Saving Money At The Grocery Store

I fell off the coupon wagon a few months ago, somewhere in the middle of the garden harvest when we were enjoying meals of fresh fruits and vegetables and had no desire for anything store-bought.  Then I kind of got sick of couponing, the weekly sit-down of cutting out coupons and organizing them and pulling out expired ones. Going online to check for deals and sales and printing online coupons were starting to annoy me. I was experiencing coupon burn-out!

Of course, falling off the coupon wagon means money isn't being saved.  Not that I stopped shopping the sales, but I wasn't searching out the best deals and my coupon inserts were piling up, waiting to be cut. Couponing is a lot of work, equivalent to a part-time job, at least, when you factor in all the time it takes to cut, sort, organize, search, find, and match up deals to coupons.

After awhile, I got tired of my grocery budget not going as far as it could be and sometime around November, I hopped back on the wagon. A break was just what I needed, to come back refreshed and eager to start making my dollars stretch again! Just in time, too, because I found a lot of deals for Christmas gifts and other items, and I'm pretty pleased to say that the majority of the gifts under the tree this year were bargains. I think there were only a few things we paid full price for and I'm happy with what we were able to give to others and not feel like we came out broke at the end of it all.

Now that a new year has begun, I've started off on the right foot and really stretched the food budget today while I was out shopping.  I try not to buy too much processed foods, but sometimes, and especially with a big family, buying a box or two of macaroni and cheese really helps stretch the budget and the meals. In this case, I bought 18 boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese!!  Here's why: The local store advertised it as being on sale 3 for $1.25.  That's a cheap price for a brand name!  An added bonus is that I have 6 coupons for $1 off 3, which combined with the sale makes it 25 cents for 3 boxes!! No doubt, that's a stock-up price!! After sales, coupons, and taxes, I paid $1.75 for 18 boxes of macaroni and cheese!!

I can now take a box and then add to it to make a meal-- I might add a pound of ground beef, a jar of my home-canned tomatoes, a chopped onion and green pepper, some spices, and I've just made a home version of hamburger helper.  Add a side of vegetables and a salad and it's enough for the seven of us to get filled up on. It's a little bit processed, but in general, it's a healthy meal, I'm not complaining.

Here's where going online helps to make a sale become a better deal: Target's ad states that when you buy 2 boxes of Digiorno pizza for $5 each, you get a free box of Edy's fruit bars. Pretty good.  But going online to coupon websites, I discover there's an online coupon you can print to get 1 Digiorno pizza free when you buy 2.  Even better!  Now here's the best deal, print -2- of those coupons, buy 6 pizzas for $5 each, get 3 free boxes of fruit bars for $30 total before coupons. The coupon states it will give you a free pizza up to $7.01 and some stores will let you get the full value of the coupon, even if the pizza only cost $5.  I was able to get the full value of the coupon twice, which means, after coupons, I paid $16 for 6 pizzas and 3 boxes of fruit bars!

Frozen pizza is not as good as eating out, but with this large family of mine, eating out often is not an option. Not as good as home made pizza, but that requires planning ahead and I usually come up with dinner ideas on the fly, meaning something gets whipped up at the last minute. I'll be saving those pizzas for those really crazy days, when we're all frazzled and tired and hungry and too pooped to cook.

I keep telling myself to keep track of how much I spent versus how much I should have spent, but after a week or two, I lose stamina and receipts get scattered. The easier way for me to know I'm saving money is when we continually stay under the grocery budget.  I've been running out before the end of the month and that's a truly awful feeling to know I've spent the entire budget already. It's nice to get back on track again and I'm looking forward to seeing our budget carry over to the next month!

Extreme Couponer For A Day

When I shop with coupons, I save an average of $25 to $30 each trip.  My savings run about 50-60%.  Sometimes, I only save $10 off $70, but hey, every little bit helps.

Once in awhile, I save big and it makes me feel like I'm one of those crazy coupon ladies that walk out of the store with $300 worth of groceries and only paying $5.

