Admit it, most of you don't like having your picture taken...ESPECIALLY after just having a baby. I'm admitting it! Yes, more often than not, I'm shying away from cameras. When you become a Mother, it can be SO easy to get carried away with taking TONS of pictures of your kiddos doing everything. My poor child knew what a camera was and what to do when there was one in the room when she was just months old (whoops!) because I took it EVERYWHERE with us.
Someone shared this post with me and it brought me to tears.
I am guilty of being that Mom/person that didn't want her photo taken when I felt like I was an eyesore to the world.
And it's not just Mom's that are guilty of this. Dad's are too, but in a different way. Sometimes it's a struggle to get my hubby behind a camera because he doesn't like posing for pictures but he's a champ and humors me (I love you babe!).
I've made it my mission to be more vulnerable and get IN FRONT of the camera more and more instead of being the one behind it missing all the action. So, here's my husband and I, getting behind the camera more with our daughter. I hope this helps inspire some of you to do that same. Our babies grow up WAY to fast for us to be worrying how we look in pictures, instead we just need to let go and HAVE FUN with our kids to make some amazing memories! Our children could series care less about what we look like, start taking some photos! If you do, I'd love to see yours :-)
When I first started blogging back in July 2010 shortly after my daughter was born, a lot of what I started blogging about was my journey of switching to cloth diapers.
The decision we made to cloth diaper was extremely fast. Miss K was just two months old we decided that we wanted to get her in cloth as soon as possible so I just started ordering diapers that we could afford rather than what "the best ones" out there were. If you weren't following my blog back then, here are all my posts about cloth diapering if you wanted to see what my entire first experience was like OR if you're considering cloth diapering for your household, I have SO many posts with awesome info too! :-) I have my post listed below, in order (including cloth diaper reviews I did):
*If you don't want to read these posts, just skip down to "Lesson Learned #1: Research More About Cloth Diaper Brands*
{Lesson Learned #1: Research More About Cloth Diaper Brands}
I don't 100% regret not taking the time to do more research on different brands, but this time we've definitely taken more time and care into researching.
The first time around, a huge portion of our stash were Nubunz diapers.
At the time, these diapers were the most appealing because they were only $8.00 each brand new or about $5.00 for "seconds" diapers and we loved the different color options. I ordered about 20 of them since the price was so reasonable. Unfortunately, these diapers maybe last a year. Maybe they fell apart because I did something wrong (after all, we WERE newbies at cloth diapering) but I strictly followed the care instructions and the PUL material in almost all of them started to get holes, leak, or detach from the outside fabric of the diaper making it almost impossible to put the terrycloth inserts in them. If it wasn't the PUL material falling apart, the next issue we had was, what I like to call, the "perma-stink" issue. When you use cloth diapers, after some time some of the diapers tend to start smelling and this is usually when the diapers need to be "stripped" to help get rid of the excess soap build up and what not. I stripped the diapers a few times and the smell remained. Sometimes switching cloth diaper detergent helps, but even after I did that, and received tons of help from the customer service reps at Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent (which to this very day is still my all time favorite CD detergent and you serious CANNOT beat the service you get from this company)...I couldn't get rid of the smell.
The reason I don't 100% regret purchasing Nubunz diapers is because even though they didn't last the entire time we cloth diapered Miss K, we still felt we got our money's worth out of $8.00 diapers. To only spend around $190 for a year's worth of cloth diapers vs spending WAY more for disposables for a 3 month old....I'd do it again tomorrow! haha!
The cloth diaper brands that I purchased that I still love more than ever to this day are the ones from Sustainable Hemp Products, Banana Bottoms, and Thirsties Duo Wraps.
Brands that we're interested in trying out that we've done more research on: Fuzzibunz, Charlie Banana, Rumparooz Lil' Joey Diapers, GroVia, and bumGenius diapers.
{Lesson Learned #2: One Size Diapers Aren't Really Newborn Friendly}
Miss K has really skinny legs from when she was a newborn until she was about 6 months old when she FINALLY started to fill into her one size diapers. We had quite a few leaky days and nights before her little thighs got big enough :-) I had a few friends and other cloth diaper Mama's tell me about newborn diapers. The biggest complaint I found about newborn diapers was the investment people were making in newborn diapers when kiddos weren't in them for very long, however it's still a much easier purchase to make because newborns go through the most diapers. Most newborn cloth diapers only go up to 12lbs and with the rapid weight gain the little ones have during that age, it doesn't leave much time to use newborn diapers.
{Lesson Learned #3: Purchase TWO Sets of Wetbags}
I had only purchased one hanging wet bag to store dirty diapers in at home and only one travel wetbag. The problem I faced immediately was that every time I had to wash the wetbags, I had nothing to put dirty diapers in for hours while I waited for the bags to dry :-( So I'm definitely going to be purchasing a second set so that this doesn't happen again. My hubby and I weren't too pleased about dealing with the smell of dirty diapers when we didn't have a wetbag to put them in ;-)
.::What We're Doing Differently Next Time Around::.
#1 - Cloth Diapering From Birth
Since we had never thought about possibly using cloth diapers, we didn't get to start cloth diapering until Miss K was a little over 3 months old. For us, cloth diapering was not only about saving money but about not wanting the chemicals in disposable diapers to touch Miss K's bum. She ended up getting the WORST rashes frequently when she was in disposables and when we put her in cloth, they drastically dropped in frequency.
#2 - Trying Out Different Types Of Cloth
The only two types of diapers we used with Miss K were a large amount of pocket diapers and fitted diapers that required covers. Diapers we want to try out are newborn diapers, prefold diapers,
all in ones, and we want to add more one size and fitted diapers to our
stash.
