wow, it's been a month and a half.

Not so much has happened. I've been prowling the great bargains some of which I will snatch up today and I've been hanging out with the munchkins. We have so much to do to get ready for this winter. Right now the outside temp is hovering around 55ish and it's burr cold inside! Time to get the solar heaters and such up and working. I'm not looking forward to this cold winter by any stretch of the imagination. I messed up my back really bad and wound up in the hospital ER with it...While I hated to go, I could no longer go in that much pain and not be able to walk to the bathroom. I need to do some serious exercising when I start to feel better. I want to get the walk away the pounds dvd back out and start doing it daily with or without anyone next to me.

For now I'm going to lay down and rest....I have to go back into work because they are a bit short handed.

Toodles!

oops I did it again!!!!

Dear My Favorite Grocery Store,

I appreciate the wonderful opportunity you gave us today to use our coupons against your sales to save over 65 percent on our grocery bill…I humbly look forward to getting more food for less money at your location. Oh an please tell your rude manger that I will follow his rules and will still save a fortune!

Sincerest Thanks,
My Family!!!!

So still think I’m crazy????

This is what I got today:

7 – Cheerios (around 10 oz box)
4 – Trix (around 11 oz box)
7 – Coco Puffs (around 11 oz box)
9 – Hamburger Helpers variety
4 – 2 liters of Ginger Ale
1 – Ring Pop (okay so we didn’t really need this)
2 – lunch makers for the trip home in lieu of stopping
10 – Jars of mixed Kroger Peanut Butter
5 – Bag of tortilla Kroger Chips (we love chips and salsa)
6 – boxes of hefty freezer bags (10/10 is a good deal!!!)
4 – packages of Bic Pens 12 packs
4 – packages of Orbits Gum
2 – Pillsbury cresent rolls
2 – Grands Biscuits
2 – Garlic type bread rolls
2 – cinnamon rolls
4 – 2 liters of 7up
2 – sticks of lady’s speed stick!
150.37 total cost before sales, coupons and etc.
97.09 in savings
53.28 total out of pocket expense

in total we bought 77 items for roughly 69 cents each!!!!!

So what do you think now?????

I’m shocked, but challenged enough to do better!!!!
Now moving onto the CVS ad before I fold the laundry. Also need to fix the problem of where in the world to up all the cereal!!!! We already had about 20 boxes b/c IGA had their 3/3 a few weeks ago.

look at this deal....

After seeing Kathy Spencer on the news a couple of weeks ago, she got me thinking. We are a single income family of 4 who struggles and can totally take advantage of the savings and ideas here to help us keep our heads above water.

So I put it to the test….with my bonus from work (I am a fast food manager) we decided to stock up on some paper and some other office supplies at Staples:

on 8/4 we bought a new printer (since it was cheaper to buy new than to buy ink) This one had a fax, scanner and printer all in one for 69.98, this was a lot, but the ink is a lot cheaper and in the long run this will be a savings for our family. (also this one has 4 cartridges and the old one had two, that means that we will get back and extra $2. for the extra two cartridges when they need to be replaced!)
So in this weeks ad, they had the exact same printer in there for 10 dollar less. I called the store and asked them about thier policy, they said to bring back in my receipt and they'd refund the difference.

While we were there we took advantage of some of the other savings in the ad and a clearance item:

