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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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We are sneaking in another trip to Disney since DS 19 has finally agreed to come with us for my birthday trip! We are using the rest of our DVC points for the next year but I am very excited to get my free day!
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Monday, January 26, 2009

This is the time of the month I usually do myself in finacially. The month is almost over and I know that I have some money left over so I usually fall prey to " Mom can I have?" But not this time. I have looked through the sale ads and have only found a few things that I can even use. I will only stop at the stores on my way home (no kids) and only get what is on my list. I have started planning a small Super Bowl Party and thanks to my brother and husband we have a ton of fish for a fish fry. My son is craving chicken wings, I will make a huge batch of those and I am hungry for pizza so I will mix up some dough and allow everyone to have fun making there own. I have everything except the chicken on hand.

Friday, January 23, 2009

OK! I am sick of being sick! I have been fighting a cold off and on since the day after Christmas. Between the kids and work there is always someone sick and reinfecting me! I have not been truely sick in years but this year I am worn out. Thank goodness I have all kinds of cheap cold medicine. I have started taking vitamins, I have tried Zicam, Theraflu and Tylenol cold at various times within the last 4 weeks.
We have only 58 days until our next Disney Trip!!!! I have two rental cars booked right now since my car is older and not running great right now. I have a midsize car and a compact reserved so I am trying to decide if I want the comfort of the larger car or the economy of the smaller car. I have rooms booked with my Hilton and Holiday Inn points that offer free full breakfasts. The travel agent will make the final payment the beginning of Feb and put in our room request for the 70's section at POP Century. I am surprising Flori, shhh don't tell her, with a lunch before we leave at Akershus, Norway, Epcot. It is a character lunch with a number of the princesses and they have her favorite, salmon, for an entree option.
There haven't been any real deals at the grocery stores this week and I have plenty stockpiled so I haven't spent any money there. I will try to post my Walgreens deals later today. We had a new store open in the area and they have a coupon good for $3.00/$10.00 so I have made a number of trips there. I also made a quick stop at Aldi's for fresh fruit and veggies.

Saturday, January 17, 2009



Family: Last month right around Christmas time I was watching the news and saw that one of our local salon's Show Me Stylz was having a buy a $50.00 GC for 1/2 price deal. I had not cut my hair for 3 years before I cut it in Oct and gave it to Locks of Love and made a donation to Mutts n Stuff. I had money left over at the end of the month and decided after looking at their website that I would like to keep my hair short and find a permanent salon. This morning Flori and I had appointments at 9:00 to get hair cuts; what was I thinking it is cold and early. We love them and are very happy with our new find. Since we arrived 20 minutes early they were able to take us right away and start all of our days early. We were done in plenty of time to hit the stores on the way home. We were home in time to have a yummy lunch of Potato Soup from JANE4girls $800.00 annual budget. It turned out very nice and has become a keeper.







Diet: Recipe taken directly from Jane4girls
Easy Instant Baked Potato Soup from a stockpilers pantry.

1 Can Carnation evaporated milk
1 can Butterball chicken broth (I used about 1 1/2 cups of my homemade broth)
1 pouch Hungry Jack instant potato flakes or about 1 1/4 cup (All those Betty Crocker .20 boxes came in handy here - there are 2 bags per box)
chives
cooked bacon

serves 3-4


Crumble cooked bacon in a pot. Add chives and cook over medium heat until chives are limp. Add one can chicken broth and one can water. Stir in one packet instant potato flakes. Once combined remove from heat. Stir in condensed milk. Return to heat and heat until warmed through.


Add cheese and sour cream...delicious. We also had some of the Garlic bread and black berries I bought this morning.

Budget:
I had to take the puppy to the vet yesterday for more shots and Hartgard which comes out of the monthy budget 34.25 Visa. Then I ran over to Shop n Save to get my $7.00 RR from Thursday I had to talk to the manager but I got it!

