Hump day look

Today is baking day for me here in the homestead. I wanted to post some great coupons for you to print before they reached their limits.

This coupon can be printed from Recyclebank and right now you can earn an easy 100 points but answering 10 quiz questions.. If you haven't checked it out I highly suggest you do.

The Glade coupon can be printed from their FB page.

All these coupons can score you some almost Free stuff at the Commi.

How much is too much?

I have had many questions about when do I know something is a good price or a stock up price. Depending on where you live prices for items may differ, for example in Wa state I can get bread for $.99 a loaf but in Ga state the cheapest (decent quality) bread I can find is $1.50. So what may be listed as a good price for me (in the south) may not be a good price for you on the west coast. Here is a Price Guide that I created to help during my shopping trips. Feel free to use them but please don't try to say they are your creations.

I also have a quirky method on figuring out how much my family will need and use within a 3-6 month time period.... if I lose you, just let me know...ready?


How much to Stockpile?

Per week:

Part1:
Number of users/eaters
x (multiply) number of days you use/eat in a week
x number of times a day
= (equals) your servings per week
/ (divide) by servings in a box
= number of boxes/cans used per week

Part 2:
number of boxes per week
x weeks (12 for 3 months, 24 for 6 months)
- (minus) the number you have in your pantry already
=
*** / this number by 2 or you'll have too many*** (sometimes I don't divide that number)



This math is wonky but it really does help to figure out how much is too much.... makes sense? let me know.

Paying it Forward during the Holidays

This year has brought many wonderful things and a few challenges but overall it has been AMAZING! A few years ago I was introduced by a stranger "pay it forward", she sent me a beautiful pirate themed blanket for free!! (here is her site: Spit On This)  Just for agreeing to have a caring and sharing heart to others, the only thing I needed to do was pay it forward to other people. So that year I sent out picture notepads, and calendars.

What was I going to do this year? Well December rolled around and I had done nothing to pay it forward this year. I also have 3 boys that I wanted to teach what the spirit of giving mean't (they are 3,5 and 6) in terms they'd understand. So what was a girl to do?

I contacted The Methodist Home for boys here in our town, St Marys Georgia and asked if they were in need or took donations for Christmas time. I explained that I wanted this also to be an experience that my boys could have. So I set myself on a mission to get as much things/toys that the boys home could use (they have boys from 11-18) and get it for FREE.

I went to our local Walgreens here and scored a great deal on these babies..... These are on sale this week for Buy 2 Get 1 Free.

 By using this coupon (12/2 SS) I got all 21 for FREE.

I then talked to the Store Manger Mr Dinkel and he was thrilled to help sponsor the boys home this Christmas. After a day of waiting for the proper paperwork to be faxed over to them, I went back and did a little shopping for the boys. I bought a few toys for the younger kids at the home and Mr. Dinkel donated stuff for the older boys. We have 6 Axe body sets, 3 sports balls, lego set,, skateboard toy, a remote control car and some stocking stuffers for the kids.

I was able to buy the toys and smores with the rewards points I stacked up along with their instore coupon they have right now.

 I also buy toys through out the year on major sales for near free prices so I went into my stockpile and got 2 of these Hess truck sets.

It has brought me great joy and even a tear or two to my eyes that Walgreens really does try to help the community. I am thankful for this experience and excited to see the smiles on some of these boys faces this Christmas.

All in all I spent only $17 for all this!




I encourage you all to Pay it Forward. It can be homemade, store bought or even sung but get out there and do it.

Hot Commi Coupons

Some good coupons to match with great prices at the Commi. Print before they are all gone.

What coupons have you found that are HOT?

Clearing Mania

 We knew buying this house was a good choice but we I didn't realize how much work it would take to clear the land to a point that was usable for us and a garden. With a little over an acre and only using about 1/4 of it (house included in that) we know there is potential for some beautiful landscaping. The problem?

This is wet land! I'm talking when it downpours we have a moving river like flow through out certain parts of the land. After talking to a professional we've learned what we need to do in order to raise the land a bit to help with the soggy ground.

Here are some of the before pictures

 To the right of the picture ( where the tree is ) that is the screened in porch... I wish we had a better picture of the right behind the screened in porch but in all the excitement of finding the house I wasn't thinking plus it was not terribly bad on the other side of the house.... anyways on the backside of the porch the trees/brush came about 10 feet from the house.

 This is us standing on the grilling slab looking to the mid left of the property. More room on this side but surely the most "wet"

This is the far left of the property also very very wet.



now after about 2 months of clearing and burning the brush and trees we the Hubster cleared land for us.

 This view is me inside of the screened in porch looking to the far left of the property. There is much land cleared!! YAY!!

 Here is the mid/left part from the inside of the porch

 Standing on the grilling slab looking toward the porch.

 And finally a better view of the backside of the porch. I measured from the porch to the edge of the cleared area and we have 37 feet cleared. That is 27 feet farther back (major smile face). The arrow is pointing to the future vegetable/fruit garden spot.

Along this fence we already have 3 blueberry bushed and 2 rose bushes planted. The plan is to add another 2-3 blueberries along that area and about 6 raspberries along the longer part (grey ) of the fence.

Today we got 108 yards of dirt, 18 of that is topsoil for the raspberry and pumpkin patches on the left of the property.

 My future garden spot *la sigh*

Overall I am thrilled at all the the Hubster did over the past few months now hopefully he can take a break for a few weeks before heading back into the woods to clear more... maybe work on some much needed projects on the inside.

SO here is our current outside update. There is many new things about to come about over the next 2 months so keep a look out for new posts.