Smoking FREE 2 Day Shipping on Zazzle Means $1.50-$3 Photo Gifts, Shipped Free!

I received my grandma's Christmas card this past week and it dawned on me that it would be a nice idea to send her a little something from us besides a card. Zazzle came to the rescue with a coupon code in my inbox this morning! When you enter the code JINGLESALE71 at checkout, you can get FREE 2-day shipping on any order, no minimums (be sure to select 2 day shipping as your shipping option to get it free!). Zazzle has all kinds of wonderful and crazy photo gift options - you can even personalize a Converse-style pair of Keds! (!)

I designed a fridge magnet with a photo of my girls and a sweet message, and it was $2.85, shipped to my grandma. I also went to the Zazzle site through ebates for 10% cash back, so that magnet was really more like $2.57. I can't wait to hear how she likes it!

Use this Zazzle code today to brighten the day of someone with a photo product of your own design. :)

Disclosure: if you sign up for ebates using our ebates referral link above, we will receive $5 bonus thanks to you if you happen to make a $20 purchase within 90 days. You'll receive a $5 starting bonus, too!

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas For Those Who Have Everything, Part 6: The Gift of Prayer

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!

• Give the gift of prayer. If you can honestly commit to praying for somebody, this can be a great complement to the hand-written letter. Pray across all areas of the person's life - for their health and peace of mind, for their relationships with God and their friends and family, and for their spirits through the holiday season.

If you missed them, check out:

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 4: Fellowship  
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 5: The Gift of a Hand-Written Letter

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Idea for Those Who Have Everything!

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gifts for Those Who Have Everything, Part 5: A Hand-Written Letter!

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!

• Give the gift of a hand-written letter. Another overlooked option - taking the time to hand write a letter. Your words can do so much to brighten a person's day - much more so than a material item, in many cases. Think of all of the different ways to encourage them with your letter: write about aspects of the recipients personality that you enjoy, recollect favorite memories of things that you've done in the past, and even ruminate on what experiences you hope to share in the future. (Nothing like anticipation of future fun to add to the afterglow of receiving that letter!)

If you missed them, check out:

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gifts for Those Who Have Everything, Part 4: Fellowship 

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Idea for Those Who Have Everything!

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas For Those Who Have Everything, Part 4: Give The Gift Of Fellowship!

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!

• Give the Gift of Fellowship. This is so often overlooked - but so important! Just an evening enjoying coffee (or your hot drink of choice) over a cozy chat is a terrific way to bless someone during the holidays, when quiet, reflective times of fellowship can be so scarce. Of course, if cozy coffeehouse chats aren't your style, you can bond and catch up over LaserTag, or whatever other fellowship activity fits the bill. The point is to reconnect with each other, to encourage, to catch up on each other's lives - though take my word for it, your Great Aunt Edna's probably more into the coffeehouse option.

If you missed them, check out:

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Idea for Those Who Have Everything!

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas For Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Give Discounts!

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!

• Give Discounts! Just because a person has everything they could ask for doesn't mean that they don't love a good bargain - my in-laws will proudly identify themselves in this category! (And in fact someone's "have everything they need" comfort factor may very well be tied closely to their ability to budget and find a good deal.) Some of my inlaws' great delights are in exploiting Ruby Tuesday BOGO coupons, Dunkin Donuts free coffee coupons, Chick-Fil-A freebie coupons, etc.
  
  One way to give discounts is to give someone a starter coupon set, or a way to help organize an existing coupon set. My mother-in-law was already a rabid couponer before I gave her a portable file folder with date-labeled files for holding each weekend's insert set. She loves it so much that she has continued to relabel her folders with the newest dates as the old inserts have expired, and the file folder remains an integral part of her couponing strategy.
  
  A family favorite "give discounts" idea for us is the 2011 Chick-Fil-A "Cowlendar" - it has coupons on every page! You also saw a restaurant discount idea in our first part of this series, where we mentioned a current 80% off Restaurant.com gift certificate deal as a good resource for eating-out discounts.
  
