And the Couponing Begins...

If all your friends were couponing, does that mean you have to coupon to??? Yes, apparently it does if they are getting all sorts of awesome deals and you are left paying $2.00 for tube a toothpaste instead of .50 cents! Or getting stuff for free... or actually getting money back!!! So this week I bought three Sunday papers and have been saving all the coupon books for several weeks. I was able to buy six boxes of ziplock bags and will actually get money back (after two $5.00 rebates, three coupons, and three double coupons at Albertsons). I also got free kitty treats and Tony's Pizzas for $3.00 each plus three free redbox movies... Life Cereal for $1.00 box, and Quaker Granola Bars for about .80 a box.
On the down side - it did take me several hours to figure out what I was doing. But hey, I'm new at this, it's only going to get easier. I also bought Toll House Cookie pre-made cookies for about .75 each package (Usually about $3). The nice thing is I can cook up just six in our little toaster oven and we can have warm cookies every night. The bad thing is... I can cook up just six in our little toaster oven and we can have warm cookies every night!!!! (I ate two tonight....) So - those are going in our freezer so I only make them for special occasions. I told myself when I started this that I would only buy stuff we normally eat, not junk food just because it's cheap!
It's a fun adventure - seeing how much I can save. Especially when our food bill is usually about $600 a month. I know - I like to cook! The other up side is I usually mostly shop at Walmart, but since I'm going into other stores I am able to buy other things that are on sale (like grapes at Freddies for 99 cents a lb.), or clearance meat at Safeway, because I am already there.
I'm trying to save money on groceries so I can buy new furniture!!!

Back to School!

Back to School Time! Katie and Liz are in 3rd grade in Mr. Izer's class. Ally is going to 6th grade at West Orient Middle School (yikes! middle school!) Katie informed me as she was going to bed the day before school started that she WAS NOT going to school the next day. No way. I told her she didn't have a choice, but for some reason she still thought she did. When I asked her why she said there were three reasons. #1 - she didn't want to be away from me. #2 - Ally wasn't going to her school anymore. #3 - She didn't know her teacher (he's new to the school this year.) I told her if she had a good attitude about going to school the next day, I would lay with her that night. She said no. A few minutes later she came into my room and said she changed her mind, she would like me to lay with her and would try to have a good attitude about school the next day. She went to school just fine :)
Katie and Liz are mad that Ally doesn't have to wear a uniform. I loved that I didn't have to buy Katie and Liz one speck of clothing for school - they get all of Ally's and her friend Michelle's hand-me-downs. Gotta love that! I also had fun going school shopping with Ally. She's no longer in the girls section - it's juniors! It was a little hard to find pants that weren't really low cut on the waist. I found three pairs of great jeans at a garage sale for $2 each. My only frustration now is that Ally would like to wear the same two pair of pants and two t-shirts all the time. She has enough shirts for at least three weeks, if not four, but she wears the same thing all the time. I know I shouldn't care if she doesn't, but for some reason I do!