I had one of those days recently! I have to share:

 Martin's food stores was running a special-- Buy 5 Quaker Oatmeal bars at $2 each, and recieve a $5 catalina to use on your next shopping trip. (A catalina is a coupon that prints out with your reciept, to be used later) They happened to have coupons on the display for 75 cents off 1 box. I grabbed 15 coupons and made 3 trips. Here's what I did:

1st trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons (the first gets doubled to $1) for a total of $4 off. Pay $6 and get a $5 catalina.

2nd trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons for a total of $4 off AND the $5 catalina.
Pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

3rd trip: Repeat #2, pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

That makes $30 worth of Quaker Oat bars for only $3 after subtracting the catalina! That equals to .20 cents a box!!   Nice!  A round of applause please!  Thank you, thank you! 

Next, I went to Target.  They will price match any store's current ad, so I took a Food Lion ad which had a sale on 12 oz boxes of Rice Krispies for $1.50.  That alone is cheap, but there was also a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off 2 kellogg's cereal AND a Target coupon for $1 off 2 Kellogg's cereal-- nice! Instead of paying $2.94 a box, I price-match and save $1.44 per box. After price-match, buy 2 boxes for $3, use both Target AND manufacturer's coupon and pay $1 for BOTH boxes! I got lucky today, though, because the clerk made an error and entered $1.25 eight separate times for eight separate boxes! So I ended up getting 8 boxes for 50 cents each after coupons! Sweet!

I also had my eye on a large picture frame that suddenly went on clearance and with a birthday gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, it was the perfect time to pick it up. It was marked down 50% off, $24.99 down to $12.48. A twin-size sheet set in a boy theme I had my eye on was also on clearance, and I was waiting for it to come down lower, but since there were only 2 left, I had to grab it-- marked down 50% off, $17.99 down to $8.98.

Picked up the new Velveeta Cheesy dinner kit, too, for $2.04 and 2 toy cars, priced at $3.29 each. Lucky for me, there was a coupon on the Rice Krispies box that stated: Free car with purchase of 3 boxes of cereal! With 8 boxes of cereal, I had more than enough, and I found 2 coupons, which means 2 free cars! The cars will be put away for Christmas.

Here's the breakdown:
8 boxes Rice Krispies- $1.25 each
2 toy cars- $3.29 each
1 Velveeta Cheesy dinner $2.04
1 Frame $12.48
1 sheet set $8.98
Grand total: $40.08 (Total value is $75.12)
Used 4- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal Target coupons
         2- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal manu. coupons
         1- $1/1 Velveeta coupon
         1- $.50/1 Velveeta Target coupon
         2- FREE car wyb 3 boxes Rice Krispies coupons

Paid: $27.28!!  Had I not bought the frame and the sheets, my total would have been only $5.82 for 8 boxes of cereal, 2 cars, and the velveeta dinner!!  Pretty good to me!!

Any good couponing trip for you lately??  Do tell! :o)

Frugal Friday : Frugal Finds

I had a great trip to the stores today. I made a trip to Best Buy and CVS for a grand total of $128.19 in merchandise and only paid $11.29 out of pocket!

If you aren't aware already, Best Buy has an awards program in which you earn points from every purchase you make. Just apply for the free store card, then every time you shop, scan the card before you pay. They'll track your purchases and when you accumulate so many points, they'll notify you by email, then you print out the awards certificate and take it to the store for money off your next purchase.

A couple months ago, my mom and I both got new laptops from Best Buy. I put both purchases on my Best Buy store card, even though she paid for her own laptop. It made my points jump quick and they sent me a notice that I earned a $30 rewards certificate. Great! We've been wanting one of those disc repair/cleaner thingys to clean up the dvd movies the kids scratched up. Now would be the perfect time to get one!

