Super Cute Door Mat--personalized $19.97 shipped

This doormat from Wal-Mart.com is $19.97 including shipping. It comes in different colors too. There are also some other styles still available also.

Old Navy Coupon

Last minute Christmas deals! I've been putting all these on my Facebook account, but I thought I'd move them over to my blog also:

Old Navy 30% off any item--even items on sale.
You can print this off as many times as you want, and you can use more than one if the cashier will let you do separate transactions. 

BUNK BED SOLUTION??!

I know, it's a picture of a crib, but I promise--this is about bunk beds!


Okay first, for us bunk beds are a necessity--not a first choice. Any parent who has struggled to make the top bunk would gladly trade them in if the space was there for two twin beds. I can honestly say that Addison's mattress cover/sheets get changed every month....or less. I just DREAD it! Yesterday, as I lay on the bottom bunk holding the top mattress up with my feet so Addison could help me change the sheet I racked my brain on how to make this an easier task. Then I remembered--a couple of months ago I did some research on safer and easier crib sheets for Lucy. The best solution I found were these sheets called Zip Sheets®. 


As you can see from the picture, the sheet set includes a mattress cover and waterproof "piddle pads" to protect the mattress. All you have to do is put the mattress cover on and change the velcro pad. No more lifting the mattress up every time you have to change the sheets! You would rarely have to wash the mattress cover. At the time, the sheets weren't in our budget, so I bookmarked it and forgot about it. But I went to their site again yesterday to see if they came in twin...and they do!! They even have e-layaway now, so after Christmas, this is definitely going to be in our budget for that dreaded top bunk! And Lucy, of course, needs some for her crib so I'll quit having this panicky feeling that she's going to wrap herself up in the sheets in the middle of the night. (Not to mention, I won't have to completely strip the bed every night while we are trying to perfect our nighttime cloth diaper system!)


I just wanted to share this because I know several of our fellow seminary friends who have very limited space and have to live with bunk beds for the time being. We've all talked about what a pain it is to change that top bunk. The sheet system is a bit more expensive to start out with, but the twin set should last for several years, and I know that it is NOT going to be a problem finding someone to pass the crib set to when Lucy is finished with it. 


I never thought the idea of sheets would get me so excited!

Christian Children's Books Ideas for Christmas

Shane working at Lifeway Christian Bookstore has truly been a blessing to us in many ways, but I am especially grateful for the exposure to so many wonderful Christian children's books. While I'm not anti-Veggie Tales, I wanted to expose our young children to Biblical truths in a way that they would both take seriously and enjoy. I think the controversy with any Christian children's book is that it is "watered down" scripture. And I think you definitely have to be careful. Our children hear scripture straight from the Bible, but also these stories to support what they have heard. Nothing takes the place of straight Bible reading, but these books have been a great tool to reinforce what they have read. 

These are a few of our books in our collection that have succeeded. 

1) Jesus Storybook Bible

This is by far our favorite children's Bible. It is a summary, greatly paraphrased, and does not take the place of a Bible. But what it does is remind us that the Bible is one story. That God had one plan from the very beginning, and has never had a "Plan B." This book is wonderful to teach children that every book in the Bible whispers Jesus' name, and tells the "Love Story" of God with His children. In my opinion, it doesn't underemphasize judgement or wrath of God. And thankfully, this isn't a book about how God loves everyone unconditionally, and everyone is good. This book has led so some amazing discussions with our girls at bedtime and I can't recommend it enough! There's even a deluxe version available now that includes the audio so children can follow along. 

2) The Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God's Gift of Purity 

by Jennie Bishop. I LOVE this book. It introduces young girls to the value of purity and the amazing gift from God purity is. AND it relays it in a royal tale! It begins with a king and queen showing their daughter the gift she got from God when she was born--her "first kiss". In the story, it is symbolized by a golden, glowing orb. She understands the value of her gift, and doesn't want to part with it. When she meets potential suiters, she is sad to discover that they all offer her wealth, vanity, and adventure, but nothing that equals the gift that she is to part with. The one who finally does win her heart is a penniless, humble man who offers her his most precious gift--HIS first kiss!! The girls and I have had some invaluable discussions on purity and their true value each time we have read this. Needless to say, we drag this one out quite often!  The boy version of this book is The Squire and the Scroll, which I have not read, but I'm sure is just as good! Also, I've just noticed a devotional based on this book called Life Lessons from the Princess and the Kiss, which is now on my wish list. 

