CVS and Piggly Wiggly Shopping Trip

Our family is trying to make a budget and stick to it.  The goal is to be debt free as soon as possible.  We've never really tried to live on a budget before, but it's the only way possible to pay off our debt and stay that way.  We're using Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  We've decided to budget $125 a week for shopping money,and if possible knock that number down as much as possible.  This includes groceries, toiletries, medicines, basically everything except clothing.  I've been couponing for almost a year now and do pretty good. 

Here's what I got at CVS today:  (5) bags of M&M's, 9.9 ounce
                                                   (3) boxes Chocolate Cheerios, 11.2 ounce
                                                   (3) boxes Honey Nut Cheerios, 12.2 ounce
                                                   (1) box Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bars, 6 count
                                                   
Coupons used:  (5) $1 off M&M's
                         (3) $1 off 2 General Mills Cereal
                         (1) $.50 off General Mills Cereal bars
                         $10 Extra Care Bucks from last week

So I got $49.86 worth for $14, plus a free $10 gas card for spending $30 on certain items.  Not too shabby!

At Piggly Wiggly I got (2) 5 lb bags of Dixie Crystal Sugar and a bag of Fritos.  I didn't use any coupons, but redeemed 4.50 Greenbax to get the sugar free.  So I paid $2 for $10.47 worth of stuff.

All total, I paid $16 for $70.15 worth of stuff, which means 77% savings!  I love it when that happens!

A Trip to the Zoo

Last Friday I met with some friends from Beaufort at the zoo here in Columbia. The weather here has been incredibily hot here lately, but it was overcast the cooler that day, and it ended up being the perfect weather.  The Flamingoes are the first animals you see when you enter, and I always love to stop and take a picture. They say the flamingoes get their pink color from eating shrimp.

 We ate our lunch at the picnic area along the river.  We climbed these huge rocks and had a nice rest.  The kids loved hopping from rock to rock.  I enjoyed watching them have a blast. 

This is me with my sister-in-law Cathy.

And these are our tired little feet taking a break!

 Don't the bears look like they're kissing?

Amanda fed the giraffe at the look-out.  She loved it!

 We finished the day at the botanical garden.  The flowers were beautiful!

They had this chair in the garden.  How could you walk by and not sit in it?

In the Trenches!

Literally, in the trenches!  This is what I did yesterday morning.

Me and my two boys spent the morning digging up the water lines in our yard.  When the water company read our meter the other day, they left a note on the door that said we had excessive water usage and should check for a leak.  The house has an irrigation system that we had been using since we moved in.  Our first bill said we used 17,000 gallons.  We thought the bill was kind of high, so we turned off the sprinkler system and I just watered my flowers by hand and we didn't worry about the grass.  So when they came back and said we used 36,000 gallons, we knew there was a problem.

 Since we knew there was no leak in the house, we figured it had to be outside, but couldn't figure out why there are no wet, soggy spots in the yard?  But there must be a leak somewhere, so we began to dig.....and dig.... and dig.  It was so hot, sweat was literally dripping off the end of my nose and my clothes were soaking wet. Not very ladylike, I know.

 So after all that digging, we found nothing.  Not a drop of water leaking from the pipes.  So this morning what did I do?  I went outside and put all that dirt back in the trenches.  Turns out there was a small leak in one of the junction boxes for the irrigation system in the flower bed, but there must be another problem.  So we'll have to keep looking for it.  I kept hoping to find water gushing out while we were digging.  Then we could fix it and be done.  Oh well, I burned some extra calories, right?

 Now we have to wait for the grass to grow back in this area and it will be good as new.

 Since I showed you all that dirt, it's only fair that I show off the flowers I planted this spring.  This is around my mailbox post.  When we moved in I dug out the grass, put in the border and planted these flowers.  They were just little bitty things then, but they have tripled or more in size and I love them!

 I have the same flowers in an old beat up wheelbarrel in the front yard.  I don't know what the neighbors think about it, but I love my wheelbarrel.

 And finally, my potted plant I got on clearance at Piggly Wiggly for just $2.99!  They were also giving away mini flags because it was the 4th of July weekend, so I stuck it in my new plant.  The stand looks like a bike.  Can you tell?  My mom-in-law got that for my birthday several years ago and I love it!

So, those of you who have city water, what is your average usage?  I called my sister who also has 3 kids and does lots of laundry.  She said hers is between 6,000 - 8,000 gallons a month.  I wonder if we have a bad meter?

Jean Skirt Pillow

What do you do when this happens to your most comfortable jean skirt?

I actually wore this skirt with a rip up the split a few times.  "Ma Ma, do you know there's a hole in your skirt?"

