29 weeks!

Baby Knies and I had a doctor's appointment today. We are 29 weeks along, so only 11 weeks left! I am definitely getting bigger by the minute. I've gained a total of 13 lbs, which is probably a little on the low side, but the doctor said I should gain about a pound a week,. If so, I will be right on target! We have to start going every two weeks now, so we are nearing the finish line!

The baby is moving a lot even though there is not as much room. He likes to kick and punch me as soon as I lay down to go to sleep at night! Just when I'm worn out and ready for sleep, he starts movin' and groovin' and it makes it very hard to sleep, but it's worth it!

I am getting more and more excited to see our little guy. We have a crib and we are starting to get the furniture rearranged. It feels like things are finally coming together! We are doing a blue sports theme - imagine that!

The Bump at 29 weeks!

More Couponing Success!

Okay so I was so excited about my success with couponing yesterday, but I'm still no coupon champ like the women who post the other blogs. So I started looking into it more - seeing what they buy and coupons they use, etc.
Yesterday I bought some Nabisco 100 calorie snacks at Target for a pretty good deal - $0.79 when the original price is $2.79. I was so excited to get one of my favorite snacks at such a deal, especially since there are only 6 packs in the box for that price. I bought the snacks for our beach trip, but got a little hungry last night, so I ate a few packs.
Today, I decided to go back to Target, the Super Target this time since we were meeting some friends for dinner close by. I printed off another Target coupon and another manufacturer coupons and expected to pay the same $0.79 as yesterday. Adam was with me, so he got to see why I was so excited yesterday. This Target had the same snacks on sale for $2.04, down from $2.79! I got so excited and started laughing. Adam asked what was so funny and I told him that I would be getting my box of snacks for $0.04! 4 cents! He couldn't believe it.
Then we went to the travel/trial size toiletries section so he could get some toothpaste for the trip and they had travel sized Right Guard deodorant for $0.97 each. I pulled out a Right Guard coupon that I knew was going to expire tomorrow and read the details. It was for $1 off 2 deodorants - any size! So we got one free and a few cents knocked off the other!
Getting excited over buying a box of cookies for 4 cents and a travel sized deodorant for 94 cents may seem a little silly to most people, but it dawned on me how these women go into Kroger or Target and get $100 worth of groceries/toiletries for $15 to $20. Most of these coupon women only allow themselves to spend a certain amount of money a week on groceries/toiletries and/or only a certain amount of money at a particular store each week. So, these coupon women would have stocked up on the cookies and the travel sized deodorants! They would have gone to Target with 25 Target coupons and 25 manufacturer coupons for the cookies and bought 25 boxes and would have spent only $1 on all 25 boxes! Sounds like a good deal to me, especially since I love those cookies. They would do the same with the deodorant. I had two other coupons for the same deodorant so they would have bought several and used all three coupons.
I've also learned that these women stockpile non-perishable items. Some have only a 3-6 months supply, while others keep a 1 -2 year supply. One woman posted a picture of her stockpile. Basically she turned her garage into a pantry - the whole garage. She said the reason behind this, especially now with economic uncertainty, is that if her husband lost his job, she could still feed her family without spending money, except for perishable items, for years if she had to!
Also, some women will buy items that they get for free or next to nothing (like my cookies)in bulk and donate them to their church's food pantry or local shelters. That would be especially nice in Knoxville, because there is never a shortage of homeless in Knoxville and travel sized deodorants could come in handy with the rising temperatures!
So I am hoping to get better at couponing to benefit those less fortunate than myself and to benefit my cookie cravings!

Couponing

I have used coupons in the past at the grocery store, but was never very serious about it. I figured, why not save a few cents on products that I use! Recently, a classmate of Adam's posted on her blog about all her coupon usage and savings. I was amazed! While reading her blog, I checked out some other coupon bloggers that she referenced. I was completely blown away by the amount of money these women save and how much stuff they get free!
I know a lot of people say that it takes too much time to clip coupons or hunt them down on the internet from the manufacturer; however, these women do all the work for you - everything except cutting out the coupons! They even match up the weekly sales at the grocery store with coupons that are available.
I decided to give couponing a try in preparation for our beach trip on Saturday, so we got mostly drinks and snacks!
To follow suit with rest of the Coupon Clippers, I will give a break down of the deals I got and post a lovely picture!
If you receive Atlanta-based coupons and grocery flyers then check out savingyourcents.blogspot.com and www.couponmommie.com.

Target Shopping Trip:
1 - Sunny Cranberry Trail Mix @ $2.79 with $0.50 Target web coupon

1- Monster Trail Mix @ $3.99 with $0.50 Target web coupon

2 - Pringles @ $0.54 each with $1 manufacturer coupon and 2 $0.50 Target web coupons

1 - 100 cal snack packs @ $0.70 with $1 manufacturer coupon and $1 Target web coupn

2 - Kashi snack bars @ $2.54 each with manufacturer coupon

1 - Skintimate Shave Gel @ $1.49 with manufacturer coupon ( it should have been $0.49 because I had a $1 Target web coupon, but the cashier must have missed it - darn him!)

1 - Colgate Wisps 4 pack @ $1.49 with $0.50 Target web coupon

Total Spent (less tax): $16.67
Total Savings: $6.25*

* some items were marked down this week at Target, but the sales ticket does not reflect the in-store discount.


Kroger Shopping Trip:

1 - Glamour Magazine @ $2.49 with $1 Ecoupon and $0.50 manufacturer coupon (Kroger may have doubled one of these coupons as well, so it was probably less than $2.49)

3 - Sobe Energy drinks @ $1 each (Kroger's 10 for $10 deal which saves $0.49 on each)

1 - Powerade @ $1 (10 for $10)

2 - Sobe Lifewater @ $0.50 each after Kroger 10 for $10 which saves $0.49 each plus Buy One get One FREE manf. coupon

6 - Smartwaters @ $1 each (10 for $10, which saves $0.89 each)

5 - Gatorades @ $1 each (10 for $10, which saves $0.08 each)

2 - Oscar Mayer Bacon @ $3 each with Kroger special 2 for $7, which saves $1.49 each and $1 manf coupon

1 - Dial Hand Soap @ $0.45 with Kroger 10 for $10, which saves $0.63 and $0.55 manf coupon

1 - Electrasol Dishwasher Detergent @ $2.99 with Kroger card, which saves $0.39

3 - Suave Shampoos @ $1.08 each with Kroger 3 for $5 which saves a total of $0.50

Total Spent (less tax): $31.18 (again, this is probably a few cents high since Kroger doubled some of my coupons but didn't specify which ones because total with tax was $32.10.)

Total Savings: $20.54 with Kroger Plus Card and Coupons according to my receipt.

So all in all, I think I was successful for my first time!
Most Target stores will accept a Target web coupon and a manufacturer's coupon for a single item. My Target cashier was quite impressed with my couponing and said he would try it himself!
Kroger will let you 'stack' coupons, which is where you can have multiple manufacturer's coupons for a single item, but it depends on which cashier you have. My Kroger cashier today kinda snaked me on the Suave Shampoos - I would have been able to get all 3 for free with all the Suave coupons I had. Kroger does double some manufacturer coupons though.

Check out the other blogs I mentioned, these women are coupon pros!