A "deal-icious" day!

What a great day I had today.

First off, I took the kids to the sitter and headed to my dentist appointment. They knocked $52 off my bill because I am a good customer. I laughed at that and am not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing. I mean, bad because I am there a lot OR good because I pay my bills early or on their due date. I assume the receptionist meant the latter. It was nice to have almost 1/2 of my bill knocked off. The reason is because ever since I started going to the dentist on my own I have gotten the nitrous oxide (AKA laughing gas). It used to be because I was afraid of needles. I am not longer afraid of needles, have 2 children by c-section (one of which was induced before the c-section happened) will do that to you. Now they give it to me because it relaxes me...and my gag reflex. I have a really touchy gag reflex and for some reason the gas will relax that so I am not trying to gag up on the drill and other dental equipment. Well, my new insurance does not cover the gas. The dental assistant never checked my new insurance so they found out when they ran my card that it would not cover it so they knocked that off my bill. They also knocked off the price of the base things I had to have. My cavities were pretty deep so they had to fill it in with a hardener before they filled it. So anyway that worked out really well.

Next I went to the outlet mall. I am tired of trying to find pants that will fit K in the waist and the length. She is a 3T in waist but a girls 5-6 in lenght. Almost impossible to find. I know Old Navy and Carter's have adjustable was jeans and I had coupons for each store! CHA CHING!
At Old Navy I got:

1 black V neck shirt for .82
1 blue perfect T for $1.68
1 red perfect T for $1.67
2 pairs of jeans for K ($8.49 and $8.50)

This was after the discounts...grand total was $23.33 Not bad for Old Navy stuff!

Then a quick jaunt into Carter's to check out the $5,$7,$9 sale.
While I only got one thing (a pair of shorts for k for $5) from the sale I found an amazing clearance sale.

I got K one pair of jeans for $7.80 and 2 pairs for $5.99 each. AWESOME! Grand total at Carter's was $26.27. I had a discount coupon for $10 off when you spend $50. I could have spent $50 if I got the kids some pjs (that they really don't need) and some pants (that O could wear now but she has all K's outgrown clothes to grow into.

After my mall deals, I had lunch with a friend. Awesome new Italian place that just opened in town. Good food and even better bread! Decent prices too.

After lunch, I had another appointment and R asked me to pick him up a new pair of jeans. His fav pair actually came from Walmart years ago (like before we had K so almost 4 years ago) and they are getting worn out so I wen tot get him another pair. They did not have the same ones so I got him another brand in the style he likes and I found a pair of Dickies work pants on clearance for $5. They are denim as well. I perused the rest of the clearance and found some pretty good deals. I got some fleece long sleeve nightgowns on clearance for $1 each, 1 for me and 1 for MIL for Christmas, I got 3 pairs of leggings (2 for me and 1 for mom) for $1 each. I love leggings for bumming around at home, doing yard work or whatever. They are especially nice for sleeping in. They had v neck Hanes t-shirts on clearance for $3 and while they are kinda shorter than I like they are a good layering piece so I picked up 2. I can never have enough t-shirts. My workplace is casual, pretty much anything goes, so t-shirts are a wardrobe staple! I used $4 in coupons and got some cat litter. Total was $48 and $30 of that was on R for his 2 pairs of jeans and his sub. He is in love with the subs from the Walmart Deli so everytime I go he has to have me pick one up. They are $5 but are HUGE and make 2 lunches for him.

I did 2 Walgreens runs today as well. They have a coupon out for today only to save 15% on items and 20% on Walgreens brand items and you get a free reusable shopping bag if you have this coupon. I had 2.
1st run:
bic lighter for the grill $2.12
excedrin back and body for R $5.94 (found a b1g1f package buried in the back!)
and 4 walgreens brand pain relievers $3.20 (.80 each)
total paid OOP after coupon and RR was $9.88
2nd trip:
3 walgreens brand pain relievers $2.40
Total OOP after RR $0.53


so all in all a good day :)

Pizza hut online

Order pizza hut online and use code IG (if you are a new customer) to get 20% off.

My new "toy"

I got a great big, giant 42 inch new toy today.



Can you guess what it is?





It is for use outside and not inside. So nope, not a TV. Guess again.















Ok I will just tell you. Acutally I will show you!

Check it out! It was FREE!!! and it works and it is full of gas! My Dad and brother got it dirt cheap from someone who said it didn't run. It sat unused for 3 or more years because the guy that owned it was going to fix it and sell it but never did so he just sold it to my dad cheap. It was only 3 years old when it quit working. So dad took it home, did some minor work to it and it fired right off. So since dad already has an almost new mower, and Josh has a nice rider and mine was junk, Dad and Josh brought it over today. I mowed the side yard in less than 10 minutes. It has a 42 inch mowing deck which is DOUBLE the size of the pushmower we have been using! I am in L O V E!!! Ignore the rest of the junk in the garage...I need to clean it out badly.

This week in sales

Not much. Chocolate milk for $1.99/gallon, The scunci deal at walgreens, canned mushrooms on sale at my local store. Have you seen the prices of canned mushrooms lately? Outrageous. When R and I first got married we could get 3 cans for a buck. Now they are .69 for the Generic ones at my local store and .55 at Aldi. My local store had them on sale for .50/can we ended up buying 48 cans this week. So I spent $24 on mushrooms BUT we go through then like crazy. We have a lot of steak in the freezer and what is a steak without mushrooms and onions!?! I would say that those 48 cans might last us all summer.

We ended up with 5 packs of Scunci ponytail holders. I used 3 of the $2RR to get cd's for R. He needed some blank cd's and Walgreens has 5 pks of colored ones for $2 so I only paid tax after the RR. I got 3 packs. I used to buy blank CD's in bulk because R and I went through a lot of them but now we don't. We use maybe 15-20 a year. Thank you Ipod!

In the next couple of months, I play to make a couple posts on Thrifty yard decoration.

couple K funnies

The other night we took dinner to R while he was working but he needed a few minutes to finish something before he could take a break so the kids and I stopped at Walgreens on the way. We walked in and there was a big display of lotion. K said oh look momma, I bet that lotion would be free with your coupons. The cashier (the mean one) glared at us. eh...whatev. K is so smart.

When we were at the store today, K walked right up to the discount cart (bent and dent items, close to expiring or expireds that they only have one off) and she started digging in. She found marinade for me for 50 cents. It is one day expired. I will use it this weekend. I am impressed with her eye for deals. Takes after her momma!

notes from our week

So far this week we have been pretty busy.

The sun is shining today and it is really nice out. We went for a long walk. We had to mail some stuff, pay some bills, and we stopped at the grocery store. Then it was off to the park for some play time. We came home and went to a couple garage sales but struck out. We only got a Cinderella book for a quarter. We stopped back at the grocery store and got some sand for the sandbox. The girls enjoyed that. I have been working in the yard. I have the backyard almost done. The squirrels really ate a lot of nuts this winter, there were shells ALL OVER the yard. I have never raked them all up before but I am so tired of not having much grass back there that I decided I am going to fix that this summer by actually really taking care of the yard back there. I always rake up the leaves in the fall but never really do much in the spring.

Wednesday I received my bonus check from work. It was not as much as I was hoping for but I am not going to complain. I also was able to sell my stash of cloth diapers to a friend. I am happy for the cash I got from that and I will use that to put toward some bills. I worked Wednesday as well. I started working in the yard Wednesday afternoon because I got home from work early.

Tuesday and Monday I worked and didn't accomplish much else.

so irritated today

I am in a pissy mood. My kids were terrible tonight. O somehow got my big purse down from the hook, pulled out my coupon binder and took out EVERY single page. I could just scream. It is in complete disarray I don't even have the energy to fix it. K was picking fights with me and her sister and not listening at all. I got them to bed and was hoping to enjoy some peaceful quiet time but no that just cannot happen. My stupid neighbor is home and has his bass cranked so loud it is rattling my windows, the kids are awake because of it and the police will not do a damn thing about it. I have tried. So there goes my relaxing evening. I think I am going to take a shower and head to bed.

