Sneak Peak of Master Bedroom

This is part of our Master Bedroom. I LOVE the colors we have. Grey, White and Black. It's so clean and neutral (so its guy friendly and not too girly) :-) Make your master bedroom a relaxing place, but yet still romantic. I will be posting more pictures soon.

Coupon Lingo

Here is some good to know Lingo in the Coupon World. It would be good to keep with your clipboards until you are familiar with it all. Click Here

The Best Hairspray out there, Hands down

 I am going on 11 years as a Licensed Cosmetologist. I have tried 100's of products. This is the Hairspray I will use the rest of my life.  I have used it for 7 years now. This volume spray provides the maximum amount of volume and hold possible. It leaves hair looking natural and shiny while imparting the strength and volume necessary to make any style last all day. (AND WITHOUT making your hair feel stiff.) It rocks!! Once you try it you will never switch again :)

Coupon Store Sheet

Here is my Coupon Sheet I take on my clip board to Walmart when I go Couponing. I hope it will help you all stay a little more organized. Here is the link for a FREE download
Click Here 
If you are interested in Couponing don't forget to check the Coupon 101 for more.

Valentines Day Idea for Husbands

The month of Love is coming. This is a fun Valentines idea to do for your Husbands. I am going to do it for mine :) Here is a link where I found it Click Here. Enjoy!!!

The Best Fruit Dip

This is my favorite fruit dip. The best fruit to use is Apples, Strawberries or Bananas. I think there is a lot of fruit dips out there that are too tangy, this one is perfect and oh so creamy! One package of cream cheese, one 7oz jar of marshmallows cream and just one spoon full of strawberry banana yogurt. That's it, so simple but yet so delicious. :) Enjoy!

Kitchen Makeover

I LOVE to decorate. It is always so fun to see the results of where you started and end. I know a lot of people are afraid of the color red, but I think if you have the right tone it works great! The color I used in my kitchen is "Posh Red" by Valspar signature paint. I would love to paint my cabinets white at some point. I just need to wait for summer time :) Here is the before and after pictures. Enjoy and don't be afraid to use bold colors!

Before

AFTER............

Coupon Box

This is my first coupon helper I have to keep me organized. :)  Its perfect size for coupons and it snaps shut. I made my own dividers out of scrapbook card stock and tabs. (I will be putting a file up with some section ideas.) I paper clip all of the same coupons together and put them behind the section they belong. When I go to the store I decide on what ones I am going to be using, and I put them in the front so I don't have to worry about them until I get to the register. Piece of cake!!

The next coupon helper I have is my clip board. This is where I list everyone of my coupons I plan on using. I have a section for each "bigger category" this one in the picture is for Household items. I have a column where I know how many of each item I need (this helps so much, you don't have to pull out your coupons each time to see how many you need), then I have a column for what item to get, price match column, (remember in my previous post that I do all of my coupons at Walmart so that's why I have a price match column), coupon column, and a should pay column. When I go through the store I have a highlighter to mark which things I have in my cart. If you notice on my sheet I don't have a price match for each item yet. I will wait until I can get a really good deal before I buy it. But the point of the clip board is,. Once I cut all my coupons I write them ALL down on my paper in the categories so I know what deals to look for. I hope this all makes sense. Just ask if you have any questions. I also have all the store policies on my clip board in the back so if I have any problems I pull it out!

Supplies to get started:

Box that snaps shut (4x6 or 5x7) then you wont have to fold any coupons

Dividers for sections (I just made mine)

Tabs for sections (I will post a FREE download with tab ideas soon)

Pen

Highlighter

Clip board

Coupon sheet for the store (I will post a FREE download of mine soon)

Coupon Policies for the stores you will go to.

Quiet time bins/Activity Box

Since my oldest son has been trying to give up naps.(He gets one about every 3 days) I decided to make a box for each day of the week with different activities that are quiet. At nap time he gets to do whatever is in that days bin. I rotate with different activities and books every couple of weeks. He loves them. I made labels for them and laminated them to put on the outside of each one. Here are my Labels you can use for your personal use
 http://www.scribd.com/doc/78956994
 (the font will change to a cuter one once you download it for free)  Here are some pictures of ours for some ideas :-) Enjoy!!!

Coupon Binder VS. Coupon Box

I have been couponing for over 5 years now. I started out using the Coupon Binder method and used that for YEARS. I loved it! I am a visual person so it was great for me. BUT, it always seemed like a lot of time always putting/folding in new coupons in and out of all the baseball card slots. So just recently I switched to just a plain coupon box. I LOVE IT!! It is less time and every coupon either web coupons or newspaper coupons fit without me having to fold them. I am all about saving time. So my point is both are great, just for me the coupon box is perfect. I will be posting how to set up each one and you can choose which one you want to use. Also I will have a package that you can buy for the coupon box if you want me to set it up for you and have everything you would need to get started!

