bogo.

Hearing 'BOGO' has been magic to my ears as of late. As Chris heals up from surgery, and as the medical bills come pouring in, I've definitely tried to be more discerning than usual with the groceries.  Here is tonight's load, which I picked up from our local Harris Teeter:

• 5 jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce -- buy 2, get 3 free
• 5 packages of shredded cheese -- buy 2, get 3 free
• 2 packages of English muffins -- buy 1, get 1 free
• 2 packages of Crystal Light -- buy 1, get 1 free
• 2 packages of bacon -- buy 1, get 1 free
• 1 container of grape jelly -- on sale
• 1 container of coffee creamer -- normal price
• 2 packages of Dannon pure yogurt -- normal price
• 1 package of dishwasher cleaner -- normal price

Overall I spent $46 and saved $39 -- that's saving about 46%...and for all you coupon haters out there, I only used 2 (for the bacon and the Crystal Light to combine with the store's BOGO sale).

saving.

I'm not ashamed to admit it, I use coupons. Why waste my hard earned money when I can save some of it?  I'm also not someone who hoards, only spends $3 on basket after basket of groceries, or uses the majority of my week to figure all of this out.  The old adage is true though: he who fails to plan, plans to fail. Use just a few minutes a week and have some extra moolah to splurge on something nice later on!

Here are a few things that I've learned:

Getting coupons: get a weekend subscription to the the Post (it pays for itself several times over) and you can also print coupons from online (redplum.com; smartsource.com; coupons.com).  Some stores also print their own coupons and will also take a manufacturer coupon...so when the stars align :) Also check your mail for any coupons -- local businesses want your patronage!

1. Milk: I've found that this is always cheapest at Costco. We don't do organic, just regular. A gallon of whole milk is $2.58 right now (which is what Nathan drinks)
2. Weekly Specials: Check out the your store's weekly circular BEFORE you go shopping: planning = saving money. Most circulars run Wednesday-Tuesday.
3. Doubling Coupons: Nearly every grocery store will double ALL coupons automatically (unless stated otherwise) up to 99 cents. This means that if you have a 75 cent coupon, you will automatically save $1.50.  Occasionally stores do 'Super Double Coupons' where the original value can be up to $1.99 before doubling. Trust me, this totally adds up!
4. BOGO: My favorite - buy one, get one. This is amazing, especially when you can combine it with a coupon (see #5). Some stores (like Harris Teeter) do a magical thing that's Buy 2, Get 3 Free. Those are the best.
5. Combining Deals: Try to combine BOGO with your coupons to make the price even cheaper.  For example: the store is having a sale, buy one get one, for XX Product. You also have a $1 coupon when you buy 2. The price is normally $3/item.  You will get 2 of them for $2 total.
6. Frozen Vegetables: If you are trying to incorporate more veggies into your diet, this is a cheap and good route to go. There are generally coupons in circulars, plus store sales on these!
7. Meal Deal: Harris Teeter generally puts a meal deal in the circular where if you buy certain items, they generally come at a discount.  Sometimes it's a good combination, sometimes it's not -- it really depends on the week!
8. Meat: When in doubt, buy at Costco. Yes, it is more up front but you save by the item.  We are getting ready to buy an extra freezer :)  For example, you can get 4 containers of ground turkey for about $16.00, where each container has about 2 lbs of meat. We use a lot of this because it can be used in anything.  If you do this at the grocery store, it's generally $5 for a package of 1lb.  You can also match up the deals at Harris Teeter when they come up, they generally will do a BOGO deal on bags of frozen chicken where you will pay about $8 for 2 full bags in total.
9. Toiletries/Household Items: TP, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, etc. are almost ALWAYS cheaper at Costco (Kirkland generic is almost always equivalent to the name brand, as well)
10. Gas: If you're not already, only fill up at Costco. It's so much cheaper!
11. Restaurants: I know it's not the most popular thing, but lots of restaurants put coupons out there! Right now, in my binder I have Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bertucci's, Chick-fil-a, and a few local places. 
12. Amount to Buy: Store sales run on about 6 week cycles. Buy only what will last for about a month and a half if you find a great deal. Don't fill up your garage, children's bedrooms, and every closet in your house! 

 If you're interested in making your money go a bit further, I hope that these little tips help! :) 

crafty ambitions.