  A final idea on a way to give discounts is to give a 2011 Entertainment Book as a gift. It's jam-packed with coupons relevant to your area - a great way to encourage the recipient(s) to try new activities, see some movies, go to restaurants, all at a greatly reduced rate. There are also many freebie or freebie-with-purchase coupons in this book, so it's got some no-cost options available to the recipient right away.

If you missed them, check out:

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Idea for Those Who Have Everything!

HOT - 9 P.M. Tonight - Skip Hop Diaper Bag on Amazon Lighning Deal!

EDIT: The Lightning Deal price of the Skip Hop Studio Diaper Bag Tote Bag
is $64.50, and about half are gone. That's 28% off list price, and it ships free. Now is the time if you'd like to get the Lightning Deal on this $89 retail bag.

Tonight, a gorgeous Skip Hop Diaper Bag is going to be on offer for an Amazon.com Lightning Deal at 9 p.m. EST. (6 p.m. PST). I received this same model in chocolate brown last year as a baby gift from my parents when my second daughter was born, having previously relied on an overnight-style second hand Lands' End one.

It is so luxurious! There are a zillion pockets well-suited to the minutia a mom brings everywhere she goes, and all in a very roomy design. Let's just say: enough room for a moderately sized laptop, some travel toiletries, snacks and drinks, AND the typical roundup of diapers, wipes, clean outfits, etc.! It is tote style and has an antimicrobial lining. Its neutral "looks like a nice handbag" design allows you to bring it with you to more formal settings, and the neutral-metallic pewter dot design, which is the one that will be on sale at 9 p.m., would coordinate well with a variety of outfits.

Needless to say, I would totally invest in mine again at the full price, so if you have a big-ticket baby purchase in your immediate future (say, for a sibling's or child's first baby), this could be an ideal find at a Lightning Deal Price (the discount from the full $86 price has not yet been announced).

We are Amazon.com affiliates, and this post contains our affiliate link. Thanks for supporting Redemption Unlimited at no additional cost to you!
All opinions in this blog post are honest and my own, and I was not asked to provide any reviews, favorable or otherwise, by neither Amazon.com nor Skip Hop.

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas For Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Give Consumables!

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!

• Give Consumables. Whether it's the pistachios that they're (har) nuts about or something delicious that you've tried or made recently, something tasty to enjoy and share with company is always a welcome change of pace for a gift. A budget-friendly favorite of mine in this category is a $6 bottle of our family's favorite German white wine. Chilled and dressed up with some fancy ribbons, a gifted bottle of wine could even come with some new wine glasses (like the simple and inexpensive ones at IKEA).
  
  You can also use coupons to get some delicious consumables this time of year, like the Lindt chocolates that frequently go on sale combined with the $1/1 coupons that come out every holiday occasion. (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter...but if you ask me, who needs a holiday occasion for Lindt?) And the term "consumables" doesn't necessarily only apply to foods; one time I gifted my newly-married brother and sister-in-law with a huge collection of couponed toiletries and household staples -  toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning items, etc.

If you missed other posts in this series, check them out!

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Idea for Those Who Have Everything!

Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas For Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Give Experiences!

If you're scratching your head this year trying to come up with gift ideas for those in your life who seem to have all of their needs (and even wants!) covered, we have a few ideas for you. This is part of our series running this week on Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything!
 
Today's Budget-Friendly Gift Idea:

• Give Experiences. Restaurant gift certificates, an offer on your part to do babysitting, a night at a nearby bed and breakfast, a couple of tickets to an amusement park, a concert or evening with a comedy tour. The possibilities are endless! Think about creative ways that you can spur and/or enable the recipient(s) to get out. As an example, earlier this year we gave my dad a gift certificate to Wolf Trap so that he could pick any show or performer(s) that he wanted to see and take my mom along, too.
  
  One budget-friendly way to do this is to keep an eye on the deals from Restaurant.com on restaurant gift certificates. You can score some from anywhere around 60-80% off of the face value (today's example is 80% off with coupon code JOY, making $25 certificates only $2, expires Sunday 12/12 - thanks Frugal Coupon Mom!), which makes a fantastic value on an evening out. A few dollars' investment for you could translate to a very large discount for them.
  
