You are right..

I am lame.. I haven't been doing this..so my goal this weekend is to keep you all updated on my sales.. I have had LOTS of good deals..and saved all my receipts.. LOL!
Anyway.. updates.. BigT is now 15, Gurl is growing up too fast, Manbear is still plugging along and probably going back to school next fall to get his 4 yr degree... we have prayed about it and we will see what God has planned for us.

It is either feast or famine with my job, either working 40 or 20.. hehehehe. Gotta love it. I have had to work the last two Sunday's so we haven't made it to church, miss that..

I have been shopping on a weekly basis with Busdriver (sister in law) and we are getting good deals and getting to know each other better. LOVE ya Busdriver!

Other than that Easter is Sunday and for the first time we aren't doing baskets (sniffle...) but the kids are getting too old for it anyway so we are just getting them itunes gc and movie passes that way we know they will use the them...

I PROMISE to get this updated.. plus I desperately need to get all those receipts OFF my desk!
Thanks TK and TF for encouraging me on this challenge...you both are wonderful cheerleaders..

Hi ho hi ho it is off to work I go.

Blessings!
Mari

I received an award...I am so pumped

Thanks so much to http://thewayisave.blogspot.com/ for my first ever award~
Just when I thought my day was going to the dogs...
THANKS so much~! I mean it.. I am so excited I can barely believer it.
I am supposed to list 7 things I love...

1) my husband
2) my kids
3) my mother in law
4) all seven of my fur children
5) my job
6) MOST of my friends (eheheheheh)
7) God (actually HE is first)

I have to nominate 7 other blogs, which I will have to do in a bit seeing it is a heck of a day and I have my 14 yr old puking and my 16 yr old running a super high fever of 103 even with motrin..so I promise more updates later.. Ireally really really do!

My life ..

has been consumed with working and my husbands kidney stones.. he ended up having to have surgery and then a 'stint' in place for 2 days afterwards.. so that was like a week out of our lives.. anyway I am off to work unexpectedly this am so I promise to get my deals posted about what I have done.. I am such a slacker! Anyway I am happy to say stone mikie (we always name them) was lasered and removed and dad and stone were seperated successfully. Memorial donations can be made at .. oh I am so kidding!
Got to jet to work, boss's kiddos are barfing and it is up to super merchandiser to come in and swoop to fix all jams, work all orders and restock shelves where it is needed~ so I am off to save the cookies!

Sniffle...

I went from 7 followers to 5.. but that is ok.. I am doing THIS for me and my family, not for glory and followers.

I have been spending a lot of this week helping a family that was burned out of their home. It wsa super cool for me to get that phone call, go to my pantry and 'hook them up'.. they won't need to buy HBA items for a while.. and it isn't like it put us in a bind at all. I LOVE that I was able to do that. Been running freecycle errands and getting things for them.. also had some chest pain and was in er .. not sure what was going on there but we will find out one day eh?

I have made some COOL purchases so tomorrow I will update them for you...

I am also going shopping alot with my beloved sister in law and learning alot about them.. and actually am growing to think of BUSDRIVER as a great sister in law... we are becoming friends as well as 'inlaws'. I love ya BUSDRIVER!

As you can see I have code names for people in my life.. that is to protect their innocence AND guilt.... :)

None of my purchases were major but rather a bit of sliding ECB's around and floating the RR from walgreens...

No food bought this week.. hard to believe!

God bless you all~
Mari

I'm not sure if I totally understand this concept

http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=352797

as it seems to be more of a 'spread the word' type of thing rather than something you can actually use.. so anyway sign up if you want!

