Look whos digital again

Guess who is digital again? I can now post pictures again on this blog Yay!

My dear sweet hubby bought me my Nikon D8 for Christmas this year. He paid way to much, but hey, I am just glad to have it. It was on sale the week before he bought it and we missed that sale. I am so excited. I am so excited that I can't even take pictures with it. I am waiting for the perfect picture opportunity. I know that sounds stupid but I can't help myself. When things settle down a little I am going to jump right in and start taking pictures of everything.

Here is a picture for those of you who have forgotten what my new camera looks like. My hubby also bought me a zoom lens which hasn't come in yet.

Swag Bucks

I have started using Swag Bucks. This is a search engine that pays you bucks to shop. You can then turn in the bucks on the website for gift cards to many different stores. I am going to give it a try. I need all the money I can get. If you have used the Swag Bucks please leave a comment. I would like to hear the good, bad and the ugly.

p.s. I am also going to put a link on my web page here. I think I will earn swag bucks if you use my link. So please use my link.

thanks

Another Surprise deal

I got another deal today, this one was unexpected though. It is kinda a long story but I will make it quick.

Monday my kids and I went into Applebees for lunch. We waited and waited and no one came to help us. We waited about 10 minutes and no one even came for our drinks. Ten minutes may not seem like a long time to wait, but for Applebees that was an eternity. We ended up getting up and walking out. Today we were out shopping with my mom and wanted to go to Applebees for lunch. I was a bit apprehensive since we were going to go to the same one that I had walked out on on Monday. In we went, sending all apprehension on vacation. Today we had great service, no problem. To my surprise the manager came to our table and asked how everything was. Here is where I saw my opportunity to vent. I told the manager what had happened to me on Monday. He apologized and did not say anything else. To all of your surprise, I'm sure, I did NOT ask for a discount I just let it go. We were getting ready to leave and the waitress brought out bill. The manager had given us a %50 discount. Yay!!

Another great tip!

I found another tip the other day. I was at the mall and saw a friend, she showed me a coupon book that she got. Surprised, I asked, "Where did you get that!" She told me that the mall information booth had them. What this book was was a coupon book with coupons for almost every store at the mall in it. I headed straight away to the information booth. When I got there the lady told me that they were out. I was bummed. The good news is now I know they have this little book of gold I will get mine next year.

Thanks Tracy.

Great news

I posted the other day about how we live on one income and how God has faithfully blessed our family. Just when I think that God could not possibly do anything else for us He always gives more. I found out the other day that one of the Krogers that is only 2 miles from my house is opening a fuel center. How great is that? Using my Kroger card is really racking up the gas points for us. I filled up my car last Friday for $1.06 a gallon. That was a .3o off per gallon savings.

Shopping Tip

I came up with another shopping tip as I was in the store tonight. My tip is, get to know your Kroger manager. Most of them will be so helpful and friendly.

I have 5 coupons for free Einstein milk. I have had these coupons for a couple of months now and am unable to find the milk. Tonight I went to my Kroger manager and asked him if he could order them for me. I asked him a couple of months ago to order 6 cases of Johnsons Buddies for me. He has seen me so many times that now he says, "Hey how are you?" He has that hey I know you look when he sees me. He took one of my milk coupons back to his office and looked up the company that sells the milk. He came back to me a few minutes later as I was shopping and gave me a whole print out about the company. He even gave me a suggestion of where to find the milk (not a Kroger store). I LOVE MR. T. Thank you Mr. T.

My My

O.k. this post is a little unsettling. I am a bit shamed as I sit here and type. This story starts back to this past Saturday. My poor widdle baby woke up with sore ears. We rushed to the doctors office to find out that my widdle one was suffering from a double ear infection. After the doctors, we headed to Kroger with prescription in hand. I have a coupon for Kroger, see. For every new or transferred prescription they add $20 to your Kroger card. How can I pass a deal like that up? Please understand that I do not want my babies sick so that I can make money on prescriptions, but if it happens, I am pleased to know I have a coupon. My prescription cost me $10 and then Kroger add the $20 to my card. I did'nt do any shopping so there it sat on my card.

Tonight I headed to Kroger and totally forgot about the $20 until I was in line to check out.

*****Here is where the shameful part comes in.*****

I did four transactions because of the General Mills cereal deal. Krogers has their cereal on sale 4/$12 then General Mills has a deal for every four cereals you buy you get back $4 at the register.

My first transaction went like this *Shame coming*
2 containers of Kroger grape tomatoes
1 gallon of Kroger ice cream
1-2 Liter of Coke Zero
4 boxes of Cheerios
1 avacado
1 bunch(stalk?) celery
1-12oz bottle of Diet Coke
1 Hershey candy bar
1 coupon for FREE Coke Zero
Total OOP .36
Here is the shame, my balance was -.15 which means they owed me .15. The lady asked me to buy a candy bar because she did'nt know how to do the negative balance. I bought a candy bar.

My next three transaction went like this
4 boxes of Cheerios

Total OOP $4.20 each transaction.

All in all I got
16 boxes of Cheerios
2 containers of Kroger grape tomatoes
1 Gallon Kroger ice cream
1-2 Liter Coke Zero
1 Avacado
1 bunch of celery
1 bottle of Diet Coke
1 Hershey candy bar

Total OOP for everything $12.96

UGH Crock Pot!

I emailed the Crock Pot company on November 30th. They have yet to get back with me. I know you say,"Its only been two weeks." Yes it has been two weeks but I emailed them its not as if I sent a letter and am waiting for them to respond.

A great Ebay deal for Magic Treehouse

I usually do not shop on Ebay. I quit shopping after I got my account stolen and a thousand knock off brand purses were loaded into my account.

This really good deal pulled me back in though. I am getting ready to teach a Magic Tree house class. For those of you who do not know the Magic Tree House books they are WONDERFUL! They are a series of books where a brother and sister are trying to become master librarians. They travel by way of a magic tree house through time and space gathering historical and geographical facts. They are a really fun way for kids to learn.

I went onto Ebay last week, with the help of Sherri, and I ordered books 1-28. These books cost $3.99 in stores. I was able to get all 28 books for $27 including shipping. Now that is a good deal!

Sams Club yesterday

I went to Sams yesterday and spent a ridiculous $216.00 Whew, I thought I might black out here just typing it. The only really good thing about going shopping yesterday was that I filled up at Kroger using my gas points. I had .30 off per gallon so I filled my car for $1.06 per gallon. The very best thing though was that I only needed a 1/4 tank of gas. I spent $6.

Another money savings for us is that I only fill my van every other week. When I go to Sam's Club is when I fill up.

Happy where God has put me

I thought I would share my life a little so that you could see how we live within our means. I live in a small city. It is large enough where we have at least one of everything, like a J.C. Penny, Home Depot, Sams Club, Lowes, Star Bucks recently we even got a Panera Bread. My city is large enough for this kind of stuff but still small enough that when you meet someone new if you talk long enough you will discover that you have a mutual friend. I really like the size of my city. My hubby and I moved here just over 10 years ago.

