A post on another blog worthy to link to. Those that coupon will understand!

check out this post: http://www.coupongal.net/2010/03/did-that-really-just-happen.html

I just laugh out loud at those that roll their eyes behind me in line when I have my coupons. If they say something to their partner, child and or anyone else, I purposefully take my time getting my stuff up on the belt and then take my time putting all my coupons on the shelf / register for the cashier to scan. I know that is mean to an extent, but I am just sick and tired of being degraded for my hard work that saves me loads and loads of money while others are oblivious to the FREE or near FREE items I have in my basket! FREE PEOPLE FREE! I started couponing a few years back with the intent to cover my taxes on each invoice total. Today, I coupon to kill over 1/2 to 3/4 of my receipt total or even more! Shame on them for not using the system of coupons to save. NOT SHAME ON ME! I am one coupon crazy laid off mom!

My CVS deals this week

cleaned up at CVS! got a $25 gift card for bringing my 10.00 Rx to them. Then went shopping and got all these items for $39.64(using that $25gc). Plus I got $10 off my next visit (from a pepsi raincheck I had the manager do last month) and 2.00 ECB's for next trip too! WOOOOHOOOOO

I had a raincheck for 10 off 20.00 or more in pepsi products plus it stated (thanks to the manager) that I could get 10.00 in Extra Care Bucks to use from that rain check!

-Wonder bread (fresh date) was marked down to 1.70 from 2.49!
-Puffs were .88 each plus I had a coupon for .75 off 3!
-cvs ziploc freezer bags were 2.19 marked down .60 (i was out at home so I had to buy some to store my hamburger deal i scored at schnucks last night
-CHOCOLATE Cheerios (FINALLY FOUND THEM CHEAP!) were marked down to 1.99. I had a
coupon for 1.00 !! 99 cents for CHEERIOS, are you kidding me? YEAH!
-Tide w/bleach alt. 10.99 with 2 ECB's plus I had a coupon for .35 off!! (this is way cheaper than Target, even with target coupons I had).
-BOGO free CVS Vitamins (see pic!!!) way cheaper than natures bounty even with coupon)
-Two bags of CVS Gold EM of dumdum suckers .99 each then I had a 1.00 off CVS coupon!
-Lorel' Lip shimmer (should be 5.00 but rang up for 8.49. I had a MFC for 1.00 off. I am taking it back to make sure i got the right one for 5.00 sale and then having them reimburse me if so. If not, still a great deal and a pretty shade of coffee for me! cuz i am worth it!
-I also had a 5 off 15 from CVS
- I used my 4.00 off from recyclebank!!!!
-I had another 4.00 off from cvs and also some other

trying to be a penny pincher is working, check this out

shopping at Shop-n-Save last Thursday night.... Total after all 68 items scanned $165.30 (over two weeks of shopping I had to do). I got 10.00 off for their Thursday 10 off 50.00, then I had three 5.00 off (15.00 total) entertainment book coupons I could use, then another $24.27 in manufacturer coupons. My total for a...ll my items after all discounts and coupons $116.03 including taxes.

Not a bad trip. I love making the checker look at me in shock that I had that many coupons!

It really does pay to clip those coupons and shop their Thursday 10 off 50. Now if I had time, I would have taken each 50.00 of groceries out to my car and went back in for each 50 to get those extra 10.00 off each time. Next time I will.

1 2 3 ... ready set go

those are the fun sayings my daughter has picked up. ONNNNEEEE.... TWOOOOOOO... THREEEEE....... and she also said REd, Seetttt, GOOOOOO. We need to work on that word "Ready". LOL

Do you have lots of plans for this weekend? We were suppose to go camping, but a childhood friend of DH's passed away and he went to the wake tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. So we are not camping again until July. Wahhhhhhh!

Going to get my coupons ready. Kmart is having a double coupon week next week plus I have my 5.00 off any purchase of 50 or more (diapers, people, diapers!! ) so that is a great bargain. I think the double is up to 2.00 so if you have a 2.00 off diapers, it becomes 4.00 off. Yipppeeee.

We are meeting a friend and her son (adopted through the same agency as Julia) at the park tomorrow to play in the water fountains. FUN. I can't wait to see them. Then I think we will come back home, nap, then swim in our pool. Ahhhh, summer is here.

Speaking of summer, I can't believe that when I was a child until I was 19 and moved out, I never had air conditioning in my house. Only a window air conditioner in one room. We lived with the pool open and a huge attic fan that kept us cool in the summer. Did you have air conditioning when you grew up? It is a luxury I am thankful for each day we have it on. Meantime, as in today, the air is off and the windows open with lots of fans going. Ahhh, beautiful weather.

Hoping you all have a beautiful weekend.

ahhh, the savings.

Coupons are a challenge I have come to like. I want to cover my taxes and then some for each time I go to the store. Today, I did that.

I went to target today with a list of items a mile long (well, the swimming suites for Julia and I weren't really on the original list, but I could not pass them up). After all said and done, I saved 47.03 with in-store promotional sales and coupons. My taxes were 16.99. My actual coupons total savings were 19.29. Now that is what I call a bargain.

WOW... pictures of Julia and some links to some freebies...

I am all for freebies..... I often browse other sites so let me share these all with you. I got the links from an email I get often from Money Saving Mom blog

Arby's Roast burger for free with purchase of soft drink: http://www.arbys.com/arbyscoupon/?cid=bn_yahoo300x250030509

Baski n Robbins coupon for one free Sundae:
http://www.baskinrobbins.com/coupon/20090328BOGOSundae.html?cid=469973&jid=12790868&mc=XX&eid=900285&cmpid=email_ext_000016_4

Make sure you use an email you are ok with getting surveys and such from the company if you do fill out your address info. I get free samples from different companies all the time. I love it

HUGGIES diapers coupons... $5 off 1 or $3 off 1... also watch for the Walgreens circular in a week and they have these huggies on sale so you SAVE BIG plus watch what their register rewards are for that week. EVEN BIGGER savings. I love being frugal and this is the way to do it.
I don't usually stock pile, but at great savings like this, you can't pass it up especially if Target is still more expensive after coupons!!!!!!!!!!


