Smith's Sneak Peek - 4/27 - 5/3

There are some good sales items at Smith's during their sale starting tomorrow. They have some 10 for $10 items including:

• Crest Toothpaste (free when you use the Crest Toothpaste, 4 oz. or more or liquid gel $1/1 from the PG-4/3 insert, it expires on the 30th of this month so you might as well use it)
• Goldfish Crackers
• Haagen-Dazs 3.6 oz Ice Cream
• Lunchables
• SoBe
• Barilla Pasta
• And much more

The preview list is already up! So go check it out! ALSO remember that it will be the current list tomorrow (4/27) and you can then see it here!

Discovering Self Reliance - Part 1:

The Definition of self reliance according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: reliance on one's own efforts and abilities. To be independent and able to be able to wholly support yourself.

Growing up, I never really understood what self reliance was. My mother would talk about it, I'd hear it in school, but I don't think any young child will ever really understand what it is to be self reliant because they are totally dependent on their parents for everything they need and even their very lives, and that's how it should be!

When I got older, about the time I was in high school, probably right around the time I was ready to get my driver's license, I started really understanding what it was to be self reliant not that I was at all, but I knew what it meant. When we are in our preteens, teen age years, and even our early twenties, I think most people hear the term self-reliant and understand it well, but we don't want to be. We are at the stage of life where we don't really need to be self reliant and so we choose not to be. We start becoming a little bit independent and rely less and less on our parents and others around us for the things we need and want, but there we still rely heavily on others for certain things.

Then something horrible happens!!! We get married, have kids, move far away from family and friends or just "grow up" and realize that the world doesn't work that way. Our lives are shattered and we learn quickly that we have reached the point where we can't rely on others any more because someone else is now relying on us. That moment of realizing that we need to be self reliant whether we want to or not can be terrifying, exciting and numbing all at once. That moment came to me when it hit me I was going to have my first baby in less than two months. I knew that I couldn't rely on my mother any more. She'd be there for me when I needed her, but it couldn't be the same as it was. I had my husband to equally share the load with, but we were in the boat together, we had a big problem; we knew we needed to be self reliant but had no real idea how to do it.

"Fake it till you make it!" I heard it all the time growing up and just passed it off as a nice little saying but now it quickly became my motto. I had to fake it! If I wanted my children to grow up as self reliant, upstanding citizens in the world I knew I had to teach by example and if I had to fake it, I would.

I'm still faking it. I'm now realizing that I was probably at least 8 years old before my mother actually had an idea what she was doing. And now that I am older, I know she still has no clue what to do next sometimes. But that's OK, it makes us human. It means we can learn from our mistakes and that we are picking ourselves up and trying even when we fall flat on our faces in a big puddle of mud.

So, as we grow from a small baby to adulthood, we hear self reliance is important, we understand what it is and what it means, but how to do it and how to get and stay there, is an entirely different matter. It takes trial and error and is, sadly, one of those things that is different for everyone. We need to lean on others at times and when we do, we need to remember that that's OK as long as we don't let ourselves get comfortable there. We need to be able to get back on our own two feet and try again. Pick ourselves up out of the mud, brush it off as best as we can and realize that we'll be messy from it for a while, but we'll get over it eventually and KEEP TRYING!

This series, I hope, will help others to be inspired. I'm intending this to help give people ideas on how to get to the point where they are totally self-reliant by giving them ideas on how to get there as well as hoping they get inspiration on other ways by reading my ideas.

Discovering Self Reliance - Part 1
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 2: Living on Welfare
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 3: Realizing Your Talents
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 4: Emergencies & Really Being Ready For Them
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 5: Learning New Skills - Maintaining Your Vehicle

Previous posts:

• Second Chances
• You Never Know
• How I Saved For My Husband's Epic Day

Second Chances - Some Great Things Coming

First of all, I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. My family and I had a blast and our ideas for saving this Easter really paid off, both financially and educationally.

So, for today's post; I'm a firm believer in second chances and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. As such, I think it only fair that I give things I've tried in the past a second chance(or even a third, or hundredth chance in this case).

