Decluttering and Organizing Your Life....Start Small

In the past week, while surfing around in Blogland, I've noticed quite a few bloggers are talking about and/or holding "DeCluttering your Home" Events this month or throughout 2010. Organizing Junkie is holding a February Decluttering Challenge HERE and there is this Full Year Declutter Project HERE.
Just google "Declutter Blog" and you'll find enough organizing angst writing to fill your day.

Clutter and decluttering seem to be HOT this year among the mommy &/or frugal blogs.

Clutter is bad.....that we can all agree upon.
Clutter gets in the way of you being your "authentic self".....geez, did I just say that?
So decluttering is always a good idea.
I doubt there are few among us who couldn't use a little decluttering and organizing.
Some of us, on the other hand, could use a FLEET of 1-800 Got Junk? Trucks!

In between racing off to grab another load of Catalina deal-ed goodies at Price Chopper or picking up more almost free stuff at Rite-Aid, I decided to take an hour out this week and declutter/organize something in my house.
But what?......what could I finish in less than an hour??

And then it hit me.....well,literally.....it's on wheels you see and the dog can push it if he jumps up on it's side looking for food.
My junk drawer in the kitchen island!
Small and an overflowing pig sty...perfect!!

First I had to clear the island's top....ugh.....the scope of this job is expanding....

Step One....I dumped it out....

 

Did all that actually fit in that little drawer?

Then I took the drawer out and wiped it down.
Here it is all cleaned up.
Can't I just leave it like this?lol

Next I made 3 piles....a "Will Live in this Drawer" Pile, a "Has to Live Somewhere Else" Pile and a Trash Pile.
Every item was touched once....if I touched it I had to make a decision and put it in one of the piles immediately.  No putting it back and dealing with it later on.
After about 15 minutes I had 3 separate piles and was ready to move on to Step Two.


Step Two involved....
1. Putting the trash pile in the trash.   Gee, that was complicated....lol
2. Putting the stuff that was going back in that Drawer back into the drawer, but NEATLY this time.  I had 2 organizing bins in there already but this time I USED them to organize.
Imagine that....
3. Putting the "Needs to Live Somewhere Else" Pile into a bag so I could walk around the house and relocate each item to it's proper location--the canning jar lids in the garage with the canning supplies, the magnifying glass into my desk drawer, the coupons in the coupon box, etc.

And here is what the Junk Drawer looks like now....ain't it pretty?

February 4th and this is the extent of the organizing I have done for 2010.  I have done some decluttering but organizing?.....this be it.

I'll put more organizing and decluttering on my list after I get the taxes finished.
If you've been putting D & O(that's organizing and decluttering) off, you probably have a BIG job ahead of you.
Take my advice.....start small.  Find some area that is small or break a larger area it down into zones to work on instead of trying to tackle a whole room.  Breaking it down into small jobs gives you more of a sense of accomplishment as you can complete something.  When you have a success behind you, you will feel more positive about moving on to another zone to clean.

How about you?  What have you done in the way of decluttering this year?
Let us know in the comments section.

Sluggy

N is for Nivea(Gift Card Rebate)at Rite-Aid next Week

This coming week, Feb.7-13, will be a great time to do the Rite-aid Nivea Single Check Rebate(SCR).
It is SCR #$56....Buy $15 worth of Nivea(Body,Lip,Body Wash or For Men Products)and receive a $5 Rite-Aid Gift Card.

The Nivea Body Wash will be on sale for $2.99(reg. price of $5.99-$6.99).  There are $2/1 Qs from the 1/3 RP insert, which would make each bottle $.99 after Q. 
So you can buy 6 bottles...6x$2.99=$17.94, use 6 $2/1 Qs....$17.94-$12, and spend $5.94 OOP & receive a $5 Gift Card.
Getting a $5 GC means you are basically you are 'paying' $.94 for the 6 bottles of body wash.

Or better yet turn this into a Moneymaker......
Buy 7 Bottles of the Body Wash for $20.93, use 7 $2/1 Qs AND a $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks Q.
$20.93-$14.00-$5.00=$1.93 OOP

Spend $1.93, get 7 bottles of Body Wash and a $5 Gift Card.

