Saving Money — Page 5

Baby Shower Gift on a Budget {Hint, start with free samples!}

Source: vi.sualize.us via Katie on Pinterest

How to use free samples to make a perfect baby shower gift

A bloggy buddy of mine put together a totally awesome list of current baby freebies, to make it super easy for you to go through and get all of the best free goodies that are available. If you’re a new mom, or a mamma-to-be, I’m sure this will be a HUGE help for you! But even if you’re not expecting, you can request all of these great samples to put together an incredibly helpful baby shower gift, without spending big bucks.

How to put it all together:

Check the new mamma’s baby registry, to find a diaper bag that you know she’ll love. If she’s not registered for one yet, you can check out a couple of my favorites – JJ Cole Tote Bag, or the SOHO Diaper Bag, which is a total steal at only $15! Then, stuff all those helpful pockets in the bag full of great sample products for the new baby. A friend of mine did this at my shower – and it was the most helpful thing! I loved being able to “try before I buy” – as a new mom, that giant aisle of baby care products can be a bit overwhelming!

The best baby freebies

Use this list to get some great samples and coupons – then visit Midget Momma’s site to see the rest of the list. {You’ll see her link at the bottom.} For more fun gift ideas, check out my Baby Shower board on Pinterest!

FREE Sample of Enfamil Formula– Print out the certificate and take it to your doctors office to get your sample. Pick from 3 different Enfamil Brands
Enfamil Bright Beginnings club– Coupons and FREE Samples $250 worth the baby freebies just for signing up!
FREE Parent’s Choice Baby Formula Sample– fill out the form and get a sample in the mail
FREE Baby Calender from Hylands– fill out the form and it will be on its way to your mailbox
FREE Sample of Simply Right Baby Formula Sample– fill out the form and it will come in your mailbox
FREE Beech-Nut Starter kit– fill out the form and get samples in your mailbox
FREE Sample of Honey Suckle Breast Milk Bags– so helpful for new nursing moms.
FREE Sample of Huggies Good Nights– These are one of my favorites.
FREE Visit to Ringling Brothers Circus – Baby’s first trip to the circus, ticket to the circus.
FREE Samples and coupons from Pampers– Scroll to the bottom of the page to find them.

And there’s more! If you loved this list of free baby samples, make sure to visit Midget Momma’s site to see the rest of the list – and give her a big thank you for putting this great list together for us!

Check out the rest of the New baby Freebies list from MidgetMomma

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 8, 2012 Filed Under: Freebies | No Comments

Mr. Rebates Cash Giveaway!! 3/25

We are starting a brand new contest today and 5 lucky winners will win $100 cash! All you have to do is sign up for a FREE Mr Rebates account and if you win, the money will be deposited directly into your account. I’ve teamed up with a few other blogs – so there are several ways to get some extra entries. Follow the directions in the widget below and good luck!

Feelin’ Lucky? Enter to win the other awesome prizes in my sidebar too!
[Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 7, 2012 Filed Under: Uncategorized | No Comments

Moms & Money: Top 5 Free Tools to Make Finances Fabulous!

Moms & Money

Moms are responsible for most of the household spending – from groceries, to school clothes, to new curtains, most of the family shopping is up to us. So why is that so many women don’t know much about financial tools and planning? Sure – we may be great at clipping coupons and sticking to a budget, but there are way too many women who don’t know enough about their personal finances, or have a plan for their future. After talking with some girl friends this weekend, I found that this is often because so many finance articles, books, and websites are written to target guys – making the info not relevant to us, or just plain boring. That led me to put together this list just for you ladies – I’ve rounded up some great tools and resources focused on moms and money that are all fun and simple to get started with.

My Top 5 Free Financial Tools for Moms

Whether you’re a busy stay-at-home mom, a mompreneur, a mom who commutes to the office each day, or even a single gal in need of some finance tips – I think you’ll find a few great tips here to help. And if you have some favorites that aren’t on this list, I’d love for you to share them in the comments, so everyone can benefit from your genius money tips too!

