Tidbits for Thursday!

• I really think I have found my new hobby, I am loving and learning so much on this coupon-ing ride! Last week I got a package of razors and the store paid me 3 cents!! I was ecstatic! And yesterday I saved $26 in coupons at the store for stuff that we needed! My final cost was $149.00, I know that sounds like a lot but that was buying fixings for 3 huge batches of chili to feed 20 people (meaning I bought 6 pounds of meat), also in that was a package of pull ups and a package of diapers and wipes, groceries for at lest the next week, and 5 pounds of apples to make applesauce (which is my other new found hobby, ha!) not to mention the 18 bars of soap, plus other bathroom supplies and lots of cleaning supplies! I hate to brag but I am getting SO good! We have coupon seminar coming to church this Saturday and I have rounded up about 4 other ladies to attend with me! The best part about all of this, is teaching others. I just love it! My biggest personal goal for coupon-ing right now is to get a stock pile of toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers, and wipes so when/if I am able to stay home with our next baby/babies I won't have to go to the store for these items for 2 years, a little crazy? maybe but think of all the money you wouldn't spend if you only bought food.
  
  



• Ok on to something else.... I think we have decided to jump on the bandwagon and for go cable t.v. hate to say it but I could not be happier about this! We spend way WAY to much on our cable bill and it drives me nuts, mostly because I never watch t.v., but we are going to start streaming our shows and look into Netflix and Brent wants to look into a box that pulls the "shows" out of the air waves, I guess like radio? But you buy the box and their isn't a monthly charge.
  
  



• Lucas fell asleep like this on Monday night! Love the monkey socks! ha!

• Tuesday night Ashley was over and we were getting ready to head out for our Mom's Night Out with the playgroup (which was a blast!!! I needed that) and Lucas sees a Chuck E. Cheese commercial and says "I can't play any games" (and he is so serious) I ask him why not and he says "cause I don't have any quarters yet" it was so cute and a little pitiful, I don't know where he gets this stuff so I told him when we got home last night that if he goes #2 on the potty every poo poo equals a quarter and when he gets 10 quarters we can go to Chuck E. Cheese and spend them. So we shall see where this goes. Ha!!
  



• Lucas is also learning his days of the week and months of the year at school he comes home saying them. It truly amazes me that kids his age can learn this stuff and that he can pronounce September and all. I feel so blessed to be able to send him to GracePlace and that he will have a running start at kindergarten.
  
  



• Loving this new fall trend! Socks peeking over boots, I ordered more socks last week hoping they get here soon! In the picture I have on some of Brent's, ha!
  

• Brent has been working a ton of hours lately. When I say a ton I mean a ton, this weekend he worked for 36 hours one day (there isn't even 36 hours in a day!) and Monday he worked from 6 am to 11 pm. We miss him but we also know these times come and go. I do want to do something special for his birthday this year hopefully he can get off one day for that...
  
  
  



• I am so excited that Halloween is less than a week away! I am loving all the Halloween movies playing on t.v. this week! Casper and Hocus Pocus are my all time favorites, brings me back a few years. I have to say Halloween might be my favorite holiday. It's just so fun, there isn't a lot of riff raf with it, ya know. We are having family and friends over for dinner Halloween night then we are taking the kiddos trick or treating together. I can't wait to see all the kids dressed up! Speaking of I have to finish Luke's costume asap!!

• It's the oddest thing about my hair, I feel like I have never been any color but the color I am now, I just love it so much. I think Brent likes it too, he won't admit it though ;) What a good feeling to like the way your hair looks, that is something I have struggled with since becoming a mommy I feel very good at the place I am in with it now. Which I know sounds SO shallow but until one has been there they won't know what I am talking about. If I was asked today I think I would say that I will stay blonde forever, but we all know how that goes! I am most happy to have my side braid back I have felt lost without it! ha!

• I think that is it guys! Wow I had a lot to say! ha! I hope you all have a very fun Halloween!!!
  
  
  
  
  

Tidbits for Thursday!

