I am back and Lord willing for good.

I am making this blog a priority from here on out. I have come and gone and have taught people in person and online how to coupon shop. I was taught by a good Christian friend how to be frugal and smart when our lives were at about their lowest. Now I want to pay that favor back to those who can use it. This blog for me will be a testimony a way to reach out to those who need it and a way to honor God. My sister in law is doing the same with her blog www.clippingaway.blogspot.com . I taught her as I had been taught. We are stay at home moms of 3 boys each. I will do my best to track the sales that I hear of and hope that others are willing to fill me in on ones they here of too. Right now if you come back in the next couple of days and things look different it is because she is helping overhaul my blog from GA. :) The name on the blog has changed but it is still me.

I found a blog with a giveaway and it looks like she too is a fellow couponer. If you want to check out her site follow th link bellow.
http://elle-tn.blogspot.com/2011/01/win-10-gift-card-to-olive-garden.html#comment-form

Sorry I have not been around

Things here have been a little on the crazy side lately. Some changes that I can't really say much about have been taking place. Then added to that my husband now is a business owner and it is a small business. He is a trucker and runs exclusively for Dollar General and has a 3 year contract with them. Then addded to that I have a job, it is a demanding one but one that allows me to stay home with the kids and hopefully will let me get my feet wet and if all goes as planned get my feet under me to start my own business too. That would be 2 small businesses run out of the same house. It makes me wonder if we are nuts. I have managed to score several sweet deals here lately. Right now the only places I can do real well at are Piggly Wiggly, Target, CVS and Food Lion. That is my choice option right now. For Thanksgiving we ended up with 43 pounds of turkey for $9, and paid about half price for the rest of the meal.
This week at Target I am planning on printing out their store coupon for $1/1 of Suave shampoos and conditioners since they are on sale for $0.97. Also I am eyeballing their candle deals. Last time round I ended up with about $50 worth of candles and payed $15 not too bad.
It is late or should I say early, so I need to hop off so I can get up early and finish off the last of the work needed for my job tomorrow. I will try not to be such a stranger here.

My Wed CVS and Walmart Exploits

I started out with CVS and was pleasently surprised at the good deals I managed to grab on round 2 this week. I picked up 2 John Freida products shampoo/conditioner that I had $3 coupons for. The ECB said get $10 in product and get $3 ECB back. Well it was on sale from $7 down to $5 and I picked them up for $2 each or .50 after ECB. Our store had Pantene half off with peelies so I grabbed 2 and used the peelies and $1/2 coupon and got 2 family sized Pantenes for a total of $5. I went ahead and grabbed 4 boxes of cereal using 75 cent off a box coupons and they were on sale for 3/10 with $4 ECB. I snagged even more poptarts on sale at 3/5 and used the $1/2 coupons. Now my pantry is overflowing with poptarts from a shopping spree at walmart a month ago and this was a better price. Also this week had V-8 and V-8 splash on sale for 2/6 with $1 ECB. I used coupons and got 6 bottles. We are on food stamps for about another month. So I ended up using about $40 off of that and out of pocket (oop) cost none. I used the $7 ECB I walked into the store with but came out with $10.
Walmart I managed to shop well too. The best deals came from two more Gillette Body Washes for free, used a buy one get one coupon and a $4 off coupon. They are $3.47 each there and now my husband has 6 bottles of it stocked and he is shaking his head at me over the phone while I laugh. Also the other really good deal was the Lysol no touch Hand Sanitizer was on Sale from $10 to $6. I used $3 off coupons and picked 3 up for $9 total. I won't bore you with the rest but I walked out of this store with $24 in sales savings $25 in coupon savings, $12 o.o.p. and $7 of that is coming back to me in rebates. It isn't easy pulling the kids through the store while doing it. In fact I have been known to grumble before hand and threaten to call it quits with couponing. But to me I have been blessed with the privalage of staying home while my husband works like crazy. I have to remind myself that this is God's job for me right now, helping him save money so that it goes farther and gets us out of debt sooner. So when I grumble and gripe before hand it always turn into a smile after the work is done when the results are seen. I just need to remember that a little bit more before.

Couponing Start Up Basics

What you will need to get organized:
3 ring binder, reccomend the kind that zips up
baseball card sleeves to put the coupons in
dividers to organize the coupons by category; paper goods, frozen, meats etc

Types of coupons:
Manufacturer Coupon: These start with either the number 5 or the number 9. Most of the Sunday paper coupons are these.
Store Coupon: Starts with any number other than 5 or 9 and is often printed with the receipt, or in the store circular/weekly add.
Competitor Coupon: This is a coupon from a second store that is accepted at the store you are currently in.
Peelies: These are located on a single product. You can peel them off and use them immeadiatly.
Blinkies: Those little machines in the isle attatched to a shelf with a coupon sticking out of them.
Printable Coupon: There are coupons that you can print online and print up to two of on a single computer. These work just like a regular manufacturer coupon.

That is all I am going to post right now. This is the 2nd time doing this post since the first got deleted. I believe we can honor the Lord by being better stewards of the money and caretakers of the family just by using things as simple as couponing. For me it also goes to other aspects of life and I am learning how to make and use things cheaper too. So even as I try to help teach you I am learning. Any questions from newbies or comments, and advice etc from pros are welcome.

New Directions

Ok, so after being frustrated with the layout on my blog and it driving me nuts to the point of not blogging for a while....it's fixed! And in time for me to put a slightly new twist to my blog. You will still find the occassional random ramblings of a mom who is missing her husband and loving her kids while trying not to go insane. But a lot of posts on the blog will be going to teaching my friends how to coupon, the basic for beginners and posting freebies and sales. If you have questions or comments or suggestions let me know. I will have it up by the end of the week Lord willing.

Home Made Yogurt

Here is a treat I am planning on making for the family tomorrow, it takes some time but is good.

Yogurt:

Makes about 8 cups

Heat in a large saucepan: 2 quartsmilk

Use an instant thermometer. Bring milk slowly (med heat) to 180 degrees. You can heat it faster, but if you burn the fat, it will taste awful.

Remove from heat and cool to 112 degrees (takes a while for a gallon to cool, but a quart might cool in an hour or less. If it cools too long, I heat is up to 112 again. Stir in 4 to 6 tablespoons plain yogurt. Pour into hot, sterilized jars. Turn on oven light at this point. You can heat oven up to 200,then turn oven off. Place jars containing yogurt in warm oven. Leave oven light on and leave overnight. Yogurt will be ready in the morning.

Extra tidbits. A yellow liquid separates from yogurt. It is called whey. If you mix it in, it will make your yogurt creamy. I sometimes drain it all out by putting it in a towel and let it drip 24 hours, no refrigeration. Then you have cream cheese and whey. I use the whey in lots of recopies--for preserving. The cream cheese has a different taste than the stores. A sharper taste.

More: You can add sugar to the yogurt when you heat up the milk. I don't know how much. We usually cook fruit on the stove in a little water and add sugar to the cooking water. Then we pour it over the yogurt to sweeten.