If you want to wait a couple of days and chance all the Nivea Body Wash being sold out, Rite-Aid may release new Wellness IPQs, which could make this deal even better.
They have a current $2 off any Skin Care item over $2 Wellness IPQ which expires 2/6, Saturday.  This won't help bring your OOP down next week, but they may release a new Wellness IPQ that does help(chances are they might re-release this $2 Skin Care Q, since this is the 2nd time we've seen it already in the Wellness program).

There is also a ManuQ $5/2 Nivea Lotion and the Lotion will be $5.99(down from $7.99-$8.99), so you could pair this Q with the sale to do the Nivea SCR fairly inexpensively.

Also there are some Nivea Men's Products on clearance over by the men's shaving section in some stores.  Depending on the prices and if the reports of new Nivea Qs in Sunday's inserts are accurate(including a $1/1 Nivea Men's Product Q), you might want to consider using those clearanced products for SCR #56 as well.

Sluggy

KA-BOOM!

Well I was coasting toward the end of January having spent $277.20 on my food/toiletries budget(before rebates that is).  Not too bad but not too great.

And then Friday daughter needed Gas-X(on doctor's orders)so I spent $23.75 at Wags on $30 worth and some Jello for #2 son as he was having dental surgery that morning, and he'd be needing that very soon.
I did get a $10RR so I didn't feel too badly about spending that $23.75 in the end.

Then I hit the grocery store(Weis) Friday evening and found a great sale on Ground Beef for $1 a lb!  I walked out of there with $20 less in my pocket and enough cow to fill a shelf in the freezer.

And then on Saturday I hit various Rite-Aids to get some more deals and finish out some other deals to the tune of $6.89 OOP but a profit of $1.61 AFTER SCRs + credit toward some Gift Card rebates too.

Then I hit CVS to spend some ECBs, use my Free Stacy's Q and do the Chips/Soda/Etc deal.  I found 1 pack of Ivory soap so got that for free before the $1/1 Q expired on Sunday.  I did the Chips/Soda deal but this store started next week's sales on Saturday so my ECBs didn't print, as the Lay's didn't ring up the right price...I bought 1 more bag and the cashier printed the ECBs manually.

Then I was naughty....imagine that SonyAnn!lol.....I saw that my card showed I still was $8 from getting the $10 ECBs for the Chips/Soda deal so when I went by another CVS and bought 3 more bags of Stacy's chips to test my theory.  Since the ECBs were printed manually at store #1, so my card still showed I was $8 away from getting $10 ECBs, I could get $10 more ECBs by buying $8 more of chips/soda items instead of the whole $20 worth.  3 bags of Stacy's was $9.  I used $9 in ECBs and the $10 ECBs printed.....bonus ECBs....lolol  So altogether, I ended up buying $29, spending $.98OOP put on a gift card, and gettting $20 in ECBs back.
I know it was wicked.....but who am I to stop CVS from giving me more ECBs?lol

So another $40 or so tacked onto the January budget spending for all of  Friday's/Saturday's spending wasn't so bad, considering all I got for that.

And then Sunday happened.
If you felt the ground shake and tilt on Sunday, that would have been the after affect of me blowing up the budget on Sunday.
To.
Smither
Eens.

We hit the Bread Outlet first.....hadn't been there in a bit and needed bread.
There went $6 for 3 loaves and 3 boxes of doughnuts for DH's evening snack.
A good deal.

Then we went to Big Lots to use that 20% off coupon.  I bought.....
14 1/2 gallons of juice
2 boxes of popcorn
2 corned beef hash
2 sloppy joe sauce
1 parsley
1 hot sauce
1 pudding for dental surgery boy
1 apricot jam for making my pork chops glaze
2 boxes of oatmeal pies
1 bag of rubber bands(DH's purchase)
$90+ worth of food had we bought it at the cheapest grocery store here on sale using coupons, spent $41.02 with Big Lots prices and the 20% off Q.

After Big Lots I just sort of lost my mind temporarily.

Yah see....it was the last day of January and all those lovely lovely coupons were.....were.....EXPIRING!

I felt like a possessed woman released from a prison who hadn't been in a store for a year, compelled to use those coupons......and spend, spend, SPEND!!!

