Grocery Shopping Trip = $38.65

Here's what I picked up from the store this week for groceries. We have a budget of $40/week on groceries, and I feel that if I post what I bought for every week, I will be more accountable to that. Check it out!

Meijer = $29.56

They had a great deal on yogurt, and the sausage was marked down to 25% off.

The cashier I had was not very nice with my coupons and questioned each one I gave her. Boo.

Walgreens = $1.07

Olives were $0.99 after the in-ad coupon. The snickers were a filler, and I used Register Rewards to pay for most of my total.

County Market = $8.02

I got a great deal on the juice. They were only $0.50 each, because I had a BOGO coupon and also a $1 off 2 coupon. My cashier took both of them, making them $0.50 each.

The Nut Crisps were for a mail in rebate, and I found out I bought the wrong kind. So I'll have to get the right kind next time.

CVS = Spent $5.14 out of pocket, got $6 in Extra Care Bucks:

I didn't total this into my grocery budget, since we don't technically "eat" toothpaste, but I thought I'd show you what I got anyway.

Total spent for this week's grocery was $38.65.

Big Lots 20% off coupon

Just wanted to let you know that there is a coupon for 20% off your entire purchase at Big Lots this weekend. To print the coupon, click here. This is the store where I stock up on bread, so this came at a great time!

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Target Finds

Okay, so if you haven't been in the Target in Champaign lately, it's like a bad dream to me. Everything is all out of whack! The are re-doing the cafeteria, the jewelry center is gone...well half is in the women's clothing, the pet food is where the kids clothes used to be...it's crazy! My husband and I went in there last night, and it was like a bad dream.

I had read on Totally Target's blog that Target was moving in their Spring clothing, so most of their winter clothing was 75% off. I had to check it out for myself. There were some pretty good deals, especially in the women's clothing. Here's what we came out with for $20.98:

I was excited to find a fleece lined and hooded jacket 1/2 off:

Here are my boys saying CHEESE! They put up a fuss about me taking a photo of their new fleeces.

I found these warm fleeces for only $1.75 each!

Here's a more normal photo of my stinkers:

Have you stopped in Target lately? I'm curious to know if you found anything good!

Goodwill Trip

Pudge and I headed out to North Prospect after we dropped off Z-man at school, because we had a coupon for Pudge to get his 3rd birthday pictures taken at Olan Mills (located at Meijer). So we stopped at Goodwill to waste 45 minutes before his appointment.

Here's what we found:

The boys have really been into computer games lately, and so we always make sure to check the Thrift stores when we go. Pudge and I found a basket full of computer games on sale for $0.99 each! They usually are priced at $2.96 each, so this was a great find! We picked up 7, some that we will re-gift, and some will go to the consignment shop.

We found a DVD of the Little Einsteins that still had the wrapper on it! Guaranteed no scratches! We paid full price for that one, $3.50.

And the books were just for fun. $0.25 each.

I love Goodwill! And thanks to my grandma, I didn't pay anything out of pocket, instead I used the gift card she gave me for Christmas!

Learning Your Address

I've been trying really hard to think of different ways to teach my two little boys the basics of life. One of the things I've been wanting to teach them is their address and phone number. I know one day when they are lost and a police officer finds them, and asks them where they live...I want them to know their address!

So here's one of the ideas that I had to help them learn their address. I typed and printed out our address on the printer, and used a font that I could cut out and little fingers could grab easily.

After I slaved and cut out each letter and number, I had the boys put it together like a puzzle and then glue them in the right order. We started out using a glue stick, but them later used a paintbrush with a bowl of glue to put the numbers and letters on.

I think it was a successful project for a 2 and 4 year old! We hung them on our fridge, so that they can see it and know that we're proud of them. It also helps us remind them to tell us what their address is.

Learning to Read

I have found out that if you find an educational DVD that your kids will actually watch, stick with it! Our boys love Preschool Prep DVDs. We checked one out of our library once, and ever since then, they have learned so much about words!

Our boys are really catching onto learning their "sight" words, thanks to these dvds. They are only about a 1/2 hour long, and I think the boys get a kick out of the cute characters.

