wow..alot has changed since I last posted..

Almost a year ago.. gurl is now 17, boy is about to be 16.. man bear has been in school for almost a year and wow, I have a new exciting job!

We are also moving into a new home...more details to follow..I love ya'll and thanks for being on this road of savings with me..

Last years savings was almost 17,000 in sales/coupons and we spent 1700.. not the 1500 I needed but with the new job we ate more 'fast' food...

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