wooo I DID get what I wanted!

a friend called me this morning and said a different walmart still had all the bath sets and lip gloss things I had wanted so the girls and I went there. they had toys on clearance already too so I got a few toy things for our youngest neice and a thomas for my youngest for later. We ended up getting the bath stuff and lip gloss things I wanted (little birthday gifts for the sitter's granddaughters and my daughter loves lip gloss and lip balm so she will get some for easter and her birthday. Also found the prettiest pewter angel ornament with crystals for the girl's sitter for next Christmas. She collects angels.




We also went to farm and fleet. They only had 25% off their toys but they had a ton of thomas stuff left so I got a take along Thomas and Percy for my youngest for later for $8 total. I was pretty happy about that. Mom is getting her the track for it so I have been on the lookout for the engine and cars.



We stopped at Family Dollar also. 50% off all toys $10 and up. I got 4 things $10 toys originally for $5. A soft Belle Doll for our youngest neice for next Christmas, a remote control truck for our nephew for his birthday, an Ariel Barbie for our oldest neice for her birthday (end of January) and a Christmasy Barbie for my oldest for next Christmas, we got a few ornaments there too.

Day after Christmas deals

I went to 7 stores throughout the day. We went to Christmas on my mom's side but I got up early this morning and went with mom and dad to Kohls and a Walmart. I got like 10 rolls of wrapping paper at walmart, a couple things of candy, some cologne sets for my brother and hubby for gifts for later, a little lip gloss disney princess purse thing for my oldest DD, a tote box for ornaments since our collection grew by a lot this year and some chistmasy colored take alongs food storage things for $1 per set. There are 3 or 4 in the set. I was going to buy a larger fake tree but when I mentioned that to mom she said not to because she would just give me her 7 1/2 ft because she only puts up a little one now. SCORE! We have a 4 ft now but our ornament collection grew so much this year that we need a bigger tree now. LOL. I scored huge last year at Sears in early January. They had a ton of Dora, Diego, Tigger, Disney princess, Tinkerbell, and Barbie ornaments for 90% off. I got sets of 4 for under $1 per set! They became gifts this year since I get the girls and ornament or 2 (or more...if we find cute ones at the thrift store) every Christmas season. I try to buy things that fit their personality and interests that year and if they don't already have the year, I write the year on them with a sharpie real small.  We also went to breakfast.  That was Delish!  A meal where I didn't have to tell someone to eat; just try a bite; how do you know you don't like it?, you eat eggs all the time; what do you mean you are full, you ate 2 bites?!?!; stop fighting with your sister and EAT! 




At kohls I only got 2 ornaments for the kids. I didn't see anything that was priced good enough for me to bite.



After visiting at my grandpa's, the kids and I stopped at a Walmart. I got the girls some stickers, and we got a few grocery things. Mainly we went to decompress from the mass of people at Grandpa's and to check on the Christmas clearance there but there was not a lot left at all and it was surprising not very busy. We got gas and dinner in that town.



We got back on the interstate and we had gone about 10 miles when my oldest said she had to go to the bathroom. We went before we got back on the road so I asked her if she could hold it for a little bit. The next exit was 15 miles and there was a wayside coming up (in the middle of nowhere) but because it was just me and the 2 kids and starting to get dark, I really did not want to stop there unless I absolutely had to. She said she could hold it longer so we just got off at the next exit and walmart was right there. We went into that Walmart and she went. Then we checked out the Christmas clearance again and the girls found a couple ornaments they liked and I found some pj pants for $5.



Our final exit from the interstate there is a Kmart and the girls were tired of riding so we stopped there and ended up getting a set of ornaments, some boxers for DH, a Thomas Train for my youngest, a barbie lip gloss set for my oldest, a couple more of the barbie sets to put away as gifts, everything was on clearance and they had an additional 20% off clearance toys so the Train was only $7. O is really into trains...big time!  she was so excited about her Thomas she wanted to sleep with it.  I think I might call my MIL tommorrow and tell her about them and then have her pick up the others.  For $7 a piece, they can become birthday presents later :)



After the kids were in bed, I needed some alone time, so I told hubby I was leaving for a bit.  I went to Pamida and got a couple keepsake ornaments with 2009 on them. They are pewter with crystals. Really cute and kinda pricey for me (even clearanced they were $4.50 each) but I had a really hard time finding ornaments with 2009 on them for some reason. I also got my mom a wooden snowman decor thingy. She collects snowmen so that will be perfect and only $5. Their clearance was 70% off a lot of the Christmas stuff. They are really pricey so I don't shop there very often but I do check out the clearance. I stopped by Walgreens and I found a couple things but didn't buy. They had a lot left so I will wait and see if they go lower. If I don't get them, no biggie. They are just things for the sitter for her Birthday and stuff. She collects angels.

Christmas is over

Hooray!  I sincerely love Christmas but I am so glad when it is over.  We do have one more get together that we are supposed to attend but depending on weather tommorrow, we may skip it, as it is a 3 hour round trip drive on roads that I drive once a year.  Besides the drive, it is with family that I don't necessarily care that much for (with the exception of a couple people) and we generally stay for an hour tops and then hit the road...4 hours of my time spent driving and visiting with people that I don't care to see...whatever.  I went last year.

One thing I am not skipping though (barring a dramatic weather change overnight) is my traditional after Christmas shopping.  Mom and Dad did decide to go so I am headed out with them at 5:30 AM.  R says I am crazy but even if mom and dad weren't going I was going to go alone.  I really need a break from the family for a few hours.  I love my kids and my hubby but I am in dire need of some time without someone asking me for something or whining, crying and fighting.  Tis the season.

Should have posted this yesterday

I will still have a job after Christmas.  I was a bit worried because that is what I do.  My boss saw no reasons to let me go so I will still be working part-time for 2010 until we meet our goals, preferrably by the end of October.  I said Thanksgiving previously but R is hoping for a end of October quit date for me.  I do enjoy my job and would like to stay on but this year's Christmas season was a bit rough on the family and that comes first.  I imagine next year will be the same or worse so I will continue on with the plan as it is now....always subject to change though :)  just the way it is for us anymore.  I intend on leaving there on a good foot so I can go back when both kids are in school and possibly work something out with before school and after school care for the kids.

We had a fairly lowkey Christmas with my parents this afternoon at their house.  It was nice.  I am glad they downplayed it more this year than in years past.  It has been an overabundance of gifts in years past and this year was much more tame.  Although I did miss the big dinner and all the trimmings.  Mom had to work last night and didn't feel like cooking a big meal (we still had a pretty decent meal of prime rib, baked potatoes, and corn). 

Tommorrow is our little family Christmas.  One gift each for R and I from the girls (slippers for me...shaving set for R) and the rest is about the kids.  Then we go to the inlaws for Christmas with them. 

