Look how much we saved on our electric bill!

For the first time in a very long time I was excited to receive my energy bill in the mail! For the past couple years I have kept track of the energy bills I pay each month. I save all the bills each month and then at the end of the year I write them all down on 1 piece of paper and then throw out the originals. I have no idea why I started this. I do it with every utility. I guess I like to track what directions our bills are going.

I got my electric bill in the mail the other day and the total was $208.81. This is for both gas and electric. When I pulled out my copies of the last 2 years bills from February I was shocked to see what the difference was. In 2007 our bill was $330.21 and in 2008 it was $317.23. Our bill this year was over $100 cheaper!

This is what the profile showed.

For electric usage our average cost per day was $2.41 compared to $2.68 last year.
For gas usage our average cost per day was $4.78 compared to $8.47 last year.

Since our 30 Days of Nothing we have really been cutting back on our energy usage. We have lowered the thermostat by 3-5 degrees, tried to make sure lights are off when not in use and only using our major appliances in non peak hours. I really think our bill has been lowered so much because of these changes. We did add some insulation in our attic last year as well, so that has had to make a positive difference.

Just thought I would share with you what can happen when you cut back on your energy use. Feel free to read my post about saving money on your eclectic bill for more ideas.

Awesome Huggies Coupons

Go to the coupons.com web page to print off a coupon for $5 off one Huggies Gentle Care diapers and $3 off one Huggies Natural Fit diapers. Hurry, these won't last long. You can go to my side bar on the left for a short cut to their site. Don't forget to hit the back button to print them each twice.

According to another source, the week of 3/8 there will be a Register rewards promotion at Walgreens: buy $25 in Huggies products and get $10 in Register Rewards back. The jumbo packs will be on sale for $10 each. With three of these coupons you can get three jumbo packs for $5 after coupons and register rewards!!

Weekly Wrap Up

It is time again for the weekly wrap up. This week was crazy for us. My brain isn't quite functioning but here is a list of the frugal things I did this week, at least what I can think of.

*Did the usual washing all clothes in cold water and full loads, with the exception of towels and socks.
* Kept the heating cycle off on the dishwasher.
*Kept heat at 67 during the day and even turned it off 1 day this week.
*Had 2 days where I stayed home.
*I bought cloth napkins at Target for .31 each! This is a great price and now I am officially done with paper napkins. I really like them!
*I resisted the urge to buy lots of "extras" while shopping this week. I pretty much stuck to my list, and picked up what I thought were good deals.
*Hubby filled out rebates and sent them in for our computer totaling $55.
*Sent in WG rebate for free shampoo.
*As always, I signed up for lots of freebies.
*And the best thing. I transferred almost all our tax return over to savings.

How did you do? Stop over at Getting Ahead to see what others have done to be frugal this week.

Diaper Deal

So, I have never bought diapers online. In fact I have never really considered it. But today while I was reading some of my favorite blogs I came across this deal that The Orys family posted over at Our Frugal Journey.

Diapers.com is offering a pretty good deal on diapers. What both she and I used for comparison were Wal-Marts Parent's Choice diapers in the large box. For Size 5 diapers which is what my guy is in, it is around .17 cents per diaper for this brand. I also used Target brand diapers for comparison, they run about .16 each. At Diapers.com you can get Luvs diapers for about .13 per diaper with this deal for a size 5. According to The Ory's you should be able to get size 4 for about .10 per diaper. Here is how it works.

1. From the Diapers.com website, select your choice of diapers, training pants, cloth diapers, or other baby supplies. If you order $49 or more, shipping is free, otherwise it is around $5 to start.

This is what I bought.

1-Luvs large box 150 Sz 5 diapers for $35.99
2- Luvs jumbo packs 30 SZ 5 diapers for $7.99 ea

2) To receive $10 off for new customers, under referral/promotion code enter: TANG4942

4) After checking out, print out the receipt. Right now you can get a 1 year subscription to Parenting for free through Diapers.com($14.97 value.) BUT, if you don't want the subscription you can opt out and receive a rebate of $14.97. You just have to print out this form here. Rebate requests must be postmarked within 4 weeks of purchase to be processed. Your rebate will be sent within 6-8 weeks of Parenting's receipt of your request.

4) Diapers should arrive in a few days at your doorstep. Attach proof of payment from order and rebate form and mail within 4 weeks of purchase.

So it ends up looking like this for me.

Total was $51.97
- $10.00 new customer code (TANG4942)
-$14.97 rebate
=$27.00 for 210 diapers, which comes out to .13 each!

If Luvs aren't your brand of choice, look around the site. I saw a lot of things that were on sale. I am not sure if they were deals or not, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

It was also suggested that you can first log in to your Ebates, Cashbac, or Upromise account and select Diapers.com for 1% back. I don't have any of these, but if you do it just adds to the savings.

