Getting Groceries...Cheap!

As a stay-at-home mom, I am always looking for ways to save money on groceries. I am proud to say that in the last couple months I have become a coupon clipping, price shopping master. Most weeks I spend about an hour looking through ads and clipping coupons. This week I spent $75 on groceries (which actually included a few high price items including 2 packs of diapers and 2 bags of dog food) and saved $80! My husband pointed out that if I spent an hour looking for the specials, I had made $80 for an hour of work. Not a bad salary! I am still perfecting my craft, but it has become a game to see how much money I can save. I thought I would share with you my recipe for success:

1. Pull out the ads for the stores you frequent (I normally shop at Super Target, Fry's, and Sunflower Farmers Market).
2. Look for the best deals on meat products. From these deals decide on your nightly main course. (Check out this article on "How to Spot a Great Price on Meat").
3. Use sites like Stretching a Buck , $5 Dinners.com or Moms Need to Know to find great deals at your favorite stores + coupons.
4. Take out your clipped coupons and compare with ads. Also, check out coupon sites like coupons.com and redplum.com.
5. Know your store's coupon policy. For example, Target will accept their coupons plus manufacturer's coupons, so you are often able to get items for free or very cheap.
6. Look for stores to have double, triple, quadruple coupons (most will honor up to $1). When these promotions occur, use your coupons to buy lower priced items to get them for free or close to free.
7. If you find a super deal on meat, frozen/canned veggies, canned foods, etc. buy extra and stockpile.

Plus, check out my favorite website Stretching a Buck for weekly deals at these stores:

Kroger (Fry's)

Target

CVS

Walgreens

These are just a few of my ideas. Please leave a comment about how you save money on groceries.

Introducing Finger Foods

Much to my surprise, my seven month old daughter started feeding herself a couple days ago. About a month ago, my pediatrician recommended giving her Gerber Puffs so that she could begin learning to feed herself (with thumb and pincher finger). She has now mastered the concept! I have been doing some research and found some great information on starting finger foods that I thought I would share with you.

You can start your child on finger foods when they master the thumb-finger grasp (anywhere between 7-10 months) and when they begin to show interest in grabbing food off your plate.

Best Finger Foods:

• Cut up pieces of bananas or pears
• Baked apple cubes
• Melon cubes
• Pieces of avocado
• Pieces of baked sweet potato
• Peas
• Cut-up green beans
• Cooked, diced carrots
• Bite sized pieces of cheese
• Cereal such as Cheerios
• Cooked pasta
• Lightly toasted pieces of toast or bagels

Tips and Hints:

• Check with your doctor before feeding your child any new foods
• As with baby food, introduce finger foods one at a time
• Give your child a few pieces of food at a time
• Let your child "play" with the food, this is part of the learning process
• ALWAYS supervise your child while they are eating!!!!

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/infant/finger_foods.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/food/infants/finger_foods.html

http://www.babycenter.com/0_finger-foods_105.bc

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/baby-finger-foods.html

Southwest Airline Deals

For all you traveling mamas, Southwest is offering some great airfare deals available through tomorrow.

0-374 miles = $25
375-549 miles = $50
550-999 miles = $75
1000+ miles = $100

These rates are good when you book travel between Dec 2-16 or Jan 5-Feb 10. Click here for more details.

Free Sample: Pampers Extra Protection Diapers

Pampers is giving away a free sample of their Extra Protection Diapers. Sign up here to receive your free sample.

You can also sign up to receive money savings offers at Pampers.com. In addition to receiving offers, you will also be entered to win a year's worth of free diapers!

New Printable Target Coupons

Target has added printable coupons that expire November 17, 2009 (a total of $19 in savings). Click here to get new coupons.

Just in case you haven't had a chance to buy your candy for Halloween, there are coupons for candy!

Super Giveaway From Rasun

Continuing with our theme of mom-made giveaways, we will be giving away a Super Mom Package. Rasunbaby, a company created by two very talented and creative moms, will be giving away a custom diaper bag, nursing cover, and state onesie to one lucky follower.

Rasunbaby offers fashionable products for moms and babies. What I like about their products is that they are truly one of a kind. I love their custom onesies (especially the three tiered ruffle bum).

The drawing will be held today through November 20th. I will select a winner using Random.org. There are several ways to enter: Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Visit Rasunbaby's website and become a follower.

2. Become a follower of Being Mommy (if you already follow, leave a comment)

3. Grab my button and provide the link to your site (if you already have my button, leave a comment)

4. Become a Facebook fan of Being Mommy

5. Follow Being Mommy on Twitter

Barnes & Noble: Free Hot Chocolate and Cookie (Tomorrow Only)

Visit Barnes & Noble tomorrow and receive a free small cookie and kid's size hot chocolate from their cafe. Click here to receive the printable couple.

Free Subscription-Parenting Magazine

Get 11 issues of Parenting Early Years free when you click here.

This magazine is geared to the needs of moms with children 0-5.

Fuji Film See Here-100 Free Prints

With Christmas right around the corner, now is a great time to order prints for all of your relatives. Fuji Film is offering 100 free 4 x 6 prints when you sign up on their site. You can get your prints here.

They also have holiday photo cards for as low as $0.59!

Huggies Diaper Coupons

Here are some great printable Huggies coupons from Coupons.com:

Huggies Pure and Natural Diapers $3 off
Huggies Little Movers or Snugglers Diapers $1.50 0ff

Baby Deals

Babysteals.com offers deals on everything from baby gear to maternity clothes. Drop by daily to check out the new special.

Thanks Rachel for this info!

Traveling with Babies

In honor of my trip this weekend, I thought I would blog about traveling with babies. Including this weekend, I have now gone out of town 3 times with my daughter. I definitely took for granted how easy it was to travel without a baby. Now I have to plan for everything...what do I take, what is the best time to leave, what are all the possible things that could happen, etc.

I have found that the following things are important when traveling:

• Make a list of what you need to pack.
• Plan the best time of day to travel (if we drive we like to start in the evening when we know our daughter will sleep the most).
• Travel as light as possible. Leave large items at home (i.e. take your baby carrier instead of the stroller if possible)
• If you are traveling by plane find a company in your destination city that rents out baby equipment so you don't have to bring your own.
• Contact the hotel ahead of time and rent one of their cribs.
• Have a container full of travel size toiletries (hair gel, shampoo, toothpaste, cotton swabs, etc.). When you pack go to the container and pack what you need.
• Pack one suitcase or bag with clothes, diapers, burp cloths, etc. and one for formula, bottles, bibs, etc. Then you will know where everything is!

Here are some great sites that have advice for travel:

Planning a Trip: http://www.babycenter.com/planning-a-family-trip

Travel Games for Babies: http://www.momsminivan.com/babies.html

Surviving a Plane Trip: http://travelwithkids.about.com/cs/accessibility/ht/Surviveplane.htm

Packing Checklist: http://www.babycenter.com/packing-checklist-for-traveling-with-baby

Post comments about what you have found helpful when traveling.

Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to our two giveaway winners. Our winners were randomly selected using random.org.

Angela Hitt: Jewelry Designs for the Fashion Savvy and Bows #4
Toot Toot TuTus #82

Keep an eye out for our upcoming giveaways!

Target Deals

In honor of the Super Target opening in my hometown, I thought I would post a link to one of my favorite blogs, Stretching a Buck. Here you will find the weekly deals for Target and links to tons of printable coupons. Happy Shopping!

Teething

My daughter has been constantly chewing on her fingers the last week or so which leaves me wondering...is she teething? I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about some of the symptoms of teething and what you can do to help your child.

