Emberlynn-isms

My daughter, who is fast approaching four years old (wow, how time flies) never ceases to amaze, surprise, and entertain me. She has always brought a smile to my face, but there are more and more moments where she just plain makes me laugh with her silliness. I think the greatest thing about it is that most of the time, she has no idea she has said or done anything humorous until everyone around her is laughing. I, of course, had to blog about these little moments not only to share them with others (who care to know, anyway) but also to document them for myself. So here are some "Emberlynn-isms":

• Emberlynn has been a Christmas fanatic since she was a toddler. She loves the lights, the decorations, the candy, and Christmas trees, so it's no suprise she has found a love for Christmas music. Thanks to my keeping our radio tuned to a station that plays nothing but Christmas music from Thanksgiving through Christmas (for which my husband lacks both enthusiasm and appreciation: "What do you mean, you don't want to hear 'Jingle Bell Rock' for the 879th time?") and also to Emberlynn's preschool music teacher for singing holiday songs with the children, Emberlynn has been quite the performer. Her favorite seems to be "Jingle Bells," and apparently, the lyrics have changed, since this is how Emberlynn sings it: "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way/Oh, what fun it is to ride in a stop in stop in say."
• Speaking of songs, a couple of months ago, Emberlynn started singing a song she had learned from school that went along to the tune of "Father Abraham." She would sing, "Father Gummy Bird had seven chicks, and seven chicks had Father Gummy Bird." Gummy Bird? I wondered. I finally asked her teacher. The song is called "Father Goony Bird." I decided Gummy Bird is much more fun.
• Emberlynn accompanied me to get my hair cut several months ago, and I was getting quite a bit cut off during this particular visit. As Emberlynn watched the beautician cut my hair, she cried, "Where'd Mommy's hair go?! Put it back on!"
• Because Emberlynn has Cystic Fibrosis, she is on a high-calorie diet. She is an incredibly persnickety child when it comes to food and eating, so we don't get as much in her as we'd like. We recently tried giving her a can of Carnation Instant Breakfast Plus, which has about 375 calories per 8-oz. can. The flavor was vanilla. We told her it was vanilla milk. She tried it and liked it. Later, she asked, "Can I have my gamilla milk, please?" Similarly, she has a friend named Camilla whom she calls "Gamilla." And while we're on the subject of cute mispronunciations, she calls her pajamas "gajamas."
• Although she is usually very cooperative when it comes to laying down for naps, Emberlynn, like any child her age, sometimes whines that she doesn't want to take a nap. One afternoon recently, I told Emberlynn she had fifteen minutes until nap time. She replied, "I don't need to take a nap." I told her she did need to take a nap or she'd be tired all day and that taking naps also keeps her healthy and helps her grow. A few minutes later, she came up to me and said, "Mommy, I don't need to be healthy."
• Emberlynn and Cohen play together constantly (not always well, but sibling rivalry is only to be expected), and sometimes I hear Emberlynn say thing to Cohen that we have said to him. For example, if he is having trouble with something, she will say, "Do you need help, son?"
• Tonight at bedtime, I noticed the left side of Em's face had a bit of a rash covering her cheek. I said to my husband, "Oh, her face is broken out." She looked at me with a bit of worry and said, "Oh, no. My face is broken!"

It Pays to be Frugal...Literally

As a stay-at-home mom, we have a smaller budget on which to live than many families who have more than one income. This means we have to budget a smaller amount on groceries than others might. I have always been a bargain shopper, but I have been much more conscious of our grocery bill this year more than ever (among other things) because of the economic crisis.



Thanks to my ever-present love of bargain-hunting and coupon clipping plus a TON of help from several websites, I save at least 50% per week on our grocery bill. I have read articles suggesting that you spend no more than $25 per week per family member, which for us means no more than $100 per week. However, I can not recall the last time I ever spent that much in a week. On average, I spend about $50 each week, which is half the "suggested" amount. Sometimes I might spend more one week stocking up on necessities such as chicken, ground beef, and other nonperishables and items that can be frozen to maintain freshness, but then the following week (and sometimes even the week after that), I will spend less than $50 because I am not having to buy those items.



I wanted to share my tips and tactics for saving money on groceries in hopes that it will help others to do the same. It takes some extra time and preparation on your part, but the benefits are well worth it!



