Save Your Money

That is my advice for new parents.

I'm serious.  There is no need to buy toys for your child. 

Elliott and Harper's current favorite toys:

-all cooking utencils (Ellie)

-mail (Harper)

-car keys (both)

-boxes (both)

-cell phones (both)

-pens (Ellie)

-our vehicles (Ellie)

-rocks (Ellie)

  



snapshot

This past week went too fast.  And I didn't get to write as much as I would have liked (or at all, really).  And then when I sat down to finally write, too many things were swirling in my head to concentrate on just one thing.  So here is all of it.  I'm embracing randomness today. 

Fall!  I can't wait for fall.  October is my favorite month of the year and it's only partly because it's my birthday month.  Harper will be a skunk, just like Ellie was on her first Halloween.  And we picked up Elliott's costume this weekend and I'm excited to see her strut around the neighborhood as a kitty.  She loves all things cats right now so it's the perfect choice--and she picked it out all by herself.  Meow.

A break from coupons.  I'm glad it was a holiday weekend (thanks, Labor Day!) so I could get caught up on cutting coupons.  I've been getting a little behind on the coupons-and-grocery-shopping thing lately and this weekend meant no new coupons.  Whew.  

Gunastics! 

Or, gymnastics, if you don't speak Elliott Quinn.  We picked up Ellie's ruffly leotard (who else thinks that a funny word?) this week in preparation for her first gymnastics class today.  I'm completely bummed that I'll be at school when she goes.  But I've got her outfit laid out for her and her little bag all packed.  It's going to be super-cute.  And Chris better take four million pictures and send me text updates.  I will be on edge from 10:30 to 11:30 just thinking about her adorable little self running and hopping around the gym.  Yeaaa.

Chris Graham turned the big 2-8 this weekend.  I was doing a little reminiscing about when I met that guy and how much he's changed and grown.  And what an absolute turd he was at twenty one.  What was I thinking?!  Geez. 

Thirty-One.  Well, this little adventure is going well.  And it's fun.  And I got a free bag in the mail last week for being awesome. 

Bags make me happy. Sigh.

Dragons.  Ellie has a book entitled Milk and Cookies.  There is a dragon in it and now she spends her days hunting dragons in our house.  She has a pink sunglasses that she has to wear when hunting dragons and must use Chris' giant, heavy mag light.  This is a recipe for disaster, but half the time, I'm at work when this goes on and have no say in it.  On a positive note, our house is dragon free finally.  Relief.

We need food.  Here is what my refrigerator looks like right now.

Chris informed me that he's running out of options for Elliott's lunches.  I see spinach, Jell-O, cheese, apple cider, and coffee.  I can come up with at least seven nutritious meals with those ingredients.  Suck it up, mister.  Lazy.

Bunk beds.  Fall break will be "big kid bed" time in the Graham household.  I'm already anxious to get bunk beds.  Those are going to be fun.  And now Chris will have a place to sleep the next time he complains I was sleeping in the middle of the bed.  ha.ha.ha.

cut it out

Heading back to school has cut down on my couponing-time immensely.  Tear.

And recently, I'd gotten behind in cutting out coupons so I enlisted the help of one Chris Graham to aid in my catching up.  He was more than thrilled to be asked.

And for documentation purposes, I felt the need to take pictures of him in action.  Because I've been couponing for almost a year now and this is a first for him.  He eats the food, why shouldn't he help?

Although, I do have to note, he didn't complain once while he was cutting out coupons.  Even after I repeatedly told him he was doing it wrong and hurting more than helping.  I might have been acting a little dramatic, but I take my coupons very serious.  And he was goofing off.  And making me listen to horrible music that makes me want to slit my wrists (sorry if you're a Violet Burning fan; I am not.  But don't tell Chris, because I think he would be devastated.).

Hold up. 

