Holey Moley slow down already!

wow has this year been crazy! Not only have we added parker to the family and become a family of 4. we have also went back to school, and just this month had 2 cars go down! so we had to retire old blue and get a new van. i am not a soccer mom and hate the idea of driving a van! i went looking for a suv but after driving the van i fell in love. so i guess i am a soccer mom!

this christmas break is flying by and its hard to believe in 2 more weeks i will be on to another semester.I passed my first semester of nursing with 2 Bs and im happy with that. Nursing school is so stinkin hard, and with a family and working im just glad that im able to keep up. im excited about this next rotation, i am doing OB-peds. i really think i want to work in OB so im oober excited. Picol if you want to go early, i could help with your delivery!? lol! just kidding.

anakin is off school for another week. She is loving not having to get up early and staying up past 730. Both kids received a ton of stuff for xmas and this week we are going to have to find a place for all the goodies. im definitly ready to get all the xmas decor back to the basement and hopefully return back to some normalcy. when you work retail there is never time to enjoy the holidays with your friends and family. =(

camron received a guitar hero game and we have been having fun playing with that. im hoping to be able to get some of the pals together for a good old game night, and have some goodies and games. good fun for everyone and the kids love to play together. i will have to wait until everything calms down, and i get my living room back!

well guys im off from blogging i need to search for some deals. hope you all had a great christmas and be safe for new years!

cereal!

Well this week has been major busy but i have been trying to keep up my frugal ways. Sunday i went to church, stopped by walgreens to pick up the tribe since my paper man is worthless and i didnt receive mine! i then came home and started to sort my coupons. I have a lot that im trying to use up before the end of the month, and CVS and Target are helping me some this week.

Cvs had there antiwrinke cream for free after Ecbs and i had $1 off coupon so it was a $1 money maker for me. I had no ECBS left since i used them on all the summer clearance so i was starting from scratch. not a bad week to start but not as great as i once remember. What is happening to all the free stuff?? i did get the mouthwash and toothpaste for .25 cents after ECBS, i want to go back today or tom and see if i can work a candy deal. Not a great week but i thought it was time to jump in before next months new book.

Target is helping reload my cereal stash. we were down to one box, Kix (anakin wont touch the stuff, I guess mom approved but not kid?) So i was trying to figure out how to get some breakfast food without killing my food budget. So last night i bought cheerios, 2 box of cinnamin toast crunch (our fav), and lucky charms. My totals was $6.32 but i got back $5. So it was like getting 4 boxes for 1.32. not bad. Today i went back, because i needed to get juicy juice, dish washer tabs, 2 bottles of nursery water, and got 4 more boxes of cereal. My total was $11, so i used my $5 and spent $6 but then got back $5. woohoo talk about some good shopping. So total OOP 11.32 and $5 to roll again. i have a few more sets of coupons so ill prob go back and get another set. we wont have to worry about cereal for the next 4 months. maybe i can use my breakfast money for some xmas gifts.

Oh and the best part of the day, i took grandma and grandpa a thank you package for helping me so much with the kids. i was able to take 2toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, dishwash tabs, and a box of cheerios. Now that she is retired they really try to watch their budget even more, so hopefully they can do something they enjoy with the little extra this will save.

what better than to be paid to shop!!=)

i have always loved shopping, but now that i can get paid to shop i love it even more. I was all geared to shop at walgreens today, so that i could use my handy dandy $10 off 40 coupon. Little did i know, that it would work out so great! i sat down for 1 hour and gathered all the info i need from other blogs and websites. I took all my coupons and organized them. I knew what i wanted and had a back up plan in place. I hadnt taken advantage of any of the FARS yet and im glad i hadnt. I ended up doing 2 transactions, because we needed some more free stuff when i got home! =)

