"Excuse me, but those don't double..."

I made my first trip to our local Harris Teeter for Super Double coupon week last night, and I didn't do great, but I didn't do poorly either. The Fayetteville Harris Teeter is not one to frequently restock hot items (like the Leland store did), so I guess unless you're there to beat the doors down at 7am on Wednesday morning, you're just out of luck. I ended up only using 16 of my 20 allowable coupons last night, but I was able to give tips and tricks to shoppers along the way. Grocery shopping would take half as much time if I didn't feel like I was somewhat obliged to help the clueless people clutching coupons in every aisle :)

I must have explained HT's rules and the "coupon game" 10 times last night - "No, you can only use 3 on any given item." "Here, see how this smaller package gives you a greater margin of savings?" "Just because that item is pictured doesn't mean that it's the only thing covered by the coupon....if it says "ANY" such-and-such product, you're free to go." and, my absolute favorite (to some people who I had been talking coupons with in the store...they decided to go for it by pulling the blinkies in the Pillsbury refrigerated bread section...) "Excuse me, but those don't double." (I then, of course, proceeded to tell them that coupons that begin in "5" double while those that begin with "9" never do. I also told them how you can go to Food Lion and pull their blinkies and then bring them to Harris Teeter.)

(UGH...Just lost my list that I had typed due to a Blogger error...not typing it again!)

Total Spent: $24.92
Total Saved: $54.83

Have a great day!


All my love,

Shopping at Walmart with Coupons

This will just be a quick post, but it has some points in it that I thought of while I was cleaning out my coupon book at Wal-Mart the other night.


1) W-M stocks just about EVERYTHING! You know those coupons that have been living in your book for months because you simply can't find the product??? You can probably find them there AND they'll probably be at a good price.

2) You can use as many coupons on an individual item as you would like. Harris Teeter only accepts 3 identical coupons. I used 9 tuna coupons at W-M the other night and walked out with 9 pouches of tuna for $.39 each. Not quite as good as a triples deal, but better than letting those coupons expire on 9/30/10 without being used!

3) Your margin of savings will be lower. It's about  50/50 shot as to whether the Great Value brand or the brand name item plus coupon will be cheaper. You win some; you lose some!

4) It's ESSENTIAL to carry a copy of W-M's coupon policy with you. I had it pulled up on my Blackberry the other night because I forgot to bring my printout and I almost had to use it. The cashier wasn't sure about accepting the blinkies I had pulled from Food Lion, but, thankfully, we were able to get it straightened out without me having to "prove" I was correct.

I hope that something here will help one of you save money! Have a great weekend!!!

All my love,

It's SUPER DOUBLES again...

and slacker me just went for the 1st time this morning.... :-/ There was just an overwhelming amount of work that I needed to do to my coupon book to get it back up to date and I was procrastinating! Last night, though, I made myself sit down and do it, so when I crawled into bed a little before midnight, I knew exactly what my plan was for today!!!

Here's the breakdown of deals I found:

*Hamburger/Tuna Helper (6) - Sale price $1/ea - $.75/3 coupon (doubled to $1.50 off 3) = $1.50/3 or $.50 ea
*Cinnamon Toast Crunch (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Lucky Charms (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Cheerios (2) - $2.50/ea - $1 off 2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Betty Crocker pouch potatoes - $.79 - $.40 coupon (doubled to $.79) = FREE
*Good Earth boxed dinner (2) - $3.50ea - 2 $1.00 off coupons (doubled to $2 off) = $3/2 or $1.50ea
*Progresso Soups (4) - $5.18 or $1.29/.30ea - $1.00 off 4 coupon (doubled to $2 off) = $.79/.80ea
*Campbell Chunky (2) - $1.25ea (and there was a coupon involved here, but I don't remember the amount :( )
*Smucker's Jelly ($2.75)+ Jif to Go peanut butter ($1.99) - $4.74 - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $2.74
*Chef Boyardee (3) - $1/ea - $.35/3 coupon (doubled to $.70) = $2.30 or $.76/.77ea
*Mini chocolate moon pies - $2.00 - $.55 coupon (doubled to $1.10) = $.90
*Libby's pineapple chunks - $1.85ea - $1/2 coupon = $1.70 or $.85ea
*Reduced angus chuck steak - $2.87
*Reduced angus chuck stear - $2.99
*HT Whole Chicken ($.59/lb) - $3.16
*Reduced HT "Pick of the Chicken" - $3.88
*Reduced HT "Pick of the Chicken" - $4.28
*Reduced italian sausage - $2.83
*Reduced apple assortment - $1.54
*Green grapes ($.99/lb) - $2.06
*Reduced bananas - $.95
*Romaine lettuce - $2.49
*Yellow onions - $2.99
*Baby bella mushrooms - $2.79
*HT Whole Grain bread - $.77
*Tombstone Pizza (2) - $6.67 - $1/2 coupon (doubled to $2) = $4.47 or $2.33ea
*Green Giant boxed veggies (6) - $.99ea
*Danactive yogurt (2) - $1.99ea - 2 $1 off coupons (doubled to $1.99) = FREE
*Activia yogurt (2) - $1.99ea - 2 $1 off coupons (doubled to $1.99) = FREE
*HT dozen eggs - $.79
*HT whole milk - $3.19
*Off the Bone lunchmeat - $3.50 - $1 off coupon (doubled to $2) = $1.50

