Daddy Dates

Since my kids were about 18 mos old Eric has taken them on "Daddy Dates"...they love them! He has done so many different things over the years. Each child gets to spend $5.00 and they get a few hours of alone time with their hero. He and Emily went a few days ago to the tractor supply store...Emily likes to dream about owning her own horse farm so they walked around and Eric listened to her stories about horses and all the fun things at the store. Then they went to get a sweet tea and a chicken sandwich. I love that he has consistently done this with the kids for the past 15 years! The night is all about the child not about himself....some of the outings have been interesting some have been quite boring for him but he NEVER lets them know...he makes them feel important and special! I love him for it!

Buying $100 of groceries for $2.00?????

I am asked all the time about getting a ton of groceries for almost nothing. Let me first say that there are many things that I get every month and I pay 0 or almost 0: hair care, shaving products, dental products, body washes, deodorant, all cleaning products, condiments, frozen veggies, rice and rice mixes, pasta, spaghetti sauces, salad dressings, over the counter medication, feminine products, make-up

Other things I routinely get for 50 - 75% off: soups, canned veggies and fruit, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, protein bars, peanut butter, jelly, salsa, taco dinner kits, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, brownie and cake mixes,

Now back to the original question....could I buy groceries for my family and spend 10 a week......yep I sure could but I do not because to do so I would not buy fresh fruit and veggies or any meat. Above is a picture that I found on a popular web site showing how this person didn't pay anything at the register for those things. Now PLEASE hear my heart...I am not legalistic about food and if we didn't have any money to budget for food for whatever reason.....my standards would be different. BUT....I would not feed most of those things to my family on a regular basis. Have I ever given them boxed mac and cheese...you betcha....but I do not routinely buy it. I do buy processed foods sometimes but I really try to limit the amount I feed my family. You notice that I have cake and brownie mix on my "routinely get" list......I always have those things on hand for a special treat or to take to parties and get togethers.

I do not buy coke, candy, chips, sugar cereals or sugar filled bars and I never buy pop tarts :) I have not found that it is very realistic to think I could feed my family a healthy, balanced diet on 10 a week. My family gets enough junk in their diets from other sources so I try to feed them good stuff at home. What couponing does for me ....it cuts my overall bill by 50% or more even buying the healthy stuff.

Blessings keep coming!

This picture makes me laugh! My boys wanted to take a photo to make it look like they were not wearing a suit! Boys are so funny and different! Love my boys!

I have so many blessings! My amazing family is such a blessing! Salvation...beyond amazing!

I wanted to give you guys an update on the ministry. We have been so very overwhelmed lately. There are still many things that I just do not understand! We still have many needs especially stuff here at the house....things that have been put on hold year after year because we have not been paid. It seems like so many times the Lord allows us to get right to the edge...and then He swoops in....it is a VERY exhilarating place to be to see God work is is at the same time a frightening place to be....sort of like six flags....the scarier the better! :)

We have continued to get paid every week albeit late most weeks...still I have paid all of our personal bills on time. Well on the 29th of July I told Eric that we needed $2000 before the 31st to pay our salary, payroll taxes, health insurance, cell phone bill and another small bill for the ministry. That was at 9:00 am....at 11:00 am a man called Eric and asked Eric to forgive him....he said that God had laid us o his heart months ago and that he just kept forgetting to bring by a check. The check was for MORE than we needed by the 31st. It was so neat to see how the Lord had already started the process of the provision months before we actually needed it!

Eric is asking the Lord for 50 schools to speak in on top of the other commitments that he has. He is already getting many calls and we are so excited about that! I am speaking more this year as well. I LOVE to speak to women of any age but especially to women who are just starting off with their families...it is so awesome to encourage them as they are raising their babies!

I love ya'll! Please keep us in your prayers.....I know that the enemy loves to discourage and frustrate us and I want to be all that the Lord wants us to be!

contact me

If you were at the galleria and emailed me about a coupon box and you live in Alabama......Please Please contact me again! I accidentally erased your email before responding!! :(

Lots and Lots of Chicken

I bought 6 packages of Tyson Chicken Breast on the bone for .99 cents a pound. My total bill was $15.39. I brought it home...rinsed it all and put it in 2 large pots, fill with water to cover..add 1 stalk of celery to each pot. Bring to a boil...reduce to simmer..cover and cook for 1 hour.

I have 18 huge pieces of chicken from this batch. I personally prefer to have boned chicken when I am boiling it but I use boneless sometimes as well. I always use boneless to grill.

