Target Deals

I am headed over to Target at lunch today to get some of their deals…

 

Snuggle Fabric Softener - $3.99

$3.00 coupon

OOP - .99

 

Rayovac Batteries - $1.00 (dollar section)

$1/2 coupon

OOP = .50 each

 

Dial Soap - $1.37

$1.00 Target Coupon

.35 Man coupon

OOP = .02

 

Air Wick I Motion Starter Kit - $6.00

$2 Target Coupon

$5 Man coupon

OOP = Free

 

GE Energy Smart Light bulbs - $2.99

$2 Target Coupon

$1 Man Coupon

OOP = Free

 

I am going to buy…

 

6 Packs of Batteries ($3.00)

2 Dial soap (.04)

2 Air Wick I Motion Kits (free)

2 GE Light bulbs (free)

2 Snuggle (1.98)

 

Total OOP = 5.02

 

Isn’t that AWESOME!  I will let you know how it goes because I also plan on getting some Marvel vitamins for the girls ($1 Target and $1 Man coupons)!!

Nothing

Guess what I have decided to do this evening (after going to Bed Bath & Beyond, the mall and Mimi's Cafe for dinner)? Nothing! That's it... absolutely nothing and everything that I haven't done in a while.
I caught up on Ugly Betty from this week and learned that next week is going to be the last episode... very upset about that, but nothing I can do about it except for seriously enjoy it last week.
This month seems to be a great month so far and is only going to get better. Peezy had a doctor appointment today to check her ears as one of the tubes had been clogged/blocked after she had them put in and went for her post-op. The verdict is that her ears are clear! The first time in since before Christmas that she hasn't had an ear infection. I'm very happy about that.
Next, we have my job. It seems to be going great and the accounting department has given my boss the go ahead for us to do something that I think we should have been doing all along, so that is a plus. I also got trained in a billing function (which is not "my" function) so there are now two of us in the entire company that know how to do this particular task.
Hubs' job is great and he's trying out for a special task force at work at the end of the month. I'm sure that he'll get it as he's awesome at his job and they have come after him to fill this position. Needless to say we're excited about it.
This is the last month of this semester in school. I have decided to take the summer off to spend time with the family and not to spend the money on it since we're having to pay the deductible for the girls' surgeries. Which is a lot. Not to mention that I think I did pretty good this semester. This is my first time going back to school and really dedicating myself to doing it and doing it well in a long time. I have to give thanks to my hubs for this one. He has been extremely supportive and I couldn't ask for more!
I have re-worked our budget and we should be having a lot of money left over every month and hubs has committed this evening to really sticking to our weekly allowances and the rest to pay bills and necessities. Whatever is left over will sit into the bank until we get to a comfort level of $3000 and then will put anything above that into a savings account. I told him how much we could have by the end of the year and he was really excited so we will be closer to our goal of buying some land, paying it off and then building a house within the next five years (woo!).
My grandmother had surgery Tuesday and she came out of it OK.
Easter was great this year. Like it is every year, but this year Peezy understood more of what the egg hunts were about and was a much more active participant in them! It was great and we got some good pictures.
My in laws put in a bid on a beach house and they were outbid on it, BUT that just means it wasn't meant to be and they will find something else they like better that is more "them." I am actually very excited about it. I just really hope it has a private pool like this place did so when I put the girls down I can go chill out by the pool. I'm not really good at laying out but I am good at falling asleep and if I can do that and get some sun at the same time then awesome, so it would be good if we were somewhere I could lie by the water and still hear the baby monitor!
This month has been great so far and we're only on day eight so I can't wait to see what the rest of the month will bring.

Normal? What's that?

Do you ever think that your life isn’t normal compared to everyone else’s?  I think about it sometimes.  There are times where we have so much going on, are being pulled in ten different directions at one time and drama behind the scenes that I just wonder if our lives are ever going to be “normal” like everyone else’s.

