Couponing in July

Alright folks.

A part of me wishes that I hadn't even mentioned couponing because there's so much info that I don't even know where to start. Hmm, let me start by saying that if you want to learn how to coupon, head over to bargainblessings.com, for me that's the best site for Colorado. If you happen to live elsewhere in the US, visit couponsense.com and enjoy the 1st month free trial. For everyone else around the globe, good luck. HA! Just playing. I know that Canada is coupon friendly and that's where my limited knowledge comes to an end. Don't even ask me whether or not one can coupon in SA because I haven't got a clue. While living in South Africa my mind was more focused on spending rather than saving so anything involving SA and frugal living I'm not the one to consult.

Here's the story: Early in our marriage I was new to the US and didn't quite understand the value of a dollar. It's also highly possible that I didn't fully understand the value of the rand either. So for those early months of marital bliss dear husband was the one in charge of all finances. And the poor guy tried his best to please me and provide all my supposed "needs" which included paying $200 for getting my hair done, YIKESSSS! It didn't take very long for me to realize that an ignorant approach to our finances wasn't doing me any good. And so things began to change. We swapped the roles and that's how it's been ever since. I had to start from scratch on everything regarding financial management. From budgeting, saving and even investing. It took a long time to learn how financial matters work in a new country. And with that I also had to learn about every type of insurance you can think of. Health insurance, renter's insurance, car insurance, life insurance and so it goes. Along with the insurances are a number of necessary bills. Let me also mention that I also didn't even know how to balance a cheque/check book! Dear me. All of this paper work needed time, research and ongoing management. And before the beginning of 2014, this paperwork was done in my head. A very silly and careless approach to managing a household. But fear not, once I recognised the need to take my homemaker role seriously, everything changed. Slowly but surely I grew to understand the importance of an actual budget, written down on paper, proper financial planning for today and for the future. This new acceptance of responsibility even motivated husband and I to do our own taxes instead of dumping them with grandma Schamel. That was a big step in wearing big boy/girl pants. Grown things happening here, just awesome!

From doing our taxes we became legit by having every necessary type of insurance because I needed it in order to feel secure. I didn't want to live not having a plan for the next moment. As per Suze Orman "hope is not a plan". Husband worked his butt off and we were finally able to plan a clear future. Once we felt a little more settled, it became clear that too much money was going into groceries. I enjoy cooking for people so every week we had folks for dinners or lunches and since I didn't want to change that lifestyle, we decided that couponing was the answer. So what is couponing? Per Google of course: couponing is the art of collecting and using coupons or vouchers offering discounts on goods or services. Easy enough on paper but it can get rather complex in practise. For a visual idea, head over to youtube and check out this video.

- assuming you've watched the suggested video - That's what couponing is about, preparing before you go shopping and cutting grocery costs by 50% or more.

This was my first month of couponing and I've been able to multiply our groceries and stay within the planned budget. I did not manage to save anything yet, but stocking up on our laundry detergent, toiletries and diapers will ensure future savings. What's even better is that the toiletries: toothpaste, shampoos, conditioners, floss and toilet paper were all almost free. And because of this we were able to donate whatever we may not need. It is not likely that every item will be free but with proper planning it is possible to pay way less than the retail price. I can't imagine ever paying retail price for anything besides seafood. Even though there doesn't seem to be coupons for meats and fresh produce, it is possible to train your eye for the best deals. Albertson's has great deals on meat and poultry, Sprouts is brilliant with fresh produce and sometimes flour and oats. Then you could visit a store like Costco for buying certain items in bulk. I know this sounds like a lot of work for just groceries but the benefits are worth the effort. It takes me only 45mins to prepare for a shopping trip. I do this twice a week to maximise on the store deals. And that's the other fantastic thing about a coupon driven mindset, you begin to learn what a real sale is. I now understand that a real sale is if the product has a discount of 40% or more. This kind of thinking protects you from buying into the clever store marketing.

During this first months many mistakes were made. I wouldn't be human if there weren't any darn mistakes. So if you're gonna coupon here are the don'ts and the solutions: 1) do not print every coupon online. This is a waste of ink and time. Only print what you will use. 2) Do not go to the store not knowing exactly how much you'll be paying after coupons. Meticulously plan your shopping trip and write it all down so that you get the correct products. 3) Do not use a coupon on a retail priced item. Proper coupon savings will be most successful when buying a product that is on sale. 4) Do not mix coupon shopping with non coupon items. Unless you've planned your shopping trip so well that you'll get overage (store credit), separate your coupon shopping from your other items as it can be super stressful at checkout/till. Wait till you're a pro. And 5) Only buy items that your family uses! I can not stress this enough. My family does not drink coffee and there's tons of coffee coupons that could make an item free. But this would be a waste of time as I don't need coffee. The same goes for unhealthy products that may be free but could cause health issues in the future. The moral of the story: do not buy junk.

