Because I Have Been Given Much.... I Too Must Give.

My Pyrex package came last week. I won this package of a veggie dip a couple of months ago. I was so excited to get it. It really was Christmas in July @ the Hunt house for a day. I have most of this stuff already, so I gave it to my sister. I kept the 8x8 pan!! It felt so good to give. I love to bake for others, throw parties, serve others. It makes me so happy, and I forget about my own troubles.

Sharing the Love

Yesterday, I picked up the Leap Frog Leapster at Target. It said in the flyer that is would be on sale for $34. I got to the store and it had another sign next to it, that said: $29!! Sweet. I had a $10 off coupon that I printed on line at www. coupons.com. I got a Leapster that was orignally priced at $59.99 for $19.99. (I believe that Wal Mart price matches if you do not have a Target near by) I'm excited to give it to Gibson for his birthday coming up. We frequently travel so I think this is a good way to keep him entertained on our trips.

I also did my Monday morning shopping at Walgreens. I had finally received my G.C. from Feburary's Rebates. Buy using the G.C., Man. coupons, Walgreen's coupons, and current rebates I saved $31.99 and only spent $12.55 and still had .64 balance on my G.C.!!! I love it when I don't have to open up my wallet!! This is what I got for free: 2 Cottonelle moist wipes, 2 Palmolive soaps, nail files, Glade Lasting Impressions, 2 Schick Quatro Razors packets (6 all together), and 2 bags of Sweettart jeally beans.
Have you ever heard of Bzz Agent? You can sign up for free and when you become a member you can take surveys or sample products earning your points or combs as rewards. I received this in the mail today from them. Free box of Claritin chewables, a book, and several $3.00 coupons to share with you all.


Lastly, I am in coupon overload! I thought I could handle all these coupons, but to be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed by my stash. I want to giveaway these coupons to one lucky reader!! There are over 100 coupons. I cut these from last week's P&G and Smart Source. Some high value coupons in there. Just leave your name and email to enter. You can enter as many times as you'd like!! Let me know if you use coupons, how long have you been couponing, favorite places to shop, etc. I'll close the giveaway on Thursday. Hopefully I"ll have them to ya by Monday to start next week's shopping with a whole lot of coupons.

Everlasting Joy

Last nights Frugal Shopping class was a success. We had a good turn out and hopefully some excited women who are ready to start saving some serious cash. $ I want to share with you a quote I read from last night. "All too often a family's spending is governed more by their yearning than by their earning. They somehow believe that their life will be better if they surround themselves with an abundance of things. All too often all they are left with is avoidable anxiety and distress." Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin


Clenece did a fantastic job explaining the coupon lingo and information. You can click on her button at the side of my page over here -------------------------------- >
to get a review of last nights class. Everyday it seems I'm getting deals at some store. I don't want this to turn into a bargain blog so I may have to start another blog. Maybe Fantastic Findings?? Got any creative names for the bargain blog? Let me know.

Last night at Walgreen's I was able to buy Irish Spring body wash, Advil PM, Right Guard deodorant, Reece's Peanut Butter Cup all for .85 cents using my $10 RR from the Huggies deal. That transaction printed out 2 $2 RR and a coupon for a free Irish Spring Body wash!! SCORE!!!

I stopped by Target and was able to buy 4 6 packs of Mott's applesauce and 1 Satin Care shaving gel for ...... $2.36!!! I save $5.37. Mott's coupons can be found at Good or Free deals!!

I have officially become a coupon nerd!! I was getting frusturated not being able to find a coupon in my plastic sleeve holder. I often found myself either crotching looking through my coupon orgainzer or standing there for 5 minutes to find one. Hopefully this new system will help. I now have a coupon binder that I'll have with me at all times. I'll just grab the coupons I'll use in that particular store and put them into the orgainzer. It's good to know that the other coupons are in the car in case I need to go back and grab one!! It's worth the work for me!! Oh and that's my free sample of Huggie's wipes through Wal Mart. They give free samples away all the time. Usually there is a coupon that comes with the free sample .


Since I've been saving so much I was able to buy a new American Livign bed spread. I got a good deal at JCPenney's. I bought it on clearance at the store and when I got home I saw it was $20 cheaper on line. So I took the receipt back in to the store showed proof of the price on line and got $20 taken off my total!! The picture doesn't do it justice but it's beautiful and we have been sleeping so good. A friend of mine told me that with the way the economy is going, stores are desperate for business. You can tell buy all the coupons and free shipping that is out there. She bought a bedspread at a store and put in on the counter and said it's 35% off right now. Can you do any better than this? The clerk gave her 15% extra off!! She got 50% off just by asking. Ask and you shall recieve!!

