I'm not Courtney but I'm on my way

I paid $7 for all this stuff. I gave .25 each for the deodorant, a dollar for each shampoo and .50 each for the Chex mix, and $3 for a 6 pack of Scott paper towels!!!!  I saved $20 according to the receipts.

 There had to be a secret I didn't know to using coupons. I tried CVS bucks and wasn't having any success. I've heard of people who were able to get the bucks and get their stuff practically free.  And Courtney buys 20 packages of cheese for .06 cents each.

 So I did a lot of research and here's where I landed that taught me how to stack coupons with weekly store deals, and keep my CVS bucks renewing themselves. The site if full of amazingly helpful information so that after coupons some product are free. Yes, that's right, FREE.  http://www.bargainbriana.com/ . This lady finds the bargain for you. Using The Frugal Map is also a great way to utilize others who've found the bargains for you.

I was pretty timid at first. I was in Food City and saw what Briana calls a blinkie. The box of muffin mix the blinkie coupon was for already had one of those peel off stickers on it. I didn't really want the muffins, but I did want to try out this stacking business. So I purchased the muffin mix using both coupons and saved $1.50 on it!

My next move was to actually buy a newspaper. Of course it has to be the one that has that coupon insert thingy in it. So I flipped through the sales papers matching up my coupons to the stuff that was on sale. I also printed off some coupons from CVS and BettyCrocker. So far, CVS and Walgreens are the only places that I have found that will accept coupons printed off the internet. The CVS bucks renew themselves when you match up coupons to items in the sales paper that brings more cvs bucks.

I've spent a few hours learning how, but I think its an investment that will pay for itself.

Snow, snow, quilt

Here's a picture of the last time it snowed. This was Natalie's first adventure in snow.

I decorated my Sundayschool room in snowflakes for this quarter. Needed a facelift and a change of atmosphere. The girls loved it.

Mom and I made a patchwork quilt for my pastor's wife for her birthday.

Shakers

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s second Appearance began in England in 1747 during a Quaker revival with a lady named Ann Lee. Because of her different views of the Scripture, she was expelled and in 1774 led a group of her followers to America. They believed the Lord came to earth the first time as the Son of God, Jesus Christ and that the Lord's second coming was in the form of the daughter of God, Ann Lee. They believed they were living in the millennium kingdom. They became known in the community as the Shakers because of their worship practices. When they gathered in their place of worship, they performed ritualistic cleansing dances including shaking sin from their hands. They would writhe in the floor, speak in tongues, speak prophecies and see visions. They had an area outside for séances. At funerals, the dead would speak to the congregation through someone, telling them not to worry about them, that the life of self depravation as a "shaker" was worth it. They lived in a type house, where the women lived on one side and the men on the other. Men went in one door of buildings and women in another. They absorbed all property of each person for the use of all, with the promise that all property would be improved upon. When people became dissenters, they were supposed to be able to get their property back, but it didn't always work out that favorably, especially when it was real estate. Men and women were never to walk together alone, ride alone in a wagon, or hold a conversation for very long periods of time. Men worshiped on one side of the building while women worshiped on the other. They did not believe in procreation because in heaven there was no marrying nor giving in marriage. But they did not feel this was wrong for the "world" because they were worldly minded and that was what people did who gave themselves to the flesh. They adopted children, and bought black slaves to free them into their religion. Obviously they died off, others dissented. They broke up in 1910. The last one died in 1923