Shopping with a purpose!

I've been attending a shopping class over the last few months! It has been enlightening, to say the least! I've carefully taken my notes. Sat on the edge of my seat listening. absorbing.. drinking in the wisdom of a mother of 7! YES a Mother of 7 who spends $400 a month on her groceries! So she shops for a grand total of 9, plus she finds gifts, plus all cleaning supplies for her budget of $400 per month while I was spending the same (and often going over) for my family of 4! I'm guessing I've got your attention now! :)

I thought I was getting it! I was concentrating on every word. My first shopping trip AFTER taking the classes I really thought I was ready to save! There was a big sale on chicken at 1.99 a pound and we did stock up on the chicken at this price.. but that wasn't my problem. My $200 budget for this grocery trip was blown without that investment being considered. OK. So, after applying ALL I learned... I spent nearly $280 with a savings of $27.00. I felt like I just didn't get it!

The next meeting I was proud of my chicken bargain and my $27 savings - but I also felt like I failed BIG time! Then our teacher offered the unthinkable! She offered to take us shopping one by one! I took the next Saturday. That was our next grocery trip and I KNEW I needed the assistance! I cut up coupons, I studied the paper. Friday was all about my list, the ads and coupons! I wanted to be ready to save and learn on Saturday morning!

We met at 7 AM at our nearest Walgreens. (She wanted to show us her method for scoping 3 specific stores - normally you don't need to go to ALL of these stores to get the results we did.) We opened Walgreens by the way! We slowly walked down each aisle as she explained how and what to look for - the bargains that is! We left Walgreens - after MUCH learning and time - with my spending $50 and saving $47 and with a rebate earning of $24 and a $1 coupon (like money) to spend on my next trip! I was overwhelmed with all I learned and I really didn't GET what all we did - I just obeyed my teacher. :) I've always been a good student! I will tell you that I ended up walking out with 5 bags of cough drops (and many other things we didn't "need") and they ended up paying me to buy them!

Our next stop was Publix. My peanut butter crackers that I ate for breakfast were a distant memory. We again walked the aisles but with a different method. I really thought I got the principles she shared. I thought 'OK, I have my coupons and the item is on sale - boom! that = a deal!' I quickly learned that I had MUCH to learn. We walked the aisles and I cannot remember the number of times she saw coupons or deals and tried to see if I saw it and I NEVER DID!! I felt like every question was another opportunity to show my lack of understanding. But I pressed on! I need to learn this! We ate the little meal they cooked in the store as an appetizer - bought bargain after bargain. I even bought stuff just because she was (because if SHE was buying it - that meant it was a deal) and she was giving me coupons. She at one point asked me if I had pie filling, I said no. She said then how will you make the dump cake? I said - "I don't plan on making the dump cake." She said "then why did you buy the mix?" Ok I said. I need pie filling! We laughed! Ok, so after spending around $70 I saved $80!!!! I was amazed!

We went to Wal-Mart - only out of absolute need. Wal-Mart is not the place for bargain shopping unless you need something badly and there are no coupons or sales! Then Wal-Mart is worth the trip. Another good use for Wal-Mart is for ad matching. If you have an ad from a store you don't frequent bring in their ad to Wal-Mart and you can still get the deal. So we used our ad matching for coffee, grapes, tomatoes, and several other deals. I will tell you a specific incident that occurred. We were getting grapes and I just picked up the pre-packaged grapes from the pile. She said "No, no, no. That is NOT how we buy grapes!" I dropped those grapes like a child caught by their mommy! I then asked... "How do we shop for grapes?" She opened the pre-packaged grapes.. we took out the big bunch that were attached to the vine still and left the little pieces that had fallen behind. Great tip huh??!! So we didn't buy the mushy little icky grapes! Not much savings at Wal-Mart. We are talking maybe $10 or so of savings.

Then on we went to another local chain. We scoped the stores and learned how they mark their products down. We bought several sale items and the remaining products on my list.... we ended the day with my spending $78 and saving $54. My ticket was a little high here because I bought a lot of ground meat at $1.99 a pound. I was stocking my freezer.