3) The Garden Wall: A Story of Love Based on I Corinthians 13 
Also by Jennie Bishop. This is a great story for girls or younger boys. The two main characters are friends Petra and Seth. One day Petra announces to Seth that she wants to grow a garden for her husband. She asks Seth to help her build a wall around it to protect it. Seth laughs at her, but agrees to help his friend. It turns out to be hard work, but as their garden grows, so does their love for each other. Each page takes you through another attribute of love mentioned in 1 Corinthians: Kind, patient, etc. After we read this, we talk about how we show love to each other (especially when they want to clobber each other over something!)  The pictures are beautiful also.

4) The Book of Virtues by William Bennett. This is a great book to read for fun as a family. It's a collection of short stories, poems, and fables that have practical and moral lessons. Some are fun. Some are more serious. Some we just didn't get?! There's a few we disagreed with the lesson taught, so I recommend reading a few ahead of time before reading them out load as a family so you can decide what you want to read. However, it's still overall a great book.

5) The Priest With Dirty Clothes: A Timeless Story Of God's Love And Forgiveness by Dr. R.C. Sproul. Can I admit that this one made me tear up? It's a beautiful story within a story about the love of Christ, told through a priest who dirties his only clothes, and cannot preach before the king in this state. He is told to go see the prince who exchanges clothes with him so that he is now clean and can present himself before the king. This book is a great way to introduce young children to the heavy topic of redemption and leads to discussions of sin, holiness, and forgiveness. 




I know there's going to be a Part II to this after I go upstairs and go through the bookshelf again!

Butter Pecan Cake Recipe

I took this to church today at our fellowship luncheon and had several people ask for the recipe. I can't take credit for it though--I got the recipe from Ms. Barbara Boucher back home in Tennessee. This is a really good, moist cake that's just sweet enough. I'd take a picture of it, but it's pretty much all gone at this point!

1 box Betty Crocker butter pecan cake mix

(mix as directed on package)

Add to mix: 1 can Betty Crocker coconut-pecan frosting

1 cup chopped pecans

1 T. flour

Pour batter in bundt pan that has been greased and floured and bake at 350° for 55 minutes. **Reserve enough batter to fill a small loaf pan or 6 cupcakes or cake will bake over**

That's it! Enjoy.

Diaper Deals

I was chatting with some friends about diapering our kids on a budget. I'm going to share what I do, but I would LOVE to have input from people about how you get your best deals.

First of all, I use cloth diapers during the day. This saves me from using approximately 5-6 disposables a day. I use disposables at night, if we are away from home, or when baby is having diarrhea. I have my limits! This being said, I only need about 1 to 2 packs of diapers a month, depending on how much we go out/travel. So it's easy for me to stock up on diapers when they are sale--I don't have to buy that many. My favorite is Pampers Swaddlers, but since they are the Cadillac of diapers, I reserve them for nighttime. The best deal I have gotten so far was at Rite Aid. I can't remember the numbers, but they were Huggies diapers and I had $2 off coupons for them. I did 2 different transactions so that I could use 2 different $5 off $20 purchase coupons I had. Then I got rebates for the Huggies using Rite Aid's Single Check Rebates. Then I got a $25 Rite Aid gift certificate in the mail for spending $100 (before coupons).

I've also gotten Kroger Comforts brand for around $3 a package. There are often printable coupons for these for $3 off, and they go on sale for around $6. That makes for some cheap diapers also. I've signed to be a member on every major diaper site (Huggies, Pampers, Luvs) and have gotten some good coupons. Also, don't forget that you can buy diaper coupons on ebay. But I guess the moral of the story is to check your grocery store, Wal-greens, Rite Aid and CVS to see who has the best deals. Then find as many coupons for that brand of diaper that you can and buy up several!

I am interested in how other people get their diaper deals! Sam's, Costco, Amazon?

Coupon Workshop

Our coupon workshop was awesome! Becky Konemann did a fantastic job explaining things that I could not. For those of you who couldn't make it, I thought I'd post some of the major ideas on here. Also, I'll put some of the links to coupons/freebies on here as well.

Step 1: check out this blog at swaggrabber.com. It's a coupon crash course, and she does it with a great sense of humor. It's done really well. Just get a cup of coffee, and give yourself some time to start reading and you will learn so much!

