Surviving At Home

My curiosity has been piqued by this blog post in which we are introduced to the “Coupon Queen” and the fact that she saves $7,000 a year on her grocery bill simply by using coupons!

My first question: how do you keep track of your savings? Do you have a shoebox full of the year’s grocery receipts?

I am trying to be a believer because since I started clipping coupons again I have noticed an average savings of $35 each week. Not bad since it all adds up, right? But holy cannolli, Batman, give me the scoop for saving $7 grand!!

This Coupon Queen could make a small fortune sharing her strategies for saving money at the grocery store. I’m willing to let her keep one trade secret to herself but come on, share the wealth with all the other stay-at-home moms that are struggling to make ends meet. I like to write…I’ll put the words on paper for you! Anything to get you sharing the goods!

My second question: Do you bring your children shopping with you? If so, doesn’t the constant droan of “Mom, can I have ____?” get on your nerves? 

Every Sunday my husband hands me the two piles of coupon fliers and if I’m good and organized, I’ll sit right then and start clipping. Normally I’m not that good and they are stuffed into a cabinet until the next shopping day when I’m scrambling to see if I can find any coupons to use. I don’t like being this disorganized, especially if organization can save me some money, so a remedy is in order.

One of the problems, I find, is that there are bunches of coupons for products that I simply do not use, so those end up in the trash. And the coupons that offer 25 cents off 2 boxes just don’t seem worth it to me, even if they are doubled. Give me $1 or more and now you’re talkin’. Or is it that I need to just think of the bottom line savings?

My third question: How big is your coupon file container? Is it small with lots of expired coupons (like mine) or is it magumbo size so you need a table of contents to find what you need?

I have also heard of some programs where for some kind of fee you can buy coupons for products that you use regularly. I can’t get my head around that idea either because you’re paying for coupons that will save you money; won’t you end up spending more money buying coupons??

Well, until the Coupon Queen contacts me about writing her bestselling book, I’ll continue to clip away. Hey, how about a cross-blog conversation revealing some useful tips? I’m game!

My mortgage broker called me out of the blue last week. We had not spoken in three years since we refinanced our mortgage to help pay for our basement renovations.

I immediately thought that she was looking to drum up business. You know how it goes: you get the phone call, you chit-chat, then they ask you if you know anybody who can use their services. I know this type of networking is important but more often than not, I feel like all these people are after is a name.

Rather than feel like a slab of used meat, my broker sincerely asked how we were doing and that this was a courtesy call to let us know that with all the hullabaloo in the mortgage industry, our loan was safe and the terms would not change.

Honestly, I have no idea what problems she was referring to. We generally don’t watch the news and I remember seeing a few headline online about problems and lots of mortgage companies going out of business but I really don’t know how this could affect us.

Come to find out during the course of this conversation, lots of people’s loans will adjust to much higher payments in the coming months, which will catch many of these people off-guard. I’m not sure how that happens; do you apply for an adjustable rate mortgage and then forget when it adjusts? My broker said that these people would get slapped so hard in fees that many of these properties would be in foreclosure soon.

That’s truly frightening! I guess it’s the old saying, “Ignorance is bliss” but it’s not bliss if all of a sudden you’re on the brink of foreclosure and bankruptcy. Gone are the days of Leave it to Beaver and I Love Lucy (am I totally dating myself now?) where the women were given an allowance and were otherwise oblivious to their financial situations.

Mortgages can be complicated, especially when it comes to sorting through multiple offers and finding which one serves your family’s needs. Contact a mortgage professional to get the best service and to get the best loan for your needs.

*This is a paid post*

In honor of Halloween, Marie over at www.MommyCommunity.com asked us to write about our favorite scary movies. This is one of her Friday faves so forgive me for being a little bit late answering!

I LOVE getting scared in the movie theater. Not the blood and guts type of scared but a good psychological scaring. Don’t leave me hanging at the end; just throw me some good twists and turns with a few screams and I’m good!

The movie that has scared me by FAR is The Ring. My husband and I still talk about being freaked out by it. At this point I don’t even remember the plot in detail but just watching the commercials of the girl with the long, straggly hair climbing out of the well did us in! Honestly, I think it was the way the director filmed those black and white scenes that made all the difference. I think I need to search the movie channels to see if anybody is playing it this week…

Another movie that scared me as a kid was Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (the original, not the remake). It’s pretty hokey to watch now but I still remember being at a sleepover as a child and watching this movie about vampires and seeing those two vampires scratching at the kid’s window…oohhh! It sure gave me the shivers and I’m not sure I actually slept that night!

Oh, and let’s not forget about The Shining! (Again, stick with the original) It’s really too bad that Stephen King’s other novels didn’t translate as well to the big screen. The whole idea of being in this monster-sized hotel all by yourself still freaks me out! Redrum…redrum…!

But this year in honor of Halloween, I’ll be set up in front of the tv watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with my kids. Still a classic even after 30 years of watching poor Linus getting duped!

For the last several months I have been stressing a little about budgeting our money better. I’m not sure I like being in charge of the household finances when the quarterly bonus checks aren’t as big as they used to be!

So we’ve been trying to cut down on miscellaneous expenses, which means that mom (aka me) hasn’t spent much money on fall clothes or things that she needs. I’m much more prone to put gas in the car or pay for school trips than to buy myself a pair of shoes. Instead, I cut the loose threads and continue on with my day.

(Just so you know, this sounds like a much worse picture than it actually is! We’re simply cutting household costs…not dumpster diving for food…)

Enter the email from Bass shoes offering us 30% off our purchase during their sale this weekend. Add in the $10 off coupon we received last month when my hubby bought some shoes for work. PLUS, as if those two things weren’t good enough, the clogs I wanted were marked down 50% in-store. Yes, clogs sound boring and are probably a typical staple in “the mom uniform” but those things are the most comfy shoes I own!!

So let’s do the math…

$70 shoes marked down to $35 - 30% off coupon = $24.50 – $10 coupon = $14.50 – $3.00 because I used my points card = $11.50!! OK…add in another $10 for 3 new pairs of socks and we’re back up to $21.50 but still…an AWESOME deal!!

So right now Bass is my new best friend as is Van Heusen where I’ve also gotten great coupon deals (the two companies must somehow be related because I usually get a VH coupon from Bass).

Mama’s got a new pair of shoes and not feeling guilty about it!!