Just A Night Owl

Category Archives: All Things Thrifty

Holiday Potpourri

Written on December 20, 2012 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, Life

Usually this time of year calls for a day of baking. We pack up the plates full of all of our holiday favorite recipes and deliver them to all of our friends. After all of our efforts for healthy eating around here, that just seemed unnecessary. We still baked but just picked our 2 or 3 favorites instead.

I looked and looked for an alternative and I found it, Holiday Potpourri. I tried out this recipe and my family loves it. It is definitely going to be in our home at the holidays from now on. It’s super easy and can be packaged up in so many cute ways for neighbors, teachers, and friends.

Holiday Potpourri

one whole orange (quartered)

1/2 cup cranberries

1Tbsp whole cloves

3 sticks of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Quarter the orange and place all of the ingredients into a pot with some water. Leave on the lowest setting and refill the pot when needed.

The mixture will turn dark but continues to smell ridiculously marvelous. You can use one mix for the entire season.

Enjoy!

…come follow me on Instagram! justanightowl

This morning, I took my lovelies out for a little photo session. It was a comedy of errors from start, even before start, to finish. We had wardrobe errors, weather issues, location issues, and some crabbiness, but ho ho ho! A photo is just a moment in time, right?

But look what I snagged of my little monster? Oh, how I love him.

Fabulous People

Written on November 15, 2012 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, Life, Random

2 Comments - Leave a comment!

I am not really much of a Halloween girl, despite my love for dressing up in costume on any occasion {especially if a wig is involved}. I don’t really do creepy. I prefer twinkly and sparkly. I find it magical to watch the stores take down the ghosts, goblins, and talking disfigured fake people only to replace them with things that make my baby say “woah, woah, woah”, even if it is a flamingo with a Santa Hat {what up, Target?}. Bottom line is everywhere I look its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Facebook is all a buzz with the news of the arrival of the red cup and there was snowflakes on my grocery bag this morning. I’m more than pleased.

But back to the goblins, I rarely even get pictures of the actual Halloween night. I managed to remember to snap a few this year. My kids love it, but it definitely is not a favorite holiday of mine. However, next year my mama already found my whole families costumes at the 90% off sale at Target. My costume may inspire me. We shall see.

Speaking of my mama and her sales, my dad travels the grand state of Ca quite extensively for his business and his trusty sidekick is my mama. He frequently has meetings, which leaves my mom with some free time. This has helped develop her into quite the clearance shopping diva. She’s got mad skills. She puts these skills to use and shops all year at 70%-90% off. THEN she and her little elf, aka my dad, turn their garage into a real life toy factory and box up their treasures. 604 children will receive the fruits of their labor of love. So proud of those two. Operation Christmas Child is an amazing ministry. If you haven’t heard about it check it out and consider stashing all year. Do like Bob and Bobbie do. {Yes, my parents actual names, fun huh?} Maybe not 604, but every little bit adds up!

So, in school today we were learning about famous American songs and where they came from. The patriotic ones, such as, Yankee Doodle Dandy. Who knew that 2nd grade history could be so interesting, or that Emma’s Sing A Ma Jig would actually serve a purpose. Yes, my friends, this creepy toy sings Yankee Doodle Dandy. Fabulous, eh? It spared my daughter from one less rendition by her mother and actually made me sound quite fabulous by comparison.

My promised long over due hair cut on my teacher in service day was cancelled due to an emergency on my hair dressers part. I am so excited that tomorrow I have a date with her magical chair. I am feeling festive and no doubt my hair will reflect that when I leave. I am also feeling crafty so Michaels is likely going to suck me in while I am out. It can’t be helped.

While I am gone primping, my husband is taking my four children to the dentist. You know in a marriage you each have things you do? A division of work, if you will. For example, in times of sickness? I take anything that exits from the top end and he takes the bottom. That kind of thing? The dentist is his. I can not deal well with teeth issues. Pulling teeth, wiggling teeth, all of it. It creeps me out. I confess. He’s a champ and steps in every six months. It’s not that I “won’t” or “can’t”. I have taken my five year old in for oral surgery and we both lived to tell about it. I’m just thinking it’s a good bonding time for daddy and the kids, right?

Every once in a while this mama needs a break and my husband is more than capable of handling the teeth and fabulous enough to do so. My kids are excited for him to take them and the foils are calling my name, so we are good all around.