First, I want to illustrate to you just how much I'm saving and basically how much I'm getting for my money. Take a look at the following picture:







Notice the amount of items and that most of them are name-brand. I bought all this at Publix. If I had paid retail, all this would have cost me $76.12. What did I pay? $26.72 plus tax. That's a savings of $49.40, or 65%. The following is a list of what I bought and how much I paid for each item, excluding tax:



2 Bags Fast Fixin Chicken Nuggets- $1.99 each (retail: $5.99 each)

Contessa Green Cuisine frozen meal (family size)-$2.99 (retail: $6.99)

Publix Premium Ice Cream (a rare treat for our family!)-$2.00 (retail: $3.99)

Betty Crocker cake frosting-$ .25 (retail: 1.85)

Betty Crocker yellow cake mix- $ .88 (retail: 1.75)

2 Boxes Domino Light Brown Sugar- $ .50 each (retail: $1.29 each)

New England Ground Coffee- $1.90 (retail: $5.79)

Campbell's Select Chicken Noodle Soup- $ .20 (retail: $2.39)

Purina One Special Care Cat Food- $2.50 (retail: $6.99)

Marie Callendar's Croutons-$ .70 (retail: $1.39)

Big Bag Hershey Kisses and Big Bag Mini Reese's Cups- $2.25 each (retail: $5.49 each)

2 Boxes Cocoa Puffs- $ .99 each (retail: $3.49 each)

100-ct. Lipton Tea Bags- $1.66 (retail: $3.31)

Nivea Body Wash- $1.00 (retail: $3.89)

Covergirl Foundation-$1.19 (retail: $5.29)





These are all items we use or will use. Even though we don't necessarily need the items at the moment, I know we will eventually use them, which makes stocking up a smart idea when you can get things this cheap. For example, I don't normally purchase cake mix or frosting, but with Cohen's birthday coming up, we will need it, and it cost me just over a dollar for both items!



I saved so much money simply by combining coupons with sale items, most of which were priced as "buy one, get one free" (you can buy one for half price instead of buying 2). The main site I utilize to help me with savings is southernsavers.com. The lady who does the blog lists store ads along with the accompanying coupons, many of which are available online.

To break it down for you, here are some tips and tricks you might find helpful for a VERY productive grocery shopping trip:

• Many grocery stores, including Publix and Kroger (where I shop at least once a week), will double manufacturer coupons up to and including $ .50. So if you have a coupon for, say, $ .35 and use it at either of these stores, it will be worth $ .70 off instead. (My local Publix and Kroger stores double coupons, but this varies by area, so check to make sure.)
• Many grocery stores also offer store coupons (it will specify at the top of the coupon; if it says "manufacturer coupon," you should be allowed to use it anywhere, although I have run into some issues at Walmart not taking some). Store coupons can be used in combination with manufacturer coupons. Last week at Publix, I bought flushable wipes for my daughter. I had a manufacturer coupon for $3 off and a Publix coupon for $ .50 off, and the wipes ended up costing me less than a dollar.
• Some grocery stores accept competitor's coupons for an identical items. For instance, Publix will accept Kroger's and Food Lion's store coupons. This is particularly helpful if there is an item on sale at Publix that you have a coupon for from a different store.
• Publix has "buy one, get one free" items every week; Kroger and Food Lion have BOGO items as well, though not as often as Publix. At each of these stores (in my area, at least; again, check your local stores), you do not have to buy 2 items to get the sale price; you can buy 1 item, and it will ring up as half price. I take advantage of the BOGO deals by combining them with coupons. Today at Publix, for instance, the Fast Fixin' frozen chicken nuggets were BOGO (making them $2.99 each, and I had 2 dollar-off coupons, making them $1.99 each).
• At this point, I'm sure you are wondering this: "Where on earth are you getting all these coupons??!!" Thanks to a wonderful technology we call the internet, you can find TONS of coupons online. The best online coupon sources are coupons.com, smartsource.com, and redplum.com. The author of the Southern Savers blog posts links to printable online coupons that accompany what's on sale, so the work is pretty much done for you! (Note: most sites only allow you to print so many of the same coupon to avoid fraud.)
• There are also sites where you can download coupons to your shopper's card, and when you buy an item for which you have an online coupon, it will automatically come off when you check out (as long as you scan your shopper's card). The best websites for these are shortcuts.com, cellfire.com, and pgesaver.com. I save coupons to my Kroger card. In addition, you can use paper coupons for the same product. The biggest savings for me when it comes to combining online coupons and paper coupons are on name-brand diapers. I can always find coupons on Huggies and Pampers to add to my shopper's card; then, when they go on sale at Kroger, I use a paper coupon in addition to the shopper's card coupon. Recently, I purchased Pampers at Kroger, which were on sale for $8.99; I had a coupon on my shopper's card for $1 off and a paper coupon for $3 off, so my diapers ended up being $4.99. Not even store-brand diapers are that cheap!
• You can also receive coupons from manufacturer's websites when you sign up. I have signed up with sites such as pampers.com and huggies.com, and I receive coupons in the mail for diapers, wipes, and other products.
• Of course, you can also clip coupons from the Sunday paper. I wait until the Monday after so I can get the paper at a cheaper rate (I pay $ .99 instead of $1.75). However, because I find and print so many coupons online, I generally do not have a need to buy the paper.

I could go on an on about bargain shopping and ways to save money, but I would like to keep this post strictly about saving on groceries. I will later post about saving money on clothing, baby and kids' items, and online shopping.

I hope many of you will find this helpful and be able to use some or all of these tips to help you save OODLES of your hard-earned money.