I'm writing these lessons here so that I too remain in the clear and use this new found skill for my good rather than making it a stress creator.

There's not much more to say here. Wait, there is one more thing. This is a huge one. Life altering. Ready. Here's how our household works - Dear husband makes the money and I manage it. This year I've realised that it is my job to make sure that I manage that money well. It needs to be saved and at some point even invested. This is a role that I take seriously but it does not surpass the main role of mother and wife. So all in all, homemakers run the world. Just kidding. If your job is to take care of your household while living at home, take pride in it. Take it seriously because it is an important job that you have there.

Peace and love to you all.

 

Life changing stuff!

Hello family and friends,

Hope life is treating you kindly where ever you are and whatever moments you happen to be experiencing.

Here at the Schamel household it's been nonstop happy business. Starting Friday night, husband and I had a wonderful date night. It started off badly with my tardiness issues which really annoy the dear husband. My whole life I've been a late person and this terrible habit has made it on every New Year's resolution list. Husband on the other hand is exactly like my brother, super punctual. I have quotes from both men, which were directed at me. I think I once mentioned here about how a few years ago my brother and I were driving somewhere. Unfortunately I had once again made us late and during the drive I tried to smooth things over by saying "don't worry, we'll make it". My brother's reply was simply, "I don't want to make it, I want to succeed". My immature thoughts were shocked at how a person would want to succeed at being on time. Note that my brother is 3yrs younger than me.  And then years later, after being married for a few weeks, I was once again late and dear husband would announce every 5mins that we were super late. Once in the car, the clearly agitated husband explained to me that "being late implies that you do not care about the people waiting for you". My thoughts here were "YIKES, I better shape up". Still working on it. Maybe I need to start praying about it, then work on it some more, starting with better time management.

Back to the date night, after husband finished yet another explanation of the importance of time management and me promising to work at it, we began to have a good time. And as a result of my "disrespect of our time together", we sadly missed the soccer match which we were supposed to attend and instead opted for a consolation prize...a movie. Even though I was incredibly remorseful, I did enjoy hanging out like high schoolers in a movie theatre. Especially since it had been almost 2years since going to the movies. The last time was when baby boy was about a month or so and we thought to go see a James Bond film at the drive in. Bad idea. The poor little baby boy cried most of the time. The car was humid as we were in sunny California. Husband kept suggesting that I breastfeed the baby, the baby didn't want to eat, I was over it and I think it even started to rain. Terrible idea. New parents often have many awefully misguided ideas and we've had our fare share. Fortunately this was an indoor theatre and we were without a month old screaming sweet little baby boy. After tripping on some Hercules excitement, we returned home around midnight (this is a big deal!). Baby boy was being babysat by our kind friend Alyssa who happens to be single. The reason I mention her relationship status is because only a single person can stay up till 3am and not be tired. By single I mean also without kids. And since we were on the high of being young, we stayed up until husband pointed out the time. I then thought of how in a few hours baby boy would be up, full of energy and ready for the new day. Luckily husband agreed to have a daddy and baby date while I slept in. Hmm, la dolce vita! Simplecemente fantastico:)

And oh did I sleep in! They (husband and baby) got on with their breakfast and took a stroll to the park. They came back earlier than expected because husband had planned to go fellowshiping with the missionaries. Later that day we had our selves a blast visiting the Denver Aquarium. I had been wanting to visit the aquarium for a while so this was a big tick off the to do list. As you can I'm sure imagine, baby boy loved it. I have a few pictures but they're awfully fuzzy. So I guess that really means no pictures, but the memories are there. I remember baby boy running through the crowds and crawling passed knees and skirts to get right in front of the tiger (the kind that lives in water). Once he got to the glass he turned to wave at me, when turning his attention back to the glass, he jumped back as the tiger stared him right in the face. A moment I'll never forget. Husband and I had a total childlike freak out when seeing the sharks. Our excitement was immeasurable. We were all "wow, honey, look at that, did you see that, my goodness, WOW, that's crazy, it's coming this way, LOOK, look, WOW, this is CRAZY, awesome!". Baby boy didn't care much for the sharks, he started playing on a nearby bench probably bored at our excitement since this was to him just another "fffish". All in all, we love the aquarium. Husband is planing a shark dive in a month or so and he would like me to join. He's selling it as a date night and I'm not buying. Did I mention that this would be the kind of dive that has you swimming directly with the sharks, no cage protection. No thank you. I like my limbs intact.