Have an awesome weekend, my friends! I have one major thing on my agenda…

ACQUIRE A TURKEY!

It’s almost that day!

Party

Written on October 5, 2012 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, Let's Party, My kids

1 Comment - Leave a comment!

We keep it pretty party simple around here. One guest for each year of life. The theme is usually not what’s popular or in right now because what was popular or in two years ago, is usually on sale for ridiculous cheap prices. This year our party was Hannah Montana. My mom found about a gajillion party necessities for like .10 cents, I kid you not. She gave me a brown grocery bag full of goodies: favors, plates, color your own pillowcases, cups, and I was half expecting to pull out Hannah herself. I mean there really was everything. I think she paid like $10 for the whole bag. Most items were over 90% off.

This, added to the press on nails, make up, and mirror kits she found for like a half a cent earlier on in the year, made for a glam party that was perfectly perfect.

Poor Hannah. Her party theme value is no more. However, we scored. Thanks grandma.

The girls had a great time. They played Just Dance, ate pizza, cake, made pillowcases and had their hair/makeup and nails done by my older daughter and our sweet neighbor friend. It was loud and giggly and chaotic and tiring, exactly how I like it.

I pinned this cake a while ago and was super excited when Emma requested it for her party. It’s adorable and incredibly easy. I will be making it again!

I love birthday cake, birthday blowing out the candles, birthday song sung with no regard for pitch. It’s all fabulous.

Happy Birthday my sweet and quirky Emma Rose.

Have an awesome weekend, my friends.

Yabba Dabba Do

Written on October 2, 2012 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, Life, Memories, My kids

5 Comments - Leave a comment!

I believe there is a spiritual gift of clearance shopping. O.k. maybe not really, but perhaps there should be. Very rarely do I pay full price for anything. There is a sea of coupons, sales, and clearance items ready to be scooped up and made fabulous. Shop the end caps at Target and look for those red stickers!

AND

Stay one year behind. “That was SOOO last year.” My words to live by.

That’s right. It’s cheaper there.

In 2011 my mom was able to pick up some costumes for me at 90% off from good ‘ol Target. My kids just know that they will be what was available. They have never really known much different and it definitely does not make trick or treating less fun because I saved oh about five million dollars by not paying full price for costumes they wear for about 2 hours.

My little guys favorite thing to say is Yabba Dabba. We are trying to teach him to add the do on the end. It seemed only fitting that he be Fred. Plus, Fred cost me $5.00 to make and took less than an hour. It was destiny.

I love dressing up and love costumes. However, living on a frugal cash only budget? Things just gotta go sometimes. It would be so super easy to spend about $150 for the four of my kids to get cute and all. Not to mention costumes for me and my hubby. But why would I when you can score deals like this! These costumes were $2-3 a piece and when you add in the splurge of $5 Fred you bring my grand total up to about $12. I can live with that!

P.S. I posted yesterday at Hip Homeschool Moms. I struggle sometimes with living in the moment and I wrote about it.

P.S.S. According to my phone it looks as if the weather is starting to recognize it is fall. HAL-LE-LU-JAH!

P.S.S.S. My husband falls asleep faster than any human on the planet. Not that I have tested this theory, however, it’s about .0002 of a second. I’m SO jealous.

Enjoy today!

School Paper Organization

Written on March 9, 2012 by just a night owl in 170 School Days. 2011, All Things Thrifty, Favorite Posts, My kids

21 Comments - Leave a comment!

If you have a child in school, YOU NEED THIS PROJECT. Everyone needs somewhere to store those mounds of adorable projects, papers, and awards.

I found various versions of this project on Pinterest. There is this one and this one.

The planets all aligned because one of my besties is opening an Etsy shop, mopedINK with some of the cutest printables around. SO YEAH, she hooked me up with the labels for my project. Her shop will be open MONDAY and you will get a chance to win something for FREE! Stay tuned…

I love this project and the options out there to make it unbelievable cute are plenty. Here’s the thing, the price tag can get up there quickly. I have four children and needed a super frugal option. I went with price tag and function over cute this time.

Did I JUST type that?

When I took the basics and added these cute labels, it suddenly turned frugal into a vintage chalkboard inspired theme.

The best of both worlds.

