Seed Planting...Finally!

I finally was able to sit down and plant seeds. I still have to plant more but the majority are done. Tonight I plan to get them on the heat pad in the basement and hopefully they'll start to grow. I didn't expect to feel so worn out with 5 weeks to go until I deliver Baby J so all my plans feel like their up in the air or have been pushed back sadly. But fortunately it's not that big of a deal and I'm trying to remember this. But yay I got my seeds planted!! I'd hoped to plant some of the heartier seeds outside tomorrow but it seems my plans maybe derailed b/c of the weather. It's looking a bit blizzard like out there right now sadly. Oh Spring how I do miss you and I await your presence with such anticipation...

Grocery Trip Last Week

I forgot to post how much I spent at Giant Eagle & CVS last week, it's been a bit of a chaotic and sleepless week.

At any rate, I spent $120 at Giant Eagle! I will not be going back there for a while unless I have coupons and only buy things on sale. As you can see I went way over my designated budget. Once again the convenience factor of Giant Eagle bit me in the butt.

On a good note though, they did have pork Tenderloin $1.97 a lb and 85% lean Ground Chuck $1.99 a lb for 3lbs or more. I bought 10lbs of the beef and a 5.5lbs of the pork tenderloin. I also got $.60 more off of my gas per gallon which with my recent purchases totaled $.80 off a gallon. I happened to need my gas tank filled right after shopping Monday night so that was helpful.

For my menu this week, courtesy of www.menusformoms.com/ I plan to substitute 2 or 3 of the meals with ground chuck meals and pork tenderloin meals. I'm thinking bbq pork & probably hamburgers (I love a good burger!!).

Fyi, the menusformoms website is such a great resource. Albeit some of the recipes are a bit strange so keep an open mind. This website provides free weekly menus and a grocery list, how convenient is that?! Also, they have past menus archived on their website so you can search for an ingredient you may have gotten on sale or need to use up. This is how I decided on the menu I'm going to use this week, bbq pork & another pork dish etc.

I hope this website is helpful for others.

In regards to my trip to CVS, I was a bit disappointed this week with my experience. I ended up buying

1 container of Boost
a revlon mascara
a revlon eyeliner
some revlon emery boards
easter egg dying cups
a venus embrace razor
2 bags of Organic Soil (only $1 more than regular soil at CVS nonetheless).

My total was: $43.93

I used the $23 in ECB's I got last week and then the $4 coupon CVS gave me via email for signing up on their website and I had a $2 coupon.

So I paid $15.94 & received $7 back in ECB's. Now I'm supposed to receive another $10 in ECB's but for some reason the cash register didn't generate this ECB. I had to wait at the store for an extra 20 minutes Monday night as the manager tried to contact someone on the phone to figure out why I didn't get my $10. I did leave without my $10 but was told someone would call me, they still haven't called me. So in anticipation of this I didn't open any of the Revlon products so that I can return them today or tomorrow.

To explain though why I was to receive $10 in ECB's, if you purchased $20 of Revlon products last week you received $10 back.

Also, the Boost drink was $1 and I received $1 back in an ECB and The Venu Razor was $9.99 I had a $2 off coupon and they gave me $6 back in ECB's.

So when I return the Revlon products I will have spent $5.26 out of pocket and I still have $7 in ECB's to redeem. So stay aware when you are doing the CVS thing, pay attention to what you are supposed to receive in ECB's and make sure you get them.

This week I believe I'm going to go to Walmart to shop for groceries.

Playing in the Dirt in February

I came across an idea on another mom's blog about using whole wheat flour as dirt and letting your kids play with sand toys and cars and anything they can fill and dump with. I liked the idea but I put some whole wheat flour in a roasting pan and it was incredibly messy and seemed too soft and floury to deal with. As I was perusing through my cupboards I saw two large cans of bread crumbs. I grabbed one and dumped it in my roasting pan and it immediately became dirt for W's Dump truck, Digger and his Shoveler (I still don't have all the "accurate" names down like daddy!) W just loved playing in the dirt with his machines and we sat and played for well over an hour. Well to clarify, I distracted Super N and fought her off of W's cool dirt thing and would lend an extra set of machine noises and hands to drive and dump the machines every few minutes or so.

