Good steward or hoarder??

We've all heard of those who do massive coupon shopping trips and stockpile all they can to save for later. Most of us do this to bless our families, but sometimes it can cross over into hoarding. I have a "store" in our back bathroom cabinets: shampoo, shaving cream, toothpaste, haircolor, soap, body wash, etc. We don't EVER run out of any of these. I buy them cheap or free and add them to the "store". When we need something we go back to our "store" and get it. This way I never, ever, ever have to pay full price for necessary toiletries. I'm not at the mercy of pricing cycles or rushed schedules to pay too much for something we are out of because I don't have time to get it cheaper. However, I have to shepherd this space and sometimes bless other families with our stockpiles.

I believe we are all called to be good stewards of our resources. Money is a resource. So are TIME and SPACE. We need to keep these in balance. By stocking up at sales, I save my family MONEY. If I plan my trips wisely, I can also save TIME by not having to make unnecessary trips for last minute "needs". However, I must strive to keep these things in balance with my SPACE. My family needs to be able to live in and enjoy our small home and not have to contend with hoarded sale items because I got caught up in the frenzy and excitement of the "deals".

Balance between all of our resources is the key to being good stewards, the difference between stewardship and hoarding.

How's your balance today?

Been to Goodwill Lately??

I LOVE my Goodwill store. It's my favorite place to shop. I buy our books there. I buy our clothes there. Shoes. Purses. Dishes. Toys. Yep, all from my Goodwill. Some goodwill stores are better than others and we have quite a few in our area that I don't bother with. I started out buying books there. Then I got the idea to list some of those books on eBay. I'd buy children's books for $.20 or textbooks for $1 or $2. Then I'd list those books and sell them for sometimes $20 or $30. I buy children's clothing for $1.99 each, baby clothes up to 24 months $.99, kids' shoes $1.99, men's shorts $3.99, purses $3.99, wallets $2.00, etc. My Goodwill store doesn't sell junk. We wear name brand clothes (Gap, Old Navy, Children's Place, Osh Kosh, Nautica, Polo, Lee, Levi's, Arizona, etc.). It was only a year ago that my kids realized the clothes we bought at Goodwill weren't new. So, if you haven't tried out your local Goodwill lately, you should. You never know what treasures might be waiting for you.

Like Marley & Me? Meet Bruce...

We have been blessed with the presence of a 6 month old Lab Puppy. He was so cute and cuddly when we brought him home to live with us at 7 weeks old. We named him Bruce after the shark in Finding Nemo (he had about that many sharp teeth). Well, now he's HUGE and wild and still cute, but not cuddly. If you've seen the movie Marley & Me you've pretty much seen Bruce. OK, this brings me to the real story...

This morning I let Bruce out in the back yard to go potty. He loves to run outside! So I came back in to fix myself a glass of tea and get my day started. When I returned to the back door to let him in, he was running circles in the back yard joyously carrying some great treasure in his mouth, completely uninterested in me. Unable to recognize this new toy he had, I put my coat on and went outside to see if he wanted to play fetch (which he usually does). Well, his new "toy" was an armadillo's tail. A smelly, been-dead-a-few-days armadillo tail. I don't know where the rest of the armadillo is. I don't know how his dead tail got in my backyard. But there I am, in my pajamas and coat and just-woke-up hairdo, chasing my dog and his rotten armadillo tail around the backyard at 6:45 in the morning and shouting (very ineffectively, I might add), "Bruce! Bruce! Come! Come here, boy! Bruuuuce! Get over here! Come!" You get the picture, right. I finally got him to drop the tail by tossing pebbles over his head. His fetching instinct kicked in and he dropped the stinky treasure. Did I mention that Bruce was my husband's idea?? I wonder if he had the armadillo tail in mind when he said to me, "We need to get a puppy. A lab puppy. It'll be so fun." Too bad hubby was out of town and didn't get to witness this morning's antics. I'm sure it would have made his day!!

Homemaking and Routines...

I have never been very successful at establishing routines and keeping my house in order. I've always struggled with knowing what to do when and having a simple enough system that would motivate me without making me feel guilty if I didn't get it all done. Homeschooling 2 kids with a toddler in tow while trying to run a household, go to nursing school and occasionally work at the hospital is a daunting proposition. The Motivated Moms planner helps me stay on top of my household tasks in a way that works for me. Granted, I don't get it all done. But I get more done than I used to and it reminds me of things that would otherwise be overlooked. There's a place for the every day stuff that I need to do, which helps me build a routine, and there are different jobs to do each day such as watering the plants, restocking the toilet paper, vacuuming the living room, cleaning out the fridge, etc. She divides all the jobs into little 5 or 10 minute chunks, which is really what I need. I might not have an hour to clean the kitchen, but I do have 5 minutes to clean the 2nd shelf of the refrigerator. Your house won't get clean all at once using this system, but you'll make steady progress that you can see and you'll have a sense of accomplishment with a record of what you've done each day towards having a cleaner, more organized home. Give it a try, you might like it. You can view some samples to see if it's what you're looking for. Here's a link: Click here to visit Motivated Moms.
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New Coupons.com Coupons...

Coupons.com has some new coupons added this week. Click on the coupons.com banner in the right sidebar to print your own coupons. These can be stacked with store coupons at Target, Walgreens, and other great stores for some whopping savings! Try it, it's fun.

Wal-Mart Samples...

In case you didn't know, Wal-Mart has a samples page on their website where you can sign up for some pretty cool free samples. Check it out here. The samples change often, so be sure to check back with them frequently. I sure enjoy getting those little surprise packages in the mail every so often! The last one I got was Parent's Choice baby formula, enough for a whole day!

Coupon Shopping at Target is Fun and Easy

Our grocery spending can be little or much, depending on how much time and effort I decide to spend on it. Sure, it's easy to stop at the store on the way home from school, throw in the basket whatever looks good and swipe my debit card at the register. But seeing that $100+ total and getting that sinking feeling in my stomach because I know I just blew any chance of us being able to have any fun this week or pay extra on our debt or put any money in savings... You get the picture. I think most of us moms have been there. So, why not put saving money on groceries a little higher on the priority list and make it FUN while you're at it? What used to be a drudgery (grocery shopping) is now quite a good time when I can leave the store with a cart overflowing with necessary stuff AND some fun stuff, too, knowing that I've only spent a smidgen of what I'd have spent before. The other day I went to my local Target (which I LOVE) and got about $200 in groceries for $45.28: 7 boxes of the kids' favorite cereal, 3 jars spaghetti sauce, toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, Cheetos, applesauce, cat food, mandarin oranges, Velveeta Shells and Cheese, Chex Mix, and tons more!! Our cabinets are stuffed to the brim with yummy stuff and a lot of the non-food stuff we need, too. I used a combination of Target store coupons and printable manufacturer coupons to do this and didn't even bother with clipping coupons out of the paper. If you'd like to print your own Target grocery coupons you can get them here. Happy Target shopping!!