My anniversary~

I almost forgot to tell you why it took me so long to update you all...
We had a massive yardsale at our house on Feb 7th. AND we made over $300 ~ What did we do with that money? Paid bills...AND we went on a mini vacation to a hotel and a nice resturant for our anniversary. It was nice to get that junk out of the house and also get some very needed extra money. I can't believe I have been married all this time... who would have thought...and here we still are. Rocky roads and lots of struggles later, we have survived. I can't imagine my life without him, or the kids. It's amazing what can happen if you allow God to be first in your relationship and yourself third. I love Manbear more today than the day I married him, and that is saying alot.
At the ys we didn't have anything big, that is what surprised us on how much money we made. It was just a little bit of stuff here and there that helped. I am also proud of Gurl as she helped me with customers and getting me drinks. We did good!
Thank you all for reading and supporting me in my year long journey into $1500. I enjoy your company~
Blessings,
Mari

Left to spend $1330.99
Savings $519.26
Spent $169.01

I am so bad~

I had cleaned off my small desk and put my receipts in a 'safe place'.. however I couldn't remember WHERE that safe place was.. I have since found them... So here is the update~
Mind you this is 2 weeks worth of shopping~AND a triple at harris teeter! YIPPIE!
CVS
ear rinse x2
soup x4
hershey bars x2
perfume for gurl
oop $9.45
saved $23.33
Harveys (everything was on clearance)
2 incense burners
pasta storage
sponges x2
taco dinners x3
grapes
2 coffees (gave them to mil)
bananas
organic green beans x2
OOP $7.98
but mil gave me $5 so adjusted to $2.98
saved $12.72
Publix
ballons for gurl
steamfresh broc x4
salad mix x2
kraft cheesex2
publix bread x4 (last day of it being .89)
velvetta cheese x2
french's mustard
guacomole dipx2
teen vogue magazine (for gurl) she paid me back
oop 19.60
savings 18.30
$4 paid back from gurl so $15.60 adjusted oop
NOW my HT triples
I will just add all the trips together.. I only did 3 trips
total raisin bran x2
lysol toilet x2
soup x3
tea
snapple x2
pnut butter
baby food x3
cat food
colgate
dannon yogurt
tomatoes x4
oatmeal x2
tissue
compleats x3
yakisoba x3
spag x2
wet ones
oop $24.86
Savings $84.07
Then today....
I purchased from Publix
chipsahoy
cottenelle x3
milk
nestle milkx2
coffee filters
BC frosting x4
neosporin lip
J&J bars x4
baby food x2
BC cookie mix 4
colored safety pins
juicy juice x2
oop $10.37
saved $40.63
Walmart
pj's
cereal
crackers
cheese x2
dr. pepper 2 liter
skintaminte
tomatoes
cat food
wet wipes
cashews
pantiliners
tucks x12
parm cheese
freshmatic
unmentionalable x3
index tabs (more labels for my box)
rolaids x2
pencils
oop $14.14
saved $76.07

wowsie~
Then my cvs run
9 zeph 3liter waters
2 toothpastes
3 candy bars
4 small pieces of candy
OOP -.64
savings $36.64

New totals to follow!

Bringing this up to the top

savings $250.83
Left to spend $1409.03
spent $90.97

I know I promised an update on my

purchases but yesterday the unimaginable happened.... oh the terror, oh the horror! My keyboard died! Well not really the keyboard but the thingie that holds the other things to it did. My super manbear came to my rescue but by the time he got home to fix it it was later in the afternoon then the heater man came by (been without heat since Saturday) then I had to pick up Gurl from staying after and she had to go to BAM to research some project (I got well into the second book of a series) and then it was off to home to drop her off, a quick trip to the store for grated cheese for our homemade speg and by the time dishes were cleaned up and such I was too tired to type to you all.
I PROMISE to make it a priority tomorrow/Today! As you can see it is 3 am here and I am still awake... actually Manbear went to bed at 10:30 and I wasn't tired so I was up until 11:30 then I fell asleep on the couch in an odd position so my neck is in a crick. OUCH!~ Plus the tylenol hasn't kicked in yet, and manbear will be rising up in 45 minutes so I decided to just wait to go to bed until he gets up...
Long story on my week.. As most of you know I run my local freecycle group and there are just some members who are trying to tell me what rules to follow and how to follow them.. grrr~ I know the flippin' rules, I made most of them~! But anyway I am just feeling torn in 09809809809809799877 ways today and I promise to all of my accountability people I will post my purchases up to date. I have missed all of you~! Have you missed me?
Love and blessings,
Mari

I now have 8 followers

Even though one of them is me! So that means at least 7 others care what I say... thanks ya'll!

