Garnier Fructis deal at Walgreens in February

Buy $20 or more of participating Nutri-Pure, Nutritioniste, Fructis, 100% Color, Nutrisse or HerbaShine products and get $10 in RR



-Entire line of Fructis Hair Care


-Entire line of 100% Hair Color


-Entire line of Herbalshine Hair Color


-Entire line of Nutritioniste Skin Care


-Entire line of Nutri-Pure Hair Color


-Entire line of Nutrisse Hair Color
 
So if you have the $1 off coupons that expire on 2/15 you could get a pretty decent deal.  I ordered some coupons today from thecouponclippers.com. 
 
The math would work like this (unless the item is on a sale price sometime during the month-which I haven't seen so far in the previews and my hope is that it is on sale ALL MONTH long.  Normal price is 2 for $7 or $3.99 each
 
$21 ($3.50 X 6 bottles)
-$6 ($1 coupon X 6)
$15
-$10 back in Register Rewards
$5 for 6 bottles or 83 cents each.  So I would be paying $15 for 6 bottles initially(and I have a planned worked out to avoid that)..but I can use that $10 reward for something else in the store that I need.  I used to do what they called "rolling" and was good at it but got so stocked up on stuff that I took a long break.  I need to get back into it. 
 
I prefer to get it cheaper than 83 cents  (like when I got it FREE!) but will take what I can get.  I love the fructis stuff so I am doing this deal for sure.  I just hope it is on sale a bit cheaper.  My out of pocket expense will be a bit less than this because I will have $10 in Register Rewards from the pepsi deal that is also going on this week.  I will use that $10 plus my coupons (and some small item to fill in because the Register Reward rings in as a coupon and I would then have more coupons than items and the register won't take it).  I will use the $10 coupon from the fructis stuff to roll on into more rewards later on or use it up on diapers or something like that. 
 
 

~Jess~

annoyed

I am annoyed we still do not have one of R's W2s for our tax return.  Everything else is done just waiting on his last W2.  I know they don't have to spend them until the end of the month BUT my company which is 1000 times bigger than the one R worked for while he was laid off from his current employer, had mine to me in the middle of the month.  I worked for a company and did W2's years ago. They were so easy and I could whip them out in under a minute, correctly and ready to mail.  Why should it take a company with under 300 employees this long to do it?  R is not the only one from that place either, my brother and his GF both worked for the same owner, different company and they still don't have their's either.  As much as I would like for it to come today or tommorrow I am not looking for it anytime before the end of next week. 

This is the first paycheck of living off R's income only.  Also my first week of a mostly cash system.  I am a bit nervous.  I hate that I have to withdraw from the ATM for the cash.   It only gives $20s and I need 5s and 10s as well as 20s.  So I guess I will withdraw and then go through the drivethrough and get the 10s and 5s I need from the 20s.  Annoying? yes.  But it will be a lot easier to be more accountable for my spending if I have cash.  When it's gone it's gone.  It will take some planning ahead on my part. I am cheating a bit though...I am keep back $5 from my spending money for emergency grocery money for milk or whatever, if we run out before the next payday.  I will not sacrifice healthy things for the family (especially the kids) to live frugally.  I have been told it will take a couple months to get used to cash only.  I have been trying it off and on for awhile though.  It has worked best for me on weeks when there is a nice sale on stuff we need.  I am better able to keep in check with cash. 

My check next week is going to be small...very small...almost non existant small...so this is a good week to start.  I worked a whole 30 minutes this week. 

Why didn't I think of that before?

DUH!  I have had issue with my carpet cleaner.  Oh it works great, BUT it works so good that it gets clogged with pet and people hair in the nooks and crannies of the reservoir and lid.  GROSS!  I have owned this one for going on 3 years and have never been able to completely get the hair out.  That disgusts me.  Today I was trying to clean it out again and I got an idea.  I bent a metal clothes hanger and used the hook part and Voila!  carpet shampooer is cleaned out.  A little later I was switching laundry and looking inside the lint trap.  YUCK!  There was so much build up that the trap doesn't catch.  I shoved the crevice tool for my vacuum in as far as I could and used a metal hanger that we bent for that purpose a couple years ago and scrapped the sides.  I used the non hook side to move the lint up close enough to the tool and it sucked the lint right out.  I am in a cleaning mood tonight!

half hour this week?

so far that is all I have worked this week and it is not looking good for me working much tommorrow if at all.  Good news is we start living off just R's income as of Friday (tommorrow).  I had to pay the sitter for last week out of my check today.  Once I got to work and got sent home after the meeting I decided to pay the sitter for the hours she had the kids this week as well for my dentist appointment and today.  My check was enough to pay her and still have a bit left over.  I used my spending money to get K some "school" books today at the dollar store.  She has started tracing her name and can write it again if some one has already written it for her.  She can recognize the letters as well.  She already has a backpack so we got her a little set of pencils, 3 learning books, a plain notebook and a pencil pouch.  She is excited about having "homework" so it was definitely a good way to spend my "blow" money. 

I still had a bit left over this week for grocery money so I took that and bought some fresh strawberries on sale.  The store we went to also had Oscar Mayer lunch meat honey ham for 50 cents for a 1 lb package.  They were selling it in 4 lb lots, so you had to buy 4 lbs to get the deal.  It expires tommorrow but I will use some today to make pickle and ham rollups (YUM!!!) and Rodney will take some in a sandwich to work.  I will freeze the rest and use it pretty quickly since we don't have any frozen lunch meat right now.

bad news but good deals

Bad news.  My tooth that is cracked has a crown.  I will need to replace the crown.  The tooth cannot just be pulled because they are worried about the strength of the tooth next to it and possible causing more problems.  The approximate cost for a new crown is $800.  Yikes.  Fortunately it is not hurting right now so I am not going to do anything with it for the moment.  It is far back in my mouth and I will just make sure to floss and brush it mutiple times per day.  I don't have any other options.

good deals:  After my appointment, I went to JCP.  The zipper went bad on the coat K is wearing that I was planning to hand down to O.  So with the 50% off clearance sale and a 15% off coupon for filling out a survey I got a $70 coat for $10.57.  SWEEET!  K can wear it the rest of this winter and O can wear it next winter.  I also got K a tank top for summer for just over $1.

