{6 cents}

Look what I picked up for just 6 cents.


Yes, you read that right...when all was said and done, I paid 6 cents.

Here's what I picked up.
2 bottles of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen
3 bags of Double Bubble gum(my boys love this stuff)
2 boxes of Stove Top stuffing
1 box of thumb tacks (not on sale, just needed them to hang 4th of July stars)

So here's how it worked.
After my ECB's(Extra Care Bucks) and manufacturer coupons, my total at the register was $10.06.



When you buy 2 bottle of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen at CVS this week, you receive $10.00 in ECB's. ECB's are like money at CVS. I can then turn around and spend them on anything in the store.


It has been a great week in the world of coupon shopping. Earlier this week, I picked up two big boxes of Huggies(60 count). They were on sale for $19.99. When all was said and done(ECB's & manufacturer coupons), I was paid $2.00 to take the boxes out of the store. I was able to do this deal twice :-). I love getting diapers for free. I am hoping these are the last boxes of diapers I will have to purchase in my parenting career...wish me luck!

where has our summer gone?

Seriously...we are just days away from the boys going back to school. Tanner will be starting 5th grade. Carter is going into the 3rd grade & Mr. Garrett will be starting kindergarten! I can't believe he is old enough for kindergarten! I can't believe it will just be Brody & me during the morning hours of our days! Life is changing way too fast & I'm not sure if I am ready! While we have had a nice, relaxing week...it has been filled with all of the running around that takes place with going back to school. We have been shopping for school supplies (one of my favorite things to shop for-BTW), scoring some HOT deals. This was by far our best school supply deal, this week.















We picked up 45 pkgs. of binder paper for .45 cents. Yes, you read that right...45 cents. It was a super deal!


My friend Laina(the coupon queen) came and taught a coupon/money saving class for the ladies @ church. Thanks Laina! She inspired lots of my friends to jump on the coupon band wagon. So much so, that my friend Jan & I went on a little field trip to Walgreens. Jan wanted to see how to work the deals. My total, before coupons & Register Rewards was $41.00 and some change. After my coupons & RR's, my official total was $18.08. It gets even better. After I paid my $18.08, out pops $19.00 in RR. I left Walgreens last night, having made .92 cents. They paid me to buy those items last night. This is what I scored (minus two bottles of soap, 2 deodorants & 2 PB's that I gave Jan).




















Besides getting ready for school, I have been trying to pull my house back together. This little box of goodies inspired me to at least get my scrapbook desk cleaned off. I am so ready to hunker down & create! These lovely goodies can all be found in one place. They are from the July Green Tangerines Kit Club. These kits are still available but I am guessing not for long. You can call the store at 916-771-8010(tell them Raimi sent you & that I say HI) & they will even ship it to you. You don't wanna miss this kit! The colors are yummy & perfect for all of your summer day photos.







We are excited for the weekend even though the weather has put a damper on our Tahoe plans. We will stay close to home & enjoy the cool weather here. The boys are looking forward to finding out who their teachers are tomorrow night. I am excited for them. The anticiaption is killing all of us!

How about you, are you excited for school to be starting?

not bad

I have noticed that my coupon shopping escapades have slowed down with the boys home & on summer vacation. I hit Walgreens this morning & this is what I scored:



















2 pkgs. of tab dividers
3 pkgs. of glue sticks(6 sticks total)
2 pkgs. of mechanical pencils
2 boxes of Crayola markers
4 Smelly pencils(root beer, bubble gum, strawberry)
1 pkg.of toilet paper.

With the combination of Walgreens coupons & Register Rewards, I paid a whopping $1.37
for everything. Not pictured, but scored this morning(for free) were 3 bottles of Listerine mouth wash. Those were on sale, 3 for $9. I had 3, $2.00 off coupons. That brought my total to $3.00. For buying those 3 items , I received a $3.00 Register reward. I used that $3.00 reward towards those school supplies mentioned above.