Happy Easter

We had a good little Easter celebration at home. The kids found the Easter eggs the "Easter Bunny" hid last night. We went to the inlaws for another Egg hunt, O found the most, with a little direction from Momma. I would point and tell her where they were and she would walk over to where it was, laugh, pick the egg up and shake it. My mother in law hides real eggs, while we hid the little plastic ones. O was a bit confused as to why there were no "tweets" inside the eggs, but she got over it pretty fast. After Easter lunch with the inlaws, we headed over to my parents for a non traditional Easter Dinner. We had steaks. O and I took a nap while K played with the neighbor kids and R and my parents sat outside enjoying the weather.

We made a pitstop at Walgreens on the way to my parents' house. Scunci hair ties are on sale this week for $2 and are giving a $2 RR so it works out to $2.11 and then getting $2 back. Not too bad. It is only on the 18 packs. I have gotten 2 so far and plan to get at least 2 more packs before the end of the week. K and I go through a lot of hair ties. We both have long thick hair. Generally mine break because they make great teething rings (ask O about that), or they get stretched out because they double as garter belts (according to K, who insists that the extra 1 or 10 that she HAS to have need to go on her leg instead of her wrist like mommy). So between the bite marks and the stretching, they get abused and/or lost. We need to have more in the house. The dollar store ones just don't cut it for thick hair.

In case you haven't noticed, I am taking my blog in a bit of a new direction the last couple of days. I still plan to post my deals, etc but I am taking a bit of a couponing break. Not chasing the deals so much and just enjoying what we have. For one, I have been working a lot lately and not into the deals as much. Two: R's new job has slowed significantly and because I am a worrier I am going to be working on squirreling away some money. I wouldn't worry so much but if he were to get laid off again, his unemployment would not be much and would probably not cover our bills completely. I worry about. That also leads me into a predicament that may or may not happen in the next week but will most likely happen soon. I have a friend who has moved away. She still works in this town but is looking for employment where she is living now. When she does get other employment she wants me to take her job, in a small office. Because it is just her and her boss, she wants to leave her boss with a very capable employee. She talked to me a lot about the position and it is something I am interested in and my friend thinks that I would be perfect for it. Her boss would want someone to start ASAP and from the way my friend talks, she would hire someone based on my friend's word, rather than interviewing multiple people for the position. So in a nutshell, the job would most likely be mine, if I want it, which I do. The issue comes in because it would be more hours than I currently work but less pay. I would still be paying the sitter the same rate and bringing home slightly less than I do now. I would not see the kids as much. But on the otherhand, I would not work any weekends (I rarely do now except during the Christmas season), no overtime, and I would know week to week what I would be bringing home whereas now I do not know. I may be scheduled 25 hours, I may only work 8 of those hours because they are not busy and they cancel my shift, I may work the 25 hours, or I may work more, if they are busy and they call me in to work an extra shift or to come in early. It is chaotic and hard on the kids. Especially hard when I have a day off, but then I get called in. Nothing is in stone yet. My friend has another interview tommorrow and then I will know more but in the mean time I am sitting here wondering, what do I do? Do I go for less pay and stability considering R's employment or do I stay where I am and consider the money? If I do leave there is no going back until Christmas season. If a person leaves my current employer they do not hire another person to replace them, they just adjust the schedules of others to cover that person's shifts. That is why so many people work in multiple departments. So I am at a loss here. I am not sure what to do. I ran the numbers and they come out to just slightly less than what I make now and working more hours but the stability is what I am looking for, especially with the economy the way it is but really....is any job safe in this ecomony...that is the million dollar question.

Conversations with O

Having a conversation with O, 18 months old, is like understanding a foreign language.

O, What is your favorite song?
ei ei o

oh you like old mcdonald?
ei ei o uh huh

Can you say Kait?
hey hey (how O says her sister's name)

bubble=ball, rain, water (like a puddle after a rain), an actual bubble

wawa=water

jews=juice, milk

hup=cup, cop (or anything with lights and sirens, sometimes even trucks without lights and sirens)

peepees=peeps

meow=cat (mostly referring to Scooter, one of our 3 cats)

neee na bach bach=our dog, Sheena. O calls her "Sheena, bark bark". All dogs are called neee na bach bach. Doesn't matter if the dog even looks remotely like our dog or not.

bobbob square=spongebob squarepants

poppop=popsicle. A staple in this house, no matter what time of year.

tweet=treat

ahhhhhhhhhh (as she sticks her fingers in her throat)=she wants to brush her teeth...err chew on the toothbrush (good thing I get them free or dirt cheap with coupons!)

Ewwwwwwwwww=I pooped and I need a new butt (aka diaper)

nooooo hey hey dop= no Kait stop. Generally means:

• K took a toy and O is MAD
• K is trying to start a fight
• O is trying to start a fight with K and get her in trouble. O is an instigator.
  

When I think of it I will post more conversations with O.

the underwear around my knees dance

So K woke up about 11:30 tonight. She was screaming like a little banshee. R jumped up and went to help her. By help her, I mean bring her downstairs for me to deal with. Of course the Easter bunny had already stopped by and hid the eggs but forgot to bring the baskets out from the bedroom. R evidently forgot that part. Anyway, K said she peed in her pants. We are working on letting her sleep without a pullup and some nights are good, others are not so good. But Anyway, I took her in to use the potty because she had not peed in her pants...yet. There was one of those stupid ladybug looking beetles in the toilet. Evidently, they are butt biting bugs that will fly up (even though they are dead and just floating in the toilet) and bite K on the butt if she sits to pee with the bug in there. So I being the uber-brave mom that I am, flushed that bug down the toilet and told K to sit and pee.
Her response "it will bite my butt. I CAN'T pee in there."
"I flushed it honey. It won't bite your butt now."
"oh yes it will. It is MAD at you."
"oh for pete's sake. Fine I will pee first."
So I sit down to pee and while I am going, K decides that she no longer has to pee. Great (note the sarcasm). As she is pulling up her pj pants, she forgets to pull up her underwear first and is doing this tae-bo, irish jig, chorus line type move. I am not exactly sure what the point of the little dance was but I started to laugh, which in turn made K extremely mad at me. She said "don't you laugh at me" in the sternest voice her half asleep brain could muster, which made me laugh even hard and that made her yell even louder. R comes to see what the commotion is and walks into me, on the toilet, trying to pee but laughing so hard that I can't, K screaming at me and still doing her underwear-around-the-knees dance. He finds the scene rather comical and starts to laugh, which really makes K mad. She puts her hands on her hips and gives the two of us this look of total disgust, all while still trying to pull her underwear up underneath her pants. Gosh, I love my 3 year old. She makes me laugh at even the littlest things.

a pic of the butt biting beetle~evil looking huh?

ET foods trip

I just can't say enough good things about this store. I love going there. I love the element of surprise with what I will find. My finds for today:

Total $23.70-4 bags!

Ore Ida steak fries $1.50 bag (2)

Kraft marshmallow $.85 bag (2)

cookies .85 package (5)

Welch's frozen juice concentrate .75 each (7)

Pillsbury Toaster Strudel $1.25 each (4)

sally hansen nail polish $1

Corn on the cob $1 bag

Cauliflower $1 bag

Ben and Jerry's ice cream $1.50

total retail from a local store other than ET foods is $33.75. Saved $10.05. Awesome!

Free Huggies Sample

Click here. I signed up for my brother's new addition. Who can't use free diapers?

Lands' end friends and family discount

I have been given 20 coupons to give to family and friends so they can receive 30% off an order from Landsend.com from April 17-20. The code and PIN can only be used once. If you would like one, let me know. I have 18 coupons left. I can email you the PIN and code and you can use it only. It is also good at Lands end stores and Land's end in Sears stores, to use it in store, I will need to mail you a card so I would ask that you pay for the stamp. If anyone is interested let me know soon and I will set you up :)

I got my order from Lands end today and I love it! The shirts for me are on backorder but I got my shoes (so comfy) and I got the shirts for R.

Found it!