  Be sure that a camera joins your recipients on the outing so that they can look back and savor the memories!

If you missed parts of the series, check them all out:

• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 1: Experiences 
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 2: Consumables
• Budget-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas for Those Who Have Everything, Part 3: Discounts

Report from the Field: Kohl's $10 Gift Card FREEBIE, Results in Near-Free Jewelry!

A couple of days ago I received a Kohl's $10 freebie card in my mailbox - this is a card that you can use on any purchase of at least $10 pre-tax value. SWEET. I love it when these come around. They are usually cellophaned onto a larger flyer/brochure from Kohl's so keep your eyes peeled. The $10 coupon is good today and the next three days, if memory serves me rightly. I usually consider it a nice little challenge - how little can I get away with paying while still hitting the $10 threshold to use the card?

I stopped at Kohl's today after another errand since it was on the way home, and to my great delight they had a fairly big jewelry sale going on. Tables of genuine diamond chip sterling silver and gold-plated jewelry in presentation boxes - originally marked around $80-$90 - down to around $20. If you had a niece or other lady in your life who might appreciate those, the $10 gift card would make them just $10!

There were also racks featuring stuffed Dr. Seuss characters like the Grinch and the Grinch's dog (name escaping me at the moment...was it Max?). These, along with copies of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! were just $5 each - so someone with the $10 coupon could get a couple of fun kids' gifts for free. Niiiiice.

This time, I ended up selecting a pair of Dana Buchman clip rhinestone earrings - my mother-in-law wears clip earrings since her ears aren't pierced, and sometimes clip earrings can be tough to find. They were originally $16, marked down to $10.40. I paid the $0.40 plus a few pennies tax for a little bling bling to brighten her Christmas.

At checkout, I noticed that the gal in front of me was using both a recently-mailed Kohl's 15% off coupon AND a $10 coupon. When I asked, the cashier confirmed that you could use both a cash coupon ($10) and a percent-off coupon (%) in combination with each other. Wow! Wish I had known that, though it would have saved me only $1.50ish off of my earrings, leaving me to troll the clearance racks with an increasingly cranky baby for some item valued at about that amount in order to meet my $10 threshold.

Did YOU receive this $10 card? What did you use it to buy - something fun for yourself? A stocking stuffer or two?

Restaurant.com: 80% off + 15% cash back through Ebates - expires 11/25!

Restaurant.com gift certificates can be purchased for 80% through tomorrow 11/25!

Enter GOBBLE at checkout to receive the 80% savings. But first, go through Ebates per our link below to save an additional 15% cash back.

As a disclaimer, if you sign up for Ebates under our Ebates link (here), we will receive cash back thanks to you. You'll receive a starting bonus, too!

Lands' End, up to 37% Off Your Purchase, PLUS Free Shipping! - Regular, Sale, AND Clearance, Through Monday Nov. 8

Lands' End is running a deal right now that would work out terrifically if you need to buy a lot of clothing - say, a bunch of Christmas gifts in one go, or some legendary Lands' End outerwear for your growing family?

Use code NOV8 and PIN 2639 when you check out to get $20 off $75 or $50 off of a $150 purchase AND free shipping. (This deal is good through 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night, Monday.) Go through ebates to the LandsEnd.com site to get an additional 6% cash back on your purchase! (The Overstocks section also has a bunch of clearanced stuff at up to 65% off, too, so that's another chance for savings.) This way, if you bought $150 worth of merchandise, you'd get $50 off right away, and then $6 back on the $100 you spent if you click to the Lands' End site through ebates.

Disclosure: if you sign up for ebates using our ebates referral link above, we will receive $5 bonus thanks to you if you happen to make a $20 purchase within 90 days. You'll receive a $5 starting bonus, too!

$/$$ Coupons in the Mail - Target, Lands' End, Toys 'R Us!

BOOM! The holiday season has officially landed. How do I know? The COUPONS in my mail. If you're signed up to receive snail mail ads from your favorite stores and/or get a home paper delivery, you'll find some, too, I'm betting!

