SNOW DAY!!!

The oldest 2 Princesses Did not have school today!!!

YAY for them!!

Not soo much for mommy!!

Don't get me wrong I love having the girls home but today I had shopping that I was going to do but there is NO WAY I'm taking 3 girls shopping and NO WAY I'm going anywhere in this weather.

So now WHAT TO DO?? WHAT TO DO???

First off we all got to sleep in!!!! major plus!!!

Then they watched TV, read books, had lunch, played wii, played in their rooms!

They complained about being bored one time, but after having them help me fold their laundry, they didn't complain again!!!

Well I'm not real sure what else we are going to do today, I think maybe Fun bath time, and maybe get their Valentine's day cards ready!!

What do you do when plans change?

Staples 15% off coupon

Staples is offering a 15% off printable coupon here that can be used on in-store purchases between today and 1/30.
A hint for those of you running out of ink from printing coupons - it’s not excluded the only thing excluded is computers!!

FREE Insulated Freezer Bag

Sign up for a FREE Insulated Freezer Bag from Sam’s Club

Be one of the first 30,000 people to fill out the form!! These are awesome for when the weather is warmer and you buy frozen items. You don’t need a Sam’s Club membership number to request your bag. I just requested mine!!
Need a Sam’s Club membership? Head over to My Wooden Spoon to enter to win one of five Sam’s Club Plus Memberships!

NO LONGER AVALIABLE!!

Wordless Wednesday

Just wanted to share

This coming week Giant Eagle will be having some really good deals that coinside with last Sunday's coupons and this coming sunday coupons.
So If you shop Giant Eagle I would suggest getting this coming sunday's Red Pulm coupons!!

MY FAVORITE SALE IS this special deal,

Purchase $20 in the following items and get $5.00 ONST (off next shoping trip)
Knorr(lipton) sides 10/$10
Breyers Icecream 3/$10
Ragu 4/$5
Promise spread, I can't believe its not butter 2/$4
Wish-bone salad dressing 2/$3
skippy peanut butter 4/$10
Hellmann's Mayo 2/$5

This coming Sunday's paper has

Wish-bone dressing $1.25 off 2
Promise $1.00 off 1
Skippy .40 off 1 (double it)
Knorr sides 1.00 off 3.00
Hellmann's .50 off 1 (double it)
Can't believe its not butter .60 off 2 (double it)
Ragu 1.25 off 3

So these make for some really really Good deals!

There are also quite a few other special this coming week!!

These sales dont start until Thursday, Jan28 and run till Feb 3rd!!
(wait until you get this coming sunday(Jan31) coupons for the above deals!!)

My Giant Egale Deals!!!

We went to Giant Eagle last night and I got some GREAT DEALS!!!!


Transaction #1
Mr. Clean pourable cleaner - 2.50
Dawn dish soap - 2.50
Dawn dish soap - 2.50
Frebree Air Effects - 2.50
( used .50 off coupon, doubled )
total 9.57 with tax
AND Received a 5.00 of next order coupon

Transaction #2
(3) Gogurt @ 2.00 ea = 6.00
(used 1 coupon for 1.50 off and 1 coupon for 1.00 off 2 coupon) =3.50 for the gogurt
(2) Nestel cookie dough @ 2.50 ea= 5.00
(used 2 1.00 off one coupon) =3.00 for the cookie dough
(6)Pillsbury Bisquits @ 1.00ea =6.00
(used 1 .40 off 4 doubled & 1.00 off 2 coupons) = 4.20 for the bisquits
Used 5.00 off coupon - i got last transaction
total 5 .70 with tax
AND Received a 4.00 off next order coupon
and a 2.00 off next order coupon

Transaction #3
(2)bags of lettuce @ 3.68 for both
(2) bags of Bagels @ 3.98 for both
Bananas 1.20
Used 2.00 & 4.00 off coupons - from last transaction
Total was 2.86



So I spent only $18.13 OOP for 36.43 worth of groceries with sale prices so I saved over 50% just for using coupons!!!!

