Extreme Couponing

I've couponed for years.

I started well before the whole TLC series aired featuring organized hoarders. And by no means do I buy mass quantities of one item and devote entire rooms in my house to my stock pile. But, I won't deny the fact that the show intrigues me. The way those people fill multiple buggies with items and pay only cents on the dollar facinates me. I just have no desire to put the time and effort into couponing the way they do.

I clip coupons from our Sunday paper and if I find several really good coupons I might buy the twin pack at Wal-Mart, but I've never gone past 3 circulars.

A few weeks ago my co-workers and I were chatting about the tax-free weekend coming up and someone mentioned that diapers are included on the list of tax-free items.

Since then I've been stock piling Target and manufacturer coupons for diapers. I thought I might test the whole extreme couponing trend. Afterall, I have been saving money from our weekly budget since Micah is now potty trained and Silas is only 9 weeks and 4 days away (if not sooner) from making is big debut.

With this decision I decided to devote, not an entire room, but an empty linen closet in the nursery's bathroom to diapers and wipes.

At 8 a.m. today, I was on my way to Target with my pile of coupons at my side. Strangely enough, there was quite a rush with cashing in all of my hard work in exchange for all of this...


To be honest, my morning shopping trip only scored half of this loot. I was a little nervous with getting things organized and hoping all of the coupons and things would check-out as I had planned. I went back at lunch with more confidence and the remainder of my coupons to get the rest.

Everything turned out as planned! I was able to not only take advantage of the tax-free holiday weekend and all of my coupons, but also found several cases of summer printed Pampers on the clearance isle. Plus, several of my purchases qualified to receive gift cards back for purchasing the required amount.

Score!

I Paid: $124.o6

Actual Retail Value: $280.00

I may not have saved as much as one of the extreme couponers on tv, but I'm thoroughly pleased with my purchase.

Summer 2011 Art Gallery

I read somewhere a while back, perhaps from a fellow blogger or a parenting magazine, that a great way to "keep" all of your youngster's childhood artwork is in digital form. Keeping boxes and folders of construction paper art takes up too much space. By taking pictures of everything, not only can I keep everything on a tiny flash drive, but I can also display it here for the grandparents (and everyone else reading) to see.

Without further adieu, I present to you: Micah Deen's Summer 2011 Collection

Safari

Wild & Wacky Art

Fairytale Prince

Construction

Shapes


Western

Dinosaurs

The Artist

Busted!

Spotted: A little boy out of his room 30 minutes past his bedtime hiding under the nearest lamp.

His response: "There wasn't enough light in my room to read my book."

I love that my little man loves to read. He may not be reading the actual words on the pages, but he knows how to make up a good story to go along with the pictures.

Well, Almost

His birthday is still two weeks away, but we did a little celebrating today at the JCPenney Portrait Studio.

You should have seen Micah's eyes when he saw that I brought a cake along with us. It was a complete surprise until the moment I pulled it out of my bag. He didn't know what to think. It took some coaxing to get him to really dig in because he thought I would get upset with him for getting messy.

Back-to-School Shopping

Last week I had the opportunity to experience Back-to-School shopping for Micah for the very first time.

I didn't have to fight the crowds at Target or Wal-Mart in the school supply aisle. Actually, I was able to purchase everything I needed online. Here's what I got...

On August 22nd, Micah will move up from the Early Preschool class to the Preschool 1 class at Primrose. This move requires him to wear a uniform every day.

I was a little bummed at first when I found out my little guy won't be wearing cute, colorful clothes this fall, but I'm coming around to accepting the benefits of the uniform. Shopping was super simple, and I will soon be able to tell Micah to get dressed for school without having him come downstairs in mis-matched clothes he picked out on his own. I'm all about simplifing things during my nesting stage this go around.

I'm liking uniforms already.

Sea Life

When you've had 35 consecutive days of 100+ degree weather, you'll search for various ways of entertaining a two-year-old in the comforts of air conditioning.

Today's family adventure was at the new Sea Life aquarium in Grapevine, TX that just opened last month.


[Please forgive my blurry photography. I'm not that great with low lighting and no flash.]

We had so much fun that we decided to get an annual pass!

Happy Saturday!