I am so glad that the boys school sent home the "back to school" supply list during the last week of school. I have been slowly gathering their supplies as I see things go on sale. I refuse to be one of those Moms shopping @ Target or Wal*Mart the night before school starts. If you are wanting some awesome deals on school supplies, check out the in store ad @ Walgreens & CVS/Longs. Or, as usual, you can always check out the Abundant Food Saving site for Laina's deals/scenarios!

Happy back to school shopping!

Darn you Target!!!






















I try to avoid you like the plague. I have just learned that I can't shop at your stores. I can't stick to my lists upon entering your doors. I know this about myself & that is why I have basically grounded myself from your stores. Well, I had a bunch of coupons for a steal of a deal on granola bars & so i decided to visit you today. I even gave myself a little pep talk while making my way to your Fairway location. I told myself I was going to run in & run out with my super steal of a deal on granola bars AND that was it. Well, I purchased my cheap granola bars alright AND a few extra things that I told myself I didn't need.

First I couldn't pass up this cute little Easter outfit for Brody.





















I even tried to purchase the blue version for Garrett but he flat out told me he didn't like it & wasn't not going to wear it. It was quite the conversation, still makes me giggle.

And then I saw this cuteness.














Let me preface this by saying, if you stop by my house between 7-9 am, you will usually find me totally dressed for the day WITH an apron on & no I am not baking-LOL! I have been asked that several times. A few years back, I tried to follow the FLY lady website. While this site has some great tips/techniques for getting your home & life in order, I decided that it was not for me. I did take and still use some of her valuable suggestions & ideas...one of them being to get yourself fully dressed before you begin your daily routine each morning. I have learned that 7-9 am is my time to clean & get things in order for the day. I wear my apron so I don't ruin my clothes while scrubbing a toilet or scouring the kitchen sink. Okay, I am thinking you probably think I am a little weird right about now...what I am trying to say is that this simple, cute little apron from Target makes me happy. I am cleaning in style now!

So, darn you Target. Once again, I am grounding myself from you. Until I can learn to stick to the list, I won't be shopping with you.
I will tell you that I purchased 10 boxes of Quaker Granola bars for for $5.00 plus tax & that I do appreciate that deal.

Long time...no blog. I have every intention of blogging daily (that's a lofty goal, isn't it?) & then life just happens! I thought I would do, what I seem to do the best & that is a RaNdOm post of the things we are enjoying or making us crazy right now...you decide!

If you know Carter & have had any interaction with him lately, you would know that his 8th birthday is on March 11th (this Wed.). 8th birthdays are a pretty big deal @ our house. He will be baptized this Saturday as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is so excited. I couldn't get him out of bed this morning, day light Savings has really thrown the boys for a loop(that & the fact that Tanner & Carter are trying out for the Select Soccer teams right now & playing baseball & practicing)this year. Anyway, Carter was not budging but as soon as I said his birthday was just 2 days away, he popped out of bed & said "is it really just two days away"?. He was so excited, you would have thought I had just told him he could open all of his presents 2 days early-LOL! Tanner had student council early this morning so we all piled into the car to take him. Mind you, the car ride to school is just two minutes if you hit the light right. I guess Carter just couldn't wait till we got home, he passed his notebook up to me & this is what I read:

I love how he wanted me to write him back. Sure, let me put the car on cruise control & I'll get right back to you Carter - so FUNNY!

My LO's have been posted on the Green Tangerines Flickr account for January's kit club. You can find my cards on pg. 2(the h-e-l-l-o card w/ circles is mine too-no name) & my layouts on pages 4 & 5.
Check them out here.
Click on Kit Club & then click on gallery.

I just turned in my Feb. Kit Club samples. My Tan-Man layout is one of my favorite layouts ever...am I allowed to say that? I loved working with all of the product in this kit. Kinsey did an amazing job picking out paper, ribbons, embellishments, etc..
I heart the Feb. kit club :).

Garrett is loving his sunglasses. I found them @ DI for .50 cents...best .50 cents I have ever spent. He keeps asking if he looks cool in his sunglasses.


