Peanut & the Neurosurgeon

Peanut had his follow up with the neurosurgeon today and it went REALLY well. We won't see him again for 6 months unless something comes up which we don't forsee. Let me see if I can explain this since I finally got to clarify that I understood it today.

For some reason which we will likely never know, Peanut's head grew very large, very quickly. This has left him with more space in his head than what most babies would have. In light of that big head his brain is producing more CSF to accomodate the bigger space. (CSF=Spinal fluid that surrounds the brain.) As Peanut grows into his head (which hasn't grown since Dec) the space will naturally narrow. It can take up until he's 3 years old for this process to complete but it will narrow. As the space narrows the brain should automatically regulate the amount of CSF for his new head size and in turn there would be no problems. This is the theory and there is no reason to believe that his brain would continue producing the same amount of fluid for a smaller space.

So we follow up again in 6 months and have again been given the warning signs of too much pressure on the brain. Neither of us think we'll have any problems. They will likely want to do another MRI of his head at some point to compare and make sure nothing has changed but that's further down the road.

BTW: The term he used for Peanut's condition was "External Hydrocephalus."

The Randall's Trip

That Randall's trip on Sat...this is what I ended up with. I had to do this over 5 transactions since their policy is to only dbl/trpl one like coupon in a transaction. I had 5 Chef Boyardee Coupons to use. What a royal pain! But we had a system. I did the "shopping" while my mom (since DH refused to be of any help) went through the line one transaction at a time. We then tied the bag shut with the receipt inside and put it on the bottom of the basket and she'd take another one up to the front. Doing it this way we weren't holding up any lines.

I live VERY far away from civilization and I don't have the option to just run up to the store, I have to plan and if that means multiple transactions then that's what I have to do.

At the end of everything here is what I had:

15 Cans Chef Boyardee
6 McCormick Taco Seasoning
6 cans Hunt's Tomatoes
5 boxes Granola Bars
4 boxes Rice Krispies
4 bags Marshmallows
4 Rosarita Refried Beans
2 Progresso Soup Bowls
1 box Fruit Loops
1 box Honey Nut Cheerios
1 Duncan Hines Cake Mix


Total OOP: $28.83
Saved: $69.16. (according to the receipts which does include the difference of sale prices)

The OOP would have been lower but DH insisted that I buy the cheerios & cake mix.

I did really well over at Kroger that afternoon as well, with the Mega Deal.

The Coupon Stigma

I really don't fully understand why there is such a stigma surrounding coupon usage. When you go to the dealership, do you pay the sticker price? Haggling is a cruder practice than coupons in my book. I guess there are 3 main reasons I can think of that help give coupon usage such a horrible rep. ONE: If you are using coupons the person on the other end is probably assuming you cannot afford things or are poor (which, btw: doesn't make you a lesser person) TWO: The whole argument that the person using the coupons is, "Looking for something for nothing." THREE: People who abuse coupons. People who try to use them for things they didn't buy, expired coupons, etc. They ruin it for all of us!

Number two is not entirely untrue. I am looking for something but not for nothing...the store isn't giving me anything for free. I am just wise enough to figure out how to get the manufacturers to put groceries & other things in my house at their expense. I guess it's nothing out of my pocket, but it's not that the item is Free to the store. If people could wrap their little heads around the fact that coupons are just another form of payment (i.e. cash, food stamps, credit card, coupon) it might help their attitudes some.

I admit that when I started using coupons last summer, I was DESPERATE. I had a baby that had been home from his 29 day NICU stay for only a few weeks and I just knew those bills were about to start rolling in. I had also just discovered that my then 2 yr old was going to need some combination of physical, occupational & speech therapy outside of ECI and I knew that wasn't going to be cheap either. Oh and let's not forget Formula. Since he wasn't able to breastfeed WE had to figure out how to supply the formula. No WIC here. Since going and getting a "real" job that would actually help with bills wasn't an option with all of my children's appointments I knew I needed to cut back significantly in other areas.

