I am a coupon saver now!!

I had my first really good "coupon" experience. For those who don't know, because my husband did not, couponing is getting to be a really big phenomenon. Especially, it seems to me, among blogging stay-at-home moms! :) But, there are so many websites and things that the thought of becoming a full fledged "couponer" really overwhelms me. However, on Friday I saw a deal on a website that seemed easy enough and I took advantage!

I was making hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and I needed buns. So, I had to go to Albertsons, anyway. We were also out of instant oatmeal which my kids LOVE for breakfast. So, on this website it said they were having a sale at Albertsons on Taco Bell refried beans for $1 a can, normally $1.39/each. But, when you bought 4, a coupon printed out for $3 off your next purchase. So, I bought 16 cans for food storage. (They don't expire until November 2011, so they will last.) Here is how it went:

First transaction: 4 cans refried beans: $4.24 and I got a $3 off coupon.

Next transaction: 4 cans of beans + $3 off coupon = $1.24

Next 2 transactions: same - 4/$1.24 with the last transaction giving me $3 off coupon again.

Then, I did my last transaction. I bought the buns, oatmeal, and spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. (Easton had gone on a field trip to Albertsons a while back and they gave the kids coupons for a free pasta and free sauce).)

So, my last transaction was: hot dog buns, hamburger buns, oatmeal, spaghetti sauce, and spaghetti. With the $3 off coupon from my last refried beans transaction and my free spaghetti coupons, the total for all that was $2.38!!

Bottom line:

All of this:



For $10.34!! Total savings off regular prices: $25.34

Granted, doing all those transactions with my 3 kids there was a bit crazy. I was in the self-serve, Avery kept grabbing everything. Easton and Paisley were walking all over looking at stuff. So, I put them in charge of making sure Avery didn't grab anything, but that just made Avery mad, so she would scream. It was lots of fun! But, worth the great savings and added food storage.

It made me kind of excited about saving more money!

And, this weekend we went to Home Depot and bought all of these:



Gardening: here we come! We still need tomato plants, pepper plants, onions, and whatever else. Dave and I are pretty excited about the garden. However, since Dave worked on pulling all the sod out last weekend, his back has been KILLING him. He has muscle relaxers and pain killers from a previous back issue and so he has been taking those at night. Then during the day he has been using my 800 mg Ibruprofen that I got for my back. So, it has been tolerable, but not fun. He swears his body is getting so old! He is ONLY 31! :) Poor guy! So, we haven't got much else done on the garden this week. But, soon we will be doing rocks and getting more dirt, etc. Hopefully we can plant in a few weeks. Yea!

Oh, one last cute picture. One night I was busy doing stuff and I heard Easton and Paisley in the kitchen and the water running. I heard Paisley say, "I love helping mom!" and Easton say, "Me, too!". So, I figured I had better go see what they were helping me with.



They were both up at the sink doing the dishes. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these moments where they are so sweet and willing to help me out. Good kids!