Thanks again to The Ory's!

Some Resturant Freebies

You can go HERE to sign up for Chili's email club and receive a coupon for free chips and queso.





Sign up HERE for the Texas Roadhouse email newsletter
and receive a coupon for a
free appetizer.






Sign up for the Wendy's email list HERE and you'll receive
a $1 off coupon in your inbox within the next week.
This coupon can be used on anything on their menu, including the dollar menu.

Mom's Best Naturals Printable Coupons

You can get 2 coupons HERE for Mom's Best by filling out a short survey. The coupons are:

- $1/1 Any Box of Mom's Best Naturals Cereal

- $1/1 Any Box of Mom's Best Naturals Oatmeal

You should be able to hit your back button and print each of these coupons twice. This makes the cereal pretty cheap at Hy-Vee I believe. I am not sure what the price of the oatmeal is. A while back Walgreens carried the oatmeal. This coupon would make it a pretty good deal.

Pampers Gifts to Grow

Have you heard of this program?

The Pampers Gifts to Grow Rewards Program rewards you every time you choose Pampers diapers, training pants and wipes.

All you have to do is become a member of Pampers.com Then you can start collecting points. The codes for the points are found inside each package. Once you find it, enter the code online at Pampers.com to accumulate points. Then redeem your points to choose items from the Gifts to Grow rewards catalog.

You can go HERE to sign up with Pampers.

Now, I don't always buy Pampers myself. I will if I find them at a really good deal. Along with the codes off the packages I bought, I have found some codes online that have also worked. I am not guaranteeing these will work still but I recommend you enter them in and try. Here are the codes.

HAPPYHOLIDAY089 (3 pts.)

WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)

OHAMANDAAWGTG08 (1 pt.)

DONTFORGETGTG08 (1 pt.)

WELCOMEBONUS089 (1 pt.)

THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (1 pt.)

You can also go HERE to fill out a short survey and get a coupon for $1.50 off Pampers.

Works for Me Wednesday Craft Cabinet

This is a picture of a cabinet I have in my dining room. The dining room is where I do all my crafts and activiteis with my kiddos. This cabinet holds all my craft papers, supplies, play-dough, books,puzzles, etc. I have all my stuff in one location now instead of all over the house. It makes it so much easier to do projects when I don't have to run all over to find supplies.To see what works for others visit We are That Family.

Hy-Vee and Fareway Deals

It was suggested to me that maybe it would be helpful to post some deals that Hy-Vee and Fareway are offering each week. You can find a million wonderful blogs out there with Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and other stores but none for Hy-Vee or Fareway. Unfortunately we don't have a Kroger or CVS around here. But Hy-Vee and Fareway are pretty popular and I am sure there are others out there who shop there too!

Now, while I will be no expert on any of this I figured I would try it at least for a little while to see how it goes. I shop alot at Fareway. To be honest, I really don't do alot of shopping at Hy-Vee. I think they are quite a bit higher than most of the other places I tend to shop at. But, every once in a while they run some great sales. Like 2 weeks ago when I stocked up on shredded cheese at $1.25 a bag. Or last week when they had yogurt 3 for $1.00. These are the type of deals I will be sharing.

I tend to get the ads for both stores early in the week, so my goal will be to get the deals that I think are good up by Wednesday night. I would also like to ask for your help. If any of you see a deal that I haven't posted just shoot me an email and I will get it up ASAP. Sometimes I miss things that are great deals just because I don't pay attention and it doesn't interest me. I will try and post them all, not just ones that I will be taking advantage of.

I will give it a trial run and see how it goes. If I am really bad at keeping up on it then I will stop. Hopefully I will do ok. I just want to be able to help others out as well. We'll give it a try and see what happens.

Also, I wanted to know if anyone wanted me to put links up of blogs that list the deals going on at Target and Walgreens. I know there is a lot of them out there. I don't want to list the deals here on this blog but I would be happy to link you to a blog that has them. Let me know if this would be helpful.

Here goes...

Hy-Vee Deals week of 2/24-3/2

Here is a list of current deals that I see at Hy-Vee. I use central Iowas ad when making this list. My store takes both printable coupons and manufacturer coupons from the paper. Please check your local ad to confirm these deals in your area.

Hy-Vee Cottage Cheese 24oz .99

Oscar Mayer or Louis Rich Meat Bologna or Hot Dogs .99

Jumbo Disney Oranges .59 lb (I thought this was good. Fareway has 4lb bags for $1.99 this week which is better.)

