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Rogers' Family Goals for 2012 - including new ideas for this blog!

This is the first time I have ever made official goals for a year, but I think that I am to a time in my life where they are necessary to keep Joe and I on track, and will give us something to work towards.  Here's that Goals that I have planned for this year, hopefully I will be able to cross everything off this list!

Family/Household/Personal Goals:

• Live a more simple life!
• We already do this some, but I really want to focus more on Joe and starting our family, and less on getting every great deal and being involved in so much - I need to start saying no to excess stuff and activities!
• Also with this comes living more 'green.'  Joe and I already recycle, use rags instead of paper towels, wash our laundry in mostly cold water, and hang dry our clothing.  Once our napkin stash runs out, we are going to start using cloth napkins as well.  I am also going to start making some of our own cleaning and health and beauty items, which is simple, green, and frugal!
• Spend January, February, and March cleaning out and organizing the house.  More stuff needs to go!  If I'm sick of looking at it, dusting it, or storing it, it--is--leaving!  This will include clothing, as I (hopefully) get thinner!
• A combination of these three things should help me to run the household more smoothly and efficiently, as to work smarter, not harder!
•  Get Healthier!
• We have started to make some progress here by switching over to more natural sweeteners, and buying more natural (but not necessarily all organic) foods.
• I would like to add natural meats into our diet, which I have been pricing out, and I think that buying at BJ's is going to be our best bet, especial since I already have a membership, and it's right in town.
• Strive for five a day, fruits and vegetables that is.
• Joe and I have also gotten a gym membership at a discounted rate, so we can add some more exercise into our lifestyle.  
• We are planning to start trying to have a family this year, after I am comfortable with my weight, which means I need to lose at least 50 lbs, but I think I can do it!  We plan to start at 2 days a week, and work up to 4 or 5 by summer.
• Seek out a 'naturalist'-style doctor, that is close to Westminster, and is affordable.
• Grow Spiritually!
• Because Joe and I live at a very busy museum, we very seldom get to actually go to church, but I really want to make an effort to go every Sunday we can.  This probably means we will get to go until April when the museum opens for the season, and sporadically after that, until Christmas time, but it's something that I think is important, and something that we need to get back on track with.
• I would also like to do some kind of nightly devotional with Joe, maybe read our way through the Bible (if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears), to help better our relationship with each other, and God.
• I'm not really sure how spiritual this is, but I think it fits in this category best.  I want to really strengthen Joe and I's relationship.  Not that anything major is wrong with it, but no marriage is really perfect, especially at only 4 1/2 years in.  I'm not really sure how we are going to do this, but I would like to...
• Make our time spent together, away from the museum as meaningful as possible.  This is mainly in regards to our ocean vacation we take every August.
• Read about the Love Languages together, possible do the study as well, and focus on meeting the other persons wants and needs in that respect.  (In other words, if Joe's love language is acts of service, then I need to do the things that make him feel happy and loved, and vise-versa.)

Blog Goals:

• Increase Postings and Add New Topics!
• I will continue to post my Weekly Shopping Trips and Weekly Spending Report, as well as my Weekly Menu Plan, and ALDI Deals.
• I want to make an effort to post at least 5 days of the week.
• I am going to start a new section for my blog called, Frugal Finds Friday, which will post each Friday with a Linky.  I will post my Frugal Find for the week and encourage you to share yours.
• I want to start sharing more about Joe and I.  Things we are doing, crafts I am making, books we are reading, placing we are going, etc.  I love to read these types of things on other people's blogs, so why not share them on my own?!

Finance Goals:

• Continue to live a Frugal Lifestyle!
• Continue to shop the weekly deals, focusing only on freebies we need and will use, as well as good deals on things we use daily, like contact solution and food.
• Start making some cleaning, laundry, and health and beauty items by myself.  This is not only 'green,' but frugal, and better for you I think.
• As I (hopefully) lose weight, shop for new to me clothes at the Goodwill and local Thrift stores, and then only buying the bare necessities.  If I can't find something I need there, say dress pants, then I will scour the clearance racks at various stores and online, until I find the best deal for what I need!
• Drive my car more often and leave the Suburban parked!  Also, I am already trying to combine errands, and will continue to work on this throughout the year.  Along with this, I really want to strive to only buy gas from BJ's, as it consistently the lowest in the area, this will take planning on my part, but I think that it can be done.
• Continue Saving and Paying-off our Debt!
• This is the first year since Joe and I have been married that we can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We were able to pay off two of our three credit cards, in full!  Plus we have starting putting extra money on the third each month, and have started a savings account.  We can't afford to save much, just about $30 a month, but at least it's something!  We also plan to start putting extra on out loan payment each month, once we have paid off our last credit card - we are definitely on track to being debt free!
• Earn Extra Income.
• We live on a very fixed income.  Joe only makes so much money a month, luckily, his income also pays all of our bills every month, so my income is mostly for food, gas, savings, and other various needs and wants.  I want to increase our income throughout the year though.  
• Joe and I already do a couple flea markets a year, we are going to add at least 3 more this year for a total of at least 5.
• We are going to look into selling on craigslist, E-bay, and Amazon, as we find things that would suit this selling method better throughout the year.  Which if anyone has any experience with these and has some tips, they would be much appreciated!
• I am still waiting to hear back about my Medical Transcription final, which I hopefully have passed!  This will hopefully provide some much needed income as well!

