Harris Teeter Super Double Coupon Week

This week is Harris Teeter's Super Double Coupon week.  The store will double any manufacturer's coupon with a face value up to $1.98.  That means a $1.50 coupon is valued at $3.00.

Two of my favorite websites that list the coupon match-ups are:

The Coupon Teacher here

and

Mrs. Moneysaver here.

If you are new to cutting coupons, you will want to check out Money Saving Mom's (my absolute favorite coupon and money saving website) post on getting started with coupons.  This is the blog that got me started, four years ago, on getting serious about using coupons.

You also need to know a few basic rules about doubling coupons at Harris Teeter:

1)  They will only take 20 coupons per day.

2)  They will take 3 coupons a day per product.

3)  They will only take 2 Internet coupons per day per specific product. 

You can read all the Harris Teeter coupon policies here.

My store was out of several of the really good deals.  I'll head back out in the next day or two after the re-stock.  I used thirteen coupons and purchased all the items below.

Total bill:  $13.80...not too bad!

Remember to check the two coupon sites, I mentioned above, on Sunday.  They will list the new coupon match-ups from the Sunday paper.

Have coupon shopping!

Day Four Challenge Continued - Create A Serene Bedroom (COMPLETE)

Today we are continuing our quest to create a serene master bedroom by clearing out all the extra "stuff" and leaving only what is necessary for sleeping, relaxing and dressing.

See the previous post here for what we have already completed in this room...now let's press on...
to the next items mentioned in 30 Days to a Simpler Lifeand Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life.

1)  Berry, in Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life
says, "Eliminate excessive throw pillows unless they are really worth the effort of taking off and putting on the bed twice a day."

Another note, throw pillows are a great place for dust mites to congregate.  If you are a sufferer from allergies you may want to reconsider the necessity of extra pillows in your room.  If you can not part with them, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, "...wash...weekly in hot water. Temperatures of at least 130 degrees F are needed to kill dust mites". 

2)  Clear off the top of your dresser.  Keep your favorite few pictures or decorations.  Make sure you are putting your clean clothes in the dresser and not just sitting them on top.

If you have a small master bedroom consider eliminating your dresser. A few years ago, I decided to re-purpose our dresser.  I took everything out of the dresser and realized we had not worn at least half the items in years.  I find that because items in a dresser are hard to see, they are forgotten.  I moved my dresser items to the master closet.  The socks, underwear and lingerie are now in clear Rubbermaid boxes and one small drawer set in the closet.  The contents are conveniently located with all my other clothes.

I also relocated our sweaters, which were formerly in our dresser, into our master closet.  They are on shelves in our closet.  We happily gave away several of them, mostly wool sweaters which neither of us wore.  Our master bedroom now feels more spacious without the dresser.  Just an idea to consider.

This is our dresser now re-purposed in our dining room as a sideboard.

3)  If you are keeping your dresser, organize in the following manner...

       " Empty each dresser drawer one at a time.
             Sort and toss:
            -Socks without a match
           -Worn-out underwear and bras
           -Clothes that are the wrong size or you no longer wear
           -Bathing suits that you never wear
      Put back just those items that you love and wear.

4)  And finally, according to Cox and Evatt, their "For Serious Simplifers Only!" Challenge.

"Create a tranquil bedroom.  First, remove the television.  Next remove excess furniture and everything under the bed.  Redesign your closet sot it can hold clothing that was stored in your dresser.  Put a large plant where your dresser used to be .  Finally, empty the walls of everything except one serene print or painting.  Without busy art and bulky furniture, your bedroom will have a spacious, airy feeling."

Once you finish the Master Bedroom...hold on to your hats because tomorrow we will tackle our master closets!!

Saving Tip - A Night at the Movies for Less

If you are like us, we very rarely go to the movies because of the exorbitant cost of the tickets. However, Regal Theatres is now offering specials all over the country.

Our local theatre has $5.00 tickets all day and evening on Tuesday. Tuesdays are now my husbands and my new "date night." In addition to the reduced ticket price, if you are a Regal Crown Club member - which is free- you also can get $2.00 Popcorn.  For $12.00 we can see a movie AND get a popcorn. I love Tuesday nights!!

Check to see if your local theatre is participating in Value Days by going to the following Regal Cinema website here.

Financial Tip....

My sister just finished David Bach's newest book, Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedomand e-mailed me to let me know about several websites that will help you track down "missing money."

I checked on the websites and actually found out that my husband and I had money sitting in SC from a house-closing fifteen+ years ago.  Needless to say I will be contacting the state office today to request the refund check.