I'm excited for Spring. It's cold, windy, and snowing off and on but there is no snow sticking to the ground. I can't wait for our tree to get blossoms on it. I can't wait to start running outside again. I love the smell of spring.

Life is Good.

Walgreen's and Walmart Deals

I had my best savings yet at Walgreen's today. I went early this morning with Stella. This is how I was able to save $70.42!!!

I did one transaction.

Kleenex 3/$4
Glade Impressions $7.99 (2)
Glade Sense and Spray $7.99
Fructis Shampoo $2.99
Crest Pro Health Toothpaste $2.19
Colgate toothpaste $2.99
Huggies Newborn diapers (3) @ $10.00 each
Smart Balance Butter spread 2 @ $2.99
Total:$ 73.28

Coupons used:

$2.50 Walgreen's easy saver coupon for Colgate
$2 coupon for Fructis (Walgreen's E.S.)
$4 Walgreen's E.S. coupon Glade sense and spray
$8 Walgreen's E.S. coupon Glade Impressions (doubles when you have 2)
$3 Walgreen's activity book coupon for Huggies diapers (originally $1 but totals to the amount of diapers you buy)

Manufactures Coupons:

3 $5 Huggies coupons from HERE
$3 Glade
B1GOF for Glade impressions $7.99
$4 for Glade Sense and Spray
$1.50 Colgate
.50 cents Kleenex
$1.00 Crest Pro Health

After coupons and $11 in RR's earned, I spent $9.61!!!
I saved $70.42

Walmart Deals:

Two Suave body washes @ $1.93 a piece.
Huggies Natural Care Wipes $2.28
Huggies Natural Care Wipes $5.96

Coupons used:
2 $1 Suave body wash
$3 Huggies
$5 Huggies

Total OOP: $2.10!!!
Paid .96 cents for that big bag of wipes. Not bad. Plus I had overage on the single box of wipes.

The Huggies items make great baby gifts!! I have a lot of friends who are pregnant right now.

** Remember: If certain coupons for example the Huggies $5 and $3 coupons say Huggies Natural Fit on them, you can and should be able to buy Huggies Natural Care products. As long as the 1st 5 #'s on the upc code match the 1st 5 #'s on the coupon it should work. Happy Shopping.

Walgreen's Deals

So I learned about Walgreen's great deals from HERE. I went to the store yesterday and did the Johnson and Johnson deal. I wasn't able to find a Walgreen's coloring book at that particular store, so I didn't get the best deals possible, however, it was still a good deal to me using a $3.29 RR from buying a Colgate toothpaste along with my 5 Johnson and Johnson printable coupons. I was able to get a $10 RR buy buying the $25 in Johnson and Johnson products.
Today I used that $10 RR and put that towards the Dove deal. Also found HERE. I bought 8 single DOVE soap bars. I used the Walgreen's coupon for .99 cents that is in their flyer. (It does say limit 3, however, the computer automatically used it on all 8 soap bars) Another added bonus was this Walgreen's has several activity books with the Johnson and Johnson coupon and the Huggies coupons. I bought 4 of those. So for 8 DOVE bars, and 4 Walgreen's activity books, using the Walgreen's coupon .99 cents on DOVE bars, and my $10RR my total came to $2.56!!! And it printed out another $10RR. So I"m going back again to use that towards buying more Johnson and Johnson products. This is awesome. Basically I was paid to buy the DOVE soap!!!

If you're not into Walgreen's you should reconsider with all of their freebies and rebates it's so worth it!! My friend and I will be teaching a class called Frugal Shopping next week Tuesday night. Email me if you have any questions. I'm sure I'll highlight the things we talked about on my blog and I"m sure she will too!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

This is how I roll......

This is my new passion if you haven't noticed already. Frugal shopping. It has been so fun. With just a little work I have saved hundreds already. It's not for everybody. Some just don't have the time others are fortunate enough to not have to worry about money. Nonetheless, I enjoy this so much. It's a game to me to see where and how I can get the best deal. I don't buy something unless it's on sale or I have a coupon for it!! There are some exceptions of course. And with my husband being in sales, I can't go wrong!!!

Here is what I picked up at Meijer today using their sales and my coupons:


4 Aunt Millie's Bread = $3.30

2 Glade Aersol = $1

2 Glade Refils = $3

1 Glade Oil Warmer = free

4 Tostino Pizza Rolls Boxes = 3.20

2 Cascade boxes = $4

Quaker Rice Snack = .50 cents

My total sales with other items not posted, I saved over $30.00 with everything. I was geeked!!