ALDI Deals: Starting January 11th 2012!

Here are some of ALDI's deals this week...

• Celery $0.79 ea 
• Carrots $0.69/2 lb bag
• Yellow Onions $0.99/3 lb bag
• Red Potatoes $1.89/5 lb bag
• Brookdale Chili 15 oz with beans $1.09 ea, without beans $1.29 ea
• Chef's Cupboard Chunky Soups 18.6-18.8 oz $1.39 ea
• Chef's Cupboard Home style Soups  19 oz $1.29 ea
• Chef's Cupboard Condensed Soup 10.5 oz $0.59 ea
• Chef's Cupboard Chicken Broth Noodle Soup Mix 4.5 oz $0.99 ea
• Savoritz Oyster Crackers 10 oz $0.99 ea
• Friendly Farms Low fat Vanilla Yogurt 32 oz $1.99 ea
• Rice Bowl Couscous Select Varieties 5.8-5.9 oz $1.49 ea
• Mama Cozzi's Pizza Kitchen Wheat Crust Pizzas Pepperoni or Cheese 27.5 oz $3.69 ea
• Mama Cozzi's Lite Garlic Texas Toast 11.25 oz $1.64 ea
• Snow's Chopped Clams 6.5 oz $1.19 ea
• Sea Queen Encrusted Cod Fillets, Beer Battered or Potato Encrusted 13.1 oz $4.99 ea

For more information about shopping at ALDI, visit their homepage!

Sunday's Crazy Rite-Aid Trip

Well, I usually LOVE Rite-Aid, but after this fiasco of a trip, I am beginning to get a little concerned!  Joe and I stopped in Sunday evening to get a few of the deals for this week, well, after I checked out, I thought my total had been a little high, so I checked my receipt, and it turns out that the Natrol Biotin did not ring up BOGO free, even though it states 'any' in the ad, so the manager did a return of some sort and gave me a $9.99 gift card.  When I checked out I gave them a SCR check to pay, and the manager told the cashier to ring it as a check (should be rung as cash), so it took off the whole total of $19.18, and no one noticed but me.  Then as I was getting ready to type this post yesterday, I noticed that the Chex mix had rung up at full price too, $2.55 ea with my discount.  So today when I took my mom to the grocery store, I ran in to get that refunded as well, and the same manager tried to tell me that only the smaller size was on sale, when in the ad it states '3-8.75 oz,' and this was the 8.75 oz bag!  Luckily one of my favorite cashiers was there, and she had my back, so twenty minutes later, I received my $6.20 back - Ugh!  That's all I have to say, Ugh, but now that I've vented, on to the deals...

4 bags of Chex Mix $3.19 ea - $2.19 ea Sale/Refund - $0.50/2 MC (newspaper) - $1/4 Rite-Aid Video Coupon = $0.50 ea or 4/$2

2-100 ct bottles Natrol Biotin $9.99 ea - $2 card discount - $9.99 Sale/Refund - $3/1 MC (All You Magazine) x 2 - $3 UP+Reward wyb 2 (should have been $2, but that's okay!) = 2 FREE + $3.01 Money-maker!

1 Thermacare Heat Wrap $3.99 - $0.99 Sale - $3 UP+Reward = FREE!

- $2 UP+Rewards used to Pay

- $4.99 SCR, incorrectly rung as 19.18

Total OOP, no tax: Zero!  Earned $9.99 and $6.20 in Refunds and $6 UP+Rewards!

*I felt kinda bad that I might have cheated them out of some money (like $15), so sat down and did the math, even though the check was rung wrong, and it wasn't my fault, truth be told, that if things would have rung up correctly to begin with, I would have only owed $2.  That makes me feel a little better.  But I really hope that next week goes a LOT smoother!

Sunday's Walgreen's Trip

Sunday, Joe and I also stopped into Walgreen's to roll my RR's.  This is what we ended up with...

2-3 pks Binaca (I've been looking for these for months for two coupons I had) $1.99 ea - $1/1 MC x 2 = 2/$1.98

3 cans Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (for my mom, and if I had known before I was in the store that she wanted them, I would have had a coupon!) $1.59 ea - $1.80 in-ad Coupon = $0.99 ea or 3/$2.97 (mom paid me back for these)

1 Tom's Toothpaste $4.99 - $1 Sale - $3 RR = $0.99

1 Energy Bar of some kind for Joe $1.89 - $2 RR = FREE + $0.11 Money-maker!

+ $0.48 Tax

- $7 RR's used to Pay

Total OOP: $4.31, Earned $5 RR and $5 Cash from my Mom = Net OOP: All FREE + $5.69 Money-maker!

