Tightening the Belt

We are all very aware that the economy is not what it use to be. If you are not one of the fortunate employees of AIG that just got a great big bonus, then you are probably looking for ways to save a few bucks. I have a few tricks that I have been using with some success and thought they would be worthwhile to share. Please feel free to comment below and pass along some of your favorite penny pincher's too!
1. www.thegrocerygame.com - Shout out to Shayla for this great website find! You can sign up free for 8 weeks and customize the grocery stores that you want specials from. Every week, you get "the list" of the coming week's specials, it tells you what coupon to use to save even more, and when the price is so low that you need to stock up. You will have to build a coupon base by spending about 10 minutes a week pulling out the coupons from the Sunday paper. Consider this the perfect excuse to get your husband to keep the kids out of your hair, after all, you are saving money and he loves that! I save about 20% a week, but I sort of half ass it. My friend saves about 40% a week on average.
2. Frozen Juice-for those of you with little ones, you probably buy somewhere in the neighborhood of a gazillion juice boxes a year. My trick is to get the concentrated frozen juice, add much more water then it calls for to deplete the sugar, and keep it in a pitcher in the fridge. It is much cheaper than the alternative and makes me feel like I'm not creating a sugar guzzling monster since there is more water than juice.
3. Rotisserie Chicken-Walmart sells these babies in the deli. They make them all day, so you can usually find one that came out in the last hour. They are around $5 or so. This doubles as a time and money saver for me. I get home and pull all the meat off. I put half in one container to freeze for the next time I want to make chicken enchiladas or chicken soup and use half for some sort of pasta. I have two dinners done for $5! What a bargain! Now, occasionally I could find a chicken on special that might be less, but then I have to roast it myself. I'm waiting for the soup lines to start before I go to that extreme.
4. Diapers-Lord help you if you have 2 or more kids in diapers in this economy. With Luke, I just blindly paid $27 a box for the brand names. Now, I know better. Consumer Reports did an issue on diapers last year and compared Pampers, Huggies, White Cloud (Walmart's store brand) and Target's store brand. They found them all to be the same!!!! The only thing that isn't the same is the price...store brands are cheaper by about $13 a box. I love the Target brand. It works great and we have almost no blowouts. When you stop and think about what happens in these things, you realize to pay more for a brand is crazy.
5. End of Season Sales-Clothes are dirt cheap at the end of the season, so it's a good time to score some major deals. Buy only what you think might still look good next time that season rolls around (Put down the bubble dress, sister. It will be a distant memory next year.). For kids, you can really, really rake in some cute clothes on the cheap. I always buy a size or two up at the end of season for the next year. Let's say you get a whole summer wardrobe and junior had a growth spurt and now his new clothes are way small. Leave the tags on!!!!!! Some stores will give you store credit if you return, but you might actually make money by putting them on Craig's list. If the tags are on, people will pay more for them. Scratch off the $1.99 sticker and they feel really good about paying $4 for something that they think you paid $8 for. Online shoppers, don't forget about http://www.retailmenot.com/! You can always find some sort of coupon to save you even more dinero on the sale stuff!
6.Library-Huh? Let me say that again...lib-rar-y. I read everything that I can get my hands on, so this one might be self-indulgent, but if I would have gotten a library card in my twenties, I would be a wealthy women right now. Well, maybe not right now with the way the market is performing, but you get my drift. I have spent thousands of dollars on books in my life. The library has every one of them for free. I love to get the kids books there to, of course. Mix in free dvd and cd rentals and you can cut out some of your entertainment budget. Most libraries let you reserve new releases, which makes it great for movie night.
This is my two cents on how to save two cents. Again, if you have any tips, please add them below in the comment area. It takes a village to save some money. I'm glad my village is filled with smart ladies like you. Momma happy.

A poor man's Central Market

If there is anyone out there that knows me and hasn't heard me rave about Sprouts, then this one is for you. I love going to Central Market. It makes me feel like a grown up to stroll the endless aisles of organic, herb-infused, yumminess. What I don't like is that I can only buy 4 things before my grocery budget is shot. Enter Sprouts. I say it is a poor man's Central Market, but this is not reflective of the quality, just the prices. This store is my new best friend. I LOVE IT!!!!! I can take $40 and buy a week's worth of fresh, locally grown veggies, fruits and meats with enough left over to sneak in some bulk chocolate covered almonds. You think I'm kidding? Go to www.sprouts.com and look at the online circular. Rump roast for $1.99/lb, organic apples $.77/lb, 1 lb. packages of strawberries 2 for $3 (and I thought that this was an off week)! Madness!!! They also process all their meat in store, hand stuff all the brats and sausages, and still have better deals then the regular grocery store. Oh, I hear you naysayers out there..."Good for you, Leah, but I don't live in Dallas. Enjoy your organic feasting Miss Dallas Fancy Grocery Girl." Good news. This company is spreading like a Texas wild fire. They currently have stores in CA, CO, AZ and TX. Look at the website and see how many COMING SOON!'s there are. Tons. Fresh food that doesn't wreck my budget? What's not to love? Momma happy.