THE SUPPLIES

The plastic tubs are AWESOME. Boring perhaps? A little. However, they are just $13 for two at Costco and they are very, very, durable. This project needs to last for like at least eighty years, so I need me some durability. You need one box per child.

The green hanging folders were just $5 for a box of 25 at Staples. You need one for each year of school per child. There is hanging file folders of every color in the rainbow and they are C U T E. However, the price tag reflects that. I went with the cheapest ones I could get my hands on.

The tab folders are a recycled folder from Staples as well. 100 of them for just about $10. You need one for each year of school per child.

I purchased the labels for the front of the files at Staples as well, for about $10. You need one for each file folder.

I purchased the tab file folder labels on clearance at Target for $5.

The black photo corners I purchased at Target for just $3.

Overall total for this project for my four children is about $65. I bought it piece by piece over the last few months.

THE HOW TO

So, basically the goal of this project is that ALL school memorabilia gets saved in the box. ALL of it.

How do you decide what goes in the box?

1. ALL awards, certificates, and those types of things.

2. Report cards

3. A sample of work from the beginning of the year and from the end.

4. Anything that makes me smile.

Yes, that is my official process. I save up papers for the whole year. Then I sit down and look through them. If it is in category 1-3, it automatically gets saved. If it isn’t, it has to past the smile test. If it makes me smile, it gets saved. If it doesn’t, it goes.

The bottom line is this, YOU CAN’T SAVE EVERYTHING. Too much of anything is never a good thing. So, be ruthless and save the spectacular.

I have tried to do traditional scrapbooking of school projects. I had started a couple of albums for the older kids and let me tell you, it is a hot mess. It just wasn’t easy to look through. I love being able to pick up their crafts and handle them. When trying to shove them all into pocket style photo albums, it became a nightmare. Not too mention there are only so many hours in a day and I have plenty of other stuff I would rather scrapbook. So, I aborted and landed with these. They are MUCH quicker.

Amazing, right? Yay for brilliant ideas. Yay for SUPER EASY. Yay for ORGANIZED. I am dangerously close to breaking out the pom pons, so I will stop now.

One nice little box for each of my lovelies. Even my one year old. In the blink of an eye, he will be in school and well yes, the boxes all need to match, right?

Have a happy weekend and I will see you Monday for a giveaway from mopedINK.

Big Spender

Written on February 26, 2012 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, My home, My kids

2 Comments - Leave a comment!

I spent $8.23 this weekend.

Friday morning I got up around ten {thank you hubs} and decided to go for a walk. All additional 5 family members and the dog joined me. I passed a garage sale in the neighborhood and found some unbelievable cuteness. {Thankfully my 13 year old was along with his cash in pocket because I left the house with nothing but my phone and some water.}

Janie and Jack shorts {on average about $30}, Children’s Place Jacket, and Sprockets Jacket. I paid $1.50 for the three items which all look brand new.

Janie and Jack overalls with a crab on them? Yes please {average about $45}. Pediped shoes {average about $30}. I paid $.50 and splurged on the shoes at $3.00. Both of these items were definitely unworn.

So, in case you lost track thats about $150 worth of cuteness for just $5.

I’m Giddy.

Ever since Christmas, I have had a wall that has been begging for attention. You see at Christmas, most of the house decor gets traded out for the Christmas decor and nothing ever returns to its prior place. I found a plant and a couple of pictures in the garage in my pile of I can’t get rid of you yet items. Then I swiped three plates out of the pantry and hung them on the wall.

There might be a time when one has too much chicken wire in their home and I am dangerously close. However, there was a roll of extra after my classroom wall of chicken wire, so I stapled a couple of strips on the wall. I took some clothes pins and covered them with scrapbook paper and hung up some pictures.

Next, I hit Lowes where I bought a couple of fence boards for $3.23. The nice young man cut them to size and I brought them home to stain. I now have a huge area to hang whatever fun things I want. Since this space is over my littlest guy’s toy land, family pictures definitely fit the bill. I need to get a couple of other fun things to hang in the mix. Maybe this or this.

A little robbing Peter to pay Paul can get you places.

All in all, I am out $8.23 and I am one happy girl.

Baby Wipes

Written on December 23, 2011 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, My kids

2 Comments - Leave a comment!

What toddler does not love spending time pulling wipe, by wipe, by wipe, out of the baby wipe container?

