More Krazy Couponing!

We had another great shopping trip!  Unfortunately I'm all sore again from the lovely 9th grade dance, so I was out of sorts on "the good stuff".  However, thanks to the WONDERFUL folks at the Truman Blvd. Walgreens, I had a VERY successful shopping trip.

Haul minus dog food

I split our trip into three transactions to make the most of additional register rewards (so important when you're working Walgreen's adds to be savvy enough to split things up efficiently--obviously last time I didn't "nail it" enough to come away using all my RRs!).

Close up!  Look at all the shiny pretty deals!

We walked away with awesome deals!  If you keep in mind the roll over of register rewards (and if you're wise to spend them all on the same trip) you save the most amount of money.  I got two "free" Revlon nail polishes, 36 rolls of toilet paper for 27 cents a roll, 50 cent Brut deodorants, $1 Herbal Essence shampoo/conditioner, 2 free big containers of Pert Plus, and (unseen in photos) 2 packs of dry erase markers for just a couple of bucks (they were going to be free, but darnit one of the coupons didn't pan out!), 2 boxes of Hefty Zip bags for a few dollars and cents, and a Gillette Pro-Glide razor for $1.99!  We spent right around $25 bucks for everything (over three transactions) and would have spent $100.  Plus we were so pleased with the help at Walgreens, we immediately called corporate and reported the manager and cashier that helped us get the products we needed.  We aren't so good at selecting "filler" products--in order to use register rewards (which are actually manufacturer's coupons) you have to make sure you don't have more coupons than products, so you get small or cheap things (or things you need) to add to transactions so you can use the rewards.  We keep getting Snickers bars (I think we got six), but eventually if I can calculate how many fillers we'll need, we can get something a little more productive.  Still.  It adds to the haul!

I want to sleep with these under my pillow.  I don't know what that means.

At Gerbes (which was Matt's baby), the highlight was 18 cent hand soap and Spaghetti-Os for 30 cents a piece.  I didn't really see any exciting adds to draw me into Gerbes, but I also needed to transfer a prescription, which through a promotion gets me a $25 gift card that I will pick up later this week.  We're holding on to the card for Labor Day sales... all the free ketchup, mustard, and barbecue sauce a girl could hope for (fingers crossed!!). 

Gerbes transaction

At Target (which was less successful, I felt, but necessary), we got dog food--44lbs for $17.99, NatureLuxe mascara and lip gloss with $6.00 off in coupons making the lip gloss free.  I also got a free box of Herbashine hair dye and Ortega taco seasoning for 39 cents a piece, and four 50 cent travel first aid kits.  We bought a toy for Claire (not on that receipt, we wanted to highlight our savings), and of course since we're stocking up on more coupons, we needed more baseball card holders to keep our coupons in our binder! 

Target receipt!

Finally we went to Mosers and cleaned up on cereal.  We got ten boxes of cereal for $1.50.  Now, that's no where near the 75 cent recommended stock-up price for cereal, but if you've noticed, groceries are going nothing but up!  This was the best deal we've seen in a while for cereal, so we decided to bite the bullet and buy now versus holding out and letting the sale pass us by.
So all in all we had a lot of really cool deals!  There's nothing we won't use in our haul, plus there are some frivolous things like the nail polish and make up that I normally would have never bought for myself in order to save money. 
Now I'm happy to report our toiletries stock pile has gotten large enough where we can now just scan for amazing "free" or nearly free deals... not worth buying anything more expensive!  And we're set on breakfast food thanks to Matt's cereal spree--plus his great find on Eggo Waffles a couple of weeks ago!  We've got lots of great things for hamburger now like the taco seasoning and all our previous hauls of Hamburger Helper (and we're getting free beef from my dad, which is just an amazing deal ;)  Always pays to know the right people, huh?)
Overall I'm really proud of our couponing endeavors.  It feels good to know I probably don't need to buy deodorant for over a year.  And that I've got shampoo waiting in the wings.  And that we have food for dinner next week.  Great times!

Krazy Couponing Galore!

