Cheap&Sweet

How My Half Off Is Going.

2012-01-06T12:17:00.004-06:00

Publix went great! I got Tombstone pizzas, Tyson steak and chicken fingers, Aunt J waffles and pancakes, 100 cal snack packs, prego sauce, chunky soup, Log cabin syrup, and deer park water all at half off!

I also hit up my favorite Discount outlet store and bought 12lbs of lunch meat it was $1.79 each for Oscar mayer ham and chicken. Which is way under half off! I bought so much because I am hoping to stick to a sandwich diet this month. I do like repetitive eating thank gosh.

One of my 50% off problems is the bread for all that sandwich meat! Ok so I live next door to a bread store. You know where you can buy $4 bread for like .89c or little snack cakes 5 for a $1. So getting bread half off is no big deal easy even, BUT I dont like that bread the only bread I like right now is Kroger brand for a $1. But the kroger bread aint half off! Ill pay the extra .11c and break my 50% off rule to help me stick to my sandwich diet.

I went to Aldies for my fruit and veggies. I got a lot for way over half off at normal stores! I hit up Kroger for 75% off Christmas candy for my husband, it was like showing him a pot of gold! lol I love that man.

I did not think of buying gas when I made my challenge the best I can do their is shop at the cheapest place in town, which I do anyway.

I went to the dollar days at goodwill got a Shower curtain half off for $2.50 using it as a curtain saving lots of money their! Also Got my kid 5 uniform shirts 71% off for school $1 each! I think I saved like $20!

I did get to eat in with Logans to go! I had a buy one get one free coupon! Which made it 50% off!

I paid $13 for two of these and a hug box of yeast rolls! To go so no tip or drinks!

Linking up to

$6.99 Back To Basics Blender!

2012-01-03T17:38:00.001-06:00

I have been wanting one of these for a few months but I talked myself out of buying it even though it has great reviews

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-SE3000-Smoothie-Lifestyle/dp/B0036WS2TA

I am hoping to get more fruit an veggies in my diet with this thing. I have a 31 day half off challenge and this more than fit those requirements!

Full price is $39.99

38% off or $24.97 on Amazon right now.

I bought mine new in box for $6.99 at my local liquidation store!

Cant wait to give it a go!

Kroger P&G sale!

2012-01-01T20:28:00.000-06:00

Aussie was .99c after coupons

All the Old Spice was .49c after coupons

Cover Girl was .30c after coupons

The TP was cheap after $2 off Blinkie!

Spent $12.15

plus tax

Saved $33!

Trying For Half Off!

2012-01-01T18:42:00.000-06:00

Their is this blog called the Learning the Frugal life, who is doing a 31 days of nothing challenge. Well I cant do a 31 days of nothing but she did say we can make up our own rules!

So my 31 day challenge is to not buy anything that is not half off or more! I want my money to go twice as far. I don't have a lot of stockpile but I still have enough that I can wait for a good deal. Getting back into couponing after all the new rules and "THAT" show, it is not going to be a cake walk!

One way I will be able to do this is a discount store near me that often has meats veggies and other thing well over half off. Lunch meat is often times $1, cheese is very often under $2 and so forth.

My bills are as low as I can get them for now. With my electric sitting at about $55 for 4 ppl and my water and sewer at another $45-$50 a month. I have gave up my $60 a month smart phone for a net 10 with 750 minutes for $25 and the best part I got a pink phone for just $10! So the phone is way under half of what I used to pay and my electric is a third of what it was this summer, my water has been the same no matter what I do so I officially give up on it! I will not waste anymore of my time trying to get that to go lower.

I also want to keep track of my saving and spending and I posted a great savings tracker here.
This will be a fun challenge for me, Thanks LTFL!

Saving Tracker For The New Year!

2012-01-01T11:57:00.000-06:00

I though it would take me days to find a money spent money saved tracker, but I found it within 10 minutes! So as one of my goals for 2012 is to save money and to know where that money goes a saving tracker was very important.

So if you are in need of a savings tracker go here!

I Almost Broke Down And...

