Homemade

We have been so blessed with gifts for our little guy. I wanted to share with you some of the handmade and unique things we've received thus far:

This cute little duck is from one of my HCW couponing friends. She made him herself- and he's really soft to the touch. Naturally, Leia is scared of it.

Dana, one of the ELL translators at the elementary school painted this for us. I just love it. It matches the jungle 'theme' we chose for his room. And, I hadn't decided if I was going to share the name we chose for our little man here on the blog, but here it is! We are going to name him Bryson.
My friend Karen made us these two burp rags and this really cute diaper bag. I need to take a better picture of it- I love the attention to detail that she had- even down to the lining inside the bag!

My mom made us a TON of these burp rags- the picture doesn't do them justice. They are adorable!

And, this last item wasn't a gift, but I wanted to share it anyways :) We got this glider rocking chair from one of Brandon's co-workers for $40. It was a great glider, but it didn't match our room. So, my mom had it re-covered for us. It looks amazing in Bryson's room and when he's done with it, it'll match most of the other furniture in our home. It's really comfortable too!

Diapers Galore!

I now remember why stockpiling is such a good idea :)

I woke up early this morning (around 6:30) and couldn't go back to sleep, so I went to the 24 hr Walgreens to run the Huggies deal. I think I fared pretty well. I shoulda used all my $5/1 coupons, but I saved a few for wipes at Target. Here's everything I got:

3 packs of wipes- 184 wipes per pack

Size 1- 2 packs- 88 diapers total

Size 2- 5 packs- 200 diapers

Size 3- 3 packs- 105 diapers

Size 4- 3 packs- 90 diapers

Size 5- 2 packs- 52 diapers

+3 Easter candy fillers

=$82.03

- 11.25 Rebate from Caregiver's Marketplace

= $70.78 total OOP

That averages out to be around $0.11 to per diaper. Pretty good for name brand.

This past summer, Karen and I ran the Walgreens brand diaper deal- and today after church when I realized how many size 2 diapers I have, I think I might need to exchange some...but I'm just going to tape the reciepts to the Huggies and I can return as needed.

I also stockpiled free Huggies wipes back during the Christmas 07 Target sale.....Here's what I already had on hand:

For those of you with kiddos, do you think I need to stock up any more? Should I return any size 1 or size 2 diapers now? Here are my totals:

Size 1- 312 diapers

Size 2- 488 diapers

Size 3- 340 diapers

Size 4- 124 diapers

Size 5- 52 diapers

I'm sure another deal will come along before our kiddo hits size 3-4.......

February Budget

I don't know if I can even call it a 'budget'. We ate out quite a bit during the month of February, and only shopped at Target and Wal-Mart. We did use the Target coupons, which saved us over $20....still.........

Here's the breakdown:
Total spent on groceries: $129.97
Guesstimate of savings: $30 total- yikes!
Total spent on going out to eat: over $200 for sure :(

Now that the 1st trimester is over, I'm feeling alot better. I still have some food aversions, but it occurs when I'm actually sitting down to eat a meal instead of at the sight of a grocery store.

I'm really excited about Sunday- Walgreens is going to have an AMAZING Huggies diaper deal. I've asked everyone I know to print me the $3/1 and $5/1 Huggies coupons from www.coupons.com and I'm ready to go. I've even got Brandon on board! Hopefully, the Walgreens diaper deal will get us back on the couponing track.

2008 savings and spending

I plan to continue my monthly couponing savings/spending total posts in 2009, solely for the fact that it makes me keep track of my spending. In December, I didn't even step foot in Homeland, but I did go to Aldi's twice for most of my baking goods. I really don't know how much I saved at Aldi's, but it was sure nice to run in and get what I needed.

December
Total OOP: $204.79
Total saved with coupons/sales: $173.87
Rebates earned? $2.20 @ Walgreens

2008
Total spent in 2008: $2,541.45

Total saved in 2008: $2,364.87

If you average it out, I spent about $49 a week on groceries and household/beauty items!

November Budget

So.............I went a little over budget this month. Ok, more than a little.


Here's the breakdown:
Total spent: $369.93
Total saved combining coupons & sales:$406.95


My justification?
Well, there was Friendsgiving, and then my $80, every 4-6 month restock the basics Wal-Mart trip. And, the Halloween candy for my speech kiddos. And, well, it'd be like this every month if I didn't use coupons.

How'd you do?

October Budget

October was a great month for couponing! Walgreens and Homeland had some great deals and I was able to price-comp quite a few deals at Wal-Mart.

Total spent: $220.65
Total saved: $207.94
Total earned in rebates: $11 on a Walgreens gift card

I hope to stay under $200 for November, but I'll need to purchase a 14+ pound turkey for our Friendsgiving celebration and more chicken, so It'll be pretty close.

How'd you do this month?

August '08 Budget

I spent a little (ok, alot) more this month than I usually do, but I stumbled across some GREAT meat & pop sales and of course, the Kellogg's rebate deal! Here's how I did:

Total OOP (out of pocket): $319.99 (YIKES!)
-$40 in Kellogg's MIR
=$279.99
Total before coupons: $574.79, so I saved $294.80 this month :)
I'm stocked up until December on cereal,snacks for lunches/breakfast, pace salsa, pasta sauce, dawn dish soap, 12 packs of pop and paper towels.

So, for 2008 I've saved $1,372.58 combing coupons with sales.
Of course, I've spent $1,555.45

How'd you do this month?

January Budget

Every month, I keep track of my grocery/coupon spendings and savings on an excel spreadsheet. This month, Brandon and I decided to keep track of our other expenses (not all of them, just clothing, ink, medicine, etc) on the spreadsheet as well.

Here's how we did:
Groceries and Walgreens type stuff: $139.55

Clothing, After Christmas sales, perscriptions: $143.41

Grand total for the month: $330.80

This is the best I've ever done with our food/Walgreens budget! Now, I just need to trim back in other areas.
I feel like we eat out too much and are wasting alot of money in that area. Our gas spending is way up for January and Feb. since I'm commuting back and forth 4 days a week, but we know that it's just temporary.

How did you'all do with your grocery spending/budgets this month?