My Bargain Barstools!

I finally found some barstools for our new house. I had been looking but hadn't found anything I liked in our price range. When my MIL was here this last week we did manage to escape the house for a few hours one day and found these at Shopko. I love them! The best part is they were 50% off and the cushions match our furniture perfectly....same color and same fabric. Anyway, I thought I would share a pic. Hopefully the kids will use the bar more now to eat and do projects and not the dining room table. Because of the price, we were able to buy 4 so there will be no fighting over who gets to sit at the bar....yea!

Bring on the savings!

So...I have been checking out a few money saving blogs and getting tips on how to use coupons. I already know how but I wanted some ideas of where to get more. So I gathered up some coupons mainly printed off the web and went off to Walgreen's this morning with my flyer in hand. I guess it is a challenge for me to see how much I can get for free. Anyway, the above picture is what I ended up with. Over $100 worth before the sale price and after coupons and the rebates it cost $15.75. That includes the auctomatic shower cleaner which I am not to sure about but what the heck it was free and 8 bags of Halloween candy that I will put away for trick-or-treating. The neighborhood we are in is pretty popular on Halloween so I needed to stock up. I might even have Brian hide it so the kids or I won't think we need to get into it before Oct. 31st ;o) So I was pretty impressed with my trip to Walgreen's. I might have to try this out weekly....it is only a couple blocks from our house which is nice too. If any of you want the links to some of the sites I found let me know and I will post them. Happy bargain shopping!

Kids eat free!!

With Y2.008K approaching (that is what Brian is calling the failing economy) we have decided to try to tighten up the belt (the budget belt that is!) I have been trying to think of ways to save and was inspired by a couple things on Oprah this week. She has a show featuring a bargain shopping family this week and I was reminded of a few things. Firstly, they talked about restaurants that have "Kids Eat Free" deals. So I looked up the restaurants in our town and I found 3. Mondays and Thursdays IHOP has a kids eat free deal from 4pm-8pm. On Tuesdays, Denny's offers it from 4pm-10pm and lastly Perkins offers free meals for kids on Wednesday from 5pm-9pm. In most cases you get 2 free kids meals per adult which would cover our family. Granted these aren't our favorite places to eat but if we want to go out on a budget this is a good option. If you want to find places in your city, click here. Secondly, I learned that our Walmart matches any advertised prices so I can go through the Wednesday grocery ads and plan my meals based on what is on sale, make a list, and then go to just one store to buy all of the groceries. I just have to make a list with the sale prices and Walmart will match it...a good savings of time and gas not to have to drive all over town! I am also going to start being more vigilant about using coupons. Let the savings begin!!

Happy Birthday to my Bubba!

Yes I know it's cheesy...but that's what I call him! Today Brian is celebrating his 37th birthday....we have nothing too exciting planned...he will be helping our electrician friend wire our new house and then spend the rest of the day planning some more for church tomorrow. It has been a crazy week around here between house stuff, church stuff and just plain real life. Brian did take 2 days off at the beginning of the week to go hunting with Riley but came back to 98 e-mails and a wife that had 50,000+ words to say because she had been home with the kids for 2 days ;o) The kids also made him a cake last night and the Beeson's popped in for a visit. We had cake, visited for a minute and then fell into bed we were so tired. I also got Brian 4 magazine subscription for his birthday...I have been catching him reading my "Better Homes and Gardens" and "Family Fun" and thought he needed some magazines he would enjoy. I order from a company Best Deal Magazines and they always have great deals. I got his subscriptions for less than $4 each for 1 year...3 hunting magazines and 1 business magazine. We are soooo looking forward to the house being done...this building stuff is fun but exhausting! I'll post some new pictures soon of all of the updates. We are hoping to start siding the outside next week and start drywall pretty soon too. Dave just told us we will probably be ready to paint the interior the 1st of November....so we will be planning a painting party...consider yourself invited ;o)! Well I need to go for now....I am going to help with the wiring too...gotta build up that sweat equity!