Shopping Trip 4/27/12

Today I went to Walgreens, Walmart, and Rite Aid to get the deals I needed!  This week, my stock up items were fabric softener, laundry detergent, cleaners, and shampoo/conditioner.  I went to Walgreens first and here's what I got:

Transaction #1:

3- Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaners (on sale for $2.99 each)

* I used 1- $1/1 MQ and 1- $2/2 MQ

FP: $5.97 +tax

* Got $2 RR 

Transaction #2:

1- Fantastik all purpose cleaner (on sale for $2.99)

2- Windex (on sale for $2.99 each)

*I used 1- 75¢/1 MQ and $1/2 Windex MQ

FP: $7.22 +tax

* Got $2 RR

Transaction #3:

4- Arm & Hammer detergents (sale $3.49 each)

4- Suavitel fabric softeners (on sale BOGO $2.99)

2- Kids Aquafresh toothpastes (used raincheck from last week for sale price of $2 each)

2- Laffy Taffy for fillers

*I used 2- $1/2 Arm & Hammer coupons, 4- 50¢/1 Suavitel coupons, 2- $1 off Aquafresh, 2- $1 off Aquafresh store coupons, used $4 RR (from trans. #1 & 2)

FP: $12.94 + tax

At Walmart:

Price matched Juicy Juice- $2.25/ 64 oz. bottle (I got 3)

Price matched Finesse shampoo $1.99 (I got 3- all they had)

4- Pampers baby wipes $1.97 each

1- Aquafresh kids toothpaste $1.88

1- Aquafresh training toothpaste $1.88

I used: $1/3 Juicy Juice IP, 3- $1/1 Finesse MQ, 2- $1/2 Pampers wipes MQs, 2- $1/1 Aquafresh MQs

FP: $16.36 +tax

At Rite Aid:

4- Finesse shampoo/conditioner (on sale $1.99 each)

I used: 4- $1/1 MQ's

FP: $3.96

Total retail value $113.45

I paid $46.45

Going couponing....again...:-)

Tomorrow I have a couple of trips planned!  I've said many times that I'm trying to stock up as much as possible before little Hayden gets here sometime in July!  Since I do insane amounts of laundry, detergent is one thing I'm stocking up on!  Also: fabric softener, Cascade, Ziploc bags, shampoo, body wash, razors, etc.  I'm pretty much stocking up on all health and beauty items that we'll need so that the only shopping I'll have to do after D-Day (delivery day) is grocery shopping!  I'm also stocking up on food items that have longer shelf lives in the pantry.  I'm planning on going to Walgreens and Walmart tomorrow.  I'm going to be price matching a few sales, which I hate doing!!!  My Walmart isn't very nice to couponers/price matchers at all!!!!  There are only a handful of cashiers who don't mind and do it with a smile on their face and are very sweet!  Then you have the ones who see me coming, and give me the evil death stare! lol  Everyone knows that the cost of EVERYTHING is only rising, so why not take advantage of policies that companies have put in place that allow you to save money?  I might get dirty looks in the stores for carrying not just 1, but 2 binders full of coupons, but that's okay!  The thing that those people who're giving me those looks don't know is that they're paying for a lot of things that I'm getting for really cheap or FREE:-)  People might laugh at the thought of using coupons thinking that it's a waste of time, but how is saving money a waste of time?  I always go to the store with a detailed list, coupons, price matches, etc.  I know, down to the penny, what I'm going to pay.  Our one-income, family of 5 (soon to be 6) has a very tight budget, as one could imagine.  With various things that have to be paid, it only leaves us with a particular amount of money to spend each week on groceries.  Being the wife of a truck driver, for almost 5 years now, his pay is never predictable.  It's different from week to week, which is hard to plan a budget, but I make it work!  Well, I'm going to get Miss Emma ready for bed!  She's gone without a nap today and is quite the little sleepy head!  She's definitely had fun running around the house with her brothers this afternoon.

Oh glucose test.....