We were off to Walmart since DH needed something there.  While I waiting on him, I picked up....
2 Beech-Nut baby foods for .08¢ each.
2 packs of Ivory Soap for .07¢ each.
4 Finish dishwasher tabs for $1.37 each.
2 cans of Sauerkraut for .42¢ each.
5 Duck packing tape for .67¢ each.

Then it was off to Price Chopper.
PC decided to gift us with TWO CATALINA DEALS this week!
Around here it's mostly famine but on a rare occasion we do get FEAST.
There is a Spend $30(reg. shelf price)/Get $10 OYNO Deals.
One for Unilever stuff.
Another one for Kraft stuff.
AND there are TWO Doublers in the Store ad!
DH and I went to PC to reconnoiter and gather the reg. shelf prices on items in those Catalina Deals.
I ran 1 transaction too, got my 1st $10 OYNO Cat and I've been rolling it once a day.  Once the extra Qs I ordered come in the mail, I'll step up the pace the rest of the week.  After the initial outlay to get the $10 Cat, I've been averaging about $3 OOP a transaction.  I've been picking up some items we need/want and the rest are flea market goods for the spring.....basically I pay for the couple of items we want/need with the OOP and the flea market stuff is free so everything I sell will be gravy. ;-)

Sunday night I hit Rite-Aid to do this week's deals....spending about $8 OOP and I'll get $9.99 back in SCRs and I have credit toward the Healthy Heart SCR and the Nivea Products SCR Gift Cards.

I finished off Sunday by hitting Weis markets to get 5 free Marcal Small Steps items, 2 tubs of Heluva Good Dip & 2 boxes of Jimmy Dean Turkey sausage for daughter for $1 ea.....and a big containers of ricotta cheese to make Monday night's Stuffed Shells dinner per my Meal Plan.  $6.62 OOP with a savings of 72% according to my receipt from Weis.

So, this is just my way of explaining what I've been doing and why I haven't finished totaling up my January receipts yet.  I'm still pulling receipts out of bags as I put things away in between runs of Price Chopper and Rite-Aid this week.
I'll get them finished off and the books closed on January, hopefully tomorrow.

Sluggy

Saturday Shopping.....Rite-Aid & Keep Your Eye Out for This!

Saturday I did some running around to finish up some Rite-Aid deals I was working on.
First the local Rite-Aid....

 I'll spend over $20 and will be able to use a $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks Q
2 x Nature's Bounty BOGO=$8.99  Used a $5 ManuQ Rewards Program & a $2/1 Any Vitamin Wellness IPQ
3 X Toblerone Candy RAINCHECK($1.50)=$4.50  Used 3 $1/1 ManuQ expiring that day!
1 x Rite-Aid Aloe Lotion clearance=$2.99  Used $2/1 any Skin Care Product over $2 Wellness IPQ
1 x Maybelline Mascara 40% off=$3.11  Used $2/1 any Beauty Product over $2 Wellness IPQ  
1 x 3Musketeers Bar**filler to get to $20 total** on sale=$.50

Total before Qs=$20.09
Coupon Total=$19.00
$20.09-$19.00=$1.09 OOP

SCR=$2 for Maybelline Mascara & $8.99 toward Healthy Heart SCR #550

So a profit of $.91 after SCR!

Then it was off to Rite-Aid #2......

 I'll spend over $20 and will be able to use a $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks Q

2 x Nature's Bounty BOGO=$9.99  Used a $5 ManuQ Rewards Program & a $2/1 Any Vitamin Wellness IPQ
1 x Nivea Body Wash=$5.99  Used $2/1 ManuQ & $2/1 any Skin Care Product Wellness IPQ
1 x Finish Dishwashing Tabs=$6.49  Used $2.50/1 ManuQ & AdPerks $1/1 Finish IPQ


Total before Qs=$22.47
Coupon Total=$19.50
$22.47-$19.50=$2.97 OOP

SCR=$1.50 for Finish. $5.99 toward Nivea SCR($5 Gift Card WYB $15) & $9.99 toward Healthy Heart SCR #550($25 Gift Card WYB $50)

Total after SCR Rebate=$1.47 OOP

Transaction #2 at Store #2.....

