Albertsons Sale

For all of you who live in Gainesville:

The Albertson's on Archer road is going out of business and is having their final 3 days of sales before they officially close. Right now everything in the store is 50% off and let me tell you, the inventory is going fast! Makeup, fragrances, and other items like medicine are 70% off. They are still taking manufacturer coupons, just not albertson's or comptetitor coupons. There is still a lot of canned goods, cereal, toys for kids, gator stuff, and baby stuff (especially formula and that stuff is expensive!!!) and I don't know if they are going to lower prices even more tomorrow or the day after. It is definitely a good time to stock up on some things, and you could probably make out like a bandit if you use coupons. I went there today without my coupons after I got out of class and saved close to $50!!

Just thought I would let you know because I have definitely been wondering if it was worth it to go these last couple of weeks.

First Day of School

Anthony and I came home from Tampa today after his first day of Grad school! We drove there together last night and had time to explore the town and figure out how to get to campus. We stayed in a pretty sketchy motel, because it was one I booked when I thought Ant would have to stay there once a week for the entire semester so I was looking for the cheapest place possible. We still had a good time though and we spent the whole night watching movies on the laptop :)

This afternoon was the coolest! We got to the campus around 11:00 and had to literally hunt for a parking space. One good thing about the USF campus is how well labeled everything is! Each building has a large label at the top of what college it is and there are multiple direction signs to the different buildings as you drive around. We finally found a spot near the Health Science building and walked to the bookstore. Ant's books weren't too expensive, so that was a plus. I really wanted him to get a USF t-shirt but he didn't want to get one unless it had ARNP or graduate school on it. I guess I can understand that :) We found his classroom, ate lunch and then I read and cross-stitched for three hours until his class got out. He really liked his teacher and he thinks that the class is going to be good, which is a relief for both of us.

It was fun exploring around Tampa because all I could think about was, "Wow, I am going to be living here in 9 months". It was kind of intimidating because the city is HUGE compared to Gainesville. I kept looking at apartment complexes around USF and trying to remember their names so I could look them up later. Another cool thing is that I am thinking about doing my 2nd practicum at the Moffit Cancer Center, counseling cancer patients and their families and the center is literally feet away from where Anthony has classes. With our new schedules this semester and the possibility of doing that next summer, I hope we are going to be able to handle all of this new togetherness!

Here we go again

Today was the beginning of a new semester for me and a new program for Anthony. I was a little bit nervous going to school today because my classes were going to be with completely new people. I started my program out of sequence, so for the last two semesters I had class with all of the people who started last fall. This fall is the start of a new group of students and it felt a little bit like the first day of grade school. The classes are so small and you take so many with the same people that it isn't like a lot of college classes where you blend into the group of 100. We did get-to-know-you activities and it was pretty fun. It felt good to be the one with the most grad school experience in the class :)

Anthony's classes officially started today, but he doesn't have to drive down to Tampa until Wednesday. After a lot of consideration and reviewing his classes syllabuses (syllabi?) and seeing the intense amount of work involved with the classes he decided to start out part-time, which really means that he is taking two classes instead of three. He had talked to me about starting out part-time awhile ago, but I thought it was just nerves about being in grad school when he has been out of school for so long. (Taking undergrad classes online is still school, but just doesn't require as much from you as far as time and effort). After I actually looked at what his classes would be like, I realized his concerns were pretty valid and we decided that he would start out part-time and see how it goes. Even if he stays part-time the entire program, it still would only take two years and in the grand scheme of things that extra year isn't worth all of the stress and hassle and the possiblity of failing (which for USF nursing is less than 82%!!!).

My internship has been going pretty good so far. I've definitely learned ALOT in the short time that I have been there, and I've received a lot of good feedback from my supervisor and the clients that I'm pretty good for a newbie:) It has been hard being in an environment that is so intense and dealing with situations that are SO complicated that you are at a loss for words. However, I knew going in there that since I have pretty much zero experience working with substance abuse that there was going to be a certain amount of growing pains as I navigated the territory. I can say one thing, when I leave there next May there is going to be absolutely NOTHING that anyone can say to me that will surprise or shock me :)

Well, I'm off to the gym. TTFN

I am getting good at this!

