Saving Our Cents

It's the little things....

2010-05-27T13:35:00.004-05:00

As someone who never keeps anything, I was overjoyed to find a Mother's Day Card from years ago, that read "For My Sister" and inside was a hand written note:

"Hey, thank you for everything you helped me with! I really appreciate it. You are a great mom and I look up to that! Hope you have a wonderful day. Love ya, Haley and Ciara"

I am missing her so much!

Struggling

2010-05-16T08:31:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to let all of you know that I am taking an indefinite leave from my blog. My younger sister, Haley, was killed in a car accident recently. I am going to take some time to focus on my family. She was an amazing woman, daughter, sister, aunt, and most of all mother. Please pray for my parents, our sister Jasmine, and her beautiful daughter Ciara.

This is a picture of her with my daughter last Christmas Eve. Ali was really tired and grumpy so her and Haley climbed into our bed to have some quality alone time.

She ate cookies....

2010-04-28T19:33:00.005-05:00

She took her doll to the salon

next stop was the wellness clinic

(Ali's doll needed her booster shots)

she shopped the latest doll fashions

and then she ate cookies

and drank pink lemonade

with all her favorite girls

all in the name of St. Jude Children's Hospital.

My amazing friend Stacey organizes this event each year to raise money for St. Jude. This year's event raised several thousand dollars. I was happy to be a part of the fundraising efforts, after all, my little girl's smile was priceless.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T10:16:00.003-05:00

CVS Weekly Trip: 96% Savings

2010-04-27T11:22:00.003-05:00

I finally ventured back to CVS this week. I wanted to do the Kodak Picture Movie DVD deal and also needed to restock our sunscreen supply after our trip to Florida.

Transaction #1
Schick Quattro Trimmer - 11.99
2 CVS Sunscreen @ 2.19/ea. - 4.38
4 Kodak Picture Movie DVD's @ 14.99/ea. - 59.96
Binoculars - 1.25 (on clearance)
Dish Scrubber - 1.49 (on clearance)
2 Oral B 3D toothbrushes @ 2.99/ea. - 5.98
2 Softsoap Body Wash @ 2.99/ea. - 5.98
1 Tampax tampons - 1.74 (on clearance)
1 Tampax Pearl - 5.19
2 Gallons Milk @ 2.29/ea. - 4.58 (not pictured)
Total 102.54

B1G1 DVD sale - 29.98
$5.00/$40.00 CVS purchase scanner Q
$1.00/1 photo processing CVS scanner Q
(2) B1G1 DVD printable coupons - 29.98
B1G1 Oral B toothbrush P&G 3/07/10 - 2.99
$2.00/1 Oral B Advantage Toothbrush P&G 4/04/10
$1.00/1 any Tampax P&G 3/07/10
B1G1 Tampax P&G 4/04/10 - 5.19
(2) $1.00/1 Softsoap Body Wash from the Reinventing Beauty Booklet
Free Schick Quattro Trimmer CVS home mailer coupon - 11.99
$8.49 Extrabucks

Total after coupons - 2.92
OOP - 2.92 + tax 5.29 = 8.21

ECB earned - 11.00 (5.00 Sunscreen, 4.00 Softsoap, 2.00 Oral B)

ECB earned 11.00 - (ECB used 8.49 + OOP 8.21) 16.70 = a total cost of $5.70

That is a total savings of 96% after sales, coupons, and ECB!

Hot Deal: CVS, 2 Free Kodak Picture Movie DVD's

2010-04-25T12:43:00.005-05:00

CVS is having a Buy One Get One sale on their Kodak picture movie DVD's. Use this B1G1 coupon here to get two for free.

I am super excited about this deal. It's a perfect way to share all of our recent vacation pics.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom

MIA

2010-04-20T22:02:00.006-05:00

As many of you have already figured out, I have been a ~~little~~ lot MIA lately. I was getting a ~~little~~ lot burnt out with couponing/blogging, so I decided to take an impromptu break. Yep, that's right, I haven't clipped, organized, or used coupons in over a month. I am still very conscious of our finances and maintaining our frugal lifestyle, but have been focusing more on family, friends, and having fun lately.

Most of you who have read my blog before know that my sister-in-law has been battling cancer for the past two years. Things with her health have come to a head lately, and she has been seeking alternative treatment at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. This has been weighing on our family quite heavily, so please keep us in your prayers.

We recently took a family trip to my aunt and uncle's condo in Florida. My mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece joined us. It was a much needed getaway for all of us. We spent lots of quality time together and made some very special family memories.

I plan to resume my usual posts in the next week or so, but in the mean time, I am going to reflect and reminisce on the very special time I have had with my family over the past few weeks.

