Saving Money - Stocking Up

What Great Deals we have this week at Fry's!

I decided to buckle down and devote some time to my couponing to stock up on everyday items to save our family LOTS of money!

A few ladies at my work meet once a week and we swap coupons. It is great and I often get what I need and stock up on coupons for multiple purchases.

I made a quick stop at Safeway to get 6 items that I had matching coupons for that gave me a great deal and then I did the bulk at Fry's.

Here's my stash! $187.26 worth of products. I paid $41.11 with a total savings of $146.15.

Most of the items are every day products that we all use and most of these products I can stock up on without them going bad.  Here is what I bought:

• 4 - 12 pk. sodas
• 2 1/2 gallon ice cream
• 4 Colgate Toothbrushes (Free)
• 2 Colgate toothpaste
• 2 Crest Vivid Toothpaste
• 4 L.A Product Hair Gel (Free)
• 3 Febreeze Room Sprays
• 2 Febreeze Air Set and Refresh (Donated to Science teacher for class)
• 2 Dawn dish detergent
• 1 Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
• 1 A-1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Heinz Ketchup
• 1 Mezzetta Peppercinis
• 10 Gillette Shaving Cremes
• 3 Gillette Men's Body Wash
• 1 Old Spice Body Wash
• 6 Old Spice Deodorants
• 8 Secret Women's Deodorants

Preparing to organize. I am slightly over the top with making things look organized.

Our stockpile of deodorants.

After seeing this picture I decided I really need to make all my labels match. I know I have a problem.

So here's the deal.  Get your Sunday paper every Sunday. Cut all the coupons out even if you are not going to use them this week. You never know when it will go on sale and you might be able to get a great deal before they expire.

If you haven't seen this blog I did on coupons and my binder check it out Here !!

So after I got everything organized last night I took an inventory of what we have on hand.  You might ask what someone would do with all of this stuff? Well, we donate some to the school, soldiers, and we do Christmas Angels at Christmas and make their stockings so we also put goodies in their stockings like I would my own kids.

I LOVE saving money but getting to also give back at the same time.  Take a moment, check with your friends, co-workers, and family to see if anyone would want to do a coupon swap with you!

Also, keep your eye open for peelie coupons, tear pad coupons, and often times different stores will have different booklets that also contain coupons.

I found this coupon book at Fry's yesterday while I was there. I picked up a few and the coupons are manufacturer coupons so you can use them at other stores. PLUS they don't expire until 12/31/12 so I can hold on to them and wait till the best sale to get the most savings!

Couponing can be confusing and it can seem overwhelming but I promise you the more you do it the easier it is to navigate. Give it a try and you will be amazed at how much money you will save your family!



Flip Flop Frugal Find!

 getting to be HOT once again here in Southern AZ!

I will admit I can wear my flip flops all year long out here but when it is summer whew - I need my Flip-Flops!

I need to give a Big Thank you to my friend Mindy! As I was on the way to the mall she said oh don't forget about the dollar flip flops at Old Navy!

What?! $1.00 Flip Flops?

Well there was a limit to 5 pairs each and I had 3 kids and me, so you guessed it! We all bought 5 pairs and then divided them up when we got home.

A girl can never have too many pairs of flip flops.

I got a great idea from Raven over at A Mommas Desires and Pacifiers she found some adorable flip flops and they were super expensive!

She had a great idea to make our own!

I found these flip flops - which are super cute but run over $60! For Flip Flops?

We have been working on our own flip flops - I am pretty sure I only have $1.00 invested and I already had some of these crystals!

I took my white pair and decided to give it a little bling!

Love my glue gun! It is so good for so many things!

I decided to only bling out the top part since I figure I might end up popping the jewels off! I hope not we will see how it goes! They are super cute!

Remember my closet shoe organizer? Still using it and loving it with all my new flip flops in it!

Haley got in on the action as well! She took an older pair of flip flops and added some design to update the look! They turned out so cute!

Saving Time and Money

It seems now days pretty much you can go anywhere and hear people talking about gas prices!

