Mommin' It Up!

October 11, 2008October 11, 2008

Getting Paid to Shop Never Gets Old!

It was a great week for deals at CVS AND Walgreens this week. And then, whaddya know, Kroger decided to jump in and play! Crazy! Here’s what I got!

I got this at Walgreens. The cleaners were 2/$5 and there was a $1 rebate back on each. I had $2 off printable manu coupons for the Scrubbing Bubbles and Windex (I LOVE Windex Antibacterial!) and $1.50 off for the Fantastik. I also bought some Chewy Spree for 89 cents cause I loves me some Chewy Spree. My total with tax was $21.94, after coupons it was $5.94. I put $3.99 on my rebate gift card and paid $1.95 cash. With my 10% bonus, I will get back $6.60 in rebates. Woohoo! The rebates covered tax and the Spree, so it was all FREE plus a little bit of overage!

Also at Walgreens this week, I spend some register rewards and used my gift card to buy this stuff:

I had a $2 off q for the Rimmel and for the L’Oreal, both of which were free after rebate. The Energy shots were also free after rebate, and the Huggies wipes were clearanced to 74 cents! (Sadly, I had coupons for these AT HOME! D’oh!) Anyhoo, I used a $5 register reward and put $12.35 on my rebate gift card and will get back $18.47 in rebate PLUS a 10% bonus! Yay!

Ok, now on to Kroger! Thanks to Glade and P&G for this great deal!

The Glade Plug-in Scented Oil warmers were $4.49, but if you bought one you got a $4 catalina to use on your next order. I had TWO b1g1 free coupons for these. So, I bought two, paid $5.12 including tax, an got back $8 worth of catalinas. I then did the same transaction again, and used one of those $4 catalinas to pay. So I paid $1.12 including tax, and got back another $8 in catalinas. CRAZY! Then, I bought the other stuff:
Febreze Noticables $6.89- minus $5 coupon from P&G BrandSaver insert and minus $5 e-coupon loaded on my Kroger plus card = $3.11 OVERAGE!
The Huggies baby washes were clearanced a $1.65, I used three $1 off manu q’s.
The Pantene was $3.34 each. I used two $1/1 manu q’s from the P&G insert and the B1G1 free e-coupon loaded on my Kroger plus card paid $1.67 for both. (of course the overage from the Febreze took care of this cost!)
The Suave body washes were 3/$5, and I used two B1G1 free manu q’s
The Pampers wipes were $2.59, and I used a 50 cents off manu q (doubled to $1) and the 25 cents off e-coupon loaded on my Kroger plus card.
I used one of the remaining $4 catalina’s to pay and my pre-tax total was 18 cents!! With tax it was $2.09 for all that, bringing my out-of-pocket total to $8.33…BUT I still have $8 in catalinas I haven’t spent yet! OOT OOT!!!

CVS was very good to me this week, too! Since I’ve already bored you to death with savings, I’ll just show you one transaction.

Let me just say before you ask that MY CVS ACCEPTS COMPETITOR COUPONS!
Breeze 2 Glucose meter $14.99
Milk $2.99
Bic Soleil cartridges $5.99
Vitamin water $2.29
Nutripals bars clearance $1.50

Total = $27.76

Coupons: $5/$25 Family Dollar competitor coupon
$3/$15 CVS q
up to $30 off Breeze manu q (adjusted to $14.99)
$1 off Nutripals manu q
Total = 3.77

I paid with 3 ECB and 77 cents cash and got back 16.29 ECB! 10 for the meter, 2.29 for the Vitamin water, and 4 for the Soleil cartridges. Wootie hootie! I loves getting paid to shop!!

Well that is all for me this week, for more great savings, head over to Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!