When we moved here my husband and I knew that I would not be working so we got a house on his income only. Its an old home, which we love and its only 3 miles from his work, which we love even more with gas prices the way they are. My house is centrally located where we are probably 2 miles from 3 different Kroger stores, a CVS and a Walgreens. We can walk to parks, the post office and the public library. We live in a nice area, I say that we are welfare row of the nice area. Sorry neighbors if you are reading this. But if you are my neighbor you have already heard me say this. You have probably laughed with me about it.

Since we live on one income there are some financial restrictions for us. We have two cars and both are paid for. Since my hubby works 3 miles away his car is very old. It is a 1995 so it has been paid off a long time. My car was paid off this past January, Yay!! We know that we can only handle one car payment at a time so we will always have a car that is paid for. I love not having a car payment! I LOVE NOT HAVING A CAR PAYMENT! We also do NOT have any credit card debt!

I know my house is not shiny new nor are my cars but what a blessing it is to be able to stay home with my kids. I am exactly where God would have me.

K-Mart

I love K-Mart when they do double coupons. Yes I know Kroger doubles coupons all the time. What makes K-Mart so special? When they do double coupons they double all the way $2. A $2 coupon becomes a $4 coupon. The temptation was too much to stay away so I headed to K-Mart yesterday with coupon binder in hand.

I am sorry to say I have misplaced my receipt but here is what I got.

1 Gingerbread house kit $5.99 (on sale-no coupon)
6 boxes of Rice Krispies cereal 4 for $10 + a $1 coupon that doubled
2 Soleil razors $6.49- $2 Kmart discount + a $3 coupon
1 bag of Reeses Crisp candy + $1 coupon that doubled
1 Dove shampoo on sale for $3.79 + $2 coupon that doubled FREE
3 big candy bars Hershey for stocking stuffers
3 bags of Life Savers FREE after coupon. These were on sale for $1.79 + $1 coupon that doubled

My bill before coupons was a little over $40.

I paid OOP $10.48

Officially debunking Crock Pot

I am officially debunking Crock Pot. I bought a 5 quart Smart Pot, actually I bought two. Both times when I cooked in it the lid started to rattle. The first one I bought about a month ago and took it back after cooking in it. The second one I bought on Black Friday, I really debated buying it again because of the trouble I'd had. I figured since it was $15 and anyone can get one bad product I decided to give it another try. Still it rattled and spit water at every passer-by. I think this second one is actually worse than the first! Shame on you Crock Pot Corp.

Can you guess what my next step will be?







My next step-









Tomorrow I will be calling Crock Pot and telling them about this product and, you guessed it, I will be asking for a discount or something to make me a less disgruntled customer.

What is my motto? If you don't ask you don't have a chance for a discount.

I will post tomorrow after I get a response.

Answering a request

I have had a question about adding coupons to my Kroger card so I am going to answer it. Please remember I am not an expert there maybe more ways to add coupons but these are the only ways I know.

Why would you want to add coupons to your Kroger card? Because its added savings of course. If you have a coupon attached to your card and you have a manufacturer paper coupon in your hand both of these coupons can be used on the same item. A perfect example for me would be this: Betty Crocker frosting has gone on sale for $1.50 I have had a .50 paper coupon that double to $1 at Kroger. Then I have had a .50 shortcuts coupon on my card. This makes a frosting free.

$1.50 frosting
-$1.00 manufacturer coupon doubled
-.50 shortcuts coupon
= FREE frosting

CAUTION WITH ADDING COUPONS TO YOUR CARD I was adding coupons that I thought I would use and then I ran out of room and there were coupons I wanted to add but couldn't . Now I look at the sales and then go and add my coupons from the websites.

Here are the websites I use. The first is shortcuts.com when you go to this link you will have to register and then add you cards.

The next site I use us P & G eSavers This site is actually a Kroger site. You need to register and then add you card number. Once you are registered you can add coupons here as well.

My third and last website I use is called Cellfire.com This is a new site I just added it tonight. My friend has used it for awhile and really loves this site too. With this site you need to add your cell phone number. They do not contact you or do anything to your cell phone but you do need to add you number to get access to this site. Now with this site you can add coupons to your cell phone or you can add them straight to your Kroger card. They will send a confirmation code to your cell and then you are to add that number into the website. I added All of my coupons directly to my Kroger card. It was a little confusing to do but if you register then login and go to the deals area, I think it even said add coupons to your phone. When you click on the coupon you want to add a little window will pop up and allow you to add your Kroger card.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving!

I went to Kroger this past Friday

I went again to Kroger this past Friday. It was a new week with new deals. I couldn't resist. I am getting ready for Thanksgiving and Winter. Here is my list and pricing:

3 Breyers ice cream
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Au gratan potatoes
7 boxes of 24ct Tylenol Rapid release gel caps FREE (if anyone needs Tylenol please see me)
2 cucumbers
2 gallons of milk
1 bottle of diet coke .99
2 bags of Kroger cookies
2 Honeysuckle turkeys 10-16 lbs
14 cans of Dole Tropical fruit and Mango oranges.
7 lbs of Blue Bonnet margarine FREE
7 bottles of Crisco vegetable oil
2 cans of Hormel chili

Total before Kroger card and coupons $162.63

Total after coupons $64.71
Total of coupons used $40.32

Good and bad news

I have some good and bad news, which would you like to hear first? Huh? Speak up I can't hear you. What? Oh, o.k. the good news first. Here it is. When I was at the mall yesterday I had to go by Ritz Camera and look at the Nikon D80 one more time. I do this every once in awhile you know. I noticed that a new camera came out called the Nikon D90. I was hoping and praying that the D90 was the new D80 camera. The good news is The D90 has taken the place of the D80. Why is this good news? Because the D80 has went down in price by $200.

Do you want to hear the bad news now? The Bad news is the Nikon D80 still cost $750.00. The really bad news is my hubby thinks even $500.00 is way to much for a camera. UGH!

Needless to say I will be watching sales ads.

I picked up a money saving tip today

I picked up a money saving tip today in a most unlikely place. First let me give you a little background so this story will make sense. When I go shopping to the mall or the grocery store even McDonalds stray people come and talk to me and give me their life stories. They carry on conversations as if I have known them their whole life. It's really kind of funny and a little strange at times.
Today I went to the mall and a lady started talking to me, as usual, in the shoe department at Macy's. We got into a conversation about high heels and I told her that I hate wearing high heels. It is such a drag to find a great pair of shoes only to see a 3 inch heel on it. Anything over 1 1/2 inches is like being on stilts to me. She gave me the greatest tip! She told me to take the shoes to a shoe repair shop and have them cut the heels down for me. She even gave me a local shoe guy that does it for $10. She old me she just took 3 pair of shoes last week and had them all cut down. *Caution* There was a caution with this though- you can only cut about 2 inches off of a heel. You can only cut down the heel until the front of the shoe starts to lift up.
From now on I will not shy away from any shoe just because of the heel. I usually buy all of my shoes on sale so I can get a great pair of shoes or boots NOW!!
Thank you anonymous talker!