Do you remember the orange drink that they used to have at McDonald's?  Well, imagine that, but hot and with  an after burn and you have the disgusting drink that I had to down today at the doctor's office!  I honestly dread the glucose test more-so than labor (and my body rejects those lovely epidural meds!)  Honestly, the glucose test is not bad as a whole.  You go in, they do your height, weight, BP, make you drink an flat orange drink (in 10 minutes), you wait for an hour, then have your blood drawn.  The drink is what's gross!  If you have a sweet tooth, it's not as bad because the drink is VERY sugary!  Believe me, it's MUCH better cold unfortunately mine today, was HOT:-(  When your drinking on it, it kind of has an after-burn, plus it didn't help my heartburn any! LOL!  Hayden, on the other hand, loved that sugary stuff!  He was doing somersaults and kung-fu the entire hour I sat there waiting.  I won't know my results until my next doctors appointment.  I was a borderline gestational diabetic when I was pregnant with Miss Emma, and after I did the 1 hour test, I had to do a 5 hour test!  Talk about FUN....not!  Thankfully, they only do a 3 hour test here!!  YAY!  I'm staying positive and really hoping that I won't have to partake in the 3 hour glucose test.  I feel completely different than I did when I was pregnant with Emma.  


I go back for my next check-up on May 14th!  Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be buying paint and re-painting Miss Emma's bedroom, rearranging it, and getting the crib and changing table in for little Hayden!  


On a side note, I found an article on Yahoo! today that named the most hated baby names and guess what one of the boys names is? Yep, you guessed it, Hayden!  Of course, it would have to be on there!  But I like it:-)  And let's face it, anyone who's been pregnant and had to have the name fight with their husband, when you decide on a name, you're just finally glad that you came to a decision without someone getting hurt! LOL!!!!  Shortly after we decided on his name, I realized something, both mine and Steven's names are part of Hayden's.
Hay- the first 3 letters of my name
en- the last two letters of his name


Might be weird to some people, but this is one of those "signs" that I look for that tells me when something is just meant to be!  

"Predators Looking Like Cup Contenders"

Did I seriously just read these words in Barry Melrose's blog??????  I believe I did!!!  Considering Melrose has never been too big of a Nashville fan, this makes me VERY happy!!!  I'm a HUGE hockey fan and was thrilled when the Preds beat out the Red Wings in round 1 on the Stanley Cup Playoffs 4 games to 1!!  I guess the old phrase, "Third times a charm" really rings true here!  Now, while we wait on the second round to be decided and seeded, let's just look at some of Mr. Melrose's quotes which almost made me fall off my computer chair when I read them!

"This is a heck of a hockey team, plain and simple, and its win over Detroit shows it."

" If you look at how they're built, the Predators have great goaltending and maybe the best goaltender playing in the playoffs right now. Brian Elliot has been good for St. Louis, but he hasn't faced the shots that Pekka Rinne has, and Jonathan Quick has been good for Los Angeles, but other than those two, I can't think of a goalie who has played as well as Rinne."

 "Then you look at Nashville's defense, which has two studs on the top pair with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, but it's also got this kid Kevin Klein, who had two goals in the series and played great defense. And this is all without Hal Gill, who hasn't been in the lineup. If you look at their forwards, they have four lines that can all play, their special teams are very good and they have a very good defensive system to go along with a great goaltender. This team is for real."

 "If Nashville gets through the second round it might very well face its division rival St. Louis. To me these are the two best teams playing in the West right now, and that would be a very difficult series for each -- and a very difficult one in which to see goals. Both of them look good, but Nashville's first-round win against Detroit has shown me something. When the playoffs began, I had Chicago coming out of the West, but with the way the field is shaping up and the way the Predators are playing, seeing them facing off in the Stanley Cup Final wouldn't surprise me one bit."

If you'd like to read the full article from Barry Melrose's blog, check it out HERE !

Preds fans have always had faith in their team, now others are starting to have faith in them too just by seeing them play!!  GO PREDS!!!

