There are probably hundreds of “how to coupon” posts around the web, as well as entire blogs, websites, and forums dedicated to the subject. Since it’s something that saves me a good bit of money, I figured I’d blog a bit about it here as well. This post has gotten longer and longer, so I’ll post it as part of a series. Who knows how long the series will get.

One of the first things you’ll need to get started is a source of coupons. You could have the paper delivered for coupons, or stop somewhere on Sundays and pick up a paper just for coupons. Another option is to have people save you their coupons. There’s also a gas station by my house where a man comes every Sunday just to read the paper – when he’s done, he leaves the paper behind. The cashier there has told me she’s willing to save those coupons for me. Of course, I just never remember to get them!

The bulk of my coupons come from my father-in-law. He saves me the coupons from their paper, but he also works at a restaurant. He often stops by on Sundays to pick up the paper there after it’s been read, and passes those coupons on to me as well.

The rest of the coupons I use are mostly ordered from a coupon clipping service. I personally prefer eBay, simply because I can do all the searching from one website. You can order coupons in lots (as in “Lot of 75 baby-related coupons”) or in multiples of coupons (search by typing something like “Folgers coupon”). I like to get multiples of specific coupons. Depending on how valuable the coupon is (especially if it will make an item free), prices vary. You can often get multiples of 10 to 20 coupons for somewhere between $1.50 and $2. Shipping ranges from the price of a stamp to over $1 for a set of coupons. Those aren’t set prices, just a rough average of what I’ve seen.

Thecouponclippers.com is another coupon service I’ve used. They’re pretty fast with shipping and have a pretty good selection. I also like that you can order just a few of each coupon that you want. They do have a minimum order, but it’s a pretty low amount ($3).

There are other coupons besides the ones in Sunday papers. Some of those are called blinkies, catalinas, and internet printables (IP’s). Blinkies are the coupons in the little boxes in the grocery store aisles. They have a tiny little light on them that blink to attract your attention. Most of the blinkies I’ve seen usually say Do Not Double on them (more on that later). Catalinas are the coupons that are printed when the cashier rings up your order.

Internet printables are just that – coupons you print from the internet. There are several sites where you can go to print them. I personally don’t use them very often for three reasons. One is because most of the time, there was a better coupon in the Sunday paper. Another reason is they’re often for items I don’t use (more on that later too). My third reason is stores around here are starting to either not accept them or they severely limit the number you can use.

Monday: Organizing coupons

Samuel had his first dentist appointment today. It went so well! The best part about a first dentist appointment – getting your own gloves and mask to take home!

I wish I’d taken my camera with me though. After the hygienist was done, we were waiting for the dentist to come examine his teeth. He wanted to play with his mask and gloves, so I let him. The sight of him with that paper clipped around his neck, mask on, and gloves on really cracked me up. This picture will have to do, but the one in my memory is far better!

After reading Susan’s post about putting her Etsy shop on Facebook, I decided to post here that I’ve put my jewelry store on Facebook as well.

It’s actually been on Facebook for a while, but it’s taken a bit to get it set up just right. And really, I didn’t even think to post on my blog about it until I read Susan’s blog this morning. Thanks, Susan!

It would be nice to get the word out about Hope of My Heart Designs a little bit more. Maybe this will help. If you like the page, feel free to become a fan!

Hope of My Heart Designs Facebook Page

Yesterday afternoon Stephen sent me to go take a nap. When I woke up, Stephen had fallen asleep in the recliner and Samuel was folding laundry. He tries so hard to be my helper.

I had to laugh at the way he had everything spread out over the couch, the floor, and even the hearth. He was trying though!

What I thought was especially sweet of him is this not the first time I’ve found him folding clothes while I’ve napped. He knows he needs to be quiet if Mommy needs a nap, so he’s turned to folding laundry more than once. What a sweet boy!

Today it seemed like almost everything we did revolved around honey.

This morning I started crushing the comb to remove the honey. It was a messy process, but it was fun. The smell of honey is such a beautiful smell! I put the honey and comb into jars like we did last June and set them outside in the sun to drain. I couldn’t figure out what was taking them so long – it was plenty warm enough outside today (almost 90).

When Stephen and I did more honey later today we decided that part of the problem was that layer of cheesecloth I’d added was too thick. *Note to self – only use 4 layers next time. It’s the way it comes straight out of the package.* We also dampened it slightly and made sure it wasn’t too tight in between the canning ring. The changes worked. If I’d done it that way earlier this morning, the jars I did then would probably have been done by now. Oh well.

