Weekly Spending

Laundry detergent is stored in the bottom of my closet, stacked 2 deep should be enough for close to a year
Toiletries are stored under one of the sinks in our bathroom, enough for the year.

Before I get to my BAD spending this week I thought I would share a bit of our storage solutions. We don't have a nice basement to organize everything in one place, nor do we have an extra room I can devote to storage so I have had to come up with storage ideas that work for us. Having toiletries in the bathroom is easy, it has worked out great in that we can get a one years supply all in one place, a quick glance lets me see if we are getting low on anything. I still clip coupons for toiletries, if I can get a good deal we can pass the item on to the food pantry. Laundry detergent is in the bottom of my closet, when I run out in the laundry room I can grab a bottle when I am taking the laundry downstairs for the week. Lined up and stacked 2 deep is what it takes for us to have a years supply on hand, as with toiletries, I still watch the sales and coupons and replace what we use as well as donate to the food pantry.

I blew the budget big time this week, no and's if's or but's about it. The sucky thing about keeping up with your spending is you get to really see how bad you are doing, the good part is you see where your mistakes are. Over spending this week was on Christmas gifts, however come December I will be glad I have some nice things ready to wrap up for the girls soooooo I can live with that. The sewing machine was a huge expense that I knew I would be doing someday, just didn't know Thursday was the someday. I had the money stashed away from my coupon/rebates/found money savings so I didn't dip into our family account, again I can live with the spending, however I am wracking my brain to come up with idea's to squirrel the money away again as fast as I can.





grocery shopping this week was all about storage, rice was on sale for $3.29 for a 3 pound bag, I had $.50 coupons which are doubled so 3 pounds ended up costing $2.29. Put back 30 pounds of rice. Mueller's pasta was on sale for $.59 each, I had $.55 coupons with the purchase of 2, worked out to $.04 for each 1 pound box. Blew the budget a bit on Pepito Bismol, it was NOT on sale but I had some $.50 coupons that would expire today, after the past 36 hours I don't ever want to run low on that!! Ha. Total at the grocery was $46.15 saved $ 68.08.


Bath and Body - $17.50 (Christmas)


Life Is Good Store - $79.00 (Christmas)


Barnes and Noble - $31.80 (some Christmas)


Office Depot - $12.49


Fabric Store - $49.20 (some gifts)


Groceries - $46.15


Gas - $59.02 (gas went from $3.15 gallon last Sunday to $3.36 this week)


Over budget by $94.36, UGHHHHH

Have the crud

New book and tee from shopping trip last week

I am sooooo sick with the crud!! I thought I had dodged the bullet on this one, 2 of our daughters and one grand daughter had it last week, so happy that I hadn't come down with it until..... last night!! Coming home from daughter #2 Birthday dinner last night at one of our favorite restaurants I started getting cold chills, then a bit woozy feeling, supper seemed to be stuck in my throat. Had to make 2 stops along the road before I could make it home. I spent the night under 2 quilts along with our regular bed clothing, lots of trips to the bathroom all night and most of the day. Poor Rambo Man drove all the way home to join us for dinner last night and had to hit the road after lunch, I SOOOO hope he doesn't come down with this mess. It was 78 degrees today, perfect day to get outside but I am chained to the bed and adjoining bathroom, please let this be a 24 hour deal!!!!

I have the sweetest husband in the world, he stopped by the store after meeting some friends for breakfast and bought me some Sunday papers so I wouldn't loose out on coupons this week, I didn't even ask him to make the stop. He has brought me aspirins, morning prescription drugs, water, tums, Pepito bismo and anything else to make things a little better. He has the greatest disposition of anyone I know, and such a positive outlook on whatever comes our way, as he was leaving today he told me maybe this was the Lords way of helping get rid of the awful toilet paper I picked up on sale with coupons awhile back.

Forgive Me I have Sinned

Crazy picture uploaded side ways, ugh... so here is what I started the afternoon with, coupons, rewards cards and gift cards.
First stop "Life Is Good Store" decided I needed a new tee shirt and had a $5.00 off shopper card, while there I found the 40% off rack. Picked up Christmas gift's for daughter #1 and daughter #2, spent $79.00 saved $51.00, not to bad, on to the next store.