Attention JCP shoppers....and some random things going on

JCP is having an additional 50% off clearance sale right now.  I don't know when it started or how long it lasts but ours was STOCKED!  I only ended up buying 3 things...all gifts (pj pants for mom $5, sweatshirt for my brother $4.99, and shirt for my neice $1.49).  Lots of winter coats...good time to buy for next winter if you are in a cold climate.  Some coats were as low as $12! and snowpants were as low as $7.  I wanted to look more but the kids were antsy so we left quickly.  After the Old Navy sale, I really do not need anymore clothing items but would like to look at the shoes since O will need new shoes soon and K's old pair were too worn out for her to hand down to O.  I had to toss them out.

We have reconfigured our savings goal.  We need to be more aggressive in this endeavor.  Therefore we set a tentative quit date for me as 4/30.  In order for this to happen we need to have 6 months of basic bills in savings.  We can do this by 4/30 but it will take some real diligence on our part.  I stayed up late last night working on our budget and finding ways to scrimp and save and even make a little extra cash so we can do this!  We wanted more in savings but having such a far out goal is not helping us to save.  IDK why but it isn't.  I have started going all cash now for groceries and R's spending and gas money.  We are going to start living off just R's check this week.  My check will go to pay the sitter and the rest for savings.  I only budgeted a small amout of my check each week for savings because I am not getting a lot of hours but I should be able to put double that amount in savings hopefully.  The 6 months of basic bills is the very minimum I want to have in savings and I am hoping that by living off just R's income for the next 3 months we can get a really good feel for if me staying home is a viable option.  After my budgeting last night I think it really is.  I budgeted for now and for what it will be like on just R's income.  We can do this!  I know we can!  I cannot wait to put this plan into action.  My heart is here with the kids and even the little bit I am working now makes me miss the kids alot...plus there are some other issues that are going on that I won't get into here but the current arrangement just isn't working and most likely will just get worse.

lame grocery week next week.

nothing exciting in the ads except for some grapes on sale.  The kids love grapes so we will be getting a couple pounds.  Also my generic soda is on sale so I will be picking up some of that as well.

Somewhat local market deals

I have a market club card to a grocery store in the next town.  I rarely use it because it is kind of out of the way to go there but it is kiddie corner from Aldi and not a bad store.  Occasionally they have some pretty rockin' deals so I got the card so I can get in on the deals.  Starting yesterday they had some pretty good deals.

Canned fruit 88 cents each (good-considering that I rarely find it for less than $1 a can at the bent and dent and the cheapest is Walmart at $1.14 can)
Ketchup 88 cents each (not a stellar deal but we are down to our last bottle)
Sunny D $1 (not great but better deal than I can get elsewhere for the size of the jug)
coke products buy 3 12 packs for $10.98 and get a 8 pack of 12 oz bottles for free.  (this was with an instore coupon and it took the full $3.99 price of the 8 pack off AND when they scanned my card it took off another 33 cents...so they kinda paid me to take the 8 pack of diet coke)
1 lb packages of sliced American Cheese $1 each

We picked up 10 cans of fruit, 3 bottles of ketchup, 2 bottles of Sunny D, the coke, and 3 packages of cheese.  Then we went to Aldis for a couple things and came home. 

boring day

It really was.  Really nothing to blog about but I am kinda bored, waiting to get tired.  I defrosted the big freezer, threw out a bag that had a couple freezer burn chicken breasts in it (I hate having to do that), and pulled out some things that will need to be eaten like right now!  For the rest of this week we will be having
sliced roast beef and hashbrowns-tonight
half ham with some sort of potato
augratin potatoes with diced ham (left over from the 1/2 ham)
pork steak
pork chops

ugh!  pork week I guess.  Just the defrosting and cleaning made a huge difference in the amount of space in the freezer now.  I am glad for that.

The girls and I went to the store and got the toilet paper that was on sale.  We should be set for 6 ish months on TP now.  We don't go through a whole lot so 2 packs of 12 double rolls (on sale for $5 each) ought to last us quite a while.  We also picked up a 3 lb bag of apples for $1.50, 2 cups of yogurt for a snack, and pop pops  (aka popsicles...the kind in the plastic..not the kind on a stick).  We ran out of pop pops and Liv was pretty upset.  She loves her pop pops.  I got 2 boxes of 100 each.  That should last time quite a while considering they only get one every other day or so. 

I was hoping to have tommorrow off work but I am kind of glad I have to work.  I need to save money, however, I am really liking being home with the kids.  After R and I talked a bit tonight, we are going to reassess where we sit after my bonus comes through (about mid April....if we get one...haven't heard the final word on that yet) and then decide if I can give my notice then or I need to stay longer.  If I can give my notice then, I would be done by the first of May. I will have to leave on or before 11/1 (before the busy season hits) so that is what I am looking at now and not getting my hopes up for May.

defrosting the big freezer today

It is my least favorite household chore but it needs to be done about twice a year.  The good thing about it is that I find stuff that is close to date or freezer burn stage and I plan a menu for the next few days to get that stuff used up.  I found some sliced roast beef for sandwiches in the way back of the freezer so that is dinner tonight.  As I put stuff back I will find more stuff that needs to be used up so I will make a list and that stuff will get put in the smaller freezer and used up this week.  I will probably post later what our menu will look like this week.  This is the only time I plan menus days in advance, but it is a necessity so stuff doesn't go to waste. 

