Coupons confuse me. I hear about people that save oooooodles of money by using coupons, and I know it is possible. But I seem to be struggling with how to keep everything straight. I thought I was doing pretty well, but somehow my piles of coupons have confused me again and I can't even make a decent list of what we need and where we should get it. There are obviously TONS of coupons for things we don't need, so I suppose I could start by weeding those things out....
Here's one of the confusing things, for example... Slim Fast Shakes. Turns out, if you heat them up they taste like hot chocolate, only are high protein, low carb. According to Safeway, a 4 pack is $5, and they are "Buy One Get One Free with Manufacturer Coupon from Sunday Paper". The only problem is that I couldn't find any manufacturer coupon in the Sunday paper that made them B1G1. Did I miss it? I do have a couple other Slim Fast coupons, so I should use those. Kmart has Slim Fast at 2 for $10, plus you get $5 off when you spend $25 on Slim Fast. Since my existing coupons are for $1.60 off 2, and $2 off 3, that would be $25 of Slim Fast, minus the $5, minus the $2, minus the $1.60, for a total savings of $8.60, according to my calculations. So, really it's only $16.40 for 20 bottles of Slim Fast, making them 82 cents each. Now, CVS has them for 2 for $9, so for 5 it would be $22.50, minus my coupons, making them $18.90 for 20 bottles. Turns out, Kmart has the best deal. Huh. Is it just me, or is that a lot of thinking for Slim Fast? BUT, it is something I have on my list, and I will be going to Kmart for hair dye anyway.
Okay... Here's another one. Target has Lean Cuisine meals on sale for $2, plus you get a $5 gift card when you purchase 10 of them. That's $20, but you get a $5 gift card back. I also have a random $5 off Frozen Food Puchase of $20 or more Target coupon, so that would technically be $15 for 10, plus $5 to spend later.
Couponmom.com makes it somewhat easier to get good deals, but only for national chains like Walmart, Target, etc. My local grocery stores like Town&Country and Rosauers aren't in that list, so it takes just a bit of extra work for that, too. Sometimes it is definitely worth looking at the local grocery ads, too. Just last night I sent Leif to Town&Country for a few items. They have the best price on the special yogurt our daughter eats, and they also had onions on sale. They also had a GREAT deal on Yoplait yogurt, which is normally around 60 cents a container. They had Yoplait for 5/$1, PLUS I had coupons for 50 cents off 8 and 40 cents off 6. Leif ended up getting 20 containers of yummy flavored Yoplait yogurt for less than $3!! Not bad at all! I'm glad I looked at their ad this week or I'd never have known!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Possible Dinner Menu...
Monday... Fend For Yourself?
Tuesday... Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Wednesday... Date Night
Thursday...
Friday... Chicken/Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic-Plum Reduction, Pear Salad
Saturday... Curried Cashew Pear Salad
Sunday...
Tuesday... Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Wednesday... Date Night
Thursday...
Friday... Chicken/Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic-Plum Reduction, Pear Salad
Saturday... Curried Cashew Pear Salad
Sunday...
Bountiful Baskets
Recently I heard about http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/, which is operated out of Utah. Basically, it is a food coop. It kind of reminds me of a CSA and Azure combination.
Today was my first time picking up a "basket." The baskets are available for purchase every other week and contain both fruits and vegetables. I also volunteered this morning, since it is a completely volunteer run organization, which was kind of fun! Here's what I brought home from my basket...
It includes...
 |
| From Instant Upload |
5 apples
2 bags celery
2 avocados
5 heads garlic
6 bananas
4 tomatoes
8 oz. mushrooms
1 head romaine
2 bags grapes
11 plums
6 pears
9 sweet potatoes
Not bad for $15! I'm getting excited about planning meals for this week and figuring out what I'm going to do with the produce!