And...because I purchased 20 General Mills products - $6.00 off at the register. Also rec'd catalinas for $3 and $2 off next purchase.

GRAND TOTAL SPENT - $74.34
GRAND TOTAL SAVED - $91.01 (<--and this does NOT factor in a lot of the reduced meats/produce I purchased!!!) :)

Abby and I will probably make a go at it one more time tomorrow...I hope that you have all had a great Super Double week thus far!

All my love,

I didn't even plan the last one:

Good morning everyone!!!!

I have a super deal to share with you (and a few other things!). This week at Harris Teeter, MOST Kellogg's products are 50% off. Also, if you purchase 10 Kellogg's products, it will trigger a catalina (read: those coupons that print off at the register and are handed to you with your receipt) for $10 off your next shopping purchase. (SWEEEEEEET!)


Confession - The girls and I didn't go on Wednesday to take full advantage of this deal. I prefer to just stay home a lot when it's so hot out, but when we were forced to go out on Thursday to drop off our rent check, I decided to swing through the HT. By then, most of the REALLY good priced cereals were gone :( We made the best of it though, and came out alright in the end!!!

Just for the purpose of the final total, there was a box of Cheerios that did not make the image above. It was on sale for $2 and I had a $.50 coupon that doubled to $1.00, making the Cheerios $1.00! There also was a container of Welch's White Grape Juice. It was on sale for $3.00 and I had a $.75 coupon that doubled to $1.50, making the juice's final price $1.50.

• All-Bran - $2.17 - $1 coupon = $1.17
• Special K Protein - $1.74 + Special K Chocolate - $1.75 = $3.49 - $1/2 coupon = $2.49 or $1.25/$1.24 per box
• Mini-Wheats (2) - $2.00/ea - $1/2 coupon = $3 or $1.50 per box
• Kellogg's Pop Tarts (5) - 3 boxes rang at $1.09 and 2 at $1.10, so $5.47 total; 2 coupons applicable to this, each worth $1 = Final total of $3.47 or $.69 per box

The final total of my bill after tax was $13.00 AND I got a $10 catalina, so basically, I got all of that for $3.

Now here's the kicker ... the one I didn't even plan!!!! When I got home and was putting away my Pop Tarts, I noticed a promo on the boxes involving codes for different flavors. I flipped a box over and discovered that if you buy 5 different flavors of Pop Tarts (which I did) and put the codes into their web site, they'll send you coupons for 2 free boxes of Pop Tarts!!!! *happy dance*

A few other frugality-related things I've managed recently:

• At the outlets the other day, I went into Izod and bought my dad a $60 golf shirt for $5!!! It was on clearance for ~$10 (they were getting rid of their summer inventory...I guess they don't realize that we golf in short sleeves pretty much year-round here in the Carolinas???) and when I got to the register, there was a promo for $5 off if you texted a certain combination to their corporate store. Since I already pay for unlimited data and texting on my phone, I really had nothing to lose and, so, at the register, I stood there and texted the numbers and then waited for the return message so I could get my $5 off! :)
• Speaking of maximizing your data plan on your phone - I never pay for Red Box rentals (unless I don't take it back after one day). I stand in front of the kiosk with my phone, looking for rental codes. I just keep inputting codes until I happen across one that works! :)
• At Food Lion last week, they had a few good deals that I couldn't resist! While there, I was perusing through their meat section and noticed that one of the big hams they had was set to "expire" the next day. I picked it up, took it to the meat clerk and said "Were you going to mark this down today??? It's sell-by date is tomorrow." He whipped out his label-maker and stuck another sticker on it!!!! I got a $27 ham for about $7.50! Sometimes, I just can't help myself :) And you should always ask about things like this too! The worst they can say is "no."

