Big Kids

The little guy is particularly photographable at the moment, but that doesn't mean his big brother and sister haven't been up to anything exciting. :o)

A couple weekends back we enjoyed "boys' night" and "girls' (+ Matthew) night." Chris and Peter had a blast at our church's Father–Son Campout.

Peter reports that his favorite part was the fire. However, Mommy heard reports from multiple venues that many folks who had previously thought Peter was quiet and mild-mannered discovered that he is very, very much boy with LOTS of energy and a ready stream of conversation. :o) Yep. I could have told you that. ;o)

Since the boys had the camera, Hannah and Mommy didn't get pictures, but we had a blast doing crafts while Matthew slept ... LOTS of bead designs and drawing with chalks. Fun stuff. :o) And the recent most exciting event in her life was the arrival of her big girl quilt from Grandma M! Isn't it beautiful!?!? :o)

Other random miscellaneous items ...

• Mornings have suddenly become very much more enjoyable since Mommy created a playlist of carefully selected music that guides us through our routine. :o) Now, instead of Mommy setting timers and nagging (eh hem, giving regular reminders ...), everybody knows exactly what they need to be doing at all times and precisely how much longer they have until they need to be doing the next thing. It's been fantastic! Our playlist is 45 minutes long, and starts at 6:45 with 5 minutes of cuddle time. :o) It's definitely nicer to be able to wake a sleepy child with "time for snuggle time" than it is "time to get up ... we're running late!" :o} What a blessing all around!


• Hannah and Peter have been thoroughly enjoying having Mommy read the Little House on the Prairie series to them after school ... and after dinner ... and before dinner if we can fit it in ... and before bed ... umm, yep. Pretty much any time there's a remote slow down in the activity level, Mommy is asked for another chapter. :o)


• Daddy's CRAZY before-college-students-return work schedule has somewhat slowed down since the thus mentioned college students have now returned.


• Mommy's been working really hard and is getting really close to having the first year of Missions for Kids ready for printing/publishing. That's been a 7–8 year project thus far, so it's incredibly exciting to see the finish line approaching. Still plenty of hurdles to cross though.

And that's about it. Our days are full to overflowing. And we're very much trying to make sure that the things which are most important (loving, training, snuggling ...) don't get crowded out as we do those things which are necessary (eating, bathing, cleaning ...).

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Thrifty Thursdays ~ Planning to Save

Saving money at the grocery store takes some planning. (And honestly, the planning is MUCH more important than the coupons.)

1. Plan your menu for the week (or two weeks ... or however long you go between shopping trips.)


2. Identify the ingredients you need to serve the meals you've planned. (Don't forget about breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well.)


3. Check your cupboards to see what you already have in stock.


4. Make a list of the ingredients you need to purchase. (It'll be easier if you at least roughly sort it by section of the store.)


5. Buy the ingredients on your list, your whole list, and nothing but your list at the store that has the lowest prices across the board (... for me, that's Aldi).

If you have not been doing these things already, they are the first steps to reducing your grocery budget.

Once you have those down, start checking the weekly sales at one grocery store. My favorite store is Publix. Why? They're coupon friendly, run great sales, keep the store impeccably clean, and have incredible customer service. Their motto is "Love to Shop Here, Love to Save Here" and they've managed to make it true! We have two other stores in the area, but one is not coupon friendly and the other does not seem particularly clean, and neither of them can touch Publix's customer service, so I generally just stear clear (unless they're selling chicken for $2/lb or something like that.)

SouthernSavers.com is an incredible resource for those in the southeast. Each week she matches store sales with the coupons currently available (including links for printable coupons) and posts a list of the "best price" deals at each store. You can click on the products you want to buy and print a shopping list. It's great! (And easy!) Pull the coupons you need from your organized collection based on the list you printed, put them in an envelope or something else small, and head to the store.

When I see products in the Publix sales flier for less than I would spend at Aldi for the comparable product, I plan to buy as many as we'll use in about 2 months. By doing this, my pantry is well stocked with the ingredients I need to feed my family our standard recipes (i.e. pasta, rice, spaghetti/alfredo sauce, baking supplies, canned tomatoes, canned/frozen veggies, chicken, mayonnaise, peanut butter, olive oil, salad dressings, cereal, M&Ms, etc.) On a weekly basis, I generally buy dairy products, produce, a very few recipe-specific ingredients, and then whatever items happen to be at stock-up price. (Among other things, this week I stocked up on olive oil and spaghetti sauce, last week it was cereal--both weeks I spent about the same amount for produce and pantry items at Publix.)

