decluttering project is in full swing this morning

Today is the 2nd day of March and I am already well past where I need to be to reach my goal.  I have accomplished 3 of the things I set out to this morning.  I said last night that I wanted to clean off the computer desk.  I started that yesterday and finished up this morning.  The computer desk becomes a catchall and I HATE that.  I cleaned the high spots in the kitchen.  This is the top of the fridge and the top of the cabinets.  The biggest project of the day was just completed and that one is probably the worst.  Our bathroom is tiny with no storage but outside our bathroom and 3 4 ft deep drawer/shelf things.  They are hard to explain but basically they are built into the wall just outside our bathroom and go 4 feet into the wall.  They have doors on them and we use them for bathroom storage. 

The top drawer is R's in front and storage in back.  We keep heating pads, ace bandages, the hair clippers and stuff that we don't need to access often in the back.  R's deodorant, cologne, prescriptions, etc are in front. 

The middle drawer is mine.  I keep my feminine supplies in back and my deodorant, the kids bath stuff, and an extra shampoo, conditioner and bodywash in front.  We also have a box with things like Q-tips, lotions, etc in there.  That is where the mess is.  That becomes a catchall for bathroom stuff.

The lowest drawer is towels and washclothes. 

Reorganizing and cleaning R's shelf is done about twice a year.  It is too high to just shove stuff in so it tends to not get unorganized.  My shelf needs to be cleaned every couple of months or it gets out of control.  I got rid of a bunch of things from my shelf. 

Next up is the upstairs armoire in K's room. K doesn't have any clothes that need to be hung up currently so we use the armoire to store bedding.  I need to go through the bedding.  That should be a quick project and then hopefully next Monday I can tackle the hallway storage closet upstairs.  My least favorite project. 

The upstairs hallway closet is storage and we have 2 totes of clothes in it as well as some other items.  I know there is not much in the storage closet that can really go because I cleaned it out in the fall and got rid of a lot of stuff.  I just don't like to do it because I have to pull EVERYTHING out.  UGH!

My other big project for Monday is to go through the kids toys.  They have too much and they don't even play with a lot of it.  I have been trying to go through the kids toys every 3-4 months and weeding out things that they no longer play with.  While I do keep some of their better outgrown clothes to garage sale, I do not do that with toys.  They get donated unless it is a big item that I can sell for $10 or more.  I found that selling toys was a waste because the kids tend to find them again before the garage sale and take them out, so I just get rid of them when I weed them out. 

I also hope to paint the hallway on Monday.  We decided on a darker color for the hallway.  We just don't know what color yet.  R is thinking a darker brown but I was thinking of a dark purple.  I think the darker brown would look nice but the color he is thinking of would show more and would match the trim which I do not like while the darker purple would not and I plan to repaint the trim in a light lilac color.  IDK.  We are picking out the paint on Sunday.  We plan on living here for a long time yet so I am not worried about our color choice pleasing a potential buyer, just want it to not show kid coloring and look nice.  


~Jess~

March 1st means....

Spring is getting close and spring cleaning is coming.  I love spring cleaning.  I clean all the time but spring cleaning is a great time for me.  I love to open the windows and spend a whole day ALONE deep cleaning the entire house.  With this in mind my goal for March is to rid of the house of 3 things we don't need/use everyday.  I may not get to 3 things a day BUT there will be days I do more than 3.  Today I got rid of 6 things...4 toy items and 2 of my shirts.  I am going to make a ticker for the side and keep track.  I need to rid of the house of 93 things by 4/1.  Think I can do it.  It seems easy enough and once I get on a roll, there may be more than 93 things to go. 

My rules are:
each item of clothing counts as one piece
markers and other small items like that do not count
each toy counts as one
garbage (as in broken things or just paper items) do not count.
expired food that I throw does not count
food that is donated does count
some things that are already set aside for donation are not counted

sounds good!


~Jess~

garlic knot tutorial

my dough all mixed up and ready to go.  This batch was a bit stickier than normal.  I made a smaller batch so IDK if that is why or what but whatever...It will hopefully still work.

one third of the dough on the cutting board. Note the excess flour.  I worked some flour into the dough to make it less sticky.

My dough cutter and my "rolling pin". 

the dough rolled out and my little helper

the dough cut into strips and ready for the "tying"

cross one side of the dough over the other...like you are tying a knot.

my "knot" then you just kind of squish it all together or tie it in more knots.  Whatever.  Squishing is faster.

2 pans of garlic knots ready to rise... and then bake

raised garlic knots

garlic butter ready to be brushed on

K's favorite part besides eating them

while they are baking (mine take about 10 minutes at 350*), I mix up the topping.  Parmesan, garlic powder and italian seasoning make a great tasty topping.

After they are done baking, dump them in a big bowl.  Pour on the rest of the garlic butter.

shake on your topping

toss them around a bit to cover them

and there you have a yummy garlic knot.  Yeah I know the bottoms of a few got burnt.  We didn't eat them..

I know I didn't post the dough recipe.  That is because it is just not right yet.  They taste good but the dough just is not working out how a want it to.  I am going to keep trying though.  Basically what I have done so far is a bread machine pizza dough recipe and that was very close but not perfect and the other was a basic white bread recipe and that was kinda off but still tasted decent.  I add garlic powder and italian seasoning right in the bread machine pan with the other ingredients, hit the dough setting on my machine and let it do all the mixing work. 

