By Gina E.
I am not an “extreme couponer” by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t want to be a shelf-clearing hoarder, but I do want to be a good steward of our family’s household budget as the Lord calls me to be. I’m the average person in this economy looking to make our money stretch as far as I can – as I seek to feed, care for, and clothe four rapidly growing children in addition to a husband with special diet requirements. I want to share with you a couple of ways I’ve found to do that.
I haven’t always been consistent at using coupons. There were many weeks that I threw them away without looking at them…thinking, “It’s all prepared foods, brands I don’t like/won’t use; it’s only 25¢ off a $900 package of toilet paper…” The thought of pairing them with a sale never crossed my mind, and if it happened, I considered it a ‘happy accident’. Then I had a baby. And another. And another. In 35 months I had three children – and a $100/month bill for diapers. Nothing will drive a family to coupons like buying diapers!!
I’m an engineer. I research things to death before I try doing them. So, I started following Money Saving Mom and reading all I could on how to save money using coupons. The frugal blogs are a great source for savings in stores and online. SKIM them because they post A LOT (sometimes 50+ posts a day). I use Google Reader and when I read the frugal blogs, I put them in “list view” so I see post titles. That way I don’t have to scroll through 50 posts about things that I don’t need, don’t want or stores that aren’t near us. Another option is to use a service like The Grocery Game that does all of that for you (for a fee).
So, how did I get started using coupons once I read up on it? First, I had to CLIP the coupons! I only clipped the ones I knew I’d use – but if I didn’t organize them, I knew I wouldn’t use them. Some people use a small accordion file, like a check file. Some use an index card file (Rubbermaid has a photo/media storage box that works well and gives more room than an index card box). Some use a binder with page protectors, some use a binder with baseball card protectors. Initially I used the Rubbermaid photo box with index dividers; but, recently I switched to a binder and baseball card sleeves using Krazy Coupon Lady’s system. There are all sorts of You Tube videos and blog posts that discuss coupon organization systems if you’re interested in it. The main thing is finding what works for you and knowing it may change over time.
Target, Walgreens, and Kroger will allow coupon “stacking”: that means you can use a STORE coupon + a manufacturer coupon for an item. You can get items for a great price – sometimes even free – by coupon stacking. If you don’t have a Kroger card, consider getting one. Yes, it means they track what you buy – but they also send coupons and for every $100 spent, you get 10-cents a gallon off on gas. I get free eggs four times a year from Kroger – sometimes I get other free stuff, too (deli meat, chips, butter). Who can’t use free stuff? Target has printable coupons on their website – some are manufacturer coupons and some are store coupons – and you can’t always tell which is which until you print them. They also include coupons for store brand (Up&Up). Up&Up usually ranks very high in Consumer Reports testing (their laundry detergent beat Tide). I’ve stacked Target and manufacturer coupons in the past to get Shout pre-treater, light bulbs, and toothbrush heads for my Sonicare toothbrush very inexpensively.
I take my coupons with me EVERY TIME I go to the store. And I take them ALL…the whole big binder. There have been times that I’ve happened upon something on clearance or a special markdown and had a coupon for a great deal!! I was in WalMart a month or so ago and they had bottles of Dawn dishwashing liquid in apple and pineapple scents marked down to 50-cents each. I had several 25-cents off coupons in my binder. I got four bottles of dishwashing liquid for $1.00. If I’d only taken the coupons I was planning on using that trip, I’d have missed that deal – and I’d have been kicking myself! (I’ve done that before.)
It’s okay to be brand loyal, but I know I’m not always going to get a great deal or have a coupon. I used to be loyal to Crest toothpaste – until we got 8 tubes of Colgate for 38¢/tube. You know what? My teeth have not fallen out!! However, I’m only going to buy Heinz ketchup - I don’t care how cheap I can get Hunt’s - and my teeth might fall out.
Besides coupons there are a couple of other things I do to save money on our household budget: I buy store brands and I make things at home.
