Warm Delights and Pine Trees

How's that for a blog post title?! I better explain.

Warm Delights
I got the most awesome "freebie" in the mail yesterday: Betty Crocker Warm Delights minis! Mmmmm, chocolate :) Check it out:


Unfortunately, the offer is no longer available. If you enjoy getting free stuff in the mail, though, my favorite blogs that list freebies are Mommy Gets PAID and My Good Cents. Check them out and maybe you can get free chocolate in the mail, too!

Pine Trees
A guy came to our house today and took out a large pine tree in our backyard. He had to do it by hand since you can't get machinery back there. Pricetag: $275. The other estimate we got was for almost $1000, so we were pretty happy to pay $275.

The money came out of our New Siding/Home Maintenance Fund. It wasn't really a necessary expense, but the tree was oversized for our yard and I really want to plant some lilac bushes back there!

Bonus Material
A friend of mine sent me this really neat article titled All In A Days Work. Definitely a must read! I've always felt that we Americans are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to work/play balance. I thought this article made a good argument for a shorter work week. What do you think? Does anyone have a plan for getting American employers to implement this? Do we all threaten to move to France or Norway? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Got Milk?

Photo by muffet

I posted a couple of weeks ago wondering if I should switch at least partly to powdered milk. I got some great comments and someone said that powdered milk prices vary by region, so I decided to price it at my local store (ok, it was Walmart).

What I found out was that powdered milk is actually more expensive than "real" milk in Wisconsin! I guess it makes sense since I live in the Dairy State, but I was pretty surprised. A gallon of milk here costs $2.79. A box of powdered milk is $6.98 and makes 8 quarts (2 gallons, per my husband!). That means that powdered milk would be $3.49/gallon.

I guess that decides that!

Milk and Miscellaneous

Milk
I wrote a post last week mentioning how much milk my husband and I go through. I received a couple of good comments about it. I thought I would mention that I do drink water, as well, though not as much as I should. I tend to drink more water in the summer when I often have an actual craving for it. In the winter, I crave the creaminess of milk. Still, I should work on this one!

Also, someone mentioned mixing half real milk with half powdered milk. I'm a little leery of liking that since skim milk is already so watered down. The comment did make me think, though, about mixing up powdered milk for baking. Does anyone do this? Can you taste the difference? Is powdered milk a lot less expensive than real milk?

Miscellaneous
The CVS and Walgreens rebates are finally paying off. I felt like I was spending a lot of money during the first month, but now I'm reaping the rewards by paying for everything with Extra Care Bucks and my Walgreens gift card. Check out the stuff I got today! I paid about $1 out of pocket, the rest was paid for with coupons, ECB and my gift card!

The Budget-Busting Meme

I've noticed that there's a meme going around asking people to list their top 5 budget busters, so I thought I should join in the fun!

1. Vacations
Being newlyweds, my husband and I are still working on "frugalizing" our vacations (I think I just made up a word!). So far, our biggest issue seems to be that we vacation where friends are living and then take them out to eat. This is going to be our big expense with the vacation we're taking this weekend to Raleigh, NC and Washington DC. We'll be staying with a friend for two of the nights (which saves money), but we'll be going out to eat a lot more because of that. We're going to try to be a little more frugal than the last time we visited this friend. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Also at issue has been the number of vacations we've taken. We're working on that one, too. :)

2. Milk
My husband and I love milk, and we drink a lot of it. I buy about 4 gallons of milk a week just for the two of us! The good thing is that we drink less soda because of our love of milk. The bad thing is that milk is more expensive than soda. This is a budget buster I can live with since I'm pretty sure we'd drink more sugary drinks if we didn't give ourselves free rein with the milk.

3. Bath and Body Products
This one is all me. I like the Bath and Body Works shower gels, lotions, and hand soap that have the same scent, and Bath and Body Works isn't exactly the cheapest option out there! I combat this budget buster by trying to only buy what I need when I need it, and to watch for sales and coupons. I also add some water to the products when they near the empty mark to help them last longer.

