I just have to share I finally got paid to buy a product. Safeway was having by 4 save money deal so if you bought 4 of various products, they were only $1 each. I had coupons for some of it. So I bought 2 boxes of fruit roll ups (normally don't buy but son absolutely loves them and I had $1 off coupons). I also had loaded coupons on my safeway card but didn't know how that would pan out. With the 2 boxes of roll ups I got 2 boxes of Life cereal but didn't have any coupons for that. But buying the four together only cost $4 except with my $1 off coupon and my three ecoupons for .50 each, I got paid .50 for the 2 boxes of fruit roll ups. (or you could say I only spent $1.50 for 4 boxes of items but I like saying I got paid for something).
Here's one of the problems with couponing. And I have said this before. A lot of the stuff is for junk. I mean I saw people writing how you could buy 8-12 boxes of fruit snacks and have it be a money maker blah blah blah but really? That's a lot. I really thought 2 boxes was sufficient. We don't go through that stuff that quickly. I mean seriously, we still have candy leftover from Halloween.
Plus, I am on the verge of trying to eat healthier around here. On the verge b/c I am not sure how much time and energy I will have until my class is over in April. Really I should be studying. Plus I am trying to keep my house cleaner with the planner. Do I really have time to make a complete makeover in our eating?
But it was pointed out to me recently by a friend who is not subtle about anything, that we keep a lot of junk food in our house. We keep more than her but I didn't think it was a lot. Here's my plan though for the month of february. I am going to keep my receipts for groceries and at the end of the month, add up all the money we spend on junk food. This includes chips, candy, cookies, ice cream. Maybe I will throw in a processed food category as well (since one of my goals is to get away from processed foods). At the end of the month, I will decide how much of our budget should go to this stuff. Because, honetly, I am not going to deprive myself of some stuff. I just won't do it. But I can limit it. Here's the other thing, my kids don't really eat a lot of the junk that we have. Hubby and I do. I rarely give my kids chips but I eat them for lunches at work. They rarely get ice cream but I looove ice cream. You get the point. I probably need to find some healthy alternatives for myself.
Wow, this post became much more than I meant it to be. I will keep you posted.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
What have I gotten myself into???
I was doing a Swagbucks search through their special offers to get a swagbuck (love that I have earned something like $50 in Amazon gift cards just for searching online) and I came across an offer that said something lik earn $5-75 for filling out surveys. Wow, that seems too good to be true, right? But for some reason I signed up anyway. And it took me several hours to wade through the mess that came with that decision. Like I have several hours to spare in my life right now. But I decided to stick with if for a little while (much to my husbands' dismay) and see where it leads. I already have earned $7 for doing some initial stuff. I will see what type of surveys I get and if I can do them without putting out any additional money of my own and get back to you.
There were some of course where you filled out the survey for a $500 gift card which was very tempting but at the end, you had to join something like 13 special offers anywhere from trying Netflix for 2 weeks to applying for a Visa. Needless to say I didn't complete that.
So, anyway, I will get back to you. And if anyone is interested, I get $5 per referral ;-)
There were some of course where you filled out the survey for a $500 gift card which was very tempting but at the end, you had to join something like 13 special offers anywhere from trying Netflix for 2 weeks to applying for a Visa. Needless to say I didn't complete that.
So, anyway, I will get back to you. And if anyone is interested, I get $5 per referral ;-)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
This and That
Man the past couple of weeks have been crazy. I don't even know with what but I do know the next few months are going to be the same. Here's some catch up stuff:
I am still loving my Planner. It has been so helpful even with cramming 5 days worth of tasks into my 2 days off, it is doable. Love it. And by the way, I didn't end up getting it bound. Just didn't feel like paying the money to do that. What I did instead was 2 hole punch it and buy rings for something like $2. This way I can use the rings over again next year.
I am still working on my grocery budget. I read somewhere (can't remember if I already posted this, sorry if I did) that your grocery budget should be $100 per adult and $50 per child. That puts us at $350 which I am pretty sure I cannot do. I don't have the time for that kind of crazy couponing. But I thought I might be able to do $400. My current budet is $600. I am not sure I am going to make that goal this month but am hoping to be around $450. What I decided was, while I am trying to stock up on things that are on sale, it is harder to be as frugal. I bought 16 pounds of chicken breasts for $1.69/pound. Pretty good deal but that still adds up. So just stuff like that. Plus I went to Winco last night planning on just buying fruit and bread but boy did they have some good prices on stuff and I ended up spending under $40 for 4 bags of groceries which seemed like a lot to me. I just cannot pass up on those green tags when I know I would be paying double or triple somewhere else. I did have to pay full price for salad dressing but knew I would be in trouble at home if I didn't buy it but it killed me to pay $3.40 for a little bottle. Yes, that is way too much which makes me just want to stock up when I see it on sale next time.
