~Payless Shoesource Coupon!~

Get a 15% off Payless Shoesource coupon HERE! There is also a $10 off $50 on-line purchase coupon!
*Offers expire Jan. 17, 2010

~Financial Goals for 2010!~

Let's talk about New Year's Resolutions. I am making several financial resolutions in 2010. My cute hubby and I have sat down and came up with a number that will be a challenge to save, but I'm certain it can be done if we stick to our plan. We also want to travel more during the summer (pre-paid travel...it is not a vacation to me if you have to pay for it when you get back!). All of this will be possible if we purpose every dollar (as we have been doing). We budget down to zero each month and that has been key to saving. We have 2 categories that don't get touched and are non-negotiable. 1. Tithe 2. Savings...These 2 come off the top. They are considered our "first fruits". Tithing has been something that we have done since we first got married. We believe it is why we are so blessed. God is honoring the sacrifice of our 10% and making the other 90% go above and beyond. We also live within our budget and don't EVER buy anything unless we can pay for it then. Things are so much more enjoyable when you know there is not a payment plan involved!
Couponing has been the key to us putting money into savings each month. I know that if you set your mind to it, you can save and reach your financial goals. As Dave Ramsey says "On paper...on purpose". I never truly understood this until I started doing it.
I would love to hear about your resolutions. Many of you are new to couponing, so I know you have set some goals :)
I hope this blog is helping you and your family save money and live a more financially blessed life.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year's Eve!

In His Grace~
SHO

P&G Coupons!

Go HERE to sign up for a FREE Home Made Simple coupon booklet. These are typically great coupons!

~FREE Pregnancy Journal!~

Get a FREE PreNexa pregnancy journal HERE!

~Rebate Offer~

Rebate offer: Buy $10 of ConAgra products and get a $25 coupon booklet. I love these types of offers. I will easily buy $10 worth of Rotel. Go HERE to print out the rebate form to mail-in!
Here is a list of ConAgra products:
Orville Redenbacher’s
Crunch ‘n Munch
Banquet
Snack Pack
RO-TEL
Hunt’s
Manwich
Chef Boyardee
Kid Cuisine
Peter Pan

Happy Monday!

The other night we ran into CVS on the other side of town hoping they had some of my rain check items before my coupons expired. Well, they did! However, they were super duper busy and only had 1 cashier. I had to do 2 different transactions. I completely confused the poor cashier, heck I was even confusing myself with all of the paperwork in my hand. Anyway, it worked out and I was able to get my rain check items...use my coupons....use my ECBs....use my Green tag...use a gift card...then put the remaining balance on my debit card. Whew! It actually sounds less confusing than it was because my coupons got mixed up once I got up there (even though I spent at least 10 minutes getting them in order...not sure how that happened). My point here is that even when you are "experienced" at this, we all have our moments when we feel overwhelmed at the register. Take a deep breath and remember how much money you are saving. Then you can leave the stores smiling :)

My sweet hubby & daughter were watching all of the "paperwork" be exchanged. We left there and my husband said "I feel like I was taking the ACT calculus portion trying to figure out what you were doing!" I just cracked up and said "me too!"
Good times :)

~1 Insert Scheduled~

Typically, there are no coupon inserts on holiday weekends. However, Procter & Gamble like to slip one in from time to time. Lucky for us it is going to be a good one!
Happy Clipping!

~After Christmas Sales~

We left at 9 am to do some after Christmas sale shopping. Here is where we went and what they had. Honestly, not much.
Wal-mart-50% off Christmas decor and gift sets....GREAT time to buy these items to stock up through the year for birthday gifts or next year for teacher gifts.
Target- 50% off Christmas decor....they still had a nice selection left!
Home Depot- 50% off Christmas items...not much left!
Hobby Lobby-50% off Christmas...not much left!
Michael's-30-70% off Christmas...lots left!
Dollar Tree- 50% off Christmas...a little left.

I ended up buying several ornaments for our tree for next year. I like to add a few each year. Mostly purchased everything from Target & Michael's. We didn't go into any clothing stores. It was strange that there was not a crowd out shopping at all! Normally, it is crazy on this day.

FYI: Bath & Body Works big clearance sale starts tomorrow!

Happy Saturday! I'm hoping to put a few Christmas items up and away today :)

~Merry CHRISTmas!~

Wishing you a very Merry CHRISTmas from my family to your family.


Be Blessed!

~JCP $10 off $50 Coupon!~

JCPenny $10 off $50 purchase coupon. Good through January 12th. This is a good coupon to use during the after Christmas sales ;)
Go HERE to print!

~FREE Taco Bell!~

FREE Fresco taco at Taco Bell HERE! Hurry, they are only offering one million coupons and they will go fast.