Free Financial Bootcamp: Get a daily email for 10 days, with new daily to-do’s that will help you reach your financial goals. You’ll figure out where you’re overspending, create a budget you can actually stick to, and learn to dream big and plan for a fabulous future. This is one of my favorite sites, and is filled with info that makes finance fun and fashionable. I know you’ll love it too. Learn more and sign up here – Free Financial Bootcamp for Women.
Free Book and Worksheets: Visit a totally fabulous site – Mainstream Mom – to get access to a huge resource of great $mart Mom Printables, from meal planning to paying off debt. And make sure to grab her free ebook too, 7 Simple Strategies to Take the Stress Out of Money Management. Between the website and the book, there is loads of amazingly helpful info here.
TurboTax Free Tax Assistance: This is how I’ve done my taxes every year since I was 20 years old. It worked great for my simple returns then, and has worked just as great as I’ve gotten older, and had more complicated returns. This year, since it is my first year earning a business income from my blog and freelance work, I’ll have to get some help from a local accountant. But after that, I’m confident that I can go back to TurboTax – It’s such a great tool, and the perfect solution for people who want to do their taxes themselves.
Free Workshop: This is only 30 minutes long, but it sounds like it’ll be packed full of great info! This webinar is a partnership between Daily Worth and Mint – both are a couple more awesome sites that I totally love. This event happens on a Thursday, March 8th, at 8pm EST. You can register here – Take Control of Your Finances– and learn how to better understand your money and make smarter choices every day. Daily Worth is a cool community of women who talk money advice – sign up for their daily updates for awesome info.
Mint.com: Speaking of Mint… This is my FAVORITE tool for managing my money. It’s super simple {and free!} to get started, and very intuitive and easy to figure out. You can organize all of your spending – see all of your accounts in one place, set budgets, track your expenses, and more. This is a total must-have for busy moms, seriously.
Mompreneur’s Challenge: Join the 30-day Mompreneur’s Challenge, and get a new challenge emailed to you each day. Business Among Moms describes it, “Our Challenge is a series of 30 tasks in the areas of marketing, budgeting, social networking, organization and networking that will allow you to re-focus, learn new things and move forward as a professional mompreneur!” I signed up today, and am excited to see how it goes. I’m always on a mission to learn new tips!

What do YOU think?

Do you have a favorite online tool that you use to track your spending, grow your business, or plan for the future? Do you have any great money tips for moms? I’d love for you to share in the comments! And if this post helped you out, make sure to give it a retweet, and share it with your own networks of busy moms too. I look forward to reading the tips that you guys have to share here – You have such great ideas!

I just learned the top 5 free online tools that help busy moms make their finances fabulous – #Moms & #Money sunshineandsippycups.com/2012/02/moms-m…

— SunandSipCups (@SunandSipCups) February 28, 2012

Posted by Meagan Paullin on February 27, 2012 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 3 Comments

Secret to Saving on Baby Basics: Learn to Maximize Amazon Savings

Baby Bargain Mondays with Amazon Mom

If you have to buy diapers, wipes, or formula in your local store, I definitely recommend using a site like Planning Family to stock up printable baby coupons, or subscribe to one of the free baby magazines like American Baby, to get more clipped coupons. But – the BEST way to save money on baby basics is by signing up for an Amazon Mom account, and taking advantage of the Subscribe and Save options.

What is Amazon Mom?

Amazon Mom is a FREE account on Amazon.com – And it gets you FREE 2-Day Amazon Prime Shipping on your purchases! How cool is that, right? Here’s how to sign up for an account:

Go to Amazon.com, and click on “Your Account” on the top right side.
Scroll down to the section called “Settings” – Then look for the option to enroll in Amazon Mom Membership.
When you click that, you go to a screen with a few basic questions – then bam! You are set up with a new Amazon Mom account – Easy peasy.

{Ok – UPDATE ALERT!!! – I’m being told that there is currently a wait list to get into the Amazon Mom program. This is SUPER weird, since it’s a membership – not something that can “run out”, you know? But – It’s definitely worth signing up for, and I hope none of you have to wait very long – it’s SUCH an awesome way to save. If you are able to sign up without a wait list, let me know when it changes! Thank you to the awesome ladies who informed me of this new change!!}

Subscribe and Save

On many items like Diapers, wipes, and formula – You’ll see the regular option to purchase, then an option to “subscribe and save” right underneath of that. When you subscribe, you set up an automated shipment of that product – but you get it at a big discount! So, if you know that you go through 3 packages of baby wipes a month, you set up a new 12 pack shipment to arrive every 4 months. AND – you can cancel that shipment anytime, with no penalties – it’s super simple.

Here’s an example of the savings:

You need diapers, and maybe you’re using the Gifts to Grow rewards program, so you buy the Pampers Baby Dry Diapers Economy Pack. It’s always cheaper to buy diapers in bulk – This package of 192 is only $47 dollars, which is .25 per diaper. Not bad, but we can do better!

