I finally got a chance to make a run to Rite Aid today! I have been itching to do some coupon shopping but just haven't had the time. Well, I ended up having a little time this morning to check the ad, my coupons and make a list. I went to the store during my lunch. Here's a picture of what I bought.
I ended up getting this for FREE plus $5 in +Up rewards for my next purchase and $3 single check rebate that will come in the mail. Here's how I did it.
1. Theraflu 2/$10
Receive $2 +Up Rewards when you buy 2
Use 2 $2 off coupons and use $1 Rite Aid Video Value coupon
I paid $5/2 in store but is $3/2 or $1.50 each after +Up rewards.
2. Similasan Cold Relief for Children $3.99
Submit for $3 Single Check Rebate
Use $1.75 coupon
Paid $2.24 in store but is FREE + $0.76 profit!
3. Oral B Floss $2.99 times 2
Receive $1.50 +Up Rewards times 2
Use $1.50/2 coupon
Paid $4.48 in store but is $0.74 each after +Up rewards.
Total in store $11.72
This is what I planned to buy and use a previous months single check rebate valued at $12.50. Well I had never used this type of check before so I wasn't sure how it was going to work. They aren't able to give cash back on single check rebates and I wasn't able to buy a Rite Aid gift card to use, so we figured out to buy something to make it over $12.50. That's where the Reese's peanut butter cups came in. They were $0.59 each so I bought 2 to make my total $12.90. I used the check and paid $0.40. Than on my receipt I got my +Up rewards totaling $5. So with my +Up rewards and SCR I made just about $8 on these items!! I am very impressed with myself!! My best shopping trip yet!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Family Update
A week or so ago I said I was going to post updates about myself and Dave and never got to it. I got some time today so I wanted to write something. Well if you've been following along, you realize the biggest change for Dave and me was when he was let go from the Navy in May. We quickly decided to move back to Pittsburgh where we both grew up and our families are still here. Dave had a hard time deciding what to do. He didn't want to go right back into something after 9 years in the military. He took a few months off to collect unemployment and stay at home with the boys.
In the meantime, I got a job at a daycare that I thought I was going to love. It was right near my parents house so knew I could take the boys to my moms anytime Dave needed a break. I worked in the 2 1/2-3 year old class. The ratio was 6 kids to 1 adult and we had a total of 12 kids for 2 teachers. It seemed like a great place to work at first. Well, I ended up not liking it because I was still changing diapers which I didn't go to college to do. So I started looking else where. Nice thing was that my Dad's assistant was leaving around the same time. After some talking about the job and future, I decided to work for my Dad. I have been working for him for a month. Right now I'm just being his administrative assistant, but I'm really trying to learn his job. He works with teachers to set up retirement plans. He makes some good money in the financial field. He wants me to take over his clients in a few years so he can retire. In order for me to do that, I need to get licensed to sell products. I believe it's called Series 6 and 7. I'm going to start getting the material and use the time I'm not doing much in the office to study. I think this is something I can be very successful doing once I understand all the ins and out of finance. It's definitely a nice change from teaching, especially because teaching is impossible to get into right now. I just hope I can get licensed is my major concern right now.
Dave on the other hand has gone back to school full time. After applying to a few places that he knew he would like to do and not getting an interview, he decided to use his GI Bill and have the military pay for his school. He is able to collect unemployment and get paid housing each month since he is going full time. He is actually making more money than I am working full time. That bugs the hell out of me but he deserves it giving 9 years of his life to the Navy. So he's trying to adjust to doing homework and going to class everyday. It's funny how much he needs my help when he didn't think he would! He's doing so great though and I'm very proud of him. He's going into the medical field. He thinks of being an anesthesiologist. He's not 100% sure but that's what he's leaning towards right now. He has to see if he can get into medical school for that. This semester he's taking English, Computer, Math, Bio, and Bio Lab. That's pretty much it for him though since school takes up the majority of his time.