I thought this was a great idea for those yucky days you don't want to go outside or those days when, in my case, you didn't sleep the night before.Sidenote: I didn't have plain bread crumbs only Italian seasoned ones, W thought the green stuff in it (parsley) was grass...He loved this idea

Free Child's Tableware set for filling out survey

Check it out!

http://www.sproutsmart.com/SPROUT/smart/offer.aspx

A Mother Inferior

A friend recently suggested that I must be very organized. I've been thinking about that suggestion for a few weeks. I'm not sure what I communicate from my posts but I'm really not organized. I strive to be organized and there are parts of my life that are now starting to become more organized but by no means would I label myself as organized.

I've written and continue to write about coupons, saving money, roasting coffee, baking my own bread, etc., etc., but these are ways that the Hub and I are attempting to save money. Although we do enjoy the idea of roasting coffee and baking our own bread and it does require us to be disciplined and organized to some degree I still wouldn't label myself as organized.

I feel like I need to back up and clarify why I choose to do the things. Not so much to defend myself but instead to make it clear that I'm a poor Home Economist and I desire to improve at it. I feel like my job since having W almost 3 years ago has become more clear. I'm not shooting for perfection but instead to try to keep my house mostly clean & put dinner on the table most nights of the week b/c our family thrives on the time together. We've found this to be somewhat of an anchor for our little family and can see how it will benefit the kids long term as well as mine and the Hub's relationship. Also, we desire to be responsible with our money and to payoff our debt within the next few years.

I hate clipping coupons (I like the idea of saving money with coupons better...) and I'm not sure the coupon thing will end up working out for me but I've decided to try it out for the next few months. Also, the coupon thing is fueled partially by the fact that someone from the Dispatch showed up at my door with a subscription to the Sunday paper for $4 a month.

I hate dealing with CVS and their ECB's (again I like the idea of it). But overall these things save our little family money. Not too long ago, er all of last year, my grocery shopping trips took place at Sams Club and a run or two to Giant Eagle every week. We racked up $600 in groceries almost every month and we racked up about $300 to $400 a month in carryout from restaurants. This as you may imagine created a lot of stress which lead to a lot of arguments about debt and lack of structure and just overall we felt like crap b/c of the added weight of, I guess you can call it, "excess".

Oh yes, and b/c we were eating so much crap we physically felt like crap!

So honestly God did a number on my heart over the last few months and so I've become more serious about debt, my family and my marriage. So I hope what I write does not cause others to smirk or feel like I'm above anyone b/c I'm not and nor do I think so.

Piles of Laundry

Does anyone have a system down for laundry? Please share if you do. I'm really interested in what others do in this area since for the past 9 years of marriage It's probably been my biggest chore issue. I'm determined to beat the laundry monster and any ideas are appreciated.

Currently I have 5 laundry baskets, they're all full of clothes. One basket is full of folded Baby J clothes but the others are full of of unfolded clothes that belong to everyone else. See I can clean the clothes and dry them but it's the sitting down and folding the piles and the putting it all away that gets me in the end. I never feel like it ever gets finished.

Tonight my plan is to sit on my newly carpeted bedroom floor and attack one unfolded basket after another. I plan to use the floor to sort my piles and then give each person their own basket. I also think I need to have a pile for things that need to go and things that need to be stored. I expect to come away with an aching back and to be tired but also throughly tickled because I completed the folding step!

In regards to getting the laundry put away, I'm thinking if I set the bar midrange and shoot for putting away one basket a day then I should get my laundry put away by sunday night. So I can start next week out with empty baskets to fill with one or two loads of laundry. I'm thinking if I make it a goal to fold at least a load every night after dinner or something then I can keep on top of it.

Oh yeah I mentioned sitting on my newly carpeted floor. Well it's so cozy. Honestly I'm not sure if I like the color and style of the carpet yet now that it's laid, who can really tell when you're buying essentially a square of carpet with no idea what the square times 100 or so will look like?? Ahhh but it's growing on me! The functional aspects that it's provided just the last 24 hours have been wonderful. The noise upon walking up the stairs is so minimal compared to before. The whole upstairs feels warmer and more comfortable and strangely larger in size (carpet can do that?). So if the color and such doesn't grow on me oh well! At least it muffles the noise in our cozy, little abode and allows us to use the space in more ways ie. folding laundry on the floor I'd have never done that before! Strangely the kids keep laying in the stairwell, what's up with that?? Funny little nubbins!

Oh yes please, please share if you have any laundry wisdom or thoughts or you're in the same boat as me.

Potager Gardening and Yearning for Spring and...

I'm officially going to plant my seeds next weekend. I have a grow light, heating pad, peat pots and all of my seeds now. I need to buy soil this week and I will be good to go. I'm pumped!

Most of my seedlings will need to be transplanted around the time Baby J is due so the month of April should be interesting. I'm sure it will be fine but there may be a few losses.

