Update

So the last couple of weeks have been insane....I mean CRAZY.

First I ended up the ER getting anti nausea and fluids and then the next day where they discovered a Sub Choronic Bleed. So I am officially on Modified Bed Rest. I have been sat there clipping coupons and creating lists for Hubby to go shopping.

The huge blessing of this is that we get to see our Gummie Bear bi-weekly.

I Finished My Binders

So after eight months of filing my coupons by insert, I have changed my system. I was inspired by two things; First on Extreme Coupons, Joanie had a system in her binder that I really liked and second I found that I had broke the cardinal rule of coupons when I went through to purge the 12/31 expiration's. I had missed valuable deals and to be honest it made me feel sick to my stomach in a way I never expected. These were things that I had been shopping and getting for free; butter, toilet paper, batteries, pasta, noodles...my list went on.

So that was it, it took me 3 days to organize and purge my coupons and I have already seen the bonus.

First I chose to have 2 zippered binders, one for food and one for non food products. Then I have 5 smaller wallets for separating store trips so that I am only using my binders in store for extra special deals. My food binder is separated in to 32 sections and my non food into 16. My wallets are labeled for ease in the store such as freezer, fridge, cans, meat, household etc. in each section I am using baseball card holders and have separated each section. Ie Dental, has a sleeve for toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, floss. Each folder has ended up being more than 4 inches thick and have already had success in Walgreens where I got over $200 for about $26 (plus came away with $6 in rewards). I love my new system as when I see a deal in the store I can easily see if I have a coupon to make it a better deal.

New Freebies I got over Christmas In the Mail!

Just the things I got free in the mail over Christmas thanks to the sites I belong too

2010 Grocery Savings!

So I finally finished going through all my receipts and here are my totals that I spent and should have spent in groceries last year.


Shelf Price $17923.72
Out of Pocket Expense $2308.89
Saved $15614.83 85%

...Should have cost each week $344.68
Actually cost $44.40

Now I do factor in the cost of papers and the cost of my grocery game as well. So if you take off $8 a week on average for papers and the $2.50 a week for the Grocery Game its not looking too bad at all.

I am experimenting with a new site thanks to TLC's Extreme Couponers..

weusecoupons.com

This site is free and I am still getting used to it, a lot of friendly people and advice but I am not ready to give up my lists yet through Grocery Game as it does the work for you. I currently use it for Albertsons, Frys and Safeway but will use WUC for Target, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart etc.

This year I want to expand my stockpile and save even more money. I am currently working on getting paid to buy diapers from Target and I think I will pull it off.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy new year everyone!!! I hope this year brings much joy and happiness to everyone!

TLC's Extreme Couponing

So TLC made a documentary called Extreme Couponing, focusing on four shoppers who used coupons to save money. Now I cant help but feel from the previews that they were looking to spin this into a negative; after all using coupons I have seen the issues where cashiers treat you like dirt because you pass them a stack of coupons, I have been accused of stealing from the store because I saved too much money.

So I Dvr'd the show and sat down to watch it expecting to finish the show with the realization that I need to slow down that this may be a problem/addiction. That within days support groups would be popping up where you meet in darkened hallways introducing yourself with:

"My name is Karen and I am a coupon addict!"

Where would the 12 step program begin? How many would admit to this shameful behavior?

So cautiously I pressed play and took an intake of breath, after all my friends and family think that I do go overboard.

As I watched, a smile crept across my face, the light bulb bouncing around with new and creative ideas. Now I have no intention of jumping into dumpsters to get coupons (although my mind entertained the thought for about 35 seconds) but I need to get back to using the clipping services and get my printer up and running again. I already buy 10 papers a week for the coupons and use my Grocery Game to save tonnes, can I do more? Can I save more? Can I be more frugal? Yes, Yes I can!!!

I saved the show with the intention of watching with pen and paper in hand...

My name is Karen and I am proud to be a Coupon Addict!!!!

New Year, New Challenges, New Focus!!!!

So goodbye to 2010 it has been an eventful year. Our gorgeous son Xavier was born Feb 11 this year, hubby went through 4 jobs but somehow we kept our head above water and didn't drown. We moved into a cute house: In September we bought it, we had a crazy hail storm, found out we were expecting again and had all my family fly in from England. Could the year have been better? Well of course it could have been! Would I change anything? No!

So this year I promise to be better with my blog, after all I started it to show the challenge of being a Stay at Home Mom, you know what, I knew it was hard work and a challenge and it still didn't prepare me for how much work. I even attempted to watch another little baby to help with the money situation but with the new pregnancy it was too much. (Due 8/24)

I was focused on saving money to the point I couldn't keep up, I was trying to do everything perfectly. Was trying to be a perfect Momma, perfect wife, perfect person. This year I promise to let go of perfection and just do my best.

