~Pumpkin Prayer~

"Pumpkin Prayer"

Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you.

Remove the things in my life that don’t please you.

Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others.

Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me.

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned my nose at all the good things you provide.

Let everything I say please You.

Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do. Amen


Happy Autumn!
SHO

~3 Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There should be 3 coupon inserts in the Sunday newspaper:

*1 SmartSource
*1 Redplum
*1 Proctor & Gamble

Happy Clipping!
SHO

~Guest Bedroom Tour~

Kelly's room tour is of guest bedrooms this week. We live in a different state than all of our family, so this is an important room in our house. This is a queen bed, so there is not much room for anything other than side tables.

*I made the leopard pillows, drapes & bed skirt.
*The headboard (can't really see) was my parents and is over 30 years old!
*Both side tables are $5 tables & covered with fabric
*The bed is up on lifters for a bit of a dramatic look...PLUS, it adds more storage under the bed ;)

*This iron piece is the middle piece of the 3 piece set that I got at a garage sale for $8!

What we did in this room:
New carpet
New paint (yikes, that blood red was bad!)
New trim paint (I keep mentioning this because it made a HUGE difference in each room. It really brightened everything up & made it look new again.)
New window treatments (there were none)
BEFORE:

Thanks for touring! Hope you have a very blessed day!

Blessed~
SHO

~Diaper Review~

Hello my Sassy Savers!
Wanted to give a product review of Kroger brand "Comforts" diapers. They are good! Actually, I think they are the best on the market! Yes, I've tried them all (Pamper's, Huggies, Luv's, Wal-mart brand, Sam's brand, Target brand, etc.). I was not a couponer when my daughter was in diapers. I know, I know...makes me sick to think of the money wasted. Oh well. Live & learn!
Anyway, back to the Kroger Comforts diapers...they are great, absorbent, don't bulge (like some others), don't have a urine odor (like one of the major brands) and my daughter never had any #2 accidents with spilling out (sorry that is the best way to describe it without going into detail...you know what I mean). Anyway, never before did a store brand compete with a major brand until I found these.
Several of my friends tried them and Comforts are now their diaper of choice. Kroger has them on sale for $4.99 per pack this week. I promise, they are worth trying!

Thursday Blessings~
SHO

~Saving on Milk & Eggs~

There is a full page Aldi ad in the Dallas Morning News (Sunday paper) that has some pretty great deals on it. I took it to Wal-mart yesterday to comp the eggs & milk. Wal-mart had already marked the milk down to .99 to meet Aldi's price. This is what I purchased:


Large eggs
Wal-mart Price: $1.27
Aldi comp Price: .49!

.99

I would not make a special trip to Aldi for milk & eggs, but I can benefit from their sale simply by taking their ad into Wal-mart and showing the cashier. I was able to save $3.12 on eggs alone!

Wednesday Blessings~
SHO

~Comments~

I LOVE reading comments from my Sassy Savers out there. You all make me smile :)
Please leave your email address for me if you leave a question as a comment so that I can get back to you. Thank you so much!

Many blessings~
SHO

*I found this shirt at one of the shops at 1st Monday in Canton. It says "Happily Married with Kids". Love it! It is so hard to find a cute Mommy shirt that doesn't look like you should be wearing "mom jeans" with it. You all know what I'm talking about! ;)

~Restaurant.com 80% Off!~

Restaurant.com is offering $25 gift certificates for $2. Today only!
Enter Promo Code: PUMPKIN

We use one of these at least once a month and have never had any trouble. This weekend I made up a wedding/house warming gift for some of our friends that recently got married. In the package was a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate along with other home items. It turned out really cute, but I forgot to take a pic!

Also, these would make great teacher gifts. What else can you purchase for $2 that has a $25 value?

Happy Monday!
SHO

~Fund~

A fund has been set up for the family who lost the 6 year old in Arlington, TX. If anyone would like to give to help with funeral costs, it would be greatly appreciated. Information listed below:

Arlington Federal Credit Union
*Brazzell family*

If you woud like to read about the story:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/10/21/2567460/mom-urges-safer-route-to-dunn.html

~Each day is a gift~

Hug your children today.
Tell them how special they are.
Love them.
Play with them.
Talk with them.
Speak life into them.
Praise them.
Remind yourself that each day that we have is a gift.

Please join me in lifting up a family who is saying goodbye to their 6 year old daughter today. Please pray for them and remember them as you love on your children. Each day is a gift.

In His Grace~
SHO

~2 Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There are 2 coupon inserts scheduled for the Sunday paper:

*1 SmartSource
*1 Redplum

Happy Clipping!