What is normal?  Is there such a thing?  I think I am just wishing for a boring, non-eventful life.  Does that ever happen?  Will there ever come a day when I come home from work, cook dinner, get the kids ready for bed and they go down easy, and just be able to relax?  Does that ever happen in anyone else’s life?  I know for the next two to three years that’s not going to happen because I’m in school full time on top of everything else but we just have so much going on that I wonder… does normal ever happen?

Between both of us working full time jobs, both of us in school full time, him trying out for a “special” squad at work that includes a lot of overtime, classes out of town, more training, etc. and not to mention Poot has dance once a week,  and all the drama that comes with her having a “other daddy” (that’s what she calls her biological father, my ex-husband), huge family and trying to accommodate everyone for holidays (a whole other issue!) and trying to keep up with normal household stuff (which seems to increase with each passing day).

My goal right now I think is going to be to de-clutter my house.  Maybe that will makes things easier.  I might try to get stuff together for a yard sale and just clean everything out.  But then my garage will be cluttered for a few weeks with all this stuff.  Hmmm… I don’t know… what do you think?

OH… new month so new free photo book from hot prints (shipping free too!) so go sign up and get your book.

Sleep?

I have been a bit sleep deprived this week. After our short weekend trip the trend stayed at not getting to bed before midnight! Sunday I started thinking though (dangerous I know) but my quality of sleep I was getting was horrible so back to the gym I went this week. I went Monday and tuesday and the sleep I did get was great and it didn't take long to fall asleep (another plus). I didn't work out tonight but am going to bed after I write this. I've also lost more weight this week. Working out definitely has its advantages! I highly suggest it to anyone. Six pounds this week. Oh yeah I've been back to eating well and remembering every little bit helps!
Good night world!

Hubs’ vehicle is in the shop getting fixed so he took my car to go to school last night so I was “carless” until he got home about 10:45, so I finally made it to Harris Teeter last night at 11:00 p.m. (right before their triple coupon sale ended) and RACKED UP!!!  Check out what all I got…

 

Transaction 1…

6 cans of Pillsbury Grand Jrs.

Total OOP = 3.99

BUT got a $4 off my next order coupon print out

 

Transaction 2… (I used the $4 off next order coupon I got above)

Kraft single cheese

Box of Kashi Cereal

Quart of International Delights French Vanilla Creamer

2 – boxes Barilla whole wheat spaghetti

2 – boxes country crock stick butter

3 – 16 oz containers Breakstone Sour Cream

2 – packs of Oscar Meyer Turkey Bacon

Total OOP = .75

 

Transaction 3… (I had a $5 off $40 order coupon I got in the mail)

Martha White Muffin Mix

Joy Dish Detergent

Gallon of milk

Quart of International Delights French Vanilla Creamer

½ Gallon of Silk Soy Milk

Package of Oscar Meyer Turkey Bacon

2 – 1 lb bags of Rold Gold Pretzels

3 – packs Chinet Coffee To go cups (the nice ones with the lids)

2 – envelopes Ortega Taco Seasoning

4 – envelopes Ortega Fajita Seasoning

3 – bags of Texas Toast Croutons

2 – packs of Tuna

9 – packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 – bags of Dole frozen fruit

2 – boxes country crock stick butter

Total OOP = $31.61

 

Total OOP = $36.35

Total Saved = $146.22

Should have cost = $182.57

Savings of 80%!!!

 

Yes, this may be a bunch of random stuff but with the savings it was worth it.  So we have enough butter to last for a long time (four boxes of the country crock sticks) but I got them for free so that saves me money in the long run.  They were buy one get one free at $1.39 with a .55 coupon that multiplied, so I bought four and used two coupons and got all four for nothing.  You have to stock up on weeks like this and if you shop your other weeks and stock up then too you end up with a pantry full of food and plenty of things to choose from for meals.  You just have to stock up each week with all the free and cheap stuff that you can and then shop from your pantry for your menu!

