Coupon Obsession

So I have mentioned my coupon clipping skills before.  Today I shopped at Rite Aid and Walgreens to get my weekly deals.  At Rite Aid today I bought $52 worth of personal care items for only $10.37... 3 toothbrushes, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 2 men's manual razors, and some clearance Easter candy (couldn't resist!).  My trip to Walgreens got me roughly $24 worth for $6.  I purchased shampoo, conditioner, men's razor, and a pack of women's razors.  Tomorrow I will hit Meijer to get my groceries and hopefully save a good amount of money as well.

My coupon clipping (okay, obsession) is no easy task though.  I get the Sunday Muskegon Chronicle, then I buy a Grand Rapids Sunday paper at a gas station and sometimes an extra Chronicle. Then my grandma and my mom give me the coupon inserts from their papers as well.  Then I clip and organize them into the different categories based on aisles or general area of the stores. 

Yes, I usually do this while sitting on the couch watching tv with my laptop to my left.   Did I mention I'm an awesome multitasker?

From there I organize my coupons in a coupon binder.  The coupons are arranged based on aisles/areas as I mentioned, but also the sections are arranged by the order of the aisles in the store.  For instance, when I go to Meijer, I walk in the grocery door and start heading to the back starting at the baby aisles on the right first, then pet, then I hit groceries with the dairy/ready to bake, beverages, paper products, laundry, cleaning, and so on as I go to the front of the store ending with frozen and produce sections. So my binder reflects that from front to back of it.  Then the coupons are placed in baseball card type sheets to keep them all separated and organized so I can easily see the coupon offer, details of the offer (is it $1 off ONE or is it $1 off when I buy TWO items), and expiration date.  Identical coupons are all grouped together.

Now my coupon book is all organized and I am ready to hit the road and head to the store!  Wait! Not so fast... think it's that easy?  First I have to check out the sales and match the coupons with the sales to try to only buy things when they are on sale AND I have a coupon for them.  This is something I am still working on and am not able to follow thru 100% on this, but that is my goal.  I will admit, I cheat a bit.  I use Savings Angel which matches the weekly sales at the stores I shop to the coupons that are not only in the newspaper inserts but also various places on the internet where coupons can be found.  This saves me a ton of time and also ensures that I will not miss a good deal! In addition I check out blogs such as BargainsToBounty and Hip2Save to see if there's anything that Savings Angel missed.

After I create my shopping list through Savings Angel, I print off my list, gather my coupons I'm going to use on that trip, also take my binder with me to the store in case I spot a deal not in the ad or I come across something that I remembered I needed.  The worst is when I buy something at the store that I just KNOW I have a coupon for back at home.  Burns me! 

So, this my friends, is my coupon obsession.  Since I started using it I save my family 50-70% on our groceries.  It sometimes feels like a part time job, but it has big pay offs!  Once I get my stockpile up completed I will post a picture.  Until then, here is a picture of my oral care stockpile.  I got the majority of these for free and if not free, it was under 50 cents.



Osama Bin Laden is Dead! But Who Was Fired on Celebrity Apprentice?

First off, I want to acknowledge the fact that Osama Bin Laden has been killed!  Woohoo!!  This hopefully gives some much needed closure to the families of the victims of 9/11.  This is a victorious day!  I also hope this will make our country feel more united and boost some morale in this devastating economy and that we can send the troops back home.

So I watched the coverage, watched President Obama's speech, commented on threads on Facebook on the subject, and then it was time to find out who was fired on Celebrity Apprentice.  I found it quite humorous that the President interrupted Donald Trump's show.  I know this is merely a coincidence but had to chuckle a bit.

*Spoiler Alert* On to the interwebs I went to Google who was fired on Celebrity Apprentice and found that playmate, Hope Dworaczyk, was the latest Celebrity to be fired by Trump.  Thank You PopWatch What a snooze!  Although it was the right choice, it wasn't worth going on a Google hunt to find.  But here you go for anyone that was wondering! Maybe someday in the near future I will blog more about Trump.  I have quite a bit to say about him.

Don't Foster Children Deserve More?

I've been meaning to keep up on my blog more frequently but time and writer's block has been an issue.  I have been struggling with what I want to write about because sometimes it either seems too boring or too political.  I don't really want this blog to be either of those things.

However, I came across something today and though it is political I just couldn't help but to say something about it.  A plan suggested by State Sen Bruce Caswell would give foster parents an $80 gift card allowance to be used for clothing that are only redeemable at thrift stores such as Salvation Army or Goodwill.  To me, this is wrong on a number of levels. 