I arrived home at 4:30! Yes I shopped from 7 am - 4:30 pm and spent about $230 and saved over $180 and had $24 rebates coming my way! I still went over but this time I can tell you that my meat stocking did take me over budget. Not to mention that I brought home DOUBLE the groceries I usually bought. I felt like I had been through a marathon and I also felt like I won! We grocery shop twice a month and so I am now due for my next shopping trip after that one - alone. I am a little excited yet afraid I will blow it!

I know I do not look at the grocery store the same way as I did before my adventure! It was truly a life-changing experience. The principles she shared stuck this time. When she would say she never spent over $1 on certain items - I thought "Wow! Maybe one day I will find a deal like that." I thought it was a chance thing. I cannot tell you how many things we spent LESS THAN .50 cents on! There is a science to it! I will share more after my next trip. This savings work gets into your blood before you know it! It becomes a badge of honor! I hope I save tons like I did before! It took me weeks to process this experience so that I could put it into words. I am still overwhelmed by it all! We shopped on March 15th and I am still trying to understand how we bought so much for so little! By the way, she spent $80 and saved $120! I want to keep my savings UP!! It is addicting! I feel like I am awake now in the grocery store - rather than shopping from my list!

I didn't share dollar amounts to reveal anything private, but to show you a before and after example. If you have questions for me - ask! I would love to help you save too! I am still trying to process my experience! I will be shopping tonight! I hope I have great savings to share with you! My goal is to save as much as I spend, at the least!! Ask away! This could be fun!

Sweets, Egg Hunt #3, and Cousins at Play

"We love you Aunt Kristy!!!!" The kids LOVE Aunt Kristy!! She is the best!!!!!!
OK, PawPaw LOVES to cook (at least that is the story I was told)! Every meal he makes LOADS of food! Here he is "kicking it up a notch" with HOME MADE ICE CREAM!!!!!!!! MiMi and the girls baking a cake!
The fun part of baking! Licking the batter bowl!!
Ta-dah! It was so yummy yummy yummy!
The final Easter egg hunt of 2008! :)
These three are great buddies! I LOVE that!
After the searching is done.
Poor JB was left out of the bike riding. He was a good sport for a while! After running around while the girls biked - he was soon ready for his turn.

Aunt Kristy and the girls taking a break after all their riding!
Finally!! JB had his turn! He amazes me with his patience sometimes!! (That is moss on the ground - another thing we don't see much now!)
"Mommy can we PaLEASE put our toes in the pool?? Just our toes Mommy?? We PaROMISE we will be careful and stay dry!" It was a breezy day with highs in the 60's and the temps were dropping at this time of day.
Ummm... yes - that would be toes in and blue shivering lips! I love the innocence of play! They just get carried away! We quickly bundled up the three amigo's and they ended the day playing inside, while watching a little Noggin of course!

The Easter Grub!

The smell was divine!! The flavor was dead on! Not too bland and not too spicy - just right!!!! I KNOW you think I photo-shopped this picture but I did NOT! This is how good my photography skills are when all the elements are perfect! :)
" Since these guys are dead, I think I just might be brave enough to hold one now! (I'm just not going to eat them!)"
Hubby didn't want a chair -he was ready to eat (we've missed the crawfish boil for 2 years now - we were ready to enjoy)! :) Notice the gloves. This is how we eat crawfish in our family - a trick we've used for years!! This keeps your fingers from smelling like crawfish for days! That is a smell that is only good while eating crawfish. The next morning - not so good!
OH Yeah!! Eat up!!
The more the merrier! That's a lot of mud bugs!! See way in the back the kids are eating rice and gravy with chicken and sausage!
Dwindling down to the final 4!

Clean up crew! Vaguely familiar crew isn't it?? The cook is the cleaner! This was all that was left over.Don't you just love JB's body language? It is like he is a little grossed out at this whole crawfish thing. He can't quite wrap his little brain around it! :) He will though. Within a few years he will be faster at peeling them than I am! It is in his blood!Believe it or not, I have another post in me regarding our weekend visit. I will show you some of the other yummy things we ate too! I just don't want to make my post too long!