• I cannot get into the blogging mood this week, and I haven't taken any pictures either! What's wrong with me.....

• We are still on the perfect puppy search, I'm so glad we started early. If you know of any dogs great with kiddos let me know!! So far in the aussie is still in the lead! ha!

• I am currently researching apple farms close by to visit this weekend! Wouldn't that be so fun and lots of great picture ops! I am so SO thrilled to have no plans this weekend and can spend both days with my boys!

• Lucas has decided that he likes to bite his friends! It first happened 2 weeks ago and again yesterday. I'm not quite sure how to handle this, Brent and I have both talked to him about it and he seems to know that it is wrong but I guess in "the heat of the moment" all his morals go out the window! ha! I was pretty upset about all this but then I read Tonia's post this morning and I know I need to cherish the time when biting is my only worry....

• We are still eating pretty good! We did not this weekend but we have been way better during the week, but I think that is the way it's supposed to be ;)

• Still doing the coupon thing and I even got to help a friend out last weekend! And! FBC in Greenwood is doing a seminar on coupon-ing this month! So exciting! ha!

• So yea there is not a whole lot going on around here this week and that is OK by me!
  

Life as We know it! Part duex.....

Haha! Duex always reminds me of that show "I love the 80's" Love that show!!

Anywhoo

With eating better inevitably comes higher grocery bills so for coupons I am thankful!!

Call it a coincidence but right about the time we decided to change our eating habits I jumped on the coupon-ing bandwagon full force! I don't even know what got me thinking to do it. I had always used coupons but never paired them with ads and certainly never thought about driving all over tar-nation to get the best deal.

I remember my first trip to the grocery store to buy "good for you" food, my bill was $60 more than my usual budget, yikes! But I am happy to report with coupons and ad matches my bill this week was lower than my usual budget, with buying lots of fresh fruits and veggies and healthy snacks and drinks! What a proud moment!

Ok here's what I do....

I do not claim to know it all about this coupon-ing business, I still have a LOT to learn and I find myself making mistakes from not paying attention all the time but I will share what I know, I feel it's only right.

First I subscribed to our town newspaper with the $20 a year, yes a year, you get every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday paper! The two important papers for couponers is Sunday for coupons and Wednesday for food ads, so you get both of those for a great price and it comes to your door step- awesome!

On Sunday mornings I clip all the coupons my family uses then I check the Walgreens (we'll go with Wags for short), Wags is always first, and see what they have on sale. A lot of times they have stuff on sale that the coupon company's put out coupons for. And Wags has things called "Register Rewards" which is basically like cash you can spend in their store on anything! After I check Walgs I will check Target to see if they have anything worth ad matching, sometimes they do sometimes they don't. Target also has coupons on their website to print out and you can combine them with manufactures coupons pair those with your redcard for 5% off and you can have yourself a steal of a deal, I for one haven't got to do that but I hope to soon! ha!

I refuse to run all over town to get better deals, call this a downfall or not doing it "right" but working full time and a 2 year old I just don't have the time or energy so if I can't get it at Wags or WalMart I usually ask myself is it really that good of a deal. I will occasionally run to Target, doesn't take much for me to talk myself into a quick trip there I love that store but I don't want to have to make it an every week thing and this week I am going to Toy's R Us for a good deal but I don't want to have to run around if I just don't have time.

Ok so I have been going to Wags on Sunday afternoon with my ad and coupons and any register rewards I have occurred from last week. An example of what I scored this week:

Two packs 28 count Previcad heart burn meds

Two packs 3 count Shick Quatro razors for me

Colgate Sensitive toothpaste

Two medium bags of pretzel m&ms

All of this would have cost me $80.68

But after sale prices, coupons, register rewards, and rebates I got it for $11.12!

And I got back $5 in register rewards for my next purchase and $6 in Previcad coupons.

Pretty cool if you ask me! That is all stuff we use every single day, well maybe not the m&ms but I was planning on getting some for 100 calorie packs anyway.