Had coupon for $10.00 off with $30.00 purchase. They had sale, buy 2 aroma therapy products get one free. Picked up Christmas gift for daughter #1, also had coupon for free had sanitizer. Spent $24.36, saved $17.50, not great but still OK

Gift card for $50.00, picked up material for lots of different sewing projects some 25% off, others 50% off. Total cost $109.20, total saved $44.84. Used gift card so out of pocket was $49.20. I can live with that.

Two more stops but the pictures won't upload.

Had rewards card for $27.50 at Office depot from recycling ink cartridges, total spent $12.49, good deal!!

Gift card to Barnes and Noble along with a membership card got me

$70.55 worth of books for only $31.88, saved $38.67.

Not bad at all but then the trouble hit!!!

The sewing center had their model machines on sale.....could be trouble......the one I really wanted was $4,700.00, yes you read that right almost 5 grand, ain't happening. While it would be great to do some super cool embroidery and monogramming I could never justify that kind of spending. A bit more looking around at regular basic machines and found a few that could be a possibility. At this point I am sweating, a nervous wreak, and need a drink (don't drink but sure would have been nice). I left the store with a list of prices and a burning desire to jump on the deal, after a quick burger, fries and sweet tea that I couldn't enjoy because I was so undecided I made a call to the bank. I sorta knew what I had put back from coupon savings and refunds but wasn't sure... woohoo had enough to drop the cash and still have some leftover. Made a call to Rambo man to see if he would like a new fancy dancy sewing machine for his upcoming birthday. Na... he didn't bite but encouraged me to go for it, how often do I spend real money, how hard had I worked to save what I had put back and the sucker better last a lifetime for what I was still gonna pay for it even with the $539.00 off.

I am now the proud owner of a Bernina 380 sewing machine that I have no idea how to turn on!!!! I have 7 free classes starting March 26th to learn what the gal will do, hopefully I don't break it before then!!! I LOVE COUPONS!!!!!
CAN NOT believe I just spent that much money :(

Coupon's Myth 4

CVS haul this morning. Spent $49.48, saved $66.15, and $6.00 rewards dollars for next trip, not pictured is 6 case of 24 bottles of water that I am to lazy to bring in right now.
Grocery store trip this morning, spent $108.26, saved $68.95, and $10.00 rewards dollars for next trip.

Back of binder holds restaurant, department store, office supply stores and such.

I use baseball card holders to orginize coupons, easy to see and pull out, sections divided by dairy, frozen, baking and such.

First page of binder has coupons I will be using for the day clipped on top of page, as I pick up the item I slip the coupon in the divider pocket, also have rewards dollars and weekly flyer on the inside cover along with rewards card attached to middle ring.

Myth 4 is that it takes to long in a store to use coupon's. Naaaa, today's trip was extra long because I had the time to wonder around and see if I could find any unadvertised deals. I hit the grocery, CVS, unloaded the car, took a photo and downloaded to the PC in less than 2 hours. If I were doing just a normal trip to both it would have been less than and hour.

I have an unexpected day off!! Karsyn was up most of the night so daughter #1 is staying home with the kids to rest. Daughter # 3 is not feeling well so she is keeping Kara home with her for the day and a trip to the Dr. I was already up, showered, dressed and ready to go at 6:30 when daughter #1 called hummm... I could stay home and get some sewing and house work done, but if I hit the roads early I could get my weekly errands done with little to no traffic on the roads or in the stores, no Saturday running around!!!! Off I went, came home for a break and put away groceries before I head back out to hit a few places that don't open until 10:00 AM, I have rewards dollars to spend at the office supply store, we are out of ink, have birthday gifts I ordered that are ready to be picked up, gift card to Barnes and Noble, American Express gift card (fabric store here I come) and a few freebe coupons to Bath and Body works. Super excited that I won't have to get out on Saturday in the crowds and I still should have time to get a bit of sewing done in the afternoon. I headed to bed at 7:30 last night so I am rested up and ready to rock and roll!!!!

Coupons Myth 3

PS: the mess on the floor is AJ's I do vacume and often I might add!!

