This week's shopping trips

Meijer
Spent 41.19 for 41 items
Saved 40.79 per receipt
Included: peanut butter, taco kits, yogurt, capri suns, chicken tenders, apple juice, maple syrup, tic tacs , pizza rolls, goldfish crackers, frozen veggies, frozen breakfast items, carrots, bread, lunchmeat, salad, storage bags, etc.

Kroger
Spent 22.78 for 36 items
Saved 64.59 (74%) per receipt
Included: 5 packs batteries, bananas, lunchmeat, ice cream, milk, margarine, pringles, popcorn, tuna pouches, canned pasta, canola oil, cookie mix, paper towels, 6 2 liters of soda, ritz crackers, etc.

Total for the week 63.97 for 169.35 of groceries. Overall savings of 105.38.

Check out the FREE tuna, canned pasta, and batteries at Kroger.
Check out the FRR Tic Tacs, 10/10 sales, and the 1/2 price Taco Bell items at Meijer.

Rainy days and Tuesdays....

Its a rainy day here in Central OH. Therefore, at my house its a pj day, a school day, a catch up on my blog-reading day, a laundry day, an easy dinner day, a let's watch a movie in the afternoon kind of day. It may even turn into a family game night kind of day.

What do you like to do on rainy days?

I think that God knew we needed a day like this and ordered the rain just for us. I love my rainy, cozy days.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday

I have to admit that I have not been very motivated this year to get out and spend my hard-saved cash. Most of my shopping is complete as of today. I still have a few more small gifts to buy - under $10 each. I need to take the kids Daddy shopping. That's it.

I headed out to Meijer on Back Friday to purchase a DVD player for my husband's aunt. I went to WalMart and bought nada. Same with the mall. I went to CVS and bought ALL of the freebies. I also made a quick stop at Toys R Us.

I did no shopping today (other than the grocery store) and it felt great!

Did you find the deals better today than Friday? Or, were you like me and bought too much before hand?

Giving - Days 17-24

Day 17 - Served at Kid City "Thankful Christmas" (for church)

Day 18 - Took our son to buy gifts to donate to Heartbeats, a crisis pregnancy center

Day 19 - Left a snack, water, and thank you note for our mail carrier

Day 20 - Treated friends to Chuck E Cheese (to celebrate our son's birthday)

Day 21 - Served at church; Donated gift to Heartbeats

Day 22 - Pulled toys to donate to kids in need

Day 23 - Dropped a donation to Goodwill (books, games, stuffed animals)

Day 24 - Donated money to the Salvation Army; Took daughter shopping to donate gifts to Heartbeats; had family in for pre-Thanksgiving dinner

Great Article on Thanksgiving

Good reminders before we head into the holidays... Happy Thanksgiving to you, readers, I am thankful for you!

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2010/thanksgiving-reminders/

Got the WII, Got the WII. Got, Got. Got the WII!

Can you hear this chant? Come on now, you know you can! Got the WII, {SNAP} Got the WII. {SNAP} Got, Got. Got the WII!

Target's 4 day sale had a WII for $199. In the ad there was a $20 off coupon. I also had a $15 gift card coupon when you spend $150. Net cost would have been $164.

However, I found a WII on clearance for $139.99. Still used my coupon. Bought an extra remote for $39. Earned my gift card. Net cost (with additional remote) $143! :)

NICE! I am super excited.

Giving - Days 11-16

11 - Made and delivered brownies to Veterans in honor of their service.

12 - Packed Operation Christmas Child boxes with my MOPS group.

13 - Threw a party for my son's birthday; attempted a cake; cooked for family. Gifted a bag of pantry food to my in-laws.

14 - Served at church; Picked up names for Light Up a Life to purchase gifts.

15 - Made banana bread for a friend.

16 - Invested in a family day for our son's actual birthday; Spent a good deal of the night in prayer for the 3 people still missing in Mt. Vernon.

This week at CVS

Oral-B Vitality Toothbrush or Replacement Heads (3 ct.), $23
Get $13 in ECBs (Limit 2)
$10/1 Oral-B Rechargeable Toothbrush, exp. 12-31-10 (RP 11/14/10 #2)
FREE with cpn and ECB

Aussie or Herbal Essences Shampoo, Conditioner, or Styler, $2.99
Get $2 in ECBs (Limit 1)
$0.50/1 Select Aussie or Herbal Essences, exp. 12-31 (RP 11/14/10 #2)
$0.49 with cpn and ECB

Fiber One Chewy Bars, $3.99
Get $3 in ECBs (Limit 1)
$0.50/1 Fiber One Chewy Bars printable or printable
$0.49 with and ECB

STOCK UP SALE
Spend $10, receive $3 in ECBs (Limit 1)
Includes:
-- Hellmann's Mayonnaise, 2/$6
-- Lipton Tea, 2/$5
-- Skippy Peanut Butter, 3/$5
-- Ragu Pasta Sauce, 3/$5
$0.50/1 Hellmann's Product, exp. 12-12-10 (RP 11/14/10)
$0.40/1 Lipton Tea Bags, To Go or Tea Mix, exp. 12-12 (RP 11/14/10)
$0.50/1 Skippy Peanut Butter Product, exp. 12-12-10 (RP 11/14/10)
$0.75/2 Skippy Peanut Butter Product, exp. 12-12-10 (RP 11/14/10)
B2G1 Ragu Pasta Sauce, exp. 12-12-10 (RP 11/14/10)
As low as $0.61 each with cpn and ECB

Holiday M&M's, 4/$10
Buy 4, receive $3 in ECBs (Limit 1)
$1/2 M&M Holiday Product, exp. 12-25-10 (RP 11/14/10)
$1.25 each with cpn and ECB

CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Cosmetics
Buy 2, receive $8 in ECBs (Limit 1)
$5/2 CoverGirl Simply Ageless Product, exp. 11-30-10 (P&G 10/10/10)
Final price varies based on original purchase price

Blistex Products
Get $1.50 in ECBs (Limit 1)
$0.55/1 Select Blistex Products, exp. 1-31-11 (SS 11/14/10)
$0.25/1 Blistex Lip Care, exp. 1-31-11 (SS 11/14/10)
Final price varies based on original purchase price

iTunes Gift Card, $25
Get $5 in ECBs (Limit 2)
$20 each after ECBs
Do you need these for Christmas? I do...