BUDGET LIVING: I always go on Wednesdays. This is double ad day where you get the next week's sales and the last week's sales. It's the highlight of my week.

I hate it when that happens...fat baby legs

Does this sound familiar to you moms out there? You are dreaming about Hugh Jackman rubbing sun screen on your back. You look at him, and he smiles and then, for some inexplicable reason, he starts to cry. Not a normal cry, but one that sounds a lot like your 8 month old. Just as you are beginning to think that Hugh is not so sexy with his face all wrinkled up like that, you wake up and realize that it IS your 8 month old. You begrudgingly go in to check on the little darling to make sure that there isn't a fever or a snake or a bigfoot in the room (I just got back from camping, can you tell?) and, once again, little miss fat thighs has gotten herself stuck. Now, maybe I am the only mom in the whole world whose children have fat enough thighs to be stuck in the crib slats, but this a regular occurrence with the Nieman babies as soon as they are old enough for me to take out the bumper. It's like their little legs just can't wait to explore the great world outside of the crib and they wait until the little one falls asleep and try to sneak out on their own. Normally, I just go in, put the leg back in it's place, and try to resume my beach romp, where I am cellulite free, with Hugh. The problem is that after several nights in a row of the rude awakening, I was done. I found a great solution to the fat baby leg dilemma-Breathable Baby crib bumper. http://www.breathablebaby.com/. It's thin enough that the baby that is just learning to pull up can't use it as a step ladder to pitch themselves out of the crib, but the netting prevents any limbs from getting stuck. I would really recommend it to anyone that uses a bumper, as now "they" say that the quilted ones pose a risk of suffocation to an infant. One thing to warn you about, it comes in two pieces. You can either follow the directions on the packaging and have it in two pieces or, you can reverse them and Velcro them together for one seamless piece of sleep security. That's what I did, since our babies legs have a mind of their own and would find the one corner that is open. Now that Kara is 10 months, I am happy to report that we have not had any more stuck legs. My dreams are once again uninterrupted and Hugh has agreed never to make that wrinkled up baby cry face again. Momma happy.

From a Whisper to a Scream And Back Again

WARNING: This is for moms or soon to be moms. If you are not even remotely considering living with a screaming baby 24-7, then only read this if you need a really good idea for a baby shower gift. Now, for those of you that are still reading, allow me to paint you a picture. You are pregnant for the first time. Before the pee is even dry on your pregnancy test, you are at Barnes & Noble buying "What To Expect When You Are Expecting". You read this book, chapter by chapter, skipping ahead to see what fruit or vegetable size your baby is going to be next month. By the end of your pregnancy, you are not impressed with this information anymore as you KNOW that you have a full blown watermelon in your womb with out having to read it. Then the baby comes. What now? Why did I spend so much stupid time on that stupid book with the stupid food comparisons? I have the answer to your cry for help. Two words. Baby Whisperer. More specifically, "The Baby Whisperer Solves All You Problems" by Tracy Hogg. Now we are moms with real, living breathing little humans in our house. Now we know to get our books at Half Price Books because diapers and formula are much more important than a coffee shop in our bookstore. This book is right under my Bible on my nightstand and I'm not even kidding. I found this little gem before I had Luke. It basically walks you through everything you need to know about babies and toddlers. She tells you how to get them on an established routine, when to feed, when to sleep, when and how to start potty training, how to cut short a tantrum, and the list goes on. She breaks down the type of personality that your baby has and tells you how to adjust for it. This book is the reason that both of my kids were sleeping through the night at 2-3 months. I'm not bragging, here. It's nothing that you couldn't do if you read the book and followed her plan. I cannot recommend this book enough. I have literally referenced this book at least once a month (usually much more frequently) for the last two and a half years. I'm still working on the potty training/tantrum tactics, but time will tell. If you are looking for a good, comprehensive, and common sense way to help you get more sleep with screaming newborns and to help you keep your toddler from having total demon-possessed melt downs in Target, this book might be your new best friend. Momma happy.

www.ihategreenbeans.com

The Bachelor. So much twitter about The Bachelor this season. Well...all of us Bachelor warriors, those of us that have been there from the beginning with creepy whats-his-name to goobery Charlie and now to whiney-hiney Jason, know that this is just par for the course. Every once in a while, ABC likes to totally screw up one of the contestant's lives so that they can eek out a little more hoopla by casting the next Bachelor/Bachelorette from the previous one's reject pile. For those of you that don't know about the recap blog, you MUST check out www.ihategreenbeans.com. Now, I'm from East Texas. I love me an East Texas girl that can call it like she sees it. Lincee is that girl. I have been following her blog since before blog was a real word...back when you had to be on some one's email list to get it (thank you Amanda). She is the biggest single reason that I still watch this train wreck every season. If you are new to her site, you must go back and view the recaps. They are priceless. You will laugh off at least 2 lbs. if you watched the season and know what she is talking about. If you didn't watch this season, you should at least read the latest blog, because unless you have been struck deaf and blind by God in the last few days, you have heard and seen enough about the show's finale to appreciate her comments. I can't wait until May when it's hot tubs and dry humping all over again. Knowing that I have a good, old fashioned, belly laugh waiting for me every Tuesday evening makes it worth the self-loathing I feel for the addiction. Momma happy.

