Holy AWESOME-NESS!

HI! Remember me?! Haha! I feel like I've been SO busy these days that I don't even remember who I am.

Hope you all are doing amazing! Things have sure been fun and crazy around this household. Went on a family camping trip a couple weekends ago (my daughter's first time at a beach) and it was a complete success! Miss K had a BLAST eating all the sand she could get her hands on, as well as throwing it at unsuspecting victims that came near her, my hubby and I were able to have a little break from being parents thanks to my In laws! Even though it was a bit wet and rainy most of the trip, the memories we left with were priceless and made it all worth it. That trip was probably the last time my husband's family will be completely together again for a while. he's one of 4 brothers and with us and another brother living where we are, makes family get together's a little more difficult. One of my brother in laws enlisted into the Army, to become a Ranger, and left for Basic Training down in Georgia today. It's definitely bittersweet to think that it might be YEARS before we see him again (unless we can cross paths around Xmas or his leave). We couldn't be more proud of what he's doing for our country and we just can't wait to see him grow and accomplish so much. I have dreams that we'll barely recognize him the next time we see him haha. One of the biggest things I think about often is how he is one of Miss K's favorite people in the world and I just hope that she remembers who he is even though she's still pretty young. We plan on showing her pictures of him daily and talk about him often so he doesn't become a "stranger" to her but I have "nightmares" that when she sees him again she treats him like one. I can only hope for the best because if I start doing the "what ifs" I'll make myself crazy! Constant prayers for his safety would very GREATLY appreciated! :-)

As far as the whole weight loss thing...I hit my first bump in the road...and I anticipated it. I know that sounds awful but I expected to gain a pound or two during our camping trip but to my disappointment I gained 4 lbs back :-( THANKFULLY, I got my butt back in gear once we got back and lost 2 of those pounds again in a week haha. So, I'm standing at 15 lbs lost at the moment. Still not bad at all ;-) I'm completely on track with losing a pound a week, even with that gain and that makes me happy! I'm just very anxious to lose a couple more pounds to get my running shoes!! I want to start training for Bloomsday SO bad but the shoes I have would end up doing damage to me in the long run so they're worth the wait :-)

As if I didn't have enough things to keep me busy...a good gal pal of mine starting putting the bug in my ear about couponing (which has been on my mind for almost a year now) and possibly giving it a try. I'll admit...I thought about getting really into couponing but I just didn't know where to start and every time I tried to read about it, I would get completely overwhelmed by all the information and how to use coupons "correctly" to get all the amazing deals that I was seeing people talk about all over the Internet. Since my friend offered to help me get my feet wet, show me the ropes, teach me the lingo and take me on a shopping trip to see couponing in action....I couldn't pass up the opportunity. She had me clip a few coupons of things I saw that I was interested in buying, showed me this website called FabuLESSly Frugal (BEST couponing site EVER!), where a group of women dedicate what little spare time they have to put this site together for people like me to help us understand how to couponing works. They really "dumb" it down and make it easy to learn! I was SO impressed by this site that I thought it was too good to be true! And the best part...IT'S FREE!!! These woman really lay it out for you. They tell you which coupons are available, where to find them, where the best deals are, how to use the coupons to maximize your savings, and how you can find MORE!

After I printed my coupons, bought some newspapers, clipped more coupons, we headed out the door to Albertson's Sunday. Just an FYI, Albertson's has these coupons they offer around every couple weeks in the Sunday paper called "Twice The Value" coupons, they double the value of any manufacturer's coupon that's a $1.00 or less...coolest things ever! So, back to my story haha. I wanted to start SMALL because I didn't want to stress myself out or bite off more than I could chew so the only thing I had on my shopping list was (based on the sales and coupons available) chips, dip and soup. I learned very quickly that there is definitely a "science" behind couponing and that if one thing doesn't line up, or if there are items unavailable, it can throw off the entire trip and the savings that are possible. We arrived at Albertson's and of course, the Progresso soup we wanted, was out of stock :-( Someone must have been on our side because they has a large flat hidden at the back at the store at the end of an aisle that was PACKED with the ProgressoHAHA! My friend got through her transactions and it was my turn. I had 4 back of Tostitos tortilla chips, 2 Tostitos dips and 8 cans of Progress soup. After discounted prices and scanned coupons, I walked away only spending $12.96 for ALL of that! The chips and dip alone, full price, came to almost twice what I paid, and that isn't including the full price for the 8 cans of soup!!! I only paid .50 cents PER CAN of Progresso! And well...here is a picture of my receipts...I'll let the numbers do the rest of the talking...(click on the picture to make it larger)

 Needless to say, I WAS HOOKED! This experience definitely made me feel confident to start trying this on my own and really start to get into it! As soon as I got home, I told my hubby about my experience and showed him all the goodies....let's just say that he also became pumped about the idea of couponing and wanted to get involved in it with me! We made our shopping lists, got our coupons organized and ready (WAY more coupons than my first trip) and headed out again on Tuesday to see how we'd end up. After visiting two different stores, using up all our coupons (even purchasing big ticket items), this is what we ended up at...

Spent $87.99 on $177.67 worth of groceries which came out to be around 51% savings, we bought 54 items and spent an average of $1.63 per item! :-) I'm sure there were situations where we could have saved more, but with this being our first trip, doing it all on our own, we were pretty damn excited!!! Here were just a couple deals we came across...

For these 6 bottles of shampoo, that are normally regularly priced around $4.99 per bottle...

...we only spent $1.93 PER BOTTLE! When we originally set out to get these, we were only suppose to get them for $1.19 per bottle, but the morning we arrived at Albertson's, they were no longer accepting the coupon combination that would have made them that cheap. STILL A STEAL at $1.93 for the size of the bottles and the number we bought! ;-) Won't need to get shampoo for a while :-)

A HUGE, surprise deal that we came across what Tide laundry detergent...the 100oz jugs pictured below, for this specific size and brand, run about $12-15 PER JUG...

We found them in the clearance carts at Safeway, they were originally $14.99 and they'd been marked down at 50% off which made them $7.49 each and then we had 2 coupons for a dollar of each of them...we walked about only paying $6.49 for each of these :-) I mean, sure, we could have gotten an off brand that's normally close to what we paid on a regular basis, but for us to be able to get Tide for that price...WINNING! :-)

It's definitely going to take us more time to get stuff for free or around pennies but we're excited just to be doing it! Oh, and my friend Kat that I went with on Sunday, she got 10 boxes of cereal for around .38-.88 cents a piece ;-)

This is what our cupboards look like right now...

LOVE IT!

Do any of you guys coupon? If so, I'd love to hear your experiences or stories!

I think I'll end this post here lol...HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Much Love,

Caty