Greyson is no different. He will spot, hunt down, and go all kinds of crazy intent on pulling those little suckers out as fast as he can before I catch him.

Thanks to Pinterest and this blog, I have the B E S T Christmas present for my little man.

It cost me $4.76 and took me 10 minutes to make.

Eight pieces of flannel fabric purchased at Joanns, cut into rectangles, and stuffed into an empty wipe container. Who knew that toddler bliss would come at such an easy price?

If you are a sewing type, then you would have tons of fabric scraps laying around and could do this for free. You could use different textures and patterns. You could even cut thinner strips and knot it together in one longer piece. The possibilities…..

Oh, the fun to be had. Can’t wait to see how he likes it!

Greyson’s One Year Monster Party.

Written on November 21, 2011 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty, Favorite Posts, Let's Party, My kids

13 Comments - Leave a comment!

Very early on I knew I needed to do a Monster Party for Greyson on his first. Completely Necessary. I also needed it very budget friendly. Join me on a little tour…

First ~balloons. Did you know that Walmart sells polka dot balloons for just $1.50? Also, Party city sells their balloons~ by the balloon~ for just .$.19. Blow ‘em up yourself and hang upside down and there is no need for expensive helium. Plus, you can choose which ever colors you actually want instead of buying a million of one color or those bags of assorted. It’s like a balloon buffet, really.

Pinterest led me to some free monster inspiration from this genius woman. She shared her darling monster coloring sheet. I was able to copy it onto a transparency and armed with a sharpie, an overhead projector and some white paper from Lakeshore Learning (all of which I had on hand), I was able to bust out the monster banner for free.

I also made copies of the original sheet and included a couple of crayons with it in the goodie bag. Monster flyers and sparkly bouncy balls were purchased at the Michaels 70% off toy sale and joined them in a clear cellophane bag, which was given to all the munchkins who helped us celebrate.

Back to the dessert table…I made Greyson his very own monster cake to smoosh and eat. First attempt at cake pops. Those little suckers are not as easy to make as they seem.

I served monster marshmallows ~made with marshmallows, coconut and Wilton chocolate.

There were Monster cupcakes for the guests and

A jar of lollipops that I collected from Staples…completely free!

($3.00 off any purchase coupon and the lollipops were .50 each)

The birthday cake dip from Pinterest quickly upstaged the entire table. It has three ingredients. THREE. It took approximately 46 seconds to make.

Try it. Don’t delay.

* Tip~ always make a DOUBLE BATCH!

Some chocolate covered pretzels, caramel corn mix and pixie sticks were all purchased from Target at the 90% off of Halloween sale.

The 50 napkins, 50 plates, and tablecloth were all purchased from Walmart for just $9. Amazing price difference from the pricey party stores.

I purchased the case of short water bottles for just a few dollars at Costco and wrapped them in aqua duct tape.

Then I purchased a couple of packs of googley eyes from the Dollar Tree to put on the oranges and the water bottles.

My girls and I created a monster banner from construction paper that I had on hand. Again FREE and they loved helping.

We played Pin the Eyeball on the monster. It was made with left over white paper, scrapbook paper, and duct tape from the water bottles.

The highlight of the party was watching a one year old who was given an entire cake to ~~destroy~~ eat, at will.

My little guy was quite polite and didn’t get too messy.

This little guy was showered with gifts.

I can not believe a whole year has passed since I met him. It hardly seems possible.

Sometimes words just are not enough. They do not do justice in this case. Not. what. so. ever.

Your family loves you Greyson Michael, SO MUCH.

Happy First Birthday ~my sweet sweet little Boy.

I Hate Coupons.

Written on June 14, 2011 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

This is not a new revelation. Before I continue in my second and probably final post on the subject of coupons, let it be known that I do not like couponing. With that said, I made a binder yesterday. A coupon one. It cost me $25 to put together. Let it be known also, that I would have rather spent the cash on a pedicure, or a killer new pair of flip flops, or perhaps a dinner on the patio of Paesanos, an adorable new outfit for my little guy, or maybe…. Fact is this ~couponing works and it saves money with very minimal effort.

Since I am not working and I do have time on my hands, couponing is the least I can do to contribute to our family income and be a good steward of our finances. I have heard people talk about couponing sometimes like it is a hobby of some sort. I do not understand this. Personally, I would rather kick it at the gym or take up underwater basket weaving.

