Frugal Friday with Marsha 8/8/14

How has your week been?
I finally got busy and at least cut out the coupons for things that I might buy. I sure had a lot of expired coupons both in my binder as well as in my stacks of uncut inserts.
The store is having a good sale this week with the buy 5 get $5 off that I am hoping to be able to take advantage of.

We pulled a few more tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden. Still more growing, so that is good.
I chopped the tomatoes and put them in the freezer for winter cooking.
The kids eat the cucumbers right away. It's great that they all like them as they make a great snack.

I'm having so much trouble with the shopkick app making it super hard to earn. Most months I can easily earn at least $15 in Target cards. This past month I'm not even up to $5 yet. By their facebook group most everyone is having the exact problems that I am having so it's not my phone.
I've been able to regularly cash out with the PerkTV (use referral code 860efbf6 please if you decide to sign up) app for $5 amazon. I'm running it on 2 phones and when I'm not being nice and letting the grandkids play games on those phones I can cash out almost every 48 hours.
I've been getting back into checking what's on ibotta and got $4 in bonus money last month. It's so cool that anyone you are connected to on facebook that is also using ibotta is on your team helping to earn the bonus money. I'm also remembering to check Checkout51 more often as well.
Receipthog has been great too since we now get to scan some of what we turn in on the receipts for even more points! They are adding up lots quicker.
Don't you just love earning?

I look forward to seeing what you've posted this week and/or your comments on how your frugal week has been.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha 8/1/14

Welcome to August! Can you believe it's here already?
School starts back here on August 13. Which reminds me that I need to get out the school supplies that I bought to donate to those in need.

We got our new windows put in this week. The windows, unfortunately, aren't frugal as it was $3800 for the 3 of them we had put in the living room.....on a loan with 16% interest....ouch!!
They say we will save quite a bit on our heating and cooling bills since the thermostat is here in the living room. It will have to be a lot of savings.
We have turned the air to 80 degrees, but not because of the windows. It's cooler out this week so we are enjoying the new windows and being able to easily open them for fresh air.

In the garden I've picked two more cucumbers and still more are growing.
Last year I planted some potato eyes then never did anything when they grew. A few of those grew back this year and I planted a few more eyes. I went out and dug them up since half of the plants on top had turned yellow. I pulled up several small potatoes. Just enough for hubby and I to share at a meal.
I'm going to study again on growing potatoes and plan to plant a lot more next year. I know one this is to keep the dirt loose for their growing, which I hadn't done.
I see what we have a few cantaloupe growing too from seeds that were in the compost pile. One of them is open on one side, so it's a no go, but maybe with any luck the other 2 that are growing will continue to grow.
I also picked several more tomatoes and have those cut and in the freezer for winter meal making.

I didn't work on my coupons at all this week. After being away for the weekend at the Women's Encounter (which, btw, was a wonderful experience), I'm having an even harder time getting back in to my routines than I was before. I will get there though!


How has your week been?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha 7/25/14

How has your week been? It's been a hot one here in Kansas with triple digit temps.

I picked up some Irises from the freecycle list. I cleared an area in the front garden and planted them. I already forgot what colors she said they were so I hope to be surprised next season.

I picked more tomatoes from the garden. We ate a couple of them with supper. I cut the rest of them up into 2 bags and put them in the freezer for cooking this winter.
I have more in the window now. There are a few more out on the 2 plants in one planter. I have 2 stray tomato plants in with the strawberries and cucumbers, I assume that grew out of the compost. One of those plants has a tomato and the other one is just now flowering, so it looks like we may still end up with more.

I'm leaving later today and going for the weekend to the Women's Encounter. I hope to enjoy the weekend away and that the time away will motivate me and keep me going.
I hadn't been looking forward to going because of worry of too many things I should be doing instead. Now I'm actually looking forward to going.
My way was paid by scholarship. Even it hadn't been, it's only $100 to go on the trip. Considering that includes the bus there, 2 nights, and all the meals and snacks, that is a super decent price!