I just want to say I can't stand pumping gas!

I am slowly trying to teach my tweens how to pump gas - they need to learn - and it will be so nice when I don't have to get out of the car to do it myself!

For me this hurt! I can't say I didn't have this coming to me - Remember I got a new Pathfinder? Yes, I am thrilled but getting used to the gas prices is taking a little bit of time.

I think we can all use some reminders on how to save money on gas and in return this saves us time and makes us more efficient! I LOVE efficiency but I just haven't been very efficient lately.

1. Take some of the weight out of your vehicle.

2. Watch how you accelerate and brake. The more you accelerate quickly then break then accelerate and so on the more gas that is used. Smooth riding seems to better.

3. Plan your trips. Instead of making multiple trips into town make a list of everything needed and try to reduce the number of trips needed to get tasks accomplished.

4. I live in AZ so this isn't very practical most of the times but when it is I do turn off my AC. This require more power which uses more gas.

Just a few tips!

Another way to save time when dealing with your vehicles is a safe all purpose cleaner!

I love my new Pathfinder and I want to take really good care of it! I have already had to clean it and I haven't had it a month! It is a matter of time with kids right?

I use the Shaklee Basic H2 All purpose Organic Cleaner! It works great for cleaning my exterior, the vinyl, plastic, and I can use it for cleaning the carpets and seats!

I really do love this stuff! It is good for the environment and your house and cars! By having one cleaner that is safe for everything I don't have to waste time by working with different cleaners!

I love these products are so safe and this company does not test on animals!

Check it out at Lawson's Healthy Living - My Shaklee Site



Wishing I Could Go Pink!

 I am a pink kind of girl! I can't help it - I love it, I love things that sparkle, I am just a GIRL!

I wish the slogan was going PINK instead of going GREEN but that is OK I will still do my darnest that I can to try to live a healthy life and leave as little of an impact on our Earth that I can. I know I am talking about Green a lot this week and my love for Shaklee alot but since we are leading into Earth Day I really wanted to provide you with all the great ideas that I try to follow.

Not everyone in our house believes in this as much as me but I am trying to make a small difference because I feel that is better than no difference.

Get Clean and Go Green!

Products I have used for years and after researching found out I might be getting the dirt out of my clothes but I was adding toxic chemicals to them.

This is what my laundry cleaning consists of now. Products that contain no phosphates and uses natural enzymes to clean. It is formulated for both regular and HE washing machines. This products is triple concentrated and the small bottle works for 32 loads!

These fabric sheets are unlike anything I have ever used. There are no harsh chemicals and they are vegetables based.  They are non-toxic, bio-degradable sheets, and during the drying cycle the sheets split in two pieces for evenly distribution. They are awesome!

For tough really dirty loads I will use the Nature Bright Laundry Booster. This is great for those really tough loads but the detergent alone still works wonders!

Shaklee doesn't test their products on animals in any way! Just another reason I love Shaklee products!

Don't pass up this Earth Day special Opportunity!  Please Visit My Shaklee Website for Lawson's Healthy Living to take advantage of this awesome opportunity! If you are interested in not just buying and using but being an Independent Distributor please feel free to Email Me and I can tell you all the great perks on top of using great products. No minimums EVER!

Energy Saving Tips Post 2

This week was super nice! For the most part we were in the 70's during the day so the house stayed comfortable and it was nice and cool at night! My favorite!  Today it started getting warmer and by Friday it is going to be 94! Yikes! April 1st it's gonna be 90? I love hot weather but come on April 1st?

Well here are some more tips we do to try to save energy, resources, and money!

I have talked about doing laundry before, but I wanted to show that for most loads I will use the express wash with cold/cold. If it isn't something that needs a super heavy duty cleaning this cycle gets the job done, we are using cold water (gas bill is lower) and less energy is used because it is a shorter cycle.

Kind of a weird picture but I wanted to show that when we need extra sun light I turn the blinds open. I love lots of light in the house but others in my house not necessarily. But if you open too many blinds then the heat from the outside heats the house up. So normally I will only open the window for the room I am in. It's plenty of light to read, do chores, etc.

