Assignment #2 Update

Finally got the fridge cleaned out Tuesday per the 2nd assignment from the Money Saving Mom's "4 Weeks to a More Organized Home" blog series.
Here's my messy kitchen before & the dishes after I already started:

Here's the fridge before:

Here's the moldy rice I found! Ew! Thankfully this was about as bad as it got.

I think the pickles are from my pregnancy but the ice cream/milkshake isn't that old! [Get it? Pickles & ice cream? Sorry.] It was pretty gross looking though! They were both lost in the back of the fridge.

And then there was this... not sure what it was, some sort of tomato-based sauce?

We had this container of coffee my step-dad bought either at Thanksgiving or right after my daughter was born on some visit. We didn't have a coffee machine, just french presses, so we couldn't brew it properly & it sat for years.

I went one or two shelves/drawers at a time: [I am SO annoyed that this picture rotated!! I don't know how to fix it! The file isn't rotated like that!]

[Gah! They're all going to rotate aren't they?? GRrrr!!]

The middle drawer before, I had to vacuum out all the little grapes stems & what-not. It's "after" is included with the bottom shelf's "after"

The orange arrow is pointing to the great Jell-O spill of a few weeks ago. I didn't realize it sloshed when I put it in & so it set up between the glass & the frame, thus that piece of glass had to be scrubbed in the sink!

I didn't take Before & after pics of the top drawer, or an empty after pic of the door... here's its "before:"

And the total AFTER for the fridge:

And the kitchen AFTER, isn't totally cleaned up, but it's better. Note the messy-looking pile that the arrow is pointing to is composed of CLEAN dishes in the drying rack. :D

The Busy Person's Guide to Couponing in Moderation

I've learned a lot in the past few months of couponing, but I'm by no means an expert, nor do I want to be! I have, on occasion, gotten a bit carried away with my couponing & spent more time on it than I intended, but it is perfectly possible to save a good 20-30% on every shopping trip without making couponing an all-out job.
This is not meant to be an all-inclusive guide, it's mainly going to be about what has been working for me, and the most important tip I can give to anyone who wants to save a little extra without going crazy over it is to be open to trying a few things & forgetting a few things until you find whatever works for you!

What I do: I got a Sunday-only subscription to the local paper & on Sunday (or whenever I can get to it) I pull it apart.
I set aside the ads for places we actually shop at, and the actual coupon booklets (Smart Saver, Red Plum & occasionally the P&G Brand Saver are what we usually get) and all the other ads go straight to recycling... or I let my 2yo play with them & tell me what she sees in the pictures to keep her out of the good stuff!
Then I go through the manufacturer (often abbreviated "mfg") coupons from the booklets and clip out the ones that interest me. I make three piles initially: "Keep,""Maybe" and "Give to the neighbors." I take the "maybe" pile & have my hubby give his yea or nay and, as you might have guessed, those go into the other two piles.
I've tried a couple different methods of sorting my coupons. At first, I tried sorting them by expiration date so that I'd use them before they expired, but that didn't work very well. I couldn't find the coupons I was looking for. So, I tried a new method. I sort by what they're for. Right now they are "Food," "Baby stuff," "Health & beauty products/other" and "Cleaning/other." I'm thinking I need to re-vamp it a bit to better match the layout of the store, but whatever works & doesn't ADD to the stress!
I use paperclips on my bundles & I keep my coupons in a mini file folder-type thingy. Kinda like this one. I also use a couple of the pockets for store-specific coupons & restaurant coupons (though I usually keep these on a new decorative board thingy I nailed to the side of the kitchen cabinets by the back door where we go in & out most often.)

I have an email subscription to MoneySavingMom.com and I skim through those & read the things that interest me. There are certain things that catch my interest more than others, but that's one where I recommend just looking into it & seeing if anything catches your fancy. I'll admit, it was a little overwhelming and I didn't pay much attention to it at first. Once I started to, though, I learned a lot. I'm considering taking a few other steps that are talked about in there frequently like maybe shopping with cash in order to better stick to a budget.