computer desk 16.50 (clearance from 69.98) – 1.38 for using my card = 15.12
2 lolly pops (kids were really good in the store) 1.98 – .16 = 1.82
2 calculators (one for shopping one for the house) 7.98 – .66 = 7.32
2 reams of paper (1.00 ea after mir) 9.98 – 7.98 rewards – .84 card = 1.16
2 supreme matt photopaper (1.00 ea w/q) 29.98 – 27.98 – .17 card = 1.83
5 filler papers .01 each = .05
2gb thumb drive (1.00 after mir) 9.99 – .84 – 8.99 = .16
post-it notes (I'm a huge fan!!! HUGE FAN!!!) – 5.29 (free after mir) – .44 -5.29 = .44 profit
ink pins 1.99 – .08 – .99 q from ad = .91
highlighters free after mir = 4.99 – .43 – 4.99 = .43 profit
so basically besides the big purchase of the desk, lolly pops and calculators the biggest total is the tax of 3.83.
They also had a wonderful coupon for $5.00 off if you spent $50 or more….sooo my grand total after I get my rewards back is: 26.33!!!!! And I got a new desk!!!!
Thanks to all of you, you have opened my eyes a bit more!
Frugal mom of 2…..Katy

Can you imagine how excited this makes me! I must admit though, it is hard to do when you don't have the liquid funds. I know that we are going to use the rewards

exciting day.....

So today we bought a new printer, it also has a fax ability as well. Why is this so exciting you ask??? Well now I can print off coupons online, then I can get the points for the coupons and then I can get free gift cards with the points. So now I'm gonna look up some coupons and work on getting some stuff for free. I can't wait to to post my savings.....I want to totally save a ton of money and support my family!

Gonna try something new...

For the next month we are going to catagorize what we spend and keep every receipt!

We'll have to start tomorrow since I'm sure that Duck didn't save his receipts. The purpose: To see what we are spending, what we are spending it on and what we are wasting!!!!

Anyhow, back to my exciting trip to Menards: We went in with the sole intentions of buying the green algea house remover for the north wall of our house. I didn't realize that it was a mail in rebate for the full purchase price! DARN IT. I would have rather have paid the $1.00 for it or something like that. Anyhow, that means that we had to buy 10 dollars worth of stuff. So this is what we bought:

1.00 Gummi worms: didn't need
6.00 Green envy house wash: purpose of going in there
3.97 Dishwasher magic: really need to get this done more often
2.99 potting soil: okay didn't really need but can't find the peat pots and want to start fall
garden
1.78 dry erase makers: so these are one pack for work and one for home....makes my life easier.
5.98 Cuddlies...okay so thinking that these would be cheaper than buying fleece and might be
nice I took the plunge and bought 2 at this price.
0.99 3 pair canvas gloves: will help protect my hands from poison ivy this fall.
1.00 jelly beans: another non-essential
1.69 chocolate cluster - another non-essential but Duck was a good boy in the store!
27.18 is the total with tax
15.00 off from prev mail in rebates
12.18 paying out of pocket
7.78 coming back in mail in rebates

today UM gave us another rebate that he doesn't intend on turning in so that will be another 6.00 coming back to us. I think that all in all, we should have not done all three candies...maybe one or two tops, the dry erase markers will make my life a bit easier, but weren't a necessary item. The dirt, well it is bug free so I can bring it inside. The cuddlies will have to prove their worth, but I think they are going to be a good investment even if they only make it as a blanket and not a robe type thing. So we could have done without 9.67 leaving a total of $2.51 due with $7.78 coming back in credit...Something to think about next time. On a happier note...we are going to buy a printer. This will allow me to print off coupons and take them to local stores to help with the grocery bill. We'll see how well this works I want to do better, get more and share more.

toodles!
me.

What's on your agenda...

Here's my agenda....
After the meeting tomorrow we will be starting upstairs.

