Dakota and my so-so Walgreen's trip

I must admit something - I am very tired this week. With Greg out of town all week I've been doing the single parent duty and since Wednesday when Dakota got his contacts it has been a very trying end of the week. Dakota is a quitter. If he can't succeed at something right away - he quits. After Wednesday night's drama of trying to remove his contacts, he woke up Thursday morning ready to try to put them back in...that lasted all of 5 minutes. He decided when he couldn't get them in on his first attempt that he wasn't going to try anymore. *Sigh* It's been like this the last 3 days, morning and night...but each time he is getting better at putting them in and removing them. I just wish he would do it without all the drama. I'm exhausted and TIRED of encouraging him and ready for my husband to come home to help me deal with this. Can you hear my whiny voice??

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, that leads me up to my ho-hum Walgreen's shopping trip this evening. I dropped Dakota off at the church for a youth event and I had an hour to kill before I had to be somewhere. I wanted to use my $5/$20 coupons so off to Walgreen's I went.

1st Purchase
3 Aveeno face cleansing items - all priced $5.59
Aveeno Body wash - 5.19
Pringles - 2/$5.00
Used Aveeno coupons (3 @ -1.00 & 1 @ -1.50)
Used Pringles coupons (2 @ -.25 )
Used $5/$20 coupon

Paid 16.96 + tax
Received $10.00 RR for Aveeno products

2nd Purchase
3 boxes of Kleenex - .89 each
2 boxes Playtex tampons - 6.00 each
Banana Boat sunscreen - 8.00
Used $5/$20 coupon
Used $10.00 RR

Paid $7.67 + tax
Will get $10.00 Easy Saver Rebate for tampons & sunscreen

3rd Purchase
Gillette Mach Razor - 6.00
2 boxes Shredded Wheat - 2.00 each
2 boxes Pringles Stix - 2/$5
6 Jordana lipliner/eyeliner pencils - .39 each
Used $5/$20 coupon
Used $2.00 Gillette Razor coupon
Used $1.00 cereal coupon
Used (2) .30 Pringles coupons

Paid $8.74 + tax
Received $3 RR for the Gillette Razor
Received $1 RR for something else?

4th Purchase
3 cans Ravioli - $1 each
2 boxes Electrasol powerball tabs - 2/$6
2 pks Duracell AA batteries - 2/$3
Used $5/$20 coupon (I could do this because all of these prices above were with Walgreen's coupons - I handed the cashier the Walgreen coupons AFTER she took off this $5.00 so my subtotal was over $20 even though it doesn't look like it)
Used (2) .75 Electrasol coupons
Used (1) .75 Duracell coupon
Used $3 RR

Paid $5.65 + tax
Will receive $2 rebate for Electrasol

5th Purchase
Corner Office Multi-Purpose Paper - 14.99
2 15-packs of Bottled Water - 2/$5
Used $5/$20 coupon
Used $1 RR

Paid $13.99 + tax
Will receive $5.00 rebate for paper

Overall, I spent $53.01 + tax out of pocket

I used $14.00 in Register Rewards and $37.35 in coupons
and I will receive $17.00 in rebates for a total savings tonight of $68.35

Did you shop at Walgreen's this week? Leave me a comment and share your savings with me!

Freebies for Friday

David Jeremiah has a book entitled "Captured by Grace" - Encountering God's grace changes lives forever. Let Dr. David Jeremiah show you how the transforming mercy that captured songwriter John Newton and the apostle Paul can awaken within you a fresh experience of the God who loves you fearlessly and pursues you with abandon. You can this book up for free here.

Signature Scents - custom scented Bath & Body products (max 2 scents)

Ragu "Feed Our Kids Well" cookbook - 34 page color pages packed with great meal ideas and insight from experts.

Free Shaker Cup, sample packet and $3 coupon from Source of Life - have to fill out all 19 questions to receive offer.

Self-tanning lotion from Sun Laboratories

Voucher/label in the cover of the April 14 Newsweek
"Recycle! It took a combination of ingenuity and technology to create the Rtote bag, but only a trip to the mailbox for you to be part of it. Send us your used Target plastic bags and we'll send you a coupon for a free Retote bag. Carefully remove cover, fold cover inside out, use pacakaging tape on sides and bottom to create an envelope, fill pouch with Target plastics bags, fill out return address form, seal top and drop in an US Postal Mailbox by 5/31/08. No postage needed in US."

For additional Freebies, check out A Healthy Balance

Grab This Button

Teen Pregnancy

I shared with you here that I had a planning meeting at church to get things going with the Women's Ministry at my church. One of the ministries a woman has felt led to start is a Teen Pregnancy Program. This young woman actually came to me last year about getting this program going but she became pregnant with her 5th child soon after giving birth to her 4th child so obviously God was showing us the timing just wasn't right yet!

We introduced this concept at the meeting and asked for helpers if anyone was interested. I am letting my friend take the lead on this one...sort of mentoring her...she has never done anything like this before. She scheduled a planning meeting this past Wednesday night for the four women (out of the original 10) who said this interested them. Our preliminary plans so far are:

• Schedule a community baby shower for the end of May geared to teenage moms who are pregnant
  
• Get the word out - flyers in the schools, word of mouth, flyers in places they frequent
• At the shower - first and foremost - let them know we are here and care for them and we are starting this program for them.
• Give them list of community resources available to them (for example - WIC, Medicaid)
• Working on giveaways, door prizes
• Will have monthly support group put in place by then - place for them to come and meet
• Will begin announcing this to church in a week or two and asking for mentors for these young ladies.

I am excited about this ministry. I was a teen mom. My daughter was a teen mom. The statistics are out there - they are everywhere - but there are not too many of them in church, at least not in our church.

Any comments, suggestions...would love to hear them!

Saving on Groceries

Someone asked me yesterday about my CVS savings and if I saved at the grocery store as well as I do at CVS and Walgreen's. Over the last 2 months of shopping at the drugstores I have discovered I am actually spending less time in the grocery store.

