Summertime, summ, summ, summertime, Whoo whah...

Summer makes me happy :) except for the hot, hot, hot weather. But for the most part, I like summer.

This summer has been fast and furious. One of the unique experiences one has in the panhandle of Texas or in the midwest for the most part, is intense thunderstorms. We have been experiencing rain almost every evening for the past 5 days. It helps to cool things off and makes our farmers really happy.

You know you live in a farm community if the congregation is praying for rain!!!

But one of the downsides to thunderstorms and rain is the threat of more severe weather...

We experienced a real big storm last week. My DH and DS had to pull the mattresses into the hallway and clear everything out and we stayed there for about 1 hour while we waited for the storm to pass. There was a tornado on the ground a few miles east of town, but luckily did not stay down. But alas, my car sustained some severe damage, broken windshield, large (baseball size) hail, etc. It is now in the shop for a new roof, quarterpanels, paint, windshield and who knows what else.

We also are having our roof and the rest of the property reviewed this week, to see if we might need some roof repair/replacement, air conditioner check, etc. I am more worried about our air/heat system. It is a rooftop industrial strength Lennox unit and I would rather put in a homeowner's claim now for repair replacement than have something materialize in a few months.

But after it was all said and done, you know it is all only material things and they can be replaced or we can do without things. A threat of a tornado hitting your home makes you realize it really is all about your loved ones and their safety...so my DH and I are working to keep our minor damage and repair issues, just that.... minor...

VBS

So far, it has been a busy and full summer.

I was pleasantly surprised to end up being in charge of the arts and crafts room for our church's VBS session last week. My teenage DS was recruited as my #1 helper (token slave). Plus, I was fortunate to end up with three additional women who jumped in to help at the last minute.



My DS was gracious to decorate the room and also put in about 12 additional hours that week in the evenings, plus 4 each day.



My toddler son also had a blast and got to spend some quality time with his buddies from church.



We provided VBS for PreK-6th grade and had a different craft for each day for all age ranges. It was a hectic week, but worth all of the hours.



Check out some of the pictures...

DS in the orange striped shirt, cute as a button!!!

Part of our arts and craft room decorations in the background...

The massive group of kids participating in VBS 2008.

Just some extra fun for everyone on Friday.

Just For The Asking!!!

Several of the sites that give education on starting to coupon...recommend going to your local Fast Stop shopping site and asking them what they do with the Sunday papers that are not sold and see if you can get the coupons for free...

I honestly, thought that there is no way in my local town that I would ever be able to get any significant number of coupon inserts. Surely, someone has already arranged to secure the leftovers around here and I would be just one on a long list of people desiring to obtain some great freebies.

I went to buy my local Sunday paper yesterday afternoon and was thrilled with one coupon insert in particular. The Farmland coupons were inserted once again.

$2 off of ham, $2 off of bacon and $1 off of any item. I know from a couple of weeks ago, that the hams are available at Walmart for $2.88, the bacon for $2.50 and the sausage for 1.23, so I was about to jump up and down in the store, but there is no way I could afford to buy that many papers so I stepped up to talk with the clerk and asked what they do with their unsold Sunday papers?!?

They just throw them away and no one has ever asked for the coupons!!! I kindly asked if I might be able to pick them up and she said, no problem. I went back at 10:45pm, they close at 11pm and she had already taken them out and sat them aside with my name on them. I received 8 sets of coupon inserts just for the asking!!!

Now just where to find the space to freeze the items?!?

Oh to have such a dilemma!!!

A Mini Vacation

This afternoon, I will be busy getting our household together and organized for a mini vacation. My DH is going to go to a conference in Austin Tuesday to Friday and myself and two DS will be headed in a different direction to visit with my folks from Tuesday to Friday. Sometimes, it is just a good idea to spend some time away from your loved ones...

I am so looking forward to seeing my parents, it's been far too long...

Plus, I am going to get my coupon binder up to speed and ready for some action if needed. I hope to score about 100 cans of Muir Tomato sauce from going to several WalMarts in the area....wish me luck...

It's Contagious!!!

It's a funny thing how using coupons and researching how to do the best deal can be so contagious!!!

