7/31/08

FlyLady Day 1

All I have to do today is... shine my sink! I am thinking this is going to be pretty simple... but not only do I have to do it today but I have to do it every day, and she wants me to do it after each use, I don't know about all that but it will for sure be done by the time I go to bed tonight.... Hopefully...
Looks like "That shiny sink is a reflection of the love that you have for yourself." Hmmm I always thought that the love I had for myself was reflected on all the purses I had guess I had that one wrong all along.

Labels:

Why am I up so early!!!

I got up when L went to work, I think it was about 5:15 am, I layed on the "bed" (actually a air mattress in our living room because its just too hot to sleep upstairs) until about 530 then got up balanced the check book (everything was good) showered by 545. cleaned our room a little, so there are now no little piles everywhere! N came at 630 and now here I sit.... 710, 711, 712.... what to do, what to do.... I know I will check out Fly Lady, I know a ton of people that love it and a ton of people that hate it, I have been reading like a mad person and I am thinking that I really want to try it, and if L sees it I think she will love it, you see L is all about organization, and de-clutter (I think its a little OCD but whatever that's a topic for another day!) My messes have never turned into an argument, however, they have turned into;

L-"wheres my______________(insert whatever here)"
C-"I don't know where did you put it"
L-"I gave it to you!"
C-"No I don't think you did" (shuffling threw stacks of nonsense)
L-"yes I did I said "here can you put this_____ (whatever) where you put all the other__(whatevers)
C-"L you did not give it to me, I have no idea what you are talking about"
L-"fine I don't know why I give you stuff, I don't know how you ever find anything on that desk"
C-"babe sorry here it is"

So in an effort to never be wrong again (I know, I know when am I ever really wrong? never) I might as well just give this a shot! I mean it is going to be the first of a new month and it is 2 days after my 23 (+4) birthday, so technically I am working on a pretty clean slate, and I would assume that a clean slate is where you should begin cleaning! And if it doesn't work out all I have to do is hit delete on the 20-30 (yes 20-30) emails I receive daily!
So I will try to post about "fly" daily however I may not have time with all the cleaning, de-cluttering and what-not I will be doing. (I think I am feeling sick already, maybe I can get a Dr's note)

Labels:

7/29/08

Shopping.....

So its @ 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and here I sit at my kitchen table blogging, on L's computer, with an ice cold corona at my side.... I know its only 3 but its my birthday, and I can do WHATEVER I want! This would be the one exception to the "never drink alone" rule! any ways, I just got back from Smiths they are having a Mega sale going on, so I got all my coupons ready and walked over (yes walked) and once I got there I said to myself "self do you really need to participate in this sale?" I came to the conclusion that, I didnt so I got what I need and a few extras and left! I was so proud of myself! so here's what I got;

Thats;
2 cartons Pacific Chai, one regular for me and one caffeine free for H when she gets home, on close out for 1.99
4- 1.25# packages (so 5#) ground Turkey on managers special for 1.29 eack
2- Crystal light ice tea free wyb 3 kraft products ( Koolaid counts)
7- Koolaid packets, i got an extra I only needed 6, .21 each
1- 3 # package chicken thighs for enchiladas tonight, 5.99

so total of 16.34, not the greatest but I need the chicken and the turkey is cooking right now I am going to leave 2#'s plain, and 3 #'s season with taco seasoning and freeze it!


7/28/08

Target

Saturday I went to Target without my coupons, I know depressing right!? (okay maybe not for you, but for me) Of course the one day that I travel without them I see good deals! They had these "value packs" that they put out about once a year, it is basically regular itmes bundled, well after a few weeks they mark them down, right now they are at 15% off, not the greatest deal ever but still its good. So when I got home I pulled coupons and today I went and picked up
this;

Thats;
6 full size Olay Ribbons
6 full size Olay Bars
2 Full Size Old Spice Red Zone
3 Travel size quech body lotion
1 Olay body wash 6.8 oz
3 Puffs
1 body scruber

I paid 13.40 that I had on a gift card
I kinda averaged it out to what I would pay at walmart and I think it would have been some where in the 30.00 collar range, but probablly would have been more! Each set was 3.82 I had 4 1.50/1 Olay coupons and 1 1.00/1 red zone!
I am going to break up the Olay ribbons bundles and use them for gift baskets at christmas, so it you are a friend or family member and you are reading this, you already know what one of your gifts could be!

