thrifty thursday {11.5}

i went to walgreen's on my lunch hour...somewhere i haven't been in a while. i decided to go because there were a few "drug" items that we needed and they had the best deal on them this week. my biggest issue with walgreen's is that their RR's expire quickly and i have wasted some pretty big ones in the past.

so, to remedy the problem, i went in with a plan and then did THREE transactions. this allowed me to spend my RRs before i ever left the store. the cashier was relatively patient with me :)

what i got:
- (2) dayquil + nyquil @ $1.50 each
- (4) chicken noodle soup @ $0.40 per can
- (2) 165ct Motrin @ $6.32 each
- (1) Lubriderm lotion @ $2.33
- (2) Almay mascara @ $1.50 each
- various candy and some hot tea packs all 75% from halloween. nothing more than 99 cents.

spending summary
total @ full retail = $85.65
total spent out of pocket = $31.98
store savings = $32.27
coupon savings = $21.40 (includes $11 in RRs earned)
total savings = $53.67 (66%)

frugal friday {10.31}

i did some shopping last friday. here's a summary of my savings...

rite aid
two transactions - both using $4 off $20 coupon
total retail value = $61.80
saved 47% for out-of-pocket expenses
earned $11 in rebates
total savings = $43 or 70%
overall this is really good because i bought a few expensive baby items that weren't on sale or have an scr.

bi-lo
paid $97.90 and saved $68.07 (about half and half from sales/coupons)
that's only a savings of 41%...much less than i prefer. however, it includes 2 big cans of formula, a case of beer, and 8 bags of halloween candy. considering all that, not too shabby!

food lion
paid $ 32.98 and saved $20.79...only 39%
no great explanation for not doing better :(

triples week at harris teeter starts tomorrow!!

links {massive photo load}

i am happy, proud, excited to announce that i am caught up on photo uploads. i just added 300+ pictures to flickr. i included some recent ones in a post earlier this evening, but i'm not going to go back and do posts for all photos from the past month and a half... my goal is going to be to upload photos every sunday from the prior week and write a "this week" post like i did today. fingers crossed :)

below are links to all the sets, or if you want to browse all the new stuff, you can just click here.

pumpkin patches

pumpkin carving

halloween

bo's cross country race

spencer's biztown field trip

october 2009 (random photos)

september 2009 (more added)

baseball season (a few more added)

smilebox {halloween 2009}

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

{this week}

~ i purchased spencer's (over-priced) halloween costume ~

~ i picked up the keepsake ornament book from hallmark ~

~ i sent an email addressing my first "issue" as a hoa board member ~

~ i witnessed the most beautiful baby girl getting baptised ~

~ i worked from home two days ~

~ my whole family carved a pumpkin (well, we all helped except coleman who just played in the guts) ~

~ i fixed my hair with no product (not the end of the world, but definitely not the best hair day on record) ~

~ i spent two days in cleveland (which included an uninterrupted night's sleep) ~

~ i discovered that brown sugar is yummy on a banana ~

~ spencer got his report card (1 A, 3 Bs) ~

~ my flight home was delayed ~

~ i drank bud light (not a fan) ~

~ i tried desperately to get a cute picture of coleman in his "little monster" shirt with no luck ~

~ matt seriously impressed me by taking a photo of coleman watching the kelli pickler video ~

~ it rained on halloween, creating a last minute rearrange of the garage for the festivities ~

~ i made taco soup ~

~ i was glad that the dvr recorded 14 episodes from the ncis marathon on a fluke ~

~ coleman amazingly fit into his monkey costume ~

~ spencer decided he didn't want to trick-or-treat, so he chose to hand out candy instead ~

~ i made goodie bags for the neighborhood kids ~

~ the gamecocks got their butts handed to them by tennessee ~

~ my house had a 9' inflatable gamecock in the den (and frankenstein in the front yard) ~

~ coleman had his worst night of sleep (or lack thereof) yet ~

{last week}

i was hoping to post this yesterday and call it "this week", but there's an explanation for that below.

last week...

...i didn't have internet at home (and lived to tell the story...)

...we went to the pumpkin patch and took some seriously cute photos

...i was elected to the board of directors for our neighborhood HOA

...i finally went to the dentist about my jaw

...and then i went to an oral surgeon

...i wasted $95 to find out i should just take 600mg of ibuprofen every six hours

...i got into an argument with a coworker...then he quit (unrelated, i swear)

...i fixed coleman's ipod shuffle (well, it's working again - not sure i actually fixed it)

...matt was off and spencer was with us almost all week

...spencer had two baseball games

...coleman finally cut his first two teeth

...we had two teacher conferences

...spencer brought home an F on a math test (unrelated to the above-mentioned conferences)

...i wondered what we're doing wrong

...i learned that i need to stop complaining about not getting any sleep. when i think it can't get any worse, it does.

...i may have found our christmas photo photographer

...i watched the gamecocks beat vandy

...i'm praying that coleman's halloween costume will not be too small

...we purchased a large radio flyer wagon

{50 reasons to love fall}

50 reasons to love fall....