Fels Naptha soap...I found it in the oddest of places, my local grocery store. 99 cents a bar. I figured out a breakdown of my cost per batch of laundry detergent

.37 washing soda
.33 1/3 bar of fels naptha
.00 borax (got a giant box from my brother for free)
___
.70 per batch. 1 batch makes 2 regular (32 load size) bottles full and some extra. I am going to try this batch without adding anything. I will post how it goes. I am so glad I found the fels naptha and so cheaply and locally. Hooray!

so after letting the laundry soap sit

I decided that I do infact like it. I am still going to play around with the recipe some more but it looks like laundry soap. I think I did not let it cool enough before I put it into the bottles and that is why it looked so running before. It actually looks and smells good now so yeah! I need to get some more washing soda and I want to try the Fels naptha soap. I can find it at hardware stores after doing some research so after payday I am going to stop at the hardware store and pick some up for making my next batch. I hope to make my next batch next week. I do laundry every day so I should have enough empty containers for it. I think I am going to add some fabric softener right to the mix. I will give it a shot anyway.

lovin' it

I am LOVING the new position so far. I love the busy factor. I love seeing all the items I never get to see coming through. One of the good/bad things about my job is that I get to see the items first hand. It is nice because I may see something on the website for my employer and think wow that looks nice but when I see it in person I think ugh...no. But the bad part of that is seeing the items come through and thinking about how so and so (or myself) would really like that. I ordered some shirts for R tonight. He is in desperate need of plain t shirts for work. With my discount they were pretty cheap and I know they are of good quality so I ordered 3 shirts for him and 2 shirts for me and also a pair of sandals for myself. Regular retail would have been $69.50 and I paid $38. A substantial savings. It also helps that the items were on sale and I get a discount, even on sale items.

Solving one dilemma

I had a dilemma for the next couple of weeks. How to let the kids get enough sleep with my new hours yet still give them breakfast. I hate waking them up any earlier than absolutely necessary, yet I want to feed them before I take them to the sitter in the morning. They go to bed around 7:30 each night and usually sleep until 8-9 am. Putting them to bed earlier is not really possible. My new job starts at 7:30 which means I need to leave the house by 7. I could leave later but I like to be to work with minimum of 10 minutes to spare so I can get set for the day before my shift actually starts. So I made the girls some fruit smoothies tonight, frozen strawberries, a banana and milk. I blended really well. I will pair this with a baggie of multigrain cheerios for each kid and they will have breakfast on the run for at least a couple mornings anyway. Then I will have to try something else.

a thrifty birthday gift and more

So we (K and I for a bit and then just me later) went to a get together for Carrie. I knew about the get together about a week ago and I knew just what to get Carrie. We found a cute Easter basket and put some items from our stockpile in it. Things we figured Carrie could use. When we were putting together the basket, K wanted to know where the toys were and the candy. I told her that when you get older you don't get toys and candy for birthdays, you get things you need. She did not thing that was very fun at all. I gave Carrie the gift and she loved it. I put some Bodywash, Renuzit fabric spray, Toothpaste and Oust cleaner in the basket. Handy things. I don't know about everyone else but I LOVE getting practical gifts. Forget rings, necklaces and flowers if R does something like this or this, I am so ecstatically happy. Yep, I love to get and give practical gifts.

Made my first batch of homemade laundry soap Friday night. Yep, that is how I will be spending my evenings now that R is working 2nd shift. I am not very pleased with the results so I am going to play around some more before I post my "official" results. Overall, it did a good job cleaning but it was not nearly as sudsy or nice smelling as I had hoped for. I will still use it in conjunction with my stockpile of purex but I will play around more with it later. I figure I will do a 1/2 to 1/2 mixture of homemade and purex until the homemade is used up and then will try again. It smelled ok but I am thinking I need to add something, a dash of fabric spray, some essential oils, something not sure what yet though.

The girls and I did an Aldi run today. We spent $36 and came home with a box and 4 bags of groceries and 2 boxes of Ramen noodles. Since R is not eating dinner with us, the girls and I are eating more lunch type (read:fast) dinners. Both kids adore the chicken Ramen noodles. I cut down on the sodium by using only half a packet of seasoning. I will add some caulibrocliflower (K can say cauliflower and broccoli seperately just fine but in the same sentence they become caulibrocliflower) on the side with some cheese. The kids and I are going to be trying some meatless dinners a couple nights a week as well. A ramen noodle night, a soup and grilled cheese night, pancakes and eggs, etc. The kids don't seem to mind not eating meat as much as R would but I want to make sure they get their protein so we will have beans, eggs, peanut butter, etc.

I am excited to start my new position with my current employer on Monday. I have yet to hear anything more from the job I interviewed for so I am calling that a loss (on their side-I would have been great at that job, I am pretty sure) and sticking with my current employer. I do like working for my current employer. They are good to me and I love the flexibility that they offer. It is very nice to be able to take a day off without having to worry about having vacation time or unpaid time to cover it. Oh, you need a day off, let us know before the schedule for that week comes out and you can have it off (provided there are not a lot of other people taking that same day off but that has not been an issue yet). It is really great for someone with 2 young children. So after much debate and running numbers and countless hours of just thinking, R and I decided that even if I am offered the other position I should stick with my current employer. When he was still laid off, it was a no brainer, I needed to take that job but now with him working and me able to pick up a job in another department (thus giving me more hours) it is no longer a necessity.

~~Money stuff~~
$1900 until the car is officially paid in full. YIPPEE!!!

Out of R's last check I was able to put away over $200! That is so nice. We need to save $1800 by August at the very latest. August is when our car insurance is due again and Propane prebuy can be done anytime from now until October but the sooner the better. I have been monitoring the pricing on that so when it hits bottom we can prebuy. Some reports say June usually, others say late spring. Then of course in October and November are what we refer to as the "big 3", My life insurance, O's life insurance and R's life insurance. K's premium is due in March. the "big 3" runs us close to $750 a year, add in K's for a total of just over $900 a year. OUCH! Is the kids life insurance really necessary? That is debatable but I do think that it is considering what we went through just before O was born and the aftermath of all that, the peace of mind is worth it. For R and I, the life insurance is a necessity. We are covered enough so that if something were to happen, the house and any other bills are paid in full and there is some left over, not a lot but enough to get by for awhile. R is more heavily covered than I am. R has a policy that his parents took out when he was a baby and a policy through work (that they pay for). I only have the one policy. If something were to happen to both of us, we have wills in place specifying who gets the kids, who gets control of our assets, and a contingency plan should something in the plan of choice fall through. We also both have advanced medical directives set up as well. For those that do not know, R's brother was tragically killed at work just one week before O was born. After that happened, we decided that we needed to get this stuff taken care of. For easy will (and other legal documents) writing, check out Deluxe willwriter. This program is AMAZING. Besides wills and advanced medical directives, it contains any kind of form you might EVER need a lawyer for. All we did was completed the simple questionnaire included with the software. It put everything together for us and we printed them off and took them to our bank to sign and notarize. 2 hours total time and the cost was very minimal. If you have a large amount of assets or more complicated situations, a lawyer might be a better choice but for us this was the best!

a few updates on us

me first: I started a new position with my employer next week. I will be job sharing in a new department. I will be available 3 days in my current position and 2 days in the new one. For the next 2 week I am working Monday through Friday, everyday and then after that I will be splitting my time between the two departments. It should mean more hours. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because I will be making more money and able to pay off bills faster and build our savings sooner, but bad because I will not be able to be here as often with the girls and will be paying more for daycare. Such is life.

The girls are doing good. Not real excited about my new position next week but what can I do.

R is working his job. He is on 2nd shift now and loving it. It is an adjustment for the family but it is going ok so far.

4/5/09 coupons

here

The Queen of cheap/free

I took a shower tonight. I used my free softsoap bodywash, my free garnier shampoo and conditioner. I shaved my legs with a razor I got cheap, I used my deodorant (that Walmart paid me to take!), I used my free leave in Garnier conditioner, I brushed my teeth with a free toothbrush and used toothpaste that I got paid to buy from Walgreens and before I go to bed I will use my lotion that I got paid to buy from Walgreens. It is really gratifying to me to get all this stuff so cheap or free. On the otherhand there needs to be a line drawn. When does one stop collecting/stockpiling items? This leads me to a gripe of sorts. There are some people that will completely take advantage of a deal like the one at Walgreens and abuse the shit out of it getting 50+ bottles of whatever and only paying tax on each one. That is FINE because it is working that way. I am sure these people donate or whatever but still 50+ bottles. I understand a great deal is just that, a GREAT deal but where do you draw the line? I draw MY line at what I can use within 12-18 months (for shampoo and the like) and what I can give to family and friends (without causing a lack of whatever for my family). I would not be able to use 50+ bottles of ANYTHING (well except maybe ketchup and soda...the kids will eat ketchup on ANYTHING...including green beans....and R and I drink a lot of soda) in this time frame so I do not buy more than that even if it is free.

