Now that's some savings...

As I mentioned in recent posts, I have started doing the whole coupon clipping thing. Harris Teeter is a grocery store not too far away and they started tripling coupons up to $ .99 this week. The Kroger stores around HT started tripling coupons too. Add that to their Mega Event ($5.00 off your bill when you buy 10 participating items) and you can come away with some GREAT deals.

I didn't take a picture of my first trip to Kroger, but here are some pictures of my second trip.

Here's what 80% savings and a total of $38 (tax included) will get you with the right coupons:

First day of school (Morgan & Drew)

What a big week this has been in the Mueller household. On Wednesday Morgan had her first full day of 2nd grade and today, Drew had his first day of Kindergarten.

Morgan has always loved school. Since Kindergarten she ends each year crying because she doesn't want it to end. I'm so thankful that she loves school and loves to learn, I hope that doesn't change. I still can't believe my baby is in 2nd grade though - it seems like just yesterday we were doing the Kindergarten phase-in with her. The pictures below also include Morgan's good friend, Sarah, who comes home with us each day.

Drew is starting Kindergarten this year and he is blessed to have the same teacher that Morgan had. We LOVE her and are so excited that she'll be Drew's teacher too. Up until this morning Drew was super excited to start Kindergarten and be a "big kid" like his sister. This morning he was excited but that was really tempered by his nerves. I don't see him anxious or nervous very often but as we approached school and parked, he got really quiet. It was funny because we prayed in the car on the way to school and he kept his eyes closed the whole time and was concentrating very, very hard - this is a bit unusual for him. LOL. We got in and he had to sit at a cafeteria table with his teacher and a few fellow students before walking down to his classroom. Our county does a phase-in period for Kindergarten students so for the next 3 school days only 1/3 of the class goes for 1/2 the day. The next 2 school days 1/2 the class comes for the entire day before they all start a regular schedule together next Friday. I think it was good for him to only be there with 4 other students for his first day.

Now we just have one more kid to get first-day-of-school-pictures for! Owen will be starting preschool in September on Tues & Thurs. He is very excited and doesn't quite understand why he can't go to school just yet.

One more coupon thought

If you're in the southern area - SOUTHERN SAVERS (link to the right) is the place to start, definitely.

Coupon Crazy

Over the past few months I've been hearing about all the money that my friends were saving using coupons. Now, I never really cared to clip coupons because it didn't seem to be worth the time it took to clip them. BOY WAS I WRONG!

My friend, Jessica, started having coupon classes and she showed us all how it's done. From organizing your coupons, to how to find the best deals. All very valuable information. (If you're interested in attending a coupon class, let me know and I'll get you in touch with the Queen).

An example of the savings. Last week I went to Kroger and spent $43 (before tax). After coupons and including tax, I only paid $6.32 for what I bought. That's some crazy savings and it's well worth the effort to clip the coupons.

I'll post a list of blogs/websites that I check for coupon deals and if you have any I can add, let me know. Also, many are regional but I'm sure you can find some in your area too.

Yeah, it's been a while...

I get distracted with Facebook and forget to post over here. I've been told that I need to get to it, so, I'll try.

This has been a busy summer for us. Let's see:

1. Visit with my parents (Memorial Day)
2. Numerous visits with Eric's dad as he passed through town.
3. Vacation Bible School (Lifepoint, where we attend)
4. Water Camp (at Owen's preschool - for all the kids)
5. I went to Camp Whatever (middle & high school camp)
6. Visit with Carolyn (my mother-in-law) and niece, Bethany.
7. Morgan went to C3 Day Camp at Lifepoint (Chick-fil-a)
8. Boys went to VBS at their preschool
9. All kids went to VBS at their Awana's church (Yes, we did hop to 3 diff't vbs)
10. Visit with my mom & niece.
11. Beechbend with Morgan's Girl Scout Troop
12. Nashville Shores with Eric's work

That's quite the list. I'll try to get back on later and post some actual photos.

Today was the first day of school for Morgan. It really was just a 2 hour day where the kids and parents go in and fill out lots of forms, everyone meets the teachers, and we go home. Wednesday will be their first full day. Drew is starting Kindergarten this year and they phase them in differently than they do the other grades so his first full day won't be until August 21st. His first 1/2 day is this Friday though.

Owen will be starting preschool at the same place that both Morgan & Drew attended so I'll have TWO DAYS with no kids. Crazy! I'm sure to find plenty of things to occupy my time. I seem to be great at that.

So - there's an update for ya (for those few that might actually check my blog).