Michael's deals

My wonderful sister in law bought me an American express gift card to use for a cake decorating class. Exactly what I wanted! :) I'm very excited I think cake decorating will be a useful skill to have. I signed up today, and after some searching and phone calls they figured out what I needed to buy for the class. I wanted to know today because I had a 50% off coupon that expired today, and usually their coupons are for 40% off. Plus I was there and I can always use the coupon from tomorrow's paper on something else. Anyways, I bought the Wilton beginner's box. Normally $20 but i used my coupon. So far its $15 for the first class and $10 for the supplies. The next kit is even more expensive so if its something I enjoy I will watch for another coupon.

Michael's has their Christmas items 50% off. Not the best! I like to wait for bargains till the items are further discounted. Many items are on sale for 50% off right before Christmas anyway. However their pre-made Christmas floral decor was 70% off. I had two years of flower shop in high school so I usually prefer to make my own arrangements. However the wreath I bought was so discounted I could not have made the same wreath for that price. Normally $39.99 I paid $11. I wanted one that had a winter look as opposed to a Christmas wreath because I plan to leave it up in till Its time for the spring wreath.



My class, supplies, and wreath would have cost a whopping $75!
My total was $36 but only $21 of that came out of my pocket because of sister in law's gift. I have $35 left on my gift card and I want to save it for the next course.

We now continue our regularly scheduled ramblings

Sorry for the unplanned blogging break! we has some un-expected guests an ended up being insanely busy the last week. It was fun but I like a more mellow, less stressful Christmas. I don't feel like I had time to really soak in the holiday.

My very favorite Christmas present this year was a beautiful black and white bowl made by women in Africa. My mom gave it to me, along with some literature on what bowl making means to them. The steady source of income has really changed these women's lives. It allows them to buy mosquito netting that would otherwise be too expensive, send their children to school, buy fresh water, best of all instills a sense of pride in themselves and their children. I love how beautiful the bowl is, but i really love that it helped someone at the same time. Right now it smells faintly of grass. Every time I see it (or smell it) I smile and think about the woman who made the bowl.

ugh

Have you ever had one of those days when you know you shouldn't get out of bed? But you have to because if you stay in bed nothing will get done all day. The house will literally come apart at the seams. So you get up. Later in the day you end up stripping off every article of clothing in front of your washer the very second you walk into the door. Because it was just that kind of day.

Btw if your not sure your gas stopped pumping when you clicked the nozzle. Click it again. Trust me, you will not regret it.

Rite Aid again

I wanted to get another bottle of soft soap hand soap so we stopped into rite aid for another 2 bottles. Should have cost about $1.20 however I was not alone dh was with me. So we bought a few extra things :)

Before sales and coupons $21.48

2 vanilla mochas $3.98 (after deals $2)
2 mochas $3.58 (after deals $2)
1 chocolate covered cherries $1.99 (after deals .99)
5 cadberry bars $7.95 (after deals $5)
2 liquid soap $3.98 (after deals $1)

After deals $11.28

Not horrible but still more expensive then $1.20! :)

Picture

Here is the picture I intended to upload with my last post. Does it look like it came from the dollar store to you? It doesn't look like that to me.

Ouch!!

Last night as I was typing my drug store purchases it occurred to me how very expensive everything is. If I had spent full price on those items it would have cost $150.09.

The only items I would consider 'frivolous' would be the candles. However I live in a house with 8 animals, that purchase is justified. What about the water filter? I don't consider that frivolous because my husband and I have had upset stomachs off and on since moving to our town a few years ago. When I researched the subject I found that it could be caused by a parasite in the water. So we're going to try it to see if it helps. I could have bought a cheaper model but DH requested the flavor style. He even told me I'm only to buy the packets for him when I find them on sale :) My hubby is becoming more frugal everyday. I could have passed on the make-up but everything was a good price. The lip gloss will go in my mom's stocking. The rechargeable batteries are for my dad's stocking. The dog bones are for my sanity (priceless, let me tell you) and all the cold stuff is for my husband. He has a touch of a cold.

Before deals I would have spent $150 yesterday. If you remove the candles and make-up at their full retail price the other less frivolous items would have cost $113.69. OUCH! My goodness things are so expensive. When I look back I don't understand how I afforded these things. Especially before I met my husband, i was a broke college student. I remember being very cautious about how much i used (even more so then today) and feeling frustrated that I was always buying these expensive items! I'm so glad I found rebate programs and coupons. Now not only do necessities cost us much less but I can afford to indulge myself and Dh for almost half of what the necessities would cost full price! After rebates and deals I spent $64.70, my frivolous items were $17.70 of that. Get on the coupon bandwagon people! :) Choo Choo!

Christmas gift for sister in law

Sister in law's main present will be a bottle of wine. But I wanted to make her a pamper basket because she works a bunch. I'm going to add homemade soap and bath salts. The whole basket cost me $8. Everything came from the dollar store except the Vaseline lotion. Do you feel bad giving things from the dollar store as presents? I don't because these are all items I would like to receive, therefore I have no problem giving the items to others. In fact I bought the note pad, lotion, and gloves for myself as well.