I don't know about you but my summer went way too fast. The kids go back to school Monday. Youza!

In the last three weeks my only grocery purchases have been milk, bread, lemon juice and an onion. We have canned 2 bushels of tomatoes and 1 1/2 bushels of peaches. We have frozen squash, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, jams, etc. I finally had to send my hubby today and he did a fab job of staying in our $50/wk budget. We had to divide duties. He did the grocery store and I took CK#1 to the dr. to discover she has a MAJOR case of poison ivy. We think she got it trekking through the fields of a Civil War battle site in Murfreesboro, TN. Lesson learned. No flip flops on historical site explorations.

The last couple of months have been a lot of fun in the blogging world. I have learned a lot and have a gained a tremendous appreciation for the moms who do this full time. My little summaries were 15 minutes snippets here and there that were fit in my schedule between football, volleyball, piano, swimming and dance. Now we are starting all over again. Now What??

Well, my blogging days are going to have to come to a stop for a while. I have to have a little procedure done that will include a fun recovery but no time for anything but the essentials. My food storage is good and my kids love to help with couponing so the deals won't stop for us but it will be limited. I will still be around if you want to call or email with questions. Good luck with school and all of your fun adventures. Tamara

Taking A Little Vacation

If you are new to couponing it might seem like you never want to leave your computer because you might just miss out on something. Just like any other hobby or job you have to fit it in with the rest of your life. My 3 CK's and I will be doing a little trekking over the next week trying to fit in the most fun we can before school starts again on the 17th. We love adventures and we have been to 20 states together and will add another new state (Virginia) to our list this time. The kids want to see all 50 states before I do. I have 8 left so they better hurry.

Keep up with my other favorite couponers with their links found at the right. Don't forget about tax free weekend in TN Aug 7-9.

Scope Outlast Free Sample

I love free samples. They are the perfect way to try new products and they usually come in sizes great to travel with. Walmart has a Scope Outlast sample here. Thanks Hip2save.

Office Max 3 Sharpies for 1 Penny Each

Here is a good one thanks to couponcravings. Sharpies for 1 penny at Office Max. Go here to print the coupon.

CVS & Staples

Today is Tuesday and it's the last day to get the school supplies that are free with ECB's. If your CVS is out of the sale items get the raincheck and you will still get the sale price and the ECB's. It addition to the school supplies this week there is a Soft Soap Body Soap and Blink Eye Drops that are free with ECB's. See couponmommie for links to coupons for these items that make them better than free.

I happened to be by Staples yesterday so I ran in and got the filler paper that is .01. Yes, .01 each for 120 sheets college or wide ruled. Limit 5. They have other things on sale including composition books for .50 ea. This filler paper offer is only good until WEDNESDAY! If you get the Sunday paper there is also a $10 gift card if you spend $50 offer coupon on the front page. This is great is you need to buy a backpack or some computer accessories.

What To Do After Canning 84 lbs Of Peaches?

My inner couponer was a little neglected this week because of all the canning from our garden and the mounds of peaches we picked. I only made it to CVS and had my hubby grab an onion and some hotdogs and the store for me.

So, Teresa and I have finished the peaches and it was time for me to browse my favorite deal sites. It looks to be a busy week. New coupons on coupons.com. Lots of good deals coming at CVS and Walgreens. Take a look any of the site linked at the right for lists.

If you haven't finished shopping for this week you might want to go and see if Target has any of their toys left that are on a killer sale. I saw many different posts about people stocking up on things for Christmas and bdays.

Do you feel like it is just too soon for school to start? We start in two weeks and before that we have friends coming for 4 days, a trip to Nashville for 2 days, a trip to Virginina for 4 days and my oldest CK turns 10.

Right now I just need to sit for a few minutes before I start the clean up process that must follow a sticky peach day:)

What was your favorite find this week?