Here's some of what I've spotted recently:

• Target "general holiday" green Christmas tree catalogue with a $15 off $150 purchase coupon on the back
• Target "Toy Sale" catalogue with a $5 gift card with any toy purchase of $50 or more coupon on the back. There are a TON of Target toy coupons inside, too, in a coupon booklet - betting they could be combo'ed with a sale price for a good deal in some instances.
• In the Sunday ads from this past weekend: A Toys 'R Us ad featuring a coupon for a $10 gift card when you spend $75 or more
• Lands' End winter catalogue with a $10/$50 purchase coupon

Needless to say, it's time you started spending a little extra time perusing your newspapers, Sunday ads, email inboxes, and catalogues, 'cause in the next 5-7 weeks the deals are going to be SMOKIN'. Everybody wants your dollar, and they know that they'll have to compete to get it! I just love being in a buyer's market!

Have you received some hot coupons in the mail or in your email inbox recently? Tell us all more by leaving a comment! ;-D

AC Moore: 50% off Melissa & Doug toys!

I went to AC Moore yesterday to buy some baking supplies for a cookie project and was surprised to see all the Melissa and Doug toys on sale for 50% off.  Woot!


If you haven't seen a Melissa and  Doug toy before, let me explain.  They're wooden, nearly indestructible, well built and timeless.  We have a set of magnetic wooden letters that have been a huge hit with my son.  He also received the Tool set as a gift and has used that on & off at all different ages & stages.  Most kids who visit us somehow find that in our toy closet and really enjoy it.

And this year, my son will be getting the Melissa and Doug car carrier for his birthday! Shhhhhh! I found it at half price yesterday for around $12. He spotted that toy at a shoe store and told me a few weeks ago he'd like it for his birthday.  Then I saw it highly rated in the November issue of Family Fun magazine.  When I realized it was for the 3-6 years age range, I was sold.

The sale runs through tomorrow 10/30, so it's not too late to stop by your local AC Moore.  I'm sure they'll run another sale before Christmas, but if you're like me it's great to get shopping done early!

To find an AC Moore near you, click here.

Deals Roundup - 30% off Old Navy, $10/$20 Sears, 20% off + Free Ship at Leapfrog, 30% off Babies'R Us clothing, 75% off + Free Ship at Lands' End!

• Lands' End is offering an extra 20% off Sale and Overstocks, for a savings of up to 75%, PLUS free shipping! Use promo code LEAF18 and pin 4119 for this discount, but first click through ebates to get 6% cash back. Offer good through the end of today, October 18.
  
  
• Get a printable Babies R Us coupon here for 30% off your entire clothing purchase (excludes shoes). Offer expires 10/24.
  
  
• LeapFrog is having a huge sale right now that could make acquiring a series of Christmas gifts a lot cheaper. First click to the Leapfrog site through ebates to get 3% cash back on your Leapfrog.com purchase. Then, when you spend $50, you get $10 off using code AUTUMN, or when you spend $100, you'll save $20 by using the code AUTUMN20. All orders totalling over $50 ship free, too! Offers end 10/25.
  
  
• When you bring this printable coupon into any Sears store, you'll get $10 off any purchase of apparel or accessories totalling $20 or more! Expires 10/23.
  
  
• Through October 21, when you enter ONLOVE30 at checkout on the Old Navy website, you'll Save 20% on $100, 25% on $125, and 30% on $150. Save an additional 8% cash back by clicking to Old Navy's website through ebates.

As a disclaimer, if you sign up for ebates under our ebates link (here), we will receive $5 bonus thanks to you if you happen to make a $20 purchase within 90 days. You'll receive a $5 starting bonus, too!

Works for Me Wednesday: Organizing My Gift Wrap STUFF before the holidays!

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for another "Works for Me Wednesday" tip, as hosted by the blog carnival at We Are THAT Family. See this week's Works for Me Wednesday here.

