March 2010 – Page 2 – Our Family Adventure

Juries and Daylight

After 10 years of being eligible for jury duty I was finally called into service and reported to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice at 7:45 am this morning in downtown Detroit. I was assigned to a courtroom (along with 41 other potential jurors) and as we hovered outside the courtroom waiting for our moment to pass judgment the bailiff came out and dismissed us. Apparently the lawyers made a deal and settled the case. Nuts.

So, that was half my day. After I left court I met Dave for lunch and then picked up Ajax early from my Aunts. My sister came visiting, which allowed me to finish up laundry that just didn’t get finished on Sunday. After dinner it was still light out, with the glory of daylight savings, so we took Ajax for a walk. He loved it, but Dave said I over bundled him.

I put Ajax to bed at 7:30 pm and it was still light outside. Even with the blinds closed it was still light out. Ajax looked at me like, what the heck ma? On a side note, Ajax will now pick up a hairbrush and hand it to you; he loves getting his hair brushed! It’s the cutest thing.

Sunday

Today Ajax and I went visiting over my grandpa Nader’s house. It wasn’t terribly crowded and Ajax had fun playing with his cousins. He really needs to learn to walk so that he can keep up with the older kids.

Ajax also attended his first wake as my great Aunt Helen passed away. He did very very well; we couldn’t have asked any more of him.

DSCN4970 — My mom and sister stopped by to visit.

DSCN4978 — Ajax loves mugs, but isn't really interested in his sippy cups.

Rite Aid

I did my weekly Rite Aid run today. My total before coupons was $58.16 and I spent $9.67 out of pocket ($3 of that was tax, darn Michigan 6% sales tax). However, I will be getting a check from Rite Aid in the amount of $25, so really I just made $15.33.

Also, I seem to be reaching the point where I have too much of one thing. For example, Dave now has a ridiculous amount of deodorant. Since I was able to buy deodorant for free today, I have set aside 7 to donate. Many couponers donate their free or nearly free items, so I’m jumping on the donation bandwagon!

Stairs and Pickles

Till day Ajax has been wholly ignorant of the stairs in our home. I’m not quite sure why, but he has never shown the slightest interest in them… until today of course. Dave had run upstairs and Ajax, determined as ever, decided today was the day he was going to check out the second floor of our house, so up he went (with me right behind him the whole time). Dave sat at the top step and Ajax just went right up to him, no problem! We were so surprised as he’s never been up a flight of stairs before (to the best of our knowledge). Due to this new found skill, we have put up the baby gate and Ajax seems pretty annoyed by this.

Also, when we were out to lunch today, Ajax ate an entire pickle! He loved it. He also ate broccoli and cauliflower and tried some zucchini, but that didn’t go over terribly well.

Three dollars?

I just thought I’d continue with my previous post about coupons and thought I’d give a little homework assignment! At Target you can purchase the single serve cup of Cheerios for $1. Go here COUPON and print off one manufacture coupon for $1 off any Cheerios product. Ta Da! You just scored something for free! If you hit your back button you will be able to print this coupon off again.

At first I never really thought that saving a dollar or .50 cents would make that much of a difference, but I must tell you that I’ve been quite proud at how I’ve reduced our monthly grocery bill by using coupons. I know some couponers (word?) who stick to a $50 or $80 grocery/household budget a week! A week! I’m nowhere near that good, but I’ve set some goals for myself. Remember-

1. Goals are important. If you want to begin using coupons, plan on trying to use at least 5 coupons on your weekly shopping trip.

2. If you miss a sale, do not stress about it. That toilet paper will be on sale next week or month.

3. Be aware that some cashiers are less than coupon friendly and feel you are unfairly taking advantage of the mega million dollar corporation. Please note that stores are fully reimbursed for the face value of the coupon, plus .08 cents handling. So don’t worry about those corporate executives, they aren’t losing any money.