"Yes, I do, but I like this skirt."  Well, as you can see, that hole traveled and I really couldn't get away with that anymore without indecent exposure!

I'm redoing my daughter's room on a shoestring budget, and I figured I could make a cute pillow out of this skirt.  I bought it a few years ago at the Goodwill Store for probably 2 bucks, wore it to death, and now it has been repurposed for my Baby Girl's room.

Remember the pillow that I promised no one was going to use in my previous post?  I cut it open, fluffed up the filling, and used in to stuff my new pillow.  The flowers were picked up at Wal-Mart for about $5.

Then I cut off the bottom of the skirt just above the top of the rip and ironed on the flowers.  Then you turn the skirt inside out and sew up the bottom.  Flip it back right side out, sew up one side of the top, stuff, and sew up the other side.  It was at this point I realized that one of those sparkly belts from my last post would coordinate well with the color scheme going on in the room, and those belt loops needed a belt.  I may swith it out with some wide ribbon later, but for now I'm calling it done!

When her room is completely done you'll get to see the whole thing.  I'm still working on projects and collecting items as I find them.  I'm just glad I get to do a "girlie" room.  Her last one was cowboys!

Thanks for stopping by! 

I'm linking up to Met Monday and Frugal Friday!

Thrifty Finds

I decided to hit some thrift stores yesterday.  I just felt like shopping, and thrift store shopping is 1. Something I can afford, and 2.  Fun, because you never know what you might find! 

I'm also beginning to get the itch to create or change something, so I get rid of all the kids and headed out to see what I could find!  I think I did pretty good.  I spent $30 and ended up with 28 items.  Not too shabby!

Here's everything all laid out.  As you can see, it covers my entire table!

 Here is the breakdown.  For Amanda I got the cute little hat.  Anyone that knows us knows how much Amanda loves hats!

 I scored this beauty of a dress for $1.  Can't beat that!

 She also got 5 shirts.  The one on bottom says Baby Girl.  We always call her Baby Girl, so I couldn't pass it up!

 And every little girl needs some sparkly belts!

I found these adorable flats in just the right size for guess who?  ME!

 I didn't really have any long sleeve shirts for winter, but now I have 4!  I also needed a white casual t-shirt, mine were looking kind of yellowish.  That blue and gray striped number is a lightweight hoodie.  Can't wait to wear it!

 Also in my pile is a pair of khaki capris.  Who doesn't need more khaki?

 For the men/boys in my life I picked up a dress shirt, a t-shirt, khaki shorts, a pair of jeans and a nice tie for church.  Yay!

 These are for projects I'll be working on.  See that pillow?  No one will be using it, I promise.  That would be kind of gross.  It will have another life, and I'll show you when I get it done.

 I thought his litle mail holder was adorable.  I love the swirls.  It will get a facelift also before it gets placed in it's new home.

 This is a flat sheet (full size, I think).  I'm thinking this will turn into a jumper for Amanda, or maybe a wreath for the summer.  Maybe both!  We'll see.

 And last, these baskets to help organize all the stuff in my bathroom. 

What do you think of my shopping spree?  4 stores, 30 dollars and 28 items.  I'd say it was a success!

I'm linking up to The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday.

Is anybody still reading this?

Hello!  I am here, and I am still alive.  I don't even want to look to see how long since my last post.  There have been some major changes in our family life in the past year, and more coming in the near future.  As most of you already know, my husband has been unemployed for a very long time.  We filled out applications, resumes, searched Craigslist, the classifieds, but nothing ever panned out.  That has finally changed!  He got a job in Columbia, SC as a service writer at a truck and trailer repair company.  This has meant he stays in Columbia all week long and comes home on the weekends.  This has been going on for almost 2 months now.  That will soon change though!  We are moving there to be with him.  I'm so ready for our family to be together again.  Sometimes I feel lost without him here.  For so long he was here all the time, to go to gone all the time.  Moving day is in 1 week exactly, and I'm so ready for this to be over.  The house is just about all packed up, except for the stuff we use daily.  It's been quite a challenge to keep up with school and house work while going through and packing all our belongings, but I have been able to get rid of alot of stuff!  I just can't wait to be settled again, with a normal job and normal, routine life!

On another note, I'm thinking about changing the name of this blog to make it more family oriented.  Of course if I ever pick up anything crafty again, I'll be sure to share it, but for now there's no craftiness happening around here and probably won't for a while.  So are there any suggestions for a new name?  I'd like something catchy, but I don't know what.  Please leave a comment if you are out there reading this, and if you think of a good name for my blog let me know what it is.  Thanks a million!

Only 92 Cents!!