I was scheduled to work today but my shift got cancelled so I am working around here today instead.  After the freezer I intend to start the normal housework.  Just taking a quick break and then back at it.

10 goals for 2010

In no particular order:

1. get a new furnace with our tax return
2. get a minimum of $7500 in savings
3. put money in savings each and every week.  Even if it is only $10
4. quit work and stay home with the kids again
5. get back into couponing more.  I have serious slacked on this lately.
6. be more organized with our finances (basically just keeping better track of incoming  pay and outgoing expenses
7. inventory the kids clothes in the next sizes and decide on exactly how many of each item they need and stick with it.
8. set a budget for after Christmas bargain shopping and stick with it!
9. figure out the best way to bank our emergency fund
10.only use the credit card for emergencies and continue to pay it off monthly.  No balance carry over...which we have been doing but I want to continue that.


and there you have it...10 goals for 2010

ended up at Old Navy.....again

I went with a friend.  She wanted to check out the sale and the babyshower we were supposed to go to got cancelled so we went shopping instead.  I didn't intend on spending any money.  I never do. LOL but I spent $12.  I got a hoodie for my brother, a few more shirts for K, a shirt for O (mickey mouse..she just HAD to have it...she loves "mittey mout"), socks for K and pj pants for each for next Christmas.  So afterward my friend wanted to check out a couple other stores and we went to Wilson's leather as well. I got my dad a nice wallet for his birthday.  They had a pretty sweet clearance deal, 60% off and then another 20% off that. Their stuff is usually soooo expensive and I rarely buy it but I wanted to get Dad a quality wallet and it was the same amount there as I would have spent for one at Walmart for him. 

I went over my list for gifts now and it looks awesome. X=done
person     christmas     birthday
nephew        X                X
Niece A       X                X
Niece S       X                X
brother       started          X
brother GF  started       don't do         
K             good start      X
O             almost done   X
Mom       started          no clue yet
Dad         started             X
MIL         started            X
FIL          will do b4      no clue

I also have easter done for my kids (besides the little bit of candy they get), and a few random things for the sitter and her granddaughters.  I have mothers day done for my mom and MIL and father's day done for my dad. 

I printed out the list and put it in my purse so I know if I need something for someone when I see a great deal. 

Pepsi Drinkers...deal at Walgreens this week

12 packs $5 for $15...spend $20 and get $10RR

I bought 7 12 packs this morning for $22 and change...got back the $10 and bought a humidifer.  $19.99 original price-$5 ad coupon-$10 RR=$4.99 and tax.  Not bad.  I plan to do this deal once more this week and use the RR to get some needed items OR roll them into stuff that is free after RR and keep the RR rolling.  I haven't done that in a while.  I plan to mostly stock up on Mountain Dew this week as that is what R drinks.  I am not too picky about soda and my fav generic is on sale next week at a local store so I will probably just stock R up now and worry about myself next week. 

grocery ads for the coming week

got the ads today for my two usual stores.  Nothing. Nada.  Not one thing on sale that we need.  We will need milk, bread and soda (yeah yeah but it is a need!  you have not seen me in the morning if I don't get my caffeine jolt...it ain't pretty.) I am currently awaitng R's input.  He usual has something he needs or wants.  That tends to come out of his blow money but whatever.  Since the grocery expense is minimal this coming week, I am going to stock up on the soda at Walgreens 5 12 packs of Pepsi products for $15.  Spend $20 and get $10 in RR.  Probably will do that a couple times.  The following week there is an instore coupon for the generic I like for $2 a 12 pack.  I will probably get some diet pepsi to tide me over until that sale.  The only other thing this coming week is toilet paper with an instore coupon, 12 double rolls for $5.  My check on Thursday is gonna be small so it's a good week to have a slow grocery week.  There is even a 3 day meat sale this coming week but there is nothing that I need.  I have a feeling R will want a rump roast...$2.29/lb so I might get one.  IDK...we have a few roasts in the freezer now but no rump roasts. 

oops

I planned on taking in our aluminum for recycling today.  We have a few bags in the garage and even though they are not paying much per lb right now every little bit helps.  The "can" money goes into the girls savings accounts.  I joke that we are sending them to college on cans.  I doubt the can money will pay completely for college but it gives them a head start anyway.  I forget to take them in with the excitement of going shopping this morning so I will just have to wait a couple more weeks since the truck only comes every other Saturday for 3 hours.  Oh well. 

I have always given the kids my change for their piggy banks.  When they get full we take them in and make a deposit.  The girls get a couple bucks out of it but most of it goes in savings.  K HATES that!  O couldn't care less.  K wants her money right now, O loves feeding her piggy and thinks that is so much fun.  K wants to spend, O would rather save.  K will start getting an allowance in a year or two (maybe more..IDK yet) and I am going to require her to save at least half of it every time.  Oh man that is going to make her so mad.  I can see in my own family, and my husband's family as well, what poor money management skills have led to and I refuse to let my children go down that road.  They will learn about budgeting and saving EARLY!  K already knows about bargain shopping even though she doesn't really understand prices and money a whole lot yet.  When we shop I let her have a say in purchases (somewhat) and I explain that she can get more for her money with the generic or the clearanced item and she gets that.  She can spot a coupon a mile away as well.  LOL.  She is gonna be a good shopper...now if she would just learn to bank those savings. 

Anyway back to the change...I am starting to go with a cash system for groceries.  I plan ahead for the week and take out the budgeted cash and that is all I can spend.  I am putting the change from that in a jar in my room and when that gets full it is going in the savings.  After running some numbers we are going to come up just slightly short of our $10K goal by my anticipated quit date.  It is not a huge deal but it is something that I want to accomplish.  The reason we are going to come up short is because my work is slower than I had anticipated.  I plan to try to cut our budget down a bit more to meet the goal but if not it is really good practice for living on just R's income, which I planned to start doing in May anyway. 