So sorry about no new posts

I promise MAJOR updates tomorrow.. but here is a quick wrap up~

Triples at Harris teeter,
CVS shopping didn't happen last week (nothing on ecb that I wanted)
AND we had a yardsale and went out of town for a night.. and left kiddos home! Can you believe it? We have never been away from them but one other time.. It was nice! Details to follow...
But just pray that Gurl can get her head out of her B$#%. Grades came out and lets just say things are 'quieter' in her room...get my drift? lol!
Anwway tomorrow is a non work day for me and I will be off to lala land tonite and write a nice long post about my happenings this past week...
Blessings to you all!~
Mari

I have six followers~

Thanks so much ladies.. it is nice to be followed. I do so enjoy reading your blogs and learning from you.

New items I purchased today~

I was ON IT today!
I was working and there was an accident so it prevented me from coming off the island until it was cleared..so I utilized my time wisely by shopping and getting some 'deals'...

CVS
2 gillette shampoo's for BIGboy (manbear is bald)
used coupons and ecbs
oop $3.63 but got $6 back in Ecb's...

At publix I bought:
2 salad mixes (one for salad and one for nacho night tomorrow)
bread
2 quaker oatmeal B1G1F and had .60 coupons~
2 Kraft shredded cheese 2 for $4 and there was a blinkie for .75 off.. yippie!~ can we say dinner another night...
2 kraft velvetta cheese B1G1F plus $1 coupon
2 planters honey roasted nuts $1 off two coupon
2 packages of tortilla (no coupons :( )
spent $18.12 but SAVED 21.89

Then off to HT where I bought:
10 grow it dinners for my friends baby boy (hey Charlie, getting hungry for food yet?)
Orange crush (I was thirsty and I have given up caffeine)
a bag of ricework (felt sorry for the lady sampling them out and it was 1.50 a bag)
total oop was 2.81 but saved $21.38 (between vic savings and coupons)

Also adding in the $5 check I gave for the odd and ends I bought at the pie shop (see blog below)...if they have a website I will post it for you later on.

So NEW totals are:
savings $250.83
Left to spend $1409.03
spent $90.97

FREE pies~

Last night I was sitting in my cozy house, wearing my cozy sock monkey slippers and waiting for 9 pm so I could go to bed... when the unimaginable happened. I got a text.. FREE PIES! Free pies? Oh yeah, I was on it then!~ I threw on flip flops (note to self when it is 40 outside you might want to take the time to put real shoes on) and raced out the door. I knew the approximate location of the store and called the person who texted me (NOT TAMMYF~still mad at you for not telling me) andgot details what the 'deal' was. YOU know there is nothing ever free in this world. Well it is..or was~ I got to the location and received a case of free pies. What this place is a place for the homeless and it seems that companies (grocery store, pharmacies, etc) must sell their opened and crushed items to somewhere and this is one of the places it ends up. They are selling items that are opened or in boxes that are unsaleable. Anyway they had been given pies and a LARGE amount of them when they had no freezer to store them in so they gave them away...for free.. NO STRINGS attached. While I saw people grabbing up the boxes of crushed colgate and open boxes of cascade like there was no tomorrow I also saw where I would have gotten 'that' for free, or less than .50.. and while it is a good deal to most consumers I saw it as expensive... I however did buy a 24 pack of zepherylis for 2 bucks~! I gotta support people who give away free pies! I met the owner and got the speal on what they do...It is a nice way to help her help others (they will have a foodline for the homeless and will help the elderly with their power bills, eventually). They have only been open for 3 days.. what a nice thing to do. Anyway... back to the free pies. When you get a case there were literally got 6 unbaked Sara Lee pies.. apple cranberry and apple/ruhbarb/berrie pies.. somehow I ended up with 2 cases of the ruhbarb and one of the cranberry.. I split some with a few friends and then I brought the rest home. MY freezer (small one) is full of pies and even my upper freezer on the refrig is full! Too many pies....hehehehehe... I even had to bake two of them last night because they wouldn't fit into my freezer. I am sitting here with a small piece of each of the pies and all I can say is YUMMY! I figure pie isn't anything but a fruit filled poptart right? Nothing wrong with pie for breakfast at 5 am.. come on now.. As my groggy son just stumbled into the room and said 'can I have pie for breakfast too?' (does the boy have a nose detecting gene or what)... oh what am I teaching my kids? hehehehe... Of course you CAN son, here have another piece...So it was a good way to end a good day... yummy pies anyone?