4. Read the small print. If a coupon says- $1 off any Cheerio product. Than that means ANY. There are no size restrictions. Don’t be fooled with what may or may not be pictured on the coupon.

DSCN4930 — Ajax was giving "loves" to the pillow, than throwing it around the living room.

DSCN4935 — I don't even know why I bother cleaning the kitchen. This is how our floor looks constantly.

Talking up a storm

Ajax’s new word tonight was “duck.” I wasn’t there, but Dave said that it was very clear. The new word was during bathtime, so maybe he was referring to his rubber duck. Little man’s vocabulary is ever expanding as he is also saying Dad (not just da or dada). Ajax is also giving high fives, but only seems to do so with Dave and a few other people. He doesn’t seem to do it for me, so go figure.

ABC delivered our freezer today. The delivery men were in and out in five minutes flat. I can’t wait to go shopping for frozen stuff just to fill it up! As a kid, I never would have imagined that I’d get excited over an appliance (Dave too). I guess that’s just one more notch on the adult belt.

Two Dollars?

Couponing has become my hobby. I’m certainly not as savvy as most professional savers (yes, professionals), but I’ve found it to be quite enjoyable. I’m starting to get more of a feel for the spirit of couponing as well; as such I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve learned (this after fielding several questions about coupons from various friends, coworkers, and family). Here are some of my thoughts:

1. You can combine one manufacture and one store coupon per item. Yes, really you can! For example, if you go to Target.com you can print off target coupons, than combine that coupon with a manufacture coupon, for example from your Sunday paper.

2. To get a good deal try to match your coupons with sales. I don’t intuitively know where the deals are, I let professional do the work for me. Mom blogs make it their business to match sales and coupons and they tell me what to do! I’m just really good at following directions.

3. When you find a stock up price, well stock up! A stock up price is when you can get an item for free or 75% less than retail.

4. Begin by buying one newspaper every Sunday and begin practicing your math.

5. Your time is valuable and sometimes saving a few dollars isn’t always worth your time.

Tonight on the way home from work I thought of this deal at Rite Aid (pictured below). I paid $2.80, however, I shouldn’t have paid anything (I did and redid the math after I got home, and yep the total should have been the big Zero). I had an elderly cashier who became confused by the coupons and sales, he was very pleasant, but didn’t really get it. I had a long line behind me and I knew my guys were waiting for me at home, so I told the cashier it was ok, and handed him $3 bucks, in the end it wasn’t worth my time to argue over $2.80. My total before coupons was $30, so I still did ok.

Expanding dietary needs

These past few days Ajax has been eating pretty well (I know this statement comes on the heels of a previous post where I indicated a growing concern over my child’s eating habits… I have no explanation besides the fact that kids are fickle).

This weekend Ajax tried beef and ham and seemed to enjoy them both! We were amazed. I made a potato soup with ham and Ajax just gobbled it up. We also made taquitos as a snack and of course Ajax wanted to try one, so I jokingly gave him a taste, well the next thing you know the kids ate 1/2 a beef taquito. I would like to note that we don’t generally feed our 11 month old taquitos… we really didn’t think he’d eat it. lol.

DSCN4906 — Dave was a little concerned over the bear faces on the feet of these PJs, but I thought they were cute.

DSCN4888 — Ajax loves rides and he also loves hitting things...

Rite Aid

Drum roll please. I did this in two transactions. Before coupons my total was $50. I only paid, however, $4.50. I will also be getting back $6 from Rite Aid, so I actually made money today! One of my transactions came down to ZERO, so I paid nothing out of pocket! I actually did a little dance at the store which made the manager laugh. I also jumped into another customers order and gave her a coupon so that she could get two cover girl makeup products free, as I had an extra coupon. She too was very excited.

Brushing

Since Ajax now has 4 teeth with more quickly coming in, I picked up his very first tooth brush! I just ran it under cool water and then just kind of put it on his teeth, lol. He got a kick out of it and kept trying to lick it or bite down on it.