More Savings!!

Today I went to Wal-Mart armed with my coupons!
I saw on this website - www.moneysavingmom.com that wal-mart had a few things on sale that I either needed or wanted. Did you hear me? WANTED! I can actually buy things now that I want as opposed to only being able to buy things we need.

Here is what I bought...

1 - 9 pack of Cottonelle toilet paper
3 - Jello boxes (we make a lot of jello salad around here)
2 - boxes On the Go Crystal Light (I LOVE this stuff but never buy it because it's not something we need)
1 - bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce
1 - bottle of French's mustard
1 - bottle of Kraft salad dressing (Creamy Poppyseed - try it, it will knock your socks off it's so good!!)

My total BEFORE coupons was $15.16
My total AFTER coupons was $7.99

That's a 50% savings!

Ok so here is what I did...
I went to Kraft's website where you can register to recieve their newsletter and you automatically are able to print coupons right off your computer. I checked out www.moneysavingmom.com and saw the list of Wal-Mart sales going on. Also on Money Saving Mom is a link to Cottonelle (or just click here to take the pledge) where you can get a $1.00 coupon. I then collected my coupons and was on my way!!

While at Wal-Mart I noticed that mustard and salad dressing were on sale and I had coupons for both so I went ahead and bought those because we always need those items around here.

The Kraft BBQ sauce was on sale for $.98 and I had a coupon for $1.00 off! Yes that's right, it was FREE!
The Kraft salad dressing is on sale for $1.59 and I had a coupon for $1.00 off any Kraft dressing so the dressing was only $.59!!
We actually have a ton of toilet paper, but how can you beat $4.00 for 9 rolls of TP!! That's like $.44/roll. You ALWAYS need that stuff.

I just wanted to share with you how my Wal-Mart trip went and how you too can save your hard earned dollars!!

Happy Shopping!

-Carissa
here is my e-mail if you have any questions carissavann@hotmail.com

Frugal Shopping

A few weeks ago I came home with a bunch of groceries, mostly HEB brand or Hill Country Fare (an HEB generic brand) and Nick asked me how much I spent. I reluctantly told him...$125! I felt like I really didn't get that much stuff and we both agreed that it was crazy that amount of mainly generic groceries cost so much! I only got the bare minimum of things that we NEEDED - not really anything we wanted and it still was $125. Nick and I both agreed that something needs to be done in this area, especially since we just bought a house. I remembered that my friend (Heather) from College Station recently posted about her shopping technique. I'll admit when I first read her blog I thought to myself how hard it would be to clip coupons, pay attention to sales, and spend hours searching for deals. After my second week of doing all that, I find it is TOTALLY worth it when I walk out of a store actually excited about buying groceries and not dreading telling Nick how much I spent. I usually can't wait to get home to e-mail him the list of how many groceries I got and how much I spent. Yes, it takes a lot of Internet searching, coupon collecting and clipping, and planning but it's my job as a wife to make sure our money is spent wisely. Now after 2 weeks of successful grocery shopping, I am frustrated that I haven't done this before. I guess I just needed a push in the right direction - THANKS HEATHER (& Kirby)!!
When I make my grocery list, I used to figure out what we were going to eat that week and then plan my list based off of what meals I planned out. Now, I check out what's on sale in my HEB starting with meats. Then I see what else is on sale and try to match up my coupons with the sales that are going on (the grocery game is where I find these). I also clip coupons and try to plan meals and other groceries around coupons. HEB has a lot of good deals and sales but I have learned to pay attention to those and plan around them. I've also been stockpiling each week. I try to buy things we will need but maybe not that particular week if it is on sale. Now I have a freezer full of meat, a pantry full of name brand groceries, and a bathroom full of necessities. I'm still learning this whole frugal grocery shopping but success to me is excitement about my grocery bill!

Here is my grocery shopping summary for this past week.

I shop at HEB and CVS - except this week only HEB.

