Play Day!!

It's been a while since I've made any jewelry, and today while I was supposed to be cleaning/organizing my craft room, I got sidetracked and made these. Nothing fancy, but I had fun!


DENIM DAYS...although it's very hard to tell, this is made up of various shades of blue beads.




SUMMER SUNSET...made with citrine, peach colored moonstone, czech glass, and 2 small red glass beads. These are my favorite colors!!



Did I get any cleaning done? NOPE!! Do I care? NOPE!! It'll still be there when I get ready to have a go at it again. Life's too short...have yourself a "play day".


Do you like them? I'd love any feedback on them.

Meijer & Kroger Matchups 4/5 - 4/11

Making out my grocery list for the week and thought I'd share a few good deals with ya! This is by no means all that Kroger's and Meijer has on sale this week. This is just what we'll be picking up along with some meat, veggies, and a Sugardale boneless ham from Meijer for $1.79/lb.

MEIJER: (I am under the impression that you can stack Meijer's Mealbox Coupons (MBQ) with a Manufacturer Coupon (MQ). I guess I'll find out tomorrow whether our Meijer does that or not.)

• Velveeta $4.49 - $1 MBQ = $3.49 - $0.55/1 MQ (dbld) = $2.49!
• Campbell's cream of soups 4/$3 - $1/4 MBQ = 4/$2 - $1/2 IP (I printed 2 but I think this one has already reached it's print limit.) = FREE!
• Ziploc bags 2/$4 - $1/2 MBQ = 2/$3 - (2) 0.40/1 MQ (dbld) = 0.70/each!
• Johnsonville breakfast sausage 2/$4 - $1/1 MQ in 4-5-09 = $1 each! (I will be picking up 4 of the patties and 4 of the links on this trip.)
• Milk $1.99
• Bounty paper towels $1 each use $1 MQ from $120 P&G book = free I don't normally buy paper towels, but I won't turn down free ones.
• Mott's applesauce 46-48 oz jar 4/$7 or $1.75 each - (2) 0.55/1 IP dbld - 1 MBQ = 0.50 for 2 jars.
• Aunt Millie's bread 2/$3 - 0.35 MQ in recent insert (dbld) = 0.80/loaf

Kroger:

• Folger's coffee $4.99 - $1 MQ in 4-5 insert...not sure right off which one it was, but it's there. = $3.99 (This is "MY" big score this week. I'll be picking up "at least" 6 cans!)
• Kroger shredded cheese $1.29 - 0.45/1 kroger Q = 0.84 (I only have one of these Q's)
• 10 lb bag potatoes $1.99
• eggs 0.99/doz.

So...do you have your list made out yet? If so, what's your game plan for this week?

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GET MUCH FOR $10 ANYMORE?

I got all of this (plus 5 tubes of Johnson's lotion that's not pictured) for $10.68. PLUS: I got back $2.00 off of my next shopping trip from Kroger's so technically I only spent $8.68 today : )


I'll start with Kroger's first:

4 boxes Quaker oatmeal squares
2 lbs. grapes
2.5 lbs bananas
4 French's spicy brown mustard's (paid .29 each after cpns & got back $2 towards my next trip...how sweet is that!!)
2 big boxes Hungry Jack instant potatoes. (these are $2.99 each and there are blinkies above them for $1 off each)
6 packs (3 rolls of 12 in each pack) Rolaids
9 Johnson & Johnson buddies soaps

Total OOP $9.17

Wal-Mart:

10 Kraft salad dressings (priced at $1.58 each...used 10/$1.50 cpns...makes them 0.08 each)
6 packs Ortega taco seasonings (these were 0.47 each...used my 0.75/2 cpn that expired today which made them 0.19 for 2 or 0.38 for all 4)
5 Johnson's lotions (not pictured, they were left in the car during photo shoot)

Total OOP $1.51

So... now I can cross off salad dressing and mustard off of my stockpiling list.

