Okay, here goes on my first thrifty thursday post. I thought I would keep it short and simple for this first post and get into it more detail in the coming weeks. But I think this is a major foundation of bargain shopping.
My number one tip for bargain shopping is not to be picky about the brand. You can always get shampoo, soap, body wash, toothpaste, etc for free or less than .25 cents. (I'll get into how later) It doesn't mean you get junk stuff, the shampoo's I got for free a few weeks ago were regular price $4.99 and I've also gotten several organic shampoos for free lately. Store brand foods are typically just the same as the pricey brands, they just don't pay for advertising like the expensive brands so they can charge less. We do splurge on occasional things like soda, we like Jones or Hansens so the rare times that we do buy soda we buy the good stuff. And I can justify spending more because we save so much in other areas.
Or if you are going to be picky about brands then when the brand you like goes on sale stock up majorly so it will last you until it goes on sale again. :)
Next week I'm going to talk about coupons. I love coupons. :)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
bathtime
If I had to guess what he was thinking here I'd guess, "Mom...seriously, you're bringing the camera into the bathtub now, do I have no privacy?"
Everyone drinks bathwater right?
Maybe if I smile she'll stop taking my picture?
One other thing:
I'm having problems with my cellphone. It isn't ringing and it isn't showing any missed calls. It may be fixed now, I was able to call out, but I'm not sure if anyone can call in. (Justin was trying to call me yesterday and it wouldn't ring, or else I never would have known there was a problem) So if you can't get a hold of me that is why. Sorry, I really don't know what to do about this stupid cell phone. Justin should be getting a new phone in the next couple of weeks and I'll be getting his old iphone (just what I need right?) so I will have voicemail that works and better consistency with it. (hopefully...I seem to have really bad luck with cell phones.) Then I'll just have to figure out all the other fancy stuff I can do on it!
Everyone drinks bathwater right?
Maybe if I smile she'll stop taking my picture?
One other thing:
I'm having problems with my cellphone. It isn't ringing and it isn't showing any missed calls. It may be fixed now, I was able to call out, but I'm not sure if anyone can call in. (Justin was trying to call me yesterday and it wouldn't ring, or else I never would have known there was a problem) So if you can't get a hold of me that is why. Sorry, I really don't know what to do about this stupid cell phone. Justin should be getting a new phone in the next couple of weeks and I'll be getting his old iphone (just what I need right?) so I will have voicemail that works and better consistency with it. (hopefully...I seem to have really bad luck with cell phones.) Then I'll just have to figure out all the other fancy stuff I can do on it!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
what do you think about...
thrify thursdays???
Some people have commented about my bargain shopping. I was thinking about doing a short blog each Thursday on something that helps me when I am shopping. I am definitely not an expert on it, but I love doing it and I love talking about it, and would love to share what I have learned with you guys. Let me know opinions. :)
Some people have commented about my bargain shopping. I was thinking about doing a short blog each Thursday on something that helps me when I am shopping. I am definitely not an expert on it, but I love doing it and I love talking about it, and would love to share what I have learned with you guys. Let me know opinions. :)
the boys
I have been meaning to get a video of Cohen crawling, so here it finally is. Although I think Judah kinda steals the attention with his craziness in the background! Judah wanted to say hi too, so you all are lucky you get to watch videos of both of my boys today!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
big little man
Our littlest man can pull himself up to a stand now. It's so crazy to me!
(don't mind the missing couch cushion, we are using it as padding for Judah in case he falls out of bed!)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
bargains, bargains
Old Navy's clearance just got marked down an extra 50% off, making it at least 75% off regular price. I heard about the sale last night and found out that only certain stores were having it. Olympia was not one of them, but Tukwila was...and we had planned on going to Ikea today. Perfect!
If you remember my post about the sale in December, this sale was very similar to that one.
My main goal was to stock up on summer clothes for the boys for next year. I think we did pretty good.
First my totals. :)
Regular price would have been:
$341.49 before tax, with tax $372.23
We paid:
$76.00 before tax, with tax $82.84
Pretty good bargain. :)
Here's the breakdown of what we got:
(the boys)
3 swim shorts
2 shorts
2 sweat pant shorts
8 dress shirts (button up and polo's)
1 tank top
(me)
1 pair of jeans
2 polo shirts
1 beach bag
(justin)
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of shorts
1 short sleve dress shirt
The other day I got all this stuff for $4-something (actually she messed up one of my coupons...but that is what it should have been!) It should have been over $50 for all of it without coupons.
And today Target paid me .50 cents to take home 2 boxes of electrasol!
Some pretty good bargains lately.
...but let me reassure you Ikea was NOT a bargain!
We got Judah this big boy bed for his birthday.