You have to spend 3 or 4 hours just to clip the coupons. NOT SO, I pick up a Sunday paper or more if the coupons are really good then spend a little time once a week printing on line coupons. While watching TV one evening a night (Sunday for me) I get all the clipping done and the coupons in my binder. It really is fast and easy. I only clip coupons I know we will use, no need clipping the stuff we don't like. I do clip a few things we don't use like cereals so if I can pick up a good deal I can pass it along in our monthly charity box. No excuse not to save money for your family, get clipping!

As I still adjust to having the grandbabies and working in all the other things I need to get done around here as well as what I want to do I have a family member who is misbehaving. I had forgotten how much AJ liked pacifiers. When Tyler was a baby we went through the same problem, lots of chasing the dog around to retrieve Tyler's much loved passy. AJ is 4 1/2 years older now and much more clever, she knows to lay low and troll around when nobody is looking to check out the car seats, bouncy chairs, exercisers, swings and play mats to get her prize. Kara has begun to add to the problem by sharing pacifiers with whoever is brave enough to let her shove one in their mouth, AJ is more than willing to oblige. Kara doesn't even use a passy but since Karsyn has one (NEEDS ONE) she thinks she should have one as well to chew on. This is one of those things that is a pain in the butt but so funny I can do nothing but laugh out loud.

Coupons Myth 2

You have to run around to dozens of different stores to save any real money using coupons. NOPE not true. I use one grocery store and one drug store that are both less than 1/8 of a mile from our home, saving 60% to 80% and saving gas!!!

We have 6 or 8 major grocery store chains in our area, I would drive myself nuts if I hit each of them weekly to get in on sales. We have numerous drug stores as well, I stick to the one closest to home, can't imagine trying to keep up with all the in store coupons and cash back rewards if I were to shop at all of them.

Find a grocery/drug store that you enjoy shopping in, one that has reasonable prices, clean, and with double coupons if that is available, then stick with that store. You will become familiar with their sales cycles, store layout, regular every day prices and Real sale price's. Same goes with a drug store, all the stores end up having sales on the same items and normally for the same price just at different times.

I couldn't resist bringing in a few Daffodils that are in bloom now to enjoy while hanging out in the kitchen. I know the winter weather is not over yet but we have had such a nice break from the snow, ice, and super cold temperatures in December and January, makes Freeze Yer Bunns off challenge a real pleasure!!

Coupon Myth One

Thought I would do some coupon myth posts this week to encourage some nay sayers to jump on board and save some hard to come by cash. Myth number one is, you can only buy junk food with coupons. So not true! The photo above is from my weekly shopping trip tonight, what you see are real foods and basic cleaning products(I don't use all the fancy overpriced cleaning supplies) every single item was on sale and I had a coupon for each item. Total cost was $54.03, total saved from sales/coupons $61.54. We needed nothing this week but I still check out the sale paper and compare it to the coupons I have on hand, if the deals are worth a trip to the store I go, if not I stay home. Everything pictured will go in my pantry or should I say personal general store, some will be added to our monthly donation box. This is how we get by with rarely if ever paying full price for food, cleaning supplies or toiletries. What family couldn't use and extra $61.oo a week while still putting real food on your table. Clip some coupons girls!!

I did super good this week on our spending!! One of the area's that is kicking our butt is gas, I am trying to think about where I am going each time I get behind the wheel of the car, our gas prices have jumped from $3.09 last week to $3.15 this week. With all the unrest in the middle east and our own countries ongoing issues prices will surely continue to go up. This week when I picked up or dropped off the grand babies I have been knocking out whatever errands I needed to do on the way home. In the past I would usually go home for a little rest and pit stop if you get my drift then head back out, no more!! A little rest would be nice and a pit stop is necessary but public restrooms work just fine if it saves us a few bucks at the gas pump.

Spending this week

Grocery store - spent $54.03, saved $61.54
Gas - $35.06!!! MUCH BETTER
Breakfast out with daughter $11.08
Breakfast with Rambo man $21.60
Total spent $121.77 Total saved $91.00 (figured I saved at least $30.00 in gas)
We were able to be under budget by $78.00 that money is now setting in our savings account and NOT a cash register someplace.

