Princess Perky's Page

I mentioned the cloth diapers are too big. Well we had some free newborns, and some free size ones. But we are now all out.

Yesterday there was a good CVS deal, large jumbo pack for 20 earns 10 ECBs. Plus we had a $3 coupon. and leftover ECBs with no where to spend them.

Turns out the only size diapers in jumbo packs are 3s or larger!

We went ahead and bought them since we are sure she will grow, but kinda bummed about her need of diapers.

I could just go pay full price, but I don't wanna.

In other deal news, bought a ton of junk food for camp (chips and smores making stuff) plus beef and chx for dinner, some fruit (raspberries!) and other misc food stuff all for $60, coupons totaled over $60 in savings .

Saw the midwife today, she said it sounds like a very short case of mastitis.

Have a mild headache today, going to try some peppermint tea and a nap.

Got a phone call yesterday from some babbled company 'you won some sweepstakes, because of your garble garble, and also your visa, MasterCard'..and proceeded to list half a dozen other CCs.

then he asked if I carry one in my wallet now.

I said nope....

"oh well it must be because of your debt card, does it say visa, MasterCard, or" something else I can't recall " on it?"

I said, dunno, I don't have one of those cards.

he apologized and hung up.

Somehow I just don't think I was a real winner.

Not sure what sort of waiting timeline there will be. But the interview went well.

Husband has all the skills they are looking for (and then some) Not entirely certain if the job is temp or regular though.

Anyway, it is the most promising lead we have had so far.

Encountered a problem with the cloth diapers...they are too big! Very adjustable for size, but apparently not quite so small as this tiny baby!
which means we right now have no diapers, and nothing that wont leak. I am a fan of early PTing, but this is pushing it!

A friend offered me a loan of some of her newborn cloth diapers, so come Sunday we will have an alternative. Plus there are some other diapers donated to the church that the nursery doesn't use, we just have to go pick them up.

Husband was going to pick them up yesterday, but I got sick, horrible fever and all the body aches going with it. Today I am left with just a splitting headache.

Hopefully that will go away soon.

Sunday night we had her at 11:59, she just squeaked into a Sunday birth.

She is tiny, and doing great, the rest of the kids are doing quite well with her arrival. A bit of extra whining on the younger three's part, but the oldest is being a big helper, and kinda responsible sometimes. The rest of hte time he is your typical 8 year old .

Things are starting to settle into a routine of sorts.

I posted a bit about the homebirth on my non finance blog if you are interested.

Financially he has a phone interview Monday, which if it does progress to a job would be pretty nifty.

Last night we caught ourseles 'counting our chickens' well before they even arrived to hatch Allocating the income and such.

Nothing extravagant, we aim to keep our bills pretty constantly low enough that UI would cover them. Though we would for the sake of time prolly pick back up the habit of having someone else do the grocery shopping, and maybe even run kids to the library. The rest would be savings really. OK a bit more eating out...but nothing that would be a reoccurring bill.

Todays list for HT:
fruit, veggies, yogurt, meat
and one kind of mustard that will be free or really cheap after coupon.

FL:
fruit (different kind)
veggies (different kind)
Meat


Various drug stores:
deodorant -free after rebates/coupons
chocolate - good price
mouthwash/toothpaste - free after rebates/coupon
Hair stuff - free after rebates/coupon


So are coupons worth the paper? Well once every 3-5 weeks there is a fancy 'super doubles' or Triples coupon week. And on those weeks generally we get a decent amount of food free.

Between the drug store and the triple/super double yeah I think it is worth the $2 a week for the paper, but....not going to make or break the bank....

We generally spend more on food than anything else for a birthday party. Yesterday was no exception.

Homemade cake -not really sure cost of ingredients, but being whole wheat, prolly same as buying a cake, certainly more than the 1 or less box mix.

Fish sticks (it was a penguin party, penguins eat fish), and Hotdogs (most picky kids don't eat fish) Fish was reg price, hotdogs free gift, leftovers from a picnic.)
Cheese reg price (2.50lb)
Fruit grapes OS watermelon not
Crackers reg price
Juice 2 or 3 a bottle.

For games we bought one multi pack of sea creatures. $5 and two boxes of ziplocks.

plus the cost of plenty of ice.

We played:
'Cold ice' (hot potato)
Rescue the fish (froze cups of water with sea creature in middle, kids had to melt creature out..no slamming into ground -or slamming things into ice)
Plus some hockey trials (penguin as in Pgh Penns)

I had musical ice floes planned, but we used up all the white paper for making snowflakes and penguins..plus I would have had to round up all the kids and that was too much work.