Sam's Club
4.87 Frozen Broccoli Florets 4lbs - this is the only broccoli that I like so we stick with it.
10.96 Beef Loin 3.74 lb red tag
7.36 Pork Loin 3.43 lb red tag
6.82 Butter Quarters 4 lbs
5.53 Whole Black Pepper Corns we ran out earlier this week
5.47 Cheese balls (the kids love them)
Total 43.26 cash

Dierbergs 1: I had to split up my Dierbergs order because they will only double up to 3 .40 or less coupons.
1.34 Texas Garlic Toast x 3 - .40 doubled
.99 Fresh Black berries x 2
1.94 Sargento Cheese x 3 - .40 doubled
1.24 Mama Lucia's Breakfast Pizza x 3 - .35 doubled
Total 9.11 Visa

Dierbergs 2:
3.19 Farmcrest Milk 1 gallon 2% - 1.00 wyb SL bread
1.39 PF Skim Milk 1 - 1.00 wyb SL bread
2.50 Welchs Light Juice x 2 - 1.00
1.34 Texas Garlic Toast x 3 - .40 doubled
1.94 Sargento Cheese x 3 - .40 doubled
2.50 Keebler Cookies x 2 - 1.00 IP
0.99 Fresh Black berries
1.24 Mama Lucia's Breakfast Pizza x 3 -.35 doubled
1.49 Sara Lee Soft & Smooth whole grain bread x 2 - 1.00 found these tucked into and around the bread.
1.00 4 Kiwis

Total after Q 19.21 Visa

Target:
9.59 Puppy Chow 17.6 lbs x 2 - 3.00 IP
19.79 Dog Chow 44lb + Marley and Me bonus 4 lbs x 2 - 4.00 IP receive $5.00 GC on @
Total 49.58 used 25.00 GC from Christmas + 22.27 Visa

Remaining budget for the month 244.38 - 35.46 on the S&S GC = 208.92 with 1/2 the month to go. I decided to count the GC because when this one runs out I will have to buy a new one with the grocery budget so I want to start putting away the amount I spend toward the next card.

Friday, January 16, 2009


Free Coffee at Oberweis today:
I have been wanting to try there IceCream and today just may be the day.
The puppy needs to go to the vet for shots, Walgreens is calling and I have to deliver AVON tonight so I may have to stop at Oberweis as well.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thursday Grocery deals

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General: It is very cold in St. Louis due to an Arctic Front the high today was 1 degree. The last time it was this cold was 2001. But in typical St. Louis fashion it will be in the 40's by Saturday. We are trying to stay warm at work where I sit by the window. The thermometer I have was reading 56 degrees so I am moving a little slow. The restrooms are being remodeled so we have to go to another floor and the boss decided to lock the door to our office today because of threatening patient. What a pain!


Budget: Our Shop n Save occasionally has a store coupon on Thursdays good for $10 off when you spend $50.00 this is like receiving a 20% discount off the top. I usually will work out one or two orders to take advantage of these deals. I had 2 worked out but when I realized some of my coupons were expired, items were too high and some items were out of stock I quickly cut it down to one order of only the best deals. I think I did well:

2.20 Jack's Frozen Pizza x2
1.00 Hunt's Ketchup x 4
2.50 Pam Cooking Spray (Olive Oil) x 2 - 1.00 IP
2.50 Healthy Choice Steamers x 2 - 1.00 IP
3.00 Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers x 2 -1.00 MFQ
1.67 Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn x 2 - 1.00 IP
1.00 Healthy Choice Soup x2 - .55/2 blinkie
1.00 Rotel Tomatoes x 5
2.00 Captain Crunch Cereal x 5 - 3.00/5 MFQ
4.27 9 Lives Cat Food - 4.27 free MFQ
2.00 Kellogg's Fiber Plus Bar - 1.00 RR from last week + new one for next purchase

Subtotal 53.29 - 10.00 - 15.00 RR from last week - 14.82 Q = Total 10.99 on GC from last May.