Picking Peaches

After spending 12 years in the NW we learned that if you wait for it to stop raining you will not ever leave your house. You can do anything in the rain that you do without the rain:) So today, despite possibilities of rain, our little peach picking crew went on an adventure. My 3 CK's and two of their friends hopped in our Trailblazer and headed north of Knoxville to the Fruit and Berry Patch. We picked 1 1/2 bushels -about 84 lbs when I weighed them at home. We had the best time. There are a lot of peaches to be reached when you let an eight year old climb the tree or put a four year old on your shoulders. Can you believe that I forgot to take pictures?

After we picked our hearts out we stopped in the little store there on farm and had fresh fruit slushes. We tried the cherry/apple and the strawberry and it was pretty even favorites. If you want a good staycation or just a fun adventure head up to the kid friendly Fruit and Berry Patch at 4407 McCloud Rd., Knoxville, TN 37938. For farm updates call 865-922-3779 or go here.

My buddy Teresa is coming over tomorrow. Guess what we will be doing:)

Home Made Simple Coupon Booklet

Dealseekingmom has posted another link to a great coupon booklet that comes right in the mail. Go here and sign up. These coupons are for cleaning items like Dawn and Cascade. Everytime they put up a new link I sign up and have received three or four in the mail. There is even a coupon for FREE Cascade Rinse for your dishwasher.

What's Good Today

Are you a Christopher and Banks Shopper? If so, sign up here for their email list and get a $10 off any purchase coupon. Thanks Hip2save.

Moneysavingmom has a great Target Deals list. Not sure if I will make it this week but it is worth a try.

Some of you might remember how irritated it makes me to try and shop at Ingles. Well, I did go last week and after seeing the Ingles coupon matchup list on Southernsavers I might have to go again this week for their B1G1 Free sale.

Great Kraft Printables

**Update** THESE COUPONS ARE ONLY GOOD AT PUBLIX. Sorry everyone. Either that little bit of info got added later or I just didn't see that. I am of the belief that it's not right to try and 'sneak' something in but I have heard that some stores don't look at the coupon good enough to notice the one spot it says 'Redeem at Publix". I won't be trying it but if you live near a Publix print on!

Just saw this on http://www.couponcravings.com/. A link for three great Kraft coupons.

$1.50 off Kraft Dressing
$1 off Oscar Meyer Beef Franks
$1 off Kraft Natural 2% Shredded Cheese

Moneysavingmom has a good heads up on a new Cellfire coupon for $1 off Honey Nut Cheerios. This should go on sale as part of the back-to-school chaos so don't forget to download it.

New P & G Downloadable Coupons & The Bounce Dryer Bar

P&G has added some new downloadable coupons that include Tide, Gain, Pampers, Underjams and a lot more. Download what you need before you head to Kroger this week.

There is coupon that I want to comment about. The Bounce Dryer Bar. The bar slides into a cartridge that attaches directly to the inside of your dryer barrell and is supposed to last about two months. I tested this as part of VocalPoint last month. It smells nice and worked well to soften the clothes BUT, after two weeks the bars was more than half gone and the whole cartridge fell off the side of the dryer. The cartridge would not reattach and now there is a ugly spot in my new dryer. The spot does not affect anything. It hasn't damaged any clothes that I have seen. I do A LOT of laundry--just like you I bet. This bar would not have lasted more than a month for me and the fact that it just failed to stick has left me with the opinion that I would not buy this bar.

If you have used the Bounce Dryer Bar and have a different opinion feel free to comment on it.

Busy Week

We have a super busy week at our house. We have been canning and freezing all the goodies from our garden and plan to do some tomatoes and peaches in the next few days. We have a good friend coming from out of town and I am taking inventory (again) of the kids clothes so I know what more they need for fall/winter. We are also cleaning windows and blinds and curtains --because they need it. CK#3 plays football three nights a week and guess who is the team mom? We also have a trip to NC and Nashville planned so only really good stuff will get my attention this week.

My plans this week include;
CVS school supply freebies. Check the flyer for the list or any of the links to crazy couponers will have lists of good deals.
I will time my Kroger trip to go on Thursday during the 50% off Kellogg's products one-day sale. Check out couponmommie or southernsavers for some good coupon links for Kellogg's products.

