Long week finally over

This was definitely a long week, or at least it felt like it.  I hated that Shannon had to go out of town for training.  However, in the end, the "certificate" will look good on his resume.  He will receive a "certificate of completion" but there are more hours he needs to complete before he receives an official certification.  He came home early on Wednesday, Thursday and today. 

He goes back to work tonight.  We hope he will be given more hours this week since he went about two weeks without very many extra hours. 

This week, I stocked up on toilet paper from Walgreens.  Their store brand (Nice!) was on sale for 2 (6 rolls) for $5!  Plus, you earned 250 points when you bought 2.  250 Points = $0.25.  Which equals to $2.38 each.  I ended up buying 2 on Wednesday and went back on Thursday and bought 2 more.  The rolls looks like Charmin too.  We have a pack of Angel Soft (a name brand) and the rolls look so small compared to the Nice! brand. 

Every Friday of this month, we had to pack a lunch for Kyle.  It seems they are practicing/participating in the Special Olympics!  The first two weeks was basketball and (I think) bowling.  This week was track & field.  This morning, I could tell Kyle wasn't feeling good.  He was coughing, but he seemed well enough to go to school.  Today he came home and he's coughing more.  I think it will be a long weekend of him getting better.  Hopefully he will be better by Monday because next week is a short week.  He is off Thursday and Friday and the rest of the week after that for Spring Break.  

Earlier this week, it seemed I received at least 4 or 5 boxes a day!  That only happened Monday and Tuesday.  By the end of the week, it was less boxes.  I am receiving so many pitches for skin care products that I am adding a reviewer to my blog.  Thankfully, the person I added is already a fellow blogger, so I am excited.  She also does reviews and I told her she could do the reviews on both her blog and mine! 

Apartment Update and Light bulbs

Our closest Post Office is inside of an ACE Hardware store.  I decided to get a shipping box and also pick up the light bulbs I needed for my Salt Lamp.  I also needed a new nightlight for our personalized light bulb that has our picture on it.  I am happy that my salt lamp is working again!

Shannon works every day this week.  He is working 8 hours today and then the next two days, he is only working 4 hour shifts.

This afternoon, we finally heard back about the apartment!  She said "everything looks good."  They are waiting for verification from our current apartment complex.  However, our complex managers cannot release the information until we give notice.  This does not make sense to us.  What if we were to give our notice and then we end up not getting approved at the new apartment?  LOL So, I guess we'll be giving our notice this week.  They are also waiting on employment verification.

We are excited about moving because we will be saving at least $100 every month on rent.  I will also have my Walgreens across the street on the corner and a grocery store with other little shops across the street.  I do hate the fact that Kyle will have to change schools. 

I went to Walgreens earlier this week to stock up on things with my coupons.  We are more than fine on shampoo/conditioner (I have 10 bottles total) and 4 bottles of Head and Shoulders for Shannon.  I also have plenty of feminine napkins and liners!  LOL  Seriously, I am good for at least a year on feminine napkins and liners.  We have plenty of soap to last us a few months as well.

I need to go back to Walgreens this week to stock up on paper towels and toilet paper.  I also need a few other things! 

Valentine's Day Cards

Today, I went to Walgreens to pick up a few things for Kyle's Valentine's Day "party" at school.  They asked for Valentine's Day cards, snacks and two bags of candy.  Last year, I didn't get Valentine's Day cards for Kyle's class.  This year, I realized that the kids deserve to receive a card!  Kyle's class only has 8 students (including him).  Since Valentine's Day cards comes in packs of 32, I made a card for each of the students, plus his three teachers!  I will be saving the rest of the cards for next year. 

I wanted to get more goodies for the kids, but with such short notice, I decided to stick with what I already bought at Walgreens.

Shannon and I went to Walmart this afternoon for groceries.  Kyle also needed new socks, I just hope they aren't too big for him.  The medium size looked too small for his feet, so I bought the large size. 

