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Energy Levels

Found a really good article on ways to get more energy at Zenhabits.

Hosties

The Hosties application on Facebook is taking applications for a Raisonette Baking Party! Must invite 6 guests, post at least 5 photos and send out guest surveys. Limited number of spots available!

Tom's of Maine

I got free samples of Tom's of Maine toothpaste from Bzzagent! They use only natural ingredients. Can't wait to try it!

Twinings of London Tea

I get to try Twinings of London tea thanks to Smile.ly! Click here for their free shipping offer!

Free Products

Go to Smile.ly and sign up to try free products. It looks like another social marketing site like buzzagent. I've read lots of good reviews about it and just signed up myself.

Reviewing Movies/Media for Children

Go to plugged in online to see very detailed reviews of movies. There is even a section that tells you which curse words are in the movie. There are also sections for Television, Games, and Music. I will also put this in my information links in the right side bar.

Forever Stamp

When you buy stamps make sure to buy the Forever Stamps so that it will still work when they increase the price of stamps!

Putting a Limit to How Much Kids Buy

The kids seem to think that everytime they go to any store or garage sale they have to buy something. They used the excuse that it was their own money they were spending, but a $2 allowance can only go so far and I wanted them to learn to save some of it. Even though I tried to explain to them why it wasn't a good idea to have to find something to buy just because they walked in a store, they just weren't getting it. So, finally, I started a One In, One Out Rule. It really works, if they know they have to get rid of one of their things they aren't so quick to buy something!

Barnes and Noble Kids Reading Club

Kids grades 1-6 can read any 8 books and get one book free with Barnes and Noble's Summer Reading Club between May 26 and September 7. (Print out pages 1 and 2.)

It's Turn Off the TV week!

This week is turn off the TV week. The kids say if they can't have any TV or video games than I can't be on the computer so there may not be a huge amount of posts this week. It's been great so far. The kids and their Dad have been playing cards, doing crafts, exercising and more. If only I could convince them to do this all the time!

Kroger Free Sample Site

Kroger now has a free sample web site like Walmart does! Right now there is a free sample of Mighty Leaf Tea and some pharmacy type items.

Cheap Magazine Subscriptions

The link I had previously under Cheap Magazine Subscriptions doesn't work anymore. I really loved that site! So far the best I can find to take it's place is Best Deal Magazines - look under the $4.69 and $5.69 magazines. For all the boy scout families - Boys' Life is listed under $5.69.

Free BBQ sauce

Sign up here to get a coupon mailed to you for a free bottle of BBQ sauce. For a limited time only.

Great Product - Goo Gone

Have you ever tried Goo Gone? I love the stuff. It gets all the dirty gunk (like from adhesive price tags) off things. If you wash a name tag or sticker on your kids clothes and the gunk won't come off, Goo Gone will take it off. It also says it takes off things like gum, crayon, grease, and tar. The great thing is that I found the small bottles of it at our local Dollar Tree (in the hardware aisle and cleaning product aisle)!
My sister is the one who told me about this stuff. Thanks Chris!

Birthday Clubs

I put my daughter in some birthday clubs and so far we have gotten a $3 gift card for Toys R Us and a free ice cream from Culvers for her birthday next week. See my info links on the right side for the link to Free Birthday Treats.

Fishful Thinking

Fishful Thinking is a great program by the Goldfish cracker company. It gives good parenting advice and works with parents getting their kids to be more positive. Here is the homepage, it also has a quiz to see how positive your child is. This is a great program and yes I get points if you click the link!

How Resilient is Your Child?

Take this short quiz to find out how resilient your child is.

Free pedometer and DVD

Join Just keep moving and get a free pedometer and DVD - while supplies last. Looks like they are still letting people join, but I don't think they are still giving out the pedometer and DVD.

Need Crutches??

In this weeks circular Marsh Supermarket advertised that in stores with a pharmacy you could use their crutches for free. You probably just have to have your prescription filled there?

Shrimp coupons and recipe book

Go to Sea Pak for a free recipe book - which has a bunch of coupons in the back. You can also print a couple coupons of from the Sea Pak web site. The small boxes of popcorn shrimp are usually really cheap with the coupon. The recipe book will only be offered till Friday, April 3.

What to Plant Now

This site lets you pick your area of the US and the month and tells you what you should be planting.

Free Facial Treatment

Go here to get a gift certificate for a free facial treatment at a Clarian Counter - found in department stores. Locally ours is at Macy's. There is a store finder on the site. (I'm sure that once you are there they will try to sell you their products.)

60 days to change financial program

60 Days to Change is a free financial program that is supposed to help you get your finances in order. Sign up and then you check the website every day to see what your assignment is. The program covers lots of different things - debts, overspending, budgeting, and much more.

Spring Break

This week is spring break for the kids. I've decided that the purpose of spring break is to remind us parents to find things for the kids to do during summer break! Besides for sending them outside as much as possible we got out the cub scout book and started looking for badges Ethan can work on. Abbie is practicing piano and drawing pictures to mail to her cousin. I am looking for camps and vacation bible schools for the summer!

Helping Children Deal With a Pet's Death

After having to tell our children about the death of their gerbil last week I thought I'd write a few things about what helped them deal with it. First we had a family meeting. We told them the news and that it wasn't their fault. Then we realized that the kids listening to each other crying was making it worse so I took our daughter on a short walk. Once separated both kids calmed down right away. My husband and I felt that separating them after the initial news helped a lot. Our daughter also wrote (or dictated to me) a poem and drew a picture. This also helped her a lot. Now they seem to be over it and only occasionaly mention getting a new gerbil or hamster. I'm not to excited about getting a new one!