This past week we hit an estate sale. We went on Saturday, the 3rd day of the sale, and the last 30 minutes of the sale. They were really giving deals trying to get rid of more stuff.
I had spotted 5 boxes of fabric. Each box was marked $14 and $15 each. When she asked if there was anything I was interested I told her the fabric. She told me all 5 boxes were mine for just $5!!!
Another good deal that I got was a box of stuff for the grandkids--crayons, markers, chalk, farm animals, building toys, a game, and 2 frisbees for $2.
I also picked up a shoebox full of notepads and such for $1 and another box that had glue sticks, ribbon and things to make earrings for $1.
Then......hubby said he would love to have the organ.
They had it marked $200 and told him $25. You guessed it, we now have an organ! It's pictured below. It's a Hammond.

I can't wait to see what you all have to share this week.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday with Marsha 7/18/14

I hope this finds that everyone has had a good week.
It's been cooler here in Kansas. It's only been in the 70's this week, which is sure strange for July.

Hubby's been on vacation this week. I would like to say that we were frugal and stayed home, but really we stayed home because we made no plans and didn't save any money to go anywhere!
He's been really working hard in the yard doing things that should always be kept up to begin with.
I can't say that I've done much.

I did pull a few small cucumbers from the garden yesterday. That was a pleasant surprise to find them. One of these years I just might get this gardening thing and actually be able to grow enough that we would no longer need to buy fruits and veggies from the store.

Otherwise from the garden we've only gotten a few strawberries that we ate right away and a couple of tomatoes. I bought what was labeled as bell peppers but they aren't. They are some sort of super hot pepper. I don't know what kind. I noticed that one of them is turning red now. I have no idea what I'm to do with them.
We did pick lots of snap peas and if I can figure out where I put the rest of those 'seeds', I can plant more like I did last year.
We did cut lettuce and spinach a few times, but not I've allowed it all to go to seed. I think I could still cut leaves.
The overwinter onions aren't the same as regular onions, again, I'm not sure how to use them. I have bags of them cut up in the freezer. I've cooked some of it with ground meat several times. I used the greens in potato soup. There are still lots of onions out there. I've given away quite a few of them to others who can replant the tops and get their own started.
I have wild garlic, but again, I'm not sure how to use it.
Looks like I really should start taking the time to do some research!

When I list is out like that, it doesn't seem like we've done too bad, but really it's not that much.

Thanks to those of you who linked up last week. I hope to see some links this week as well.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha 6/27/14

Last Friday I was at my quilt retreat having a blast sewing away and socializing with other quilters. Also eating good food.
Speaking of that food, one meal we had catered in there was lots of food left over. They said for us all to bring containers from home the next day.
It was a good thing. I ended up being able to serve myself, hubby and daughter smothered steak, scalloped potatoes, green beans and dinner rolls for supper after coming home Saturday evening.
Can't beat free food on the frugal side.

One gal sent me home with the rest of the box of Nilla Wafers she had brought to share and another gal sent me home with the rest of the bag of Twizzlers that she had brought. Free snacks too.

I can't really say that otherwise this last week has been too awfully frugal on my part.
I've been away from home a lot for various reasons.
I think I only did one load of laundry this week, which hung on the line to dry. That was in between rain.

The rain has been great this past week, saving on our water bill not having to water the garden.
Speaking of the garden, we did finally get 1 red tomato and we ate a few strawberries. I need to go harvest more of the lettuce.
I will be taking a couple of the onions to my daughter. I need to check if any cucumbers are growing yet.
The plants that I bought that had a label saying there were bell peppers, aren't. Instead they are some other type of pepper, I am guessing jalapeno.
I picked quite a few snap peas. I think they are done now though. If I can remember where I put the seeds I will plant more.

I've been doing a lot of redeeming this month both on the computer and with the apps on my phone. I think I will try to include reports of that monthly, starting next Friday.

I hope I have a lot more frugal living to report next Friday. Until then, I do hope you will share posts this week and motivate me!

Thanks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha--More Shopping

I have had a lot of fun this past week with the buy 5 get $5 sale.  I posted some of it last Friday, and this Friday I will post the rest of my shopping.  You know I love it!

For what is in this photo I spent $10.38.  I used $30.99 in coupons.  My savings was 83% with sales and coupons and I walked out with $15 in catalinas.

