Pinching my Pennies

I've been working some really good deals at Albertson's lately and have been doing more and more printable coupons online. Learned a lot from my pals Joey & Lisa and the site pinching your pennies on how to score the best deals. This meant I was outgrowing my good ol' cancelled check file for coupons. So I decided to make a coupon binder. After looking at a few tutorials I went with a 5 star zippered binder with a zippered pencil case (to hold a calculator, pens, scissors) and a few extra pockets in various places to hold unclipped, unfiled coupons, ads, etc. Then I added 8 tabbed dividers that each have a slash pocket in the front. So each divider can do double duty to hold store coupons, etc. My sections are:

• frozen (Albertson's in the slash pocket)
• snack foods (Target in the slash pocket)
• beverages/condiments/pb&j (misc. in the slash pocket)
• boxed/canned (more misc. in the slash pocket)
• baking/cereal/granola (nothing yet for this pocket)
• meat/dairy/produce/bread (misc. store coupons in the pocket)
• paper/cleansers (rebates in the pocket)
• perconal care (restaurant coupons in this pocket)

Within each section I added pages that each hold 3 4x6 photos to hold the coupons. I took some blue painter's tape and a sharpie to label the pockets. So for instance in the personal care section there are pockets for the following:

• razors/shave gel
• deodorant
• oral care
• soap
• shampoo/conditioner
• styling products
• feminine hygiene
• cosmetics
• skin care
• lotion
• OTC meds
• first aid supplies
• sunscreen

You get the idea. I also started using the old canceled check file to save my receipts. Sometimes a good rebate will come along that I already qualify for if I could just find the receipt. This should solve that problem. I've been saving tons and getting sweet deals. I need to lay of the cereal deals for awhile, though. I think I have probably 10 boxes stockpiled. And I am the only one in the house who really eats cereal!

I remember some friends' moms growing up who did the couponing and rebating thing seriously. My mom never did. So at least I'm not turning into my mother yet, right?

NasCubs

Wednesday night we had a cardboard car race at our Pack meeting. Totally cute and the kids had a great time. It was one of the best Pack meetings Mike has run. Yay, Mike!

The kids made cardboard cars at home and raced 4 laps with 3 pit stops:

• tire change (take off shoes, turn socks inside out and replace shoes)


• refuel (drink a box of apple juice)


• clean windshield (spray water on face and wipe off)

Mike didn't worry at first about who he had race with who - so he lined up a Tiger and 2 Webelos to race in the first heat until we called foul and told him he needed to even things up. So he did, a little, but it still wasn't probably the most fair grouping ever. Turns out, we were wrong. The little Tiger had a rockin' pit crew and beat the pants off of the other kids, lol! He was totally cute and everyone was rooting for him!

Here's my kid, who threw himself down on the ground at the finish line. I think that's what we refer to in the parenting biz as a baby whiney pants sore loser.

Cedar weekend

On Thomas's birthday, last Friday, Mike took the day off and we all spent it together with some of our homeschool friends on a field trip. We started the day by meeting up at the Renaissance Fair, where I (of course) ended up in trouble. (Thanks for taking photos, Joey -- my camera was buried in camping equipment).




Thomas attempted climbing the rock wall, we did some great people (and cat??) watching, and got to see the people who practice at a local park every week do some demos of medieval fighting. An interesting morning, for sure.

After the Ren Fair we headed up the mountain a bit for a picnic lunch with the group, including cake for the birthday boy. Our family ditched everyone for a bit to go further up the mountian to Cedar Breaks National Monument and snag a campsite for the weekend. We got our tent set up and joined back up with our crew in time to go to the Greenshow at the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival.

Every night of the festival there is a free performance before the plays. I have no idea what has been on offer in the past or if the show is the same every night. But the one we caught had a sort of German/Irish-pub/beer theme to all the singing and dancing. They were quite good and even the younger set were entertained by it all.

Some photos from the rest of our weekend spent doing the usual camping stuff in the amazing weather found up over 10,000 feet above sea level.

junior ranger hike

I think he's seen one too many Facebook photos of our teenage friends.

atop Brian Head

just having a rest

Kodachrome Basin

Mostly pictures - not too much to say about the trip. Had a great time with my guys and we wore ourselves out hiking.

Saturday - Panorama trail

Sunday - Angel's Palace trail

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the bowm-chicka-bowm-bowm spire as seen from our campsite

Grosvernor's Arch

Drove out there Sunday and had a great picnic supper with an incredible view before heading home.

for my home(school)girls

Here are a couple of the youtube videos we talked about last night.

Paula Deen loses her pants!



literal Total Eclipse of the Heart

Lookie what came today

As I mentioned earlier, our old Kodak was having a problem with the shutter sticking. So, rather than repair a 4 year-old camera, we shopped around for a new one. We found a great deal on this one for right around $200. 10 MP, 20X optical zoom and way more gizmos than our old camera. I shot a few photos in the backyard today. We need to get an xD card so we can use the panorama mode, but otherwise I am very pleased so far. It works great in auto, has tons of 'scene' modes and can go completely manual if I can ever get confident enough to use that! Very exciting, indeed.

This stuff is like crack!

I picked up a bag of the buffalo cheddar flavor last week. Thomas and I had movie night both Friday and Saturday because Mike was out of town. I ate the whole stinkin' bag over the course fo those 2 nights. Yummy! I think I'll pick up a bag for our camping trip this weekend. Because junk food consumed in the great outdoors doesn't count, right?