Couponing

Hi, my name is Leah.
*chorus of voices* Hello, Leah.
And I have a problem. I am... addicted to couponing!

I know I've mentioned couponing a little bit before in this blog. To be honest, I'm afraid that if I post about couponing, I won't be able to stop. And it would devour Leah's Literature and Coffee. But just one post can't hurt, can it?

I started couponing back in early April. If you remember, I was trying to purchase a house, save up for a car and a master's degree, and Matt was weeks away from moving in with me. There was a lot going on, and money was becoming tight. A coworker told me about couponing. I sat down on a Friday night with a huge goblet of wine and YouTube as my teacher.

Next thing I know, I'm hooked. I love it. Matt loves it. We've managed to save enough money to by year-long memberships at Anytime Fitness. We're also working to chisel away his student debt, save up for a new car for me, and together have a comfortable savings for the future. A wedding would be nice, too. I've been couponing for 8 months now, saving right around 50% with every shopping trip. For the two of us, we now usually spend about $160 per month on health and beauty supplies, household goods, and groceries. Not so bad, eh? This past fall, I even taught a class through Community Education on beginner's couponing.

I can't stop sharing my savings, though! I had a really great "haul" at Albertson's today, and thought I'd share with you:

 

In this trip, I spent $105.40 (way more than normal).  I received a coupon for $5 off my next purchase, too. The price before savings was $236.52. WOW. I saved 56%. This isn't my largest savings, but look at everything I got at such a low cost!

We picked up:

2 bottles of V8

6 different spices (on a 40% off sale!)

4 cans of Dole Pineapple

6 cans of Green Giant veggies

3 jars Heinz gravy

2 jars Smucker's Jam

4 boxes Stovetop Stuffing

1 package Bear Creek soup mix

4 boxes Jello

1 Febreze Noticeables warmer

1 Febreze Set & Refresh

1 container Lysol Wipes

1 Lysol toilet bowl cleaner

3 2-packs Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

2 containers Chobani Greek Yogurt (admittedly, I didn't have a coupon. I just love these)

2 Garnier Fructis hair products (one shampoo, one conditioner)

1 box Theraflu

2 bottles Robitussin cold medication

2 bags Ludens throat drops

5.09 lbs beef (Buy One, Get One Free!)

2.88 lbs pork (also BOGO)

4 containers of Oscar Meyer Lunch Meat

This was definitely one of the more well-rounded trips I've done. My savings is satisfactory and these are all products I use.

I hope this inspires some of you to be creative in your ways to save for your dreams. You can do it! I'm here to help :)

Any other closet couponers out there?

Giveaway Results: One Year Bloggiversary

Happy Thursday, readers!

Here are the results from my One Year Bloggiversary giveaway:

Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen

...Winner: Amber R!

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd

...Winner: Me!

An Emergency in Slow Motion by William Todd Schultz

...Winner: Me!

Again, I didn't have many entries. Actually, just the one for Amber! Amber, I'll mail that book to you along with the headset! :)

Thanks for participating! :)

Book Review: Envy by Sandra Brown

Hello again!

Hope you're all having a great weekend! I'm sad it's almost over!

I posted yesterday about how I read a couple of "spooky" books in honor of Halloween. Cujo by Stephen King was one of them. The other? Envy by Sandra Brown. Both novels were acquired at the going-out-of-business sale at my local bookstore in August. Both novels have also proved to be amazing.

Here's the summary of Envy from the back cover:

"When New York publisher Maris Matherly Reed receives a tantalizing manuscript from someone identified only as P.M.E., its blockbuster potential--and perhaps something else--compels her to meet its author. On an eerie, ruined cotton plantation on a remote Georgia island she finds Parker Evans, a man concealing his identity and his past. Maris is drawn into his tale of two young friends and a deadly betrayal...and to Parker himself. But there's something especially chilling about this novel, its possible connection to Maris's own life, and the real-life character who uses her, or anyone, to get what he wants"

There's no denying that Sandra Brown has talent! This novel showcases just how great of a writer she is! I found the characters highly realistic and relate-able. I felt like I was Maris's best friend, and was wooed by her perception of other characters throughout the novel. The twists kept going; I tried to stay on top of predicting what was going on, but there is no way I could have predicted such a spectacular ending. I literally stayed up to read, and took every chance I got to devour this novel. This is probably the most well-written suspense novel about envy and vengeance I've read to date. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to get lost in a twisty, windy, unpredictable suspense novel.

