Couponing Mama

I have all sorts of hobbies – I love cooking (including Freezer Cooking) , Candle making, I trade and collect postcards from around the world, I’ve sold Avon for 11 years and in October of this year, I began selling Jamberry Nails as well. I am also an avid “Super” couponer - I am sure, by now, that most of you out there in Bloggy Land have seen or at least heard of Extreme Couponing.

The majority of the people that have appeared on that show are, in my opinion, nothing but selfish, glorified hoarders. There is no reason for any logical person to have 500 bottles of ketchup or 200 boxes of cereal (that will never get eaten before they go stale). Imagine all of the hungry people that they could help but instead, they choose to keep all of this stuff, just for the self-satisfaction. Blech!

There are many of us sane people out there that still want to take advantage of the same secrets that the Extreme Hoarders do, just on a much smaller, more reasonable scale. I do just that, week after week, and now, via a short and easy to follow weekly series, I’m going to teach you! Yay!

So, grab a notebook and pen, find room in your house for some extra shelving, and find some extra room in your wallet for all of the money you’re going to save!

Mrs. Mama's Super Couponing series starts on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 and will continue every Tuesday thereafter. Don’t miss out!

Horde-Be-Gone!

I have recently decided that, this house needs to be better organized! This sounds fairly straightforward, right? Not so fast! Prior to me moving into the Hubmeister’s abode, said Hubmeister had lived happily as a semi-hoarder. Every available cabinet/shelf/closet/room was full of stuff – stuff that he had barely/never used but nonetheless “needed”.  

For a long time, all I could get him to do was to move stuff from one place to another (kind of like that puzzle game from childhood, where you have to move one piece at a time until the picture is complete). So, slowly (painfully slowly) I have bent Hubmeister to my will school of thought and we have finally purged a great deal from his dark days of hoarding.

With all of this new found real estate, I have finally gotten the Hubmeister to give me 4 huge shelves in what used to be the garbage/recycling closet and is now officially a pantry (Gasp!). He also built a lovely two sectioned cabinet in the kitchen to house the garbage/recycling and pots, pans, and Tupperware. With the introduction of the pantry, this freed up an entire 3 shelf cabinet that is now mainly storage for baby bottles and other baby food paraphernalia. PROGRESS!

My next goal is to go through all of the remaining kitchen cabinets and purge/organize them. Two whole (3 shelf) cabinets are used almost solely for storing the cooking appliances that I barely use. A lot of these items are not cheap but still, I barely use them. I guess it is going to come down to purge or vow to start using them. Another 3 shelf cabinet is used exclusively for liquor and cocktail glasses and let me assure you, dear reader, that bad boy is going nowhere! ;)

Another goal that I have had in mind for a very long time is a household notebook. You know, kind of like the master manual for the house. So, when something goes wrong with the new fridge, instead of freaking out, trying to remember where the hell we put the warranty info, we will know exactly where it is.

The sections I think I would include, in no particular order, would be:

·         Daily Tab (Each day’s to-do list transferred from main to-do list, days goals etc…)

·         Emergency info

·         House Management and Maintenance (cleaning schedule and chore checklists, home inventory and other insurance info, car maintenance schedules, warranty information, vehicle records)

·         Home Improvement Projects (Ideas, estimates, business cards etc…)

·         Family Goals (and steps to achieving those goals, formatted as checklists)

·         Phone numbers

·         Health Records (Human and Pet)

·         Planning (to-do lists, calendars, etc…)

·         Money (budget/spending, bills, credit card list, utilities/services directory)

·         Menu planning (including freezer cooking plans, regular menu plans, special occasion menus, freezer inventory, shopping lists, take out menus etc…)

·         School (school information, school schedules, special events, and holiday lists, carpool schedules, lunch menus etc…)

·         Travel and Activities

·         Misc.

There are so many versions on the web, I’m not sure which way I’m going to go quite yet.

Have you made a Home Management binder or something similar? What sections do you use and what’s inside of those sections? Do you use printables you found on the net or did you design your own? Tell me about it!

Just Little Ol' Me

"Children are a great comfort in your old age. And they help you reach it faster, too." - Lionel Kauffman

As I venture on this exciting, brand new journey of parenthood, I am going to make sure to bring my sense of humor with me. What is this crazy life worth if you can’t laugh at yourself and all of the crap that happens around you?!

I’ll give you, dear reader, the quick and dirty about me: I am a 34 year old, married, first-time mom, and small business owner. My husband (hence forth to be named The Hubmeister) and I have been together for 10 years and married for  4. He has a wonderful 18 year old son (The Kid) from a previous “relationship” (I use that term very loosely) who is in his freshmen year at a prestigious university. The Kid and I get along famously and I see great things for his future.

I am college educated and am currently a part-time student, trying to finish my BA degree in business administration. I have recently come to the conclusion, however, that I despise the business world. As you can imagine, this poses a bit of a problem for my future plans.  For the last four years, I have been happily employed as a Registered Nursing Assistant working primarily in the Residential Hospice (end of life) arena. Like any job, mine has its pros and cons but overall, I really love it. If nothing else, it has most certainly made me a better person. Seeing as though I love my work and have been told countless times how great I am at my job, I am now seriously considering changing my major to Nursing (RN). Exciting stuff!

I took 3 months off to bond with my new little Wee-man and I have been back to work for just over a month now.  I honestly cannot imagine being at home all of the time. I think I would end up in a padded room, blowing spit bubbles in a corner, and mumbling meaningless nothings to myself. This mommy loves working and loves meeting and interacting with grownups!

I’ve started this blog in the hopes of a few things: A) Recording this new chapter of our lives, B) Developing an outlet for all of the shit that constantly swims around in this complex brain of mine, and C) Meeting new people (virtually) and D) Exploring new areas of life.

I can be bossy, opinionated, crass, and many other things but I am always caring, open-minded, creative, and funny!

I hope that you’ll drop in frequently and maybe become a part of this crazy adventure of mine!