Gift Completed!

Finished our Wedding shower gift tonight, wheeee, glad to have that project done! I collected recipes from family members along with photo's to complete her recipe book, added a gift card to the department store she is registered at, whipped up and apron and will finish the gift off with a handmade card. I even got the scrap room cleaned up, that was a big step!! Looking forward to having some evenings to kick back and relax instead of working until bedtime each night. We are having beautiful weather this week, highs over the weekend will be in the 70's can't wait to get outside and do a little cleaning up in the garden, maybe dig around in the compost pile and dream of all the plants that will go in the dirt soon.

Freezer Work

I got a start on the garage freezers today but have a way's to go, I should be able to finish when Karsyn goes down for her morning nap tomorrow. We have a side of beef on the way in a couple of weeks from our local farm buddy so I have to consolidate as much as I can and I needed to see if we are getting low on anything.

Chicken is always low this time of the year, the grocery store doesn't put it on sale after New Years, with all the folks who jump on the weight loss kick the stores know they will sell no matter what the price. I get around the high prices by stocking up in the fall and buying roasted chickens from the grocery deli on Sunday when they sell whole roasted chickens for $4.99 each. I use the roasted chickens as is for a dinner and also buy extra then clean off the meat and vacuum pack it to use in soups, pasta dishes, chicken salad and such. The bones and yuk stuff is what I make our chicken broth from. I used a couple of packs of the pre-cooked chicken and chicken stock for "Bow Tie Chicken Pasta" supper tonight, along with a loaf of french bread and a pan of homemade Cinnamon rolls from the freezer. The kids were happy to have a home cooked meal when they picked Karsyn up and I had supper along with leftovers for a few days, bonus more room in the freezer!!

We are good on pork, I picked up sausage that was on sale this past week with $.75 off coupons (my store doubles) I can't believe how much sausage has gone up!! Sale price this week was 2 (1)pound packages for $7.00 regular price is $4.87 ended up paying $1.25 a pound, hard to believe that was a deal but that's how bad the prices are increasing right now thank goodness for coupons.

Still have 2 turkey's I picked up when the price was down to $.70 a pound back at Thanksgiving that I need to cook, that will free up a ton of space, down to 1 large ham also on sale during the holiday's, we had one for Sunday dinner last week so I can't trow another one on the table for a few more weeks.

We have quite a bit of beef left, but totally out of ground beef, stew beef and round steak. Looks like the boys will be happy next Sunday when I will put them on the grill to BBQ tenderloins that need to be moved.

Lots of veggies and fruit, we should have enough to see us until the garden kicks in this summer (oh please give me more veggies than weeds this year!)

Received the utility bill today, Freeze Yer Buns Off helped a lot!! We saved $140.00 from this same time last year, that's super good since the rate went up this year. We are keeping the temp at 55 during the night but I pump it up to 68 when the grands are here, along with using the sunny Dinning room as the nursery they stay plenty warm. Found a couple of books last night that I put on my Nook wish list, gonna treat myself to buying one tonight in celebration of freezing my buns off savings.

Bow Tie Chicken Pasta (SUPER EASY/CHEAP and makes a lot)
1/4 stick butter
2 Tbls dehydrated onions or 1/4 chopped onion
1/2 Tbls dehydrated garlic or 2 to 3 cloves chopped
2 Bunched broccoli tops (frozen from our garden)
2 jars chicken gravy or 2 cans cream of chicken soup (don't dilute)
4 cups chicken broth (frozen) or 2 cans chicken broth
pre-cooked chicken, however much your family likes
1 box bow tie pasta cooked and drained

Melt butter then saute onions and garlic until translucent.
Add chicken gravy and chicken broth mix and bring to simmer
Add broccoli tops, cook until broccoli is fork tender.
Toss in chicken cook till warm, pour over cooked bow tie pasta

WOW, long post, amazing how good a mood I am in when I leave the news OFFFFF

Budget my A.....

First off the good part, I finally finished our St Patricks Day runners and light mobile's, 3 sets done and off to their good homes. Tyler was excited we had new decorations to put up since Valentines Day is over. After a long nap when the grands went home I worked a little on our gift for our Niece's wedding shower coming up this weekend, a couple of more nights work and it will be ready to wrap.