How many of you out there have a pile of barely-used looks-new gift bags somewhere in your home? My mom is a chronic gift-bag saver, and so is my mother-in-law! The result of this is we've had the same set of Christmas gift bags revolving between our families for several years now! Many still look brand new, and others...well...let's call them well-loved classics. (Especially the HUGE Christmas gift bags...because we're all too cheap to buy enough paper or a new gift bag to wrap large-size gifts when a perfectly good Santa gift-bag is still kicking!)

Gift bags aren't the only thing we save, either. Gift boxes, bows large and small, fancy gift ribbons, and other like-new package decorations are continually reused, and even large unwrinkled sheets of gift wrap that once wrapped very large gifts are seen as potential gift wrap fodder for a future Christmas.

In fact, the only time I typically buy new gift wrapping items is when they are heavily clearanced after the fact; CVS and Target are my top locales for sniffing out gift wrap for pennies on the dollar in the weeks after Christmas.

Last week and this week, I made it my mission to clean out my SUPER messy "saved and clearance-purchased gift wrapping stuff" storage shelf in the basement. For real: it was a huge mountain of random gift bags, barely-used gift wrap, and other accoutrements.

For the past couple of years stuff has collected there, and it needed major help. It took me several minisessions of work (that's the way it happens when you're doing it with a baby and often also a three-year-old around). Here's how I approached it:

• Throughout the entire process, throw away anything that looks too old or used. When in doubt, don't reuse it.
  
  
• Separate all of your stuff: bows and tissue paper from your gift bags and gift boxes. Make a huge pile each of bows, tissue paper, bags, or boxes as you do this.
  
  
• Sort your gift bags into three categories: teeny, standard, and HUGE. Put each size set in a box (could be cardboard, Sterilite, whatever works for you!).
  
  
  
• Sort your tissue paper by color. For me, this was: whites, yellows & golds, reds & pinks, blues & greens, and white with patterns. Some tissue papers are holiday-themed, so it may behoove you to have a few tissue categories by holiday (Christmas, birthday, baby, wedding, Valentine's Day, etc.).
  
  
  When you're done with the sorting of the tissue paper, you can gently roll your stack and store the roll loosely upright in a smaller box. This way it's easy to see and easy to take a sheet out without messing up the rest.
  
  
• Sort your gift boxes. Some are holiday-themed, so it may work for you to have box categories by holiday (Christmas, birthday, baby, wedding, Valentine's Day, etc.). Stack your gift boxes neatly, largest on the bottom, smallest on top, so that you can see them in one glance. Two post-Christmases ago, I picked up shirt boxes at Target for 90% off - and they're still in my stash. Sweeeeeet.
  
  
  
  
• Put your bows and other box decor in a separate box. (Or further sort them if you like.)
  
  
  
  
• Organize your items on a shelf or other designated location so that you can see things plainly and put things together quickly, so that when the gift-giving occasion arises you can wrap it in no time. Here's a sample scenario of how it might go:
  --What size is my gift? For which occasion? (You'd pick out your gift bag or box.)
  --What color tissue paper should I use? (You pick out a sheet or three from your color-sorted tissue paper.)
  --Do I want any other bows or decor? (You pick from your separate box of bows to match the gift bag and tissue paper.)
  
  
• Pick up a hanging or under-the-bed gift-wrap organizer with compartments for storing a few items like spools of ribbon, tubes of gift wrap, "gift wrap scissors" if you have'em, and scotch tape (in my case, picked up for $0.24/roll on clearance).
  
  
  
• If you like, you can save the "too old" tissue paper for kid-oriented craft projects like tissue paper carnations, which make terrific decoration come spring and Mother's Day! "Too old" gift wrap can be used for scissors practice, too.

What are the benefits to getting together your gift wrapping stuff now? Well, there are quite a few:

• You will save money, because you'll know at last the extent of your supplies at home. No more last-minute purchases of bows or tape or wrapping paper at the store (probably at full high-season pricing) only to realize later that you had it at home all along!
  
  
• In the same vein, you'll know when you're about to run out of something because you have an awareness of what's already in-stock at home, and that way you can keep an eye on deals or seasonal clearances to stock back up.
  
  
• No more crummy too-old tissue paper on gifts you give because you grabbed that still-looks-new gift bag (containing said too-old tissue paper) from the top of your "gift wrap stuff" pile in a rush.
  