You may want to take a few minutes and take a look at these websites:

www.unclaimed.org

www.missingmoney.com

www.savingsbonds.gov/indiv/tools/tool (for unclaimed savings bonds)

www.irs.gov


Happy hunting!

Day Four Challenge - Create a Serene Bedroom

The challenge in 30 Days to a Simpler Lifeis to edit your sheets and pillowcases.  The authors recommend that you only need two sets of sheets and pillowcases for each bed in your house.  I have to confess that I long for 2 sets of sheets and pillowcases for all of my beds.  We strip our beds, wash the sheets and remake our beds.  One day, when I am am a "big kid", I'll have extra sheet sets for all of our beds

The authors offer some other tips to make your Master Bedroom a serene bedroom, which I am going to implement.  I also gleaned a few tips from another book, Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life by Jennifer Ford Berry.

This room will take a few days.

1)  Take a basket or box and take everything out of the master bedroom that does not belong there. 

I cleared out multiple childrens' items that migrated into our master bedroom... hair bows, miscellaneous socks, toys.  Just put them all in a basket to be carried out at one time and taken back to their "home."

I also cleared out DVD's that we borrowed.  They are all being returned to their rightful owners this week.

Clothes that belong in the master closet, dirty clothes, etc. are no longer in the master bedroom.

2) Cox and Evans remind me..."Don't make your bedroom into a library." 

Ouch, this one hurt.  I had a large stack of books on the bedside table and overflowing on the floor by the bed.  I am a bit of a frenetic reader.  Usually I am in the middle of 3-5 books at a time.  Plus I have a stack of books that are in my "must read" pile.  All of those books are now downstairs back on my library shelves. Now, I have one book, besides my Bible, on my bedside table.

3)  Organize your bedside dresser drawers. 

Berry, in Organize Now!, says "If your table has drawers, use them to store amenities such as lotions and sleep masks so the top can be clutter' free."

I cleaned out my bedside table drawer.  It now has a few cough drops, a pen, highlighter and lotion. 

4)  Next, I cleared out everything from under my bed. 

I had a Rubbermaid box of outgrown clothes that I will resale or store in the laundry room.
Tomorrow I will sweep and swiffel under the bed.  I decided, for our family, it is better for our allergies not to have items stored under the bed.

5)  Cox and Evan also state: "Keep your office out of your bedroom."

I instated this policy several years ago, when I moved my desk out of our bedroom.  That was the best decision I have ever made.  I work out of my home and seeing a stack of "To Do" items from work sitting on my desk or a stack of personal bills to pay, at bedtime, did nothing for my quality of sleep.

Consider relocating your desk if it is still your master bedroom.  Be creative if you have limited space.  One creative option is re-purposing a closet somewhere.  Remove the door, remove the shelves and replace them with a laminate desk top. Add a tension rod with a hanging curtain to block the office from view and you have an instant office.

Berry states "Resting is much more difficult when you are surrounded by clutter..."

I must admit I felt more relaxed last night without the extraneous items strewn around the room.

Tomorrow we'll continue work on making our bedroom an organized room.

Day Three Challenge - Form a Buying Checklist - COMPLETE

I found this assignment the most challenging so far. I turned to a Larry Burket resource for some help.

Years ago I had the privilege of taking Larry Burkett's financial counseling training class.  During that training we were given a list of prompts to ask ourselves before shopping, especially for larger items.  Despite the fact that I have the questions dutifully written on an index card, and have for years, I really have not been checking them before I make purchases.

I searched through Larry Burkett's Family Financial Workbook
and found the updated list of  "Think Before You Buy" Questions.   I also added my goals to the list and a few of my own prompts.

Here is my finished product:

Life Goals in "Sound Bites" (as suggested by Cox & Evan)
Glorify God
Best Friend with My Husband
Train & Nurture my Children
Promote Adoption & Orphan Care
Maintain Financial Freedom to be Able to Be Obedient to the Lord's Call on My Life

Always Shop From a List - if I see something that I want to buy that is not on my list, put it on a 7-30 day wait list (depending on the item) and see if I still need it after the "wait time."

Evaluate Every Purchase Before Buying:
1- Is it necessary?
        Can I do without it?
2 - Does it enhance God's work through me?
3 - Is it the best buy?
4 - Is it an impulse buy?
5 - Would my spouse agree with the purchase?
6 - Does it add to or detract from the family?
7 - Will it require costly upkeep?
8 - Does it depreciate quickly?
9 - Can I think of a creative alternative to this item?
         Either something I already own that I can re-purpose
             or something I own that I can sell to generate income
             to purchase this at a future date?
10 - How much is enough?