Deal #1

Target ~

6 frozen Archer Farms pizza and 6 2 liters of soda for $20, retail about $50.

We typically do frozen pizza on Wednesday nights since my husband works late and we don’t usually buy soda, but I do buy Coke Zero from time to time for my hubby. So, it’s all used. This was acquired by using a Target sale, coupons that peeled off of the actual package, plus a Target Web coupon.

Deal #2

Target ~

6 boxes of Kellogs Cereal and 2 CARS cars for $10.

Manufacturer coupon, plus Target Web coupon, plus Target sale, plus sticker on cereal for FREE CARS {retail 3.99 each} car = breakfast for several weeks plus stocking stuffers for Christmas for my little guy.

Deal #3

Walgreens ~

3 bottles of FREE aspirin. I have four kids and I homeschool. I use this.

This was acquired from sale + manufacturer coupon + register rewards (I think they are called).

Deal #4

Walgreens ~

Five pairs of free goggles. These are needed for the gym pool for my lovelies this summer.

They were acquired through register rewards earned from purchasing razors.

Deal #5

Staples ~

30 free adorable lollipops. These were acquired from a $3 off any purchase coupon from Staples.

We passed a Staples on the way home from last Saturday’s soccer game and I whipped out my coupons for each member of the fam. One per person. We each got 6 lollipops. My daughters seventh birthday will now be candy themed. The lollipops will provide fantastic decor for the birthday cake and favors for her little guests.

Deal #6

Target ~

Danimals, $.44 for 6.

Target sale + Target Web coupon + Manufacturers coupon.

I could go on but I will not bore you or myself. I have been couponing a month now and will continue. It is a mindset for sure. It does save money. You definitely lose some ability to buy what you want when you want it because it’s all about combining available deals, stocking up when things are on sale, and balance. Three things I can pull off because the outcome outweighs the effort. I’m in.

p.s. for those of you needing some additional material to mock or drool over, depending on which side of the fence you camp on, here is the BINDER. Go to krazycouponlady.com. Check out the beginners tab and on day 5 you can print out all these lovely sheets for free. Grab a binder and some sheet protectors and baseball card sheets and go crazy. Why the binder you ask? You have to save all these coupons. No longer is it just o.k. to have and use a simple coupon. You have to wait for the item to be on sale, potentially have a second deal (freebie with purchase or web coupon), and then and only then can you can use your coupon. Anything else, is just so last year.

Extreme Couponing?

Written on June 8, 2011 by just a night owl in All Things Thrifty

3 Comments - Leave a comment!

Yeah, you’re curious. Just admit it. I have watched it once. Have you? I have heard all kinds of reactions about this show and about couponing in general. What is it about things that we seem to always have to take them to the extreme? I have to admit that I love deals as much as the next person, but this show had me wishing that coupons did not exist. Yeah, saving money is great, but I think we can all agree that everything can be taken “too far”. Now, of course, what that “too far” is is entirely up to you. I will say, that I do admire the passion to save money. However, at the risk of sounding terribly judge mental, I personally don’t want 56 bottles of mustard in my home. However, if there is a middle ground somewhere????? Is it worth it?

Being incredibly budget conscious and living on a cash only system, I decided to check out this coupon world a bit more seriously. If I can save some money with a couple of hours of work a week, then I am all for it. My biggest problem I have right now with the idea of couponing is that we are making radical changes in the way we eat over the last year. I do not want 24 boxes of Frosted Flakes, even if they are free. So, finding a balance of getting huge discounts on products that I not only use, but want, is my goal. I committed to check it out for a few weeks, to see how it goes. Here is my “report” after about two weeks.

First Sunday ~ Yay it’s paper day. After church, I head to the gas station to get me a paper! I put the kids to nap, sit down with a diet coke, scissors, and a sharpie for note taking. In my lap is my paper, my ticket to savings galore. I open it up and NOTHIN’. Not a coupon to be found. I text my friend and reigning coupon queen…and there apparently is no coupons on Memorial Day weekend. Alrighty then.

