A Peek Into Our Busy Nest

Here's a recap of the past 6 months. Yes, it has been SIX MONTHS since our last post. And as I've always heard...no excuses, just results. So here goes:

1. I'm still decorating the apartment. And redecorating. And redecorating some more. After a year of living here, I thought we would be done. Boy was I wrong. Decorating is a hobby, and making things look neat and organized make me feel 10 times better than if I wasn't doing those things. *Updated photos coming soon!

2. Caleb is loving his new job at a certain place in the midst of downtown Mobile. The job switcheroo wasn't something he was expecting, but as always, it ended up turning out just fine.

3. For our July 4 holiday extravaganza, we drove nearly 14 hours to Williamston, NC. It's in the absolute middle of nowhere, but we had a blast visiting Caleb's family anyway. Too bad the only place to spend a "night out on the town" was at the local Wal-Mart...and you all know how much I love rollback land.

Oh, and I can't forget the best part...stopping at Ikea Atlanta on the way home! One of my favorite places to spend money :) I picked up these pillows that only cost me a few bucks a pop!

4. A few weeks, later we were Walkin in Memphis!

5. Fastfoward a few months and we were in Destin, FL, for our one year anniversary! We had so much fun, and watching the hotel catch on fire was just an added bonus to our adventure. On the plus side, we got a free night!

6. We won another $100 gift card to Publix! Just in time to use for the grand opening of the Daphne Publix (that happened today)!

7. As usual, Thanksgiving left us stuffed for a week. We had the Givens Thanksgiving meal on Thursday and the Gruner Thanksgiving meal on Friday. Plus leftovers that seemed like they would never end...

8. Our apartment has finally made its way into Christmas mode. The most wonderful time of the year! What a great time to start updating the good ole' blog. Thanks for the pressure, BFF Emily! *Photos coming soon!

9. We can't forget to mention the cutie in the family...Toby's still his same goofy self.

He's such a cutie!

Just a little reminder...

If you have a bottle or two of Dawn sitting around the house, don't forget to enter the code online. $1 of Dawn = $1 to save wildlife!

For each bottle of Dawn purchased, $1 will be donated to wildlife conservation efforts. This is a great way for each and every person to help with the oil spill that has struck the Gulf Coast. Each purchase will help with the clean up. Please encourage your family and friends to buy at least one bottle of Dawn. It will make a difference!

Go HERE to enter your code online.

Publix 5/27

Oh my goodness, I forgot to post this. Sorry it's late! Totals were a little high this week because of the $5 pizza (WAY overpriced!) and the double pack of toilet bowl cleaner.

Order Total: $30.47 + tax
Saved: $85.62

What I bought:

1 Publix Italian Baguette
1 half-loaf Publix 5-grain bread
2 packs of Q-tips
4 cans baked beans
4 jars Kraft BBQ sauce
3 bottles Kraft dressing
4 bags of Texas Toast croutons
1 bag of Lays
1 gallon Publix sweet tea
1 tub Country Crock butter
2 tubs Helluva Good dip
1 Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh lunchmeat
4 bags of Planters almonds
2 packs of Kraft singles
4 ears of corn
2 oranges
2 boxes of Go-gurt
1 box of Uncle Bens rice
4 boxes of Nabisco 100 Calorie packs
1 Morningstar Farms meal
1 double pack Lysol toilet bowl cleaner

Publix 5/19 -- first grocery trip of the month!

Order Total: $10.26 + tax

Saved: $81.61

That's savings of 89%

What I bought:

12 pk of Cottonelle toilet paper (not pictured)

1 Wesson Canola Oil 

1 Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh lunchmeat 

2 4pk Energizer batteries 

4 Right Guard Deodorant 

4 ears of corn 

1 pack of grape tomatoes

1 pack of strawberries

2 bags of Ruffles

1 bag of Rold Gold pretzels

2 boxes of Hefty freezer bags

1 bag of croutons

5 bags of Green Giant frozen veggies

1 Uncle Ben's rice pouch

1 bag of Publix coleslaw

2 bags of Fresh Express salad

1 4pk of YoPlus yogurt

Coupons used:

$5/$25

$4.50 Walgreens Register Rewards

$7 P&G ( Winn Dixie Catalina Q)

$1.50/1 Cottonelle (Target Q)

$1/1 Cottonelle (MQ)

$1/1 Wesson Canola Oil (MQ)

