I think one of the best gifts for family is the gift of photos, especially if you have kids!
Right now when you sign up at EveryDay Family, you’ll be emailed a code of a free 8 x 10 canvas from Canvas People!
Joining EveryDay Family is free!v What a perfect way to get a jump on your holiday shopping list.
I’ve tried everything to increase my breastmilk supply. Drinking tons of water, eating oatmeal until I look (and feel) like the Quaker Oats Guy, supplements galore.
I have IGT, so there isn’t much I can so, but I’ve heard great things about Moringa Oleifera. Moringa comes from Asia where it is eaten as the whole leaf in soups. Pure Moringa Oleifera is one of the richest sources of nutrients available today. Moringa leaves have been shown to contain 9 times the iron of spinach, 4 times the calcium of milk, and 3 times the potassium of bananas.
After just a few days I noticed my supply increase just little, but in my case I’ll take whatever extra drips and dobbles I can get. In addition, my horrible charlie horses have subsided!
I plan on continuing taking Moringa Oleifera as long as I can. It’s nice to see an increase in my supply and know that I am getting essential nutrients that I may otherwise be missing! I try to eat healthy, but sometimes I can’t always get in my 5 servings of fruit and veg a day!
Thanks to the nice folks over at Tomoson and Fresh Healthcare for the complimentary bottle of Moringa Oleifera to facilitate my review. I received no monetary compensation and all opinions are my own.
**The links in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.
If you haven’t finished your BTS shopping yet, here is a great sale. Through tonight, can get two pairs of two pairs VentureFlex Shoes for $40 + Free Shipping with the code Venture.
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After years of Lil’ Man destroying shoes (Boys have some crazy super powers!), I wised up and started buying him better made shoes. They may be a little more expensive at the start, but they last so much longer that I’m saving money in the long run!
Reebok has a lot of great sales coming up! I’ll try to post about them as they go live!
Thanks to hubs for the idea to post about this! Savings bonds are an awesome gift for the kiddo in your life that may have everything, or for the sullen teenager on your list.
Savings Bonds are an awesome long-term investment for kids. It teaches patience, and the value of savings.
You can no longer purchase paper savings bonds (the government nixed that program a few years ago), however, the $25 EE bond can still be given electronically.
The 0.10 percent interest at purchase turns into 3.5 percent-plus rate of return once the bond is held for 20 years and its value doubles! Depending on the age of the recipient, it may mature in time for college expenses!
A friend of hubs Grandmother purchased bonds for him and his sister each year got about 10 years. The bonds started to mature a few years ago, so he’s been cashing them out as they mature. It was a very thoughtful gift, and over the years the money has come in handy.
The interest is subject to federal income taxes, but free from state and local levies.
To give a savings bond (available in any denomination from $25 to $10,000) an adult has to set up a Treasury Direct account in the child’s name, but the account is only accessible by the giver until the youngster reaches 18.
While the savings bond is only digital, making a certificate and attaching the receipt to the back (for mom and dad’s records) is a good idea. The Treasury website is there to help! There is still a choice of seven colorful gift cards that can be printed out and wrapped.
Heck, I heard that even Santa likes to give Savings Bonds!
For more details on giving savings bonds and the paperwork, click here.
I’m a big fan of gift cards, especially when they are on sale, so this deal is right up my alley!
Starting today through August 29th at JCPenney’s you’ll save 15% on iTunes gift cards $25 or higher! If you haven’t finished your Back to School shopping, make sure to stop by JCPenney’s and check out this deal.
But wait… It gets better. You can double dip if you’ve got a rewards credit card. We’ve got the American Express Blue Cash credit card and we receive 2% cash back rewards on purchases made at department stores including JCPenney. Check your rewards credit card to see if you get a special amount or even extra rewards at department stores.
And here is a triple dip idea: If you’ve got the Receipt Hog rebate app (learn more about it here) you can scan in your receipt to earn points towards an Amazon Gift Card or cash via Paypal.
I love buying gift cards on sale because it’s like getting money for free. I am always on the hunt for gift cards on a discount- it helps stretch our gift giving budget.
Whether you opt to give these discounted gift cards as gifts (they’d be well paired with some new earphones or as a stocking stuffer), or keep them for yourself to purchase apps, music, movies or ebooks. Did you know iTunes Gift Cards can be used in the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, or Mac App Store? iTunes gift cards make a great gift for pretty much anyone- especially college kids, teachers, or that hard to shop for teenager on your holiday shopping list.
To celebrate this awesome deal, the sponsor of this post is hosting an awesome giveaway of a $25 Amazon e-gift card. Everyone could use an extra $25, right?
I had to share this deal with you and I hope you’ll share it with your friends!
This deal is only valid on iTunes gift cards available for purchase in JCPenney stores that have a $25 value or more. This deal specifically excludes $15 iTunes Gift Cards. For more details, check with your local JCPenney store. This is a sponsored post from our friends at Tatu Digital Media, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
For most of us, school starts soon, if it hasn’t already started… That means the fundraising will start. Wrapping paper, candy, candles, you name it, you’ve probably seen a catalog and a doe-eyed child selling something to raise money for their school.
We’ve got a pretty tight budget around out house, and $12/roll wrapping paper is not in my budget, but I do want to help Lil’ Man’s school. Here are a few ways that you can help your kiddo’s school. If your kid isn’t in school yet, ask the parent of your favorite mini-fundraiser if their school participates in any of these programs!
Box Tops for Education (BTFE): This Program has been around for a while, and it’s probably one of the easiest ways that you can help the school of your choice. Look for these little box top doodads on hundreds of products that you probably already buy (here is a list), clip them, and drop them by your school’s office. LIl’ Man’s class sends home a cute themed Sheet for us to attach up to ten each month. If I have more, I just staple a ziploc bag full to the worksheet. Any parent would be thrilled to receive an envelope of bag of BTFE from family or friends!
Labels for Education: Similar to BTFE, but this program is run by Campbell’s. To find products that are a part of the Labels fro Education Program, click here.
Target’s Take Charge of Education®:
Choose your kids’ elementary school, the neighborhood middle school or any other eligible K–12 school. We’ll donate up to 1% of your REDcard purchases at Target stores in the U.S and at Target.com.
Escrip: Now this one has been around since I was in High School. It’s super easy. Once your school is registered, all you do is sign your various loyalty cards (like your Vons Card), and shop like you usually do. You school gets a percentage of your total purchase!
The best part about these four programs is that you just do what you already do: Shop and save money! Clipping Box Tops for Education and Labels for Education are not that much different than clipping coupons off of packages.
Today we’re going to talk about saving money inside the park. Specifically FOOD, but also souvenirs and other goodies.
I like most of the food choices at Disneyland (OMGoodness Gibson Girl Ice Cream), but it can get a little expensive. So here is what we do: Rent a locker and bring a picnic.
I pack a soft side cooler (like this one from Thirty-One) with a few frozen water bottles, lunch meat, fruit, frozen yogurts, and a small re-usable grocery bag with bread, individual packets of condiments (you can buy them at Smart and Final), and Ziploc bags with snacks, and we put all this stuff, plus our jackets and a few other misc. things into a locker.
We like the lockers on Main Street, but if you have a larger group going with you, there are bigger lockers immediately outside of the park. More info about Lockers, including prices, and locations can be found here. Reviews of the lockers can be found here (I love Yelp!)
There are various picnic areas inside the park (there is one up by Big Thunder Mountain, and various tables and benches scattered throughout the park), as well as one right outside the main gate by the large lockers.
For snacking during the day, I pack snacks that fit in our pockets (we both usually wear cargo shorts) like bags of pretzels, hard candy in Ziploc bags, and a 16oz. or so size bottle of water that we refill at the various water fountains throughout the park. We’ll stop back at the lockers for fruit or a larger nosh if we’re nearby and hungry.
That doesn’t mean I’ll go without my beloved Ice Cream. We usually pick one treat a day and share it. Ice cream, frozen banana on a stick, Dole Whip…. Whatever we both can agree on.
We also save money by buying our Disneyland shirts before we go on vacation. The Disney Store usually has an end of summer sale, and I can stock up of D-land shirts for 50-75% off retail prices. The mall closest to our house has a Disney Store, so we cruise in frequently (Lil’ Man is obsessed with Mickey Mouse). Other Disney Souvenirs like sippy cups I’ll buy in advance and sneak in our bags so he doesn’t see them until we arrive. In the past, I have scored a sweet new Disney shirt for $2.00!
99 Cents Only has a great selection of Disney Branded and Licensed items like crayons, coloring books, sippy cups, sandwich boxes, and other lunch/food storage containers. I’ve been sneaking 1 or 2 items into the cart each week when Lil’ Man isn’t looking!
We also set a budget when we go on a trip and stick to it. Bring cash with us each day of the trip, and when it’s gone we’re done spending. It’s just that simple.
