I do not have a stand-alone freezer. I have a standard refrigerator with freezer compartment on the top. In addition to that, my dad has a fridge in his workroom and I use the freezer compartment for my overflow.

I have been couponing for many, many years. I recall as a young teenager, I would go to town (yes, there was a time before malls!) on Saturday and buy all my own toiletry items. Once, I went into a drugstore and had a coupon for everything I bought. The cashier called the manager and said, "She can't do that, can she? She has a coupon for everything!" Of course, the manager assured her that it was O.K. to do that, but, I often received that kind of "greeting" from cashiers.

I have to give credit where credit is due; I was not that knowledgeable about the ECB program at CVS and the Register Rewards program at Walgreens until I joined Hot Coupon World. I learn something new there every day. It is a forum made up of very generous people who will share their wisdom and experience to benefit the entire group. If there's an unadvertised deal somewhere, someone on HCW will post it. Wow! People helping people! What a concept!

I am relying heavily on members of HCW and readers of my blog to help me find ways to use all the items in my stockpile. For example, I mentioned that I had a dozen cans of French's onion rings, but, had never used them and didn't know how to use them. I received several suggestions from others. Meal planning is pretty easy right now; I have enough of "standard" items to put together a meal without much thought. As the month goes on, however, I may be putting out a call to ask how best to use a certain food item.

I did use some of my Bi-Lo GC yesterday. I purchased about $18 worth of goods, had coupons that brought it down to $3.21. That leaves 16.79 for the rest of the month on that card. I can hardly ignore the sales flyers in the Sunday paper; on Sunday I used $11 in RRs plus 3.19 in Qs for food at Walgreens. I really went to get an ink cartridge refilled, but, when I found a few items at a very good price, I decided to use the soon-to-expire RRs on food there. In addition to getting that food free, I also had enough of RR to discount the price of the ink cartridge refill. Of course, I do not consider that a grocery item; it goes in my "office supplies" budget line. I also paid a visit to CVS; again, about $18 worth of goods, my final price, 28 cents. I bought a mascara for my niece for Christmas (I Christmas shop year-round), so, I felt like I was O.K. with putting that 28 cents into the "gifts" budget line.

I have received a $3.49 rebate check since beginning the challenge. I have spent $2.27 on groceries with it, so, I have $1.22 "in my pocket" if I need it.

I am not going to substitute eating out for working on my challenge. I usually budget $50 per month for eating out and that includes everything from a cup of coffee at McD's to a nice meal at Chili's. I have actually been way under the $50 mark for several months. I also have many GC to different restaurants that I have received for no money out of my pocket. I don't plan to use all of them in July, but, they are available if I want to take an evening off.

I don't usually eat 3 meals a day. I used to weigh 280 pounds, had gastric bypass surgery, now I weigh 118. I usually eat something light for lunch and try to eat a healthy dinner. That doesn't always happen, but, that's the plan! Sometimes I get lazy about planning and preparing and I just go for the frozen, single-serve entree in the freezer. I have a few of those right now and have free coupons for 5 more. See, it can even be free to be lazy and not cook!

I have several packages of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and tenderloins in the freezer. I admit that my knowledge of cooking chicken is quite limited. If anyone has a recipe they'd like to share, I'd be happy to have it. I have loads of rice, probably 50#, so, if you have a recipe with chicken and rice, that would be great. I have a jar of roasted red peppers on the shelf if you can incorporate that into something tasty. I also have many bottles of meat marinade, Lawry's, Mrs. Dash and the like. How best to use those with chicken?

I look forward to hearing from you with your recipes and suggestions. I want this month's challenge to be fun.