• Cloth Diapering
• Tight Budgets
• Menu Planning

All three of things I've tried in the past and none of them worked for my husband and I before. The tight budget was especially difficult for us. All three of these things we had tried 2-100 times (no exaggeration). We'd tried Cloth diapering a couple times, and both times it was a disaster. Getting ourselves on a budget we tried at least once a month since before we got married, and for some reason, no matter how hard we tried we just couldn't seem to make it stick or remember to record our spending and would always end up giving up the first week of the month, or the day after payday with the idea that we would try again next time. As for the menu planning, I knew that one of the best was to stay in a budget and to live within your means was to plan a weekly menu and to stick to it. There were multiple problems with that as well, that prevented us from keeping up with that.

When I say I believe in second chances, I mean it!!! We are now stocked up on diapers for a couple of months and wont need to buy them for a while. SO, we are going to use next month's diaper budget to get some cloth diapering supplies. We've tried Cloth Diapering before I think I've learned enough from my mistakes and I have now educated myself better to feel comfortable trying it again. So in the next month or so, I'm going to keep you posted on how our money saving effort when it comes to cloth diapering is going.

Notice, I used the words "diaper budget"... That means we've finally come up with a system for budgeting our money that works for us! I mentioned before that we started this month on our cash only budget. This has been working AWESOMELY for us. I'm just a little sad we never thought of it before. So I will be posting more about that in the next day or two. Also, if any of you have ever done cloth diapering gin the past, or are doing it now, I would love some feedback on what you do while cloth diapering away from home whether it is just a trip to the store or a family vacation and everything in between! Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

As far as menu planning goes, I'm still working on that. But I do have some great ideas that I've come up with in that area that I'm so excited to share in the next couple of weeks with you! I've got some alternatives to planning ahead and also, planning your menus in way that still allow for some freedom to be spontaneous. I'm very excited about it!!!

If there is anything you would like me to either research or just post on in the future, contact me and I'll do my very best to get to all of your requests. If you don't have a specific idea in mind, but still would like an input on what my post are about, let me know by taking my quick poll. Thanks so much for reading it means a LOT!

Walgreens April 24th - 30th Sneak Peek

Here is just a small list of some of the deals at Walgreens starting Sunday, with all of your register rewards and coupons, you can get some great money makers!!!

Walgreens April 24th-30th
Sale Price	Item Description	Register Rewards (if any)	Use this coupon	Like Paying
2/$5	Tilex, 32 oz.	$2 RR when you get 2	Clorox $1/2 SS-3/13	2/$2	$1.00 ea.
2/$5	Clorox Wipes 35 pack	$2 RR when you get 2	Clorox $1/2 SS-3/13	2/$2	$1.00 ea.
2/$5	Clean Up, 32 oz.	$2 RR when you get 2	Clorox $1/2 SS-3/13	2/$2	$1.00 ea.
$5.99	Head & Shoulders 14.2 to 33.8 oz	$1 RR when you get 1	Head and Shoulders 13.5 oz. Conditioner FREE up to $4.74 when you buy one Head and Shoulders Shampoo, excludes trial size HoneyBakedRP-4/17	2/$4.99	$2.50 ea.
$4.99	Luster White 7 Toothpaste	$4 RR when you get 1	Luster White 7 Power white or Sensitive $1.50/1 SS-4/3	FREE +	FREE + .51
$2.99	Nexcare Bandages	$2.99 Mail in Rebate on package	Nexcare Product, any .55/1 SS-4/3	FREE +	FREE + .55
$2.99	Stayfree Maxi Pads	$2.99 RR when you get 1	Stayfree product, any $1/1 RP-3/27	FREE +	FREE + $1.00

You Never Know

Just a random train of thought... I've been thinking about something.

In the past, I have personally been attacked and downtalked for the way my family and I have chosen to both spend money and save it. And I know others have been too. Alternately, I have been guilty in the past for judging others (wether or not I voiced the opinion out loud) about the way they spend or save their money as well.

