Sunday ads SOMETIMES work on Saturday Evenings at CVS! Check out these deals!

My friend, Kristina, came down from Winston Salem. She is one of the best couponers I know. You can visit her coupon blog @ coocoo4coupons-couponmom.blogspot.com. I met her in my junior year of highschool and adore the girl to pieces! Be sure to follow her on blogspot because she posts great coupon matchups, ways to get freebies, and great coupons!

Anyway, she told me that sometimes CVS will run their Sunday ad specials on Saturday evenings. She confirmed the local cvs did so and so we met up to get our coupon on :) I spent $2.37 out of pocket (taxes included) on $20.46 in merchandise AND made back $4 extrabucks! (one $1, and one $3). So it's like I made money off of everything technically:) It would have been even cheaper but the tooth paste was supposed to be $2.77 & earn $2.77 in extrabucks, but it was running on the Saturday sales price of $1.97 and they didn't know how to adjust it (no problem) it would of been totally fee only sales tax out of pocket for everything but I am thrilled.

Here is what I got (two sep. transactions)
NOTE: click on image to enlarge in seperate window

Tide store sale : $5.99
Colgate 6 oz. tooth paste: $1.97
Ivory Soap 3 pack : .99

Coupons used:
$1 off Tide, P&G 110 book (courtesy of Kristina)
$1 off Ivory (making it free) from the p&g mailer booklet
$1 off colgate - coupon recieved in mail
$4 extrabuck from last week's Dove promo
$1.99 extrabuck from last weeks bubbles promo (the rounded it down to 1.95)

Subtotal : FREEEE
paid .08% sales tax on original pre coupon total
= I paid .72 cent out of pocket AND made back $1 extrabuck on the Tide :)

NEXT TRANSACTION
STORE PROMO (SPEND $10 on selected cascade/mr. clean product earn $3 extrabucks)

Cascade 75 oz. dishwasher detergent: $4
Mr. Clean 4 oz. multi purpose cleaner: $3
Mr. Clean 4 oz. multi purpose cleaner: $3

Coupons used:
.75 cent off mr. clean (your home mailer)
$1 off mr. clean - p&g booklet
$1 off any cascade - p&g 110 book
$5 extrabuck from beauty club promo print out (these are easy to make)
$1 extrabuck from another purchase

Total out of pocket= $1.65 taxes included
Made $3 extrabucks off this transaction

Again, the colgate tooth paste would of been 2.77 earning a 2.77 extrabuck (which I had planned to use to make my next transaction totally free), but it did ring up as Saturday's price (prob bc the computer recognized 1.97 (saturdays sale) as lower and auto accepted that. But since I paid for with my extrabucks it was free anyway. I'll be sure to go back tomorrow and score that free tooth paste though :)

So for $2.37 out of pocket, I made $4 store credit back! What a great shopping trip. Can't wait to see what coupons are in tomorrow's paper so I can roll these over for more freebies :) Gotta love CVS!

Possible Pottery Barn Carport Addition Make Over?

When I recieved the Pottery Barn catalog that came along with my bedding order weeks ago, I was eager to thumb through it. Truth is I could stare at it seven ways to Sunday and still only be able to afford something in there once in a blue moon.

But as I was looking, I noticed something, many of the photos featured wood beams and wood work through out.

(Image copy right Pottery Barn, this is not my image).
The above photo is the one I want to copy, but instead of the dining theme I want to do a living/gathering room theme in the same colors.(By the way, if anyone knows this color PLEASE message me). I know PB uses Benjamin Moore colors and they generally tell you which color they use in which photo but this one didn't have the color. I am thinking it is Hazy Skies? I could be wrong..

Here is another imagine in the catalog I loved, and this one has beams colored like ours, ooooh decisions, decisions. Which would you do?

I am torn because I like the cool calm colors of the first image. However my dad, a real estate broker advises against painting brick because people like it exposed. I kind of have to wonder if he is thinking of former clients in the 90's as opposed to clients that are now my age and like the painted look? hmmm...

Then I got to thinking..MY DEN has similar woodwork! My den is actually a carport addition to the 65 rancher. The previous owners had it set up as a bar, but they took the bar with them and left us with a very long room that had no real practical use..UNTIL NOW :)
This is the den as it was when we purchased it pretty much:

Four years ago (or more) I painted it red:


It's pretty much been the mix match of all rooms, computer room, the clutter room, whatever you want to call it, it just hasn't been useful and barely gets entered other than when we sit on the desktop computer.