Meal Planning Monday

Its already Monday? not only that but its almost the end of July! which means its almost time for H to come home! Here is our menu for the week. To see more meal plans head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Monday- Sheppard's Pie
Tuesday- Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday- Beef and Broccoli
Thursday- Pork Chops, Rice, veggie
Friday- Ravioli

so thats all nothing too exciting!

7/26/08

C and her new Miche!!

What is a Miche? how dare you even ask! A Miche is a bag, only the coolest most greatest bag in the whole wide world! I know you are thinking what another Saturday and MORE bags? yes I know but this one I really wanted, more then all the others, I would have even taken all the others back just to have this one, okay that was the Heineken talking, I would not trade any of my bags for any other bag, I would just add more to my "collection"


Any how here is the story my mother-in-law (only the greatest that ever was) took us (me and L) to the Mall since my bday is next Tuesday, (that would be the 29th for those of you that are curious!) And as we are walking around, we stop at the Miche Bag cart, we are standing there for a few minutes chit chatting and she tells me "happy birthday, you are getting one!" at this point i am so excited, and L tells me "haha you just got punked" (of course seh was joking, but I was not laughing) I pick out the one I already know I want the "Baileigh" its the white one with the embroderied black and silver flower, then she tells me (brace yourself) "you are getting 6" what are you kidding me! Ugh I still cant get over it! so here is a picture of the ones I got:

Lindsay (except my brown stripes are darker)
Cream Emma (they were out of this one, so I got Pricilla as soon as it comes in I am going to exchange it)
So thats a Miche Bag!

7/25/08

Pioneer Day

Yesterday was Pioneer day, Now what does that mean for us? a day off of work, with pay! For some it is a huge deal, it is some sort of Mormon "holiday" we are not exactly sure what it is. So how did we spend our Pioneer Day? well....

*630 am- got up, got changed, walked the neighborhood passing out Avon books
*730-815 took showers and yes put on a nice fresh pair of pajamas!
*815-930 watched "Over my Dead Body" until Buster (the cat) decided that it would be a good idea to put a whole in the air mattress!
*930-10 went and got a new air mattress, and stopped at petsmart for some "soft claws"
*10-1030 dropped off a few Avon receipts around the neighborhood
*1030-11 made/ate breakfast
*11am-700 pm- watched movies (yes all day) Welcome home Roscoe Jenkins, Meet the Browns, 21, and DrillBit Taylor (well we actually napped during this one)
*700 went to go return the above movies at the RedBox, and get some Sonic for dinner
*730-10 watched more movies!! Big Love season 1 disk 4 (it was really scratched so we didn't get to see all of it) September Dawn (what an intense movie I would not suggest watching this movie before bed)
*10pm- Bed!

So that's what we did while most were braving the heat (it was about 1 million degrees out yesterday) having picnics, watching parades and fireworks, we stayed in and had one of our "Lazy Sundays" on a Thursday it was so wonderful!

7/23/08

Our Anniversary

Today is our anniversary, that's right 4 years ago today we made a vow to be "committed" to each other, I say that because we didn't have a "wedding" but a commitment ceremony. Look how cute we are!

before the ceremony.....

after the ceremony

7/22/08

last trip for herbal essences!



So I told you I would make it back!! we thought that we were only going to e able to get 6 but in a twist of fate, and some of L's digging we found all 12 that we wanted!

here's the break down of what we spent;
12 Herbal Essences (36.00)- used 18.00 in coupons, and got 12.00 from the pg promo only paid 6.00

1 package of pastries 2.99

total spent- 8.53

the cashier took off an extra 3.00 herbal essences coupon and we didn't notice till we left so that covered the tax!

