The $6,000 Razor

I hate using a dull razor. Under the best conditions I hack myself to pieces so you can image the carnage of a dull razor. Yet for years I never had a new, sharp glistening blade of steel in the house. I am not a masochist. I was just economizing.

My path to the razor that have saved my family $6,000 and counting is both convoluted and direct. Basically my husband changed careers and answered his call into ministry. This change began a seven year journey of degrees, part-time jobs, and re-locations each of which left us less financially stable than the previous. So in year six, living in family housing in Wilmore, Ky, making less than a 1/3 of our previous income, and trying to stretch every dollar to feed our now family of three I first heard of Southern Savers and couponing. The very idea of using coupons brought up childhood memories of standing in the line humiliated as my mom would pull out coupons from her purse and 'hold things up' at the checkout.

I would go to the store and try to make our budgeted grocery money (thanks Dave Ramsey) go as far as possible. I would stand in the razor aisle staring wistfully but walk away from the $10-$15 price tags empty handed and go buy diapers or some other pressing need instead. Finally, my tortured legs helped me put my pride aside and I decided to give this coupon thing a go.

I didn't jump in right away. First I read a lot of blogs from people who give tips and advice as well as shopping lists. I found that Southern Savers was the best fit for me. Finally, in January 2010, inspired by the birth of another mouth to feed I took the plunge. Guess what my first big deal was? Why razors of course!

I have two years of full fledged couponing under my belt. I don't dive in dumpsters and I don't have a vast stock pile but I do have a closet that probably has 15 packs of new, sharp glistening razors and a stocked pantry. I do feed a family of four mainly organic healthy food, buy diapers and baby needs, and get household supplies for about $80 a week. I am able to give to our food bank toiletries and items I could have never donated before. I could save more but I choose to buy organic, green, and fresh products and produce when ever possible.

What could you do with captured income of $6,000? Make ends meet? Help get out of dept? Go on vacation? Home improvements? Give extravagantly?

The End Times-- A glimpse of life in Turkington Manor

This blog/scattering of my thoughts was originated out of my own desire to write more-- not from any belief I hold that my thoughts or life is interesting enough to read about. Therefore, I write each post like no one but myself reads it--which is basically true, and since ranting to yourself is an indicator of mental illness I try to steer clear of such posts.

However, (you had to know there was a however was coming).... however, life at the illustrious Turkington Manor has gotten so interesting that I felt I had to get it off my chest. For anyone who has missed the unparalleled pleasure of spending anytime in our little nest of an apartment I feel I must share some basic background. The cinder block family housing was built just after the fall of man and hasn't had much invested in continual maintenance or upkeep in decades, and has recently been scheduled for demolition to make room for new family housing. Currently four units in the building are condemned due to raw sewage overflows due to ongoing plumbing issues. (nice and smelly)! Thankfully, we live on the other end of the building but the lovely leaks have made their way into the shared storage in the basement. I apologize in advance for my stinky winter sweaters in the upcoming months...

Kevin and I had just recently worked the cramps out of our faces from our 'grin and bare it' stance on our living conditions, knowing we are in count down mode to our move back to the Peach State. Living in student housing was a decision we made to help us take on as little debt as possible during our time at Asbury. (Taking on student loans in our mid thirties means we will still be paying for them when our children are in college-- not quite the college savings plan I had in mind). So little set backs like our bathroom fan making a screeching sound like something dying a painful death, like the window seals all being busted so each bustling breeze or train rumble (we live close to busy tracks) starts the shaking of the panes that has a nice crescendo in the early morning hours, like the paint pealing off the banisters to the degree that if I was a more active parent I should have CB tested for lead poisoning, or like the small waifs of sewage blowing through on the evening breeze were all taken in 'count down' stride. Yet, last night when our precious neighbor Courtney Coates came by to tell us of the large and active roach colony right outside our apartment I felt like it could be my last straw. Now our little nest was their nest too-- I am not willing to share.



Although I am not afraid of roaches I feel I share most people's rather strong dislike of them and I was so proud of my barefoot pajama-clad husband as he went into the dark of night to fight a brave but futile battle with the little beasts. Unfortunately, to no avail as they had him outnumbered 100 to one. So today I am sure as I sit here writing this post a kind member of the maintenance staff, who really try to do there best with the old building, will come a spray roach-death juice all around our building and all over my weedy but organic garden.