I paid $4.32 for what is in this photo.  I used $22.70 in coupons (including the $15 from the photo above).  I saved 90% with coupons and sales.  I walked out with another $5 catalina.

You can find more details about these 2 shopping trips in my post at: http://www.bubblews.com/news/626185-two-shopping-trips-today-woot-woot 

 For what I bought in this photo, I paid just .77!  I used $11.40 in coupons (including the previous $5 catalina)  A total savings of 96%.  Full details of the shopping trip can be found in my post: http://www.bubblews.com/news/631283-77-cents

Last Saturday I also hit those yard sales.  Granted, I did buy some unnecessary things----maybe mostly unnecessary things?   I have a post about that as well if you would like to check it out and "judge" for yourself.  http://www.bubblews.com/news/630759-some-of-my-yard-sale-finds
I do know that I had a great time shopping the sales and spending time with my youngest and oldest daughters.

Otherwise, I have hung all laundry on the line this past week, even including the sheets.  I haven't been hanging them out because of their size, but I will from now on.  
We keep our air conditioner on 80, which is fine by me.  We have replaced most light bulbs now with the energy saving ones.

The garden is growing along.  More rain would help with the cost of water  :)  I do have loads of weeding to do and a lot of hay to put down and around everything yet.

How has your week been? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha--Staycations

I went on hiatus last Friday---a staycation I will call it.  I had thought about scheduling my Friday post and then decided to just take the week off.

According to wikipedia, a staycation is "a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within driving distance, sleeping in their own beds at night. They might make day trips to local tourist sites, swimming venues, or engage in fun activities such as horseback riding, paintball, hiking or visiting museums. Most of the time it involves dining out more frequently than usual. Some people may include one or two overnight visits at relatives, friends or a longer trip."

We've never taken more than a staycation!!  Maybe some day we might afford a "real" vacation.

We picked up my daughter Heather and her 2 children in Inman, Kansas and headed to McPherson, Kansas for the 100th year celebration of All School's Day.
Wow!  I have never seen such a crowd for a parade!!  The population of McPherson is only around 13,000, but people come from the whole county as well as surrounding counties for All School's Day.
Here is a photo I snapped of the block and side of the street that we were on to watch the parade.  Eight blocks was like this on both sides!

The parade lasted about 2 hours.  I took lots of photos, but this was our favorite float.  It was mad scientists representing, I think, Humara.  They were hilarious doing their experiments and dancing to rock and roll music.

After the parade we did a little shopping at Walmart, ate lunch at McDonald's and then went back downtown for a tour of the McPherson Opera House.
It was so very interesting.  Unfortunately not many of my photos came out well at all.
I snapped this photo as we drove up the street from the outside.

This photo is of one of the upper seats.  The prime of opera seating.

The entire opera house has been restored as close to original as it could be.  Beautiful art work and design.  The history was so interesting.  We brought home a booklet with the history as well as a show booklet for the season as well.  They have a free show coming up that we hope to make it to.

In other news this week, I was able to purchase 3 raised beds for gardening through the local buy, sell, trade group on facebook.  I bought 3 of these at $10 each.  Not sure that was the best deal, especially considering when I left the gal told me $10 is what she paid for them, but never got to use them.  She may have never used them, but they were out to get weathered!  I would have talked her down a bit on price, or talked her into at least one more for the price had I known that information beforehand.  I am also thinking that these would be easy to build, so I will check on the cost of materials.
Anyway, we probably will do nothing with these this  year as we have already planted, but we are working towards the dream garden for next season.

Your turn.  I can't wait to see what is shared this week!

Frugal Friday With Marsha ---Link Up!

Another week has passed us by and we are now in to May.
Spring left us again the past couple of days. We had lows below freezing the past couple of nights and even seen some snow yesterday morning.
I had to go out Wednesday morning and cover the plants. I do hope they survive!

This week has just sped on by me. I've stayed busy as usual.
I did make one shopping trip this week. An online friend sent me some free coupons and I used those as well as bought a few other things.
One thing that I bought is a gallon of white vinegar. I am now using it for fabric softener. I'm really liking it! Plus, it's cheap and natural.
I did get a couple loads of laundry done on Monday and Tuesday that I was able to hang out on the line to dry.

