TLC Extreme Couponing 5-4-11

WOW what a great show that was. I have to admit this ranks up with Nathan's 2nd Episode as my fav one so far. The couple who were able to donate what was it over 20K in free products AMAZING. So how can you do something like this? Well what I read on the forums and what I was most interested in was the jeans. They could only print 2 so this was for a church so I am sure they put out a request for people to print coupons. So if you have friends or family that won't use the coupons ask them to print them just send the link to them and ask them to print it. Man I wish I was still working I would have been able to print tons LOL.

I am all about teaching my kids in real life lessons. They have seen on our way to drop off my daughter last year at preschool lining up at the food bank at 8am. They asked what was going on and I explained to them that they are going to go for food and people donate food and supplies. Well this summer I am going to have them learn about donating. I know that Angel Food Ministries my oldest daughter can help bring out groceries to the cars. My little ones might not be able to help with that though. But I want them to see me in action giving back and losing weight. This summer they will each have a large tote that they will shop with me weekly (makes for a good one on one time too) that we will shop and come home with stuff they want to donate. They can fill up the tote and it will be a rewarding experience to fill that tote up hopefully lots of times and donate it.

I also need to become hard mommy in the working out department. My oldest needs more activity. Last night I went to go work out and told her come with me lets go walk while we wait for your sister at gymnastics. She said no and I gave in and said fine. But I can't do that I know that taking the first step is the hardest. So I am not going to take no anymore. She MUST walk with me. I am doing this for her and for me. My kids will learn from what they see so me losing weight and saving money hopefully it will be second nature for them.

I am not going shopping again until Sunday. Taking a break since I hit every store yesterday. Hubby is off it is our 11 year anniversary tomorrow. I am looking to go get a present for him so I might look online for a coupon for the store I am going to. We are going to dinner tonight hopefully Moe's for $3.00 Joey Burritos. Plus tomorrow night we are going to the movies. Saved on babysitting fees when my friend and I agreed to swap baby sitting on our anniversaries LOL. So I will watch her kids next month! Feliz Cinco De Mayo friends!

Shopping is almost done for the month.

My husband has 3 teeth pulled yesterday OUCH! We were only expecting 1 but the dentist looked and said well you have 2 wisdom teeth that are in bad shape I can take them before it starts hurting you OR I can get them today and you won't feel the pain later. So my brave husband said ok take them all. So implants are coming next....looks like I better keep doing coupons to afford these 1400 FAKE TEETH LOL. I haven't asked but I wonder is it for all 3 teeth or just the one tooth because you don't need your wisdom teeth right? Hmm I need to ask about this one maybe we can get a deal SCORE!!!!

Ok so he was off today so I decided to use our food budget money and try to do all the shopping for the month today. Well as much stuff as I could get on sale I am not buying stuff if it isn't a good deal. So far today I am done with everything BUT
3 Chicken breasts packages I can't find them on sale anywhere. But I have 2 packages here from last month so I can use them until they go on sale I have 2 more weeks LOL.
2 Packages of Turkey Burgers from Jenny O Cajun Seasoning Thanks Candace Erik loves these! LOL We went to our friend Candace's awhile ago and my husband had these. He had the ones from BJ's not sure of the brand and loved them he had these and said I have no idea what I was eating before but it is gross compared to Jenny O so I have to go to Walmart for these so I might hit them up on the way home from getting the kids.
4 London Broils I know I should have gotten them last week during the bogo sale but I assumed that they would still have the sale going on until Memorial day. I have 2 London Broils in the freezer and 4 Beef Tenderloins so if I don't get them I won't be meal less but I really want to get these on bogo so I will wait until it happens again.
2 Garlic Bread Texas Toast or Pepperidge Farm none were on sale from where I went today and I went to Kroger, Harris Teeter, Lowes and ran into Food Lion for a quick walk thru.
2 Cream Cheese getting at Aldi
3 Butters getting at Aldi
School snacks (I have a few but not sure the kids will like them. 49 cent rice cakes with a 55 cent off 2 coupon I got 6 of them I hope the kids like them.)
Ice Cream for toothy over here LOL
Tater tots cuz he wants grilled cheese and tater tots for dinner tonight.
Pretzels not sure why he wants pretzels but ok.

So far I have spent 260.00 for my monthly groceries and I don't plan on spending more then 75.00 on all of this so I will be under 350.00 for a family of 4 groceries. That is like 85 a week!

I have also decided I will not buy anymore
Pasta, Rice, Mac and Cheese, Taco stuff, Veggies, Detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, soap, deodorant, or conditioner.

I have so much of this stuff the stockpile areas are exploding!
So far I have saved 200.75 and spent 260.85 as of 5-4-11 at 2:24pm LMBO I am going shopping in a little bit for my Aldi and Walmart runs.