So is anyone else sick of the cold weather?! Enough already! I can tell Spring is coming b/c it's lighter earlier and it doesn't get dark at 5pm anymore. I can't wait to be able to take the kids on walks everyday and be able to play in the backyard.

We're having carpet installed tomorrow and so we have to devote the rest of our evening to cleaning up all the clutter in our bedroom and in W's room. I'm beat and I haven't even started. This pregnancy is kicking my butt! I can tell Baby J doesn't have much space in my uterus b/c my stomach is really tight and it hurts when he moves now. I also have constant heartburn no matter what I eat. I slept from midnight until 11am yesterday morning and then turned around and took a 2 hour nap a few hours later! My hips are achey from all the rest but I just feel like I cannot get enough rest!

I am going to try to suck it up tonight though and go grocery shopping. I have been putting it off all weekend b/c I know it's going to kick my butt. I had planned to go to Kroger but the convenience of Giant Eagle has won out once again. Also, their sales are pretty good this week (not as good as Kroger but...) and I enjoy the gas savings. I will post my final tally if I actually make it tonight otherwise I'll probably go tomorrow evening when the kidlets go to bed. Oh yeah I should hit CVS and see what's going on with their sales.

This may not be your thing but in preparation for Baby J the Hub and I have decided we will stock up on some paper plates and plastic cutlery so we don't have to worry about keeping up on dishes when the babe comes, at least for the first 2 weeks. I've been a bit anxious about it only b/c of the waste factor. But I found recyclable cutlery at Target (Yes I hit Target! They sell an all purpose cleaner I use. It's cheaper to stock up on it from Target than online. I did manage to avoid all the temptations. Well okay I'm lying I did get chocolate covered raisins, coke and some Almond Joy's.) Back to the disposal plates and cutlery, although this will still create waste atleast it's recycled and saving some energy somewhere.

Glue

On Tuesday W and Super N pulled a fast one on Momma Bear. I was studying in the living room, I never do this, and told W that momma is going to take 20 minutes and try to read and take some notes and then I'll read to him and Super N and we'll play to our hearts content. He looked at me with his deer in headlights almost 3 year old stare that seemed to communicate to me that he had no idea what I was saying. But at any rate I was determined to get some studying in so I sent him on his merry way and told him momma will be done soon. I didn't really realize that it had gotten quiet in the house until maybe after about 15 minutes of study. I call Will in the room and he comes in with his hands out, palms up and says, "yucky!" I'm like "oh crap!" I go to see what the yucky is all about and find Super N with a 20 oz bottle of white glue, no cap and it's got about an inch of glue left in it. Most of her legs and her palms were covered in it oh yes and about a 2 foot in diameter puddle slowly soaking into my jute rug. I jumped into mommy mode and pulled the jammies off of Super N threw under the faucet, grabbed a huge cup of hot water and a towel and started trying to dilute the glue. I was crying to whole time out of frustration. Will was thoughtful in that he pointed out to me the large dripping puddle on the windowsill.

Two days later you can't even tell there was a mess! It's all gone. I recall calling the hub after "The Incident" and telling him that he'd better pray for his children b/c I'm about to lose it. I did calm down after crying or was it during the crying, I don't remember fully. And we ended up playing together in the end and no one died.

The Dealio

Okay I was out in the mild blizzard tonight determined to shop at CVS without the kids. This week CVS is offering $15 in ECB's if you spend $30 on a few selected products. I chose to buy 2 packs of Pull-Ups Diapers, a pack of Huggies diapers and two boxes of family sized boxes of Kleenex. The diapers all were on sale for $8.99 (orig. $11.49 each) and the Kleenex were 2/$5 (not sure the original price, i forgot to look). I also had 2 coupons for the diapers, I believe one was for $1 off and the other was for $2 off. I purchased 4 cans of Progresso Soup which were B1G1 free, $2.99 a can is the original price. I had two coupons I used with those, one for $.25 off and one for $.50 off. There was a great deal on Colgate Total that I took advantage of as well. The toothpaste was $2.99 a tube but you get $2 back in ECB's making the toothpaste $.99 (limit 5). I grabbed 4 tubes and used two coupons both coupons were for $1 off 2 tubes. So the toothpaste was $.50 a tube when all was said and done. I also had a B1G1 free coupon for a bag of Dove chocolate and a B1G1 free coupon for a Snickers bar (can you tell what I'm craving right now?!).


