Sample Sunday

A little slow again this week, I did get another coupon for free Hershey's Bliss Chocolate from playing their online game, $1 Excedrin coupon from CVS, Folger's Coffee sample from Walmart, Prilosec samples, and 2 Dinner Made Easy coupon books(one was my mom's, she cut out the 2 she wanted and gave me the rest!

super savings saturday

I spent way too much this week. I made the mistake of asking Joe to go to Walmart with me earlier in the week. That alone resulted in $27 spent on a ham.

Dillons

The oatmeal was free, 2 of the toilet papers free, 1 was $0.49, the Herbal Essence was $0.83 each, the H2o was BOGO so $0.50 each, the Purex $1.29 each. I bought a few more things for a total $26.42, saved $25.45 or 50%

CVS

I went to use some ECB's expiring and pick up the Crest Pro Health. Guess what, they didn't have it. So I wandered aimlessly around the store for 20 minutes trying to figure something out.

They had Halloween clearance 90% off so I picked up the pencils for $0.05 each and the 4 cookie cutters for $0.06 each. The 3 Johnson's buddies soaps were $0.57 for all 3 after coupon. The Gum was a last minute filler. I paid $0.81 OOP and used $7.98 in ECBs, earning $0. Saved $21.33

Walmart

Trip #1 I took Joe wth me. Bad idea ladies if you are trying to minimize spending. I ended up with a $27 ham, 6 pack of V8 juce, and a $2.27 jar of pickles all unplanned. He also rew in a $5.56 box of Italian sausages but I prob would have ended up with them anyways because they were reduced with 16 in the box(3 meals for us)

OOP $78.50 plus I picked up yarn and a Halloween bucket for Baby Girl(OOP $0, pt on a gift card)

Trip #2 I had to yet again yesterday(thank my mil, she has me hooked on crocheting now!) plus we needed bread and we decided we are going to start working with Baby Girl to get her potty trained(sniffle) Walmarts clearance was only 75% off but the price of the shirts were mighty nice. The long sleeve for Baby Girl were $1. Perfect for playing in. I found me one for $2. The Betty Crocker potatoes were $0.38 after a coupon! I wished I had more of them. The Microwave Mac&Cheese were $0.38 each after coupon. We don't have a microwave but I'll send these to my mom's for a quick bite to eat when Baby Girl is there(she's disabled and it's hard for her to cook)

I ended up with pears, ribbon, tote boxes, and more...OOP $8.02, $28.80 was paid with gift card. I saved $38.80

Pricecutter

Joe bought some stuff he wanted OOP $17.75, saved $1.50

Totals for the week

Grocery $123.98 Holy smokes!

Household $7.75

Saved $87.08

Making some money Part 2

Today, I'm going to highlight some of the smaller money makers in my sidebar(yesterday was Logical Media, Google AdSense, and Coupons.com)

For these I recommend setting up a separate email account

The first one located under the big ads is for SwagBucks. At Swagbucks you can earn points for using their search engine, then redeem them for gift cards and prizes. I get points for everyone that signs up.

After that is

My Survey. You take short surveys and occasionally review a product in exchange for points. You have to reach a 1000 point minimum(equivalent to $10 cash) I've been a member for awhile and I'm almost to payout. I do get 150 points for everyone that signs up under me!

Cashcrate is another site. You can take surveys or complete offers to earn money. If you make a minimum of $10 in a month, they will send you a check. I usually average around $12(I mostly just do the surveys)

Ebates. Through this site, you can earn cash back on purcheses made online. If you sign up through me, I get $5 and so do you once you make your first purchase!

Affiliate links I'm an affiliate for Money Saving Mom and her fabulous ebooks. Every one you order, I get a percentage of the sale.

Inbox Dollars sends paid to read emails to your inbox. These only pay around $0.02 each but you can also do surveys and complete offers. The minimum payout is $30 and you get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

Pay Per Post pretty much, you are paid to write advertising on your blog. I do get $15 for everyone that signs up and completes their first post( and I beg, PLEASE complete your offer, I have $75 in pending referrals, some for several months now because they haven't done it yet)

The last way I make money, selling Jordan Essentials. There are some great products, most made here in SW Missouri, all made in the USA. Me, Joe and all 3 of the kids use and love their products! Check out the gift sets for Christmas!

frugal friday

I hadn't planned on hitting any Halloween clearance sales, but I was at CVS and they had 90% off and I needed some filler items.

I found the pencils that are already sharp and you just switch the plastic thing with the lead for $0.03(I got the last 18 they had) Thing 2 is a master at putting off his homework because he can never find a sharp pencil. NO more! I also found 4 metal cookie cutter for $0.06 each!