Weird picture? Well this is my shower and if you look close enough you can see the reflection of my window in the mirror. Now, I only open the blinds enough to let light in and I make sure they are tilted in a way that the passers by don't get a free peep show! This time of year it is getting lighter and lighter earlier in the morning and I don't need LOTS of light to shower myself (I am pretty sure after 33 years I know where everything is at I need to wash lol).

Well I have unruly hair so to get it sleek and shiny I do need to blow dry it or I walk around with terrible bed head (and not that hot sexy kind the Victoria Secret models can pull off). So when I am blow drying my hair I also keep my lights turned off in the bathroom. I have 6 light bulbs and they put off a lot of heat (makes me need more AC) they use energy, and honestly I can brush and dry my hair without all the extra light. Now putting my make up on is a little different but this normally doesn't take long and I have already kept the lights off for probably 20-30 minutes between the shower and blow drying. For the record I try to not blow dry every morning - cuts down on energy, help save my hair, and helps on time.

More to come! We are working on going as green as possible in our house!!

Energy Savings in Arizona! Seems like an Oxymoron!

Well as many of you may know I do live in Arizona! Yesterday was my birthday and it was the first day of 2011 that we hit 90 degrees! Wowzers!

My family loves the winter time out here and so does my bank account! We don't use our heating system very often in the winter because we like our house cold - I mean COLD! We love to sleep in the cold and if we are chilly we will put blankets on us around the house. We do draw the line at about 60-62 degrees and if it is that cold I will kick the heat on to 65 and then it gets turned off. We had a very odd frigid snap back in February and we had the heat on for several days straight but other than that we save LOTS of energy in the winter.

We have lived in AZ for almost 4 years and this past summer was our worst in regards to energy and our utilities! My July electric bill hit $394.00!! Yes that is correct! I decided we needed to do something drastic! I love my washer and dryer and I have all sorts of settings to choose from. But none that says let's save lots of money!

So I bought a clothes drying rack.

These racks are not expensive and the one I have here I paid about $10.00 last summer and I will be picking up a second rack very soon! I actually am using the rack today since we are back in the upper 80's and a nice breeze. These clothes will dry very quickly!  I personally would love to have a clothes line but I have the strictest HOA in the world and I just don't want to deal with it.  The racks have wheels so I can roll it in and out of the house very easily. The first month I used the rack our electric bill dropped $80.00 and we were having the same type of temperatures. I will hang up almost everything except underwear and socks and sometimes a few other items. The towels I will often throw in for a few minute fluff on no heat. My husband's work uniforms also need to be dried. I will put over any underwear and socks and then run another load. I will not start the dryers until I have run at least 2 loads through the washer so I can accumulate enough "dryer" items to run the dryer. I love it because I am saving MONEY but I am also saving energy which is good for the world we live in!

To also save on money we have a programmable thermostat.

During the day we won't let it get above 77 because by the time we get home it takes forever for the house to cool down. As you can see it is currently 70 in our house and it is almost noon. This is from the overnight hours. I will be very honest - we like a COLD house and because the thermostat is upstairs it can be tough to get the temperature to be 70 at night like we like to sleep. A MAJOR part of our electric bill comes from our AC unit. We are trying to get better acclimated but since my husband works outside all day long every day we refuse to be miserable in the house so we have to find other ways to cut down on energy to drop our bill.

We do have a programmable dishwasher as well. From the research I have done using the dishwasher uses less water and sanitizes the dishes as well. Depending on the type of load and how dirty the dishes are etc. will depend on the time of wash I will run. Normally though it is a normal wash with no special heated dry or hot wash etc. If someone is sick in the house I will kick in the hot wash to make sure the water is super hot to kill the germs (may not be true but makes me feel better). Other than that I see no reason in using more hot water.

As you can see in the picture above this isn't quiet a full load. The kids are normally responsible for the dishes and in teaching them responsibilities I also am teaching them to load it correctly so we can make the best of the space we have so we don't have to run as many loads. The dishwasher must be full before we will run a load. This cuts down on water and energy.