Another easier example would be:

Two 32 load bottles of Purex laundry soap

Two jars Ragu spaghetti sauce

Two boxes of Nature Valley granola bars

One bottle Dawn soap

All this came to $10.01

Using sales and coupons only no rebates!

See it's easy, and fun!

It has been a complete learning experience and I am learning to buy all kinds of stuff with coupons!

Example:

Cute pair of boots from Kohl's

Brent bought a pair of tennis shoes and got $10 Kohls Cash and I remembered they had sent a flyer advertising the new "Grand Opening" in which they included $10 gift cards. So I have $20 in "coupons" to use, being the smart cookie I am ;) I checked the dates and for 2 days the coupons overlap- score!!

So a pair of boots that would cost me $55 I will (hopefully) get for $35 on Friday if they have my size!

I use MoneySavingQueen.com for weekly match-ups to make sure I don't miss anything.

And the most valuable tool in all of this has been having other ladies you can chat with that do the coupon thing too. They may see something I miss or vise versa.

Example:

Toys R Us had an $8 off coupon for diapers or wipes and Elizabeth let me know about it, I would have completely missed this good deal if it hadn't been for her!

I also go grocery shopping once a week and get what we need and like I'm not eating/cooking pertaining to what's on sale, yet. But I keep my coupon pouch with me and if I have a coupon for certain things than great and last week I did! I saved $10 in coupons with stuff I would have bought weather I had a coupon or not!

It really isn't hard I watch the extreme couponers show and think wow wish I could do that, and while I'm no where near that, or will ever be. I am so grateful I can save my family money for things we need.

Any questions ask.

Any tips do tell!

Weekend Recap!

We had a very full weekend! I wasn't planning on it being this busy but it was and that was ok!

Friday night we took some cupcakes to my sister in laws birthday party, I didn't stay at the party,I'm not sure what is wrong with me these days but I just want to be with Brent and Lucas all the time. I rarely do anything besides come to work with out one of them and I just have no desire to do anything that doesn't involve one or both of them. I used to be such the social butterfly but this season of my life there isn't much room for that and that is ok!

After we dropped the cupcakes off we went to Kohl's and went to eat at Fridays, we both ate really well! I am so proud of us for eating good at a restraunt, I can honestly say it's getting easier and I often don't even miss my old ways of eating. After we left Fridays we went over to Brent's Mamaw's old house and went though some pictures and things. We stayed there until around 11:30.

Saturday morning mom and I went to do some yard sale-ing! It was my town "City Wide Yard Sale" day so we got out early and found some treasures!

I got this old school desk, chair, and glob for $7!

I started taking the fabric off yesterday and under it the wood is in great shape! What an amazing find! Lucas will love this and what a great little home-work station when the time comes!

After yard-saleing we went to McDonalds for Happy Meals, Ronald was there for all the kids to see and Lucas really liked him! I was surprised!

Saturday afternoon I went to my friend and co-worker's wedding and reception. It was really pretty! Congratulations James and Ally!

Loved the baby's breath in mason jars!

When I got home from the wedding we headed to eat with Brent's parents, uncle, and my mom.

We ate at the sizzler, then Lucas went on to Mamaw's with Nana and Papaw and Brent and I went to run a few errands. We went back to Mamaws and ended up going through more pictures and stuff! Lots and lots of pictures!

I texted this picture to Desiree, my coupon partner. My little "stock pile" it's even grown more since this was taken! I am pretty proud!

I am really learning about this couponing way of life, no I am not getting things for free or for pennies but I am getting what we do use at a fraction of the price it would usually cost me. It does take extra time and I do have to be willing to hit up more stores than just Wal-Mart but it works! And I am loving this new found hobby of mine :)

Yesterday we had planned on taking Lucas to the zoo but that didn't happen after 2 late nights we just decided to stay home and sleep in. So we did! It rained anyways so I didn't feel like we missed out.

One thing we did do is put new lights on the front of our house! I've been wanting to do this forever and with my bingo ladies coming next month that was just the excuse I needed!

So much better! I am really looking forward to getting all my fall decor put up real soon too!

Fun fun weekend with my boys!