Some people use coupons. Some choose to shop for ingredients and make everything from scratch to save money. Others don't have the patience for coupons or the time for home-made food all the time, and find other ingenious ways to cut their budgets.
One family will buy store brand diapers to save money per diaper. Another family will have the guts and tenaciousness to cloth diaper their children. And yet others will be super brand specific and buy top of the line diapers no matter the cost.
One family will avoid paying for cable TV and strictly have movies they own or no TV at all, while another home may have the biggest cable package and a massive home video library coupled with subscriptions to video rental services as well.
A mother and father and their 3 children will squabsh into one small car just big enough for them to fit in, and trade the keys back and forth between parents so they can go to work, take kids to school etc. While a husband and wife that have yet to have children have 3 cars sitting in their garage ready to be used whenever they are needed.

In the past, my husband and I have made choices with our money that have helped us, and others that have turned out to be big mistakes. And I know we will make many more mistakes in the future when it comes to our finances. Every one does, and hopefully the sum of the mistakes and successes keeps us in the black. Either way we learn from those mistakes and move on to try to improve ourselves and ultimately be the best stewards of our money as we can.

So what is my point? My point is, you never know why anyone does what they are doing. The exact reons behind each and every decision that they made. Diapering with disposable diapers for some is a luxery that is far to out of reach, while other choose to cloth diaper for a variety of reasons from the financial aspect to the environmental side of things. On the other hand, the decisions for using disposable diapers are wide and varrying as well. The same goes with how many or the type of cars one drives. Or even whether one should pay off a chunk of debt or go on a family vacation.

When we know someone that is obviously hurting themselves with their financial choices, we can be a friend and offer our assistance when it is appropriate. But when that assistance is unwanted or even offered and then turned down, we need to step back (even in those cases) and realize that it is in the end, their decision.

We will rarely, if ever, see the whole picture of someone else's life and know exactly why they chose to do the thing that you would never even dream of doing.

If we could step back and look at another person and really try to look at ourselves, and put ourselves in their shoes, a lot less judgment would be passed. A lot fewer feeling would be hurt. And there would be a lot less misunderstanding in the world... No, less judgment, hurt and misunderstanding in our own communities.

Let us be there for our neighbors and have the bravery and strength to offer our help where it is wanted, but also, to seek for the wisdom to know when being a friend means just being there.

A "Normal" Shopping Trip to Smith's

Look what came in my mail yesterday!!! I signed up for the coupon just a week or so ago, and I already got it!



I was very excited because my husband and I had toyed with the idea of getting a puppy eventually, and we just decided that we wanted to start saving up for one. So, our current goal is to get our back yard in order and make it 100% kid & puppy friendly as well as save up for a golden-doodle puppy for the middle of the summer. So, from now until then, we are going to stock up on dog food whenever we see a GREAT price on it! After this coupon, the dog food was only $1.69 for the 4.4 pound bag.




Also, we drink milk like water at our house, so we buy it a lot! I'd buy more than this at a time if it would fit in my fridge. It would spare me about half the trips to the store... maybe when we get our own house we'll have a second fridge n the garage...
Anyway, with not any awesome stock-up prices on things we needed or use this week at Smith's, I just got milk, the dog food, some frozen veggies and baggies that we desperately needed. This is a normal shopping trip for us. A trip without many coupons (I only used 3 this time) and I still saved 53%

Total would have been $27.96, but after a minimum coupon use, I only paid $13.42

Now, referring back to my post yesterday, this isn't really good enough for me on a regular basis, but 50% off is nothing to turn your nose up at (even though I usually save a heck of a lot more than that on a trip to the store). If you have thought about trying to use coupons in the past, and haven't and are reading this thinking that maybe, just maybe shopping with coupons is worth your time after all... I think you'd be right. Remember, I only spend about 15 minutes each week to organize my coupons. If you have any questions, just ask :)

Smith's Sneak Peek - 4/20 - 4/26

The Preview list is up for Smith's at GrocerySmarts!

Remember that it is only at the link above for today! Once it is the 20th, you can find it here!

The following are just some of the awesome deals starting tomorrow!