Out of my Mind

We are getting back into a routine, finally.  After lazy mornings where everyone wakes up whenever they want, it seems like getting everyone ready and out the door by 7:30 will be impossible.  Somehow, it just works.  We start enforcing a stricter bedtime, which isn’t too difficult because the kids are worn out from the busier routine.  I am thankful everything is going smoothly so far.

One thing that is very annoying to me (though I understand the rule on PE days) is the tennis-shoes-every-day request.  Not every outfit that my daughter wears looks good with tennis shoes.  Yesterday, she wore a dress with leggings, so she wore her crocs.  I figured it would not be an issue since it was the first week, but OF COURSE, it just so happened that Wednesday was her PE Day.  Instead of finding something she could safely do in crocs (um, everything?), the teacher (anti-crocs) sent her back to the classroom.  She had to sit out of PE completely.  Thankfully, she wasn’t bothered by this, so I did not call and complain, but I was annoyed.  We had not yet received a schedule, so I had no way of knowing that was PE day.  It was the second day of school..couldn’t she have cut her some slack?!

Of course, all the necessary paperwork came home last night.  Now I know that PE is on Wednesdays and I will not break the rules again!

My goals for today are:

1-Vacuum and wash my van.  It is a PIT.  I cleaned out all the unnecessary papers and junk and washed the windows.  I need to wipe everything down and vacuum the inside.  If I have enough energy after that, I am hoping to get the outside washed.  It’s been awhile.

2-Make well check-up appointments for both kids.  I should have done this over the summer, but I didn’t.

3-Finish getting letters of reference for substitute teaching.  I am finishing my class Monday night and this is one of the things I have to do.  I can’t believe how fast it has gone.  I have learned a lot and am almost sad to see it ending so soon!

Off I go…

So, this saving money thing I’ve been doing – it’s quite addictive.  When I heard about HT’s super doubles, I knew this was a perfect opportunity to see what it was all about.  My children are back in school (as of yesterday), so I decided to take advantage of the alone time and try it out.

The nearest HT is about 35 miles away, so its not a place I would regularly shop.  My children do love their sushi, so when we are in the area, or passing through, we always stop for that.

I spent a good 45 minutes in the car prior to going into the store organizing coupons and checking against my favorite coupon matchup lists.  I ended up with 18 coupons (HT will super double up to 20 per day, $1.98 and under).  I had a few extra high-value coupons in case they were out of the things I was shopping for.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about it!  Everything was well stocked and aside from not being familiar with the store layout and having to look for several things, my trip was successful!

Here is what I bought:

Breyers Ice cream – ($5.59 each – on sale for buy 2, get 3 free -  I used 2 $1/ 2 coupons, which doubled, saving me $2) $1.43 each

Cinnamon Toast Crunch – (on sale 2/$5 – used $1/2, which doubled, saving me $2) $1.50 each

Special K Blueberry – (

Bordens Cheese Sensations, $1.79 (used $1/1, doubled to $2) Free

Danimals Smoothie, $2 (used $1/1 doubled to $2) Free

Dole Fruit Bowls, $1.50 (used $1/1, doubled) Free

Smuckers Jelly, $2.59, BOGO (used $0.75/1, doubled) Free

Dawn Hand Renewal, $1.99 (used $1/1, doubled) Free

Dawn Direct Pump,$2.99 (used $1.50/1, doubled) Free

Hormel Compleats, $2 (used $1/1, doubled) Free

Budweiser Barbecue & Basting Sauce, 2/$4 at my store (used $1/1, doubled) $1 each

Blueberry Muffin Pop tarts, $0.77 (limit 1, used $0.55/1 doubled) Free

Special K Blueberry Cereal, $3.19 (used $1/1, doubled) $1.19

Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 2/$3 (used $1/2, doubled) $0.50 each

No coupons for:

Grapes (on sale)

Chicken Breasts ($.88 per pound)

Sushi (the only thing I didn’t have a coupon for, but had to buy for my children! – $5.99)

I admit, I began getting nervous when my total was almost $90.  I kept thinking, “how in the world will this ever work?” but once all my coupons and the VIC discounts were applied, my total ended up being $29.33.

Some things I have learned on this journey:

1 – Be organized.  It helps to have all your coupons clipped together so they don’t fall and fly all over the place.  I keep mine in a mini binder clip, then I can flip through them while I’m shopping in case I need to double check the specifics.

