Saved $58.60- Thanks to Ralph's High Prices!

My receipt says I saved $58.60, and in no way did I buy what I felt was close to $60 worth of stuff. If anyone actually paid $60 for this stuff, I would like to smack them upside the head. At least use your club card!

Oh, and Ralph's normal prices are actually higher then Rite Aids, which surprised me.

Ralphs- Total OOP $8.61

2 Purex- $.50 each ($2.50 with a $2 off Q)
A1- $1.99 ($2.99 with a $1 Q)
Mac & Cheese $1 (we were out and I needed it for dinner)
4 Kraft Cheese $.79 each (were $1.79, used $1 off Q)
Nestle Cookies $.50 (on clearance for $1.50, used $1.00 off Q)

Thanks to my friend Liz for telling me about the toothpaste! And this really taught me the lesson of not throwing out coupons until the day AFTER they expire! I switched coupon organizers and tossed most of my 4/30/11 expiring coupons....and here I could of used them! Lesson learned!

What's a mouse?

Daredevil was doing a math worksheet where you do the problems, match the answers to letters, to find out a secret word. Then you had to draw a picture of the word.

So he does the adding, matches up the letters, and finds out it's a mouse. "I don't know how to draw a mouse." he says. I tell him "It's like a rat, but smaller."

He says, "It's ok, I'll just trace that one over there." I look to where he's looking and see a fish coloring book on the floor. I wonder what he is going to trace out of the book, when he goes over to the computer and traces....the mouse.

Simple Woman's Daybook

(I have to admit I wish this was titled something else, like tiny directed snapshop of what's going on around here currently, not Simple Woman's. It doesn't make me think of simple as in easy and short, it makes me think of simple like I have no brain. I do have a brain, when one of the kid's hasn't stolen it.)

Outside my window.. grass, trees, lots of kid's toys, and finally a warm, blue sky!


I am thinking.. of the things I need to do today. Tutoring, schoolwork, laundry, dinner, raid. 


I am thankful for.. my hubby for working so hard for us, and getting up so early, and for him making smoked BBQ chicken last night. I'm thankful for being able to have a nice house that fits lots of people in it. I'm thankful my kids are so helpful with each other. 


I am praying for… my stepdaughter and the choices she must make, for direction with Daredevil, and that gas prices go down. 


From the learning rooms... Letters, numbers, adding, subtracting, Plural nouns, singular nouns, new vocabulary, new reading programs, and planning for next year. 


From the kitchen... tonight will be hamburger helper, since Daredevil was asking for it. Tomorrow is leftover ham and mac and cheese, Thursday something in the crock pot (probably pulled meat of some sort). 


I am creating... nothing at the moment, since I am spring cleaning and reorganizing. I'm also trying to get a holiday achievement on warcraft. (Yes, I know you are laughing at this. I'm laughing too.) I'm thinking about a mother's day brunch or tea with Mommy friends, just for fun. 


I am going... crazy, don't you want to come along, I'm going crazy, just singing this song. We are not going anywhere aside from where we normally go this week, aside from Princess and another doctor appointment. 


I continue reading... I found the blogging for books book I was supposed to be reading, so I'm going to finish that. I've ran out of things to read. I think we should go check out our library out here. 


I am hearing... the hum of one loud computer, Genius explaining things, Princess whining over her ugly hair this morning. 


Around the house... the kids need to clean their rooms, the play/school room needs straightening, and I need to vacuum my room. At least my bathroom got cleaned yesterday, that was my project I did yesterday. 


One of my favorite things… Rite Aid trip today....will I get any good deals? Probably not. 


Here is picture for thought....

Easter 2011

Little did I know, this picture marks the low before the sugar rush. Notice the nice children sitting so still. They did not sit the rest of the day! I go for one, sugar crazed day, and then toss out (or eat) the rest of the candy. 

Bunnies!!!

Have bunny, have gun, will terrorize.

Look! I found one! 

A few lessons were learned- don't hide hardboiled eggs and candy eggs at the same time. They will skip over the hardboiled eggs to grab the candy eggs. Who can blame them? Princess must be cut off from sugar at 2, or she will never sleep. And, extra squirt guns are a good idea.

Hubby thought I was slightly nuts in buying the food warmer, and the 3-crockpot buffet. But, he found out there was a very good reason for them- this holiday had no rushing about to keep food warm and get it on the table. The veggies went in the crockpots to cook in the morning and keep warm for the afternoon. The ham and potatoes went in the warmer when they were done, so we could eat (and keep eating) all day. It worked out really well.

