Messy Face

During a much enjoyable chicken nugget, apple fries, and chocolate milk meal at the Mall of America. YUMMMM!!! Dip-dip sauce!

21 Months Old !

Hooley cow, how did this happen? These pictures are definitely getting more challenging to take...this month features one of Cody's favorite snack foods! And no, I don't normally let him eat in his bedroom, but he found one of my bad habits that I do at my computer desk. Oops! :)

No stats to share ~ Cody doesn't go back to the doctor until he's 2 years old. But, he seems to be growing & is definitely getting more difficult to lug around. Good thing he's mastering going up and down big steps (like the porch and in the garage)...and can go up and down regular stairs with only a grip of our fingers. That's not to say I trust him enough to do it on his own...he's had a face plant a time or too. Poor thing.

We sure are enjoying him.

Amazon.com

Hi all!

I know that I have been finding a ton of great deals on electronics at Amazon this year. With free shipping and no tax, it is hard for other stores & retailers to beat their prices.

If you are thinking about buying from them and don't have any other discount links, please consider shopping through this link. I will get a teeny portion of the purchases that you make.

Thanks for reading :)

Drywall ... Done!

Woohoo! Another step in our basement project is complete. The drywall is completely hung, taped, mudded, and sanded! And paid for! Hooray! I snapped a few quick pictures when I had to go down to the dust-dungeon to get in the freezer. Sorry, they're not the greatest photos but the light is not too good down there.

Next step -- picking out paint colors. Oh...I'm in trouble!

(Guest room)

Dust, anyone?

Storage room

Ceiling in stairway

Deal Shopping

I've posted a few of my triumphs on social networking sites & have received many questions like "HOW DID YOU DO THAT??!!?" So, by popular demand, here's a few...okay, ten!... basics of deal shopping from my perspective.

1. You can use both a Target store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon the same item. Double up for double savings! Use on a sale price or better yet, a clearance price, and you're in luck!!

2. Most Cub Foods accept mftg coupons 3 months past their expiration date.

3. Subscribe to the Sunday paper, not for the liberal articles (ha) but the coupons! They've more than paid for the $1.25/week (or less) subscription price.

4. Wal-Mart and Target both price match. You have to take the entire competitor's flyer in and usually do the transaction at the Customer Service counter. The Disney movie deal was actually the first time I've ever price-matched, but it worked perfectly!!

5. Print mftg coupons online. There are sooooo many printable coupons online now! The main sites are coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com Typically you can print 2 copies of each coupon by hitting the "back" button after printing your first set. This is 2 coupons per computer so if you have multiple computers, go all out! They put new coupons out all the time and sometimes refresh the coupons monthly so you can re-print the same coupons again.

6. Target has grocery & other coupons on their website at the bottom of their website - "Grocery Coupons". Unfortunately they just changed their policy and you can only print 2 of each now. BOO. It used to be unlimited and I got sooooo many awesome deals with these. Still, you can print 2 of each, so I'm grateful for that!

7. There are some great deals to be had at Walgreens with their Register Rewards program. My bathroom cabinet is completely STOCKED with tons of absolutely free toothpaste, shampoo, dental floss, feminine products, razors, etc. At times, they even PAID me to take it out of the store!! CVS Pharmacy also has a similar program but I've never tried it. I am busy enough with deal shopping as it is! See #10 for more info.

8. Stock up on items when they are on sale & you have coupons! I scored 12 packs of Diet Coke for $1.50 each back in August. We are JUST coming to the end of the stockpile now. I probably bought 12-15 packs. I think Gordon was appalled but I know deep down he was grateful :) Considering these are $4+ if not on sale, I knew I needed to stock up. I haven't seen that good of a price on Diet Coke since then. Also back in the summer, I also bought several pkgs of American cheese for literally pennies; they had a long shelf life and we are just coming up on our last package. We go thru quite a bit for breakfast sandwiches & grilled cheese, so that was another good find. My point - stock up when it's time!

9. Buy store-brands. Often these are virtually the same as the brand name; sometimes they even taste/perform better!! Even though store brands don't typically have coupons, often the price is lower than the brand name less coupon amount.

10. Finally, I think I have learned the most about deal shopping from various deal blogs online. These are almost always ran by stay-at-home moms and I have gleaned sooooo much knowledge from them. I have my friend Wendy to thank for showing me so many of these. Here are my three favorites that I visit on a weekly basis....okay, who am I kidding ~ daily! They also have good tutorials on the Walgreens & CVS rewards programs and how to get started.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com

http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/

http://hip2save.blogspot.com/

I hope this helps and gives you a step in the right direction ... let me know if/when you have successes!!

Cody is 20 months old!

Oh, I know I have a few events to blog about before this, but I couldn't resist sharing our cutie-patootie with you. (Errrrmmm, don't mind my computer game in the background :)) We don't have another doctor's appointment until Cody is (gulp) two years old, so no stats to share with you, other than our little guy is learning more each day, becoming more vocal ~ words are *starting* to form (he says Bye clear as day, most other words...not so much...), follows directions pretty well (although putting on jacket & hat is still not too fun for him), and he is good at scaring us with how much he understands of what we say!

We are so very blessed.

Target...I love you.

Picked up some good deals at Target this weekend...

Here's the highlights, most I used Target and/or mftg coupons on:

*Up & Up (Target brand) baby & toddler wipes - 47 cents and 27 cents each (diaper bag size)

*Stove Top dressing - 79 cents each

*Target bakery items like macaroons, brownie bites, etc - FREE (I shouldn't say how many pkgs I got, eep...)

*2 free 12 pkgs of Diet Coke, coupons rec'd from entering in Coke Points

*Pillsbury biscuits - 52 cents each

*5 bottles Coffeemate creamer - 50 cents each

*4 boxes of Hefty onezip bags - 80 cents each

*Christmas Mr Potato Head - 99 cents

I got other normal weekly grocery items, and I ended up spending $49.85 and saving $43.76. Wahooo!! And this is in addition to my Big Deal of the weekend!