Prior to couponing, I pretty much only shopped at Wal-mart. I believed that I was getting the best deals there. Now, I rarely purchase anything there. Literally, I went from spending $500-$800 per month there to less than $25 now! Of course, my grocery budget is now only $150-$175. Jenny at Southern Savers wrote an awesome post about how Supercenters can't compete with grocery stores. Here is some of her post:
*********************************************************
I have noticed that many people still seem to think that shopping at supercenters is the way to go. In an attempt to prove to you that you will save more money at grocery stores, I did a little test this past week. I took all of the on-sale items at Publix and Kroger and went into my local supercenter to look at how their prices matched up. To put it simply, they didn’t.

It may seem to be slightly biased to select only the on-sale items and compare but my particular local supercenter (and I suspect yours does as well) advertises “Always Low Prices”. In other words, their prices are always as low as they will get and they will not run a lower sale. Also, as you know, I only buy on-sale items.

After taking all the listed prices, I calculated the effect of coupons on both the grocery stores and the supercenter, remembering to double where it applied. I did the math based on buying one of every item on the weekly Southern Savers list. If it was a store brand, then a comparable brand was chosen at the supercenter. The results were:

Publix On-Sale Items Plus Coupons: $139.84
Same Items with Coupons At SuperCenter: $196.80

Kroger On-Sale Items Plus Coupons: $203.99
Same Items with Coupons At SuperCenter: $243.65

This again was pretending to only buy 1 of each item, and using Southern Savers we want to stock up for 6 weeks, which would only make the amount saved greater. To put these numbers in perspective, let’s say that you went to Publix and purchased only one of the on-sale items for a month (4 weeks) instead of the supercenter. You would save over $240 a month!

I hope this is convincing and shows you how much money you could be saving. I know that the supercenters are convenient and it can be easy to shop there. But if you really want to save money, the grocery stores are really the way to go.

Let’s dispel one other myth with these numbers too:

“Aren’t B1G1 prices increased so you really aren’t saving??”

Looking just at the Publix B1G1 deals and comparing the cost after coupons to the cost at the Super Center it truly shows that the Big Box store can’t compete with a grocery sale price. “Buying” one of each B1G1 item the numbers are:

Publix Buy One Get One items with coupon $43.22
Same items with coupons at SuperCenter: $81.17
Buy one get one deals are normally sold at the top retail price, but this shows that getting 50% off the top price is a considerable savings over the “everyday low price” at the supercenter
*******************************************************
Thanks Jenny!
http://www.southernsavers.com/

~Yankee Candle $10/$25 Coupon!~

Yankee Candle $10 off $25 purchase coupon HERE!
*Expires January 16th

~A Fun & FREE Day!~

Today we were out running a few errands around town. FYI: Swiped my CVS card and it printed out $5 off $15 purchase good for 3 days only. Be sure to do that if you go to CVS.
Back to my story...My hubby was going to drop me off at Wal-mart so I could get some summer sausage (FYI: it is the cheapest there). He and my daughter were going to run over to Whataburger for the FREE shake today. On our way we saw a sign at Culver's that said if your name is "Jeffrey" you get a FREE dish today! Well, my husband's name just happens to be Jeffrey. So, we went and got a FREE ice cream too! It made for a fun afternoon :)

Nothing beats FREE!

~Whataburger Coupon!~

FREE 16 oz. Malt or Shake at Whataburger TODAY ONLY! Print coupon HERE.

~CVS Coupon!~

CVS $5 off $20 purchase coupon HERE!

~Today I was reminded....

Why I do all of my shopping EARLY!!! There were so many unhappy and disgruntled people out shopping. It literally upset my stomach. I so badly wanted to say "If you are stressed out, feeling depressed, have no Christmas spirit or are not celebrating the true reason for the season...PLEASE DON'T BOTHER CELEBRATING! Do everyone a favor and don't do it. As I've stated before, this should be a time of celebration of our Savior's birth.
I hope that you all are enjoying your holiday season and are filled with joy, not worry, stress or anxiety. Remember, Jesus would not want any of these things in celebration of his birthday!

CHRISTmas blessings!

~CVS this week~

CVS is finally having some great FREE stuff this week. This is what I have gotten so far. I had to get a rain check for the Thermacare. I was in a hurry this morning before church, but plan to go back for some more goodies ;)

Listerine
$3.99
-$3 ECB
-$1 q
=FREE!

Revlon lipstick
$6.99
-$5 ECB
-$2 q
=FREE!

Nivea body wash
$5.99
-$5 ECB
-$1 q
=FREE!

~No Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There are no coupon inserts scheduled for this weekend. Enjoy the break from clipping!

