Thursday's Tip: Educational DVD's

I love educational dvd's and in the car that is what the kids watch along with Veggie Tales and Cedarmont Kids dvd's.

Top 4 Favorites:

• Baby Signing Time Volumes 1-4. Volume 1 is a great baby gift to get someone. Also, the other Signing Time videos are good as well. I never buy new dvd's for my kids, I buy them used on amazon or half.com
  
• Spectrum Connections: Bounce: Lets Talk...speech therapy dvd's
• Baby Babble...speech therapist dvd's. Both volume 1 and 2 are great
• Lets Talk with Puppy Dog

What are your favorite educational dvd's?

Also, CVS has great deal on diapers this week:

$10 ECB wyb Pampers Baby Dry, Swaddlers or Cruisers 48-96ct., $21.99 LIMIT 1 (reported LIMIT 2)
-$1.50 off Pampers Diapers or Pants, PG 7/04, PG 6/06 -$2 off Pampers Cruisers, Swaddlers Sensitive or Extra Protection Diapers, PG 7/04 -$2 off Pampers Swaddlers or Swaddlers Sensitive Diapers, RP 6/20
-$4 off Diapers and Wipes, any printing on CVS receipts (store coupon)

(from Southernsavers ). Also, remember that if you are like me and live in Kings Mountain where the CVS is not open 24 hours a day you can shop both the deals for the last week and the next week on Saturday night and Southernsavers posts the deal on like Friday I think.

What is your money saving tip this week?

Tuesday's Tip: CVS Deals This Week

that I will hopefully be buying this week:

Extra Care Deals:

• 10 ECB wyb $25 Procter & Gamble products listed Limit 1
  Charmin Big Rolls 16pk $9.99
  -.25/1 off Charmin PG 5/02 (exp 5/31)
  -$1 off Charmin “A Year of Savings” PG Mailer
  Duracell AAA, AA 10pk, C, D 4pk, or 9-volt 2 pk Batteries $5.99
  -$1 off Duracell, “What Matters Most” PG Mailer
  Bounty Extra Soft Paper Towels 12pk $12.99
  -.25/1 off Bounty Towels or Napkins PG 5/02 (exp 5/31)
  Puffs Facial Tissue 99¢
  -.25/3 off Puffs Tissues PG $100 Coupon Book
• **Deal Idea**
  Buy:
  (2) Charmin 16 rolls $9.99
  (1) Duracell 10pk Batteries $5.99
  Use:
  (2) -.25/1 Charmin PG 5/02
  Total Due: $24.97
  Get Back: $10 ECB, makes it $5.15 ea

$2 ECB wyb CVS/pharmacy Jumbo Pack Diapers or Training Pants $5.99 Limit 1

$1 ECB wyb Hefty Trash Bags 28-80 ct, $6.49 Limit 3

• $5 ECB wyb $25 Pampers or Similac products listed Limit 3
  Pampers Wipes 64-77ct. $2.99
  Pampers Baby Dry, Cruisers Diapers 48-96ct. $21.99
  -$1.50 off Pampers PG 5/02 (exp 5/31)
  -$2 off Pampers Diapers AND Pampers Wipes 60ct+ PG 5/02 (exp 5/31)
  Similac Advance, Go & Grow, Sensitive or Organic 22-23.2oz $21.99
  -$2 off Similac large size powder 23.2oz+ SS 5/09

• $2 ECB wyb Claritin Children’s 4oz, or Adult 10ct $9.99 Limit 1
  -$2 off Claritin Children’s Non-Drowsy, 4 oz or 10 ct+ SS 5/09, printable
  -$2 off Claritin Non Drowsy, 10ct+ SS 5/09 (makes it $5.99)

I got this list from Southern Savers

Click here to see complete list

I will do multiple transactions on this trip and so I will use the extra bucks I earn on a few transactions, and I might not do the Pampers deal or the Claritin deal.

What is your money saving tip for this week?

Tuesday's Tip: My CVS Purchases Yesterday

$10 ECB wyb $25 Procter & Gamble Products listed Limit 1

Charmin Big Roll 16 pk $9.99
-.25/1 off Charmin PG 3/07

Bounty Towels Extra Soft 12 pk $12.99
-.25/1 Bounty towel or napkins PG 3/07

Puffs 60-108 ct 99¢

Duracell Batteries AA/AAA-10pk, C/D 4pk or 9V 2pk $5.99

I also bought cokes and got my quarterly bucks from all the medicine we had to buy for all the ear infections...I got $12 extracare bucks! I was pumped.

Southersaver has all the great deals matched up for you here.

Don't forget that you can get a rain- check if your store does not have what you were planning on buying and you can still get your extracare bucks.

PS- Charlie has saved us money this week. Our belt on our dryer snapped and he went to you tube and saw a video on how to fix it on our exact dyer! He went to the hardware store and bought the belt and everything. He is the man.

Tuesday's Tip: CVS has had great deals this month / Weight Watchers

I have been to CVS every week since the new year began.

Yesterday, I got 6 12 pack of Pepsi products for $20. I only spent $14 because I had $6 in extrabucks from last week. I also earned $10 back in extrabucks just from this purchase.

