Sorry to be so post-neglectful.
In the last couple of weeks, among other things, we have:
been through a round of the flu,
attended a minor league baseball game as a family,
celebrated Dave's 33rd birthday at TGIFridays, where we even had them sing to him, and made him open his presents at the restaurant for a full party,
attended a luncheon (well, Dave and I did...thanks SO MUCH to Jessica and Melissa for keeping kids for me) with President Samuelson (President of BYU), Bronco Mendenhall (BYU football coach), and Tom Holmoe (BYU athletic director) which served its purpose of making us want to give back to BYU,
been through Number Two's Pre-K end of the year luncheon and diploma ceremony,
watched Number Four FINALLY take an interest in walking,
been lucky enough to win two raffle items at Number One's school carnival...including Mia, the 2008 American Girl Doll of the year for Number Two, with brunch for four at the store, and admission to a fun local museum-type place with a gift certificate to a breakfast place (too bad we had the flu and had to miss the carnival itself),
and we purchased a 2001 Suburban with 45,000 miles on it that we all LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Hopefully over the next week I will find some time to post some pictures and a few more details about some of our comings and goings. But in the meantime, at least you all know that we are still hanging in there.
I am now 27 weeks pregnant, and my belly gets bigger by the minute. Fortuneately the rest of me seems pretty much intact for the time being as far as size goes, but I will say, the fifth baby is harder to carry than the second...ouch!
Happy Sabbath!
PS I did go back to buy 30 more boxes of cereal for a total of 80 (and not just Lucky Charms, but a whole variety of sugared sweetness :), and another 20 boxes of granola bars too!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
A Year's Supply of Lucky Charms
I love a good bargain...really, who doesn't?
Today I did SO well on my savings that I just feel the need to shout it from the rooftops.
First off, I spent $900 at our local Jewel-Osco for stimulus check gift cards. That $900 got me $990 worth of gift cards. Not a lot of investments I know of where people like us can make a 10% return on our money like that. We usually spend $80-$100 a week there on their sales, and the gift cards are good through July 31st, so it was a great deal for us.
And thanks to General Mills, I totally scored! The current promotion is that if you purchase 10 of their certain items, you get them for $1 a piece. Items such as Lucky Charms, Trix, Kix, Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fiber One granola bars, and Nature's Valley (or whatever they are called) granola bars).
I bought 50 boxes of cereal and 30 boxes of granola bars, plus one gallon of milk for $76.95 (I had $7.50 in coupons too). That means I saved $211.95 or 73% off of the retail value of $288.90.
What a deal!
And crazy enough...I may go buy 50 more boxes of cereal. These are the little size boxes, and our family can go through 2-3 per week (we love cereal for snacks too). They are good for about a year, so why not? With the rising cost of EVERYTHING, might as well get ahead while we can.
One of the mom's from Number Two's class was checking out right after us. She was a little awestruck by the cartful, and made a comment about how much we were stocking up. I told her she had no idea the type of bulk our family buys in, and left it at that.
Why? Well, I'm not sure she could have handled the news that we are receiving 2002.5 pounds of food next week, including a mixture of wheat, rice, beans, flour, macaroni, and oats, so I kept that part to myself.
Hmmm....guess I really ought to make clearing out the basement an immediate priority.
And if I get a little hungry while I am down there, I'll have a bowl with the leprecaun...cause you know, they're magically delicious, and a screaming deal too!
Today I did SO well on my savings that I just feel the need to shout it from the rooftops.
First off, I spent $900 at our local Jewel-Osco for stimulus check gift cards. That $900 got me $990 worth of gift cards. Not a lot of investments I know of where people like us can make a 10% return on our money like that. We usually spend $80-$100 a week there on their sales, and the gift cards are good through July 31st, so it was a great deal for us.
And thanks to General Mills, I totally scored! The current promotion is that if you purchase 10 of their certain items, you get them for $1 a piece. Items such as Lucky Charms, Trix, Kix, Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fiber One granola bars, and Nature's Valley (or whatever they are called) granola bars).
