Superbowl Sunday

One day while wandering down the aisles of the commissary with my 6th child coupon binder, I was stopped by a cute elderly couple.

The husband, " Look at all those coupons! Boy are you ready to shop! Honey, look at this!"
The wife comes over and says, "I am impressed. How do you find the time to do that?"

So I told her my secret...".I LOVE my husband. My husband LOVES sports. I am not a fan. I want to spend time with my husband. My husband wants to spend time with me. My husband wants to watch sports. Soooo, he watches sports (and I try very hard not to complain) and I clip coupons. It is a win/win. We are both doing what we want aaaand spending time together."

She winked at me and said, "you are a smart girl. And I am not just talking about the coupons." Awww, I love sweet comments from random strangers.

So why is this non-sports fan looking forward to Superbowl? Because of the deals of course!!

I got my ads yesterday and there are so many good sales!

Yesterday I printed off coupons good for .50/1 (2Liter) of Diet Pepsi. Score one for me. There are coupons & deals out for my hubbys favorite pizzas! Score another point for me.

Of course, lets not forget the deals and coupons for:
**chips & salsa
**nuts
**frozen appetizers
**crackers
**chips
**dips
**condiments

Also there are a plethora of fun recipes!

While I am not even exactly sure who is playing, I know who is going to score the most! Time to get my coupon on!!

Purex Baby products & a giveaway

I absolutely love getting items to review. It is a lot of fun to open your door and find packages on your porch.

Unfortunatley, I can't always review everything. For a variety of reasons.Like getting coffee when I don't drink coffee. Or items I just don't use/eat. I did get asked to review sex toys. Seriously, there was just no way that was EVER going to happen.

I recieved a bottle of Purex Baby laundry soap to review, but unfortunatley it had broken open sometime during delivery. I did get free item coupons though. A couple of days ago, I got a box containing Purex Crystals for baby as well.

When Mason, asked what was in the box, I explained it to him. I got the stink eye, and he proclaimed,

           "I not a baby anymore."

So apparentley, I am not going to be able to review these either. After all, I don't have a baby any more. However, I know a lot of readers who do!

Even if you don't have a baby, think outside the box...Do you have a friend who does? Do you know someone who is pregnant? What a fun (and inexpensive) gift it would be for a baby shower.

Only 2 are pictured but I SwEAR there are four!

I have 4 free item coupons to give away. 2 for the Purex Crystals and 2 for Purex Baby laundry soap. That is a lot of free laundry.

If you want to be entered to win these awesome coupons, here is what you need to do:

For one entry, you need to leave a comment on this post, telling me you want in.

For an extra entry, send your friends to my blog. Share this giveaway with friends & family & have them leave a comment saying who sent them. They will get an entry and so will you! Send as many as you want.

I will be picking a winner, a week from today, on the 1st of February. So get your entries in!

Kryptonite

We all have our kryptonite, right? Something that just tests your resolve. I think I may have more than one, but one of my biggest is...

Targets Dollar Spot!! They have so many fun, cute, practical items.

My husband and I went into Target the other morning for, of course, "just one thing". Please tell me I am not the only one who walks into Target muttering those words...


I bought a few things for lunches and a few things for the 14 Days of Love.

In the above photo, I found some cute owl sandwich sized bags. Harmony is a huge owl fan so these will be fun. The pink, green & blue items that are shaped like bread...those are sandwich stampers. They can also be used for toast. The polka dot and the other one (what shape is that?) are reusable sandwich bags! Each has 3 in a pack. Love these!

close up of two of the stamps

 

It can be hard to find the boys fun little items for the 14 days of Love. Harmony is easy...lip gloss, lotions, bath soaps, fun pens & pencils...I found these Star Wars erasers that they will love. They are big and heavy. Sometimes I like to sneak things in their lunch bags, little surprises, but I have to be careful. I don't want to give them a toy that they might sit and play with at school. So school supplies are perfect. The R2D2 is a "water bag". I have no idea what the official name of these are but...I could only find ONE, that was Star Wars. There were plenty that matched the reusable bags but only one Star Wars. I am so going to be on the lookout, or my other boys are not going to be happy!

