$15 Nursing Covers & No S/H

Click here to get a $15 nursing cover.... I paid $40 for the one I used and this is just like what I used. $40 was worth every penny, and more, yet this deal is stunning! Now I just wish I had a baby who I could buy a nursing cover for.... :) I can't decide what's better.... the price, or the fact that it's supporting a fellow crafter!







I'm personally melting over the pink & brown polka dots. You can tell I'm thinking pink for the next!!!

Free SHAMmyWOW

i have been using shammies for quite some time now in lui of paper towels. Don't get me wrong... we also use rags (actually, we have "repurposed" our son's old burp cloths into rags for cleaning!) and there are times that I just don't think shammies will cut it, but for cleaning up water or a large liquid mess (which occurs often being a parent of a toddler!), shammies ROCK. Right now, ShamWow is offering 2 FREE shammies for the exchange of your goddess wisdom (aka a quick & painless survey!!!). HERE is the link. Be sure to watch the movie.... it gave me the happy butteflies just thinking about freebies that help me stay both economically & environmentally friendly!!!

Free Leap Frog Board Book

i'm really excited for this... great company offering a learning tool for FREE. yippeeeee
CLICK here

Kiss My Face (AND my wallet!)

Kiss My Face is an awesome, environment & skin friendly/healthy brand. I love their toner that you literally just spray onto your face after a nice warm wash. It is by far one of the most refreshing feelings that helps me get through the summer days.

Right now, they are giving away a "free sample bottle of Kiss My Face© Aromatherapeutic Anti-Stress Shower/Bath gel.

Anti Stress Shower & Bath Gel has an infusion of fir needle essential oil to calm the mind, and nerves while it gently cleanses the body. What a day, what a week! Ease your mind, take time for yourself. Recuperate, revive, relax. Let the warm, calming water drench your body.

Contains Ginseng, Gotu-Kola, Ivy, Lavender, Rosemary, and other soothing ingredients complimentary to a relaxed lifestyle


Suggested Use: For a bath pour into running warm water. For a shower, apply liberally to the skin and massage muscles and joints"

Go HERE for the sample!

Let me know how you like it! I am VERY excited to try this!! Maybe I'll even take a bath and make the mister watch the toddler! :D

Free Doughnut!

Dunkin' Doughnuts is offering a free doughnut to anyone who buys a medium or larger coffee to guzzle it down with. Click HERE for the link! Thanks, Fox's Daily Deal!

Mr. Forrest

Meet the new member of our family:

Isn't he a beauty!? I'm very excited about it... we also got a HUGE mirror & literally 8 baskets. We could always use more baskets for organizing! It all was from a moving sale that we saw on Craigslist. We are ecstatic.... we got a very good deal on it all & we also know we did a good thing buying used instead of new for the environment.
In case you are wondering, right now we are calling him "Mr. Forrest" because of his color (GREEN) and the fact that we got it from a nice lady who lived on Forrest Drive.
Now I'm just trying to decide what color to paint him. I'm thinking either brick red or black. I also think he could use a quote. I can't wait to fancy him up. Right now he'll remain in his ugly shade of green. I do have to admit, the color is some what growing on me... but it doesn't go with our house at all... and that just doesn't work. I'll update in a bit in regards to how he turns out!

"GREEN" cleaning supplies

I've recently started to switch over to green & cheap cleaning supplies? sounds like an oxymoron, right!? well, i've heard that going back to the basics with cleaning is both better for the environment as well as the wallet. I figured it couldn't hurt to try. On Monday, I cleaned the kitchen with vinegar (and attempted to get rid of pesky little flies that are obsessed with my mint & basil plants!) The smell did the trick, although two days later (today) they came back!!! SO apparently the vinegar thing needs to be done regularly for use as a pesticide! By the word regularly, I mean every other day! Maybe even daily. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'll give it a shot and see.... As far as cleaning/sterilizing, it worked really well! The only difficulty I had was when it was grimy. Other than that, totally better than Clorox/411/whatever. I've found that Trader Joes has a product line called "Close to Goddliness" that is still good for the environment & fairly priced. I like that a tad better, although the vinegar works for the easier spots.

Today I tried Borox for both the bathroom sink & toilet. It worked all right, although I've had a hard time finding ANYTHING that works well and isn't harsh chemicals. With that in mind, it was worth the low price of money I spent.

In conclusion, I have found that the two work well for "easier" jobs. Definitely saves money! I'm yet to try it on other cleaning jobs, so I'm not quite done "testing" it out. I'll post more when I do.

