Provident Living

I remember all growing up, my dad used to walk around the house saying "Provident living." As a naive little girl who believed everything her parents told her, here is what I thought it meant to live providently:

• The lights in the house stay off at (almost) all costs. Walking through dark hallways in the basement is normal and necessary as turning on the lights will increase the utility bill.
• Shoes are worn until they have holes in them. And if you're my dad, you wear your shoes until they get holes, use duct tape to patch the holes, and then wear the duct tape through. Repeat this process several times until your wife forces you to buy a new pair of shoes.
• Sponges that are used to clean the bathrooms are used until they start falling apart. Only then should they be replaced.
• Powdered milk. Back before Morning Moo's came out, it wasn't too bad - except for the after taste. I learned to leave one bite of mush at the end of breakfast - I would gulp down the last of my milk and quickly shove in the last bit of mush to dull the powdered milk after-taste.
• Windshield wipers are only used during torrential downpours, and even then you leave them on the lowest setting. It makes perfect sense, because the more you use the windshield wipers the sooner they will go out.

As I grew into the mature adult that I am, I realized that I don't have to be quite as provident as I thought. No, we don't drink powdered milk, and Dan hasn't duct taped any of his shoes (however if he has the windshield wipers going when it's not raining I simply MUST reach over and turn them off - it's still a pet peeve of mine). But in light of the school loans that blaw school is requiring, I have become a nerdy couponer. I promise I'm not crazy and I don't hoard, but I've been amazed at how much I'm able to save. And I can't believe I used to waste so much money paying full price for everything. I've even got Dan into it. This picture is from a couponing date night (after the temple of course). Thanks to triple-couponing week, we scored $70 worth of groceries for $24. Yay for coupons and husbands who will come with me sometimes. :)