Okay my total overall before the ECB's was $51.82. I applied my $7.29 in ECB's that I got this past weekend bringing the total to $44.53. I then received an ECB for $15 (diapers & Kleenex purchase) and one for $8 (tubes of toothpaste purchase). So i received $23 back that I can use the next time I go to CVS. I also printed out a $4 ECB from CVS's website, free if you give them your email address fyi. So I have $27 to use the next time I go.

So the things I got were:

3 packs of Huggies Diapers
2 Family Sized Kleenex's (280 count)
4 Tubes of Colgate Total
2 bags of Dove chocolate
2 Snickers bars
4 cans of Progresso Soup
Total: 51.82
ECB's earned: $23

So i paid $28.82 for all the above stuff.

Also, i went to Giant Eagle this past Saturday for my weekly grocery trip. I got ingredients for this weeks dinners, breakfasts, and lunches for a total of $63.88. To let you know though I had some meat in my freezer already to accomodate some of these meals and so I didn't have to purchase everything. I also had food leftover for meals b/c i honestly only ate Ramen Noodle Soup (I know not the healthiest) while sick this week. Jason ran to Giant Eagle and bought a box of 12 for $2 during the week and I ate 2 bowls each day I was sick. I have a feeling that Giant Eagle will not be the best place for me to shop when all is said and done. Next weekend we will shop at Krogers and see what it will cost to feed us for the week.

FYI i'm writing this to get it on paper so I'll attempt to edit later to make sure it all makes sense etc.

The Bread Machine

Jason is loving the bread machine. He has made a loaf this week and is downstairs now making a loaf. I'm glad he's into it b/c honestly it's one less thing I have to do. Although I'm willing to do it and plan to use it frequently, it is nice that he's so overjoyed about it.

I did make grape jelly earlier out of 100% pure grape juice (on sale for $2.50) and fruit pectin. It made almost 20 oz of jelly and only took less than 1/2 the bottle of grape juice with no sugar added might I add. It was so frickin easy! Hubby wants me to get some whole fruit from the store so we can use the bread machine to make jam soon. We Are Pioneers!! HaHa!

Seriously though this is kind of fun to see what we can make for pennies that ends up being healthier for our kids and ourselves and doesn't require us to be limited by the store's offerings.

On another note, we bought carpet today. I couldn't resist this deal. A popular flooring store in our area is running a deal where select carpets are $1.22 a square foot (included in that price is padding and installation!) I got an estimate last year from a store for 3 times the cost of what we're paying. We've been tossing around the idea of carpeting W's room, the hallway upstairs, our room and the stairway for about 6 or so years. Now that Will is sometimes awakened by the noise created by us as we're showering or just walking up the stairs we felt like we would like to pursue this alternative. The Hubby also believes it's cozier, I think he's right, and so for the bedrooms this will be nice to sink our toes into. I was able to get a neutral frieze carpet (I can't believe I got frieze for that price!!) and so I'm thrilled to have saved so much money! Woot!

I went to CVS to check out the whole ECB thing. Amazing! I got the Hub a razor that was $9.99 for free! And i got a bottle of Gatorade for free! How did I do this you may or may not be wondering? Well I found a $4 coupon for the razor in the Sunday paper so that brought down the razor to $5.99 and CVS offered $5.99 in ECB's on it. So at the end of my receipt was an ECB coupon for $5.99 to use the next time I'm there. Same with the Gatorade, it was $1.29 and at the end of my receipt was a ECB for $1.29. I bought a couple of little things and overall paid $3 and got the razor and the gatorade for FREE! Woot! For the month of February they are offering CVS brand children's chewable aspirin for free (purchase price $1.79 and then you get that back in an ECB) but they were all out of those.

Not at all to be forgotten in my frugal happiness but Super N said "baby doll" and "tooth brush" today. It was very sweet. She's been saying "cup", "shoes","momma" and "dadda" but usually not two words together. She just hit 18 months on the 9th and she's just changing so much. I get caught up in W's world so often b/c he seems to require more attention from me that I feel like I often forget to give my daughter the attention she needs. The Hub and I are more aware of that these days so we are trying to be more intentional about playing with her and engaging in conversation with her overall just spending more time with her... but man it's so challenging! We are tired.