Getting on top of things

Finally I was able to get onto of my coupons from last week and dig out my Kroger receipts from last week.

I did a huge Kroger shop last week. I spent around $90 I have not done that in months.
Here is a list of everything I bought. Hold onto your seat its a ton. I ended up doing 6 different transactions. With the Kroger deals you can do 3 transactions of 10 at one shop. Have I mentioned that I am missing my camera? I would love to have some pics of this shop.

3 gallons of milk
3 Bryers ice cream
4-6pks of Dannon yogurt
1-6pk of Bryers yogurt
28 can of Carnation evaporated milk FREE
**please if you need some evaporated milk call me**
3 packs of Nestle chocolate chips
2 jars of Smuckers jelly
1 Peter Pan peanut butter
6 18oz cans of Quaker oats FREE
12 Bath Buddies FREE
9 boxes of Cheerios
7 packs of Duracell batteries (getting ready for Christmas)
1 Sour Cream
1 box of Kroger Vanilla wafers (paid full price UGH! coupon had expired)
1 Kroger syrup
4 bottles of Pledge
4 big bottles of Welches grape juice
1-2lb Domino sugar
4 boxes of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix
7 bottles of Shout
1 18ct large eggs
2.49 lbs of bananas
2 things for $6.99 that for the life of me I cant figure out what it is.

Total before coupons and Kroger card $271.92

I used $115.16 in coupons

Total OOP $104.77

Changing the system

I have changed my shopping system a little and I thought I would share. I now have a three ring binder with baseball card inserts which hold all of my coupons. I do not take a clipboard anymore. I stick my Grocery Game list into my binder. My binder is divided into sections, here are all or most of my sections. Obviously you make your sections to what best suits you.

Baby
Beverage
Breakfast
Desserts
Condiments
Canned goods
Other food
Refrigerated
Frozen
Toiletries
Cleaning products
Paper products
Medication

At the back of most of these sections I have a page protector. This protector allows me to store extra (over flow) coupons in it. That way I do not have to keep buying inserts.

I pull all of my coupons I am going to use before I shop. Then I put them into an envelope before I get to the store. Then as I am shopping I pull out the coupons and check expiration date again and quantity per coupon etc. Any coupons I decide not to use I slide them into the sizable pocket in the front of my binder. When I get to the cash register all of my coupons I am using are in my envelope. All of the coupons in my binder pocket get refiled at a later date. Sometimes a much later date.

Tip to use at Kroger

I have a tip I use at Kroger all the time. When I go through the self-check out I always look for catalinas there. A lot of the time people do not take their coupons. I think my $2 Pamper catalina was obtained this way. Sure I look like a bag lady checking pay phones (a.k.a on top and around the Kroger machine) But a deal is a deal. I do not mind taking coupons that other people leave behind.

First CVS trip in a month or two

Maybe some of you have noticed, I have not been to CVS in a month or two. The reason? I got burned out on couponing I decided that Kroger would be my main store and everything else just kind of fell by the wayside. That is until 2 nights ago. I found myself out of diapers for my little one and saw CVS had Pampers on sale with ECB's, so off I went. The deal was buy two packs of diapers and get 5 ECB's limit 1 per card. I had a Kroger catalina for $2 off Pampers and thought I would try and use it at CVS. Here is how I worked my deal. It was not a great deal but the diapers were needed.

1st transaction

2 packs of Pampers jumbo diapers $10 each
I used $3.50 in coupons
paid $17 OOP and got 5 ECB's

2nd transaction

1 pack of Pampers $10
used $1.50 coupon
used $5 ECB's
Total OOP $3

So for $20 I got 90 diapers.

By the way the catalina worked. Before I got to the cash register I grabbed the manager and asked him.

Wal-Mart Deal today

I owe a big shout out to Sherri for her diligent deal finding. She found a deal at Wal-Mart for me this morning. Wal-Mart had a deal that was only advertised online but it was an in-store sale. They were selling Compaq Presario notebooks with 2 GB RAM, DVD-R, Celeron processor, Vista Windows for $298.00. When Sherri saw this she called me because she knows I have been waiting for a good deal on a laptop. Last night I readied myself for the crowd, got a good nights sleep and headed to Wal-Mart this morning at 6:45. I got there so early because the ad said the stores would have 10 minimum so I wanted to make sure I got one. When I got there I got a ticket for the laptop and was number 5. The sale didnt start until 8 so I milled around for awhile and came back for the computer. Right around 8 the crowd started to swarm. The electronic guy said they had 29 computers, WHEW!!! I paid for my computer and was a happy camper. I decided at this price maybe my mom should be a happy camper as well, so I waited for everyone else to get their laptop and then I got another ticket and bought another one. Why buy one when you can get two at such a good price? If you see my mom shhh because its her Christmas present.

Receive money for old cell phones or ipods

I saw this on
money saving mom and thought it was a good deal. Flipswap Trade is a program where you can send them your old cell phones or ipods free of charge and receive Amazon gift cards. Below is what I cut and pasted from their website.

Here is the link check it out.

Flipswap Trade-Ins allows you to put an Amazon.com Gift Card in your wallet and help the environment at the same time! In three easy steps and as little as five minutes you can determine your phone's value, print out a prepaid shipping label, and send us your phone. You can expect to receive your gift card within 3-4 weeks (depending on shipping times). Even if your item does not yield any value, sending it to us guarantees that it is disposed of properly. Our recycling practices meet ISO 9001 and 14001 certified recycle standards, ensuring the greenest methods of e-waste disposal.

FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO LEGO MAGAZINE

Get a free membership to Lego magazine! Follow this link and sign up. I need to send a thank you to money saving mom for this info.

Proud of my hubby

I am so proud of my hubby. Last night he stopped at Kroger before he came home from work and got some pie shells and some cough drops. He got the .77 Kroger brand cough drops. When he got to the counter to pay for them they rang up a lot higher. He got his receipt and headed straight for customer service. He enforced the scanner law. He showed them that the drops were marked at .77 so they gave him all of his money back and the item free.

The scanner law is this (at least in my state) When you are over charged for an item you get your money back and the first one free. If you have bought more than one of these items you get the difference on all the other ones you were over charged.

Getting a little political

Emails have been swirling, phones have been ringing and people have been asking or trying to tell me who to vote for. Enough already, I say. My view of politics does not focus around issues such as abortion or gay marriage. When I think of America and the political system I try and remember why this country was founded in the first place. The pilgrims first came here get get away from Catholicism that had gone corrupt. They wanted to worship freely without persecution. I get it I am right there with that. Here is where I differ. There is a good reason for a division in religion and education. I am not going to pass laws to force people to believe my religion or my beliefs. Just because I live in a country where certain acts are legal and/or illegal I do not have to agree with these acts nor do I have to participate in these acts. Here is my burning question. If we pass laws making things we believe in illegal does that mean all the people doing the illegal act is going to stop? Obviously not! If we are in the mind set to pass laws to get people to stop doing illegal activities then drug use and/or addiction would not be an issue in this country.

