Coupon Favorites

I've had several people ask about my favorite coupon sites and how I coupon-shop. I am by no means a pro couponer but I AM a pro at frugal shopping/living so when I was introduced to the oh so wonderful coupon world it was love at first buy. So... without further ado,

HOW TO COUPON SHOP:
1. Get the coupons
               a. Sunday papers
                     i. General rule of thumb is 1 sunday paper for every 1 person in your household. Your local paper usually have a bargain for getting multiple sunday papers. You can also just buy them at gas stations and such but the coupons are not always guaranteed to be in there thanks to "coupon thieves" as I like to call them.
But when you are buying 5-6 + papers a week x 4 a month it's usually cheaper to get a subscription. Call your local paper for deals.
               b. Printables (found via grocery smarts and other sites like the ones listed above)
               c. Peelies- found on or inside the box

2. Organize coupons
             Idea 1
             Idea 2 
             Idea 3
             Idea 4
3. Combine coupons with sales and... SHOP! This is where Grocerysmarts and all those other lovely sites (i've listed my fav's below) comes in.

Here is a video explaining coupon shopping.
NOTE* when she talks about the "catalina" adds substitute "Albertsons". Our local Albertsons does the same thing.


So basically in a tiny nut-shell--- You save your coupons until that item goes on sale.. You check the sales from grocerysmarts and all those other lovely sites/blogs... then you make a shopping list BASED on those sales... take them to the grocery store, shop, and then hand the cashier a lovely stack of coupons and watch your total go from $$$ to  $. It's that easy!!! (not really, I spend hours planning but we save so much it really is like a PT job)

EXTRAS
   Coupon Lingo - What language are they speaking?!?! WYB, MIR, RR,....  and all those other tricky codes are deciphered here

Here are links to my favorite Coupon sites. I refer to these weekly/daily as THEY keep an eye on the sales so I don't have to!

 

 
And of course....    GROCERYSMARTS      which doesn't have a button. The PASSWORD to get in is g84rcm
This is my go-to site
 
Good luck and happy shopping!
Questions? Email me

Cleaning Kits

I made these cleaning kits for our kids a few months ago and boy have they worked wonders!!! Although chore time is never fun, these help. The kids LOVE getting out their cleaning kits to help with their chores.

Both girls cleaning kits are color coded. E's is Pink, H's is Purple. (Everything they have is color coded. it helps to organize and keeps them from fighting about who's is what)

**You can buy these at your local Walmart for like $5 (give or take)**

A LOOK INSIDE

               Toy watering can- for watering my plants
           Rag
           Latex Gloves- mostly for fun as our spray bottle is non-toxic
           Duster
           Spray Bottle- Filled with 1/2 water 1/2 Hydrogen Peroxide.
                               (BEST cleaner ever!!! and kid-safe!)
**a note on my spray bottle- Hydrogen Peroxide can be bought for under a $1 and is the best cleaner ever! It cleans glass with no smears (with distilled water), and kills germs just as effectively as all those other expensive cleaners. AND it takes me months to go through 1 full bottle of peroxide because you dilute it 1/2 and 1/2 with water in the spray bottle. I LOVE saving money!**

'Kid's Binders' for ALL those loose papers!

Monster Bag

Rain Gutter Book Shelves

My Message Wall

My Message wall explained:
The 4 small dry erase boards on the top are where I keep track of my personal goals (plus scriptures, or quotes that inspire me) and the progress and goals I have for my kids. I measure them in 5 areas:

Physical

Spiritual

Emotional

Social

Mental

Every week on Sunday I evaluate each kid in each area during my "Sunday Session" (I will explain that in detail in another post but for now know that it is basically my planning for the week ahead) So, for example right now on each of their boards it says the following:

Hud-

get on regular solid food feeding schedule

practice walking with mommy and daddy

Hanna-

Remember speech therapy!

work on morning prayers

Work on letters N&A and find ABC game online

Memorize 1st article of faith

Emma-

"asking" game all week! until she gets used to asking for permission again

work on morning prayers

Memorize 1st article of faith

I usually keep each item posted for several weeks adding and changing things as they learn and grow.

Keeping these goals posted where I can see them at all times keeps them fresh in my mind. Evaluating them weekly helps me to work on their personal progression on a whole-nother level that I otherwise would not have.

Next I have my calendar in the middle.

In the corner I write our VALUE, FHE THEME, JOY, & PROJECT of the month. This Month it is as follows:

VALUE- Peaceability

JOY- Joy of Trust & Confidence

FHE- Work & discipline

PROJECT- Monster Bag & Homeschool set-up

We have CD's, stories, and lessons that go with the themes and teach them during FHE and listen to them while we are driving. I also find tons of teaching experiences in day to day life focusing on our current themes. For example this month we have been working on peace in our home. We talk about peace at church. We were watching cartoons and one was about secrets so I brought up trust... etc. our FHE's have that theme divided into 4 weekly lessons.

I'll explain more about our monthly values/joys/FHE in another post. If you're hungry for more I got all these ideas from Linda & Richard Eyre's books. You can also visit their website for more. Their website gives you the FHE themes and broken down lessons for free once you sign up. You have to pay a one time lifetime membership fee of $50 to gain access to all their stuff but it was probably the best money I ever spent. WELL worth it!!!!)

Next I have the girls Aprons. I found that when my kids "dress up" to do something they are that much more into it and that much happier to do what they need. So I made them Aprons for cooking and cleaning.

At the bottom is our "Proud Pig". This is where we post anything and everything the kids are proud of. We use this instead of magnets/fridge because 1. we can't see our fridge in our galley kitchen and 2. the kids love the pig and it looks like it's hugging their work!

THERE YA HAVE IT!