#3 - Line Drying Outside/Sunning Diapers More Often
Since we've lived in apartments all of Miss K's life, we didn't really have the luxury of being able to line dry or sun our diapers as often as we wanted. We tried to do it once off our TINY back deck....but it was more work than we wanted to put into it so we never tried it again.
We ended up having to put our diapers in the dryer if we ran out of clean ones, which is okay, but only if your dryer has a low heat setting...and ours didn't so we tried out best to keep an eye on our diapers by putting them on the "cool down" setting on our dryer to make sure they didn't get too hot. It was definitely a lot more work than we hoped for but didn't have much of a choice because we didn't even think to check if our dryer had the low heat setting and if cloth diapers with PUL material get too hot, the PUL melts :-(
#4 - Buying More Diapers Second Hand
I know some of you might not like the idea of buying cloth diapers second hand, but if the previous owners really took the time to take care of their stash before selling, then there's no reason not to buy second hand. Owners that really take care of their diapers make sure that they're washed in cloth diaper safe detergent, use cloth diaper safe rash cream and sun/line dry their diapers to maintain the quality of them along with sunning out any stains they may get from being soiled.
I mostly began looking for newborn second hand diapers when the number one complaint I saw was that it seemed crazy to invest in brand new ones when kiddos weren't being in them for too long. A friend of mine told about cloth diaper "buy, sell and trade" groups on Facebook and that I should join a few to see what I could find. I joined a lot of brand specific cloth diapers groups such as Fuzzibunz, GroVia, Charlie Banaba, etc and started to keep an eye one what people were trying to sell. While monitoring those groups I did some research on reviews for different kinds of newborn cloth diapers and found that GroVia was one of the top 5 brands that had great cloth diapers for newborns.
Since we're having to practically rebuild our stash from scratch my hubby and I both thought it would be a great idea to buy a diaper here and there starting now, that way we won't have to worry about making a huge purchase for the rest of the diapers up front. We're spending the same amount either way, but it seems less harsh buying one diaper at a time :-)
We may have jumped the gun a little since we have no idea when we'll be having another kiddo, but we wanted to start working on our stash now for newborn diapers and GroVia's seem to be the brand I have loved the most. Here's the little stash we have right now...
How stinkin' cute are those?!?!
More often then not in these cloth diaper groups, people are selling brand new diapers still in their packaging or diapers that they only prepped for their kiddo but never ended up using so they're basically brand new. Now that we're taking the time to do more research on different styles/brands, I've been trying to buy a diaper from each of the ones I like or have heard great things about. I purchased this brand new Perfect Size Fuzzibunz diaper from a gal who's hubby didn't get the exact one she wanted and he didn't get a receipt so her loss was my gain! :-)
Yesterday I just purchased two All In One (AIO) One Size bumGenius diapers from a friend that didn't end up feeling that cloth diapering was for her family along with two Thirsties Duo Wraps (which I love). I don't have picture of those but I'm so excited to get them!!! :-)
#5 - Attempt to Make Some Diapers Myself
If you want to cloth diaper and do NOT want to have to wash diaper EVERYDAY, the best amount of diapers to have for washing every other day is to have about 24+ diapers in your stash. I squeaked by with 21 diapers in our stash, but I definitely want more next time.
Whenever we do have our next kiddo (which at this point we have no clue when that will happen LOL!), if we don't have the amount of diapers that we'd like to have for our stash, I really want to attempt to make a few. A couple months ago I invested in this pattern book...
All the supplies needed to make your own diapers are a bit of an investment as well, but the idea of being able to make or fix any diapers that I purchase makes it seems well worth giving it a try.
Even though Miss K has been out of cloth diapers for about 6+ months or so, it's fun to get back into the research and think about how we'll get to do it again next time and be more prepared to do it. I think I'm most excited about cloth diapering from birth. It was a pretty overwhelming experience when we started out but I think that it has been super important to go through what we did because we learned so much about what to do, what not to do, and what works the best for our household. I was super thankful that my hubby was so open minded throughout the entire process and ended up liking cloth diapers.
Do you have some cloth diaper stories, tips, tricks, what worked or didn't work for you?? I'd love to hear them! Thinking about cloth diapering and have questions? ASK AWAY! :0) I could talk about this stuff all day long ;-)
Glad to be back blogging today after my last in mid June (YIKES!) haha! :-)
Restarting my fitness journey has seriously never given me so much clarity! I know that sounds corny but to be honest, I'm almost really happy about the fact that I had to start over with my {One Year, 52lbs} goal because I have such a different mind set about everything involving health and weight loss compared to the first time I started back in July 2011.
It all started when I saw this quote last month, that I shared in another recent blog post...
There was just something about this quote that "lit a fire" in me. It was almost of feeling of anger, because I was SO disappointed in myself for having to start over after working extremely hard to get where I had been. When I started my original goal of losing 52lbs in one year, I was down 18lbs by Halloween and once the force of holidays hit, I lost my focus, and discovered that I gained all that weight back when I weighed myself again on May 21st of this year. But what has turned into anger, has turned into drive, motivation, and commitment.
I wasn't sure HOW to start over...so I took a step by setting a goal to do the {No Junk Food Challenge & From Couch to 5K} Training Program on June 2nd. I've had absolutely NO cravings for any of the junk foods listed (which is amazing in itself because I had a nightly ritual of eating chocolate after dinner) and today I'm on Week 2 Day 5 of my C25K program.