Take A Look At My $3.00 Goodwill Find!!

Isn't she a beauty.... I'm not sure what her original purpose was, maybe a day planner or something, but I'm turning her into my coupon binder.

She's still a work in progress, and I'm sure it'll take a while to get her situated into what works for me. The binder part isn't quite 3" like alot of other couponers recommend using, (I'm thinking it's 1 1/2" to 2" but hopefully it'll work. If not, it'll go in a yard sale.) On the left in the very back is a place I can stick my store ads and 2 pen holders. Behind the zipper part, I've got my P&G $120 coupon book, and my Right At Home coupon book. And then there is the handy dandy calculator. The screen has some kind of spot on it, but it's fully functionable and readable, so no biggie for me. There are also slots for my shopper's cards on the right hand side of the calculator. I haven't put them in yet. On the right hand side of the binder, I added a pencil pouch from my sons torn mead binder. It holds my scissors, paperclips, etc. The pouch under it will hold ??? not sure yet, maybe rebate forms.

Then, when you flip the pencil pouch over, it has some more small pockets. Not sure what I'll use the top 2 for, but the bottom left one will hold the coupons that I'll take to the checkout, and the bottom right will hold coupons that need to be filed, or refiled. (blinkies, found coupons on shelves, etc.) And then there's my baseball card pages. The very first page is for my "free item" coupons. The 2nd page holds my kroger cpns. and the third page is for meijer coupons. I don't have tabbed dividers yet, but they are divided by the untabbed dividers, and I've written in pencil what each divider is for. So, when I get the tabbed ones, I'll pull the old ones out and stick the new ones in.

I currently have my categories set up like this:

freebie cpns

kroger cpns

meijer cpns

baking/mixes

beverages

canned goods

cereals/breakfast items

condiments

cleaning/laundry (which is separated by types of cleaners due to the amount of cpns)

dairy/meats (I put these together because they're close together in the store and it's easier for me that way)

frozen foods (separate pages for each category ex. breakfast, meats, veggies, desserts)

makeup

otc meds

paper/plastic

pasta/rice

personal hygiene(also separated by types because there's a cpn overload on these items, ex. oral care, razors, body washes, shampoos, etc)

pet

snacks

And then I added a couple of pages for Pillsbury products, because there's so many cpns for them and the last page is for produce and breads, I just combined those two because I never seem to get many cpns for those items.

This picture shows that pocket for the ads I talked about earlier. And my batteries died in my camera before I could take a picture of the back of the binder on the inside. There was another pocket similar to the one with the ads in it so I slipped a mini clipboard that I've had on my fridge for years right down in that pocket...presto, a grocery list holder. So, there you have it. Not too shabby for $3, wouldn't you agree? So for anyone looking for a binder pretty reasonable, try a Goodwill near you. You'd be surprised what they have. And the money goes to a good cause.

Because our freezer/fridge is still pretty full,(you can read about that here, ) I decided to use some of this week's grocery money and pick up a few things to add to our growing stockpile. So, I made a trip to Kroger's after my son's orthodontist appt. today, and this is what I picked up:

• 2 ZIPLOCK BRAND FREEZER BAGS ($4.98)
• 4 PKGS. STAYFREE PADS($10.00)
• 4 HALF GALLON'S MILK($3.52)
• 1 DOZEN EGGS(0.88)
• 5 JOHNSON'S BUDDIES($4.95) (will be donated)
• 10 FRANK'S HOT SAUCE($11.90)
• 1 OLD SPICE DEODORANT (DEAL ALERT!!!! THIS WAS MARKED DOWN TO $2.07)
• 4 SUAVE DEODORANTS($6.00)
• 1 SURE WITH NATURAL EXTRACTS DEODRANT (DEAL ALERT!!! THIS WAS A CLOSEOUT PRODUCT. IT WAS MARKED $1.31...USE WITH RECENT COUPON INSERT TO GET IT FOR 0.31 and it's got a "try me free" sticker on it, so it could end up making me some money...not much after paying for a stamp, but every lil' bit helps)
• 2 KELLOGG'S FROSTED MINI WHEATS($4.98)
• 1 PEPPERIDGE FARM GARLIC TOAST($1.99)
• 2 POWERADE DRINKS($1.98)
• 2 QUAKER QUAKES($1.98)
• 3 SHEDD'S SPREAD COUNTRY CROCK'S($4.47)
• 6 COLGATE TOOTHPASTE($9.00) (Will be donated)
• 4 WHISKER LICKIN CAT TREATS($3.96)