So Here are my resolutions and my chaos all thrown in to one.

1. Update my blog more frequently with money saving tips, offers and real life honesty about being a stay at home mom.
2. Let go of perfection
3. Get my home in order
4. Finish the repairs from the hail damage and finish one home improvement
5. Honestly review our debt and create a plan to get rid of it.
6. Actually start date nights.
7. Enjoy time with my little family.
8. Normally this is where I would say lose some weight but being pregnant I cant go on a 'diet' so this year I am going to focus on being healthy and feeling better about myself.

Samples

So these are all my freebies I have received in the last 2 weeks. Currently I am using 5 different sites plus using sites such as Swagbucks, freegifts4kids and inbox dollar (use links on page) to earn money and get samples. I have earnt $30 this month for reading emails on inbox dollars and it probably takes me 2 mins a day, plus they give you 10c for every coupon you print from them and redeem. So far in 2 weeks I have earnt $10 in amazon gift cards through Swagbucks!!!

The question is would it be useful for my readers for me to post all the freebies here in one place?

Life has the ups and downs

Today has been a challenging day. Early this morning I found out my hubby was let go from his work, we are filing a grievance and working on getting a new job.

However I had a great evening with the Trunk or Treat and won some goodies.

Fly Lady -Day 1 and Day 2

Well me being a little over eager decided to combine two days into one.

Day 1 - Your very first BabyStep is to go shine your sink. Dont listen to those voices that tell you that it not going to help your messy house. This is exactly where I started and this little habit has changed my life! Take this BabyStep in faith and go do it. Here are the directions for shining your kitchen sink. ~ Taken directly from the Fly Lady website. Well this took me 2 days to get done because with how I am I re caulked the counter around the sink as well. It does feel good though to have a clean sink.

Day 2 - Today I want you get up and get dressed to lace up shoes when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face too. ~ This one was hard, yet I am actually wearing lace up shoes.

Day 3 was to do the same again, I think these baby steps may help

Super - Mom

So here is where the craziness begins, after putting forth my application for the messiest house award I started to do one of the things I do the best - beat myself up. No not literally, but thinking things like; well my Mum did it all, plus she worked!

So first as a note to all the Mommas out there, you are Super Moms. We just show it in different ways.

So my house isnt the cleanest, and I may spend a lot of time online, however my son is happy and my Husband is too.

So in order to get things done, I need to take off the cape and decide what I want.

My priorities will always be my son, and I love looking after his newest little friend. It helps her Momma and it helps my son with his social skills. So now that that is established i have decided that I will limit myself to one game on Facebook, keep up with my freebies as it really doesnt take that much time. My Inbox Dollars and Swag Bucks take very little time and make the family money and I just love posting on my blog.

I am also going to try and stick to the FlyLady system, even though I already failed as I changed day one into day one, two, and other things as well. May have caused an overwhelming effect.

I just pray each day for the strength to provide the love, care and nourishment for my family, the dedication to give them strength and the spirit to show my love of Christ, my Heavenly Father. I think that the Duggars said it well on the episode of 19 kids and counting I watched. "First love God, Second love your family" This is a powerful statement as I sincerely believe in;

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7). As the Family Proclamation states "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

I know that these statements are true, and that by loving my Heavenly Father, I am loving my family. We truly are SuperMoms as that is what we are pre-destined to become.

You know I didnt expect this to become a testimony but you know what after reading those two pieces my strength is renewed and I am feeling great about myself. SO I am super happy to share it :)

Application for messiest house award!

So if you know me you would know that I can be obsessive with cleaning however after Xavier was born I have to say I have become very lax. I joke that I need me time when he is sleeping and that face book is my outlet. Then I start on Neo and before I realize it I have spent an hour on the computer and Xavier is waking up. Then I look around my home and shudder with the state of it. I am ashamed of my home and that is the truth! So I have decided to start afresh and get the place cleaned. Now lets be totally honest if I was to tackle it all in one day I would probably have a nervous breakdown, after all it has taken longer than a day to get this way.

So heres my challenge, to get my home clean, decorated, and then keep it clean somehow with a toddler(well he might as well be), babysitting a little 7month old princess, doggies and a wonderful husband that works hard and tries hard at home to help. Well other than socks everywhere he goes!

I started by looking on line and I found a site called Fly Lady;

http://www.flylady.com/pages/begin_babysteps.asp

Now she is talking about getting things clean to a point and that is great for a start but I need cleaner. I am going to give myself 30 days to get the house in the condition I want, without decorating (I will finish the master bath/bedroom though) and then keep it there.

