What I'm Loving...Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone :) Yesterday I got my student teacher acceptance letter! Yay...just 7 more weeks to go with this undergrad ish and I'm dunzo with pointless astronomy courses.
Today I picked up some "mini" pumpkins for my front walkway. I'm not planning on carving them I just thought they were cute!

I still need to get some pumpkins for carving.

Last Friday night Eric surprised me with OU/KU football tickets AND the Little Mermaid! I was so surprised and sooo excited to go watch my Sooners (BOOMER SOONER) and have my favorite movie of (almost) all time to watch whenever I want. It was such a thoughtful surprise from him for me and one that I truly appreciated and still do.

Yup! I got him in an OU shirt!

I finally got tired of looking at a messy closet...and by messy I mean soooooo unorganized and just, well, yuck. I wish I had taken a picture of the "before operation reorganization" because I surprised myself with my organization skills. Now I have a much more organized and prettified closet.

Because I'm sure y'all all want to see my closet :) I'm not Martha Stewart but hey, I'm workin' on it!

Last but not least is Max...

Max is so ready for Halloween...he doesn't really know what's going on and is probably filling his head with a million nasty thoughts about his crazy mommma

This is what I see everyday while I'm studying.



Happy Wednesday :))

Let's Talk Savings, People!

Okay, so I'm becoming a bit "into", if you will, this whole couponing thing. I'm constantly thinking about how to cut down on my food costs, etc. I like my money with me...Really the whole thought of buying food without coupons is pretty heartbreaking considering the high costs of just about everything. So far I've collected a fairly large pile of coupons from just 2 Sundays papers. I have organized them into 3 envelopes: 1) Eating out coupons 2) Food coupons 3) Item coupons (such as toilet paper, razors, etc)
But to keep them even more organized I've divided those categories into expiration dates of: October/November and December/January dates. Clearly this will change as the months progress but I don't want to lose out on something that's about to expire because I can't find it and I also like to have a general idea of what is in each envelope. I called Hyvee today and found out that this month they double their coupons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I will hopefully be making my way out there this week. I'm also on a mission of getting a general idea of prices from several of the stores I do my shopping at so that I'll know where to save money and where to not even waste my time. Once I'm done with that I'm hoping the rest of this whole couponing thing is a breeze. Clipping isn't too time consuming right now. I probably spent 30 minutes clipping then another 15 minutes organizing the folders.
Today I decided to make Chilli but I had nothing at home to cook with. I decided to run by Dillons on my way home and pick up the ingredients because Chilli isn't too expensive to make. I took no coupons with me or anything (even though I have some GREAT coupons specifically for Dillons), I knew that this trip wasn't going to be big. Boy. Was I. Wrong.



 This is my reciept from today. The one thing that really irks me is that the reciept only shows what I saved through my Dillons card, however I saved much more than that! As I was walking through the frozen food section a bright orange sticker caught my eye that said "Manager Special". OMG, the deals I found. I got a HUGE salmon for $2. This salmon is regularly approximately $10! I found some meat subsitutes for $2-regularly $6! Frozen wheat yeast rolls-1 dozen for $1, regularly $3.50 so I picked up two packages. Organic waffles for $.80. YES 80 cents! Regularly $4! My total came to $24.90 and I had an overall food savings of $23 and a TOTAL savings, after adding in my store card, of $23.79...without using a single coupon.  Yes folks, running into these deals was pure luck, but the point is to look and/or ask an associate if they're having any kinds of specials/sales like this.

Fellow couponers, what works best for you?

What I'm Loving...Wednesday

Well, hello there Wednesday! If you hadn't noticed, "ANYTHING BUT AVERAGE" recieved an extreme makeover and is now "No Ponytails Please"! My recipes also have a separate blog(found on 'pages' at the top of the page, copy that link) called "No Ponytails Please and Recipes". I'm pretty excited and this is obviously my first thing I'm loving today.

This is my second:

I saw this picture posted on facebook earlier today and haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day! Here is the article I found about it. This woman was engaged to a soldier who was killed. She asked to spend her last night next to his casket so the Marine's got a mattress for her to sleep on. Looking at this picture I can feel her anguish, not because I've ever been in that situation, but because I hope to never be. This picture should be an example of dedication and love. We should all aspire to be loved so much and to love another person this much.

So, this picture and story is what I'm truly loving today (and quite possibly tomorrow and the next day). Don't forget those who have fought, are fighting, and will fight for our freedom. Don't forget to love someone.

Happy Wednesday :)

Dear 16 Year Old Self...

Courtesy: Pinterest

One of the blogs I follow did a post like this and I thought "what a neat idea! If I could go back, ummm, some years, what would I say to myself at 16?" Well, here it is folks.

