All this last Tuesday?

Grandma and Grandpa wanted to watch Savannah while I shopped so I got to 6 stores! In just about 3 hours. Since I only shop off a list now, it's much faster. I'm starting to stock up on sales items, trying to take advantage of the sales cycles and tips I've found online.

CVS (hints)

Out of Pocket Spent: $25.92
Saved: 55%, $31.59
ECBs left: $19
Mail in rebate sent and waiting: $10
(After ECBs and rebate, earned $3.08 (plus all the loot!))

Victoria's Secret

Spent: $0
Saved: 100%, $15 plus lotion

Cub Foods

Spent: $4.30
Saved: 57%, $5.70
Plus free milk (up to $4.69) for next time! So came out pretty even.

Target

I can't find the actually receipt for Target but I *think* this is accurate within a few cents.
Spent: $18.72
Saved: 66%, $36.84
Mom paying me back $5 for 1 razor (bought 2) and 4 soups (not pictured).

Walmart

Paints were full price for Easter projects $4.64 :)
Spent: $7.58
Saved: 44%, $5.98

Walgreens (hints)

Spent: $14.48
Saved: 59%, $20.67
RRs left: $7.49
Easy Saver Rebate waiting: $5
On a side note, I was REALLY disappointed in myself when I got home and realized I forgot to check my receipt here. The checkout clerk forgot to scan two coupons and I should've separated my transaction (into 4 instead of 3) to get another $1RR. So I lost $2.20 savings here, another 2%. Hopefully next time I'll remember. :)


TOTAL SPENT: $70.68
TOTAL SAVED:$115.78
Rebates, Register Rewards, Milk, and ECBs remaining: $46.19
Mom paid me $5
Total cost this week (OOP - RR/ECBs/Rebates/Mom)= $19.49
60% savings out of pocket,
83% savings after everything!

Savings for 2009: $623.21
(starting from March 13th)

Sell your attention for $

This is a website where you get paid to look at advertising. For real!
They says they "are trying to convince consumers like us that we should be the ones controlling our own data and selling our own attention, not third parties like broadcasters, newspapers, and spammers."

It pays 5 cents to just look and it pays another 10-15 cents for clicking the link to learn more. It's even tailored to who you are and what you're interested in. As a result, I'm actually interested in most of the ads I see. I've only done it 3 days (not consecutively) and already earned $4.85. Not huge but nothing to sneeze at when DD's birthday is coming up. I think they pay every Friday, so I've been paid once so far. I'm looking forward to these ads, unlike the "unpaid" junk I see everyday. :)

Here's my referral URL if you're interested. Click this link to sign up. Just put my MeFile ID, rivkaselin, in the "Referral Code."

Shopping Adventures

Target:
I was pretty impressed with this Target run, especially since the vitamins were full price (cheaper than the coupon I had) at $8.04.
That means everything else ran me $3.04.
4 salads, 2 boxes baby safety swabs, 2 cans soup, 1 lotion, 1 wipes, 1 gummy vitamins
Total OOP: $11.08
Total saved: $10.50



CVS:
Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber $2.99
Used $2.75 off coupon
Total OOP: $0.44 (inc. tax)
Total saved: $5.25

Walgreens #1:
Chapstick @ 1.99
Edge Shaving Gel @ 2.99
Glade Candle @ 5.99
Used 2 coupons for Glade, WAGS $2, MFG $4= $6
Used RR $3 (from previous weeks)
Total OOP: $2.71
Total saved: $10
Plus $5 RR for next week



Walgreens #2:
2 Quaker Life cereals @ $2.50 each
2 Quaker Bars @ $2.50 each
Used $2 RR (Register Rewards) (from previous weeks)
Used 2 $1/2 Quaker coupons
Total OOP: $6.00
Total saved: $10
Plus $4 RR for next week.

TOTAL OOP last week: $20.23
TOTAL Saved last week: $35.75
Total RR and ECBs for rolling: $14.49

Another long weekend...

