Tall Bloggers at Blogher!

First of all you need to get some perspective of this photo.
I am 5'10" tall. I am almost always the tallest woman in a room! For some reason both at Blissdom and Blogher I did not feel uncomfortable. I had some tall blogger company!! I was standing at the Nikon party behind these two woman and I interrupted them to tell them, "I just have to get a picture with the two of you, you are so tall...I love it!".
We are all standing flat footed. I do not think either of them had on heels..I know I did not.
This was Angie McCullagh from Half Assed Kitchen and All Aditer and Georgia Getz from i am bossy
They were so sweet to take a picture with me..a total tall stranger.

This is my buddy Kim from Crafty Mama of 4. I met her in person at Blissdom and then again at Blogher.
I love feeling shorter than other woman. I know it sounds dumb as so many ladies would love to be taller. Here is a secret...when I was in school I would be the first to take off my roller skates at skating parties. Just so I could walk around in my socks while others were still in their skates and were taller than me. LOL
Sorry tall ladies if you find me hanging around you at future Blogging conventions....it just makes me feel good to "fit" in and see other woman face to face.

Adventures in Couponing

For those of you I have discussed this with you know that I am getting into this kicking and screaming! I have tried using coupons in the past and my theory has always been that I can save more money buying generic than using the coupons.
After a meet up with some other Columbus blogging moms I decided I had to try it. See, one of our moms is Ellen from Thrifty Chic Mom. She is a couponing queen. But get this...2 of the moms who are going to try and come to our next meet up (this was our first) are both huge into couponing too! (I think it is a sign Sandy...you HAVE to try this). They are Marcy from Stretching a Buck and Tara from Dealing Seeking Mom.
Ellen told me, "I never pay for toilet paper, I never pay for toothbrushes." and she named a couple others...I was like, "What....How....huh????"

She gave us a little run down on how it works. (She has a tutorial on her site)
So I said I would try it. I knew I would have to make up a coupon notebook.(Kim from Crafty Mama of 4 did a guest post a couple weeks back about making up one, and Ellen also has one on her site.) That took me a most of Saturday to do. Make sure you get dividers that are wide enough to show past the edges of your baseball card holders. I also labeled my coupon pages at the bottom with a labeler to help divide them even better. Making it fast and easy to find your coupons will help in your over all experience.

Here are a few tips from me when you go on your first adventure:
* Do not take kids if at all possible (especially three 8 year olds! LOL)
* Do not pick a New grocery store to do your first adventure out because it is
bigger and has better selection (DH idea). I didn't know where anything was.
* Make sure you have it all planned out ahead of time. Do not try to figure out
what you are going to buy when you get there and then look for that coupon.
I did...and can't imagine if I had not had it planned out.

I am not sure how much money I saved. I mean I know I used about $15 in coupons that came off at the end. The receipt said I saved $67 (with Kroger savings). But I also know I bought things I wouldn't have. It will give us more food, for a longer time....so I guess that is good. I made sure things were less with sales and coupons than with generic. So that is all positive.
I still have to give this some time and feel like I get the system down before I can give it a full review. I have not tackled CVS or Walgreens yet. CVS seems even more confusing with the Extra Care Bucks.
We spent $199 (keep in mind we are buying for 7) which filled two carts (3 when bagged up). DH always likes to estimate what the total is when they are checking us out. He is usually pretty close. He guessed $280. (If you add that $67 he would have been close). He felt it was worth it. My decision is still out, but I will give it more time.
I am going to try and get some coupon resources on my site for you though. So watch for those. Coupon Queen I don't see in my future, but you never know. I have heard this is addicting.
The kids were trying to figure out why in the world I was taking a picture of the groceries! LOL

Don't miss this Week's Guest Blog with Kim from Crafty Mama of 4!

Make sure to read about how to organize your coupons. Kim has gotten into "couponing" big time and has outlined how to make a coupon notebook to help you keep all your coupons organized.

