Vaughnshire Farm

Charlotte asked, “I would love to know where you get all your coupons. Do you buy any?

I do not buy papers. I get my coupons from various sources. I happened to pull up behind the newspaper man at the recycling center one day as he was unloading his truck of leftover papers and asked him for all his Sunday papers. He told me that he puts lots of Sunday papers in the newspaper recycling bin on a certain day of the week and I usually get those inserts each week.

I also can recommend The Coupon Clippers as a good resource for bulk coupons. You can not sell coupons, but you can sell your service as a coupon clipper, which is what this home schooling family does. I ordered 60 coupons, all the same coupon, to use on a big ta-do sale this week. I will update on this big deal later on in the week.

You may also ask different stores what they do with their old Sunday papers. Some stores throw away the papers, in which case you could ask to come by and pick them up. Many stores sell cheaper Sunday papers during the week. Many other stores will have the paper delivery man come by and pick up Sunday papers on Sunday night.

For our family, I need a lot of coupons. For a smaller family, I think it would be worth it to buy a paper and gather coupons from family and friends.

I try and have at least 10 copies or more of each coupon insert in order to stock a pantry and freezer.

Next, Jillan asked, “Do you think it is worthwhile for a family who is only blessed with two children (11 and 13yo boys) to sign up for a big box store membership, for groceries, etc.?”

They have great buys on many things, however, I have cut my spending at these stores by shopping grocery store sales with coupons and finding a greater savings on many items that I use to buy there every month. However, many items you just can not find anywhere else for a better deal than at Costco.

Cream, Eggs, Milk, Butter, Cheese — Costco has cream around $2 and some odd cents for a quart of cream. Grocery stores carry this for $5.xx. Costco has excellent prices on eggs, especially the good for healthier eggs. We usually get the 7 1/2 dozen large box of eggs and that equals out to about .77 cents per dozen. Good prices on milk, however store sales on milk are comparable.
Good prices on butter and unless a store has a great sale on butter, I always get butter from Costco. This month, I found it on sale at a grocery store for less than what I pay at Costco. So I stocked up. Cheese is usually a great deal at Costco, however, after this week, I don’t think I will have to buy cheese for a very long time. Getting it free at the grocery store is a better deal for me this time.
Baking items — Costco has the absolute best real vanilla extract. If you bake, you must try it. I love it! I also buy olive oil and some spices there. Occasionally olive oil is a better deal at the grocery store.

Produce — usually have great prices on produce, however, if you do not eat a lot of produce it will be hard for you to eat a package of 6 romaine lettuces before they go bad or 15 lbs of onions. Our large family finds the produce prices and quantity the best around except for a really great sale at the grocery store and family markets I buy from.

Meat — I do not buy meat at the grocery stores or Costco/Sams so I can not offer much on meat prices and quality. Except Bacon…they have the best bacon deal. I have only once found bacon cheaper.

Bread — The large bags of rolls are a good deal, however, I have not been impressed with their bread prices. I always find bread cheaper at the grocery store on sale or make my own.

Cans — I think the canned foods you have to watch out for. Many times these are not cheaper than the store. However, the larger cans are usually great buys. I do buy the large can of tomato sauce for around $2 and make homemade spaghetti sauce with it. I also buy the large can of pineapple, baked beans, black beans and chopped tomatoes.

Frozen Food — They have a lot of frozen food but I only buy the frozen veggies if I am in great need of them. Usually I stock up on frozen veggies using a grocery store sale and coupons. You will have to compare ounces and price to figure out if the big bag at Costco really is cheaper than buying several little bags. One thing I absolutely love is the Costco brand frozen cheese ravioli — great price and very good.

Other household goods — I always get cleaners, paper products, cat food, soaps, toothbrushes etc. at the grocery store on sale with a coupon for way less than Costco. I will buy trash bags there. Laundry soap is usually a good deal depending on the brand you get. The store brand is hard to beat price wise, but you can quickly figure out mathematically what your price needs to be to beat the Costco laundry soap. I stock up on laundry soap at the grocery store when it goes below my Costco price and so far I have not had to buy laundry soap at Costco.

I know many smaller families that use Costco/Sams and love it because they can buy items that last for a really long time. One box of oatmeal may last 6 months or more for you. If I did not use coupons like I do, I would definitely shop at Costco for most items. After speaking with several of my family members who use Costco, I can tell you that there is a huge difference between Costco stores. My Costco store doesn’t have near the items for the prices that my sister-in-laws Costco store has. If I had her store near me, I would be more likely to shop there more often.