Saturday is my most favorite day of the year.  The after Christmas sale day!  I love this day.  It is also my mom's birthday and it is a tradition for her, dad, my brother and I to go shopping.  I am not sure if my brother will be going this year but the rest of us are.  The kids will stay home with R.  We hit the stores and then go out for breakfast.  I am looking forward to it.  On my list this year is wrapping paper (I ran out!  Shocker!), some of the bath sets that are clearanced (they had some really cute ones that I will not pay $10 for but I will pay $5..make great birthday gifts!), some ornaments (still have to get the 2009 year one for the girls but I wait until after Christmas to get them).  I really want to get O a train ornament of some sort.  I wanted to get her a Thomas one (the kids LOVES trains!) but after seeing her eyes light up at even just a train on the tracks not moving, I figured that any train ornament will do.  K has been big into Hannah Montana this year so I would like to get one like that for her.  A new tote box for just ornaments.  I started collecting ornaments for the girls when they were born, 2-3 each year, and have amassed quite a collection now.  I get them each one with something they are into (trains, barbie, hannah montana, etc.) and then one with the year for sure and usually they pick out one or two when we visit the thrift store.  Our tree is a hodge podge of different ornaments, some mine, some K's, some O's.  It's pretty cool though.  I am also looking for a bigger fake tree but that is not necessary.  Our little 4ft Charlie Brown fake tree is ok but every single branch has at least one ornament on it this year.  You can hardly see the actual tree (which might not be a bad thing!).  I bought that tree the year Liv was born.  Our other tree got ruined in the basement and Rodney has just changed jobs.  We didn't have a lot of money and that tree was $10 at Family Dollar.  It was all I could afford to spend so that is what we got.  Even if I do get a bigger tree, I will probably keep this one and put it up but not fill it so full with ornaments OR I will not get a different tree, still put this one up and just get some garland to hang around the livingroom and hang ornaments on.  That would work too.  That is about all that is on my list this year.  If I see some other good deals I will probably snag some more gift type things for next year but I might hold off on that until later, when JCP, Old Navy and Sears do their big clearance sales in January/February. 

Merry Christmas! and our goals in the new year

First off  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

and now for the financial stuff....LOL.

For the new year, I have set us up some pretty aggressive (yet doable) goals.

New furnace!  (original quote a couple years ago was $4500 but I have talked to some people over the last couple weeks and I am certain that this will be cheaper now.  I am still budgeting $4500 and the leftover will go to meet our savings goal)

Have at least $7500 in savings by next November...would like $10,000 but that might be pushing it.  Ultimately I would like to have one year of my income in savings (just over $11K by the end of this year), but I don't know that we can do that before we need to be able to accomplish goal 3....

Goal 3 is for me to be a SAHM before Thanksgiving of 2010.  There are a variety of reasons (some personal, some I won't go into this publicly just in case, and because I would like some time home with both my kids before K starts school...and once K is in school my current work schedule does not work with getting her to school and home from school.  That is a mess unto itself so I won't go into that here). 

In order for Goal 3 to happen we need to get the minimum of $7500 in our emergency fund.  We could do without it but I want to have the cushion.  Why $7500?  That is 7 1/2 months of just bills.  The reccommended amount in an emergency fund for long term is 3-6 months of living expenses (more savings is better).  For us the yearly total for our monthly bills and our annual and semi annual bills comes to just under $15K.  $7500 is half of that.  I did not budget in groceries or other stuff in that $7500 for a few reasons:

That money is for unemployment for R.  Should he lose his job, he would get unemployment.  Therefore I did not feel it necessary to budget in money for gas, food, etc in an emergency fund.  If we were in a bind we could use some of it to pay for groceries, etc.  I can feed us pretty cheaply when necessary so I am not worried.

We have the stockpile.  We can live off the stockpile for a while, only needing to buy milk, bread and some fresh veggies and fruit.  I continue to stockpile even now so having food would not be an issue.

Should we need it, there are various assistance programs.  I do not advocate using assistance as a lifestyle but as a helping hand.  I will say that I have used assistance in the past and I will again if the need arises.  With the budget I have set up and the goals I have set, we should not need assistance barring any unforeseen changes. 


so those are my goals in the new year.  I am currently checking out my local banks and figuring out which one (excluding our current bank) that I should use to open a new account for this emergency fund.  I want the funds to be more difficult to get a hold of but not so difficult that I can't get to them in a time of need.  The reason for picking a new bank for this account only is so I cannot just transfer it online like I currently can from our mini emergency fund.  It is so easy right now and I want to make it a bit more difficult on myself.  My intent is to use our current savings as bill paying but clear it out (minus the $100 minimum balance required) at the end of the month when the bills are paid and transfer that to our other savings at a different bank.

if you have a little extra money now....

Ha who does right?!? but seriously this could save you quite a bit in a month or so, so keep reading!

I got this in an email.  Here is my thoughts. 

I know Old Navy has an extra 50% off clearance sale in late January or early February (and again sometime in the fall but I have never shopped that one) so my thought was taking $50 or $100 (saving $10 or $20 respectively) and THEN using that gift card when they have the extra 50% off clearance sale. Not only would I save money when I got that gift card I would save money when I bought new clothes for the kids.  I have walked out of Old Navy before with $100 plus worth of clothes for $25.  So this way I could potentially walk out with $200 plus of clothes (which I could very easily spend because the girls are growing so fast and I could get a TON of Christmas presents for next year for our neices, nephew, my brother and my parents) for $40. 

Pretty cool right?!  Now I don't recommend doing this if you don't usually shop Old Navy or there is nothing you need there but if you do shop there regularly it is a good way to save some $$.

last minute Christmas stuff and more

I worked for a little bit today.  After work I got my hair cut and then spent the rest of the afternoon with my brother.  We went to Walmart.  I spent a little there.  Not much at all.  Then we went to Goodwill.  I got a purse and a like new wallet, some PJ pants for hubby and a "ho ho" (aka Santa) ornament for Liv.  After that we went to Dollar Tree, where I got the remainder of the stocking stuffers I needed for Christmas.  A few things for my girls, a pumice stone for my brother's girlfriend, and a few other things.  On the way home we stopped at my favorite bent and dent.  I am super excited because they installed a whole bunch of new freezers. They have a ton more freezer stuff now.  Hooray!  I get almost all of our frozen juice concentrate, fries, and pretty much all of our freezer things there.  I am wondering now though if they will raise their prices. hmmmmm

 It was fun spending the afternoon with my brother.  We haven't done that in a long time.

goals

With the lack of motivation to be at work, I decided to set new goals.  Goal 1 is to get 6 months of bills in savings...right around $7500.  Our monthly bills are actually just under $1000 but we wanted to get a bit more for LP and our life and car insurances.  Goal 2 is to get $5-6K in savings for a new to us vehicle when the time comes.  We can accomplish this quickly when we get our tax return.  I did a preliminary estimate of our tax return last night and we should get quite a chunk of change back.  Part of this will go for a new furnace and the rest will get put away.  The original plan was to get a new furnace and new siding but we are going to wait another year on the siding but we cannot wait on the furnace.