Washington Premium Braeburn Apples .59 lb (this is a great deal)

Dole Salad or Coleslaw Mix .96

Hy-Vee 100% Natural Chicken .69 lb

Kraft Cheese (most varieties) 2 for $4

Duncan Hines Cake Mix .88

Hy-Vee Sandwhich Bread $1.08 (good deal, unless you already stocked up on the .88 Fareway bread a week ago)

Valley Fresh Steamers .88 use the .50 off any one Steamers coupon (expires 2/28) makes it .38

Totinos Pizza Rolls 7 oz on sale $1.00. Use .35 coupon making them .65

Jack's Frozen Pizza 4 for $10 or $2.50 each (good deal, I try and stock up when they are 5 for $10, Fareway usually runs this deal every 6 weeks or so)

Dole Head Lettuce .69 with in ad coupon

See a deal I missed? Please email me or leave a comment.

Fareway Deals Week of 2/24-3/2

Here is a list of current deals that I see at Fareway. I use central Iowas ad when making this list. My store does not take printable coupons but will take manufacturer coupons from the paper. Please check your local ad to confirm these deals in your area.

Fastco Chips 8 oz bag .69

4 lb bag of Sunkist oranges $1.99

Sunkist 12pk. soda 3 for $9, buy 3 and get a free 4 lb bag of Sunkist oranges

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast $1.99 lb

Baby Carrots .98

15lb Russet Potatoes $4.99 normally $5.99

Kellogg's Fruit Snacks 3 for $5.00. Use $1.00 off 2 coupon(not sure what insert it was) and it makes them 3 for $4.00 or $1.25 each.

They also had their Braeburn apples marked down to .59/lb to match Hy-Vee.

I wasn't too impressed with the deals this week. If I missed something feel free to ad a comment or send me an email.

Scheduling Time

So, if you read my previous post from a few days ago I was having some issues with organizing my days and pinning down my priorities. I have been extremely forgetful and I am really great at trying to cram everything into one day. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, helping with homework, errands, etc. So, after thinking it over for a couple days I have come up with a schedule of when I am going to try and get things accomplished. It is going to go a little like this.

Monday..Cleaning Day. Try and hit the YMCA. Oldest has jazz band and #2 oldest has piano in the evenings.

Tuesday..School time. Possibly work at my mothers for 2 hours in the afternoon. Shopping for groceries and misc. after kids go to bed.

Wednesday..Try and hit the YMCA. Run errands. Family night.

Thursday..School time. Possibly work at my mothers for 2 hours in the afternoon. Optional story time at the library at 7pm.

Friday..Try and hit the YMCA.

Saturday..Cleaning day. Family to the YMCA.

Sunday..Relax

Everyday I will need a little time for tidy ups, dishes and laundry. I think I couldn't go one day without doing these things! My plan is to do them right when the kids go down for their naps. Once that is done then I can sit and blog, clip coupons, nap, whatever. I am also going to try and just plan out activities 2-3 times a week for the boys. My youngest most especially is at a really difficult stage right now to try and get anything done. Especially if it involves sitting. My 3 year old loves all crafting so maybe I will just plan some time with him every other day or so.

My computer time always falls early in the morning before kids wake up, at naps in the afternoon or at night after all are asleep. I have decided that at least one night a week hubby and I have to have some sort of time together that is not just sitting at our computers. We both like movies so this could be an option or maybe we will just battle over Scrabble, we both like that game! We don't get baby sitters often so I think we really have to work at spending some time together doing something.

Now, this is all very rough. I would like to say that I will stick with this schedule as long as there are no bumps in the road. But I have to be flexible in this family! Hopefully this will take some of the stress off of trying to get everything done each day.

What does your schedule look like? Do you have your days reserved for certain activities?

Free Country Bob's Sauce

Sign up here to get a coupon for a free bottle of Country Bob's Sauce mailed to you.

Freebies in My Mailbox

Corrie over at "Cents"able Momma puts up a post each week called Mailbox Monday. She posts what she got free in her mailbox that week. It's pretty fun. Here is what I got last week.

*Playtex sample 3 pack
*Hugo cologne sample
*Home Made Simple coupon book
*Gold Canyon tea light sample and $10 coupon
*Jiffy mix recipe book
*Not pictured is my Eat Better America coupon book!

There is still time to order these free coupon books~

$10 in Betty Crocker coupons here.
Dinner Made Easy coupon book here.
$10 coupon book from Eat Better America here. There is great recipes in this book too!

Did you get anything fun in your mailbox? Go to "Cents"able momma to see what others got.

Free Redbox Code for Today

Here is today's free Redbox code. It is valid at any Redbox location through midnight tonight.

S39XKT

To use the code, do the following: on the first screen select "Rent With Promo, enter the code, choose your movie and swipe your debit or credit card (this is in case you don't bring the movie back. They will put a $1 charge on your card to hold the movie, but if you return the movie by 9 pm the next day, the charge will be removed).