My DH (darling husband) really wanted some new clothes for work...he asked about 4 months ago to set some money aside in our budget for him to update some items in his work wardrobe. There was a pretty good sale at JCPenney this past week, so I set a flyer on his desk and told him to think about buying some items. There were some $15 off of $75 and $10 off of $50 coupons, plus if you spend $75 on Dockers, you could send in for a gift card for $50 off of future purchases. He looked over the flyer and Friday night asked me to review once again how he was suppose to work the purchases to make the best deals.

Saturday we went to be the big city and he took off to go shopping at Home Depot and then JCPenney. He did really good with his purchases. He bought 6 pairs of pants, 4 shirts and two ties for a little over $225, (he was told his total spending limit was $400). The salesclerk helped him with the coupons, so I think he did really well. He wanted me to review his ticket and the only glitch was that he didn't spend $75 in Dockers products only $60, so on the way out of town, he went to get an additional shirt in order for us to be able to submit for a $50 GC.

He wrapped things up and said that he was behind another man whose wife had sent him back to the store to buy more Dockers because he had not bought enough also to be able to get the GC. Funny how sometimes you have to spend more money to get more?!?

Well, a wonderful shopping day for my DH and he did a really good job with getting the most for his money!!!

What to do when there is no more room!?!

I have failed to mention, that our refrigerator/overhead freezer and our small chest freezer are busting at the seams. I haven't been able to buy and stock as many frozen foods/meat/milk as I would like, because I just don't have any room. This all seems to have just occurred over the past two months, since I started really working with couponing. I guess that is a dilemma that alot of folks would love to have?!?

I guess you could consider us to be bountifully blessed beyond measure:)

I am inspired beyond belief!!!

I spent way too much time on the computer last night... As I mentioned I didn't calculate the time that I would have to compete with my teenager for computer time. It has been so convenient to review my blogs, coupon education sites over the past two months after he left for school and before the littlest one woke up and then again during his afternoon nap time. So over the past couple of days I have lost about 3 hours of computer time a day. I stayed up well past 5 am and was back up at 7am getting my husbands breakfast and lunch ready. I am trying to steal a couple of more minutes while my littlest is playing peacefully in his bed.

I realized today that I can double my available coupons that I print from the internet. I have a laptop that I can attach to my printing cable and the coupon sites will recognize it as a different computer and allow additional printing of IP. Whoop, whoop!!! Don't know why this didn't occur to me any sooner?!?

I also just happened upon this amazing blog site. It is woman who has an annual budget of spending $800 total on groceries and personal items. Check it out... So far I have done a quick review but I am pumped. I can do that!!!

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

I had set a new monthly budget for June of spending $60 per week back at the end of May, but after reviewing things yesterday thought that it would be more realistic to achieve $80 per week :( But if this blog is correct and her annual budget for groceries/toiletries/eating out is $800 for a family of 4 then a weekly budget of $15.38 would work for me...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

I sat down and reviewed my budget goals and savings goals under our "Fearless Faith Plan" that my husband and I created in Nov of 2007 and with this latest educational info, I know I can...

I also was inspired two days ago to add in an additional goal of buying the share that my husband's friend has in his old Nova. That is about $2850. I knew that I was being directed to set this as a goal, but realistically couldn't see it happening, now I think all of our "Fearless Faith Goals" can be accomplished on or very near our original goals and also with this additional goal that was laid on my heart!!!

It truly is amazing what opportunities God will present to you when you seek to do his will... My husband and I have been overwhelmed with how much our money has been stretched since we decided to step out on faith for our finances.

I will have to post more about that later, littlest one is not tolerating his alone time anymore...

XBox 360

Whoo, hoo...Our DS (darling son) won an XBox 360 game system at his school. Apparently, they enter the students' name in a drawing if they passed their TAKS test and pull a winner's name out at the end of the year.

He was in a quandry, not sure that he wanted to keep the system because he loves his Wii. So far, I think he has decided to keep the system, we'll see.

Part-time Job/Work for Yourself

I just wanted to get a link out to those who might be interested, click this blog subject title to link. I have mentioned several times that my DH (darling husband) has said that he believes that my couponing (q'ing) is comparable to me having a part-time job, which contributes to our family's resources.