I was worried about my job and how losing it would affect our savings goals.  I don't know that I am losing my job but temps are done on 12/31 and I am technically a temp.  I was injured again last week so whether or not I still have a job is up in the air in my mind.  Then I got a call from hubby today and he is going to be able to start working 10 hours (or more) of OT in a week.  That will quickly help us meet our savings goals!

car is paid off!

wooooo!  I sent the payment early on Thursday, checked yesterday and it cleared my account so now I am down to just owing a very small amount on my credit card that I will pay off this week and we are DEBT FREE (except the mortgage!)  I am so happy!


The downside to knowing that I am debt free is that I do NOT want to be at work.  I do NOT need to be there for the money so I really really do not want to get up and go in or anything.  UGH!  makes it soo hard to do a 10 hour day.   I felt that way yesterday but today was even worse.  My body aches and I just kept thinking about how my car is paid off and I already made enough this week to pay off the credit card.  Why am I here?!? 

I am thinking that because way back when I was offered and decided to stay on year round at my employer, it was *just until the car is paid off*, now it is just until we have more in savings and then it will be something else I am sure.  I make good money and I do like my job usually.  The problem is that right now we are busy and we are working A LOT.  I do not need to work A LOT, I do not want to work alot but it is mandatory to do the extra long days and Saturdays.  UGH!  Once we slow down, it will get better. 

Hubby and I talked tonight and we *think* that I am going to end up quitting before we get to this problem next year.  We are having issues with the early start days and our sitter arrangement.  I cannot do another year of this.  It is too stressful on me and on the sitter so for now I am not planning on changing anything, just keep saving money and building us up a nice big savings account but before the Christmas rush at work next year, hubby and I have lots of talking to do.  :)

busy day

We dropped off the old vacuum and some other stuff at the thrift store this morning and got a receipt for taxes. When we were in there K found a brand new angel ornament and O found a Santa driving a tractor ornament that she HAD to have so I got them both. Then we went to Farm and Fleet (regional store...mostly farm stuff but they have an automotive section, clothing section, housewares, shoes and a seasonal toy section. They have the best old fashioned seasonal candies too!) We got dad a gift card there for new work overalls and got a few other things...like the BEST manual can opener EVER. LOVE it. It actually works!! (that is a whole vent I have to type up sometime). O lost her shoe in farm and fleet but some nice person turned it in at the courtesy counter. Hooray!




Then we went to Walmart to pick up my pics and get a couple other things. Ended up finding racks of clearanced kids summer clothes for $1 each. I got 11 things. 9 for the girls and 2 for my youngest neice. Hooded dresses, skirts and leggings. They had some long sleeve shirts too but nothing that would fit my girls. I usually don't buy Walmart clothes for the kids (zippered pjs, socks and underwear is all) because I have found that they don't last with how rough my girls are on stuff and I can get it cheaper through work or by watching sales at Childrens' place, old navy or JCP or even at the thrift store or garage sales but for $1 each I can't pass it up.



Then we ran to dollar tree and got some picture frames for the pics I had made. One for MIL, one for us and one for my grandpa. The other pics will just be given to mom and our sitter since mom got picture frames for Christmas and our sitter is picky about frames.



Then we had lunch with hubby and now we are home. I have some housework to do and then get ready for the next 3 days of work work work.

what is it about a new vacuum....

or other cleaning tool to get me in the mood for cleaning.  I was a cleaning machine today.  I moved the huge couch and vacuumed under that.  OMG!  I need to do that more often.  It was disgusting!  I took the cushions off and vacuumed the entire couch out as well.  yuck!  I used the upholstery attachement and vacuumed off the couch.  I used the crevice tool and went around the baseboards in every room.  I shampooed the carpets and couch as well.  Then I vacuumed the stairs (which weren't bad because I just did them last week) and then moved everything upstairs and vacuumed the kids rooms and hallway as well.  I filled an entire vacuum bag already. 

I know you are not supposed to, but I emptied the bag out and put it back in.  You are supposed to just throw the bag away when it gets full but I am going to try to get a couple uses out of each bag if possible.  Might not always be possible and bags are cheap enough but if it works this time I just might try it.  The bags are small enough that I can just shake them out.  The amount of pet hair in the bag was astounding.  Yuck.  I had just used the old vacuum last night too so I am thinking that thing was not sucking stuff up very well or the pets are just shedding like crazy (or possibly because I hadn't vacuumed under the couch in awhile and that is what filled the bag up so much.  IDK but gross!)

The house feels so much cleaner now.  I still have to clean my room yet but the rest of the house is clean. 

Spent too much money over the last week

but it was all cash or debit...no credit card usage at all!

Tonight was hopefully the last of my spending for awhile.  I ended up buying a new vacuum.  I am sick and tired of the one I have not cleaning properly.  I am pretty sure it is just because it needs a new filter.  However, a new filter for this dang thing is $20!  With 2 cats, 1 dog, 2 kids, 2 adults, a gravel driveway and carpet in every room except 2 (bathroom and downstairs bedroom are linoleum and hardwood, respectively), a vacuum cleaner gets a workout in this house.  I religiously clean the filter after every use but I still end up replacing it every 3-4 months.  Sometimes I can go 6 months but not usually.  At $20 a filter, it gets expensive.  Before I bought the bagless vacuum, I had a bagged vacuum that I loved.  That thing was awesome!  I had it for 5 years or so.  I replaced it because the handle was broke.  It was still working but was annoying to have to adjust the handle all the time and forget trying to take it upstairs.  That was a nightmare ordeal.  The handle would pull right off.  The screw was stripped out and wouldn't hold the handle on.  I got tired of it and replaced it.  I didn't check the price of filters before replacing it and now wished I would have.  I learned a valuable lesson.  So today I replaced the bagless with a bagged vacuum.  Pretty much the same one I had before.  Bags are just under $3 for 3.  Previously I only had to change bags once a month or so.  Even if I have to replace them more often it will still be cheaper than buying filters for the bagless.  The new vacuum was $39.  I haven't been able to use it yet as the kids are asleep but that is on the agenda for the morning.  Can't wait!

I have a couple more things to do yet before Christmas but for the most part we are done with Christmas shopping.  No more gifts to buy other than a gift card.  What I need for my father in law's gift basket I can get at the grocery store.  I can order the gift card I want to get for my dad online so no trips to the store there.  I was originally done with my dad's gifts but he gave use $300 toward our new tv so I felt that I should give him something more for Christmas.  It will be nowhere near what he gave to us but he has stated many times that he knows we cannot afford to do that so I shouldn't worry about it.  I do though.

the madness (and deals) that is Black Friday

I got into a minor scuffle at Walmart but Dad and I had fun though. I got into a shoving match with this incredible rude and pushy lady. Dad and I got to Walmart about 3:30. We looked at the other tvs and Hubby and I had a contingency plan in place. We had discussed other TVs the night before and checked stock online of the ones we were interested in.  I would have been #2 in line for the Sony TV but they only had 5 of the stands that we wanted. We liked an RCA tv that was a bit cheaper and same size so I decided to get the RCA (no waiting!!!) and wait by the stands until the sale started. Dad was after a tom tom for mom so I didn't want to ask him to wait for me. So I told mom which TV I wanted and she had someone get it out and on a cart for me and had them take it upfront so when we were ready to checkout it was there. (my mom works at the Walmart we were shopping at.