So far as I can tell the kids had fun, ate well, and enjoyed themselves. I could prolly have a party for less $ if I stopped feeding people, but since by the time dinner came around I was out of energy to even serve, I find food an essential part of the party. (pregnant or not my family eats every couple hours)

Just saw a FB update from someone saying it was going to be hot today because the air is out.

We haven't had ours on. Not only do we have no intentions of turning it on (money for electric bills doesn't grow on trees folks) we really do not miss it for most of the day.

My husband might, but he sleeps in past the best parts of the day .

I would prefer the pool to be open so we had someplace nice to cool off in the late afternoons, would make for a nice sleep after. But beggars can't be choosers.

However, for the birthday party tomorrow I might have pity on my guests, and when I go into labor if I want the air on, I will get it. But after the party and after delivery, we will be turning it back off.

So my husband brought up a point yesterday, why don't we call the mortgage folk and tell them we are soon going to be unable to make payments (unemployment wont last forever and if there is one thing Charlotte is full of it is out of work IT guys).

We have not payed late, nor missed any in almost the entire loan (the one time we were 'late' they cashed my check for less than it was written out for, so their fault and was fixed eventually) So in 8 years we have given them no troubles.

I am wondering if that will help or hurt our chances of refinancing or something. I figure the worst that can happen is a wasted phone call. The best is a new loan, at a lower rate, but I do not want a loan to reset. I get depressed enough looking at the life of the loan as it is.

Well the worst that can happen is a wasted phone call and a cranky husband.....

While hunting the best deals this week for grocery shopping I came across a frozen pizza that was $13 on sale....really? it costs $13 for a frozen pizza? I recall those things as rather unpleasant substitutes for dinner, that cost a couple bucks. I dunno maybe they taste better these days, but if I have to heat up my house in this weather, I would expect some top notch food, and a really good deal.

Considering how much my family eats, I would prolly be better off going to the restaurant to order out!

In other news, the drug store shopping has turned up some cheap first aid kid supplies, needed for GS project. Free razor, that the 'regular' checkout lady asked my husband 'did you get the free razor last week?' and when he said 'yes' she asked 'why didn't you use it'...... I happen to p0refer him clean shaven, but being 9 months pregnant I really don't care much one way or the other.

Speaking of pregnant, yes I still am.

Scouts have both done their crossovers, Co-op has done it's end of year thank you and play, and the only thing major left to do before a baby is a birthday party for EL and husband.

OF course after there is VBS and backyard campout with scouts.

Money wise, eh, it comes in, it goes out, a smidgen out of the EF each month for things like teeth, and hopefully regular income will return soonish.

One job place husband finally got ahold of via email, apparently they had the wrong number, and one job applied for yesterday is actually worth having, close by and description fits exactly what husband used to do. Pay decent and all. We shall see.

Starting Wednesday local HT will be having super doubles.

I never get quite as much out of this as others, but I figure with a couple months of buying the paper, I aught to have some of the good coupons to use.

W bought from a fruit and veggie co-op a couple times. I priced out the food based on the HT website and the total came to over $30. Our cost was 17.50

While I bet some items I would have waited for sales, and others bought cheaper versions I still think it was a good deal. Plus it forces me to look up what to do with spaghetti squash. (Last week was acorn squash)

Husband took a trip to CVS earlier this week.

2 tubes toothpaste (normal size)
1 box kotex
2 things of lotion

used a coupon each, plus 6 'extra bucks' earned from previous weeks. Paid $6 out of pocket, and now have $16 in 'Extra bucks'.

Now on the one hand we made money...on the other we will have to use that money at CVS, but they frequently have diapers and TP on sale, plus coupons, so I don't really see that as being a big problem.

On the down side the bonus money for Walgreens expired while we were in PA, and I forgot to take them with us, or use them up first, lost $5 that way .

No terribly important but I was going to go over the receipt and see how the deals worked out, unfortunately I lost it.

But we did have to go back for a quick run today, and paid 9.96 for pretzels, granola bars, cheese, lunch meat. Apparent savings of 11.26

Not really as impressive as the last trip, but this was odds and ends we wanted for the drive.

Well the lunchmeat is for lunch tomorrow, going to science center, and can't pack PB, the folk we are with are allergic to peanuts.

I wouldn't really call anything we got free, but we did get some close to free items. Gas and time is not free anyway.

CVS: 2 body washes, 2 toothbrushes for a total out of pocket of 3.68, bringing back 6 ECB's.