2 – Buy the largest circulated paper you can find on Sundays.  I have been buying the paper for the nearest town over, but I find that we pretty much get the short end of the coupon deals in this area.  If you are in NC, I recommend buying a News and Observer or a Charlotte Observer.  The coupons are just better.

3 – Stick to your list.  Your success in saving money is in buying things when they are on sale, not necessarily when you need it.  It requires having some storage space, but most of us can find a little corner to stash things.  I would rather clean out a closet of stuff I never touch than to have to pass up on good deals because I don’t have room to store it.

4 – Take a calculator.  Sometimes, stores will give you a coupon when you spend a certain amount.  Like last week, Walgreens offered a $5 Register Reward when you spent $25 (before coupons!).  I tried to do this deal twice and both times I missed it because I got distracted by my kids.  It was ok – because I still got a TON of Huggies wipes for next to nothing, but I’m still bitter about the $10 in RR I could have had if I had been paying closer attention!

So, in the past few months, I’ve been religiously collecting coupons and making strict shopping lists.  After reading for over a year about all these fantastic deals people are getting by shopping at CVS and using Extra Care bucks, I decided I needed to jump on the bandwagon.

I can’t even tell you how much money I have saved.  Sure, I am buying brands I might not otherwise give a second glance.  Sure, I am having to make extra room in my cabinets for the 6 boxes of cereal I recently got for $1.88 out of pocket, the 6 free deodorants in my bathroom closet and the 4 tubes of toothpaste I spent nothing on, but that is ok!  If I get overwhelmed with too much stuff, I will donate it!  The point is, it’s usually free or very inexpensive and I would be crazy not to take advantage.

Even if you don’t have a stockpile of coupons, it’s easy to get started.  Many of these deals are made with internet printable coupons.  All you need is some paper (I recommend using the back of scrap paper) and printer ink (I recommend printing in black and white, using the draft setting on your printer if there is one).  There are many good sites around that tell you exactly how to do this.

I got my sister started yesterday.  She bought bandaids and tampons (both 2 things she didn’t need, but she will eventually!), spent $7 out of pocket, got back $7 in ECBs (Extra Care Bucks) AND a $5 off $25 purchase.  So, if she were to go into CVS right now, she could purchase anything she wanted $25 or more and it would only cost her $13.  Of course, now I know that she should save those ECBs for the next deal to make more ECBs, but that’s her choice!

Here are some more links if you are interested in getting started.

Deal Seeking Mom’s Drugstore How-To’s and Weekly Deals

Money Saving Mom

and I also love Southern Savers, because I can keep up with Food Lion deals!

Trying to get caught up today!  We have a buuuusy next few days.

Today:  The Boy’s birthday!, The Girl’s Dance Recital rehearsal & pictures 3 – 7pm (hopefully it’s over by then)

Tomorrow  – The Boy has an all day field trip in Raleigh (leaving at 6am from the school), returning at 6:30pm.  In addition, The girl has Muffins for Moms (which my sister will sit in for me) and Character parade.

Saturday – Dance Recital

Sunday – Church, Family Reunion, then NOTHING!

Our lives are so busy right now!  Between baseball games, dance recitals and end-of-the-school-year activities, there is little idle time.  I don’t know the last time we all sat down for a meal together!

The boy turns 10 on Thursday.  He is so excited about his birthday.  I feel terrible because he is having to compete with his sister’s afternoon dance recital practice on his special day.  He also has to be in bed earlier than usual because we have to be at his school by 6am for a class field trip.   I am sure he will be nice and grumpy about that!  Hopefully we can still make his birthday special despite the busy weekend activities.

The girl is exhibiting some frustrating behavior lately.  Last night at ball practice, Kevin looked over to find her pounding one of his players!  She said he was calling her names, and we don’t condone that, but we also don’t resort to physical confrontations when that happens.  The child involved is male and 5 years older than her, but they are about the same size.  Behind the scenes, we had to laugh a little at her willingness to stand up for herself (especially to a boy!) but Kevin said she was really working on him and was surprised he wasn’t hurt.  Tonight she has to go to him and apologize for what she did.

This morning, on the way to school, the boy noticed his recorder (instrument) had been taken out of his bookbag.  Apparently, the girl did it as a joke.  It wasn’t a bit funny to me because he needed it for school!  I told her to go straight to the music teacher’s classroom this morning and explain what she had done.  I was not happy with her!