 

These fun food picks (which is an awful picture, so I will be very impressed if you can actually tell what they are!) But they are hearts and mustaches. Can't wait to put these in a Valentine themed lunch.

 

Do you have the same addiction, problem, love for the dollar spot? Have you found anything fun lately?

Going bananas

There are a lot of people in my life, that when they have extras of something, they bring it to our family. We have been the recipients of many gifts.

And guess what? I never say no. No, I can't always use what I am given (or at least not all of it) but by being open to it, I stay fresh in peoples minds. Here is just a quick list of items our family has recieved:

* a tall cabinet
*a loft bed
*desk chair
*clothes
*food, soooo much food
*people save coupons for me

I am sure there are more, but I just can't think of it all.

I was gone one day, and returned home and there was a big box of bananas on my table. My husband said, "yeah someone dropped those off to us."

Visions of banana bread, cookies and bars danced through my head.

However, upon closer inspection, I realized, "wow that is a lot of banana bread."

Instead I decided to freeze them. I had heard a couple of different ways to freeze bananas but decided to ask my facebook friends. So I peeled 'em, bagged 'em, vaccum sealed them and put them in the freezer.

I did leave a few out so that I can make some goodies. But I am happy I :

1. didn't let the bananas go bad
2. saved money
3. used what I was given

How about you? Do you use your freezer to help prolong produce? Or other items? I would love to hear about it. Although I haven't tried the milk yet...

Got Milk?

"Mom...we are all out of milk again. "

These words are said at least 2 times a week (if not more) in this house. Besides ketchup, it is the one thing we can't keep in stock around here.

Luckly for me, Ralphs was having a nice deal. Buy any 4 General Mills/Pillsbury (and a couple of other brands) and get a free gallon of milk.

While some of the products had their prices jacked way up, there were others that weren't quite as bad. Especially when combined with coupon.

In the end I got:
4 boxes of cereal
4 boxes of Toaster Strudels
4 bags of Pillsbury breakfast scrambles
4 boxes of yogurt
4 gallons of milk (I checked and I was able to get chocolate as well!)
and my regular 3 LA Times Weekend edition

After coupons and green bag discounts I paid $35.xx

I was super excited. By keeping an eye out for the cheapest items that qualified, I didn't pay too much more out of pocket, than I would have to buy the milk.

Since this deal lasts until Tuesday, I may get some more. I have heard freezing milk works perfectly fine but have never tried it. Have any of you? Any tips?

Being silly while patiently waiting for their chocolate milk

***BTW: if you want to go and get in on this deal, but you/your family don't drink regular cows milk, you can get a half gallon of organic milk instead.***

good deal alert

Once again, for the record, I am not a deal blogger. However I did want to share this awesome deal with everyone. So here we go...

Most grocery stores are really trying to encourage you to use digital coupons. So they offer a lot of great deals.

Right now, at Ralphs (and other Kroger affiliate stores) you can download a coupon for a FREE 8-10 ct. box of Carnation Instant Breakfast. If you do not have an account with them, you simply fill in your rewards card number and other info. Click on coupons and load coupons to your card. Easy shmeezy.

Here is the thing...THIS COUPON CAN ONLY BE DOWNLOADED TODAY JAN. 18TH!!!

The coupon doesn't expire until February, but it has to be downloaded today.

Now if you have the Ibotta app, you can also turn this into a MONEYMAKER!! Who doesn't want free money?!

Right now, one of the offers on Ibotta is to get .75 back on your purchase.

Here is the run down:

Go to Ralphs.com (or Kroger, Fred Meyer, Smiths etc.)
If you haven't registered your card, do that.
Add the coupon for a free box of Carnation Instant Breakfast.
Pay $0.00 at the check out
Take a picture of your reciept, upload it to Ibotta, and make .75!

My kids love to have this breakfast using Instant Breakfast or Ovaltine.

Mommy time

As a mother of five, it is not easy to find alone time.

OK for any Mom that is not easy.