I got over to the TV stands just before 4 am and was alone until 4:30 when another guy joined me by the stands and then a younger guy and an older woman a short time after that. There were 5 stands and 4 of us. They all agreed that I was there first and waitng so long I should get the first one. Then at 1 minute to 5 this lady comes over and SHOVES me out of the way and then rams me with her cart. I shoved her back and rammed her with my cart and said look I have been waiting here I am getting one first. There are 5 of us and 5 stands no need to shove me. Then it was 5 and the older guy helped me get one in my cart and then he got one all the while this lady is shoving and ramming the 4 of us with her cart. I gave her one really good push with my cart and yelled wait your goddamned turn (insert a not nice name here). Then I put my knee on the other boxes while I helped the lady that had been waiting with me. Meanwhile this rude lady is trying to steal the stand from my cart so this young guy that had been waiting with us grabs ahold of my cart while the older guy and I put one in the younger guys cart. HA! teach her to mess with me. The reason the stand was such a big deal is because it is over $100 off the regular price.  Yeah.....normal price was $199 and this was $89.  Not worth fighting over really but worth it enough for me to get up early and make sure I got one!

I had already got the boots ($7 and I NEED winter boots.  I haven't had a pair since middle school!) I wanted before the sale started and on my way to wait for the TV stand. One of the pallets was unwrapped and my size was right on top so I grabbed them quick before I went to wait by the stands. Then after I got the stand I walked up front, grabbed mom's picture frames ($13 for a $13 piece set) she wanted and then called dad. He got what he wanted and we were out of Walmart by 5:15.

Then it was sears (I didn't go into that one with him) then here and we set up the TV. I went to our local usually overpriced (but suprising they were not this time) store and got the HDMI cables and brought them back to hubby. 

Then Dad, the girls and I went to the big Sears. I gave the girls some change to donate to the Salvation Army Bell ringers.  K thought that was neat and O wanted to keep the money but eventually she did drop it in the kettle after a little prodding from my dad.  I got my blanket and sheets (that I had wanted but wasn't something I was going to get to Sears that early for...$20 comforter and $10 sheet set).  I didn't get the color of blanket I wanted but it's ok.  I just wanted one and the sheets are not something I would have paid full price for (the pattern is flowers and not my thing but after I got them on my bed I do like them and we needed sheets badly!).

Then to Farm and Fleet for something dad wanted and I grabbed a couple good deals (a toy for our niece, a GOOD, working manual can opener-which is a rant that I need to type up soon!, super cheap bags of popcorn for our popcorn machine and some seasonal candies).

My oldest was such a sweetheart in that store.  She had gotten $20 in birthday money from various relatives on my hubby's side.  She wanted to spend the money on a toy for herself and said that she "couldn't spend all of the money on myself.  Livy needs a new toy too and I want to buy her one." awwwww how sweet is that from an almost 4 year old!?!?!  She wanted to get her sister a present too!  K can be such a little pistol sometimes but she really does have a great heart!  and she did that all with NO prompting from me!  She ended up getting herself a Polly Pocket play set and a disney princess activity book (I let her pick out whatever she wanted and just read the price to her and told her how much she would have left).  They she led the way to the toy aisle that her sister could get something from and picked out 4 things and then she said O could pick one of those 4. O picked a baby doll that was $4.  It turned out that K spent $2 more than her birthday money but I really didn't care.  I was just so happy that she was so nice to her sister.  K has been asking for a Precious Places Swan Palace for an eternity and they had a bunch of them on the shelf.  I told K she could get one of them and she said "no momma they are too much money.  If I buy one I can't get sissy a present too."  I had told her I would chip in some money if she wanted the palace but nope she wanted to get her sister a present and that was more important that getting that palace she has been asking for.  It totally melted my heart to see my daughter being so generous!

Then it was lunch and I came home to a cleaned up house (go Hubby!) and a very happy hubby who was loving his new TV.  That made all the craziness of Walmart disappear.  It was worth it to see him so happy!

So all in all I had a great day with only 5 hours of sleep.  I have to work tommorrow so I am off to bed now.  Hope everyone that ventured out had a great day and got the deals they wanted!

and the worrying is becoming less

I was told today that I have a pretty good chance of keeping my job after christmas.  That made me smile.  I like my employer and I like my job.  I like working part time and I like my hourly wage. 

so my youngest asked for

an electronic drum set today.  While we were at Kmart we were perusing the toy section and of all the things on the shelf that particular item caught her eye.  I handed it to her and she played with it for a few minutes.  She said "I have that for kitmas? I tell ho ho?".  So Ho Ho (aka Santa Claus) will be getting Miss O the $15 electronic drum set from Kmart.  O has not asked for one thing yet for Christmas until today. 


Tonight I took a bit of alone time and went to Dollar tree.  They have some nice stiff cardboard book 2 packs for $1.  I got the girls some for stocking stuffers.  I didn't get too much there.  I also went to Walmart to get the rest of K's birthday present, a couple movies.  While I was there I looked at the bath sets because I like to pick them up on the after Christmas sale.  Wow there are some NICE sets this year.  I am hoping that they have a bunch left.  I have some pretty good ideas for Birthday gifts for neices and our nephew for next year as well as some gifts for my kids. 

started the Christmas "chores"

I started the chore of wrapping presents today.  It is my least favorite part of Christmas.  I realized I have gotten very little presents for my mom.  She is such a hard person to buy for.  I think I am just going to get her a gift card.  I have no clue what else to get her!

I was able to get the deep fryer I wanted for my brother.  I was upset at first because they didn't have any but as we were walking around the store I found an endcap with a bunch of them on it.  SCORE!  He will be pleased!


UPDATE

I finished wrapping everything that I have already bought.  Whew.  It took FOREVER!  Got meatloaf in the oven for me and the kids and chili in the crockpot for hubby.  I didn't get any housework done but at least the big Christmas chore is done.  Next weekend we will put up the Christmas tree and decorate it.  After dinner I will get the house in order....maybe.  Maybe I will just relax :)

While the man's away doing his manly thing.....

Opening day of the 9 day gun deer season is today so my hubby is out with his brothers, uncle and dad doing "the man thing".  So far this morning I haven't done much.  I perused some more black friday ads here, reorganized the ground beef section of the freezer and made breakfast for the kids. 

I reorganized the ground beef section because our local store has it on sale again.  I have been trying to keep the section almost full.  I have been leaving room for 5 lbs in case I run into a deal at walmart again on the tubed ground beef which I use for jerky since it is too fatty IMO for burgers or casseroles but if I can get it for $1/lb it is perfect for homemade jerky.  I bought one 3 lb pack of the sale meat from our local store knowing that I could fit it in the freezer.  I have room for 1 more 3 lb pack but I just might skip it.  It is not like we need it and the sale runs for 2 weeks this time. 

