Forum Detox

20. Two weeks away from couponing forums-- Done!

I really had no time frame in mind when I jotted down number 20 but figured it would happen over the holidays. Those are such a busy time that I figured watching my online time would be easy. Instead a broken power supply cable led to it happening now.

Two weeks ago I came home to my laptop not charging and see that the cable has exposed wires. NOT GOOD!! Jeff looks at it and said it was toast. Without a cable left me laptopless. Now most of my couponing sites are just in my bookmark list so I really don't know the exact addresses and knew Jeff didn't like me junking up his computer with that stuff. The first couple days were fine and then I realized the great priced replacement was coming from England, with an estimated time of 18 business days for delivery.

So I remember my blog list, mostly since i couldn't post anything planned, like alot of the cooking with Lexie stuff. I remembered this was on the list and decided to start the two weeks. The first few days were fine since I was on Jeff's laptop. Then after a few days it was annoying to be on the laptop(I really like mine)

But the days went and I didn't even notice or miss the forums or deal sites. I still got email updates from my stores I commonly shop at but even those didn't interest me. I also found myself knitting(took a class one night) and reading more.

I did have one site exemption, it's one that does deals normally but the blogger had been in a hit by a car after the fourth of July so there were no coupon deals going there, mostly just her recovery journey.

And I did check one forum for to check a coupon database. I was looking for battery coupons and needed to see when they were published. I didn't feel like flipping through 3 months worth of coupons to see if there were any when it was easy to just check. And I was only checking due to Irene.

And due to the laptop being down and how behind I was on cooking with Lexie posts, I'm just going to ask you take my word on it that I'm trying to be good about it.

Books & Dinner

A bit late but two Saturday's ago we had date night. We were at my in laws and they offered to do dinner and bed with the kids so we could go out. Of course we jumped at the chance. We even knew where we were going-- downtown Niatic.

We first went to both downtown locations of the Book Barn. Books I like are in the store near the dance studio, while Jeff likes to poke around the Main St location. I left with 3 new fiction books and 1 new cookbook(new to me books) Jeff bought a dvd.

Then we went over to the Black Sheep restaurant. I think we were there for almost 2 hours and 2 beers. We've learned to explain to the waitress(or waiter) that we aren't in a rush and a good one is awesome about it. And since I use to wait in college, I tip a bit more when we do this.

Dinner was great, but I only remember part of it since it's been a bit. But the food was good and we had a nice, hot dinner.

Watching what I buy

31. No stockpiling/extra shopping for the month of July--done (sort of)

With the recent move, it was crazy to see what we had tucked away. Even with watching the extras I bought before the move, we still came with 12 boxes of cereal and 20 boxes of pasta, amongst other amounts of things. I even thinned out the medicines and cleaning supplies but still have way too many things.

So I figure I could get through a month without buying anything not needed. Until I saw some sale ads and slipped.

Slip 1-- Cereal sale. A store had a sale on some Kelloggs cereal and I had decent coupons to match. Plus all of my cereal I moved was 75% Lucky Charms and the kids were getting bored with it. I ended up getting 8 boxes, which I still have 6 boxes of since we don't eat cereal every day.

Slip 2-- Razor blades. CVS had a good sale and Extra Care Buck back promo that made the blades I prefer almost 75% off when I added in a coupon. Didn't really need them but they don't go bad.

Slip 3-- Berries. They are in season and I now have a few pounds in my freezer for smoothies.

Slip 4-- Pickling Cucumbers. Same as the berries, except they are pickled in jars-- right now I have 9 still.

Slip 5-- School supplies. Don't need them for us personal, but the Church was doing a drive. And I had Staples Rewards expiring.

So all in all, I don't think this was that bad. Really nothing crazy, no free shampoo(or anything we don't use) because it's free or really large amounts. And it's has helped me see what we truly use and need.

(Disclaimer-- we do use shampoo-- I just use certain brands of items vs whatever is free so I don't chase all the freebies anymore)