Then went and got gas at Getgo and saved .40 off a gallon so I saved another 6.00 off!!!

On Our Menu

This week I'm going to try 2 new recipes (I'll post them later)

Monday - Pork Chops, Potato Wedges, Peas, & Corn

Tuesday - Spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread, & salads

Wednesday - Meatloaf, Bake Potatoes, corn, & peas

Thursday - Meatball subs & salads

Friday - Hot dogs, Tater Tots, corn, & peas

FREE Veggie Tales Movie

Pick a Veggietales title to get for FREE! You will pay shipping of $2.99. You will get to pick one of 6 options.
We grab these at Garage & Consignment sales, so $2.99 for a new copy is great! I just got Duke and the Great Pie War, is it wrong that I enjoy these as much as my kids??
You can even pay the shipping with PayPal!!

My Mommy Tip of the week

This week my tip is really just something we do that works for us!!

I Use 2 different diaper pails.

I got a diaper Gennie for my Baby shower and it works GREAT keeping the smell down BUT the cost of the refills are CRAZY!! It is over 6.00 each. When Rayanne was first born I used Just the Diaper Gennie and was chaging the refill around every 3 weeks. That was CRAZY so now we use the diaper Gennie for just Poop Diapers and use a trash can with wal-mart bags (FREE) for the pee diapers. This has cut back the need for changing the refills to only every 3 months or so!!

SO this is our way of Saving even just a little on the Diaper disposal!

What do you do?

MORE COUPONS!!! $17.00 off Con Agra foods

Here another Chance to get more food coupons in the mail!!
Sign up here to get a $17.00 coupon book for ConAgra foods,
including Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Egg Beaters and more...

Easy Quesadillas

Tonight for supper I'm trying a new recipe!! I thought I woud share I with you, I found this on another blog and its sounds real easy!

Easy Quesadillas
10 flour tortillas
non-stick cooking spray
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
filling: beans, chicken, beef, etc...about 2 cups
2 cups shredded cheese (your choice)


Heat skillet over medium low heat. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese and taco seasoning together until well combined; set aside.

Remove two (2) flour tortillas from bag and spray one side of one tortilla with non-stick cooking spray (if you don't have this, use butter or olive oil, your choice), place the 2nd tortilla on top.

Using the back of a spoon, spread about 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese mixture over the tortilla. Spread thin layer of cooked beans or meat over the cream cheese layer. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of shredded cheese over the bean/meat layer.

Separate the tortilla from the oily one beneath it and place it into the heated skillet. Place the oily tortilla over the cheese layer, oily side out. After about 1-2 minutes, carefully flip the tortilla so the other side can brown. Remove the quesadilla from the skillet to rest and so the cheese can finish melting.

Continue making quesadillas. Cut them into quarters or sixths. Serve with guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

Free Betty Crocker Coupons Worth $10

Sign up here To get a Free Betty Crocker Coupon Booklet with $10 worth of coupons mailed to you!!

The offer is available to new Betty Crocker, Dinner Made Easy or Bisquick email subscribers. There is a limit of one sample per household.

You'll want to hurry because quantities are limited

Rite Aid Shopping Trip

I got some Great Deals at Rite Aid today!!!

Here's what I got

Curel Lotion on sale for $5.99 (I used 1 $1.00 off 1 coupon,from the paper and 1 $1.00 off 1 rite aid coupon)
so Curel Lotion was just - $3.99

Ricola cough drops on sale for .99 (I used 1 $1.00 off 2 coupon from the paper)
so I got 2 packs for just .98

Nyquil & Dayquil on sale for 3.99ea I bought one pack of each (used a $2.00 off and a $1.50 off coupon)
so I got 2 packs for $4.48

Puffs tissue on sale for 2.49 (I used a free puff when you buy 2 vicks items coupon)
so I got the tissues for FREE

Men's Gilette boday wash on clearance for 2.49 (I used a 1.00 off 1 coupon)

so this was just 1.49

4 pack of heat wraps on sale for .99

4 pack of Kid's be Kool packs on sale for just .99 (i bought 2 packs of these)