One thing I will say about Costco, is that they carry a large variety of organic or whole food, natural food products for WAY less than a health food store. They also have organic coffee and organic frozen foods, organic cereals, organic peanut butter, hormone free chicken meat for very good prices.

For our family, because of my coupon deals, I am now able to get out of Costco without dropping $400 each trip. I spend way less there and buy products that I can’t get anywhere else for the price.
Can you get a pass to check out the store and compare prices and products?

Everyone stares, talks and points at us like I must have two heads and green children. Recently, I did take all of my children grocery shopping with me. It isn’t a normal occasion, however, my husband was doing some consulting work from home and we decided to run some errands. I had my grocery lists put together so I figured it wouldn’t be that bad to take 7 children in a grocery store. It actually wasn’t, but if you haven’t been in a grocery store with seven children under the age of 11, you should try it some time. So here are some grocery shopping tips for you to consider:

• The first thing you do is give a STERN talking to about how if they do not obey…this…this and that will happen…

• You praise their good behavior before it even happens and show overwhelming confidence in them.

• You explain the strategic plan of exiting the vehicle to prohibit looking like a circus car with 32 clowns exiting out the window.

• Locate two grocery carts, put baby number 1 in first cart seat and toddler number 1 in cart basket. Put baby number 2 in second cart seat and toddler number 2 in cart basket. If you have lots of groceries you will have to utilize a 3rd cart pushed by the 2nd oldest child because the first oldest child is pushing cart 2 and mom is pushing cart one. The remainder of the children are walking very nearby.

• Check and make sure there are no dirty diapers before leaving the vehicle and loading up in the cart.

• Check for keys, bag, and phone before locking the door.

• Once in the store, gather the troops and explain the brief plan of action that you just explained before leaving the vehicle. Say no, once more to the request to switch buggies and explain to them that you understand the plastic race car carts really are more fun but just not practical for this trip. The moment they start making large family plastic van grocery carts, you will be glad to push that behemoth around the store because you love adventure.

• Stop and threaten one especially active toddler that if he stands up in the cart or pulls items off the shelf again, the big man with a green vest and squeaky shoes will not like it one bit and will come find us!

• Start finding the items on your list. Use this opportunity to interject math facts, explain quantities and measurements, explain why we just don’t buy what we want all the time, point out good deals.

• Inform son that coupon blinkie machines are not to entertain children.

• Stop in the cereal isle and watch the stock man rip open a box of cheerios with his very desirable box knife and fill up the empty shelf. Ask the stock man to explain his job. Where do the cheerios come from? Quickly move on when the child says, “Do you just fill up shelves all day……that’s all you do??”

• Remind the oldest child who just read a book about dangerous sea creatures and what they can do to human flesh not to talk so loud.

• Remind smaller children that if their hands want to pull things off the shelf, that they better hold their hands tight so they don’t get away from them.

• Quickly move to the next isle and remind the free children to mind their extremities because glass jars could go crashing to the ground and shatter. (I remember things like this happening when we went to the store with my mom as children and didn’t realize that it was most likely our fault–I just assumed that jars broke and apples stacked on an incline regularly fell to the ground at a grocery store!)

• Down the produce isle now. We make this fun. I ask what certain fruits and vegetables are. They shout (softly as possible) what they think it is. We saw soybeans, brussels spouts, hot peppers, sprouts, artichokes and I got a laugh at what the toddlers thought different produce items were. No, ginger root is not drift wood!

• Don’t mind all the people staring at you. You probably made them smile for the first time today.

• Last stop. Free cookies for kids. Don’t feel guilty about causing the bakery lady to go through a pack of cookies. They should make packages with more than 6 cookies anyway. Gather seven cookies, be sure to say , Thank You Maam.

• Answer the 11th question of, “Are they all yours?” again and be amused that the bakery lady walks to the back to get her co-worker to show her …us… They talk a while about how they can’t believe it.

• Listen to the elderly man tell you that he is the youngest of 13 children and watch him smile at the babies while he remembers his younger years.

• Quickly head to the check out before the cookies are eaten.

• Educate the children on the self-checkout scanners. Remind them, again, not to lean on the weighted scale because the lady is getting a little irritated at us because she has already reset the machine 8 times.

• Finish up and head out…watch for cars, quickly load up, buckle the babies, get the groceries loaded and carts put away and head home pondering how rich of an experience grocery shopping with 7 children can be.