It has an exposed brick wall with more wood work:

(note the wood is lighter than the last photo)

Then there is the issue with the ugly builders grade carpet. I had the man of the house cut a small section up to see what we were working with below (I was praying it was anything but concrete or press board subfloor - it is a car port addition after all). I was PLEASED to see HARDWOOD!!!

Okay, don't get all excited for me just yet, because while I did find the slats between the boards, we didn't pull it up enough to see if it was hardwood like the rest of the home, or if it was just plywood. EITHER WAY, I am going to lightly sand and stain it VERY dark.

Yeah, I know staining plywood? TRUST ME, it's solid it will be nice:) even if I have to go in with a router and carve the lines out myself to make it look like the hardwood planks, I TOTALLY WILL lol. When you are on a budget and have little money to do a makeover, you just have to improvise.

The room is large and a low grade carpet would be a minimum of 500 bucks PLUS additional for labor, same with hardwood. I figure, what have I got to loose to sand and stain this bad boy. Atleast if nothing else, the ugly carpet is gone and the wood floor will be sanded, stained, and sealed and last a couple year until we can afford something else. :)

Super Doubles @ Harris Teeter - all this for $3.87 tax included :)

I haven't been couponing in a week. One, I have more than enough body wash and thing at the moment. Two, because my only storage for these items would consist of the hall closet.

AND, well, if you've ever had the pleasure of living in a 60's ranch style home, then you know as good as I do, the space is just not happening. hehe.

But, that being said, I don't take my little home with one bathroom for granted EVER. It's a roof over our head and it is ours. Well, it's the mortgage companies but in 23 years it will be ours ;)

Anyway, my initial plan was to get up at 5 am and get the kids ready to be at Harris Teeter by 6 am. Super Doubles (coupon doubling up to 1.98 coupon face value) starts at 7 am. I wanted to go early enough to beat the super couponers before they cleared the shelves. However, after cleaning until 2 am, then being suckered into watching my dvr'ed tv shows, the Sand Man didn't visit me until 3 am.

My alarm must have gone off, and either I or Doug turned it off. OOPS :( I got up at 7 when my son did.

I eventually did get out, but until 11. By then, most of the things that were on sale and would of been dirt cheap were already gone.

I did manage to get some cleaning supplies MUCH NEEDED and milk for dirt cheap:

The coupons I used were (3) 1.50 off lysol wipes (facebook printables), they allowed me to print 2 and one was mailed to me via snail mail.
(1) $1 off any two lysol toilet bowl cleaners (from the sunday paper a few weeks back)
(2) $2 off smart balance milk (also from the Sunday paper that week i purchased two papers

The lysol toilet bowl cleaner was on store sale BUY ONE GET ONE FREE for $2.99 for two. Using a $1 off 2 coupon that doubled this made it 99 cent for both or roughly 50 cent each :)

The lysol wipes (35 ct) were on sale for buy one get one free for $3.39 for 2.
I bought 6 @ retail of $10.17 used (3) 1.50 off coupons that doubled to 3 off a piece (so $9 off) made these 1.17 for all 6 (or 20 cent a piece).

My smart balance coupons didn't double b/c they were over 1.98, but the milk was 2 for $5 and having (2) $2 off coupons gave me $4 in savings making them 50 cent each :)

Any day I can get that much stuff for only $3.87 tax included, makes me a happy camper. Now if only I could figure out how to get groceries super cheap :) Good thing we budget and do it ourselves around the house, or we'd be even broker than we already are :/

A semi master bedroom reveal :)

You may remember the bedroom in the before stages via these links:
Farm house bed
&
Master Bedroom Makeover
Check out the links to see all before & after photos. I started with a solid wood dresser purchased off craigslist. I paid 60 bucks for it, and sanded it down. I painted it with semi gloss Olympic brand paint found at lowes. I used old kitchen floral cabinet pulls from the previous owners and spray painted them oil rubbed bronze. I now have a dresser that would cost me an easy 350+ bucks anywhere else for roughly 80 bucks dresser and supplies included. :)

We visited ana-white.com and used her farmhouse queen bed build plans and spend 250 in lumber and screws to built a solid HUGE piece of furniture. I used the same white Olympic semi gloss paint to paint the bed. (I used an old credit card to slip btwn. the head and food board panels to make sure the paint didn't cake between the crevices). So we have a one thousand dollar Pottery Barn type bed for only under $300!

