Saving Money...

is a definite do when you become an adult and have to be all responsible like and have to put money away for college, weddings, etc., etc. So, I've been trying to do the coupon thing with my groceries. We have a set budget for groceries every month and I've really try to make the whole coupon thing into a competition. The whole thing really excites me...which is really a scary thought! I haven't really done as well as some other blogs I follow, but I'm definitely doing better than I did this time last year (I wasn't even cutting coupons at that point)! What was I thinking!!!!

This past week Harris Teeter & Kroger were doing triple coupons up to $.99. I normally do not shop Harris Teeter because they tend to be a little more expense on some items. But man, oh man, I'm so glad I went this week. I still spent what I had budgeted, but I saved $150 total. And I think I have enough cereal, granola bars, and wipes to last us until the end of the year.

Normally when I do my grocery shopping, I think to myself that I need to do some pictures and post what I saved. But some how between getting the groceries in the house & dealing with the girls, I just never got around to it. Well, this time I did. Actually, I need to thank Steve for reminding me. You see, every time I go to the grocery, he will come in and say "is this all you got for $___ of groceries." And so when I was telling him what all I got, I told him I wished he could see what all I got before I put it away because it was filling up our entire kitchen counter tops. So he suggested a take a picture. This is what $198 will get with triple coupons:

This is only the non-perishable food. I had already put up all the perishable food before Steve suggested the photo op, so I took some of the fridge & freezer.

Basically my fridge and freezer were empty, except the condiments in the fridge door. I also stocked up on formula, food, and cereal for Elaina.

I always hear people say they don't have time to cut coupons, but I can definitely testify that it is well worth the little bit of planning it takes!

Busy Days....

So, I haven't been very good about blogging lately. It seems that we have been going non-stop lately, so I haven't had any time to get on here. I have been keeping up with the whole planning out menus and sticking to them. It actually is not as hard as I thought it would be, it helps me not stress about what's for dinner. I haven't taken any pictures of the food though, it hasn't been as "pretty" as what I thought it would be. I'm clipping coupons and trying to come up with different things to do in order to save us money. We are really trying to look at our budget and start trying to figure different ways to help out with our savings account. We don't really have a lot of debt, so it's really hard to figure out ways to stop spending as much. I have found some great websites that give good ideas. Here's a few:

http://www.southernsavers.com/

http://www.afullcup.com/

http://www.bargainshopperlady.com/

I'm still working on organizing the house. And I've been successful so far. I'm probably midway through my scrapbook/bill organization. Here's the picture:

John and Nikki gave us the desk and I'm on the hunt for a bookcase. I am planning to make an inspiration board to go above the desk and I have several "pretties" to put in my corner. Of course, I will need a different chair too. I should have this completed in the next week or so. Then my next project is this:

Steve's closet!!!! It isn't too bad. There's just no organization to the stuff other than the clothes. So look for an update.