Coming SOON!!

I don't know how many of you know this but I am a Den Mother for the What to Expect boards which has been a huge blessing to me over the years that I have been a member. Over this past summer I was chosen to be a sponsor for Learning Curve and they sent me some really great stuff which I feel like I need to blog about their products! So I will be posting some pictures soon of the products they sent me and my personal review! My favorite and probably Conners favorite are the Thomas the Tank travel dinner wear set and The First Years convertible car seat which is the greatest car seat ever! Be on the lookout for those posts!! Oh on that same subject they also just sent me their brand new breast pump!! Called the Mi pump! Im excited about that!!

Grocery savings this week!!

So this week we were almost out of chicken that I stocked up last 2 sales at Publix and Kroger for 1.99 a lb, and thankfully it just went back on sale at Kroger this week so it was stock up time! I went to Publix twice and Kroger once and here is what we got for $80 and saved over $200!!!

Similac
Gerber Oatmeal
8 packages of chicken breasts
3 lbs of ground turkey
7lbs of ground beef
2 avocados
1 package of mushrooms
24 - 8oz packages of Kraft cheese (yes 24!!! at .91 cents each!!!)
cilantro (won't be buying this much more since I am growing a plant!!!)

YAY!!! This will last well over 3 to 4 mths!
minced garlic
eggs
taco sauce

LOTS OF FREEBIES!!

Im sorry its been awhile since I posted last but the boys have been sick which tends to keep me pretty busy but strangely they are both taking a nap right now which is amazing so I thought I would jump on here and post some fun freebies!

Quizno's if giving away a free sub to the first million people to sign up!

Quizno's free sub


Arby's has a coupon for a free Roast Sandwich with a purchase of any size drink!

Arby's Roast Sandwich


Store freebies
Keep in mind there are more but they are things I wouldn't use so I'm not listing them but I will post a link to Southern Savers list of all the freebies! :)

http://www.southernsavers.com/2009/02/festival-of-free-6/

Walgreens

Reynolds wrap .89 with in ad coupon
Use $1/1 coupon from 2/8 insert
Free after coupons

Gillete Fusion Gamer 8.99
Use $4 coupon from P&G 2/8
Get $6 RR's back so you make $1.01

There are also 5 freebies after rebate items as well with coupons that you can find under Walgreens post.

CVS

Free after ECBS

Gillete Fusion Gamer 7.99
Use $4 from P&G 2/8
Get back $4 ECB Free after coupon and ECBS

CVS childrens chewable asprin 1.99
1.99 ECBs back, Free!

True Delights freebies!

I love getting freebies in the mail and I know I posted about this before but i just got my True Delights sample in my mail, which Conner and I ate in about 5 minutes! :) We got the raspberry, chocolate, almond one which I picked off the almonds and let Conner eat those but it was great! PLUS!! A $1 off coupon came with it!

I hope these go on sale soon because they are really great!

You too can get a $1 off coupon here!

Free CHEESE!!!

If you are a blogger and would like to get free cheese here is a great way to do it!
Ile De France Cheese

Click on the link above and sign up, choose a cheese that you would like to try and then after they send it to you write a review about it in your blog! I love their goat cheese so free goat cheese was a huge excitement for me! Plus they are sending a 10 oz product which is about $12 at Publix!

Mid Carolina Electric Customers!!!

If you are a customer then you are a member! Which means if you attend the meeting at Lexington High School on April 4th at 5:30pm, stay and vote, you will get $20 off your bill!!

So easy!!! For more information you can call your local office! Everyone that attends will be entered for a drawing for a free 2002 Toyota truck and it looks like its a work truck that they dont need anymore but still free truck!

What a great Valentines!