With that said, here are my numbers:

Envy by Sandra Brown
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 549
2011 Reading Goal: 11,430/12,500

The combination of Cujo and Envy has brought me within 1,100 pages of my reading goal. I'm confident, now, that I will meet and/or exceed my 2011 reading goal! I'm offering the opportunity for my readers to determine what my page goal should be for 2012. Please cast your vote on the bottom of the page!

I hope you all are able to meet your reading goals as the chilly weather and hot cocoa season rapidly approach! :)

Book Review: Cujo by Stephen King

Hi, everybody!

I hope you all had a great week! It's always a pretty exciting (and busy!) time before Halloween. This year, I decided to read a couple of "spooky" novels to really get me in the mood for the upcoming holiday. Boy, did I!

The first of the two novels I picked up for my "spook fest"  was Stephen King's Cujo. Sometimes, I forget just how much I love Stephen King. What makes him such a talented author is his ability to take fears you never had and turn them into your worst nightmare. In all his books, the stars would have to align perfectly to make the event even possible--but you see what happens when things just fall into place. Cujo wasn't any different.

Here's the Goodreads summary:
He lay on the verge of grass by the porch, his mangled snout on his fore-paws. His dreams were confused, lunatic things. It was dusk, and the sky was dark with wheeling, red-eyed bats. He leaped at them again and again, and each time he leaped he brought one down, teeth clamped on a leathery, twitching wing. But the bats kept biting his tender face with their sharp little rat-teeth. That was where the pain came from. That was where all the hurt came from. But he would kill them all. He would--

Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the beloved family pet of the Joe Cambers of Castle Rock, Maine, and the best friend ten-year-old Brett Camber has ever had. One day Cujo pursues a rabbit into a bolt-hole--a cave inhabited by some very sick bats. What happens to Cujo, and to those unlucky enough to be near him, makes for the most heart-squeezing novel Stephen King has yet written.

Vic Trenton, New York adman obsessed by the struggle to hand on to his one big account, his restive and not entirely faithful wife, Donna, and their four-year-old son, Tad, moved to Castle Rock seeking the peace of rural Maine. But life in this small town--evoked as vividly as a Winesburg or a Spoon River--is not what it seems. As Tad tries bravely to fend off the terror that comes to him at night from his bedroom closet, and as Vic and Donna face their own nightmare of a marriage suddenly on the rocks, there is no way they can know that a monster, infinitely sinister, waits in the daylight, and that the fateful currents of their lives will eddy closer and faster to the horrifying vortex that is Cujo.

The convenience of each event happening which leads up to the point of a rabies-ridden dog terrorizing the neighborhood make this novel grip your seat. I suppose things would be different in today's society with cell phones and other technology. Yet, it succeeded in scaring the pants off me.

I know this novel is a "classic" and was written before I was even born, but this is my first experience with it. If you haven't read it, you must. Now. It's the perfect Halloween thriller.

And my data:


Cujo by Stephen King
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 319
2011 Reading Goal: 10,881/12,500


I'll post about my other "spooky" read at a later time. In the meantime, don't forget to enter my giveaway, which closes October 31st!

One Year Blogiversary

 Happy Monday, everybody!

Today, October 24th, marks the date of my one-year blogiversary. In celebration, I'm giving away three of the novels I've reviewed throughout the year:

To Find out More about the book, click on the link below each book picture.

Stealing Buddha's Dinner
by Bich Minh Nguyen

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd

An Emergency in Slow Motion
by William Todd Schultz

To Enter: Fill out the brief form for the specific book(s) you're interested in winning. Unfortunately, I can ship to US addresses only. Sorry, my international friends! Entries received before 11:59 pm on Monday, October 31st will qualify to win.


Only one entry per person per novel will be entered to win.

Thanks for being such loyal fans! :)



Enter Giveaway: Stealing Buddha's Dinner

Enter Giveaway: The Bricklayer

Enter Giveaway: An Emergency in Slow Motion

Just 3 Hours...

Sometimes, all it takes to regain your sanity is just 3 hours. How simple; yet, how challenging to find.