As I'm looking for a picture to post of Chris cutting my beloved coupons sans complaining, I notice the first picture I took, and I'm pretty sure he's flipping me off.  So whatever saint I made him look like in the previous paragraph I will now be taking back.

Idiot.

I think this means he will be helping me again.  Like every week.  Take that middle finger.



$5.32

All of that for $5.32.

Super-excited.  And most of it came from coupons I got in the mail this week for free items.  It wasn't too much sale-to-coupon matching. It was just free.

The only things I actually paid for were the Playtex boxes.  And those were $2.56 each after coupons.  

Awesome shopping trip. 

And what made it better was that it was just Ellie and me.  A little mommy-and-me date.  And she was silly and funny and behaved and entertaining.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect shopping companion. 

taking out the garbage

Have I mentioned that I love a coupon?  Well, I do.

And while I often have coupons for trash bags, I never find a good deal or feel like I'm almost-stealing them (which I sometimes do with other stuff).  So when I was invited to try a new trash bag AND receive some coupons, I was all over it.

Really, I don't have too many requirements for a trash bag.  Just hold my trash, please.  And try not to be too stinky about it.

When I opened the package to try this trash bag, I immediately got the Febreze fresh smell (that I might be very familiar with due to our dog), but it wasn't overpowering or annoying.  Because if it's too strong, I get a headache and this didn't come close to that nonsense.


And it held a lot of trash.  I was monitoring (because I take a free sample very seriously) and it stretched to hold everything I shoved in there--way past the time I should have take it out.  Because who really likes to take the garbage out?  Not I, said the fly.

I would definitely buy these the next time I need garbage bags.  Especially since I got that coupon.  Score.

everybody loves a sell.

Did you catch that?  Yeah, I said "sell."  I'm officially back to school and encountering all kinds of grammar mistakes that make me beat my head against a wall. 

So really, I went to Meijer for the 10 for the price of 11 sale, but "sell" just needed to come out.  Relief.

Here's all the loot:

-6 cans of Dole fruit

-3 bags of Bugles (which I haven't had since I was ten years old at my grandma's house)

-3 bags of Chex Mix

-4 frozen juices

-4 (4 pks.) of toilet paper

-2 bags of romaine

With sales and coupons, I spend $8.10. 

And that is why I love Meijer...and coupons. 

a good mail day

Being a part of this organization gets me free stuff all the time.

When I got home the other day, this is the good stuff I had waiting in my mailbox.

 Free samples and coupons?  It's the little things, people.

And this was delivered, also.

My Thirty-One Gifts consultant starter kit.  I'm more than pumped to get started on this little adventure.  Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be selling something, but I just {love} this stuff and want other people to see how awesome it is.  My first party is August 20th-I'll let you know how it goes!

money.money.money.

This is a constant struggle in our house.  Need versus want.  And being content with living with less.

Sometimes this goes very well.  We've on track to be debt-free (except our mortgage and student loans) by next summer.  No car payments.  No credit cards.  No hospital bills for cute babies.  We just paid cash for the super-cool minivan and paid off the Mazda thirteen months early. 

We've gotten rid of cable, lowered our grocery bill, and stopped eating out as much.  I've tried to stop shopping, but that's painful (although cash only seems to be doing the trick). 

I can say, with God's help, that we've been tithing religiously (can you use that word to describe tithing??) since we've been married (five years in October!!).  And support some missionaries whom we love dearly in New Orleans.  We donate often to charities and are getting pretty good at knowing what's important and what's not. 

But sometimes we get off track.  Like when we went to IKEA recently.  I'm glad it's a two-hour trip.  That's a safe distance for my wallet.  Any closer and I'd go more often and that, that could be dangerous.  I got a lot of neat stuff, but we probably could have done without some of it.  But I couldn't help it.  And Chris isn't good at saying no to me.  Which I might sometimes take advantage of.  Sometimes.

Or when it comes to things for my girls.  I love to buy them clothes.  Or neat stuff for their rooms.  Or shoes (I love me some little kid shoes).  And, again, Chris isn't good at saying no to stuff for our babies.

