Ebates!

If you aren't already using Ebates, you are seriously missing out!! I just opened my mailbox to find a $120 check this week, and have earned $519 cash back in less than a year! Just for online shopping through their website & iPhone app! Before the holiday shopping begins... make sure to sign up to earn MONEY BACK!!

It's the best thing to happen to my shopping addiction since Amazon! ;) Check it out here:

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=8z9EFBbXxGinbbg_NLorBw%0D%0A&eeid=26471

US Weekly anyone?!

Ok, ok…I’ve been missing in action for months! So sorry! But, a toddler + infant + full-time job = CRAZY mama over here!! I’m trying to get back into the swing of things with my blogs. Here’s a pretty sweet deal I came across today… I snagged one, now I must share!

US Weekly 1 year subscription for $30!! That’s over half off!

 

I love Living Social deals… it’s just like Groupon, which I also love!! This deal only lasts another 14 hours, so hurry & head over. P.S. you do NOT have to live in the city that is offering the deal :)

project life

One of the reasons why I love blogging so much, is because it’s serves as a documentation of our family life. Blogging is an easy way for me to capture memories while sharing them with family & friends.  However, I always regret not having some type of a physical photo album or scrapbook that would also serve this purpose. One problem with making this happen…I am not a scrap booker, like AT ALL. I lack all creative talent and patience to be a scrapper. And trust me, I’ve tried many, many times and have always been left feeling defeated.

My friend, Katie, posted on her blog a couple months back about a photo album product that she came across called Project Life by Becky Higgins. Have you heard of it? If not, please take a look. It is a photo album & journal rolled into one, without the time requirement or creative genius needed for a scrapbook. 

The original idea of Project Life is to take a photo a day for every week of the year. You print your photos, place them in the album and fill out a journaling card to document whatever event and/or moment your photos have captured. It’s genius. And so easy. The best part? You can make the book into anything you want. You don’t have to take a photo a day, or even a photo a week. You can document by days, weeks, months, or milestones.

 

Picture of the kit contents. The small boxes in the top right have all of the different journaling cards inside.

 

My project life book is going to document all 52 weeks of the year. I am not going to require myself to take a picture a day, but rather take pictures as I normally do, and then document them by the weeks that those pictures happened. So sometimes I end up documenting just a specific day out of the week when maybe we had something extra fun planned, and some weeks I have pictures from every single day.

 

The above pic shows an entire week layout {Sun – Sat}. I don’t have a picture from every single day that week, but I captured pics from the highlights from that week.

 

 

 

The following week, we went to Disneyland and for that week’s layout, I only used photos from on our one day Disney trip.

 

 

 

 

 

The first week of January, Jon coached an All-Star football game, I used a smaller 8x10 insert that I purchased separately to highlight the football game program from that night.

 

I received my Project Life Kit for my birthday last month, and I’m almost caught up to March. It’s a really cool way to capture exactly how life is happening RIGHT NOW. I’ve documented football games, play dates, park trips, tantrums, injuries, vacations, just plain boring days, etc. That is LIFE. I love it.

You can purchase the kits through Amazon. I follow Becky Higgin’s on Facebook so that I can stay up to date on all of her products. The 2010 kits are almost sold out and they aren’t printing any more until this Fall when she will release her 2012 kits. So if you’re interested, go to Amazon now to check out her remaining kits :)

PPB Outlet Sale & Review

Hey mamas…if you haven’t checked it out yet, Petunia Pickle Bottom is having their semi annual online outlet sale right now. A percentage of proceeds are being donated to the Red Cross in order to assist Japan.

I’ve been in the market for a backpack diaper bag, since I will soon be welcoming #2 and free hands is a must! I’ve been debating between the PPB Boxy Backpack & the Ju Ju Be BFF. The Ju Ju Be, in my opinion, appeared at first to be slightly more practical due to the large opening for the main bag compartment, however their bag prints make me cringe. Not subtle at all, which is not really my style. The PPB prints are gorgeous, but I was a little turned off by the narrow opening of the main zippered area, however it is deeper and can hold more stuff than the Ju Ju Be. Price wise, they are pretty much the same. It was a toss up, but it was still tough to think about coughing up the $169 for the PPB Boxy Backpack. So, I’ve been waiting for their outlet sale. The outlet sells all products with discontinued prints and/or certified second products at a huge discount.