  
• Having your gift wrapping stuff organized means that you're less likely to procrastinate on holiday gift-wrapping and will save time when you do gift wrap.
  
  
• Knowing what you have, you'll be able to put together more creative combinations of bows, paper, bags, etc. than if you were just staring at a mountainous pile of unorganized gift wrap leftovers.

Organizing my gift wrap miscellaneous in time for the holidays works for me!

What organizing tasks are you tackling now so that you can have a more peaceful, less expensive, less-stressed holiday season?

Works for Me Wednesday: Rating Library Books for Future Gift Ideas

It's Wednesday, and that means time for another "Works for Me Wednesday" tip! Check out this week's WFMW carnival, hosted weekly by We Are THAT Family.

I just discovered our local library this spring.

...

...

I know. I KNOW. How is it that a supposed frugalista just now discovered the local library? *Momentarily smacks forehead...* To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure what took me so long. (And to Mel's credit, she's been a longtime patron of her local library.)

But there was a major catalyst at play that spurred us to finally join: me getting sick of reading my three-year-old daughter the same books over and over. (And this, believe me, despite the fact that she has TONS of books via gifts, yard sales, etc.)

Now over the past few months we've averaged borrowing about 7 childrens' books or so per week. We've also discovered our library's once monthly book sale, wherein they liquidate excess inventory. Kids' hardbacks are just $0.50/each on the first day of the sale! (I really need to consider remodeling my daughter's bedroom to feature 20-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling bookshelving, and a freely gliding library ladder, a la Belle's library in Beauty and the Beast. But first, we should, you know, get a new water heater. Priorities!)

Every time we come home from the library, I take just a moment to document which books we've borrowed. As we read them, I put one star next to titles that I'd borrow again, and two stars next to titles which were so wonderful that I'd buy or gift.

This ongoing list gives me a quick reference for when a child's birthday or other occasion is approaching - I can quickly eyeball the "two-starred" books for inspiration. (Of course, this concept would be sweetened if I could then subsequently snag said titles brand new with a "30% off one item" Borders coupon, since there is a Borders just around the corner from me.)

Writing down the week's titles takes very little time, and the rating takes even less, since of those seven there are usually just a couple that get one star, and one or two that get two stars. I love the idea of giving books - but especially stories which we've also read and thoroughly enjoyed - to the kids in our life!

(And...when I one day return to the fold of those do lots of recreational reading...I'll probably apply this concept to grown-up oriented selections, too. :-p)

Rating library selections works for me!

Frugal Fridays: Dirt Cheap Yarn

Admittedly, I am not a knitter. But, I recently heard a fantastic story from my college roommate, who was visiting with her husband. Apparently my roommate's mother-in-law peruses the racks at a deep-discount retailer which sells imperfect or security-ink-stained clothing; essentially one level below the likes of Ross or TJMaxx. She is not shopping for clothing - she's shopping for yarn in the clothing racks.

Since size or small imperfections are no hurdles, she can pick up knit sweaters for pennies on the dollar, whereupon she returns home and unravels the sweaters. (If it were me doing this, I'd totally do it while watching reruns of my favorite show...) SO, as I understand it, she is essentially getting entire skeins' worth of yarn for a buck or two per skein, which she uses to knit hats and mittens. (Compare this with buying yarn at the craft store, where even with a sale or coupon the yarn could cost around $4-5 per skein.)

I am pretty sure my jaw had hit the floor by the time my roommate had finished telling me about this practice of her mother-in-law's. Once I'd fully absorbed the story, I said, "With your permission, I'd like to blog this..." :)

If you were a person who was very crafty with knitting winter accessories, especially for rapidly-growing kids who were only going to use them for a few months, this could be an extremely frugal way to go about it!

Tuesday Deals Roundup: My Inbox

Here's a sampling of some deals that have hit my inbox recently:

• Through Wednesday at midnight, shop stila.com with the coupon code JEWEL to get free shipping on any purchase. Free samples come with your order, too!
  
