Free DVD from Big Idea!

Go to BigIdea.com/FreeDVD to get a FREE Veggie Tales movie (plus 2.99 S/H)! Only one per household. (Don't try to use 2 different computers; it doesn't work!) There are 3 to choose from: Are you my Neighbor, Where is God when I'm S-Scared and The Balled of Little Joe. Veggie Tales are wonderful and Ethan loves them! They are great at teaching Bible stories and lessons in things like Confidence, Patience and Hardship. Even I have learned great lessons from them!

Randall's Deals

I first have to say a BIG "Thank You" to Melissa @ Melissa's Bargain blog for all the great advice she gave me and answering my many questions! If you are interested in saving $ on everything from food to toys check out her blog. It's packed full of tips and hints on saving by using coupons combined with sales to save the most.

On my trip to Randall's tonight I spent $39.14. I saved $34 with my Remarkable card and 7.40 with coupons. That's 53% savings!
I avoided shopping at Randall's because of the distance it was from my house and the higher prices. But with Melissa's help, I have learned it can be a lot cheaper and worth the drive!

Here's what I bought:
12 Gerber 2nd foods (for our trips in October)-$11.96-On sale $1/1 (not sure how I got one for .96?)
6 Campbell's soup(chicken noodle and tomato)-$2.2-On sale for $1/1, doubled coupon .40
2 packs Oscar Meyer bacon-$4.5-On sale $2/6, coupon 1.50
12 pork chops-10.65-On sale $1.99/lb
2 bags Fresh Express Salad-$2.49- On sale BOGO, coupon 1
2.73lbs of Bananas-$1.34-.49/1lb-Not on sale but a good price and we needed some!

This next deal took me awhile to figure out how I was going to do it. Take a look at what Melissa did here. You can also see my very long conversation with her while I tried to figure out what I was doing! Melissa was very kind and helpful.

This was a mixture between Natures Valley granola bars, Cereal and Betty crocker fruit snacks. I choose to focus only on the granola bars and cereal because we don't eat fruit snacks (we would eat them so I don't keep them in the house!) You could buy a mixture of these products 4/$6. This is a good deal in itself but add some coupons onto it and it becomes an awesome deal!

4 boxes of NV granola bars-Started at 3.49 each + .79 card savings=2.50 + 4 IP (internet printed) .40/1, + 2 loadable(off Randall's web site directly to your card) .40/1 (I think I got 1 extra .40 off because the guy ringing me up tried to tell me I couldn't use one coupon per product. I said "Yes, I can" and he said he didn't have time, that he would get in trouble and just started ringing in the coupons without counting! I have worked in retail long enough (10+ years) to know he will not get in trouble as long as he does what's right for the customer and my coupon said one per item and I had 4 and was buying 4.)

1 box of Cin Crunch Cereal-Started at 3.49 + .99 card savings=2.50 + 1 IP .55 + 1 loadable .55

1 box of Trix -Started at 3.49 + .99 card savings=2.50 + 1 IP .55+ 1 loadable .55

2 boxes of Cheerios- Started at 6.98 + 1.98 card savings= 5 + 1 clipped $1/2

Then they take off $4 for every 4 items you buy.

So without you having to grab a calculator I let you know what I paid for all this- $6!!!

And after all this I got some coupons from Randall's for free Capri Suns the next time I shop!

Yes, this takes some time to plan and figure out what and how you are going to shop. But I like this because it keeps me from impulse shopping! And that in itself saves money! I've been working to learn this "game" for awhile now and learn something new every day. I shop mostly at Target because you can use a target coupon + a manufactures coupon to save even more. But after today I will be looking at Randall's a lot closer!

Texas Law-Car Seats and Freebies

Texas passed a new car seat law and it went into effect September 1, 2009. Basically, children now have to be in some type of restraint until 8 years old or 4'9. I think this is a great law because motor vehicle accidents are the #1 killer of kids. Out of all the things we worry about with our children this is one thing we know we can always do right! Having your child properly restrained can keep them from having serious injuries in a car accident.

If you don't live in Texas check out SeatCheck.com to find out your state's laws and the location where you can get your car seat inspected.

Choosing the best car seat is important. After much research, we went with the Britax Roundabout Convertible. It was compact enough to fit in my old Sunfire but had the safety features and weight limit we were looking for. I plan on having Ethan rear face until 30lbs. The law is 20lbs and 1 year old but, after much research, we have decided that the longer they rear face, the better. And the way he eats that could be sooner then later!

Ethan is very comfortable in it. He loves to be able to look out of the windows at all that passes by. This seat is good from 5lbs-40lbs so we will be using it with the next baby also. By then Ethan will be in a seat for bigger kids!

We had our car seat inspected on Tuesday and we had been doing a few things wrong. The seat wasn't buckled in tight enough. It should not be able to move more then 1 inch. We were told we shouldn't have hard toys or the rear facing mirror because in an accident they could fly around and hit us. (I think that could really go for anything you have in the car so we will be leaving the mirror so I can see him. I will risk it hitting us vs not seeing him choke.) We also didn't have his belt tight enough.

Here's before:

And after:You really shouldn't be able to get your finger in between the baby and the strap.

Over all I feel much happier now about the safety of my car set. And the great thing about it was it was free! Here are some more great child safety web sites:

NHTSA

Safe Kids, USA

Speaking of free:

I signed up to USA Baby e-mom rewards program and Ethan got a free pair of Robeez shoes! All the stores are locally owned so I'm not sure if your local store is doing the same but it wouldn't hurt to look. Robeez has the cutest soft soled shoes for crawlers up to toddlers. This is the pair we picked (retails for $19.99):

He already has a pair of winnie the pooh ones that were given to him by his aunt and uncle. After getting our free shoes we walked around the store and found this:

This is Arnold the Snoring Pig! Ethan just laughed and laughed big belly laughs the whole time Arnold was "snoring". It was so funny to see! He even started laughing when I played this video!

When we were in OK last week, a friend of mine who has 2 little boys gave us 2 boxes of cloths (2T-4T) and 1 big box of shoes! They are all so cute and I can't wait till he can fit into them. There was even a pair of cowboy boots! Good thing we live in Texas.

Harlequin is celebrating its 60th anniversary and they are giving away Free books! I found this one at the mall on a stand only the free copy is red. You can't really miss it; it's a whole bunch of the same books with a big "free" sign.

You can also go to their web site http://www.harlequincelebrates.com/ and download a variety of great romance stories for free! I'm not a big harlequin fan but I love free.

Remember: Buckle up for Safety!!

Win 6 BG 3.0!!!

Head on over to Cloth Diaper Tips and win 6 bumGenius 3.0's! I do love my BG's if the Velcro wasn't crapping out on me. I would love to have more in lots of different colors!