Groceries
05/12/09

*(HCF = Hill Country Fare)

1 tub HCF Cool Whip
1 gallon organic milk
1 box Kotex tampons
1 box Kotex panty liners
6 HEB eggs
1 container Sara Lee cheesecake bites
1 box Quaker granola bars
1 box Ritz crackers
1 box q-tips – name brand (value size – 500)
1 bag Uncle Ben’s ready rice
2 small cans Grand’s biscuits
1 box Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix
1 Pert Plus shampoo for men
1 Welch’s grape jam (squeezable)
1 Kraft BBQ sauce
1 box Quaker instant oatmeal
1 HCF apple juice
1 container Philadelphia cream cheese
1 box Capri Sun sunrise juices
1 small HEB extra virgin olive oil
1 can HCF corn
1 can HCF green beans
3 cans Campbell’s condensed cream soups
2 bags HEB mini-boxes raisins (28 boxes)
1 bag 8 o’clock coffee
1 can HCF sweetened condensed milk
1 bag Heath bar toffee bits
1 HCF anti-bacterial wipes
1 container Daisy cottage cheese
1 bag Pepperidge Farm bagels
1 bag Pepperidge Farm English muffins
1 bag HEB shredded cheese
1 container HCF chicken breasts (a little over a pound)
1 package HEB linguine
1 loaf of HEB bread
3 gallons HCF drinking water
3 small lemons
3 small bananas
1 potato
1 bag grapes
2 containers strawberries

I typed up the name brands because I was able to get so much name brand stuff this time!

Total before coupons was $91.54
Total after coupons was $75.52

I used to spend an average of $100 or more per week and not get near this much stuff!!

Good luck shopping :)

-Carissa

Eden's First Year

Ok I finally made it.

I have been wanting to do this for weeks and finally did it.

Here it is - I love it and hope you do to!

We have a lot to praise God for - just look at that beautiful girl!!

**Be sure and pause the music at the bottom before you start the video**

Happy Birthday Sweet Eden!

Eden is ONE! I can't believe how fast this past year went by. It has been so amazing to see our little angel grow so much in one year. What a blessing she has been to us each and every day! Here is a little slideshow of Eden at her birthday!

We are in!

Well, we are in our house finally! It feels weird to say "our house," but also like such an accomplishment. This was such a long process and I'm glad we are at the end of the road. We still have TONS to do around here but things are coming together slowly but surely. The kitchen is all put together minus decorations. My closet is almost done. The master closet is a bit small but we are making it work. I still need to go through and move all the winter stuff and formal dresses into the guest closet and rearrange some things, but other than that the closet is almost done. Eden's room is painted and her furniture is set up in there, all it needs is decorations! We hope to get a lot done this weekend. It's really hard for me to do things as far as unpacking goes because Eden is into EVERYTHING! Hopefully Nick will get home early today and we can accomplish a good amount this evening! Eden and I have been running errands this week and staying here to let the cable, gas company, and today the exterminator, do their jobs around here. Speaking of Eden, she LOVES the house!! She runs from room to room squealing and having so much fun. It's so cute. We have also been dealing with a nasty diaper rash this week too so that has added to the craziness. Poor baby! It's TONS better today.
As soon as we get the desktop computer set up I will post some pictures of Eden from Easter! We had a little Easter egg hunt here in the house (it was raining outside) and she did so good. I thought for a second that it was going to be pointless to even try but I just showed her what to do and she caught on and started putting eggs in her basket. After she would put one in everyone would clap and say "YAY, Eden" and she would stop and clap her hands and smile real big. It was awesome - a GREAT first Easter!

I hope to post pics of the house by the end of the weekend so stay tuned :)

Have a great Friday!

-C

SOLD!

Yes, it's true!!! The Vann's have finally bought a house. We closed on our new home on Friday afternoon. It was a great feeling. We have been in desperate need for space since Eden was born and we are so excited to be blessed with this house. God has been so good through this whole process which has actually been fairly easy. We have seen God's fingerprints since the first look at the house. We will be moving in about a week and a half and we are so excited! We could definitely use your prayers as we make the transition.

We will have a house update soon with pictures once we get moved in so stay tuned!!

I can't leave you without an Eden update. She is 11 months now which is so crazy to me! She is almost 1!!!!! WOW. She is so amazing. My sweet little 11 month old is walking EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING!!. The other day I followed her in the kitchen where she immediately walked over to the cabinet under the sink, opened the door and took out the Windex! Oh me!! So, number one on the list to get done in the new house...baby proof EVERYTHING!!!

Have a great day!!

-Carissa

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged by my friend Karen! Here is the 4th picture off the 4th folder on my computer.



This is Nick and myself at Nick's graduation from A&M!

I tag...

Katy Link
Erin Mosier
Carrie Williams
Krista Borchard

Instructions:
-Go to the 4th picture file on your computer
-Post the 4th photo and post it with a description
*No cheating*

-Carissa