...and with it comes house work. We've lived in the house for just under a year now (since June 09), but I feel like we really haven't settled in. So, my goal these last few weeks has been to get pictures in frames (and on the walls), do some crafty projects, and get the kid's rooms organized. While talking to Alex about what theme he wanted his room to be-- it's currently a jungle theme that he's had since he was a baby, but he recently decided he doesn't like it-- he told me that he wants to share a room with his brother. While at first I was thinking "yeah, ok pal...", his consistent comments of wanting to share his room with Connor made me decide, why not- let's give it a try! We talked about themes a bit more after that revelation, and decided on soccer- a sport they both like, they'll both play into late childhood, if not longer, and a theme with loads of fun stuff to create for it :)
The room should be done by this weekend, and I'll post pictures when it's finished!
Also on the list of projects this week:
**Finish putting up the swingset
**Paint the boys' room
**Put together the boys' new beds
**Paint the upstairs (kid's) bathroom
**Hang frames going down the basement stairs
**Install the new dishwasher (HOORAY!)
Along with all the other normal stuff, like laundry, meals, and standard work/school/activity schedules. Add in my mom coming into town Friday, family portraits Saturday, and Mother's Day Sunday... it should be fun! We can pull it off easy, right?! Maybe in a week with 30 hour days ;) It's worth trying for anyhow...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Slacking off...
So, I've been in a crazy zone since the last post, oh, 3 months ago. We've had project after project (more to come on that!) and loads of work, kid stuff, house stuff, etc. to get done that I haven't had a minute to think, let alone write. So, the goal this summer would be to continue writing...even if no one's reading :)
Monday, February 1, 2010
Our big savings project!
When I think back to being a child in Toronto, a few memories stand out instantly. The first is playing hockey with my brother in the alley behind our home (yup, we're Canadian alright!). The second is the swingset my dad built that was in the yard in the first house I really remember. Man, that thing rocked- it had swings, ladders, a club house, a place to hide underneath, a slide...it was just awesome. My brother and I played with each other, with friends, had fun and got into trouble, all in that playset.
So, what does this have to do with this blog? Well, motivated by Kaley & Wes at Cha Ching on a Shoestring, we have decided to set a savings goal. We really, really want to give the boys a GREAT swingset as Alex's big gift for his 4th birthday. This may be short term, but it means so much to us- we want them to have the same memories to look back on. I'm sure we will find something longer term after this, but for right now, I'm so excited to be working toward this!
So, what does this have to do with this blog? Well, motivated by Kaley & Wes at Cha Ching on a Shoestring, we have decided to set a savings goal. We really, really want to give the boys a GREAT swingset as Alex's big gift for his 4th birthday. This may be short term, but it means so much to us- we want them to have the same memories to look back on. I'm sure we will find something longer term after this, but for right now, I'm so excited to be working toward this!
We're thinking of something like this, but with a rock wall to climb up as well. Is there something you loved about your childhood (or your kid's set that they love) that you think we should put on ours? Also, any websites that you found great prices from? I'd love any input!
A great week!
This week was a great week financially for us. Aside from the crazy good diaper deals (which saved us $50 over the next 3 months from having a diaper stockpile), I also won a $25 Visa gift card from the Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards Program! On top of that, the codes from the super cheap packs pushed us over the top of 300 points- the cost for a coupon for a free pack of.......Huggies! MORE DIAPERS! Just what we needed, haha!
I also put a few things on Craig's list, and EVERYTHING sold! I was shocked and excited. We got rid of our infant carseat (only has a year left before expiring), a Graco travel system stroller, a jogger stroller, and our Jumperoo (which our therapy team told us not to use for Connor, so it's been taking up a big space for the last 3 years!) Not only did we clear a nice big space in the garage, but we also added a nice chunk of change to the swingset fund (more info to follow).
It was a good week in other ways as well- I had a great time at different mom's group events, managed to squeeze in a nap twice, got my timesheets in on time, and got to spend some quiet time at home doing nothing but play with my sweet little guys. Connor started to run this week (oh jeez), and it's been a blast to watch his pure delight at his new skill. I'm looking forward to another positive, fun week. As a bonus, my dad came home from Australia today, and the boys were very excited for him to be here. He leaves again tomorrow, but we love having him while we can :)
I hope everyone else had a great week too!