No thank you I prefer to pay full price....

THAT is what someone actually told me yesterday while I was working. My inskin friends know my 'real' job (I can't post it here but lets just say it is NICE~) and part of my job yesterday was putting up some coupons around a display at a grocery store that was having some crackers as buy one get one free....I couldn't get them to stay on the paper so I just started handing them out and one lady actually handed me one back and said 'no thank you I prefer to pay full price'... like a coupon was nasty or something. I tell you that I was shocked, AND the lady beside her said 'i'm not proud, give me hers'. I still tell you I was like shocked, open mouthed wide eyed, I must have looked like a freak... I can't imagine WANTING to pay full price...but to each their own.

soy sauce

Thursday is trashday here in our neighborhood so I TRY to clean out the refrigerator on Wednesday.. however I was very busy with other stuff and I didn't get a chance to do it yesterday... so if was pushed off until today. BUT I got sidetracked.. with what you ask? We are HUGE soy sauceaholics here at the house, well really we are really bad stirfryaholics and use soy sauce as the seasoning. ANYWAY.. needless to say we usually always have a bottle, or two or three, on hand. But lately I have let the stash run low, and to be honest it is 2 days before payday and there is too much week to not enough $$. So what did I find? I am the world's worst about taking 'extra' packets at place.. extra creamer, extra splenda, extra duck sauce.. not alot just normally 2 or 3 .. so anyway today I spent about 20 minutes taking the extra packets I have of soy sauce and filling our little soy sauce jar. It was amazing how many it did take (I way over guestimated how many it would) and it only took me about 20-25 minutes... so does that make me cheap or frugal?? I would like to hear what you think?! Email me or leave me a comment... thanks so much!
Blessings,
Mari

Adding more purchases

Today has been a productive day!~ I have done a bunch of laundry, mopped all my floors, scrubbed all my kitchen counters and rearranged my kitchen decor. I am realizing less is more these days with decorations. (agree with me, amen!)
I also have spent about an hour searching for online coupons and ordering some samples...
I also ran across a purchase receipt that I made Monday at walmart when I was shopping with my sil. Now, I KNOW that at HT the electrosal was B1G1Free however purchasing two of them came to $1.41 or 70cents apiece (I gave coupons to sil to use last weekend) however the local HT is over 15 miles away and since that would be the ONLY thing I would be going over for it isn't really economical for me to drive all that way when I could buy them at walmart for $1 a piece.. and it only cost me .30 more~ So I bought 2 elec gelpacs and 4 johnson and johnson bath buddies. Total oop was only $2.64 and I saved $9 in coupons. Awesome!~

Hey Tammyf when are you going shopping again? Have you been buying a paper on Sunday? Call me sometime and let me know how your progress is...

New totals~
YTD savings $198.77
Left to spend $1438.58
money spent $61.42 (previous addition error)

forgot to add

that I bought some porkchops and hamburger meat to cook some dinner for a church member that was recovering from surgery.. that totalled $8.87... should I include food that isn't for my family? Let me think about that one.. since that purchase was totally for someone else.. let me think on that one...

Have you been to

www.walmart.com
for the free samples?
They currently have
Always Infinity pads (comes with a $1 coupon as well)
Crest advance seal whitening product
Poise pads (think of older people who could use this sample, Marks towers can always use the sample if you don't have anyone else in mind)
Prilosec sample

Remember that if you don't use the sample to think of who you know who might... There is usually someone who would welcome a sample or even a nursing home who would love the sample sizes. Sometimes I will throw them into my 'homeless' bags.. which are baggies that I make when I have samples of items and give them out to the people who are begging on the street (holding signs for work, food, etc). I feel that this is one way to show them love without giving them $$ to spend on unwise choices.
Blessings!~
Mari