Then, I turned around and got toilet paper for $12 or $14 (I cannot remember) and used by $10 in extrabucks, so I only spent either $2-4 on toilet paper.

I also joined Weight Watchers last week since these last 15 pounds from Jackson and Abigail are just not coming off. I am going to the one on Colonial Life Blvd (Wednesdays are not good days for me), and only paid $11 for the week plus $25 for the books.

I really think Weight Watchers is the best plan out there because it makes you count the calories you are eating through their points system.

Yesterday was hard though. All I had to eat yesterday was a yogurt, Weight Watchers meal for lunch, coffee with cream, and 1 piece of pizza, and I was not a happy camper. Thursday, I am going to the store to get lots of fruits and veggies to snack on. However, I think if I only had 23 points a day every day, I would be 100 pounds and underweight so I am trying to figure out a happy balance. I did manage to only have 24 points yesterday which was a complete miracle (I chewed gum when my stomach was not growling so I would not eat...my stomach has really stretched out after having my second baby).

Do you have any advice on low calorie filling lunches or dinners that I do not have to spend hours cooking?

Tuesday's Tip: My CVS Purchases Yesterday

CVS had a lot of extra buck deals for me this week on items I was running out of. Many of the money saving mom blogs did not think there were many good deals, but I did!

First I bought with one purchase
45 Hefty CS Tall Trash (new) Bags for $6.99 (I was out)
3 Huge Containers of Pantene Shampo for $5.99 each and I had $4 worth of coupons for them

So on this purchase I paid $22.71 and got $10 EB to use on my next purchase ($5 was my quarterly EB from our medicine)

Second purchase:
2 Dove Clinc. Pro Deodorants for $16. I know that is a lot but when I go to the gym I need clinical strength (do you recommend a certain deodorant?) and these will last me 6 months. Pulse I got $4 back in extra bucks!

2 large Colgate Toothpaste for $5 and I had a .75 cent off coupon (got $2 in extrabuck here)

1 perfume for $15.99 and got $5 in extra bucks. Do not laugh but I have these lotion a friend gave me in college called "Curious" by Britany Spears. It is Charlie's favorite and I am out of perfume so I got it. Ha!

I used my $10 in extra bucks that I got in the first purchase and spent $28.48 on this purchase and got $11 in extra bucks to use on my next purchase! Plus the kids did great in CVS. I think Abigail was just so glad to be out of the house!

I am sad that CVS is not doing rain checks on EB items anymore. Does anyone know why?

Go to southern savers to see all the deals at CVS this week, and you can print off your shopping list!

Tuesday's Tip: Update on our Budget, Great CVS Deals This Week

Well this week my goal was to only spend $125 on both grocery food and out to eat food. We spent $90 on groceries which was good (I went online and successfully got coupons for almost everything we bought), but we spent $77.18 on out to eat food for a total of $167... I am not too disappointed because we have been spending even more than that! Did we got to a restaurant a pay a waitress fee? Nope. We did not stick to eating at home on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday night. We went to the mall and ate at the food court on Friday night, and Saturday night we got Groucho's to go. We also got Sonic Sunday night which we normally do not do, and Charlie went to the fair yesterday with staff (although he has been taking his lunch to eat every day). I am still going to try for $125 again this week, but it just might not be a realistic goal for us.

I braved CVS today with both babies and I forgot my double stroller. Plus, they were doing construction inside the store. Somehow we made it and they both stayed in the buggy. We paid $15 for tons of candy and got $5 back. I also bought the coke deal they had this week, because I had a coupon for $5 off when you spend $25 at CVS for filling out an online survey. Click here to get yours!

Spend $20 on select Candy, Get $5 ECBs (Limit 1)

*****Deal Idea #1*****

Buy 3 Nestle Fun Size Bags at $2.50 each
Buy 4 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 each
Buy 3 Trident Gum at $0.99 each
Use 3 Nestle $1/1 printables here
Use 1 B3G1 Hershey's coupon from the 10/18 SmartSource insert
Use 1 $1/3 Hershey's coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insert
Use 3 $0.75/1 Trident printables here
$0.67 per item after coupons and ECBs (Thanks, Jenny!)

*****Deal Idea #2*****

Buy 4 Nestle Fun Size Bags at $2.50 each
Buy 4 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 each
Use 4 Nestle $1/1 printables here
Use 1 B3G1 Hershey's coupon from the 10/18 SmartSource insert
Use 1 $1/3 Hershey's coupon from the 9/27 SmartSource insert
$0.94 per bag after coupons and ECBs

*****Deal Idea #3*****

Buy 8 Hershey's Fun Size Bags at $2.50 each
Use 2 B3G1 Free coupons from the 10/18 SmartSource insert
Use 2 $1/3 coupons from the 9/27 SmartSource insert
$1 per bag after coupons and ECBs

Deals came straight from moneysaving mom's blog

I did do the first deal and printed it out so I would not be confused with both babies. However, I used the new printable coupon for one bag of candy. You can get a new printable $2 off 1 bag of nestle candy here.