When I started the C25K program on June 2nd, the very first day of the program you have to do a 5 minute walk, 2 minute jog, 5 minute walk. If it wasn't for softball, basketball or warming up for weight lifting back in high school, I never ever ran a day in my life. Period. I honestly used the word "hate" whenever people talked about having me go running with them. I was one of those people that just never did it for exercise because I disliked it so much. I hated the way I felt during running and how I felt after I had ran. My lungs would hurt, my shins would hurt, everything felt like it hurt. So, I started doing some research. My dear friend Kat, that you all have heard me talk quite a bit about (because I just love her that much!), pointed me in the direction of a looking at videos about correct running form so your body doesn't end up hurting like mine was. I quickly discovered that I had the WORST running form, which caused my shins to constantly hurt. Here's one of the videos I came across if you want to take a peek :-)
When I headed out for my first run, I was crazy nervous but kept a positive attitude. The 2 minute jog was tough but I got through it surprisingly well, even if I was breathing like I was dying when it was over! HAHA! But, I survived! WOO HOO!
On Monday (Week 2 day 3) for my C25K run, I had to do a 5 minute walk, 4 minute jog, 5 minute walk. I was a little nervous again because when I had to do a 3 minute jog just a couple days before, it was tough, but I think the cold weather played into why it was so tough too. Derek and Miss K went with me to help me out/be my cheerleaders. When I started the jogging portion, before I knew it, Derek was saying "you're over half way done with your jog". I found myself smiling from ear to ear and kept smiling until I was done. Not only was that the EASIEST two minutes of jogging I had EVER done, the entire 4 minutes was cake! I was ELATED, to say the least. That was my small victory moment - realizing how far I'd actually come in just two short weeks - a two minute jog that I struggled with...was - - EASY! :-) What was even more fun was that the next day, I came across this...
Great timing for this, huh?! :-)
I just can't help but continue to celebrate because for someone like me that never would have run for exercise, I'm absolutely loving the rush I get from it. I know, who am I, right?!
So, after all this writing, what I'm trying to say to all of you is CELEBRATE THE SMALL VICTORIES! Please! You'll do yourself so much more good if you do. I've seen too many people (me being one of them in the past) have unrealistic expectations, set insane goals for themselves or expect immediate results and when they don't see anything happening fast enough, they get discouraged, quit or resort to crash diets, etc. If you want results, it takes TIME.
If you want to do it right, DO THE RESEARCH. If you're not sure about something, ASK! :-) If you traveled a mile, walking, jogging or running, celebrate! Don't be mad because it was easier for someone else or because some do it faster or travel farther than you. If you lost one pound, celebrate! Don't be made because it was "just one pound".
If you need help, ASK! Asking for help was the hardest part for me. I felt that I had some obligation to know more than I actually did before asking someone for help. Thankfully, someone from my hometown has made fitness his career and he has been so helpful...Tim with Tim Arndt Fitness.
I started out by signing up for his free newsletter where he gives free tips and advice to anyone who will read. I've learned so much just from those newsletters, but I wanted to get my hands on all the information I could, so I finally got the nerve to contact him through his Facebook page and asked him some questions and asked for recommendations for a nutritionist in our area. I felt bad about reaching out to him at first because I couldn't afford to hire him as a trainer so I didn't want him thinking that I was just trying to get what I could for free. I know that sounds awful but that's how I felt and that's why I was scared to ask for his help. With Tim, it was the exact OPPOSITE! He was SO willing to help, that his willingness to share his knowledge of fitness, blew me away. Shame on me for even thinking he would look at me as one of "those people" who abuse a good thing ;-) haha! What started out as just a recommendation from him has turned into something awesome. I mentioned to Tim that once I'm at a comfortable place with running, I'd love to get back into lifting weights again, but wasn't sure how to go about this since I don't want to be "just a runner" or "just a lifter" and he recommended this book to me..
I haven't found a negative review on this book YET! Check out the reviews for yourself but what I love about this book is that the author addresses questions that people ask and he backs up the answers with credible research. This book is amazing for people like me, that didn't know where to start, didn't know much about running to do or how to incorporate both cardio and weights in my life. It breaks down the questions to where they're an easy read AND it's also a great book for athletes who are more advanced with the exercise routines. The other big thing I like about this book is that you don't have to read it from cover to get the information you want. Find the question that you want answered, skip to that page and get it! :-) I was finding the answers I needed within 5 minutes of picking it up! I can only sit here and tell you so much about how awesome this book is, but you need to get it and see for yourself :-)
We all have to start somewhere, so for those of you too scared to go to the gym because you don't look like the rest of the fit people working out in there...they had to start somewhere, now it's up to you to take that step and go for it! If you feel like that by stepping in that public facility, that you'll be judged...bottom line: who cares! haha! It only matters what you think :-) Show those people that when you walk through the door, you're there to do WORK! And let me be the one to tell you, most people will admire you more for getting yourself in there to be a better version of yourself. Do it for YOU, not for everyone else :-) Just start somewhere.
By the way, if any of you are interested, Tim just started selling some very cute hoodies for women that he released two days ago. But once they're gone, they're gone forever. I love how they cater to the social media side of my generation :-) Pretty clever! You'll probably seeing me use the #transformation hashtag a lot through my fitness journey lol! If you want to check them out for yourself...
Go HERE for more info about these hoodies or to purchase one for yourself :-)
I just ordered mine yesterday! I CANNOT wait to get it!
