Extreme Couponing!

How much did I pay for this entire grocery cart full of loot?

A) $53.09 B) $84.93 C) $136.94 D) does this have a point?

Back in September, I was volunteering in our church nursery with a friend of mine. We chatted about this and that and at a point during our conversation she asked if I clipped coupons. I told her I would glance at them and if I saw a product that we used, I would cut out the coupon. She proceeded to tell me about this great website she was recently introduced to called Southern Savers that showed her how to coupon--used as verb here--and she had cut her grocery bill by 50% or more. I thought she had to be joking me, but Paula just wouldn't mislead anyone like that! I decided to give it a try b/c I had nothing to lose and at least 50% money savings to gain, and y'all, IT REALLY WORKED!!!

We would spend on average about $350-$400 a month on groceries. Now we spend maybe $200-$250 and that is if I buy things that are not on sale and/or do not have coupons and we have more food than we ever did! It does take a little time, but not much and well worth the savings you get for the amount of food you leave with. Does mean that you might not be able to get Cape Cod chips and you get the Lay's that are on sale, you pick up the Keebler buy 1 get 1 free special on cookies this week instead of Oreo's, or you get split chicken breasts instead of boneless skinless---yes, but it never has really mattered to me thus far! I tailor what we are going to eat based on the specials that week and it is much easier than I thought it would be. Now, do not allow me to mislead you. If we decide that we are going to have company over and grilling steaks is what we have decided to do, then we go get steak. However, I must tell you once you know what a good price is, it does ring in the back of your head "I just paid this for that" when it was on sale last week!! You have to do that though to prevent burnout and stay sane b/c this can be addictive!!

Back to my question from above:

A) $53.09 is what I paid for the entire contents of that grocery cart
B) $84.93 is what I saved
C) $136.94 is what I would have paid for the groceries without matching coupons/sales
D) Do you get the point??!!

Click HERE to read how/why this whole gig works---you won't be disappointed! You should also look at how to "CVS".....I likely will never pay over $.32 for a tube of toothpaste again!



Now the only question is what should you do with that extra money.....donate to your favorite charity, tithe more, put in savings, pay off some debt, college fund, nice dinner out or, even better, maybe a weekend getaway!

It's Honey-Do This, and Honey-Do That!

I have a list nearly a mile long of things that I want done in our house! Even though our house is custom built and brand new...it was not built by us so there are things that I would have done that were not. The good news is that most things can be done w/o major construction and most can be done by the hubs. Poor Brad. He sure does his work cut out for him and with hunting season over until mid-March, I figure that leaves quite a bit of time to start crossing those things off the list!

First Project:



Easy enough right? Yes, that is when you can get all the correct parts. Anderson is famous for pushing/pulling his lamp off the table beside his glider rocker. It hasn't broken yet, but each time the light bulb blows out. To remedy the situation, I asked for a light kit to be installed into fan and just have an overhead light. After 3 trips to Lowe's with purchases/returns and some frustration on why the darned light would not turn on, we decided to go the lighting showroom where they sell the casablanca fans that we have throughout our house. We bought a lighting kit that goes w/ the existing fan--well, we ordered it b/c it would be too easy for them to have it and us walk out of the store with it. The one pictured it not what we bought, I wanted 4 individual lights instead of a dome light and the fan is all white. However, while we were there, Brad decided we should go ahead and get the additional fan for our upstairs den (another item on the list!!). As luck would have it, we walked right out of there with the same model fan as the others in the house! Brad spent Monday afternoon, after a nice lunch out w/ my parents, installing the fan---while I napped! I could get VERY used to that :)

Sugar and Spice and all Things Nice....

During the day on New Year's Eve, we made the short trip to visit Aunt Deb to find out if baby #2 is a girl or boy! Everyone should have an Aunt Deb...it grants you the ability to find out early who is living in there and unlimited chances to see your baby! My feeling was hands down it was a GIRL (I also felt this way about Anderson and was wrong!)!!

SO....was I surprised when I heard this???.........

It is true that I nearly fell off the table! Albeit surprised (um, I think shocked is a more accurate description), I am absolutely thrilled that Anderson is going to have a little brother to play with!

No "Sugar and Spice and all things nice" around here......for us it is "Frogs and Snails and Puppy-dogs tails"!

I'm officially outnumbered now and loving it!

School Days!

Anderson started a Mother's Morning Out program at our church 2 mornings a week! His first day was Tuesday and he did fabulous! He cried when I dropped him off, which was heartbreaking--of course! I know it is developmental and sign of good socio-emotional health, but it is still hard on a momma's heart. I went to the church library and spent my time doing the bible study homework for Wednesday night (Beth Moore Study = lots of homework). About 10:30, Lisa, the children's ministry director came and told me that Anderson was doing fantastic and was having a ball playing! That did my heart a world of good. For me, it is hard to have time to myself and feel good about it if he is miserable. Thankfully, that does not appear to be the case! To get ready for school, Santa brought him a personalized pre-school backpack from Pottery Barn! It is so darn cute!

Hello 2010!

We spent New Year's Eve at a dinner party hosted by Ansley and Richard! Andrew and Ginger were there and Ansley's brother and sister-in-law. Kiddos were invited, but we did try to find a babysitter (without any luck) for the evening. So, we got him ready for bed and just said we would stay until he was tired and fussy or put him down in Jack's pack-n-play. He sure surprised us and stayed awake and happy for nearly the entire evening! I think he had been feeling bad for so long that he was happy to finally feel good! Ansley bought lots of party goodies and I took a picture of the confetti from the party poppers going everywhere, but it was taken w/ my Blackberry and turned out fuzzy!

Practicing for the ball drop!

My little angel didn't quite make it!

Not too much different from last year........

Happy New Year!!!