My shopping trip today was amazing, as usual and I got a lot of good deals. I've decided to count all of the virtues of my coupon hobby: it builds math skills, teaches frugality and economy, makes me practice asserting myself (telling a disgruntled cashier, "I know this is on sale/coupon is good. Please check so I can decide if I am going to still buy it.", and it is getting me into doing my food storage.

I was telling my parents just the other day how grocery shopping this way just lends itself to building up a food storage because the whole idea is to stockpile things that are on sale that your family uses so that eventually you only go to the store to stockpile more sales and the few things you need to buy fresh. So I've been working on my food storage these past few weeks, and I can't lie I've been excited that there are more things for me to hunt out deals on.

Today I stayed right on target for my budget and I even did a little better. I am budgeting $50 a week for groceries (we used to spend at least $100) and $10 a week for food storage items. Today I spent $58.55 on all of this and I finally earned $30 in JCpenney gift cards as part of a Publix promotion that has been going on all August.

I ended up saving $97.49, which is actually more than I made by working all day today. Does that mean I can call in to work tomorrow? :)

New Nephew

I just wanted to gush that my sister and brother-in-law had their baby today (or late last night, I'm not sure)!!! They had a boy and he was 10lbs 9ozs, can you believe that!! The best part is that my sister-in-law really wanted to have a vaginal birth even though her last one was a c-section and she did. If she can have a vbac with a 10lb+ baby, anymore babies should be a piece of cake!
Now that is a healthy sized baby!!
Congrats Happy and Jared, we are so happy for you!!

Sometimes you just need a laugh

I've been feeling kind of bummed and stressed out lately. I don't really have a good reason why. It is the end of the semester, so I should be excited but mostly I am just tired and I want to stay in bed all day and eat candy. I hadn't checked my funny dog pictures website I have linked so I thought I would go there today and it worked! It really cheered me up. Here are some of my favorites:
I just had to laugh at this one because this is exactly how I've been feeling!! I've definitely lost some steam when it comes to going to the gym and eating better. I think that I only went once last week when I usually go every day! Hopefully I can get my self re-motivated because I feel so much better in general when I do work out regularly.
Now this one was great because it reminded me so much of this picture of Bitsy:
I guess this is what happens when you have a dog that is bred for tunnelling in the ground after badgers!

Goal: achieved!!!

My goal after starting all of this coupon business was to save $50 in one trip. Today I met and exceeded that goal!!! I am so glad that I got so many copies of this Sunday's paper because it had so many coupons! I was telling my family about all of it and how excited I was to go shopping today and when I said that I was "really getting into it", my dad's response was, "some people might call that an obsession...". Oh well, so be it. Obsession it is :)
I went to publix first and got most of these groceries. There were a few tense moments, like when I realized that my free soymilk coupons expired June 30th (!!!), but the cashier took them anyway (whew!). I bought $104.85 worth of groceries and paid $59.03.

Then I went to CVS to get all of their good deals for this week, and that is were I had the most fun! I think I could have gotten out of there technically making money, but I needed laundry soap which I didn't have a great coupon for. (I had a good one, just not a great one). Are you ready for it? I bought $58.32 worth of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.. and paid $5.32!!! Of course this is including sales and I personally think that CVS's prices are pretty high usually, but still.

Today's summary: $163.17 worth of groceries, spent $64.35 and saved $98.82. I know you're probably tired of hearing about all of this, but too bad! It is so exciting that I just have to share!

Go gators!! sort of...

I found out on Tuesday that UF was named the #1 party school by Princeton Review. Where was I when I found out? In the middle of my substance abuse class. Oh the irony...

Coupon Underground

My coupon madness has reached new heights and I've been told that it is a little crazy! Oh well, I don't care. Some people have real expensive hobbies, (like saltwater aquariums, for example :) and I figure that this is fun for me and could be considered a hobby and helps my family save money in the process. What's not to love? My sister had a great way of putting it, she said that it combines a lot of her loves: saving money, ocd, making lists, organizing things, etc.. and that is definitely true for me.

Today I went to a few stores and got some things. It was fun, but it wasn't as fun as recently just because I encountered more than a few cashiers who didn't try to hide their annoyance at my coupon usage! A girl at work made a great point: if you are a cashier at wal-mart(which I am pretty sure pays minimum wage), shouldn't you be appreciative of someone trying to save money or live on a lower income? I'm just saying.

