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.

Song...

I have had random songs pop in my head lately and this is the latest one. They have been an encouragement to me and I know God has been letting me remember them for the first time in years for a reason.

Updates on life

It has been insane lately and though I have managed to semi follow the blogs here I have not had much time to actually blog myself. Since Feb.2nd we have moved twice. The first time from AL to SC and the second time from SC to VA. The second move was by far the hardest. I had to pack and move on my own with the 3 boys while cleaning and getting stuff into storage for a few months. Since we plan on only staying in the current location till the end of summer most stuff is in storage and things like cable and internet are not on here. I borrow the internet when I need it and other than that I don't miss it much. It is making me be creative on how to relax though. I have been with out J here for 3 weeks and 2 days now. I won't get to see him again until sometime in June. It seems forever off. My sister in law Mindy and my friend Val are what is keeping me sane. M and I still talk coupons and Fly Lady just about every day. I am addicted to couponing and saving up to 90percent on my shopping bills and I got her addicted to it...but as my friend says it is a way to glorify God through our finances. Pray has been a major part of my lifeline here. I can't believe how lax Ihad gotten with it before now.
Other news...my puppy.well she is almost 2 now, had puppies on Sat. 9 in total 5 males and 4 females. They are all being watched by a wonderful Navy couple in SC till we can get back to pick them minus one up. They asked payment in puppy and we agreed. Nate is fully potty trained. It is a blessing I thank God for. We have been working at it for 18 months off and on. Once the potty chairs got packed in SC he went back to diapers like his 2 brothers. That gets expensive quickly. After 6 days to settle in and calm down I told him he would not be wearing another diaper from that point on. We are now at 4 and a half days in underwear and only one accident. He doesn't even get a pull up or diaper for naptime or bedtime. I am giving myself a short breather and either midweek of this week or Monday of next week I am starting full time potty training of Caleb too. It would be nice to have a short period with only one in diapers.
Daddy has noticed the increase in their vocabulary since he has been gone. Nate enjoys counting and is finally getting the numbers in the correct order and both boys are fascinated with their colors. Yellow being the favorite one to say. Nate has been carrying on full conversations here lately and other than being small most people assume he is older than 3. Boo is trying to mimick him. Jojo now has two teeth and is crawling. His newest accomplishment is to crawl to me and go from laying on the floor to sitting up on his knees to standing with no help in the process from me. He will walk across the floor if he has hands or a walking toy to hold on to. Not bad for a 8 and a half month old huh. He may not be the baby much longer....I took a pregnancy test and it came out with the shadow of a second line...so we will see. :) We are cautiously optomistic. A lot of changes and a lot of growing and hopefully it won't be so long before I post on here again. Thank God for what he has been doing in our lives and keep on praying for us please.

I can't stay on here long as I must still get all 3 boys dressed and head off to an appointment here shortly. But for any and all cloth diapering mammas out there like me Passionate Homemakers and Envibum are doing a free giveaway. You can find them through this link.
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2010/02/envibum-giveaway.html/comment-page-1#comment-20904. If that doesn't work just find Passionate Homemakers on my list that I follow and go to it. Hope ya'll enjoy them.

It's been too long

It has been to long since I have taken the time to write on here. We were without the internet for about a month around the time we moved. And yes move we did...all the way from Alabama to sunny South Carolina. I am back home and oh so happy to be here. We have upgraded in the size of house, so it is taking a bit longer to get things settled in.
The boys are adjusting well and we are trying to get them into somewhat of a routine here. Soon that routine will include multiple doctors visits for Caleb to get everything sorted out. Right now his allergies are only known to be milk and soy but there is a possability of more. We are encouraging him to talk more, as he has a very limited vocabulary and the words he says are hard to understand. Nathan we work with for about 30 minutes a day on abc's and numbers and learning books. Joey is Joey...he is now rolling all over the place and scooting around on his back. We are cloth diapering and baby wearing him as it is more frugal and makes things a lot easier on us. For now all of our stuff is hand washed and hung out to dry.Jer picked up a temp job until one of the DOD jobs picks him up.
I have to go and get things set for tomorrow, but hopefully it won't be long before I can hop back on here.