The next day was church and afterwards we visited our friends Ty and Roberta to celebrate Ty's birthday. Roberta had made a lovely seafood dinner which was enjoyed by all.

Sometime during the days above I scored free groceries at Safeway because couponing rocks. I think I paid $0.23 for a bag of groceries. More details on that tomorrow.

So a wonderful weekend overall, followed by a busy week. I'm working on my time management because it's become even more necessary as new things have been added to our quality of life: 1) Juicing - a friend of mine started juicing and she's enjoying great health benefits. After hearing about it from her I decided that juicing is not some weird Gwyneth Paltrow like fad, not even sure if Gwyneth Paltrow juices, but the whole idea sort of looks like her doesn't it? So my uneducated self shelved this concept in the same spot as where I put vegan/vegetarian kind of stuff. Well I've now been educated and let me tell you something, if you care about your health, you should be juicing. It doesn't have to be extreme, even a little is better than nothing. Now let us all vote YES for more vegetables and fruits! And luckily husband is on board this health train. It took a little more convincing on his part but after watching 3mins of the Hungry for Change documentary, he gave me carte blanche on preparing nutritional meals. Now that we're making smart decisions I decided to take things a step further and entered into the world of...drum rolls...CANNING. That's point number 2) Now let me start by saying that canning is totally misrepresented. You're probably sitting there thinking that I'm too young and it's too early in life to be delving into that deep homemaker type stuff. But I tell you, it is not too early. As a part of the frugal living standards, canning is high on the list of saving. My dear friend Brandy, same person who exposed me to juicing, has been kind enough to agree to teaching me all that is to know about canning. If you've never heard the word canning before, here's a quick definition via google - to preserve food in a can. It's that simple. For our family this means no more food wastage. We'll also have homemade pasta sauces and canned fruit.

These two new concepts have entered our lives at the perfect time. With couponing I'm able to save on toiletries, cosmetics, cleaning products, paper products and a host of other goodies. Juicing allows me to be a better couponer as I'm more health conscious and therefore not tempted to buy junk food just because it's a good deal. And canning seals it all by giving me the ability to preserve food allowing us to eliminate as much nonsense out of our diet as possible. By nonsense I'm referring to MSG, High Fructose, Artificial colours, Artificial flavourings and many other gross things humans shouldn't be eating. The bread making also continues and now I'm slowly removing white flour for whole wheat.

Unfortunately we do not live on a farm, so we still depend on many store bought products and that's ok as long as we're more conscious about the food we consume and coupling that with regular exercise. Believe it or not, I'm not an extreme person so moderation is one of my favourite words. Who has a favourite word? Me. I do. Many in fact. Moderation happens to be one of them, the other is balance. Where is this going? Somewhere I hope because I've been typing for about 45mins and counting, slow typer here.

So, for the dramatic but life changing conclusion: Eat well now and save on the medical costs later. It's quite possible that I've snatched that quote from Suze Orman. Love that woman! Back to the conclusion because it's getting late and husband is about to return from basketball: Remember to take your time and make changes that you can maintain. 

Here's to a joyous rest of the week.

Peace!

Baby boy's life in pictures

SUMMER TIME! This has been a splendid season. As you can see, baby boy thoroughly enjoyed the summer. These pictures perfectly describe his busy happy personality. 

Schamel stuff

A list of happenings around the Schamel household:

1) A few weeks ago I gave husband a haircut and it actually looks decent. I'm now the self appointed hairstylist in the house. Even though husband likes his new hair style, he's not keen on sitting for another 1 1/2hrs as I consult youtube while cautiously snipping away. Will report back next month when he's in need of my newly found skills.

2) Baby boy and I lost the house key a while back and while looking for it baby decided to speed up the search by calling out "key, where are you?". We found the key soon after, hidden in his book case.

3) This passed Tuesday morning I tore up $250. It was in an envelope and having later decided to pay that particular bill in cash, I tore up the envelope thinking it was a cheque (check in American spelling). Wisely I decided not to tell husband about the incident and instead attempted to solve it by my lonesome. All worked out as a talented bank teller meticulously taped the money back together. And I promptly deposited it in fear of using taped up cash.

4) Baby boy said a prayer on his own. Since he's still just 21 months old we can't expect him to do this without his mama's help. It's so cute to hear him say his bedtime prayers and I love how he skips words that he can't yet pronounce. What a sweetie pie.