trans #1

pure water pitcher $7.49- $5 man cpn this is normally a $29.99 pitcher! awesome deal
crest pro health tp $4.49 -.75 man cpn
pert $3.79- $3.00 man cpn FAR
dimetap $3.99 X3 got back $10
water filter $6.99 FAR
crest prohealth mouth wash $3.79- .75 man cpn FAR
rev nail polish $4.79-$2 man cpn
exceredin $3.99 FAR
dove chocolate 2 for $3- 2 $1 man cpns
then used the $10 off $40
So my total out of pocket was more than i like $23.19, but heres the kicker i got back a $10RR and a $4 RR from the dimetap and the crest!!
And im going to get back around $27 in rebates!! (27-23.18-14RR) so they paid me around $17 to shop. So i had to go back one more time. i had forgot nursery water and milk

so transaction #2

Bic gift pack clearance $4.99-$4 man cpn this is awesome it had a soliel razor, 4blades a loafa, & moisturizer
schck quatro razor $3- $2 man cpn
loreal wrinkle cream $16.49 FAR- $2 man cpn
hanna montana pens .09 X3 xmas gifts
quatro razor refills $4.99- $4 man cpn
2 pencil bags .39
pur water flavor to go with my new filter $3.24- $3.00 man cpn
panty hose 3X 1.19
lypsm lip $1.99 FAR
chex mix 2X .99 - (2) .50 man cpn the dumb $1 wouldnt print for me =(
2 nursery water $3- .55 man cpn
milk $2.99
then used the $10 off $40 and the $10 and $4 from the RR on trans #1

my grand total was 10.37 and im getting back 16.99 & 1.99 for the far items. So paid once again $8. With gas up to $5 a gallon we can use all the help we can get. So i think all put some of these things back for xmas and patiently wait for my walgreens gift card. =)

woohooo!

Man has this week flown by. This morning as i was waking Anakin up, it started to rain. Normally this would be a great excuse to sleep in late and let the day fly by. This of course was impossible since Anakin had kindergarden and Megan and I had a rummage. But I cant say I didnt think about it, especially when Anakin didnt want to get out of bed, "she was too tired." Well the rummage was definitly a waste of time a wooping $4 but hopefully tomorrow, if its not raining. Otherwise we will have a 1 day sale next Friday and whatever doesnt sell will go to the church for their annual rummage. On the way to school today Anakin announces " that she loves kindergarden!" WOOOTTTT! Im so happy for her. She told me yesterday that she made 2 new friends. Abagail who sits next to her in class, and Hanna who no one liked. This really startled me because this is only kindergarden. How can NO ONE like her. So i decided to ask a few questions. Of course Anakin was full of information. She said that the kids didnt like her because she has a blue thing on her forhead. I said kind of like a bruise? She said Yes. She told me that she told the other kids that it was not nice to make fun of people that are different. I was so proud of her i had to give her a big hug.

I really wonder what some parents are teaching there children these days. I know that Im not a perfect mom and would Never say that i was because believe me Im the first to dought myself.

What ever happened to the good old days when you treated other people like you wanted to be treated? Reading a friends blog today she talked about being harrased by a man in the public library! this just blows my mind! is there no place safe anymore? Its time to start taking back some of the good values that have been lost! No one should have to feel threatened, or disliked. Yesterday I was a very proud mom, that my 5 year old stood up for another student, because something was not right. I thank god everyday for my little beauties, and pray that he can keep my eyes open and mind free so that i never miss out on these moments that may sometimes go unnoticed. Thank you Anakin for using your bullheaded, strong willed personality for good, you have made me very proud.

where is the mommy manual??

