Coupon Plan for 1-8-12

Here is my coupon plan for tomorrow morning.

Walgreens -

     Transaction #1

Buy 1 Reach Total Care Floss 30 yards @ $2.99

Buy 2 Colgate Total Toothpastes @ 3.00

Buy 4 Halls Drops 20-30 ct @ 2/$2 with in ad coupon

Buy 2 Pepperidge Farm Cookies @ .99 with in ad coupon

Total 14.97

Use the $1/1 Reach Floss coupon found here

Use 2 $0.75/1 Colgate Toothpaste coupons found in the 1/1 SS

Use 2  $1/2 Halls coupons found here

Use the $1/2 Pepperidge Farm Cookies cookies coupon found here

Pay $9.47

Get back $2 Register Rewards from Reach

Get back $4 Register Rewards from Colgate

     Transaction #2

Buy 1 Prevacid 24 Hour @ $20

Buy 2 Pepperidge Farm Crackers @ .99 with in ad coupon

Total $21.98

Use the $4/1 Prevacid coupon found here

Use the $1/2 Pepperidge Farm crackers coupon found here

Use $6 in Register Rewards from Transaction #1

Pay $10.98

Get back $10 Register Rewards from Prevacid

     Transaction #3

Buy 1 Reach Total Care Floss 30 yards @ $2.99

Buy 2 Colgate 360⁰ Toothbrushes @ 3.00

Buy 4 Purell Hand Sanitizers 8 oz @ Buy 1 at $3.99 get 1 Free

Buy 2 Pepperidge Farm Cookies @ .99 with in ad coupon

Total 18.95

Use the $1/1 Reach Floss coupon found here

Use 2 $0.75/1 Colgate Manual Toothbrush coupons found in the 1/1 SS

Use 4 $1/1 Purell coupons found in the 11/6 RP or here

Use the $1/2 Pepperidge Farm cookies coupon found here

Use $10 in Register Rewards from Transaction #2

Pay $1.45

Get back $2 Register Rewards from Reach

Get back $4 Register Rewards from Colgate

     Transaction #4

Buy 1 Prevacid 24 Hour @ $20

Buy 2 Pepperidge Farm Crackers @ .99 with in ad coupon

Total $21.98

Use the $4/1 Prevacid coupon found here

Use the $1/2 Pepperidge Farm crackers coupon found here

Use $6 in Register Rewards from Transactions #3

Pay $10.98

Get back $10 Register Rewards from Prevacid

Leave the store with:

     2 Prevacid 24 Hour

     2 Reach Total Care Flosses

     2 Colgate Total Toothpastes

     2 Colgate 360⁰ Toothbrushes

     4 Halls Drops

     4 Purell Hand Sanitizers

     4 Pepperidge Farm Cookies

     4 Pepperidge Farm Crackers

at a cost of $32.88 and $10 in Register Rewards.  Making my total cost…$22.88!!!

CVS –

    Transaction #1

            Buy 3 Multi-Grain Cheerios @ 3/$10

            Buy 1 Mars Chocolate Single @ $.75

            Total $ 10.75

            Use 3 $1/1 Multi-Grain Cheerios coupons found here

            Use $5 ExtraCare Bucks from last week.

            Pay $2.75 with gift card from last week

            Get back $4.75 ExtraCare Bucks

     Transaction #2

            Buy 2 Listerine Total Care Zero @ $3.99

            Buy 2 Suave Invisible Solid @ $1.00

            Total 9.98

            Use 2 $1/1 Listerine coupon found here

            Use 2 $0.75/1 coupon found in the 1/8 RP

            Use $4.75 ExtraCare Bucks from Transaction #1

            Pay $1.73 with giftcard from last week

            Get back $4 ExtraCare Bucks

Leave the store with:

     3 Boxes of Multi-grain Cheerios

     2 Bottles of Listerine Total Care Zero

     2 Tubes of Suave Invisible Solid

     and a candy bar at a cost of FREE!!! 

     And with at least $5 left on my gift card and $4 in ExtraCare Bucks.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Day 6 & 7

Girl Scout day is always a crazy day for me thus the late and short post.  Today and tomorrow's challenge is to clean out the email account(s).  I hate to admit it but I have thousands of old emails I don't need any longer so this is the weekend to get rid of them.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1.         Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.

