Home Alone

The last few days have been extremely quiet and uneventful for me, I've been Home Alone all week. Husband out of town on business, son away at college, I'm not at "home" home, I'm at "apartment" home.

After I took my husband to the airport Monday I did my drugstore rounds, hitting all three (CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid) all in one day.

Tuesday and Wednesday I vegged out in front of the television and on the computer.

By Thursday I'd had all I could take, I actually got fully dressed all the way to shoes and make-up to take the trash out to the dumpster, and decided to go ahead and go to the bank and the post office. I did make one other quick stop at Bath and Body Works to use a coupon I had for a free trial lotion with purchase--did you know that all of their signature collections are on clearance this week? (Up to 75% off!) I spent $4.24 for some body wash and lotion that would have been $17.50 full price. Oh, and I got some chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A (the BEST fast food chicken nuggets or tenders ever!)

I was determined to make it all week without buying groceries, and I have! Except for the Chik-Fil-A incident, all week long I've eaten leftovers or eggs or soup or sandwiches. Everything has been from the fridge or pantry.

I've spent less than $14 this week, including Chik-Fil-A. Laundry is caught up, the kitchen is clean, checkbook is balanced, bills are paid.

All is quiet on the home front.

Until next time...

It's A New Day In America

• I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men:
• For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
• For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
• Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

I Timothy 2:1-4

Regardless of your political leanings, it's a new day in America. Please remember to pray for our new president and his family, along with his staff and administration.

Not sure what to pray about? Consider joining the Presidential Prayer Team and sign up for Praying through the First 100 Days daily emails with specific topics to pray for each day.

Until next time...

Rebates and Coupons

• She looketh well to the ways of her household

Just wanted to alert you to some high dollar coupons and some good rebates going on right now.

All three of these coupons can be matched with in-ad coupons at Walgreens this week, could make for some possible great deals.

Coupons

$2 off of Listerine

$4 off of Tylenol or Motrin

$3 off Splenda

Also, Home Made Simple has a new coupon book you can request--this is not a printable, it will come in the mail.

Rebates

Most of these rebates are for items purchased this month, although the actual dates vary. The P&G coupon deal is for items bought between 12/14/08 and 1/31/09--I checked some of my cash register tapes (yes, I save all of them these days--you never know when you might need them--like now!) and I already have $33 worth toward my $50!

Buy $50 of Proctor and Gamble Products, get $120 of coupons

Buy $50 of Proctor and Gamble Products from Sams, get a $10 Sams gift card

Buy $15 of Colgate-Palmolive products, get a $25 value travel bag stocked with trial sizes and coupons

Buy 2 Olay Definity products, get a $15 Olay gift card

Buy 2 Olay Regenerist products, get a $15 Olay gift card (you must make your purchase by 1/14/09, so hurry on this one!)


Happy shopping, and couponing, and rebating!

Until next time.....
____________________________________

Freebies and Samples

• She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food (and other things) from afar
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

Just a quick note to remind you to check out the "Free Sample" page at Walmart.com. This morning I signed up for several new and restocked samples. (I tried the Glad Flex bags and I got a pop-up that stated they were out of stock for now, but many of these samples are restocked periodically.)(Edited to add: the Glad Flex bags appear to have been re-set, I went back and was able to sign up for this sample) Remember, also, that just because you're already requested a certain item doesn't mean you can't request it again when it gets restocked and the limits reset. (If you have already requested during a current "term", it'll just pop up that you've already requested this one.)

Other free samples to sign up for:

Total Cranberry Crunch

Barbara's Bakery Organic Cereals

Quaker's Mini Delights

So check out these sites, and look forward to future goodies in the mail!

Until next time...

It's Not Home, But It's Home For Now

It's been a busy, fun, relaxing three weeks at home, but we are back in Georgia, ready to get back to daily life.

We spent a lot of money these past few weeks. I had to restock the kitchen at home from almost literally nothing. With all of the holiday cooking and baking, on top of regular meals, that meant lots of groceries. I took some things from my stockpile here, but I kept coming up with all kinds of little things I needed. I used as many coupons as I could, but I needed so much, it was a losing battle! Now that we're restocked there, hopefully we'll get to go home a little more often to utilize it.

We broke down and bought a new freezer while we were home, too. We lost everything in our old freezer after hurricane Rita three years ago, and had never replaced it. We finally bit the bullet and got another one--just in time to get a half of a beef from my parents for Christmas! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) We don't actually have the meat yet, it won't be ready until this week, but I can hardly wait to go home and dig into stacks and stacks of frozen beef!

Hubby cleaned out our shed and ended up rebuilding the floor and insulating the walls, so that meant a trip or two to the lumbar yard. He also had some much needed work done to one of our vehicles.

And last but not least, the little things to finish getting ready for the holidays.


I'm looking forward to getting back to my bargain hunting and stricter budget. As much as I miss home, it's nice to be where there are more stores competing for my dollars, instead of resting in the assurance that I don't have anyplace else to shop unless I go out of town!

I'm enjoying catching up on my blog reading, too, now that I'm back to high-speed internet.

Tomorrow I'll be unpacking and getting settled back in, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I didn't slip in a quick trip to a store or two.

Just to check out the bargains.


Until next time....