This & That...My Silly Life

Anyone who reads my blog knows I am coupon crazy. Today started the week long triple coupons at my favorite grocery store (Harris Teeter). I am going to post my shop from today and then later this week I will show you all my results.

This time around triples are looking really good! A lot of great deals on a variety of regulary needed items. My shop today was really great and where my cost will go up some the rest of the week because I will be buying more expensive items the amount saved is wonderful. Please keep in mind some people will have shops for just a few dollars, but this is when you go for the free items only. Don't expect to spend two dollars when you are buying things that are generally more expensive.



This is my shop from today. I spent $9.41 and saved $48.98. The deals I got today were awesome. It was a savings of 82% woo hoo! Coupons make me so happy. I often find myself arguing with folks over how much money I save. I have people tell me all the time that they can buy the same stuff cheaper at Wal-Mart. Ha! Sorry people, I hate to tell you but no one will ever out shop me at Wal-Mart. I very seldom go to Wal Mart and when I do most of the time I find that when the grocery store runs sales they are cheaper especailly when you factor in multipled coupons which Wal Mart does not do.

With all this being said, maybe I should put coupons into perspective. Causally clipping coupons and using them whenever will save you a few bucks here and there. The type of couponing I do is not for the lazy or slack folks who are satisfied spending way too much money on the daily items they need. I often hear people complain about the cost of groceries and household items. They could save so much money by doing what I do, but they are too lazy to take the time. Personally I don't like giving money away, the less I spend on necessites the more I have to put up for the nice things I want :)

Serious savings comes down to understanding the system. Stores typically run the same sales every 4-6 weeks. You hold onto your coupons until you know the product you need is at the rock bottom price them you stock up. I have a room dedicated to stocking my items. I know most people use the excuse that they don't have time. Yes there is a lot of time involved at first. After awhile you get so well stocked that you will find you don't have to spend as much time chasing after sales. Right now I am so well stocked on personal care items (body wash, shampoo, medicine, paper itmes) that I have pretty much cut out my Drug store shopping right now. I also have spent less time grocery shopping as well. I now usually only go grocery shopping on Saturday unless it is a triple or super double event going on. It gets so much easier as time goes by.

So in the end, for all those people who want to try to out shop me at Wal Mart...I welcome the challenge any day! While they are out buying store brand items that they think are priced so well I am buying the name brand items cheaper. I love it! Happy triple shopping everyone, hope you get the great deals :)

Oh me, facebook has been flooded with every one's comments on health care today. I have done my best to keep my mouth closed, but I guess I will just talk about it here before I explode. I have not read the health care bill, but I suspect no one that I see commenting on it has either so I will consider all of us on a even playing field.

I will admit two things. Yes, I am registered as a democrat, but this does not influence my vote in any election. If I feel a Republican candidate better represents my personal welfare then I would vote for them.

I see all these folks commenting on health care and whatever else, I wonder if they voted in the election? If they didn't then I don't feel they have the right to complain. Voting is a civic duty and every vote counts, if you are too lazy to vote then you should probably just stop complaining because your missed vote could be part of the reason your agenda is not being met. Regardless you can't expect any elected official to do all the things they say they will do, if you believe they will you are an idiot! One person can not pass anything so really you are voting for someone who will "try" to do the things they say.

So my thoughts on the health care bill... Well personally I believe it is a step in the right direction. It will have to be tweaked over time, but I think there are several good things about this bill. Most of the people I see who have a negative feeling towards this bill either don't pay for health insurance currently or are covered under HMO plans. Just for the record, I have HMO. So the people who don't have insurance or want it don't like this bill because they will be forced to get coverage or pay a fine. I actually totally agree with this. Think of all the people who don't have health insurance that flood our emergency rooms because they have to pay up front at a doctors office. People who actually have emergencies have to wait in line behind Joe Brown and his runny nose. I guarantee several of these people will never pay the hospital bill, which makes the hospital pass unpaid balances onto us people with insurance. I am know they wont admit this, but I am sure it happens. So in the end we end up paying for uninsured Americans...

