No more pad in our pad

Yep, we took out all the carpet. And it was DISGUSTING. Here's a looksie.

Roll em up, move em out!  This stuff was HEAVY!  Cutting it into smaller chunks with a utility knife was muy smart.

We piled all the carpet up in the garage and hauled it off.  

Time for the next laod! 

Remember, we're doing this renovation for as little mullah as possible, so renting a big construction dumpster when we can easily haul things off ourselves?  No way!

Once the carpet was out, we still had the carpet grabber to remove.  A taps with a small pry bar and a hammer and the wood broke and came up pretty easily.  The nails into the concrete?  No so much.  Pull the nails directly out of the concrete left us with big holes in the slab like this:

We learned our lesson pretty quick.  A couple taps of the nail on either side with a hammer seemed to loosen it from the hole so that once you were able to pop it out, it didn't take so much concrete with it.  See?

Much better.

I did quite a bit of research before pulling out the carpet grabber because at this point we were considering stained/polished concrete floors and I didn't want big old divets or mismatched concrete patches around the corner.  When it came down to it though our only other option would have been grinding down the nails so that they were flush with the concrete and that, my friends, sounded like puke in a jar.  You heard me right.  Plus, we didn't own a grinder...

A few more pics of the process:

Pile of carpet grabber.

Don't let that smile deceive you.  This is so far my least favorite renovation project.

Our fixer upper: The "Before"

The short of is that we found it at a great price- it was an estate being liquidated by the previous owners' heirs. It's ranch-style house built in the late 1950's and we're the second owners. It needs A LOT of work and we have about 5 months to make it livable. Well, 5 months from closing. Now it's more like 3 months... Anyway, lots to do. We're pretty excited about it! And only slightly overwhelmed. :)

Here's to hoping this will be a place we can share some of the joys and struggles that we have in this new project! :)

Basic layout.  The L side of the house isn't really drawn out... there are 3 bedrooms and 2 baths over there. :)

Below are the pics we found when we were house shopping.

Nice curb appeal, right? ;) Oh, and the garage is 2-car...it's cut off.

Living room.  View from the eat in kitchen.

Living room view to the eating area of the kitchen and the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Hallway to bedrooms and bathrooms.

Master bedroom.

Hall bathroom.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Largest bedroom.

Kitchen.

Kitchen.  View from the addition.

Kitchen.  Rockin' a window to the addition. 

Kitchen.  View from laundry area.

Laundry area.  Addition to the left.  Pantry and door to the garage to the right.

Stove top.

Pantry.

Still couponing, but other things take the cake... Er, my time.

Yep, Andrew's been running the budget the last few months and the verdict is that couponing is definitely worth the trouble. Hooray!

Thing is, I've learned that my time spent blogging about it- no so worth it. Plus, there are already so many great coupon blogs out there. :)

For one last blog post on this couponing thing- here's how my couponing routine has changed a bit. Yeah, a new job, a new house (more on that soon!) and less free time always forces me to manage my time better. Here's my new method:

- Collect 4 papers every Sunday morning.
- Stop by CVS to pick up whatever The Krazy Coupon Lady has deemed a great deal.
- Head home. Label the front of each insert with the date and file them away in an expandable file. I use to clip and file ALL the coupon in a big binder of baseball card holders- SUCH a waste of time! I think it really started to feel stupid at the end of every month when I'd end up having to throw away half of what I had clipped because they had expired.
- Check out the other deals of the week. I've narrowed my stores down to Target (via Cheap Deals on Totally Target), Tom Thumb and the occasional Family Dollar or Dollar General (all via Coupon Mom). Make a list, clip and print coupons from target.com.
-Hit up the stores as I have time.
- file coupons I don't end up using in my baseball card holder binder so I can easily find them later if needed.

Yay for couponing. Double yay for time-efficient couponing. :)

On to the next blog-worthy topic- our house the elbow grease we're putting into it!

CVS Couponing: Week of July 31st: The Plan

2 Skinny Cow Singel Crisp or Cluster Candies, 0.77-1oz $0.99 each

Buy 1, Receive $0.99 Extra Buck, Limit 1

Use 1 B1G1 Free Skinny Cow Singles Chocolate Candy coupon (RP 7/31)

Pay $0.99

(Final price: free!)

1 Bic Soleil Shimmer Razor Starter Kit or Cartridges, 4 ct. $5.99 eachBuy 1, Receive $3.00 Extra Bucks, Limit 1Use 1 $3.00/1 Bic Soleil Disposable or Soleil System Razor coupon (SS 7/10)Pay $2.99

(Final price: $0.01 Moneymaker!)

Total Cost: $3.98 + tax

Total OOP for this trip to CVS: tax only ($4 paid in EB)... maybe I'll add a 10 cent candy to make up the difference...or maybe I'll try handing over the EB first then the manufacturer coupons to see if the manufacturer coupons can be applied towards tax

EB remaining (for next trip!): $1.99 (I decided not to use a $2 EB this week instead of this one b/c of the expiration dates) and $6 and $2 (all remaining from last week) + $3 and $0.99 (earned this week)= $13.98


I also have a free Herbal Essence product (up to a $3.99 value) coupon from a mailer I signed up for several weeks ago that I'll try to use.