OTHER GOOD DEAL

Mentos Gum, $0.99
$1/1 Mentos Gum, exp. 11-30-10 (SS 10/03/10)
FREE after coupon

FREE Brush Set from Rachel Ray

GO HERE to get the info on a free brush set from Rachel Ray when you buy an Aussie product. Thanks, Saving and Giving, for this deal!

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Well, things are moving along here. My husband and I both got sick last week. I had to get the house in order for our son's 6th birthday party. My mother-in-law came over to help by scrubbing my bathroom and our floors - God bless her! Then, a friend bailed me out literally at the last minute on a Veggie Tales cake that I tried to make and ruined. Hers was so beautiful and tasted great!

Side note on cakes: Frugal (homemade) cakes are just not for me. From now on, I will always buy my kids birthday cakes - its just not worth the drama of me attempting to make one, then crying on the kitchen floor. I don't care the cost or the savings - they are just getting ordered from here on out. (I'm ashamed to tell you how much the cake cost that we threw away - let's just say that there was a lot of money into my garage can!)

Then, some friends blessed us with a Rainbow cleaning system. Our daughter has allergies and they really felt that she would benefit from using this system. Can you say blessed? By the way, you should have seen the gunk that came out of my freshly vacuumed carpet! Those things really have suction!

Moral of this story: Friends are good. God is better. I am blessed.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above."

Meal Planning

We actually did have a meal plan this week - just haven't gotten around to posting. Actually I did a meal plan for the entire month of November all at once. So, trust me, we have been following the meal plan (with the exception of the flu days when all we wanted were McDonald's cheeseburgers; weird, I know!)

Did you meal plan this week/month? Its one of the easiest things to do to your change your budget!

Giving - Days 7-10

Day 7 - Served at church. Took care of a sick husband,
Day 8 - DID NOTHING ... Guess who got sick? (But I did still manage to do some school with my kindergartner.)
Day 9 - Donated books to the "Read for 20" program.
Day 10 - Taking a box and a bag of boys clothing to a dear friend.

Games - 1.25 each after rebate

GO HERE to read an awesome scenario from Couponing to Disney on how you can get kids games for 1.25/each after rebates and gift card at Toys R Us - do you have any little ones to buy for or donations to make? This is your time, people!

Giving - Days 4-6

Day 4 - Enjoyed time with a friend's kids.
Day 5 - Gave my son the morning off of school: pj and movie time; just for fun! Took my husband on a date...if you know us, you would realize that this is long overdue.
Day 6 - Worked at a sports and arts camp (for our church) held at the local YMCA.

I need to get more creative next week.

FREE Admission to National Parks on 11/11

In honor of Veteran's Day, National Parks will offer FREE ADMISSION on 11/11! Go HERE to read all the details and find a park near you to visit.

FYI- There are multiple sites in OH to visit including Pres. Taft and Garfield's Historical Sites, Perry's Monument on Putt-in-Bay, and the National Aviation Heritage Area in Dayton. This would be great for families and for homeschoolers.

Thanks, Saving and Giving for this valuable tip!

Giving - Day 3

On Day 3 the kids and I cleaned out our pantry and donated a bag-full of items to the local food pantry. It felt good and now we have some more shelf space for the Kroger sale!

Target Halloween Clearance

Just got costumes for next year at 75% off! Paid $1.75 for a fairy costume and $3.75 for a pirate costume. Super excited!!!

Giving - Days 1 and 2

Day One - blessed a friend with a coupon she needed; wrote about this challenge on my blog to share this blessing to my readers!

Day Two - gave back to the earth by dropping off some recycling; brought in my neighbors trash cans.

What do you have to give?

It is Better to Give than to Receive

Today is day 1 of the 30-Day Giving Challenge. I absolutely loved participating in this last year. Some of my ideas for these 30 days in November are:

- Cleaning out the pantry for the food pantry
- Giving hubby a backrub (which takes both time and energy; a gift on my part)
- Making gifts for the hospital/nursery/pediatrics with the kids...
- Donate baby things to Heartbeats, a pregnancy center
- Offer a free couponing class
- Trip to Goodwill of donations
- Leave coupons on the shelf at the store
- Bring back neighbors trash cans
- Take flowers to elderly neighbor
- Operation Christmas Child boxes
- Buy angel tree gift
- Coupon booklets for the kids (movie night, hug, extra desert, etc)
- Gift of prayer; meeting a friend for coffee and prayer
- Giving a meal to a new mom; or a pregnant tired one
- Sharing a meal with someone new


In a book I was just reading, the authors were discussing how much more fulfilling life is when you die to self and spend your moments in service to others. Things become less complicated, you have a purpose, you become more content and satisfied.

This month, I will join other bloggers in dying to self and choosing to SEEK OUT ways to give. Some I will be able to share. Some will be so personal, I will not. But know this: when I stop thinking of myself and start thinking of others, I will be satisfied.

God is more than enough for me, my thirst, my needs, and He can use me to help others too! How awesome is that? Are you with me?