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about Saving Our Boys From the Feminists in which I discussed the “gender blender” society that we live in today which seeks to feminize our boys and suggested some practical ideas we can do to encourage gender distinctives in our home schooling. We seek to give our children first and foremost a Biblically distinct education that centers around home life; the Hebrew model of education of walking, talking and working along side our children. In that distinctly biblical education, we believe that our boys and girls each have equal value and worth as God’s children, but are different in role and function.

Egalitarianism and Feminism?  What’s the problem?  Read more about these issues in the comments sections on this post… 

I read about a lady that keeps here weekly grocery totals on her blog so that she can keep a record of her spending. Although I probably won’t pick up that habit, I thought it was a good tracking tool.

Store 1:
11 bags of cat food
10 boxes of butter
24 boxes of cream cheese
3 huge red bell peppers
5 lbs of organic carrots
8 bags of cheese
8 packages of cookies
8 boxes of crackers

Total paid: $34.95
Before Coupons: $177.04

Store 2:
11 lbs of bananas
6 boxes of tea
3 containers of sour cream

Total paid: $6.19
Before Coupons: $16.66

Store 3:
4 loaves of bread
11 boxes of tea
6 bottles of cayenne pepper liquid sauce
2 large bags of York mints
8 cans of soup
2 cans of Rumford baking powder
6 avocados
10 lbs of potatoes
Green leaf lettuces
4 boxes walnut brownie mix

Total paid: $22.63
Before Coupons: $71.39

Grocery total for this week

Total: $63.77
Before Coupons and Sales: $265.09

For those who are thinking that those items aren’t much to make a meal out of, consider that the previous weeks I purchased items that enable me to put together meals that are normal.

Previous weeks, I may have purchased apples by the bushel, or 15lbs of onions. One week recently I bought 23 packages of bagels and 8 dozen eggs (since our hens are slackers). Several months ago, I bought 30 packages of whole grain pasta that actually tastes good but am now watching for a sale because I am down to 4 packages. I haven’t bought meat since Fall because of our meat chickens and two deer (not two full ones now) in our freezer.

We have lots of salads with our meals, even if I have to pay full price on lettuce, I will use sales to determine what types of salads we are having. Last week cucumbers and tomatoes were on sale, so we had cucumbers and tomatoes in our salads. This week, red peppers are on sale, so I cut up red peppers, broccoli and crumbled feta cheese for our salad tonight. Several weeks ago, I bought a fancy feta cheese with basil and dried tomato for pennies. It lasts a long time and adds a bit of snazz to a mundane salad. A warehouse type grocery store has bulk packaged lettuce, like the romaine hearts that keep longer than a week in your refrigerator.

So my meal planning has changed a bit, I am pulling menus from what items I have in our family store and based on what items are on sale. I am finding that this is a much cheaper way to feed a large family and still maintain a bounty of healthy foods.

I started writing a book about grocery shopping and the large family in October. I have since revised the direction of the book to specifically target large families and real tangible ways to cut the grocery bill while still feeding an army and it is very close to being finished. I am so excited about this project, and have been working on it in my “free” (ha, ha) time.

If you have a question that I can address in the book regarding grocery shopping, grocery bills, feeding several to lots of children, please send me your questions.

One of my goals this year is to build a family store. Instead of buying out of need, my grocery shopping has been turned into buying items on sale to stock our family store. My shopping list every week for need items has been dramatically reduced. I do buy weekly fruits and veggies that are usually in season on sale items. There are a few items that I buy no matter the cost like avocados and bananas (lots of bananas–wish we could grow them here).

Some deals last week were:

Oatmeal: Sale was Buy One, Get One Free for $2.19. I used .50 cent coupons that were doubled to $1 off. I used two of these making the final cost of the oatmeal about .10 cents each. So I bought 20 canisters.

Black Beans were .60 cents instead of $2.39 a can. Juicy Juice was .90 cents a jug. Grapes were .99 cents a pound. Instant oatmeal was .49 cents a box. Free chili beans and free rice.

We spent a wonderful weekend in Mississippi with comfortable January weather.

No, not warm enough to swim….. While my husband and father were in meetings most of the weekend, we took rides up and down in an old elevator, dinned in a fancy hotel restaurant and afterwards went back to our room and practiced how to eat in a nice restaurant We also went on walks, visited Target’s clearance sections and played in the room with play-dough, Thomas trains and read books. We also visited the capitol building, memorials and read historical plaques.

In the capital city of Mississippi, Jackson has a beautiful monument dedicated to the Women of the Confederacy; the Confederate wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. It is a very impressive monument that stands right in front of the capitol building.

Beside it also stands a replica of the Liberty Bell.

Just like the papaw’s Bell….

