Food Storage Analyzer

This is a great tool! I have been wanting to better track our food storage (especially the longer-term storage that tends to be hidden under our beds...) but this also considers the canned "regular" food items that fill our pantry but would definitely come in handy during an emergency. I am excited to go back through my food storage and add them to this analyzer so we can know how we're doing. Highly recommend trying this out.

Coupon Tips

As I'm new to shopping with coupons and have found myself feeling a bit anxious and overwhelmed lately I appreciated these very timely ideas and reminders below from the PYP blog especially the first that reminded me I don't have to get every item (and really that wouldn't be very budget-friendly!). I need to find a system that works for me and my family, be glad and grateful for the savings we do get, and then stop comparing or worrying about what others are doing or what others sales I "missed" when it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I am being smart with our money and hopefully being as thrifty as I can in the process.

Tips for shopping with coupons - compiled by PYP members!

• Pick one or two stores to focus on. Don't try to get every deal at every store. You'll get burnt out before you see significant savings.
  
  
• If a store ad says, "Spend $25, get $5 back," you can use coupons and have it total less than $25 after coupons.
  
  
• Stockpile - buy extra when the price is right so you don't have to pay full price later.
  
  
• Don't buy more than you can use before it expires.
  
  
• Get extra newspapers in order to take advantage of the sale.
  
  
• Be familiar with the coupon policies at various stores.
  
  
• Keep coupons in a binder and always take the binder to the store with you. You never know when you will run into something marked down that you have a coupon for.
  
  
• You can save money even without clipping coupons. Use PYP's shopping lists to find out which sale prices are good and how to use the deals like catalina offers and buy $20 get $5 back, etc.
  
  
• Plan your meals around what is on sale this week and what you've stocked up on from previous weeks.

"L" Project Ideas

Some great ideas for the Letter "L"! I love all the creative projects they have on this blog, which is one I follow.

Mormon Messages: A Great Teaching Tool

I am so appreciate of the Church's efforts to use media to spread the good news and inspiration of the Gospel through the Mormon Messages videos. Every time my son or I sees a new video pop up on the home page of the LDS Church we excitedly sit down together and watch it together. It is a great opportunity for me to teach them principles via a medium that children (even more so nowadays it seems) seem to gravitate toward, since media is such a strong force in the world today. It is wonderful to see how we can use the internet to bless our families when it is used in ways such as this.

Reaching out to those in need

I just read a wonderful, personally timely article from the Sept 2009 Ensign. I was moved by a story found therein about Relief Society sisters who learned of the need to knit and sew baby caps for newborns in Jordan; iin the capital city of Amman there is a hospital that delivers 50 babies a day and after delivery the mothers and babies return their homes where there is no heating. Many of the babies suffer from diseases and die as result of a loss of body heat. My heart went out to these sweet babies and mothers and was touched by the women who chose through small acts of service to literally give life to vulnerable babies a world away.

The following quote from the article also made me stop and consider how I am currently approaching my life and "busyness" and missing opportunities to serve and love: "Sometimes reaching out is as easy as offering a sincere prayer, making a phone call, or writing a short note. If we are too busy to reach out to someone in need, then we are too busy."