Frugal Family Christmas

Ok, so to tackle the first item on our list, A Frugal Family Christmas. First, let me say that the real reason for Christmas, is Christ. My son knows that beyond all the hype of the season, when it boils down to it, Jesus is the reason for the season. However, we still do gifts, and he knows that Mom is Santa....except this year, its Tim! My son also knows that we work hard throughout the year to make sure he is taken care of and if he has a good Christmas, its a blessing!

Christmas this year is tight for everyone, and the economy is not making it any better! Here are a few suggestions and ideas that you may want to try and some that we are implementing ourselves:

• Instead of everyone buying for every individual in the family, just buy for the kids under a certain age. You may also want to draw names so that you only have to buy for the person that you drew. Set a limit on how much you will spend total. When you draw names, make sure and use an index card and have each person give a few ideas of what they would like to have. Challenge yourself and make sure you buy USEFUL gifts.

• If you can't afford to buy a ton of gifts, make up a nice batch of breads, candy, or snacks and pass them out at the gatherings. You can usually find some holiday ziplock bags, cookie bags, or containers. Then each person has some munchies to take home. This can also be great for the kids to get involved in.

• Clean out your child's room, out with the old or not played with to make room for the new. Take these items to a local children's home or Salvation Army that gives to kids. We are in the process of this one right now. Our son is in that indecisive stage, so most of his toys are gathering dust while he is drawing or looking at football cards. PlayStation is kept at bare minimum around here!!!

• Make your own gifts. Gifts in a jar are always a hit with others. You can also create gift baskets for a family instead of individual gifts. How about a board game, popcorn, and a sweet snack for a family game night. Now days, you have access to all types of websites to create personalized photo gifts, a calendar or a mouse pad are always a hit; sometimes the more you buy from those sites, the cheaper they are.
  

• Contribute to and/or participate in an Angel tree or Operation Christmas child in honor of someone. This is showing that you believe in these programs and that you gave to someone in need. Please remember our soldiers and care boxes this Christmas!
  

• Have a birthday party for Jesus! Make a cake, invite the neighborhood kids over, and enjoy the laughter. Share the gospel, read the Bible and pray. This gives a different view on Christmas that some may never see, and you are planting a seed in their little lives!
  

• Make a family video. CD's are pretty affordable, and can be shipped fairly cheap. This will give those friends and family members that are unable to be with you this season a personalized and lively look at you! Make sure to keep a copy for yourself and start a library. Each year, look at the previous years video and see how everyone has changed...capture precious memories!

• Make Christmas ornaments This list is endless! You can even use last years Christmas cards! Challenge yourself to recycle items around the house for this as well.

I hope you enjoyed this post, we may have a couple more along the way. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions to go along with this theme. Many Blessings and enjoy!

A few things we are working on....

When you set your mind to do something, you will be amazed at what you come up with. Here are a few things that I will be discussing and looking into over the next few weeks.

• A Frugal Family Christmas
• Freezer cooking to save time
• Budgeting according to Dave Ramsey's baby steps
• Becoming debt free
• Looking at things as opportunities and not jobs
• Can we make it on a $40 per week grocery budget
• Money saving tips
• Reuse Reuse Reuse

Please stay tuned to the blog for updates, ideas, and info. Please leave comments if you have any suggestions or ideas to go along with these topics! Have a good evening everyone!

Make sure to stock up on coupons this week! Check out this Sunday's coupons HERE!

Officially Mrs. Medlin!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that the wedding came and went very fast! We are pleased to say that it went very well and we are BLESSED with wonderful friends and family! Here is just one of the pictures, we will not be posting very many due to copyrights, but if you want to see more, just send me an email! Be watching for many more post soon, I hope to be back to normal by the end of the month! Have a blessed night!

A little break from the blogs....

I want to thank everyone for visiting the site lately. I will be posting more after the wedding....we are on the down hill slide now with only 2 weeks to go. We have had a few things happen, it ends up that I am going to have to try and make my own cake, and I had already planned to do my own flowers. I hope to talk you all soon!!! Until then, keep up the deal finding, shopping for free, and keep us in your prayers as we begin our new life together! Thanks....Misty

Walgreen's Deals, my new venture

Since I feel like I have CVS under control, I am slowly working on Walgreens. This is one of the better deals that I have worked, but the main thing is.....this is stuff we ACTUALLY use and need to stock up on. Tim is very set on a couple of products....soap and deodorant. His brands/scents were on sale this week at walgreens so I grabbed them up.

