The 5 Misconceptions About Couponers

                                                         

I have only been couponing for about 2 mnths now but in that time period, I have definitely become a hard core believer and addicted to it:) I will say this though...couponing is not for the faint of heart or for the lazy:) It takes some time and dedication to do this. It really comes down to priorities. How important is it to you, to save money for you and your family each mnth? yr? My savings each week has slowly increased but as of the past 2 wks, I can say that I have cut our spending on our food and personal/household items close to a hundred a week!!:) Thats coming close to about half of a full weeks minimum wage paycheck! But anyways...those that know me, know that I very easily can get off track and go rambling on about other things so before I do that, we'll get to what I was wanting to talk about here:) 

In my short time couponing, I have met TONS of other couponers, talked with them, chatted with them, watched their videos, etc And let me tell you, there are ALL kinds!!:) But the view that seems to be held by most of the publics eye is not pretty to say the least:( Its like alot of things here in this life...it only takes a few bad seeds to ruin the reputation of all the others who are good and on the up and up:) This blog post was triggered by a incident inside CVS this week that my lovely husband started. Afterwards I thought to myself..Hey this would be a great blog post, so...here it is:)

The 5 Misconceptions About Couponers:
 
#1: We will buy anything and everything we see as long as its on sale and we have coupons, regardless.

I was in CVS this week getting just a few items along with my husband and teenage daughter. I was looking at the finger nail polish, trying to decide on which to get. They were .99 each, buy 2 get 1 free. I had coupons for $1 off each one, so that made them all free:) Normally, I would not be buying this but my daughter loves nail polish and since it was free, I thought I would treat her to a few bottles:) My daughter had asked something and my husband spoke up and replied to her..."Darlin, dont you know? It doesnt matter whether or not you need it or will use it. If its a great deal, you buy it regardless!" Now...luckily I know him well enough to know that he was purely joking but I had to speak up and defend us "couponers" out there:) I told him that is NOT the case for most. The only time we will buy it, is if its #1...a great deal, like dirt cheap to free (that we'll use), #2 If it will make us money to go towards our other purchases, or #3 If we plan on donating it to a charity, family or a shelter. 

If anything I would venture to say that we are even more strict on what we allow ourselves to buy due to couponing. I couldnt believe myself the other day, I had a friend tell me of this deal going on with body wash and it was name brand expensive body wash too. I misunderstood her breakdown on it and thought she was saying it was gonna end up being 2 bucks a bottle and I was like...ahh well thats not all that great, if it was a dollar now, THEN we'd be talkin! LOL Come to find out it was a dollar but it shocked me that I had become so corrupted by couponing that 2 bucks a bottle for a name brand body wash just wasnt cheap enough for me...it will go lower, just have to wait ROFL. The thing is..some couponers may very well be this type to go and buy up everything just because they can, but thats a very small percentage of all of us out there!!:)

#2: We clear the shelves and are greedy hoarders.

This one I will say is done by some, but not by all or even the majority. Want to have the proof? Just go onto any couponing forum or FB page and say that you just got finished clearing a shelf...and you have just unlocked the gates from hell and wrath on yourself LOL. The majority of us frown very heavily on this practice and consider it very "wude":) Most of us get what we need for that item to stockup for several weeks..or till that sales cycle comes around again which is about every 6 to 8 wks here in the South, 8 to 10 in the North. And if for some reason, its just an awesome insane deal and your wanting more or your going to be giving it away to charity or shelters...almost all will call ahead and pre-order theirs so they arent taking any off the shelf from the other possible customers:) I for one, cannot clear a shelf with a full conscious. I just cant. I have even had it to where there was only 4 left, planning on getting 4 and I would only grab 2.

#3: We are cheats/scammers who cheat the system.

