recipes for Meals, Sides, and Sauces
Amazon – JumpSport iBounce Kids Trampoline, Tablet Mount and DVD – $99.99 (reg. $149.95), lowest price I can find online is $125 plus shipping
Amazon – Schwinn Easy Steer Tricycle, Red/White – $59.99 (reg. $99.99)
Amazon – Panacea 15251 Canvas Log Tote, Black to only $8.89, price went up a couple dollars since I posted last night, but still a great deal!
What are your plans today? I hope you have a wonderful day!
Patrice says
Tires: My husband and I each have our own Costco AMEX card that accrues a yearly rebate. Last year we combined our two rebate certificates, along with a Costco $75 off coupon and replaced all four tires on our old truck.
Another idea is to buy tires at Sears. Right now you can buy Sears giftcards at Safeway and earn 4x fuel rewards.
Heather says
Patrice – You are always full of such great ideas! Thank you for those tips. I did see Safeway has 4x fuel rewards right now. Love those, gotta save where you can.
Brenda says
Make sure to double check your Safeway accounts, I just found a 6x fuel reward wyb Giftcards in my personalized deals section!
Amy says
We have a car “emergency fund”. Once it reached $1000 we stopped funding it until we need to make a withdraw. We also had a separate fund for a new car to hopefully pay cash. Our intent was always to take the money we were paying on a car payment and putting it aside for when it was time to buy a new car.
Heather says
That’s a great idea Amy! Good job. 🙂 Then you’re covering yourself on both accounts, which is a great thing!
Jennie says
I have always relied on Les Schwab for tires. Several reasons. First they are fair and fast. Second, they will rotate tires for you and fix any flat for free. Third, they have stores all over the northwest, so you have options as to where to go. It is important to maintain a regular schedule of tire rotation (every 3,000 mi, they say) to maintain the warrenty on your tires. Take note of the # of miles on your tires when you buy them. If they wear out faster, and you have rotated properly, your warrenty should kick in.
Years ago, I learned that you have to budget for either a new car or car repairs. This is just the cost of driving. I figured out about how much my car cost me in repairs and maintenance for the past year. Because the car gets older and, presumable, will need more maintenance, I added 10% for the next year’s budget. Then I put that money away in a separate account. Family life is stressful enough without worrying about break-downs or expensive repairs.
Heather says
Jennie – Fantastic tips! It doesn’t seem that long ago that we bought new tires for this vehicle and they weren’t cheap. I’ll have to go back through and check the warranty.
I love your suggestion for having a monthly car budget and increasing it 10% every year as the car ages. That’s a great idea!
Denise says
I’m thinking we must own the same car. My check engine light loves to come on. For maintenance savings, I purchased a deal for eight oil changes for about $49 on one of the online deal sites (Amazon Local, maybe), and made sure the repair shop I got it for had good online reviews. In addition to the cheap oil changes, the deal included things like free tire rotations, free brake inspection, towing, engine diagnosis, etc. That’s really helped keep costs down, especially getting my car diagnosed (yes, you can go to an Auto Zone and they will to a basic scan for free, but it is usually useless when it comes to my car). I also found a deal on Yelp available at my shop, and that saved me another $50 when I got my last repair done. Next time I go in, I have a $10 gift certificate the shop gave me at the holidays to redeem. I’ve also been eyeing all the brake deals at AAMCO lately, as I’ll need the rear brakes done before year end. Hope some of these tips help!
Heather says
Thank you for these wonderful tips! Car repairs are no fun, but neither is a brand new car payment. My husband and i were sort of lamenting about the cost of the repairs last night – and I said, “You know what? We used to have to car payments that were about this much – EVERY month! At least we don’t have those anymore. . .” Hopefully this repair takes us for many more miles!
Good tips on the oil change. I did the same thing and let it expire! I’m horrible.
jkins says
I am the one who left the comment about the Neighborhood Market coming to the westside, I work for Walmart and have seen it posted for job opportunities on our intercompany computer system. Ill get more information as soon as I can but it is legit.
Heather says
Jkins – Thank you so much for keeping us posted!
jessica says
Question? I bought a case of chicken on the wonderful deal. It says pick up isn’t until April. Is that correct and it is always like that. Order and get in a few months.
First time buying the chicken.
Thanks Jessica
Heather says
Order vs. pick up times vary – this is probably one of the longest gaps I’ve seen. Must just be due to delivery schedule and chicken supply?