No I didn't really make money, because we had to use ECBs to bring the total down to 3.68. And those we had to pay for, but all is rolled back in, and the 'net' out of pocket is pretty good.

Walgreens: shaving gel, flossers, 2 sunscreens. Paid 1.23 with RR of $8. I guess it is a net profit? Though the RR must be used at Walgreens.

Rite aid: 3 lotions, total = .78 earns back $5 SCR.

That one we really are making money on. SCR is a monthly mailed check, that can be used like a check. Though I have to actually go online and get the check.

This weekend we are back to GS camp for JC and I. So I needed a few high protien snacks.

String cheese, and granola bars conveniently had sales and coupons this week. Not free, but all reasonable. Of course making my own granola bars would be cheaper and healthier, but......I would actually have to make them.

Also have some tuna pouches that were acquired a month or so ago at nearly free coupon plus sale price.

Plus we bought lots of fruit...lots, fortunately most was on sale.

Looked at a few things with coupons and sales, would have been pretty cheap for donation, and decided not to get them.

Mainly because we went to the dentist right before hand, paid a HUGE sum for three kids cleanings/checkups, one set of x-rays, and two cavities. Not happy.

Not sure if saving the $3, in donations, really makes any difference though. I think I was just being cranky.

Today is grocery store day.

Fortunately for us, many things we need are on sale
grapes broccoli, mushrooms, chicken, and lemons.

Unfortunately no one has coupons for those items .

Ah well, I have gotten several interesting samples lately, including a free granola bar, and some emergenC stuff. Plus a few diapers to stockpile for baby, and plenty of coupons for them.

Many folk upon learning we have a savings account suggest we hide that money so we can qualify for food stamps and other federal programs.

Look I am not turning down money the govt gives me, but I am also not going to cheat my way into more!

Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with all that food stamps....I eat whole wheat and lots of fresh produce, I still would have trouble spending the 900 a month they would send me. (plus WIC)

It was nice to learn the tax return will restock the EF. And though we will have some extra medical expenses with the baby, we still shouldn't run out of money till sometime after unemployment runs out (if it does, they keep extending that)

Honestly I am glad we have always been rather frugal, and I am glad for the super lessons we have learned. Unemployment covers almost all our bills. We could make it cover all if we went back to white pasta and the like.

No idea what the future holds, but whatever, I am not worried. I meet lots of folk who still hold out we must be able to do this because we are rich. I only need about $50 from the EF a month beyond unemployment, how is that rich?

We are not able to do this because we were/are rich. We are able because we have really low bills.

I have a largish strip of cloth that needs hemmed, but I do not have a sewing machine. I can hand sew, but I am not very straight.

So what to do? Well a good part of me wants to wait for the 'perfection fairy'. You know the perfect solution that gets things done just right? Yeah I haven't really met her, but I keep hoping she will come along.

The rest of me knows full well the cloth needs done, and my best is going to have to do.

I am often faced with situations where I know I wont do a job well enough, but honestly. It is more important that it get done.

It took me a long time to realize I had a perfectionist hiding inside me, keeping me from starting things because 'they wouldn't be done right'. I credit flylady for pointing her out. Now that I know she is in there, I can firmly tell her to shush up and let me get on with getting things done.

At least sometimes.

Managed one nice trip to the store, using coupons to get several items free and some really cheap. Plus a whole lot of normal priced (well some sale, but not amazingly so) food. Somehow clementines, apples, and my brand of yogurt do not have coupons.

Will be donating half of it, using the other half.

So I need a recipe with sour cream.

Made some Alfredo type sauce today. No the recipe doesn't call for sour cream, but it worked out really well. (what recipe? I just started with some butter, some spices, some flour, milk, sour cream, cheese, and called it Alfredo)

Was planning on Stroganof, but I don't have any beef or mushrooms.

Also husband went to the store today and bought our usual bread....but we have for some strange reason not eaten the usual amount. So I now have 12 loaves of bread in the house! (6 for a week is usual). So planning some French toast, grilled cheese, and....something else.

The new look came as a bit of a shock when I peeked here.

So far I don't mind it. My blog page looks the same, but the front page and this editing screen are all different.

Of course we forgot the paper while camping, also found out we really 'need' to buy better sleeping bags!

Yeah I can manage without, and this weekend reminded me how grateful I need to be of my house. I have a comfy place to sleep in a warm bed. Only when I voluntarily head out to the woods am I in the 'real weather'.

Fortunately the hail storm waited till we were home. It doesn't take a lot of money to make us rich. I know my kids were snug in their beds while the hail pounded down, and I knew that was unlikely to change anytime soon.

