Kids Birthday Parties

Today is my daughter's 8th birthday. Happy Birthday!

Kids birthday's can be a funny thing. Every year I say I'm not going to spend a lot of money on her birthday, but every year I spend more then I originally intended.

For a couple of her birthday's we took her to a Disney Ice Show, instead of a party, but between the the cost of the tickets , souvenirs, snacks and drinks, and still buying her other presents it ended up costing a lot.

One year we took about 8 kids to the arcade, which was pretty expensive. Last year I had the great idea to basically bribe her into not having a kids party, by giving her $100.00 to buy what ever she wanted. And she still got other presents. That probably didn't save me anything except the headache of a kids party. Which might have been worth it after all.

This year she wanted two friends to the movies and a sleepover. Which was also expensive because it was at a place in the city I live call Chunky's. It's kind of cool, they serve you burgers or whatever right while your watching the movie. But it is also pretty expensive. Plus of course she still got a bunch of presents from Mom & Dad.

So I don't really know what the answer is to saving money on kids birthdays. Except, every year I vow I'm not going to spend as much as I end up doing. And every year I'm just glad when it's over. Happy Birthday!

Grocery Shopping

Grant - Eco-friendly Reusable Grocery Bag by JP Monkey - _MG_9712.catalog, originally uploaded by sean dreilinger.

One way to save money is to only go grocery shopping once a week. This is something I just recently incorporated myself.

I remember seeing on Oprah not to long ago, a show where they put some families on a budget. One of the things they did was to bring them to the grocery store and have them buy enough groceries for at least a week. The point was the less you go, the less you will spend.

Seems obvious right? But until recently I was to lazy to think to far ahead when I went to the store. I was going up to 3 times a week. But now I plan out a week of groceries and I am saving money! I figure I'm saving between 50 to 60 dollars a week now.

One of the reasons is I'm not buying as much snacks and junk food. Instead of running out every other day, because my daughter ran out of cookies, she can have whatever else is left in the cabinets. For example my kids like oatmeal, when there's no cookies or other junk left, they'll eat oatmeal for a snack. Which is also better for them anyway!

Washing Your Shower Curtain Liner

A great tip I read recently in Martha Stewart Living Magazine was to wash your shower curtain liner in the washing machine.



You know how your shower curtain liner gets all grungy and mildew on it after awhile? Well don't throw them away! Put the liner in washing machine, add some detergent, a little bleach and wash in hot water. Don't put in dryer. Just hang back up, and it's as good as new.



It should be able to withstand a few washings. I tried it and it really works! I know shower curtain liners don't cost that much to begin with but why not get a few more uses out of it?

Link2blogs

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How to save money on pet products

Here is a picture of my cat. Her name is Buttercup. She'll be 5 years old next month.




As you can see, she's pretty lazy. Especially in the winter. So far it's been a pretty cold and snowy winter here in New Hampshire. She has barely been out of the house in the past couple of months.


Here's the first picture I took of her the other day.





She was running away from me! I just wanted to take a couple of pictures of her, and at first she was running around crazy. Every time I tried to get a picture she took off like a shot. She probably thought I wanted to give her some kind of medication or something. She's weary of me because usually I do have to give her medication.

This past summer she had a terrible case of fleas! Let's just say I was not a happy camper. A few times I bought flea medication from either the pet store, or from a website that was kind of expensive. Until it dawned on me that I should check on Ebay for it. At first I purchased Front Line Plus. Which I personally don't think worked to great. Because she still had fleas (but at least I got it for a good price, about half off of what I paid through another website). Then I tried Advantage, which I think might of finally gotten rid of the fleas. And I paid only about $26.00 for it on Ebay, for a 6 month supply. So check out Ebay if your looking for flea medication for cats or dogs.

She also had ear mites recently. I got medication really cheap for that at Target. So my money saving tip for today, especially with spring around the corner, ( I hope spring is around the corner!) look around to get the best price on Pet medication. The pet stores aren't always the cheapest places to get them.




This year I'm going to hopefully prevent her from getting any fleas! Now I have to clip her claws. Heeere Kiiiitty Kiiiity!

Coupon Cabin

TGIF everybody! If your looking for coupons check out Coupon Cabin.

They have printable coupons for some of your favorite stores, and restaurants.

I just saw one on there for TGI Fridays! Yum!

Happy Valentines Day

This is a "card" I made on a cool website I found the other day Hallmark Smilebox. You can make cards and either send them in emails or post it to your blog!



You have to download the software. And then you can make all kinds of cards. The basic package is free to use. As far as I can see the only thing you can't do for free is print them. But I don't really care about that.



I like to send my Mom, Mother-in-law, etc., e-cards, and this is even better, because you can personalize them with your own photos!



Happy Valentines Day! And if you want to make your own cards check out Hallmark Smilebox.

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's cold here in New Hampshire! It's about 22 degrees out today and windy. I thought I'd take a picture of my flag blowing around. I don't like when it's cold and windy, but I love the looks of a flag blowing around in the wind!

This has been the snowiest winter around here in a long time. And we are expected to get more snow tonight! Up to 8 inches more! I've personally had it. I'm ready for spring.

