Progress...

Since my change of plans on Monday/Tuesday, I have been formulating my plan of attack for moving my sewing area to the first floor and emptying out the spare bedroom. I made a huge list of things that would need to be done and I planned on starting on the list on Thursday night after work because Wednesday night was the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild meeting.

When Thursday came around, Barb told me that she would be working at the quilt shop and I figured I would stop by to see her and pick up additional fabrics that I would need for the bug jar quilt. It turned out that not all of the fabrics that I had originally picked were 'boyish.' With that mission accomplished, I was pretty tired when I got home so I probably went to bed early.

Friday night, I came home from work and got started! First, I had to straighten up the first floor and do a couple of loads of laundry. I'm sure that this happens to everyone - once you start straightening things up, you find more that you have to do. So I really only got my machine, the iron and ironing board moved to the first floor last night.

Today, I was all ready to start tackling my old desk and files when I was sent back to bed with dizziness that I can only assume was a migraine. This is the second Saturday in a row that this has happened and I was back in bed for 3 or 4 hours again before I was able to sit up without feeling like the room was spinning. Kind of annoying!

Once I was feeling up to it, I finished straightening up the first floor, the master bedroom and the upstairs hallway and I finished moving the rest of my sewing things to the first floor. It's not set up, but that is something that I can do after work next week.

I also got my grocery list and coupons in order to hit a Mega Sale tomorrow. It's the end of the first week in a two week sale, but I'm hoping to be able to make it to the store and home tomorrow without incident. And that the shelves will be well stocked!

After that, I will begin emptying the spare bedroom into this space.Of course, the laptop will be moved. lol



And I sure wish that these little boogers could help!!

Couponing - Step 1

I took a couponing class in the middle of May that was offered free from a well known local lady who has been couponing for a while. I have been working on my steps and still have a ways to go, but I feel like I am making progress most days. I promised to share what I learned here and I am finally ready to start.

The local site that I have been using is Cincy Savers. I have also been looking at blogs and other sites for deals as well, but Little Miss Know It All (aka LMKIA or Heather) who taught the class works at this site and it contains a lot of the local deals and information that I use when I prep for shopping trips. LMKIA's steps are listed on this page on the site, but she goes into a lot more detail in the class.

Step 1 is Create a Monthly Menu Plan. When Heather started discussing this step, I believe there were actually groans from the audience! I may have been one of them! lol So what you do is print off a blank calendar month and start filling in dinners for each night. When most people start this step, they think they have around 8 meals that they can make, but once they start thinking about what they can do, they are surprised to see that they have a lot more meals in their repertoire than they originally thought.

When you are filling in the calendar, put in family favorites in for one night each week and make sure that you pick a night to have one of your favorites as well. Heather said that once you have one calendar made, you can just reuse it for each month so that you are not spending the time each month to make a new calendar. Just mix up the nights a little or even leave them as they are and see how long it takes your family to notice the rotation.

Since summer eating and winter eating tend to be a little different, Heather has a spring/summer menu and a fall/winter menu.

When I worked on my menu, I decided that I would add in breakfast and lunch just to make sure that I have all of my bases covered. My plan at the start was to work on some meals that I could freeze to have portions for lunches as well. This way, I could eat healthier at work with home made meals instead of eating frozen dinners with the extra preservatives.

The task seemed very daunting at first! But once I figured out my breakfasts, and added in my easy dinners that involved a can of vegetables, a piece of cheese and a piece of bread, I was good to go. I figured out that if I made 3, maybe 4 meals, at the beginning of each month and then freeze the portions individually, that I can still have a variety of meals to eat for lunches and dinner for the remainder of the month and I shouldn't get burnt out on anything.

For this menu, I won't have to change it for each season because I just identified the times that I would eat a frozen portion and I can change up whatever casseroles or meals that I make at the beginning of the month. After talking to a couple of the other ladies who took the class, I think that this was the purpose of the menu plan - to know that you have the ability to make things ahead of time so that you can plan what to get at the store when it's on sale. The menu plan is more of a fluid idea so that you know what to expect ahead of time for planning purposes.

A side bonus for the freezing of meals is that I haven't been buying a lot of food at the cafeteria at work and I have been able to watch what I have been eating a little better. I have lost 5.5 lbs so far!

The dogs wanted to remind me to include them on the menu plan. They like bones!

