A little bit of everything....

Last night my Awesome husband was kind enough to run to CVS for me with coupons and 2 lists in hand. He must love me, right? I gave him very specific instructions and even had to talk to him on the phone a few times while he was shopping. He did Awesome!! He got all of the above for ....Here's how......


First Transaction:

2 Canisters of Wet Ones wipes 2/$4 ( used two $1.50 coupons )
2 Bottles of Neutrogena Shampoo $6.29 each ( used two $2.00 coupons got back $5 in ECBs )
2 Glade Sense and Sprays $6 each ( used two $3.00 off coupons got back $4 in ECBs )
1 Bottle of Aussie Gel ( used one $1 off coupon and got back $2 in ECBs )

Total after coupons was 17.57 before tax, he used $4 in ECBs that I had, bringing it to $13.57 and he got back $11 in ECBs.

Second transaction:

This one is a little tricky, I went over his receipts and the lady gave him credit for one to many coupons.

He bought 5 bottles of Soft Scrub Cleanser at 2.00 each ( he used one $1 off coupons and 2 Buy one Get one Free coupons )

Total before coupons was 10.00, and after coupons $5 ( plus tax ) This is where she messed up ( she also overcharged for the shampoo so it kind of evened out ), she gave me the buy one get one coupon 3 times instead of 2, so instead of using $5 in ECBs to pay for it he used $2 and paid .35 out of pocket. ( he bought himself a frappuchino lol )

It's confusing with the mistakes but Awesome no less. So now we have $9 in ECBs to spend and roll on other deals. So technically everything pictured above cost 2.57 before tax and counting what I have in ECBs. I will most likely use the ECBs and do another glade deal and get back another $4 and throw in some fillers like wipes or laundry soap. Normally I spend my ECBs to get a good deal on diapers but we are fully stocked on diapers for the next couple of months. Now about the diapers....

photo from www.diapers.com

I placed my first order from Diapers.com and hello loveeeeeeee them! I ordered Monday and got them Tuesday. If it's your first time you can use code GabeyBoo1 and receive $10 off your first order of $49 or more and free shipping. This is what I did...

I bought a HUGE box of Luvs at 35.98 and a jumbo pack of Luvs at 7.99, plus for fillers Gabers needed his own cute silverware so I got him 2 little sets of the einstein silverware at 3.99 each. Bringing my total to $51.95, then enter the code and I got $10 off bringing my total to $41.95. So out of pocket I paid $41.95 BUT there is a rebate you can submit,  if you choose to decline a free subscription to parenting magazine and they will send you $14.97 back in a rebate. So that makes my total for 207 diapers and 2 sets of silverware $26.98 which is only .09 a diaper ( i subtracted the cost for the silverware ), that is Cheap, Plus I never left the house!!! Woohooo! Also if you don't need or want diapers, they have baby clothes, toys, baby gear, everything baby. You can get anything and use the code for $10 off and free shipping as long as you add one pack of diapers to your order. This is great if you need a baby gift!!

 

Had to share a couple of giveaways I won. I won this last week over at My Frugal adventures, love love love her blog and she herself is AWESOMEly sweet! It's what got me started in couponing. I won this cute set of goodies. Plus a $25 target gift card, and a coupon for a Free Wanchai Ferry dinner kit, yummm! We LOVE Target!!! Cameron can't wait to have the fortune cookies :)

Back in uh October I won a gift card to Organize.com http://www.organize.com/ in the Gal to Gal walk ( a great organization that has a virtual online walk to fight cancer ) twitter party. I just now spent it as there was sooooo many things to choose from. Their website has EVERYTHING imaginable for your home. I was taking my time as I wanted to get organization stuff I knew we needed. It was hard as they have so many neat decorative things as well. I got a set of snapware for cereals and snack mixes and stuff, I got some little dino sandwich cutters for the kiddos, I got a purse organizer for the closet door, a collapsible collander ( love love love this ), 2 plastic bins for storing the dog and cat food, I got a coupon organizer, a plate rack which won't be used for plates :)

 

and I got this thing....We have no big fabulous pantry and are trying to make do with the space we have so this was perfect! Off our kitchen is a side door/landing to the basement and a second door to our bedroom that is never used as it's blocked,there is no room with the 3 doors at the landing for any type of cabinet to sit so this will hang perfectly on the bedroom door we don't use to store canned goods and things. This will help a lot as we have almost no cabinet space.

Wowsers!!! I could keep going but I won't :) Little man is up from his morning nap so it's time to get busy!!

More Couponing....

I made a couple more small trips to Krogers for the last of the Mega event.

Everything is pictured above minus the bread, milk, and 2 dozen eggs.