One thing I have learned in the past few weeks is that it's these seemingly innocent moments that matter most.

Beaches

2010-04-16T22:52:00.004-05:00

Does life really get any better than this......

or this....

Life's a beach.......

2010-04-11T08:21:00.003-05:00

Keeping Our Finances on the Mend in 2010: February/March Monthly Check Up

2010-04-05T10:40:00.003-05:00

As I previously outlined in this post here, we have set some very basic goals for our finances this year. Since I didn't get a chance to do a February update, I thought I would combine February and March together. February and March were both very good months for us. We were able to put quite a bit away into our savings and we stayed under budget in both months. Here is how we did on our goals:

1) Contribute to Matt's 401K to the max amount that Matt's employer will match. This is done automatically by Matt's employer each month.

2) Contribute the yearly max amount allowed into each of our Roth IRA accounts. Although I have been saying this for the past year, we still haven't met with our financial advisor.

3) Contribute $175.00/month into our FSA (Flexible Spending Account/Health Savings Account). This is also done automatically by Matt's employer each month. We have hardly used any of our FSA yet this year. Usually by May, we have already maxed it out, but so far this year, we haven't had any major/unexpected bills (Maybe I should knock on wood, after saying that!). My hubby and son have been to the doctor once, and our new prescription plan (that I thought was going to be a huge hassle!) has turned out quite well as we have not had to pay a single copay on any of our prescriptions.

4) Put 35% of our net income a month into our Money Market Account. Thanks to a nice sized tax return, we were able to save well over our 35% goal for February and in March, we were right at 35% savings.

5) Increase our charitable donations. I have been helping a friend with her annual St. Jude fundraiser and was able to donate $150 to her cause. It was a win/win though because the $150 went towards the purchase of the cutest homemade doll clothes for Ali's American Girl dolls. My friend makes the most adorable homemade clothes to sell at her annual American Girl tea party.

6) Maintain our monthly budget and keep detailed records. We were under budget in both February and March.

Another thing that I have started doing this year is keeping track of our grocery savings and savings on our clothing/gift purchases. I have been using Mommy Snack's Savings Chart found here to track our savings.

Our first quarter savings for our grocery/household supplies is at 55%. We have saved $1341! Our clothing/gift savings is at 75%. We have saved $1402! This is due in large part to Swagbucks! If you haven't started using Swagbucks, I recommend that you check it out.

Saving Our Cents Saturday

2010-03-27T21:08:00.004-05:00

Sorry that I didn't get this up sooner. To be honest, this week has been super busy and I nearly forgot about it. We were with family all day celebrating my niece's 11th birthday. She requested a pajama party and that is what she got. Even Great Grandma got in on the pajama action.

We got Tate a FLIP camera for her to take on our upcoming vacation to Florida.

I didn't do any bargain shopping once again this week, but I would still love to see what everyone else got this week.

Feel free to share any and all deals and steals you snagged throughout the week. All that I ask is that you link directly to your deal posts and not to the main page of your blog. If you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your deals in the comments section.

A large pill to swallow.....

2010-03-22T10:51:00.003-05:00

Sometimes things just don't go as planned....

Hubby and I were tossing around dinner ideas on Saturday afternoon when I remembered that I had a large pork roast in the freezer that I had been meaning to cook. I went out to the freezer, grabbed the pork roast, and tossed it on the counter. I had every intention to put it in the fridge to defrost overnight. I proceeded to cook dinner (spaghetti...yum!), we ate, and then got everyone ready for bed.

Skip forward to 12 hours later....

I wake feeling rested and eager to start a new day. I am excited because Matt's family is coming to town to look for houses once again, and that means that soon we may all be living in one town. I walk into the kitchen to get breakfast started when to my surprise, the very large (could be used in several meals) pork roast is still sitting on my counter. EEEK, there goes dinner right into the garbage and that was a large pill to swallow for a frugal foodie like me!

This week's Target, Walgreens,Walmart, Kroger, and Menards Deals

2010-03-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

I didn't do a CVS post this week because I didn't see much in the ad worth listing. If you want to check it out for yourself, visit Hip2Save here.

Check out Stretching a Buck for this weeks Kroger Deals and Target Deals.

Check out Deal Seeking Mom for this weeks Walmart Deals.

Check out It's Hip2Save for this weeks Walgreens Deals.

Check out Daily Essentials and Deals for this weeks Menards Deals.

AND, be sure to check out BeCentsAble for the Grocery Gathering.

Please note that ads vary by region and may not run on the same schedule. For example, the Kroger deals listed above start on Monday and run through Sunday; however, my ads run from Thursday through Wednesday. So, I get an extra early preview of my ad thanks to Marcy.

