Ladies and gentlemen, life as we know it has changed.
I think I may be turning into a morning person!
NOW, who ever saw THAT coming?
I realized that I really do like mornings. The sun is not up, the kids are not up. It's just me and my crazy, energetic-in-the-morning dog. She calms down after she's made a few sharp turns in her laps around the living room and skidded out. Okay, so she's nuts.
It's just that, with 5YO in school now, mornings are more and more hectic. In order for me to get anything done before school (like SHOWER) I have to get up at 5:45. (12YO gets up at 6:00 to get into the shower) The past few weeks have had me getting up earlier than I ever had before on a regular basis.
And I'm starting to wake up before my alarm.
This morning, I woke up at 5:00. On a Saturday. I had no reason to get up early, it just sort of happened. By 5:30, I realized that I was not going back to sleep and decided to just get up and put on a pot of tea. The house is so quiet, with the exception of the crazy dog. I can actually hear myself think. I'd almost forgotten how that felt, hearing myself think. I'm just so tired at night that I find myself wanting to go to bed before my kids.
I woke up and went straight to my computer. I spent a few HOURS (and that's not an exaggeration) researching coupons and planning the menu for the week.
Yup...you read that right! I'm starting to plan menus. And clip coupons.
Does anyone want to play along? I've never really been a bonafied 'coupon clipper' before. I've never really wanted to bother, wondering how saving 30 cents on a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese could really change my life. But, you know what? I think it can. So, who wants to join my 'coupon crusade' of sorts. I only had one coupon to really work with today, as today is the day I begun this adventure and haven't had time to bulk up my collection. But, I paid for my groceries with CASH, which is something I never do. I always write a check and have always considered money to be money, no matter what form it comes in. But, it really did make a difference in the way I shopped today. I knew I had only so much money on me and was not pulling out the debit card or checkbook. And I was so much more frugal. Things that I would just toss in my cart without much thought because it looked good at the time...I just walked right on past those! I had a budget and that was that. My goal was to not spend all of my grocery money today, while still buying all the food my family would need for the whole week. I sat down beforehand and planned the week's meals and studied my pantry to see what I would actually need.
And I did pretty well, if I do say so myself! I spent $85.00 on about $126.00 worth of groceries. And that will feed my family of five for the whole week when combined with what I already had.
I think I can do so much better, after the Sunday paper comes tomorrow and I get to dig through all the ads and coupons. There are a few websites I'm using to help me get the most bang for my buck between the sales and coupons. And I can only get better at it, if I stick with it.
I've personally known people who could use coupons and walk away with a ton of groceries for a fraction of what they would normally cost. And I think it would be pretty cool to be able to do that!
SOOOO...who's with me? Anyone else have any tips they want to share? Anyone a 'coupon rookie' like me? The more the merrier. I'd like to have a little company on my little journey to couponland.
Well, I have to clean up the rest of dinner and put the crock pot away. We had THIS for dinner. And it was FABULOUS! 2YO wouldn't touch it, but she's picky like that. I'm sure she would have loved it if she had actually tried it. 5YO cleaned her plate, as did my neice who is known to be more than a little picky. 12YO ate two big servings of it. David and I loved it. BIL...well, he's already alseep. Poor guy's been up since 7:00 last night!
Speaking of sleep, I'm gonna go and get me some of that!
LATER TATER!!!
3 comments:
My father in law and I were competing on coupons for a while, and I was saving like an additional $30 per week, but nothing beats shopping sale items. My store gives me my total before sales on the receipt and every week it tells me that I've saved like $50-$80 in sales. I spend about $150 a week on food. The good place for coupons is Wal Mart and Target, totally worth it there.
Oh I hope I hope I hope your affliction is contagious [via blogosphere].
When I do drag myself out of bed early, I'm eventually pleased with all I accomplished. And I used to be a superstar with the coupons but have slacked off in the last year.
Go you! Wanting to be right behind you...
I think I will be joining you on your coupon venture. Currently I am not a huge coupon user, basically just what I print on line for organic goods. This will change with the budget changes we will be enduring in Vegas. My only suggestion is to check the websites for the brands you use regularly, that is all I know. If you get links or suggestions please write a post on it. I am extremely interested.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I havent been by in a while so I have a lot of catching up to do. Ill try to do that between cleaning and homework today.
Post a Comment