Calm Before The Storm

Snowmageddon 2026 is being predicted for this weekend. 

As you can tell from the map, we don’t know a whole lot yet.  

But we could use a little moisture. The dry weather has been great for Joe to be able to get around the farm with the tractor feeding. But it hasn’t been so good to keep the water troughs full.   This one is in the horse field. The 10 cows from the cattle drive earlier are now here. They will have to be moved tomorrow so hopefully the trough will fill up some before the arctic blast freezes everything solid. 

On my way down the driveway going to work this morning I had to stop and take a picture of the beautiful sunrise. It looks like the calm before the storm  

I also have an update on my shades. I think they look nice from the outside.  But I needed them last month when we had a crew putting a new roof on the house. 

I will have to brag on the double sided tape I got to attach the fabric to the metal rod.   It actually came from Dollar General (I had a $3 off $15 that was good all month not just on Saturday). There were rave reviews. So far it is working great.   I would highly recommend it if you need strong double sided tape. 

 

Couponing #89

I may have gotten a little crazy on the Dollar General Clearance Event this weekend.  

I was just wanting the unicorn slumber bags and a few other things.  I had a $2 off $10 birthday coupon that I used Friday and only spent about $1.50.  But then when I went in on Saturday morning for the $5 off $25 things went haywire.  

These are the non coupon items that I mostly paid for; they were half off clearance.  I just couldn't pass up the unicorns.  

These were the things with coupons that all ended up being mostly free.  

The problem was the laundry detergent on Saturday morning.  I had seen where the detergent wasn't ringing up half off but some managers were manually discounting it.  On Friday, my store didn't have any of it pulled off the shelves.  I wasn't even considering trying to get any plus the manager wasn't there anyway.  Then, Saturday morning, the manager was there and pulling buggies full of detergent to put with the clearance.  She had seen where other managers were marking it down so she asked her supervisor who said, "do it."  I ended up getting about $100 of Gain and Tide for $15.  I was also helping the staff try to get the best deals.   I probably could have done better with some planning but I am taking it as a win.  
 

Couponing #88, Product Review

My local Dollar General is eliminating the textured hair care section. Apparently, when they decided to dedicate a 4 foot section to it no one bothered to check the census to see that there was probably only 2 people within a 10 mile radius that might have textured hair. 

But I found a different subject to try out some of the products on. 

Hugo was a mess. 

I was keen to see if this leave in knot away might work to make his tail easier to comb out.  The  90% off clearance price was just 62 cents.  Plus there was a cash back offer of $1 off two.  It was a 24 cent splurge but I think it was worth it. 

It took almost no time to get his tail combed out. It will really be worth it if it works as well on Draper’s and Otoelene’s tails.  I went back and bought two more. 

 

No Coupons Needed

I normally don’t “penny shop” at Dollar General but I had my eye on that Dino canvas print for some time now. 

 I was also able to pick up some sunscreen and wasp spray while I was at it. $78 retail, 12 cents out of pocket. 

Pennies!

I usually don’t penny shop at Dollar General. My store always has all the pennied items pulled or they never carried them in the first place.  But after church yesterday I stopped at a DG that I rarely go to and guess what, I found some pennies! 

This was my crazy cart full. 

 15 to be exact. $111 retail for 15 cents.  The cashews will be a treat. But I have no idea yet what I will be doing with all of the wall art. I’m sure I can come up with some sort of project. 

If for some crazy reason you want to penny shop there are tons of on line resources. Here is one that explains it some https://www.crazyforcouponing.com/copy-of-dollar-general-penny-list

Couponing #87

There was another clearance event this weekend at Dollar General.  There wasn’t anything special that I wanted and very few good coupon matchups.  I ended up just doing one scenario.  But this time there was a $10 off $40, so I had to come up with $15 more.

This is what I ended up with, plus a loaf of bread. Not all items were clearance.  Some just had good coupons.  

I was excited to find the wet jet.  I don’t have one but I have a lot of the cleaning solution refills.  I will be interested to see how well it works.

I didn’t think $4.26 plus tax was too bad.  But then, by the time I got cash back on the app, cash back from Shopmium, and cash back from Fetch, it was all free. I may have even made 15 cents. 

 

Couponing #86

It has been a minute since I last posted a couponing scenario.  I usually just use the couponing to get what I was buying anyway cheaper. Then the couponing items are free. But this week the deal was too good to pass up.  

So I did a deal just to get the lowest out of pocket amount. 

20 cents plus tax. Nothing I really needed. But who could say no to saving $35 and only spend 20 cents. 

 

Couponing #87

There was another clearance event at Dollar General this weekend.  It started Friday.  I was there when the doors opened, but so were several others.  It was a mad rush to the clearance aisle where people started clearing the shelves of all the laundry detergent.  I picked up one but found a couple others on another isle.  I went back to the clearance aisle and a man that was one of the primary culprits of shelf clearing joked that he didn’t get much.  I said his buggy looked pretty full. He said,” yeah, but I had to elbow my way to get it.”  I don’t know what his total was, but I overheard another full buggy one at around $150.

