Clearance Shopping at KMart

Last week my mom was off two nights in a row (she works nights in a nursing home, so this isn't an every week thing), so we decided to go shopping one afternoon.  We called one of my older sisters to see if she wanted to go with us, and she decided to come along.  My mom needed new shoes, so we headed to Famous Footwear first.  I was in search of shoes for both myself and Elliott, but sadly couldn't find anything that I liked for me.  We only found one pair that Elliott liked (I wanted to get him two, one for school, and one for gym), and we had to move up a size in that brand.  He's now in a size 2!  Anyway, my mom and sister both found shoes they liked, too, so it was a decent stop.  My sister bought Elliott's shoes with hers, since they are running a bogo50 sale right now, and then I paid her about 75% of the full value of his shoes, so we both got a good deal that way. :)

Halfway Prepared

Apparently the lack of sleep over the two nights prior to leaving North Dakota caused me to be less prepared than I wanted to be for this trip.  When I'm in Missouri I always do a bunch of shopping and can usually find some great deals.  I brought my camera so I could get some pictures, but I walked off and forgot my camera cord, so I haven't shared any of the deals I've got.  I think I'm going to go ahead and share a few deals anyway, though, and then just add the pictures when I get back to North Dakota.

Detours Along the Way....

Last time I posted, I had plans to leave for my parents house last Wednesday.   It didn't end up working out that way, though.  Tuesday was a REALLY hot day, and the AC went out in our room.  So since it was literally over 90 degrees, even late at night, I decided to take the dogs and sleep in Elliott's room.  Well, I made the mistake of turning off the light (Elliott was already asleep) when I came in.   Minutes later, Elliott was awake and freaking about being in the dark.  So he jumped out of bed, and landed on Snoopie, who then proceeded to attack Trixie, thinking it was her fault.  Of course this is after 1 am, my husband was asleep, and I was across the room, in the dark, so I couldn't get to the light switch.  I got Elliott back up on the bed, so he didn't get hurt in the midst of the chaos, and called for my husband, who came in and turned on the light, effectively breaking up the dog fight.

Great Amazon Deal on the Movie Rango

If you know of anyone that has the new animated movie "Rango" on their wishlist, or you think it would be an appropriate fit for someone else on your shopping list, now is the time to buy it! Think Christmas!  Use the code RANGO5GO to save $5 on it at Amazon.  The Rango (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) is only $14.99 after the coupon code.  And the RangoDVD is only $10.99 after the coupon code!  The prices are current as of today, July 18th.  The code expires July 23.

Rango is an animated Western that has a chameleon as the hero.  It's rated PG, and stars Johnny Depp.

Vacation Time!

Since we are currently stationed 1100 miles from "home" for both us, our vacations usually consist of driving to Missouri and spending two or three (or six) weeks with my parents.  I'm child number 5 of 6 in my family, and while I'm not particularly close to any of my older siblings, I'm super close with my baby sister (who is only 2 years younger than me) and my mom.  My husband thinks we're fighting if I don't talk to my sister more than 2 days in a row, and we've been known to spend hours on the phone 2-3 different times in the same day. So being so far away is hard!  We've been pretty lucky, and have been able to travel home at least once a year every year except one I believe.  I don't think we went home at all in 2009, so my little sister came up here.

More Good Photo Deals at Walgreens

I really wish we had a Walgreens here.  Even though we don't have one in Minot, I still get the majority of my photos from there.  My sister picks a lot of them up for me, but occasionally I have them shipped to me here instead.  Next week Elliott and I are most likely going to be going to my parents' house for a little vacation before school starts.  My little sister and I plan on doing quite a few crafting projects, including some scrapping.  I'm thinking of doing a quick and easy (and small) scrapping project for my mom and my mother in law for Christmas, so I am ordering some more pictures.

4x6 prints are only 10 cents each with an order of 50 or more, by using the code PRINTFUN.  Collages and enlargements are 50% by using the code HANGIT.  That makes the 4x6 collages only 15 cents each.  I do these a lot of times for my son, so he can use them in his own scrapbook that he's working on, and we also frame them in his room. They are super quick and easy.  Here's one that he just ordered.  You can put as many as 20 pictures on one collage (although that makes them really small, of course).  We usually stick to 3-4 on a 4x6, though.


The codes I mentioned are both only good through tomorrow, so hurry if you want to get these deals!

Clearance Scrapbook Shopping at Hobby Lobby

One of my favorite hobbies is scrapbooking. I've always loved the idea, but have only really started working on layouts regularly during the last few weeks.  As most of you probably know, scrapbooking isn't a cheap hobby.  Because of that, I don't go to Hobby Lobby very often.  But because Elliott and I have been doing more scrapping lately, we decided to go last week and check what they had on clearance. When my basement flooded last summer, the scrapbook I was working on was easily found, but my stickers, scissors, etc, all magically disappeared.  I've been looking and looking for them, but still haven't found them.

