Paulk Family 5: January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Couponing 101: Getting Started

First thing I think the beginner needs to know is where to start, so I am going to try to explain that first:

The first thing you need to start doing is you need to start getting a Sunday newspaper, every week (I almost always get at least 2 or 4). Don't just get your little town's paper, but get the largest paper in your State as possible. When we were in MI I didn't get the Kalamazoo Gazette, I got the Detroit Free press because it had much better coupons! (YES, different papers get different coupons) Check out your papers and try to determine which paper has the best inserts. I also use a lot of Internet coupons in addition to newspaper coupons.

What I do next is I cut out all the coupons in those "inserts" out and I file mine all in a coupon binder by categories (ie. dairy, meat, frozen foods, etc.). Yes, I realize this is fairly time consuming but really it saves me a lot of stress and time while shopping, especially if I have the kids with me. There are many ways to organize your coupons and a coupon binder is just one way. If you're interested in learning other, less time consuming ways organizing your coupons this site has some great tips. Also, utilize google...if you have a question about anything coupons just google it, I guarantee you can find the answer!

Here is my spiffy binder: not only does it hold my coupons, but my Register Rewards, catalinas, scissors, a pen, and a calculator!

I use baseball card holders to organize my coupons--you can find those just about anywhere. I think I got mine at Meijer. I also realize what you're all thinking! "OMG, she seriously takes that whole thing in the store with her?! That's so embarrassing!!" I do think it's a little embarrassing so I hide mine in a huge purse and take the whole thing in! No one even knows what's in my purse :)!

After cutting and organizing my coupons, I then sit down and go through all the websites that I use in order to find the match ups that I'm interested in. (Match ups = what's on sale matched with current, non expired coupons) This is my #1 secret: I do NONE of the work myself. You all think I'm so smart and so good at figuring out the deals where in reality I actually do none of the work--the websites do it all. There. I feel better, now you all know :)! I'm trying to get a list together of all the websites that I use for each store and find reputable websites for the grocery stores that you guys use and I'll get that out to you in another post.

When I determine what I want to buy I copy and paste the deal (from the website) into a word document and print that list to take when I go to the store, so I know exactly what to buy, the coupons to use and how much it should cost me when I get there. Sometimes I even get the coupons out beforehand and paperclip them to my list.

I hope that at least helps if you don't know how to begin! Any questions so far?? I'll try to answer all of your questions in my next post...

***Disclaimer: This is just how I do things, there are so many other ways and probably better ways, but this is what works for me!!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

16 weeks

Here I am at 16 weeks...feeling great now! This is by far my favorite time in pregnancy. I am finally over morning sickness, finally have some of my energy back, and I still don't feel too big where I have a hard time doing things! I am definitely in maternity clothes now (and have been for weeks) and have put on a total of 4-5 pounds (at least that's what the scale at the dr's office said).

I am having a really hard time sleeping--the insomnia is awful and it's funny to remember all (at least many) of my dreams! I sleep on the couch most nights because frankly that's where I sleep the best. No kids coming into my room, if Lincoln wakes up Ty gets up with him :), it's great...and I appreciate that my husband doesn't mind! I already feel like I only get a couple of hours of sleep without the kids waking me up too!

We are so thankful that God has given us another baby to love on, we know how lucky we are!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Saving while shopping!

Okay people, I've gotten far too many emails and comments to ignore you any longer! :)

I've posted many deals on my blog and each time I do, I'm always asked...how do you do it?! I don't want to post deals without telling you all my secrets, so that's what I plan to do over the next few posts so you can do it too. I am NO expert by any means, but I have been doing it long enough to give you a few hints and point you in the right direction to get you started.

My question to you and what I need from you is, which grocery stores do you shop at? Also, what questions do you have for me? I'd love to answer a bunch in my next posts (it will give me some direction too). If I don't get much of a response I won't keep writing these posts because I'll know no one is interested, don't worry I won't be offended :). I'll try to break it down simply for you and hopefully you can start saving too!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Boy or Girl??

First and most important, the ultrasound showed a healthy baby!! God is so good and our prayers have been answered. We aren't concerned on what the sex of the baby is, but more that we have a healthy baby! He/she had a strong heartbeat of 152 bmp and today was the first day we got to hear it. It makes the pregnancy seem so much more real and I also think I've been feeling the baby move for almost a week now (starting at about 15 weeks) which is the greatest thing ever.

We did go into the ultrasound asking wheather we were having another boy or another girl and that's also the question we walked out of the room with. Even though it's a little early to have an ultrasound, it wouldn't have been too early to see the baby's gender...if he/she would have cooperated. This little one had his/her legs crossed and covering its' parts the entire time.