1. go through my closet
2. go through Duck's closet
3. go through our dresser (since we share a large on this will take a bit of time)
4. move the folding table out, put the shelving unit in it's place and move the big desk dresser back into our room opposite of the shevling unit.
5. clean up the rest of the room.
6. clean up the hallway, go through the picture frame tote and sort, go through Smiley's future clothes tote, put the the LHM clothes with the rest.
7. finish going through the boys closet, put in the boys bed. Clean the rest of the room
8. go through books on the bookshelf again, purge, purge, purge!
9. remove the border in the livingroom.
10. Go through stuff in side table drawer
11. clean out the couch that eats everything.
12. Deck scrub the livingroom floor
13. Fix the entertainment center
14. scrub crayon off the front door
15. sweep front porch and pull weeds in flower bed
16. clean front porch walls and door including frame
17. clean out filing cabinet
18. put up backing on the kitchen pantry
19. clean off kitchen table, put side table drawer in the kitchen next to boys desks
20. clean out cabinets above fridge
21. clean out cabinets next to fridge
22. clean out cabinets above stove
23. clean out cabinets next to stove
24. clean out cabinets in corner cabinet
25. clean west wall counter tops.
26. clean east wall counter tops
27. clean microwave counter
28. clean out cabinets above sink
29. clean out cabinets above dish washer
30. clean off shelves on south wall.
31. organzie pantry shelving
32. clean out cabinet next to sink
33. clean out all drawers
34. clean off tops of cabinets
35. deck scrub diningroom and kitchen floors
36. move fridge
37. move deep freezer
38. finish laundry
39. move dressers into laundryroom (see the whole idea of this is simple. The clothes get washed, get dryed, get folded and get put away immeadiately. Therefore they don't sit around)
40. clean out the cabinets and clean off shelves.
41. clean out dresser already in there.
42. clean out the cabinet above toilet and sink.
43. clean the walls and ceiling
44. scrub tub, sink and toilet.
45. clean off back porch
46. clean basement walls and shelves.
47. knock down all cobwebs and spray for spiders
48. put up insulation boards and pipes.
49. insulate window sweep and scrub floor

when the money is deposited into our account we will buy

1. stringers for the stairs and put it up,
2. 2 sheets of drywall and possibly insulation
3. paint for the livingroom

the rest will go to bills.

That will cover the inside of the house. I want to scrub the north wall for the algea and clean out the small and large garage. I also want us to get the compost taken care of as well as around the fence.

Well I must go to bed for a few hours, I have to be at work at 9 pmish and work until like 2 or 3.

Tata/

a little work and a long way to go.

we are trying to see how much wood we have. We have cut most of it into pcs that are useable....but we still need to get a log splitter. I'm hoping to have about chords of wood set up. I would love to get my hands on some oak and well I can't remember the other one, but they last longer. they are the harder woods.

I'll have to post more later....I'm going to go to bed. I have to go in early to do some SOC info and then work 2 shifts.....then off for 3 whole day!!!!! JOY JOY JOY!!!

How many clothes do we actually need???

So I posed this questions to my wonderful husband....He's what he has asked for:

3 pr of work pants
4 pr of casual pants
3 meeting pants/jackets
5 work t shirts
5 work long sleeve shirts
3 work sweaters
5 casual shirts
5 casusl long sleeve shirts
5 casual sweaters
2 pr of pj's
10 pr socks
10 pr undies...

So now I need to work on this list for myself an both of the boys.

We have decided to fix the basement stairs, this will mean that once this is done, the deep freezer, washer and dryer will all go downstairs. This will leave plenty of room in the pantry for the dressers to be brought downstairs and put in there. We will also put up hanging lines in the pantry, this will be basically a family walk in closet. All the clothes will be in the same place, and no need to run up stairs to change or whatnot. It will also help the clothes get put away instead of dropped, rummaged through and tossed around by 2 children and then have to be rewashed...AGAIN! We will also be sealing the basement as well as possible and getting the furnace down there. We will be moving all the wood over to the house in October, his will help us put it down the hatch faster and easier.

Well I've got 3 trash bags full of clothes and toys ready for the yard sale. We are doing 2 stack, one for the yard sale and the other for LH. We'll see if we sell anything, if now...it'll all go to friends and FC or LH.

