Brooke Blogs This

Getting Shiloh out at daycare this morning: Shiloh points to the vehicle next to us and says: "I am gonna buy that truck." Me: "You like that truck?" Shiloh: "Yeah." Me: "Why do you like that truck?" Shiloh: "It goes vroom vroom like a motorcylce!" Me: "Oh, you like motorcylces too?" Shiloh vigurously nods her head. =)

When I go so long with out writing, it's hard to know exactly what to write about. Hopefully, one day, I'll be able to post as often as I'd like. But for now, that is just not possible. On the plus side, some things are finally starting to come together for us. Jeremy bought a motorcylce, and the whole family is looking forward to some rides. I think it will be a great family leisure activity (even though we can't all be on at once)and will also give me and Jeremy something to do just as a couple every now and then as well. Trust me, that is some well needed and wanted time. Even with the purchase of the motorcycle, money just doesn't seem as tight here lately. I think we finally have a manageable budget. Baseball is back in full swing for Zachary, and he really seems to love his coach and team this year. They played 5 games in 24 hours this past weekend and won every single one of them. Not just won, they blew the other teams away. Zachary got several good h...

The project is simple. Write the maker of a product every day for a year. Do not ask them specifically for coupons as I did in the Coupon Mania post. Do not write regarding any particular product more than twice in a year. Do not write any particular parent company more than four time is a month (or once a week). Be honest in what you write, give feed back, ask questions. (NOTE: While I have these categorized by parent company, I never wrote to any parent company more than one time in a day.) JANUARY RESULTS NESTLE: Purina pet food -2 coupons worth $2 each Hot Pockets -2 coupons worth $.40 each SC JOHNSON Ziploc -coupon for free bags ($5 valule) Glade -coupon for a free candle ($6 value) Windex -coupon for a free bottle of Windex ($4 value) SARAH LEE Jimmy Dean - coupon for $1 off and Sarah Lee product CON AGRA Banquet frozen meals - 2 coupons worth $.50 each Kid Cuisines -2 coupons worth $.50 each KIMBERLY CLARK Cottonelle toilet paper - 4 coupons worth $.50 each MCNEIL ...

Call it being busy, call it the winter blues, I just haven't felt like blogging lately. But that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it, or you! I have a HUGE coupon project in the works, that will be much like my Coupon Mania post in early 2010, only MUCH MUCH bigger. =) With that being said, I've thought about moving my couponing/money saving posts to their own blog and just using this blog for personal posts. What do you think? Are you interested in just one or the other and rather have them seperated? Or is it easier to get all my info and thoughts in one place? Leave a Comment letting me know! As for an update on our lives: October We had Zachary for fall break and generally had a good time. Football season came to an end. Shiloh loved trick or treating this year, I still think we have halloween candy at the house! November We had friends over to celebrate my 29th birthday. I have decided I have to make the most of this last year before I enter my 30'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...

Last night, I did our grocery shopping and spent just over $100 on two weeks worth of groceries!!! Yeah, I am a little proud. =) So to stroke my own ego, I am going to post my top 10 grocery buying tips. I really do hope you find some of them useful. 1. Try the store brand at least once, on everything. We have found that most store brand canned vegetables are great, except green beans. Store brand green beans suck. But, try the store brand atleast once, on every product that you buy. Most of the time we are pleasantly suprised (some are even better than the national brand!) 2. Pay attention to how much things cost, otherwise how will you know when it is *really* on sale. I have found more than one store that advertises some thing "on sale" and it really hasn't been marked down at all. 3. Pay attention to how much you actually use/need/eat. If our family will only eat half of a dish, then we have the leftovers for lunch the next day. If your family despises lefto...

It has been a while since my last frugal Friday. We survived summer and found out just how much carpooling could save us! We used the saved money to take the kids to the Knoxville Zoo, Space and Air Museum and The Adventure Science Center. We actually bought a family pass for $90 to the Adventure Science Center so we can take the kids back during the fall, winter and spring. They change exhibits often and truthfully, their “Adventure Tower” is better than any indoor play ground I’ve seen, so it is a good investment in our world. I have also jumped on the “a deal a day” bandwagon. Most people have head about Groupon , where every day they have a deal for a local business. It is usually about 50% off, for food, drinks or service. It seems that *most* of their deals seem to be for food/drinks and salon services, but earlier this year they did have a family membership to the Adventure Science Center for $45 (and yes, I missed it.) Today’s deal is 3 Laser Hair-Removal Treatments for $...