How Does Your Credit Rate?

How often do you check your credit reports (you have three of them)? Did you know that you are entitled to a free copy of each of your credit reports once a year? There are lots of places that you can go to get them, but most of the places require you to sign up for a "free" membership. This translates into getting a certain amount of time for free - say 30 days - and then they start charging you a monthly fee for their service. However, there is a website that is a legitimate way to get your reports for free. You can go to http://annualcreditreport.com/ and try it for yourself. You have the option to get all 3 reports at once, or you can spread it out throughout the year - so every 4 months you can get a different report. They do try to upsell and get you to spend money to get your credit score, but your credit report is totally free.

I pulled all three for both me and Mike last night, and I am happy to report everything looks correct. The only weird thing that came up is an address on my report that we have never lived at....hmm....weird.

If there are negative marks on your report, this will impact you whenever you want to borrow money - for a car or a home. Your credit also can be used, in part, to determine your auto insurance premiums - did ya know that? Many employers are also starting to check credit reports....(why would they trust you with their money if you can't handle your own???) It is always good to know what is on your credit report and to check it at least once a year.

Food Storage Item of the Week

Have you ever wondered what an entire year supply of sugar would look like?

Well, this is what ours looks like. At least I can check one item off of my food storage list. We now have our year supply of sugar!!!! Albertson's has a sale this week on 5 lb bags of sugar for $1.75....which is the best deal I have seen in a while. So I ended up getting 200 lbs which came to $70....however, I still had 2 catalinas from the soup sale last week...so I ended up paying only $50 for the sugar. I am pretty excited to cross this off the list....now how to store it......

Does anybody have suggestions.....should I put it in buckets?? - regular lids or gamma lids???.....or should I seal it in #10 cans from the cannery??????? How do you store your sugar?

Kmart Double Coupons

Kmart is doubling coupons again this week - up to $2.00. You have to use coupons from newspaper inserts - they won't double internet printable coupons. But this is what I got today ... before coupons, my total was $32.47 - after coupons I paid $6.14. It should have been $2 less, but one of my coupons didn't double and one didn't double for the full amount. So if you go to take advantage of this good deal - make sure and watch closely as the cashier applies your coupons.

Victory at Walgreen's - Finally!!!

I finally have figured out how to work the best deal at Walgreen's..... This week they have Reynold's wrap on sale - there is a coupon in their weekly ad that brings the price down from $1.59 to $.89. However, I had a coupon from the Sunday paper for $1.00 off. The problem that I have always run into is that if your coupon value is greater than the item, then the register beeps and won't accept the coupon. But, tonight I finally figured it out - you have to present the coupons in the correct order to get it to work correctly. After the casheir rang up my items, I gave him my manufacturer coupons and then I had him scan the coupons from their weekly flyer which reduced the cost even more!!! I purchased 4 rolls of foil and 4 candy bars (B1G1 Free - stacking a Walgreen's coupon and a manufacturer's coupon) and spent a total of ........................$.46 which includes $.32 in tax.

Gotta love free chocolate!!!!

Free Subs

Sign up for a free Quizno's Sub here. After you put in your info, they will email you a coupon for a free sandwich. It is a quick and easy signup. My email arrived within a minute - but you have to use the coupon within 5 days of printing.

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday:
Chicken Rolls, Green Beans, and Green Salad
Monday:
Tacos
Tuesday:
Chicken Enchiladas and Broccoli/Raisin Salad
Wednesday:
Steak on the grill, Baked Potatoes, and Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Thursday:
Lasagna (homemade - from the freezer), Corn on the Cob, Green Salad
Friday:
Leftovers or Frozen Pizza

Thrifty Thursday

One of my friends at work was asking what a catalina is - so here is a picture....I have 2 catalinas left over from my shopping trip to Albertsons this morning. I got the $10 one for buying 10 GM products that are on sale this week. The $3.50 one is for buying 5 fruit snacks/roll-ups in one transaction (which also goes toward the 10 GM products....yeah!!).

My receipts to show what I really paid (double click on the picture to see up close) ...I had to do 3 transactions....I broke it down into 10 items per transaction so that I could roll the $10 catalina from each transaction.

So ... this is what I ended up with today....none of which I would buy at full price. However, with coupons and the good deal that Albertson's has going on....I paid OOP $19.84....but I still have the 2 catalinas to use next week.....so net for the trip today is..............$6.34!!!!

I ended up getting:

12 Progresso soup
6 Fruit Roll-ups
4 Fruit Snacks
4 Chex Mixes (Cheddar is the best)
2 tubes of crescent rolls
2 Peanut butter cookie mixes (these are good)

Menu Planning

Monday:

Orange glazed pork chops, mixed veggies, fried rice (using left over ham)

Tuesday:

Spaghetti, Green Salad, Sweet Corn

Wednesday:

Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice casserole (from freezer)

Thursday:

Shake N Bake Chicken, Peaches, Au Gratin Potatoes

Friday:

Leftovers or Frozen Pizza