You can use 1 code for each debit/credit card that you have, so to rent multiple movies, just do the above process with each card. It is really easy. If you want to find a Redbox near you, you can go here.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is what is on our menu for this week. This will be a very busy week for us, so hopefully we can stay on schedule.

*Monday..Roast, potatoes, and carrots. Jello.
*Tuesday...Taco pie (one of my favorites, see recipe below)
*Wednesday...Porkchops, broccoli and fruit.
*Thursday...Chicken breast over salad, fruit.
*Friday...Steak, baked potatoes, homemade rolls, fruit.
*Saturday...depending on plans, leftovers.

To see what others are having check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Taco Pie

*Ingredients
ground beef 1-2lb depending on your likes. I use 2lb.
taco seasoning
Pillsbury or generic crescent rolls
sour cream 8oz
shredded cheddar cheese 1 package or 2 cups

*Toppings (optional)
lettuce
tomato
onion
green pepper
corn chips or Doritos
salsa

Unroll crescent rolls onto bottom of a greased 13x9 pan. Prepare ground beef, mix in taco seasoning. Pour meet over crescent rolls. Empty contents of sour cream over meat mixture. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake in oven 350 for 15-20 minutes or until crust is browned. If you use a glass pan just pull it out and look underneath the pan.

Let cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with crushed chips. Cut into serving pieces. You can have everyone individually add their own toppings.

Free Kashi Frozen Meal

You can go here to sign up for a coupon for a free Kashi frozen meal. Valid until March 15, 2009 or while supplies last.

Target Shopping Deal

I went to Target last night. I got some great deals. Here is what I got.

Cascade rinse $3.14-coupon for free bottle=free
2 pairs of dress pants for hubby to wear to work. Normally $19.99 on clearance for $9.98=$19.96
5 Kashi cereal bars@$3.29 x 5=$16.45-5 $2MC and 5 $1 Target coupons=.29 each or $1.45 for 5
10 Valentine tissue paper 90% clearance reg. $.99 clearanced at .09 x 10=$.90
And my favorite deal of the night.
Valentine napkins at the dollar spot. Marked $2.50, all red dot merchandise was 75% off so I got 14 sets of 2 napkins for .62 each. 14 x .62=$8.68 That makes each napkin .31!

Total=$86.05
OOP=$31.59 plus I had a gift card with $7.93 so I only had to pay $23.66


I was so excited. I am in the process of making some napkins, but I have been trying to find some at a really great deal and I finally did. I decided it really didn't matter what they look like. We are just using them to wipe our dirty face and hands! I know my sister is looking for some also so that is why I got so many! Hey Julie, do you want some of these? :)

There was a lot of cloth napkins in the houseware section at 75% off. I found some neat gray ones and there was 2 of them in a package. They were marked at $1.48. That is a great deal too but the Valentines ones were an even better deal.

Birthday Cupcakes

Here are the birthday cupcakes I made Tony. Pokeballs :)
Happy Birthday Tone!

Swagbucks

Have you heard about Swagbucks? Swagbucks is a search engine, just like Google. In fact, it is powered by Google and Ask. Everytime you need to do a search on the web, you do it through Swagbucks instead of Google or whatever program you currently use.

Each time you search you have the chance to get swag bucks that can be redeemed for gift cards, prizes, etc. For example 45 Swagbucks can get you a $5 Amazon giftcard. There are many items to choose from. You can also earn Swagbucks through shopping on their site.

Seriously this is an easy way to earn a little something extra without paying anything! If you need to search for something anyway you might as well get something extra out of it!

Go here to sign up. I think you will like it!

Not Feeling Like Supermom

I am feeling a little stressed! Can you believe it? Having 4 kids, all boys none the less, one a teenager, one wanting to be a teenager, a preschooler who wants to do everything himself and a toddler who never stops moving and is great at throwing tantrums Do you blame me for being a little overwhelmed? While I love them all to death, there are some days that are so challenging. I feel like I have had more and more of them lately.

What started this whole debate with me tonight was that I missed giving my youngest his nightly medicine. While it isn't horrible that I forgot, the fact is I have forgotten it at least 3 times this week. Our evenings are so chaotic, and I never seem to have enough time to get everything I need to get done.

I think what I need to do is sit down and really prioritize my day. I think that getting on a better schedule would really make a difference. I feel like some days, we are all over the place. We clean a little, bake a little, go downstairs and throw a load of laundry in, do a little school time, clean a little more, oops someone forgot to take their vitamin, run some errands. It seems like nothing is ever consistent. I don't think I need to have a minute by minute routine but I think I need to get my days a little more organized.

