Become a fan of iTunes on Facebook and receive 20 free songs by indie artists. I’ll be honest and tell you that most of the music was not my style (including one rap song that freely used the n-word over and over and over again, so be careful before listening in front of your kids) but there were several that I liked and a couple of new songs I hadn’t heard before from artists I already like. I’m all about the indie music AND the free, so I’m a happy girl tonight!
Archive for the ‘Free Stuff’ Category
Thrifty Thursday — Coupon Stacking
20
Aug
Last month I was invited to a “coupon party” where someone taught me how to save a lot of money by using coupons. Initially I was skeptical…I thought it was a waste of time, that I couldn’t find coupons for the things I use, that I saved more money using generic, etc. Now I feel compelled to share what I learned because it’s already saved me a ton of money! Bear in mind that I am a newbie at this, so I’m still learning myself. Hopefully this info will be useful to someone else.
On Monday afternoon, I went to the Lowe’s Foods here in Sanford and got:
- 4 single serve packs of Whitehouse applesauce. That’s 24 applesauce cups total.
- 4 cans of Chef Boyardee canned pasta.
- 2 boxes of Uncrustables. That is 8 sandwiches total.
- 1 box of Snyder’s pretzel snack packs. That’s 10 small bags of pretzels.
Do you know how much that would cost without coupons or sale prices? At Lowe’s, these items would come to a total of $23.17, without tax. I paid $6.61, plus tax. That’s a savings of almost 78%.
So how did I do it? For all of these items, I had both a Lowe’s store coupon that saved me some money off of the regular price, some giving me a discount even on the sale price. And then I had manufacturer’s coupons on top of that. This is called coupon stacking. Usually (not always…check with the store) a store that puts out it’s own coupons will let you “stack” manufacturer’s coupons on top of theirs, allowing you to save big.
Take for example the Uncrustables, normally $3.09 per 
box. The Lowe’s coupon made them $2.00 each. I also had a coupon that allowed me to save 75¢ per box. Because Lowe’s doubles manufacturer’s coupons up to 99¢, this saved me $1.50 per package.
So the final breakdown is:
- $3.09 each (or about 77¢ per sandwich)
- minus $1.09 for store coupon = $2 each
- minus $1.50 for manufacturer coupon = 50¢ total for each box (or about 12.5¢ per sandwich)
If I’ve done my math correctly, that is an 84% savings on that item alone. And yes, this is an item I will use. They’re great for days when we’re running behind and can’t take time to put lunch together. Normally I can’t afford them, but with coupon stacking I can buy a few boxes to keep for those rough mornings!
Fun Stuff Friday — BCC
14
Aug
You’ve read gushing about my church before. Starting this Sunday, they’ll be giving away $50 Walmart gift cards to 50 families visiting for the first time. So if you’re looking for something non-traditional, filled with Christ-followers (don’t call us Christians!), 
and LOTS of fun, BCC may be just what you want.
The series starting Sunday is going to be a lot of fun…Finding God in your iPod. I am personally not a contemporary Christian music girl, so hearing Nickelback, Jack’s Mannequin, Kings of Leon and more linked to my faith really appeal to me…it’s a good reminder that God is everywhere, that we don’t need to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world to find Him.
You can find Brickcity Community Church on Burns Drive, near the intersection of Burns and Hawkins, right across from the Coca Cola plant. Services are at 9:30 and 11:00 Sunday mornings and you can come as you are…jeans and t-shirts are perfectly acceptable! We have a coffee bar in the lobby where you can order your favorite coffee drink or a yummy smoothie. The kid’s programs are a ton of fun and even my very attached children go willingly into their rooms each Sunday. Every time we get on the road that takes us to the church my 3 year old gets all excited and asks if it’s Sunday…I hate having to tell him it’s not because he gets so sad!
And if you think I’m slightly crazy or weird for saying church is fun, trust me…I was there a year ago. I thought anyone who enjoyed church was slightly strange. Apparently it’s just a matter of finding the right one. For us, that was BCC.
The Museum of Natural Sciences
27
Mar
Since intersession is almost over and we’d done practically none of the educational things I’d had big dreams of doing, we got our butts in gear yesterday and headed to Raleigh for a day at the museum. We chose the Museum of Natural Sciences because it sounded the most interesting for a 6 year old. Admission is free, so except for the gas we burned on the trip and the $4 parking fee (oh, and the coffee I had to buy to stave off a caffeine headache) it was free family fun! We left Sanford after an early lunch at home and were able to see the entire museum and make it home for dinner.
I don’t have the energy to write a full review, but some of the highlights were:
- The 5 whale skeletons. It gives you an amazing perspective of the true size of these animals!
- A giant ground sloth skeleton. I never really thought much about them, but assumed they weren’t much bigger than a sloth you’d see today. So very wrong on this one! They were HUGE!
- Various dinosaur bones and skeletons. My kids love dinosaurs, so they really enjoyed these.
- The “Meet the Animals” show where they brought out real snakes for the kids to see and touch, as well as explaining why we shouldn’t be scared of them. (That didn’t stop me from nearly having a panic attack when he pulled out the first snake, though!)
- Seeing many venomous and non-venomous snakes behind glass, so they’re a bit easier to identify out in the real world. The only venomous snake that’s common in Lee County is the copperhead, by the way. And now that I know what one looks like, maybe I won’t freak out if another benign snake gets in my house!
- The giant *live* cockroaches. We frequently saw palmetto bugs (which is a nice name for giant, ugly roach) when we lived in SC and those things terrified me, but they’ve got nothing on the ones we saw yesterday!
- The Discovery Room where the kids could play and touch everything. They really enjoyed that.
- The Living Conservatory, which houses butterflies and other living things.
We thought it was a great little trip and both of the boys enjoyed it. I’m not sure they learned much, but it was a lot of fun and certainly more educational than sitting around and watching TV, which is what was the most likely thing to happen since it rained pretty much all day. Worth the drive, for sure!
Need to feel like a winner?
20
Nov
I have been desperately searching for inexpensive baby leg warmers for my 2 year old. These are very popular with those “trendy” moms out there and several people recommended I get a couple of pairs to help with the potty training. Once I got the concept, it made total sense. It’s too cold in our house for him to walk around pantsless so he needs some sort of covering, but it’s so much easier if he doesn’t have pants on to teach him to potty. See the dilemma?
So these little leg warmers cover him up, but keep the pertinent potty parts much more accessible. But it’s hard to find them for boys at a reasonable price. I’m sorry, I can’t afford to pay $10+ a pair right now! Then someone directed me to babySNAZZ where I found some on sale and got a couple of pairs at a *very* good price. And then I saw that they are also running a contest to award 20 pairs of these things! I could get more for him to wear while he potty learns, as well as some for Violet to keep her warm in what I fear will be a very rough winter and later protect herr little legs while she learns to crawl. Serriously, these things are very cool.
So I entered the contest and want to share the link here. Not only because it’s a good contest, but because I also get bonus entries for posting it. So if you win after finding it here, I’d love a couple of pairs for my little ones. 
http://www.babysnazz.com/contest/