I am able to purchase about 40% of what we eat at the drugstores - and I combine my coupons with their weekly specials AND in-store coupons as well as use CVS Extra Care Bucks to control my out-of-pocket expense. About the only thing I am purchasing at the grocery store these days is around the outer edges of the store (meats, produce, dairy, frozen food.)

How to get the BEST Grocery Savings:
I mentioned once before that Winn-Dixie is my favorite place to shop.
Meats
Every week they run different BOGOF (buy one get one free) specials on their meat. I don't ever purchase any meat unless it is drastically reduced (manager's special because it's close to expiration) or it's BOGOF.
For example, in this week's ad the meat BOGOF specials are:

• Boneless Top Round London Broil
• Center Cut Boneless Pork Chops
• Split Chicken Breasts

So I will only stock up on these meats this week and once I actually get to the store and see what other Manager Special's there happen to be I might pick up some great deals on those as well. If not, then this will be it for this week.

Produce
I don't have any local Farmer's Markets close to me so I have to purchase my produce at the grocery store. I very rarely find coupons for produce, although I have been able to find a few for pre-packaged salads (which I happen to love!)
In this week's ad the produce specials I'll be picking up are these:

• 2 lb bag carrots - .99 - probably grab a couple of these since we love carrots
• cucumbers - 2/$1
• 3 lb bag tangerines - 2/$4 (only need 1 bag of these)
• Romaine lettuce - .99/bunch
• Broccoli - 2 heads/$3.00
• Dole classic salads (bagged) - 2/$4.00 - have a coupon for this to save $1.00
• Cantaloupe - .99 (these are at Albertson's this week for 2/$2.99)
  
• Strawberries - 2/$5.00

Now at Walgreen's this week they have boxes of Post cereal on sale for $2.00 and I have coupons for $1.00 and $2.00 off some of these so I'll either pay $1.00 or these will be free. Some other food specials I'm going to take advantage of today (especially with the coupon $5.00 off $20.00 purchase):

• Planters Trail Mix (limit 3) $1.00 bag
• Pringles Stix 2/$5 (have 2 coupons for .30 off each)
• Ravioli $1.00 (same price at Winn-Dixie - but will pay for it with Register Rewards)
• Oscar Mayer Ham & Kraft Singles Cheese 2/$4 (will use RR to pay for it)

I actually have a ton of stuff I have been wanting to purchase this week at Walgreen's. I had my deals all worked out and my coupons paperclipped together but I never had the time to get by the store. Now I praise God that I didn't have the time! Because I can use that $5/$20 coupon today!

One year in Hawaii

It's been one year since I've seen my daughter Felicia, son-in-law Will, and grandsons Allan and Nathan. They had to transfer to Hawaii last April - Will is in the military. He is an amazing daddy to his two boys and a wonderful father and provider for Felicia. I thank God that He placed Will in Felicia's life.
This picture is from November 2006. They lived in WV during this time and had come in town for the birth of my granddaughter...Felicia's twin sister's baby.
When they lived in WV I was able to go see them every couple of months. I can't believe it has been a year since I've seen them last. The boys have grown up so much.

Felicia said Allan is going to start school this fall. It's so hard to believe that my precious Allan is already old enough to be going to school!

I remember when he was born. Felicia got pregnant at the end of her sophomore year of high school. Because she was covered under our insurance we all decided she would stay living with us until after Allan was born and then she and Will would get married. She managed to keep her position as section leader in the band her junior year and march in competitions up until mid-November. By then she was 7 months pregnant and starting to go into early labor. She had to go into the hospital two different times to have her labor stopped and in early December she was placed on bed rest. She was an honor student and her sister brought her work home for her - her teachers were wonderful about working with her to help her finish this semester.

The week of exams (right before Christmas break) we arranged it so I would take her to school every day to take one exam a day. On Thursday after she completed her exam, I took her to meet Will and they went to her doctor's appt together. She was 8 months pregnant. She and Will went to lunch after the appointment and then he had to go to work so we had arranged to meet back up again around 3:00 for Felicia to come home with me.

On the way back to the house Felicia told me her doctor's appt had gone well and she wasn't dilated anymore than last time and the doctor had high hopes for her to be able to carry the baby another couple weeks. I had been making sure somebody was with Felicia around the clock-- since neither Felicia nor Tina drove (even though they were 16-yrs-old by then) but I needed to run to the mall to check on a fundraiser booth I was in charge of. I was telling Felicia I was going to leave her at home with Tina while Greg and I ran to the mall to check on this booth to make sure it was manned and we would be back in an hour. I noticed Felicia had started moving around in the car like she was uncomfortable but she assured me she was okay...it was just her back was a little achy from being out and in the car so much. When we got home she went and laid in my bed to rest and Greg & left the house.

Twenty minutes later we are just about to arrive at the mall and I get a panicked call from Tina.
"Mom! Felicia's in labor!"
Now we had been down this road for the last month and I just left her 20 minutes ago so I calmly tell Tina "honey, her back is just bothering her, she's had a long day...tell her to go get in the shower like the doctor told her to do when her back hurts."
She said "I'll try but she is really crying. You need to come home!"
I told her "I just got here to the mall, let me run in and check on the booth and I'll come right back. It's going to take me another 30-45 mins to get home in this traffic though. I'll call your grandma to see if she is closer than I am and get her to come home."

I'm just mildly worried at this time because after all she DID just get checked at the doctor's office today and I WAS just at the house with her and she was okay...wasn't she? I called my mom and found out she was closer to the house than I was so I filled her in on what Tina had said and asked her if she could head on over there to check on things.

Over the course of the next 20 mins (the time it took my mom to reach the house) Tina called me 4-5 times frantic and by now I could hear Felicia in the background...alternatively doing breathing exercises and screaming at Tina! Once my mom got there and assessed the situation she tried to get Felicia in the car to take her to the hospital but as they were backing out of the driveway, Felicia screams "STOP! I have to go to the bathroom!" and she jumps out of the car and runs in the house with my mom and Tina trailing behind her yelling "No you don't...that's the baby....you need to go to the hospital!"