Did I mention how awesome Best Buy is?? The disc repair thingy was $29.99 or at least I thought it was. I also picked up something else, which isn't pictured because it's a surprise for the husband for Father's Day, but anyway, the total came to $64.98. Huh?? That isn't right. Turns out the disc repair thingy was actually $44.99 and when I asked the clerk about it, she asked me to show her where I got it, and though *I* was wrong-- I looked at the wrong price ticket (but in my defense, there was no price ticket to be found for it), she gave me the $29.99 price anyway! So she knocked off $15!! Sweet!

So my total for Best Buy went from $64.98 to $44.68 minus the $30 awards certificate to a final total of $14.68. Nice!! And my purchases today will go to future points later!


My next stop was at CVS. Here, I purchased $77.89 worth of goods and they paid me to shop!!
I bought:

• 2) Whitman's Sampler candy boxes- $19.99 on clearance for $4.99 each



• 6) Hershey's candy bars- buy 2 for $1.19 get 3rd for $.01 (3 got eaten by the kids before I could get a picture of all 6!)



• 2) Zyrtec allergy medicine- 5.99 each



• 1) Motrin PM- $4.oo



• 2) Hershey's Drops candy bags- buy 1 for $4.59 get 2nd for $.01
  

My grand total was $77.89, minus coupons and CVS extra care bucks, I paid $11.59 out of pocket and then they gave me $14.98 extra care bucks to make my final total $3.39 profit!

So minus the +$3.39 from the Best Buy total of $14.68, I paid $11.29 for everything today! Not bad at all! I got a nice surprise gift for Andrew plus an unexpected bonus box of Whitman's chocolate for Father's Day. I have an extra box for a quickie gift if I need one, too!

This makes couponing totally worth it!! :o)

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Sticker Shock

Our budget is tight. That means we hardly eat out, if at all. I make almost every meal, and sometimes I cheat and buy frozen pizzas or quickie foods, but it's cheaper than eating out. We got our tax refund and along with buying some long-desired, needed things around the house, I must admit, we have been eating out quite a bit. And feeling pretty sick about it, too. Not only are there 6 members in our family, but it looks like prices have gone up, not to mention the restuarant tax added onto the regular tax.

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The kids loooooooove Chick-Fil-a. I think more for the play area than the actual food, but still, it's always a big hit when we go there and there's never any food left to take home. I remember it used to cost us just around $20 to eat there some time last year and two recent excursions there cost us nearly $40 both times!! A trip into town last night and a quick drive-thru pick-up at Wendy's yielded us 4 kiddie meals and 2 adult combo meals that cost $32!

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I had to rescue Andrew from a locked-out truck at work when my sister and her family were here and I ran out just as it was time to make dinner after working outdoors most of the day on the swingset. After I gave Andrew the spare key, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner without the kids after he got off work. We love steak and cheese subs, and there was a Jerry's Subs in the mall, so we went there. The last time I ate there was before we moved up here nearly 6 years ago and even then, it was pricey, but not this much: $22 dollars for 2 meals and that's with the employee discount.

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We went to Subway the night we picked up the swingset and for 4 footlongs, chips and drinks, it cost us a little over $23. By far the best deal for the most food and the most filling. I can split two footlongs between 4 kids and they will eat every last bit of it, and be full for several hours afterwards.

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Andrew and I talked last night about the high cost of eating out and we both agreed it's just not

worth it. Needless to say, we will not be eating out anymore, except for our upcoming trip down to Florida and even then, we'll stick to Subway. At those prices, our tax refund won't last very long! We'll be packing our snacks like we always do on long trips, and maybe a picnic lunch as well, just to save on eating out at least one meal on the way down.

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Fast food isn't really fast if it takes us more than 30 minutes to get there in the first place. I could have made our meal in that time and enjoyed it much more, use zero gas to get there, and hardly any trash compared to all those wrappers and bags and cheap-o kiddie meal toys that end up scattered on the floor, waiting to be stepped on.

