The most important thing to be thankful for!

Watch this incredible short video.  You will be blessed!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883230?bctid=1509297822

Thank you Jesus for setting us free and filling the hole in our hearts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Bullet Boy- one year aniversary!

I had to post this to remind some of you and maybe new to some of you, that this REALLY did happen to MY child!  This is the week that one year ago, a bullet was swallowed by my son!  Being a mother of boys is really a dose of excitement daily!  Here was my post a year ago!:

Okay, here it is! The bullet boy, aka my little B.B. :) This is proof that the bullet was there! It is no longer in him and lead levels are coming down! (If a sewer explodes somewhere, I'm genuinely sorry!) Call the Today Show and everyone else you know and don't know, to show that a bullet really can go through you without exploding your entire being! We can now laugh because this is now BEHIND us and has PASSED! (No puns intended! Okay, maybe they were intended!) With 7 boys, I'm sure this is the first of many ingestions I will face. I'll chalk this one up for experience!

Ideas for cutting costs

Here are some simple ways I save money:

• use cloth diapers (they ARE NOT what they used to be!  So much better!)www.natureslove.net 
• washable wipes that I make myself out of flannel  (I sell these if you are interested!)
• reuse bread baggies and cereal bags to store other items
• I use extra pasta and less meat in my casseroles since it is more expensive to buy meat
• make my own greeting cards
• make our own gifts
• make things from scratch
• eat lots of soups
• I use 1/4 of what the detergent box says for laundry (Charlie's soap is what I use and it uses very little anyway!  All natural and NO chemicals!)http://www.beyondbeds.com/index.asp?pmc=CharliesSo&PageAction=Custom&ID=155&source=Charlies_Soap_Google&gclid=CKmhoZK7z50CFQjyDAodGDWnsw
• I don't but snack foods.  My kids are not snackers because I never started that habit.  We eat 3 meals a day and that's it!  They don't even think about it!
• We drink lots of water!  Cheap and good for you!
• keep paper products to a minimum!  We don't use paper plates unless on picnics or I get them for free!
• emptied yogurt cups make GREAT cups for serving jello, ice-cream, homemade frozen smoothies, and just plain water to little kids! The kids think it's great they have their own little portion!  They are also great to stick in a baggie that you can just throw away after you use them while on long car trips, the park or grandma's!  (They do wash up great in the dishwasher too!)
• use coupons and LOTS of them!
• holiday and birthday gifts are simple and budgeted!
• I use cash when I shop and I don't bring anything besides cash!
• Don't go to the store to often!  I can't spend if I don't go!  Also saves on gas!
• Buy in quantity when things are on sale
• Make lists, this includes wish lists and priority lists so I can keep things in perspective
• We hardly EVER eat out!!  I do not want to feed fast food to our kids anyway!  I am laying a foundation for them while they are young!  We do have a restaurant in our town where kids eat free on Tuesdays and we have been known to go there but they have healthy food options! 
• We have special meals that we set the table really fancy and get a movie to watch and have family dates in the comfort of our own home!
• I go to discount day old bread stores for some items and can get loaves of bread for $.79! 

These are some things I use.  My grocery bill every two weeks is around $150 for a family of 13.  My extra's such as soaps, shampoos, and other items comes to around $50 monthly.  Sometimes I can even do less than that if I get really good coupon leads!  :)  My kids are healthy and they NEVER go hungry!:)

Hope this helps you and pleeeasssseee if you have any other ideas I could use, leave a comment!   I need advice!:)

Coupon clippings

Some people have always used coupons. Me, not so much! I always thought it was to much work and usually after trying to REMEMBER to bring them to the store, I would forget to use them at the check-out. Therefore, I just made the decision NOT to use them all these years. UNTIL…I decided to subscribe to www.savingsangel.com. I was a skeptic at first. I read how people have literally cut their food bill in half! I thought NO WAY! I always buy at discount grocery stores anyway so there is no way I could save money just clipping coupons! I will say this, after using their services for 3 weeks, I have saved over $100! On their websight, they show me all the sales for the week and what coupons to use. I have learned how to stack coupons, only buy when things are on sale and how to use the coupons with the sale items. I have gotten many things for free like Glade Candles, Ziploc Baggies, Chinet plates and other things just by using their services and the coupons they direct me to. I now have to really NEED something before I will buy it without a coupon! Here are some ways to save by using coupons and in store sales:

  -Clip as many as you can from newspapers (Sunday papers are best)

 -Get them from the dispenser at the stores, even if you are not buying the product at that time

 -Have a file folder to keep them in so you can grab it whenever you go out

 -Look for sales to go WITH your coupons

 -Buy in quantity if something is on sale, stock up! This is a GREAT time of year to save on baking items!      Summer holidays are great for ketchup, sauces, paper kitchen items and similar things!

