♥ me some Groupon

It's pretty awesome. I just recieved two books in the mail from Barns & Noble because of groupon. Now I could have gotten a used book from Amazon for a little cheaper, but then toss in shipping and I am right back up to the amount I paid for my Groupon. 


One used book on amazon vs. 2 new books from B&N via groupons deal.... I'll stick with the last deal. :)


So what books did I purchase....

I've always have wanted to read this book... but now that the movie is coming out I needed to hop on it fast. Honestly, I always love the books way more than the movie. Agree?

So I had to get one more book..... 


There were many on my list but I figured I should get this one book becuase sooner or later it's gonna happen.... and why not get the book for free? :)

No, we are not prego. When God's time is right, he will let us know. And when that time happens then I'll blog about it. I have MANY ideas for when this time comes around. As for now, we will focus on finishing up the last details on the basement and kitchen. Then update a bathroom and maybe a nursery? lol 


Just kidding.... but not really. :)

xox m.

Homegoods

I received a gift card to Homegoods a few months ago and I've been holding on to it and waiting for something good. I don't live that close to a Homegoods, so it was easy for me to not spend it. However since it is conveniently located right next door to Michael's (where I've been taking my cake classes) I decided to take a peek and see what's in store. Boy o boy I wish I had $500 (the total of all items pictures below) to buy all this stuff for our home.

............................................................

An awesome chair for our reading nook up stairs. The colors are PERFECT. It's the perfect transition going form the white/tan living room to the green and grey kitchen....up the stairs to the reading nook which leads into the yellow and grey nursery and my orange and brown office/craft room! And that table lamp could go perfect in my office, the color is spot on. However, I am a little reluctant to make my purchase of the lamp because I feel like I could find something like it at a thrift store and spray paint it this color. Hmmm.... BUT my gift card does cover the lamp, but not the chair. Sigh...

This floor lamp and table lamp are the perfect dual for the reading nook as well. Just picture the floor lamp a little behind the chair above. Then maybe a side table with the table light on it? Hmmm.... gift card would cover either or, but not both.

Or I could use the gift card to purchase this beauty. It is kinda hard to tell in this picture (sorry all photos were taken from my phone). The base of this lamp is all wood, and the shade is the perfect color that would go wonderful in our living room. Also I think the lamp is more modern but since it had the wood it would tie in well with the modern country theme we have going on. Decisions decisions....


 
 
xox m.

What's A Coupon? (Part 1 of 2)

After a few posts of saving over 90% on groceries, and different photos shown on Facebook of all my savings and free mail goodies, I have had a handful of ladies ask me what is my secret on saving so much. So I have decided to blog about my ‘process’ or how this thing called couponing came about.


(This is the time to exit this blog if not interested in saving money by couponing. lol)
Shall I start from the beginning?

Long story short, I quit my full time job (knowing I would be going full time with another company after our wedding). So I just in case something were to happen with the future job, I saved 3 months worth of needs to cover the “just in case” issues. Well… 3 months flew by and it’s now going on 5 months and I’m not full time at the company… just full time freelance (which does keep me busy, but it’s just not enough right now –trying to redo our home, save for kids… etc.). SO on that note I needed to be creative and figure out how to move our money further and save even more than we were. Say hello to the coupon. Coupon definition: a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. This made me happy. Score!

So I started to use coupons and was saving maybe 20% of my bill. Then I found out about a lady from Huntley, Jill Cataldo. She offers coupon classes and teaches people how to save a drastic amount of money on their groceries. The classes that were in driving distance for me were not for a few months so I started to do some researching on my own. I looked through her blog and searched for other saving blogs…. And this is what I came to conclusion:

If you stack coupons when the items go on sale at the store you can get items for very cheap and sometimes free. Simple right? WRONG! It takes a lot of work to figure all the logistics, but I promise you…. once you do… you will never go back. When I started to ‘figure’ out the system it took me FOREVER, but now I spend about 15-30 minutes a week to figure out my deals and that’s that!

So here is a little explaining and what works for ME.


