My favorite easy winter recipe and a tale of how low I will go to save a buck

Let's start with the recipe so that I can save myself humiliation for a little longer.

Taco Soup or Santa Fe Soup, whichever you prefer. This is a common recipe that I am sure many of you already make, but I LOVE it when it is cold outside and there is football on tv and a fire in the fireplace. So cozy. Plus it makes a huge batch and freezes well. It doesn't get much better than that.

2 lbs ground beef
2 cans stewed tomatoes
2 cans pinto beans
1 can ro-tel tomatoes
2 cans shoe peg corn
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix

Cook ground beef. Dump all ingredients in a large pot or crock pot, and cook until heated through. Serve with sour cream, cheese, and corn chips (I prefer fritos scoops--yum, yum).

Just typing this recipe makes me want to cook this soup, and it's hot outside!!

For more slow cooker recipes, check out Diary of a SAHM.

And here is the sad, sad tale of frugal little me trying to save a few pennies.

I am fairly new to the whole couponing thing, and I have read in multiple places that to get lots of coupons, I need to go to the local recycling center. In my mind, I think I pictured nice stacks of newspapers ready to be recycled, you know something, well, dignified. So earlier this week, I googled Henry County recycling center, I got directions, and off Ada and I go, happy as can be, with visions of lots and lots of saved money in my future. Turns out, the recycling center is just a row of big dumpsters, and to retrieve these wonderful coupons, I have to dig into the dumpster in hopes of finding what I am looking for. So the first day I go, I get out of the car, leave it running with Ada still buckled in, and I grab what I can reach. I get home, and I have nothing good. All of the coupons that I did manage to find were expired months ago. Defeat.

Well, I decide to give it another go, and Ada and I headed back to the recycling center today. When we pulled up, there were several men a few dumpsters down, most likely bringing things to recycle. I briefly debated if I should leave, rather than "dumpster dive" in front of these men, but I decided to swallow my pride, and I got out of the car ready to find some great coupons. Again, I walked away with NOTHING. Has anyone else used the recycling center as a place for free coupons. Am I doing this wrong? I am not ready to give up, but I can only dig through that dumpster so many times with nothing to show for it before I say forget it.