Donna Reed

I've said it before....but I just love Donna Reed. Growing up in the late '80's at the dawn of Nick-at-Nite I was subjected to a LOT of old sitcoms. We watched Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Andy Griffith, The Anne Southerland Show, Mr. Ed, Patty Duke, Dobie Gillis, and My Three Sons. I love all of those shows, but Donna Reed was BY FAR my favorite.

It used to come on every night at 7:00pm. My mom worked at an accounting firm and got home around 5:30 every night. She used to fix dinner still dressed in her heels and we'd usually eat around 6:30. I always knew it was dinner when Wheel of Fortune was coming on, and dinner was over when it was going off.

I remember, my sister and I would hurry through the dinner clean-up routine so we could get in our pj's and grab our blanket and get on the couch by 7:00pm sharp to watch our favorite show. My mom was thrilled that we enjoyed watching shows from her youth and it was so nice to watch it together.

I loved watching the light and happy episodes about first dances, remodeling the kitchen, a camping trip gone wrong, birthday mishaps, etc. It was all so innocent and comforting and I always dreamed of being Mary Stone. I wanted to look like her, talk like her, act like her...and more importantly, I wanted to be in the 1950's. I wanted to be a teenager during a time when girls didn't call boys, families spent most of their time together, and TV wasn't the most important thing in the world.

Sadly, Nick-at-Nite stopped showing reruns of my favorite shows and I went years without seeing any episodes. Luckily, a couple of years ago, they started releasing seasons of the show and I now have the first three seasons on DVD. It was like discovering the show all over again, I barely remember any of the episodes!

Now that I have them, I watch them daily. After I drop off the boys at school, I come home and turn it one and do my housework. Watching Donna makes me feel very domestic, so I tend to get more done when she's in the background. The boys have even taking a liking to the show and I catch them laying around watching it from time to time. I know I don't have any daughters to pass on my love of homemaking to, but at least my boys have an appreciate for my love of life in the 1950's.

The Hardy Boys

About 3-4 months ago, my sweet Granny called to tell me that her cousin was having a garage sale, so she went to piddle around in her things. In a box, she found about 50 original Hardy Boys' books in mint condition. This books look identical to my Nancy Drew set, but they have blue binding instead of yellow. I have never read the Hardy Boys, but I was THRILLED when she offered to buy them for Wally because I knew I'd finally have someone to share my Nancy Drew stuff with, given that the Hardy Boys are basically the male equivalent of Nancy, Bess, and George.

When she brought them to the house, I was ecstatic. They are in PERFECT condition. I showed Wally, and he was super excited. He loves to read, and even though these books are a little advanced for a 7 year old, he loves for me to read them to him.

We didn't get much reading done the 7 weeks I was working in the big city, but now that I'm back home, we've picked right back up on our nightly reading. And after finishing a few we had stacked up on his night table, we're finally 5 chapters into the first Hardy Boys book, The Tower Treasure, and Wally is really loving it.

I love reading these old books to him and I love that he loves it. I've always said Wally was an "old soul" since he likes to watch old MGM cartoons, prefers to read and play with his toys instead of watch TV and play video games, likes to dress nice and wear cologne for school, likes to watch The Andy Griffith Show and The Donna Reed Show, and likes to read the classics. Now...if only I could get him to start watching old movies with me.... :)

Nancy Drew

When I was around 9 or 10, my mother introduced me to Nancy Drew. She had the entire original Nancy Drew series, which totals 56 books. Already an avid reader, I couldn't wait to dig-in to these classics. I didn't know anything about Nancy Drew at the time, but I was intrigued by the beautiful painted covers of the series. Each book's cover depicted some mysterious scene from the book, and boy did I judge the books by their covers back then!

I loved reading about Nancy's adventures with her friends Bess and George, and her dates with Ned Nickerson. I loved reading the descriptions of her wardrobe and the delicious meals that her housekeeper, Hannah Gruen prepared for her. I'm 32 years old now and I STILL read these books on an almost daily basis. I love them because they remind me of my youth, and because they remind me of my mother. I love the smell of old books, and I love that my mother has her name written in cursive in all of the books, with a list of the books she has lent out to her friends. I also love that these books are set in the 40's and 50's. I love references to malt shops, old cars, and the fact that no one has more than one TV, no cell phones, compters, or beepers, and people still talked to each other on the streets.

For about the past 10 years or so, I have started with the first book and read all the way to the 56th book. Once I finish 56, I start all over again at number 1....and I never tire of them.

I'm sad that I don't have a little girl to pass on these wonderful books to, but I imagine I might have a granddaughter that will appreciate them someday.

I know there are plenty of good "serial" books for young girls to read these days, but I can't imagine a better heroine than my Nancy Drew. In my mind, she will always be the girl I'm trying to be....polite, beautiful, smart, witty, perfectly manicured at all times, respectable, charming, friendly, and intuitive.

Apple Crisp

I try to "cook with the seasons", which means I make lots of lemon and blueberry and 'salady' stuff in the spring and summer, and lots of pumpkin and apple things in the fall. I want the boys to associate certain foods with specific times of the year, so I'm careful not to serve pumpkin pie in July so they have something to look forward to in the fall.

Well, one of our favorite things in this house is apple crisp. Once September comes around, I usually make it 2-3 times a month until about March, and then I don't make it again for 6 months.

I made a batch yesterday (even though it's still 95 degrees here) and just the cinnamony smell wafting through the house was enough to get everyone's fall juices flowing. It smelled absolutely heavenly.

Here is my recipe:

6-8 apples, peeled and diced
2 sticks of butter (softened)
2 cups of flour
2 cups of brown sugar
2 cups of rolled oats
2 TBS cinnamon
1/4 cup of water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the diced apples into a nice sized casserole dish (not quite as big as 13x9) and pour the water over them. In a large bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. I always start mixing with a wooden spoon, but end up just using my hands to make sure it's really mixed well. Spoon the "crisp" portion over the apples and then pack it down tight (especially around the edges) to keep all that moisture under the crispy top. This keeps the apples especially soft. Bake until the top slightly browns....usually about an hour depending on how deep or long your casserole dish is. Delicious!!!

