Millsap Haps

Idk why, but for the most part I have just lost the zest to blog lately and I LOVE writing. I really do have lots to write about and I think that's part of the problem - I get overwhelmed.

God has been doing some amazings things in our life, that's for sure. He's definitely blessing our business. That's been really exciting to see doors opened and for it to grow. I def give all the credit to the Lord because he has opened doors that could have def never been opened by us.

We're so blessed to be at the church we are at. I love love love my Lakeshore family. We've made amazing friends, grown in our walk with the Lord, watched our kids get nurtured, been surrounded by love and support. They truly are our family.

Madison is getting ready to start Kindergarten, I got her all registered online a few minutes ago actually. CAN NOT believe she is starting Kindergarten. Wow. I've also been planning a bridal shower and bachelorette part for my seester who is getting married in October. Ohmygoodness. Can't believe that's happening either! Bridal shower is hawaiian themed and the Bachelorette party is an overnighter in Palm Springs, poolside.

We're still crankin' down on our debt! This week we've put a little over $900 towards one of the student loans! About $600 more to go and we'll be under $20k for that one! I feel like that's a milestone! We are actually going to see Dave Ramsey this fall! We are more than stoked! And today my friend, Erika, bought her ticket and she is coming with. I can't tell you how much I love having friends that love Dave as much as I do and actually apply his principles. It's such a warm and fuzzy feeling I can't explain. It honestly blows my mind when people don't love Dave as much as I do. What's not to love?! haha

It's been an interesting few months. I've def had some moments where I've been "If I could just have this (insert material item that will make life all better), I'd be stoked" mostly that blank spot is a house AND a 2nd vehicle, preferably a truck. We're still sharing a car and it's not easy trying to get your kids involved but having to coordinate with the husby who is crankin out work like it's nobody's business. Summer is extremely busy for us, praise God, but's crazy with one car. And I'm sure our own home is an easy one to understand, but I know God's plans are wayyy bigger than our own and he has been so ridiculously good to us, I have no room to question his how's or why's.

He has been answering so many little prayers lately. Such a great reminder that a big God still cares about our little day to day things. And these have been very specific prayers. I have a friend that has recently started seeing a counselor while they are working through some tough times and I prayed specifically that this counselor would be a godly person and influence on them. Few days later, we were talking and they shared that they discovered their counselor was Christian and gave them scriptures to encourage them. "He loves us, oh how he loves us..." Thanks Lord for hearing the prayers of your children. He is so good! Also gives me the strength and encouragement to continue praying for requests that haven't been answered yet.

If you are praying for us, please do keep the 2nd vehicle in prayer. We are just trusting God will make a way and we can still continue to be faithful in paying down our debt.

10 things that make me Happy the past week

(I've never done one of these posts, but I'm quite fond of reading others so why not!)

1. Salvation

2. Short road trips w/good friends

3. Craigslist sales

4. New Clients

5. Creme Brulee Coffeemate

6. 1.49 for Silk Almond Milk

7. Owl City's new song: In Christ Alone

8. Another $520 to the student loan

9. Beach with my family and some godly women and their awesome kids

10. Finally ordering my daughter's birth certificates. I'm not behind or anything LOL

#438

That number is where this blog falls on my list of things to do! haha!! However, there was a popular demand for it! So after getting the ads in the mail on Tuesday I decided that I def needed to take a trip to Ralph's. The sale was too good to pass up. So this morning I still had PILES of coupons to go thru and clip so I took a couple hours to do that. Then I pulled out the ones I had that matched up with the Ralph's ad. I don't typically shop at Ralph's, but every once in a while I can go in there and get a STEAL if you plan right. So the big deal at Ralphs this week was the buy 10 item's get an extra $5 off all 10. There wasn't anything I needed right this second, but it was all things I use and stocking up at this sale price was a good idea! I had coupons for EVERY item I went in for. Before you go make sure you have your Ralph's card, coupons, list, reusable bags (5 pts a bag) AND you SHELL gas receipt! yes, Shell gas! You get double the points, more points = more coupons. ALSO, you can take your Ralph's receipt to select shell stations and get .10 off each gallon. So when I went in, they didnt have the quantity of items I needed, I meticulously planned my list to buy exactly 40 of the super sale items. So I had to restructure my game plan a little. I also needed to make sure I hit $75 AFTER I put my card thru to be able to use my $5 off $75 purchase Ralph's coupon. REMEMBER: It ONLY has to be $75 with your card PRE-Coupons, not after. ps. Ralph's doubles ALL coupons UP TO $1.

