Why bother couponing?

I have heard many of people say that couponing is dumb, too cumbersome, a waste of time, pointless, etc. Are you one of those people that have thought, "Why should I bother spending time couponing, I have too much to do as it is, and no time to clip silly pieces of paper." Well this is an intervention -- kinda. If you choose to listen that is. Everyone has time to clip silly pieces of paper. Those pieces of paper are what gives families today the chance to live comfortably on a tight budget.

I am a full time college student, and I work from part to full time hours at my job depending upon the time of year. That means I am going to classes 12 hours a week, working right now an average of 30-40 hours a week, and studying countless hours, while still maintaing a frugal lifestyle.

How do I do it!?

Time management really -- but that's another blog post. Why do I do it? Because it's such a simple and easy concept that allows myself and my family to have name brand products, plentiful amounts in what we couponers call a stockpile (no I am not a hoarder -- I keep in my home enough to cover at least 3-6 months, and usually nothing more, unless it's a household product like laundry detergent that doesn't go bad, I probably have almost a year's worth.)

I go to walmart often, it's our place to shop when the sales aren't as great towards our needs -- in south Florida it's the most affordable in comparison to other markets. I shop smart when I am there though, I usually will buy store brand, and comparison shop. I will see people spend $300 on a half cart of groceries, when I walk out for a full cart and only spend $150. Why? Planning. Planning is the word that will haunt you, or give you candy.

Planning is going to make you or break you. Now I am sure that most of you shop at your stores weekly, or bi-weekly. Do you take a sale ad when you go there? Start using those sale ads as your bible. Study them, get familiar with them. You will begin to notice patterns of when certain items go on sale. Now you tell me, if you saw that X Brand Pasta goes on sale once a month for Buy One Get One Free ----- would you buy one box full price at another time? Or would you buy it when its on a BOGO sale and stock up? That's instant easy savings WITHOUT COUPONS -- Just with a bit of planning!!! It's all a math game --- match the sales, with the coupons, stack store coupons with manufactuers coupons, and you got the golden egg!

Soon I will start talking about how to start couponing yourself -- I feel everyone should coupon. Frugal Living is the way to be.

Also check out my new video on youtube -- I will start doing videos now too!~ 

My Banana Bread Recipe

Today I got a little ambitious and decided to make something from our spoiling bananas. I had a recipe for Banana Muffins that I found online (to whoever started it, THANK YOU!! unfortunately don't have the name to give original credit), but I decided to alter it a little, and make Banana Bread and it came out AWESOME. So I thought I would share.


You Will Need::

3 or 4 bananas -- 4 large makes it really moist -- today I used 3 medium and 1/8th a teaspoon of artificial banana flavouring and it worked just as good, but was not as moist-- which for bread was better I think

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

Directions::

Mix the mashed bananas, egg and butter together in a large bowl and then set aside. In a smaller bowl mix your baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, and flour. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir till combined. Do not over mix, just make sure all is blended evenly. Batter should be a little lumpy because of the bananas. Pour the mixture into a well sprayed bread pan (I prefer glass) and bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 30-40 minutes, depending upon the oven. Mine took about 37 minutes, and was a little moist in the middle a few minutes before then -- so I put it back in for a bit.

You could always add other things to it like nuts, chocolate chips, etc.

Do you have a favorite recipe? I think I'll share my plans for lunch this week in another post soon.

Day 1 of Many

So the true question is where to start. I read blogs a lot, daily to be truthful, but I was never able to start my own. I always felt that I had to have some sort of dedicated topic in which I was devoting my writing to. Then I started to really think about it, why devote my blog to one thing. This is my life, and this is my place to express interest. So why not do it all.

So I guess the place to start is to tell you all a bit about myself, and what I may be putting in this blog. Though something tells me that it will be a long time, or forever, before someone actually sets eyes on my blog, but at least I got the courage to start one and hopefully keep up with it. And maybe if I put some things in the public eye, then I'll get more inspiration or drive to do something about it.

So my name is Michelle, I'm native to Connecticut but I'm now living in South Florida. Definitely don't like the heat, although many will probably go like some of my friends saying they are jealous I'm here. SEND ME YOUR SNOW!! Anyways, I lived an interest life so far. I'm 21 years old, I'm going to college to become a paralegal, and I'm working as an accounts receivable clerk for a college bookstore. I'm sure I'll share more personal details in the future but for super personal things, that's enough for now.

I'm a very frugal person, which might be shocking for someone of my age. They stereotype I think for my age group would be rambunctious loudmouths, vulgar, and want to blow cash away at the mall and drive too fast, but I feel I'm much more mature then my age group. I honestly don't get along with people of my age very well. I have a three-semester 4.0 GPA, and I'm very proud and dedicated to it. This semester I have 4 hard classes, and an increased work schedule, so this will really test my limits, but I'm determined, and excited. Maybe a little nervous, but the rest of the emotions overcome that. I'm ready for the sleepless nights, the extra coffee, the tears, the laughs, and the frustration. It's all so worth it.

But back to where I was saying I'm very frugal. I love coupons. Why wouldn't someone want to try and save money? It's such an eyeopener when I see someone at walmart fill a cart for $300. I don't even make that much in two weeks, with this economy. There are such smarter ways to stretch your dollar, and it lets you go do fun things, like me, I love bowling, and going to disney.

So I think in this blog, I will be talking about frugal things -- couponing, saving money. Also I love to try and organize, and its a new adventure I'm taking, so I'm sure I'll share images and tips on how I organize. I would also LOVE to make a back to school/college series, including tips for studying, study guides or flash cards, anything that would help a student of my age, and could even help younger students. Also, I'm always so hard on myself about my weight, so I may start posting things on here about that. I think maybe if other people are reading my struggles, it may drive me more to fix it so people don't have to see how I'm not doing the best things with my weight.


Here's to seeing what this blog may bring! Cause I have no idea yet... :D