So some days, I feel we're being responsible and preparing for the future (not just living for today money-wise which is what we used to do), and then other days, I feel broke and poor. 

But then I realize all that we have.  And we have so much.  So much more than we need. 

And I want to be an example to our girls.  When I was little, no matter what money I made (allowance, birthday money, babysitting money), my dad made us tithe ten percent and save twenty percent.  I thought this was beyond unfair when I was younger.

How was I supposed to buy a new pocket rocker tape when you just took three of my $10 away?  Thanks for ruining my life, Dad.

But now I get it.  And I want my daughters to do the same thing.  And they're going to hate it just as much as I did.  But they'll thank me one day, you watch.

pasta summer

One thing I get all the time for free (with coupons) is pasta.  I've got one whole shelf dedicated to pasta in my stockpile and it's a regular in my donation bag. 

But sometimes it's hard to come up with a new recipe using pasta.  During the colder months, we eat pasta at least once a week, but since it's summer (and sooo freakin' hot out), pasta just doesn't sound appetizing.  But after reading an article on NPR.com about how to use summer vegetables and herbs in your pasta, I'm ready to welcome pasta back into the weekly dinner rotation.

Check these out!

(And if you end up making one of them, let me know how it turns out!)

the numbers

This past three-day weekend was awesome for a number of reasons, but I'm only going to discuss one of them.  And it's probably no surprise it has to do with coupons.  Seriously, it's my new hobby.  And by "hobby" I mean obsession.

A local grocery chain in the Indianapolis area, Marsh, was tripling coupons up to a $1 this holiday weekend.  Yes, you read right, tripling coupons up to $1.  That means my $1 off coupon was worth $3 off for three days.  Three glorious days. 

I made two trips to two different Marsh stores.  The first trip took me 2 1/2 hours because I didn't have a list or plan mapped out, I literally just walked down each aisle and matched coupons to things I saw.  If it was a good deal, I bought it.  Saying it took 2 1/2 hours might seem excessive, but I was running on coupon adrenaline and time meant nothing to me.  It was beautiful.  Plus, I was by myself and when I get that sacred thing which is alone time, I seem to milk it for all it's worth.

Trip #1 was the longest and since it was Sunday afternoon, a lot of the really good deals (things that would have been completely free or make me money) were gone.  I literally passed at least ten other people shopping with their coupon binders.  Which normally I wouldn't care about, but I assumed every one of them had just taken something I wanted and so I was a little hostile.  Damn Extreme Couponing for making everyone go coupon crazy and taking my stuff. 

Anywhooo, the first trip I got $155.53 worth of stuff for $50.05 for a savings of 68%.  That included things like meat, cheese, Poptarts, fruit snacks, Orajel, lots of salad dressing, health and beauty items, and snack food.  Tons of good stuff and some stuff for the stockpile. 

Trip #2 was to the local Marsh in Beech Grove.  It's smaller and I was hoping less people had gone there so I could maybe get some of the stuff that was out at the other one. No such luck.  Actually, I was able to pick up a couple things that the other store didn't have, but a lot of the same stuff was out of stock.  On this trip, got $110.83 worth of stuff for $29.88 for a savings of 74%.  It should have been more, but the lady messed up a coupon at the end that I didn't catch until I got home.  Whatever.

This second trip was also awesome because I did something I've only been able to do in random, small amounts until then.  Because of the tripling of coupons, I made money on some items I bought.  I had a coupon for .50 off two candy bars and one of the bars listed was a Crunch bar.  Those were on sale 2/$1 so I made .50 for each two I bought.  And since I now get three papers each Sunday, I had three coupons so I got six Crunch bars for free and made $1.50.  It was embarrassing how excited I got over this.  Shameful, really.  I was able to do something similar with bottled water that made me $1 besides getting them free.  