I received an email today that totally hit my feelings on politics and religion. Here it is

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross!
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL?!!

O.k. rant over moving on.

Thanks to Grace for the email.

FREE COFFEE AND CHICK-FIL-A SANDWICH

Rumor has it that after you vote you can go to Starbucks and get a 12 oz coffee FREE.








Also Chick-Fil-A will trade you their chicken sandwich for
your "I voted" sticker.

Showin some love to Kroger this week

I will be showin some love to Kroger this week. They are having the buy 10 participating items and get $5 off your bill.

So far I see free Carnation evaporated milk, maybe some free Colgate toothpaste, cheap cereal and cheap Nestle chocolate chips.

I will post more after I look through all my coupons and wrap my head around the savings.

Kroger Coupons came today

More Kroger coupons came today! I have no idea how I am getting these but I say BRING IT ON!

Here is the list of coupons I received:

FREE 12 pack
FREE Private Selection ice cream
FREE Post cereal
FREE Kroger grape tomatoes
$1.50 off Coke
.35 off Kroger veggies
.65 Kroger deluxe ice cream
$1.00 off 2 Lenders bagels
$1.00 off 2 Post cereal
$1.00 off 4 Knorr
.60 off 2 Duncan Hines frosting
.40 off 2 Rosarita beans
$2.00 off 2 Dove product
.50 off 1 New York garlic bread
$2.00 off Tri Scents air freshener
$1.00 off 1 Sunsilk shampoo

Another REbate Check

We were on vacation in September and a friend of mine bought a box of Blueberry Mini wheats. Inside of the box was a rebate. I , of course, was all over it and told her to send it in. She said she was not interested and I could have it. I sent off the rebate with the receipt. Today in the mail was my $3.36 rebate check.
This is a great deal because my friend bought the box of cereal and I got the money!

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Here it is!
Say hello to my little friend.

I got my slow cooker yesterday. Today I am whipping up chili. I just finished adding everything into the slow cooker.

This is a Smart Pot, which means it will turn onto a warm setting once the cook time has been reached. It has four different cook settings, a high 4 or 6 hour and a low 8 or 10 hour setting. I got the 5 quart round pot. I was looking at the more expensive ones but they were just to big. This baby cost $24.88 at Wal-mart and I will get a $5 rebate.

Here is the recipe from Betty Crocker

Family Favorite Chili

2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 ounce) tomato sauce
2 Tbs chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can (15 or 16 ounces) kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained

Cook beef in skillet until brown.
Mix beef and remaining ingredients except beans into slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat setting 6 to 8 hours or until onion is tender
Stir in beans. Cover and cook on high for 15 to 20 minutes or until chili is slightly thickened.

I cook everything in my slow cooker on low. I have used high a couple of times but the meat seems to get tough. Remember slow is the way to go.

If you have any good slow cooker recipes I would love you to leave it in the comment section.

Finding Deals in the Stangest Places

Since I started this blog in January I have not put very much personal info on it. I have done this on purpose. First, I don't really want a bunch of strangers knowing every little detail of my life. I am sure most people reading are very kind and nice, but lets face it, not everyone reading blogs on the internet have best intentions. Secondly I made this blog as a way of expressing my delight and joy when I find great deals. I LOVE posting pictures of my grocery trips to Krogers and I LOVE sharing what little knowledge I have with people.

Why am I writing this? This deal I found only through a personal experience I had this week. My Aunt died on Tuesday. She was very very close to me she was more of a second mother than a great aunt. I found out on Monday she was in the hospital and Monday at 8 p.m. I headed out on a 10 hour drive to be with her in her last moments. It was very sad but I praise God that I was able to hold her hand to the end.

After my aunt passed we called a friend of mine who is a mortician. My aunt wanted to be cremated. My friend gave us some prices of funeral homes in the area. The difference in pricing is really amazing. We found prices from $2000.00 to as little as $695.00. As it turns out not all funeral homes are created equal, at least in their pricing. In the area where my aunt is there are only 2 crematoriums but many many funeral homes.

So if you find yourself in a position of making funeral arrangements it does pay to shop around. My aunt had insurance but a lot of people do not.

The World Serious

After many years of listening to baseball chat and hoots and hollers from my husband, The World Serious, as he likes to call it, is finally going to benefit me. Let me say right here and now, I am not a sports fan! I have been subject to much football, baseball, hockey, and basketball over the years and finally I am getting a prize for my endurance. Someone stole a base in one of the World Series baseball games and Taco Bell is giving one free crunchy taco away on Tuesday, October 28th from the hours of 2-6 p.m.

After 15 years of sports I am getting a free taco, yeah! HMMM, I feel as if I am getting the short end of the deal.

Gotta love Taco Bell though! If you go and get a taco this week show some love to the employees.

Bye Bye Walgreens

In case you haven't noticed I have not been shopping at Walgreens. If you can remember way back to one of my posts about Walgreens, you will recall that I was shoppping Walgreens at least once a month and getting the stuff that was giving me all of my money back plus overage with the EasySaver rebates. I was building a nest egg on a Walgreens gift card for those times when we absolutely needed something and did not have the money to buy it.

It has been a few months since I have shopped Walgreens. Everytime I would go in there all of the products were out. I sent an email to corporate. They sent my email to the local store and the manager called and left me a detailed message about how they were trying to be better stocked and they were sorry. He apologized about seven times on the phone. I thought, "What the heck I will try them one more time." I went back to Walgreens the next week only to be disappointed again. I was so disappointed that I did not even send another email or complain. This is actually the first time I have written about it. Everytime I think about it I get bothered.

Now you know why you haven't seen any Walgreens posts.

What Fun at Kroger today

Today I went to Kroger and what fun it was! I was scanning the soups and looking at coupons when a couple of ladies walked by. One lady said, "Is that your coupon binder?" I say, "of course it is." We all stood in front of the soups and carried on a nice conversation, we talked about using our coupons and getting good deals. We ran through some of the buys of the week. They showed me their organizational tools and I showed mine. We wished each other the best and headed on our separate ways. That was really fun, all the time that I have been Grocery Gaming and shopping with my coupons this is the first time that I have actually met a fellow couponer in a store. Couponer? Is that even a word? It is now.

I had $104.00 worth of stuff and paid $67.02. I had a total of $41.23 in coupons. This is a %59 savings!!

Here is a list of everything I bought:

48 cans of Campbells cream soups I had .40 off 4 coupons
7 bottles Frenchs Worchester sauce (ALL FREE w/ COUPON)
6 packs of Lenders Bagels (on sale no coupon)
1 bottle of Diet Coke (My first in a week)
1 Private Selection ice cream had 1.oo coupon
1 Kroger ice cream
7 bottles Softsoap liquid soap .30 each with coupons
7 boxes of Quaker oats square cereal $1 box with coupons
1 small bottle of miracle whip NO ON SALE & NO COUPON :(
1 Febreeze noticeables I had $5 manu. coupon & 1 $5 P & G esaver coupon
This item gave me almost $3 in overage. It was on sale for $6.99 and I got $10 off.
1 box Kroger ice cream cones
1 bottle of Kroger peanuts
2 Kroger vegetable oil

If my calculations are correct I now have $229 in Kroger qualifying money which should give me $.20 per gallon off on gas.