Shopping Trip 4/23/12

I went and got my papers as usual yesterday!  I got all of my inserts organized, coupons cut, and separated into their appropriate categories in my 2 binders.  I bought a total of 4 papers this week and I'm very appreciative to whomever double stuffed two of my inserts with that lovely Finesse coupon:-)  I've completed two of my trips for the week and have a couple more planned.  Here's the breakdown:

Rite Aid

Transaction #1:

6 boxes of cereal (listed on sale)  3 for $6

-get $2+UP wyb 3 boxes

FP: 3 for $4

I unfortunately didn't have any cereal coupons that worked with this sale:-(, but we were in the DANGER zone and were OUT of cereal completely (which is never a good thing at my house!)

I used my $2+UP from my trip on Friday and I paid $10.99 with tax for all 6 boxes!  Considering the brands of these cereals, I don't think that was too bad at all {Raisin Bran and Fruit Loops.}

I had $4+UP to use on my next transaction:-)

Transaction #2:

6 bottles of Finesse shampoo {sale $1.99 each}

I used $1/1 Finesse MQ's from yesterday's SS insert

and

$4+UPs from my cereal purchase in Trans. #1

With tax, I paid a whopping $3.10 for ALL 6 bottles!!  YAY!  Shampoo was one thing that we were getting low on and I've got 8 more coupons on order that are on their way here as I type:-)

Let's compare pricing here:

The cereal that I purchased today would easily be priced at $2.50 or more per box at Walmart and the Finesse shampoo is also over $2.50 per bottle.  So, let's just guesstimate and see the savings!

6 boxes of cereal at $2.50 each = $15.00

6 bottles of shampoo at $2.50 each = $15.00

Total: $30

After coupons, I would have still paid $24 + our ridiculous 9.75% sales tax/ 8.25% food tax.

I paid $14.09 with tax for ALL 12 items at Rite Aid.

If I were to have purchased them all at Walmart, using our estimate of $2.50 each, I would have paid almost $27.

That's a savings of over $13 before taxes.  

By planning ahead, watching drug store sales, and breaking my transactions down, I saved a lot of money!

Saving money is easy and FUN:-)



My Kroger trip made me VERY happy!!!  I've been wanting to stock up on baby wipes, for obvious reasons AND, I found an unadvertised sale on baby wipes!  I had 8 coupons, 4 Pampers and 4 Huggies all of which were expiring at the end of this month.  I also had coupons for Downy, 50¢/1 which would double up to $1/1.  So here's what I got:

4- packages of Pampers baby wipes (on sale $1.99 each)
4- packages of Huggies baby wipes (on sale $1.99 each)
3- bottles of Downy fabric softener (on sale $4.99 each, regular price $5.99 each)

I used:
4- 50¢/1 Pampers MQ's, which doubled up to $1 off each package
4- 50¢/1 Huggies MQ's, which doubled up to $1 off each package
3- 50¢ off Downy MQ, which doubled up to $1 off each bottle

Total before coupons: $30.89 pre-tax
FP after coupons: $19.89 pre-tax (just over $22 w/ tax included)
I saved 44% on baby items and laundry items!  Not bad!

Shopping Trips: 4/20 & 4/21

Y'all are probably getting sick and tired of reading these, but I love saving money and I just want others to see how EASY it really is:-)  Over the last few days, I've made several couponing trips to stock up on things that we need before Hayden arrives!!  Steven needed more razors and I found a sale at Rite Aid on the ones he likes!

Rite Aid:

2 packages of BIC disposable razors on sale for $5.99

-get $2 +UPs wyb 2

-I used 2- $1.50 MQ's

-I also used the $7 +UPs that I got on Wednesday

I only paid $3.15 (w/tax) for both packages of razors!