I also put a few things on Craig's list, and EVERYTHING sold! I was shocked and excited. We got rid of our infant carseat (only has a year left before expiring), a Graco travel system stroller, a jogger stroller, and our Jumperoo (which our therapy team told us not to use for Connor, so it's been taking up a big space for the last 3 years!) Not only did we clear a nice big space in the garage, but we also added a nice chunk of change to the swingset fund (more info to follow).
It was a good week in other ways as well- I had a great time at different mom's group events, managed to squeeze in a nap twice, got my timesheets in on time, and got to spend some quiet time at home doing nothing but play with my sweet little guys. Connor started to run this week (oh jeez), and it's been a blast to watch his pure delight at his new skill. I'm looking forward to another positive, fun week. As a bonus, my dad came home from Australia today, and the boys were very excited for him to be here. He leaves again tomorrow, but we love having him while we can :)
I hope everyone else had a great week too!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Diapers GALORE!
Welcome to Coupon-a-holics Anonymous. My name is Danielle, and I am addicted to deals, "steals", and freebies. (Hi, Danielle).
It was a great week for baby stock up. Walgreens & Target are both running great promos, and CVS will start their Huggies deal on Sunday. My Target transaction was even better when the cashier accidentally scanned both of my $3 off coupons twice!! Now, don't yell at me for not telling- I didn't realize that the amount I paid in cash was the right price for the deal BEFORE I subtracted the gift card. However, considering the amount of money I provide Target with annually, I don't feel as bad as I did at first. So, here's what the deal SHOULD look like:
Promo: Buy 3 Packs of Huggies or Pampers jumpo packs of diapers at 8.99 each, get a $5 Gift Card
I bought:
2 Huggies & 1 Pampers (I'm not brand loyal, and that's just what fit the coupons I had): 26.97
- (2) $3 off Huggies MQ coupons
- (1) $2 Pampers MQ
- (2) $1.50 Huggies Target Q
- (1) $2 Pampers Target Q
- $5 Gift Card
For a total of $18 off. BUT, because the cashier scanned the coupons twice, I got ANOTHER $6 OFF! So my grand total, after GC, was 2.97 before taxes.
Then, I hit Walgreens. Their wipes are on sale for 2.50, with an in-store coupon of $1 off. Also, when you spend $25 on Huggies products, you get a $5 Register Reward. These I am loyal to, and so when I saw the $.75 off coupons on coupons.com, I went to the library, used 5 computers, and printed 10 (Yup, you can do that! It's 2 per computer, not 2 per person! :) So, here's what I did:
10 boxes Huggies wipes: 2.50 each: $25.00
- (10) $1 off Wags coupons
- (10) $.75 off MQ's
Total: $7.50, plus a $5 RR back. So 2.50 for 10 boxes of wipes, or $.25 each :) 90% off is a fair price for baby wipes, I guess....
When I go to CVS on Sunday, I'll be doing a slight variation of the previous deal (since I've now used my $3 off coupons).
2 Packs Huggies, $10 each. Filler items that are free after Q to hit $25.
-$5/$25 CVS coupon
-$5 in Q's for the $5 worth of stuff (I'll pick up a few J&J First Aid to Go, trial size Bandaids, etc that are $1, that I have $1 off Q's for)
- B1G1 Jumbo pack from Recycle Bank (subtracts $10)
- $2 MQ from coupons.com
- $5 ECB for Huggies deal
$25- $27 in Q's/ECB= $2 profit :)
So, when you total my diapers transactions for the week, that's .97 cents (2.97 @ Target -$2 profit) for 5 packs of diapers (180 diapers for size 3), or .005 per diaper- HALF A CENT PER DIAPER (Had the cashier not doubled the coupons, it would have been (6.97, or $.03 per- still a great deal). Wipes, I'll have paid $2.50 for 640, or .003 cents per wipe.
Now, you may think my son's closet looks nuts because I've filled it with diapers for the next few months, but it's not like they wont get used, and this price is incredibly rare. Good luck in your own hunt for diapers :)
Alien takeover in the Marshall house
So yesterday, Kym (our nanny) had the boys all day. I worked from home in the morning, and enjoyed watching the excellent way that she worked with Connor- she praised him at the right moments, played silly games with him, and laughed along with his "evil mastermind" chuckle that he does when he's really loving the moment. We've been so blessed to find such a wonderful person to help with our children.
I left the house just before 11, and Kym headed off with Connor to pick up Alex from school. When I came home at 5, I was very impressed to hear that she had gotten both kids to nap (Alex typically refuses to rest, though he always needs to), and it was obvious that she had spent the free time tidying the house, doing dishes, and picking up toys. Kym left shortly after, and we had a very rare relaxing family dinner.
