A little bit of this and a little bit of that

It's been awhile! I usually post at least once a week, so I feel like its especially been a long time. We made an impromptu trip to Boise this last weekend. At first, it was just going to be me and the kids, but the morning that we were leaving, Marc decided to come too. It was fun hanging out with my parents and just letting the kids play and play out in the backyard. My brother was able to fix my computer, he saved my files and all my "books" (mypublisher.com) I have 4 books that are 100 pages long with approximately 500 pictures in each. I've put hours into making those books and did not want to even think about starting all the way over so I'm especially grateful he was able to save those. I've been waiting for mypublisher's 40% off sale to print so that's why I have so many right now that are just sitting there. Well, they're now having their 40% sale and looks like I'll just have to wait awhile longer until we have some extra cash. I'll cross my fingers that this sale holds on until Christmas and maybe by then we'll be able to get some as gifts or something.

It's always a treat to see my Grandma while we're in Boise. She just turned 88 years old and still looks fabulous.I introduced my mom to couponing. I think she's hooked, but I'm not convinced she'll do it on her own yet. Maybe you'll prove me wrong Mom! Hopefully you do :)

On Saturday, my mom and I were able to get 4 FREE things of makeup (foundation products) at Rite Aid. I woke up early on Monday morning to be back at Rite Aid right when it opened to buy diapers and a few other things. It has quickly become my favorite drug store to shop at recently because of two things, Rebates and the Fall gift of savings program. The gift of savings program keeps track of all your purchases between Sep 13th and Oct something. When you spend so much money they will send you a Rite Aid gift card in $5, 10, or 20 depending on how much you spend BEFORE COUPONS!! So, it counts the makeup that I bought, even though I didn't pay anything out of pocket except tax. Cool, huh? The rebate program is cool and super easy too. Every month, certain products are eligible for Rebates. You simply enter your receipt information online and it automatically gives you the credit if you bought the rebate items. At the end of the rebate period, you click on the "request rebate check" and it gives you all the qualifying rebates on one check that is mailed out to you. So, for example, Huggies Diapers were on sale at Rite Aid this week 3 for $33. I had both manufacture and Rite Aid coupons that could be combined which brought my total down to $13. I submit my receipt, and I'll get a $10 rebate on those diapers which makes my total a whopping $3. And I MAKE money with the gift of savings program!
I've been kind of consumed by coupons lately, more so than I'd like to admit, but what can I say, I'm HIGHLY motivated, it provides a way for me to still shop and get things that I otherwise would not be able to do right now, and we're building UP a Food Storage in the midst of being unemployed which otherwise would have been impossible. I shopped at Albertsons, Walgreens, and Rite Aid while I was in Boise. My total out of pocket expense for these items was $35.75. I saved over $96 combining sales and coupons, and I'm expecting a $12 rebate check, and a $20 gift card to Rite Aid.