I told myself I wouldn't do it...

but I did.

I'm sorry if this post offends anyone. I don't mean it to. This is just me and how I always told myself I would be.

I always said that I was not going to be that woman to got married, became a mom and then cut my hair short. I said I wouldn't do it!

And I just did.

I'm kicking myself over it. I'm not happy with this latest haircut. Actually, I haven't been happy with my last 3 haircuts. I don't understand why it's so hard to cut an angled bob. I go in and say, I'd like an angled bob. Not a severe angle...I don't want it so short it's shaved in the back...but I want it to be noticable that it's shorter in the back than in the front. And I'd like the front to hit just right above my shoulders.

Shouldn't be too tough, right? Apparently it is...

I don't have a picture yet but I'll try and get one soon, but my hair is a good inch or 2 above my shoulders, in the front, and it's only slightly noticable that it's shorter in the back. My little bangs are cute but that's about all I can say about it.

I think if I was happier with my hair cut then I wouldn't be so upset with myself that I had it cut so short in the first place. I swore that I would not be that mom but I thought that if I did cut it shorter but had a cute funky style then it would be ok that it was shorter. I always wanted to be the cool hip mom with the long hair, not the lame mom with the lame mom short hair. I'm verging on lame mom right now.

The only good thing is that my hair does seem to grow fast so I'm sure I'll be back down to the shoulder length that I was hoping for rather soon. Unfortunatly I still won't have the angeled look that I've been wanting for 3 hair cuts now. sigh....

If you know someone who will fix my hair for free I would greatly appreciate it. I'm too frugal to pay to get it recut right now. Otherwise I'll just sit this out and hope that my hair will continue it's trend of growing fast. I'll just have to get it recut later on to get rid of the little bit of angle that's in it. I just wanna be hip and cool, is that so much to ask?

Before you leave the house....

don't forget your coupons!

Today I was out and about running errands and making Avon deliveries. I knew I was going to stop at Macy's to do a return/exchange so before I left the house I went onto their website and found a 15% off coupon for their MLK weekend sale! With all their clearance sales, plus the extra 15% off, I was able to score some really good deals! I picked up 5 tops, 2 sweaters and 3 long sleeve blouses, (now I definatly need to go through my closet again) and the total was under $50!! I only spent around $20 because of my return so that was even better!!

The moral of the story is before you leave the house, do a quick internet check for a store coupon. Saving money is always worth a few minutes of your time. :)

Walgreens last week

I didn't get into Walgreens until yesterday, so I wasn't even sure if I'd end up finding some of the good deals but after hitting a second store I was able to pick up all the items I wanted.
 Here's what I bought....

My out of pocket cost was $10.86 because I used the $10 in RR I had left from last week. I also have $7 in RR (from the Lysol hand soap system) that I didn't use this week so I'll roll it and use it next week. So $10.86 out of pocket, but $7 back!! That's basically like spending $3.86!

The Lysol cleaners were BOGO free and then I had $1/2 coupons for both of them. The Go! Kids vitamins were on sale for $5 and then you recieved $5 in RR back. The gum was on sale for .69 a pack (w/in-ad coupon) and then I had a BOGO free coupon that I printed online. The BIC razors were $4.99 and then you got a $1 RR back. I picked up 2 because I had a BOGO free coupon! The Lysol hand soap system was on sale for $11.99. I had a $3 coupon and then you recieved $7 in RR back making that basically $2!!

I'm starting to really get the hang of this Walgreens shopping thing. :)

On to bigger and better things....

As most of you know I upgraded to using The Couponizer, to hold my coupons, a while back.

 I LOOVED my Couponizer but as you can see I outgrew it.

 It was like this all the time and just getting worse. It was overloaded and starting to become harder to use.



 I thought about it for a while and decided that I didn't want to scale down my money saving habits. I was actually trying to make them grow, so I moved up to the world of the coupon binder. Here it is....