One final word about Aldi vs. Publix. Aldi's prices are generally about 40-60% less than Publix's prices for comparable products. Which means that if Publix is running a B1G1 sale, it will probably be about the same as Aldi's price on the comparable item. When you add a coupon on top of the sale, it's almost always cheaper than Aldi. So, I buy produce and shop the sales at Publix (along with buying whatever ingredients Aldi doesn't carry.) But shopping at Aldi is already about equivalent to saving 40-60% on my Publix grocery bill.

So, collect your coupons and keep them organized, but planning and shopping at frugal stores in the first place will take you a long way to cutting the grocery bill.

How have you saved money on groceries?

Thirfty Thursdays ~ Collecting Coupons

Once you have a means of organizing your coupons, it's time to start collecting them.

Where do I get coupons?

#1 - the Sunday newspaper

We're able to have the paper delivered to our home for $1 a week. I'm definitely saving enough on my grocery budget to cover that. :o) That's the only copy I buy though. I have a friend at church and a couple friends in Chris' office who will often give me their coupon fliers after they clip the few coupons they're interested in. (Thank you, friends!) And our town delivers a Wednesday paper for free. There will often be at least one coupon flier in there as well. So, some weeks I end up with five copies of the coupon fliers ... and some weeks I have just one. I don't worry about it too much. I have more than enough clipping to do without going out and intentionally buying more copies of the paper.

#2 - the Internet

For a while I was printing LOTS of Internet coupons ... not so much now. I was seeing far too many expired coupons printed with my ink on my paper leaving my black box each month. Now, for the most part, I'm only printing Internet coupons for items I intend to purchase at the store that week. (I find most of my Internet coupons through links at SouthernSavers.com, but more about that next week ...) I try to make very few exceptions to that because I invariably end up throwing them away ... and wasting our resources in the process.

#3 - the grocery store

Publix keeps a stash of store coupons behind the service desk. I simply ask for a copy of what they have available as I leave so that I can have them for next week's shopping trip.

When do I clip coupons?

I realize this won't work for everyone for various and sundry reasons, but I generally clip coupons as we're driving to and from church. We have a 20-minute drive and are often listening to audio stories with the kids, so I clip coupons. I simply bring a good pair of scissors, a grocery bag for the waste, and a small basket for the clipped coupons and wa-la! Portable clipping at it's best. As I get coupon fliers throughout the week, I slide the fliers into a folder on my desk, so they're not cluttering things up, but are quick to grab as I'm scurrying out the door. Clipping coupons is definitely something you can multi-task with though, so find a time when you can do double-duty.

Which coupons do I clip?

I clip coupons for ...

1. Products/brands I would buy even if I didn't have a coupon (i.e. Mahatma brown rice, Bisquick, Crest toothpaste, etc.)
   These are my few exceptions to my personal Internet printing policy--if my stock is low, I'll print these anytime I stumble across them.


2. Products/brands I would buy if there was a good deal (i.e. Breyers Ice cream, name brand cereals, spaghetti sauces, frozen veggies, salad dressings, mayo, etc.)
   My definition of a good deal: Sale + coupon < Aldi's price for the comparable product

I do NOT clip coupons for products that I wouldn't use even if they gave them to me for free (i.e. sugar cereals, artificially flavored or colored anything, etc.)

For personal hygiene products, we're a bit brand loyal on deodorant, so I only clip the coupons for those brands. However, I'll take whatever body wash they want to run a good deal on, so I generally clip all body wash coupons, regardless of brand.

When do I sort my coupons?

For what it's worth, I do NOT try to organize my coupons in the van. For me, it's a 5-minute job that's very easy with a large table in front of me. It's just not worth the hassle to try to do it on my lap in a moving vehicle.

Once all my coupons are clipped, I simply start at the top of the stack and go to the bottom one-by-one, putting the coupons in piles according to the categories in my black box. If it's a week with multiple fliers and a wide variety of coupons, my piles will cover most of the table. Once all of the coupons are in categorized piles, I simply slide the piles into the appropriate folders in my box. This is a very quick process for me--I know my categories really well and I know exactly where I want each coupon. It took me a bit longer at the beginning.

And that's about it. Start small ... buy one Sunday paper, and clip coupons for products you're already buying. Sort them and file them. Next week we'll talk about using them effectively.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments here, on Facebook, in person, by email ...