Old Navy trip with mom today

I talked to mom this morning and she wanted to hit up the Old Navy sale.  The girls and I went with her.  I inventoried the tote box I have of the next size clothes for K and realized that I mainly concentrated on pants and she has very few shirts.  I went to ON with the intent of getting her some shirts and some more underwear.  I ended up getting her one more pack of underwear and the following shirts as well as a few things for me, a gift for my dad and a couple shirts for mom.  Retail cost was $185 and I spent $30..awesome.  I spent all of my blow money for the week but it's alright.  We are set now!
The first 2 pics are shirts for K, the 3rd pic is pj pants for K and 2 shirts for mom, the 4th pic is shirts for me and yoga pants for me, 5th pic is a hoodie for my dad and underwear for K and the finally pic is a Hannah Montana Mic for K for her birthday. $3.74 at the Disney store. 

While I was cleaning and reorganizing today

I sorted out some stuff and made a big donation to the food pantry.  It felt pretty good.  Alot of it was stuff that we would not use up by the expiration date (less than a month for the most part) and I knew the food pantry could use it. 

When I started stockpiling sale items and using coupons to get a lot of stuff for free or mere pennies, it was hard not to go overboard.  As a result of that I am finding that I sometimes have a lot more of an item than we will use so I have been doing quite a bit of donating.  The longer I have been shopping this way the more I realize that we don't use as much of some things as I thought we would so I have been buying or getting less, even if it is free after coupons and sales.  Other things we use more of so I have adjusted my plans accordingly.  It took awhile to get a good "feel" for what we need.  Others that shop as I do have said it takes time to figure it out but in the meantime the food pantries, friends and family in need, etc. can really benefit from it.  They have!  I have given away boxes of cereal that I got for 25 cents a box and were getting close to date to a family friend, knowing they were short on cash and needed the help.  It feel good to help and there was no waste. 

I still hope to be able to donate even though I am getting a much better feel for what we *should* have on hand. 

well that didn't last long

my little freak out/ ephiphany from last night I mean




K has been bugging me to go to the mall. IDK why but she has been asking EVERY. SINGLE. WEEKEND. I hate taking both kids to the mall so we never go unless I can leave one home with R. So tonight I finally said you know what K let's go after O's in bed. I figured I could use my ON gift card up and it would get her to stop asking me about the mall. I walked out of there only spending $6 and 75 cents of that was on K's ride on the ice cream truck thingy.



ON has an additional 50% off clearance going on now (at least at the outlet by us) so I scored bigtime I paid 75 cents over the gift card which was $19.29. I got a bunch of stuff. I will detail it in my blog later on. Then we went to the disney outlet and K was in love...we spent a lot of time in there. She talked me into a clearanced Disney princess shirt ($1.99) and a minnie mouse cup for O ($1.99). We went into Childrens place and I found NOTHING that I was even remotely interested in...even with the clearance and additional 30% off. Carters was the same, although K really wanted these ballerina pjs like she used to have but don't fit anymore but the one size they had was the same size she already has that doesn't fit.



So yeah...my freak out is over...Thanks to two friends for talking me down from the ledge. And my friend S too. I talked to her today and told her about my freak out and she laughed and said "seriously?!? you are the best shopper I know and you spend a quarter of what I do and get more stuff for it. Why are you freaking out?" HA!
 
so my ON scores are as follows
 
7 pack of undies for K $2.49
Shirt for my youngest neice 98 cents
pj pants for K $1.49
2 hat and mitten sets 98 cents each
Shirt for O 98 cents
shirt for me $1.48
spiderman tee for my nephew $1.23
yoga pants for my mom $2.49
Shirt for K $1.24
baby one piece outfit for $1.23
 
Thinking back I got 13 things but there are only 11 on my receipt...hmmm....
I called my brother and told him about the sale and they are planning to go tommorrow.  I think I might ask them to get K a couple more packs of underwear.  $2.49 for 7 pairs of underwear is pretty dang cheap! I used up my gift card..had to pay 75 cents cash. 

We got K a shirt at the Disney Store...also clearanced...and she picked out a sippy cup for O which was on sale for $1.99. 

I am officially done shopping for both neices and the nephew for birthdays and Christmas this year!  I will no longer look at anything that I think could be a good gift for them...no matter the cost!

I had an epiphany tonight...in a Kohl's dressing room

of all the places huh?

So I needed some alone time and R was more than willing to oblige but for me to get alone time I need to leave the house.  R cannot just take the kids anywhere in winter here and he has to work tommorrow anyway.  So I tucked the kids into bed, gave R a kiss and left.  Where else would I go to get alone time but to Walmart?  Yeah, it's not like we have coffee shops or bookstores or even a mall with a food court that I could go and people watch, read a book and relax...not happening in this area, so Walmart it is.  I browsed the clearance 'cause that's just what I do and I found some cute flying Tinkerbell things that I just knew K would love.  I also found plastic Disney princess Jewelry boxes that were perfect gifts for my older neice, K and O.  Awesome!  I ended up getting that stuff, a Dale Earnhardt JR shirt for my MIL (on clearance as well) and a couple requests of R's...all in all I spent less than $20...not bad, but I forgot the reason I went (besides the requests for R)....a card for my parents' anniversary which is tommorrow...Happy 31 years of Marriage mom and dad!