Here are a few pictures of my sweetheart 17 month old. I know, you moms all gush over your babies growing up so fast too so I thought I would gush here also. This past week she has started putting 2 and 3 words together. FUN. We had a blast at the zoo yesterday so I'll post pictures from there later this week. Also I'll try and blog about my feelings of late with the adoption side of things. I ache for not having contact with J's birthfamily anymore, especially since birthdays are coming up again. I still have Christmas Gifts here for them too. I am so afraid to mail them off. More on that later this week. stay tuned.

2009 Entertainment book coupons

I am so thankful for having searched craigslist for those that wanted to trade 2009 entertainment book coupons. I was able to trade some for some great restaurant coupons and children's entertainment coupons with another St. Louis couponer. We emailed and discussed what coupons we could help each other with and WOW.. I was so pleased. We said we would keep each others emails incase we come about more coupons we had already swapped.

Do you do this?

I also trade manufacturer coupons with my friends, sister and co-workers.
I get a sunday paper each week and look for the coupons I need and give the rest to my sister and or friends if they need diaper coupons, wipes etc that we don't use. What a great way to help others while they help you at little to no cost.

These are my coupons I search for:

huggies snug n dry diaper coupons
huggies sensitive wipes
Johnson n Johnson baby bath and lotion coupons.
frozen veggie like the steam bags. I am starting to get Julia into tring some of the staemed veggies now. Not going so well yet, but I'll try and rotate them out a few times before I give up.

gogurts (i freeze these and use them like ice cream treats for her)
musselmen's applesauce (I buy the lite because it is made with splenda and I like these!)

tide free
dawn
palmolive dish washer soap
snuggle dryer sheets
cottonelle TP
new york garlic bread (cheese)
tyson chicken nuggets.
cheese its
wheat thins
lots of different types of cereal.
instant oatmeal
progresso soups


What is on your list. Maybe we can help with a trade.

coupon links this week

I get these from: (click the picture for her blog)



Sweet coupons this week.

Now mind you.. I didn't print all of the coupons she links to because I don't shop by coupons.. I shop for the items I need and several of them (peanuts, brownie mix, icing mix, bisquick, yogurt, suddenly salad and cheerios/cereal for DH and Julia. I need to browse the ads today to see which grocery stores (and maybe walmart or target) have these items on sale too.

Ok, off to clip my Sunday ad coupons if there are any. Oh please let there be diaper and wipes coupons.

results of my coupon clipping.....

Target was my place of shopping last night. No, I did not feel like driving at 9 pm to another store for slightly cheaper costs when the stores were going to close within that hour anyway.

My costs were $131.89, My taxes were $6.84 at 7.7410% and another 4.6409% for $1.41/ Tax total was 8.25, my coupons rang up to 5.00 total so I nearly covered 3/4 of my taxes to be paid. No bad. I wish I had more, but a bunch of my items were Target brand. I had to buy a bath mat because my dog ate the other one (really!) when she accidentally locked herself in the bathroom the other day while we were at work. At least she didn't eat my new cabinets in there! So that was a large cost, plus we got target brand formula for Ms. Julia, Bottle liners (again target brand), Floss (which I can only use crest glide and can never find a coupon for that) and crest toothpaste( my coupon was expired and Target won't let me use that one, believe me, I tried). Target brand paper towels, napkins and last my HUGE cost was my Fusion Razor blades for my "lady" razor I use. That company never has coupons for the Fusion brand. Heck, I think I'll call them to get them to start producing coupons in the Sunday ads.


Ok, not a bad coupon day. I get to go grocery shopping later this week so I'll see what I can save.

Shop for products, not for the item you have coupons for and try the store brand... maybe, just maybe it might work for you on some things.

Do you clip?

my sister is the coupon queen and she does not even play the grocery game. She has never heard of it until I mentioned it to her last night. She and I went to the local in town thrift stores and then to shop-n-save for a few quick groceries. She never shops without coupons, but She does not shop for products according to the coupons in the paper. She clips, organizes them in this huge coupon box and then shops per need of items and she continually checks her box to see if she has a coupon. Last night she shopped for items for the trip to the lake today. She spent $55.xx dollars and had $6.00 in coupons. WOW. That is huge.

My goal for shopping is to have coupons to cover the taxes I pay to the store for either sundries or groceries. For example, I plan on buying Julia's supply of diapers and wipes. My sister clipped huggies diaper coupons and pampers sensitive wipes coupons. I will use those against my total bill and it will cut my tax costs. I hope to go through my coupon (zip lock bag) envelope and find a crest toothpaste coupon or paper towel coupon. I see the Ads in this Sunday paper has a beechnut baby food coupon. I plan on using that at Schnucks because they finally started carrying state 3 beechnut items. Gerber is so expensive and is hardly ever on sale.

When I do online coupons, some companies do require you to install a printer software. If you don't feel comfortable doing this then don't. I watch what their terms of service calls for (installing spy ware basically ) in ways of installing things on your computer with downloading the printer software. Coupons.com is a good place to print from. I too have never tried the grocery game, but I am going to talk to my friend ab out how it works for her. Do you do the grocery game? If so, let me know so maybe we can chat about it.

DO you use coupons? If so, share some of your secrets with me please!

Cost cutting is a must with gas prices so high now and clipping coupons for certain items we need really does help in the long run.