Project day

So the kids asked for pet nets.  You know the mesh like things that go in a corner of a room for holding stuffed animals. Only problem is the white mesh ones are so....well, plain.  I got this bright idea.  I am not very crafty so for now it doesn't look the greatest but I am working on fixing them to make them look better.  O loves hers.  K, not so much.  My mom does sew and has some time off at the end of this week so I am hoping I can show her my idea and see if she can come up with a better way to do it.  If you have any ideas (the simpler the better), let me know.

The fleece on O's is actually a tie blanket K and I made once for her baby dolls.  It doesn't look too bad for a 2 minute project but I am hoping to make it look nicer otherwise I will just scrap the idea, buy the plain ones and dress them up a bit.  As you can see our upstairs is consider a 1/2 story.  The slanted ceilings are easy to paint but not so easy for trying to hang things straight.

edit:  This is what I am trying to achieve

edit 2:  O liked hers so much and she was picking up her room (at least for now...I am not believing it will last but for now great!)  that when she asked for another one, I made a 2nd one just a bit bigger below this one.  The 2nd one looks much better but I don't have any pics because the kids are in bed.

~Jess~

Queen of Walgreens :)

Made a Walgreens run tonight.  R wanted ice cream and I had RR to use. 

I got
bar soap      .79
bar soap      .79
ice cream $3.29
tylenol      $4.99
tylenol      $4.99
in ad Q       -.91 for soap
tylenol Q -$2.00 printed from tylenol.com
tylenol Q -$2.00 same
RRs (3)   -$6.00
                $3.94 total + tax got back $5 RR.

saved $15.91 total


~Jess~

dinner tonight

homemade hot pockets

pizza dough from my bread maker
tomato sauce seasoned with garlic powder and italian seasoning
browned ground beef seasoned with italian seasoning
sliced black olives
sliced mushrooms
diced onion
diced green pepper
shredded italian cheese blend (mozzarella and some other cheeses)

roll out dough, spread a thin layer of sauce, add some seasoning, sprinkle on ground beef, add veggies, add cheese, dab on a bit more sauce.  Fold and bake on cookie sheet at 350* for 15 minutes.  Yum!

~Jess~

not so thrifty Saturday

$42 for an oil change for the jeep (and O got a sucker and stickers because she flirted with the lube tech)
$34 gas for the jeep (and the girls got free cookies for being cute)
$12 beer for R
$5 ice cream cones for me and O (ordered O a junior cone with a 1/2 scoop.  She got a junior cone with 2 scoops for the price of a single junior cone because the older guy working there thought she was just the cutest thing ever)
$29 air filters for the jeep and my car
$13 gas for my car
$2 milk and bread

Thank god next week is a slow grocery week again.  Looking like there is not much we will be needing or wanting so I plan to try out some new recipes and maybe turn some of my frozen strawberries into some homemade jam from the bread machine.  Just need pectin for that :)


~Jess~

hacking a recipe again or still...whatever.

I am still trying to hack the garlic knots recipe from a local restaurant.  I have had some pretty tasty replicas but nothing as close to the orginal as I would like.  Today I tried something new and I think this just might be it.  If it is I will be posting it.  I am making the dough in my bread machine but it is a basic white bread dough.  Probably pretty easily replicated by hand if you are so inclined.  Stay tuned...if it works I will be posting the recipe. 


~Jess~

500th post and homemade butter day

this is my 500th post.  Wow!

The girls and I made homemade butter today.  It was easy but time consuming and I bit pricey for the amount we got but it was a good experience for the kids.  They liked it alot!  some pics of the butter process.  I didn't take any pics while we were mixing it because we used the electric mixer instead of shaking it and I helped the kids hold the mixer.  It is not exactly cost effective because the whipping cream is pretty pricey BUT it was fun and if I can get the cream cheap it will make for some cheap delicious butter.

whipping cream

becomes

butter!

~Jess~

feeling better today

I got quite a bit of sleep yesterday and I feel better today.

R's check was about $50 short from missing hours last week.  Thankfully I put some money away for just this type of situation, however, I am going to try to be super cheap from today until next Friday.  We need milk, heavy cream for a project and maybe some bread but otherwise I don't know that we need anything right now so maybe I can get away really cheap this week on groceries.  I am giving myself $25 for the week.  We'll see how that works out.  If I need to I can dip into the savings for it but hopefully I won't need to.

We also have a project planned for the kids.  We are going to make some homemade butter but it really doesn't need anything special other than heavy cream.  In a couple weeks I want to make some homemade yogurt with the kids.  They love yogurt so this could be fun!


~Jess~

no shopping no trips today

no nothing today...I haven't even gotten out of my pjs.  My last check was direct deposited today and I planned to go get out the cash but I don't want to be that far away from the bathroom.  I feel ill.  K was ill a couple days ago and now I have it.  K loves taking care of mommy though and is insisting that I go back and lay on the couch so I am off.  R will be home in 45 minutes and he is doing dinner tonight because this mom is going to bed.  Good night :)


~Jess~

Happy Birthday to ....

my polar opposite...my brother.  Yes we are completely opposite but we learn from each other and that is how we grow.  He frustrates me to no end sometimes and I just want to smack him upside his head and knock some sense into him but I love him dearly and would protect him as much as I can while kicking his behind all the way to the end of the Earth and back.  Yep..I love my brother and he is 28 today so happy birthday little Bro!  Enjoy your day and just remember you are getting closer and closer to the big 30 ;)


~Jess~

just because I can

I went to Walgreens tonight for another of the Excedrin Menstrual (anyone notice a pattern in how often I am at Walgreens? No wonder they know me by name...which may or may not be a good thing. Makes it harder to get the limited deals sometimes)  I had 2 hunts tomato sauces in mind as a filler but R wanted some cashews, which are on sale this week.  No biggie.  A little more OOP than I like to normally spend but I can deal.