I walked out feeling good that I spent less than $20...go me!  So I decided to stop by Kohls and walk around and see if they still had the picture frame my mom had really wanted.  I looked at kids' clothes first and saw so many cute things.  The clearance tags were almost screaming at me to buy buy buy....60%, 70%, 80% off!!  Holy Cow!  Great Deals...but I remembered that the kids have too many clothes already so I stopped looking...it's not a good deal if they won't get enough use out of it...and that's when the epiphany started.  I continued to browse around some more.  Found a super cute winnie the pooh plush with a musical christmas book..70% off...oh that would be so cute for my youngest neice next Christmas and I grabbed it.  I browsed a bit more and found the picture frame my mom wanted marked down to $3..so I grabbed that (anniversary gift!) and they had adorable angel picture frames that I just knew the sitter would love (also $3).  I next went over to the men's section and found clearance boxer shorts (the kind in the shaped tin, budweiser, Xbox, South Park, etc), and wallets...ooh Dad needs a new wallet badly...but I knew I could get him a wallet cheaper (planning on getting him one for his birthday anyway) and R hasn't even opened his new pack of boxer shorts yet...I passed on those as well. 

I figured out that once you walk around a department store long enough the deals start to look really good..even if they are not that good.  Oh those jeans are originally $40 and they are clearance for $15!  Wow!  A steal!  uh huh..right!  But that didn't stop my brain (which knows better!!) from thinking wow what a great deal.  I ended up grabbing a few pairs of pants to try on.  I headed to the dressing room and while I was in there suddenly everything became clearer.  It was very odd.  I stopped..put my jeans back on and sat down for a minute.  WTF am I doing?!?!  I have 6 pairs of really good jeans, I have 4 pairs of yoga pants, I have a couple pairs of dress pants, I have khakis, I have pj pants.  WTF am I doing?!?!  Because these pants are $7.20 I think I need them!?!?!?  I do NOT need them.  I have pants just like them at home!  Why do I need yet another pair of pants?!?!  Then I started to think about my purchases at Walmart.  Did I really need to buy those toys for the kids?  Another thing to add to the 4 toy boxes (yes 4!!! and big toys that don't fit in the toyboxes besides the ones stuffed into them already!) UGH!  WTF is wrong with me?!?  We have so much stuff and yet it always seems like there is something else we need that we don't actually need.  Then I realized I was still in the dressing room, I grabbed up the picture frames, left behind the Winnie the Pooh and hightailed it to the registers and got the heck out of there.  WTF?!?  I spent so much time and energy in the 20 days since Christmas buying stuff for next Christmas and Birthdays in this coming year that I already feel like I am behind on shopping for a holiday that is over 11 Mother F'in Months away!  WTF?!?  Sure I am glad that I am ahead of the game and won't have to be out searching for deals when it gets closer to the birthday of the recipient but why?!?  So my neice can have another toy that she probably won't play with for more than a day or two?  So my kids can have another toy that I step on, complain about, the dog eats or I end up donating to the thrift store because they are bored with it after a couple months?!?  All the way home I thought about this and how shopping and buying gifts is so ingrained in us as consumers...I literally feel sick over the whole thing...mainly the money and time I spent doing this.  UGH!  I don't know how to fix it...how to make it better...how to stop!!  Of course I am still going to buy gifts for my loved ones and things we actually do need but I need to stop the one woman shopping spree and figure out a way to better channel my energy. 

my only consellation in all of this is that I have not spent a lot of money for what I have bought and have not onced used my credit card to pay for any of it.  I have gotten some pretty amazing deals and it is all on stuff that I know the recepient will love but then again...it's stuff.  I am so sick of stuff!

Of course I will still buy gifts and look for deals but how do I change this?  When is enough, enough?!?  Is there ever a point when I can just say ok I am done?  I know I can and I have before but I really need to just stop for a bit and reprioritze and take a break....I think that is the meaning of my thoughts.

~rant over~

updated stockpile pics

I just took the pics today.  I reorganized the laundry room.  I am not quite done but I needed a break to think about what I want to do.  I was scheduled to work tommorrow but got called off so I am planning to do some more constructive work tommorrow, such as cleaning out and defrosting the big freezer. 
Anyway...on to the pics.

the big freezer

the little freezer

kitchen cupboard and baking supplies above

Kitchen Pantry

laundry room pantry

we are well stocked on food.  Hooray!  Time to take a break and concentrate on other things!

Non food stuff-will add tommorrow...blogger isn't like me tonight :(

Gift stockpile 2010

I inventoried today.  I have only done the gift stockpile so far but here is my list..

*Christmas*
Green Bay Packer Ornament (MIL)
Angel Waterglobe (sitter)
Satin Makeup bag (Brother's GF)
Christmas Carol Barbie (K)
Pup Ornament (youngest Neice)
Soft Belle Doll (youngest neice)
Strawberry Shortcake Polly Pocket with DVD (2 of them...K and older Neice)
Pewter Ornaments (Dad, youngest neice, Grandpa, sitter)
Wooden Snowmen Plaque things (4 different for mom)
Bod men cologne sets (dad, brother, hubby)
Remote control Truck (nephew)
Various take along Thomas engines (4 total for O)
2 foot kits with lotion and socks (mom and brother's GF)
Singing Hannah Montana Doll (K)


Birthdays, Easter, Miscellanous
flavor lip gloss (adult ish...misc.)
Tinker Bell bracelet (K)
Hannah compact with comb and mirror (K)
2 barbie lip kits with hair clips (K and older neice)
3 Jonas Brothers lip gloss tins (K and sitters granddaughters)
Princess and the frog makeup and nail kit (K)
Ariel Doll (neice birthday)
Talking Thomas (O birthday)
Soft Baby doll (youngest neice birthday)
Angel Figurine (sitter birthday)
Disney Stamp Kit (K easter)
Hot wheels Monster truck (nephew birthday)
6 lip cream tubs
2 adidas mens cologne sets (dad and brother Birthdays)
4 Barbie lip gloss and purse sets
1 hair brush, ponytail holders, and clips set


and that is the list so far.  I also have a box of Chocolates for my parents anniversary but that is not in the storage tote.  I believe I have a really good head start and have most everything done that I needed to get done.  I need to do Mother's day and father's day yet and find a couple other things that I have been looking for (track for O's train is the big thing).  I will wait closer to Christmas to find some of the other stuff and will continue to watch deals throughout the year

added on 1/14
2 flying tinkerbells
3 disney princess jewelry boxes
angel picture frame
grandkids picture frame
t-shirt for MIL

added 1/15
spiderman shirt for nephew
pants and shirt for youngest neice
shirt for K

Added 1/16
2 shirts for mom
1 Hannah Montana Mic for K
hoodie for Dad
pj pants for K
6 shirts for K
Hoodie for Josh
pj pants for K and O
4 shirts for K
wallet for dad

1/25
motorcycle sweatshirt Brother
pj pants mom
shirt neice
I am now done for the year for my neices and nephew.