2.      Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.

3.      Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  

4.   Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.

5.   Make a menu plan for the month of January.

6.  Start cleaning out the email account(s).

7.  Finish cleaning out the email account(s).

 

Let the crazy continue...

 Britia

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Day 5

Today’s Daily Task List in the Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule (get it here) says, “Plan weekly menu/shopping list.”  Going along with that task our challenge for today is to make a menu plan for the month of January.  If you’re like me you already have most of the months activities scheduled so you can plan appropriately for those days. 

Here is my plan for the month of Januarry.

When I started doing this I assigned a type of food to each night of the week. 

     Sunday – BBQ/Soup –  

BBQ when it’s warm and soup when it’s not.

     Monday – Easy –            

I’ve cleaned hard most of the day dinner has to be easy.

     Tuesday – Chicken  -

I take into account special organizational/cleaning tasks assigned to the day.  If I know the task is going to take a while I chose and easy chicken meal.  Notice the 17^th.  The task for that day is cleaning/organizing the linen closet.  Mine is a disaster!  So I chose Glazed Chicken Drumsticks, Rice-A-Roni and Green Beans. I can pop the drumsticks in the marinade the night before and the next night is easy.

     Wednesday – Fast Food –

          It’s just my kiddo and I on Wednesdays so we grab some fast food or eat
          sandwiches at home.

     Thursday – Dinner Out –

          Like most families we like to eat dinner out one night a week.  We chose
          Thursdays a long time ago in order to avoid the crowds and wait times on Friday
          and Saturday.

     Friday – Sandwiches –

It’s Friday I want it to be easy.  Here is another place where the months activities come into play.  The 1^st Friday is Girl Scouts – After spending the last 1 ½ or more with 20 3^rd graders I’m done.  It’s fast food.  The 2^nd Friday is scrapbooking – I want to be out of the house by 6:30 it’s my night to play.

     Saturday – Beef –

And once again I’ve had to take into account the months activities.  The 21^st is Scrap-A-Palooza.  It only happens 3 times a year and this time I’m going!  Hubby and the kiddo are on their own.

Now that I have my menu plan I’m off to make my shopping list and gather my coupons!

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1.         Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.

2.      Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.

3.      Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  

4.   Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.

5.   Make a menu plan for the month of January.

 Britia

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Day 4

Because today is craft/hobby day on the Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule the challenge today relates to scrapbooking or, memory keeping, if your not a scrap booker.  Today’s challenge is to gather, download, print and organize you photos from last month.  I will post later today about my scrapbooking system. 

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1.         Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.

2.      Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.

3.      Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  

4.    Gather, download, print & organize your photos from last month.

Have a great day.

Britia

Update:  
I didn't make it back yesterday to post about my scrapbooking system.  Look of that later in the month.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Day 3

Wednesdays are craft/hobby day on the Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule.  (If you haven't got yours you can get it here.)  So in preparation for tomorrow, the first day of 2012 scheduled to craft (scrap in my case) the 31 Day Organizational Challenge is to clean/organize the surface of your crafting area.  For me that’s my desk.  And this is what it looks like at the moment.

YIKES!!!  My craft room is the dumping ground in our home and in the past month its been dumped on a lot!

If I want to play tomorrow I’ve got to clean it up today.

31 Day Organizational Challenge – Challenge List

1.         Take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.

2.      Make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.

3.      Clean/Organize the surface of your crafting area.  

Britia

Update:

Here's the after photo:

 

Its not great but at least I can scrapbook at it.  B.

My Couponing Score for 1-1-12

Ok, my plan was to get up early yesterday morning hit Walgreens before church, then go to church, pick up my weekly KC Stars then hit CVS on my way home.  Well, I stayed out too late New Year’s Eve and instead I slept in another hour, skipped Walgreens, picked up my Stars on the way to church, hit CVS on the way home and went to Walgreens later that afternoon.  As it turns out this was a much better plan. 

