A Check?

This week I went shopping at Dillon's, as you may already know if you read my blog, and I made it to the checkout with my cart full of bargains. I was ready to pay and ran my debit card and twice it was denied. Well, I am not a stupid person that would try and go shopping without money in the bank so I was very confused. The cashier asked if I would like to talk to a manager and I was a little shocked because I wasn't upset and making a big scene, I was actually getting ready to use my credit card and call my bank ASAP! Well the manager comes over and asks me where I bank at and I told him and he says that my bank, among some others, had some customers' debit cards compromised and had to flag the cards. Well, I was completely shocked and confused. So I paid with my credit card and went home. I called my bank and they did confirm that my card was flagged and they were sending me a letter explaining what happened and what they are doing and that I would receive new debit cards in about 10 -14 days. My first thought was, "What? Really? How do I pay for things? I am not using my credit card for two weeks." Ok, so I over reacted, you can write checks. I was very disappointed in the lack of communication on the banks end to it's customers regarding what was going on. So, off to Wal-Mart I go to finish up my grocery shopping and wrote a check for my food. The cashier ran the check and then gave it back to me. Did you know that when you write a check at Wal-Mart they give you your check back? I didn't. They actually can electronically convert the check right there. So, for five days now I have felt completely lost without my debit card,. I know really stupid. My husband kept making fun of me for not being able to function without my card. I hope that you weren't one of the people that has to write checks and wait for your debit card. If so, I feel your pain.

Dillon's Mega Sale

Dillon's is having their Mega Savings sale right now, where you buy any 10 participating items and get $5 off your total. There is a limit of 3 rewards per transaction. I spent a total of $54.59 and saved $40.85. Here is what I purchased, sorry no picture this time!

• 3 packages of Kraft shredded cheese for $1.49
• Pace Picante Salsa for $1.50
• Lays Potato Chips $1.77
• Wheat Thins $1.89
• Triscut Thin Crisps $1.89
• Velveeta Cheese $4.49 - $1 coupon at http://www.coupons.com/ = $3.49
• 2 - 1/2 gallons Tropicana Juice $2.49 = $4.98 - $1.25 store coupon = $3.73
• Nature Valley Bars $2.09 - $1 ($.50 newspaper coupon doubled) = $1.59
• 2 bags of Green Giant Steamers $1 = $2 - $2 (2 $.50 newspaper coupons doubled) = FREE
• Tyson Meal Kit = $5.49
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal $2.09 - $1 printed coupon = $1.09
• Captain Crunch Cereal $2.09 - $1 ($.50 newspaper coupon doubled) = $1.09
• Fiber One Bars $2.09 - $1 = $1.09
• 2 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese $1 = $2
• Oscar Meyer Deli Meat $2.50
• Rotel $.88
• a bunch of produce, which of course was not part of their mega savings
• Activia yogurt $2 - $1 newspaper coupon = $1 (not part of the mega savings either)
• Doritos Chips $2.18 (not part of the mega sale)
• Iron Kids Bread $1.97 (not part of the mega sale)
• I got $.05 off my total for every "green" shopping bag that I used. I had 4, that is $.20!

I didn't have coupons for everything, which I really tried to do, but I still walked away with some really great deals. Hurry sale ends Tuesday!

Target Deals

I spent $33.85 and save $35.00 today at Target. Here is what I bought:

• Fiber One Granola Bars $2.33 - $.75 target coupon (tc) - $1.oo printed coupon (pc) from http://www.coupons.com/ = $.58