*1* crisp evenings *2* gorgeous foliage *3* the word "autumn" *4* halloween *5* hallmark keepsake ornaments are out in stores *6* chili *7* jeans *8* pumpkin spice lattes *9* new tv shows *10* spice scented candles *11* trips to the pumpkin patch *12* apple cider *13* thanksgiving *14* favorite fashion colors *15* fall decorations in the house *16* sweaters *17* fire pit *18* boots *19* cute hats *20* rosy cheeks and noses *21* hayrides *22* festivals *23* apples *24* pumpkin carving *25* the first flames in the fireplace *26*kids in costumes *27* longest month of the year *28* football season *29* hay bales *30* handing out candy *31* pumpkin seeds *32* giving thanks *33* feeling domestic *34* driveway gathering with neighbors *35* putting out halloween decorations in the yard *36* fall baseball *37* picking out the perfect pumpking *38* corn mazes *39* jack-o-lanterns *40* fall crafts *41* mountain drives *42* tailgating *43* no more cutting the grass *44* the smell of the heat coming on *45* scarecrows *46* the urge to organize *47* the word crisp *48* anticipation of the holiday season *49* less humidity *50* photo ops!

frugal friday {10.23}

i went by food lion on friday. they are back on my "must go" list because they re-released some printable store coupons on baby items, which makes for super cheap baby food (and often a good deal on diapers and formula).

I did OK, but not great. I saved 35% (paid $84.02; would've been $128.57 without sales + coupons). The main thing keeping that percentage low was that I bought two cans of baby formula. I paid more than I should've (about $20.50 ea) because they wouldn't take my catalina BOGO coupon from another store (even though they've done it in the past).

Got a good deal on all three brands of baby food. For Gerber and Beech Nut, I stacked manu and store coupons. Earth's Best was BOGO (which I've never seen happen)!

wow wednesday {10.21}

you may have noticed (if you have nothing better to do) that i haven't really been "loving" the drugstores lately. however, i just kicked a$$ at rite aid.

what i bought: two packs of Purex 3-in-1, two 4-packs of GE Reveal light bulbs, 4-pack of nightlight sized bulbs, 24ct Zantac.

Out of pocket cost was $5.36 after tax and I will get $8.99 back in SCR :) yippee!!!

If you're bored...here's how I did it:
-- Purex was BOGO ($8.99 regular price). I purchased two and used two $4.00 off manufacturer coupons, plus one $2.00 off Rite Aid coupon (printable from their website after watching a promotional video). I made $1.01!
-- Zantac was $8.99 with an $8.99 SCR...so free on it's own, but I had a $5.00 coupon so I made $5!
-- GE bulbs were BOGO ($5.29 regular price). I purchased two and used two $1.00 off manufacturer coupons, plus one $0.40 off Rite Aid coupon (also video printable). (Paid $1.45 per pack)
-- Nighlight bulbs were full price @ $2.49 (need for burnt out halloween lights, if you're wondering why I wouldn't try to get them on sale...but they ended up being free b/c of the other money makers).
- On top of all that, I used a $5 off $25 coupon.

{an *ah-ha* moment}

have you ever noticed that some things seem to jump out at you at just the right time. recently i've been very overwhelmed and saddened by the state of my scrapbook studio. i'm so lucky to have an entire room to serve as my studio/office. but it doesn't even come close to meeting my needs, and often feels like it inhibits me more than helps me (creatively speaking). anyone that's seen my room and knows how much i love it, will probably find that statement surprising.

there are two issues of which i'm well aware:

1) the room is a "crap catcher" in our house...everyone has one - it may be a drawer, a table, a corner, or in our case...an entire room. when the house needs a quick clean-up...it goes to my room. when i go shopping, the bags get dumped there. papers to file. things to organize. projects to start. projects to finish. future gifts. you name it. it's there. right now i can hardly walk in there. but even when it's clean...something isn't right. and guess what...when the floor is covered in crap, not only is hard for me to work, there is no way i can bring a curious baby in there with me...see the problem?

2) i have too much stuff. this may be sacriligious to say for most scrapbookers. but seriously, i have too much scrapbooking stuff. it's time to let go.

it's turns out that i actually have three issues....

today, i was catching up on some old posts via google reader (which deserves a separate blog post of it's own), and i came across two posts, on separate blogs that really "spoke to me".

first i ran across this post on stacy julian's blog (written earlier this week):
midweek muse on multitasking

this post made me realize that despite that my room is incredibly organized, it doesn't allow projects to flow through it! this is the quote that really hit me:
"maybe it's not organization of actual product, but organization of process and progress that could help you get more done - especially when it's stuff you really want to do!"

later, i came across this post on write.click.scrapbook:
Fit Your Space to Your Process

this just confirmed the whole concept (though the post was actually written a couple weeks earlier). timing is everything because i doubt that this post would've had much affect on me, had i not read stacy's post earlier the same day.

so, anyway... i still have a serious lack of time and a trashed room - not sure when that'll get fixed, but the thing that is making me feel warm*fuzzy inside is that at least i now have an understanding of what's wrong.