I recently purchased a book that I've had on my Amazon.com wishlist since October. It's titled "How To Really Love Your Kids". It's somewhat of a small book but it's packed with a lot of information that I believe I really need to hear right now in my life. The first part of the book talks about marriage being the foundation for being able to love your kids. (It does address and doesn't discriminate against those who are single parents.) I read the first part of this book and asked Jason to read it too and then we talked about it. It's been really life changing for us. It's changing our thinking and helping us to understand a mom and dad's role a bit better and also how our marriage relationship positively and negatively can affect and does affect our children. The book has a lot more to say about ways to love your kids that I've chosen not to include for now just because I'm not really there yet. I've been contemplating the first part of the book and plan to continue to read through this over the next few months and consider it. Hopefully I'll feel lead to share what I learn as I go, we'll see.

On the baby front, I have some fears about the new baby coming. I know the kids will adjust but just going through those times of adjustment will be challenging.

I keep having braxton hicks contractions continually now. It's painful at times and takes my breath away. I have almost 8 weeks left. This baby feels pretty heavy and often moves so much that he makes me nauseous. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have any more kids so I'm doing my best to enjoy this time of pregnancy but man oh man...I can't wait to meet the little bugger.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm laying here in bed typing with one finger. I've been in bed since yesterday at 11am. Jason came home early for me b/c i felt so ill on tuesday afternoon, he went to work wednesday but came home for me at/about 11am and then just stayed home for me today.

So I'm in bed sick and I'm apparently super tired to have slept essentially 24 hours straight. It seems that my throat, head and chest has been taken over by phlegm. And it came on really fast. I just felt achey tuesday morning and then I went downhill from there. UGG!

Hopefully all this sleeping will help and I'll feel better tomorrow. Jason wants to go on a retreat he was invited on this weekend and I would really like him to go and enjoy himself but if I'm still sick I know he won't go.

I hope to feel better soon too b/c my hips are killing me from laying on them for so long!

On another note, i bought a bread machine last week and it was delivered yesterday. I've read a lot lately on whether or not it's cheaper to own a bread machine or to continue to buy bread from the store. Currently I'm spending around $30-$40 a month on bread right now, no kidding. We like to eat and like the kids to eat bread that has at least 3 grams of fiber per slice. I usually spend $2.50 (or sometimes $1.99 when there's a sale) per loaf. The kids usually eat pb&j every day and we'll have french toast sometimes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner so the bread goes quick in our house.

So during my bread machine hunt did I find whether or not it's cheaper to own a bread machine than to buy store loaves? Well some seemed to believe it was and others seem to think it was a wash after you purchase all of the whole grain flours and other ingredients. But there did seem to be a consensus on homemade bread being healthier than store bought bread.

Overall though I think I will save money. The particular bread machine I bought also makes jam. I spend a great deal on jam monthly. I've been pretty disappointed with all the high fructose corn syrup laden jams and jellies on the market shelves these days. Although I try to buy jams and jellies that don't have high fructose corn syrup in them, I must confess b/c of cost factors lately my kids jams and jellies do contain high fructose corn syrup. I look forward to making homemade jams instead of being limited to the selection in the market and by my check book.

I found a recipe for grape jam that you can make out of pure grape juice on the stove so if you're interested in making your own grape jam on the stove top let me know and I'll pass on the recipe. This will allow you to control what kind of sugar/sweetener goes into the jam as well as the amount. I've read it's pretty easy to make your own jams so you don't need no fancy bread machine to do it for you. I'm however grateful to have found a machine that has dual purpose.

Life

W has continually asked to go to the potty in the toilet. He has been peeing at least twice a day in the toilet and some days more than that. He tried to do #2 but I'm not sure he could figure out how to make it happen. One new experience at a time aye?!

I'm really grateful that he has initiated the potty training on his own. I hadn't planned on starting to work on potty training with him until around October. I wanted to get Baby J sleeping through the night and get some rest myself before tackling such a committment. However it seems that W has other plans and that's great!

I think that we'll be able to use his stubbornness to further our efforts with potty training over the next 8 months or so. Often to get him to do things we use reverse psychology on him. Not that we are so arrogant to think this will work all the time, but it's sure working currently. Sometimes when he's getting escorted upstairs to brush his teeth before bedtime he'll say, "No brush teeth!". So we'll say, "okay" and take him to his crib. Well he freaks out and changes his mind and says, "Brush teeth, brush teeth!!". We say, "okay!" So maybe some day we'll ask him if he wants to potty in the toilet and he'll say, "no" and we'll say, "okay diaper it is" and he'll say, "no diaper!"

