Commissary 101: Saving More

There are a lot of misconceptions about Commissaries, especially when it comes to the variety of products and the price of them. It's true, shoppers at Commissaries are able to save money, but I think a lot of people think that the savings are unbelievable (remember this fall's Ketchup Gate?).

By law, Commissaries must sell their products at cost. Commissaries are also tax-free. But... there is a 5% fee that is assessed instead to help with the upkeep of Commissaries. There are also no generic brands available at Commissaries like there are at civilian grocery stores. And, if you're driving a great distance to your Commissary, your savings might be negligible when all is said and done. Still, on average, it is possible to save about 30% depending on what you buy, what's on sale, and what coupons you have. If you want to push your pennies at the Commissary a little further, here are some other ways to do that:

Look for Extra Savings

There are a lot of ways to save at the Commissary. One of my favorite ways (because it makes it feel like Christmas) is to look for coupons. They might be printed on bright paper and taped to individual items, or they might be in tear-off packs or dispensers. These coupons are special and specific to the Commissary. When you see them, make use of them! 

Plan Ahead

Check out the Commissary's Savings Aisle. Once you choose your Commissary, you can see what's on sale and how much of a discount you're getting from the retail price. If you log in, you can also see the price that is specific to your locale. Use this in conjunction with couponing and creating your grocery list to make sure you're getting the lowest price possible.

Ask for Gift Cards

Even though the Commissary is only available for military members and their dependents, anyone can buy gift cards online If you're stuck trying to figure out what you want for Christmas or your birthday, you could always go practical and just ask for Commissary gift cards.

Use Third Party Sites

There are a bunch of military-specific savings sites that will alert you to specials, coupons, and price reductions. I use Commissary Shopper, My Military Mommy, Military Wives Saving, and My Military Savings. I've liked their Facebook pages too and have caught a few great sales because of Facebook alerts.  

Most of these sites, like My Military Savings, will announce Commissary-specific coupons and sales that are happening at the commissary. My Military Mommy does the work for you and will give you the link to coupons along with how to use them (what order to stack them in, if you need to use a rewards card, etc.) and the ultimate price of the item. It takes a lot of the pain out of couponing. 

Download Ibotta

Do you Ibotta? If you don't, you should download it and get started. Ibotta is a phone app that alerts you to extra rebates that you can redeem from grocery store, movie theater, restaurant, and pet store purchases. That's on top of any savings or coupons at the store.  Seriously. It's like extra free money. You just scan your bought items and take a photo of your receipt in order to redeem the extra cash. You cash out with your PayPal account, so you don't have to worry about a credit or debit card. And Ibotta works at Commissaries. No lie. It's pretty great. (If you haven't signed up for Ibotta, please use my referral link! Sign up and redeem any offer within 10 days of sign-up, and we'll both get instant cash!)

photo credit: D.H. Parks via photopin cc

3 Free Photo Editing Programs for Your Blog

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post all about free blogging resources that I had found in the wilds of the internet (4 Free Blogging Resources You Aren't Using (But Should Be!)). I'm sharing again-- this time it's all about photo editing. 

I'm the first one to tell you that the strength of my blog does not lie in my photography or my photo editing. There are other blogs that do it much, much better with much, much more beautiful photos than mine. I am by no means an expert. And if I'm honest, I'm not aiming to be. Photography-- while it's fun-- is not my passion. I would rather be writing and thinking up new, creative ideas! 

I know that quite a lot of bloggers use Photoshop, but an equal number of bloggers aren't there. They either don't want to buy the program (or don't know where to get a bootlegged copy).  So for those of you who aren't attached to your DSLR (or who don't know what that is), or for those of you looking for different options when it comes to photo editing, here are 3 programs that I can really get behind: 

PicMonkey is honestly my go-to photo editor. The vast majority of my graphics and photos are designed through this service. I love that I can design graphics quickly and get them on the blog within minutes. There is a premium version (which I don't subscribe to) so some of your stylistic choices are limited if you're using the free version. I don't think it's a big deal, nor has it really hindered me in my (limited) design experience. 

