1st Shopping Trip of 2012

It's 2012! I thought I would start things off right by actually blogging about my first trip of the new year. This girl has got to get better at this. I haven't blogged since the beginning of November. We are still enjoying family time so we went grocery shopping, out to eat, and then to see Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked. We went to County Market, CVS, Walgreens, and Staples. Here's how we did;

County Market: Oh how I love the Penny Pinchers and then I'm almost giddy when I have a Manufacturer Coupon to pair with it!

Bob Evan's Sausage (2) x $1.99= $3.98- $0.55MC-$0.35MC= $3.08 or $1.54/lb

Tomato Juice (2) x $0.88= $1.76 

Westpac Veggies (3) x $0.77-$0.35MC= $1.96 or $0.65 per bag

Red Gold Tomato Sauce (5) for $1.00

Yotastic Yogurt (4) x $0.25= $1.00

Total Spent with tax: $8.90 Total Saved: $12.94 or 60%

Walgreens:

I did 4 transactions and had the most pleasant cashier ever!! I love nice people!

1. Lichi Probiotic $9.99 get $9.99 RR back= FREE

Total $10.09 Savings: $13.00 got my $10RR

2. General Mills Cheerios 4/$10 - $2MC= 4/$8  get $3RR back

eos Lip Balm $2.99 get $2RR back

Used my $10RR from #1

Total: $1.29  Savings: $21.66 got $5RR back

3. Head and Shoulders 2/$9- $2MC  get $2RR back

filler: chocolate Santa $0.25

Used $2RR (made a rookie mistake and forgot about my other $3RR)

Total: $5.87 Savings: $7.32  got $2RR

4. Vick's DayQuil $5.99-$1MC

filler: chocolate Santa $0.25

Used $2RR

Total: $3.32  Savings: $6.34

Overall Total: $20.57  Total Savings: $48.32 or 58%

I have $3RR for my next trip. Still kicking myself for not using it this time.

CVS:

Puffs (3) x $0.99-$0.25 = $2.72

Dawn Dishsoap (2) x $0.99- $0.25MC-$0.50MC= $1.23

Used my $2 ECBs from my last trip

Total Spent: $2.28 Total Saved: $7.00 or 78%

Staples:

If you are a coupon printer then this is a deal for you!

Hammermill Copy Paper 500ct $5.99 get a $4.99 Easy Rebate

This makes the paper $1.00!!!

At the register you will pay $6.39 with tax

Then your rebate paperwork will print and all you have to do is fill it out and send it by mail or online. Your check will come in a few weeks and you don't have to use it at the store. They literally give you your money back. You couldn't ask for a better deal!

It was a great shopping day and I couldn't have asked for better helpers. If you are looking for a good family movie Chipwrecked was really cute!

Homemade Baby Wipes Update

So, the baby wipes were an epic FAIL! There are 2 reasons for this;

1. The paper towels were junk. I should have used Bounty or Viva. They just fell apart when I pulled them out of the container and were not strong enough to clean a dirty bum. It just made a bigger mess.

2. I made them on the 25th of October and they molded on the 1st of November. That only gives you a one week window of use. We don't use wipes that fast so, this is not cost effective for us at all.

It's a great idea but if you don't use tons of wipes it really isn't worth it. I didn't even use half of the wipes. So, for now we will stick to our Up and Up Hypoallergenic wipes from Target.

Homemade Baby Wipes

I just made something off of my "To Try" list. They are homemade baby wipes made with just TWO ingredients; water and coconut oil. It was ridiculously easy and took all of 5 minutes. Now, we have to test them on lil man's bum. He has really sensitive skin. If these work I will totally kick myself for not making them sooner! If they don't work for him then I can use them for removing my makeup. It's a win/win situation! Don't you just love it when you can use a product for more than one thing? It makes my life even simpler and there's less to buy. If you would like to make your own click Here for the tutorial. I'll keep you posted on how well they work.

Pumpkin Spice Brown Sugar Scrub

Nothing says Fall like Pumpkin Spice and Brown Sugar. I am loving making my own homemade beauty products. Especially, when I have the ingredients right here in my house. No special products to buy or extra trips to the store. I found this recipe for this sugar scrub here . This is a wonderful blog full of great ideas that I can't wait to try. Some other things that I will be trying from Stephanie's blog are;

Reed Diffuser

Scented Room Spray

Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub

Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

These are great gift ideas! Click here to check out Stephanie's Blog. You won't be disappointed.

Preschooler Picture Chore/Daily To Do List

Lil man is in a helping/do it myself stage. So, I decided to make him a chore chart. Since he can't read yet I wanted pictures. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find what I wanted. So, I got out my camera and took pictures of his world to make it more personal for him.

After I took the pictures I edited them and added text. I printed them out on our printer and then laminated them. It's the first step. I'm trying to decide what I want to do next. I am still short the "say your prayer" pic but, will have that soon. I would love to hear any suggestions.

Super Goop

I really like the book, The Preschooler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. The activities, crafts, and recipes are simple and non-expensive. They aren't time consuming either. It's very mom friendly. We recently made the Super Goop found on p.211

You can place it in a freezer bag for no mess play. It's fun to squish. Little fingers love it. This would also be quiet enough for church. I'm always in need of quiet toy inspiration.

You can also use it for tracing letters and shapes.

Super Goop:

2 cups water

1/2 cup cornstarch

Food coloring

Boil water in saucepan. Add cornstarch and food coloring and stir until smooth. Let it cool and have fun!

Family Photos

We haven't had family photos since lil man was 1. He will be 3 next month! My mom came down and it was perfect out for family pics. After and hour and a half I still have no family picture. At first I cried. Now, I'm just laughing because who really can get a 3 year old to take a perfect pic?  I would love to hear if you've had a similar experience. Please don't tell me I'm totally alone in this. So, here's a lil taste of our pics.

Crying

Walking Away

Put me down!

I am seriously contemplating hanging the first one.