Step 2: Check out the Grocery Game. It's a web site you subscribe to that tells you what to buy that week, where to buy it, and which coupons to buy. But it does cost $10 every 8 weeks for one store. It's done by zip code, and helps you get rock bottom prices, saves time by doing all the work for us, eliminates mistakes by letting you know which coupon to use, and follows the 12 week sales trends. In other words, the same items usually go on sale every 12 weeks. You will learn how to stockpile certain items to last you for 12 weeks. In other words, you will only buy most of your items when they are on sale every 12 weeks, and you can get most of these things for pennies on the dollar or for FREE! You can stockpile on shelves, under sinks, under beds, in closets, in totes in your basement or garage, etc.

Step 3: Where to get your coupons.

The Sunday paper is the best place. However, you really reap the benefits if you can get several copies of the inserts in the paper. To do this, Becky suggested asking friends and neighbors, checking with nursing homes, schools, and finally newspaper delivery people or gas stations to get the leftover papers on Monday morning. To buy several of one coupon, you can enlist the services of a coupon clipper. (Buying and selling coupons is illegal, so when you "purchase" a coupon, you are actually paying for the service of someone clipping the coupon for you.) You can do this THECOUPONCLIPPERS.COM, or EBAY. You can also print coupons at home using the websites listed here on SouthernSavers.com. Also, if you are a Kroger shopper (which is where I do all my grocery shopping) go here. At the bottom of the page, you will see where you can print coupons. Which brings me to another source of coupons: the kind you load on your shoppers card. On the Kroger link, it will bring you to the coupon page, and you have three different links to load coupons onto your shoppers card (it's more than just Kroger). These coupons are great because you can use these IN ADDITION to your paper coupons. Therefore, you can get maximum savings on this one item! For more on how these work, check out the coupon crash course mentioned at the beginning of this post. Also, when you are in the grocery store, look for items that have "SAVE NOW" coupons on them that you can peel off (only on the ones you buy, of course), and displays like batteries, or on freezer doors that have coupons for you to tear off. And don't forget those blinkies in the little boxes on the shelves. Always be on the lookout! Oh, and you can print the printables 2X each, and load your card with the new coupons I think every couple of weeks.

Step 4: Find out the individual store coupon policies. For example: Kroger will double coupons up to .50. Most of the time, even the manufacturer' s coupons that say "DO NOT DOUBLE" do double at Kroger. Meijer double only the first 2 identical coupons, and then accepts the rest at face value. Go to the store's website or contact their corporate office for more details.

Step 5: Check websites like MONEYSAVINGMOM.COM or SWAGGRABBER.COM daily to find great deals.

Some final tips Becky shared with us about being considerate: When you are finally ready to go to the grocery store...organize all your coupons before leaving home, and have a printed list of the ones you have loaded to your card. Don't clean out the shelves--don't be greedy! Go to several stores if you have a really great deal so other people can still get the items at the store. Use self checkout if possible--especially if you are doing more than one transaction. Give extra free items to charity. Put expired coupons to good use. You can send your expired coupons to the military. To find out how go here.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD???!!

If you are feeling overwhelmed and just want the bare basics--start small (which is recommended):

Get a Sunday paper. Don't clip the coupons, but instead file the inserts by date. Only clip what you will need for your next grocery trip. If you want to start free, check out Southern Savers or Mrs. Penny Pincher. These ladies have done the work for us by matching up store deals with coupons. Thanks ladies!!!

Plan your grocery list by looking at the sales ad. If you only ever go to one store, then you can easily just do this by going to their web site and looking at their sales ad to see what meats are on sale, etc. and do your meal planning accordingly.

Load your store card, print off coupons for items that are on your shopping list, and bring your coupons you have clipped for the items on your list. On your grocery list, if you have coupons for that item, write it on the list. For example, I write next to my Pilsbury Crescent rolls (.50/2, .50e) That means I have a paper coupon for .50 if I buy 2 things of crescent rolls that I know will double, and I also have an electronic coupon for one crescent roll loaded on my shopping card that will not double. That means if they are $1 each, I will get 2 of them ($2) and then will get one free, and one for .50. ($2-the .50 coupon which is doubled, -.50 e coupon loaded on my card). Cool, huh? The e-coupon can only be used one time, and will show up on your receipt as "mc-cfire" or something similar.