I've been working a lot this week on cutting out my coupons and getting them into my binder. I have a long ways to go! I will be working more on that today. If I can just work a little each day I could maybe keep them caught up. I have a pile of expired coupons to turn in for the military families.

I need to run along, another busy day away from home for me, but I do look forward to the posts you will link up this week!

Frugal Friday With Marsha--The Garden!

Happy Friday!  It's rainy here, but not too cold.  I think that spring is finally here!
Yesterday I picked up my daughter Heather, and granddaughter Zelda and brought them in to town to work on the garden in our back yard.

Gardening is pretty hard work....it's fun and relaxing.  Hopefully we will harvest from our efforts.
My daughter found that the dirt around their house is just not fit for planting.  It's clay and we couldn't even dig in to it.  She had bought several packets of seeds and had some already started.
She's been saving scraps for the compost pile.  She had already sent me home 2 boxes to add to my pile.

This past Sunday my hubby and I worked 4 or 5 hours just preparing the area out back.  Hubby did buy pete moss and cow manure that he  roto-tilled in with what was in the compost pile.  I've not had much luck getting my pile to compost, but after the recent ice storms it was starting to turn.  I have no idea if we should have went and put the pile in, but I didn't figure it could hurt anything.

Heather and I spent 3 hours yesterday morning planting.
We have a little bit of a lot of foods:
lettuce
spinach
carrots
turnips
green beans
strawberries
cantaloupe
watermelon
corn
zucchini
tomatoes
bell peppers
snap peas
(In the house I have celery re-growing, basil and I have a planter of spinach.  Heather has herbs growing in her house too)

Here are the photos that I took yesterday:

 And this is my kitchen window sill:

I will be building a squidoo lens later today starting with these photos and then updating it monthly with new photos of the garden progress.

Wish us luck!  :)

Frugal Friday's With Marsha Link Up---It's Been a Great Week

It's been a great week at our house as far as being frugal goes.

1. I've been hanging the laundry out on the line to dry all week. It feels good to be doing so again. I know with the mild winter that we had, there were lots of days I should have hung the clothes out then as well.

2. We grocery shopped at Aldi. I don't go to Aldi near often enough. A cart full of food and things was $127, but by looking at the overflowing cart, I really expected it to be over $200. It feels so nice to have this much food in the house again.

3. I did some coupon shopping at the grocery store. No, I don't save like they do on tv, but I had $25 to spend and I spent $24.85. I saved 60% with sales and coupons. Some of my better deals was: 3 packages of Reames frozen noodles for $2 after coupons, Hostess Donettes $1 after coupon, Purex detergent used a free coupon, 2 Barilla whole wheat pastas .38 after coupons, and Jello geletin 2 boxes for .36 after coupon.

4. We've really been paying attention to turn off lights in rooms we are in.

5. We planted the garden. We put in a raspberry vine, grape vine, purple onions, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, and basil. There was spinach and garlic already growing from last year. Wish us the best that we get a nice harvest this year. We did buy a huge bag of Miracle Grow Moisture Plus to add around since the soil out there is horrible for growing anything but weeds and stickers. ($5 rebate on the Miracle Grow sent in too!) I also started another compost pile. It didn't work last year and I don't know why, but I'm trying it again.

6. I picked up a couple of things through freecycle--Christmas card fronts to use in making my bags and things and some fabric and lace.

I do hope you will share in comment, or by sharing a blog post in the linky, how your frugal week has gone.


On to my sharing this week from the 99 Cent Solutions book. This week it's 4 uses for vanilla.

1. Sweeten a microwave. Pour a couple of tablespoons of vanilla into a glass bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Let the vanilla cool and repeat. It will smell as sweet as fresh baked cookies instead of all those dinners you've cooked in there.

2. Perfume the paint. Stir 1 tablespoon of vanilla into a gallon of paint before you start work. It won't completely get rid of the fresh paint smell but will make it a whole lot more pleasurable.