My giving has a limit too. For instance, I will not just GIVE someone something from my stockpile because they are too lazy to go work for the deals themselves. There is one lady that I know that just expects me to give her stuff because I get it free. Yeah I get it free but I work for these deals; cutting coupons, watching sales, research on some websites, trips to stores, etc. It probably takes me a couple hours a week to do everything I do. That is valuable time that I will NOT spend getting my deals to just hand over to someone who is too lazy to do it. I do not mind helping once in awhile and I am very willing to share my deals with anyone who asks but I will not go and buy the stuff for a person, or just hand over what I have gotten because they feel entitled. I am a giving person but not that giving. I am ranting about this because I was sharing a deal with someone today and she says to me "since you have so many, could you spare one for me?" I said this ONE time I will but that is it. If you want in on the deals I will help you and she says "it just seems like so much work." I said it is but it is worth it.

And the other thing and makes me soooo mad! People that get this stuff, clearing the shelves so others cannot get in on the deal, and sell it at a garage sale. OMG that makes me so mad. It is a good idea, don't get me wrong, but please leave stuff on the shelves for others. That is all I am saying. There is no need to buy 50+ of whatever and then make a buck off it at your garage sale. People KNOW what you are up to. Some might not care but those that want to just get 3-4 whatevers get pissed when they can't. Stockpiling is good but overkill is not. And yes, I do have 30 some bottles of Garnier in my stockpile but in my quest for free Garnier, I did not: a. clear shelves b. have any intent on selling it c. buy stuff we will not use in the next 12-18 months. We use A LOT of Garnier and I barter it with my brother so it will all get used and I still left plenty for others. It may seem hypocritical coming from a stockpiler to be ranting like this and it is....kind of. I always make sure to leave plenty for others and most of my stockpile items are not from a single sale but multiple sales over many months. What gets me is the people that get it with the sole intention of resale. THAT is what bothers me most!

oh yeah and by free I mean I pay tax on the item so yeah I pay a little for it but essentially it is free. The majority of my "free" stuff is just paying tax, so free but not free...clear as mud, right?

Softsoap deal no longer rolling

I tried again this evening. I used my last 2 free coupons and it didn't roll. That is ok I ended up with another 3 since the last time I posted. I gave 2 away.

been so consumed with the softsoap deal

That I completely forgot to write about my awesome Saturday score. For $21.45 I got a 8.5lb Beef tenderloin. It was $2.50/lb. I cut it into 18 good sized thick steaks and 1 perfect for us sized roast (about 1.5 lbs). The roast would have made 3 more steaks so it figured out to $1.02/steak and $3.06 for the roast. I have been experimenting with cutting my own meat. It is nice to be able to cut the meat to my liking and trim the fat, etc as I cut it. I can cut it to my own specifications and I want to try grinding my own ground beef next. I figured I would try to get some chuck roasts and steaks cheap and trim the fat and then use FILs grinder to make my own ground beef.

Softsoap deal

was still "rolling" as of 9:30 this morning. I got 2 of the coconut scrub and it still gave me 2 coupons for more free ones. I will be stopping after work and seeing if it is working. If not I am ok with that. I have plenty but I am going to get my last two free ones. As on right now, it works out to 36 cents a piece with the first one I had to buy and the 2nd one that I had to use a RR and my coupon for. If I just get the next two it would work out to 32.9 cents a piece, because of the tax and the original one that I had to buy. Still not a bad deal. I am currently paying just tax (22 cents on each one) which is a fantastic deal!

on a "roll" today

Walgreens trip

1st transaction:
$12.00 4 12 packs of Mountain Dew
.66 tax

____
$12.66
-10. RR (from Dove soap)
_____
2.66 got back $3 RR


2nd transaction
$3.99 soft soap
$ .22 tax
____
$4.21
-3.00 RR (from Mountain Dew)
____
$1.21 OOP got a RR for a free Soft soap bodywash

Transaction 3
$12.00 4 12 packs Mountain Dew
3.99 softsoap body wash
.96 tax
____
16.95
-3.99 free soft soap RR
-10.00 RR from dove soap
_____
2.96 OOP got another free soft soap RR and $3 from Dew

Transaction 4
$3.99 Soft soap body wash
.69 Peeps (filler item)
.24 tax
_______
4.92
-.30 Walgreens peeps in ad Q
-1.00 MFQ for Soft soap
-3.00 RR from Dew
_____
.62 OOP got RR for free soft soap

Transaction 5
3.99 soft soap
.22 tax
____
4.21
-3.99 RR for free soft soap
____
.22 OOP and ANOTHER rr for free soft soap



What I brought home for $7.67 total! Peeps not pictured because we ate them in the car :) The 2 papers are 2 more coupons for free soft soap. Total Saved today was $53.50. Percentage is 87.4% savings. WOW!

on a roll because: The soft soap coupons are "rolling" this means that when you use one coupon to get a free one it is not supposed to print one to get another free one but it is right now (it will be fixed at some point I imagine). But the way it is currently working you would just buy the original one and keep getting them for 22 cents tax (or whatever tax is where you live) and then getting another coupon. I decided to stop because 6 will last me a very long time and a couple will end up in gift baskets.

3/29 coupons

here

Thursday shopping trips

Last night K and I went to get her Easter dress. I wanted to get her a summery dress (and one for O) that she could wear for Easter but have for wearing other times too. I found the ones I liked on Sears.com. I get an employee discount at Sears (including online but ONLY if I have a Sears card :( ). In store I can get the discount as long as I use my debit card or cash. So I took Kait and she picked out a beautiful dress for her sister and an almost identical one for herself. $19 for 2 dresses. Not bad!

Then we went to Walmart. I have been checking everytime I got because I have read that some of the store were carrying the 4 lb bags of Iams pet foods for $5. I had 4 $5 off coupons, making the pet food free (well I had to pay tax). I got 4 bags last night. They had a lot of pretty good clearance stuff, almost free deodorant for R after coupons, some musical toothbrushes (which I did not buy but K wants for Easter). I had a kind of unthrifty night though as well. One of our cats has tummy issues. I have been getting whatever cat food is cheapest after coupons. This has not been sitting well with that kitty's tummy and he has been yacking everywhere. Poor thing. We have found that the Purina indoor or the Walmart brand indoor or urinary tract health food is the only kind he can stomach. So I priced it out and wow. I shoot for $1/lb or less to feed the animals. With coupons last night I was about to get a 7 lb bag of cat food for $5.27, which is good and cheaper than the Walmart brand but if I don't have coupons, even the Walmart brand is more than $1/lb. BUT if it makes my kitty not so sick, it is worth it.

After Walmart K and I went to Walgreens in that town and found pizzas on clearance for 50 cents each. I still had some money on my gift card so I got 10 pizzas for $1.77.

300th post!

Our weekend:

Yesterday the kids, the dog and I played outside almost all day. I hung out some laundry to dry. We took a walk to the park, we cooked steaks on the grill. We went to my parents and let the girls and the dog run. It was a good day. Unfortunately last night ended with a migraine for me due to some stress from an outside problem. But we will deal with it.

coupons 3/22

here

you could win FREE shoes for a year

sign up here . Today ONLY!

Rewards of Frugality

In my quest to be frugal, I have been doing many things from scratch. Like making my own bodywash and handsoap. It is rewarding because I am the type of person that loves to see results and because I get K involved. Tonight K and I made a batch of bodywash for her. She loved it. She stood over the pot on the stove and stirred and stirred and kept asking Mom is it done? Mom is it done? She had a blast.