Shannon got called in to work tonight!  He has to work from 10pm until 6am.  The extra hours are needed!

First week with just one job

This is the first week that Shannon has without Best Buy!  Which means, he is home more.  He has his guaranteed two shifts on Friday and Saturday night (graveyard) and that's it.  He is on the list to be called when someone calls in sick.  He was called to work this evening 3pm - 11pm.  Every shift helps.  They usually call him first because they know he says yes to just about every available shift there is! 

I don't want to start couponing/saving money at Walgreens until Shannon finds another part time job or gets hired on full time with his current employer. 

He said he emailed his resume in to the person who is responsible for hiring within the company.  The company is looking to hire new supervisors and managers.  Let's hope they will consider him for any full time supervisor or manager positions! 

Shannon is also looking for any free courses he can take to get "certified" in.  He said the state has a lot of free courses he can take in safety, OSHA, and management.  He is signed up to take a management course through the state in March.  It is a week long course in a nearby city.  He's looking to "beef" up his resume to certifications to add to his Bachelor's Degree that he already has. 

A long weekend and then some...

It's been a long four days with Kyle home from school.  I can't wait until he goes back to school tomorrow.  I have a few things I want to catch up on.  I am looking forward to my quiet time to be able to work on the things. 

Today, I decided that I needed to get a few things from Walgreens, so I took Kyle for a walk.  He loves going with me to the store.  He holds the reusable bags for me while we walk to and from the store.  He loves helping me overall.  I use reusable bags just so I don't have to carry 5 plastic bags (or however many) I would have if I didn't use a big reusable bag.  It just makes it easier to carry my purchase in one or two bags. 

It was nice to get out of the house, even though it was still cold!  Kyle loved it too. 

I bought a few things with coupons such as toothpaste, toothbrush and toilet paper.  I also bought the store brand of draino because our bathroom sink and tub have been slow draining!  It's been a nuisance!  The store brand worked pretty well considering.  I am always leery about using the store brand of a product, but I compared the ingredients and they were pretty much the same except one or two ingredients.  The drains work at least 85% better than they were before.  So, I am happy. 

Last day of school for the year

Today is Kyle's last day of school for 2012.  This morning, as we were waking up and getting ready, I noticed he wasn't feeling well.  He kind of threw up and he was a little lethargic.  As we were waiting for the bus, I could tell he has a tummy ache because he was hunched over. 

I wanted to send him to school since this is the last day of school for the year and I didn't want him to miss anymore school than he has to.  He always seems to get sick before he has a "vacation" from school.  The last time he got sick was the day before Thanksgiving and his teacher had to drive him home. 

Today, he had to come home early because he threw up two more times at school.  So he's been home for a few hours now.  He has the next two weeks off! 

While Kyle was in school, I stopped at Walgreens to pick up a few things.

Walgreens trip

I went to Walgreens today to pick up some things we needed and saved with coupons!  Everything I bought, I had a coupon for.  I bought paper towels, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrush, lotion, Aleve, Bounce, and 2 boxes of Ziploc: Gallon and Quart size.

Next week, Shannon is working a total of at least 60+ hours at both jobs!   Kyle seems to have adjusted to his Daddy not always being around.  He's been good at listening as well!

Sunday

I made another batch of homemade laundry soap this morning.

I am slowly trying to get back into couponing at Walgreens to help us save money on the non-food items we need.  I had Shannon pick up the Sunday paper on the way home from work.  I went through the Walgreens ad and matched my coupons with what was on sale.  I took Kyle for a walk to Walgreens and bought 2 bottles of conditioner, 2 boxes of Always pads, and 2 packages of Pampers.  I also picked up my free 8x10 photo that I ordered a few days ago while Walgreens was offering the special! 

It was nice to get out of the house since Kyle and I have been indoors since last Tuesday.

Shannon worked last night at his security job from 11pm until 7am and has to work again today from 3pm until 9pm at Best Buy.  We plan on closing our Wells Fargo accounts and moving our money to our credit union!  Monday norning, I plan to deposit money into our credit union.  After I do that, I can get my haircut since there's a Supercuts in the same shopping center.  I haven't had my hair cut in over a year and half!