That is one thing I really like about this local store.  It runs 2 week ads around holidays.  It is nice because I can plan out what I need and get it one week and then not have to worry about it the 2nd week.  Less OOP money for groceries that 2nd week. 

We are so close to being debt free (besides the mortgage).  I am so proud of us.

I was going to wait to give our sitter her bonus but I couldn't.  She is having a ton of family over for Thanksgiving so I gave her the $100 bonus we have been saving for on Friday so she could use it for Thanksgiving or whatever.  I printed up a note and found a few poems online and printed them out.  I put everything in an envelope and wrapped the $100 bill up so she couldn't tell what it was.  She cried when she opened it.  She said we were too generous.  I feel like she totally deserves it though.  She has gone through so much with us this year from Hubby's layoff, to my department switch, hours being switched, last minute early start days, last minute work days, last minute days off, calling her for an emergency and having her watch K while I was in the ER with O, and never knowing if I am working 8 hours a day or 4 or 6 or however many.  Even some days where I have dropped the kids off and been back to pick them up 15 minutes later because they sent me home.  Yeah...she deals with a lot.  We pay her hourly so if I don't work, she doesn't watch the kids and doesn't get paid.  It is only fair that I give her some sort of compensation for her trouble. 

Later on, when the dense fog lifts, the kids and I are heading to Kmart.  My brother asked for a deep fryer for Christmas and they have the one I like for him cheaper than Walmart and I get a discount through my employer.  I only have a few things left to do for Christmas (a couple items on  Black Friday for the kids, making FILs jerky and gift basket, wrapping what we have already, getting something for our nephew, etc.)

Thanksgiving day (since we will be at the inlaws already and they are just a few miles from Kmart and their house is small and I will want to run away after spending an hour there with my BIL and all the kids and the rest of that side of the family except hubby's parents) I am going to Kmart for the fisher price toy deal.  B1G1F.  Perfect gifts for my little 6 month old neice. I plan on getting 4 toys total.  2 for Christmas and 2 for her Birthday.

do you "do" black friday?

This year there is really nothing that I need. Hubby and I are in want of a new TV.  The sound is starting to go on ours.  While it isn't a necessity as we do have a 19 inch tv we could use in a pinch, we are hopefully going to get a deal on an LCD TV.  It is what hubby really wants.  He wants a minimum of a 40 inch but that requires a new entertainment center as well so we'll see.  We do have the money saved for a new TV but I wasn't planning on getting one that big and I didn't save for the additional expense of a new entertainment center.  Fortunately my parents never know what to get us for Christmas and usually end up giving us cash, gift cards and socks.  So this year they are going to get us an early present of an entertainment center for our new TV.  This came about after I told hubby we couldn't get the 40 inch because I didn't budget for a new entertainment center.  HA!  So he thinks we are getting a 32 inch.  Won't he be surprised.  No worries, he doesn't read my blog so he won't even know. 

The last couple of years Black Friday has been something my dad and I have done together.  We meet at his house about 3:30 AM.  We get a drink and get our game plan paper.  We figure out our game plan on Thanksgiving.  Well, I usually have mine done well ahead of time but he waits until Thanksgiving.  We write everything down and then come Friday we are ready.  Last year was great.  He waited in line for his new TV.  I got my things and we were out of Walmart by quarter after 5.  We went to JCP and Sears then and headed home.  I got home just in time for the kids to wake up.  Hubby got up and wenting hunting and the girls and I went to a couple other stores where there were things I wanted but nothing that was necessary.  It worked out really well. 

Last year Black Friday was also when we met our dog.  I had got some towels from Walmart that were on sale and donated our old ones to the animal shelter.  While we were there, K and Sheena fell in love with each other at first sight and now Sheena is a part of our family.  This year there will be no trip to the animal shelter because Hubby promised K she could get a kitten in the spring because one of our cats died this fall.  I have a feeling if we go to the animal shelter K will fall in love with another animal and our family will grow yet again. 

I am fortunate enough to have Black friday off this year.  I had it off last year too.  I wasn't supposed to get off 2 years in a row but I switched departments and requested it off and got it.  I could just go before work.  I would still make it to work on time but I would rather have the entire day off.  This year in my department of 60 people only 3 took it off so pretty good odds that I can try again next year. 

I sign up for every Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas so really it is not a huge deal IMO. Most people want the Saturdays off and I only want that ONE Friday off. 

Finally starting to feel normal again

We have all been sick.  My energy level is starting to come back.  I am a pretty high energy individual normally but the last couple of weeks with being sick I was napping, going to bed early, and doing the basics around the house.  I was only doing what had to be done.  We ate carryout way too much from delis, subway, mcdonalds.  We had frozen pizzas and some nights just mac n cheese and hot dogs with a side of canned fruit.  I could not get my mind around cooking.  I didn't have the energy to deal with it.  It sucked.  We spent way too much money on food.  We blew our budget completely but I didn't even care. 

I am starting to feel a lot better and more like my old self...just in time too.  I have one more weekend off and then starts the Christmas rush at work.  An excellent time to make some big money and I intend to take advantage of that.  During that time the housework will fall behind but it is only 4 weeks.  We will manage.  I will be working 5-6 days a week...preferrably only 5...but doing 9-10 hour days except Saturdays which will be 4-8 hours...usually about 6 hours. Hubby will pick up the slack, I'm sure, but he is not as good about what defines clean but that's ok.  I won't complain. 

We currently have $900 in personal debt (my car and some on Hubby's credit car) and then our only debt will be the mortgage.  I intend to pay this $900 by the end of the year.  I want to start 2010 with no personal debt.  It will be an excellent way to start a new year! 

Tonight I am actually making a good dinner and I have dinner in the fridge for the crockpot for tommorrow night.  I have an appointment after work so I will be home late.  Hubby can make a side when he gets home and they can eat as I put the bowl in the crockpot and start it just before I leave for work tommorrow.  BBQ ribs.  Yum!

sorry for lack of posting..

we are still alive..just sick.  Will return to regular posting once we all recover.

is it just me or

Have your grocery ads been lacking too? 

It seems around here the grocery store sales have been a little dull lately.  It is nice for me because I can concentrate on using up our stash but on the other hand there are some things we are getting low on.  I could really use some pie crusts, cool whip, and soda.

It has been nice though because we are surprising slow at work.  I am off the next two days because we are so slow.  It is fine by me other than it adds another week or two of payments to my car.  I am paid ahead so it is not like I am going to get behind because of the lack of income but it also means I have less to spend on groceries.  Thankfully Christmas shopping is done for the most part.  I still need to get FIL's gift (making jerky and he wants a big clippers for the yard) and something for our nephew.  I have no clue what to get our nephew.  We don't go to their house ever and his mom doesn't usually like the clothes I get so I got him a personalized bath towel so far...that's it.  I am not sure why his mom doesn't like my taste in clothes.  I am a very simple clothes person as you can probably tell from the pics of my dig n save finds.  I don't go for all out wild clothes...more subtle, classic items that don't go out of style quickly.  I have always gotten their kids NEW gifts from Old Navy, JCP or childrens place.  So IDK.  I don't give used items to people unless I specifically ask (like my brother-who doesn't mind because he likes everything I get him and he knows I carefully check any used items I would get for him).  My girls on the other hand will get gently used items as gifts.  Maybe when they are older I will change but IDK.

