Weekly Couponing Trip(s)

For those of you that live under a rock, I coupon.  Yeah.  Not like that little save $10 a week stuff either.  My totals for January and February 2012 were as follows:
Total Retail Value:  $3,261.11  For which I spent a grand total of:  $354.14!!!  I got skills baby!  Skills!

I used to post my shopping trips regularly on facebook, but haven't been doing so recently. You can see some of my shopping trips here.  Now that I have my newly formed personal blog, I can give you a little bit more detail about how I do this "strategic" shopping.  (As I am not crazy)  ;-)

Sunday I did my usual gathering of my coupons from the community.  No, I don't pay for papers, I have a hook up.  You know I have a hook up for everything.  ;-)  Then I went to Rite Aid and CVS and picked up just a few things.  Here is what I got.

At Rite Aid I purchased:
2 Samy Fat Hair Sprays with free travel size attached.
(**couponer's tip - always look for the free extra item or items with coupons on them.)
6 pack of Top Ramen,
4 Veet Hair Removal Strips,
and 2 purse packs of tissue that I needed for overage.

At CVS I purchased:
1 Blink Eye Drops and
1 Dream Water (sleep aid)

Total retail for both stores would have been $68.09.  I paid only $3.30.  But it gets better.  I also came home with $16.00 in Extra Bucks/Up Rewards.  ($$ that can be spent at each specific store.)  Not too great, but it's been really slow the past 6 weeks, so I was happy with this.

Monday I decided to hit Wal-Mart.  Most couponers hate WM.  Too many reasons to list.  But I had some good Qs that I wanted to use, so off I went.  I was pretty disappointed.  One of the main things on my list, 6 free boxes of whole grain pasta, was totally out of stock.  Damn couponers.  ;-)  Here is what I managed to buy.

6 cans of wet dog food
5 cans of wet cat food, (for my mom)
6 boxes of fly paper and a fly swatter
Honey
Bird's Eye Skillet meal.

Full retail would have been $30.04.  I paid only $5.16!!

Since I was right there I decided to go to CVS again and get some more deals, and spend my Extra Bucks I earned the day before.  (I needed some Qs that my mom and sisters printed for me or I would have done these deals on Sunday.)


Here is what I got at CVS.

1 dz eggs
2 cans of Progresso soup
2 Physicians Formula mascara
2 Zingers (for Jason - I promise!)
beef jerky and pop corn -
okay that's for me
Blink eye drops
6 greeting cards
Velveeta Cheesy Skillets
2 Carmax lip balm
and a Revlon nail clipper.









Full retail would have been $56.37.  I used the Extra Bucks I earned from Sunday and paid only $7.66.  I also came home with another $3.00 in Extra Bucks.  ;-)

Overall retail total for both days is $154.50.  I paid only $16.12, with $8.00 in Extra Bucks/Up Rewards remaining.  Better yet, Gabriel and I are taking our recycling in tomorrow, and I know we have at least $6.00 worth of recycling.  With the recycling and the Extra Bucks I have left, it will be like paying $2.00 for over $150.00 worth of product!!  And if I have $8.00 worth of recycling, it will all be FREE.  FREE is always good.  ;-)

Day 4 Of My 60 Day Home Organizational Challenge

This has been making me feel so much better!  Even though my house seems to be getting messier as I clean (you know like when you clean out your closet) I am feeling great with the progress and the purging.  Every task that I take on I think, "this won't be so hard."  And every time I'm wrong.  Today I decided to tackle my purse cubby.  You guys know that I am quite the purse collector or snob, whichever you prefer to call me.     ;-)  I consider my purses a collection and enjoy having them on display where I can see them and choose which one I'm going to wear that day.  Yes, you say "wear" not "carry."  Well I did this for awhile, but they were getting dusty.  So I decided until we move into a home with newer windows and thus less dust, back in the dust bags they were going.  Here is a before picture of my purse cubby.

Sorry for the bright lighting.  As you can see, more magazines, some clutter and all of my purses.  Well I had no idea what I was in for.

First I took all of my purses out and totally emptied the contents into a pile on the floor.




