New Coupon Binder

I am SO excited. I'd seen this binder at Target a couple weeks back and it was on a "back to school" sale for $12. I thought that was a pretty good price, but since I didn't NEED one, I passed it up. I really liked that it had a shoulder strap. I hate having to balance a purse, a binder, car keys, and your purchases! So I was out running some errands the other day and noticed some school supplies were 75% off at Target, and among them was my binder! I got this bad boy for $3!!!! Can you hear the angels singing? I also love that it's bright blue.

It's set up the same way as my old one, with the baseball card holders and tabs. I did have to add a zipper pouch to keep my scissors and calculator in, since it didn't have one, but those were on sale for 48 cent!!!

Now...time to go shopping!!!

How do you stay on plan?

It seems like this time of year everyone is busy with back to school, or vacations before school starts back, camps, and family reunions. For us, David is leaving this week for a short deployment, and I'll be heading to my parents house for most of the month for both my brother and sister's birthdays. My brother will also be coming home from his deployment!!!

So with all these great things going on, I've been thinking about about how I can stay on budget and still enjoy the last bits of summer. I've come up with a few things I think will help.

• As always, before I made my budget, I sat down with the calendar and filled out all the events for the month. Then I budgeted according to what's going on. I think it's extremely important to base the budget on the events of the month, otherwise you are bound to go off plan.
• I won't be home on the next payday, I so I made sure to have a copy of the budget in my purse, on my laptop, and even downloaded to my phone. That way I always know my budgeted amounts.
• I also have alerts since to my phone via text from my bank. It lets me know the balances of my account daily, as well as any transactions that have posted. This is a GREAT help, and also gives me such peace of mind. It's great security because if something were to be incorrect or stolen from my account I would know very soon and can take the proper steps.
• Again, I can't say enough how the envelope system has helped us! We will definitely be continuing it.
• I've also printed off, or gathered coupons I know I'll use while traveling. For example I've earn some free 20 oz. Coke coupons from www.mycokerewards.com and also free jerky and candy bar coupons. These will be so helpful while traveling!

These are just a few things I hope will help me stay on plan while away from home this month. If you have any, please comment. I'd love to hear your ideas!

6/24/09 Deals

I haven't done much shopping in the last few days. It's been well over 100 degrees every afternoon, and frankly, that's just too hot the leave the house unless you need to! On top of that, my very energetic bulldog has to stay outside when we aren't home and there is no way I could leave him in this heat. So he and I just hang out in the air conditioned house and read blogs all day, and LOVE it. I have run a few errands after David gets home in the evenings (so he can stay with Bear). On Tuesday I ran to Walgreens to drop off my ink to get refilled. It cost me $12.99 to get a full ink cartridge, compared to $25-$30 to buy a new one. It was the first time I'd ever tried it, and I am very pleased. I've heard that Walgreens sometimes has coupons in their flyers for ink refills, so I'll be on the lookout for those. Total savings from that was anywhere from $12-$17, but I won't had it to my weekly savings since it's an ongoing price with them. While there I did the Coke deal, and got 4-12 packs for $13, plus $3 Register Rewards, plus those 4 packs will earn me 40 http://www.mycokerewards.com/ points! I also cashed in my rain check for a free Walgreens cloth bag. I LOVE those bags, they hold so much more then a plastic bag!
We also used a free code at Redbox to rent "New In Town", it was cute. I just love Renee Z. and Harry Connick Jr.
Yesterday I received 2 coupons for free Velveeta microwaveable cups, and one BOGOF coupon. David LOVES these cups, and so do I. They are quick, store well in the pantry, are great to take to work, taste just like the real thing...and you toss the bowl when you're done! NO dirty dishes!! Try them out, they are fantastic.
I have been tweaking our plan for the Envelope System we'll be starting on July 1st, but I think I'll make a new post about that.
Take care, and have a great day!!

Total Weekly Savings using coupons and codes: $31.56