CVS shopping

I went to CVS on Saturday evening with a good friend (thanks TK) and we had a good time just talking and freezing outside..hheheheheh..anyway my purchases were:
2-CVS brand 5ct allergy meds
3 heath bars (filler and they are gurl's favorite candy, major mom points)
2 lysol sprays (my local store is moving to a bigger store so there is lots of goodies marked down 75%)
a LARGE container of Gain laundry detergent(75%)
2 dawn
2 colgate toothpaste
3 razors gillette (75%)
3 packages of tena pads(75%)
2 colgate shaving creams for my manbear (75%)
AND a great b1gif containter of lysol wipes that were only $1.50...also (75%)
BEST thing was my favorite cashier was working so she let me use coupons too~ so my total oop was very very very low...
for all of that my oop was only $3.52
Oh yeah~ I felt like I hit the jackpot!
THEN yesterday I went to Harris Teeter to work and they were doing a reset (btw watch at alot of the grocery stores, they are all doing their spring resets and there are amazing sales).. Here HT is resetting the breakfast isle. So I bought 7 (YES SEVEN) boxes of rice krispies for $5.. amazing! I also bought a local newspaper and a box of brown rice (I didn't have my coupon box since I was working) all that was only $8.28... awesome!
So shopping for the last week only cost me $11.80~best thing was my savings were $107.26~
how cool is that?

YTD savings $189.77
Left to spend $1441.42
money spent $58.58

Bringing this to the top....

YTD savings $82.51
Left to spend $1453.22

I have some purchases but

I hope I left the receipt in the car, because right now I can't find it. I am LUCKY though, as my little cvs by my house is small and we are getting a NEW one on Feb 1st~ so guess what that means... Markdowns~ !~!~!
They are marking down everything that won't be in the new planagram at the new store. How awesome is that!~~! I got a HUGE bottle of the non concentrated gain yesterday for 3.37... major savings. But I really wanted to get my receipt to show you the real savings on everything I bought. I will look for it later and post everything I bought...now my FAVORITE and greatest purchase was a lysol air freshner.. and it was marked down to $3.50 and it had a $4 coupon on it... needless to say I bought 3 but ended up giving one away to my sil. THAT was my greatest buy of all. But anyway I will post what I actually bought and if I can ever figure out how to post pictures on here I will start doing that too~
Blessings to all~
Thanks for such great feedback on my blog about friends... it is nice to know you read it and most of you can understand what I was feeling. The good thing about me is once I get it 'out' I am good to go.. however it is intersting that the two+ people who it was geared to have yet to contact me... through texting or facebook or email..
Please pray for my sister, that is all I can say for the moment. She really needs it~ Her name is PJ, thanks bunches!~
Well I am off to work and possibly hit some yardsales..
Be blessed and remember God loves you~
Mari

YTD savings $82.51
Left to spend $1453.22

uuuuugggg~

I will post more later about shopping but I am just really really really tired of being taken advantage of. Does anyone else ever feel that way? That some people in your life will have all the time in the world for you if you have something that they want/need but when it comes down to actually doing something fun with you or even going for coffee they choose to act like they don't even know you? Does that make sense?
I am just tired of being used for my knowledge, my connections or my ability to help others. This year, the year of 2009, I am setting limits and not allowing people to use me. I think alot of my 'friends' will be shocked when I don't stop everything and run to their aid in time of need like they are used to me being.
On the other hand I have a friend, TK, that when I asked her to help me make dinner for a member of our church she agreed.. even though she herself has an active family of four kids and a husband. She even offered to take my part and deliver it to the person since she knew I had been working alot of hours yesterday, but since neither of us knew this church member, or had even been out that far, I told her no. I will always remember 'being drunk, and construction sites'... NO we weren't drinking AT ALL but have you ever laughed so hard and been so tired that you felt that way.. that is what it was like for us last night. HEHHEHEHE. TK, you and I don't always see eye to eye on things but I know you are someone REAL that I can count on most of the time. Thanks for being there and being sensitive to me yesterday, that one comment meant alot!
I mean I KNOW that others have a life outside of me, but when you say over and over, 'I want you to come and do...' but yet time and time and time again there is always an excuse, or a 'reason' for this not to occur, but yet your other friends have time made for them, that is what I am talking about. I have to listen to my husband more, because alot of these 'friends' he doesn't really want me to spend time with or hang with. NOT that they are bad people, he is just really good at reading what others are really like and what they want when I am ususally blindsided because xxx and yyy want to be 'my' friends... know what I mean? Several times in this week (or two or three) I have felt taken advantage of and to be honest, I sincerely believe it won't happen again this year. I promised myself and my family that there would be more family time... more them time, more me time. I am not just going to be 'used' for my ability and willingness to be helpful, or my connections on who and what I know, on my jobs fringe benefits, or my money saving knowledge and power (HEHEHEH). This year there will be time made for these things but they will need to be on my timeline, not on theirs.. it will need to be when I have the time or energy, not when they do. It will be when I want it not when they do. I am making that pledge here and now and by putting it on the net it is out there for EVERYONE to see. I do love my friends and that won't change, but will change is my ability to be used and taken advantage of. Like the old saying 'burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me" so they shame is on me this time.. and there won't be a fourth time.
Blessings to everyone~
Mari