If you paid attention on facebook, I recently bragged about some serious savings with coupons as of late.  Matt and I finally decided we needed to do something about our grocery budget (and eating out all the time, and running out all the time to pick up something for dinner... etc).  So we started to research couponing.
We are by no means experts!  I just want to point out who the experts are.  First, I'm not the original Krazy Coupon Lady!  No, she's here.  What can you glean from her website?  Well, for starters they've got great advice for beginners.  AND they have a very neat print out to organize your binder for coupons, should you want to make one, like I did.  Get some sheet protectors and baseball card holders and you're set!
My binder is organized by category.  For someone like me (the way my brain works) I simply need to see the category and products instead of searching and remembering.  I have a bit of a photographic memory, so I'll go crazy if I store pages by date because I'll always see some page in my head but not remember it was from three months ago and has long been expired and thrown away.
Next start building that stash of coupons!  Remember, you're not necessarily buying everything you clip or print.  No.  You're waiting, hoping for a sale to pop up in the next month (or if it's dog food, you're thankful for anything, per Wally).  How do you know it's a good price?  Well, Krazy Coupon Lady ALSO has a helpful handout telling you prices on average for a 3 month and 6 month stock up price.  So we use that as our guide.  For instance, we'll never pay a cent for toothpaste again! That was our first coupon success--those of you local, you'll wonder where all those 10/$10 toothpastes went?  In our stockpile!  For free!
Then you need to learn your stores and start slow.  We've discovered that shopping at Wal-Mart sucks for couponing, so we usually don't go unless there is a specified good deal (oh... those Idahoian potatoes you can't find on the shelf?  They're in our kitchen).  We've specifically selected Gerbes (for their awesome savings for being a member--a card that gives discounts, loads digital coupons, and has an ap where we can check in store if we HAVE that coupon, or add it if we don't).  I've also tested the water with Walgreens.  Their register rewards can be complicated.  You have to learn how to split transactions (I successfully did this, but if I'd split it one more time, I'd have walked away with a free purchase... instead I walked away with $7 in register rewards I plan on using next week).  Not all stores are great.  We've also been hitting local stores' websites and finding amazing deals, but they wouldn't be our every day sales (hello Eggo Waffles!  Get in my freezer!)
I've not gotten so extreme yet to dumpster dive for additional coupons (I'm tempted, but so short in stature).  Right now we're starting off slow and getting between 3-5 copies of the coupon inserts in the weekly paper.  Of course, I kind of wish for the toothpaste we'd have had billions. 
But I've successfully managed to stockpile a lot of things in a short amount of time!  Our goal is in a few months to lay off "essentials" totally, unless they're free or close to it.  That way we can focus on food for the family.  Except instant potatoes.  Thank goodness those don't go bad!
I'm happy that we're doing something about our finances that is at least interesting (and it helps me on my math skills... which is crazy, because man... my math skills stink!).  But we can also do it together.  Plot out shopping trips, teach each other math.... go shopping together, organize and clip coupons together.  It's kind of fun.  For instance right now we're making sure we got all the maximum coupons for a couple of awesome deals we found--Eggo Waffles, Pillsbury biscuits, hand soap, and salad dressing.  Thanks to our couponing skills, we even bought Puffs tissues (I never have kleenex-ish type stuff here... it's a waste, use the toilet paper) at a dirt cheap price.  Oh, that's another thing Krazy Coupon Lady has to offer--a comprehensive lists of when things go on sale annually.  Although it's no shock to many that coupons and sales on Puffs and Kleenex are in effect for back-to-school shopping, since most of my students never bring me any from their lists, I kind of forgot about that.
So am I going to be on that Extreme Couponing show?  Probably not.  Unless it's just me buying a shit-ton of toothpaste.  For free.  Because I've learned if you coupon, you should never pay for toothpaste.  But I seriously recommend checking into the KCL and all the advice on online couponing sites.  Great savings are just ahead, folks!  (Oh yeah, best tip ever?  I'm absolutely addicted to watching YouTube clips of the KCL shopping and showing how to do stuff.  I've been trying to limit myself on how many clips I watch a day, so I can stretch it out and enjoy them even longer).
Now, get to clipping!

MU Fan Day

Victory tastes like plastic.

 Claire is actually no stranger to MU football.  She doesn't know it, but she went to every home game but one last season (and watched the rest on TV, after she was born!).  I'm a huge MU fan.  Of course, I went there, so I have to be, but I also was on the Student Athletic Board.  I drove the helmet car,  had front row 50 yard line seats, ran a muck on both the real grass field and the new astro-turf field, I held the banner... Oh I did it all.  Now that I'm not a student, we still have season tickets with my dad and faithfully attend every game rain or shine (well, having a baby got in the way of ONE game, but I still made it to a game just 10 days before I gave birth, that's die hard, right?).

First MU experience... on the outside!

So today MU had their annual Fan Day, letting fans get on the field and get autographs from players, coaches, cheerleaders, and Truman the Tiger.  We didn't expect it to be quite so hot out on the field (it was SMOKIN' HOT), so we decided not to wait in the long lines for players and instead hit up the "really" important people. 
Claire obliged us with a few pictures in the end zone.  She sampled the astro-turf (whoops... I bet that was a bad parenting move on our part!), but other than that seemed to enjoy the spectacle of MU hoopla.
She met Gary Pinkel, MU football coach.  He's so nice.  He immediately got up to hold her, kissed her cheek, and smiled a lot at her.  Of course, I'm the ditz that didn't get the picture of the kiss (rats) but I DID get my 2003 Nebraska win goal post chunk autographed. 

