DUH you say of course everyone knows this but let me clarify. I am talking about new or even slightly used items I have been able to gain over the past couple of weeks. When I say FREE, I mean with no out of pocket cost to me (this includes tax and shipping/handling). So I am really excited to report that I was able to get a Free Razor (New Fusion) for Matt just yesterday. On Sunday I picked up 4 FREE Magnets from CVS. I was not sure I would like these so I stopped ordering at 4 instead of the 6 I could have gotten. Now I am really disappointed that I didn't get the other two because they are AWESOME! I order a photo collage today from Walgreens, my plan is to hang it in the new bathroom but if it is ugly then at least I don't feel bad about throwing it away:). With Mother's Day on Sunday there are several offers floating out there that I am hoping to take advantage off because FREE IS THE BEST! I have been able to "earn" 15 ECB during the past week just by taking surveys for CVS. I had signed up for the advisory panel over a month ago and these are the first 2 surveys that I have been sent. I really hope they continue to send them! They are easy and quick and I like being able to print my ECB right as I finish.
But don't get me wrong cheap is good. For example my CVS trip this past Sunday I spent $30 and saved 77% or $102. I did start out with $2 ECB from the previous week and 10 ECB from a survey but I was excited about this trip. Highlights include Body wash for $0.60 a piece (3 total). Diapers for 0.07 a piece. With the diapers I really debated on purchasing and ended up buying a large size for Zach but the fact I had 2 coupons expiring I decided to use them. I also purchase both face cleaner and feminine products that should last between 3-6 months during this trip. Another cheap item that I have received is 2 "snowball" bushes. I have always wanted one or more of these in the yard. A nursery online was offering a $25 discount on a 25 purchase. So basically I paid 12.95 (shipping ) for 2. They arrived yesterday and we planted them at the corners of the trampoline, I hope they grow. They are suppose to have a life time guarantee with a minimum of 3 months prior to obvious growth so we will see?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Life
So I didn't even remember it was Wednesday until I saw someone else "wordless Wednesday"post.
I have no picture and really don't feel like trying to find one. Instead, I am going to explain my blah mood and headache. This week is one of the weeks that I hate. For some unknown reason a lot of appointments have landed on this week as well as Angel Food which totally eats my Thursday. Monday I was scheduled to work no big deal I thought I only had 2 patients on my schedule. That changed when 2 new inpatients arrived that had to be seen. I ended up working 5 hours on Monday and Carol called with Zach having a 102 fever around 2 pm. I called and arranged a doctor's visit for him. So basically I left the house at 8:15am on Monday and returned at 6pm. Tuesday was not too bad except for driving Amanda too and from DCCC. Haley had a doctor's appointment, so the little kids stayed with Papaw and Granny. Today, Haley,Lily and I had a dentist appointment. I also planned several errors like a quick trip to Food Lion and to pick up the girls new glasses. Matt came home at lunch and we decided to order Chinese that I could pick up after again picking up Amanda at school. I already had a headache from all the dental stuff this morning. Here is where Life happened:
My van's transmission stopped working in the parking lot. I called Matt and we moved 3.4 of the stuff from my van to his and then found a place to work on the van. This sucks.. I was so excited that we were going to finish the addition and have it inspected this month. Along with sticking to budget and some extra work I picked up we should have been able to enjoy the month. NOPE not now.... everything is upside down as we wait for the total cost of the repair as well as figuring out how to pay for it.
LIFE..... it HAPPENS and we will ADJUST!
I have no picture and really don't feel like trying to find one. Instead, I am going to explain my blah mood and headache. This week is one of the weeks that I hate. For some unknown reason a lot of appointments have landed on this week as well as Angel Food which totally eats my Thursday. Monday I was scheduled to work no big deal I thought I only had 2 patients on my schedule. That changed when 2 new inpatients arrived that had to be seen. I ended up working 5 hours on Monday and Carol called with Zach having a 102 fever around 2 pm. I called and arranged a doctor's visit for him. So basically I left the house at 8:15am on Monday and returned at 6pm. Tuesday was not too bad except for driving Amanda too and from DCCC. Haley had a doctor's appointment, so the little kids stayed with Papaw and Granny. Today, Haley,Lily and I had a dentist appointment. I also planned several errors like a quick trip to Food Lion and to pick up the girls new glasses. Matt came home at lunch and we decided to order Chinese that I could pick up after again picking up Amanda at school. I already had a headache from all the dental stuff this morning. Here is where Life happened:
My van's transmission stopped working in the parking lot. I called Matt and we moved 3.4 of the stuff from my van to his and then found a place to work on the van. This sucks.. I was so excited that we were going to finish the addition and have it inspected this month. Along with sticking to budget and some extra work I picked up we should have been able to enjoy the month. NOPE not now.... everything is upside down as we wait for the total cost of the repair as well as figuring out how to pay for it.