I went back Saturday to incorporate a $5 off $25 and then again Sunday because some new digital coupons were available. In all, the full price total was $217.  I paid $8.03 plus $5.41 in tax.  I was pretty happy with my more moderate haul.
 

Weekend Clearance Event, Couponing #86

I have had a very successful Dollar General clearance event so far.

The manager of my closest DG talked me into two of these butterfly chairs. Regular price $40, clearance for $10.  I think Sadie and Allie will enjoy these at Christmas.  Virginia said she always wanted one growing up.  Now she will have two. 

My biggest finds were 50 penny items!  Party supplies, vitamins, balloons, and Karo syrup.  Not really sure what I am going to do with all the syrup.

When I subtract out what I would have bought anyway like bread and chips, I think I spent $15 not counting the chairs.  That includes $9 for a $22 nonstick pan.

I bought some craft supplies.

Sadie and Allie will be busy.

 And these gift sets were 25 cents each.  I couldn’t believe they were still at the store for me to pick up.  Ironically, I passed up some totes because I told myself I needed to get rid of stuff not find more ways to store it. Check your local Dollar Generals, the clearance event ends tomorrow.  

Couponing #85

I haven’t shared a couponing deal in awhile.  This one was too good to pass up and since it was a glitch I did not want to wait until Saturday for fear of it being fixed. 

The General Mills cereal was on sale, $6 for three boxes, but it was supposed to be the small boxes.  The glitch was that the deal was working on the family size boxes too. Plus, there was a digital $1 off when you by 2 and I found a peelie for $1 off one and the tooth brush was giving $1 in overage.  That meant $3 for 3 large boxes that are normally $5.25 each.  I did the deal twice Tuesday with just Honey Nut Cheerios, then I did this deal for Virginia yesterday.  And it was a good thing.  Because today the glitch has been fixed. 
 

Penny Shopping

I don’t really penny shop usually but if I run into a penny item at DG I go ahead and get it.  Penny items are things that have clearanced out and should be pulled from the floor.  But if they are still out they are supposed to sell them to you.  Well, today I had some free time at lunch and went to a nearby store that is usually a mess. 

 And look what I found, pots, a bird feeder, all kinds of BBQ stuff

and some cute little girl socks with llamas.  all totaled, $100 retail.  I paid 25 cents.  I might have to make more of an effort to go in the future.  Things penny on Tuesday so I was surprised that I got this much on a Wednesday.  Some weeks there are no new penny items.  But this week the list was huge.  Anyone need some BBQ stuff in their stocking? 

Catching Up

There has been a lot going on this week.  I am planning a big trip and it seems all of my extra computer time is spent looking for places to stay and tours to take.  Here is a brief post to catch up for the week.

Matt came up from Florida for a visit.  I think he has a new favorite game, Catan.  

He wanted to go on a hike while here so Linda went with us for a tour around the farm.

There were lots of views to enjoy.

I also kept Sadie one night while Virginia was away in training for her new job.  
 I think the goats are becoming her favorite thing.  She has had a lot of practice keeping things from Allie.  It comes in handy when dealing with the goats.

The county tire collection was this week.  This is our third time hauling tires out.  One of the farms we bought the owner used tires to set round bales on.  

It is a slow process.  This make over 200 that we have hauled out. 

And of course I can forget the Dollar General clearance event this weekend.  I haven’t added everything up, but I’m pretty sure it was under $10.

Third Annual Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T.) Sheep & Goat Festival

Today we attended the third annual Sheep and Goat festival.   Last year it was voted most outstanding one day event of the year by Southwest Virginia Tourism.  If this year was anything like last year it should win again.  This was Joe’s and mine first time attending, but we met up with Mike, Virginia, Sadie and Allie who had all gone last year.

Even with the overcast weather and little rainy morning there was a good crowd. 

There were lots of different breeds of sheep and goats on display.

A coworker was there with some of her sheep and her daughter had an angora rabbit.  Neither Sadie nor Allie would touch it though. 

Sadie was more interested in running up and down the hill.

Allie joined in on this too until they got tired and wanted lunch.

Mutton burgers were on the menu.  I thought they were tasty.  Joe said he would rather have a hamburger.

Allie on the other hand, enjoyed the cheese puffs.

After some cleaning up, we watched a bit of the sheep dog trials.  We didn’t stay long because the girls really were not that interested in sitting still to watch.

There were a couple of buildings with educational exhibits, an art contest and craft vendors.  

Sadie’s let me take her picture as a sheep.

They had painted pumpkins before we got there and we went to pick them up after they had dried. 

I think Allie really liked hers.  She was ready to go home and take a nap.

There were also starter flocks of several breeds for sale.

More educational exhibits, this one with the internal organs painted on the wool.

And this one with preserved rumens and stomachs. 

There was a prize wheel to spin.  First I picked a pair of socks.  But after seeing the vendors I went back and traded the socks for a $10 coupon for any vendor.  I know, I should have picked the coupon first, what was I thinking.  Anyway, I bought this adorable needle felted sheep.  There were three to choose from and it was a tough decision. 

Joe won a pick off the toy table and selected the horse finger puppet for Sadie.  I also got a couple of goat key chains.  And all of this for free admission!  What a fun day.