 I'll spend over $25 and will be able to use a $5 off $25 Purchase from Red Plum IPQ

2 x Osteo-Bi Flex BOGO=$19.99  Used 2x $6 ManuQ Rewards Program & 2x $3 Osteo-Bi Flex AdPerk IPQ
1 x Nivea Lip Care=$2.99  Used $.50/1 Nivea Lip ManuQ
1 x Nivea Creme Tin=$.99   Used $.25/1 Nivea Creme Tin GOL Q
1 x Maybelline Eye Shadow 40% off=$2.57  Used $2/1 any Beauty Product over $2 Wellness IPQ  

Total before Qs=$26.54
Coupon Total=$25.75
$20.09-$19.00=$.79 OOP

SCR=$3.98 toward the Nivea SCR Gift Card & $19.99 toward Healthy Heart SCR #550

Then it was time to move on to Rite-Aid #3.....

 I'll spend over $20 and will be able to use a $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks Q

2 x Nature's Bounty BOGO=$9.99  Used a $5 ManuQ Rewards Program & 2x $2/1 Any Vitamin Wellness IPQ
1 x Airborne on sale=$4.99  Used $1/1 ManuQ

1 x Rite-Aid Aloe Lotion clearance=$2.99  Used $2/1 any Skin Care Product over $2 Wellness IPQ
1 x Maybelline Mascara 40% off=$3.11  Used $2/1 any Beauty Product over $2 Wellness IPQ  & $1/1 Maybelline Mascara AdPerks IPQ

Total before Qs=$21.08
Coupon Total=$20.00
$20.09-$19.00=$1.08 OOP

SCR=$2 for Maybelline Mascara(BIL),$2 for Airborne(BIL) & $9.99 toward Healthy Heart SCR #550(BIL)
After SCRs this trip was a profit of $2.92!

And 1 more transaction here...

 I'll spend over $20 and will be able to use a $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks Q

2 x Nature's Bounty BOGO=$9.99  Used a $5 ManuQ Rewards Program & 2x $2/1 Any Vitamin Wellness IPQ
1 x Nivea Body Wash=$5.99  Used a $2/1 ManuQ & $2/1 any Skin Care Item Wellness IPQ
1 x Cascade Dishwashing Gels on sale=$2.99  Used a $1/1 Manu Home Mailer
2 x M&Ms on sale BOGO=$3.99  Used $1/2 ManuQ & 2x $1/1 Any Candy over $1 Wellness IPQ 

Total before Qs=$22.96
Coupon Total=$22.00
$20.09-$19.00=$.96 OOP

SCR=$1 for M&Ms, $5.99 toward Nivea SCR Gift Card & $9.99 toward Healthy Heart SCR #550

So a profit of $.04 with the M&Ms SCR.

Total for the day.....
OOP=$6.89
SCRs=$8.50 cash plus $ toward the Nivea/Healthy Heart Gift Cards.

Today was a Profit of $1.61 after the cash SCRs.


Here's something you can get almost free at Rite-Aid if you have the Wellness Card....

 

See that big pale yellow bottle?  It's RITE-AID brand ALOE THERAPEUTIC BODY LOTION.
It's normally $5.99 a bottle(it's a big bottle)and it's in or near the Sunscreen/Suntan lotion items in your store.  It's on clearance for 50% off, so $2.99 a bottle.  Combine this with the $2/1 any Skin Care Item over $2 Wellness IPQ to get it for $.99.
Some stores I've been in have it marked, some don't, but Rite-Aid online has it listed as an Unadvertised Special.  Best to price check it before you pay anyway.
This is a good product to have around and it's a great cheap filler to get to your $20 or $25 threshold so you can use one of those $x off Rite-Aid Qs.
Look for it!


While I was in line to pay for the 1st transaction at Store #3 I made a mistake......I looked at some guy in line near me.  Obviously by doing that, in his mind it said, "hey, please talk to me until I can't stand it anymore!".  
This guy is a fellow couponer.  But he is also a nutcase.  Besides being loud and not SHUTTING UP because we don't want to hear your life story waiting in line to buy toiletries, he's also, er......let's call it "interesting looking".
I'm no hot babe myself but this guy looked like one of the guys in the Bowery who wash your windows when you stop at red lights in NYC.  He had one eye that rolled around in it's socket like a pinball and the other eye drifted off to the left so you didn't know if he was looking at you or the valentine's candy in the bin 2 aisles over.
Add in the raggedy pants and overcoat, the ripped t-shirt, the unkempt hair and moustache and you've got one crazed looking couponer.
I have told DH to just shoot me if I ever get that bad.lol