3. Make a kid-friendly tick repellent. Douse a cotton ball with real vanilla extract and dab it liberally on the ankles, wrists and any uncovered skin. Reapply as needed. This will keep your little ones from getting ticks if playing in long grass.

4. Sweeten the house. Dab a cotton ball with vanilla and dab it very lightly on the outside of light bulbs (not halogen bulbs) in your lamps. When turned on the vanilla heats up and a faint but alluring scent of vanilla drifts out. This is great for those who are allergic to air freshners and sprays but still want their home to smell nice.

(I love the scent of vanilla!)

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 7/1/11

Happy Friday!

This has been another week of not much grocery shopping and a lot of eating from what we already had in the house. Hey, we aren't out of food yet, but I'm sure hoping we can squeak out a little bit of grocery money after the bills are paid.

In the garden....the cantaloupe seems to be doing well, it's flowering now. The tomato plants are growing, but not producing. The peas I planted have sprouted, not sure if they will produce in this heat. The few potatoes seem to be growing fine.
I pulled what was left of the onions out of the garden and cooked them with a pork roast. The onions I planted otherwise didn't grow. I also used the chives that Steve's sister had brought me in the roast as well. I should say a little bit of those chives. She brought me a bunch that I clipped and dried and put them in a ziploc bag. Also for the roast I bought a bag of baby carrots at the store on quick sale for .79. And, I bought strawberries on sale for $3.98 for 2 lbs, using a .50 coupon doubled making them $2.98.
Here is a pic of the cantaloupe from the other day---ignore all the grass and weeds that should be taken out please:

I was able to pick up a bag of blankets from freecycle this week. I had hoped I could use them for the inside of quilts. One blanket I can use for the inside of a small quilt. The other 2 we will use. There was also a king size pillowcase in the bag.

We've had temps in the triple digits this week and no rain, so hanging clothes out on the line to dry hasn't been a problem. I took last week off from doing laundry, except putting away what I hadn't from the week before. Still, I only did 4 loads this week.

My other items are shared in my linky for this week. Please link up below.

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 6/17/11

Welcome to another Frugal Friday! I hope you will share any frugal type blog posts you've done this past week in the linky. The linky does remain open all week.

This week has been hectic for me, to say the least. I have kept 4 of my grandchildren all week while we had Bible school each evening. Tonight is the last Bible school day and the kids will then go to their fathers.

Upon asking if I could go ahead and keep them for the week, I realized I would not have enough food to stretch for the week for 4 more mouths. I asked my daughter to get some food. We ended up at Aldi. I didn't really ask her to buy that much, but just enough to keep them in snacks and drinks for the week. As far as meat I just had her get us 1 lb of ground beef and a bag of chicken nuggets. In all she spent $52 and they picked up quite a few things for themselves as well.

One night for supper I made the 5 slices of ham I had in the freezer stretch to feed us all by cutting the slices in to strips. I also used up the last of the bag of potatoes that were starting to get old.

Speaking of potatoes--one of the potato eyes I planted in the garden is blooming. I've planted a few more. Other garden notes--very few of the snap peas survived, but my teen had a good time eating what did grow. I've planted more, a little off season, but if they don't grow I still have more to plant later too. The cantaloupe seeds that I planted seem to be thriving. I've used most all the onions both white and red out of the garden. I've tried planting seeds from the tops to get more, but so far I'm not seeing anything. I really need to get out today and cut down the spinach or it's going to go to seed instaed of continuing to reproduce. The tomatoes plants are blossoming but I'm sure I need to go prune them so that they can actually produce us some fruit. All of the pepper plants have blooms now, but don't seem to be growing very large as in the plants themselves. The strawberries, I'm sure, are done for the season. Now they will, or should, just spread to make more for next season.

Yesterday I stopped at the store for a few cans of cat food and seen a sale buy 5 items get $5 off. I got 5 more things for us to snack on. I should have gotten all cookies at just $1.18 a package, but I got 1 Rice Krispies Treats at $1.99 and 1 box of Cheez Its for $1.79.

Basically other than the above I've done the usual of hanging the laundry out on the line to dry and washing in cold water. I've done a lot more laundry this week though with 4 extra kids here.