I seem to have endless to-do lists, laundry, cleaning, and planning and almost each night I go to bed and I sit back and think "what did I miss today?" There are days when I feel like I completely fail as a parent, a housekeeper, or a spouse. It is hard to juggle so many things at once. How do you make sure each child gets the attention they deserve?

I think the most important thing I need to do is sit back and see what my priorities are and fulfill them first. Then everything else needs to fill in somewhere. I think getting on some sort of schedule for each day will help me. Scheduling certain things for specific days instead of trying to do it all in one day. And the things that HAVE to be done each day take priority. I am really bad at that.

Do you schedule out your days? How do you keep from getting so overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of being a wife and mother?

Weekly Wrap Up

It is time again for the Weekly Wrap Up. Here is what I did this week to be frugal.

*Kept heat at 67 all week. 65 at night.
*I have my cloth napkins pinned and have started working on sewing them.
*Rented movies from Redbox and the library~Free!
*Ate dinner at home each night.
*I got lots of freebies in the mail.
*I made my oldest sons birthday cake instead of buying one.
*Bought 4 shirts at Wal-Mart last night, all on clearance for $1 each!
*Tonight we are having frozen pizzas for oldest sons birthday party instead of ordering out. Saving about $50!

How did you do this week? To learn what others did visit Getting Ahead. Or you can also visit Cents To Be Debt-Free.

Homemade Birthday Cake

Ok, sorry if you have read my other blog and this is a duplicate, but I had to post a picture of the cake I made for my son for his birthday party tomorrow. He is 13 and LOVES his MP3 player!

Free Sample of Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner

You can go here to fill out a short survey and receive a free sample of Pantene shampoo and conditioner.

Eat Better America $10 Coupon book

Get another $10 in coupons for signing up for the Eat Better America
newsletter.  I just got my coupon book today.  It has some yummy
recipes and some pretty good coupons, including $1 off Multigrain
Cheerios and $1 off Yoplait Fiber One yogurt.
You can go here to register.

Sorry!  Next time I will combine all these into one post!

General Mills Dinner Made Easy Coupon Booklet

Here is another one. If you haven't done this, sign up for the General Mills Dinner Made Easy email newsletter and receive $10 in coupons. You can go here to sign up.

Betty Crocker Coupon Booklet

If you haven't done so already, sign up for the Betty Crocker email newsletter and receive $10 in coupons. You can go here to sign up.

Pampers Coupon

Go here to sign up for a $1.50 Pampers coupon.
Only one per household.

Sundays Coupon Preview 2/22

You can check out Coupon Clippers to see this Sundays coupons. There will be 2 inserts, Smartsource (SS) and Redplum(RP). Just click on the 22nd on the calendar and it will give you the list of individual coupons.

Thanks to "Cents"able momma.

How to Save Money on Birthday Parties

I have 4 sons, 2 of them have birthdays this month. I have put together a few things that I do to help save a little money while still making their birthday memorable.

1. Don't buy a cake, make it. It is more meaningful this way. We bake all our cakes. My hubby even bakes me a cake when it is my birthday. I always try to take into consideration their likes at the present time. Not only is it memorable, it saves lots of money. To buy a cake at the store already decorated can cost you between $15-$20. I can make a homemade cake for approximately $3.00. Cheaper than that if I can buy the cake mix and frosting on sale which I typically always do.

2. Make your invitations, thank you, and birthday cards. Try and hand deliver as many as possible to avoid paying postage.

3. You can have a nice meal for your guests without breaking your budget. Since my son is 13 and having lots of friends over, we are doing frozen pizzas for dinner. Ordering pizza in would cost about $60.00, eating frozen pizzas roughly $10.00. You could also save money by making your own pizzas. If your party if for adults or a family member you could have a potluck. You could make the main dish and have friends and family bring the sides. Or if serving a meal is not in the budge have your party in the afternoon and just serve dessert.

4. Keep decorations minimal. I have a bag of party decorations. In that bag is 4 different colors of streamers, 3 foiled birthday signs, and a bag of balloons. I have used this same bag of decorations for the last 3 years. We usually print some birthday signs on the computer to add a personal touch.

5. Supply your own music and entertainment. For my sons party, they are just watching movies that we already own and playing video games. Some of the games are ours, others his friends are bringing over. For adults, play board games or cards or just enjoy some adult conversation!

Free Sample of Total Cranberry Crunch Cereal

Go here to get your free sample.

Organizing Coupons

While there are many ways to organize your coupons I decided to let you know what works best for me. When I first started using coupons I used a small accordion file. In the beginning this worked well. Once I got more involved in couponing, I soon found the accordion file hard to manage. While it was convenient, and it fit in my purse easily, it was time consuming flipping through to find a coupon quickly.