Sorry if this blog has turned into a grocery blog. How boring right? But I have been getting so excited about finding good deals. Oh and speaking of good deals, this weekend hubby and I had some alone time so I made him go shopping:-) I wanted one of those jewelry cases that hang on your wall. Well not only were they on sale but when we pulled it out to look at it, there was a piece broken (insignificantly to me and hubby could fix it) so when we took it to the register we pointed it out and they gave us an extra 10% off. I never would have done that in the past. I don't know why just shyness. But not any more. I am on the hunt for good deals.
That's it for now, maybe I will write something spiritual later to counteract all this shopping stuff!
I am still loving my Planner. It has been so helpful even with cramming 5 days worth of tasks into my 2 days off, it is doable. Love it. And by the way, I didn't end up getting it bound. Just didn't feel like paying the money to do that. What I did instead was 2 hole punch it and buy rings for something like $2. This way I can use the rings over again next year.
I am still working on my grocery budget. I read somewhere (can't remember if I already posted this, sorry if I did) that your grocery budget should be $100 per adult and $50 per child. That puts us at $350 which I am pretty sure I cannot do. I don't have the time for that kind of crazy couponing. But I thought I might be able to do $400. My current budet is $600. I am not sure I am going to make that goal this month but am hoping to be around $450. What I decided was, while I am trying to stock up on things that are on sale, it is harder to be as frugal. I bought 16 pounds of chicken breasts for $1.69/pound. Pretty good deal but that still adds up. So just stuff like that. Plus I went to Winco last night planning on just buying fruit and bread but boy did they have some good prices on stuff and I ended up spending under $40 for 4 bags of groceries which seemed like a lot to me. I just cannot pass up on those green tags when I know I would be paying double or triple somewhere else. I did have to pay full price for salad dressing but knew I would be in trouble at home if I didn't buy it but it killed me to pay $3.40 for a little bottle. Yes, that is way too much which makes me just want to stock up when I see it on sale next time.
Sorry if this blog has turned into a grocery blog. How boring right? But I have been getting so excited about finding good deals. Oh and speaking of good deals, this weekend hubby and I had some alone time so I made him go shopping:-) I wanted one of those jewelry cases that hang on your wall. Well not only were they on sale but when we pulled it out to look at it, there was a piece broken (insignificantly to me and hubby could fix it) so when we took it to the register we pointed it out and they gave us an extra 10% off. I never would have done that in the past. I don't know why just shyness. But not any more. I am on the hunt for good deals.
That's it for now, maybe I will write something spiritual later to counteract all this shopping stuff!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Motivated Moms planner
I finally got around to starting this today and let me tell you I love it already. It is so simple. Really. For those who like lists, here was the big list for today:
Change dishcloth/towel
Clean microwave - inside and out
Mop kitchen
Clean light fixture - dining room
Change hand towels in bathrooms
Clean bottom shelf of refrigerator
What I love about it is that it breaks things down into simple tasks. I hate cleaning the refrigerator, it is truly an overwhelming thing for me to do, but just the bottom shelf? Took me less than 5 minutes. The light fixture in my dining room hasn't been cleaned since we put it up over 2 years ago. So I didn't mop the kitchen b/c I had mopped half of it tuesday cleaning up an overflowing toilet and didn't feel like getting the mop out again. There is also a list along the side of the planner for everyday stuff like exercising, cleaning the kitchen counters, sweeping and vacuuming. I might not do all of that everyday but it will help remind me to do it more regularly. Since it was fairly easy to do the above stuff, I added the dishwasher door which is tomorrow's task (I will be working) and apparently I don't look at that enough, really gross yet quick to clean.
My house is so overwhelming to me that I either do a marathon cleaning project and get nothing else done or I just don't do it b/c it is too daunting. I think this will break it down in a really good way to get everything accomplished. I am hoping in a month, my house will be utterly clean. Maybe not totally organized but at least clean.