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We used to miss eating out at some of those places, liking the convience of it and hey-- I don't have to cook! But after so long of not going anywhere, we have come to find that we prefer to eat at home, whether it's home-cooked or quickie frozen pizza, it's still a home meal. Cheaper in cost maybe, but richer in every other way. -

Bragging Rights: Couponing Edition

I had an extremely good shopping trip at the food and drug stores recently and I just have to share! But first, I wanted to explain something for those of you not familiar with couponing and the area where I live:

We live in the mountains and the closest 'big' food store is Food Lion 18 miles away. That's also where CVS and Rite Aid are located. Other big food stores are in a larger town 45 minutes away and if I go there, I try to consolidate errands so we are not running down there for just one store or one thing. Many couponers like to frequent stores that double coupons, price match competitors ads and/or accept other stores' coupons. The stores down south must be really nice because the coupon website I go to, people are consistently saving 80 - 90% of their totals while shopping.

The Food Lion where I shop at is just a plain, old, regular grocery store. They don't double coupons or price match because they don't have any competition from any other stores. They know that a lot of people in town go there because they have no other place to go. But still, there are deals to be found if you know what to look for and the coupon website I frequent says that if you learn when your store has their sales, anyone can turn any store into a good store. This such trip was one of those sales.

Because of the Super Bowl, a lot of the 'party foods' and snack foods are on sale. There were several special deals and lots of coupons and I was able to pick up all of the above for a good price. It's my best shopping trip at Food Lion and I'm really pleased with that. There are some items here that I don't ever buy, like the Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough, the pasta mixes and TGIFriday's appetizer, but by combining coupons, sales, and deals, made it too good to pass up and will come in handy for those occasional meals I don't have time to cook from scratch.

• 2- Red Baron pizzas
• 3- Stouffer's French Bread pizzas
• 1- Gallon Milk
• 6- Ragu sauce
• 4- Minute Maid O.J.
• 6- Knorr Pastas
• 1- TGIFridays appetizer
• 2- NY Texas Toast
• 1- Farm Rich Mozzarella Sticks
• 1- Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough
• 2- Jose Ole Taquitos

Before sales and coupons: $87.52 Final Cost: $31.80! That's a savings of over $55.00!!

This next set of food was from CVS and Rite Aid-- drugstores. Before coupons, you'd never see me grocery shopping at drugstores. They're overpriced to begin with and why go there when I can usually get what I need with more choices at the food stores? But since learning how to extreme coupon, I just love drugstores! With the exception of the Vitaminwater, this is stuff we usually always have in the pantry.

• 2- V-8 Juice
• 4- Lipton 100 count Tea bags
• 4- Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice
• 3- Ragu Sauce
• 4- Planters Cashews
• 2- Vitamin waters

Total retail (drugstore) value: $78.86 After sales and coupons: FREE! Yes, free. Actually, I made a profit of $4.96. They paid me! Sweet!

If you total up the two: $166.38 before sales and coupons; Actual out of pocket costs: $26.84!

That's money that stays in the bank account! I have to work a little bit:: cut out coupons and match them up with the sales, maybe save receipts and UPCs to submit for a rebate, but in the long run, I am saving us money and we are eating well. If it was not for coupons, I honestly think we'd be on food stamps by now, because we actually do qualify for food stamps. I see a lot of people here in our town on food stamps and I wish I could teach them to make their money go farther by using coupons and sales. I take it as a challenge sometimes to see how much I can get for the least amount of money possible.

Ok, I'm done with the bragging. I'm just so pleased and it's good to look in my pantry and my freezer and know that my family won't go hungry.

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Shopping Smart in 2011

I didn't really make any set in stone resolutions for this new year, just a few desires expressed to improve upon. Like learning to shoot a .22 and shoot it well. As always, improving the garden and harvesting. Nothing extreme like wanting to visit 50 countries or losing 100 pounds or some such goal.