Symptoms:

• Irritability
• Drooling
• Coughing (due to excess saliva)
• Biting and gnawing
• Cheek rubbing and ear pulling (pain can travel to these areas)

Addition Possible Symptoms (these are thought to be correlated to teething, but have not been proven):

• Diarrhea
• Low-grade fever
• Not sleeping well
• Cold like symptoms (runny nose)

So what are some things that you can do for your child to ease the pain of teething?

• Offer your child cold/frozen teething rings
• Feed your child chilled foods such as applesauce or yogurt
• Use Baby Orajel or a similar pain relieving product
• Give your baby Tylenol (check with your doctor first to make sure this is ok)

Here are some additional resources:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_teething_11243.bc

http://children.webmd.com/tc/teething-topic-overview

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/teething/article_em.htm

Feel free to leave comments about what has worked well for your teething child.

Pedialyte Coupon

Unfortunately it is the season for illnesses. Pedialyte is a great product to prevent your child from getting dehydrated in case of an illness. Pedialyte is offering a $1.50 off printable coupon. Click here to print your coupon.

$75 in Savings from Hasbro

If you like Playskool toys check out their coupon link. Hasbro is offering $75 worth of coupons on toys for babies to young children. These coupons would be perfect if you are looking to get a head start on your holiday shopping!

Jamba's Feel Good Buck

Who doesn't love a good Jamba Juice pick me up? Jamba Juice is giving away Feel Good Bucks. The Buck is worth at least $1 and can be worth up to $10,000 click here for more information and to print your Buck.

Free Breakfast-IKEA

What could be better than visiting IKEA and getting a FREE breakfast? Visit IKEA between Saturday, October 10 and Monday, October 12 and receive a FREE breakfast and coffee. Click here for more information.

Easy Halloween Party Mix-Harvest Gorp

Every fall, my Grandma makes what our family refers to as Harvest Gorp. With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought I would provide the "recipe" for the mix. It is easy and quite a crowd favorite.

Harvest Gorp
Original Goldfish
Peanuts
Raisins
M&Ms
Candy Corn (regular and larger pumpkin shapes)

Take all of the ingredients and mix together. You will have the perfect sweet and salty mix for your party.

Enfamil $5 Printable Coupon

If you use Enfamil Premium with Triple Health Guard there is a great $5 off coupon. Click here to print. You can print up to 2 coupons.

What Have You Done for Yourself Lately?

I went to a group called The Parent Connection this afternoon and the facilitator asked a good question: "What have you done for yourself since your baby was born?". For myself? Sometimes I am lucky to get a shower in. How do you take time to think about yourself when you have someone depending on your 24/7? Most of the time I feel guilty if I spend time doing something I enjoy because there is always something "more important" to do.

As I thought about this question, I realized that it is important to spend time on yourself. It is important for your sanity and so that you don't forget what it is that you enjoy doing. This is why I am challenging you to do one thing for yourself every day this week. It can be something as small as taking a bath or asking your significant other to watch the baby while you go to the store. I would love for you to leave a comment about what you did this week for yourself to serve as an inspiration for other moms.

Free Starbucks

Starting today, Starbucks is offering a free Via Taste Challenge. Via is their new instant coffee. When you participate in their taste challenge you will also receive a coupon for a free tall brewed coffee. Click here for more information.

Saving for Your Child's Future

If you have a baby, it is time to start thinking about saving for their future! With rising living and college costs, it is never too early to start saving for your child's future. When my daughter was born, my husband and I set up a savings account for her and established a monthly transfer to automatically save. It is crazy how fast the money adds up. There are several different types of savings account for children. The one that is best for you depends on your situation and how much you can afford to save every month.

Here are some links to check out for more information on types of savings accounts:

http://www.babycenter.com/saving-for-college

http://www.savingforcollege.com/college_savings_101/

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/savings/3-ways-to-save-for-your-child-s-future-1.aspx

Leave a comment about how you save for your child's future.

ReUsies Giveaway

If your child takes their lunch to school everyday and you are tired of wasting plastic baggies, check out this giveaway for reusable sandwich and snack bags.