I have always said the suns direct rays are so HOT out here in AZ.  For instance it can be 100 degrees at night with the sun down but it is comfortable enough to sit outside on the porch. However, if the sun is out you feel like you are baking in the sun. One area in our house that I notice a lot of heat is the loft upstairs.

For this very large window we have installed thick blinds and then this curtain will close all the way and it is a dark brown curtain and it is very thick. When we put this up it reduced the heat in the loft a lot and this is also where our thermostat is so that helps not having the unit run all the time because this area of the house stays so warm.

These are just a few things we do to help save on energy costs and also in our efforts to start going "green" to help save the resources we have on our planet. Not too mention it helps save some of the green stuff in my bank account! I hope to be sharing more on the ways we work to save money, energy, and our efforts to be going green and natural!

FREE Stuff??

Who doesn't like Free Stuff? I wanted to share some deals that I found at Money Saving Mom for Target!

I thought really Target?? I can get free stuff at Target? Don't get me wrong I love Target, I love the store, I love their stuff, I love Target!

So I decided on my lunch hour I would run down to Target because I needed to pick up some birthday invitations and this is what I got!

I was able to get 3 boxes of granola bars, 2 travel size of Shout Wipes, One box of 24 count Ibuprofen, and One package of dental floss for a grand total of $.09!!!! Seriously people it can't get much closer than free!

Check it out and let me know if you get any great deals!

Are You Running Out of Gas?

Are you running out of Gas? Or maybe just buying gas to put in your car makes you want to run outside and scream! I know that we are all feeling the pinch as the gas prices start to climb. I drive a Jetta and I actually get really good gas mileage around 28-32 mpg.

My husband on the other hand drives a Ford F150 Supercab and as you can imagine he doesn't get such good gas mileage. I honestly haven't even asked him but he has to fill up about once a week and this last time it was over $72.00! So when it takes more money to fill the gas tank something else will have to give. I saw this picture and thought it was great and wanted to share!

I was totally cracking  up when I saw this picture but it really does feel this way sometimes when we are left standing at the pump. I wanted to share some advice I have received over the years and some of this information can be found on many websites if you just google about conserving gas.

1. First make sure you have taken any unnecessary weight out of your car. I used to have all sorts of junk in my trunk (lol) but I then took it out when I realized that it was more weight to drive around and I would burn more gas.
2. Make sure you know where the cheapest gas is sold. There are 2 places right beside where I work and one was selling the lowest grade for $3.39 a gallon and the one across the street was $3.09 a gallon! That can really start to make an impact over time.  Just in one fill up for my husbands 24 gallon take it would be a difference of $7.20 which over the course of a month is a difference of $28.80 which is enough savings to fill up my car once that month. So when you expand over a year that is a lot of savings.
3. Check your air filter. I try to be a responsible car owner but I will admit that is one thing I often count on my husband for. I hadn't changed it in forever and he got on me about it. When I got it replaced my gas mileage increased from about 23 mpg to about 28-32 mpg.
4. I do keep a check on my tire pressure just because you should but I have also been told that this can effect your gas mileage so ladies (and gents) keep an eye on your tire pressure!
5. Combine your shopping trips. I have to do this alot and I will be honest when gas isn't so bad sometimes I don't give as much thought and I should. However, because I live a good distance outside the city I try to think of everything to do at once. And honestly I try to do it while I am already in town at work. I do like to get out on the weekends but I have been trying to cut that down (1) because of gas prices and (2) unnecessary shopping is spending money I should be trying to save. So make a list of all the place you know you need to go to during the week and try to work out a system so there is as little back tracking as possible.
6. Everyone always talks about this but it is TRUE - CARPOOL, if you can of course. It is very difficult for me to carpool because with kids I feel like I need to be ready to leave at a moments notice if they get sick, hurt, etc. However, carpooling can drastically cut down on the expense of gas plus it is better for our environment.  Michael really tries to carpool when he can but lately it hasn't been as feasible but I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will be able to at least once a week because it does add up.