While she is sitting on the toilet and my mom is begging her to get off the toilet Tina calls me again. I tell Tina "Hang up the phone and call 911 NOW!!" Tina calls 911 and hands the phone to my mom...Tina is too hysterical to talk to the operator. (They are identical twins and she "experienced" this much too closely with her twin sister!! LOL) The 911 dispatcher tells my mom she has to get Felicia off the toilet and into a bed...she said to tell Felicia she is going to have her baby in the toilet if she doesn't get up right now.

Within 5 minutes the Fire Dept was at our house. We live in a small community and we know many of the firemen from church...sure enough when they heard the call go out and that it was our house, the ones WE know responded to the call. When they checked Felicia she was ready to deliver right then. The ambulance transported her to the hospital and Will made it there at the same time as Felicia did. Greg and I were closer to the hospital than everyone so we just stayed in town and met the ambulance there. She delivered 5 mins after she got there...as soon as they allowed her to get in the room and push one time - out popped sweet Allan.

Here he is at 4 months old.

We went back to the Fire Dept when he was about a month old and took homemade goodies up to them and had Felicia & Allan's picture taken with everyone. It has made a great scrapbook page in our albums!

Felicia decided she didn't want to finish out the rest of that year at her regular high school. She opted to graduate early. Allan was born in December - one week before Christmas. She and Will got married Feb 14th and moved into a small apartment. She graduated in May of that year and Will joined the Navy in June. They moved to WV when she was 17 and had their 2nd child in 2005. She has earned her Associate's Degree and will be graduating in a couple of months from Massage Therapy school. I am so proud of my beautiful daughter and her husband for all they have been able to do at such a young age.
I miss them dearly!

Walgreen's $5.00 off coupon

Walgreen's has a coupon for $5.00 off your in-store purchases of $20.00 or more. This offer is good for Friday, April 11th only!

Dakota's new contacts

Dakota got his contacts yesterday!!
He loves them! He was so cute after first putting them in - I thought he was going to cry (I'm thinking because they are bothering him or he was embarrassed when the lady was putting them in his eye or something like that) but he was just so happy with how well he could see and with NOT having glasses on his face. He has worn glasses since he was 3-yrs-old so this is a big deal for him.

However, last night after church we came straight home so he could remove them from his eyes...he was only supposed to keep them in for 4 hours the first day and it had already been 5 hours. He got the right one out without any problem but the left one took about 45 mins to get out. He got extremely frustrated and began to cry. He started saying "I can't do this" over and over and told me "That's it, I'm not wearing contacts anymore!"

It reminded me of a pregnant woman when she has been in labor for a long time and she's about to deliver and she starts crying "That's it! I can't do it anymore! I don't want to do this!!"
That point of no return...in times like this I quote my favorite verse over and over and over in my head (or out loud if the timing is right.)

"I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

I told Dakota "you ARE going to do this, nobody else is going to do it for you! You ARE going to put these back in tomorrow and wear them because I remember how excited you were when you first put them in today even if you don't remember right now. You CAN do this because millions of other people do this every day and you will learn how to do it just like millions of other people have learned...so dry up the tears and try again and again and again until you get it out of your eye!"

A few more attempts and success...he's still sleeping now - *sigh* but, I'm sure the battle will soon begin after he wakes up...

The Last Lecture

If you missed this story on Primetime last night go check out this short clip here. Diane Sawyer interviewed Randy Pausch, a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University who discovered he had pancreatic cancer. He was told he had just a few months to live and he delivered this famous "Last Lecture" about how he has chosen to live life to the fullest. This is an incredibly inspirational story!

The Great Sunflower Project

I recently joined this - The Great Sunflower Project - by requesting a packet of sunflower seeds. I thought this would be a great Science project for Dakota and I for homeschool. The idea behind this project is an environmental study and we are supposed to grow these sunflowers and count the bees that are attracted to them. All of the seeds and educational materials will be sent to us. I've always thought sunflowers were so beautiful so I'm looking forward to growing some of these!

Freebie - Scotch Brite Toilet Scrubber

Scotch Brite is giving away their Scotch-Brite Disposable Toilet Scrubber with Bleach Starter Kit by allowing us to print out these coupons. They are in .pdf format and good until May 15th.

Internet Browsers

I began using Mozilla's Firefox several months ago and can I just tell ya I'm in love with this browser?? I installed it on Dakota's laptop and put some cool add-ons on there for him but he refuses to use this browser...he just doesn't know what he's missing out on. If you aren't using Mozilla Firefox, give it a try and try these add-ons while you are it - I've given a brief explanation of each one - they are SOOOOO cool!!

• Session Manager - this saves and restores the state of all windows - either when you want it or automatically at startup or after crashes. Additionally it offers you to reopen (accidentally) closed windows and tabs. This has been a LIFESAVER!! Several times I've been right in the middle of working on something and have had 5-6 tabs (windows) open and our power has gone out - due to storm, etc - and as soon as I turn my computer back on Session Manager gives me the option of opening right back up to where I left off. The other great thing is I have my favorite websites I like to check every morning (news, email, myspace, bloglines, bank acct) - I opened them all up in different tabs and set them as "My Favorites" session so when I first turn my computer on every morning I can now click on just that session "My Favorites" and it automatically opens up all those websites in different tabs...I just go and hit refresh in each one and they are ready for me to start my morning.
  
• Cool Iris Previews - this allows you to browse and share web links and rich media faster. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To email it, just click. It's so awesome because you can view other "browser windows" within windows without actually opening a window - and you can scroll around in the window and click on things you want to look at. If you decide you want to save that "link" to look at later you just hit "Stack" and it will stack it over on the right side of your screen to save it for you.
• AdBlock Plus - makes surfing faster because it blocks all those annoying ads and banners on internet pages! You have to remember you have this installed though because there are times I have to "disable" it on pages and hit refresh because I have needed to see something on the page that it has actually blocked...but it's no big deal to do that. It just took some getting used to remembering that's why I couldn't see things - I was blocking them!! DUH!
• ScribeFire - is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog. In other words...there's a little notebook shaped icon sitting down in the right hand side of my task bar and when I feel like blogging about something I click on that notebook and up pops this little box (similar to what I would type in if I was actually at my blog's website) and I just start typing away...when I'm done I hit submit and it posts it to my blog (because I've already previously set my preferences so it knows where to send my posts.)