I was supposed to receive another $7.00 RR for buying $30.00 Hunt's - HC... but I didn't get it so I will have to stop on my way home from work tomorrow to get it.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Busy Weekend almost over.

Saturday Jan 10
Family: Flori and the Purple Spirits had a couple of Basketball games. They played the same team twice and were able to pull out two wins and got the gold metal. I was happy because that meant going home early. Had they won one and lost one we would have had another game.
On the way home we stopped at 3 Walgreens to try and finish up the deals from the week.
Today Flori and I went to see Bride Wars with our 2 free movie tickets. (Last month Home Depot had a special gift card that allowed you to buy the $25.00 GC - Dad's Christmas present- and receive 2 free movie tickets from Fandango.) We really liked the movie. Only out of pocket was our tub of popcorn $7.75 which we get refilled as we leave to enjoy later or tomorrow.

Budget:
Walgreens 1 They were out of almost everything.
5.00 Benefiber X 2 - 2.00 Q x 2
8.49 Orajel Cold Sore Patches - 1.00 Q
0.99 Coffee Filters (filler)
-3.00 RR from last week
Total on GC 12.35 Received 5.00 RR. I will receive 9.34 back on WAG GC and 8.00 MIR.

Walgreens 2
9.99 Revelon Matte Eye liner -2.00 Q
5.00 Theraflu Warming x 2 -2.00 Blinkie
1.19 Extra Gum X3 - 2.67 WAG 7 day (filler)
-10.00 RR from earlier in the week
Total on GC 5.29 Received 5.00 RR. I will receive 10.99 back on WAG GC


Walgreens 3
I have been sick w/ a stupid cold (I never get sick) since right after Christmas so I decided I needed to start taking Vitamins:
7.00 Centrum Vitamins x 3 - 3.00 Q
5.00 Thera Flu Warming -2.00 Q
5.00 Benefiber -2.00 Q
3.49 Electrasol Gel Pack -2.50 Q
1.00 Socks for DD (they were cute and only 1.00 so OK)
Total on GC 21.40 however I did not receive the RR (10.00 and 5.00). The cashier asked me if I was expecting any which I was. So I have a feeling they knew the machine wasn't working. First the manager told me it was because I used Q. I showed her in the ad where it tells us to look for Q in the paper so wrong. Then she said I bought the wrong ones. But no I was correct. So she ended up putting $15.00 back onto my GC meaning I only paid 6.40 on GC. I will receive 1.65 on the GC for the Electrasol.

Today I had to spend actual money at the Grocery store
Schnucks 1
1.00 Betty Crocker Boxed Potatoes x 5 - .35 Q doubled to .70
1.00 Progresso Soup x 9 - 1.00/3 Q x 2 and -1.10/3 Q
1.00 Fuze Drinks x 6 - .25 Q doubled to .50
1.00 Dial hand soap x 5 - .35 Q did not double so cashier did it manually
1.00 Ludens Wild Cherry cough drops x 7 - 1.00 Q
1.00 Austin Cheese Crackers for DD (I need to stop shopping with her)
Subtotal 33.55 Total after Q 14.15

Schnucks 2
1.00 Betty Crocker Boxed Potatoes x 7 - .40 Q doubled to .80 x 5 -.35 Q doubled to .70 x 2
2.59 Provolone Cheese x 2
1.00 Salmon Fillet x 10
1.49 Carrots
1.00 Celery
1.00 Mentos Gum -.55/2
1.00 Dial hand soap x 3 -.35 Q again didn't double (had to go to CS received 2.25 back -triple)
1.00 Totinos Pizza Rolls x 2 - 1.00 IP
Subtotal 38.69 Total after Q 29.14 - 2.25 cash back = 26.89
I also found a Biggest Loser coupon sheet w/ up to $10.00 off so a grabbed a couple.