The other thing to note about myself is that I am volunteer coaching a high school volleyball team. I ran into my high school volleyball coach at the grocery store one day. After talking for a little, I mentioned I would love to get into coaching again. I did some right after college and have always wanted to get back into it. She said that if I'd be willing to volunteer this year, maybe next year it would be a paid position. So after talking with Dave and my mom since she is now watching the boys, I joined the team! It's nice being a volunteer cause I don't have to go to everything. I make most of the practices since they are from 5-8. I do not go to the away games, but make the home games. It has been something I am so happy I decided to do. I am loving being around the girls and teaching them how to improve. Plus we are a good team which always helps! ;) I really am hoping to stick with it and keeping my fingers crossed I get paid for it next year so I can really put my full effort into it.
Well that's about it for now. I'll let you know when things change again cause I know they will for us!
In the meantime, I got a job at a daycare that I thought I was going to love. It was right near my parents house so knew I could take the boys to my moms anytime Dave needed a break. I worked in the 2 1/2-3 year old class. The ratio was 6 kids to 1 adult and we had a total of 12 kids for 2 teachers. It seemed like a great place to work at first. Well, I ended up not liking it because I was still changing diapers which I didn't go to college to do. So I started looking else where. Nice thing was that my Dad's assistant was leaving around the same time. After some talking about the job and future, I decided to work for my Dad. I have been working for him for a month. Right now I'm just being his administrative assistant, but I'm really trying to learn his job. He works with teachers to set up retirement plans. He makes some good money in the financial field. He wants me to take over his clients in a few years so he can retire. In order for me to do that, I need to get licensed to sell products. I believe it's called Series 6 and 7. I'm going to start getting the material and use the time I'm not doing much in the office to study. I think this is something I can be very successful doing once I understand all the ins and out of finance. It's definitely a nice change from teaching, especially because teaching is impossible to get into right now. I just hope I can get licensed is my major concern right now.
Dave on the other hand has gone back to school full time. After applying to a few places that he knew he would like to do and not getting an interview, he decided to use his GI Bill and have the military pay for his school. He is able to collect unemployment and get paid housing each month since he is going full time. He is actually making more money than I am working full time. That bugs the hell out of me but he deserves it giving 9 years of his life to the Navy. So he's trying to adjust to doing homework and going to class everyday. It's funny how much he needs my help when he didn't think he would! He's doing so great though and I'm very proud of him. He's going into the medical field. He thinks of being an anesthesiologist. He's not 100% sure but that's what he's leaning towards right now. He has to see if he can get into medical school for that. This semester he's taking English, Computer, Math, Bio, and Bio Lab. That's pretty much it for him though since school takes up the majority of his time.
The other thing to note about myself is that I am volunteer coaching a high school volleyball team. I ran into my high school volleyball coach at the grocery store one day. After talking for a little, I mentioned I would love to get into coaching again. I did some right after college and have always wanted to get back into it. She said that if I'd be willing to volunteer this year, maybe next year it would be a paid position. So after talking with Dave and my mom since she is now watching the boys, I joined the team! It's nice being a volunteer cause I don't have to go to everything. I make most of the practices since they are from 5-8. I do not go to the away games, but make the home games. It has been something I am so happy I decided to do. I am loving being around the girls and teaching them how to improve. Plus we are a good team which always helps! ;) I really am hoping to stick with it and keeping my fingers crossed I get paid for it next year so I can really put my full effort into it.
Well that's about it for now. I'll let you know when things change again cause I know they will for us!
New Car
When I started this year out, I was planning on working on getting ourselves out of debt. I never realized that we were going to be thrown a total curve ball and have Dave get out of the military. We knew there was a possibility but were shocked when he was told and given only 2 weeks to get out. Anyways, we moved back to Pittsburgh and found a nice, small townhouse for only $650/month. What a difference from our thousands in San Diego. That was a good start to help us pay off some bills. The other major thing we just did was to trade in Dave's Tahoe. We were offered a trade in value that would help us pay off the Jetta as well and only have one car payment. That was going to save us more than $600/month in car payments. So we decided to go ahead with it and got rid of our Tahoe. As much as we didn't want to with winter coming up and it was such a great SUV to have, it was a smart move for our family. So we got an Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. I drive the car the majority of the time and I absolutely love it. The gas mileage on it is unbelievable. I totally understand why people drive hybrids now. It's such a smooth ride too. It's big enough to have both boys' car seats in the back with room to spare in the front. The only down side is that the trunk is not that big because the battery takes up a lot of that space. The other feature I'm loving right now is blue tooth enabled, which means I can hands free talk with no annoying ear piece or anything. It uses my phones blue tooth to go through the car. Love it!!! So that is our major news at the moment. I will try to take pictures in the next couple days so I can post my new baby!!!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Get Paid to Shop Online!