So email me if you have any questions or leave a comment if you have any fun ideas of what to do with a bunch of peaches & tomatoes. Right now I am planning peach butter, peach almond freezer conserve and slicing and freezing them for smoothies and cobblers. The tomatoes will be canned pizza sauce and diced tomatoes, frozen tomato puree and diced tomatoes. What I really need are more ideas for my cherry tomatoes. We are picking about 100 of these babies every other day. I have pureed and frozen some and will make a roasted tomato soup recipe this week to see if we like it enough to can some of that.

BIG Sale on Gain Laundry Detergent

**UPDATE** OOPS! Food City had a big misprint in their flyer. The Gain is NOT .99 it is $3.99ea.

A good friend of mine called today with a tip on a great sale on Gain Laundry Detergent. At Food City (Hardin Valley and Lenoir City Market Drive locations) Gain 24-42 load asst. bottles are .99. Yes, you read that right .99. Limit 10. The sale is July 26 - Aug 1. Nicole will be checking to see if this includes the HE variety for all of you with front load washing machines. I will update on that. This will make an even greater deal if you get the $5 off a $25 purchase coupon in the mail.

Another thing to watch for at those same Food City locations is .99/lb mixed pork chops.

Free Total Cereal Sample

I love to get free samples before I try something new. Especially things like cereal which can be a little spendy. Here is a chance to get a free Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal. Thanks Hip2save.

Love Fridays

Couponmommie has a great tip on an upcoming sale at Kroger and a ton of coupons to use with it. Thank Jennifer!

Couponcravings has a list of free samples available. I grabbed a sample of Airborne for my hubby who spends quality time in an airplane. She also has a link to some great Arm & Hammer coupons here.

Moneysavingmom has a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Entree coupon from one of my favorites Aubelos. Great for date night.

Dealseekingmom has a great write up about a new coupon application for your iPod Touch or iPhone. It is a free app that I will definitely be looking into for my new iPhone.

Southernsavers has a preview of the CVS deals for next week. More school freebies. Once again the items are free after ECB's and the ECB's are only offered thru Tuesday. If you get there and the items are out don't forget to get your raincheck! You will still get the ECB's if you get a raincheck by Tuesday.

Don't forget that the Ingles Triple Coupon event only happens a couple times of year and it is happening now. It ends on Saturday the 25th. I was able to grab some good deals earlier this week. Do you remember those Wacky Mac coupons from the coupon class? Now is the time to use those to get free pasta.

Deals For Thursday

Southernsavers has a link to the Smartsource coupons. If you haven't already been to Staples this week there is a coupon for Zebra products that are free with rebate this week. There is also a $1 coupon for Yoplait Fiber One Yogurt. Use this at Kroger with a $1 Cellfire or Shortcuts coupon. The Yoplait Fiber One Yogurts are on sale for $1.99. Use the printable and the downloadable coupon to make them free.

Hip2save has the link here for a free sample of True Delights Granola Bars which I can personally say are way yummy:)

www.coupons.com has some new coupons for $2 off Bic Triumph Roller pens, .75 off Cheez-Its and $1 off Kellogg's Cinnabon Bars.

The Gillette Fusion Razors are on sale at Target for $4.99. If you still have your $4 coupon from 6/7 that would make it .99ea. I was at Target earlier this week and did not see these on sale so have them do a price check for you if it isn't marked.

Hip2save has a great heads up on a new coupon on coupons.com. Use zip 85301 and print a $3 off a Colgate Toothpaste & Toothbrush. It says Walgreens on the coupon but it also says good at Food, Drug, Discount and other stores accepting coupons. This will be a good one to have for a future sale.

Also, while you are on coupons.com print the $1/2 Bic Stationary items. This will work great during the school supply wars. Walgreen's has Bic highlighters for .49. Thanks hip2save.

Dealseeking mom has a great link to ConAgra coupons. Go here and register if you haven't already.

I'm off to finish my strawberry freezer jam.

