Cash Experiment, Reporting In

I did go to Walgreens yesterday. I was hoping my gift card would be recharged from my rebate purchases last month so that I wouldn't have to spend any OOP (out of pocket), but it wasn't. Hopefully it will be recharged soon so I can use it for the diaper deal this week!

So because I am trying to use only cash for my grocery purchases this month, I dipped into my grocery money to pay for my Wags run. I got two bottles of lotion, a bottle of conditioner and some spray gel, 4 tubes of toothpaste for the toothpaste project, some prunes, apricots, dried cranberries, and yogurt covered raisins. I spent $5.44 OOP. How did I do that? Coupons, of course! I used 5 coupons from the newspaper and 3 printables, and I received $7.50 in RRs from the lotion and toothpaste that I used in a separate transaction to pay for the dried fruits.

I decided to include my Walgreens and CVS purchases in my grocery budget so that I make sure my deal-hunting at these stores doesn't spiral out of control. It makes me stop and decide which deals are worth it for me to go after. There are always SO many "deals" every week that I could drive myself crazy and end up spending MORE to save more, instead of spending LESS and getting more. There's a difference!

Print More Huggies Coupons!

The save $3 and save $5 Huggies coupons were reset! So even if you printed off these coupons last week, you should be able to print off 2 more of each coupon! Click through to my blog and you can print them from my blue coupon bar. Remember to print off 2 of each coupon! These are slightly different from the coupons that were up last week. Last week's coupons were for any natural fit or gentle care product. They changed the wording on the new coupons to say any diaper product. So the coupons from last week can be used on wipes or other products, but these can only be used on diapers. Still GREAT coupons! :-)

A great place to use these coupons will be Walgreens next week. Starting March 8th, they have the buy $25 of certain Kimberly-Clark products, get $10 in RRs. Huggies Gentle Care diapers (those are the supreme kind) are listed as one of the products and are $10 each. If you were able to print off 2 copies of the $5 coupon last week and 2 more copies just now, you could do the following:

Buy 3 packages Huggies Gentle Care, $30
Use 3 $5/1 coupons, spend $15 OOP
Get $10 RRs back to spend later
That's $5 (after RRs) for 3 packs of diapers!! CRAZY!!

BUT, it gets even better! Because these are Huggies, save your receipt and submit it to Caregivers Marketplace for .75 back per pack (you need to have 5 packs before you submit for a rebate, so save your receipts this year). You'd get another $2.25 back on those 3 packs, effectively spending $2.75 for 3 packs of supreme Huggies! WOW! It just doesn't get any better than that! :-) Hurry and print off your coupons!!

Cash: An Experiment

I decided to try an experiment this month: using cash to pay for my groceries instead of a credit card. For years, I've heard the argument that people who use credit cards spend more than people who use cash. We pay off our credit card bill each month, though, so I hadn't paid much attention.

I like couponing and we already try to live pretty frugally and within our means, so I already keep our grocery bill pretty low. But if I am more intentional and use cash to pay for my purchases instead of just swiping the credit card (which is admittedly much easier!), would I pay even less?

A couple of years ago we went to "the envelope system" with our eating out money, and we've found that we spend a lot less and are more careful about how we spend it, now that we see how much physical cash is left in the envelope.

So this month I will use only cash to pay for all my grocery purchases. I will keep track of my spending and we'll see how it goes! I also want to keep track of how many and the types of coupons I use, especially at the grocery store (just because I'm curious!)

This week at the grocery store I spent $40.30 over two transactions. I used seven printable coupons and three peelies I found on products at the store to get them for free after doubling! I also went to CVS, but I didn't spend any money OOP because I used gift cards. There I used six printable coupons, three that came in the mail, one that I won online in a sweeps (and then got in the mail), and one from the newspaper; 11 total. I might still try to hit Walgreens this week, but we'll see.

What do you do for gorcery purchases? Do you use cash or credit? I know Money Saving Mom uses cash, and she stays really true to her budget each week, like within a dollar or two, so I thought I would try it! We'll see how it works out, and if I end up saving even more!

Wise Words for Moms

I like to use God's words more than my own as much as possible when I discipline. This way my children know that my authority is not my own, it is from God. I have a great resource hanging right on my refrigerator that I'd like to share with you. It's called Wise Words for Moms by Ginger Plowman.

I like it because it has listed several situations, like complaining, defiance, disobedience, fear, arguing, tattling, whining, and others. After each behavior is listed a couple of heart probing questions, a reproof (or "put off") verse, and an encouragement (or "put on") verse, as well as some additional verses that pertain to the situation.