Rodin, Rodin

This is art lesson whatever number I am on. I know I am such a bad blogger. I should really have an organized agenda. You know like the "real bloggers" who have pages dedicated to certain interests and certain interests are posted on certain days and all that jazz. What can I say, I have a hubby, kids, a house and somewhat of a life so please forgive me. My blog is like my life scatter brained, busy and disorganized.
Now for the art. A couple of weeks ago I got a chance to do some research on Rodin. Non scholarly people would pronounce his name Row-Din or ro-din, but us scholars here know that it's pronounced Row-Dan.
Rodin was alive in the 1800's during the impressionist era and as with most impressionists he also lived in France. He was a sculptor. He sculpted many human figures. Did you know the human body is the most painted, sculpted/reproduced figure in art? The body has perfect symmetry. I love how God has created us in His perfect image. Lets demonstrate symmetry for a minute o.k.? Pretend you have an imaginary line down the middle of your body from head to toe. When you cut the two halves in half what you have on the left you would also have on the right, example: left arm-right arm, left hip-right hip, left leg-right leg. Both sides are equal to the other in shape, form and balance, Ahh symmetry.
Rodin recognized this symmetry and his sculptures are beautiful. He was able to look at people and capture them perfectly in his sculpting. He would look at them in different lights even in candle light. He would have his models lay down, stand up and even turn so he could see them from the back. He was so good at it that he was accused of casting real people and not actually carving and creating the images from scratch.

Here is a piece of Rodin's art called, "The Thinker". This piece is very popular and it is cast in bronze. It is a huge piece of art as well, I have had the pleasure of touching one of these sculptures in real life. Check out how well definded this man is. Notice how he has his right arm leaning on his left leg. Go ahead give it a try, it is very unnatural and uncomfortable. The thinker was actually a piece that came from the "Gates of Hell" which was another of Rodin's pieces. The "Gates of Hell" is two massive doors that were commissioned for an art musuem that never opened. This piece is very cool as well. It depicts hell at the bottom of the doors and there are 180 small sculptures inside this huge one. The Thinker is sitting on top of the door frame in the middle looking down into hell. If you get a chance look at some pictures online of this piece. You will see people trying to climb up "out of hell" the door frames. There are people in the corners.
Fun fact of Rodin: He had a girlfriend for 53 years. They had a son together who had some kind of mental illness. Rodin married his girlfriend when he was 77 years old. She died two weeks later and he died 9 months later. I am not sure if this fact is a reflection on marriage or just a strange occurance. Actually I do know, she was sick and wanted to marry so they married.

Free Coffee!! Free Coffee?

Hey, there is free coffee to be had at Barnes and Noble. All you need is the coupon for it. My friend Lori has so lovingly left a link on her blog to the coupon. Run, don't walk to her blog and print out yourself some coupons. I printed two but that's just me.

Crock-Pot Deal

I must tell you all about a Crock Pot deal. First let me start by saying that I have wanted a new crock pot for about 6 months now. The one I have is still working o.k. but it is a non stick kind that sits on a griddle base and the non stick is wearing off. I have been looking and lurking on blogs and website eyeing new Crock Pots and have been biding my time. The time has come to buy a new one. There is a $5 rebate on any Crock-Pot over $24.50. If you would like to print the rebate form click here. The crock pot I am looking at runs about $55.00.

Enjoy the picture of my future crock pot. It comes with all the bells and whistles. This thing will do everything except go to the freezer and throw the meat in. Here is a quick features list.

• 6 Quart Capacity
• Digital timer tells you when meal is ready
• Programmable cooking times from 30 minutes to 20 hours
• Automatically shifts to warm when cooking is done
• Removable oval stoneware for easy serving and clean-up
• Dishwasher safe stoneware and lid

It's that time of year again

It's that time of year again. The time of year when the leaves are starting to change. The time of year when the air is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter and shorter. It's that time of year when you load up the family and head to the apple orchards and the pumpkin patches to wonder the fields and pick, pick, pick. That is exactly what we did yesterday.
We first headed to our favorite orchard only to find out that our orchard was already picked over. They, graciously, gave us directions to another orchard where we picked and picked and picked. We picked 261 apples.

Here is my money saving tip: Pick your own apples. We go once a year and pick them and then we peel and core and bag them up. We actually did all the peeling and coring today. We bag them in gallon size Ziploc bags in apple pie portions. This year we got 27 bags of apples. We freeze them flat so that we can store them in the top of one of our freezers.

I use these apples through the year to make apple pies and fried apples mostly. People are always surprised when I tell them that my apple pie is my easiest dessert I do. Since the apples are ready to go I just add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. I use the Pillsbury ready made pie crust, you know the kind that you just unroll and its ready to go.

If you haven't gone picking this year you better get to it. Time is running out.

Shoe buying time UGH!!

After spending $118.00 on 3 pair of shoes for my kids yesterday I was feeling pretty drained. Buying shoes for my kids always wears me down. One of mine has a narrow foot and the other has an extra wide foot. Unfortunately the best fitting shoes are Stride-Rite. I say unfortunately because we pay anywhere from $35.00 per pair to $55.00 per pair. You can probably guess, my kids only get 2 to 3 pair a season. Last year I found a sale and bought 4 pair of shoes for $20 each in 3 different sizes and thought I would have this season covered. I pulled out the shoes a couple of days ago, patting myself on the back for getting such a great deal, only to realize that my child had a growth spurt and two pair of shoes don't fit. UGH! So I pulled out the next pair and they fit good or so I thought. We went to the shoe store to find tennis shoes and the girl measured my childs feet and said, "These shoes are to small." I told her that we had just gotten those out from the closet. The sales girl looked at me and said, "I would wear these out then, because this child is not going to be in these long." Again I say UGH!

I walked out of that store with a $52.00 pair of tennis shoes for one child, that I hope last through the winter and one pair of shoes that were $49.00 for my other child and a 3rd pair for the future which cost $18.

My Buddies came in today

I went and picked up my buddies today. I got 48 Johnson Buddies bars and 3 bags of candy and paid just a little over $8. Yay, I love coupons!!

While I was at Kroger

I received some coupons last week for $3 off when you buy 3 Johnson items. We discovered on vacation last week that the whole family likes the Johnson Buddies bars. So while I was a Kroger the other day I had them order me 8 cases of them. Yes, I will be using all of my coupons and getting 48 Johnson Buddies for FREE! I will have to pay tax. The Buddies are .99 at Krogers and every three I buy I will get $3 off.

I figure if we use 1 a week I almost have a year supply.

Me Likie me some deals!!