Well those are the four add-ons that I use every single day. If you are interested and visit the add-ons page you'll notice there are literally hundreds - read the reviews, find what works for you and don't worry about having to "Restart Firefox" each time....the beauty of Firefox is it will bring you right back to where you left off! Happy Surfing!

You know you're addicted when...

Remember how I told you Greg left town early this morning for a business trip and he'll be gone for a week? Well I had an early morning doctor's appointment and after that my mom had a hair appointment so we rode together. While she was getting her hair done I went shopping - at CVS of course! I made out like a BANDIT today!

After I was finished I still had some time left to wait on my mom so I called Greg to check on how far he had gotten (he was driving to South FL) and I was telling him about my CVS trip...he was ragging me about how addicted I was. I told him "You know you're addicted when you buy a Diabetes Testing Kit for $19.99 because you have 19.99 worth of ExtraBucks and you will get $19.99 ExtraBucks back so it's FREE!!"

He said "Honey, nobody in our family has Diabetes!! Why did you buy that?!"

I told him "With all the volunteer stuff we do in the community and with the church I figured I could donate it to SOMEBODY."

But yeah, it's true, my husband thinks I have lost my mind....anyway, here's my loot for today!

Rang up in 6 purchases
Total out of pocket - $20.11
Total Extra Bucks spent - $83.48

Yeah, I am starting to run out of room to store stuff!! Have to go clean out some cupboards now.

Revolution Money Exchange

You may have heard of Revolution Money Exchange - an online banking program similar to Paypal. Some of the features of this program include:

• It's free to collect online payments from buyers with Money Exchange
• Sending and receiving payments between accountholders is FREE
• Online transfers to and from your bank account are FREE
• Get $10.00 for accounts you refer up to $500
• If you sign up before April 15th, you will receive a $25.00 BONUS!

The best part is this last feature - if you sign up BEFORE April 15th - you will receive $25.00! I did it and it only took me a few minutes to sign up and after they verified it was me, I got my $25.00!!

They also have this great referral program which allows you to refer others and receive $10 per referral (up to $500!) Click on the button above or below to use me as your referral and I'll split my $10.00 fee with you once I get it - I'll just transfer it to your Revolution Money Exchange account!

End of Tradition

My grandmother is 16 years older than my mother. My mother is 20 years older than me. I am 20 years older than my twin daughters. One of my twins is 16 years older than her first born.

My daughters are now 20 years old. They are both happily married. Felicia has 2 boys and has been married for 4 years. Praise God!
Tina has a darling 16-mo-old daughter and has been married for 2 years. Thank you Jesus!

As they got closer to their 20th birthday the pressure was on...which one was going to get pregnant and carry on the "tradition" of having a birthday 20 years apart from their child? Neither one of them wanted another child right now but neither one of them wanted to see this tradition go by the wayside either. Tina had a little scare back in January where she thought she was pregnant....she wasn't very happy about it no matter how much I talked about children being a blessing from God and how great a mom she is - she didn't want to hear it! Haha

We've now reached the point of no return - the tradition has ended.

Toon-ful Tuesday

We can enjoy life more abundantly when we maintain a close relationship with Jesus. But if we are apart from Him, we become vulnerable to the thief, who would seek steal, kill, and destroy.

Square Foot Garden

Greg left town today on a business trip to South FL for a week. While he is away Dakota and I are going to attempt to build a garden. We've never done this before - I've been wanting to do this as a homeschool project the last several years but have never quite been able to get off my duff and get it started. However, I was encouraged after reading about Frugal Dad's Square Foot Garden Project and decided this was the year we were JUST GONNA DO IT! Stay tuned for pictures and progress report....

What a way to go!

Thanks to Gimundo for this news story...

Couple Married for 75 Years Pass Away on the Same Day
05/04/2008

J.C. and Josie Cox got married on Christmas Day, 1932. It wasn't the most convenient time for a wedding, and they had some trouble getting someone to officiate the ceremony: "They went up to a pastor's door and knocked on the door," Lesha Grimm, one of the Coxs' granddaughters, told WFAA. "He didn't marry them, so they went to another pastor's house."

Nonetheless, the young couple was determined to be together – and so they remained, inseparable through thick and thin, for 75 years.

The couple followed their impulsive wedding ceremony with a honeymoon trip to deliver a load of chickens to a farm. Though their relationship wasn't always the height of romance, their bond was awe-inspiring: The couple went through all of life's ups and downs together, living in the same two-bedroom house in Fort Worth, Texas, for over 50 years.

As J.C. and Josie grew older, their health began to suffer. Josie was losing her sight, and J.C. "couldn't hear real well," said Grimm. Luckily, J.C.'s deafness didn't cause much trouble for the couple: "He didn't talk much anyway," said Marla Williamson, another of the Cox's granddaughters. "His way of socializing with you was to share Dr Pepper."

When the aging couple entered a nursing home together last month, Josie insisted on caring for her husband just as she always had, despite her limitations. Religiously, she ironed his pants and shirts for him every day, so that he could dress the way he liked.

"She was going to make sure - even though he never went anywhere - his clothes were going to be starched," said Grimm.

Last week, J.C. died of complications from pneumonia. Josie lay in bed beside him, holding his hand as he slipped away.

Josie herself suffered from heart problems, and days earlier, doctors had said she didn't have long to live. It seemed like her beloved husband's death was too much for her to take: For five hours after his death, she lay in her bed, grieving and unable to move. Her grandchildren surrounded her.

"You know, Grannie, we're going to be OK," Williamson, whispered in her ear. "Paw and your children are waiting for you. It's OK. You can leave." Moments later, Josie closed her eyes for the last time.

