Coupon School

I've started a couponing training school of sorts on Facebook. If you would like to learn how to get lots of great deals and save tons of money on your grocery bill, join the Facebook group. What? You're not on Facebook? Well, get on there and catch up with the rest of us!

Our first day of homeschool...

Well, so far, we are loving it! We started early, because we wanted to be sure we had time to be flexible with our schedule. We are using Alpha Omega's Switched On Schoolhouse which is all on the computer. Our first day was Wednesday. The kids got up (Adam an hour earlier than Molly) and sat down at their laptops to do their lessons. Adam finished his core subjects in about 3 hours, then did his Spanish and handwriting lessons. Molly began to whine and complain shortly into her school work, and I heard the dreaded, "I hate school!" So I sat down at her computer with her and walked her through her lessons, and then she felt much better. It turns out that her language is more difficult than the A Beka that she is used to having. Today on day three, I still had to sit with her some and help her some. But she is getting the hang of it, and she doesn't complain and whine any more.

Yesterday, we went to the Pink Palace museum with some friends and had lunch. Then we had time in the afternoon to get our scheduled school work done. Today, they worked some in the morning, then did some house work, and now some friends are here to swim. Molly has a little work left to do this afternoon.

I know we have only had three days, but I feel like we have accomplished a lot already (Adam had a history quiz today and Molly had a math quiz), and we have SOOOO much less stress and pressure compared to a regular school year. There's no homework to do in the evenings, and the kids have so much more time to enjoy...well...what they enjoy.

I am doing more teaching at Jo-Ann these days, since it seems that more people are finding out that the store is there. I have two classes tomorrow, one at 10:00 and one at 1:00, so I will be there all day. Lee will have fun with the kids all day. Hopefully.

Good deals at Walgreens

Since we are homeschooling this year, we don't really need all the usual school supplies, but we can always use pens, scotch tape, envelopes, hilighters, etc. Well, now's the time to get them! Walgreens has a bunch for $.19, $.29, $.49 and such.

Right now, they have Tylenol and Motrin on sale for $4.99 (the shelf wasn't marked, but it's in the ad), and when you buy one, you get a RR for $3 your next Walgreens purchase, making them $1.99. There are also coupons out there for them, including a $2 off for Motrin, making it free! I also have several $1 off Tylenol coupons.

They have a 2-pack of gel pens for $1, and you get $1 RR back too. So I got a Tylenol and a Motrin and 2 packs of pens, along with some other school supplies.

Here's a pic:

Here's the rundown:

Tylenol Arthritis (hey--pain reliever is pain reliever!): $4.99 - $2Q = $2.99 - generated a $3 RR

Motrin: $4.99 - $1Q = $3.99 - generated a $3 RR

2 pks gel pens @ $1 ea: $2 - generated $2 in RR

2 5-pks mechanical pencils @ $.19 ea: $.38

5-pk of highlighters: $.49

10pk envelopes (great for books I'm sending on Paperbackswap.com): $.59

Total: $13.44

Tax: $1.23

Total: $14.67

Coupons: $3

Total out of pocket: $11.67

Plus, I have $8 in RR coupons to spend at Walgreens later making it a net cost of $3.67!

Plants and Gardening

My hardy hibiscus finally decided to come up! It's been later and later every year, and it hasn't bloomed the last 2 years. I have missed the huge dinner plate-sized pink blooms. I have transplanted it to a pot where it won't be soaked by the splash-overs from the pool. It seems to be happy there--we'll see if it blooms. Now...does anyone know how to make a bougainvillea bloom?

I planted a garden at the Tibbits's house the first of June, and I go over there once a week or so to check on it. I planted pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelon and canteloupe--things that like lots of room! So they are kind of growing together into one big patch. Mitch tells me that I have some small canteloupes or pumpkins, but the cucumbers don't seem to have been pollenated. I may have to take that into my own hands. Next year, I'd like to plow up part of the backyard for a garden, but I'm afraid it gets too much shade. My two tomato plants that I grow in pots back there every year seem to do pretty good, though.

MemphisMommies.blogspot.com

I'm going to start posting all my coupon deals etc. on my other blog - http://memphismommies.blogspot.com.

