Coupon Clippers

I've never been much on clipping coupons. I thought of coupons as a ploy by the manufacturers to get me to buy something I wouldn't normally buy by taking a few cents off. I'm usually just as content buying the generic and saving money anyway. I have used a few coupons here and there and saved $1-$2 a trip unless I had a big diaper coupon. I thought that was about as good as it gets until I stumbled upon some professional coupon clippers. The blogging community has opened up a whole new world of money saving opportunities for me. These people know how coupons are done!! They not only save money each month, they make money! And the great thing is they print it all out for dummies (such as myself) to be able to take advantage of the same deals. It is a lot of work, but it's also been a lot of fun. You can save as much or as little as you like, depending on the effort you want to spend.

I actually tried out a couple of their deal ideas last night and I think I did pretty well. I probably would have done a bit better had I not had all four children around supper time after we went to the State Fair. Oh well, I have something to look forward to next time! Anyway, I got three full meals (for our family of 6!) and some snacks all for... I can't ruin the surprise yet. First I'll tell you what it should have cost.


*Before ad matching and coupons: $19.44















*After ad matching and coupons: (drum roll please!) $8.84

*I saved $10.66!! Woohoo!

Not bad for half a week's meals!!


The first blog I came to was from a blog I really enjoy called Biblical Womanhood. The writer of that blog, Crystal also writes one mostly pertaining to managing the finance side of your home. That blog is called Money Saving Mom. (Things have changed just a bit on those two blogs because she just recently found out that she was expecting and is feeling very sick and not as frugal. :)

A few more I stumbled across just recently are Keeping the Kingdom First, Deal Seeking Mom, and Mommies with Cents. These people are all HARD workers and huge savers!

Here's the way I saved so much at Wal-Mart.

And here's some ideas for Walgreen's. I bought the scrubbing bubbles option. I ended up buying 2 Action Scrubber Starter Kits and with sales and coupons spent $2.08 (before tax) and got a coupon for $2 to spend next time at Walgreens. So I basically got 2 scrubber kits for $.08. And they smell really good. :)

I can't wait to get to Target and try this great deal!

I just heard of another option from Brandy's blog called The Grocery Game. You have to pay for a membership there, and although I did sign up for the $1 trial month, I think I found better deals on the blogs above. It's going to be fun to try it out and see where I can save the most money! I would love to hear if you have any tips or successful trips!

Make a Smilebox postcard

I couldn't ask for any better Grandparents for our children than the ones God has blessed them with!! Thank you!

Kool-aid Cleaner?

Does this really work?? I found a crazy way to get rid of lime deposits in your dishwasher. If you're interested, go here and try it out. Please let me know your results!! I can't try it at the moment because our dishwasher quit!! I have a new one sitting in my kitchen...I'll tell that story later. :) Maybe if I would've tried this sooner I wouldn't be having this dishwasher dilemma!

Time For Tea

One of the first days of kindergarten, Aly invited her class and teachers over for a tea party. The teachers knew she hadn't checked with me, but the girls didn't. So I decided to let her have an official party with invitations and everything (after she was very clear that we don't invite people over without asking Mommy first). We had a good time. We made crowns, dressed up, decorated sugar cookie teapots, and then had a tea party! :) I was worn out when it was over, but we did have a good time. Aly was quite the hostess. When her big party was over, she made crowns for the rest of us. (She didn't make Caleb and Jake go through that, but her Daddy was a great king!) It was a good diversion from football.

Football Practice

Well, we survived the first week of practices. (I think the players did too!) One of the ways we did survive was by taking the players and coaches a cool treat. I'm glad there were enough!! Our kids had to sample them first.
Jodi picked a great day to organize the treat - it was about 97 degrees (104 heat index) and those poor boys looked like they were dying! Let's just say they were very appreciative of those icees!!
I think Anna may have had five! Her strategy was to walk around until she came to someone with one or more icees in their hand, look up and BEG!

The Top 10 Ways We Know Football Has Begun

10. I fix hot dogs and mac & cheese for supper multiple times in one week.

9. I find myself having a one-sided conversation and/or answering my own questions.

8. When I see my husband awake, he's surrounded by a bunch of sweaty college boys.

7. A "date" is eating at the college cafeteria.

6. Our yard becomes a forest.

5. My children cry themselves to sleep because they miss their daddy.

4. I catch people giving me the "Oh, that poor single Mom" look when I take the four kids out in public.

3. I feel like it's bedtime at 7:00 in the evening.

2. I watch so much football, I start to dream about it.

And the number one way that I know football has begun...

1. We stock up on candy, noise makers, and other goodies because we can't wait for the first game!!

GO WARRIORS!!!!!

Olympic Fever

We had so much fun watching the Olympics this year! I remember getting excited about watching them as a family when I was younger, but since we've been married, we haven't really ever stopped anything to watch the Olympics. This year, though, we watched almost every night. Chuck and I even stayed up past 10:00 several nights to watch the excitement!! :)One night we had an Olympic Night. We celebrated the Olympics by having a "Chinese" meal. I'm sure it was far from authentic, but we thought it was pretty tasty! I made a stir-fry, egg rolls, and a salad with chow mien noodles. We topped it off with some "won-ton sundaes." The only thing we were missing was the chopsticks! It made it even more exciting for the kids because they had been hearing about China from their Aunt Jodi and Uncle Brian who were in Beijing this summer. Caleb's soooo impressed that they went by the Bird's Nest and took a picture of the Water Cube!

Tonight as the closing ceremonies were going on, I felt sad that the Olympics were over. I even caught myself getting teary-eyed at one point. I watched with Caleb and Jake, and Caleb kept asking questions like "Why do the Olympics have to be over? Can't they last a few more days? Are we going to have them next year? I have to wait until I'm ELEVEN to watch the Olympics again???" And then as the U.S. Men's Volleyball finished up and the Chinese men at the ceremony began drumming drums with feathers on their heads, he asked incredulously, "Do they think people are going to like this stuff??" Enough of the show, he wanted more Michael Phelps!! Jake, however, was mesmerized!

What will we do now without the Olympics to watch? I guess maybe we'll get back to reading Little Pilgrim's Progress instead of staring at the TV every night!
I don't have to worry! Football starts tomorrow!! ;)