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog and that some tip will stick with you!

All my love,

$15.28!!!

My second Super Doubles trip was a bit more tricky, as I have zero freezer space left due to buying all of those frozen pizzas during the first trip. So I had to be a little more creative with this trip, and I actually did NOT max out my 20 coupons because they were sold out of some of the items I was most interested in buying.

Here's my scoop:



Here's how I did it:

*Bisquick (3) - $3.17/ea - 3 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = $1.17/per (<--We go through this stuff like water, so this was a pretty good pick-up for us!)
*Maxwell House coffee bricks (3) - $2.97/ea - 3 $1 coupons(doubled to $2) = $.97/per
*Kitty treats (2) - $2/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3) = $.50/per
*Bag of reduced price apples = $2.06
*Bananas = $1.15
*3 mini-cans of Pillsbury biscuits - $1.00 ea + 1 regular can - $1.39 - 2 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = 3 FREE CANS + 1 can @ $.39
*2 cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls - $1.25 ea - $1 coupon (doubled to $2) = $.25/per
*Yo=Plait Go-Gurt (3) - $2.79/ea - 3 $1 coupons (doubled to $2) = $.79/per (<--These are favorite snacks of both K and A)
*Johnson's Baby Bar (soap) - $1.99 - $1 coupon (doubled to $1.99) = FREE

Total spent = $15.28
Total saved = $35.93 (does not account for reduced price of bag of apples)

All my love,

Helloooooooo Super Doubles!

The girls and I maxed out our 20 coupons this morning and scored some amazing deals!


Here's what we got and how we did it:



*Maxwell House Coffee - $2.97 - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.97
*KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (2) - $2.19(ea) - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.19/per
*Dove deodorant (2) - $3.35/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = $.35/per
*Sure deodorant - $2.89 - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = FREE
*Mystic Pizza (3) - $3.00/ea - $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3.00) = 3 FREE PIZZAS
*Bagel Bites (2) - $2.50/ea - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.50/per
*Tonys Pizza (4) - $1.17/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = $.17/per
*Pillsbury Jr. Biscuits - $1.00/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = 6 CANS OF FREE BISCUITS
*Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls - $1.25/ea - $1.00/2 coupon (doubled to $2.00/2) = $.25/per
*Go-Gurt - $2.79 - $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2.00) = $.79
*HT Milk - $2.27

GRAND TOTAL - $9.25
Savings today - $60.08

Good luck to everyone else! We'll be returning later this week to scoop again!

All my love,

Out of Sync

The past few weeks have left me feeling out of sync with my world of budgeting, couponing, thrifty shopping, and being frugal in general. I am now pretty much forced to shop at our local Food Lion or at the Wal-Mart, with special trips to Harris Teeter being made once, maybe twice, a month. I despise Wal-Mart, so Food Lion has been the big winner and now gets most of my grocery money. The little things though (my coupon binder isn't in line with how their store is arranged, they don't double coupons so I'm constantly stopping myself from seeing "$.60 off" and automatically doubling it to "$1.20 off," etc.) are driving me nuts and I just can't seem to get it together! I took Abby today and we got approximately 1 week's worth of groceries for $43, which is at least $15 MORE than what I used to spend at the Harris Teeter. The good news was that I was able to redeem 6 coupons...the bad news was, I forgot to buy a newspaper while I was there so I could get more coupons!!! I am expecting an envelope from my mom this week, so that will help and I've also been tipped off by my new friends at FayettevilleMommies.com that I should have Scott pick up a copy of Paraglide every Thursday while he's on base. Between getting those items and keeping my will strong, I think I can get back on track by Easter!

I wanted to share these here too:

March 11


March 13


March 16


March 17


March 18


March 21


What we've got there is seedlings of squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, peas, green beans, and pumpkins. I'll keep you all posted on these plants as the year progresses. After seeing green peppers for $1.59 EACH today at the store, this is a harvest I'm really looking forward to!

I hope that you all have a great week! I hope to have a successful week in the world of internet marketing and a quiet week with the kids. We had a big weekend and they'll need their rest. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and then we'll be headed to VA for Easter and then to Wilmington for the Montgomery Gentry concert and the Azalea Festival - time flies when you're having fun!!!

All my love,

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Hello everyone!,

FRIDAY already! Woohoo!!! I can't believe we made it through another week. This will be our first weekend in many that we won't be hitting the road, so I plan to enjoy as much of it as possible with my feet kicked up, hanging out with my family, eating delicious food, and getting ready for next week. We've all been working so hard the last few weeks that it will be heavenly to just turn the phones, computers, and cars off and ENJOY being together.

