We're moving!

No, not to a new house (although maybe one day!)....but we're moving to a new address on the web. Our new address is www.allforhimblog.com.  We're not finished yet, but come check it out anyways! It's going to have printable coupons directly from the site, more pictures, more Homeschool and Bible Study posts, and much much more! Just come see for yourself!!!

We won't be making many more posts here, and if we can figure out how to migrate our old posts over here we will But for now, check out the new site, and show us some love!

Big Changes!

So, it should come as no surprise that we are making some big changes around here. We have committed to start living like we believe in the power of Christ, and we're going to start acting on some of our dreams that always seemed far off. I still have no idea as to the answer of *some* of the things that have been causing doubt and fear to hang over my head, BUT I can live like I believe it, and trust that God will direct my path! So the most obvious thing is this blog is changing. For the immediate time being, it will stay here at blogger, but we have changed the address. It shouldn't affect those who already subscribe, but if you are typing in the link, you'll need the new address (which by now you know).  We've also changed the look, and we'll continue to do this for a little while, so bear with us! We're learning! We've created some pages at the top, to make it easier to find the posts that are related to those topics. Those are the things I blog about most. I have several different things I blog about, and I don't see that changing any time soon. But we are going to be changing this to gear it more toward our family is doing, and encouraging others.

For the knuckleheads like me...

This post is for the knuckleheads like me that have a hard time applying what we should have learned so many other times to whatever situation in front of you TODAY. Ok so This post is for me, not just those like me....

I'm not going to act like I am some kind of Bible scholar. I don't live a perfect life (though by now if you read the blog, I would think that'd be clear). I don't have all of theology understood. I make mistakes, I don't study God's word as often as I should, and am no where close to the 'perfect Christian wife/mother/daughter/friend/etc' If you think I am, I'm sorry we aren't better friends. Shoot me an email and we can talk about how God has used my many failures for His glory, because it still amazes me. This post is not going to sugar coat my life by any means.

It's that time of year again...

One of my favorite times of the year. Yehp. You guessed it. School shopping!!! I have to admit I LOVE shopping for school stuff. Yes, part of this stems from being a homeschool mom. I love the planning of the things we will do for the new year. I love researching and picking out curriculum. I love coming up with related art projects, and buying art stuff.

But I also love school supplies. Call me weird, but it just makes me happy. I love the smell of brand new Crayola Crayons. I love looking at the brand new paper, markers, and ink pens all neatly stacked ready for the new school year. I have always been this way too, even as a kid. My favorite part of summer was getting to go to Walmart and pick out all the school supplies we'd have to use for the upcoming year.

What I don't love, is paying a fortune for them! As a singe income, homeschool family, not only do I not bring a paycheck to the table, but my "job"  "costs" us money too!  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of ways to homeschool on a shoestring budget, but sometimes with school supplies, you get what you pay for.

For example, we've found that it's actually better to budget now and  spend a little more on things like Crayola Crayons and Ticonderoga pencils. See, you may be able to save a few pennies now, but in the long run when they break much more easily or don't last and you find yourself buying several more boxes throughout the year, what have you really saved. Then again some things, like cap erasers, are cheap no matter what brand you buy, so for those I look for doorbusters. What I mean is stores like Walgreens, Walmart, and the office supply stores often have a few featured items for mere pennies, to get you in the door. They plan on luring you with 25 cent rulers, thinking you'll spend a ton on everything else. But that's where being a thrifty mama comes in handy. Just like with couponing, you only buy the things that are a good price. Feel no shame about leaving with the minimum purchase (or max allowed items) if it is in your budget's best interest! I can't make promises that I'll keep this up, It took me about 2 1/2 hours to go through all the ads and do this, but I figure at least this week, I can pass the info along to all you other thrifty mamas!

I know everyone is looking for different things so I tried to organize them by General Art Supplies, Writing Utensils, Paper/Notebooks, and a miscellaneous section. There are some other deals that are only available at one particular store, or didn't seem to fit anywhere else; those will be at the very end.  If I am able to keep this up next week, I will try to stick with this same set up.  The deals with *asterisks* to the left of the item are what I think to be a good price this week. This is based on a few things, including if it is a "doorbuster" item, if it is on a rare brand to be sale, the amount the item is discounted, etc.  The good deals have one *, the better deals have two ** and the very best deals have the word STOCK UP!!! next to them. I hope this helps you to locate the items you need. Keep in mind that we have several more weeks of Back to School sales, so unless you need it right now, you may want to hold out for the sales of the coming weeks.

Also, this does not include ANY coupons.  I may try to add those in later, but for right now, the main ones I know of are Target printable coupons and Cartwheel (seems like I saw $1.50 off up and up school supplies on Target's website), and Rite Aid Video Values by Adperk. There are several school supply ads to watch and save even more money. I just watched pretty much all of them this morning while I was going through the ads. It doesn't take that long. I am looking at the sheet now, and I see $1 off any ink joy, $1 off pilot, $1/2 post it, $1 off 5 star 3 or 5 subject notebooks. Specifically that last one, those are 25% at Rite Aid already, so if you need that Brand, I would print it and check on the price when you get there!

Something else to note, Office Depot and Office Max are essentially one store now. This has been in the works for a while now, but I don't know the details. All I know is, whereas last year we were able to get the doorbusters from EACH store because they had separate ads, this year there's one combined ad.

One more thing. As of right now, I don't get any kind of kickback from doing this blog. I don't get paid to do any of this, so if I make a mistake, sorry! I'm just a mom on a mission to save, in an effort to be a good steward of what fGod has given our family. Couponing and deal shopping for the things my family needs is part of the job I do as a mom, and I put this list up simply in hopes that the time it saves you will bless your family too.

7/13 school supply prices