It also flips over to be a bunk bed for when Cohen moves in with him. I liked this one a lot because it is a twin size bed not a toddler bed, and the top bunk is really low when it is flipped into a bunk bed. It's only like 2 or 3 feet off the ground, so I won't have to worry as much about one of them falling off the top bunk. It also has a fun tent that came with it, which will help with the falling out of bed problem!
I'm excited to get it set up and see how he likes it. I'm hoping the transition to a big boy bed goes well. I've thought about keeping him in a crib longer because he is perfectly happy there, but I think he will absolutely love being in a bed.
We got a bunch of other stuff at Ikea, including stuff for the boy's craft area. I'll post pictures of it after we are done with it.
If you remember my post about the sale in December, this sale was very similar to that one.
My main goal was to stock up on summer clothes for the boys for next year. I think we did pretty good.
First my totals. :)
Regular price would have been:
$341.49 before tax, with tax $372.23
We paid:
$76.00 before tax, with tax $82.84
Pretty good bargain. :)
Here's the breakdown of what we got:
(the boys)
3 swim shorts
2 shorts
2 sweat pant shorts
8 dress shirts (button up and polo's)
1 tank top
(me)
1 pair of jeans
2 polo shirts
1 beach bag
(justin)
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of shorts
1 short sleve dress shirt
The other day I got all this stuff for $4-something (actually she messed up one of my coupons...but that is what it should have been!) It should have been over $50 for all of it without coupons.
And today Target paid me .50 cents to take home 2 boxes of electrasol!
Some pretty good bargains lately.
...but let me reassure you Ikea was NOT a bargain!
We got Judah this big boy bed for his birthday.
It also flips over to be a bunk bed for when Cohen moves in with him. I liked this one a lot because it is a twin size bed not a toddler bed, and the top bunk is really low when it is flipped into a bunk bed. It's only like 2 or 3 feet off the ground, so I won't have to worry as much about one of them falling off the top bunk. It also has a fun tent that came with it, which will help with the falling out of bed problem!
I'm excited to get it set up and see how he likes it. I'm hoping the transition to a big boy bed goes well. I've thought about keeping him in a crib longer because he is perfectly happy there, but I think he will absolutely love being in a bed.
We got a bunch of other stuff at Ikea, including stuff for the boy's craft area. I'll post pictures of it after we are done with it.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
choo-choo part 2
I posted more pictures from the train ride on my flickr.
The train we rode was a steam engine at Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. I "think" Judah liked it. (We were mostly going for him. For those of you that don't know him, he LOVES trains.) He was pretty concerned about the whistle, he clung to me and cried a little every time. The most cuddles I've gotten for a long time. Then he fell asleep for awhile. Too much excitement maybe?
We started out with the engine at the back of the train pushing us (you can see that in the pictures). Judah enjoyed looking at the "train"...I'm not sure he understood that we were on the train. Part way through they switched the engine around to the front and it was like a normal train.
I liked feeling and watching the train start up from a stop. It had to work so hard and was puffing a lot. You could really feel it gain it's power and start moving. I like trains though...
So, I really enjoyed it. Cohen enjoyed it. I think Justin enjoyed it. And Judah enjoyed most of it. Not the whistle, and not when he we made him climb in the engine to get his picture taken!
The train we rode was a steam engine at Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. I "think" Judah liked it. (We were mostly going for him. For those of you that don't know him, he LOVES trains.) He was pretty concerned about the whistle, he clung to me and cried a little every time. The most cuddles I've gotten for a long time. Then he fell asleep for awhile. Too much excitement maybe?
We started out with the engine at the back of the train pushing us (you can see that in the pictures). Judah enjoyed looking at the "train"...I'm not sure he understood that we were on the train. Part way through they switched the engine around to the front and it was like a normal train.
I liked feeling and watching the train start up from a stop. It had to work so hard and was puffing a lot. You could really feel it gain it's power and start moving. I like trains though...
So, I really enjoyed it. Cohen enjoyed it. I think Justin enjoyed it. And Judah enjoyed most of it. Not the whistle, and not when he we made him climb in the engine to get his picture taken!
choo-choo
The boys went on their first train ride today. I'll post more pictures in the next few days, they need some editing, but I wanted to at least show you what happened 15 minutes into our ride!
Friday, July 4, 2008
fireworks
Grandma Cindy sent us some cool 4th of July baby legs, so Judah is wearing those this morning with his big boy undies.
They didn't like the tanks or the fountain. I think the noise was the problem. Notice the tears on Justin's arm from Cohen!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
watering
His new favorite job.
(He is missing his pants because he took his diaper off after his nap and then pooped in his crib. He got shooed outside to help Justin while I cleaned up his mess. Funny this time...everyone needs a poop story, right? But I think the bare bum is what makes the picture so cute.)
petting zoo
On the way back from Lake Chelan we stopped at a fruit stand that had a petting zoo at it. Judah wasn't to sure about the animals, I thought he would love it.
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