Shannon was called about working extra shifts for his security job.  He is now working tonight from 11pm until 7am and the same for Monday and Tuesday!  We need the money!

No more couponing

Several weeks ago, I stopped our Sunday paper delivery because of financial reasons.  Plus, I wasn't doing much couponing. 

I just got back from Walgreens and now that I don't use coupons, I am taking advantage of their "Register Rewards" which is Walgreens money you earn for certain products.  I can use the "Register Rewards" on my next purchases.  So I am doing that to help cut our bill with toiletries we need. 

I bought toilet paper, kleenix, toothpaste and toothbrushes! 

Coupon savings at Walgreens

Today I went to Walgreens for the first time this year and the first time in months!  I haven't had to go to Walgreens in months because we had plenty of paper towels and toilet paper!  This time around, I wanted to stock up on deodorant, shampoo, diapers, soap, Q-tips, and other things.  I am trying to only buy things we use and need and not buy things that I can get for cheap with a coupon but don't really use or need.  Right now, I want to use my coupons for necessity since we don't have any money coming in.  I do make a little money here and there with my blog, but that's not steady income. 

After ringing everything up and the automatic savings from this week's Walgreens sales and Buy One Get One 50% deals, my total came to $101 and some change.  After my coupons, my total was $82 and some change!  Wow!  Plus I received $4 in Register Rewards, which are "dollars" I can use for future Walgreens purchases.  But these rewards expire in about a week.  I will go through the ad again to see what else I can save on. 

While my total was pretty high, I won't have to buy deodorant for several months.  I also bought the shampoo since it was on sale and I had coupons.  I bought the conditioner because it was only 99 cents with the sale and my coupon, I just couldn't pass that up.  We now have plenty of soap as well! 

Back to Couponing

For awhile there, I stopped buying the Sunday paper for the coupon inserts since I had bought so much toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo and conditioner.  Now, I am trying to rebuild our little "stock" of things we use.  I am looking forward to trying to save with coupons again.  This week in the Walgreens ad, there are several things that I want to get! 

School Supplies and Supplements Update

I went to Walgreens for the second time this week.  I bought 12 more rolls of Cottonelle toilet paper for only $3.25 with my coupons!  I am pretty sure we're set on toilet paper for a few weeks!  *wink wink*  I also snagged a few more items from Kyle's back to school supplies list.  I bought 2 boxes of Kleenex tissue for only $0.84 each!  I used a Walgreens coupon plus a manufacturer's coupon that I found going through my coupons!  I just couldn't pass up that deal for Kleenex!  I also bought crayons and glue sticks with coupons. 

I also had to buy some Raid (ant killer) because we've been having an ant problem for awhile now.  I am tired of using the vacuum to suck them up and then they end up coming back.  Thankfully the Raid was on sale, plus I used a Walgreens coupon.  The kind that I bought is "household/indoor friendly."  They are actually made with a pleasant scent! 

I ended up purchasing another bottle of an energy/vitamin/supplement (I'm almost out).  I have used it before but stopped taking it for the last few weeks.  When I was taking it, I didn't wake up sore from my workouts the previous days.  I hate taking extra rest days due to soreness, especially with workout schedule that I want to try to stick to.  Hopefully I can get back on track with this vitamin/supplement. 

It's been nice!

The last few days have been so calm around here.  I love having our 928 sq ft apartment to ourselves again.  Hubby and I have gone over what my brother could have done to be a part of the household.  He chose to act the way he does and that's gotten him kicked out of Grandma's house and now our place.  Unfortunately he doesn't seem to get it. 

I hope we get approved for food stamps soon!  Using our own money to buy groceries is really taking a toll on our bank account. 