We hang our laundry out to dry in the summer and K enjoys helping with that. I do it not only to save money and because I like the smell, I do it because I enjoy the time with K. We do a lot of "frugal" things together. I hope that by doing this she not only sees the value of hardwork but also what mommy does to save money. I hope that I am instilling life lessons into her. Things that she will carry into adulthood and look back on fondly. I hope the smell of line dried laundry will bring her back to the simpler time, when she and I would take a basket of laundry outside and she would hand me the clothespins, one by one, like it was the most important job in the world. And maybe, just maybe, she will pass that on to her own child someday and think back about the many "gifts" I have given her even without spending a dime on them. I can hope right?

free things in the mail

A lot of the moms in some of my thrifty groups are members of this. It is a site that sends out samples and good coupons for products. Try the product, fill out a survey. Some things members have gotten include Razors, new cereals and snacks to try. To join, you just fill out a survey about how many children etc live in your house and some of your opinoins on things. It took me about 5 minutes to join. I just joined today so I will update when I get samples etc.

Homemade body wash recipe and more fun!

Ingredients

1 soap bar, small (not super size)

3 cups water

Directions

1. Take your bar of soap (we use Dove or store brand like it, because it's more moisturizing), and grate it with a cheese grater.

2. Pour the water and grated soap into a microwaveable container and cook on high for 3 min.

3. Remove and stir until all soap bits have melted (put in a bit longer, if needed).

4. Let it cool, then pour into pumps (leftover from store bought liquid soap), and the remainder in any container with a lid.



I am going to make mine on the stove but I am going to try this as soon as I have an empty bottle to put it in. Reviews are really good on it but I will review it myself after I use it. Both O and I (and now my dad) have extremely dry skin. I have psoriasis and Dad does too and O just has excema but I have found that the commericially made body washes are expensive and are not helping my psoriasis so I am going to make my own "formula" for body wash using the dove bars of soap and some tea tree oil.



Walgreens all month has Dove products on RR. This week they are 25% off so buy 8 bars of soap ($1.19 at my store's sale price) and get back $10 in RR for buying 8 Dove products. MONEY MAKER. I wanted to get some this morning but they were out. I got a text message about 3 from a friend saying the Dove was stocked so I went in and got 8 bars and some dish soap. My total cost was $10.84 but I got back $10 so for .84 I got the following:





9.52 8 bars Dove soap (1.19 each sale price)
1.99 1 Palmolive dish soap
___
11.51
.58 tax
____
12.09
-1.00 Walgreens Q for Palmolive
-0.25 MFQ for Palmolive
____
10.84 Got back $10 RR! Total Savings (excluding RR)=$4.45

********EDIT************
I made the body wash and used it tonight. I liked it. It was a bit more watery than I would like so I would back off the water to 2 cups or 2 1/2. It lathered nicely. I smell great. Between my Free Garnier Shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, and mousse and now my homemade body wash I am one Hot Momma! I will let you know if the tea tree oil does anything in the body wash. I know it helps when I apply it straight from the bottle.

my coupons savings so far this year/new Walgreens week

Amount saved/retail price without coupons and sales

827.10/1225.75=67.4% not too shabby, huh?

My percentage for today is 96.7%

I went this morning to get Pullups for K and a paper:

4.50 pullups
4.50 pullups
4.50 pullups
2.25 paper
.69 Peeps (needed something to bring my total up to the amount of the RR I wanted to use)
____
16.44
.76 tax
____
17.20
-.30 Walgreens Peeps coupons (in ad Q)
-3.00 RR from Coke
-3.00 RR from Coke
-10.00 RR from Huggies
____
0.90 OOP cost... savings of 96.7%

so it seems

that my local Walgreens does not even follow their own signs. LOL. I went in today to get my last 2 free Garnier and had to get a filler so I got a $1 bottle of PM pain reliever. Total cost was $1.36. LOVE THAT!

Can I just say...

I love Jon Stewart! Not even because of this. I have always enjoyed the Daily Show. I find it very amusing. I like the Colbert Report as well but The Daily Show is my fav!

How observant is a 3 year old?

VERY! Tonight we picked up Pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner because:
A. We never eat out as a family-if we have to pay for it. We have been out as a family once since O was born and we did not have to pay for that meal.
B. We were celebrating R's new job
C. R had a ton of running around to do today so the kids went to the sitter's house while I was at work and I didn't have anything started for dinner

Anyway, we stopped to pick up the pizza and I grabbed my little wallet thing and K says "mom. don't forget your coupons. You have a coupon for the pizza right?" Yeah...LOL guess she has gone shopping with me and my coupons enough that she notices but nope no coupon for the pizza but I did get a special deal they had going so that was alright. LOL. We got home and she tells R "mom paid full price for the pizza. Is that bad?" Wow just wow...guess she is learning a lot huh?

1 more Walgreens trip this week

I decided to try my luck getting the Garnier again. I still had 4 coupons left. I decided to not push my luck too far and only got 2. That leaves me 1 day left of the sale, 2 shifts so I can get my last 2 FREE bottles of conditioner. UGH! This has been a PITA week for sure. Luckily tonight the cashier let me get 2 bottles. My Walgreens is limiting Garnier to one per person per day but when they do that I know that the last day or two of the sale they don't follow the limits.

My receipt looks like this:

3.25 diet coke
3.25 diet coke
3.25 diet coke
3.25 diet coke
2.99 Garnier
2.99 Garnier
____
18.98
1.04 tax
____
20.02
-1.00 Garnier Fructis Q
-1.00 Garnier Fructis Q
-4.00 Walgreens Garnier Q
-10.00 Register Reward from Huggies deal
_____
4.02 OOP

26.96 total savings! and got another $3 RR for buying the 4 12 packs of coke.

So this week so far...still have to get the last 2 Garnier tommorrow....
total savings: $180.29
total spent: $102.60
Register Rewards earned: $66

I have $16 in RR left as of right now. If I get the Garnier and 4 coke one more time I will have $9 in RR and will use that for 2 packs of pullups for K and will have to get a filler (you must have as many items in the transaction as RR or it will not go through. The RR needs something to "attach" to at the register. RR is consider a coupon so anything I get that I already have a MFQ for I need to have a "filler" for each RR I intend to use.) and I think I will get a pack of diapers for my new niece as a filler. Yeah it is kind of an expensive filler but that will make my Walgreens shopping done and I can use the diapers for part of the baby shower gift.

O M G

He got the job! R got the job he interviewed for today. He starts Monday. We are truly blessed!

coupon article

herehttp://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/10-secrets-from-coupon-masters-396171/?pg=4#comments

coupons 3/15

http://www.afullcup.com/forums/1516068-post15.html

Garage sale season

my favorite time of the year is starting soon. I cannot wait to go to garage sales. I love the hunting, the deal finding. K enjoys garage saling too. I will be posting pics after every weekend's hunts this year with totals and individual prices for things I bought.

We (my brother and I) will be having our annual garage sale this year as well. I am pretty excited for that as well. We are unsure of the date yet because his GF is due the end of May so it will kind of depend on her. Tentatively we are planning on holding it the weekend of City wide sales but it is not definite yet. I will take pics after we are all set up.

Made a little chart

so this week a bunch of us on a thrifty forum are running a little contest to see who has the biggest savings/lowest OOP from Walgreens deals this week. I am nowhere near the top but I thought it was interesting nonetheless..

My week...Sunday through today:
total Savings: 153.33
OOP: 98.58 including tax
RR earned: $63

Ouch! the oop is a little higher than I like but in all fairness I got alot for that amount of money:
the breakdown
11 packs of diapers
4 big refill packs of wipes
4 bottles of garnier hair stuff
1 sense and spray thing
1 toothpaste
2 deodorants for R
11 12 packs of diet coke
1 12 pack of cherry coke

The diapers alone at regular price would have been $131.89 before tax so I did really well considering. I just hate seeing my OOP so high. I have become spoiled getting more for less. The retail total for everything would have been $250.00 for which I paid less than $100. That is really good and I can take a break after I use up my RR from this week on pullups next week. I see the last week of the month Pepsi products are on sale again which is good because R is almost out of Mountain dew. To me the sale looks like buy 3 for 10.92 and you get a free diet pepsi. That is a perfect deal for us. Buy 3 mountain dew for R, get myself the free diet pepsi.

Since I started the coupon binder, I have been saving almost every coupon so if you are looking for a particular coupon, let me know. I just might have what you are looking for.

oh Walgreens...how I love thee

yeah I am a giant dork...just ask R. I got dressed, put my shoes on and told R I was leaving for a bit. He aksed where to and before I even answered he said..nevermind, Walgreens again? LOL of course.