Oh and I am going to tell my husband that he gets to do the wednesday tasks since he is home with the kids. We'll see how well that goes over:-)
Change dishcloth/towel
Clean microwave - inside and out
Mop kitchen
Clean light fixture - dining room
Change hand towels in bathrooms
Clean bottom shelf of refrigerator
What I love about it is that it breaks things down into simple tasks. I hate cleaning the refrigerator, it is truly an overwhelming thing for me to do, but just the bottom shelf? Took me less than 5 minutes. The light fixture in my dining room hasn't been cleaned since we put it up over 2 years ago. So I didn't mop the kitchen b/c I had mopped half of it tuesday cleaning up an overflowing toilet and didn't feel like getting the mop out again. There is also a list along the side of the planner for everyday stuff like exercising, cleaning the kitchen counters, sweeping and vacuuming. I might not do all of that everyday but it will help remind me to do it more regularly. Since it was fairly easy to do the above stuff, I added the dishwasher door which is tomorrow's task (I will be working) and apparently I don't look at that enough, really gross yet quick to clean.
My house is so overwhelming to me that I either do a marathon cleaning project and get nothing else done or I just don't do it b/c it is too daunting. I think this will break it down in a really good way to get everything accomplished. I am hoping in a month, my house will be utterly clean. Maybe not totally organized but at least clean.
Oh and I am going to tell my husband that he gets to do the wednesday tasks since he is home with the kids. We'll see how well that goes over:-)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Flaky
Yes, that's me. Kind of flaky sometimes. Big ideas, little follow through. So I am here to say officially I am quitting FlyLady. It just didn't work for me. (Although my shink is still very shiny and that makes me happy) It wasn't practical enough for me right now. I do like baby steps but I really need checklists. So I just bought motivatedmoms planner and am printing it out right now. I am planning on binding it and keeping it in my kitchen. Am really hoping this will help me. It was only $8 but you have to factor in printing prices and binding so adds up a little but still, it is a year's planner and prints lightly so it doesn't seem to be using excessive amounts of ink.
I will keep you posted if I follow through with this or not. So far without even having the list, I have accomplished about half of the things on there. See, it's practical. Stuff I would do anyway.
I will keep you posted if I follow through with this or not. So far without even having the list, I have accomplished about half of the things on there. See, it's practical. Stuff I would do anyway.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
shopping
Seriously why does it stress me out to use coupons? Safeway had another $10/50 coupon along with some other good coupons so I decided to go there instead of Winco. But I end up spending so much more simply b/c I am sure I will get up to the register and not have enough to use the coupon and then I will be mad.
I actually did get a lot and I had a really good checker which definitely makes things better. Am still loving the ecoupons that you load to your card, I bought a box of mashed potatoes (I know not as good as the real thing but I can't seem to make good garlic mashed potatoes), the box was $2.00 plus I had a .35c coupon but when I looked at my receipt, it had also taken .80cents off from my card. I didn't even realize it was on there.
Tampons: 4.99 on sale, plus I had a BOGO coupon (3.79 value) but the cashier was a little confused and ended up giving me 6.99 off. Seriously, 2 boxes for under 2 bucks. That was a score and they were Tampax which are expensive.
Cleaning products: Scrubbing bubbles BOGO plus there was a $2 off coupon on the bottle so I got 2 bottles for 2.29.
Kraft products: buy 5 get $5 catalina. I didn't have any great coupons for this except cheese slices for $1.49 but you could only buy 2 and I didn't really need it. Well, the whipped cream cheese was on sale for .99 each if you bought 5. So I got 5 of those and the singles and got a $5 catalina so really all 6 products for $1.48. Awesome, I won't need to by cream cheese for months!
Pillsbury biscuits: I never buy these but they had the little packs .75 cents off which made them .33 cents each, I bought 2.
Clearance meat: got a big pot roast for 30% off making it only $7.
All in all I spent $71.55 and saved $63. Plus I can't forget the $5 catalina I get to use next week. I was planning on spending less than $50 since I am trying to cut my grocery budget down but oh well. I got some good deals and chances are, next week I will only have to buy milk and produce.
Oh, I almost forgot I stopped at Freddy's first b/c they had bagged salad for $1, you can't buy fresh lettuce that cheap. And they had Life cereal on sale for $1.88, if you bought 5 you got $3 off so I got 4 boxes of cereal and a box of granola bars(should have had a coupon for that but don't ususally buy them b/c of sons allergy-they are in a separate bag ready to be taken to daddy's work) for $6.52. Pretty good I thought.
I know it isn't as good as the crazy people who spend $25/week on groceries but I don't have that much time. I spent 1 1/2 hours at the 2 stores, plus all the time trying to figure out my best scenarios. I am pretty satisfied with my savings and relieved shopping is over for another week.