I use the Coupon Match-up feature on the CouponDivas.com website. I just stick with the stores we like to shop at: Meijer, Walgreens & Target. Sadly, they don't have Schnuck's (which is the closest store to where we live) nor do they have an ad in the paper. Their loss, I just stop in for milk & such on occasion. I ignore the rest. Wal-Mart can be nice because of their price-match guarantee, but I don't shop there for personal (but not private... I'll tell you all about how they tried to sue me if you're curious!) reasons. I refuse to run all over town trying to get the *best* deals on everything.
The site is pretty self-explanatory. Read everything carefully until you get the hang of it though!
So, I go through their shopping lists & click to get the online coupons printed out that they link to. This is where reading carefully comes in. If it's an online coupon, they give a handy-dandy link right to the page it's on, but not always right to the coupon. You may have to look for it. All of the coupons.com sites make you look through them & there are often about 20 pages with about 6 coupons or deals per page. That's one of the annoying, time-consuming parts, but they often have good enough coupons to make it worth it.
I also signed up for Swagbucks, so I try to go through their coupon page first, so I get my SBs for using them, but I'm not sure if it makes a difference. Swagbucks are a whole other story though, so I'll save them for if you're curious or another post.

Through CouponDivas.com I've learned a few things about the stores I shop at most often. I signed up for Meijer MealBox & mPerks to get the extra coupons through those. If you're interested, you can find out more about those from the Meijer page or from CouponDivas.com.

So, once I have all my coupons printed & clipped (paper cutter comes in handy w/the online ones!) and I've started my list from the CouponDivas site & what we need in general I look through the actual ads to see if anything we need is on sale that may not have been in CouponDivas. As I'm writing my list, I'm sure to note if I need to get 2 or more of an item or a group of items together to get a particular deal or any other reminders I might need (like to enter my mPerks #s at the register). I write down my list for each store separately (if I'm even shopping at multiple stores that day) and paperclip all the coupons I'll need for that trip together.
Side-note: We keep a small pad of paper on the side of our fridge w/a pen & when we realize we need something, jot it down on there. I try to put food items on the left side & non-food items on the right.

As I'm shopping, I keep my list & my bundle of coupons handy. As I pick up my items, I check them off my list & move the coupons to a second bundle or just in the front pocket of my file-folder. I make sure I have any of my "save $$ off your next shopping trip" & similar general coupons with the pile of ready-to-use coupons. That way, if I can't find an item, they're sold out, I change my mind or whatever, the coupons I'm not using are already separated out from the good ones & I just have to hand my bundle to the cashier.

The first few weeks, we spent more than usual because of stockpiling non-perishable goods. If you have the space & wiggle-room in your budget to do this, I recommend it! Get a few extras of things you know you'll use when you find a really good deal & you don't have to worry about buying any more for awhile. Be aware of what you have. (We have to work on that a bit ourselves... our tiny pantry is quite cramped now!) Try to be conscious of what you use & don't buy too much of something that'll spoil before you use it. There are some things you'll have to get full-price most of the time, like milk, eggs, OJ, produce and so on. On those things, if you have a habit that's working for you, just stick with it and don't fret. It's better than spending more & having things go bad!

The main thing is to find & do what works for you without causing undue stress! So, don't fret about getting the absolute best deal possible every time, just save what you can when you can & you'll find even the little changes will make a big difference in the long run.
For me, I've made a game of figuring out what percent I saved at each shopping trip and see if I can get a higher percentage each week. Usually, the receipt tells you your total & the total amount you saved... Add those together then take the amount saved divided by the total-total. Example, I spent $11.52 at Target, saved $5. The total-total is $17.52. 5 divided by 17.52 = 0.285388 and so on. So, I saved about 28.5%.

I hope you've found this interesting and helpful! Let me know how your couponing adventure goes! :D

So much!