I painted the walls with wal mart's colorplace brand paint and it only cost 12 bucks for the can.

I did splurge however, and bought the Seinna Paisley duvet, two euro shams and one standard sham from Pottery Barn online. I decided the down insert was out of my budget and bought a 60 dollar one from walmart.com.

We plan to build a side storage bench in place of the nightstand and I hope to find some oversized Pottery Barn inspired lanterns for the dresser. I have no idea what I'll put over my bed but I have a few hints of what I could try.

I am in love with my new bedroom. Bare in mind we have a 65 rancher so space is small, but i am absolutely in LOVE! :)

Atleast it's Friday..

One of the only good photos I took of my son. He had to have his sock monkey :) Maybe this will look good in his sock monkey bedroom once I get it all done.

My son turned 2 on April 11th. It has flown by so fast. I don't know if it's because I am now a mom of 2 or if the years just fly as I get older. At any rate, so much has been going on, that as much as I love to take photos, I didn't even take his photos. UNTIL, yesterday that is.

We didn't do a party, not even a small get together. I feel horrible for it, but we have been so busy. I am just glad at 2 he doesn't understand yet.

When I had him in 2009 he was born the day before Easter. I figure we'll just celebrate his birthday right there on Easter. The swing set I ordered @ walmart came last week, it just needs to be assembled. I also gave him a wooden train stacker from target.

My son is obsessed with trains. He is not into much else, but he loves trains.

He's still behind most kids his age with speaking, but he understands everything he is told or asked. The pediatrician isn't giving me any answers on why he may be delayed. In fact she seemed to care less, she shoved an autism form in front of me and had me check off the small signs.

She didn't even go over it in front of me, or the entire time I was there. //sigh//

I don't know, sometimes I just wish people were more compassionate about their job, especially when it pertains to other peoples number one's as a parent - their children.

I assume his hearing is fine as he understands when I ask him things and can point out objects when asked with out a problem. But as far as speaking goes. He says the same cluster of words all day "choo choo train, sissy (for my daughter), mama, hi mama, dada, dog" There are of course others but generally he only says those.

I've been speaking to him and pointing things out since he was a baby. So he at least recognizes things. I even bought those huge picture books to help him try and speak. Still, he shows no interest in actually talking.

He is still loving, sweet and at times overly dramatic and embarrassing in public with his tantrums, but I don't think he is autistic, I just wonder why he can't speak as well as other 2 year olds. He was only born 3 weeks early, so I don't believe there is any correlation.

Then again, I am told boys move slower in developmental milestones. So I am hoping that is all it is.

In the meantime I adore this little boy to peaces, he is such a blessing to me and I am so lucky to be his mom - even on the very stressful days :)

Yesterday MiMi had off so I took her to David's Bridal to try on flower girl dresses for my cousin's wedding in September. The associates were very friendly and more than helpful, they weren't pushy and understood I was only coming in to have her try on dresses so I could photograph them to show the bride to be :) Most we tried on were way to big, but I wanted to get an idea. Ultimatley we narrowed it to two but ended up picking this one:







Love this on her! love the style it's perfect! My only gripe is the fabric is not silk or shiney it's a polyester type fabric, but still it's so very beautiful! I am going to wait a week before ordering it incase the bride (or we) change our minds because this one was also beautiful, but way too big, so I will go back tomorrow and try it in on a smaller size just to be sure because it was so gorgeous:



What do you think, dear readers?
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Too close too home, Saturday's tornado in Fayetteville.

Saturday here, started off the same as it usually does. The kids were busy cluttering the house with toys, I was busy cleaning and engaging in watching the man mow the yard. Then the all to familiar weather service alerts started to blare across the tv.

Yes, they are loud and obnoxious and even interupt your viewing pleasure, but they are also wonderful in saving lives.