My sister introduced me to the binder method (or nerd book we like to call it). I soon upgraded my small accordion file to a 3 ring binder. I bought the binder on clearance at Target and I got my oldest son to donate some of his football card holders. I then began to work on the categories I wanted. I used stick tabs on each page to categorize the coupons for quick reference. After a few changes along the way, here are the tabs I have right now listed in alphabetical order.

*Baby Misc
*Baking Items
*Beverage
*Canned Goods and Condiments
*Cereal
*Cleaning Supplies
*Dairy
*Deodorant
*Diapers
*Feminine Hygiene
*Frozen
*Gum and Candy
*Laundry
*Meat and Produce
*Oral Care
*Paper and Plastic
*Pasta and Rice
*Personal Care
*Pet Needs
*Soaps, Shampoos and Body Wash
*Snacks
*Misc Items

Having the binder has made it incredible easy to search for coupons quickly. It is bulky though so sometimes that can get in the way unless you have a purse big enough to carry it. And yes, sometimes you get strange looks. For the most part though it has been a good experience.

My most memorable moments have been the countless number of times I have entered Wal-Mart and the front door person chases me down to put a sticker on my return. Then I have to explain to them, "no, this isn't a return this is my coupon binder". This has happened more than once! Also another time at Wal-Mart I had this guy watching me in the cleaning isle thumb through pages in my binder. He came up to me and said "Wow, is that coupons? That is really a great idea". He stood and chit chatted with me for a couple minutes about how more people should use coupons. It was hilarious.

The hardest part of organizing my coupons is trying to find time each week to sit down and actually clip and file the coupons. But for the hour or so that it takes, it is well worth it to be organized.

Mailbox Monday

Ok I know it is Tuesday. I am a little late!
Here is what I got in the mail last week.

*Free issue of Parents magazine.
*$9 Bayer rebate check.
*Coupon for free Dr. Pepper
*Home Made Simple coupon booklet. Has $27 in coupons plus a coupon for free bottle of Cascade Crystal Clear rinse agent.

Did you get anything good in your mailbox?
Head over to "Cents"able Momma to see what others got.

Tips to Lower your Water Bill

*Use your dishwasher. When filled properly it uses less water then hand washing.
*Don't pre-wash your dishes.
*Only run the dishwasher when it is full.
*Install faucet aerators. This screws onto the bottom of your faucet to reduce water flow.
*Keep drinking water in the fridge then it is already cold and you don't have to wait to let the water get cold.
*Use a low-flow shower head.
*Take showers instead of baths.
*Shorten your shower time.
*Turn off water while brushing your teeth.
*Check sinks and toilets for leaks.
*Wear your clothes more than once.
*Wash only full loads of laundry.
*Collect rain water for plants.
*If you have a wading pool for your kids, instead of dumping the water when it gets yucky use this water for your garden and flowers.

Feel free to share any other suggestions.

Target Coupons

Target just put up new coupons this past Sunday. It looks to me like there is some pretty good ones. You can go here to check them out.

The one I will take advantage of the most is the $1 off broccoli, cauliflower or Green Giant Romain lettuce. This will make for some cheap veggies. I plan to stock up on broccoli, cook it up and freeze it for later use. Remember too, you can combine manufacturer coupons with the Target coupon to make it even cheaper. There is a $2.00 Kashi coupon out there that you can combine with the $1 Target coupon making them free or nearly free. If you like Chex mix there is a $1 printable coupon here for Firefox users and here for Internet Explorer users. Press your back button and you should be able to print it twice. There is also a manufacturer coupon out there as well, making these a good deal.

Free Sample of Huggies Baby Wipes

Get a free sample of Huggies baby wipes here.

Free Redbox Code

Here is today's free Redbox code. It is valid at any Redbox location through midnight tonight.

M7DM23

To use the code, do the following: on the first screen select "Rent With Promo, enter the code, choose your movie and swipe your debit or credit card (this is in case you don't bring the movie back. They will put a $1 charge on your card to hold the movie, but if you return the movie by 9 pm the next day, the charge will be removed).


You can use 1 code for each debit/credit card that you have, so to rent multiple movies, just do the above process with each card. It is really easy. If you want to find a Redbox near you, you can go here.

Free Sample of Playtex Gentle Glide

Go here to get your free sample of Playtex Gentle Glide tampons.

Menu Plan Monday

Here us what the general menu is for the week.

