A Reason to Be Excited about Grocery Shopping

Do you coupon? I’ve been trying to use coupons off and on for the past 6 months. And holy cow is it a lot of work. I have been able to find some pretty decent deals, which has been exciting. I have only used what coupons I can find online. We don’t have a newspaper subscription, but I fully intend on buying one once we settle down permanently for a little while. I also find it difficult to try to figure out who has the best deals on what, and I don’t like running around to 4 different stores to get the biggest amount of savings. Sometimes I feel like it’s such a hassle! I usually just check out Target’s coupons for the week, see what other coupons are available online, print out the ones I will use, and make my weekly trip to Target and WinCo.

So, anyway… I’ve been trying to save our family some money, especially since we aren’t making any to begin with. I’m sure with time I’ll learn to realize what a good deal looks like and I’ll start saving even more money.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I made this pretty sweet grocery list/coupon organizer. From this tutorial.

And I’m super excited about it.

Please ignore my ugly sewing on the bottom. I was having some issues…

See look, it has pockets for my coupons, a zippered pouch for a calculator, cash, or whatever else, a spot for my pen, and I can stick my grocery list right inside it too. Everything I need to grocery shop is all in one place!

What has my life come to? I get excited over organizing my coupons and grocery list. I think I need to get out more…

Our Sunday Battle Plan

As of recently I come home from church each Sunday and I admit it, I wonder why I even go in the first place. Don’t worry, no one call my bishop or relief society president. I’m not going inactive. I’m just suffering from Sundays at church with a pre-nursery toddler.

Every Sunday we spend 3 hours in a wrestling match with Hailey. Or at least it feels that way. Yes, I am exaggerating a little bit… but in my defense, Kyle and I come home after church exhausted and crash as soon as we get the chance. I am grateful that we only have one Hailey. A couple in our ward has twin boys just days older than Hailey. They hang out in the foyer all during sacrament meeting, they don’t even try to sit in the chapel. And I don’t blame them.

Toddlers are so busy! Seriously. I feel bad for Hailey having to hang out with us during church. That’s so boring, for her! My mission these past few weeks has been finding ways to make our church going experience a better one, for all of us.

A few weeks ago I ran across a tutorial online to make this super cute bag.

I love it. There are spots for Hailey’s crayons on the front, and inside I keep a notebook that I made, just for Hailey.   

She can color in it and load it up with all the stickers her little heart desires.

And then today I finished making these fun ABC cards.

They are double sided and have pictures and words that correspond with each letter. I printed them out and then had them hard laminated so they’re super durable and can hold up to Hailey’s teeth (She’s been biting everything recently! Including me…) I had a hole drilled in the top corner and bound them together with a metal ring so Hailey can flip through them.

This idea wasn’t totally my own. One Sunday we were sharing a bench with another family in our ward. The woman sitting next to us asked if she could hold Hailey. I of course said yes, I’ll take any opportunity for a small break. Of course Hailey was so good for her. I couldn’t believe it. She must have super mom powers that I have yet to gain (and really, really want.) She also had some small laminated cards hooked together on a ring that she was flipping through and looking at with Hailey. Hailey loved it. And I thought, why haven’t I ever thought of that before!? Oh yeah… those super mom powers… Anyway, after that Sunday I was determined to make my own flip cards for Hailey. And I finally finished them. Tomorrow is the big day that we get to test them out. Wish us luck!

Oh yeah… interested in making your own church ABC cards? Want to know what words I used for each letter?

A- armor of God

B- blessing

C- church

D- Dad

E- eternity

F- family

G- grandparents

H- Holy Ghost

I- inspiration

J- Jesus Christ

K- kindness

L- liahona

M- Mom

N- nature

O- obey

P- prophet

Q- quiet

R- resurrection

S- sacrament

T- temple

U- unselfish

V- vision

W- word of wisdom

X- exaltation

Y- you

Z- zion