Look what my coupons can do!

After a 4 month break, I am back into the couponing game! This past Sunday was a great week to start collecting coupons again, as 5 inserts were in the paper with many high value coupons. This is my first time couponing in our current town, so it's been a bit of a learning game finding out where the best stores are, where the best places to buy newspapers are and just sifting through a different couponing atmosphere.

On Sunday, I waited until after church to find my newspapers, and as a result, had to go to 5 different vendors before I was able to purchase all the ones I wanted (just 3!). I also had to buy 2 different newspapers (one local and two from a distant town) since all the coupons seemed to have mysteriously disappeared from the ones left. This is why I always check for the coupons before buying my newspapers - if you know how many are supposed to be in there, you won't get cut short.

Last week I shopped at CVS and Kroger. I got 4 Honest Teas and one Blink Tears from CVS.

4 Honest Teas @ 1.00 each

-Buy One Get One Coupon, 2x

= $0.50 each

Blink Tears @ 7.99

-$4/1 coupon

=$3.99

+7.99 ECBs earned

At Kroger, I picked up some cheap hummus as well as some toothbrushes and floss.

4 Athenos Hummus @ 1.00 each

-Buy One Get One Free coupon, 2x

=$0.50 each

6 Reach Toothbrushes @ $1.00

-$1.00/1 coupons, x6

=FREE

Reach Floss and Flosser @ $1.00 each

-$1.00/1 coupons, x2

=FREE

+another $1/1 Reach toothbrush coupon to use for later!

This week, I stopped at Walgreens and CVS to snag some of the toilet paper deals:

Walgreens:

Walgreens Diapers @ 5.99

-$2/1 coupon

=$3.99

Right Guard Body Wash @ 4.49, Buy One Get One Free

-Buy One Get One Free coupon, 2x

=FREE

Cottonelle Toilet Paper @ 5.00

-$0.50 coupon, 2x

-$1/1 Walgreens coupon, 2x

=$7.00

+$3 RRs earned! =$4.00

CVS:

Soft Scrub @ 1.99

-$1.50/1 coupon, 2x

=$0.49 each

Charmin Toilet Paper @5.99

-$1/1 coupon

=$4.99

+$1 ECBs earned = $3.99

Colgate Toothpaste @ 2.77

-no coupons - I forgot them!

=$2.77 each

+$2.77 ECBs earned each = FREE

And today, I stopped by Kroger for some more freebies!

Ivory Body Wash @ $1.00

-$1.00 coupon = FREE

Safeguard Soap @ $1.00

-$1.00 coupon = FREE

Crest Toothpaste @ $1.00

-$1.00 coupon = FREE

Reach Toothbrush @ $1.00

-$1.00 coupon - FREE

Brutt Deodorant @ $1.00

-$1.00 coupon = FREE

My total for all the trips pictured above was $24.21.

My total savings for everything was $108.44

Total Store Credit/Rewards Remaining: $9.54

I'd say I did pretty good! Sorry if this was a completely boring post, but I was just way too excited about saving so much money for our family again and building up our stockpile. Coupons really do make a difference!

How does your garden grow?

We've planted our first garden here at the Campbell Castle, and as the lingering spring days continue to bring more sunshine, it's been such a blessing watching it grow!

Homemade rabbit sign: Rows of radishes:

A radish seedling!

Romaine lettuce and broccoli:

Our entire 10 by 15 plot (constructed entirely of salvaged materials!): We're so excited about growing some of our own food this year, allowing us to have extra fresh organic produce on hand while saving money at the same time!

*This post is part of Frugal Gardening 101, hosted by Getting Freedom From Debt.

Back to Basics: A Lesson in Frugality

Last month we moved into our first house- an out of state move that required lots of planning and praying. God has provided for us in tremendous ways since we've been here, but one thing that has been difficult to adjust to is the temporary dip in monthly income. Daddy C was able to land a work-from-home position with his company, but the start date isn't until later this month. So we've been tiptoeing around practically everything, trying to save money and get back to the basics when it comes to practicing frugality.

It's hard to remind yourself to be cautious and do without when you're used to not worrying too much about extra unplanned purchases or little impulse buys. Going out to eat is a luxury, not a right. Cooking meals from home is the standard, as is baking your own treats.

With the rapidly rising gas prices, it's also been hard to remember to stay home as much as possible in order to stay within the gas budget. We've been walking to the park instead of driving and combining errands as much as possible. Sometimes, it takes all day when we combine 5 different things at once, but the savings make it very worth it.