This is a good place to start. I haven't even mentioned the drug stores (Wal-greens, Rite-Aid, CVS, etc.)That could be a whole post by itself! But I believe the crash course on swaggrabbers.com explains that also. Probably moneysavingmom.com also.

Hope this helps. As you can see, there is a lot of information out there, and I can't take credit for any of it!! These women whose sites I have linked spend a lot of time doing the work so that we don't have to, and I for one am extremely grateful! This is a great way to honor God and our homes by being better stewards of our money, and it is a great thing to share with others.

Clifton Kroger Rocked!!

I am SOO excited over this coupon experience! I have been to the Clifton Kroger twice this week and got some major deals. I came home and told Shane, but he didn't squeal with enough excitement, so I had to blog about it. I got 2 backpacks and a lunch bag for Harper for 75% off, and some great deals on groceries, like a $3.47 Digiorno Pizza and .75 Healthy Choice meals. However, these deals are my favorite:

2 Clean and Clear face washes--normally $4.19. On sale for $1.99.

Used two coupons for $2 off one Clean and Clear product

Final Cost: FREE!! Savings: $8.38

2 large cans of Nestle Good Start formula powder--normally $13.12. In clearance for $6.59

Had one coupon for $5 off one can. The cans had peelies coupons for $2 off one can. So I got one can for $1.59 and the other for $4.59,

Final Cost:$6.18

Savings: $20.06

6 large canisters of Lysol wipes--normally $5.99 each. They were on sale $2.99 each AND they were bundled bogo free.

I used 2 coupons: $2 off of 2, and $1 off of one

Final Cost: $5.97 Savings: $35.94

Total savings for above: $64.38!!

I messed up b/c Kroger Comfort diapers are on sale for around $6, and I have a coupon for $3 for one, so I could have gotten those for $3! I might have to go back for those :)

Also, there were a ton of medications and Kroger brand formula in the manager's special shelves by the restrooms. If you need Motrin Infant drops or any cold medicine, there were still a ton on clearance--like 50% off or more. There are 4 other Krogers closer to my house, but Clifton's is by Harper's preschool, so I can justify it in that way. I always found way better deals here, and the employees have always been so nice. Not to mention that it doesn't take all day to walk across the store if you forget something!

Baby Tips: 1. Diaper Rash

These are things I learned over the past 8 years with 3 girls. I decided that diaper rash needed a post all to itself! I don't know much about baby boys, but most of the tips work for both. Thankfully, I wrote these down as I went, and then changed/added over the years. I give this to all my new friends who are having their first babies. That way they can either listen to my unsolicited advise, or can throw it away if they want! haha

First of all: Always follow your doctor's advice before mine, your mom's, grandmothers, etc. If something sounds crazy, it probably is. Don't put dangerous concoctions on your baby in order to be holistic or natural. Be reasonable. You are going to be very emotional because this is your precious baby, but use reason to guide the care you give your baby, not emotions.

1. Diaper rash: All 3 girls experienced diaper rash. Lucy (my 3rd) had it the worst. It usually starts with bright red spots--sometimes in patches, sometimes bumps, either raised or unraised. When it gets bad, it can look like burns or blisters on their butt cheeks, almost like you set them on a stove. It spreads VERY quickly, so you have to take action immediately. This will make baby irritable, and you miserable and full of guilt. I actually cried when I pulled off Lucy's diaper and it had BLOOD spots in it from her rash! But it's not your fault! It just happens, and act quickly and be relentless. It's going to take a lot of time day and night to get rid of it, and it's going to take several days before you see a perfect little baby bottom again. The red spots that look like scars do fade away. It just takes time.

There are many types of diaper rash, and in my experience, the doctors don't want you to come in unless it is to the point of bleeding. Since all diaper rash is aggravated by moisture, the main rules are keep it clean, keep it dry, keep it sealed!

CLEAN: If bright red raw spots (shiny, wet) are on bottom, STOP using baby wipes. Use a wash cloth with plain warm water OR keep a roll of higher end toilet paper and a spray bottle of plain water at the changing table.Wipe gently, but make sure you get all the poop and pee off. Wipe from front to back (especially for girls). To help the sores dry up and heal, soak baby in a baking soda bath. This worked wonders! I just put her in her baby bath tub (or a dishwashing tub would work) and dumped a couple tablespoons of baking soda in the warm water where it touched her bottom. Then we would play for a few minutes--she was only about a month old, so I was the one playing. She would stay in for about 5 minutes or so.