Weekend so far

Oh, progress! Sweet progress!! I'm so glad that you are here with me AND that tomorrow is a holiday so that I can relax a little!

My plans got a little derailed on Friday when Jodi, my coupon 'teacher,' texted me that a local grocery store was having a TRIPLE coupon weekend. Of course, we couldn't pass that up! She said that she was getting her coupons together and would meet me at the store with her boys. I ran home to drop some things off and pee the dogs and she texted me that she had car trouble and we would have to meet up later. Then, she fell asleep!

While I was waiting for her, I worked on the painting a little and got things cleaned up. When Jodi finally woke up, we decided that we would meet up first thing in the morning to get it done. We shopped with the boys for around 4 hours and then heading to McDonald's for lunch. It was glorious! I saved 89% and only spent $17.89!! Here is the picture of my trunk with my goodies.



I was able to get my binder in order (something from my to do list!) on Friday night before we headed out on Saturday so I was more familiar with my coupons and it made it easier to find the coupons as well as know what I could pick up in the store for a good deal.



Last night, as I was wrapping things up at home, I decided to make a pile of my purchases to get them out of the way. I need to clean up a spot in the basement and move one of my shelving units to organize my stockpile there. That will probably be my next big thing to get done before even painting the bedrooms.



When I got home from lunch, I put my cold groceries away and let the dogs out and then headed to the other store and Walgreen's for the deals that I was planning on getting on Friday before the interruption of Triple coupons. Altogether, I spent $28.57 at Marsh's and saved $185.23. A savings of 86.6%! I'm pretty proud of that!


And after all the excitement, I needed a nap before I got busy on the painting. But I did get some painting done and thisclose to being finished with the first floor. Here's my updated list.

1. Fill in nail holes in quarter round (kitchen, hallway, bathroom)

2. Touch up yellow paint in kitchen and bathroom

3. Touch up tan paint in hallway

4. Fix trim paint where needed

5. Paint inside of front door

6. Touch up ceiling paint in bathroom and stairwell

7. Touch up tan paint in stairwell

8. Fix primer in upstairs bathroom including re-primering where needed

9. Paint upstairs bathroom ceiling

10. Paint upstairs bathroom walls

11. Reassemble kitchen

And here are some pictures of just the front hall. I think that the white looks sharp against the wood and the walls!

The rest of the condo has stained trim and it wasn't installed very well in quite a few spots. With the age of the condo and the wood work, it just looked messy when I moved in and it doesn't look any better now. Once I replace the carpeting in the house, I will be replacing the wood trim with white as well. But that is not in the near future. At least I can see what it will look like with these rooms finished. I love it!

And now, I gotta get back to work! :)

A busy few days

It's been a busy week and hasn't been conducive to blogging. I still have to write my book reviews for Thursday and answer my PIGS question for the week. :)

Wednesday night, I went to my coupon class and learned so much! I have gotten permission to write a blog post and include the steps that we learned in the class. We also got a ton of coupons in a goodie bag for registering for the class!

After class, I went to my old friend Jodi's house and met her husband and kids. We made plans to get a group together to make up our coupon binders and talk coupons. I'm very excited!

Since I was out so late on Wednesday, I didn't do much on Thursday night except watch some TV and clip some coupons.

Friday was a big day for me! I took the day off from work to work on some home improvements. I had originally planned on painting in the upstairs bathroom, but I ended up working solely on the first floor in the kitchen, entry way and bathroom. I started by filling in nail holes in the trim that I was going to paint - I still need to fill in the holes in the wood quarter round trim. Next, I scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees and then washed the trim so it was ready for paint. While I was washing the trim, I went ahead and washed some spots on the wall and the place is really looking great!

Once I finished that, I ate lunch and headed out for some shopping and errands. I stopped at a couple of stores to pick up the deals for the week and I got lucky and got some great coupons at one of the grocery stores. I also picked up some Rubbermaid (sale) and Ziplock containers (with a coupon) and Ziplock bags (sale AND coupons!) so that I can start making meals and putting servings in the freezer for future use.



I also got the binder inserts that I need to make a coupon binder. Woo hoo!!



Best of all, I got paint at the Home Depot and there is a $5 rebate on Behr paint! I plan on going back tomorrow to get 3 gallons that I will need for the bedroom switch!



It was a great few days, but man was I pooped! I'm glad that I took the day off of work to get all of this done!