Printing off coupons through online sites has probably saved us $20 this week!

What is your money saving tip for this week?

Tuesday's Tip: Kroger's Mega Event This Week!

This Thursday or Friday I plan on going to Kroger since they are having their Mega Event this week. You get $5 off instantly when you buy 10 certain products. I plan on buying five cinnamon roles, and using one of my coupons I have for it and buying five boxes of General Mills Cereal. I have one coupon that Kroger sent me for a free box of cereal so I will be getting good deals (they keep up with what I buy there through the Kroger Plus Card). I will buy their generic 12 pack drinks for us as well. They are good and on sale for $1.99 a pack this week.

Go see Money Saving Mom's post on this here.

I plan on making a CVS trip and using my $4 off buying $20 worth of products. They have Pepsi sale and Toilet Paper Sale that will add up to $20.

I will also have to probably make a Walmart trip to get a few items that are always the cheapest there.

My CVS Purchase This Week

Spent $22.74

Got
4 Packs of Coke for $3.25 each and got $3 in extrabucks
2 Packs of Huggies Diapers for $9.00 each and got $4 in extrabucks
Bath Sponge $2.99

Had
Coupon for $1.50 off on Huggies Diapers found Here
Test Your Health IQ Here and get $5 off $25 Purchase. I did this test and it was only about 10 questions and did not take very long
CVS Extra Buck Coupons I had $4.00 off
CVS Extra Buck Coupons I earned last week for $5.00
Earned one $4.00 extrabuck coupon
Earned another $3.00 extrabuck coupon

So really out of pocket for me was only $15.74
I also picked up a coupon book that I asked for at the pharmacy (thanks money saving blogs!). It had two coupons for $4.00 off a purchase of $20 or more that expires September 12th and a Zertec coupon. Yay!

So what do you do with your Preschooler who is bored after cooking a yummy Dream Dinner? Take him to CVS and teach him how to be frugal with what God has so richly given you!

Tuesday's Tip: What I am Buying This Week at CVS

CVS has so many deals it is crazy this week.

To see all of the deals go to Southernsavers

I am planing to buy tonight

• 4/$12 Pepsi's get $4.00 in extrabucks back
• Miralax for Jackson at $9.99 get $2.00 in extrabucks back
• Pampers Diapers 2/$20 use two $1.00 off coupons found in last week's paper so out of pocket spend $18 get $5.00 back. It is so great only buying diapers for one baby!
• 2 Boxes of Stayfree for $10 I think there is a Buy 1 get one free coupon from last week's paper. Getting $5 back in extrabucks (if not I can use the printable couple of $1.00: Here)
  
• Buy 2 Boxes of Nutri-grain bar for $5. I am also going to use one $1.00 of coupon for nutri-grain bars that was in last weeks paper. In case you have not noticed, there were a million coupons in last week's paper!
  

Conclusion: Spend $50.99 out of pocket meeting my goal of spending no more than $50 at CVS but really paying $34 because I will be getting $16 back in extrabucks. Let me know if you have any questions or any more deals I could use just spending $50 this week. I might do 2 transactions so I can use some of my extrabucks on the second purchase.

Tuesday's Tip: CVS!

In honor of the grand opening of the new CVS in Lexington, Tuesday's money saving tip is learning how to shop at CVS. This new CVS is right in front of Steinmart in Lexington and is taking place of the one that was right beside Steinmart in that shopping center. It is opened 24 hours a day, and tonight Jackson and I are planning to go there after supper. He can actually be a good helper and it is a great way for him to get out of the house.

Here are my tips on starting earning money at CVS:
1. Start small. My advice would be buy an item that you need (such as toliet paper) that you can earn extrabucks for. We get the paper on the weekends so I can see the ads on Sunday and get all my coupons, but you can also find the ads online. Try to shop there at least once a week.
2. Check the money saving blogs such as MoneySavingMom, and I heart CVS. They do all the work for you and show links on many coupons you can use for the items that you can earn money for. Money Saving Mom always has links to other blogs who have learned how to spend just a few dollars on tons of items that we all need.
3. Get your prescription filled there and scan your card everytime you get a prescription filled. You earn .50 cent of free extrabuck to use in the store for every prescription. Every quarter I end up with about $10 of extrabucks to use in the store and I know a lot of that money comes from my prescriptions.
4. Stock up on items you need weekly there. I have a stock of toilet paper, paper towels, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, and baby wipes.
5. Many times when I shop there I do multiple transactions. If I know we are going to have a busy couple of weeks, I do one transaction on all the items that I will be earning extrabucks on and then I do another transaction on items we need and then I go ahead and use the extrabucks that I have just earned on the second transaction.

Tonight I am planning to buy:
3 12 packs of Pepsi and getting a free pack of Diet Pepsi which is ends up being $2.75 a pk. which is good
Gain detergent for $5.99 earning $2.00 in extrabucks
1 Speed Stick Pro Deodorant for $3.99 and I will earn $3.99 in extrabucks which will make it free.
1 Coppertone sun screen for $8.99 and I will earn $2.00 in extrabucks and then I will print a coupon from coppertone's website for $3.00 off. I would have never known about that coupon if I had not looked at moneysaving mom's comments under her CVS post.
I have $5.00 off my purchase on extrabucks that I earned last week on Miralax.