Most days with my children are pure delight, but days like today have me looking for the nanny show phone number. Today was Anakins teacher greet day. We hung out all morning at megans so that the girls could play before school starts. Anakin and kailey had a blast playing in the sprinkler and megan and i got ready for our rummage sale, for this next friday. Everything was great kids were well behave no confrontation. So we came home showered and got ready for the meeting. we talked about her feelings and how things were going to go. We get there and pray and then anakin asks if she can play with the toys. She had lots of questions and looked around at her class room. the teacher was discussing information with me, and then asked anakin to come over and sign a paper so that she could participate in computer time. Anakin looks at her and says "Im not going to sign your contract because im NOT going to go to school here." then there was a big tantrum. Oh the things to write in her baby book. i hope this doesnt leave a bitter taste in the teachers mouth. Please pray for anakin that she will have a smooth adjustment, and that i will be able to help her as much as possible. She is such a worrier and im sure that she is just acting out because she is nervous. Poor girl got my anxiety problem. on a better note i went yesterday and got anakin signed up for debbies dance, hopefully that will be great for her.

well need to get off here i should post my great grocery deals from this week. Katie has motivated me to find some recipes, and figure up costs.hopefully this will help us with our budget.

2 trips to target and 3 transactions later!

ok anyone who knows me, knows i dont need a reason to go to target. i could go there everyday and love it. today i was on a mission to get 2 more diaper deals before the coupons expired today and a bday gift for the twins 1st bday. alot of my coupons were done today so i tried to work the best deals i could with target and manufacture coupons. the first trip i went i did 2 transactions.

first transaction:

anakin dog bath toy $2.48 it was her money and it was 75%off and shes been buggin me for a while
12pk bounty 4.20
bubble blower 2.18 for twins
paint kit 3.98 xmas gift
chalk kit .78 twins
dog tie out 9.99
books X2 .99 twins
pampers wipes 5.99
diapers 10.49
total after coupons- 36.83 used $10 gift cards from previous purchases OOP $26.83 and got $5 gc

2nd transaction-

2 ziplocs 2.74
jelly 2.39
golf set 4.98 xmas gift
pampers 116 box 19.58
wipes 5.99
total after coupons- 28.55 and $5 gc for next time

last transaction-
a soda and water for cam and i just got off work or wouldnt have bought 2.29
skintimate shave gel 2.24
ziploc x2 4,78
bounty 12 pk 4.20
always pads x2 11.58
total after coupons- 13,52 used the $10 gift card paid $3.52 so basically bought a box of ziploc and shave gel yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! everything else was free all from buying things we would buy normally.
total would have spent without great coupons-$102.96-58.90 spent
so lets see my total savings would be ...........$44.06 not bad thats almost 50% that i would normally spend. ohhh dear coupons and money saving friends where have you been the last 10 years! =( tomorrow is going to be a new month. trying really hard to use things from our stockpile and save bigtime on the grocery budget. i need to look for some good recipes to jazz up our meals. tonight we had holiday soup. it was actually pretty good but alot of beans. thrown in with some corn bread turned out to be a cheap yummy meal for tonight and lunch tom.

august monthly challenge-

stick to the budget! easier said than done.
dont use the credit cards! not one time
save $200 for emergency fund
lets see how well we can do. im hoping to accomplish all of these. wish me luck!
got to go to bed tonight was a horrible night at work and im sure it will be a long weekend.

great target night

ok here is my great bargain tonight!

target:
70 pack of diapers $16.99
mega pack of wipes $5.oo
herbal essence $2.94
herbal essence $2.94


-man cpn $1.oo off pampers
-man cpn $.50 wipes
-target cpn $5.00 off wipes and diapers
-$5.00 gift card when but wipes and diapers
-man cpn $3.00 off herbal essense

oop $13.37 not too bad for all those items thats less than a pack of diapers!! i was psyched.

i did pick up some other things that were on sale that i didnt have cpns for like dixie plates were $2.50 on sale not bad would have been better with a cpn but still reasonable. i got anakin a jacket on clearance for $3.74, i had to get special crayons for $1.92 for anakins school. and parker needed infant spoons for cereal next week that were $2.99 so not that bad. so total spent was $31.84 but still not bad compared to the $50 some dollars i would have normally spent. =) love couponing im way too addicted i actually feel bad now for not having a coupon for something.

then we went to walmart i got:

12 plastic bowls for anakins bday party for .75 cents.
nursery water 2@ $1.18
notebooks for school 9@ .05 cents
index cards 4@ .46 cents
bic pens 2@ .88 cents
ky touch $1.00
50 pack chlorox wipes $1.50