This guy went on and on about how much he saves and how he does rebates for everyone in his apartment building(8 or 9 sets-they let him use their addy/names and he gives them a cut of the rebates).  He also seems to have an 'arrangement' with the particular cashier who was working this evening at this store.....she takes as many coupons on each item until he gets it for pennies or free.  It sounds like he ONLY comes in when she is working....hmmmm.....I wonder how long until she loses her job?
He made 8 $20+ trips while I was in there making my 2 transactions and had paid under $1 for all.  I saw what he was buying and there is no way, even with all the different Qs you can use at Rite-Aid, that he was using the couponage the right way and in the right amounts.   Now I would use multiple of different Qs or 2 ManuQs on each item in a BOGO if the cashier lets me but I wouldn't buy 2 tubes of AquaFresh ToothPaste and use 3 of the same $1 any Oral Care Q on 1 tube to get it for free!
That ain't kosher.....


Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....February 1st Edition....Never Going to See the Back of the Freezer Again!

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
The Stuffed Shells, Alfredo & Birthday Dinner Out didn't happen.
Moving to this week.

About this cleaning out the freezer deal...after this past weekend, I am about ready to give it up.  I can't seem to go more than 3 weeks without finding something worth stocking up on and this past weekend was my downfall.  At this rate--the 3 week not stocking with 1 week stocking--I'll never find the back wall in the freezer.  I spent 4 days digging out older food to serve and filled all the emptied out space back up in 1 day of grocery shopping.  argh

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week.....a couple of my favorite recipes reappearing this week.  Most of the meals will be soft-ish foods since #2 son is still recovering from dental surgery last Friday.  He's slowly progressing from liquids/semi-liquids to soft foods so I don't want to have to cook two different meals each night.

MONDAY--Stuffed Shells(stockpile/freezer), Salad(fridge)
TUESDAY--Quesadillas-chicken or cheese, Corn
WEDNESDAY--Easy Chicken Alfredo with Vegetables(freezer/stockpile)
THURSDAY--Quiche Lorraine, Salad
FRIDAY--Beef Pie
SATURDAY--Leftovers
SUNDAY--Birthday Meal out....maybe this week?lol
SNACKS/DESSERTS--Oranges(stockpile), Brownies(stockpile), Birthday Cake(stockpile)

At this point, I can't tell you how much I spent last week on Food and Toiletries.  I do know that I BLEW UP the Food Budget  with style and panache this past weekend.
I was at $277.20 for Jan.(before rebates)on the 25th.
Then Friday I went to Walgreen's to get daughter some OTC meds she needed, before #2 son's appointment for his dental surgery.  I spent almost $21 but I now have a $10RR.
And then on Saturday I hit CVS, Rite-Aid(multiple ones)and Weis(to use up Jan. expiring Qs), where they had 3lb. contains or Ground Beef that was $4.99 marked down to $2.99--$1 a lb for meat!
THEN.....Price Chopper offered TWO Catalina Deals for this week, starting on Sunday so I had to go spend more money there...and I'll be making many MANY trips back to PC over the course of this week, not only is Jan. shot, Feb. may be wounded too after this week.lolol
And hubby FORCED ME to go with him to Walmart(and I happened to take some Jan. expiring Qs with me to see if I could pick up anything cheap or free).  And it was over to Big Lots to use the 20% off anything in the store Q on all those lovely bottles of 100% juice.  And we drove right by the Bread Outlet so of course, I HAD to go in and check if they had potato bread for #2 son(which they did have...yah!) so 3 loaves and 3 boxes of doughnuts(for hubby)and $6 later, my food budget for January was blown to hell.

FOOD WASTE REPORT
ARGH....my lovely lovely Boston Baked Beans.  Since everyone was home when I made them(plus an extra relative), I made a TON!  Not enough people were around or inclined to eat them leftover so even after feeding a fair share to the doggies over the weeks, I ended up having to compost quite a bit that was still left.
I consider this a big fail on the food waste front.  And we were doing so well too until this point.....

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy