June Budget

I posted my monthly spending totals over to the right........we didn't spend much on groceries this month, but we ate out ALOT......just didn't want to cheat the system and have you'all think I did amazing with my budget this month.

I know July's totals will be much higher since we ate alot of our stockpile this past month and after the move, I'll be able to cook more.

the garage

Photo of the day:

All but 7-10 boxes are out in our garage. We've filled up the space that Brandon's car usually takes.....we got alot of work done last night, it still doesn't feel like we are really moving.

We are supposed to hear this morning about closing on Monday. Hopefully we will be able to close and get this move and title mess behind us!

I'll try and check in over the weekend, but this will be my last picture til after the move!

Paint?

Most the walls/rooms at our new house need a fresh/updated coat of paint. After much searching, I have finally settled on my colors- these paint chips are from Sherwin Willams. I think I'm going to use the colors on the right side. The tan color is the same color that's in my friend Melissa's living room and I love it.

I still can't decide between the lighter green on the R and the darker green on the L for the kitchen. I love the darker tan and brown for the formal dining room.

Any votes on the greens? Also, has anyone ever tried painting over wallpaper that wouldn't come off?

God is Good!

Well, alot has been going on around here these past couple days. Aside from packing, celebrating our anniversary, we've had a bit of a stressful situation........To make a long story short, there is/was trouble with the title on our new house. The house we are to close on this coming Monday. The exact same day our lease is up.

After 2 days of confusion, our AMAZING relator, title company, etc. figured out that the problem with the title was a small typo from the divorce settlement of the original owners. Both divorce lawyers have to sign the paperwork, then a judge has to approve it. THEN, we are good to close on our new home!

Yesterday, I sent out a prayer email to our Sunday School class, and Brandon and I have been praying that God will resolve the situation, and give us a place to lay our heads Monday night. We love this house and didn't want to loose it. I have such little faith. Why would God have brought us this far? Why can't I remember that His plan is so much bigger than mine?!?

Today everything just fell into place- we still have to find a judge to sign the paperwork, but we really have til Friday for that to get done. (I still would like it to happen tomorrow!) God has just blessed us in so many ways.......giving us a peace about the situation; working through our relators, title people, closer to resolve the issue; even the current owners have agreed to early occupancy if we need it.

I feel like the post is rambling a bit, but I just had to share.

boxes and roses

Monday- Erica came over after I got off work and helped me pack! We spent about 2 hrs. packing until we were just worn out........but look how much we got done!

Brandon sent roses to work yesterday :)

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us! :)

this past week in pictures....

This Project 365 thing has been harder to keep up with than I imagined. I really wanted to give up this week.......anywho- here's some photos from this past week. Baby Eli (Karen and Will's new little guy). The garage sale was at Karen's house, so I've spent alot of time with her and the kiddos this week. Eli's just too cute! He's really become more animated this past week.
We've been trying to find artwork for above our fireplace in the new house. Possible candidate?
"The cuddler"- a chair we found that we like for the new house @ Big Lots!
A dinning room table I like, Brandon wasn't so sure about.

Can you tell we've been doing alot of house shopping?

latest Target deal!

I woke up early this morning, so I decided to go to Target before church.

Here's what I got for $23.97:

5 boxes of cereal for $11

-$4/4 manf. peelie

-$5 gc that the register automatically applied to my purchase (usually they just hand you the card for your next purchase)

= cereal for $0.40 a box!

Ziplock bag, 3 pack- 4.99

-$1/1 manf coupon

=3.99 for 300 ziplock bags (about a penny per bag!)

grapes- 1.49/lb

1/2 gallon of milk- 1.99

anniversary card- 3.99

bread- 1.19 a loaf

Hopefully this will be my last Target/coupon picture in our duplex! I debated not running this cereal deal, mainly for the fact that we are moving in a week and I'll have to pack it all. But, we eat so much cereal and for the price, I just figured, what's one more box?! :)

Garage sale report!

I made around $59 today @ Karen and I's garage sale!
Karen and Will did great- they made over $300!!! (they had a TON more than I did- I wouldn't have had a sale on my own, but it was worth it to combine mine with her's)

I sold all but 3 items from my stockpile- making close to $30 on stuff I got for free with coupons! I couldn't believe how many people bought toothpaste, pantene, etc. But, from every garage sale here on out, I think I'll sell some of my stockpile.

It's been awhile

I've been taking my project 365 day pictures, I just haven't got around to posting them yet! But I will soon.........
Karen and I are having a large garage sale today. I'm going to try and sell some of my couponing stockpile- just to see how it does. On HCW several people have done so and been quite successful, so I figure it's worth a shot.

Other than work and getting ready for the garage sale, we've just been gearing up for the move. I still have TONS of packing/cleaning to do, but we have about a week to finish it up.
Any great moving/packing tips out there?

Homeland deals

I had a great couponing week!

At Homeland I got all of this for $16.83

Without coupons/sales it would have been $61.45!

Here's some of the good deals I found:
Chinet Comfort cup- 2.69 used $1/1 coupon (www.smartsource.com)= $0.69

Chinet cups- 2.84- used $1/1 coupon (www.smartsource.com)= $0.89

2 Sargento Cheese- 2.99 each- used .50 and .55 off peelies= $3.88

Kraft cheese- 2.99- used $1/1 peelie= $0.99

cereal- $3, used $1/1 peelie= $1

Cool Whip Light- 2.89, used $1/1 from inserts- $0.89

Dr. Pepper 2 liters- .59 each after coupons (the coupon can be printed each day, look at my target post for the link)

Cherios Snack mix- free after $1/1 coupon from www.coupons.com

Land O Lakes lunch meat- free after using coupon from entering the food network contest :)

Weekly photo catch-up

Sunday- we spent most of the day in the car.....gotta love Sam Houston alongside the highway....

and I just loved this wall art piece at Crate & Barrel for the new house.....

Monday- furniture and paint shopping with Nannie for the new house (I liked this coffee table/sitting thingy)

Tuesday- packing.....I'm just not motivated! Do you'all have any words of wisdom?

Today: My teaching certificate came in the mail today! Even though I've been working at the school for almost 2 weeks, I'm not legally able to be there :)

Mallorie's wedding

Saturday morning we woke up in Dallas, did a little more shopping, loved on Mr. Puff (Brandon's dog that now lives w/ his parents) and then headed to Mark and Mallorie's wedding in Willis, Tx.
Mallorie was a beautiful bride and we had a great time!

Last Thurs/Friday photos

Last Wed. was my birthday. I came home from work to find this huge ballon and flowers on the kitchen table! Brandon took me out to Ted's for mexican food and some friends met us there. It was a great 24th birthday!

Right after work on Thursday, I picked up Brandon and we went to Dallas. We spent time with Brandon's parents and his grandparents.......we shopped at Ikea and had plenty of good food! We even got to see Andrea and Sam and their new place.......they only live about 2 miles from Brandon's parents.Grandy and Sharon

Brandon and his Papa

Gotta love summers at Target!

Last summer, when I first started couponing, I found some awesome deals at Target. It looks like the deals are back!

Here's some good ones- I'm going to try them this week:

Archer Farms Deli Cheese- $1/1 with no size restriction......so, you can get free deli cheese if you get about 0.15 or so of a pound.

General Mills Granola Bars or Fruit Snacks - $0.75/1
This can be combined with those great $1/1 coupons that came in the paper over Memorial day for any GM product that fits this description!

Nabisco crackers - $0.50/1
Same thing as above....makes for some cheap cheese nips I've heard (over on HCW)

7-up, A&W, Sunkist, or Dr Pepper, 12-pk - $1/1
Combine this coupon with the Dr. Pepper coupon you find here:http://www.drpeppermoretoexplore.com/ (you can get a new coupon every day!)

Also, they have some good deal on Pampers right now- not something we need around here, so I don't know much about it. But, I know its a stock-up type deal so go over to HCW and check it out!

Back on the frugal train

After a weekend away, I'm back to being frugal. We attended Mallorie's wedding this weekend, and at the wedding her mom mentioned to me how she is now using coupons and getting great deals at Walgreens. Then, I received an email from one of the gals in my HCW Homeland forum about some great deals she's been getting that she wanted to share.....these simple things just helped me renew my interest in couponing. I've been a little discouraged lately by the rising prices and just overwhelmed with house hunting, house buying and beginning my career. But, that's no reason to quit saving $$ in my book.

Anywho, tonight on HCW I found this great offer:
https://www.loweswinners.com/lifeTakesVisa/lowesVisaLanding.aspx

Lowes will email you a $10 off any $25 purchase coupon, and it doesn't expire until 7/30! Perfect for our upcoming move!

I'll post weekend photos soon.....

always a step behind

I'm way behind on my photo of the day postings.........

Last week we house/pet sat for Karen and Will. Here's Jack the cat:

and the flowers Brandon brought me from mom and dad's garden:

My friend Michael-Ann has been taking some online scrapbooking 'courses' from big picture scrapbooking. This was one of her projects. I just thought it was such a cute and simple idea for a teachers appreciation or small housewarming gift.After garage sales with Melissa on Saturday, this huge storm rolled into town:

Over the weekend, we picked up 30 boxes plus bubble wrap and packing supplies from mom and dad. It's just been sitting out in the garage, but after our trip this weekend I plan on getting serious about packing.

Monday: I started working! I am now working as a Speech Language Pathologist with Broken Arrow schools. I am working in the extended school year program this summer and already have my assignment to an elementary school for the next school year. (not a great picture, but it counts, right?) I love my job so far- it's great to finally put 6 years of schooling to good use.......and the getting paid to work part isn't too bad either.Today: My birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated with family tonight.

So, I think that catches me up :) We are leaving for Texas Thursday as soon as I get off work. We are going to spend some time in Dallas with Brandon's parents, visit my friend Andrea...and then head to Houston on Saturday to see our friend Mallorie get married!

I'll try to post b-day pictures tomorrow though.....

May Budget

Well, I have some less than fugal news to share. I didn't do very well this past month with couponing. I was off my game, and I didn't even keep track of what I spent & saved! I'm disappointed in myself, but what is a girl to do?

Between graduation, house hunting and vacation, May just got away from me.
So, here's how we did:
Spent: $154.73
Saved: $65 (a rough guess)

We ate out ALOT this past month, especially leading up to vacation. That's something that we need to cut back on, but with the upcoming move- I think we'll wait to cut back on it after June 30th.

I did make 1 trip to Homeland this month....for $33.07 I got all of this:
My goals for June?

• eat what's in the pantry and freezer...this will make the move easier!
• try not to go out to eat as much....if we do, order water and split the dish
• price compare Homeland to WalMart