All of us spend a lot of money on toilet paper and laundry detergent. We want clean bottoms and clean clothes. I hate, hate, HATE spending a ton of money on something I’m literally sending down the drain!! I recently decided I wasn’t going to buy name-brand toilet paper for my kids’ bathroom. They waste more toilet paper than they use because I find it all over the floor (unused) and they use it like paper towels. So, I bought Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) Soft & Strong toilet tissue (12 double rolls for less than $7). I discovered that it’s just a soft as Northern or Charmin! If you can get name-brand on sale and/or with a coupon, do it (I got 12 double rolls of Northern for $5.99 last week thanks to the Kroger ad). But if not, don’t be afraid to buy the Great Value Soft & Strong. I promise it’s not sandpaper. And it won’t clog the toilet like Charmin!
Laundry detergent… ugh! $13 for a bottle of soap to wash my clothes?! There are six people in my house. Four of them are little people who can dirty up some clothes in a heart beat. I was spending $60/month on detergent! Um, no thank you!! I started making my own detergent in May, 2010. I’ve made four or five batches of Duggar liquid laundry soap since then and saved a ton of money. You make a five-gallon bucket of detergent that is actually a concentrate. You end up with TEN GALLONS of laundry detergent. It is safe for front-loading machines that call for HE detergent because it is low-sudsing. However, know that using it in an HE machine when your manual says only use HE detergent could void your warranty.
I have not found an acceptable homemade dishwasher detergent – I’ve tried. Everything leaves a film on my glasses and I can’t stand that. So, this is also an area where I stick to a couple of brands. I use Cascade or Finish – whoever has the better coupon. Though I’d also be willing to try Target’s Up&Up brand – I need to check their site for a coupon.
Being good stewards of our household budgets will also allow us to serve others – another thing we are called to do in Scripture. By saving at the grocery store, perhaps we can buy a few extra items and donate them to the church food pantry. Or maybe put the amount saved on a gift card and send it to a struggling family so they can buy milk, meat or other perishables or put gas in their vehicle. Some people use their savings to enable them to give more to the church or missions – whether toward general giving, a gift to the building fund or a Christmas in October gift. Any of these ways to serve others through our grocery savings are a blessing – to both the giver and receiver!
TOMORROW: Helpful Websites & my laundry detergent recipe
Showing posts with label Homemaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homemaking. Show all posts
Monday, January 2, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Family Traditions - Making Meaningful Memories (Part 2)
(Editor's Note: I'm SO SORRY! I meant to post this yesterday and I just plain forgot. Oops! Better late than never, right? I was just trying to build the anticipation. )
By Kim M.
Years ago, my friend Libby and I gave a talk at Ozark Conference Center called “Traditions – Tried, True, and New.” We compiled a list from many of our friends on “Everyday and Special Day” family traditions. I have continued to add to this list and want to share it with you to jump start your thinking. Some of the traditions incorporate spiritual truths, some foster family togetherness, and some are just for plain ole family fun and memory making times. Click on the link below to see the list:
Traditions – Tried, True and New
By Kim M.
Years ago, my friend Libby and I gave a talk at Ozark Conference Center called “Traditions – Tried, True, and New.” We compiled a list from many of our friends on “Everyday and Special Day” family traditions. I have continued to add to this list and want to share it with you to jump start your thinking. Some of the traditions incorporate spiritual truths, some foster family togetherness, and some are just for plain ole family fun and memory making times. Click on the link below to see the list:
Traditions – Tried, True and New
Monday, December 5, 2011
Family Traditions – Making Meaningful Memories (Part 1)
By Kim M.
Think back to when you were a little girl. What do you remember most about the holiday season? How many specific gifts can you really remember? I remember one gift in particular...I was about 12. It was a bicycle: purple bike, banana seat, tall, curvy handlebars with the sparkly things from the handlebars – a very cool bike. But what I remember most was that mom and dad had hidden the bikes from my sister and me. After all the other presents were opened, mom and dad made up some excuse for Kathy and me to go into our utility room, and there we got the joy of discovering our fashionable, sparkly new bikes. You know, I don’t remember one other present from that Christmas. But it was the way my parents planned for us to discover the gifts and the surprise that had the lasting effect. It is the memories we make with family and the times that we spend together that are what truly have a lasting effect on us.