Walgreens:

They had our Nivea on sale for $3.49 each!  Steven and I both love the Nivea body wash for men and women!  They had $2 off coupons for the body wash.  Here's the breakdown:

4- Men's 3-in-1 Nivea body washes

2- Women's Nivea body wash

Regular price of all 6 bottles: $34.74

Sale Price for all 6 bottles $20.94

I used:

4- $2/1 MQ's for the Men's body wash

2- $2/1 MQ's for the women's body wash

My pre-tax total for this was just $8.94

I saved a total of $25.80 on the body wash!!

Dollar General:

4- All Oxi-active detergent on sale for $4 each

1- Arm & Hammer laundry detergent on sale for $7.50

I got a few other things that we needed here which got me to a pre-tax total of $32

I used:

4- $1/1 All MQ's

1- $5/25 purchase coupon

After coupons and sale prices I paid just over $25 with tax.  I'm now stocked up on laundry detergent for a little bit and I'm glad that I saved money on it!

Shopping Trip 4/18/2012

Here are the deals I was able to get today!

Rite Aid

Transaction #1:

2 bottles of Soft Scrub regular price $3.99

On sale 2 for $5

get $1 +UP wyb 2

4 bottles of Shout regular price $3.99

On Sale 2 for $5

get $2 +UP wyb 2

I used:

2- $1 off Soft Scrub total cleaner MQ's

4- 55¢ off Shout MQ's

$5 +UPs from yesterday

FP: $7.26 w/ tax

I got $5 +UP to use on my next purchase

Transaction #2:

5 boxes of different kinds of Ziploc bags

On sale 2 for $6 or $3 each

I Used:

2- $1/2 Ziploc product MQ's

1- 50¢ Ziploc product MQ's

$5 in +UP from Transaction #1

FP: $8.96

I got $5 in +UPs for buying $15 in Ziploc items

I also got a surpise: $2 +UPs for buying $15 worth in Glade or Ziploc products!!  YEAH!!!

Now I've got $7 +UPs to use tomorrow when I go to stock up on razors!!

At Walmart the savings weren't as awesome as at Rite Aid, but diapers are expensive!  I realized this morning that we only had 2 diapers left for Emma (oops!!)  SO, a trip to Walmart became necessary!  Here's what I got there!

1 package of Pampers Cruisers

1 package of Pampers Swaddlers

4 packages of Pampers wipes

1- 12pk of White Cloud toilet paper

I used:

$1.50 off Pampers Cruisers ( for Emma )

$1.50 off Pampers Swaddlers ( for Hayden )

2- $1 off Pampers wipes

2- 75¢ off Pampers wipes

$2.50 off White Cloud toilet paper

Total before coupons was $35.44

After coupons, I paid $26.44

This was the cheapest price I could get diapers for the next few weeks and I wanted to use my $1.50 off coupons before they expired!

I love coupons!!

And here's why...

Over the last year or so now, I've been couponing to help us save more money on the items that we use everyday!  Plus, stock up on things that I get for $1 or less to donate to people who need them!  I made a couple of stops today and here's what I got!

At Walgreens, I wanted to stock up on Aquafresh toothpaste for the kids because they're running low!  Plus, who would seriously turn down FREE toothpaste???  Not this girl!  Sadly, they didn't have any but the nice girl working there gave me a raincheck for the 4 I wanted.  Are you wondering how I was going to get it for free? 

The toothpaste is on sale for $2

I had a $1 off coupon from this last Sunday's paper

Wags also has a $1 off IVC in their April booklet!

I can use both of these coupons together and get it for only sales tax:-)

I also got my FAV body wash, Nivea, for $1.49 per bottle!

The body wash is normally $5.79 per bottle. (Yikes!!)

Wags had it on sale for $3.49 this week!

I had a $2 off coupon from Sunday's paper

SO... I paid just $1.49 per bottle!!!

That means I saved $4.30 per bottle!!!

That's a total savings of $8.60

With tax, I paid just $3.66 for both bottles of body wash!

Onto Rite Aid....

I got 2 packages of Cascade complete- 15 ct. and 2 bottles of the Nivea men's 3-in-1 bodywash which is Steven's favorite!

