Please Help Some Great People!

We used to be youth pastors and along the way met some great kids. Well, most of those kids are now adults and a few of them have a band called The Weeping Gate. It's a Christian band! They are entered in a Battle of the Bands competition. Could my readers please do me a favor and take a few literally SECONDS to vote for them here. All you have to do is select their band and click VOTE. That simple. Please help them be a success in this competition.

CVS Scenario Week of 5/11/2008

My husband kidnapped my computer this weekend so I've been undergoing blog withdrawals!

I went to CVS last night and here's what I did (remember I'm new):

TRANSACTION 1
--------------------------------
Oral B Pulsar $4.99
Crest Pro Health Rinse x 2 $7.98
Crest Pro Health Paste $3.99
Crest Glide Floss x 2 $5.00

Total 21.96 (before tax)

**MINUS**
Oral B 1.00
Crest 0.75
Crest 0.50
Crest 1.00
CVS 3/15 coupon
CVS ECB's 10.98

= $4.73 + .55 tax

Grand Total= $5.28 Out of Pocket AND received $10.00 ECB's and another 3/15 coupon.

TRANSACTION 2
---------------------------------------------------

Kellog Smart Start Cereal x 2 $5.00
Colgate Total Advanced x 3 $8.97
Colgate 360 toothbrush $3.99
Glade Spray x 2 $1.94
M&M's x 3 (for kiddos) $2.37

The subtotal did not print, but appx: 22.27 (before tax)

**MINUS**

Glade .97
Colgate 1.00
Colgate1.00
Colgate 1.00
Colgate 1.50
Smart Start 3.00
CVS 3/15 coupon
CVS ECB's 10.00 (from prior transaction)

Grand total after tax = $1.21 plus received $9.99 ECB's back.


Thanks for looking everyone. Please let me know if you think I'm on track. I'm only shopping for things I use and have coupons to stack with ECB's mostly.

Check out more scenarios @ Money Saving Mom

Check Please...Rebate Check That Is!

Here is the link for the IRS rebate info page (the schedule of payments page).

Hope this helps.

According to the guidelines, we should be getting our rebate check by May 9. Well, it's May 8th and it's not there yet, so I suppose they are waiting to the last minute, of course. Is anyone else as excited as I am to get that check? Well, I'll be waiting....

Heather

Mother's Day--Time to help the kids make my gifts again!

I know this will change in the future, but right now, Mother's Day is kind of lame. My kids are 5, 4 and 2 years old. They don't have money and I'm not sure they even are that concerned about the holiday. Dad is sweet and always buys me something nice...(last year a video camera), but the kids want to make something too. So I end up making my own gifts. I guess it's sweet spending the time with them, and that is really my gift I suppose. I just hope when they get older, they treat me like a queen on Mother's Day. They will clean house, cook my meals etc. Ok. Who am I kidding? Wouldn't that be nice though?

Seriously, I don't really find the holiday necessary, but a novel idea.


Heather

Weird things you might want to know about me...

This is not a meme! I do not participate in them. It's just me, keepin' it rell!

*I do not eat condiments! Not even ketchup! I'm pretty sick right now just thinking about them. They look, taste and smell disgusting. While I'm at it. Pickles! Those nasty green things floating in a jar of juice. I cannot even stand the smell of pickles. I will not kiss my husband if he has eaten pickles and when my kids were little, if they ate them, he had to clean them up.



*While we're on the topic, I have a phobia of touching the items on the table when we eat out. You know...the salt shaker, ketchup, napkin holders menus, etc. It's so disgusting. I hold them with napkins if I must touch them. Hundreds of people touch those things every day and the best that ever happens is they get wiped with a rag pulled from dirty soap water. I totally flip out if my kids touch them. I don't recommend it!





*I always put my left shoe on first. I did not realize this until my husband pointed it out after we were married. I seriously can't put my right on first or I feel off balance. I told you...WEIRD!