I have so much I want to write about, but even more I need to DO! So, I'll try at some point to come back to you with some words & pics, but for now... my kitchen is calling! ;)

Update on Assignment #20 & the last few days

I went to the dr. yesterday & had blood drawn to check my cholesterol. I think I'm supposed to have it checked once a year & I haven't had it checked since 2007, unless they checked it while I was pregnant & I forgot. In 2007, is was because my dad had died suddenly of a heart attack (age 54) & then his mom (a survivor of 2 or 3 heart attacks herself) died of a stroke. With the strong family history, they wanted to check. My bad cholesterol was higher than they'd like & the good stuff was lower than they'd like, so they gave me some tips to improve my diet (which made me wonder about my dad's attempts to improve his diet... because his diet was horrible for heart health!)... So, I've been trying to do them. We've done very good at lowering sodium intake, ok at increasing fiber & made some little amount of progress towards lowering my sugar intake. That's the one I have to try the hardest for. I have cut most soda out of my diet. I only have the occasional Sprite or similar when out to eat & a rare root beer when the mood strikes.
Anyway, I should get those results back in a week or so.
When we came back, the neighbors' older boy was playing in his backyard & asked if Amber could come play. I told him to ask his mom & she said yes, so we went over. We ended up hanging out there through lunch. :)
During nap time, I went through the medicines drawers upstairs & sorted them out. It didn't feel like it'd been that long since I last did that, but apparently it was while I was still pregnant, because a bunch of things in there were from that time & had expired in the two+ years since! There were a few random things that were even older & I don't know how I managed to transfer them into those drawers without realizing that they'd expired as early as 2005! o.O

This is from the top drawer, it was worse than the 2nd drawer. The pile on the left is all expired stuff & the pile on the right was what went back in the drawer:

Here are the piles from the 2nd drawer, again left is expired stuff & right goes back in the drawer. Note that this one isn't as bad mostly because it's the drawer that has all the bandaids, gauze, tape & stuff like that that doesn't go bad!

And here's the stuff back in the drawers:

I spent the rest of nap-time working on my Mother's Day gift for my mom. We went back next door a while later & hung out 'til Paul got home.
Today we went outside & trimmed & painted her nails & I painted mine while she played. We ate a picnic on the porch & played outside some more. During naptime I worked on the Mother's Day gift some more & started another project that I intend to be a gift, but I'm not sure for whom yet. One of the cats woke Amber up by meowing outside her door. I guess she was lonely since I was holed up in my craft room. Over the monitor I heard the yowing & then a sleepy little voice "What are you need kitten? What are you need??"
So, I went upstairs & brought the cat to the main floor & snuggled her along the way, then got back to work in the craft room. A while later, she started it again! I hear the sleepy little voice "I sowry kitten. I sowry."
So, I wrapped up what I was doing & called her down again. She stood on the couch by me for a minute or two & then went to bug her sister... who is now snuggled down next to me while the noisy one sleeps across the room. *rolls eyes*
Well, kiddo hasn't really fallen back asleep, so I'll have to go get her soon. *sigh*

The best laid plans...