Here's a great site if you shop online. You get money back for the purchases you make through this site. After you shop and buy online, they send you a check that you can use for whatever you need! I have used this site for things I need and gotten the items for cheap and gotten money for something else. Click on the link below to sign up and start shopping!!
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=0%2FAnZk%2FYzzBXrNUbianlmQ%3D%3D
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=0%2FAnZk%2FYzzBXrNUbianlmQ%3D%3D
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
How to Make Money buying a Brita Filter
So I've been lacking on my coupon saving posts because I just haven't had a chance to coupon shop with the job change and everything going on. I found this great deal online that I just had to share. I'm going to try to get to Walmart within the next 2 days so I can take advantage of this great deal. Here's the deal:
Brita Filter, 5 cups $8.97
Go to http://www.filterforgood.com/ once there, take the pledge by providing your name and email on the left side of the page. From there you will be prompted to provide a little more information. At the end you will see a place to print out your coupon.
Use $5 Off coupon at Walmart.
Pay $3.97 upon leaving Walmart. Once at home submit for a rebate by clicking here http://challenge.brita.com/save-on-brita/BritaPitcherRebate.pdf than mail required materials to address.
This will make the Brita Filter FREE plus $6.03 after the rebate!!!
That sounds like a pretty great deal to me!! Plus it's helping to reduce bottled water waste. Anything to help improve our environment. Let me know if you take advantage of this deal.
Brita Filter, 5 cups $8.97
Go to http://www.filterforgood.com/ once there, take the pledge by providing your name and email on the left side of the page. From there you will be prompted to provide a little more information. At the end you will see a place to print out your coupon.
Use $5 Off coupon at Walmart.
Pay $3.97 upon leaving Walmart. Once at home submit for a rebate by clicking here http://challenge.brita.com/save-on-brita/BritaPitcherRebate.pdf than mail required materials to address.
This will make the Brita Filter FREE plus $6.03 after the rebate!!!
That sounds like a pretty great deal to me!! Plus it's helping to reduce bottled water waste. Anything to help improve our environment. Let me know if you take advantage of this deal.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Our Boys
I just looked back at my blog to see the last time I even wrote about the boys and it was about Cameron's birth story. That is 6 months ago already! I cannot believe how neglected this blog is. I vow not to allow it to get so outdated again now that I'm working in an office with a computer.
Anyways, Cameron is now 6 months old! I cannot believe it. I think your second one seems to grow a lot faster because you aren't paying attention to every little thing like you did with your first child. I'll just give a little update of everything he is able to do at this point since there's way too much to back track on.
First thing first, at his last appointment (which should have been his 4 month old, he was 5 months old since we are still trying to catch him up with the move and everything) he weighed about 18 pounds and measured 32 in. He's in the 90th percentile for his age. I need to make an appointment for his 6 month so we can be all caught up so I'm dying to see his height and weight now because he's definitely grown more. As from my previous post, he wears 9-12 month clothes already. He's just a big boy. The nice thing is that he's developing right on schedule regardless of how big he is. Speaking of, I need to make that appointment so I'm doing that as I write! He can do everything a 6 month baby can do. He sits up for long periods of time. He rolls from belly to back and back to belly with no problems. He holds and plays with things in his hands. Most everything goes in his mouth while he's playing with it. He holds and drinks the bottle all on his own. He's eating rice cereal, peas and green beans. We waited a little bit to start food because he is such a big boy, but the way he stares at us eating is why we started him. He loved the peas but is working on liking green beans. He's got the concept of eating down pat though. I will be surprised if there's anything that he absolutely refuses the way he looks like he wants to eat everything when we are eating! He has 2 bottom teeth. I swear he's teething more but nothing has popped through yet. He absolutely loves D.J. Anytime D.J. is playing near Cameron, he will just light up and start giggling. I think sometimes he gets mad that he can't run around with D.J. so I would imagine he's going to walk at an early age so he can play with D.J. He has such a great personality though. He's just like D.J. being a happy boy 98% of the day. He smiles and laughs all the time. The best thing is that he "talks" all the time. He is constantly making noises while he's awake (and sometimes while he's sleeping too) I swear he's going to be talking before D.J. I have to admit that I have been blessed double time with our boys. Both of them have been such a pleasure raising because they are so easy going. The other great thing is that Cameron is sleeping through the night and has been since 4 months old. I didn't have to worry about weaning him off a night bottle or anything, just slept through on his own one night. He's such a great kid and it's been a great 6 months!
