Couponing at Target and CVS

I only went to CVS and Target this week to utilize my coupon deals..

CVS:
2 All Laundry detergents 7.79(bogo) saved 7.79
1Coke 2 ltr .79 saved 1.08
1 Pringles can .99
-1/1 Pringles CVS coupon
-2 1/1 All coupons
-5.99 ecb
.58 oop saved 17.86!! saved around 97%!!

Target
Xhilaration bed skirt 12.99
Tissue holder 14.99
2 Up and UP wipes @1.54 each 3.08
Dawn dish soap 2.84
Glade Candle 2.50
Merona tee clearance 2.50 was 10.00
Kids shorts clearance 3.24 was 12.99
Bounty Paper towels 10.49
Bounty Napkins 3.29
2 Rayovac Batteries @ 6.39 each 12.78
 ______________________________
-10/1 Xhilaration bedding(target.com)
-10/1 bathroom furnish coupon(target.com)
-1.00 2 .50/1 Target baby items(target.com)
-2.84 free dawn wyb bounty target coupon
-2.50 FREE coupon glade
-1/1 bounty paper towels manu coupon
-3.29 free napkins wyb bounty promo
-2.00 1/1 x2 Rayovac coupons
-4.07 Target red card savings
36.07oop retail price was around 115! saved 69%!!

For buying 2 Rayovac I also saved 6.00 when we take the kids to see Cars2!

Whats for dinner?!

I posted my meal plan a week or two ago and I had a few comments/emails asking for recipes.  I get A LOT of my recipes from boredom and not having many ingriedents and just playing around in the kitchen OR All You magazine! Here are the two I was asked for straight from ALL YOU!

Chicken Fried Rice

Turkey Sloppy Joes

All You is great for freebies, coupons and great articles it takes a lot for me to regularly read a magazine and this is one Ive had coming to the house for years now!

Chickens at around 2 months!

I realized its been a while since I updated on the chickens..They are around 8 weeks old I think..Ive lost count...

These cute little fluff balls are now....

these feathery dirt bathing chickens :)

The chickens have been outside for about a week and a half now and are doing VERY well! 

They love to get outside

They tolerate the kids very well also which is great!

We read about one taking a dominant role and not laying, protecting basically acting as the rooster and the one I called Hawk seems to have taken over this roll.

They are super easy to care for a giant bag of food costs us around 13 dollars and will last us about 1.5-2 months.  The shavings are pine and a huge bag will last us around a month which is about 4.00!  We plan on using grass clippings, mulch basically anything we can get for free! 

Barnes and Noble clearance event!

Barnes and Noble is having a huge clearance blow out sale! I was able to grab a lot of books for .99, 1.99 and 2.99 saving up to 80% on books! 

These would make great stocking stuffer, a advent activity at Christmas time or just a reward for good behavior! If you spend 25 dollars you get free shipping!  Also use code: L7C8F9D for 15% off one item!

I spent 25.39...the retail cost would have been..just under 81 dollars!  I will share some of these with my mom and we will be able to give the kids a great gift for a very minimal cost!

Rudolph Day June

Organized Christmas does a great thing the 25th of every month to get you organized for Christmas!  I love this.  Around this time of year I really start thinking of what I need, want, etc for the kids and the people we shop for!  The past few weeks Ive been focusing on making my Holiday Organizer!  This includes my shopping list for Stocking Stuffers, ideas for gifts for the kids, my mom etc.  Going through the closet and seeing who I have gifts for and who I do not! Checking over budgets, lists etc.

Stocking Stuffers:

-Aubrey is done
-Casey has 1 thing
-Trev has 2-3 things

I also will need candy which I will be able to get for cheap money at the drug stores!

GIFTS:
I have all of our cousins, nieces and nephews either done or have a list of gift cards I need to buy.  I am hoping to wait to get promos like save 5 wyb i tunes gift cards or free groceries or ECB when you buy gift cards to maximize my spending v savings!

I have my mother started not a thing for my brother but he knows he needs to make a amazon list for me :)

My kids I am sure I will have stuff set aside in the gift closet but I am waiting to see how much they get and what they are into after their birthday parties in the summer/fall!  I went through the gift closet and managed to get their birthdays all set.  It was a relief I did not have to shop for them.

Budget:

I set our budget accordingly and hope we stick to it this year.  We also requested the day off for Black Friday for Jeff however a few guys have it off already so we are hoping he gets it as well or I will be shopping alone:(

Gift Wrap:

We have gift wrap all set as well as boxes, bags and bows..I may need tags as last year I just labeled gifts Aubrey princess tag, Casey mickey tag and Trev Snoopy it was so nice not to write and the kids looked for their character and started ripping apart!I stocked up last year at the end of season and scored all my paper for 75% off!

Next month the stores will start offering Christmas in July a kick start into the holiday season maybe there will be some great deals to be had!