I actually missed out on many more deals by not going to CVS on Monday because they had many great two day sales (Sunday and Monday only) where I could have earned money. I could not get to CVS yesterday because we had to take Charlie car in for new tires since he did not have to go into work.

Do you have any more tips to share?

Money Saving Ideas

Now, with two babies that I am staying home with I am even crazier about coupons. My goal is to never buy anything that is not on sale or that I do not have a coupon for and everything I usually buy goes on sale every 3 months. I have time for what I want to have time for and since I am not working couponing really becomes a priority. The key I have learned is to try to have a 3 month supply of all the basics (toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc). Last week I went to CVS and stocked up on drinks: Here is the summary of my purchase:

• I bought 8 12 pack of Pepsi for $3.00 each and earned $10 in extrabucks for my next visit
• I bought batteries for $2.99 and I had a coupon for them for .75 off (coupon from the Sunday paper)
• I bought Tide Detergent for 5.99 and had $1.00 off manufacture coupon from a Sunday paper
• I bought $11 worth of Covergirl makeup and earned $3.00 in extrabucks and had another coupon for $1.00 off

I had $3.00 in extrabucks to use on this purchase and so I did spend $45.82 but earned $13 bucks (to take off on my next purchase) and saved $29.37. I know we would save a ton of money not drinking sodas but we are not willing to give them up. I would end up wasting more money getting drinks for a $1 at drive through windows. I still have not figured out how to buy items at CVS for like $5 total like some of my blogging friends, but I am happy with our savings. I love CVS!

Kroger has now started to mail me coupons to use in their store on items that I usually buy. So last Kroger trip I used 30 coupons which was crazy. That is a why it is good to update your address with grocery stores. Kroger has the best deal for the items we usually buy and they double your coupons up to .50 cents and $1.

Also, Piggly Wiggly has been printing off coupons for formula for the last two times I had to buy formula there since it is the closet grocery store to us. When Abigail turns 3 or 4 months old I will probably switch her to the Target brand formula which I have many moms tell me about. What do you think about that? Do you have any more suggestions on how to save money on Enfamil formula?

I finally broke down and bought a coupon organizer. What I usually do every week is go through all my coupons and if any are about to expire and they are a necessity like laundry detergent. I try to buy it that week. Ideally, I will get something on sale and use a coupon for it. Then, I take all the coupons I want to use at the store and put them in a sandwich zip lock bag. Once I am in the store, and know I am definitely going to buy the product, I put the coupon in my jacket pocket. It takes a good while for me to go through my coupons weekly so I hope this organizer will save time and money. I will take a picture of it when it comes in. I cannot believe it has almost been a year since I started couponing seriously. If you have never cut out coupons, just start out small by getting Sunday's paper and cut coupons only on items you really need.

Have you discovered any new many saving ideas?

Doctor's Visit Today-35 Weeks Pregnant

I am so glad I did not bring Jackson to my doctor's visit today! Believe it or not, I have been taking him with me and he has done surprisingly well. Today they did the strep test and checked my cervix for dilation. Her head is down, and I am 1/2 centimeter dilated! I do not think I was dilated this early with Jackson but I was dilated 4 centimeters for like a week and finally had to be induced at 40 weeks pregnant. I still think the earliest she will come will be Thanksgiving week which is just 2 weeks early. I am excited that her head is down and getting ready for a vaginal birth. I will be going back to the doctor every week now...ah! I have got to get her room and clothes ready! I do not feel nearly has ready for her has I did with Jackson. I have not cleaned out Jackson's closet in like 6 months so every day I have been cleaning it out and making sure I get my sister in law all the stuff she needs since she is having a little boy. You really do lose money when you are not organized! Jackson has so much cute clothes that he could have been wearing (given to us by Lauren) but I just totally forgot she had given us this one bag that was in his closet! I really feel like I need to get his clothes organized first...I love 2t clothes because he can wear them for like a year...Praise God! Any advice on how to have a very well organized closet (or any organizational tips for keeping their clothes straight)...I would love to hear from you!

I also went to CVS this week and did the best I have done in a long time. I bought $10 worth of candy (my 4th grade girls will be happy), 4 pack of coke for $3 each, and a Colgate spin brush toothbrush for $4.99. I had $19 worth of extrabucks that I used on this purchase that I got from last week, and then I earned $5 for the candy, $3 for the coke, and $2 for the spin brush in extrabucks.

So, I only paid $7.99 out of pocket for my purchase and earned $10 to spend at my next trip. Techinally, I earned money on this trip. CVS said my total savings was $35.61 for this purchase....yay! This is the best I have done in a while. CVS and couponing have made grocery shopping fun for me and I am so thankful!