On another topic, frugality...we went grocery shopping at Aldi's on saturday. I'm trying to evaluate if it truly is cheaper for me to shop there almost exclusively for groceries or is it cheaper for me to use my coupons, albeit harder work, and head to Krogers. I had planned a menu for this week and then made a grocery list and I had hoped to spend $50 but I spent $53 for the week. And they didn't have I believe 3 things on my list. My budget is a bit higher but I'm really trying to see if I can get my grocery budget down to around $200 a month. I think ultimately it's going to require me to be more creative with my coupons, scour the internet frugal forums and coupon forums for more coupons, find more ways to take full advantage of the coupons out there, and figure out the "magic" behind CVS's ECB's. (Which although I'm getting the concept I still can't quite grasp how these momma's are saving so much cash there!)

I've been contemplating cloth diapering again as of late and have decided to pursue that route with Super N at this point. She keeps getting Impetigo on her butt, thighs and lower tummy and she has been on a round of antibiotics for it already but it keeps coming back no matter how often I change her. She has really sensitive skin it seems and so Jason and I are thinking cloth my be a good idea for her. I got her a wool diaper for night time, it's really cute! It looks just like a knitted sweater that goes on her butt! I also am planning on doing cloth with Baby J, but that could be short lived depending on if I can swing laundry, nursing on no sleep, and watching the other two kidlets daily. I'm keeping an open mind about my capabilities since I don't know entirely what to expect. I plan as well to let W wear some of the cloth diapers during the day that I've bought for Super N, they wear the same size. I'll just put him in a disposable at night and thus cut down on my grocery budget since I won't have to spend as much on diapers. Not sure about what I'm going to do about wipes yet. I used to use baby wash cloths as wipes when I cloth diapered W and Super N early on so I may institute that again, we'll see.

Also, last time I used cloth I went from doing the inexpensive way of cloth diapering, prefolds and simple covers or rubber pants to eventually buying pretty expensive Fuzzi Bunz (which I love btw!) But now I've decided to go back to prefolds and fitted prefolds and simple rubber pants for Super N and Prowraps for Baby J. You can't beat the old fashioned rubber pants(technically nylon) at $2-$3 a pop versus the $18 each you pay for Fuzzi Bunz! Granted I did get a great return rate of about $10 bucks a diaper when I sold them used.

At any rate, I'm currently scouring the local grocery ads in my free time, organizing my coupons, making a menu based on what's on sale currently (I think I'll try shopping at Krogers this coming weekend) and I'm somewhat planning a trip to the local CVS one evening this week to see what the ECB's can do for my budget.

It's Potty Time

The evening is winding down and I just cleaned up the toys and got myself a piece of a fruit tart I made and a cup of milk. Jason is upstairs with the little people giving them a bath. I knew he forgot to take the diapers upstairs for when they are done so I got up to get those for him and at the same time he came barreling down the stairs looking for diapers. He said, "Guess who just peed in the potty?!" I got all weepy (no kidding) and said, "W sat down on the potty and peed?!" Jason said, "No, he stood up and peed!"

I guess Jason asked him if he had to go pee and if he wanted to pee in the potty, he said no. But then Jason peed in the potty and W watched and then decided I'm gonna do it! And so he did!

Now i have to find somewhere to write this down so i don't forget that my baby peed in the potty on Feb 7, 08. It's the little things you know...

Almost 3 and 18 months...

Maybe I won't have to go to Target ever again

So as of late i've taken measures to try to avoid going to Target. Don't get me wrong I love Target but everytime I go in there i come away having spent way too much money. Not anymore! I can purchase my diapers and my wipes and my toiletries and everything else somewhere else. This is my plan.

Amazon.com had this deal going on where if you join their subscribe and save program you get a certain percentage off and you don't get charged shipping fees. Well i signed up to get my paper towels, toilet paper, dishsoap, dishwasher soap, diapers and wipes sent to my home. I know that's a lot of boxes and stuff. But the thing is is that the toilet paper and paper towels come every 3 months, the dishwasher soap every 6 months and the diapers and wipes every month. I ended up canceling the dishsoap b/c there's 12 bottles in a box! I think i go through maybe 3 bottles of dish soap a year, so i guess i'm set for a while with the one box.

The Amazon.com subscribe and save program is in my opinion a good deal. With the percentage I got off of my dry goods and then the free shipping I got a deal! The only thing with choosing to buy this way is that you need to have a place to store your items b/c everything is in bulk. So if you don't have somewhere or a shelf for the stuff you may need to invest up front in something to contain all the goods. I fortunately have three shelves in my basement that we don't use that were intended for a garage sell but not any more! So recycling items i already have cut down on my initial costs of buying items this way.

But anyways you may be thinking well how much did you spend up front to get all that?! Well i believe it was an initial investment of $200. I then divided the cost over the next 6 months and it will come out of my grocery budget for each month.

