projects

Couponing

I have been trying my hands at couponing for the last month of so. I have been doing pretty good. The main key is to use your coupons when stuff is on sale. And the great thing about our local Kroger’s is that they double any coupon up to $0.50. Which is nice when you have items on sale for a $1.00 and you have a $0.50 off coupon. Between sales and coupons I have saved up to 50% on my tickets or a little more depending.

This past weekend Purex was on sale at Walgreens for 2/$6.00. If you bought that, when you checked out it printed out a $2.00 off Purex coupon. Which I turned around and used again. I also, had $5.00 in Walgreen points I could use on a purchase. I had a coupon for shaving cream which was on sale as well for $1.29 with a $0.50 coupon. Two bottles of Purex and a bottle of shaving cream cost me $0.23 out of pocket. I can’t beat that. I’m no “extreme couponer” but I can do enough that it does save us money.

I do have the time to cut coupons and I normally buy two Sunday newspapers and my grandmother gives me her coupons out of her newspapers each week. That being said, I spend around $4.00 a week on coupons. But I save more than that just with one purchase if I use my coupons right.

If anyone else does couponing, please feel free to leave a comment on how you do it or how much you save. I am enjoying learning and seeing how others do their couponing.

Doing the adult thing

I am glad we did our taxes and didn’t have to pay in. We already got our state back, all $45. Now we are waiting on our Federal which should be here Wednesday. We are getting enough back we can pay off at least our lawn mower we were leasing, a couple credit cards and new glasses. It won’t leave any really to put back in savings but getting a few things paid off will. Plus, I should be starting my second job very soon. That is where I am putting money back to pay things off. That second income will go right into savings and only touched to pay off the credit cards. We only have around $5,000 in debit but I want it gone.

I also want to start saving for our IVF and pay off some all bills on my credit report to bring it up. I want those things gone so we can move forward with getting small loans to upgrade things around our house. I want new hard wood floors and new carpet in the house. If I keep my second job, we most likely won’t have to get loans we may just pay up front if we can every get everything going to plan.

The joys of being an adult. I don’t remember anyone ever telling me that this would be fun and I have no clue why I thought being an adult would be. lol.

How-to: laundry detergent

I hate buying laundry detergent. I feel like it is a waste of money and I wash so many clothes a bottle of detergent doesn’t last very long for the price it cost. I went online to find out how to make my own and I found so many different “recipes” I couldn’t hardly wait to start. I found one “recipe” I liked and edited it to my liking. I went to my local Wal-Mart and was able to find everything I needed for such a super cheap price.

This makes 1/2 gallon. I doubled it and made 1 gallon due the fact the jar I bought was a 1 gallon jar. Glass jar was $4.97 and the coffee scoop was $1.64 (1 tablespoon).

What you need:

  • 2 cups of 20 Mule team Borax ($3.38 – 4lb box)
  • 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ($3.24 – 3lb box)
  • 1 cup of baking soda ($0.50 – 14oz box)
  • 1 bar of Fels-Naptha Soap ($0.97 – per bar)
  • 1 cup of Oxi-Clean ($3.86 – 1.3lb tub)
  • 1 cup of Purex Crystals ($4.85 – 28ox bottle)

Tools:

  • 1 large bowl
  • Cheese grater
  • Measuring cups

How-to:

  1. Grate your bar of soap. I used the fine side of the grater. It seems to mix better into the powder.
  2. Mix all powder ingredients together.
  3. Add grated soap into powder ingredients.
  4. Mix all together.
  5. Done!

Side note: I have a front loading washer and I add it right in the drum. I use two scoops. It seems to make my clothes smell amazing and gets them just as clean or more as store bought. If you are wondering about the smell it smells like lavender and just clean. . .due to the Purex is lavender scented.

Cost of just ingredients total: $16.90 And I still have a lot of extra borax and washing soda for my next use. Which I found pretty awesome!

I need to get it together

Things I must do; I really want to move all my entries from all my blogs, including the ones from back in 2000 over to EverNote just because. That way I have them, but I don’t have to go “live” with them. If I don’t want too. Also, I want to move start keeping better notes over all. I think maybe getting a real laptop, not a netbook might help this. I don’t even know. I have been wanting to blog for days but have had the time or energy to really do it.

Also, I finally have enough knowledge to start writing some simple PHP scripts, but I don’t know what to use them for. I fail. Every project I want to do has a script already. But maybe I could write one for my. . .wait, no. . .shit. Lost my thought all together. Don’t you hate when that happens?!?

Blah!! I have felt blah for a few days. Not sure what’s wrong. You ever just get that feeling like something bad is going to happen or something. Yeah, I feel that way.

PS: I get to see Alex tomorrow then this weekend I get to go to his birthday. He turns 6. I can’t believe he was just 4 when me and Kyle got together. Life is happening so fast around us. I miss that kid so much at times.