Laptop MIA

I sooo miss my laptop. They were backloged and hadn't gotten it finished when Robin called last week. I can't believe how dependant on technology we become. The pc is ok but now has mostly Robin's settings. *sigh* Hopefully we will get it back today. In the meantime I have been working on Josh's costume. He will be Harry Potter this year. I made his robe, black with red lining and a button front. Robin ordered a Gryffindor patch so hopefully that will come quickly. I was so excited. I think it turned out fabulous. Now I have to get Tyler's Slytherin robe done. Can you just picture it- Tyler as Malfoy? I think it will be great. I am also crocheting scarves of the appropriate colors. Josh was excited I think. At almost 10 you are becoming too cool to google over mom's handiwork. Tyler loved it and can't wait for his to be done. He changes his mind each day as to which costume he wants to wear. I gues that is the glory of being boy #3, you have more choices. Once again, when I get the laptop I will have to post pictures.

Then it will be on to Christmas projects. I love Christmas!! It is my favorite time of the year. I try to keep it simple. My favorite thing is sitting by the Christmas tree listening to Christmas music and sipping hot cocoa! No other time of the year gives me the warm fuzzies all over like the holiday's. Next week we be getting ready to put up Christmas decor. Yeah, I'm one of those. I don't really skip Thanksgiving, I am very thankful each year for family, friends, bountiful harvests, and that I can put Christmas up any time I want. I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!

Saturday we canned 50 some odd bottles of applesauce and I still have 3 boxes left. We are going to store some through the winter and I am going to make some pie filling out of the others. Mom, I will get yours to you. You will love it! The apples were so sweet we hardly added any sugar. Robin's sister Tina was awesome. She spent her day with us and let me use her Victorio strainer; would never do applesauce without one. We get along so well she should be a sister instead of a sis-in-law. Robin loves this. He enjoys seeing the 2 of us laugh and joke and simply enjoy being together. I hope Tina enjoys it as much as I do. Josh, Keegan, A.J. and Nate all had a blast too.

Ok, this weeks coupon tip: ever notice the cycles of sales? Once you learn these you will be able to plan your shopping and stocking up based on these. For example, Quacker oatmeal products go on sale in February-ish and again about September. I know when it will be on sale again and thus am able to judge how much to buy. Also each September there are the "spagetti sauce wars" between Prego and Ragu. PYP has a great list of these cycles. Last year when we were looking to get our laptop we noticed all the sales at Christmas but it wasn't in our budget. We talked of getting one then to not miss the sales. Well, I checked out the cycle on electronics and computers and saw that it went into the first of the year. Yep- come January we were still able to get a great deal AND we did it within our budget plans. Gotta love it! Check out the list here: Sales Cycles , or just print it out. I have mine in the front of my coupon binder. You won't realize how often you will refer to it. Happy Shopping!

Albertsons shopping

This weeks coupon tip: When printing coupons online you can usually print 2 copies per link per computer. Smartsource has 3 sets of coupons, Group A, B, and C. Plus there are lots of other online sites for coupons. Here are some links within PYP...
Printable coupons
So I have a pc and laptop so for each link I get 4 coupons. I love this because usually you online coupons are higher value ones. It's great. In fact all the coupons I will use for this weeks sale are online ones. Dang I miss my laptop....

Our laptop is getting some adjustments and my pc doesn't read my SD disc. Don't get it but Robin is working on it so for now I have limited pictures to post. I soooo need my laptop back. Isn't it funny how quickly we depend on technology. Not to mention all my Christmas projects are on it. Hopefully it will be back next week. Keep you fingers crossed for me. In the meantime I am working so much that it may not matter. With the flu outbreaks and staff shortages there have been a lot more needs at the hospital. I am really struggling on how to balance home projects and self reliance with being the sole breadwinner at the moment. Robin is FABULOUS at helping around the house but there are just somethings that I was taught as a young girl to do to help our home while he was taught to work and provide for the family. This is our biggest challenge in relation to having our roles reversed. My kitchen floor needs stripped and rewaxed, there are Halloween costumes to make, and Christmas projects to get in full swing. Christmas is just around the corner you know. So when you all figure out the answer to this proverbial question of balance PLEASE let me know.

This week there is a great sale at Albertsons. Did you manage to get your shopping lists off PYP? Here is the list on PYP: Albies Shopping List You can always call me too and I can easily walk you through it if you need. I am still stocked on most sweets but I plan on getting some Cinnamon toast crunch for $0.65/each, Betty Crocker Potatoes- great for Rob's night to cook, and some Green Giant Steamers- yummy and quick. when you spend $25 you get $10 on your next visit so I will make sure I spend in $25 increments.