I actually did get a lot and I had a really good checker which definitely makes things better. Am still loving the ecoupons that you load to your card, I bought a box of mashed potatoes (I know not as good as the real thing but I can't seem to make good garlic mashed potatoes), the box was $2.00 plus I had a .35c coupon but when I looked at my receipt, it had also taken .80cents off from my card. I didn't even realize it was on there.
Tampons: 4.99 on sale, plus I had a BOGO coupon (3.79 value) but the cashier was a little confused and ended up giving me 6.99 off. Seriously, 2 boxes for under 2 bucks. That was a score and they were Tampax which are expensive.
Cleaning products: Scrubbing bubbles BOGO plus there was a $2 off coupon on the bottle so I got 2 bottles for 2.29.
Kraft products: buy 5 get $5 catalina. I didn't have any great coupons for this except cheese slices for $1.49 but you could only buy 2 and I didn't really need it. Well, the whipped cream cheese was on sale for .99 each if you bought 5. So I got 5 of those and the singles and got a $5 catalina so really all 6 products for $1.48. Awesome, I won't need to by cream cheese for months!
Pillsbury biscuits: I never buy these but they had the little packs .75 cents off which made them .33 cents each, I bought 2.
Clearance meat: got a big pot roast for 30% off making it only $7.
All in all I spent $71.55 and saved $63. Plus I can't forget the $5 catalina I get to use next week. I was planning on spending less than $50 since I am trying to cut my grocery budget down but oh well. I got some good deals and chances are, next week I will only have to buy milk and produce.
Oh, I almost forgot I stopped at Freddy's first b/c they had bagged salad for $1, you can't buy fresh lettuce that cheap. And they had Life cereal on sale for $1.88, if you bought 5 you got $3 off so I got 4 boxes of cereal and a box of granola bars(should have had a coupon for that but don't ususally buy them b/c of sons allergy-they are in a separate bag ready to be taken to daddy's work) for $6.52. Pretty good I thought.
I know it isn't as good as the crazy people who spend $25/week on groceries but I don't have that much time. I spent 1 1/2 hours at the 2 stores, plus all the time trying to figure out my best scenarios. I am pretty satisfied with my savings and relieved shopping is over for another week.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
French Butter Dishes
If you are a real butter eater then this is the dish for you. We have been eating real butter for over a year but I have been buying the spreadable kind because I really hate trying to spread cold butter and I didn't want to leave it out on the counter. But the spreadable kind is sort of expensive. So when I found out about the French Butter Dishes I was super excited. The maker of this one gave it to me for free! Isn't it pretty?!
(okay this new blogger picture thing is driving me a little crazy and distracting me from my post)
Here is what you do: pack the butter in the bell shaped top portion, add some cold water to the bowl bottom part, invert the top part into the bowl and the water acts as a sealant to keep the butter fresh and from becoming rancid. All you have to do is change the water every few days which is super easy. The butter is perfect for spreading, not melting soft and not hard. Hubby wasn't too sure of this when he first saw it but I think he is now convinced. Here is a link to the maker of these wonderful things if you are interested:
They are not that expensive and I am definitely hooked on mine. Now I just need to find a good deal on butter and stock up!!
(I am getting nothing for the promotion of this product, I just think it's awesome!)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Shining the sink
When I first looked at Flylady over a year ago, I decided against joined b/c the slew of information on the website was overwhelming to say the least. But it is a new year and I feel the need to get my house under control. So I took the plunge.
First off, they send a lot of emails. By a lot, I mean a lot each day. But, they do say at first to pretty much ignore the emails and focus on the babysteps. For which they have a list. Day one: shine your sink. I had seen that before when looking at the website. I thought it meant cleaning up around the sink, putting dishes away, making the sink look clean. But no, they literally mean shine your sink. When my husband heard my first task he laughed at me. I think it was a little bit of a letdown for him b/c he really desires our house to be more organized but it is my "stuff" that needs organizing. So I got to work. It took a couple of hours b/c you first fill the sink up with hot water and let bleach sit in there (not environmentally friendly I guess), then you scrub it, windex it and dry it. Know what my laughing husband said when he saw it? "Wow". Yep, I got a wow out of him. Honestly, I didn't think my sink was that bad but it sure looks shiny and I got all of those marks off it that pans make. I really didn't think I would feel pleasure in accomplishing such a small task but I did. I still do when I look at it.
