No Direction Here

I've been away from this blogging business for a little bit. I spent two weeks up north for Christmas and just kind of fell out of my routine. When I got back, I had little motivation to write anything. I couldn't figure out why. I mean, I always have thoughts circling around in my head - sometimes good, sometimes bad - and I actually did type up a few posts but they're still sitting in my "drafts" unedited and unfinished. But again, I have almost zero motivation to do anything with them. Why? I'm not really sure.

I've been picking up in terms of freelance work, which is fantastic. So I've actually been pretty busy with that during the precious free time I have when J is actually taking a nap. And if I'm not blogging for my freelance gig, I just don't really feel like blogging here.

This job also requires that I watch my fair share of reality tv **comments to yourselves...I'm getting paid***. One night, while binge watching an entire season of Kendra On Top, my husband asked me what I thought it might be like if we had our own reality show. And do you know what? It would be pretty flipping boring. Seriously. I am probably one of the most uninteresting people I know. Which is another reason why I can't seem to figure out a direction for my own blog.

Going back and taking a quick look through some of my older posts, I am, for the most part, all over the place here. It started out as a pregnancy/mom blog. But there are a million of those and all of the good niches are taken. I'm not crunchy, nasty or funny. Nor do I really want to slather Baby J's face all over the internet no matter how adorable it may be. I really just do my own thing in terms of parenting and it's not very interesting.

Then it kind of turned into cooking. I love to cook and I love being a stay-at-home mom. So then I thought, maybe just an average stay-at-home mom's blog. I mean, a lot of people do wonder what SAHMs do all day long (one of my unfinished posts was written after hubby made a comment about how I get to nap during the day. Yes, he seriously said that and I almost hit him). And then I got on this Wheat Belly diet kick and messed that whole thing up.

So I think the fact that I just don't have a solid direction here is making it really hard to pick back up.

Although, now I feel like I do have a lot going on. I realized that we are basically going to have to start saving up for a house from scratch. So I have spent a lot of time this past week trying to teach myself how to really budget. I've always loved saving money - finding a great sale gives me such a rush! But the problem is that because I save so much every time I shop, I really end up spending too much because I get ALL the deals! Like, I buy things I really don't need just because I'm getting such a great deal. No good. Basically, we need to make huge lifestyle changes and since payday was today, today was officially Day 1.

So maybe I'll share some of the things I learn along the way. And please feel free to comment and share any tips or tricks that you may have!

Stockpiling

As my due date gets closer, I am finding the idea of going back to work in September is getting more and more painful.  Our daughter will be four months old - daycare is just not something I want to think about.  However, while we live in our current [overpriced] state, quitting my job is simply not an option.

I am, however, looking into FMLA laws and have an inquiry into my employer to see if I will have any options to continue or take unpaid leave for at least the month of September.  At this point, even one extra month sounds good to me.  That being said, should I be able to extend my leave into the fall, it will be unpaid.  If I can't extend my leave, we will be paying out the arse for child care.  No matter which way we go, money will definitely be tight for a while.

I have decided to create a stockpile and want to share some of my greatest bargains as I go along.  After noticing the growing pile of diaper boxes and bags in the garage, my husband got a bit miffed.  "Are you telling me there won't be any sales in a few months and you really have to spend money on all of this stuff now!?"  Well, yes dear.  Because, like I said, money is definitely not going to be as freely flowing as it has been.  While my income is on hold (or being spent on child care), I would like to do everything in my power to prevent us from having to either pull from savings or rack up credit card debt.

