The grocery game

The other day Ben had a toy and Jack wanted it, Ben wouldn't give it to him and over and over again he was saying to Jack,

"You can't have it, it's not on sale."

Say what? At first I was confused and then realized I often tell Ben he can't have something at the store because, why? 'It's not on sale.' My eight year old niece asked my sister one time if they were poor because they only bought stuff that was on sale. I'm sure Ben will ask me that sometime.

I was born and raised a bargain shopper. My sister said one time that her need to find good deals is almost as strong as her religious beliefs. Finding good deals on everything we buy and do is so much a part of who we are. It's obsessive. But sometimes it's exciting.

So, that being said. Guess how much I paid for all this?

(In case you can't see everything, here's a list-
5 boxes Capri Sun Morning sunrise
8 boxes Macaroni & Cheese
2 gallons milk (1% and Whole)
2 quarts of yogurt
3 boxes of Taco Shells
2 bags of Doritos
1 dozen eggs
1 box of Hostess Raspberry Filled Donuts (notice they are open, I was hungry on the way home.))

I'm not gonna make you wait until my next post.

I paid

$13.49

and actually I used a $10 gift card I'd gotten from a beer rebate, so

Out of Pocket I paid

$3.49

It's invigorating. It's silly, but fun. How did I do it? I combined sale items, store coupons and manufacturer's coupons (printed off the internet and from Sunday's newspaper). *Thanks to my mom for letting me use her coupon collection.

It's totally the trendy thing right now to be a very savvy shopper so there a ton of resources to help. For a long time I used http://www.shoppingsmart.com/ I still use it but I also use http://www.grocerysmarts.com/ (it's free!)

It takes time and sometimes it's just too much work. Also, it can be tricky finding the stuff you want to buy with the coupons, because sooo many other people are doing the couponing thing, but when it works, it's fun.

And addicting!
P.S. Jennifer, I will give you some of the Capri Sun, since I used all the coupons.

Day in review

One of those days
Yesterday was one of those days when I just felt bummed all day long. Everything seemed more overwhelming than usual. You know, one of those days. I never have nothing to do, but often my days are often blank slates that I need to fill up with things. Important things like teaching my kids, mundane things like keeping the house clean and feeding my kids three meals and two snacks (then cleaning up after the three meals and two snacks), and then tricky things like keeping my children somewhat entertained and out of trouble.
So, days that are blank slates often overwhelm me, but then days when I have pressing things to do I often feel anxious. Like today, I have preschool at my house, then later this afternoon I am in charge of the activity for the 11 year old activity day girls.

Vindicated
Today Ben I were discussing that because he is getting older we need to give him another responsiblity around the house. Currently his job is to empty the utensils out of the dishwasher. We have yet to determine the new responsibility but Ben was excited about the idea of a new job. He said to me-"As I get older and older I'll get more and more jobs. And then I will be like you and have a lot of work to do."
He notices! Sometimes. Other times he thinks I'm boring because I won't play with him all day long.

Ben's new do
Compliments of his cousin Josh. This was bound to happen sometime. Doesn't it happen to almost every kid? It didn't really upset me too much because as Ben said, "mom, it's just hair, it will grow back." I'm glad that I'm the mother of the child whose hair was cut, not the mother of the child who did the haircut. My sister feels bad.

The grocery game

It's been a while since I've posted one of these. I don't know why, but sometimes I feel like a dork that finding a great deal on things gets me sooo excited. It's just part of my life right now, I also get excited when I get a really bad stain out of the boys clothes.

So, how much did I pay for these four boxes of crackers, one dozen eggs and a pack of gum?

$1.18! Not too shabby.

Does eating ice cream before bed make you have strange dreams too?

My Monday ended with a very strange dream- I dreamed that preschool was at Heather's house. I went over early to talk to her about something and my sister was going to bring Ben over when preschool started. At 9am people started showing up at Heather's. Lots of people, including the preschool kids. All of the youth in her ward and their leaders showed up for a song practice. Heather said it wouldn't take too long, but over an hour later it was still going, poor Ben was bored, and I had to go to the bathroom. So I grabbed Ben and started looking for a bathroom. While looking for the bathroom I discovered that there was a lot more people in Heather's house than just the people for the song practice. There was like 300 or 400 people in her house all having church meetings. And there was only one bathroom so I decided to leave. My car ended up being in a parking garage below Heather's house and it cost me $31 to park for an hour and a half.

Strange dream.