More couponing and shopping and working for Jesse. Inventory (again... how does it seem so often, when it's only monthly?). blah. So hopefully, I'll have some interesting posts next week :)
I'm sure I'll be too busy to post until then. So here's to hold you over til then:

No more snow please.

My favorite snow picture of the season, 2/21/09

Who on earth would bury their own child in snow, against their loud protestations? And then photograph it?!

So it's been a while... again :)

I just wanted to "brag" to everyone (all 4 of you now? No wait, Jesse doesn't read this, lol) that since I've been following couponing blogs and started practicing what they preach (about 20 days), I have saved 66% on our purchases.
On the one hand, I am saving lots of money by really searching out coupons on products we always buy. On the other hand, I am purchasing products that I never would have looked at before -- in order to EARN money (on overages) or to stockpile different branded products if they are free (or very close to it).
My hunter-gatherer instinct likes this. It's really a lot of fun for me. My personality is (apparently) well-suited to lists and clipping and searching etc. Things many people find tedious.
If you think this would be worth it to you, see: . This lady has got some great tutorials and advice. But, like I said, only if you've got the drive, personality, and a little time for it. (If anyone's REALLY interested, I've got a bunch more in my google blog reader).

This is for anyone who says you can't save LOTS of money clipping coupons.
Bottom line:
Full priced would've been:
$718

Spent:
$242

Saved:
$476!

**Normal budget is less than this, but this included some unusual purchases (new work clothes and shoes for Jesse, among other things) and a learning curve to the new techniques. I anticipate more success in April! :)

Getting bunnies sometime soon.

Jesse spent a good amount of time working on making a couple of hutches for our future bunnies this last weekend. It's not done yet, but that's because I made Jesse quit to watch a movie. Savannah and I drank juice and sat in the window sill watching from the warm house. I'm sure that Jesse would agree with me that it's not pretty. But why would you want to make something pretty if it's just going to get pooped on all the time? This pictures is of the bottom hutch (holds two adults) and the legs for the top hutch. You can barely see the chicken wire and we're adding a tray under the top hutch for reasons that will be most obvious to the bunnies in the bottom hutch.



Also, in case anyone reading is wondering... I have used the library bookmarklet more times than I can remember to count already. That means somewhere around 20-40 times. Yea!

The BEST THING EVER!

I am excited beyond words about my new web find. My nerdiness is exhibited most clearly by my shaking hands as I type. No joke, I think this is COOL.

Jon Udell's LibraryLookup Bookmarklet

Long story short, you can make a bookmarklet for your local library and when you are shopping on amazon or barnes and noble or other bookstores that use ISBNs (I'd venture a guess that most do), you click your new bookmarklet and up pops your library catalog and the book you were looking at. How much easier does it get to add new books to your library wishlist or request a copy to a location nearest you?
If you can't figure out his website or how to use your bookmarklets, let me know and I'll try to help.

SO COOL.
You have NO idea how often I am going to use this.
:D

Walk to the mailbox

Today we walked to the mailbox. It was almost but not quite disastrous. We decided to go because it was WARM today -- somewhere near 40 degrees Fahrenheit! We got bundled up in coats and boots and gloves. We got Thane hooked onto his leash, and I briefly wondered if I should leave him home, he's only been to the mailbox 1 or 2 times before. And isn't leashed trained completely -- he tries to take off sometimes. But, I figured, he's gotta learn sometime.
I pulled out the stroller, hoping the ice or slush wasn't too bad on the driveway. And off we go.
It all went fine for half the driveway... Then Thane pulled harder and harder and harder and ran out in front of the stroller. He twisted up the leash in the wheels and the stroller flipped forward. And (holding tightly to the leash) I flipped right over too on top of the stroller.
Did someone forget to buckle Savannah into the stroller today? What?! I wouldn't do that... normally. Oops.
So she flew a little bit.
Just a little bit.
And she was fine. I promise. Have you SEEN how puffy her coat is?
And she landed in crusty tall grass, not sharp ice.
I, on the other hand, found the ice. With my knees. Ouch.
Oh well. I totally feel like I deserve it for not buckling her in. Maybe it's lucky she wasn't in the stroller, since I landed on top of it. Who know...
And Thane, boy, he knew I was mad at him.
Anyhow, we finished our walk with no further incidents and now all I have to decide is how dramatically to tell the story to Jesse.
And remember to buckle the stroller next time.

