Monkey #2

So our middle monkey turned the big 8 on Sunday. We had a quiet family day at home (Trevor's request) so he could ride his new scooter and play with his new legos and then we invited the family across the street to come over for a birthday bbq and cupcakes.

Over the long weekend we also went shopping and Trevor spent some of his birthday money on two new friends for Patrick. Stay tuned for an update on crab-land!

Deals this week

I didn't do CVS this week. The weekly deals weren't that great and I took a week off of gathering the monthly deals.

But I did find this link http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/05/kroger-e-coupon.html on Money Saving Mom's blog telling of Kroger's new ecoupons that you load onto your Kroger card and all you need to do is beep your card to redeem them AND they can be used stacked with sales and other manufacturer coupons you may have. Sooooo I got a killer deal on Head and Shoulder's shampoo. They were on sale for 2/$8...I had a $3/2 coupon...and a $1/2 ecoupon. I ended up with the shampoo for $2 per bottle!! And tampax were also on sale for $4.19 and I loaded a B1G1Free ecoupon so I got two boxes for $4.19!! And there were several other ecoupons I loaded onto my Kroger card for use later. And check that link for the links to the three sites where you can load your shopping cards...I think there are many different stores to choose from (so if you don't have a Kroger, check for ones you do have nearby).

And my other freebie was Edge shave cream. I got two printable coupons for $1/1 and picked up the travel sized cans at Walmart for $1ea...which made them come out free. They are the size Josh needs when he travels so it was a great freebie!!

Is anyone else out there scouting and making great deals??

Out of the mouths of babes

Just wanted to share the words that Carter says now, just days shy of being 15mos old...before I forget these cute first baby renditions of things and he's speaking in paragraphs!

Hi
Daddy
Mama
Bear (sounds like behh)
Shoes (sounds like shoo-sss)
Cracker (sounds like ca-caaaa)
Doggie (sounds like ga-gee)

AND even tho it's not a word, he waved bye-bye for the first time unprompted by me to the cashier at Target that was flirting with him yesterday.

Money savings this week

I didn't get a picture taken of my cheap/freebies this week and if I wait to take it I'll never get it up so here's this week's fun shopping just in text...

CVS
2 bottles of Downy @ 2 for $7 (minus 2 50c coupons)
2 boxes CVS allergy @ $3.79ea
1 box Rolaids @ $2.19

used $3/$15
used $4.69 and $7.98 previous ECB

total...$0.10 !!!

and earned $9.58 in ECB for next trip

I lost about $3 in ECB but it was WELL worth it as I needed Downy desperately and who can shake a stick at Downy for $1.50 a bottle??


Kroger
1 bottle of softsoap handsoap on sale for $1 and used a 35c coupon which they triple so I made 5c on the deal

Walmart
2 pkg Kotex liners @$1 ea...used $1 coupon...FREE
KY jelly @ $2.69...used $3 coupon...31c overage
malt o meal cereal $1.98...used $2 coupon...2c overage

Hard Working Boys

Sharing a couple of pictures of the boys hard at work...Carter helping Daddy wash the bimmer and all three boys fixing brother's bike. Trevor is becoming quite the capable mechanic and Carter wants sooo badly to be the big helper!

Free Iced Coffee!!

Dunkin’ Donuts is giving away free iced coffee May 15 from 10am-10pm! Their website isn’t reflecting the new FREE date, but I caught it on a banner advertisement on msn.com this morning. So give a ring to your local DD to verify and then enjoy this freebie on Thursday!!!

ETA...DD has updated their website and the FREE COFFEE is officially confirmed! Don't forget to run by on Thursday!

This week at CVS

More FUN FUN FUN as I save tons of $$ (and get out of the house for a little alone time too!)

Here's the long and the short of this week's CVS run...
I got ALL of what's pictured for about $2.72!

Now here's the details. I did three transactions. Each utilized sale prices, manufacturer coupons and store dollar rebates (remember those are called ECBs).

#1

2 pkg hearing aide batteries on BOGO free 14.59

2 mother's day cards 1.99

2 pkg rolaids 4.38

used 2.00 manufacturer coupon on batteries

used 1.00 and 10.98 ECB from previous shopping trip

used 3.00 off 15.00 CVS coupon

total 3.97

ECBs earned 4.00

#2
2 colgate toothbrushes 7.98

2 aquafresh toothpastes 5.98

1 nail glue 1.99

1 reese's pnut butter cup .79

used (2) 1.00 colgate coupons

used (2) 1.00 aquafresh coupons

used 9.00 previous ECBs

used 3.00 off 15.00 CVS coupon

total 0.74

ECBs earned 13.96

#3

2 colgate toothbrushes 7.98

1 aquafresh toothpaste 2.99

1 tums quik pak 4.69

1 nail glue 1.99

used 1.oo aquafresh coupon

used 1.00 colgate coupon

used 7.99 previous ECB

used 3.00 off 15.00 CVS coupon

total 4.66

ECBs earned 20.66

So for a total of $69.93 in stuff, after using old ECBs and earning new ECBs, I paid just $2.72!!!! Since Josh totally needed the hearing aide batteries, I feel VERY justified in getting $28 worth of batteries and all that other stuff and spending just under $3 out of pocket.

So anyone else having fun at CVS lately??!!

Coupon fun at Walmart!!

Just had to share an awesome shopping trip to Walmart!!!! The regular cost of all pictured is $20.27. I spent just $1.64!!! How cool is that??!! And the best part is that almost every item is organic!!

Just say no to crack!

Naw, not a lesson about drugs, just a cute baby bum peeking out when playing in the sprinkler in the front yard!

Meet Patrick

So we have a new addition to our family. He's Trevor's new pet hermit crab. We got him on St. Patrick's Day and he's shamrock colored...so Trevor named him Patrick. Now the man at the cart in the mall said they were the world's easiest pets...not much to ever do for them, just feed them the pellets every three days, water every day and enjoy in the cute little plastic tank he came in. *BUT* as I've done a bit of internet research after we got him, these little creepy critters can be complicated and quite involved. They like all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables, they need exercise and swimming pools, they need humidity/temperature controls...oh and the biggie...they need other shells/homes to switch into. YIKES!! What have I gotten myself into?! Well I'm happy to report that several weeks later Patrick is surviving in his meager surroundings with an occasional "bath" and a banana slice as a treat. Baths really freak me out. Patrick seems to enjoy them, he comes to life and runs around in the shallow water and gets some good exercise and moisture. But when I pick him up to put him back in his habitat, EVERY time he sorta freaks out and crawls 75% of the way out of his shell. I'm not sure what it is about him crawling out of his shell all the way that bothers me, but it really gives me the willies. I've added a couple of pictures of Patrick, along with the one of him in his new egg shell. Aparently these little guys like/need calcuim so they recommend putting a clean egg shell half in their habitat. Well Patrick has taken to it like it's a new house, not snack.

PS...I'm taking any suggestions on "how not to kill your hermit crab" from you seasoned owners!!