• Kashi Fruit in the middle bar $2.75 - $2 pc = $.75


• Fruit by the foot 2 x $1.88 = $3.76 - $.75 nc = $3.01 for 2


• Fiber One Pop Tarts 2 x $1.75 = $3.50 - $1 pc = $2.50 for 2


• Kellogg's Fiber Plus $1.88 - $.75 = $1.13


• Progressive Soup 2 x $1.40 = $2.80 - $1 tc - $1 pc = $.80 for 2


• Store brand Butter $.84


• Satin Care Shaving Cream $1.74


• Gillette Disposable Razors 2 x $5.49 = $10.98 - BOGO nc = $5.49 for 2


• Pantene Pro V volumizing root lifter $3.33 - $1 tc - $1 nc = $1.33


• Herbal Essence hair stuff $1.77 - $1 nc = $.77


• Sunsilk Hair Care 2 x $1.68 = $3.36 - $1 nc = $2.36 for 2


• Men's Gillette Shampoo $2.14 - $2 nc = $.14


• Charmin Toilet Paper $6.99 - $.50tc - $1.00 nc = $5.49 for 12 pk double roll

Many of the toiletry items were clearance items. I also received a target tear and save coupon book in the mail. So I stacked my coupons and got some great deals. Have fun saving!

Walgreen Deals

I went to Walgreens and spent $34.71 and saved $51.82. Here is what I purchased:

• Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop 2/$3 and used $1 newspaper coupon (nc), final cost $1 each.
• 2 Natural Instincts Hair color $5.99 each and used $5 nc off of 2 stacked with $2 nc off of 1, final cost $2.49 each.
• Infusium Shampoo $5.99 and used $3 nc, final cost $2.99.
• Blue Diamond Almonds BOGO with ad coupon, final cost 2/$3.69
• REBATE - Duracell AA batteries 16 pack $12.79. I will get $3 added to my rebate total for the month.

Register Reward Deals (remeber they are like $ that you can use on your next purchase)

Buy 4 get $2 RR (here are the 4 items I chose)

• Skippy Peanut Butter $1.99, used a $.60 nc, final cost $1.39
• Helmann's Mayo $3.99, used $.50 nc, final cost $3.49
• Q-Tips $2.99, used $.30 nc, final cost $2.69
• Dove Lotion $5.99, used $1.50 nc, final cost $4.49

Another RR Deal

• 2 Band Aid boxes $2.99 each, final cost $5.98 and received $3 RR

I had $13.00 in RR to use on this shopping trip. I eneded up with $5.00 RR to use on my next purchase and $3 rebate added to my monthly total.

Target Steals

I received an email this week about Target marking down select toys 50 - 75% off their original price on the 16th. After dropping my youngest off at Preschool at 12:15, I decided to see if there were any great deals. Well, the toys were very much picked over, but I managed to find some great deals on some toys for Christmas 09 or birthday presents. I spent $95.26 and saved $196.52. That is amazing if you ask me. I bought Holiday Barbie, Holiday Hannah Montana, High School Musical 3 girls (the box has 4 barbies in it), Troy and Gabriella barbies, Diamond Castle Barbie, Moon Sand, Didj cover, Leap Frog alphabet puzzle, Fisher Price Zoo toy (ages 6 months & up), a pair of shoes for my youngest, and a pair of shoes and boots for my eldest daughter. Crazy, right? Now I am curious if there are other stores that are doing this same thing. I should check it out and keep you posted!

Closet Clutter

Today I tackled my very unorganized closet. I went to Target and purchased 2 shoe organizers, one 3 drawer tote, 2 shelf-helpers and a drawer organizer and spent $88.00. Oh yeah, I did by a plastic farm horse for Nicole because she doesn't have enough toys that she has to pick up and I have to keep organized. Ugh! Well, I began by sorting my stuff into a keep, trash, and garage sale pike. Once I was done with that I put together the shoe organizers and placed them where I wanted them and filled them up, of course. Then I folded the sweaters neatly and used the shelf helpers to stack the sweaters. Then I sorted my jewelry by earrings, necklaces, and bracelets and then put them in the drawer organizer. I had an open spot in the drawer organizer so I put all of those extra buttons that come with your shirts that you might need. Then I put all of my painting/get dirty clothes in the bottom drawer of my 3 drawer tote and then my shorts that don't fit in my dresser in the middle drawer and then my workout shirts in the top. I used a basket, that I had on hand, to store my lint brushes. So the finished product looks great, and I hope it stays that way. I hope that this inspires you to tackle the dreaded closet. Have fun!