TOTAL OOP AFTER CPNS/MEGA DEAL $19.01 (82% savings)

DH will pick up some of the Lysol (keeping my fingers crossed that there's some left on the shelves) that's on sale at Meijer when he get's off of work. I'll post those deals here later this afternoon.

MY FIRST CVS SHOPPING TRIP

This was my very first trip to CVS. For some reason I was a nervous wreck. I don't know if it was because this was my first trip and I was afraid of screwing something up or if it was from my belly saying it was time to get something to eat. Guess it could've been a combination of both. Anywho...My goal was to only spend $5.00 OOP. Well, I met that goal...sorta...(I forgot to figure in the sales tax.) Oh well, I think I still did pretty good for a first timer. Here's what I did:

TRANSACTION #1:

• 1 TUBE CREST PRO-HEALTH TOOTHPASTE $2.99
• USED $1.00/1 CPN
• SUBTOTAL WAS $1.99
• TAX: $0.20
• TOTAL OOP = $2.19
• GOT BACK $2.00 ECB

TRANSACTION #2:

• 1 HERBAL ESSENCES SHAMPOO $2.88
• 1 HERBAL ESSENCES HAIR SPRAY $2.88
• 1 SECRET FLAWLESS DEODORANT $3.99
• USED $2.00 ECB FROM TOOTHPASTE DEAL ABOVE
• USED $3 OFF 2 HERBAL ESSENCES CPN
• USED $1 OFF 1 SECRET FLAWLESS DEODRANT
• SUBTOTAL: $2.75
• TAX: $0.51
• TOTAL OOP: $3.26
• RECEIVED $2.00 ECB'S FROM HERBAL ESSENCES
• RECEIVED $1.00 ECB FROM SECRET

TOTAL OOP: $5.45

ECB'S TO USE ON NEXT TRIP: $3.00

And after my DH and I left CVS, we took our little Chipolte bags from Sunday's paper and had a free lunch. OMG that was the biggest burrito I have ever seen!!! And quite tasty!!!

Head on over to KEEPING THE KINGDOM FIRST: THE $5 CVS CHALLENGE to see other $5 CVS scenarios. I was going to post my trip, but the rules say to post your "$5.00 or less scenarios" and I went over by $0.45 (stupid taxes!!...lol...)

HAVE YOU TAKEN THE CHALLENGE???

When I posted my last post about my menu plan and my challenge to you all, I didn't realize there were already several of these challenges out there:

Here's one that I found in the comments section over at MENU PLAN MONDAY: EATING DOWN THE FRIDGE

and I found this one after clicking on one of my commentors blogs and then clicking on one of her commentors blogs (I've been doing ALOT of clicking this morning LOL): FRIDGE AND PANTRY CLEANOUT

Darn it...There was another one, but for the life of me I can't find it now. Seems to be happening alot to me lately. I also saw a recipe for Dijon Cauliflower on someone's blog that I wanted to try and I can't find that one either. Guess I'll try googling it. (NOTE TO SELF: "SELF...START USING YOUR FAVORITES BUTTON...THAT'S WHAT IT'S THERE FOR GOOFY")

So...what are you waiting for...Take up one of these challenges...you'd be surprised (I sure was) how many dishes you can create with what you already have on hand, and how much $$$$ you could save by not going grocery shopping for a week or two or more.