October 2010
Sunday Shopping 10-31-10
Happy Halloween! Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a $20 Haddy Grace Designs gift certificate! Haddy Grace features the most adorable handmade girls dresses, onsies, & baby shoes, and the prices are ridiculously reasonable. Click here for details. Now, on to shopping…. I had to take a break from all our weekend festivities to do my Sunday drugstore shopping. I actually decided to skip CVS this week, as the deals there weren’t thrilling me yet again. I’m hoping next week they get their mojo back! But I had a great trip to Walgreens, and I have to give a shout-out to the great ... read more
Halloween Weekend
Don’t you wish Halloween was always on a Sunday? I don’t know how it is in your city, but there is so much fun stuff going on this weekend that it is almost hard to choose what to do. I had a fun morning yesterday painting faces at Princess’ class Halloween party. (Proving once again that my Klutz face painting book was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.) Shock of all shocks, she wanted to be a princess. How novel. She wasn’t the only one. So cute! Trouble decided to do a little face painting of her own while trying on one of Sissy’s old costumes. She climbed ... read more
Beginner’s Guide to Coupons (week 5)
Up to this point, our main focus has been on grocery store savings, and hopefully by now, with several weeks’ practice, you feel like you have a firm grasp on the process of making your list, gathering your coupons, and tackling the store. Your pantry stockpile is filling up nicely, and you’re not only starting to understand the process, you also understand the theory behind the process. (If you are new to my blog or new to couponing, I strongly recommend that you start with part one of my beginner’s guide to coupons before reading any further. It will all make a lot more sense that way!) It is now time to ... read more
Thursday Shopping 10-28-10 (& Shopping Link Up)
After a whole month of bare-minimum grocery shopping my once-plentiful stockpile was starting to look a little pathetic, and I realized it was time for a major shopping trip. While Trouble was napping this morning, I actually sat down (novel concept, I know!) and took plenty of time to gather and organize all my coupons before my trip. So I was really, really irritated with myself when I got to the store and realized I had forgotten to print my free avocado coupon. Again. Grrrrr. I wanted to strangle myself, but other than that one little mishap, the excursion was uneventful. And in honor of Halloween, the bakery was giving ... read more
Thanksgiving Recipes, Part 1
I had no idea there would be so much interest in my Thanksgiving menu. Over the next week or two I will try to post all of the recipes, but today I am starting with my top 3 favorites: Caramelized Onion Pull-Apart rolls, Twice-Baked sweet potatoes, and Roasted Parmesan Brussels Sprouts. I’m just going to start out by pointing out that none of these recipes could in any way be considered “healthy.” If you are looking for low-fat, low-carb, heart-smart cooking, keep looking. You won’t find that here. But please, I beg of you, don’t scrimp or substitute or try to “lighten” them up. They won’t be as good. They ... read more
Thanksgiving Inspiration
Halloween is only days away, which means Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I love Thanksgiving! I love to cook and I love to bake, but most of the time I just don’t have time to do it right. Thanksgiving is my excuse to go hog-wild and make everything from scratch, the way I would if I had unlimited hours in the day. I literally spend three days straight in my kitchen cooking up a storm. For most people, Thanksgiving is all about the Turkey. As a vegetarian, for me Thanksgiving is all about the side dishes. My husband takes care of the turkey and homemade gravy (both of which, ... read more
It’s Monday…
I spent all weekend painting our master bedroom. My third gallon of paint is almost gone and I’m still not done. Have I mentioned I hate painting? Because I spent all weekend focused on the paint and not my girls, they pretty much went wild pulling out everything in the house that was not nailed down (or secured behind childproof locks). On a positive note, they played really well together and had a ball. On the downside, my house is a complete disaster, which really stresses me out. I often end up feeling like the image I project of myself here on my blog is much better than the person ... read more
Sunday Shopping 10-24-10
I’ve been offline all weekend as I am desperately trying to finish repainting our master bedroom. (No small task with two little ones constantly underfoot–Trouble seems to be drawn like a magnet to wet paint!) With hours left of painting yet to complete, I almost skipped my Sunday shopping altogether, but then I ran out of paint. The CVS ad wasn’t thrilling me this week but Walgreens is right on the way to Home Depot. I figured I would just pop in for a few things. Here is what I got: At Walgreens I spent $9.97 for $85.39 worth of merchandise, a savings of 88%. Coupons Used: Transaction #1: (bought ... read more