CVS Purchases This Week

First Purchase: Buy $10 worth of Covergirl Products get $3 back
I had a coupon from one of the Sunday's paper's that when you buy one covergirl face product get the second one free
So I got foundation trueblend for 8.99 and then got great powder with foundation for $7.99 for Free
So I spend $10.18 out of pocket and earned $3...total savings $7.99 (for the free face powder)

Second Purchase:
Needed:
Generic zyrtec for both Charlie and I, 30 ct for $18.99
Sensitive dove body was for Jackson (his excema is back) $5.79 plus little sponges for him at $1
Jackson's vitamin Polyvisol drops at $9.99 (the generic has iron it so I am not getting that)

Got 5 Gatorade's for $5 and then earned $3 on these (I have been having cramps in my legs and have actually been drinking Gatorade a good bit recently.

So then I used by $2, $3, and $3 extrabuck I have earned in the last weeks so by total was $34.71 for all of that medicine and I earned another $3 for my purchase next time

There has been some really good deals at CVS the last couples weeks, and if you have not tried earning money at CVS I would strongly recommend it. A lot of my blogger friends only spend pennies on their purchases!

Great Deals at CVS this Week

I do not have all my receipts but it is a great week to shop at CVS...it is so good I should have gone Monday not to miss out on the Huggies diapers. I missed out big!

First Purchase
4 12 Pack Pepsi's for $12 get $3 CVS Bucks Back
I think it was $15 worth of candy (I hid a lot of it for my 4th grade girls) $7 Bucks Back

Second Purchase:
I wanted to buy Diapers, Toilet Paper, and Paper Towels.

Here is the deal:
Buy $25 of these products Get 10 ECB, Limit 1
Huggies Mega Pack diapers $15.00.
Cleanteam 9 oz pump or wipes 42-80 count $2.99
Viva 8 pk Paper Towels and Cottonelle 12 pk. $6.49ea.
Poise and Depends $13.00 ea.
Kotex Products $6.0 ea.
Kleenex Facial Tissue $1 ea. $1/4 8/3 S

They were completely out of Diapers, and Paper Towels...so sad!

I bought $27 worth of Toilet Paper but out of pocket I spent $18 using the bucks I earned in the previous purchase. We have toilet paper for the next 3 months...yay! 12 Pack (equally 24 roles) 6.49 each. I also earned $10 CVS bucks to spend in the next couple of weeks.

Additionally, I went to Walmart and used 15 coupons that I have cut within the last month.

Coupons were for:
Nutrigrain Bars
Ceaser dog food for Millie
Yoplait yogurt
Juice
Zip lock bags
Speed stick deodorant
Lysol wipes
Spray in wash refile
rice
Bendrayl
Pasta salad (I crave badly for lunch now) Suddenly Salad
Chex mix
Lysol foam hand sanitizer
cereal $1.00 on 3

People ask me what I actually use coupons for so I thought you might want to see. After cutting coupons for 8 months I really feel like I am getting good at it and it does not take me a lot of time because I know exactly what I am looking for. I went to Walmart late Tuesday night because I had so many coupons.

How We Spent Less than $130 on both Groceries and Out to Eat Food This Week

I have to admit, I have been really discouraged with our grocery/out to eat budget for the last three weeks. One week we spent $180 and then the next week we spent $200. Ah! That is ridiculous. Here are the four reasons/excuses on how this happened:

1. During July we had VBS for a week and then went out of town and I just did not go major grocery shopping or use any coupons for two weeks.
2. Because of the lack of shopping on my part for those two weeks, one week I had to spend $115 on groceries alone
3. Many of my coupons were about to expire on really good deals on food we usually eat, and I went ahead and bought these foods...I went over our weekly budget to stock up.
4. Jackson got off of milk and I have had sympathy for him and have been getting him kids meals at fast food places for lunch
   

Here is how we spent less than $130 on groceries and out to eat food this week:

1. Because I spent so much the last week and stocked up on breakfast foods, I did not have to make a major Kroger shopping trip this week.
2. Dream Diners has helped so much this week! My goal is to cook at least 3 to 4 nights a week. One night a week we cook breakfast food which is really cheap and yummy. I have cooked three dream dinners and we only went out to eat one night this week
3. CVS had deals on drinks, and shampoo and I earned money for buying these items and had CVS extrabucks to use for this purchase. To view all CVS deals for this week go to http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
   

What do you think, is it worth it to go over on your budget one week to save the next week (and still keep within your monthly budget)? If you have any suggestions on how to keep our grocery/out to eat budget down, I would love to hear from you!

This Week's CVS Purchases

First Purchase:

2 Packs of Huggies (30 ct) for $8.99 each saved $3.50 on each pack
2 destin ointment at $2.99 each saved $2 on each pack
1 JJ baby shampoo $2.99 saved $1.30

I had to spend $25 on these baby products in order to earn by $5 (that does not expire in the store till Sept 11th). However, I had 2 coupons from Sunday's paper on Huggies diapers for $1 off each pack. Also, I printed off a $2 off coupon at CVS when you spend $10 from money saving mom's blog under this post: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/08/g-r-e-a-t-news.html
It came up under a pdf file and all I had to do was print page 30.

So, I had $4 in coupons so I did not have to spend the entire $25. I spent about $23 and earned $5 on all these baby products. My newest hobby is definitely couponing. It is strange, but I really enjoy it and saving us money any way I can.

