Family Fun

Catching up on pics from last month...

Our last Saturday living at Heath's parents' we decided to have some fun taking pics. I'm so excited to enlarge, edit, and crop some of these pics to put up around the house. yay.

updates:

Setting up house still here in AZ. Yay. LOVING the weather and the sky is so beautiful----blue skies do exist.

Lexi can open doors cause ALL our doors are the handle type where you just have to pull down and lean into the door. Shoot. Note: the baby door locks for that type of door---$13 each. ouch.

I've totally broken in my stores out here....shopped at walgreens tons, cvs twice, and Fry's 3 times. Doing good----lovin the deals. I've had AMAZING deals these last 2 weeks but ZERO time to post pics. Sad face. Here's some highlights: huggies wipes refill pack for .99 (savings of $5+), Huggies diapers for $3.50 a pack (wohoo!), tons of Garnier hair products FREE, gees...I could go on and on.

I'm preparing for a garage sale to sell tons of my huge stockpile of health, beauty, and cleaning items....to make a big profit----fingers crossed.

My sister's bridal shower is this Sat. in CA. Yay. I've leaving in 12 hours...

Girls night with my buddies from CA this Sat. We're going to dinner with a coupon of course then the movies to see Shopaholic! Maybe sneak in a trip to CVS and/or Walgreens. I love girls' night cause we have so much Crazy Fun. Yay---so excited Jen and Cari!!!

Cupcakes at Sam's club are only $12 for 30. Crazy. That's a good deal. Just thought I would share. AND they are yummy. I don't remember if they look good---I assume they do---I ordered them for my sister's shower. mmmm.

We're having a Play-doe and Popsicle Party this month. So fun. Jacob and I are planning to have sorta a get to know us party at our house (in the backyard while the weather is nice)...I'm so excited / scared....that nobody will come. haha. At leasy I have family in town for it...:D Can you imagine 3-4 year olds playing with playdoe and eating sticky popsicles....SWEET! My thoughts are that it sounds like good old messy fun----not at your own house----so...sounds good. I'll post the invite and the pics sometime. (when I actually choose a date, make the invites, have the party, edit and crop myself out of the pics (JK!). Ha Ha.

Heath is still working from home in our office - btw - love our office. Almost my favorite room in the house----my bedroom has the cutest decor---when its done I'll post a pic----wait, is that a tmi type of thing...I'll take a pole on that one and see what the F&Fam say. Any comments? What's not appropriate...pics of the house ok? whateva. Hmmmm

Today I like the color orange. Its making me think of orange creamsicles and the smell of orange blossoms. mmm.

princessjulie

My First Fry's Shopping Trip

21 shredded 8 oz cheese
4 packages sliced cheese
2 gallons milk
6 ½ gallons milk
8 Nabisco snack packs
6 knorr side dishes
4 valley fresh steamers
6 starkist tuna
1 cottage cheese
1 romaine lettuce
1 french bread
1 orowheat bread
4 double pack refills, electric toothbrush
4 FUZE drinks? Never tried those before.
4 4pk TP
1 6pk paper towels
4 fruit snacks
1 dozen eggs
6 4pks Yo+ yogurt
1 apple juice
4 crushed pineapple
1 danimals
1 pepperoni
1 canadian bacon
5 pizza for one
1 hand soap
4 double packs electric toothbrush refills

That might be everything…haha. I can’t find the receipt at the moment so I’m going off the picture. Can’t upload the picture for some reason. I can’t find the removable SD drive thing for my parents computer. Ugh.

Saved $158
Spent $110

Why I now love Fry’s…

The “door greeter” was so super nice to me and asked me as I wanted in the door, “Have you been to Fry’s before?” (wow!) I said no, I just moved into town TODAY and she walked me to the customer service department to get me a saving card and gave me a store ad and pointed me toward the cheese section. Sweet. GREAT customer service.

Then, MY CASHIER! She was absolutely amazing and cheered me on the whole time. I had SO MANY coupons and 2 transactions and she was a total trooper. She was patient and if something didn’t go through she just store couponed it to make sure I still got the savings. Thanks! I love it when you feel like the cashier is actually on your side, cheering for you to save money, NOT aggravated that your "paying" with coupons and getting good deals. I feel like I'm liking coupon shopping at the grocery store again, yay! (this is a good thing since I'm gunna have to start cooking---I have only cooked ONE meal in the last 3 months. Wow. My break is OVER.

Here’s the best part----in CA (if I’m remembering correctly) when you have 3 coupons that are the same for .50 off----only ONE will double to be $1 off. Here at Fry’s they double up to 3 coupons!!! Yay!!! And----sometimes they even have triple coupon days! What the stink?! Fry’s also runs a promotion where they’ll take a store coupon, ex: Target coupon for .50 off kraft, and a manuf. coupon for kraft .50 and I think they even double both….$2 off-----is that possible? Or maybe they just double the manuf. coupon and not the store coupon. But they take store coupons for other stores sometimes….crazy. I’m really going to have to pay attention at this store cause the deals and promotions are so cool.

As a side note:

I went to IKEA for the first time in my life yesterday. I have to say----that was like ENTERING ANOTHER WORLD! wow. Of course, cause I'm human....I wanted almost everything in the store and I walked out with only buying a pizza, drink, and hotdog. Gees. Good pizza tho. I think I'll be going back to buy a few things for my kids' rooms and maybe a desk? not sure. I like some of the silverware and also the little hanging storage things....you know the ones that hand from the towel rack looking thing....good for a desk area...scrap room? If I ever organize one----I'm promising myself that I'll furnish my house and kids' rooms before I work on my office. (not sure if I can stick to that....they say....the worst promise to break is a promise you make to yourself----trying to keep it)

ok---ya'll knew I couldn't be completely offline...