 -Make a list of what you need before you go and attach coupons on your paper so you don’t have to dig!

- Make a little symbol beside the item on your list that you have a coupon for so your remember to use it

 -Ask others to save coupons for you (my mom is great at this!)

 -Swap coupons with other people that you know

 -Get online to check for coupons. Just, google “free coupons” (My coupon service does this for me!)

 -Although kind of annoying to get e-mails from different companies, I have found they have GREAT recipes and lots of free trials and great coupons to print off! I actually enjoy receiving them now!

 -Don’t forget to use them and bring them with you!:)

These may seem obvious to you or hopefully give you some new ideas. This is another way God has been blessing the work of my hands! Using some scissors and typing on the computer for about 2 hours a week to gather coupons has helped us with our grocery bill! It is also nice to be able to go to my pantry to get something instead of running to the store! I have gotten a pretty good supply of things because I am able to buy many things at once! That also saves me money because a trip for me to the store for 2 things, turns into 20!

Some websights I use:
http://www.pillsbury.com/
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.scjohnson.com/
http://www.bettycrocker.com/
http://www.smartsource.com/
http://www.coolsavings.com/
http://www.printable-coupons.blogspot.com/

If you don't see coupons come up on the first page, go to the search and type in 'coupons' and that will take you to their coupons that are available.  Some of these sights have great recipe idea's also!

If you have any other ideas using coupons, please let me know! Happy clipping!

Saving money tips -Impulse Buying

In this process of God blessing the work of my hands, He has allowed many things to surface that I need to change. The one I will cover today, is something that costs us a lot during the year! Just in one week, I added what up what was NOT on my lists and it totaled almost $80! That multiplied by 4 is $360! Now I realize it may not always be that much, but I was shocked! That was a great lesson for me!  Welcome to my life as an impluse buyer! I can go to the store for 3 things and come home with 30! Here are some things I use to help me stick to my list:

• PRAY before you go! I cannot emphasize this enough!
• USE a list!
• use coupons (I usually will not buy an item if I don't have a coupon for it!)
• bring cash ONLY!
• Do not go to the grocery store when you are hungry!
• go when you don' t have lots of time BUT enough time NOT to get grumpy!
• be accountable to somebody, tell them where you are going and how much you are spending (I choose my husband!)
• Leave your kids at home! (I actually am not serious about this one, HOWEVER kids do ask for things so I make my point to tell them WHAT we are going for and they may not ask for ANYTHING because I can't get it anyway!)
• Take your little kids WITH you! (It will make you want to get out of the store QUICK! ) Kind-of kidding about this one too! My little ones actually help me put things in the cart and I use it for school for math and problem solving!)

Hopefully you don't have any trouble with impulse buying like I do! If you do, hope these things will help you to spend less!  I also strongly recommend that you do what I did for one week and keep track of the things you buy that you don't need or did not plan on.  It will surprise you! 

I am still a work in progress and am not perfect at this yet, but these things have helped me!  It has also brought much blessing to our finances and in return, brings blessing to my husband!  God continues to bless the work of my hands by making lists and sticking to it!

Any ideas you have for sticking to your lists would be great!

Simplicity and spending less

Here it goes!  Another thing God has been teaching me these past few weeks is how to be a blessing to my husband.  Some of you may deal with other issues, mine is money.  I am an impulsive buyer.  Now the things I buy on impulse, may not cost much, however, many things not costing much add up!  So I have been asking God these past few weeks to bless the work of my hands!  Little did I know all that would be included in that prayer!  I will be sharing some ideas and giving you a little peek into my life in the coming posts!

In the past, I never really knew of any GOOD ways to spend less, it was just a way of thinking that I would try to find the best deals and most economical way to live.  Usually out of necessity not just for the fun of it!  From the worlds standards, we don't have much. 