2011-12-07T09:31:00.000-06:00

Used my dryer! My energy sucking needs to run twice to dry anything dryer. It will not stop raining! My laundry room is tiny as in a 3 foot space between the washer and the dryer is all the room we have for our dirty clothes. So I have about 5 loads I need to do and it is still raining. I broke down and checked the weather and for the next 10 days it will be sunny and around 50 degrees! I am so excited!

I think my dryer cost me about .50c to run and I have to run it twice per load, so 5 loads is like $5 in my pocket. If you want to guess at a whole month Id say at least $20 I save. That is $240 a year. I might be a little off but not by much.

On the other hand I could hang the clothes to dry inside but really they never seem to dry inside and it takes FOREVER and honestly it makes my skin crawl to have clothes all over the house!

Another thing we have been doing is leaving the Christmas tree off a lot. I love it lit but I guess it makes more scents to only use it when everyone can enjoy it. Also I never decorate outside for everyone else just inside for us. That makes a lot more scents to me.

My electric bill for last month for 4 people was $55! I am super excited about that!

Easiest Roast Beef Ever!

2011-12-06T19:26:00.000-06:00

Loving my new camera!

I'll be honest this is my first ever Roast Beef! I have made roasts out the wazoo but never a roast beef. Which is a shame because it is one of my favorite foods! I never knew what cut of meat to buy or how to cook it.

I went to allrecipes.com and came up with this recipe for eye of round roast. I never did find that cut but I did find a tip roast that looked good and was only $15. So I decided to go for it.

Started with the Steakhouse Grinder and some salt.

Put a nice lil crust of seasonings.

Bake @475 for 7 min per pound, then drop temp to 200 for 3 hours.

Buy this time my house smells so good! I made mac and cheese rolls and green beans to go with this.

You are supposed to let it rest but I always forget!

This is very rare but I really really like rare and so does my family. Well besides my youngest who I did not let see this before I popped a piece in his mouth he said it was good but tasted a little like blood. lol So I microwaved his food a lil to get the pink out and all is well in my house!

Random Pictures Id Like To Have.

2011-11-30T13:25:00.003-06:00

My Patches from 20 years ago.

Next thing I know He will be a teenager. aghhh

Food Lion Buy $50 GC Get $10 OYNO!

2011-11-29T17:58:00.001-06:00

Source

This deal is good starting Nov 30th – Dec 13th.
Food Lion, Bloom, Harveys and Reids are having a fantastic gift card event. If you buy $50 in participating gift cards, you will get a $10 Catalina back on your next purchase. The Limit is one per transaction.

This is a great deal for all my food Lion friends!
I have to wounder if you can use your catalina to buy another $50 gift card?

I Ate All The Turkey!

2011-11-29T12:30:00.000-06:00

Ok Not All But A Lot!

He was so pretty! I want More!

I also did not make dressing this year so I am missing that also.
I may make a pan today but I always dread making cornbread
for some reason.

My Money Savings.

2011-11-27T12:54:00.001-06:00

For starters I have been doing a lot of this.

Source

I have only used the dryer twice for loads that was not completely dry in the last 2 months.

I have had a few days where I had more clothes than I could deal with waiting on the weather. Speaking of weather I learned the trick to winter drying. You can dry your clothes outside if

A. It's Sunny and above freezing or

B. Cloudy and above 50 degrees!

Don't hold me to those but that is what I have read. Another thing I have learned is that clothes are not dirty just because you ware them for a few minutes. My family is so bad about this but I really excepted it as routine/normal. I know I have tried this in the past and felt my clothes were dirty if I put the in a different place other than the clean clothes. So I tried putting the clothes back in with the clean clothes and guess what no one has noticed! If it is dirty it gets cleaned but if they only wore it for a short time I will put it back in their closet. I have so much less laundry! Next I will work on the towel situation. I think we can use or towel more than once.

We have used the air conditioner a few times this month, but for the most part I have had the windows and doors open for air. I have been a stickler about the electric this month going as far as to check and see how much we have used every week. I am very happy to announce my electric bill for next month will be $54.04! That is for 4 people! In August it was $170 ish.

What a great month! Are you doing anything different to save money.