Well this was probably one of the best Valentines and we didnt even spend alot of money! The best part was my mom and Randy coming by at 1130 and taking the boys till Sunday! After the boys left Darien and I just laid on the couch for 3 or 4 hours just vegging out which isnt something we get to do! Then being able to take our time going out to dinner and a movie and not having a time frame to get back to was really nice! We went to our favorite sushi restaurant that we havent' been to in a year. Then went to see He's Just Not That Into You, which was really funny! OH AND THE BEST PART!!!! No putting kids to bed and worrying about having the tv too loud to wake them up then being able to sleep in and not worry about which child is going to wake you up first!!! It was amazingly refreshing!! Now back to our regular schedule which was a little difficult to get back to having that wonderful day then mom and I getting massages on Sunday and Darien not having to work on Monday we just had a really long but great weekend!

I did get out Saturday before dinner to run by and get my reciept adjusted at Walgreens and I got back $9.45 so basically on my last trip when I spent $10.66 or something like that I really should have only paid a dollar!!

I also got out on Sunday to CVS to grab my free toothpaste and used my raincheck for the Throat Coolers from last month and spent $1.60 and got back $19!! Apparently CVS really wants me to shop there!

I hope you all had a great weekend and Presidents day!!

Free Sample of Huggies wipes!

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid66000.aspx

Walmart has really good samples that you get free in your mailbox and right now you can get a sample of Huggies Soft Skin wipes and Viva paper towels!

Free samples of Maybeline!

Walmart always ha really good samples you get in the mail which we LOVE! But right now there is a good sample of all 12 of Maybelines new foundation!

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid65952.aspx

My trip today!

So thanks to Holly reminding me of Krogers 8 hour sale I went to get fruit for Conner and then decided I would make my stop at Walgreens with my 15% off coupon. So I spent $9.33 at Kroger and then Walgreens well thats a different story! They forgot to take off my Bounty in store coupon and then didnt take off one of my $2 razor coupons but since I had both boys with me who needed naps I di realize it until I got in the car. Well let me rephrase that... I did notice because my total was 10.40 and I should have only paid $3 but again both boys and I there was a line behind me.

So here is my picture and the list of what I got!

Kroger

4 pints of blueberries 99 cents each

1 bag of grapes 99 cents a lb

1 half gallon of OJ 99 cents

10 cans of manwhich $1 a piece

I had .50 cents off 2 coupons for the manwich and then Krogers $3 off when you buy 10 which was awesome!

Anyways total $9.33! saved 71%!

Walgreens

5 Schick 4 packs disposable razors 4.24

8 rolls of Bounty paper towels with in ad coupon .89 (1.18)

1 Revlon Spa foundation 9.99

1 diet dr pepper

1 pack of huggies 9.99

5 $2 MFG for Schick

5 $2 store coupons for Schick (only took off for 4)

$2 off Revlon

Free Diet Dr Pepper coupon (sign up here)

$1.50 Huggies coupon

I used my $12 in register rewards and the 15% family and friends

I paid 10.40 OOP Saved 55.71, plus I will get back $9.99 plus 10% at the end of the month for the Revlon

Oh and just so you dont think Im crazy! We actually needed paper towels and I always run out and theres never a sale when I run out!

SWAG bucks

Have I mentioned recently how much I like Swag Bucks? There are lots of scam programs out there promising all sorts of things, but Swag Bucks is one of the few programs I've found that really works.
If you're unfamiliar with Swag Bucks, basically it's a search engine that randomly rewards you with points just for doing online searches. Seriously, that's all there is to it.
You'll likely earn between 1-3 points per day for searches and when you have 45 points, you can cash in for a $5 Amazon gift card. At 50 points, you can earn a $5 Starbucks gift card. And there are dozens of other great prizes to choose from as well. In fact, they just added airline miles as one of the new prizes.
For those of you with blogs or who have lots of friends who use the internet, you'll also want to check out their referral program. For every person who signs up with your referral code, you can earn up to 100 matching Swag Bucks! I have had so much fun introducing many of my friends to this fun program and seeing them earn prizes for doing what most all of us do on a regular basis every day--searching online!