So I walked out with the following with the final price PER item after coupon:

3 Loreal Shampoo's (.99)

2 Loreal Conditioners(.99)

3 half gallons of Silk Almond Milk (1.49)

5 Sunny Delights (.99, no coupon tho)

9 cans of Pringles (.66)

1 bag of Kettle Chips (1.49)

4 Bottles of Wisk (1.49)

4 Tic-Tacs (FREE)

5 Three Muskateers Bars (.33)

11 tubes of toothpaste (FREE)

Scotch Brite sponges (1.49)

Lloyd's Bbq Chicken (2.99)

Ground Turkey (3.99)

There really are no tricks. I have access to quite a few coupons. I have 5 Sunday papers delivered to my door and I collect coupons from about 6-8 other individuals. I also print some coupons Once I have all my coupons, I just pay attention to the ads. Obviously I don't use coupons on EVERYTHING! There's seems to be a huge misunderstanding of couponing out there. Just because you don't see any fresh produce in this list doesn't mean we don't eat it! We have our own garden in our backyard with tomatoes, eggplant, artichokes, spices, etc. and we go to Henry's for other produce. What you are seeing here is the fact that I pay NOTHING for toothpaste, don't you brush your teeth? And do you wash your clothes? Now, I don't usually buy that many chips, but since it's summer Pringle's are a crowd favorite for beach trips! Ok, well I'm sure there are other questions. Feel free to post your questions about anything couponing and I will do my best to answer with what I've learned thus far in my next blog which will be a Q&A blog about it!

Oh my total was $37.96; my savings overall was $152!! =]

What you've all been waiting for!

Well, maybe not all of you but some of you! Truth is coupons are everywhere and I had been to many of these sites in the past, but frankly I was too lazy. Not anymore. I'm determined to cut our grocery budget, especially with the price of gas. Tonight I went into Vons and they had select boxes of General Mills cereals on sale for $2.99. If you bought 4, then you get $4 off all 4 boxes, bringing the price to $1.99. I had a .55 coupon for Cheerios and another .55 for for Trix and then I had a $1 off 2 more general mills cereals. At Vons, their coupons double up to $1, BUT they only let you double one per same coupon. I had a gang load of the Cheerios ones, but I could only double one, but I still had a Trix one. Anyway, I still save and EXTRA $3 with the coupons. It's really important to watch the ads that come so can get double whammies like that. I'm still learning, too.

I just dedicated time to googling stuff that I wanted i.e. Silk, General Mills, etc...Most of the legit will make you download a little coupon thingy. That's to help with printing them properly. Here's some coupons on the Betty Crocker site. Also, you can call or email companies and they might just send you some coupons. My girlfriend uses enfamil formula, but receives tons of gerber coupons. Not helpful. So she called enfamil and they sent her out a bunch! And if you've ever bought formula and gotten some of their coupons that are in check form, you KNOW how valuable those can be!

Here's another one: Coupons.com Seems self-explanatory. I wish had a detailed road map, but it's just about looking around. Pairing them up with the sales. Contact companies. Also, go "LIKE" your favorite brands on FB (their legit fan page, of course), wouldn't surprise me if they put out coupons every once in awhile. Check slickdeals everyday. That's where I got a $5 off $10 purchase at Ulta. On top of their buy 2 get 2 free! Happy hunting and do share your deals with us!

Try this one, too! Looks amazing,I just found and am exploring!

Beyond the Coupons

I'm sure most of you are familiar with VistaPrint. If you aren't, VistaPrint does address labels, stamps, business cards, mugs, etc. Everything is very customizable. In the midst of signing up on various sites yesterday to get their coupons, I signed up on VistaPrint. This morning I woke up to an email from them with an offer for 10 free items. they are celebrating their 10th anniversary. All of the items are customizable, add your own words and/or pictures. I went ahead and ordered a couple gifts for people with pictures of the kids and something for myself.

