Adventures of a couponing newbie

Usual price at Safeway: $5.99
Sale: $3.99
My coupon: $3 off
Final price: 99 cents
I paid: 33 cents
...
not sure how that happened. But I'm okay with it.

That's definitely the most exciting thing that has happened in my couponing career. I'm a little discouraged about the whole thing, actually. I don't understand how you're supposed to have time to go to all these different stores to take advantage of their different deals. Yes, I got this fabric softener nearly free, but I overpaid for most of the other groceries I needed (staples that couldn't wait, that go bad quickly, that I get every week) compared with what I usually pay at Wal-Mart, because I didn't want/didn't have time to go to two different places (which are a good five miles away from each other).

Tips? Advice?

Couponing and food storage helps

Couponing seems to be getting more and more popular lately, even popping up as the premise for reality TV shows (though the word still gets a red underline on here, so apparently it's not part of the dictionary). I've been trying to figure out how the whole thing works, but only recently have I started putting some real effort into it. I haven't had a really great trip yet, where I saved way more than I spent or even got money back for an item, but I'll get there.

Anyway, I was pointed to a site that explains things pretty well, and I wanted to share it with you:

In particular, this woman, Charlene, has a page called Where to Begin that gives a quick run-down of how couponing works, with additional resources to learn more from. It has already answered a lot of my questions!

Another site that a friend recommended to me:

This one isn't quite as user-friendly, but I'm getting the hang of it. You pick the store you want to shop at, they tell you what's on sale that week, they rate each item by how good of a sale it is, and if there's a coupon for it, they'll either give you a link (if it's printable online) or tell you which newspaper circular you can get it from (which you're supposed to have saved and filed beforehand--Charlene talks about that on My Frugal Adventures).

I finally ordered a subscription to the Sunday paper, and not only did I get excited when I saw the coupons, I felt like a grown-up. The only time I usually see newspapers is when I visit my parents. Now if I could just get myself to read them...

While I'm reviewing things I like that have to do with food, I may as well mention this little book that my mom gave me for Christmas:


This is, of course, a book based on the belief that we Mormons hold that it's very wise to have at least three months of food and other essentials stored in your home in case of emergency--not only the possibility of natural disaster, but also job loss or other unexpected changes in income. There are many testimonials from LDS members that following the counsel of our prophets in this matter has proven to be a great blessing in their lives.

Anyway, the prospect of purchasing, organizing, and storing all that food can be really daunting, and I found this book to be very helpful in breaking it down and making it doable. Ever since I finished it (yeah, I actually finished it!) I've been quoting it to other women in my ward--since the how-to's of food storage seems to be another hot topic among us.

Lol. I know, we Mormons are a peculiar bunch. But in a good way, right? :)

One thing I don't get though, and that I haven't had anyone sufficiently answer, is how to incorporate fresh foods that aren't storable. At least, there's no immediate solution for us poor suckers who have no ground to put a garden in. Someday... But this book is definitely a great place to start, and I highly recommend it!

The authors also have a website with lots of recipes and the worksheets for making your lists and planning your grocery shopping, as well as tips and advice. I also recommend ProvidentLiving.org, a website my church constructed for learning to be more self-reliant, not just in food storage but in finances, education, health, etc.

Well, I'm not living very providently at the moment since it's now after midnight, but it feels nice to post something positive, useful, and about topics I've been very much occupied with lately. Buenas noches!

yay for craigslist scams

I've been looking on craigslist trying to find a house for us to rent, something with 3 bedrooms, and ideally, a garage and backyard. I haven't had much luck in our price range so far, but I saw one ad for a nice-looking 3-bdrm house for the same rent we're paying now. I emailed, then emailed again when they didn't write back, and got this response (twice, verbatim). I instantly felt very suspicious. (I'm sharing it more for entertainment than validation. I won't be getting involved with this house, because I trust my feelings.)