Excedrin $2.50
Cashews$1.99
-$1 excedrin coupon
-$2 RR from elastics
$1.49 and tax OOP got back $2 RR from excedrin. 
Total savings $7.79

I have $6 in RR to roll into next week.  Not sure what the plan is yet for them.  Probably going to sit down tommorrow and figure it out.  They expire on 3/10 so I have a little while to use them.  I don't necessarily have to use them next week.  I want to keep my RR rolling at least until the end of March when, rumor has it, Walgreens will be having a stellar deal on coke products.  I LOVE diet coke..


~Jess~

got the free stuffed chicken today

~Jess~

How to get free excedrin

First, go here.  Then answer the question selecting anything BUT excedrin.  Fill out the form and they will mail you a coupon for a free bottle of excedrin.  It took me less than a week to get the coupon.  If you select excedrin they will only send you a $2 coupon.

NOW how to get paid to "buy" excedrin...  use that coupon at Walgreens by 2/27 on Excedrin Menstrual only and get a $2 RR.  OR if you won't get the coupon in time you can print off the $1 excedrin menstrual coupons following that same link above.  Buy the smaller bottle of excedrin menstrual at Walgreens by 2/27.  It is on sale for $2.50.  You pay $1.50 after coupon and get $2 RR back.  Sweet right?  It is only working for excedrin menstrual as far as I know but if you look at the ingredients they are identical to normal excedrin only with a larger amount of caffeine in them. 



~Jess~

simple and tasty garlic and herb chicken

2 bone in chicken breasts with skin still on them (or more if you have a bigger family...2 of the bigger breasts are great for the 4 of us)
2 tablespoons or so of butter
italian seasoning
garlic powder

stick some of the butter up under the skin of each chicken breast (really not as gross as it sounds). sprinkle italian seasoning and garlic powder on top of chicken.  Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350* for 35-50 minutes flipping chicken over halfway through.  I use a meat thermometer to tell when the chicken is done.  170* is done.  Ours was still partially frozen so it took about 55 minutes.  If it is completely defrosted, it takes about 35 minutes usually.  I start with the bone side down and flip it halfway through so the juices soak into both sides of the chicken.  Covering it while baking is important so the chicken retains the moisture.  Delicious easy chicken that R says is the best chicken ever.  I hate chicken skin so before I eat mine I pull it off but I do cook with it on so it retains the moisture.  The only thing worse to me than chicken skin is dry chicken.  YUCK!


~Jess~

Walgreens and groceries

did a quick run tonight.  First up Walgreens

ponytails $2.99
excedrin menstrual $2.50
peeps (filler) 79 cents
-$2.50 free excedrin coupon (got this in the mail for taking a short survey.  yeah I know I said I was gonna get the huge bottle but I decided that getting paid to get excedrin was a better deal)
-$1 RR from folgers
-$1 RR from 3 musketeers
$2.12 oop and got back $2 RR from ponytails and $2 RR from excedrin

grocery store
got 2 liter of cherry 7 up...we have a couple upset tummies in the house and they haven't kept down water or pedialyte but are keeping down 7 up.  IDK why but whatever works.
3 sirloin steaks that are big enough for R and I to share 1
1 sirloin roast that will make 3 meals
bag of popcorn for the air popper 50 cents...reduced because the bag was torn
2 betty crocker brownie mixes 50 cents each...reduced because they expire at the end of the month...they will get used up before then though.

total I spent tonight was $22 and I have enough meat for 6 meals and other stuff.  Hooray for frugal shopping and coupons!

~Jess~

What I do now that I stay home with the kids

A friend last night asked me what I do all day now that I stay home with the kids.  Everything, I do everything.  He called me a slacker...obviously he does not have children...or a wife.  LOL Stay at home moms, or any mom for that matter, are not slackers.  Far from it.  My day doesn't start when I punch a time clock and my day does not end at 5 pm.  My day starts about 7 and ends about 10 pm.  I do not get a lunch break or breaks throughout the day.  I constantly work.  A look into my day, yesterday.

7 am get up, let dog out, get kids up and make breakfast, change diaper, kids eat breakfast, quick breakfast, for me while I check email, start laundry, do dishes, finish up batch of homemade laundry detergent I started yesterday, help kids clean their rooms, answer phone, scrub bathroom, Switch laundry and start new load, pick up living room, make lunch, change diaper, kids nap time, make brownies, shovel sidewalk while brownies bake, bring up garbage cans and recycling bin, get mail, pay bills, check grocery ads and compare coupons to ad, switch laundry again, get kids up from nap, change diaper, figure out what to make for dinner, fold and put away laundry, start dinner, eat dinner, do dishes, kids' baths, change diaper, play with kids, change diaper, put kids to bed, take a couple hours after kid's bedtime to finish up odds and end housework, search for R's missing razor, find missing razor in fridge (don't you keep razor's in the fridge?!?!  Apparently we do now.  No clue how it got there but I am guessing one of the kids), check on kids, start to head to bed and realize I forgot to do this, that and the other, do that stuff, head to bed, realize that I never even left the house today except to shovel and get mail.  Not to mention that I also break up 1000 little fights, give hugs and kisses, play with the kids, dance crazy in the living room, and just enjoy my life a whole lot more.

