ONLINE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING AND EXTREME COUPONING

Finished my Christmas shopping in one day, actually in less than one hour.  I went through one of my shopping rewards programs online and bought everything from one store.  Didn't really get any outstanding deals, so I'm hoping the cash back rewards are good because I spent more than I'd planned on spending. 

With that in mind, I decided the best way to make up for the extra spending was to save on everything else with extreme couponing.  I hit Walgreens Sunday and picked up Colgate Total toothpaste, a Colgate Optic White toothbrush and 5 bottles of Dawn dish liquid for less than $6.  Today I stopped by Gerbes and picked up 2 boxes of Jimmy Dean's fully cooked sausage and a dozen eggs for $4, for a savings of 63% off the regular prices.  The sausage was on sale 2 for $6 and if you bought 2 boxes you got a dozen large eggs free.  I used two coupons for 55 cents off per box on the sausage, both coupons double up to $1 each bringing my total cost down to just over $4 with tax.  I'll be watching for more great deals in the weeks to come and should be able to save enough to cover everything I've spent on Christmas this year. 

Nothing special to report on my investments.  With the looming "financial cliff"  and all the dawdling in Washington, I'm not expecting much to happen with the stock market until after the first of the year.  Since I'm in a buying phase, to replace stocks I sold to pay off medical bills this year, I'm kind of hoping for the market to stay low.  Whatever the case may be, I'll go with the flow and add some great dividend paying shares each month until I've replaced everything I had to sell.