I almost didn't turn the news on tonight after my late day nap but I did and now I am ready to once again blow a gasket over the ridicules shenanigans in Washington. Maybe in the past they could get by with playing around and making slick speeches but those days are over, our country is in a financial mess that is not getting better no matter how they are trying to sugar coat things. If our economy is in such great shape why are homes still being foreclosed, why are people still getting laid off, over 1/2 of the population in our country are on some sort of public assistance be it unemployment, food stamps, medicare, medicaid, welfare, social security, WIC and let us not forget the FREE cell phones we now give out for anyone who is receiving any public assistance with 250 FREE minutes (cell phones must be a new must have that I didn't get the memo on) I am sick to death of the double talk from the powers that be when our taxes continue to go up just to cover the interest on stupid debt. You would have thought that the past election would have been a wake up call that the majority of the country has had enough and want changes made and the fat cats in Washington need to get busy doing OUR work, looks like we voted for a new group of slow learners. Hey and in case you missed this part of the news the first lady now wants to give new Mothers FREE breast pumps, I have heard it all!! Woo whoo Uncle Sam is messing with our Boobs, this should get really interesting.

If I wasn't so dog tired I would get busy on inventorying the garage freezers or maybe clip a few more coupons but that will have to wait until tomorrow when Karsyn has her morning nap. For tonight I will surf the net looking for more money saving ways to keep a little more of what Rambo man works so hard to earn.

Weekly Spending

Soap Regular price $2.65, my cost $.90@ That's $.30 a bar!!
Green and Gold Ornaments Regular price $29.95, my cost $.99 @

What a difference a day makes!! After a good nights sleep I was ready to kick butt and take names. Karsyn and I were able to accomplish so much today and finished up the day with a smile on both of our faces, gotta love days when it all seems to fall into place. Cleanup the pantry... check, clean out the refrigerator...check, clean up small inside freezer...check, finish St Patricks day sewing...check and we even ventured to the grocery store!!! No I didn't need a thing at the grocery but after checking the weekly ad and comparing our coupons it was worth the trip, spent $21.10, saved $49.24, yaaaa whoooo.

Spending this week turned out to be under budget!! Not by much but a little is better than nothing. And best of all we will be adding 24 bars of soap to our charity box.

Gift Card - $50.00
Groceries - $21.10 Saved $49.24
Thread - $15.89 Saved $14.69
Ornaments - $.99@ Saved $60.00
Gas fill up - $ 50.75

Total spent $157.77 Total saved $121.93 Under budget by $42.23. (Savings account keeps building)

Happy Valentines Day

Karsyn at 3 month's

I thought I had saved the photo's of all 3 grandbabies in their Valentines Day outfits but who knows where I saved them to, it ain't happening tonight.

Spent the weekend sewing, cleaning and cooking but I feel like I have very little to show from all the work :( It has been one of those weekends where if it could go wrong it did go wrong, can't wait to hit the bed and start a new day on Monday!!!

Weekly spending was pretty good, I still need to fill up the car and maybe pick up a few things at the grocery store on sale with coupons but if the deals are not great I will be passing this week. I picked up milk today using CVS rewards for free, thats all I really need to get through the week. Ran out of thread AGAIN while working on a project, hit pay dirt at the fabric store the thread was on sale 1/2 price. If Karsyn is a good girl tomorrow I would like to head back with a list and stock up. Also picked up a sorta cool looking Christmas assortment of decorations all in golds and greens, regular price $29.95 my cost $.99, now I need the time to play around and see what I can come up with from the super bargain.

CRAP, spell check is not working, sorry for any and all mistakes!! I give up!!!