Dollar Store
1.00 Newspaper x 3
total 3.20

Total remaining for the month 372.48

Next week Shop N Save will have their $10.00 off when you buy $50.00 (before Q) deal so I expect to work out some deals for Thursday. I have a couple of free Q that I have been saving.

Weekly Menu
Sun: Rolladen, 3 Cheese BC Potatoes, Steamfresh Corn
Mon: CP Ham and Beans, Corn Bread
Tue: Chicken Quesadillas
Wed: Left overs
Thur: Sloppy Joes
Fri: Salmon, Noodles, Green Beans
Sat: Hawaiian Chicken, Rice, Veggie and/or Salad

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Look Ma No Cavities

Family: This week has been crazy. I haven't even gotten the Christmas tree down yet.
The kids and I went to the dentist Tues for regular teeth cleaning. Which turned out to be a little exciting since the bank next door got robbed earlier in the day. They announced on the news this morning that they have the person in custody. His parole officer called him in to "talk" after one of the bank tellers recognized him as a former customer (Duh dude).

Wed things started to pick up at work, all the doctors are back from vacation so I will start getting busy later this week. Flori had basketball practice so I found a few minutes to catch up on my reading. We have both been reading "New Moon" (the second book in the Twilight series) so that I can help her understand it. (She is in 7th grade but her reading is around a 3rd grade level) She has trouble with her comprehension but I really think reading this book which she loves has helped her alot. For Christmas her grandmother bought her the next 2 books. We are really looking forward to reading them.

Budget: I am hoping to get some shopping done later today since I have RR's getting ready to expire later this week and I don't see any other day to get it done. I will update this later. I didn't really feel like going out tonight but after this great trip I am glad I did. I even gave away a bunch of coupons to some nice gentleman that was looking for the Betty Crocker boxed potatoes. He was so grateful for the 6 .25 Q - I knew I wouldn't use them since I had some .35 and .40 ones that will double at Schnucks and Dierbergs next week.

Shop n Save:
10.00 Iams Dog food -10.00 Q (one free bag)
2.00 BC Fruit Snacks x4 = 8 -.50/2 x 2
2.50 Fiber One Chewy Bar (Strawberry, Oats and Almond) - 1.00 IP
1.25 Pasta Roni x 8 - 1.00/4 x 2
3.00 Kraft String Cheese x 3 - 1.00 IP x 3
2.50 Dole Lettuce x2
1.53 Bananas - 1.35 (2 free lbs bananas wyb 2 Dole Lettuce)
6.24 Beef Round Steak - 5.00 wyb 8 boxes Pasta or Rice a Roni
3.19 1 gallon of milk - 1.00 wyb Sara Lee Bread
1.99 Sara Lee Bread
10.00 Gilette Fusion Razor - 4.00 Q
Subtotal w/ tax $70.91 - Q and -$15.00 in Holiday rewards earned in Nov and Dec = Total $24.47 on GC from last May's Tax incentive. $0.00 OOP
+ recieved $15.00 on my next shopping trip for buying $30.00 worth of GM, P&G &/or Coke.

Walgreens:
5.00 Benefiber Stick Pak x 2 - 2.00 x 2
5.00 Flintstone Gummie Vitamins x 4 - 1.00 x 4 MFQ - 4.00 WAG activity book
3.49 Electrasol Gel Pack -2.50
.59 Orange fruit cups (filler)
.50 Flavor Pack Icees (filler)
-10.00 RR from last month
Total w/ tax 10.76 on GC
Received $10.00 RR and $5.00 RR + Electrasol MIR 1.50 + $8.00 MIR on Vitamins


Diet: I worked on dinner menus for the rest of the month but I will just post them on Sunday starting the next one since I am apt to change things.
For the rest of this week we will have:
Thur: Cubed steaks, mashed potatoes and green beans
Fri: CP chicken (this will be an experiment so I will wait to see if it turns out before I post the recipe), rice and broccoli
Sat: CP ham and beans w/ cornbread