Thanks to seeing Erin on our local ABC station, I realized I needed to REALLY learn how to coupon. Not casual couponing. Not just clipping a few coupons at a time. No, I needed to figure out how to stock up at rock bottom prices and not just keep buying things as we needed them without regards to pricing. Granted I don't keep a year's supply of anything on hand but I think I'm doing pretty well for being so new to the game. I don't have anywhere to store a year's supply of anything, lol. This house needs more storage! :)

So back to my original point. I had my first dose of the 'crap' you can get when you use coupons on Sat. I was at Randall's. I've had the experience there that nobody fully knows the coupon policy but never had such blatant disrespect before.

The store director just flat out didn't want to be bothered with me & for some reason the register wouldn't take the last 4 coupons ($1ea) and he wasn't even willing to discuss it with me. He fed me a line about why the coupon didn't work, which was completely untrue since one of the exact same coupons had already worked! Even when I informed of that, the man walked away from where we were at, hopped on another register and didn't even give an answer to anything. The poor cashier (who agreed there was no reason for the coupons not to work, she agreed I was following the 'rules' on the coupon but didn't know how to work her register.) The assistant store director was behind her, caught wind of what was going on and told her how to override it.

I don't appreciate the attitude I was given by the store director who clearly didn't like his job, walked away AND talked crap to another employee about me. I didn't like him trying to make me feel like I am a lesser person or doing something wrong by legitimately using coupons.

Our circumstances have changed some since last June. If I really wanted to I could go without using coupons. However, I don't understand why anyone would WANT to pay full price when there is another option out there. I'm sure the same people that think it's horrible to use coupons still shop off of sales racks for clothing & other items. Most of them probably buy the store brand thinking it's a better deal. And it might be that day, but I will almost guarantee the name brand will be cheaper at some point, esp with a coupon!

For me couponing is now about the thrill of the hunt. I enjoy finding and learning through other people (TY HCW) about the great deals to be had. It's a great feeling knowing I can now donate food, etc to other people & causes. I am happy that we can save the money and put it towards other necessities...like paying down the rest of those 2008 medical bills and my 3 year olds continued therapies. In 2009, thanks to setting a realistic budget and couponing, we will get to finally climb OUT of the hole!

My 2 cuties!

Last Sunday we went to the park with some friends who are getting ready to move out of state. Of course I don't leave home without the camera. Just a few shots of the boys. I cannot believe how "easy" it's been for Little Man to get the hang of the potty. Thank goodness that SOMETHING has come easy with these two.

Walgreens Trip

Thanks to Erin, I realized there was something for me at Walgreens this week afterall, lol. So this morning I ran into Walgreens in hopes that they would actually have enough stock to fulfill my order (this has been a huge problem for me in the past). I live in a rural area so the nearest Wags is still almost 20 min away but we had a couple of other errands to run while down there anyway. And believe me when I say that when you live in BFE, 20 minutes one way is NOTHING.

Anyhow, here's what I got.

4 Skippy Peanut Butters
4 Ragu
3 Extra Gum (I've been using this as fillers all month to use RR since it's on mega saver and there is an IVC)

I used $7 RR, put $3.96 on GC & Paid $3.35 OOP. I also got $10RR back for buying 8 items.

Total saved (according to my receipt) is $20.55. I'm pretty sure that doesn't include the portion put on GC. I'm not doing the math right now to find out either, haha!

Kroger

I love Kroger. They truly have some of the best sales and since they double/triple coupons it really helps the savings add up. I know I'm not going to live here forever but I might have to make Kroger a necessity for the place we do eventually move to, lol.

We went tonight. Hubby was pretty nice about it even though he didn't like Little Man having to constantly go "hee hee hoo hoo hahee" (That's pretty much what it sounds like when he is telling us he has to go potty.)

NO pictures tonight. We had to come in, get 2 kids ready for & in bed and then just get the stuff put away.