In case you can't tell...we are enjoying the California sunshine & my neighbors house is STILL for sale. Somebody please buy it!

It wouldn't be a perfect week for me if there wasn't some time for coupon shopping.I scored some super deals this week. I purchased 5 boxes of cereal for $2.75 (that included the tax)@ Safeway. I actually did this deal 3 times. My boys go through cereal like you would not believe.


I hit Walgreen's this morning & look what I scored for about 2 dollars & some change.
Yes! You read that right...2 dollars & you do see two pkgs. of diapers there & WIPES!. I paid 1 dollar for the wipes & another dollar for the 2 cans of Ajax, everything else was free after the coupons & the $10.00 Register Reward I received.

So grateful for my friend Laina & the time she takes to post super deals on her site. Thanks Laina...you ROCK!

This is this weeks KOW @ Green Tangerines.

I just happened to have random pictures on John & I on my desk but you could totally use family pictures or pictures of you & your kids. This kit went on sale last Thursday & is available till it's gone. It was a fun one to create.
(sorry for the blurry picture, I was in a hurry to head home).

Have a happy Monday & don't forget to find the things in your week that make you happy!

coupon adventures

Look what I scored for under $2.00 today!


I am still using my coupons & scoring some sweet deals.
Today I purchased/received for free:
8 cans of Progresso soup
3 rolls of Bounty paper towels
2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste
1 bottle of Windex(I will get this for free after I mail in my rebate-SCORE)
1 can of Windex wipes
6 boxes of raisins (impulse purchase for Brody)

Again, you can check out Laina's site for daily deals/updates.
Happy shopping!

Look what I scored this week!

Safeway was having an awesome deal on cereal.
The cereal was on sale to start with and then if you bought 5 boxes, you got $5.00 off & then I had several $1.00 of coupons for each box of cereal that I purchased.
With 4 boys, we go through mass amounts of cereal.
My friend Laina posted about this super deal on her site. I got 10 boxes of cereal for $7.98.
Well I thought I was going to pay $7.98 for my 10 boxes of cereal (I thought this was a super deal).

{Another photo for my project 365}
Then the cashier noticed two more $1.00 off coupons on my cereal
boxes. Since the transaction had already been charged to my ATM card,
she handed me $2.00 cash back. I paid $5.98 cents for 10 boxes of cereal. This was an AWESOME deal. I paid about .58 cents a box.
I don't care if the boys want to have cereal for breakfast, lunch & dinner this week...they can have at it. If you haven't checked her site out, you should. I can't score all of the deals she posts but I try to hit the stores where I will save the most money. Happy shopping!

Savings for the week

Thanks to Laina & her deals, I scored big today! With the combination of Walgreen's sale items, Sunday coupons, and a few register rewards, my grand total for all items pictured below was $13 & some change. I saved $63.00. Here's what I purchased:
- 6 boxes of cereal
- 2 bottles of Clorox
- 1 bottle of Clorox wipes(Free)
- 2 jars of Skippy PB
- 3 boxes of Kleenex
- 2 cans of Ajax
- 4 bags of Chex sweet/salty mix
- 4 bottles of shampoo
- 3 cans of the crunchy fried onions(can you smell the green bean casserole?)
- Arm & Hammer deodorizer
- 1 box of hair color for men (Free! I actually made money on this deal, $10.00 to be exact & no, it is not for John-LOL)



Then i hit Target. For $3 & some change, I purchased 8 cans of Del Monte vegetables & two boxes of Au Gratin potatoes. I got my veggies for .25 cents a can-WOW! I purchased one box of potatoes for .39 cents & paid .79 cents for the 2nd box. Not bad.



Have you tried any of the little assignments on Laina's site? How did you do?

Q and A

I have had some emails and blog posts regarding my coupon shopping. I am in no way, shape, or form a professional. In fact, I am still a beginner. I thought I would post a few tips that were/are helpful to ensure that you are saving the max amount possible.

