To commit or not....

Cade starts daycare, oopps I mean, childcare next week.  My sister gets so mad when I say daycare, as she says "We don't care for days, we care for children."  Yes, true, okay, so Cade will go to childcare.

When Jacob and I went on a search for what we would do when I had to return to work, it was overwhelming.  There are so many options.   We had to decide if we wanted to have someone come in, like a nanny, did we want an at home day childcare, something private, something public, and then of course location, location, location.  I did tons of research online, and went to at least 10 different places for tours and interviews. And of course one doesn't want to admit it, but cost does play a part in the decision. 

Jacob and I settled on a public, national chain childcare center.  The location we picked isn't the closest, or the most convenient, but we really liked the manager, and the infant lead teacher.  Bonus points were made that there was a large, well taken care of fish tank in the lobby. 

But as the big week comes closer, we had to revisit our budget.  I am a budget queen.  I am sure that has come up before.  We are finally squared away with all of Cade's hospital bills, mine are another story, but we have to start paying for Cade to be watched, so we had to revisit where our money is allotted. 

I am going to be blunt here.  Having a kid is expensive.  Jacob and I knew that going in.  I can't say we were taken by surprise.  We have read all of the articles about how much it will cost to put your child through college, or even just to have them live under your house for 18 years.  But a few things threw us for a loop.  We had to start buying formula right away.  My hope was to breast feed for the first year, and that didn't happen.  We had to buy formula from day one.  Then of course there are they diapers.  He is still too skinny for his g-diapers ( I am hoping within the next week he will start using those), so he uses disposable newborns.  He goes through 11 diapers a day....a day people.  Then of course you have the wipes.  For those of you without kids we are talking about $200 for just those items for a month.  Then add childcare.....

I had a lot of fun, yes fun, I know I am a nerd, reorganizing the budget.  I use Excel, and I have a lot of formulas, and I love looking at our finances.  So as I was in a finance state of mind, I took some time to look on Pinterest.  I have no idea what I would have filled my at-home-mommy-time without Pinterest.  I created so many projects, and my house is super clean because of all of the hints I found.  And then I came across this Pin. 

Couponing....

From that Pin I started to get around, and I ended up here.  Couponing for beginners - which I am....sort of.  I get the Sunday paper.  I cut out what we need.  I use online, digital coupons, and most everything we purchase from toiletries, baby items, cleaning supplies, to groceries we have coupons for.  But I haven't completely committed to this.

After reading this website, many times over, I have decided it might be time to fully commit.  I am a little shy about getting this started, but come Sunday you will find me with a 3 ring binder, cutting out every, yes every, coupon.  I am still considering the baseball card organizers, as I would have to actually buy them, and I am not 100% sure that is the best way to organize things yet. 

I saw one episode of that Extreme Couponing show, and the two big things that stuck out in my mind, was the stock pile of toothpaste in the gararge (is that creepy to anyone else?), and that one of the ladies said that she spent no less than 15 hours a week "couponing".  So my thoughts on couponing before was " What in the world would I do with all that __________ (insert any of the many items one can buy with coupons)" and "Where does one find the time to do it?"

So here I am admitting that I am going to try this.  This website has it mapped it out for a few weeks, and I guess I will follow this plan.  It scares me.... I like to put my all into anything I do....I might get a bit crazy about this.  I might become the crazy lady jumping up and down at the register about how much money she just saved.  Please don't stare if you happen upon me while shopping. 

And then there are moments I think I might be putting too much on my plate.  Next week I go back to work, Cade starts day childcare, I will be cleared to run starting Saturday, and now I am becoming a couponer...