Sunday, March 27, 2011

I great shopping trip!!



I don't normally post something like this, but I saved so much compared to what I spent, that I felt I needed to!!!  I spend quite a bit of time clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, magazines and online.  I have them very well organized in a pink coupon holder.  I have a second holder that's white that is for each individual store and their coupons.  Price chopper and Target allow you to use a store coupon in conjunction with manufacturer's coupons!  This often allows me to purchase items for less than $1 or even FREE!!  

Here's the rundown from this past week's shopping trip to Price Chopper:
(I don't have my receipt on hand, but most of these are accurate.)

18 ct eggs - $1.48 w/ in-ad coupon
10 oz Vigo yellow rice $.79 w/ $1 manuf coupon
box PC spaghetti - $.50 w/ in-ad coupon
PC 6-pk strawberry applesauce - $1 w/ PC baby club coupon
1 HUGE orange - $1
2 Old Orchard 100% juice conentrates - $1.99/2 w/ B1G1 Free facebook coupon
3 Greek yogurts w/ granola - $.92/3 w/ 3- $.75 on-item coupon PLUS $1 manuf coupon
PC 80 ct baby wipes - 
Huggies swim diapers - $2.99 w/ $2 manuf coupon PLUS  $2 PC baby club coupon
PC 36 ct diapers - $3.99 w/ PC baby club coupon
2 boxes PC graham crackers - $2/2 w/ B1G1 Free PC baby club coupon
28 oz Hunts tomato sauce($1) and 8 oz Hunts tomato sauce(FREE) s/ in-ad coupon
6-pk Danimals - $1 w/ $1 manuf coupon
4 pk Splitz yogurt - $.53 w/ $1 on-item coupon PLUS $1 manuf coupon
2 PC quesadilla pizzas - $1/2 w/ PC kiosk coupon
2 PC resealable bags - $3/2 w/ B1G1 Free PC baby club coupon
Duncn Hines brownie mix - $1.19 w/ $1 manuf coupon
6 pk frozen PC bagels - $.94 on clearance
2 Suave professionals shamp + cond - $2/2 w/ $1 manuf coupon
2 new Wishbone dressings + 1 bag Dole salad - ~$3 for all 3 w/ 2- $1.50 manuf coupons for dressings PLUS $1 in-ad coupon for Dole salad PLUS $1 on-item coupon for DOLE
2 loaves Freihofer's breads + 6-pk Thomas' English muffins - $3.69/3 w/ B1G2 Free store deal
pouch Kraft Homestyle Mac n Cheese - ~$1 w/ $1 manuf coupon
PC bag salad - ~$1 w/ $1 on-item coupon
Topcare handsoap - $.25 w/ $1 baby club coupon

SO..... I spent just under $42 and saved about $54!!!!!  It really does pay to spend the time on coupons and scouring the ads!!! With a growing family of 6, I need to save wherever I can!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

It is a wonderful feeling to accomplish so much in one day.  Especially with a VERY busy toddler.  :)  Yesterday was one of those days...  

*4 loads of laundry
*started an 8 pound chicken in the crockpot for dinner and made salad
*made a trip to the post office and Walmart
*watched my nephew, Rocco, for a few hours while his mommy had a dentist appointment
*washed dishes about 4 times
*worked on a knit scarf while watching a movie with Sean
*finished spinning and plying a small skein of turquoise Angora
*cleaned my neighbor's guinea pig
* made a quick trip to the Y in the evening for a workout on the treadmill

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Today was a much more laid back day!!  I did my everyday household chores while Kendall watched her PBS shows, then once she took a nap, I worked on my spinning and watched a couple movies.   I'm working on my big Lhasa Apso order, desperately trying to work on it as much as possible and get it finished within the next month.

The other day I finished a 900-yard yarn order for a friend and delivered it.  She was very happy with the yarn and will be knitting a baby set.

Today my neighbor's 16 yo daughter helped me wash and dye 3 batches of alpaca...pale yellow, turquoise and silver-gray.  I have a ton of white to dye, so I plan on using every color I have...which creates many possibilities when it comes to carding!

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Well...time to pull out the turquoise, make dinner and spin more!  
Many blessings to you...

Thursday, February 24, 2011

I'm back!!!


Last time I posted was 4 days before Kendall's 1st birthday!  She is now almost 17 months old and is a combination of her siblings.  She has a temper, is sweet, is stubborn...and SO cute!
  
The kids all celebrated their birthdays...Brendan is now 10, Cara is 12 and Caitlin is 6.  
Caitlin's sporting a very new haircut!  Last Wednesday I decided to take her in and just get it over with.  She woke up every morning with a tangled mess and I had to wash it every morning for school!  I was tired of it and Caitlin doesn't even like to have her hair in a ponytail....what's the point of keeping it long???  It's a fun and easy pixie cut....makes me wonder why I didn't do it before???!!!

This week is winter break here in Central NY.  The weather has been decent compared the last month of craziness.  I think our town has received almost 200" so far....insane.  Though I can say, I got many great workouts with all the shoveling!! 
The kids have been very good so far this week.  Cara and Brendan went to a Nerf party at church Monday night....they had a great time and slept well once they got home!  :)    Caitlin, Kendall and I drove to Weedsport to pick up my handspun yarn that I had left with a friend.  She had taken it with her to Tennessee in hopes of opening a small storefront....but, that just didn't come to pass, so she brought it all back up here on a visit.  I had almost forgotten what I sent with her!!  I've already sold 3 skeins and the rest are listed on Ebay!.

My household is finally falling back into order once again.  My sister and her 3-year-old son had to live with us for about 2 1/2 months...escaping a bad situation.  I was very happy to have been able to help them out, but it was a little stressful on our family life.  My children definitely acted out....very difficult to discipline the way I needed to during that time.  

We are very much looking forward to our family vacation to Orlando in April.  We haven't been on an out-of-state vacation since Brendan was about 18 months old!!!  I really hope we can budget in some sort of vacation every year...we need the away time together very badly.  
I've been checking out Disney tickets and I must say that I am sick to my stomach at how much it would cost us for one day at Disneyworld or one of the other 3 main parks.  About $300.  There are so many other things we could do with that $300.  But, we'll see.  We're on a limited budget...I'm just trying to stretch it as far as I can!

Time for me to end for today...I'm needing to just sit.  But if one knows me, I can't just sit and do nothing!  I filled a bobbin with a blend of white alpaca and blue sparkle today...time to ply it!  That should be the end of that order...then tomorrow I will keep going on the lhasa apso yarn order!  That one is very large, so I know it will take me a while to complete it.  Sure is a great feeling to finish an order and send it out.  

Good night and God bless...until tomorrow.