Murphy pays a visit

Well it has certainly been awhile since I last posted. As much as I hate to admit it, things have been a frenzy around here and I have had very little free time to find awesome deals and even more so to post. First an update: Job is going great! Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. In the one month since my last post, things have completely broken around my home! I blame that crazy guy named Murphy...him and his crazy laws. First my water heater needed to be replaced because my water pressure and hot water production was ummmm zero....cold showers are NOT fun! Murphy hit #1. Then we had some thunderstorms roll through one Sunday night in late February...weird I know, but they took out the motherboard on my refrigerator. Murphy hit #2. And now I patiently await Murphy hit #3....hoping so very much I can fool the sucker into only getting me twice. It has cost an arm and a leg, but what do you do? You thank Dave Ramsey for instilling the "emergency fund" idea into your head...or at least that is what I am doing! My emergency fund is pretty pathetic until I can ref some more soccer games to pad it back up so I'm hoping Murphy gives me a bit of time to recover! Has Murphy hit anyone else lately?

And now for some FANTASTIC DEALS I've gotten lately! I had some great luck this week at Kroger with a ton of free products after sale, $5 off instantly with the purchase of 10 items, and coupons. Don't believe me....see for yourself :)

There are 30 boxes of free pasta and 8 cans of Red Gold tomatoes. All were completely and utterly free. They are on sale yet again this coming week so I plan to return to Kroger to get about 30 more. You are probably thinking I am sounding like those INSANE people off the "Extreme Couponing" show on TLC because I plan to buy 60 boxes of pasta (but they're free right...)

I promise you that as absolutely extreme as it sounds, I have a plan for all that al dente goodness. Here it goes:

20 boxes of various pasta saved for me in my Ikea containers in the pantry-check out a pic of my pantry with the containers here

10 boxes of various pasta for my sister who is a poor college student at Butler (GO DAWGS!!!)

10 boxes of various pasta given to my best friend and her husband

20 boxes to the food shelter at another friend's church

One thing I have discovered about myself lately is how powerful this tool of couponing can be. I have taught co-workers about it and I feel blessed that I am sharing my knowledge with others. I told one of my co-workers today about the free pasta deal at Kroger. She is a struggling single mother of two teenagers who works 2 jobs to support them because she does not want to take federal assistance. She got insanely excited to find out about a deal like this and thanked me multiple times for telling her all about it. I told her where to find the coupons and explained the details of the deal. Now not only is this knowledge feeding me, my sister, my best friend's family, and some people who will receive the food at the food bank, it is benefiting a single mother and her family. She will more than likely share the deal with her friends as well. It is our own little version of pay it forward. I love the power of people, ideas, and frugality on our society. I am truly blessed to have found this way of life and how much it has taught me about being a wise steward of what we're given! In what ways do you feel blessed to have the knowledge and power of frugality?