 

Thank You Hubs

Here is a huge thank you to my hubs for making me a Harris Teeter snob! Yes, I am admitting it and at the same time placing blame.
I used to be anti-HT with excuses that they were to expensive to shop there. I used to say that my usual shopping place that advertises everyday low prices was cheaper but I have been proven wrong. Now that I have fully embraced the joy of coupon shopping I see the error of my ways. So my apologies and thanks to my hubs for showing me the error of my ways.
Granted I haven't made it there yet this week to cash in on the triple coupon special but you can bet I will be there tomorrow evening coupon book and sale list in hand to stock up on yet even more food and supplies.
Also my apologies for any misspellings as I wrote this from my BB and have fat fingers!
Have a great night everyone. I'm about to crawl into bed and sleep away the night in the most comfortable bed ever. Remind me to tell you how we got it at a greatly reduced price one day (makes it even more comfy)!!

Thought of the Day

When people treat others like crap its usually a reflection of how they feel about themselves!  Smile anyways… you never know what someone is going through.  You could be the only smiling face they’ve seen in a long time.  It’s harder to take the high road but nobody ever said doing the right thing would be easy.  But Karma’s a bitch so CYA!!!

Momentum Gaining Monday

Today is the typical Monday.  I woke up late because (1) I didn’t want to get up and (2) I took a trip with the girls this weekend that required a LOT of driving by myself with both girls.  They did very well though considering I had them up at 5:00 am on Friday and Sunday!

Well, today is typical… I woke up late and am at work and not really “feeling it.”  I have a busy week planned including going through five weeks of coupons and sorting them into my binder this weekend since Harris Teeter has triple coupons and the last day is tomorrow and I’ve yet to go grocery shopping since it started.  I can’t believe I let myself fall that far behind, but life is busy!

After visiting with my girlfriend over the weekend and seeing her unfruitful plight at post baby weight loss it has really thrown me back into the “I gotta lose weight” mindset again.  I have to get down to where I want to be.  Not to mention I bought this super cute bathing suit in South Beach Miami last August that I really want to look cute in, but who wants a drop dead gorgeous husband and not be able to say the same about yourself.  People probably look at us and are like “what is he doing with her?” and I don’t want that anymore.  Yes, I lost a lot of weight after I had Peezy but honestly, I have a lot more to go so I have now dedicated myself back to it.  I want to be my hubs’ equal this summer and look smokin’ hot for him J  I want him to not even want to look at other women because his wife is so hot LOL!  How funny is that for me to even be thinking that!

I can do it and I will do it.  Not to mention one of my girlfriends is joining the gym I work out at so now I have a workout buddy too.  I can’t wait to be able to workout and BS all at the same time.  Will make the time fly by faster and make it a lot more fun than doing it by myself. 

So… here’s to my gaining momentum on my weight loss battle and I will do it.  Will you hold me accountable?  I didn’t weigh myself this morning because honestly I was scared to after eating what I did on our trip this weekend.  I will weigh myself Wednesday to get a better grasp of where I am. Also, I am going to be diving back in head first into using sparkpeople.com.  They are a wonderful website to aid in weight loss and help hold you accountable.  You should try it.  I know I am!

not good at this

OK so I've come to the realization that I can't keep up with a "money savinf," "frugal" blog. I'm just going to have to get over it and post what I know about day in and day out... My life.

My life is great. I love it. I don't like letting little things pass me by and I haven't been great at it lately but what do you expect with my life? Full time work, school, mom and wife. I'm busy but I love it.

Time to switch gears. Welcome to my life!!!

Saving on Other "Others"

Now, where else did I save money?  I started on my other “Others”… eating out, shopping, Christmas, etc. (Yes, I really did list Christmas in there!)