Cub Scouts Popcorn Sales

Since Wally and Beaver were babies, I knew they were going to be Cub Scouts. I had envisioned being a 50's mom with a clean house for them come home to, a safe neighborhood for them to play in, a great church to be involved in, after school snacks on the counter, home-cooked meals every night, family date nights with movies and popcorn, involvement in local sports organization....and membership of the Cub Scouts Organization. It's always been important to me that the boys be involved in scouting because I love what it represents, and they're so proud of themselves when they earn their achievements.

Ward and I decided to lead Wally's den this year and we had our first meeting last night. Our den has 18 boys this year and we're thrilled with the high turn-out. We took them to a local indoor play facility and let them play in the maze while we had our parents' meeting, and then we brought the boys back together at the end to work on their motto, promise, salute, handshake, and symbols. Some of the boys were knew to scouting and super excited to be doing anything scout-related.

This is my favorite time of the year for scouting because everything is new and exciting and you get to kick off the year with Popcorn Sales! This is a major fundraiser for the boys and last year Wally sold $380 worth just to earn a Lego set. This year he is determined to sell $600 worth so he can win a marshmallow gun. It made my heart sing to sit on my front porch and watch him go door-to-door last night in his uniform. He basically skipped down the sidewalks to each house, with little Beaver hot on his trails. He was so proud to come home with $150 in sales already! This year there is a "buy online and support your favorite scout" option, so this will definitely help him get sales from our friends out of state.

I can't wait to see how well he does with this!

The School Morning Shuffle

No matter how early we wake up, our mornings always seem so rushed! We have to leave by 7:50am to get the boys to school by 8:05. School doesn't start until 8:20, but they like to get there 15 minutes early to do their "quiet activities" at their desks.

I have been waking them up at 7:00am and making them leave the breakfast table by 7:30am to get dressed and brush their teeth and comb their hair.

They seem to do ok in the mornings as long as I am completely ready and can nudge them along, but on the mornings I'm not ready and I have to be back in my bathroom getting dressed while they're in the living room getting dressed....nothing gets done. They just hang out in the living room and either talk to each or play or lay back down.

Well, since I'm "back home" after a 7 week unsuccessful working-in-the-big-city venture, I decided to get us back on a good schedule.

Last night, I ironed their uniforms (they go to a Christian school), and laid them out with their socks, belts, and shoes. I also completely packed their backpacks, lunchboxes, snack packs, and water bottles.

I got showered and dressed before I even woke them up. And you know what? It all went perfectly smoothly!! They were actually ready to go 10 minutes early!

There is something to be said about serious organization. I'm going to do it this way from now on.

Big Brother

So....everyone has guilty pleasures, right? Well, one of mine is Big Brother. I watched Season 1 many moons ago and I didn't really like it, so I never watched it again. Well, about 6 years ago, several of my co-workers were really into Season 5 (the season with Jase and Cowboy and Drew and Diane and Nakomis) and I felt so left out when they'd come in three times a week and talk about it, that I vowed to watch the next summer to see what all the fuss was about. So, I started with Season 6 (the season of Janelle and James and Howie and Kaysar)....and I was HOOKED after that. I have since gone back and watched every season in full, except for season 4...I just can't make it through that season for some reason.

I don't know what it is about this show that has me so captivated, but I watch loyally every year and I always get a little sad about this time of year because I know it's coming to an end. :(

I will miss you Britney, Hayden, Enzo, and Lane!

Until next year...

Kids in the bed

Usually every Friday night, Ward and I let the boys spend the night in sleeping bags at the foot of our bed. I don't know when this started, but it feels like we've been doing it for years. Well, this past Friday night, they got in trouble for rough-housing, so their punishment was no spending the night, but we said we'd give them another shot at it Saturday night. Well...we forgot Saturday night.

This morning, at about 5:00am, Beaver came in our bedroom and got right in my face while was sleeping and started kissing me on the mouth a few times until I woke up, which just seemed so odd in the middle of the night! When I opened my eyes, his arms were crossed and he looked mad and said....We were supposed to spend the night Saturday night! I said, fine....get in bed with us now. And he said...wait! I need to go get Wally. So, a few minutes later, they're both got our bed with their favorite blankets and several stuffed animals and we all went back to sleep.

I never really settled back into a good sleep after that, but it made me feel so good that they wanted to get in bed with us. They almost never crawl in bed with us anymore and I know our years of all being in the bed together are almost over.

I'm trying to savor every minute of this that I can! I want so desperately for them to stay little that I tend to cling to every "babyish" thing they still do.

Can't they stay little forever?

Back Home

Wow...it's been a while since I've posted, and it's been a VERY long and mostly trying summer.

In late April, we found out that Ward had some floating bone fragments in his knee leftover from a previous sports injury (or so we thought) so we had to schedule an outpatient surgery for late May. The day before his surgery, Ward started working from home full-time. He had one office in the house and I have an office across the hall from him, as we both work for the same company. My work is light and mostly secretarial and I don't work as much as he does. It's a flexible and low-stress job that allows me to be home with the boys and be very involved in their school activities.

Ward's surgery did not go as we had hoped and his doctors found severe arthritis...and Ward is only 32. He said the recovery initially would be around 6-8 weeks on crutches (we thought it would be more like 3-5 days) and 6-12 months for total recovery. We were told he'd most likely need both knees replaced before turning 40. Needless to say, Ward was devastated and his time on crutches was hard for everyone.