Fotor  has basically the same interface as PicMonkey and you're essentially able to do the same things with it. The biggest perk of Fotor is that it's entirely free. Unlike PicMonkey, there is (currently) no pay structure or deluxe version. You aren't locked out of any graphics or fonts. I use Fotor when I'm kind of tired PicMonkey's fonts, graphics, or styles. 

You're not going to use Canva as your exclusive photo editor since PicMonkey and Fotor do that much better. But... if you're looking at creating infographics or highly stylized graphics that are already touched-up, this is your mule. Canva offers a lot of templates, graphics, and fonts for your perusal and use, but they are offered on an a la carte basis. Free options are clearly labeled and there are a bunch of them.  

What are your go-to tricks of the trade when it comes to photo editors?

Crispy French Bread Recipe

A few posts ago, I shared a quick recipe for really delicious Bruschetta Pizza Slices. In case you forgot about that post, go ahead and drool a little over this picture. Even writing about it makes me want to make that for dinner!

Today, I'm sharing the French Bread recipe I used for those bruschetta slices. I've been on a bread kick recently-- quick breads, sandwich breads, artisan breads-- and I've had a blast doing it.

You'll Need:

• 2 Fleishman's packets of yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• at least 5 cups of flour

Directions:

1.  In a mixing bowl, combine and let foam:  2 packets of yeast, 2 cups of warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 tablespoon of flour. The mixture, when foaming properly will look off-white and thick. 
2. Add to the yeast mixture, 4 1/2 cups of flour and mix. (I used the bread hook on my Kitchen Aid.) Add 1/2 cups of flour at a time until the dough comes together.
3. Knead by hand and place dough back into mixing bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rise until it doubles.
4. After the bread has doubled, punch down and shape into loaves. Place on a cookie sheet. If you like, dust the sheets with cornmeal. Let rise again (about 30 minutes). 
5. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 
6. Brush the tops of the loaves with water and salt and bake for 20 minutes or until the loaves begin browning. 

Et voila! Mange avec la beurre!  (And that's as far as my three semesters of French can get me.)

5 Ways to Save Money On Your Wedding

Going into wedding planning, John and I knew that we had to be smart about our wedding budget. I was leaving my job of five years to move to where John's stationed and we'd be making two moves in five months.

Obviously, those things had an impact on our wedding planning. But we both agreed: we wanted a timeless, elegant wedding. The trick was figuring out how to do it on a budget. Here are a few things I learned from 14 months of wedding planning:

Have a plan. It took me a while to decide what I wanted for our wedding, but when I finally made up my mind, I had it figured out to the last detail. I was able to create a plan of action for the most expensive parts of the wedding. I used the weekly 40%-off coupons from Michaels to buy large glass cylinders for table centerpieces. Yes, that meant that I could only buy one a week (although I enlisted the help of my sisters and parents), but it also meant that I was able to buy 28 vases that retailed at $363.72 (before tax) for $218.23. Had I bought these at the last minute, I would have spent $145.49 more.

Pay attention what, where, and when you buy. This includes coupons, sales, websites and stores that aren't typical wedding supply stores. We used Snapfish for our Save the Dates ( and spent less than $70 doing so), ExclusivelyWeddings.com for invitations (and reaped the benefits of buying during President's Day Weekend by getting 35% off our purchase), and Ikea for some of our wedding decorations (read how we saved $190 here). Last summer, I shopped Bath & Body Works on their semi-annual sale and saved 75% on 100 glass votive holders. Scope out clearance racks after holiday and seasonal sales. If you can, buy in bulk-- many stores will give you a discount.

Make what you can. I enjoy being crafty and had a lot of fun making different items for our wedding that would have otherwise cost us much more to purchase. Among many projects, I made and filled pearl-studded wedding rice bags, used ribbon to add a touch of color to our wedding invitations, DIY'ed personalized dress hangers for my bridesmaids, crafted table numbers, and used baby's breath, tulle, and ribbon to make pew bows. Of course, these are just a few ideas-- there are many more floating all over the internet. 

Prioritize your wants. John and I decided early on that we didn't want to have regrets from our wedding, and we made sure to prioritize what was important. Even within those priorities, we were able to make some compromises that helped us stay within our budget. I wanted real flowers, but I didn't mind using ones that were in-season and having smaller bouquets. I wanted a certain style of wedding jewelry for my bridesmaids and myself, but I didn't have to have a particular brand. Knowing what we both thought was "worth it" gave us more wiggle room on some of the less important aspects of the wedding.

