Yesterday my daughter came running up to me exclaiming, "44 More Days! 44 More Days!"
She's the countdown queen always counting down to the next big event. Skipping, singing...44 more days! As soon as the jubilant words were in earshot, I was overcome with a huge sense of anxiety. My heart began racing. Adrenaline was coursing through my extremities.
A couple months ago a friend held a "Couponing" gathering at her home. She had mountains of "Freebies" piled up in display around our meeting area. She took us on a tour of her stashed finds. She inspired us to conquer our couponing fears and take hold of the world of free, or close to free, goods.
I sat a bit overwhelmed as she laid the groundwork of "How To's." I knew it could be done, but where to even begin.
I hate to say I'm a "cheap date" because those words just sound wrong, but in actuality, I guess I am!
There was a time in our lives, before kids, where we would fly to San Francisco for our anniversary or plan some elaborate get-away. Those were the days of two incomes, a lot of time, and not a whole lot on the calendar. Now just getting away for a couple hours is a rarity, but a HUGE blessing!
I love our home life just the way it is and wouldn't change a thing! We're so blessed by our kids and the memories we're creating together.
For our anniversary this year we decided to head to Disneyland sans children and just wander around with no plans. Prior to heading out we ordered teriyaki chicken for the kids and ended up nibbling on it along with them. After eating we headed to California Adventure. It was a chilly SoCal night!
California Adventure has a TRON 3D experience we had not yet seen. It's a 3D movie trailer. After watching it I realized I remembered very little about the TRON movie. I wonder if I fell asleep while watching? Give me a bucket of popcorn, a cozy chair in the dark, and two hours and I'll probably fall asleep. Guess I slept through some of it.
This is the entrance to the Hollywood Backlot and Electronica.
Next we headed over to FLYNN'S. It's a video arcade filled with video games of the 80's. Here you'll find 40-somethings reliving the glory days of videoing while "Juke Box Hero" plays in the background. I did hear a song I hadn't heard since the New Wave days of the 80's. This is the mostly English version. It brings back memories and shows the wackiness of the early 80's.
My date exchanged a whopping $5 for video coins and we went to town! It's amazing how long $5 lasts when only two people are playing! We tried a number of games, but trying to find my Donkey Kong Junior skills proved to be just too hard. My sweetheart excels at Galaga. He's so cool! Centipede is my game. I hogged most of the coins for my favorite. My sweetheart just let me play. He's so good to me!
He takes this very seriously!
I was really bad at this game!
See my score? I almost got to post my initials!
Flynn's
He's really good at this one!
Tap-tap-tap...I wish you could see the instantaneous firing! It really was impressive!
After Flynn's we headed out to Downtown Disney where I asked my sweetheart to treat me to a dessert of Bread Pudding (totally not paleo) from Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. We cozied up to a little table and shared our dessert together.
Happy Anniversary to us! This year was one of our best anniversaries yet! I think we just may be discovering contentment. It's not about having the fanciest or most elaborate celebrations. It's about being together, having family, and making memories.
We came home to a house that was immaculately cleaned by three smiling children. They're so good to us! I couldn't ask for more!
Couponing seems to be all the rage right. It's not surprising as many families are trying to make every dollar stretch while corporations are handing out incentives to encourage spending.
Years ago, I'd look through the Sunday paper trying to save $0.50 here and there, but it really didn't seem worth the time or the energy. I had a short-lived couponing interest, but I think times are changing.
There is a couponing craze going on right now. You can have the latest and greatest coupons delivered to your email box daily. All you have to do is print them out. There are Couponers like the gals at Fabulessly Frugal or The Frugal Girls who have couponing down to a science. It really is amazing. We've watched some of their video clips and I'm speechless when viewing their savings! They are Extreme Couponers and they even have a 90 minute presentation on how you too can become fabuless!
I would say these gals have their PhD in couponing, while I've just entered a the preschool of couponing. Slowly, I'm getting a glimpse of the savings to be had, but it's all still a bit overwhelming. Maybe I should use the coupon and buy the video presentation.
One thing I've noticed with all this couponing is many of the products with coupons are not products I'd ever buy. We're not going to start eating pizza rolls or boxed dinners just because they may be free. In order to find coupons of food we'd actually eat or products we use, I've had to do a little more research. Whole Foods has great coupons available online or in a store publication. In addition you can print coupons from Horizon Dairy or Organic Valley for organic products. For some items, if you "Like" them on Facebook, they'll give you a coupon to print out. I'm trying to discipline myself to search for an item I'm interested in and see if there's a coupon before rushing out to the store. I'm gathering I've just hit the tip of the couponing iceberg.
In the last few weeks I've experienced couponing success at Staples. We go through a lot of paper in this homeschooling home and at $3-4 per ream it can really add up. Right now Staples has an offer on Hammermill Copy Plus Paper. The regular price is $6.79/ package. Immediately you receive $1.80 off at the checkout, thus paying $4.99. They will then print out a rebate form for $4.49/package. This means the package of paper will end up costing $0.50! What a bargain!
When all is said and done, these 2 packages of paper were $1. Great savings!
So begins this couponing adventure. I'm sure there's a homeschool project one of the kids can do as I know I have a couple kids who are great at reading the grocery advertisements and keeping me up to date with the sales.
Living a life of good financial stewardship is not just the responsible thing to do, it's teaching our kids wonderful life lessons to live within our means.