I do want to do better on our financial situation, though. We have some home improvement projects we'd like to see accomplished, but we never have the money for it. Our Hall Bath is in desperate need of being redone and I think the most costly part of it will be the plumbing-- hiring a plumber to reroute the septic line and water line so we can relocate the toilet and shift the sink over. I like to imagine that we can do most of the work ourselves, but in reality, both of us are not carpenters and other than helping my dad, we don't know much about framing. So that's another job we'll need to hire out. I hope we can keep the budget for redoing the bathroom to under $1,000-- preferably in the $700 range.

Anyway, I'm going to step up on using coupons while I shop. I've made a good start this year and keeping track of receipt totals and actual out-of-pocket costs in a notebook. We sort of lived paycheck to paycheck last year, and more than a few times, we've had to go to the Bank of Mom and borrow a little bit to make it to the next paycheck. We've always paid her back, but I'd like to put an end to that this year. We want to start putting aside a little nest money for emergencies, and though Andrew still works part-time, I can see it happening if we tighten up our belts a bit more.

As of today, my total purchases from the beginning of the year is $545.73. That's a lot for only the first 2 weeks, but with coupons, I've managed to pay out-of-pocket only $150.41! That's over $395 saved! I told Andrew that my goal was to spend only $75 per week on groceries, including diapers. Peter should be out of diapers soon, so once that happens, our weekly total should come down a little bit.

In case you're wondering what I am buying with coupons, here's sampling of items I bought in the first 2 weeks: Diapers, wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, 20 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 24 cans (case) tomato soup, Christmas clearance chocolate candy (used for baking and ok, snacking!), cereal, oatmeal, laundry soap, and cough medicine. This is just a fraction of my purchases, but I am very pleased with what I have gotten for the prices I've paid.

The pantry is full; the bathroom closet is stocked; Peter has diapers to use; the cats and dogs are eating well; we're eating well. It's not easy to save and use coupons like this--it is work. I have to sit down at least an hour every day and search for deals and coupons to match, check internet postings from coupon sites and get multiple Sunday papers for coupons, not to mention cutting out coupons and sorting through them. In order to reduce my grocery bill from $57.20 to paying only $1.99 out-of-pocket, I have to do my homework.

Another thing I want to do this year is not buying clothing for any of us. I have gone through all our drawers and closets and we all have plenty of both warm and cold weather clothing; the kids all got new underwear and socks for Christmas; and so we should not need any more clothing at least until next year. They even have enough shoes, barring any growth spurts. We already shop thrift stores and yard sales, so it's not like we pay a lot for clothes, but still, we have more than enough clothes to wear. I have boxes set aside for the next size up for each child, plus we practice the hand-me-down ritual and thankfully, the girls don't mind.

A friend of mine gave me a stack of coupons yesterday that she doesn't want, so I cut and sorted through them last night. I found a few coupons that are money makers for me if I can get to the store tomorrow before the sale ends. Did you know that there are also several stores that give you a sneak peek at the next week's sales? So you can even decide not to buy this week when you know next week will be cheaper! I know one store is having a sale on mouthwash, which after coupons would cost me $1, but if I wait until next week, I can get the same mouthwash for free after coupons! I think I'll wait.

Any of you set up financial goals this year? Any money saving tricks or tips up your sleeves? I'd love to hear them! :o)
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Good Day for All

It's been a real pleasant day for all of us. I needed to run into the big town for some banking, and since Mom needed to do some banking, too, we took the kids along. Andrew was at work this morning, so it was just us.

Usually, in the van, Peter starts to fuss and protest at being in the car seat, but today, he went right to sleep. The girls all brought little activities to do in the van, so it was quiet from them, too. After stops at the banks, I needed to stop into the drugstore. This particular chain gives me trouble in my hometown when I break out the coupons and do my extreme coupon shopping. I shop there in spurts, inspired by a good sale, then swear off going back after a failed trip, only to repeat a couple months later. They almost never have what I need, the store is messy with stock in bins along the aisles that need to be shelved, the diagonal arrangement of their shelves is confusing even years later, staff argue with me about my coupons and the total I need to pay never matches what I figured beforehand. Andrew has even asked me why I keep going there when I leave so frustrated and pissed. I can only think that when I have read from other websites that people love shopping there and when they tell their success stories, I get a little frustrated-- why can't I figure this place out?? I have CVS figured out, why not here??