Today is shaping up to be the same way except for a sick kid.  K is complaining of a stomach ache...


~Jess~

pretty awesome Walgreens trip

It didn't go according to my plan in the previous posts, because the price at my store was slightly higher than what was listed online for a price.

$3.39 deodorant
$0.00 deodorant
$2.50 excedrin
$2.50 excedrin
$2.99 elastics
$1.59 lighter
$1.41 lighter
$0.69 candy bar
$0.69 candy bar
$0.62 candy bar
______
$16.38
-$2.00 deodorant coupon
-$2.00 excedrin coupon
-$2.00 excedrin coupon
-$3.00 register reward
-$3.00 register reward
______
$4.38 + tax got back $2 for elastics and $1 for the candy bars.  I saved $22.76.  The cashier talked me into the candy bars because they were giving a register reward and we needed the lighters for the grill because the switch burnt out on it.  So still not a bad deal and I am already done with Walgreens for the week :)



~Jess~

slow grocery week next week for me

I have nothing that I need besides milk and bread.  The sale ads are lackluster at best.  I do have a Walgreens run to do and here is that list

Right Guard deodorant $2.99 BOGO sale
Excedrin $2.50 sale

I have 2 $2 off any excedrin product coupons and 2 $2 off 2 right guard deodorant coupons.  So the excedrin will be 50 cents each and the deodorant will be 99 cents for 2.  I also have $7 in RR to use.  I will need a filler item to be able to use them and I like to try and "roll" them so my target for filler items will be Goody Ouchless elastics.  They are on sale for $2.99 and you get a $2RR.  We can never have enough ponytail holders in this house so I will use them as my filler item.  My transactions will look like this.

transaction #1
Right guard $2.99
Right guard $0.00
Excedrin     $2.50
Excedrin     $2.50
elastics       $2.99
subtotal     $10.98
coupon     -$2.00 for right guard
coupon     -$2.00 excedrin
coupon     -$2.00 excedrin
new total    $4.98
RR           -$3.00 from huggies deal a couple weeks ago
total I pay  $1.98 + tax and get $2 RR for buying elastics

transaction #2
Right guard $2.99
Right guard $0.00
elastics       $2.99
subtotal      $5.98
coupon     -$2.00 (right guard)
new total    $3.98
RR           -$3.00 from huggies
total I pay  $0.98 + tax and get $2RR for buying elastics

Transaction #3
elastics      $2.99
subtotal     $2.99
RR          -$1.00 (from folgers coffee this week)
total I pay $1.99+ tax and get $2RR for elastics. 

I don't know yet if I will do the 3rd transaction.  It is a bit more than I normally like to pay out of my pocket BUT I do need to use up the $1 RR before it expires.  If I do this I will wait until the end of next week so I can see a preview ad for the following weeks to figure out if I should just save it and try to roll it or use it up.  We can never have enough pony tail holders in this house so I just might use it.

~Jess~

contacting companies...replies so far

email from heinz, del monte and hunts.  All promising coupons
snail mail from Henkel (makers of right guard and dial products) with $2 worth of coupons
snail mail from heinz $5 worth of coupons

not too shabby so far for 5 minutes worth of "work"

The original post is here
~Jess~

$3.18

K  has been opening her window and throwing random toys and other stuff out. Not a huge deal but I do not want her to fall out and the screens are easily lifted and have actually fallen out once when the cats were sitting in the windows. Not safe at all. So I went to the hardware store and the guy that was "helping" me said they don't make a window lock like I was talking about. So I thanked him for his help but kept looking anyway. I KNOW they did because I looked up online before I went there. So yeah. He walked away and I kept looking and I found them. $1.49 for a set of 2. I got 4 locks total and they are TIGHT. I don't think she will be able to get them undone or knock them off the window. It is pretty tough. I couldn't move it, even trying my hardest to shove the window up. HA! Now wanna take bets on how long until she outsmarts these locks?  I plan to buy 4 more and put them on the other side of the windows so they are doubly locked.  I am hoping to maybe find a more permanent, but less expensive solution.  So far so good though.  She tried her hardest, with me watching, to get that lock of the window and it wouldn't budge.

This is what they look like installed.  Nevermind the dirty window...spring window cleaning is right around the corner :)

~Jess~

my first day as a SAHM...yep I quit work

I decided to take some money from my paycheck and get a few things on sale. I have one more check next week and plan to put that all to savings, if I can, after I pay the sitter but I wanted to get a few things this week and I put $20 away for later.


Anyway so here is what I got
5 NY strip steaks
1 ribeye steak (the ribeyes looked really fatty so I picked through and found one that wasn't covered in fat. IK the fat is supposed to be there but YUCK!)
2 donuts for the kids (snack for while we were at the laundromat washing my huge blankets that won't fit in my washer at home)
bottle of OJ
2 bottles of juice to go with the kids donuts
1 2 lb box of thick slice hormel bacon
1 loaf of bread
Total $21 and change

After my blankets were done we went to the grocery store on the other side of town and got Angel soft TP on sale and had a $1 off coupon. Also got chicken breasts on sale and had $1 off coupon. Total was $9.