Here's my part from the Mega Deal:

6 Glade Aerosols .96 (-3 MQ) = $2.76
5 Ro*Tel .90 = $4.50
3 French's Mustard $1.49 (-3 MQ) = $1.47
3 Kleenex w/lotion $ 1.59 (-2.4 MQ) = $2.37
3 Frank's Redhot Sauce $1.49 (-3.15 MQ) = $1.32
2 Tollhouse Ref Cookies $2.46(-1.5 MQ) = $3.42
1 GG Steamers $1.49 (-1 MQ) = $.49
1 Totinos 40ct Pizza Rolls $2.99 (-.50 cellfire) (-1.05 MQ) = $1.44
1 SoBe Life Water $1 (-1 MQ) = $0
1 Kraft Cheese $1.99 (-.75MQ) = $1.24
1 Goldfish Crackers $1.49
1 Glade Oil Nightlight $5.24 (-6.99 MQ) = -$1.75
1 Glade Oil Refill $2.54
1 Ken's Ranch Dressing $1.99 (-1MQ) = $.99
Total: $22.43
Minus $15.00 ($5 off 10)*3
Total OOP: $7.28 (before Tax)

The rest of the order:
2 Pkgs Huggies Supreme Diapers $19.98 (-3MQ) (-1 cellfire) = $15.98
3 12pks Coke Zero $9.00
4 Beechnut Rice Cereal $6.76 (-5.38MQ) = $1.38
1 Blueberries $.99
2 Horizon Organic Blueberry Yogurts $1 (Mgr Special .50 ea)
2 loaves Sara Lee Bread $4.58 (-B1G1 promo) = $2.29
1 Yakisoba Noodles $1 (-$1MQ) =$0
2 Kroger Brand Nutrigrain Bars $4.00
1 pkg Choc chip cookies $1.25
1 Scott Reuseable Towels - $1.11

My total OOP was $45.59 for all 49 items
According to the receipt with sales & coupons I saved $78.21 or 63%

Long Day!

Little Man's appointments in Houston have switched from Mondays & Tuesdays to only on Tuesdays. Long story short, we're hoping it's going to stretch out his allowable visits by doing it this way.

I had minimal time to get errands taken care of so I went by Target to see if toys (or anything else) had been marked down on clearance any further. No such luck but they did have the file folders back on the dollar wall I've been looking for. For a buck I can keep all of the medical related receipts, etc in one spot.

Then I went to CVS. I was only planning on getting a few things to attempt to roll my ECBs but when I scanned my card it printed a $10/$50 and since I had nearly $30 worth of ECBs that were expiring today I figured I just needed to use it. Put together more thoughtfully I could have made it stretch further and had a MUCH lower OOP. This is one of my highest OOPs there since figuring out how to play the game. Oh well. No picture but here's what I got:

2 Duracell size C 2packs. $2.99 ea
1 Duracell battery for a remote $4.19
2 Excedrin Back & Body $1.99 ($2 MQ) ea
2 Excedrin Extra Strength $1.99 ($1 MQ) ea
2 CVS Allergy stuff (like Claritin) $3.79 ea
1 Magazine for Hubby $5.99
2 Neutrogena Face Pads $8.49 ea
1 box Soy Joy Bars (ewww) $6

Total before Coupons & tax: $54.86
Total OOP: $9.43 (I used the $10 off of $50 & $29.25 in ECBs)
Total ECBs for today's purchases: $18.58

Another box of Soy Joy instead of the magazine would have been better. Only a penny more but would have had another $6 in ECBs. That's okay though, he deserves it once in a while, lol.

Total Saved: $45.43 If you include the savings of buying on sale the savings is increased to $62.94. That would be the total reflected in my savings tally since that's how it's printed on the receipt.

On the way home we stopped by Kroger to pick up a couple of things on the last day of the sale. Thanks to ZM over at Katy Couponers I found out the Act II Popcorn was only $.20 a box with coupons.

In the end I had:
3 boxes Act II popcorn $1 ($.40 MQ Dbl)
3 Horizon Organic Milk Singles $1 ($.25 MQ Trpl)
2 Deli Sandwiches $3.49 (7th one is free and one of these was the 7th one)
Smoothie $.89
Diet DP $1.39 (Free Item MQ)
Coke Zero $1.39
Kroger Brand Crackers $1.67
Bottle of Water $.50
Fried Chicken from the Deli $3.49 (was $5.99 but on Mgr Special & I knew I wasn't going to want to cook tonight!!)
Organic Baby Carrots $1

Total Before coupons & discounts: $30.07
Total OOP: $14.13

I'll take it.