If you were interested in subscribing to Tim's newsletter, go HERE. Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page and you'll see where to enter in your email address and info :-) Let me know if you do subscribe to his newsletter, would love to have new people to talk about it with! :-)
*I was in no way paid or compensated for sharing any sites or products in this post. All of the above is my own opinion and shared on my own terms*
If you're just joining us, this is my FIVE part coupon help
series! Here are the topics, along with the first and second topics that has already
been covered, just click on any of the previous segments to head directly to that post. This is the last post of the series and I hope you've enjoyed it and learned something so far about couponing!
Now that you have all this awesome info, coupons are gathered and organized, hopefully you will take the next step and get out there and start couponing! :-)
There are just a couple little things left that I wanted to mention briefly or explain a few random things here or there, so here goes...
Most grocery stores have their ads come out at certain times of the week, have certain sale cycles, restocking days, etc. Pick your favorite store(s) and find out what these cycles are. For Albertson's, their TTV's run from Sunday and are good until Tuesday when they come out. My hubby and I always do our shopping lists and prep work for our trips every Saturday night (or as needed) before we head out and hit the stores on Sundays. For those of you with kids, you'll REALLY appreciate being organized when you head out the door just in case one of the munchkins decides to have a "bad day" and make things a bit more difficult. I HIGHLY suggest, if you can, to get a sitter or have hubby watch the kiddos while you go out shopping. It really allows you to focus on what's happening just in case there's something out of stock and you have to improvise with your coupons and sales.
Here is a look at my organization when it comes to getting ready for our shopping trips...
If you DO have to improvise because the items you wanted to get are out of stock DO.NOT.PANIC! :-) I usually try to plan a couple back up plans in case that happens but if you don't get a chance to, just take some time to look around the store to see what you can find. There are some times where the couponing sites know about ALL the deals because a store might just put something on sale because they feel like it even if it's not necessarily a nationwide sale.
Another thing I love to do when I'm getting my grocery list ready on Saturdays is to plan out our meals for the week or possibly the month depending on the sales. This is where you'll want to look through all the grocery ads to cater the planning to the sales :-) Take a look around online, there are so many free printable meal planners online to help you.
When it comes to getting the best deals...there is definitely a "transaction science". I'm honestly still learning this process. For example, when you get doubles, say you buy three papers so you have 3 sets of three doubles (this is what I usually do when it's a TTV coupon week. You can only use 3 doubles per transaction and you can only have a maximum of three transactions in a row per trip through the line. If you want to exceed that three transaction limit, you have to get out of line and go back through the checkout line. Usually when I have to do that, I'll finish the first set of transactions, head out to my car to load it up, then I head back in for the next round :-)
If you're still not real sure about the whole "transaction science" idea, usually there are a lot of fellow readers of coupon blogs out there that will help you lay out your transactions. I was lucky enough to have my friend Kat, who basically taught me everything I know today about couponing, take me out on my first shopping trip with her so I could watch her do it and then she helped me get through my first big transaction with all my coupons! haha! So, I owe a big thanks to her! I wish that I could do the same for all of you and take you all out for your first shopping trips but that would be a lot of traveling on my end, wouldn't it? ;-)
If
you're still extremely overwhelmed by the process, read everything you
could get your hands on, or need more of a visual like I did, I STRONGLY
encourage you to buy Fabulessly Frugal.'s 90 minute DVD: 7 Secrets to
Successful Couponing (just click on the picture below to take you
straight to the webpage to buy this DVD).
Here I am with my copy :-) Monica, who is pictured above, definitely rocks this photo holding the DVD better than I do haha!
Please
don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns,
etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger
account
isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find
out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at
cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM
folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're
not a spammer :-)
**Disclaimer: I was in
no way paid by FabuLESSly Frugal to write this series for my readers. I
honestly just love couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share
all my new knowledge with you!**
If you've been following my couponing series, I promise I'll be getting to "Part Five" soon. It's been super crazy in this household with my birthday that was on the 31st and hubby has finals coming up and I haven't had a chance to finish the last part, so sorry about the delay on the final couponing post. But I wanted to take a quick second away from coupon talk and chat about this...
I'm going absolutely INSANE from starting over and trashing all the hard work I've done. I found the above picture/quote and I'm glad I came across it, I needed to see it. Last July when I started my One Year, 52lbs challenge to myself...so far, I've failed. I have NOTHING to show for it and that in itself is depressing and unacceptable.
My husband deserves a wife that strives to make herself better and a wife that won't end up leaving him before her time because of weight related health issues. My daughter deserves a Mother that will hopefully live to see the faces of her children's children but most of all, I deserve to be a better version of myself. I deserve to be healthy and so much more. Why I constantly do all this work, only to quit, is beyond me. All I know, is that I'm EXTREMELY tired of starting over.
I won't lie, I was ridiculously intimidated by starting the C25K program because I hate, hate, HATE jogging/running of any kind, I'm not in shape AT ALL and let me tell you, it was way less painful than I anticipated! WOO HOO! I actually laughed at my hubby (who was my time keeper) when he said that I was done. I thought he was on something because it felt like I had JUST started right when he told me I was done. So, if I can do this...YOU can DEFINITELY do this! ;-)
I might be absolutely crazy for starting both of these challenges on the same day, but I have to, I NEED to. I need to make a severe lifestyle change and I'm going to kick start it with these two things! :-)
I would LOVE it if any of you joined me throughout these two challenges. People lose weight and get healthier better if they have a support system! ;-)
Don't forget, I'm also on My Fitness Pal! Look me up: cblakley0531 :-)
P.S. - if anyone knows of a program that "piggy backs" off of C25K or is a continuation off of it, I'm on the lookout for one!! Thank you!