LIFE..... it HAPPENS and we will ADJUST!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Square Foot Gardening
I still have not had time to sit down and blog about my trip to CVS on Sunday. I had hoped to do that today but I found some more exciting news this morning as I was pulling out of the driveway to take Haley to school. We have growing veggies in our square foot garden. The picture above is what it looks like from the road. The back should hold vines of cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumbers by the end of the season. We decided to try it out this year and if it worked then expand (triple) for next year. I was worried about anything growing. I was even more concerned when something dug up my orka plants and now they both have die. But this morning I noticed green things sticking up threw the dirt. My green beans and squash have both sprouted! I also checked my plants on the back deck and so far I have cucumber, sage and basil to transplant in a few weeks! Here are the picture below.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Monday Menu Post 5/3
So this week is going to be crazy with me working on Monday, Doctor appointments on Tuesday, Dentist appointments on Wednesday and Angel Food ordering on Thursday morning. My thoughts are to make quick and easy meals to keep us from eating out!
Monday- Spaghetti with salad and fried mozzarella sticks(HT freebie)
Tuesday- Breakfast casserole(Matt's version, he plans to make it Monday night) with Pancakes
Wednesday- Taco Rice on burrito shells
Thursday- Grilled chicken with either pasta salad or left over salad from Monday!
Friday- Seafood of some sort from Angel Food
I am excited that Matt is getting involved with planning. He is doing awesome with taking over the weekend cooking unless I ask and now to help with normal week stuff will be great!
Monday- Spaghetti with salad and fried mozzarella sticks(HT freebie)
Tuesday- Breakfast casserole(Matt's version, he plans to make it Monday night) with Pancakes
Wednesday- Taco Rice on burrito shells
Thursday- Grilled chicken with either pasta salad or left over salad from Monday!
Friday- Seafood of some sort from Angel Food
I am excited that Matt is getting involved with planning. He is doing awesome with taking over the weekend cooking unless I ask and now to help with normal week stuff will be great!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Sunday Thoughts/April in Review
I am SUPER excited....why you ask..I now have 2 followers!!! I know that several people read my blog on occasion but to have followers is AWESOME!! It also means that I am going to make a better effort to blog more! I just checked and I had 16 post in April which is less than March but still more than Jan and Feb. So I am going to count this as a success for my goal of blogging in March. I am getting into the swing of Monday Menu planning and Wordless (occasional) Wednesday but I need to focus on sharing more of life and couponing!
In April we had formal "preschool" on 5 days which is not a lot but I know that for several days Lily and I have worked on the computer on beginning reading skills and she is CONSTANTLY asking about what something starts with or how to write a letter. One of the major accomplishments for the month is that I order the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." I was able to get it free using ebay bucks (1.67) and a gift card I purchased from swag bucks. I am going to count April a success in preschool even though it was 5 official days. In other news, a "School readiness specialist" will visit us once a month beginning in May to work with all the little kids. I am excited to get some new ideas and outside opinions on the kids. We have also officially decided not to send Lily to preschool next year. I am going to focus on finishing up with writing and reading during the summer! Starting in August, my goal is to take the kids to the Library for story hour at least 3 times a month and also plan a "field trip" to some local museums, farms or something to help Lily stay ready for School. We are also considering letting her do an extra activity outside of church but that is still on the table for discussion. She may do a small cheer squad ???
Budget wise April was a tough month because of an income problem but with expenses, I was able to cut our grocery bill by 50% totally from the previous 3 months. This is so exciting and I have a small stash of items such as diapers and toilet paper that should continue to bring the cost of things down! I had an awesome trip to CVS today but I want to save that for a separate post so that I can break down some of the cost per item! I have begun to see some more "free" items come in. For example I was able to use "Huggies diaper points" to purchase a bag of swim diapers for the summer! I also received cash back from bing and swag bucks! Hopefully the month of May will bring in our State Income tax return which will allow us to finish the addition and refinance the house. One of the major area that has helped our budget this month is reducing the number of times we eat out. This month with the exception of Matt's birthday meal we have been able to limit our eating out to once per week! I am hoping to continue this all summer long and maybe even reduce to 2x a month. But that will be hard with us going to the pool this summer, hopefully frozen meals and community meals will help us stay on track!
Unfortunately, the one area that has been a complete bomb this month is my nightly devotions. I have to admit that I have only been reading maybe 2 nights the entire month. With that I know that I NEED to make this a focus this month so I hope to report a improvement in this area especially.
I am starting to appreciate blogging as a way to keep myself accountable to both my goals and budget. Honestly this is the first year that I am still working on my "goals" in May!