Then after R got home I showed him the bacon and he said how much was it. I told him $2.99 for the box. He told me to go get a couple more so I went back and got 2 more boxes..so $6 for 4 more lbs of bacon. Then I went to Walgreens tonight and spent $1.34 on 2 containers of coffee, a cadbury creme egg, gum for him, and 2 cups. I had a RR to use up and he had enough coffee stockpiled but might as well roll the RR into something useful. LOL.

so for $38 today I got
6 steaks
1 pack of 7 chicken breasts
6 lbs of bacon
1 big pack of TP
2 containers of coffee
2 cups
1 pack of gum
1 treat for me
OJ
bread
2 juices for the kids
2 donuts for the kids

not too bad. I was pretty happy. I had $70 I could spend. I saved $20 and used the last $12 from the $50 I planned on spending to put gas in my car. I am now set. The gas in my car should last 2-3 weeks since I am full now and don't drive a whole lot. We have plenty of chicken and bacon and are pretty good on steaks (we cook on the grill 4-5 nights a week in the summer so we eat a lot of chicken, steaks, bratwurst, burgers, shishkabobs, etc). I would like to get a few more steaks because when we make shishkabobs one steak is enough for all of us because I use a lot of veggies on them. mmmm I am hungry for them NOW!

I spent most of my first day home running errands, cleaning and worrying about DH.  He is sick.  I made him go to the doctor tonight and he found out he has a nasty sinus infection, which I diagnosed him as having on Monday when he came home early from work and told him to go to the doctor but NOOOOOO can't do that.  So yesterday he calls me and says he is really sick.  I told him to go to the doctor for the 50th time since Monday and he said...will you make me an appointment.  Fine, Whatever.  So I made the appointment and he went and the doctor asked why he didn't come in sooner since he has had a headache since Saturday that not even my migraine prescription, imitrex pills, would kill.  Should listen to the wife more, LOL, but he now has a couple prescriptions and will hopefully be on the mend soon!  Next week his paycheck will be a bit short because he missed 4 1/2 hours this week but I will get my last check so if we need it I can use that to make up the difference, even though I prefer to save it. 

~Jess~

Want a "free" stuffed chicken?

You can get the smaller chicken free for just 2 UPC codes and a receipt showing your purchase of gold'n plump chicken.  You can print off the form from their site, goldnplump.com. They also have $1 off coupons for the purchase of their chicken.  It is on sale this week at my local store so for $7.98, I got 14 chicken breasts and will recieve this stuffed chicken.  I normally do not send away for offers like this but K saw the chicken and wanted it so I am sending away for it.  It will take 6-8 weeks so by the time we get it K will have forgotten about it and it just might end up in an Easter Basket if it gets here in time :)

~Jess~

Contacting companies

I know have talked about this before but contacting a company regarding their product can reward you with some pretty good coupons by mail or via their website.  I visited goldnplump.com tonight to see if they had any coupons on chicken that will be on sale next week.  They had $1 off coupons on their site that were printable.  Good Deal!  I printed a couple and now have 4 coupons for chicken.  In doing that I remembered that we are low on ketchup and we are not really brand loyal to ketchup but if I can get heinz cheap I buy that.  I emailed Del Monte, Hunts and Heinz.  Hopefully at least one of those companies sends me some ketchup coupons.  There haven't been any ketchup coupons out lately that I have seen and I know it will be on sale come Memorial Day so I hope to get some good coupons to match with a sale so I can get some free or very cheap ketchup.  Contacting companies with a complaint or compliment can be rewarding.  It takes about 5 minutes out of my day to just shoot a quick email regarding a product that we liked or didn't like and it usually pays off in at least a couple dollars in savings from each company on stuff we actually use.  The coupons are usually higher value than what I can clip from the newspaper and they have longer expiration dates generally.



~Jess~

week of 2/14 for my grocery deals

Pamida has diet coke 2 liters Monday only for 99 cents each

Our local IGA has rib eyes for $3.99/lb

Our other local store has
Angel soft 12 double rolls of TP for $5.99.  There are printable coupons out for $1 off.  Making it $4.99 per pack. Not a bad deal at all.

Lasagna noodles $1.50 per box

Family packs of Chicken Breasts for $4.99.  There is a printable coupon for 75 cents off a pack.  Making this a pretty decent deal for chicken

Hamburger helper 10/$10..we don't eat much hamburger helper but I have a 75 cents off when you buy 3 coupon.  I am picking up 3 boxes for quick meals


I also printed some coupons for $2 off when you buy 2 right guard deodorants.  They will be buy one get one free in a couple weeks at Walgreens.  My guess is it will be about $2 for 2 deodorants after coupon.  R is brand loyal to this so I stock up when I can and $1 each is not a bad price.  Free is better but oh well.

So that's my grocery week.  Nothing to exciting.  R is pretty happy about the chicken.  He is craving some BBQ chicken breasts on the grill YUM!



~Jess~

grocery day!

Our grocery budget refreshes on Friday so we went grocery shopping today.  I left with $57 ($7 of which was actually not grocery money...just spending money) and came home with $17 and a couple dollars in change.  The change goes in a jar so I don't even bother to count it.  I never pay with change so IDK how much there was..probably a couple dollars worth.