Our HBA stockpile

Now we are California girls and we have never heard of anyone "stockpiling" that's not to say that no one in CA does this but we have never seen or heard of it before moving to UT, I know now that there are house's all over the US that do this and it not one of those "Utah things" but I have to tell you it was the best thing that I ever started doing since being a SAHM! I know that alot of people asked us when we started "why do you do this" "why buy so much" well for the most part the term Buy should be used very loosely! take for instance our Kotex stock, do we really need 70 boxes of pads? No this month we don't, but there are 3 girls in the house, and I have gotten them all for free, they never expire, so why not have them? this goes for everything we have in there,
52 shampoos (and conditioner) got them all for less then .50 a piece, I wont pay more then that for shampoo, there was a time however when we were paying about 10.00 a month for shampoo (it was probably more then that) and they are all good shampoos, herbal essences, loreal vive, and pantene!
20 toothbrushes, again we don't need them but alot of them were only .25 and we change them out ever 2 months so that's only about 1 year supply, if they go on sale again for really cheap or free I will get more!
37 bars of soap- I think we only paid at the most .30 for a 2 pack, these again are name brand, good soaps, Olay and Dial
18 tubes of toothpaste - we use about 1 a month so that is only a little more then a years supply as soon as they go free or cheaper then .25 I will get more.
12 aarid deodorants I use about 1 a month, sometimes I will be half way threw one and decide I want a different scent, instead of running to the store and spending 2.89 on one I just have to go to the closet!
There are some things that we get cheap-er with coupons, but dont really stock up on, H and I (C) aren't too picky when it comes to our things, L on the other hand, has found brands that work for her and sticks to them, those things we usually by 5 at a time, (old spice body wash, right Guard deodorant) they are hard to get free, or really really cheap so when we have a little extra cash we pick them up, just so that when the budget is tight we already have them on hand.
Now when I say that I wait for things to go on sale to stock up I don't mean that I clear the shelf's, I don't think I have ever not left a few behind, I know how upsetting it can be when you are at home planning out a trip to the store only to get there and find that the 1 thing that you really wanted was not there, if I already have a stockpile of something and it goes free-cheap I will usually only get 3-6 of whatever that item is, now there is an exception to this rule of mine, and I hope that I don't get any negative comments for this one, the PG promo has been going on for 13 days, today is the last day, this afternoon when I was there, I left about 20 + bottles of shampoo (someone else cleared out the conditioner) I am planning on going back tonight after dinner and using the rest of my coupons and getting more shampoo.... its the last day of the sale first off, and it was a really long one, I wont get a rain check for this item because it is on a special promo and they cant adjust it to the correct price. I really don't think that there is anything wrong with me or anyone for that matter doing it this way, If i go in the store tonight and see that the shelf is cleared, well then "oh well no biggie"
so with all that said here are pictures of our stockpile;




Before they got stacked up! Remeber this is only our HBA closet we have tons of other things stockpiled cereal is a big one so is Toliet paper, but I will post those pictures when I get it all cleaned up!

shopping....

I know that I said I was going to try not to go to the grocery store, in effort to cut gas and our grocery budget, but I walked and... it was a really good shopping day! here is what I got;

10 packs oscar mayer hot dogs- shelf price 3.49 had rain check for 1.00 plus .50 coupn
1/2 lb turkey lunch meat-2.11
12 ct. rolls from the bakery- shelf price 4/1.00- manager special 1.29
Crystal light- shelf price 4.49 had coupon for free crystal light wyb 3 oscar mayer products (3 of the hot dogs)
Kraft Italian dressing- shelf price 2.19 had coupon for free kraft dressing wyb oscar mayer products (3 of the hot dogs)
Kraft cheese-shelf price 4.99 had coupon for free kraft cheese wyb oscar mayer products (3 more of the hot dogs)
12 herbal essences shampoos-shelf price 3.00 each(36.00) had coupon 3.00/2 bottles plus the Pg promo was still going on so I got 12 more dollars off so ended up paying only .50 a bottle!!
1 bag tortilla chips-shelf price 1.69 on close out for .69
total before coupons and card- 54.53
after- 21.36

for some reason the picture loaded funny so i dont have one this time!