I will never go back to getting just one paper a week, three is the perfect number for us.  I can get multiple of something if it's worth it, but never have too much that I don't have a place for it or we won't be able to use it.  

The only bad thing about the Marsh sale was I "technically" didn't have any grocery money left since I had just finished off my money for the two weeks at Meijer on Thursday (although that was also an amazing trip; I got up at 5:00 am [I told you, I've gone off the deep end] and got $123.12 worth of groceries for $35.13--saving 72%!!) so I spent money that wasn't for groceries.  To make things better for my budget when I take out my grocery money this Friday, I'm making up for the cheating.  So my conscious is clear.

I love coupons.

I practiced patience...

One of my grocery/couponing goals recently has been to not spend all my money in one trip which is what I was used to doing for years.  It's been a slow process, but these last couple of weeks I've been getting pretty decent at spending $50-$60 a week and being able to shop every week for good deals, free stuff, etc. 

Moment of truth: with Chris working full time right now, we have more money coming in than normal.  While I'm trying to pay off our car nine months early, I've been cheating a little on the budget.  If I see some deal I just can't pass up, I'll go get it and some times not use my grocery budget money.  So that might be why I've become better at not spending all my money at once.  I don't do this often and really am saving money for each week as opposed to blowing it all the first weekend I have it.  But I might be spending close to $75 a week which is over my budget by $60 a month.  Although my stockpile is starting to look pretty awesome too--and that's mostly because in July and August, I won't be getting a pay check and while we're financially prepared, I would love to be able to spend no more than $30 a week for things like milk, fresh fruits and veggies, and meats (if needed) so we could have some additional spending (or saving) cash.  I'll let you know how that one goes...

My Kroger trip on Thursday was successful for a few reasons.  1.) My receipt says my total savings was $54.60 or 68%, which is awesome.  One blogger I was reading said she felt a good shopping trip was when she saved at least 60% so I've just been really aware of the percentage saved recently and felt this random stranger would be proud and approve of my savings.  Complete normal, right?  2.) I did all this shopping with a two-year-old and a six week old before a doctor's appointment in less than 40 minutes.  I should get an award for that one.

Kroger highlights:

oatmeal = .29

kids toothbrushes = .50 each

Kraft mayo = free

Lays chips = free

Wheat Thins = free

frozen veggies = free

cereal = .24 each

chips = .50 each

rice = .52 each

retail price: $79.96

paid: $25.36

savings: $54.60 or 68%

I am amazing. 

And on another positive note, I have really stepped up my donations to our local food bank.  Like the cereal and oatmeal above aren't really things we'll eat but it was such a good price that it seemed wrong to not take advantage of it.  My goal is to be able to do a monthly donation of multiple bags of groceries and then be able to do random donations for things that come up (like Saturday was the "Stamp Out Hunger" drive through the postal service so I just left a bag of groceries on the front porch and the mailman took it) or a food drive at school, church, etc.  Another reason to love coupons, I get to share more with others.

ooh, the guilt...

Well, I've been gone for over a month.  There's a good excuse, I had this...

Yep, that's right, I had an Magnadoodle.  Just kidding, I had a baby.  And that's Elliott's drawing of her.  She's super-cute, huh?  She looks just like me. 

So I feel kinda bad that my first post in over a month isn't about my newborn daughter, she does deserve her own post, but this one is about coupons and good deals.  See where the guilt is coming from?  Good.  Now that that is out of the way, here's my glorious hauls from Kroger and Meijer.

