Leaving A Mark

It’s funny and not funny all at the same time. Lately Joshua has been leaving his mark all over the house. On everything! In permanent, Sharpie ink! We have talked to him about it and he is still not sure how in the world we are figuring out that it is him. He has been leaving his mark on everything. Trophies, toys, books, notebooks, magazines. Mostly things that belong to him, but still. Hello? Dude! If you are going to leave graffiti all over the house you might want to use a pen name or symbol that isn’t your actual name for a little anonymity. Just sayin! 

So here is some of the evidence that I managed to photograph.

 

I don’t know why in the world I would blame the boy for these things, it was obviously some stranger that came to our house while he was away and tagged everything in sight, with his name and with a SHARPIE! No worries… Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to the rescue. Note to self: Keep these magic tools in stock. I didn’t get any photos of this. In hind sight I wish that I had b/c I was rather impressed that the name came off of the trophy without ruining the words that were pre-printed on the tags. I am also thrilled that the eraser removed the ink from the wooden toys – even though there is an indent from the pressure of the pen left behind, the ink is all gone. SWEET!

This is How it all Began

Sort of. It actually began long ago for both of us.
This is a more current version of how we found our way back to couponing.

We have been couponing for a long time. To see how we got our start you can read more on our profile page. Basically we are an average family that appreciates the value of a hard earned dollar and work hard to make that dollar go as far as we can. We started out very simple. First just coupons for free meals at our favorite restaurants. Then we expanded our horizons to include coupons for percentages off to craft stores and home goods stores.
We have always clipped coupons from the Sunday paper but generally speaking only for specific things that we would use immediately. Since watching the Extreme Couponing show on TLC we have taken our couponing to the next level. With the economy in the condition that it is currently in, and gas prices through the roof, we felt something needed to happen.
Now I will admit that I have been very sceptical about the Extreme Couponers. We do have a wonderful walk in pantry and are able to have a large stockpile without taking over the entire house, and not become hoarders. I was really not a fan of those that would purchase 1000 tubes of toothpaste just because they were free. I have since changed my way of thinking and am more open to purchasing large quantities of an item that is free with the intent of donating what our family and friends cannot use.
So this blog is going to be a record of our journey into hard core couponing - Texas style.