So at first the tornados were in Hoke County, and scattered parts of NC, I figured being all of 5 miles from Hoke, I would let D know to come on in incase one came our way. He blew it off, and I sat in the hallway for maybe 10 minutes before my children (particularly my youngest) had other plans.

And then D came back inside and the power flickered 8 times before I said, "okay go ahead and shut the circuit breaker off so nothing gets shorted". I know you are probably thinking, huh? Well, being in an old house, EVERY time the power flickers multiple times it shorts our a/c unit and we have to hire someone to come re connect it. ;)

Then the rain came. A LOT, and it was loud, and moments later, NOTHING. It was an eerie quiet. Everything was still, not a bird in the sky, not a single movement of the plants that surround our home. It was as if the world stopped for a brief moment in time and all was calm.

Little did we know behind us right down the same road that leads to the main entrance into our neighborhood, our neighbors a mile down were being ravashed with a nasty tornado.

Again, the power was out. I went on facebook mobile and seen a friend post a photo of their town home demolished. I thought, "oh did this really just happen"?

After a few moments we got in the car and went in that general direction to see how bad it was.

And it was. It was very bad. The police had blocked off roads going into Ft. Bragg and the road leading to our neighborhood. Stop lights were out, debris was strewn, trees on top of cars, cars in trees, houses completely leveled.
Video of destruction within walking distance of our neighborhood
In that moment I was thankful that by the grace of God, the tornado was so close to our home and it missed us. The calm before the storm came but the storm went right down the road. And during this moment of careful reflection I couldn't help but feel heart broken for those that have suddenly went from one moment living in their homes to now having nothing but shards of glass, and broken trusses and framework for the place they once called home.

It was a quiet ride back home, and our power remained off the entire day and the following day, and we lost our perishables, but that was nothing to the destruction and total devastation that others down the road faced.

My heart and prayers are with those effected by this tornado on Saturday. To give you an idea of the destruction, I found this video on youtube, of soldiers down the road from base who were presumably caught up in it and went to help. Though the video is wobbly, it gives you that adrenaline rush seeing someone elses first hand perspective of the aftermath right after it happened. And whomever you are, you are very kind to have gone and helped others! Bless you!


here is the second video posted from the same user. To view this users youtube you can click on the video directly:

Farmhouse Bed, FINALLY 100% finished!

This has been such a long time in the making, but FINALLY I was able to get enough time kid free to finish the queen sized farmhouse bed up :) I LOVE IT!


Hopefully next week I'll do the room reveal. In the meantime, if you are interested in building this bed, please visit the beautiful, Ana White, @ Ana-White.com She has TONS of free furniture build plans! Folks like me, could NEVER afford this bed sticker price at PB's website, so it was nice to build it all for under 300 bucks tops when all was said and done.

We love her site so much, we even built the toddler farmhouse bed (see sock monkey room links to see it).

But, even though we built this ourselves, Ana still gave PB business because we then purchased our bedding from Pottery Barn's website and it wasn't cheap but we would of never bought it otherwise. :) Thanks Ana for all you do!!

Really? Just..ew..

So earlier today, I am excited because the mail man *er lady* pulls up and I know she has a package for MiMi. Before our financial crisis if you will, I spent some of my tax return to get her an American Girl Doll.

Yeah, I know, she his "spoiled" but trust me she's not. It's usually twice a year. The rest of the year we are too poor to do much of anything, so when I have the money, it is nice to spend it on her because she's a good kid, she doesn't throw tantrums, and for what it's worth she NEVER asks me for a thing.

Ethan, well, I have a feeling he will be opposite, he's still my heart though.

Anyway I bought the kids a pool Sunday when I was out with my friend Jen. We put it up Sunday and let them play. They had a lot of fun.


Doug added shock and chlorine to it and we called it a day.

Yesterday was Ethan's birthday but we will not celebrate it until the weekend, and then of course today is a full 2 days later and I am coming back in from getting the mail/package and I check the pool..it's all good, looks clean, the whole shabang.

20 minutes later Ethan and I are walking out the door to pick up Sissy from school and he is pointing at the pool saying "dog, dog". I am like "no, that's a pool". He is persistant, "dog, dog". So I look and find this:

Ew, and *shiver*. Apparently the fact I ran over a squirrel with my car Sunday (first road kill in 12 years) wasn't enough for me, one decided he'd kill himself by jumping into the kids pool.