-.55 cents water cpn
-1.00 bic cpn
grand total oop $8.11 woohoo!!
getting better i hope to be able to improve my spending and get like under $5.00 oop. its work in progress.

i think my next target visit will be:

diapers the $10 pack this time
wipes mega $5.00
smuckers guessing around $2.50 not sure
skintimate shave gel $ 2.99?
swiffer refills special pack $6.99 x2
bounty mega $12
mega charmin $12
total :$58.47

-$1.00 target cpn smuckers
-.35 mnf cpn smuckers
-.25 bounty mnf
-$1.00 Target shave gel
-.55 man shave
- 2x .50 man swiffer
-$1.00 target swiffer
-$1.00 charmin target
-.25 charmin man
-.25 bounty man
-$1.00 target bounty
-$1.00 man pampers
-$5.00 gift card cpn
-$5.00 when buy wipes and diapers

should be $39.82 almost $20 worth of savings. and a stock pile of paper towel, toilet paper and swiffer wet jet pads. woohoo! hoping the swiffers, charmin, and bounty get marked down sometime soon, so im holding out a little bit. there just starting to mark down the good value stuff so will have to keep an eye out. only thing i need to look for is a wipe coupon!? give me a shout if you know a place for pampers wipes coupons! oh and picol im looking for that hp paper cpn.

well bed time walking in the morning will come early

july monthly challenge

this week has been totally nuts o. i have hardly accomplished anything that i have planned. mon was work day, tues camron was off so we ran errands, tell you about my deals in a bit. wed was free day at the zoo! ya i love when i can spend time with family and friends and it costs a little of nothing! thurs is today and anakin has her kind. physical. poor girl is so nervous that she is going to have to have shots. i feel sorry for her, im making cam be the bad guy and take her. but i am going to try and finish up my debt calculation, and write out my budget for july. my big challenge this month is to reduce my grocery budget to $200. normally this would not be too bad, but with 2 dogs, cat and a new baby this seems almost impossible. diapers and formula cost a fortune! my dog and cat both are on special food so thats mucho money.

so anyways i got some great buys this week. i went to staples and got the maximum amount of folders, pencils, and binders. i also picked up the free highlighters, so out of pocket $1.60! i had a whole bag, it was great. i was also able to pick up the rest of her school supplies. i wasnt able to get the great deal on crayons due to the school needing certain ones. but i picked up her special scissors at the $1 store. got her pencils for a penny per pack of 8. folders 3 for penny a piece. glue had to be a special kind so i got a 3 pack for $2.19 could have done much better but had to have the jumbo packs. So a pretty good deal since they run $2.19 a piece. Megan is giving me a school box that Kailey wont use so thats FREE! yaaa thanks meg. I allowed anakin to pick out a special school backpack since she wants to use her old lunch box that we already have. her old back pack zipper broke, and that is something special for her. She got a hanna montana one on sale for $14, its pretty cute. I also picked up a $1 pencil bag for her bag in the dollar section at target. Oh and the steal of a deal hanna montana paper packs for .48cents at target. they were $2.19 at walmart. so i will have to sit down and figure up what my total is. i was hoping to be under $50 bucks for the whole caboodle. LSA requires so many certain brands that i wasnt able to get some of the deals, but i was able to catch some.

well off to get some things done.

