Bloggin 'bout bling!

If you know me, you know that I love to shop, but I don't love to spend a lot of money...that's why I love the convenience of internet shopping. There are always thousands of options (and discounts!) right at your fingertips! A while ago, I stumbled upon ChunkyBling.com & I think it is just awesome! The pieces are both trendy & affordable! You can find everything there from chunky jewelry to interchangeable beaded watches and interchangeable charm necklaces. You can even host an online jewelry party to share with your family and friends! You definitely need to check out this site! Look them up on facebook for more info, as well!

Was going to do MPM

Hey everyone! I was going to do an MPM this week when I realized that it would only look like this:

Sunday - stromboli leftovers from Thursday
Monday - Chinese leftovers from Sunday's lunch
Tuesday - family night w/ G's family ?
Wednesday - lasagna leftovers from Saturday
Thursday - Roast Chicken
Friday - Broccoli & Cheese rice

--and that's pretty boring, right?

I had heard from another online couponing buddy that Wal-mart (ack! My least favorite place to shop!) would be discounting their V-day decor/gifts to 75% off on Saturday. My mom and I headed over to try and find some good end-of-year gifts for our kids at great prices! We ended up finding 4-packs of heart-shaped sunglasses (you have no idea how much 4-5 yr-olds love those things!) and 6-packs of stampers, both for $.50 a package. That came out to about $.12 per pair of glasses and less than $.09 per stamper. This really helps me to stretch my gift giving dollars for my kids since it does come out of my own pocket! I usually end up spending $2 per child (I have 15 students), so the fact that I've just used about $.21 per child so far gives me some wiggle room!

Using coupons, I also got a 1lb package of lunch meat for $1 (using $2 off Land-o-Frost printable), Cetaphil daily face wash for $.87 (click on the "my Cetaphil" in the bottom left corner to take their survey, then you'll get a $5 printable in your email), a cute Schick razor for $.98 - a $4 value, 2 Reach dental floss for $.03 overage each & a free travel size Downy Wrinkle Release. We also paid full price for a couple small things. In total, we got 22 items for $17! That's well under $1 per item, including meat and cheese on that bill! Not bad at all!!

Almost there!

I can very excitedly say that cheerleading season is almost over and I couldn't be more anxious for it to end! We've had so much drama with the girls (I know, I know, it's par for the course when you throw 25 middle school girls together) that I'm just ready for a break! I haven't decided yet if I'll do it next year or not. A large part will depend on whether or not I get a regular teaching position...as much as I would love to work with the group of 7th graders we have this year, I still feel like the cons outweigh the pros...I'm just SO exhausted!

Today was a pretty good shopping day at Weis and Rite Aid, so I thought I'd document my savings for you! I didn't need much from Weis but when I saw some of the great sales that paired with my coupons, I couldn't pass them up! I stuck pretty closely to my $50/week budget, only going over by $4.03.

Some of my best deals were:

• 2 free bottles of International Delights coffee creamers (free product coupons, originally $1.50 each)
• Wheatables Crackers, originally $3.69, on sale for 2/$4, plus I had 2 coupons for $1.50/1 box, so I got each box for only $.50!
• Chicken breasts were on sale for $1.69/lb.
• Lipton Onion soup mix (originally $1.39/box) was on sale for $1.25/box, plus I had a coupon that doubled to $1/2 boxes, making mine $.75/box
• Free 1/2 gal of chocolate milk w/ purchase of 2 gallons of white milk
• Finally, the small size bottle of Tabasco sauce (originally $1.39) was on sale for $1 & I had a coupon for $1/1, making it free!

In all, I spent $54.03 on $87.75 worth of groceries, with a 38% total savings ($33.72)...which isn't great, but after looking at my bill, most of what I got was produce

At Rite Aid, I wanted to take advantage of a couple rebates and free-product coupons. I spent $8.91 OOP for $32.72 worth of merchandise. 2 of the products qualify for Single-Check Rebates, totaling $9.99, making this trip a $1.08 money-maker! Here is the breakdown:

RiceWorks rice chips reg. $3.29, on sale for $2.50, $1 off coupon: $1.50
Stacy's Pita Chips reg. $3.29, on sale for $2.50, free product coupon: free!
Always Infinity 18 ct reg. $5.29, free product coupon: free!
Advil Liquid Gels 40ct reg. $6.99, on sale for $4.49, $2/1 mfg coupon, $1 SCR: $1.49 after discounts
AMO Complete contact lens solution reg. $9.99, on sale for $7.99, SCR for $7.99, $2 mfg coupon: $2 money maker!
3 packs of gum @ $1.29 each (used for filler to fulfill my $5/$25 coupon)

Between the two trips, I scored $120.47 worth of merchandise for $52.95, a 56% savings...not my best trip, but definitely not bad at all!!!

As for the infertility world...I'm waiting on AF to possibly get started on our FET cycle...you probably won't hear much from me on that, though!