Potty Training 101

If there is one lesson I have learned it is this: "The child isn't going to do it until he/she is truly ready."

For many many months now we've been wondering if Little Man would even be potty trained by the time he was 4. The most recent problem is that he doesn't care. When I say he doesn't care, I mean it in every sense of the word. He doesn't bring us a diaper or let us know when it needs to be changed, he just doesn't care.

Now that the holidays are over and we're settling back into a routine here at home we realized I actually had about 6 consecutive days where I don't HAVE to leave the house. That is very unusual. So yesterday was day 1 for "real" potty training. Up until now we've gone through every fight in the book from not wanting to sit on the potty to holding it for an eternity. We certainly didn't want this to become a power struggle and have been careful for the past many months to make sure we didn't cross that line.

Tuesday night as I laid in his bed with him singing songs I gently reminded him that in the morning there would be no more diapers. I've been holding his Barney DVD hostage for about a week with full disclosure that as soon as he peed in that potty it was his. And that is exactly how it worked. It took him over an hour of sitting on that potty (watching Sesame Street) for him to pee that first time but once he did it started to sink in.

We've known for some time that he completely understood what was expected of him but he just didn't care to cooperate. By the afternoon he was doing it completely on his own. No more asking, "Do you need to potty?" He would just come get me so that I could empty it into the big potty and he could flush it. How awesome is that?

We still have some hurdles with this obviously, but the general concept is mastered. We're both SO proud of him. I am definitely glad we waited until he was ready instead of making it a huge deal that was aggravating and drawn out.

And so far today is going just as well as yesterday. Keeping my fingers crossed!

2009 - With a budget!

I'm getting back into the swing of things. I sort of felt like I had December off because there were only a few very specific sales I targeted. January is here and I'm jumping back in with 2 feet. We are on a very strict cash budget for 2009 and couponing is how I plan to make that money stretch just a little (or a lot) further. We're planning on paying off the rest of 2008's medical expenses this year and paying off a few other things as well.

I was going to bore you with pictures from my Walgreens shopping trips this week but changed my mind. I see no reason to repeat all of the information that is already out there. I'm doing the same deals as everyone else and at some point it just becomes redundant. Oh I'm sure there will be more pictures, just not from this week.

I will however, keep a running total of what I spend and save. Let me clarify how I am calculating my savings. I am not including our dining out in the budget here. If you only knew what a bad habit that is that we are attempting to break. Don't get me started. So the point is that we have a separate budget for "dining out."

When I tally the savings I am including the savings for the sale price if it is automatically included in the receipt that way. I know it's inconsistent but it's just easier. Also...my theory is that if I weren't shopping sales and stocking up with coupons and I needed something immediately, that is the price I'd pay. Shoot, up until I started couponing that probably was the price I paid. I, like most Americans, bought what we needed when we needed it without giving much attention to sales, etc. My budget/savings total will include diapers, wipes & formula.

Don't be shocked when you see my first savings total here: It includes 2 glucose meters which is probably an equivalent to $180 saved since I got them both for free.

St Louis - Part II (The Arch)

First of all, Tammy & Mike...THANK YOU! for hosting us. We all had such a great time and Little Man had a blast. He calls Tammy, "Hammy" OMG so cute. The weather was awesome for 99% of the trip. With temps well above normal we were able to spend a good amount of time outside.

Anyhow, first a few pictures from the Gateway Arch.

And a few random pictures taken from the trip:

How cute are the boys? Seriously though!

St Louis - Part I

Obviously we've been back almost a week and I am just now getting this together. I've been sick and now both of the boys are sick as well so energy isn't exactly what I'd call plentiful right now.

To get back in the groove, let's start with pictures from the St Louis Science Center. That place was SO COOL! Free unless you indulge in the concessions or shows and the place has so much to do! The kids had a blast. We really should have spent more time there but I know we'll be back.

You have to take the skywalk across the interstate to get to the bulk of the place and this is the view. There are radar guns so you can see how fast the cars are going but as is apparent from the people chasing their dog in the middle of the freeway, it was closed for construction.

More Random Pics from the Science Center

They have an arch there that you build, which is really cool. Just a few shots of 'construction.'