Bayer asprin on sale for $1.99 ( I used a 2.00 off 1 riteaid coupon)

these were FREE

Lil criters gummy vitmins 6.99 BOGO ( so 2 bottles were just 6.99)


I used a $5.00 off $25.00 Rite Aid coupon ( this coupon expired today SORRY but you can get a $5.00 off $20 coupon still jsut for watching a few videos)
I got my Rite aid coupons for the Bayer and the curel when I did the Rite aid Video Vaules and got a $5.00 off $20.00 coupon , (which i used last week an you only get one )


I paid just 15.92 OOP for everything!!!
(oop mean out of pocket)


If I was to buy these products without coupons or sales it would have been 64.17

so thats a saving of around 75%!!!!

OH AND GUESS WHAT
The Nyquil and dayquil have a single check rebate (1.00 each)
and them, the gillette, puffs. will go towards the Rite Aid P&G Rebate
Check out riteaid.com for more info

So On top of gettingGREAT DEALS I will also be getting a little money back on them!!!

Wordless Wednesday

SNACK TIME!!!

(if you know me, you know I cannot be wordless)

ON OUR MENU Jan 18 - 22

Monday - Hamburgers, fries, & salads

Tuesday - Slow cooked Roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, & veggies

Wednesday - Lasagna, garlic toast, & salad

Thursday - BREAKFAST - eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast

Friday - Chicken Quesdias, corn, & chips & salsa

CVS DEALS

I went to CVS yesterday and got some really good deals!!!


Pepsi products were on sale for 6/$20 with a $10 EBR (Extra buck, basically a coupon that prints out at the end of your recipe that you can use the on your next purchase)

so I bought 5 cases of Pepsi products and 1 bag of Tostitos hips (also in the promo)
for a total of
$21.44
I used a $5 off $20 purchase coupon
so I paid just $16.44 OOP and got $10.00 EBR back and a coupon or 2.00 off huggies wipes

Next I bought
Pamper 8.88
wipes 3.49
batteries 2.99
wipes 1.49
= 16.85
Used .75 off battery coupon
2.50 diapers and wipes coupon
1.00 EBR ( had from last week)
10.00 EBR
=2.65 OOP

Next I bought
huggies wipes 3.49
used .75 off coupon
and 2.00 off coupon that I got with order #1
= .74 oop

So Grand total that I spent OOP was $19.84

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before coupon and EBR it would have cost me $41.78 so I saved over 50% just for using coupons and EBR!!!!!

My mommy Tip of the Week

Have you ever been in a hurry and go to get dressed When you realize your(or the kids or even Hubby's) clothes are WRINKLY instead of getting out the iron and waiting for it to heat up then forgetting to unplug it not too mention actually finding time to iron the shirt, Simply Throw them in the dryer with a damp washcloth and a fabric sheet, dry them for about 5-10 mins and then just shake them good when you pull them out and they will be at least 80% less wrinkly!!

Since I stared doing this I only use my iron when sewing!!

New Recipes we tried this week.

We tried 3 new recipes this week!!

Parmesan Fries

Crusted Roast Pork with White Beans

Hearty Sausage Skillet

(you can find the recipes for these is an earlier post)

So this is what we thought of them

The Fries - They were eatable but not great. Needed lots of Ketchup!!lol

we will probably not make these again, I'm going to try to find another baked fires recipe.

The Crusted Pork Meal was GREAT!! We will be making this again!!

The Hearty Skillet - well it turned out like Mac and Cheese with Sausage in it with a side of Broccoli and cheese.

Deals for the week!!

I have been getting my shopping list ready for the week and decided to find as many coupons online I could to get the best deals. Here is some of the better deals I have found.

K-mart has General Mills cereals on sale for 4 for $6.00

I printed out 4 - one dollar off 1 box of general mills cereals (Fyi I had to do that at 2 differnt locations. you can only print a coupon out 2 times. )

so I will be getting 4 boxes of cereal for $2.00

Giant Eagle has a few good deals

Musselman's totally fruit 4 packs on sale for 10 for $10.