During his time at home recovering, we started going over the medical bills and saw that between Ward's MRI, surgery, physical therapy, and Beaver's medical bills from his hemophilia-related medicines...we were sinking fast. We knew we had enough to pay our regular bills with a little for savings, but these bills were just too much. While we were trying to decide what to do, my old boss from my full-time fast-paced job from 2 years called and said they were re-starting the company and getting the old gang back together. I immediately said "thanks, but no thanks" and went about my regular life. But the thought stayed in my head, and every few days, he'd call back and ask if I had given it anymore thought. After going back and forth for a few weeks and really thinking it through, Ward and I decided it would be best for me to go back to work in the big city. We knew this would be a huge change from the life we had been living for the past 2 years. We would go from having me home 24/7 and being majorly involved at the school, to having me home every night at 7:00, working every other Saturday, and working every other holiday. We knew that would be a tough transition for everyone, but we reasoned it would be worth it because I'd have something for me (a great career opportunity) and we'd have money like we'd never had before.

I selfishly started making lists of everything we were going to spend the new money on. We were going to pay off our medical bills in 3 months, I was going to get a year-round tanning package, start getting my hair cut and colored every 6 weeks, get monthly mani/pedi's, go out to eat every Friday night, and set aside $200 a month for me to buy new clothes and accessories.

I have NEVER been a woman that is into any of the above items, but I reasoned that I wasn't into them before because we never had the money for them, but since I was working in the big city again...I DESERVED all these things.

I knew the boys would be upset by not having me around all the time, but I assured Ward and myself that they'd get over it once school started and they'd forget all about me.

Boy....was I ever wrong.

Going back to work on July 26th was the worst decision I've made in years. From the first day I regretted my decision. The boys were devastated not to have me home, and on the third day I drove to work, Beaver chased me down the driveway crying and started waking up at 5:30 in the morning just to spend time with me before I left for work. Ward did a great job cleaning the house and preparing dinner the first few days, but after about a week, the house began to fall into disarray, the laundry got ridiculously backed up, the dishes piled up in the sink, and we started having cereal for dinner almost every night. I was so tired when I got home at 7:00 that I had no time for homework, stories, games, or even giving them their baths. It was awful. I cried to Ward and told him I'd made a terrible mistake, but we both knew it was too late. I had already quit my wonderful but lower-paying work-from-home job and had even provided my boss with a replacement for me. I was stuck and I knew it. I decided we'd just have to get more organized and the kids would just have to learn to depend on Ward for everything.

And then my old boss called. He's still Ward's boss, so he talked to Ward from time to time about my situation and he knew I wasn't happy. He asked me to stop by his office after work one day, and within 3 minutes of being there, he asked me to come back to work for him. I cried with joy on my way home from work. I couldn't believe my luck. I always loved this work-at-home job and never took it for granted, but I thought having tons of money with this new job was more important. And I was dead wrong.

I was finally able to give notice at my new job this past Friday (after only having been there for about 7 weeks) and I am hoping that once the big boss receives my resignation on Monday morning that he will send me straight home (with pay of course) and I can resume my wonderful secretarial job.

I miss being at home.

I miss puttering through the house on rainy days. I miss the sound of the dishwasher while I'm folding clothes in the livingroom and watching the Food Network. I miss making lunch for Ward and I and sitting on my bed watching The Young and the Restless while I cut coupons. I miss making after school snacks, waiting in line to pick the boys up from school, walking into the kitchen at 5:00 sharp to get dinner started, being finished with dinner and ready to play with the kids by 6:30, getting 9 hours of sleep per night, always having a clean house, being able to run up to the school and eat lunch with the boys.....and most of all....I miss having a 10 second commute to my job. :)

I am so glad to FINALLY be back home...where I am loved and needed. And where I belong.

Guest Blog for Coupons Post #2

Well, I'm back for week 2 of this couponing bonanza series! I hope everyone has had a chance to review the first post and get started. By now you should have made a budget, made a buy-price list, started menu planning, picked up the inserts out of the Sunday paper, checked out a few coupon blogs, and printed a few coupons online. If you have...then you're ready for this week's new stuff. If you haven't, that's ok too! The beauty is, you can pick this up at any time.

Now that you've got a few coupons in your hand, you're probably trying to set-up some sort of organization system. It is very important to ORGANIZE YOUR COUPONS. If you don't, you'll have some in your purse, some in the car, some in your pocket, some still inside the newspaper, and some in a drawer and you'll decide it's just not worth it and throw your hands up and say "fuhgetaboutit".

There are a few different ways to organize your coupons, but I'll just tell you the way I do it. Once you really get into this, you may come up with a way that is much better for you, but this is what works best for me...

When I get the inserts out of my Sunday paper (I buy 4 each week) I date the front page with a black marker and I put it away...I do NOT clip coupons until I need them. I bought 4 plastic paper trays and have them stacked up on my desk in our home office. In one tray, I have my Smart Source inserts (SS is how it's abbreviate online), in another tray I have my Proctor & Gamble inserts (PG), in another tray I have my Red Plum inserts (RP) and in the top one I have my All You Magazines, Weekly Kroger coupon booklets that come in the mail, and monthly Walgreen's store coupon booklet. I highly recommend getting a subscription to All You. They are sold at Wal-Mart exclusively, but you can get a subscription online. They vary in price depending on which deals they have going on, but I got a 2-year subscription for $14 a few months ago. Each magazine has over $80 in coupons and there is an alphabetical index in the front of the magazine telling you were to find all of the coupons. If you are not receiving weekly coupon booklets in the mail from Kroger, you need to go to www.kroger.com and register there. Not only will they send you "themed" coupon booklets (game-day, grilling out, breakfast, cinco de mayo, etc.) but once a month they'll send you personalized coupons based on what you normally buy...and they'll usually include a coupon for something free. These
rock!