I think that's it for my report this week. I can't wait to read what others have done, or tips they have to share, some good cheap recipes, coupon match ups and other things.

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 5/20/11

Here we are to Friday again.  I hope to see lots of you sharing your frugal type posts in the linky this week.   I'm sharing 2 of my shopping posts in the linky, as well as my Mailbox Monday post.

This week has been a rainy week so I've not been able to hang clothes out to dry.  However, so far I've only done one load of laundry too.  Procrastinating as I wait for a non-rainy day.  I had to do one though to get myself clean jeans.

We've done a lot of shopping this week because our amended return came in.  I can't say that we were super frugal in the shopping, although we did buy the cheapest brands we could on a lot of the items.  My daughter, Jasmine, and I were in need of some clothing.  Jasmine did try to only choose clothing from the clearance racks, so I'm pretty proud of her for that.  She knew how much she was given to spend and worked to make the most of it.  What she didn't spend on clothes at Wal-mart, she was able to pick up more at the Goodwill store.

I also bought a few things at the Goodwill store as well.  I bought 2 bags of stuffing (I have some super cute little crocheted creatures I'm going to be making soon) and a skein of black yarn.  Out of my whole tote of yarn, I was out of black....and it's a color I need for a lot of those critters too.  I also picked up a package of thank you cards for my middle daughter as well.

I also chose to shop at Aldi for our stock up of groceries.  No coupons, and no sales to speak of there, but we all know that for the most part it's the cheapest place to shop.  I spent $159 and some change.  I plan on taking my receipt and making myself out a listing to carry with me.  Then I will price compare when shopping.  If the items at Aldi are cheaper, even with sales at the grocery store, then to Aldi I will go for those items.

We cut some spinach leaves out of the garden this week.   It's a good thing that we aren't dependent on our garden for food, but it would be nice to be.  The dirt here isn't good at all.  I'm working on attempting a compost pile.  I've never done one is all my life.  Jasmine and I have been reading gardening books and watching gardening videos for over a year now.  Anyway, I hadn't even ever eaten spinach, but I tore some of it up into my regular lettuce salad and will keep doing so.  Spinach is growing well in the garden.  I only planted a bit of it, saving more to plant later so that we will have it all summer.   The peas seems to be doing well enough.  We have some strawberries that are turning red.  The onions are also doing very well.   I severely need to get all the weeds out of the garden.
Our first spinach "harvest":

 

P.S. If anyone can tell me how to fix the coding for my button, please do. It comes up funny if you paste the full coding that is there. Thanks!

Frugal Friday With Marsha Blog Hop

I am so glad to see Blogger working again!

What have you done this past week that was frugal, or represents living the simple life?  Did you post frugal recipes, your savings shopping trip?  Did you post about your garden?  Any savings related posts you've done, I hope you will share in the weekly linky.  Inspire us!

This past week...hhmmm
I hung laundry on the line all week.  I can't talk my daughter in to hanging her loads on the clothesline though.  I'm trying to get her to understand the basic concept of saving on the electric bill.  Especially since the central air is on....we do have it set way up on 82, only turning it no lower than 80 when we have a lot of company over.

Our garden is progressing I suppose.  The tomatoes are coming back to life....that is is this cold front doesn't warp them again.  This weather is cruel!  90's for 2 days, then a couple of days in the 70's then today it's only going to get in the 50's.

I did some grocery shopping.  I wish I could say I did some fantastic job, but it had been a long day away from home.  Once home there wasn't anything just quick and easy to fix for supper and I was tired.  I went to the store without a list really, and hungry.  I told my daughter and my husband to just pick out something they wanted for supper.  Hubby went and chose a package of bacon that costs $5.89!  OMG!  Yes, I was tired, I didn't even think to go check the price of what he chose, or so tell him he had to get some that was cheaper. (and if I had my coupon box with me I'm sure I have a $1 off coupon for the brand he chose)  I chose a quiche, which was on sale for $2.95 and my daughter chose a package of Hot Pockets for $2.19.   In other words, there's around $11 on needless spending!  Let this be my lesson to you---do not shop without planning, no matter what!

