Frugal Friday

I have become a coupon maniac. This is coming from the girl that not so long ago only used coupons by snagging them from my mom's Entertainment Book. To me, the only coupons that came in the Sunday newspaper were Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics. I never even realized that coupon inserts came in the mail with my weekly grocery store ads or that one day I'd be digging through a huge bin of newspapers looking for them at a recycling drop off center, glancing over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching me! (That was a humbling experience, but more on that later!) It's even to the point now that when I got a giftcard to a local ice cream place, I ran upstairs to the computer to see if I could find any coupons for them online because there weren't any in the Entertainment Book!

Allow me to elaborate. Our women's group at our church decided to hold an old fashioned ladies tea party. What fun! We got as dressed up as we wanted to be, they decorated the room fabulously (I'll have pictures soon!) and we enjoyed an array of goodies that we all brought. Before coming though, we were all asked to write a letter of encouragement for each attending lady and we exchanged names for Secret Sisters! I highly recommend this kind of thing among the ladies of your church. We set a $3 limit (which made us be creative!) and put them in gift bags and such. We didn't get to it that night, but we are going to decorate boxes for ourselves because we plan on exchanging small gifts more often. I gave away a few of my free after rebate items (the botanical infusions shampoo/conditioner). Before you call me cheap, I assure you, she was thrilled with it and I knew when I bought them that they were perfect for her (I even requested to have her)! I was given a $5 giftcard to an ice cream place (as mentioned above). A little higher I know, but I guess I'm just that special. :)

Tonight, my husband, my daughter and I all went out to run errands and we got to stop by the ice cream place. What a treat and inexpensive little date! I got a turtle sundae and my husband got a cone and the total was $1.05 (after coupon and giftcard)! It was such a blessing to me that my husband and I got a nice little treat so inexpensively (we normally like to go to the cafe in Borders as a "date" place which'll cost us at least $7). All because of a nice, inexpensive gift exchange among the ladies of our church. Like I said, I highly recommend it for any church. It's so nice to be thought of and to receive a little surprise! I know it definitely blessed our family!