Yummmm! 

It was a perfect Easter, plenty of food, plenty of family, and lots of chocolate! Now back to the grind- it's almost the end of the school year, and almost time for weekly water park trips. Yay!

Prepping for Easter

Every holiday my friends and I get together with our kids for cookie decorating and some sort of holiday fun. Easter means cookies and a egg hunt. I don't have the patience to make cookies, and my friends don't have the patience to clean up the cookie making fun. So it works perfectly to switch talents. It's also good to have lots of hands when frosting and sugar is involved. 

Aside from partying with friends, comes spring cleaning. The playroom/schoolroom got done today. All that is left for Easter is to go buy the ham! I have everything else already. This is the first holiday I am not running around last minute for things I forgot. It's really nice!

I also have the baskets, candy and eggs ready for easter too. I even managed to buy the candy with coupons. Every Easter they get the same things in their baskets, a chocolate bunny, a tiny amount of candy, and one spring toy. Then we do a big egg hunt that gets the majority of the candy (so I can steal it). I am thrilled we have our own backyard this year to do our egg hunt in!

I still have to get the eggs to hard boil and dye. I do have the dye kit. I am usually not brave enough to do egg dying. The thought of all that dye being spilled makes me want to not do it! I'm going to have the kids do the egg dying on Saturday, along with more cookie baking. I feel like making pretty cookies, so cookies I will make!

Have a great Easter!

The Great Switch

This weekend we tackled a large project- switching the kid's rooms. The oldest two had the bigger room, and the Princess had her own. Doorbuster slept in our room. Now the oldest two are in the smaller room, and the younger two are in the bigger room (along with the majority of the toys). I am now back to a living room with just a basket of toys, not an entire wall of toys. Yay! They also went through all the toy boxes, the closets, dusted, vacuumed, shampooed carpets, and gave my allergies a run for the hills.

Now we just need to get curtains for the older two's room, and do some minor patching and painting in the younger's room. Plus, finish laundry. I wondered why they didn't have any socks, and only a few pairs of pants. They were all stuffed in the toy bins and under the bed. If you don't hear from me in a few days, the laundry got me.

Excuse the mess. Well, this is what their rooms usually look like. That's why they have doors to hide the mess.

Younger two

The bigger closet is better for all the girly dresses,
and for when step-dd comes. 

Older Two's room, cleaner then it's ever been. 

We were given a steam cleaner from my grandpa that didn't work. We checked it over and found a broken belt. One trip to the vacuum repair store (after much procrastinating) and we had both the belts fixed. It still didn't work. I was a bit sad since I had my hopes up that it would work. I'm very, very glad my hubby has no problem taking things apart and trying to fix them. After unclogging the heater, I can now steam clean to my heart's content. Now to get the tile floor attachment!

Helping Dad

Rite Aid Cleaning Deal- $6.33 OOP

I worked out a deal for this and they were out of the Airwick (would have been 2 free) and the Purex 3 in 1 Sheets (they only had one box). I pretty much grabbed all the coupons I had for the products, and went from best stuff to fillers, and added things up on the calculator on my phone. All in all, I did better then I thought I was going to do!

Total before coupons & rewards- $77.56 (but thats just Rite Aid's high prices)
Total before coupons- $50.63

Nivea- profit of $1.04 on 4 ($3.99 each - $3 Q, $5 UP wyb $15)
Ziploc storage- $1.50 each ($2.50 each - $1/2 Q, $1/2 Video Value)
Windex- $1.45  ($2.50 - $.55 Q, $.50 VV)
Baking Soda $.59 (No coupons, just wanted to make extra sure I was over the $30)
Febreeze $1.49 ($2.49 - $1.00 Q)
Gain $.05 each ($.89 x 3, used 2 $1.00 Q, 1 $.50 Q)
Glade Candles $1.50 each ($2.50 each - $1/2 Q, $1/2 VV)
Finish Powerball $2.87 each ($6.49 each- B1G1 Free store promo, $.75 Q)
Mr Clean Eraser $.99 ($1.99, $1.00 Q)
Dixie Plates $.99 each  ($3.99 each, B1G1 Free store promo, $2/2 VV)


Used  $1 off any purchase Q
Used $2 off $10 cleaning bonus
Paid $16 in +UP rewards


Grand Total $2.38  + $3.95 tax
Received $15.00 in +Up for next time
and 2 $3/15 surveys (one I found blowing in the parking lot!)




The Nivea and Cleaning rewards are advertised as being one per family, but I have totals tracking at the bottoms of my receipt for another bonus. I'm waiting to see if other people are receiving more then one. 