The purpose of this blog post is to highlight some of the places that *I* go to save (and make) money so that you can decide what would work for you!

1) Obviously, I go to the Sunday coupon section of the newspaper each week, but did you know that I also go through magazines, the Parade section of the paper, the inside of every food box that I use, the store shelves looking for "specially marked packages" when I'm shopping, and the internet looking for great coupons?

2) I collect points...Huggies, Pampers, Wachovia Possibilities rewards, and etc. These kinds of things add up VERY slowly, but they do come in handy about once a year for a $10-$20 gift card. Worth it to me! I'm already buying the product, why not get the points?

3) I collected Swagbucks for awhile, but the search engine just didn't return enough relevant results for me and I haven't made time to do the daily treasure hunt for Swagcodes. This could be fun though if you had enough time to dedicate to it daily!

4) I play the stock market! Thanks to my little brother, I've discovered how much fun it is to watch the ups and downs of the stock market on a daily basis...thanks to text messaging, I also always know when he makes more than me on any given day! This game that we play serves multiple purposes - it teaches us about investing, it makes money (hopefully :) ), and it keeps us aware of what's going on in the broader spectrum of things so that we have an idea of what our other retirement accounts may be doing.

5) I am an Amazon Associate. This program allows me to provide links for specific products or for Amazon.com in general that are embedded with my "code" and that earn cash back on whatever is purchased from the site. I also have a banner ad at the bottom of the main page of my blog that refers you to my aStore, where you can purchase Virginia Tech apparel and accessories! From this program, I've made approximately $20, so it's also a slow earner BUT every $20 helps!!! I didn't have to "work" for that...they basically gave it to me just for referring people to their site! If you decide to do this, expect about a 4% cash back return on purchases. (And if you don't want to do this, but you plan to order anything from Amazon, let me know and I'll give you a link!!! :-D )

6) In addition to checking my receipts, I also check my bills, my bank account, and my insurance policies. I call vendors with any disputes that I have, negotiate with my phone and insurance companies whenever possible, and always ask if there's a promotion available or any other discount that we're not currently getting.

7) We run a household free of pay TV, and have since January 2009. Since making that switch, we've saved approximately $980! We watch free digital channels over the air (and the pictures is in high-definition when available from the provider) and stream other things from the internet. Scott and I both resisted this change for a few months before we made it, but neither one of us really misses very much about receiving a monthly cable/satellite bill. :)

I'm sure I could name a lot more ways that we save/make money, but these items should give you some brain food for today...what can YOU do to help your family?

All my love,

ALWAYS Check Your Receipt!

Hi everybody!!!!!

I hope that you all had a spectacular weekend! Ours was a bit chilly and we have more snow to look forward to this week. The girls are playing quietly right now, so I thought it would be a good time to do a post on the trip that I had to the Harris Teeter yesterday.

I did this one completely right from the start. I made sure that my coupon book was up to date and organized. I sat down with the list of both advertised specials and unadvertised E-VIC ones. I wrote a list (something I have been slacking greatly on lately) stating the product I would buy, the advertised price, the coupon that matched and if there were any restrictions on the coupon (i.e., must buy 2 products to use coupon). For example, I wrote "Gain Laundry Detergent, 50 oz. - $2.99 (-$1.00 coup)." This helps me when I'm in the store and my memory is shot and I'm fumbling with the printed ad, my coupons, and the products in question. The final preparation item that I succeeded at was to leave Katelyn at home and only take Abigail and her backpack carrier with me! :)

When we arrived at the store, I knew there were LOTS of good deals to be had, but I had to have a little talk with myself before going in...something along the lines of "I know that Betty Crocker Warm Delights are on sale and that there's a coupon, but they're not FREE, so get your willpower together because you're going to have to walk right past them if you don't want to be wasting money!" I think I did rather well in the end because I didn't let my focus stray very much from what was on the paper that I had brought with me. Aisle by aisle I scooped on deals (I got 10 Dannon yogurts for $3 after sale + coupon, 2 bags of discounted apples (one for $1.72 and the other for $1.68), 12 double rolls of Angel Soft toilet tissue for $3.99, 3 boxes of Green Giant frozen veggies for $1.80, an 18oz container of Jif peanut butter and a 12.75oz jar of Smuckers sugar free jelly for $2.98, 2 cans of Campbells Chunky soups for $1.20, 10.3 oz of Folgers coffee for $1.99, and 11 oz of Millstone coffee for $1.99, just to name a few). I had figured in my head approximately what the bill would be as I went along, so I was surprised to see that my calculations were almost $10 off when I got to the register. I paid, but before I walked out of the store, I read my receipt. Halfway down the paper, I found the glaring error...the Millstone coffee that I had purchased was an E-VIC special for $3.99, limit 1. I had purchased 1 and had combined their sale with a $2.00 off coupon that I had BUT the cashier had rang my bag up TWICE, causing an extra $8.95 + tax to be added to my bill. I was able to get the money back by going to the Customer Service counter and walked away feeling happy that I had done such a great job shopping and paying attention to what I had bought. Total OOP for the trip (after the refund) was $32.30 and total savings were $45.44.

