*Hopefully* this ends my blog neglect!

I'm pretty sure it's time to end my blog hiatus!  I blame pregnancy and a newborn, but maybe I've just gotten lazy too.  I haven't abandoned my couponing, but I did have a few "off" weeks.  I went to Publix and Kroger this morning, and I was able to get some pretty good deals with coupons that were soon expiring.  Between the two stores, I spent $73.37 and saved $81.48.  Nothing makes me happier than saving more than I spend!  

Some of the freebies were: free baby oatmeal (Publix baby club coupon), 2 free Lady Speed Deodorants (Publix coupon free wyb Kotex U), 2 free Publix baby wipes (Publix baby club coupon b1g1), 2 free Kotex U (Publix baby club coupon b1g1), free Kraft Mac and Cheese (manufacturer's coupon from Facebook), free baby carrots (Kroger mailer), free frozen vegetable (Kroger mailer).  

Some of the other pretty good deals were 2 boxes of Cheerios for $1.50 each, Knorr Pasta Sides for $0.50/each, 2 Resolve sprays for $0.50/each, and 2 Weiman cook top cleaners for $1.00 each (hoping the spray works as well as the creme cleaner!), Pampers for $4.99 (Publix $2.00 off coupon and manufacturer's coupon for $2.00), and Huggies big pack wipes for $3.69 (Publix coupon for $1.50 off and manufacturer's coupon for $0.40 which doubled).

With two little boys, I try to snatch up any great deals on stain removers, so getting Resolve for $0.50 was fantastic!!  Looking forward to the making it through a day without getting pooped on, peed on, or spit-up on!

Ethan and Landon

I know it's been ages since I updated my blog, but I wanted to share pictures of my new baby boy, Ethan Caleb, and my big boy, Landon, too!  My sisters did pictures of the boys when they were here last weekend, and they turned out so amazing!

Landon and Newborn Ethan

Ethan Caleb

Five days old

How much did I save in a year of couponing?

Okay, first I want to clarify that I'm definitely not an "extreme couponer."  I decided last August to start recording each of my grocery and drug store trips on a spreadsheet to document how much I was spending and saving.  

So, one year later, I totaled everything up, and I was pretty excited.  I saved $3,700.00, and I spent $3,400.00 in one year.  This includes groceries, diapers, paper products, cleaning supplies, and personal care products, pretty much everything except for clothes. =)

I know this isn't as good as some people who have negative balances at the end of each transaction, but I was pretty excited.  This inspires me to see if I can do better next year!!  

A Much-Needed Update!

I have been horribly neglectful lately when it comes to keeping up with my blog!  I am back to babysitting full-time, a 4-month-old and an 11-month-old, so that ties up several of my weekday hours!  I plan to babysit after my new baby too, so I will certainly be more than busy then!  I think babysitting will be my "job" until my boys are in school, and I can return to the workforce full-time.  I'm not the type of woman to sit around unoccupied!  Thankfully weekends are for us, but the hubby has been working Saturdays lately, so Landon and I go grocery shopping.

We have been working very hard to stay on track with our baby steps!  Feels like some of them *ahem, step 3* are taking forever though!  But we know all of our sacrificing now will pay off later!!

I am also getting back to my "gazelle-like" intensity with couponing.  It is truly the only way that I can make my money stretch as far as I want it to.  Sadly, I've had to bump my budget up to $80.00/week for groceries, paper goods, diapers, cleaning products, and personal care items.  Lately, Walgreens has been going above and beyond!  I have scored some amazing deals there in the last couple weeks with coupons!  I was able to get 4 packs of Cottonelle 12 packs for $1.75 each, and I recently got 4 of the 216-count packs of Huggies baby wipes for $1.87 total. I just wish I'd snagged more while I was there!  So, drugstores are such an awesome way to save if you stack  their coupons with manufacturer's coupons!  It has been so fantastic to see other friends and relatives start to coupon too!  It is addictive! ;-)

So, that's our life in a nutshell right now, just saving and working hard!!  On a funny note, while we were in CVS the other day, Landon was browsing through the ad, and as a guy walked by he said, "Already looking for bargains."  Haha, yep he will probably be looking for bargains as soon as he can read. =)

It's a BOY!

We found out today that we're having another boy!!!!!!!

This Week's Grocery Shopping

I'm not ecstatic over my grocery shopping week, but I feel that I'm doing MUCH better than the past couple of months.  I don't think that I had the energy for it my entire first trimester, and thus defaulted back to Wal-Mart, and no savings whatsoever!  Over and over, I've learned that the key is going to multiple stores, including the drug stores, if you want savings.  I went to Kroger, Publix, CVS, and Rite Aid this week, and I spent $69.07 and saved $75.09.  I didn't photograph all of my trips, just my Saturday trip to Publix with my little helper. ;-)

This week Rite Aid has Pampers Cruisers on sale for $9.99 and $4.00 in UP rewards, so I bought two packs for $14.38 using two $1.50 off coupons and saved $13.00.  That doesn't include $4.00 in UP rewards for future transactions.  

I went to CVS because I had a raincheck to get $7.99 in ECB when you buy Complete contact solution, so I did that.  I also had a coupon from red machine for $3.00 off of $15.00, so I got some grocery items that we could use like peanut butters, graham crackers, etc.  In all, I spent $11.50 and saved $19.53.  That does't include $2.00 ECB for later.  Oh, and I got 2 more free toothbrushes.  These stores are racking up the free toothbrush sales lately!!  

My Kroger trip doesn't really warrant talking about, nothing great happened there, lol.  My Publix trip was pretty great, even though they no longer take Target or drug store coupons. Poo!!  I spent $19.56 and saved $37.24.  They have ALL of their Kellogg's cereals 50% off today and tomorrow, so I was able to get three boxes of Special K for $1.60/each!  I would've stocked up a bit more, but my budget was dwindling quickly!  :)  I had a free coupon for JIF peanut butter to-go packages, so that saved $2.19.  We love Smuckers jams around here, so I always love their B1G1 sales on them.  I got 4 jars for $1.15/each, not bad when they're usually $3.39.  So I think that highlights all my good deals this week.  Not a ton of freebies, but we're getting back into the swing of things!  It seems like it's getting harder and harder to get everything that we need each week with $60.00- I actually bumped it up to $70.00 this week.  

The only downfall of my shopping this week?  I got home and realized that I hadn't bought any produce whatsoever! :-(

Weekend Fun!

Wanted to share some pictures from our weekend.  We wanted to do something Landon-friendly, so we took him to downtown Savannah.  Shortly after we moved here, we discovered that downtown Savannah has tons of squares with parks and other family-friendly stuff.  We took Landon to Ellis Square where there are tons of fountains for kids to play in.  He was a tad scared at first, but then he had a B-L-A-S-T!  Literally, I don't think I've ever seen him happier!  Afterwards we walked down River Street, got ice cream cones, and watched a ship come up the river.  It's amazing how much fun you can have (for free) with those you love! :)

Huge container ship coming into the ports

So much fun!

This was him when he was still contemplating.... :)