Sorta sick day.

This has been a slow tired day. Jesse is sick now and we've just been hanging out and watching movies and eating. Here's Savannah coloring a picture after eating a LOT of tomato soup and grilled cheese. She's becoming quite the little artist ;) She even colored her left cheek!

Early waking = Cranky all day? I hope not!

Savannah woke up earlier than usual (don't ask what time that actually was, you might think I'm irresponible when really it's just Jesse's weird work hours that dictate things here). So that means I'm a little tired-er than usual and she's a little crankier than usual. Not the best combo. So I'm giving in. Usually we don't watch shows online until it's dark out -- a general rule. But today we're starting early.

With Winnie the Pooh in Russian with Russian animation -- it's very different and holds Savannah's attention better for some strange reason.

Watch if you want:

Well, people, since today is cold and cloudy, what better day to plan for all of the wonderful things I'm going to try to do in the warm sunny spring?
I've got some big plans since Savannah's getting bigger and can help more and stay outside longer.

We're going to expand our garden. If we can find the money, I've been toying with the idea of beekeeping. And we're going to try to do a lot of canning and preserving from our garden and from the food box we get from Jesse's work.
(On a related note, if anyone knows anyone with a good food mill, seed heating mat, or a pressure cooker/canner to get rid of... we'd be interested.)
So last year, we did green peppers that were NOT successful, we did tomatoes that were fairly successful, we had one little pumpkin, three or four herbs that were very successful, red onions with mixed results, and marigolds. We did square foot gardening.
This year, I'm planning to do potatoes, onions, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, various herbs, maybe carrots, maybe bell peppers, sunflowers, more marigolds, and maybe more. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.
We'll also try to do more grape harvesting than last year and see if we get enough wild cherries and black raspberries to do any besides nibbling.

Big plans, I know. I hope it's not too much but last year went very well (time-wise) and Savannah needed a lot more attention then. Hopefully we'll have enough to share! If anyone reading wants us to plant something special for them, give us a call :)

Here's a picture of last year's garden:

Savannah's bigger and Thane's bigger

new PUPPY!

He is 6.5 weeks old.
His mom is Platt hound, his dad is labrador/beagle.
He's so cute,
but he doesn't have a name yet.

Saving money this month...

I'd encourage anyone who reads this to think about this idea and maybe try out the tips. Any bit helps, right?

That was weird

The website that made "the family" has a ton of popups and junk... and then when it posted "the family", it left out Kitten. oh well. He already knows he's the red-headed stepchild (no offense to any actual red-headed stepchildren).

Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Adding something's better than nothing.

$25!

If anyone's interested...
Refer to RevolutionMoneyExchange.com

Sign up by this Thursday and get $25 -- just for signing up! (Then refer friends and get $10 per referral, up to $500.) It's like paypal, only they're new. Apparently they are trying to get more people to their website. Awesome.

Birthday fun!

I've got a ton of pictures to sort thru to post. For now, I'll just leave you with my favorite (so far).

Violet Hill

I just listened to the FREE early release track of Coldplay's latest album (due June '08!). And what can I say except -- I didn't realize how much I missed new Coldplay songs. Most of you know that I don't follow music very well, and I don't follow bands. Coldplay is the exception.
I don't really "do" music critiques. So I won't.
Go listen to it yourself: http://www.coldplay.com/index.html and click "song."
I love that they are letting it out early and free... they must know their diehards (am I a diehard?) will let everyone they know ALL ABOUT IT.

The poetry of parenthood...

Not really poetry, but somehow poetic:

Yesterday I made grilled cheese.
I burned both sides and didn't get to eat it until it was already cold.

Eating dirt to see if it tastes good...

I guess it does.

Easter pictures from Grandma

Getting around...