First of all, foster care has been something I have been passionate about since high school when I first became aware of what foster care really was.  Then in my first year of college I saw author Jennifer Toth of the book Orphans of the Living: Stories of America's Children in Foster Care  appeared on the Rosie O'Donnell show.  She spoke of how corrupt and damaging the foster care system is in the United States.  I purchased the book, and I admit, I stopped halfway through because it was just too depressing.  Many (of course not all) are foster parents for the money.  They are paid to care for the child, not paid to love them.  Many children actually end up in just as bad of homes or worse in the foster care system than what it would have been like to stay with their biological parents.  These children are dealing with feeling rejected/abandoned from their own parents and 40% of foster children either end up on welfare or prison themselves.  The children are obviously not getting what they need: whether it's enough love, attention, resources, and/or simple guidance.  Something needs to be done to fix this.

So the state is looking to save money and I realize budget cuts need to be made and not all of them are going to be pretty.  But Senator Caswell's plan to only allow children to receive their clothing from thrift stores, from the money the state provides, is only making the system even worse.  He admittedly doesn't even know how much money this would even save the state.  He justifies it by saying that his father shopped for him from Salvation Army and that his father once told him "once you're out of the store and you walk down the street, nobody knows where you bought your clothes."  Well my opinion is that his father must have been telling him that for a reason... and the reason, if I had to guess, is because Caswell was complaining to his dad about having to wear clothes from Salvation Army!  And, again if I had to guess, he was complaining because it made him feel like he was less than everyone else.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Salvation Army and Goodwill are bad places.  But to restrict them from shopping anywhere but thrift stores just isn't right.  Part of Caswell's point is that this way they can better ensure that the money a foster parent is given for the clothing allowance actually goes towards the child and not spent on the parent themselves.  I just don't think that punishing a child for the actions of their foster parent is right.  How about do a better job screening the parents?  Do more check ups to make sure the child has everything they need.  Why should foster children have less than any other child?  Why is the system further punishing the child.  If 40% of foster children eventually end up on the welfare system or in prison, we would save an enormous amount of tax payer money if we invested in these children when they are young so they are not soaking up tax payer money in their adult years.  Newsflash... children are only kids for 18 years, but they are adults for 40-60 years on average.  Caswell should consider that.  Potentially 40-60 years on welfare.

The cliche goes that children are our future, but it's the truth.  Invest in our children and it will save so much money in the future.  If these children become hard working, contributors to society, then they will be earning more money (pay more income tax), live in larger homes (pay more property tax), will stay out of prison (tax payers' money), and won't have the need for any government assistance.  Put the focus on that 40% decreasing to under 5% and then we will save money while keeping the children's dignity intact.

Kickboard USA Scooter Giveaway!

Kickboard USA is giving a scooter away a day until March 21st!   This is such a generous giveaway for the company to do.  These are high-end scooters ranging from about $130-$240.  You must re-enter the contest every day in order to be eligible for that day's giveaway.  Here is how to enter.  Go to their facebook page by clicking here and go to the tab that says "Scooter Giveaway".  Follow the directions there (Click the "share" button on that page, post to your wall, and then fill out the form that will appear after doing so) and then wait for the announcement to be made the next day to see if you are a winner!  It is that simple!!  You can also go to the Kickboard USA Website to check out all their products.  Good luck!!

Spoiler Alert - Biggest Loser Mystery Trainers

While watching the latest episode of Biggest Loser tonight, I became increasingly annoyed with the tease of the "Mystery Trainers" or the "Unknowns" as they refer to them as.  Based on the little information they have said of these trainers along with their silhouettes that have been shown, I can already tell you that myself and probably the majority of the general public do not know who these people are even if their identities were revealed anyway.  So why bother keeping it a secret?  The tease has said that the male trainer is a martial arts guru and the female trainer is a boxer.  Layla Ali is the only female boxer I know and judging from the voice overs and the silhouettes, I knew it wasn't her.  So I wanted the curiosity to be over since I knew I wasn't going to know the trainers anyway.  I googled it and came across this page:  Who Are The Mystery Trainers On The Biggest Loser

There, I found out that the male trainer is Brett Hoebel, a celebrity trainer and creator of RevAbs.  The female trainer is Cara Castronuova, a two time Golden Gloves champion.  Sure enough, I have no clue who these people are.  I realize that we did not know who Bob and Jillian were before the Biggest Loser and now they are household names, but they were never hyped in the way that these "mystery" trainers have been.  I am a huge fan of the show, but just think keeping the identity of the trainers a secret for what is looking like at least 4 episodes is just odd to me since nobody knows them anyway.  Okay, that's enough of my rant.