5) We finally have a printer:) This is great news as it makes couponing that much easier. The printer is worth $180 and after surfing the good'al internet, we got a gently used one for $10. Sweet sweet deal. It was previously owned by an elderly couple who kept it in good condition. Older folks always take better care of their stuff.

Those are the latest happenings in the fort we hold. Onto other news, I've just returned from Safeway with free groceries! If you're in the USA and not couponing it's either you're quite well off and don't need to or that you're not yet exposed to the wonders of this coupon world. Who can resist FREE groceries! Yes, I'll admit it doesn't happen every day but it is possible to save 50% to 70% on every shopping trip. Truth I tell you! I'll write a more detailed post on the matter next week.

Love to you and yours.

Family day

This was a really good day. And if there's tons of spelling mistakes on this post forgive me as I'm rushing to get to bed.

The day would have been perfect if dear husband wasn't stuck on the couch with a basketball ankle injury. The second one this year. He also had another this time last year but a lot worse, or it might be the same, I'm not sure. All I know is that he's handling it really well. Not complaining a lot, helping out where he can and the best part, not missing work. Even still, it looks pretty bad, luckily he's young enough for the body to be able to repair itself. Injury aside, we all had a splendid Saturday.

Baby boy and I took a short stroll to a new park nearby. It's ridiculously awesome! The park of my baby dreams. There's a faux tree house with a slide and a cave, connected to some monkey bars. Just awesome. The caves have bear ornaments and there's also a spider and a snake, all quite fun. Baby boy loved it. - side note, husband is currently drilling me about adding a photo of his injury on this post, I'm trying to ignore him and he keeps asking me why I'm ignoring him. There will be no such picture found on here. Just know that it's swollen and purple. -Back to the park. Oh how I love our new park. Thank you thank you to whomever I need to thank for such a wonderful play space for baby boy. He enjoyed it so much that I had to bribe him in order for us to get back home.

Since husband was home bound, I was able to put baby down for a nap and head down to the pool for some care free me time. Ah yes! It felt good to swim, relax, read a book and just people watch. Good times.

Later we all went to pick up some vegetables from Sprouts. And the reason I even mention the name of the store here is because Sprouts is the supermarket of my dreams. I even love the people who shop there! They all look so healthy and put together. This is incredibly refreshing when compared to Walmart shoppers. Now I love me some Walmart and they're prices but seriously, we all know what I mean when I say Walmart shoppers;). I remember when my friend Thato came to visit us in California and she wanted to see real Americans. Well, we took her to Walmart sometime around midnight. Back to the Sprouts customers: you imagine that they eat well, workout regularly, read often and watch very little TV. They're the kind of folks we all are for the first 3 days of the year, before the resolutions go down the drain and we head over to Walmart. Anyway, Sprouts also has good deals on vegetables and sometimes on meat too. I don't quite know what else they sell as I never make it to the other side of the shop, it all looks super organic, super vegan and super expensive. I also avoid the bakery section because I'm uh *cough* a bread addict. Instead I just make my own bread, twice a week since we gobble it up so quickly. During today's the shopping trip baby boy made himself quite popular by greeting every passerby. He brought me a near heart attack by almost breaking a jar of something that cost more than $5. Yes, it's quite possible that I've become somewhat of a cheapskate. No, let's say money wise or a money saver.

After the shopping trip I took baby boy for a swim while husband prepared for a good'all braai. Not a barbeque, a braai. They may mean the same thing but I tell you folks, these are two very different things. Here's the story. First time I was invited to a barbeque in the US of A my excitement went up the roof thinking that I'd finally eat something familiar. Oh was I wrong. All was good except that the meat tasted quite the same as it would if I had grilled it in the oven, maybe with a wiff of flame and that's about it. And all I was craving was a BRAAI. The real deal. So what is a braai you ask. Let's begin with the smell. Ummm. That scent that catches even the neighbours. It's meat, sizzling over charcoal and flame. I guess you could call it flame grilled. A braai is also not limited to hotdogs (viennas) and hamburger patties. A BRAAI includes marinated beef, chicken, boerewors and anything else you can imagine. Oh, don't forget the garlic bread. Delicious. And today we indeed brought the South African braai to this Schamel household. Hmm, yes!

After chilling out from a full tummy with the dishes done and the house in order, baby boy had his bath and challenged me for an hour before settling in bed. The challenge was reading the same book over and over again. I shouldn't complain since the book is The ABC's of The Book of Mormon. With baby asleep husband and I settled in for a movie.