Saving Our Cents Saturday

2010-03-20T10:19:00.002-05:00

I didn't do much shopping this week. We had some great Spring weather, so I spent most of my time enjoying that with my kiddos.

Not only do I love to share my weekly deals and steals, but I also love to see everyone else's deals and steals.

Feel free to share any and all deals and steals you snagged throughout the week. All that I ask is that you link directly to your deal posts and not to the main page of your blog. If you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your deals in the comments section.

HOT Huggies Coupon ($3.00/1)

2010-03-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

Go here to print a $3.00/1 Huggies diapers coupon

Kmart: $10/$20 purchase coupon

2010-03-18T20:36:00.003-05:00

UPDATE: Although, I have not personally tried to use this coupon, it appears that many people are having issues with it. You can read more about it in Money Saving Mom's post here.

Go here to print this HOT coupon!

This week's Target, Walgreens,Walmart, Kroger, and Menards Deals

2010-03-15T13:20:00.001-05:00

Check out Stretching a Buck for this weeks Kroger Deals and Target Deals.

Check out Deal Seeking Mom for this weeks Walmart Deals.

Check out It's Hip2Save for this weeks Walgreens Deals.

Check out Daily Essentials and Deals for this weeks Menards Deals.

AND, be sure to check out BeCentsAble for the Grocery Gathering.

Please note that ads vary by region and may not run on the same schedule. For example, the Kroger deals listed above start on Monday and run through Sunday; however, my ads run from Thursday through Wednesday. So, I get an extra early preview of my ad thanks to Marcy.

CVS Deals and Coupon Match Ups 03/14/10-03/20/10

2010-03-13T22:22:00.004-06:00

Here are a few noteworthy deals at CVS this week.

ECB DEALS

$5.00 ECB wyb $15.00 worth of Dove, Degree, Caress or Lever products Limit 1
Dove Shampoo or Conditioner 12 oz or Styler 7.9-25 oz., $4.00
Dove Men+ Care Body and Face Wash $5.00
$1.25/1 Dove Men+Care Body Wash or Scrubber RP 1/31/10
$1.50/1 Dove Men+Care Body and Face wash printable
Degree or Dove Deodorant 2.6-3 oz $2.50
$1.25/1 Degree Men Deodorant printable
$3.00/2 Degree Men Deodorant printable
$1.25/1 Degree Girl Deodorant or Body Mist printable
$3.00/2 Degree Girl Deodorant or Body Mist printable
Caress, Dove or Lever Bar Soap 6-8 pk, Dove Body Wash or Lotion $7.00
$1.25/1 Dove Beauty Bar 4 pk. or more printable
$1.00/1 Lever Soap printable
$.16-$.17/ea. after coupons and ECB (wyb 6 deodorants and use (3) $3.00/2 coupons)

$3.00 ECB wyb CoverGirl Outlast or Shineblast Lip Color @ $8.00 Limit 2
$1.00/1 CoverGirl Product P&G 2/07/10 or 3/07/10
$2.50/2 CoverGirl Product P&G 2/07/10
B1G1 CoverGirl Face Product, P&G 2/07/10
$.50 ea. after coupons and ECB (wyb 2 and use $1.00/1 coupon and the B1G1 coupon)

$1.00 ECB wyb Aussie or Herbal Essence Shampoo, Conditioner or Styler @ $2.99 Limit 1
$1.00/1 Aussie Product RP 2/14/10
FREE Herbal Essences Styler wyb Herbal Essence Hair Care Product P&G 2/07/10
$.50 ea. after coupons and ECB (wyb 2 Stylers and use $1.00/1 coupon and the B1G1 coupon)

$2.00 ECB wyb Right Guard or Dry Idea @ 2/$5.00 Limit 1
$1.50/1 Right Guard Total Defense printable or printable
Free after coupons and ECB

$2.00 ECB wyb Stayfree Pads, Regular 24 ct. @ $3.89 Limit 4
B1G1 Stayfree Pads RP 1/03/10
$1.00/1 Stayfree printable
Free plus $2.22 in overage after coupons and ECB

$4.00 ECB wyb $10.00 worth of Glade Products Limit 2
Lasting Impressions $6.00
Sense & Spray $6.00
$3.00/1 Glade Sense & Spray printable
Soy Candle 4.9-10 oz or Reed Diffuser $6.00
$2.00/1 Glade Fragrance Collection, Reed Diffuser or 3-Wick Soy Candle printable
Scented Oil PlugIns or Refills $4.00
FREE Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Holder wyb Relaxing Moments PlugIns Scented Oil Refill SS 2/28/10
Essential Oils Candle 4 oz., Sense & Spray Refill or Scented Oil Candle Refills $2.50
$1.50/2 Glade Relaxing Moments 4 oz. Jar Candles SS 2/28/10
$1.00/ea. after coupons and ECB (wyb Sense & Spray)

Saving Our Cents Saturday

2010-03-13T09:29:00.002-06:00

I had a great trip to CVS this week. I saved 95%!