Here's the "alien takeover" part. Not only did Alex eat his entire meal, he then thanked me for cooking such tasty food for "the family", put his plate in the sink, and asked for raisins for dessert. WHERE DID MY KID GO? About two months ago, Alex hit the "I'm three, and I'm in charge" stage of life, in which he drives me insane daily. It was such a welcome change to get my sweet boy back. I think I'll keep the alien version :)
I left the house just before 11, and Kym headed off with Connor to pick up Alex from school. When I came home at 5, I was very impressed to hear that she had gotten both kids to nap (Alex typically refuses to rest, though he always needs to), and it was obvious that she had spent the free time tidying the house, doing dishes, and picking up toys. Kym left shortly after, and we had a very rare relaxing family dinner.
Here's the "alien takeover" part. Not only did Alex eat his entire meal, he then thanked me for cooking such tasty food for "the family", put his plate in the sink, and asked for raisins for dessert. WHERE DID MY KID GO? About two months ago, Alex hit the "I'm three, and I'm in charge" stage of life, in which he drives me insane daily. It was such a welcome change to get my sweet boy back. I think I'll keep the alien version :)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
free diapers :)
Ok, so I'm back to rolling in happy happy coupon land. I've been feeling a little blah on the deals the last few weeks, but CVS always knows how to lure me back in. Starting 1/31, there's a great deal on diapers :)
Starting 1/31, CVS has a deal where you spend $20 on Huggies products and get $5 ECB. Well, through Recycle Bank/Kashless (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go HERE), you can use the 300 search points from Kashless to get a B1G1 Jumbo pack of Huggies, and use a $2 off from coupons.com, making it just $3 for 2 jumbo packs!! These coupons say they will come in 5-7 days, so you've got time before the 31st.
But, this deal gets better (is it even possible?!) If you have any of the $1 off Johnson & Johnson's first aid coupons from 1/3, you can pick up the first aid boxes for free. I also have a free box of Ziplocs coupon that I got from writing the company (this coupon came in just 2 days after writing, so again, there's still time :)- go HERE and send them an email about how Ziplocs make your life easier, and they'll just mail ya the free coupon!). I'll be using these free items to boost my total to $25, and then will use a 5/25 coupon that printed from the machine. So, the deal with those coupons works like this:
Buy:
2 Jumbo packs of Huggies (20.00)
1 box Ziplocs (3.99)
2 Johnson's 1st Aid Boxes (1.98)
Total: 25.96
Use:
(1) $5/$25
(1) B1G1 pack of Huggies (subtracts $10)
(1) $3 off coupon from Huggies mailer (or $2 off from coupons.com)
(1) Free box ziplocs (subtracts 3.99)
(2) $1 Johnson's 1st Aid
New total: $1.97, but you get $5 ECB back!!! A profit on diapers!!! :)
If you have questions, I can try to clarify this...it makes sense in my head, but I'm a bit more used to it. I'll be doing this deal twice, to make a profit of $6.06 on 4 packs of diapers!!!!!
Even if you don't have a little one in diapers, these do make incredible additions to gift baskets for expecting moms, so if you're coupon savvy or have a few minutes to make it work, even at just 1.50 per pack its a great deal. I'll be posting a few gift basket ideas shortly.
Starting 1/31, CVS has a deal where you spend $20 on Huggies products and get $5 ECB. Well, through Recycle Bank/Kashless (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go HERE), you can use the 300 search points from Kashless to get a B1G1 Jumbo pack of Huggies, and use a $2 off from coupons.com, making it just $3 for 2 jumbo packs!! These coupons say they will come in 5-7 days, so you've got time before the 31st.
But, this deal gets better (is it even possible?!) If you have any of the $1 off Johnson & Johnson's first aid coupons from 1/3, you can pick up the first aid boxes for free. I also have a free box of Ziplocs coupon that I got from writing the company (this coupon came in just 2 days after writing, so again, there's still time :)- go HERE and send them an email about how Ziplocs make your life easier, and they'll just mail ya the free coupon!). I'll be using these free items to boost my total to $25, and then will use a 5/25 coupon that printed from the machine. So, the deal with those coupons works like this:
Buy:
2 Jumbo packs of Huggies (20.00)
1 box Ziplocs (3.99)
2 Johnson's 1st Aid Boxes (1.98)
Total: 25.96
Use:
(1) $5/$25
(1) B1G1 pack of Huggies (subtracts $10)
(1) $3 off coupon from Huggies mailer (or $2 off from coupons.com)
(1) Free box ziplocs (subtracts 3.99)
(2) $1 Johnson's 1st Aid
New total: $1.97, but you get $5 ECB back!!! A profit on diapers!!! :)
If you have questions, I can try to clarify this...it makes sense in my head, but I'm a bit more used to it. I'll be doing this deal twice, to make a profit of $6.06 on 4 packs of diapers!!!!!