~$3 EPT Coupon~

$3 EPT coupon HERE! I know several of my readers are hoping for a positive result. Good luck girls!

Wednesday Already???

Oops,hope you got your menu planned! I'm just going to be honest...I have no plan for the week or month really. December is such a busy month for us. The past 2 weeks have been packed. Literally, 4 parties...a Christmas program....company...the list goes on. So, I have plenty of food here and we just figure it out. Sort of how we did previously! I like the new and improved planning method much better ;)
My parents are driving in from out-of-state, so I do have some meals planned for them. It's going to be fun!
My point is this...if you don't have a plan each day, you are still okay. Life is just a great deal easier if you do have a plan (so I'm remembering!)
Hope you all are having a very blessed Wednesday :)

~CVS $5 off $20 Coupon!~

I just found this coupon and was excited! It is for $5 off any purchase of $20 or more. Go HERE to print! Coupon expires on December 19th.

~30% Off Old Navy Coupon!~

Go HERE to print. Offer good through December 19th!

~$10 off $50 Old Navy Coupon!~

Go HERE to print!

~FREE Whataburger Fried Pie~

FREE fried pie coupon at Whataburger! Good today only. Go HERE for coupon!

~Whataburger Coupon!~

FREE Whataburger Breakfast on a Bun coupon HERE! Valid December 12th only.

~$10 off $20 Yankee coupon!~

This is an AWESOME coupon for Yankee candles!!! Yankee candle products make great gifts. I love this time of the year because I always burn my Home for the Holidays candle. Go HERE for a $10 off $20 purchase! This coupon is only valid through December 13th.

~3 Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There are 3 coupon inserts scheduled for Sunday.
1 Red Plum
2 Smart Source

Happy Clipping!

~$5 Old Navy Fleece!~

Saturday, Dec. 12th, Old Navy will be offering $5 women's fleece jackets. I'm sure these will go fast, so plan to get there early if you are interested! They look really cute. Go HERE to see them.

~.75 coupon~

Get .75 off any egg purchase and Tabasco sauce at Kroger. Go HERE to sign up for the coupon.

~Veggie Tales Sale!~

Veggie Tales is having a 25% off sale and offering FREE shipping on orders of $25.
Enter Coupon Code SHIP223 at Checkout, U.S. Addresses only. Sale and shipping offer good through 12/16/09.
These movies are adorable and will make great stocking stuffers!

~This & That~

If you missed Kroger's sale last week, you are in luck. Most of the items are on sale again this week!
Also, my postings have been a bit random this week due to my internet being messed up. We just got a new modem shipped today, so I will be able to post more regularly again.
Hope you all are having a blessed week and saving BIG!!!

Exciting News!

One of my students was chosen for the diaper study that I posted about a while back. I'm so excited for you Jen! Can't wait to hear all about it :)
So, if you put your name on the list, they may still call you.

~FREE Whataburger!~

Get your Whataburger FREE Justaburger coupon HERE
Offer good on Dec. 10th only!

~$1 Puff's coupon!~

Fill out THIS FORM and get a $1 Puff's coupon by mail. This should score you some FREE tissue!

I just got mine in the mail yesterday!

~Whataburger FREE Dr. Pepper Coupon!~

Whataburger FREE Dr. Pepper coupon HERE! Offer good 12/8 only.

~A Few Things~

My internet is having probs, so this will be quick...
I will post pics of my Kroger trip and Wal-green's later. My internet is only wanting to work for short periods of time :/
Anyway, be sure to get the Chinet plates at Wal-green's this week. They end up being FREE after the B1G1 in-store coupon combined with the man. coupons. If they are out, be sure to ask for a raincheck.

It's Monday too! Do you have your menu ready??? I have 2 dinner parties this week, so my menu will be short. I love this season of celebration and parties!

Hope you all are having a very blessed Monday!

~It's Not Too Late!~

Kroger is having a 50% off sale on select Kellogg's products. If you have coupons to go along with it, there are some great deals! They are open until 10 pm tonight. This is a 1 day only sale!

~2 Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There should be 2 coupon inserts this weekend.
1. Smartsource
2. RedPlum

Happy Clipping!

~Hobby Lobby Coupon!~

Tis the season for craft projects. Go HERE to get a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon!

$3 Energy Start LED Coupon!

$3 Energy Start LED Christmas light coupon HERE!

~30% Off Yankee Candle!~

30% off Yankee Candle Coupon! Go HERE for details.

~The Picture People~

The Picture People are offering 15 FREE portrait gift tags with new portrait session. See HERE for more details!

~Free Millstone Coffee!~

FREE sample of Millstone Coffee from Walmart.com. Go HERE to sign up!