Operation $40K

Early June, I shared a huge list of things we planned to do this summer. This is my accountability check for what I had on it and what I might have added to it as summer is now officially over as school has started! So here was our list: *swimming (done a bunch so far) *make popsicles (did it a few times!) *library and bookstore reading programs (We are only doing Half Price Books!) *Going to the Dells with our Russian Girl Dasha--thinking Circus World and Devil's lake - (Dasha has come and gone - we never got to this) *Going to Branson (had fun!) *Going to the Voss's cabin with my inlaws (Had a nice time and ate WAY too much!) *crafting (making a red white blue 8x8 album for the Dasha to take home)- Album done - she just loved it! *make homemade ice cream (I got a machine free from TW a few years ago and we didn't use it ONCE last summer and found a pretty cool recipe for SnickerDoodle Ice Cream to try!!)We *MIGHT* try the ice cream in a bag recipe! - It was yummy! I will ...

It's that time of year...the kiddos are going back to school. I was just outside of Walmart and saw that they had Mum plants for just $1 and I was hit by some inspiration for a teacher gift for the first day. On the Scrapfreak message boards someone had shared a link to a neat project where someone used colored pencils to dress up a vase for a floral bouquet. It was all pastel-ly and cute. =) I tweaked it a bit: -Instead of a vase, I used an empty Quaker oatmeal container. -Instead of colored pencils, I used yellow #2 pencils. All I needed to do was glue the pencils around the container - right? This turned out to be a little trickier than I thought it would be. The container wouldn't lay correctly because the pencil weighted side kept making it roll over. If I stood it up, the pencils fell off. You can benefit from my simple errors, LOL! Once I figured out this little trick, things went MUCH smoother. Rubber bands. That's right, I put several rubber bands around the contai...

Sometimes, it's the simple things that are so yummy. This is one of those times! I had pre-cooked and shredded seasoned chicken in the freezer. Add a free Boboli pizza crust, free BBQ sauce and a $1 brick of cheddar cheese and you have a simple, yummy treat: BBQ Chicken Pizzas! I used the BBQ sauce instead of the more traditional pizza sauce on the crust. I grated the cheddar cheese and sprinkled it on top. Then, we sprinkled that chicken over the cheese. I would have added diced onion but Sarah doesn't like onion... Into the over it went, until the cheese was melted and bubbly... I should have taken an after picture but we ripped into it like a monkey on a cupcake before we remembered the camera!! It's neat how the smokey flavor of the BBQ Sauce compliments the sharp cheddar cheese...add caramelized onions and it actually makes me want to make another as I type this, LOL! Have you made something easy and yummy lately?

Sure - I can't find my receipt so I have to do this by memory. Lucky you, LOL! I have been a little disappointed in Walgreen's this summer - the RR (Register Rewards) have been fairly low for transactions, the sales haven't been that hot and sales items that generate RR aren't always in stock! I guess that is why I haven't talked about them much and, end up using my RR at the grocery store because there wasn't anything exciting the week AFTER I earned them. Dear hubby was almost out of shower gel and there was a deal on Irish Spring. 2/$7 and you got $5 in RR back. Use 2 coupons for a buck off one gel and they just became FREE! Now I have a reason to go there -- what else was on sale? Cans of Mandarin Oranges for $.50 each, cans of baked beans for the same price, white envelopes on sale too... No beans when we hit the store but there were oranges and envelopes...I added a gallon of milk so I wouldn't have to hit another store on the way home. Here is a summa...

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Double Coupon Day...two transactions! I got: 4 12 packs of Coke @ $2.25 (4.79 normally) 15 Campbells Soup at Hand @$1 ($1.69 normally) 5 bricks of cheese at $1 ($2.45 normally) Coupons used: 5 for $1 off 3 soups (doubled), $4 Walgreens RR result: $57.26 for just $15.50 or 73% off Transaction #2: 3 Campbells Soup at Hand @$1 ($1.69 normally) 2 Kool Aid Fun Fizz @$1.84 (1.99 normally) Marcal Small Steps @$2.35 Wheat Bread at @ $1.50 ($3.39 normally) 2 Boboli thin pizza crusts @ $4.35 2# plums $1.84 2# peaches $2.37 2 cans pilsburry biscuits @$1.00 (normally 1.89) 2 packs Yoplait @$2 (normally 2.89) Coupons used: $1 off 3 soups (doubled), 2 $1 off fun fizz (doubled), $1 off Marcal (doubled), $.30 off biscuits (doubled) 2 FREE Bobolie coupons result: $38.58 for just $12.23 or 68% off Grand total : $95.84 for $27.73, 71% savings. Total for the month: $100.00 -27.73 (this week) -------- $72.27 to go Dear hubby has plenty of soup and soda for work, these $.18 cans keep him from spendin...

Penny Pincher Tupperware parties are becoming a hot item for hosts to choose - it's a simple demo where I show them how they can save over $3,000 a year, painlessly. Tupperware has the right tools to help with this - like our Fridgesmart Set that can save the average family of four over $600 a year in produce waste... What if I could you I could help you save over $125 a year in just paper? Paper that ends up in the garbage because it can only be used one time... The buzz word right now is "Microfiber". What is microfiber? Microfiber is an incredibly thin fiber made from blending polyester and polymide. This combination is woven into an incredibly soft, absorbent and durable product which is perfect for cleaning and polishing. Unlike the rounded fibers of ordinary cloths like cotton, our microfibers are split 16 times, creating wedges all around that draw dirt, oil and liquid into the core of the fiber. If you have a good set of microfiber towels - you can use them, and u...