I found a coupon at Musselmans.com for .40 off, well it can be doubled so

I will be getting a 4 pack for .20 http://www.musselmans.com/

Bagel Bits are on sale for 5 for $10.

I printed off 2 - $1.00 off 1 box coupon.

so I will be getting each of my 2 boxes for $1.00.

Quaker oats are on sale for 4 for$6 but when you buy 4 you get an instant 2.00 off so its 4 for$4.

I printed off 4 - $1.00 off 1 box coupon so my Oats are going to be FREE!! ( i had to print 2 at my mom's)

Toaster Strudles are on sale for 3 for $6 but when you buy 3 you get $1.00 off instanly so they would be 3 for $5.00.

I printed off 2 1.00 off 1 coupon and 2 . 55 off 2 coupons so I will be getting 3.10 or 4.10 (if they double the 55 coupon) off of 6 boxes. making 6 boxes for 7.90 or 6.90. or If I only use the good coupons I can get 3 boxes for $3.00.

Wal-mart's deal

Nabisco animal cracker boxes 1.00 each.

use a nabisco cracker coupon for $2.00 off 2 and these are FREE crackers!!!

So those are my good deals for the week! Do you have any?

Sorry I havent figured out how to add links to the coupons yet. I will still try!!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

Today the girls and I made some

Peanut Butter, Kiss Cookies!!!

SUPER EASY!!

LOTS OF FUN!!!

VERY YUMMY!!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter

(creamy or crunchy, we used Creamy)
1 egg

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, peanut butter and egg. Roll the batter into 1" balls and roll into a small bowl of sugar. Place them on a cookie sheet about 2" apart. Press a criss-cross design into the cookies with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees F for 13-15 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool.

We then added Kisses to the center of each cookie!!

I found this Recipe at familystampingfood.blogspot.com

THANKS Candi!!

ON OUR MENU (Jan 11 - 16)

ON OUR MENU

Monday - BarBQ rib Sandwiches with Parmesan Fries

Tuesday - Hearty Sausage Skillet

Wednesday - Hoagies

Thursday - Crusted Pork Roast

Friday - Hot Dogs & Homemade Mac&Cheese

This week I am trying a few New Recipes so I hope they turn out good!!! I'll Let you know Later!!!

Parmesan Fries
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp. garlic salt, divided
1-1/4 lb. Yukon gold or russet potatoes (about 4), cut into thin wedges

HEAT oven to 425ºF.
MIX egg white, cheese and 3/4 tsp. garlic salt in large bowl. Add potatoes; toss to coat. Spread onto large greased baking sheet.
BAKE 35 min. flipping half way


Crusted Roast Pork with White Beans
What You Need!
2 cans (15 oz. each) great Northern beans, undrained
1 small onion, sliced (NO ONION IN OURS)
2 arbol chiles, stemmed, torn (i'm using 2 red hot peppers)
/4 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce, divided
1 boneless pork loin roast (2 lb.)
1 pkt. SHAKE 'N BAKE Chicken Coating Mix
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I'm using dried)
Make It!
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
COMBINE beans, onions, chiles and 1/2 cup barbecue sauce; spread onto bottom of 15x10x1-inch pan.
SPREAD meat with remaining barbecue sauce; cover with coating mix. Place over beans.
BAKE 1 hour 30 min. or until meat is done (160ºF). Remove to platter; let stand 10 min. before slicing. Stir parsley into beans. Discard chiles. Serve beans with meat.

Hearty Sausage Skillet
What You Need!
1/2 lb. smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, sliced
1-1/2 cups water
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 pkg. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Shells & Cheese Dinner
2 cups broccoli florets (I'm using Frozen Broccoli)
Make It!
COOK sausage in large skillet on medium-high heat 5 min. or until evenly browned, stirring occasionally; drain.
STIR in water and seasoning. Bring to boil. Add Shells; cover. Simmer 7 min., stirring occasionally.
ADD broccoli; cook 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in Cheese Sauce until well blended.

