Super Savings - 2 weeks worth

All of the items in the photos below were items purchased last week before we went on our vacation. I decided to go ahead and stock up on some things so that we would not have to buy much while on vacation and so that we would not have to buy much when we got back home. So far, so good. The only shopping that I have had to do so far this week was for fresh fruit and milk.

Pictured above was my BIG spending shopping trip at Kroger, but I got some really great deals.

All of the meats that I purchased were on sale.

Cheese B1G1 - still on sale this week.

Ketchup - paid $1.00.

TP - paid $.50 each.

Kraft BBQ - paid $.25.

There were also some great 10 items for $10 deals.

I purchased a total of 53 items worth $80.49.

Total money that I spent: $44.21!!!

This photo includes some great deals that I got at Walmart.

My sweetest deals were the items that I got for FREE:

4 ice cream sandwiches

snickers bar

travel size lotion

travel size contact solution

Reach dental floss

1 pack of TP

My other great deals from this trip include:

2 Eggo bake shop apple twists for $.94 each

Bandages for $.50

Another 4 pack of TP for $.50

Toothpaste for $.25

Soy milk for $1.73

That's just a list of my SUPER sweet deals. Everything that I purchased was on sale, plus I had a coupon for something additional off of each item. All together I purchased a total of 27 items that were worth $34.96.

Total money that I spent: $13.96!!!

Ok, this was my FAVORITE shopping trip. I had a TON of coupons for this trip and I knew that I was going to be a little hassled. So, I went to Walmart later at night and tried to let people in front of me. Let me tell you about these sweet deals.

All of the juice pictured was purchased from Kroger, I got 8 jars of organic juice for $.50 each.

Everything else you see what purchased from Walmart.

MY GREATEST DEAL THUS FAR has to be the 40 blue bunny ice cream sandwiches that I got for FREE with my coupons. IT WAS AWESOME! I also got the snickers bar for FREE with a coupon! So, if you're heading to my house any time soon, come prepared to eat a yummy ice cream sandwich! :)

My other great deals from this trip include:

2 Eggo bake shop muffin tops for $.94 each

3 bx of HH for $.96 each

Bag of Tyson Chicken Nuggest for $4.75

All said and done, I purchased 57 items worth $105.33.

Total money that I spent: $15.33!!!!

THAT'S A GRAND TOTAL SAVINGS OF $147.28 ~ pretty awesome huh? :)

I would also like to make note of a GREAT savings that I happened upon at Walgreens this week. Our boys have pretty sensitive skin, inherited from your's truly I'm sure. Anyway, we have to use Cetaphil lotion on them which is usually pretty expensive. It normally costs $13.49/jar. Walgreens is running a great sale on this Cetaphil lotions this week and you can get it for $7.99 - what a great sale price. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL - There are some of that jars of lotion that are packaged with the bar soap, which is great, but it normally sells for $4.79/bar. Because of this deal I was able to get the lotion and the soap, which are normally valued at $18.28 combined, for ONLY $7.99!

I will be posting pictures from our recent vacation soon. In the meantime, tell me about some great deals that you've come across recently.

And the winner is.....

The Buki Family! We've spent right at $1,600 over the last 12 months for diapers. I should note that our guys are partial to Pampers. We have tried many other brands, but Pampers work the best for us. I have hopes that Pampers will just send me some for free, but no such luck. I'll keep dreaming.... We go through about 25/day!

I will email the winner and send your prize. Thank you all for the GREAT responses! There will be more awesome giveaways to come soon.

Weekly savings - giveaway

My new goal is to post at least once a week about our family and once a week about our weekly savings. I am finding out more and more that I am really enjoying researching the best bargains out there. I've always been somewhat of a bargain shopper, but since I've been blessed with a healthy hungry husband and 3 hungry little boys I have found that I really don't have a choice in the matter. I am just thankful that this is something that I enjoy and that I feel comfortable sharing with all of you.

