I’ve still been pluggin’ along, trying to figure out the whole coupon thing. I think I do ok, although I know the hardcore couponers save a lot more than me. I try to plan out my visits to CVS and Walgreens because those are the easiest to me. Like yesterday I went to CVS and got 1 Crest pro health toothpaste, 1 Colgate Total toothpaste, 2 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, 6 bags of Easter Candy (the good stuff like Hersheys and Reeses!) and a gallon of milk for about $5 out of pocket. I also left with $4 in Extra Care Bucks, so really I only spent about $1. YAY! I was stoked to pay $0 for the cereal and only 24 cents for a big tube of Colgate toothpaste. How cool is that to bust out with a quarter to pay for a transaction?  I’m still learning how to work it at the grocery store. Some times it’s a no brainer, deals just fall into my lap. Other times I have to work harder for it. Yesterday I got a bag of rice for $.09 and a men’s Gillette deodorant and Gillette body wash for $.34. I was stoked about that. BTW, if you need any men’s deodorant my house is the place to come. I have about 15 sticks under my bathroom sink…

Anyway… on one of my shopping trips to Walgreens I ended up with two boxes 3-in-1 Purex detergent for like $2. I wasn’t sure what I’d think about it. I mean, I’m not real picky about my detergent because basically I do a ton of laundry for our big family and I do it on a small budget. Usually, however, Purex was the best deal anyway. Although the 3-in-1 is a little more expensive. That makes sense though since it’s detergent, softener and anti-static all in one. Sorry, I’m rambling… My point was that I now have tried the Purex 3-in-1 and I LOVE IT. LOVE it.  It smells good, it washes great and then I get to just throw the sheet in with the wet clothes into the dryer. It’s awesome. And it’s safe for all types of machines- including front loaders.  Anyway… I think I love it and will be getting it more often. I love how I don’t have to worry about dryer sheets or anything. If you want to try it out you can go HERE and get a free sample.

This weekend is Career Conference for Mary Kay. I am excited to learn more, grow, become closer to the girls in my area, etc…  I am really enjoying being a MK Lady. I’m not all hardcore, Caddy driving… yet. But I am making money and having fun while doing it. YAY! If you’d like to learn more about what I do let me know!

The new year is coming and I’ve made several goals. I’m losing this muffin top first of all and I’m saving money. We had a tough year this year so we have to find different ways to save money. We are going to be getting rid of our home phone because we never use it and also changing the level of service we have on our television.  I’m also learning not only to clip coupons but how to do “couponing” where you end up getting a ton of stuff for next to nothing! We switched our car insurance this past year from Allstate to Geico and saved hundreds of dollars, so that was awesome. Another thing we’ve started doing is buying our bread in bulk from the Mrs. Baird’s Outlet. It’s around a dollar a loaf plus they throw in a few free things like my beloved powder donuts that I will not be eating after January 1. haha

I am super excited about learning to coupon. My friend did a presentation at church and actually had a table full of products. She asked us to guess how much it would cost retail and how much we think she paid.   The products cost around $65 retail. She paid…. 16 cents. Yes- 16 CENTS. Insane!! I can’t wait to learn more. Do any of you coupon or have fun money saving ideas??

My husband and I have been trying to figure out ways to save money here and there. It’s hard because we’re “in contract” for so many things like our alarm and our internet, cell phones, etc… We were looking into changing our cable tv to something different like Direct TV in Texas , but it looks like we are in contract with our cable until August! It’s ridiculous that just trying to save money could cost of money because of contacts! It looks like Direct Tv could save us some money and I know the quality is good because my parents have Direct TV . I can get all the same great channels, have a dvr, great customer service, etc… for less money that I am paying now. Mytvoptions.com lays out all the options for tv services no matter where you move to.

We are also looking into getting rid of our home phone. We never use it The only thing is we’re still in contract with ADT for our alarm for another year. It’s silly to have an alarm with no phone line. Has anyone ever worked with something like that? Has anyone ever found a way out of an ADT contract without paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars?

We have a really great price for car insurance, so we can’t change that. And our cars are maybe worth what we owe on them. Idk if selling them would do any good because they are good cars that work!! I’d like to keep it that way. Our plan is to pay them off and keep them forever.

What are some other ways to cut some bills and save money??