CVS

Their Christmas items were marked 90% OFF

so I got some large rolls of wrapping paper for .59 each

a Chia Pet for $1.75

Bags of MM's for .39 each

Bags of Hershey Kisses for .35 each (Great for making Kiss Cookies)

I also found out that going shopping on Saturday evening (6ish)

you get both Weeks Deals, sales that r ending and the sales that r starting in the morning!!!!

That is Great for me since our CVS is about 30 mins about!!

I was able to get both week deals in one shopping trip!! CAN't Beat that!!!

Shopping

Tonight Hubby and I went and did a little shopping!!!

1st on our stop was Rite Aid

I scored some great deals there!!

I got
2 Garnis Fructis shampoos sale 2/$6.00
used 3 - 1.00 coupons
(one was a store coupon the other 2 were manufacturer)
2 bags of Chex Mix sale BOGO @2.99 ea
used 1 - $1 off 2 rite coupon

2 2 pak stick of old spice deodorant sale BOGO 50%off @ 5.49 ea
used 1 - $1 off 2 manufacture coupon

2 large packages of carefree sale BOGO @3.99 ea
used 1 - $1 off 2 manufacture coupon

1 package of Oatmeal cram cakes C sale $.50

2 boxes of Band aids sale BOGO @3.49ea
used 1 - $1.00 off man. coupon
THEN I USED A
$5.00 off $20.00 coupon

TOTAL OF $25.20 sales price
-$12.00 in coupons
OOP 13.20 +.38 in tax

Next stop was WAL-MART

there I scored

3 Johnson Johnson buddies soaps sale price $.97 each
used 3-$1 off each coupons

1 box of Snuggle fabric softener sale price 1.87
used 1 - $2 off coupon

1 small first aid kit sale price .97
used 1 - $1.00 off coupon

Red baron single pizza 2 pack sale price 3.00
used 1- $1.00 off coupon

TOTAL sale price 8.75
- $7.00 off in coupons
GRAND TOTAL of $1.75 oop

I THOUGHT I DID PRETTY GOOD ON GETTING GREAT DEALS ON THE ITEMS THAT WE USE EVERYDAY AND BRANDS WE USE!!!

MY COUPON BINDER

I made myself a coupon binder organizer, there are lots out there for sale for like$ 35.00 and right now I don't want to spend money on something I can make!

HOW I MADE MY COUPON BINDER

1st I needed a Binder

(I found an old trapper keeper from when i taught a wed. night class put in a plastic 3 ring binder)

2nd I need something to hold my coupons

(I found some of my hubby's old baseball card empty sheets)

3rd I needed to label the sheets

(I took some label stickers and folded them over and let them hang over the edge of the sheet)

4th It was ready for my coupons

(2 coupon per slot, one on each side)

Right now my binder only has 10 pages so it only holds 180 coupons which is great for now.

Now when I need a coupon, I just flip the pages until I find what I need,

So far it works great.

Today I sat down to match my sales fliers with my coupons and it was soo much easier and when I went to shopping I took my binder with me and that was alot easier then sorting through them from my little baggies.

It was a fun project to make and I hope to get lots of use out of it.

I'll post pictures of it later.

My mommy tip of the Week!

Every Friday I'm going to post
"MY MOMMY TIP OF THE WEEK"

When Bathing my girls sometimes it takes forever to rinse their hair out, and there is always lots of bath toys laying in the tub after they get out.

Today's Mommy tip is . . .

when bathing your little ones try using a 2 qt pitcher to rinse out their hair and then when bath time is over the pitcher can hold all the Bath toys!!

Pretty simple solution if you ask me!!

POTTY TRAINING!!!!