Thanks for your response and interest in my house.The house is very much available and it is charming 3 bedroom home for rent in AZ USA.Which was formally occupied by me and my family before we left for Nigeria for a doctoral duty under a missionary, we left for a volunteer mission together with other missionaries for a development program with the aim of developing the people of west Africa physically and spiritually as God as directed us. We wanted to sell the house initially but we later changed our mind after we discovered that we wouldn't be spending more then 5 years here in Africa.So as you know well that the house is located at [address] AZ. Which my family and I have spent so much time and money to maintain it up till its standard. We have been trying our best to make the house as clean as possible, because am a clean person and we don't like dirt around our surroundings and also the Bible says cleanliness is next to Godliness.We are looking for a well-behaved, clean and honest tenant to rent out our house too. We will like you to give us your words and promise us that you will take good care of our house so that we will be happy when we come to visit you in the future.. We accept short or long-term rent and month to month also... All the utilities are included in the rent.. Pets are allowed. So kindly get back to us with this information below.

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

Full Name__________________________________________________
Home Phone ( )________________________
Date of Birth_________________________________
Other Phone ( )___________________
Current Address_______________________ ________
Apt#________
City__________________
State______
Zip________
Reasons for Leaving____________________________
Rent $__________
Phone ( )____________________________
Are you married____________________________
How many people will be living in the house____________________________
Do you have a pet____________________________
Do you have a car____________________________
Occupation____________________________
Move In Date____________________________
When do you intended sending me the deposit___________________________
When do you intended receiving the keys and document of the house___________________________
When do you intend to drive by the Property___________________________
Any Good Credit___________________________
Credit Score___________________________
Any Police Problem___________________________

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words, you know that we do not see our self's yet and only putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. Looking forward to hear from you. you can give us a call on our cell

Best Regards


************************
Wow.

It's really rather insulting, don't you think, that they're even expecting someone to believe it?

I've had this happen before, this ridiculous "we're in Africa but you can wire us the money" bit. I wish it were easier to laugh it off, but it really makes me angry. Dishonesty has always really gotten to me. And it's already been kind of a crappy day, so when I saw a reply in my inbox and got my hopes up, this wasn't what I was hoping for...

Positive note: a friend from my ward reminded me today that my visiting teacher is a real estate agent and I know she'll totally help me out with legit MLS listings.

Single Awareness (a.k.a. Valentine's) Day Wreath

...two whole days before Valentine's. Ha. :) But at least I'll have it for next year, too.

(yes, it's totally hanging on a light switch for picture-taking purposes)

You like?
It makes me happy whenever I see it.

Supplies:
Wooden hearts, like 39 cents each
Acrylic paints, brushes, and clear spray sealer: on hand
Ribbon for flower: on hand (I bought it to use on the Church bag I fancied up and made a lining for, and I still have some left)
Heart ribbon: $2 (50% off at JoAnn--this is why I waited until so near to the holiday to finish this project! I was so happy to find ribbon that matched the conversation hearts I'd already painted!)
Wreath form: $3 (after JoAnn 40%-off coupon, but next time I'll check the dollar store)


Process:

• I painted the conversation hearts one evening. It was so nice, mixing colors, getting paint on my fingers, experimenting, and just having fun painting.
• I glued one end of the ribbon to the back of the wreath, and wrapped it around the whole thing until it was completely covered, then glued the other end down on the back.
• Glued the hearts on. This whole project was done with a hot glue gun.
  

It took me awhile to get the flower right. Here's what finally worked:

• Cut out a circle of cardboard about 3 inches in diameter from any old place you can. This was once part of a box of fiber bars.
• Start gluing your ribbon around the outside edge, bunching a bit as you go along.
  

Keep gluing, winding around in a spiral shape, until you've gotten to the middle of the circle and covered nearly all the cardboard.

(Hehe. You can see my iPod cord there. I was bopping along to some oldies.)

Leaving a bit extra, cut your ribbon, and glue the end of it right in the middle.
You now have a flower.

Mine turned out a bit big for my taste, so I trimmed off a bit of ribbon and cardboard to bring down the diameter a bit.

I love recycling where I can!

For a nicer finish, you could cut out a circle of felt the same size and glue it to the back. I just didn't really care at the time. You will also want to use a small dab of glue on the end of the ribbon here in the back, gluing it about halfway down on the ribbon it's next to, so you don't have a square edge poking out of the back of your flower.