There are codes that will get you more points so if you are still hesitant to sign up wait and I will post codes when I get them OR you can watch moneysavingmom.com and she will also give you codes when they become available!

Coupon Binder

When you really start getting into couponing here is a great source to start your coupon binder! Ill post my pictures when I get my binder on sale! LOL They are currently $18.99 at Target right now at full price... I may fold and just buy it but im holding out for now.

http://www.afullcup.com/forums/couponing-101/119266-lauras-couponing-refunding-hints-tips-well-coupon-binder-how.html

$5 MAGAZINES!!!!

https://subscribe.hearstmags.com/sub.../veranda/23398

I just got 12 issues of Cosmo for $5.35!!

Here are the magazines included

Valentine's Day SaleIncludes:
Cosmo
Seventeen
Town and Country
Good Housekeeping
Redbook
Smartmoney
House Beautiful
Veranda
Marie Claire
Country Living
Esquire
Popular Mechanics
Haper's Bazaar
O magazine

This is for you AMY!! :)

Ok here you go ways to navigate Afullcup.com! After you sign up click on the forums tab, there will be a ton!! The first section is for newbies, crys for help (aka if you need something specific like organic baby food coupons), getting started couponing, how to organize your coupons, etc.

Down below that you have all of your drugstores, grocery stores, super centers, and other stores. Lets say you want to go to CVS click on the CVS forum and you will get a page that looks confusing but is very helpful! The first section is Sticky threads that stay at the top. There is a thread for your good deals, for deals you have questions on, then ADS! They will sticky ads that people have gotten in advance. There are CVS ads up all the way through March right now so that you can go through the ad and pre plan for what deals you will do AND if you dont have a coupon for that you can find one! Like on ebay! Yes people sell coupons on ebay! For example.... I bought 8 $1 off 2 bounty paper towel coupons for $1.50 including tax, $1.50 is what I would pay for a paper so even with paying $1.50 I still got a great deal because I saved over $8 still with the sale plus coupons.

Ok back to the subject! Down below the sticky ads you can still find good deals from other members posting them and you can find alot of other information that will be helpful.

The key to using these sites is dont be afraid to ask questions and post! If you dont ask you will never find out! And when you do ask most of the time there is someone out there reading your question wanting to know the same thing.

IF YOU NEED MORE HELP NAVIGATING! Email me! :)

Walgreens

Walgreens is a little different than CVS but you can still find good deals here. Their system works by buying an item that gives you Register Rewards or RR's. They print off on a catalina after you buy an item or items that are on the sale ad. Right now you can buy the same Gilette Fusion Gamer razor for 8.99 and get $6 RR's back BUT!!! here is the big BUT!!! You cannot roll them and buy another razor and get the $6 back! Yea thats the not so fun thing.... Which makes it a little harder to shop at Walgreens but you can use their rebate system as well if you dont mind waiting till the end of the month to see your money.

Right now Walgreens has alot of things on their rebates that are free. When you buy Revlon Spa concealer, foundation, or lip creme gloss you get the full amount you paid back! They are all limit one but if you like Revlon's makeup its a great deal. Plus if you have coupons for them they make them money makers! I have only gotten the lip gloss right now and paid 7.99 but will get back 9.99 plus 10% at the end of the month. There are 4 others that are free with rebate that include Zuco throat losenges, Therma care heat wraps 2count, Walgreens contact colution, and Garnier Fructis Wave products. You can add as many reciepts as you want but dont actually send them in until the end of the month because you can only do that once! You can do this online and view the rebate book online as well. You will want to get an account so you can enter reciepts online.

I dont really have much I am doing at Walgreens this week but here is whay I am doing...

I have $12 in RR's from buying 2 razors already so keep that in mind. Im also not really trying to roll these because there isnt really anything that gives me RR's back that I want.

