House of Mouse

I'm off to the house of Mouse this morning. I will not be bringing my laptop with me so I'll post pictures and stories when I get back in town.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

My friend S blogged about recipezaar the other day and it made me browse their site. Since the spinach was doing so well I decided to make a spinach salad. It turned out very yummy! I unfortunately didn't take a picture of the spinach before we inhaled it. The kids love spinach, I know how good it's for the kids so that makes me happy.

Check out what I found today

Lately I have been seeing a hummingbird in our backyard alot, now I know why. While walking around the backyard today checking out the fruit on our trees and noticed a tiny bird nest in our lemon tree. There were two tiny eggs in it, they were just slightly bigger than a jelly belly. What surprised me was that the nest appeared to be very soft (I didn't touch it). Joe was patient enough to sit down and wait for the mother hummingbird to come back. Go here for the pictures.

I got a box of Chocolate in the mail today

I signed up for the Hershey's Bliss Chocolate party at www.houseparty.com and was selected as a party hostess. Today I got a box in the mail with 9 bags of chocolate, YUM! I have decided to have a Momitinis and Movies party for my girlfriends. Should be fun.

Carolina Crossroads Part 4 and 5

I have finally finished part 4 and 5 of Carolina Crossroads. Now I have finished all of the small blocks and the next step is to combine the components into larger blocks.

Alex loves Papa

My kids are so lucky to have a great relationship with my parents. Alex especially loves his Papa Ron and often will ask when he can see him. I look forward to them getting closer as Alex gets older.

Sunday Savings

My husbands friends do not believe that I have been getting such good deals at CVS. To start go here and read this post that I wrote, it has links to where I find deals. I need to preface this post by saying that this takes time and effort, you don't just pick up a Sunday paper, clip a few coupons, and then walk into CVS and get free stuff. The way to get free stuff is to roll extra care bucks (ECB's) earned from one item to another item that gives ECB's. You do even better when you can combine coupon savings to net more ECB's than you spend.

Another note that goes against most peoples ideas of thriftiness is that you need to be willing to stockpile when the deals are good and sometimes be willing to buy something you don't need (with ECB's of course) if it gives more ECB's than it costs so that you can roll those earnings to get items you need for free.

Today I went to two different CVS stores, here is what I bought:

Transaction #1

Schick Quatro Razor 9.49
4 count Schick Quatro refill blades 10.99
2 Adidas deodorant 1.94 each

I used a $4 off $20 CVS coupon (find it here)
I had a coupon to buy a Schick Quatro Razor get a 4 count refill blade free
I had 2 coupons for a free Adidas Deodorant
I also used $3 in ECB's

My total after coupons $3.84 which I used a CVS giftcard for (from getting a prescription filled)
I got $3 in ECB's back. This is not a great deal but even if you hadn't had the ECB's you would have spent $6.84 for a razor, a pack of refill blades and 2 deodorants.

Transaction #2

2 softsoap body washes 4.99 each
2 Benefiber chewables 36 count 6.79 each

I used a $4 off $20 CVS coupon
2 $2 off Benefiber coupons
1 $1 off Soft Soap Coupon
I also used $13 in ECB's that I had.

My total $2.07 that I put on a gift card that I had. (If you only had the ECB's from the earlier deal you would have spent $12.07). I got back $19.98 in ECB's.

I have one more deal that I think I will work this week. I currently have $32.98 in ECB's that I will use to pay for future deals. The ECB deals this week aren't great but if you are just starting there are a few monthly free after ECB deals that you can use to get some ECB's to start working with.

My husband mentioned that some of his friends would add in the cost of the paper and feel it was just not that great of a deal. In my area I can get a Sunday only Subscription for $1 a week, I have two subscriptions for a total cost of $3 a week. I feel that the savings that I get from the coupons and the true volume of items I have managed to get for free makes up for the cost of the paper. Also I have been able purchase items with ECB's and send away for rebate checks that help to offset the cost of the papers.

With that said, if you don't feel that it is worth your time or money than so be it but personally I'm having a blast. I love getting a good deal.