New Every Morning

• The Lord's lovingkindesses indeed shall never cease, for His compassions never fail.


• They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NAS)

I've been thinking for a while about some changes I need to make--in myself, in my routine, in my habits. My intentions are good, but sometimes I tend to procrastinate. You know how it is.

• I'll start that exercise routine--after the holidays.
• I'll go on a diet--starting Monday.
• I'll quit using credit cards--as soon as I get back from vacation.
• I'll go back to school to get my degree--as soon as the kids are older.

Some of my goals are noble

• Read my Bible more
• Spend more time in prayer--for myself, my family, my world
• Pick up my studying again--for ministry, and for myself
• Pursue ministry opportunities

Some are mundane

• Make my bed every day
• Floss more
• Cook and eat more vegetables
• Keep the clutter more at bay

I'm often well-intentioned; not-so-often successful at my goals of transformation. And periodically I wake up and think, "Here I go--again" Starting over at this or that--again.

New Years is one of those times we think we should start everything---the diet, the exercise program, even the Through the Bible in a Year reading program!

Well, as usual, I didn't do any of those things. I even got a exercise thingy AND a One-Year-Bible for Christmas--both gifts I had requested, at that. And have yet to take a crack at either of them.

But this morning, as I was deriding myself again about lost opportunities again--I was reminded of the scripture that I quoted at the top of this post.

• The Lord's loving kindnesses shall never cease.
• His compassions shall never fail.
• They are new EVERY morning.
• Great is His faithfulness

Even when I'm not faithful, He is faithful. His loving kindnessess and compassion are new EVERY morning.

I hate cliches, like "This is the first day of the rest of your life". So I won't say that. What I will say is this:

This is the first day of the next year of your life.

Happy New Year.

Until next time...

Get the 4-1-1 on free 411 calls

Do you remember when calling "Information Please" was free? I do. I can even remember when you talked to a real person, too!

When I'm at home, I seldom call information; if there's a number I can't find in the phone book, I get online and go to the company website, if it's a business, or to Switchboard.com or whitepages.com if I'm looking for a person, or a business if I can't find a website.

My worst moments of weakness are when I'm in the car with my cell phone and need a number. I tried keeping an extra local phone book in my car, but it usually ends up shoved up under the seat where I can't find it. So I admit, I've been guilty of calling 4-1-1 from my car. It may not seem like much, but those extra charges can really add up, and these days I measure money by how many coupons I've clipped to save that amount!

I recently came across two different numbers you can call to get FREE "Information" calls.

One of them is from Google, the computer services giant. For that one, just call:

1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411)


The other number you can call for free "Information" is:

1-800-FREE-411 (1-800-373-3411)


I'm planning to program at least one of these into my cell phone, so I'll have NO excuse for unnecessary 4-1-1 charges taking a bite out of my budget!


Until next time....

Home Alone

The last few days have been extremely quiet and uneventful for me, I've been Home Alone all week. Husband out of town on business, son away at college, I'm not at "home" home, I'm at "apartment" home.

After I took my husband to the airport Monday I did my drugstore rounds, hitting all three (CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid) all in one day.

Tuesday and Wednesday I vegged out in front of the television and on the computer.

By Thursday I'd had all I could take, I actually got fully dressed all the way to shoes and make-up to take the trash out to the dumpster, and decided to go ahead and go to the bank and the post office. I did make one other quick stop at Bath and Body Works to use a coupon I had for a free trial lotion with purchase--did you know that all of their signature collections are on clearance this week? (Up to 75% off!) I spent $4.24 for some body wash and lotion that would have been $17.50 full price. Oh, and I got some chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A (the BEST fast food chicken nuggets or tenders ever!)

I was determined to make it all week without buying groceries, and I have! Except for the Chik-Fil-A incident, all week long I've eaten leftovers or eggs or soup or sandwiches. Everything has been from the fridge or pantry.

I've spent less than $14 this week, including Chik-Fil-A. Laundry is caught up, the kitchen is clean, checkbook is balanced, bills are paid.