Large Batch cooking

2011-11-27T11:09:00.001-06:00

Large batch cooking is my new thing. I adore it. When I was single 6 plus years ago I never cooked, well maybe on sunday and a couple of breakfast meals. What I did was feed my kids tv dinners the healthy ones of course. I would eat sandwiches or just random junk because I had/have aversions to frozen foods. I am slowly getting over it but frozen pizza still makes my skin crawl.

So when I met my husband he was/is a 3 (real) meal a day person. This meant I had to cook 3 meals a day and it also meant that I would gain 78lbs. Sad face. But right now He is working second shift which is great because I do not have to fix supper every night! So Back to my new thing Batch cooking it is so awesome.

I skipped out on the cornbread dressing on Thanksgiving. A big no no, I regretted that immediately. So I seized the opportunity to make a extra large batch. In fact I got out the scale to weigh it and when my husband ask why the scale was in the middle of the kitchen I told him why and asked him to guess site unseen how much the pan of dressing weighed. He guessed 7 lbs, I snickered, try 16.4lbs.

I had the turkey carcass I needed to boil it twice to get enough broth. I also scraped the bits of turkey that escaped the de-boning. I have never raped a turkey that bad in all my life, their was nothing left but bones.

The reason I made such a large batch is because dressing is in my top 5 favorite foods but also in my top 5 foods I dont like to make. So by making so Much I am able to freeze several serving for anytime or occasion. I also threw a chunk of turkey in each bag as a bonus.

This is almost half of the dressing.

Does anyone know of a great website for large batch cooking?

Super Excited For My 1 Black Friday deal!

2011-11-26T12:24:00.000-06:00

My Nikon

Source

Nikon L105 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 15x Optical Zoom - Black

Megapixels: 12.1 Megapixels
Camera Features: Optical Image Stabilization, D-Lighting, Face Detection Technology, Auto Focus, 720p HD Movie Recording, Auto Scene Selector
Display Features: Anti-Glare Coating, Brightness Adjustment, Easy-to-Read Menu System, QVGA, Color TFT LCD Screen, Battery Level Indicator
Lens Features: Auto Focus, Telephoto, Contrast-Detect AF, Glass Lens, Face Detection, Full-Time AF, Wide Angle
Flash Features: Fill-In Flash, Pop-Up Flash, Slow-Sync Flash, Red-Eye Reduction, Flash Cancel, Auto On/Off
Image Editing Features: Monochrome Effects, Image Cropping, Black and White, Image Resizing, Cyanotype, Sepia, Image Rotation
Display Size: 3.0 "
Zoom: 15.0 X Optical , 4.0 X Digital
Built-In Memory Storage Capacity: 43MB
Video Modes: HD-Quality Movie Recording
File Formats Supported: H.264/AVC, EXIF, JPEG, MOV, WAV, DCF
ISO Equivalent: Auto
Photo Effects: Panorama, Color Still, Auto
View Finder Type: LCD Only
Output Type: A/V, NTSC/PAL, USB
Operating System Compatibility: Mac, Windows
Power Source: Battery-Powered
Dimensions: 3.0 " H
x 4.3 " W x 3.1 " T
Weight: 14.4 Oz.
Warranty Description: 1 Year Limited Manufacturer Warranty

I am stoked! I got this for $99 after half off!

The best part this was on the front page of the Target Black Friday ad, and I ordered it online Thanksgiving day! I DID NOT HAVE TO STAND IN LINE!

This is my Christmas present. My heart is still bursting with joy 3 days later! Estimated delivery is the 5th of December I cant wait!

Did yall get anything good?

Well I Had This Chicken.

2011-11-21T17:33:00.003-06:00

I had this chicken because their was this sale.
This sale had this whole chickens at .69c a pound!
So I got this here Chicken and 3 of it's siblings.

So now the question is what to do with it?
My husband wants my chicken pot pie, ok Pot Pie it is.

Well that was fine until I got up to cook the chicken.
My mind aprently left the building. I Started Making

Chicken and dumplings with half and the other half I barbecued. So to make my husbands pot pie I had to steal a lil from the dumplings, but over all they all 3 turned out great!

My Walgreen's Plan Of Action! For Next Week!

2011-10-28T20:26:00.002-05:00

Source

My hubby loves these!

Walgreen’s

Transaction #1 (these are thing I need anyway!)

