Feb 16, 2009

Thrifty way to buy some furniture

We've needed new mattresses for the kids for a while now. We've been using hand-me-down mattresses from family and they are pretty old. I have been looking for a thrifty way to buy 3 mattresses lately and I finally found it!

It all started with a
flyer I got in the mail from our local furniture store. The ad said they were offering $500 in groceries if you spend $500 at their store. I tossed the flyer aside at first thinking it was a scam. On Saturday (the day of the deal) I looked at it again and asked my husband to call and see if it was "for real". My husband found out that you don't get the $500 that day. Basically when you spend $100 a month on groceries you get $25 back each time. You do this over a 20 month span, but I spend $100 a month on groceries anyway. This ends up being $500 in free groceries for my family, plus we get the furniture we need!

We did decide to go and check them out and we ended up getting 2 twin mattresses, 1 twin mattress set because Katalina needed the box spring and a new TV stand that my husband has been wanting for a while! We ended up spending $639. Now for the next 20 months I'll be getting $25 in free groceries back every month!

My Aunt wanted to do to same deal, but she couldn't come up with $500 worth of stuff. She ended up picking out a really nice bench for me instead since we needed a new one for our entry way. So thanks to my Aunt Jackie we have a new bench in there as well! Overall we got the furniture we needed and $500 in free groceries! What a great deal!!!



Old TV stand




New TV stand






Old bench!






New bench.

Feb 10, 2009

How I made my coupon book

First you need to find some baseball card holders. You can find them at wal-mart :) Or you can just go take them from your husbands collection :)

Then you organize your coupons either alphabetically or by category. I do mine by category IE- I made a category for breakfast/bread, frozen, dairy, soap etc.... Put your coupons in the slots however you decide to organize them.
Label them. I used little post-it notes that stick right to the sheet.
Add them to your binder. I picked this one up at wal-mart for about $7.00
This is what I carry to the store with me :) The zipper on the front is where I put all my coupons that I'm using at the store. As I put the item in my cart, I pull the coupon out of the sheet and put it in that pocket.

Towards the top there is another zippered pocket. I keep my calculator and my scissors in there. The front also opens up for me to store pens in and sometimes I keep my shopping lists in there.

CVS trip today


Since wags and cvs are right next to each other, i had to go there too :)






Here's what I got

3.99x2 stay free pads
9.99x2 pampers ez-ups (12.99 each normally)
2.79 suave body wash
19.99 KY yours and mine
2.59 cvs brand mouth wash

62.88 before discounts and coupons

-2.00x2 pampers
-2.59 cvs mouth wash
-3.00 suave body wash ( It gave me the overage!)
-3.99 bogo coupon stay free pads
-5.00 ky yours and mine
-4.00 ecb
-8.00 ecb
-15.00 ecb

9.17 Total
saved 53.71 or 85% and earned 14 in ecb!


I know i spent a lot out of pocket. I had to get the pampers pull ups because my daughter refuses to keep her cloth diapers on. This is a last resort since she isn't wanting to do elimination communication at the moment.

Quick run to walgreens








I wanted to go to Walgreens to get the Gillette Razor deal.
Here's what I got

8.99 (9.49 normally) Gillette razor
1.29 (4.99 normally) Hair clip
.99x2 (1.99 each normally) Dawn dish soap

19.56 Before discounts and coupons

-4.00 razor
-.50x2 dawn soap

7.69 total after and earned $6.00 in RR
Saved 11.87 or 60%

Feb 9, 2009

What's for dinner tonight

I'm making homemade tacos for dinner tonight. Something that the whole family loves!


Ingrediants:
3/4lb ground sirloin $2 (i picked up 1.5lbs for $4, so i split it up for 2 meals)
1 can black beans .90
1/2 4.5oz can of green chilies .42
1/2 an onion .25
1 bell pepper .50
1 packet taco seasoning .40
1/2 can refried beans .50
1 package whole wheat tortillas 1.25
sour cream free
lettuce .25
cheese .35

Total 6.82 For our taco dinner.


Directions:
chop onions and bell pepper as small or big as you like. Brown your beef, onions,green chilies and bell pepper. Once they are cooked drain and add taco packet according to the directions. Once it is done smash up the black beans and add it to the pan. Cook until heated through. Your taco meat is done now!

Warm your tortillas, spread with refried beans, taco meat and top with sour cream lettuce and cheese. (tomatoes if you like, we just don't like them)

This is enough to feed a family of 5 twice!
So really it's only 3.41 per meal!


You can also do a side of rice with it or add any other topping you like!
What changes would you make?

Feb 7, 2009

Kroger trip!

I did awesome today at kroger! lots of free items. I did get 70 items so i'm not going to list them all, just what was a good deal.
1.99x6 skim milk
1.87x3 breakstones sour cream
.50x12 danon yogurt
.99x2 cottonelle
2.50x3 nestle cookies
2.00x2 yoplait yogurt
2.00x3 whole wheat bread
5.59x2 6pk dove beauty bars
1.67x9 cheerios
2.24x2 whole wheat speghetti
1.89 pantene hair spray
1.29x3 dove conditoner
2.50x2 total toothpaste
3.49x2 kids electric toothbrush
2.61x2 vitimens
5.09 vitimens
2.00x2 lady speed stick

267.03 total before discounts and coupons(most of these coupons doubled!)
-.40x2 off 6 danon yogurts
-.50x3 off breakstone sour cream
-.50x2 cottonelle toliet paper
-1.00x3 nestle cookies
-.50x2 yoplait yogurt
-.55x 3 bread
-1.00off3x3 cereal coupons
-1.00off2x2 pasta coupons
-1.29x3 dove conditioner
-1.49 pantene hair spray
-1.00x2 total toothpaste
-1.00x3 vitimens
-.75off2x2 lady speed stick
-1.00x2 dove beauty bars
Total after all dicounts and coupons is..................71.12 or 73%!!

Feb 6, 2009

CVS trip


.77x2 palmolive soap

1.88x2 frosted flakes (i eat them as a snack)

.99x5 aquafresh toothpaste

8.99x 2 nature made vitimins

4.99 energy thing i got for my aunt


47.68 total before sale prices and coupons (The above prices are the sale prices)

-8.99 buy 1 get 1 free nature made

-.25x2 palmolive

-.75x5 aquafresh

-1.00x2 nature made

-1.00 kellogg cereal

-10.00 extra bucks

-2.00 extra bucks

3.98 Total after discounts, and i put it on a gift card, so i paid nothing out of pocket!

saved 43.70 or 91% and earned 4.99 in extra care bucks!

Welcome to my blog

Hello! I'm a stay at home mommy of 3 wonderful children! In december I was on diaperswappers and found the thrifty familes form. I realized that you can save money using coupons. I always thought that I could save more money buying store brand. Well I have learned different!
So I'm going to be writing about my thrifty ideas, using coupons, shopping at the thrift stores and just ways to save some money

Walgreens trip






1.59 2 brush pack

.75 hair clips

.75 hair wraps

1.79x2 kids tooth paste

4.49 soft soap (returning, not on clearence as marked!)

2.89 icy hot pm patch

2.29x2 toddler toothpaste

31.13 (26.35 after i return soft soap) before sale prices


-1.00 soft soap

-1.00 icy hot

-.75x2 kids toothpaste

16.25 (11.50 after soft soap) after discounts!



Total saved 22.88 or 73%! 87% after soft soap return