Before I stuck it on the wreath, I cut a length of ribbon for the hanger, wrapped it around the top of the wreath, and glued both ends securely to the back. Then I cut a smaller length to put inside the first, chain-link-like, so that it will hang on a hook without twisting.

Then I glued on the flower, and here's the finished result:

A cheery, totally original Valentine's decoration that I love. Mission accomplished!

Lined Basket

You know how you (or your darling husband) come home and want to get into comfy clothes, and all the stuff in your pockets--receipts, credit cards, chapstick--needs to go somewhere, but you're too tired to figure out where it SHOULD go, and it gets dumped?

THIS...

is NOT what the top of our dresser used to look like.

No. It was MUCH WORSE.
*shudder*

There was a huge pile of my husband's receipts (once I got them all IN a pile, that is) that dated all the way back to July. But I have my dignity. I'm not showing a picture of the full-scale mini-disaster!

I decided something needed to be done. I've been really into organizing lately.

I was browsing at Dollar Tree, and found these babies:

My mind took off.

With a leetle spraypaint...

And a little lovely fabric (and awhile at the drawing board and sewing machine)...

I was able to make this!

It's hard to tell, but I included two credit-card sized pockets, one on each side, for Jason to put his tons-o-cards in so they stay more organized.

If you're interested, Ashley from Make It and Love It has a good tutorial on making square basket liners (of course! :)).

I'll be honest with you, folks. I started trying to "briefly" explain how I made this...and maybe it's because it's late, or because I didn't take pictures to illustrate, but it just seemed too complicated.

I'll tell you what. This really was not hard once I figured out how I was going to do it, and though it's not perfect, I've been really happy with the result. If any of you are actually interested in knowing, please holla and I will totally explain it. Shoot, I'll make another one and do a picture tutorial of it if someone actually asks me to, I'll be so happy! Plus, I'm thinking these could be good gift ideas. Who doesn't like a nice lined basket that didn't cost $25 at the store?

Here it is, junk-ified:

By the way, total cost of this project:

$2 for 2 baskets!

I already had the fabric and the spraypaint (which my wonderful friend GAVE me after she'd used just a little on a project)--so all I paid for was the baskets! (I did make two liners, I've just only shown the one here.)

And here is the wonderful "after" photo of the now-clean, calm dresser top:

Yay!

Or should I say, Ahhh...

Jamie's Birthday and New Stats

Well, our boy turned 2 a couple of weeks ago, and I have yet to share the pictures of the party. Shame on me! ;)

This was on his actual birthday, the day before the party, opening a present mailed from Grandma and Grandpa Yarwood. We saved the rest for Saturday.

Anna, her son Kellan, and our good friend Elisabeth, hanging out at the table (I know that's where I was most of the time!)

I'm proud to say that for decor and "supplies" (plates, cups) for the party, I spent about $10. Dollar store, baby! The kids had lots of fun with the punch balloons, regular balloons, and party blowers, and I got two "happy birthday" banners in one package, for $1. The food was a different story, because we really wanted to have a good get-together with our friends. We had lots of yummy snack foods.

Man, I really am not a good photographer. Especially when the lighting is so bad and there are seven children ages 4-and-a-half and under running around our tiny townhouse...

Jamie found his presents and started getting into them on his own, and I didn't want to tell him not to since they were his, so we called everyone over.
(By the way, I bought the shiny bag for a dollar, and wrapped everything else in clearanced Christmas paper that I'd gotten at JoAnn for 39 cents! And at least two of the presents the guests bought were in Christmas paper, too! I love it!)

Two candles!

The kids all LOVED this ball cage that Jamie was given. We had some extremely tired, cranky children by the end of this shindig!

And this is just cute. I bought this "harness" at CostCo for use when we're out in crowds, and Jamie loves it. He brings it to us periodically so we can put it on him.


This was a couple of weeks ago. Every once in awhile he gets going like this, which makes us laugh hard, which makes him laugh harder...it's a great cycle!