Thirfty Thursdays ~ Keeping Coupons

Since most of the questions directed my way have concerned couponing, I'm starting Thrifty Thursdays with a simple series on couponing. This is not going to be a comprehensive evaluation of every method out there. This is going to be "The Jenny Version" of couponing. :o) It's what works for me. And you're probably going to need to tweak it if it's going to work for you--because you're not me. :o)

So here we go. If you're going to coupon, you're going to need a means of keeping those valuable pieces of paper organized and accessible. (The day coupons go digital will be a blessed day!) You can start small, but if you get serious about couponing, you're probably going to graduate to something larger.

I originally tried the photo album/baseball sleeve method. It did not work for me. It took too long to put the coupons in the slots, I had blank spaces when I pulled expired coupons, and it was expensive to buy more holders as I grew my coupon stash. Enough said. Based on articles I've read, some people love it, so it might work for you. (In fact, I think that's the method Jenny at SouthernSavers.com uses.)

What does work for me is my black box.
I can put all the categories I want for my coupons in it, it's SUPER easy to file my coupons, and all I have to do to find a coupon is pull the folder and flip through a small pile of clipped coupons. And when I pull expired coupons, my pile to flip through simply gets smaller. A good thing.

And for what it's worth, even though I usually put the tabs for hanging files on the back of the folder, for my coupon box, I put the tabs on the front. It makes it easier for my fingers to quickly file the small pieces of paper. I rarely take my black box to the store or even in the van. My black box sits under my desk. When I'm preparing my grocery list, I pull the coupons I need and put them in my smaller pink holder. Since it has a limited number of sections, I simply consolidated my categories.

Have I ever missed a random deal because I didn't have all of my coupons with me at the store? Yes. And I'm okay with that. :o) Since I'm often shopping with three children, and rarely without at least one, I simply have not a spare hand nor room in my cart for my black box.

And now, for those who are interested, here are the categories in my black box:

• Food (the first folder for each section is the misc. folder)



• Beverages/Tea



• Breads/Cereals



• Canned/Boxed Goods



• Condiments/Seasonings



• Desserts/Baking Goods



• Frozen Food



• Frozen Veggies



• Meat



• Refrigerated



• Refrigerated Bread/Dough



• Snacks/Nuts



• Yogurt



• Health & Beauty



• Body Care



• Facial/Cosmetics



• Hair Care



• Medicine/First-Aid



• Tooth Care



• Household



• Air Fresheners



• Cleaning Supplies



• Kitchen Products



• Laundry Supplies



• Paper Products



• Miscellaneous



• Baby/Childcare



• CVS Coupons



• Dining



• Retail



• Coupon Fliers

Next week I plan to cover Clipping Coupons ... which coupons do I clip, where do I find them, when do I clip them, and how do I sort them?

What method of keeping coupons has worked (or not worked) for you?

I love logistics.

Large Family Logistics, that is.

My husband blessed me with this book by Kim Brenneman for Christmas and by God's grace, the principles within (put into practice!) have absolutely transformed our home for the better.

:::

Overwhelmed. Swamped. Exhausted. Frustrated. Discouraged.

Those are just a few of the very accurate words describing my feelings about my household management pre-Christmas. With three little ones and other outside responsiblities, I was just simply and utterly overwhelmed. We were getting by, but every day ended with more to be done than hours left to do it in, even though we were constantly busy. Not a fun place to be.

I was immediately intrigued by the title of my gift, although I was a little skeptical when I read that the lady who wrote it had nine children. I'm not even close to those leagues. However, her preface hooked me.

Many years ago, I was the mother of one small baby boy in a little rental house. My husband and I were committed to having me stay at home to raise our little boy. I remember being embarrassed because of the dust, laundry piled up, and dirty dishes, and I scrambled to make something for supper just minutes before my hard-working husband came home. Why couldn't I handle the basics? My shortcomings as a homemaker frustrated me.

Okay. She did understand. She wasn't superhuman. She had been where I was now and had obviously found some light at the end of the tunnel.

So I dug in. And as I got into it, I couldn't read it fast enough. It felt as though I had a wonderful mentor sitting beside me just gently, kindly, and patiently explaining what I could do to help my home run more smoothly. There's so much more in there, but the basic concept that has so dramatically impacted our home is that "old-fashioned" concept of assigning a certain set of tasks to each day.

So, now ...