8 Bounty paper towel rolls at .89 with in a coupon (all stores keep these up front and you can flip through it without having to clip this and it will take it off all that you bought so you dont need 8 in ad coupons) 7.12
1 Revlon Spa foundation 9.99
1 pack of Pampers 9.99
Therma care wraps 2.49
=29.59

use 4 $1 off 2 bounty
$2 off Revlon
$2 off Therma care
$1.50 off Pampers
15% off all item Friends and Family card(this is a 2 day thing that you get from an employee at Walgreens, I got mine from a girl I traded on AFC!!!)

I have to use my 15% off first which works out better for me anyways! :)

after all my coupons 15.75 then my $12 in RR's equals $3.75 oop!

THEN! I get back 9.99 from my foundation and 2.49 for the Thermacare!

CVS

Ok so to start off you need to get a CVS card! Walgreens doesnt have a card as of yet so they just set limits on how much you can buy in one transaction. CVS only has Extra bucks as their program but the Extra Bucks that print off are like cash! So NEVER throw these away!!

CVS basics...

When getting started at CVS you want to look at their monthly ad and their weekly ad. The monthly ad pretty much always has something free after ECBs each month. This month is CVS Childrens chewable asprin, Ear rinse, and Extreme Energy shots. Yea they sound boring but if you dont really need them then donate them but they help you ad to your ECBs. Most of the time you can find coupons for the item which make them money makers but this month thats not the case. Southernsavers.com will always give you good starter plans for first timers.
I set this plan up for one of Dariens colleague's.

1 Gilette Fusion Gamer 7.99
2 Gilette shampoo 4.99
2 Colgate toothpaste bogo 1.99
=19.96 before coupons

I am giving him a few coupons but a few of these came out last week.
-$4 fusion P&G (Proctor and Gamble) came out 2/8
- 2 $2 off Gilette shampoo or last week was $2 off any 2 which isnt as good but it works
- 2 $1 off Colgate SS 2/1 (SS is Smart source)

OOP = 9.96 or 11.96 if you have the $2 off 2 coupon
you will get back $4 from the razor and $8 for the Gilette


Then your goal is to roll these each time you go in! The ECB's are good for a month so if you have to skip a week because you cant find a good deal then you can! :) You really want to stockpile this stuff thats on sale so that you dont have to go back in and buy something when its not on sale just because you are out. Also if you are lucky you will get print off coupons like $5 off $20 or $10 off $50, I never get these except every once in awhile through my email address but my MIL gets them all the time! It really just varies from person to person and what store you normally go to. My store is a high volume 24 hour store so I dont get them as often.

Coupon basics!

Ok first off there are several other blogs that I will direct you to while we go through this that have been my saving grace along with my good friend Holly! If it werent for her I would never have gotten into this!

Ok first if you dont already get the Sunday paper and start saving the coupons inserts. I save the full inserts because I have so many and its easier to find down the road. Second ad to your favorites these websites!

1. Join A full cup http://www.afullcup.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=61556! Basically its a couponing site that will help you get started. If you are on the East or West coast there are TONS of grocery stores, super stores, etc. on there where you can get the ads early. There is also alot of women that help you find the deals that arent always advertised.

2. Use other sites such as Southernsavers.com, babycheapskate.blogspot.com, Freebies4mom.com, also momadvice.com, northerncheapskate.blogspot.com (for those up north!) Each site has its advantages for me...

southernsavers.com covers Food Lion, Bi-lo, Publix, Kroger, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS. She also will post coupons inserts for the next weekend and a few other freebies or good offers.

Babycheapskate.blogspot.com, basically the site says it all! She finds great deals on all things baby! She will also list the best deals on diapers each week which always comes in handy for me!

Freenbies4mom.com, again says it all! She posts all things free and all the great coupons. I have gotten free Diet Dr. Pepper, free Kashi cookies, free toothpaste, great coupons, etc. She will also offer really great contests that so far I have never won! :)

3. Find a coupon holder. I am planning on getting a binder and baseball card holders to hold all of the clipped coupons that I have but currently I have a small fil a fax that I found in the dollar spot at Target. Im pretty sure Holly will be posting pictures of her coupon binder soon! I am going to try and do somewhat the same thing she is doing. You can also use envelopes but after awhile all of mine started ripping and its hard to go through them in the store. You can also find coupon boxes at stores but I haven't been able to find any that work for me.