Anyway we went to Aldis, a local store, Dollar Tree and Walgreens.

Aldis
fruit punch concentrate 82 cents
baking soda 49 cents
2 tubes of biscuits 38 cents each
1 box of 12 packs of Ramen noodles $1.79
2 packs of 4 pears in each pack 49 cents each pack
pancake mix $1.49
2 bags Chocolate Chips $1.69
4 lbs of onions 99 cents

Local store
2 1/2 lbs of sirloin steak (on sale for $2.78/lb) $6.92
2 roma tomatoes $1.15 (OUCH!  R asked for tacos for dinner so I had to get tomatoes and lettuce..neither of which is on sale but I will make BLTs for dinner one night as well so it is not a waste)
1 bag of shredded lettuce $1.79  (the heads of lettuce were just a few cents cheaper and I like the shredded better so I spent the extra $ even though it is less lettuce)
green grapes  on sale for $1.48/lb  $2.55
10 lbs of potatoes $1.98

Dollar tree=everything $1.  We went here for new nightlights and a couple other things.  We decided to get my single friend a chocolate rose and a helium balloon to deliver to her work today for Valentines' day.

Chocolate rose
helium ballon
stickers for K
small balloon for O
chewy for the dog
peeps
diet coke for me
6 pack of juice boxes for the kids
jug of sunny D
2 night lights
1 jar candle

Walgreens....best deals of the day!
free 8x10 collage photo
huggies diapers $7.64
peeps 42 cents
2 russell stover hearts $1
I used a Walgreens friends and family coupon for 15% off most items and 20% of Walgreens brand items (good today only...get one from their website!)
I used a $2 coupon from Huggies on the diapers
and used a $6 RR from the Bodywash deal.

I paid $1.40 and got back a $3 RR for buying huggies.    I saved $15.52 at Walgreens.


~Jess~

snowstorm Walgreens trip and some thoughts

I needed to leave the house for bread tonight and I got some huggies coupons in the mail today.  I went to Walgreens to do that deal and use up the last bodywash coupon.  I know I said I might not use it but since I could use the RR from the bodywash on the diaper and use the diaper one on another bodywash I thought What the heck...might as well.  It is snowing out but I took the Jeep...smooth sailing in that thing.  I love driving that in the winter.  You would think in town the roads wouldn't be so bad but evidently they stopped the plows.  Main street wasn't bad but our street was horrible.  We are not leaving here tommorrow until after a plow comes through if we leave at all.  I think my car would probably get stuck on our street.  That is just how addicted dedicated I am to my Walgreens deals.  So here is what my transactions looked like:

#1
huggies $8.99
peeps      .50  used as a filler so I could use a RR and a huggies coupon
coupon  -1.00
RR        -6.00 (from bodywash the other day)
Total     $3.01 including tax and got back a $3 RR

#2
$5.99 Bodywash
    .69 candy bar (filler again)
-1.00 body wash coupon
-  .20 walgreens coupon for candy bar (store coupons do not require a filler)
-3.00 RR from Huggies
$2.84 total including tax and got back a $6 RR for the body wash

Total Savings tonight was $14.69
Total spent $5.85 and came out the same on my RR.  I went in with 3 and came out with 3.  I have $18 of Walgreens "money" now to spend on whatever.

**Some thoughts**
It has been thought of for quite awhile in this house that once my car was paid off I would stay home with the kids again.  The little bit of extra money I make after the additional taxes we pay on my income and after paying the sitter is really not worth the hassles involved.  After my car was paid off, it was oh lets wait until we have some money saved.  Then it became we are this close, let's wait to see what the bonus is.  Well the bonus announcement comes a week from tommorrow.  Many people that I work with are very pessimistic about us even getting one so R and I have discussed it and here is the results.

Should we not be getting a bonus, I will give my notice that day.  I am giving two weeks because I would like to return to this employer at some point. I do like my job there and it is a good fit for me so I would in the future like to have this place as an option.

Should my bonus be under 2% I will still give my notice that day.  My bonus of under 2% is NOT worth the hassles...After taxes it would be less than $100 and not worth sticking it out until the end of April for.

If my bonus is 2-3%, R and I will do some figuring that night and decide what should happen.

If my bonus is 4-5%, I am staying until it is paid out.  For 2008, we got a 4% bonus.  It was nice!  I made about 1/2 as much that year as I did in 2009 so it could be a nice bonus if we get 4% again and would be well worth holding out for.


******* edit*******
So I talked to a work friend tonight and I am completely wrong on the bonus program.  It is based on hours worked and not pay and it is also based on your reviews.  If my memory serves me right, my last review from my old department (which actually happened AFTER I quit that department completely) was ok but I had one low mark which brought my total rating down to one step lower than required to get the bonus.  So I probably wouldn't get one anyway.  I am waiting until the meeting to make my final decision though...I want to know FOR SURE that I am not leaving a nice chunk of money behind when I quit.




~Jess~

and I know more about the register rewards program than the people at Walgreens

Pretty silly, considering it is THEIR program but at least I know what I am doing.  LOL.  Granted not ALL Walgreens employees do not understand the system as I have meet some that do understand it but the ladies today (one of which is some sort of manager) did not understand it.