Sneaky Tax

Gotta love our politicians who say they will not raise taxes in this horrible economy but turn around and do an off cycle property appraisal on the whole county. So you would think, not so bad, property values have gone way down in the past 2 years right? Wrong!! Our local appraisers can not take foreclosures or short sales into their accounting. Bottom line our home appraised at 12% more, spoke to a friend who's value went up by more than 20% who has had numerous homes go to foreclosure on her street in the past 2 years. Yepee skippy we are gonna pay more in property taxes but the sneaky politicians can say "We did not raise taxes" and some people are dumb enough to believe it. GRRR. Gonna need to sharpen my scissors and clip more coupons

Had all 3 grandbabies today.... I did survive but took a 2 hour nap after they left and don't think I will have any problem sleeping tonight!! Just have the 2 baby girls tomorrow, hope to get them down for a nap at the same time so I can do a few thinks around the house that I have been putting off.

Taking Care of Business

Rambo Man started working on our taxes while he was home this week, I had some of the information pulled but lots more I was digging out as he ask for the numbers. Today I took on cleaning out the desk, getting everything in file folders, pulling the rest of the documents we needed to finish taxes and shredding lots of junk. One of the things I took the time to really take a look at was our bank statements, I usually just do a quick glance and file them away, what a MISTAKE!!

I found the bank has been charging us a maintenance fee for the past year GRRRR We should have free banking for up to 5 accounts. Long phone call to the banks customer service gave us back over $300.00 however she could only give us 6 month's worth of fees back, I now have to go sit in the bank for hours and meet with the local branch manager to get the rest back. We should be able to get an additional $300.00 back from the bank once I get up the energy to face the long wait with the little ones. Check your bank statement's over carefully, our fees were nicely hidden in with withdrawls. I am so mad at myself for dropping the ball but at least we will get all the funds back.

Today was also our annual termite inspection and quarterly bug spray contract. The termite inspection was $85.00 last year this year it jumped to $100.00, UGH. Our quarterly bug spray has been running $65.00 4 times a year, jumped to $95.00 this time. The fella assured me the prices were the same but I knew it had gone up by a lot. Had all our file folders in the den wher I had been working on them, so I quickly put my hands on the last statement and sure enough I was right. Bottom line is I had the termite inspection done but cancelled the quarterly bug spray, gonna have to watch coupons for a few cans of Raid if we start having problems with ants this spring. Add an additional $400.00 to our yearly saving this year, one more little way we can cut back.

So I figured to my embarrassment today I saved $700.00 by just paying closer attention to the little stuff. I need to do better!!!! We did finally get our $125.00 credit on the cable/phone/internet bill this week, what a pain in the butt that whole deal was!!! Tip for the day, pay attention to the details, skimming over bills and invoices can bite you in the buns.

Cookin and Guy Stuff

Rambo Man and Tyler were busy working on "Guy Stuff" today while I spent the day in the kitchen cookin up lots of meals to send back with my super sweet husband.

The Guys made an Air Hockey table top game from a kit they picked up at Lowes this morning. Kept them busy all day then of course they had a championship tournament late in the afternoon. Ty did take a break to mix up M&M cookies with me then he was right back with his Papaw.

Here is my list of the to go meals I was able to whip up today and all before 3:00. Dehydrated food is one of my secret wheapon's, no chopping, slicing and dicing, it is all done when I put up the jars of spices and veggies, and of course having everything I need in the pantry saves me even more time.

Lasagna

Chili

Pepperoni Pizza

Vegetable beef soup

Taco soup

Baked porkchops

M&M cookies

I am more than ready for my cozy bed and a cup of tea, but it feels good to send the greatest Papaw in the world off with lots of home cooked meals. We have plenty of leftovers to freeze some single meals for me and still send our girls home with some, but that will happen tomorrow I am DONE for today!

Charity Stash

Here is a small sample of some of the things we picked up for our charity box this month. I am concentrating on toiletries items right now, of course if I can get a deal on food we will throw that in as well. Our grocery store is in the midst of remodeling and have lots of buggies full of good stuff on clearance, add to that a stack of coupons and we scored big. Deodorant $.25, Reach tooth brush $.99, Oral B tooth brush $.88, Reach dental floss FREE!!, Crest toothpaste $.49, Carefree pads $1.50. The store hasn't started working on the shampoo and shaving area yet but I will be all over it when they fill up a few clearance buggies.

Last month was all food, lots were from the holiday mark down items that still had a year or longer shelf life, it's sorta cool to be able to pick up things that normaly wouldn't be avaliable for the food panrty, everyone needs a little something special sometimes.