Thank Goodness for Infomercials

I'm sure that we have all been there. It's 2:07 in the morning and you have just woken up to go pee. You think, "I'll be able to go right back to sleep" and then after what seems like 8 hours of tossing and turning you look at the clock again. 4:23. In the AM! Crap. So, out of bed we tromp to flip on the TV. Nothing is on before 5:00 except for infomercials. It's now 4:30 and a promising one has just started. It's the bareMinerals one. Yeah! I love to watch all those faces go from splotchy to perfectly made up with just a few strokes of the Handi Buki brush. Three or four years ago, I got caught up in the bareMinerals craze. I guess I was just on the right sleepless night at the right infomercial time. Since then, I have been a loyal follower. There isn't a whole lot that I can say about this product that has not been covered on the infomercial. I'll just add that the product is just about as good as they say it is. I say "just about" because it is suppose to minimize lines, and I have not found that to be the case. Of course, it could be that my lines are beyond minimizing. Also, I find it to be a great little zit zapper. Just dab a little of the foundation on your little face friend and it dries it up pretty fast. The other thing I would mention is that, while the mineral veil seems like a nothing deal, it really makes a difference with how smooth your makeup looks. After two kids and several sleepless nights, I need all the help I can get. Momma happy.

BUDGET LIVING: If you are looking to buy this makeup and want to get the most value for your buck, here is how you do it. Subscribe to the club at www.bareminerals.com and get the makeup, brushes and mineral veil. The brushes alone would cost you over $100 and they are definitely worth it. Once you figure out your shade and/or get tired of paying $60 every other month for the tiny jars, cancel and go buy it at the store. Ulta, Sephora and the bareMinerals store all charge about the same, around $25. And it's the big jar.

Snug as a Bug in a Womb

I'm a BIG believer in swaddling. When I see a baby asleep in a crib with arms and legs just left out to flop, my fingers itch to wrap that baby up in a snug little bundle. Both of my kids were swaddled until they started kicking out of it (about 4 months). Swaddling is a fairly new rebirth, if you will, of a very ancient tradition. As a matter of fact, America is just about the only country that hasn't done this for the last few hundred years. I have a couple of reasons why I love the swaddle. One, it makes the babies feel secure. If you were cruising the first 9 months of your life in a warm, cozy, nicely upholstered ride like a uterus and then you are yanked out into the cold, big space of your new life, you would feel pretty freaked out. Swaddling allows the baby to feel warm and cozy again. They like the straight jacket, it feels like home. For my second reason, a little visualization is needed. Have you ever seen a lizard lose it's tail? Here's Mr. Lizard and all of a sudden, he gets startled and, whoa, "Hey, man. Where did my tail go?" Then he looks behind him and sees it flopping around all by itself. You know that has to be a bad day for the lizard. Well, babies are sort of the same. They have about as much control over their arms and legs as Mr. Lizard has over his tail flopping around. So, when they sleep, their little arms can flail and flap around, hitting them in the face and waking them up from an otherwise peaceful sleep. So, if you are a new mom, or about to be one, be kind and swaddle that baby. My mom makes the best swaddle blanket for cold weather babies, but I have to say Aden + Anias is my very favorite for summer swaddling. They are Australian mom's that couldn't find the same kind of swaddle blanket in the States that they had back home in Australia. Check them out at http://www.adenandanias.com/. I found these gauzy blankets after the birth of my second child and really regretted not having them for the first. They are breathable enough that the baby won't get sweaty head, but are substantial enough, especially folded in half, to keep them warm. They are huge blankets, too, which will help with a growing baby. As matter of fact, these are also pretty good multi-taskers (you know how I love multi-taskers)! I still use mine for throwing over a car seat if Kara is asleep, throwing over the stroller to keep the sun out or her eyes, and on the ground for outdoor play time. They are thin enough to fold into almost nothing in your diaper bag and come in the cutest designs. If you are about to have a baby, or know someone who is, these will be well used and well appreciated. Momma happy.

LOCATION ALERT: If you live in the Dallas area and just have to have one of these right now, there is a store in Richardson called Peppermint that carries these blankets. See http://www.peppermint.com/ for directions.