We printed out a 40% off on any one item coupon to use on the Disney scrapping paper Elliott's been asking for, since he's really looking forward to scrapping our Florida vacation from March.  We found several clearance buys on stickers that we liked, as well. We're still behind on scrapping other stuff, but most of what we bought was for the Disney scrapbook that we are starting today.  Elliott's really excited about actually being able to journal some of his own thoughts and feelings in this one.  Since it wasn't JUST a Disney vacation, we bought plenty of other beachy stickers as well.  And the dog and cat ones he needed for his regular scrapbook since we routinely scrap pictures of him and his dogs and cat, as well. :)

KMart Clearance Shopping

After trying all week to make it into Minot, I was finally able to get there yesterday.  Minot doesn't have a whole lot of choices for shopping, so we have to make due with what they have.  They don't have a single children's clothing store, and since my son is tall and skinny, I hate shopping online for him.  We buy most of his clothing from Old Navy and KMart as a result.  Last week with the 40% off clearance clothing sale, along with 50% off clearance toys, I knew we had to go.

We shop for Christmas and birthdays year round.  We usually end up "adopting" 2-3 kids to buy Christmas presents for, plus we buy other toys to donate as well.  And then of course, there's the stuff for my son, nieces, friends' kids, etc, and it looks like a toy factory exploded in my basement by the end of November. :)  We couldn't afford nearly as much as we donate if we didn't shop clearance all year round, so Kmart's 50% sale is one of our favorites.

Get a FREE 8x10 Photo Book ($19.99 value)

I was browsing today, and came across a coupon code for a free 8.5x11 Classic Photo book from Walgreens.  They have a bunch of different designs and a lot of different layouts as well.  The coupon code is CREATEBOOK.  If you live in the Las Vegas or New Orleans area, you can pick it up in store for even more savings.  Otherwise, shipping is $6.99.

I don't have any personal experience with this particular photo book, but the smaller, cheaper ones, I've ordered in the past have been nice, and they always do a good job on pictures as well, so I imagine these books would be high quality as well!

But hurry!  The code is only good through midnight tonight, July 9th!

Halfway Through the Year, How's the Debt?

I know I didn't go over a total amount of debt at the beginning of the year, but I have all the numbers saved on my computer.  At the beginning of the year, we had $75,769.96 in debt, including our house, our 2008 Uplander, student loans, and  credit card debt.  Now that the year is half over, we've actually added a little bit to our debt, and now stand at $77,942.00. The reason for that is that we built up our savings account a little bit to give us an emergency fund, and then we bought a second car (2005 Impala) since we're going to be needing it when Elliott starts school in the fall, since I plan on driving him every day.  We had planned on saving for a second car, and buying one that we could pay cash for, but we ultimately decided that since winter is COLD here, and I will be driving 17 miles each way twice a day, and my husband drives 20 miles each way to work, we should get one a little more reliable.  So we just put $2000 down on the Impala and financed the rest. 

Getting Back To Normal

Well, the worst of the flooding in Minot is over now, and there's a second route between north and south Minot.  We still have a really long road to recovery, but we're moving in the right direction now.

The city of Minot is under a boil order and conservation mandate, but they still have running water, which is pretty major, all things considered.  We've been extra busy at our house because we still have clean tap water, so I've done some children's laundry for friends that aren't so lucky.  Minot actually supplies the water to a pretty big part of north central North Dakota, so there are a lot of people with dirty water, but as far as I know, everyone does have water now.

Preparing for the Unexpected--Minot, ND

I'm sure by now that a lot of you who had maybe never even heard of Minot, ND, know where it is now.  We're having MAJOR flooding right now, and it's expected to get much worse than it ever has in recorded history.  I actually live 30 miles north of Minot, so I'm not affected in the aspect of having to evacuate or anything like that, but that certainly doesn't mean we aren't affected by the flooding at all.

If any of you have ever visited my part of the world, you know that it's very rural.  North Dakota, as a whole, is a very low population state.  Minot is the fourth largest city in the state, and still has less than 50K in it.  But it serves a much larger area than most cities do in a higher populated state.  Just to paint a quick picture, the town I live in, is 30 miles north of Minot.  As far as businesses go, we don't have much.  To get groceries, we have the option to drive over 15 miles to a tiny locally owned grocery store, or to drive the 30 miles to Minot, assuming you don't have base privileges (the Air Force base is located 20 miles south of here).  The people that live 15 miles away from me in the town previously mentioned, live over 40 from Minot, and still have to go to Minot for anything not offered at their tiny grocery store, or to go to the mall, Target, Walmart, etc.  And that's pretty much the norm in every direction.  Also, people from Canada (I believe that it's a little more than 50 miles from Minot to the Canadian border) frequently drive into Minot to shop and for entertainment.

Stretching Money by Signing Up For Samples-Includes Links!

