Frugal Friday is back!
I hope you have had a very productive week! I love the feeling of accomplishment. I also enjoy a "date night" once in a while! We used to go out quite frequently, spending way too much money eating out. Now that we are parents, suffice it to say, we don't go out near as much as we used to.
I have found that since Little One goes to bed at 7:30 at the latest, we still have plenty of time to enjoy each other's company. While there's usually plenty on the DVR to keep us entertained for a couple of hours, we also like to mix it up once in a while and get a movie. A few months ago I discovered RedBox! I had heard of it but it wasn't until a friend of mine sang their praises and explained how it all worked when I had to check it out!
We joke that it's "like magic" because you can browse the website and reserve your movie online. When you go to a RedBox near you that has your flick of choice in stock, you simply stick in your debit/credit card and VOILA! Out pops your movie! Return it the next day and you've only spend a DOLLAR on a movie! A dollar! I mean, c'mon! You can find that in change in the bottom of your purse!
For the greenies, you can also recycle just 20 plastic water or soda bottles for a buck (in California, anyway).
RedBox is a great way to enjoy movies for a fraction of the cost of renting or pay-per-view. Why pay more?
Oh, and for iPhone users, you can even reserve your movie from the RedBox app!
Posted in Frugal Friday, saving money.
Tagged with date night, frugal, movies, redbox, rental, save money, thrify, videos.
By nodaycare
– March 26, 2010
I love candles! I love giveaways! Now I found the best of both worlds and I'm going to share it with YOU! Actually it's not exactly candles, but even BETTER!
Scentsy is a company that makes yummy smelling candle bars. You place one in a plug in warmer, which doesn't get too hot should tiny fingers accidentally touch it. The warmth from the bulb heats the bar and releases the scent for many hours.
Between now and March 30, you can enter to win a free Seaside Seashells Plug In Warmer ($15 value) from Sheri Carpenter, a Scentsy consultant and what.ismyblogs.name blogger! Head on over to her blog to find out how to enter! Please drop me a comment to let me know you entered!
Good luck!
Posted in Giveaways.
Tagged with candles, contest, drawing, freebie, giveaway, raffle, Scentsy.
By nodaycare
– March 24, 2010
I have been earning online since at least July 2008. The only start date I can find is for my Hits4Pay account. All you do is sign up for free, select topics that interest you, and then read emails once in a while.
You also want to refer others to do the same. I think I saw a classified ad on Myspace or something and that's how I got started. By yourself it takes quite a while to reach minimum pay out ($25). Once I got a few active referrals, though, it really began to add up quickly! I have been paid a total of $83.18 and I really don't even promote it any more (current post excepted, of course!).
DealsNCash is very similar to Hits4Pay and is run by the same people. I earned $0.10 there today without doing anything. My referrals clicked on some ads. I just went there to check on my total earnings and get my referral link for this blog! So far I've been paid out $28.21 over there. I started that program way later than Hits4Pay.
Some other places that pay just to view ads are:
Clixsense
LinkGrand
WordLinx
There are many more out there, but these are all very good. I have received payment from all of these and know that they pay. There are some fly by night operations out there, so be careful. Yes, it's free money, but it does take TIME (valauble time!) to earn that "free money."
Keep in mind you will reach your minimum payouts MUCH faster if you have some referrals. I usually use Clixsense, LinkGrand, and WordLinx to convert my earnings back into advertising to grow my teams.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Posted in Make Money Online.
Tagged with free money, Make Money Online, paid to click, PTC, PTR.
By nodaycare
– March 24, 2010
My black thumb leads me to a new hobby
It may sound odd, but I LOVE to compost! Maybe it's due to my particularly black thumb, but I get great satisfaction in watching plants die! Haha, not really. I would love to have seen the rose plant my in-laws gave me for my 30th birthday flourish. Or the rose plant one of my best friends gave me because it reminded her of me and my daughter.
The reality is, I tend to "over-love" plants. I tend to over-water them, thus drowning them. I don't mean to do it. I just like to do something productive, and get a little over zealous sometimes.
I have discovered that this gift for plant killing can work in my favor when it comes to composting!
It all began in Mom & Dad's back yard
My fondness for this unusual hobby was born when my parents had a really cool composter in their back yard. There's was very similar to this one, only theirs was round:
The size was perfect for our yard. It had a way to turn the lid so it latched on and critters couldn't remove it. There were air vents on the top. You could open them more or less, as needed. The part I found the niftiest was the trap door on the bottom! This enabled you to scoop out the "ripest" compost right from the bottom when you needed it for your plants. I thought that was pretty handy! The composter above has this feature.