"When he passed away he didn't say a lot, but he went and she went with him," Grimm told The Star-Telegram.

"To me, he was saying to her, 'C'mon, let's go.'"

FREE Excedrin & 5.00 EB from CVS

This is PERFECT if you are new to CVS shopping because you can get some EB's (ExtraBucks) with no out of pocket money & no Sunday coupons needed either!!

Here's what you do-

Print out 2 Exederin coupons at www.smartsource.com
Print out 2 Exederin coupons at www.coupons.com
Print out 1 Exedrin coupon at http://www.excedrin.com/offers.shtml

Go to CVS and purchase 5 bottles of Excerdrin 24 ct.
Hand over 5 coupons
Get back $5 in EB's

CVS Deals for 4/6-4/12

Here's some deals you can get this week at CVS (and this is assuming you got the coupon inserts from the 4/6 newspaper - there were 3 of them - Redplum, Valassis, and Proctor & Gamble.)--

Work each "deal" up to at least $20.00 so you can use your $4/$20 coupon (shown below)
Bliss Chocolate, Cadbury Miniatures 2/$6.00 - earn $2 EB
Go here for $1.00 off coupon for Hershey's Bliss chocolate
Cheerios Twin Pack 7.99 - earn $4 EB
1.00 off coupon from 4/6 insert
Excedrin Tablets 1.99 - earn $1 EB - purchase 2
Go here for $2.00 off Excedrin coupons. (can print 2 coupons)
Johnson's Softcream lotion or bodywash - $4.99 and up - earn $2 EB
Go here for 1.00 off Johnson's Softlotion, Softwash or Softoil products.

Total before coupons $22.96
Use $4/$20 coupon
Use $1.00 Hershey's coupon
Use $1.00 off Cheerios coupon
Use (2) $2.00 off Excedrin coupons
Use $1.00 Johnson's coupon
Total after coupons = $10.96 Earned $10.00 in Extra Bucks

Purchase $10 of Febreze products earn $5 EB
Febreze Noticeables Starter Kit - 6.99
(2) Febreze Air Effects 2/5.00
Use coupons from 4/6 Sunday insert - Buy 1 Noticeables, Get 1 Air Effects Free (-2.50)

Purchase $10 of Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kits or Refills earn $5 EB
Swiffer Refills 5.99 - purchase 2 if you have the Swiffer Sweeper already
Swiffer Refills 5.99
Use coupon from Sunday insert $1.00 off 2 Refills

Total before coupons = 23.97
Use $4/$20 coupon
Use Febreeze coupon -2.50
Use Swiffer coupon - 1.00
Use EB from above -10.00
Total after coupons/EB = $6.47 Earned 10 EB


Purchase $15.00 of these products (Dove, Sunsilk, Caress, Vaseline, Lever2000) get $5 EB back
(2) Dove creme oil Body Wash 5.99 x 2
Go here for a $2.00 off coupon for Dove Body Wash.
(1) Sunsilk Hair Care Product 3.49
Go here for $1.50 off any Sunsilk Creme hair product.
(2) Degree deodorants 2/$5.00
Use coupons from 4/6 Sunday insert -1.00, -1.50

Excedrin Migraine 1.99 Earn 1.00 EB
Go here for a $2.00 off coupon for Excedrin Migraine

Total before coupons = 22.46
Use $4/$20 coupon
Use Dove coupons -4.00
Use Sunsilk coupon - 1.50
Use Degree coupon - 1.00
Use Degree coupon -1.50
Use Excedrin coupon -2.00
Use $5.00 EB from
Total after coupons/EB = $3.46 Will earn 6 EB + 5EB (left over) = 11 EB

There are TWO CoverGirl Makeup Deals going on right now at CVS - with the coupons you can work them together.

Weekly Deal
**Purchase $20 of any CoverGirl Products and get $10 EB**

Monthly Deal
**Buy CoverGirl Advanced Radiance ($10.99) or
TruBlend Whipped Foundation ($9.49) get $6 EB**
**Buy CoverGirl Incredifull or TruShine Lipcolor get $3 EB**

The coupons that came out in the 4/6 Sunday's insert were these:
#1 $1.00 off any Cover Girl Queen product
#2 $1.00 off any Cover Girl product
#3 FREE CoverGirl face product with purchase of any Covergirl foundation

Here's a suggestion:
Purchase CoverGirl TruBlend Whipped Foundation (Monthly Deal) at $9.49 Earn 6.00 EB
Use coupon #3 (above)
For your FREE product - pick up something in the (Weekly Deal) for $6.99
Pick up 2 more CoverGirl items x 6.99 in the (Weekly Deal) section
Use coupons #1 & #2 (above)
or if you picked up more than one Sunday paper and have multiple coupons to use, then repeat the steps using your FREE coupon and purchasing the TruBlend Whipped Foundation.

Total before coupons = 30.46
Use $4/$20 coupon
Use FREE product coupon
Use 1.00 off coupon
Use 1.00 off coupon
Use EB - 11 EB
Total after coupons/EB - 6.47 Earned 16.00 EB


Baby stuff is on sale this week - Buy $25.00 worth and get $10 EB back
Go here for Johnson's Baby Products coupons.
Go here, here and here for Gerber baby products coupons.


Go here for a $4.00 off $20.00 purchase. You can print this multiple times.

Pantene Pro-V stylers are on sale 3/$12.00 - earn $4.00 EB
Go here for 2.00 off coupons for Pantene ProV Stylers (you can choose a PDF file of 6 per sheet or 4 per sheet)

I hope this will help you with some deal ideals. Let me know some of your deals you managed this week!!

Freebies

Reusable Shopping Tote - from Earthbound Farm
have to complete a short quiz first










Bic Products for Educators when you join the "Teach Our Kids Club"


Free Bibles - King James Version or American Standard Version
You can request up to 3 Bibles.

Address Labels - from Current










SAMPLES
Caress Brazilian Exotic Oil Infusions Body Wash

Dove Hair Care

Glutten free samples - must sign up for newsletter

Stetson cologne

Lavera & Lavere - Organic skin products - have to call a number to request a catalog or samples.

