My CVS Trip

My CVS trip today:

Dove shampoo $4.00 (-1.50 coupon)
Dove conditioner $4.00 (-1.50 coupon)
Dove Lotion $7.00 (-1.50 coupon)
Egg Dye Kit $2.99
Candy Bar $.89
Candy Bar $.89

SubTotal $19.77
Less $5.00 coupon (buy $15, get $5 off – printed on my receipt the other day)
Less $4.99 ECB from last purchase
Less $5.00 ECB from last purchase
Less the Dove coupons above ($4.50)

Subtotal $.28
Tax $.23
TOTAL = $.51 Yes, that’s all I spent out of pocket.
Not only that, I got $5.00 ECB’s back for next time for purchasing $15.00 worth of Dove products.

Just wanted to let you all know that it CAN work to your advantage!

Saving money one coupon at a time.

Today at Stater Bros. I spent $41.84 and saved $39.88. Not bad. Even better was spending 39.96 at Ralphs and saving $55.42. Whoo hoo! I even got register coupons back for about $3.50 AND will get cash back from Ralphs for about $6.50 just on todays transactions. I’ll be off to Target later to get a few very cheap and/or free items.

A few of the sites helping me are:

• www.thegrocerygame.com
• www.hotcouponworld.com
• www.momsneedtoknow.com

Yeah, the couponing takes extra time, but since I’m a stay at home mom, I MAKE the time.  Cutting costs are part of my job.

Also, in these hard times many stores are accepting expired coupons.  My husband found a coupon for Harbor Freight that expired yesterday, and he called and spoke to the manager who said he would accept it as long as he brought it in.  (20% makes a difference!)  Also, many restaurants are doing the same (Pat & Oscars to name just one), so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Anyone else want to share their ideas?

Winter Beach Day

Took the kids to Huntington Beach yesterday with a friend of mine and her kiddos. We had a great time! Grant LOVED the water and cried the entire way back to the car. Katie made sand angels! It was a good 80 degrees out and the beach was pretty much deserted on a Tuesday winter’s afternoon. Great for us!

Oh yeah!

What is better than going to Target and picking up a double stroller for $39.00 (regular price $139.99)? 

Getting THIS

for $5.04!  Brand new in box… clearance… normally $89.99!  Whoo hoooooooooooooooo!

We are definitely counting our blessings this evening!

Saving $$ on groceries

Just went grocery shopping… 

• Staters subtotal was $118.85, paid $64.31 (46%)
• Ralphs subtotal was $123.32, paid $51.19 (59%)

I even got a few freebies!

If you sign up, use my email as a referral:  jenefur at yahoo dot com

Also, another bloggy mom friend of mine has a lot of stores from back east on her blog, as well as CVS, Rite Aid & Walgreens where she breaks down the weekly savings & freebies.  Her site is http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/

That’s all – just trying to share the love when we all could use an extra few bucks in our checkbooks.

Oh Christmas Tree…

We put up our tree a few days ago… though I prefer a real one, we can’t afford one (AND I get all rashy if I touch a real one!)  We got this one 90% off at Target’s after Christmas clearance last year.  Whoo hoo! 

I didn’t buy one thing yesterday… not even from online.  This year’s Christmas will be slim pickings for us, but the kids will certainly not be at a loss for anything with all of the Grandparents around!  (Can you say Disney pass?) I’ll hit a few sales, but will mostly be making things this year.  A few years ago I posted about the fudge recipe I’ve been making for Christmas… it’s so easy!

Did any of you hit any sales yesterday?  What did you get?  Also did you hear about the poor WalMart worker who got trampled by the crowds and died as he tried to open the doors yesterday morning?  Despicable and very very sad.

Our Garage Sale Loot

Today’s Loot: $16.50

• 45 Children’s Video Cassettes $5
• 10 Hardback Hans Christian Anderson books & 10 Left Behind books $3
• Wig, Tutu, Butterfly Wings (New) $3
• Dora Scooter $3
• …and the find of the day:  Double Stroller $2.50

Not bad, eh?

My new creation

I came up with my own crock pot concoction yesterday and it was GREAT! 