Here is the breakdown: Total retail $31.94 plus tax; paid $11.60 OOP!

True North Crisp: On sale for $3.00, used $1 mq, got $3 RR (free) x2

Hershey's Kisses: On sale 2 for $5, used $1 mq, got $1 RR

Dial Soap: On sale B1G1, used $3.00 RR

Degree Deodorant: used walgreen q $1.99 ea, $1.00 mq, used $3 RR

Still have $1.00 RR which I will use to roll into next weeks deals if I see any worth working. I am at a point right now to only getting what we need/use till the wedding is over. Will keep you posted on the deals. I have learned today that BLOOM in greenvile is doing Triple Coupons!! Going to head out that way today! Many Blessings to all!

CVS Deal #2, Sweet Alabama!

It never fails, someone in Easley always beats me to the great deals at CVS, especially the ones that offer ECB's back. When we were in Alabama this weekend visiting family and doing Bridal Portraits, I asked for a quick stop at CVS in Troy, Alabama. I got paid to shop this time!

The Schick Quattro's are on sale this week B1G1, and they were $9.99. The Schick ST3 disposables were on sale for $6.99 with $4 ECB's. I used 2 $4/1 Schick coupons, 1 $3 coupon on ST3's. $4.79 ECB's and paid $2. 55 out of pocket. Then I received $4 ECB's after the transaction and came home Monday and used that on milk. So, all in all, they paid me $1.50 to shop!

I always say that I need retail therapy, well, with deals like this I might actually be able to afford to have weekly trips! I hope you find deals like this, share them with me on comments!

CVS Deal **Lucky Charm**

This is just one of the deals that I have to tell you about! Tuesday, I went to CVS because they have the individual servings of GM cereal on sale for $1. Well, you know those coupons that say save $1 on 2, for the most part they do not specify a size. Soooo, guess what, you can use them on these single servings to score some great deals. These are a great snack at work or breakfast on the go and sometimes just plain fun for the kids! I also used a couple of ¢ off coupons and got all four of these cereals for 90¢! How is that for 4 servings! More to come!

Coupons!

Make sure you get your Sunday paper!! Deal finding chick has posted the preview over HERE, but you should see 5 coupon sleeves in the paper....I know I will be buying 2 as normal!!

I have several post to make about my savings this week, I will post them as I can. I am a little under the weather and we are on the 30 day countdown to the wedding.....SO things are a little crazy. I hope you all are doing well, and look forward to the savings ahead!

Lowes offers Kids Build and Grow!

Check out these great clinics that Lowe's puts on for kids. I just signed Tim and Aaron up for the one September 26th...firetruck. Great for a father/son outing! Enjoy!!

LINK: https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/step1.asp

EBATES!!

If you are not aware of this website yet, its a great one to bookmark and use! I just looked up a couple of websites that I will purchasing stuff for the wedding from, and they both honor 10% back!! I will be watching for that check!!

By signing up, you and I will both receive $5.00 after you earn a total of $5!! Please check this website out, it also gives you coupon codes to use before you shop. If you shop online enough, this could really pay off!! Click here to start earning today!

Coupons!

I have learned that due to the holiday weekend....NO coupons will be included in the paper! So...make sure you check and print some coupons from websites and blogs to make it through the week. I am making a CVS trip while here in Alabama in the morning to see if I can score a couple of deals. I will keep you posted!! Good night all!

Free Chicken Sandwich on Labor Day!!!

Click Here to see details on how to get a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a on Labor Day!! I can't wait, since I have pretty much stopped eating fast food, sometimes I just want a chicken sandwich and refuse to buy it! Well, now I can cheat and get if for free! Enjoy!

Free Product Sample

Click Here to sign up for Eat Better America newsletter and receive a free sample of Nature Valley granola Nut Clusters. It has been rumored that they are sending the actual size bags that are sold in stores and not a small bag....plus a great coupon! Check it out!

I've got CVS figured out!