As we move into what usually proves to be one of the busiest seasons of the year, it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy that comes with shopping, wrapping, baking, hosting, and decorating. Sometimes we can become so busy that we lose the meaning and people in the midst of the all the activity. I want to slow down the pace long enough to challenge us to think about how this season can be different. How can we as women be deliberate and purposeful in our planning so that we can make meaningful memories for our family; memories that promote family togetherness and other-centered service; memories that point us to the faithfulness of our God? How can we use family traditions to facilitate these memories, not just during the holidays, but everyday?
Noel Piper in her book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions, gives us three definitions of traditions:
Traditions are one generation declaring to the next the faithfulness and the
wondrous works of the Lord. Recently, I was reading a book by where the author refers to family traditions as “we always.” I love that phrase! “We always” do breakfast in bed on birthdays. “We always” have a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” cake for Christmas dinner dessert. “We always” bake together as a family at Christmas. When your kids think back someday on your family, what will they remember fondly as the “we always?" Let’s focus on two categories where we can practice traditions or our “we always” with purpose in our families through what I call “Everyday traditions” and “Special Day Traditions.”
First, let’s consider “Everyday traditions.” You are all familiar with Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 where we are instructed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might and then to have these words on our heart and to teach them diligently to our children and talk of them when we sit in our house and when we walk by the way and when we lie down and when we rise up. Have you ever thought about the fact that your daily habits and routines can become, as Noel Piper defines it, “a habit with significance” where you can carry out the commands of Deuteronomy 6?
Noel challenges us in her book to think through our daily walking, rising, talking, and going to bed times, and ask the Lord to show us how we can establish habits or traditions with meaning. How can our daily traditions pass on and proclaim God’s Word and faithfulness from one generation to the next?
Here are some ideas to get you thinking:
God also established “Special Day” traditions. Think about the ordinance of the Passover Feast for the Israelites in Exodus 12:42. It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt. This night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. He also established the Feast of the Unleavened Bread: “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance,” (Exodus 12:14). Besides the everyday remembrances, God gave special days for remembering.
Noel Piper shares a story in her book where a college friend had heard once too often, somebody pontificating that, “Every day should be Mother’s Day,” or “Every day should be as significant as Christmas.” Finally, the student exclaimed, “No! All days are NOT the same! God knows we need ‘especially.’” Noel says, “God appointed special days, such as the Passover, for His people and gave them ceremonies to set those days off from the others. The ceremony of a special day keeps it from slipping away like an ordinary day. We stop and recognize the specialness of an event in large part because of the traditions in which it’s wrapped… our ‘especially’ celebrations anchor us and our children in the harbor of our family, reflecting our true refuge: God.”
I suggest that you sit down with a calendar and think through the year and the holidays and special days that your family celebrates. Choose times that your family will celebrate and consider how you can add special meaning to these special days in your family. Hear me say this: I do NOT want you to feel guilty or to think of this as one more thing to add to your already-too-long “to do” list. It may be that the best thing you can do to make holidays more meaningful in your home is to simplify! Sometimes we need to “do more… better” and sometimes we need to “do less… better.”
Tomorrow: A list of practical ideas to jump start your thinking
Think back to when you were a little girl. What do you remember most about the holiday season? How many specific gifts can you really remember? I remember one gift in particular...I was about 12. It was a bicycle: purple bike, banana seat, tall, curvy handlebars with the sparkly things from the handlebars – a very cool bike. But what I remember most was that mom and dad had hidden the bikes from my sister and me. After all the other presents were opened, mom and dad made up some excuse for Kathy and me to go into our utility room, and there we got the joy of discovering our fashionable, sparkly new bikes. You know, I don’t remember one other present from that Christmas. But it was the way my parents planned for us to discover the gifts and the surprise that had the lasting effect. It is the memories we make with family and the times that we spend together that are what truly have a lasting effect on us.
