Since I love Spanish...

Usborne has some of their Spanish children's books on 70% clearance. I got one in my last order called "Mascotas." It's a GREAT book and was $2.99. Each page has a little puzzle for the baby to put together and something to "touch" (fuzzy ears, etc.). If you're interested in seeing the Spanish flyer, click here.

You can then order the items at my page here.

There is a ton of research that says teaching your child another language as early as possible will help them acquire it easier. This includes just seeing the words (if you don't know how to correctly pronounce them). Every little bit helps prepare them for future learning (belive me!!).

I've been...busy?

Hello! Well, things have been crazy and I've been too busy to coupon, CVS, be frugal... We are trying to pack up our house so we can move to another house, I'm trying to finish out the school year and we're enjoying time together before the baby comes! I am really looking forward to the summer though! It will be nice to relax.
My friend Tres Alejandros became an Usborne consultant recently and it sounded like a great deal, so I also joined in! I got a great deal because she was in her incentive period and I got the start-up kit for half price (regularly $199). This is great because I can have a little income when I'm not teaching next year. I also get free books and these are REALLY great children's books! So if you're interested in becoming a consultant, hosting a party near me, or hosting an eShow, let me know!! EShows are easy--you just e-mail people and tell them to buy books from the site and then you get free books for the purchases they make! I just hosted a party and sold $265 worth and got $85 worth of FREE books! What a deal!!
Oh yeah, here is my Usborne page.

Prego...it's in there!

Well, I've been out of touch with this website a lot lately. I actually have been taking a break from CVS, Walgreens and coupons. I had about 15 stacks of coupon booklets to cut out previously and they sat there for many weeks. They are still mostly all sitting in the same spot. Maybe I'll pick this back up during the summer when I have some more time.

We found out a little while ago that I'm pregnant and due on Sept. 30. We are very excited. Today was doctor visit #2 and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! It was amazing!! Here are pictures from our ultrasound. Enjoy and I'll catch up on here later!

I'm behind!

I have been so out of it lately that I haven't even cut out my coupons in about 3 weeks. YIKES! I have been to CVS and Walgreens, but have only cut out and used the coupons that showed to be a really good deal. Like last week at Walgreens, I bought 2 deoderants, Bayer, toothpaste, and 4 packs of 17 stick gum for $2.76. At CVS, I spent 10 ECB and $.07 to get a Heath bar, 2 apple juice bottles, Excedrin, 2 toothpastes, Gatorade G2 and shave gel. I think I got a little over 5 ECBs back. We'll see what happens this week at CVS. Maybe I'll be better with the coupons--only one pack, so i can get caught up from the other weeks!

I heart Walgreens and CVS!

I think I would make a shirt that says "I heart Walgreens and CVS" and wear it when I'm doing my weekly shopping. Today was no exception. I have never done the 2 transaction thing because I don't want to bother the workers or people in line. Anyway, I headed to CVS first because I was more excited about their sales. (They are right next to each other too! I'm trying a new CVS and like it MUCH BETTER--they take multiple CVS $/$$ coupons.)

1st transaction:
$.99 A&H toothpaste with $1 off coupon ($1.99 with 1 ECB)
$9.99 Breeze 2 meter ($9.99 with 9.99 ECB and $9.99 mail in rebate)
$6.99 Fusion Power Razor with $2 off coupon ($8.99 with 6 ECB)
Total--$0 after 12 ECB, CVS coupons. Awarded 16.99 ECB
2nd transaction:
$.50 Kashi bars with $2 coupon ($2.50)
$6 (2) Robitussin with $3 coupon (buy $20 worth of this plus Advil, get 10 ECB)
$2 (2) Advil Liqui-gels with $2 on box coupon
$1.29 Clean Dry-max with $2 coupon--I can only find the $1 one now...(3.29 ECB)
Total--$.79 because I didn't want to use my 1ECB. Used 6ECB and CVS coupons. Awarded 13.29 ECB
CURRENLY HAVE 24.29 in ECB!! That's double what I went in with and I only spent $.79 OOP!

Walgreens:
3 Kleenex (I forgot to use the $1 coupon in the $Saver, but had 2 others)
2 Nail polish ($.50 each)
Schick Quattro (with free MP3 arm band--$.99 after coupons)
2 Envelopes ($.50 each on sale)
Fructis Shampoo (I forgot to use the $1 coupon I had, but will get the $3.99 rebate)
Total: $10.42
(plus $3.99 rebate here and $9.99 at CVS--I GOT PAID TODAY TO SHOP!)