Recently, ThinkFun sent me three Maker Studio building kits to test out. Last Saturday, amid the torrential downpour and retched humidity, Lil’ Man and I built two of the kits successfully, and one, well, not so successfully.
We started with the gear set. In this set featuring gears, we built a race
car (you can build a cable car, a 3-wheeler and a motorcycle). For each build you’re given Engineering Challenges – experiment with friction, torque and propulsion as you engineer your solutions.
We used a Star Wars Mac and Cheese box (It’s what we had handy).
These kits are a great idea, however…. The directions are picotgrams and are pretty small, so we had to bust out the magnifying glass (which was a fun experiment all by itself).
Next we tackled the Winches set. This set featuring winches, you can build a tow truck, a jeep, a well and a crane. The tow truck we built completely fell apart before I even got a photo of it, and that made Lil’ Man lose his mind.
Finally, the Propeller Kit! With this kit you can build a chopper, a biplane, a windmill and a plane. We attempted to build the windmill, however, it proved too difficult for Lil’ Man to master, and I was engineered out at that point (going on 3 hours of making these sets).
The only problem I had with the kits is that it requires you to use a box or can. Most cardboard boxes are recycled so many times that they don’t stand up well to the poking and prodding to build the kit in addition to all of the torture and abuse toys endure. My son played with the car we built (mostly me- he grew frustrated after about 20 minutes) for a few hours before it started to come apart and we had to reinforce it with gorilla tape.
These kits are for ages 6+, but if your kiddo is interested in building stuff and fairly dexterous (which Lil’ Man is), and patient (which he isn’t) I think a younger kid could handle these (with parents nearby of course).
I received these kits free of charge to facilitate the review, courtesy of ThinkFun and Tomoson. All opinions are my own.
I am really bothered by all of the mis-information that is available online surrounding the discounts available for Disneyland passes.
So, today’s installment in the vacationing as a cheapster is going to cover discounted Disneyland tickets.
I’m going to break it down this way: first the myth, then the truth.
1- Just have your dad/mom/friend/uncle’s cousin’s brother who is/was in the military buy you tickets at the discounted ticket office on base and use those.
Waa waa waa- That’s the sound of the saddest trombone. Our local ITT (information tickets and travel) office at MCAS Miramar says that’s no dice. From their website: “Name of sponsor or spouse will be printed on all tickets & that person must be present all days.” So, unless your dad/mom/friend/uncle’s cousin’s brother is coming with you on your family vaca, think again. If you are a military family, ITT is a great way to go when buying tickets.
2-I’ll just join AAA and get discounted tickets through them! I’ll be saving big bucks in NO TIME!!!
If you are joining AAA just for the Disneyland discount, think again, my friend, you may not be saving any money. Annual membership in AAA is $48.00 plus there is a New Member Admission Fee of $20 (for the first year only). Depending on which type of ticket (number of days and which parks) and number of tickets you are purchasing, you will save approximately $4.25-$7.75 per ticket. So if you are purchasing multiple multi-day passes OR multiple annual passes, it might be worth it.
Bottom line- If you are already a member of AAA, this is a good deal!
3-I’ll just buy a ticket from someone on Craigslist. There is always someone selling the remainder days on the their multi-day pass on Craigslist.
Please don’t. Here is why. The pass has the sellers name on it. The nice cast members working at the gate have the right to check your ID against the pass. The names don’t match? Guess what? They’ll confiscate your ticket. This was confirmed by a friend who is a cast member after reading some horror stories I read online about this. This may NOT happen, but do you really want to chance your family vacation to save a few bucks?
So how DO you get discounted passes? Well, many unions, fraternal organizations, student unions, and businesses offer discounted passes for sale. Ask someone in the organization’s office. You can buy legit discounted passes online from aRes Travel (I found them through Mousesavers.com). They offer tickets to a lot of Orange County and Los Angeles area attractions for a discount, however, they do charge a $4.00 convenience fee. So it may only be worth it to you if you are buying multiple passes.
We love bananas, but sometimes they get over ripe before we can eat them all. That usually only happens when the weather is so hot and muggy- or if I buy too many. In that case, I peel, slice and bag them in snack sized zip top bags and toss them in the freezer. They are now perfectly portioned for smoothies or baking recipes! This week, I’m posting my favorite Banana bread recipe. It’s quick, easy, and it uses no white sugar, so it’s ideal for those watching their sugar intake.
I’ve included variations for various diets below.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Stevia or brown sugar splenda (or 1/4 c honey)
1/3 cup applesauce
4 egg whites
1/2 cup of ripe banana (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
3/4 cup almond meal or flax meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
Variations:
