olive oil? for me? no, i'm good. thanks.

I was such a Meijer slacker this week! I knew they had olive oil for 50% off again but I'm still way stocked up from when it was free a month or so ago. Imagine my angst when I discovered, tonight, the store coupon for $2.00 off. Talk about a mad scramble to the store once the kids were in bed. The loveliest surprise, however, was that Ronzoni pasta was .99 and I had about a kazillion 1.00/1 coupons which got me 11 free boxes. I also left a few coupons there in my wake. Green Giant Steamers were a decent deal too so I snagged a few with coupons. For everything above I paid 7.82 and saved just under $50. Yes, you read that right. I am a maniac.

I realize that this is not my savings blog but a girl can only keep up with so many blogs so you'll probably see me posting the occasional shopping brag here from time to time. Also I owe you an update on Christmas shopping I believe.

I'm done!! I had to make a few adjustments to the plan but it ended up working out better this way. I got Ocean's Spinbrush using Extrabucks, so that was a freebie, and I ended up finding a new tube of Tom's kids' toothpaste in my stockpile which will go in Ocean's stocking. It snowed here and Ocean needed winter boots with a quickness so instead of the sweet ones I wanted to get him for Christmas I got him some boring winter boots on sale, and for Christmas I bought him a new pair of frog rain boots for the spring. His old ones ripped up the back a few weeks ago and he cried. So a new pair it was, to the tune of $16. Also, instead of getting Iris that cute Gap winter hat I ended up finding one at Kohl's, along with some elephant jammies, and used a second $10/$10 rewards card that was mailed to me (I'm not sure how I ended up on that list but Hallelujah!). I paid like two bucks for both, which means I didn't spend that extra $10 dollhouse money at Gap.

As far as the kids' gifts to each other, Ocean bought Iris a Lightning McQueen rug at Bed Bath and Beyond using a $5 coupon, which made it $15, and Iris bought Ocean a Lego knight and horse set for $10 on Amazon. I used a Swagbucks giftcard for half of that so their gifts to each other only cost a total of $20, and as I mentioned they've been doing a great job of helping me out around the house with simple chores in order to earn the money for each others' gifts.

And remember when I said I had a stocking plan? I sold 3 bins of the kids' old clothes at Children's Orchard, used a coupon for 50% more in store credit and ended up with a store credit of a little over $80. So I got them some really awesome Melissa and Doug art supplies and fun bath toys for free to fill their stockings. Also for their stockings, both of the kids decided they are into Toy Story (even though they're terrified of the movies) so Ocean asked for a Buzz Lightyear and Iris wanted a Jessie. I used that $10 Toys R Us gift card for a Jessie when she was on sale for $9, and I found a basic Buzz Lightyear figure on Amazon for $10 (there went the dollhouse money!) making my total out-of-pocket for the kids' Christmas gifts this year (DRUMROLL)... $25 and some change. Booya.

I will end with an Oceanism. He and Iris were interrupting me constantly yesterday, as they tend to do. (Having children does not bode well for my pet peeve of being interrupted, it turns out. Shoulda thought that one through perhaps.) I was making lunch and Ocean asked me for some glue. I stopped and said, "Ocean, I do not deal well with..." meaning to finish that sentence with "interruptions". Ocean, without missing a beat, interrupted me and offered, "Kids?"

Indeed.