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Monday, August 2, 2010

A New Beginning: Day 1

August 1st, 2010- The first day of my beginning! How'd it go? Well, not as well as I had hoped. I didn't get a chance to email any companies, so I will have to email 4 today to make up for it. We ended up eating out at a restaurant, but to be fair to myself and my family, it was for my parents' 30th anniversary and all went out as a family. So I don't really count it towards not eating out. I did a horrible job shopping yesterday, making quite a few sporadic purchases. I will have to be super good for the rest of the week and not buy anything we don't need. I should be okay, especially since I don't plan on going shopping again until Friday or Sunday. And I will only be going with a list of the things I can get for cheap or free. I am hoping as the days go by, I will get the hang of living frugally and find it easier to live on a budget. One thing I need to teach myself is self control. I need to know when we have money and know when we don't, and when we don't, to just stay out of the stores.

On another note, I am debating whether having a garage sale would be a good idea or not. I don't know if I'd have enough for a big garage sale, but I know already have two overflowing totes worth and am thinking if I keep picking away at things, I may have a few more. It be a good way to earn extra money, so I just may.

Until tomorrow!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

My Super Cute Gymbo Finds!

Yup, I know, shopping again! Here's the deal though, these are being put into gift bags for Birthday and Christmas presents. So, really, it's okay that I bought them. Or, at least, that's how I'm justifying these. I am becoming a Gymboree Fanatic, so this would be another reason as to why I need to get out of debt, so I can buy these things without feeling guilty later. I bought these all at Once Upon a Child, and I cannot wait to go back and find more treasures!!

These are all for my little man:

And these were for the girls (the first three are for Elle and the last two are for Kennedy):


I paid $64 total for all 11 pieces, which for Gymboree I think is a good price! The pink skirt is $20 retail value and still has the tags on it!

August 1st, a New Beginning!

I haven't posted much in the past few weeks, basically because we haven't really had a whole lot of awesome deals or any good debt reduction. We've actually had a bad second half of July, being we were over $200 short on my dh's paycheck :(

Well, as of August 1st, I am putting myself on a mission. I am going to:
-email at least 2 companies everyday for coupons
-spend the least possible out of pocket for groceries and other essentials
-will not eat out or order in
-will try to use coupons on every purchase I make

Why am I doing this? Three reasons:
(1) We have two September Birthdays I need to finish buying gifts for
(2) I want to have another baby and need to find extra money to stockpile for the little one
(3) I have become a fashion snob and want to spend all my extra money on clothes, which means losing the debt so I can do that!

In all seriousness, I really want to be debt free and I want to be able to not constantly worry about every penny I spend. I want to be able to go out and spend $300 on clothes for the kids and not have to wonder if we'll be able to eat for the rest of the month. So, if you want to join me, I would love to hear from you! I'll try to post deals I see, and would love if anyone else has any to share! I will be doing a weekly meal menu, writing down every purchase that is made and why it was made, emailing companies in hopes for coupons, spend more time at home and only try to go out to go shopping, and I'm going to take this at home to really get a feel for who I am. I think I need to do that, take a step back and remember just who I am.

So, join me! Help me! I would love ideas for recipes, fun activities you do with your children, any good deals you see, and companies you know are good and send coupons!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I'm Now a BzzAgent!

After hearing about BzzAgent from many friends, I finally decided to join! I am now officially a BzzAgent! Okay, what is that exactly, you ask. Well, it's someone who gets to try out products in what they call campaigns and share these products with their friends via word of mouth. You can share your thoughts and opinions with your friends, family, or just some random person on the street! Then, you report back to the people at the BzzAgent offices and tell them what you and the people you buzzed thought about the products. I'm super excited to give this a try! I love trying new products and seeing just how well they work. I especially love trying new things for free!

I took about a hundred little survey things, filled out the Frogponds, and did reviews on the BzzScapes, and I already have a campaign! I have a free code for Redbox and get to try out the movie renting company! I'm excited for that. We love movies, so this will be fun to try out.

If you want to give BzzAgent a try, check it out at http://www.bzzagent.com!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Milano Cookie Contest and Coupon!

Pepperidge Farm has a nice contest going on for their new Strawberry Milano cookies. Share your Milano Moment with them and you have a chance to win 24 packages of the new Strawberry Milano cookies!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#!/pepperidgefarmmilano?v=app_4949752878&ref=ts

You can also print a 55 cents off one Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#!/pepperidgefarmmilano?v=app_7146470109&ref=ts

I have to say the mint ones are my absolute favorite cookie. In fact, I plan to use my 55 cent coupons to buy me two bags to indulge on for my birthday Saturday!!!

Buddig Lunch Meat coupons

Buddig lunch meat has a e-mail list you can sign up for to hear latest news and promotions. Sign up and you can print either a $1.00 off 5 Buddig 2 oz packets or a $1.00 off 1 tub Buddig lunch meat. If you have two different e-mails, you can print both!

http://www.buddiglunchclub.com/

We personally love this lunch meat, and it's definitely a good price. I believe the tubs are normally priced at around $3 at Cashwise. $2 a tub after coupon is decent. Who knows, maybe they'll go on sale!!

$2.00 Tomstone Coupon

Tomstone has a $2.00 printable on their Facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/Tombstone?v=wall#!/Tombstone?v=app_7146470109

Share what you would do with the extra time you get from making a Tomstone pizza and you can print the $2 coupon. If you want one mailed to you instead, you just print on the help link in the lower right corner and have it sent instead.

Good deal to use this on: Cashwise has Tomstone pizzas Buy 2 Get 2 Free. If the original price is $6 per pizza (not sure what the actual price is), these would be 4 for $8 after Buy 2 Get 2 deal plus $4 off in coupons!