Types of coupons:

Manufacturer coupon: coupons from the company itself.
Example: Most coupons that you find in the newspaper, magazines or online are manufacturers coupons.  See the little box at the upper left corner? Yep -

Store coupons: coupons from the direct store you are going to shop at.

Example: Meijer has a program called ‘Meijer Meal box” and you can print the coupons from their website and use only at Meijer.

CAT coupons: CAT=Catalina coupons are the coupons that print out at the register after you pay for your items. These are great!!

Ok show now where do I get my coupons?

I have the paper delivered to my house (of course I used a coupon on this! Use code X277 on the Chicago Trib for Sunday delivery for 26 weeks at .50 each!) and I print coupons from my home. Also some stores are starting to send coupons to your smart phone and there is no need to print coupons, you just show them the bar code from your phone! (That is crazy isn’t it? I’ve received the coupons on my phone but never needed to use them yet.)

*Tip: I use the Chicago Tribune to get the most valuable coupons. They have the most adverting therefore get higher discounts on the coupons. However, I don’t care to read the tribune… I literally take the coupons and recycle the rest. BUT I do get the Northwest Herald so I can stay up to date on my local area. The NWH I liked to read the articles but the coupons are not as abundant and are sometimes half the amount of what you get in the Trib.

Now where do I store my coupons?

4 places. Yikes! Don’t worry… it’s an organized system that I came up for myself and it works GREAT for me. I started to cut coupons and they were everywhere and it drove me nuts, so I finally figured out a system that works ok. To be honest… there is probably a better system out there and something that works more fabulous… but I’ve got the swing on my system down so I’m A-OK with doing it. (And I like to file and organize as it is so it's fun!)

1st place: Mail Organizer

This is where I keep my coupons after I print them out, or if I get one in the mail. So I snip them and they go in the organizer to be transferred to my coupon sheets when I have time.

2nd place: Coupon Sheets

I found these plastic sheets (like the ones that hold baseball cards) at Office Depot. I labeled them accordingly and they hold all my coupons.

Example: When I get the mailers on Sunday I clip out the coupons for the products that I know I for sure will need at some point and put the coupons in my sheets. Then the mailers get saved and stored in my accordion binder.

3rd place: Accordion Binder

All my Sunday inserts get labeled with the date and store in the binder. Blogs like Jill’s and others tell you what deals are going on and they will reference to a certain insert. So it's a good thing not to toss the inserts and to just store them away for a good sale.

Example: Wheat Thins are on sale for $1.99. Use the $1 coupon from 11/7 RP and pay .99!

Breakdown: So I would go into my binder and look for the RP=RED PLUM insert from 11/7 and search for the wheat thins coupon. Or in my case I know Steve and I like wheat thins so I already have this coupon cut and in my coupon sheets. But I keep the inserts just in case there is something I miss… or if I can get a good/free deal I can donate it to my food box that I take to the food pantry.

4th place: Mini Binder

This is where I keep my coupons that I will need when I go to the store, and also my CAT coupons. I keep it in my purse so I can whip it out at the store when I shop. Using this makes it easier than carrying my coupon sheets around. (Don't mind the teeth marks, Tovi was trying to help with the coupons one day.)

And that’s that! Sounds like a ton of work, but now it’s just an organization system that saves me an AMAZING amount of money.

I’m going to end this post on that note, since it's really long. And I’ll write about my process in another post. I'll explain how it all works then, but ya kinda need to know the background... get your feet wet before you just JUMP in! :o)

xox m.

4 Chair Makeover

We have been very lucky to have friends and family give their unwanted furniture to us. Honestly we have been blessed. We have gotten about 4 couches, 3 beds, a bench, 2 rockers, a hutch, a table with a set of 4 chairs, a bookcase, and even some Halloween decorations! :) To me it’s a blessing, and to the friends it’s a blessing because now they get to go purchase brand new!
So far everything has been put to good use! We have passed a few of the items on and I am now in the stage of ‘re-doing’ the items that are left.
But lets start from the beginning. A few years ago I feel in love with a kitchen table at World Market Cost-Plus. So I started to save all the gift certificates to go towards this kitchen table. Well it was time for a table…. so I picked up my table only having to pay 25%, thanks to my loving family and friends for my GC! :) So I bring the table home and I start to get it set up, and realize I have no chairs. I naturally went online to check out some chairs and I was dumbfounded! I couldn’t believe how much chairs cost! Well little did I forget I had a set of chairs sitting in the basement waiting for me. Now these chairs didn’t match, they were a different color, look, style, feel…. but I say let’s revamp them! And that’s what I did.