I do carry an index box with me to the store, but this only has my most common food purchases and the coupons I have printed off of the internet inside because I make my list before I leave the house, grab the coupons I need, and then head to the store (more on this later)...and this really prevents me from impulse buying because I can't stand to buy something I don't have a coupon for. Because I actively read my blogs, I know exactly what's on sale and even what is on close-out. The only surprises I see at the store each week is what is on clearance over by the U-Scan area. If I find a particularly good deal and it's something I know I want to buy multiples of, I'll just run back home after I check out, grab my coupons and come back. Now, the thought of this might drive you CRAZY. If that is the case, feel free to cut all your coupons and keep them in your box, envelopes, or binder...whatever works best for you. The key here is to ORGANIZE them in some way.
I clean out expired coupons the first of every month since so many coupons expire on the last day of the month. This keeps my box from getting to fat and heavy.



Now that your paper coupons are organized, it's time to LEARN ABOUT ELECTRONIC COUPONS or e-coupons. I only discovered these babies a few months ago and they make me very happy!! These are coupons that are loaded to your Kroger Plus card and come off automatically when you buy the qualifying product...but here's the beauty of this....you can STACK a paper coupon with the e-coupon!!!! This means that if you have an e-coupon for $.40 off of Betty Crocker potatoes, you can stack a paper coupon for $.40 off of Betty Crocker potatoes (which Kroger will DOUBLE to $.80 off) and you will end up saving $1.20 on one box of Betty Crocker potatoes. You will want to go to www.shortcuts.com and www.cellfire.com and www.kroger.com to load these coupons to your card. You will have to set-up accounts for these, but it will take less than a minute to add your Kroger card. Cellfire loads their new coupons on the 9th and 23rd of each month and Shortcuts and Kroger do it whenever they feel like. The good news is...the coupon blogs will tell you when new coupons have been loaded, so if you're reading them regularly, you'll know when to go load new coupons. The coupons will expire (usually 1-2 months out) and sometimes you'll get multiples of a certain item, so it's possible you'll have 2-3 coupons for the same item on the card. This is good. It's important to note: Each e-coupon is good for one item one time. Once you use it on that one item, the coupon will disappear from your card. The good news is, you may have 2 potato coupons on Cellfire, 2 on Shortcuts, and 2 on Kroger.com. That means you can get 6 boxes of potatoes if they're on special and save 6 times! It's also important to note that these e-coupons don't stack on top of each other. For example, if you buy 1 box of potatoes and have 6 e-coupons, all 6 e-coupons will NOT come off...just one coupon per item. This is just another way to enhance your savings. And you will notice a pattern with these coupons...they are almost exclusively General Mills products (Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, etc.)

UTILIZE THE CATALINA PROMOTIONS that Kroger offers. This is one of Kroger's little secrets, and I don't know many people that use this, let alone even know about it. Did you know that Kroger runs promotions like: If you buy 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, we'll give you $2 off your next order? Some of these are marked with a red and white tag next to the item, but most of them they're not. You will want to regularly check http://mommysnacks.net/snack-summary/kroger-catalina-offers/ and http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/kroger-catalina-deals-post-them-here/ to see the current Catalina promotions. This is great because they are actually PAYING you to buy their products...on top of this, you can roll this "coupon" to buy more of their products. For example, on the Betty Crocker Potato deal, they are paying you $3 when you buy 3 pouches of potatoes at $1.15 each. My 3 e-coupons will knock them down to $.75 each and then I will use 3 $.40 off paper coupons (doubled to $.80) and MAKE $.15 for buying these three bags. On top of this, they'll spit out a coupon for save $3 off your next order. I can turn right around and buy 3 more bags of potatoes (using no coupons at all if I don't have any) and spend $.45 on three bags of potatoes and it will spit out ANOTHER $3 coupon. This can go on and on forever. When I find a good deal like this, instead of using the $3 to buy more, I'll use my coupons and pay next to nothing for it and hoard the $3 coupons off my next order. Once I get to about $30 off or so, I'll take them in and buy a bunch of meat for free!

Next up....Change the way you MAKE YOUR GROCERY LIST. In the past, you've probably kept a running list during the week, just adding things as you ran out. Then, once you had thought about your needs for the week, you added those items as well. Then, while at the store, you threw in a few extra items that appealed to you as well. I used to shop that way, but now I shop a little differently. I have an excel spreadsheet for my grocery list and it looks like this:

As items come up that I need (milk, bread, sugar, etc.) I check the ads to see if anyone is running a special on that item. If not, I will usually pick it up at Kroger and I'll find any coupons I can for it, and list it in the proper category. Then, once my blogs come out with the weekly sales, I spend a lot of time looking it over to see which sales appeal to me. The blogs will have coupon match-ups with each item that has an available coupon and they'll tell you where to find it. For example, if Bryan Hot Dogs are on sale for $2, they'll tell you that you can find a coupon for Bryan Hot Dogs in the 3/28 RP for $1 off of 2 items. This keeps me from searching through tons of coupons. I just go straight to it, clip it out, and put it with my pile that will be going to the store with me. While going over the weekly ad, I will also print out my shortcuts, Kroger.com, and Cellfire accounts so that I can see what coupons are being held on my Kroger card. I also go to the Catalina lists to see the "hidden" deals that Kroger doesn't go out of their way to advertise. This way I can see all of my savings and I know what to expect to spend. I usually try to spend no more than $50 on "need items", $20 on "stockpile" items, and $10 on toiletries/household items per week. This keeps my weekly spending around $80. After I see what I will be getting, I review what I have and then I sit down and make my menu plan for the next week. So I'm making my plan based on what I have, not on what I want.

Hopefully, this post will help you get to the second level of couponing...going beyond cutting a few coupons out of the paper. If you plan and get yourself into the habit of committing to saving, you will be able to: Organize your coupons and keep them organized, learn about and utilize e-coupons, learn about and utilize catalina promotions, and change the way you make your grocery list. I know this seems like a lot to do, but I always tell people...there's a lot to do in the beginning of this process, but the maintenance is a piece of cake! You will be so glad you did this once you get started!

I was going to post about keeping track of your savings in this week's post, but I think I'll save that for next week's post. At that time, I'll also be posting about buying coupons on EBAY, free samples, shopping at Walgreen's and shopping at Target.

I love a rainy day!

