What can you buy with $2.61?

A gallon of milk or a loaf of bread (including tax) right? Or you could be awesome (like me) and get all this...Normally cost...
Huggies $11.99 each
Softsoap $3.19 each
Dove $3.79 each
Degree $3.79 each
Orbit $2.99 each

Batman was hanging by the blind cord with fear, hoping that Robin would soon be there.

Why Do I Even Bother? Moment: 4

Told you this was a regular occurrence. So I usually try to buy the boys all the same socks, same brand, same color-white, so I spend less time sorting and matching them while doing laundry. Well, there is one exception. I have a pet peeve of matching dress/church pants to socks. So I bought the boys each a pair of brown socks just to wear with their fall/winter church outfit. Today John got the boys ready while I showered but when I came out they were wearing white socks and I thought, "Why Do I Even Bother?"

Why Do I Even Bother? Moment: 3

John went on his first business trip earlier this week. I cleaned the day of his arrival so he would come home to a nice, clean house. Part of my cleaning included the bathroom counter. Well, today I went in to find that Marshall had made a beautiful green mural on the counter...out of toothpaste. And there you have the third installment of my "Why Do I Even Bother? Moments."

And, because I've been reading Parenting with Love and Logic, I found a punishment to fit the crime and then left it up to Marshall to choose if he was going to do that again. I told him to use all the toothpaste he wanted, but once it was gone I wasn't buying him anymore and he would have to use ours. He hates ours and stopped immediately :)

She Shops, She Scores, She Saves!!!

Ready to hear about my latest shopping trip? My heart started racing as the total approached $193. "Oh my gosh!" I thought as she finished scanning the last item, "How am I going to work this in to the budget? It's way over!!!" She scanned in my Smith's savings card, lowering it to a better price, but still not in my budget. I handed her my stack of coupons, wondering how in the world it was going to bring my total down to something I could work with. My heart raced faster and faster until...$72.xx showed on the screen!!! "WOW!" I heard from behind me, "That is the best use of coupons I've ever seen!!!" It's always fun to have someone right there with you who is as shocked as you are at your savings. The list I use to find my deals has a rip-off strip attached to share with other customers, like in this case the lady behind you whose jaw just hit the floor. If any of you are interested in learning the secret to my shopping success, my friend Melissa is having a party this Saturday, February 6. Email me (scrmbld [at] hotmail [dot] com) and I'll give you more info on it. Okay, here's my show-off pictures. I had to take 2 because it wouldn't all fit on our table at once. Not pictured is 3 boxes of Kleenex.



Marshall wanted to be in the pictures too. Here's a list of what I got, with some of my favorite deals highlighted.

2 packs Solo plastic cups
2 packs Solo plastic plates
2 Dole canned pineapple
6 cans Starkist Tuna
3 Quakes rice cake snacks - FREE
1 pkg Deli Ham
10 Gerber baby foods (Coen eats these better than real veggies)
2 Goldfish crackers - .13$ each!!!
1 Spaghetti-Os (Marshall's contribution)
4 cans Hormel Chili
2 packs Dannon Activia Yogurt
12 Kraft Naturals Shredded Cheese - .99$ each!!!! (these freeze so I stocked up!)
snap peas
tomatoes
bananas



6 bottles of Diet Pepsi (so John doesn't stop at the gas station 2x a day so this really is a huge savings!!!)
1 Post Raisin Bran - FREE
3 boxes Nature Valley Granola Bars
4 Mott's Apple Juice
2 Dreyer's Ice Cream - $1.49 each!!!
2 Krusteaz Peanut Butter Cookie Mix - .49$ each
2 Ritz crackers
1 Wheat Thins
1 Toaster Strudels - .49$
1 pack Danimals Crush Cups
1 pack Danimals

plus 3 boxes of Kleenex (not shown)

Are you wondering how the heck I'm going to make dinner this week from the items I bought? Well, the wonderful thing about this is I don't always have to buy stuff for that week. In January I stocked up on meat that was on sale. I made some freezer meals with it. The week after that I only had $35 for groceries, and we made it through the week only buying 8 things! This week I am able to eat out of the freezer too, so I was able to stock up on snacks and pantry items. I still have to go to Sunflower's for some produce and we already bought milk this weekend. I'm finally getting enough stocked up in my "pantry" that I am now just building my supply and the perishables each week. It's great! I actually enjoy shopping now, especially on days like today :D The only problem is we have food pouring out every crevice in our teeny tiny kitchen. But that's more of a blessing than a hindrance.