Don't be afraid to ask for discounts or special considerations. I asked for discounts from every vendor we worked with, from our photographer to the reception hall to the wedding dress boutique. Because John is in the military, we were able to take advantage of military discounts. But there are more than just military discounts out there. 

Ask about available promotions: depending on when you book the reception hall, they may comp the wedding party's dinners; if you work with the caterer early, you may be able to lock in prices at a lower rate; having your wedding at a time that isn't booked up may yield lower prices for various services. Think about the affiliations you might have: are you a teacher? student? When in doubt, just ask if they offer any discounts at all.

If your wedding vendor offers a package that doesn't quite meet your needs, ask about changing it or what a la carte items cost. When we began working with our fantastic videographer, he offered a package that included a wedding trailer. We didn't need it, but we did want all of the raw footage from the day. He was gracious enough to offer us the raw footage in lieu of the trailer. (And I am so glad that we had a videographer. At the wedding, I was flashmobbed and we would not have a video of it otherwise.) 

Disclosure: This piece was produced in conjunction with a prompt from Credit Card Insider; however, I was not financially compensated for this post. If you're interested in more wedding planning advice, join the conversation here.

Have you seen these other wedding posts?

How We Spent Less Than $70 on Our Save the Dates
The Easiest DIY Wedding Invites Ever!
How I Was Flashmobbed at Our Wedding
My Maids of (Dis)Honor
Pearl-Studded Wedding Rice Bags
DIY Personalized Bridesmaids Dress Hangers
My Etsy Wedding Jewelry Picks
DIY Wedding Ceremony Decorations

DIY Wedding Table Numbers

How IKEA Saved Us Cash on Wedding Decorations

How Ikea Saved Us Cash on Wedding Decorations

One of my favorite breakthroughs-- and perhaps the one that I'm most proud of-- during the wedding planning process was taking an inadvertent stroll through Ikea and realizing that so many of the products that we were using for decorations were available at the Swedish superstore... and drastically cheaper than other stores, too!  It was exciting as I loaded up my cart (although returning to Kohl's and Michaels to make massive returns wasn't nearly as exciting later) and realized how much money we'd be saving on our wedding decorations. 

Here, for your perusal, are the items that we purchased and the savings we garnered. 

Hemsjo - A pack of four pillar candles for $1.99. These were just slightly smaller, but I had previously spent $7.99 for a three-pack at Michaels. It was a fantastic feeling taking back the Michaels' candles. 

Savings: $64

Nyttja - A pack of two black picture frames for $2.99. I had bought almost identical black ones from Kohl's for $7.99 each and ended up returning them when I found the Nyttja at Ikea. We bought six frames-- one for each photo of our parents and grandparents' weddings. We repurposed those pictures and frames and created a gallery wall in our apartment-- so they did double duty!

Savings: $30

Sondrum  - One white picture frame for $3.99. We used these to frame our guestbook directions, card box note, and signature drink selections at the bar. Again, I had bought three white frames from Kohl's for $12.99 each.

Savings: $24

Haverdal- One white picture frame for $4.99. We used this 5x7 frame for one of our engagement pictures at our cake table. I had bought a white 5x7 frame similar to the Haverdal for $7.99 from Kohl's. 

Savings: $3

Bumerang- A pack of eight wooden hangers for $4.99. I bought these to make personalized hangers for my  two maids of honor and three bridesmaids. I had a difficult time finding wooden hangers at all; however, the cheapest already personalized ones I could find were on Etsy and were $15 or more. If you're interested in how I made the hangers, check out this post about them! 

Savings: $70

Bonus Find!

Glimma - 24 oversized tealights for $5.99. These are bigger than an average votive, and perfectly fit into the glass votive holders that I had bought on sale from Bath and Body Works. This wasn't necessarily a savings, so much as an exciting find. Previous to finding the Glimma candles, I couldn't find any that were big enough to fill the holders. These were perfect! 

All told, we saved $191 on our decorations, just by swapping out some items and replacing them with almost identical ones from Ikea.

Pssst... Have you seen these other wedding posts?