Redken for curly hair

3M Print to Last Paper - free sample pack of paper

Dove Body Lotion

Redken for Men Outplay Texture Hair putty

Walgreen's Deals 4/6-4/12

On page 11 in the sales flyer this week there is an ad for Aveeno products
Buy 2- Get $2 RR (Register Rewards), Buy 3- Get $5 RR, Buy 4 or more - Get $10 RR
The lowest priced item is $2.39 so if you purchase 4 of those the total would be $9.56 and you would get $10 RR **Moneymaker** Plus there are coupons from a Sunday insert!

Free After Rebate All Month

* Aquafresh Extreme Clean Polishing Action OR Advanced 2x Whitening Toothpaste
USE coupon: Aquafresh Premium Toothbrush, any $1/1 (5-3-08) SS-4/6

* Colgate 360 Clean OR Deep Clean manual toothbrush
USE: Colgate Adult or Kid’s Manual Toothbrush, any .75/1 (4-26-08) SS-3/30

* Just For Men Touch of Gray haircolor

* Tums QuikPak 24 dose

* jane Be Pure Mineral Blush OR Kabuki Brush
USE: Jane or Jane Be Pure Mineral Cosmetics item, any full size $2/1 (4-30-08)

* Wal-Zyr 24 Hour Allergy Relief 5 tablets

* Wal-itin Tablets 30pk

EasySaver Rebates

* Scott Bathroom Tissue, 12 rolls 2/$14 - $2/2 rebate #30 = 2/$12
Must purchase 2 for this rebate
USE: Scott bath tissue, 12-pack $1/1 or (2) 6-packs, (3) 4-packs, or (12) single rolls (4-27-08) SS1-3/16
Scott Extra Soft bath tissue, any 4-pack or larger $1/1 (4-27-08) SS1-3/16
Final Price: 2/$10

* Air Wick Ultra Freshmatic Mini $9 - $3 rebate #37 = $6
USE: Air Wick Freshmatic Ultra $4/1 printable at www.airwick.us (click on coupons at the bottom)
Air Wick Freshmatic Starter Kit, any $4 (5-6-08) SS-4/6
Final Price: $2

* Glade Scented Oil Candles Refill 2/$5 - $2 rebate #31 = 2/$3
This rebate is for $1 per item - rebate limit of 4 for up to $4 in savings
USE: Glade Scented Oil Candles refill packs, any Buy 2 Get 1 FREE, up to $3.49 value (4-26-08) SS2-3/16
Glade Scented Oil Candles refill pack FREE (up to $3.49 value) when you buy any Glade Scented Oil Candles holder (4-26-08) SS2-3/16 **see below for Candle rebate**
Final Price: 3/$2 - 4/$2

* Glade Scented Oil Candle $5 - $2 rebate #32 = $3
USE: Glade Scented Oil Candles refill pack FREE (up to $3.49 value) when you buy any Glade Scented Oil Candles holder (4-26-08) SS2-3/16 **see above for Refill rebate**
Final Price: $2 for 1 holder and 1 refill
Best Deal:
Buy 1 Holder ($5) and 4 Refills ($2.50 each)
- B2G1 refill coupon = $2.50 off
- buy holder, get free refill coupon = $2.50 off
- 1 holder rebate #32 = $2
- 4 refill rebates #31 at $1 each = $4
Final Price: $4 for 1 holder and 4 refills

* Electrasol 12-pack or Jet Dry 2/$6 - $2 rebate #27 = 2/$4
this rebate is for $1 off each item - rebate limit of 2 for up to $2 savings
USE: Electrasol 2in1 Gelpacs, 3in1 Powerball Tabs or Dual Action Tabs Automatic Dishwasher Detergent .75/1 (4-12-08) SS-3/9
Electrasol 2in1 Gelpacs, 3in1 Powerball or Dual Action Tabs .75 (5-10-08) SS-4/6
Jet-Dry Rinse Agent, any .40/1 (5-3-08) SS-3/9
Final Price: 2/$2.50 - 2/$3.20


EasySaver Coupons

* Hershey's Nuggets or Reeses/Kisses/Rolo assortment 2/$4 - $1/2 ES coupon pg.7 = 2/$3

* Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color $7 - $2 ES coupon pg.8 = $5
USE: Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color or Multi-Lights Kit, any $2 (7-31-08) V-4/6
Final Price: $3

* Benadryl 20-24ct, 4oz Liquid or 10pk Strips or Sudafed 10-24ct $4 - $1 ES coupon pg.18 or pg.21 = $3
USE: Benadryl Allergy product, any excluding trial size $1/1 (9-30-08) V-3/16
Benadryl Children’s Allergy Product, any excluding trial size $1/1 (5-31-08) V-3/16
Sudafed or Sudafed PE product, any excluding trial size $1/1 (9-30-08) V-3/16
Final Price: $2


7-Day Coupons

* Wrigley's Original Gum 15-17 piece 3/$2
USE: Wrigley’s Spearmint, Big Red, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit or Winterfresh Gum, any 17-stick pack Buy 1 Get 1 FREE, max. value $1.19 (4-20-08) SS-1/20
Final Price: 2/.15 - 2/.67

* Wrigley's Extra Gum 15-17 piece 3/$2 - .99/3 ES coupon pg. 5 = 3/$1.01
USE: Extra 15-stick pack, Buy 1 Get 1 FREE, max. value $1.19 (6-30-08) SS-3/30
The best deal here would be to buy 4 using 2 B1G1 coupons
Final Price: FREE - 4/.33

* FREE One-Hour Film Developing Wednesday, 4/9 only
limit 1 free roll

* Photo CD .99



Buy 1, Get 1 Free

* Blue Diamond Almonds 2/$3.29
USE: Blue Diamond Almonds, any 6 oz. or larger cans $1/3 (6-9-08) SS-3/9
Blue Diamond Almonds, any 6 oz. or larger cans .75/2 (4-20-08) SS-1/20
Blue Diamond Bold Almonds, any 6 oz. or larger cans .75/2 (4-20-08) SS-1/20
Final Price: 2/$2.54 - 4/$5.58