Monday* Spaghetti with garlic bread and salad
Tuesday* Steak, fried potatoes, broccoli (Jake's birthday dinner!)
Wednesday* Chicken breast over salad. The boys will eat the chicken plain, corn and fruit.
Thursday* Leftovers
Friday* Frozen pizza, chips (Jake's slumber party)
Saturday* Depends on our plans

Tips to Lower Your Electric Bill

*Keep your refrigerator and freezer full. Food acts as insulation and keeps it cooler longer.
*Install ceiling fans.
*Hang your laundry to dry.
*Shield your house from the sun in the summer by closing curtains and blinds.
*Use natural warming in the winter. On sunny days open the curtains and let the sun warm your home.
*Switch your light bulbs to CFL bulbs..
*Turn off the heat cycle on your dishwasher.
*Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.
*Use your appliances during off peak hours.
*Wash laundry in cold water.
*Only wash full loads of dishes and laundry.
*Install low flow shower heads.
*Get a programmable thermostat.
*Turn your furnace down a few degrees at night and use extra blankets.
*Clean your dryer lint trap.
*Clean your refrigerator coils. Dirty coils will make it work harder.
*Allow your food to cool before putting it into the fridge. Hot food will increase the interior temperature of the fridge.

Have any other suggestions? Please share.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just thought I would share with you what we did
on our Valentine's Eve!
Enjoy your day.

No inserts this weekend.

If you need some time to catch up on clipping and filing your coupons (I know I do) then this is the weekend to get caught up. There won't be any inserts in the Sunday paper.

All pinned up and ready to go!

I worked on my cloth napkins tonight. I had the fabric all cut. What I did tonight was iron and pin all four sides of each napkin. I have 7 of them here. I am hoping to maybe get 1 or 2 done this weekend. Now my hubby and children will stop tripping over the ironing board that has been in the kitchen all week!

Weekly Wrap Up

I am participating in the weekly wrap up over at Getting Ahead. This is where I post the things that I have done this week to be frugal.

I am almost embarrassed to participate because I feel like I really didn't do much to be frugal this week. . If fact quite a bit of money went out this week for different odds and ends. While some of them were needs, most of them were wants. Here are the few things I did do.

*Hubby took lunch to work everyday.
*Kept the heat at 66/67 each day. I even turned it off one day this week.
*Washed all the clothes in cold water.
*Finished my second cloth napkin.
*Had a prescription transferred over to Walgreens and recieved a free $25 gift card.
*Bought lots of generic foods this week while grocery shopping, saving quite a bit. (I stocked up on shredded cheese. I found 8 ounce bags on sale for $1.25 each!)
*Made homemade Valentines for my hubby and children instead of buying them.

Hopefully next week will be better. I am anticipating it to be a little less frugal as well since I have my two oldest sons birthdays next week. We will see how I do. How did you do this week?

Kids Birthday Clubs

Make your child's birthday special without spending any money! Here are some popular kids birthday clubs.

~Target. Go here to sign your child up for a birthday mailer and you will also get a coupon for $5 off $50 purchase.

~Cold Stone Creamery. Sign up here for a coupon for a free ice cream creation on your child's birthday. You can sign yourself up too, there is no age limit.

~Marble Slab Creamery. Go here for a coupon good for a child's size cone with mixin. Ages 12 and younger.

~Toys R Us. Sign your child up here for Geoffrey's Birthday Club and he'll receive a birthday card and surprise gift each year. Plus, he'll also receive an invitation to come into the store for a special birthday experience.

~Baskin Robbins. Sign your child up here for the Baskin-Robbins Birthday Club, and he'll receive a coupon for a free 2.5 oz. scoop of ice cream on his birthday. Then, sign yourself up too – there's no age limit on this offer!

~Children's Place. Sign your child up here for the Children's Place Birthday Club and you and your child will both receive a surprise on your birthdays. You may submit up to five children per household.

~Sonic. Sign up here to join the Sonic Birthday Club, and your child will receive a free Wacky Pack on his birthday.

Martha Stewart Magazine Subscription~Free

You can order a free subscription to Martha Stewarts Living magazine. The offer won't last very long. Go here to sign up.

Homemade Bread

I did some experimenting with a couple different bread recipes. I found this one very easy and yummy.

Ingredients~
3 3/4 cup of flour
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 packet (1/4 oz) of dry yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation~
Dissolve yeast in the warm water.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of flour, salt, oil, and yeast with warm water, and mix until thoroughly blended. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour to the yeast mixture and mix with hands to form an adhesive dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and does not stick to hands.

Make the Loaves~
Shape into 2 loaves. Place onto a nonstick cookie sheet and place on the middle rack in a cold oven for 15 minutes.

Turn oven on to 425 degrees and bake in the middle rack for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on rack

Yield~
Approximately two 1 pound loaves.

Postage Stamp Increase

The post office will get an extra 2 cents when you mail a letter starting May 11, 2009. The price of the first-class stamp will go up to $.44.