So for me the convenience factor of not having to think about purchasing these items and/or running out of them is great and worth it.

Another frugal idea to keep me out of Target, after searching online the last few weeks and reading others blog written by moms trying to save money and pay off debt, i realized that a lot of them shop at CVS. Jason and i just recently had a conversation about drugstores like CVS. We couldn't figure out how they stay in business when there are places like Target around. Well ironically I found out how within a few weeks from wondering.

CVS has something they call ECB's or Extra Care Bucks. These are essentially dollars that you collect on your keychain swiper card as you buy certain items and prescriptions from CVS. I've had the card for a few years but it never ever occurred to me that there were benefits to using it other than you get the advertised sale price for an item. I read blogs as of late where moms will have ECB's that they use on sale items and then they use coupons too and they literally come out spending pennies on toiletries and makeup. It's phenomenal and it's got me really excited to peruse the ads when the sunday paper comes. I'm now committed to purchasing our toiletries and prescriptions at the local drugstore, which btw is very close to my house and open late.

I hope these ideas help you with making more frugal decisions or just with making life a little bit easier.

Low Grade Anxiety

I think i'm experiencing low grade anxiety. Two weeks ago i woke up twice at 4am and once at 3am. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if i would've fallen back to sleep but i didn't. Which means I was up from 3-4am until around 10pm. Watching the kids on a few hours of sleep is very painful. I had the same problem this week except it was two days where i woke up super early. I did however manage to get two full nights of sleep but as you may know you can't make up sleep deprivation. I did however feel better but i was still whipped.

I think my anxiety is coming from all the things i have in my head that i feel need done before the baby comes. I look around my house and although i'm incredibly grateful for it and the stuff in it i feel that it's dirty and needs scrubbed clean and i want some of the rooms painted. The reality of painting just seems exhausting though so I'm not sure what to do. Can i just live with it?? I don't know yet.

When i was pregnant with Nora I spent that last month of pregnancy painting my fireplace and wall above it and the stairwell. Oh yes not to forget the many trips up and down the stairs filling in cracks and gaps with caulk and then priming and painting. I was determined to not see cracks when i walked up the steps. But now 19 months later the stairwell looks as if it needs another coat of paint! It's neverending I'm guessing.

Today we do plan to go to Lowe's and purchase a few things to do projects around the house. I received a cool door knocker for my birthday from my in laws back in December. Jason plans to install once we find the appropriate hardware to attach it to the door. I also hope to purchase some paint for one of Will's bedroom walls, i'm thinking turquoise! And i hope to purchase a gallon of high gloss white paint for his trim. His room definitely needs done soon b/c we are moving Nora in there until baby Joseph (due in April) is sleeping through the night.

Today I sold my beautiful bamboo armoire. I watched it being carried out the door and out of my life forever. I know it's just stuff but honestly i am a materialist and i planned to keep the stuff i love until i died or until it died. But my life is about practicality and simplicity now. With almost 3 little people running around and growing bigger we need space and less stuff. And the lady who bought it on Craigslist fell in love with it and is thoroughly tickled by it so I think she'll take care of it. Atlease it won't end up at Xenos where I have to see it every time i go to church. (A story I can tell you another day...)

Beginner Potager Gardener

I've started to plan a garden. I've chosen to take the economical approach and start seedlings of the plants i want to grow indoors, in my basement to be exact. Little did I know how much the cost up front would be. But regardless, i'm thoroughly excited and can't wait to start planting.

I'm going to probably end up planting too many things at first and overwhelm myself but i can't seem to narrow my selection of seeds down any further.
I plan to grow:

carrots
a mix of hot peppers
sweet peppers
hybrid tomatoes
cold set tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
spinach
lettuce mix
snap peas
eggplant
garden peas
corn
a selection of herbs

I'm very excited about this but i'm also a bit anxious about the whole thing. Anxiety has crept in b/c well what if the grow light I'm going to invest in doesn't provide enough heat to get the roots established? Or what if I get all the plants established and when i transplant them in the ground, they all die. Crap! Well nontheless I'm going to move forward and if i must i will go to Oakland Nursery and buy new plants, if of course i can come up with more cash hah!

Like I said though I'm very excited as well. The plan for my garden is to not sow traditional rows
of seedlings but instead to create a potager garden or as what some refer to as a square foot garden. Check out this link to see what Wikipedia says about potager gardens...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potager_garden. Make sure you clink on the square foot gardening bullet point and check that out too, it's pretty cool.