1. Where are you finding your coupons?
Cut out every single coupon out of your local Sunday paper. You may not think it is something you will ever buy. It is usually those very same items that will save you the most or you may even get them for free.

EXAMPLE: I had 4 coupons for $3.OO OFF a Solei BIC razor & 4 coupons for $3.00 off the refills for this same razor. Longs has this razor on sale this week for $3.99 & you even get a rebate on one razor/refill for. I was able to purchase something that regularly costs $4.00 for .99 cents with my $3.00 off coupons. I go through razors like crazy & they will be perfect stocking stuffers for my Mom...ssshhhhh don't tell her!

I am also finding a ton of coupons on items we already purchase on the Internet. If you have more than one computer in you home...the more coupons you can print...the more money you will save.

2. What if i don't get the Sunday paper?
if you have friends & family who receive the paper, ask for their coupons. I have a few friends who save them for me every week. In turn,
I will drop of items that I scored a good deal on or received for free. Just a little thank you for saving their coupons for me.

3. Where do you shop?
Right now i am shopping mostly Wal*Mart Target & Walgreens. I have never been a Walgreen's shopper. Before coupons, I went to Walgreen's for prescriptions & 99% of the time, I was going thru their drive thru. Since moving here 5 years ago, we have always shopped @ Wal*Mart. I did a big shopping trip last night & saved an extra $20.00 on top of their already low prices.

4. Scour the Walgreen's weekly ad. You can combine their in store coupons with your coupons from your Sunday paper or the Internet...thus allowing you to save a ton of money.

5. Check Laina's site daily. She posts almost daily. She posts deals of the week, money makers, freebies & other wonderful tips/tricks. If something is a store special, she usually will find an Internet coupon to use & will link you right to it. Print them as soon as you see she has posted something new. They sometimes disappear. The manufactures will pull after so many have been printed. I can't say it enough...she is amazing. Spend some time on her site going thru past scenarios. It will give you a feel for how things can be purchased for very little.

6. How do you organize your coupons after cutting them out of the paper?
ORGANIZE-ORGANIZE-ORGANIZE!!! Your coupons can quickly take over your counter tops-just ask my hubby! I encourage you to find a system that works for you & keep on top of it. I currently have 4 coupon organizers. They are on the smaller side. I have them labeled on the outside: FOOD, HOUSEHOLD, CAN FOOD, TOILETRIES. I purchased my coupon organizers @ the Dollar Tree. For you local girls, they are on an end cap by registers. They were on the very bottom shelf. i had to dig behind product to find them. Inside each organizer, i made little labels that are very general but specific enough for me to feel organized.

Example: In my household organizer, my tabs read: Dish soap,laundry products,paper products(TP, tissue, paper towels), cleaning products, medicine, batteries, etc...

7. I have found that since i am still a newbie at this, i can NOT coupon shop with my children in tow. Bless my little Garrett's heart. He is constantly rearranging my piles that i have so neatly organized in my cart. I try to organize as I go so I can move through the check out @ a speedy pace.

I love the idea of stocking my pantry, saving money & getting items for free. With four growing boys... I have to! Some of you have asked me where I am storing everything. I don't have a ton of extra cupboard space. It all goes in our cupboards or the pantry. When I score a super deal on items and we have way more than we need, i will then share it with friends or it goes in the stock pile for the food drive at the boys school. The school is donating it to one of our local food banks. Local food banks will welcome your donations any time.
I hope this was helpful! please let know if you have any other questions.

latest haul

I came down with what i think was the 24 hour flu bug yesterday. I tried to go to work but ended up leaving early! A HUGE shout out to Kinsey & her willingness to jump in & take over my Monday Night Make & Take. I went home & jumped into to bed. It is a rare day when I am in bed before midnight. I did not get up till 8:30 am this morning & it is now 1 in the morning & I can't sleep...hence the blog post. I will tell you that the only positive thing about being sick is that i have lost another 3 lbs.. No desire to eat = 28 lbs. lost!

I have been having fun with Laina's shopping tips & super deals.