Even if you don't have a little one in diapers, these do make incredible additions to gift baskets for expecting moms, so if you're coupon savvy or have a few minutes to make it work, even at just 1.50 per pack its a great deal. I'll be posting a few gift basket ideas shortly.
Monday, January 11, 2010
A relaxing day...
Ahh, piece and quiet....heaven! Our new nanny started today, and the boys seem to love her. It was her first "official" day, where I wasn't just walking her through things but left her with the boys in the playroom and went upstairs to get things done. It was FABULOUS.
I got the upstairs hallway disaster completely clean. I'd have taken before/after pictures, but I didn't want anyone to see how bad it had gotten! We couldn't even walk across the hall...now it's empty and clean. Tomorrow I'll work on hanging some pictures on the walls.
I also got both kid's rooms cleaned (again). Last weekend, Patrick and I completely cleaned out the Connor's closet, and that major project had left Connor's room in an interesting state. But, I gathered up all the donation items, as well as the trash items, and took them into the basement/garage. I changed sheets, changed the changing table cover, washed the floor, and put away clean laundry- all in 15 minutes!! Normally, this would have taken me at least an hour with both the boys continuously interrupting. It was amazing :) I did the same things in Alex's room, so that looks great too! This coming weekend's project is the big bedroom, which will probably take all weekend- that I will do before/after pictures of, assuming I remember! I also got allll the laundry done (9 loads! After doing about 5 this weekend!), and everything is folded and put away. It feels great to get so much accomplished.
We spent the evening playing with the boys, and got to see Connor run across the kitchen- that's right, run! Considering he's only been taking steps since just before Christmas, that's spells trouble. But, it was adorable to see his look of absolute pleasure as he chased his brother and dad, so it's ok (for now, anyways!). I've always loved seeing the boys' faces when they learn something new, it's certainly one of my favorite aspects of parenting. Both kids went to bed super easy, allowing me even more relaxation.
All in all, it was an excellent day. Let's see what tomorrow brings, shall we?
I got the upstairs hallway disaster completely clean. I'd have taken before/after pictures, but I didn't want anyone to see how bad it had gotten! We couldn't even walk across the hall...now it's empty and clean. Tomorrow I'll work on hanging some pictures on the walls.
I also got both kid's rooms cleaned (again). Last weekend, Patrick and I completely cleaned out the Connor's closet, and that major project had left Connor's room in an interesting state. But, I gathered up all the donation items, as well as the trash items, and took them into the basement/garage. I changed sheets, changed the changing table cover, washed the floor, and put away clean laundry- all in 15 minutes!! Normally, this would have taken me at least an hour with both the boys continuously interrupting. It was amazing :) I did the same things in Alex's room, so that looks great too! This coming weekend's project is the big bedroom, which will probably take all weekend- that I will do before/after pictures of, assuming I remember! I also got allll the laundry done (9 loads! After doing about 5 this weekend!), and everything is folded and put away. It feels great to get so much accomplished.
We spent the evening playing with the boys, and got to see Connor run across the kitchen- that's right, run! Considering he's only been taking steps since just before Christmas, that's spells trouble. But, it was adorable to see his look of absolute pleasure as he chased his brother and dad, so it's ok (for now, anyways!). I've always loved seeing the boys' faces when they learn something new, it's certainly one of my favorite aspects of parenting. Both kids went to bed super easy, allowing me even more relaxation.
All in all, it was an excellent day. Let's see what tomorrow brings, shall we?
Friday, January 8, 2010
Everybody's Doing It!
Well, everyone's doing the blog thing, so why not? I've always been someone who enjoys writing and have kept a journal frequently over the years, so I guess it's time to bring it into the digital age. As family and friends leave the Illinois area, it will be a way to keep up with everyone at a distance. Though these days, my life is filled with plenty to do, I'll post when I can and hope to keep up with it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