2/2
2 tea party sets ($1 each)
1 flying tinkerbell ($2!!!)
1 crayola stampers set ($2!! it's the toddler one)
plush baby doll ($1)
2 pixos starter sets ($1 each)
beaded light up bracelet (50 cents)

kinda cheated on the grocery budget

I started this coming week today instead of tommorrow as I had planned.  We had the money so I will just count it for the coming week.  It is hard right now to figure out the best way to do the budget so I am experimenting.  Today I spent:

$7.49 groceries (brown sugar 2 bags, tuna 4 cans, 2 liter of soda-2)
$5.74 groceries (milk for us and at the sitters, donuts, bread)
$6.99 misc household stuff (laundry detergent and garbage bags)

$20.22 and barring any more necessities we should be good for the week!
We will need more bread but that is 59 cents a loaf.

We also had to buy diapers for O but those are not part of the grocery/household budget.  Walgreens has their brand of diapers on sale for $5.99 a pack this week.  Good deal if you need diapers.  I like the premium ones for night and the regulars for day.  The regulars do not hold Super O pee at night.  Gosh I wish this kid would just potty train already!

gonna be an easy and cheap grocery week

our list is
milk, bread, a couple 2 litrs of soda, brown sugar for needed stuff and tuna for not needed right now but good sale price items.

our non grocery list is diapers and garbage bags, and possibly laundry detergent...I gotta check my stock on that but it is on a good sale so I want to get a couple if I am running low. 

That's it.  Should be less than $25 total for the whole week.

I feel kinda bad for last week.  I went over and then went over again last night at Walmart.  I didn't buy hardly any grocery stuff but still.  I considered last week an adjustment week as I have not been as strict with our grocery budget recently.  I need to get back to that however.  Next week should be a good start to getting back to budget.

Walmart

A little rant about Walmart....We have limited shopping options in this area.  It is getting better I do have to say but as far as "everything stores" (walmart, Target, etc), Walmart is it.  The nearest Target is an hour drive.  I don't mind Walmart.  Some people HATE Walmart.  I don't love Walmart but I don't hate it either.  R and I used to pretty much only shop there before we had kids.  We got our meats locally but the bulk of our grocery shopping was Walmart.  As I have been couponing, shopping sales and bent and dents, and basically watching the prices of things better, I have come to realize that Walmart is EXPENSIVE.  It truly is.  Some stuff is cheaper but the drive for me does not make it cheaper than just getting it locally on sale.  Walmart is a 15-20 minute drive depending on which one I go to.  I like to 20 minute away one better so I tend to go there more often.  It is cleaner and more locals shop there.  The other one is in a touristy town and I try to avoid tourists.  So anyway, I had to go to Walmart tonight for a couple things.  I didn't have to go but there are a couple things we only get there and we needed that stuff so I went.  It sucked.  They were out of 2 of the things on my small list.  I did get the important things and I browsed the clearance toys.  They had some pretty good deals but I only found one thing that I wanted to get and that was a $4.50 Hannah Montana Doll for K.  She loves Hannah Montana and this doll sings!  She is gonna be so happy!  It was clearanced at 50% off.. I intend to put it away for her birthday or Christmas.  I hope they go lower on their toys yet.  There were a couple other things I would have gotten....had they been a bit cheaper.  A singing snow white doll, a Dora Castle for O, a barbie scooter for K, and a ride on airplane toy for our youngest neice.  If these things go to 75% off I will try to get them but if not...I won't. 

For dinner this coming week (at least a couple days planned so far)

I as a rule do not try to meal plan more than a couple days at a time.  For one, I just don't like to know what I am going to eat everyday.  I get bored.  For two, we have so much in the freezer that I really do not have to plan ahead.  We have everything we need for our normal meals here. 

I am going to try to plan out the next couple days though. 

Tonight is crockpot ham cooked in pineapple juice and pineapple slices. 
Tommorrow night is lasagna
Monday night is left over lasagna.  We have a guy coming Monday evening for an estimate on a new furnace and this will be happening when we eat dinner so having the leftovers ready to reheat when we get home will be perfect.

That's all I got so far. :)

quick trip to walgreens

I had to run to Walgreens because I am completely out of my generic Excedrin Migraine.  I need to have it on hand and I cannot believe I ran out.  I thought I had a lot left but I had generic acetominophen, ibuprofen and the night pain relief stuff but no migraine stuff.  UGH!  I hate paying full price...but it turned out I didn't have to.  They had the actual excedrin migraine on said for $6.99 for 100 gel tabs (I usually get the capsules but anything will do) and it had a smaller 24 ct bottle shrinkwrapped to it for free..so 124 geltabs for $6.99 works out to 5.6 cents per tab.  The generic I usually get was 7 cents per tab.  I ended up getting 2 of the shrinkwrapped deals so 248 tabs.  That oughta last for awhile.  The shrinkwrapped ones were hidden in the back of the 100 count bottles.  Glad I dug around a bit.  I got myself a better deal.

