Operation $40K

We have a prescription plan with our medical insurance, but have a co-pay on every bottle of pills we get. It pays to look at options! I have Acid Reflux (GERD) and have to take a cute little pill every day so the acid in my stomach doesn't damage my esophagus. The pill I take is called Omeprezole. With my insurance, it is $30 a month for 30 pills -- which saves me 4/5 the real price sticker. I noticed at Walgreen's that they carry Omeprezole on the shelf and often have Register Reward deals on it! Staring Sunday, they have a 42 count package on sale for $19.99, with a $6 RR. This means that I can get the pills for less than half of what I pay. Instead of $1 a pill, I will get them for $.47 each. YES, I will make a few trips to WAGS over the next week to stock up on my pills -- 3 of these deals will set me up with 4 months of pills and save me $60.78 - basically getting 2 months worth for FREE! What will I do with that $18 in RR? Most of my personal care stash is still doing re...

The awesome package was finally there -- except for one thing. They didn't have the needling machine fixed yet so we picked the bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins for a replacement. The 10 chicken hind leg quarters turned out to be ten POUNDS of hind leg quarters - which came to 14 of them...so we ended up with: 10- 5oz ground chuck patties 10- 4oz boneless pork center cut chops 10- 5oz boneless rib eye chops 10- 5oz boneless pork country style ribs 10- 3.75 oz pork brats 10- 3.75 oz Italian Sausages 20- 5oz bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins 10- 6oz boneless chicken breasts 14 chicken leg quarters Split in half with my friend, for $45 each. Boneless pork chops, baked with dressing...served with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy with a little apple butter compote...THAT is the flavor of fall! Yum! Thanks again Ms Gala for splitting it!

I DID make it to Copp's on double coupon day this week -- but poorly planned out and late in the afternoon as I had such a horrible migraine this week. Here is what I got, $27.61 for $.52... 1 can Bush's Grillin Beans (we have been wanting to try these!) $1.75 1 pack Boboli Pizza Sauce (premeasured for 3 pizzas) $2.79 2 Boboli thin crust pizza crusts $4.39 each 4 boxes Totinos pizza Rolls $1.79 ea on sale for $1 (this is easy for a sitter to make and Ms Sarah LOVES the pepperoni ones)! 2 Nestle ready to bake chocolate chip cookie dough ($3.59) for $2.50 each Coupons used: own bag $.05, $1 Bush (doubled to $1.75), two Nestle for $1 (doubled), two Totinos for $1 (doubled) $12 off Boboli items (two $5 and one $2). This was $27.61 for $.52, a savings of 98% and now I have a VERY full freezer between this and all of that meat! Total for the month: $100.00 -8.07 (week 1) -------- $91.93 -$45.00 (HyVee meat deal) -------- $46.93 (week 2) -$12.28 (week 3) ------- $34.65 - .52 (this wee...

Jean, Laurel and Dave (yes, I have read these financial planner people's books enough to feel I can call them by their first names...) all agree that after cutting your expenses, creating and sticking to a budget, making sure you have an "emergency fund" and then paying off your debt (highest interest rate items first) is a good plan. If you have cut your expenses and still need additional income, you can: -Get a second job (make sure it doesn't kill you now physically and later at tax time)* -Sell things you own (had the garage sales...) -Sell your services/expertise (the reason for this post) I already make my hobby of scrapbooking pay for itself with the weekend crops, but realistically, I can't do more than 6 a year as it is too hard for a weekend on the family...and hourly, it's not that profitable. Here is a new one: Classes. I am going to teach "coupon clipping 101" classes at the local public library and also through the local Parks & Rec...

Did not happen this week...I had a bugger of a migraine. OK, here's the story... I had a migraine shot on Monday morning and it didn't take...I was up all night sicker than a dog and called at 7Am to get into the migraine clinic. They got me in quickly...and I swear, I had the best nurse EVER! She got the IV in my arm and I never felt a thing... The protocol is purely non -narcotic and is in stages...usually lasting 4-5 hours. Keep in mind that this is the first time I have even gone thru it, LOL! They started with the anti seizure med in the IV -- that helps calm the overloaded nerves. Then they went to the magnesium... I was doing very well and almost ready to step - THEN the fire alarms went off...strobe lights flashing everywhere and a very loud beeper. I must admit that I was very impressed with their speed and accuracy. They were putting post it notes on all doors that were empty and making a check mark on them...my nurse got me up, unhooked my IV and helped me evacuate. ...

I haven't put on my totals a lot about pet food lately...there are a few reasons for that. 1) Freecycle. I have posted about this before - you can get things FREE. People are always putting on there things that they have left over after they have lost a pet or they bought a huge bag of something and their pet didn't like it. I have gotten 20# bags of dog food (less 1/2 # or so) and 7-9# bags of cat food that way, even boxes of canned cat food! 2) Homemade pet food. Yes, we tried it and made a batch. It takes work, but it do-able. 3) Table scraps. Do you have a hard time getting fido to come back in when you put him out to go potty? Let him sniff 1/2 a beef hot dog before he goes out and say "treat". When he is done, he will RUN back to the house..just don't overdo it or you will need the canine version of weight watchers, LOL! That is a few ways to avoid buying that 20# bag of Purina Dog Chow for $15 or box of 24 cans of cat food for $14...each month! ($350+ a yea...

A friend asked a GREAT question: I am finding now that Fall is here - I struggle with costs of produce. I always come upon this in the Fall and Winter when fruit is harder to come by. My budget for fruit with my kids usually close to 40 dollars; any tips with fresh fruit? The first thing that came to mind was bananas...they are ALWAYS a good price and one of the only reason's I might stop at Quick Trip to get roughly 3# for $1. But let's face it, how many bananas can you eat? Then comes banana bread, banana oatmeal cookies, bananas foster... You can feel like you are turning into a monkey! So, I did a little homework. Common sense dictates that fruit is the least expensive when it is in season...so let's take a look at what I came up with after doing an online search and talking to my friendly produce man: October: cranberries, apples, pomegranates, grapes November: cranberries, pomegranates, oranges, tangerines, pears, persimmons December: pomegranates, oranges, tangerin...