2 1/2 gallons of milk ( $1.25 each at Krogers )
2 Dozens of eggs ( used buy one get one free from Facebook promo )
2 Jugs of water
Bread
4 bags of Kraft Shredded Cheese ( used to two $1.00 off two bags from coupons.com )
2 Edy's Ice Creams ( coupon from a mailer I received for $2.00 off two )
Cheerio Snack Mix ( coupon from coupons.com )
2 boxes of Savorings ( used $1.00 off from smartsource.com & $1.00 from loading my card at shortcuts.com )
One 2lb package of Velveeta ( coupon from the Kraft Foods website )

Total after coupons and before taxes was $16.84, Woohoo! Saved over $13 with coupons plus got $5 off for the mega event as I had 10 participating items, plus my kroger card savings with a total of $37.11 in savings! I have to say we are completely stocked on shredded cheese, velveeta, eggs, and snacks altogether but it's nice having plenty with little spent.

Second Kroger Trip....

This was an Awesome trip, and my sweet sweet husband was kind enough to pick this all up for me after a long day of work, overtime, and appointments. He did really well, he's getting better with the coupons and is totally on board with doing it.

Prices listed are after my coupons and the .50 off for each item in the mega event.

1 Bag of Cheerio Snack Mix was 1.99 he paid .89
3 Valley Fresh Steamers 1.99 he paid .49 a bag!!!! ( I had .50 off coupons and they doubled them )
4 Philadelphia Cream Cheeses 1.49 each he paid .74 each
3 Cans of Rotel .92 a can, he paid .26 TOTAL for all 3!!!!
4 Sobe Lifewaters .99 each, he paid .25 each
2 Bags of Goldfish crackers 1.38 each, he paid .13 each!!!!
4 Boxes of Velveeta Shells and Cheese 1.61 each, he paid .61 each!!
1 Velveeta Shells and Cheese cup he paid .49 ( needed a mega event filler item to make 30 items )
4 Boxes of Toaster Strudels 2.27 each he paid 1.13 each
1 Box ( 2lb ) of Velveeta 4.29 he paid 2.79
Not Pictured Claussen Pickles 2.99 he paid 1.49
Not Pictured 2 two liters of Pepsi 1.29 he paid .79 each

The chocolate chips weren't on sale, the bread was for 1.99 and had a peelie for .55 off. Also not pictured was 2 jugs of water.

Total out of pocket was 23.54!!!!  I think that's Awesome!

Total mfg coupons was 15.73,  plus kroger plus savings 29.86 for a total savings of 47.09

If you are near a Walgreens ( we have one on every corner  ) they have an Awesome deal on Huggies this week. They are priced at $8.99 use the $2 off coupon if you were able to print it offline plus get a $3 register reward back for $3.00 off your next purchase making them only $3.99!! Then you could turn around and use the $3 for a gallon of milk or on another deal walgreens has with register rewards. Also I hear tomorrow that there will be a 15% off coupon available to use at Walgreens Friday only making the deal even better!


 Tomorrow starts a new sale at Kroger, this one will be purchase 10 participating items and receive $3 off at checkout ( unlimited ), I have already made my lists with coupon matchups and there will be some more pretty sweet deals!

Cam is out of school the rest of the week for Parent Teacher Conferences ( we had ours tonight ) and Lincoln's Birthday, tomorrow him and I are making Cupcake Pops and Valentines. Well I am off to bed, I just took some awful cough syrup and am hoping for some much needed sleep tonight!

Muffin Tin fun....

 Ok so I didn't use a muffin tin but cupcake liners, all the same. I do want to get some silicone cupcake thingys to use. I found this blog here a month or so ago and she does a bloggy party every Monday where they have Muffin Tin Monday which is where you link up a post showing what you did for Muffin Tin Monday. I didn't actually link up this week as I am just now getting it posted but will definitely do so next week. They also do different themes on and off where you come up with creative ways to use their foods. I thought this would be fun for Gabe, he may be a little young for it yet but it's a great way to offer him a variety of foods at lunch while making it fun.

First isn't he precious? Love this little man. So much cuteness.

 

Gabers had gold fish pretzels and cheesy ones, cut up bologna, cheese crumbles, pineapple pieces, and come sweet and sour chicken. The sweet sour chicken was what I picked out of mine ( I pick out the chicken from mine cause I'm cool like that, I don't like cut up pieces of chicken or meat of any kind in stuff, I know cool weird ) as I just knew he would like it. Nope. He had a little of everything, he's never had bologna and really liked it, the chicken was immediately spit out as I don't think he liked the sauce, cheese he always loves :)

  

Here he is putting the chicken back, haha.

 

Checkin out all his good eats. The food totally didn't last long in the cupcake liners, they were on the floor pretty quick, longer than I expected though.

If you want to read more about Muffin Tin Mondays check out Michelle's blog here, there is a lot of fun things for you and your kiddos on her blog.

Super Easy and Delicious Shepards Pie Recipe....

This is one of my new favorite things to make. I first made it a few weeks back and Everyone loves it, especially my husband. This is so easy to make and inexpensive. I love recipes that require few ingredients and even better things you already probably have in your cabinets.

A few things about this recipe..This was a recipe I found offline and changed alot to work for us. Normally with shepards pie you would just make mashed potatoes or used boxed but I like it this way much better, it's easier and tastes just as good if not better. I add more veggies as we I like it with more, 3 cans might be a little much for some. Also This makes a bit larger than a normal batch which is why I use a bigger pan. You may do a little tweaking to get it more to your liking, I only use 1 pound of ground beef as 2 seems to much and I like less beef, however with 1 pound it still has plenty of beef ( has to for the Mr. ). This feeds our family of 4 plus we have plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day and it's just as good.

Shepards Pie

1 Pound of Ground Beef
1 Can of Mixed Veggies ( frozen veggies work as well )
1 Can of Corn
1 Can of green beans 
2 jars of beef gravy
7 to 10 potatoes depending on size
1 package of cream cheese ( cut into cubes )
1 bag of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3/4 stick of butter ( cut up into pieces )
Chopped onion or Bell Pepper Optional


1. Brown your ground beef in a skillet, I usually chop up and onion and cook it with the beef. I brown mine on med. low and start preparing the other ingredients.


2. Poke holes in your potatoes and cook them in the microwave. When they are done mash them up in a big bowl, add the butter, the cream cheese, a handful of your shredded, and  I usually add a splash of milk but you don't have to, it just helps to make it a little more mash potatoey. Also if you prefer you can peel your potatoes, I do sometimes but either way is just as good. Mash everything together and set aside.


Take a good sized cake pan, drain your ground beef and add to your pan, mix in the veggies and gravy and spread evenly. Now with your nice clean hands mash the potato mix into patties and spread over the top of your beef mixture. Then top with the rest of your shredded cheese and bake at 350 until the cheese gets light brown and bubbly. 


Yummm!!! Seriously good stuff! Enjoy!! I will add a picture this week, I made it again tonight but sadly forgot to take a before picture, we were hungry.

Awesome programs for Saving Money and Getting High Value Coupons....

Today I want to share a few things that I started doing in 2009 and have really helped us a lot. This will be lengthy but if your interested in saving money, or getting full sized products or high value coupons this is a must read.

1. Have you heard of swagbucks? Swagbucks is a search and earn program. You search the web through them and earn swagbucks. The swagbucks can then be used to either purchase merchandise, enter sweepstakes, or buy gift cards. I highly recommend the gift cards. This helped us A LOT this last Christmas. I have turned my swagbucks in everytime for gift cards to amazon ( I will talk more about amazon in a moment ). You can get a $5 amazon card for only 45 swagbucks, you can also get higher amounts and gift cards to lots of other places. They are so easy to earn. I have been a member of swagbucks for about 4 months and have earned around $40 in amazon gift cards. To learn more about it or sign up go here.

2. Another favorite of mine is Alice.com, love love love it! On alice.com you can buy household items such as cleaning supplies, snacks for the pantry, diapers, beauty products, etc. I don't buy a ton from alice as I shop the local sales and use my paper coupons, but on alice they have coupons as well on certain items that will automatically come off the item. Plus when you order from alice shipping is always free and you get your order in 1 to 2 days. I shop the deals on alice ( that's actually a category on the website ), I have gotten luvs diapers cheap, bounty paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies ( my fave scrubbing bubbles ), and a few other deals from there. It's nice when you have already made your trips to the store and forgot a few things, order from alice and have it in a couple of days tops. Your first order you can order as little as 1 item, but any order after that they require at least 6 items which is no big deal and easy to achieve. Also if you sign up through this link once you have spent $50 which can be over a long period of time you get a $10 credit which you can use for anything on the site. Hello free diapers! I just got my $10 credit and will definitely be using it for diapers. I have ordered 3 or 4 times over the last 4 months and love it. My last order I got a bag of samples in with my order which they do randomly. To learn more about alice or sign up you can go here.