 

I spoke with one of my girlfriends who lives diligently by her budget and they manage very well on their salaries and I was curious about how she did it.  I did so with the disclaimer that she didn’t have to tell me anything because it is quite a personal subject, but she divulged without divulging everything and what an eye opener!!  I will start with saying that I’ve heard through the grape vine that she was very controlling about their money but honestly, I don’t see it.  They have everything they need and are able to have extra money, they don’t freak out when something goes wrong and an extra expense pops up and I was very envious.  How did she do this?

 

Her answer was very simple… the envelope system.  Now I had heard about this envelope system from various websites but didn’t really think much of it but with the days of credit cards, debit cards and checking accounts why would anyone want to take their money out of their account and just let it sit there in envelopes at home?  BUT she said that it works for them.  Her hubs gets paid once a month so on that day she goes to the bank and withdraws cash (she even tells them what denomination she wants the money in) and takes this home and puts in her envelopes.

 

Her envelopes are things that she can control…

Groceries

Birthdays

Eating out

Christmas

His Allowance

Her Allowance

 

Granted, those are only a few of them, but just taking control of a few things allows you to have better grasp of everything as a whole.  If you only saved in four areas of your budget how much could you save?  Think about it… I was spending a hellacious amount on groceries and just that one area is Bug’s day care for the entire year!  That’s a huge difference.  We spend too much on eating out, especially the hubs and I for lunch, but we’re about to get that back into “check” here very shortly and go back to our weekly allowance. 

 

We did attempt to budget our Christmas last year and it worked out wonderfully.  We had gone away to South Beach Miami for my birthday last summer and on the way back (since he couldn’t run away from me on the airplane) I approached the idea of budgeting Christmas.  We listed everyone we had to buy for and how much we would spend on them.  We divided the total by the number of pay days between “here” and the end of November and that’s how much we took out in cash each week and put in our Christmas budget.  This was a huge sanity saver last year.  As I found things that people would like (especially the girls) that were on clearance I went ahead and bought them.  Not to mention that it didn’t hit us all at one time!  That was nice.  We will be doing it again this year and I need to go ahead and start on that.

 

Allowance is definitely the way to go.  Hubs and I were (and are about to implement again) an allowance of $20 each per week.  This was great.  I took it out in cash each week so we wouldn’t be tempted to try and keep to the $20 while using our cards.  This is for everything that isn’t included in the budget… a coke from the gas station, eating out for lunch, tobacco products, if I want a book from the store, magazines, new shirt, and just anything that’s not from the house pretty much.  We do buy clothes every now and again but normally when we find something on a good sale, but because we save everywhere else it’s not a big deal.

 

Eating out… my friend would take out $20 per month to eat out (they only had an infant child at that time so that budget wouldn’t work for my family of four) but this forced them to be creative!  Finding the specials, using coupons, ordering take out instead of eating there so they didn’t have to pay $1.50 for each tea/soft drink or tip for the server and things like that.  I implemented this in a way that would work for me.  We took out $10 per week and when we had enough to eat where we wanted then we would use it.  I also had coupons for a tons of places and searched for deals online before going.  Sometimes we would also throw our allowances together to be able to eat out somewhere we really wanted.  it worked well. 

 

Birthdays… my friend and her hubs sat down and wrote a list of everyone they needed to buy birthday presents for and the amount to spend on each.  They took this out each month and tried to think of ahead.  Example… after mother’s and father’s day a ton of stuff goes on sale and this is when they go out and buy some of the birthday presents for people that are coming up.  She also bought Christmas stuff at this time with money from their Christmas fund.  This allowed them to come in under budget in both areas and left them with a surplus that they then spent on a mini vacation for themselves. 

 

See… being frugal, saving money, being smart does pay off.  The smarter you try and plan things the better the work in the long run.  My friends had money left over and therefore didn’t feel the least bit guilty on spending that on themselves because every other area is taken care of. 

 

Next… see my list on ways to save in other ways.  You may call this my “Other OTHERS List”