For example, for complaining, one of the questions is "Rather than complaining, what can you be thankful for in this situation?" Then it gives the verse "Do everything without complaining or arguing." (Philippians 2:14--everyone in my house has this verse memorized!) The "put on" verse is about thankfulness: "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

One thing I like about this chart is it reminds us that we need to be doing more than just telling our kids what they are doing wrong, we need to be filling them up with what they should be doing instead. I have it handy on the fridge. I don't refer to it all the time, but it's nice to know it's there when I need a refresher!

Ginger Plowman has the chart for sale on her website for $3.99. It is listed at $4 on Amazon, or you could get it used.

CVS

I had a good week at CVS. I hadn't been in a few weeks, so I had some ECBs expiring that I had to use up. Here's what I got:

Dr. Pepper - FREE after coupon printed online
2 Cascade - $2.99 each, used 2 $1/1 cpns
Planters Peanuts - FREE with a coupon I won playing the Kraft sweeps in January
ACT mouthwash - .99, got .99ECBs
Aquafresh toothpaste - $1.49, used $1.25 cpn printed online
Fusion Razor - $7.99, used $4 cpn, got $4 ECBs (free after ECBs)
EAS chocolate bar - FREE with a coupon I got in the mail
6 Zone Perfect Bars - These ended up being .70 total after cpns printed online
2 NasoGel - $7.99 each, used 2 $2/1 cpns printed online, got $16 ECBs with a raincheck (better than free after ECBs!)

PLUS, I scanned my card at the magic coupon machine and it gave me a $5/$20 purchase that I was able to use to sweeten the deal!

Subtotal: $48.60
Used $30.51 in coupons
OOP: $18.09 (before I used my ECBs and gift cards to pay)
ECBs earned: $20.99!!

I didn't actually spend any money OOP because of the gift cards. I had earned a $5 CVS gift card by doing surveys online and I won an American Express gift card by playing the Nabisco sweeps in December. But that's another post. . . !

Off the Paci (or fingers)

How do you wean your child off the pacifier, or off of sucking their thumb or fingers?

I can tell you what has worked for us for our past three children, and what we are currently doing with F, who is 9 months old. Once we decide they are old enough and don't need to depend on the pacifier (or sucking their thumb/fingers) as much, we start to make it into a game. When they put the pacifier or their fingers in their mouth at a time they don't really need it, we pull it out and say with a smile, "you don't need that right now!" Here's what I mean:

(Sorry about my annoying baby voice!)

We usually begin the process of weaning them off of the pacifier (or their fingers) before they turn one year old. We've found that the earlier we start the process, the easier it goes. This doesn't mean that they need to be off the pacifier completely, but that they aren't using it all day and aren't dependent on it. We start the process as above, and then start limiting the pacifier to in the crib, in the carseat, and in the diaper bag (to be used by church nursery workers or in emergencies!).

Some say it's harder to break the habit of sucking on thumbs or fingers since you can't take them away. It's true that you can't take them away completely, but we had a finger-sucker and we used the above process every time we saw her fingers in her mouth. "You don't need those, no you don't! You're fine right now!" and then redirect them or distract them with a toy or something else to put in their mouth (like Cheerios). Again, the younger they are when you start this process, the easier it will go!

I am not against pacifiers in any way, in fact I was glad when F finally started taking one, but I also don't want my kids to be dependent on it for too long. Babies can benefit from sucking on something when they are younger, but I've found that the need for non-nutritive sucking seems to decrease around 9 months of age. Children need to learn how to soothe themselves eventually, and you want their mouth and teeth to develop normally, too. It also helps them to develop clearer speech when they aren't talking through a pacifier or around their fingers.

If you'd like to share a tip or have a parenting question you'd like me to try to answer (not that I'm an expert!), please leave a comment! I'll do my best to help, or maybe others can help, too!

GREAT Huggies Coupons!

QUICK! Check out the my blue coupon bar on the top of my blog! (You'll have to click through to my blog if you are subscribed through a reader or email.) There are two new HOT coupons for Huggies:

• Save $5 on one Huggies Gentle Care product
• Save $3 on one Huggies Natural Fit product
  

Print out these two HIGH Value Huggies coupons quickly, before they are gone! You should be able to print each one off twice. I've never seen such high value Huggies coupons before. Remember to save your receipts and submit them to Caregivers Marketplace for a .75 refund per jumbo pack. Yay for saving on diapers!