I very rarely buy plums, so I was kind of at a loss for what to do with them. Then I went searching around online for some recipes and came up with a couple that I am excited about! One is for pork tenderloin with a balsamic-plum reduction. Yummy! That's on the menu for this week. The other is for an Asian plum sauce that I will make and (hopefully) can for the future. The plum sauce calls for applesauce, which we don't have right now, so I'm making some with a few of the apples from the basket.
The pears are also something I'm trying to figure out what to do with, since I'm not much of a pear person. I'm confident, though, that I will find an amazing recipe, or that Leif will eat them before I get the chance to find a suitable way to serve them. =D If all else fails, I think they will be good with some cheese, smoked salt, nuts, and wine. A good, easy picnic for movie night?? We'll see.
I am unsure of what to do with the avocado so far, but will be searching for recipes on that next. If nothing comes to mind, I will either make guacamole (yum!) or puree it for future use.
The sweet potatoes will probably get cooked and pureed for Thanksgiving yambake (that's what Leif wants me to do with them), though I would like to use them for a sweet potato curry, so we'll see who wins out this week. ;)
I have some other ingredients I'd like to use this week, too, including potatoes, onions, 2 limes, cilantro, basil, and dill. So... seems like we'll have some good flavor to dinner this week!! Woohoo!
Friday, October 14, 2011
THE PERSONAL PLANNER
The personal planner is coming together. In fact, I am really liking it. Here's how it started....
3 Ring Binder with half size sheets in it and my own dividers...
Notepad in the back for extra notes...
Monthly Tabs including birthday calendars. This is how it easily becomes a 90 day planner.
30 Day Focus sheet for each month...
Tabs for each of the major areas in my life... Time Management, Money Management, God, Family, Career, and Personal Development including Health and Nutrition.
Special things for Eliana, like her schedule for the week and important phone numbers.
A place for notes for the teacher, should I need them.
Daily schedule sheet...
Cute fitness and nutrition tracking sheets...
90 Day reading list... What I'm currently reading.
Book recommendation sheets for when others recommend books to me.
And added pockets for the miscellaneous!
That's how it STARTED. I used it for a month or so and then the system I was waiting for came out with their punch so I could customize my own pages to fit into a disk system. I LOVE IT!!
The thing I probably love the best is that my personal planner now fits in this:
Here's what the cover of the actual notebook looks like:
A lot of the printable pages I found that I like and use came from these guys:
In this version of the planner, I have time management focused pages in the front, and then the tabs start.
God, Family, Career, followed by a pocket, and then my personal and financial tabs. It's kind of nice to separate the sections that way.
I start with my daily list of things to do... 5 most important things, routines, meals, exercise, water, shopping list, appointments... all on one sheet. I found this sheet from simpleorganizedliving.com and I love it. I fill it out at night before bed and it allows me to think out and plan my next day. This is my work-from sheet. If I didn't look at the rest of the planner, but just worked off of this sheet each day, I'd be doing pretty good. I also have some sticky tabs so that I can use if I need to remember where I left off, what didn't get done, or just want to mark something. Then I have my Weekly Plan Sheet that I put together on Sunday night for the week. It's an ideal, but gives me something to work from each day as I plan the next day. Notice, too, that my monthly tabs are here in this section, too, before the God, Family, Career tabs.
Then I have my Daily To-Do List. This is where I track what I want to do and what I'm actually doing, and how I'm balancing my personal/family and business time.
LOOK!!! I can punch coupons and put them in my planner to use that day!
This is my weekly meal planner with tear-off grocery list. Leif does the grocery shopping, but this lets me think through next week's meals while I'm out and about and make notes for ingredients we will need.
GOD tab:
This lets me make notes, read scripture and journal it, and journal prayers while I'm out and about, too. I find this much better than using a dedicated journal, since I often don't have the journal with me.
FAMILY tab:
Ellie's "I-didn't-get-any-checkmarks-at-kindergarten-today" punchcard and perforated "Let's have a playdate" sheets that make planning playdates easier.