On Tuesday, I bought a ‘certified second’ boxy backpack for $67! That’s 61% off!! They say the ‘certified second’ bags could not be sold in the stores due to some minor flaw…which could be anything from a fabric mark to  just damaged packaging when shipped. Well, FedEx just delivered my bag and it’s PERFECT! Not a mark, scuff, or thread out of place!! To make me even happier, the bag arrived two days after I purchased it. WOOHOO!!!

This is the bag I bought:

        

 

 

I was a little concerned about the colors. The online picture made it look really bright, and I don’t like bright. But I read an online review that said the colors were much softer in person, so I took a chance. And I’m glad I did. The colors are perfect…actually very muted! Not bright at all. The darker blue actually has a grayish tint to it, and the light blue is very soft, not that obnoxious baby blue. I love all things shabby chic, and this completely reminds me of that style.

The sale ends 03/28…you can click here, to see what they have in stock.

Clip, clip, clip

 

Ok, so I kinda sorta jumped on this couponing band wagon. I’ve always clipped coupons from my Sunday paper, but this time around I’m going more “extreme” with it and using websites to coordinate using my coupons with store deals.

I have a girlfriend who kept showing me receipts from grocery & drug stores where she literally paid pennies for bags and bags of groceries. So she hooked me…

It took a little bit of time to sort through the good & bad websites to use, but I’ve found a few favorites that I’m going to share it with you!

 

I’m in no way shape or form as good as those women on that crazy TLC coupon show, but I have been saving quite a bit of money which always is a good thing!

The following are all of the websites that I visit throughout the week, follow on facebook, and rely on to form my shopping lists…

The Krazy Coupon Lady – her website is fantastic! It’s pretty much a catch all for every sale, new coupon, and deal available. Following her on Facebook is a must…

Coupons.com – I print numerous coupons from this website throughout the week. It’s easy to print from and easy to navigate…

The Coupon Network – Also a great one to print coupons from

Save at Home Mommy – I use this site to access the sale lists for VONS & Stater Bros.

Hip2Save – I have always been a fan of this site, but now I use it to track down all Rite Aid & Wal-Greens, and Target sales.

There are honestly a million and one websites that provide all of the same information, it’s just about finding the one’s that work for you. *FYI: Never, ever PAY a website to provide you sale lists from grocery stores…you can find all of the information for FREE from the above links that I provided.

The first weekend of the month I did a big shopping trip for all of our food & necessities that we would need for the next 2-3 weeks. I usually can spend an easy $180-200 just in food.

I went to Vons & Stater Bros. It took me an hour and a half to do all of my shopping. I was armed with a stack of coupons and coordinated shopping lists for each store. I spent a total of $95.18. I saved $54.77 in just clipped & printed coupons, not including the savings from my Vons card, etc.

Then I went to Rite Aid, spent $9.03, and walked away with Huggies diapers, 4 free Nivea chapsticks, free tube of Colgate toothpaste, free Colgate toothbrush, Garnier makeup removing wipes, and some other misc things. *It’s important to know that you need to sign up for a Rite Aid Rewards card {it’s free} from their website, prior to doing any shopping there. This is how you can earn free rite aid dollars from purchases you make.

Not too bad in my opinion.

Like I said, I’m not as “professional” as some people I know, but I’m couponing to the extent that I have time for, and saving some money while doing it…can’t go wrong, right?!

Anybody out there a pro already?! Can you share some tips for us newbies to this game? I’m always looking for new & improved ways to save a buck ;)

Winner!

Congrats, Stacy B!

You have won the CSN giveaway!!

Please email me within 48 hours to claim your gift card!

 

Thank you to everyone who entered, tweeted, facebooked, and blogged about my giveaway! Many more to come in the near future…

how about a giveaway?!

It’s been awhile since I’ve had any giveaways on my blog…so let’s have one!

Spring is right around the corner, and that means getting ready for some fun outdoor activities. I’m already thinking about the plethora of bbq’s & playdates I can’t wait to plan when the weather warms up. Last year, we bought my son an awesome Step2 swingsets from CSN Stores…and it’s a kid magnet! CSN had the best price & free shipping. Just can’t beat it!

Well, CSN is offering a $35 gift card to one lucky reader of my blog! Maybe you’re in need of a swing set, or outdoor accessory for your patio or yard? The options are endless with CSN.

Here’s how to enter {leave a separate comment for each}:

1.) What’s one spring/summer activity you can’t wait to do this year?

2.) Become a follower of my blog! {if you already do, just let me know}

3.) Tweet, Facebook, or Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link in a comment!

 

Good luck! I will randomly choose a winner on Monday, March 7th.