Well girls, wish me luck! I've got my coupons organized, my spreadsheets and shopping lists ready and I'm going to hit the groceries HARD this weekend. I counted it up and I have - no joke - 200 (yes, that's right) valid coupons to use this weekend at Hardings, Walmart, Walgreens and Meijer. I'm taking pictures and tallies of everything and I'll let you know how it goes!
Last night was my first trip of the weekend - small one to Hardings - had 5 coupons for Betty Crocker potatoes - normally priced 1.97, marked down to 1.00 save $1/2 boxes - that's .50 a box and 5.00 for 10. That's 75% savings am I right? And those are nice to have in the pantry for when you're in a bind for supper.
And today during my lunch hour I began the rolling at Walgreens - bought 3 boxes of Robitussin cold medicine - on sale from 5.79 to 3.99. Had 3/$3 coupons and paid 2.97 for all three boxes. Register Rewards this week awards you a 10.00 in store coupon for your next trip when you buy three, so basically I just MADE 7.03 - in a way of looking at it :) HA!
Oh, and last night it was DEAD at work so I went to Freeflys and signed up for about 30 free samples! (That's for you Elisabeth! :) But watch out you have to be careful of the ones that say participation required - I don't do those they are a pain in the butt. I just do the ones that ask for your address.
The only bad thing is that I'm already worn out from planning and I have a long way to go this weekend!
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
9.12.2008
9.10.2008
My first freebie!
First things first! Here's some pics of my sweeties :)
Scary, scary monsters!
My little Newsie
This outfit had the whole kit and kaboodle - hat, bib, sleeper and two little booties!
My sweet Anniecakes
Charlie Chaplin...Or...Grace enjoying her ice cream sundae!
Scary, scary monsters!
My little Newsie
This outfit had the whole kit and kaboodle - hat, bib, sleeper and two little booties!
My sweet Anniecakes
I got my first free sample in the mail today (I've had free samples before, but this is my first since my official moneysaving hobby has begun!) It's from Fiberone.com - kind of fun to get because today I found out that Walmart.com has a free sample section and I signed up for four or five more grocery item samples!
Here's a pic of my yummy Fiber One samples: 
Let me tell you this stuff works and it's tasty too! Bars and Cereal are on sale at Wal-greens for 2$ and I have lots of coupons! Planning to stock up :)
Kudos (!) go to Clint for taking the pic of my Fiber One!
Wow! Two posts today!
Change Please
Every year or so - generally right around the end of summer/beginning of fall, I get very antsy for a change at my job. This summer was no exception. I attribute this to the fact that when I was teaching there was an actual end to my summer and a beginning of something new with the upcoming school year - new kids/new challenges/different schedule, etc...I've been out of teaching for two years now and I still feel like something should be starting up in September. Very weird.
Anyhoo - this summer I was getting antsy and had a couple of interviews scheduled with jobs that weren't really in our family's best interest - i.e. farther away, longer hours and different daycare providers for about the same amount of money I make now. The only upside to these jobs is that they would be DIFFERENT and provide me with a change of pace. Apparently I just cannot commit to one thing for any specific period of time - not comfortably anyway. That was getting to be what I didn't like about teaching - I had a hard time sticking to the ROUTINE that kids need so strongly because I was getting bored.
I actually wound up cancelling my interviews because I didn't want to go and get excited about something I wasn't going to take, because ultimately - even though I personally need a change - my family needs stability and with Clint getting his job last March we finally are getting to where we have a routine and things around the house are stable - routines, daycare, finances, activities, etc...
I think this is what typical family life is. At least for those of us with kiddos who aren't in to activities/sports yet. I want to provide the stability for my girls and for my husband, but in my head I am looking/desiring for something new to spice things up a little. Any new obsession will do. Clint suggested I get a hobby - I told him I needed a hobby I could do from 8-4 Monday - Friday.
Not many of those around, but I do have time to do my coupons at work :) We are talking multiple trips to multiple stores and at least 75 coupons (no joke) for just this week! I guess you could say that my hobby will be finding moneysavers for our family's grocery/shopping bill. There are tons of moneysaver blogs that I am reading and tips and links to coupons. It has taken the bulk of the past two days to make up my spreadsheet, sort my coupons and route my course of action to my money saving deals. BTW - my boss totally knows that I do all this, she tells me that if I don't have anything to do to look busy and ribs me at times about clipping coupons.
I'll probably wind up posting my progress on the blog here just to keep a record. This weekend is my first major spree and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited. I suppose you could say my new hobby will provide change - in both ways!