How We Spent Less Than $70 on Our Save the Dates
The Easiest DIY Wedding Invites Ever!
How I Was Flashmobbed at Our Wedding
My Maids of (Dis)Honor
Pearl-Studded Wedding Rice Bags
DIY Personalized Bridesmaids Dress Hangers
My Etsy Wedding Jewelry Picks
DIY Wedding Ceremony Decorations

DIY Wedding Table Numbers

How IKEA Saved Us Cash on Wedding Decorations

5 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding

How We Created Our Family Tree Cake Table
5 Wedding Decisions I'd Make Again

DIY Wedding Table Numbers

We're back from attending a wedding in California, and I'm ready to share more wedding stuff with you! Yay! 

John and I met in college, but we only started dating after he was in the Navy. (We do things the hard way. Never the easy way for the two of us.)  Our entire relationship was long distance, so we thought it would be fun to name each table as a place that is important to our relationship. We tried to match each place with a coordinating picture. I don't think anyone noticed, but I set the table numbers up so they told our story-- the first guest table was where we met and the last was where we'll be PCS-ing next, with everything else in between in order.

You'll Need:

• Microsoft Publisher (or other design program)
• 5x7 photo paper
• glue tape or glue dots (I found that the tape works wonders!)
• 5.5x7.5 scrapbook card stock paper (I found a 100 pack at Michaels for about $8.)

How I Created the Look: 

I created a template using the generic 5x7 paper size on Microsoft Publisher and then dragged and dropped photos and text that I needed for each. (I also used grayscale in the program for the photos, so I didn't have to mess with creating and saving other copies of the pictures themselves.)

After I printed all of the cards, I rolled the glue tape on the back of each one, and centered it and pressed it onto a sheet of cardstock. 

We haven't gotten our professional pictures back yet, so I don't have any clear photos of how the tables looked at the wedding.  However, if you want to create this look for your own, we used small, black easel stands to prop the cards up. (A post about our centerpieces is to follow soon!)

Have you seen these other wedding posts?

How We Spent Less Than $70 on Our Save the Dates
The Easiest DIY Wedding Invites Ever!
How I Was Flashmobbed at Our Wedding
My Maids of (Dis)Honor
Pearl-Studded Wedding Rice Bags
DIY Personalized Bridesmaids Dress Hangers
My Etsy Wedding Jewelry Picks
DIY Wedding Ceremony Decorations

Review: Cardstore

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the folks at Cardstore to try their service. I was compensated with a product for this review.All opinions and observations are mine. 

Cardstore is an online shop that sells unique greeting cards at an affordable price. The best thing, in my opinion is that there are so many card options to choose from. The topics are wide-ranging, unlike some brick-and-mortar card stores. All of the cards can be customized with text, and many of them can be with photos.

Since my youngest sister, Becky, is heading back to college and will need a little sunshine in her mailbox from time to time, I decided to order a card for her. Cardstore has the ability to send the card for you (as well as schedule cards and remind you about important dates like birthdays and anniversaries), but I didn't utilize this service since I wanted to wait to send it to her a bit later

I really enjoyed browsing the cards-- they're inventive and well designed! After looking, and looking, and looking for that perfect card, I came across the "Encouragement Cards" section. I finally settled on "You're the Sumo" because 1) how cute is that panda!? and 2) how cute is that panda!?  After customizing the inside text with some witty repartee that will (hopefully) make Becky laugh, I had the card shipped to my home address. (Did I mention they'll also print your return address on the envelope, which is awesome since we just moved here and I have no address labels!)

It's always a leap of faith to order something online and not be able to touch or see it. And that leap of faith is always a little bit harder when you're buying something to give to someone else. However, when I received the card, I was very happy with it's quality. It was definitely a card that I would have no problem sending to anyone, and consequently, a service that I would consider using again!

DIY Wedding Ceremony Decorations

Warning: This post is just a cheap excuse to post pictures of our wedding. 

John and I were married in my home church, which is already very ornate, so we didn't have much to do to decorate for the ceremony. The biggest decoration project for the ceremony were pew bows. I just loved them. They were simple, elegant, and added a touch of color without being obnoxious. They took so little time to make, too. 

