Some Very Random Bits About Me

I am a last minute packer. Always. No matter how stressed out I get because of this poor planning and procrastination and no matter how many times I swear I'll never do it again, it never fails that I find myself staying up extra late or scurrying around extra early in the morning to pack for the next trip. And by last minute, I mean I sometimes literally start packing an hour or two before departure time. I have no idea how I pull this off, but I do.

Sometimes I dress like an adult. Sometimes I dress like a teenager.* And sometimes I dress like a college student. It's true. I love to be a girly girl, and I love dress up. But, as much a fashion disaster as it might be, I still wear t-shirts and hoodies more than I care to admit.

On that note, I would never call myself a tomboy, but I am not afraid to get dirty (as seen in my 4 summers working as a wrangler at a horse camp). However, I hate to stay dirty. Eww. Even ask my mom. "Sure, I'll go play in the sandbox or go swimming in the lake as long as I can shower afterwards." "Mommy, can I help you weed the flowerbed?" 5 minutes later: "Mommy, can I go wash my hands?"

Every time I wrap a present, for Christmas or for any other occasion, I instantly think of my grandmother. Beginning at a young age, she was the one who taught me how to properly wrap a gift. And now, I have become a great present-wrapper. With every fold of the paper, every placement of the tape, and every curl of the ribbon, I smile fondly thinking of her, the dear woman who patiently helped me wrap every present, except hers, of course, for Christmas. I am my grandmother's granddaughter – perfectionist to the last, well except the cutting. I've never been an ace of . . . scissors. (It was the one category in which I received a "needs improvement" mark in kindergarten. End pity party.) But my GramE. taught me how to cover that little fault up pretty easily.

Okay, so you can't really see any of my fine paper folding, ribbon curling skills in this photo, but I like this picture. Just go with it. Also, I designed those Christmas tags last year. I love them. And really, that's all that matters. Am I right? And no, I didn't just say something self-conceited** about gift-giving at Christmas.

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*Or at least I must dress like a teenager, with as often as people underestimate my age. I do oftentimes shop in the Juniors section in stores, but that is usually because the clearance tends to have much better deals than the clearance in Misses. It's been awhile since I've shopped it though. I can't stand most of the now popular 80s style clothes found in Juniors. While I was born in the 80s, I have no desire to dress like a character from "Saved by the Bell", thank you very much.

**self-conceited – adjective (of a person) – excessively proud of oneself; vain, whilst simultaneously lacking consideration for others. Okay, so it's not in the dictionary. It's a term my brother and I made up a few years back for someone who is both selfish AND conceited, as though they aren't synonyms. I know, we're so clever, aren't we?

Couponing Lesson Learned

Well, I learned my lesson. At least, I HOPE I did. The sales I shop are Sunday-Saturday, and I waited until Saturday night to go shopping. STUPID. So, so stupid. First of all, the sale price tags were already removed as the employees were putting up this week's sale already. Secondly, the stores were completely out of many of the items I wanted to purchase.

I got a $22.00 purchase down to $5, but really it should have been even better. I SHOULD have gotten $10 back in +UP rewards. It's too long and complicated and well, boring to relay here, but they were out of the product for which they were offering the $5 in +UP rewards. I had attempted to purchase two of said item, which would have been an awesome deal. I think I learned my lesson. I will now go Mondays or Tuesdays to do my shopping. I did my coupon clipping and ad-to-coupon matching last night and it doesn't appear there are as many good deals as there were last week, not to mention that I'm going to have to do it without the $10 in +UP rewards that I should have received. Bah humbug.

In other news, it's laundry day. I will have to write a post on the details of my laundry system. I am not afraid to admit that I have some OCD tendencies, and well, I LOVE my laundry system. :o)

Rite Aid Lesson Learned

Well, I learned my lesson. At least, I HOPE I did. The sales I shop are Sunday-Saturday, and I waited until Saturday night to go shopping. STUPID. So, so stupid. First of all, the sale price tags were already removed as the employees were putting up this week's sale already. Secondly, the stores were completely out of the items I wanted to purchase.

I got a $22.00 purchase down to $5, but really it should have been even better. I SHOULD have gotten $10 back in UP rewards. It's too long and complicated and well, boring to relay here, but I think I learned my lesson. I will now go Mondays or Tuesdays to do my shopping.

A Confession of My Own

I recently read the confession of a friend of mine about how connected she feels to people she doesn't really know because of blogging. I can so relate. Countless times I have found myself telling Nate about people who have so willingly opened their lives on a blog that I feel like I know. If you don't blog or read other blogs, you probably can't really understand that. I know of people who feel a similar connection when watching certain reality television.

