June Savings and 3 month total

So, I thought since I as putting my totals on for the month of June and my three month total, I decided to take pictures of most of the food and stuff in my house, so that when I say we have a lot of stuff in the house you will know I am telling the truth.

Here is one picture of the downstairs refrigerator/freezer. There is more in this freezer, I just took a picture of the door.

This is the door of the upright deep freezer.

The body of the upright freezer.

I took the laundry detergent out of the cabinet, so you could see it better.

This is a shelf in the downstairs room.

Pretty self explanatory.

One side of under my bathroom sink. In the front is 5 toothbrushes, I believe, and one of 7 razors I have bought. Giving many of those away.

Under my bathroom sink. The shampoo and conditioner is on the left, then body wash, toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, and tampons. We have given some of this stuff away, so it is not in the pictures.

Twelve boxes of the kids soap.

Sugar, Ziplocs, pasta, easy mac, etc.

This is one cabinet in the kitchen.

The snack cabinet.

And finally, the cereal cabinet.

June Totals
Before Savings 1023.05
Coupons 301.90
Advertised savings 219.97
Out of Pocket 501.18


Three Month Total
Before Savings 3187.42
Coupons 757.53
Advertised Savings 761.90
Out of Pocket 1667.99
A total percentage savings of 52.32%

We now have so much food and personal hygiene products in our house, we are giving them away. We have also decided not to change our grocery budget. We thought the left over would be an excellent addition to my Longaberger commission that will be used for vacation. So that is the incentive to keep the groceries low, but yet still eat what we want (ie. lots of ice cream).

Saving again....

This was my Publix trip yesterday. My out of pocket spending was $46.19, I saved $58.01. I have had several people ask me how I am doing this, so I am going to give a little explaining.

How did I do it. Well, cherries were on sale for $2.49, and raspberries were on sale 3/$5 and asparagus for $1.99 per pound, tostitos were B1G1. Everything else was on sale plus I had coupons. Example, the pringles were on 3/$4 per can ($1.33 per can), then I had $1.00 MC (manufacture coupons) on two cans. So I bought four, because I had two coupons and the chips don't expire until Mar 2010. The apple juice ($2.49) I paid a penny for with the mystery coupon in the sale paper. French's mustard was B1G1, then I had two $.50 MC and one $.75 MC. The $.50 MC doubles, so I spent $.09 on all three bottles of mustard that don't expire until Sept 2010. The Kotex were B1G1, and I had $.75 MC per box, so I paid $.85 per box, so bought four boxes since I had four couples. The Velveeta cheese was B1G1, I had two $1.00 MC and one $1.00 Publix coupon so I spent $.98 per box of Velveeta. Yoplait yogurt, I had a $.40 MC that doubles to $.80, and a $1.00 Publix coupon. I only buy stuff that is either on sale, or I have a coupon for. I prefer both of course, because then you save even more.

Here was my CVS stop yesterday. Out of pocket, $3.45, saved $25.96. How did I do it?

First, I did three transactions, one stick of speed stick for $3.99 (used a rain check I had been saving with ECB's with attached) I used a $3.00 Extra Care Buck (ECB) from last week, paid $1.07 and got a $4.00 ECB, used that $4.00 ECB to pay for the next stick of deodorant, paid $0.00 and got another $4.00 ECB. Then the Wisk was on sale B1G1 ($8.49 for both), I had two $1.50 coupons (brought total down to $5.49), then I used the $4.00 ECB from the previous transaction, and paid $2.38 for both bottles of Wisk.

It is more time consuming to shop this way, but the amount of money I am saving is completely worth the extra time. I will post this months totals, most like tomorrow.

A funny...

This evening while we were eating dinner, we were doing simple math with Little Man. Two plus two is 4, 3+4=7, 2+8=10, etc. Well,he does excellent with those, so we have been moving on to larger numbers. Anyway, I asked him 10 plus 1 equals and his answer was eleven, then I asked him 8+3. His answer was so funny to us...He looked at his hands and said "I only have two left". Then the hubby asked him how would you figure that one out, Little Man's response, "I could use my toes."

Ah, to be four again. They truly are priceless.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

So, what's a boy to do when his fifteen minutes of fame in life is at the age of 2?

Notice in the background, Little Man is flirting with a pretty 7 year old girl. He obviously likes them older and pretty. If you double click on the picture you can see Little Man better and my comments.

This is just too much FUN....

Todays Target Trip (Thursday)

Two packages Oscar Mayer lunchmeat, three boxes of the kids soap, one container icing, and one 16oz package of Kraft singles. Out of Pocket: $3.83, total saved: $10.64.

By the way, if you are wondering about all the lunchmeat I have been buying, it freezes really well. Is freezes a word?

Mississippi Vacation

I thought I would post some pictures from our week in Mississippi. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the pool. This is my favorite picture. Mini-Me, at two, has decided it is just great fun to jump into the pool and swim back to the latter. I am amazed that he has taken to the water the way he has. It is just plain fun to watch him doing this. We got a season pass to the pool, because Mini-Me loves to swim.