As you know from my previous post at Walgreens I needed Children’s Tylenol Cold and plain Cheerios.  As it turns out neither were on sale.  I suspected this might be the case with the Tylenol.  Cheerios were on sale, just not the plain ones, and my kiddo will only eat original Cheerios.  If she won’t eat them, I don’t buy them, unless the bargain is charity good and this one wasn’t.

My trip to CVS went as planned.

I bought:

4 Pantene Shampoos @ $3.33,

4 Pantene Conditioners @ $3.33,

1 Pantene Hairspray @ $3.33,

3 Dawn with Olay Hand Renewal @ $.99,

4 Nivea Lip Care @ $2.50,

and 1 Always Infinity pads @ $3.99.

Which were all on sale.  Saving me $20.64.  My total was $46.93. 

 I used:

            4 $3.00/2 Pantene products from PG 1/1

            3 $0.50/1 Dawn with Olay Hand Renewal from PG 1/1

            2  $3.00/2 Nivea Lip Care Products from RP 1/1

            1 $2/1 Always form PG 1/1

            $5.00 off $25 on CVS Extra Care card

            and $.50 off ExtraCare Bucks I got out of the machine at the store.

Saving me $27.  My final total was $19.93 + tax!!! 

Also, I got back a $10 CVS gift card and $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks to use next time.  WhooHoo!!!  

At CVS yesterday I saved $47.64.  A 71% savings!!!

31 Day Organizational Challenge - Day 2

Today's challenge is also on the Daily Task List of the Get It Together, Already Planner/Cleaning Schedule.  If you don't have yours already you can get it here.  Today's challenge is to make your 2012 financial file folders and store your 2011 financial files.

If you need file labels here is a simple list you can use.

Download it here, then print it out on card stock, cut on the solid gray lines, fold on the dotted lines and insert into your file folders.  Because I will reuse my file folders in a few years I like using paper lables as opposed to label maker ones. 

Now enjoy having that little task out of the way.

Britia

Happy New Year!

 I hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration and you are ready to kick off the new year with me and the Get It Together, Already 31 Day Organizational Challenge.

Today's challenge is actually on today's Daily Task List in the Get It Together, Already Organizer/Cleaning Schedule although not all of the challenges will be.  Today's challenge is ... to take down, organize and put away all of the holiday decorations.  So as soon as you're up and functioning (I'm not sure I am yet) get in and get those decorations down.  Then enjoy the freedom of being rid of all that holiday clutter.

See you tomorrow with a new challenge.

Happy 2012,
Britia

Coupon Plan for 1-1-12

Here is my coupon plan for tomorrow morning.

Walgreens –

     Transaction #1

            Buy 2 Children’s Tylenol Cold a@ $5.00 (if included in sale)

            Total = $10.00

            Use 2  $1/1 – Tylenol Product, Any – (tylenol.com)

            Pay $8.00

            Get back $5.00 Register Rewards

     Transaction #2

            Buy 4 boxes Cheerios a@ $2.50

            Total =$10.00

            Use 2 $1/2 coupon found in the 12/11 SS

            Use $5 Register Rewards from transaction #1

            Pay $3.00

            Get back $3.00 Register Rewards.

Leave the store with 2 bottles of Children’s Tylenol Cold and 4 boxes of Cheerios.  Total cost $8.00.

CVS –

     Transaction #1

            Buy 4 Pantene Shampoos @ $3.33

            Buy 4 Pantene Conditioners @ $3.33

            Buy 1 Pantene Hairspray @ $3.33

            Buy 3 Dawn with Olay Hand Renewal @ $.99

            Buy 4 Nivea Lip Care @ $2.50

            Buy 1 Always Infinity pads @ $3.99

            Total = $ 46.93

            Use 4 $3.00/2 Pantene products from PG 1/1

            Use 3 $0.50/1 Dawn with Olay Hand Renewal from PG 1/1

            Use 2  $3.00/2 Nivea Lip Care Products from RP 1/1

            Use 1 $2/1 Always form PG 1/1

            Use $5.00 off $25 on CVS Extra Care card

            Pay $20.48

            Get back $10.00 CVS Cash Card and $5.00 Extra Bucks

Leave the store with 4 bottles of Pantene shampoo, 4 bottles of Pantene conditioner, 1 bottle of Pantene Hairspray, 3 bottles of Dawn, 4 Nivea Lip balms, and 1 package of Always Infinity pads.  Total cost $5.48!!  WhooHoo!!