Now I have a confession of my own. I don't have very many friends I spend time with in real life. I still have my very best friend, Laura. We talk almost every week via text, phone, a few times a year in person, Facebook, email...you know. We still have a very strong friendship...but she lives 2+ hours away. Some of my other college friends that I would consider my "close" friends I see about once a year or so and we keep in touch much the same way. But since all of my friends live AT LEAST an hour away from me, I don't see people as often as I would like. We have zero friends at our church, and there is no one we spend time with on the weekends besides family. I love spending time with our families, but it would be nice to have some other friends in our town to socialize with. So, I have somehow subconsciously resorted to making friends on the Internet.

Before you go thinking that I'm off on some weird site meeting strange people in strange ways, no. I am just finding that I'm becoming friends with people who I used to think of as acquaintances. I probably friended them on Facebook because I knew who they were, not that we were really close. And I'm SO thankful I did. At the risk of sounding really cheesy, I want to mention a few of those people who probably mean more to me than they realize.

Angie

We were classmates in high school, but we probably never really even had a conversation then. We are both pretty good friends with my brother's fiance, and thus, we have begun talking a lot more. I talk to her almost daily, and I really love it. I enjoy hearing about her life, reading her blog, and watching her son (and soon-to-be daughter, too) grow up. We are both bridesmaids in Becka and Jonathan's wedding, and so we've had a few opportunities to see each other in real life, too. I feel like we are becoming friends on our own, and I've loved that. Without the Internet, it never would have happened.

Katie

We were also classmates for a year in high school, but since we were in the same grade, we had a bit more interaction than I did with Angie. That year, I was super quiet and not very social. At all. Looking back, I am pretty sure I was going through some sort of depression. I'll have to write another blog about that another time, but suffice it to say that I didn't get to know any of my classmates very well. Even if I had, I don't think Katie and I would have had that much in common then. Not that we weren't friendly, but we just didn't have had much to talk about. Now thanks to Facebook and the blogging world, I read Katie's blog daily, and I comment on it almost as often. I designed her logo for her Katie the Frugal Lady blog. She has awesome tips on couponing, which I love, but more than that, I've loved the feeling that I'm getting to know her better. She lives in California, so we definitely don't see each other in person ever. But like with Angie, I love watching her son grow up and hearing about her struggles and triumphs. The-learning-how-to-save-more-money part is more of a bonus.

Danielle

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about Danielle as well! Through Facebook, I've gotten to see Danielle's beautiful photography. She really has a natural talent. I wanted to start the tradition of getting our family's picture taken yearly, and Danielle has been our photographer the past two years. She does an awesome job. We've begun a working relationship with each other, which I've loved. We spur each other on in our own creative enterprises, mine with graphic design and her with photography. I've designed several things for her, and she tells people about me. I've had several customers come to me saying they heard about me from Danielle. It's been fantastic. But other than that, I've loved getting to know her personally, watching her go through all of life's ups and downs and always seeming to have a smile on her face. I'm continuing to pray for her pregnancy. I know she will make a wonderful mother. :o)

Amy

I've gotten to know Amy because, well, our husbands are best friends. They certainly don't see each other as much as they'd like, but I hope that in some small way, we can help them feel more connected. I always find myself telling Nate about what's going on with Amy and Brian's cats and ask him if he's seen pictures of their new house. Amy followed along with my crazy ventures at my former work. She loved hearing about the "crazy conspiracy theorist guy" who used to come in our office and tell us some of the strangest things I've ever heard. I used to find myself relaying them on Facebook just for her benefit. I think Amy and Brian and Nate and I would spend more time together if they also did not live 2+ hours away. I think it's high time we planned to meet up with them again.

So to those four ladies especially, I appreciate you! (Although Katie and Danielle might hate me now after reading my previous blog entry.) :o)

On The Facebook Trend

This is not meant as a judgment on anyone, but I need to rant. Every once in awhile, it becomes trendy on Facebook to change your profile picture to something or other. About a year ago, people changed their profile pictures to their doppelgänger. Another time, former fans of the Pokemon craze of the late 90s early 2000s changed their picture to their favorite Pokemon character. Those are all in fun, and that's fine. Facebook is a social network, as everyone knows, and if people want to do that they can.

But the new current trend kind of bothers me. "In support of prevention of Violence Against Children, change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, no human faces on Facebook, but rather an invasion of memories."

Does that strike anyone else as well, ridiculous? I can understand spreading awareness about a certain cause, but changing your profile picture to a cartoon character does not accomplish this. People will comment, "oh I loved that show" to which a person might reply, "oh, I know, I watched it every day." End of story. No one will say, "Yeah, doesn't it make you think of the horrible violence against children that occurs every day? We should donate money to [insert name of cause] to ensure that all kids can grow up with memories of watching cartoons like we did."