5 RR WYB (4) World’s Finest Chocolates 5.5 oz, or Queen Anne Cordial Cherries 13.2 oz, at $2.50 ea.

(makes it $1.25 ea.)

Deerfield Shredded or Block Cheese, 8 oz, or American Singles, 12 oz, $1.50 w/in-ad coupon

, Domino Confectioners or Light Brown Sugar, 1 lb,

99¢w/in-ad coupon

-.50/2 Domino brown or confectioners sugar, 1 lb, RP 10/16

(makes it 74¢ ea,)

Transaction #2

$5 RR WYB (2) Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste, 4-4.1 oz, or Oral-B CrossAction Toothbrush at $3.50 ea.

-$1 off Crest toothpaste 4 oz, + or liquid gel, excl Cavity, Baking Soda or Tartar, PG 10/30

(use (2) $1 off, makes it FREE)

Total = $7

Use 5RR and Q's = Free

get back 5RR

Trasaction #3

$2 RR WYB (2) Pantene, Aussie or Herbal Essences Hair Care, 5.1-14 oz, at $3.50 ea.

-$3/2 Pantene product, excl trial size, PG 10/30

(use $3/2, makes it $1 ea.)\

$2 RR WYB Nivea Body Wash Touch or or Men’s, 16.9 oz, at $3.99

-$1 off Nivea Women’s body wash, RP 10/30

-$1 off Nivea men’s body wash, RP 10/30

(makes it 99¢)

Total = $10.99

Use 5RR and Q's = $1.99

Get back $4 in RR!

LAZY

2011-10-12T14:47:00.000-05:00

I have not sold anything on eBay in almost 2 month, it is really time to get to it!
But I have sold a few things on Craigslist!
*Leap pad writing system $15 Paid $3
*Hepa Air purifier $15 Paid $2
* Toy organizer $20 paid $7
* 2 and a half totes of boys clothes $20 Paid not much I'm sure.
*Flip video camera $60 paid $40

I really need to list my things on eBay!

What I have Spent Money on so far this month.

2011-10-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

Thought I might keep a list of things I have spent money on. I am trying to be somewhat more frugal lately. I think I am doing a lot better, I'm not eating fast food or going out to eat nearly as much as I was!

* $30 + $6 tip Hair colored my treat to me for quitting smoking a month ago!
* $3.17 Hardees My Sat yard saleing food.
* $7.67 Paint for my redo, that I have not done.
* $8.83 New fan (I broke mine) also a new filter system for fish tank and a hair band. This was a discount store more bang for my buck.
* $4.37 a water, liquid skin, thermometer, Ibuprofen. Dollar tree!
* $13.25 Food for Disney on Ice My mom took us to see. 2 pretzels and 1 hot dog Choke me!
* $14.60 before the show food @ McDonald's My mom was gonna pay so she told the kids to get kids meals I was like mouth on the floor omgosh they cost a forchen. But I sucked it up and just said I would pay she did spend $66 on tickets, so food for the night was the least I could do.
* $9.98 for a month newspaper subscription, I did get a $5 gift card back.
* $5 Giftcard was used for TP.
* $6.79 McDonald's I know I know But it is still better than before!
* $6.50 yard sale money I spent
* $26. Family dollar I bought underwear for me and ds1 Storage canisters and 4 sets of bowls
* $13 new bra I can not find!

This is the last 12 days and does not show bills or grocery money Just my extras I need to work on cutting out!

Also I am heavy into dropping my water and electric bills. The steps I am taking are.

*Cutting off all lights
*Teaching ds1 use both sides of the sink instead of constantly running rinse water.
*Showing the kids how much bath water the can get away with using, also no more showers for them.
* I did a navy shower ware you turn the water off and suds up (I even shaved). I also measured to see how much water total I use for a shower and It was less than I would use for a bath. So shower it is.
* Full washer loads
* Hanging my clothes outside to dry.
*Open and shut blinds for daylight
* have my doors and windows open in good weather
* Using my fan so I can turn up the temp in the house we are at 74% and comfy.

Can not wait to see my bills!

Yard Sale Finds! 9/16/11

2011-09-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

$1 each

Lady said it is brand new. Ya 30 years ago!

