Time is Passing by Quickly!

It's been a while since I blogged. What can I say, we have been busy because of the holidays and preparing for our baby boy's arrival! Christmas was great! We did things a little different this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws - opened presents with them and then went to N's aunt and uncle's house to eat dinner and have our first baby shower! We got a lot of fun things for baby that day! Grandma and Grandpa gave us 2 blankets, 2 airplane toys, 2 books, a crib sheet, baby's first stuffed animal - a polar bear, and some other neat things! We loaded up on clothes and blankets at the baby shower! Then we spent Christmas Day with my mom's side of the family. We got lots of candy, some cute baby ornaments, scrapbooking stickers, and some necessities - kitchen soap and car wash goodies. Then we spent the day after Christmas with my parents, Nana and Pap Pap and my brother. We loaded up on goodies for the baby - toys, clothes, and bibs.

Since the holidays have been over, we have painted the baby's room and organized his closet. We have a ton of clothes! We will probably have to change his clothes twice a day in order for him to wear everything once! We are very fortunate to have been given a lot of used baby clothes. We will likely not have to buy any clothes for him until he's 18 months old or older. We also have a lot of diapers and wipes already, thanks to my couponing. We are anxious to meet our son! Hard to believe I have less than 14 weeks to go until his due date! We still need a few items before he gets here, mainly his crib, changing pad, changing cover, and car seat - all necessities. So far I have 2 baby showers planned for me - 1 on February 19th which is books and toys themed and 1 on February 25th. I'm really looking forward to time with friends and hearing everyone's excitement and love for the baby will be fun!

I have been busy saving money! Super doubles ended today at HT. There were not as many cheap items as there have been during other super double weeks so I only went 3 times this week. The result of my 3 shopping trips was $321.43 worth of groceries for a grand total of $85.95 for 83 things!!!! That's 73% savings! I'm really pleased with my savings because our pantry and fridge are now filled with lots of goodies that will last us at least 4 weeks. Here are a few of the deals I scored this week with super doubles - 3 free milks, free pasta sauce, free cereal, 25 cents for batteries, 49 cents for toothpaste, 34 cents for paper plates, 50 cents for shampoo, 87 cents for 8 pack of crackers, 99 cents for baby oil, and many other great deals!

Here are pictures of each shopping trip -



My savings tip for this post - Know when to pass up an opportunity to use a coupon. By this I mean, just because you have a coupon to use and the item is on sale doesn't mean you should buy it. First you need to make sure it's something you need and will use. If it is then the next step is to determine if you believe you'd get the best price by buying it right then. One thing I have learned with couponing is there will always be sales so it's ok to pass up an opportunity to use a coupon. For example, today I could have bought Pepperidge Farm cracker crisps for $1.50 each after my coupon doubled. Well I decided not to buy them because 1. the bag is small so it would not be much food, 2. I didn't need it at that price, and 3. my coupon doesn't expire until the end of January so chances are there will be another, cheaper opportunity to use my coupon.