Friday Fun Day

I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted! In my head I have written a post each day, but unfortunately haven't made it to my computer. :( So...what have I been doing?

Let's start with my fun Thirty-One Bag party! I mentioned a couple weeks back that I had attended a bag party and just fell in love with the line. Not only do I just love bags, but I also love the patterns, the different styles and the personalization. I got my order on Wednesday...

Thirty-one is now my new fav! When I LOVE something, I feel the need to share. This is why I decided to throw my own bag party, but this one had to be online. It is currently in progress and will be open until Feb. 27th. I'm curious to see who decides to participate. I hope people love it as much as I do.

So...I took these fabulous bags to the park today for a playdate. I mentioned last week that Dylan really loves playing with his friend, David, from school. Well, we joined David, his mom and sister at a park by their house.

A few other mommies showed up and I met some nice women and kiddos. It turns out that one of the mommies is a YMCA gym goer like myself. We recognized each other. She said she noticed my red hair. Of course...a redhead can never hide. ;) Dylan was very excited because he got the opportunity to water the bushes today...if you know what I mean. ;) Lack of bathrooms opens up new experiences. :) Ava was walking all over and even got a little cuddly with David's mom, Billie, since her morning nap consisted of the 10 minutes it took to get there.

Now, I have both kiddos napping which is absolutely wonderful!! Woot Woot! It's time to organize my coupon binder, which by the way, provided me with about $100 in savings this week. Another Woot Woot! :)

Have a wonderful Friday!!

Hyped Up From Couponing!

This morning was the best couponing yet! I started prepping for my shopping trips on Saturday because I discovered Commissaries.com. For those of you that shop at a commissary (military grocery store) you have to check out this website. It lists everything that is on sale in the store! Before this discovery I had always wished for that knowledge so that I could really get the best deal. Here it is!! So after filtering through that enormous list and adding items that we need for the next two weeks, I had a large list! I then got really organized and put it in a spreadsheet with the cost, coupon amount and total so I knew what to expect.

There is a back side. :)

You may think this is the end, but oh no...I then moved to the Fry's circular and Target web coupons. I finished up my lists, yes more than one, this morning. :)

The plan was to go to three stores and I was able to hit two of them while Dylan was at school. I knew I was shopping at Target for groceries because our Target just added that section so they are running deals. I also had a catalina coupon requiring me to spend $25 to save $3. In addition, I had a $15 gift card that I had won on a sweepstake spin I did online. My list wasn't solid going in because I didn't really know what I would find so I had a calculator to make sure I hit $25. I also had my coupons of course. This is my envelope that I always keep my lists and coupons I am planning on using inside.

This way I don't have to always go to the binder. Are you ready to see what I bought?!

I only paid $11.10!! That's a 82% savings! To make it even better, I got a $5 gift card back for buying to Curel products. I was so excited that I sent this picture to both Randy and my mom to brag. They are great cheerleaders. :)
Fry's was next, but I really wanted Ava to nap first! Unfortunately her knew skill of standing, which is very exciting, has taken over her desire to nap.

So by noon I decided we were heading for Fry's because she needed some assitance in getting to sleep...the car. :)

My Fry's trip was pretty planned out, but I had to make some adjustments when some of the items weren't available and I discovered a few more things on sale. The target here was spend $35 and save $5 on fresh or frozen beef. This is before coupons. I also had two $8 Cover Girl coupons that were going to give me an overage so I had "extra" money. It was another fun and very successful trip.

This one cost $21.90 and I saved 76%! You can't see the detergent very well, but yes...this includes a bottle of Tide. Again, I sent this picture to my cheerleaders so they could share in the excitement. I actually called my mom on the way out of the parking lot. :)

So the grand total for today is $148.52 worth of groceries, but only spent $33 plus a $5 Target card. Love it! I do still need to go to the commissary and I will take care of that tomorrow. It's harder to get my savings percentage up on that one because the groceries are already discounted between 40-45%. So, if I save 30% there I'm feeling good. I usually go twice a month to stock up on some essentials. Tomorrow I'm stocking up on cereal. All the boxes I'm buying are $2 then I have a coupon as well as snacks that are sale and ground turkey. I don't do this much every week, it just worked out this way this week.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have a second account to park away my coupon savings. So, for the dollar amount on that coupon, I get to save that amount in another account. For example, today I found Pampers wipes for $1.99, but I had a $.50 coupon that doubles to $1. I got the wipes for $.99, but I only get $.50 in my account. Today, I got to add $76 to my account making it over $500! Woot woot! I really have fun couponing because it feels like a game and I love shopping!