If you're just joining us, this is my FIVE part coupon help
series! Here are the topics, along with the first and second topics that has already
been covered, just click on any of the previous segments to head directly to that post.
PHEW! Was this information in this series a lot to take in or what?! Once you start putting all this awesome information
into practice, it will become a little easier and a little less intimidating.
Now
that you know the lingo, have your coupons, have chosen a method of organization, let's
move on to the next and last step...learning how to navigate a couponing blog. And the couponing blog I will be using today is....YOU GUESSED
IT...Fabulessly Frugal! It's the main site that I use to organize all of my coupons and shopping trips.
The great thing about the gals at Fab Fru is that they already have a video tutorial for learning how to navigate their blog!!! Keep in mind that they've updated a few things on their site since this video was made, so there will be a few things missing but you'll get the general idea from it. It's only a 9 minute video that will break down their site for you and hopefully all the things that I have gone over will start to make sense and fall into place a little more for you once you start watching it.
"Twice the Value (TTV)" coupons (is what they're known for at Albertson's), also knows as "Doubles" are sort of the equivalent of gold in the couponing world. Albertson's is known for offering them close to every other week and some stores like Safeway only offer doublers once or twice a year. The TTV coupons are actually what got my attention to want to start couponing more. What they are, are coupons that you can use to double the amount of any manufacturer's coupons of $1.00 or less. So instead of just getting a $1.00 off of the coffee creamer you've had your coupon for, when you double that coupon, you'll get $2.00 off that one item! Pretty freakin' awesome, huh?!
Here are some tips that I have for everyone - - -
#1 - It takes some time to REALLY start seeing the FULL savings of couponing. How long does it take? Well, again that depends on you and what kind of a stockpile you want to build. I generally only have a stockpile that would feed my family of 3 for three months. I don't like to go more than that because then you start running into things expiring or going past their shelf date, which is not what anyone would want, since you all worked so hard to build the stockpile in the first place, right?!
Once you have a good stockpile going, THAT'S when you'll start to see the big savings of couponing. When you have a stockpile, you'll shop from it for your snacks, meals and when you need a few ingredients here and there to go with the items that you pulled from your stockpile, you'll see your grocery bill get lower and lower. You'll want to keep replenishing your stockpile, but establishing it is the "hard" part. When you build your stockpile and find yourself struggling to keep up with the expiration dates, DONATE! :-) If you know you won't get to certain items, donate them before it's too late so that someone else can benefit from them and it will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside :-)
Here are a couple of videos on HOW to successfully stockpile:
#2 - Another important thing to keep in mind are the sale cycles. Every store has their own sale cycles and this video will tell you more about that:
#3 - Know and learn Coupon Ethics! Pretty please! I believe it is VERY important that we all continue to do couponing RIGHT and fight to educate those that abuse it, how to do it correctly. So, please do me a huge favor and take the time to read about Coupon Ethics :-)
#4 - Set a budget! Have some fun with the budget you created by participating in Fab Fru's 2012 Grocery Budget Challenge
**For my family of three, I have a budget of $250, which is actually pretty close to the average food budget for families of three.
Something to keep in mind when you set up your budget...what do you want to come out of that budget? For example, my $250 per month is for FOOD ITEMS ONLY. I know that when some set their budget, they include "anything they purchase from a grocery store" from cleaning products to cookware, etc. Just something to think about when you set up yours ;-) And if you go over your budget the first month, don't worry! :-) I would suggest keeping what you originally come up with for a couple months and then adjust accordingly :-)
#5 - Unless you're some super super couponing hero...you will most likely have quite a few left over coupons that go unused and expire. And that's OKAY! :-) For me personally, I kind of get knots in my stomach at the very thought of throwing coupons away that I took all the time to clip/organize, but you don't have to!! Yes, that's right, you DO NOT have to throw away our expired coupons and there's something good you can do with them. The Overseas Military Program is a great way for your expired coupons to get some extra "life".
For me, unfortunately I don't have to time to sign up for the program and I don't coupon enough to have enough expired coupons to justify paying the shipping to send them overseas, so what I did was contact the gals at Fab Fru and asked them if there was a read that was already set up to do the program, that I could just send my small amount of coupons so and I got in touch with a very sweet gal that does all the organizing and mailing of the coupons overseas after I send them to her :-)
Fab Fru doesn't just share grocery deals, they also show Snapfish, Amazon, Zulily and SO MUCH MORE. Click HERE to find out about more amazing, online deals.
#6 - Fab Fru, as GREAT as it is, isn't the only couponing site out there. Here are a couple more that I keep an eye on for more deals:
These are just a few of the sites that are out there and you can easily find more, especially if you have a Facebook account. You can probably find more sites that cater more to the areas that you live in too :-)
#7 - Plan out your shopping trips before you go and get your coupons organized! :-) This helps SO much when you get to the store so you're not scrambling to find things or try to remember what deals you were hoping to get. Have back up plans! I don't know how many times I've gone to the store hoping for the items I wanted, only to get to the store and see them all sold out :-( It sucks, but it happens, so have a back up plan before you leave the house, unless you're amazing at thinking on your feet and improvising ;-)
#8 - Fab Fru doesn't always catch EVERY deal out there because some stores are different and sometimes mark stuff down at one Albertson's but not at another. So, browse the clearance stuff, you'll never know, you might find an item for free or even better - a money maker! :-)
Are you excited?? STILL overwhelmed?? Do you have more questions??