CAREER tab:
Current promotion and place to jot down notes as I make phone calls while I'm out and about...
Blank note pages.
PERSONAL tab:
Current reading list for the 90 days...
Book recommendation sheets:
IOU Coupons:
FINANCES tab:
A place to make notes about who paid what and what I paid, etc. Not an actual ledger, but a place for me to make notes.
And, of course, my receipt pocket:
My shopping list...
Tiny notes...
And my important pocket!
(and, of course, the notepad)
It's a ton of pictures, but I really love my new personal planner and disk binding system! All of the pages are easily rearrangable, without having to open up the rings and risk losing all of the sheets. I have done that on more than one occasion! Also, the disk spacing makes it easier to include smaller pieces of paper, like coupons! I'm pretty pleased.
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
|
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
That's how it STARTED. I used it for a month or so and then the system I was waiting for came out with their punch so I could customize my own pages to fit into a disk system. I LOVE IT!!
The thing I probably love the best is that my personal planner now fits in this:
 |
| From Instant Upload |
Here's what the cover of the actual notebook looks like:
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
 |
| From Instant Upload |
It's a ton of pictures, but I really love my new personal planner and disk binding system! All of the pages are easily rearrangable, without having to open up the rings and risk losing all of the sheets. I have done that on more than one occasion! Also, the disk spacing makes it easier to include smaller pieces of paper, like coupons! I'm pretty pleased.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
It's coming together!!
One of Leif's pet peeves when I was using a Control Journal back in the day is that it was out on the kitchen counter all the time. So when I considered going back to using a Household Notebook, I knew that I would have to find someplace OTHER than the kitchen to house the Organization Station. =D
So, on a trial basis (though I think it will be the permanent home), the Organization Station is in the mud hall, in its own little corner. There's the File System and the Household Notebook, and hanging just above them, in all it's (unintentional) color-coordinated glory, the House-to-Car bag. That's where I put things that need to go with us and things that need to come inside. Here's a look!
It's coming together!!
So, on a trial basis (though I think it will be the permanent home), the Organization Station is in the mud hall, in its own little corner. There's the File System and the Household Notebook, and hanging just above them, in all it's (unintentional) color-coordinated glory, the House-to-Car bag. That's where I put things that need to go with us and things that need to come inside. Here's a look!
 |
| From Instant Upload |
It's coming together!!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The land of Printables
I have gone a little Printable crazy the last few days. Like, seriously printable crazy. I just sorted through my printables folder and categorized them into sub-folders in hopes of being able to navigate the murky waters of printability. Insane, I say. Now I have the delightful task of sorting through the folders and deciding which I *really* want to keep and use, and which I will probably never really use. Because, really, they are only as great as their usefulness goes.
So as I flip through the images, I thought perhaps I'd make some notes about what I might like to do with these marvelous little printables. Assuming, of course, that I get a working printer in the near future. =D
IOU Coupon - I have a few of these. I need to figure out which will be best for my Personal Organizer. Also, if I use these, do I keep the IOU or do I give it to the person to whom I owe something? And if I give it away, will I remember to write the IOU on something so that I actually remember to get it to them? Things to ponder.
Playdate Invites - These would be nice to have on hand for those spontaneous playdate plans. I'd add the playdate to my calendar and give the invite to the other party.
Cute Polka Dot Notes - Smaller than regular half-sheet notes, these would be good for a little message to someone.
Happy Birthday Cards - Would it be nice to have a couple of these printed on cardstock on hand just in case? Or is that going overboard? Should I look for generic cards instead?
Gift Certificates - These would be kind of fun to have to give to potential customers. I like the idea.
Whew... then I got sucked into the stuff that is going to be more difficult to wade through... and suddenly this blog post is over because my brain is full. I'll have to continue this later. Off to see if my brain can stop humming...
