New HOME and "extreme couponing"

Hi all!! I have exciting news!!!  We have made an offer on a house that has been accepted and unless any unforeseen circumstances arise we will be able to close on or before August 26th!! Personally, I am hoping it will be before then!!! We were very lucky and got an amazing deal on it. It was a short sale and we were at the right place and right time to find it.  Here is a link to some photos....Our new Home!!

It needs some updates in the kitchen and we plan on painting the outside white with tan accents....the gray is cute but a little dark for me.  It just needs some love and charming, home warming touches.  It is perfect for us!! Even Jake is excited about it, which for Jake, is big!! 


Speaking of Dr. Schmitt.... He starts his first day next Tuesday! He is so very excited to be working and has been extremely busy preparing so many important documents, meetings and setting up all the details to run a business.  I am extremely proud of how hard he has been working to make sure every detail is accounted for to run the business.  He has had to set up an account, insurance, apply for insurance boards, form a company handbook, set up payroll, etc. He told me that every time he gets one thing figured out, he has ten more things he needs to do.  


This past weekend my sister-n-law Jenny and I tried our hand at "extreme couponing".  We both had been watching the shows on TLC and looking at coupon sites and blogs on the internet but 2 weekends ago we decided to start clipping coupons.  We were both super excited and I know that I will be doing this on a regular basis after seeing what I was able to save!!! We went to walgreens for one purchase and then CVS for the next purchases.  We were able to buy 7- 8 packs of Bounty paper towels, 6-16(double roll) pk of Charmin, 8- boxes of Tampax pearl tampons, 4- Bottles of Arm & hammer laundry detergent, 3- bottles of Cascade dishwasher detergent, 4- Mitchum deodorant, 4-Old Spice body washes, 4-Free- old spice body sprays, 2- 5 pk-gillette venus disposable razors, 2-5pk-gillete Mach 3 disposable razors, 4- bottles of Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner(free), 4-bottles of Aussie shampoo and conditioner (free), 3- 2 liters of diet coke, 6- Oral B advantage toothbrushes, and 3 reeese's cups all for $158.00 !!!!!!!!!! If I would have bought these thing straight off the shelf, not on sale or with coupons, I would have spent of these things would have cost $445.71!!  That's a savings of $287.71!! 64% savings.  The key to doing this is combined the items they are running a sale on with coupons and special promotional offers.  For example, 
CVS was running a sale on Charmin 16 pks for $9.99
There was a manufacturers coupon in the sunday paper for $0.25 off
CVS had a special promotion...Spend $30.00 on certain products...like the Charmin and Bounty I bought and they will give you a $10 gas card for Shell or BP.  So you could buy $30 worth of Charmin and really only spend $20.  If you were to buy the Charmin at CVS at regular price, you would spend $15.99 plus tax for one pack.  Something that work normally cost $51.34(tax included) now only cost you $20 plus tax.  Once we figured out how to combined these offers to maximize the savings it was quite addicting.  
Here is a picture of some of what we bought...Extreme Couponing round one!!

The toothbrushes were free because they were on sale for $3.00, we had a coupon for $1.00 and if you used your CVS Extracare card, they would give you $2.00 in "extra care bucks" to spend back in the store.  They are worth $2.00 you can use towards your next purchase in the store.  We clearly used our extra care card bucks on more purchases.  


My next challenge is to keep clipping and try and save more at the grocery store.  It is really interesting to me to see where this is going to go.  I feel like I can only improve my "maximizing" and save even more money.  Jenny and I are going to try and make every saturday or sunday morning a coupon clipping session and plan our shopping trips.  If I can make any big suggestions or recommendations, they are, DO NOT BRING your little kids. I sure do love Liam, but he is not one to sit still in a cart.  He came with us on one trip and was not very helpful. Between the sugar high he was on from the donut and a half he had eaten before we went and his extreme random screeching which he thought was great, on a weekend morning, for all of CVS to hear, or him being able to push the cart.....DO NOT TAKE your little ones. Two, would be have a plan and figure all your totals as close as possible. Organize your coupons and get a CVS card for you, your husband, and as many as you can get. The offers are limited to a certain number per CVS card.  Me, Jenny, Jake, and Blaize now all have one.  This is another way we were able to get so much. 


