Another Birthday Present

Since my sisters and I are celebrating all of our birthdays at the same time, I decided that since I was making Emily's present this year, I would make Hannah one too.

**Hannah, stop reading right now if you are! Spoiler alert!!**

Hannah is getting married in January and she is using peacock feathers as her inspiration for her colors. Emily and I found this beautiful fabric in her wedding colors at JoAnn's a few weeks ago and thought she would love a bag made out of it. So, I looked through my book of purse patterns and decided this one would be great for her.

It took no time for me to throw it together but the handles sure fought me! I need to find something better to use than plastic tubing (as the pattern calls for) to use because it is really hard to form just right. Plus, you can alsways see where the two ends meet and it bothers me!

Can't forget my signiture tag! ;)

{hand sewn french knots in the shape of a paisley}

I had enough fabric left over to make her a makeup bag to go with it!

I sure hope she likes it!

Sources

I've had a few people ask me where I go to get my coupons. First, the best place is your newspaper. If you find some good coupons in it, go back later in the week and get some more copies for even cheaper!

I also made a list of links on the left hand side of my blog to online printable coupons that I have found. Some are local but you can probably find something similar in your area... just google! My favorite link is Coupons.com and the coupons at Target. They seem to have the most useful ones for me. Most of these sites also have links to different kinds of coupons like groceries, retail, restaurants, etc.

If you know of any others, please share! Thanks! :)

Bluebonnets

I bet you thought by the title of this that I was going to be showing pictures of Avery in the Texas Bluebonnets... Nope! We missed out on that this year, unfortunately.

Actually, I am going to show you the painting I finally finished for my sister's birthday. She requested a "Jessica Gribnau original" for their new house that they are building, so I thought a Bluebonnet would be perfect.

**Emily, if you are reading this STOP NOW! Unless you want to ruin the surprise!**

I think it turned out pretty good. Of course, I only see all of the flaws when I look at it, but that comes with the territory, I guess. I hope you like it too!

*Just and FYI... the picture doesnt seem to show all of the detail or how bright the colors really are.

Coupon Excursion #1= success!

Avery and I made our trip to the grocery store to catch some deals that I mentioned earlier. All-in-all it was a success but there were a few bumps in the road that taught me a few lessons.

**Let me just pause here and say that I know it sounds like I have never grocery shopped before. That is obviously not the case! lol I also know that most of you probably could care less that I am couponing, but I am just super pumped and motivated to start some serious saving so why not share what I find just in case anyone out there wants to too??**

Lesson #1: Don't let your 15 month old chid get ahold of your coupon binder! Right as we got started shopping I was digging out the circular and she knocked my binder on the floor. It flew open and coupon sheets went EVERYWHERE! So, the remainder of my shopping trip there were coupons in a big pile, unorganized sitting under the cart. What a way to start; breaking #2 of my obstacles to overcome. oh well!

Lesson #2: Reorganize my binder. I had it all divided out but I needed to divide it even further. I have 5 dividers with 7 under each of those. This way I know exactly where to flip to when I know I have a coupon

Lesson #3: Pull out the coupons as I find the item. I actually figured this one out as I went. I first thought I would pull them out before I went in the store but if you can't find the item you want or need based on the coupon (or if there is a better deal by buying a generic brand) than you will want to hold onto that coupon

Taking advantage of so many sales the store had, plus using my membership card, and coupons, I was able to save over $70! I got enough meat to last us the whole month (if not more) and some other items that were on my list. I did really good at getting only the items I had listed and even decided that I really didnt need some of them when I got to shopping. I have also racked up 50 cents off per gallon of gasoline! Yay!! I signed up for the baby program so that for every $25 I spend on baby items I get another 5 cents off per gallon. I know it's just pennies, but it adds up fast! The same goes for coupons. If you are able to stack them on an item, just 25 cents off something can add up fast and get you some real savings.

One tip that I found out through researching coupons is that most grocery stores will match certain coupons every week which means even more savings!