SHO

~Shabby Princess Room!~

This week Kelly's tour is of children's rooms. We are still in the process of transforming this into a "Big Girl Room". Enjoy!

Mini-me got a "Big Girl Room" for her 4th birthday. My goal was for this room to be a sweet & shabby princess room. She LOVES it and that makes us happy too :)

*Purchased this wooden bed from the JBF sale for $25 and refinished it.

*I made this pillow out of 2 of my childhood dresses :)



*I love the detail on this old shabby wooden shelf. Found it at a garage sale for $4, but talked them down to $2!

*I was able to make these drapes for less than $5!


*The pink tieback was made from a bow off of a childhood dress of mine.

*A very sassy chandelier hung by Poppi!




*Princess bank for my little Sassy Saver!

*Every girl needs a pink pony, right?!


*This knob detail is what sold me on the dresser.


*I fell in LOVE with this painting when I was pregnant. 4 years later, I still love it :)

*The 10 Commandments framed & adorned with jewels :)

The bow wall (behind the door) with a frame says "I am a Child of the King". Love it! Thanks, Nonni :)

*The little white dress was from when I was a baby. My mom kept so many things & I am so glad now that I have a little girl!
*****************************
The room BEFORE we remodeled:


We did the following to the room:
*New carpet
*New chandelier
*New wall paint
*New trim & door paint
*Window treatment
Basically everything!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my little girl's room!

Have a blessed day!
SHO

~76 & Working Full-time~

My mom was telling me about a lady that she does business with that is 76 and still works full-time. She gets $1000 Social Security and says that she can't make it on that. She works to get by and pay her rent & bills.

My first question to my mom was "What went wrong?! How did this happen?" It really depressed me to think that in the near future we are going to be seeing a great deal more of the elderly out working full-time simply out of necessity.

Don't let this be you. Get control over your finances NOW! Sometimes our society thinks that if everyone else is in the same boat, it won't seem so bad. WRONG! I promise that if you are still working full-time at age 76 and barely scraping by, it will seem BAD!

I sure don't want to be in that same position, do you? Therefore, I'm taking drastic measures now (while I'm still young) to get my finances in order and vowing to live a life without debt. What better gift could you give your children than to live out a Godly financial model for them? Teach them that debt is bad & cash really is the way to go. To instill Godly financial principals in them based off of how you live & your success.

My Sassy friends, if you think this will be you...Make drastic changes now!
If you can't ever get ahead...Make drastic changes now!
If you are living off of credit cards...Make drastic changes now!
If you are living paycheck to paycheck...Make drastic changes now!
If you don't save money out of every check...Make drastic changes now!
If you have no plans for retirement...Make drastic changes now!
If you plan to pay on your home for the next 30 years...Make drastic changes now!
If you have no idea how much debt you are in...Make drastic changes now!
If you do not live & breathe on a written budget...Make drastic changes now!
If you have no financial goals...Make some!

Today is never too late to start planning your future. Stop making excuses and start making sacrifices for a better future. You can do it! I listen daily to the Dave Ramsey radio show and hear how people are paying off crazy amounts of debt simply by following a budget and sticking to it. I hope this makes you think as it has me about how important planning for retirement now really is.

In His Grace~
SHO

~Exciting News!~

Retail= $33.25
Total spent=ZERO...$0.00...Nada...Nothing!

I'm SUPER D DUPER excited to tell you all that Kroger changed their coupon policy!!! Previously, you could double/triple 3 coupons per like item....BUT now you can double/triple up to 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so HUGE in my world. I won't have to split up any transactions anymore. So much easier now!

Thank you Kroger!!!

Wednesday Blessings~
SHO

~My Walgreen's Trip=FREE!~

I love both of these products, so I was super excited to be able to get them for FREE this week!

2 Ricola
Sale $1
-.50 coupon in Oct. booklet
-$1/2 q
=FREE!
*Be sure to check all of the packages as some of them have 25% more! Bonus!

Blistex
$2.59
-$2.59 Register Reward back
=FREE!

Tuesday Blessings~
SHO

~Coupon Comedy~

This is the Queen of Sassy Savings husband...guess he would be the King of Sassy Savings?! Not sure he would go for that. Ha! So, we'll just call him Coach :)


I had enlisted his help after church yesterday in the self checkout lane at Tom Thumb. Bless his heart, not 1 of his coupons would scan and the associate had to come over at least 4 times to help. Not his fault, the coupons just would not go through unless manually entered. Anyway, it was a bit frustrating as we had to do so many transactions.