I have been saving ECB's for some deals that may come up. Tonight I had my very first great success, and the guy that always rings up my purchases it seems...said I think you have mastered the system! Here is what I did:

Transaction #1:

• Pet Milk 3.29
• Reese's PB cups 2 for $1, used Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon
  
• Reese's Pieces 2 for $1, used 55¢ coupon

Total after coupons $4.00, used $4.00 ECB's (In SC, you are required to pay some form of tax, so the guy only credited me 95¢ for the last ECB and I had to pay 5¢ OOP.)

Transaction #2:

• Reese's Whips 2 for $1, used Buy 1 Get 1 Free Coupon
• Reese's Cups 2 for $1, used 55¢ coupon
• Poise liners 2 for $4, used $2 coupon, $1 ECB after transaction
• Carefree liners $3.79, used $1 coupon, $3.79 ECB after transaction
• 1.5oz Almond's 99¢, used free product email from CVS, credited $1.69
• Edge Sensitive shave gel $1.79, $2 email coupon from CVS

Total after coupons $5.15 OOP, got back $4.79 ECB's! So all in all, I spent $5.20 OOP but received $4.79 back meaning I only spent 41¢ OOP! I am so excited to see what I can do with the $4.79 in the coming weeks!

$40 Budget Update

OK, so last week the $40 budget got tossed out the window. Tim planned a cookout with a co-worker and I invited my uncle and his new girlfriend! We had a blast even though the co-worker never showed up!

But this week, I got back on track and even though we didn't need much, I spent $25.85 at Bi-lo! By the way, did you know that Bi-lo is now doubling coupons! Loving that! Here is a picture of what I got using coupons and bonus card, however the 2lbs of hamburger meat is in the refrigerator. I am not going to break this one down per item because the CVS post is the better one to do that on tonight!!

Friday Fun Freebies

I am holding all my freebies that come in the mail and posting those on Friday. This is what I received free in the mail this week.

• $55 coupon/rebate calendar from Kraft Foods
• Free Sample of Scope mouth wash, crest toothpaste, and floss pick courtesy of wal-mart
• Free full day supply of Parent's Choice Gentle baby formula, courtesy of wal-mart (will give to someone that needs it)

It is so fun to see what may come next in the mail. I have signed up for many things in the past few weeks. You may wonder what I am doing with some of this free stuff....we have people coming from Ohio to the wedding, we are making gift baskets for the hotel rooms and the rest I will use on vacations and things like that!

A few days off...

Sorry everyone for not posting much this past week. I had to have a sleep study, Aaron started school, and we have football practice 4 nights a week! I have plenty to share, but make sure you are checking Deal Finding Chik and Money Saving Mom in the meantime. I hope to post more this weekend, but my maid of honor is coming over to help me finish the invitations! WooHoo...just a month and a half to go till the wedding!!

Coupon Preview 8/23/2009

I have been reading over this blog lately and today she has a listing of the coupons in this Sunday's paper!! This is a long listing, but nice to see in advance! Thanks Deal Finding Chick !

There should be two Inserts in this Sunday's paper. Click Here to see all coupons!

Free Shampoo Sample

Click HERE and answer a few questions to receive a free sample of

Aveeno shampoo & conditioner from CVS.

My $5.82 Wal-Mart Trip

More education about coupons! I have been reading lately more and more about coupons. I have been seeing the trend that if a coupon does not specify that you CAN'T use it on trial sizes, then nothing stops you from doing that! Target and Wal-Mart stores usually have several "trial" or "sample" sizes for less than a dollar. So check out your coupons and see if you have any that are $1 off a product, then check out the trial sizes the next time you are at the store. This is what I got tonight at wal-mart when I did that. I needed some items for my son and school and they are included in the price!! Please click on the word "comment" below each post and leave me a comment, I love to read your feed back! Many Blessings!

Budget Budget Budget

With the wedding getting closer in October, then my son's birthday in November, then christmas right after that, I have decided to challenge myself to a grocery & household needs budget. Watching blogs, using coupons, and having faith, I know we can do it. I am pretty well stocked up on many items because of the three week run of triple coupons at Bloom, so we are going to give it a try. We are also going to "clean out" the pantry with trying to use what we have for the next few weeks and just buying necessity items (Milk, cheese, etc). You will see me post the sweet deals and savings, seeing these may even challenge you to do the same. I may post recipes and ideas too.