3. I don't sign up for a ton of samples, I used to but they can be time consuming. I sign usually only sign up when it's a product I use, or know I would use and most likely it will come with a coupon. Or if it's something new, it's always fun trying out new products. Last year I discovered a great program Bzz Agent. I love this program. I signed up around August? I believe and have received so many great products to try out. Not only do they send you products but usually a stack of coupons to pass along to friends and spread the Bzzz. I have gotten to try products such as Childrens Zyrtec, Softsoaps bodywash, and Aveeno Baby products. The Zyrtec and the Aveeno I received full sized products to try and with the aveeno I got several samples and high value coupons to pass out ( I still have some if anyone wants them ), and with the Zyrtec I received a book of very high value coupons with it. With the softsoaps I received about 7 trial sized bottles of the bodywash along with high value coupons to give out. I was excited about them all but the Aveeno was definitely my favorite as the littlest guy has very sensitive skin and can only use aveeno and it was great to try a new product of theirs. The sign up process is a bit lengthy as you do need to fill out a survey so they can send you Bzz Ops that suit you. You can go here to learn more or sign up.

4. Another Awesome program is Vocalpoint. This is definitely a favorite of mine. This one is soo super easy to join, and there is not a lot of participation required. I have been a member since last April and have received so many coupons for either free products or full size products free to try. Recently I have gotten a coupon for free tuna, a full sized Tide Swash to try, a full sized jar of Olay Pro x plus tons of $10 off coupons to give out, I have gotten lots of coupons for a variety of different cereals, they sent coupons for free ones as well as high value ones to give away. All you do in return besides telling your friends or family is take a seriously quick and simple survey after trying the product. It is one of the easiest programs in my opinion and the coupons are awesome. You can go here to read more or join.

5. Another is Kraft First Taste. Sign up is super easy and again you get offers to try a product and take a quick survey after doing so. Recently I received a coupon for a new DiGiorni pizza to try free as well as a high value one, I have received others for free velveeta shells and cheese cups, wheat thins, and deli creations sandwiches. You can go here to learn more or sign up.

Another great way to score some high value coupons is emailing the company, search for their website ( through swagbucks of course ) and almost all companies have a contact form on their site to write them. I have done this with several companies who make products that I love and gotten tons of coupons for free products in the mail. I even scored $45 in free diaper coupons from one. I did have a small complaint with the diapers but was mostly telling them I loved them. Don't make up complaints be honest :) most companies love positive feedback and will mail you coupons in return for taking the time to share your feedback on their products.

Let's talk a little about online shopping. I almost never buy from a website if they aren't offering free shipping, otherwise I can drive my big hiney to the store and pick out what I want there, I do not like to pay for shipping. One of my most favorite places to shop online is Amazon. I did probably 70% of my Christmas shopping for the kiddos and distant relatives off of Amazon. They are almost always offering free prime memberships and I highly recommend it, I have even contemplated paying the yearly fee to keep it as it is so completely worth it in my opinion. With a prime membership you get free 2 day shipping on almost anything that ships from amazon ( not outside sellers ) and you can even get One day shipping for $3.99 which is so great for a last minute birthday or Christmas present that you either couldn't find at the store or to send straight to someone who lives far away. Also double up the free shipping with those amazon gift cards you earn with your swagbucks and you will be amazed at the savings. I got SO MANY deals on the kiddos toys this last Christmas, I couldn't believe it, hubby couldn't believe it. Way cheaper than walmart. To name a few I got my littlest a $60 fisher price toy for $19 and some change plus free 2 day shipping. At walmart I believe they were $45. I saved more then 50% shopping amazon at Christmas. They always have daily deals, and especially have the toy deals during the shopping season. There also great for printer ink. Earn those swagbucks, turn them in for amazon cards and get free or cheap printer ink to make up for printing all those coupons off :) Oh and one more thing, with amazon even if you don't sign up for prime you can still get free shipping on tons of stuff by spending $25. The prime is just better though as there is no minimum purchase. The other day they had a great deal on sippy cups so I spent like $5 and got free 2 day shipping with my prime membership. It's nice for when you see a good deal.

One last thing, my most favorite blog to read is My Frugal Adventures, she is Awesome and the first person to turn me into a couponer. She posts several times a day the store lists, the deals, and matchups with coupons, she is constantly posting a gazillion online deals, if there is a free coupon, sample, whatever she knows. Check her blog out here. She gets worried if she doesn't hear from me everyday, haha! She has helped me get many many deals. My favorite is my flip video camera, I wanted one for my Birthday but wasn't going to spend the small fortune ( i'm cheap ) and she found me a deal on one!! I had to stay up the day after Christmas til about 4 in the morning until the deal went live to get it but it was totaly worth it, I got mine for about $50 when they retail everywhere for $120 to $200. I definitely recommend subscribing to her blog and remember you absolutely do not have to have a blog to comment or subscribe.

Okie Dokie that's all I got today!! Any questions or help you can always email me!!