I look forward to Springtime every year not for the flowers and warmer weather and signs of new growth...but for the rainstorms!

I love to stay home and putter around the house on a rainy day while Ward is at work and the boys are at school. Our house has 27 windows and I open the blinds on every one of them and I can see the rain coming down in sheets, the willow tree bending over on it's side, and the wind whipping through the trees down our street. I watch the neighborhood animals dashing for cover, and see people sprinting to their mailboxes with newspapers covering their heads. I love to hear the thunder crashing and know that I'm safe and cozy in my house.

I got to experience this for about 3 hours this afternoon and it was heaven.

Now it's gotten dark again and we're expecting a second round. I think I'll go in the kitchen and put on a pot of chili and enjoy our rainy season.

I'm a guest host!!!

I was asked to guest host over at www.bugsandsunshine.blogspot.com about couponing!

I am so excited to share this information with others! I have been asked to do several posts about it.

Here's the first post...


I am so happy to share my knowledge of couponing with you guys! It has been a long and fun road to get to the "Crazy Coupon Lady" level, and I'm proud to give you tips on how to get there yourselves. When I started couponing, I was saving about 25% each week at the store, now I save between 62%-91% and I feel guilty if it's less than that! It sounds ridiculous, but it's possible for ANYONE to do this...all it takes it a little education, and some planning.

Before we get started, I should warn you...couponing is addictive! Once you really get into this, you will never want to pay retail for anything again! On some days it's difficult for me to accept the fact that I can't get everything for free or less than $1! :) I'm so used to handing over a stack of coupons that it feels odd to buy something without one. But I didn't get here overnight. There is definitely a method to this madness, and if you're patient, and take this one step at a time, I know you'll all be pros in no time! The key is COMMITING TO SAVING MONEY!

You all should know...I do NOT shop at Wal-Mart. I will teach you that you don't need to depend on "Everyday Low Prices" and you don't need to go straight for the "off-brand" to get the best deals. When you learn to combine coupons with in-store specials and in-store coupons, you can buy name-brand on almost everything for much less than the store brand. I shop exclusively at Kroger, Target, and Walgreen's, and except for my son's birthday cake from their bakery, I haven't stepped foot in Wal-Mart in over 2 years. And it feels great!!!

This first post is all about GETTING STARTED. To me, getting started is the hardest part. It's so easy to say..."I'll start couponing once the kids are out of school this summer, once I get settled into my new job, after the holidays, etc." The truth is, there's no better time than right now. Even if your first trip to the store only saves you $4, at least you've started saving money! Now, let's talk about where to begin.

Step One: If you haven't done this already, MAKE A FAMILY BUDGET. Before you start your shopping trips, you need to know how much you're allowed to spend at the store. Once you've made your budget and you know what you can spend, go back through the last 3-6 months in your bank account and figure out exactly what you DID spend. Were you within this budget? I bet most of you probably spent WAY more than you thought when you added up the trips to Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Walgreen's, Fred's, Big Lots, etc....not to mention how much you spent going out to eat (which is something my family does MAYBE 6 times a YEAR) When I first started couponing in 2008, I had budgeted $600 per month on groceries and household items. Once I sat down and looked at the actual statements, I realized I was spending $900-$1,000 per month not including the $300 a month we were spending on eating out. What in the world were we buying????. I was astonished! We now spend between $300-$350 for our family of 4, and this includes ALL groceries, toiletries, medicine (non-prescription) and household goods.

Step Two: Once you've decided how much you can spend each week, MAKE A BUY-PRICE LIST. This is a list of common purchases at the store for your family, and the amount you are willing to pay for them AFTER COUPONS. On this list should be items like: Milk, cereal, bread, chicken, potatoes, lunch meat, frozen dinners, etc. It's important that you make this list because this list will change A LOT during your growth as a savvy couponer. When I started this, I put $3 per box on cereal as the price I was willing to pay...now it's $.75. If I can't get the box for $.75 or less, I won't buy it. Carry this with you every time you go to the store for a while and make note of the prices of your favorite items. Are they all over the place? Moving up and down from week to week? This is to be expected. This will help you figure out how little you should be paying for these products. It's important to note: Virtually everything in the grocery store will be priced at its lowest price at some point during a 6-10 week period. If you are carrying your Buy-Price list with you and watching the prices rise and fall on your everyday items, you will learn what the bottom price is for those items. Once you see that price, that's when you want to go in and stockpile - buying enough to get you to the next 6-10 week cycle.

Step Three: LEARN HOW TO MENU-PLAN. Stop making grocery lists based on what you feel like cooking that week and start making grocery lists based on what you already have and what's going to be on sale. In the past, I would sit down and make weekly menus based on what we were in the mood for, then make a list of all of the grocery items I needed for those menus. Then I'd take my list to the store and buy what I needed. When I got to the checkout line, it just cost what it cost. I'd just shrug my shoulders and say..."well, we needed it" and accept the high amount. But no more! Each week, Kroger, Walgreen's, and Target put out their weekly circulars highlighting their best deals. Not every deal is listed, but it's a great place to start. Once you get better at this, you'll be able to pair your stock-piled items with the sale items and make super-cheap meals. For example, I was just able to pick up Uncrustables for $.84 per box (with 4 inside) at Kroger with my coupons. I bought 5 boxes. This makes for a very cheap lunch for my boys at $.21 per sandwich. I make sure he gets 2-3 of these per week. That will last me 6-10 weeks (until the price bottoms out again). These circulars are found in each of the stores, and Walgreen's and Target's are in your Sunday newspaper. You can also view these circulars online at hundreds of different couponing blogs (we'll discuss these a little later) a few days before the sales begin. This gives you more time to collect your coupons and make your grocery list. If you see a good sale on chicken, buy 5 packages of it and stick them in the freezer until you're ready for them.

