Saturday, April 23, 2011

Oh yeah, Ohio...

So I haven't done a post about our move.  It wasn't a move accross town, but a move accross the US!  WE moved from Madison, WI to Mason OH...only 2 letters were removed.  We have been very busy since our move as we have found a house, and are in contract!  We are closing on our new house on April 29th.  Backing up, we've been living in a very expensive furnished apartment, and though it has been nice, we're ready to move on!

Living on the contents of what will fit in 2 vehicles can prove difficult, expecially when most of what we packed was kid related.  It will be nice to get our 2 pods of stuff back when move into our new house.  We've been enjoying the goslings that have hatched recently, and I'm pretty obsessed with taking pictures of all 10 of them!  (2 families worth)

We've been taking care of all that Mason has to offer and have been to 2 easter egg hunts, and many adventures so far!

The process of closing on our house has been a challenge. It seems everything moves in slow motion.  With how expensive our current place is, every day counts, so of course it seems like the process is taunting us.  It does seem that we will be able to close when we want, and everything is going to work out in the end.

Our house is everything we could have hoped for!  4 bedrooms, and very large!  Plenty of room for our crazy family, and any visitors we can manage to convince to make the trip will be welcome!  Our house in Madison is still for sale, so if you know anyone looking, let them know about our house!  It will be nice to get that sold and not carry 2 mortgages!  Gabe has decided to make his room nature themed, so we're having fun with that.  He is currently taking pictures of what he calls nature to put into a photo collage.  Jason is enjoying his job, and is taking the bus daily from Mason to Cincinnati.  He likes the time he has to read, and how much it's saving him in gas $! We have enjoyed using Skype to chat with family. Gabe enjoys it the most! Oliver has learned to stand, and can do 5 seconds not holding onto anything!

Gabe has a loose tooth and turns 6 on April 28. Jason is graduating from college on May 7th at Upper Iowa University, so we'll be making the drive to cheer him on as he gets his well deserved diploma!  We're very proud!  I think that gets everyone up to date at this time!  Oh yeah, and I've been doing couponing as a hobby!  Value Hawk!

You can be an extreme coupon aficionado too!


As I'm getting into extreme couponing, I'm realizing others are too, and I thought I'd share what I've learned thus far. I've often been called "Value Hawk" by my friends, and have always been on the look out for a good deal!  I'm compiling my resources here in case anyone else wants to join in the savings game! There are a few good resources to get started.  Coupon sites can give you may valuable coupons that you can print for free!  Some coupons may be printed multiple times, so be sure to do this on high value coupons, or coupons that make things free!  There are many blogs that do the work for you, by looking at various adds and pairing deals with coupons for great savings, or free products, this is the easiest way to coupon.  There are many product Facebook pages and websites that offer coupons for products on a short term basis usually involving "liking" their Facebook page, and coupons can usually be printed 2x by just hitting the back button.  Another easy way to have big savings is getting a loyalty card from your local store, these are usually associated with grocery stores, and you can load extra, paperless coupons, onto them on the store's website.  The final reliable source for coupons is the local paper, specifically the Sunday paper inserts.  Red Plum and Smart Source give great coupons every week and are well worth the $1.50 purchase price (or $1 at dollar general I'm told).  I organize my coupons in sections that make sense to me in a small accordion file I found for $2.50 in the office section at Wal-mart...and it's cute!  Also I see that a lot of extreme coupon people let their collections run wild, and stock up collections much larger than they can use, I recommend donating your excess to food blanks, or shelters, why not share the love!

Coupon Sites-try different zip codes to unlock more coupons



Helpful Blogs


Facebook pages to follow for deal updates



Great starting out resource!  http://adventuresofacouponista.blogspot.com/p/getting-started-in-couponing.html

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Walgreens savings this week

So, after watching TLC's Extreme Couponing, I've been inspired to try it out myself.  Here are the savings I got at my trip to Walgreens today.


Free with register rewards (RR) (prints off a coupon that like a gift certificate to use on your next purchase)

  • NasoGel Drip Free Gel Spray 1oz 4.99 with a RR of $4
  • Goody Ouchless Hair Accessories $2.99 and a RR of $3
Free with coupons
Cheap with coupons

I figured out some of this on my own, some on couponing blogs from Facebook or twitter.  I bought a coupon pouch and now have my coupons separated into it in sections, so if I see something on clearance or on sale, I can check my coupons to see how cheap I can get an item!