We just returned a few days ago from our first Disney cruise!  It was the best vacation ever.  We spent 7 nights on the Disney Magic in the Western Caribbean.  The boys even said that they liked it better than Disney World and Disneyland.  Everything was fabulous - the food, the entertainment, the service.  And there was something for everyone.  I'll write more about other parts of our trip, but for now I'll start at the beginning.

Probably my least favorite part of the whole trip was packing. I found it very stressful to oversee packing for six, including a toddler. Instead of just telling everyone how many days of clothes they needed to throw in their bags, we had to make sure everyone had casual clothes for daytime, clothes for dinner at night, casual and dress shoes, swim suits, candy for the cast members, and all of our FE stuff. (I'll blog more about what FE's, or fish extenders, are in a later post.) Then we weren't sure it would all fit in the car. It would have been close to impossible to fly with all that we had packed. But once we were on our way I was really excited!

We drove down to Houston the day before the cruise and stayed at my parents' house. My mom drove us to Galveston Saturday morning and dropped us off at Terminal 2. It worked out great since it was raining, and we didn't have to worry about parking. We arrived about 11:00 and check in was very easy. Our boarding group was 6, and our boarding time was 11:30. I took Luke to see Minnie Mouse in the terminal, and I was happy to see that he liked her and wasn't going to be scared of the characters on board.  Before we knew it they had called group 6 and we walked on board. It was so exciting as we walked in with our matching t-shirts on and they announced our name and clapped for us.

Next we went to the Topsiders buffet for lunch. After we ate I took Luke to see the nursery, which he loved, and Michael to the Oceaneer Lab (for ages 3-10) to get his wristband for the week.  My husband took Zack to the Edge (for tweens) and Nick to the Vibe (teens).  Our rooms were ready by 1:30, so we started to unpack, decorate our doors and settle in. We were in rooms 2012 and 2013, across the hall from each other.

We had just enough time for Luke to get a nap in before the mandatory boat drill, and then we went straight up to deck 10 to get a spot for the sail away party. The rain had stopped, and the party was really fun - lots of dancing and singing. We even saw some dolphins as we were leaving.  By about 4:30 we were on our way out of Galveston Bay and toward the Western Caribbean!

My Adventures in Couponing

In my post about extreme couponing a few months ago, I said that I would be content to just be a regular couponer, not an extreme one. While my kids now call me an extreme couponer, I like to think of myself as having reinvented my couponing strategies. Why the need to reinvent? Well, a couple of reasons. For the last 12 year or so I have clipped coupons occasionally and mostly used them for my grocery shopping trips to Kroger. Kroger would double coupons up to 50 cents and triple coupons up to 39 cents. So if I had a coupon for 35 cents off of a jar of relish, and it was on sale for $1, the coupon tripled to $1.05, and I got the relish for free. Since TLC started showing Extreme Couponing, many people have begun to abuse the system, clearing shelves of items, holding up check out lines with stacks of coupons, and probably costing the store too much in labor and revenue. So as of last month the Krogers in my area discontinued their policy of doubling and tripling coupons. I was not at all happy about this.

The other reason I felt the need to revamp my coupon system is our need for Disney vacations. For our family a trip to Disney World is the most perfect way to take a break from our busy lives and enjoy having fun together. There is a level of service, friendliness, cleanliness, and magic that I just haven't seen anywhere else. Last week we booked our first Disney Cruise for the fall of 2012. While Disney vacations can be more affordable than many people think, taking our family of six on a big vacation requires some saving and careful planning. And since I do not have a job that brings in a paycheck, I am contributing to our vacation savings account by saving the family more money through couponing.

I used to buy one double Sunday newspaper and clip the coupons that I thought I might use. Now I will buy two double papers and clip all of the coupons. You never know when a deal will be available to get something for free, and if it is not something I need I can give it to someone who does. I don't normally eat Raisin Bran, but I had coupons and combined them with a sale yesterday that made them $1 a box. I bought 4 boxes and will donate them to the St. Vincent de Paul food bank at church. I don't normally purchase Bayer aspirin, but combining my coupons and a store sale I got 4 bottles for free. I also used to keep my coupons in a small coupon holder that would fit in my purse. Now I have put together a 3-ring zipper binder with clear sleeve coupon organizers divided into more than 20 categories. It is so much easier to find the coupons I'm looking for when a deal becomes available. One of the boys now refuses to go shopping with me if I bring that big green binder along!
I stumbled upon the perfect web site for the couponing Disney fan - Couponing to Disney www.couponingtodisney.com . It is based on using your coupon savings to pay for your Disney trips, so I was immediately hooked. While I don't use all of the suggestions on the site, I have picked up some helpful tips. I have started shopping at CVS and Walgreens since I discovered that I can get many things for free or less than $1 using Extra Care Bucks and Register Rewards (like shampoo, razors, and toothpaste). The website also posts great deals at other stores and on Disney themed deals as well as information on rebates.
So while I still do not consider myself extreme, I have been surprised to find that with a little extra work (3-5 hours a week) I have been able to save a lot more money.