This is what I scored this weekend.


With the combination of Safeway's 48 hour sale & some coupons, i purchased 8 boxes of Quaker oatmeal for $5.36. I saved $33.76. That is 86%...woot woot! The regular price for one box is $4.89. Now, you are probably wondering who in the world is going to eat so much oatmeal. The answer is ME! Just kidding, we are keeping four boxes & the other four are going to school for the food drive that will benefit a local food bank. SCORE!

This was my haul tonight.


Here is what i got:
2 bottles of laundry soap
2 pkgs. of TP
2 bottles of Clorox wipes
2 bags of Nestle Choc. chips
2 cans of Glade air freshener
1 can of baking powder
1 can of corn starch
4 cans of Progresso soup
2 jars of Jiffy PB
3 cans of Betty Crocker frosting
2 boxes of hot chocolate

I stopped @ Walgreen's on my way home from work. My total, before coupons was $87.00. After my coupons were scanned in, I owed the cashier a total of...drum roll please...$18.97. I was stoked. A few of my freebies tonight were the Clorox wipes & the baking powder & corn starch. I purchased those two bottles of laundry soap for a whopping $2.99. Laina really does make it simple to save money! I am sure my hubby & family think i am a nerd. They get the phone calls as i am walking out of stores with my latest haul. I think it may be my new hobby!

random tidbits

We enjoyed a busy, crazy week. i thought i would highlight our experiences/happenings random style.

first & for most, i am very happy that Prop 8 passed. On the other hand, I am very sad & disappointed with those who think it is okay to vandalize our church buildings. Somebody thought it was okay to spray paint no on prop 8 with red paint on our building & the sidewalks. Enough is enough, this is so not acceptable & it makes me so sad. Again, tolerance is a two way street.

I was so excited when my total gas bill(filling up a Chevy Tahoe)was $59.53 on Friday. WOOT-WOOT! Need i say more?

I was able to attend Carter's harvest party. They had a Thanksgiving feast. I will have to post photos later. The room mom even made them cute pilgrim & indian hats to wear. So cute & festive. they enjoyed a full turkey meal and arts & crafts...my kind of party.

As of last Friday, my 12 week Race to a Waist challenge ended. While i was not the 1st place loser, i did manage to lose 25 lbs. i am extremely happy about that. i came in 6th place out of the 25 women who registered...not bad. We are going to start up another challenge in jan.. I will keep you posted just in case any of you want to join in on the fun!

One of my favorite friends in the whole wide world came to visit me on friday night. Michelle came up & we attended Scrappy Hour @ Green Tangerines. it was so much fun to have her here. i sure do miss her & wish we lived closer. I am trying to convince her that they need to buy the house that is for sale next door. That would be awesome.




We had our family photos taken on saturday. i am praying that there is one decent shot of everyone. i need a Christmas card photo. Brody did not want to hold still & Garrett was flashing one CHEESE-EY SMILE the entire time. Fingers are crossed. We finished our shoot just in time...It started to pour rain.

Soccer Saturday was fabulous. Tanner's team won 6 to 0. Tanner scored two of those goals & I even caught one of them on film. I love this shot. That is Tanner, #14. I love how he is off the ground celebrating & that you can see the ball in the goal. So exciting.


Carter's team won 2 to 0. Carter scored a goal. john was so impressed with his team. He said they played awesome & were playing their positions & passing the ball. Carter is in the white jersey in the photo below! Thanks to Regine for the awesome photos.




I have been busy making little scrapbooks for Carter's soccer team. 8 down, 5 to go. John will hand them out along with the boys trophies @ the team party on the 12th. I will post pictures once they are complete.

I had a very productive planning meeting for our church Christmas party tonight. we are buckling down & planning the festivities for our Nativity pageant and dessert bar. it should be a fun evening. I have a great committee & I am thankful for their help!

I am off to work on Soccer albums. Stayed tuned for my coupon post tomorrow. i scored a major deal this weekend. Don't forget to check out Laina's site. She is posting deals everyday...perfect for all of the upcoming holidays & baking.