I had some stew meat which I browned with some onion salt, then threw in the CP.  Then I chopped up a few carrots, celery and potatoes and added them in with a can of beef broth and a can of tomato sauce, some oregano, thyme and pepper.  After it cooked for a few hours, I boiled some barley and added that in as well.  It ended up being REALLY thick after the barley sucked up most of the juice, so I added one more can of beef broth.  Since we went out to eat with the family last night, we didn’t get a chance to eat it, but I had some for breakfast alright, and it was SO tasty!  Even Andrew approved when he had some for lunch.  I guess I’d call it Beef Barley Stew, as it was still pretty thick and not soupy at all.  I could probably have added another can of tomato sauce or beef broth, but the final product was too good to mess with.  I can’t wait to make it again.  It was about $6.00 for all of the ingredients.

If I remember, I’ll take a picture before it’s eaten up, and post the actual recipe so it’s easier to read.

Maternity Clothes

So, of course a few months back I gave away ALL of my maternity clothes!  And now I’m prego again.  I certainly don’t have it in my budget to buy all new clothes!  I was lucky enought the second time around to get a huge bag from a friend of mine. 

This time, I found someone on craigslist.com who wanted to sell some of her clothes for $75.  We emailed back and forth and I asked if maybe I could do it in trade (scrapbooking/stamping items), since I was low on funds.   She ended up just giving them to me.  Whoo hoo! They are moving cross country this week and we made the switch yesterday.  I offered to make her a scrapbook album for her kids and she said not to worry, that she’d rather see the clothes go to someone who needs them than have someone buy them for cheap and re-sell them (apparently someone offered her only $30 and was going to re-sell on ebay).  She also said maybe if I have the time, I could make her a book and she would pay me.  Awesome. 

The Big Guy Upstairs is clearly looking out for us.

ps… Major tip of the day for parents on a budget… if you have a service to offer in lieu of money, it doesn’t hurt to ask to buy something in trade!

Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money!

When you’re poor like me, you find any way to get some money.  I’ve spent the better part of this morning filling out rebate forms that I never got around to.  This should bring in a $30 for a tool the hubby bought a few months ago, a $10 gas card (for getting my oil changed at Jiffy Lube) and $68 in unclaimed property (from my old auto insurance).  I had heard on the news last year about the unclaimed property thing and just forgot about it after the baby/move/etc.  But it is MUCH needed now and glad I can tap into it!

Here is a link for the California site for unclaimed property.  To look up a different state, do a search for your state’s controller and UCP or Unclaimed Property.  Good luck!!

Also, if you have an unforgotten rebate, call the company.  Ours was in Iowa, and even though the rebate period ended over a month ago, the rep was nice enough to resend me a form and give me an address & contact person to send it to.

A WonderFULL Day

Yesterday I had a GREAT day with hubby & the kids!  We weren’t sure what we were going to do but knew we wanted to do SOMETHING! 

• GARAGE SALE:  I happened to get up early and remembered that there was a community garage sale, so we threw a bunch of stuff outside and sat and waited.  No takers!  Andrew took Katie in the wagon and ran around looking for some bargains.  He came back with 35 DVDs that he got for only $30!  That’s better than Blockbuster rejects!  WHoo hoo!  We packed up our stuff and went back in to get ready.  It was already over 90 degrees and we were ready for some showers.
• LUNCH:  We went to In-N-Out for a tasty lunch.  YUM. 
• SHOPPING:  Stopped by the Salvation Army and picked up some cute clothes for Katie at $1 each. 
• RELAX: Then back home so the kids could nap.  Andrew & I sat and watched Big Daddy (which I have never seen before) in the nice air conditioned house.  AHHHHH.
• FOOD/ENTERTAINMENT: We were debating whether to go to the local Greek Festival, but decided to go to a hot dog joint for dinner.  Afterwards we went miniature golfing (Katie’s first time!) and had a blast.  It was 8:30 when we were coming home and it was STILL 92 degrees!  Yowza.
• CRASH:  Put kids to bed, and we sat to watch Wild Wild West.  Both of us conked out halfway through.

 

One Penny

The Queen Mum will be happy to hear that I spent a penny at CVS yesterday and brought home 4 toothbrushes and a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix. In that purchase I earned about $13 in ECBs as well!

ps… No jokes about me needing 4 toothbrushes after eating the brownies to keep my yuck mouth clean!

To My Fellow CVS-ers

Their latest promo from online:

You always get 2% back in Extra Bucks every time you shop. Now you can earn Triple Extra Bucks Rewards through June 6th, on almost everything you purchase. Plus get FREE shipping!*

To take advantage of this offer, make sure to enter your ExtraCare^® card number in the Savings Opportunities section at Checkout.