I met a lady in the store gave her some coupons and talked to her about couponing. She was into it but curious if I was one of those Extreme Couponers. I said well I hope to be that way one day. 43% savings for the month so far I need to get to 55% savings this month!!!!

Monthly Total YAY!!!

Ok so I pulled out all my receipts today and I am so excited to share the news.
Cost 2146.52
Saved 1113.71
Total Out of Pocket 1088.12
52% Savings for the month.

This includes groceries, clothes, and our trip in Myrtle Beach when I saved 192 on tickets!
I must say I normally wouldn't spend this much so I am curious to see what next month brings because hubby has told me the spending needs to slow down. Kinda funny he is telling me the spending needs to slow down when I am saving so much. HAHA But we have our income tax check I have been pulling from so I was able to spend more. But I also bought clothes for the trip and did grocery shopping for Easter and the trip. I didn't skimp on the trip we had a condo so we had breakfast and made lunch daily in our condo. Dinner we did out but I had lots of snacks and goodies on the trip.

I am so excited I hope to next month be at 55% savings. I haven't gone shopping yet this month and it is already 2 days into the month. I am plotting a huge trip to Tacos and Tostito's LOL so I am waiting for payday and I am off shopping! YAY!

It was fun shopping but I can't wait to build the soldiers packets I will figure out the totals tonight what I need for those. I will post that too.
Hope you all had a great day,
Michelle

Getting Fit!

So lately I have been focusing on saving money with coupons I have let the gym and my nutrition get out of focus. I have been gaining weight and it isn't pretty. So I need to have a goal and I found this great facebook page where they do monthly challenges. So I joined!

I am on the Purple Yellow Team! This is Get Moving May. I need to track the minutes I do cardio and toning PLUS how many OZ of water I drink. I just journal for the month. I am going to get back to running. I want to start the couch to 5K program again. Funny after running a half marathon going back to the couch to 5K but I am going to start again slowly and work my way up to a half or maybe even a full for next Winter/Spring.

So this is my game plan for the week.
Drinking 1 1/2 gallon a day of fluids water and crystal light
Tonight I am doing Spin
Tues 1 Hour Running Class in the gym and 1 spin class
Wed 1 Hour Spin 1 Hour Weights
Thur 3 Classes so 3 Hrs of Cardio and 1 hr weights
Fri 1 hour cardio 1 hour weights
Sat 1 hour weights 1 hour cardio

In the gym I take
Spin, TTT which is 20 minutes in 3 circuits of weights, cardio, step. I also do Body Pump and Body Combat. I am looking to see how I can work in some water aerobics classes. I also want to incorporate swimming on M W F at 630 and swim a mile daily in the gym.

My Goal is to also stay on track for WW points and journal that as well!
So exciting I hope to lose 15 lbs this month and get this horrible number off the scale!

April 30th Harris Teeter :-(

So I went last night with my kids to get
3 Milks
3 Mac and Cheese
3 Steamers
1 Mio drink
EVERYTHING was out in the Fuquay store on 401 by Dairy Queen. No surprise but I wanted to get out after being up since 3am watching the Royal Wedding I was ready for a shopping break.