It's just silly. If I want to change my profile picture to a cartoon just for fun, fine. But having a cartoon as my profile picture doesn't support anyone or anything other than well maybe reminding people of a cartoon show they used to like and causing them to add it to their Christmas wish list.

Something similar was popular on Facebook a while back too that also struck me as equally ridiculous. "Paste this as your status if you are against AIDS." To say that you are against something implies that other people might be "for" it. Is anyone really "pro-AIDS"? No. Of course not. Those types of statuses are nothing more than chain mail, in my opinion. If you want people to know you stand for something, just "like" that cause on Facebook and people will see it. But don't like it to ease your conscience or to make you look good or because everyone else is. If you really care about the cause, support it financially or volunteer with it.

So anyway, I just had to rant.

Learning the Art of Couponing

So, at the beginning of November, I began a new venture. With our financial situation, specifically with me working mostly from home now, it became crucial that we cut our expenses wherever possible. We already do not get cable/satellite TV nor do we have a landline phone. Back in March, I found the least expensive cell phone service with the best reception possible, and we cut our bill from about $109 (with no texting in the plans) to $75. (I have 1000 texts and 1000 minutes per month - I've only used up my minutes before the end of the month once. Nate has unlimited texts and minutes. If we both had my plan, it would be as low as $60 for both our cell phones. :o)) Since our rent is already so low (we rent a two bedroom cottage for $300 a month!), moving wouldn't exactly help to lower expenses. We do have two vehicle payments and have seriously considered selling our truck. But, after looking at those bigger expense-cutting decisions, we needed to try to trim elsewhere. We are being even more conscientious of our energy consumption, trying to remember to use as few lights as possible, turning lights off when we leave rooms, etc.

However, I discovered the easiest place to trim is the grocery bill. I started following a blog of my friend, Katie the Frugal Lady, where she gives tips on the art of couponing as well as how to sign up for freebies. The goal of couponing is to match multiple coupons for the same product with sale prices in stores. I didn't know this before, but you can use a manufacturer coupon AND a store coupon ($1 0ff a specific product for use at Rite Aid only, for example) for the same single item!

What kind of deals can you get? One of the big rules I've learned is to actually read ads before/while you make your shopping list. I read Meijer's ad for the week of Thanksgiving and discovered that Meijer was doubling coupons $.50 and under that week! I eagerly flipped through my coupon binder to see if I had any under $.50 that I could match with sales to get good deals. Since I did my shopping yesterday, the last day of the sale, I didn't take full advantage of Meijer's coupon doubling special. However, I would like to highlight one example of an item I got 47% off.

MEIJER

Aunt Millie's 100% Whole Grain English Muffins

Regular Price: $2.49

On Sale For: 2/$4.00

(At Meijer, when they have items 2 for $4.00, 5 for $5.00, or a similar type of pricing, you do not have to buy two or five to get that price. You can buy just 1 item for $2.00 or whatever the sale is. For example, Pace Salsa is almost always on sale for 2 for $4.00. My husband LOVES salsa, so we go through A LOT. Sometimes I buy one ($2) and sometimes I get two ($4). The price is the same regardless.)

I had a coupon for $.35 off any Aunt Millie's Whole Grain product. (Don't know where I got it.)

Meijer doubled the coupon and took another $.35 off.

I paid $1.30 for the Aunt Millie's 100% Whole Grain English Muffins.

I hope to learn how to lower that even more, but I was pretty excited! I used to just buy the cheapest product, usually Meijer brand, but we all know that whole grain products are never the cheapest. So, I really ended up with a healthier product for less money than the cheapest Meijer brand version that I usually buy.

RITE AID

I have only done two of what Katie calls "heists" at Rite Aid. The first time I was told that I could not use two coupons for the same item. At the time, I did not have the coupon policy printed, so I could do nothing but accept what the cashier told me. However, the second time I went, I had the coupon policy just in case, but the cashier did not question it! So exciting. I am not going to explain how to do everything because Katie does that so well already. I am just going to explain what I did on my last trip so you can see that it works for other people besides Katie! :o) *Please note that you must have a FREE Wellness+ Rewards Card to get many of these prices.