I decided to give the drugstore (yet) another chance only because they had certain cold medicines on sale and 3 out of 4 kids are sick. This time, I'd try the one in big town, hoping for better results. Just walking in the door of the drugstore and I could already see the difference! Their store was so neat and the shelves were not arranged in that weird diagonal way like the one I usually go to. Sale items were clearly marked and not sold out (gasp!) and I was able to find everything on my list without any trouble. Even the cashier was ready for me, spotting the coupons I had in my hand and asking if I was doing separate transactions (I was). Clearly, this was a cashier used to coupons. Finally, a pleasant transaction without one hiccup and I walked out feeling pretty good and not one ounce of frustration.

I bought $73 worth of stuff and paid only $1.98. Keep in mind, drugstores are overpriced to begin with, and I would normally never shop there unless there was a sale, and every single item I bought was on sale. Combined with coupons, it all makes for a really good deal. I bought mostly pharmacy items-- several cold and cough medicines for children and adults, cough drops, lip balms, and excedrin. Non-pharmacy was 4 bottles of body washes. My medicine cabinet is good to go for the next few months, barring any major health issues. ~knock on wood~ Anyway, I'll definitely go back to this drugstore and stay away from the one that gives me a headache.

After that, we had lunch at taco bell. I had coupons for free drinks, so lunch was pretty cheap for 6 people. There was a nice old guy with his wife handing out tootsie pops to the kids, and they gave mine 2 each. The kids were pretty happy about the lollipops. Then while getting the food, the guys in the cook area gave each of the kids free cinnamon twists! What a day for them! They ate quietly and even Peter seemed to be on his best behavior, instead of climbing over the partition between booths. He must not be feeling 100%.

It doesn't take much to make me happy, and it certainly is nice when things go smoothly and unexpected surprises pop up. I was in such a good mood that even when the 'check engine' light came on in the van on the way home, it didn't dampen my spirits. Hopefully it's just the sensor, it's given us problems before.

Andrew had a good day, too. He got a card at his regular spot at the mall. The boss recently let a co-worker go, so he'll be getting more hours until a replacement is hired. He got a little raise, and with the extra hours, it'll add up.

I'll end the day with 'Good Night' and hopefully I'll have some sweet dreams. :o)
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Catching up

* None of the fallen feathers from the chickens go to waste around here. The kids like to gather them up and make things with them. Cat toys are the main project, but Evelyn crafted this indian hat and was so proud of it. With all the sales on school supplies going on, I am stocking up on plenty of markers, crayons, pens, construction paper, and glue. Glue goes fast around here and we have already used up one bottle within a week of purchasing it!!

*Sylvia's 'attachment' preference is tape. Lots of it!! She uses so much of my tape that I have to hide it or else it will be gone. On one of our little visits into town, we decided to let the kids have fun in the dollar store and pick one item each to get since they had behaved well that day. Sylvia picked tape! 8 rolls of tape for $1! I tell ya, that was the best thing she could have ever picked! She likes to wrap little toys in construction paper ( trying to get her to switch to newspaper) and lots of tape to seal it up, then she leaves her "presents" around the house for us to find and unwrap. I swear she uses half a roll of tape just to tape one present! But it's her tape and her dollar, so I'm not saying a word. I try to show her she can use less tape, but she pushes my hands away and keeps at it.

*Andrew has the day off on Sunday, so I am going to butcher a rooster or two for dinner that day. It cannot be put off any longer! Just this afternoon, looking through the window, I caught 4 roosters, taking turns, mounting one poor little hen! Poor girl! I rushed outside and scattered them, but told myself it's time for them to go. The young ones are almost as big as the older ones, and if it wasn't for their non-existent spurs, I'd never be able to tell which is which! Only the two older roos have long spurs.