Oh wait, two random things: I'm getting a lot better about spending small amounts of money and making multiple trips over two weeks as opposed to one giant trip and then no trips until the next pay day.  I do like it better and feel I'm getting more for my money that way (that might just be in my head though).  Also, a lot of times when I go to get my groceries, some of the items I want that are really good deals (due to being on sale and having an amazing coupon) are out of stock.  That's to be expected when so many more people are couponing lately (I blame the stupid Extreme Couponing shows that made everyone coupon crazy...I was doing this first people!!), but when I go to pay, I forget to take those coupons out of the stack I hand the cashier.  I seriously do not do this on purpose; I miss some good deals or getting free stuff because I hand over my coupons and they aren't paying attention (and, apparently, neither am I...) because they just scan them, take that amount off my bill, and don't even realize I didn't buy that item or items.  Which would seem like a good thing (and why my Kroger bill from last night was less than it should have been), but I really don't want to just get money off for no reason and then I don't have the coupon for when the item is in stock again.  Boo.  So I'm now working on paying more attention to what coupons I hand over, because this has happened a lot recently. 

Meijer 

 the highlights:

-two Ice Mountain Aquapods = free!

-two Propel waters = .18

-two Dole pineapples = .58

-two Thai Kitchen rice bowls = 1.00

-Aunt Millie's hot dog buns = .11

-two Vlasic relish = .38

-five Archway cookies = 4.45 (.89 each)

-three Betty Crocker brownie mixes = 1.50

retail price = $67.96

paid = $24.82

savings = $43.14 or 64%

Kroger

the highlights:

-three Reach floss = free!

-two Kraft singles = 1.58

-two Boulder Canyon chips = free!

-six Quaker rice cakes = 2.74 (.45 each)

-one Creamette pasta = free!

-two cartons of strawberries = 2.00

retail price = $57.13

paid = $16.41

($6 of that was a pork loin that was on sale,

so take the meat away, and I got all that stuff for $10.41)

savings = $40.72 (71%)

*Disclaimer: I was supposed to buy some deoderant and Listerine pocket packs (whatever those are...) when I was at Kroger, but they were all out.  I forgot to take out my coupons for those items (that would have been free) and the cashier rang them through without questioning and so I ended up saving an additional $3 than I should have.  Oops.

Still pumped about my savings though and I'm hoping to get my budget down to $100 every two weeks in the near future.  I think that might be pushing it (we're at $120 right now) and with Harper's formula, I'm not exactly sure how that will work, but it's a goal.

Also because of my extended maternity leave, I'm taking about five weeks unpaid (boo) and that means I don't get a pay check for most of July and all of August. While that will suck, we've prepared financially so that everything will be covered, but I would love to have enough of a stockpile built up that I can spend $30-$40 a week as opposed to the $60 a week I have planned for.  That would make me super-happy and save us some major grocery bucks.  Fingers crossed.

late night shopping trip

I used to LOVE grocery shopping.  But then I got a teaching job.  And a husband.  And a kid.  Things got busy and it became more of a hassle than fun to shop.

But since becoming obsessed with coupons, I love grocery shopping again.  After Ellie went to bed last night I ran to Wal-Mart and Walgreens. 

Here's what I did...

Walgreens

(2) 11 oz. containers of Folgers coffee for $1.58

That's awesome--Chris drinks a lot of coffee and for a while we were only buying Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts brand coffee.  But that crap is expensive and he was going through it way too fast.  So I suggested Folgers (it's what my mom always drank so I told him it was good [like I know anything about coffee]) and it was a hit.  Also, Folgers is a lot less out of the grocery budget.  Score.

Wal-Mart

(2) M & M eggs for Easter baskets $1.00

Johnson & Johnson baby lotion $1.25

Pull-Up Wipes $.64

J & J First Aid Kit $.68

J & J butterfly bandaids $1.00

Shout Wipe & Go Wipes FREE

Reach Floss FREE

(2) Purex Complete 3-in-1 laundry sheets $.45

Gain dryer sheets $.48

total: $5.50 (before tax)

The lotion and eggs weren't a great deal, but I picked them up anyway.  I got these match-ups (and some others but they didn't end up being at my store) from this cool website.  Sometimes she has some good match-ups and other times it's not stuff I need, but definitely check it out.



all or nothing

I seem to go through blogging fits and then there's radio silence for weeks.  You're welcome. 

