couponing

So, I have been doing my research on ways to save at the market. 
For awhile now I have become interested in finding ways to coupon that actually make
a dent in food bills.  I am new to this.   If anyone has hints or advice on other sites
or these, and ways to get the most for your buck, please chime in. 
I know there is an art to good couponing, so if any artists of the savings kind
are reading , please leave a comment if you have strategies or techniques
you have come across putting pennies back into the piggy bank. 
Not looking to become a fanatic about it nor become overwhelmed as coupon
sites may reveal, but am looking to not just a couple square papers which only save
minimally short term, but rather to a ziplock full of paper savings which result in
the gratitude of walking from the market feeling proud. 
I already offset between the market with the dollar store which
does create savings within itself.  i love our small town however our
local paper does not spill out with savings so i would like to find ways to
get the most from couponing;  at an angle that supports
consumer savings and effort.
  

 These are the sites I have come across so far. 

http://save-a-lot.com/

http://www.kroger.com/Pages/default.aspx

http://thethriftycouple.com/

http://www.hip2save.com/

http://moneysavingmom.com/

http://www.coupons.com/

Curious if anyone is using one or more of these sites and if so, do you recommend?

For now, continuing to research this art form
and preparing to sharpen up the scissors  : }

rhythm

Mr. Watts is ROCK'n that beat.
LOVE it !
- goove'n it into the weekend ...

borrowed from a fellow adoption blogger Here;  thanks for the share :}

jeep'ers

with my husbands touch, things tend to not only get fixed but become

 part of the bigger picture within our family's path. together, we are good at seeing things from the inside out; so when we saw this needed vehicle, offered at a heck-of-a-deal from a friend, an '88 Jeep, loaded not only with personality and charm, but more importantly

4 WHEEL DRIVE;  this baby had us at hello.

it has become hubby's project, with a cause as it will offer us more flexibility,

especially with weather.  it allows us an alternate to drive

at lower gas costs compared to our current work vehicle. 

he has worked purposely over the past months,

toward its' delicate transplant.  next, finding a donor jeep was crucial for

replacing needed parts;  as it would offer up a replacement motor. 

and as of today, the motor exchange is almost complete.

with some love and attention, it will be fabulous.

 like adoption; we saw something that needed us, and we needed. 

under our arm we mix in some patience, understand

what needs to be sustained, for this lone gem to Shine.

the Donor.

happy content cookies

well-balanced nutritional facts filled our souls as our grins grew

in knowing these two fillings were right on !

- - -

last night my husband and i had Chinese food.

we decided to travel to the next town over for our favorite

take out, since it had been a long while since we tasted it

as our local spot suddenly disappeared.

- - -

bringing it home and enjoying our movie night,

we cracked these puppies open.

- - -

...and well, the dessert was simply scrumptiously inspirational .

more than

" you are more than the choices that you’ve made
you are more than the sum of your past mistakes
you are more than the problems you create
you’ve been remade " ,

entitled ' you are more ' & just now hearing this song today, i must say it is wonderful. a solid lyrical reminder for those listening to hold your Faith knowing you really are more than .

yay!

our carpet is home ! ...  link to our CatBlog  for post : )

making the switch

our thoughts based on our experience with satellite television. we have since found a better solution. an alternative to high bills and the avalanche of shows overflowing 'package deals' . we were not asked by a company to review alternative media products, lol. posted by my own free will : )

dearest satellite television: your service has been a ?friend? for some years now. what, with your blinding endless channels of program viewing. and your monthly love letters we receive. you have been so unknowingly helpful with your customer support and friendly service. and, oh how we love your option of paying 5.oo to watch a movie because we do not subscribe to THAT channel. however, we appreciate that you have allowed us to watch ALL 5 of our favorite channels over the years simply by offering no choice but to buy your package deal THOSE 5 channels happen to be placed within. clever, on your part. your online guide is amazing; all those mind blurring channels you have allowed us access to skim. oh how we enjoy the headrush of scrolling thru endless shows, 3/4 of which are nonsense and , in our opinion, contributing to the downfall of youth television not to mention the brain function of the adult community. OH, and the commercials. gotta love em. my ears ring in harmony when the ads are pitched in a volume 5 times greater than the actual show. my mute button has never been used so much.
thank you for your entertainment value which if i were to create a ratio of such it would rank 1:100 as your programs are only worth a hundreth to the love letters you send us each month; those letters so generously demanding their share of our complete viewing pleasure.