Super Saving Saturday

I didn't do too much grocery shopping this week, but here's what I got from Rite Aid:

$2.30, of which $1.63 was tax. 

$10.29 out of pocket, plus $8.17 tax, $16 in up rewards to use for next time.
I should also add I spent $4.10 on a coupon clipping service.
Well worth it for this shampoo!

From the Awesome Possum Kid's Consignment sale:

$4.00 each, just about brand new

One dress was $3, One was $4, and the shorts were $2

Pins and Needles

The Princess's cast is off. Yay! This is one of the pins that was in her arm. If you think the picture is weird, the nurse said we should take it home! No thanks! There is still one pin left in her arm. We have to wait until it starts to stick out on its own, or tent the skin, or in 2 weeks they will take it out. At least we get to visit all of our friends every two weeks when we trek to the doctor's office. She does have her arm in a splint for now, but we can take it off and let her take baths. That's the best news for her! She can start to use it as she feels comfortable. No more plastic bag over the cast baths! There is nothing like keeping a 4 year old from splashing and playing in the bath. The best trick we learned during this ordeal is to use a hairdryer on no heat to stop your cast from itching. It really worked (or at least she says it works).

Hopefully no one else breaks anything for a long, long, long time! Now to enjoy our weekend of staying home and getting things done around the house.

Couponing is easier then you think!

I always hear that I must have a lot of time since I coupon. I really don't. I just use my time wisely, and use my resources wisely. Most of the hard work of couponing is done for you- with many, many bloggers posting deals, and even working out complicated drugstore deals, linking up printable coupons, and letting you know what paper the coupons was printed in. If you get a newspaper subscription, and follow a few good blogs, you're set!

I usually spend about an hour or two a week (when my kids are sleeping) to look at the deals and grocery store circulars, make my list, and match my coupons. I usually cut my coupons when I'm watching all my shows off the DVR. Or, I give them to one of the older kids, they like to help cut them out. I feel like my hubby's job is to make the money, and my job is to turn every dollar into two.

Here are my favorite websites for deals:

Southern Cali Saver- She does Southern Calif specific deals. This works great when our prices are usually higher, and we don't get a lot of the deals that they get back east. She also does coupon match ups for Stater Bros, Winco, & Henry's.

For The Mommas- This is updated often and she does the Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid match ups. If you aren't playing the Drugstore game, you are missing out!

Money Saving Mom- She seems to compile all the deals from all the deal/couponing blogs that are out there, along with other money saving ideas. She also has CVS 101, Walgreens 101, and a Rite Aid 101  I started by reading these over and over again until I was comfortable with them.

Saving Money Plan- She is doing an extreme couponing class that is great! It details exactly what you need to buy, and what coupons. It is all in little baby steps. It's great if you are starting out.

A Full Cup- This is a forum where you can find everything from 101 how to posts, to coupon policies, to the more extreme couponers. They usually have ad scans ahead of time, if you want to see what is coming up in advance. It's not as easy and simplified as the others, but you can find some great stuff in there, and different deals then may be shown on the other blogs. Plus, if you have a question, there are lots of helpful people who will probably know the answer.

I hope these help you in saving money, or getting started on couponing. If you have any other sites you love, feel free to link them in the comments!

Be a STAR!

We just finished up the annual STAR testing around here. Since we home school through a Charter school, they do the same state testing, even though they don't do the same state teaching. This is somehow supposed to show how well the Charter is doing compared to other schools. Of course, I don't know very many parents who teach to the test, most teach to their children's strengths and weaknesses. Genius thinks he did good and he said some things were easy and some were hard.

This year they had activities for the parents! The first day some vendors (the people over at Lexia Learning/Reading Plus and their family of products) speaking. The second day they had a curriculum swap and vendor fair. It was so nice to be able to pick up some new stuff and look a lot of stuff over. I wrote myself notes about the curriculum at both the swap and the vendor fair, so I'd remember what I liked and didn't like, and what the kids liked too. I loved one parents comment while waiting for the swap, "It's not like we don't have bookcases full of stuff at home we don't use!". So true!! I picked up two Reading Textbooks for Daredevil (I'd like to work on them with him), a Math book for Genius to look over (and the jury says- NO!), and some magnetic ending sound sorter thing. I got the great idea I should put them on the fridge so Daredevil and Princess could do them while I cooked. I'll give you three guesses where all the little tiles are (hint: all over the floor).