I did get some good deals:
*10 packages of Kool-Aid--on sale 6 for $1 and I used 2-.50 coupons doubled giving me .33 overage.
*I used my free Suave Professionals coupon for a free product
*I used my free Kraft shredded cheese with a touch of Philadelphia from Kraft First Taste.  Since the cheese was on sale for just $1.99 I chose to use the $1 off coupon as well getting the second bag for just .99
*I then went for the special of buying the 10 different products and getting an additional $5 off your order:
7 bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce for just .49 each after the deal (they say there are coupons out but I don't have any), 1 jar of Miracle Whip and 1 jar of Kraft Mayo--$2.49 each after the deal (I'm sure I probably had a $1 off 2 coupon if I would have had my box with me) and lastly Uncle Ben's Ready Rice $1.25 after the special, but I used my free coupon and the register took off the $1.75, so I ended up with .50 overage there.
*Small container of cole slaw and small container of macaroni salad--on sale for just $1 (normally $2.19)

In all I spent $23.49 for what you see in the photo below.  I did save 52% between sales and coupons so not a total loss.  $14.73 in coupons including the additional $5 off for buying the 10 items.

WIP Wednesday 3/16/11

Welcome to WIP Wednesday in conjunction with Every Day Crochet. Please click the button at the end of my post to join in.

I think my entire life is a WIP!! I was going to come in and say that I have no WIP's other than the placemats I am making for out table. (On those, I now have completed 4, which you will see in the photo of the table. I have 2 more to complete for the set of 6.)
I can't say that's my only WIP. I have that quilt that I need to get back to and finish. I'm still in the process of unpacking. I'm down to the craft room, but working slowly at it after busting my you know what unpacking the rest of the house. I would love if you would hop over to my album on gather to check out the progress of settling in to the house. Our New Home
I'm also always in the process of reading books to review. Currently I am reading an autobiography of the comedian Pat Cooper. It's a good read, very interesting. I am so behind of getting my book reviews written....and I have a virtual book tour that needs to be done as well!

Anyway...we are going to head to his sister's house so the garden can start being a work in progress. I need to pull out my rhubarb, onions, and some of the strawberries from the garden there. Hopefully then this next week we can get at least a couple of tomato and bell pepper plants to put in. I'm not planning a very large garden this first year. Soon I also need to get over to my daughter's bf's house and dig up my irises.

Until next week!
Marsha

Resolutions Journal Week 14--May 1--7

Week 14 Accomplishments:  May 1-May 7

Updated my homeschoolbuy auctions.

Sewed quilt squares.

Sewed more of the fabric totes.

Updated The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker, Miserly Moms, Bicycle Hostel, Our Garden 2010, and My Book Reviews squidoo lenses

Read in my current book, Hollywood Station


I was so busy this week with things away from home that I just don't feel like I accomplished much at all, yet I know that I did.  Next week isn't looking any different on the being away from home thing.
I slacked on my squidoo lenses, which I can't afford to do, need to keep them updated and fresh.


Until Next Week,

Resolutions Journal Week 13--April 24--April 30

Week 13 Accomplishments:  April 24-April 30

Read in my current books Hollywood Station and Evan's Castle.

Did a little work on making cross magnets and baby blocks (while my daughter was at her dentist appt)

Updated Hannah Montana, Our Garden 2010, How To Make Plastic Canvas Cross Magnets, Trunk or Treat, Bierocks, and Owl City squidoo lenses.

Worked on sewing quilt squares together.

Made more of the fabric totes.

Put another set of 2 little girls bracelets and 2 sets of bookmarks listed on listia.

Listed 2 sets of little girls bracelets and more books in my blujay store.

Steve's been on vacation this past week, but I still got a lot accomplished.  As you see, I'm keeping up with my blog nicely.  I've added a new regular post, which is My Frugal Week, and will be posted each Monday.

 

Resolutions Journal Week 9--March 27--April 2

Oh my....I don't feel like I accomplished much this week towards my goals.

I did have opportunity to read my current book, Sins of the Flesh, on 3 days.  I'm pretty close to finishing up the book now.

