Grocery Game

Ok, so I love shopping. I get this addiction and love for it from my Grandma Kathryn, when my Grandma goes shopping good luck keeping up with her, she is faster than anything :). We also love to buy things CHEAP. Well being in seminary and on a budget (or trying to be on budget) you can't go shopping all the time even when items are cheap unless you need them, well food is something you need. So this past summer I started something called the "grocery game" (http://www.grocerygame.com/). This website has an automated system that generates a list for you of the deals that are that week and which coupons to use. It will give you three categories to buy: Black items-do not buy, too expensive Blue Items- buy and stock up on, and Green times, which = FREE. Well this is a pretty simple game and pretty addicting. I buy all my groceries and toiletries for about $55 a week, which is not too bad to feed us. This game has been blessing for us, it fills my "need" to shop and allows to me to buy groceries, which I am odd I love to do b/c I love to cook!

This is how the game works. When you go to Krogers or Albertsons (in DFW area) they triple and double the face value of the coupons. This means that a .30 cent coupon really = .90 cents! They will double .40-.50 and triple up to .39 cents! Some items I get a lot are Ragu, when its on sale for $1.00 I use my .25 coupon, which triples to = .75 , which makes the Ragu= only a .25! I have cans of .10 tomaotes (Red Gold Brand, very good!), free tomato sauce, pasta for free or under .50, free instant potaotes, free Soft Soap, free frozen vegtables and so on! I get cereal on a usual price of $1.00 or less a box. (Name brand) I buy all items Name Brand, it is crazy, we do not have one thing really anymore of a store brand!

Last week my friend Amanda and I went to Albertsons and got a total of 20 boxes each of Simple Harvest Oatmeal, usual price is $4.49, for FREE, she has given some to the church and kept a little for herself. We currently have some boxes left to give to those who ask!

Now some items we have is "un-healthy" we get FREE Chex Mix, we get Jasons favorite Taquitos for pretty cheap, and we buy frozen pizzas on sale for a very quick easy convenient meal :). I also get Tostino Pizza rolls for pretty cheap too (.20 a box or Free), and these make a good "mid-night" craving snack for Jason, cheaper than Taco Bell! :)

We bought a deep freeze about 2 years ago when we were doing Angel Food (http://www.angelfoodministries.com/), and this has been a great purchase for us. When there is a huge meat sale I am able to buy the family packs, bag them up and put them in the freezer! With all the savings I am able to buy REALLY good Steaks! :) yummo!!

So soon I will take pictures and you will see how we will never starve :). And how you are always welcome to come for dinner b/c we have plenty!

So this is my addiction right now, I will share with you soon my CVS Savings and more of my Kroger/Albertsons savings :)

~Tonya :)

This will be a challenge....

Ok, so I am awful at keeping things updated like this. But I am going to try to do this weekly!

Here is how life has been since moving to Fort Worth (May be a little bit of a repeater from the past Post's):

When we first moved here Jason and I did not have jobs yet, I was busy applying anywhere and everywhere and Jason wanted to work on campus. I was set on working as an advisor for a university, I was in the process of being interviewed for Texas Wesleyan University when I got a phone call from a person named Norita from the Housing Office at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), I went in for an interview the next day and the same day they called me back for a second interview. I was pretty excited but confused at the same time, I thought that I would be an advisor, not a secretary! In the 2nd interview they offered me the job, I told them I had to speak w/Jason about it, and the awesome thing is they understood that, any other business would of not understood needing to speak to my husband! After speaking to him, we decided it was the place for me to work. Jason started working for the Physical plant as a carpenter. The jobs have been a huge blessing for us, I have a great office staff of wonderful Christian Believers, I get to go to Chapel once a week, and I get to see Jason every day! For the past 3 years of our marriage we've both been in school, so we never saw eachother, its odd now, b/c we see eachother all the time. Jason has a great group of men he works with, and he has started working one day and three nights a week.

Other than jobs Jason completed his first semester at SWBTS, and did great! He found out that if he pushes himself he can get done in Decemeber '08, and he is in the process of applying for the PhD. I am very proud of him, he is doing wondeful! I took one class "Wife of the Equipping Minister", it was a short 8 week course, part of a certificate program that is offered here at SWBTS. I am not continuing the certificate program, but I did have fun.

We have found a home church! We will be joining this Sunday (February 24), the name of the church is Alsbury Baptist Church. It is such an amazing church, we are so excited to dive in and get involved.

We have a little house here @ SWBTS, it is 650 sqft, but it feels huge compared to our previous home (apartment approx. 450 sq ft?). We have a WASHER and DRYER!! :) The house has a utility room which has the washer and dryer, and we added the deep freeze and fridge to add some room to our kitchen. My mom and dad bought me a dishwasher :), its a portable one, aka LIFESAVER :). My brother gave his wife and I both huge Christmas presents this year! Meagan got new furniture for their home to make room for Baby #2, and I got their old furniture!!! The furniture they gave me is my dream furniture, for about 7 years whenever I visited them sat in their big comfy chair w/the ottoman..... and now that big comfy chair with the ottoman and an added big comfy couch! :) It was an answer to prayer and we are still so thankful for it. All in all we have a great little house that is truly home.

God has blessed us with some amazing friends already, its neat to meet people who are going through the same thing you are... Seminary :). The Ericksons are old friends from Jacksonville that really our friendship started here at SWBTS this past Fall. Amanda and I have really started growing a friendship, especially with the Grocery Game!! (Which I will explain in another post)

Mom has been down since the move to take care of me after I had gallbladder surgery and Dad has come down as well to bring me the furniture :). Maybe next time it will be both of them together!! Jasons parents have come now quite a few times to visit, and its been great to see them as well! We would love for more friends and family to come and say HI!

We are so thankful for the prayers and support for us while we are following God's will! I am going to try to this "blogger" thing weekly, we'll see how it goes!

Blessings,

Jason and Tonya :)