I would also like to say that we can NOT wait until the boys are out of diapers. Whew, those things are expensive - we go through A LOT! That being said, I did not post an earlier shopping trip where I stocked up on dog food, diapers, and milk. We are also having to buy 2 kinds of milk right now, Regular and Soy. We have a suspicion that one of our guys has a milk allergy. We'll know for sure next week.

Would any of you readers care to guess how much money ($$$) we spend on diapers in a 12-month period? Leave a comment on my blog page and I will randomly pick the person who gets closest without going over. The winner will receive a pack of 6 of my handmade Daffodils & Dragonflies greeting cards, shipped to you FREE anywhere in the United States. So, come on leave a comment let me know what do you think?


I should note that some of my items in this photo were a gift. (Thank you, you know who you are.) Most of these were items that we needed to have and I believe that every item I purchased was on sale. My Super Sweet Deals
High efficiency Laundry detergent ~ $3.24
4 containers of organic juice ~ $.50 each

This trip was probably my favorite, most of the items in this photo were given to me as a gift as well. (Thanks you, you know who you are!) My favorite part is that I got the 4 containers of ORGANIC juice for a total of $.45 - that's $.11 each people!!! These normally sell for $3.99 each, but they were on sale 4/$5. These were not ringing up right, so by the time the cashier discounted and used my coupons I only had to pay 45cents!!! It was AWESOME!!!

I did not pay full price for any of these item, but here are my Super Sweet Deals:

2 Lysol spray, 2 wipes ~ $.50 each

2 shave cream ~ $.99 each

2 travel body wash ~ $.10 overage

1 toothpaste ~ $.75 overage

Total savings this week (includes only items shown in photos):

Retail value: $88.10

Total spent: -$23.30

Total savings: $64.80

Don't forget to leave your comment for the greeting card giveaway! Winner will be chosen Saturday, June 27 by 7:00pm.

All about the pictures

We've been having a great summer! Clay, Paul, and Seth are growing up so fast; it's so hard to believe that they are almost 18 months old. We took them for their last shots about 2 weeks ago and our pediatrician is very pleased with their progress. They are right where they should be in their growth and development, it's hard to believe that they were born 2 months early! We are preparing to take a short vacation next week to FL. We are so excited to introduce them to Shane's Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother and cousins. I can't wait to see how the boys react to seeing the ocean and beach for the first time. It's going to be a hoot for sure!

The boys playing in the dirt at a friend's house. They were having the BEST time! I should note that our friends have 3 year old twin boys, so our little guys felt right at home.

Your truly, feeding the boys lunch at a friend's house. We love their wagon, it's a easy way to contain and entertain the boys.

Paul, making a mess with cookies.

Clay, making a mess with cookies.

Seth, making a mess with cookies.

Our first picks from our garden. Aren't they pretty? I have NO idea what I'm going to do with all the peppers. I'm sure I can come up with something. I welcome any suggestions.

My new hobby

Since the “Kesler Crew” is on a super tight budget, I have begun clipping coupons and searching for the best bargains. My new goal in shopping is to purchase items, only when they are on sale. This week I snagged some great deals at Walgreens.

All of the items that you see in the photo:
2 Schick Quattro razors
2 packages of Schick Quattro Refills
1 Reach toothbrush
1 Dry Idea Deodorant/antiperspirant
3 Right Guard Deodorant/antiperspirant
2 cans Maxwell House Coffee, ground

All of these items retail for $64.12. Wait for it…I paid $14.73, that’s a savings of over 77%!!! I saved $49.39 by waiting for deals and using coupons.

This week I also went to Kroger and had some pretty significant savings. I was able to purchase $71.33 in groceries for ONLY $34.29, which is…. wait for it…. $37.04 that I was able to save waiting for deals and using coupons.

This is one of my new hobbies; it’s like a game. I love clipping coupons and researching where the next “deal” will be. What do you all think?