Would you believe I came home with all this for 92 cents?  Well, I did!  I went to Rite Aid today, armed with my sale paper and coupons.  The Right Guard Deodorant is normally $4.49 each.  They were on sale buy one get one free.  I also had (2) coupons for $3 off 2 Right Guards.  I also had (1) coupon for $1 off Right Guard.  The Finish Dishwasher Kit is normally $10.99 each, on sale buy one get one free, so they ring up at 1/2 price.  Then I had a $3 off coupon for that.  I also had a coupon for $4 off a $20 purchase.  Using all this, I paid just 92 cents, plus I got $2 UP Rewards good toward my next purchase.  So really, I got paid $1.08 to buy all this stuff.  Isn't that great!?

My New, Old Hope Chest

My mom gave me this hope chest when I got married.  It was hers before she got married.  It is great for extra storage, but as you can see, it was needing a facelift.

The top was the worst, you can see the finish is so worn.  At one point a couple years ago, one of my kids (I don't remember which one) had gotten a green marker and traced their handprint on the top.  Of course when I first saw it, I was upset, but I never washed it off, thinking that one day I would see it and remember how small the kids once were.  Sadly, it has worn away and no longer there.  So now I was free to paint or recover it without regret of that little memory.

First I called my mom to make sure she would not be upset it I painted her hope chest.  She said of course not, it was not hers anyway.  So I got down to business.  First I picked up some fabric I loved, and found some paint to match.  I took off the top and all the hardware.  This was my first attempt at upholstering anything, and I must say it really was easy and I love the way it turned out.  Then I primed and painted the whole thing and gave the hardware a coat of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.  That stuff is beautiful!

It is black, but has specks of metallic in it, almost like a hammered look.  It looks better in real life.  And please forgive the quality of these photos.  They were taken with my phone, because I couldn't find any batteries for my camera.

Isn't that a huge difference?  I love the way it turned out.  It is now sitting at the foot of my bed.  It was supposed to function as a bench for putting on shoes or whatever, but mostly it just holds laundry baskets full of clothes waiting to be put away.  But at least it looks pretty while doing it!

I have some of this fabric left over, so I'm thinking about making some pillows with it and freshening up my room a bit.  If I ever get around to that I'll let you know.  And if I ever get batteries I'll take some real pictures so you can see what it really looks like. 

My next post is going to be my new Fall Wreath I made.  I'm in love with it.  But first I need batteries.  Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to Transformation Thusdays @ The Shabby Chic Cottage and Miss Mustard Seed's Featured Furniture Friday.

Coupons, coupons and more coupons!

So lately I have become slightly obssessed with coupons.  At any given time you might walk into my kitchen to find the table top covered with clipped coupons, sale papers and shopping lists for individual stores.  I scour the sale papers for all the local drug stores, compare my coupons to the sales going on and then hop from store to store.  With all the reward programs going on and the coupons and sales combined, it's really quite amazing how much money you can save!

I've started keeping a list of where I went shopping, how much I saved on sales and coupons and how much I actually spent.  Now I wouldn't have necessarily bought all the things I did if they weren't on sale combined with the coupons, but when I do need that particular product, I already have it, and won't have to go pay full price! 

 For example, yesterday I went to Publix.  Did you know they take competitor coupons?  And, you can "stack" coupons, meaning you can have on manufacturer and one store coupon for the same item.  So back to my shopping trip.  I only bought what was on sale and for 95% of those items I also had coupons.  My total trip would have cost $128.28 but with the regular sales I saved $47.58 then my coupons saved me another $33.79 for a total of $81.37 saved!  I only paid $46.91 for $128.28 worth of groceries!

I also went to Rite Aid the other day.  The regular sales saved me $6, the coupons saved me $26.10 for a total of $32.10 in savings.  I spent $19.65 on what would have cost $51.71!

I only wish I had discovered this sooner.  There is a coupon class in Savannah they hold about once a month and I'm going to go to it so I can learn even more ways to save money.  Do you coupon?  I don't think I can ever shop the same way again!

Plugging Away

I love to read blogs when it gives a glimpse into someone's personal life.  It's like reading a good book, only you know that person is real, and you can relate on some level.  There have been some major changes in our lives in the past year, but the Lord has been good.  I have thought about blogging, but hesitate because I want to be "real," but at the same time, how much about my personal life do I want to reveal?  I realize most of the people who read this don't know me, and it really wouldn't make a difference, would it?  For those that do know our family, they probably already know some of the details.  I want to get back to my blog, I really do enjoy posting pictures and telling about what's going on.  I just have to decide how honest am I going to be?  Am I going to post only the good times or really tell it all?  I'm going to think about these things and get back to you real soon.  I also have some projects I've worked on, and want to post those things as well.