These days you would swear I'm pregnant (I'm not!!), because all I want to do is decorate and craft...aka nesting. Note, I've done crafts very infrequently, so when the urge hits I want to go with it.  I just want to have a few neat ideas written down for when I have time:

Wreath Plates

Balloon Wreath

Father's Day Gift

see you soon.

We said a 'see you soon' rather than 'goodbye' to Nathan's Hal-abeoji (that's Korean for grandpa) today, as he's out for a deployment for a few months.  While I'm really sad that he'll miss Nate's second birthday, I know that the time will fly by.  It's hard to think about what Nate will be doing in a few months -- running cross country? This child has energy like you wouldn't believe!

Here are some photos from this afternoon. Be safe out there!

photo book.

I've taken on quite a love of capturing our family memories over the last few years. In addition to walking around with a camera 90% of the time, I'm also quite addicted to making photo books in Shutterfly. Easy to do, usually find a coupon, takes me forever because I'm indecisive.

Here's tonight's creation: a look at Spring 2012

cousins reunited.

Nathan and Miles got to spend some time today playing. I love that they are so close in age and I hope that they will grow up to be good buddies.  The boys are just so darling and at such cute stages. Once they are both mobile, I think we will be in for a world of trouble! 

Here are some shots of them from our cookout today at the in-laws' house. What a nice time!

twenty months.

Let me tell you, it is getting harder and harder to take this monthly baby birthday picture. Nate is such a wiggle worm and has places to go. If you knew about all of the jumping around that we do to get these smiles, you would think that we are crazy!

After a brief hiatus, I think Nate is starting to grow again. He is mostly out of his 18 month clothes and starting to get into the 24 month/2T sizes. To be honest, I'm not sure if that's from getting taller or from the season change, but it's a nice excuse to buy baby boy some new clothes.

Some recent Nathan-isms include:

• Pointing to letters and saying "E" and "O".  Apparently we're working on vowels first. 
• Obsessing over sidewalk chalk.  Every time we go outside, that is what he wants to play with. He always comes inside looking like a little smurf.
• Initiating group hugs. Nate loves to have someone in each little arm :) 
• Carrying around as many toys as possible at once, preferably little animals or Sesame Street characters
• Jumping from our coffee table to the sofa on our sun porch
• Using the tiniest little sentences ever, including: I did it, I got it, I didn't
• Playing on all of the equipment on the neighborhood playground, even the ladder! 

Here's my little labor of love, some of his 20 month pictures that we got from dancing around and screeching :)

fifty-five, and counting.

We celebrated my mom's 55th birthday last night with a trip out to one of our local Japanese steakhouses (http://akasakajapaneserestaurant.com/).  We also celebrated her 50th birthday there, so we definitely spent some time reflecting back on the last five years and how much our lives have changed. For me, I was not married yet and Nathan was not even a glimmer of a thought -- it's funny how short of a time he has been part of our family, yet I forget that he hasn't always been here!

Last night we had a lot of good food, a great chef, and a really nice time.  I mean, really, how can you go wrong with Japanese food and ice cream cake?!  Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope it was great. Here are a few pictures to capture the evening...

easter.

We have had a very nice Easter, but let me too you that I am worn out! Yesterday, I had Nate practice with Easter eggs to get used to playing with them. His mission in life yesterday was to first separate the whole eggs from those that were in half (plastic, people...hard boiling eggs is cooking, which we all know I don't do!).  Today, we had a cookout with Chris's parents and Nate had an egg hung (read: eggs in the grass to put into his basket).  All in all, he did a great job and really picked up the idea quickly! :)

I hope that everyone had a great Easter and was able to keep the real meaning of the holiday in mind!

chris's birthday.

Well, as far as birthdays go, I think that Chris's birthday this year was an improvement over last year. Of course, last year Chris had back surgery on his birthday, so there was no where to go but up! :)  This year, Chris is recuperating from yet another back surgery, but is much further along in the recovery process -- so, we got to celebrate! Not just once, but twice in fact with both his parents and mine.

What makes my husband happier than presents and grilling meat? Not much! We had a really nice cookout with my family which was topped off with an ice cream cake from Coldstone. Yum!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris!  We really had a lot of fun helping you celebrate -- just next year, let's stay away from all of the surgeries, okay? :)