tired of being tired

last night was sooo long. i had to be at work at 5;30am and work till 10. then come back to work at 3 and work till 9;30. afterwards i had to go grocery shopping at walmart.pooo. i hate walmart anymore. everything is way to spread out and its too easy for me to get distracted.
So today I need to make a run to CV, aldi, and staples. i have been trying to be more frugal, and pay off some of our debt before Im done with school. So I have started reading the Dave Ramsey book. Today im going to sit down and write all of our debts out, scary i know. I am no longer using any credit cards, and we are going to cut back. Thats all there is to it, im tired of being tired! =) So next step working on building up my $1000.00 emergency fund. So if anyone has any frugal ideas let me have them! i have started couponing, cvsing and im starting to get a nice stock pile. got some great coupons this week out of the paper for things we actually use so that made me happy. i only spent $70 at the grocery store last night for 2 weeks of meals. i wrote out all the weeks menu, now if i can just keep camron out of certain things until then! i can normally spend about $350 a month in groceries so im hoping to cut that way back. we are trying to not eat out which is REALLY hard for us. hopefully this next week i can catch some awesome deals on school supplies for anakin at walmart, so back to school wont be so overwhelming. tuition will be an added expense for anakin and i dont wont to fall back into out credit cards for school clothes and supplies!=(

oh and im looking for great recipes for frugal meals! if you have ideas lay them on me. we are going to take this day by day and god willing be debt free in no time!

wooooohoooo going back to work!!

can you hear the sarcasm in my title! i am sooo not wanting to go back to work. i wish that we could afford for me to stay home but not possible right now. im going to start cutting back and getting credit cards paid off. its horrible that we got caught up in the credit card trap! dave ramsey hopefully is going to help me out. =) (pic i would love to borrow that book by the way) i have started the financial peace one this week. i have to do it in between mothering duties so im really slow at reading it. parker was christened today, and slept through the whole thing. anakin had her recital on saturday and did an awesome job. im so proud of her she is getting so big. parker is getting his first set of shots on sat. =( hes getting so big, still not sleeping through the night and wants to be held all the time. he is quite the mommas boy, and hardly lets me function. well its 830 and i better catch some ZZZZs you never know what the night will bring. oh and my big excitement this week, i knitted my first hat! woohoo, its a little rought but is finctional and i think that i can do even better this next week. hoping to add some embelishment skills to my list this week. now off to see what the coupon craze is all about! =)

pity party

so this week has been long! mon was my bday, and cam and i were having an off day. i had class that morning, and just spent the day at home. i think once you hit 25 bdays are just another day anyways. ok poor me! im done. on a better note its finals week and sat is my last day of classes till august! woooo stinkin hoooo! parker will be 7 weeks on friday, and anakin took her kind testing yesterday. i cant believe my baby girl is going to be going to kindergarden. it seems too early. i look at her and think where o where did my baby go. parker is growing like a weed. got an apt for next wed to get the kids pics taken. we are going to try out the shooting star in town, i hope they do good. parker is going through the hold me all the time so i can sleep stage. im glad that i purchased my sling, or i dont think i would be able to function. we still arent sleeping through the night but hopefully soon. we are working on some family goals of getting debt payed off. im going to try and get that dave ramsey book at the library today but its always checked out. we got parkers christening date set up for june 1st and i go back to work june 2nd. booooo! o well 15 hours shouldnt be that bad, and we need to get this stuff payed off so we are not working for the credit card companies!!

simple yet fufilling

today was a pretty good day. i had to go to class for a scholarship deal today. my ding dong instructor posted all the wrong times so i ended up missing the meeting. so theres 10 points off my statistics grade. o well what can you do. after class i ran to target to get some baby wipes and check on shorts for anakin. i didnt find anything but they did have some cute shoes that i will have to tell my mom about for my bday. After exploring target i went to ol mas and sewed up a dress, capri pants, and 2 shirts for anakin. i also managed to sew her a skirt, she should be pretty good for summer. parker was fussy today i think the hot wings i had last night were working a doozy on him. poor thing, i have to remember what i eat hurts him as well. parker is officially 5 weeks today, i cant believe how fast hes growing. time has flown since he has been born. parkers overwhelming delivery has really encouraged me to increase my faith. everyday i wake up and thank god for all the miracles that he surronds us with. i plan on joining the lutheran church this summer, and parker is going to be christened in the next few weeks. so much to do and always so little time. theres only 2 more weeks of classes left and im so excited to be out for a break! well gtg mommy duties call..........