DRY: Dry bottom with hair dryer on low (keep your hand where the air is blowing to make sure it’s not too hot) This dries the spots. As they start drying and sealing themselves, they will become less shiny. The sores will also be dry to the touch when they are fully dry. Sometimes this takes a couple of minutes. Again, make sure you use the low heat setting and keep your hand on the bottom the whole time to keep from burning the baby!

SEAL: Unfortunately, this area is a little experimental. Different ointments/creams work with different rashes on different babies. At the FIRST sign of a rash (if no blood yet), my suggestion is to start cheap and use Original Desitin in the purple tube. Yes it stinks like old fish because of the castor oil, but it coats better than anything else I found. And it will make your cloth diapers stink like fish. Use a Q-tip to keep it out of your fingernails. Blech. If the rash isn't getting better by the next day, or starts bleeding (it almost looks like acid burns), then you probably need a prescription cream. What worked for us is a prescription cream called Silvadene Cream, or silver sulfadiazine. The generic is significantly cheaper than the brand name. We also used a couple of different anti-fungal creams, because the rash looked a little yeasty (bright red, spreading outward, bumpy, hot). These creams are also inexpensive, and your doctor can tell you which over-the-counter ones work also. Neosporin is also helpful for the sores, as long as they are not yeast. If the rash is yeast, the Neosporin will aggrevate it, and you will have to change your game plan. We tried SO many creams and combinations. Once you find what works, stick with it!!

PREVENTION: I used cloth diapers and disposable. The thinking was chemicals in the disposables could be aggrevating the rash. But, cloth diapers are not as absorbant and wicking. For us, cloth/disposable or even brand of diaper didn't make a difference, but I know some moms whose babies were sensitive to one. I think the key is to dry out the rash and seal it with Desitin every diaper change for the next few weeks. And make your diaper changes very very frequent. When Lucy's was really bad, I was changing her diaper about every 2 hours--even through the night. And that was doing all the cleaning, drying, and sealing steps EVERY time. Thankfully, all 3 girls grew out of this by about 3 months. Also, try using a diaper that’s slightly too big for baby to give some air circulation. Do this until sores dry up and are no longer bright red and seeping. Also check to see if the baby has thrush (white sores in mouth). Baby may also have a low fever from the rash or being sick could case them to have a rash. When baby has diarrhea for any reason, keep bottom very clean and dry or the rash will start. Unfortunately, sometimes they will just get it no matter what you do!

Crazy Finds!!

Okay, so I'm a little coupon/deal finding obsessed right now. I just found out that Old Navy HIDES coupons on their weekly sales ads!?! You have to click around and find them by moving things or clicking things in the right order. They actually had $75 off $100 purchase coupons that were gone really quickly. I can't wait until they reset the coupons next Thursday night, or in the wee hours of Friday mornings, so I can try to find one of the really good ones!!

Also, Restaurant.com has deals all the time where you can get gift certificates for restaurants at ridiculously low prices. Last week you could get a $25 gift certificate for $1.00!! Seriously! These are more like coupons than gift certificates, because there are restrictions on them. For example, we got one to Shalimar Indian restaurant, and you have to spend $35 or more to use it. But it is easy to do that there! So basically we were out $11 plus tip. ($1 for the gift certificate, $10 for the rest of the bill, and tipped on the original total BEFORE the gift certificate). So far we haven't had any problems using them anywhere. But read the restrictions carefully. Some exclude weekends. Most exclude alcoholic drinks. If you go on there and register you will get emails with the discount codes to use at checkout. This week the code is "ENJOY". When you use this you will get 60% off, or a $25 certificate for $4. Still not bad!

Lastly, FREE CHOCOLATE!!! Go to https://secure.realchocolate.com/Register.aspx and register to get a free chocolate coupon in the mail. I think they have been doing this every Friday morning starting at 9 am. Who doesn't need free chocolate??? Well...I don't. But I still want it!!

4X6 dinners with a side of coupons

First of all, I do NOT profess to be an expert at this! I'm just posting what has been working for me the past few months. And each month I make adjustments and get a little better. The topic is menu planning and grocery shopping. The goal is to be organized and to save money!

Confession: I used to go to the grocery store and say, "Well, we use chicken breasts, ground sirloin, lunchmeat, milk, and bread every week. I'll get those. Do we have lasagna noodles? I better get some. Oh, what goes in lasagna? Does that have carrots? I know I put carrots in something. I better get some carrots. Oh...that's all the way on the other side of the store in produce. Crud. Oh...avocados! I love avocados! I'll just get a couple since they're so expensive. I'm sure I will use them for something. Oooo. Fresh peaches..."