The new stats:
Weight: 24 pounds (yeah, still a little shrimpy--that's the 7.74th percentile)
Height: 34.75 (61st percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.75 (23rd percentile)

Words:

"Ba" - Ball.
He loves any and all of them.
"Pee-pee" and "poo-poo"
Can say, but doesn't do, at least not in the toilet since last week.
"Mee" - airplane
He points out every single one, even if we're inside and he just hears it flying over.
"Jur-jur" - church
We pass ours on our walk, I always point it out, and now he points out any LDS church we pass.
"Ew-ey"
"El-leh-leh-leh" - elephant
"Bo-bo" - Joey, at whose house Jamie often stays when Mama and Daddy go out.
(His wife thinks this is hilarious.)
"Ehh" (with tongue out) - Ali, his cousin
"Mee" - also Please
"Ba-ba" - Thank you
He's getting better at saying this at appropriate times without prompting.
"Banya" - bathroom
"Sher-jer" - shower
He LOVES to take showers and throws fits when it's time to get out.
"Bee-Bo" - Play Dough (he likes to play with it 5-6x/day)
"Bee-Bah" - SpongeBob
"Zzzzzzee-Ba" - Zebra
"Bye bye, Dada" - this will be illustrated with a video.
He can say each separately, but when you put them together, it's something like "baba duh ba dah bah." SO CUTE.



We're working with him, trying to get him to talk as much as possible, and he does try new sounds most days. I just can't remember everything. At his 2-year appointment, his PA said he was on track for where he is, so we're not worried. Jamie just has his own timetable.

{I'm so proud of myself for actually posting both videos!}

Charity

Found this wonderful quote on a friend's blog--it explains so well some specific things I'm trying to work on!

"We often equate charity with visiting the sick, taking casseroles to those in need, or sharing our excess with those less fortunate. But really, true charity is much, much more. Real charity is not something you give away; it is something you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again.... Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended.... Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."

Elder Marvin J. Ashton

Probably the weirdest dish I've made yet.

Blast. I was going to post pics of Jamie's birthday party, but I must have uploaded them on the other computer...oh well.

First, I need to put in a good word for my friend Sam. She opened an Etsy shop where she sells amazing creations like these:




Since I first met Sam in middle school, I've been amazed with her artistic ability and creativity. Are these not gorgeous? Apparently they're going fast, so let anyone who you think might be interested know about them, and support a stay-at-home-mom in making a little extra moolah! Her shop is called AudryAndUlric. Enjoy!


In other news, tonight for dinner, I made Italian Stuffed Shells, with--are you ready for this?--TOFU and YOGURT CHEESE!

You're probably going, what in the--?

You make yogurt cheese by draining plain yogurt overnight, using coffee filters and a strainer. It thickens up and resembles ricotta or cream cheese. I discovered this in 101 Things to Do With Yogurt, which I picked up for $4 a few months ago.

And yes, I bought tofu for the first time in my life, though I've eaten it in stir fry before. It wasn't even expensive! Hurrah!

So those, plus some cheese, shredded carrot, garlic, and green onion made the filling, and I used regular ol' jumbo pasta shells and Ragu spaghetti sauce.

And you know what?

It tasted GOOD!
I wasn't even expecting it to! I was so happy!

Lol. I'm not bothering to put this one on the recipe blog, though. I have a feeling people already think I'm weird/annoying with how I push wheat pasta, yogurt in place of sour cream, etc. I wouldn't even blame people for thinking I'm weird with Tofu and yogurt cheese, for Pete's sake. It IS kind of weird. But it worked!

I guess, since I don't have birthday party pictures (not like they're too exciting anyway--I don't believe in knocking yourself out decorating for a party for a two-year-old), these will have to do:

(Sigh. That nose of mine goes on for days, doesn't it? I nearly cut this one, but Jamie's too cute not to show it.)

For some reason, when I talk to Sam on the phone, Jamie always gets quiet and cuddles with me. It's the weirdest thing. Today he fell asleep next to me. It was precious...obviously. :)

Oh, and one more thing that may make some of the moms with young kids out there hate me (as it already has with others I've told it to): on Monday, Jamie peed in the toilet THREE TIMES, after telling me he wanted to!