*Working on a wet walnut how-to post. I should have that up next week. I popped open one of the jars I canned last week, poured some on ice cream and it's so good! I'd like to try it with pecans one day, just substitute the walnuts with pecans. Maybe over the holidays when the nuts go on sale... This is when I miss living in Louisiana where we could pick fallen pecans and fill paper bags full of them for free!

*I think Peter is ready to be potty trained. He keeps taking off the diapers or he sticks his hand down the front of the diapers to play with his willy and then the fit gets messed up and the pee trickles down his legs. After the supply of diapers I have runs out, I'll be switching to training pants and then start potty training. I can see the light at the end of the diaper tunnel!! hooray!! more than 8 years of constant diaper changing and I'll soon be done!

*One of the young hens laid their first egg today! Pretty soon, the other ones will start laying and I should be getting at least 8-10 daily. When I have several dozen, I'd like to try and sell some. Make a sign and hang it out front. I might be able to avoid doing that and sell to friends and family only. Did you see that massive recall on eggs the other day??? Good grief! Makes me happy I have my own chickens.

*My mom feel down twice this week. Makes 3 times this year. Nothing broken or sprained, but she gets sore and hurts a few days afterwards. I need to keep a closer eye on her and get her in for a check-up. I want her to live a good long time, watch her grandchildren grow up and hopefully, she'll live long enough to see her great-grandchildren, too.

*Good news/Bad news:: I got my period/I'm not pregnant! It's never fun or easy when Aunt Flo comes to visit me every month, but when she is here, it's a relief to know I have dodged the pregnancy bullet once again. Andrew has an appointment for a consultation for getting snip-snipped! I can't wait! No more worrying when Aunt Flo is late or having to deal with raincoats anymore! Was that TMI??? :o) It's my blog, I can write what I want!

*It's almost time for that children's consignment place to start up again. I think I'll be selling the kids' out-grown clothes there for sure. The foyer has boxes and boxes of too small clothing they don't wear anymore and it looks like a yard sale is not going to happen this year. I am considering volunteering one day a week with the sale, because she added a new bonus to volunteers this year:: for every hour past the required 4 hours you volunteer, 1% will be added to your percentage of the sale. If you just consign, the percentage you earn from the sale of your goods is 50%; with the volunteer hours, if I worked 2 8-hour shifts, that would net me 12 (16 hours minus the required 4) extra percent to my sales making my total 62%! So if I sold $100 worth of items, I'd get back $62 instead of $50. Makes a difference.

Andrew usually gets 2 days off per week, so if I can leave the kids home with him, get there early and stay most of the day, I could handle a day or two per week and try to volunteer at least 4 days which would give me, hopefully, 48 hours of volunteer time. That would be equal to 44 percent added to my 50 which makes 94%! In the past, money earned from the sale of our items went to pay for car insurance. It sure would be nice to have that extra money again. The sale starts Sept 13th, so that gives me a month to get ready for it.

*It's the weekend! Andrew is working Saturday, so I'll be canning tomatoes in the cool of the morning before it gets too hot. Off to bed for me!

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We went into the "Big City" on Friday to visit family and friends and make a couple stops here and there. We got caught in rush hour and it took us 40 minutes to go 11 miles on the beltway. Living in the mountains made us forget how to plan ahead and leave early to get to our destination on time in traffic. It was hot and humid and all the exhaust from the cars made my eyes water and gasp for air. You couldn't pay us to move back to the Big City!

It was a good trip, though, and we enjoyed our visits with everybody. We didn't return home until after midnight and it was so good to be home again, in the quiet, cool mountains, away from all the hustle and bustle of cars and smog and crowded homes.

We have our moments, sometimes, when we wonder why we moved more than 2 hours away from all our friends and family and all we need to do is visit them to be reminded why we love it where we are. We live where people go away to for the weekends.

The fourth of July is coming up and we may go back to the Big City for that day, depending on if Andrew has to work or not. Looking forward to being with friends, not so much the traffic. Wait and see what happens at work-- The Boss fired someone, so Andrew and his co-worker need to pick up the slack and work more hours. Good for the bank account, so I'm not complaining.

