Monthly Archives: February 2014

Random Snow Day Thoughts

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Today was one of the best snow days, I can remember and yet I did not step one foot outside the house!

The kids went sledding early this morning and then made a family of snowmen this afternoon.

Last night we enjoyed “The Croods” including 4 bags of popcorn and tonight we played “Sorry” with the little kids for over an hour and no one cried! They all seemed to catch on to the rules and enjoyed just playing! For the official record, Kendall was the winner!

Matt suggested that since we were going to be stuck inside for several days we should restock some of the convenience foods we have around. I focused on Breakfast today; pancakes (Matt made us some for breakfast and we have enough for several more mornings.), 2 egg and spinach dishes and a huge batch of muffins.

I tried a new recipe with the muffins, with a plan to freeze half but instead they were so good, they will not last another day. Who knew Banana chocolate chip muffins would be such a hit!

Included in my snow day were 7 loads of laundry and emptying the dishwasher 3 times in addition to our regularly schedule bill paying.

If I don’t have to attempt to make it to work tomorrow then this will be the longest  weekend I have had without beginning out of town. 4.5 days in a row!

End of an Era— Potty Training Ends!

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I am so excited, the biggest and best milestone has occurred at my house. Zach is finally completely potty trained even at night. This means that I have bought my last pull up/diaper EVER!  Let me repeat after 8 consecutive years of buying diapers/pull-ups I AM FINISHED!

Each of my children has been very different in regards to potty training. Both  Amanda and Haley, were completely trained before they were 2 years old. In fact, I think I remember Haley being trained before 18 months.  Lily was also a very early trainer, I distinctly remember that she was completely out of diapers/pull ups prior to Kendall’s birth.   Lily was 2.5,when Kendall was born.  Kendall does everything on her own terms. The last time she wore a pull up was during our Disney trip in  April 2011.  I seriously debated keeping her in pull ups during the day at Disney  but she refused! Kendall was 33 months old during this trip.

Then we have Zach, he currently is 4 .5 years old. He has been trained during the day for a year but continued to pee regularly at night. We finally decided that we had to get serious. So we made him wear underwear to bed. To our surprise and amazement, he did not pee the first night but did the second night. Our strategy worked and less than 3 weeks later, he has had only 2 accidents at night!

Join me in my happy dance!

 

Brand Loyalty and Coupons

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One of the first things you will read when beginning to coupon or trying to learn more about coupons is that you can’t be brand loyal.  I disagree with this statement. I have discovered over the years, that I am more brand loyal than I would have ever imagined. The things that come to mind are deodorant, laundry detergent, toilet paper and of course Diet Coke. In addition, Matt has used the same razor brand since we got married almost 10 years ago.  This weekend almost all of the above have been needed and on sale so I have spent $93 of my $300 grocery budget on these items.  But most of these should last the rest of the month if not several months

. First of all, let talk about Matt’s razors, I have learned that is it usually cheaper to buy him a whole new “Proglide razor” than purchase the replacement cartilages.  When we travel, he will use disposable ones just to save time. So I usually purchase disposable razors when I find a really good deal( less than $1.00) on them.  I know his preference for razors so if a good deal is running I will buy at least one and stick back, however this morning, he let me know that he was completely out of razors.  I checked my bag and found a rain check so this afternoon he was back in business. I love CVS because their rain checks never run out. I ended up spending $2.00 for his razor of choice!

Next is laundry detergent, I have tried several brands including the Kirkland one but return to Tide because it cleans and does not bother the sensitive skins of Lily or Zach. Tide usually goes on sale once every 3 months or so. I try to stock up but also know that I can grab an ok deal at Costco on Tide if I need to. I feel like the money I spend on Tide is made up with keeping the resale value of the kids clothes in addition to prolonging the life of most of the other clothes.  CVS also had a good deal on Tide so I purchased 4 20 load bottles. This should last until the next sale cycle.  The one exception I make in this area is a general exception across the board, if an item is free and I am shopping that store anyway, then I grab it. One of the black Friday deals at CVS was their brand laundry detergent, I grab both my free bottles. I will use these on our beach trip because I watch swim suits and towels every day or for towel at home. These are nice to have in a pinch as well. if it is free then it is worth one load of laundry.

Following close behind the laundry detergent is toilet paper. We have a really bad septic systems that we have spent several thousand dollars on in the past 4 years.  So I have to be careful what we put in it. I have found that Scott Extra Bath Tissue, first is soft enough to use and then is one of the safest for our system. Luckily, between coupons and sales, I can always find it for $0.45 cent a roll or less. Today, I grabbed it $0.40 cent a roll. In comparison when purchasing from Costco, I end up paying $0.63 a roll for the house brand, I purchased 54 rolls today so I am positive that we will be using them for several months!

Finally deodorant, I have always like Mitchum, luckily I am usually able to purchase for $1.00 or less a bottle I always grab as many as I have coupons for anytime I see them for this price. Matt on the other hand is adventurous in the area. But last year, he discovered “Right Guard” cooling effect. I have been able to stock pile about a 2 year supply so currently unless it is free, we don’t purchase any men’s deodorant!