Well, we are on our way! Oh, by the way, our budget will be $40 per week! Wow...is it possible? I do believe so! *Tim's pepsi habit will not be included in the budget, he's on his own for that one!*

Saving's Saturday

OK, yesterday, after a birthday party, my mom took my son home with her so I could get a few things done. Well, of course that included hitting the sales and one last trip to Bloom. If you are in the Greenville, SC area, make sure to go by bloom by Tuesday before TRIPLE coupons end.

I had a plan for my shopping trips and had written it all down before I even left the house. Bloom, Ingles, then CVS and back home to start working on the wedding invitations. I started at Bloom and this is where I spent most of my time.....and saved the most money. Since this was the last trip I would make, I made it a good one with getting stuff for lunches since school starts next week for private school.

At Bloom, my total before coupons and card savings, was around $66, I walked out paying a little over $16 for everything!

Then, Ingles had chicken on sale, and a couple other little things that we needed, but no big savings there, just spent a little over $15.

Now to CVS! Probably my favorite of the day. CVS has an advisory panel and you can sign up to do surveys and they will pay by giving extra care bucks. Now granted, I have only received one survey in about two months, but it was worth $10 and my ECB's were available 8/13. I also had the $1 coupon on sharpies that CVS had on sale for 99¢ and added that for free! We needed cereal and milk and they the Bic Soleil razor's on sale for $6.99, with $3 coupon from my stash and $3 ECB's, I only paid a total of 22¢ OOP(Out of Pocket) for everything in the last picture!

Well, happy savings to all!

Fun Freebies!!

Like I say all the time, I watch money saving mom's blog daily! Often times, she will link to freebies and all you usually have to do is enter your mailing address and email....a few weeks later, its in your mail box! I will try to start uploading links so you can see if you like it! This is what I got this week....

Tim and Aaron's first project!

This weekend, I acquired a handmade corner plant stand. Tim decided that it needed a coat of varnish. Off to walmart we went, and of course as soon as they could, Tim and Aaron headed out the door with brushes in had! It is truly a blessing to see the two of them together!!

Triple Coupons yet again!

I love it when grocery stores decide to do triple coupons.....BUT I really love it when they triple the amounts up to 99¢! Here is a summary of my latest trip to bloom. They will be running the triple coupons promotion at the Pleasantburg Rd location for two more weeks....its time to cash in! The original total was over $76. I walked away paying $28 and some change for 32 items. Less than the dollar tree!!!!!

Coupons are worth the effort!!

You know, sometimes I wonder if faithfully buying the Sunday paper and searching the ad's and cutting ALL the coupons is really worth the effort! Well, in today's time when money is tight, your son is in private school, you are planning a wedding, and the economy is on the down slide....you have to save every way you can.

I wanted to tell you about a couple of things, one being my recent trip to Ingles! This past week was triple coupon week at Ingles. My budget for this week was $70 since we needed some meats and we were having a cookout for some of Tim's family. I had made my list, went through all of my coupons and basically took out every coupon that was 50¢ or lower. Then I sorted through those and made two stacks...wants & needs! My total before the ingles card was over $110, then $99.11 before coupons. My total after all tripled coupons was $71.46....just $1.46 over budget. NOT BAD! ....and yes, it was worth my effort to save over $30

Also....I wanted to tell you all to check out http://www.cvsadvisor.com. I recently signed up to be a part of the polling. This weekend, I received a poll to check some things from the ads in the Sunday paper. I figured...why not...since I already had the paper! When I finished the poll, it told me that $10 would be in my Extra Care Bucks account on August 13th. ECB's can be used on most anything, and if you are new to CVSing, check out moneysavingmom's blog for details on how to save tons of money and get free stuff.

Well...off to bed, hope you all rest well and wake up to a new refreshing day tomorrow!

Beautiful Music....and FREE!

Check out the link here http://www.greghowlett.com/portraitsdownload.aspx

Friday only, you can click on this link and forward the email to 3 friends and get the entire 10 track CD for free. Support good music and do this today before the offer expires.

Also, some of my family is traveling to Michigan today to see other family members. Please pray for safe travels and good times! Thanks in advance!

Good night!!

Coupons Coupons Coupons!!!!

