Top 10 Books of 2011

This year was a record year of reading for me, I read 87 books in 2011!  Here are my top 10 picks - these are not necessarily books published in 2011, just books I read this year.  Here is my list:

Fiction

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jo Jo Moyes
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Non-Fiction

The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
A Secret Gift by Ted Gup
Animal Factory by David Kirby
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres

2011 Totals

At the beginning of this year I made it a goal to see if I could save even more money with coupons by being more strategic.  I signed up for the Harris Teeter and Lowe's Foods e-mail ads that way I could check the ads each week and combine the sales with my coupons.  This takes only a little extra time each week to look through these online ads and it's made a BIG difference in how I shop.  Now instead of deciding what to eat each week and buying what I need for those meals I buy what is on sale and what I have coupons for and then base our meals on what we already have at home.  I still have to buy milk and vegetables, but this has changed how I shop for groceries.

So, this year we saved $1597.04 with coupons!  This is almost $400 more than last year so I think my new way of shopping has definitely made a difference!


Our 2011 Garden Harvest totals:

4 yellow squash plants = 37 squash
4 zucchini plants = 22 zucchini
2 cucumber plants = 7 cucumbers (we had a problem with some worm eating all our cucumbers)
2 lima bean plants = 28 pods
2 kidney bean plants = 25 pods
5 okra plants = 318 pods = 18 bags of cut and breaded okra