Save $10.00 on Disney's The Princess and The Frog DVD/Blu-ray Combo

2010-03-13T00:08:00.004-06:00

Go here to print your coupon good for $10.00 off Disney's The Princess and The Frog DVD/Blu-ray combo.

CVS Weekly Trip: 95% Savings

2010-03-12T10:40:00.006-06:00

This turned out to be a pretty decent week at CVS. I found a couple of clearance items that turned out to be a moneymaker for me.

Transaction #1
2 Gillette Body Wash @ 3.99/ea. - 7.98
2 Gillette Deodorant @ 3.99/ea. - 7.98
2 Bayer Quick Release @ .74/ea. - 1.48
3 Johnson Travel Size @ .99/ea. - 2.97
1 Nivea Lip Care - 2.99
2 Oral B CrossAction @ 4.00/ea. - 8.00
1 Gillette Fusion - 8.99
1 Dawn Hand Renewal - .97
1 Excedrin - 5.29
Total 46.65

$1.00/1 Bayer Aspirin CVS Scanner Q
(2) $1.00/1 Bayer Quick Release (adjusted to $1.48)
$4.00/2 Gillette Deodorant P&G 2/21
(3) $1.00/1 Johnson Baby Lotion printable (adjusted to $2.97)
$4.00/1 Gillette Fusion P&G 2/7
$1.00/1 Dawn Hand Renewal from the Home Made Simple Booklet (adjusted to .97)
(2) $.75/1 Oral B Crossaction P&G 2/7
(2) Free Gillette Bodywash wyb Gillette Deodorant P&G 2/7
Free Excedrin coupon ($5.29)
$16.00 Extrabucks

Total after coupons - .94
OOP - .94 + tax 3.38 = 4.32

ECB earned - 16.99 (8.00 Oral B, 2.99 Nivea, 4.00 Fusion, 2.00 Gillette)

(ECB used 16.00 + OOP 4.32) 20.32 - ECB earned 16.99 = a total cost of $3.33!

That is a total savings of 95% after coupons, sales, and ECB!!!!

Kroger: Hit the Hoops Sweeps (I'm a Winner, Again!)

2010-03-12T09:46:00.003-06:00

So this Kroger Sweeps thing is totally paying off for me. A few days ago, I won a $5.00 credit and today I won a free package of Oscar Mayer hotdogs. Both of these were instantly added to my shopper's card. WOOT! WOOT!

Go here to check it out for yourself.

It must be a growth spurt...

2010-03-10T00:28:00.004-06:00

Not only has Drew been eating like a mad man lately, but I have found him like this

and this

quite often lately. I'm going to chalk it up to a growth spurt!

Kroger: Hit the Hoops Sweeps (I'm a Winner!)

2010-03-10T00:16:00.003-06:00

Remember the Hit the Hoops Sweepstakes and Instant Win game that I posted about here?

Well, I was a winner today and will have a $5.00 credit added to my shoppers card. Woo hoo, that's like 2 free gallons of milk! Not too bad for 10 seconds of work!

Hasbro Toy Coupons

2010-03-10T00:01:00.004-06:00

Go here to print over $140 in Hasbro toy coupons

Thanks, Saving U Cents

Saving Our Cents

It's the little things....

Struggling

She ate cookies....

Wordless Wednesday

CVS Weekly Trip: 96% Savings

Hot Deal: CVS, 2 Free Kodak Picture Movie DVD's

MIA

Beaches

Life's a beach.......

Keeping Our Finances on the Mend in 2010: February/March Monthly Check Up

Saving Our Cents Saturday

A large pill to swallow.....

This week's Target, Walgreens,Walmart, Kroger, and Menards Deals

Saving Our Cents Saturday

*HOT* Huggies Coupon ($3.00/1)

Kmart: $10/$20 purchase coupon

This week's Target, Walgreens,Walmart, Kroger, and Menards Deals

CVS Deals and Coupon Match Ups 03/14/10-03/20/10

Saving Our Cents Saturday

Save $10.00 on Disney's The Princess and The Frog DVD/Blu-ray Combo

CVS Weekly Trip: 95% Savings

Kroger: Hit the Hoops Sweeps (I'm a Winner, Again!)

It must be a growth spurt...

Kroger: Hit the Hoops Sweeps (I'm a Winner!)

Hasbro Toy Coupons

HOT Huggies Coupon ($3.00/1)