Rambo man suprised us Saturday by making a quick trip home, he will need to head back tomorrow but a short visit is better than no visit at all. He got a peak into my new world with both baby girls today. We had so much fun but he needed a nap after they left, slept from 6:00PM until 8:00PM seems like an odd time to nap but he was wore out!! Ha. He got to pick whatever he wanted for supper, I was thinking Lord don't have him pick something that will keep me on my feet for 2 or 3 more hours. Well he must have been tuned into my channel tonight, Rambo man wanted Campbells bean with bacon soup and grill cheese sandwiches, YA WHOOO, in and out of the kitchen in no time at all!!

Weekend shopping

Clinque make up special, $100.00 for the year

Back of the cutiest little ball cap

How cute is this baby ball cap? Regular price $22.95, my cost $10.95

OK, let me explain what might seem extravagant on the make up deal. I only wear foundation, blush and mascara, never have been much of a make up gal. If I put on all the extras most woman wear I look like a clown so I stick to the basics. I know Clinque is expensive but for me it's worth it, normally I buy 2 bottles of foundation twice a year when they run the freebe special, but this special was so good I decided I would buy for the whole year. I usually buy cheap blush and mascara from the discount store, Clinque is just too high dollar for my pocketbook! The free gift this time came with eyeliner (my girls will get), foaming cleanser (my girls will get, not sure what to do with it), eye serum (girls will get, my eyes are already shot), full tube of lipstick (girls will get), mascara (for me), blush (for me) and 4 cute bags that we will find some use for!!! So in reality I got all the make up I will use for the whole year for only $100.00, now that is a deal! I had to pay for each bottle of foundation separately to get all the freebe's but that was no problem, I just kept handing the clerk money until I was done. I am pretty excited that finally there was something in the freebe bag I could use and not hand it all off to our girls, to top it off I don't have to shop for make up until next year.

I found the ball cap while I was out and about Saturday, I needed a baby gift for a 6 month old and this was just toooo cute to pass up, they only had 2 in the store and don't you know the B for Blakeley was just what I needed. I have had my eye on these caps at another store for our baby girls since last fall but they are never on sale. I just can't justify spending that much on ball caps that they might hate to wear no matter how cute they are.

Also got my grocery shopping done Spent $77.84 saved $90.97 and received $10.00 in cash rewards to spend next week, filled up the gas tank $68.00 UGHHHH so I am over budget this week by $56.79 Durn it! But in reality I won't be spending $50.00 in 6 months plus gas money to get to the store so I could look at it as only being $6.79 over budget, right? I knew you would agree. The spending is done for the week thank goodness but next week will be no better with Valentines Day coming up, gonna have to get creative to stay on budget.

Past Weekend Deals

Cost around $12.00 got free 2 bottles of Shower jel/wash and 1 candle $16.50 in free stuff
Cost $23.00 got free 3 bottles of hand soap, 1 candle, 1 shower jel/wash $27.50 in free stuff

Can you believe it 2 posts in one day!! Remarkable! Karsyn was asleep when I picked her up this morning so I have had time to change bedclothes, run a load of wash, get the banking caught up and am now working on photo files when I ran in to these pictures from last weekend I forgot to blog/post.

Bath and Body works was running a special over the weekend and I had a few freebe coupons to boot. I didn't need/want a thing, our oldest Daughter however wanted/needed some things but didn't have time to get to the store. Mom to the rescue, here is what I scored for her, total spent $33.00 total saved $44.00. Heather is a middle school teacher and is BIG time into the hand washing thing, she seems to think her students are more inclined to wash their hands since she has cool/hip hand soap in the classroom, whatever works!! I use the super cheap stuff and keep refilling the bottles, nobody around here is cool or hip but we are diligent about hand washing, the whole little germy kids with dirty diapers will do that to you. Bath and Body works has a few freebe coupons out right now I think all of them are with a purchase. I have my eye on the 50% off rack, waiting till they mark it down to 75% off then I will be ready to deal. They still have a ton of the large jar candles leftover from Christmas they are trying to move out the door I will gladly help them when the price is right.