$2/1 Deli Fresh lunchmeat (MQ)

$1/1 Deli Fresh lunchmeat (Publix Q)

(2) $1/1 Energizer (Target Q)

(2) $1/1 Energizer (MQ)

(2) $1.50/1 Right Guard Deodorant (MQ)

$3/2 Right Guard Deodorant (MQ)

$1 off produce (Target Q)

FREE Rold Gold WYB 2 Ruffles (Tearpad)

$1/2 Hefty freezer bags (MQ)

(3) .40/1 Green Giant frozen veggies (MQ)

(2) .50/1 Green Giant frozen veggies (MQ)

FREE Uncle Ben's rice pouch (MQ)

$1 off coleslaw WYB Deli Fresh lunchmeat (Publix Q)

$1/2 Fresh Express salad (Publix Q)

FREE YoPlus yogurt (MQ)

Mmmmmmmm....

Cookie Cake! Thanks mom and dad!

Family

Shopping, Shopping, and More Shopping!

I'm a little behind on my posting...so here are some of my most recent deals! Be sure to follow Addicted to Saving HERE or the Bargain Buggy HERE so you can score some great deals, too!

Dollar General: Gillette Men's Body Wash is on sale for $2 at Dollar General. Bought 6. Used (3) $4/2 coupons. Total = FREE! Paid tax only, and saved $12!

CVS: The coupon kiosk at CVS was printing out $1/1 CVS Hair Product this week. CVS Shampoo is priced at 99 cents. That's FREE shampoo that I will be donating! The coupon kiosk was also printing out $1/2 CVS First Aid products. Bandaids were priced at $1. The coupon made each box 50 cents.

At checkout:
Used $5 ECBs from a past purchase (ECBs are CVS Extra Care Bucks-can be used on next purchase)
Used $5/1 Schick razor coupon
Used .75/1 Crest coupon
Used $1/1 CVS Hair Product
Used $1/2 CVS First Aid Products

Total out of pocket: $1.74
Got back $7.50 ECBs
Saved $18.10

Last week, Winn-Dixie had a B1G1 sale on Covergirl makeup. I combined that with the B1G1 Covergirl coupon from the newspaper to get all of this (plus 3 not pictured) for FREE! One item from the B1G1 sale combined with one B1G1 coupon makes both free. Get it?

Bought 8 Covergirl Products on sale B1G1 Free
Used 4 B1G1 Free Coupons

Total: FREE! Paid tax only.
Saved: $50.12


To top it off, after I checked out, a $7 off P&G coupon printed out of the Catalina machine! I can use this coupon like cash at Publix to get $7 off my total order!!

Team Jesus Kid's Fishing Day at Camp Grace

Click on the photos to view them larger!

1 Bottle of Dawn = $1 to Save Wildlife

For each bottle of Dawn purchased, $1 will be donated to wildlife conservation efforts. This is a great way for each and every person to help with the disastrous oil spill that has struck the Gulf Coast. Each purchase will help with the clean up. Please encourage your family and friends to buy at least one bottle of Dawn. It will make a difference!

There is a code on each bottle of Dawn. Once you purchase your bottle, go HERE to enter your code online and follow the instructions to activate your donation.

Go HERE to print coupons for Dawn.

Listed below are Dawn coupons you can find in TOMORROW'S newspaper inserts:

.50/1 Dawn Hand Renewal (Proctor & Gamble 05/02/10)
.50/1 Dawn PLUS (Proctor & Gamble 05/02/10)
.25/1 Dawn Product (Proctor & Gamble 05/02/10)

Donate, donate, donate!

For those of you who don't know, I was very fortunate to be able to help start a food pantry at my church. Well, it is slowly but surely getting built up! It makes me so excited to know that people are donating...and to know that we are making a difference!

Since I buy several items for next to nothing (or NOTHING!), I am able to donate, donate, donate! I thought it would be a great idea to teach a coupon class at church. That way, church members and their friends can learn to save money for their family. At the same time, they can donate a lot of the  free items that they are getting because of shopping smart. Who needs 15 tubes of toothpaste, anyway?? I have taught one official class at the church, and I can't wait to teach another one!

Yesterday and today I have been going through our stockpile. For those of you who may have just started using coupons, it takes about 2-3 months to build up a complete stockpile. You'll know when your stockpile is complete...trust me! Usually, you will have at least two of every non-perishable item. Remember, these are all items that are unopened. You should have one of each opened item kept separate from your stockpile.

