Grocery store receipts are over $400 already. It's near impossible to buy groceries for an entire month for $400. CRAZY. Even so, I have saved a ton of $$. Here's the breakdown:
Week 1 - Vons Total $157.32 - $66.14 of coupons/club card savings = $99.18 Costco Total $35.37 CVS Total $76.84 - 35.50 coupons = $41.34 Grand total week 1 = $167.89
Week 2 - Vons Total $177.98 - $57.13 of cpns/cc savings = $120.85 CVS Total $19.66 - 8.92 cpns = $10.74 Grand total week 2 = $131.59
Week 3 - Vons Total $166.12 - $49.73 of cpns/cc savings = $116.39 CVS Total $9.45 - $6.00 of cpns = $3.45 Grand total week 3 = $119.84
3 Week total = $419.32
Eat at home challenge. This one is much easier. We haven't had a meal out for dinner since I started this challenge. I am struggling with new recipes and sick of cooking but still I am maintaining.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Just for my blog
When you read this post, don't forget I am "journaling" my life with kids so it might not be entertaining to you but sometimes I just want to make note of it.
Lynzy pooped in the toilet all by herself last night. She has seemed interested lately in potty training but really I haven't pushed it. She likes to run around naked which Brock did too during his potty training days. And last night she kept running to the potty seat saying "go pee-pee" and in the end she did. We really are excited for her and she got a treat. Now today, she has no interest. Go figure.
Wesley is getting ready to start guitar lessons. It has been a struggle trying to find someone on Mondays since we really only have him consistently on Mondays. Finally I did and Wesley seems really excited. Now the problem is his guitar. He needs to practice so we have to figure out a way to get it to his mom's house while he is there. It's just another hassle and another reason for us to stay married :).
Brock and I have been having issues in regards to sleeping and snuggling. Brock wants me to sleep with him and frankly I don't want to. Lately, when I just snuggle with him, he ends up pulling my hair or kicking me. It is so annoying. So, I made a decision a couple of weeks ago and told him that I would snuggle with him while we read our goodnight books but he was old enough to sleep without me. If he can convince his dad to sleep with him, well, good for him but Mommy was not going to do it anymore. He convinces Steve to sleep with him about 50% of the time. At naptime, he still tries to get me to stay with him longer but he is slowly coming around. Just another change he will have to live through. The good news is that kids grow up in spite of their parents.
My Avon business seems to be ok. I have a couple of orders in and just recently approached Brock's preschool director about fundraising using Avon. She's agreed and I think that this might be my "in" for being a top seller someday. Hit up the schools for fundraising...my friend that got me started in Avon is actually the one who had the idea. So, we'll see where this goes. Even if I only make $5 each time, it's $5 I didn't have before.
Lynzy pooped in the toilet all by herself last night. She has seemed interested lately in potty training but really I haven't pushed it. She likes to run around naked which Brock did too during his potty training days. And last night she kept running to the potty seat saying "go pee-pee" and in the end she did. We really are excited for her and she got a treat. Now today, she has no interest. Go figure.
Wesley is getting ready to start guitar lessons. It has been a struggle trying to find someone on Mondays since we really only have him consistently on Mondays. Finally I did and Wesley seems really excited. Now the problem is his guitar. He needs to practice so we have to figure out a way to get it to his mom's house while he is there. It's just another hassle and another reason for us to stay married :).
Brock and I have been having issues in regards to sleeping and snuggling. Brock wants me to sleep with him and frankly I don't want to. Lately, when I just snuggle with him, he ends up pulling my hair or kicking me. It is so annoying. So, I made a decision a couple of weeks ago and told him that I would snuggle with him while we read our goodnight books but he was old enough to sleep without me. If he can convince his dad to sleep with him, well, good for him but Mommy was not going to do it anymore. He convinces Steve to sleep with him about 50% of the time. At naptime, he still tries to get me to stay with him longer but he is slowly coming around. Just another change he will have to live through. The good news is that kids grow up in spite of their parents.