Once we got out into the parking lot, this was the conversation with my favorite Coach:

"What just happened in there?"~said cute Coach
Laughing~me

"I can read any offense in seconds...I can break down any defense no matter what is thrown at me, but I've got to be honest...this coupon thing really throws me! I guess what I'm saying is that Babe, you many have a future being an Offensive or Defensive Coordinator!" ~said cute Coach

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"~ me cracking up!

Needless to say, my favorite Offensive Coordinator ( UNDEFEATED this season) has yet another new appreciation for how I'm able to save our family so much money.

Blessed~
SHO

~Tom Thumbs Deals!~

Campbell's Soups
Reg. .79
Sale .50
-.50/2 q (doubled)
or
-.40/2 q (doubled)
=FREE-.10 per can!!!

Milk
$1.29
-$1 q (found sticker on the Sara Lee breads...buy any Sara Lee bread & get $1 off milk)
=.29!

Sara Lee bagels
Reg. $3.79
Sale $1.99

3 Cheerios
Reg. $3.29
Sale $1.49
-$1/3 q
=$1.16 per box

Mushrooms
Reg. $1.99
Sale .99

2 Oscar Mayer Deli Meat
Reg. $4.39
Sale $1.99 (in-store coupon price)
-$1/2 q
=$1.50 each

Retail: $38.36
Spent: $10.55
*That is a savings of 73% on everyday grocery items!

This was done simply by checking the sales ad and combining my coupons along with it. Several transactions were done for the soups (a funny post on that in a minute)!

Monday Blessings~
SHO

~Upcoming Seminar!~

If you live in my area and are wanting to attend a Sassy Saver Coupon Seminar, please leave me a comment or email me (coachoshields@hotmail.com). Several people have asked about the next one and I'm needing to get a count of how many people are interested. Please email me for the specifics.

Thank you & have a blessed weekend!

SHO


As always, BOOMER SOONER :)

~2 Coupon Inserts Scheduled~

There are 2 coupon inserts scheduled for the Sunday paper:

*1 SmartSource
*1 Redplum

Happy Clipping!
SHO

~OU Office Tour!~

This week Kelly's room tour is of offices. We are HUGE OU (University of Oklahoma) fans, so it is only fitting that we would have an OU office in our Texas home. I loved hearing from some of the "Sooner Nation" regarding the OU Sid Dickens in my living room!
My goal for this room was to create an elegant take on a sports theme. So, I made the drapes, pillows & ottoman cover for some added texture to the room. This is a room where we work on the computer & watch movies. A fun room for our family!






The bookcase holds pics of the following events:
*Big 12 Game
*National Title Game
*OU vs. OSU Game
*Pics w/ Barry Switzer (He is really a nice guy!)
*Vintage OU Mugs
*Autographed Footballs
*Oil painting of the Stoops brothers coaching at OU

*Computer desk...I don't have a post-it problem...Promise! My fav Coach leaves me sweet love notes on here and they make me smile throughout the day :)
**********************
This is what was done in this room:
*New carpet
*New wall paint
*New trim paint
*Window treatments
*Ceiling fan

The office BEFORE:


Thanks for touring & BOOMER SOONER :)

Hope you have a blessed day!
SHO

~Crock Pot Cooking Day!~

Continuing with the cooking series, today I'm writing about Crock pot cooking!


I love my crock pots! They get used mainly to cook chicken. They are great to use when it is hot outside too (as they don't make the house hot). I love the convenience of starting something and not having to worry about it until it is time to eat :)
Today I'm going to show you my crock pot chicken day. I do this every couple of weeks. After I shred the chicken we will eat some of it that night in a recipe. The rest will be separated and then frozen for later. (Remember to always shred the chicken as it will go so much further!) This way I'm not having to cook chicken very often. I just grab a bag out of the freezer, let it thaw & put it in a recipe. Makes cooking so much faster!


*Start w/ a family pack of chicken.

*These are the marinades I was using on this particular day. I always sprinkle the garlic & onion mix before the Lawry's.

*Be generous with the marinades & then add water. Dry chicken is no fun!

*I usually have 2 crock pots going with different marinades. Since I'm making a large family pack, it is nice to mix up the flavors.

After it is finished, I seperate the chicken into the portions that I will need for my future meals and then put it in freezer bags. It is so nice to grab a freezer bag of chicken and have the correct serving portion for my family already cooked. Just thaw and warm up! Super easy and fast!

Hope this helps and inspires you to get ahead on your cooking. It is easy to plan meals when the meat is already finished & ready to put in a recipe.

Blessed~
SHO