Where did 2009 go and why did it go so quickly?

January- We went to Blowing Rock, North Carolina with the in laws.


February- We celebrated with Bonnie and James as they announced that they were expecting their first child. (This picture is from a few months before)



March- The house hunt continued, moms birthday and Stacy's birthday.



April- Alecias Bachelorette Party, celebrated our third wedding anniversary.



May- Nephews first birthday, graduated with BHA and took a cruise to the Bahamas.



June- We put an offer on our house and it was ACCEPTED!!!


July- We closed on the house, 4th of July at the lake, celebrated my birthday and moved into the house the end of the month.


August- The reality of being homeowners sunk in when we discovered a tree branch was resting on our shingles and had rubbed completely though the shingles and tar paper to the plywood.


September- We adopted Toby!


October- Had a lot of fun pretending it was fall in Florida.



November- Cruise with Danecia and a lot of family time.



December- Spent more time with family and finally ordered some furniture for the house!!


We had a wonderful year and are looking forward to what 2010 brings!

Ok, so I am already 3 days late with posting this.

* be more consistent with keeping the house organized
* improve my photography skills and save money for a SLR
* have more people in our home for meals
* clean & organize the garage {again!}
* overhaul & organize my kitchen cabinets and closets
* get rid of half of my clothes
* sew more and spend less
* read at least 1 book a month
* send a Christmas card… because this year I never did get my act together!
* Lose 20 pounds
* Eat out less/cook more

Today was a wonderful day with family. Our Christmas celebration began last night when I hosted Christmas Eve dinner for my side of the family. We are truly blessed to have so many caring people in our lives.

Total saved was $18.08
Total Spent was $11.96, so I get to make another trip.
Where I saved…
Store coupons $7.00
Vendor Coupons $5.00
Advertised Savings $6.08

I bought some Tylenol, Tylenol cold, Tylenol Sinus, Sudafed and some Tylenol Head cold

Total savings was $71.79
Total OOP was $62.77

I was a slacker and didn’t take note of the coupons beforehand, so I can’t give you a breakdown of what costs what after coupons.

Here is where I saved:
$11.58 from store coupons
$16.40 in Vendor Coupons
$43.36 from advertised specials

I spent about an hour going through ad and looking for coupons. I spent about an hour while driving home from Gainesville one day to sort the coupons that I would be using.

P.S. No picture of the items this week either due to the limited time we have had the past week.

Publix 12/5/09

This was my first week of actually spending more than ten minutes gathering coupons for grocery shopping. Last week, I just got lucky because of the chicken on sale. I spent close to an hour going through all of my coupons, but I was also organizing them at the same time.

Total spent out of pocket $52.09
Total coupons $10.85
Advertised Savings $23.17

Total Saved: $34.51

Cheerios $2.50 (2)

$1/2 boxes, so $2 each

Grands Biscuits $1.25 (2)

$0.30/2, so $1.10 each

Publix Orange Juice $3.79

Publix Glazed Donuts $1.99

Jell-O Chocolate Pudding $1.39 (2)

$0.55/2, so $1.12 each

Cranberries $2.99

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix $2.19 (4)
BOGO

$0.40/1

$0.40/1

$0.40/1

$0.40/1, so $0.70 each

Pillsbury Brownie Milk Chocolate $1.99

$0.40/1, so $1.59 each

Publix Strawberry Preserves $2.39

Idaho Potatoes $0.70

Publix Honey Wheat Bread $1.79

Bananas $1.89

Publix Grape Jelly $1.99

Nestle Tollhouse Cookies $3.39 (2)
BOGO

$1/1, so $2.89 each

Oscar Meyer Bacon $3.00

$0.75/1, so $2.25

Egg Beaters $1.67 (2)

$1/1

$1/1, so $0.67 each

Publix frozen pizza $3.99

Soft-soap Shower Gel $2.79

$0.75/1, so $2.04

Bear Naked Granola Bar $1.39

$1/1, so paid $0.39

Publix Milk $3.19

$1/dairy from baby club

Daisy Sour Cream $1.50

$0.50/1, so $1.00

Publix Cool Whip $1.89 (2)

Nestle Hot Chocolate $2.19 (2)
BOGO, so $1.10 each