4. Start watching your weekly ads. All the drugstores mostly come out on Sunday and so does Kroger. Alot of the grocery stores come out during the week in your mail. Once you have started saving the coupon inserts the store ads will come in handy because you can match up your coupons to the sales. I have inserts that I got in November and Im just now able to use the coupons! The key is to only buy things on sale and only use a coupon with the sale item.

5. STOP GOING TO THE STORE ON A WHIM!! This is when stores get you! You walk in to pick up one thing and walk out with 10 and on top of that they werent on sale so you spent $40 bucks when you could have spent $10. When you see things that are on sale in an ad that you need and you have a coupon for it make a plan! I always spend more than I want when I run into the store and didnt make a plan, which brings me to the next point!

Ok this is the first part. In a new post I will go into how to use CVS and Walgreens to your advantage!

I'd like to thank.....

CVS, Walgreens, and Proctor and Gamble for all the free razors! Seriously I have 8 as of now and plan to get a few more!

I went out tonight to Publix for free milk, eggs, 2 Vivia paper towels, 1 Haegen das pint of icecreamand 2 bags of frozen shrimp, used several free coupons, used 2 coupons to make the paper towels free and basically paid for tax and the eggs OOP! Which was 3.91!!

YAY!! Oh and I gave the man behind me a free coupon since he had to wait while the cashier punched in all the free coupons which takes a little while. :)

Valentine's week!

LOL from the title you would think that Valentine's is going on all week but in reality I have just been thinking about that day all week. Trying to stay on a budget which isnt too difficult but trying to make the day romantic and fun at the same time is! Ive actually alway shated Valentines because I personally think its just a day to force guys to do something nice for their significant other. When you think about it shouldn't we do things throughout the year to let them know how much we care and love them?? And not just through monitary things but through the simple things! Im not always the best at this but its the thought that counts right? lol sure it is!

For your Valentine's day make it special and unique! I can't tell you my plans as of now since Im sure that Darien will read this at some point before BUT I can tell you that I wont be spending much money and thanks to my mom for taking the boys for the night the quality time alone will probably the best gift!!

A heartbreaking story....

I have a few people that I know that have Caringbridge sites and I was visiting today and happened on the home page where they have stories of survival, hope, or just faith and the first one was labeled Luke's Lessons. I clicked on it and started reading this small blurb of their story and one of the first lessons was this...

We have realized that what we consider on earth to be normal is not the same thing that God sees as normal. Luke has shown us that there is no normal life but only the miracle of life.

I look at my family and first THANK and PRAISE God on a happy and healthy family then I think how amazing God is to give wisdom to those who need it at such a difficult time. I dont know what I would do if I lost a child but Im sure at first I would be really angry and wonder why me why MY child. I hope that it never happens but that if something ever did happen I could have the strength and wisdom this family has.

I think we forget many times that God never created pain. He hates to see us in pain and hates watching things happen and watching us mourn and cry out. But the reality is when he gave us the power of choice we would inevitably choose wrong and sin and when sin entered the world so did pain and suffering. This time on earth is short and fleeting so remember to live each day to the fullest and like it is your last. Cherish your family, friends and the fact that you are breathing! Thats my moto for the year! :) Have faith that God is an amazing God who created all things! He is your rod and staff! He will never give us more than we can handle!

More pictures

My stockpile!

Thanks to Holly for getting me started with couponing and starting my stockpile I have gotten a pretty good stash! I promised pictures so here they are!

