Totally Free $200 Give - Away. Don't miss this one!!

Totally Together Reviews: Samsung Stainless Steel French Door Refrigerator Review and $200 Best Buy Gift Card Give-Away

$200 Best Buy Gift Card Give - Away

This is an opportunity to win a $200 Best Buy Card. All you have to do is follow to the website I linked to. Totally together reviews. Clicking on my title will take you there. She has won the most awesome refrigerator and while we don't get to win one of those!! LOL! We can try for $200 to spend as needed. The competition ends on November 15, so don't dilly dally around!!

November - 30 Day Giving Challenge

I accept the 30 day challenge that Kingdom First Mom has put out before us. It will begin on November 1 and go through until the end of the month. I hope that each of you will go and check out this challenge of giving and receiving the Lords best for you!!!! I look forward to hearing your feedback as you go through the challenge. So go read up on the challenge, grab you a journal and come along on the challenge!!!

Coupons for Troops

I just found out about a wonderful program that I am going to get on board with. It is called Coupons for Troops. The Blogger Happy Housewife has instigated this program where you can send your expired coupons to a Military Family overseas. They are allowed to use them in the Commissary up to Six months after the expiration date, both manufacturer and internet coupons. They do not have access to Targets, Walgreens, Etc. so no individual store coupons please. Click on the above link and it explains all of the rules and is where you can sign up for the program. What a wonderful thing to be able to do with those expired coupons!!!

A wonderful GIVEAWAY!!!

Good Day My Friends, I wanted to let you know about a great giveaway opportunity. Coupon Teacher has a Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters Prize Pack Giveaway. It includes 4 different kinds of Nut Clusters, a sling backpack, a flashlight, stainless steel Water Bottle and a set of binoculars!!! So much great stuff - but just to let you know the Granola Nut Clusters would be great just by themselves. If you haven't tried them, then make sure and do whether you win the giveaway or not. They are DELICIOUS!!!

My second trip to Harris Teeters Triple Coupon Days!!

Last night I made my second run to Harris Teeters Triple Coupon Days. As you can see from the photo, it seemed to have been a pretty SWEET trip!! LOL. I didn't realize until I unloaded it how much sweet things that I picked up this time. I did get a pretty good variety of stuff too. From rice/pasta products, more heat and eat meals and individual fruit bowls just to name a few things. On this trip I knew I was picking up some things that were not free or even very close to free. They were about half price. Rick loves the string cheese snacks and his Pace Picante Sauce so I went on and got them for him. One or two things I picked up to give to some people who are jobless at the moment - something Triple coupons makes easily within all of our budgets!! Then of course you can see my soda and snack up on the arm of the bench - AGAIN! which was about $2.70 added to my purchase price.

Totals for this trip: Grand Total - $75.76

Minus Vic Sales- $ 8.08

Minus Coupons - $40.92

Amount Paid - $ 26.76

So far between these two trips this week I have spent $48.31 for $152.96 of groceries. A savings of $104.65. I am pleased with my purchases so far. It is exciting to know that I have quite a few of free or almost free items. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Triple Coupons at Harris Teeter!!

Well today I went to my FIRST EVER TRIPLE COUPON SALE!!! It was a fun challenge getting everything ready to go. Sorting through all of the coupons, checking with www.southernsavers.com and at coupon teachers (here on blogger) blogs. They write up all of the best deals that they are seeing and make it simple to coupon shop. Southern Savers even has where you can print your shopping list with all of the coupons marked!

Harris Teeter only triples coupons .99 and under. So first thing I did was to set all of my dollar and above coupons to the side for another day. My focus was on the higher priced (under a dollar) coupons I could triple that would give me the best price. I tried to only get things I needed too! Well Tamara wanted me to get milk and I grabbed a soda and some cashews to munch on as I drove home. So those three things alone made it about $5 higher. It was a good opportunity to try those uncrustable sandwiches which I thought that I would NEVER buy. However with the coupon it was a very reasonable price to try it. I thought that it would be a quick and easy snack or part of a meal for Mackenzie. I picked up one peanut butter and jelly and one cheese sandwich. I also stocked up on deodorant (4), shaving gel (2) and toothpaste (2) bandaides and hand lotion. Then some cleaning products and plastic cups. Some frozen vegetables and a heat up meal. Over all I am very pleased with how things went.

With no coupons or VIC sales the total would have been $77.20

minus VIC sales $6.45

minus coupons $49.20

Amount I did pay $21.55

So I am very pleased with how well this shopping trip came out!!! I will have to go back again before the Triple Days Sale is over. Any of you that have a Harris Teeter I highly suggest you give them a try. Go to some of the online sites for coupons and sale information too. Any questions that I can help you with, please feel free to ask them!! I'd love to hear about YOUR shopping experiences!!

I finally started using coupons again!!