The more you make, the more they take....

wow, so I got my raise and it didn't affect my check, after Uncle Sam got his fingers in it, it was gone. So much for more money coming in. I think that I may change my dependents and remove the extra coming out. Hopefully that will make a difference. Looks like this check is going to go to bills and car gas. Energy usage was 2391 today, we have to change something. I'm thinking we need to shut off and remove the second fridge, we also need to make sure we are shutting off the water heater and I'm thinking we need to purchase one of those solar adjusters for the front porch light with the ability to still shut it off inside. Multiple AC units are going to have to stop also and we didn't really do any laundry yesterday so that isn't a factor. hum...where is the energy sucker at...I'm gonna hurt him!!!!

We are getting a good deal of firewood coming in, unfortunately we don't have a working chainsaw nor a log splitter. We bought one the other day and it turns out that it doesn't cut, hum....a chainsaw that doesn't cut, that's an oxymoron. So Duck is taking it back and we are going to try to get a different one. I'm really not happy with the current outcome and I think that it is very important for the store to give us a full refund, especially since it is less than a week out of the box.

I will be planting a fall crop of broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cabbage and beans. Yesterday we pulled a bunch of the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage bases. I want to start building the coldframe and tomatoe cages. I'm wondering if we have enough fencing extra from tearing down the large unused portion of the dog pen. This would be incredibly important in the bean box. I'm going to start rough drafting 14 8x8 boxes and see if I need them all. Assuming that things are still going on track, we will be able to get more production out of our garden next year. That's the goal isn't it, to get better each year.

Okay, I need to go, we start school this year today, we will not have to take off for all the vacations or pegan holidays that the school celebrate therefore we can get out time in at a pace that works for Sunshine and get him moving forward. I've looked at Calvert Homeschool, but I also found a cir. from a school on the east coast, now I just have to find the link in the hundreds of my fav links.

Daily reading

daily reading: 13286

Goal is to have energy usage down to 1600 this week...we have been very bad, but we've been running off the solar and wind mill the past two days for cooling so hopefully that helps.

Okay....so

I have the highest respects for those who lived in "old days" who shelled enough beans to last their families until the next harvest. I think I would need 2 more SETS of hands and a lot more land. We just spent an hour shelling kidney and black beans only to get less than one quart canning jar full. Humm....So i'm going to plant a lot more, let's see what I can get out of it. I always (usually) have a 2 gallon bucket full of mixed beans ready for bean soup, while I don't cook the whole amount it makes a nice mixed bean soup and I throw a handful in when I make beef veggie soup.

I also took JM and AM some yummies, a didn't know what SC would want, but she told me! So tomorrow I have to remember to take some to her. I'm gonna get up in a few, I'm resting my back and work on laundry, the kitchen and picking up the shredded paper mess the boys made. Trust me they are going to help or it will be a long night sitting in the diningroom. I'm going to have them take it out to the compost pile since we have put a bunch of frut rines out there recently and want to even it out with carbons or is it nitrogens..hum gonna have to look that one up. I also got a bag idea that I want to try, I will have to make it to Walmart southside for some inserts.

Okay, I need to scoot, I need to find room in the fridge for the tomatoes and beans.

toodles...

gardening fun.....

by the way, there are new pics posted on facebook...







Well apparently I can't copy my FB post, so you'll have to go there to read it....

So here's the peppers that I picked yesterday, I was hoping the green ones would turn red, I think I'm gonna leave some of them sit out to see what they do. Now I need to get some green bells for salsa and I'm ready to go! I'm going to plant some green beans around the current corn stalks to help with a bean supply, I'm also going to replant some kidney beans to increase what I have now. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed in the amount that we got, but I'll take before and afters to show where we stand. I am happy and feel very blessed with the amount of produciton coming from the garden since I didn't get the tomatoes steaked up and the broccoli was too late to pick. We are looking for a good healthy fall crop and will see what we can do about the cauliflower that didn't produce anything. GRRRR. I also gave up on cucumbers, kinda a waste of time anyway, we don't eat them fast enough and pickles are really cheap, next year will bring better and bigger results with the new layouts, 14 8x8 boxes. We are also going to build our tomatoe cages from scratch.