Guest Blogger - Crafty Mama of 4 - Kim

Kim and I met on Twitter and have become twitter/blogging buddies! We both knew that we were going to be at Blissdom but I had no idea how we were going to find each other in the 250 woman that were there. Ali and I no sooner walked in but Kim and Beth (Plus Size Mommy) spotted us and said hi! We had a great time with them. Kim has been more than generous with me in teaching me things about this blogging world. You will have to visit her site Crafty Mama of 4. Thank you Kim for being my guest blogger today.
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I want to start this post by saying I am honored that Sandy asked me to do this for her! Sandy was one of the first people I "clicked" with on Twitter and we became instant friends. Thanks Sandy, I hope your readers enjoy my input.

I recently started "couponing" after hearing lots of people talk about how much money they save using coupons. I used to do it a little, but this time I jumped in full force and I have had great results. When I said I jumped in full force I really meant it, I made arrangements with the manager of the convenience store down the street from me, and every Monday morning I go pick up the leftover Sunday papers. This results in me having around 25 copies of each coupon insert per week, that's a lot of coupons to organize and keep track of and here's how I do it!

I use a coupon binder.

Here are the steps I took to set up my binder.

I started by buying (or finding around the house) the following items:
*A zipper binder (I actually have to use 2! One for food and the other for everything else)
*Sports card album pages (9 slots per page)
*A cheap 3 ring photo album (remove the pages to use)
*Clear plastic page protectors
*Tabbed dividers
*Address Labels
*Zipper Pouch for Supplies

In the front of my binder I have a zipper pocket where I keep pens, sticky notes, scissors, and paper slips. I also keep the current store ads in the accordion section in the front.

I have divided my album with tabs into main categories. Each section then includes sports card pages (on right) and photo album pages (on left) to hold the coupons. I sues the photo album pages to hold oversize coupons and when I have too many of one coupon to fit in the baseball card slot.

I use address labels to label the first pages in each subsection so I can quickly find what I am looking for.

I have the coupons in order by the layout of my primary store which is Giant Eagle. Here is how I have organized my categories and subcategories:

*Baby and Kid
-Diapers and wipes
-Bath/hygiene items
-Food
*Food
-Bread
-Baking
-Beverages
-Candy
-Snacks
-Cereal/breakfast
-Soup
-Canned
-Fruit
-pasta
-Rice
-Potatoes
-Sauces
-Mexican/Chinese
-Dressings
-Seasonings
-PB&J
-Frozen dinners
-Frozen Veggies
-Frozen Sweets
-Frozen (whatever else is left)
-Meat
-Dairy
*Pharmacy
*Household
-Paper
-Plastic
-Dish washing
-Laundry
-Cleaning
-Air fresheners
-Batteries/light bulbs
*Health and Beauty
-Dental
-Shaving
-Feminine
-Make up
-Hair Care
-Soap
-Deodorant
-First aide
-Lotions
*Pet Products
-Cat
-Dog

I also have a section for rebates where I keep the receipts, upcs and forms, I need to send in mail in rebates. Each rebate has its own clear page protector where I put all the required documentation for that rebate.

*Restaurant/Store coupons

When I am ready to go to the store I look through the ads and match up my coupons that I want to use. the site I like to use for coupon match ups is Deal Seeking Mom . I make a list on a large sticky note of the items I want to buy and I stick it to the front of the ad. Then I take out all of the coupons I have cut out for a particular item and paperclip then together and place them in a smaller coupon file that is divided by store with one section in the back where I put the coupons I don't use that need refiled. Then it's off to the store for me and my coupons! I take my large binder to the store with me also jut in case I missed something or find a great deal that was not advertised.
Organizing my coupons this way had made it very easy to find what i need quickly and efficiently. I have saved so much money with my coupons in the last few months I have even surprised myself! The best tip I can give you is to stock up when things are on sale and you have coupons for them. You may not need scalloped potatoes this week but when you do you will be glad you bought them with your coupons!
There is SO much more I could go into about how I use my coupons, but I am sticking to just the organizing aspect of my couponing adventure since this is an organizing site! If you have any questions about something I didn't cover in this post (or something I did) please e-mail me at craftymamaof4@gmail.com

KIM