4. Scrapbooking Supplies
Another one that is completely my fault! If I could own every scrapbooking sticker that Hobby Lobby sells, I probably would :) I try to keep this one under control by only going to Hobby Lobby when I need something in particular. I also try to go when the scrapbooking supplies are on sale.

5. Tools
Like many men, my husband loves his tools. We're working on a bathroom remodel, so we've bought quite a few tools since we've been married. The nice thing about tools is that once you have them, they should last a long time. I feel like we're in the "acquiring" stage now. I'm hoping we'll soon move to the "maintenance" stage of tool ownership. Considering the look of awe and wonder on my husband's face every time we walk past the tool section at Home Depot, that might be wishful thinking. ;)
I'm a very strong proponent of quality when it comes to tools, though. I always encourage my husband to buy the high quality tool once he's informed me that he can't possibly live without *insert tool here*. We also agree to have a large tool purchase (like a power tool) become his birthday or Christmas present to save some money (and frustration on my part). It works for us!

Here are some other answers to the budget-buster meme:
What Busts Mrs. Micah's Budget
Mommy Gets PAID's Budget Busters

Now it's your turn!

...Ok, So I Lied

It's confession time! I told you two weeks ago that I was giving up on CVS Pharmacy. That was before I read about this deal at Money Saving Mom. I couldn't help myself, I had to check it out!

I stopped by CVS on my way to the grocery store and, what do you know, they actually had the deals I was looking for!

Here's what I got:

This is how it worked:

2 Covergirl Foundations: $18.98

1 Pepcid EZ Chews: $7.99

-$1.00 Covergirl coupon

-$9.49 Buy one, Get one free Covergirl coupon

-$2.00 Pepcid coupon

-$5.00 CVS $5 off $15 coupon

=$10.58 with sales tax

In return I got $17 in Extra Care Bucks plus I have a mail in rebate for the Pepcid EZ Chews that will net me $5.09 after postage. I spent $10.50 and have $22 to spend later.

I couldn't resist!

I'm Giving Up On CVS

For the past couple of weeks, I've been checking out a lot of blogs on saving money and getting good deals on my household shopping. I've discovered that drug stores like CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens can provide some nice free-after-rebate items and other good deals if you do it right.

There are a ton of Walgreens in my area, so I've been having a lot of fun finding all the freebies and other good deals at Walgreens. There are, however, no Rite-Aids in my area and only one CVS.

After reading sites like Be Thrifty Like Us, I *heart* CVS, and Money Saving Mom, I decided last month to check the local CVS out. It's on the other side of town and not very convenient for me, so I went there when I was in the area for other errands. I went in the middle of March and noticed that all of the "freebies" were gone. Not too surprising, I guess.

I went back to CVS this past Saturday because I had found out that Extra Care Bucks on Softsoap were printing early. I was able to find and buy some Softsoap and got $9.98 in Extra Care Bucks! I was pretty excited.

Today, the April freebies started. I went to CVS after work and they were completely out of everything that was a really good deal. I was pretty bummed. I guess that's what happens when you have one CVS for about 150,000 people. I used up my $9.98 in Extra Care Bucks on some groceries and went home dejected.

So, that's my story and that is why I'm giving up on CVS, for now at least. If I find out about any more good deals that are printing out before being advertised, I'll still probably head over there to pick them up. I'll stick to Walgreens, though, for my monthly fix of freebies :)

Should I Declutter?

I have been reading a neat blog, Unclutterer, and it has gotten me really thinking about all of the "stuff" in my house.

I used to live in a 679 square foot house that literally had no closets in it. Although I longed for closet space, one of the things I liked about the house was that I couldn't bring anything into it without getting rid of something else to make room for the new item.

Last summer, I got married and moved into my husband's 1650 square foot 3-bedroom home. It's a beautiful house (that's it above), and I especially love that there is a ton of built-in storage.

After I moved in, we had a huge rummage sale and got rid of all of our "doubles". Our house is now pretty uncluttered; in fact, we have empty drawers and shelves! Even so, I feel like we could really get rid of a lot of excess stuff.

How do you get the ambition to declutter when your house is more than big enough for all of your possessions? Do you even bother? Any advice?

ps- We don't want to downsize since we're hoping to have kids in a couple of years.