I wish it wasn't so cold out here.  I would love to go out in the yard and clip some more but it is too cold for the girls to be outside.

I have to go out later today and get my tires rotated.  Fortunately, I don't drive a whole lot so I do not need to buy new tires this year.  I take that back, I drive...alot...but it is mostly in town so my tires don't get a lot of wear.  It isn't great for my car, all those short trips but it's not like I can walk the kids the mile to the sitters and then the mile and a half from the sitters to work every morning.  I would have to get up so early and get the kids up early and quite honestly...I am too lazy for that...especially in the winter. 

We have been discussing what our plans our for next year.  We need new doors and we are going to need a new furnace soon.  We are debating the merits of just saving our cash and waiting for it to die or replacing it in the spring.  I am for replacing it and not having to worry but hubby is more toward playing the waiting game.  If we didn't have two young kids I would be more on board with the waiting game but with the kids I don't think waiting is a good idea.  He sees my point so unless the furnace dies this winter we will most likely be replacing it in the spring or summer.  We have been wanting to re-side our house for the 6 1/2 years we have lived here but every year we have had more pressing issues; one year we did half the roof, the next year we did the other half (our roof is in two sections-the part over the main part of the house and then the part of the kitchen, laundry room and bathroom), we had to put ductwork upstairs and get central air (upstairs got so hot in the summer and got in the winter without it and we couldn't have the kids up there without some sort of climate control), we had to do a new deck because the floor in our old one was bad, Then we had the flooding and layoffs and there was no extra money for a project.  This coming year will be the furnace and hopefully the doors and then hopefully in year 8 of living in this house we will finally be able to re-side!

I may never shop at another thrift store again

ahhahaha got ya!  Seriously though. I impressed Rodney, even though he thought the dig n save was "skeevy" "gross" and "not right".  He was impressed with the total for everything we got.  Walking out of that store with so much for so little money has changed my thinking really.  As great as only paying $6 for a pair of jeans is, when I can get a pair for $1 or just over (depending on the weight of the pair), how can I think that $6 a pair is a good price anymore?  The only reason I cannot say I will never go to any other thrift store is that this one is an hour away.  I will definitely stop in and make sure I have time to stop whenever I go to Madison but that doesn't happen very often.  In order to make the trip worthwhile I have to have more than two reasons to go to Madison.  Eating lunch at Sonic or Olive Garden and going to that store are not good enough reasons to go on  a regular basis.  Oh how I wish there was one closer.  I am hoping to get my aunt on the search for one in her area.  She has a lot of thrift stores in her area and we make the rounds when I visit so knowing that she lives in a bigger city I am hoping she finds one near to her. 

Birthday scores

In most of my childhood, Dad would take all of us to "the man thrift store".  I don't know why I never thought of going there to look at tools for hubby but I didn't.  Well we went today and scored.  We got well over $200 worth of tools for $65.  The owner of this store is a friend of my dad;s.  He buys product from businesses that are shutting down (much like a liquidator) and resells it.  He has really good prices.  We got just about everything hubby needed right now for that amount.  Hooray!

Then we at lunch at Sonic and went to Sears for some tools that we didn't find at "the man thrift store".  Ended up spend $8 at Sears.  Not bad at all!  Then it was off to the dig n save outlet again.  I ended up scoring for me this time.  Hubby was uncomfortable in there so we didn't stay too long but ended up getting another "Abby CaDabby".  Abby CaDabby is a spotted leopard that my oldest got as a baby.  I do not know where she got her or how but Abby has been my oldests best friend.  Abby is getting kinda worn out from getting drug everywhere so we lucked out today finding a very similar Abby CaDabby or Abby DaDabbdy as the youngest calls her.  We found the youngest a train that makes noise.  It is just the engine but the youngest was thrilled.  Toys and miscellanous items are 35 cents a pound at the dig n save.  Hubby actually had fun in that part.  He did not have fun in the clothing part at all.  So we ended up spending $9.55 there and got 4 toys and the following stuff in the pictures.

required sportswear in Wisconsin
LOL

Childrens place shorts for K for next summer

Gap shirt and light blue velour pants for K and pink athletic pants for K (she loves "soft pants"

Levis and some other brand of jeans for me!

American Girl shorts, play shirt, Xhilartion top and more soft pants for K. The pink camo pants are Levis.  Rodney LOVES the girls in pink camo so we had to get them.

Dress and Barbie shirt..both also for K

Southpole shirt for my brother












yep all these clothes and 4 toys for $9.55...including tax.  Sweet deal!

Giddy with excitement...pic heavy!

we got the girls a dollhouse for Christmas and it came with some furniture but not alot.  I had talked to a coworker 2-3 weeks ago about Christmas and mentioned the dollhouse and that furniture is so darn expensive but we were going to get some eventually.  Today that coworker surprised me with 3 big boxes of dollhouse furniture and accesories.  It was his mom's.  Her grandkids are too old for it so he asked if he could give it to me.  She said yes so now my girls are the proud recipents of the following (not everything is pictured...otherwise this post would be HUGE)

We are so blessed!

early out day!

So I got done with work early and our one local store is doubling coupons this week (generally they tend to be a bit pricey so I really have to watch prices...even with double coupons). I got 2 bags of cat litter 85 cents each after doubled coupons and 2 packages of 3 each cube steaks..on sale for $2.99/lb. Dh is not a fan of cube steak but I am so I only get a few and make myself one when he has left over chili (which I am not a fan of) or something like that. Total was $6




Then we decided to go to my fav bent and dent. $21 total for

jar of bread machine yeast $1.50 expires march of 2011..missing part of label.

7 containers of welches frozen juice concentrate 75 cents each

20 1 oz containers of cream cheese 5 cents each

2 8 oz tubs of organic whipped butter $1 each(close to date but we use it pretty fast so no worries)

3 boxes of Smart balance microwave popcorn $1 each...boxes ripped or dented but in date and individual packs unaffected

4 big bags of chocolate teddy grahams $1 each (I like these for breaks at work)

4 100% juice pouches 15 cents each (nothing with them...box must have had a leak or something.)

8 marker pens for work 25 cents each

1 package chips ahoy cookies $1.50 (close to date but not expired)



There were a couple more things but I can't remember what they were now...I already put stuff away too. the receipts aren't itemized by item, just price. I will remember eventually though. LOL

good news.