well, in the visual of the television Mop commercial who has gracefully been replaced, so have you, satellite. are you shocked that we will save 80.00 a month from dropping you? and don't try and sell us on the 10.00 discount if we stay with you. please! and guess what, you are being replaced with consumer friendly entertainment whose love letters arrive with a note of 7.99/ month. no more scrolling thru endless stupid shows listed on the guide; which we had to pay for . now, we will be able to pick what we want to watch, when we want to watch, and not be polluted with an overflow of programming that serves no purpose. please dont plea to us about the sports programs or other packages as such we will miss out on; we are not a sports watching family! we do not buy into your package deal any longer. now, who is your conqueror you ask? did i mention 7.99 month? easily and manualy installed onesself, the Roku player (the cost of one unit is lower than our satelitte monthly love letter) has the capability to pause shows, limit commercials, and put us back in control of what is coming through our television. So, you ask, what programming has won us over? two names have beat you out, NetFlix and Hulu Plus. ah, don't make fun of their names. don't be envious; be happy that customers who have been true to you for so long will now be treated better! be happy for us. we will save 80.00 month, that is close to 1,000 a year (even more since we had to pay 5.00 per movie with you) . and that 1,000 will go into a great cause; savings for our adoption of our son! see, it is something to be very excited about. a friendly suggestion, you may want to consider more options, satellite tv- i must say, as a former friend, the friendly Roku player is your competitor now. it allows Netflix and Hulu Plus to be watched directly thru our televisions. in conclusion: there are five factors that concreted our decision to let you go; saving money each month to be put toward our adoption of our little boy from Ethiopia- that one wins hands down, control of our television viewing, no hassle programming, choice, and did i mention, oh yes i think i did, saving money. take care satellite tv. i think many more will be letting you go in the near future as well. oh yes, of course those who have to have thier 'packages' will stay with you. but those who see the pros of the Roku and the savings will see the light; symbolically the light weight love letter they receive each month compared to your hefty one.

the above is our opinion only. it obviously does not reflect the population at large. we are one family who has decided to make the switch. for us, it is logical and practical. our choice. and, it works for our family. oh yeh, and so how does this particular post tie-in to our adoption- two words, Saving Money! we also recently ixnayed xm radio- a savings of 170.00/year. it ALL adds up.

star light. star bright.

... one & one-half months & we begin our journey to the second phase of our adoption timeline : )

so where exactly are we in our adoption process?
it has officially been 1 year since we made our decision to adopt from Ethiopia.
we made our decision in jan., 2010. as everyone is aware that was when the economy was in the 'eye' of its' flop. this affected our decision to postpone getting started, slightly; because one of our steps toward our adoption is refinancing our home to use some of our equity. well, with the market being at a standstill at that time we decided to focus on another project, which was to finish reconstruction of our garage into a bedroom. our bedroom; as our 'old' room will now be for our son. so, we spent a good part of 2010 working on the room. it was a step toward being prepared for our home appraisal as well. it must be completed first. and i am happy to say our room has been built; which included some sore muscles and some sweat on our part which involved constructing an entire new floor base, removing all old interior trim that had once been part of the garage (thanks B) hanging new drywall, taping & mudding it, two coats of paint, creating a closet and now... as of Monday , we will be able to pay off our carpet which is being held hostage and get in down in our room. we have done all of this with our own two hands. wouldnt have it any other way. so what does this mean. well, it means that the appraisal is just around the corner (originally we had hoped to get it done by the first of the year, but with property taxes, bills, paying off the carpet, and christmas, well, it had to be postponed a bit longer, since the appraisal itself it not cheap). the market is picking back up and we are ready to go for it. with the economy it is a guessing game, but we know whatever part of our equity we can get back, is better than none and will enable us to start with our homestudy plus get some agency fees paid. i continue to do seasonal fund raiser projects. we both have concrete faith that we need not worry about the lot of adoption fees ahead but rather be firm in our belief that God does provide. our purpose is to adopt our little boy from ethiopia, keeping him safe, and we firmly walk hand and hand knowing that one day he will be here with us, cozied up under a safe fuzzy blanket, cuddling his parents; and if truth be known he will probably prefer to stay in his mom & dads room for some time as we adjust , the one that was built toward the dream of his homecoming, versus his own room. and , well, that is just a-okay with us! a-okay X a zillion. because mommy cant wait for all those snuggles & hugs, looking around our room remembering our goal, and realizing it has come to be while snuggled within my arms .