Keeping up with coupons for different stores & trips

With all of the trips I have made to different stores for various coupon/saving deals, I found I was sometimes misplacing coupons or lists. In addition to my regular coupon organizers (which I carry with me to all stores in case I find unadvertised or clearance deals) I have two other "wallets" (picked up at my fav consignment shop for pennies). One is for Food Lion and one for CVS (these are the 2 stores that are on the way for most of my daily travels and from which I use the most coupons). I organize these wallets before I leave the house. In each I place:

1.) my lists of good deals that I get from reading circulars and other wonderful blogs like Money Saving Mom and Centisble Sawyer
2.) coupons needed for the deals on my lists

For other great Works for Me Wednesday ideas check out the Rock in my Dryer blog.

Earning "screen" time

Our son has many pursuits--playing with friends, going to school/kindergarten, drawing, "riding" his skateboard, playing with Legos, catching bugs, watching TV, and playing his video game. Of course, like many other children, if we allowed him to - he would stay in front of the screen (TV or video) for hours on end. So we devised a system whereby he earns his "screen" time. We have a dry erase chore chart (a clearance treasure from one of my CVS trips). It has all of the days of the week listed horizontally across the top and blank spaces vertically for the numerous rows. For each chore or activity he completes he earns a check which equals 15 minutes of screen time. He has the following categories:

-earning/keeping his "happy face" behavior at school
-feeding his dog
-keeping his room clean
-repeating his weekly Bible memory verse
-reading at least one book
-completing at least one workbook page (this is beyond regular homework)and
-other (we use these for extra occasional activities we deem important--like learning to spell his last name, learning his phone number, helping with a special chore, etc.).

For each 15 minutes of screen time he uses, we cross through a check on the chart. He can bank time and choose how he uses it (after homework is done and also, we stress getting outside playtime before playing in the afternoon.) Now he eagerly reminds us that he needs to do his chores!

Check out Works-for-me-Wednesday ideas at Rocks in my Dryers' blog for more ideas to fight kids summer boredom!