My never ending way to organize

my coupons has led me down the path to a NEW coupon box. I spent over 5 hours at my beloved sil's helping her get her box set up (and we are going CVS shopping tomorrow night) and I liked how we did hers so much I am redoing mine. Also it is a good time to 'purge' being that it is almost the end of the month. Yippie!

I have been working alot this week and will get to blogging more later on after I go shopping.
Blessings to each and every one of you!
Mari

PS I HAVE FIVE FOLLOWERS~ I am pumped! And believe it or not, none of them are my 'local' friends who read this (Tammyk, tammyf, Michelle, Kateena)... love ya'll and appreciate you reading this!~

Shopping is a full time job??

A few weeks ago I had a friend tell me I turned shopping into a full time job... and it got me to thinking. If I looked at what is in my stockpile right now (not counting what I had just given away in the last 2 weeks) of ONLY my HBA items... then yes, I do consider it a full time job. When, as this week happens, we have too much week to not enough cash, I am fulfilled in the knowledge we won't starve, need HBA items or medication (cold, tylenol, etc) and I know that the money in our checking account WILL get us through this short week. Because of my savy shopping and money saving I am able to provide for my family in weeks to come, in emergencies and alot of times I am able to help others. Am I arrogant, boasting? Am I in need of a bigger hat? Nope, it isn't like I shout it from the roof tops "I HAVE 59 ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER". I know that by planning ahead and couponing and saving money I am in a way working another full time job. So yes, dear Virginia, I have turned shopping into a full time job. In a job you love you do your best, you fulfill your duties and you feel good about yourself. In this I do say that shopping for my family is a full time job. I love it, I enjoy it, and most of all it is a nice way to share myself with others.

Now, I have been asked for 'what' is in my HBA stockpile... I just counted it so you can know it is current (not counting what is currently in the bathrooms or kitchen)..

I have 59 rolls of tp
femine product for gurl 53
deodrants 29
body wash and soap 63
Shampoo and conditioner 38
Razors and toothbrushes 22
Toothpaste and mouthwash 36

All in all a good stockpile for a family of four. Also all of my things are 'brand name' I really don't like to purchase store brand.. NOT that there is anything wrong with store brand rather that they rarely give out coupons. So like the pads are all always and the tampons are playtex and tampax. Shampoo everything from Pantene, Head and shoulders to Suave and whiterain. Deodrants are also a range from suave to rightguard. (having two teenagers in the house I need ALOT of deodrant). So you can see that while I don't 'shop' full time (40 hours) the benefits I have are unmeasurable. I do believe this is a job I will be keeping for a while. Also like my beloved sister in law says 'you don't have to feed it'.. meaning it isn't costing you anything to sit on your shelves waiting to be used.

Now, if this friend just saw my food stockpile....wowsie!

I did it~

I went shopping! LOL!
Actually it was a quick run into my local cvs and they didn't have anything that I really wanted to I just scanned my card at the scanner and a $5 off of $15 popped out.. well that is TOO GOOD to pass up. So I decided to think 'logically' and see what they had that offered ECB's for under $15 and was something I could add to the stockpile and not have to worry about expiring dates. Guess what!~ They have cottenelle tissue 20 packs for 12.97 with a 4 ecb back.....so.. two transactions later I have this to add to the pile of goodies
40 packs of toilet paper
2 pk of Johnson and Johnson swabs
sno-caps (my hunger twinge)
and some david sunflower seeds...