I found this wonderful blog site and article that seem to sum it all up for me....have a look see;)

Successful Weekend Shopping

I was able to get a little shopping done on Saturday in the big city of Amarillo. I was loaded to bear with my lists and my three inch zipper binder full of coupons. I was accompanied by my sister in law (SIL) Annie. First stop to Family Dollar, I have never really shopped in this store but Annie had several items to purchase. I spoke with the clerks and they called their store manager then the district manager and found out that they can accept internet coupons, whoo hoo!!! I didn't drag out my binder, but made mental note of several items/brands that they stock and will have to spend more time there next trip to town. I did find some clearance children's liquid tylenol clearanced from $5.97 to $1.50, so I wiped out their stock and picked up three to add to my medicine cabinet.

Next stop Walgreens, I was pumped. I had them scan the box of computer paper to see if their price was reduced as I had read on several blogs, yes...So I was able to pick up one box with four reams of paper for $7.95 and will send in the $5 rebate plus an additional 10% for a gift certificate card at Walgreens, so four reams of paper for $2.45, not too shabby...

I have decided that I will not be shopping at Walgreens anymore, the clerks and the manager stated that they do not accept internet coupons...my purchases were already rung up, so I will just keep my items and receipt, then hit up another Walgreens next time I shop and have the items returned and my account credited....

Next stop WalMart. I have never shopped with internet coupons (q) so I was a little nervous, but I did brave the store and entered in with my full binder. I did stop off at the customer service desk to make sure that they accepted internet coupons and after some calling, they said they did.

I was determined to buy items on my shopping list and use as many q as practicable. I stuck my free q on top and was able to score most items, except 2 so will have to continue my quest. All said and done, my initial shopping total for a total items of 57 was $139.88....but after coupons were deducted, the grand total amounted to a whopping $74.87!!!! I am way pumped.

46.5% off of grocery bill!!!!

It took a little time, I picked a young male checker and he thought it was kinda' fun with all of the coupons. He ended up having to call over a Customer Service manager to review everything, but they accepted all of the coupons. I probably had about 1/2 manufacturer q and 1/2 internet coupons. My best purchases were the Muir organic tomato sauce priced at $1.16 per can with $1 internet q, for a total of .16 per can and then I had $2 off q from Farmland and was able to find really nice sliced hams at $2.88 each so after q 88 cents each, then Farmland bacon at 2/$5 and I had $2 off q so they were 50cents each, plus 1 lb. Farmland sausage rolls priced at $1.23 with $1 off q so I got 4 rolls at 23 cents each. I am overloaded with bacon, sausage and ham, but couldn't be any happier. These are items that we need and the prices were wonderful!!!

The other thrilling thing is that I as able to go to Panhandle Salvage on the way into town and was able to buy about 8 packages of 8 oz cheddar cheese at $1.50 each and colby cheese and also found two boxes of powdered milk. I did pick some yogurt, yellow peppers, onions and potatoes, frozen broccoli, corn, etc. That store is getting more and more crowded, so you have to hit it when it opens or you lose out. I got there at 9:30am, they open at 9:00am, but had made a call to my SIL and she was there at 9:00am so was able to grab some of the hot items for me, until I could get there to finish my shopping.

So a wonderful shopping day for me...and the family. I did finally get some sense and we packed our large cooler and it was just the right size to hold things all day while we visited the family without having the items go bad before I could get them home to the fridge/freezer.

My SIL was thrilled and surprised that I was able to do so well with q, she asked if I had told my MIL Rosina? No, did she really want me to talk about my shopping and success at CVS w/q. She looked at my massive q binder and looked at me and had to say, no.....She doesn't have the time and wouldn't be able to get things organized.

They do very well with having Panhandle Salvage, near by, so their grocery savings are significant each month. I had to explain that David believes that my q time is really equivalent to having a part-time job, it takes alot of time and effort. Alot of people say it is easy, but I have not found that to be true. I spend alot of time clipping, comparing and researching and the hours add up to a chunk of time each week. Especially when you strive for $0 OOP or reductions of 90% on some of your shopping excursions.

But I am thrilled that I am able to see such significant savings in our budget over just 1 1/2 months of being into q'ing.