But I'm hoping to have a little more consistency since I'm now officially done working until August.  Gulp, that sounds like a really long time.  But I know it will go super-fast and in no time I'll be stressing about going back to work and that I didn't accomplish enough on my maternity leave (besides birthing a babe, of course).

So I've got three posts floating around in my head today and we'll see if they all get done.

Things that could possibly stop these posts from happening: Elliott waking up from her nap (highly possible), going into labor (also highly possible since I was due yesterday), and laziness (again, highly possible due to my procrastinating nature).  So let's not hold our breath for three posts...

Oh, and here's a coupon-ing highlight from the week:

All of this? $3.96

Which is bittersweet because it was an awesome deal at Meijer, but apparently we already had two bottles of Windex and one bottle of toilet bowl cleaner in the basement stockpile so I bought things we really didn't need.  I really need to start checking the basement before buying more groceries, lately I've been buying the same things we already have, I just didn't know until I go to put the stuff away (on the plus side we have enough frozen veggies down there to feed ourselves for the next year). 

Meijer, You're the Best!

Couponing may or may not have taken over my life, I can make no definitive statements, but I do want to spend a moment bragging on myself.  Today I did some shopping and got some really good deals. 

All of this?

$60.75

Some of the things I bought just because we needed them and they weren't especially good deals, but other things I bought sooo made up for the less than stellar prices on a couple items. 

Examples of my awesome buying power:

5 packages of tuna = .53 each

Hello Kitty bandaids = .68

Purex laundry detergent = .49

4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks = $1.17 each

2 packages of Jello & 2 packages of Jello Temptations = .87 each

3 Grands! Biscuits = .72 each

Among other great deals...I ended up earning $8 in catalinas which I used all of but $1.50 between my two purchases.  I wasn't paying enough attention and accidentally put two items in my second purchase that earned me $1.50.  So my total bill should have been $59.25 but I was being careless.  It was a couponing moment of shame.  But now I just have it for next time, so I'm not too concerned.

The breakdown...

Regular price: $119.94

Coupons/sales/mPerks: -$59.19

Out of pocket cost: $60.75

Savings of 50%

(Again, I got some really good deals, but bought other things like meat [come on, we all need the 3+ pounds of corned beef to make for St. Patty's Day] that make my savings not look so great, but I still feel pretty good with my purchases and savings.  And that's all that matters, right? Right.)



my stockpiles

I was going to start working on my grocery lists for this weekend, but it's 9:15 and the first time I've sat down all day and I think I might be done.  But before I go to bed, I thought I'd show off my stockpiles.  I like looking at other people's stockpiles and it motivates me to work on my grocery list more.  Well, normally it does, but, right now, I'm just completely out of energy.  But here's the loot.

This is the cabinet in our half bath off the nursery.  I keep the majority of our health and beauty stockpile in there.  I have other random things in the linen closet in the main bathroom, but this is where most of it goes.  I could buy toothpaste or toothbrushes every week if I let myself.  I don't know why, but I can always get those things super cheap and had to stop buying them because it was getting obsessive.

Our basement is divided into two parts: the finished living room and the unfinished laundry/craft/storage area.  It's a great set up for stockpiling because no one ever sees it.  This is just my diaper stockpiling area.  I seem to be pretty brand-loyal with the Huggies diapers.  I used to be a Pampers snob, but when Ellie was about 14 months, they changed their formula and it caused major burns all over her bottom.  It was horrible.  So I switched to Huggies and haven't gone back.  I have been randomly buying the Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers diapers if I get a good deal, but I've been using them for baby gifts since I'm not sure Harper's butt will like them either.

This is also in the unfinished part of our basement.  These shelves hold all the food and household stockpiling stuff.  I have a fairly large pantry in the kitchen, but don't like to keep a lot of extra stuff in there.  Not that I hoard things, but every once in a while I like to go downstairs and just stare at all the stuff I've been able to buy super cheap.  Maybe I like this stockpiling stuff a little too much.