7/21/08

DS challange update

So we are keeping track of the challange on the side, but i just wanted to let you all know that we have 75.00 in gift cards pending! so we are not going to add that on (or subtract it) until they get here, I will update it, as soon as they get here, 6-8 weeks! I am so excited about this challange, we did so great only 1.16 to go! we are working on getting either another DS for L or putting it towards a PS3, or maybe just putting it all towards a "free xmas"

Meal planning Monday and other stuff

Well My Meal Plan this week is not like those that you would find over at I'm an organizing junkie, this week the plan is, to not have a plan! I didn't do any grocery shopping last week, well I did just not Major I for the pg promo on the 15Th and then we went to Albertsons and used a few of our rain checks to stock H up on drinks for the school year, and a few other random things for free movie tickets, but that was about it! so this week I thought that we could try to do the same, of course on Weds when the new ads come out and there is a great sale we will be stocking up, but other then that we are just going to use what we have on hand. (I am going to go to smiths tomorrow to get in one last pg deal) So our menu is going to look like this,

Monday, Taco salad
Tuesday, beef roast in the crock with potato
Wednesday, chicken, rice, and a veggie
Thursday, Not cooking probably going out for Pioneer day
Friday Spaghetti

Not too exciting, but its what we have on hand so looking back I guess it is a plan!
So 7/7 I started watching the cutest little girl her name is "N" she is 2 years old and a typical 2 year old! she is in to everything, that's why I don't spend too much time blogging as I should! but no biggie I am sure you all understand! this week I only have her Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so Tuesday and Thursday I will blog something!
Also it is almost time for H to come home, we are so excited, we miss her so much! we were out shopping yesterday, well mostly window shopping, and we found ourselves saying "H would like this" an awful lot, usually when she is gone the first month is the easiest after that we notice that we are asking about her and talking about her alot more, that's how we know it is time for her to come home! After she gets here we are going to be really busy getting her ready for school but that's okay with all the 0.01 and 0.05 sales she should be ready pretty quick! well that's all for today I will be blogging later on this week!

7/15/08

A little shopping trip

So my smiths is having a sale until 7/22 the deal goes like this, "buy 3 PG products get 3.00 off" sounds OK right? well pair it up with coupons, and it is a really really good deal!
here is what I got,
-Wonder hot dog buns 2.69
-2 cans of chili 1.29 each
-4 herbal essences 3.00 each
-2 oral b advantage toothbrushes 2.00 each
-3 Gerber graduates .71 each
Coupons used-
2.00 off any wonder bread (made the buns .69)
(2) 3.00 off 2 herbal essences (made the shampoo 6.00)
(2) 1.00 off 1 oral b advantage (made toothbrushes 1.00 each)
1.00 off 3 Gerber graduates (made them .38 each)
- 3.00 PG Promo
-3.00 PG Promo
my total was 7.71! that's a savings of 76% or 21.22!
And on top of that the shampoos have a mail in rebate on them for a free Manicure or Pedicure, so I am going to get that too!!
*after the promo and coupons I paid .50 each for the herbal essences, and got the tooth brushes for free! since the sale is going on for another week I am going to try to get my hands on some more coupons*

7/13/08

Super Saving Saturday

Okay this is our first time participating in super saving Saturday over at Money Saving Mom, (check it out for some other good deals)
L and I have been considering getting a land line for our house, but couldn't justify the cost... welcome the new Tmobile @home! it is the greatest deal EVER! here is the break down... If you have a Tmobile contract you only pay 10.00 a month, unlimited local and nationwide long distance calling, call waiting, caller id, voicemail, call forwarding and 3 way conferencing. there is as set up fee 35.00 if you call Tmobile they might be able to waive that! and you have to buy the router, (oh yeah that's right the router is wireless, now we don't have to worry about our Belkin headache!) it cost 49.99 but you get a 30.00 mail in rebate so really only 19.99. The only requirements is you have to have an existing broadband connection, and the router, which you buy at set up.
It doesn't take away from your Tmobile minutes so its great for our family that has a different provider, they can just call the house and not take away from our 700 minutes. H is really excited about this too because now she gets to have a phone in her room!!
Our Saturday was full of good deals! Our friend Sandee told us that the Wilson's leather in the mall was going out of business, so their stock was 50-75% off! Since the Tmobile Kiosk was in the same mall (coincidence? I think not), we went to check it out....I got 3 purses and 1 wallet retail value $262.00 walked out only paying... $66.00! here is a picture of the purses, the wallet is already in the white one!