This should help us with our penny-pinching!

Save some money now!

For all of you poor people like me money-savers out there, The 2008 Entertainment Book is on sale for only $15.00 (and FREE shipping!).  I’ve bought these in the past and they have 50% off savings at several local restaurants, fast food chains, movie theaters, theme parks, etc.  $15 is a steal at this point… for some it is the cost of one dinner!   This is a great way to take the family out for cheap or to try a new restaurant.

Dixieland Sushi

I just read this book and it made me laugh!  The main character (a Jenn like me!) was born in 1974 (like me!) and throughout the book has flashbacks to her 4th-8th grade days in the 80′s.  I am not the best book reviewer, but I will say that if you were born during that time, you will laugh at this book to her references to plastic shoes, The Karate Kid, roller-skating birthday parties, friendship bracelets, etc.

Not to mention Jen grew up in Arkansas and was the daughter of Bubba (white guy) and Vivien (Japanese) – hence the title.  Loved it!

Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood.  Picked it up at the Salvation Army for $1.  Go me.

The Grocery Game

Ok, I’m signing up for The Grocery Game to give it a try, but for the life of me, I can’t remember who on my blog list wrote about it, and after trying to scour your sites have come up empty handed.  Make yourself known!  When I signed up, they want me to put in the email address of my referer so YOU can get your free weeks.  Give yourself up so you can get your free stuff.  *ps, I seem to recall quite a few of you doing this, so first come first serve, girls.

As for the rest of you, I’m going to try this out.  I’ll give you some updates, and if you decide to join, for pete’s sake, use me as your referral!!

Savin’ some dough at the CVS

My girl Mindi wrote about how she’s paying next to nothing down at the CVS, so I thought I’d try my hand at it.  I just got $76.46 worth of crap stuff for $26.76.

How you ask?

• I transferred a prescription to their pharmacy and they gave me a $25 gift card.
• I went online and registered my CVS ExtraCare Cars and got a coupon for $4.00 off my $20 purchase.
• I bought several items on sale in conjunction with some coupons I had (sale savings=$15.70, coupon savings=$9.00)

ALSO, because I bought two toothbrushes for $4.99 each using their Extra Buck Offer, they gave me the money I paid back in the form of an in-store coupon (EXTRA BUCKS) which makes them FREE!

AND, they have an offer if you buy 3 greeting cards, you get a stuffed bunny rabbit for FREE!

This was my first go at this, and I bought some items that weren’t on sale because I needed them (but had I NOT bought those items, my total would have been about $4.) Now next time I go, I have $9.98 towards my purchase.

So there you go.  Apparently Rite Aid and Walgreens have the same type of deals, and how conevenient for me, there are all three stores on opposite corners near my house!

Movie Time

Hooray for dollar theaters!

I love the fact that we paid $3.00 total for all of us to go to see ‘The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ yesterday.  Great movie.

Balancing Act

I’ve been married five years, and a mom for almost three of those years.  Before I was a mom, I worked full time, and since becoming one, I’ve worked part time.  I stopped working October of last year, and with the move and the new baby, we’ve had a LOT of changes going on.  It’s always been important to me to be able to stay home with my kids, and our finances changed drastically when I went from FT to PT and now to NO TIME.

I am officially a Full Time Homemaker/Mother/Wife.  And juggling these new roles is not easy!  I can be a slacker and spend lots of time on the internet, talking on the phone and/or reading books, but quite frankly, that is not what I signed up for.  Staying at home is no easy task, and making the transition is going to take some time and effort. 

I’m going to attempt to use the Flylady as a guideline for keeping house.  I’m re-reading my New Bride Guide book given to me by a friend before I got married.  And I just ordered a few books from Amazon to help me with my budgeting, living on one income and spirituality.

At some point this year, I will pick up some side work to bring in some extra money.  In the meantime, I’m going to focus on my new Full Time job and give it all I’ve got.

Next year’s costume

We went to Target the other day and found the Halloween clearance aisle.  Picked up a monkey costume for Baby #2 for 75% off!  Couldn’t find much for Katie… only a bunch of hoochie outfits left in the store.  I guess we’ll have to get creative or see what we can find next year.

Such bargain shoppers!  Also picked up some cute Halloween shirts for taking the kids to the pumpkin patch for a buck apiece.