This one by far is the most troubling and disturbing one for us to hear:( Alot of it comes from the very few who DO abuse and mis-use coupons, but also...alot comes from the non-couponer not knowing their facts or exactly how it all works. One of the worst things a couponer hates is to hear someone say is..."your stealing from the store or your a thief!" That is SO not the case! This is how it is done...Manufacturers who make the products put out coupons to be used for their products, in order to entice people to buy them. What that manufacturer is saying to the stores is that anytime this coupon is used, we will pay you (the store) the amount of the coupon along with .8 cents just for your trouble. So if I buy shampoo at walmart thats 2.00, I have a coupon for $1 off. Say that coupon came from P&G who makes it...P&G is going to pay walmart 1.08 back. So the store is NOT loosing out on any money, they are actually making a few extra cents off of each coupon!  So no...I am not stealing or a thief!! Coupon fraud is very real though and it is a problem. Most couponers loath folks who mis-use coupons on purpose and have no tolerance for them. I have seen many banned off of pages due to this. Why? Because its the small minority of people who mis-use them on purpose that ruin it and hurt all of us others who are only trying to save some money and have enough to put food on their tables each night for their families. Because of them, is why some stores have become intolerant to couponers and rules have gotten stricter. AND its shows like "Extreme Couponer" that causes cashiers to have an unrealistic viewpoint of us all. There are MANY rules that a couponer has to follow. You have all the "written" rules which are on the coupons (by the manufacturer), the stores coupon policy which can be found online and even then you have alot of times the individual stores policy which is sometimes a bit diff! Not only do you have all those but then you have the "unwritten" or what I like to call the "Rules of Ethics" that need to be followed. So theres many and each couponer..for the majority are extremely hard core on all of these simply because they want to make sure everything is on the up and up so that they can continue helping their families out by couponing:) I also can say this..that alot of the mis-use could be drastically lowered if stores computers were improved in how coupons are rung up and scanned. Seems to me a very easy fix but then again, I dont know much about that, just that it seems like a small task compared to everything else we do with technology:) 

Another aspect is printed coupons. Plz plz folks..if you are in line in a store and see someone try to scan a printed coupon and it wont scan, do not automatically assume its a fraud and they are trying to scam someone!! There is many aspects to printed coupons that affect this and its not always the couponers fault. Some scanners are not sensitive enough to be able to pick up the code on them...thats why some will use the hand held zapper thingy if it doesnt scan:) And if someone has only got about 1/4th of their ink left, even if the message hasnt popped up that they are getting low, it "can" cause that coupon to not scan. So unless you have just refilled your ink, it can "sometimes" be a risk in whether or not its gonna scan or not. Also, some reg printers are more "sloppy" in the printing of the code and it will cause it to not scan correctly. The laser ones are the best and almost never have one not scan:) I personally dont see why they wont just do away with printed coupons and make it all digital like ecoupons are. There are 4 major coupon printing sites and if each of them would allow you to "add" a coupon ( x2 per the rules for printed) to whatever card you want. That would be much easier to me and would save the world by conserving paper LOL. 

#4: We are lazy bums.

Ummm..ok sure:) LOL Anyone who has couponed for any length of time knows this is SO far from the truth its pathetic:) Couponing is truly an art. One that takes time to learn and to master and it takes alot of hard work and dedication! One has to be a master at multitasking and having several thought processes going through your head at any given moment. You have to be good at Math and if your not...get ready because you will be in no time:) Its like having someone scatter a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle all over a room, everywhere and you only have a small window of time to go and collect all those pieces and put them back into place. It truly is! I spend about 2 hrs on Sunday evening clipping and filing my new coupons for that week into my binder. Spend about 15 mins on Sat purging my binder of expired coupons. And through the week I am constantly watching sales and matchups as I see them pop up in my FB feed from the matchup sites I belong to:) Takes me about an hr to make my list each week for my groceries and household items and getting all my coupons in order and ready to go:) That way when Im at the store, I have my list, my coupons, all in order and ready and it doesnt take me that long:) I actually spend less time in the stores now simply because I strictly go by my list, instead of going in and impulse buying or thinking of what we need as we go along:) So yeah...we are NOT lazy, it takes work and dedication and a tremendous amount of thinking to be a couponer:) But its all worth it to me when you walk out of the store with enough food to feed your family plus have alot of extras and only spent half of what you would have before:)..Or for some, it truly is a matter of survival, just simply having enough TO put onto the table for dinner each night so your kids dont go hungry:) One should never ever have the decision upon them of what is more important...feeding your kids that week or paying the electic bill or rent and sadly, we are seeing that more and more these days:(

#5: We are so engrossed into couponing that it has taken over our dreams at night.

Gotcha!!...Ok so I will admit that this one is TRUTH! HAHA. I had to sneak one truth into this and its too funny not to share:) Talk to alot of couponers and they will tell you that they routinely have dreams about couponing:) Myself included! Just the other day I woke up one morning realizing that I was right in the middle of heading to the fresh meat dept because I had coupons for $ off of fresh meat which is very rare and I was just elated over that!! ROFL Thats when I realized that Ive got it bad if Im dreaming of couponing in my sleep hehe:) 

One Last Note: Most of us couponers are very kind hearted, rule following, caring folks so please dont lump us all together simply because there are some bad ones out there:) Theres many that are continually giving to others, helping their family members, will give coupons to others in the store if they see something in their buggy that they have a coupon for, will stick some extras on the shelf so that others can get a savings, sending expired coupons to our military moms on base, etc We are all just trying to survive this wild world that we live in now, so as my bestest friend would say....how about we all get into a circle, hold hands and sing some Kumbaya and get along and be kind with one another? :P  

                                                              

 
                                           

My One Month Update...