 You'll Need:

1 1/2 yards of netting per pew
1 yard of ribbon per pew (we used 1 1/2 inch ribbon)
1 bunch of Baby's Breath per pew
twisties or clear tape
scissors

Directions:

Pull the netting around the top of the pew so that the ends are even with each other. Bunch the netting and pull it together in the middle of the pew. Use a twisty or clear tape instead of a knot to secure the netting to itself.
Using the ribbon, tie a bow around the twisty or clear tape.
To finish the ends of the ribbon: Fold the ends of the ribbon horizontally in half and cut 1/2 inch- 1 inch  diagonal line from the outer corner of the ribbon to the end of the folded edge.
Slip the Baby's Breath into the middle of the knot. 

And here are a bunch of pictures from the ceremony so you can see these nifty pew bows in action. The photos are taken by our photographer, Andy Colwell.

Have you seen these other wedding posts?

How We Spent Less Than $70 on Our Save the Dates
The Easiest DIY Wedding Invites Ever!
How I Was Flashmobbed at Our Wedding
My Maids of (Dis)Honor
Pearl-Studded Wedding Rice Bags
DIY Personalized Bridesmaids Dress Hangers
My Etsy Wedding Jewelry Picks

How We Spent Less than $70 on Our Save the Dates

We're back from our honeymoon! I'm working on getting our apartment in order, but I am so excited to share so many things with you! I couldn't figure out where to start, but after eating some left-over hibachi and thinking for a long time, I decided that the best place to start is at the beginning. (If you don't know about our loooooove story, check it out here.) And the beginning-- other than our love story-- really starts with our save the dates. It was one of the first decisions that we made as a couple for our wedding, and one of the ones we knew we had to make-- we had so many friends and family from all over the country who were invited to the wedding. We had to give them plenty of time to make travel plans!

The wedding industry is very persuasive.  I felt a lot of pressure, especially at the beginning of planning, to conform to all of the bells and whistles all of the wedding magazines, Pinterest boards, and websites were trying to sell me. There are an array of endless, dizzying choices-- magnets, specialty cards that have bracelets and balloons attached, koozies-- but we knew that those didn't fit into our budget and we were committed to being financially responsible.

So, here's how we spent less than $70 on our save the dates: We used Snapfish to create a save the date collage card. Snapfish has a variety of collage choices and a fairly easy online editor.

At the time, John was in Afghanistan, so I designed a few mock-ups, made screenshots of them, and emailed them to him. We went back and forth for about a week, trying to decided which we liked the best, and proofreading... and re-proofreading... and re-proofreading... before we logged our final order. (And, to give credit where it is most certainly due, we used the engagement photos from our fabulous photographer and friend, Andy Colwell.)

This was our final choice:

And here's where I'm super proud of how saving-savvy we were. We bought our save the dates when there was a free shipping code. We completed the transaction through Ebates (which, if you're not signed up for it, you really need to be!) and received $17.36 in cash back through PayPal. 

All told, that means we spent $69.44 on 150 save the dates. We would have saved more by ordering fewer, but I was so nervous about not having enough that I over ordered.  (And now, we have a few extra for our scrapbook.)

Because the cards were 5x7, we could use first class postage on them rather than more expensive postage. All told, we spent a little over $115 for everything... and we loved our save the dates, which is the most important thing of all!

3 Programs to Use During Deployment

There are tons of programs run by nonprofits, businesses, and organizations that are specifically designed to support and help deployed service members and their families during deployment.

Today, I'm highlighting the three that John and I found.  I didn't really use many programs or organizations while John was deployed. In fact, these were the only three that we purposefully sought out and utilized. All three of them were absolutely wonderful and helpful.

If you're looking for more programs than these three, there are many more online and on Pinterest. These, however, are top-notch programs that I can vouch for.

1. StarKist's "Tuna for Soldiers" Program.   As you may have gleaned from how much tuna I've sent John over the past year, he really, really likes it.  If you haven't seen them yet, StarKist makes single-serving, ready-to-eat, flavored tuna packets. They're not very expensive, but it does add up if you're buying them for a year. I emailed StarKist to see if they would throw some coupons my way. Instead, I received this email: 

"StarKist proudly salutes and supports the United States Troops. We appreciate your thinking of us and are gratified to know that our troops enjoy and use our products.We do have a "Tuna for Soldiers" program in which units that request it are sent StarKist Tuna pouch products. Product can only be sent to an APO or FPO Address. Please provide complete APO/FPO address information by email below....Thank you for your interest in StarKist and especially thanks for your bravery and support during these difficult times. Just know that all of us here at StarKist appreciate the efforts of our men and women in uniform."