You get the idea. If I did have a clue about what I wanted to make for the week, I'd forget half of the ingredients and have to go back or make something else. And then I'd get home and think, "Now WHY did I get avocados? What was I making?" And I seriously had 4 boxes of lasagna noodles in my pantry. Every night I'd struggle and we'd have whatever I could make with the hodgepodge mess of groceries I brought home. I would drag the kids to Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market a couple of times a week and spend around $600 a month! I never went anywhere else because I thought Kroger, for example, was way more expensive. Which, if you shop like I used to, it is. BUT, I have seen the light!

Step 1: Menu Planning

The first thing I did was figure out what meals we eat all the time. Tacos, jambalaya, hamburgers, grilled chicken, BLTs, etc. These meals vary with the season. So I got some 4X6 index cards and wrote the meal on each one. This includes the recipe and every side item or add-in options. Some of these are incredibly simple. I have one card that says, "Hamburgers." I know I don't need a recipe for hamburgers, but I do need a reminder of everything that goes into the "hamburger" meal. I even put a "Thaw Meat!" reminder on there, because that has gotten me into trouble several nights. (My goal is to someday have different colored cards for dinner, desserts, side dishes, etc.) When it comes time to make the meal I don't have to go searching through my cookbooks and figure out where I got the recipe. I have all these little cards in a container, and when it is time to do menu planning I spread the cards out on the table and figure out our dinners for the next two weeks. (There will be repeats, and sometimes leftovers, but these people I live with are not big into leftovers, so I try not to do that often for dinner, and instead eat the leftovers for my lunch the next day.) Then I sit down and write out my grocery list, which I have separated according to which grocery store I am going. But it is most often: Produce, Dairy, Meat, Frozen, Shelf, and non-food items. Sometimes I have a "papers" section for toilet paper, paper towels, plates, etc. I go through these cards and look to see what I already have in the pantry and refrigerator. Then I make out my list of EVERY ingredient I need for every meal for the next 2 weeks. I know I'll have to return for some of the fresh produce and for milk and bread, but that should be it! Basically, I go through the cards after the first week and see what's missing.

Doing this planning ahead was a huge help! I just pull the cards that I will be using for the next 2 weeks and then go through them each morning to decide what we will be having that night. And I make a final check to make sure that I'm not missing an ingredient. I try to plan the meals with the perishable produce first. Oh, by the way, one card says "Frozen Pizza." It is used every cycle!! Also, I just started making cards that list our favorite lunches and snacks. I have one that says "lunch" and one for "snacks."

Step 2: Finding deals and coupons

I saved $100 the first month from planning. I was still going to Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Then I kept reading these posts from some of my friends back home about getting $200 worth of groceries for $65, etc., and asked what the heck they were doing, and was it legal?? They referred me to the new world of printable and electronic coupons. These are the links to some very valuable sites that guide you through this world: moneysavingmom.com, southernsavers.com, mrspennypincher.blogspot.com. Moneysavingmom is more of a "deals" site where you can get freebies and discounts. The other two are more for grocery shopping and teaching you how to do it. I'm BARELY going to touch on it, becuase I'm still learning myself, and there's no way I could do any better. Southernsavers is Nashville area, but a lot of the deals are applicable here also. She has really good tutorials on her site. The Mrs. Pennypincher one is a lady here in Louisville, so her deals are local. You will learn how to check all the store websites for their sales ads, and basically only buy what is on sale. You will plan your meals around what meat is on sale, unless you already have some in the freezer. You will begin to stockpile items like cereal and canned foods when they are on sale. I got several boxes of cereal for free the last time I went to Kroger! I had $20 worth of printed paper coupons and several loaded on my Kroger card. You can learn to load your store cards with coupons from these same sites. Basically, it just automatically comes off when you purchase the item. So, let's say you have a paper "manufacturer's" coupon for a brownies mix. Kroger will double these coupons up to .50. You can "stack" another type of coupon on top of that. There's a Betty Crocker brownie mix that costs $1.99 on sale. You have a coupon loaded on your card for .50 off the Betty Crocker brownie mix. You also have a paper coupon for the same mix. When you get your receipt, you will see that you ended up paying only .49 for it!

