- Coupons and Savings in Southern California

Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell: Cincinnati OR So Cal??

on March 27, 2013

I mentioned several weeks ago that my husband was going to be on the Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell. Tomorrow (3/28) will be the premiere of his show. If you haven’t watched the previous shows–The idea behind Chef Wanted to help popular restaurants find a new Executive Chef. Anne Burrell finds candidates and puts them through the “toughest interview” of their life.

Lets Rewind….

Six months ago my husband George was looking for something new. As a chef you must constantly grow– it isn’t abnormal for a chef to spend a year or two at one place and move onto the next. While he was “looking” he wasn’t expecting to have the Food Network look at his resume.

Long story short… It has been a LONG 4 months that I’ve wanted to talk about this. Now that the show will be airing tomorrow I can finally tell you all that its possible that we COULD be moving to Cincinnati!

I am so proud of my husband and would love your support in cheering him on! Hope you will all tune in tomorrow at 10pm EST on the Food Network.!

Life and all its Craziness.

on February 1, 2013

I just wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going with my family and I. Sometimes I get caught up in the deal hunting and really have to bring myself back to reality.. with a personal post.

Believe it or not, I am a real person.. not a machine. I blog from my living room couch and usually have 2 kids attached to my sides all throughout the day. (My 4 year old will be starting Kinder soon–which means more couch space for me!)

My birthday is coming up.. and I’m noticing that I’m not aging well So, I’ve been focusing on losing weight and getting healthier. I’ve had a couple encounters with the doctor that ended, not-so-well. I was recently discovered to be suffering from Pernicious Anemia –which is basically a Vitamin B deficiency. My body can not asborb Vitamin B naturally–so I must get supplemented with Injections every week. It has done WONDERS for me and my health–I feel great now.

In my quest to get health, I’ve also started dieting. I’m super excited to have lost 17 pounds over the holidays and I contiune to Juice twice a day! (seriously, the best thing I could have done for my health)

My kiddos are growing too fast! We are about to embark on a braces journey with my 8 year old.. We super nervous about it but he really does need them.

My Husband, George is working on Advancing his career! For those that don’t know, he is a Chef here in Temecula and has been for over 7 years. You will want to be on the lookout for him on a upcoming show on the Food Network called “Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell”– we are super excited about this and the show will be revealed sometime in March. I’d love for you all the tune-in and cheer him on

I am so happy to have you all here and so amazed at all the people that continue to read Southern Cali Saver on a daily basis. This site would not be what it is today without all of you!!

Costco: Bigger isn’t always better

on January 30, 2013

I mentioned on Facebook today about how I was loving all my Tide Laundry Detergent. There have been a couple of deals that I’ve stock up on and considering that we do not see Tide deals too often– I had to take advantage. Let me start off by saying that this post is not a “I hate Costco” debate. Just simply a way to show faithful costco shoppers that sometimes Bigger isn’t always better and that a tiny coupon can make a difference in your budget.

I think alot of people who are hesistant about coupons feel that Costco gives them most bang for their buck.. While this can be true on select items.. it isn’t always true.

Shabnum wrote on the same post about my Tide Laundry Deterent Stockpile:

I would like to know how much you get your tide for per ounce, cuz I found I did the math and found Costco to still be the cheapest. This is what I buy it for $19.95/170oz/110 loads. Can u get it cheaper? If so where? And how much. Thx

Shabnum got the wheels turning and inspired me to put this in a post. Above, you can see 5 bottles of Tide that I purchased at my local Drugstore. This is the transaction that I did:

Bought (5) Tide $5.94 (50 oz)
Bought 1 Dawn $0.99
Used (4) $1.50/1 Tide Detergent, exp. 1/31/13 (P&G 12/30/12)
Used $0.50/1 Dawn Hand Renewal, Power Clean, Bleach Alternative or Oxi, exp. 1/31/13 (P&G 12/30/12)
Paid: $24.19
Got Back $10 +Up rewards (Rite Aid money that I can use on almost anything in the store)

= $14.19 for 250 ounces of Tide.

That beats the Costco price by $5.76 and saves me the membership fee. So, I think I would rather shop Rite Aid then Costco in this case. I get more Tide for my money and all it took was a couple of coupons

You can check out my other posts on Costco:

I am a Mommy, Wife, Friend…..Blogger.

on July 25, 2012

Before I started blogging, I was only a Mommy and a Wife. My days consist of dressing my children, feeding them. As a Wife I was maintaining my home and making sure that things were orderly while my husband went to work 60 + hours a week.

Then blogging came into the equation and soon enough, I was a part time blogger, mommy, wife and friend. Blogging became an outlet to my everyday life and it was awesome to see the results of this little blog that I started and it becoming a full time thing.

So on top of being a Full time mom to three boys, Full time wife and friend–I added a Full time Blogger to it. I love blogging and I love couponing and saving money–so as you can imagine this is great fun for me being able to talk to you all about saving money and helping everyone find such awesome deals.

The downside to blogging is that it doesn’t pay like a full time job..I spend countless hours doing things without any compensation and you almost feel as though you are losing time from your family and friends. So why do it? Because I love it.

I am not perfect. I make mistakes and sometimes my math is off (math was not my subject in high school and college) Sometimes my grammar is not correct. Please know that I usually have kids sitting in my lap or distracting me while I am blogging. So, things may not be right all the time. When this happens, please be considerate of my feelings.

So while I am doing all of this as a blogger, please remember that I have a family. I do everything on this blog by myself, I don’t have people on a staff like the bigger sites to help me..(Maybe one day?!) I try my hardest to bring you only the best deals. I don’t post spam just to make a buck. I spend countless hours trying to make this blog something that everyone will enjoy.

I want to provide for you a blog that I would want to read myself. I am always open to suggestions on things that you as readers want so please–do let me know! But keep in mind that this blogger is also a mom..and I am not perfect.

I find all of you to be my friends and I appreciate all of your support! It feels like I have 8000 friends out there that I could run into at any time in the grocery store…(if that does happen, as a friend please pretend like you don’t see my loud crazy children running around in Target..;))

And as always..Thank you so much for visiting my blog and reassuring me that I’m not rambling to myself every day

Why use Coupons?

on June 21, 2012

I’ve encountered many people who wonder why I coupon. The reason is simple. My three boys need me at home and with a husband that works 60 hours a week–they need their mom Coupons help stretch our budget so I can stay at home.

We also took a recent journey into home ownership and coupons are helping us reach our goal

Why do you use coupons?