While I was in Walgreens I walked around a bit and found some hair dye on clearance for $1.39 a box.  I ended up getting 4 boxes.  This is usually $8 per box.  I dye my hair every 3-4 months so this will last a year or so.  I also found some Walgreens brand 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner on clearance for $1.09 for the big bottle.  Granted I don't use it for me or K (we have thick, longish hair and we have to condition seperate or we have a mess) but it would work great for R and last him a long time so I bought 1.  They had a bunch but really 1 will be plenty.  He still has some pert plus left from when it was free and he can use the Suave if needed.  Suave is our go to product for bathing the dog (and cats...yes our cats take baths), the kids bubble bath, and for my youngest's thin, not very long hair, and it works great as shaving gel and body wash in a pinch.  We have a ton of Suave...we use it for just about everything EXCEPT what you are supposed to use it for.  LOL.

And a pretty awesome non household use score was an angel musical waterglobe for $3.  As I have mentioned before the kids' babysitter collects angels and I try to get her angel things for her birthday and Christmas.  I already got her a couple angel things for Christmas but they were very Christmasy and cannot be used for her birthday so this is a perfect birthday gift.  So now she is done for 2010 for gifts (besides her bonus...which will happen in November or so and is cash).

Slighty over budget this week

I went slightly over my grocery budget this week...and the week isn't over yet.  SIGH!

This is my expenditures

1/5 $17.51 grocery-meat


1/5 2.12 misc household items (water bottle for me for work and pack of 12 sponges at the dollar store)

1/8 11.03 grocery-general (yogurt, cheese, sunny D, soda, milk, bread, cottage cheese, lasagna noodles)

1/8 26.17 grocery-meat

1/8 2.69 misc household (freezer paper)

59.52 total this week

I could have waited on my 2 liter of soda (99 cents), the Sunny D wasn't need but was on sale (huge jug for $1.99 and the kids like it..I don't buy it alot), Freezer paper won't be needed again for awhile but was needed to wrap the meat I got on sale), lasagna noodles were not needed nor was cottage cheese but that was a special request from hubby.  I haven't made it in a long time and both the noodles and the cottage cheese were on sale.  We have mozzarella in the freezer already and plenty of sance and ground beef so I only had to get the noodles and cottage cheese. 

Everything else was needed and on sale.  Without the unnecessary stuff figured in, I would have come in under budget. I cannot think of anything else we would need at this point until the new ads come out so we are good.  We came in just slightly over budget so I am pleased.  Next week I hope to come in at or under budget.  Preferrably under by $10 to make up for the overage this week.  The overage is covered with our miscellaneous money.

I scored a pretty good deal for K today.  I am in the process of getting the next size of clothes for her (well 2 sizes if I find good deals).  My employer has a company store that is just for employees only.  It is a small space in the building where I work.  I stopped by after my shift today and they were having a sale 50-75% off the already low employee prices.  Sweet!  I didn't find anything for myself or R but I did find a pair of jeans for K for $5.  Brand new!  I found boots for O and debated about buying them.  She already has boots so she doesn't need any right now and the ones I bought K for her birthday should fit O next winter.  They would have been $5.  I debated for a good 5 minutes and then decided to pass.  They would probably fit O next winter but IDK for sure...and they were only $5 but $5 is $5 and it is $5 that I wouldn't have to spend and the ones K has will fit her for sure so in the end it was better to just not get them.  They had a cute shirt for O too and it would have been $3.75 but O has a ton of hand me downs as it is and really does not need ANY more clothes so I passed on that as well.  When I checked out the cashier informed me that the same pants were on clearance on the website for a bit more than I paid for that pair.  My willpower was screaming not to even go look but I did anyway.  $7.99 a pair with an additional discount making them $7.19 a pair...for QUALITY blue jeans with an adjustable waist.  I ended up ordering 3 more pairs.  The total with shipping was $29.  $29 for 3 pairs of quality jeans is not a bad deal.  I ordered them in K's next size and the size up from that.  She should be in them about the time she starts school so that will take some of the burden of school clothes off (we don't have a uniform policy in our schools...just a dress code) when I am a SAHM again.  We have the extra money now and they are such a good deal I could not pass it up.  When I looked last week at JCP, the arizona jeans (which are not nearly as sturdy as these jeans) were on clearance for more than I paid for these quality jeans on clearance so I feel alright about it.  I didn't need to get them but K will need bigger clothes and she will need nice clothes for school...there I go justifying again.  LOL

should be a minimal spending week

So far there are only a few things we plan to buy as far as groceries go.  Milk and ground chuck so far.  Ground chuck is on sale for $1.69 starting tommorrow.  We have room for about 10-15 lbs in the freezer.  Kinda wishing I would have bought freezer paper at the bent and dent now but I didn't think we would need any for awhile so I passed.  Oh well.  We do have some. 

As part of our New Year, New Budget plan our weekly grocery money will fall in line with the ad weeks instead of pay weeks as we have previously done.  It is a bit of a change, but gives me a bit more freedom to stock up on sales as the money will be refreshed halfway through the sale week so if there is a good sale I can use the remainder of the previous weeks money and get a little more when we get paid.  I am going to try this for a bit and see how it works.  I really want to stick to the grocery budget and get more money in savings this year. 

When O and I went shopping today we stocked up on pasta and baking supplies.  We really should have very little expense grocery-wise for quite a while.  Dh is on board with trying new recipes and using up our pantry and freezer so we should only have to buy sale items, fresh produce, milk and bread for quite a while. 

mommy and O day

O and I spent the day together today.  We went to checkout JCP and Sears clearance.  Lots of good deals but nothing good enough for me to buy.  Even at Sears with my discount, I couldn't justify any more clothes for the kids, nothing I like for myself or R and the Christmas clearance consisted of about 12 ornaments...all of which were still too pricey for me.  JCP had additional 40% off their clearance price but there was nothing I needed for the kids or myself.  Our youngest neice is growing like a weed so I hated to get her anything not knowing if it would fit her by next winter so I passed.  If it were for my kids I would have taken a chance but I don't want to "waste" money buying a gift for someone else that might not fit.