At Walmart, their items were only 75% off but I managed to find Baby Girl 4 long sleeve shirts for $1 each. Perfect for playing here. I found 1 for me for $2.

For the ultimate in frugal, wait out the holiday clearance for as long as possible to find really cheap items like it did!

Making some money

You might have noticed the ads on the board for awhile..I'm attempting to bring some revenue into the house. Notice I said attempting.

The big ads are from Logical Media. I try to find ones offering free samples or survey sites where you can make some money. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there's a link on there for them. Click away and sign up for a few! I make money for everyone that signs up for what is offered.

Google AdSense are the 2 tiny ads at the bottom of the page and one in the sidebar. I make money on clicks!

Coupons.com I make small amount on every coupon printed so build your collection!

All 3 of these you have to reach a payout of $100 before you receive the money. Sadly, I haven't even hit the double digits on each yet. So you would kindly click a few and sign up under a few and print a few, I'll love ya forever :)

Tomorrow, I'll highlight some of the smaller links on my sidebar.

wordless wednesday

menu plan monday

Another week of eating out of the freezer as much as possible. I have a ton of meat I don't want to go bad so I want it all gone before I replenish. The Things are going to my mil's Thursday night(no school on Friday) and won't be back until Sunday so me, Joe, and Baby Girl can eat plenty of leftovers.

Breakfasts

Waffles

Eggs

Toast

Pop tarts

Cereal

Lunch

Sandwiches

Soup

Leftovers

Dinners

Taco Soup

Beef and noodles, mixed vegetables

Steaks, baked potatoes

Mediterranean Chicken with pasta

Pork Chops, mac and cheese, green beans

leftovers

Sample Sunday

I'm glad freebies are showing up, makes the mail less depressing :) I got some great goodies this week, including 2 sheets of coupons of Dillons(another free 12 pack of Dr. Pepper!, $ off beef, pork, and produce), Cottonelle moist wipes plus coupon, Prilosec, Pantene, a coupon for a Free bag of Hershey's Bliss Chocolate, perfume, and from Vocalpoint, a free Venus Razor plus 5 $4/1 coupons!

What's in your mailbox?

October Review

October got off to a bad start, first my grandmother passed away and then Joe lost his wallet in the Orlando Airport on the way home. The bad part, it had almost $2,000 cash in it. Needless to say, it still hasn't turned up. I hope someone has a Merry Christmas with that money, part of that was to finish up my kitchen. grrr. Here's some more of the numbers:

Grocery $288.30, $211.70 under budget. Woo Hoo! I grew our stockpile and kept the bellies stuffed! That means I averaged $9.30 a day for 5 people.

Household $77.92 $72.08 under budget. $40 of that was for cat and dog food too. I've been keeping my CVS trips as low as possible and we are so stocked up on stuff, I'm just really rolling ECB and RR's when needed

Halloween $19.84 I set a budget of $20 for 3 kids costumes and only spent $8(2 pairs of fairy wings for the girls and a can of black spray paint) and then I got 2 bags of candy. My MIL ended up buying Thing 2's costume because I told him he had to make one so of course he didn't want too so grandma took pity and bought him one.

Eating out $22. Wow! It's never this low when Joe is home. One time I got Baby Girl some fries when I was running errands, then I got her , me, and Joe lunch off the value menu at Wendys, and then the big chunk ($14.84) came when the Things spent the night with my mil and I picked up Thai food(at lunch prices) for the 3 of us.

Various spending $120, this included some paint I needed, furnace filters, school expenses, etc.

Gas $110 not bad! I'm glad gas is down(currently $1.93 here) but I know it won't last.

Totals for the month $1,225.22

super savings saturday

I spent very little last week...we had a lot of carryover dinners, so I mostly just had to buy milk, bread, and soda this week.

CVS

There wasn't anything I wanted on sale but I did need the new memory card! It was on sale for $14.99, w/$5 ECBs back..I had $7.79 ECB's expiring so I paid $7.69 OOP with $5 ECBs back, saved $27.79

Thing 2 being typical boy, was down to one pair of pants that didn't have the knee out of them(and those were bought for my grandma's funeral) I stopped into a local consignment shop were I had some credit, and found him 3 pair, 2 of them still had the original tags on them(one missing in picture because wore them) It would have been $13.81 but since I had over $27 credit, I paid $0.

Walmart

I didn't really need anything that required the use of a coupon so I really didn't save a whole lot

OOP $16.36 saved $1.75(free Powerade and $1 off Ronzini pasta)

Pricecutter OOP $9.85

Grocery totals $26.21, Household $0(memory card falls under My Allowance) Saved $43.35