Hi Guys! So in my quest to cut back on spending I found a local dentist office that was running a $39 new patient cleaning, exam and x-rays. Being the dental wimp that I am I made my sweet husband go first. He came out alive with a clean bill of dental health. Next up where girls, minus the baby {she's 18 months... can I still call her that?}. Anyways the girls too had no major issues but they recommended a few things to the tune of $500... sealing teeth, filling a little chip on one tooth and then a consult for braces. I wasn't thrilled with their cleanings. They were really quick and their teeth didn't have that super, just dentist clean gleam... but I kept going and we went to the consult for braces. They quoted $3500 for each... but by the end of the appointment. we were at $7000 for each due to random things they needed that made no sense. They couldn't give me a breakdown because it was a package price... yeah, you know where I'm going with this... So I decided to … [Read more...]

I'm totally obsessed with money. Saving it, making it, spending it. Last night I decided to look at where our money is going {again}. I love quicken for our personal finances and I love QuickBooks for the business. The best part is that you can just open up reports and see where you are at. We're kinda hooked on debit cards so I don't have to worry about too many cash transactions to track and worry about and that really helps. I shared last week about the great gardener hoax of 2011 where I saved $50 a month. And that kinda inspired me to keep going to see how low we could go... without feeling the pinch. I'm happy to say that I cancelled HBO. $13 for something we never have time to watch. Today I'm going through the business expenses. I would cancel everything. Thankfully my husband reminds me everyday that you have to spend money to make money and that normally stops me... till the next time I look at how all of the little things add up. What's a girl to do? Research … [Read more...]

I'm mixing it up this {very} sunny Monday. I'm not a menu planner... I normally buy what's cheap and then plan my meals every night with what's on hand. I tend to rotate the same 5 meals every week. We're weired like that... we'll all eat what we like for a bit and then rotate the meals out every few months....Now my husband is even easier... if we are at home for dinner... he has 4% fat hamburgers, with 80 calorie buns and a smear of laughing cow. Sometimes he'll throw in a salad {lettuce with a spritz {25 cal.} of dressing... he's cheap {relatively }, easy and health conscience.Here's our mean plan for the girls and I. We are all vegetarians.Monday: eating out, family birthdayTuesday: veggie fajitasWednesday: chili saladThursday: veggie burgers and homemade friesFriday: asian style veggie's with noodles Saturday: spagetti {free from my pantry}Sunday: veggie hot dogsI'm linking this up at orgjunkie.com where you can see even more meal plans. … [Read more...]

Hi Coupon Friends!So I left you guys yesterday when I was about to head out and do some shopping.I started at Walgreen's... I bought...6 packs of mechanical pencils @ $.19 each= #1.142 Milka chocolate bars @ $1.50 - $1 IP -$1 IP- $1/2 IVC= FREE3 Mac n cheese @ $.69= $2.07Total $3.21 - $3rr= $.21Next up was Office Depot...5 boxes of crayola crayons @ $.25= $1.252 reams of copy paper @ $1 each after MIRThen I wondered over to Staples...2 reams of copy paper @$1 each after MIR1 pack construction paper @ $3 (normally $6)2 50 packs of CDR's @ $7.98 (normally $29)Then off to Stater Bros...6 tubs of Good Life butter for $.25 each after coupon and rain check.Then finally to CVS...3 cases of arrowhead @ $2.66 with rain check2 boxes of easy mac $4.29 (bogo)olive oil @ $3.99 each minus IPI paid $.05 0ut of pocket after I used $24 in ecb!I have to explain the mac n cheese... when we decided to de-junk the pantry a few months ago I gave each of the girls 1 thing they could each as a treat that are … [Read more...]

I seriously pulled out the big guns for today's "Who I'm following". These blogs have over 25K and the other 12K google friend followers... but there is a reason that so many people love them. They are fun, happy and I have learned so much from both of them.I don't even know where to start. Joanna is a working mom. She's a magazine writer. She's a full time blogger. The word "rad" pops up on her blog. I haven't used the word "rad" in "like" 15 years. She is the most stylish person I have ever met {kinda met, over a computer that is}. She is classy, cool and I want her to be my best friend.Her gift guides are crazy good. I love to steal ideas and then find cheaper alternatives. I've never read a post that didn't leave me wanting more.I've lived off and on in my home {rented it out for a year} since it was built in 2007. My walls are painted with custom paint colors... that is the extent of the decorating. I need this blog. I need help making my house more of a, well, you know, place you … [Read more...]

It was a crazy {busy} weekend. My husband and I decided we needed to get some stuff done around the house. We made a list and went down the line, circling what we needed to hire someone to do and what we could do ourselves.It was definitely a money saving thing, to figure out what we could do ourselves, but it was also a way to get more exercise.We decided to check an item off our list this weekend... we have a 3 car garage and the one car section was filled with boxes from multiple house moves over the past 10 years. It was finally time to loose the junk.Have any of you watched "Hoarders"? OMG! I totally felt like we were on that show. The inside of my house is bare. I want to decorate and that's a goal of mine this year... but I hate clutter so I often toss things into the garage! Never again!We spent 5 hours on Saturday and 7 hours on Sunday and the garage is clean! Like, as in floors scrubbed, everything sorted and a huge {HUGE} huge pile of trash ready to go!I almost want to have … [Read more...]