The other day I went to Walgreens and got: 8 jars Skippy PB, 2 jars Nutella, 3 Snickers bars, 5 bottles hydrogen peroxide and 4 jumbo packs of diapers. My total $38.46! Take off the diapers and I only spent $6.30! Yep, I was a happy shopper that day. Diapers worked out to be about $0.16 each I believe. I really needed some more Huggies. They seem to be the only thing that work for Matthew.

I also got some clearance toys at Shopko for Christmas. They didn't have any more of the sale items I wanted like a 5 pack of hotwheels cars for $3.88 so I got some rain checks. I had to make sure she knew I had a house of boys so that I didn't feel like I was hoarding or something. Most people don't get 8 or 10 of the same toy. :p

Josh is going to be Harry Potter for Halloween and Tyler is going to be Malfoy. Can you picture it? I am making Josh's cloak and hoping to make one for Ty as well. He will be happy in anything though, for which I am very thankful! Boys are easy!

Now I am looking for deals on Legos. Anyone see them please let me know. We have tons of Legos but they are great toys and the boys, even Tyler, love to build for hours. Dad is the biggest Lego fan but he will probably be getting another pair of work gloves. He has loved the ones I got him last year and asked for another pair. I think this is the kind, at least this is what they look like....


They keep his hands warm and protected without a lot of bulk. He hasn't given me any other ides so I will be on the look out. Maybe just a quiet night out just the 2 of us for Christmas.... I miss falling asleep in front of the Christmas tree- just the 2 of us......

What are you doing to have a thrifty Christmas???

Shopping list

So now it gets exciting! You have your coupons; you've got them organized now all you need is a nice list that matches all those coupons up to the sale items right?!? Well, here you go. Go to pinching your pennies (click the blinkie is on my blog). Under the deals by state forum you will find Idaho deals. Click on the store that suits you and print your list. Here is the link


http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30"

Reading through the forum is helpful too because people will post the unadvertised deals they find. I have made additional trips back to the store just based on the comments posted. Also, the Utah forum is usually busier than Idaho's and you can get the Albertsons list on Monday evening. This may change though with Utah Albertsons being sold but for now Shelley usually has the list up by Monday evening. I love this cuz then I can plan my shopping budget for the week and whether or not to take advantage of the current sale before it changes Wednesday morning.

PYP teams up with Grocery smarts to provide shopping lists to other stores as well. I haven't used this option as much but I think it has great potential. Click on the grocery guide tab at the top of the PYP page. Then just follow the instructions to getting the list for your area. Try these links. (hopefully I did it right)....
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/groceryguide.php
http://grocerysmarts.com/idaho/lists/splashg83ro1.php

Once you get your list all you need to pull your coupons for what you want. On the list you will see a star rating, the sale item, sale price, coupons available if any both in the newspaper and online links, and the end price. 3 star ratings are Walmart type prices, nothing big. 4 star is a good price but 5 star is a great price. The 5 star items are what you want to stock up on. Buy everything you want and can. Now you will have 10 boxes of quacker hot cereal and won't have to buy it again until it is on sale again which with Quacker won't be until February- ish. I can handle $0.75 a box much better than $2.50 or $3. What about you?

How easy is that? Really, guys, I work full time nights. I don't have time to sink into coupons but when someone else is helping make the list- THAT I CAN DO! Before long you all are going to realize how plan ordinary I am. I am giving away all my secrets.....I guess it's ok, you're all worth it. Let me know if you have questions. Next time I will give you tips on the internet coupons....

Organization

So did you get your coupons coming? There are lots of ways to collect them if you don't decide to get a subscription to the paper. But, now you need a way to keep track of all the great coupons you are getting. It doesn't do much good to get the coupons if you can't ever find the one you need when you need it. There are several ways to organize your coupons. 2 of the most popular ways is the file method and the binder method. The file method: take your inserts and band them together and write the date on it with a black marker. The benefit here is you don't spend time cutting them all at once. The downside is you won't have them with you for any unadvertised deals you may run a crossed, rather you only cut the ones you need for your shopping list.

I prefer the binder method. The benefit is having all my coupons with me, but I spend about an hour on Sunday clipping my coupons. I don't clip everything, only the products I use. I love this. There have been several times I forgot I needed something or else I run into a great deal unexpectedly. It's great to already have them. I take my binder to the store almost every time I go.

It's best to use a binder with a zipper to hold in any loose coupons. In the front, I have a zipper pocket for pens, scissors, calculator etc. Then there are dividers with stores and categories. I use trading card sheet protectors to place the coupons in. This way I can see what the coupon is for and usually when the exp date is. I also have a list of typical prices which you can find on pinchingyourpennies.com. Here is a picture of mine to give you an idea.



Now decide which system will work for you and get them organized and get ready for the next tip. It's gettin' good!