an Earth Day ramble

Okay I am a bit odd in this way but I come from a long line of "savers". I think it may be the Scottish side, but I love to save, money, the planet, my sanity, all of it!! I love to shop with coupons, many people think you don't really get much using them, but I can save a ton. It is like a competition to me, can I beat out the store and get tons of groceries for next to nothing?! I am disappointed in myself if I don not save at least $25 instore savings and coupons per week, this is on a $50-$60 grocery bill, so a decent amount of savings. I kept for a long time my best savings receipt yet, I saved $35 and only ended up paying about $20 for all of my groceries, so cool!!! I will often clip coupons and keep them for a while, I check them against the store sales and when things go on sale for buy 1 get 1, and I have 2 coupons for $1 each item I buy a bunch, and save a bundle, this is the only way I buy cereal, it is so expensive, but with coupons I can buy all the good brands and pay only $2 per , all because my grandma was a great saver.
My grandma was also an expert recycler, even before recycling, she kept everything and reused it for ever. Then my grandpa got into it, and was one of the first people I knew who actually worked and promoted recycling. He volunteered down at the recycle center and helped sort items and promote recycling. He recommended we have recycle bins in or class rooms at my grade school even!! Way before his time in the recycling movement, but I love to recycle, I have a garbage can and a recycle can under my counter, my mom has for more years than I can remember too. My mom used to tear out the cellophane windows in the envelopes and recycle the paper that way(remember when things came with plastic windows!! Years ago!)
This whole ramble was prompted by the fact that yesterday Jon and Julianna went to an Earth Day celebration put on by the Audabon Society (how do you spell that word Audobon? Why did he have to name it after himself?!) They got all sorts of interesting info on recycling and how to be less wasteful. Did you know in Ireland now it is taxed to get plastic bags at the grocery store, everyone pretty much carries around those fabric mesh bags there now, and it is not at all PC to use plastic for anything!! Jon got a few of those fabric bags, we have a bunch all ready and I keep them in the cars to grocery shop and carry gym things, etc. They also learned about different local animals that are impacted by our changing their environment even slightly. It was a good time and a gorgeous day, so they had fun, but came home with many ways to save, even more than I do now!!
Well I have to go get ready for work, but here is a quick "so there, yeehaw!" story for the day. I went to CVS yesterday, I needed to get some pull up training pants for Gabriel(in case he is not totally potty trained), and they were on sale for buy 1 get 1 free, I had waited for this sale, so I got 2 packages for $8.99, and then used my $4 savings coupon for CVS products, and paid less than $5 for 60 pull ups, such a good deal!! Is there a better way to lift the spirits than to beat the stores at their own money making game, and to make it all even better I used a gift card to the store that I got for placing a prescription with them for our travel medicine, I paid $10 for the script, and with a coupon I got a $25 gift card from the store, and used it to buy my diapers so they paid for those too!!!! HAAhhHHAAAAHHHHAAAHHHAaa!! Sorry my giddiness gets the best of me sometimes:)!! Gotta run, J