Sunday's CVS Trip

Sunday evening, Joe and I stopped into CVS to pick up a prescription, and some deals.  I am so glad that CVS brought back their value pack deals this year!  I decided to get the limit on the ones I really wanted, before they were all gone, but according to my receipt, I can get at least one more!  Here's what I ended up with...

3-2 pks CVS Hydrogen Peroxide $2 ea - $1 ECB x 3 = 3 pks or 6 bottles/$3

3-50 ct twin pks CVS Ibuprofen $4.29 ea - $1 ECB x 3 = $3.29 ea or 3/$9.87 (about $1.65/50 ct box)

1-100 ct CVS Vitamin D (for my mom) $3.49 - $3.49 ECB = FREE!

1 PB M&M's $1.19 - $0.44 Sale - $0.75 ECB = FREE!

2 Ove'Gloves (both Christmas gifts for 2012!) $16.99 ea - $12.74 ea clearance = $4.25 ea or 2/$8.50

+ $0.54 Tax

- $5 ECB's used to Pay

Total OOP: $27.15 - gasp!  I also earned $10.24 ECB's for next week!  Net OOP: $16.91!

Weekly Spending Report: 01/01-01/07/2012!

After two weeks filled with holidays, visiting with family, eating tasty food, finishing my transcription final, and taking a break from couponing and blogging, it is GREAT to be back in the game!  Here's our spending totals for this week...

• Sunday's Rite-Aid Trip: $8.39 oop, Earned $6 SCR and $2 UP+Rewards
• Sunday's CVS Trip: $5.73 oop, Earned $8.50 ECB's
• Sunday's Walgreen's Trip: $11.16 oop, Earned $7 RR's
• Sunday's Shopper's Trip (no post, just donuts and eggs): $4.38 oop
• Thursday's ALDI Trip (no post, restocked our baking and snack cupboards): $19.87 oop
• Thursday's Ollie's Trip (no post, stocked up on trash bags and Crystal light for AWESOME prices!): $14.66 oop
• Friday's Amish Market Trip (no post, bought 19.08 lbs of Raw Sugar at $1.29/lb and an apple dumpling): $27.56 oop
• Saturday's Rite-Aid Trip (no post, just newspapers): $3.40 oop
• I also received a rebate check from the museum for cooking over Christmas, which I will add into our budget, for $47.60!

Total OOP: $95.15 - $71.10 Earned Rewards/Rebates = Net OOP: $24.05, Savings of 75%!!!!

First Walgreen's Trip of 2012!

Our last stop on Sunday was Walgreen's.  Here is what we picked up...

2-10 ct Advil Congestion Relief (I was so excited to get these, they work wonderful!) $7.99 ea - $2.99 ea Sale - $2/1 MC (newspaper) x 2 - $3 RR wyb $10 = 2/$3!

1 EOS Lip Balm $3.49 - $0.50 Sale - $2 RR = $0.99

1 Smart Protein Bar $1.99 - $2 RR = FREE!

+ $0.18 Tax

Total OOP: $11.16 (had no RR's to use to pay) - $7 Earned RR's = Net oop: $4.16!!!

First Rite-Aid Trip of 2012!

Sunday, Joe and I also stopped into Rite-Aid, not really much going on in the way of deals at any of the drug stores, but I did find some chicken bouillon that seems to be more natural than what's at the grocery store, so I was very excited about that!  Here's what we ended up with...

2 boxes Chicken Bouillon pkts $1.29 ea - $0.26 ea card discount = $1.03 ea or 2/$2.06*

2 Carmex Chap-sticks $2.99 ea - $0.60 ea card discount - $1/2 MC (newspaper) - $2 UP+Rewards wyb 2 = 2/$1.78

2 Oral B Power Toothbrushes (bought in two transactions, for two SCR accounts) $7.99 ea - $2 ea Sale - $3/1 MC (newspaper) x 2 - $3 SCR x 2 = 2 FREE!

1-4 pk Rite-Aid TP $1 - $0.20 card discount = $0.80

+ $0.77 Tax

- $5 UP+Rewards used to Pay

Total OOP: $8.39 - $8 Earned Rewards/Rebates = Net oop: $0.39!  Savings of 95%!

First CVS Trip of 2012!

Sunday Joe and I stopped into CVS to pick up the deals for the week, and it felt so good to be back to deal shopping after a nice vacation!  Here's what we ended up with...

3 boxes Special K Cereal $3.99 ea - $1.97 Sale - $1/3 MC (newspaper) - $4 ECB's = 3/$5

2 boxes Betty Crocker Brownies (1 box not pictured) $1 ea = 2/$2

1 Bath Set (Christmas present for 2012) $9.99 - $5 clearance = $4.99

+ $0.24 Tax

- $10.50 ECB's used to Pay

Total OOP: $5.73, Earned $1 ECB Green Bag Tag, $4 ECB Kellogg's, and $3.50 ECB Quarterly Spending!  Net OOP, all FREE + $2.77 Money-maker!