Have a happy Monday!

Check this out!


Thanks to Laina's fan-tabulous website, this was today's haul from Target. I purchased everything you see here for roughly $4.88. The toothpaste alone (one box) originally sold for $3.99. I purchased the Crest for .24 cents-yes you read that right-.24 cents. I paid .74 cents for the Colgate. I got those packages of Ziploc bags for .10 cents each-SCORE! The M&M's were my big purchase for $1.24 a bag after the clearance price & a coupon. I am having such a good time scoring some major deals. Who knew coupon clipping & shopping the clearance racks @ Target could be such a high-LOL? If you haven't checked out her site you really should. She makes it so easy to save money! She breaks down the deals for you & links you to the online coupons. The best tip Laina shared with me was that you need to clip every single coupon out of the Sunday paper. If you have friends who are willing to save their coupons for you, even better. You will save the most if you have the Sunday coupons, Internet coupons & store sales/clearance.
Happy shopping!

One steal of a deal

I have a new friend, her name is Laina. I met her @ the scrapbook store. She and her darling daughter come in just about every Monday night to create our weekly Monday night Make n take with me. I love visiting & chatting with these two while they create their projects. They are so much fun. Laina has been playing the coupon game for the last 4 months. Her boss had her learn(on company time)the ins & outs of the coupon world. What an awesome deal...she was paid to learn how to save money. She has saved a ton of money & has scored some major deals. You can check her site out here http://abundantfoodsavings.com/
Each week she gives me a mini assignment. I am going to slowly work my way into the saving money while I shop world. The 1st part of my assignment was to go & purchase the Sunday paper. Thanks goodness Arco still had a few left on Monday night.
I went home & clipped all of the coupons for things my family would/could use. While clipping coupons, it made me think of my Grandma Shore. She is always on the look out for deals. Hoping not to bore you but this was my steal of a deal last night. Walgreen's has Oral B toothbrushes for $4.47 with a register rebate of $4.47. There was a coupon for .75 cents off of that toothbrush in the Sunday paper. So I was actaully paid .75 cents to buy that toothbrush. You pay for the toothbrush & get your money right back in the form of a coupon($4.47) to use in the store. I turned around & purchased 10 cans of Pringles (10 for $10.00). I used my $4.47(plus .75 cents.) coupon to buy my Pringles. So far, a toothbrush & a 10 cans of Pringles cost me $4.78. Well when you buy the 10 cans of Pringles, you get another $3.00 register rebate. So with that $3.00, I turned around & purchased a gallon of milk. Thanks y to Laina for the step by step directions on that purchase-lol)So my total for a toothbrush, 10 cans of Pringles & a gallon of milk was $5.27(or close to it). Can you believe that? You should have seen my boys eyes this morning when they laid eyes on the mass amount of Pringles on the kitchen counter. I am sure they thought their mother had lost her marbles.

John worked from home today. On his lunch break, I had him go back to Walgreens with me. This is what we scored today for about $15.00. Not as cheap as the night before because the toilet paper made our bill go a little higher.
3 pkg. of toilet paper
10 more cans of Pringles (yes you read that right)
3 cans of chicken broth
2 bottles of Dawn dish soap
1 box of Kleenex
5 designer Halloween pencils
1 Febreeze plug in
3 Oral B toothbrushes
1 tube of Crest toothpaste.


Okay, here was the big deal of the day(thanks Laina)...Rite Aid has Crest Pro Health toothpaste on sale for $2.69. There was a $1.00 off coupon in the Sunday paper for Crest. So my total for the toothpaste(after the coupon)was $1.89. Then I mailed in a rebate for $2.69 on that same bottle of toothpaste. Crest just paid me about $1.00 to buy their toothpaste. SCORE! That my friends, was the Steal of the day!

I can't wait for my new assignment next week. Thanks for the HOT tips Laina! Keep them coming! Let me know if you try this! I was so excited about the money we saved.