I forgot to take a before picture… grr…. But if you can imagine they were a classic oak color. I used spray paint to cover the chair in a satin brown color. It was a pretty good match! And the seat cushion was a blue pattern. Pretty, but my kitchen is going to be whites and a hint of green.

Ta-da! Now I’m a little wishy washy on the patterns I picked out. After the kitchen is finished completely I will more than likely do the reupholster thing again to match, but for now… ahhhhh comfy seats to rest on while eating dinner. Now all I need to do is make a bench to match and the set will be complete. Maybe this weekend?? :)

xo m.

Swaggernauts

Alright so I've had a few questions about swagbucks and here are a few tips that I can show you on ways to earn 'swagbucks'. These are just ways that I have found easy and quick.

1. The swag tool bar. I was totally skeptical of this and really didn't want to download and install it. However I needed only a few more points to get another gift card so I took the leap of faith. I did it and it's great! It's a great reminder to use to get to all the sites you visit while earning 'swagbucks'. So what I do is in the morning I check my email account and then Facebook. So I type in Facebook in the toolbar and bam - 2 bucks just for USING the toolbar and then when you do a few searches in general I've earned 7-20 points! So yea, downloading the tool bar was a good thing. (Also sometimes I've seen codes on the toolbar which give you extra swagbucks as well.)

2. The search button. This is the same thing as the tool bar. I used to click on the search button to get to where I wanted to search. So if you are still apprehensive about downloading the search toolbar, then continue to use this.

3. NOSO. This button is where you do a few click through to get a few swagbucks. It's no obligation offers. I just press the 'no' and 'skip' buttons because I don't want to sign up for anything. And then after 3-4 of these offers... BAM free swagbucks.

This is what you will see when you first click on NOSO. Then you click on: Start Earning

The you might see something like this... and then you press SKIP!

After a few rounds of that it will equal some more swagbucks.


4. Trusted Surveys. After a week of being a member on Swagbucks you have the chance to earn more bucks. Simply click on the button for these trusted surveys and you get bucks, and then if you have some surveys that you qualify for and want to take the time to fill them out, sometimes you can earn 25-150 points!
I always check just to earn the bucks and then I've only done one survey before... I was working on something at the same time so it took me about 30 minutes to complete but I got 75 swagbucks for it! :)

5. Daily Poll. Easy bucks to just take a poll. Nuff said.

6. Blog. This is a hit or miss. If you go to their blog and read (or skim) the post sometimes at the end of the post they will give you a code to put in for some free swagbucks. Every once in a while I'll check it... and once I found a code! However they have limits on them. For example: Enter (code here) until 5pm PDT for 7 Swag Bucks! BUT when it's passed the correct time it was just say EXPIRED. So it's a good one if you can catch it. Also on the blog they sometimes give tips and tricks on how to find codes etc.... so if you have time and want to check the blog out.... do it.

7. Sponsor Offers. These are offers to get you more bucks. I've only done the videos. You click on the video and watch it and BAM more swag bucks. Or you can turn your speakers down and just play the video while you do other things.

All in all said. I fgure why not earn free gift certificats to amazon by doing what I normally do? Since I'm on my computer I don't mind putting an extra few minutes in to seach by swag and not bygoogle, or even search for google in my swag search bar to then search for what I'm looking for. All this trouble for $10.00 to amazon? Sure! And thank you! :)


xo. m.

SWAGBUCKS

What is Swagbucks? Swagbucks is an easy way to earn a little extra cash (through PayPal), gift cards, or prizes! Swagbucks is a search engine, just like Google, and you get "Swagbucks," or points at random. I usually get 20-50 Swagbucks a day just from searching.
As your Swagbucks accumulate, you can trade them in for gift cards and prizes. For example: Earn 450 Swagbucks and get a $5 gift certificate to Amazon!