As we move into what usually proves to be one of the busiest seasons of the year, it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy that comes with shopping, wrapping, baking, hosting, and decorating. Sometimes we can become so busy that we lose the meaning and people in the midst of the all the activity. I want to slow down the pace long enough to challenge us to think about how this season can be different. How can we as women be deliberate and purposeful in our planning so that we can make meaningful memories for our family; memories that promote family togetherness and other-centered service; memories that point us to the faithfulness of our God? How can we use family traditions to facilitate these memories, not just during the holidays, but everyday?
Noel Piper in her book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions, gives us three definitions of traditions:
- A tradition is a planned habit with significance.
- A tradition is the handing down of information, beliefs, or worldview from one generation to another by word of mouth and by regular repetition of example, of ceremony, of celebration.
- For a Christian, tradition is laying up God’s words in our own hearts and passing His words to the next generation.
Traditions are one generation declaring to the next the faithfulness and the
wondrous works of the Lord. Recently, I was reading a book by where the author refers to family traditions as “we always.” I love that phrase! “We always” do breakfast in bed on birthdays. “We always” have a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” cake for Christmas dinner dessert. “We always” bake together as a family at Christmas. When your kids think back someday on your family, what will they remember fondly as the “we always?" Let’s focus on two categories where we can practice traditions or our “we always” with purpose in our families through what I call “Everyday traditions” and “Special Day Traditions.”
First, let’s consider “Everyday traditions.” You are all familiar with Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 where we are instructed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might and then to have these words on our heart and to teach them diligently to our children and talk of them when we sit in our house and when we walk by the way and when we lie down and when we rise up. Have you ever thought about the fact that your daily habits and routines can become, as Noel Piper defines it, “a habit with significance” where you can carry out the commands of Deuteronomy 6?
Noel challenges us in her book to think through our daily walking, rising, talking, and going to bed times, and ask the Lord to show us how we can establish habits or traditions with meaning. How can our daily traditions pass on and proclaim God’s Word and faithfulness from one generation to the next?
Here are some ideas to get you thinking:
- setting the example by having a regular quiet time (Will your family be able to say “we always” knew mom was having her quiet time and praying for us?)
- family devotions
- family nights
- meal times together
- tucking them in times
- date night with daddy
- having special family recipes or meals
- travel time habits – “We always” pray in the car before a trip. Maybe it is singing hymns as you travel? When I was little, “we always” counted windmills as we traveled to south Texas, knowing the more we saw, the closer we were to MamMa and Grandpa’s house.
- bath time – a reminder of how God washes our sins away
- making Sunday special (Karen Mains has a book by that title with helps)
- read aloud time
- praying together
- keeping a family journal or scrapbook
God also established “Special Day” traditions. Think about the ordinance of the Passover Feast for the Israelites in Exodus 12:42. It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt. This night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. He also established the Feast of the Unleavened Bread: “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance,” (Exodus 12:14). Besides the everyday remembrances, God gave special days for remembering.
Noel Piper shares a story in her book where a college friend had heard once too often, somebody pontificating that, “Every day should be Mother’s Day,” or “Every day should be as significant as Christmas.” Finally, the student exclaimed, “No! All days are NOT the same! God knows we need ‘especially.’” Noel says, “God appointed special days, such as the Passover, for His people and gave them ceremonies to set those days off from the others. The ceremony of a special day keeps it from slipping away like an ordinary day. We stop and recognize the specialness of an event in large part because of the traditions in which it’s wrapped… our ‘especially’ celebrations anchor us and our children in the harbor of our family, reflecting our true refuge: God.”
I suggest that you sit down with a calendar and think through the year and the holidays and special days that your family celebrates. Choose times that your family will celebrate and consider how you can add special meaning to these special days in your family. Hear me say this: I do NOT want you to feel guilty or to think of this as one more thing to add to your already-too-long “to do” list. It may be that the best thing you can do to make holidays more meaningful in your home is to simplify! Sometimes we need to “do more… better” and sometimes we need to “do less… better.”
Tomorrow: A list of practical ideas to jump start your thinking
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