Our annual Easter Crawfish Boil Part 1

I had to start with these first two pics just because! I miss the Great Oaks of Louisiane! :)
In my husband's family our Easter meal is Crawfish! I've watched all the cousins have their first crawfish boil, the first time they saw a live crawfish. The giggles and the yikes! I was thrilled to see my kids finally join in with this tradition. They called them 'the snappers' for awhile. Now they know they are called crawfish (and spelled crayfish - which doesn't make sense to me). Here is PawPaw opening the first bag.
" What is that PawPaw??" PawPaw patiently explained the routine but HC and JB wanted those crawfish to be far away from them at first.
Here they are rinsing off the crawfish. JB kills me with his hand in his pocket! He loves to do big things like Daddy!
We had to really promise the crawfish would not bite them. They did NOT want to take any chances!
JB finally HAD to hold one himself!
PawPaw and Daddy dumping the crawfish into the sink so they can soak for awhile!
EWWW Can we watch the crawfish?!

We will post the finished products on tomorrow's post!! Believe me, the final pics are so good (unless crawfish gross you out)!

Let's Roll!

We began our journey to see family last week with two eager movie watchers! (Don't you just love the portable DVD players?) After many hours we finally saw this sign telling us we were almost there!
Usually our trips to Baton Rouge are full of visits to friends and family. Since this was a last minute trip, many of our friends were busy celebrating Easter with their families. This gave us the free time to do something we've been wanting to do over the last few years. We finally took our two little Tigers to LSU campus. What a fun time we had exploring the beautiful grounds. HC was on campus when she was about 3 months old but she has no idea! haha This was JB's first time ever and HC's first time to actually walk around. Fun Fun Fun!
From what I hear, Mike the Tiger is usually a busy Tiger. Unfortunately we arrived at his nap time. I did catch this shot! :) His home is top notch! He really has a great place to run and play. After seeing Mike the kids both wanted to see the rest of the animals in the zoo. We explained this was the Tiger for LSU and not the zoo (only one mascot is necessary)! They each wanted a mini-Mike to bring home and we journeyed on.
OH how I miss the Oak trees. There is nothing like a beautiful HUGE GINORMOUS OAK TREE. Can you see the kids??
HC running along the parade grounds towards the Law School Building.
JB and Dad hitting a few baseballs! I can almost hear the announcer now "Next up to bat for LSU is JB".

We did many more fun things but the battery died in my camera! Can you believe that? There are two small hills that they call the Indian Mounds. The kids had a blast rolling down "the sand hills" as they said. (Anyone familiar with THAT Wiggles song??) hee hee We walked the quad and the kids made loud echoes and climbed trees. We had so much fun sharing our Alma Mater with our two! Can't wait to take them to a home game!!

Egg Hunts 1 and 2

Last Thursday we had an Easter egg hunt/party with friends. My kids took long naps and we missed the egg hunt of our party. The kids were not devastated though, thankfully! They happily enjoyed their cupcakes and ran/played their hearts out! Don't you love HC's bunny ears? Here is my JB, with wet hair! :) We RUSHED to at least make the party!
Like any good mother would do I then took the eggs we were to bring for hunting and hid them in our back yard. This year HC was intentional with her search. In the past, finding an egg was a win. This year she only wants the purple or pink ones. So if she sees it and it is the wrong color she says, "JB here is your egg".
HC kindly left the green egg for our sweet JB! He was thrilled too! I am glad this all worked out. :)
Ta-da!! Chocolate candy!!!
She is digging into her basket of goodies.
JB found his shadow and wanted a picture of it.
HC and her shadow!
The egg hunt was fun and my kids were clueless to our missing the big fun of the party. Thank God for that!

Our Easter - part 1

Although this wasn't the beginning of our Easter adventure, I do think it is fitting to start here. This is one of the few family pics we've taken that is fairly decent. The kids did their best to look at the camera considering the blinding sunshine. :) We're wearing our Easter best! Trying to capture a better picture. In this one the wind was whipping. :) Pretty good still. This was at church.
No camera-man so we had to take turns again.
My kids are such good sports!
Here is my baby brother and his sweet wife and their boy-child (who refused to come while we were in town)! I think the boy-child is already showing us he can do his own thing! :) Love you guys!
Last but not least, my husband's sister and parents! Ready for their morning of worship!
We decided to make a last minute trip to see family in Baton Rouge! We had SO much fun!!!! A much needed break from the ordinary day we would have had! It was great being at our home church and seeing so many familiar faces! More Easter fun to come! :)