*I cannot do the dishes without thick, yellow latex gloves. It's not the hot water. It's the disgusting water-bloated, soggy food particles that are floating on the dishes, because certain people just stick there dishes right in the sink without scraping and rinsing. Ahhhh! If it touches me, I vomit. End of story.







Ok. That's enough weirdness for now. I'm sure I'll think of more weird things some other time and I'll make a "more weird things" post. Until then...

Heather

Reverse Works For Me Wednesday

We have a really large opening adjoining our two living areas so I bought an special 100.00 baby gate. It was broken after two months and now only a remnant remains.






So I concocted a plan....I combined several pieces of furniture and an extra gate to make a NEW gate system.
(Just noticed those gross spots...who knows what it is?)






It still does not work since my children are all MONKIES! They just climb over the furniture that is holding the gates together!








Baby gates may work for some, but I'm not sure they have EVER worked for me. They never keep my kids from where they want to go, they only slow them a little. I've tried pressure mount(not enough pressure in the world can keep three kids out), I've tried screw mount, (failed), added anchors (failed and ripped the drywall), I've tried gates with no door (athleticism required), gates with doors and "child proof" latches (you know what child proof means). I've just pretty much given up unless my husband wants to try prison bars bolted to the floor, but I don't think it would match the decor! Well, that's what hasn't worked for me. See ya next WFMW.

Heather

I tackled Coinstar!

I know, I know...you like to see pictures. Unfortunately, I have not yet instilled in my brain the mechanism that remembers to take pictures of stuff BEFORE I do it. I'm a new blogger!

So for my Tackle It Tuesday, here's what I did:

My father gave my son a very large amount of pennies and nickels to add to his savings. I have had it sitting in a big Tupperware bucket for about a year (seriously). Isn't that sad. Well today I loaded 5 kids and my bucket 'o money into my van and drove to my local Price Cutter to become acquainted with the beautiful green Coinstar machine. It was a little embarrassing because I had so much change. All the clerks kept staring and it was SO LOUD! Towards the end there were clerks that had gathered around to see the grand total of 79.00. It was like a little party! It would have been more, but Coinstar keeps 8.9cents on the dollar, but it was worth it not having to go to the bank or count the money myself. So now my kitchen counter is one item less cluttered and my son is 79.00 richer. Two birds with one stone I guess you could say.

I'll take pictures next time. I promise!

My husband was right **this time**!

When I first started my blog, I thought "What am I going to blog about?", so I decided I would make up some special daily blogs. My husband said, "I think you might feel a little overwhelmed making sure you post EVERY day." No way! Not me. I have nothing better to do than blog.

Alright, He was spot on!

I do have more of a life than I thought!

So I am discontinuing my good, yet cumbersome daily blogs. I will still be participating in Works for me Wednesday, Tackle It Tuesday, and Saturday Super Savings.

I will still try to keep my blog interesting though and I hope you will keep checking regularly!

Heather

My first CVS Savings experience!

Ok. I've been collecting coupons and reading up on how to be a CVS super saver. I'm happy to say I experienced the gratification of that today. I now get to join the Super Savings Saturday link! My first purchase was small, but I refuse to by stuff I don't need or normally use. Here's what I bought:

Venus razor 9.99 (4.00 off)
Aquafresh Advanced 2.99 x2 (2-1.00 off)
Tic Tac .79
3/15 c
My total was 8.?? (oops, don't have my receipt handy) OOP

I received 10.98 ECB plus got another 3/15 coupon.

It was so exciting. I can't wait to do this some more!

A few of my other purchases that I'm proud of this week (as a novice) are ground sirloin (97% fat free) for 2.00/lb. I found in a secret clearance section (it was fresh too!) and I bought my daughter a pair of pajamas from Toys R Us on clearance for 3.60!

I did however basically blow all my savings by going to watch Baby Mama with my husband last night. 17.50/ 2 tickets. YIKES! We don't get out much, so I was Super Shocked!

Hoping I have more savings to share next week...

Heather