The only thing I did craft related was crochet 2 dish scrubbies and 2 washcloths.  These are part of my blog giveaway, where there will be 2 winners.  If you missed the post, you can find it at Win a Washcloth/Dish Scrubbie Gift Set!

I have been keeping up with posting to my blog each day.  A lot of this is thanks to the current campaign with bzzagent for the movie BABIES.  If you've not checked those posts out, please do.  For each click I get on what I post I earn 1 point towards winning some great baby prizes.  Winning would be nice since I have young grandchildren.  :)

I did build a squidoo lens that I am excited about.  Our Garden 2010  
I will be updating this lens as it grows, as we harvest, and will be keeping track of costs as well as the worth of the harvest as well.
(this is what we spent most of Wednesday doing, and Wednesday evening I built the lens with photos)

I also updated my Legos lens.

I've been doing my daily posts on gather as well as keeping up with my groups there.  Today I did 2 pretty nice shopping trips.

It's been a busy week as usual away from home...I'm not sure that will ever stop!

I'm in the middle of making up Easter bags for my kids and grandkids right now. I was able to buy the goodies at good deals at Walgreen's using the register rewards that I earned Sunday.  I had the cello bags in my stash from being a Cello In a Box Affiliate.  We will have an egg hunt here on Sunday as well as a bbq since the weather is to be good.  (and we have the foods already for a bbq without having to spend any more money.)

Here's wishing everyone a very Blessed Easter!

Saturday May 16

Good Morning!
We ended up with a bad storm coming in pretty quickly late yesterday afternoon. Bug thunder boomers and lightening and hail up to 2 inches. It shut the electric down. I was scared since last time this computer was turned off, upon trying to turn it back on I got a message that Windows couldn't start due to a missing or corrupt file. It finally did start up and I hadn't turned it off again for weeks. Thank goodness, as you can see, it did come back on. I took all the kids upstairs during the storm so we could watch out the windows and I crocheted until I thought it was past enough to be safe to turn the computer back on.

I got my 4 Weeks To Healthy Digestion Book Review written in gather, and then made into a squidoo lens yesterday. I always put the book reviews in gather first them expand them into lenses. It's neat that way.

It's another busy Saturday. This afternoon is the big Headstart volunteer activity. Jasmine and I did some work during the year, but the whole family gets to go. They are taking us to the Kansas Cosmophere to watch an IMAX movie and then tour the Space Museum. I see photo essays coming to gather and a lens built just about the Cosmosphere in the works. That is if I don't forget to take my camera along like I've been guilty of doing so many times lately.

This evening we will spend with Steve again. I am worried about what the hail did to my garden yesterday. I thought of calling him last night to ask but wasn't sure I wanted to know. Checking it out will be the first thing I do once we get over there.

Have a great Saturday!
Marsha

Friday May 1

Good Morning! It was after supper time last night when I realized I hadn't put in a blog for the day.
We got really busy Wednesday afternoon and got the garden planted....7 tomato plants, 2 banana pepper plants, 4 bell pepper plants, 9 Blue lake bean plants, 2 strawberry plants and a row of lettuce. Still not as large as I would like, but larger than last season. We also went to the awards ceremony for Awanas. Jasmine got a certificate for perfect attendance, another for finishing a book. She also got a medal for finishing a book as well as a nice Bible for teenage girls for moving up to Trek.

Allen ended up sick with fever and sore throat Wednesday evening. I got stuck playing this game at iwon...mahjong dimensions. I stayed up way too late and when I was ready to go to bed Allen was up with a stomach ache. He is still home today as they aren't allowed back to school until their fever has been down for a full 24 hours.

I got some videos in on gather yesterday, then it gave up on me and wouldn't load anymore. I will try again today. I'm cashing out with gather today for $50 in amazon but still need a minimum of $75 more in amazon to make my goal of buying a laptop. Need to bust a move to get it in the time I would like...which is before we head to the Bible camp at the end of June for family camp.
The guy that sold me my van says he has another vehicle he can let me drive until we find something else. I need to call and check with him on that. Heather and I both have dr. appts this afternoon and I need to call and make the girls dentist appts.

I will end for today by saying: