Saturday Savings

Nick is our budget keeper and he was nice enough to allow me an "advance" on my November grocery shopping money today. It was either that or shop with all three kids in tow tomorrow and I wasn't a fan of that idea (it's doable, just not enjoyable). So about $8 of my total spent today will finish out my October budget money and the rest will go towards November. Everything you see below cost $77.40.

Aldi:

Bread - 2 loaves

Mini Bagels - 12 in package

Eggs - 2 dozen

Saltines

1 Pineapple (1 day special at Belton Aldi - only $1.69!)

2% Milk - 3 gallons

Skim Milk - 1 gallon

Long Grain Rice - 3 pound bag

Brown Sugar

Ketchup - 2 pound bottle

Bananas - 2.5 pounds

Gala Apples - 6 pounds (although as I was typing this I noticed I was charged for 9 - wish I'd paid attention!)

Red Grapes - 2 pounds

Peanut Butter

HyVee:

Baby Carrots - 1 pound

Green and Red Leaf Lettuce Bunches - 2

Fiber One Chewy Bars - 1 box

General Mills Cereals - 6 boxes

Jolly Time Popcorn - 1 box

Glide Dental Floss - 50m

Danon Yogurt - 10

Red Baron Pizza - 2

Price Chopper:

Quaker Delights Granola Bars - 1 box

Pork Roast - 7.67 pounds

Bar-S Hot Dogs - 2 packages

Danimals Yogurt Crush Cups - 1 pack of 4

Tony's Pizza - 2

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza - 1

El Monterey Tornados - 2 boxes

Birds Eye Viola Meal - 2

Breyers Ice Cream - 1

The Deals: HyVee has a great cereal deal right now, especially if you have been printing internet coupons! When you buy any 6 boxes on General Mills Cereal (8.7oz-25oz) then you get $10 off (with the HyVee coupon). In addition to that Missouri HyVees are printing out a $6 off your next trip coupon at check out (Kansas residents get a coupon for free milk)! If you have plenty of GM coupons you can stack them with the HyVee coupon and get cereal for a steal! For example, the 6 boxes I bought retailed for $21.10. I paid $6.54 AND got the $6 off coupon at check out! Even without calculating the $6 off coupon into my savings, I still saved 70% on my cereal. Other good HyVee deals include: baby carrots for .69 (limit 1), lettuce for .99, Jolly Time Popcorn for .50 (81% off), Glide Dental Floss for $1.69 (53% off), Danon Yogurt for .19 each (75% off) when stacking the $1/10 HyVee coupon with the $1/10 coupon from the paper last week and Red Baron Pizzas for $2.84 each (49% off).

Price Chopper also had a great deal on pork roast - .99 a pound (79% off)! Nick is looking forward to lots of pulled pork now. While at Price Chopper I also snagged hot dogs for .29 each (81% off), Danimals Yogurt for .99 (68% off), Tony's Pizza for .29 (79% off), El Monterey Tornados for $1 each (70% off) and Breyers Ice Cream for $1.24 (71% off).

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $160.29

Total After Sales and Coupons: $73.93 - 54% savings

For those new to my blog, Saturday Savings is a chronicling of my journey to spend just $310 a month on our family's groceries, paper products, toiletries and medicine cabinet needs. Some of my favorite deal finding sites are Money Saving Mom, Frugal Freebies and Deals, Thrifty and Chic Mom and for local KC deals - Kansas City Mamas and Cutting Coupons in KC.

Chaos and WaterWeek Winner!

I had Jackson help me draw our winner for the WaterWeek giveaway! As you can see, he wanted to keep the info to himself...



Congrats Erin! Send your name and address to threetimesthegiggles@gmail.com by Monday at 9pm CST or I'll have to draw an alternate winner.

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This past week the boys and I attended a fun little Halloween party. Really it was more of a giant, chaotic playdate with some eyeballs on sticks for a snack. What? You don't believe me when I say it was chaotic?

Told ya! The party consisted of 4 sets of triplets, a set of quintuplets and 4 single siblings. I think the oldest kids there were 5. Chaos! The boys had so much fun though.

 

 

 

Our attempt at a group picture was a tough one...

Best part about the party? The boys took 3.5 hour long naps that afternoon! Woohoo!

Weekend Recap

Yeah, yeah. I know it's Thursday and the start of another weekend is almost here. I got so caught up in the giveaway, fall leaves and Chase singing though that I completely forgot to post the random pictures from last weekend! Ready for a whirlwind tour of a weekend of fun?

On Friday morning we decided to venture to the Home Show. Usually it's something outrageous like $8-$10 a person to get into those things, but due to the economy this one was free! We figured the boys would get a kick out of all the stuff to look at. We were semi right... The cable company had a pop-a-shot basketball thing and soccer net set up, so the boys loved that. Probably most loved though was the pet adoption section! It's only a matter of time before the 4 of us can gang up on Nick and get a dog.

