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Another AWESOME 99Cent Only Store find!

Ok, so I think I'm addicted to this store now! 

Saturday (of course it rained all day) we were off to get some plants and pots to make our butterfly gardens.  The kids had built butterfly houses at the FREE Home Depot Kids Workshop (the first Sat. of every month) and we needed some pots to plant butterfly attracting plants in, so off to the 99Cent Only Store we went!  Hey, if it was raining, at least we could get the pots and decorate them, right?



So my budget for this whole project is $20.  We bought 6 pots (2 for each kiddo) and came home and using colored Sharpie Markers, they decorated away!  I thought this would be easier than paint (which I did not have) and they could control the pens better.  They spent an hour drawing and coloring on both the pots and the houses and had a great time! Now (hoping for no rain today) we have gorgeous pots and need some pretty plants to go with them!

Another AWESOME find at the 99Cent Only Store yesterday was a Walmart KING SIZE bedskirt for only 99c!!!  They still have these on their website too!  Mine is a khaki color, but it is the Mainstay brand and is in perfect condition!  Now it's only 180 thread count, but for a bedskirt, who cares!!!  99c for a KING SIZE people!  I've been needing one for years!!!





For the plants, I got in on the $25 FREE gift card deal to Houston Garden Center and so we have $25 to spend! Actually $30 because I also have a $5 off $30 purchase!!!  We also need some potting soil and veggie plants.

I totally recommend seeing if you have one near you!!! It's so fun just to see what all they have!!!

My new FAVORITE place to shop!

Since starting work several weeks ago, I have been too busy (well, lazy is more like it) to do my usual super copuoning. I actually have felt guilty about it too. Then I read a couple of posts on other coupon blogs about "it's ok to shop without coupons and take a break"! So you know what?? I did take a break today and actually went to the store WITHOUT coupons! (plus they don't take them at this store, too bad...there would be lots of great deals that way!!)

I also have been reading alot about the 99 Cent Only store and thought I would check it out. Now the closest ones to me were both 30 minutes away with NO traffic and I was planning on going after work and school.  I thought traffic is better than shopping on a Saturday! 

I was pleasantly surprised at the size and selection of this store!  They had all the stuff a usual dollar type store would have plus a whole grocery store side complete with a frozen, fridge, and produce dept!  Some of the items in there I wouldn't pay a $1 for, like canned goods, but boxes of cereal, bags of chips, 2.5 lbs of bananas I will totally go for!

The best things I found were stalks of celery (for ants on a log), a bag of stirfry veggies, a 1/2 gallon of PUMPKIN ice cream by Dryers (totally out of season, but still in date!), and the best yet...2 lb boxes of strawberries each a $1!!!  YES, I GOT 6 POUNDS OF STRAWBERRIES FOR $3!!!  I spent $51 and loaded up on snacks, and fruit/veg only!

Since my grocery budget is $50 a week for the 5 of us, I think I will "take a break" once a month and head on over to the 99 Cents ONLY store and stock up on snacks and some great veggie/fruit deals!

Trying new Meal Planning site...

I'm a huge fan of meal planning, but you just get burnt out after a while!  A while back, I found this site and I'm going to give it a try!  Now I have picky eaters here and honestly, I don't like to cook, but since this site coordinates with the grocery store sales, I thought I would give it a try! 



Let me know if you've used it before! I'd love to hear some feedback!