Step Four: PICK UP THE SUNDAY PAPER. Finally...we're talking about coupons, one of my favorite subjects in the whole wide world!!! I LOVE getting my newspapers every Sunday. Because I look at my coupon blogs daily (we'll talk about those next), I know what coupons are coming, so I know exactly how many papers I want to buy. It's important to note: Coupons usually don't come out on Holiday weekends, so make sure to check this website http://www.southernsavers.com/2009/12/2010-sunday-coupon-insert-schedule/ to see which coupon inserts you should be expecting. Depending on where you live, make sure to pick up the biggest newspaper that your area distributes. Your local newspaper probably won't have as many coupon inserts as your "big city" paper. Also, before you buy your papers, check to make sure every insert you are expecting is in there. There's nothing worse than getting home and finding out they're not in there. Remember, not every newspaper, even the big city ones, carries all the inserts available. For example, our newspaper doesn't have the Red Plum insert. But don't fret...you can always go to EBAY (we'll talk more about EBAY couponing in another post) and BUY 5 inserts for $1.25 plus shipping. I recommend this if you want to make sure you have ALL the coupons at your disposal. It's very frustrating when a great deal comes up and you don't have the coupons to match with it.

Step Five: DISCOVER THE WORLD OF COUPON BLOGS. This is where I totally changed the way I shopped. For my first 2 years of couponing, I just took my circular and matched it with coupons and shopped that way and felt I was doing a great job. But these coupon blogs make it so much easier and really take couponing to the next level. They actually go through the circulars for you and tell you exactly where to find the coupons to match with the sales....LINE BY LINE. My favorites are:

www.southernsavers.com
www.wildforwags.com (Walgreen's stuff)
www.totallytarget.com (Target stuff)
www.asupersavvysaver.blogspot.com
www.frugalfritzie.com
www.savingaddiction.com
www.couponcravings.com
www.mommysnacks.net
www.printablecouponsanddeals.com

I keep all of these tabbed on my toolbar and refresh them about 5-10 times a day, depending on how much I'm on the computer for that day. Each blog will post 5-15 new entries a day and they tell us where we can find the best coupons, unadvertised deals, clearance and close-out items, free samples, rebates, and best coupon match-ups for each store. When you first go to these sites, (and if you spend some time researching you can certainly find some favorites of your own) I suggest reading the last 10-14 days worth of posts. This will help you see all the deals you've been missing (this will HURT at first! :) ) and it will let you see what kinds of posts to be expecting. It's also very educational. Once you're "caught up" on these sites, you'll just be able to refresh to see the latest posts and you can take advantage of the deals that appeal to you.

Step Six: START PRINTING COUPONS ONLINE. I resisted doing this for the longest time because I thought these coupons weren't "as good" as coupons clipped out of the newspaper and I was almost embarrassed to use them because I thought they looked "homemade" or even "fraudulent"...but now I have seen the errors of my ways. I have never had any problems using these coupons and some of them are for ridiculously high amounts. Most of the blogs listed above will tell you exactly where to go to print these coupons, but if you don't want to scroll through the posts to find them, I recommend:

www.coupons.com
www.eatbetteramerica.com
www.pillsbury.com
www.bettycrocker.com
www.smartsource.com

The very first time you print a coupon online, you will have to download a coupon printer. This is totally legitimate and takes less than 1 minute and you'll never have to do it again. This is required because of the barcode that will be on the coupon. It's important to note: Most coupons can be printed twice. Once you print it the first time, click the back button and you will probably get to print it one more time. If it's a particularly good coupon and you want more than two, you'll have to use a different computer because it recognizes your IP address. And remember...it's fraudulent to make copies of coupons, so let's not do that! :)


Well, I'd say that's probably enough information for the first day! Spend the next week doing all 6 of the steps I mentioned above:

Make your budget
Make a buy-price guide
Learn how to menu-plan
Pick up the Sunday paper
Discover the world of coupon blogs
Start printing coupons online

By the end of the first week, you'll have coupons in your hand and you'll have a plan and you'll be ready to start saving money.

On next week's post, we'll talk about Organizing your coupons, Making your grocery lists, The difference between blinkies, peelies, tearpads, and inserts, and Keeping track of your savings! See you guys next week!!!

Ham and Cheese Pockets

My kids love these and I make them on busy nights at least 1-2 times per month.

I don't even need to list the ingredients, it's too easy!

Make your favorite pizza dough recipe (there are a million online) - mine is:

1 pkg yeast
1.25 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 TBS oil
2.5 cups flour

Mix it all with a fork (don't need to let the dough rise) and then roll it out to the shape you want, constantly dusting with flour.

I can usually make 6 pockets with this recipe. I just make 6 rectangles, fill them with sliced ham and shredded cheddar (I always use the bar, not bagged - tastes MUCH fresher). Pinch the sides closed and lay on cookie sheet seam-side down. Brush beaten egg whites on top, cook at 425 degrees for 15-25 minutes until tops are lightly browned

YUM!!!

I love a clean kitchen!

In general, I love a clean house. I don't love the work it takes to get there, but I looooove the finished product.

I'll admit though...our house is tough to keep clean. It's 3100 sq. ft and with the boys' rooms right off the kitchen/familyroom area, a lot of their toys end up in there. And when they really want to mess up the house, they make their way back towards our bedroom. I feel on most days, as soon as clean one room, they destroy it while I'm working on the next room. So, I'm constantly cleaning in circles. I can find the time on most days to pick up the day's mess, but I can't seem to find enough time to really get down and CLEAN. Well, yesterday...I made the time. The boys' worked on cleaning their rooms (a process that took 8 hours and basically nothing got done) Ward and I worked on the kitchen and family room. I worked all day on those two rooms, rearranged some decorations, thinned out the junk drawers, and even dejunked the front of the refrigerator. I'm so excited that I'm posting pictures because I'm not sure it will ever be clean again!!!