Second Purchase:

I had to spend $10 in candy to get $5 back to spend on anything in the store.

I only spent $5 on all this candy because I used my $5 that I earned in the first purchase and then I made another $5 to take home and use next week. I was a big dork and had the CVS ad book out and my calculator so I knew exactly what I was going to spend before I went there since I knew I would have Jackson with me.

Note: The airhead are for my 4th grade girls Sunday School class when they answer questions right. I hide them under a bed so I forget about them. The Sprees are for Charlie and the M&M's are for the whole family as a chocolate treat (I got the Hershey bar for Charlie for free for some reason when I bought my last week purchases from CVS).

If you really want to earn money at CVS use your extracare bucks for deals that make you more extracare money. If I had saved mine from last week then I would have only spend $10 on the baby products. My problems is that I spend my bucks as soon as I earn them. Any other advice how to not spend any money on these transactions, I am all ears!

Also, if you want to save money you will shop at more than 1 store a week (more like 4 stores....CVS, Kroger, Walmart, and Aldi).

I am a Big Fan of Dream Dinners!

Friday night we made the "dream dinner" that I prepared last Tuesday. It was some of the best chicken I have ever tasted (the chicken was cooked the whitest that I have ever made). I prepared the Orangey Asian Chicken while I was there - the preparation was a little more involved than I was expecting but Jackson's Sunday School teacher (Rene) helped me some and for that I was thankful. Here are the top three reasons we loved the "dream dinner":

• First, we are not expert cooks, and therefore, having all these meals to choose from shows us how we can make great summer-time meals (they even suggest what side to have with your meal). We are getting a 20 percent discount this month on our meals, thanks to Ashley, so we can make 5 great meals for cheaper than going out to eat. I making four three-serving meals next Thursday and one six-serving meal. I will be preparing five different meals in all. Normally it would be $75 but we are getting it around $50 and you can freeze these meals for up to 3-4 months. I am going to be making McCormick Honey & Dijon Glazed Salmon, Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Yakitori with Rive, Tuscan Steaks, and Sesame Crusted Pork Chops. Yum! I am so sick of everything we have been eating so with this we get restaurant-quality food without the price.
  
• Second, I love how we make everything there and all we have to do is cook the meal once we get home.
  
• I am a huge planner so this gives me no excuse not to have time or to not feel like making dinner for that night.

With the Orangey Asian Chicken that we made Friday night we were able to stretch it into two meals and they suggest having white rice with it. All we had to do was:

• Heat the sauce that I had already prepared
  
• Place the chicken in the breaded zip lock bag that I had already prepared
• Brown the chicken using veg oil in a skillet and then pour the sauce over the brown chicken in a baking pan
• Bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees and it was ready!

Ps-Charlie is a great cook and a perfectionist when it comes to cooking...he should have gone to culinary school!

Go here for more info
http://www.dreamdinners.com/main.php?static=index

Back to the Food Budget

• I went to Kroger this week and had to spend $100 because I had not gone in weeks. With VBS, and going out of town, we really have not stuck to our food budget all too well.
  
• I used about 10 coupons at Kroger. I had a coupon for pop tarts, Nutrigain bars, cereal, yogurt, toaster strudels, drier sheets, etc. All items that we normally use. I have been using coupons for 6 months now and I am getting better at figuring it out. If I have a coupon for under $1 I use it at Kroger because they double my coupons up to $1. So if I have a coupon for .50 cents they will give me another .50 to make it $1. If my coupon is for a $1 or more I will use it at Walmart because it is so cheap there on certain items. I would strongly suggest that you compare two or three stores prices with what you normal buy weekly and it might surprise you on what stores have better deals. I also finally read SuperMarket 101, an e-book by Money Saving Mom, and she had a link to a great coupon organizer book that you can get for $14 at http://www.smartspendingresources.com/services.html
• CVS has great deals this week especially on baby products. If you buy $25 worth of (diapers includes) you get $5 back to spend on anything in the store. I have huggies coupons that I will be using so I will not be spending the entire $25, plus I will be making money since their diapers are on such a great sale.
  

New meal ideas:

Breakfast: Cinnamon roles from Pillsbury that only take 20 minutes (all you have to do is put them in the oven) and cost usually $2.30 (and you can usually find a coupon for them
online) Jackson has eggs and yogurt alternating every other morning with cereal as well.

Lunch: For Charlie we are struggling with what to pack him. Any suggestions? We are going to try this new hearty soup. I really like these new chicken wraps that you heat up in the microwave. Jackson loves grilled cheese sandwhiches and, praise the Lord, he is trying more new things. He even ate some of a cheeseburger the other day for lunch. He love nutter-butters (which is new).

Dinners: With Jackson I found these potatoes that are meant to cook for 7 minutes so he eats them every other night. He loves potatoes! We are going to try waffles for dinner sometime soon with our waffle maker. And of course, we are trying dream dinners this month.