The Cascade is normally priced around $5.99 at my Rite Aid.  It was on sale for $3.99 and when you bought one package, you got $1 +UP reward to use on a later purchase!  I had two 25¢ off coupons for the Cascade.  The Nivea men's bodywash was on sale for $4.99, it's normally around $6-$7 there.  When you bought one bottle, you got a $1.50 +UP reward to use on a later purchase.  Here's the breakdown:

2- Bottles of Nivea men's bodywash $4.99 each

2- packages of Cascade complete $3.99 each

I used:

2- $2 off Nivea Men's coupons

2- 25¢ off Cascade coupons

My total with tax was just under $16

I have $5 in +UP rewards to use on my next purchase!

I saved around $12 on these items.

I've got more trips planned for this week and will post the breakdowns after I get home!  I've got 2-3 more Rite Aid trips planned and will cash in my Rain check at Wags either Saturday or one day next week.  She said that they'll get a truck on Friday so they'll have more toothpaste in stock then! 

Hayden update: 24 weeks, 6 days

Hayden Joseph Lawrence

Due July 31st, 2012

I went to the doctor today to check on Hayden!  I go back in one month for my next visit!  His heartbeat was 156 and my belly measured in at 25 weeks!  He's definitely a very active little (big) boy!  He's already big, much bigger than Emma at this time!  He's doing great and we can't wait to meet him!  I figure I have at least 3 full months before he'll be here!  I've had some swelling in my feet, my heartburn has been so bad at times that I feel like a fire-breathing dragon, and he likes to hang out in the sciatic region of my back which makes my mobility a little (sometimes a lot) difficult at times.  They scheduled me an appointment for my glucose test today:-/  I hate those tests!  You have to drink a nasty drink, then be a human pin-cushion!  It's SO much fun...NOT!  Hopefully the tests will come back good and I won't have to go thru having gestational diabetes again!

Emma's 2 year check-up

Here's Miss Emma all dressed up for her 2 year check-up at her new Pediatrician's office!  I found Doctor Ward online thru lots and lots of searching!  I found excellent reviews of him and they were 100% right!  He's awesome!  Emma, who's normally scared of most men, really liked him.  She definitely did freak out big time at the doctors at first.  We hadn't been in 6 months, so she had forgotten what it was like.  I'm just glad that we found a great doctor for Emma and Hayden! 

Emma- 2 years old

Height- 31 1/2 inches tall

Weight- 22lbs. 9.8oz.

Head- 47 1/2 cm

She's in the 5th percentile for height and weight.  Her head is in the 15th I believe.  He wasn't concerned at all since I'm petite and Steven is only 5'4''.  He said she was tiny and perfect! She doesn't have to go back for another check-up until she's 3 years old!

Emma's 2nd Birthday Party: Presents

Caillou and Rosie train from Ga Ga! 
She absolutely LOVES Caillou!

Her pink tricycle from Ga Ga!

Outfits from Aunt Crystal

Her new cake-cake DVD. 
It's Strawberry Shortcake for those of you who don't speak Emma! LOL!!

Ice cream learning color game

10 toys in 1 from Nana and Pa.  It's the coolest thing ever!  There's so much she can do and learn from!
Shapes, colors, building things, drawing, etc.!

Uncle Matt helping Emma ride on her new tricycle!

She got tons of new stuff!  Here's a rundown of a few things she got:

 New outfits

Emma-sized hot pink Adirondak chair for outside!

Her own tools to work in the garden with

Several new Elmo DVD's

(Thank You!!!  This Momma was tired of the same old movies that we had)

Water table to play with outside

tricycle

Caillou and Rosie toy

10-in-1 toy box full of goodies!

Minnie Mouse pillow pet

Crayola color wonder finger paint

New bath toys and a toy holder for the bathroom

New bows and a cute purse
T-ball tee with bat and balls

We can't thank everyone enough who came to her party today!  She had the best time and got a nice suprise this morning before her party started!  She loves, I mean, LOVES Sprout.  She loves to watch the Sunny Side Up Show with Chica every morning.  I decided to send a message to Chica for her telling them that we were having her party today, and guess who made T.V.??  Emma did!!!  She didn't think it was really her at first and I said, "Sissy, you're on TV with Chica!!!"