I have another exciting piece of news to share from this week...my oldest daughter started her first savings account at our credit union. She has been asking to go to Disney World for some time now, and we used most of our meager savings for it while Scott was laid off. So, last week, I rolled all of our spare change and put it with all the cash that she had in her piggy bank and then took her to the bank and the grand total of her first deposit was $118.50! From now on, all of our spare change goes to her bank account, along with any other funds that we can filter away from our general account (like the $9.13 refund that I got from HT). I hope that she's learning important lessons about saving and money (and my tentative goal is to be able to take her to Disney World by next spring). She's already a great couponer, so if I can turn her into a saver too, then my work will be complete.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and if we get snow, I'll post pictures!

All my love,

Killing Two Birds

Hello everyone!

Can you believe it's almost Friday? And after the gorgeous weather we had here last weekend, it was SNOWING this morning!!!

I just had a few thoughts to share with you about how I effectively kill two birds with one stone when I'm shopping:

1) I LOVE the Box Tops for Education program!

When you're using coupons, you're getting great deals on brand name products, but it's as easy as grabbing the scissors to take it one step further! Each Box Top that you collect is worth 10 cents to the school of your choice (and they add up FAST!). If you have no children, or if your children are still too young for school, just drop these off at your local elementary, middle, or high school - they will be glad to get them! For a list of participating products, click here

2) Another good way to avoid throwing away any extra benefits of buying branded goods is to participate in Campbell's Labels for Education program. Just from browsing the 2 web sites, I don't think the payout on this program is nearly as good as the payout on the Box Tops program BUT any little bit helps when you're talking about education! A complete list of products (and point values) is listed here.


3) Finally, as most of you know, Harris Teeter is my absolute favorite couponing venue, and they have their own program that supports education called Together in Education. This program allows you to link your VIC card with the school of your choice and the rewards that you earn will be automatically distributed to that store.

There are many, many other ways that you can support schools or charities when you're doing your shopping!!! The point I'm trying to make is that if you are diligent and creative with how you spend your money, then you should be dedicated to the very end to squeeze as much value as you can on your purchases!

I hope that you all have a great night and a fantastic weekend! I may even have a guest blogger next week - my wonderful husband!


All my love,

Quick Poll

Hey everyone,

Hope that your week is going well! We FINALLY have internet here today, so I will be picking up where I left off with coupon tips and etc. in the near future!

In the meantime, here is a quick poll:

***POLL REMOVED***

I'm just looking for input or any other spectacular ideas that may pop into your head when you think about what I'll be doing!

Have a great day (I'm going couponing in a few minutes!!!)!

All my love,

You Can't Save a Dollar You Don't Have

I was unable to find many outright freebies during last week's coupon promotion at Harris Teeter, and that limited my Super Doubles shopping to only 2 trips. I made the first trip (that I blogged about) and did one more trip on Tuesday, where I cashed in some internet coupons for free Select Harvest soup, free yogurt, dirt cheap coffee creamer (which is a necessity in this house...we don't drink coffee without it!), and some frozen pizza. Money was tight this week because we still needed to pay the January mortgage, and the problems were compounded when Scott's Paypal account that he's had since college was compromised in some sort of Skype fraud ring that's been going on for years. So, hopefully when triples roll around again, we'll be in a better financial position to cash in!!! This week, I have my eyes on Progresso Soups (Buy 2/Get 3), Old Orchard Juices (B2, G3), Smart Balance Popcorn, Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes, some Lysol cleaners, and my usual discount meats and produce.

In the hotel world this week, I finished my monthly newsletter for the employees, was provided with some "Facebook Friends" rates to promote (Click here!), and we decided to participate in the 1st Annual Hospitality Olympics (Click here!). We also discovered that the Friends and Family rates are still available (Click here!) - these are GREAT deals for leisure travel!