Still Digitally Challenged

I hate to say, but, I am still digitally challenged and went to Kroger today. I am sorry to report that I do not have a picture of my load. The load this week probably would have covered the top of my freezer. My freezer is where all my pictures are taken. Here is the very looong list of things I got this week. Also this was broken up into 4 transaction because Krogers deal was buy 15 participating items receive $3 off bill. I broke up my transactions to get the most savings. Here we go:

2 Pepperidge Farm Goldfish
24 cans of Campbells soup
6 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars
4 lbs of I Can't Believe Its not Butter
1 bakery baguette
1 bag of fresh spinach
1 bag of sunflower seeds
1 bunch of celery
2 cucumbers
2 packs of Ball Park franks
2-2 liters of Diet Coke
1 Deli fried chicken
8 4 packs of Yoplait yogurt (shortcut discount as well)
1 Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers (shortcut discount)
2 bags of Pillsbury frozen dinner rolls
1 bag of frozen Pillsbury biscuits
3 Johnson Buddies (FREE)
2 bottles of Greased Lightning
1 Kroger Sour Cream (FREE)
1 box of Chex Mix bars (.40 for 1 box) (shortcut discount)
1 pack of Kroger Oreo cookies
9 bags of Betty Crocker ready to make cookies
4 boxes of Bettery Crocker Supreme Brownie

I had coupons for just about everything I bought this week. I had so many coupons I handed a couple off to another shopper.

My total before coupons or discounts was $192.95

The Total I paid out of pocket $91.45

I had a total of $56.20 in coupons. I think that will pay for my next 5 renewals to the grocery game. I should have done a little better but I messed up one of my deals and forgot to use a coupon. My total would have been $4.50 cheaper if I had done everything correctly--UGH!

This is outrageously high for me but I was loading up on soups. I also bought two packs of diapers which shoot up a bill by themselves.

Kroger Coupons

Kroger is pursuing me right now I think. Through the summer, the deals have not been that great so I have been saving my money and staying home. Kroger just can't stand me not spending money in their store. A couple of weeks ago they sent me coupons and again yesterday I received more coupons. Kroger is like a whining puppy dog standing outside my door in the rain and begging to come in. Every time I see coupons from them its as if they are saying in their best whining puppy dog voice, "Please, please, pleeese come to the store." I do love the coupons though. Here is a list of what I received:

$1 off any Kroger bar or shredded cheese
$1 off 1/2 gallon of Kroger o.j.
1 FREE Kroger yogurt
$1 off 1 lb of Kroger butter
$1 off Kroger biscuits
$1 off Kroger sour cream

Most of these coupons I probably will not use but I do like having them.

Sams Club deal today

Today I went to Sam's Club after being out of town for a week. I needed to pick up some bar towels for an art class I am teaching. I went back to the bin only to find one pack that was open and missing some towels and a bunch of towels laying in the bottom of the bin. Instantly I thought "DEAL FOR ME!" These towels cost $9.84 for 24 towels. I found an employee and asked if there were anymore towels in stock because I really needed them. I also told her if she didn't have anymore in stock I would take what was in the bottom of the bin if she gave me a discount. What is my motto? "If you don't ask you don't even have a chance at getting a discount." She saw a supervisor and got him involved. He looked and counted to make sure the pack was missing some. He said, "Yeah take them and you can have them for $8." This is not a great deal, but a deal is a deal.

I'm Back!

Yes I am back from a wonderful vacation. We went to Myrtle beach and laid around most of the week. I am sure you missed me, well at least Sherri missed me. We talked on the phone yesterday for 82 minutes. Oh my, what can two women talk on the phone that long about, since we talk to each other everyday? Deals, kids and all kinds of misc. stuff of course.

I did get a deal while I was gone and wanted to share with you. Listen up homeschoolers. I say, LISTEN UP HOMESCHOOLERS! This is for you. At the beach they have an aquarium called Ripleys Aquarium and admission is $21 per adult and $10 per children. I thought there must be a discount to be had somewhere. I took out my HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) teacher card and my local home school group card and headed for customer service. I pleaded my case that we are homeschoolers and would like a discount. Now remember my motto, repeat it with me. "If you dont ask you have no chance of getting a discount." Remember me saying this? Anyway I asked and here is what they did for us. My husband and I got in for FREE and the two kids got in for $10. It would have cost of $62 without our teacher card instead it cost us a total of $10. Now that is a deal!

How Do I Get Kroger Coupons?

A question has been asked, How do I get Kroger coupons? You know, I really don't know how I get Kroger coupons. I am signed up to shortcuts and I am also signed up for P & G eSaver . These two websites are wonderful. You sign up at each site and then you can load coupons onto your Kroger card. I love these sites and let me tell you why. If you have a coupon loaded onto your Kroger card and you also have a manufacturer coupon in your hand you can use both on one item. I have gotten Yoplait yogurt before for .40 a 4 pack. I don't know if Kroger sends coupons through that or not. I think Kroger sends coupons to people that do alot of shopping there. I only started getting coupons in the last few months. I have a friend who hardly ever gets coupons from Krogers and she shops there as much as I do or even more. This is basically a long post just to say I don't know how I get coupons from Krogers.

If anyone knows how the Kroger system works or has a comment on Kroger coupons please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Preparing for vacation!

I am so ready to get back to the beach this year. Besides the hurricane hitting just South of where we will be staying I think we will have a great time. If you remember a couple of posts back I was stressing out about using disposable cameras, since my point and shoot camera broke, and I am to poor to afford my hearts desire. Well I have a solution. Its called the Nikon N50, it is my old reliable film camera. Yes I said film. This camera is to the 90's as the D80 is to today. My N50 was top of the line in like 1994. To my surprise you can still buy film! This film thing lead to my trip to CVS this week. I checked my camera bag and to my surprise I had no film. Here is my CVS deal

8 rolls of CVS film 4.99 x 2
1 disposable underwater camera
1 blood tester 9.99
2 Colgate toothpaste 2.99 x 2
4 Goodys headache powder 1.78 x 4
1 Covergirl lip stick 5.99

I did 4 transactions
I used my $2 off $10 coupon for each transaction.
2 Colgate $1 coupons

I paid a total of $7.50 OOP for everything. I do not have any ECB's to roll for next time. This is o.k. since I got all the film I needed for less that what the camera cost by itself.

Sorry

I first want to apologize, Sorry. The other night I posted a Van Gogh picture and then realized I did not give you any kind of background for him.

Vincent Van Gogh is a very interesting character, oh excuse me, artist. He became an artist basically after everything else he tried in life failed. He worked in an art gallery selling art, he was a teacher, a bookstore worker and a preacher. Van Gogh is known as an impressionist. I really like his work. I love the bright colors and I really just want to touch his works of art. Don't they look chunky and rough and great? Art has the ability to arouse all your senses. It is to be taken in by sight, smell, taste and touch.

Van Gogh was mentally ill. He also had other infirmaries like epilepsy, psychotic attacks and delusions. Another little interesting yet desturbing fact is that the Van Gogh family had an elder son named Vincent who died at a young age. After this Vincent Van Gogh was born and was named after his dead older brother. I think this may cause me some mental illness. Notice his self-portraits he is never smiling.