Thanks to all you people out there who help me figure out how to use CVS and WG! You guys rock!! (Links to the side)

Birthday Dinner

Today is my husband's birthday. For dinner, he wanted some King Ranch, so this is the recipe I used. It's great!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

1 can Cream mushroom soup
1 can Cream chicken soup
1 Soup can milk
1 4 oz. Can Ro-Tel
5 oz. Cooked chicken
10 Corn tortillas, cut into fourths
12 oz. Shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and heat the soups, milk, Ro-Tel and chicken. In a 3 quart buttered casserole dish place layer of tortillas, a layer of soup mixture and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

We had this with some tortilla chips, black beans, and guacamole (avocado mashed with Pace picante sauce). We have some German chocolate cake (his favorite) that I got from Wal-Mart for dessert. Less than $20 for the entire meal.

Personalized Baby Burp Cloths

Well, I've started a new hobby! I got a sewing machine for Christmas and with my mom's help, I've learned to use it! We saw this baby burpers a friend of mine had on her registry that were $14! I knew we could do better than that, so out we went to buy the diapers, ribbon and other supplies necessary to start.

On Monday we made a few and even colored the diapers to make them look a little different. I put them on the "For Sale" e-board in my school district and have already got an order! I have way underpriced them though and only make $2-3 per burper (because we personalize them with the baby's name), so we'll have to figure that out. So we have a lot made and just need to sell them now. They make a great baby shower gift and I plan to give one to the shower we have at my school next month. Who knows, maybe we'll sell all of them! Here's what we did. I hope you like them!

CVS Deals...

Well, I went to CVS today (early because of teacher in-service) after getting coupons off of couponloop. I got $11 worth of CVS stuff (toothbrush, cotton balls and storage bags), so I used a $2 off coupon. I also got the Dawn for free ($.99 with $1 off coupon). I got the Fusion razor deal (minus a $2 coupon). I didn't buy too much stuff but most of it we can use (or we got it for free). I think I currently have about 7 bottles of dish soap. I think we only used one bottle last year somehow... We were in desperate need of cotton balls. I used my 9 ECB from a few weeks ago, a few coupons, a $2 off $10 CVS brand coupon, and $4 off $20 purchase. My total ended up being $3.74 OOP. I also made $12.99 ECB.

I had some issues with the guy who checked me out. Every time I gave him a coupon, he called the manager over. I was not allowed to stack the $/$$ coupons she said. I had to check out 3 times because he read the fine print on the Dawn that said only 1 coupon per customer. He said he has to turn in a paper when he goes off work documenting what happened in his transactions. Weird. It was kind of frustrating, so maybe I'll find a new CVS. I do love CVS though.

Walgreens

Well, I haven't tried to shop at Walgreens for freebies before, but I did this week and IT WORKED! I was totally impressed. I figured they would say, "nope, only one coupon...no double BOGOs." Not one single comment--just impressed that my 3 bags totalled $5. In 2 trips (I wasn't sure if I could use multiple coupons on the same items if I bought multiples, but I'll do that in the future), I got 4 bottles of Fantastik, 2 Glade sprays, 4 Glade scented oil candles, 2 things of Quaker Oats, 1 thing of Purell (that was on clearance so I got it for 19 cents), and 2 toilet cleaners! I spent $5.51 total! I also got some free Softsoap at Kroger (3 of those in 3 trips). Kroger and Tom Thumb won't double and triple coupons for the same items after the first one when you buy multiples (I called to check). My mom was impressed, but I don't think she's going to join the bandwagon any time soon.
Since this is only my second week to do this, it seems to be pretty time consuming. Thankfully it was semester exam grades at school so I had some time to clip and organize coupons. The blog is another issue. I spent a ton of time on one computer and my husband on another most evenings (after working out of course). This just doesn't work for me. I'm now planning to invest in our relationship instead of in the blog. I will do some type of update once a week or so and do the daily thing this summer. Just wanted to clarify. Happy weekend!

How is the blog unique?

I read recently that there are a ton of "frugal" blogs out there, but very few of them are unique. I found this article on frugalhacks and it made me think! Anyway, it said:

How is your blog unique?
What is your frugal specialty?
Why does it matter?

Well, I started thinking about this last night and came up with some ideas (including a different name). I thought I'd use Spanish and post some stuff that relates to things I love--travel, Spanish food, being thrifty, etc. The easiest way I could think to do that at this point was to do the thing most people do and come up with a "theme" for each day. Those are listed to the right. I haven't seen any others that have a Spanish focus--I plan to include mini lessons on the language too. The more fun it is for me, the more fun it will be for others, right???

How is my blog unique? It will focus on Spanish and frugal ideas!
What is my frugal specialty? Thrifty travel to Hispanic countries!
Why does it matter? People love to travel and want to learn another language!

I hope you enjoy the changes to come (I plan to start next week)!