Whew!!!

Hi everyone!!!,

Just wanted to give a brief update about what the goings-on in our family have been since the last blog post. We have been extremely busy for the past few weeks, touring the mid-Atlantic from the mountains of Virginia to the coast of North Carolina. We spent Easter in Virginia visiting with some family there and we just spent an amazing week in Wilmington with our family and friends there!!! I don't have time for a big blog post right now, but for a little humor (and since I'm currently being annoyed by them...)



I hope that you all had fantastic weekends as well - I will post some pictures tomorrow!

All my love,

First Triples Trip!

This morning the girls and I loaded up and headed for Fayetteville's one and only Harris Teeter. I had my coupons printed and ready and we were all very excited about how much we were going to save! We ended up spending $23.61 OOP and "saving" $53.64. I feel like we could've done better if more items had been in stock, like the Worcestershire sauce, the egg noodles, and the Rozini noodles I wanted, for instance. I suppose next time I'll have to do a midnight excursion!

However, here are some of the better deals we got today:

*HT fresh boneless, skinless chicken breast - B1G2 - $8.64 OOP for 5.2 lbs
*1 box each of Corn Pops, Froot Loops, and Apple Jacks - I had pulled coupons for $.70/box from Food Lion, which doubled to $2.10 off, so each box rang at $1.09 - AND since I puchased 3 Kelloggs items, it triggered a Catalina at the register for a free gallon of milk on our next visit :) :) :)
*Frank's Hot Sauce - $2 - $1.50 coupons = $.50 OOP
*Carnation Evaporated Milk (2 small cans) - $.69/each = $1.38 total - $1.50 coupon - FREE
*Sun Detergent - $2.99 - $2.25 coupon = $.74 OOP
*Oral-B Kids toothpaste (we were out...no choice on needing this!) - $2.49 - $1.50 coupon = $.99 OOP
*Bananas = $1.63 OOP
*Reduced Apples ($.49/lb) = $2.88
*Earthgrains bread - $2.50 - $1.65 coupon = $.85 OOP
*Totinos pizza (3) - $1.25ea or $3.75 for 3 - $1.80 coupon = $1.95 or $.65/ea
*Country Crock stick butter (4) - B1G1 @ $1.39 - 2 coupons for $1.20 off, so each pound of butter cost me roughly $.10 OOP
*Danactive yogurt - this is the one I don't remember what the coupon amount was...I know the final OOP was less than $1...sorry!
*CoffeeMate (2) - $2/ea or $4.00 total - Had 2 coupons which tripled to $2.25 off each, so FREE!

I hope that this will help some of you to identify the items you need and that you can get GREAT deals on! I am anxiously awaiting coupons both from a friend in Wilmington, from my mom, and from tomorrow's Paraglide, but for tonight, I'll be printing again and hoping to find some more steals on my next trip! Good luck to everyone else!!!

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,

Ready, set, go!

Hi everyone,

I hope that your Monday was a great one! I was very productive today! After waiting through the move and then for my internet to get turned on at the rental house, I finally am making great strides towards becoming a small business owner! I didn't know before doing it for the Holiday Inn Express that I was so passionate about marketing, but I'm glad that I found what it is in life that I truly enjoy doing. I love meeting new people. I love helping people get what they want from an experience in a hotel or a restaurant. And I love staying on the cutting edge of all new technologies!!!

Yesterday I designed the logo for my company:



The colors are simple and I really liked the font because it seemed to play well off of the pineapple (which, if you don't know, is the international symbol of hospitality). I like this banner-style logo the best, but I had to modify it a little to "square" it up for my Twitter and Facebook avatars:



Considering that I am by no means a professional graphic designer and that I was only using Microsoft Publisher, I think they turned out rather well! BTW, I'm beta-testing Office 2010 right now, and I like it a LOT. It's a lot like Office 2007 with the tabs and etc., but the programs seem to be more anticipatory of what you may be trying to do and there are more shortcuts available on the documents you are working with.

Today I created a Facebook fan page for my new business. I also printed the articles of organization for becoming a limited liability company and applied for a federal EIN. Tomorrow, I hope to file my papers at the county courthouse and after that, I hope to obtain lots of new business!!! (If you know anyone that is in need of my services, please give me a referral - I'm hypothesizing that 95% of my work will probably come from people who know somebody else that is in need.)

Thank you so much for the support you've already given me on this venture and I look forward to keeping you posted via this blog and on Facebook, Twitter, and my future web site!

Have a great evening!

All my love,