Please
don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns,
etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger
account
isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find
out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at
cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM
folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're
not a spammer :-)
**Disclaimer: I was in no way paid by FabuLESSly Frugal to write this series for my readers. I honestly just love couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share all my new knowledge with you!**
If you're just joining us, this is my FIVE part coupon help
series! Here are the topics, along with the first and second topics that has already
been covered, just click on any of the previous segments to head directly to that post.
-
- This method is best for those of you that aren't sure if you want to
get heavily involved in couponing or just want to start out small, then
work your way up. I personally never tried this method, because I knew I
was going to absolutely want to learn how to coupon, no matter how long
it took me to figure it out. I jumped straight to the next method...
-
- You can find the baseball card holders in most office supply stores
or office supply sections in your grocery stores or you can even find
them online for some great prices. Check out Amazon.com for bulk sets.
- - You can see how Monica, from Fabulessly Frugal., organized her coupon binder HERE
but I organized mine a little differently (when I actually used this
method - I use a different one now) to cater to my family's needs. My
organization went like this...
Main tabs (with sub tabs underneath):
FOOD
Baking Goods/Cooking
Beverages
Frozen
Refrigerated
Canned
Boxed
Pantry
PERSONAL CARE
Body Care
Feminine Hygiene
Shampoo/Conditioner (Hair Care)
CLEANING
Air Fresheners
Laundry
Cleaning Supplies
OVER THE COUNTER (OTC) MEDS
GAMES/TOYS
- - Here is a picture of what my binder looked like...
**If
you want to organize your binder differently to where it makes more
sense to you, I ENCOURAGE it! :-) I know that there are some couponers
out there using this method, that organize their binders according to
the order of the aisles in the store that they shop at the most**
**I
don't recommend taking on this type of method until you become SUPER
comfortable and organized with your couponing, know how to navigate
couponing blogs like Fabulessly Frugal., understand all the "lingo", and
have some successful shopping trips under your belt to get the hang of
things. Like I mentioned before, I started couponing with the baseball
card method back in Aug 2011 and I JUST converted my binder to the
"clip-less" method last weekend**
- - Here is what my binder NOW looks like...
You
might notice that my binder has a few different things going on. In the
front, you'll see my "clip-less" organization with the inserts divided/stuff in the sleeves and then behind that,
you'll see that I still have all my tabs from the Baseball Card Holder
Method. Since I just started this new method, it's going to take some
time for my clipped coupons to disappear. However, I don't plan on FULLY
getting rid of the baseball card holders because that's how I'm going
to choose to organize my printable online coupons.
You'll need page/sheet protectors like these for the "clip-less" method...
I'll stop here for today! :-) I just really want to say THANK YOU for those of you that are taking the time to read this! I worked really hard to put this series together for you and I really hope that you can take something away from it! I know how much I appreciated having the help to get started and I hope you feel the same :-)
Please
don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns,
etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger
account
isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find
out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at
cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM
folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're
not a spammer :-)
**Disclaimer: I was in no way paid by FabuLESSly
Frugal to write this series for my readers. I honestly just love
couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share all my new
knowledge with you!**
If you're just joining us, this is my FIVE part coupon help series! Here are the topics, along with the first topic that has already been covered, just click on Part ONE to head directly to that post.
Today's post is going to be "lighter" than yesterday's since I threw quite a bit of information at you ;-)
So, now that you know some lingo and have other information about couponing, where in the heck do you even start?! Well, start by collecting
coupons, of course! hehehe! There are two places you can find coupons.
The first place, by grabbing your Sunday newspaper!
For me, it's the
Spokesman Review, for Olympia/Tacoma/Seattle it's The Olympian, The News
Tribune, etc. For deals on The Olympian or The News Tribune to have
these papers delivered straight to your door so you won't have to fight
for them at gas stations or news stands...go HERE.
Paying for a subscription might be something that you'll want to wait
on until you really get the hang of couponing because you might not feel
like it will be worth paying that until you know how to maximize your
savings with couponing. For our family, we just buy 2 newspapers a week
at a nearby gas station unless it's a "doubles" week - which I'll get
into later what "doubles" are - where we buy upwards of 4 papers at a time :-)
Here are my newspapers I just bought this last Sunday.
What
I'm going to do now, is walk you through the anatomy of your newspaper, what to look for, what to keep, what to RECYCLE (please, please, please
recycle - you will be going through a lot of paper each week), and more.
What you're looking for in your papers are the coupon inserts. Here are the ones that I found in last weeks paper...
Looks like an entire booklets of ads, BUT WITH COUPONS!! :-)
There are four different types of coupon inserts to
look out for Red Plum (RP), Proctor & Gamble (PG), SmartSource
(SS) and General Mills (GM). With the Spokesman Review, there's an
insert called "PARADE" which will sometimes had a random coupon in it
from time to time. Here is what the PARADE looks like...
While you're looking for your inserts in each paper,
you'll run across all kinds of store ads, etc. Only pull out the ones
that you think you'll need or for places you shop at regularly. The adds I usually like to keep are the local grocery store ones. Or it I know I might be visiting Best Buy sometime during the week, I'll keep that one too :-)
Unless
there are in store coupons in the ads, I only keep one copy of that
particular ad. For example, you don't need two of the same Best Buy ad,
since they're identical ;-)
Here's a quick 2 minute video from Fabulessly Frugal where Monica goes through her Sunday paper, just to kind of reiterate what I explained above and to give you a bit more of a visual...