A good day indeed. I forgot to mention my favorite moments: 1) baby boy walking down the stairs repeating 'mama, love you'. 2) when coming back from the pool baby stood at the bottom of the balcony calling "daddy, oh daddy" until his dad popped his head to say hello. 3)At the park baby boy wanted a snack so he came over asking for "berries". He loves berries, especially blackberries.

All in all, I loved today. And I love my little family.

A moment in time

Just finished watching the late night news. Oh why did I do that! It left me in a complete funk that I had no other way to process the negativity but through prayer.

With all the crazy things going on in our world it would be easier to live life on the sidelines. Choosing not to leave the house in fear of all the terrible things that happen to women and children. Or choosing not to fly in fear of a plane crash or as per tonight's news - in fear of a missile blowing up the flight. All sounds rather gloomy and that's where faith comes in. Because faith trumps fear! - I think that's a quote from Elder Holland

My faith allows me to live freely because I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of me. And by that I do not mean that I'm immune to all the tragedy that surrounds us. What I mean to say is that my eternal perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ allows me the privilege of having peace in my heart. Knowing that this life is but a moment. A time to learn, grow and be tested. A time for us to learn to be more like Jesus himself. The amount of time gifted to each individual is different, we have no control over this. And that's OK because this life is not the end. It is but a moment in our eternal possibilities.

It is so important to know our purpose in this life. With purpose in mind you can find answers to daily struggles be it big or small. Just the other day while dealing with a jammed door in the laundry facilities downstairs and through the frustration of hauling our clothes up and down the stairs with a stubborn baby boy in tow, I started thinking about Gaza. Trying to imagine what it must be like for a young mother living in Gaza right now. I could hardly continue that train of thought before my heart became heavy with tears. The jammed door and the task at hand seemed miniscule in comparison to what that mother might be dealing with. I don't know why we are dealt with such different life paths. Some of our struggles are self inflicted but others are really out of our hands. Therefore we can only do the best we can in making well informed decisions that offer positivity in our lives. That which is not in our control is best handled by completely surrendering to the Lord's will.

Hmmm, I've said a lot and I don't know how to properly express myself sometimes but since all these entries are truly for my prosterity, grown baby boy and future grandkids, listen up: Even though bad things do happen, always turn to the Lord and He will bring you peace. Live with an eternal perspective remembering that even though life may seem unfair at times, this is but a moment in time. Someday, all will be made fair.

You are dearly loved.

Bees!

Hello friends and family,

I had to take a moment to write because otherwise I might never do it.

Baby boy got stung by a bee today! And yes I freaked out, silently though. Since I wasn't sure whether or not he was allergic, my instincts instructed quick reactions that had me pin him down as he screamed just so I could remove the 'stinger' in order for the venom to stop spreading. And by the way, the screaming wasn't the result of pain, he actually wanted to go back to the place where he was stung just so that he could sit on the concrete blocks. This all happened while we were taking a walk to the mailbox. We hurried home where I did a quick Google search on bee stings. Feeling armed with good information I washed his hands with soap and water, then tricked him into playing with ice in order to keep the swelling down. Please note that dear baby boy continued with life as if he'd never encountered that bee.

After watching him like a hawk all day and even taking pictures of his swollen hand, I'm happy to report that all looks well. No nausea or any other allergy related symptoms. The swelling has gone down considerably. Phew. As per the Internet info, I'll continue to keep an eye on him for the next three days. After that I think we'll be in the clear.

Besides bee stings, life has been treating us quite well.

Grandma and grandpa Schamel came for a sleep over. Unfortunately it was on a day when I had a stomach bug but we still had a good time. That same day baby boy and husband had some fun bonding. They did some fruit shopping, had fun at the park, visited friends and attended a wedding in the evening. A full day indeed! If only I was feeling healthy then my time would have been spent on self pampering instead of stomach bug dealings that need no further discussion. I guess I'll have to make sure there's more daddy and baby bonding time.

We've also had some friends from church over for dinner, there's been lots of play dates and oh before I forget, I'm now into extreme couponing. More on that at the end of the month when I can give exact figures of savings and cost of groceries. We're being fairly disciplined and are on track to having savings and food storage YAY! This has taken up all of my spare time and I love it. For the first time in my life I can honestly say that I find more pleasure in saving than spending. And that's a Suze Orman quote, she's revolutionized our financial life. Details at the end of the month!

So baby boy is quite the dancer. His favorite song is Happy by Pharrel. He loves that song and requests it almost every morning. His dance is a run around and when fatigue hits he just stands swaying or grooving with his head. It's the cutest thing to watch! He's also quite interested in counting. He counts when walking down stairs, when placing ducks in a row during bath time and even counting cars as we walk around.

Sweet baby boy:) we sure do love that kid.