                                             

Well, a month has passed since I started this journey and I couldnt be happier:) I started with a one week juice detox, where I took in around 1,400 calories in veggie juice mainly with some fruit juice. And I can honestly say that week, was the highlight of this whole month. I never have felt that good before physically and mentally. I had tons of energy, I all of the sudden was able to fall asleep really fast and quick and my sleep was SO restful!! It has been yrs since I have slept well at night:) I wasnt getting sleepy during the day and one thing that did shock me was that I never felt hungry! I figured I would, me only taking in my nutrients and calories through juicing, but I was surprisingly staying satisfied with my 5,  12 to 14 oz juices a day:)

I was going to do the juicing for 10 days but by the 8th day I was starting to crave reg food again, and the act of eating, so thats when I ended it:) During that week of juicing, I lost a total of 8lbs:) I had been told that theres a certain way to come off a juice detox, that you cant just stop and go back to eating like normal, even if its good healthy food because that can cause you to pack back on what all you just lost. So for 3 days after that, I still drank 2 juices a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, with something light like some fruit in between with one reg meal. It helps get your system used to digesting again:) In this month I have had several cheat days...one being Thanksgiving and that was the week after my juicing lol. I was so scared I was gonna put on weight from that but at the end of the week, I had lost another 2lbs:) The folllowing week I lost another 2 lbs and for some reason...miraculously, this past week I lost 9lbs, have no clue how or why but Im not complaining!:) For this month I have lost a total of 21 lbs:)

Thats not all the good news:) I have been keeping track of my blood pressure also and my measurements and I can safely say they are going down as well:) My BP one month ago was 208/132...as of last week it was 164/103...still high but Im moving in the right direction!:) As far as my heart-rate, it hasnt changed much:( Its still high and the only thing I can contribute that to possibly is my smoking. 

As for smoking, that hasnt turned out quit as good lol. I did start back up BUT I have cut down drastically so every little bit helps and is an improvement right?:) Some other benefits I have been seeing is that since I have cut out dairy, my head isnt nearly as stopped up and flemy with all that gunk in my throat anymore:) My head feels lighter and open, like theres nothing blocking the pathways, its pretty cool!:)  I am starting to be able to see a significant difference in my body frame...areas are starting to thin out and not protrude so much which is AWESOME lol. Ive lost several inches all together...mainly in my waist and hips and of course...*sigh* in my breasts lol. I knew that would happen though;) 

My sleep has actually went back to the way it was before I started this change in my eating habits:( Staying up late, taking forever to fall asleep, sleeping so hard that its not restful, etc so I guess that part was a product and result of me juicing;) But its not "that" big of a deal for me because I enjoy being a night owl anyway;) 

The eating is going along great:) Theres not much at all I have came across that I wanted or craved that I couldnt turn into a healthy paleo/primal recipe so Ive been pretty happy. Plus something else that helps is that Im not 100% paleo/primal, and I never tell myself...you "cant" have that. I eat healthy 80% of the time and I do eat things like some bread, dairy, legumes and grains ever so often...like maybe once or twice a week. But when I do that, I make sure it is homemade bread, dry legumes, or real full fat whole dairy products when I do and a small portion at that:) The only thing I havent been able to find is a alternate for is ice cream ROFL...yeah yeah I know, they have recipes for that too but it just seems too complicated for me and too much trouble;) I think Ill just settle on letting the ever so often bowl of ice cream be part of my 20% LOL 

There are things I used to despise that I like now!! For instance, mushrooms...I have grown accustomed to them now and find them pretty good! Cabbage is another especially cabbage or borsh soup...yummy! Sadly though, my taste buds havent changed for brussel sprouts ROFL Still hate those as badly as I always have;) 

Umm lets see...Sugar!!! I have completely wiped all "man made" sugar from my diet. Yay!! The only sugar I get is from the fruits I eat, honey and 100% pure maple syrup. And BOY can I tell it;) One day I cheated and had a cup of hot chocolate from a store...WOW was that sweet!!! My body isnt used to that taste anymore lol

Havent been exercising except I do yoga a few times a week and wanting to implement that as a every day 30 min thing here sometime soon:) I am DONE with the grueling 2 hr high intensity workout each and every day lol Been there, done that and frankly that along with the diet I was on, wasnt working very well:( I am finding that I really enjoy yoga though!!:) It helps with the body and the mind!!:)

Anyway...just wanted to post an update and let everyone know how its been going and to have a record for myself as well:) Talk to ya soon!!:)

Dropping The Cigs & Adapting To A New Way Of Eating

                                 

              
 Two days ago marked the beginning of my weight loss journey. I have over the past 10 yrs continued to put on pounds, until I cannot even recognize myself anymore. Ive tried diff diets, all promising results but in the end they werent sustainable at all (For me at least). What little weight I did loose, was yoyo loosing, Id loose 4lbs, then gain back 5...then loose 3 and gain back 2, etc. And then once you would go completely off the diet, thats when the lbs would really start to pack on, even more than you had before you started!