• Monday is "office day"
• Tuesday is "town day"
• Wednesday is "kitchen day"
• Thursday is "cleaning day"
• Friday is "laundry day"
• Saturday is "gardening day"

And for those who are interested, what follows is a (rather long) detailed look at how this is working in practice in our home. I share it with the prayer that it will be a blessing and inspiration for those who have been feeling overwhelmed. There's hope. :o) If you're not feeling overwhelmed, wonderful! Feel free to stop reading now. :o)

So, what does each day entail for me? If you read the book, you'll see that I'm not doing everything she mentions for particular days, because they're not all necessary for our family, but I'm doing other related tasks that are necessary. Your days would obviously be unique for your family's needs. I also assigned the days differently from what she did based on what works best for our family (and my energy levels).

Office Day

During the kids' Quiet Time (about 1 hour) and after they go to bed at night, I spend MUCH time at my desk as I ...

• enter receipts, pay bills, file paperwork
• plan my weekly menu and grocery list
• prepare for Missions for Kids
• clip, sort, and pull coupons
• clear the email inbox
• research/place online orders

Office Day is by far my busyest, longest day. However, it's been great! I'm actually keeping up with the finances and filing and everything else. She explains in detail how to keep your desk clean and organized and it really works! I have four folders in my credenza: Action, Pending, File, and Coupons. As mail and paperwork comes in throughout the week, I open it, toss the junk, and then slide non-junk into one of those folders. It takes me two seconds to do that, but it keeps my desk (and the counters) clean and tidy. When Office Day comes, it's super simple to open my "Action" folder which includes bills to pay, receipts to enter, appointments to note, etc. and just plow through them. The "Pending" folder is for non-urgent items that need my attention. "Filing" is self-explanatory, but it's much simpler to do that all at one time rather than (not) doing it throughout the week and just piling it around. I added Coupons, because, well, I coupon and I needed a place to put them throughout the week so that I could handle them all at once. When Office Day is done, those folders are empty again. A very nice feeling.

One other note on filing ... we greatly simplified that for ourselves a few months ago when I got rid of all of the separate folders for various and sundry utilities and every other category under the sun. For our bills, receipts, paystubs, etc. I now have just four folders: Quarter 1: January-March, Quarter 2: April-June, Quarter 3, and Quarter 4. 95% of my paperwork now goes into one folder which makes filing MUCH easier and faster. Haven't completely decided yet what I'm going to do when the year rolls around. If I don't feel comfortable tossing everything, I may just buy a large manilla folder and store it for a year or so in a box downstairs. If I haven't needed it after a year, I don't think I'm going to need it again.

Town Day

I do my grocery shopping and run any other errands. (Brief side note - being an Amazon Mom has greatly simplified my life though--I can buy diapers and almost any other non-grocery item I need through there, get free 2-day shipping, and do it from the convenience of my computer while my children sleep!)

Wow. This has also been a wonderful change for our family. I used to try to plan my menu and prepare my grocery list and pull my coupons AND go grocery shopping all on the same day. So, during Quiet Time, I was frantically trying to get ready, and IF I was ready around 4:00 when they got up from Quiet Time, we'd try to scramble out and get groceries before Daddy got home and then get back with a car load of groceries, exhausted mommy and little people, and dinner to prepare and the rest of the evening to do baths and clean up the fall out. Not fun. And if I wasn't ready (usually the case), they'd be bopping around rather unsupervised after Quiet Time while I was still trying to finish up, I'd scramble to get something for dinner, and then scarf my meal when Chris got home from work and leave him to do baths while I ran out to get groceries and come home, exhausted at the end of the day, still having lunches to prepare, groceries to put away, etc. at 9:00 or later.

Now? My list and coupons are ready to before I go to bed on Monday. Tuesday, I pick Hannah up right after school and she and I hit Publix with coupons during my lunch hour. Then we go pick up Peter and Matthew and we go to Aldi and make any other necessary stops with them. It's still a lot of work, but it's so much easier and less stressful! We come home, unload groceries, I stuff cold stuff in the freezer, feed Matthew while Hannah and Peter play a bit, and then they all go down for Quiet Time while I put away groceries, prepare lunches and dinner, etc. After Quiet Time, we do baths before dinner and Chris comes home to clean house, clean kids, dinner, and a relaxing evening. Nice. Very nice. What an incredible difference.

And ... for what it's worth, grocery shopping with three little ones is going much better now that Hannah (5) is pushing the cart with Matthew (9 months) while Peter (3) holds Mommy's hand and helps put groceries in the cart. Everybody who needs one has an important job to do that keeps them focused on the task at hand. :o)

Kitchen Day

On Kitchen Day, I ...