Coach Pinkel... I've committed at yelling at him a lot less this season.

Claire also got to meet Truman.  We asked if we could bring him  home (he looked excited--I'm sure anything beats being in that costume in 100 degree heat), but he settled for playing peek-a-boo with an excited Claire.  I'm sure the time is coming when she'll be afraid of people in costumes, but we're 2 for 2 with costume success (Easter Bunny and Truman). 

Claire loves Truman!

Claire also got to meet some cheerleaders and a Golden Girl.

M-I-Z!

For those who don't know the difference, Golden Girls are the dance team.  She seemed to think they were pretty, and everyone got a good laugh at how she was examining the Golden Girl's uniform. 

Z-O-U!

As soon as we got our pictures we made a bee-line for the air-conditioning.  Claire also successfully drank water out of a normal cup, since I'd packed a bottle and not her sippy cut and she needed a drink before her meal. I think she had a lot of fun!  She loves seeing people and even though it was hot, she didn't get crabby or cry.  We can't wait for football season to start--we're hoping for good weather so she can tag along to a few games with us!

Won't this be a lovely picture to pull out when she graduates from MU some day?  :)

Nine Months and Crawling

In her hunting outfit for Grandpa Greg

These past few months have been an amazing growth period for Claire.  Topping out at 19 lbs, she's gone from flailing on the floor to sitting, crawling, sitting up on her own, pulling herself up, and (today) tipping her giant toy bin over to get inside.  She's currently popping out four teeth on top (pleasant times for us, rest assured).  She is drooling terribly, hence the chapped spots on her cheeks and chin you may notice in some photos. 

Baby's first Band-aid.  She fights fingernail trimming so this is the end result when she scratches herself and bleeds like a stuck pig!

Claire started getting ready to crawl right around July 10th.  She's been on her way ever since.  I've spent many of my days creating improvised baby boarders for the living room to keep her out of even more trouble--and we've childproofed!  Still, it doesn't stop her from crawling over to our computers or crawling over to the always scary fireplace or end tables.

 But see?  Despite injury, she's happy as can be!

As far as clothes go, Claire is still pretty true to size.  Some of her well-worn 6-9 t-shirts seem tight, but others still have room to grow.  I had to unsnap her diapers to the largest size since she's got a little pot belly, but many a mommy has assured me that she'll slim way down once she learns to walk, and I'll be resnapping those diapers in no time. 

Crawling WITH toy.  Talent.

Claire plays and crawls a lot.  In the pool she kicks and paddles and even planks when I'm trying to get her to float.  She's loving it!  She eats finger foods (although each additional new finger food is initiated with the standard gag, cough, and grimace show). 

Our 9 month photo shoot took on a distinct "fall" feel, even in the beginning of August!

She also has figured out her sippy cup.  Unfortunately, her understanding of the cup means she must lay down to drink out of it so she can tip it back easily.  So, it's not a real "on the go" treat.  She also mastered that "no spill" bowl.  Meaning, that's not a no-spill bowl, thank you very much!

Crawling full speed for the computer cord

Claire is gearing up to head back to school full time on the 15th.  I'm dreading it because I'll miss being stay at home mommy, but I know every Wednesday when she's there she has so much fun, I feel bad keeping her from it.  I do know we'll have to create a new routine when she goes back.  Right now we have a very set routine of naps and activity and eating.  Then she goes to daycare and is so excited and naps for maybe thirty minutes.  When she gets home she'll crash and be in bed before 6, which is crazy. 

She was actually clapping holding on to that leaf.  That leaf got more love and attention than any of her real toys.

Claire also can clap regularly, sometimes wave, and sometimes shakes her head no (which is quite sassy).  She responds to her name fairly well, usually flashing a "What, ME?" look of innocence.

This is that "what, ME?" face.  Or, Dramatic Claire is dramatic, if you will.

She's been going back and forth saying "momma" and "dada" then not saying anything again.  She also said "hi" to a few people, who were quite excited that this cute little baby said hi to a perfect stranger!  

Happy Baby

We're looking forward to Claire starting to do more standing and even start to, dare I say it, walk.  She's such an amazing cutie and we're so blessed to have her for a daughter.  She makes this parenting thing almost seem easy!

This is my favorite picture.  Look how perfect she looks!