Canning Mayhem!

Its that time of the year to CAN! Last year was my first time EVER canning! Nate's sister Alexis was more than willing to help me learn. We did Peach Raspberry Jam it is now my FAVORITE!! I made just enough to last us a year even though i'm sure we lost some in our 2 moves. This year she is expecting their 4th child in October and isn't planning on doing much canning. But Nate and i decided it was something we should learn how to do and do yearly if possible. This year we are canning Peaches, Apples, Peach Jam and Raspberry Peach Jam.

I wrote this like a month ago in hopes that would be everything we would ACTUALLY do.. Sadly we only got around to canning peaches. We missed the apple sales and we picked some peaches but they were way to hard and when they were finally soft enough they were also covered in MOLD!  Maybe next year we will do most Jam which was really the MAIN thing i wanted since we are running LOW!! I am addicted to the Peach Raspberry Jam and WILL NOT use anything else on my sandwich anymore.

We MOVED again!

Delayed post i thought i had already published this one!!!
We moved to Pleasant Springs Apartments in Pleasant Grove. We have definitely missed Pleasant Grove and are happy to be back! Miss Gracie is LOVING not being cooped up all the time. Yes our original plan was to stay at my Dads until the END of August but this place opened up for a good deal and we felt like it was time.

I cannot believe how quickly we were moved and COMPLETELY unpacked! On friday afternoon we moved EVERYTHING out of our storage unit. Saturday while i was at work Nate brought EVERYTHING over from my Dads house and set up the furniture. Sunday we started unpacking and got maybe not quite or just over half way done. Monday while I was at work Nate FINISHED everything!!

I about died when we went to Smiths to stock our fridge with the basics. Only saving like $20 on an $80 purchase makes me so sick! I cannot believe we used to pay that much on everything! 

I'm super excited to get to start decorating and moving things around :) and making it feel like HOME!

Project Overload!

Oh projects, how i take on way to many of you at once.. why must you tempt me so? I LOVE projects but i am realizing that i have WAY to many started at once right now!
 I am currently working on pillows for my bed 5 to be exact.. Which wouldn't be as bad if i didn't have such a LOVE/HATE relationship with my sewing machine! And the fact that i have never made a pillow before... I have 3 pillows in progress.. Why i didn't FINISH the first before starting the next probably several reasons... Excitement of a new project?. YES. Avoiding my sewing machine and the frustration it causes? YES. Lack of focus? DEFINITELY
 Nate, Morgan and I are also in process or REFINISHING our kitchen table and chairs. I bought a "newish" table off KSL 6 MATCHING chairs and the table WITH a leaf all with a deep natural brown stain finish. For $100!! Did it need some work YES but for just over $14 per piece it is worth the cost to fix up! .We stole the idea from Alexis because hers turned out SUPER cute( inspired by the rug that she passed down to me)! We are painting the table BLACK and then the chairs are each getting their own color OFFWHITE ,GREEN, ORANGE, RED, YELLOW and GREY.  Hopefully we get them back soon i am missing not having a table to each dinner on!
  And of coarse i am always working on my Wood Connection crafts right now... Currently HALLOWEEN yes i am excited! I love fall and cant wait for it to be here! I am working on this Scarecrow and the word WICKED. And have lots more i am wanting to do but those are my starters for now! Check out http://thewoodco.blogspot.com/2011/08/halloween.html and look at just SOME of their halloween collection!

And of coarse other on going projects that keep me busy like the family cook book which i am really excited about but since i am taking recipes from other people i cant do it just randomly over one weekend i have to

have PATIENCE. But doing it over time means it will look GREAT! and ALWAYS my coupons! Even though the DAILY HERALD has been awful about delivering them on time!I will be SOOO happy when a Sunday comes that i don't have to call asking where my papers are at..