I get really frantic this time of year with work. Once school starts, I have to assist with orientation, plan a college fair, schedule my high school visits, and get ready to hit the road in two weeks. What happens is that, right about this time of year, I fall behind on my scheduling. So far behind, that I often can't even get a hotel room or visits I need to schedule. And I freak out for weeks straight.

Last week, I was scheduling my high school visits to make this week. I'm normally not a procrastinator like this, but here is my largest issue: I work from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm--during normal school hours, right? Well, counselors also work 7:00 am until 3:00 pm. This means I never have time (except on Fridays) to call and schedule everything. Anyway, back to scheduling the visits for this week. Out of the nine schools I called, only three got back to me in time for me to schedule things out. So the rest? I'm not going to visit this year. I need to recognize where those lines need to be drawn.

Anyway, I was bummed with this visit-less schedule because it left me a huge block of time after my one college fair today. I'm in the beautiful Black Hills, so I could certainly go be a tourist for the afternoon hours. Instead, I sat down in my hotel room with multiple cups of tea and made my calls. And scheduled visits. And planned things out. It was beautiful.

After only three hours of doing "office work", I feel 10x better. No, not everything is in order. But I feel like I mashed a whole week's worth of work into these three hours.

When I'm in the office, I tend to overwork myself. But I have recognized that the trick is to leave at 2:00 and go home, drink cocoa, and relax. When returning to work the next day, I am way more productive. It takes a simple three hours to regain my sanity. I need to remember that when I'm on the road, too. And, I need remind you all.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! And relax for three consecutive hours this week--it'll help save your sanity, too :)

Book Review: Demons in the Age of Light by Whitney Robinson

Yesterday afternoon, upon completion of by blog review for The Sleepwalkers, I decided to pick up the next novel on my to-read list. Although it is a pretty short novel, standing at only 238 pages, I thought I would just read a few chapters and spend the rest of my afternoon cleaning.

The problem? I couldn't put this book down! I received Demons in the Age of Light by Whitney Robinson through the Goodreads First Reads program a month or so ago. It sounded really good, very Sylvia Plath, but I had not intended to be really sucked into it!

Here is a summary of Demons in the Age of Light, courtesy of Goodreads:


With the skill of a gifted novelist, twenty-three-year-old Whitney Robinson recounts the harrowing true story of her descent into mental illness soon after she arrived at college. Her doctor labeled the illness schizophrenia, but Whitney felt that she became possessed by a malevolent, seductive entity that attempted to influence her into harming herself and others.

Institutionalized and heavily medicated, Whitney encounters other horrors and mysteries within the walls of a psychiatric hospital. Determined to release herself from pharmacological shackles, Whitney finally confronts and expels her demon through sheer will and alternative methods, including an attempted exorcism and shamanic healing.

Whitney's saga parallels current discussions in the media regarding American psychiatry's dependence on drug-based treatments and the renewed interest in alternative healing methods of eastern and indigenous cultures, which, according to a recent New York Times article "The Americanization of Mental Illness," have been revealed to be at least as effective as pharmaceutically driven treatments.
Whitney's story of survival and personal growth will serve as a living model for others.

This novel immediately caught my attention as a memoir. The author is my age and is experiencing John Nash symptoms. I believe she's probably as smart as he is, too. The moment I started reading, I knew I could not put the book down. Robinson writes in such a descriptive, dramatic tone that I couldn't help but get sucked into the novel. There were several parts where, in spite of the schizophrenic situations, the author's descriptions made me laugh. The novel was so raw. Robinson opens up completely to her readers, confessing her most embarrassing and intimate situations. She reflects on the past and analyzes her future.

I don't even think my review could do this novel justice. All you need to know is that you need to buy/borrow this book now. Set aside 4 hours to read it. Enjoy. You won't regret it.

And my numbers...
Demons in the Age of Light by Whitney Robinson
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 238
2011 Reading Goal: 10,562/12,500 (right on track, woo hoo!)

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel from the author or publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A couple of updates...

1. I added a poll to the bottom of this page for you to vote on my page goal for next year! Please do cast your vote. The poll closes on Christmas Eve.
2. I'm coming up on my one-year blogiversary on October 24th. I'll be doing a pretty big giveaway. Stay tuned!
3. Thanks for being such wonderful readers!