I am also slowly working on Kyle's back to school supply list!  I don't think we'll be able to get everything on the list so I'll just talk to the teacher and hopefully she can refer us somewhere that helps low income families with school supplies.  Since I don't see school supplies as a necessity for us to survive, I am putting those purchases on the back burner.  I am also waiting until I can find them on sale or a really low price!  I am now making the effort to limit my purchases at Walgreens to the things we need.  We have plenty of toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and shampoo/conditioner to last us until the end of the year.  It's just so easy to get all of those things super cheap with coupons matchups!  Just today, I bought 12 rolls of Cottonelle toilet paper for $3.25 after coupons!  I plan on buying another 12 rolls this week since I have the coupons! 

Surgery

Shannon had his surgery yesterday!  He was gone from 11am and didn't get home until 8:20pm or so.  While he was gone, it was just Kyle and me!  We had fun!  I read a book and wrote a review, did two loads of laundry and did some cleaning here and there. 

Before coming home, they stopped at CVS for a prescription (vicodin) and a few other things.  Shannon had called me about 3 hours after his surgery and said he would need ice packs.  So I took Kyle for a walk and we went to Walgreens to get two ice packs.  They happen to be "buy one get one 50%" so I paid under $5 for two of them.  I also used $3 in Register Rewards. 

It sounds like Shannon will be recovering for at least 5 days.  Thankfully we don't have any obligations, such as school, work, etc.

Our couch is scheduled to arrive today!  I am so excited! 

A refill

Earlier this month, I mentioned having to pay $3 for medication.  Well, I had to get a refill, so I called my doctor to see if I could get the "generic" form of the medication.  Anyway, I went to pick up my prescription and was told by the pharmacy that there isn't a generic form!  So, I had to pay another $3!  Oh well, $3 is much better than $188.99!!! 

While at Walgreens, I bought a few things.  They were either on sale or free.  I only used 2 coupons and still saved almost $19!!  Here's what I bought:

 

Huggies ~ on sale for $8.99

Total: $8.99

Arizona Green Tea ~ $0.99 each.  Used Walgreens coupon 2/$1
Total: $1

Pantene Conditioner ~ $4.99  Used a coupon from Pantene
Total: FREE

Finesse Shampoo and Conditioner (BOGO FREE) ~ $3.99 for both*
Total: $1.99 after $2 Finesse rebate

Scunci No Damage Hair Elastics ~ 2/$3
Total: FREE with $3 in Register Rewards towards next purchase

(Not pictured)

Walgreens brand Wet Cleaning Clothes (for the Swiffer) (BOGO FREE) ~ $3.99
Total Savings: $18.95

Pop Rocks and Boy Socks

Kyle had Pop Rocks for the first time yesterday.  Shannon bought them at the "corner store" and brought them out for Kyle to see.  Kyle was curious and he was even eager to eat them, even though he had no idea what they were.  We're never sure how he will react to new things.  He could either like it, hate it, and/or freak out.  When Kyle wanted more Pop Rocks, we gave him a little plate with more Pop Rocks to eat and he loved them. 

I picked up the Sunday paper and found 2 coupon inserts (I normally only receive one insert), so I was very happy about that!  Unfortunately my Sunday paper didn't have the Walgreens ad, but luckily I can access it online.  We stopped at Walgreens and picked up the ad (I like to have a copy in my possession so I can scour the ad and compare them with the coupons that I have) and a few things we needed.  After Walgreens, we went to Walmart for a few groceries.  Shannon also needed computer ink and printer paper.  I also picked up some boy socks for Kyle.  His "toddler" socks were getting old and he needed a bigger size.  Luckily I found the "smallest" size I could find in the boys section.  I also looked at pants for him but the smallest size (4/5) looked too big for him.  He will eventually need more clothes for school. 

Just a few things

I am always looking forward to Sunday -- to get the Sunday paper for the coupons.  I found a few in the Walgreens ad that I wanted to get.  I took Kyle with me and thankfully it was cool outside!   I used coupons for every item I bought and ended up saving over $19! 

We went to Walmart today for a few groceries. 

