I am a coupon user. Just because you use a coupon does not make you cheap. People are always making fun of me cause I use coupons to go out to eat, at the grocery store and at the mall. I by no means am cheap, I consider myself to be thrifty. Now this is not a bragging post, just trying to make a point.
First of all, I ran across this saying a while back and loved it. "We are to poor to buy junk". I always say you get what you pay for. And if I can get a little off - well I have more money for other things. But when you buy cheap junk, all you have is cheap junk. I love to shop at Dillards and Macy's during their huge clearance sales. I have $150.00 dresses that I got for $20 or $30 on sale with a coupon. If not for sales and coupons, I would have to wear Wal-Mart dresses. (Well maybe not that bad, but you get my point).
I always have a new car, we live in a nice house, we have a nice truck, we have two dumps, er I mean houses in WV. Everything we have is all ours. So I am not cheap. If I use a coupon then I have more money for other things. I want for nothing, but I want nothing. I am not a material girl.
Some people judge their wealth by how much stuff they have. I cannot stand to have clutter. And I cannot stand to have every space full of something. Every winter I purge every file, closet, drawer and cabinet in this house. I have even decided to donate some Christmas stuff this year. How much Christmas stuff does one person need. I have 7 huge totes of Christmas stuff plus wreaths and trees. My motto for decorating is: "What goes up must come down". And I don't put up Christmas till the first weekend in Dec. and it comes down Dec. 26th - every trip up the steps my arms are full of decorations. So its time to get rid of all them decorations that stay in the boxes year after year and let someone else enjoy them. My tree does stay up till New Years. My mother said its bad luck to take it down before, and she never had taken her's down before New Years Day, so that is a tradition I must follow now.
Back to couponing. I do not use a coupon just because I have it. I don't buy stuff I am not going to use just because I have a coupon. My mother was not a big couponer. Nor my dad, but I get something for him with a coupon and he is excited about it and the price. Kevin was in Texas in August for two weeks and I told my dad one day he was taking me out to dinner. He said, "Wait and let me see if I have a coupon". I about died laughing. A COUPON?!?! But you need to know my dad to know how funny that is.
You know if you don't plan along the way for your retirement, you might be working your whole life. As the country is today - you need all the help you can in saving for the future. Willpower to not need instant gratification is a good thing also. My girlfriend once told me I have allot of willpower, and I feel I do too. I think some people are ashamed to use a coupon or something. I feel that the business put out the coupon for me to use, so why not use it?
Our family picture after my mother's funeral.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Thankful
I have been out of the loop of my posting on the blog since the storm struck. We sometimes think, WHY ME??
During Frankenstorm, I was probably saying that at least once a day I'm sure to myself. It seems as if north Willoughby got hit the hardest and that is where we live. It just seemed a new issue arose everyday at our house. First our roof/siding/windows started leaking in the back bedroom. We had one leak, okay not bad for how much rain and wind we were having. A part of the ceiling was hanging down full of water. I got a bucket and busted the big bubble and let it all drain and then drip into the bucket. Yucky brown water. (THANKFUL IT WAS ONLY ONE LEAK) Then our electric went off at 11 pm. At 5 am I got up to see how the leak was doing. OOOPPPSSS it was now three leaks. (THANKFULL IT WAS ONLY THREE AND THE CEILING WAS STILL HANGING UP) Moved all the furniture now as one was right over the bed, but not leaking yet. Busted the other two, carpet soaked and bucket under them. Looked out front window - the big tree out front came down in all the wind. Laughing now. (BUT THANKFUL IT FELL THE OTHER DIRECTION AND NOT ON THE HOUSE). I had called my dad at 6:30 am to make sure he still had electric and he was surprised we didn't as he never lost it. (THANKFUL HE KEPT HIS ELECTRIC) So we get done cleaning up the mess and I am starting to make instant coffee. Someone is pounding on my door. My dad with Hardees Bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and three cups of coffee. (THANKFUL FOR BREAKFAST) We were checking things out and now the leaks started in the family room. (THANKFUL THE RAIN AND WIND WAS SLOWING, AND NO HANGING DOWN FULL OF WATER SPOTS, JUST BROWN WATER STAINS). My dad was determined we needed his generator. So I said make sure it would hook up the same way his does at his house or else we wouldn't have the stuff to plug it into the box. They found no main shut off. So he went home with the idea that if it stayed off to long just bring our perishables to his house. So 16 hours later, we had electric and heat. Our phones and internet were messed up and they actually came out the next day too. They are still messed up and I tried to call them today - their customer service is not what it should be - but customer service is a dying art - so I don't expect anymore than I get from them. (But that is another post).