Cheap Storage

Remember my Organizing magazine I bought a while back? One of the articles titled Bargain Storage really caught my eye because a person could spend a lot of money buying totes, baskets, and shelves. It gave some really great cheap ideas for organizing any closet in your house. One of the ideas was to shop at dollar stores for square crates for storing kid toys. Buy 4 of them and zip tie them together and use an elastic cord with hook ends as a handle. That is just one of many ideas that it had. My girls' closets needed a little help so I went to Target and shopped the Dollar Spot and got 4 plastic baskets (pink, purple, blue, red, and yellow are some of the colors available). They really helped me organized the top shelves that had items that they don't use that often and I spent $4. Other ideas it had was to buy a plate holders and hang cowboy hats on them, buy cork and magnetic memo boards hung low for your child to pin up school work or anything they want to display. There are a lot of great ideas, if you want to check it out yourself go to http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/storage/closets-shelves/dollar-store-closets/. Have fun getting organized.

Mc Nasty

Yesterday was my little baby's 5th birthday. It was an emotional day for me. I can't believe it. Anyways, we let her pick the restaurant of her choice to go eat and where did she pick? Yes, you guessed it, McDonald's. Oh the things we do for our sweet children. I was not too excited about going, but it wasn't my birthday. So, here we go on our Mc D adventure ready to have a great time. We head up to the counter to order and I am trying to pick something that will not make me instantly vomit and I look to my right and there is a half eaten cheeseburger surrounded by an overflowing cup of ketchup and it looks like it had been there since 11 am that day. I just keep telling myself that I can do this. Well, my husband decides to have me go get our drinks probably because of the look of disgust on my face. He hands me the cups and the girls and I head over to get our drinks. Not a pretty site to be seen there either. There was trash everywhere, sticky dry soda all over, and the ketchup dispenser was nasty. Wait, maybe I should tell you all that I am a little of a clean freak and germ-a-phobe and I worked at Mc D's when I was in High School. Ok, so back to our great birthday dinner. We sit down, I wipe down the table with a Wet Ones wipe (I carry them in my purse) and we sit and wait for Todd to get our food and join us. As we wait I just look around, bad idea, and there is trash and food all over the floor. Now, I know that at real busy times the main objective is to get the food out to the customers, but this was REALLY nasty. Well we eat and the girls go and play in the play place, which I am sure is the only reason Nicole wanted to go there. I think that if it weren't for the smelly, germ infested play place we would never go to McDonald's. Our "fun" time was coming to a close and we headed to the bathroom, another big mistake. I'm not real sure what I expected but it was really gross. The toilet seat was stained and discolored, there was dirt and other nastiness around the base of the toilet. The counter was covered it dried soap and the floors were covered in toilet paper, straw trash and napkins. We made a quick exit and were on our way to Dairy Queen for ice cream, Nicole got to pick! Anyways, I just needed to complain. I am sure that I am not the only one that feels so strongly about Mc Donald's.

Coupon Notebook, is it nerdy?

If you cut coupons, how do your organize them? Do you have an envelope that you have stuffed in your purse that you have to file through at the check out or better yet, have them ready to use and completely forget about them until you are home unloading your groceries? I read about a great idea in Supermarket Savings 101 from www.moneysavingsmom.com about a coupon notebook to organize your coupons. I put one together and it has been very helpful!

So, I helped a friend put together her coupon notebook yesterday and she asked me if I brought the whole notebook into the store when I shopped and I told her yes. We both agreed that is seems like such a nerdy thing to do, but I told her that I get so many positive comments from people about my notebook that it doesn't feel so nerdy. Plus when I get done shopping and just saved $20 or more, I don't feel so stupid.

