I know it’s not spring but down here in the hot lands we don’t usually do spring cleaning in the spring when it’s starting to get very warm out.  We do it when it starts to cool down and can finally open the windows.  We can’t open the windows yet but there’s a yard sale in the community this weekend so I’m cleaning out the closets and everything this week.  And since I’m at it we might as well just do it all.

So if you don’t hear from me for a day or 2 know that I’m buried in a closet somewhere in this house and that Dave is trying to dig me out.  I’ve had it with the clutter and it’s all going over the next couple days.  So here are a few of my tips about cleaning out the clutter.

• If you are cleaning and find something and say “I forgot I had this” THROW IT AWAY!!!!!  You didn’t know you had it you don’t need it.
• Start when you are angry, this sounds weird but if I’m in a good mood I look through everything and get rid of nothing if I’m in a “mood” I get aggravated and just purge.
• Look at the big picture.  If you are not going to use it and you don’t need it then give it away.
• When it gets too hard walk away.  Give yourself a few minutes/hours and come back if you get to fed up with it you’ll never finish.

Do you have any other suggestions for cleaning?  I’ll be in the closet for awhile so I’ll check in later.  But I’d love to hear how you guys get rid of the clutter.

If you are sitting leisurely sipping your coffee and reading this I will believe that you have already gotten your multiple newspapers for today.  If not don’t tell me but get up and run to the store… I don’t care if you are still wearing your pajamas as long as you have a shirt and shoes you are good.  By the way did I mention there are 5 yes 5 inserts in the paper today, so go what are you waiting for?  Stop reading already and find your keys….

…you’re still here, I said GO!!!!

Enjoy all the great coupons out today.  We are headed out to take Shawn to watch the Lightning preseason practice so I’ll be back later to update you guys on the sales I see for the week.

Today I received 2 Magazines (Parents & Motor Something)  2 Cesar Bistro Free Dog Food coupons, and Stamps.

These are my stamps from the $4 Picture It Stamp thing I bought on clearance at Walmart.  They are really cute and I’m very happy with my purchase.

I’ve been working on getting ready for the yardsale and was doing really good this afternoon until I ran out of stickers.  I think I might have some more but I can not for the life of me find them.  So until Dave gets home I’m just waiting now.  I guess I can do laundry.  I’m not walking over to Walmart again today we already walked to Lowes (in the rain) for the Build & Grow which is great exercise for me and Shawn but now it’s really really muggy out from the rain.

So what did you get in the mail this week?

Sorry I’m a little late with this but it seems like life is just getting in my way lately.

Below in red are the goals I set for use in this no spending challenge and in black are how we are progressing.

Keep almost all spending below $60 a week.

I kept all the normal spending below $60 this week.  We did buy some extra alcohol on clearance and a few other things but that all comes out of my ebay funds. 

Keep gas spending down as low as possible.  My gas bills are going to go up since I have to take Shawn to daycare everyday but I’m going to try and run all my errands when I’m out.

Again I’ve only been out shopping when I was already out.  I did run out of the way to Kmart 2 days in a row but the bonus was that I got some moving boxes to pack up stuff for the yardsale from someone on FreeCycle. 

We will not be eating out.  You spend lots of extra money eating out, the food is not better than you can make at home and you consume a lot more calories when out then at home.

This is sometimes so hard to do.  This week we ate out at Arby’s on Wednesday and got free sandwiches with the purchase of drinks.  My closest Arby’s says they are not participating this month but they let us do it this once.  I also bought a coffee at Dunkin Donuts and a couple at Starbucks (those coffees were paid for with a giftcard I got for my birthday)

I’ll continue shopping for the free/super cheaps at CVS, Walgreens, Publix, Target, and a few things at Walmart. 

I’ve done really good at sticking to this.  I’ve only been buying the frees or really really cheap stuff anywhere.  I’m still looking for a great deal on sodas for Shawn to sell at the yardsale.  We have popsicles for him to sell too and I bought a new cooler since our old one has a huge crack in it.

This week should be relatively easy to stick to the budget.  We don’t need much and I’ll be staying home to clean and get ready for the yardsale.  So how has your spending going?  Do you have a goal that you’ve set, feel free to share it here.

It’s better late than never.  Well here goes:

Cesar Entree

Free Keychain from Orient Watch

Free Town & Country 3 year Subscription

Free Metropolitan Home 1 year Subscription

Free Golf Digest 1 year subscription

Free Snikiddy Snack Sample enter “babybix sample” in the comments box

Secret Clinical Strength

Curel Lotion Sample

Huggies Little Movers Sample

Emergen-C Multi Vitamin Sample

Pumpkin Stencils

Dove Advanced Care

Tomorrow is Build n Grow at Lowes they are vuilding a really cute drum.

Free Coupon Books from Mambo Sprouts

Palmolive Sample

I love stupidly easy deals and this is one of them.  I did several separate transactions but the cashier didn’t mind at all.  I got all of this:

for I wish I could insert a drumroll here………$2.46

I had a $5 off magazine catalina so the Scrapbook magazine cost me $1.06

Then I got a catalina yesterday for $5 off a leapfrog purchase when I bought a tag book so I used that and got 2 Tag Books and the Cars puzzle.  I used 2 $4 off coupons for the books and the cat and paid .35 and got another $5 cat

Next I bought 2 more of the books, the matchbox playset and a box of crayons.  Again I used 2 $4 off coupons and the cat and paid .98 and got another $5 cat

The last transaction I bought the Fridge DJ used a $4 coupon and the $5 cat and paid .07 and again got another $5  cat just in case I decide we need more.

You are probably wondering how the heck that worked well the Tag books I bought (I Spy, Spongebob, and Goldenpaddle) are on clearance and then an additional 20% off so they are $4.80, the Fridge DJ is on clearance for $8.80 and those other 2 toys were also in the clearance section.  For every transaction where you purchase leapfrog products you will receive a $5 off your next leapfrog purchase catalina.  As you can see as long as your leapfrog purchase is over $5 you can use the catalina along with your coupons for some really cheap gifts to add to your christmas/birthday gift stash.

Restaurant.com has good deals all the time but this one is a really great deal.  You can get a $25 gift certificate for just $1.

If you’ve never used them before be sure to read the small print before you buy a certificate.  Many of them have purchase requirements ie you have to spend $50 to use the $25 certificate.  They also may have time constraints but even with all that you can get a really good deal at a local restaurant so go check them out.