I also need to thank my dad for is connections and helping me stock my freezer that my mom so wonderfully gave us! :)

Noah likes to MOVE IT MOVE IT! :)

We have realized that what we consider on earth to be normal is not the same thing that God sees as normal. Luke has shown us that there is no normal life but only the miracle of life. So its official if he wasnt moving before he really is now!! He started officially crawling yesterday afternoon! I actually caught some of it on video so if the uploader will ever work I will get that up! He has gotten much better at it today and I am amazed how overnight it was! Conner was like that too though so I shouldnt be too surprised! We were actually at a basketball game for my cheerleaders and he was off in the corner with me and saw a set of keys and just went after them! I was so excited and im sure everyone thought I was yelling for the girls or the basketball team but instead it was for my 7mth old that just started crawling! :)

Our tax return present

This is the long story of how we came to get a new tv!

So the two tv's that we have downstairs were tv's that my husband won in contests at his previous job. Besides the pay the perks were great! :) So the first one he won was a 32" nice Sony which came in handy when we bought our house 3 years ago. The second was a refurbished 32" and isnt a Sony but I cant think of the brand right now. Anyways it broke a few months ago and came off the stand tumbling down to the ground thankfully missing Conners head and it actually didnt break! Then after nagging the tv still sat on the ground and if anyone else has small children they love to discover new things so of course it was really fun for Conner to push buttons and turn it on himself. So one night while Darien is sitting out there "playing" with him mind you the tv falls over after Conner tried changing the channel which was at the top of the tv. And of course falls on one of the wonderfully spread about blocks that my sister in law got for Christmas. :) The screen was shattered...... Sadly as nice as LCD tv's are they are very exensive to fix. I called and emailed several different tv repair shops and they all said they couldn't fix the screen and if they could it would cost more than a new tv. So we took our partially broken tv and went to throw it away until Darien decided to store it in the garage because he swear he can find someone to fix it although Ive already tried. So a week goes by and we talk about how much he has always wanted a bigger tv and maybe we could look at getting one with part of the tax return money so of course Darien starts researching the best deal out there on a nice tv.

So after all of this we got a really great deal on a 47" Philips LCD tv! And we still have money left over to pay off CC's! This was our belated Christmas, this years bday, and all holidays combined gift! Im still not use to the size and honestly its a little big for me but he loves it!

Bringing in the new year!

So for my New Years resolution my husband forced me to make one :) so I decided since I've started to save so much money that I needed to start paying things off! My goal this year is to get all our CC's paid off and cut my grocery bill to $250 a month! Yes I know its a hefty goal but like my favorite quote says "Shoot for the heavens because even if you fall short you will be amongst the stars". So even if we dont get everything paid off and cut to $250 at least we have gotten a good chunk of that done. So our first step to this goal was to make limits on gorceries! I have alloted $50 a week on groceries and $5 for Walgreens and $5 for CVS. I dont tend to do Walgreens very often which gives me $5 for more groceries or CVS! :)

So far this year we have saved over $800 which has overloaded my stockpile! We wont need health and beauty products for years! My goal today is to take pictures of the free toilet paper and our closet of beauty products. Thankfully my wonderful husband cleaned out or garage this past weekend and we plan on putting more shelves out there to store more of this food since my pantry is over flowing. Thanks to Purina for great coupons on dog and cat food we are stocked for at least 5mths and Bi-lo for Conners juice!

Ive really enjoyed couponing and its become my quest to find great deals but the past few weeks I got so caught up in all the deals I spent more than I would have liked to. When you get things for pennys it seems great but when you start going to get these items 4 times a week it starts to add up! Plus I tend to run out with my coupons instead of planning like I did when I started so this week was my week to rewind and remember to plan because if I am doing all of this without saving money it doesnt make sense anymore.

Lets see how the rest of the month goes!

All the cousins together!

So in the middle of January we went to my inlaws to visit with my sister in law Caryn and her kids who were in from Boston and we forced them all to sit on the couch to take a group photo! :) Alex and Conner are 3 months apart so that was fun seeing them together! I wish we all lived closer because they are the only cousins my boys will have for awhile(we hope! :))

So from the left to right we have Sophie, Noah, Conner, Tommy and Alex trying to run away!