Tawnya's Red Potato Salad

This has become a Favorite side dish at our home. I could eat the whole bowl, I love it so much. I always make it a little bit different each time but I will share with you what I am doing tonight :-) I don't have an exact measurement of things I always eye ball what looks good to me. You can be the judge on how much of everything you want in it.

Ingredients: Butter in skillet with cut up Red Potato's, Freeze dried dill, chives,Garlic salt California style, Parmesan cheese, All of those first ingredients I put on while cooking in the skillet, so it gets all of the flavor while cooking. Once it's all tender I transfer to a mixing bowl and add: Mayo, Mustard, Walla Walla sweet onion mustard with dill ( you can get it Here) one spoonful is all you need of the Walla Walla Mustard. Then I stir in some salad supreme. Serve warm. Enjoy!!

Get Pumped for Couponing

I know a lot of people are just not sure that clipping coupons is worth the time they have to spend. However if you know the secrets / process you CAN really save a lot of money.

When you first start couponing, you want to save as much money as possible. Believe me, I was once there too! But, just take everything one step at a time. It usually takes 2- 3 months for new couponers to feel completely comfortable learning all of the coupon rules and tricks. So if you can steady yourself until then and just do your best, you will be on the road to saving some serious money!

When you are brand new to couponing, it can be really overwhelming trying to get deals at different stores, understand all of the coupon policies and learn how to use coupons on top of it all.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to start with one store at a time- working from the easiest to the hardest. So, start with a Walmart or a Target. Their couponing policies are pretty basic and you won’t have to deal with Register Rewards or Extra Care Bucks or other weird promotions from stores. (Some people will go to all the different stores to get more incentives BUT personally I do all of my shopping at Walmart. I price match everything so I only have to go to one store. Sometimes they don't carry everything but more than likely they have the items I need to get. I will go in more detail later about the Walmart price match system.) After you have been using your coupons at one of the easier stores, feel comfortable knowing the coupon policy and how to make the store work for you, then you can move on to another store.

Some must knows:
1. ‘One coupon per purchase’ does NOT mean separate transactions. You may use one manufacturers coupon for each item you buy. ‘Per purchase’ means each item you purchase.

2. Using coupons helps the store! They are paid by the manufacturer for each coupon you use, so don’t ever feel guilty about using coupons. Not only are the stores paid by the manufacturer, but they are given a handling fee as well. This is anywhere from 7-15 cents for EACH coupon!

3. Manufacturers coupons may be used along with store coupons. That means for every manufacturers coupon you have that matches a store coupon, you may use both coupons together and double your savings! This is also what is meant by ‘stacking’ coupons.

4. Don’t cut your coupons on Sunday and then use them on Monday! Wait and watch for sales to pair them up with. This increases your savings 4-5 times! If you have multiple sets of coupons, you are able to stock up when prices are rock bottom. You will feed your family and add to your storage at the same time

5. You can’t be brand specific. I know there will be some things you are going to stick with, but for the most part you have to be flexible. Anymore the quality of most products are very comparable. Not being brand specific is the only way you can take advantage of the best deals with coupons.

6. Ask yourself these questions before clipping a coupon: Will my family use the product? Even if I snag it for free, will it get used? Can it be donated? Don’t save the coupon if you answer NO to all these questions.

7. Take baby steps, be positive, and remember: Every coupon you use is money you save!

Store Coupon Policy

So the best advice I can't stress enough is, make sure you stand up for the companies policy on coupons. I ALWAYS make sure before I go to the store that I have their coupon policy with me. I can't tell you how many times I have to pull it out of my coupon box (which I will later show you) and show it to the Cashier and sometimes even a Manager that isn't fully aware of the policy. It has saved me on so many occasions! Here are some links for some stores on their Coupon Policy. (I wont have every store, but if you go to their website you can search coupon policy and print it.)

*Walmart Coupon Policy
*Target Coupon Policy
*Fred Meyer Coupon Policy
*Walgreen's Coupon Policy
*Safeway Coupon Policy


I will be having more info coming on my tips and tricks with coupons and everything you will need to get started.

Here I go...

Ok here I go.............into the Blog world. I am really excited about this but yet still trying to figure it all out at the same time! I hope you will stop by often so I will have support on this whole new blog world :-)  I have so many fun ideas I will be putting on here very soon. So come back often and I promise I wont disappoint you!