There are no dishes in the sink, no dishes in the dishwasher, no crumbs on the counter....it's all DONE! We're going out of town this afternoon and I'm so excited to know I'll be coming home to a clean familyroom and kitchen. I am really going to make an effort to keep this straightened up. I love the way our house looks when it's clean and it's so rare I get to see it that way! :)



I've been reading some blogs lately that are reminding me of the importance of making your home a haven. We're all so much happier when the house is clean and there's less temptation to mess it up. When it startes getting dirty, that's when everything seems to fall apart because no one takes pride in keeping it clean anymore since it's already "messy."

My goal this week? Take another picture of the kitchen next Saturday and hope it looks just the same! :)

Spending time up at the school

Last year, when Wally started Kindergarten, I was very new to staying at home. I had only been home for 2 months and I relished my time at home with the boys. Not only was I new to staying at home, I was new to school as well, since this was his first year. Kindergarteners can be dropped off and picked up at the front of the school before and after school, so I was rarely in the school last year. I saw a few moms at birthday parties and classroom parties, but really didn't get to know anyone very well.

Well...this year is different. Beaver started K4 there this year and he has to be walked in to school in the mornings and picked up inside his classroom in the afternoon. So, now I'm in the school twice a day everyday. I can't tell you how much that has changed our "school experience". I have gotten to know so many moms, teachers, aides, and office staff. I also help out in the classrooms at least once a week, and serve lunch in the cafeteria once a month. I'm having the most fun and I know it's because I'm coming in the school now instead of dropping off and picking up outside. I can't believe how much I missed!

And the great thing is, if I want to walk them in the morning and walk in to pick them up next year...I can! I love that my boys go to a private Christian school. There is not near the red tape of the public schools and we can be much more involved.

Another great week at Walgreen's

More great things at Walgreen's! I could do several more trips, but I don't know if I'll be able to get to the store any other times this week.

I paid $11 + tax for all that you see. The total value is 106.93 for a savings of 91% :)

Here's the breakdown:

4 Dove Shampoo's = $12
- (2) $2 off Dove coupons
1 Dove Hairspray = $4
8 Easter cups = $1 (filler items)
1 Degree Deodorant = FREE
- $1 off Degree coupon
3 Crest Anticavity = Clearanced for .49 ea = $1.47 (filler items)
2 Cetaphil = $6
- On sale for $7.99 ea, used (2) $5 off Cetaphil coupons
3 Dentek Dental Floss = $6
3 Walgreen's 100 pack vitamins = $9
Post Fruity Pebbles = $1.99
Cap'n Crunch = $1.99
3 Airwick starter kits = FREE
- On sale for $3.99, used (3) $4 off Airwick coupons
4 Halls cough drops = FREE
- On sale for $.99 each, used (4) $1 off Hall's products
Cottonelle
- On sale for $5, used in-store coupon for $1 off Cottonelle and $1 off manufacturer's coupon = $3

Also used $31 in RR from doing this in 9 different transactions and $4 from a previous trip. I got $3RR for each vitamin, $2 for each floss, and $4 for each Dove product. I still have $4RR to use on my next purchase.

Stocking up on games

Target has an awesome deal this week on Hasbro games. If you want to add to your game closet, stock up on birthday gifts, fill an Easter basket, give away to teachers, put back for Christmas, or donate to the less fortunate....this is the time to do it!!!

I didn't take a picture of all the stuff I bought, though :(.

I bought 13 games for $6.54 plus tax.

Breakdown:
3 Bop-Its, priced $14 each = $1 each after coupons
- 3 Target coupons for $3 off Bop-It
- 3 Hasbro coupons for $5 off Bop-It
- 3 Free Monopoly Deal for buying the 3 Bop-Its
- 3 $5 off Monopoly game (even though they were free, it still lets you use the coupon), it just applied it to the total, which ended up taking another $5 off each Bop-It game

2 Connect 4X4, priced $14 each = $2 each after coupons
- 2 Target coupons for $3 off Connect 4X4
- 2 Hasbro coupons for $4 off Connect 4X4
- 2 Free Scrabble Slam for buying the 2 Connect 4X4's
- 2 $5 off Scrabble game (even though they were free, it still lets you use the coupon), it just applied it to the total, which ended up taking another $5 off each Connect 4X4 game

3 Pictureka Flipper, priced $14.99 regularly - on CLEARANCE for $4.77 = FREE plus $0.46 overage after coupons
- 3 $5 off Pictureka coupons that I took from inside the Monopoly Deal games (it told me on the front that there were coupons in there. Since I was buying them anyway, I opened them up and got the coupons out). The overage was applied to my total.

The cashier was shocked, to say the least! :)

My Baby is 7

I can't believe Wally is 7 years old. I remember when I first found out I was pregnant with him and that seems like just yesterday. My memories are so vivid of that time...it makes me wonder where the last 7 years have gone. The older he gets, the more I find myself wishing he would stay little forever.

I love that he still wants to be rocked before bed every once in a while.
I love that he still lets me kiss him goodbye when I drop him off at school in the morning.
I love that he wants to spend all his free time with me.
I love that he lets me hold him and love on him in front of his friends.
I love that he thinks I'm the best mom in the whole world.
I love that he still watches Sponge Bob, Little Bear, Wubzy, Olivia, and Max & Ruby.
I love that he still gets in the floor and plays with his cars and trucks and Legos.
I love that he has no idea what sex, drugs, and rap music are.
I love that he still wears Cars and Thomas the Train underwear.

I know he has to grow up at some point, but for right now, I'm going to relish the fact the he's still an innocent little boy, who still loves it when I make a smiley face on his waffles with the syrup.

Here's to little boys!

Waiting for the mailman

In the days of email, texting, cell phones, and the internet, there's seems to be no real need for the mail anymore. People can see e-cards and e-vites, you can get your newsletters, magazines, and coupons online, and when was the last time someone sent you a letter or a postcard? When I was younger, I loved to check the mail when I got home from school. I had 4 penpals and subscribed to 3 magazines and I was constantly getting goodies in the mail from family members. I no longer get a lot of stuff like that, but I do get a lot of coupons and free samples and I really enjoy that. And even though I know I won't be receiving a long lost check, a new magazine I forgot I subscribed to, a postcard from a friend I haven't seen in years, or a JC Penney's catalog I didn't request, but I still get excited every time I see that white truck turn onto our street.