As to the sleeping bags, I really hate being cold in a blanket roll! Will have to do some researching to find a couple real sleeping bags for 6 foot tall folk.

For two weeks we have forgotten to buy the paper!

This week there were several deals, mostly for chocolate that we could have used the paper for.

But good news was there were several other deals we could use the old coupons for!

Have to see what happens when we actually go to the store, but for now, some condiments, and some donatable pasta, plus some dental care stuff will be free or next to free. Maybe.

Well if cheese is really on sale...I have to put the if in, cause the store in question didn't send me a flyer and I don't know how to check actual price online. But according to one of the coupon deal matchup websites, cheese is 1.55 for 8oz block. combined with a coupn should be a decent price.

Other than that, nothing beyond some free pasta to donate.

Apparently my brand of yogurt (I know I shouldn't be so picky) and our brands of pasta do not have coupons. The one I hate does frequently, but not the couple I like. I know my pickyness gets in the way of saving, but well there you have it.

I could get cold cereal on sale several places, but...I don't like to eat it, too sugary, and since even the so called whole grain is essentially simple carbs it is practically a waste of time to eat. By the time you finish a bowl and clean the milk/mess the kids are hungry again. (me too, but I am always hungry)

Read a simple article on working out while being frugal, basic but

nice

Sometimes it is good to review what can be done. I hear far to many excuses in my life. from folk who can't do a thing for scouts to folk who can't afford (fill in healthy item here). To folk with no time to homeschool, or workout, or you name it.

I am about tired of excuses, unless I am giving them, I don't want to hear them. Now if you don't mind I can't work out today, I have too much scout work to do..... umm oh, not helpful eh? OK fine, I would rather sit here and type this and other emails, than go for a walk... but we shall see what the end of naptime brings. Better get cracking on the most important emails.

Oh another link, that rude website has a hilarious article on national debt and finances. Though you will have to meander on over to cracked yourself, I refuse to link to it, cause they were swearing again. I know it is silly, but leave me to my silliness, it is as harmless as the website.

monthy payment myth

Little blog post on monthly payments.

I remember looking through a mail order booklet when I was young. It had all sorts of nifty gadgets for the kitchen and house. All with very low prices between 3 and 7 bucks with a few really fancy machines for up to $25. I thought they were a great deal, till my mother pointed out that was per month. None of the ads said how many months you would be paying for! I am sure the info was in the fine print somewhere, but the mere thought of buying something when you don't know the price seemed like a huge risk to me.

I was really bothered by the total cost of our house, but didn't see any other way to own a house. Saving up 100K or more while paying rent didn't seem to make any more sense then paying 200K for a 100K house.

Maybe we made the wrong decision on that one, but at least we in general avoid the monthly payment trap with all other items.

So my husband took 4 more coupons back to HT. He bought two loaves of whole wheat bread, and two different fish things for $3.50.

We used one whole loaf for lunch, so there will be no trouble using all that bread. The fish we are saving for dinner next Tuesday, have to eat 'out' because that is our LOOOOOONG day.

He also made a trip to the local park, so not really out of his way? But in general we are failing at the whole reduce the car use thing.

Some good things, some normal things. One store not having the sale we expected, and a mistake.

First Walgreens we were trying to get two free toothbrushes, and grab a coupon book. We forgot you need one item per coupon, so instead of free it was 1.22 for two toothbrushes and one thing of chapstick. eh could be worse.

Then Target, 2 free deodorants, not sure if we like the brand, but we can donate if not. Plus some diapers, size one in preparation of a new baby, 50 count for $5 (had two nice coupons that combined)

Food lion did not have cheese on the sale mentioned in the coupon site, so we only bought apples, needed the apples, didn't like wasting the gas though. The apples were cheaper there than at any of the other stores we went to today.

Harris teeter, had a new brand of yogurt on sale plus coupon ended up 3 things to try for 50cents total. Plus some bread on sale plus coupon ended up being 50 cents a loaf (whole wheat no HFCS) PLUS some fish (fzn) coupon plus sale ended up a dollar each, not great, but we try to eat more fish supposed to be good for you. The lemon yogurt, and taco shells were not on sale, but I needed em.

BJs we had coupons for chx, and cashews, plus two others that husband decided to wait and see if there is a sale for. Also bought more bread (once we ran out of coupons it was cheaper to get more at BJS) and milk (always cheaper at BJS for us) cheese (since the reg BJs price is better than non sale even with coupon)

All totaled up we spent about $110, receipts say we saved about $35 from printing coupons and the paper. Mostly printed but not all.