Okay I really must run, lots to do and little time to do it in.

bummed back

I've been down for a week now with a bad back. I finally went to the doc on Friday thinking that I couldn't make it through the weekend without help and sure enough I couldn't. I missed so many hours this week due to pain.

I wish that Duck could get done with school sooner than later, I really want to do what I'm suppose to do, what I need to do and I can't do that working as much as I am. I can't even get my gardening done, I have so many red tomatoes sitting on the ground it isn't even funny. I lost all my broccoli and I have to harvest my cabbage before I lose it too.

The corn is growing tall and the tasses and hair is coming out.

Well a big storm is coming in and since I have been able to pop my back I need to get stuff done while I feel better.

update...

work has been strenous....I will be very happy in 2 weeks....Super Sat will be over, I will be on vacation. In the mean time I have so much stuff to do.

Garden up date:

I have lost 2 zuchini plants, this is very disheartening. Also several of my tomatoes plants are turning brown at the bases, I will have to investigate and take care of this problem. I've lost over half my kale to some stupid catiplillars.....their eviction orders will be signed tomorrow...I have to get rid of them. I will fertilze and replant the zuch....

Mon and Tue I will be in service all day, working on the garden and getting a packing list together.

I have to go to bed now, it's late and I'm very tired.

new reading....

11217-11158 = 59 kwh or 2107 in the past 28 hrs.

Today was a rough day for me, I really don't know why. More than likely because I had to go back after having 3 days off. I'm also moody today obviously. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day, but hopefully a better day!

daily reading

11158

BEEN A LONG WHILE...

Okay, so Facebook is really cool! I need to remove myself from the games though, there is a time and place for everything and they are consuming my life. I've put posts on there that I'll have to transfer to here to blog spot. Today we planted all the corn, we found a new system in doing it and it worked so incredibly well...none the fact that teamwork played a huge role in it. The only thing that I have left is to plant the onions, peas (which is too late, will have to wait for fall planting), asparagus (this is so very detailed it's not even funny), more strawberries, cucumbers, more tomatoes and more peppers. The squash and zuch is thriving leaps and bounds. I gave my first to SC but found out that she didn't like it so next time I'll give it to someone else. I'm sure that tere are plenty who do like it. I also need to replentish my supply. We mistakenly planted pumpkin in the garden instead of the wood yard, it got pulled today. The black beans are coming up so well it's great, the kidney beans are in too! I also found cherry tomatoes this afternoon. I'll see if Duck can down load my pics. I'm pretty sure that I sprained my right wrist today, and I'm really not sure I know where my brace is. It is hurting something fierce. But work must go on.

Let's see..oh yea my mother died on May 27th, while we knew it could any time, it was expected that she was maintained healthwise and was going to outlive my grandmother. She died of a heartattack in her sleep. I look forward to the resurrection where I'll be able to have a meaningful realtionship with her. Until then and forever I have a wonderful family and a fabulous group of friends.

Duck missed his summer semester signups so he will be home this summer looking for work. Okay well a lot has happened and there isn't enough time to say it all, I'll transfer over my posts as I can, until then this is my journal and I need to do a better job of keeping it up. Below will be a list of stuff we want to get done in the next 10 weeks.

Reroute the dryer (even though we don't use it a lot, it still gets used on rainy days and when put in shower surround clothes need to be unwrinkled)
Get all the wood cut
Get a LOT more wood.
Get funace installed and ready
Get windows sealed
Insulate the basement
Clear out our rooms and get the carpets cleaned
clear off front porch
plant cucu
plant aspar
plant toms
plant peas
plant lettuce
plant onions
start tom's for fall planting
Get boys room set up
Start fall gardening in Aug
Set up hyroponics.
Get lettuce beds started.
Possibly get green house set up.
Get water system set up.
Paint livingrom
work on deck
put up pool
put together solar panels
put up another windmill
purge toys
purge boy clothes
purge mommy clothes
purge daddy clothes
purge dishes
purge backroom
purge basement
purge book shelf

Okay so I think that's enough for now...not sure what is on my other list..but here is a 9 week list. Some impossible due to money, everything else we already have.