A little extreme couponing at Shaws and CVS

I am not as gung ho about getting out and getting the deals as I used to be.  Of course now everyone and their mom is a "couponing queen"!  I have more rain checks then coupons I feel like some days.  I know this will pass..people will burn out, get sick of the work etc.  I didnt get everything on my list but I got most and the rest I have rain checks for and I am happy with that.

Shaws:

6 Hood Ice Cream 2/5 15.00
2 Natures Valley Bars 2/ 4.00
8 Gatorade @ .88 7.04
1 Almond Milk 3.59
Bananas 1.39
-3.00 1/2 Hood coupons
-.55 Almond milk dbld 1.10
-20.00 catalina from buying 100 in gift cards last week.
1.92 oop saved 43.98!

CVS:
1 q tip .57 reg 2.28
1 Bliss Chocolate 5.99
1 Gain dish soap .97 reg reg 1.77
-6.00 ECB
-1/1 Bliss coupon
.53 oop earned 5.99 ECB! I saved 7.80 this trip!

Well its been a year already that Trev has been in school!  Wow this year went by amazingly fast!

1st day of school

He went in not knowing how to read a word!  He knew what his name, letters, shapes colors etc looked like.  He is now reading entire books!  He knows so many sight words for the K and 1st grade requirements.  He writes and illustrates his own stories.  Hes really become into his own little person this year.  We had a few issues with him not listening the past 2 months but other then that he was a perfect kid and a great student!

Trev on his last day!

I am so excited to start this summer....I cannot wait to sleep in, hang out by the pool, do whatever we want whenever we want, use less gas and so many other perks of summer :)  Here in New England the kids have a super short summer we go back in 70 days so we are going to make the best of it!

Last Day 2011

First Day of school 2010

Weekly weigh in week 29

This was a good/bad week!  A few days I did not eat enough or I ate to much salt!  The scale was rather wonky all week but I did lose!  I am so close to 50 pounds loss I can taste it!  I really wanna hit 50 pounds by July 4th weekend!!

I went to the gym and really pushed it this week and was sore!  I had trouble lifting what was becoming easy before.  However I did my 3 sets of 12 on 3 machines each for my core and arms!  I only got in 7.4 miles this week.  Trevor is done with baseball and school is done in 3 days so I should be able to get a good routine going soon!

My hope is 2 mornings a week wake up and run 3-4 miles, 2 gym days doing a mile warm up and some other cross training machine as well as weights, finally one longer run 4-6 miles on Saturday or Sunday!  That will give me around 12 miles at least and 1800 calories burnt in running alone!  I could really hit the road running and get to my goal.

A person of my height and age should be between the weight of 118-159 pounds!  I would like to get to just a healthy bmi for October 22( my one year anniversary of starting this LONG process of weight loss) Then my hope is by years end to hit 149 my personal goal!  I know thats only 10 pounds under the higher weight limit.  But I am built a little different I think considering my weight to height ratio is .48 and anything under .50 is good and my body fat % is close to being in the healthy range so I think that 10 under the higher requirement will be good enough for me!


I started this wanting to be a 8/10 in clothing and Im in a 10 now so I know with 27 more pounds I will probably be more a 6/8 which will be amazing cause even in highschool I was only a 8/10!  I cannot even imagine being better off health and weight wise now a mother of 3 and a lot older then when I was 16 :)

This weeks loss: 1.2  pounds!!

Total weight loss: 45 pounds


Goals:

-hitting 50 pounds lost: 5 to go!!

-1 year anniversary of weight loss healthy bmi goal(10/22) 17 to go!


-new life time goal 27 to go!

$100 June meal plan!

Target

 paper plates, wipes, liners, foil, 2 ds games, 1 wii game, asprin

21.42 oop saved 51.70

CVS

Pepsi .99 (one day sale)

Coloring book .75

Spent 1.74 saved 6.24

Walmart

Jeffs lunches, sour cream, eggs, almond milk, reg milk, watermelon, bananas, fruit snacks, peas, corn, cookie mix, 90 cal brownies, mac and cheese, mio enhancers

used a gift card for most 

4.88 oop saved 57.91 by returning a lot of stuff we didn't need around the house!

Market Basket

Chicken, lunch meat, butter, squash, popsciles, sandiwch thins, lunch for Jeff, chicken pattys for jeff, batteries. 

45.00 oop saved a lot by going to Market Basket

So I have 13 days left in the month and have spent 73.04 so I have to make 26.96 last for the rest of the month which I dont think will be a problem as I am all set for the week :)

Weekly Weigh in Week 28

I havent updated in a few weeks but I have been losing! I cannot WAIT to get back to the gym!  Ive been going once a week if I am lucky but baseball is over this week so I can go back to Monday, Wednesday and Friday routine!

However I may change it up...Sunday is my long run day, Monday is typically a 1 mile run with the eliptical or arc and weights, Wednesday will need to be a mix of running, eliptcal and biking and then Friday is a day to run outside!  I hate running on the treadmill and I just wanna enjoy running outside while I can! I am super excited to get back to the gym though Im losing muscle tone in my arms and legs and I hate it.

