June Goals Recap

Two goals- that's all we set for the month of June. Here's how it went:

• Pay 1/2 of remaining debt on car- $2100. Didn't happen. But we gave it all we had. I knew we were shooting really high with that goal, but that's ok. We did better than we have in months, paying a total of $1549 on the car. That just makes our goal for a July payoff loom that much larger for next month...
• Earn $200 from side jobs and by selling things. This goal was met last week at $204. We've had some family related distractions this week that kept us from continuing on for more, but that's just fine.

50% success for the June goals. May money RAIN on us in July- like $2671 worth of rain!!

Not much to write

I'm more in the gear for reading than writing these days. Thus, the sparse blogging. I'm reading all I can and trying to master this couponing stuff on as many levels as I can. I guess when I have things to share, I'll write.

Coupon Madness

Ok, so for about a week and a half now I've seriously taken up my new hobby- couponing. With the help of some super frugal bloggers and their readers who share their deals, I'm getting a ton of free and nearly free items. Some of the ones I frequent are:

• The "Cent"sible Sawyer
• Mommy Making Money
• Money Saving Mom
• Centsible Shopper
• Mommy Snacks

I'm not going to turn this blog into a coupon/super-duper deals blog- these folks do a great job of that already. But since it's so new to me and is actually apart of my journey to financial peace, I'm sharing some of my early bargains with you.
I made the rounds tonight- Walgreens, Target and Walmart. Let me tell you, we've got cereal coming out our ears now. Hegazelle joked that we should invite people over for cereal sometime.

Here's what I scored at Walgreens:

• A rain check for $.99 Band Aids from last week along with a $ .75/off coupon= Band Aids for $ .24.
• General Mills Cereal, 3 for $7 this week plus you get $2 Register Rewards along with 2 $1/off coupons= cereal for $1/box.
• Aquafresh toothpaste, on sale this week for $ .99 paired with a $ .75/off coupon= toothpaste for $ .24.

And my Target deals:

• Kelloggs cereal, 5 for $11 this week plus you get a $5 Target Gift Card for buying 5 boxes, one of the boxes has a "Try It Free" manufacturers rebate, along with 2 $1/off coupons= $ .36/box. SWEET!
• Zyrtec Allergy medicine (children's chewables) are $5.49, paired with a $1/off Target store coupon and a $5.00/off manufacturers coupon= FREE+ $ .51 overage! (Target doesn't usually do overage, but for some reason it worked this time.)
• Clean & Clear trial size cleanser is $ .97 paired with my $2.00/off manufacturers coupon= FREE (no overage, she adjusted the coupon down.)
• Colgate Total Advanced Toothpaste is $2.79, paired with a $1/off Target store coupon and a $1.50/off manufacturers coupon= toothpaste for $ .29.

I had other coupons and other items, but the cashier was so frazzled and totally unaware that it was indeed legit to use a store coupon in conjunction with a manufacturers coupon, that I just took those items out and took the corresponding coupons back. I had seven coupons and it TOTALLY messed her up. Had to call her supervisor over for help and everything. It's sort of a drag to have to inform poorly trained employees of their stores coupon policy. Walmart is MUCH easier when it comes to coupons. Which brings me to my...

Walmart Deals:

• $3.00/off any two Post-it flags- found 2 items for $.97/each= FREE+ $1.06 overage
• V8 Fusion @ $2.98 paired with my $2/off coupon= $.98, but FREE with my overage from the Post-it notes!

So the final tally- I got all these goodies for $5.57! I'm sure you understand now why this has become my new hobby! Let me know if you go for any of these deals...once you try it, I'll bet you can't stop!

8 boxes of dirt cheap cereal



The rest of my freebies and dirt cheap loot

Friday Celebration

Yay! We've crossed the 3K mark! Thanks to $204 in extra income, we were able to pay $712 on the car this week!

High...on free stuff

I'm hooked.

I just left Walmart with Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, Kashi GoLean Vanilla Oatmeal, Purina Cat Chow, Zantac 150 and Gold Bond Lotion. And I paid 7 cents for everything! Thanks to Money Saving Mom, that is.

Last night it was one item: Colgate toothpaste. Today it's five items. The next trip could be scary...

By the way, my subtotal before tax was -64 cents. Taxes got me, so I forked over that 7 cents. Plus the look on the cashier's face was priceless. :-D

Take a look at my loot: