I truly believe that in this life there are just some questions that are unanswerable. We can have our theories, our own answers- but in the end, we just have to trust sometimes that God is in control and has a handle on the big picture…When we get to heaven, I hope we can ask Him some of these questions.
This photo, for example, inspires many of those unanswerable questions.
Today I was out running errands and I decided to swing by Rite Aid to get some free make up! The match up was simple: Rite Aid this week has all the Cover Girl make up on sale Buy One Get One free. There was a coupon in the P&G insert in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago for Buy a Cover Girl face product, Get a Cover Girl face product free. When you use a store B1G1 free sale, plus a manufacturer coupon for B1G1 free (on the same product), they cancel each other out- making EACH item FREE!!! Don’t believe me? Check out the Rite Aid coupon policy HERE.
I had a total of 11 coupons, so I was able to choose 11 sets of 2 products each. One of each set rung up free due to the Rite Aid promotion, and the coupon took off the amount of the one I “paid” for. The result? $202.24 of FREE MAKEUP!! I think if you click on this photo, you will be able to see the total at the bottom…Hmm…I wonder how much I earned per hour putting THIS deal together??
I am going to be starting a series of couponing 101 on my blog. I’ve taught 2 classes now on this (I still find that hard to believe) and I’m going to be doing a series of posts about how to start couponing. This would be a great interactive time as well…so if you have any questions, especially on a 101 post, PLEASE ASK!! You can either comment on this blog, another blog or on facebook. I’d love to help answer questions for you. If I don’t know the answer, I have some “experts” I can ask!
Today we celebrated birthday #7 for my second-born son! Holy cow, where has the time gone? Can somebody make it stop please?
The day started off with a bang! Not in auditory fashion, but in adrenaline (for me anyway). I slept in until about 7 am (which is about normal for sleep-in time) and then I got up to start the cake(s) for Jayden. He told me weeks ago that he wanted a chocolate and vanilla swirl cake. So I made a chocolate cake mix and a vanilla cake mix and swirled them together…I did the same with the frosting on top and it turned out cute.
While the cakes were in the oven and I sat down to check my email and saw that I had an email sent at 5:45am from the women’s ministry leader at my church. They were having a big women’s event at church today complete with workshops and booths. The lady who was supposed to be teaching the workshop on couponing was sick…so she was asking me if I could fill in and teach the class! Hmm…the event was from 10-2 and Jayden’s birthday party was at 1. I didn’t know if I could swing it.
To top it all off, Josh was in Gresham picking me up a new upright freezer. (YEAH!!! Time to stockpile frozen foods, I think!)
I was able to fill in and teach the class. Needless to say it was a busy morning! But everything totally went off without a hitch. It even seemed to me like the cake cooled extra fast so that I could frost it…I don’t know if that was really the case, but it seemed that way!
So here’s how our morning went: Josh left early for a meeting at church. I woke up at 7- made coffee and mixed up the cake. Baked the cake, checked email, made some phone calls. Removed the cake, inserted the cupcakes. Made some more phone calls. Showered, dressed, makeup. Remove cupcakes. Grabbed coffee. Pulled out the girls’ clothes. Frosted the cake. Boys got girls out of their room and got them cereal. Girls eat, boys frost cupcakes. Help get girls dressed. Ellyanna kicks my still-full cup of coffee over. Clean up the coffee. Fix girls’ hair. Brush girls’ teeth. Boys pack for overnight at grandma’s. Clean out 5 sets of ears. (my kids have earwax issues). Josh comes home. Unloads the freezer to the driveway. Puts seats back into car. Load the car up with kids, camera, video camera, coupons, coupon worksheets I made up for my first class, and everything else we need for the party. Drive to church. Drop me off. Josh takes kids to BurgerKing- don’t judge. =) And runs to the store to get paper products for the party that I didn’t even consider needing until that morning. I run around at church for a while, say hi to people figure out what I’m doing, where I’m going, get copies of my worksheet and get set up for my class. 11:45 teach my class talking as fast as I possibly can to get through information that took me 2 hours the first time in 45 minutes. (I was successful). Finish up, talk to some people, run out the door and get in the car and head to the bowling ally for Jayden’s party. =) After the party, the boys are spending the night at grandma’s house, so Josh and I and the girls stopped at Albertsons where I purchased 10 cans of juice, 48 cups of yogurt, 5 cans of Pam non-stick spray, 9 cans of refried beans, 5 boxes of fruit snacks and 4 boxes of cocoa for $11. =) (I would have done even better if they hadn’t been out of most of the kinds of yogurt I needed.) Then we came home, lugged our new freezer into the outbuilding, plugged it in, waited for it to get cold and then organized the freezer. Then I made dinner and we put the girls to bed.
I’m tired.
But anyway, the point of this post is to wish my youngest son a very, very happy birthday. Jayden, you bring so much joy to both me and your dad! You make us laugh at your silliness every day. You have a great sense of humor. You are charming, everybody who knows you loves you. You came out knowing how to be kind to people and how to put others above yourself. What a great gift to have! You are such a treasure to me and a blessing to our family. I love you so much! Happy Birthday!
You know what I’ve just realized? What’s really hit home for me? There is such a huge, indescribable joy and peace that comes from finding out where God is working and joining Him there. It’s not about me- it’s about Him. I was just realizing that for the past few weeks, I have been filled with this Joy…I’m just excited about life right now. Not that there hasn’t been hard things…there has been the very hard and sad thing with Vicki (Okay, I can’t figure out how to link with wordpress yet…but my sister in law’s mom died a week and a half ago- and it sucks). But even in the midst of that, I feel a Joy and a Peace that I’m where God wants me to be. Maybe it’s silly…but the coupon thing?? I think that the reason that I’m getting so much enjoyment out of it is because God handed it to me. It started with the conviction that I wasn’t doing enough to save my family money- but it’s blossoming. And because people are interested in it, I’m able to pass on what I’ve learned to other people. And those other people can, in turn, help other people both by sharing what they know AND because they’re enabled to be generous in a way that they couldn’t be before. Normally, when we think of blessing someone in need with food, we think if purchasing a few extra items and donating them…but when you’re getting them for free or nearly free, how much more can your generosity expand? It’s not about ME…it’s about HIM!! He is using this silly coupon thing because He wants to grow his ministries and His people’s generosity. Do you think it’s a coincidence that we’ve had recent sermons at church about generosity? And a recent ministry starting up to help the 80% PLUS kids in our local Gresham grade school who don’t have enough food to eat on the weekends? AND a recent sermon about committing yourself to expand God’s work? I don’t.
I made the decision a few weeks ago to “give up” running the cafe at my church. I’ve been doing it for 1 1/2 years from the very beginning. But I felt like God was telling me that He had other things for me to do. I wondered if I might have some trouble “letting go” or worrying about other people being in control instead of me (I have some control issues) and/or worrying about the transition. But you know what? I gave it up and I’ve had NOT ONE thought about not being in control or worrying about other people taking over. The transition has been seamless. God not only made it easy for ME to step out, but He brought and positioned exactly the right people to step in and take my place. He laid out the plan and all I had to do was follow it. And because I did, I’ve had so much Joy and Peace knowing that I’m exactly in the place I need to be. How I just wish that everyone could understand what this feels like!
This is my pantry/laundry room. It’s located right next to my kitchen and where I store most of my food items.
The majority of my toiletry items/paper products are being stored in our attic. We have like a 1 1/2 story house (our bedroom is the only room on the second floor) but there is a door from our room where you can walk into the attic. I’ve lined the front area with shelves to hold everything.
I just had to take a picture of this. The box is FULL of Gillette and Venus razors which I got for really cheap…in the case of the Gillette razors, I got them each for $0.49 at Target. Now I can afford to shave my legs more than once a week, which of course Josh appreciates. =)
This is one of those plastic stacked drawers. I want to get another one- but as you can see it’s got a bunch of stuff in each drawer.
I just have to brag about this… My stockpile boasts 27 bottles and/or boxes of laundry soap that I either got for FREE or under $1.00…I do so much laundry that this makes me smile.
Okay- last but not least…My infamous Quaker deal from Albertsons…Well, half of it anyway. 130 boxes of Life cereal and granola bars that I spent $54 on. Do that math on that!
I was reading through my blogs this morning and there was a blog post from Antique Mommy that I just loved. So I wanted to share. Enjoy!
Warning! Warning! Proceed with caution! I posted a blog last week and now I’m posting again! Do not fall out of your chair! It’s true!
Just thought I’d get that out of the way first! I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt by seeing a new blog post so soon after my last one.
So two of my “new” goals that I decided on back in October of 2009 was that #1 I need to focus on cutting our grocery budget…drastically. #2 was that I needed to focus on feeding my family healthier. And you know- those two things do NOT go hand in hand. Organic foods are more expensive! So I didn’t really know how I was going to accomplish these two goals at the same time. But so far, it’s been working. My plan as you can see from my last post is to use coupons for things such as toiletries, paper products, cereal that I consider to be healthy (not so much fruit loops or whatever), and some snacks that I know are not loaded with sugar and/or things that aren’t healthy. So this, over time, will enable me to save money so that I can spend more money on higher quality items like organic meat and dairy.
The first thing I started with technically was switching from milk in the store to buying raw milk. And really, I did this starting in the Summer. But you know what? Since beginning raw milk, our family has NOT gotten sick. At all. Not even with the h1n1 floating around that everyone is so scared about. Not a cold, not a flu. Nothing. AND…the best part? Bryce has almost completely eliminated his need for asthma maintenance medications AND for his resuce inhalors. Hallelujah!! I cannot attribute either of those two things to anything but the raw milk…it’s the only thing that we’ve been doing differently. If you’d like to find out more about raw milk including where to find it go to www.realmilk.com.
Okay…so the second thing that I’ve been working on since October is incorporating whole grains into our diet. I’ve done research: read books, read internet articles, watched Food Inc, etc…and I’m seriously freaked out about the condition of our society…but that’s another blog post. At any rate, I know that as the sole food provider/preparer in this house it is MY job to make the food that comes out of my kitchen as good for you as possible. So I’ve been doing things like gradually replacing the white flour in my recipes for whole wheat, learning to cook with dry beans (much cheaper) and rice. Learning recipes with lentils and black eyed peas and WHEAT BERRIES. If you would have asked me 6 months ago what a wheat berry was, I would not have been able to tell you. I asked for and received for Christmas the Betty Crocker Whole Grains cookbook and I LOVE it. I use it almost every day now. It’s a great transition book if you’re interested. It has been a totally gradual thing. I remember the first time that I altered our homemade pancake recipe. I used half whole wheat and half white flour…all the rest of the ingredients were the same. No one ate them. (kids anyway) The boys complained and the girls wouldn’t touch them. But last Saturday I made pancakes with almost entirely whole wheat flour, flax seeds, honey instead of sugar and coconut oil. The kids (and Josh and I) LOVED them. The girls each ate 2! And the boys didn’t do too bad either. So it takes a while, but we’re getting there. And you know? I feel so much better about feeding that to my kids than I did about giving the pancakes with white sugar, white flour, vegetable oil and topping them with corn syrup. =)
There’s definitely a learning curve to this as well as a taste transition curve. I’ve probably scortched more pots in the last few months than I have in my entire marriage career. But I’m getting it. And it’s SO worth it.
Oh! Two more things I’ll add as a last note on the subject of cutting my grocery bill. First, the bulk food section at Winco has been my friend. Did you know that in the bulk food section they have buckwheat flour and spelt flour and wheat berries? I never knew that. But they do and I have been buying all my rice, beans, lentils, whole grain flours, etc there and it is saving me a TON of money. My last two trips to winco (where I shop for 2 weeks worth of food at a time) has been around $130. For 2 weeks of food for a family of 7! Not bad. And those are with so many whole grain items from the bulk section. (Although this does not include meat- I’m getting organic meat elsewhere.) Second: Meal planning. I’ve been wishy-washy about the whole meal planning thing forever. But I found something that totally works for me. These meal planning worksheets have been super handy to me. I plan 2 weeks at a time and it’s not at all overwhelming like planning/cooking for a month used to be. I save the old ones so I can look back and just repeat things. And the grocery list is right there, so I can just take it to the store with me. It’s been great and works for me and my schedule.
This was the first coupon shopping trip(s) I did this month. Rite Aid and Walgreens. I spent approximately $50 for everything and SAVED about $150!
This was from Albertsons. I spent about $4.20 on all this peanut butter and SAVED $53!
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