We've also been using the cloth diapers during the day to help conserve the disposables we do have. It's not much effort to use them instead, but when you get used to the disposables, it does require an attitude shift!

As we started our vegetable garden, we tried to reuse as many materials as we could. The wood for the edging were all scrap pieces leftover from the previous homeowner home improvement projects. The walkways were made from spare bricks leftover from the front garden beds, and the the mulch was leftover from last season. So far, we've only had to buy extra topsoil and composted manure as well as a few transplants. To date, the total cost for our vegetable garden hasn't even topped $100, a truly frugal garden indeed!

What kind of things do you do differently when money is tight? Have any favorite frugal tips?

Menu Plan Monday

This week we are going on a mini-vacation to a cabin in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. We went there for our one year anniversary and loved it, and have since been waiting for an opportunity to go back! I am looking forward to our cabin getaway and all the relaxing and rejuvenation that comes with it!

Monday - Dinner with family

Tuesday- Asian Stir Fry

Wednesday- Crockpot Chili w/ cheese and crackers

Thursday- Veggie Grill Out w/ Hamburgers

Friday- Freezer Meal - Brown Rice Soup

Saturday- Tacos

Sunday- Dinner w/ church group

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.

Spring Hiking

Last weekend, we took a hike out to a nature preserve near our local farm pickup. We're trying to take a family hike once a week this year, committed not to miss too many opportunities to witness the wonders of nature and share it with Peanut! She had a great time as always - this baby loves being outside. As soon as she gets strapped in her pack, she starts giggling! During this hike, she loved watching the cold, moving spring waters. Who could blame her? The peacefulness this time of year on the trail is captivating. Every sound and song of a bird is magnified and appreciated as the earth roars back to life after a deep sleep.

Menu-Plan Monday

I thought I would post another one of our family's menu plans for week! As a rule, I only plan dinners, because our family typically eats the same things for breakfast (eggs, bacon/sausage, toast) and lunch (leftovers or a sandwhich). All of my meals are made from scratch and are farm sourced or local if at all possible.

Menu Plan week of 3/14

Monday- Roast chkn w/ potatoes and carrots and salad
Tuesday- frugal meatloaf w/ broccoli and corn
Wednesday- Asian Stir-fry w/ leftover chicken (if any)
Thursday- hamburgers w/ french fries, broccoli
Friday- Tacos w/ peas
Saturday- cottage pie w/ mashed yams
(FARMERS MARKET @ YELLOW SPRINGS, 9AM)
Sunday- ??

I am trying to get us on a 2 week menu plan once the farmer's markets begin, which I will just repeat throughout the season. But this seems to be the last of the winter meals!

This post has been entered in Menu-Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.

We're back!

It's been a while since I've updated here. Due to how busy our days are with the move, I haven't had much time to blog! We've been working on getting the house straightened up and all "moved in", slowly going through boxes and fixes all the little things that you don't notice until you need them (for instance, upon installation of our home phone and Internet, we discovered there are no working phone jacks in the house! A brief visit with a technician allowed us to temporarily thread the cords through a spare bedroom window- thank goodness-until we can get one installed.) We've also been hard at work planning our first real vegetable garden (more on that later). But now, things are calming down a bit, and I am hard at work getting back up to speed with our daily routines as well as blogging!




Peanut has done pretty well with the move. As long as she has Mommy and her breastmilk, she's good to go! I have noticed, however, that she is not all the way used to the new house, and she has definitely noticed something is different, which shows when she gets super needy and cannot bear to have you sit her down! I think she just isn't all that comfortable with all the rooms yet, although it is getting better every day.


One significant improvement over the last couple of weeks is that Peanut is now napping predictably. This is huge, since she previously would only nap for 20 minutes at a time. Better naps also means better sleep at night, and she is now only waking 1-2x at night instead of 3-6x! One night last week, she actually slept through the night without any night wakings! It was so wonderful!

She hasn't begun crawling yet, but she is getting into the position and trying! Most of the time, she just face plants herself into the ground when she tries to move forward, which usually ends up in bouts of crying! She will army crawl towards objects, and I think it's only a matter of a few weeks before she is cruising all over the house. We need to get some child gates for sure!


It's amazing to see the changes in her, and witness her budding personality. It's hard to believe she is no longer my tiny little newborn, but a soon-to-be toddler!