Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Friday, June 25, 2010

Coupon Mama

Since the baby was born I've become quite the deal searcher and I wanted to share where you can get coupons for free online and print them at home. The sites have you install a coupon printer to your computer, so that you cannot print multiples, so you have to have your printer connected to your computer when you go to the sites to print the coupons. I just to through the sites and print coupons for products that I already buy at the regular price when I need them. Occasionally I'll come across a coupon for a new product I'd like to try, but for the most part, I'm saving money on stuff I already need. Generally when I go to Target or Walmart, I save at least $5 by using coupons.

coupons.com
Everything from baby wipes, diapers, cereal, insect repellent, shampoo, pet food, even toys.

I printed $4.50 worth of coupons from coupons.com today

http://coupons.smartsource.com
These are the same coupons that come in your Sunday newspaper, but you don't have to buy the paper to get them, you can print them for free from their website!

I printed $1.30 worth of coupons from smartsource.com today

redplum.com
Again, more coupons you'd find in the Sunday newspaper, free to print online.

I printed $2 worth of coupons today from redplum.com

target.com
Scroll down toward the bottom of the page, and on the left is a box that says "Coupon Savings." Click "Get Coupons" and you can print coupons good only at target. Best part about these coupons is that you can use any manufacturer coupon (from the newspaper, or printed from online) in addition to these store coupons for the same item.

I printed $2.30 worth of coupons today from target.com

www.cvssavingscentral.com
I just discovered this one today - the CVS rewards program. You earn 2% back with every purchase in-store and online at CVS/pharmacy, 1 Extra Buck for every 2 prescriptions purchased in-store and online at CVS/pharmacy. Get instant savings on items featured in their weekly store circular ads and earn even more Extra Bucks on select brands advertised in our weekly ads. Then you can spend your Extra Bucks at any CVS/pharmacy location or online the next time you shop. Now obviously there are some restrictions and expiration dates on these extra bucks, so I'll be watching closely the next couple months with this program to make sure that I'm actually saving money with it.

At my first visit to CVS today,  I got a 64 load bottle of Tide for ~3 cheaper than Target's price, just by using the CVS reward card at checkout, and got $10 extra bucks (good for the next trip to CVS) for buying a box of huggies (which I also used a $3 off coupon from coupons.com on), $2 extra bucks for buying 2 bottles of pantene, and $5 extra bucks for buying a 42 count box of prilosec. Grand total of $17 to spend toward next week's extra bucks items at CVS!

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

2 months old


Highlights of Jillian's second month:
  • Jillian likes to take car rides, but if she's awake, she crys when the car stops at a stoplight.
  • She loves to take a bath and at the end of this month, she started playing with the toys in the bath - she likes to kick at them
  • She smiles at us all the time but I've yet to get a good picture of her smile.
  • She has laughed a couple times for us, I'm not sure if she realizes that she laughed, I think the sound just escaped from her when she was happy
  • We started the month off with a horrible diaper rash, but discovered that the generic Target "Up and Up" brand diaper rash cream works wonders. The Butt Paste brand just wasn't clearing it up.
  • We went to the zoo 3 times this month, but Jillian has yet to grasp what the zoo is all about. Mostly she just wants to nurse. The third time we rode the carousal together.
  • We also tried out her backyard wading pool.
  • She knows the difference between her home and being out somewhere. After a big day out, she looks around when we get back home and relaxes.
  • Jillian only sleeps in her bouncer at night. The doctor thinks this might be due to her having some reflux, so we'll be trying some remedys during month 3 to try to help her with this. She also hates having blankets on her and kicks them off and we have to keep putting them back on her - until she falls asleep that is. 
  • Other ways to get her to fall asleep are vacuuming, sitting her by the dishwasher or taking her downstairs to the basement by the washer and dryer and having her listen to the white noise created by these appliances.
  • She said her first word - "Mom" - ok just kidding, but sometimes when she cries (especially when she's frustrated) her cry sounds like "mmmooooooooommm"
  • When she's really concentrating on something she has her little hands in fists. As she relaxes, the hands relax as well. 
  • Speaking of her hands, she loves to suck on them. On the day she turned 2 months she managed to get her thumb into her mouth, but hasn't figured out how to do that consistently yet. It's rather entertaining how loud she can be slurping her hands.
  • She also uses her tongue to play "ice cream cone" when it's time to eat, licking the nipple instead of sucking on it.
  • She's started cooing - ooo and ahh sounds