The last area I have for stockpiling is the refrigerator we have in the basement.  I got this in Decemeber after my parent bought a new one for their garage.  I was super excited to get it and immediately began filling it up.  I did take some pictures, but I don't think they were even worth posting.  I buy a lot of bread and frozen veggies and that was basically (besides some bottled water, juice boxes from Ellie's birthday party, and waffles) all that was in there.  The fridge will come in handy when I have to start making Harper's baby food.  I made the majority of Elliott's baby food and while I liked doing it, the freezer was often overflowing with ice cube trays and bags of frozen carrot puree.  So having the extra freezer in the basement will definitely help.

So after going through all my stockpiling areas and pictures, I almost got up enough energy to start working on my grocery list and coupons.  Almost.  But I know I should go to bed because when my alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning, I'm not going to be happy about it.  So coupons tomorrow.  Goodnight.

A proud week in coupon-ing

   This week was pretty productive in terms of saving money and getting lots of stuff.  That just sounds exciting as I type it.  I have become super-obsessed with the matching ads to coupons thing and have been spending way too much time on the internet hunting down coupons and good deals.  But it's fun and I can't stop.

   First up is my Kroger purchase from Wednesday.  Now there is a really long story and lots of chaos that goes with this, but I'm going to spare you the details and just get to the deals.  But let's just say, I was almost to the point where this stuff wasn't worth the deals I was getting.  It was bad.

   All of this for forty cents.  No, really, I paid .40 for all of this stuff.  Now before you get too excited and think I'm the best couponer of all time I have to confess how I did it.  I had a Kroger coupon for a $25 gift card if you transferred a perscription.  I transferred my prenatal vitamins and earned $25 in free groceries.  Then I used matched sales with coupons, eCoupons loaded onto my Plus Card and with Kroger's amazing double coupon deal, I only paid .40 for all of this.  Again, a good deal, actually, great deal, but the chaos that came with the downloading of $25 to my Kroger Plus cards and paying was almost not worth it.  Almost.
   Then today after school I ran to Walgreens to get these amazing deals before they expire tomorrow.

I don't normally list the prices out, but this is worth the time.

2 packages of StayFree pads = $1.24 each

3 boxes of Kleenex = $.89 each

2 boxes of Fiber One bars = $1.75 each

2 pack of Reach toothbrushes = $.49

1 package of Reach floss = free with $.01 overage

1 bottle of Listerine = $.99

2 bottles of Johnson's baby lotion = $3.51 each

4 pack C Energizer batteries = $4.99

Triaminic = $1.99

Total out of pocket: $25.94 (with tax)

Savings: $41.33

   This was a pretty exciting week for me (how lame is that??).  What I'm working on now is not spending all my grocery money the weekend I get it, but only buying what I need and what is a great deal so that I can still buy things on the off-weeks (I get my grocery money every two weeks on my pay day).  This might be a little harder to do because my philosophy has always been to spend what I have.  And now I want to work on spending what I need to and keeping the rest for later.  Although last week I did keep $2 back in my grocery money envelope which is more than I've ever done before.  So I've already been successful.  Go me.

I stress old people out.

Yesterday I was reading on some different couponing/thrifty blogs about setting a new grocery budget for 2011.  Currently, our budget is $150 every two weeks for groceries and household items.  For the most part I stay within this budget.  I occasionally go over, but it's mostly due to Sam's Club (it's never my fault...). 

But reading other people's budgets that are waayy lower than mine, I got inspired.  First, I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the whole coupon-sales-ads-hunt thing and have even been impressing myself with the money I've been saving.  Second, I am always looking for ways to trim our budget.  There was one blogger who feeds her family of five for $50-$60 a week...that's pretty intense!

So I'm starting with baby steps and dropping the budget to $125.  Now that makes me a little nervous since I'm going to start buying formula again in less than three months and I'll be buying diapers again. 