So I have hung my head in shame and taken some pictures of my home, that ladder has been in the bathroom for about 2 weeks, ok its laundry day and I havent put it away yet and I just made Xavier Eggy Bread, the front room is ok but still not clean enough for me. I also have to get over the freak storm and fix my back yard.







Wish me luck and I will try and stick to this, plus I only have about 40 boxes to go through from the move still.

I have been told that my application isnt severe enough for 15 minutes of tv fame but it is severe enough to make my skin crawl

Free pet food

https://www.naturaadvantage.com/

Once you have filled out the form and selected a store this is what you get!

Thank you for your coupon request.

Your coupon for a free bag (good on any 5lb–6.6lb bag of Natura dry pet food) will be mailed within 10 working days.

We hope you and your pet continue to enjoy the natural benefits of Natura pet foods. If you have any questions about Natura Pet Products, please call us at 1-800-532-7261.

Please visit naturapet.com to learn more about the advantages of feeding your pet any of the Natura brands.

6 Free Books

https://www.pacificlearning.com/signin.aspx?

Head over and register for the books. It asks for a school as I plan to home school that is what I put and it seems to be happy with that. Although you can just put in the details of your childs school and have them receive some free books.

There are multiple grade levels to pick from, just wait for the email once you have signed up.

More Diaper Codes

Pampers

50 points ~ 2BEGINEARNING50
50 points ~ GIFTSTOGROW4MOM
10 points ~ 10ptsfreecode4u

This weeks freebies by mail

So in the mail this week we got 2 samples of Wisk, 2 months of Shape magazine, 1 sample of Eucerin, 3 pampers, $27 coupons from Safeway, $30 coupons from Frys, American Baby, Family Circle, Bazaar, Womans Day, Post stick samples, Oxy samples, Free energizer batteries by coupon, free trix race car from Fisher Price, Ever pure sample, Root awakenings and a quaker banana nut bar!

I will try and start posting all these freebies up as they come. Its just been a hectic week with the storm.

Hail as big as Golf Balls.

So on Tuesday this week, it seemed like a nice enough day, my Mother in Law graciously came over to help me sort the chest freezer as I was starting to have problems closing it.(Love coupon shopping)and we heard a clap of thunder, thinking nothing of it and expecting it to be just another Monsoon we carried on until we looked out of the window and saw the torrential rain and hail. The hail was hitting our pool making it look like it was bubbling as well as our sliding glass doors which is under a covered patio. Within a couple of minutes the power was out and we had no power for 6 hours. Our kitchen was flooded and water was coming in on the bedroom and office. The blessing in this is that now we have a claim for a new roof and AC unit that was mangled by the golf ball size hail.

The next day we lost power for 12 hours when a transformer blew and it was one of the scariest moments I could mention. Now onto mission clean up. My hubbys car had one of the grill pieces by the windscreen smashed, my car completely survived!

The house wasnt so lucky so now to get through the claim process. Luckily we have a roof guy that will work directly with the adjuster to help us out and is willing to eat some of our deductible to help with the job!

Grocery Shopping

So last night we did our grocery shop and in total spent about $125. For this we got 30lbs chicken, 10lbs sirloin, a pot roast, 10 packs of Hillshire sausage, baby food, water, candy, bread, tortillas, peppers, onions, egg plant, apples, mushrooms, salmon, cheese, soda, pasta and so much more. The first picture is everything we got free!


These coupons give you $1 off meat and produce at Frys. It is how I got the peppers free.
http://www.frysfoodtatumshea.com/coupons10110/

The Cheerios were free thanks to a Safeway coupon they mailed to me, the 2ltr was a free coupon again from Safeway!

Arrowhead Aquapod Water was from Albertsons on sale for $1 and the red plum from 8/29 had a 75c coupon, which they doubled to a dollar.

Hershey's Bliss Chocolate Candy was on sale for 50c at Albertsons and there was a 55c coupon in the 9/26 Smart Source.

Mentos Sugarfree Gum was on sale 10/$10 at Albertsons and there was 2 $1 coupons in the 10/3 Smart Source.

The slices of cake were a surprise as they were offered free when we got to the counter at Albertsons!

Bestlife Buttery Spread was free at Frys, on sale 10/$10 there was a $1. in Red Plum 8/29

Tic Tac Candy was free from Safeway using a coupon from the 10/3 red plum.

I also have rain checks for free tuna and $2 packages of Jenni-o Ground Turkey!
I get all this info from the grocery game. I love the website. Its free for four weeks and I pay$20 every 8 weeks for detailed lists for 3 stores. In the last year I have got approx $10k of groceries for $1500. My husband was out of work for 3 months and thanks to the game we had food storage that meant we ate like he was working and within 2 months of him back to work we have 6months of storage in place.