Being that I was on the way to get my daughter, I figured I'd fish it out when I got home. So when I got back, I laid Ethan down for his nap and went to go collect the poor critter and it was turned another way. - My guess is the dog thought it was time for an afternoon snack. YUUUU-UUUCK!! I mean c'mon you couldn't wait for me to give you some kibble? sheesh.

Thankfully he was unsuccessful in his attempts to gobble critter mcfly, and I triple garbage bagged it and tossed it out. Now I'll wait for Doug to get home and dump the water and scrub it with bleach.

Oh motherhood. And please, critters, stay away from the house ;)

CVS - $6.58 for everything pictured, earned 5.99 back in extrabucks, EVERYTHING for 58 cent!!

Alright, so this was a great CVS week to roll your extrabucks, plus CVS was extra generous on the coupon machine; even printing high value coupons for items that were earning ecbs (extracare bucks)!!

I did two transactions to get all of this for $6.58 TAXES INCLUDED!!

The first transaction, was the biore pore strips & facial cleanser.
CVS had a promotion, (spend $15 in curel/biore get $4 extrabucks back).
So the pore strips were 7.50 & the facial cleanser was also 7.50.
SO $15 (which put me at my mark to earn $4 extracarebucks).
I had a buy one get one biore coupon from one of the Sunday paper inserts from last month, this brought my total down to 7.50
I also used a $2 off any biore product printable coupon from biore's facebook page
New total 5.50 + tax.
I used my $6 extracare buck I earned from last weeks transactions and only paid sales tax out of pocket :)

I made $4 off this transaction.

TRANSACTION 2 $6.58 (SALES TAX INCLUDED) OUT OF POCKET. Here is how:

*Miracle Bubbles = $1.99 (you will get $1.99 back in extrabucks at the end of your receipt)
* Dove body wash = $12 for 2 (you will get $4 extrabucks back on this transaction at the end of your receipt)
**CVS had a spend 12 earn 4 extrabucks on this body wash this week
*Old spice Fiji body was $4.99 each =$9.98 for both (no promotion)
*Essence of Beauty Anti Bacterial Hand Soap = $3.99

So my totals for everything before coupons was:
$27.96 (pre taxes)
(here are the coupon deductions and links if applicable if they are printable will be beside them)

$27.96 - $4 off $20 purchase coupon that printed for me at the CVS coupon center when I scanned my cvs card today
=$23.96

23.96- (two) $2 off dove body wash coupons that printed for me at the CVS coupon center today (so $4 off)
=$19.96

$19.96- buy one get one old spice body wash from the Sunday paper proctor and gamble insert from 2 weeks ago (-4.99)
=$14.97

$14.97 - $1 off dove internet printable coupon (found here: Save $1 on Dove)
=$13.97

$13.97-$3.99 (for Essence of Beauty FREE hand soap printable coupon for CVS beauty club members *to be a beauty club member is FREE, ask the CVS cashier to add your extra care card *also free* to the beauty club. They do this buy scanning it. You will also earn $5 for ever $50 spend PRE COUPON total. So say you spend $50 retail price but only pay $10 out of pocket after coupons, you will STILL get a $5 extra care buck b/c you hit that $50 target, and it will print out the NEXT DAY when you scan your card at the coupon center.*
To get this free coupon, go to this link on facebook:
FREE Essence of Beauty printable coupon product when you like this facebook page!!
& like the page, you will then get to print the coupon for a free item up to 3.99 value in this product line :)
=$9.98

$9.98-$5 extracare buck (from my spend $15 get $5 biore transaction above)

=$4.98
(now you have to add .08% sales tax on the pre coupon total of $27.96)
so after taxes my grand total was
ONLY $6.58 !!


AND at the end of my receipt I made $5.99 worth in extracare bucks
($1.99 for the bubbles & $4 for the Dove)

$6.58-$5.99 Makes it like getting it ALL for only 58 cent!!

NOT BAD :) or we'll just say all for $6.58 AND I have 5.99 to get more freebies either this week or next!