People with pre-existing conditions. The best part of this bill in my opinion. I have very bad asthma, if it wasn't for insurance through my employer I would be denied coverage or my rates would be higher than my pay, trust me I have checked in the past. I think everyone should be able to have health insurance. I can't help that I was born with asthma. However insurance companies feel they should be able to deny me coverage because I am not 100% healthy. They don't want to insure me because they know my condition cost them money. I had a friend that had private insurance, their son had a bad fall and the hospital done a cat scan to make sure everything was ok, less than a month later they were dropped from their policy. We pay for insurance so that when something happens we are covered, yet when something does happen they want to kick us to the curb. It's not fair, but now this will not be able to happen.

Today in America every person with no insurance or private insurance runs the risk of losing everything they have in the event of a big medical problem. This does not apply to only older people. I know people in their early 20's who have developed cervical cancer or been in bad accidents. You will never be able to pay off your medical expenses if something bad happens. The family we bought our house from was in this situation. No health insurance, the husband had a heart attack and they were fixing to lose this house. We came in bought the house for their payoff. They lost their home over a unplanned medical need. It's sad but it happens every single day. If we didn't buy this house in 3 months they would have faced a foreclosure.

I also believe that in some cases having health insurance saves lives. I think it is a proven fact that people with insurance are more likely to go to the doctor. I also think people who have insurance are more likely to have a doctor that they see on a regular basis opposed to seeing whatever doctor is available at the time. Seeing the same doctor regularly helps to make sure any problems are caught early. They have all your medical history and know your family medical history which makes it easier to catch or watch potential problems. If you skip around doctors you will be less likely to tell them what problems you are having and they will be less likely to catch something problematic.

In the end I have no idea what impact this bill will have on each person, but I think there are several measures to protect us against money hungry insurance companies. I think it will help lots of Americans, even the ones who don't realize how important it is to have insurance. Yes I am sure it will cost us in tax increases over the years, but I can accept that. I will be happy knowing that if there was ever a time when I couldn't get insurance through my employer I will be able to find coverage and not be denied. I don't see everyone complaining about having tax increases for wasteful government spending or bank bail out money! Maybe instead of fighting something that will probably help millions of people in years to come you should have put more effort in butting heads with something that cost us money yet does nothing for us!

All of this is my opinion. I know a lot of people don't agree. That's ok with me! The only difference is I can actually state reasons for my opinion, while others trash the bill without valid reasons for doing so. Just my two cents :)

Very low key weekend here. Friday we picked up our new mattress. It is just dreamy...lol I will be more excited when I can get my new bedroom suite to go along with it. So Friday night were were moving stuff around to accomadate the new mattress. One bed moved to another room to make room for the new one, the house was a mess! I must say, I have slept like a baby all weekend. I hope I am able to get out of bed in time for work tomorrow.

Saturday, Mark worked in the yard and in the garden while I had a pampered chef party. I love Pampered Chef products and was excited to have a party at the house for the girls to come check out some awesome products and cook and eat a yummy meal. These parties are so fun, and I had a great time. I have to pick out the items I want to buy, but its so hard when they have so many great products. Pampered Chef is a life saver to me, the Deep Covered Baker cooks anything in the micowave so quick I use it serveral times a week. That was the highlight of my weekend.

Today I have done nothing! I watched some movies and sat around and relaxed. This has been one of the few weekends where I haven't been running around gocery shopping or we haven't had a million things to do. I know this week will be busy! Triple coupons will be starting Wednesday at Harris Teeter so tomorrow night I will need to start working on my game plan for that. I am sure it will be a busy week so just relaxing today was really nice. Plus it won't be long before I am spending time working in the garden and dealing with getting the pool ready, so I better enjoy the down time while I can.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!