Saving Money

Okay so I don't know about you, but I haven't got the money to spend in the first place. So when I do have to spend it I try to find the best way to get the best deal.

First let me tell you my wonderful husband took me shopping for new everything this past weekend. It was well overdue. I don't think I have done that kind of shopping in years. And it wasn't even a lot in some peoples minds. But for me it was.

We went to Lane Bryant and I got 5 pairs of pants and 2 shirts for $50 dollars. Okay so drum roll please that was $200 in savings you all! I was SO proud of myself.

Then we went to Wal-Mart and I got 3 bra's, 10 pairs of socks and 12 pairs of underwear for $50. So excited (I know you wanted to know about that part right hahaha)

Then the next day we went to Sketchers Outlet
I got 2 pairs of shoes for what was supposed to be $130 for $60!

I have to tell you I am so excited. My husband never once, let me say that again, NEVER ONCE, complained about how long I was taking! He was such a gentelman.

So here is also another site that I have been using to save money with groceries.
I Heart Publix. It may take a little bit to get the hang of it but once you do, you can't help but be amazed.

I usually don't clip coupons. Why you ask? Well because I just end up forgetting them. Then I found this website and made my own Coupon Binder (Google it and you can find so many variations on how to make your own) and so far this is what the past 2 weeks has looked like:

Last Week:
Spent: $160 Saved: $61 Paid out of pocket$99

This week: Spent $128 Saved $40 Paid out of pocket $88

If you have/know of any other ways to save money please oh please leave a comment.
I would love to hear about them!

Have a blessed day~ Jessica

UPDATE: On October 2nd I went to Publix and spent $128, Saved $72 Out of Pocket: $56!!! So VERY proud of myself. And If the lady at I HEART PUBLIX ever stops doing her blogs I will have to go find her and BEG her to do them LOL

Turtle Park

We had such an amazing day at "Turtle Park" George C. McGough Nature Park Here are some pictures of me, my husband and my daughters adventure!

Learning

So I am learning about this thing called 'emotional eating'.

I have been researching it because I 'know' I have to be one. Well did I hit the nail on the head! Okay so Now that I know I am one whats next?

Well now I figure out how to deal with it and get through all moments in life without 'emotionally eating' and can I just say it is working.

I have lost 14 pounds in the past 2 weeks.

I never realized that when you are an emotional eater you suppress ALL emotions not just when you are stressed or sad. But when you are happy too!

Something in my brain was telling me I wasn't worthy enough to be sad.

So I ate.

I wasn't worthy enough to be angry. So I ate.

I wasn't worthy enough to be stressed. So I ate.

So you get the picture, but the kicker is this one.

I wasn't worthy enough to be HAPPY!

Of course I am worthy enough to be happy.

Ohhhh but was I wrong, well at least my brain was somehow telling me this.
When I am any of the above including happy, I ate.

And ate,and ate.

Why did I feel the need to reward myself with food. Simple. It was always there for me NO MATTER WHAT!

And I have the excess weight to prove it.

So now I am writing down in a journal: my food, exercise and best of all my feelings.

I am being a conscious eater.

I am not living to eat. I am finally eating to live, and with that my friends, comes a weight loss of 14 pounds.

I am excited to see what is to come. I know that the answers are right from God. And I am so thankful! I have been battling this for too long and I have been about to give up too many times but I never gave up on my faith in God that He would provide me with the answers I sought. And HE has.

God is love ~Jessica

walking in circles

It has been a week since my last entry. Its not that I didn't want to write as I have stated in previous entries its that time has a habit of getting away from me.

My days start at 6:40am some of you might say oh that is sleeping in and others may say sucks to be you. I say the latter too! Sleeping in ha! No if I was sleeping in it would be till at least 9:30am and I never thought I would say that again.

I remember when my daughter was little I wondered if I would ever get a full 4 hours of sleep straight through again. Well I do I am happy to say it only took her getting to her 5th birthday to achieve this goal. Makes me wonder why I am so crazy as to want more, like now more lol.

After I pick up my little one from school it is time to go home, pick up the house, getting ready for the next day, dinner, feed the pug, clean up, showers, take the pug out, and then check my email. I don't feel like I am accomplishing ANYTHING. I must be because my child, husband and I do go to school/work with clean clothes and lunches packed and my house is cleaned up, not as 'clean' as I would like it but it doesn't smell and there is very little dust. Would I let my kid eat off the floor? NO! Would I let the pug, all the time, never a crumb in my house!