I've been bad. I've been missing. I've been busy.
Here's our little WALKER!

Eating at home.

We've actually been doing really good about eating at home and not eating junk... I just haven't updated my blog to tell you all about it :)

So I've got a good menu list made up and we've been doing pretty good about sticking to it. When we don't we usually are eating more leftovers than I thought we'd have, or skipping meals (bad, I know).

Lately we've been doing Poppy Seed Chicken (thanks to Aunt Donna), Pizza, Enchiladas, Quesadillas, Spaghetti, Pancakes, Lentil Ham Soup... and others that I can't think of.

Last night, I made Jesse pancakes since he's sick (he got bronchitis somehow... and so he's very tired). This recipe is based on Marilee's, written down and adjusted by Andrew.
Here's the magic Selin whole wheat pancake recipe:
Yield: Big! It's the WHOLE family recipe, I think... I cut it in thirds or two-thirds since eggs are hard to halve.
3 c. white flour
1 c. whole
3 large eggs
3 c. milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. banking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. oil
Directions: mix it all up and pour it on a hot skillet. That's all folks. I make it look sooo easy :)

Our favorite (and easiest) financial helper

Anyone interested in saving your money instead of spending it? Or getting a checking account that actually pays significant interest -- like 2.25% APY and no minimum balance instead of a certain large bank's 0% checking and 0.15% APY "savings" with fees if you don't keep a minimum balance. The way it works is easy-- it's an online bank. They still have ATMs -- isn't that mostly what you use your bank for anyway?

If you are interested I can send you an invitation to open an Orange Savings Account or Electric Orange. If you open an account with at least $250, ING will deposit a $25 bonus in your new account and will give me a $10 thank you bonus for the referral.

Your initial deposit $250+ You get I get Orange Savings Account $25 $10 Electric Orange $25 $10

Leave me a comment or email me and I'll answer any questions and hook you up.

Made From Scratch.

Upon recent inspiration, I am going to try to be a better blogger :)
Also "inspired"/stolen from another blogger, I'm going to try to make all our dinners from scratch for a week. Not including if we aren't home.
But that doesn't start yet, we still have leftovers from last week to finish off.
I've also been thinking/dreaming up projects to work on -- craft-wise. Goodness knows, I ought to have the spare time... not working and all. The time just seems to slip through my fingers so I'm going to try to schedule it in.
Eh... I have high hopes but I'm too much of a realist to get excited about them.

Anyone want to vote:
Make a purse/diaper bag/satchel thing similar to this only less slouchy:
Or starting a quilt
Or some miscellaneous crochet project
Or do memo-boards to sell on etsy like I did for xmas (like this):

(P.S. note to self: I need to find my postcard collection...)

Thoughtful Pose and Fancy Coat

Savannah's Controls Cats With Her Fingers

Genealogy

That Look a like meter is fun to play with... but it changes depending on which picture you use. Oh well. I found it on the website of a mom with a babe born same month as Savy, we both frequent a certain mothering forum to get info, advice, show pictures, talk about stuff most people don't want to hear about (diapers, fevers, unfounded worries, bragging, etc.). But anyway, it's from a website that deals with genealogy, so I think I'm gonna start doing that again. About every year or two, I start doing research at an obsessive rate for about a month or so. Then I drop it again. It's been about a year now, so I figure, hey, how about now? I probably be making a trip to the Historical Society in the next few weeks, so if anyone's interested in going to the History Museum, let me know, it'd be loads of fun! Hmmm, I wonder if they've added more state census years online since I've been there last... Wandering away now.

Baby Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy

I'm sooo cute.

You couldn't resist me if you tried. (pic from 19/11/07)

Can you say NERD?!

Tappity-tap-tap-tap
(pic from 8/11/07)

Standing up (holding a chair)!

(pic from 8/11/07)

















Savannah can stand unsupported just for second now too!
She's working on crawling but mostly just ends up in tears of frustration :(

Savannah and Buddy

(pic from 31/10/07)

Halloween face

Jesse

Here's Jesse. By popular demand.