Tornado Season!

Spent some considerable time in the old storm closet last night.  The weather people started telling us a couple days ago to expect large storms so I was glad that last weekend my husband got my son's new closet put together and we moved all his stuff out of the closet.  I then spent last Sunday night refolding and putting away properly all the stuff I'd been blindly stuffing behind his clothes!  Just in time!

My daughter had a track meet yesterday and I worried all day long that they would be caught up in the storms but she called me about 5 o'clock to tell me they were pulling into Claremore.  I ran into town totally unprepared for her to eat with my son and I.  My husband was out of town so it was just going to be he and I and I was planning to just find something in the fridge.....now I had three mouths to feed. And a storm was coming!

I ran in as the wind began to blow and grabbed the old stand-by...tomato soup and cheese quesadillas.  Quick, easy, cheap and the kids love them!  I buy the tomato soup when walgreen's has them on sale and I use coupons to make them about fifty-cents a can.  I use two for three of us.  I buy the tortillas for a buck for twelve when Reasor's has them on sale and I buy the cheese on sale and stockpile the freezer.  The entire meal costs me less than  five dollars.  I rounded out the meal with some strawberries and cookies while we listened to the tornado sirens sitting in the storm closet!

Shortly after we cleaned up, I ran and put Kate in the garage because the sky was beginning to get green.  I was taught that when the wind died down and the sky got a greenish tinge, it was time to hit the hole!  All of us but Grandpa, he'd stand outside and watch the storm.  Not me. God gave me enough sense to know to get and stay low!  We dragged out the boxes of junk out of the storm closet and all of us...me, the kids, and two cats got inside.  Well, almost two cats.  One doesn't like the closet so she hangs around just outside.  I think if we ever did hear the 'sounded like a freight train' sound, she'd quickly jump in before we shut the door. All of us, plus two ipods, three cell phones, a laptop, two radios; one that uses batteries, one I can wind up or use solar power; a lantern, a flashlight, enough blankets and pillows to sleep an army and we waited.....and listened to the hail, rain and tornado sirens.  It was actually pretty good quality time with the kids.  I had them trapped so we had to visit and talk....

Thankfully, we had no damage and we had good rain.  We've all been so dry for so long that most of us Oklahomans were excited for rain, even if it meant the chance of a tornado.  Just another day in Oklahoma in the spring.  We keep our eyes on the sky waiting for the next one to come along......the storm closet it cleaned and ready to go!  Maybe I'll call a family meeting in the storm closet when I'm feeling lonely!

Eating from the Stockpile

Ok, this is week two of the EPIC BLIZZARD of 2011 or as some are calling it SNOWMAGEDDEN 2011!  I'm ever so thankful that I stockpile shop!  I had to actually make up something last weekend so my husband had an excuse to leave the ponderosa and check out the roads.

I still don't need to grocery shop but my stockpile will be a bit depleted after this is all over.  We have been eating like kings though.  I've been able to keep to my menu as I typically have a two week delay between eating and buying.  Plus, I always have a few meals that I always keep handy for those just in case nights that are quick and easy.  Things like soup and spaghetti and a few frozen casseroles.

It's been nice to know I don't have to venture out and fight the crowds at the grocery store.  I can just follow my menu and feed my family.  Plus, I purchased most of the food with coupons on sale so I'm saving money too!  That deserves a little happy dance!

I actually had time to make the world famous bar-be-que sauce that I've been meaning to make.  I've been buying the items when I could get them on sale and finally had them all together.  I put up twelve pints so that should keep us for this year.  I can it so I don't have to store so much in the fridge.  I just put it into the canned food pantry along with the summer produce and fruit.  Here in Oklahoma, it's also a great quick gift for someone.  Everybody loves bar-be-que and everyone is always looking for the best sauce.  My son thinks I should sell it.

I'll tell you the bar-be-que story tomorrow.  It's full of intrigue and is steeped in family history!  Oh great, another family story.....

Couponing

I get asked a lot about saving money by couponing. Most women ask me because they know I have couponed for years and almost never shop without a list and my coupons. Now that the internet is posting so many coupons, it is almost silly that more people don't use coupons as a viable way to save money.

Since I am currently a stay-home mom, I really jumped back into couponing and budgeting a few months ago. It wasn't that I was just throwing money around like I was rich or anything, I just had gotten out of the 'if we don't have a coupon, we don't need it' mantra that the kids so often hear me utter. I would buy cereal even when it wasn't on sale and I didn't have a coupon! Now that is something I never do!

It didn't take but just a few weeks to rebuild my coupons once I started looking at websites. You really don't even need to buy the sunday papers anymore to use coupons! I take the local paper just because I actually like to read the newspaper. I use a few rules for my couponing because I have known people who actually end up spending more money after they coupon.

1. I only purchase things my family will eat. It's not a good deal if no one in the family will eat the item and it ends up being thrown away. I will try new things one time if I think we may eat it but I'm pretty picky.

2. I keep a stockpile of certain things like cereal, coffee, soups, general pantry items that we eat very regularly. I have a set limit of how many of those items I will allow in the house. Most of us have a limited amount of storage space and a thousand rolls of toilet paper just doesn't fit into my storage closet no matter how cheap they were!

3. I don't buy prepared cookies and junk food (unless it's free with a coupon!) OK, I do have a few rules I break! I just got two free oreo's cookies because I had free coupons for them, normally, I wouldn't even buy them on sale!

4. I won't buy something with a coupon if the store brand I usually buy is still cheaper. There are some items, like canned tomatoes, that are still cheaper to buy without coupons most of the time.

With smart shopping, I can normally cut $30-$50 off my grocery bill every two weeks. If you do the math, that's almost $100 a month, off of things that we use and eat! That type of saving can really add up over the course of a year.

If you need motivation to start, begin charting how much you save when you shop. Set a goal, like dinner out or a family get-away when you save so much. It will suprise you how fast those coupons add up!