I scouted a couple thrift stores to make it (as well as some inserts from Office Depot) and I was very pleased with my results. Just a quick run through of what's in it....The front inside pocket holds coorperate coupon policies for Target and Walgreens (something that's VERY important to have on you when shopping in those stores)...and just a couple other odds and ends of things. The first few pages are just full sized sheet protectors that hold a list of the online coupons I have loaded onto my King Sooper's card. I also have 2 pouches that I will be inserting later today. I just got them yesterday at Goodwill (they look brand new!). One I will use for supplies...scissors, paperclips, maybe a little calculator, pen, etc. The other one will be my "while I'm in the store" holder. I need a place to put the coupons I know I'm using during my shopping trip and then a seperate place to put coupons that I may decide not to use (the ones I grabbed out that are expiring but there isn't a great deal so I pass on them).


I ended up with a few different types of inserts. I know some couponers use baseball card inserts. I do have a few of those because I, luckily, had some here at my house that I wasn't using. Otherwise I found some photo inserts (at ARC thrift store) that work GREAT! I actually like them better because I don't have to fold so many coupons to make them fit (but I do like having a few of the baseball card inserts for some of the smaller coupons). Some are actually for negatives so I can fit some of the rectangular coupons in those (they are perfect for catalinas) and the others fit 3x5 (I think) photos. I still have to fold a few of the bigger coupons but otherwise they are PERFECT. I didn't find the quantity of inserts I needed at ARC, so I went to Office Depot and used some of my worklife rewards to pick up more of the 3x5 photo size inserts.

I definatly do not recommend buying the inexpensive paper tab dividers. I'm sure that it won't take long for them to end up getting torn so it wouldn't be the best use of your money. I bought tabs that you can just adhere to something else (I used sheet protectors since I had some here at home) and it's perfect! You can also buy sheet protectors with divider tabs on them but this was more cost effective for me because the adhesive tabs were only $4 and change for a pack of 25. It's also better than a regular plain divider because I can stick other store coupons in those sheet protectors, to go with my catagories. What I mean by that is that, since I mainly shop at King Soopers, I put Target, Safeway, Albertsons, etc coupons in that seperate area so I don't confuse myself and try to use one while I'm in King Soopers. I also inserted a piece of card stock to make the "dividers" more sturdy.

 The tabs are currently organized alphabetically because that's how The Couponizer is set up, so that's what I was used to. I MAY change and put them in order based on the store I usually shop in but we'll see.

I also have tabs in the back for restaurant/fast food coupons and one for other store coupons (Bed, Bath and Beyond, JoAnns, etc).

It took me quite a while to get all my coupons transferred over so I felt like I might be a little over my head with the whole deal, but now that I have it all put together I really like it. It's, obviously, not as compact at my Couponizer was but I think, in the long run, I'm going to be really happy with it. I'll let you know. ;)

Why I Love Thrift Stores

My frugalness isn't just limited to using coupons, I'm a thrift store junky. I LOVE going to thrift stores (clean, organized thrift stores) and I really love finding great deals at thrift stores. ARC is my favorite thrift store by far but I pop into Goodwill off and on if I'm near a location that I know is good.

Yesterday I was running a couple errands on my way to work and had some time to kill. I hit the Goodwill off of Havana and Colfax. I know it's not the best area of town but that Goodwill is fairly new so I don't mind going in there. I had just cleaned out a fair amount of shirts from my closet so I thought I'd peek around and find some new shirts to replace them. :)

Here's what I ended up with for only $21.01

That's 15 items for only $21.01! I picked up 10 shirts...6 of which were just pretty basic plain long sleeve cotton tops. The other 4 were sweaters, 2 cardigans and 2 regular sweaters. I also found a small glass dish that goes with a set that I own (as well as my mom and grandmother), a Care Bears DVD for Nora (for only $2.50), a plastic storage box that was only .75 (it has a hinged lid that snaps closed) and 2 binder pouches for my new coupon binder (more on that in another post)!

It's very true that you usually have to sort through a few crazy things to find your gems, but if you are in the mood it is definatly worth it! I found Merona and Mossimo, Old Navy (one still had the Old Navy tag on it!) and Banana Republic in my finds. Since Goodwill was doing a 50% off sale that day, everything I bought was 50% off the tagged price. Pretty much all my tops ended up being $1.75 each!!

Although I'm sure he appreciates my frugalness to some extent, I know my husband has made comments about how I don't need to shop at thrift stores for my clothes. I really don't see anything wrong with it. It's the ultimate form of recycling! Plus, when I decide that I'm tired of my clothes, or one of the kids (or myself) stains or rips what I'm wearing, I don't feel like I lost a whole lot. I still feel "attached" to some of clothes because of their style or the way they fit, so I can still end up being bummed, but I probably only spent pennies on it. PLUS, most of the time I end up just sending them back to a thrift store, when I'm tired of them (or they don't fit right, etc), anyway.