I had put up a poll on "What is your favorite winter activity," and the most votes was "None, I don't like winter." I'm beginning to agree with that. Enough is Enough!

I thought I'd put up this song, "Baby it's cold outside," just for a few days. This weather made me think of it. I know it's kind of corny, but I always liked it. I guess I'm a corny type of person.

Well that's the weather, from here in New Hampshire. Hope everyone stays warm.

Blogging for Dummies

The reason I haven’t posted anything in a few days, is because I’ve been busy doing some of the technical side of things on my blog. Which for a new blogger like me can take up a lot of time.

As stated in my post “Even the Library has a Blog,” I was looking for some books at the library on blogging. I had really wanted one of those “dummy” books, which unfortunately my library didn’t have. But I figured there must be one of those books. And there is “Blogging for Dummies” by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley. I have since purchased this book. It is a really excellent book, with great information on everything from A to Z. I have gotten tons of information from it in the past few days alone.

It has helped me with everything from how to use and analyze statistics, to a range of technical questions I had, and offers great solutions. It is a good reference book for anyone - especially “newbies” like me.

Another great source of information for me this past week was a blog I stumbled upon, The Edublogger. One thing I was struggling with this week was how to add RSS Feed. The Edublogger blog has a terrific post on how to do just that called Adding a RSS Feed From Feedburner. It really helped me out a lot this week. The author of the blog Sue Waters, also followed up with a helpful post on How to Add an Email Subscription to Your Blog. If your looking for information on these topics check out The Edublogger.

So now that I’ve gotten some of the technical aspects out of the way, for awhile at least. Maybe now I can concentrate on the writing side of blogging. And maybe someday I won’t be such a “dummy!”

Sledding, Sledding & More Sledding

Being the penny pinching Mom that I am (some call it cheap, I call it frugal) one of our weekend activities is Sledding!









We go almost every Saturday or Sunday, sometime both. For me that's saying something, because I am not the biggest fan of winter. But this year I have really tried to embrace the outdoor aspect of it.


You might think it's because I'm trying to get the family outdoors, get some fresh air, and get some excersise. But to tell the truth the real reason is because it's free! Instead of paying lots of money to go to the movies, bowling, or go to an arcade or some place like that. We go Sledding!


Don't get me wrong I like the movies, I kind of like arcades, and I like bowling. And those are all great activities to do once in awhile, but not when you're on a really tight budget.

Besides even if I'm not 100% thrilled with standing in the cold, wind, and snow, the kids love it! So I'm toughing it out this year for the kids. And when I'm standing out in the cold, snow, and wind, I keep in the back of my penny pinching, frugal, and maybe cheap mind, this isn't costing me anything. It's basically free entertainment!

So get out there this winter and go Sledding!

CashCrate a month later

Well it's been about a month since I joined the GPT site Cash Crate. I made $20.00 for the month of January. I probably could have made more if I had dedicated more time to it, the last week or so. But I've been busy getting this blog started!

So far, too, I've only done the 100% free offers. But You could make more if you do the trial offers.

They also have a great Forum, that provides great help to newbies. So when you join, definately join the Forum group, to ask questions or to view other questions to get help. It really helped me in the beginning!

So if your a SAHM (like me), or a student, or anyone looking to make a little extra money, check it out for yourself. Click the banner below to visit their site.

School Projects

1. Save all shoe boxes. Half of all my kids school projects require a shoe box.

2. Poster Board. Buy a supply of them. The other half of projects require poster boards.

3. Know when project is due, and manage your time accordingly. My son had a science project due, with a month to complete it. On Sunday I said, "You better work on that project that's due Wednesday." He said, "No, it's due tommorrow!" He had gathered the information, but still had to write it all out, and do the poster!

4. Have all the writing and art supplies you need. I found stencils come in handy (for the posters). Rulers, crayons, markers, even stickers. My daughter needed to make a box. She wanted to put stickers on it. We've had these "Sponge Bob" stickers forever. Of course when it came time to use them, I couldn't find them! (I finally did in the mess in her room)

5. And if all else fails, and your child says, "Mom, I can't do this." Do it for them. Just kidding. Sort of.

Even the Library has a Blog!

I just went to my local library to check out some books. All on blogging, since I'm new at this (they don't really have that many books on the subject, at least not at my library).

The only book that seemed to pertain to the subject is "Publising a Blog with Blogger", by Elizabeth Castro. Which of course could not be found on the shelf easily. I then had to go to the lady at the Reference Desk for help finding it. We finally located it, and she even helped me locate a few more books on Blogs. She even commented on how there wasn't that many books on it.

I was hoping for one of those "dummy" books, like "Blogging for Dummies." No such luck! More people should write books on it, it could be a gold mine.

Anyway, after I located any books I could find, I preceded to the check out, when the Librarian noticed the topic of my books and said, "Did you know the Library has a Blog now?" I said no, she said yes. On their website now is a blog. I can only imagine the fascinating topics they cover.

She did mention some computer classes they're offering. She said there was one on blogs, but when I got home I checked their website and it was "Web Design." I wonder if that would help? The classes are "free" at least. Check out your local library for any classes that you might like!

Well it just goes to show if the local library has a blog then it really is catching on.