Shopping, good for the heart?

I know that for a lot of women, shopping is fun.  Relaxing....time to themselves.  For me it is torture.   Shopping is a chore that has to be done.  A chore in the truest form.

Enter coupons.  One of my homeschool friends introduced me to couponing.  She eats a lot of organics like we do, yet she still couponed.  I was intrigued.  So I ordered a subscription to the Sunday paper and began.  My girls observed.  They watched and giggled as I sorted and clipped.  And then the time arrived.  My first CVS shopping trip!  I got my very first ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) and earned something FREE.  Free is good.  No, free is GREAT!

These items are things that I don't buy organic.  Razors, cosmetics, hand soap, shaving lotions, toothpaste and candy for our shoebox donation boxes, toothbrushes, etc....  I took the girls with me for several weeks.  One was intrigued and the other bored out of her mind.  I bet you can guess who was bored.  Yep!  K-Doodle!

Fast forward to today......about four months later.  C-Sunshine does all the couponing prep.  She visits all the coupon websites and prints our weekly list.  She sorts and organizes the coupons and matches them up with the weekly sales.  She gives me the finished product.......a stack of coupons neatly clipped to it's corresponding store sales list.  She also adds up how much we should spend out of pocket.  (Math class credit?)  At the end of the trip, she calculates how much we saved.  We always strive for 75%!

C-Sunshine - my Coupon Sweetie Pie!

And then the fun for me really begins...................

Tools of the trade!

You see, C-Sunshine and I head out on our weekly coupon shopping alone.  Just the two of us, together with our Couponizer stuffed to the max with coupons and list.  We get to talk one-on-one.  We get to talk about "big girl" things and giggle together.  When we hit the stores, she keeps me in line and directs me around the store to all the hot items.  We try to beat all those "extreme couponing Moms" who clear the shelves!  It's fun.  We laugh.  I love it.  And I love her.  Precious time spent doing something that use to be so mundane.  An exercise that is teaching her fantastic home economics and filling my heart to the brim.  Hopefully building memories for her to store away.  I know that I have mine.........



So, you might consider couponing.  It might just feel your heart "stockpile" too.

C-Sunshine has made me love shopping.  With her anyway......

Have a great week.

Reflections of Learning Week 30

May has been a crazy month for us.  Full of change and uncertainty.  I am sorry that I have not posted much lately.  My thoughts have been on our upcoming relocation.  Here is an update.

In the learning room................

Our days are getting shorter as C-Sunshine and K-Doodle are finishing up subjects one by one.  Why it is that we always have more math left to do than anything else?  Could it be that we often just put math off until the next day?  nawww.....well, maybe.  We still have a lot of science and history left for the year, but we can always just continue on.  I have decided on different curriculum for history next year to try and keep on more of a schedule.  Not to be a slave to, but to help me stay on track and moving forward.


As for the countdown.....we will be schooling for atleast another five weeks.   I am hoping to be done by the fourth of July.  


A Faithful Household...... We have been enjoying the last weeks of Easter.  We also had our May Little Flowers meeting this month where we were working on our Piety petal.  I forgot my camera, so I don't have picture.  That's a bummer too, because we did a really neat craft.

My life has not been as prayerful as I would like.  Other than prayers about the relocation which seems to be consuming all of my time, thoughts and energy lately.  I am finding that as I am aging, my energy level is really dropping.  My eyesight is getting worse to.  So if you are still in your thirties, enjoy.  You start falling apart shortly.  The good news is....your self confindence increases and I think you become more self assured.  You just can't stay awake long enough to tell people about it.  :)

Around the house.......

House.  What a lovely word.  We are still looking for one in our new location.  We did put in an offer after our House Hunting Torture.  It was an offer on House #1.  It got into a bidding war, and we lost.  House #2 has since sold, but  House #3 is still available, but no trees grew appeared out of nowhere, so it is still not a desirable purchase.  So, we are going back to the drawing board for a season of Extreme House Hunting in June. We are going to begin looking in different surrounding counties.  Praying that we find something, close quickly, move and get settled in.  I need peace.  I have had a hard time sleeping, staying awake and living in general.  I guess I am just the type that needs to be settled.  

In the Kitchen.....

I started couponing.  Yes, I am addicted.  The girls actually love doing it along with me so it makes it a lot of fun.  We have set up a coupon notebook, purchased The Couponizer: Save More Than Money (can't say enough about how great that thing is) and we have logged into all the great coupon blogs to help us out on our coupon shopping trips.  My favorite sites for living in the Georgia area are Southern Savers, I Heart Publix, Saving Well Spending Less.

I also confess that we have had a blast watching the TLC's Extreme Couponing on the computer.  Although I think those people are a little crazy, it is fun to watch together.  C-Sunshine has learned a lot about couponing and saving money.  Good life lessons.

Out and about.......

We had Little Flowers, a good-bye brunch for a homeschool family that is moving away, double art classes this week (look for an upcoming post about the art show) and we plan to go to the Library on Friday.  We will be going to the Lake for the weekend to spend time with the grandparents.  Hopefully some relaxing by the pool or boating on the lake.

Thinking about....and praying for....

My friend Jennifer in Illinois.  How I  miss her.  Also thinking about my older daughter's and hoping to be able to see them this summer.  How proud I am of "my girls".  All of them.

I think Jen is taking a break, but normally you can visit Jen  to link up your homeschool week.  Have a great weekend!