I almost left a surprise for the mailman.
I stumbled across something fun in the blogosphere, the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival! Hundreds of blogs all giving something away! I thought I would jump in and join the fun, while highlighting a ministry. If you haven't been here before, I'm a homeschooling mom of 4 girls (5 and under!) and I blog about couponing, mom tips, freebies, and Christian Living, with a sprinkling of family updates and other topics. If that interests you, please subscribe (on the right hand side) so you don't miss anything!
Okay, back to the giveaway! I wanted to highlight an important ministry that is easy to support. S.O.U.L., which stands for Shine On Us Lord, is part of the SOUL Light Link Ministry in Quito, Ecuador. It is a card making ministry run by international women in prison there. These women have found new faith in Jesus and making these cards is their only source of income, which they need to buy basic necessities, like blankets and toiletries, which are not provided by the prison.
BUY IT: Would you like to purchase some cards? Not only would you be supporting these women in living an honorable lifestyle, you would receive some gorgeous, unique, handmade cards as well! You can choose from packs of happy birthday, all occasion, inspiration, friendship/thinking of you, thank you, and Christmas, and are all blank on the inside. They are sold in packets of 5 cards for $10. $2 per card is a bargain these days, and these cards are handmade! If you are interested in buying a packet of cards to support this ministry and help these women earn money in an honorable way and stay on a path that is pleasing to the Lord, mail a $10 check with a note about what you would like to purchase to:
I made a quick Target run to use some coupons that were going to expire at the end of the month. I keep my eyes open for coupons that say "$1 off ANY" because that means I can use it on a trial size. The coupons usually beep at the register because the item is .99 and the coupon is $1 off, so I politely point out to the cashier that I do have the item and that the coupon says "ANY" and doesn't exclude trial sizes, then she manually clicks the coupon through. I don't use coupons that say "exclude trial sizes" or have a minimum size (like 4 oz.), but I don't have a problem using coupons that say "any size" on trial sizes. The manufacturer knows which products are out there and which coupons are out there, and puts limitations on their coupons accordingly.
So here's what I scored, mostly to bring along on our upcoming vacation:
NutriPal Bars $2.99 (minus $1 coupon)
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser .99 (minus .50 coupon)
Shout Wipes .97 (minus $1.50 printable)
2 Tide .97 each (minus 2 $1 coupons)
St. Ives Lotion .97 (minus $1 coupon)
2 Kids Crest w/ toothbrush .99 each (minus 2 $1 coupons)
Total OOP after tax: $2.18
Note that I would have had overage if I had only bought the travel-sized items. I personally prefer to buy an item (like the NutriPal bars) to use up the overage. It's possible they would pay me money out of the register, but I've never tried (and would probably feel weird). I've gotten a negative balance at CVS before, but they just adjusted the amount of my coupons to bring my total to $0.00 instead of paying me overage. So that's why I prefer to buy something else to use up the overage. I figure I'm raising enough eyebrows already!
So when you go through your coupons to see which ones expire this weekend, see if you have any that would be okay to use on a trial-sized item!
When Ted got home from work on Friday, I asked him if I could run to Walgreens quickly after dinner so I could use the $5/$20 coupon. He replied, "No."
Okay. . .
I was taken aback, but he isn't an unreasonable man, so I decided to trust him and keep my mouth shut. Not easy for me. He could probably tell I was wondering, so he finally spilled the beans and told me he had a surprise for later.
Hmm, a surprise?!? That's all he would tell me for the next hour and a half. A little after 6pm he told me that a friend was coming over to babysit and we were going to see the movie Fireproof!
I can count on one hand the number of movies 
we've seen in a theater since our kids were born (In 2004 we went to see The Passion of the Christ and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and in 2007 we saw Evan Almighty), instead being patient until we can rent them for free from the library and watch them after the kids go to bed. But Ted knew I really wanted to go and see this one, thereby lending some support to Sherwood Pictures. We really enjoyed their first two movies, Flywheel and Facing the Giants, and the reviews of Fireproof sounded great.
OH. MY. GOODNESS. Let me tell you, this movie is all you have heard and more. It is awesome. The Kendrick brothers deliver a movie that is both tough and tender and presents the power of Christ to change lives and save marriages. It deals with respect and love and SO much more. I'd say more, but I don't want to give away the whole movie!
If you haven't seen it already, I really encourage you to go. If you can't go now, DEFINITELY rent it when it comes out on DVD, or better yet, buy it. It's a movie I want to add to our collection. Seriously, it was THAT good.
I did take advantage of the $5/$20 coupon today. Here's what I scored:
*L'Oreal Age Perfect Radiance Perfector (minus $2 coupon)
*Almay One Coat Mascara
2 Gallons of Milk (kids drink lots of milk)
*4 Bags of Fun Size Peanut M&M's (minus 2 $1 printables) - I also had a Wags coupon that didn't work
*AirWick Freshmatic (minus $4 printable)
*2 Glade Plug-Ins (minus BOGO printable)
OxiClean (babies make lots of stained laundry!)
*Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel (minus $2 printable)
Total OOP after coupons and tax: $41.24
*Submit for Oct. and Nov. rebates: $37.48
Total after rebates: $3.76!!
Isn't this fun? How did you take advantage of the coupon this weekend? Leave a comment!
Seriously, she loves sucking on her feet, her booties, her hands, anyone else's hands, her burpcloth, her bib, you name it. . .but NOT on a pacifier. We keep trying it now and then, since friends have told us their child didn't take one until 6 months, but so far, it's a no-go.
Mark your calendars for another free dinner! Thanks to the "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion, get Go to Taco Bell on Tuesday, October 28th from 2-6pm and pick up a Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco! One free taco per person.
Thanks to Taco Bell and Freegrabber!
Posts
All Comments
