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Mar 29, 2012    |       13 comments

5 dollar dinners coupon class

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I’m looking forward to Friday night!  20 years ago that would have had an entirely different meaning…but THIS Friday night will be spent at a coupon class!  After a post on meal making and grocery shopping, A reader suggested the $5 Dinner Mom website and so I stopped by to check it out a few weeks ago.  I took it as a sign that right there on the welcome page there was a San Antonio offering!  The thought of couponing stresses me out BUT I really think I could get into it!  My fear–quite honestly–is that I will get TOO into it!  I tend to do things in extremes.  🙂  My friend from work who was doing great with her couponing but has fallen off a bit in recent weeks is joining me and you would think we were going to some crazy “girls’ night out” with the way we are talking about this thing!  I’m looking forward to learning a lot and then putting the new skills to work.  I’m already seeing major dents in my grocery spending just with the little bit of thought I’m putting into things.  I DO think that I’m going to have to become proficient at stockpiling laundry detergent bc the homemade brand is not getting rave reviews from the fam.  Actually, that’s not correct…I notice no problems with it, the kids haven’t said a word but the husband is saying a lot WITHOUT a lot of words.  Have I mentioned that he’s slow to accept change? 🙂  Love that guy!  I think I saw him sneak in a bottle of Tide the other day and he might be hiding it for his personal use only!

Here’s the link to what we are doing on Friday night.  If you live in the Atlanta, GA area there’s one there next week.  I’ll report back with details.

http://www.5dollardinners.com/2012/03/san-antonio-coupon-class.html

Mar 28, 2012    |       12 comments

Giving back

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It has always been important to volunteer in some way for the community since I was very young.  Community service hours were a requirement for high school graduation and I can say that through all phases of my life, I’ve volunteered my time in some way.  I’ve struggled more as an adult finding a way to incorporate that in the kids’ lives.  My son is very active with Boy Scouts so that teaches a lot about community service but I longed for a family “giving back” project. Recently, as part of my daughter’s religious classes we went on a little field trip to a ministry within our Church.  It is called “Mobile Loaves and Fishes” and this group of highly dedicated people put together meals at lunch time and supper time, 7 days a week.  They are made up of all volunteers.  They make meals in their kitchen at the Church and then have a truck that they drive out to various locations to feed the hungry-refugees, the working poor, the elderly and the homeless.

My 7-year-old daughter was completely inspired at this little 10 minute tour.  All she kept saying was how “neat” she thought the director’s “job” was b/c she got to feed people who were hungry.  From that night on (about 2 weeks ago) this is all my daughter has talked about.  So, I reached out to the director to find out where our services might be needed.  As of April 6, we will begin volunteering on the “prep team” on the first Friday of each month.

In addition to teaching the kids about our own money matters, this will serve as a reminder of just how blessed we are to have what we do have and inspire us to live more grateful lives.

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