Here's one of the things I ordered:

I'm pretty stoked about it. I have a thing for spiral notebooks! The other few items I ordered were for others for future gifts. All of them: $FREE.50. The only thing I paid for was shipping which was less than $7. The email I received had 10 free items and you can order 1 of ALL of them for FREE. What a great offer if you have small business you are getting off the ground because one of the offers was business cards. Also great if you are a narcissist just like seeing your name and picture on things! I do. LOL Go there, check it out and sign up! the free offer ends 5/14/2011.

Couponing

First of all, Congrats to Paulette! She won the raffle for the $25 Gift Card!

Next, I watched Extreme Couponing for the 1st time last night. Why it's taken me so long to tune in, I don't know. As I watched I felt a rush and I couldn't stop thinking, "I can do this! I can do this!" I love math, I LOVE a challenge, I'm organized, I have a great memory and I love that I'm contributing somewhat financially even though I don't work. One thing that was reiterated is that these couponers established quite the stash over time, not in one trip. So to get started, start with just one coupon, don't overwhelm yourself. Stater's has Silk Almond Milk right now 2 for $5. Regular $3.99.


Not too shabby of a sale all on its own. BUT on Silk's website I found a coupon for $1.25 off. I printed out 10 and bought 6. If you prefer Ralphs, they also had them for $2.49, but you had to buy 10. It was nice paying only $7.44 for 6 half gallons. I'm so stoked for this new adventure of couponing. I will definitely keep you posted! I will gladly accept coupons from anyone who doesn't use them and if you have any other couponing tips I'd LOVE to hear them!

"Raffle Me Debt Free"

Callmecrazy, but I have a crazy idea that may or may not take off...we'll see.


Let me tell you a little bit about our story. My husband and I basically started off our life $100,000 in debt. Christmas of 2007 we received the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. Fast forward through blood, sweat, tears, budgets, yard sales and A LOT of time & effort we've managed to get it down to about $48,000. My husband worked 8 days a week for a long time and still does some weeks. I stay at home with our 3 kids; ages 5, 4 & 2. I also find ways to bring in extra income here and there. In 2008, we started our own company, Pristine Solutions. We specialize in window cleaning and pressure washing. We just went full-time in the fall of 2010 and the Lord has truly blessed us. As you can imagine we're as sick of debt as one can be and we're working on paying off our last debt, my husband's student loans. It's quite the mountain. We're budgeting and workin our tails off so we've been brainstorming about ways we can help us get through this so we can move on to the next phase in our financial journey i.e. buy a home, save for kids college, retirement, etc. That's where we came up with this idea: "Raffle Me Debt Free"






We are going to be raffling off gift cards & other valuable items and all proceeds help pay off our debt, while we are STILL busting our butts in our business and any other opportunities that arise. We truly are go-getters and this raffle will NOT substitute our hardwork, but will be in addition to it. We thought it's an opportunity to for someone to get something kind of cool and to help move us forward. For right now we're starting with one item and with some of the money that comes in from that we will buy a little bit bigger item and continue on with that trend til we are raffling off some really AWESOME stuff. And we'll probably throw in some other crazy awesome cool stuff along the way!


This may seem strange to some, but if you've ever been underneath a mountain of debt you might just understand. We love you whether or not you want to participate and aren't planning on harrassing people. Prayer is always appreciated. We will however be posting pictures of our winners and be looking forward to raffling off some ridiculously awesome stuff! If you believe in our mission of being debt free please share our blog with others. And if you live far away you can STILL partcipate. You can paypal us for your raffle ticket to priscillamillsap@hotmail.com Please write which raffle you're sending it for in the memo section and be sure to mark as "gift" so we don't get charged fees. Your email will be wrote on the back of your ticket and you will be contacted via email if you are the winner and will mail you the gift card. We'd also LOVE to put a picture of our winners on the blog!


Our first raffle is for a $25 Chick-fil-A gift card! Chick-fil-A is one of the healthiest fast food places to eat at and their service is second to none. Chick-fil-A is also one of our clients and they have been some of the most gracious people to work with. We will draw a name on Wednesday, May 11th! Tickets are $1 each or 7 tickets for $5! Thank you!