Vincent moved to Paris, closer to his brother Theo and met many impressionists there. He would paint pictures everyday sometimes. Van Gogh painted so much that he would run out of money. His brother would send extra money when he had it, but Van Gogh would buy paint and go without eating for days at a time.

Gauguin, another artist, became one of Van Goghs friends and they lived together in the country for awhile until Gauguin came back to Paris to do art. Vincent went into a rage and that is where he cut off part of his ear. He later checked himself into an insane asylum and that is where he painted Starry Night. Why do I say to forget the umbrella and grab the crash helmet? If I ever see things flying around and swirling like The Starry Night painting I will be taking cover in a basement not under an umbrella. I have read that it is believed that Van Gogh was watching a meteor shower when he painted this.

Later Vincent Van Gogh shot himself in the chest and died two days later from the wounds.
This painting is called Wheatfield with Crows. See how dark this one is? See the path going into the dark? This was Vincent's last painting.
I think Van Gogh's story is sad. I can imagine him being tormented by his illnesses and not having God. He was only 36 years old.

I went to Kroger tonight in the pouring rain

I went to Kroger tonight in the pouring rain. I really wanted to go by myself and take my time. I had a 55% savings tonight!

My total before coupons was $68.36 and after coupons I was at $44.93. Here is a list of everything I got.

1-12 pack of Diet Coke (FREE) thanks to a Kroger coupon
1 Fresh Express salad (FREE) with coupon
1 Rotisserie chicken 1.50 off coupon
6 packs of Kleenex 2 coupons for .50 off 3
7-8 packs of Danimals 7 coupons for .50 off any
2 bottles of Worcester sauce 2- .35 coupons
1 pack of Lenders bagels (FREE) with coupon I received for praising the company
2 Kroger cream cheeses
$15.00 in Kroger cheese it was on sale this week so I loaded up
1 Duncan Hines cake mix (FREE) thanks to a Kroger cash register coupon
4 packs of Take Alongs plastic Tupperware on sale for B1G1 and I had coupons for $1 off 2

It was a nasty night but at least it was not a Van Gogh starry night. If you ever hear a meteorologist say its a Van Gogh starry night, I suggest you leave the umbrella and take the crash helmet.

More Kroger Coupons

Today I went to the mailbox and there were more Kroger coupons, I jumped for joy. I love coupons! Here is a list of what I received.







.35 off Kroger baby carrots
.75 off red delicious apples
.60 off private selection artisan bread
1.50 off private selection creme or fruit pies
1.50 off fried chicken from the deli
1.50 off rotisserie chicken
2.00 off private selection pizza
.75 off private selection soup
1.50 off Kroger raw shrimp
20% off private selection smoked salmon
2.00 off private selection angus steak
1.50 boneless pork chops

Newspapers Newspapers!

A couple of friends and myself had been getting free newspapers on Sundays from different sources and it was good. About a month ago things started tightening up. The papers were not available and we were not getting enough coupons and we started to stress about keeping a good supply of coupons. A couple of weeks ago I decided to call our local newspaper to see if we could just buy inserts or if we could buy papers in bulk. To my surprise the man at the newspaper set me up. For two weeks I have woken up to 25 Sunday papers delivered on my front porch for a price of $7.40 a week. Three friends and I share these papers so we each pay $7.40 a month for 6 papers a week. I love this because it has truly taken the stress out of finding newspapers and worrying if we will get coupons every week. As an added bonus when there is a really good coupon coming I can call and request more papers for that week.

I like this picture with the green. Coupons are just money waiting to be saved. Coupons are extra cash in my pocket.

Walgreens is starting to upset me

Tonight after my bible study I headed to Walgreens. I was going to get Skippy peanut butter, Pert shampoo and Cheerios. The peanut butter would have came to .40 per jar, the Pert is a monthly deal that would give me $2 in overage and the Cheerios are .99 a box. All of this are prices with coupons of course. Instead of finding great deals at Walgreens all I found were empty shelves. This Walgreens always has empty shelves. The only time I can find the sale items is if I go into the store on Sunday when the deal starts. The following is a copy of what I sent to the corporate customer service complaint line. I will keep you informed if I receive a response.

My comments to Walgreens:

I went to this store tonight to buy the advertised items. I went to get Pert shampoo, Skippy peanut butter and Cheerios. The Cheerios were out of reach so I went to the cashier to ask for assistance. She called someone on the p.a. system but no one showed up to help me. Then I went to get the Pert and the peanut butter only to find that the advertised items were gone. I have been to this store on different days through the week on many different occasions only to be disappointed with empty shelves. I have not shopped in Walgreens for at least a month due to this issue. Tonight I decided to try again and again it was a wasted trip for me.

End of Comments to Walgreens.

Can you tell I am a little mad?

Kroger Coupons

I went to Kroger about 10pm on Tuesday night this week. I found a recipe for smoke brisket cooked in the slow cooker and decided to try it. When I started adding ingredients to my slower cooker I realized that I did not have any Worchester sauce. I have been waiting for Worchester sauce to go on sale for ages now and have held on to my coupons. Off to Kroger I went. When I got there I realized I needed some other things like lettuce, corn, cucumber, taco seasoning etc... I got my things and went to check out. I had about $17 in stuff and with coupons it came to be just over $14. This was not a great trip but a necessary one. After I had paid, the kid handed me my receipt and a bunch of coupons. "Are these all mine?" I said, the kid said they were and I was very excited. I received a total of 5 coupons. I got one for a free Duncan Hines cake mix and another for $1.25 off of rotisserie chicken. Ladies and gentlemen Elvis has left the building!

Vacation Approaching

As vacation approaches I am making a mental list of all the things I need to take with us. As I was thinking the other day it hit me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I will not have a camera for vacation. My point and shoot camera was broken by little hands last week and I do not have my big, exciting, expensive camera yet. When I have a moment to sit and think I often think of this fact. I envision myself trying to get good shots with a disposable camera and it turns my stomach. I envision myself taking pictures with my old Nikon SLR film camera and this is o.k. but it makes me wonder, "Will I be able to buy film?" This picture will be me this year taking photos with the oldie but goody. Maybe I should get me a hat like that. I will run my sad sob story by my husband who will probably tell me to get over it and a disposable will be fine. No sympathy at my house.

Good Wife or Dumb Woman

I had a yard sale a few weeks ago as I am sure some remember. I made a grand total of $880.00. This sale started out being a sale for me to raise money for my Nikon D80 camera. This camera is awesome! Excuse me as I wipe the drool from my keyboard. Here is a picture.
Anyway I had the money sitting in my account and was torn between putting money on debt or putting the money in my ING account to add to my camera fund. My husband really wanted to pay some debt but he very kindly said that I could get my camera.
Today I made out bills while I stared at my broken Nikon Coolpix (thanks to my littlest kiddie) sitting in front of me on the desk. "What to do?", I thought. Really there was not much of a decision to make, I decided to be a good help mate to my husband instead of a burden. I dumped $550.00 on debt. The rest is sitting in my account. I will decide what to do with this after next payday.
I know that God will bless this decision. He actually already has blessed this decision. My husband has had some burden lightened from his shoulders. I did not plan on having this camera so soon and I am content with not having it right now. I am convicted to pay cash for this camera so we will see.