I pulled all the chicken and cut it into chunks.....Skimmed the fat off of the broth. I used 3 breasts tonight for our dinner. Chicken and rice...YUM a family favorite! I put about 1 cup in a small baggie and spooned a few teaspoons of broth over it so it wouldn't dry out and stuck it into the fridge for quesadillas tomorrow night. I made homemade chicken salad with part for lunch over the next few days. The rest I divided into family size portions for Chicken Soup, and Chicken Pot Pie for later. This saves me money and time!

Blog fixed!

I am so excited....Cosbie came to my house and brought the adorable girl he is dating and she fixed my computer blog issues with one click.....seriously! I love her!

Mama....teach your children basic table manners! This is an ongoing process...it doesn't just happen because you pointed it out to them once! There are LOTS of lessons to be learned at the table! It is just plain gross to watch an adult eat like a messy child! You can even make this fun.....almost any lesson can be fun and entertaining. Sometimes at our house we even have..how not to eat...and we all join in on bad table manners....even I show everyone at the table the food in my mouth and we have burping contests...there really are times and places for that! So have fun and work on a skill that will follow them forever!

More meal ideas with coupons

I make ooddles and ooddles of french toast all at once. I buy 5 or 6 loaves of bread on sale...I just got 10 loaves for 39 cents each at Kroger. I buy 3 dozen eggs and use about 6 cups skim milk, a little cinnamon and 1 stick of butter. The total cost is less than $6 and I make 100 - 120 slices of French Toast . I serve it with eggs, grits, and the toast on the night I make it and I freeze the rest. My kids pull it out in the mornings and pop it in the toaster. I very rarely cook breakfast in the mornings......besides scrambled eggs which we make a few times a week.

Grilled chicken or grilled flank steak.....I am always looking for a sale on these meats because we eat them all the time! My family is a real meat and potatoes kind of family....so these things are staples here! I use Italian dressing and Teriyaki sauce for a marinade.( I routinely get these for free or almost free with coupons) Here are some things I serve with the meat. Frozen veggies....I buy all the time with coupons for around 25-50 cents a bag. Green beans...again I collect them when they are on sale. Some kind of potatoes...I love potatoes I could love on them alone! Therefore we eat them alot! (I get lots of sour cream for free or almost free if I want to use it for these.) Salad....we eat alot of salad and raw veggies so I look for sales. I try not to buy items that are not in season and have a higher price tag. Mac n cheese..(pasta cheap with coupons...cheese on sale.....freeze in the bag for baking)

OK I will think of more later!

Couponing

It has been a busy week! Spoke at the Galleria..that went great! I spoke twice to packed rooms. Boy do I love to be able to encourage women! I read something the other day that said 95% of adults are fearful about speaking in front of people. I am in the other 5% for sure...the bigger the crown the more I feel I can let loose!

Started homeschool this week!!! Great start!

Had an interview with a local newspaper and that went well!

One of the questions I was asked over and over again this weekend was...what meals do I make with my couponing stuff... I have a few meals that I make with almost all couponing stuff but for the most part I use that stuff for supplementing my dinners. Where couponing saves me the most money personally is.....cereal, toiletries, cleaning products, snacks, yougurts.....below are some meals that I regularly cook with couponing stuff.


Spagetti...I wait until I have enough jars of sauce(they go on sale a lot!) to make a HUGE pot...while I am collecting those jars i pay attention to ground beef that goes on sale and I buy it along the way and freeze. I make as much sauce as my largest pot will hold. I usually add some spices to the sauce and also some crushed or cubed tomatoes either from a can(coupons) or fresh from Emily's garden, and the ground beef (tip: rinse the ground beef in a colander to get as much fat as is possible off before adding to your sauce) Freeze in gallon size freezer bags for meals later. Noodles are all from coupons. I add a salad and bread.

Taco's.....Taco kits routinely go on sale and I am always looking for ground beef just like for the spaghetti....When I find a good sale on the GB I bring it home and cook it all at once in a super large frying pan...I rinse it as well in hot water...season it and freeze what I do not use the first night in family serving sizes...make sure that you write on the bag what it is and a date. Now you have another quick meal for another night. I use the taco kits hard and soft...I take the seasoning packets out and store them to use next time I brown meat. I add cheese(which I routinely get on sale and freeze or store unopened in fridge...it has a long enough date to do this)Add lettuce, sour cream(another coupon regular with a long shelf life..... unopened) Any left overs are served the next day as taco salad.

Another post tomorrow...I need to school the kiddo's! Love you guys!Remember some days may feel like an eternity but you only have one shot with your babies and it goes so quickly...don't wish it away....embrace it with gusto!!!!