Katelyn and Abby have enjoyed going to the pool this week. Both girls are like fish is the water (well, Scott says Abby is...she was too cold to enjoy it tonight when we went) and Katelyn is now doing flips off the wall into the water. Scott and I both think that she'll be doing backflips by the end of the summer! Stay tuned for video of that... :) We're also very excited that it looks like the weather might get a little warmer for the next week so that we can all enjoy being outside more. Both of our vehicles are in desperate need of a wash and the girls could use a few healthy doses of sunshine. Generally, the coldest month in the coastal Carolina area in February, so it will be interesting to see if that holds true for 2010. I would love to see a significant snowfall this winter, but we probably won't luck into that in Wilmington 2 years in a row.

The builders in the neighborhood started building the fence in our back yard today!!! We feel so lucky that we didn't jump the gun and build it ourselves before the had the chance to give it to us for free. :) Perhaps after Scott gets a job we'll finish out fencing in the side yard, but just them doing our back yard will save us a good thousand dollars! I <3 getting things for free!

(BTW, I just lost a bet with my husband...he said CSI had been on for at least 10 years...I said no way...Wikipedia says he wins because the 10th Season premiered in September 2009)

We hope to have an enjoyable weekend getting lots of quality time in with each other and perhaps cooking up the 2nd turkey that I bought pre-Christmas (the price was just THAT good...I had to get 2!). Scott has an interview tomorrow for a short-term contract position and we still have our fingers crossed for something else to come through. I am tired of living off the system and am ready to hang up the money worries!!! I want to just return to being a happy family that works hard so that we can play hard! Maybe soon...who knows?

All my love,

Are you talking about ME?!?!?!

A big thank you to StarNews reporter Shannan Bowen for her shout-out to Dowell Chronicles in her Talk & Squawk blog here. She makes me sound like such a fantastic blogger, and I've only just begun! I do hope that you all enjoy following my blog and my life - you never know what's next for the Dowell family!

Scott has at least one, possibly two, interviews this week. The one that is definite is in Tulsa, OK (boooo :( ) and that will occur over the phone tomorrow. The other potential interview is in Virginia Beach, VA (YAY!!!!). Either option would mean relocating, BUT it would also mean leaving the ranks of the unemployed, which for us is the "greater good." If we move, we'll be faced with the choice of renting our house out for a few years or trying to sell in a pretty significant real estate slump. We have noticed that prices in Leland are starting to creep back up, which is a good sign that we may just be able to walk away with what we put into it (which is all that we want...no profit needed - just no loss, please). We also found out that the builder for our neighborhood is planning to run a fence along the back of our property, which would increase the value if we wanted to sell our house! We'll have many decisions to make in the coming months, and I have no doubt that we'll change our minds many, many times before coming to any final solution. It would just be nice for us to get back to our usual family dynamic where Scott and I each have jobs that contribute to our household's financial success, we each get time alone with our girls, and we each get time alone with our jobs. I know from doing it myself for a year, it's HARD to stay at home with the kids all day, every day...but I will say that Mr. Mom has handled it very well. He even took the kids to the pool by himself tonight!!!

(My Hokies just lost to UNC!!! NOOOOOOO!)

I do plan to print off some internet coupons tonight when I get home so that I can do that segment of coupon shopping during Super Doubles. It's like a scavenger hunt to see what hidden gems you will find buried on different web sites. And on some sites, like coupons.com or smartsource.com, it's all about what zip code you enter - some zip codes get better coupons than others! My only other frugal words of wisdom to impart upon you tonight are these - always check for discount produce and meats! If there was anything WRONG with it, it wouldn't be on the shelves. But, if your family is like mine, a tub of blueberries or a bag of salad can disappear in less than a day, so why pay full price for the freshest stuff the store has to offer? Nope...grab the stuff that has the "sell by" date of tomorrow, save >70%, and enjoy! Scott and I celebrated our anniversary last night by grilling out. We each had a hearty ribeye I had scored from the meat department after it had been marked down multiple times. It was originally priced at $14+ and I paid ~$3.50. YUM!

I'm going to sign off for tonight, but PLEASE keep us in your thoughts this week and I'll keep you posted on our progress!

All my love,

Two Things...

First order of business this evening - Here are the coupon tips that had been given by me via Facebook a while ago:

1. Go to stores that don't double or triple coupons EVER (i.e., Food Lion here in Wilmington). Pull multiple copies of any coupon in a blinkie in the aisles. As long as the first digit on the bar code is "5" the coupon will double or triple...even if it says "Do Not Double" across the front. On coupon forums, these coupons are frequently referred to as "DND5s."