I am sure there are a lot more tips and tricks out there and I encourage you to check into it. It saves your wallet and it saves the environment. I always love hearing your ideas so if you have some good ones please pass them on. If we are paying $3.39 in February can you imagine what June and July will be like?!



TAX Time and Tips

So I am going to start off by saying I am not a CPA, nor do I want to be so always double check with your accountant or the IRS don't just take my word for it!


Ok, now that my little disclaimer is out of the way, let me tell you how much I dread tax season!


I have always done our taxes until the last year.  With it being a good problem to have we had entered into a more complex situation and decided it was in our best interest to have an accountant do our taxes starting last year. It was the best decision we ever made! (well at least one of them).


I had been working the numbers and at best I had us still owing about $1000.00 by the time he got done with our numbers and asked us lots of questions we no longer owed money but actually got some back. We were thrilled no matter the amount just to now owe.


He provided us with some information about things we would want to track especially since my husband is law enforcement there are a lot of things that are tax deductible for us that we had no idea. So I developed or shall I say tweaked the system I already had.

I call this my life! It is my life in a note book. I do not carry a check registry, I keep all the documentation right here in this little notebook.

As you can tell the  notebook has several pocket holders and dividers. The first section I keep important things like bills, receipts, my tracking sheet for paying bills off (which is the sheet that you can see says Feb). I have all our bills listed out with the approximate bill due and the due date and they are split in two by pay days (basically the 1st and the 15th - this started back when my husband was in the military). I check off each bill as I pay it so I can visually see a reminder that bill has been paid.


Behind the first section I then have what some would call a check register. It's just on notebook paper and it is easier for me to track and write down.


There is another divider with tabs and this is where I keep important information like phone numbers, VIN and license numbers for our cars and drivers (I get asked for this more than you would think), mileage rates to common destinations (you will need this a lot for tax purposes).

Here is how I list the places that I frequent enough to list them. For instance as you can see I  have our Dr.'s listed for each of us (and this is not in OCD order but for now it has to get the trick done). I also have places we would purchase work supplies, school donations, and prescriptions. These are common for a lot of people and I track the mileage one-way because I know I can multiply by 2 because we always have a round trip to get the stuff (not sure if this is the best way but it is how I do it.)


As we make purchases or go to the Dr. throughout the year I keep everything! I document on the top of the receipt or paper what it is for so I can track it better. FYI - the receipts they print out now often have all the ink erased by the end of the year so I will circle or bracket the item and then write the total at the top.

I take this information that I have collected and I put it into a spreadsheet at least once a quarter - trust me do not wait until the end of the year or you will want to pull your hair out! There are always last minute things that I have to scramble to get and I was so thankful this year that I had updated my spreadsheet at least quarterly. 


I keep track of all my receipts in my file folder. I have a file folder for each year and they are not expensive at all.

Inside of the file folder I normally section it off in corresponding sections to my spreadsheet.

Although you can see the tab that says medical - in my spreadsheet I will separate the medical out per person in our house to just be very clear on the expenses. I also have all the charity going into one file but I also have to separate this out to actual items or money donated or the value of items such as the totals of when I donate items to Goodwill or Salvation Army. These are entered into the tax worksheet separately and it makes it easier for our accountant. 


Some things we hadn't considered (but glad I kept the receipt) was the insulation we bought for the inside of our garage door. It was Energy Star certified and was a tax deduction we could take under home improvements. It wasn't a huge amount but I figure every little bit counts and I am glad I kept that receipt. 


My spreadsheet broken down:


Medical - each person has a sheet within the spreadsheet workbook.
Charity Items - again cash or donated items (exact cost to buy and donate) and then a separate sheet for the used items donated to places such as Goodwill.
Michael's Work Expenses 
Shanna's Work Expenses


I do go ahead and put the formula in the spreadsheet because it will add my totals and mileage as I go so I don't have to do manually. 


I am so glad I have been doing this because our accountant said this year our tax return figures were a direct result of my hard work all year long tracking expenses.