I bought 50 boxes of cereal and 30 boxes of granola bars, plus one gallon of milk for $76.95 (I had $7.50 in coupons too). That means I saved $211.95 or 73% off of the retail value of $288.90.
What a deal!
And crazy enough...I may go buy 50 more boxes of cereal. These are the little size boxes, and our family can go through 2-3 per week (we love cereal for snacks too). They are good for about a year, so why not? With the rising cost of EVERYTHING, might as well get ahead while we can.
One of the mom's from Number Two's class was checking out right after us. She was a little awestruck by the cartful, and made a comment about how much we were stocking up. I told her she had no idea the type of bulk our family buys in, and left it at that.
Why? Well, I'm not sure she could have handled the news that we are receiving 2002.5 pounds of food next week, including a mixture of wheat, rice, beans, flour, macaroni, and oats, so I kept that part to myself.
Hmmm....guess I really ought to make clearing out the basement an immediate priority.
And if I get a little hungry while I am down there, I'll have a bowl with the leprecaun...cause you know, they're magically delicious, and a screaming deal too!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A priceless trip to...
Friday after picking Number One up from school, we went to the library, and then to Trader Joe's to do a little shopping. I do really like Trader Joe's, and find it reasonably priced for what they sell, but we still don't go often. Both because it is kind of far from us, and also because I can really get more for my money by shopping the sales at Jewel-Osco, or at Aldi, or of course, in buying commercial quantities at Sam's Club.
Anyway...they have this AMAZING pear sauce that I just really really wanted. Pregnancy, maybe? And we were out of milk, so I decided to do the brave and insane thing, and haul all four kids to Trader Joe's to do some shopping.
I hoisted Number Four into the Ergo, as he really has no tolerance for sitting in a cart. This product is AMAZING!!! I have the cranberry colored one, and find it so comfortable to wear either Number Three or Number Four on my back for a long time. I look kind of like the model pictured when I wear mine, except my belly is about 22 times larger, and I have to wear the belt underneath my belly.
Lucky me, Trader Joe's is one of those places that provides child size metal carts in an attempt to drastically multiply a harried mom's number of impulse buys. Of course each of my three darling daughters needed their own cart, which turned our little trip for pear sauce and milk into quite a parade.
We wound our little parade up and down the aisles. We found the milk. Discovered that they are out of pear sauce and think it may be DISCONTINUED!!!
Tried a sample of some sweet and sour chicken that the kids liked, so we bought some of that. Tried to choose one treat, but found it easier to let each child choose their own for their own cart.
Practiced our math by keeping a careful tally of who had more items in their cart, and worked on adding extras when finding one cart deficient (though subtraction would have been more cost effective).
Tried to keep peace, be patient with Number One's upset stomach, and keep the parade out of the way of the innocent bystanders.
Appreciated the patience of our checker, and his apparent blindness. When he made a friendly comment about how many helpers I had (as we had arrived to the check-out with three full child's carts, plus a selection of items in my cart), Number One piped up about how we were having another baby. He dismissed it as not happening for at least a while. Um...did you not notice the HUGE belly?!? How flattering! The whole thing was exhausting for me.
Cost of the trip for milk and pear sauce? $109.
But the priceless part? Though I felt like I was barely hanging in there at the end, we saw a teacher's aid we know from Number One's school while we had been shopping. We happened to check out at the same time, and she said:
"You know, you just make that look effortless."
I was too stunned to answer! I am used to the typical "you sure have your hands full," and the occasional, "you are so blessed." But this comment caught me so off guard that I was left speechless, and I honestly can't remember the last time that happened.
I would consider that $109 money well spent. Not only have I been able to enjoy some more unusual (for us) and tasty foods this weekend (which is especially meaningful as I haven't been able to enjoy much of any kind of food this pregnancy), I also got a priceless boost.
So the moral of the story is...when you see a mom shopping with lots of kids at the store, be sure not to pass up the opportunity to make her day by saying something positive.
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