Baking Buddy

Tyler my baking buddy and I were able to work a little magic in the Kitchen yesterday. We made cupcakes with blue sprinkles (blue is his favorite color) along with sewing up another Spiderman nap mat and last but not least we stamped cards for Mommy and Daddy. Wheee 4 year old's have a lot of energy!!! Tyler is still adjusting from being the only child/grandchild to now having a sister and cousin, most of the time he is OK with it but some days not so much. He was mad at me at the end of the day because I couldn't play a game of football with him (I was feeding a baby) he say's "your not very much fun anymore" ya tell me something I don't already know!! The babies do cramp our style a bit, he wanted to go to the park to hang out but it is just to cold to drag the little girls out, not to mention loading them up in the car then unloading at the park only to reload again to come home. Spring is just around the corner, he will do much better when we can get outside and dig in the dirt and work on the farm (he calls the garden the farm).

Only have the little girls today, if I can time it right and get them both down for a nap at the same time I need to work on getting files together to start our taxes, UGH. Need to do some banking, pay bills and finish my to do errand list for the weekend. Bread baking may not happen today, looks like I may need to start baking bread on the weekends, time will tell we are all still adjusting to our new schedule. Last night I was asleep on the couch at 6:30, woke up at 11:00 when the poor dog needed to go out to potty, we both did our business and were in bed by 11:30, hope all that sleeping recharged my batteries for the day ahead!!

Sewing Fool

Karsyn was a super good girl today
Lots of sewing projects getting knocked out!!

Karsyn took a 3 hour nap this morning so I got busy on the cheapo sewing machine. Lots of sewing chores are in the works, of course I still have piles more waiting for some attention but some done are better than none done. I even ventured out to the post office and sewing center with her, no crying, pooping or spiting up, we did good!! I have all 3 babies tomorrow, Thursday is super crazy with all of them here. I feel lucky to just meet their needs nothing else gets done but that's OK the most important thing is to have them in our home to play.

The news and footage from Egypt is mind boggling, we are so lucky to live in the USA!!! We have had many friends who have lived and worked in Egypt over the years, they all have had such a great experience with the Egyptian people. I am afraid we will all see prices on gas, food and lots of other products rise in the near future due to the unrest in the Middle East, time to watch the sales, clip your coupons and stock up ladies!!

Great Start for Feburary

Yaaaa for Kara, she can set up and clap her hands

My morning started at 6:00 AM with less than a bang. Decided to start the day with a cold glass of milk and a donut (I know bad girl) One nice large swig of the milk I had just opened found me spitting in the sink. Crap the milk had gone bad, might have had to do with it was 5 days past the expiration date, should have checked that before I had my heart set for a glass of cold milk. Since the kids were headed over for the day I knew I need to add a stop to pick up milk before I meet Mommy for the kids. Grabbed my CVS extra bucks and picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk for free, Yaaaa Me. I know we have some big gift spending this month so I am gonna need to squeeze in savings where I can if I want to add anything extra to our savings this month.

Received a facebook message from one of Rambo man's cousins this morning, Rambo mans family is from the Lockport/Joliet area of Illinois. They are expecting 39 inches of snow! WOW, my suggestion to her was put on a pot of tea and get busy making soup girl. Rambo's family are like my own, they came from a farming background, while none of them farm anymore they have carried many of the can do attitudes and skills they learned from their parents and grand parents. We can watch in fascination the effects of this storm on the weather channel knowing all of our distant relatives are well prepared for whatever mother nature throws at them. Storms like the one that is hitting so much of our country this week is another example of why we should all be prepared in our pantry and homes so we don't have to fight the crowds to pick up the necessities. What in the heck are families who are broke going to do, they don't have the extra funds to stock up at the last moment. If you put a little back each week in your pantry by making purchases on sale/coupons, keep your eye out for sales on batteries, blankets, candles and whatever you would need to keep your family safe at home and out of the shelters will be such a blessing when the unexpected happens!!!! If your a reader (who's not) a great book to check out is "Just in Case" by Kathy Harrison. It's a great book to help you get your family and home in shape for whatever life challenges come your way.