Also set up at the Home Show was a kid's discovery area hosted by one of the local kid's museums! The boys had a ball with these "finger paints". They were in a tray and hard like regular kid's paints, but when the boys dipped their finger into a cup of water and then touched the paint they could use them like finger paints. Anyone know what these are called or where I could buy them? The boys loved them and I loved that they didn't make a big mess!

  

 

Tyler also enjoyed "painting" his own face.

 On Saturday afternoon we made a mad dash to a birthday party. We could only stay for about 20 minutes before heading off to church, but that 20 minutes we just long enough for Chase to make a mess with a Cookie Monster cupcake!

After church was over Nick needed to deliver something to another staff member. We took the boys on the hunt for said staff member and on our journey ended up in the sanctuary. It was the first time the boys had been in there since we brought them to church for the first time (when they were 7 months old). They LOVED all the chairs and Nick and I thought we were going to be in there forever while they tried out each and every seat. Thankfully something distracted them and they took off. I loved seeing them in there though and can't wait for the next time :)

 

We rounded the weekend out with more cupcakes! Sunday afternoon we celebrated Laura's 25th birthday.

 

 

If you haven't entered our WaterWeek giveaway, today is your LAST CHANCE! Contest ends at 10pm tonight and winners will be announced tomorrow morning!

I Finally Caught Him! - Video Clip of the Week

For months I have had a Video Clip of the Week idea but have been unable to pull it off due to 2 words.... "No Pictures!" Yesterday, we had a break-through while sitting in the car waiting for Nick. Chase was singing along to a song and I calmly pulled my camera out of my purse, changed the setting to video, slowly (so as not to startle the singer) raised it and turned it on. Miracle of all miracles he continued to sing and didn't yell at me to turn the camera off!

I wish I could have somehow muted his brothers, who were very whiny that they were at church for the second time that day but not allowed out of the car. The first song that Chase was singing with was Boom Chaka Laka by Phil Joel and the second one was Skinamarinky Dinky Dink as sung by Go Fish. I love when he sings the "doom, ba doom's" at the beginning of that song!



Did you enter our WaterWeek giveaway yet? No? What are you waiting for?! Click HERE!

Fall Fun!

Sunday morning was beautiful. The sun was out, it wasn't freezing and the front lawn was covered in leaves! The boys and I decided to take advantage and head out for some fun!

Jackson is in the brown coat, Tyler in gray and Chase in yellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WaterWeek - A Giveaway!

Not-so-funny story... As I was putting this post together I got a call from Nick. He had left for work about 15 minutes earlier, so I wasn't sure why he would be calling me already. Turns out after he stopped for gas the car wouldn't restart and he needed the boys and me to rescue him. Doh! He called for a tow while I scrambled to get the boys ready and then we sat in the gas station parking lot waiting for the  tow truck. Here's hoping the repair isn't too costly! All that to explain why this post is so late... Ok, onto the good stuff now!

A couple of weeks ago I received the WaterWeek in the mail for me to review. Simply put the WaterWeek is a set of 5 reusable water bottles that sit in a little stand in your fridge. Each time you get ready to head out the door, you can just reach into your fridge and grab a 16 ounce bottle of water to take with you (assuming you remembered to fill them of course)! The idea is that it not only saves you money by reducing the number of bottled waters you buy, but it also reduces pollution.

Nick and I have never been big on buying bottled water anyway as we saw it as a rather large waste of money. We've always had a large water bottle for each of us that we would just refill each morning before we left for work (obviously I'm talking about my pre-kid days here). That being said, since staying home with the boys I've started slacking in how much water I've been drinking and I was really hopeful that the WaterWeek would help rectify that.

You know what? The WaterWeek did help me drink more water! My usual water bottles hold between 20 and 30 ounces of water. The WaterWeek holds just 16. For some reason it's easier for me mentally to say I need to drink 3-4 WaterWeek bottles versus 2-3 of my big ones. Plus, because the WaterWeek doesn't hold as much, the water is still cold when I'm finishing the bottle up versus the end water in my other bottles getting kinda warm and stale towards the end.

The bottles claim to be dishwasher safe, but wouldn't fit on our top rack. I'll admit, I was skeptical about putting them on the bottom rack but knew I needed to give it a shot to give you all an accurate review. I'm happy to report the bottles do great on the bottom rack of the dishwasher!

Here are the only complaints we had...

Me: Because the mouths are so narrow I feel like it's hard to clean them thoroughly by hand (we don't run the dishwasher every night).

Nick: The designs are pretty girly.

Nick: Not enough water to last him the day at work, so he'll stick to his usual 40oz bottle and he felt like it wasn't quite enough water when he went to play basketball.

Other than those three items, we loved them! I love being able to just grab a bottle out of the fridge before I head out the door. The very first time I went out with a bottle I got two compliments on it! The boys also have an easy time holding the bottle and drinking from it themselves without making a huge mess (like they do with the large mouth water bottles). It's been perfect when heading out to the park, off to my Weight Watchers Meeting, grocery shopping and just hanging out here at home.