Speaking of the bank account, I've been doing really well with the couponing. People that save huge amounts and pay little are called 'extreme couponers' and I think I can join the ranks now. Sunday was a very good day for me at CVS (a drugstore). I sat down with the sales papers and my coupons and worked out a plan on Saturday night (no more partying for me on Saturday nights!) and then Sunday morning I went to CVS. My grand total came to $82 and I paid only $6 plus I got $11 back in CVS bucks! Whoo-hoo! I got stuff we needed, too:: paper towels, diapers, pads, razors and shaving cream. It's a thrill to see the cash register total go down, down, down as I hand over coupons and CVS bucks to pay only small amounts and get approving nods from the cashiers.

I was telling my friends about it and I was thinking of maybe hosting a workshop for other deaf people to show them how to use coupons to the extreme. It doesn't take a lot of time to use coupons, only a couple of hours a week to cut them out and match them up with sales and then comes the fun part-- shopping!

We used to struggle with the grocery bill every month and a lot of times we had to go without because our budget just couldn't allow it. Since I've been extreme couponing, the pantry has been consistently stocked and I find myself spending way less than we used to, even though we have more mouths to feed (Grandma moved in and Peter now eats regular foods). Even the bathroom cabinet is nearly overflowing with extra toiletries we use; like shampoo and soap, toothpaste, razors, body washes and band aids.

I get diapers for cheap, too. The other night, I didn't pack enough diapers for our trip to the Big City, so I made a last minute run to CVS for a big box of diapers. Usually, last minute purchases are expensive, but lucky me, I had my coupon book, so I bought a box of 54 diapers that normally cost $25, on sale for $19.99, used a $3 off $15 store coupon, a $3 manufacturer's coupon, a $3 store coupon, and $2 CVS bucks so I paid $9 plus tax and got back $10 in CVS bucks for my next shopping trip, so I ended up getting it for FREE! Sweet!

Then Sunday, airhead me forgot to pack more diapers in the diaper bag, so I needed to buy diapers, again, when Peter took a dump while we were in the store. I managed to get an 8-pack of paper towels, 2 packs of pads, and a pack of diapers and after using coupons and CVS bucks, I paid? 77 cents! Yes, 77 cents! How can you not enjoy shopping when you don't even have to touch the bank account??

Andrew used to get a little grumpy at me when I said I was heading out to the store for what seemed like the 18th time that week. It only looks like I am shopping a lot more, when in reality, I am spending a lot less, just making more purchases to spread out the coupon love. Some stores limit how many coupons I can use, like multiples of the same coupon are not allowed at one store; or another store will not take internet coupons that have 'buy one get one free' on it. So I have to get smart and spread 'em out a little bit. When Andrew checks the bank balance and sees that we still have money in there at the end of the month, in fact, more than he expected, he feels alright about my shopping practices. He likes to hear how much I saved or how much I paid for a certain item.

Target, this week, has Oscar Mayer hotdogs on sale for $1.39! That's the cheapest I've ever seen them, then add a $1 off 2 coupon and that makes it 89 cents each!! Good time to stock up and throw some in the freezer! That's really what extreme couponing is about: stocking up when the price and the coupons are right and then when you need it, you have it, instead of paying full price for it later on. I happened to have 6 coupons, so I bought 12 packages of hotdogs. Now for the summer, I won't need to buy any more hotdogs and I can focus my attention to other good buys and coupon matches. Oh, and to go with those hotdogs, Heinz 40oz ketchup is on sale at Target for $1!! Good deal! An even better deal is Hunt's ketchup for $1 at Food Lion and there is a $1 off 2 coupon which makes it 50 cents a bottle! My family prefers Heinz, but I bought Hunt's for cooking with-- like when I make sloppy joes or meatloaf.

Anyone interested in a couponing workshop?? Let me know and I'll see what I can do! :o)
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