In April we had formal "preschool" on 5 days which is not a lot but I know that for several days Lily and I have worked on the computer on beginning reading skills and she is CONSTANTLY asking about what something starts with or how to write a letter. One of the major accomplishments for the month is that I order the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." I was able to get it free using ebay bucks (1.67) and a gift card I purchased from swag bucks. I am going to count April a success in preschool even though it was 5 official days. In other news, a "School readiness specialist" will visit us once a month beginning in May to work with all the little kids. I am excited to get some new ideas and outside opinions on the kids. We have also officially decided not to send Lily to preschool next year. I am going to focus on finishing up with writing and reading during the summer! Starting in August, my goal is to take the kids to the Library for story hour at least 3 times a month and also plan a "field trip" to some local museums, farms or something to help Lily stay ready for School. We are also considering letting her do an extra activity outside of church but that is still on the table for discussion. She may do a small cheer squad ???
Budget wise April was a tough month because of an income problem but with expenses, I was able to cut our grocery bill by 50% totally from the previous 3 months. This is so exciting and I have a small stash of items such as diapers and toilet paper that should continue to bring the cost of things down! I had an awesome trip to CVS today but I want to save that for a separate post so that I can break down some of the cost per item! I have begun to see some more "free" items come in. For example I was able to use "Huggies diaper points" to purchase a bag of swim diapers for the summer! I also received cash back from bing and swag bucks! Hopefully the month of May will bring in our State Income tax return which will allow us to finish the addition and refinance the house. One of the major area that has helped our budget this month is reducing the number of times we eat out. This month with the exception of Matt's birthday meal we have been able to limit our eating out to once per week! I am hoping to continue this all summer long and maybe even reduce to 2x a month. But that will be hard with us going to the pool this summer, hopefully frozen meals and community meals will help us stay on track!
Unfortunately, the one area that has been a complete bomb this month is my nightly devotions. I have to admit that I have only been reading maybe 2 nights the entire month. With that I know that I NEED to make this a focus this month so I hope to report a improvement in this area especially.
I am starting to appreciate blogging as a way to keep myself accountable to both my goals and budget. Honestly this is the first year that I am still working on my "goals" in May!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Club 254
Last night the kids club at church had a coffee and desert social for the "seasons citizens". The theme for the night was 50's. My friend N was so awesome in offering to make a skirt for Lily. I am not a crafty person and sewing is definitely not my thing. So I was so willing to let her make Lily a skirt. Otherwise Lily would have worn rolled up jeans!
Lily really loves going to clubs and I could not be more thrilled that they are teaching the kids from a young age that we need to be serving others. In November they did a veteran's appreciation and they are also collect items all year to pack shoe boxes for Samaritan's purse at Christmas. Lily loves the idea of giving and she is learning alot in the process!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Triples....
So I made it back from Harris Teeter triples. I ended up spending around an hour actually shopping. I went to my favorite store in Salisbury and it was the busiest that I have ever seen it. And for the first time ever at a Harris Teeter, I loaded my own groceries in the car. But I am still going to return again the next time they have either a triples or super doubles. I was not impressed yesterday as I got my list together and was even less thrilled when I arrived and found that 4 of my 12 free items were either not carried at the store or already out of stock. My initial plan was for 2 trips this week but after today, I have no need to return. I did load my car and go back inside to claim my free loaf of bread and $1.00 off meat.
The details, I spent 32 and saved $66 for a total saving of 67%. Not to bad especially considering that I have 7 coupons that did not triple, four were for a $1.00 each and 2 additional Harris Teeter coupons that don't triple as well as a free item that did not triple.
Highlights- Earth's Best Baby food was on sale BOGO, this is regular priced at 0.89 a jar, I had in my binder 2 coupons for $1.00 off 10 jars so that bought the actual price to around 0.35 a jar. I also purchased boxes of Baby cereal for 0.99 each using both manufacturers and HT coupons. Matt really liked the fried cheese sticks that I purchased 3 packs of for FREE!!
Harris Teeter usually has a "Theme" to their sales. This week it was Mexican I ended up buy chips, salsa, taco sauce and meat today so I am going to change my menu plan and have Mexican instead of steaks.
Budget wise for the month I am currently $60 UNDER budget!!!! YAY!!! This includes a huge stash of diapers and some baby food!! I am excited!
The details, I spent 32 and saved $66 for a total saving of 67%. Not to bad especially considering that I have 7 coupons that did not triple, four were for a $1.00 each and 2 additional Harris Teeter coupons that don't triple as well as a free item that did not triple.
Highlights- Earth's Best Baby food was on sale BOGO, this is regular priced at 0.89 a jar, I had in my binder 2 coupons for $1.00 off 10 jars so that bought the actual price to around 0.35 a jar. I also purchased boxes of Baby cereal for 0.99 each using both manufacturers and HT coupons. Matt really liked the fried cheese sticks that I purchased 3 packs of for FREE!!
Harris Teeter usually has a "Theme" to their sales. This week it was Mexican I ended up buy chips, salsa, taco sauce and meat today so I am going to change my menu plan and have Mexican instead of steaks.
Budget wise for the month I am currently $60 UNDER budget!!!! YAY!!! This includes a huge stash of diapers and some baby food!! I am excited!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