Even better than getting MY clothes at the thrift store is getting clothes for my kids there! It is the only way to go with kids clothes. They wear them for such a short amount of time there is no reason to spend retail on them. I know a LOT of mom's who will shop at consignment shops and a thrift store is basically the same thing. You just have to sort through a few items that may have stains and such, which a consignment shop wouldn't have, but you can find brand new clothing for next to nothing!

If you ever want to come shopping with me some time I'm happy to have a tag-a-long. Saturday's are usually the best days to go to ARC because they always have a 50% off sale. Goodwill has them occassionally as well so keep your eye out and score yourself some awesome deals!!

SCORE at Safeway!

Ok, so I almost did a video over HOW EXCITED I am about my Safeway score today, but the kids are around and so is the hubby so I'll just type away.

I went into the store with only 5 things on my list. I stuck to my list and I ROCKED! If you got last week's coupon inserts (there were 5!!!) you can score some of these deals too.


Here's the scoop...
Everything is this picture cost me a grand total of $12.08!

Here's the breakdown...

6 Colgate toothpaste on sale for .99 - .50 (doubled) coupon = 6 FREE toothpaste (which I'll be donating to my parent's church)!!
6 Rice a Roni and 2 Pasta Roni on sale for .88 each - 2 B3 get 1 free coupons (which rang up for the max value of $2 each) = $3.04 for all 8!
Bar S hot dogs on sale for .99 each - no coupons, we just needed some
London Broil on sale for $1.99/lb, 4 lb package for $6.88
Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks - on sale for 1.49. If you buy 4 or more they are only .99 each! THEN top that with the .50/2 (doubled) coupon and they are only .50 each! THEN when you buy 4 you get a $2 catalina back and if you buy 5 or more you get a $3 catalina! Do the math on that and that equals FREE FRUIT SNACKS!!

I did 2 transactions so I could use the $3 catalina. Since I rarely shop at Safeway I wanted to make sure I could use it.

Total spent = $13.08
Total saved = $53.85!!

I know I'm borderline Extreme Couponer but I did buy extra papers last week since there were so many inserts. I'm so glad I did because I already made back the money I spent on the papers.

I will NEVER EVER shop without coupons and sale match-ups ever again. I can't imagine paying full price for much of anything. There are so many good buys and so many opportunities to get free things. I hope you are inspired to get out there and get some of your own free stuff.

I mentioned about doing a money saving/couponing get together. I didn't get too much of a response but let me know if you are interested and we'll try and throw something together. :)

Walgreens shopping

I've been watching videos on other blogs and they are much better than I am but I was inspired to make a video about my Walgreen shopping this week. I don't know if you all play the Walgreens game with the Register Rewards (RR) and such but if you go to the store prepared, and know how it all works, you can score some good deals.

Check out the video to get the lowdown...

Again, the totals were:

Vicks NyQuil 3 - $4 each
Vicks DayQuil 1 - $4
Vicks VapoRub 1 - $4 = $20
Minus $6 in coupons = $14

Childrens Oscillococcinum 1 - $8.99

Total out of pocket was $23.34 with a savings of $21.75
PLUS I got back $19 in RR

Transaction #2 -

Herbashine hair color - $8.29
FREE with coupon
Infant Advil - $5
Minus $2 coupon = $3
Snaps candy (filler/fav. candy that I just had to get) 2 - $1.99 = $3.98
Giesha mushrooms  4 - .50 each (in ad coupon)
Valentine's Day card (filler...but would have had to buy eventually anyway) - $3.39

Used $9 in RR for a total out of pocket - $4.72 with a savings of $22.28!

Again, Walgreens shopping can be a bit frustrating sometimes (at least it is for me) so just make sure you know all of their coupon policies and the low down on RR. And sometimes even if you do, you still have to go back for a filler item, like I did. lol Remember, RR only work for you if you use them to buy things you need...not just random stuff. I could have grabbed any ol .50 item to help cover my tax but I didn't. I bought something I liked and I needed to buy (eventually) even though it made my total higher than I was hoping for.

Hope that helped a little. :)