Mid Week ~ I have spent about an hour checkin’ out Krazy Coupon Lady. Yeah it’s informative, but more importantly it’s slathered in a mustard yellow and aqua color schemed, scrolly pattern of deliciousness. I could study all the live long day, just about anything, if it is presented as pretty as this. My eleven year old is by my side every step of the way ~ her choice. We decide not to invest in the time and expense of a binder system and just make do with this little guy I purchased awhile back at Target. We label it together. It’s ready and waiting for coupons.

Second Sunday ~ I wake up to a facebook message from my friend, the coupon queen, telling me..”the paper is good, I am buying three”. I take direction well. I will buy three too. I head to the Dollar Tree at about 1 pm to buy my three papers that WILL have coupons this time and they are out. I curse the extreme couponing show yet again. Forget it, I am not driving around town to save three bucks on papers. I have my limits. They are loose, but still there. I pull into Chevron, buy my three papers for six bucks and head home to clip.

There are three inserts apparently. Smart Source, Red Plum, and Procter and Gamble. Somehow one of my papers has 5 PG inserts. Leaving me with 7 of the health and beauty type coupons. o.k. I’ll take it. My daughter and I clip and file and see why you need a binder. My cute little file, already won’t shut.

I spend some time trying to match up the sale ads, coupons, manufacter coupons, etc. keeping in mind all the policies and fine prints. I have a head ache. I am annoyed. I call coupon queen for the quick rendition of the basics. I get lengthy email in return and feel better. I hate details.

Tuesday Night~ I have been in bed with the flu for 24 hours. I feel better. I manage to find a couple deals at Target. I head out at 10:15 to test it out. EPIC FAIL. Everything that could go wrong has. I come home with nothing except a few lessons learned. These couponing chicks mean serious business. I am further annoyed, but I have committed. I will re figure and try again tomorrow.

Wednesday Morning~ Success! for a newbie that is. $25.80 paid. $97.02 retail. That is a big savings! All stuff I use and needed.

STOP ONE

Staples currently has a $3.00 off coupon. It is good off of any purchase. I printed four of them and went in with three of my kids. We each used one.

Purchase one ~ 100 straws/12 pencils ~ total .53

Purchase two ~ 100 straws/12 pencils ~ total. 53

Purchase three ~ 100 straws/12 pencils ~ total .53

Purchase four ~ 6 Secret Deodorant off the the clearance table. It was already marked from $1.00 to .50. ~total .00

and yes I agree…”Staples carries deodorant?”

Here is where I made the choice to get what I needed rather than hoard what was free. I could have purchased 24 deodorant for free, but I need pencils and straws, so I went with those instead.

STOP TWO

Target.

Bandaids.

a couple different designs of 20 count kids bandaids are ringing up $1.70. I had a manufacturers coupon for .55 and a Target generated coupon from online for $1.00. Combine this with the sale price and I now was able to buy 3 boxes at .15 a piece.

Razors.

Target offers a $5.00 gift card for the purchase of 2 razors. Each razor comes with two additional extra blades. I had a $4.00 off coupon on the same razor. I actually had 6 of these coupons due to the extra PG inserts in my paper. So I was able to get $15 in Target gift cards and $24 savings from coupons. Voila!

These are not the razors my husband normally uses. They are actually quite a bit more expensive. However, with the discount, they ended up being cheaper than the ones I normally buy…by a lot.

So, I always wondered how this worked. It’s the perfect combination of stacking as many deals as you can together. I had to pay in separate transactions. I had all my stuff together and it wasn’t a big deal. In fact, at Target I simply put the items on the belt, already separated and told the cashier I needed to pay in separate transactions. At the end, he simply said…”very impressive, have a good day.” I thanked him and left.

Things I have learned:

1. Expect frustration. It takes a bit to figure out.

2. I like clearance shopping, not so much couponing. However, if I have the time and can save some money, it’s kinda like a part time job, right?

3. Read the fine print and then read it again.

4. Do your math~ sometimes the smaller sizes are cheaper than the bigger ones. Do not assume.

5. Everything in moderation people. Buy what you use or donate what you won’t!

I headed to one final stop to get some free toothbrushes and aspirin at CVS. They were all out. Not surprised.

I was out for 1.5 hours this morning doing this. I have probably put in 4-5 hours so far, figuring this all out. Not bad.

I will continue for a few more weeks and see how it goes. I do not want to be driving to multiple stores or stocking up on highly processed foods. However, if I can find deals like I did today on things that we use and save us money….then hooray!