We headed over to Walmart for lunch...the turkey and provolone rollups from their deli.  YUM!  We saw that Christmas stuff was now clearanced to 75% off so we browsed that a bit and found a couple things.  We also got K a strawberry shortcake polly pocket with a DVD for $1.97.  It was marked $2.98 which was still a good deal with a DVD but it rang up for $1.97.  Cool!  Would have gotten one for our older neice had I known that.  Oh well.  We also found a coat for me clearanced out to $7.  It is similar in color and warmth to the one I had picked out from my work that was $27 with my discount and shipping but hadn't ordered yet.  I didn't need a new coat until yesterday.  I went to put on hubby's and the zipper broke...I had an old down coat in the closet that I have been wearing since then but it is a bit tight.  I have been wearing hubby's old coat which is super warm but now he needs it back.  My options were to buy a coat for him and keep his old one for me or buy myself a new coat and give him back his old one.  A new one for me ended up being cheaper so that is the route we went. 

Our favorite bread was on clearance at Walmart too.  The italian loaf, garlic and parmesan flavor.  SOOOOO good!  We eat it so fast that I don't worry about buying a day old loaf.  It won't go bad around here.  O has already had 3 pieces since we got home.  LOL

mmmmm stuffed green peppers

I LOVE stuffed green peppers but have never made them.  The girls and I went to the bent and dent this morning and they had frozen stuffed peppers $1.50 for 2.  YUMMM!  I ended up getting 3 packages of them.  R doesn't like them and the kids have never tried them so frozen is the way to go for me.  I can eat them when I want and make something else for the family. 

We got waffles, canned corn and green beans, some cookies, organic whipped butter, 3 pizzas, 7 welchs Strawberry breeze frozen juice concentrate (the girls fav!), a couple TV dinners for me for work, Southern style banquet frozen chicken (R's fav) and a few other things.  It ended up being one of my most expensive trips there ever at just under $40.  But we came home with 2 big boxes of food for that money.  We stopped at the hospital auxilary when we got back to town and got a couple christmasy things (1/2 off Christmas stuff there) and they gave us a couple free things too, Christmas stuff they were trying to get rid of.  Cool!

budget is worked and a bit more.

and we are sitting pretty good.

If all goes according to plan we should be able to put away quite a bit of money every month and still live life pretty dang good.  I am waiting on the state forms yet to figure out our tax return but so far it is looking good.

I have 2 more days off from work and I have a couple side projects I want to accomplish.  One is going through the saved clothes and figuring out what the girls will need for spring and summer, fall and winter for 2010.  Clothes for O are a moot point.  She has K's stuff to grow into and she gets a new outfit or two for her birthday and Christmas.  I want to garage sale again this year but I want to be a bit more prepared so we don't get an overabundance of clothes again.  As K has been outgrowing clothes, I have been sorting out and getting rid of some things when I put them away for O.  When I take them out for O, I have also been going through and getting rid of things as well.  They just have too many clothes.  R and I both have been sorting through when we do laundry as well.  Anything stained, torn, worn out has been getting tossed accordingly, with each load of laundry.  We both weeded out our clothes as well.  Feels pretty good. 

pretty good deal for not really looking...

I had to stop at the grocery store tonight.  I am about out of soda (GASP!).  I need my diet coke like other people need coffee.  Seriously I cannot function in the morning until I get that first diet coke.  Gotta have my caffeine...it's baaaaad if I don't.  Diet coke was on sale there so I stopped in to get a case.  Yesterday when K and I stopped by to pay the sitter, she said they had refilled their clearance carts with good stuff.  hmmmm.  So I checked them out.  I didn't see too much good for us except Welch's strawberry preserves in a squeeze bottle.  Sweet!  Clearanced out, still in date, not damaged, for $1 per 1lb bottle.  NICE!  We have been eating toast with jelly for breakfast a lot lately so I grabbed up 5 of them.  That ought to last awhile.  I never have been a big breakfast eater but my job requires that I eat something before work.  It isn't in the job description but it might as well be.  If I don't eat before work by the time first break comes around I am ravenous!  Even just 2 pieces of toast with a little jelly tides me over until lunchtime. 

Happy New Year!

K and I closed out 2009 by having a mommy/daughter day.  We had a good day.  We went to the thrift store (2 of them) and ended up getting 28 ornaments for our tree next year.  They were getting rid of all Christmas stuff by selling it for 25 cents per item.  We also got a skirt for K for 50 cents (half off colored tag sale).  We also went to Walmart because I had a few coupons to use by 1/5.  I found a rack of shorts for $2 and K needed some shorts for this summer so I got 4 pairs for her.  With the skirts, skorts, and shorts she should be set for summer now.  O is already set as she has all K's old clothes to wear and I got her some shorts clearanced out for $1 at the end of last summer.   Some pics of the ornaments.  K found the train, carousel horse and airplane for her sis.  She picked out the snowman and the tree for me.  The train has someone else's name on it but I can cover that with a ribbon (thanks Tori!) or gems or something.  The airplanes propellor and wheels actually turn.  It is aluminum or tin or something like that.  Pretty cool!

The Walmart we went to still had a ton of Christmas stuff left but all we got was a couple more lip balm things for K.

We stopped a few other places and I found the cutest little caroling cat wooden plaque things.  I got 3 at first and they were 1/2 off the clearance price (ended up being 25 cents each).  Later, I thought they would be cute to have around as an extra gift, as I always end up forgetting someone so I went back and got a couple more.  This time they rang up full clearance price (50 cents each).  Oh well.  They are still cute and cheap and they do not look cheap.

Later today or at least sometime on these days off I want to sit down and rework our budget for the new year and will post more about that when I actually sit down and do it.  I would like to do it now but the house is a mess and we are headed to brunch at the inlaws shortly.