He's Walking!!!

Almost a year and almost on the go!!!

 

 

A Big Month for BBB

December has been a big month for the Big Guy :)  He's learned to crawl and gotten his first two teeth.  Here is a photo and a video to document the big occasions:

 

 

"A's" New Stage

I think this picture really captures the stage in life A is at... here she is wearing the outfit she picked out, and the socks she put on, stirring the scrambled eggs, she cracked (mom cleaned up).  She has also discoverd a new beverage.  In her mind, "Egg Frog" is probably the best thing since breastfeeding. 

A Couple New Videos

 

Who needs to spend money on an indoor slide when you have furniture in your house?  Gotta love that ingenuity!



 

 

Before he crawls, I thought I better get this one up!

 

Pumpkin Patch

"A" and her first pumpkin

It was love at first sight.  "A" chose her pumpkin right off the bat, then checked all the rest out and came right back to the first one she picked... I guess she wasn't sure if we were going to let her keep it or not, because she quickly started running away with it as soon as she had it.

Happy dad said she could keep it.

Running through the hay maze

I've decided that "A" has three speeds... eating, sleeping, and running.  They had a great hay maze where she could run to her hearts content, while mom and dad relaxed on the hay bail benches and took pictures, and watched.  Thank goodness, nature finally brought us some fall weather so we could be outside and enjoy it!

Favorite Vacation Photos

Experiments in Homemaking - "Couponing"

So, whenever I travel someplace new, I always tell myself the first time is just to figure out what you want to do the next time you go. I find it helps me relax and enjoy the trip instead of frantically trying to "see it all" in case I never get back to a location.

Recently, I've used a similar philosophy in some "homemaking experiments" I'm doing. I've told myself, its okay if I don't do it forever, but that I need to do it long enough to understand the pros/cons and to figure out what I need to know for the next time I try something. So, it is with glee and a tinge of regret that I'm closing the current chapter of my "Couponing" experiment.

For the past six months, I have subscribed to the paper (if I were a diligent blogger, I would have updated you on that story too, because it was interesting ... Sorry), reserving the coupons to later be clipped, filed, sorted, and used. By the end, I definitely had a system of sorts worked out, but since, I'm obviously not the first person to use coupons and I'm certainly not the best I'll save you the how-tos and skip right to the pros/cons... as I see them:

Pros:

• I really did save money. My last trip to the grocery store rang up at $90 before coupons and came in at $62 after. My receipt said I actually had $120 worth of groceries, but that is with the club card and I would have used that anyway. $28/week is not chump change for us and it even makes up for the $12/month newspaper subscription that I only ordered after feeling guilty about the lecture I gave the annoying kid at the door because as an aspiring attorney he didn't ever bother to read the paper himself. (there is that post in one sentence)
• I purchased lots of food that was outside my normal repertoire
• Grocery shopping was very deliberate, I had a list and it was fairly easy to stick to the list

Cons:

• It took way too long to prep the list. I used pinchingyourpennies.com to get the compilation of available coupons and sales. I downloaded everything into excel, sorted and prioritized and then had to hunt for the coupons needed to get the sales. The prep took so long that I started to hate grocery shopping.
• Meal planning was more difficult. By only buying the "really good sales" my grocery cart was a bigger mish mash of items. I would come home with my lute and still not know exactly what to make for dinner. Frozen peas and granola bars, anyone?
• The great sale food was not necessarily the food that was the best for me. Lots of snacker-type food. Which is okay in that I have a husband who needs to consume lots of calories, but not great in the fact that I have no will power at home and I'm the one here with the junk food all day. (Still, I'll probably miss the snackers :)

What I'll keep doing:

• Stashing coupons for things I buy. Cereal and Classico pasta sauce are used in our house. Stacking a coupon with a sale really cuts down on the price. We'll keep hording these coupons.
• Reviewing the circulars, this information is great for selecting what store I'll patronize that week...(yes, I can be pretty annoying while in the store :) and price matching.

What I'll ditch:

• Clipping and sorting all coupons. No more sifting through stacks of coupons eliminating the expired ones. No more separating them as things I probably won't buy, might buy, or likely buy... now I'm only keeping the things I will buy.
• I'm probably saying goodbye to Pinchingyourpennies.com too. Most of the stores they list aren't within a 20 mile radius of me, so I don't go to them or get their circulars. It may just be information overkill.

If I ever do decide to try "couponing" again:
Ah, here is the part, where I figure out what I missed that I would like to see the next time I go someplace... Now that I know about how much I can save on my own, the next time I might splurge for the couponsense.com membership. That $15/month membership wasn't justifyable to me this time... afterall, I try and keep my weekly grocery bill under $60, so $15 is 20% of my weekly bill. Now I have to wonder, if it could cut my store prep time down significantly then the $3.75/week may be the difference between a couponing experiment and a couponing lifestyle.
The answer to that question will have to wait. I've cancelled the newspaper subscription and I'm putting couponing on the shelf... at least for now. Up next in my experiments... homemade laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent. Wow, I'm feeling so domestic. I wonder how long it will take this one to expire?