Gulp.

But everything I've read says I can do it, I just have to dedicate the time (it is somewhat time-consuming).  I've become obsessed with coupons recently and saving money so I think I can do it.  It's sort of a challenge that I don't want to pass up.

Here's what I did today at CVS:

Purchase #1: three 12-packs of Pepsi products @ 3/$10. 

Total out of pocket: $10.70

Earned $4 ExtraCare Bucks for the purchase and

.50 for my "fall quarter earnings."

Purchase #2: two Colgate toothpastes and one Colgate toothbrush.

On sale for $2.99 a piece and I had a coupon for each one also and then I used my $4.50 ExtraCare Bucks from the first purchase.

Total out of pocket: $2.78

Earned $3 ExtraCare Bucks for this purchase.

Purchase #3: one package of Huggies Little Snugglers for newborns.

I had a manufacture's coupon for $2.50 off and I used the $3 ExtraCare Bucks earned from my second purchase.

Total out of pocket: $4.12

Earned $1 ExtraCare Buck.

Purchase #4: three boxes of Kleenex.

I had a coupon and used the $1 ExtraCare Bucks I earned from my third purchase.

Total out of pocket: $1.32

Grand total for all of the above: $18.92

Total amount saved: $27.20

Beast.  Six months ago I would have said you're crazy if you told me to go buy this stuff at the drug store because their prices are so much more expensive, but using their ads and coupons/deals, it is worth the extra trip.

Although I always seem to get an old person who is spending their retirement years working the cash register and it gives them a heart attack when I do multiple purchases and use tons of coupons.  The lady today did not smile once even though I was super-friendly (not my nature at all).  I'm sure they're starting to recognize me and dread me coming to their register.  Oh well.

deal.deal.deal.

This is from before Christmas, but things got busy (shocking, right?) so I'm just now getting around to posting it.  I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I decided to start with something easy--saving money!

This first picture is all the stuff I bought using coupons, Register Rewards, and sales at Walgreens on December 20th.

Without using any coupons/deals, I would have spent $49.19 to get all of this stuff, but using the Walgreens ad, I got all of it for $21.96.  Normally, that's still more than I would spend, but Chris has recently started drinking coffee and he wanted to try the Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  They are normally over $8 a piece, but they were on sale, I used a coupon I had, and I got Register Rewards when I bought two.  Score. 

The only drawback was that to get all the savings, I had to go through the line four times and I think I was getting ready to give the old man who was checking me out a heart attack.  He didn't find my money-saving ways entertaining or worth it.  Oh well.

The next picture is from CVS also from December 20th.  Chris was home this day so I was able to run both places by myself (glorious!) and get everything done in one trip out. 

Retail price for the above items: $29.14.  I paid $15.15 total.  I needed the M & M's for Christmas treats I was making and for potty training rewards and I always need more closet air fresheners for Chris' stinky closet.  Again, I had to go through the line twice so I could use some ExtraCare Bucks I earned, but it was worth it.  After ringing up the M & M's and learning my total (and getting ExtraCare Bucks back), the cashier yelled, "how'd you do that??"  Coupons, people, coupons.

savvy shopper

I randomly go coupon crazy and having two weeks off for fall break gave me plenty of time to plot my money-saving adventures.  Here's what I got today at Wal-Greens:

three boxes of Kleenex

two bottles of Dial body wash

two containers of Morton's table salt

two boxes of baking soda

three coloring books (only two pictured because one was in use during the photo shoot...)

two cans of Arizona tea

four cans of mandarin oranges

one bottle of Dawn dish soap

and

one bottle of hydrogen peroxide

Grand Total: $15.88

Total Savings: $17.08

It really wasn't that hard to match coupons to sales, figure out what I needed or could stock up on, or what was worth buying at Wal-Greens as opposed to Meijer or Sam's Club.  I'm pretty proud of myself and need to remember to do this more often.