Beginner’s Guide to Coupons (week 4)
By now you should be starting to feel pretty confident about your coupon skills. You’ve created a system for organizing your coupons, you’ve mastered the process of making your shopping list, and you are even getting good at filling your cart with sale items, and then making sure they ring up correctly. You’re starting to save a lot of money on your grocery bill, and you like it. You may even be surprised at how fun and addicting using coupons can be. (If you are new to my blog or new to couponing, I strongly recommend that you start with Part One of my Beginner’s Guide to Coupons before reading any ... read more
Thursday Shopping 10-21-10
I started out this morning a little frustrated because my papers didn’t include several of the coupons I was hoping to use. It didn’t help matters that I had sneaked Trouble’s special blankie into the wash, not realizing that she, being obsessed with the washer, would see it tumbling around and completely freak out. It was hard to concentrate over the hour-long scream fest that ensued, and I completely forgot to print another free avocado coupon while assembling my list. My grocery outing itself, however, was a joy. Trouble was in exceptionally good spirits, having made a full recovery from her earlier trauma, and we zipped through Publix without forgetting ... read more
Operation Christmas Child: Challenge and a Giveaway
I’ll admit it, I am a holiday addict. You give me a holiday, and I’ll give you an excuse to go overboard. Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween….I love them all. But the winter holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, those are my favorites. So it should come as no surprise that I’ve got a few things planned for the upcoming holiday season. The first is Operation Christmas Child. A couple of weeks ago SouthernSavers.com posted an announcement about an amazing non-profit organization that had never heard of before. Operation Christmas Child sends shoebox-sized gifts to needy children all over the world at Christmastime. When I read about it on Jenny’s ... read more
Halloween Decorating
I had the best of intentions for my Halloween decorations this year. The World Wide Web (does anyone even call it that anymore?) was teeming with adorable craft projects and ideas that I was just dying to try. In fact, you may remember this inspiration board I created for myself last month: (Photo credits: potterybarn.com, potterybarnkids.com, goodhousekeeping.com, marthastewartliving.com, freekidscrafts.org, twigandthistle.com, amyatlas.com) I’ve been collecting tin cans for a month to make those cute jack o’ lantern luminaries and even managed to buy most of the other necessary craft supplies needed to put it all together. But now there is less than 2 weeks left until Halloween, and I have to ... read more
Things I Love: Cute Dresses, My Girls, Photographs, and Haddy Grace Designs Giveaway!
I love my girls. When I was pregnant, I couldn’t even fathom the idea of having a boy. Even though we kept the baby’s gender a surprise, in 18 total months of pregnancy we never once came up with a boy name. So it never ceases to amaze me that although I was lucky enough to end up with two girls, these two girls of mine are as different as two kids could be. Princess, at 4 years old, is my girly-girl, my perfectionist, my rule-follower, my over-achiever. This is not because she is older. She has been exactly the same her whole life. Trouble, on the other hand, at ... read more
Sunday Shopping 10-17-10
Today’s drugstore shopping adventure was unexpectedly draining and a good reminder of why people get frustrated and fed up with couponing. That said, it was also extremely successful, and when all was said and done, frustrations aside, I still saved over $220 for about 5 hours of work (including making my lists, gathering coupons, and going to multiple stores.) For the math challenged, that is $44 an hour! Here is what I got: The evening started out very promising with one of my most successful trips ever to CVS–pretty much all I ended up paying for was the sales tax. I was especially happy that the Oral B Vitality toothbrushes ... read more
Beginner’s Guide to Coupons (week 3)
Last week you got your feet wet and [hopefully] discovered just how fun using coupons can be. This week you are going to dive in completely! (If you are new to my blog or brand new to coupons, I strongly suggest you read Part 1: How to Start before going any further.) After 3 weeks of collecting newspaper inserts and printing coupons, you should by now have a fairly decent stash. You still won’t be able to take advantage of every single great deal that comes along, but between inserts and printable coupons, you should be able to get most of them. (As a side note, it is important to know that no ... read more