7/7/08

Meal Planning Monday


I know, I know its late but I now have a very active 2 year old that I just started babysitting, and all I have to say is "phew! I am tired," so after she went home I sat down watched Army Wives from last night with L (thank you DVR) had a few Corona's and here I am! I planned this menu last Thursday cause I knew we would be stuck in the middle of a very busy holiday weekend, which we were! so here is the menu!
Monday- BBQ ribs, squash (cooked on the grill) corn on the cob and beans
Tuesday- pork chops, uncle Ben's rice and veggies
Wednesday- Tilapia and something!!
Thursday- Chicken fried rice
Friday- Spaghetti and meat balls
For more menus head on over to Organizing Junkie, and if you have any great toddler lunch ideas please let me know!

7/6/08

Did you know???

You can pay for school supplies with the change that you find in your couch cushions? Oh yeah its true! This week at Staples you can get the following for $0.01 (yes that's 1 penny);

2 pocket paper folders (limit 10)
#2 Yellow pencils 8 pack (limit 2)
0.5 Purell hand sanitizer (limit 2)

also really cheap;
1/2 inch poly binders $0.25 (limit 4)
Pentel handy lines retractable highlighters $4.99 free after rebate

So L and I went we each got a set of 0.01 items and 8 binders we spent a total of $2.44 so exciting! keep watching your ads there will probably be sales like this every week, until school starts. even if your child doest have an abnormal obsession with office supplies, (like H) you could still go in and buy the limits on everything, and donate to your child's class at the beginning of the year or even Xmas.

7/3/08

Our Xmas challange



I know its only July but I thought it would be a great idea to let you all in on our plan...

H wants a Nintendo DS for Xmas... it is 129.88 for just the system and 156.88 for the girls bundle, at walmart, or 129.99 for just the system and 219.99 for the animal lovers bundle at Target. We really want to get this for her, but the price is pretty steep for our budget so, here's the challenge... get it for FREE! how you ask? Points systems from survey sites!

At Mypoints.com you can cash in your points for walmart gift cards, I did it a few weeks ago and got a 25.00 walmart gift card and a 10.00 barnes and nobel gift card. L is now using Mypoints too so we can get gift cards twice as fast!
At Boomertowne.com you can also cash in your points that you earn for Target gift cards, at the beginning of the year I cashed in for a 25.00 gift card and I am 1250 points away from another one if you get 500 points a day (very easy) you can get a gift card in less then a month. L is also doing this now too.

At Lightspeed panel you get points for surveys you can cash out for either gift cards or paypal, they don't have walmart or target, but since they have paypal... I can cash out the paypal, transfer it to our bank account, and load it on to the gift card that we already have, It takes 1 day to put the money into paypal so I am going to do that on Monday.

So, here's what I am figuring since some sites give walmart and some give target, and we mix and match its no biggie because if we budget 500.00 for Xmas money (it will probably be less) and we spend a huge chunk on the Ds we will still have walmart or target gift cards to replace the cash, the plan is to not buy the Ds UNLESS we have equal amounts in gift cards to buy it, (example 100.00target 50.00 walmart). We are also going to add any money that I make of trades for coupons at HCW.

We are going to be tracking our progress in the side bar, (over there on the right) and we are just going to start with the regular system, at 130.00, and if we get there then we will up it to the bundles.
Well hopefully this works out the way we hope it will and if not, well lets not think about the "if not"

7/1/08

I Won a prize!



I heard about this blog that was having a 31-day beauty bonanza on HCW and thought I would enter, so I did, and I won! I am so excited here's whats in it;

The Sanctuary Spa Weekend Pamper Bag contains:
Foaming Bath Soak – 2.53oz*
Body Wash – 2.53oz*
Body Scrub – 1.69oz*
Body Lotion – 2.53oz*
Body Polisher

I was number 25 of 38 people that entered. All you have to do is enter your email and name, if you win she will email you there is still 30 days of great prizes so be sure to go and enter!