Monday, January 5, 2009


Whoo Hoo! only 74 more days until our next Disney Trip. This one is super budget (under $1000.00 food, transportation, one day ticket and rooms) just Flori and I we will be using our annual passes we bought in October. They have a special right now buy 4 nights get 3 free plus if you travel before March 31 you recieve a $200.00 GC. We will drive to Disney from St. Louis and stay at POP Century again - our favorite because of the free refillable cup, this is the only place that has frozen cokes YUMMO! I have already collected a number of GC for lunches and dinner. The hotels on the way will be free with all my points one way at Holiday Inn Express (free Breakfast) and one way at Hilton (free breakfast). I have a rental car reserved but I will wait and see if Doug can get my car fixed up to my standards before I decide if I will take it or pay the $200.00 to use the rental for 9 days. Disney Special

I won't have time to hit the stores today since Flori has a basketball game tonight
at 6:30. This is her 3rd year playing for Special Olympics (she made me so proud last year when not one but two other team leaders got hurt and were not allowed to play. She became the center at just under 5 foot she moved the ball well and made sure everyone on the team got a chance to shoot the ball) It makes for a busy night: home by 4:30 dinner right away 5:30 sister arrives with the kidos (whom I babysit and love doing it) we are out the door again at 5:45 for the game, home again around 8ish. Quick mini meal since the kids are all hungry then to bed ASAP or at least by 9:00 pm.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

First shopping day of the New Year.

I found around $100.00 in my pocket today as well as a number of Target, Kmart and my Walgreens gift cards so DD14 and I headed out to get some shopping done. I will be listing my excursions and listing prices to use as a price book for myself for the year. This will also help serve as a way to monitor cycles of sales, coupons, rewards and rebates.

Dollar Store:
1.00 News Papers x5
1.00 Hanna Montana Germ Gel x1 for DD
6.41 (cash)

Schnucks:
4.35 Ground Lamb
2.88 Ground Round
2.26 Ground Pork (for Lasagna tonight)
5.35 Sirloin roast
0.75 Wax Paper
2.29 Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice - 1.00
3.49 Coffee Mate Irish Cream - 1.00
8.26 Cubed Steak
2.00 Roland canned Artichoke Hearts
2.00 Dreamfield LC Lasagna
1.59 Ziploc (Christmas clearance) screw top containers x4 - 1.00/2
1.00 Durkee seasoning (Chicken, Steak, Pepper/Mustard, Pepper, Cinnamon) x8 - 1/2
1.00 NY Texas Toast Croutons x 8 - .50
2.00 Daisy Cottage Cheese 2% - .75
2.79 Daisy Cottage Cheese 4% - .75
48.13 = Subtotal 62.63 - 14.50 coupons (cash)

Aldis:
2.99 Shredded Mozzerella Cheese
1.99 Tub Parm Cheese
1.36 Bananas
6.59 (cash)

Kmart: Double Coupons up to $1.00
1.99 Revelon Tweezer - 1.00
1.29 Revelon Emery Boards - 1.00
1.67 Suave Solid Antipers. x2 - .55
2.89 Pedigree Breath Buster x3 - 1.00
2.99 Pupperoni -1.00
2.79 Beggin Strips x 4 - 1.00
2.50 Glade Wisp Refill - 1.00
2.99 Cottonelle Wipes x3 - 1.00
2.29 Wet Ones x3 - .75
22.15 = Subtotal 47.78 - 22.47 coupons (cash) - forgot about GC

Walgreens:
3.00 Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream x3 - 3.00 woohoo free icecream
4.00 Playtex Tampons - 1.00Q - 2.00 ES
.74 Stickers Christmas clearance for DD -filler
.60 Christmas clearance tissue paper
.49 Christmas clearance labels
5.00 Benefiber sticks x2 - 2.00 (5.00 RR)
3.49 Electrasol - 2.50 (1.50 ESMIR)
5.00 Bayer Aspirin x4 - 2.00 (10.00 RR)
2.50 Glade Candle Angel Whisper (1.00 ESMIR)
2.99 Garnier Fructis Shampoo -1.00Q - 2.00 ES (not programmed in others returned)
2.50 Kelloggs Cereal 3 Mini Wheat 1 Frosted Flakes -1.00 (3.00 RR)
-10.00 RR from last week
19.10 = (18.00 RR) [2.50 ESMIR] {8.00 Bayer MIR} WAG GC

