Spending for today:

My money
Joanne Fabrics: 1.92 (saved 40%) cat fuzzies
Walgreens: 12.88 (saved 7.87 w/ sales and coupons) soap and shampoo to donate to those less fortunate
Target: 8.31 (saved 4.50 in coupons and all items were on sale) laundry detergent
Post Office: 8.10 sent a book and an NM calendar to neice and a little something to a friend

How I spent DH's money:
Albertsons: 11.07 (saved 12.00) Luna bars. They are on sale for .69 ea; normally 1.49. I wonder if they are clearancing them out or just moving the stock along.
Kmart: 6.72 (saved 3.17 w/ sales and coupons) Shampoo for DH and a couple of bottles to be donated
Albertsons: 6.89 (saved 4.19) more Luna bars; different flavors were on sale at different locations. go figure...

My total spending 31.21
My total saving: 13.45

DH spending: 24. 68
DH saving: 19.36

Pretty good, I would say. Especially since these are pretty much the errands for the week. I'm rather pleased with myself. I've saved a good deal of money and I wont need to go running around during the week.

Through the family, DH has inherited three lovely mantle (sp?) clocks. Two work, one doesnt, but we would like display them. Since none of them are really our style and none will fit on the mantles that we have, he wants to put them on shelves in the master bedroom as a group.

He was looking at shelves, but the ones he loves are $30 apiece. A bit much for shelves. So, I advised him to hold off and I would keep my eyes open for a sale or maybe we could consider an alternative. When we went out pricing furniture we kept our eyes open, but found nothing.

Well, surprise, surprise!! There was a 40% off coupon in today's paper for Hobby Lobby where DH originally found the shelves he really, really likes. It will save $12 on one shelf, so I went out and bought two more newspapers. For $2.50 (1.25 ea.) we will be saving $24 on the purchase of two more shelves for the clocks. I am so pleased with this. That will be a $36 savings total. $90 shelves for about $54. The coupons are valid for four days and I've advised DH to get to the store at 10:00 sharp and press his nose up against the glass of the door if he has to. Then I'll go later with him and get the other two. One coupon per person per day, blah, blah, blah. Details to be worked around.

We are really, really hoping that they havent decided to mark these shelved down by 15%, which would then cancel out the coupon as it can only be used on full price items. I dont usually shop at this store, because I think everything is over priced and knicky knacky stuff that collects dust. We shall see. I feel these are some tricksy people we are dealing with here.

The other overhaul that the price book and price watching has brought is how we are percieving the value of the items we find. DH came with me yesterday to run errands. We did not spend a lot of money, but did get a lot of stuff. We went to two or three stores. When we got home, I totaled up the spending and announced the grand total. DH's comment was; "All that running around and that was all we spent?" I had to laugh. Like we have to spend a lot to justify all the running around? That seems counter productive - if you run around alot, the bill should be big to justify it.

But today as I was running around, I found myself thinking the same sort of thing. I'm doing all this running around and not spending very much money. I need to sort that one out. I would like to be more jubilant about my conquests. I should be beaming from the major hauls I am bringing home and the small amount of my hard earned money I am parting with. Really need to get some insight into that one.

On other fronts, I finished a scarf that I started knitting months ago. My office at work is very cold and since I am going back tomorrow, I want to wear it. It needed more yarn than I expected, so it was more expensive, but its gorgeous and I dont think I could have found anything like it for the price of the materials. ($16) The knitting part was actually fun and relaxing.

The JCP order I placed a couple of days ago arrived yesterday. They are having a sale on linens. Flannel sheets are 50% off. They are also offering $25 off orders over $100. Since we like flannel sheets in the summer and our cat chewed up all the fitted sheets that we had (they were old and wearing thin. He sort of did us a favor.) I ordered some. Also ordered two twin flat sheets to make more pillow cases.

Today was spent washing those and changing linens on all beds. Definately going to return the $50 dust ruffle. The one from Bed Bath Beyond for $32 is already washed and on the bed to our satisfaction.

It seems like we've been doing a lot of spending lately, but I think we are pretty much over it for a while. I have an internet order from Vitaminlife.com that I am expecting, but after that, the focus is going to turn inward to using what we already have. That is one of the goals for the new year, so I need to get going on it.

Well, off to put in the finishing touches and to get ready for the world of work again tomorrow. Oh, my heart feels heavy....