2. Make a friend....in another state! Have your friend send you their inserts!!! Most grocery stores are careful to not have a sale that combines w/ a coupon promo involving coupons you will have been given in your local paper. You'd be surprised what you can get for free (or really really close to free) just by combining out of area coupons with your store's sales!

3. Find a coupon forum - don't feel the need to pay for services like TheGroceryGame.com (they cut into your coupon "profits"!!!). I use hotcouponworld.com because each week (triples, super doubles, or not) they type out the HT ad (in advance of Wednesday morning) and match the items up with known coupons that are in circulation.

4. Get organized!!! Collecting all of these coupons will do you no good if you can't keep track of what you have, what it's worth, when it expires, etc. I have a photo album binder (the 3-ring kind you can add pages to) that I put all of my coupons in. It's roughly arranged by aisle @ HT so I can flip through, grab the coupons, grab the items, and go.

5. Know the rules of the game, and be ready to share. This tip is most handy (in my experience) at Wal-Mart. Every time I go couponing there, I make sure I have a recent printout from their corporate web site that states their EXACT coupon policy. More than once, cashiers have told me that they can't accept my internet coupons and I just whip out the policy and say "oh yes, you can."

Second order of business - I jazzed up my Foursquare account today and created a location for the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. You can become my friend on Foursquare by searching for me here. The venue I created for the hotel is here. Have fun exploring the new technology!!!

All my love,

Day 1 Trip

OK, so Katelyn and I conquered the Harris Teeter this morning and walked out paying $17.67 OOP and saving $50.74! To the best of my memory, here's how it broke down (I didn't write down the matchups while we were in the store, so some things are an estimate).

*Glad Freezer and Storage Bags - I got 6 of these. There was a $1/2 coupon available around Thanksgiving in the store and HT had these as B1G1 this week. Each box was $.65 OOP.

*Heinz Ketchup - They were already sold out of the 20oz variety, so we settled for 14 oz. and paid $.15 OOP.

*Betty Crocker Potatoes - FREE - We had written Betty Crocker after consuming a box of potatoes that was grossly over-salted. They sent us a coupon for another box, as well as another $1 off any 1 General Mills item.

*Betty Crocker Cake Mix - FREE - It was priced at $1.75, but this was the item that we used our General Mills coupon on.

*TBonz dog treats - $.39 - Gotta show some love to my furry friend Dixie!!! :)

*Lysol Wipes - FREE

*Craisins - These weren't a spectacular deal, but they're healthy and I like to put them on my salads! - $.69

*Dawn dish soap - Again, not fantastic, but you do NEED some things! - $.84

*Special K Red Berry cereal - $.50

*Healthy Choice soups (2) - $.50 each

*Crisco Olive Oil - $2.49

*Bumble Bee Chicken - I had a $.75 coupon in my book. My mom had pulled this coupon from a Food Lion and mailed it to me. - FREE

*Gatorade (3) - I let Katelyn talk me into these since she had been such a good helper (and they were marked down to a fair price!) - $.69 each

*Dannon yogurt cups (10) - $.20 each

*Activia yogurt 4-pack - $.50 (I had a $1 off coupon that doubled and they were priced @ 2/$5)

*Gwaltney hot dogs - $.97 - No coupon; just a staple at this house!

From Blogger Pictures

Super Doubles @ Harris Teeter

This is what as I see just going through my coupon collection and getting ready to go check out the rest of the deals at the store:

*Dannon Yogurt - 10/$4 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = 10/$2 or .20/yogurt (GREAT deal)
*(Don't think I'll buy this one) Lean Pockets - 5/$10 or $2 per -->$1 off 3 (doubles to $2 off 3) = $1.33/meal
*(Just a good deal) Crisco Olive Oil - $3.99 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $2.49
*Heinz Ketchup - $1.67 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $.17
*Healthy Choice Soup - 4/$5 ($1.25 per) -->$.75 off 2 (doubles to $1.50 off 2) = $1/2 or $.50 each
*Special K Cereal - $2.50 -->$1 off (doubles to $2 off) = $.50
*(Not buying this one) Post Honey Bunches of Oats - 2/$6 -->$1 off 2 (doubles to $2 off 2) = 2/$4 or $2 each
*Hillshire Farm Lunchmeat - $3.33 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $1.83
*(Not buying this, but you might need it) Kleenex Facial Tissue - $1.50 each -->$.50 off 3 (doubles to $1.00 off 3) = $1.16 each
*Lysol Wipes - $2 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = FREE


Super Doubles is particularly time consuming in the store because a lot of times, you'll find deals that don't match up with what is "on sale." I plan to go either today or tonight and scope out the deals and will post my pictures and my OOP (out of pocket) spending. I am very excited to be opening my 2010 couponing with such a potentially great event!


All my love,

Pulling from every resource

So with the holiday season being upon us, and Scott being out of work, we've had to GREATLY scale back our Christmas budget this year. We are not exchanging presents with any adults and our giving to our children has been threatened as well. Thankfully, we have lots of wonderful people in our lives who love our children and who are helping to keep the magic of Santa alive, but we still wanted to get a few things for our kids. Last night Scott and I went out on a date and did some Christmas shopping and here's what we did (and how we did):

Applebee's Dinner - $20 gift card from the hotel where I work at that I received on my birthday; roughly $15 out-of-pocket for beverages and tip
GameStop - $20 for 3 Gameboy Advanced games (which is the platform we're moving Katelyn to because the VSmiles have been the WORST purchases ever - not durable whatsoever; got a GBA on gamestop.com for $19.99)
Gap Kids - Matching hoodies and socks for Katelyn and Abigail - $25 gift card from Wachovia Rewards; $3 OOP
JC Penny - Scooby Doo pajamas for Katelyn - $10 coupon from the mail; $4 OOP
Barnes and Noble - Lift the Flap Danny Dozer Christmas book for Abigail - $10 gift card from Wachovia Rewards; $.50 OOP

TOTAL OOP - $42.50 ($62.50 if you add in the GBA from gamestop.com)

I had gone to Goodwill earlier and purchased a Hannah Montana shirt for Katelyn ($2.49) and several books for the kids (ranging in price from $.25-$.75/each).

Also, I made my first Amazon.com referral fees yesterday and have started collecting SwagBucks in hopes of trading them in for gift cards for use in Christmas 2010. We're tapping every resource this year to make sure that, to the best of our abilities, our kids have an awesome visit from Santa!

Bringing it all together

In this fast-paced, multi-outleted internet world that we have created, I hope to use this blog to just keep it ALL together. I will talk about things ranging from my wonderful family to my job to my famous coupon tips!!!

I am a 25-year-old mom of 2 beautiful girls. The oldest, Katelyn, is 4 and she is a great companion and we have had many great adventures together over the years. She is currently into all things Hannah Montana and can't wait to start kindergarten next fall. My baby, Abigail, is now 1 and I'm enjoying seeing her personality develop more and more every day. She's just starting to walk and has developed quite the vocabulary (much more than I remember her sister having at that age). I have been married for almost 5 years to my soul mate, Scott. We met in September, 2002 through a mutual friend and have been inseperable ever since. We both graduated from Virginia Tech and thoroughly enjoy every minute we are lucky enough to be in Blacksburg these days. We love to travel, play board games, hike, try our hands at gourmet cooking, camp, watch Harry Potter, and just have "family time."

With Christmas coming in less than 20 days, this is a very special time of year for our family to reflect on being truly thankful for the gifts that we have been given - our good health, a loving family, great friends, & opportunities to grow and succeed in work and in life. I have spent the last 5 years puttering in the hospitality field and have recently gone back to work full-time following Scott's layoff from S & ME, Inc. I am very blessed to have a job that I love and it's amazing to be the one trying to stay on the cutting edge of new technology (like figuring out all things Google Wave - jessicawdowell@googlewave.com). Older technology is still fun (http://www.twitter.com/portcityhokie ... http://www.facebook.com/jessicadowell ). And things I don't have access to yet (http://www.foursquare.com/) are a beacon on the horizon - constantly reminding me of why I love being in social media. I am hoping to get the opportunity to manage multiple hotels' social and internet marketing programs; stay tuned for details on that.

I also am a pretty thrifty person and 110% believe in the old motto - "watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." I LOVE to use coupons when grocery shopping and would never, EVER, make a purchase online without searching for "promotional codes" first. I also enjoy making great finds on the side of the road on garbage day! I'm not likely to buy the latest trend just because everyone else is buying it, and when the money runs out, it's gone. We live within our means and that means no cable TV, no fancy new cars, no new wardrobe every season, no replacing appliances just because a better version has been developed, etc.

I hope that you will enjoy following us on our journeys through this blog. It's always fun to see where life will take the Dowell family!