Target:

3.25 Electrasol X3 - 2.50

9.98 Solar light set of 4 clearance (didn't need but wanted for years good price)

13.10 Target GC

For the month 500 - 83.28= 416.72 and I still have $10.00 left.

Dinner was a homemade lasagna w/ garlic bread from the freezer and salad.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

General Info: Well yesterday was super busy for me. I had to work but we were slow since the rest of the world was off. Anyway, I brought my coupon binder to work so that I could clean it up and reorganize for the new year don't worry I did this on my breaks. There were a ton of 12/31/08 expired coupons so the binder is pretty empty right now but today there are 5 coupon inserts so I will be busy tomorrow refilling it.
Jan 09 binder
I think I found a great way to save money already. I had planned to get a few things that were good deals this weekend but upon returning home last night I realized I left my purse at work. Luckily I am on the early shift so I called one of my friends and asked her to lock it up for me (I am not about to spend another 60min driving back and forth). So I will not be driving around to much this weekend.

Family Stuff: Yesterday was Brad's birthday I can't believe my oldest baby is 19. Where has the time gone? He loves fish and Doug started fishing this summer with my brother so last night we had a good old fish fry for dinner with salad and mac and cheese. He didn't want a birthday cake but he did want one of my special Oreo cookie milk shakes (he lived on them when he broke his jaw and had it wired shut for a couple of months).
Later that night I attempted to fix our neighbors fence since they now have 2 dogs and the weeds growing on it has pulled the fence over to the point that the dogs are jumping back and forth between the two yards.

Budget: I have been trying to decide how I wanted to figure my food and household budget this year and I am going to try to cut off $115.00 from my monthly budget. If it works out we should have $1380.00 to add to savings. This portion of my budget is for all food for 4+ people including camping meals and holidays (except going "out to eat"), all household expenses including cleaning and repair, feeding 3 dogs and finally pool chemicals.

Diet: Getting back on track with South Beach I will be eating better carbs again and hopefully getting rid of all the free candy from Walgreens.

Breakfast: one of my childhood favorites "Onion eggs w/ bacon" (I made enough so that I have 3 more days worth put away)
Lunch: Doug sabotaged me and bought white castle I only had 4.
Dinner: appetizer night - salad, chicken wings, toasted ravioli, mozzerella sticks and/or what ever else I can find to make.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

I haven't really had a lot of time to get into blogging and social sites but I will try this year to keep up with some of my various hobbies and making myself accountable for succeeding in my goals.
1. continue to coupon my way to a debt free life.
2. lose the weight I put back on this year.
3. go back to college to get my degree.

The kids (especially DS 18 - 19 tomorrow) are no longer into soccer, soccer, soccer but I have had the name so long that it has just stuck with me. Most of my friends on the coupon, deals and disney forums know me by extremesoccermom so I will keep that besides:
extremesoccermomdisneynutcouponqueen just does not flow right. LOL !)

Last night was great fun. Flori and I went to my brothers new home and had a great time eating, drinking and play games until and past midnight. A great start to a new year. Brad went to his friends and had a good time. Doug stayed home and slept.

I spent this morning reworking the budget for the next year. Due to changes in our medical insurance I will have more money to save in case we have any medical issues that will not be covered with the new plan. My laser eye surgery from last Dec will be paid off my June and our new sofa/bed for Nico will be paid off in two months so we will have that extra money to put into savings. After spending over 20 years in our "starter" home I am ready to look at something new in a better area of town. There is a free dog park about 45 min west of our current home so I would like to start looking in that area.