End Of Summer Clearance- Fry's

Fry's (Kroger Company) is having a huge clearance on both back to school supplies & summer items. Bar-B-Que's & patio tables are by far the biggest deals, but they also have many every day supplies that can be used through out the year. My son was overjoyed to see that I brought him home bubbles & markers for him.
A 10 pack of Crayola Markers (which is plenty for him- he's two!) was on sale for $2.50 ($1.69 savings) & bubbles were on sale for $1.39 (60 c off, which isn't that much but is still pretty good considering he'll use them and it saves me from having to make them!).

Index cards (for me, not for my son!) were on sale for 99c, which puts me at a 70c savings. I need it for college, so what can I say!?

I was happy to see that storage was included in this sale. Latch boxes were 2 for $10, and regularly $8.39 (so $3.39 in savings).

They also had Lloyds chicken on sale for $3.99 (they were $7.99- so this is a real treat for us! we never want to spend that much on a lunch, but I was glad to when they were $4 off!). Also, they are trying to be more economical on their packaging... printing directly on the plastic vs having a paper wrapper.



My one disappointment was that they changed the book bin! Now it is 2 for 10, which drastically has changed the quality of the books (I used to buy $35ish books for $5ish!) and children's books were often found for around $2 or $3.

DIY: Silly Putty

For "Silly Scientists Day" today at my preschool class (that I teach), we made our own Silly Putty. The first couple of tries were disastrous.... I followed corporates' instructions on how to make it. They make lesson plans that they want me to teach, but they are normally pretty lame (come on... it's corporate, not a teacher making these lesson plans!), so I typically have to redesign the whole day. Well, I thought the IDEA of making Silly Putty sounded pretty fun.... but should have researched the instructions that they gave me because it was awful trying to make the silly putty work out in front of 9 3&4 yr olds who worked hard at putting it together & mixing it just right. Anyways, here is the easy, DIY method that hopefully is fail proof via a video. It ought to make it a lot easier to make the putty than my failed-many-times way.

Make Silly Putty (imitation) - The funniest home videos are here

I have found that mixing the borax with water first is crucial because, if you don't, you end up with really grainy gunk.

Free Products and Coupons

image source
There are MANY great sites out there that will give out free coupons, and sometimes even free products, to their valued "customers". You don't even have to prove that you technically are a customer. To be honest, for many, we only use the product whenever it's given to us! Here are a few sites that are free to sign up for and that have many of the mentioned perks:

First Taste (Kraft)
Pssst... (General Mills)
Every Day Solutions (P&G)

Baby Freebies

Here is a link to a page full of links to baby freebies. It includes samples, classes, etc.

Making Your Own Baby Food

Baby Food is actually a LOT easier to make than people realize. As easy as baby food is to buy, it's considerably close to being just as easy. The only cons are: you have to invest a bit of time into making the food and you want to let it "defrost" (and therefore need to plan your baby's meals out). The pros: you can save a TON of money!!! AND it's an easy way to "reuse" an every day product!

image courtesy of Chow



Need:
1. your choice of fruit/vegetable/meat
2. Ice trays
3. Tupperware for storing the food (first preference... although ziplock bags work, too.)
4. Blender/Puree/etc.
5. Time & Patience for the Prep work.... if this is too much, PLEASE do not guilt yourself into doing this. I know it is to have a hard time finding time to do anything. If cooking isn't your thing, and your already a busy mom, skip over this and please go play with your mini-you! This is just a cheaper way of getting the same result....

Follow the P's of cooking.... from Sweet Peas & Pumpkins
Prepare the food, usually by peeling and/or steaming or baking. Be sure not to overcook the food, as overcooking leads to nutrient loss.
Process the food in a food processor, adding breast milk or boiled water to the puree until a “baby food” consistency is reached. ((Be sure to make it smooth & the consistency that your child is at. This is a quick way to get an unhappy but still hungry baby!))
Pour the food puree into ice cube trays to freeze, reserving some of the puree for your sweet pea’s next meal.
Pop the food cubes into tupperware containers (or ziplock bags if you prefer)…be sure to label each item (don't forget the date!) , as you will be amazed at how similar many of the food cubes will appear (ie, hard to distinguish carrots from sweet potatoes from peaches)
Pick the cubes you need when the day prior to the meal via the refrigerator. Or, for immediate use, the microwave or oven. Just remember the bit about heat & nutrients!


Have fun and enjoy mixing together different food items!

Prints for Pennies

it says, "Enjoy 50 4" x 6" mail-order prints for only 1 cent each! Hurry and print all your favorite summer memories today. If you have more than 50 photos to print, each additional print is only 9c each—still an unbeatable value for you.

Use coupon PENNY at checkout before July 10." ((Mail-order only))

Yipeeeee-Ky-Yay!!!