2 - Hershey Milk Chocolate XL Bars (for my Christmas baking) - $1 each - $2

3 - 100 ct. clear Christmas lights (which we needed - I price compared at Meijer and Walmart for a like product. Meijer was selling them for $2.17 and Walmart for $2.27 per 100 ct. strand) $1.88 each - $5.64

2 - Fleece 50'x60' Blankets (price compared at Walmart - $5 each there!) $1.99 each - $3.98

1 - Total Advanced Clean Toothpaste (4 oz.) - on sale for $1.77 each

2 - Holiday M&M's 9-12 oz bags (for my holiday baking) - 2/$4

3 - Christmas Wrapping Paper - B1G2 Free (I accidentally bought a larger roll than I intended for my paid one, but I liked the print on the paper, so I didn't return it, plus I needed it to "pad my purchase" to get it up to $20) - $3.99 total

Before coupons:

Subtotal: $21.38

Tax: $1.28

Total: $22.66

Used my $4 off a $20 purchase coupon FIRST - dropped total to: $17.38

Used $1.00 off Rite Aid Video Values Colgate Total product coupon - $16.38

Used $0.75 off manufacturer's Colgate Total product coupon - $15.63

(I paid $.02 for a tube of toothpaste, people!!!!)

$2.99 +UP from a previous purchase - $12.64

Subtotal: $12.64

Tax: $0.76

Total: $13.40

Plus I walked away with $6 in +UP rewards to use on a future purchase.

I received $36.67 worth of merchandise for $13.40!

If I did my math correctly, that's $63% off! I didn't buy anything I wouldn't have already bought/didn't need for Christmas baking, gifts, etc. Oh, and I'm also returning one of the strands of lights because it was shorting out and I had one too many strands for my tree anyway, so knock another $2 bucks off my total. :o)

GROCERY EXPENSE LOG

In order to discern how much we have actually been spending on groceries in order to accurately assess whether we are saving more money or not, I had collected all of our grocery-related receipts from January to now, and have kept them in a folder in our filing cabinet. For our budget, I had been guesstimating our grocery expenses at about $125-150 per month. I recently discovered we had actually been spending an average of $195.50 per month! For two people, I think this is ridiculously high. I now have a "Grocery Expense Log" where I record the date, the store, the total bill, the savings, and the out-of-pocket expense. I also keep a running total for each month. It sounds like a lot of extra work, but after the initial setup, it really isn't. Also, since this is a grocery/household expense list, I try to either keep extra purchases separate (ring them up separately or subtract them from the total bill) so that we don't have gift purchases, etc. mixed in with our grocery bill as that would obviously affect the total.

I have only been keeping the "Grocery Expense Log" for a month now. I knew going into this that you don't notice the lowered expenses immediately because you are buying more than you normally would (due to stockpiling). For example, I don't drink coffee. Nate does. I bought two large 34 oz Folger's coffee B1G1 Free for $11.99. I also had $1 off coupon. So, for $10.99, he has coffee to last him for months (ideally). I hope to be able to lower this by using multiple coupons when it is on sale again, but you get the idea. It's a lot to add to our bill for the month, but since I won't have to buy coffee again for a long, long time, it will save me in future months.

Our bill for October (the month before I started couponing) was $210.67. Yep, kinda high.

For November (I am done grocery shopping for the month), our grocery bill is $182.41. It's lower, but not by much. We shall see what December holds.

Birth of Ellie

The waiting was awful. I've never been so anxious about a baby's birth in my life. My brother and sister-in-law called yesterday (Sunday, November 21) in the afternoon to tell us that Valerie was in labor, and that they were getting ready to leave for the birthing center pretty soon.

I just about squealed on the phone, "Ohmigosh, are you serious?"

Valerie and Andrew laughed, "That was a GREAT reaction!"

Later in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to talk to them via conference call with my mom, dad, Gram E., and my little brother, Jonathan.

Every so often, Andrew would send a mass text message on the status of the labor. I was sure the baby would be born in the wee hours of the morning. Things seemed to have been moving so fast. But alas, when I awoke, no news. For twelve hours the only message I had was that labor was hard, Valerie was exhausted, and that the baby had not turned. I prayed and tried not to worry. If you know me, the trying-not-to-worry part was less than successful.

Finally, Andrew texted that all were doing well and that they were all exhausted. But still no other information. We had to read between the lines that the baby had been born. Ugh, men! I am partially joking about the gender stereotype, but that was just frustrating. We knew they had been through a lot, but we were sitting on the edge of our chairs emotionally with a text that provided no relief of our worries: "Please do not worry. All three are healthy. Valerie and I have not slept and are extremely exhausted and on bedrest. We are happy to call and share the news after some rest. Thanks. We love you all."

*sigh* At the time, it was good to know they were okay but really hard to hear so little. It was so awful to be 1,100 miles away from family through things like this. Andrew finally called at 6:15 pm to tell me that the baby had been born at 9 am, a beautiful, red-haired, baby girl named Ellie.