Anyway tonight I did the Huggies diaper deal because I want to give my brother some diapers for their baby shower. I got them wipes already and was just going to get a couple packs of Walgreens diapers for them but was able to print a high value coupon one last time so I decided to get them the good diapers and get myself some more RR.

I got:
$10 Huggies size 3 for the new baby
$10 Huggies for O
$6 wipes for O...I will give one or two of the wipes I already got for the baby shower
another free bottle of Garnier for me
and a package of Peeps because I needed a filler so I could use the $3 RR I got from the coke deal.

My oop total was $19.81. I saved $19.47 and I got back $10 in RR. I will use that $10 to get some pullups for K for night time when they are on sale again next week.

I don't think the Manager likes me much. Seems like everytime I come in she needs to be at the register for something. It is a bit irritating as I am doing nothing wrong. Just saving money. If it comes down to being bothered for using coupons or visiting Walgreens, well I will just take my business elsewhere including my prescriptions and everything else I do at Walgreens. I do not just go there to get the deals. I also go for other things, like when we had a clogged drain, when the kids and I are out for a walk and we stop for a drink and a treat. She has never said anything to me about my coupon usage but it seems like she really eagle eyes my transacations. This is also the same lady that just a couple weeks ago talked to me about a job there. During that conversation she said she knows that I know the deals but it seems as though sometimes she does not want me to get the deals. oh well...I am not breaking any rules and I would gladly show her what I am doing and how I do it...if she would ask.

Keep the good news rolling!

R got a call a couple hours ago for an interview for the job we sent his resume in for last night. His interview is tommorrow. They wanted to do it today but he is not prepared for it at all so he scheduled it for tommorrow.

wouldn't you know it

Just when I post about no job leads in sight for R, guess what?!?! He finds a job lead. A job in which he has experience. In fact most of his experience is in the area that the job is for. We sent off his resume and cover letter tonight. And as it turns out, R knows the HR manager, as well as the owner of the company. So we allowed ourselves to dream a little. And should everything fall into place like we are hoping here is our dream:

R starts working full time again, I get the job I interviewed for, I start working full time again.

Our net pay would be enough that we could cover all the bills including groceries, gas, etc and still be able to put away a car payment a month and then some. A car payment being money that we are setting aside in a fund to be used for emergencies or to buy a new (used) car when the time comes. It has always been a goal of mine to buy a vehicle outright. Not a used POS but a nice used car outright. No financing. We would be able to put away a minimum of $300/month. Oh lord...the thought of that is sheer joy to me. It would set us up very well for future events that may arise. So even though I want to be home with the kids and not work full time I believe that should R get this job and I be offered the job I interviewed for today I will accept. If I am not offered that job, I will continue to look for a full time position.

We decided tonight that if we both are offered the positions we will continue to live as frugally as we currently do and save every cent we can. One of our other dreams is to build a house on some land. We would be unable to sell this house currently so we do need to do some work on it before that can become a reality and with us both working full-time the ability to do that would come sooner. Currently we live paycheck to paycheck, with a little money in savings and are unable to do any improvements to our home. We want to but we also want to pay cash for any upgrades so we will start to work on saving money for that as well.

Can you feel the excitement?!?!

I think the interview went well today

There were 2 guys in the interview asking me questions. The one was the general manager of the place and the other was the lead over the 2nd half of the production floor, basically doing the job. The 2nd guy was doing a lot of nodding and smiling when I would answer their questions. The general manager asked what I thought the job was and I nailed it! At the end I asked what characteristics they were looking for in the person they would hire and the general manager read back MY answers to his question of what characteritics I possessed that I felt would make me the best candidate for the job. He said I would hear either way in 2-3 weeks because he had 5 interviews for the position, I am #3 interview. He had 2 more this afternoon and then they have to pick 2 and send the interview Q&A sheets to corporate and a board would decide who gets the job but the board goes with his recommendation 99.5% of the time. So with all the questions and my answers and the smiling and nodding I hope it is mine!I was shocked though. I was prepared to answer questions about my gaps in employment, why I am looking to go full-time, why I left previous employers, etc and they asked none of that. Mostly just about me, my characteristics, what my thoughts were on working with adults with disabilities, how I would handle disagreements between employees, how I work through stress, how I relieve stress, that kind of thing. It was wierd. But the guy doing the job I would be doing loved my answer to that, he laughed and said he does the same thing. I said I like to put the Ipod on and take the kids for a long walk. Then there was a lot of chit chat about favorite music, favorite hiking spots, where the best place to walk in town is, etc. Wierdest interview I have ever been in. It was more like a friendly chat toward the end than an interview. They asked a TON of questions about my Quality job and the procedures I wrote there and training and a lot about the process they used to make the plastic. Thank god I listened when R and his buds would babble about it, I had an answer to every question!

I am hopefully that this job will be mine. I am hoping that it all works out and I hear from them and the call is for a job offer, not a sorry we hired someone else. I think this is a really good fit, especially after talking to them today.

It was like it was supposed to happen

Just wow! I went to Walgreens tonight to use some RR on coke. Then because I finally got my coupon for the free Suave they were sending from 1/14, I had to go to the grocery store to get some body wash because Walgreens did not have it. So I went there as well. I had some instore coupons for shredded cheese $1/bag, $1.50/lb butter, and sirloin steaks are on sale (DH's fav). I grabbed everything else I needed than went to the meat department. I was choose out the sirloins and I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was our loan officer (and a previous co-worker of mine). She asked how things were going, how the kids are, if we were surviving the economy, etc. I told her we are surviving but these last 3 1/2 months have been kind of difficult with R's layoff. She asked about that and said you know, if you are having problems paying the mortgage or run into problems, just come talk to me. You have enough equity now in your house we could work something out. You and R, I know, are good for the money so if you need to, come in and see me and we will be able to help you. Oh JOY! It is nice to know that there is help available. Which brings me to a vent of sorts......

Where is OUR bailout? seriously, those of us who worked hard, didn't buy more house than we could afford, pay our bills on time, work hard now, struggle with layoffs and downsizing, paycuts, hours being cut, raises and bonuses being withheld, Instead we give the bailout to these companies who in my opinoin are partially to blame for the current economy. I am not saying that we as consumers are not partly responsible. Some of us got greedy, charged everything and anything, bought on credit, bought more that we could afford but also there are some people that were "tricked" into getting a loan that was not right for them (ARMs, etc) by being told that oh don't worry about it. In two years when that rate adjusts you will be making more money, it's ok, you can afford this. OR as some reports I have read the loan officers LIED about the peoples income to get them the loan. Where are these mortgage companies now? Mostly in bankruptcy or going down the tubes really quickly I would assume. Anyway, coming off my soapbox now....

what 75 lbs of potatoes looks like

yet another meal with potatoes for tommorrow for dinner. I am making marinated steak strips pan fried with onions and roasting potatoes for a side. Sounda delish right? first time I made it was awesome but I did not get very long to marinade the meat so this time they are marinating overnight. YUM!!

it is coming together...

In order to make myself less nervous, I am going to post a not so well kept secret of mine. I *hope* that this does not jinx my chances but here goes:

With R's unemployment set to run out in 2 1/2 months and no job prospects in sight, I have been applying for other jobs. I want to stay home with the kids and only work part-time but I need to be able to support us should he not be able to find a job right away. With that in mind, I applied last week for a leadership job at a local company. I thought it was a long shot, figured they would have a ton of more qualified applicants. Not that I am not qualified. I do have a business management degree, I have 5 years experience in Quality Assurance as a (unofficial) shift lead, and almost 2 years as an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant. I have the experience they are looking for, especially the Quality aspect of the job, but I figured with the ecomony the way it is they would have a lot more applicants more qualified than me and they probably do but I got called today and will interview tommorrow for this job. It would pay all of our bills after taxes but will not leave much left over but my main concern is paying for the roof over our heads. Anyway this job would cover that and everything else. It seems like a very good fit for me so hopefully it works out. I will keep you posted.