• take care of any meat I purchased on Tuesday (freezing chicken in individual portions, browning ground turkey/beef and bag freezing it in 3/4 lb. portions, etc.)
• make cookies to use for lunches for the upcoming week
• do "lunch train" (i.e. bag up carrots, cookies, and chips for 20 lunches in the upcoming week)
• make appropriate preparations for any guests we may be enjoying on Friday evening (baking bread, making the lasagna to be refrigerated, etc.)
• prepare dinner and lunches for Thursday

My Kitchen Day is Wednesday because it allows me to take care of my meat the very next day after buying it. I have in the past had to throw away meat because I didn't get it taken care of in time. :o( NOT good stewardship.

And what is the BIGGEST blessing of having a "kitchen day"? I'm not trying to make cookies and do lunch train on Saturday!!!! It seemed as if that could consume most of my Saturday!

Cleaning Day

• wash towels and bathroom rugs
• wash sheets/remake beds
• mop the floors
• general pick up throughout the house
• Deep Clean one area (rotating through Dining Room, Kitchen, Living Room, Bathroom, and Bedrooms--each one gets deep cleaned once every five weeks) Wow. THAT wasn't happening before. Deep clean? Umm ... yeah. Nice thought. Maybe next year?

Laundry Day

• empty the hamper (by washing, drying, folding, and putting away everything that was in it) ;o)
• iron/mend clothes for 30 minutes
• choose the kids' outfits for the upcoming week

A note on the kids' outfits ... this is my own idea, but it's been working wonderfully! A lot of organization books tell you to choose your outfit the night before. That's nice for adults, but I kept forgetting to do it for the kids and so we'd have the early morning scramble of trying to pick something and the occasional "discussion" when parent's choice conflicted with child's choice. NOW ... the kids help me choose five outfits for the upcoming week on Friday. (Remember--all of the clothes are clean, so we actually have more than five clean outfits to choose from!) We hang them up in the closet with a pipecleaner ring around each hanger or set of hangers (pant/shirt, skirt/sweater/shirt, etc.) Come morning, there's no thinking involved, just grab a set and go. Very helpful. And I don't have to remember to do it before bedtime! AND ... I'm guaranteed that Peter will have a clean pair of pants to wear to school every day. That's good. Very good.

Gardening Day

It's outside stuff--gardening, raking, cleaning the vehicles, etc. and I LOVE being able to actually help with this now!!! By organizing the rest of the week, I'm no longer having to use Saturday to "catch up" and I can help Chris outside with whatever project he wants to work on! I love it!!!

Daily Stuff

I'm also trying to throw in just one load of laundry every day before I leave for work. That way when I get home after lunch, I can throw it in the dryer and have it folded and put away before Chris gets home from work. For our family of five, one load a day plus laundry day on Friday keeps us pretty well caught up.

I've also taught Hannah how to do a daily clean in the bathroom (wipe counters, shake rugs, sweep floor, empty trash). She's doing a fantastic job. She has a list with each item she needs to do, and the last item is to "Come get a hug from Mommy for doing a great job cleaning the bathroom!" She loves that last item and I do, too! 1. It reminds me to truly thank her for her help. 2. It reminds me to come and inspect and praise the work she's done. 3. I get a GIANT hug from my little girl who's growing all too fast!

And then we do an "afternoon pickup" around 4:30, regardless of what day it is. That involves sweeping, straightening the porch, picking up toys, setting the table, cleaning the counters, making dinner, making lunches ... basically getting ready to welcome Daddy home with a tidy house and dinner ready to put on the table (or least well under way ...)

In Conclusion ...

I'm still learning a lot, but with the Lord's help, I am learning. Honestly, the first week went so well, I thought it must be a fluke. But weeks 2, 3, and now 4 have gone just as well! Not every day is perfect, but if I'm diligent and work hard in the afternoon (i.e. turn off the computer so I'm not distracted by FB and email!), I'm generally able to have things pretty well wrapped up by the time Chris gets home about 6:00. After dinner we've been enjoying playing a game or something with the kids, then it's Bible time and bed time for them at 8:00, and then Chris and I have an hour plus of "free time" (except for Office Day). Yes. Free time. Time to enjoy together or to work on digital scrapbooking or to update the blog or to read a book or to go to bed early without feeling as though you're sleeping under a mountain of undone work!

So anyway. That's what Large Family Logistics has done for our family. I very highly recommend it for anyone managing a home--whether you have 1, 2, 3, or 11!

And, FWIW, I was really suprised when last Wednesday a blog I read regularly posted about this same book that had already impacted us so dramatically! Raising Olives is actually hosting a give-away of the book and you can go here to enter by Jan. 27.