Once the technician checked everything out she went on to check the baby's gender. Once she looked she said "Oh, I think it's a boy" then she kept scanning and looking and about 2 minutes later she said "Uh oh...I actually think it's a girl"... She thinks that the baby's toes, that were in front of the private parts, were making the baby look like a boy, but she wasn't sure. So after trying to get the baby to move for about 40 minutes we gave up...however, she did say she was leaning towards the baby actually being a GIRL because she thinks she saw "the three lines", but she wasn't going to say one way or the other just in case.

I have an appointment on Monday and then will have another ultrasound in about 3 weeks or so (between 19-20 weeks) to check the "anatomy and parts" as the tech called it. Then, if the baby cooperates we should know then what we're having!

Meet our newest addition:

Monday, January 25, 2010

Getting back into it

Well, I made my first "deal" run this evening when Ty got home from work. Ashley inspired me to get my butt in gear and do my menu (which I was putting off) and shopping list this morning. I haven't gone what I call "deal shopping" in a good three months--mainly because we were moving so I didn't want to stock up and have to move things, I had such bad morning sickness I didn't leave the house and because I've had to get used to all new stores (well actually we only have two options here).

I haven't even gone to the grocery store with coupons in months (until tonight), and it almost killed me the one time I spent 65.00 in ONE shopping trip...oh my goodness, I was spending almost that much in an entire month back in MI. Before we moved I had our weekly budget down between $20-$25/week and that was splurging sometimes. However, it was so nice to take a break and it also showed me what a difference using coupons makes in our budget! My new budget until I really get back into things is 40.00/week (but hopefully less). It's not that we can't afford more, because we can, but I can definitely find better things to spend our money on!

We have a Walmart and Kroger. That's it. And since I refuse to shop at Walmart (unless absolutely necessary) Kroger is my next option. I think I can get good deals there once I understand how it all works. So I've been reading up and decided to try a small run and get a few things to see how things went.

Anyways, here is the result:

38 items for a total of 25.45 AFTER all coupons, before coupons it was 65.77. Not too bad if I say so myself. There were some things I just had to get and some things I probably shouldn't have gotten :).

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ultrasound

Tuesday we have our first ultrasound at my new OB's office. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. We are planning on finding out what we're having; neither of us have a preference on what we're having this time around we're just praying for a healthy baby! I really hope though that I'm far enough along to see...I'll be 16 weeks on Thursday and my appt. is on Tuesday.

It could be an interesting appointment because we have to take both kids with us since we don't have anyone to watch them down here, so I'm hoping they (mainly, Lincoln) don't give us a hard time!! Riley is so excited for another baby and constantly talks to him/her and is kissing my belly 24/7. She keeps saying it's a girl and hoping it's a girl so if it's not I hope she's not too disappointed.

I think we're having a girl. Ty thinks we're having a boy. I was sure the other two times that I knew what we were having and I was right with both of the other kids (Ty was wrong both times!! We've always guessed the opposite of each other.). This time around I really am not sure what we're having...it's purely a guess, whereas before I had a huge intuition about what sex the kids were going to be.

Anyone else want to take a guess? I'll let you know on Tuesday (if they can tell that early on) if you're right :)!!

Ty in D.C.

Ty got the chance, while we were in Michigan for a week, to go to Washington D.C. over the New Year's weekend with his best friend, Luke. As much as I would have loved to have gone too, I knew the kids wouldn't have been thrilled about sight-seeing, so I am glad Ty was able to go anyways and have a good time! They literally went everywhere, I couldn't believe all the sights they saw in two days. They were busy! I love that my husband has many wonderful and strong friendships. I think it is so important for him to have his "guy time" and have a break from work and family for a little while!

We're only about 5.5 hours from D.C now and since we're closer to the east now hopefully we can visit some of what the East Coast has to offer!

The Washington Monument

Capitol Building

Arlington National Cemetery

Lincoln Memorial

Articles of the Confederation

Smithsonian Castle

I told Ty I'd like this in my upgraded ring someday....The Hope Diamond :)!

Pentagon Memorian (9/11)

The White House

Friday, January 8, 2010

Lincoln's 1st Haircut

Lincoln finally got his first official haircut while we were back in MI. His mullet just had to go, we were fitting in, in West Virgina too well :). He didn't have much hair to cut, especially on top, but it still needed to be trimmed. I had trimmed it previously but my cut just wasn't working for him. So on Saturday (1/2/10) my Dad, "Papa", and I took Lincoln to get his haircut in Bridgman where my little sisters go. It was right in the middle of nap time, I know, not the best timing, but that's the appointment that they had so I wasn't sure how Lincoln would do. Thankfully my dad walked next door to Ben Franklin and picked up a sucker to keep him occupied while! Dad picked a Slow Poke, the messiest, stickiest sucker out there and by the time she was done the sucker had hair and slobber covering it, but it did keep him occupied and he didn't seem to mind :). He was great, the only time he was a little nervous was when she turned on the electric clippers. Papa was proud to have him on his lap and I was glad so I could snap some pictures!

