Shocked!

Several days ago, I followed a link off of one of my favorite blogs (I would give them credit but now I can't remember which blog it was). Anyway, I hopped over to enter a giveaway and left my entry.

Guess what? I won! I won! I won! I am so shocked and amazed and utterly thrilled! I won a $25 gift card to CVS!

So, go over and visit Sweet Pea and share the love. She is the mom of twins (oh so cute!) and has just started her blog.

If I have to drive a wagon (from hubby)

We have been owners of Volvo wagons for almost three years now. My dear, sweet hubby could not be convinced to drive a mini-van but fell in love with the wagons. Last summer, he even traded his beloved Toyota Tacoma for a 2004 XC70 wagon and now drives the 1999 V70 wagon.

A sample of our first wagon...(not for bragging purposes...stick with me you will see!)

A sample of our second wagon... (again stick with me here...)

My hubby showed me the following picture tonight and told me that if he had to drive a wagon, it might as well be tricked out to the max! Let him dream, sweetly dream!

Now that's a ball of fun - or is it yarn?

I just posted about having all of these newspapers left over each week and wondering what to do with them. I would like to give a huge shout out to my cyber-friend (is there a better etiquette word?) Richelle for giving me this awesome suggestion...

Turn the newspaper into yarn! Yep-you read it right, yarn.



Now, I don't think that I will get the chance to do this until my baby Kate is much older but it would be a neat trick to try. You will have to let me know if you try it! You can go here to see how it is done!

Thanks again Richelle and congrats on your 100th post!

Newspapers, newspapers

I must first admit that I stole this blog post idea from my friend Kim, so thanks Kim!

Kim and I, along with our friend Sherri have been seriously couponing for about eight months now. We had made several connections with people at our church who did not use their coupons and had ended up being able to snag four or fives sets of coupons each week in addition to any that we purchased for ourselves.

Kim is quite resourceful (I envy her-really) and was able to go to a local gas station late on Sunday nights to be given any and all newspapers that were left over for the day. This meant that we would have about 10-15 sets of coupons between us.

We came up with this elaborate and labor intensive coupon box. The coupons were cut and organized in this old diaper box into folders. The box was kept at our church so that we each had access to it. It quickly became overbearing!

Well. La, la, la and several months later, the coupons that we had been receiving ceased and the store where Kim got so many extra papers had to quit giving them away free. So what did Kim do (I won't even dare try to take credit for it)? She got her resourceful self on the phone to the newspaper and set a bulk delivery to her house everyweek. It turns out that for $7.50 a week, 25 papers will magically appear on her front door step each Sunday morning. This price is a savings of $30 a week off of the news stand price!

So, if you do the math, in a four week month, we are getting 100 papers for a grand sum of $30.00. The actual retail price is $150.00 so we are saving $120.00 a month in papers! There are four of us that each contribute $7.50 to the price and we each get 6 papers weekly. We each cut out the coupons that we ourselves will use and organize them our own way. We cut out the remaining coupons and store them in ziplock bags by date so that when a good sale comes along, we can put our hands on them quickly and easily. And we share them. This sharing has come in so handy on CVS purchases and double couponing at Kroger.

So, my hat is tipped to you Kim for figuring out a way to keep those coupons coming and savings in our pockets. Oh, and by the way...my friend Kim-you are amazing in many ways and God is definitely growing you girl! Go with the flow baby-He won't let you down or give you more than you can handle (*wink*). Love ya!

Now if only I knew what to do with the part of the papers that I don't use each week....any thoughts?

Good CVS, Kroger, Kmart week!

***This is from last week...a little late posting but worth sharing!
First Kroger-

I got some awesome coupons from Kroger this week and used them to their fullest potential. I also used a Target Pharmacy coupon at Kroger (Kroger matches any competitors coupons) and received a $10 gift card to Kroger for a new RX that I had filled.

Also at Kroger, I received two free pork loins due to pricing errors. It is always worth checking your receipt-even pennies off count!

As for CVS....

I started out with $0 ECB's

1st Transaction:
2 Children's Advil $5.99 each
-$1 Advil coupon
-$2/$10 CVS coupon
Total: $8.98
Earned $11.98 ECB's

2nd Transaction
I got two packs of Huggies diapers for $2.19
How...
Huggies $8.99 x2
- $2/$10 cvs coupon
- $1 off Huggies coupons x2
- $11.98 ECB's

Total OOP: $2.19!

Then at another CVS...
I walked in and there was clearance basket with items marked 75% off. Inside there were 3 Tide with Bounty marked $1.99! I grabbed them as fast as I could. I was so excited I didn't even think about trying to work them into a deal but $1.99 for tide is huge!

Then to Kmart for free pens...

I bought 16 packs of bic pens for 40 cents!
I had 8 coupons for $1/off two and the pens were 50 cents a pack

Blogs Can Change Lives

There is a blog that I look at called "5 Minutes for Mom" that has helped change the life of a family who has a child that is seriously ill by giving them a HP laptop. HP, after hearing the story, donated a laptop and printer to this family as well as another laptop to be donated to another family in need.

If you know of a family that this type of blessing would benefit, please go to the 5 minutes for Mom site and nominate them.

Sharing the happiness...

Sharing the happiness!

Ok, because I know that you love me and want to share my happiness, let me share my great grocery deal...



In the picture...
**(reg price) other is sale price

(5) Twelve Packs of Pepsi ($4.79 each) $3.00 each
(4) Small Cans Cinnamon Rolls ($1.79 each) $1.00 each
(4) Cans Breadsticks ($2.49 each) $1.00 each
(1) Can Cresent Rolls ($1.88)
(1) Bag Cat Food ($6.99)
(1) Coffee Creamer ($2.19) $1.89
(2) Pert Plus ($3.31 each)
(1) Bleach ($1.48)
(15) Electrasol Tabs ($4.89 each) $2.69 each

Total Price before Sale Price $136.61
Total Due after Sale Prices given $77.02

Total after Coupons: $27.85!
Let me get a shout out in happiness!

Here is how I did it:

CVS
Pepsi were buy 4/$12 get one free at CVS
Total $12.00
- 2/$10 CVS
- $5 ECB's
Paid: $5.00 out of pocket for 5 twelve packs!

Kroger:
Coupons Used:
I had coupons for the canned rolls which made them either 50 cents a can or 30 cents a can
(2) $2.00 off Pert Coupons
(1) $1.00 off Creamer coupon
(1) Coupon for free bag of cat food ($6.99 value)
(15) $2.25 off Electrasol coupons thanks to Kim!

Thanks for sharing the happiness

***After looking at the receipt, I realized that the pert rang up at full price $3.31, not $2.50. So I took my receipt back to the store and was refunded $4.22 (full price for one, the difference on the other)

I took that money and bought 6 bags of Keebler Cookies and two more bottles of Pert for $5.52
What a sweeter deal!