Also a stunning site is the memorial to the unborn. The Baptist church has a very impressive monument that contains 50 million pennies representing each child that has been aborted in America.

We also saw several beautiful Ten Commandment stone tablets that were standing out side of churches and even a local business.

My husband is putting together photos from around the nation of monuments and buildings that acknowledge God. In our nation, who is quickly scurrying to remove any resemblance of the acknowledgement of God, he is documenting though pictures of our nation’s capitol buildings, war memorials, Founding Father and national memorials, congressional and court buildings, that this nation is founded upon the Law of God. He will be launching this project very soon to where others can send in their photographs of things they have found that acknowledge God.

At the beginning of the year, we implemented a new management tool for keeping up with daily household chores.

We have a list of daily chores that must be done in order to operate around here.  For reasons of lack of space on the chart,  personal chores such as making your beds and delivering your clothes to the laundry basket and putting away your clean clothes are not listed.

In an effort to teach responsibility, I assigned Managers and Trusty Assistants.  In the beginning, I had intended on changing the names around weekly, however it is working better for us to keep the same jobs for the month.  I will switch them up next month.  My daughter, however,  holds the slot of cooking assistant as a permanent job.  The boys do get in the kitchen occasionally, but cooking is not a regular chore for them.

Other chores such as feeding the animals, chicken barn cleaning, composting — the boys take care of these chores daily and we do not have a chart for that.

The children like being “Managers” of a certain area and calling their helper a “Trusty Assistant” makes the job all the more exciting for the little ones.  Although this does not guarantee a put together house at all times, it puts order to household chores that can become overwhelming at times with this many people. When it is time to pick up, clean up or eat a meal, everyone can go to their stations and know what to do.

…brings new changes. Although I had already intended on having my blog readjusted by now, the duties of a stay (that means work) at-home mom are never ending and growing. The cold winter days are trying our sanity at times but brief jogs around the yard or a trip to the library have been welcomed life savers.

We have been spending a lot of time on getting our house organized with some days being productive and other days wondering where the show is for the work we did. Today was one of those productive days. My laundry mounds are now under control and the kitchen was finally lassoed in today. Some deep cleaning made my day complete with much satisfaction. My children produced some excellent work today in the areas of Bible memory chores, music practice, and schooling.

My oldest son spouted off an untold amount of ocean animal science facts to me all day in between serious reading marathons of reading a book called “Dangerous Water Creatures” from the Encyclopedia of Danger. He ended the day by announcing that he was completely resigned to never stepping foot into the ocean again. He is also currently reading an interesting book about a submarine in the Great War.

Supper time conversation:

All day today…these are the types of sentences I was bombarded with……Did you know that an octopus doesn’t have bones. Did you know that a sea urchin can go through steel. Did you know that a swordfish can sink a ship…..

At supper he says…Dad, Did you know that some fish are toxic…. Dad, did you know that a cone shell is worth thousands of dollars but it is fatal if you touch it! HEY, Did you know that a Weever fish stung a guy’s finger and he had to amputate it because the pain was so bad!!”

The 6 year old loudly chimes in, “Amputate means he had-uh cut off his finger with a knife.”

Around the boys, you start to hear multiple conversations about cutting off fingers, blood, fish bites and stings…etc….etc….etc…

I say….Ok..boys — NOT supper time conversation.

Obviously the book has captured their interest. And for their sister, who disallows them to use words such as dinosaur or dragon in her presence after 12 noon, she was not thrilled at such “interesting facts”.

So, for the mean time, I am much overworked and haven’t the time for computers.

Late Breaking News and Updates:

1.) We all celebrated with much joy and anticipation as we harvested our first bites of BROCCOLI from our winter garden. It was the best tasting broccoli, not only because our broccoli is organic, but things always taste better coming out of your own garden — hard work tastes so goooood!

2.) I discovered how to make mouth watering biscuits the other day and will be posting the easy recipe discovery. You do not know how exciting this news is, as I have been trying and failing to make biscuits for a long time.

3.) I have some other announcements, articles and pictures but will be posting more later….

Welcome to the Year of our Lord 2007. God in his eternal providence has decided to allow the Vaughn Family to continue the mission he has placed us on in the year 2007.

To continue to honor God and be faithful with the duties he has given us we will be merging our family writings into one site. Beth will be moving all the Birthdynamics Blog here and since Josiah Project is mainly a blog I will be moving all of it to this new home here on VaughnShire.com as well.

More to come, but we thought it was appropriate to have the family blogging in one spot and to present a whole family view of life…. think if it as “family integrated” blogging.  All of it to take place on what we hope soon will be VaughnShire Farms.