* Air Wick Freshmatic Mini 2/$9.99
USE: Air Wick Freshmatic Mini $4/1 printable at www.airwick.us (click on coupons at the bottom)
Air Wick Freshmatic Starter Kit, any $4 (5-6-08) SS-4/6
Final Price: 2/$1.99 - 2/$5.99

* Ecotrin Low Strength Aspirin 45ct 2/$2.99
USE: Ecotrin product $1/1 (4-30-08) SS-1/27
Final Price: 2/.99 - 2/$1.99


Register Rewards

* Coke product 12-packs 4/$12 - $2 RR = 4/$10

* Crest Whitestrips 56pk $20 - $10 RR = $10
USE: Crest Whitestrips Premium, Premium Plus, Daily Multicare, etc. $5 (5-31-08) P&G-4/6 **RIGHT KIND?*
Final Price: $5

* Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste, Pro-Health Mouthwash 500ml or Glide Dental Floss 3/$9 - $3 RR = 3/$6
USE: Crest toothpaste, any 4.1 oz. or larger .50/1 (4-30-08) V-3/16
Crest MultiCare Whitening, Extra Whitening, Vivid White, etc. Toothpaste, any 4.1 oz.+ $1/1 (5-31-08) P&G-4/6
Crest Rinses, any 473mL+ .75/2 (5-31-08) P&G-4/6
Final Price: 3/$3 - 3/$4.75

* Gillette Mach 3 or Venus Disposable Razors 3-pack $6 - $3 RR = $3
USE: Mach3 Disposables, CustomPlus3, Sensor3, Daisy3, or Venus Disposables $2 (5-31-08) P&G-4/6
Final Price: $1

SS = super saver coupon book
V= Valassis coupon insert
RR = Register Rewards

Converted my husband to CVS shopping!!

My husband has been tolerant of my "addiction" to CVS the last two months - in other words, he doesn't really care one way or another....he earns the money and I try my best to make it spread as far as possible. He has always been one to run into Wal-mart or Winn-Dixie and pick up whatever he needs when he needs it. I've been trying to stay one step ahead of him for two months now as well as telling him to let me know when he needs something (IN ADVANCE) so I can keep my eye out for it. So far I've been pretty good at keeping him out of the stores - been supplying all his needs.

He is preparing for an out-of-town trip this next week and began telling me this past week some things he wanted me to pick up for him for his trip. I kept telling him I will get them at CVS this weekend. This morning I treated him to breakfast at Cracker Barrel (a pleasant surprise for him) and after getting the oil changed in the truck we headed to CVS. He came in the store after I had already been in there about 10 minutes and my shopping cart had quite a few items in it.

He remarked "Good gracious hon, what's with all that stuff!!??"

I told him "Just sit back and watch me work...I got all your items plus more. You're going to like this."

I got all of this and only spent $6.86 cash out of my pocket and I have $5.00 Extra Bucks left!!

Here's how I did it:
Purchase #1
(5) CVS Rapid Release 24 ct pain relief gelcaps @ 3.99 each
(1) Colgate 360 Sonic toothbrush 6.99
Total before coupons/ExtraBucks = 26.94

Used this coupon - $4.00 off $20.00 purchase (scroll down to 2nd thread)
Had $12.99 ExtraBucks from last months purchases
Earned $9.00 ExtraBucks from 2% Winter Rebate program

Grand Total + tax = .95
Earned 19.95 ExtraBucks for medicine and 3.00 EB for toothbrush

Purchase #2
Lubriderm lotion 6.99 used 1.00 off coupon
(4) Softsoap Spa body wash 4.99 each
Huggies travel wipes 1.79
Total before coupons/EB = 28.74

Used another $4/20.00 coupon
Used EB from above purchase - 22.95

Grand total + tax = .93
Earned 19.96 EB for Softsoap & 1.00 for Lubriderm lotion

Purchase #3
(2) Fructis Shampoo 3.99 each - used 2 $1.00 off coupons
Fructis Hairspray 3.99
Fructis Spray Gel 3.99
Stetson Cologne (husband's last minute purchase - lol) 11.49

Total before coupons/EB = 27.45
Used coupons 2.00 off
Used EB from above purchase 20.96

Grand total + tax = 4.98
Earned $5.00 EB for Fructis purchase

The sad thing about this is I actually had another $4/20.00 coupon in the truck but it was pouring rain and I really didn't want to run out there just to get that coupon. I know I'll use it next time.

Greg kept saying "You gotta me kidding me!"

As we were leaving I asked him "You see NOW why I enjoy doing this so much??" LOL

CVS Update - Numbers Game

I am a "Numbers" person when it comes to saving money. I want to see it in black and white. I have to prove to myself that I REALLY am saving money to make it worthwhile the effort I'm putting into continuing this CVS shopping game. Especially because I am enjoying this wayyyyy too much sometimes!

I had some free time yesterday afternoon (because Dakota spent the afternoon and then the entire evening at a friend's house) so I pulled out my receipts from CVS over the last 2 months and put them into an Excel spreadsheet and this is what I discovered.

I started doing my CVS shopping 2/5/08 so I had exactly 2 months worth of receipts to use.

My total out-of-pocket cash spent = $170.11
My coupons used = $58.52
My Extracare bucks earned = $143.96
My Extracare bucks spent = $111.97

Total spent between cash & Extracare bucks = $282.08
Merchandise Value = $326.86

So, after looking at it in black & white I would say YES it is very much worth it!!!! Whoohooo!!!

One Touch

This song "One Touch" by Nicole C. Mullen has really touched me lately. The lyrics are below the video.