I also want to become healthier without getting hooked up on the endless train of pills that some doctors just love to get you on to "treat the symptoms".  Its been awhile since Ive been to a doctor but Im sure my prognosis wouldnt be good if I did and had tests run. I know for a fact that my blood pressure is high, and my cholesterol level YRS ago was outrageous for someone of my age back then.I dont want to just treat symptoms and only end up continuing to get worse, I want to FIX whats causing the problems all together! After some time has gone by, I may go to the doctor to have my levels checked again, just to see what type of change its had, from the last time my levels were taken. As it is, Im not on any medications although I am suppose to be. From the last times Ive had these taken, here is what my levels were...

Heart Rate: Floats around 90 to 120 even in rest
Blood Pressure: I cant remember the exact numbers, but both numbers were just over the level for Stage 2, which is extremely high. I want to say, it was somewhere like...208/132.  Last time I had this taken was about a mnth or two ago.
Cholesterol: Again, I dont remember what the number was, but I do remember that my LDL was over 200 and that was about 10 yrs ago.

After doing some reading, and watching several more documentaries on the subject and the "facts & statements they have from evaluations and studies" I realized that the key is to going back to the way God intended us to eat. If we do that and do it all with balance, then how can you go wrong? I mean, if you think about it...eating the things that God put on this planet and eating an abundance of them is the key right? Because we all know that God isnt wrong, he doesnt do things halfway. His way and plan is perfect. Now, no one can completely eat clean like it used to be, our soil and air is so polluted now, but we can do our best to avoid those foods when possible that are made in a lab or have ingredients that have been made in a lab:)

I am also not saying that I am never gonna have a doughnut or a cookie, or a bowl of ice cream ever again either, what I am saying, is that my goal is to make at least 80% of it as clean and nutritious as possible, and leave all the other stuff for special occasions and treats:)

Theres several documentaries that are wonderful and if this is something your interested in, I would highly recommend watching, but dont stop there...after watching them go and look up the things they are saying and read the studies and information from the horses mouth so to speak.

#1 Forks Over Knives (Netflix) Also has an extended interview show also.
#2 King Corn (Hulu)
#3 The Sick Story of Genetically Modified Organisms (YouTube)
#4 Hungry For Change (Netflix)

So anyway...enough about the reasoning behind me making this change:) I am starting this with a 7 to 10 day detox juice cleanse, to try and flush out my system of as much crap as possible before I start trying to heal and rebuild it with good foods. I will post on here ever so often with updates on what changes I notice, good or bad and of course new levels and weights:)

As for the smoking, so far Im doing well I would say, but I will be honest...this smoking thing is 100 times worse and harder to deal with and go through than the juice detox LOL Today is my 3rd day and Ive only had 1 cig ! I consider that a successful step leading to my goal:)

                                                        

Are we unintentually raising our kids to be cloned boring robots?

    These statistics are very alarming for me. In a world where education is pushed harder and harder, it seems the harder they try, the worse results we get. Why is this? I think it has to do with how education is done these days, especially within the past 30 yrs or so. Today, it is nothing more than teaching to the test and hrs upon hrs of assessments, practice tests and high stakes tests. Its not true learning, its...remember and memorize this for the test and then its forgotten.

     Studies have shown how forced learning and trying to teach too much info at once does not work. When a child is interested in something, he will learn it. The info will sink in and he will actually retain it for long term because its something he has a interest for or a passion for. Likewise, if you try to teach a child too much in a short amount of time, none of it really sinks in good and they end up forgetting it shortly after testing on it.  Children are born learners, they are born seekers, if we allow them to be. Instead we are sticking them in schools earlier and earlier in a race to try and make them smarter and the earlier they start and the more info we try to shove down their throat, the less success we are seeing.