Not familiar with out to work the CVS system?? Follow this blog of mine for a step by step break down:
Another Daily Blog's How to Roll Extra Care Bucks & Get Freebies @ CVS

Painting the Farm House Bed :)

This is what I have been up to all day (4ish hours) haha. I finally decided when I painted our craigs list dresser white I would also do the bed white. It's just hard to get anything done around the house with two little ones and no outside help.

You will notice a ton of my projects come sporadically and take way longer then they should. But then again, I like to take my time on everything I do. I think white looks wonderful :)
Once the paint cures I will add one more coat and call it a day. Hopefully it all gets done this weekend, but my guess will be next. At 28 years old I'll finally have my dream bedroom :) And the 65 rancher is one step closer to being more ours.

All of this for $7.66 @ CVS

Alright, for $33.66 worth of product (after tax included), I paid only $17.66 out of pocket. At the end of my transaction I was given a $10 extrabuck, so this made it like getting EVERYTHING in this picture for ONLY $7.66 !!

Here is my receipt for the products purchased & coupon break down (NOTE: to enlarge this image just click on it, it will open in another window bigger).

This week I used 12.50 worth in extrabucks (one $7, one $3 & one $2.50) I had saved from the last two weeks. I also used a $5 off the purchase of $25 printable coupon that CVS emailed me for spring spending and to promote the fact that they would be printing your winter spending extrabucks at the coupon center! (You earn 2% of your quarterly spendings back in extra bucks 4x a year).

Here is the extrabuck that printed at the end of my transaction:

NOW, IF YOU DO NOT have extrabucks to ROLL this week, or are new to CVS (first sign up for the extra rewards card-it's FREE, register it online to get online coupons!) then the "spend $30 get $10 back on pictured Proctor & Gamble products" is a GREAT way to start with the rolling extrabucks this week! I have already checked and ALL the prices of the products pictured are ATLEAST $1 cheaper at CVS than Wal Mart's advertised prices this week! So, you may be thinking, "But, Jen, Wal Mart will price match". YES, dear readers Wal Mart DOES price match, however, will Wal Mart give you $10 in store credit back for spending $30? NOPE! So this is the week at CVS to stock up on toilet paper, laundry detergent AND paper towels, make that $10 back and roll it into other items that also earn extra bucks this week.

For example, with that $10 I just made, I will roll it on body wash and tooth paste pay NOTHING out of pocket for these items aka FREE, earn extrabucks BACK on those purchases and ROLL em next week:) Feel free to ask questions if you have any :)

Random Blogging...

Today started out as a lazy day. Everyone pretty much sat in their PJ's until noon. Even the kids ;/ I am the kind of person that loves a lazy day, but also feels like when it's past noon and we are all still in PJ's it's time wasted that could be spent being productive.

I coaxed the kids into getting dressed and told them to come play outside while I mowed the lawn. And I did just that. I mowed the entire yard, because it needed it and because I NEEDED some fresh air ;)

It wasn't too hot and the wind was nice. I would of gone right ahead for the hedges as well, minus one small detail. Last week the guy cut the extension chord. So, instead I started to get productive with laundry and dishes and cleaning.

Doug took it upon himself to weed eat, which makes me extremely happy because now the yard looks a million times better and truth be told, I am too simple minded to figure the weed eater out.

Yep, I can do many things, but when it comes to the weed eater, it's a contraption that I feel is for those with more complex minds. Darn it ;)

Moving along, tomorrow is Sunday! And you know what Sunday means, don't ya? COUPPPPOOONS!! Well, I am just crossing my fingers and toes that my Sunday paper actually has all the coupons it is supposed to this week. I am still upset about last weeks missing inserts, so let's hope this week and the $114 worth of Proctor & Gamble coupons actually makes it to my door!

Besides, I have a good CVS deal tomorrow.

This week CVS is running a deal: Spend $30 worth of select P&G items and earn $10 extrabucks (store cash) back!

I have $12.50 worth in extrabucks and CVS emailed it's extra rewards card members a $5 off $25 purchase coupon which puts me at $17.50 worth of savings right away.