However I think thats why my weight loss slowed down for a while..I was gaining tons of muscle, losing tons of inches but not much weight! I am hoping to get into the 160's by July 1st!  That means SUPER strict on my eating habits and LOTS of working out! I would have to lose 7.3 pounds or 2.4 pounds a week!  I am typically not a fan of losing more then 2 pounds a week but I want to get into the 160's bad so I can really work on my toning....

This weeks loss: 5 pounds!!

Total weight loss: 43.8 pounds


Goals:

10% 
Caseys Pre Pregnancy weight:  2.4 to go!
Summer 2008 goal: 1.8 to go
-hitting 50 pounds lost: 6.2 to go!!

  life time: 22.2lbs to go!

Planning ahead..shopping sales!

The sales right now are pretty good!  Stores are trying to get rid of their summer stuff already to make room for the fall I guess. 

Gymboree is having a up to 70% off red balloon sale, plus 20% off coupon in Family FUN!  Also spend 50 get a 25 dollar coupon to use at a later date!  I was able to find hats, long sleeves, pants, jackets etc.  I had a HUGE bag full of about 300 dollars worth of clothes for 50 dollars! Buy now for next year!

Yankee Candle is having their jarnourmous sale!  I was able to get 4 medium sized tumblers, a nice candle holder, 3 packs of tea lights, 8 votive/tarts for 39.00 OOP!  I used 2 of the 10/25 coupons as well as the sale the items we worth around 160.00!!  I will use some of what I bought for a beautiful gift basket at Christmas time!

Bath and Body is having their huge YELLOW duck sale!  Lots of items are 75% off!! I was able to score a lot today for only 32 dollars after sales and the 10/40 coupon.  Again I will use some for the house and some will make a nice Christmas basket.  The total retail for these items was around 200!!

I also stopped into JCP and they were handing out 10/25 coupons!  A great coupon!!  I had a 10/10 mailer coupon that I used for a work out top only spending 7.99 oop!

My targets are changing over and I have found nice home decor items, clothing, kids toys etc all 75% off!

Always keep an eye out its a great way to save tons of money!

June meal plan!

I haven't been meal planning due to Casey's allergies we were constantly trying lots of different meals, ingredients etc.  We also have been eating out A LOT!!  Its gotta stop!  Summer time is our cheaper time in life and Jeff actually makes the most money :)  So right now we are gonna start planning ahead for the winter when work gets slow, 3 kids have birthdays, and the holidays of course!  In return less eating out, using up the stockpile for the month of June!

According to our meal plan we have 20 nights left, 3 of which we will be away, have parties etc so I am not accounting for those days!

Burger Night(3)
Grilled chicken(1)
Meatballs with noodles(1)
Meatball subs(1)
Spaghetti(1)
Turkey Sausage on a roll(1)
Sausage with Peppers and Onions(1)
Sausage with veggies and bowties(1)
Turkey Sloppy Joes(1)
Chicken Fried Rice(1)
Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings(1)
Taco Casserole(1)
Tacos(2)
Breakfast(1)
DiGiorno(1)

Now if I stick to the plan all I will need is milk, fresh and frozen veggies and fruit, Tortilla Chips, Breakfast Sausage, Milk, Almond Milk and eventually lunch meat and Jeff's lunches when he doesn't take left overs!  I am leaving the remaining months budget at 100 dollars!  I hope to come in under but we shall see fresh fruits and veggies often kill our budget!

Do you meal plan?  Do you ever have these months where you make your plan around what you have trying to buy as little as possible?

JCP 10/25 coupon

This coupon is good this weekend but I LOVE these coupons!  A great way to score some really great deals if you pair with sales, clearance etc!

LINK

Gardens 2011

The gardens are planted.....My husband built me a garden box for my birthday and I love it!

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, peppers, and strawberries as well as lettuce!

Blueberries, flowers, brocolli, onions, lettuce and carrots

It is our goal this yea to clean up all this area!  I want it all down to dirt!

this side yard has quite a few trees we want to take down as well as clean out the weeds

such over growth it will take at least a summer or two to get the job done!

kids play area mulched...just waiting for grass to come in!

SO MUCH OVERGROWTH!

Our side yard...the chicken coop, table and chairs and a nice small garden with boxwoods and roses!

excuse the tarps they blew off during the wind storm

Our downstairs entrance!

  Now that you have seen the awful back yard check out the front!  We have spent the past few years cleaning it up and getting it acceptable!  I really cannot believe how far along its come!

a few giant weeds in there but it looks great

grass which wasnt here the first year as well as the little flowers in my front yard

as you pull up lots of grass, flower beds, flower boxes :)

close up I cant wait for vinyl siding

front of the house all the lillies and bigger plants!

So now its all planted or popped back through!  Its all mulched!  Now we need to just clean up the side yard which should take us all year!