October 10, 2008October 10, 2008

A SAHM’s Day in Numbers

Today was one of those draining days. It wasn’t particularly bad, and it had it’s sweet moments, but it left me, in a word, depleted. My husband had to work late and didn’t get home until 7:45. The kids badly needed a bath, and he usually takes the lead on that, but tonight, since he was going to be late I just did it, because they were starting to look pretty funky. As I dried Joshua off and watched the last of the bath water twirl and swirl down the drain like an aquatic ballerina, I saw the last of my energy go with it. I could feel it seeping out of my body, trying to pull my body with it. At that moment, I was so tired, curling up fully-clothed in the fetal position in the damp tub actually sounded real, real good.

Somehow I summoned the energy to get my two clean, yummy-smelling kiddos PJed and back downstairs, where I gave them each a cookie and plopped wearily on the couch. I wanted to become one with that couch. As I loafed in my exhausted state I urged my tired mind to come up with a reason, a rationale for why I felt so whooped. Although I’m not a math nerd like some people I know (*cough*Charles*cough), some numbers begin popping into my head. First, I thought of 4: the number of times I’ve swept the same living room floor where the kids have dropped food crumbs. Then other numbers just starting bouncing off my brain, breaking my day down into the minutiae whose sum = exhaustion.

7:30 the time I got up to get the kids ready for homeschool co-op
8:15 the time I decided the kids were too sick to go to co-op
37 (ish) the number of times I’ve wiped the kids noses today
3 the number of times I’ve watched various episodes of Word World
13 the number of goodie bags I made for some foreign college students in our area
5 the number of times Sophie pulled my hair out of my ponytail
6 the number of deep breaths I took to keep from yelling
2 the number of fish sticks Joshua ate for dinner
2 the number of fish sticks Joshua didn’t eat for dinner
3 the number of meals Sophie really did not eat at all
3 the number of diapers changed today
7 the number of times Sophie wiped her snotty nose on my shirt
2 the number of loads of laundry I did today
1 the number of wads of gum I removed from Joshua’s shoe
4 the number of Lysol wipes it took to get Sophie’s dinner tray clean

You get the picture. That’s the little stuff, done over and over and over again. It wears me the heck out and sometimes makes me feel resentful, like my time has been stolen from me. But if I’ll allow myself to focus on the big picture:

(even if one half of the big picture is picking her nose in a very unlady-like manner), I know it’s not today’s 2 loads of laundry or the 2 uneaten fish sticks that matter. What matters most at the end of the day is that I have 2 little people who know that they are loved, safe, and protected by their mama. And that, for better or worse, is the number I’m placing my bets on.

October 8, 2008October 8, 2008

WFMW: Days of the Week Calendar

Let me start this post out by saying that this was totally and completely my MOM’s idea, so all credit goes to HER! A couple of weeks ago, my mom asked me, “Does Joshua know his days of the week?” I responded with a very intelligent “Uhhhhh….” (which meant “No, because it has never occurred to me that I should try and teach him that!”)

My mom is a genius and has a Master’s in Early Childhood Development and was a kindergarten and preschool teacher for years, so she dug this up for me from the recesses of her basement, which holds enough learning paraphernalia to stock about 12 classrooms.

It’s the coolest thing ever and so simple! It would be really easy to make, if my mom hadn’t already had one. We put a picture of where we go or what we do on each day. As you can see, Sunday has a picture of a church because we go to church on Sunday. Saturday has a picture of my husband’s face since Joshua always looks forward to him being home with us instead of at work on Saturdays. Wednesday has a picture of Cubbie Bear since Joshua goes to Awana on Wednesdays, Thursday has a school since we go to our homeschool co-op on Thursdays, and Monday and Tuesday have a picture of a house since we generally hang around home those days. In the picture, you can see that there is a little sunshine (attached with velcro) on Monday. Joshua moves the sunshine every morning to whatever the current day is. He loves doing it and then we talk about what day it is and what we are going to do and where we are going to be. It is really helping him get those days of the week down, as well as cementing what “today”, “yesterday”, and “tomorrow” mean.

Well, that’s what’s workin’ for me and my family! For more great ideas, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

P.S. Now that you’ve glimpsed my brilliance, will you go to Blissfully Domestic and read the article I’ve posted today on how you can save big money buying a used car instead of new? Thanks! You’re the best!!)