The Grocery Game!

Ok, so lets get this ball rolling! I thought I would share the most wonderful money saving grocery website out there with you all. It has been our life saver. One of the things that really surprised us when we moved up here to Alaska was the price of everything! We had true sticker shock. About two and half years ago I came across the Grocery Game and fell in love. And, yes, I mean head over hills, seeing hearts, in LOVE. I'll just say, I will never, ever go grocery shopping without my grocery game lists ever again. We went from a budget of about $500 (with a family of three at the time!) to, drum roll please, $250 a month! For a family of four, one dog, and daycare kids! Ok, pick your jaw up off the floor and I will tell you about it.

 With the Grocery Game you get a list each week "of the lowest-priced products at your supermarket or drugstore matched with manufacturers' coupons and specials - advertised and unadvertised" Grocery Game FAQ

What this means is, your list will tell you exactly what items are on sale that week that are at their rock bottom price and what coupons to use (printable, paper, and e-coupons!) The idea is, when an items shows up on your list you stock up! You should get enough to last you roughly twelve weeks, as stores do a roughly twelve week rotation on sales. No more buying things at full price (or a crappy sale) when you run out of an item you need for dinner that night. All you have to do is go to the site, sign up, and try it FREE for four weeks. It really is free during the trial and if you don't like it, just cancel. That said, I know there are free sites out there that claim to give you the deals and such, well, they don't. From my experience, they are really confusing to navigate, missed coupons, and missed the unadvertised deals. So, I tell everyone, just try it for four weeks and if you don't like it just cancel and your not out any money at all. Also, try all the stores in your area during the trial as you can get them all for free during that time.

Oh! As I write this it is starting to snow outside! The kids are going to be so excited when they wake up from their nap!

First Post!

Well, it's my first ever blog post! Awesome. I'm still trying to get everything set up, so please bare with me. I was thinking that this post I would tell you all a little about myself and my family.

I grew up in Maryville, Tennessee. My husband, Bendigo (or Ben, as he likes to me called) and I dated in high school and got engaged right after graduation. He then joined the Army and got stationed up here in Alaska. Not long afterward, we were married (May 21, 2005) and I joined him up here. I did not know what I was getting myself into. I thought it would be some isolated village in the middle of no where, and boy was I wrong! Believe it or not, there are people here and stores and even a mall! :-) A few months into our marriage, I became pregnant with out first baby, but experienced a miscarriage a few months in. Boy was that devistating! I have never experienced such heartbreak. As soon as we got the ok from the doctor, we became pregnant again and got the news that Ben had to deploy to Iraq and while he was gone, I delivered our son, Elijah (December 27, 2006). After a long 13 month deployment, Ben came home! We decided to buy our home and soon after we were expecting our daughter, Rozalynn. She was born September 21, 2008. But Ben had to deploy again, this time to Afghanistan. He wasn't supposed to go at all, but he got stop-lossed by the Army. (What that means is the Army decided to extend his contract and make him deploy) While he was gone, I decided to open a daycare in my home to help keep me busy. The daycare has been so enjoyable! The kids I have watched have all been sweet hearts! Ben came back from his deployment in January 2010 and was able to finally be out of the Army in March 2010.  So, here we are at the end of October, me doing a daycare in our home and Ben in a new job (pushing paper at the D.A.'s office) and going school at night! Can you say "Crazy busy?" hahaha. I don't think we could have it any other way!

So this blog is going to have a little bit of everything, hence the name F.A.M.I.L.Y. -  Food, Accounting, Mothering, Interests, Learning, and You name it!  And if you ever have any question or requests, please don't hesitate to shoot me a message or post a comment. :-)