And now for something completely different...

Well, I've been blogging about couponing and grocery shopping so much lately, I figure it's time for a general update with a little less focus on food! :)

Our first announcement is that I have officially opened my graphic design business, Weslynn Biggers Design! I'll be freelancing on the side from home, something I've done a bit nonchalantly as jobs have arisen over the past few years, but now I'm hoping to kick into full force here in Missouri. I'm excited to finally put a name to my business and become "bona fide." It's been a dream of mine for many years, and something Brannon and I hope will give me the opportunity to stay home with our little one(s) and still generate an income when we one day start a family. So we're super stoked! Please help me pray for God's direction and provision as I work to establish a local client base in the Branson/Springfield area.

Brannon rang in his 30th birthday last week while on the road back from Boston, where he and another staff member picked up our newest student. We now have 18 students and are at full capacity! We've been aiming at full capacity for several months, so it's great to finally be there. God's hand is truly on this center, and it's so amazing to watch Him work in the lives of our boys. We really have a great group of young men.

After Brannon's return from Boston, we celebrated his birthday a couple days late (after he got some much needed rest!) with lots of late-night Guitar Hero (his birthday gift from me, Jade and Oliver) and dinner out with our directors, Jake and Amanda, who treated us to Chester's, an amazing burger joint in Branson. Brannon has been wanting to go there ever since he saw their "Home of the stuffed burgers" sign. Needless to say, we ate way too much (flash fried spinach with garlic, parmesan and lemon, fried pickles with ranch, and burgers, of course), but it was absolutely fabulous. Any friends or family members coming to visit us are guaranteed a meal there! (How's that for bribing people to come visit?)

Well I guess that's about it for this update. Hugs to all of our family and friends!

My totally rad grocery shopping trip!

I just returned home from doing some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart (and fighting the crazy Memorial Day crowds... whew!), and I must admit that I am so darn proud of myself! I planned out this shopping trip on Sunday of last week, after reading the Wal-Mart flyer and going through my growing inventory of coupons. A few of the things on my list I purchased without coupons or sales because they were things we needed, but the majority of my shop was focused on combining store sales with manufacturer's coupons. I purchased 26 items and used coupons for 15 of them. Here's the skinny on the deals I snagged (and a pic as well):

• Fresh strawberries: $1.50
• Breyer's coffee ice cream: On sale for $2.25 - $1.00 coupon = $1.25
• Fresh corn: 5 ears for $0.85
• Mama Lupe tortilla chips: $1.58
• Pringles chips (2): $1.50 x 2 - $1.00 coupon = $1.00 each
• White Cloud toilet paper, 4-pk: $2.00 - $1.00 coupon = $1.00
• Haribo gummy bears (a treat for my baby!): $0.97
• Jello gelatin (2) x $0.50 each and pudding (1) x $0.84 - $1.00 coupon = $0.84 for all three
• Large eggs: $1.00
• Triscuit: $2.00 - $1.00 coupon = $1.00
• Wheat thins: $2.00 - $1.00 coupon = $1.00
• Velveeta shells & cheese: $1.50 - $1.00 coupon = $0.50
• Crystal Lite: $2.98 - $1.00 coupon = $1.98
• Whisker Lickin's cat treats (2): $1.26 x 2, B1G1 = $1.26 for both
• Hunt's ketchup: $1.64 - FREE coupon = FREE
• Vegetable oil: $2.28
• Kraft poppy seed salad dressing: $1.58 - $1.50 coupon = $0.08
• Special K with red berries cereal: $2.00 - $1.00 coupon = $1.00
• Raisin Bran Crunch cereal: $2.50 - $1.00 coupon = $1.50
• Reynold's foil: $1.52
• Sara Lee bread: $1.78 - $1.00 coupon = $0.78
• GV hot dog buns (2): $0.69 each x 2 = $1.38

Total spent: $25.71
Total savings (just in coupons, not counting sales): $14.96
My best estimate of what I truly saved, when counting some amazing sales: $25.00 or 50%
The average price I paid per item: $0.99

Tomorrow I'll head to Target to purchase some chicken, cat food, cat litter and a few other random things we need. And I also plan on stopping by my local Country Mart to buy some in-season produce (cabbage, avocadoes, cucumbers, bell peppers) that are super cheap.

I'm learning that couponing pays off the longer you do it. When I first started, I only had a few coupons to work with, so I wasn't getting the best deals possible. Now I have gobs of them saved for when a sale arises, and I'm making it a weekly (sometimes daily) habit to read the store flyers that come in the mail and in my email inbox.

Yay for saving money! :)

Late night cereal run

So in my last post I shared how I've become a huge fan of couponing. Well, I just HAVE to share the details of my late night cereal run yesterday and the deals I snagged with some coupons and good old fashioned bargain hunting!

My original trip to our local Country Mart grocery store was for the purpose of buying a new toothbrush for Brannon. "Babe," he said to me yesterday, "I need a new toothbrush. The cats dragged mine all around the house, and at one point, I found it behind the toilet." So I made a merry little trip to Country Mart last night to grab a new toothbrush, and when I walked through the doors, the "reduced for quick sale" buggy, filled with discounted items, caught my eye. I perused through the pile of dented cereal boxes and other barely damaged items and found two boxes of Kashi cereal, each on sale for $1.00. I also made a trip down the actual cereal aisle to see if anything else good was on sale. There I discovered that Cheerios were on sale for $0.99! I bought the toothbrush, ran home, grabbed some coupons (that I now have apparently memorized) and ran back to the store. Here are the coupons I used:

• $1.50 off coupon, when you purchase two boxes of Kashi cereal


• $0.55 off any Cheerios brand cereal

To sum it all up, I left with three boxes of cereal, having spent $0.25 for each box of Kashi cereal and only $0.44 for the Cheerios (which is big enough to be two boxes of cereal, by the way!). My apologies if I'm stretching out something really simple because of my excitement... but I was so stinkin' excited! I love saving money! (Especially on cereal -- which is its own food group, in my opinion!)

Total spent: $1.10

Total savings: $5.45

Woooo hoooo! :)