Be sure to check moneysavingmom.com!! Tons of links to free coupons today! I already have over $10 in coupons that I will actually use!

Have a good night! Rest WELL!

CVS Shopping!

Well my mom and I did make it to CVS yesterday and caught a couple deals. Its sometimes better to take someone with you that might need something too, rather than buying stuff that you do not need. Mom and I both needed washing detergent and we had some pretty decent coupons to use up before they expired. So here is the break down.....we spent $17.96 OOP (Out of Pocket) for $47.51 retail. AND to beat it all, we were even getting some of this weeks specials yesterday, and they even had out this week's sales ad which is very unusual in this neck of the woods!

Here is what we bought and coupons used:

• 2 packs of Twizzlers 2 for $3.00, used $1.00 coupon emailed to me from CVS
• 1 90 count pack of Dentek flossers, used $1.00 clip free coupon CVS special and $1.00 coupon
• 1 Oral B advantage tooth brush, on sale 25% off, used $1.00 coupon
• 3 Purex 3in1 laundry detergent boxes (going to give those a try because I always get busy and forget to add my fabric softener in) and 1 liquid purex, on sale Buy 1 Get 1 free in last weeks CVS ad, 1 $2 on one 3 in 1 and 35¢ coupons
• 1 box 20 count Kotex light days pads, $1.00 off any Kotex product coupon
• Also used CVS $4 off $20 coupon that was emailed to me

And that is the break down for $17.96....more than I normally spend, but considering that it saved us over $35, I'll take it!

Have a blessed day! Enjoy the music now attached to this page, this is music that we will very likely use in the wedding! Can't wait....getting very excited!!

Want to save money when you shop??

You will see that I have added a new WIDGET to my blog, by the way, that's the green box on the right column that says "Money Saving Mom". This is a blog that I follow on a daily basis!!

You can always find links to good coupons and even learn how to let CVS pay you for some items. Each week, you will see that she summarizes the best deals at drug stores. Often times, you will see recipes, links to free coupons, and much much much more!

I hope you enjoy her blog as much as I do. I am going to attempt a CVS deal shopping today, I will post what happens if I get to go. We have family in town and I also have a wedding and a mystery shop to do today!!

The EPITOME of Redneck!

Well, we are just not sure how much longer I will have my trailer here, we are sure that as we combine two homes, we will run out of room. Yet you just do not want to put a lot of money into a new heat pump if you are going to be moving in the next year or so because you are combining two homes and running out of room!

We have a few HOT days here in the summer and we thought that getting a window AC unit would give me a little extra help on those HOT summer days! So this was the quick fix for me right now. I quickly learned that my soon to be husband has a master's in Redneck Engineering! All you need to earn that degree is duck tape, card board, and a razor blade!

The laughter really began to roll as I dropped the curtains and covered his masterpiece! Enjoy!

Engagement Pictures!!

We received our engagement photos today! We are very excited at how things are coming together. We are sharing just a couple of the many that were taken during our photo session which started at Liquid Highway, just the best coffee shops in the world, and ended at Falls Park. We both think they turned out great and we really appreciate Sam McGinnis (Step dad) for the great work that he continues to do!!! He is for hire!!

On a bigger note, please pray for my "soon to be" brother in law, Michael Medlin. He was admitted late last night to Akron City Hospital in Ohio for what appears to be heart problems. He has been through several test today and will undergo a Heart Cath Thursday morning. Please keep him and the family here in SC in your prayers over the next few days! Thanks!

Hello Again!

Welcome back! I took some time off from blogging, BUT I am back with tons of news, ideas, and even some pictures to come. I am happy to say that I am getting married to one amazing man on October 10th, 2009. We have already finalized most all of the plans, its just one of those "Hurry up and Wait" games now! Aaron is adjusting very well....I can tell that Tim is going to be an important part of Aaron's life. They play well together!! :)

We were introduced to one another by my dad and step-mom, and from the night we met and the minute he spilled his tea on me at the restaurant....I fell in love and life is worth living again. I once thought that life could not get any worse....but now I see the other side of that.

I am thankful for the many blessing that God is giving me each and every day! We hope that you will enjoy or blog....and this time, I promise to blog more and keep you coming back!!

Have a blessed day!