Mom & Dad's composter also came with a handy tool for aerating the compost, which is a crucial step in the composting process. I always enjoyed taking the kitchen scraps out and giving the tool a little twist and pull to thoroughly mix in my new ingredients with the old and give the whole mixture a good dose of oxygen.
My First Attempt at Composting
Now that I'm grown up and have a home and garden of my own, I decided to start composting again! A couple of summers ago, I put a rubbermaid tub to work as my composter (The frugal side of me didn't want to spend too much on a real composter in case I didn't really get into it). I carefully balanced my wet and dry ingredients. It never got stinky. Steam would even mist out if on a cold morning. Overall, the Rubbermaid tub worked OK, but I didn't really have the volume of materials it needed.
I kind of neglected it until last summer. That's when I started adding more and more scraps to it. I also discovered I could dig out handfuls of cut grass out of the lawn mower and that REALLY got things cooking! Coffee grounds were also a great addition.
The problem came when my trusty Rubbermaid tub began it's own decomposition process. Finally, I had to just dump my compost out on the ground. It's working alright, and hey, that's how they did in the "olden days." But with my Lil Biscuit (one year old daughter) taking to walking and wanting to be outside more and more, I'd rather contain this little science project!
I'm going to try a large garbage can, that hopefully will have handles that will keep the lid on. My idea is to knock it on its side and roll it around a few times a week to let it get good and mixed up. I also want to drill some holes in it for drainage and aeration.
Posted in gardening, saving money.
Tagged with compost bin, composter, composting, DIY, do it yourself, eco-friendly, frugal, gardening, thrifty.
By nodaycare
– February 22, 2010
Before I started cloth diapering full time, I didn't really "get" the benefits of baby leg warmers such as Agoo Leg Huggers. Now that my Lil' Biscuit has been in cloth full time for going on three weeks, I can totally see why these are so great:
- If she happens to spring a leak, chances are her whole outfit won't need to be changed.
- These are super cute under the Overall dresses she has.
- She can protect her adorable little legs and still show off her beautiful fluff!
You can enter to win a pair of these adorable accessories at Annie's Home blog! Hurry! Today is the LAST day to enter!
Posted in Cloth Diapers, Giveaways.
Tagged with Agoo, baby clothes, Cloth Diapers, giveaway, Leg Huggers.
By nodaycare
– February 19, 2010
Today's Frugal Friday tip: Use COUPONS!!
Those annoying reams of receipt paper you get at the grocery store are not just for lining your hamster cage or spitting your gum wad into! These are valuable money savers!
Even if you don't take the daily paper in your town, try to make it a habit to pick one up the day the coupons come out. Sunday paper is usually a good bet, but some papers have a mid-week edition full of coupons too. There are also great, printable coupons you can find online!
I use Coupons.com to print coupons right from my computer every week! This practice has had the added bonus of helping me with my menu planning, which I'll discuss in a future Frugal Friday!
Posted in Frugal Friday, saving money.
Tagged with coupons, frugal, save money.
By nodaycare
– February 19, 2010
For my first Frugal Friday, I posted a suggestion about making your own Valentine and getting creative about gift bags. Do you realize that greeting cards are now an average of $3.50 each? And gift bags another $2.50-3.50 and up, depending on the size! Yikes! What a racket!
Here is the Valentine I made for my husband using my Cricut Expression:
Created with the Pink Journey Cartridge
If you made your own Valentine this year, I would love to see it! Please place a link to a picture of it in the comments!
Why does the faith provision the advisory contempt? (disregard this random sentence!)
Posted in DIY, saving money.
Tagged with card, crafts, DIY, frugal, homemade, save money, Valentine.
By nodaycare
– February 13, 2010
Have you ever had a utility bill over $300? I have and it's not fun. For Frugal Friday today, I want to share some very easy, painless ways to cut back on your energy bill. Don't worry, you don't have to run to the nearest Home Depot and drop a load of cash on an energy effiicient washer and dryer (although, since it IS "tax time," that isn't a bad way to spend your rebate if you got one!).
