New Years Day- cooking, sewing, walking and CVS

Happy New Year everyone!  

I'm hoping 2016 will be a year to be more organized and to plan ahead more.  

One thing I need to do is keep some bread in the freezer.  I make whole loaves sometimes and we serve it warm or as toast,  but for sandwiches,  we prefer homemade buns.  They are simple to make and I've blogged about them so many times.

They are bread dough but rolled and cut into circles instead of baked as loaves.

I slice them almost all the way once they cool and then I freeze them until we need a sandwich.  

Buns just stay softer and don't get crumbly like sliced homemade bread seems to.  

Above are the dozen buns I baked today.  

Our traditional New Year's Day meal is black eyed peas served with rice and stir fried cabbage

This is an easy meal to cook and it just tastes so good.  We may just have it on the first day of every month this winter.  

The little boy is a thrift store purchase from years ago.  His face and yellow curls look a lot like our little JJ.  

Of course I've made the standard resolution to exercise more.  I walked 2 miles this morning with a free video on YouTube.  Leslie Sansone has put out many walking program DVDs and she even has several full length ones available on her YouTube channel. 

Leslie Sansone walking videos on YouTube

I have a craft room chock full of supplies, many are from my mom's downsizing.  I have lots of good stuff so I am hoping to sew a little every day in 2016, even if it's just 15 minutes.  

Today,  I hemmed these 2 panels and made them into 2 generous size kitchen towels.

A heads up if you shop at CVS- these printable coupons are available on the CVS.com website with the other manufacturer coupons.  You can print each one twice and they will make for free or very low cost purchases.  I used these several months ago and was happy to see them available again.  

The first one is $2/2 Gold Emblem nuts.  CVS sells single serving nuts for $1 so with 2 of these coupons, I think I can get 4 bags free.  

The second one is $2/2 snack items. I think their popcorn and chip type snacks are $1 are bag so I may get 4 bags free. 

The last one is $1 on any Gold Emblem grocery or beverage item.  I'm not familiar with what CVS sells but I am pretty sure I can match it up with something we use for a good deal.  

Also at CVS, today is the day that quarterly bonus extracare Bucks come out.  If you have shopped there in the last 3 months, you can check your reward on the CVS app or at the scanner in the store or they may send you an email.  

I got $2 - not much but it is based on your final prices paid, not before coupons, and since I didn't spend much actual cash there,  I'm happy for the $2. 

That's the highlights from my first day of 2016.  I hope to do lots of home stuff and to blog about anything that's worth sharing.  

Happy 2016 everyone!

Ironing, Christmas clearance and CVS

Hello everyone! 

I let the ironing pile up (again!) So I spent part of an evening this week getting it all done while I binge watched YouTube.  There were 15 shirts to iron- 

6 blouses were mine and 9 shirts were my husbands.  

The ironing went fairly quick.  I still use this homemade version of spray starch,  

The jugs of liquid starch last a long time and I think I get the same results ironing with the homemade kind as I did with the much more expensive aerosol cans of starch.  

My original post about homemade spray starch HERE

I needed to go the bank today so I also stopped at Joanns fabric store.  Their Christmas was 75% off and all I bought was these 4 mugs.  They are big, maybe 18 ounces, and they are Christmasy but I plan to use them the rest of the winter.  The mugs were originally $5.99 each so at 75% off, all 4 mugs were $6.

I went to CVS one more time this week when I read about this deal on a Facebook group called Couponing at CVS.  The Eucerin and Aquaphor products are buy $20 and get $10 ExtraCareBucks.  

I also had a CVS app coupon for 30% all lotions.  

I actually got 2 tubes of the hand cream, my husband was already using one when I took the photo. 

I picked out products to get my total as close to $40 as possible.  

I used $29 in ExtraCareBucks I earned in previous purchases and that 30% off coupon.  

My total ended up just $1.17 and I got back $20 ExtraCareBucks and then 2 days, I earned $5 more in Beauty Bucks.  

This cold winter weather makes our skin dry and itchy so I am very happy to get all these high quality moisturizers for almost free.  

Happy new year to you all.  We are having a quiet evening at home and that suits us just fine.  

Decorating, CVS and Budget Planning

Hello everyone!  

We didn't put out a huge amount of Christmas decorations so they were easy to pack away today.   It always feels fresh to pack them away, doesn't it? 

Then, we put out a little white tree with snow themed decorations.  I enjoy the twinkle lights and this little tree is just right for now.  

CVS purchase this week

 

I spent a bigger than normal amount but it was less that I expected it to be.  Because the cashier overlooked the blades at first, my total is on 2 transactions.  

3 jumbo packs of Charmin toilet tissue

6 Pantene hair care items

3 Revlon color stay lipsticks

Gillette blades and a razor

And a box of 1/2 priced clearance cookies my husband picked out.

I spent $47.13 and got back $24 in ExtraCareBucks and will get back $5 BeautyBucks for the Pantene  and makeup.  I used newspaper coupons, CVS app and redbox coupons, and $10 ExtraCareBucks from previous purchases.  

ECBs for next week

A new year is starting and I just redid my home notebook where I keep track of bills, and spending and such.   Our budget is simple and last year I used some free printable monthly sheets from a blog and I was so happy to see she is offering updates ones for 2016.  I've printed the news and updated my book.  Her sheets worked great for us in 2015.  

Below is the link to these great printables.  They are free but she asks that you subscribe to her blog.  

I recommend both! 

2016 free printable budget planning worksheets