• The most important: Know the difference between your friends and your frienemies. You are surrounded by way more of the latter.
• It is 100% okay to be just you...just who YOU are, without feeling the need to explain yourself to anyone.
• When you move to Kansas, like, after graduation (yes, that's right. You will move to a place in Kansas that you've never ever heard of called 'Lawrence') you will find 99.9% of your best friends. Ever. So don't sweat ANY of the small stuff right now.
• You won't figure out what you're really good at or who you really are for a long time. Just enjoy the ride.
• Choctaw will always be home. No matter what you think of the place.
• Relationships, at this age, are meant to come and go. It is right now that you should be listening to your heart because that skill will come in VERY handy for the rest of your life.
• Cherish the people in your life right now that are so special to you. Like that kid who lives down the street and ALWAYS has your back. Yup, the one who you pass notes to and the teacher ALWAYS makes you move away from. The one who takes you to school in the mornings, Braum's burger runs and Sonic drink runs after school and on weekends. He will go to Heaven before college and you will miss him a lot. Forever.
• Enjoy this life. Avoid drama.
• Date around. But nothing too serious.
• Don't trust too many people.
• Sneak out a little more. Your parents won't find out :))
• Study and learn. Not too much. Not too little. This habit will serve you well later in life.
• That severe talking habit that you have...you'll put it to GREAT use in just a couple of years. It'll help you earn lots of scholarship money...tell that to your teachers next time you get in trouble for talking.
• I would tell you to stay out of trouble, but you never really get into trouble. Just remember, as high school goes on, make sure that you refer to the first piece of advice on this list, because that will keep you out of trouble!
• Maybe you should at least consider not taking a year off of college after you graduate. Oh, wait. You won't know what you really want to do for a few years after graduation. Go on, enjoy :)
• Don't try to live someone else's life. Ever.
• Popularity isn't all that matters. In fact, it really doesn't matter. Being nice to everyone does matter. Try being a little lot nicer.
• After you graduate, run, don't walk to your future. Time won't wait.
• Always listen to God.
• Pink is waaaay better than purple.
• Michael Jackson will always be the best. ( Though you will fall in absolute love with a man named Sufjan in a few years. But you don't know that yet so it doesn't matter).

Testing Extreme Couponing 1,2,3...

Okay, I've mentioned before that I am interested in couponing. I cannot help but think of all the possibilities when I watch the TLC show "Extreme Couponing" because when someone goes in a store and spends $1,000 then hands the cashier enough coupons to get that total down to $10 I feel like I've been cheated of paying full price for groceries. I simply don't have the time to be like the couponers on the show, but what is it going to hurt to clip some coupons and try to save a significant chunk of money at the store. So yesterday morning I woke up and grabbed some Sunday papers. I chose the Kansas City Star paper over the Lawrence-Journal World and Topeka Capital Journal because they had more coupon inserts. I grabbed 2 copies because the rule of thumb is one paper per family member. Eric helped clip the coupons and we organized them into 3 envelopes: one for food items, one for stuff, one for restaurants.

But, I'm clearly going to need an organizer for these soon because it's easy to overlook expiration dates and which products I have coupons for.

I went to Kroger (Dillons) because I did my research and found that they "double" coupons. When you look at your coupon, just in front of the bar code, there is a single number. If that number is '5' then your coupon will double. If the number is '0' or '9' then the coupon will not double. (also, box stores like Target and Walmart will NOT double coupons). Kroger will double the coupon up to $1, for $.50. So if you have a "save $.50 off 1 box of X" coupon Kroger will add another $.50. Doing this, I know that there are a lot of items that I can save on. But...in order to truly be successful a couple of trips are needed to a few different stores.

A $1/3 items coupon may save me a little at Kroger but that same coupon may stretch a little further at a store like Super Walmart. My Morningstar Farms vegetarian substitutes for example: At Walmart a box is around $3.30. At Dillons a box is $4.99. So a $1 off coupon will save me more if I use it at Walmart vs. Dillons. (that coupon, if doubled at Dillons will make the $4.99 box $3.49 ($1.50 off) at Walmart the box is $2.30) Thankfully I'm in a location where the stores are on either side of where I live so it's not terribly wasting gas.

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ has some GREAT tips on how to use the coupons that come in the Sunday paper and combine them with sales happening that week, etc. in order to get to the extreme  point of couponing. I'm really excited to start saving even if it's just a little at first.

So, how did my grocery trip turn out yesterday? I spent $39 after I saved $10. So, not bad but not extreme.

I have a $4.00 off coupon for Purina dog food. Using this coupon at Walmart will actually make the bag FREE and I'll get money back. But, Max doesn't eat Purina so I'm going to donate the bags to the Helping Hands Humane Society :)) Works out great!

I also got a coupon for a free Dr. Pepper Ten. I haven't tried it yet but hey, it is free!

Happy Monday :)





What I'm Loving Wednesday

Oh my goodness I almost didn't make this post. So, Eric and I decided to eat at Jason's Deli for dinner because we both needed a baked potato. Halfway through my dinner and after not eating much at all today, I looked down at my plate and there was a fly. Just dead and laying on my plate. Crisp...as in it had been baked with my potato. The manager didn't really offer anything other than an apology.

So, what am I loving this week?!? Lot's of things, duh :))

When I was in Oklahoma I found some bedding and pillows on sale. The pillows are side sleepers and sooo comfortable. My mom and I saved A LOT of money. So, this week I'm loving saving money and being crafty.

I felt like we were in an episode of 'Extreme Couponing'...

I'm also really loving 'Extreme Couponing', obviously! The first time I watched the show I seriously felt sick. I usually try not to buy clothes for full price but I've never thought of not buying all of my groceries for full price. Don't get me wrong, I try to buy groceries that are on sale but I've never been able to clip coupons religiously. After watching this show, I'm determined to try and start saving on groceries. These couponers know their stuff.

I'm still really hooked on Pinterest! It is such an amazing place to find ideas and hold them all in one place. I'm. In. Love. I've found so many creative projects and cute gifting ideas. This weekend I decided to try something I saw and came up with this:

I bought white pumpkins and black glitter paint and painted the designs on the pumpkins. Ah fall.

Photo: pinterest

Photo: pinterest



Pinterest has some adorable wreath/front door ideas that I can't wait to try. There's one in particular for wintertime that I'm anxious to make but I'll post it then. Happy Wednesday!