  
• Tomorrow (Wednesday), at Toys"R"Us stores, get My Little Pony playsets and ponies BOGO, or save 25% on lawn games (croquet, etc.) with this coupon.
  
  
• This is really only a worthwhile deal if a) you've needed a wardrobe overhaul for some time, and b) you are a BIG fan of JCrew, and c) you know with a high degree of confidence what your JCrew size is (since all sales on final sale are final). Through April 1, use code EXTRA30 at checkout to get free shipping on all orders of $150 or more and an extra 30% off final sale items. The $150 minimum is AFTER the 30% discount, so to score both, you must essentially buy $225 worth of stuff (minus $75, equals $150). Which, at JCrew, is like, 3 pair of socks. ;o) Get a measly 1% cash back when you click through to the JCrew website via eBates. (But, $1.50 is a $1.50...)
  
  
• At Yankee Candle, large jar candles are Buy 2, Get 1 Free through April 18. Use code XF003A5 to get the promo online ($5 flat rate shipping), or print the in-store coupon here.

As a disclaimer, if you sign up under our Ebates referral link here, we will receive Ebates cash back thanks to you.

Price Drop: Organic Mother's Milk Tea on Amazon.com

WOW - I just noticed on my Amazon account that the price of Organic Mother's Milk Tea has dropped by a huge amount! When I bought this breastmilk-supply-enhancing tea back in November via Amazon Subscribe and Save, my subscription price for 6 boxes was over $21. Now, thanks to the alert from Amazon, I saw that it's priced at $18.59 retail, $15.80 (and ships free!) when you do it via Subscribe & Save - $6 less than what I paid in November!

$2.63 for a box of tea isn't usually a price I'd qualify as cheap, but for this particular tea, which has helped me through some milk supply tight spots in the past, it's a bargain! (Also, it usually retails at more than $4 in grocery stores if you can manage to find it.)

Even if you're not a nursing mother, if you know someone who's expecting and planning on breastfeeding, a box of this tea (or all 6 boxes!) could be part of a unique baby shower gift. For example, you could pair the tea with some Lansinoh nursing pads ($6.11/box with Subscribe and Save, the cheapest I've seen them anywhere online or in-store).

DIY: Custom Burp Cloths!

Last week I posted about my first sewing project. As my toddler would say, "I did it all by myself!"

This week I decided to tackle something simpler. I received 2 invitations to baby showers, and since I hadn't planned gifts for those into our monthly budget, I had to come up with something less expensive and more creative.

What did I do, you ask? I prettied up some burp cloths!

This was a much easier project for a beginner seamstress like me. I had seen customized burp cloths before, and I received a few when I had my baby. But I don't have a fancy embroidery machine to sew initials or characters, so I made do.

Check out the photos. I'm also posting instructions if you'd like to make your own.








Custom Burp Cloths
Step 1. Purchase cotton cloth diapers. Mine were a 12-pack by Gerber purchased at Walmart.
Step 2. Purchase fabric, ribbon or other embellishments. I used one new fabric purchased at Walmart, 1.5" Offray ribbon purchased at Walmart, and one fabric that I had in my scrap box. I decided to use iron-on fusible interfacing in an effort to make the fabric embellishments hold up better.
Step 3. Wash, dry and iron cloth diapers and fabric(s).
Step 4. Iron ribbon and fabric(s).
Step 5. Cut fusible interfacing to size (didn't measure, just held it up to the diaper).
Step 6. Cut fabric to size, planning for a 1/2 margin around interfacing.
Step 7. Pin interfacing to back side of embellishing fabric, leaving a 1" margin at the edges.
Step 8. Fuse interfacing to back side of fabric using a steam iron, following directions found on interfacing.
Step 9. Turn fabric over to front side and fold edges under. Iron edges to make them look clean when sewn.
Step 10. Pin fabric with fused interfacing to front side of cloth diaper.
Step 11. Sew ribbon with straight stitch. Sew fabric with zig-zag stitch to diaper.
Step 12. Trim loose threads. Fold and wrap for a friend!






This post was inspired by the DIY blog carnival at A Soft Place to Land.