About to get started!

As you can see, the mullet is GONE! Thank goodness.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

SNOW (and lots of it!)

When visiting my dad's while back in Michigan they got a TON of snow. They live about 5 minutes from Lake Michigan, so you can just imagine they really get a ton of lake effect snow. However, they didn't just get a little bit, they got about 2 feet in a day and a half. Riley couldn't wait to get in her gear and go sledding and do snow angels. I couldn't wait to let her because I didn't have to go, my little sisters (McKenna and Reagan) took her instead while Lincoln and I stayed inside where it was nice and warm. I don't mind the snow, I just don't like the cold. They were out for about 30 minutes with a hot chocolate break in between! We definitely won't be getting that kind of snow in West Virginia, so I'm glad we were able to take advantage of it while we could.

Lincoln gave kisses through the window! He really wanted to go out, but the snow was about as deep as he is tall.

Snow Angels

The girls during their hot chocolate break.

Riley daily says that Reagan is "her best friend" (well, Lincoln is too)

All bundled!

Our Christmas in WV

I have been Christmas shopping for what seems like the entire year and I suppose I must have forgotten about a few gifts because when I was wrapping them I couldn't believe how many the kids had! On Christmas Eve Riley and Lincoln left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. It was Riley's idea so we went with it, but we're not sure if, in the future, we're going to do the whole "Santa thing"...we'll see. The kids were up at 5:30, BOTH of them, so we came down bright and early. Riley walked down first and looked like a deer in headlights when she saw the tree. She couldn't believe there were gifts for her under the tree. Then she started running around saying "Santa, Santa...where are you?". Before we open gifts we read the Bible story of Jesus' birth because we want the kids to know that Christmas is not about the gifts, but about the birth of our Savior!

We had so much fun opening gifts and so far all the gifts are still a big hit. Riley's big gift was her doll house complete with accessories and Lincoln's was a train table! After opening the presents we made a big breakfast, including homemade donuts that my Dad always made us as a kid...I LOVE them. Too bad I was too sick that morning to eat any, but the kids love them probably just as much as I do! After breakfast Ty spent a while putting toys together, getting batteries in toys and cleaning up after what looked like a tornado came through our place!

I also have to mention that both kids open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, it's always jammies. This year Ri has been begging for "footies just like Lincoln" as she calls them. I do love winter for that reason--the kids get to wear footies because it gets pretty chilly!

The night before Christmas.

Riley was thrilled she had a present that was bigger than she was!

Mommy with her two "gifts"!

Riley's huge doll house (I underestimated how big this really was--her and Lincoln crawl through the front door of it, if that gives you any sense of it's size). Look closely and you can see two faces in the windows.

Ty putting together Lincoln's train table.

Homemade donuts

Lincoln LOVES his ball pit!

What were your kids' favorite gifts this year? Now that we're a week or so out what gifts are they still playing with??

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas at Gull Lake

This year was a lot different because on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day we had no where to go and nothing to do. However when we got back to MI we made up for it. We stayed with my mom at first and had our family Christmas a few days late. Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas and our time at my mom's:

Family picture (-Ty, he's in WV working :( )

The girls all got scarves.

Every year my mom gets the guys matching boxers and it's tradition that they all put them on and take a picture. Since Ty was missing, Lincoln took his place!

Kolby, Britton and Lincoln. Kol and Lincoln were like best friends while Kol was here. Lincoln was his little buddy and loved playing with him. So cute!

We played a LOT of Mario Cart Wii!!

At Jori's basketball game

Lincoln was snuggling with Lily.

Poor Riley was exhausted after opening gifts and eating a ton that she fell asleep on Kasey while watching Veggie Tales! Thank goodness I didn't have to deal with putting her to bed that night.

We had a lot of time visiting with all of our family, unfortunately it's never long enough. We mainly hung out, played games, went to Jori's basketball games and ate...a LOT! It was great staying somewhere for a week and not having to cook or clean and having wonderful babysitters, I'm afraid I've been spoiled for when we go back home.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Kasey's baby shower

My big sis finally came home for the holidays. I haven't seen her in almost a year and a half, so we were all thrilled to finally see her (well, Corey of course too). I drove up from WV to spend a week and a half with my family since Ty was working and traveling. One of the things we did while Kasey was home was throw her a baby shower. Baby "Kugs", as we refer to him as (because they won't reveal his name), is due the beginning of March and we can't wait to meet him. We had a great time at her shower and I was even able to leave Lincoln behind with Kolby which helped a TON. She is going to be a great mom and I hope they move closer so our kids can grow up together ;) (hint, hint Kasey).

Sisters (+ Riley)