If you join the grocery game please use me as a referral shygirl12009@live.com. I would like the free weeks :)

More Diaper Codes

Pampers

10 points~10PTSFREECODE4U

Huggies

5 pts~BJQTWZMFQJWFPGB

Lets Talk About Diapers!

So as a new Mom, the most expensive thing I have found is the diaper expense.

So what choices are there? My first choice is to cloth diaper, the expense is far more upfront, my favorites were kisaluvs which were $100 for the starter kit. The problem I found is my little guy grew so quickly that he was out of them too soon. I intend to get more and integrate them more into my usage. I just wish I had bought more upfront. The terry ones were not the easiest to use and luckily I found a decent sewing pattern to make some of my own;

http://www.ottobredesign.com/en/print/pdf/vaippa_en.pdf

This is a free pattern and was easy to complete. I have even considered making them to sell to design, so if you ever wanted 'Twilight' diapers for you little one, maybe as an ode to Jacob or Edward or because of what a child does in a diaper for Jacob or Edward. Hey I don't judge!

The advice I would give to Moms cloth diapering is to be quick with changes and what I did to prevent staining is to throw the poopy diapers into warm water with dish detergent as soon as they came off and then washed as normal. Also wash cloth diapers before you use them as it helps with absorbency.

So now let’s talk about disposables!

There are many brands out there, Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Parents Choice and many store brands. Each one is different and each work differently for each child. So your little one may have been perfect in Pampers and now a second child breaks out in rashes. I would suggest signing up for as many samples as you can for diapers. Even if you cloth diaper, I found having a couple of disposables in the diaper bag was such as blessing for that just in case moment.

Every Time I find samples for Diapers I will post here! Also coupons for Diapers are a huge plus because a lot of the time they are for dollars off the price and not cents.

Personally I got one package of Luvs at my baby shower and I will never use them again as they leaked all the time, they may be perfect for you and your family.

So here is my biggest piece of advice, no matter what kind of diapers you use. Sign up for the free rewards programs for Huggies and Pampers. Even if you don't use them, the free codes that circulate can get you free toys, shutterfly items, sweeps entries and lots more!

Huggies
https://enjoytheriderewards.com

Pampers
Click on the link to the side :)

Here is a list of current codes for them as well to get you started! Plus if you want me to email you an invite to give me a couple of extra points, well I won't say no :P
Huggies Codes

Plus click on the earn points tab and watch all videos and take all the polls available. As new ones come available I will post them.
1 point ~BGSHBQLWTGRKPGB
5 points ~BJQRFNCNMCNPPGB
1 point ~ BGQGLPKMCPXPPGB
5 points BJLTSTSFXCQMPGB
5 points ~BJKFTDXKFHCDPGB
5 points ~BJKNGQJRMBQRPGB
1 point ~ BGNDNHQCDQBMPGB
5 points ~BJNZKHMLTMXDPGB
5 points ~BJNDJSLLMDXJPGB
1 point ~BGQGJPQZFGDXPGB
1 point ~ BGNDJBBNXFKTPGB
5 points ~BJLKLQJQFKQBPGB
5 points ~BHSGSWKLGQRQPGB
5 points ~ BHJXFWSCMRQSPGB
5 points ~ BHSQJQKKMLFTPGB
5 points ~BFZJXQLFCXQLPGB
1 point ~ BGJRJLNWQBHNPGB
5 points ~ BFXRHQZZHCNLPGB
5 points ~ SLHPGDSPRWCDPGB
5 points ~ BFSFFMHFHCWCPGB
1 point ~ BHQWTLDZFKJTPGB
1 point ~ BHQXZMKTGBZRPGB
1 point ~ BHPCDRBCKXWNPGB
1 point ~ BHNXGRWNDTQKPGB
89217100 (bonus code)
96739416 (bonus code)

Pampers Codes

50 points ~JOINNOW4REWARDS
10 points ~facebookoct2010 (Expires 10/31/10)
10 points ~PUNTOSPARAMI123 (Expires 6/30/11)
20 points ~GIFTS2GROWBONUS
10 points ~ CAREFORNEWBORNS
10 points ~GTGCOUPONPOINTS (Expires 12/31/11)
50 points ~WELCOME2PAMPERS
10 points ~ GTGTENMONTHCODE (Expires 10/31/10)
10 points~ GTGFIVEMONTHS10
10 points~ GTGGETREADYSOON
15 points ~15GTGSUMMERFUN
10 points~GTGLEARNMORE089
10 points~getstartednow10 (Expires December 31, 2010)
30 points~GTGPLAY3USA2010
10 points ~Welcome2GTG2010
10 points ~Welcome2Village
10 points ~GROWWITHVILLAGE

Please let me know if any codes are expired so I can take them off. I am looking forward to giving you more codes and remember even if you don't use Huggies or Pampers, 5 minutes of time can equal lots of freebies.