Random Thoughts On The Coming Week

I've been busy this week working on some small scale fall cleaning... mainly decluttering. We don't have a lot of clutter but we do have areas that tend to collect some. So I worked on the bookshelves/entertainment center in the living room and the two areas in the kitchen that had accumulated clutter. I got my bills and receipts organized... something I've let go for almost 2 years... but now it's back in order.... and you know... it really didn't take that long.... and hour or so... why did I put it off??? And I'm working on getting my coupons reorganized. So I'm feeling like I'm making some accomplishments! I even cleaned a few areas of carpet....lol... well...ok... I did that because Steffie spilled her Coke.... but then I just kept going until I had a nice sized area cleaned... and then I started another.... I never finished that one though... not yet... maybe this coming week.
Speaking of this coming week... it's pay week and therefore grocery shopping week again. I vowed last time to have my coupons clipped and organized by the next time... so I'm working on it. We'll see how The Grocery Game plays out for me this week. I don't anticipate spending nearly as much time organizing my shopping plan as I did last trip. Although I think having a plan is key to saving more money... last time I spent as much time planning as I did shopping... maybe even more. But I'm learning as I go and getting faster at the game. A Lot of it is due to one of my favorite blogs and my friend Sherri over at Luv A Bargain... she really makes it easy to find great freebies and deals at Walmart, Walgreens, K-Mart, CVS, Target, Rite Aid and more! So if you want to shop for free... or nearly free... check out Sherri's blog... print out her current list and grab your coupons and go shopping. The other day I got $45 in items for $12 at Walmart.... Thanks Sherri!!!.... would have been less but I had to buy stuff Steffie wanted...lol

My goal for this week is to continue decluttering.... decorate for Fall/Harvest... get my shopping done... and start planning Steffie's birthday party.... I can't believe how close it's getting and I haven't planned the first thing yet except that there will be a party, a cake and gifts.... so I'm getting behind.

This time of year is probably my favorite. I love Fall and the colors it brings... the cooler temps... opening my windows and turning off the air conditioner(can't wait for that one!). But one really fun thing about the particular weeks we are in right now is that all three of my older children are the same age... for 19 days out of each year they are all 3 the same age... right now they are 20. I used to really love to have fun with this when they were small. We had a triplet stroller (bought used from a friend who had triplets)..... and they were pretty close to the same size... so people always stopped us to ask questions. "Are they triplets?".... "No".... "How old are they?".... "two".... "All three of them are two but they are not triplets?"..... "yes".... I would play with the questioners for a few minutes before finally explaining that Sarah would be having a birthday in a few days.... that the the boys were identical twins and Sarah was 11 and 1/2 months older. It was just fun to watch them try to figure it out... I know I'm a bit rotten :)
Sarah's 21st birthday is coming up.... of course she plans to party it up at the club... she keeps asking me if I'm going and I keep telling her no.... she'll have plenty of friends there to keep her distracted.... I doubt she'll miss her Mother....lol.... but for whatever reason she wants me to go. I haven't been in a bar in how many years??? I don't even know. A lot! And being in bar with a bunch of barely 21 year olds... just doesn't sound fun. I'll bake her a cake and I'll stay home while she parties.... she can show me pictures and tell me all the details after she sleeps it off :) She tells me everything.... even when I don't want to know....

So that's my random what's going on in the world of LaShan.... everyone have a great week!!!

A Lil Enchanted,
~LaShan~

Friday Frustrations

My main frustration right now is Entrecard and Adgitize....grrrrr...

For the last several days EC has been working only sporadically... I've been really busy this week and have had lil time to spend visiting blogs and dropping EC's... between my computer running slow and the EC drop button not showing more than half the time it's been very difficult to get much done. Adgitize hasn't helped since they changed their list of "blogs not dropped on today" to the preferred blogs list (or whatever they are calling it)... because now it does list ones I've already clicked on so I can't even depend on that to go to unclicked ones. Also speaking of Adgitize... I've been trying for 3 months now to earn the $14 just get my ad on there.... and I'm still lacking about $5.... so I'm frustrated that it hasn't added up a lil faster.... at this rate I still won't have the complete amount even after another month :(

Another frustration.... I decided to try The Grocery Game... I've been thinking about it for awhile... this week was pay week and grocery shopping time... so Monday I signed up hoping to find great deals and make getting my list done easier and quicker. Well... it wasn't.... I spent over 6 hours on Monday getting familiar with using it (it'll be be quicker next time because I know how it works now).... and getting my coupons and list together. I was doing like it suggested and just marking my coupon flyers with the date they came in the paper... this is how they tell you where to find the coupons to get the great deals. Well it took forever to find them that way because I had to keep going back through each flyer every time I wanted to find a coupon and there were tons that I wanted to find. So most of Monday was spent getting my shopping plan ready. It also didn't help that my old printer (the only one that has ink in it) would not print my lists from the website... that would have made things much easier and faster as well. So I've decided that I need to clip all of these coupons (100's 0f them) and file them alphabetically so I can find them faster. This is a task that I've been needing to do for quite some time... and one that will take hours :( Then it took the majority of Tuesday and Wednesday to do the actual shopping because I went to 7 different stores... I got a late start on Tuesday so I had to carry it over to Wednesday... and I had to drag Steffers along which makes everything take longer.

I have to say that I did find quite a few bargains by using The Grocery Game... so we'll see how it goes next trip (in 2 weeks).... if you want to give it a try they offer a free 4 week Trial Membership... and please list me as the person who referred you ALilEnchanted@gmail.com.... I can earn free weeks of membership :)

I'm still frustrated with the condition of my home... though I've been making myself spend more time cleaning. I really need to spend some major time focusing on getting it into shape.... it's almost fall and that means fall decorating... and then Christmas decorating etc.... and I always get the cleaning bug in the fall.... most people Spring Clean.... I Fall Clean. Soooo I've been seriously considering taking a week off from blogging to focus on my home... I haven't decided yet if I can have the will power to do it....lol... but I'll let you know if I decide to go through with it. I really do need to do this. Maybe now would be a great time since EC isn't working well anyways.... but geez I'll miss everyone :( .... I'll let you know in a few days what I decide to do.

Time seems to always be my biggest frustration... I need a few clones so I can get everything done.... can they speed up the process on that clone thing??? lol

A Lil Enchanted,
~LaShan~