A Winter Wonderland

When I went to bed at nearly 4 am Tuesday morning, I knew that I would wake up to snow. However, I wasn't expecting a blizzard like this!


Thank God that no limbs hit my car or my house! It was a close call for the car.




This is my neighbors house just a few minutes before another tree limb fell---into the highway and my phone line! I was outside the night before when the limb fell over the fence.




In these next two pictures, you can see the HUGE limb that fell in her yard! I'm glad nothing hit her house.





This was the view down my street!



Apparently, snow brings out the child in all of us! Here's my 10 year old Chow mix, Ginger. She has arthritis in both front legs---she takes meds for it. But to see her in the snow you'd think she was a three year old without any problems!



I had no home phone/Internet until yesterday. My cell phone only works when I'm outside by the fence-line and I'm still without cable. I have been bored out of my mind! I even re-organized my stockpile and cleaned the house! However, I'm one of the lucky ones. My DBF still has no power, and probably won't have any until Thursday. This is third time in a year that he's lost power for days at a time. My sister didn't have power Wednesday when I talked to her. Thank God, I only lost power for a few hours!

Lysol Deal

Saturday I was at my cashier job at Wal-Mart. I had a customer buy 35 ct. Lysol disinfecting wipes for $2.00. That's 50 cents off the regular price. At lunch I went to my car to get my Qs.

4 containers of 35 = $8.00
minus 10% discount = $7.20
minus 4 $1 Qs = $3.20 plus 75 tax for 140 wipes.

A good deal huh? Well, that's what I thought until I was getting ready to leave after my shift. THEN I see double packs for $2! Yes, 70 instead of 35. So the next day I take the 35ct. back and exchange them. I got 280 disinfecting wipes for about $3.70 including tax! That's about 1.3 cents a wipe! They are great for cleaning up after the pets and just cleaning counters and kitchen table.

Great Deals This Month!

I love Kroger! I wish there was one by me again like there was when I was little. However, there is one about 6 miles from DBF's so the past couple dates include a trip to Kroger!

On the 18th, I got 44 items for an OOP = $37.52! My receipt says I saved $28.70 with manufacture's coupons, but that includes $15 off from the Mega Deal. Bonus coupons were $5.77. Kroger Plus savings were $24.80 for a total savings of $59.27
(62%)!
Here's what I got:



4 pk of Reduced fat Kraft cheese
2 64oz. Tropicana OJ
8 cans Campbell Chunky soup
16 cans of Purina One can dog food (reg. price for all $23.20!)
3 4pks of Cottonelle
1 25oz. Palmolive
1 kroger English muffins
3 boxes Nature Valley granola bars
2 small boxes Kleenex
3 boxes Quaker oatmeal
1 medium size Downy

I had a coupon for everything except the 16 cans of Purina One and the English muffins.



Then I went back on Friday and saved another 70%!

6 Green Giant Steamers (50 cent Q for each)
2 Kraft cheese (75 cent Q for each)
1 Quaker oatmeal ($1 Q)
11 cans Purina One
5 can Campbell Chunky soup
____________________________
MFG Q = $15.50 (including $10 Mega deal savings)
Bonus Q = $3.00
Kroger Plus savings = $16.61
Total savings (70%) = $35.11
Total OOP = $15.62 that's cheaper than the regular price for the 11 cans of dog food!

My annual savings at Kroger's is already $98.69!

Goals for 2009

I know it's a little late for New Year Resolutions, but those are often broken by this time....so I'm having goals instead.

1. My first goal is to lose 46 poounds. I figured that there's about 48 weeks left so it's less than a pound a week---very achievable! I will do this by counting calories and exercizing more.

2. Pay off my student loan---it's down to less than $450! That's less than $41.00 per month and I normally pay $50. However, my paychecks at pre-school will be short in March and April due to school holidays. I have no credit card debt so this is my only thing to pay off.

3. Take 6 hours of Graduate courses to keep my KY teaching certification. I'm currently taking 3 hours and will take three more in the summer.

4. Clean out/organize my house. I just put 4 boxes of items to donate in my car this morning. I still have a bunch of stuff to go through, but will just take it a little at a time. I also need to set up one place for my stockpile. Right now I have things in about 4 different places!

5. Maintain my EF. I currently have enough to pay approximately 3 to 4 months of expenses. With the economy the way it is and my crazy pay schedule at school (my primary job), I don't expect to add much to it----I just don't want to have to dip into it.

6. Read my Bible more.

7. My last goal is the fun one---spend quality time with DBF whenever possible!

Happy New Year!

I think this will be a GREAT year!


This is me and DBF on New Year's Eve. Isn't he adorable? :)