“Extreme Couponing….”

Well, I wouldn’t really call myself an extreme coupon person, just maybe an extreme coupon user! lol Even Sara has learned that some trips to the store, there are no “getting candy” unless I have a coupon! The girls say they feel like we have more things in the house to eat now then we did before!

So, let’s start from the beginning.

Back in April Kory and I were watching TLC’s Extreme Couponing. Kory was hooked! He was like why can’t you do that? I have to say I had never really used coupons. We talked about it and I started looking into what I needed to do. So, I started collecting coupons back in April and started reading lot of blogs about other men/women saving lot of money on groceries.

NOW NO, I HAVEN”T BEEN ABLE TO DROP OUR GROCERY BILL DOWN TO 50 OR 100 DOLLARS A MONTH! We are a family of 5.

We use Quicken to take care of our budget and spending. So, I created a report looking at what we spend on groceries per month from January to April. Well, let’s just say all those “pick just a few things up” start to add up! I have been budgeting or saying we were spending “X” dollars every two weeks. When the report printed I was SHOCKED! It was A LOT more!! A LOT!! Like over double what I really thought we were spending!  So, I really wanted to do this after seeing that.

I started slow. I was allowed to now shop at Publix or other stores that doubled coupons. In April I dropped our grocery bill down by maybe 10-20%.  Just really by watching what I spent and a few coupon deals I found.

There are a ton of blogs that post “ad match ups”. They do all the work for you. It tells you what’s on sale that week, and what coupons are out there to use to get the best deal. You really have to learn not to be “brand” specific. (except Kory will not eat anything other then Sweet baby ray’s bar b que sauce, and if you know Kory he eats it on EVERYTHING. But I have learned I can get it for a good price and when I do, I stock up!)

 

(Got these for .76 cent each)

Anyway, in May I had another mouth to feed (exchange student) so that makes 6 of us, and I dropped our bill by 30 to 40%. Plus I added the “Drug store game”. And I showed my sister’s what I had saved and then started couponing. So, now we share stories and coupons and help each other with deals each week! 

In June I stayed about 45% off our bill.

And so far in July, I have saved about 80%. Well, let me say this, we were all not home for 10 days and the girls were not h9me for 19 days this  month. So, I’m sure that’s it, not that I have become that good at couponing and planning meals around what’s on sale.

WITH ALL THAT SAID, IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!!

These are just some of the deals I’ve gotten since April:

 

This was one of my first trips. I didn’t write down the prices for this stuff.

This was a few weeks ago. OOP (out of pocket) was 22.53 a 63% savings. Got the ALL for 1.99 each, chef boyardee .41 cents each, bran flakes were the penny item that day.

This was just this past Wednesday, OOP 11.11 a 73%savings. I got those two things of kitty litter for 2.00 each!

This is things I’ve gotten at CVS. CVS has extra care bucks, they are just like money. You buy something and get so many ECB back. What I do is just use those bucks to buy the next weeks deals. So, my money is just rolling over each week.

Got these for .26 cents each!

SO LIKE I SAID, IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!

Way over due…

I can not believe March was the last time I blog. Wow, where has the time gone?

Big events since March:

April 27th-Bojana (exchange student) came to live with us and changed our lives forever!

Not long after she got here that day, we started having Tornado Warnings in the area. Of course Kory was a work, so we headed over to a friends house to wait it out in their basement.

(Sara, Fillip (friends exchange student) and Emma)

May- We decided to host an exchange student for the an entire school year (10 months), School ended,

Went to the beach,

My littlest learned to ride a bike with no training wheels,

And had her “fifth” birthday!

Went to the beach again,

And in June, Bojana went back to Montenegro!

July-we went back to Texas to visit family for vacation.

Kory went fishing what seemed like everyday!

Kory went “skeet shooting”

And got to visit with a lot of family!

Now we are getting in the routine to go back to school.

We will host a student for a “language camp” for one week starting Aug. 6th. Then Aug. 17th, Kristina (our exchange student) will be here. I’ll try to be better about updating then I have been!

My craft room makeover will have to be interrupted to pay for cracking the windshield trying to fit a new desk top into my car, cost of lesson--$395.00!! Ouch!!

Yesterday was a DAY! I couldn’t get anything right!