And on another note, I feel like I might need to broaden my drugstore horizons and through Walgreens into the mix.  I may peruse the store this week for some cheap Kelloggs cereal, free Crayola markers, L'Oreal foundation(?), money-making toothbrushes, cheap head and shoulders and more!  Here's the 4-1-1:


Transaction #1:

1 Complete Multi-Purpose Solution, 12 oz $8.00Buy 1, Receive $8.00 Register Reward, Limit 1Use 1 $1.00/1 Complete Multipurpose Solution, 12 oz+ coupon (SS 7/31)Pay $7.00

(Final price: $1 MM!)

Transaction #2:

2 Oral-B Advantage 1-2-3 Toothbrushes, $3.00Buy 2, Receive $3.00 Register Reward, Limit 1Use 2 $2.00/1 Oral-B Advantage Toothbrush, any coupon (PG 7/3) (exp 7/31)
Pay $2
(Final price: $1 MM!)


Head & Shoulders Hair Care, 8.5 – 14.2 oz $4.00
Buy 2, Receive $2.00 Register Reward, Limit 1Use 1 B1G1 FREE Head and Shoulders Shampoo or Conditioner, excludes trial size of equal or lesser value up to $12.99 coupon (PG 7/3) (exp 7/31)Pay $4

(Final Price: $1 each when you buy 2)


1 Crayola Washable Markers, 8 pk $2.00Buy 1, Receive $2.00 Register Reward, Limit 1

Pay: $2
(Final price: free!)


And we'll see about this:


4 Select Kellogg's Cereals, 12-18 oz, $2.50 each
Buy 4, Receive $5.00 Register Reward, Limit 1
Pay:  Depends on what coupons I have to match up with these so-called "select" cereals

CVS Couponing: Week of July 24th: The Loot

  
This week's loot differed a little from what I planned.  All the things I had originally planned to purchase I lumped together in one big transaction with several items missing, as you can see above.  I left out the Cheez-Its (somehow at the store they just didn't feels worth it), the razors and shaving cream (they were out and I'm pretty well stocked, so I didn't bother with a rain check), and one of the notebooks (I really only have need for one write now- where I keep track of "to do's" for work).

Then, the Magic Coupon Machine gave me a $2/2 Shampoos or conditioners coupon!  So, I went back today to get my free VO5 shampoo.  The cashier lady said, "Isn't it great getting free stuff?"  And, yes, I have to agree.

Total value (read: CVS prices totaled before sales or coupons): $11.77
Total OOP: $0.14+ tax = $0.15 (I spent one $7.99 EB)
Remaining EB (to spend on my next trip!): $2 and $2 and $2 (remaining from last week) + $1.99 and $6 (earned this week) = $13.99

CVS Couponing: Week of July 24th: The Plan

Transaction #1  

Bausch & Lomb Re-Nu Sensitive, 12 oz $7.89

Buy 1, Receive $6.00 Extra Bucks, Limit 1
Use1 $2.00/1 Renu Fresh or Sensitive Multi-Purpose Solution coupon (SS 6/12)
Pay $5.89

(Final price: $0.11 MM!)

Paper Mate Grip Pens, 8 ct. $1.99 
Buy 1, Receive $1.99, Limit 1 
Pay $1.99

(Final price: Free!)

OOP:  $0.88 + tax ($7 paid for with EB)
EB back: $7.99

Transaction #2  


4 Cheez-it Snacks Mix, Corn Nuts, Corn Nuts chips, Keebler Crackers, Nabisco Cookies or Crackers, 4-8 oz $1.25Buy 4, Receive $1.00 Extra Bucks, Limit 1Use 2 $1.00/2 Nabisco Cookies or Crackers coupons (SS 6/19)
Pay $3
(Final Price: $0.50 each)


Buy 2 Schick Quattro Titanium Disposable Razors $8.89
Buy 2 Edge Skintimate Cream (excludes travel size) $2.19 
Use 1 B1G1 Free Schick Disposable Razors coupon (SS 6/26)
And 2 $1.00/1 Edge Shave Cream coupons (SS 7/24)Pay $11.27
(Final price: $1.28)


2 Caliber 1 Subject Notebook, 70-80 sheets $0.25, Limit 8
Pay: $0.50
(Final price: $0.50)

OOP: $0.78 ($14.77 paid in EB)

EB back: $1

CVS Couponing: Week of July 17th: The Loot

So, I think my plan for this week was all kinds of off.... that's what I get make it while drowsy on a night shift....Here's what actually went down:


Total value (read: CVS prices totaled before sales or coupons): $14.94
Total OOP: $1.75+ tax = $1.91 (I spent a $5 EB and a $1.69 EB as planned)
Remaining EB (to spend on my next trip!): $7 + (remaining from last week) + $2 and $2 and $2 (earned this week) = $13