I tried to plan out my day yesterday with a fair amount of detail. I factored in some flex time & down-time, but forgot one big thing & totally ended up with a different, crazy day.
I had planned to set my timer a lot & do some fast-paced clean-ups & limit my time on the computer. I had planned to work on the upstairs windows, trim & paint Amber's nails & work on an embroidery project. I did none of those. o.O
Instead, I followed up on a tentative plan to get Amber & baby Jamie together, even though he didn't need babysitting today. I suggested maybe we all go craft store shopping together, but his mom said she was feeling like a homebody & offered to watch both kiddos while I went shopping! I couldn't pass that up, but I figured to be nice & not bring her a potentially fussy kid that I'd wait 'til after nap-time. I did get my shower during nap-time & had messed around on the computer longer than I'd intended (should've set that timer!!) and didn't think she'd sleep much longer, so I just worked on some more things on the computer. I thought she was waking up at one point and messaged my friend & started getting ready to go, but Amber fell right back to sleep. I still didn't force myself to do anything productive, as I didn't think she'd sleep that long, so -all told- she slept almost three hours (!) & I didn't accomplish much besides getting my shower.
So, it was about 3:45 when we left (after I checked w/my friend that she was still game) and I packed her dinner & headed over. On the way, I remembered that I had a haircut scheduled at 6:15. Well, this was still doable, but figuring out the exact logistics of dropping her off there, going shopping, getting dinner for myself, & making sure someone could watch Amber while I got my haircut. I got done shopping about 5:10, so I could have gotten Amber home & picked up dinner to go there, but I would have been rushed & Amber didn't have that long to play with Jamie. So, I asked & they said she could stay with them longer, through my haircut. We were hoping I'd get done by 7ish, so I didn't push Jamie's bedtime back too much. Well, even getting to my haircut early, I didn't get done & back until 7:35. :/
We'll be watching Jamie for them to have a date night tonight. Hopefully we can make up for it, but we're cutting it close with my physical therapy appointment. Hopefully Amber doesn't sleep so late again today.
I got my P.T. moved up a bit earlier, hopefully it all works out.

Sunday Sunday

With a little help from hubby, Amber & I finished washing all the windows on the main floor today. He took out the recycling & ran a couple errands. I cut out the coupons & gave the ones we won't use to the neighbors. I still need to go through a few ads & plan any shopping trips, but we don't need anything immediately. I've been trying to mentally go through what we have & what's stockpiled & what we might still need. I kinda wish I'd taken inventory sooner so I could figure out how fast we go through stuff so I could plan ahead more. Ah well.
We are pretty well stocked up on paper towels & TP, most of our toiletries (still need more of my body wash & face wash to reach stockpile status & they're on sale this week at Meijer or Walgreens or both!), laundry detergent & fabric softeners (could use more pre-treater), batteries (not too many of the bigger sizes though), snack foods & treats & cereal. I think we could use more tuna.
Other than perishables that we have to get weekly & those things mentioned above, I think we're pretty well set! :)
I've been thinking I'd like to write my own short little guide to couponing. I'll save that for another entry.
So, I spent a little time on Minecraft today & again am getting a little motion-sickness with it. I'm not sure what's up with that. I didn't get it before. I don't know if it has something to do with the way they changed the graphics in the last update, or what, but I'm rather bummed. Perhaps it's a good thing, though, if I'm less inclined to spend so much time lost in that game! ;)

So, here's my to-do list for the week:
Hem & fix my friend's pants.
Wash upstairs windows.
Sort & organize upstairs medicine drawers.
Get back to the

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Couponing today

Today, my hubby & I ended up shopping at four stores & on average, over 5 transactions, we saved about 48.8%!
I went this morning & got milk at Schnuck's b/c what kiddo had left had gone bad. :/ So, that $1.97 didn't count against any of the following savings...
Hubby went to Target & got a few things & saved 39.65% ( & got a $3 off next grocery purchaseof $25 or more coupon)
I went to Meijer & refilled my Rx & the person before had left their coupons! So, I got an extra $5 off the next purchase(which I used, not on the Rx, but on the other stuff) & the potential for $20 & $5 off coupons the next time I refill Rxs there! :D
In my main transaction I saved 67.3% because of the $10 off coupon I had from filling that Rx & $5 from someone else filling their Rx & mPerks & clearance stuff.
Then I went to Walgreens & saved 44.2% (& got a $5 off next purchase of $5 or more coupon) ... *happy dance!*

Walgreens shopping trip (not pictured: bottle of vinegar)

Meijer shopping trip. The Elmo doll was a full price splurge. Been wanting to get her one for a while. :)

(Not pictured: milk or Target stuff)

Tomorrow or later next week we do plan to get a few more things once the sales hit. I get a preview of the Walgreens & Meijer sale ads so I know Almay is going to be buy 1 get 1 50% off starting tomorrow & our alternative milks from Silk are actually going to be on sale at Meijer!