Her eyes got as big as silver dollars and she was so excited! 

She ran over to me and gave me the biggest hug!

She enjoyed her party so much and really enjoyed playing with her cousins, Chloe and Sierra!!  I finished up all of the decorations this morning, plus mixed all of the icing colors, hand-piped all of the cupcakes and Elmo cake!  I found the best recipe for strawberry cake online and did all of the baking yesterday!  Mom and I couldn't get enough of the batter! LOL!!!

Emma will officially turn 2 this Thursday, April 12th at 10:30pm!!  I can't believe that it's already been 2 years since we met our sweet baby girl for the first time!!  I'm so proud of myself, because I actually made it through the Happy Birthday song without crying! 

Emma's 2nd Birthday Party: Decorations

Ribbon Topiaries

Emma's chair complete with her Elmo balloons and Emma balloons!
I found balloons at Party City with her name on them!

Homemade birthday banner, pom poms, and stars.
The picture frame has the theme to Elmo's world written in crayon.
I changed a few things to customize it for Emma!

Larger Ribbon Topiary

Food table:-)

We couldn't have an Elmo birthday party without Elmo and Dorothy plates!

Elmo Veggie tray

Fruit platter, chips/dip, and homemade strawberry cupcakes!

I love making cakes and this is my first Elmo cake!
He turned out awesome!!

Emma's Birthday Part 1

Emma got her first present from Uncle Matt and Aunt Heather on Thursday night. 

She got Sesame Street drums!  And as you can see from the picture, she loves them!

 

On Friday, she got another present from my friend Casey!  She got her Sesame Street Maracas.  Emma played them all the way home from the mall, which is 20-25 minutes from our house!

2 Little Busy Bodies

Between Emma and Hayden, I'm always moving!  Emma absolutely loves being outside!  Personally, I prefer the indoors and my A/C:-)  It's been very nice here lately!  It's been warm and sunny with very little rain, so we've spent a lot of time outside.  Emma spent most ALL day yesterday outside and went all day long without a nap.  This concerned me a little, but she didn't start having an attitude until bedtime.  She had a blast and got a little tan in the process!  As soon as she came in the house, I threw her in the tub because she'd been playing in the grass and in the dirt and was filthy!  Apparently, she's going thru "Big Bang Theory" withdrawals because she looked at me and said, "Momma, Shedon on TT?"  I told her, no, not tonight.  She looked at me again, started laughing and said, "Shedon funny Momma!"  She cracks me up!  I've got to catch her on video doing her dance to the BBT theme song! 

Mr. Hayden apparently prefers to be as stretched out as possible.  He's stretched out from my ribs on the left side to my hip on the right side.  So I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable these days!  His favorite time to move and kick is when I get ready to go to sleep at night!  I think he was doing the jive last night because never has he moved so much before!  I didn't have to have a c-section with Emma because she was a 6lb. baby.  I'm sensing that Hayden is going to be a linebacker, so I'm trying to wrap my brain around the possibility that I might have to have one with him:-/ 

My poor house is torn apart and of course heck had to break loose the week before Emma's birthday party!  Our water heater had been leaking for who knows how long.  We had no clue.  It leaked underneath our laminate flooring which is barely 1 year old.  We Steven had to rip out all of the flooring because we were afraid the water had caused mold.  Thankfully it was just mildew and we Steven was able to clean it up and get our bathroom to where we can use it.  Now we've got to get all new flooring for the bathroom:-(  Now, we're down to one bathroom for the birthday party. 

Just to give you an idea of all of the stuff Steven had to move out of the bathroom just to take the floor up...

So guess what all we had to take off of our bed and put back on those shelves last night.  My stock pile has dwindled down some, but there's still a ton of stuff on those shelves! LOL!