Sunday, October 31, 2010

Spooky Mutant Root Vegetables!

Happy Halloween from my spooooky garden!  The garden was mostly a bust this year, we can just call it a learning experience, I guess.

This is what happens when you dump a bunch of carrot seeds in a small patch and don't thin them properly.  I swear I did thin them, but apparently not enough.

I wonder if this thing let out a blood curdling scream when it was pulled from the ground?  (My husband pulled this out when he was cleaning up the old dead plants and weeds that grew up.)

EWWWW! 

And the other side.  It is hard enough to get kids to eat their vegetables, now they are scarred for life.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

What's in Your Mailbox?

Thought I would share with you some of my freebies that have been landing in my mailbox lately.  Most of these are free samples that I sent off for, but there were also some surprises in there, too.  The best was the package of name brand diapers that I got to try out on my twins, sent to me by Pinecone Research, who I do surveys for about once a week.  They paypal me $3 for each short survey.  Then, I did the exact same survey for MyPoints, and they sent me another package of the same diapers!  Bonus!  (Sorry I could not include them in my photos, I am not supposed to talk about my top-secret market research studies!)

This first picture has Crest, Dove, All-Bran and Quaker samples, plus a full sized bottle of Gain dish washing detergent (I believe I "liked" them on Facebook, then acted fast when they posted a giveaway).  I was surprised to see the Toy Story coloring set, it came without any explanation.  But I believe it is from Sara Lee, who had a giveaway this summer for divided plates with the Toy Story theme, I saved bread wrappers and sent away for 2 of them but got a postcard saying that they had run out.  Nice surprise and something to hide away in the gift stash.


In this picture are samples of Nivea lotion, Gax-X (hey, it was free), Teecino tea and Johnsonville Deli-Bites, which came in an envelope with 6 packs of mini summer sausages.  Kinda tasty and the kids like them.

Here is my check for $7 from SurveySavvy.com for doing an online survey, a sample of Wisk detergent (I have actually gotten this one a couple of times), a coupon for a bottle of free Advil and 2 coupons for free tubs of Cottonelle wipes (I had one sent to my mom's address and she gave it back to me).  Not too shabby, I would say!

So, when I am spending too much time on Facebook at least I have a little something to show for it!

Another freebie not shown is my scrapbooking kit of Elmer's and X-Acto products, sent to me by BzzAgent.  The kit included 2 pairs of decorative edge scissors, a corner rounder punch, a glue pen, glue stick, glue spots and something called a tape runner.  Can't wait to use it!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

More Budget-Busters I Really Don't Miss (Well, Usually)

My last post was about some household items that I either stopped buying or drastically cut back on to save money and (in some cases) do my little part to save the environment.  This week I have a few more items that I have cut back on or eliminated from our budget.  In some cases it has been a few years since I bought these items, so I have gotten used to life without these luxuries, others I splurge on occasionally and would certainly add back into my life if I wasn't being so cost-conscious (aka "poor").

I challenge you to find the things in your life that you can live without and try to wean yourself from them.  You will notice that I did not put "chocolate" or "coffee" on my list, those are essentials!

1.  Soft Drinks  I drink water now most of the time, except for my morning coffee, which I must have for the caffeine.  I just stopped buying any soft drinks except for an occasional 2-Liter (on sale, of course) to have on hand if people come over (we rarely entertain) or I will drink it if I am at someone else's house and they offer it.  On the rare occasion that we are at a restaurant I usually order water.   The positive aspect for my kids is that they also drink a lot of water and are not addicted to pop, they actually think it is too fizzy or "spicy" as they say.  I used to drink Diet Coke like it was going out of style, then I switched to Sprite during my pregnancy/nursing days, so the gradual weaning wasn't so hard for me.  If I drink a real Coke now it is so sweet (and wonderful, ha ha) it is almost too sweet.

2.  Combo Meals at Fast Food Restaurants  When I worked full time I ate out every single day, at least 5 days a week, and believe me I ate well--not just fast food but sit-down restaurants.  I justified never packing a lunch because I worked such long hours and needed that break at lunchtime.  I wish I had that $50 a week times all those years I worked plus interest now!  We do not eat fast food often but I do get my kids Happy Meals sometimes and get myself a little something from the Value Menus.  You can actually get a lot of food and spend a lot less getting those 99 cent items, especially from Wendy's and Sonic (although I think their chicken strip sandwich is $1.19, still a bargain!) and Taco Bell is better in small doses anyway. :-) Since I am drinking my bottled water anyway and don't want the drink, a hamburger (Wendy's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger = yummy) or chicken sandwich or 99 cent burrito does the trick for me, satisfies my fast food fix and is a nice little treat while I am on the run.  If you pay in change then you really feel like you got a deal.  And there are occasional coupons floating around out there for free items (with or without purchase) so I have gotten additional items that way, like when Taco Bell launched their Fruitista drinks, so that helps justify the splurge.  If you stop eating large combo-type meals and then finally order one again after a while you will be surprised at how much food is actually involved.  And I quickly got over my embarrassment of going through the drive-in and only spending $1.08 total on my lunch and paying in change, who cares anyway?

3.  Newspapers and Magazines  Our newspaper subscription expired this summer and we didn't renew.  I probably would have if they offered us a good deal, but that didn't happen so we just let it stop.  We still get the Sunday paper (husband buys it on his way to work Sundays) because I must have the ads and coupons, but that's it.  My husband used to take it to work with him and so he probably misses it and I do miss the Wednesday grocery ads (that I now read online or sometimes get in the mail) but I don't miss the stacks and stacks of unread papers that we have to take to the recycling bin.  And all my magazines I get for FREE!  I recently started getting "Everyday with Rachael Ray" and "Taste of Home" free after responding to a free deal online (follow Penny Pinchin' Mom on Facebook, she posts these sorts of deals) and I already get "Family Fun" (great ideas for use with kids) and "Natural Health" for free, not that I have time to read any of these magazines, but I do like an occasional new recipe.  "Family Fun" is the only one of these that I would ever actually pay for if I didn't already get it for free.  I do sometimes order the kids books from the Scholastic flyers they bring home, they have cute books for as little as $1 or $3 and they LOVE books.  I feel like I am contributing to their preschool/grade school that way since they earn free books for the class that way too.

4.  DVDs and Books  I love movies and I love books and I do love owning my favorites, BUT I already have quite a collection from my days as a spend-thrift, many of which I have not read or watched.  My kids just want to watch the same old Disney films over and over and we get some as gifts sometimes.  Also, we have cable and so they have a lot of options.  We use the library a lot, and I have recently started going online and getting books that I want to read held, so all I have to do is go and pick them up when they are ready.  Someday I would like to be able to actually sit down with the husband and watch a movie (I haven't seen ANYTHING in the last few years) but right now we just don't have the time.  We are so behind that it won't matter if we are checking movies from the library or watching them on cable, they will still be new to us!

Next Post:  Some of my latest freebies!