The second place, an online coupon database like Coupons.com (which is the site I trust THE most). I won't really take any time to go over internet coupons, but for more info, visit Coupon Printing 101. The Printing 101 explains it just like I would :-)
Hope you enjoyed today's couponing segment and that you're looking forward to more!!
Please
don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns,
etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger
account
isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find
out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at
cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM
folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're
not a spammer :-)
**Disclaimer: I was in no way paid by FabuLESSly
Frugal to write this series for my readers. I honestly just love
couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share all my new
knowledge with you!**
Have you thought about trying to coupon but don't know where to start? Do those three bullet points above make you cringe? Are you wanting to give couponing a try but not sure where to start?
Well, I just may have the answers for you!! Welcome to my FIVE part blog series on COUPONING! YAY!
What I'm going to try, is to do my best to lay couponing out simply, with the help of the amazing Fabulessly Frugal couponing blog, in five segments.
- - Part ONE: Coupon Lingo and More (covering in today's post)
- - Part TWO: Getting Started/Collecting Coupons
- - Part THREE: Coupon Organization and More
- - Part FOUR: Learn How To Navigate Coupons Sites/Blogs
- - Part FIVE: Wrapping It Up!
Let me just start off by saying that 99.9% of everything I'm going to share with you today, I learned from Fabulessly Frugal's website and their 90 Minute Couponing DVD, along with the help of my good friend Kat who helped me conquer my "fear" of couponing by taking me on my first shopping experience to help me get over that first time fear of putting all my work into action. So, if you want to bypass my post or you already have a start up knowledge of couponing and feel good about heading directly to their website to learn...please do! It's an amazing resource! :-)
The information I share about couponing will be pretty specific to the Eastern Washington/Idaho area as far as newspaper names, deal, etc but the all around idea is the same for almost everyone. The creators of Fabulessly Frugal. all live in Boise, Idaho so just know that all the information on their site as far as coupons, store lists, etc won't always be the same for everyone across the country.
**WARNING: If you can, set aside time to go through and process this couponing series. Also, grab some coffee, get comfortable and have a pen and paper because this is going to be long and extensive! If you need to take a lot of breaks, please do it! This is going to be a lot of information to process over the entire series, but I'm here to help!! It might become a little overwhelming, but again, I'm here to help you! You're not going to see IMMEDIATE results, because couponing takes some time getting used to. I'm doing this series for all of you that have asked about my couponing adventure and I would love to share it. So, here we go!!!! YAY!**
I will promise you right now, I was sitting right where you are a few months ago, completely overwhelmed and not sure where to start. What I wish I could do is take all of you to a grocery store and show you first hand on how to use your coupons in a real life setting like my friend Kat did, but I'll do my best to give you all the tools you'll need to do it without me :-)
Before we really get down to the nitty gritty I want to clarify some things and talk about some couponing "myths".
#1 - If you've seen the show Extreme Couponing....get that out of your mind RIGHT this second. That show is a HORRIBLE example of what couponing is REALLY all about. In fact, it's that very show that is making it harder for people like us, that respect couponing and others that do it as well, because stores are really cracking down and making almost impossible policies to use our coupons to their fullest. When you watch that show, you see people dragging around dozens of carts, getting 20 of the same item per transaction, clearing shelves of all one item, etc. That's not what I'm going to teach you how to do. The community of people that I've become a part of at Fab Fru and other sites are NOT "shelf clearers", most of us only have a stock pile that will last about 3 months at a time (3 months is about the average cycle that items go back on sale), I have yet to run into anyone that make additions to our houses or take over basements to store the insane amount of items that the people on Extreme Couponing have (most only have pantries), because it's NOT necessary. What the creators of that show don't tell you, is that almost every store on that show, drop their coupon policies for the sake of getting exposure from the media. Period. If you respect the use of coupons, respect other shoppers using coupons, and don't try to abuse coupons by making multiple copies, or by trying to use them for an item that it doesn't work for, store employees will love you and appreciate you and you'll come to enjoy the process.
#2 - Does it take a lot of time to coupon? That depends on where you're at with your experience. There is a drastic difference between the time it takes when you first start couponing vs. when you finally have the hang of it. For me, I felt like the setup of getting ready to coupon took FOREVER! Once I started to become more familiar with it, I took about 2-3 hours a week clipping coupons, organizing them, and creating my shopping lists. As time went on, my prep time slowly decreased. Now I feel like I'm the most efficient I've ever been, because this week, I only spent 15-30 minutes organizing my coupons, meal planning and creating my shopping lists. Couponing in 15 minutes?! I'm crazy right!? If you don't believe me, just watch this video...
#3 - YOU. CAN. DO. THIS!!! I'd be lying if I told you that I picked couponing up fast...I most certainly did not. To this very day, I'm still learning A LOT of things! I can promise you, that by the end of this post, you'll know where to find coupons and hopefully know which method of organization you will use for them, at the very least! I hope you take in and absorb everything...but of course, you won't know how much you'll take away from this series, until you're done reading all the info I share with you.
#4 - Will you use every single one of the coupons you find? No. There are a lot of coupons that end up expiring because I don't use them. Do those expired coupons go to waste? Absolutely not, if you don't want them to :-) I'll explain later what you can do with those unused or expired coupons.
#5 - Is all this preparation, organizing, clipping and couponing really worth it?? Well, that depends on YOU :-) If you are willing to make the commitment and want to become efficient, it is VERY worth it. Do you still save tons of money even if you're spending all this money on newspapers, gas to drive to the store, printer ink from printing online coupons, etc?? As long as you're not driving 2 hours each way to get to your nearest store, absolutely! And since I haven't done the math, you may also be saving tons even if you have to drive 2 hours each way to get back and forth to your nearest store.
#6 - Aren't a lot of the coupons that come out for mostly processed foods, etc? There are a lot of coupons out there that have quite a bit to do with pre-packaged, processed foods. For some people, that's not a big deal for others, it is. However, there are also just as many coupons out there for non-processed and pre-packaged foods. With food, most of it is okay in moderation, especially when serving suggestions are followed. BUT, if you're one of the ones out there that tries to stray away from pre-packaged or proccessed foods, Fabulessly Frugal. also includes produce and other sales per store, freezer meal recipes, and so much more! Again, I'll share all the awesomeness of Fabulessly Frugal. later ;-)
Now onto some good stuff!!! :-)
Couponing Lingo - yep, it's true, us crazy couponers have our own little "language" haha! Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it in no time. But it is definitely necessary to cover the lingo now, so you can follow what I talk about later.
**This list is copied directly from Fabulessly Frugal.'s site. HERE is the direct link to the list I'm about to share**
HERE IS A LIST OF THE “Lingo” THAT MAY BE CONFUSING YOU!!
These are the inserts that you find in the Sunday paper:
SS – Smart Source PG -Proctor & Gamble RP -Red Plum or Valassis GM - General Mills insert (in Treasure Valley, the Idaho Press Tribune does not get this insert).
These will often times be coupled with a date that reflect the date of
the paper they came out of. Ex: RP-1/4/09-Red Plum insert from the Jan
4th paper.
Store Lingo
SCR – Single Check Rebate (Rite Aid) +UPs or +UP Rewards or UPR – Rite Aids version of a “catalina” or “register reward” VV – Video Values Coupons (Rite Aid) 7-day coupon- coupon found in Walgreens weekly ad RR – register rewards, catalina that prints out at
Walgreens when you buy specific products with a $ amount good for your
next shopping trip. Twice The Value Coupon aka: Doublers – Albertsons store
coupon that allows you to “double” up to three coupons per transaction.
Coupons must be valued at $1.00 or less. Round Up - Albertsons new promotion they are testing in
the Idaho market. All coupons rounded up to $1.00. No limit to the
amount of coupons you can use, and you don’t have to show them anything
to have the coupons rounded up. Wags- Walgreens Drug Store Albies: Albertsons grocery store Fredies or Freds: Fred Meyer grocery store EB or ExtraBucks- CVS ‘s version of a “catalina” or “register reward”
Types of Coupons
Catalina- Click for detailed info- basically it’s a printable coupon that is handed to you with your receipt at the store. Peelies- peel off coupons found on products at stores Blinkies-found in the aisle at the store spitting out of the blinking black box MC or MQ- manufacturers coupon IP- Internet printable coupon
Oh and There’s More
B1G1 -Buy One Get One Free WYB -When You Buy B2G1-Buy 2 Get One Free FAR- free after rebate MIR – Mail In Rebate OOP- out of pocket Stack- refers to using two coupons for 1 purchase (ex. 1 store coupon and 1 MC) YMMV- your mileage may vary (meaning in some stores this deal will be applicable, but you may have trouble trying it with others OYNSO – On Your Next Shopping Order
I'm going to stop here for today's couponing lesson. Keep an eye on my blog for the next four days to get the rest of the couponing series!
Didn't want the lesson to end? Want to look at more couponing stuff? Head on over Fabulessly Frugal. and look around their site. Just remember, there are still 4 more parts to this series, and I will be going over a lot (as well as navigating Fabulessly Frugal.), so if you have questions, write them down and save them until at least tomorrow, because you just never know what I'm going to cover next ;-)
Already have some questions, concerns, need more clarification about this lesson???
Please
don't hesitate to comment on this post with any questions or concerns,
etc (I can directly reply to your comments as long as your blogger
account
isn't set as "no reply blogger" - take a look at my comment form to find
out more details on that). Or, you can email me directly at
cblakley0531@gmail.com - Just in case your email gets sent to my SPAM
folder, write "Couponing 101 Post" in the subject line so I know you're
not a spammer :-)
**Disclaimer: I was in no way paid by FabuLESSly
Frugal to write this series for my readers. I honestly just love
couponing and this site THAT much. I wanted to share all my new
knowledge with you!**
Hope all of you that are Mothers are having an A-MAZING Mother's day or if you're not a Mom, I hope you took the time to wish her well and send your love! :-)
I FINISHED Bloomsday! 7.46 miles of amazing-ness :-)
For those of you that know me well, you know how huge of a deal this was for me. It was one of the most amazing, painful, exciting experiences of my life and it was worth every SECOND!
What I love even more is that we've made it an entire family tradition with my Inlaws and I already can't wait for next year now that I have a time to beat! :-)
This was by far one of the most mentally challenging things I've ever experienced. I was definitely put to the test and I'm amazed at myself for being able to push through everything to get to the finish line. I couldn't have done it without the support of everyone, but mostly, I can't thank my husband enough for supporting me the most! Thanks to all of you for all the well wishes and the congratulations...you have no idea how much it meant to me. I know it seems kinda corny that I'm making a big deal out of this...but it really was a HUGE deal for me :-) It's still weird to say that I survived a 12K race and never once wanted to quit!! haha!
Here is my Bloomsday experience through photos.....
The day before the race, registered and got my number! :-)
This was so cool! If anyone threw an article of clothing in a tree the entire course, the items were donated!
The whole gang, minus my Mother in Law - the photographer lol