What kind of gift cards are there? The most popular is the amazon card I mentioned above. Then there are other prizes that inculde:

$5 Paypal - 700 Swagbucks

$10 Barnes and Noble e-Gift Card - 1250 Swagbucks
$20 Target e-Gift Card - 2350 Swagbucks

Then there are also gifts like toys, stickers, games, books, etc. There is just a ton of stuff to pick from!

How do you earn Swagbucks? The most common ay to earn them is through searching, but it's not the only way. After you sign up, you use their search bar to go to website (and do this often!) Even thought I know how to get to facebook and my blogger, I still go to swagbucks and search for 'Facebook' which allows me to gain points. Simple!  (On a side note, the search isn't great. So I usually just do it a few times till I earn a few points and then search for Google to do my real searching. Ha-ha).

Another way to earn Swagbucks is to vote daily on the Daily Poll! Do trusted surveys, check out their No Obligation Offers, complete some of there FREE special offers, and once you recieve your prize... take a photo of your 'Swag' and send it to Swagbuks to prizephoto@swagbucks.com for more Swagbucks!

Sounds easy right? IT IS!! It might take a few 5-10 minutes a day, but within 2 weeks I earn a free gift card to amazon and I'm still going! The more gift cards I earn the more my "gift budget fund" will increase! :)

Ready to earn big with Swagbucks?! Sign up here and earn 30 Swagbucks immediately!!! :)

Let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions! And I'll post more facts as I learn them throughout the process.

xo m.

Chicken Parm Round 2

Remember when I posted about "Cooking with the Bach's"? Well I forgot to mention something about the Chicken Parmesan Bundles. We didn't like the spinach that I put in there. We actually only ate the outside of the chicken and that's about it, sad. So I tried for round two the other night and used broccoli, and it was a winner! Steve said to put it on the 'make again' list. WOO HOO!!

Want to see a meal that was on the 'never make again' list??

Cheeseburger Bacon Mac.

This tasted a lot like hamburger helper but was a big pain to make. AND it was so bland and just... just... gross. This could be due to the fact that I forgot to thaw out the bacon so we tried using Bacon Bits (Highly recommend to NEVER use - sick) and so it just didn't turn out. However, I'm so glad, I am blessed, to have a husband who will try anything with me!

Here was another meal we made.... we liked it. BBQ Chicken something or other... It got a little burnt but it was still good, and Steve loves anything with the sound of BBQ (or BACON!).

On the savings note... I'm keeping it up!

We are trying to stay at $200 a month for groceries (including toiletries etc). Mom said I was crazy but all the best to us... ha-ha.

We shop at Meijer but once in a while if I see a GREAT deal I'll head to Walmart or Walgreens, and I've also been to Dominicks once before. So far the BEST deal I got was the other day at Walgreens. The shelf cost (total cost without coupons) was $26.88 and I paid OOP (Out of Pocket) $1.40 plus I got $7.00 back on my next purchase. That means I made $5.60 to go shopping and bring home two Schick 5 razors and blades (for Steve), 2 tubes of toothpaste (we were getting low), some chapstick and wheat thins. Not a TON of stuff, but I needed toothpaste so it was worth going to Walgreens to shop to get paid $5+ bucks! Go us! And if you are interested in how I'm doing this or want to join in on the savings, let me know! I would love to share the savings! :)

With pinchin' the pennies our kitchen remodel, basement and laundry room remodel will come along quicker than expected. Then you know what?? Time for savings for babies! :)


For those of you who don't know already, I have the BABY ITCH real bad. Steve has it once in a while, more often than not, but we just want to wait a little bit and enjoy each other and our time together as just us. But it's ok to look at baby clothes, books, items for a soon to be nursery??? Right? Ha! All in God's perfect timing though.

Back to house things...

If anyone is in need of paint, the Ace Hardware in McHenry is having a rebate on BenMoore paint. Buy a gallon (for $5) get $5.00 back in rebates! That's FREE paint!! There is a limit of 4 gallons, but it looks to me like a GREAT time to go get paint for our guest bathroom, master bedroom and bathroom. If Steve goes with, we could get 4 more gallons! Anyone want to have a painting party? Just kidding....