I applied for food stamps last week and we received a letter asking us to come in to "interview" so that they can determine our eligibility.  I guess they require all applicants to come in (unlike the former county we lived in where we did everything via mail).  The letter also stated that we may qualify for "expedited services" so hopefully we can get our food stamps as soon as possible!

I saved how much?!

My last prescription was ready at Walgreens yesterday, so we all jumped in the car to pick it up.  I would have walked, but it was super hot and humid outside.  If I attempted to leave, Kyle would have wanted to go with me and walking with him slows me down, which means more sweat and more time in the hot sun! 

I only had to pay $3 for my prescription since we have Medicaid.  When I opened my wallet, I saw that I only had $2 and then I checked the other slot in my wallet and saw that I had $5, otherwise, I would have had to use my bank card for a $3 purchase.  As I was walking away from the counter, I looked at the paperwork that was stapled to my bag and it said, "With your insurance, you saved $188.99."  I was shocked at how much this medication costs!  All I could think was, "thank goodness for Medicaid."  If I didn't have Medicaid, I would have looked for an alternative herbal remedy. 

When I got back to the car, I told Shannon how much I "saved" and all he could say was "holy sh*t" or something to that effect. 

When we returned home, I took a pill and I took another pill this morning.  I don't think it has started working yet because there haven't been any changes.  I hope this does start to work soon!

My appointment

I had my doctor's appointment this past Thursday.  It was a long awaiting visit, since I haven't been to the doctor since 2007!  Since I was a new patient, they wrote down as much of my medical history they could.  Then they asked what issues I had wanted to discuss with the doctor (there were 3). 

Anyway, I am little surprised at how eager the doctor was to write me a prescription for medication.  I think our society is way over-medicated!  I suppose I am not on medication mainly because I haven't had medical coverage since 2006 or so.  Even when I did have medical coverage, I rarely used it.  The doctor didn't even question my wanting a prescription for an inhaler (for my asthma).  He also wrote me a prescription for birth control and one other medication.  I am pretty sure if we were in California and I asked for a prescription for medical marijuana, he wouldn't even question that!!!  So crazy! 

I ended up filling my prescriptions at Walgreens since it's less than 2 blocks from us.  I was able to get two of my prescriptions, the third one wasn't covered by Medicaid and they need to get authorization for another medication from the doctor.  My birth control cost $32.99 and the inhaler cost $44.99 -- I only paid $3 for the inhaler.  Thank goodness for Medicaid! 

I am happy to have Medicaid and a "regular" doctor.  Shannon and I have both been seen by the same doctor. 

July 3rd

Tomorrow is 4th of July!  We don't have any plans but I have been thinking about making Pineapple Angel Food Cake or Brownies!  I can't decide.  Yesterday, I bought the stuff to make both. 

A few weeks ago I started getting the Sunday newspaper for the coupons.  Two weeks ago, I was able to save at Walgreens just from using coupons.  Last week was a little dull on the sales and coupons.  This week, I bought some things that were on sale, as well as use coupons with them.  I was able to get a bottle of Herbal Essences conditioner for free since it was on sale and I had a coupon for it!  I also bought two toothbrushes for free!  As I was putting away all the things I bought, I felt like I am becoming a hoarder!  I think it's more "stocking up" on the things we use. 

Last week, I bought a bottle of liquid castile soap with the idea of using it to make homemade hand soap, homemade dish soap, and other things.  However, I realized, I am saving more money using coupons.  I ended up returning the bottle of liquid castile soap, which was about $15!  I think I will continue to make our laundry soap just because it's all natural and it cleans our clothes so well and I don't need to use fabric softener. 

There are a few other things I need from Walgreens, and I plan to go again later this week.  As I am collecting more and more coupons, I am realizing that I may need to get a binder just to organize them.  More experienced couponers use a binder filled with plastic baseball card holders to organize their coupons. 

I am so glad that we live so close to a Walgreens (about 1 1/2 blocks away), so I can walk there!