- Simple: Turn of the lights you are not using. If you're not in the room, turn off the lights. Pretty basic, but an easy one to overlook. I often fall victim to the thought, "I'm going back in there in a few minutes..." but then I inevitably get sidetracked and hours go by before I go back into the room I left lights on.
- Unplug "vampire" appliances. Read all about it here!
- Lower your water heater thermostat. For every 10 degrees you lower the temperature of your water heater, you save between 3%-5% of your energy costs!
- Turn down your thermostat. Reduce the temperature from 70 to 65 degrees while you're home and 60 or 55 degrees when you're away or asleep to cut your bill by as much as 25%! Bundle up!
- Cut the energy used by your dishwasher by opening it up at the end of the cycle instead of using the heat dry cycle!
- Hang some of your clothes to dry and cut down on the number of times you tun your dryer.
- Clean or replace your heating system's air filter every two months (or even monthly!). Even a slightly dirty filter will block the air flow and send heat right out your chimney.
- Let hot food cool before putting in the fridge to cut down the energy used by the fridge.
- Stock your fridge and freezer! Both work more effiicently when relatively full.
- Defrosting items in the fridge allows the frozen food to do some of the work electricity would usually perform.
Please share your favorite energy savings tips!
Posted in Frugal Friday, saving money.
Tagged with energy savings, frugal.
By nodaycare
– February 12, 2010
I've seen 'em referred to around the web as both covers and soakers. I first discovered fleece soakers as an option at my local baby boutique. Until then, I thought I could only use waterproof soakers made out of some kind of plastic or PUL, or wool. I didn't how well fleece worked but I gave it a try. Here is the soaker I bought:
Store bought fleece soaker
I immediately fell in love with this soaker. It seemed to solve my flannel diaper problem, which you can read about over here.
Since I am a pretty capable seamstress, I figured I could take a stab at making one myself. I didn't have any aplix and from what I hear/read, it's really ideal in these situations. I scoured the net for a pattern and came up with Katrina's Sew Quick Soaker (here are the corresponding instructions), which did not require snaps or aplix!
I started sewing it after I was too tired but just really needing to sew, so I made a few dumb mistakes. I don't have a serger, so I faked it with one of my fancy zig zag stitches. Some of the stitching ended up on the outside. I figure it's ok because:
- It's not against her skin.
- It's a little long for her so I can fold the waist band down, hiding that mistake.
- You have to look pretty close to see the leg cuff mistakes
- She'll only wear it around the house anyway.
Pink Camo Fleece Soaker
I have more of the fabric and will probably take another stab at it. I might try to make her a pair of longies so she's not walking around the house with bare leggies!
Posted in Cloth Diapers.
Tagged with Cloth Diapers, diaper covers, DIY, fleece, home made, soaker.
By nodaycare
– February 11, 2010
My little Biscuit has been in cloth diapers full time for over a week now. Prior to that, we mostly just put one on her when she was home and even that was pretty hit or miss. I am learning so much, so fast now about what I do and do not like, pros & cons of the various types of dipes, etc.
One thing I know for sure: I LOVE FREE dipes! I keep a close eye on Twitter for diaper giveaways! I came across one today from Coupon Mommy of 2. I am so excited not only to have stumbled upon this giveaway, but the Dapa Diapers site itself is a GREAT resource for cloth diapering mamas and papas to build their stash!
One thing I have learned already is that sometimes it's more expensive to try to save money on "wanna-be" diapers. Some of the what I call knock offs on eBay are perfectly good diapers. But, others are not worth the postage I paid for them. I'll recap some of my eBay cloth diaper experiences in a future post. The point here is that Dapa Diapers has a happy medium!
When I went to the Dapa Diapers site, I immediately fell in love with their tagline, "Reduce, reuse, rediaper!" So cute & creative!
Dapa Diapers offers seconds, discontinued diapers, and name brand diapers that are in excellent used condition. The diapers all function just as well as a brand new, brand name diaper. They just might have crooked stitching, or some other minor flaw that nobody will notice anyway. The beauty of the whole thing is you can get name brand cloth diapers at an incredible price!
Oh wait! The EXTRA beauty is you can also win a $20 gift card for Dapa Diapers by entering at Coupon Mommy of 2! Hurry and get your entries in! This giveaway ends Tuesday, February 16, 2010!
Posted in Cloth Diapers, Giveaways.
Tagged with Cloth Diapers, freebie, giveway.
By nodaycare
– February 8, 2010