So my plan of purchase is as follows:
*TWO (8 roll each) packs of bounty paper towels @ $5 each
*TWO (12 pack each) of charmin @ $5.49 each
*ONE medium size jug of either tide or gain detergent @ $10.99

My grand total will be $31.97
So, $31.97 - $5 off $25 coupon = $26.97
$26.97-12.50 in extrabucks = $14.47
NOW SHOULD I get ALL my coupons I am supposed to on SUNDAY there will be a $1 off purchase of two charmin product which brings my new total down to
$13.47 x .08% sales tax on the 31.97 pre coupon total (yes they charge sales tax on the total before coupons are applied) = 13.47 + 2.56 = $16.03 I will pay out of pocket.

So, $16.03 & I am getting a $10 extra buck back makes it like $6.03.
Making each of my items about $1.21 each!

Can't beat that :) And no worries, in case you have never cvs'ed before, now would be a good time to start the same deal, I already checked Wal Mart and their prices are higher this week than CVS in all 3 products. And think about it, Wal Mart isn't going to give you $10 back for spending $30 are they?

Now don't get me wrong, CVS isn't usually cheaper AT ALL, I only EVER shop their sales, otherwise I am strictly a Wal Mart or Family Dollar shopper for other every day items because their every day prices are like the drug stores sales prices.

The only difference is CVS will offer extrabucks on certain items each week, making it better for those of us with a tight budget.

So, dear readers, tell me what your Sunday couponing is going to be like?

Master Bedroom Room Make Over, Progress..

I don't have a before photo, but I wish I did. Some years ago my computer crashed. I lost pretty much every photo from the time MiMi was a baby until she was 3.

When we bought our home, all of the doors and baseboards/trim work was hunter green. I mean, I am sure it could look nice to some folks, but hunter green isn't inviting to me at all. (Green is my favorite color).

On a budget I would paint the trim white with kilz, then the doors. Eventually I bought new doors.

First the room was neon blue, then I decided I wanted something more subtle and calm. I went to Wal Mart, eyed two different colors and right away decided on "window pane". I have to say the 11 dollar Wal Mart brand paint went a long way in covering my ugly electric neon blue ;)







Then one day I stumbled upon the old knockoffwood blogspot page. A lovely gal named Ana who offered up FREE furniture build plans to her readers. We fell in love with the farmhouse bed plan, and we saved money and spent 250 in lumber and build this beauty:

I even covered it with some bedding I purchased but never used. While the bedding is gorgeous, I feel it would better go with tan walls, and I was not about to repaint:


So it sat for months, again, un painted, unstained, not sure what avenue I wanted to take really. Then I thought, well, the bed is a Pottery Barn inspiration, why not check out Pottery Barn bedding. Pottery Barn is NOT cheap by any means, but given the bed is a THOUSAND bucks on their site, I figured I could splurge on bedding.

And I did. I fell in love with the Sienna Paisley Duvet and Sham set:


I decided it was more than I wanted to pay, but then after a week of not purchasing it I said, well, you know what, I rarely splurge let me go ahead and impulse buy.
And one night, up later, with my bank card in hand, I did just that.

(Me, up late with a bank card is not a good idea, late nights make me less frugal) hehe. 338 bucks later (this was s&h and taxes included), the set was on it's way to me.

In the mean time I decided the craigs list dresser I bought originally for my sons sock monkey themed bedroom make over (that I am still in the process of finishing) was bigger than the retro dresser we currently have.

So I decided I would paint it white and re finish it for our room.

AND I did just that:





Then I decided I would finally go ahead and paint the farmhouse bed white to match (this weekend).

In the meantime my GOODNESS was Pottery Barn quick, the memo said I could expect my shipment to arrive April 4th. I almost didn't believe Mr. UPS when he greeted me with a package on April's Fool's Day ;)

Perfect! When it all comes together I know it will look incredible.

Now all that was left to do was find a down comforter for the duvet. I couldn't justify spending almost 200 on one at PB :( Nor at Kohl's, Target sounded tempting, but I ultimatley went with WalMart.com because I had a gift card and it was cheaper and the reviews were excellent, and for 60 bucks (less than that after I applied my gift card credits), I knew it would be the right choice.

SO, that being said, I plan to have a very busy weekend painting this bed, moving the dresser into our room, and starting to sand and stain the old one for Ethan's room. As soon as I finish his bed and dresser stain I will be ready to reveal his super cute low budget room renovation with a price breakdown. And I CAN NOT wait to re do ours and reveal. I'll need to buy a few accessories first, but it is just what I wanted :)