what i didn't want to tell you, but must

it is with much anxiety that i write this next post. because let's just say you thought i was just a little bit tolerable. get ready to let go of that. i have a major coupon book now and in a major way. think this (scroll down to the video on her coupone binder), but alphabetized, unlabeled, and possibly bigger if you can fathom it.

let me walk you down the path that leads me to here...exposing the thing you wish you didn't know about me. there was an unfortunate event where i was caught on top of the washing machine assessing my stockpile shelf by someone that has known me for quite sometime.



my sister em with ava. ; )




one defensive explanation on top of that washing machine led to another and before i knew it i was baring my soul and presenting my coupon book and all its glory. i will not/can not do that here today. we're just gonna talk about it is'all. i'm just not ready yet. in fact i usually take it to the store with me and look both ways before i expose it in all its trapper keeper loveliness. though if you pretend that you are interested, i'm very easily persuaded to show you.


robbie pretends he's disgusted with all of this, but when he's not running to the store in a poop emergency with only diapers on the list (because we're stockpiled on diapers for at least a month!)....he LOVES it. just the very very quiet kind of way you can love something. you know the kind.



yes, things have changed quite a bit from my last post about toying with this coupon/stockpiling lifestyle. i'm in like flynn with it and there is no turning back. i've been doing this since then and it has proven to be worth my time. for the first 6 months or so i tracked my spending here. the first few months i did not really spend less, which i had heard that may happen when you start stocking up. but after a few months our grocery expenses have literally cut in half. the savings are definitely worth the little time that i have and if savings can be computed to getting paid - then it definitely pays more per hour than my job.

the other day olive asked me if next time we go to the store i could get her some blueberry yogurt. i told her that yes, i could. but then she hesitated....


"...but do you have a coupon for it and will it be on sale?"

it was then that i realized that this was going to be a little part of my legacy with them. you know how there are these things in life that make your mom, your mom?

like with my mom...it's the black licorice, the feasting when you are in her presence, the asian way she answers the phone, the mixing up of (very, VERY) common phrases, the Bible reading on the porch, the "global thinking", and the "this is the truth" talk. love you, mom.

and i have mixed emotions about how this will read to my own children one day. i want to keep my motives in check for why i do what i do. so, kids (if you do read this when you are "of age"), money is NOT everything or anything really unless you are CHANGING peoples lives with it and actually that truth is something that comes to mind when i think about my mom too. the older she gets, the more that she says that. and i am learning that the more you let it go, the more you attach to things that can really fill you up.


so i say, keep an eye on what God has blessed you with and keep checking yourself that your heart is not wrapped around it.






the girls now collect their own coupons. i passed down my original coupon book to them and they beg me for coupons that i won't use. you know you've got a problem when you can't even spare one. i save my expired ones for them. they also cut up random papers and declare them coupons. it's funny to see these glimpses of how they must view me. geesh, i'm awesome.





things i have let go of:

brand specific"ness" or pickiness, if you will. truth is. it don't matter usually. USUALLY. i still need my mitchum deoderant. i apparently sweat mud brown without it. though lately i am branching out to other deoderants that claim "clinical strength". cause that's what it's gonna take. but this can work in reverse too. i used to only buy off brand diapers. but recently had like 5 coupons for $5 off a package of huggies (i got 2 babes in diapers). waited for the sale and got 5 jumbo packs of diapers for $4 a piece. i am cringing at myself and begging me to shut up by the way right now. but this all must come out.

paying anything for toothpaste and paying more than a dollar for shampoo or conditioner: this is only if you do the CVS extra care buck thing. there is always a free deal for toothpaste every couple months. and always coupons for shampoo/conditioner making the dollar rule of thumb possible.

thinking about what i'm going to feed these kids: i don't have to think about what to feed the kids for breakfast and lunch. i buy what i find first at amazing savings (because i really do like feeding my family organic- and that is how we can afford to) and then what i find on sale and matched w/ a coupon. it is virtually decision free. tuna is what we have this week, kids. eat it or survive on your dora the explorer vitamin.



anyway, i'm nothing if not a promoter of things that are working for me. and i'm just popping in to tell you that i have very little spare time (this place helps in the time department and finds the sales that aren't even in the ads)and yet this is something that is worth that time. may i suggest before making some drastic financial decision in this tight economy to try this first? if you happen to be interested ask me and i'll talk your ear off about it sometime.


poor, poor, poor sweet tessa and her unborn daughter. she is my oldest friend that i still have (i think we're going on 17 years?) anyway she has seen me through "my new things" and then some. she made the mistake of asking me about this recently and i emailed her my thesis on it.





thank you, God, that people love me DESPITE

so here it is. that's enough about all that! so please, please come out of the woodworks here and tell me that you secretly do this stuff too. or tell me other nerdy things about you. i can't be alone in my nerdiness.