I used to spend a few hours every week looking for new samples to send for, and would usually end up getting a lot of great ones.  Nowhere near all of the ones I sent for came, but I still got enough to keep me happy.  Somewhere along the way, things got way too crazy, and I quit looking for them quite as much.  I do still order samples, but now mostly just stick to a few sites that I know will send them out, or occasionally manage to get one or two from facebook or something.

At first glance, it might not seem like looking for samples is worth the time, since they are usually pretty small.  But a lot of them come with coupons, too, and then they become more worth it.  Also, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and find a pretty big sample, or even full sized products (we've received full size deodorants, air freshener, and several nice razors over the years).  We've also found several products that we probably wouldn't have tried without samples, so it's working for them as well.  In fact, my son's newest favorite cereal was found through a sample box that came in the mail in April.

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Codes

I saw a post on Twitter today (follow me @carlaabt) with a new Pampers Gifts to Grow code only good for today.  After I saw it, I decided to look around and see what other codes I could find.  Even if you don't have children in diapers, signing up is worth it.  There are a lot of codes out there, and they are released fairly frequently.

Here's a list of current codes that I found today.  They were all current as of today, but please let me know if any of them are expired so I can remove them.

50 Prints for $5, Includes Shipping

Right now Snapfish has 50 prints for $5 in honor of Father's Day.  $.10 each is my price point that I'm willing to pay, and it's past time for me to order some Disney prints from our trip in March.  I've ordered some for my parents and in laws, but haven't ordered any for myself yet.  Now is the time!

Use the coupon code DADDYPICS to get your prints, through June 27!

Finding Extra Money to Put Toward Debt

Paying down debt now is really important to my husband and me.  We have a mortgage, two financed cars, two student loans, and 2 credit card balances, plus a store card balance (but we're only paying $40 a month on it, and it will be paid off in November, before the no interest period ends in December).  That's just way too much debt for me!  So we're working on getting rid of it.

One thing we've really struggled with is trying to find more money to put toward the debt.  Everyone suggests you cut out things you don't need, drop your cell phone minutes down, cancel cable, etc.  We already have the lowest number of cell minutes, and can't give it up totally because my husband's an EMT and on call a lot.  Our cable only costs $3 more than what our internet would be without it, and I need internet for my job.

Refinancing For a Better Rate

We bought our Chevy Uplander in May 2008. It was a program car, so pretty new (2008) and we got a decent deal on it. Unfortunately, we were upside down on our current car that we traded in, due to a really bad deal that my husband got on his truck in tech school. We had originally wanted to go ahead and pay off the car before we traded up, but decided that it just wasn't going to work that way after all. We were in Missouri, and had just traveled over 1000 miles with a 2 year old, 3 dogs (2 weighed over 50 lbs, and the other about 20), and a cat. It just wasn't a comfortable ride, and since we are stationed over 1000 miles from "home" it's a trip we frequently make. We decided to look at minivans, and if we could get one with a lower payment than what we had on the car, we would take it. We ended up getting a payment about $20 lower a month, so we took it, even though it added 2 years to our loan (since we had been paying on our car for 2 years). It was obviously worth more than our older car, and seems to be holding it's value better as well. We ended up with a terrible interest rate, though, because we were upside down, had recently bought a house, and had some credit card debt.

Walgreens Freebies EXPIRED

A great way to save money on presents is to take advantage of any freebies offered by different companies, and save the good ones for gifts.  Right now Walgreens has a great freebie, but only this weekend.  You can get a completely free 8x10 collage print for Father's day, by entering the code 1freebie at checkout, but hurry, it's only good until June 18!  They also have regular 4x6 prints  30 for $3, a coupon code for $10 off $20 or more of photo gifts, and a BOGO offer on 11x14 collage posters.  Pick up your prints in store, and save even more!

Planning For a Possible Move?

My husband put in for a base of preference transfer recently and we are waiting to hear whether or not we get to move. We've been here his entire career so far (he got here in August 2004), so we definitely feel like it's time to move on. Waiting is hard for me, though, especially with so much up in the air. We should find out whether or not this BOP gets approved before Elliott starts school, but that still seems so far away. We also have a lot of different plans and ideas, depending on whether or not he gets it, and when we get to go.

Planning Early For Christmas and Birthdays

I'm a big planner, no matter what the occasion. I already admitted to spending a year planning our vacation. I also spend most of the year planning for Christmas and birthdays as well. One of the ways that I've found easiest to do this is to have my husband and my son both keep a current Amazon wishlist. It's a lot harder to keep my husband on top of this, but my son loves it. He lists toys that he sees on TV, or movies that he would like to see. He also usually has a fairly extensive list of books. I check the lists fairly frequently (since my son is only five I help him make his anyway), and watch for sales on Amazon. That also reenforces the items on the list, so that if I see something on sale at another store, I can grab it when I have the chance.