My Avon business seems to be ok. I have a couple of orders in and just recently approached Brock's preschool director about fundraising using Avon. She's agreed and I think that this might be my "in" for being a top seller someday. Hit up the schools for fundraising...my friend that got me started in Avon is actually the one who had the idea. So, we'll see where this goes. Even if I only make $5 each time, it's $5 I didn't have before.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Something new
I have been searching for something for me to do from home that can make some extra money for our family. There are so many scams out there like processing rebates, or check cashing schemes. Some of the crazy emails and job postings are going to land some poor innocent person in jail because I know they are illegal! So, after some searching, a friend who currently sells Avon talked to me about trying it. It has a low start up cost of only $10 and they provide you with so many tools to start your business. I felt that Avon was a great company to sell with since it has many products and not just one thing, like a vacuum or something. Also, they update their brochures constantly so there are new specials and different products in each book. I had a vision of Avon as just perfume and makeup since that's what I remember as a kid but it has jewelry, clothes, shoes and kid items now. It's great and I know where the kids' Christmas gifts are coming from this year.
P.S. Steve was the biggest critic of this idea. He was worried that it would be money out of our pocket rather than in it and it must be some pyramid scheme, (it's not.) So after I signed up, I handed him a brochure. He wants me to order three things from the book and he is now telling everyone he knows, "my wife is selling Avon and it's really reasonably priced." He is too funny!
P.S. Steve was the biggest critic of this idea. He was worried that it would be money out of our pocket rather than in it and it must be some pyramid scheme, (it's not.) So after I signed up, I handed him a brochure. He wants me to order three things from the book and he is now telling everyone he knows, "my wife is selling Avon and it's really reasonably priced." He is too funny!
Changes
We've been making some changes around our house lately. Starting with using homemade cleaners. I hate the chemicals in commercial cleaners because of the smells and every time I start to clean, the kids come in behind me and want to stay with me. Those fumes cannot be good for anyone, especially the little lungs my kids have. So, I have been currently using a mixture of vinegar and water for almost all of my cleaning. It isn't the best smelling product but at least it's natural. Also, baking soda and water make a great paste to use as a scrubbing agent. So, we are saving money like crazy because we are only buying vinegar and baking soda. Got to love that.
Another change is that we have limited tv watching to no more than 2 hours a day. Some days, we don't even turn it on. It wasn't that my kids were watching Cops or anything, it's always been Dora or Diego or Letter Factory but it seemed like the tv was always on even if they weren't watching it. So, we have been leaving it off and the kids rarely ask about it. We have caught them playing really well together, making forts, reading tons of books and using their toys that haven't seen the daylight in awhile. I wish we had started this earlier just because of how positive it has been but sooner rather than later will have to suffice.
On a side note: The Letter Factory by LeapFrog is one of the best videos for our kids to watch. It teaches them phonics and they ask to watch the video quite often. It was recommended by two friends and they were right. It's great.
Another change is that we have limited tv watching to no more than 2 hours a day. Some days, we don't even turn it on. It wasn't that my kids were watching Cops or anything, it's always been Dora or Diego or Letter Factory but it seemed like the tv was always on even if they weren't watching it. So, we have been leaving it off and the kids rarely ask about it. We have caught them playing really well together, making forts, reading tons of books and using their toys that haven't seen the daylight in awhile. I wish we had started this earlier just because of how positive it has been but sooner rather than later will have to suffice.
On a side note: The Letter Factory by LeapFrog is one of the best videos for our kids to watch. It teaches them phonics and they ask to watch the video quite often. It was recommended by two friends and they were right. It's great.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Bug update
Update on the lice situation in our home. I informed my friends with kids that we have seen in the last 3 weeks and then proceeded to wash every last sheet, pillow case, towel or clothes in the house. I also vacuumed couches, mattresses, floors etc. Both of these fun activities were done each day. I hate laundry! Anyway, Steve and I believe we caught the beginning of the lice issue because after the first day, we haven't seen another bug. Perhaps the mayo worked. I purchased a natural based product from www.licekiller.com that we used on Friday afternoon. It is a long a tedious process but as of right now, we have been lice free since Friday. Brock & Wes both got their hair buzzed just to be on the safe side. Hope our incident helps other unsuspecting families out there. I was sure we had a couple of years before we dealt with this. Boy was I wrong.
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