Today was an easier task: get dressed to the shoes. Obviously this was written for stay at home mom's b/c I had to work and getting dressed to the shoes was obligatory anyway.
Tomorrow, is more of the same. Getting dressed to the shoes and keep your sink shining. I can probably handle that.
Maybe I will take a picture of my horrible mess and post it tomorrow as well. Then I might feel obligated to tackle it truly soon.
For now, I am just doing the babysteps.
First off, they send a lot of emails. By a lot, I mean a lot each day. But, they do say at first to pretty much ignore the emails and focus on the babysteps. For which they have a list. Day one: shine your sink. I had seen that before when looking at the website. I thought it meant cleaning up around the sink, putting dishes away, making the sink look clean. But no, they literally mean shine your sink. When my husband heard my first task he laughed at me. I think it was a little bit of a letdown for him b/c he really desires our house to be more organized but it is my "stuff" that needs organizing. So I got to work. It took a couple of hours b/c you first fill the sink up with hot water and let bleach sit in there (not environmentally friendly I guess), then you scrub it, windex it and dry it. Know what my laughing husband said when he saw it? "Wow". Yep, I got a wow out of him. Honestly, I didn't think my sink was that bad but it sure looks shiny and I got all of those marks off it that pans make. I really didn't think I would feel pleasure in accomplishing such a small task but I did. I still do when I look at it.
Today was an easier task: get dressed to the shoes. Obviously this was written for stay at home mom's b/c I had to work and getting dressed to the shoes was obligatory anyway.
Tomorrow, is more of the same. Getting dressed to the shoes and keep your sink shining. I can probably handle that.
Maybe I will take a picture of my horrible mess and post it tomorrow as well. Then I might feel obligated to tackle it truly soon.
For now, I am just doing the babysteps.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
New Years
Okay, here we are the third day into 2010. Hard to believe. I am seeing lots of New Year's Resolutions and goals written out for this New Year.
I am not so good at goals. I love to think of them, make a big list, and am pretty good at starting them, but not so good on the finising. In my mind I do have lots of goals for myself and I always fall short. Always. I am always failing myself. Do you feel that way? I know it's because I am trying to lean on my own strength, pick my ideas for what I think is best for me instead of leaning on my Father.
I do need to make some changes though. I do need a plan or I will drive myself crazy. My house is crazy, the clutter is killing me and the piles of stuff to go through just keep growing. I need to get my life under control!
So, here are my goals:
1) Lean on God, listen to God, pray, read my Bible more regularly, pray with my kids more regularly, read the Bible with my kids more regularly, pray with my husband more, do devotions with my husband.
2) Eat better and feed my kids better, exercise regularly (I have actually been doing the exercise part but the eating is out of control)
3) Get my house under control - I know this is very broad and I am doing that on purpose. I joined FlyLady - am not sure if I can do everything but she says start with babysteps and I am definitely doing that. Day 1, shine my sink is halfway done.
4) I would also like to continue to trim my budget and get some things paid off. This month, we will have our credit cards paid off (yahoo!!). Next I am going to work on getting rid of our car payment. We supposedly have 4 more years on that sucker and I would like to cut it to 2.
That's it. Manageable right? I hope so. I will keep things up to date hopefully.
Happy New Year!
I am not so good at goals. I love to think of them, make a big list, and am pretty good at starting them, but not so good on the finising. In my mind I do have lots of goals for myself and I always fall short. Always. I am always failing myself. Do you feel that way? I know it's because I am trying to lean on my own strength, pick my ideas for what I think is best for me instead of leaning on my Father.
I do need to make some changes though. I do need a plan or I will drive myself crazy. My house is crazy, the clutter is killing me and the piles of stuff to go through just keep growing. I need to get my life under control!
So, here are my goals:
1) Lean on God, listen to God, pray, read my Bible more regularly, pray with my kids more regularly, read the Bible with my kids more regularly, pray with my husband more, do devotions with my husband.
2) Eat better and feed my kids better, exercise regularly (I have actually been doing the exercise part but the eating is out of control)
3) Get my house under control - I know this is very broad and I am doing that on purpose. I joined FlyLady - am not sure if I can do everything but she says start with babysteps and I am definitely doing that. Day 1, shine my sink is halfway done.
4) I would also like to continue to trim my budget and get some things paid off. This month, we will have our credit cards paid off (yahoo!!). Next I am going to work on getting rid of our car payment. We supposedly have 4 more years on that sucker and I would like to cut it to 2.
That's it. Manageable right? I hope so. I will keep things up to date hopefully.
Happy New Year!
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