I plan to create two 3'x3 'squares and then divide those squares into 9 separate 12"x12" squares. In each 12" square i will plant a vegetable. I'll probably plant my tomatoes in the middle though since i'll have cages and they together will create architecture and thus be aesthetically pleasing.

My 3'x3' squares will be raised beds. I purchased two recycled plastic raised beds that will not deteriorate and can be disassembled and stored away if necessary. I hope to buy two more of these next year if I'm successful this year. I also plan to create two more raised beds with some old bricks and cinder blocks i found in my garage last summer. So when my raised beds are together and the seedlings are planted and hopefully thriving my garden will consist of 4 squares that form a square themselves but there will be a walking path between each bed. The purpose of the walking path is to allow you to weed more easily as well as keep an eye on your plants for rodent or insect infestation.

Jason was going to hit the large home improvement store around the corner this coming saturday and buy the necessary components to build me a grow light or two but with the time it takes to build the light, including the electrical components and install it and then purchasing the bulbs, etc. I decided to just do some research and I managed to find a grow light that seems to be around what we would've spent at the home improvement store and he's grateful for not having to devote time to building those (plus he has a substantial "honey do" list already.)

At any rate, i'm going to try to find some information on potager gardening & square foot gardening and then post it on here.

All the thrifty moms out there...

About 2 weeks ago i overhauled our budget. Jason and i for the last few years have been feeling more and more stressed b/c we just couldn't seem to get our finances together. We've never defaulted on loans or anything like that but instead we are just wooed by many material possessions and i'm often won over by convenience items, anything to make life a little easier.

The last few months though I've had a change of heart about our finances and our responsibilities to our kids. One day it occurred to me that my children will need to go to the dentist and since we don't have dental insurance and I know what it costs Jason and i just to get a periodic cleaning and xray or filling, i panicked.

About a year ago some friends had been telling me about the book The Money Makeover. I bought it and read it and i guess you can say i've been contemplating it the last year. Our church offered a financial workshop a few weekends ago. It was about a 4 hour workshop and i had planned to attend but as the weekend drew nearer the thought of spending 4 hours of my time sitting in a room sounded awful! So instead i allowed the kids to play around me for about 2 or 3 mornings and got all our financial information down on paper and evaluated everything. I then came up with a plan that will have us out of debt in 3 years and have our house paid off in 6 years. This has been a very freeing process to go through.

I am now obsessed with moms who blog about ways to save money. It's encouraging and motivating and i'm finding it fun to see how low i can get the grocery budget. I would love to know how others save money. If you read this and feel so inclined to share...Please Do!

Challenges

Sometimes i'm so confused about all that needs done in life. I think about how much my kids need from me, just on a practical level...hell! What my marriage requires to be just one notch above hum drum and mediocre and how much i'm required to walk on eggshells around people i love.

Hubby and I are in counseling thank God! It seems we do need help navigating through this time in our life b/c we both feel lost at to how to communicate...er finding time to communicate, how to communicate and what the hell does it look like to "do" this family thing together?? Counseling has been very good albeit painful but nonetheless good.

My kids...i love them dearly. They're so goofy and infuriating and clever etc, etc. I'm grateful for them but sometimes you wouldn't know that. I see how my selfishness affects them and it grieves me. But literally they wake up the next day or from the next nap and it's as if nothing happened. Their little hearts are so big and forgiving.

Being almost 29 weeks pregnant now, i'm not sleeping all that well. I think it's anxiety related but i'm not sure. I tend to be an anxious person in my core and so it wouldn't surprise me if i'm not sleeping b/c of that. There's been a lot of change recently in my life and I'm not fond of that. I do in general enjoy the idea of change but the reality of adjusting to change...no thanks! But that's where my life is at and that is what is being required of me so...

My friend Kristin had her baby. I'm so excited for her and her family. I need to remember to pray for her at this time b/c it's going to be an adjustment for them. I remember that i cried a lot during the last few months of my pregnancy with Nora and after i had her. My tears were mostly b/c i felt guilty for not being able to give Will what i wanted to give him. It took a while for me to adjust and realize, he's okay, i'm okay, we'll be okay. Fortunately, with preparing to have Joseph i'm more at rest with this stuff and I don't think it's going to be as overwhelming. I've had to research ways to keep the other babes busy so i can nurse Joseph and that in itself has relieved a lot of anxiety off my heart. I fortunately too have a close network of friends these days who are nursing or recently stopped that can give me tips and encouragement to battle through the adjustment stage of returning to breastfeeding.

Congratulations Kristin you hang in there Girl!!