Health & Fitness Goals for 2012

Yesterday, I took a couple hours to sit down and write out my goals for 2012.  I won’t bore you with all my goals but here are a couple I will be blogging about in January. 

1. To exercise at least 30 minutes per day.  5 days per week throughout the year.
2. To develop the healthy habit of drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day by January 31^st.

If you have downloaded the 2012 Get It Together, Already Organizer/Cleaning Schedule you will have noticed the Health/Fitness Checklist down in the bottom left hand corner.  I have included check boxes for every 8 ounces of water you drink per day.  You will also find and area to record how many minutes of cardio work you put in and/or how many sets and reps of strength training you did that day.

Also in this area, are check boxes for how many serving of fruits and veggies you eat each day.  I will be discussing this later in the year.

I hope you find this new area helpful,

Britia

Daily Bible Study/Quiet Time

An item you will find on the Daily Check List of the Get It Together, Already Organizer/Cleaning Schedule is Bible Study/Quiet Time.  As the year goes along I will recommend various books, websites & ideas I find helpful in my spiritual journey. 

The first of these recommendations is this:

 I picked this up at the beginning of last year and have found it a wonderful resource to my daily study of God’s word.

I hope you find it helpful as well,

Britia

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is one of my favorite hobbies.  In this section of the blog you will find examples of my scrapbooking endeavors as well as great ideas from others.  The first day on the Get It Together, Already Organizer/Cleaning Schedule with scheduled craft/hobby time is Wednesday the 4^th.  Check back then to see what comes up.

Britia

Couponing

Last year I started couponing.  I have found it a great way to reduce the amount I spend each week on products my family uses and stock up on emergency supplies.  I also have to say; when you haven’t planned for dinner (that happens to me sometimes – ok, a lot) it is wonderful to go shopping in the basement.  I hope to post coupon shopping lists and great scores here as well as links to fabulous couponing sites.

Britia

Emergency Preparedness

It seems that everyday as I watch the daily news and find more and more reasons to prepare for an emergency.  So this little section of the blog will be devoted to emergency preparedness.  A way to calm those worries about what the future could hold.  If my family is prepared all will be well.

If you feel the need to make this an area of your life you need to make serene as well, check back for activities and ideas to accomplish those goals.

Britia

New Year, New Organizer

Update - Links removed 12-30-12.

It’s here!  The Clean House Calendar has been up dated and received a new name for 2012.  The new and improved calendar is now the Get It Together, Already Organizer/Cleaning Schedule.  And it looks like this:

It is currently available for January – June 2012 in 8 ½ by 11 format.  If you would like a copy you can download it here.

Keep an eye out for July – December 2012 and other formats coming soon.

Also starting January 1^st and running through the 31^st the Get It together, Already blog will be the site for a 31 Day Organizational Challenge for its readers.  We will be cleaning & organizing many areas that are not specifically listed on the Cleaning Schedule. 

I can’t wait to get started,

Britia

September Fireplace

The fall cleaning schedule had the great room listed as the room to clean and organize last week.  I got in and worked hard on Tuesday to get that room clean.  Mine is rather large, encompassing 2 halls, the entry area, the formal dinning room, the living room, and the breakfast area.  The ceiling has several different heights, 9 ft, 10 ft and 12 ft.  There are a total of 12 windows and all the floors are hardwood.  By the end of the day my right arm and lower back were terribly sore but my great room was sparkling!

I work from the top to the bottom of a room.  So, for most of the room, my swiffer duster works well to reach all the ceiling corners but when I come to the entry area and the 12 ft ceilings not so much.  In the past I have gotten a ladder inched my way around the entry but I wanted to work faster this time so I created a new tool.  I taped a feather duster to the end of an old swiffer sweeper and taa daa . . . a very long duster!

With this, I was able to reach the 12 ft ceiling without a ladder.  It was helpful with the 10 ft ceilings as well.  No more tippy toes.  Woo Hoo!  And at the end of the day I ripped off the tape and it can all be used for what it was originally designed for.