Then I got curious and did a search for the weight compared to volume of honey. My kitchen scale only goes to 16 ounces, so that was out, and our bathroom scale needs to be replaced. I learned that a quart jar holds about three pounds of honey, and a gallon jar holds about 12. Wow.

It was fun to go through and see which honey the bees made this year and which honey was from last year. This year’s honey is so light-colored that we separated all the new comb out and put that in separate containers. It is so pretty!

So of what we’ve done so far, depending on how much wax and debris filters out, we have around 37 pounds of honey sitting on my counters at the moment. Not nearly as much as we’d first thought, but we’re not done yet and we didn’t bring it all home with us either. I’m thankful for what we do have!

There is one more good-sized bucket left to do, but the smell of the smoker is still a little evident in that batch. We had already planned on saving honey to feed our bees with over the winter, so that entire bucket will be saved for that purpose. It will eventually get strained too, but probably not in the next couple of days.

Since all of our hives this year are first-year hives, we weren’t expecting to harvest much honey. Stephen doing a cutout wasn’t exactly what we’d expected either. Even though this isn’t quite as much as we had originally thought, it’s still a LOT of honey. It looks like enough to get our family through the next several months as well as enough to feed our bees this coming winter. Anything after that is just an added bonus.

Sunday – breakfast for lunch – biscuits and honey, bacon (this wasn’t planned, but it was fast so that worked)
Monday – tacos
Tuesday – chicken enchilada crockpot casserole from the Saving Dinner cookbook
Wednesday – pancakes and bacon
Thursday – burgers
Friday – homemade pizza
Saturday – chicken alfredo and some sort of pasta

Breakfasts – cereal, eggs, oatmeal, muffins, grits, biscuits

Lunches – leftovers, egg salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, etc.

You can read more menu plans over at Organizing Junkie.

Stephen spent almost 10 hours today removing a beehive from somebody’s shed. Of course, the boys and I had adventures trying to find a new bee supply store to bring him supplies as he ran out, but we finally found it. It was a beautiful day for a drive today, and the area we were driving in had a great view of Crowder’s Mountain.

Anyway, here’s a pic of the shed before he took the first board off:

Here’s a pic of the shed after he took the board off:

He brought home a TON of honey – he’s thinking almost 75 pounds. Woohoo! We have a lot of work removing it from the comb in the next few days. It’s sitting in buckets on my dining room table at the moment. We’ll use the crush and strain method once we get started, but that probably won’t be until Monday. It’s too involved to think about doing on a Sunday!

We also gained two more regular beehives’ worth of bees from it all. He’ll probably head back on Monday to get the rest of the hive he left up there.

After washing dishes tonight, I was wiping up in the kitchen and stepped into the laundry room to put something away. I was almost blown away by the smell in there. It was awful!

It was a dish towel that we had used to wipe up some spilled milk the other day. I draped it on the washer to dry out first so it wouldn’t stink up our bedroom (where the laundry hamper is). Then I managed to forget about it. Until tonight.

Silly me. I knew it would stink up our room but somehow managed to forget it’d stink up the laundry room. Oops. It’s in the washer right now with a little bit of bleach added for the smell.

As long as the forgetfulness doesn’t extend to something more important than a dish towel. . .

I haven’t been posting our menu plans all that much lately, but we really have been following a menu plan. Somewhat, at least.

Twice a month, I make out a menu plan for those two weeks (usually works out to two weeks and a couple days). I do a big grocery shop twice a month too, with an occasional trip for milk or perishables in between.

Here’s our menu plan for this week:

Monday – homemade fresh peach ice cream and cornbread at the in-laws. Not the healthiest, but definitely yummy and it is a family tradition (Stephen’s family has been serving ice cream and cornbread together since his grandmother – I’d love to know if anyone did it before her!)

Tuesday – tossed salads and fresh cantaloupe

Wednesday – Pasta Salad Primavera from the Saving Dinner cookbook. It’s full of fresh veggies and really yummy.

Thursday – BLT’s

Friday – homemade pizza

Saturday – spaghetti

Breakfasts – oatmeal, eggs, biscuits, muffins, grits, etc

Lunches – sandwiches, egg salad, mac and cheese, tortilla wraps, leftovers, etc