PS – If you have any coupons that you don’t use, especially from your Sunday papers, please feel free to send them to me. The more I have the happier I am! Feel free to contact me if you need my address. Thanks!

Time

I have no idea where my times goes these days. Oh yeah, my time is spent chasing these 3 sweet boys around! :)

Clay, Paul, and Seth are all walking. Actually, they are running every where. They are also climbing on to everything! Their new favorite past time is moving furniture around so that they can crawl on to it and turn "on" and "off" the light switches. It's pretty funny to watch because they work as a TEAM to move whatever furniture they may need.

These guys are keeping us on our toes for sure. We went through a "biting phase" where they were biting each other to get toys that they wanted. Clay was probably the worst about it, but they just kind of stopped. I asked around to get some advice about how to stop the biting and just about everyone that I talked to said that we should just bite them back. Well, we didn't really have to bite them back they just kind of stopped one day. Although, a few days ago we caught Clay biting Paul because he wanted Paul's toy, so Dad just bit Clay pretty gently and that was the end of that. So far, no more biting!

We've been working with the boys to teach them sign language. So far, they know how to sign "eat" and "drink" we will work on "more" next. It is obvious that they want to communicate with us and we can tell that they are getting frustrated. They are very good at pointing at things and sometimes they will try to repeat things that we say. I am sure that I hear them say "Chester", "dog", "hot", and "fan". They know their Mom and Dad too. As soon as their Dad comes in from work they run to him and say, "Da", it's the cutest thing.

They also understand what we are saying very well. If we ask them to bring us a certain toy, they usually can. For example, if I ask for the blue ball they will bring it to me. If I ask them to give me a hug and kiss, they will. Our biggest problem now is getting them to understand "NO". It seems like when we tell them no that they do the exact opposite. Maybe we should just start telling them "yes" and see what happens?? :)

I have some new pics to post soon, it just takes a while to down load them on to our site. We have got a HUGE garden going this summer, we hope to have a lot of produce to chose from. The boys have been having a big time outside while we work on our garden. They LOVE to be outside!!! We are VERY fortunate they we don't have picky eaters. Thank goodness these guys take after their Dad in that respect; you all know how picky I can be! Clay, Paul, and Seth will eat just about any veggie that you put in front of them. I can't think of anything that they don't like.

It's been a while...

I know it's been a while since I've updated our blog, these boys are keeping us SO busy! This photo is probably one of my new favorites, it was taken on a beautiful March afternoon. You can see part of our Golden Retriever in the background keeping a close eye on our boys. It is getting harder and harder to get all of the boys in a photo together. Don't they all just look so happy? :)

Here are some updates on each of the boys:

Paul: This little guy is walking VERY well. He can wave goodbye, give good kisses, and loves to give high "5's". He also loves music, all kinds of music. Anytime he hears music he starts dancing around, it is absolutely adorable!

Clay: He too is walking VERY well. I predict it won't be long until he starts running everywhere. If there is something that he can hold on to while he walks, he is usually running. This boy has got to be one of the happiest children that I have ever been around. He LOVES to laugh! He also loves to play "chase" with anyone. He too loves music, and will stop to listen when we have music playing - something we usually have going on in the Kesler house.

Seth: This little man has got to be the fastest crawling little guy that I've ever seen. If Clay and Paul are walking, Seth will zoom past them crawling. He too loves music! When any music comes on he will clap his hands and start dancing. He has the sweetest laugh that is truly contagious. He is getting more confident in his walking and it gets better every day.

We are so proud that all of our boys love music and love being outside - these are our passions. They don't watch TV at all and do really well entertaining themselves. Every day is a treat and I am thankful that I get to stay home with them and see it all.

***I would also like to ask again that you support The Kesler Crew in our local March of Dimes walk. This is such a great organization to support. If would you would like to walk with us on May 2, please feel free to join our team. Any support that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. There is a side bar link located on our blog page that you can donate to directly and visit our page. Thank you in advance for any help that you may be able to provide.***