Anyhoo - this summer I was getting antsy and had a couple of interviews scheduled with jobs that weren't really in our family's best interest - i.e. farther away, longer hours and different daycare providers for about the same amount of money I make now. The only upside to these jobs is that they would be DIFFERENT and provide me with a change of pace. Apparently I just cannot commit to one thing for any specific period of time - not comfortably anyway. That was getting to be what I didn't like about teaching - I had a hard time sticking to the ROUTINE that kids need so strongly because I was getting bored.
I actually wound up cancelling my interviews because I didn't want to go and get excited about something I wasn't going to take, because ultimately - even though I personally need a change - my family needs stability and with Clint getting his job last March we finally are getting to where we have a routine and things around the house are stable - routines, daycare, finances, activities, etc...
I think this is what typical family life is. At least for those of us with kiddos who aren't in to activities/sports yet. I want to provide the stability for my girls and for my husband, but in my head I am looking/desiring for something new to spice things up a little. Any new obsession will do. Clint suggested I get a hobby - I told him I needed a hobby I could do from 8-4 Monday - Friday.
Not many of those around, but I do have time to do my coupons at work :) We are talking multiple trips to multiple stores and at least 75 coupons (no joke) for just this week! I guess you could say that my hobby will be finding moneysavers for our family's grocery/shopping bill. There are tons of moneysaver blogs that I am reading and tips and links to coupons. It has taken the bulk of the past two days to make up my spreadsheet, sort my coupons and route my course of action to my money saving deals. BTW - my boss totally knows that I do all this, she tells me that if I don't have anything to do to look busy and ribs me at times about clipping coupons.
I'll probably wind up posting my progress on the blog here just to keep a record. This weekend is my first major spree and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited. I suppose you could say my new hobby will provide change - in both ways!
9.09.2008
Yikes
I'm clipping coupons and singing Princess songs in my sleep now. Seriously - my brain is on overload with those two things and when I've stared at a computer for 12 hours and try to go home and sleep - all I see are barcodes and advertisements and all I hear is "Colors of the Wind", intertwined with "A Whole New World." Yikes!
Not much going on this week - last weekend was sort of a sloth weekend - didn't do much, Clint worked on Saturday and we sold our recliner. Kind of a nice bargain as we got Clint's mom's chair and ottoman combo - which is SOOO much nicer for free :) It'll lend itself to some minor redecorations which will keep our spirits up about the house. We've decided to take it off the market. It's been 18 months and no real leads - just some apparently unfinanceable people interested. I suggested to Clint that we let it go off the market for the winter and then maybe put it up for sale next spring with a FSBO sign. Not sure yet on that, but it will be nice not to have the stress of trying to keep the house immaculate (which really is about 50% of the time!)
It'll be nice not to have to THINK about it so much anyway.
This next weekend starts the fair - Clint is a huge fan of the fair. In fact - we got gigs on Saturday beFORE the fair to be 4H judges. 50 bucks and lunch baby! Just for talking to kids about their projects and then handing out awards. Very nice set up as that can be our Fair money :) I suppose on Saturday night there will be visions of stamp collections and sewing projects running through my head. Double yikes!!
Not much going on this week - last weekend was sort of a sloth weekend - didn't do much, Clint worked on Saturday and we sold our recliner. Kind of a nice bargain as we got Clint's mom's chair and ottoman combo - which is SOOO much nicer for free :) It'll lend itself to some minor redecorations which will keep our spirits up about the house. We've decided to take it off the market. It's been 18 months and no real leads - just some apparently unfinanceable people interested. I suggested to Clint that we let it go off the market for the winter and then maybe put it up for sale next spring with a FSBO sign. Not sure yet on that, but it will be nice not to have the stress of trying to keep the house immaculate (which really is about 50% of the time!)
It'll be nice not to have to THINK about it so much anyway.
This next weekend starts the fair - Clint is a huge fan of the fair. In fact - we got gigs on Saturday beFORE the fair to be 4H judges. 50 bucks and lunch baby! Just for talking to kids about their projects and then handing out awards. Very nice set up as that can be our Fair money :) I suppose on Saturday night there will be visions of stamp collections and sewing projects running through my head. Double yikes!!
9.04.2008
9.03.2008
Utopia
I've decided that one of things that would occur in a perfect world would be - a husband who - on his own - observes his wife doing a time consuming/somewhat exhausting routine every evening and - JUST ONCE IN A WHILE - says, "Hey honey, I'll do that tonight." I'm not asking for regularity, I'm just saying once in a while. So I don't have to ask him, nope I want him to come up with it on his own.
My husband is many wonderful things, but a volunteer he is not.
My husband is many wonderful things, but a volunteer he is not.
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