Jackie, StarKist Consumer Affairs

Email: consumeraffairs@starkist.com

I submitted John's name and address and forgot about it. About two months later, John emailed me and said he had received a giant box of tuna packets from StarKist. I can't tell you how much we both appreciated this exceptionally generous program. Pretty cool.

2. Free Photo Book from the USO and RocketLife. When I saw this pop on (where else?) Pinterest, I was skeptical. I was sure the the offer had probably expired or that I wouldn't be able to run the application on my elderly laptop. I tried it out on the off chance that it might work and created a photo book of all of our engagement photos (which John hadn't seen yet). The website was easy to navigate and it was just as easy to put the book together. It took about 2-3 weeks for John to receive it. And yes, it was completely, utterly free. Click here to go to the site.

3. Cup of Joe for a Joe. If you have someone serving overseas (it doesn't need to be in a war-zone), encourage them to sign up for the Green Beans Cafe's Cup of Joe for a Joe program. The program matches micro-donations from civilians in the States of cups of coffee and bags of coffee (and personal notes of encouragement) to deployed members of the military. John signed up for the program at the beginning of his year and has been treated to quite a few cups of coffee from kind folks during his deployment.

5 MORE Ways to Save on Care Packages (Without Sacrificing Quality!)

Yesterday, I posted my first five tips for how to save on care packages. Today, here are my final five tips for saving money on care packages during deployment.  I hope they work for you! 

1. Use packaging that matters. No matter how skilled you are at Tetris-ing your care package, you will probably have nooks and crannies and extra space in your care package. Even if it's small, use that space to your advantage. John appreciates when I use plastic shopping bags as packing material-- he can reuse the bags and is always in need of them. Can't fit the whole box of granola bars in intact? Open the box up and slip individual bars in the cracks between the other items. Write a whole slew of letters and wedge them into small spaces.  Make sure that what packing material you do use either makes your recipient smile or is useful-- don't just send wadded up newspaper.

2. Get friendly with dollar stores, dollar sections, and clearance shelves. Face it-- most of what you're sending in care packages will either be consumed, thrown away, ruined, or left behind when your recipient comes home. Choose your expensive items carefully. If you're looking for items that are disposable, check out discount stores. My five-and-ten of choice is Five Below (they always seem to have the funkiest, most interesting stuff), but I've also found helpful items at The Dollar Tree. Check the ends of the shelving rows at Michael's and Staples-- usually they will hide their heavily discounted clearance items there. Target and Michael's also have pretty awesome dollar sections that have both raw crafting materials and gift items. (Watch the coupons for Michael's-- they will sometimes have coupons that can be used for total purchases, as well as their standard 40%-off one item. Michael's also has a 15% teacher's discount, if you are one.) 

3. Use free materials. If you haven't heard yet, the USPS will deliver care package supplies right to your door!  They'll ship you different sizes of the boxes and customs forms (which you can also pick up for free at any post office); however, their Care Package Kit also includes free packing tape. Packing tape is expensive. Spend three minutes on the phone and save yourself some dough. Click here for more information.

4. Send homemade! Don't be afraid of sending homemade goodies-- both edible and otherwise. I sent John homemade Christmas ornaments, an origami picture frame, a picture-a-day calendar, hand warmers, not to mention the dozens of granola bars and cookies I've shipped.

5. Avoid single-serving foods when possible. Since single-serving products are almost patently more expensive than bulk ones, this is a great place to save money. Depending on the situation, this can be tough. John was in a situation where I could send him whole boxes of cereal and packages of cookies and crackers because he had a place to store them. I also made my own single-serving foods by measuring out the serving sizes and bagging them in small Ziploc sandwich bags. 

Welcome to the first week of Link Up Tuesday's Blog Hop! Be sure to come back and join us every Tuesday to link up your Blog, Bloglovin', Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

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