Ready for some deals....

No menu-planning this past week, no CVS, no shopping at all. The only time Bertha saw the light of day was when I did some cleaning out and coupon organizing. Starting Monday I'll be back doing all this stuff again, I'm ready to find some good deals.

hugs
*a*

School Time....

My kids started school on Wednesday, boy did the summer go fast. Bryce went to high school this year and is changing classes, dealing with a locker and locks and figuring out his schedule. On the first day he lost his back-pack, how he did this I'll probably never know, good thing I didn't get him a new one this year.

My baby boy, not so much a baby anymore, went to kindergarten, this is so hard to believe. He looked so little getting on the bus with his big boy back-pack. He had a great time, he did ask me this morning when he was going to have a break from school. He misses sleeping in and playing. Poor kid.


Miss Pie, is in 5th, not a big change for her but they did start changing classes. Poor girl she got sick the first day of school and threw up on her way to the bus, at least she was coming home.

So it's just me and Aly at home during the day, it's so quiet. During her naps I want to clean the house, declutter bedrooms, and start scrapbooking again. I really miss being creative. So be on the lookout for new layouts coming soon and maybe some mini-albums too.

hugs
*a*

Honey I'm Home!!!!

I'm back, we had a great time at the Grange Fair, it was a nice end to our summer. Me and mom did survive, there were some times we wanted to pull our hair out and scream "Calgon take me away", but all in all we had a great time with 8 kids in a 5th wheel. Aly did pretty good, a couple of nights she had a hard time sleeping. She did love going for walks and all the attention she got. Here's a picture of our brood.

I'll upload some more pictures later next week.

glad to be home and
hugs to everyone
*a*

Menu Planning Monday

It's another Monday, so another menu.... last week I didn't stick to my menu as well as I did the week before, things came up and I had to substitute easier meals. This week is going to be an easy week, I am leaving on Wednesday and won't be home until next Tuesday. It's the infamous GRANGE FAIR...my kids are so excited. They have been earning money all summer for the fair and Bryce and Caitlynn both have paper routes at the fair. Please pray for me and my mom, it's going to be me and her with 8, yes 8 kids in a 5th wheel for 6 days. Hopefully I am sane when I get home.

Here's my menu:

Monday - Sloppy Joes (I made this earlier in the summer and froze some), tater tots and ice cream

Tuesday - Chicken and Rice (didn't make this last week, vege and salad

Wednesday (at fair) - chili and corn bread muffins

Thursday - Keilbosa and sauerkraut, cut up veges and fruit

Friday - Chicken salad

Saturday - my mom cooks

Sunday - my mom cooks ( I love these two days)

For more menu's check out Org. Junkie.

Since I will be out of town there will be no blogging from me, so everyone have a great week and I'll be back next Tuesday. I'll post pictures on Wednesday, the kids start back to school, Bryce is going to high school and Nate is going to Kindergarten, where does the time go. I am both happy and sad that they are growing up.

Okay so I realize this picture has nothing to do with menu-planning.... The other day I lost Aly, we couldn't find her. Nate and I were searching everywhere, then Nate came yelling, I found her:


It's almost like she is saying "Here I am" -- I know I am a little bias, but she is just so stinkin cute!!!


hugs
*a*

I *HEART* CVS!!!!

This is my favorite store, it doesn't rank as high as Giant, but it's right up there with it. I love to go here and spend my pocket change and walk out with a few bags worth of goodies. This week I decided to do several transactions, I have been reluctant to do this, I didn't want to make the cashiers mad or the other customers behind me mad. I can see their faces when I pull out coupons, let alone doing several different transactions. But this week I didn't want to spend that much money, and I didn't have very many ECB's only 9 and I knew all the stuff I wanted to get was going to cost me a lot OOP if I didn't break it up. Sorry no picture, I put everything away. I know what was I thinking, putting stuff away and not taking a picture of all my loot first, hey I am only human. Okay here's what I got:

