Brooke Blogs This

School is just about out, and if you are like me, you are starting to wonder just what you are going to do to keep the kids entertained, on a budget. Kids Bowl Free is a wonderful program (that requires you to sign up) where kids get 2 free games of bowling, every day this summer. Regal Cinemas are showing "G" and "PG" rated movies for $1 every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10 AM all summer long. This is especially appealing if you have a little one and your not quite sure they will make it through a whole movie. Speaking of movies, check with you local parks department, many around here host movies in the park at least once a month May through September. Also see what is going on at your library, besides weekly story time, they usually offer other programs as well such as puppets, magicians and reading programs where your reader can possibly score freebies (movie tickets, free pizza, free books, etc) for reading a book a week. Don't waste your money going to a ma...

Well, February did not have the wonderful results that January did. However, I still got some pretty amazing coupons. Pledge (S C Johnson Company) sent a coupon for a free Pledge product ($4.00 value) I wrote 3 Con Agra companies: Chefboyardee sent a $.50 coupon Manwich also sent a $.50 coupon Banquet Homestyle Bakes also sent a $.50 coupon. Mt. Olive Pickles sent a $.75 coupon in response to my compliment and another $.75 coupon for signing up for their news letter. Tyson sent 3 $1.00 coupons good off any Tyson product. Blixtex sent 3 $.25 coupons. Kellog's Pop Tarts is supposed to be sending coupons for signing up with them, however, I have not received any as of yet. My other companies that were a bust this month inculde: General Mills Progresso Hamburger Helper Trix Coty Sally Henson N.Y.C. Color Other Pepsi/Starbucks Wrights Baccon (Tyson) Mahatma Rice (Riviana) Wishbone Salad Dressing (Unilever) Scotch Bright (3M) Sun Drop (Prescot Bottling) Tostitos (Frito Lay) Old S...

Halloween is fast approaching, and it is stressing me out. For one thing, the town where I live has decided to do trick or treating the day before Halloween, but we don't normally trick or treat in our community. Does this mean I have to buy candy (which I haven't budgeted for) since we may actually be home on Halloween? Possibly MORE pressing is the fact that I haven't bought my daughters costume yet. Costumes are so expensive these days, for something a child only wears once (maybe, MAYBE, twice). Last year I bought her costume from CostumeSuperCenter.com and I was very pleased. I managed to find the costume at a reduced price, and was very pleased with their customer service and return policy, even though I did not need it. They have a clearance link on their website, with TONS of costumes at really low prices, including the exact costume my daughter wore for only $10! If you actually spend over $60 on their site, you can get free shipping through Sunday with cou...

My current obsession is coupons, therefor I will probably blog about them regularly. This post will be more of a list of where to get coupons (besides the Sunday paper) and where to not waste your time and energy. Great Places to pick up printable coupons! Coupons.com is possibly the best known place to pick up printable coupons. They have coupons for everything, and from what I can tell, the coupons are very similar to the ones you find in your Sunday paper. However, to print the coupons you have to download some kind of software. Since I do not have a printer at home and have to use public ones, I can't and therefor cannot print these. Check out Purity Lovers for great coupons on Purity products. They change their coupons monthly, but currently you can get coupons for $1 off a gallon of milk and $1 off sour cream and more. Their coupons are in adobe, so no software to download (assuming you already have the reader) At Wish Bone you can print a $.50 coupon off salad dressing. I...

Me and Jeremy have spent the last few weeks cleaning out the kids rooms to make room for the inevitable Christmas toy mountain. We do not want anything for these items, except to get them out of our house. If you or someone you know could use them, please let me know and I will try and arrange to get it to you or for you to pick up. Here are the items I can remember: *Playpen (neutral colors)-it is a playpen only but is in good condition, would be excellent at a grandparents house so you do not have to haul yours back and forth. *Size 4 infant brown suede Mary Jane type shoes (brand new) *Baby Einstein DVDs and a Fisher Price DVD that is basically the same thing *a dog toy that you pull behind you and it barks *a "tv" that you wind up and it plays music and pictures scroll by *Stuffed animals and baby dolls. *Twister (the game) *Tinker Toys *Marvel matching game *Pirates of the Carribean bath paints (never opened) *Pirates of the Carribean poster size coloring book (only on...