Merry Christmas!

This year our Christmas did not go exactly as planned, but it was still wonderful!

Poor Emma got sick that Monday morning with a high fever, and it held until Wednesday {Christmas Eve}. Then as we were literally about to walk out the door and head to our festivities for the night, she started vomiting. So we obviously did not end up going.

Luckily her fever went down a little bit, and she was decent for Christmas morning. She was such a trooper! The one year we didn't get her a flu shot {parent fail?}...

Needless to say, we will not be forgetting to do that, ever again!

This year was our year to host the holiday at our home, and it was a nice, cozy, all-day affair! Howard, the girls and I woke up at 6am and opened our presents, and Santa's of course! He then promptly left at 8am to ride with the Fire Department, and their Santa, to pass out presents and candy canes down the streets of our district! He loved it, and it was fun to watch him do it! 

Our families got to our house around 8:30, and unloaded their gifts. We ate breakfast together, and waited for Howard to come down our street. Once he got home, we started opening family gifts. Once that was behind us, we started dinner. 

It was definitely nice how it lasted all day long, rather than just finishing with the festivities quickly. I did not capture too many photos, since I was busy hosting, taking care of a sick kiddo, and chasing after a 15 month old! 

Yup, that's right! Haylee turned 15 months old on Christmas Day!

But here is a little of what I did manage to capture this Holiday Season:

We hope your Holiday was just as amazing!

Coupons!

While I am not the first to jump into the coupon pool, 

I now understand how it can become addictive!

About six to nine months ago I decided to become a coupon-er. 

Now I'm not talking Extreme Coupon-ing status or anything, just enough to be able to feed my family and score some awesome deals on gifts, etc...

And let me tell you, when I look at my receipt and see how much I have saved in one shopping trip, it makes all the time I spend finding coupons well worth it!

So far, I have found deals for free food, extra gas rewards, and have become quite found of those Manufacturers coupons they print out for you at check-out! 

I know that this is not a new concept, 

but it sure does make ME feel good to save money for my little family!

And while my shopping trips have now turned into very long, sometimes stressful {because of the kiddos} expeditions, it is again worth it!

My Coupon-ing routine:

• The day I am planning on shopping, I will plan out what it is I need the most and try my hardest to stick to the plan! 
• I will then decide which stores I should go to. Depending on if they might have a sale going on that I know of or not.
• I will then go to my trusty coupon apps {which I will list later} and "clip" the ones that I need. Some you have to print, some you don't.
• After I find some new coupons, I will go through my previous coupons and organize the ones that I will be using for that particular shopping trip.
• After I have printed the ones that need printing, I throw those in the mix with the ones from my coupon clutch, then I'm ready to go!

What I use for Coupon-ing:

•  I organize my printed/clipped coupons in my coupon clutch, courtesy of Thirty-One! 

        ~ I have the pockets organized by Manufacturer, then by my most shopped stores.

           Then inside each pocket, I have the individual coupons sorted by expiration date 

{oldest to newest}.

Find this product HERE

• For my printed coupons, I find them on the following apps and websites: 

Coupons.com

All Things Target

Hopster

ShopAtHome

Baby Cheapskate

The Krazy Coupon Lady

• The apps that I use are the following {please note that not all these apps have coupons. Some I use for their amazing deals and steals!}:

  Safeway

Fred Meyer

Cartwheel {by Target}

Target

Coupons.com

RetailMeNot

Hobby Lobby

Costco

Starbucks

Amazon

Amazon Local

Groupon

• And a little trick that I have found, is that if you go to a companies Facebook page {i.e. Earth's Best} and 'Like' them, you have the option of receiving coupons from their page! I do this quite often now, as well.

With all of the ways to save these days, it's kind of hard for me to understand why people don't coupon! Actually, I do understand: it is very time consuming. But for me, it ends up to be well worth my time! I hope that you enjoy finding a good deal, just as much as I do! 

And if you have not heard of some of these sites and/or apps, I hope you check them out and realize how easy it is becoming to save money on everyday things!

I COUPON! DO YOU?