I went in to use my $3RR from huggies, and another MFQ for the dove mens body wash.  I threw in a 50 cent filler item so I could use both the RR and the MFQ.  I knew it would work just fine.  The cashier told me it wouldn't work, that I couldn't use all the stuff.  The register wouldn't take it.  I asked her to try and it took.  Then she told me that it wouldn't print my $6 RR for buying the bodywash.  I said I am willing to bet it does because I have done this same deal already once this week.  She said it won't.  I said well if it doesn't then it is my loss so let's just finish this up.  Ok then.  And I paid and Voila the $6 RR printed. She said "how did you make it do that?" WHAT?!?!  Then she says "it isn't supposed to work like that.  They (I assume management) told us it wouldn't work.  How did you do that?  So she calls over a manager and starts telling her about it while I grabbed up my bag and got the heck out of there.  I am not doing anything wrong.  It is their system and by all accounts works at every store like that so IDK...I think Walgreens needs to train some of their staff better.  This lady missed out on a sale before mine by telling an older gentleman that if he used his MFQ on a razor it wouldn't print his register reward when in fact it would have.  I didn't want to speak up and butt in because A.  I didn't know if he had another RR to use and it would not have printed and I didn't really have the time to explain it to someone.  If I had the time at that particular moment I would have. 

$5.99 body wash
    .50 peeps
-1.25 MFQ for bodywash
-3.00 RR from huggies
$2.60 including tax and I got back a $6 RR

and they said I couldn't do it....HA!

on another note, I went to the grocery store real quick to get some lasagna noodles and cottage cheese.  Rodney wanted some lasagna roll ups he saw in a magazine so I made them for dinner but needed the noodles and cheese for them.  I had $5 left in the grocery budget for the week (which is fine because there was nothing else to get this week).  I was shocked at how expensive cottage cheese is. I NEVER NEVER buy it except for lasagna and I never buy it unless it is on sale.  I plan lasagna for dinner around a sale on cottage cheese.  Wierd, I know but it works for us.  Well they had 6 containers of cottage cheese, the big containers, marked down to 49 cents each.  They expire tommorrow but because we never use it except for in lasagna, I bought all 6 to freeze the extra.  I won't have to just make lasagna when cottage cheese is on sale now.  The texture will be different but since it gets baked anyway it won't matter.

~Jess~

I am MAGIC

Just ask the cashier at Walgreens on my afternoon trip :)
3 packages of Aluminum foil (59 cents each with instore coupons)
4 various spices (50 cents each with instore coupon)
Mens body wash
3 candy bars (49 cents for 1 and 60 cents each for the other two)
used the instore coupons and a $1.50 off coupon for the mens body wash
used a $10 reward
total was 59 cents...53 cents of which was tax.
and got back a $6 reward......YES!  I saved $16.19.

When she saw my total she said "wow you are magic!  Check that out!"  LOL.  LOVE when that happens.  I did not need the spices or the aluminum foil right now (or the candy really) but I need to spend $10 to use the reward so we got those things because aside from the candy we can always use aluminum foil and pepper, cinnamon and onion powder.

I have two more body wash coupons to use and 1 $3 reward from the huggies this morning so I plan to get the body wash one more time.  I probably won't use the last coupon because I do not want to pay a lot out of pocket for bodywash even though it is free after the rewards.  I am not saying that I won't use it though because if there is a decent sale in the next two weeks on something we need, I might just do the deal again because it is a money making deal.  I love getting "paid" to shop.  Once I SAH again, I can work on these low out of pocket deals and maximize the savings.  As of right now I make more "money" when I shop, than I do actually working.  wow...just wow.

~Jess~

So Smooth

Walgreens this morning was SMOOOTH. 
$5.99 body wash
$8.99 diapers
-$1.50 coupon for bodywash
-$10 reward from the Walgreens pepsi deal
Total with tax was $4.30 I got $9 back in rewards and saved $14.50. 

I was in and out in under 2 minutes and the transaction went so smooth.  I plan to go back after shift change and do the same deal again with the other $10 reward.  I will use the $3 rewards from huggies and the rest of my coupons for the bodywash to stock R up on mens body wash.  I will use the $6 RR sometime in the next two weeks, possible on some razors but IDK yet.

~Jess~

did a few deals last night

I did the Garnier deal I blogged about earlier last night.  I used the $10 from that to buy more pepsi and will use the $10 from pepsi on my Garnier tommorrow.  That is rolling in a nutshell. 

All together between Walgreens, Walmart and our local grocery store I spent $27 and got
3 12 packs mountain dew (retail is about $12)
10 2 liters of diet pepsi (retail is about $15)
6 bottles of Garnier Conditioners (retail at Walgreens is $21)
2 cans of spaghetti sauce (retail is $1 each..had store coupons making them 59 cents each)
2 frozen pizzas (retail is $2.25 each..Had coupon making them $1.49 each)
8 razors (retails for 97 cents each 2 pack..I had buy one pack get one free coupons.  I got 4 packs for $1.98)
3 deodorants (retail for 97 cents each. I had  2 50 and 1 75 cents off coupons)
1 small bag of Valentine chocolates $1

Not bad for $27.  Normal retail is just over $62. 

I will get 6 more Garnier products on Sunday.  We should have enough to last quite a while after that.  We got through about 1 1/2 bottles a month between K, O and I. 

I have more thoughts in my head to blog about but the kids are stir crazy this morning and I can't think :)





~Jess~

Free Food!