Will this be the end?

Will this be the last straw of Turkington vs. Barnes?

HGTV has done me in...

Perhaps, I have watched too much home improvement television.

I am willing to take the first step and admit I have a problem. I could make excuses for myself when we actually used to own homes to improve, but now in the cement-block-world of seminary housing why do I continue to watch?

Kevin and I went to Lowe's yesterday to buy a few gardening supplies. The bright blue sign, the hard cement floor, and the smell of fresh cut wood made my project-planner heart flutter in the oversized container store. I could only image my reaction if we had been in a Home Depot. We went straight to the garden center and were in and out the huge sliding doors in 10 minutes and spent less than 10 dollars. But as we made our way to the check out line, my eyes kept wandering to the ceiling fans and paint samples.... oh what a little paint could do for cement blocks.

My compulsion to make thing prettier, to organize, to decorate has been fueled by the countless hours of home improvement shows I have watched, but to what end?

Then it hit me like the smell of fresh paint in a small bathroom.
Why the discontentment?
Why the longing for improvement which usually ends in disillusionment of an unfinished task?

On TV, the over-the-top makeovers are presented by an outside expert, the participant submits to the plan, and then they are off to the races. In 30 frantic minutes all the work is accomplished by the 'team' most of whom are off camera. The job always seems impossible but miraculously it all comes together in the last seconds with amazing results.

I keep waiting for my expert to make a plan and my off camera team to swoop in and help with all the junk of a real life make-over. A heart make-over. Besides my occasional obsession with curtains or paint I have moved past the home improvement phase to my heart improvement phase. For so long I focused on the external world so I would not have to look the shabbiness of my heart (not even shabby chic).

Duct tape, hot glue, and a little fabric will not make the grade here.
There are no short cuts.
There is no off camera team or editing crew to remove the mess ups.

So here in Wilmore, without a house, a yard, or a paint scheme I am working on the hardest make-over of my adult life.

A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter...

Background: Kevin and I have given up TV for lent. We have done it before and we really enjoy the kind of time no TV creates for us.

Issue: No TV equals no news.... and I am really ok with this fact. I stay in the loop online, which is what I prefer to do anyway. However, last night our internet was not working and we missed the "Great Storm" forecast. So when I awoke this morning to snow flurries I felt the need to hurry, to rush somewhere. But where?

Realization: Why is it those of born and raised in the South have a compulsion-- a need to scurry to the grocery store for winter storms? How bad does it really get that we need to 'stock up' 'just in case'? Remember the great storm of ... '82?
I can hear Glen Burns in my head.... Action 2 weather.... stay tuned!

I must say I was shocked the first time I rushed to Kroger to stock up during our first Kentucky snow...there were parking places, milk was on the shelves, and there was no line in the beer isle. Different.

But I am not a local, so off to Kroger I will go.... 6-8 inches of snow...
what do we need?

A loaf of bread....
A container of milk...
and a stick of butter.....

or something like that.

It is too cold to wear pajamas to school... or is it?

Today it is cold.

Very cold.

I have said, " This is the coldest I have ever been" at least twice today and I think five times in one day is my record. That day involved ice.

So it is cold. I feel like I really have to establish this fact.

I am ready for spring. I am formally protesting the late arrival of spring in Kentucky by already switching to spring footwear. This small but important willful act has indeed increased my feeling of walking around on blocks of ice. Yet, sock-less and frozen my claustrophobic feet are proclaiming it is time for sunshine and warm weather and I feel good about the claim.

Maybe, just maybe, it will flip-flop weather by the weekend... at least in the house.

Today is pajama day!
Did you know this? Or as Cavender says, "How do you know this mama?" Cavender's school calendar has it clearly labeled on March 5th, Pajama Day. I have been attending or teaching in schools for most of my life and I do not recall an official pajama day until today. What was I missing?
Perhaps all those things that a pre-schooler does in a day at school will be better-- a little more pleasurable because it is pajama day.
I know nap time should be better.