I am starting to potty train my littlest princess
well I wouldn't really call it potty training but we are introducing it to her.
Rayanne is only 14 months old (well she will be on the 13th of Jan)
and lately she has been making the farting sound with her mouth when she poops in her diaper.
this has been going on for about 2 weeks now, so I thought well maybe she does know when she is pooping, so I brought down the potty chair, cleaned it up and put it outside the bathroom door on Sunday Night.
All week she has been pooping in her diaper and coming and telling me. (crawling since she does not walk yet)
when you ask her if she has to go potty she will start crawling towards her potty. I have been putting her on it everyday this week, probably at least 5 times each day and nothing has happened yet.
UNTIL
Today she was in her high chair and she started making her sounds, so I thought well be better go change you since you pooped and to my surprise there was not poop in the diaper!! so I put her on her potty in within 2 mins she POOPED IN THE POTTY!!!!!
Well I know she is really young to be doing this and it might just been a coincidence that I caught her in time but for now I am excited about it!!!
Time will really be able to tell if she really is ready now or not!!

I'm trying to Add pictures and links so BEAR WITH ME!!!

Oh where Oh where is my Picture?
it said it was downloaded? HUM

Oh where oh where is my Link?

I'm going to call it quit for tonight o should I say Morning. its after midnight so I better wait and try tomorrow.

I WILL FIGURE IT OUT!!

opps

Well That didnt work.

I'm going to try againg to post a link

for the Freezer Inventory Worksheet

Eatin from the pantry Challenge

I have been reading lots of blogs tonight and found some great ones that I now follow.

the $5dinners mom is doing the "eating from the pantry challenge!"
I LOVE this Idea so that is what we are going to try.

It is simply taking an inventory of your freezer and pantry and plan meal from what you got with only buying the essentials and very very good coupon deals

Onceamonthmom.com has a freezer worksheet that I printed out to make taking the inventory easier.

I also found some ways to better couponing.
right now I'm just starting get the hang of it. sometimes having good luck others not so much.

will be blogging Lots (I HOPE)
I'm also just getting lot of ideas on what I want to blog about and I think I'm going to do lots of different things.
I'm going to try to link tat speadsheet. if it doesnt work I will try try again.

Goals

THis is really the first year that I have ever felt the need to make sooo many changes in our lives.

1.) We are going to really work hard on our Finances

2.) I want to make healthy foods for us and save money and time while preparing

3.) We are going to be giving the girls allowances. They are 5 & 7 now so I think they can handle a little resonsibality.

4.) I would love to lose weight, which I think will come off just by eating healthier and beign more active which leads to our next change

5.) Being more active as a family. Last year we go into Geocaching and would love to do more of that and do more family activities that dont cost much. (that is the key!!)

6.) Last but not least
to Potty train the youngest. (wich will save us even more!!)

I know by posting this I will having something to look back to during the year and keep posting the progress to these goals!

ALLOWANCE

The start of a new year means Lots of New things!!
The oldest 2 princesses are ready to start earning money by doing chores.
we are going to start out real basic then next year a little more and so forth.
this year the girls will be required to fill out a little chart each nite.
all they are required to do is pick up their room daily - read a book each day - and do 1 job around the house.
Then every Sunday they can CASH IN their charts for $1.00.


We have tried other Chore charts and they didn't work so I'm excited about this one I think it will work!!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!!

Jan 4th - 9th Meals

Monday- Baked Chicken, baked potatoes, peas, green beans

Tuesday - Pan Lasagna, salad, garlic bread

Wednesday - Pizza burgers, baked fries, & peas

Thursday - Eggs, toast, sausage, hash browns

Friday - Fish Sandwiches, baked fries, & corn

Saturday - KIDS CHOICE!! Chicken Nuggets!! (mommy & daddy have date Night)

GOALS

WOW it's already 2010!
This year My husband and I have lots of GOALS!!
WE WOULD LOVE to buy a house!!!
SO in order for that to happen alot of other stuff has to happen!!
1st and formost we have to get out Finances under control!
That means we MUST keep track of every penny and SAVE SAVE SAVE!!!
which means. . .
Less eating out!! (there was some weeks last year that we would eat out 6-8 times a WEEK!!)
Less trips to wal-mart!! (we would go 4-6 times a week)
Menu planing!
Staying oragnized!!
COUPONING!!
Planing each shopping trip!
I think if you do all of those things we should be able to meet our GOAL and buy a house, if we find the right one!!

So each week I will be bloging our menu and my shopping deals!!!