All is quiet on the home front.

Until next time...

It's A New Day In America

• I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men:
• For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
• For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
• Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

I Timothy 2:1-4

Regardless of your political leanings, it's a new day in America. Please remember to pray for our new president and his family, along with his staff and administration.

Not sure what to pray about? Consider joining the Presidential Prayer Team and sign up for Praying through the First 100 Days daily emails with specific topics to pray for each day.

Until next time...

Rebates and Coupons

• She looketh well to the ways of her household

Just wanted to alert you to some high dollar coupons and some good rebates going on right now.

All three of these coupons can be matched with in-ad coupons at Walgreens this week, could make for some possible great deals.

Coupons

$2 off of Listerine

$4 off of Tylenol or Motrin

$3 off Splenda

Also, Home Made Simple has a new coupon book you can request--this is not a printable, it will come in the mail.

Rebates

Most of these rebates are for items purchased this month, although the actual dates vary. The P&G coupon deal is for items bought between 12/14/08 and 1/31/09--I checked some of my cash register tapes (yes, I save all of them these days--you never know when you might need them--like now!) and I already have $33 worth toward my $50!

Buy $50 of Proctor and Gamble Products, get $120 of coupons

Buy $50 of Proctor and Gamble Products from Sams, get a $10 Sams gift card

Buy $15 of Colgate-Palmolive products, get a $25 value travel bag stocked with trial sizes and coupons

Buy 2 Olay Definity products, get a $15 Olay gift card

Buy 2 Olay Regenerist products, get a $15 Olay gift card (you must make your purchase by 1/14/09, so hurry on this one!)


Happy shopping, and couponing, and rebating!

Until next time.....
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Freebies and Samples

• She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food (and other things) from afar
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

Just a quick note to remind you to check out the "Free Sample" page at Walmart.com. This morning I signed up for several new and restocked samples. (I tried the Glad Flex bags and I got a pop-up that stated they were out of stock for now, but many of these samples are restocked periodically.)(Edited to add: the Glad Flex bags appear to have been re-set, I went back and was able to sign up for this sample) Remember, also, that just because you're already requested a certain item doesn't mean you can't request it again when it gets restocked and the limits reset. (If you have already requested during a current "term", it'll just pop up that you've already requested this one.)

Other free samples to sign up for:

Total Cranberry Crunch

Barbara's Bakery Organic Cereals

Quaker's Mini Delights

So check out these sites, and look forward to future goodies in the mail!

Until next time...

It's Not Home, But It's Home For Now

It's been a busy, fun, relaxing three weeks at home, but we are back in Georgia, ready to get back to daily life.

We spent a lot of money these past few weeks. I had to restock the kitchen at home from almost literally nothing. With all of the holiday cooking and baking, on top of regular meals, that meant lots of groceries. I took some things from my stockpile here, but I kept coming up with all kinds of little things I needed. I used as many coupons as I could, but I needed so much, it was a losing battle! Now that we're restocked there, hopefully we'll get to go home a little more often to utilize it.

We broke down and bought a new freezer while we were home, too. We lost everything in our old freezer after hurricane Rita three years ago, and had never replaced it. We finally bit the bullet and got another one--just in time to get a half of a beef from my parents for Christmas! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) We don't actually have the meat yet, it won't be ready until this week, but I can hardly wait to go home and dig into stacks and stacks of frozen beef!

Hubby cleaned out our shed and ended up rebuilding the floor and insulating the walls, so that meant a trip or two to the lumbar yard. He also had some much needed work done to one of our vehicles.

And last but not least, the little things to finish getting ready for the holidays.


I'm looking forward to getting back to my bargain hunting and stricter budget. As much as I miss home, it's nice to be where there are more stores competing for my dollars, instead of resting in the assurance that I don't have anyplace else to shop unless I go out of town!

I'm enjoying catching up on my blog reading, too, now that I'm back to high-speed internet.

Tomorrow I'll be unpacking and getting settled back in, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I didn't slip in a quick trip to a store or two.

Just to check out the bargains.


Until next time....