My hubby got a promotion.  He will be making $1 more per hour and have some built in overtime...not much, about 1 hour per week but we figure with the raise and his OT he will take home an extra $150 or so per month.  Very nice!  The best part is that he has very small odds of getting laid off now.  That is a huge plus.  We could follow our original plan now, which was for me to stay home with the kids.  After some consideration today, we are postponing that decision until at least next April.  We get bonuses in April where I work and you have to be employed there when they pay out the bonus in order to recieve it so we will wait.  That gives us a lot of time to save more money and for him to really get into the job and make sure it is a good fit.  At this point, I have no plans to quit but I will stay part-time as I am doing now and just enjoy my time with the kids.  Part time is a perfect mix of adult interaction, making a bit of money and getting time to just be me...not someone's mommy.  I love my kids with every fiber of my being but I need time to be me and be away from them.  Working part time gives me that.  Also once my car is paid off, I want to start saving a lot more and then when we have a more comfortable amount in savings...I am thinking $7K-$10K, I wanted to start hitting the mortgage heavy.  So I believe that I will stay working so we can accomplish this.  Being home is wonderful and I love my kids but I also see the advantages to working part-time for my employer.   I am paid a really good wage for part-time work, I have a lot of flexibility, and the company is a good company (minus a few quirks...but which company doesn't have them).  If I do decided to quit, I won't necessary quit.  I will reduce my status to temporary seasonal and only work a couple months a year.  If I do that it would be very easy for me to go back to part-time status once the kids were in school.  I would basically be guaranteed a year round part-time position when I was ready, whereas if I just quit outright, I would have to work back into a year round part-time position, which is not easily accomplished in some departments. 

tag along

Tonight I tagged along as a friend went grocery shopping.  I had nothing better to do.  Hubby was home with the kids and I hadn't seen this particular friend in awhile. 

I realized, as I watched my friend shop, that my method of shopping is so much different than the average shopper.  I check prices (which my friend did), I also know how much the usual price of X item is at 6...yes 6..stores that I frequent.  I know where the best price is on X item at any given time.  I know that if X is on sale at this store that it is still cheaper at Aldi so it is not a good deal for the sale price.  I know that Y item is on rollback at Walmart and is cheaper than Aldi.  Aye!  How do I keep all this random (and not so random) information in my head.  As my friend was shopping, I think I might have annoyed her a bit, because I was telling her oh wait that is too expensive...if you can wait you can get that here next week for this price.  After a couple items I realized I was being annoying and I shut up and started doing some comparison shopping for myself as this was not a store I ever shop at.   I found that Aldi is generally cheaper on my basics than this store was but I also found a few things they were priced better on than Walmart and Aldi.  This store is very near to Walmart and Aldi so I will keep that in mind.  Her total came to around $100 and I balked...to myself.  I cannot remember the last time I dropped $100 at a grocery store, even Aldi.  I spend roughly $200 a month to feed all 4 of us and this was $100 for about a week for my friend and her roommate.  Yikes.  My friend knows how I shopped and she teased me a bit when we left, saying...did you have a heart attack when you saw the total?  ummm yeah I did.  She laughed.  To be quite honest and fair though, my friend does not have the time nor patience to chase the deals and shop like I do but she does do her best to save money.

When we got back to my friend's house, I started helping her put away her purchases.  I found myself reorganizing and rotating her freezer, fridge and pantry as I put stuff away.  LOL this is what I do when I come home from a shopping trip and it is funny to me (and my friend) that I do this automatically.  She didn't mind and I apologized for it.  She laughed and was pleased when she looked in her pantry after I was done. 

It's nice to dream...

So dream away...

What would you do with $250,000? or even just $100,000.

With $100K, I would pay off our mortgage and our little bit of other debt (my pittly little car payment, the bit Hubby has charged), put new siding on the house, and put the rest away (yep there will still be some left...we have a small mortgage...relatively speaking).  If I had to do something fun with it (paying off the mortgage would be great fun to me but not to the kids, I'm sure) I would like to go away for a weekend to a hotel with a waterpark.  No trips to Disney or anything. I want to go some day...when the kids are older though. 

With $250K, I would pay off the house, pay off the other little debt.  Put away $75K right away and I would still have quite a bit to play with so new furnace, new siding, maybe an addition, completely gut and redo this entire house...or heck...tear this house down and just build a new one right here.  Build it how we want...2 story garage that the top half is attached to the 2nd story of our house with the game room above the garage (and SOUND PROOFED!!) 4 bedrooms, at least 2 full bathrooms and maybe a 1/2 bath, kitchen with counter space, all new appliances, whirlpool tub, oh the list goes on...probably would need more than $250K though.  LOL

beating boredom...thrifty style

It is rainy and cold here.  Friday night, no plans, no money to do much even if we had plans (we are anticipating a layoff before Christmas for Hubby so we are scrimping and saving and preparing...yet again..sigh) so we had a movie night.  The rundown..

3 personal pizzas (bought a few months ago on clearance at Walgreens for 50 cents each)
microwave popcorn (65 cents for 3 bags from the bent and dent)
carrots and dip (left overs from last week)
BLT dip and chips from the store $3
2 redbox movies $2
4 pack of good rootbeer $4 (a splurge!!)
a snack cake from the local grocery store $3.

playing around and enjoying the time with my kids and letting them have a picnic on the living room while we watched the movies= priceless.

Lately we have been ordering out on Fridays, mostly pizza but occaisionally running out and getting McDonalds (dollar menu and no sodas...we eat at home so we drink what we have here) or Subway (footlong and chips from home feeds all 4 of us..not full but we add in other stuff we have here) but we really need to watch it better.  It can become quite pricey for the four of us to eat out.  I want to try and do this more often but I want to vary it a little more, family game night?  getting a little cold here for picnics in the park or stuff like that but maybe we can find something fun to do.  Like building a tent in the livingroom and having a "camp in".  hmmmm.  That's an idea!

my birthday

My hubby asked what I wanted for my birthday.  I will be 30 in just 11 days.  I can't honestly think of a single thing that I want or need (other than some way other than raking to get all the leaves out of the back yard but we tried a leaf blower and still had to haul them all to the curb so raking just worked better anyway).  I have mulled this over for a couple days and I figured out what I want.....

I want to go out to lunch at Sonic with just him (get a sitter for the kids for a few hours) and go back to the dig n save outlet.  Yep...that is what I want for my birthday.  I want to take $40 and go to lunch and go "diggin".  That is my idea of a good birthday.

2 rainy days=2 thrifty days

It has rained here for the last two days...better than snow but still.

On Wednesday the girls and I checked out a newer local thrift store.  It was big and nicely laid out but rather junky and the clothes prices were pretty high.  $4 for a pair of jeans for K that had worn knees and a paint smear on the butt.  uh huh...right!  We did end up getting a pair of Hannah Montana pants for her that had a little bit of wear and a bit of a stain on the back they were marked $3..which I would not have paid for them...but they were tagged with the 1/2 off color of the day so they were $1.50.  Ok  That I will pay...and I got the stain out.  If it had been any worse of a stain I would not have bought them.  We ended up visiting 5 thrift stores on Wednesday.  We found a vintage metal jack in the box, like new for $2, a couple Barbies, a brand new with tag bread pan for $2, and joy of joys...shoes for the girls...one pair for each!!!  K's has butterflies on them and O's are Bratz.  $1.50 a pair and in pretty good shape too.  Thrilled!