For more details of the second episode of this season, click on the above link.


Search Amazon.com for Biggest Loser

Coupon cutting queen and gym rat

Wow, so I just realized it has been since June that I have written last!  Where did the last 6 months go?  Seriously, I have no idea.  Oliver was born in September, so that explains what happened from Sept-now, but what about June-Sept?  It's all a blur!

Well one great thing that has happened since being off at work has been my new love for coupons and getting great deals!  I'm seriously becoming addicted.  Now that I have more time, or at least not tied to a desk at work 40 hours a week, I am able to devote some time to researching and cutting coupons.  Some of my favorite sites to help me research the deals are SavingsAngel.com, BargainstoBounty.com, and Hip2Save.com.  SavingsAngel is a membership based one that is $19.99/month but I have saved my family $70-100 each month by using it, so I figure it's worth it.  While the site still isn't quite as user friendly as I would like, it is still the most helpful and comprehensive site I have found.  I get a little frustrated with the blog format of the other two sites.  Basically all it is is telling me what is on sale at the stores I go to and what coupons I need to go with the sales and where to find the coupons.  It still takes considerable time and effort, but it is totally worth it.  Rite Aid is the best store for finding the best deals on HBC items.  I haven't paid over $1 for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, or deodorant since I started doing this and a lot of the time I can even get those items for free.  It's truly amazing!  Tonight I watched a show on TLC titled "Extreme Couponing."  It was really inspiring and I hope to be as good as these people someday.  They really stockpile the merchandise in their homes and that is something I would like to start doing as well.  Just need to get organized first.  First up I need a coupon binder and then I need some sort of shelving unit to go in either my garage or basement.  Garage is most convenient for stocking and retrieving, but basement would probably be the best for temperature control and keeping unwanted pests out.

In addition to coupon clipping, I have started going to the gym.  Yes, seriously, the girl who hasn't excercised a week straight since Jr High School has joined a gym.  Not only have I joined a gym, but I have actually GONE to the gym everyday since!  (Okay, it's only been 4 days, but it's a start!)  I joined a 24/7 hour gym that my friends and I can go to after our husbands are home from work and the kids are in bed.  That's the theory at least... have to work on getting my daughter in bed at a more reasonable time.  I really like this gym because every time I have gone (the 4 whole times) there has never been more than five people there.  Since I'm not exactly skilled in the whole workout thing, I'm not comfortable exercising in front of other people - especially those who know what they're doing.  I'd say the majority of the people there are trying to lose weight or get into shape.  Not many people that I have seen are already in shape and trying to maintain it - those are the people that intimidate me.  So I'm feeling good about that.  I am motivated to keep with it and so far I'm actually having fun while doing it.  It is nice that I joined with 2 friends and one or both of them has been available to go with me each time.

Well that is it for now.  Sometimes hard to think of what to write in the blog when my facebook sums up each day in a line or two. 

Very productive day!

I haven't written in awhile because I haven't felt like I have been doing a great job at the whole "stay at home" thing and therefor I haven't been inspired to write.  However, today I feel good.  I got up at a decent time... still not as early as I should be, but at least I got out of the house while it was still morning!

At work I used to always have the phrase in my head "if you need something done in a hurry, give it to a busy person"  That phrase is so true.  It seems the more that is on your plate the more you can get done in a day.  It's the days where I don't have much to do that I find that I don't end up doing anything.

So today I spent the majority of the day applying for a loan and buying a car.  Lots of running around to do between banks and the woman who we are buying the van from.  Even with all of that running around I still managed to give the dog a walk, give Hope a bath, do some laundry, have dinner with parents, and go grocery shopping (not in that order).   I still didn't get enough cleaning done or make a meal at home, but I'd still say that's pretty darn good!

I am very excited about my new van and can't wait to drive it around town.  Still waiting to get the title transferred into my name after the previous owner gets a release of lien on the title.  It's the nicest thing I have ever driven!  This is the 6th vehicle that I have owned:  1st was a '89 Mazda 323, then a 92/94? Buick Century, then '97 Dodge Neon, then '94 Saturn SL, then '98 Olds Silhouette.  The Buick, Saturn, and Olds were all hand-me-downs from parents.  This is my first vehicle that was made in this century and the newest and nicest vehicle I have ever owned.  I am very happy!

Oh! I should mention what I got!  haha... silly baby brain.  It's a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT and it is customized and fully loaded with everything!!  It's beautiful! Dual DVD player, swivel & go second row seating, stow & go 3rd row, navigation system, game system hookup, moonroof, just gorgeous!