Free Pepsi Codes!

I found this website today where you can win free Pepsi Stuff points!! I am not a big fan of Pepsi stuff because each 12 pack I buy is only worth 2 points, and a Coke 12 pack is worth 10 points. However, for free codes I'm all for it! You play the recycling game which is 5 questions and you get 4 points, plus if you take the recycling pledge you get 2 more points! That's the equivalent of buying 3* 12 packs, hooray!

Check it out at http://www.pepsirecycling.com

Desperately Needs Cleaning

This post is going to be about the mess I call my desk and how I *finally* organized it today! I always keep the rest of my house spotless, I find joy in keeping a spic and span house. So most of my day revolves around constantly being up cleaning and cleaning some more. When I am not cleaning I am usually found on the couch sleeping away, whoever said you gain lots of energy in your third trimester was full of it!

One part of my house that always get neglected is my desk, I'm not sure why since this is where most of my money saving strategies come into play at, but that's just one of the mysteries of life. So without further ado, here is my mess!

My desk before cleaning:


Here is my receipt drawer and the other drawers in my desk:


And here is my massive pile of receipts from April and May.... I estimate about 300 receipts or possibly more:


I cannot stand living with a mess, it frustrates me to no end! My messes only get this bad and stay this way for no longer than a week before I finally get around to it. Although like I said, this is the only part of the house (well ok, besides my sons room) that ever looks like this. My new goal of the month is to keep this area clean!! After about an hour of cleaning and organizing, this is how everything looks now!

My desk after extreme cleaning:


My receipts after being sorted by month:


My receipt drawer newly organized:


My battery drawer newly organized:


Ok so that's it. My desk is totally cleaned and organized, I can actually find everything I need now, and I don't have tons of receipts exploding out of my drawer! I really have to keep on top of that desk area and especially those receipts! I do love being clean and organized though, it feels so good to know that everything is perfect and in it's place.

I'm not sure why you would want to see all of that mess but I was bored and thought it would make a cute blog post so it is what it is =) Hope everybody has a good night, I'm off to bed!

Farmland Bacon at HEB!

I heard through the grapevine that Farmland Bacon is going back on sale today at HEB for 2/5.00$. If this is true, which I haven't made it to the store yet, then you can use the 2$ off coupons from last weekend's paper to get .50$ bacon!! Hooray for bacon!!

I still have about 25 packages of it from last month but I have about another 20 something coupons so I will be stocking up some more, now I just have to make the freezer room for it! I can't imagine having 50 packages of bacon in my freezer, that is so crazy!

On the plus side, this bacon is sooooo good. I buy the thick sliced and it's quite possibly the best bacon I have ever ate. My whole little family loves it and we have been eating a package every weekend. Anyways, if you have an HEB around and find out if this is on sale today, leave a comment and let me know!

Today's Menu

I am going to start posting the dinners I cook every night since lately I have been cooking a lot and using a lot of new recipes. We'll see how this goes and if anybody enjoys it, if not it will probably be discontinued. I used to hate cooking with a passion, but every since I started getting food so cheap and being hungry ALL the time from being pregnant, I am actually starting to like it! And suprisingly, almost everything I make turns out really awesome.

My favorite things to cook are deserts and pies and such, but I haven't been making too many of them lately. I haven't found any sales on many pie baking items so I am going to hold off untill I find them on sale, I am SO cheap!

So here is tonight's dinner. Simple yet tasty, and very little work because today is one of those days where I don't want to cook since I am re-organizing my cupboards and closets.

Hearty Beef Stew:

2 cans of sliced carrots
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of new sliced potatoes (or slice about 4 medium potatoes)
1 packet of Mc Cormick Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast Seasoning
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of stew meat

Directions:

Pour vegetables and meat into a large crockpot. Mix the seasoning packet as the directions say on the back and pour into crockpot. Make sure to add enough water to just barely cover everything in the crockpot otherwise the stuff on top won't cook. Mix everything up and put the lid on! Cook on low for 8 or so hours, or you can cook on high for a faster cook time!

Notes: If you don't have the seasoning packet handy, you can use a can of beef broth or a beef bouillon cube and you will get basically the same flavors. Once the meat and everything cooks together it produces a lot of it's own flavors.

Also, I have a fairly big crock pot, not sure on how many quarts but it's big. So when I make this stew we always have enough left overs for 2-3 days and this is with my DH and I both eating numerous bowls per day so this recipe makes a lot of servings. If you don't need that many servings just use 1 can of everything and perhaps a bit less meat and it will turn out great!

Let me know if you try this recipe and like it!

PS: I am also making a loaf of home made white bread to go with this meal. I am using the bread maker so I guess it isn't truly home made, but close enough for my family =)

Estimated cost of this meal - 6$

Free Movie Rental!

Well it's Monday again and that means it's movie night!! Every Monday I treat my family to a totally free movie rental from the RedBox Movie Machine that you commonly find outside of Mc Donalds, inside Walmart, and a bunch of other locations.

Today's FREE movie code is 6TK2A3

This code expires tonight at midnight, so if you are going to get a rental be sure to do it soon!

312$ Worth of Groceries for 79$!