But, I digress,  My New Favorite Tool is not the title of this blog entry September Fireplace is.  Decorating
my fireplace mantle is something I really struggle with.  I do OK with it at Halloween and Christmas but the rest of the year it looks rather odd or its completely bare.  Here is what it has looked like all summer.

I don't know what to do with the TV up there.  I like the TV in that location and we used it every day so I don't want to cover it up in any way but how do I decorate around it?   

I came across this school subway art before school started.

Thanks, Melissa.  You should defiantly check out her blog here.

I have used subway art before up there so I thought I would try that again.  But one lone piece of subway art was gonna look kinda odd so what else could I do?  And then I remembered.  My cousin Cathy and her family visited this summer and while she was here she ask if I still had that old school slate with the handle.  She said she had looked and looked for one but had never seen another one like it.  Hmm... I could create a display on my mantle with all my old school antiques for the month of September and then do Halloween stuff for October and so on and so forth.  I haven't found a place in our new home to put all that stuff and it was just wasting away in a box in the basement.  I should get it out and at least display it one month out of the year.  So here it is my September Fireplace.

I made the banner,  Its not much, but if you like it you can get it here.

Have a great evening, B.

Laundry Room Update

I know it’s been a while since my last post.  I’ve been having lots of summer fun and avoiding the Fall Cleaning Cycle.  But my dd is back in school and it’s time to get back in the groove.  Last time I shared pictures of my disaster of a laundry room.  I did get that room cleaned & organized so I wanted to post some “After” photos.

We have lived in this house for almost 5 years now and although I had a nice sink in the laundry room I didn’t have soap and a towel to use it.  I managed to get those items in the room and we are all enjoying having another place to wash & dry our hands.

Although the linen closet, coat closet and media closet have been on the schedule the past few weeks I haven’t gotten to them yet.  I hope to catch up over the next few weeks.  I will post photos as I get to them.  As for this week, the Great Room is on schedule.  I should get that cleaned tomorrow and hopefully finish adding some new décor items by the end of the week.  Look for photos then.

Have a great day, B.

On the Serene Front . . .

Several years ago I was a Mary Kay consultant and the directors would often tell us, “Get your priorities straight.  God first, family second and career third.”  So I think that is where I need to start.  God first.  One of my yearly goals is to read the Bible daily and to read through the Bible in a year.  I have yet to achieve this goal, but it’s still a good goal.  At the end of last year in preparation for this goal I purchased “The Daily Bible.”  I really like this Bible, although, again I wasn’t able to achieve my goal.  I managed to read through to May 7^th before summer vacation started and all was lost.  But this is where I’m starting in order to make my life serene.  Yesterday, I began again with my daily Bible reading.  Instead of picking up where I left off on May 7^th and trying to catch up I gave myself a break and started on August 28^th.  I know my life will be more serene by spending time with God each day.  If you aren’t in God’s word daily then I encourage you to start.  It doesn’t matter where you start.  Just that you start.  And if you would like to read along with me then pick up a copy of this:

And start on today’s date.

Blessing, B.

Restarting

Ok, so when I last posted on August 2nd, my Lean Goal of the Week was to drink 3 bottles of water a day.  Unfortunately I didn't follow through.  So today I'm restarting.  My Lean Goal of the Week is to drink at lest 3 bottles of water a day.

Lean Goal of the Week

Ok, so I've got a pretty good start on what I need to do to get my home clean.  Now, what am I going to do to get my body lean?  This is a little (a lot) harder because I don't enjoy dieting & exercise. LOL  Who does?  Anyway, let's focus, here.  I think I need to start with easy goals that I can work into my lifestyle.  So this week's Lean Goal of the Week is ...drum roll, please ... Drinking at least 60 ounces of water a day.  TaaDaa

I know the recommendation is to drink 8 glasses (or 64 ounces) of water a day but I don't like the taste of our local tap water so I have to buy bottled water.  So I buy this...

... and it come in 20 ounce bottles.  So if I drink 3 of these a day combined with what I drink when I take my meds I should get the 64 ounces I need each day.

Now I'm off to get a bottle of water and get started on that Laundry Room.

Have a great day,  B.