So much to do....so little time.

I can't believe how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it in. Tomorrow is the first day back to work for me an I hardly have half of what I wanted to get done, done.

Of this....
Field Service
put all laundry away
move our room around
go through the boys clothes and pull out winter
go through our clothes and do the same.
Take all stuff to goodwill
can veggies, veggie soup, bean soup, chili and possibly beef stew.
wash all the canning jars the are left over
weedeat the yard if possible
plant more veggies if possible
take care of the eggs

Wow, that's all that I got done. (in red) That's not a lot! But I've been so busy.....

Time to try to get more done. I have laundry in right now, I need to do a load of dishes and clean the livingroom first. Then I think that I want to work on my room.

Okay, going to start. Need to get into bed early and get ready for work tomorrow. I'll be so glad when finals week is over.

Toodles

Productive day....

9577 - 9477 = 1840 wph. WAHOOOOO....that's really good considering all the cooking I've been doing, the laundry and dishes getting done. Oh and the yesterday morning I came home really sick, Duck covered me with 2 blankets and I couldn't get warm, he ended up bringing down the space heater to help me. Still high, but seriously not as high as I thought it would be. We really need to get back to shutting off the water heater at night.

The past 3 or so day I've been suffering from moderate to sever headaches, Sunday's was a migrane. It made me so sick that there was times I kept a trashcan handy. Nothing has been able to knock them out besides trying to sleep. The worst part is the light sensitivity to light(I'm sure I didn't spell that right).

We went to the store this morning bright and early, got some stew meat, sausage and beef. I have already canned all the stew beef for veggie/beef soup, next and only waiting on the dishwasher to finish sanatizing the jars is the chili, I think I'll have to do the second batch tomorrow. I will make potatoe soup tomorrow and I'm going to make green bean/potatoe soup also. Poor Kale plant is going ot be naked again. The plants in the garden are doing well, mostly that is. Some of the tomato have fallen over, not sure if it is too wet or they are going to die, we'll see in the next couple of days. I have enough water from the past rain to more than likely fill one of the rain barrels. Duck is going to hook up a hose spigot to it before we dump it all in. Hopefully before Thursday since we are going to have more rain at the end of this week. Time to get the corn, rest of the tomatoes, beans, cucu and peppers into the ground. I'm really happy with the thought that we are going to have too much food, on the other hand I'm nervous that we are not. I can't believe how much beans and tomatoes have gone up at Save-a-lot, it's crazy. When I first started shopping they were 29 or 39 cents per can...now they are 59...R U KIDDING ME? That's high. Yet another reason to plant a big garden.
Okay, it's Tue, guess I forgot to post this....

a great few days...

While not much has gotten done around my house in terms of cleaning perse, we did get a lot done...well Duck more than me.

9477 - 9327 = 1288 - wow that's exceptional. That's even with a new dishwasher and running a ton of laundry and dishes. GREAT!!!!

Duck got the dishwasher put in the stove put in and both wired, the shelves put up in the window seat and the shelving unit upstairs assembled. That's great! I got 30 tomato plants planted, 15 or so beans, 3 zuch, 3 squash, 4 cabbage.

Got a lot of plans this weekend.

Field Service
put all laundry away
move our room around
go through the boys clothes and pull out winter
go through our clothes and do the same.
Take all stuff to goodwill
can veggies, veggie soup, bean soup, chili and possibly beef stew.
wash all the canning jars the are left over
weedeat the yard if possible
plant more veggies if possible
take care of the eggs

Okay
I need to go to bed, I have to get up early.

Toodles.