$2.50 for all

Jar .75c, cheese holder free, Ink 2 for a $1

$2 dated this back to WWII

My most expensive yard sale find!

Star tree topper .50c!

But it is going to cost me a arm and a leg to buy matching style decorations!

Yard Sale Finds!

2011-08-30T10:47:00.000-05:00

My two redo's!

Not finished yet, but I will have pics soon!

Last 2 Weeks of Sales! Lots of Pics!

2011-08-05T20:20:00.000-05:00

.50c

I have more pillows than case's so this is a great find!

Prop up pillow for me that ended up in the kids room.

$2.50

They look a lot better than the pic.

$20

Game cube with 11 games

.10c

Tony Hawk Belt! Score! My son needed this for school!

Heating pad I need this about once a month.

Large corning ware casserole, they had a smaller one I am kicking myself for not getting.

.50c

I thought of this to put all my big kitchen utensil's in.

Lane Bryant outfit for me!

$1.50

Five 1963 Jack and Jill mags!

.50c

$1 each

4 School

Love my new bag!

.50

eBay!

My PRO-FIT the last 2 days!

2011-07-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

Go here To see what all I bought with $15 yesterday!

Here are the two things I have already sold!

Next Bike!

Paid $5 sold for $25 the same day!

The letter people

Paid $1

Sold today for $15!

So that is a $6 investment and a $34 profit in two days!

Not bad at all!

Who Knew Cast Iron Would be so hard to sell?

2011-07-15T16:16:00.000-05:00

I wanted $65 for all 11 pieces.

Then I sold the top right one for $15

with 10 left I finely sold the rest yesterday for $55

So $70 when all was said and done.

Took me over 2 weeks.

My Yard Sale Finds! 7/15/11

2011-07-15T14:17:00.000-05:00

The Life of a flipper.. OK just had to use that word because I just realized that is what I am a flipper!

I dont even have a girl...

But I am on the phone with a lady who does.

And she will gladly pay me $25

Sound like a PRO-FIT to me!

Yes that is how I like to say profit! lol

And that just paid for my whole day of junk shopping.

sell or keep?

When i'm not sure what to do with it,

I just try and sell it for a larger amount

This works out in my faver from time to time.

.50c

This was a dud on eBay

As was this

.50c

$2 Vtech Vsmile

I am hoping this one will turn out ok.

F-14 remote control jet over 2 feet long I saw a kitty one

on eBay for $130 or so but I cant find this one so I may just craigslist it.

It looks like a pain to ship anyway.

The Letter People complete reader system

on Amazon for $44

Your Item Has Sold!

2011-07-11T03:18:00.000-05:00

Remember this "Huge" pile of maternity clothes I got for $4 at a yard sale?

I made a profit on the first item I sold! Well I have sold about 20 more pieces and still going strong!

My $2 Crocs NWT

Sold for $17!

My $2 Tommy Soap Dish set

Sold for $19.99

My $1 Fossil flask

Sold for $14!

My husbands yard sale for eBay find $1

Sold for $8 :-(

Why so sad? Im sure I came out almost even after cost.

I made $249.39!

My fees the last 10 days are

* $64.24 Shipping

*$30.xx eBay fees

*$11.79 PayPal fees

$106 in cost :-(

Cost of Items...

We Had To Have The Talk...

2011-07-10T00:19:00.001-05:00

Yes that talk, the why are you buying that in front of ppl talk.

So I was Buying this...

When My son said very loudly, were everyone could hear him "Why are you buying that for"?

Lol kids, so when we got back to the car we had the TALK! I told him if he needed to ask me why I was buying something it more than likely means I'm selling it, and if he still needs to ask me "why" then he needs to wait till we are in the car.

Pink Didj $7

This is what my cat does when I take pictures. It's cute till it's frustrating.

3 set wall art $1 covering my .50c Shower curtain.

A better picture of my $4 pottery barn vase from Friday, I love it!

I also got a pair of air Jordans retro Iv for $1

^^Wish me luck on ebay for these!^^

A pair of black and pink nikes $1

and a pair of DC shoes for $1

Head over to My Life on a Taffy Pull and Yard Sale Mommy to see more like this!