So far, I have accumulated the following items:
1.  One box of Pampers Swaddlers - newborn size 88 count
2.  One package of Huggies Little Snugglers - newborn size 36 count
3.  One box of Pampers Sensitive - size 1 84 count
4.  One package of Huggies Snug & Dry - size 1 50 count
5.  One box of Pampers Swaddlers - size 2 92 count
6.  One package of Pampers Swaddlers - size 2 36 count
7.  One box of Huggies Little Movers - size 3 72 count
8-10 Package of Pampers Baby Dry - size 3 32 count
11-12 Johnson's disposable nursing pads - 60 count
13-14 Johnson's Baby Bathtime wash and lotion
15-16 Desitin Maximum Strength

My stockpile so far

One of the biggest arguments against creating a stockpile like this is the fact that the baby may have a reaction to a specific brand of diapers.  Honestly (and maybe I will be eating my words in a few short months) this argument comes from a special group of women who, in my opinion, like to nitpick anything and everything out of sheer boredom.  I'm sure my daughter will be just fine.  So let's get to how I've accumulated all of the above for, so far, about $100 total (yup, I've been saving all of the receipts because I like to keep track of what I've spent on this stuff so far).

*****Please note, I am not into "extreme couponing".  I've watched the show a handful of times and really can't figure out how they do what they do.  I don't even try.  I've just found my own system that works.  My system includes finding the best coupons (in duplicate and triplicate when possible) and working the hell out of CVS*****

Already planning the next shopping excursion

As I hinted above, I absolutely LOVE CVS.  The whole "Extra Bucks" program that they run is absolutely amazing if you know how to work it (which, over the past couple of years, I have not only learned, but perfected).  They will run promotions where if you spend a certain dollar amount on a specific brand (usually it will be a large selection of P&G products or, most recently, Johnson & Johnson, Dove soap, etc).  It's never just "oh here spend $30 on JUST paper towels to get $5".  Otherwise, I'd never go for it.  Luckily, it's always stuff that I use.  Another plus is that you can use manufacturer's coupons on top of CVS Extra Bucks.  So here is my most recent excursion in a nutshell:

1) Walk into the store and immediately grab a cart and scan my CVS card to get the day's special coupons (most of the time I don't use these, but occasionally they are good).  

2) I always study the flier before I go so I know exactly where I'm headed.  First was to grab Dove soap - which I was out of anyway - which was 2 6-packs for $15.00.  And, if you spent $15 then you were given $5 in Extra Bucks to use on your next purchase.  I had two coupons - each was for .75 off a Dove 6-pack and not subject to doubling anyway.  

3) Head over to the baby aisle.  Most J&J products were buy one get one half off, plus I had a crap ton of coupons for a number of their products as well as diapers and wipes.  Then on top of that, if you spent $30 on select products then you would receive $10 in Extra Bucks.   Here's what I grabbed and what I paid for each:

a.  J&J Bedtime baby bath wash $6.79

b.  J&J Bedtime baby lotion        $3.39 (half off)

c.  Desitin                                    $5.49

d.  Desitin                                    $2.74 (half off)

e.  J&J Nursing pads 60 ct           $9.29

f.  J&J Nursing pads 60 ct           $4.64 (half off)

This totaled to $32.34

I had $7.00 in Extra Bucks and $6.25 in Manufacturer's and other CVS coupons which brought my total to about $19.09 AND I got another $15 in Extra Bucks (I didn't factor the soap into the $19 total since I'm just focusing on the baby stuff).  

So for my next shopping trip, I have some Huggies coupons and $15 in Extra Bucks.  Huggies and Pampers will usually go on sale for anywhere from $8.99-10.99 a pack at CVS.  Pampers will throw some $1.50 off coupons out there which I print and save for sales, and Huggies will toss out some $3.00 off a package coupons which I also clip.  The key there is to wait for the sales which, as I have explained to my husband, is easier to do now than it will be later on.  So needless to say, when a Pampers or Huggies sale rolls around, I will easily grab two packs of diapers without paying anything out of pocket.  

Target also runs some great deals at times.  I got two of the big boxes of Pampers for $24.99 each, used coupons, AND got a $10 Target gift card with my purchase which I put towards another big box the following day while they were still on sale (and again, used a coupon).  I always keep an eye on the Target flier, but their sales/deals definitely aren't as frequent as those found at CVS.

And maybe, if you're into the whole "extreme" couponing thing, then my deals really aren't that great.  But to me, they're pretty awesome and I like to think that I'm working that CVS system pretty well :)