To start, I emptied all of the cabinets. (We live in an apartment, so we don't have an actual "pantry"... we sure could use one, though!) Once all of the items were out of the cabinets it was easy for me take an inventory of what we had. I began sorting through the items, separating the ones that I was going to donate to the church food pantry. We had a total of [don't laugh] 26 boxes of pasta, 18 jars of pasta sauce, 11 cans of diced tomates, 8 boxes of Zatarain's rice, 10 muffin mixes and 8 salad dressings...just to name a few!

Guess what? Caleb and I don't need all of that food, so some of it will be donated! That's quite a bit of spaghetti for quite a few people!

Even if you aren't a crazy coupon person, you can still help. Giving just one box of spaghetti WILL make a difference! There are several places to donate. Just check your local food bank, churches, and other non-profits. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE :)

Brace yourselves, people. Here is our grocery stockpile...keep in mind that this is only for two people! I wanted to show you so maybe you can get an idea of what a stockpile is. The bathroom & laundry room stockpile (cleaning supplies) will be posted shortly, so check back!

Baking Stuff

We don't eat that much cereal, so we only have 5 boxes!

Mobile's Market on the Square

Market on the Square takes place downtown on Cathedral Square every other Saturday through July 31. It's a great place to buy fresh, locally grown produce...Tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn, breads, pies, watermelon, seafood, flowers, plants and more! Arts and Crafts tents will also be set up.

The next Market on the Square is this Saturday, May 1, from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Don't miss out!

Shopping 4/28

The first photo is from my quick Winn-Dixie trip. Winn-Dixie currently has their Classico pasta sauce on sale B1G1. If you printed the B1G1 Classico coupon from coupons.com last week, you can score some completely FREE pasta sauce! For example, if you have (1) B1G1 coupon, you can combine that with the B1G1 sale to get TWO jars FREE. With the Winn-Dixie B1G1 sale, they are paying for one jar. Your B1G1 coupon pays for the other jar. Get it? If you have (2) B1G1 coupons, you can combine that with the B1G1 sale to get FOUR jars FREE. And so on...

6 jars of Classico pasta sauce
2 recycled aluminum Reynolds Wrap

TOTAL: $2.37
Saved: $24.72  
That's savings of 91%!

The next photo is my Publix trip. Now, before you completely freak out about my totals, you need to realize that I had $15 in Register Rewards that I used toward this purchase. For the newbies, Register Rewards (RRs) are manufacturer coupons that print out of a catalina machine after you checkout at Walgreens. These RRs can be used at Publix. They are like CASH!!

Also, I have made a promise to myself. THIS IS MY LAST PUBLIX TRIP FOR A WHILE! We do NOT need anymore food, so we will be living out of our pantry for the next few weeks (alright, months). Anyway, I hope I can keep my promise. 

Order Total: $5.96 + tax

Saved: $96.88

That's savings of 94%!!!

*This photo includes some stuff to keep & some stuff to donate

What I bought:

3 cans of Hunt's diced tomatoes
1 pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pack of hot dogs
1 loaf of bread
1 bag Fresh Express salad
1 pack of Immaculate Baking refrigerated cookie dough
1 pack of strawberries
1 box of Princess fruit snacks (yes, they are for me. I love those things!)
3 boxes of Chicken Helper
2 64 oz. bottles of Juicy Juice
1 bag of Sunchips
1 4pk of Mott's apple juice
1 bottle of Aleve
4 boxes of Zatarains rice mixes
4 bottles of Ken's salad dressing
2 tubs of Dean's dip
1 box of Banana Babies (dark chocolate covered frozen bananas!)
3 Lunchables
1 Old El Paso soft taco dinner kit

Coupons used:

10/50 WD
$15 RRs
1/3 Hunt's tomatoes MQ
1 FREE Immaculate Baking refrigerated cookie dough
1/1 Kellogg's fruit snacks MQ
.75/3 Chicken Helper MQ
1/2 Juicy Juice MQ
1 FREE Sunchips MQ mailer
1 FREE Aleve MQ mailer
(2) .50/2 Zatarains rice mixes MQ
(2) 1/2 Ken's salad dressing MQ
1/2 Dean's dip MQ
1/1 Banana Babies (Publix Q)
(3) 1/1 Lunchables (made each Lunchable FREE!)