I would stock up on the Forever Stamps. They will continue to sell at the current 42-cent rate until the increase occurs. They will remain valid in the future regardless of rate hikes.

Thanks to Weighing in on Life

Saving Your Change

Before my husband and I got married I started a change jar. He and I would put all our loose change in there each night. I can't remember just how long we saved it but 2 weeks before we got married I cashed it in and it was almost $450. We used that money to help pay for our honeymoon.

So starting tomorrow I am going to be saving all of my change. I already have a tupperware container that I have been stashing some in. I am not sure what the end goal will be. We have a vacation coming up in July maybe I will cash it in and use it for fun money. Maybe hubby and I will use it for a night out on the town (we are in desperate need of this!) Or another idea I have is to split the savings up between the 4 boys bank accounts.

Whatever we decide I am excited to start doing this again and watching the jar fill up. Does anyone else do this? If so, what are you going to do with it once you cash it in?

Tide Total Care Sample

Go here to request your free sample of Tide Total Care. There is also some printable coupons.

Saving Money on Prescriptions

We spend alot of money on prescriptions each month. Even with insurance, with 3 out of the 6 of us on daily medication it gets pretty expensive. Along the way, I have found a few small ways to save a little money.

First and foremost ask for samples. If they don't have any this month check back next month. Drug reps are always leaving samples. If you feel comfortable you can ask if the nurse can call you if they get your medication in.

Check for rebates. I have had 2 medications that have had rebates on them. One came with the samples I received from the doctor. The other, the doctor actually gave to me. I know when I worked at a clinic in the past some medicines came with rebate cards and the doctor didn't hand them out. So, it never hurts to ask.

Check to see if your medicine comes in generic. This can save you alot of money too. The medication is the same you just get it much cheaper.

Check to see if your medication falls under the $4 generic plan that is offered at different pharmacies. I have 2 medicines that come in generic form. From Walgreens it is priced at the lowest tier and cost me $10.00. At Target it qualifies on the $4 generic plan. So I had it transferred. Even though my insurance doesn't cover Target, under the $4 generic plan they don't run it through your insurance. To see if your medication qualifies check here. I am pretty sure K-Mart and Wal-Mart offer this too.

Watch for coupons for new or transferred prescription. Walgreens just came out with a new coupon for a $25 Walgreens gift card with a new or transferred Prescription. I actually just took advantage of this last night. I had my prescription at Target, I took the bottle into Walgreens told them I wanted it transferred and they took care of the rest. So, I spent $10 for my prescription and got a $25 gift card in return. Target will periodically put out $10 coupons for new or transferred scripts as well. When that comes out I will transfer it back to Target and get another gift card. I have seen them for K-Mart as well.

Prescriptions can cost an arm and a leg. For my family we spend approximately $230 every month. So any little way to save a buck or two is helpful.

Stockpiling

For those of you interested, here is a picture of my stockpile and the inventory sheets that I have taped to the freezer. The sheets are in need of reprinting. Sorry if they are too hard to read. I love being able to go "shop" in my basement for items!

New Coupons

Coupons.com has new coupons posted. You can click on the side bar to your left to sign up. Here are a few that are on there.

$1.00 off 2 boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
$1.00 off and one Scott toilet paper (4 pack or larger)
$.60 off 2 Pillsbury Italian Bread
$.75 of Dannon 6 pack of yogurt

$.75 on one Curves granola bars

2 Free Issues of Family Circle Magazine

Go here to get 2 FREE issues of Family Circle magazine.

Making Lists

Are you a list maker? I think my life revolves around making lists. I have found that since the birth of my 4th son my brain has not functioned as well. I have lists for everything. I have to-do lists, chore lists, grocery lists, hubbys to-do lists, lists of items to take on vacation, lists of food both upstairs and down, lists of what needs to be cleaned in each room of the house, I could go on and on. If it weren't for lists I am afraid nothing would ever get done. Just for fun here is my to-do list, which by the way is always getting added to. I am sure you have the same problem. Here is whats on there as of today...

*Figure out budget for tax refund
*Clean out the fridge (this one has been there a while)
*Clean fan in my youngest child's room
*Organize and clip coupons
*Figure out boys birthday parties
*Figure out gift for oldest child (about to turn 13)
*Lesson plan for the letter "L"
*Check on 2008 Wageworks account
*Make cloth napkins
*Organize desk
*Organize this weeks lesson plan for the letter "K" (I have the ideas, just need to cut out some things)

What's on your list? I'd love to know. If you don't have a blog, feel free to let me know in the comments. If you have a blog, link me to your post, but don't forget to link back here. Thanks for playing along.

Redbox

Here is some free entertainment for tonight. Redbox offers a free code every Monday. The free code for Monday, February 9th is...

25CH63