Today we didn't visit any thrift stores but we made a bent and dent run.  We got a few of the usuals and they had Strawberry Breeze Welch's juice for 75 cents a container.  It is the frozen concentrate.  I made some tonight and that is really good juice!  We ended up spending $20 total but $6 of that was on diapers for O.  Dang kid just doesn't want to potty train yet.  Soon hopefully.

When we came back to town we stopped at our local store for my one needed grocery item this week...some canned fruit.  They had just restocked their bent and dent reduced cart and the manager saw me come in and told me that they had.  So we went to that cart after grabbing a few cans of fruit.  There was a lot of stuff in there.  Close to date applesauce...which we will use up before date.  The kids LOVE applesauce.  Some dented cans of fruit...tops were still good so SCORE!  and a few dented cans of veggies.  I picked through and got out what we needed and checked out.  Spent a whooping $10 and got 10 cans of fruit, 2 cans of veggies, 3 containers of yogurt (also reduced for quick sale (expires Saturday but no biggie...they are already gone.  LOL we each had one with lunch), 7 containers of applesauce (I gave 3 to the sitter), and 1 can of spaghettios...a very rare item in this house. 

we had the spaghettios, grilled cheeses, and yogurt for lunch.  I made a crunchy baked apple dessert for a snack and used about 1/2 of one of the jars of applesauce.  The kids had part of a can of pears with dinner.  In the winter months we go through canned fruit like crazy.  Fresh fruit is so pricey during these months that we limit what we get to what is on sale and bananas.  We have bananas quite frequently but the other fruit is so pricey that we only buy when it is on sale and only what we will eat right away.  But I want the kids to have fruit so I stock up on the canned and they get that for snacks or with a meal.  

thrift store finder

http://www.thethriftshopper.com/

neat little website that you just type in your zip code to find a local thrift store.  not comprehensive as I have found they are missing a couple in my area but still pretty neat!

a few dig and save score pics

Old Navy shirt

Hanna Andersson Skort

cute shirt

Nice like new Swimsuit for Liv

not that I am a packers fan but MIL is and Liv has an outfit like this already and this one is Kait's size

cute summer dress for Kait

My first "dig n save" outlet experience AKA my alone day

I went to a dig and save thrift outlet today for the first time. I have driven past this one a few times (it is about an hour drive for me) but never stopped. I was going to this town anyway to check out Toys R us for dollhouses for the girls for Christmas and doing a thrift store tour so I stopped. I had gone to a couple Goodwills and another thrift store first. More upscale than what I was about to walk into....

Having never been to a "dig n save", I had some notions in my head on what I *thought* it would be like...maybe sorted by size or category at least, obviously not marked as clothing was $1/lb but I thought it would be slightly organized. It was not. The only organization was toys here, linens here, gigantic boxes of clothes here, wow! I was a bit skeeved out. I do not consider myself a high class person, more low to middle class country type of girl. I am more comfortable in jeans or sweatpants and a t-shirt than I am in a dress and I do not own a single pair of high heels. That being said...this place shocked my middle class self. People rummaging around in this big cardboard boxes digging for that perfect item. I walked around for a bit at first. A bit nervous, a bit out of my element but I decided to give it a shot (not only for myself but for a friend who was in desperate need of pants for her daughters)...tried one box..gingerly digging through..I found a Barbie dress in the next size bigger than my oldest needs...SCORE!! Ok I can try this.. Dug around in the next big box..Hanna Andersson Skort..in the size I assume my youngest will be in next summer...Double score! Ok I was starting to get into this now..By the third big box I was hooked. I found 5 pairs of pants for my friend's girls, a bunch of pants for my oldest, shirts, dresses, and even a couple things for hubby and I. I also found a sheet set from the Disney store for my oldest with the little Mermaid on it. All total I spent $16 at this thrift store and left with 36 pieces of name brand clothing. WOW!

At the other thrift stores I went to today I got a pair of Levis for myself, 2 summer dresses for the girls and 2 barbies...one brand new in the box for $1.99. Nice!

how far we've come

I have been super couponing for about 18 months now, stockpiling sale items for slightly longer and I can honestly say that I have no desire to return to my previous methods of grocery shopping. I find that the longer I keep this up, the less I remember the way it used to be. How I would go through the cupboards and make a list and shop based on that list and what I *thought* we were out of, only to come home and find out I already had 2-3 of what I thought we needed. Sigh. I wasted so much time and money back then. My current approach is very streamlined, organized and thought out. Monday I check grocery ads, pull out my coupons, make my list. Thursday (payday) I hit the stores I need to to get the deals. We fill in as needed with fresh fruit, veggies, milk, bread, and eggs. We hit the bent and dent once or twice a month for fill in items, and Aldi once every couple months for the things we buy there. I love this system.

I realize that my system is not for everyone but it works well for us and I will keep it up as long as I can.

this week's grocery list

was pretty slim. The sale ads were a bit bleak. We ended up only spending about $30 total this week. That included oreos for treat day at work, 3 gallons of milk, 2 loaves of bread, a bag of onions, and a few packs of little smokies. The little smokies were one of the few things I needed yet for the freezer stockpile. We love them and they are normally so expensive but on sale this week for $1.98 so we stocked up. I make a delicious sauce for them out of ketchup and grape jelly. Very yummy

if you are in the market for hats and gloves

check out Dollar Tree. I got the best gloves yesterday for me and the kids. They are plushy, soft, cozy and THICK! The hats seem pretty thick too and nice. We are getting more for spares and for Christmas gifts. They are that nice!

Saturday Lazy day

Hubby had to go out to his parents and help out with a project so the girls and I are chilling out at home. I have a loaf of bread rising and another in the bread machine. The reason for 2, while cleaning the counter I bumped the cord for the bread machine and it came unplugged so I finished kneading the dough by hand and put it in a bread pan. Once it rises a bit, I am going to check it and if it doesn't look "right" I am going to make some bread bowls for chili out of it.

I spent part of the evening yesterday cleaning out the garage so I can get my car in and I put all the kids' outside toys in the basement in preparation for winter. And I am very glad I did! It froze last night and now our yard is COVERED in leaves.

another fun thrift store shopping day.

The girls and I ventured out to a thrift store I have heard a lot about but never been there. It was Huge, like I heard but there was really nothing there. No great deals. Nothing amazing to note. We did get the girls a couple barbies but that was it. The reason I headed to that town anyway (about 30 minutes from home) was to go to the Harley Davidson outlet. Yes, I am a Harley fan. No, I do not own nor ride a Harley but one of my best male friends and one of my best female friends do. They both own them and ride them. I used to ride a Honda but kids, crashes, and fear drove me to selling my beloved bike. I had the bike before I had kids and just before I met my husband. I sold it just before I started dating my husband. So anyway I like to represent, kinda. LOL.

Anyway I scored a hooded sweatshirt at the Harley Outlet, my birthday present to myself....about 3 weeks early. It was less than half of the regular retail price so I was pleased.

We stopped at a few other thrift stores but there was nothing too interesting. In a couple weeks, a friend and I are going on a thrift store grand tour. 12 stores and lunch and about 150 miles. Should be fun!