Been ostracized for 12 years
I'm used to being alone
Spent everything I had
And now it's gone
I'm used to being put down
My issues tell it all
My only hope is anchored
In this fall

Chorus
If I could just touch the hem of His garment
I know I'd be made whole
If I could just press my way through this madness
His love would heal my soul
If only one touch

So many people calling
How could He ever know
That just a brush of Him
Would stop the flow
If he knew would He rebuke me
Or shame me to the crowd
Well I'm desperate 'cause it's never or it's now

Chorus

Suddenly He turned around
He said somebody has unleashed my power
Well, Frightened and embarrassed I bowed
You see I told Him of my troubles
And how...

I had to touch the Hem of His garment
And I know I've been made whole
And how I had pressed my way through the madness
And His love has healed my soul

Then with one word He touched the hem of my garment
And you know I've been made whole
And somehow He pressed His way through my madness
And His love has healed my soul

I tell you He touched me
He reached way down and touched me
When no one else would touch me
Jesus, shol' 'nough He touched me...
And I know I've been made whole

Bath & Body Works

I went to Bath & Body Works today and used this coupon and paid a total of $1.08 for these two items!! Whoohoooo - what a deal! You can get a great deal too but you have to do it before April 12th! That's when the coupon expires.

The small lotion was on sale for $1.00 and the coupon states that with ANY purchase you can get a FREE product (up to an $11.00 value) - since the Body Spray was $10.50 - it was my FREE item.

Progress Report - March 2008

At the beginning of March I posted the goals I was working on for our family this year. Here's a progress report for those goals:

• Cook more meals at home - this I DID do! But I didn't get our food budget below $350. I think this was due to a couple of events that took place during the month...a birthday, Easter and me going out of town for the conference. We spent $402.52 on groceries and $200.00 on eating out - so this is going to require a LOT more persistence and hard work this month. There are NO trips, birthdays or holidays to deal with so it will be much easier.
• I was able to put some money away towards the Emergency Fund - $160.00
• I made $100.00 payment towards credit card

This doesn't seem like much but in March we made two car payments so hopefully in April we'll be able to put more towards the credit card and Emergency Fund.

April Fool's Day

As I was cooking dinner last night I was thinking about a way I could prank my dear husband for April Fool's Day. I didn't tell Dakota it was April 1st yesterday so I wouldn't be subject to his "pranks" all day but I really wanted to GET Greg.

He had called and told me he was going to be a little late coming home because he needed to stop by his mother's house to pick up some stuff she had bought for us on a recent trip she took. I had finished dinner and was sitting down eating when Greg called me again. I thought he was calling to tell me he was on his way home from his mom's house. Instead he said, in a very somber voice, "I'm going to be a little late...I've been in an accident." Immediately my heart started beating quicker and I was firing off the questions "Are you okay? How's the truck? Did you get rear-ended? Did you cause it? Do you need me to come get you?" He's answering the questions one after another and I said "Okay, I'm going to come get you" and then he says "Elisa...April Fools!!!" I coulda killed him!

As hard as I was trying to come up with an idea to get him - I NEVER even thought he was "getting" me!!

The Cheesecake Factory

Last week I shared with you that I was going on a trip this past weekend with 15 other women to Jacksonville to see Beth Moore at a conference. We left early Friday morning and drove 6 hours to get there. After checking into the hotel and resting for a couple hours we went to an early dinner (4:30) at Outback Steakhouse. I had a delicious meal of grilled scallops and veggies - I don't eat red meat so I always choose chicken or seafood. It was outstanding!

The conference that evening was wonderful. There were 14, 500 women gathered together in one place - that's a whole lotta estrogen!! By the time we finished dinner, drove there and got parked the place was packed...we had to sit up in the nosebleed section. It was fine though because there were huge screens set up everywhere and we could see everything great. The only problem was getting up there. We saw a long, long line waiting to use the elevator. Around the corner were the stairs. One of my friends had the brilliant idea for us to use the stairs. As our group of 16 headed to the stairs the line of 100+ women waiting to use the elevator began following us! We all climbed 5 flights of stairs - we did that Friday night and Saturday morning - 4 times. By Sunday morning (in church) most of us were so sore we could barely move!!

Okay back to the MAIN reason of this post...THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY...I have never been there before! Oh my heart! We went there Friday night after the program. This was the most delicious piece of cheesecake I have ever had in my entire life. I bought a Frozen Iced Mango to drink and a piece of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cheesecake. I was on a sugar high until 2:00 a.m. I don't eat too much sugar and sweets anymore since I've lost a lot of weight over the last 3 years - so this was definitely a treat for me!

CVS - end of March

I had a few CVS coupons that were going to be expiring yesterday, the last day of March, that I really wanted to use but I just couldn't find the time to put together a shopping list. Dakota and I ran out to Wal-Mart last night to pick up a few clothing items he needed (tshirts, socks, etc - the boy is growing like a weed!) and on the way home I told him I just wanted to run into CVS real quick and see what "damage" I could do. I really hated running in there unprepared without a list/coupons pre-sorted but I hate more than anything NOT using these valuable coupons (worth $11.00.) I had my coupon organizer with me and we were only in there for about 20 minutes - I was thrilled with my purchases!

Softsoap Spa Body Wash - $4.99 (earned $4.99 back in Extra Bucks)
Clean & Clear Deep Cleansing $5.49 (spent $15.00 in these products; earned $5.00 EB)
Clean & Clear Morning Glow Moisturizer $6.99
Clean & Clear Steam Soft In-Shower Facial $6.99
Playskool Cottony Cloths Baby Wipes 240 ct $7.49 (earned $3.oo back in EB)

Used these coupons:
1.00 off Baby Wipes
3.00 off $15.00 CVS Beauty Products
3.00 off CVS Acne Product
5.00 off $15.00 purchase
6.00 Extra Bucks left over from previous week

Total before coupons $31.95
total after coupons $13.95
EB earned $12.99

This morning when I turned my computer on there was a nice email from CVS letting me know my 2% Winter Rebate Extra Bucks was ready to be printed and that was $9.00!!! Now I have $21.99 to spend in Extra Bucks

Toon-ful Tuesday

Our hope and our faith can work together to bring God's purposes to reality in this earth, but the motivation behind our hoping and believing should be love; love for God ,love for His people, and love for the world.