My Prize Has Come!

In honor of Earth Day last month, one of my favorite coupon blogs Couponing To Disney hosted several giveaways for various organic products. I just happened to win one :) And it arrived today!

I won the CVS Organic Products Pack! I received:

• A Canvas Reusable Bag
• 1 Roll of Earth Essentials Paper Towels
• 1 Pack of Earth Essentials Biodegradable Disposable Bowls
• 1 Pack of Earth Essentials Biodegradable Lawn Bags
• 1 Green Leaf Bag Tag :)

See, it does pay off to enter sweepstakes and giveaways! Thank you Couponing To Disney! I usually have terrible luck and never win anything so you have restored my faith :)

Planting the Love Fig

Three years ago when my husband got me to start my first garden, he bought me a small fig tree because I liked it. At the time, we were just dating and we constantly had a joke about the tree, saying that we had to keep it alive or our love would die with it (think How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days). So, we made sure to keep it well cared for on principal.

Recently, after changing its pot multiple times over the years, the fig has started to get some kind of brown spot illness and was looking too crowded in its latest pot. We knew it was time to plant it in the ground. But where to put it?

Nature gave us our answer when 3 weeks ago a freak storm caused by a nasty nor-easter brought a tornado to my in-laws' street and pretty much snapped all their big oak trees they planted over 20 years ago in half. So, as a gesture to replace what was lost in the storm and help the fig tree out at the same time, we asked if we could plant our little fig in Justin's parents' side pasture.

So, since we were going over to their house for Justin's sister's birthday anyway, we loaded up the fig and went a bit early to give our love fig a new home.

Our Love Fig :)

Doesn't Justin look so happy?

Gordo had to try and help out.

Now in it's new home :)

Justin and me with our fig.

So, now that our fig is in its permanent home, we can rest easy that it will have plenty of space and love. Not a bad nod for Earth Day this year ... we actually planted a tree!

Today's Collective Deals

So, I went to various stores throughout the day today, and instead of doing individual posts (snore), I decided to lump them all together :)

On my lunch break, I went to Publix to get a sandwich and had to take advantage of some deals while I was there.

• 4 Packs of Alexia Frozen French Bread, $3.39 B1G1 - Used two $1 off Any Alexia Product Printable coupons = $1.39 For 2 Packs
• 2 Progresso Tuscany Stock, in clearance section 2 for $2.59 (I love this stuff)
• Two Pack of GE Energy Smart Light Bulbs, on sale $4.99 - Used $1 off any GE Light Bulb coupon from 4/17 newspaper and the Earth Day Exclusive printable Publix coupon for $1 off GE Energy Smart two pack and 1 free reusable bag :) = $2.99 For 2 Bulbs and Reusable Bag

I also received a cute little key chain with a mini reusable bag on it. One side has the Publix logo and the other side says, "Don't forget to bring your reusable bags!" - Too Cute :)

As if these deals weren't good enough, I spotted a highly coveted item on my way out...

 The General Mills $15 Spring Savings Coupon Booklet!

Ahhh, look at all that free money :)

Inside this lovely booklet are coupons for:

• $1 off 2 Cheerios Cereals
• $1 off 1 Box of Kix Cereal
• $1 off 2 Fiber One Cereals
• $1 off 2 GM Cereals
• $1 off 8 Yoplait Yogurts
• $1 off 2 Chex Mix
• $1 off 2 Nature Valley Granola Bars
• $1 off 2 Yoplait Trix Yogurt or Gogurt
• $1 off 2 Betty Crocker Brownie or Dessert Bar Mixes
• $1 off 1 Box Bisquick
• $1 off 3 Hamburger Helper
• $1 off 2 Suddenly Salad Mixes
• $1 off 3 Old El Paso Products
• $1 off 3 Pillsbury Refrigerated Baked Goods
• $1 off 2 Pillsbury Frozen Products

All in all, these are some very useful coupons and they don't expire until 6/12. So, be on the lookout for this booklet! (I picked mine up at the Publix in Port St. John)

