Frugality 101

I know I have promised pics and I promise to follow up. Libby has one more birthday party today and after that we will be done picture taking. I still need to get the vacay pics from my dad. He took all of those. Can't wait to see them! The beginning of the week started off rocky. Libby was sick and had a fever the first few days of the week and it was hard. I think when they are sick it is just as hard on the parents as it is them. She started to get back to normal on Thursday and was back to wild Libby. We had a great first birthday party for her on Saturday with family and friends. She was hilarious! I can't wait to post some cake eating pics. She loved it. Her method is to mix it all up and then eat. haha. Her party today is with Brandon's side of the family. I am looking forward to the week. I have an ultrasound and 20 week (even though I will be 2 days from 21 weeks) appointment tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing Kynleigh. I would like to take Libby to see the Easter bunny, eat diner with a friend I haven't seen in a while (actually my ex mother in law...no i wasn't married prior to Brandon but served my 6 years so she is practically my m.i.l.), and take Libby to the church Easter egg hunt. We still have a little bit of unpacking and straightening up to do in the garage. I think it's gonna be a good week!

Libby is napping before her party and I am about to online search for coupons. I do this once or twice a week during Libby's naps. I enjoy couponing. It saves money and it's kind of turned into a hobby. I plan on recording how much I save once 2012 begins because I forgot to at the beginning of this year. Any hoot, I would love to get better at being more frugal and maybe one day teach a class about budgeting and finances. I take care of all of mine and Brandon's finances and it's something I seriously enjoy doing. One of the best ways to save money is buy generic. Of course there are a slight few products that are just better name brand but for the most part generic is just as good or better. What people don't realize is store's pay name brand companies to make their products for them, then they just throw their label on it. My whole pantry is pretty much the Great Value brand, which is Walmart's brand. A lot of times store brands are cheaper than purchasing name brand with a coupon! I am also addicted to Target right now. I love Target coupons! You can find them at Target.com. You can purchase their store brand and use one of their coupons making items super cheap. I use Target brand (Up and Up) formula, laundry detergent, baby lotion(which I just had to purchase my first bottle since I was so blessed Libby's first year of life from baby showers), dryer sheets, baby tylenol, shower gel, etc. Target also has great baby clothes which Libby has a lot of! For people that are all about name brand clothes for babies/kids....TJMaxx is wonderful. Libby has some super cute Ralph Lauren dresses from there. I would never pay full price at a department store for Ralph Lauren but 1/2 off or more of retail...yes please!! Dollar Store is also one of my favs!! Dish soap, birthday cards, shower gel, shaving cream..all a dollar or less...I will take it!! Anyway, the reason I am rambling my frugal tips is because I was kind of "mocked" or "poked" at for buying a generic product the other day. Laugh all you want but I am completely proud of being frugal. My frugality is what allows Brandon and I not to have to worry about our finances, and has allowed us to live in this brand new house without worrying about scraping pennies. I am not "too good" for generic or cheap and it's helped us get to where we our today!