WaterWeek Rundown:

Bottles are 16oz

Bottles are BPA Free

Bottles are dishwasher safe

WaterWeek Website

Bottles perfect size for kid's lunch boxes are also available!

Here's the best part though - you now have a chance to win your very own WaterWeek! Contest will run through Thursday at 10pm CST and the winner will be announced Friday morning. For each of the items below that you do, please leave separate comments!

1. Tell me how you currently drink your water -

old water bottle, little paper cups, giant mug with a straw, etc.

2. Post about the giveaway on Facebook and include a link to this post.

3. Tweet about the giveaway and include a link to this post.

4. Become a follower of this blog (or tell me if you already are a follower!)

or let me know if you're a subscriber.

A very Happy Anniversary to my husband Nick! It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since that rainy morning in Maine when we got married. What a wonderful 7 years it has been though and I can't wait to see what the next 7 brings us!

Saturday Savings

It was a light shopping week here. Not many exciting deals (at least not to me) and we really don't need much right now anyway (my cupboards and freezer are still pretty full from previous weeks). I did snag a few nice things while shopping with Tyler though! Everything you see below cost $29.56.

Aldi:

Red Grapes - 2 pounds

Eggs - 1 dozen

2% Milk - 1 gallon

Peanut Butter

Baby Carrots - 1 pound

Gala Apples - 3 pounds

Mini Marshmallows

Saltines

Large Pumpkin

HyVee:

Robert's Orange Juice - 2 half gallons

Chicken of the Sea Tuna - 1 can

Nestle Tollhouse Morsels

Pillsbury Flour

Honeycrisp Apples - 1.71 pounds

Price Chopper:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast - 2.09 pounds

Tony's Pouches (2 per package) - 3 boxes

Dole Classic Iceburg Mix - 2 bags

Wishbone Salad Dressings - 4 bottles

Bananas - 2.30 pounds

Russet Potatoes - 10 pound bag

Progresso Soups - 2 cans

The Deals: At Aldi the grapes were .79 a pound, the giant pumpkin was only $2.99 and the 3 pound bag of apples was $1.19. I only bought one gallon of milk at this Aldi because their price is still about .60 per gallon higher than the Aldi near the church, so I'll have Nick pick up some more milk later in the week.

At HyVee I got the OJ for .97 per half gallon, the tuna was .58 (limit 1 - booooo!), the Nestle Tollhouse Morsels were $1.27, the flour was .99 and the Honeycrisp Apples were $1.38 a pound. Those apples are a treat to have as I routinely see them for $3-$4 a pound.

Price Chopper was good to me this week! I paid .99 per bottle of Wishbone Dressing (I had two $1/2 coupons) and Price Chopper had a deal where if you bought 2 bottles of wishbone you got a free bag of Dole Lettuce. Seeing as I bought 4 bottles of dressing I got 2 free bags of lettuce! Bananas were .39 a pound and the 10 pound bag of potatoes was $1.49. Last but definitely not least, the Tony's Pouches were all FREE! They were the item of the month for the Price Chopper Kids Club. If you haven't signed your kids up yet, do it now!

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $79.12

Total After Sales and Coupons: $28.24 - 64% Off!

Wanted to let all my deal seeking friends know (because we all love free stuff!) that I'll be hosting another giveaway on my blog starting Monday!

General Announcements

We're heading off this morning for some family fun. Hopefully I'll get some good (non-embarrassing!) material to blog about. As a result of our attempt to get out of the house on a timely manner I thought I'd just share a couple of announcements with you....

On Monday I'll be hosting another great giveaway here! It's for a product I've been testing in my home and have really enjoyed. Now you'll get a chance to win your very own. I have to also note it's fantastic whether you have kids or not. Get excited people!

If you're in the Kansas City area and you're a parent and on a budget, check out the TimesTwoKC Consignment Sale going on today and tomorrow! The sale is at 119th and State Line and has lots of great stuff (I pre-shopped last night as a consignor). Today the sale goes until 8pm and then tomorrow is half price day from 9am until 2pm! Click HERE for details.

Chase and Nick

Rainy Days

I used to love rainy days. They make for great napping weather and it's nice to have some downtime in the house, cuddling up on the couch to watch a movie or read books. My attitude towards rainy days is quickly changing though...

Let me break something down for you. Usually the average high temp in October in Kansas City is 71 degrees. A perfect 71. Know what our average high has been this month so far? Between 45-52. To make matters worse, most of those days it has been cloudy and raining. We were teased this past weekend and early this week with some nice, 70 degree days but yesterday it started raining again and it's continued on into today. YUCK!

So what's a mom to do when it rains.... and rains.... and rains? Break out the playdough!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If those shirts look a little familiar it's because the boys have worn them virtually every day since last Thursday. Seriously. They're lucky we do laundry most every night ;)