just so you will know...

$1177.46
~the amount i've saved since the beginning of may~

$118.20
~the amount in extracare cash, rebates, store coupons i've gotten~

SO - e-mail me if you have questions!

below is my response to my friend's e-mail (tiffany). it answers most questions, but you may still have others!

here are some of the links to places where i look:
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://www.iheartcvs.com/
http://www.iheartriteaid.com/
http://spendingsmartly.blogspot.com/
http://dealfindingmom.blogspot.com/
http://thecoupondiva.blogspot.com/
http://www.kingdomfirstmom.com/
http://www.leavingexcess.com/
http://penny-pinchingmom.blogspot.com/

there are more - but i've got them typed out and in my coupon book. i'll have to send them to you tomorrow....

i am also a member on http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ this has helped me SO much - they basically tell you what's going to be on sale and how to get it at the best price. but i tell you what - the coupon diva had some INCREDIBLE things! she got stuff from wal-mart and i mean TONS of stuff and was barely $5 out of pocket many times!

my key has been to save up coupons. and i wish i would have always organized them the way i do now. i have a 1 1/2 inch binder with 8 dividers in it. i have 60 pages of baseball card pages (you know - the clear pages that are divided into 9 slots that would hold those "precious" cards!).

each kind coupon has it's very own slot! don't get me wrong - if i get a few of the same coupon, they all go in the same little slot. but i have to check the dates - i may have 2 $1.00 off of ____ shampoo - but the dates be different!

i've got the sections divided into:
1) personal (toiletries, makeup, feminine stuff, etc.)
2) paper products (strictly paper towels, paper plates, toilet paper, etc.)
3) medicines
4) cleaning, etc
5) foods
6) bugs, ziplocs, batteries (strange, i know....but that's just how i did it!)
7) my babies -> baby stuff and pets!
8) misc (this is where i put coldstone coupons, coupons for chucky cheese, and other odd coupons that don't really fit anywhere else)

in my binder, i also have a little zippered bag thing (you know - that holds pencils and all) that fits the binder - i keep a pair of scissors in there and 2 or 3 pens. oh - and a few paperclips. seriously - i wish i had done my binder back in april when i started doing this. it has made things so much easier. mary peyton is big enough to sit over IN the buggy now, so whenever i go somewhere, i am able to put the folder right there in the front of the buggy. that way, i can just flip through and see my coupons SO much easier!

oh - and another thing - with the grocery game, i am able to print out my list for each store before i go (you can choose the things you want so that if you see things you know you don't want, you don't have to print everything out). once i print out that list, i go through the binder and pull coupons corresponding with the list. i have an envelope for each store and once i've pulled the coupons, they go into that envelope and are paperclipped to the front of the list for that store. it just helps so much.

i've also learned
~that the proctor & gamble inserts are in the paper the first weekend of each month
~kroger runs their sales sunday-tuesday
~kroger doubles coupons (EVERY DAY) up to $0.75 (they will double a $0.70, but not a $0.75)

i know this is a lot of stuff, but i hope it explains stuff!