Of course, who wakes up on Wednesday with a fever? Poor Doorbuster. He was sick all day and got dragged everywhere. At least he didn't throw up all over me at the vendor fair. It never fails that he gets sick right around important school things! At least he's portable when he's sick, and just likes to sleep and nurse.

Now it's back to our regular routine. We are going to decorate and color some things for Easter today, and probably mow the back yard. One of the older boys will do the mowing. I think we may also get out the Bubble Science kit and make some more bubbles. I'm hoping the coupons I ordered on Sunday come today so I can do my last Rite Aid trip today before I raid. It was my first time ordering coupons and I am undecided if I want to order again, or if this will be the one and only time. It wasn't very expensive, but every dollar counts!

An Oldie, but Goodie

April Showers Bring May Flowers....But April Snow?

We had a rare occurrence yesterday. It SNOWED. Not hailed, snowed! White, fluffy little snowflakes. The funniest part of it all- watching people in the neighborhood come outside to play in it, and take pictures.

As Princess says, it's Christmas time! Too bad it's easter.

It's really snow!

Shorts are appropriate snow gear. Shorts, and two jackets. 

Me trying to catch some snow.

"Snow balls" 

In other momentous news, I officially emptied used up the 25lb bag of bread flour I bought. I thought it was probably a silly idea when I bought it, but now I can say HA-HA, I used the whole bag! Now I think I will get the 25lb bag of bread flour again, and probably the bulk bag of flour too. Especially when it works out to pennies a pound, instead of dollars to pounds.

The proof is in the bag!

We Need Some Cheese Around Here.....STAT!

"What's for lunch?"

"Grilled cheese."

"But I don't like that"

"How about pizza?"

"We had that yesterday"

"What about soup?"

"I don't like that"

"Ok, some rice then."

"But I don't like rice."

"How about some french fries?"

"I don't like those ones."

"There's leftovers from dinner."

"I don't like that kind of dinner."

"Then have a sandwich"

"We always have sandwiches, like everyday."


Gee.....wonder why?

I'm supposed to be cleaning. I need to make more room for my coupon stuff, it's overtaken two shelves and then some. I also need to plan out my Rite Aid trip, as I went today and didn't have the coupons I needed aside from the Visine and some Carefree coupons. It's the free body wash I'm after. I also had a headache and was short on patience and caffeine, and that's never a good combination.

Attack of the Pincher Bugs...aka Earwigs

When we moved in we had a waterbug/roach/some big disgusting bug problem here. We bombed, we sprayed, we drove those suckers out of here! We've been (relatively) bug free for the winter. We have really been enjoying not hearing yelps about bugs.

Now summer has come and, if you haven't guessed yet, we are having a pincher bug problem. It started out with hubby noticing lots of mosquito in the backyard grass when he was mowing. He mowed the back and weed wacked the back planter. We checked for puddles of water and cut back on lawn watering. He re-sprayed bug killer on the back lawn too, and the kids were banned from being back there for a few days. Then it started, pincher bugs by the front door, by the back door, in the hallway, under towels, you name it, you may find one there. It's always one at a time, and we smush it and go on.

Then today while Doorbuster was outside enjoying the sunshine, I figured I'd straighten up a little some of the toys. I moved one of the vollyball poles and out came tons of bugs. It's giving me the creeps just thinking about it. I ran to scoop up Doorbuster just as he starts to run towards them. I get him scooped up and turn around right into a mosquito flying by the door. I screech and whack it, and knock the piece of chalk Doorbuster was holding through the open door and into the house, where it promptly broke into lots of dust. Then Doorbuster starts crying as I jump in the door and slam the glass door shut.

The other kids are looking at me like I lost my mind. At that point, I figured I did lose my mind. I left Doorbuster inside (screaming his head off because I interrupted his fun and went back out without him), while I took the hose and washed all those buggers away. I picked up all the toys so hopefully there would not be so many bugs in them. Once I got them all washed out of sight, I decided that was enough outside time for today!

I still have the heebbie, geebies over it. I hate bugs. No, I hate bugs on my little piece of earth here. I think I may try the oil in a container bait & drown trick I read about when googling. Do yourself a favor though and don't google earwigs or pincher bugs. Looking at those pictures is creepy too!

Paid to Shop at Rite Aid Today

If I would of gotten the free scrunchies, I would have jumped for joy. Here's what I got:

Dawn Dishsoap- $.50 each (Sale for $1.00, used two $.50 off coupons)
Poligrip- Profit of $1.99 each (Used get one free coupon, will get $1.99 rebate on both)
NetiMed- Profit of $2 ($6, used $2 off peelie, got $6 UP reward).

