The Best Christmas Ever

For the past three days, all I have been saying is that this was the best Christmas I had ever had. Not only am I saying this but so are my husband and my three kids! This got me thinking about why this Christmas was so different than any other Christmas I have celebrated.

I tend to be a little stressed when it comes to the holiday season and decide that everything has to be perfect, or better, than the year before. I have no idea where this thought process came from but I'm sure my husband has a few ideas... This year, for some reason, I didn't have any desire to create a celebration that would top the year before. My only desire was to enjoy the holidays. 

Usually, I am the only one who decorates and prepares for the holidays but, this year I insisted everyone pitch in which meant that I had to release some control on how things were done. Only a few lights went up and half of them didn't work but that didn't seem to matter. My mom helped put up some of my holiday decorations and it went so much faster with an extra set of hands. My gift list was ready to go and my shopping, wrapping and mailing was done by early December. I baked several batches of cookies while my kids helped or entertained themselves without arguing. On Christmas Eve Day, we all worked together to prepare the food for that night and we had a great time together! Christmas Eve was spent together, just the five of us, enjoying Christmas service, laughing and just being together. 

The kids hadn't been this excited about a visit from Santa in years and I think the fact that they helped in the preparations helped create this excitement. Christmas Day was filled with relaxation, more time enjoying each other, and playing with new toys. As the day wore on I had planned to cook a wonderful dinner for my family. Instead, we ended up going out for Chinese food just like the family in "The Christmas Story". After that, we drove around for a couple of hours and looked at the Christmas lights. 

I never imagined that Christmas could be so enjoyable and even a little untraditional. But I think that the help I received from my family throughout the season eased the stress I always feel and everyone was so proud of the little things they did to help. I still didn't get my Christmas cards out on time this year...maybe next year.

Oeir reaction when they opened 

Tightening the Grocery Belt

It has been a long time since I last posted and, like everyone else, my life has turned busy during this holiday time. However, yesterday I discovered a new way to grocery shop and had to share it with you. But before you go on, this blog may not be for everyone. If you don't like a little challenge, a few constraints and a little extra work when it comes to grocery shopping, then you might want to stop reading right now.

Earlier this month I was reading a local parenting magazine and came across an article about "The Grocery Game". In short, a woman has turned her hobby of clipping coupons and saving money at the grocery store into an online business. The idea of the business is to join for $10 a month and you can receive a list of specials at your local grocery store, which coupons to clip, where to find the coupons and the best products to stock up on. I am incredibly skeptical when it comes to programs like these so I wasn't going to jump on board right away. I know that I don't like to work hard when it comes to grocery shopping and I didn't believe I was going to make up the $10 from the membership fee. However, the business I am in made me reconsider trying this grocery game once or twice. 

Yesterday, I signed up for the trial membership which is $1 for four weeks of grocery lists to as many of your local stores as you wished. I decided to get my money's worth and signed up for two grocery stores and two nationwide drugstores. I received four lists of published and non-published sale items for each store. It took me a little while to understand the color coding on the lists, coupon shorthand and to print the lists. Since this was my first time playing the game, I spent about two hours studying the lists, deciding what I was going to buy and finding and clipping some of the matching coupons. Two hours was really more time than I wanted to spend but I wanted to maximize my trial experience.

Today was shopping day! I decided to shop at the four stores I selected and also visit a small discount grocer that I like. It seemed like a daunting task to have five shopping lists, coupons for each store and yet not spend all day doing my grocery shopping. Believe it or not, I actually made it through all five stores in less than two hours and made it home with at least 10% more groceries than I usually purchase. That being said, I couldn't wait to see how much money I had really saved; ever the skeptic.

As I reviewed the grocery receipts, I made a mental note that I had purchase a few items that were not on "The Grocery Game's" list but that I still needed. I also considered that the most I had ever saved on a weeks worth of groceries using sales and coupons was about $25. Anxiously I added the five receipts together and calculated that I had spent $208.96. Not bad for a week of groceries which included 10% more items that usual. Next came the real truth...how much did I actually save? Remember, the savings amount included purchasing advertised items listed on "The Grocery Game" and coupons. My grand total savings from the five stores was $99.65! I was absolutely astonished. Had I not played the game and purchased the same items, I would have spent $308.61! I still can't believe it and, the food I bought was food we normally eat, not a lot of junk food and included meats, fruits and vegetables. Saving 32% on my grocery bill made me incredibly excited and even giddy.

Like I said before, this isn't for everyone and it may not be a long term game for me. The game encourages buying multiple food items when it is inexpensive (which may eventually become difficult when I run out of storage space), shopping every week (which may or may not happen), and remembering that you should only buy what your family will use. They also said that you will need to play the game for a few weeks before you actually begin to see your grocery bill decline. 

Even though this whole trial required some extra work, the payoff was well worth it. I'm sure that next week will be less time consuming and I'm already looking forward to see if I can save even more on my next grocery trip! No wonder it's called "The Grocery Game".