I hope I haven't bored anyone! In fact, I hope I have only motivated a few. I just hope that I can keep it up! :)

Extreme Couponing

This show on TLC is my new guilty pleasure. I love it!

I really can't decide what I think of these people. On one hand, I admire them and want to be just like them; I love how organized and planned they are. While on the other hand, all they are are organized hoarders and shopaholics. lol

One thing I can say is that they have me super motivated! Jeff and I have been needing/wanting to do something about how much money we spend on groceries. It is so out of hand! There is NO reason we should be spending as much as we do on food/toiletries/etc for just 2 adults and one baby who hardly eats anything.

I HATE spending money on food. I always have. Its so annoying to see your money here one minute and gone another. I love good food but I tend to find the constant need to eat so annoying! I would much rather spend my money on fun stuff like crafting, sewing, gifts, home decor stuff, clothes, etc. Wouldn't you??!

We've tried the Sams Club route. That's nice for frozen items and meats that you can stock up on but I am not really sure how much it really works. I don't see much of a change in our expenses from being members.

I've got into couponing many times in the past but after about 2 days it fizzled out. This time I am getting serious! The show has given me some tips that should help out tremendously. By no means am I going to start a stock pile like these people do (at least not right now), but I can see already how you can save by buying in bulk. Who needs a million bags of cat food when you dont even have a cat (as one lady had on an episode)?!

I have a few guidelines that I am setting up for myself:

1. Do not buy something just because I have a coupon for it. It's still spending $ and the whole point of this is to save $.

2. If I don't need it right now, don't buy it! There might be a few exceptions to this one such as if the grocery store has a great sale on an item I always buy and I have a coupon for it, then I can buy ahead.

3. Avoid retail coupons for "fun stuff". If I already plan to buy something like a new outfit, gift, or item for the house, then I can save that coupon. This one goes back to rule #1; don't go shopping just because I have a coupon!

So here is my current plan of attack:

1. Spend Sundays clipping coupons out of the papers and online (from sites such as coupons.com)

2. Make a list of items that we will need that week and plan out our meals

3. check out the circulars from the grocery stores and other places that I frequent

4. Compare the sale items to those on my list and the coupons I have found

5. I use a hot pink marker to circle the items in the circular that I am interested in and potentially will buy and those that I have a coupon for.

6. Try to figure out how much I will spend at the store after coupons and such. This way, I am not surprised when I get to the check out

7. Head to the store on Monday. Avoid anything that is not on my list. If I didn't think I needed it at home I probably really don't. There might be a few exceptions here like produce. Avery eats a lot of fruit and I am always looking for something new to try out on her so I will have a little leeway.

8. Make sure I bring my binder with all of my coupons, calculator, list, notepad, markers and pens.

9. Start with the items of most priority on my list and keep track of prices as I go.

10. I am going to try to do most of my shopping at our local grocery store. They have a member rewards card that gives discounts and also they started a fuel perks program where I get 20 cents off ever $50 spent. Plus, I found out that they have a baby program that for every $25 spent on baby items you get another 5 cents fuel perks and a few other similar goodies. Sounds good to me!

I am headed to the grocery today to try out this plan. I've got my binder all ready to go; coupons clipped and divided into multiple sections; the grocery store circular marked up with items of interest; calculator, list, and pens all handy. I sure hope it works but I am sure that I will get better and more efficient as I keep it up.

I had my first coupons savings trip yesterday. I do have to say it was rewarding! I knew that we needed to get a new baby monitor soon and I had a coupon for 10% off at Target for the exact one that I wanted. The monitor was $200 so with the coupon I got it for $180.

In that coupon mailer I also got lots of diaper and baby snack coupons, so I brought those with me too. One of the coupons was $2.50 off when I box of diapers and a pack of wipes. The wipes themselves were $2.39 so I actually had 11 cents go towards the price of the diapers and the wipes were basically free!