Here is a list of supplies that you will need in order to make your coupon notebook:

• Three-ring binder
• Baseball card holders
• Three-ring dividers

Here are the categories that I created to organize my coupons:

• Baking
• Batteries
• Beverages
• Bread
• Candy
• Canned
• Cereal
• Cleaners
• Condiments
• Dairy
• Frozen
• Hygiene
• Laundry
• Meat
• Medicine
• Misc.
• Paper Goods
• Produce
• Pasta & Rice
• Snacks

You can have more or less categories if you want. Then you are ready to start cutting coupons and insert them in the baseball card holders. Have fun!

Wonderful Walgreens

I want to share with you all the great deals that you can get at walgreens. I went today and spent $16.24 out of my pocket and saved $35.20. Be sure to pick up a Walgreens ad and the Walgreens Easy Saver Catalog, both of them are located at the entrance of the store. Here is what I did:

• Kellogg's Cereal 4/$10 use 3/$1 off coupon s from nc(newspaper coupons) then it will come out to 4/$7 and then you will get $3 RR (register rewards to use on your next purchase)
• Buy $20 of select product get $10 RR page 10 & 11 of the ad - I bought Aleve 100 caplets $8 and use $.75 nc, Flinstones Vitamins, and Men's One-A-Day. It ended up being $19.25 and a $10 RR.
• Cut out the in ad coupon on page 12 Save $10 on certain items - I bought the Palmolive for $1.79 using the $1 ac (ad coupon) and $.50 nc the final price ends up being $.29. I also bought 2 tubes of colgate toothpaste for $3.99 each using the $1 ac and $1 nc and $.75 nc, the final price ends up being $4.23. Then I got the colgate toothbrush 360 for $3.99 using the $1 ac and $.75 nc and the final price is $2.24.
• Softsoap hand soap$.99 with in ad coupon (pg. 12) using the $.50 nc, the final price ends up being $.49.
• Glade Scented Oil Candle Refills 2/$5 use $2.50 nc final price 2/$2.50 and then submit your receipt on Walgreens.com for a $2 rebate.
• Electrasol gelcaps $3.49 use $2.50 nc final price $.99. and then submit your receipt on Walgreens.com for a $1.50 rebate.

So I ended up using my $28.60 Walgreens giftcard, that I had loaded with last month's rebate items that I bought. Instead of receiving a check from Walgreens for the rebates you can have the total loaded onto a giftcard and they will add 10% to your total. You can learn all about it on their website or in their Easy Saver Catalog. Anyways, I paid $16.74 out of pocket and received $13 RR to use on my next visit to Walgreens. I also have $3.50 in rebates so far this month. If you are new to this be sure not to claim your rebates until you are sure that you have purchased all of the rebate items for the month that you want, because you are only allowed to claim rebates once a month. I hope that this is not too confusing. It takes some trial and error to figure it all out. Let me know what you think or what great deals you have received.

New Year, New Projects

My husband and I sent the girls to my parent's house for the afternoon and evening and we began building some shelves in our storage room to get it cleaned up and organized. We began with a very crazy mixed up storage room, well for me anyways. So, off we went to Lowes with 2 gift cards, totaling $45.00, in hand to purchase lumber and screws to build our shelves. We ended up spending $94.00 out of our pocket on all our supplies, oh I did throw in 100 ideas Organize magazine (great ideas inside) and a shop vac attachment that I needed for cleaning my car. OK, so I am getting a little side tracked here. Back to the our project. My husband assembled the shelves in the garage and then brought them downstairs to put in place. We cleared out the mess hung the 4 posts, attached the 3 shelves and then we were done. It took us a total of 4 hours. I hope that this inspires you to take on a project to get yourself one step closer to being organized.

Let the fun begin!

So, I have finally made the leap to blogging. I had a myspace page and gave up on that, it required way too much time. I currently have a facebook page, it is not as high maintenance as myspace. Time is money in my life as I am sure it is for everyone else.

I am a mother of two girls, a 7 yr. old leader in the making and a 4 (soon to be 5) yr. old comedian (aren't all last borns). I have been married 9 1/2 wonderful years and have been so blessed to be a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) for 7 years and counting of our marriage.

Well let the fun begin! I hope you enjoy my blog!