THIS IS THE KIM TENNILL SHOW....

My posting has slowed lately due to a small hiatus that I have been submersing myself in! My husband, youngest baby and my camera were away for a week starting the day after we returned home from vacation. I cannot believe how quickly I have forgotten how "slow" my life was before them. My oldest son was in school throughout the week and at night I found myself without many things to do but relax and breathe in the peacefulness of my hiatus from pretty much everything. Now that they have returned along with my camera I can once again start posting my deals and vacation pictures! With that being said lets start with the deals first and then I will post about our vacation later!

Quick Side Notes:

I did purchase coupons on ebay for my purchases at CVS and Publix. I spent a total of $11.00 on coupons for my CVS transaction and a total of $4.23 for my Publix transaction. I do deduct money spent on coupons from my grocery budget and use what is left over to purchase groceries throughout the week.

I received a free coupon from one of my Ebay sellers this week. I purchased the 2 coupons for free multi-roll Charmin and they also sent a coupon for a free 200 sq ft. roll of Reynolds foil!! AWESOME!!!

1 8 roll Bounty paper towel $6.99

2 16 roll Charmin $19.98

2 All Detergent $7.49

1 V8 Splash $2.99

-$5/$30 CVS printable (found at iheartcvs.com expired 4/26)

- $1/1 All Small and Mighty Detergent (found at All.com)

-$10.50 ECB from previous transaction (see 4/6/09 post)

- $19.98 Charmin coupons (purchased 2 on ebay each good for 1 free multi pack charmin)

Total OOP : $2.73

Coupons purchased $11.00

ECB earned $4.00 for next trip

1 Milk $2.79

1 Publix Bread $1.69

2 Ziploc Easy Slide $3

20 boxes Ritz Cheese/Teddy Grahams $29.90

10 Skippy Peanut Butter $12.45

5 Orchard Select Jar Fruit $9.98

2 Scrubbing Bubbles Cleaner $2.79

1 200 sq. ft. Reynolds Foil $9.29

1 Chicken Drumsticks $3.49 (2.04lbs)

1 Red Seedles Grapes $2.70 (1.60lbs)

4 Ears of Corn $1.00

1 Heart Healthy Turkey Lunch Meat $2.50

4 Kelloggs Pop Tart $4.78

-$10/$50 Competitor Coupon from Winn Dixie catalina

-5 $1/1 Orchard Select coupons (bought from ebay)

-$1/2 Ziploc Bags (J&J coupon booklet)

-$2/2 Scrubbing Bubbles (J&J booklet)

-$9.29 Reynolds Foil (received from Ebay for FREE w/other coupons purchased!)

-$1.00 Chicken coupon when purchase Reynolds foil (peelee on package!)

-10 $.40/1 Skippy PB (this doubled to $.80/1 bought on ebay)

-10 $1/2 Nabisco Crackers (bought on Ebay)

-20 $1/1 Nabiso Crackers (Target printable coupon)

Total Before Coupons/Weekly Sales $150.53 w/tax

Total After Coupons/Weekly Sales $15.57 w/tax

Amount Spent to Buy Coupons $4.23

Overall I spent a Grand Total of $33.52 for all of the groceries above! AWESOME!!

Well so far this year has been "so-so" financially and I need to adjust a few areas of how our money is being tracked to help us out of this "so-so" year we are having.

Let's begin with what will be getting paid off in the next 12 months:

1.) Truck $16,000 (Matt Bonus)
2.) Discover $3200 (Snowball money 5 months)
3.) Kim Fall School $1000 (Matt Bonus)
4.) 2009 Farm Payment $9,700 (Matt deployment money/bonus)
5.) Van $12,500 (partial Matt bonus/snowball money 6 months)
6.) Farm $5200 (taxes 2010)
7.) Investment money $4000 (taxes 2010)
8.) Kim Spring School $2000 (taxes 2010)

Approx. Total $52,000

WOW WOW WOW! I could type that a million times because a-lot-o money is being paid out this year and we just paid a chunk off from this past taxes to pay off our horse trailer and a few other items that I will not mention.......which came to a total of around $10,000.

Lets start at the top of this list and work our way down. My husband is set to receive a bonus this year due to various reasons with the military. We are SO BEYOND FORTUNATE to be "tentatively" getting $23,000 in August. This money will pay off his truck, pay for 1 semester of my college classes and pay down my van debt. We will then start using the truck payment for 5 months to pay down my van and any extra from paychecks. This should place the van being paid off March 15, 2010. We will then pay my spring semester of school, our farm payment that was due from a previous year and place some money back into one of our investments.