      School has also become a place these days where they learn not how to think, but what to think. Social Issues, History, Science & Literature are all taught in a form of..."Is this right or wrong and why?" Instead of just learning the facts and leaving the childs own interpretation to themselves to figure out. And lets face it, political agendas & religious spins have crept into alot of the subjects, some very sly and subliminal and some very bold and outright. When we send our children to school, they are pretty much told to sit down, shut up and listen to me because they know best. Originality is frowned upon, Out of the box thinkers are frowned upon. I think this poem I found the other day sums it up nicely. It was written by Rupal Ganatra.

HOW SHEEPLES ARE CREATED:

We'll tell you what to do
We'll tell you what to say
We'll tell you what to think
Each and every day

We'll tell you how to feel
We'll tell you what to believe
We'll tell you right from wrong
In each and every way

We'll tell you when up stand
We'll tell you when to sit
We'll tell you how to play
Each and every day

Now that you're all grown up...
Why can't you think?
Why don't you link?
Why has your common sense gone down the sink?

Why don't you fight?
Where is your might?
Why is your intellect dull as night?
Why? Why? Why?

We did everything we could
We did everything we should
So why did you not turn out like we hoped & prayed you would????

By: Rupal Ganatra


        This topic is near and dear to my heart because I homeschool my youngest, and I have personally witnessed alot of this. I watched one day my child come home in tears because his teacher had told him his picture he had drawn wasnt good enough and she laughed at it in front of him. This hurt him not only because it was painful to be made fun of, but because he liked her and wanted her to like him. I watched him come home another day upset because his teacher had told him that she hoped his friend never tried to jump off a bridge because he would be stupid enough to jump along with him. My childs bus driver once told him when he was 8 that he was a nobody and wouldnt amount to anything. Then, the last straw was when I got a call from his teacher stating that she had secluded him into the back of the room, away from everyone else, without a desk because he refused to quit playing with his pencil inside his desk while she was teaching, despite the fact that he wasnt even talking or moving around (I asked). The other kids in the room were snickering at him and laughing because he had been secluded. I can only imagine how that felt:(  Thats when I said enough was enough and pulled him out and started homeschooling him myself.

         Little did I know at all the benefits I would see from homeschooling him. He changed in ways, I never would of imagined. His attitude got 100% better, he started treating his siblings with more love, care and understanding. He has started helping out around the house with household chores, not because he has been told, but because he says "He knew it needed to be done".  He is more thoughtful and instead of looking at school as a chore, he actually enjoys it now because theres none of that added stress of "You have to learn this and this and this, now. Here take this test, this test...oh and heres another test." Yes I allow him to listen to music when doing math if he chooses and yes he fidgets alot when doing his work, but hes not bothering anyone and sometimes I swear it helps him think lol. Plus once schoolwork is all done, he has SO much more time to dedicate to learning about things he currently is passionate about or has interest in:) Here in a couple of weeks, he is wanting to build a chair out of wood all by himself and if he does a good job on it, says he'd like to try and make more and sell them on the internet;) I have showed him how to go and look up patterns of chairs on the internet and how to choose what type of wood he wants to use, the required tools, etc:) Right now, its woodworking, in 6 mnths time it may be developing music or engineering!:) When in public school, you have very little free time to test out any passions like that because your day is filled with school itself, then homework!

    BTW...I am not against public schools all together. I have two children in public myself. I think they do the best with what they have and are given, I just feel they are making the wrong choices and major improvements could be made. I am all about letting the child decide. Some kids love public school and thrive in it very well, others, not so much. I do feel for those who have children in public school, it makes it that much harder on the parents, because they are constantly having to watch everything going on and it takes an extra effort to un-do all the negative effects that the children are exposed to in a public school.

Here is an article I found interesting that talks about the statistics on the above picture. I think you will find it interesting as well....  As Childrens Freedom Has Declined, So Has Their Creativity

Let me know what you think!:)

Face It, Our Kids Melt Our Heart

Yes, I know its not Mothers Day but I just thought this was the cutest thing when I saw it this morning!:) I dont think I have ever seen a pic like it before despite that its something I hear alot from my own kids:) I can be having the busiest, crappiest day alive and that afternoon or evening when Im just starting to try and settle down, one of my kids will come up and ask for something very simple like this. I'll tell them sure but you can go do that yourself, you know how. Their response most of the time is this! My 14 yr old daughter is very sincere about it too when she tells me this, just melts my heart and I end up going and making it for them LOL. Could they just be lazy and pulling my leg to try and get me to do it so they dont have to? Eh....maybe but I truly do feel they mean it when they say it, and its something I like to hear! Makes me feel good inside as a mommy so I will just continue to believe this and enjoy it while I have it:) Dont get me wrong, I dont cater to my kids in any way, shape or form. They do alot on their own, but this is one thing I dont mind doing from time to time:)