A Little Piece Of Heaven

I think this was an exceptional week for deals. I probably won't always be able to get this much for $5. I went to 3 different stores for these deals. Milk and hot chocolate was at Dillon's, Chex at Wal-Mart and the soup was from Walgreen's. Here is how it breaks down:

Have you ever heard of these new playaways? They are like books on tape/CD only they come in a little MP3 looking thing. You don't have to change tapes or CD's it's all in the player. I love using them because I am a major multi-tasker. I can now read my books and do housework at the same time. I can't just sit and fold laundry without something else occupying my mind. We recently got them at our local library. They don't have a huge assortment of titles yet but are getting new ones in every week. If you want to spend the money you can go right to the playaway website and buy your own. I noticed on their website that they even have the bible. What a good way to get your scripture reading in for the day! Now if they only had the Book of Mormon, maybe some day.

I just wanted to share this different way of cooking bacon. I saw it on America's Test Kitchen on PBS a few years ago. It tasted so yummy! I really like it because I don't like the fat rubbery spots when it is pan fried. Baking it in the oven gives it a better fully cooked texture. The only bad thing about it is you may have to clean your oven more often since bacon splatters so much. So here is how you do it if anyone is interested:

Set oven at 400 degrees. Lay out all the bacon you can fit on a big cookie sheet and cook for 7 minutes then open the oven and turn the tray around (so it cooks more evenly) and cook for 7 more minutes. (if you have thick cut bacon it will take longer) That's it you're done!

In the last 3 months or so (since I have been using coupons) I have really been trying to build up our food storage. I only have a closet of a pantry and little freezer but I know it's really important to have a storage. It is something that is really emphasized in our church. There have been so many hard times for us in the past that I have wished we had a bigger storage of food. So with that being said, I have decided to do this $5/week plan I found on the Idea Door's website. I don't plan on following their list of food items to buy because we don't eat all of it. I really like the concept though. I think I can make out really well with combining this plan with using coupons and stocking up on the things that are on sale. I know this is not anything amazing yet but here is a list of the items and prices of all I have been able to stock up on:

15 quart jars applesauce (free from a friend, payback for babysitting)
11 jars peanut butter 1.99/jar = $21.89 saved $5.61
12 box's Ronzoni pasta .50/box = $6.00 $12.00
9 box's hamburger helper .67/box = $6.03 saved $9.72
5 Betty Crocker cookie pouches .70/pouch = $3.50 saved $6.45
12 Betty Crocker potato pouches .30/pouch = $3.60 saved $8.40
7 cans progresso .90/can = $6.30 saved $9.45
7 cans tomato soup .50/can = $3.50 saved $1.75
16 cans hunt's tomatoes .34/can = 5.92 saved $14.08!
3 cans cream of chicken .69 = $2.07 saved nothing :(
4 jars spaghetti .75/can $3.00 saved $4.00
4 muffin mixes 1.00/pouch $1.00 = $4.00 saved nothing :(
3 bottles mayo 2.25/jar $6.75 saved 3.75
8 envelopes taco seasoning .40/env = $3.20 saved $4.72
8 pouches Krorr noodles & rice sides .70/pouch=$5.60 saved $10.32
20 liters water (free, I fill up empty pop bottles with tap water)

Baking stuff: (stuff I already had, except the sugar, before coupons)
6 lbs salt
4 lbs brown sugar
4 lbs powdered sugar
20 lbs (5 4lb bags) granulated sugar 1.77/bag = $8.85 Retail 2.29/bag $11.45 savings $2.60
10 lbs whole wheat flour
10 lbs flour
5 lbs corn meal
2 big peanut butter sized jars honey (free from Mom & Dad)
3 lbs shortning
2 bottles active dry yeast

My total spent OOP: $90.21
Retail value: $200.10
Total saved: $109.89 That's over 50 percent in savings!


This is a partial list of some of the things that I would like to find some good deals on to have in my storage so if anyone knows of any good deals on these I would love to hear about it:

waffle syrup
ketchup
more sugar
more flour
mandarin oranges
salad dressing
canned veggies
canned milk
more sugar
chocolate chips
corn syrup
cooking oil
more cream of chicken

I dragged my kids in their costumes to the Old Navy Freaky Fun Day today and I am so glad we went! When we got there we were given a $5 off purchase coupon so I got all my kids (except baby) a $1 Halloween T-shirt and a couple reg ones for me. Plus they got coupons for a free graphic tee! So we ended up with 10 T-shirts valued at $63 for $2.50! It was fun for me but the kids were disappointed that they didn't get any candy so I gave them some from our stash at home. :)

I just got an award, I am so flattered!! Thank you April from LiTtLe ApRiL BiG wOrLd

OK, I have an update to my last post about the Kmart deal. I found 5 more of the B1G1 glade warmer coupons in the local newspaper recycling place, so I HAD to go back! Rolling my previous catalina's, I cleaned out both local KMart's and have 20 glade plug-in's only paying less than $10 oop AND I have a total of $44 in free money!! I am so proud of myself! Tomorrow is my son's birthday so I used them on some b-day present's. I will put up a picture of them tomorrow.

I am soooo excited about this purchase because I only spent .89 out of pocket and I earned $19 in catalinas. The glade scented oil warmers are the reason I was able to do this. Kmart has a deal right now that if you buy a warmer ($4.19) the register will print out a $4 of anything at the store catalina coupon. I had some b1g1 coupons so I can keep rolling the coupons any buying all the warmers I want. So far I have 10 of them. I also got a $3/3 johnson and johnson coupon which is what I used to buy the Johnson's buddies they are only .99 regularly so I can get as many free ones of those as I want, I still have 19 coupons for that too. I am excited because I can use those coupons to buy some free B-day presents for Brandon

We were just playing around with the camera during Brandon's soccer practice and these are the wonderful pictures that we took.
Brandon was taking a break getting a drink of water while Sierra and Ashley were practicing their gymnastic skills and Dana was just hanging out in her stroller eating crackers.

Brandon fell off his bike last night and landed on his face. The swelling has gone down some but it still hurts. I feel so bad for the little guy!