I have been stocking up on coupons for the past several weeks. As some of you may remember I had gone to a coupon class recently which a wonderful lady from my Church held (Thank you Mary Ann!!). But with my staying home taking care of Mackenzie I am not presently bringing in a paycheck and so I figured this is one way that I can add to the family income. Many years ago when my girls were little I used to use a lot of coupons - but it has been a LONG time. Nowadays there are several sites where you can go to for help. One being Coupon Teacher here on Blogger. Some other very helpful sites are www.YourCouponBuddy.com and Sunday Coupon Review which I have listed on the side of my page here and then there is www.southernsavers.com (which I have been using quite a bit as I get organized) and www.moneysavingmom.com. I gather the idea is to combine your coupons with the store specials. Especially when they have their double and triple coupon days, which these sites listed are really great about letting you know when they are coming up!! Also taking advantage of your CVS, Riteaide and Walgreen programs.

Well, as I was saying, I had my first coupon savings trip. Harris Teeter was having a Super Doubles coupon time. Which is where they double all coupons up to $1.98, with a maximum of 20 coupons per day, per household. So I did not take any coupons with me for less than a dollar as I figured I would take advantage of the higher savings of course! I forgot to take a photo of my shopping so maybe next time and my receipt seems to have disappeared. Probably hubby has it for entry into the budget. However now is when I have the time to write so I will go by memory. I ended up spending $147.15 with a savings of just under $90.00. I realize I could have gone much cheaper but was buying some meat which I had no coupons for. They did have some lovely Salmon on sale which we ate that night. It was a melt in your mouth meal! I marinated it in some of the Kens Ginger Honey marinade (which I had a coupon for $1 off of 2 which doubled at $2 made the marinades a good value.) . They also had a special of by 2 get 3 free on the Breyers Ice Cream. I had a $1 coupon for that too, which was doubled to $2 off. Making all 5 ice creams cost about $8. So we had Fried Ice Cream for dessert, Yummy. The Kens dressings were also on the buy 2, get 3 free deal. So I used my $1 coupon which doubled to $2, making all 5 dressings cost just under $4. With $2 off my Guacamole was about .90 cents. Without my receipt I don't remember a lot of the other specials, sorry. I did buy 2 of the Boston Butt Roasts which I liked the look and the price of. I use them for making barbeque. However one was just over $5 and the other was just under $9. When I got to the checkout the lady scanned one and then kept trying to scan the other. Finally she just scanned the first one again, giving me that price. So I saved almost $4 unexpectedly here as it was the more expensive one giving her problems!!

I was very pleased with my first attempt at coupon shopping. Now I am excitedly waiting an opportunity to go to a Triple coupon day. If you are not aware, there are ladies out there getting their groceries for just short of free. It really is doable and can help making staying at home more easily done.

Mackenzie with her Mom and Dad 04-09

First they were jumping on the trampoline. Then playing Monkey See, Monkey Do. Finally photos of them collecting the balloons from up and down the driveway after Mackenzie's birthday party. Mackenzie took one photo herself. I believe that you will recognize it!! 

July Giveaway you don't want to miss!!!

Through Mary Anns blog page I have just been introduced to Coupon Teachers blog page. She is having a monthly competition for various wonderful prizes!!! All to do with grilling ....... Need I say more?? Well yes, I guess I do need to!! LOL!! Here is the link if you are interested ...............

http://couponteacher.blogspot.com/2009/06/july-giveaway.html

Have fun with it!!! 

Video/Photos from Ricks Work Barbeque and Kenzie dancing to Do Your Ears Hang Low

he first photo's and video are taken at Ricks Work Barbeque we went to in Winston Salem area. At one point Mackenzie is talking to her Dad on the phone. She had been talking low, so Tamara said speak up - so she yelled!!! LOL! She also tries to show you with the phone what she is doing. All of the vans I thought were funny. They are Fleet Vehicles. Ricks is the end one. The last three videos are of Mackenzie here at the house dancing to Do Your Ears Hang Low one morning. Hilarious!!!

Mackenzie, her Momma and Nana

This is photos and video from Mackenzie, Tamara and I out in the Garden. It was actually from May 09 and I am only just now posting it. We had a lot of fun with everything in bloom and the animals following us as we played!! Mackenzie sat in her first tree by herself as well. 

                        Enjoy!! 

Can You Tell the Difference??????

Can you tell the difference in these photos???? This first photo is a BEFORE photo and the second and third are AFTER photos.  

Have you figured it out yet???? 

Mackenzie got her ears pierced today!! Tamara has considered doing it off and on for a while. Well Mackenzie got her new Bible yesterday and it had someone in it with earrings that she just picked up on right away. She seems to be noticing earrings quite a bit. So Tamara decided today was THE day. Mackenzie LOVES her earrings. 

It is amazing that it has been TWO years!!!

Mackenzie and Tamara at Monkey Joes 02-27-09

WoW!!! Listen to this young man!

This young man spoke a powerful Word. Please take the time to listen to it.

Goodbye Mr. President by Stephen Curtis Chapman