I don't remember the details of the other coupons but I was able to get 7 different baby snacks (puffs, yogurt bites, etc) for $4.05 (a $10.55 value)! Pretty awesome deal if you ask me.

All in all, I saved a total of $27.50. One bummer is that after I checked out I remembered I had a $20 gift card to Target that I had planned to use but forgot. Not a big deal since I can use that on another transaction sometime.

It felt really rewarding when I left. Everything I got was something that we needed and will use. Plus, since I was able to get so many snacks I shouldn't have to buy any for a while.

I think the whole trick to couponing is keeping your eyes open for deals. Watch the circulars and find what is on sale, buy one get one free, etc then use a coupon on top of that and you can save big! Just don't buy something you normally wouldn't just because it's on sale.

Here's a few obstacles that I know I will have to overcome:

1. Being the customer that no check out person wants to get. There is inevitably at least one price check which means that you have to wait for the manager to come over and approve. Annoying but worth it.

2. Being the customer that no one wants to be behind in line. I used to get so annoyed with couponers. Now, I am one! I just need to go to check organized and ready. Nothing is more annoying that being behind someone that is all over the place and has coupons flying everywhere!

3. Being the customer with a binder and calculator on hand. Yes, I have already gotten some "looks" at the store by fellow shoppers

4. Get good at my math skills. It can get a little overwhelming trying to stack discounts over and over but I hope to get better at it.

Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted on how I do and if I find any great deals that are too good not to share!

Dances?

Check out my niece dance to the YouTube video "Evolution of Dance."
She LOVES that video and watches it over and over and will say "more dances?" when the video comes to an end. Sure enough she memorized it... at least as good as a 2 year old could do! We all get a hoot out of watching her perform her little routines.

Ella's 6 Month Photos

I've been kinda MIA over the past 9 days. It's actually kind of nice to disconnect (for the most part) for a while. Avery and I went to Texas to make the rounds and visit family for the Easter holiday. We had a lot of fun! Avery sure loves her cousins and I think she gets bored when we come back home to reality without them :(. It was so cute watching Annie and Avery give each other hugs and kisses all week. I just love that they know each other so well and love each other.

Anyways, I had the pleasure of taking some 6 month pictures of my niece, Ella. She is just so adorable! She is always smiling and LOVES when you give her some attention. It's cute how bashful she'll get and bury her head in Emily's shoulder. She was a wonderful little model. I hope I can do some more for Emily in the future :). Here are my favorites, but I am putting the rest on my flickr account (you can click the link on the left side on my blog). Enjoy!

Strawberry Festival

I am a few weeks late on this one but I completly forgot to talk about it!

We didnt stay long this year because of her need to take a nap not long after we got there, but we did a little shopping and eating and let Avery play her first carnival game. That was a bit of a disaster. Even though she won a big stuffed cow, she thought she could keep the rubber duckies and got really upset when we had to take them away. oops! lesson learned... Jeff said next time he will just ask "how much for the duckies" lol.

Reader

Avery loves to play in her big girl room! (which will be a post of it's own once I get it finished, but its far from that, so you will only get a sneak peek here) This morning I found her laying on her bed "reading" a book. It was so cute! We have been working hard on learning not to eat her books.... when I say eat, I mean literally! She doesnt just chew on them a little here and there, she takes chuncks out and swallows them! gross! Anyways, I digress... Here is a quick pic I got of her before she ran away from the camera:Granted, the book is upside down, but she doesnt know. I think that makes it even more cute! lol

Oh ya!

I meant to mention in the last post that we got her that sand and water table for Easter. I think I'm a gluten (sp?) for punishment. She loves it, which is great and it keeps her occupied for a long time, but she also loves to pour sand on her head and everywhere else. So, now I have a sand problem inside and out! Lol Needless to say I have drained the water and now it's just a sand table!
I am so glad that she loves it, messes and all... sometimes you just have to let a kid be a kid!