So as I flip through the images, I thought perhaps I'd make some notes about what I might like to do with these marvelous little printables. Assuming, of course, that I get a working printer in the near future. =D
IOU Coupon - I have a few of these. I need to figure out which will be best for my Personal Organizer. Also, if I use these, do I keep the IOU or do I give it to the person to whom I owe something? And if I give it away, will I remember to write the IOU on something so that I actually remember to get it to them? Things to ponder.
Playdate Invites - These would be nice to have on hand for those spontaneous playdate plans. I'd add the playdate to my calendar and give the invite to the other party.
Cute Polka Dot Notes - Smaller than regular half-sheet notes, these would be good for a little message to someone.
Happy Birthday Cards - Would it be nice to have a couple of these printed on cardstock on hand just in case? Or is that going overboard? Should I look for generic cards instead?
Gift Certificates - These would be kind of fun to have to give to potential customers. I like the idea.
Whew... then I got sucked into the stuff that is going to be more difficult to wade through... and suddenly this blog post is over because my brain is full. I'll have to continue this later. Off to see if my brain can stop humming...
Thoughts on the File System
Well, since I've posted about my thoughts on the Personal Organizer and Household Notebook, I might as well share my thoughts on the File System.
I get excited about reorganizing in September. Perhaps it's the start of the school year, perhaps it's the month of my birthday, but it always feels like the perfect time for a fresh start. This year is no different, and is maybe even has more focus on the organizational front since Eliana started kindergarten and we are back into the swing of a school calendar.
My thought behind the File System is that if I want to keep up my Personal Organizer without buying pages and new organizers every 90 days or so, I need to have things pre-printed and ready to go so that I don't let my every day fall apart. The same for my Household Notebook. I don't want to store a year's worth of papers in either system, so I need a place to keep all those pertinent papers until the time comes for me to use them.
Of course, I am still in the experimental stages of my Personal Organizer and Household Notebook, so the File System is also in flux until I get all that figured out. Here's what I do have so far, though...
The File System:
I get excited about reorganizing in September. Perhaps it's the start of the school year, perhaps it's the month of my birthday, but it always feels like the perfect time for a fresh start. This year is no different, and is maybe even has more focus on the organizational front since Eliana started kindergarten and we are back into the swing of a school calendar.
My thought behind the File System is that if I want to keep up my Personal Organizer without buying pages and new organizers every 90 days or so, I need to have things pre-printed and ready to go so that I don't let my every day fall apart. The same for my Household Notebook. I don't want to store a year's worth of papers in either system, so I need a place to keep all those pertinent papers until the time comes for me to use them.
Of course, I am still in the experimental stages of my Personal Organizer and Household Notebook, so the File System is also in flux until I get all that figured out. Here's what I do have so far, though...
The File System:
- Loose Files
- Extra Journal Pages for Personal Organizer (PO)
- Monthly Hanging File Folders
- Blank PO Notepad
- 4-5 Weekly Folders (labeled Week 1-Week 5)
- Week 1
- PO - Monthly Divider
- PO - 30 Day Focus Sheet
- PO - Projects Sheet
- PO - Monthly / Weekly Meal Planner
- HN - Monthly / Weekly Meal Planner
- Subsequent Weeks
- Weekly Goal Planning Sheets
- Weekly Meal Planners
- Weekly Productivity Sheets
- Weekly To Do Lists
- Etc. (You get the idea... )
- Holiday / Special Planning Folders
- Anything for planning holiday events, birthday parties, etc. Filed under the appropriate month.
- Extra Hanging File Folders
- Blank File Folders
- Blank Holiday Folders
Obviously, there are a lot of unknowns with this system so far. I'm assuming that will become easier as I narrow it down to exactly which printables I want to use each week, etc. Since I am looking for an all-encompassing system, it will undoubtedly take some time to work out all the kinks and find a solution that simplifies our life and is maintainable long term. So far, though, I am liking the progress. I feel hope!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)