Here's my section of bragging as a parent. The other day I had Pudge with me in Walgreens, and we were in the Laundry aisle. He tugged on my arm and said, "Mommy, look, there's all!" He read the word off of the All Laundry detergent!!! I was floored! My 2 year old read a word to me!

I have to give all the credit to this Company, because I don't think I would have know when and where to start teaching my kids how to read.

Here's a video of the Pudge and I using the homemade flash cards (that I was determined not to pay for them Preschool Prep's website):

Isn't that great! I love my kids!

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Facebook readers: if you can't view the videos, just click here and it will direct you to my blog.

Stainless Steel Water Bottles: $4.79

I found through Pottery Barn that you can get a stainless steel water bottle for $5.99. That's not all, enter the code EXTRA20 when you checkout and you'll get an extra 20% off clearanced items. That will bring your total to $4.79 (including shipping)!

That is a steal, considering that they are originally $19.99. Stock up for summer!

Thanks, MoneySavingMom!

Grocery shopping this week = $26.28

As I promised myself, I would only go to the grocery store this week if I really needed to. So that is why our usual $40 budget is way under.

Walgreens = $0.90

I picked up a couple of other non-grocery items, so with Register Rewards I had, we only spent $0.90 on eggs this week!

Schnucks = $5.13

If you haven't already read my post on how to get some cheap or even free cereal this week, click here to read more details. When I get my rebate back in the mail, I'll have only spent $0.13 on these 5 boxes of cereal!

County Market = $17.58

I had two different trips to C.M. this week, one was by me, pictured below, the other was by my husband. I didn't get a photo of that one. So that is why our total from C.M. is more that what is pictured below.

That's all for now!

Schnucks: $5 Rebate for cereal

Pudge and I headed out to Schnucks today to see if we could find the rebate form for that Healthy Resolutions that we had seen on someone's blog. When we walked into the store, I immediately picked up their store ad, and low and behold, there was a section for saving $5 when you bought 5 specific items in their store. We had to go to customer service to pick up the rebate form because we couldn't find any in the actual store. Just in case you were looking for it.

We quickly found the Special K cereals and grabbed up 4 boxes, and picked up one box of Kashi cereal. We had 2 BOGO coupons, and a $3 off Kashi cereal that we got through Vocalpoint's mailings. Total we spent $5.13 and sent in our receipt with the rebate form to get $5 back. So total with the $0.13 and the price of a stamp, we spent about $0.75 on those 5 boxes of cereal!!

Total now, after the past couple of weeks we have accumulated 11 boxes of Special K cereal and granola! That's more than enough! Might as well consider the Special K program they have set up in order to get those BOGO coupons.

Have you gotten any good deals with these Special K coupons?

Amazon: $6.80 Deceptively Delicious Cookbook

If you've never tried a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's, Deceptively Delicious Cookbook, you really ought to! I first saw her on Oprah one day, and since then have checked it out from our library, and have gotten the cookbook for Christmas. It's a great cookbook on how to sneak in healthy ingredients to have your kids and family eat healthier. Our favorite recipe in that cookbook is the french toast with sweet potatoes snuck in there!

Today on Amazon, Seinfeld's cookbook is half off! It costs only $6.80! I highly recommend checking this out, especially if you are fighting your kids to eat veggies.

Thanks, BeCentsable!

Cereal Moneymaker at Schnucks?

This week at Schnucks you can get a $5 gift card by mail if you buy 5 participating items for their Healthy Resolutions Rebate. Has anyone in Champaign seen these rebate signs in the Schnucks stores around here?

Head on over to Coupon STL's blog for more details.

Deal Ideal
Buy:
(4) Special K Cereal = $10.00
(1) Kashi Go Lean Crisp Cereal = $3.00
Use:
(2) B1G1 Special K Cereal coupons -$5.00
(1) $1 off 2 Special K Cereal coupons -$1.00 (1/2/10 RP)
(1) Kashi Go Lean Crisp coupon -$1.00
Pay: $6.00
Submit rebate for $5 Gift Card
Final cost: $1 of $0.20 per product
If you have the $3 Kashi coupon this will be a money-maker!

