I have tried several times to get together an in-home office for my crafts and my computer junk. It never works out because I don’t have much office furniture or organization when it comes to keeping mail and other papers in order.

I really need a large filing cabinet with a lock. My main problem is the mail, I feel like we get so many papers in the mail from bank statements, insurance reports, paycheck stubs, etc, that need to be kept for a while before tossing it. This means that I just end up throwing it somewhere in my “office” because I don’t know what else to do with it. When I was on maternity leave I cleaned a lot of it out by boxing up very old papers and putting them in the attic. You can only do that so often, though, you know? Who wants to get up in the office once a month? What if I need that stuff a week later?

Maybe one of these days I’ll get that room straightened out, but for now… it’s pretty much storage.

I mentioned before that I was getting into clipping coupons and finding the best deals on our groceries. This means that blogging has taken the back seat and I need to get back on top of posting here.

So far my coupon clipping is really working out well for our family. I’m not saving MORE than I spend just yet (as I see other extreme couponers do) BUT, I managed to stay within our grocery budget and brought home an extra $80 worth of food. I find that I’m getting the best deals and saving the most at Publix. They built a new one about 6 miles from our house that Vernon and I checked out not long after it was finished. We were actually pretty shocked by the prices there because they are much higher than our local Wal-mart. Now I am obsessed with Publix because while their normal non-sale prices are high, you just need to know how to shop there and which coupons to use. Yesterday I spent 40 dollars and saved 40 and even came out with a few items to stockpile.

Kroger is a different story. Their sales run from Sunday-Saturday which means I have to wait for the sales to be posted before I can even get my coupons and shopping list organized. I spent most of Saturday night clipping for Publix and organizing what I needed and all that, which left me STILL scrambling and clipping Sunday morning after I figured out the Kroger deals.

Clipping is a LOT of work, I will admit that. Usually I pick one night a week to clip the coupons from the previous Sunday’s paper and try to hunt others down here and there throughout the week. I joke with Vernon that it’s my new hobby, but honestly I think you could consider it a job. It’s not as much as other people save with their coupons but I’m proud of how much I’ve already saved only a few weeks into this. I’m sure as I become a seasoned couponer, I’ll have to spend less time figuring out what I need for where and more time saving, saving, saving!

Money is so tight lately I can’t stand it. I splurged on Saturday when Crayola came by and we went to Kmart. I’d been dying to get a new bed set and I saw in the Sunday paper that Cannon brand comforter sets were marked down fifty dollars.

It’s not like I want to splurge on urban clothes, but I do want to buy something nice for us every now and then. Any time I go shopping, I feel like everything nonessential I buy should be for Lo and for the most part it should. But I deserve new stuff, too.

I keep saying I need new clothes. Going from my normal size to nearly 190 pounds and then back down again does a thing or two to your body. I finally feel great about mine after all that, so I really want to get a new shirt or shorts. Of course every time I try to find something for me, I come out with a cart full of stuff for Lo!

I need an intervention!

I had been dying to go to our local Farmer’s Market and when our aunt offered to watch Lo for the evening, we went straight there. It was so awesome, the different vendors with all their interesting goods for sale. We got ourselves some wooden beaded necklaces, these interesting religious bracelets (also picked up one for Lulu) and Vernon got some roll-on body oil. I believe he got red Egyptian musk? I am mad because I didn’t get any so we’re going to go back so I can pick one. I didn’t realize how awesome scented body oils were! I don’t normally wear any kind of perfume because it’s either overbearing or the scent doesn’t stick with you. Vernon will put on his red Egyptian musk and I’ll still be able to smell it the next day.

On to the food! The meat and produce section of the market is easily my favorite. There aren’t really any organic stores close to my house so being able to go to the farmer’s market to buy veggies and support our local farms seriously gets me excited.  We got two grocery bags full of vegetables for 12 dollars. I couldn’t believe it. We got some flying saucer squash (never had it before but it is AMAZING), eggplant, zucchini, potatoes (I don’t know what kind, they were the color of a peeled potato but obviously weren’t peeled), garlic, and a tomato. This was enough produce to pretty much get us through the week… for twelve dollars!! We also stopped at a booth where a woman was selling hot sauce made by her friends in Murfreesboro. I think I’m going to write about it in a separate entry because it is seriously good.

A few nights ago we decided to grill up some chicken breast and squash. Squash is one of my favorite veggies so I was dying to try it out. Vernon used the hot sauce to mix up some marinade for the chicken and just… wow. It was the best chicken breast I’ve ever had. Don’t even get me started on the squash. I’m not sure what he did to it, Vernon is the type of cook who can just cook and it turns out amazing. I have to have a recipe to follow or whatever it is I’m making is going to be awful. So there’s no telling what he added to that squash but it was soo good. It’s a bit sweeter and thicker than Summer squash. The brussels sprouts were frozen from the grocery store and are not quite my favorite. I don’t mind them really but they stink up the whole house and were a little bitter.

I cannot WAIT to go back this weekend!

The other day Crayola mentioned that one of her friends got a lot of groceries for something like 9 dollars because she coupons. When I was on maternity leave I joined thegrocerygame.com in attempt to figure out how the system works. I hear of people saving lots of money, and even getting free stuff and I want to too!

I’m pretty excited to start but I’m also pretty confused about it. I checked out the tutorials on Southern Savers so I understand how it works, but doubling coupons confuses me. All of the coupons I have gathered thus far say no doubling, but I don’t understand if doubling necessarily means the EXACT same coupon or any coupon that wouldn’t classify it as being stacked. I guess I need to look more into doubling and what’s classified as doubling.

Another thing I’m iffy about is the whole concept behind it. You don’t buy things because you need them, you buy them when they’re on sale. This means somehow we pretty much need to start off with a house full of groceries. Usually I go grocery shopping when we’re just about out of everything. So not only do I need to have what we’d already be eating anyway, I need to buy enough on-sale items to last until they are on sale again. What if I get all my bajillions of groceries up to the register and turns out I totally don’t get how the coupons work?

I think I’m going to do some more research before I try to do any extreme savings with my coupons. For now I think I’ll just stick with 50 cents off here and there until I’m confident that the cashier won’t laugh in my face.

I’m still getting comments from people that I’m losing weight/looking good/”getting in shape.” The getting in shape part is pretty funny, and I only heard it from a coworker yesterday. Regardless of the fact that our fitness equipment still is getting no love, it does feel good to hear those things.

I’m still not making much of an effort other than watching the amount of food I eat, making sure to eat breakfast every day, and drinking tons of water. A good online friend of mine who lost over 100 pounds on her own said that it is good to set goals like these that I can always stick with.

When I’m on vacation week after next, I’m going to try to make time for my treadmill in addition to going on walks with Lo. I’m thinking I will try to get some walking/jogging on it in during her morning nap before I have a shower. I also want to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies for salad since I will be home for lunch every day. I figure if I can get back into these habits while I have the time, I will be more motivated to make time when I don’t.

Over the weekend I decided that I wanted to update the photos in two of our frames that hang in the living room.

There are many many photos throughout our home. Most are of Lo, our pets, and people that we love. I really wanted to fill it with photos that I felt were more like art than family photos.

I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love the color it adds to the room and the fact that some photos I’m really proud of are now on display for anyone to see.