Now I can hear you saying, "Whoa whoa whoa, Kim, slow your roll you missed a few things!" "First what about the farm payment of $9700 and why do you think you will be getting $11,000 in taxes for 2010?" Well let me explain my dear friends and family. My husband is as said before active military and at times this requires him to serve our country while in another war zone country. The only perks that come from him being thousands of miles away in a war zone is the compensation you receive. You not only get his regular pay, but it is all tax free and we will receive additional money for him being gone. This all leads to a higher paycheck and a lower gross income at the end of the year. We will not be paying any taxes for 6-7 months of the year and this allows us a large tax return at the end of the year, just as we had this year. Not to mention all of the small extras that add up when he is away. I don't buy as much food, use as much gas, go out and spend money as much and etc. when he is away. Our typical amenities and money needed decrease greatly when he is gone!

With all of this being said we still have a few areas that we can improve. We desperately need to go fully to the envelope/cash system. We have a tendency to use our debit card more frequently than we would if we set limits with cash in an envelope. For example, we allot $200 for entertainment a month which will include any date nights, babysitter charges, eating out and etc. We have a tendency to go over this limit because we use our debit card and do not pay much attention to how much we have spent on these types of items throughout the month. By using cash and placing a set amount in the envelope once the envelope is empty that is it for the month. I know it will take a small amount of effort and many of you are saying, " I am not a child and I don't need to set limits!" This may be true but it is a weakness of ours and of many others. I am happy that we are able to recognize it and make the effort to correct it!

I will try to keep up with this primarily as we get to the end of the summer and really begin to pay things off!! I will also let you know how the envelope system is working as I continue!

HAPPY SAVVY SHOPPING!!!

10 Boxes Kelloggs Cereal $19.95

10 Kraft Dressings $14.95

3 18 count large eggs $7.65

2 12 count large brown eggs $3.58

- 10 $1.00 Kelloggs coupons

- 10 $1.50 Kraft Dressing coupons

- 5 Free eggs w/purchase of 2 Kelloggs cereal (up to $2.00)

Total Before Coupons and Sales: $81.21

(One last note: I will be out on vacation until April 15th! I will not be posting any deals or posts of any kind until I get home! I will be posting pictures though, including the one below which shows the exact cabin my husband and I are staying in for 4 days w/o children!!!)

If you haven't already guessed... I LOVE Publix and CVS! Can you see the picture?? This is why I LOVE Publix and CVS! I cannot emphasize the word LOVE enough with Publix and CVS. I know many of you are sitting there thinking, "Huh?? WTH? Publix and CVS are expensive!" Yes, I do realize that, but as I have said before, taking a little time to gather your coupons and make a shopping plan makes all of the difference. I went to Publix to purchase large quantities of Chex/Cheerios Mix, Butter, Pasta, Frozen Veggies and Canned Diced Tomatoes. I also picked up asparagus and mini rice cakes. I stopped at CVS to pick up 2 packages of diapers and a large pack of wipes.

Before I go over my trip a few notes to absorb first!

* I did buy all of my coupons for the shopping trip to Publix on Ebay and spent a total of $13.68 which I took out of my $260 a month grocery budget.

*The Del Monte tomatoes, Birdseye frozen veggies and Ronzoni pasta came in numerous variates. I was not stuck with one type of veggie or one type of cut/flavor of tomato.

*Before coupons the frozen veggies were 50% off at Publix this week and everything else was BOGO.

* I also had a $10/$50 coupon from Winn Dixie. My local Publix accepts competitor coupons and they double coupons up to $.50

* My favorite buy of the day was the lasagna noodles I scored for .65 a box and with the .50 coupon doubled to $1 I actually got them for free plus overage!!

My Publix trip is as follows:

25 Bags Steamfresh Veggies $23.75

15 Bags Cheerios/Chex mix $20.18

22 Cans Del Monte Diced Tomatoes (many varieties) $16.39

15 Boxes Ronzoni Pasta (many varieties) $12.68

8 Can't Believe It's Not Butter (no fat) $11.56

1 Asparagus $2.47

1 Quaker Rice Cakes $2.99

1 Publix Rice Cakes $Free (if bought with Quaker variety)

-25 .35 off 1 bag of Steamfresh veggies. Doubled to $.70 = $17.50

-15 .50 off 1 bag Chex/Cheerios Mix. Doubled to $1.00 = $15.00

-22 .40 off 1 can Del Monte Tomatoes. Doubled to $.80 = $17.60

-15 .50 off 1 box Ronzoni Pasta. Doubled to $1.00 = $15.00
-8 .50 off 1 spread or spray I Can't Believe. Double to $1.00 = $8.00

-$10/$50 purchase from Winn Dixie

Total Before Coupons and Sales: $174.77