Well this morning I woke up at 630am and ran to the store because I was told that they were getting a truck in and they would have the stuff in the am. NOT I went they were out of Milk, I got 3 mac and cheese, and no steamers or Mio drinks. The Mio drinks were not even in a spot in this store but they were before?????
So I got my mac and cheese thinking ok I will just try the Holly Springs one later while my daughters are at practice. Did I mention I have the most talented kids? LMBO Every mom says that right? 1 is a Gold Medal Winning Competitive Dancer, 1 is a Competitive Gymnast who has a 2nd home on the beam and too won many Gold Medals, 1 is a Dancer, Gymnast, T-Ball, Work momma and daddy to the nerves Gold Medalist ;-), and our son he hasn't shown his true talent yet he is only 2 but he swears he wants to be a hockey player but points at baseball and says hocket so we will see what he really means in due time. Ok back to the task at hand see I can go on and on about my kids!
So I get in line and see a couple in front of me with the ughhh Coupon Nightmare Cashier. I swear lady if you hate coupons that much maybe you shouldn't work in the only grocery store in town that has Super Doubles! But not only that the Co-Manager from HE** was standing next to her. The couple has no binder and I don't see tons of coupons but I at first think Please God let them tell me go first I only had 3 coupons LOL but I am glad they didn't. What I witnessed Corporate will get a letter from me about this manager who shall remain nameless I don't want to get sued LOL. But if you see me out in person ask me I will tell you. ;-) So I notice they have items that will be using coupons so I like to watch the game as much as I like to play so I gladly wait my turn and sit back and wait to do the SCORE cheer for them because I think they will save a ton. 1st transaction great no problems. I hate saying she and he because I have a feeling I will learn her name. Because you see she is the 1st person who knew me from my couponing blog so she reads this....so to you the great saving Diva Kudos to you and tell me your name we should shop together!
So they have items left in the buggy and they say this is a seperate order. The cashier and manager both say they don't seperate orders as they shake heads and breath out that sigh like ughhhhh x 10.
So the manager says if your card is used and it is attached with her number it isn't going to work. The man says well it shouldn't be. He gives the coupons to the Coupon hater and she says see they didn't double. He said I don't know why. I would have loved to been able to come in and save the day and say here scan my card but it was only 645am and I still had 17 other coupons to double at the Holly Springs Store so I couldn't. Ughh I felt so selfish and at the same time a bit like I should have made them eat that little ughhhhh x10 and attitude they were giving these 2 customers. I don't know if they really lived apart like they said but neither did the rude manager or coupon hating cashier. So I was taking the customers word....THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! But thankfully another customer was in line behind us with 2 items and she saved the day. She said here use my card I swear I heard to coupon angels singing SCORE....close your eyes and imagine with me SCORE!!!!! sung by beautiful angels. That's right Mean Manager and Coupon Hating Cashier us Coupon Men and Women Stick TOGETHER! So the customer said well I want a VIC card they said we need your ID and if corporate puts it together that you have 2 cards at the same address they will be put together. That is when the manager said and don't get me wrong he can feel anyway he wants BUT NEVER IN FRONT OF THE CUSTOMER DO YOU SAY STUFF NEGATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! So the Manager says "People will find a way to manipulate the system anyway they can." I had enough and said are you the manager he said ughhh yea in a snotty tone like Duh Yea like that. I said well listen I worked in retail many years you should never say anything to a customer like that. Telling them they are manipulating the system. He said it was a general statement not directed at them just a statement. I said well I apologize I thought it was directed at them as I saw his name badge in full view. I believe he is the overnight manager and HT did something right doing that he only works with the employees most of the time not the customers. I will commend them on that. But seriously I had customers who would return used shoes when I was younger and a manager at Bob's Stores. We never said no or Kohl's too they have a never say no return policy. Mr Mean Manager get over it maybe you should work in a store that doesn't use coupons and you get to be rude to customers...oh wait not many stores like that still in business right?
This did not turn me off from HT just THIS HT. I am sure they won't miss me but I did like the General Manager he was a very nice man and he will be getting a visit from me. My husband says not to say anything they might take it out on me but they can't and I am not going to sit by and let a mean manager or cashier that hates coupons just keep doing this.

So I went to my daughter's Tball practice and we had snack today so I ran well drove but I have run from my house to Avent Ferry road before (man that hurt) training for the 1/2 marathon. I got
2 boxes of Granola Bars
2 Hi C Juice Boxes packages
2 Mac and Cheese the coupons didn't double the system is so smart!
3 Waters
3 Steamers
The milk is out everywhere. I think I might go to Walmart later and price match at Walmart I love this milk.
All of this for 11.61 I saved 26.00 So 31.61 Retail and 11.61 Cost! LOVE IT!

I put the stuff away in a hurry because the rice was outside at practice and the granola bars and hi c is gone LOL. I will post my letter this weekend that I send to corporate. I am getting excited about the inserts tomorrow. Debating on 4-6 papers or just buying coupons or on http://www.wholeinserts.com I can get 40 inserts for 22.20 I am thinking that might be the best way to go. Still tossing it all around in my head.
If you have any ideas tell me. I plan on doing one Extreme Couponing trip at Kroger this month. I want to plan one with the manager and do it with his consent. He is a nice guy I think he will let me try it out LOL.

I love my Harris Teeter....in Holly Springs and the Manager is so customer service driven it is a delight shopping in that store WITH COUPONS TOO!

93 cents from 17.20 at Harris Teeter!!!!

I went for my 2nd trip to Harris Teeter this week.
3 Deer Parks 3.00 MONEY MAKER
2 Salad Kits FREE
1 Reach Dental Floss .12 cent MONEY MAKER
3 Smart Balance Milk 1.50 for all 3
1 Pasta for pennies

All in all I paid .93 cents for this order. My daughter thought I was crazy I was so excited I was high fiving her. She told me to stop and she wanted to run away and pretend she didn't know me!

Walmart 30.50 Total Paid 2.50!!!!

I decided to go to another Walmart instead of the one by me. I think in my area we have tons of couponing women which is a good thing when you want to save money. Bad if you want to get the merchandise LOL. I went to Holly Springs and hit the jackpot. I had 7 Nivea Lotion coupons making them free!

7 Nivea Lotions FREE
1 Secret Clinical FREE plus a 43 cent MONEY MAKER!
4 Dial body washes these took up some of the money I would have gotten back. 2 Were free 1 was 54 cents and 1 was 97 cents
1 Head and Shoulders shampoo was a 1.03 MONEY MAKER
Tax was 2.19 my total before tax was 32 cents!

91% SAVINGS