My CVS this week

My deals at CVS worked this week. I ended up paying a total of $6.66 out of pocket and have $15 is ECB's for next week. Sorry no pics.
Here is what I got:

3 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers
2 Childrens Advil
1 Skin Effects scrub
1 American Greeting card
1 Alavert

UGH! My Camera

I am sorry to say that I will not have any real live pictures that I have taken on my blog for awhile. Last night I was in the other room and one of my children ran in and was yelling, "Mom, Mom come quick your camera!" I ran into the office to find my young child holding my camera and saying, "cheeseburger." This is what we say at our house to smile for a picture. Now the lens will not shut and when you actually look down into the lens it looks as if it is crooked and pushed way down inside. Also when I turn it on it says lens error. When I try to turn it off it just makes noises like its trying to close and then it turns off.

Hank's song is swirling in my head tonight. You know the words. "There's a tear in my beer and I'm crying for you dear. You are always on my mind."

I was talking to Lori today and we were trying to decide if this is Gods way of saying, "Kim get your Nikon D80." Or is he trying to say, "Kim you are spending to much time with this camera/blog/coupon thing, now be still."

I am opting toward the get your camera decision.

Man with a Plan

o.k. o.k. so it should read woman with a plan but it is what it is. Here is my plan for CVS this week. Please bare with me I have been sick and my head is still in a bit of a daze. When and if I can ever get to CVS this will be my deals.

WE need diapers so that is why these deals came about. I also have about $17 in ECBs going into this week.

1st transaction
Huggies 8.99
Childrens Advil $5.79
total is 14.78 plus tax
my coupons
$2 CVS coupon
$1.50 Huggies
$1 Advil
OOP 10.28 with 5.79 in ECB earned

2nd transaction
Huggies 8.99
2.99 American greeting card
coupons used
$1.50 huggues
$2 CVS coupon
$2.99 American Greeting card (I got it from the in store scanner a couple of weeks ago)
OOP $5.49 plus tax

3rd transaction
$5.79 Advil
$5.99 Alavert
coupons used
$2 CVS
$1 Advil
$4 Alavert
OOP $4.78 with 8.79 in ECBs earned

4th transaction
8.99 Huggies
$6.99 Skin Effects product
coupons used
$2 CVS
$2 Skin effects
trying to get 1 more Huggies coupon
OOP 10.48 plus tax with 10 ECB earned

I should have a total of OOP or ECB s $31.03 and I will earn $24.58 back. This is not a great deal but we need diapers.

My cash should be very minimal out of pocket because I will keep rolling my ECBs.

Obsessed and Loving It

I am going to share a secret with you all, I hope you don't mind. My secret is, saving money is obsessive. I remember way back when (January) when I started my couponing and I started the grocery game, I ran out and bought toothpaste and shampoo thinking I was getting a great deal. I bought toothpaste for $1 or $1.50 and shampoo for $1 or $2. I really thought these were great deals. Then I learned a few things along the way and I also learned about CVS. Now I cringe at the thought of spending $1 for toothpaste or shampoo. Isn't that funny?

I used to spend $250 every other week at Sam's Club and then spend, probably, $50 a week at Kroger on top of that. Now I stress out about spending $100 or more at Sam's Club and anything over $35 at Kroger is highway robbery.

Yes, using coupons and getting great deals is obsessive and I am as happy as a pig in mud doing so. I would like a moment to wallow in my obsession now.

The Yard Sale is OVER!

THE YARD SALE IS OVER!

First let me correct an error from yesterday. At the close of business Friday our total was somewhere around $650.00 not $750.00. I got so excited with having a big wad of money that I guess I miss spoke.

Today was slower than yesterday but our grand total from last weekend and this weekend was?


It was!


It was!

Excuse me for posting so many pictures but I really really like to look at big wads of money and I really really really like to look at big wads of money that is mine. These pictures are only of this weekends money I put last weekends money in the bank already. I will transfer to my ING account next week.

Anyway our final total for our yard sale was ---- $880.20

Yay! I am very close to my camera. The only problem? I don't know if I want to put all that money on a camera now. I really really want the camera and I really really want to pay some debt.

HMMM. I will let my money sit and earn interest while I make my lists of why paying off debt is good and why having a $1000.00 camera is good. Let me tell you about my sweet husband. He told me tonight to buy my camera, is'nt that sweet? This even convicts me more to save the money and then put it on debt. Or maybe buy him something big that he wants shhhh don't tell him.

The Yard Sale

We did a yard sale last Saturday and we are doing a yard sale today and tomorrow. I have to tell you, "I am exhausted!" I feel like I have been lifting 6ft tables for ever. Tomorrow is the last day, praise God. I will not be having a yard sale for at least another 10 years. If you hear me getting the urge to make some money and have a yard sale I give you permission to smack some sense back into me.

I do have to say the money is very good. We have made a total of $750.00 from last week to this and we still have one more day to go. I was going to use this money for my camera fund. That was before our water pipe broke, so now I think it will sit in my ING account and earn some interested while I decide what to do with it.

We had 5-6ft tables filled with nicely folded kids clothes and now we only have 4, Yeah! We are making progress!

Sorry no pics, I am to tired.

Michelangelo Buonarroti vs. Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera and Michelangelo Buonarroti painted frescos. Fresco is a technique where the artist adds pigment and a little water to wet plaster or lime mortar. When dry tah-dah.
This is such a cool piece of art. I have actually been to the DIA and touched it. O.k. o.k. I know I should'nt have touched but I could'nt resist. This piece of art is in a whole room. You can just stand in the middle and turn around and see this whole auto company, man and machine art. These pictures do not do it justice. The detail is amazing. Rivera was also married to Frida Kahlo. We will discuss her art another time. If you get a chance to see a picture of her check out her unibrow. All I can say is UNI-WOW!

Why is my heading Diego vs Michelangelo, you ask?
The Sistine Chapel ceiling is done in this same technique, fresco, and was painted by Michelangelo. So these two artists have that in common and here is a little fun fact as well.
When they did restoration work on the Sistine Chapel they found paint brush hairs imbedded in the plaster from Michael Angelo. Can you guess what they found in Diego Rivera's fresco? Jalepeno seeds! Yes he was known to paint and eat peppers and the seeds have been found in his art work years later. I think that is cool.

Another little tid bit. When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel he and the Pope did not get along. The Pope thought the painting should have went much faster and Michelangelo was kinda pompous. He was going to work at his pace (God complex). I have included a picture of Angelo (the B & W at the bottom) and one of the Sistine Chapel panels which displays God reaching out to touch Adams hand. Notice the face of God, does it look like anyone we know? HMMM, Michelangelo what were you thinking.