Well I hope you have found this helpful and enjoy reading.  My one camera memory card is packed away and our other camera battery charger broke so I will try get some new pictures up soon.  


Seriously, I felt like I had won an Olympic Gold Medal after doing this!!! I know some people might think I am a dork or stupid, but those people really need to take a look at how much money they might be throwing away.  When Jenny and I sat down to do this, we were a little overwhelmed with how to get a method to the crazy couponing.  We want to get things we know we will need, are none perishable and that save our family money.  I don't want to waste my time buying things I am never going to use and will go to waste.  My idea is to save where I can and maximize where I can.  

The BIG Move to Indiana!!!

WOW....I think to say I am a bit overdue on posting on our blog is an understatement!! In our defense, we have had so much going on!  Since my last update, Jake has graduated Optometry School and applied for his Indiana license so he can practice here in Indiana, I have left LeBonheur and will begin my new job in a few days, we packed our house and moved to Indiana and thankfully it looks like with a few details left, we will close on our house in Memphis by July 15th.  Did I mention I put an offer in on a house in Indiana and we are patiently awaiting the bank's approval of our offer because the house is a short sale.....since it's a short sale, it could take a month or more to hear a response.  I am so relieved that we found someone to buy our house in Memphis and feel blessed that we have such wonderful family friends in Evansville that have let us rent their home until we are able to find a permanent one.
Moving truck packed to the brim
We owe a big THANK YOU!! to my dad and my sister n law Jenny.  They came down last weekend to help pack up our house, watch Liam, and move us home.  I really don't know what we would have done without them!! Jenny, god bless her!!!! Was AMAZING!! Not only did she get to experience all this craziness, but she got to experience how much I hate being disorganized and without stability.  She was absolutely amazing and I owe her lots of help in the future. My dad was the one who moved me to Memphis and I was glad he was there with us to end that chapter of our life.
Leaving Memphis and moving back to Indiana was such an emotional experience.  When I moved away to Memphis, 3 years ago, I was absolutely home sick!! I hated everything about Memphis but my job.  I never imagined how amazing Memphis would become to me.  It truly feels like home because it's where Jake and I bought our first our home, had our first baby, started our life together, I started my career as a nurse, and for me, all these huge things our what make a family, marriage and form bonds in life together.  When I left Indiana, I wasn't married, I was living with my parents, I wasn't a licensed nurse yet, and I wasn't a momma either.  Every beginning was made in Memphis.  So coming home and feeling like it's "home" doesn't really feel like it yet.
I didn't expect to form real, true friendships....I am not a person who has a million close girlfriends and call everyone a best friend.....Memphis changed that for me.  All of these amazing women I became friends with  are so different from each other yet they are all so close.  You don't often find people who are so opposite in some ways have so much in common and appreciate each other for their differences.  I just love it!!  From the very beginning, they were all so welcoming and nice and took me under their wing.  I think that because of these amazing people, Memphis feels like home.
I am glad to be back home with family around and we can drive 10 minutes to see them instead of 5 hours. Liam absolutely loves being around everyone and I know they love him being home.  There is a comfort in being back home.  It's so nice to know where everything is and how to get everywhere.  I feel blessed to now have 2 places to call home.
I will be bringing several traditions from the south.....I hope Y'ALL know that every season I will be having holiday signs that say "Happy Fall Y'all"  Merry Christmas Y'all" hanging from my front door or mailbox!! I will be bringing some of those sweet smocked dresses when I have a little girl and some monogrammed gifts will be given from the Schmitt Family : )  Watch out Indiana!!!