Transaction 1

1 CVS hand soap - 1.69
Physians Formula Mascara - 7.99
Lamisilk lotion - 8.29
Lamisil Cream - 10.49

Total - 28.49

Coupons -
2/10
Rain check for the mascara - free
-2 cvs skincare
-3 lamisilk
-4 lamisil
used 9 ecbs, spent .50 oop, earned 10 ecb

Transaction 2
2 Dove chocolate - 6.00
2 children advil - 11.58

total - 17.58

Coupons -
2/10
2 -1 advil
Dove BOGO -3
used 10 ecbs, spent .58 OOP, earned 11.58 ecb

Transaction 3
Dove - 3.00
Airhead mini - 2.00
Energizer Batteries - 2.99
Alavert - 5.99
Stayfree - 2.79
Stayfree - 2.79
CVS after sun .49
Skin effects - 6.99
Reese pieces - .79 (filler) me and Caitlynn were hungry
Whatchamacalit - .79 (filler)

Total - 28.62

Coupons
2/10
-4 Alavert
-1 Energizer
-1 Stayfree
Stayfree BOGO -2.79
-1 CVS suncare
-2 Skin effects
-3 I didn't have anymore coupons, so I don't know what this is for.

used 11.58 in ECB's, paid .25 oop, earned 13 ecb's.

my total bill would have been $74.69 but I spent a total of 1.33. Pretty good day, I think. I do need to go back and finish up the battery deal and then the diaper deal. A little bit of time earlier in week really paid off. I have to thank The Centsible Sawyer, I love the CVS superstars and that really helped me this week. So once again thank you ladies, you really helped me out and you didn't even know it.

Happy saving...
hugs
*a*

Introducing Bertha!!!!

I just started couponing in June, after I clipped my first set of circulars I went and got one of those coupon holders, they look like envelopes. Mine was pink... After using this for a couple of weeks and collecting more coupons, I new this was not going to work, I couldn't find anything. So I searched the internet for some ideas and decided to try the envelope system. I saved envelopes from the mail and by the end of the week I had enough to start my system, well this wasn't for me either. So back to the internet I went searching for something else and found the binder system, I loved how you could take your entire coupon collection with you to the store and could see everything. I already had a nice binder I had bought for scrapbooking, but it didn't work for what I wanted it for, so all I had to purchase was the baseball card holders and this is how Bertha was born. My kids and I decided to name my binder since it had a pink stripe down the center of it and it went everywhere with us. So Bertha Binder is her name. It's funny to hear my kids say "hey mom, do you want me to bring Bertha in the house". Maybe you have to be here, but believe me it is funny.
Here's Bertha, I love that she has a zipper so nothing falls out and the mesh pocket in the front is a great place to put my coupons that I am going to use.

These pockets are great to hold my circulars, envelopes for certain stores, and coupons that haven't been filed yet.



I love that you can see all my coupons, I have everything sectioned off, dairy, boxed food, frozen, etc. Some coupons I do have to fold, but I don't mind, I just make sure that I can see the picture of the product. In the front, I did get photo protector sheets and have my Store cards with the coupons that go to each store and in the back I have all my rebate sheets.



If you want to see more ideas of how to store and organize your coupons go to Keeping the Kingdom First, Alyssa is having a Binder show and tell until Friday, August 15th.

Hugs
*a*

Menu Planning Monday

I really like planning a menu. Last week was my first time actually sitting down and writing one up. The verdict - I stuck to it. It was great, when the kids asked "what's for dinner mom" I would just say look at the menu. There was no dilemma at 4:30 wondering what I am going to make. That right there is worth the extra few minutes it took to figure out what I was going to make earlier in the week. So without further ado here is my menu for this week. For other ideas check out Organizing Junkie for a list of menu's. I really like looking through the list and getting ideas for my meals.