I went shopping today armed with a fistful of coupons and I got some great deals! I really love coupons, can't you tell? I can't believe I ever paid full price for anything. The crazy thing is, I used to go to Walmart and spend atleast 140$ every week and that would last us about 4-5 days, usually not even that long because I bought a bunch of junk that I thought I needed. So on top of that, we would resort to eating fast food atleast 4 times a week. I am a much better shopper now I must say. Anyways, here are my steals and deals for this week!

WalMart #1:


(1) GV Mayo - 2.12$
(1) 5th Seasons Ground Black Pepper - 1.00$
(1) 5th Seasons Ground Cinnamon - .50$
(1) Good Life Cat Food - 3.82$
(2) Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal - 3.96$
(3) Farmland Diced Ham Cubes - 7.50$
(4) 2 Liter Bottles of Dr. Pepper - 4.00$
(2) KY Jelly - 5.14$
(1) Kotex Panty Liner - 1.00$
(2) Kashi Cereals - 4.48$
(1) Box of Bar S Corndogs - 3.97$

Total Before Coupons - 37.72$

Coupons Used:

(2) 3.00$ off Ky Jelly
(1) 1.00$ off Kotex
(3) 2.00$ off Farmland Ham
(1) 3.00$ off Good Life Cat Food
(2) 2.00$ off Honey Bunches of Oats
(2) 2.00$ off Kashi Cereal
(2) 1.00$ off Dr Pepper

Total After Coupons - 11.72$

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WalMart #2


(1) 50 lb Sack of Ol' Roy Dog Food - 18.28$
(16) Post Its - 15.52$
(7) Farmland Diced Ham Cubes - 17.50$
(8) 32 oz. Powerades - 7.04$
(1) GV Cooking Spray - 1.50$
(2) Johnson's Buddies Soaps - 1.88$
(1) Oatmeal Dog Shampoo - 3.86$
(1) Senseo Medium Roast Coffee Pods - 4.12$
(1) Kraft Tarter Sauce - 1.28$
(4) Pioneer Brown Gravy Mix - 2.00$
(1) GV Bread - .68$
(10) 3lb Sacks of Good Life Cat Food - 38.20$

Total Before Coupons - 115.72$

Coupons Used:

(8) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its - 24.00$
(8) .75$ off Powerade - 6.00$
(7) 2.00$ off Farmland Ham - 14.00$
(2) 1.00$ off Johnson's Buddies - 2.00$
(10) 3.00$ off Good Life Cat Food - 30.00$

Total After Coupons - 39.72$

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I wasn't too impressed with WalMart #2's totals but then again I did get a lot of stuff that I did not have coupons for. I had to get Dh's coffee pods and dog shampoo and ofcourse the dog food which is so expensive. So all in all I didn't do too bad.

Super S #1:

(12) Deli Creations Flat Bread Sandwiches - 30.00$
(2) Nestle Pure Life 12 Pack Waters - 5.98$

Total Before Coupons - 35.98$

Coupons Used:

(12) 1.00$ off Deli Creations (doubled to 2.00$ each)
(2) 1.00$ off Nestle Pure Life (doubled to 2.00$ each)

Total After Coupons - 7.81$

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Super S #2:


(14) 2 Liter Bottles of Dr. Pepper - 17.50$
(20) Boxes of Kraft Bagel-Fuls - 40.00$
(1) Toy Gun for my Son - .99$

Total Before Coupons - 58.86$

Coupons Used:

(20) 1.00$ off Kraft Bagel-Fuls (doubled to 2.00$ each)
(7) 1.00$ off Dr. Pepper (doubled to 2.00$ each)

Total After Coupons - 4.86$

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YAY! I love my Super S!!



HEB:


(8) Tubes of Farmland Sausage - 9.44$

Total Before Coupons - 9.44$

Coupons Used:

(8) 1.00$ off Farmland Sausage - 8.00$

Total After Coupons - 1.44$



Albertsons:


(2) Libby's Jumbo Can of Green Beans - 2.00$
(2) Dozen of Albertsons Eggs - 2.00$
(1) Package of Stew Meat - 7.80$

Total (No Coupons Used) - 11.80$

I really don't like shopping at Albertsons because I always feel like I am getting ripped off, I think I am going to stop my Albertsons shopping from now on, unless they are just having a killer deal which is highly unlikely.



CVS:


Transaction #1:

(3) Packs of Duracell Batteries - 8.97$
(2) Huggies Shea Butter Lotion - 3.50$
(1) Huggies Baby Wash - 3.49$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(3) .75$ off Duracell
(3) 1.00$ off Huggies
(1) 6.98$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .79$

Earned 2.00$ ECB's

---------

Transaction #2

(4) Chex Mix Chocolate Turtle Flavor - 4.00$
(4) Packs of Duracell Batteries - 11.96$
(1) CVS Bandages - 1.99$
(1) Halls Cough Drops - .60$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(4) .75$ off Duracell
(4) 1.00$ off Chex
(1) 2.00$ ECB
(1) 4.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .25$

Earned 1.99$ & 10.00$ ECB's



Dollar General:


(7) Boxes of Band Aids - 7.00$
(1) Tub of Cotton Candy - 1.00$

Total Before Coupons - 8.00$

Coupons Used:

(7) 1.00$ off Band Aids

Total After Coupons - 1.00$

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Ok that's all of my trips! Whew I am tired from writing all of that down, now I have to go log my receipts in my notebook and get ready to hit Walgreens and CVS tonight.... not even sure if I will have the energy for it or not!