Vocalpoint has great coupons that they send you in the mail, if you aren't signed up, you need to today. They recently sent our $3 and $1 coupons for Kashi cereal.

Has anyone seen those rebate forms at the Schnucks around here?

Snow Day!

I love to take pictures of the boys in the snow.

It's so beautiful out and everything looks so clean.

Here are a few photos I took of the boys while out shoveling in the snow.

They thought it would be fun to lay in the snow...

Pudge thought otherwise:

Z-man is so content and happy with the snow:

Happy "Old Man Grumpus":

Pudge with his old man cane (golf club stick):

Z-man helping me sweep the driveway:

Z-man pulling his brother in the sled...

that didn't last too long:

Did you get any fun photos of the snow today?

My niece turned 1!

We had the pleasure of hosting my niece's birthday party this past weekend, and it was a hit! We had around 30 people here and it was alot of fun. I wanted to post some photos for you all to see.

Ellianna's 1st Birthday:

Loving Parents:

Our family, always with a camera in hand:

My Z-man and I:

County Market: Xtra Laundry Detergent $0.77/bottle

There is a new link for $1 off Xtra Laundry Detergent here, you can print it twice, just hit the back button. When you combine the manufacturer coupon with County Market's Penny Pincher coupon ($1.77), you could snag 2 bottles of detergent for $1.54! That's a great deal!

Biggest Loser: Free Workout Music

Just thought I'd let you all know that The Biggest Loser has put out some free workout music. I remember when they did this last year, and the music is pretty upbeat. So head over to this website and type in your email, and the download will begin for you. Enjoy!

Thanks, Thrifty and Thriving!

County Market: Special K Cereal = $1/box!

This week at County Market, Special K cereals are only $1.97/box. But if you sign up on Special K's website you can get 2 Buy One Get One Free coupons. That would make 4 boxes of Special K for $1/box! This deal is too good to pass up!

Grocery Shopping this week = $53.78

Yikes! I went kinda overboard this week, and I'm certain that it was because of Big Lots. I need to remember to just go in there for their $1 bread, and not go down the snack isle. I'm doomed if I do that. And that's what happened to me this week.

Check out my finds this week:

Big Lots = $17.68

I splurged on the fruit snacks, they were $6! And those Nature Valley granola bars are SO good ($2/box). Wafer cookies were $1.30, and the veggies were $0.80/each.

County Market = $17.90

Found some good deals on Progresso Soup which made them $0.45/can! The Kellogg's cereal was a steal as well...at $1.97/box and I had 2 BOGO coupons....which made the boxes $1 each! (That's my limit for cereal, never spend more than $1/box).

Aldi's = 17.20

Butter at Aldi's this week is only $1.90!! Compared to County Market, this is a great deal! County Market's butter is $3.45 this week. I also splurged on the Nesquick. I'm trying to get our kids to drink more milk.

Total spent = $53.78

I have a budget of $40/week on groceries. I will take next week's grocery monies to help pay for this week. Next week I'll only have $26.22 to spend on groceries. I'll really have to make things count next week.

County Market Finds

So, I usually don't post deals from the stores around here, because I feel like I would just be copying what other bloggers say. BUT - This week, I found some on my own!! So, I thought I would share those deals with you.

At County Market this week, there is a sale on Progresso Traditional Soups. They are priced at 4/$5, that is $1.25 each. If you "like" Progresso on Facebook, you can print off 2 coupons for $1.00 off 4. Also, in County Market's weekly ad, there is a in-store coupon for $6 off 10 cans. Combine these 3 coupons together and you get 10 cans for $4.50, making that $0.45 a can! Woah! That is a steal!

ALSO - if you are a Box Top collector, you can send in your receipt and get 50 Box Tops for your local school. That's $5 towards education! You need to fill out the form in County Market's ad and get it in the mail before the 11th of this month. So, you kinda need to fill that out fast and get it in the mail soon.

There is another deal running at County Market for Electrasol Finish's for $2.99, and if you collect coupons...this past Sunday's paper, there was a coupon for $2.25/1 Electrasol Finish in the Smart Source insert. If you have that coupon, you could snag that item for $0.74 (not including tax).

Hope you get a chance to run out and snag these deals before they expire on Sunday!