Hello!

So, obviously I haven't kept up with the blog. Sadly, it's been almost a year and a half since my last post. I have so many pics of the kids but it's a little too overwhelming to try to post them all right now but I will put some up. As most of you know, our family is expecting a new baby on 11/11/11. We are very excited. We did not find out the sex of the baby, which makes it even more exciting. I can't wait to find out if it is a boy or girl but I guess I will have to keep on waiting. I thought I didn't need anything for the baby but with the arrival of the baby nearing, all of a sudden I've realized I kindda need A LOT of stuff. I forgot I got rid of almost everything (except nursery furniture) after Hayden b/c I thought there weren't any more babies coming (at least for a much longer time). Now it is even more important to cut back and save as much money as possible. So, I've decided to start couponing again. It's a little time consuming as I have to find the coupons, match them with the sales, map out which stores I'm going to and have list and stack of coupons for each store. But I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Today the kids and I went to Walgreens, HEB and CVS. Walgreens did NOT go as anticipated. The kids were really good but I knew it was only our first of three stops and when they found the slap bracelets for $0.99 I gave in and let them have one each. My mom used to get them for me and it was a happy memory and I thought they may need something to occupy them for the rest of the morning. I planned on getting crayons for free and Huggies Wipes for $1.99 (reg. $7.99) for a big refill bag. Turns out they were out of the coupon books I needed to make the wipes deal work and out of the wipes as well. I got the crayons and got a $1 RR with it to use on my next transaction which was 2 Purex laundry soaps (reg. $5.99, paid $1.49). I had 2 coupons and the RR but didnt know you had to have 1 item for each coupon and RR you use so I had to buy another item. The kids were asking for these big suckers they found in the check out line and after I told them no, I let them get them just so I could complete my transaction. I ended up spending $6.46 total and most of that went to slap bracelets and suckers.

(Not pictured, 2 slap bracelets and 2 suckers)

Original Total: $17.75

Total OOP: $6.46

Total Savings: $11.29

Next was HEB. They were having a great pasta sale so I stocked up. I let the kids eat their huge suckers while we were at HEB so I had to buy some baby wipes. I’ve always wanted to try the 7^th Generation wipes and since I had a coupon for them I went ahead and splurged on them.

Original Total: $17.62

Total OOP: $10.13

Total Savings: $7.49

Our last stop was CVS. I was most excited about this stop.

Original Total: $89.21

Total OOP: $28.73

Total Savings: $60.48 plus I got a $10 gas card.

Overall I would say it was a successful day of shopping. Hopefully I will start keeping up with the blog and post something a little more interesting than couponing. But hey, it's a start!