Total spent..
Now I do warn you it wasn't my best ever deal but I do think it is ok..top 20 maybe....
spent $4.35 oop (rest was ecb's and coupons)

SAVED $30.95

YTD savings $82.51
Left to spend $1453.22

great new giveaway from my muse

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

Go here and register for her great giveaway. A nice way to get some free goodies and read up on her awesome year of spending less than $800 a year for a family of four~

To get this to the top

and keep it 'fresh' in my mind...


savings to date $251.56
Left to spend $1457.57

oh also....

I have had no caffeeine (sp?) since Sunday and I love it. No cokes, no sweet tea....I was worried about what would I 'find' to drink when I was working, but I just took a powerade (from Kroger sale long time ago) and was good to go. Also when we went to McDonalds yesterday I had an orange drink with a refill of powerade. I LOVE that! No headaches, no weird cravings for salt (last time I gave up caffeeine I craved salt like a mad woman and normally I can't stand the taste of it). All in all this is doing good. Thank you for all of you who have shown support and encouragement.

Ok, ok, ok, ok

I know it has been a few weeks since I did ANY shopping.. but I promise to update you all on my CVS buys this week. I am pumped up for savings. We really have been eating our stockpile or just fasting a meal here and there. Nothing much to report.. Manbear is doing great with his Daniel diet and we both weighed at publix yesterday and found out that we are only 3 pounds difference. Seems a bit weird, but ok...hehehehehe

Oh yeah, not having church on Saturday evenings mean my CVS runs can be earlier rather than 9-10 pm. I love being able to go earlier. Although if I go in the evenings I get to see my 'buds' who work there, and they are sweet.

I received alot of credits from work and was able to bless at least 7 people even before passing it on to the food bank. I feel good about that. Plus I did a purge of my HBA stockpile and held a 'come and get it' to a few friends and family. It has taken a good week and a half but I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnell with that too...

So my second day of my four days off in a row (yippie) will be spent doing laundry and planning my cvs run of the week. Good day to all of you and I PROMISE to get to shopping so I can share my good deals with all of you.

Blessings,
Mari

ps... manbear and I did go out to eat at Mcdonalds yesterday but he had a gc from CHRISTmas to use so it was free.. and then we went to goodwill to buy Bigboy some sweat pants for school PE class. So it was a 'fun' day for us together...

IT is a whopping 28 degrees here at 6 am.. too cold for Georgia~~~!!!!!

P.s. I still have a Starbucks gc burning a hole in my pocket if anyone wants to come with me tonite to CVS and get deals and tea~ hint hint Tammy~

I haven't done much shopping this week but

I didn't want everyone to think I was not blogging.

Please pray for something that is on my heart. My beloved mother in law has been broken into yet again (4th time since September 07) so pray that the theives will not be able to get into her home again and her belongings returned. We really want her to sell her home and get out of that area but we have been unable to convince her of that. Plus with the housing market like it is, finding a buyer for her home would be hard. Also that the theives will leave her alone as there has been past harrassment following a breakin (they came by late at night and was knocking on windows and such, tried to come into the door, etc).

Also pray for my community as many many many people are getting laid off lately and it is hard to keep being positive when you see friend after friend lose everything they have worked so hard for. Just this week alone I know of 3 people who will lose their homes this month, and they have lost their jobs due to the economy. It is hard, and since we are still 'small town' one or two businesses laying off people can greatly effect alot of people here.

I am also struggling in my body with being very tired. I have decided to cleanse myself of caffeeine and will start doing so as of tomorrow.. so pray that this will help with why I am being so sluggish.


God bless you all!
Mari

Sunday's total

Hello Cyber dealers!
I made a fast last minute trip to HT and to CVS. HT has a last day of triples, and even though I haven't been able to get super freebies from them I have found a small amount of deals. Nothing to write home about, but Hey, a dollar saved is a dollar saved right!?!