Here's what I bought today. We didn't really need anything, so I just went for the good sales. Some of the stuff is kind of random (like the glucometer) but the random stuff I got for free, so I figured why not? If not us, then someone we know might need it one day.

What did I pay for all of this? $22.44. Yes, I rock.

I've discovered an entire underground coupon world. There are sooo many blogs and forums that not only point out all of the sales with corresponding coupons for each week of a certain store, but members make comments and add tips on where to find even more sales or coupons. Crazy, huh?

New Job!!

I found out last Thursday that I got a PRN position at a local behavioral healthcare facility as an addictions counselor!! I am really excited about it, although I am also really nervous and intimidated. The program I will be working in is an Intensive Outpatient program for women with mood disorders and substance abuse problems, so it is going to be pretty intense. I'll only be working around 12 hours a week during the fall, but that's okay because since I will already be a paid employee, my practicum there in January will be paid. That is really awesome, because it is really hard to get paid internships, much less practica!!

Since Anthony will only be working part-time starting in the fall, we can't really afford for me to quit my job at Shands, so this chica is going to have a full plate starting in two weeks. I am going to work full time at my new job during the semester break, while still doing 20 hours a week at Shands on the weekend. (Yes, that means 120 hours of work in two weeks). Then once school starts, I will be taking 15 hours of graduate classes while working around 28-32 hours combined both jobs. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of sleep deprivation and a lot of caffeine!

Shop Victoriously!

Today I had another shopping victory! I can't believe how many deals I've gotten in such a short time of starting to "shop strategically". I originally planned to go to Albertson's for chicken because they have the best prices, even if you have to clean them up more before you cook with them. Of course, I planned ahead and found these deals that were too good to pass up. Here's the take:

12 pounds of chicken breasts
What it usually costs: $35.88 ($2.99/lb)
What I paid: $23.76 (on sale for $1.98/lb)

8 boxes of General Mills cereal
What it usually costs: $23.92 ($2.99 each)
What I paid: $8.85 (on sale 4/$6, plus $3.15 in manufacturer's coupons)

5 4-packs of Scott's Soft Toilet Paper
What it usually costs: $9.95 ($1.99 each)
What I paid: $0 (on sale $1 each, plus $1 manufacturer's coupon for each one)

So that brings today's savings to $37.14!!

Hmmm.. So how do you feel about that?

Lately Anthony and my family have been teasing me about me saying "therapist" phrases or saying things that sound like I've gone into counselor mode and I have started to realize that they are right! I talk about counseling and discuss all different aspects of and issues that come up for hours a day every single week and it is getting pretty hard to turn it off.

For example, Anthony and I watched this show on TLC the other day about obesity in children. It followed a 300+ pound 13 year old who was trying to get approved for liposuction and another group of overweight teens who were attending a special school that offered counseling and diet/food control in addition to regular classes. Every time the 13 year old talked to the camera, her sister, or her mom all I kept seeing were bright, neon, flashing red flags. They were impossible to ignore!! I identified so many different issues that contributed to the girl's binge eating, not the least of which was her dysfunctional relationship with her mom. At one point the family took a vacation to Las Vegas which is known for extravagant buffets and the mom spent the entire time gambling in the casino while the girl and her sister ate tons of junk from the hotel buffet table. As she was eating, she said that she was mad that her mom wasn't there to monitor her eating, even as she put a piece of fried chicken in her mouth. If that isn't a cry for help and attention I don't know what else is!! Anyway, I kept thinking about this family and this girl especially and I wanted soooo badly to get in there, because I know I could help them.

It's like I am all of a sudden tuned to a different frequency and I can pick up things I never did before, like when you get a new car and all of a sudden all you see is people driving your model of car around town. I always thought people were overreacting when they had such a strong reaction to hearing someone was a psychologist, like the psychologist had xray vision and could sense of of their inner-most secrets. Now, I sort of get where they are coming from, because I am starting to notice little, small things about people that say a lot about what they are thinking or feeling. I guess if I can't learn to turn the perception and observation off, I should at least learn to turn my mouth off :)