We have a 4 bedroom house that is about 2000 square feet at best!  My kids all have their own beds, but own rooms, NOT!  One bedroom has 2 bunkbeds and 2 dressers, the girls room has a double bunkbed, 2 desks and a dresser (also lots of closet space!), and the 3rd kids room has a bunk bed, single bed, desk and a dresser.  Our room has a crib in it for now but that will soon change when we move the baby into the other boys room.  The kids don't have toys in their rooms.  We have very few toys (by choice)  unless they are lego's, lincoln logs or blocks and a rubbermaid with trucks, tractors and trains.  We have a walk-in-closet/toy room on the main floor where toys are kept and up above are shelves with our books and school stuff.  We prefer the kids to be together, so they don't play in their rooms unless they are having room time and then they can take a toy to their room and then bring it back when they are done.  That keeps messes at a mimimum too!  Our dining room has a table that sits 12-15 people and the piano is in there also, and the only other room we have besides the kitchen is our living/family room.  Inspite of what people think, this works just fine for us!  I have said at this stage in my life, I don't want any bigger of a home because little boys left alone is well, plainly put, just asking for trouble!  (I have 7 boys under 9 years old!)  So where we are, they are also, and that is how we like it!  My husband  always says to people when they ask how he can afford allllll those kids, "Well, we can afford them, just not 3 brand new cars, a huge house, big vacations and other extra's!"  Our kids also appreciate the simple things which now days is very hard to do!  An afternoon at grandma and grandpa's or pizza delivered to our home is a HUGE deal!  Going to the park is more fun than you can imagine!  They REALLY appreciate going to a hotel to swim and staying overnight once a year!  In that, we are hoping that we are teaching them that the things of this world will pass away but being together and building relationships is what is of true value! 

Christmas is another thing that we have always been very limited financially and for that I am truly grateful! I really mean that!  We have never used credit cards during the holidays because we knew we would regret it later!  So for all of our 11 kids combined, we never spend more than what we can afford.  Usually that means about $25 a piece for the bigger kids and about $15 for the little ones.  For them that is a big deal because we don't buy them gifts or toys during the year except for birthdays.  So getting gifts worth $25 is HUGE in their eyes!  Another great thing about simplicity!  The things we buy them are also things they will use!  Blankets, sleeping bags, and building toys are ALWAYS favorites that can be used all year through and you don't see them 2 days after Christmas laying around because they are bored with them already!  Wasted money in my eyes!    We also never buy them more than 3 gifts a piece!  We always said Jesus only got three, why should we get more than him?!  Santa is never acknowledged in our home either!  I never have believed in him as a child and I never wanted  my kids to believe in him either!  And they don't!  Guess what?  I don't even feel scarred by that!  :)  In fact:, I am grateful!  As far as extended family goes, we usually make something and a $15 gift to go with it. 

Birthdays are also celebrated in our home but not with material things.  They always get a meal of their choice and a gift of about $10. And if everyone complies, a day off of their serving chart because the others chip in to help!  That usuallly beats the gift part in their eyes!  :)  Daddy ALWAYS prays a blessing over them during evening bible time and dessert of their choice is always on the agenda too!  We have also started a tradition way back when our oldest turned one, that we would watch the movie of the day they were born.  It is so fun to watch how everyone has changed!  They always get a few laughs at mom's changing hair styles!  (And I thought I was so hip!)  HUH!  Fun, inexpensive way to enjoy each other!  We don't ever have birthday parties with friends.  Just never started that and don't regret it!  Now, they have enough "friends" in their own living room on a daily basis to make any birthday party goer jealous! :)  What we have done at times is let them pick a place they want a friend to go and take them with us.  Grandma and Grandpa's house is always a favorite.  They lives outside of town and have land to hike and run around on.  The girls always decorate their room and have a little slumber party the night of each of their birthdays.  Good memories!

This is just the beginning of some ways we save money through the year.  I will be sharing some practical daily and weekly ways to cut costs next week. 

How do you save money throughout the year?  Any simple ideas on birthdays and Christmas to make them special without all the material "stuff"? 

Fall football fun for Foto Friday (how about that for a tongue twister!)

Being Frugal

Doing a post on ways to save money in the coming week.  First, I would like some ideas from my readers on simple ways they cut costs!  I would like to include them in my coming post!  Thank you! 

Off to the store I go!