This is what we did this week to save some extra money:

• Stayed home alittle more to save gas and spending money
• Took Shawn to Home Depot for the free building workshop and made my last run to Kmart while we were out there
• We stopped at BJ’s and saved about .09 a gallon from the station across the street on gas.
• I used a coupon at CVS when we got Shawn’s prescription filled, it was only for a $10 giftcard but it’s better then nothing.
• We’ve been keeping the A/C around 78-82 and it’s starting to let up outside and cool down a bit.  Hopefully I’ll be opening the windows soon.
• I used the crockpot twice this week and made double portions which were reheated in the microwave to keep the house a little cooler.
• I’ve started getting ready for the yard sale, it’s slow going but I hope to get alot done today.
• Since they refuse to fix my dishwasher I continue to wash dishes by hand and I believe it' saves some electricity unfortunately it doesn’t save time.
• I continue to unplug everything at night and am surprised at how few things I actually turn back on during the day.
• I open my paid emails, search with Swagbucks and check my youdata account everyday to make a little extra.

So what have you been doing to save money?  I’d love to hear your tips and tricks to save alittle more.  If we all share tips we can all save more. 

Let me know if any of you are interested in a piece about the ways to make some extra money online.  Remember that none of these will make you rich but every penny helps and puts you one step closer to your savings goal.

I love these workshops.  The next one is Sept. 24th and it will teach you how to build your dream kitchen.

Now I live in an apartment and will not be building my own kitchen anytime soon but I’m still going.  I’m sure you’ll learn lots of tricks and tips on how to fix things in the kitchen which is sure to save money and stress.  Make sure you register here so you have a spot.  Also when you’re there be on the look out for money saving coupons, they always seem to have something for people attending the workshops here.

I found 3 of these hanging in the craft department at Walmart today.  They have codes in them for a book of photo stamps you go online and upload your photos edit them how you like and enter your code and they mail them off to you.  The normal price for a book of photo stamps is $19.95 (I think) the normal price for a book of regular stamps is $8.80 the price of this little beauty at my Walmart  $4.  They are on clearance but not marked with clearance stickers and where hanging on a clip strip on the end of a fabric rack.  Now if you shop at my Walmart don’t bother looking there were 3 there this morning and there are 3 on my kitchen table now.  LOL  But if you shop elsewhere go out and take a look!!

Don’t forget to dig out some sporting attire today and head to Chik-Fil-A for your free sandwich today.  We went and had lunch there today and it was really good and not to overly busy.

Now for my scum rant- Why are some people so evil/rotten/stupid?  A while back I bought a little picnic table for my son at a yardsale, I painted it blue and put some cute little mickey heads on it.  Well he’s pretty much outgrown it so I was going to put it in the yardsale in a couple weeks but I can’t do that.  Yesterday I was outside and I noticed something was missing but was in a hurry and just thought it was in my head boy was I wrong.  Some one stole my son’s picnic table!!!!  Now why on earth would you steal that??  Full well knowing that it belongs to a young child and how upset they will be, let’s not even talk about the completely insecure feeling he now has or the fight mommy is going to have to deal with to keep his bike outside.  So for the record I hate scum!!!!  I truly hope that they drop that table on their toes and break a couple that it gives them slivers and falls apart.  I also hope that someone does them the same favor so they can explain to their child that the world sucks and some people are down right mean.  Generally I’m not this harsh but you don’t mess with this mama bear’s cub or his stuff.

Ok I’m done ranting!  If I see this table outside of someone else’s apartment you can bet I’ll be banging on their door and taking it back.

Boy I did a lot of shopping today.  But I got a majority of it out of the way for the week.  This is another almost head scratcher of a Target trip, but it worked out very nicely in my favor.  My purchase today didn’t come out of my weekly budget because of what I bought.

• Dog Food Bowl (fancy feeder)  $7.99
• Dog Water Bowl (fancy waterer) $7.99
• 3 5lb bags of Chef Michaels Dog Food $4.98 each
• 1 1.5lb bag of Chef Michaels Dog Food $2.24
• Police Car Transformer $11.89
• Tag Pen $12.48 (used $10mq)
• 8 Chef Michaels Soft Food .84 each

Total Spent was $19.55 as I said this won’t be coming out of my weekly budget since the Transformer is a birthday gift for DS and the dog bowls I had planned on buying a couple weeks ago (Belle’s dish has tipped over for the last time) and the cost of those 3 items is less than what I paid.  I saved $48.94

I did 2 transactions in CVS today.  I was hoping I’d be done with them for the week but of course I may have to go do the Nivea deal but probably not.

First Trip (my card):

• Aussie Shampoo  $2.99  -$1mq
• Schick Disposables $6.99  $3mq
• 2 Schick Quattro Trimmers  $10.99 BOGO –(2)$4mq
• CVS trial Cocoa Butter .99  -FREE CVS coupon
• TG Lee Milk $2.99

I used a $4 off $20 CVS coupon and $9.99 in ECB’s and paid .20  I saved $39.67 and got $6 in ECB’s back.

Second Trip (Dave’s card):

• Tooth Tunes Transformers clearanced $2.25
• Schick Disposables $6.99  -$3mq
• 4 Schick Quattro Razors $9.99 BOGO –(4)$4mq
• CVS trial Cocoa Butter .99  -FREE CVS coupon

I used a $4 off $20 CVS coupon and $7.58 in ECB’s and paid .41  I saved $59.29 and got $4 in ECB’s back.

I did 2 trips into Walgreen’s today.  I was hoping to be done for the week but it looks like I need to go back to use the rest of my glade and carefree coupons and get the scrubbing bubbles cleaner.

First Trip:

• 1 Glade Sense and Spray  $5.99  -$4mq
• 2 Glade 2oz Candles $2 each  -FREE mq from a few weeks ago
• 1 Mini Highlighter .59 (was supposed to be .14 but I didn’t notice till too late)

I used a $2RR from last week and paid $1.33 out of pocket.  I saved $16.58 according to the receipt and I received $3 in RR’s.

Second Trip:

• 3 Starbucks Frap 4pks  $5 each –(2)$2mq
• 1 Glade Sense and Spray $5.99  -$4mq
• 2 Glade 2oz Candles $2 each  -FREE mq
• 2 Mini Highlighters .14 each (I caught it for this one)

I used $10 in RR and paid $3.99.  I saved $30.56 and got $8 in RR’s back.  I knew I was going to spend more this trip but I love those Fraps and it’ll save me on impulse buying them when I take Shawn to school at least for a couple weeks.