I'm going to be doing several postings on how to do serious couponing, as well as weekly deals for each store and the shopping trips I do.

See ya there!

Today's Kroger Trip

I think I'll start posting my couponing trips here, since I get so many questions about them. Here's a copy of what I posted to AFullCup.com's message board. (A "Q" is a coupon, and Kroger doubles Q's up to $.55. An "IP" is an internet-printed coupon. "OOP" means out-of-pocket.)

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Here's my trip today. I am thinking about going back tomorrow to look for more items on clearance!

Hunts ketchup: $1.50 sale price - free coupon rec'd in the mail
Oscar Mayer beef franks: $3.99 - free coupon rec'd in the mail
Weber marinade: $1.29 - .50Q doubled = $.29
Lysol spray: $2.49 on clearance - $2Q = $.49
2 Oust spray: $1.99 on clearance - $2Q = free
5 Glade scented oil candles: $2.99 on clearance - $2Q - B2GO = $3.96/5 or $.79 ea
Kroger mozzarella block: $2.99 on sale BOGO = $1.49 ea
Dannon yogurt 4pk: $2 on sale - $1Q = $1
2 Danimals yogurt 4pk: $2 on sale - $1Q = $1 ea
2 Activia yogurt 4pk: $2 on sale - $1Q = $1 ea
Lean pockets: $1.50 sale - $.50Q doubled = $.50
Energizer batteries AA 4pk: $2 - $1Q = $1
Hillshire lunch ham: $2.99 - $1Q = $1.99
Healthy Ones lunch turkey: $3.19 - $1Q = $2.19
2 bread @ $1.19 = $2.38/2
buns: $1.19
milk: $2.58/gal

Total regular price: $71.14 - sale price disc $13.85 = $57.29
Qs = $32.98
tax = 4.69
Total OOP = $29.00

I'm a bit bummed because this Kroger won't take IP's if they are more than $1. I plan to check other Krogers in my area.

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So my house should smell great these days! LOL! I like to stock up on things when they are really cheap, and those Glade candle thingies make great last-minute gifts, even though these happen to be in my favorite scent.

Summer is here!

School officially ended yesterday with Molly's awards program and Adam's last exam. Yippee! It's nice to not have that school pressure. I have lots of goals and big ideas for the summer and for our first year of homeschooling. I'm not sure how many are realistic, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go!

I've been working on the pool off and on for a while now. I drained the most of the old, yucky water out, and since it's been raining like monsoon season around here lately, the bottom of the pool in the deep end buckled up a little. So now it has a little bit of a crack that leaks. Joy. To add to that, it's leaking around the light again. Soooo, I did some research and discovered an underwater epoxy sealant clay stuff that will seal off all that stuff. So the pool is full and pumping, the chlorine has been doubled in the skimmer, and I will use the leaf sucker thingy to get the remaining leaves off the bottom as soon as I get a new pole. (The old one broke last summer.) Then I'll have to get in the 68 degree water and seal the leaks. Yes, 68 degrees is COLD! I usually don't even get in the pool until it gets over 80 degrees.

I went out just a bit ago to empty the skimmer basket. Last year, I finally got tired of replacing the plastic ones after they broke to the tune of about 2 a year, so I paid twice the price and got a metal one. Wellllll, metal rusts! So now I have a skimmer basket with a big hole in the bottom. I lined it with one of those skimmer sock thingies, and stuck it back in. So now it's pumping and filering, the water hose is trickling in to make up for the loss of water, and the chlorine is doing its thing to clear up the water so that I will actually be able to SEE what I'm fixing. Right now, the green color goes nicely with the grass. (sigh) So do the kids really enjoy it THIS much????? I am hoping we'll get more use out of it since we will be at home more since we are homeschooling. We'll see... Anybody interested in a slightly used pump, filter and slide?

This is what it looked like after Hurricane Elvis came through a few years ago. It was off for 12 days after this picture, and it looked worse then than it does now, but it cleared up.
We are planning a trip to the water park on Tuesday with about 40 other people as sort of a summer kick-off party! It should be fun. We are praying it doesn't rain!