We bought Alyssa’s car on Feb. 5th and they told us it would be about two weeks for them to get us the title and other paper work. They put a 30 day expiration on her temporary tag. On Wednesday, Feb  23rd I still hadn’t received anything, so I called them. They said we’ll get them to you. Something about the title going to the old owner not us, I didn’t understand. They said, don’t worry we will have it to you before next Friday. I waited till Wednesday, March 2nd and still nothing. I called again and she said they would over night it to us. We finally received it Tuesday, March 8th with a note saying they would pay for any late fees. I’m thinking “and any tickets are anything else we get for having expired tags” Thankfully when Alyssa washed her car at the car wash, the drive thru kind, the date came off of the tag. lol

In the mean time I had started making over my craft room. Between flu and soccer games it was a slow process.

Before

We had finished painting and putting up all the shelves except the one I wanted to put over my desk. I wanted to put my desk up first. Well, yesterday we, well I, was ready for the desk to be put in.

So, the day started off going to the DMV to get Alyssa’s car registered and plates, all that good stuff. It was pouring rain. We drove over to the closest DMV about 25 mins or so away but with the weather it was more like 30 mins today. We get there no one is there. YAY us! The first lady says, “Can I help you?” We walk up and tell her why we are there and what we needed.  She says “You have the car with you?” I said, “no, sorry Didn’t know I need to have it here.” She says, real matter of fact, “Did you call ahead and ask?”

I have yet to figure out WHY people at the Alabama DMV have to be SO rude! Or at least the ones I have come in contact with! Anyway!

I said, “yes I did and all said I needed was a bill of sale and title.”    She says, “oh, sorry”. Then when she is looking at all the paper work she seeing that there is numbers in a line on the tile that shouldn’t been written on and says, “AND you need an affidavit of correct because of these numbers that make no sense to me why these are here.” We are like, “ok, is there anything else we will need?” “No, that looks like it.” Then we ask if she could give us a estimate of the cost, she says, “I guess”. 

We come back home call the dealership that is about 4 hours away in GA by the way and tell them what we need and that there is a $15.00 late fee after 20 days. She tell us she will send us a check for that and the affidavit. She said the numbers are good there in GA because of the other form we have, but each state is different and keeps saying I’m so sorry. (update: I just got the affidavit and check over nighted to us from the dealership. YAY!) 

After getting off the phone, it is still raining. I go out to the garage and measure the car with the seats laying down and see that a 10 foot counter top will fit in the crossover. Kory is like you sure, I’m like yes! He was like we could just wait till it stops raining and go in the truck. I was like it will fit.

I am SO my mother’s daughter! When I’m ready for something, I’m ready for something NOW!

So, we head out to Lowe’s to get the counter top. I had it all picked out, knew what I wanted, had the gift card in hand! (thanks, Dad and MJ for my Christmas present) We get it out to the car and start trying to put it in the car. It got really close…. and I guess I pushed the back end forward a little too hard, cause I hear Kory saying “stop, stop!” I look up and see that he is not happen about something and touching the inside of the front windshield. Yes, we had cracked the front windshield! And I’m not talking a little either.

It has now even started growing!

We took it back into Lowe’s and they said we could come back and get it later. So, after it stopped raining, and only a couple of hours later, we went back in Kory’s truck. Cost of Lesson—$395.00 It would be only half of that IF my car didn’t have a rain sensor, and it’s only  4 months old.

ALL that to say that it wasn’t my day yesterday and I learned a big lesson! Patience!

SO here is my NEW craft room!! I’m SO excited!!

I want a shelf, and some task lighting above my desk, but like I said that will have to wait till I pay for the windshield.

I still want to put some vinyl on the walls to style it up, but that too will come with time!

I have some catching up to do, don't I?
This has been the worst winter for us. We all have been sick a number of times this year. It started before christmas and we had about two good weeks at christmas and the week after, then it hit us again. This time it hit ALL 5 of us! We have had the FLU, even Kory who was the only one to get a flu shot!

In the works is.... MY CRAFT ROOM MAKEOVER!

Well, not really a makeover, I really haven't done anything with it since we moved in back in July! BUT that is changing...
The first part of the last flu weeks, I thought of paint colors I wanted and while taking care of a sick child, I decided to start painting. It took a few days. On Kory's days off he started helping and we got it finished. Then I got sick and nothing more then thoughts have been done.
So it's a work in progress...

November, the end of Cheerleading and the beginning of Soccer.

Well, not Soccer games or practices, conditioning, but it’s still an every afternoon till 5 thing. ( Oh how I can’t wait till she drives, BUT oh Yes I can!)

We went to the Alabama Auto Show this last weekend and let her and Kory “dream” about cars. It was fun, until, I was getting into a BMW crossover car and hit my heading getting in. “Man, that hurt!” as I sat there I really could see “co-co birds” circling my head. Leave it to me… I had a knot on my head, a TERRIABLE head ache and was sick to my stomach the rest of the day and the next. I can laugh about it now! I must have looked like a fool!

