Coupon Lesson #3

Well, since I got so many responses from the last post, I thought I would add one other thing...

Even if you think you can't save any money on food, you could certainly save money on toiletries! I have been corresponding with a fellow coupon woman from my church and she told me how she got 16 rolls of Bounty paper towels for $6.99. That works out to .49 cents for each roll! She used her coupons and got them when they were on sale of course. Another friend from church was able to get FREE batteries from shoprite, again following the weekly circulars and using her coupon. Yet another friend of mine was able to get 890 pampers diapers for the ridiculously low price of .07 cents each! I believe that is WAY cheaper than any store brand.

So it can be done. Yes, it does take some effort to figure out where the sales are but it is ridiculously easy with the invention of the Worldwide Web! Think how many resources for coupons and store information are at your fingertips and you don't have to even leave the comfort of your own home to find the deals!! Also, consider this, as a stay at home mom, we do a lot of things we never get paid for...laundry, cleaning, cooking, childcare and, last but not least...getting groceries for the family! A lot of people consider using coupons a job and if you think of all the money you are saving in the long run, it could be worth it.

Coupon Lesson #2

Wow, I have been having fun couponing lately! It is neat to read about all the deals out there. The icing on the cake is going to checkout and seeing your bill get lower and lower. This week, there is a deal at Target on diapers...buy 3 packs of huggies or pampers (jumbo size or larger) and get a $5 Target gift card! Well, Huggies and Pampers are on sale this week at Target, which means, now is the time to buy them! PLUS, Target had a $1.50 off huggies "store coupon" which you can stack with manufacturer huggies coupons! I had 3 manufacturer coupons for $1 off each pack so I shaved an add'l $2.50 off each pack of diapers! AND I got a $5 gift card! YES!!! I shaved almost $30 off my bill at Target this way. I also went to shoprite to stock up on Crest toothpaste (on sale plus I had coupons), coffee, cereal, etc. My bill before coupons and sales? $32.76. After all the coupons and sales? $12.36

There were also some good deals at Redners...one of them was buy 10 pillsbury items for $10 (of course, you don't have to buy 10 to get them for a dollar each). Now, I don't normally buy pillsbury items but we were hosting a dessert night at our house last night and I needed a number of desserts. So this was a good option since I also had coupons for pillsbury as well.

But I definitely learned a lesson this week though...watch the cashier like a hawk! The one I had at Redners yesterday tried to steal my catalina! Redners was running a deal on the pillsbury 10 for $10 plus I had coupons so I could get cinnamon rolls for FREE. Not to mention, if you bought 4 pillsbury products you got $2 off your next order (that's called a moneymaker folks)...so I went back yesterday and bought more, plus add'l groceries and used my coupons in addition to the $3 off coupon I got from Redner's the other day. While I was signing the keypad for my credit card, I saw the register print out my receipt and $2 off next order catalina. I saw the cashier (she probably thought I was distracted with signing my name) take my receipt and put the $2 off coupon on top of her register! Then she stood there with my receipt in hand, hoping I wouldn't notice that I was missing that high value FREE MONEY coupon! Well, I called her out on it, but acted like I didn't know she did it on purpose. She made up some lame excuse but I knew what she did. I left the store wondering how many people get scammed by cashiers b/c they don't know they can sometimes get more than just a receipt for their transactions if they buy promotional items. But it wasn't all bad... I walked out of there with $17 worth of groceries having paid only $1.87! And the $1.87 I paid is going to be reimbursed by the school b/c it was for our dessert night so I got groceries for free! Whahahaha!

Tom has been on my case for a while now, insisting that I need to have a hobby. I always thought singing was my hobby but this coupon thing may be my new one. It is so fun. Tonight I will be meeting with a friend of a friend to learn the "couponing" ways (HAHA!). This woman is a master...she has been doing coupons for a loooong time so I am excited to talk with her tonight and get some more tips and tricks.

The feeding experiment!

Yes, I know! It has been a while since I posted, but I really haven't had a lot to talk about! Things have been busy as usual, with Tom's job getting busy at this time of the year.

We are still having loads of fun with our little munchkin' though!

Here she is hugging Daddy!

AWWW! She loves her Daddy! He is such a wonderful Dad! He really L-O-V-E-S her!! It is so neat to see her face light up when he walks in the door from work.

I made a sweet potato puree this week and froze it in my ice cube trays. Then, this week I would just pop one out at a time and reheat it. I am thinking she is not quite ready for this though because she still has that tongue thrust reflex and just pushes the food out with her tongue.

She is such a happy baby...what a joy!

I think Dad is enjoying feeding her more than she is enjoying eating it!

The open mouth says it all...don't put anymore food in my mouth! This is weird!

She had sweet potato all over her face by the end!

Oh, and check out my FB account if you want to see the pics a little bigger!

Looking to save a buck??

Doesn't it seem like the price of groceries keeps going higher and higher? Take heart, there are simple little tricks you can use to keep your bill down every time you shop.