Little Man just looking goofy.

Kid-O playing with daddy. Kid-O loves the water, but we can't seem to get here to listen to us, so that we can actually teach her to swim.

Mini-Me fall into the pool off of one of the floats. This started the whole jumping into the pool, so we had to get him some floaties.

Little Man just lookin cool.

First Barber Shop Visit

Mini-Me made his first trip to the barber shop Saturday, for his first real big boy cut. So here is the before picture:

Here is right after Floyd the barber started cutting his hair. And yes, his name is really Floyd. HAHA.

Here is the finish cut. I did not like it at first, because it makes him look too much like a little boy than a baby.

It is growing on me now though. I am sure I will grow to love it.

June 17th Online Exclusive

These chili bowls would be great for soup or my favorite night time snack, ice cream. For $10 a piece, they would also make a great Christmas gift for those people in our life who have everything they could want. Visit myShop to order.

CVS Lute...

So here is the lute that I got at CVS Sunday.

I got 2 Positively Ageless Aveeno body lotion, 1 positively ageless Aveeno face wash, 1 CVS hand lotion, Clearasil Daily face wash, Excedrin migraine, and Schick Quattro Titanium razor. Here is the kicker. Out of Pocket: $3.25, total saved: $51.76 ($41.48 was coupons and ECBs).

Red Rooster

Well, I am about two weeks behind, so I am just going to give the highlights. Here is a picture of the group of ladies that I attended the Red Rooster (Scrapbook retreat). We had so much fun, well, I am assuming they had as much fun as I did. So here is the group from left to right, my mom, Lorie, me, Shelley Bean with butter bean, Going Goofy, Sherry, Loveday's Day and AmIGettingOld. This is what our tables looked like from the balcony. The whole room was just neat to look at from above; or a mess depending on how you want to think about it.
Here is a picture of me that Going Goofy took, when I completed one of the projects I brought with me for the weekend. It is an entire scrapbook of Little Man's journey through his health issues. I took all the blog post and pictures that went with those post and made him a scrapbook. It turned out great. I love it.

Common Sense....

I copied this from a blog I read, in which he had copied it from some one else. So I have no clue who wrote it, I just know it is the truth.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place, Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I’m A Victim

New Church....Maybe So

So, last night, I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids to the park to play for a little while. Well, while we were there, a couple with two boys came up (one of which has man health issues as well). Of course, we started talking, about just moving down here, what all is around to do, and then church came up. Imagine that, God using people again.

So, anyway, they told us the name of the church and where it was locating, that kind of stuff. Well, oddly enough, it is the same church that our dentist recommend, but he could not remember the name, so we ended up at the name it and claim it church. Back to the point, after we left the park, the hubby decided to go find this church. As we were driving, looking for this church, all of a sudden the church sign light comes on in perfect timing for us to turn into the parking lot.

Coincident, maybe, God, most likely. So we know where we are going to church this Sunday, days in advance. Wow.

By the way, I feel like Going Goofy, going bland so I have not been posting much lately. Maybe I will start doing a little better before to much longer.

Super Saturday Savings

Join me for Longaberger's First-Ever Super Saturday Online Sales Event!

This Saturday, June 6, you can get your hands on everything you need to get ready for your summertime picnics — and save BIG at the same time!
Relax, get a cool drink and shop online from the comfort and convenience of your home with:

Great deals from my Longaberger website.

Woven Traditions® Bright Multi-Color Cake Basket $60, value $96

Bright Multi-Color Large Triangle Basket $60, value $92

Bright Multi-Color Small Triangle Basket $30, value $46

Wrought Iron 2-Tier Stand $12, value $20

Awesome special from the Factory Store Online

>Woven Traditions Soft Square Bread Plates — your choice $10 each, value $17.50. And, enjoy NO pottery surcharge!

Spectacular savings from the Homestead Online:
2008 American Summer Celebration Beverage Tote Baskets with Blue or Warm Brown handle $19.97, value $69.95
Starburst Beverage Tote liner $8.99, value $19
Boyds Angel Starbeary Plush Bear — save 50 percent! $8.47, value $16.95
Starburst Round Quilted Placemats two for the price of one! Regularly $11 each, now two for $11!
Americana motif Tote Bag now 50 percent off! Regularly $25, now just $12.50.

Cake Decorating

I was asked to make another allergy free cake for a birthday. They wanted Tinker Bell on the cake this time. So here is the finished product. I painted Tinker Bell on with the icing, after I drew her on with a toothpick. I decided painting her on was better, because of the deal in her face and hands. I thought that it turned out pretty well.

Red Rooster Food

Okay, the food at the Red Rooster was just fabulous. It was all homemade from scratch and us just excellent. I have agree with Going Goofy though, one of the best things was that you are working and smelling the food cook, they call you to eat, you go eat, then you go right back to work, no preparing the food and no cleaning up the dishes.Here is a picture of the breakfast that we eat on the Sunday morning before we left. The egg casserole, which Going Goofy would not have eaten, was the best thing on the menu for the entire weekend. It was all great, but this was the best.