I have some pictures of Kory and Alyssa in cars, but they are on my phone and I can’t get them of there right now. But I’ll share. 

October…

October came and went, faster then ever!

  

A fashionista!

People say it all the time, you can have 3 girls or 3 kids and they are nothing alike! Well, that is so true in my house!

Meet Miss Fashionista!

 

She tells me she is going to be a “fashion model”/”cheerleader” when she gets big! 

Anytime she gets clothes we have to come home and have a “fashion show”. When my sister sent her some clothes in the mail, we had to have a “fashion show” and take pictures to send to her.

And every morning getting ready for school is fun too! Not! She wants to wear a skit or dress everyday to school! And she has her own opinion as to what is cute or not! 

I can’t imagine what life with her as a teenager will be like!

I do need to say I am very proud of her! She has changed so much in the last year! Many of you know we decided to hold her back in school because of her reading skills and I think it was the greatest thing. I was SO worried about it, and I prayed about it, shed some tears over it, but it really has been a great thing and school has just started! She has come out of her shell, and her confidence level is up. Plus in reading she has come up 3 points just since school started! I have no doubt that by the end of the year she will be right where she needs to be!

Sweet Sixteen

Then September came and someone turned Sixteen! I still can’t believe it! My sister’s came to help, good thing cause I don’t think I could have done it without them, well I know I couldn’t have!

Friday night, September 10th, Alyssa’s actual birthday, we all went out to eat at the cheesecake factory. We had to call around town finding a place that would actually sing to her. Yes, that is what she wanted! So, all of us went to the restaurant with balloons, presents and her in her “Sweet Sixteen” crown.

 

Saturday night was the party. I know Alyssa had fun! She was on cloud 9!

   

My big girl is 16 years old!

yes, she did change dresses, just like on “my super sweet sixteen”. She had asked about that before hand and I had said no way, we can’t afford two nice dresses for that night, we are not super sweet sixteen parents. Then we went to David’s bridal looking for a dress and their sale rack is the greatest! We got two dresses for the price of one! I love a good deal!

Birthdays, school and cheerleading

Yes, August and September are busy times for us! School starts, cheerleading starts and it birthday time at my house.

Sara’s second year to cheer. She LOVES it! I few of her friends aren’t cheering this year, so I asked her if she really wanted to do it again and she said, “YES?, (like crazy mom) I can make new friends!” I said, well your right Sara.

Then we had a birthday party for this sweet little “Diva”. I can’t believe she is 7 already!

Need to catch you up on Dinners!

Kory’s been on vacation so we have been busy around here!

Well, yes Kory and I had a wonderful dinner Wednesday night for our anniversary. Nine great years! We will have been together 11 years in January. It sure doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, I guess with all the moving we have done, time is flying by!

Sara and Alyssa, the first day of school.

My first grader!

My tenth grader! This is hard for me to believe, Where has the time gone? and Emma, my 4 year old. One more year at home with me.  This time next year, I will be crying about sending my youngest to Kindergarten! Oh my, where has the time gone??

Thursday night was the first day of school for Alyssa and Sara. So, I wanted something fun and easy for dinner, plus the girls got a special after school snack, since it was the first day of school. (Something my mom use to do for me, so the tradition lives on!)   I chose #17 Honey Nut Chicken Sticks. They were SO good! Everyone loved them! We had a few left over and Kory and I ate those for lunch yesterday, the Turkey Noodle Casserole leftovers are still in the refrigerator. Guess that’s telling me it wasn’t as good as I thought it was.  The chicken sticks  are really a good recipe, so I will share it. 

Friday night, I need something easy and fast. We had a lot of contractors in the house fixing different things. Yes, already in my brand new house. We have two hair line cracks in our tile in both the kitchen and master bathroom. They were able to fix the kitchen floor yesterday, laid new tile, but the master bathroom replacement tile didn’t match the tile that we had put in. So, that I guess we have to wait for another day when they can replace the entire floor. One of the gutters needed to be fixed, and the alarm system never has linked to the monitoring company. So, yesterday, the tile guys were there, the plumber (Sara and Emma’s bath had only cold water), the gutter guy and the alarm system guys were all here, all at the same time! It was crazy! They all finally left about 2:30, just in time to go get in Car line. That’s why I needed something easy yesterday. I had some ground meat, so we had Ranch Burgers. Easy, you put the ranch dry mix in your ground meat and make patties. I toped them off with bacon.

I won’t be cooking tonight, Kory is working, but he is off tomorrow, so I’ll start again then!

5 down and 360 more!