First, buy your fruits and veggies from a local produce place. I get all my produce this way and it saves us A LOT! For example, I got sweet potatoes this week for $.39 a lb., extra large eggs for $1.39, strawberries for $1.99lb, etc.

Second, and this takes a little legwork on your part but could really pay off big if you invest a little time into it each week, is USE COUPONS! You can get so many manufacturer coupons online now, it is easy to print them off and take them to the store of your choice to use. If you get the paper, that is an added bonus because there are a whole stack of coupons from inserts such as RedPlum and Smart Source.

Third, know your stores coupon policy. My nearby Acme and Shoprite DOUBLE manufacturer coupons for even more savings! That means, if the coupons value is, for example, $.50 off the price of the item, the store will double its value (most stores double the value of a manufacturer coupon under a dollar) so you would get $1 off the item! Note: Target doesn't double but they do accept one manufacturer coupon and one target coupon per item. Target also has their own store coupons online you can print.

Fourth, only buy items you have a coupon for and know are on sale and a good price for even more savings! Store sales usually have cycles. That means, on week 1, cheez-it crackers are full price, week 2 they are on sale and week 3 they are marked down even more. The key is to know the prices of the main items that you purchase on a regular basis so that you will be able to recognize when it is on sale for a good price. That is when you would purchase that item using your coupon for a rock bottom price!! "How did I just find out about this, you ask?" A friend at my MOPS group (Mothers of preschoolers) told me about it and I have been researching about it ever since.

Here are some interesting websites for your reading pleasure...these sites post weekly sales of grocery stores...just scroll down the list to find the store nearest you!

http://www.couponmom.com/grocery-deals-by-state-4

http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/

http://hip2save.com/

http://www.forthemommas.com/

http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/

Laughing

Laughing is good for you! This warms my heart every time I watch it. Hope you enjoy!

Four Christmas's

So it has been a while since I last posted...this is going to be a long one!!

Our Christmas celebration started off with a bang at the Sherf household. We went there on Christmas Eve and hung out with Tom's Dad, grandparents and family. It was so nice to see everyone since they hadn't gotten a chance to see Kira since Thanksgiving.

Part of the Sherf clan, minus the grandparents...
The next day was Christmas, and that was spent at Tom's Mom's house (Dehart's). Tom's Mom graciously let us sleep over so we wouldn't have to drive back to our house in PA. Sleeping over made Christmas morning much more relaxing...
Kira seemed more interested in chewing wrapping paper than the gifts she got. It was funny to watch her!
Kira in her christmas dress...
A shot from the upstairs B&B as I like to call it! Tom's Mom has it all decked out up there, with a plug-in fireplace, rocking chair, soft cozy beds and a full bathroom so it is always a little treat to stay over because it feels like a vacation.
We stayed over the Dehart house most of the day, then traveled over to the Maro house (grandparents on Tom's Mom's side) to open presents there.

Saturday was the Yoder shin-dig. I had been looking forward to this party too because Grandmom and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins that I only see on a once-a-year basis were going to be there. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, hanging out and catching up.

Grandmom made her famous grandmom cookies, which everyone munched on all day, and gave all the grandkids jars of her homemade jams. Of course, Tommy had to loudly announce that Grandmom gave us the most (not true!) since we were the favorites. What a troublemaker he is!!

I was a little leery of the car ride over to the Yoder's that day. The reason was because this was going to be the longest car ride we have taken with Kira to date (4 hours in the car, up and back). She did fine on the car ride over. But the car ride back, she really didn't want to be in her seat anymore and let us know for the last 45 min. of the car ride. We stopped twice on the way home to hold or nurse her but each time she went back in her seat, the crying started again. I was glad to get home that night!

Here is a shot of when she was still happy! :)

Our last Christmas party (Wallin side) didn't happen until New Year's day this year. Mom decided to do the party on New Year's day since everybody is always so busy during the Christmas holiday and it would be something for all of us to look forward to after Christmas. What a great idea that was! We had so much fun together!

That morning, Tom and I practically ran out the door as soon as Kira woke up (that particular morning she happened to wake up at 6AM) and drove to Mom's where he dropped me off so he could drive to LBI for a quick "dawn patrol" surf. He got back to Mom's around 11AM right when everyone had just about finished opening presents. We would have driven separately but my car is broken down at the moment so we are stuck with one car until the end of January.

After opening presents and scarfing down panzarotti's and salad for lunch (yum!!), we bundled up and went to Rancocas State Park where there is an Indian Reservation with Buffalo, birds and hiking trails. We went on a short hike (it needed to be short since we had 8 little pairs of legs that can't be expected to go for long distances!) and then went back home for dinner and dessert.

Tom and I left right after dinner so we could get Kira home to bed, but Mom gave me a couple of pieces of her amazing cherry pie, my all-time favorite, to eat at home.

Some video

Tom figured out how to get the video we have taken of Kira off his cell phone so here are a few of our favorites...

These two were taken just this week. She has just started to roll over!

This video was taken when she was just starting to "talk"

This last one is of her talking now...