Monday Update

At the Cedar Bluff Staples this morning I got a great SwissGear backpack. It was regularly $80 on clearance for $35.50 and it works for the full price back on my Staples Rewards check. They are out of the free w/rebate highlighters and the pencil sharpener already. Call before you go if you want one because they are supposed to be getting more in.

At the CVS at Smith & Grigsby Chapel they have great stock of the free after ECB school supplies. The only adjustment is that they don't have the 1" binders listed in the add so they are substituting any other 1" binder in the store for the $3 price and 3 ECB's.

Walgreen's had the Pilot pens that were free after RR.

Gotta run kids to the pool. Happy shopping.

Good Deals To Watch For This Week

School Supply Wars are stepping up this week and Ingles even put themselves in the game.

Staples has a great deal going where you can get a FREE backpack if you are a member of Staples Rewards. Buy any backpack and get the purchase price back in your quarterly rewards check. You can do this deal in store, online or by phone. Make the deal even better by grabbing the following free w/rebate;

(These rebates are only available in store)
Zebra Cadoozie Mechanical Pencils $2.99-$2.99 easy rebate (limit 1)
Zebra Sarasa Retractable Gel Pens $4.99-$4.99 easy rebate (limit 1)
Pentel Handy Lines Highlighters $4.99-$4.99 easy rebate (limit 1)
Staples Photo Supreme 8 1/2" x 11" 50/pk $12.98-$11.98 rebate (limit 2)
Staples Slim Line Pencil Sharpener $15.99-$5.99 instant savings - $10 easy rebate (limit 1)

Don't forget to print off this $10 off a $50 purchase from Office Depot. Staples takes competitors coupons.

Ingles doing Triple coupons this week. couponmommie has a list of coupon matchups.

Kroger is doing another week of the Mega Sale. Most items are the same but check out southernsavers for coupon matchups on anything new.

Walgreens & CVS have more good school supply deals this week. http://www.hip2save.com/, http://www.couponmommie.com/ and http://www.southernsavers.com/ all have good lists to look at.

Don't forget that the CVS freebies last Sunday through Tuesday this week. This stuff will go VERY fast. For all my friends who don't shop on Sunday, ask for a raincheck if everything is gone and you can still get the ECB's after Tuesday.

If you are wondering if it is worth your time to go to different stores to get your school supplies, check out my Walmart price list from 7/13. Compare prices and make sure it is worth your while to go to more than one store.

Last Minute Target & Walmart Deals

If the planets align and you see this before you do your shopping on Saturday afternoon here's the deal.

Target strawberries are on sale for $1.50/lb. The Target coupon for $1 off expires today. .50/lb is better than you will find even to pick them yourself. They are no longer available on the Target website. Head on over to hotcouponworld or afullcup. This was a good enough deal that we took two trips and will make another batch of freezer jam!

Also, if you bought any of the Kellogg's cereal at Kroger this week in the specially marked boxes that said they had $5 worth of coupons inside you can use those coupons at Target today to make various Kellogg's cereal .88.

If you saw the post way back about the Alexia Potato Snacks and you have the 2 $1 coupons that came in the mail then take these to Target too. The snacks are on sale 2/$5. Use the 2 $1 Alexia coupons that they sent you and print the .75/2 Target Alexia Snack coupons on hotcouponworld or afullcup. This makes it $2.25 for 2 or $1.12 ea. Bring your receipt home and send in the rebate form that came with your coupons for a free bag. That makes it 3 for $2.25 or .75ea.

Don't forget the Pictureka coupons you printed a few weeks ago (no longer available). The card game is back in stock--I saw it today. Priced at $6.99. Use the $5 coupon to make it $1.99 or go to Walmart where they have the card game for $5.24.

At Walmart CK#1 and I got the Breyers yougurt for free. The $1/2 coupon is still available on coupons.com --use zip 33907. The yougurt is .50ea. The Breyers yougurt with the candy in the cup on top is .56ea.

Don't forget your $1 Bic pen coupons to get those for free too.

Don't forget to check out my post on the Walmart school supplies I did on Monday that lists the price for some of the most commonly needed school supplies.