I had the experience of traveling by myself last week. It was soooo nice. I had no one to answer too. I stayed up late. Took naps. Went shopping. Read a book.Did a couple of errands. And I was only gone for a tiny bit.

Of course I missed my little bug-a-boos but seriously, it was nice.

Today I made the mistake of trying to go to the bathroom. By myself. With the door locked.

Mason, my 3 yr old, knocked on the door. "Just a second Mason."

"Mommy, you read me a story?"

"Not yet, I will be out in a bit."

Next thing I know, this gets slipped under the door...

 

Sigh. Alone time? What is that again?!

 

five stars

I have been a busy lady. Life just never seems to slow down, does it?

Since the last time I blogged, I have:

***sent my "baby" off to preschool
*** made a trip all by myself (!)
***renewed my drivers license...in Oregon
***taken care of my kids & their activities
***some awesome grocery shopping trips and....

major toothache!!!

BROKE A PIECE OFF OF MY TOOTH!!!

So this morning, I am reading the newspaper and my horoscope shows a five star day. Sweet...and then I took a bite of my Cap'n Crunch and had a really, really hard crunch berry. I finally just swallowed it. I could feel something hard in my mouth and found a piece of my tooth.

I went and brushed the cereal off of my teeth so I could get a better look, and then another little piece came out also. Ugh.

Not exactly what I call a 5 star day.

I think I have been CRUNCHATIZED.

Its not as fun as it sounds.

Weekly Wrap Up

On Monday evening, I ran around using coupons that expired that night. I had some seriously amazingly awesome deals. Here is a round up of what I got....

1st stop---> Albertsons

Campbells Skillet sauces were on sale 2/$4. For every two that you bought, you got a catalina back for a $1 off.

I bought 8 pkgs @ $2 each = $16.00
Minus 8 coupons for .75/1 = $6.00
Made my out of pocket (oop) $10.00
Earning $4 in rewards

Quaker products were on sale for $1.88 when you bought 5.

To be honest, I had a huge variety of coupons for Quaker products. I ended up with 6 boxes of granola bars, 3 boxes of soft baked banana bars and 8 boxes of Cap'n Crunch (my absolute favorite!)

After all was said and done, my total out of pocket at Albertsons was...$33.20 for a savings of 62%

2nd stop---> Vons

Some of the things that I wanted were not there, but I got...
3 Yakisobas
4 Sun Rype fruit strips
7 boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks
4 Dole Smoothie shakers
deli lunch meat on sale for 50% off
4 12 packs of soda
1 bag of Tostitos
 I had a variety of coupons, and a catalina good for $2 off.

My total was: 31.93 for a savings of (seriously!!) 62%. Crazy that I saved the same at both places!

3rd stop---> Staples
4 Avery heavy duty binders
2 storage containers
2 desk calenders
4 pkgs of Hammermill printer paper
2 pkgs of manilla folders
1 mailer for my husband ( I told him he ruined my totals :)

I turned in 11 used ink cartridges and 3 Avery binders to be recycled. Each binder netted $2 off!
I also had a coupon from their ad for $5/$25.

After coupons, I paid $127.xx...yeah expensive right? Well guess what? All of it was free after rebates and Staples rewards. I get all of the money back!! I actually made  money off of it!

Last stop---> Target
Once again, too many coupons to count and a ton of items courtesy of Christmas clearance. So I will just name a few...
12 Digiorno pizzas
6 boxes of Edys fruit bars (free)
2 Vaseline lotions (free)
1 Caress gift pack (clearance for $8.xx, used a coupon for $3/1)
3 cases of Lip Smackers
8 bags of Christmas candy
2 bags of chocolate chips
6 (?) mini bags of Pepperidge Farms cookies
2 boxes of crackers
4 fruit snacks
I honestly can't even remember all of it.
Used a ton of coupons, gift cards etc. and I saved $146.09 and paid $31.xx out of pocket!

The line behind me had people clapping for me. The cashier was so impressed. I even got a "you should be on that coupon show". It was just too much fun.