D.J. is 21 months old now. He is starting to act like a 2 year old with thinking he knows what he wants. I wouldn't say he's throwing tantrums, but he will get upset when he doesn't get his way. So we are working on making transitions for him better. He is still a pro at running, jumping, throwing and kicking. He loves anything to do with sports and playing outside. He's such a quick learner that all we have to do is show/explain once and he can figure it out on his own. It's really neat to sit back and watch him play on his own. He has become obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He seems to like Mickey and Goofy. Not sure why Goofy but I think it's because he can say his name. He loves to watch the show and dance to the music. It's too cute to watch him do "Oh Toodles!" He puts his hands over his mouth like he's calling it. So far we are thinking that's going to be our theme for his 2nd birthday. He loves playing with cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles...pretty much anything with wheels. I would say he's a typical growing boy with his likes and interests.
The only delay we have noticed is his speech. He has a few words but isn't really forming too many. So our doctor has referred us to a specialist who recommended early intervention for him. Early intervention is offered free in PA so we are definitely trying to take advantage of that. We just had a lady come to our house today to explain the program to us, sign papers and get 2 dates that an evaluator could come to our house to evaluate D.J. If he qualifies than he will see a specialist to help work on his delay. I'm thinking he will only because he is having such a hard time forming words. He definitely tries to talk but everything sounds the same. It doesn't seem to bother D.J. too much since he pretty much can point to what he wants. I have noticed some times when we aren't understanding and he will get frustrated. I hate not knowing what he wants. Sometimes I feel like I've failed because this is my specialty and it's my own son who has a problem that I can't figure out how to help him. The doctor keeps reassuring me that this is VERY common in kids his age, especially with how advance he is physically. So we are in the process of hopefully getting help for that. Other than that, he's still just a happy go lucky boy. He makes me and Dave laugh all the time. He's such a sweetheart too. He absolutely loves Cameron and gives him hugs and kisses daily. He gets really excited to see Cameron. Those 2 are definitely going to be best buds.
Well that seems about it for now. I will make sure to update a lot sooner when anything changes with either one of them. I hated not blogging because this is also a way for me to keep track when everything happened. So I'm happy to be back at it daily. Tomorrow's post (as long as I have a few minutes) will be about what's been going on in mine and Dave's lives since there have been a few BIG changes for the both of us.
Anyways, Cameron is now 6 months old! I cannot believe it. I think your second one seems to grow a lot faster because you aren't paying attention to every little thing like you did with your first child. I'll just give a little update of everything he is able to do at this point since there's way too much to back track on.
First thing first, at his last appointment (which should have been his 4 month old, he was 5 months old since we are still trying to catch him up with the move and everything) he weighed about 18 pounds and measured 32 in. He's in the 90th percentile for his age. I need to make an appointment for his 6 month so we can be all caught up so I'm dying to see his height and weight now because he's definitely grown more. As from my previous post, he wears 9-12 month clothes already. He's just a big boy. The nice thing is that he's developing right on schedule regardless of how big he is. Speaking of, I need to make that appointment so I'm doing that as I write! He can do everything a 6 month baby can do. He sits up for long periods of time. He rolls from belly to back and back to belly with no problems. He holds and plays with things in his hands. Most everything goes in his mouth while he's playing with it. He holds and drinks the bottle all on his own. He's eating rice cereal, peas and green beans. We waited a little bit to start food because he is such a big boy, but the way he stares at us eating is why we started him. He loved the peas but is working on liking green beans. He's got the concept of eating down pat though. I will be surprised if there's anything that he absolutely refuses the way he looks like he wants to eat everything when we are eating! He has 2 bottom teeth. I swear he's teething more but nothing has popped through yet. He absolutely loves D.J. Anytime D.J. is playing near Cameron, he will just light up and start giggling. I think sometimes he gets mad that he can't run around with D.J. so I would imagine he's going to walk at an early age so he can play with D.J. He has such a great personality though. He's just like D.J. being a happy boy 98% of the day. He smiles and laughs all the time. The best thing is that he "talks" all the time. He is constantly making noises while he's awake (and sometimes while he's sleeping too) I swear he's going to be talking before D.J. I have to admit that I have been blessed double time with our boys. Both of them have been such a pleasure raising because they are so easy going. The other great thing is that Cameron is sleeping through the night and has been since 4 months old. I didn't have to worry about weaning him off a night bottle or anything, just slept through on his own one night. He's such a great kid and it's been a great 6 months!