Walgreens 7/25/11

Like always things don't always go as planned. When we got to Walgreen's some EXTREME COUPONERS had been there before me and basically cleaned out the store. So i wasn't able to get a couple items on my list. Here is what i did get:
2 Charmin 6 Pack Rolls
2 Off Bug Sprays ( which we even forgot to take with us fishing...)
2 Packs of Perfection Tampons
2 Bottles of Tums
6 boxes of Tissues

Before Coupons: I can't remember! :S
Total Cost out of pocket: 5.66
Total Savings:42.00

Random Smiths Trip

I will try and remember everything we got it was kind of a spur of the moment trip here is the run down.
KellogsCereal 15 boxes @ .67 cents
Kraft Salad Dressing 15 @ .99 cents
Colgate Toothe Paste 10 @ .25 cents
Pasta Roni 5@ .56 cents
Easy Mac 3 @.49 cents
and some couple loose odds and eats!
We spent 67 and some change out of pocket and save 98 dollars
On the list was Chicken, Ground Beef and Fresh Fruit. I was a little sad when we left the store because i really didn't want to spend more than $50 but once i started taking off the extra stuff like meat and fruit and other odds and ends i realized we were UNDER the $50!! So i left with a smiling happy face!

Sorry its side ways it wont turn!! But Nate wanted to carry in ALL 15 boxes on his own!!

Coupon Round 3 & overview of 2!

I finally feel like i am getting a hang out this whole thing! Round 2 doesn't have its own post because it was a half effort. We were leaving for our 4th of July Fish Lake trip with the Jensen/Beck family and i still hadn't done my trip to Walgreens. It wasn't planned out very well and Nate went and did it without me. I can't even honestly tell you what we saved or anything but we did get lots of Dove Body Washes for me and twizzlers. But it helped me learn more what to do and what not to do. Sooo... best outcome will come from GREAT planning ahead of time! Since Nate has been working double the hours to help us get out of my Dads house sooner, Sunday night he helped me plan out my trip so that my register rewards would not expire. I had $16 dollar in register rewards to use on this trip. Here was the plan:
10 Boxes of Brownie Mix 
- 10 for 10 sale
- $1.25 of 2 coupon
Unplanned for only 8 boxes were available!

10 Bags of Blueberry Muffin Mix which turned into 12
-10 for 10 sale

2 Tampax 18 count
-3.99 w/ 1.00 RR = 2.99

6 EOS lip balm
-2/6 w/ 4 RR = 2/$2 or $1 each

2 Teething Gel
-1/$5 w/ 5 RR
-$1.00 of Coupon
I earned a dollar with this purchase

Tweezers
-30% off sale price
I didn't have an extra coupon for this but it was a need and i had alot of RR

On this trip i saved over $45 dollars and also received $24 in Register Rewards for next week!! I think if you save more than you spend it is a successful trip!

Store: 2 Katelyn: 1

Couponing Round 1

I had my first rush at couponing, i have to admit i was some what disappointed. Granted it was only my first time so i guess i need to quit watching Extreme Couponing on TLC because that is REALLY unrealistic! As i was calculating things up in my head there was a couple items i was iffy on and i wish i would have just put those items back but instead i convinced myself they were a good deal. Here is what i ended up with....

6 Old Spice Body Wash       2.99 each
3  Reynolds Foils     .89 each
3 Wax Paper         .89 each
4 Shaving Creams    .99 each
1 Off Bug Spray
2 Secret Deodorants
6 Palmolive Dish Soap          .89 each
6 Cans Mandarin Oranges      .50 each
12 Hunts Canned Tomato Sauce     .33 each
1 Eye Drops
2 M&M Pretzels
2 Lo Real eye shadows
2  3 Pack of Venus Razors
2 Lash Serum w/ Mascara
2 Chips Ahoy
2 Double Stuffed Oreos

Total before coupons: 203.84
Total spent: 124.86
Saved: 78.98

I'm not going to lie after this trip i really wanted to throw in the towel.. Nate is making me stick with it for at least a year. I remember Sally telling us at my coupon party that it took her about 2 months before she really felt like she was getting good deals and knew what she was doing. Hopefully it doesn't take me that long! Better luck for next time though when i get that iffy feeling i will listen!

Store: 1 Katelyn: 0