$25 in RR

$22 of which I can use on Coke this week. Which I will have to do 2 transactions on. Those two transactions will get me another $6 in RR I will have $9 left to get pullups for K next week and then we are set! Let the spending end! LOL. While I will still be collecting my coupons, I intend to only to go Walgreens for free or moneymaking items. I will continue to get grocery items on sale with coupons but I intend to only get free or moneymaking HBA items.

Thinking Spring

After reading Carrie's post I got to thinking. We really need to start planning out our garden this year. You see, our small starter garden last year was ok but not located very well and flooded out. We are still planning to use the same spot for a few of our vegetables but we want to plant more this year and since the previous spot is behind the garage which is only 5 or so feet from the property line we have to replan this. We have a couple spots in mind but first we need to decided exactly what to plant, how much of each, etc. Some other spring things I need to accomplish:

restring the clothesline
replace the rocks and mulch around the trees in the backyard
figure out what to do beneath the swing set
rake up the rest of the leaves

Of course I think of this now, after we got freezing rain then snow. I did see some grass yesterday in spots. GREEN grass. Wow! I had to check a few times, just to make sure it was not my mind playing a trick on me. It wasn't. There was actually grass but now it is covered with snow once again...ah the joys of a Wisconsin spring/winter. The teasing and tormenting that Mother Nature plays on us Wisconsinites is just not right, even downright cruel at times. Sweatshirts outside one day to full winter gear including hats, gloves, boots and winter coats the next. Mother Nature can be so vindictive sometimes...(I need an eyerolling emoticon....seriously!)

As I have gotten older it seems that Winter lasts longer. I know that it doesn't but it seems to. I am not quite 30 (and I have more than 6 months to go until I am...thank you!) but when I am outside in the cold for more than a few minutes, my feet start to ache, well my toes start to ache, my fingers ache, I have wondered if this is what arthritis feels like. For someone with almost 200 ft long driveway that requires nine passes with the snowblower to clear, 2 porches, a sidewalk spanning a lot and a half, and a snowplow driver that can only seem to plow his piles into the end of MY driveway, never the neighbors driveway or even onto the treebank in front of the house, this is not a good feeling. Clearing us out takes about 30-45 minutes usually then I also clear the sidewalks for our older neighbor lady which takes 10-15 minutes. I think I now know why my parents always said they could "feel the cold in their joints". UGH! yet another reason to move from this cold climate.

I have told R if we were move, there should be at least 2 Walgreens in the town we move to. That should be a requirement. I have a lot of them for a different house. 2 full bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a basement that can be finished but preferrably already is, first floor laundry like we have now, a kitchen with counter space and cabinets, a step saver kitchen would be ideal, an open but not too open floor plan, LP (or the ability to have an LP) cook stove, lots of storage, a decent yard, and privacy. Not picky at all am I? LOL There are other things I would like 2 1/2 car garage-detached (I do not like attached garages, I am wierd like that), no fruit bearing trees, room for a garden, and the list goes on.

I have to work 4 days this week and hopefully some things that are in the works will happen this week. If they are meant to be they will. More on that to come though. I am too tired now to continue.

Comparison Pics

Stockpile a little while ago

stockpile now: (excluding the freezers and cupboards...not much as changed in them)
Call me crazy...go ahead...I get it all the time from R. But when it comes to needing something he is more than happy to use something I got for free and never have to pay full price for. I love me some FREE stuff! Even if I have to "work" for it by using coupons, multiple trips to the store, waiting for sales, etc.

Suave and some of the Garnier
R's stuff and some more Garnier..beside the garnier is Body wash for R
My body wash and dove
Tampons, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, contact solution, some lotion .... the orange boxes are the buddies for K

Pain relief, etc. You can't really tell but there are like 15 boxes/bottles total

double coupons+sale=free suave deodorant!





OMG! that is a lot of diapers. That should get O through the rest of her diaper days or pretty dang close to it!

B1G1F razors ($5 for 2 packs of 20 each)...emptied the packs for easier storage


Pads





My new (empty yet) shelves from Josh..the wood ones. The pet food bags are on the bottom shelf of the white shelves but is not in the pic.

WHEW!

Walgreens tour today went A M A Z I N G!!!


first store:
$3.49 Colgate
2.99 Garnier
30.00 3 packs of size 6 Huggies
_____
36.48
-1.50 huggies coupon
-3.00 huggies coupon
-3.00 huggies coupon
-1.00 garnier coupon
-2.00 Walgreens garnier coupon
-2.50 Walgreens colgate coupon
______
21.99
2.01 tax
_____
23.99 on gift card from mom got $10 RR back

also at store #1
13.00 4 packs of coke
7.99 glade sense and spray
______
20.99
- 4.00 Walgreens glade coupon
- 4.00 MFQ glade coupon
-10.00 huggies RR
______
2.99
1.15 tax
______
4.14 cash got $3 back in RR

Next store
20.00 2 packs diapers
6.00 wipes
2.99 garnier fructis
2.99 Right Guard deodorant
_____
31.98
-1.50 Huggies Q
-1.50 Huggies Q
- .50 Wipes Q
-2.00 Walgreens garnier Q
-1.00 Garnier Q
-3.00 RR from pepsi deal last week
______
22.48
1.80 tax
_____
24.28 OOP got $12 back in RR

Last store
$20.00 diapers
6.00 wipes
2.99 Garnier
2.99 Right Guard
______
31.98
-2.00 Walgreens Garnier Q
-1.00 garnier Q
-1.50 huggies Q
-1.50 huggies Q
- .50 wipes Q
-3.00 RR
______
22.48
1.76 tax
_____
24.24
-1.51 left on gift card
_____
22.73 OOP got back $12 RR

and my brother did this one for me

20.00 2 packs of Huggies
6.00 wipes
_____
26.00
-1.50 huggies Q
-1.50 huggies Q
- .50 huggies Q
_____
22.50
1.43 tax
_____
23.93 OOP
got back $10 RR


75.08 OOP total and came home with $36 in rr. so for $39.08 I got everything pictured below. The second pic is just a side view of the diapers.

WWYD?

with 75 lbs of red potatoes. We will be eating a lot of meals with potatoes in the near future. I foresee many meals centered around potatoes. LOL good thing we love the red ones!

reconnaissance mission

I went on a reconnaissance mission to Walgreens tonight. Had to check stock on the diapers for tommorrow. While I was there I bought the last two pack of Walgreens Brand size 6 diapers for O in the premium type. Can't let them know why I am there ya know. And if I walk out empty handed...well, they have me pegged. LOL crazy? why yes I am according to R. With the end of the preview coming soon I will have to shop like everyone else and I just can't do that so while I still am ahead of the game, I gotta continue. LOL

I am crazy

oh yes I am. My "source" for the awesome Walgreens preview has been informed that she is no longer allowed to do that. So while I look for a new source for the ad previews, I won't be able to figure out my deals so far in advance. This kinda makes me sad...that is why I am crazy. I loved being able to figure out when the best deals were coming so I could get my coupons in order, trade for some if I needed and in general just know that if I could hold off for a week or so I could get whatever free or cheaper at Walgreens. I used to be shop and save money without this preview and I can once again but it will take time to get back into the swing of it. Looks like the week of 3/15 will be my last week of preplanning deals at Walgreens. :(

While I sit here in worry and self pity...

I was sitting here this evening, feeling kind of sorry for myself. Wishing R was working so we had more money, Wishing I was working more so we had more money. Wishing R was working so I could just stay home with the kids, which was how this was supposed to work out, a friend called.

The call made me feel guilty for my pity party. My friend is single, no kids, he recently was laid off, has a mortgage, all the normal bills, plus now as to pay his own medical insurance or go without. He is struggling. We are not. We have a little money left over, I can still get my deals at Walgreens when I want to. I am still able to put a little away each check, I am still able to feed my kids and even though paying our heat bill (thank you LP cost for dropping :) ) just about broke our savings account, we are doing alright. We have food in the cupboards, in the freezer, in the fridge. We have health insurance, we have everything we need, not what we want but what we need. Life is good. Anyway my pity party has ended, I have sent the guests home and I am happy once again and feeling pretty fortunate that even though things are rough (and this sounds terrible I know) there are people out there worse off than we are. It sounds bad to say that but it puts our situation in perspective a little more. I feel better now!

part 2 of a 5 part series

Frugal Living in a rural area HERE

unexpected Walmart run

The kiddos and I loaded up and headed out to my dad's house. When we got there, he was just leaving to run an errand so the kids and I went to the bent and dent and Walmart while we were waiting for him to come back.

