Lowe's: $10/$50 Coupon

Here's a great coupon if you are doing any home improvement project- save $10 off a $50 purchase at Lowe's.

Thanks Common Sense with Money!

A Peak in My Mailbox

I know when I first learned about couponing and the drugstore game I came across websites that had freebies that I could sign up for and I was intrigued but skeptical. Were they really legitimate? But I went ahead and requested a couple and waited several weeks and what do you know, I had some fun stuff waiting for me in my mailbox!

Since then I have requested literally hundreds of free samples and products. It's one of the easiest ways to save a little because it only takes a couple of seconds to request them (especially if you use Roboform!) and often they come with coupons as well.

The picture above is of all the freebies I received last week. I think the only ones that are still available are the Dunkin Donuts free beverage, Woman's Day subscription, and Healthident Dog Treats.

The ones that I received that aren't available any more are Heart-shaped Post-It notes, Target beauty bag, John Frieda shampoo and conditioner, Wisk laundry detergent, Family Fun and Baby Talk subscriptions.

What fun things have you received in your mailbox lately?

Groupon: $7 for $15 Ebay Gift Certificate

This is a Groupon that I'm excited about! I shop on Ebay fairly often for books, postage, and gifts so I'll have no problem using this Groupon to save me some money.

Here's the deal.

1. Sign up here if you aren't registered already with Groupon.

2. Once you sign up, go to the Ebay Groupon offer. You will need to have both a registered Ebay and Paypal account in order to take advantage of this offer. You can purchase the Groupon without these accounts but in order to use the gift certificate you'll need Ebay and Paypal accounts.

Here's the fine print:
Limit 1 per person. Limit 1 per order. Valid only on eBay.com in the U.S. Must have a registered eBay and PayPal account. Credit card info may be required at checkout. Not valid towards service fees. No cash back. May apply value toward tax & shipping. May use over multiple visits.

Book Review: Lazarus Awakening

The last number of months have been tough for me- especially due to the loss of our infant daughter. Although I felt God close during this time, I also felt distant from Him. (Does that make any sense? Such a paradox!) I was really searching for answers to a lot of the questions that come with difficult situations like this. So when I saw that Joanna Weaver had written a third book Lazarus Awakening: Finding Your Place in the Heart of God I was excited and knew that I wanted and needed to read it.

I read Weaver's first book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World and loved it. It challenged me and pushed me in good ways. And I found Lazarus Awakens doing the same thing. In fact, this book helped me see that although God allows difficult experiences to come into our lives, He is also right there with us, loving us through them. And so much of how the experience shapes us, for the good or the bad, is in our response.

Weaver starts the book talking about how our view of God affects how we view the circumstances that come into our lives. Then she goes on to talk about what a true relationship with God looks like during difficult times, what hinders that and what we can do to keep that relationship healthy. She reiterates over and over that God wants what is best for us and sometimes he allows "tomb experience" or "death" experiences to come into our lives to actually bring more life. She ends the book by discussing what it looks like to live resurrected- what it means to live free of our "tomb", of our "graveclothes". This by far was my favorite part of the book! I loved the picture of hope she paints and found it so encouraging and helpful.

A few of my favorite quotes:

- Isn't it strange how we humans tend to view God as our servant rather than our Master? Insisting that He do our bidding rather than standing ready to do His?
- If we embrace the process of crucifying our flesh, we'll find the joy that Lazarus found. Because spiritually speaking, nothing frees us more than dying to live.
- It seems that the times we come fact to face with pain and death are the times we're reminded best that this world is just a shadow. A crude drawing and a mere outline of the beauty that awaits us in a world outside this one. An alternate reality so magnificent and incomprehensible that we often forget it's there.

One of the things that I love about this book, is that Weaver includes lots of little helpful sections in each chapter that specifically flesh out what she is writing about. Sections such as "Disciplining your Mind" "Dethroning Lies" and "The Art of Listening". I find these to be very helpful as she gives specific step-by-step instructions on how to do the things she suggests. Or helpful tips that flesh out what she talked about. She also includes a lot of resources as well as a study guide in the back of the book. I always feel like her books are just full of helpfulness!

If you are looking for a book that will help you draw closer to God, especially if you are in a dark time in your life, and if you don't mind your toes getting stepped on a bit, Lazarus Awakening is for you!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Lazarus Awakening for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review, however all opinions are mine.

Changes

For some time I've been considering what I wanted to do with my blog. I love blogging, but it does take up a lot of my time and I've been battling that whole issue.

I'm not going to stop blogging, but you will see some changes. Starting this week I will no longer post freebies or coupons- or if I do it will be very rare. I plan to still do my Tasty Tuesday, Weekly Spending Summary, and You Might Enjoy posts. And I hope to do more "meaty" posts about how to lower your expenses and probably some posts with money saving tips as well. I'm guessing that I'll do one or two of those posts a week. And along the way I'll include other hopefully interesting things too.

My decision comes based on several things. For one thing I want to be able to give myself more fully to my family and to those who I'm in real life relationships with. As much as I enjoy blogging, it is not worth it if I am not able to care well for my dear husband, little boy and others that God has placed in my life. I want to live my life with no regrets and I've got this nagging feeling that if I don't stop putting so much time into blogging I'm going to look back in a couple of years and wish that I would have spent more time with those that I love.

I also am finding this time of grieving to be exhausting. I never knew that grief would be so draining physically and emotionally. In the last couple of weeks I have felt extremely exhausted and I knew something had to change. I really sensed God was asking me to consider giving up my blogging time, even though it is something I enjoy a lot. I'm hoping that by not spending as much time blogging I'll have more time for personal things. Things that help me work through this grief and also projects and activities that help me grow as a lady.

Thanks for reading my blog! As always I'd love to have your input so feel free to leave a comment or email me. I take your input seriously and try to use it to improve my blogging style and content.

Oh and if you don't feel like always having to come here and see if I've updated, may I recommend that you simply subscribe to my posts via email or a blog reader? It's really quite simple, just look at the top left-hand side of my blog.

Have a great week...and remember, I'll still be here, just not quite as much as usual. :)

Weekly Spending Summary

Another average week...

Total Saved: $29.05
Total Saved with Coupons: $111.96
Total Saved with Sales: $66.40
Total Saved: $178.36

Rite Aid: $0.59 ($0.06)
Saved with Coupons: $90.88
Saved with Sales: $48.40

I bought the Johnson's baby wash and Ester-C with a rain check.

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $15.08
Saved with Sales: $4.51

Had I not used a gift card to pay for this purchase I would have paid $0.99.

I forgot to take a picture of my purchase right away and so by the time I got to taking a picture I didn't have 2 of the items I bought. I bought a 5 ct. Allegra that I gave to a friend and also a bag of CVS brand animal crackers that got consumed by the children at our church's Mom's Morning Out.

Giant: $7.67
Saved with Coupons: $5.00
Saved with Sales: $13.49



Target: $2.00
Saved with Coupons: 6.00

Staples: $5.29
Saved with Coupon: $1.00

This was for a pack of printer paper. Okay, so I know that paper isn't really a grocery item but occasionally I put stuff like this under grocery because I use it mostly for grocery related things, such as printing coupons. In actuality I will only pay $0.30 (tax) for the paper after rebate.

Misc.: $13.50
Part of this was for fresh ground whole wheat flour from my mother-in-law. They have a wheat grinder and so we take advantage of it.

$0.50/1 Stove Top Stuffing Coupon

Here's a coupon for $0.50/1 Stove Top Stuffing. If you have a store that doubles coupons, this should make for free or nearly free stuffing.