Of course I was completely exaughsted after that but it was worth it. Did you get any good deals this week? I would love to hear about them!

Ralphs good deal

OK, I am not a deal blogger. There are so many people who do such a great job, that I don't want to take the time, energy etc.

However, when I started to explain this deal on Facebook, it started getting really, really long. So I decided to just write it here...


Ralphs is having a deal where if you buy 5 of certain products (this is a Mix & Match deal) you will get $5 off your order. The brands are Procter & Gamble, Pepsi and Kelloggs. ***Ralphs is a Kroger affiliate store as well as Fred Meyer and Frys)

Image taken from abc15.com

Couponers ARE NOT brand loyal. However, I know a lot of people who love Tide but don't love the price. So if you want to add some Tide to your stockpile, try this deal!

On Sunday (12/30) we got a Procter & Gamble insert. In there was a coupon good for $1.50 off any one Tide.   So if you want to do this deal it works this way...

REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE TO BUY AT LEAST 5 PARTICIPATING PRODUCTS TO GET THE LOWER PRICE. THEY DON'T ALL HAVE TO BE THE SAME!!

Buy 1 bottle of Tide @4.99
Less your $1.50 coupon=
$3.49 for a 50 oz. bottle of Tide

Now, I get quite a few copies of the paper, so I would do this deal as often as I can. $3.49 is a pretty cheap price for Tide. However if you only have one P&G, you can buy these items to get your 5 products...

Buy 2 Old Spice deodorant @ 1.29 each = $2.58
Use one coupon good for $1/2
You will pay $1.58

Buy 1 pkg of Duracell batteries @ 2.99
Use 1 coupon good for .75/1
You will pay =$2.24

Buy 1 box of Special K cereal @ 1.99
Print off a coupon on coupons.com for .70/1
Pay $1.29


Your transaction would be:
1 bottle of Tide = $3.49
2 Old Spice deodorants= $1.58
1 pkg of Duracell batteries = $2.24
1 box of Special K= $1.29

Your out of pocket cost will be...$8.60

2013 * Just keep swimming*

Last night I did the math and I realized that the last time I stayed up until midnight was 1997. What can I say, I know how to party!!!

However, last night my kids insisted that they could stay up until midnight. I had planned to celebrate at 9:00 instead of midnight but they all promised that they could stay up.

By 8:30, the two youngest were out.

By 9:00 Ethan was out.

My husband and I plus Harmony and Connor were the only ones who made it. The only way I made it was that I sat and organized coupons. Otherwise I would have been out by 7:00!

Before everyone fell asleep, we filled out a "Year in Review" sheet and decided on a new family motto.  It was cute because everyone tried to guess one anothers answers on their review sheet. I was pretty impressed with how well my kids know each other!

After thinking of many different mottos, we came up with, "Just Keep Swimming".  So no matter what happens, our family is just going to keep on swimming. Doing the best that we can and just leaving the rest. Works for me!

Just for kicks, I thought I would share my answers:

Name: Marie
Age: 34
Favorite color: pink and blue
Favorite food: pizza
Favorite activity: couponing, reading, blogging, crafting
Favorite book: Harry Potter series. I can't pick just one of them :)

Highlights of 2012:
Greatest lesson learned---> That while people may do things I don't approve of, it is THEIR problem and not MINE. Just support them and move on. Let them find out for themselves.

Hardest thing of the year---> deployment...'nough said!

Saying goodbye

Favorite memory: meeting my husband at the airport after his return from deployment...on our 14th wedding anniversary

What I loved most about 2012: Spending time with family and friends, trying to enjoy the little things...learning, growing and moving on!

Looking forward to 2013

Want to learn---> not to be so hard on myself. I am my own worse critic
Want to get better at---> keeping my home clean and organized
Biggest goal---> to SAVE MORE MONEY and to track it so I know how much I saved!

So what are you looking forward to this new year? What were your highlights of the last year? Lessons learned? Feel free to answer the same questions on your blog or in the comments. I would love to hear!

I will be sharing the rest of my goals in a later post.