Everyone have an awesome day!

xo m.

p.s. Has anyone used the website Restaurant.com ? It's a site where you can purchase gift certificates to local restaurant in your area for a cheaper price. There are rules like... buy $25 and have to spend $50 and only valid on Sun-Thursday.... 18% gratuity added....

Well the other day they had a sale for 90% off! So I checked out the restaurants in my area and I bought a $10.00 gift certificate to the Rib House in CL for only $.40. Steve and I thought we could have a date night and get ribs for super cheap?? (There goes our date night budget! - ha ha). But we shall see if the $0.40 purchase was worth it or not.....

Address Labels

Does anyone else get these free address labels in the mail as often as I do?

It's crazy! I didn't sign up for anything (or not knowingly) and seriously every other week I get TONS in the mail. In one day I got 2 mailers with address labels, one dream catcher, 2 packs of Christmas cards, and a map of the USA. Honestly... I don't have the slightest clue. A dream catcher?? Really?!?! Ha-ha-ha! I just have no idea how and why I get this stuff. I'm not complaining here, I just think it's funny. And I really want to know if anyone else gets these? I mean I get them at my parents house and at my house. But I guess I really never have to worry about running out of labels. And it is pretty cool that I now have different labels for different seasons and I got them all for free. (Please read with a sarcastic tone right there)  Check it out...

Oh and a side note: to the people who make these labels for me... I got married, last name is Bach now! :)

Just kidding....

xo m.

Moving Up!

Sick of seeing my savings?  I'm not! :)

I'm now up to saving 72% on my bill! Can I get a hip-hip-hooray!!!

$61.54 worth of items that I got for $17.49! Yep, crazy!

My top deal was the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter which are on sale 3 for $4.00 but I used a coupon and got money back on the deal. So it was FREE with a .04 pay back!

Other deals were FREE Dan-Active yougurt and  $.50 for the Glade Candles.

I'm just glad the Lord is helping me figure all this out. October is the month that we are starting our bugget and this was the first kick. So I think we are off to a great start! Any one need some butter?

 xo m.

I'm His Coupon Bunny

Today was another crash course for me in couponing. I collected two papers, the Chicago Trib which I purchased, and the NW Herald that my mom gave to me when she was finished with it. I figured out what items I needed, what items that were a good deal that I may need in the future, and the items that were FREE! :)

Here is the low-down.

$120.78 worth of items that I got for $46.69.
Yep, a 61% savings right there! :) I’m learning because last time I only saved 50%

Here are my TOP savings out of this bunch.

Emergen-C Vitamin C = FREE
This will go in my donations box.

Hyland’s Cold ‘n Cough 4 kids = FREE
This will go in my donations box.

Select Harvest Soup = 4 cans on sale at $1, I printed out 4 coupons for $1.00 off one can = FREE

Playtex - On sale with coupon = FREE

Crest Pro Health Toothpaste = 0.99 each

Kraft Cream Cheese = 5 at $0.25 each
On sale for 4 for $5.00. I had a coupon for $5 off 5 Kraft items.

Ramen was on sale 10 for $1.00
These will go in my donation box as well.

Ritz Crackers = 4 boxes for $5.52
They were on sale for $1.88 each and I had 2 $1.00 off 2 boxes.

Lucky Charms = 4 boxes for $5.96
They were on sale for $1.99 each and I had 2 $1.00 off 2 boxes.

Bounty Paper Towels = 1 pack for 5.24
On sale for 6.49 and I had 2 coupons, $1 off and $.25 off.

So I’m getting the hang of this a little each time.

I was super over whelmed with clipping the coupons, figuring out how to use them, and where to even put them once I clipped them. So I am trying to figure out a system for my house and then a systemfor when I actually go to the store and need to bring those coupons along for the ride. Today I believe I had a total of 29 scanned coupons, and had about 50 on me. So as you could imagine, I was all over the place when pulling those cut pieces of papers out from my purse to make sure those where the right coupons I needed to scan for my purchase. So once I figure it out, I’ll share.