After Publix, I went across the street to Walgreens to pick up these:

• 9 Rolls of Scotch Magic Tape, $1.99 each - Used 9 $1 off Scotch Magic Tape printable coupons and 3 Buy 1 at $1.99, Get 2 Free coupons from the weekly Walgreens ad (had to do this in 3 separate transactions) = 9 For Free + $3.03 Overage
• 6 Chocolate Covered Peeps (I let my dad have one before I took the picture), 2 for $1.50 - Used three $1 off Any 2 Peeps Products printable coupons (had to use 2 computers) = 6 For Free
• 6 Cadbury Carmel Eggs, 2 for $1.50 - Used 2 For $1 coupon in weekly Walgreens ad = $3.00

So, while the Cadbury Eggs covered my overage, I still had tax on all the items, so I used a $1 Register Reward from last week and I only paid $0.11 for everything pictured here :)

*I did have some issues at Walgreens, as usual (my local Walgreens has very unfriendly cashiers when it comes to coupons). Hopefully you won't have my luck there. 

Hurry and print your coupons to snag these deals tomorrow as Saturday is the last day for most of these deals!

Saving Money - Plant A Garden

I figured I would post this today in honor of Earth Day :)

I am a very avid gardener and have been for 3 years now. My husband (then boyfriend) started me on it and helped a girl with a black thumb produce tomatoes, eggplants, okra, black eyed peas, and many many herbs in my parent's back yard.

Fast forward to now, with 2 full garden plantings under my belt and various potted plants in between, we now have the best looking and most productive garden yet :)

 This is our vegetable garden :) We live in a small condo with a small back yard, so along the fence was the only place we could put it. It is 24 feet long and 2 feet deep, but in it we have as many plants as we could reasonably fit. The left starts with onions, then peppers and cherry tomatoes. The center bed is full of herbs (I am a big user of fresh herbs). The right bed is completely full of tomatoes. The pot at the right end is a camellia with juniper at the base.

Cherry Tomatoes

Beef Steak Tomatoes

The Tomato Bed

Golden Summer Sweet Yellow Peppers

Oregano

Pomegranate

Midnight Butterfly Bush

Daisy Gardenia

So, there is a little highlight reel of my garden :) I just wanted to put this up here to show that you really can garden anywhere. We have very limited space, but we have 20 tomato plants (3 in pots), 12 pepper plants, 12 different herbs, two camellia trees, a fig tree, a dwarf pomegranate tree and several vines and bushes (confederate jasmine, winter blooming jasmine, midnight butterfly bush, daisy gardenia, amaryllis, gladiolas, freesia, and mosquito geranium. Even typing it, this sounds like I must have a lot of space, but really it is a very small yard.

The really neat thing about a garden are all the personal benefits, and I'm not just talking about all the green movement good things like eliminating carbon footprints and whatnot. While those are obviously good things, gardening also is rewarding in a way that very few things are. It is a great feeling to know that the only reason that these plants exist is because you put the there and took care of them. I honestly can't fully describe what makes gardening so great. It really is something you just have to experience for yourself.

Another little perk if you have kids: If you ever want to get your kids to eat a certain vegetable, there is no better way than to grow it with them and let them see the growing process. Just a side note :)

If you want a deal to get you started on gardening with your kids, take a look at this offer from Auntie Annie's. IF you buy two Annie's products, you can request a free kid's gardening gift pack.

Or if you would like to start a garden of your own, here is a nice offer from Burpee Seeds. Click this link and fill out your info for a Free Vegetable Gardening Guide. It's a digital download they send to your email and it's full of tips and advice for beginning and intermediate gardeners. 

Anyway, if you have any gardening questions, I would be happy to take a stab at answering them or helping you find the answer if I don't know it. Just ask and I will see what I can do :) I hope we all can do just a little bit, like starting our own home garden, to help make our world a little better for the following generations. I know it sounds hokey, but it really is important and we should do whatever we can to help. Just one small gesture, like gardening or recycling, if done by us all, we would fix so many of the problems we now face.

Please do your part to make the world a better place :)