At the Bent and Dent we got some juice and oreos. Mostly we went to drop of some bags I have been saving for them. Then at Walmart we wandered a bit. Luckily I had my coupon binder with and they had 8 of the Johnson Buddies soap that K loves so much. I had coupons making them free and giving me 3 cents of overage on each one! Sweet! I got all 8 and made 24 cents on the deal. We also got a bag of cat food with a $3 off coupon making it $1.97 for the bag and we got a new brush for the animals because Sheena decided the last one was a chew toy. The brush was on clearance for $3. We also got a wedding card for the reception R and I are going to next weekend and a birthday card for our nephew. My total before coupons was $17 and I paid $6. Not bad!

K loves the Johnson Buddie Bars soap. It smells like cucumber melon and at 97 cents a bar it is cheap enough but Johnson puts out coupons for Buddies products pretty regularly so we get it free and I get a bunch when I get it so I never actually buy any. It is pretty cool. It has this meshy stuff on it for little hands to keep a grip on it and it lathers up like using a shower poof thing.

3/8 coupon preview

here

Why do I have so many bars of soap?

I would like to try making my own laundry detergent that is why I am stocking up on the bath soap. I found a recipe for it and I am thinking that it might be better for O's sensitive skin than the Purex I currently use. I plan to try a small batch on just her clothing and see if it helps.

walgreens today

We had a couple errands to run. I do what I need to during the first 2 days of a new ad and I spend the rest of the week using Walgreens money to get stuff I don't necessarily need but I can get free after all the RR and coupons are figured out. So that is what I did today.

At one store:

8 Dove bath soap @ 1.69 each= 13.52
1 Vaseline lotion @ 2.84
Minus 8*.70 (Dove bar soap in ad Q)-5.60
used Vaseline lotion Q for -1.25
used $3 RR from Pepsi -3
used $3.50 RR from Colgate -3.50
________
3.01 + .65 tax OOP
got back $12 in RR ($10 buy 8 Dove products get $10 and buy 1 Vaseline product get $2)

Then because it worked so slick I decided to go do it again at another store. But my plan was foiled:

My original plan:
8 Dove bar soap @1.69 13.52
in ad Q -5.60
Vaseline 2.84
Vaseline Q -1.25
$3.50 RR from Colgate -3.50(I had another one that I put away for the huggies deal)
_____
6.01 + tax
get back another $12 in RR

But here is what I had to do:
1 vaseline lotion 2.69 (same thing is cheaper at the 2nd store!)
1 Vaseline Q -1.25
2 pk Walgreens diapers 9.00
used $10 Dove RR -10.00
_____
.44 + tax
got back $2 RR from Vaseline.

So OOP today I spent $4.74 and came home with $4 in RR that I will put toward the Huggies deal and 8 bars of soap, 2 packs of diapers, and 2 bottles of lotion. I only count the RR when I used them rather than when I get them so my first transactions in a new week generally have more OOP than the ending ones. RR is only good for 2 weeks so if I don't have anything to use my RR on I will get diapers or FAR stuff so the money comes back on my gift card. I will be using the RR I collected this week ($3.50/Colgate and 2 $2 from Vaseline and using them toward the Huggies deals next week. I had planned to do the huggies deals 4 times but I have some coupons coming now and I was able to print a few so I might be doing them a few more times. I am not sure yet. It works out to being just slightly higher than the cost of Walgreens brand diapers per pack. I can use the RR to get Diet Coke which is also on sale next week and giving RR so I will probably use all my Huggies RR on Diet coke. I plan on doing the Right guard deodorant RR deal as well so I have plenty to roll my RR to and the following week Walgreens diapers are on sale again but there is really no other RR things I am interested in. I will save my Diet coke RR to use on diapers most likely but if there is another great RR week the last week of March I may hold off using all my RR on diapers and save some for the following week. Decisions, Decisions.

A few days back I said enough is enough and I am going to hold to that. I am going to only get Free or Moneymaker items. Sometimes I think I have a problem. LOL

For some reason

My blog is acting up. It will not show my posts. Hopefully this fixes the issue.

I have to confess....

I cannot always get a deal on everything. Nope just can't happen. I did not get a deal on one thing I bought tonight. Sad huh?

Our order from JCP.com came today. The shower curtain I ordered I thought said fabric with vinyl backing. It was just fabric. I have always just got vinyl shower curtains because I hate the thought of basically having 2 shower curtains, a fabric one and then a vinyl one. Never made sense to me. So I put the new curtain up and the realized the error. I got online and rechecked and sure enough, it is just fabric. CRAP. So I had to go buy a vinyl curtain for a backer. I had to pay full price for something....oh the horror!!! LOL I got one for $3.99, just a cheap clear one. While I was at our local store, I saw they were having additional 40% off clearance clothes. I glanced quickly but I happened to find a small section of clearance swimsuits. K needs a new swimsuit for this year and I was just going to check them out at the thrift store but was thinking that I should just buy her a new one...stuff like used underwear, socks, bras, etc. freak me out but cloth diapers secondhand do not. Wierd huh? anyway they had a Barbie swimsuit marked down to $6.49 and I got an additional 40%. They also had some super cute 2 pieces but R is pretty sure that our 3 year old does not need to be wearing a 2 piece...and it looked like a bikini...not the boyshorts and fuller coverage top type that he would *probably* approve of. So for $3.89 I got K a new swimsuit.

Then I hit up Walgreens again for the diet pepsi and toothpaste deal. My brother is coming with me on Sunday to get the huggies deals so I won't have to travel to as many stores. YAY!

The best deal of the night came from my brother though. He and his GF recently bought a used bed set for dirt cheap and were getting rid of some of the other furniture they had. They had 2 nightstands that were seperate but could be stacked to make a tall shelving unit. He was just going to throw them away so I claimed them. I rearranged the laundry room again and tada! Even more room to stockpile. It is amazing what you can do in a small room to make the space more usuable. Once I get it cleaned up more I will take pics and post.

new and improved

It's getting serious!

My hubby is AWESOME!

So I have been so Jealous over the women who have the nice coupon binders with the baseball card holders as inserts. But I couldn't justify spending that much money. $10 for 40 holders and another $3-4 for just a cheapy zippered binder. So I stuck with my coupon accordion. I mentioned to him how I wanted to do something different with my coupons so they are better organized, etc. Well tonight after he did dishes and I was still clipping away, he went into the laundry room and got down his boxes of OLD baseball cards and took some out of the holders and dug out some empty holders and said...would this do? OMG I am ecstatic right now. I got them all orgainzed and now just need to get a binder. I believe our local dollar store has them, just the plastic ones but that is all I need for now. Hoooray!

Also we used the fuel rewards card today. We ended up paying 33 cents a gallon because gas went up a bit. Still a great deal and I took a pick of the receipt to show you all. I also have a pic of my new imporved coupon organization to show off. It is so nice to know that hubby supports me in this! Because I want to keep his cards safe, some are older than he is, I am going to get a plastic tote he can put them in and keep them in a safer place, which also frees up more room in the laundry room for stockpiling!

Walgreens trip today

Transaction 1
2 dt pepsi
1 newspaper
1 candy bar (because the lady showed them to K and she just had to have one...UGH! I hate that!)

$11.42 saved $2.18 got $3 RR from buying the pepsi products

Transaction 2
1 Colgate maxfresh
$3.47 including tax
used $3 RR from diet pepsi

.47 OOP and got $3.50 RR for buying the toothpaste.

I didn't plan to get the toothpaste because we had a lot but when I found out it was a moneymaker I had to do it. I will use that RR to get another 2 diet pepsis and then I am going to save the $3RR from the pepsi for next weeks deals.

I am continue to refine my deals for next week to get the lowest OOP possible. My current plan is to get up early and head out to all the local Walgreens and get the diaper deal done early in the week. The buzz on this deal is HUGE so I want to be sure I get my deal done before it is unavailable. R was picking on me about it but he is the one who will have to get up with the kids that day because I plan to be at the furthest Walgreens when they open and then work my way home. Hitting 3 or 4 stores total. Crazy right?!?