Potty Training DVD - free

Get a free interactive potty training DVD here.

Prescription Drug Savings Card

Go here to get a prescription drug savings card to get the same discount the pharmacy gives the insurance companies. Look under participating pharmacies to see if it is available in your area.

Daylight Savings Time & Smoke Detectors

Sunday Daylight Savings Time starts. Remember that this is also when you're supposed to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Birthday treats

Go here for a list of places in your area that offer free birthday meals/treats. There is a section for kids and a section for adults. Note: most require you to join the online club ahead of time.

Baby Stuff

For anyone who is about to have or has a baby go to couponcravings for links to lots of free stuff.

Picking Video Games for Children

First, I have to say I am not big on video games. But if you have to have one I feel that the Wii system is much more family friendly than the other systems, with much less violent games. Also the kids are up and moving with the Wii and interacting with other people. The whole family can even 'go bowling' on the Wii system. I also found a web site that helps parents find out a little bit more about the different games available. It is what they play, just go under the game system at the top of the site and then find the game from there. And, of course, set a time limit so the kids can get back to doing something creative!

Free Liz Lange Health Journal

Take a short quiz and receive a free Liz Lange Health Journal.

Reward Program from Chuck E Cheese

Chuck E Cheese has a program where you can print of one of the reward charts from their site and bring it in for 10 free tokens. That would be incentive enough for my kids! There are charts for lots of different things - clean room, keeping active, brushing teeth, doing homework...Must purchase one food item. Thanks Thrifty Mommy

Living the Country Life Subscription

Get a free 3 year subscription to Living the Country Life.

Buying Stamps

The price of postage is supposed to be going up so buy a bunch of the forever stamps now and they will still work even after the price increase.

Why you need to write a will

It is important for you and your spouse to write a will. If one dies without a will bank accounts could be frozen so the surviving spouse may not have access to needed money. Also it is important to have your say in who will get custody of your children. Go to Free Legal Documents to get a free template of a will and other legal documents. Just copy and paste into a Word document, fill in the blanks, and sign it in front of witnesses. Each state is different in their requirements.

Free eBook on eBay selling

Download the free eBook - The Stay at Home Mom's Guide to Successful eBay Selling.
Thanks Swap Savers

Afterschool kit

Order your Afterschool Kit. Geared toward youth in grades 6-9 to help them learn to make the right choices. I just ordered mine today!
Thanks Swapsavers

Product review: Campbell's Gravy

I admit it, I can't make gravy. Although my husband loves it, I can't make it. I was looking for gravy that was in a jar or can and was affordable. Everything else seemed to have MSG in it (which gives my husband headaches)so I tried Campbell's Gravy. It comes in a small can, you just warm it up. One can probably only feeds four adults though - I never have leftovers. It's so simple to just bake some chicken breasts and baked potatoes and warm up some corn and a can of gravy - it's one of our favorite meals!

What to do with all those papers?

All those papers that get sent home from school and activities can get easily lost. I have a system that works pretty well for us. First, as soon as I get a paper I try to write down any important dates on the calendar. Then everything that I might need to look at later goes in one binder. This binder holds school newsletters, church newsletters, boy scout calendar, notes about school events... Then every time I need something I know where to go. I just have to keep the binder in one easy to access place so that I always know where it is.

Free ebook - Thriving on Less

Go to here for the free ebook Thriving on Less.

Use What You Already Have

This month save money by using what you already have in the freezer while it is still good. This means not buying anymore meat until you have used up all the 'great deals' sitting in the freezer. Use them before they get freezer burnt and have to be thrown away.

Saving Money

One of the best things to do when you are having trouble saving money is to have the bank do an automatic savings transfer. You just go in and tell them how much you want transfered into your savings every month. Otherwise it is so easy to forget. My financial goals for 2009 are to save a three month emergency fund and pay off my highest interest debt. There is no way I could do this without an automatic savings transfer.

Getting Back To School

Today is the day the kids go back to school! I think we are all ready to get back to our routine. One thing I do to make sure that nothing gets forgotten is to make sure the kids put all their bookbags, lunchboxes, and anything else that needs to get to school in one basket. Since I have to drive them to school I just take the basket with us. When I pick them up everything goes back in the basket to get carried in all at once and nothing gets left in the car.

Another Reason to Eat Chocolate

I kept reading that cocoa is stronger than codeine for relieving coughing. I was desperate and tried it - it worked! I have used it a few times now and it worked every time. (I am not sure if just milk chocolate will work or not - but cocoa worked for me. I've used both hot chocolate and Dove dark chocolates.)

New Years Goals!

Kids really enjoy accomplishing their goals, so help them set ones that are actually achievable and let them pick what they want to accomplish. Exercising everyday is not achievable but exercising every week is. Make sure you write goals down and make a plan. One year my son's goals were take the dog on a walk a few times and learn how to email his cousin. Both were easily accomplished.

Borders

If you have a Borders near you get a Borders Reward card. Once you register the card online they will email you a coupon every week (usually for 20 -40% off)!

How important is it to have dinner together?

This is one of my favorite videos. Family Dinner. It's only a few minutes long.

Claim Your Flexible Spending Account Money!

There is only one more day till the end of 2008. Have you turned in all your claims for your Flexible Spending Acount?