I found no less than 10 lip glosses, $5.00 in small bills and change, $13.00 in misc. gift cards, a beautiful compact, a large stack of my business cards, and a huge amount of receipts that dated as far back as 2007!

Here is the after picture.

I stuffed all of my purses with tissue paper so that they would maintain their shape.  I then put the ones I could into dust bags.  I need to order or simply make a few more for the 3 that don't have bags.

I also took this opportunity to vacuum the mini blinds behind the cubby which REALLY needed it.

This area is just to the right of my desk, so now that entire section of the house is reorganized and done!  It's so nice to look at.

Day 3 Of My 60 Day Home Organizational Challenge

I am making up for lost time!  I have at least three days worth of tasks that I'm about to complete.  As I just completed the top of my desk, I decided to stay in the same area and organize under my desk.  I have wedding idea binders (now made obsolete by Pinterest) and wedding magazines coming out of my ears!  I just have stuff everywhere.  Oh how I love seeing my garage sale pile grow as I purge. 
Here is the before picture of under my desk. 

Let's see, there's briefcases of mine, a computer "lap desk" a huge book of cds I need to return to a DJ friend, an embroidery project that has little hope of ever being completed and a huge crate of wedding idea binders I have made over the years.  I found a home for everything.  Even though I was unable to part with my idea binders at this point in time, I did make room on a bookcase for them so they are at least accessible.

And the after!

 

Day 2 of My 60 Day Home Organizational Challenge

As you may notice, there is a week between this post and my last one.  I'm starting to realize that this challenge might take me more than 2 months, but it's making me feel so good already that I'm fine with that.

I was trying for an easy task to check off my list, but this one ended up taking longer than I thought it would.  I decided to tackle my desk.  As I have an at home business, this is a legit work space that I need to keep organized.  I think you can see by the before pictures, I haven't been doing so.  

One of the things I'm trying to accomplish is less clutter and less things in general.  So I've been taking down/moving things that just didn't make sense.  I've kind of treated my desk area as a huge bulletin board like I was a teenager.  I didn't like it.

This area also includes Gabriel's school desk, which has been unusable for about a week as I took it over with my coupons .

After MUCH clipping of coupons, filing, and recycling, here are the after pictures.

Ah... that's better.  Now I can work and I know where everything is.



I also was able to clear off Gabriel's desk.  I always want him to have a dedicated work space. Thanks Cindy for this beautiful desk!



Tomorrow I think I'm going to go for either under my desk, or my purse cubby that is just to the right of my desk.  Yes, you read correctly, I have a purse cubby.  ;-)

Day 1 of My 60 Day Home Organizational Challenge

I have been inspired by posts I've seen on pinterest to de-clutter/organize my home.  Also my friend, Louanne, completed a 31 day organizational challenge that I just thought was great!  So I've created my own list of about 35 very specific areas of my home I want to organize.  I am a very busy lady, so I adapted the challenge to 60 days for me.  I will either take 2 days on each task or do one task every other day.

The three of us live in a charming, older home in the historic downtown area.  Read: the three of us live in a small, older home with even smaller bedrooms a few blocks from downtown.  I think we're just over 1100 square feet.  Recently, my mom and I cleaned out my closet.  Success = the HUGE garbage bag of clothes I got rid of.  Seeing all those clothes leave made me feel so good, I wanted it to spread to the rest of the house.  I sometimes feel like my little house is swallowing us all, this causes undo stress in my life.  Hence, the challenge.

My first area:  The top/outside of my built in hutch. 
As you can see, plenty of clutter.  Clothes waiting to go down to storage in the basement, old artwork, yes a turkey from Thanksgiving, and a ton of other items.
Here is the before...

and after...

Don't know what I'll tackle tomorrow, but I can't wait!

  

A Lime With That?

I have been inspired by my mother and sisters to start a blog.  Well I have one already, but it's a professional blog and talks about all things wedding.  I wanted to be able to blog about personal things and, gasp, non wedding related items.  So welcome to "A Lime With That?," hope you enjoy.  ;-)