This is my "wallet" list to evaluate purchases.  (The goals are my own.  #1-8 come from Burkett.  #9 and #10 are my own ideas.  I'll post more about #9 in a future post!

Phew...I'm glad this assignment is over. 

Now on to an easier assignment....Create a Serene Bedroom

Free Rental Code for RedBox on Valentine's

If you are looking for an economical idea for a Valentine's date, you can get a free movie at your local RedBox by using the code: BeMine. Thanks to The Savings Lifestyle for the tip.

Saving My Sanity With E-Mealz

Before we adopted our 5th daughter in January, 2010, I was committed to cooking from scratch and planning all of our menus a week at a time...at least in a perfect week.  Well last year that all changed.  We adopted Isabelle.  She underwent open-heart surgery in March, 2010, and we spent a full month in the hospital.  After coming home I was trying to juggle the schedules of a college-age daughter, a high school daughter, homeschooling a 4th grader and keeping up with the busyness of a preschooler and toddler.  Add to that keeping up with my husband's busy work schedule and the fact that I also work part-time out of the home, and I had little time left for proper meal planning.

After another emergency run to Little Caesar's pizza, one night, reality finally hit me that something had to give!  That's when I heard about E-Mealz.


(You can click on this banner to read about the specifics.)

I think I heard about it on Money Saving Mom which is one of my favorite blogs.  The cost is $15.00 a quarter, and it includes both a 7 day supper meal plan and a shopping list for the meals.  The best part about it, is it's geared for families on a budget.  We choose the menu plan for Aldi's.  Our menus are based on a family of 6, but our family of 8 eats comfortable from the menu.  The average grocery bill for our evening meals is between $65 and $70 a week.

Each Tuesday the menu is posted along with the shopping list.  The meals are simple and include a main dish and several side items.  Very rarely is there a menu item that our family doesn't like.  The two women that began the meal service have tried and tested all of the meals on their own families, and they are excellent.  If you are looking for a way to save your sanity and help your budget, you might consider trying this for three months.

I must confess that last month I decided to try to plan our own menus again.  After two weeks of an embarrassing number of trips to restaurants because I either failed to plan a meal or was missing an ingredient, I quickly began printing my E-Mealz menus again.  I might try to plan my own menus again once Lily comes home and is done with her open-heart surgeries, but until then...I welcome the help.

I know my limitations!

Day Three Challenge - Create a Checklist to Help You Think Before You Buy

If you're just joining the blog today, I'm following 30 Days to A Simple Life's day by day challenge.  So far I've filled a black trash bag full of items around the house that I no longer needed and cleaned out a closet.  Now I'm going to tackle Day Three's Challenge....creating a checklist to carry with me that will help me think before I buy.

At first blush Day Three's Challenge sounds easy, but as I review it, I realize it is going to take a little time.  This one calls for the entire weekend to complete.

Cox and Evan's instructions are as follows:

"Create a checklist of questions that will help you decide what to buy and what to forgo....At the very top of the list, write down your major life goals in sound bites.  For example, you might write "get fit," "travel more" or "study wildflowers."  Put your list in your wallet so you can consult it when you go shopping.  When it comes time to purchase something, determine whether your goals and the purchase are harmonious."

They continue with a list of recommended questions:

"Will it enhance my goals?"


"Will it create more work?"


"Do I need it?"


"Is it truly a bargain?  If it were full price, would you buy it?"


Do I think it will make my life easier?"


"Do I want it because it's trendy?"


"Will it bring my family together or tear us apart?"


"Do I want it because it will make me feel better?"


"Will I have trouble getting ride of it in the future?"

This weekend I'm going to work on writing out sound bites that correlate with my life goals.  I'll post a list of those on Monday. 

Don't worry, Monday's assignment will be a bit easier AND more fun....Create a Serene Bedroom!

Day Two - Clean out a Junk Drawer or Closet - COMPLETE

The challenge continues, and I completed Day Two - clean out a drawer or a closet.  I managed to pare down our games and puzzles.  The girls picked out several puzzles that didn't have all their pieces for the discard pile.  In addition we put three games in the "Ambivalent box."  (See yesterday's post for details.)

I really love the idea of the Ambivalence Box.  I just made my first box out of a paper box.  So far I've placed some odd mugs, miscellaneous knives and of course the games I mentioned previously, in the box.  The idea of holding the items in the box to see if we can live without them frees me up to be more ruthless in my streamlining.

 

Here's a photo of the final product - an organized game and linen closet.