At CVS I purchased:
stickers, 2 snowman plates, swirl decorations (all Christmas clearance) and I used up the 'little ecb's" that I had and the total was .49 after but I used a AE gift card I received for my bday last month so it was 0.00 out of pocket.

THEN I got to the real goodies at CVS~J&J swabs, Hairdye for gurl, 2 big hershey bars, blade energy drink, sparkling water 6pk, and folgers (these were ecb deals) of which I paid with ecbs so my total was only .80 oop after using ecb's and again I just used the AE gift card (there is only like $3 left on there so I am just going to use it up until theres nothing left).
total savings~$53.69

At HT I purchased:
Quick oats, smuckers uncrustablesx2, country crockx3, Frozen corn, wheat breadx2, skippy pnut butter, welch's grape jam, poweradex2, lysol clingx2, mennen deodrant, suave deodrantx4, lysol tub and tilex2, minute ricex2. Like I said nothing to write home about and the bread was bogo, but manbear is doing the 'Daniel's fast' and needed wheat bread so that added 2.89 to my expenses.
total oop $19.02
saved $47.57

So it wasn't a BAD day, but not one of the better ones.

So add to the savings to date $251.56

Left to spend $1457.57

Not too bad.. not to bad at all.

Today I only bought 2 papers since it was after 5pm when I went to get them and literally I bought the last 2 that was left at the 3rd place I went to.

Samples samples everywhere

Hi guys! How is everyone out there in cyber land? The weather is great here, at almost 8 am it is 63. Awesome day to just sit back and enjoy God's handiwork.

I wanted to let you know that I find LOTS of samples at www.walmart.com ... I sign up for everything~! I know that may be wrong but I also put every single sample to good use either by passing it on or making my homeless bags. Like I know my budget conscious neighbor has a daughter that still wets the bed.. so I signed up for the overnite underwear sample for me to give to her. My motherinlaw swears by goldbond so I will pass on the sample to her. See where I am going with this.. it may not be 'one' you use, but I am guessing someone you know will use it~

Let me tell you there has been many many MANY times that a sample or trial size has gotten us 'through' until payday. Now, I would highly suggest signing up for what I call a 'junk' email account. Free ones at yahoo, hotmail, msn, gmail, whereever you like and use that one for freebies and samples. That way your inbox to your often used account is not flooded with spam or 'how did you like it' questionaires. BUT very importantly, check that email account often and make sure you follow up with any 'how do you like it' emails as most of the time they will send you additional coupons and samples if you ask.

Thats all for right now, I am thinking about going to HT for triples again, we will see though, as the sales were quite what I thought that they would be and not all my coupons matched up.

Good luck, have a wonderful and blessed weekend!~

Remember God loves you~
Blessings,
Mari

Triples at Harris Teeter

I did ok, but with nothing really being 'free' after coupons I was not able to do a 'great' job and get tons of stockpile items. But that is ok... I did fine, not complaining at all.. I love the thrill of triples~

Here is what I purchased:
wax paper, frosting (for a german chocolate cake for manbear), bisquick mix, lyson sanitizer (for washing my hands inbetween stores while working), frebreze air freshener (for gurl), 4 boxes of lipton tea, 2 boxes of lipton soup mix, chkn and dumplings, pnut butter, tuna, crest, 2 salad finishers (first time buying these, will let you know how they work), 2 loaves of Arnold bread, 3pk of bread dough, 3 hungry jacks, stick butter, a large bag of vegall.

Btw I was asked this and yes, I am saving my register receipts to figure out my totals and keep myself more accountable.

Total savings $46.12
spent $19.17

total left to spend $1476.59

total savings so far $149.30

What a way to start the new year~

As you know my reason for doing this challenge is from an online gal I have been following... here is her blog...http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

Well she is giving away an AWESOME smart shopper to people (be sure to listen/watch the you tube posting she has there MIGHT be something in there you need). I don't know about you but I sure would like to start the new year with an awesome freebie giveaway~.

And even though I haven't met her I want to thank her for all that she has done. Chances are in her big world she doesn't even know me but I have followed her progress since around May and have been amazed at how she does it, with 3 kids and a ft job. She has been a huge inspiration to me.

So go to her site, and register to win an awesome freebie~
Blessings,
Mari