Breakfast - cereal, baked oatmeal, poptarts, egg sandwich, bagels and smoothies

Lunch - Tuna sandwich, soup, leftovers, chicken salad, mac and cheese

Suppers
Monday - Burgers, zucchini patties, cucumber salad and onion rings (all veges are from our garden)
Tuesday - Quiche, salad, pudding pie
Wednesday - Vege Stir-fry, rice and jello
Thursday - Flat bread wraps, potato salad
Friday - Chicken and Rice cass, cheesy broccoli and dessert
Saturday - homemade pizza and salad
Sunday - eat at Gram's...I love this day!!!

P.S. we tried the canned relish and everyone LOVED it, so I am definitely going to make some more.

Hugs
*a*

Photo Contest

Here's my entry for Summer Fun Contest at 5 Minutes for Mom.

You reap what you sow

I was so excited when we moved to our house 9 years ago, we have a lot of land and I wanted a garden. We have done a garden every year since then and love it. This is a family affair, the kids help plant the seeds and small plants, they even help weed (they are not so thrilled about this part) and they help pick. Caitlynn loves to go out and search for new vegetables that can be picked, usually she comes in with a big bowl full of stuff. It is so nice to eat what we have grown and not have to buy it. It's also nice to know that there are no chemicals on our veges or anything else, who knows what you are getting in the stores these days.

I even started canning and freezing this year, we planted alot more plants this year and I have already froze sugar snap peas, green beans and onions. Tonight I made my first attempt at canning. I made relish, I'll let you know in a few weeks how this turned out, it looks like relish and all the jars sealed. So far so good, now just the taste test. I think this weekend I am going to can some zucchini pickles and blueberry jam. I am actually having fun and this fits in with my new frugal lifestyle.

These cucumbers are so yummy....
My little taste-tester!!!

hugs
*a*

All You - Go and get one!!!!!

Why do I love the All You magazine? Yes the articles are good and some good recipes...but they also have coupons and this month is especially good. I clipped 34 coupons and there were some I didn't clip because I knew I wouldn't use them. So in totally there were at least 40 coupons. This month there were a lot of food items, here's a small list of what's in this magazine:

Tyson chicken 1/1
Jiff to go .75/1 (great coupon especially if your store doubles)
Rimmel eyeshadow BOGO
Kotex 1/1 (any it's any so you can get the pantyliners at Wal-mart for free)
Ban 1/1
Trident .75/1 dnd (combine this with the BOGO coupon from a recent insert and get two packs of really cheap gum)
Nerds BOGO
Peter Pan peanut butter 1/1
Dole Fruit bowls .75/1 (once again if your store doubles this product will be really cheap)
Plus the free kraft when you buy 3 (coupons includes cheese, dressing, crystal light, hot dogs and crackers), you don't have to buy something expensive just buy 3 packs of kool-aid, Wal-mart has them 5/1.00 and then you get free cheese or buy 3 mac and cheese for .50 a box. And the best thing these coupons don't expire until 9/30/08 so you have awhile to use them.
Plus many more...

Tonight I think I am going to go to Wal-mart and pick up a couple more magazines.

hugs
*a*

Menu Planning Monday

This is my first time participating in menu-planning Monday over at I'm an organizing Junkie, I absolutely love her site, since I love to have an organized house. I do tend to go over-board when it comes to basket and bins to put everything, but I least I know where everything is (most of the time). She does have challenges and as soon as the kids are back in school, I am definitely going to participate, I need to get this house in tip-top shape. Okay well enough about organizing, here is my menu for the week.

Breakfast - cereal, eggs and toast, oatmeal, poptarts, pancakes and smoothies(the kids love these)

Lunches - Ramen noodles, tuna salad sandwich, mac&cheese, hotdogs, pb&J, cut-up veges and fruit.

Supper
Monday - taco salad, pudding pie
Tuesday - Chicken salad sandwiches and homemade mac and cheese (getting my hair done at 5 so dinner has to be easy)
Wednesday - mini meatloafs, twice-baked potato, and vege
Thursday - Pork and veges in crockpot, potato salad and jello
Friday - Cook-out on the fire - hotdogs, mountain pies, mac salad and cut-up veges and smores
Saturday - homemade hoagies

Now i just have to stick to it.... Have a great day..
Hugs
*a*