This takes a LOT of planning. I spent a couple hours the other night making out my grocery list according to my cards AND the store specials AND my list of coupons. However, I'm told you get faster, and those web sites basically talk you through how to do it every week and give you a grocery list. A word of caution though: Don't buy items--especially if they're not on sale--just because you have coupons for them. You'll end up spending way too much. We have to remember the point of coupons is to get you to buy things you normally would not because they are more expensive, unhealthy, or you can live without them. I don't need Viva papertowels when I can buy the off brand for $1 less, even with the coupon. Don't let them outsmart you!! The really good deals are the ones where you either have stacked coupons and/or the item was already on sale to begin with. And again, these deals are listed by the wonderful ladies on those sites.

I hope some of this makes sense! It's very confusing at first, and I haven't even started the whole Walgreens, CVS bucks programs. But it is all worth it! I spent around $200 less on groceries last month, or about $300 total! I'm sure that I'll keep tweaking my plan every month, but I wanted to share where I started. Now GO!

BLAH-g

I have typed the first sentence of this first blog about 20 times now. I have yet to come up with anything that makes me sound more interesting, clever, witty, or insightful than Britney Spears' blog might be.

I guess this started because I noticed I would put way too much of myself out there on my FaceBook status. It occurred to me that there were probably many of my old high school friends starting to "hide" me on their pages. Thus, the BLAH-g. Anyone who wants to read the ramblings of a thirty-something mom of three young girls can, and I can spare the rest.

First, "Lavender Lollipops" comes from a Dick Van Dyke Show episode called, "I'm No Henry Walden." Rob is invited to this party full of snooty writers, and begins to feel like he was invited by mistake when everyone thinks he is the author of a book he's never heard of. Finally, he realizes that it is a fundraiser, as the authors one by one begin to stand and donate the royalties of their oddly titled books to the charity. My favorite title was "Lavender Lollipops," a book of poetry. And there you go.

I am a bit obsessed at the moment with the household of the 1950's, early 1960's. I love the shows of that era. I love the way they dressed. I love the home-cooked meals at the dinner table. I even love how they walk around and vacuum in their aprons and heels. But I believe the reason I love this era is the family values that it represents. This was, in my opinion, the best time in history to be a kid. It was right as technology was freeing people up to do less manual labor, but before technology replaced all our free time. Kids played outside and got dirty and wore the knees out of their jeans. How many kids do you know wear the knees out of their jeans anymore? Television shows portrayed parents knowing best, and kids respecting them. Now television is the kids trying to put up with their clueless, dumb parents (usually the brainless dad) with their only goal of doing what they want, when they want, without either being caught or embarrassed by a dumb parent. THIS is why we don't have Disney or Nickelodeon anymore. I don't want our girls to think this model is God's model for a family. Kids run the house, and the parents are just in the way.

Since we got the Netflix Roku Box, I can't even stand to watch regular television anymore. (Other than The Office and House). About the only time I really watch any TV at all is when I am feeding Lucy during the day. I always pick The Dick Van Dyke Show, or get the girls and watch Leave It To Beaver. If they had the Andy Griffith Show, we'd watch those every day also! My favorite book and movie--To Kill a Mockingbird, set in the same era. I just love how the kids play and interact with their dad and their neighbors. Makes me long for that!!

I sound like a grumpy old lady. The older our girls get, the more I want to teach them family values and the importance of a pure heart. It's easy to find myself at the end of the day feeling like a martyr. A sacrificial stay-at-home mom who homeschools, breastfeeds, uses cloth diapers, makes my own baby food and learning to sew their clothes. PLUS doing meal planning, bargain hunting, coupon clipping, cooking dinner every night, and being a companion and encourager to my husband. And then I think, if this is where I find my identity, then I am in big trouble. Some of this is honoring my family, some of it is because I enjoy it, and some of it I do because I like to sound like I'm more "together" than I really am. NO mom has it together all the time. I feel like I am beginning to get a little more organized and competent, but it is a slow, painful process. And for this reason, I wanted the blog. I want to put down what I have learned, including the mistakes I have made, and be able to see how I grow in the process. I wanted a place to post my cloth diapering, baby food making, bargain hunting, bow-making, etc., and maybe save a step for someone else trying to learn it the hard way. And I wanted a place to put down the daily adventures and quotes the come from these three little girls before I forget them at the end of every day!