Not a deal for everyone but it is a deal for us.  I got the hook up. LOL.  A relative of my FIL (I am sure we are related but IDK how so he is essentially my FIL's relative...got that? lol) works for a local canning factory.  They had an issue with the label maker and 100 cases (yes CASES!!) of whole kernel corn were not able to be sold (they are not damaged but the labels wouldn't go on them and they can't run them back through or something IDK for sure).  The company tried to donate them to the food pantry but they will not take food without a label.  FIL's relative and some other employees were told to take as much as they wanted and get rid of it...no sense in it going to waste.  This relative ended up with 20 + cases of corn.  He have a bunch to my FIL who in turn gave 3 cases to R and I.  I have to go pick them up.  I am pretty excited.  The kids love corn and I won't have to buy any for awhile.  I had to figure out where to put them in the pantry but I got that figured out today and we are set.  Bring on the free corn!

~Jess~

picked an EXCELLENT time to hop back into Walgreens

I have been on quite the couponing break, however with my upcoming changes I felt it necessary to hop back into the "drugstore diva game".  I picked a fantastic time...without even knowing it!
My plans for the next couple of weeks are pretty good.
This week ending 2/6 I need to purchase more soda which is on sale for $3 a 12 pack, $1.25 a 2 liter.  If you spend $20 in a single transaction on Pepsi products you recieve a $10 register reward (RR).  Since we buy soda anyway and this is a good sale price, I will do that deal once more this week...THEN..
2/7 to 2/13
Ritz Crackers (the single sleeve small boxes) are on sale for 99 cents I have 2 $1 off coupons...making them FREE.
Dove's mens body wash is free after RR ($5.99 shelf price)
and Garnier Fructis (which I mentioned in a previous post) is on sale 3 for $10.

Huggies diapers are also on sale for $8.99 and you get a $3 RR when you buy 1 so $5.99 a pack ( I think it is the week of the 7th anyway)..We don't need any yet (and potty train "boot camp" starts tommorrow for O so hopefully I can skip this deal.  It is really not as mean as it sounds :)   ).

I will do 2 transactions that week..
Transaction #1
1.98 2 ritz
5.99 dove mens body wash
20.00 6 garnier items
-$2 (2 nabisco coupons)
-$6 (6 garnier coupons)
-10 RR from pepsi deal this week
= $9.97 + tax OOP and get back $6 for the body wash and $10 for the garnier.

Transaction #2
$20.00 6 garnier items (probably conditioner mostly since we go through a lot more of that than shampoo)
$ 5.99 mens body wash
-$6 garnier coupons
-10 RR from pepsi deal this week
= $9.99 + tax OOP  and get back $6 for body wash and $10 for garnier


I can *hopefully* save another $2.50 on this by getting the coupons from my FIL for the bodywash, IF he still has them.  I HOPE he saved them for me!  I am going to call tommorrow and check.  He had been saving them but when I backed off the coupons, he stopped saving them.  I hope he starts again!

Since I cannot use the RR from the garnier to get more garnier or the body wash to get more bodywash (it won't print another one)  I could lower my OOP by doing more transactions (like using the body wasy RR on the garnier and using the garnier RR and a "filler" to get the body wash free, and so on)  BUT because I only have one store in town and the manager doesn't like coupons.  I will pay a bit more OOP, stay in her good graces and "roll" this $32 into stuff in the coming weeks.  That is basically what the drugstore diva game is.  Starting out with your money, getting back their rewards and using their rewards to get more product.  Some people are very very good at it, using only money making deals to build up their RR and using that to get more products that are free after RR, continously only paying tax (or even making money on the deals).  I do that with some stuff. However a deal is not a deal to me unless someone can use it.  There are some things that are free after RR that I won't do the deal for (like joint juice this week) so I pass and will "spend" my RR on diapers or soda or stuff that we need.  Then I will start the game all over again.  It is fun to me.  I enjoy it and am really glad I picked a good week to jump back in!

I have not dug into the deals on the week of the 14th much yet.  Once I see an ad preview I will.  Hope it is a good one as well.

~Jess~


edit: dove's website has a $1.50 printable coupon on their site..making this a definite moneymaking deal.  WOOO.  After looking over the coupons I printed, those that came in the mail today, and the 2 FIL has for me, I could get 6 of these and have R stocked up for the next year AND make $7.50 (excluding tax).  Sweet deal!

added a couple more things to the gift pile

Walmart has marked down toys further and I made a few decent additions today.  Check them out here.  I listed them at the bottom under today's date.  The kids will have a super fantastic Christmas this year. 

We got a few hand me downs from a friend at work.  Kait is really happy about them.  I even got a couple things from the woman.  WOOOO.  Almost makes me sad to leave there. 

Again today I went to work only to be sent home.  I am getting slightly annoyed.  I don't mind but I hate getting the kids up in the morning and dropping them off at the sitter's only to get to work and go right back to get them.  It bothers me sometimes.  Depending on how the company meeting goes on the 17th.  I may or may not be giving notice that day.  If we are not getting our bonus, they I will be leaving sooner rather than later.  I am not even going to try and think about it now because I have no idea what will happen until that meeting.  The original plan was to get our savings built up and then for me to quit but it is really hard to build the savings up when I am not working any hours and my whole check goes to the sitter.  Better off stayng home and working on my frugality, than to pay the sitter when I am not even working.  It is a mess right now and I am very annoyed because of it.

~Jess~

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.