Couponing

I tried couponing once before and I found it totally confusing.
On Monday night I was at Smith's and I overheard 2 ladies talking about some awesome deals they got. I plucked up my courage to walk up to them and ask what source they use for couponing. They were super friendly and told me about pinchingyourpennies.com I told her that couponing confused me, but she said that this website walks you through it and makes it easy. She told me how she bought $200 worth of groceries the previous day and paid $30 out of pocket. I can't pass up deals like that. I came home and explored PYP and decided that I want to do it. DH even got excited about it.

I was looking at the PYP blog and found a great deal going on at Rite Aid. So I went with coupons in hand and got all of this:

for FREE. Now, I did pay some money out of pocket, but I will be getting a $25 rebate from Rite Aid so I will end up making money!

I was able to stock up on stuff we always need like Sudafed & Motrin, and get some things I've always wanted to try (KY Yours & Mine) :) all for FREE.

Homemade Baby Wipes

It seems that Kirkland changed their baby wipe formula and I don't like them much. So I decided to try homemade baby wipes. They're so easy and I like them much better.
I still carry store bought wipes in my diaper bad, these just stay at the changing table.

Homemade Baby Wipes

1 roll of strong paper towels, roll cut in half and cardboard removed
1/4 cup baby soap (I use Baby Magic)
1/4 cup baby oil
1 1/4 cup water
Container Place paper towels in container. Mix soap, oil and water together. Pour into container. Pill wipes from the center (where the cardboard tube used to be.)

I found a 2 qt. rubbermaid container at walmart for under $2. I tried to cut an "x" in the lid but it was made of hard plastic and it broke. It left a triangle shaped hole in the lid which actually works really well.

My favorite thing about these wipes is that they smell like Baby Magic. Yummm! Is there any better smell in this world?!

Organized Grocery Shopping

Back in June or July I decided that I could save a lot of money by only going to the store once every two weeks. But in order to do that I needed to be super organized so I could remember to get everything we would need for 2 weeks.

Organization is a hobby for me so this was just fun! I ended up with 2 excel documents(Click on them to see them bigger). One for my menu: and this one for my shopping list:I don't mind going to multiple stores for the best deal so I have my 3 most shopped at stores on my list plus a spot for any other stores I want to hit. I have my most purchased items typed in and I just highlight it if I need it then I have space to write in whatever else I need. I like having items already typed in because it reminds me to check and see if I need it.

I like having my list in excel format because it is always changing depending on my family's needs. For instance, my baby no longer drinks formula so I'm taking that off the list. And I now make my own laundry soap so I can take off the list as well.

I was going to be all fancy and link my excel documents for anyone who wants them, but I can't figure out how to do that and my fussing baby prohibits me taking time to figure it out. So if you want them, let me know and I'll email them to you.

Leftover List

This is not some cute craft idea, just something I just started doing that hopefully will save some money. Heck, maybe everyone already does this and I'm just slow.

DH loves leftovers (lucky me!) but he's always forgetting what we have. He got the idea to keep a running list of what we have in the fridge for leftovers. I thought it was a great idea since the day before I threw out a bunch of old food.

So here's what I came up with:

I got this board at JoAnn's in their little $1 - $2.5o section a long time ago.

So I wrote down everything we have for leftovers and to the side I wrote the date it was made and a "I" or "O" indicating whether it's in the fridge in the kitchen or the "outside" fridge (it's not really outside. It's in the pantry)

DH is really good about finding something to eat when he's hungry and it's not meal time. He usually goes for Ramen, but with this I'm hoping he'll eat up all the leftovers and I won't have to throw away old food.