So now I will say goodnight to my child one more time and watch a little TV-18 Kids and Counting is on tonight-everyone knows how much I love this show. So I will make it a point to stay up :)

And Remember: This is the day the Lord has made- Rejoice in it! ~Jessica

A first

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for my daughter. I got up early and made sure everything was done for her. She DID NOT want to wake up. I stood there thinking to myself- Self what are you going to do?- so I did something I always swore I would NEVER do! I did what my dad used to do to me in the mornings to get me out of be because I too would NOT get up!

I pulled the covers off of her!

Well that didn't work she gave me the meanest look and went back to sleep WITHOUT the covers! So I wont do that anymore.

Finally we made it to school and I wanted to cry. My baby was going to school not just preschool but BIG KID school! With a wave a hug and a kiss my daughter was ready to start her day. I left and prayed many a prayer on my way to work. I knew she would be okay but I wasn't so sure about her mommy.

I went to the store before picking her up and got her, her favorite donut, boy was she excited when I picked her up and she had a treat.

I asked her how her day went and she said good then I asked what she did:
Mommy I played on the playground and slept on the floor at nap.
Me: did you eat your lunch?
Her: just my fruit snack, I didn't eat anything else.

No wonder the kid ate the donut in less than 60 seconds!

So with that we are to settle into a routine and a year full of sleeping on the floor and playing on the playground.

God is so good. No only did he give my daughter a good day but he also got me through her first day too :) God is Good ~Jessica

If you leave it they will eat it.

Okay so I know better than to do this but did it anyway.
I cleaned out my purse and put the gum with the red dye on my desk and wal-la my child ate it. I can not begin to tell you what a crazy evening my husband and I had with her. So now my full pack of gum is gone and finally at 9:30 at night my child sleeps.

For those of you who are not aware my child can not have artificial dyes especially red dye.
I thought for a long time she had ADHD, then I found out about red dye.
An answer to my prayers.
I had NO idea how much stuff has artificial dyes in it. I feel bad that she doesn't get to enjoy a lot of those types of foods anymore but there is no comparison when it comes to my child not having the "junk".

Tonite she was so uncontrollable I thought to myself how did I do this for so long with her acting like this.

So needless to say the gum is in the trash, well what was left of the second pack, oh yeah I didn't mention that did I ha ha.

Things like:
Macaroni and cheese
cake mix
cream cheese frosting
cheese its
yogurt
some chips
and SO many more have dye in them and I wasn't even aware.


If you want more information on red dye here is a great link. http://www.red40.com/pages/allergies.html
There are so many other websites you can look into. But this one is for red dye #40 and I have learned over the past months that anything that has an artificial dye doesn't get to come into our house and now no longer my purse.

There are so many great products out there that are organic and cost very little more if not the same as the other foods. I have found Target to be a great place to find so many organic foods.

I hope this has helped some of you if not all.~Jess

Wouldn't trade it

There are days when you want to pull your hair out being a parent and then there are days when you can't believe what a smooth day it is.

But most if not all would say what I am about to say: I wouldn't trade it for the world.

My daughter is such an amazing child.
She is so full of life.
She is stubborn like both her mommy and daddy.
She is bouncy like her Aunt Lindsey.
She is caring to her babies like her Auntie Erin.
She loves to learn.
She loves to laugh.
She loves to make people (especially her mommy) laugh.
She is the love of my life.

It always amazes me when people say they don't believe in love at first sight. I always come back with the reply: You obviously don't have children.
The moment you become a parent you cant help but KNOW there is love at first sight.

So whether it is the beginning of the day or the end of the day, I always thank God for giving me the most amazing gift ever: my daughter.

Survival it is

Okay so my blog is called A mom's guide to survival well I haven't been writing lately not because I don't want to but because I feel like I really am trying to survive here.

My husband, myself and our daughter went school shopping for her very first year in Big Kids School. She is going to be in Grade K and I cant believe it. It seems like yesterday that I had her and now she is 5 years old.

So we went to Super Target yesterday and got almost everything we needed seeing that she has to wear uniforms to school. They gave us the choice of navy blue shirts or white. HA white! No I do not think so, not unless I plan on buying 300 of them for the year. So 7 navy blue shirts later and pants and shorts and socks and underwear and $90 we were leaving in search of a oxygen mask for my husband and Denial Anonymous for me (I am going into denial about my child growing up but this too shall pass).

My sister, Lindsey, took Gena for the night at her house and my husband and I had a very quiet evening. I slept in till 9 am. But now my bundle of energy is home and I am very happy she had such a wonderful time with her Aunt and Uncle and their two basset hounds (Lucy and Ace).