So I guess getting a paper was worth it. sortof?

Also my MIL mailed me some of her coupons with my birthday present (decafe Salada tea!)

So now I have a huge pile of coupons, none of which for anything I generally buy.

But I see again that if I had the coupons for January some good donat-able items would be free and a few usable (soap and toothpaste)

I also have the ad for walgreens (starts today) and toothbrushes are free with an add coupon, and a printable one, so that is something I guess.

I sorted the coupons so I can find them, I had a box from recent newsletter printing (wonderful fellow prints them for scouts) and I took scrap paper (much free -rest failed printing/coupon scraps) and folded it to make dividers.

Lables roughly by store aisle/type of food (condiments, canned goods, baking) I assume as I go along if I get any good I may relable, but for now it is all done and waiting.

Now off to read my comics . I know I could read them online, but I never do, something nice and peaceful about the paper version. Though not always that funny....

I sent my husband off to the store yesterday with the few coupons we had and a traditional list.

He came home with a wii game and a camera thing.

Now yes the Wii game was bought by my son with his recent gift money, and the camera thing was on sale for $5, from $20ish.

BUT, still. Just because you get a few things free doesn't mean you get to go spending that savings on other items!

Well we still do not have a paper.

But there was one printable coupon that would make tuna free. Plus a few that would make some samples of baby soap free.

And from this website

southernsavers

I found a couple online freebee offers, so we maybe getting some samples in the mail.

Nothing to remarkable, not really worth my effort today.

Last time my husband went to BJs (warehouse store) he had to buy some Mangoes.

Not because we needed them, they are just a fun treat. But because the store wouldn't give him money back and he paid with BJ reward checks.

Our entire grocery bill was less than the checks, and rather than lose a couple bucks, husband got a treat for us all.

The checks pay for the reward card, and we also save on milk, bread and a few other basics.

Cracked on Credit cards

I normally do not share their links no matter how funny/informative, because they have a serious lack of regard for polite language. I realize it seems silly to complain about swearing on a site that spends more time on gutter jokes than anywhere else, but still I do complain.

Todays is a lovely funny example of why credit card minimums are useless.

I have a good friend who does the coupon thing and manages free meals all the time.

Now some of what she eats I wont (white pasta, etc) but other items I will (canned tomatoes, beans, cheese)

And this week is some sort of super special double the coupons all the way up to 1.98. so she sent me a couple websites with ideas, and it turns out a couple items on them we would use, and a couple would be good for donation.

mrsmoneysaver

She has many different pieces of info, you can just click on the store deals and it will open a window with all sorts of stores and which coupons make this free or at least a good price.

Plus I had found another site, with similar info, and a printable shopping list. Only trouble is they didn't seem to agree on prices.

First off I noticed that if I had been getting a paper for a few weeks, I would have a lot more options of free items. Then I noticed, that while a few items were usefull for us, most were just donation type stuff. Since I had two bags to fill for my daughters scout troop food collection; I thought at least the bags could be filled a bit cheaper than normal.

Then I found that there was more work in printing coupons than I thought, some required info and emails, others some sort of printing software.

Regardless, I printed out a lot of coupons and gave it a try.

My HT receipt shows a savings of 63.49. But final tally was 43.64

Not as cool as many manage, but partly inflated due to me buying things we needed regardless of 'super' deals. The mustard was a fine price at a little over a dollar after coupon, not amazing, but better than paying full price (and we were out of it) Bananas were on sale at 40cents a lb, but not amazingly low or anything.

On the other hand we did manage some really cool deals.

The toothpaste was not on my grocery list, but it was two free tubes. The junky bagel bites, not needed, but a fun free treat.

Most of what we bought was either going to donations, or on our list regardless of price. (Though several had coupons, so nice to find list items that match coupons)

In the end the trip was worth it, the time to compile the list and print was a bit longer than I had hoped, but I think it has a learning curve, I expect if I manage to do this again, it wont take so long.

I wasn't so lucky at target, though two of the three things were made better by coupons. (the third was cheaper generic)

I also had a printable rebate for Olay, 15 back for any three items. I spent several minutes at the store trying to find items for $5, but in the end I gave up I wasn't sure what counted, nor if they would send me 15 if the item was only 3.99 each, what if they didn't send me anything because the item was to small?

I went back to the website that had the printable target trip I don't know if I will try again, I might just pass this off to my coupon friend!
BTW the items would be for donation, the church collects body wash, and the like for a womans shelter.

I hope to have more luck in the future getting coupons to match sales, but wont be too surprised if it turns out hard and we never do more than save on occasional items.