Jackson's eating: Has gotten better. It is totally my fault but he was having 20 ozs of whole milk a day through a bottle. He is now cut that in half to 10-12 ozs. It was a little rough but not as nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. One night he woke up at 3 am talking and playing for like an hour Charlie said (I did not hear a thing). He asks for his bottle in the morning, so we do not know if we are going to get rid of the night or the morning bottle first. If I was used to drinking 20 ozs of coke a day, I would try to cut it in half first and get my body use to that for a week or so and then try to ween myself off the rest of it. He refuses to drink milk through a cup (he drinks half juice/half water in a cup all day long). But, once we get rid of the other bottles, he will only be offered milk and not a lot of juice. He will definitely be out of bottle by September 12 (his 2 year old birthday). Poor Jackson, our next baby is not going to have to go through any of this!

Getting Back to Spending only $75 on Groceries and Out to Eat Food Weekly No Matter How I Feel!

I cannot wait until I start to feel better again to get back to not overspending on groceries and dining out. I have to just accept that I am going to feel bad and sneeze my head off every other day during this pregnancy. Since gas and grocery prices have raised dramatically it is now even more important for me to be focused on being frugal with our money. I have been feeling bad sneezing all the time, and just have been so exhausted that I actually have been getting in the bed at like 9:30! I have no idea how much we have been spending on groceries and dining out recently. Monday night I cut coupons (while watching John and Kate plus 8) for an hour. I got some amazing coupons on diapers, deodorant, yogurt, hamburger helper (we will have one night for dinner), spray and wash, cereal, Lysol wipes, Benadryl, etc. I cut about $50 worth of coupons since I have not cut any coupons the last 3 weeks. The key is to not cut coupons for snack items or items that you would not normally buy. You are always going to need deodorant, diapers, etc.

So, I am going back to the basics which is not cutting coupons, but meal planning!

Some accomplishments since I have been reading moneysaving mom’s blog daily beginning at the end of January 2008.

1. I have spent $340 at CVS and according to them I have saved $320…wow
2. I have a stock of toilet paper - maybe 3 to 6 months worth - just buy buying it at CVS when I could earn money for it. Many weeks if you buy $20 worth of Paper Towels or toilet paper you will earn $10 to spend anyway you want in the store
3. I rarely buy an item that is not on sale or that I do not have a coupon for (most people who use coupons have at least a college degree according to moneysaving mom)

Goals for this Year:

1. Have 3 to 6 months of income in savings that I do not touch and to be debt free (we have little to no debt).
2. Start saving for a car that we can hopefully one day just pay for. I do not want to have a car payment while gas prices are this high. If anyone knows how to get the best deal on a used Honda Odyssey I am all ears! We might have to wait another year or two until we save up at least half of the total cost of the car.
3. To only spend $75 on groceries a week - not the $150 we always seem to do
4. To have 3 to 6 months of supplies of items we always need like detergent, toilet paper, etc.
   
5. Read some money saving books. Anyone have any recommendations? My first two choices are Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace and Miserly Moms

What I am going to do This Week:

1. Meal Plan!
2. Buy $20 worth of paper towels and batteries at CVS and earn $10 back that I will buy milk, Desitin, deodorant, etc. I also have coupons for the new ALL detergent and Lysol wipes that are on a great sale at CVS.
3. Get creative when the $75 runs out

What we are NOT willing to Give up:

• Our soft drinks! But we have gotten creative. Right now Walmart has soft drinks for $2.50 for 12 pack. Also, I do enter cokereward points every month and last month I got this awesome grill cheese machine maker (and it makes omelets as well) for FREE. When soft drinks are not on sale at Walmart or CVS, Kroger has great generic brand soft drinks for like $2.30 for a 12 pack always.

Changing Our Mindset

• This has been the hardest for me. We have to make sacrifices like not going to restaurant to be debt free and have an emergency fund. If you are not willing to make sacrifices then this will never work.
• Maybe you do not go on a vacation this year. Is the concept of a vacation even Biblical? It is nice to have a vacation but not a necessity. To save money means to live and budget under what you actually make!

I would love to hear any advice on how to cut back more on our grocery/out to eat budget! Anything been working well for you recently?

Here is the tentative Meal schedule:

Friday
B-Cereal
L-Bagel Bites
D- Party Chicken

Saturday
B-Pancakes?
L-McDonalds
D- Barbeque $18

Sunday:
B-Nutrigrain bar
L-Zaby’s $10
D-Cereal/PJ sandwiches or Breakfast food

Monday
B-Charlie has breakfast at the church
L-Leftover Pizza
D-Hamburger Helper with Salad

Tuesday
B- Pop tart
L-Roman Noodles
D-Chicken Pasta

Wednesday
B-Nutrigrain bar
L- Egg salad sandwiches made the night before
D-Dinner at church

Go here for more meal ideas for this week (Menu Plan Monday): http://orgjunkie.com/2008/06/menu-plan-monday-june-23rd.html

How I Saved Us Money at CVS this week

Last week we were so busy that I did not get to CVS till Saturday and by then they were all sold out of the diapers and vitamins I wanted to purchase.