Total: $6.03 - $4 UP = $2.03, with $6.00 UP reward printed, the 2 $1.99 rebates, and a $3 off survery coupon

Total Profit- $8.98!

Here we are, There we go!

I keep opening this blogging window up and staring at it with nothing to write. We did our usual Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday routine, and then had one heck of a long Friday. With gas prices going up we make the most efficient use of our driving. So since Princess had an appointment with the arm doctor, we filled our day with stuff to do on the other end of town. Town is probably a poor description, it was several cities over.

So at the arm Doctor appointment they took an x-ray and decided against pulling the pins out, and just left everything as is for another two weeks. He did say everything looks perfect and is healing well. I think he was just afraid of the screaming and yelling she was going to do! I know I was not looking forward to it! If my kids cry because something hurts, I'm sympathetic. When they get over the top hysterical over little things (like Princess scraped her knee at the park, and you would of thought I amputated it in the car with the way she was screaming over a band-aid) I loose a bit of my patience.

After that we met the kid's teacher (educational-specialist!) to pick up the curriculum I ordered, since they were mostly done with what we had. Genius got a 5th grade language, grammar and writing program called Voyages in English that I think will be perfect for him- even though he will not LIKE the work part of it. I've noticed Genius likes it better when things are written out for him in a book, and he reads it, figures it out, and does it. He doesn't seem to like me explaining it to him. He also got two Thames and Kosmos Electronics Workshops (one and two). He has been working non-stop on the first one since Friday afternoon, through all of the experiments in the book. They are really cool! He's built water sensors, doorbells, a snake charmer, a go-cart horn, and a bunch of other things. He loves it. I'm glad to see him excited over something. Then Daredevil got a new science book that's perfect for what he needs- he can write in it, it's very visual, and it's very to the point. The experiments are short and direct. It's called Interactive Science. Then from Rainbow Resource I ordered them some Draw Write Now books (hoping to improve their writing and have some fun too), some Dinosaur easy reader science books, some dot-to-dots, some Soduko books, and a bunch of math drill workbooks for both boys. Lots of goodies! I still have funds left over to use, so I'm trying to decide if there is anything else they need until school starts again.

After that we went to the park and had a picnic lunch with some friends. Hubby went to Urgent Care since his heel is hurting him pretty bad. The kids had lots of fun playing with their friend, and I had a fun time chatting with my friend. I'm trying to turn her to the dark side and join the charter school we are in. When Hubby got back, he said he got a referral to the foot doctor and needed to get x-rays done. We've gone from hardly ever using health insurance to using it very much this month! We decided that we'd go to his x-ray appointment and wait in the car.

Luckly, the two youngest slept in the car, and I parked in the shade. The older two played their DS's and generally had a grand time in the back of the car. I got a lot of reading done (I'm reading the Left Behind Series, got the first two at the $1 bookstore, and borrowed the next 4 from a friend). Then we headed to Grandma's! We met Grandma at Target to buy a jumper for my niece.

I have the most adorable niece ever! She is such a cutie. She looks so much like my brother. Unfortunately Target was out of jumper things (or the lady was too lazy to go look in the back when they were remodeling). If your Target is getting turned into a Super-Target, don't bother shopping there. It's not worth it. So we went to Walmart and bought a bouncy seat there. Then really off to Grandma's to get to visit, and have dinner. We finally made it home around 10pm- we had been gone for 13 hours! Yikes!

Then yesterday my Dad came over and dropped off stuff for the garage sale we will be having next weekend. I took pictures of a lot of stuff and listed the bigger stuff on Craigslist. Some people come right on time, and some people call and never show up. It's been interesting. I've also learned you can make extra profit if you offer to deliver bulker items. After he left, we went to the park and took family pictures for my "sister".

Today I promised the kids we would stay home, and I finally got hubby to put up shelves in the schoolroom since I had no idea where all the new school stuff was going to go. Then if you add in the stuff Princess will be getting next year, I needed to do some serious reorganizing. It's half done, but it already looks a million times better, and I have gotten things sorted out that need to go back to the school for someone else to use. This week is spring break for tutoring and Awanans, so thankfully it will be a pretty easy week. I think this summer I'm going to find a closer tutor and find a Karate (martial arts or something) place nearby for the kids to do next year. This driving everywhere all week is starting to be very tiring, and somewhat costly. I either need to organize it down to one very busy day, or make everything closer to us.

And now I must get back to my cleaning and organizing so it's done for tomorrow, and sneak in a bit of warcraft.