I hate County Market

and vow to never shop there again. Which is very unfortunate as they have such a good selection of organic foods.
I had a horrible experience at County Market yesterday when doing my weekly grocery shopping. The store has a promotion this week, but 10 select items and save $5 instantly and get 50 bonus box tops. I spent quite a bit of time organizing and planning my shopping trip with my coupons to maximize my savings with coupons. My list of 20 items should have cost me $9.50 OOP. I say should have... I should have known I was going to have a bad experience when the smoothies (that I had coupons for) were advertised in the weekly flier for $1.69 but were really on sale for $2.39. And they were almost sold out of them! Then I went to checkout and had a horrible experience with the cashier. According to him, the store does not take internet coupons over $1, SERIOUSLY. And they won't take more than 1 coupon for the same item, even if you have more than 1 of those items. WTF?!?! This was after the checkout had accepted all my multiple coupons up until the last ones. Seriously?!?! So I ended up spending like $5 more than I intended only to learn I will not shop there again. I'll stick with Meijer for my grocery shopping.

My 1st week of the $50 grocery budget

Well, I successfully kept our grocery/household purchases under $50 for the week. Yes, I know it's only Wednesday, but with the winter storm coming our way and Casey returning to work tomorrow, I won't be venturing out of the house anytime soon. Not with 2 little ones anyway. So I can happily say we are under the budget, with money left over to put in the pot for future weeks, if needed. My total OOP was $44.64 leaving me with just over $5 to roll over!!! My freezer and pantry are still fully stocked from prior to Christmas shopping so don't really need much in way of food or household goods. I went to Walgreens, CVS, Target, and County Market this week to score my deals and even some freebies. Below is what I scored from where and for how much.
Walgreens: 3 20 count boxes of Electrasol tabs--free with coupons and register rewards, (RR) 4 2 oz Glade candles--free with coupons and RR and actually MADE $2 with purchase, 4 cans of fruit--$.89 each, 1 bag Starbucks coffee on clearance for $1. Total at Walgreens was 8.58 and have $4 in RR to use next week.
CVS: 1 bag Dunkin Donuts coffee--$5.55 after using extra care bucks (ECB's) and coupon
Target: 2 bags Goldfish crackers, 1 tub Pampers baby wipes, A&D ointment, and box of Similac ready to feed formula. Total spent $4.08 after coupons and Similac check
County Market: did 2 transactions here to maximize savings. Total OOP was $26.80 for all listed below. 2 boxes fruit snacks, 6 boxes of cereal, 6 bags Nature Valley nut clusters, sm tub cottage cheese, peanuts, 3 Yoplait frozen smoothies, 4 YoPlus boxes of yogurt, and a gallon of milk.

Madeline's 1 month appointment

Madeline had her 1 month appointment today. She is now 9 pounds 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long. Her pediatrician says she is growing and developing like she should and is a very healthy baby. I can't believe my baby is already 1 month old...where has the time gone and how do I make it slow down??

I'M BACK

I'm back!!! I took a break from blogging as life just got too busy as the birth of Madeline Claire approached. I had also taken a break from couponing/deal seeking as we were so stocked up on items it wasn't worth my time or energy. The holidays are over, Madeline is here, and it's a new year. Casey and I finally in agreement on a grocery/household monthly budget so I've got quite a challenge for our family this year. My goal is to spend $200/month or $50/week for groceries/household needs. Follow along with me this year to find the best deals in Springfield as well as my personal goal for our finances.

Baby news

So I had my 30 week ob appointment this morning. Baby girl is still a girl. She is growing just like she should and is very active. Baby weighs just over 3 lbs--right where she should be for her gestational age. Currently she is breech--Dr isn't worried because I've got another 10 weeks until she is due and she will be a repeat Csection. Speaking of, I was hoping to get my CSection scheduled today, but I have to wait another 2 weeks to find out when my surgery will be. I was very disappointed with my sonographer at this appointment. I didn't get the lady I LOVE, I had the other girl who rushed through it and didn't explain anything. And she only gave me 3 pics this time! Very disappointing. I'm hoping to get the 3D pics I got today scanned to the computer this weekend and get them posted soon.

Kmart double deals

I feel like I hit the jackpot this week at Kmart. Here's a quick rundown of what I was able to get--and only paid $11 and some change out of pocket (total pre coupons was almost $100):
10 boxes of Special K cereal
3 boxes of Rice Krispies
2 boxes of Fruit Loops
4 bottles of 34 oz Ajax dish soap
5 bags of Temptations cat treats
2 bags of 10 count Tide Stain Booster packs
4 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 Speed Stick deoderants for Casey
2 boxes of Ziploc Evolve gallon size storage bags
a new toy puppy for Kaylin
I'm sure I'm missing something but can't remember what it might be. I ended up making 2 trips to Kmart this week as I had an extensive list of things to get for free.

Blogging

Mommy and Kaylin picking apples this past weekend



Baby girl's nursery (well, side of it)


Man, my time has really started slipping by me. I'm not sure where the last month has gone, but I'm going to try to get back into blogging. September has been a super busy month. Went to see Casey's family in Ohio for a few days, work, and preparation for baby's arrival in 9 weeks have really made the month FLY BY. Not to mention Kaylin's schedule. The nursery is about 99% completed now, just the finishing touches--a great feeling. Kaylin has activities Mon, Tues, and Fri mornings so these days just fly by. I'm also trying to work 2 days/week for the next few weeks to save some extra money/stock up on food & toiletries before baby's arrival.



I've started the journey of cloth diapering with Kaylin. Started with her in hopes of getting her interest in potty training more, but my plan has backfired. She just tells me "no" when I ask her if she needs to go and screams bloody murder when I try to get her to sit on the potty. Oh well, she is only 19 months old after all. Guess I need to get used to the thought of having 2 littles in diapers. My plan is to keep Kaylin in the cloth until she is potty trained and then switch baby to them--hopefully by the time baby is 5-6 months old (if not sooner).