You may be wondering if Steve is going along with the madness, and he just smiles at me and says he loves his little coupon bunny. He really is a great husband and how well he puts up with my crazy coupon cutting and wanting to make our dollar go even further. The crowning moment was when he text me to see if I could get a coupon for RV Antifreeze. I told him I could see what I can do, and *ting* we are now saving a dollar on each gallon that we need to purchase (8 in total). So I’ll continue to wiggle my tail and hop on to my next coupon saving item.

xo m.

Serious Business

Lately I have been very conscience about spending. I've always been up for sales and deals, and I always save, but I never really thought about where my actual money goes. I kept hearing things about Dave Ramsey’s Finical Peace University and started talking to friends about it. Well my Aunt Sherry sent me the whole kit and I’ve been listening to the cassette tapes… yes you read right… cassette tapes, in my car and reading the book. So far I have learned so much and Steve and I are going to go on board to following his plan starting the beginning of October. Now, we are going to try and follow it as much as possible while re-doing our home/kitchen. But there are a ton of steps that we can do to make our money stretch even further! So just a little warning you might start seeing me talking about savings on groceries… cutting coupons… taking surveys for cash… and being REALLY excited about it.

So here goes nothing right? My first step I wanted to do was cut coupons. The kind of coupons what you find in the newspaper and online. Sounds good to me to save $.50 here and $1.00 here because it all adds up right? Well one thing led to another and I found out, by researching online, that there is a HUGE community of ‘money saving moms’ out there. My mother’s friends neighbor (did you follow that?) brought home 10 bags of groceries from Dominick’s and paid under $2.00!!! My ears starting ringing and I wanted to learn what she was doing and start this very moment. So I called her up got some information on the ‘coupon game’ and now I’m on board! It takes some time to understand and get a grip on how it works, but it’s all about playing the system of using coupons when things go on sale and buying those items in bulk. So I am going to start small and work with only one maybe two stores to get started.

First things first… purchase a newspaper with COUPONS! I have heard that the coupons in the Sunday Tribune are the best. So I purchased the Sunday Trib at the dollar tree (for a $1) on Saturday. Then I decided the one store I’m going to focus on is Meijer. So I got my game plan ready and was ready for the hunt on Sunday morning.

I didn’t end up going on Sunday, but here are the GREAT deals I got today…. and then there were a few items I NEEDED and had to get that were not on sale. Shame on me, but I will learn from this trip and keep my eyes open and my wallet closed until the next great steal... deal.

I got all of this for… $42.58 and without my coupon cutting deals on sale prices it should have cost me $86.10!! That's $43.52 in savings, just about 50%!

Here were my TOP deals were…
 Nivea Lip Care had a price drop and was .99 each. I printed a coupon of $2.00 off 2 items and my total for this was: FREE! +$.-02 back!

Suave Hand Lotion is always $.99 each so I bought 2 of them and paid $1.98
Then I got $2 off my next shopping trip at Meijer and so my total for these items were: FREE! + $.02 back!

Meijer Frozen Vegetables is a $1.00 and I had a coupon for $.50 off. Total: $.50

Kraft Items - Cheese. On sale at 3 for $6.00 and deli cheese 2 for $5.00 and cheese block 3 for $5.00. So I had a buy five Kraft items get $5.00 off and I had a $1 coupon for deli style cheese. So my total cheese bill: $4.17

Shick Womens Razor 4 ct.- On sale at 2 for $11.00. I had a coupon for $3.00 off so my total razor bill was: $2.50

So in today’s shopping trip I feel like I took a baby step. And I can’t wait to see what my next steps are. I do have to admit that I did not NEED the free items that I got, but they were free so that's a no-brainer right? Also my thought was why not donate them to the food pantry or to someone in need? I have been thinking a lot about how awesome that would be if I could somehow help someone else by the deals I get. So here is a start... if I ever find something that I can get for free... whether it is cat food, depends, lip gloss, salad dressing... if i can get it for free and can give or donate the item, then I'm doing it!