This week I went and got Charlie deodorant by using this deal that moneysaving mom had: Buy 1 Mennen Speed Stick 24/7 For Men (2.7-3oz) at $3.99, Get $3.99 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $1/1 printable here or here or from 3/30 SmartSource insert
Free plus overage after coupon and ECBs

So I made us $3.99 and I did not even spend that much money since I used this coupon for .75 off.

I also might be getting the clinical strength deodorant for me and earning $2 but I would have to spend 9.99 for it so I do not know if it is worth it this week with our budget.

Go here to moneysaving mom to see all the CVS deals for this week: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/2008/04/cvs-deals-for-week-of-april-20-26-2008.html

I am still cutting coupons from Sunday's paper. I keep all the coupons in the guest room and put a paper clip on them and date of the paper that the coupons where in. Additionally, I go ahead and cut out coupons that I know 100 percent I will use, and put them in a separate plastic bag. I also look at my coupons weekly, and really good coupons, I write them down in a notebook when they are going to expire so I do not miss out on the coupon when I go to Kroger and they double your coupons up to .50 cents. I did join the grocery game, and I have saved so much money. I just have subscribed to it for Kroger but you can do the trial offer for just $1. Go here to get more information: http://www.thegrocerygame.com/index.cfm?goto=help&faq_id=721 They match up all the best deals for you and tell you what date from the Sunday's paper that the coupon was in (in your area of the country). I have saved at least $50 so far by looking weekly at the coupons they have matched up for me for the week before I go to Kroger and buy our groceries.

Grocery/Out to Eat Challenge: Week 6 (The Last Post)

This will be my last weekly post on my grocery challenge unless I get some major protest from you. I will still post periodically about money saving ideas, just not necessarily weekly. I did not meet my grocery budget of $105 instead it was $150.58 Problem was spending to too much at CVS and one unplanned Zaxby’s trip

Top Ten Things I have learned these Past Six Weeks:

1. Do not buy anything that is not on sale or that you can not get a great deal with by using a coupon. I really cannot stand to buy things at full price now, so if I go over our weekly budget a little bit, it is worth it for our monthly budget to not have to pay full price for an item. I think it is more important to stay within your monthly budget. I have cut our monthly budget by close to $200 by doing this challenge.
2. Buy as many household items at CVS and do not buy them at the grocery store. Even when household items go on sale at grocery stores, it is still not that great of a deal. Plus you get 10 percent back of what you purchase quarterly at CVS. If you go online to CVS website it is helpful and be sure to type in your Extracare card number. You can even call them and ask them questions and the number is on their website (I got through to a person within 1 minute with my questions).
3. Figure out the Extrabucks deals at CVS. For instance this week if you by 4 12 pack of Pepsi’s you get $3.00 bucks back which I did this week. They print your extrabucks at the end of your receipt. You must present the extrabucks coupons to the cashier to redeem this money. So, I turned right back around with Jackson with me and all and got milk for $3.99 there and hardly spent any money on milk!
4. Cut coupons in Sunday’s paper. It is a lot of fun to save so much money. Last week I had $6.00 worth of coupons and then Kroger doubles my coupons up to .50 cents so it ended up being $11.00 worth of coupons! Bi-Lo also doubles your coupons now, I think up to .60 cents. Try to wait to use the coupons on an item till that item goes on sale so you can save the most money. With coupons on items I know we will need in the next month, I write when they expire in a notebook and I look at it weekly. I keep all my coupons in 1 big zip lock bag and the ones I am going to use that week in a small zip lock bag. The 2 main online sites for coupons that I go to are: http://www.couponmom.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=25082ccc8a5e4e1bcc9f5bda7c1cbb84&cid=242 http://www.bettycrocker.com/Coupons-Promotions/Coupons/Default.aspx
5. Make a grocery list based on sales in the Sunday’s paper. If chicken is on sale at your grocery store, make a few meals based on chicken
6. Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. Do it every week. Usually Sunday nights is a good time to do it again based on the sales for the week. Plan breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone in your family. If you do not plan, plan to fail!
7. Do not go to a restaurant where you have a waitress under any circumstance. Go to restaurants like Chick Fil A for a treat. Since doing this challenge we have not gone to a restaurant that has a waitress (not to mention having an active 18 month old it is not worth going to a restaurant with a waitress). Even going to a sit down restaurant one time a week ends up being like $1500 a year
8. Go to moneysaving mom for inspiration, when you do not feel like sticking to your budget: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
9. If you do not have a lot of time to match up coupons to the stores that you shop at, you can join the grocery game for just $1 at first. They do all the homework for you and tell you how to get the best deals with the coupons that are in the Sunday’s paper. They even tell you what date in your area that you can find the coupon at (on Easter Sunday there was no manufactured coupons…sad). Go to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/index.cfm?goto=help&faq_id=721
10. Have fun with it! Just think - you are not going to Wal-Mart and spending $100 a trip, you are going to different stores and saving a ton of money and being rewarded. I have saved $170.29 at CVS in these last 6 weeks alone. However, I do still go to Wal-Mart to get my Spray and Wash refills, and our gas.

Let me know what works for you, and if you want me to continue to post this weekly.