I'm at my mom's computer.

I picked up my keys today! yay!

I also took a video of my house and lots of pics. When I have more time I'll share :D

But here's the exciting part----I'm headed to Fry's Grocery store to stock up on the great deals they have this week. wohoo! Thanks to this cute blog...Saving Sense with Cents...all the deals were posted and coupon match ups all ready for me...Love that! Fry's is the same chain as Ralph's in Ca.

The store brand 8oz cheese is only a $1 this week----wow. I'll definitely be taking a pic of the TONS of cheese I buy. I'm trying to calculate how much cheese I use and I want to buy like a 6-12 month supply....here's my thinking...Heath and I only use the cheap cheese for SOME cooking and for all the kids' food...Heath and I really only like Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. So---maybe 30 bags will last me a year? I just don't know how much to buy. Goodness. Mmmm chicken nachos sound yummy.

TahTah for Now.

PrincessJulie

Safe Arrival in AZ. :D

Going offline----

I'll be "out of the office" for the week. Well, maybe I'll steal a few peeks at my email from my husband's work computer...but my computer is getting a facelift! Much needed. We're wiping it clean and starting fresh. Ahhhhh. Just like new. 

Also, we're moving this weekend to AZ then coming back to CA to to pick up work stuff for Heath and to get Lexi's cast off her arm. Yay! Today is the start of the adventure...I'm caravanning with my parents and kiddos to AZ to get things settled with the house. (I'm screaming with excitement inside!) 

My next post will hopefully be pictures of the house. Wohooo!

Julie

I'm a winner!!!

Thanks Shellie!

Thanks to Saving With Shellie

I'm a winner of a $10 Cold Stone gift card! Wohooo!

Check out her website HERE for more giveaways, savings tips, freebies, and coupon shopping 101. I love her simple and easy to navigate site with a totally cute logo.Check it out and leave her a comment-----tell Shellie what you think!

Shopping Shopping & More Shopping

Cost: $78 (actual cash used---$13)

This week coming up is going to be crazy for me and my little family----so----my kiddos and I did all our shopping in one trip! Yikes. We went to two Walgreens, CVS, & Vons. I wanted to run to Alberson's too but time just wouldn't allow. My kids are such troopers....everyone came home with dry clothes and clean faces...miracle. Thanks kids :D

So here's the deals...Yay....

Vons (no picture)

6 DelMonte no salt Diced Tomatoes = .50 ea + tax

$3.xx

Walgreens

4 Reynolds Rap = FREE + overage

2 Oust = $1 each

3 Dove = $1 each (only thanks to the cashier)

4 Excedrine 20ct. = FREE

8 assorted Chocolate Bars = FREE

6 Hunts Tomato Sauce (food storage-yay!) = .06 each

3 Sally Hansen Nail Polish (super nice kind) = $4.60

1 Baby Orajel gum brush & toothpaste = .59 

1 box chocolate cookies - filler = .99

$11.56 (paid with $7 RR, $5 oop)

CVS

4 packs CVS Diapers = $26

3 CVS Wipes = $6

4 7up 12 packs = $7 + crv

3 Colgate kids toothpaste = $5.25

2 Wheat Thins = $2

2 Triscuit = $2

2 CVS Meds - major need item +cvs brand filler = $8 ouch

2 Revlon Eyeliner = $4

2 Maybelline Foundation (for chelsey :D) = $5

1 chap stick - filler = $1

1 Venus Spa Embrace = $2

3 items Valentine's Clearance = $1.75

Bottle of Water (not pictured) = $1.50 + crv

*Nothing on my list was free----i had lots of ECB's to roll (spend) and i decided to use them on things like diapers, wipes, soda & crackers (for parties), & makeup for my sister. 

Total: $71.50 - 12.50 (3- $2.50 off $12 cvs brand, 1- $5 off $30) = $59

Paid mostly with ECB's and a gift card...so the tax was super small.

including tax ...

$61 (pd $59 in ECB's and gift card, remaining in cash)

$2 oop

wohooo----that includes medicine & diapers! 

I love paying with RR & ECB's from the drug stores----i 'earn' money shopping there all the time so when i use the money i earned to buy stuff i need it totally makes the deals even sweeter----yay! 

And I still have $ for Next Trip :D 

Current count is $33 ECB's and $3.xx on a gift card. 

Moving Date is 2/27/09 Yay!

We found a great rental home in Maricopa AZ. Its 2315 sq.feet, 4 bedroom/2 bath, great appliances, large yard and driveway, great community, and within 4 minutes from CVS, Walgreens, Fry's (grocery store), Stephan & Tenille (bro and wife), My parents, and tons of parks! Great news----Walmart is coming too! More like 10 min away tho. 

And....drumroll....$285 cheaper than my tiny apartment in Corona. Wohoo!

So excited.  :D

I'll post moving pictures and fun stuff as things progress. 

For all the family out there----I'll email you my new address and phone numbers when we get settled.

Albertson's 12.95

Super fast trip to Alberson's tonight with my husband and kids in the car...

After sales, promotions, and coupons...

2 Transactions

10 Progresso Soup = 2.50

I wish progresso LIGHT was on sale.

8 Campbells Soup at Hand = 4.00

2 Sunkist Tuna Pouch = 3.00 (filler item)

2 Alta Dena Milk = 3.00

1 Diet Dr Pepper = Free 

+tax .45

Total:

$12.95

Saved:

$49

Yay! 

Soup & tuna are great for food storage! So excited about this deal :D

Note: I decided to limit my internet printed coupons and use the newspaper coupons I already have. I could have saved about $5 more if I had used more internet coupons----but I didn't really want to deal with it----totally out of character for me. Also, I was worried that the cashier would tell me something crazy like 'only 3 internet coupons' or something like that.