Roseanne

It's funny...most of my joys come from old-fashion things like board games, housekeeping, time with my children, and reruns of black and white family sitcoms. But one show I really enjoy that doesn't go with any of this is Roseanne. I get such a kick out these reruns and my husband and I watch them together every night right before we go to sleep. I think I like it so much because it reminds me of my childhood...both because I watched it a lot and because I can relate to the way they grew up.

Who doesn't know a family like this? One that can't quite seem to get ahead, but all still pull together during the rough times. Even though my life couldn't be further from theirs, I still really enjoy this show and it makes me laugh like no other.

Teaching others about coupons

I have learned so much about couponing the past 2 years and I was happy to finally get to show a few other people how to save money the crazy way I do. I think they were a little overwhelmed at first because I use 5 blogs, Sunday inserts, EBAY, and All You magazine to get these savings...but I really think they're going to give it a whirl. I'm glad I've really spent some time entering all of the savings into a spreadsheet so I can review this at the end of the year and really see my savings.

Who knows, maybe I'll even start doing couponing workshops!

Weekly Walgreen's Trip

Went to Walgreen's for 3 trips this week and got some great deals. I spent $9.71 on $61.64 worth of goods, for a savings of 84%, and I have $4 RR to spend on my next purchase.

I'm getting so addicted to saving money...however, after several similar trips over the past month, I now have enough toothpaste and tampons to last the rest of the year! :)

Spoiled Dog

Throughout the 9 years Ward and I have been together, we've had several pets. Abby was the first dog we had as a couple, and he got her the week we started dating. She was 9 months old when we got her and a very skiddish dog. To this day, she is still very skiddish, but she's changed a little through the years. We wanted her to have a playmate when she was younger, so we brought in Marley, a yellow lab. They were buddies for about 2 years, but we had to get rid of Marley because she kept jumping over the fence and digging holes in the yard.

When we got married, I got rid of my ragdoll cat, Beau, but I kept my Maine Coon, Punkin. She stayed in hiding most of the time, so it was like she wasn't there. She stayed with my mom for a while when I was pregnant with Wally, but when we brought her back home, she kept getting in his crib and we were afraid of something happening, so we gave her away.

We moved to the Big City for 2 years and took Abby with us, but when we came back to the town we live in now and got our new house (the one we live in now) we felt (again) that Abby needed a new friend. The previous 5 years we'd had her, she had slept outside alone and never ever came in the house. Well, something changed when we moved into this house. She started scratching at the door to get in the house. So, we started letting her sleep in the house on the couch in the formal living room. We ended up getting a big black lab that was 6 years old, Lexi. She was very overweight and bulldozed her way into the house every time we opened the door. She was so big and heavy that she was constantly knocking over chairs, lamps, and anything left lying around, so after just 5 days, we gave her back to the owner.

Around Christmas of 2009, a cat showed up on our doorstep. She was a long-haired black cat and the sweetest cat I'd ever seen. She just "talked" all the time and purred and loved to lay on your chest. We kept her and named her Dixie, but soon found out that Wally was allergic to her. We had tests run and sure enough...SEVERE allergies to cats. We tried to keep her away from him, keep him out of his room, and made her sleep outside at night, but it wasn't enough. We ended up having to give her away as well.

Last summer, Ward talked me into getting a puppy, a black lab. I did NOT want to try out another pet since they never seemed to work out, but he'd been begging for a puppy for years and thought the boys were old enough to train one. Well, the owners talked us into taking sisters, that we named Daisy and Ruby. After a few days (even though they were only tiny puppies) we realized that we could not handle two, so we gave Ruby away. After a month of Daisy waking up in the middle of the night EVERY night yelping, I didn't think I could take much more, but she finally was able to start sleeping outside and we made Abby sleep out there with her. Abby had been an inside sleeper for a couple of years, so she did NOT like this new arrangement, but they grew to be friends.

Well, sure enough, Daisy did what most labs do, and started chewing up EVERYTHING in site. She chewed our wooden door frames, the grill, lawn chairs, every toy that was left outside, the pipe covers, water hoses, sprinkler system, and even the privacy fence. To make matters worse, she was so "excitable" that when you opened the door to feed her or spend time with her, she mauled you and knocked you down. It got to the point where the boys stopped playing in the backyard all together. So...you guessed it...we gave her away.

Lessons learned.

Here we are, 9 years later, with just Abby and she's sleeping inside again. She's gotten to the point where she only wants to go outside to eat and use the bathroom and wants to be inside the rest of the day. Even though she is still a little standoffish with people and cautious of everyone's motives, we've been spoiled by such a low maintenance dog and I don't know if any other pet will ever measure up.

Girl Scout Cookies

I love this time of year because I love Girl Scout cookies! I was a girl scout many moons ago and I still remember going door to door selling them. Times were a little safer back then and people actually enjoyed ordering from us because the cookies were so delicious. I remember my last year, I sold 400 boxes and went to Girl Scout Camp for free! My mom was thrilled. Back then they were only $1.25 per box. Unfortunately, now they're $3.50 a box so we can't afford to "stock the freezer" like we used to.

I did order 1 box of each of our favorites: Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Treffoils, Lemon Cremes, and Samoa's. It's only a matter of days before they will be gone!

Change Jar

We're new to spending only cash (Dave Ramsey Plan) and Ward had a great idea. He said, instead of keeping the change we get back from our trips, we should put it in a jar and when it fills up, use it for something fun. We've only been doing it for 3 weeks and already have over $10, and twice during that time, we had to empty it for fundraisers at school or church.

If we can manage to put $7 a week in there consistently, we'll have over $350 in a year!

We haven't decided what we're going to spend it on yet, but it's fun watching it fill up!