What hobby makes you happy or excited?

Could it get any better?

1. It was over 60 degrees today. Sunny and beautiful. A lot of the snow has melted. I was able to have the heat OFF today. In February in Michigan that's almost unheard of!!!

2. I was able to go out for a run in capris and a tee shirt. Trying to catch my son on his bike. What a great work out.

3. I bought some Dove conditioner at Target that I will later get for free by mailing in the receipt for a reabte. I then found some Glade oil candles on sale for $3.99. I had 2\ $3 off one candle coupons. I got 2 Glade oil candles for .99 cents a piece!! I also bought Little Critters Vitamins for the kids. They had their first ones today. Success, they love them!!

4. We went to get our weekly allergy shots and I have been speaking to the wonderful staff there and they are getting excited about saving money too!! I would love to sit down with you all and explain it more for you. 5 minutes just isn't enough time.

5. I went to Walgreen's today with my Mother in law and the kids. The total before coupons and rebates was $36. After coupons and rebates and a really helpful cashier my total came to.......... $7.00!!!! I was so excited. I got the Ensure for free with $3 overage once my rebate comes back and the Kids Essentials was free ( I had a $14.00 coupon off one box) and the Colgate was free. So the peanut butter and cereal is what I paid for!! Not bad considering before coupons and sales each box was marked at $4.49.
8. It makes me happy to be able to share with you some links that will help you become frugal like this and find some great deals. All it takes is a few minutes.

* Good or Free Deals

* Common Sense with Money

* Consumer Queen

* Coupon Cravings

* Frugal Finds

* Coupon Mom

There are many more. These are the ones I check often. What are some of your favorite frugal/savings sites? I'm always looking for deals!!!

Deal of the Year

I went to JoAnn's today with my girlfriends while our little ones were riding a bus for their preschool group. The store had marked down their Halloween decor to 90%!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I stocked up today. I saved $198.00!!!


I was so excited! I didn't pay more than $3 for an item. My favorites are the black glitter houses, spider dish and the matching serving dish with the house jar!!

I love bargins!!!!!

Awesome Bargin

I went to Target tonight to stock up on my second round of Glade Holiday Scents. My friend Juli also gave me coupons for the Johnson n Johnson Buddies, (which were free with the coupons!!!).
The total for ALL of these items was $4.49!!!!!!! Thank the Lord for coupons. I included my $5 G.C. towards the total. You should all take advantage of this great deal. My friend over at goodorfreedeals, has the link to get a buy one get one free glade scents. She explains it on her site. You can find her blog on the left hand side of my blog under the blog links!! Check her out. She's amazing.

Coupon Savings

I went with Stella today to K-Mart and took advantage of their double coupons. We spent an hour there. I did a poor job of organizing my coupons, however, Stella was very patient with me. I did not make $1 plus purchase like the real coupon queens, but I was very happy with my outcome I was able to use $65.00 worth of coupons towards my total bringing it to $50. I stocked up on the essentials, body soap, toothpastes, medicines, Kleenex, and some food. Other things I bought because it was the best price I could get for it and knew eventually I would need it. I'm so glad that I'm learning to be frugal about grocery spending. I know that learning this will help our family and maybe we can use that extra money for a rainy day!!!

*******************************************************************************


Gibson's visit at the E.N.T. went good. The doctor said that everything looks fine and that more than likely his migraines are caused by his allergies. He said that once his shots start making a difference he should start feeling better and not be so congested. I almost feel like it was a waste of time, but I'm glad that I went so I can say that we tried that doctor. One less road to travel down.

$3 make you Hala!!!

Children's Place is having an awesome sale on these skirts for little to big girls!! I bought this skirt and a khaki skirt for $3 a piece. They have several solid colors to choose from as well as patterned skirts. Hopefully the Children's Place store near you are rocking the skirt sale too!!! The best part is they have an adjustable wait band! My daughter wears a 3-4T and I bought her a size 5 skirt. Fits her great.



Happy Shopping.

Before and After

Here's the red chair before I sanded it.
Close up of the result of sanding. I like the way it looks. It has character now!
After: New look and nice and clean. I ended up putting this chair in our office. Looks great as an accent piece with the blue/green paint.
Before: Painted black with water spots.
After: Several attempts at sanding it. Then I primed it. Put two coats of peanut butter paint from Benjamin Moore. Let that dry then I took some water based walnut stain. Watered it down. Soaked a rag in it and rubbed it on until I liked darkness of it. I was happy with they way this turned out to. I added a dollie (sp?) my Grandma made for me. She has passed now, so it means a lot. Then I filled a basket with little pumpkins and gourds.