D.J. is 21 months old now. He is starting to act like a 2 year old with thinking he knows what he wants. I wouldn't say he's throwing tantrums, but he will get upset when he doesn't get his way. So we are working on making transitions for him better. He is still a pro at running, jumping, throwing and kicking. He loves anything to do with sports and playing outside. He's such a quick learner that all we have to do is show/explain once and he can figure it out on his own. It's really neat to sit back and watch him play on his own. He has become obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He seems to like Mickey and Goofy. Not sure why Goofy but I think it's because he can say his name. He loves to watch the show and dance to the music. It's too cute to watch him do "Oh Toodles!" He puts his hands over his mouth like he's calling it. So far we are thinking that's going to be our theme for his 2nd birthday. He loves playing with cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles...pretty much anything with wheels. I would say he's a typical growing boy with his likes and interests.
The only delay we have noticed is his speech. He has a few words but isn't really forming too many. So our doctor has referred us to a specialist who recommended early intervention for him. Early intervention is offered free in PA so we are definitely trying to take advantage of that. We just had a lady come to our house today to explain the program to us, sign papers and get 2 dates that an evaluator could come to our house to evaluate D.J. If he qualifies than he will see a specialist to help work on his delay. I'm thinking he will only because he is having such a hard time forming words. He definitely tries to talk but everything sounds the same. It doesn't seem to bother D.J. too much since he pretty much can point to what he wants. I have noticed some times when we aren't understanding and he will get frustrated. I hate not knowing what he wants. Sometimes I feel like I've failed because this is my specialty and it's my own son who has a problem that I can't figure out how to help him. The doctor keeps reassuring me that this is VERY common in kids his age, especially with how advance he is physically. So we are in the process of hopefully getting help for that. Other than that, he's still just a happy go lucky boy. He makes me and Dave laugh all the time. He's such a sweetheart too. He absolutely loves Cameron and gives him hugs and kisses daily. He gets really excited to see Cameron. Those 2 are definitely going to be best buds.
Well that seems about it for now. I will make sure to update a lot sooner when anything changes with either one of them. I hated not blogging because this is also a way for me to keep track when everything happened. So I'm happy to be back at it daily. Tomorrow's post (as long as I have a few minutes) will be about what's been going on in mine and Dave's lives since there have been a few BIG changes for the both of us.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Shopping Trip
Well Dave and I had to do our first winter shopping trip for the boys since they have been born. We have been so blessed being that we lived in California for the first 2 years of D.J.'s life and didn't have to worry about that. We are pretty excited to get D.J. in his new winter suit to go play in the snow though. Down side is how expensive these things are. Oh the expense of having kids! I am going to check a consignment store that my mom recommended near her house to price check items that might be there. Anything to save money nowadays is the way to go. Plus we couldn't find any suit for Cameron. We found a perfect one at Carter's but only came in size 6-9 months. That would be perfect if Cameron wasn't almost out of that stage and into 9-12 month clothes already at the age of 6 months. It's so hard buying him clothes because we aren't sure how long he's going to be in a certain stage. Within that first 6 months, he just blew through the early stages of clothes. He seems to be about 3 months ahead of his actual age. Plus with a snowsuit, it needs to be tight since he won't be moving but not too tight that we can't bundle him up with clothes underneath. So that's my dilemma right now! I'm going to check the store tonight so I can make returns and look online if I can't find anything. Winter will be here before we know it too.
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