It continued to rain a good bit until the next day and it slowed to the point that we could clean up the tree. I called the roofer and him and the siding guy were here within an hour asking why I hadn't called sooner. I didn't want people in the downpour rain up on my roof when my ceiling was ruined anyway. So that got fixed the next morning. The tree went through the chipper the next day. We even found the Main shutoff for electric in an odd place to us. So we figure its all over. NOPE!!!! On Sunday I wake up at 5:15 am and our furnace is blowing cold air. So Kevin was able to fix that - we actually had a ignition module in his stash of parts. His degree in Heating and AC did not go to waste that day. (THANKFUL KEVIN WENT TO COLLEGE AND LEARNED A VERY USEFUL TRADE).
Somewhere in all this drama in Ohio I learn that our electric is off at our house in WV. We have electric heat - weather said 20's every night. For this I must say I will be thankful if my pipes didn't freeze and bust.
Even though I might of posted on my Facebook wall posts that seemed like my world was falling apart - I was THANKFUL every step of the way.
During Frankenstorm, I was probably saying that at least once a day I'm sure to myself. It seems as if north Willoughby got hit the hardest and that is where we live. It just seemed a new issue arose everyday at our house. First our roof/siding/windows started leaking in the back bedroom. We had one leak, okay not bad for how much rain and wind we were having. A part of the ceiling was hanging down full of water. I got a bucket and busted the big bubble and let it all drain and then drip into the bucket. Yucky brown water. (THANKFUL IT WAS ONLY ONE LEAK) Then our electric went off at 11 pm. At 5 am I got up to see how the leak was doing. OOOPPPSSS it was now three leaks. (THANKFULL IT WAS ONLY THREE AND THE CEILING WAS STILL HANGING UP) Moved all the furniture now as one was right over the bed, but not leaking yet. Busted the other two, carpet soaked and bucket under them. Looked out front window - the big tree out front came down in all the wind. Laughing now. (BUT THANKFUL IT FELL THE OTHER DIRECTION AND NOT ON THE HOUSE). I had called my dad at 6:30 am to make sure he still had electric and he was surprised we didn't as he never lost it. (THANKFUL HE KEPT HIS ELECTRIC) So we get done cleaning up the mess and I am starting to make instant coffee. Someone is pounding on my door. My dad with Hardees Bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and three cups of coffee. (THANKFUL FOR BREAKFAST) We were checking things out and now the leaks started in the family room. (THANKFUL THE RAIN AND WIND WAS SLOWING, AND NO HANGING DOWN FULL OF WATER SPOTS, JUST BROWN WATER STAINS). My dad was determined we needed his generator. So I said make sure it would hook up the same way his does at his house or else we wouldn't have the stuff to plug it into the box. They found no main shut off. So he went home with the idea that if it stayed off to long just bring our perishables to his house. So 16 hours later, we had electric and heat. Our phones and internet were messed up and they actually came out the next day too. They are still messed up and I tried to call them today - their customer service is not what it should be - but customer service is a dying art - so I don't expect anymore than I get from them. (But that is another post).
It continued to rain a good bit until the next day and it slowed to the point that we could clean up the tree. I called the roofer and him and the siding guy were here within an hour asking why I hadn't called sooner. I didn't want people in the downpour rain up on my roof when my ceiling was ruined anyway. So that got fixed the next morning. The tree went through the chipper the next day. We even found the Main shutoff for electric in an odd place to us. So we figure its all over. NOPE!!!! On Sunday I wake up at 5:15 am and our furnace is blowing cold air. So Kevin was able to fix that - we actually had a ignition module in his stash of parts. His degree in Heating and AC did not go to waste that day. (THANKFUL KEVIN WENT TO COLLEGE AND LEARNED A VERY USEFUL TRADE).
Somewhere in all this drama in Ohio I learn that our electric is off at our house in WV. We have electric heat - weather said 20's every night. For this I must say I will be thankful if my pipes didn't freeze and bust.
Even though I might of posted on my Facebook wall posts that seemed like my world was falling apart - I was THANKFUL every step of the way.
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