First, switch from One-Time Delivery to Subscribe and Save – It brings the cost of the diapers down to $37.75 – a savings of 20%, bringing the diapers down to only .20 cents per diaper.
Next – you’ll often find coupons after you sign up for Amazon Mom – Like this one on the Pampers: “Save $1.00 with this Coupon – Clip this coupon to save $1.00 on this product when you buy from Amazon.com.”
Click the button to “Clip” that coupon – You just saved another dollar!

Using this great Amazon feature saves you time, since you don’t have to keep running out to the store to buy more diapers, saves you a ton of money, and if you buy Pampers – the points from these big boxes of diapers earn you FREE Shutterfly Photo Packages with Pampers Gifts to Grow. You can’t get much better than that, right?

Baby Bargain Mondays

Every Monday is Baby Bargain Monday on Amazon – with loads of great deals on baby stuff like cribs, car seats, and toys – so it’s a great time to shop. Make sure to look for the “Lightning Deals” on baby goods every Monday too – You’ll find some amazing prices.

Free Amazon Credits

When you use sites like Swagbucks, MySurvey, or MyView, you can cash in and build up a ton of free Amazon Gift Card credits too – which can make some of these awesome deals totally free! I have bought almost all of Abby’s diapers and wipes on Amazon, and most of her toys too – and I’ve paid cash for less than half of that. Learning how to maximize your Amazon savings is the BEST way I have found to save money on baby basics.

Have a friend who would love this? Make sure to Stumble, Tweet, or Share it to Facebook!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on January 9, 2012 Filed Under: Deals and Coupon Codes, Busy Mom Solution, Shopping | 3 Comments

Free Samples from David Yurman, John Frieda, Best Buy, and MORE!

New Free Samples Available!

Check out all of the new freebies and samples that are available today on MySavings –

Fragrance samples from David Yurman collection.
John Frieda Haircare samples packs.
Best Buy Free Movie Rentals.
Garnier – Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream Sample.
Free Barista Prima K-cups.
Great stuff, right?

Get all of these, and tons more, on MySavings today!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on December 20, 2011 Filed Under: Freebies | No Comments

How did I miss this?? Check out Craftsy Today!

Crafting + Deals + Classes = Craftsy!

I don’t know how I missed this until now…. Have you heard of Craftsy? It launched in May of this year, and is the fastest growing online community for Crafters – with over 500,000 monthly unique visitors already! Obviously, I’m late in learning about this, and have been totally missing out. Maybe you’ve missed it too?

Here are a couple of the rad features:

Terrific online classes from amazing instructors for beginning, intermediate and advanced quilters, knitters, crocheters, sewists, jewelry makers, and other crafters. A little something for everyone!
Astonishingly good deals on crafting supplies: organic yarn, lovely fabrics and fat quarters from top designers, high quality needles, pretty beads and sparkly things – always high quality, always beautiful, always amazingly priced.

Sounds good, right?

Check out Craftsy today – and let me know what you think!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on December 20, 2011 Filed Under: Shopping | 1 Comment

Beech Nut Baby Food Coupons – Plus Freebies and Deals!

Big Savings on Beech Nut Baby Food!

Abby ate anything – From the very first time I put a spoon up to her mouth, there was NOTHING that she wouldn’t finish. She’s my little Chunka :) I have a Baby Brezza, and made most of her baby food – but I’m a busy momma, and there were plenty of times that she got jars of pre-made food too. Beech Nut was my favorite – the flavor, texture, and color are much closer to “real” foods. And Abby ate them twice as fast as other baby foods, so I know she preferred them too! {Lol.} I know feeding a baby gets expensive quick, so I wanted to share these great coupons I found with you guys –

Printable Beech Nut Coupons

More Baby & Toddler Coupons:

Baby & Toddler Freebies:

American Baby Magazine – Free year subscription, packed full of promotions and coupons in addition to their super helpful tips!
Baby Talk Magazine – Another one that I relied on for great tips, and amazing savings!
Free Baby Book – This makes a really cool surprise for family living far away – Set up a full book, with pics and memories, and then send the access link to grandparents. They’ll LOVE it!
Planning Family – Great resource for diaper coupons. Plus, check out their updated free sample section a couple times a week to stock up on food, formula, and other must-haves.
More Baby Freebies – This site is similar, and also filled with great freebies and coupons, plus resources to find more savings.

Baby & Toddler Deals:

Christmas Ornaments – Make really fun personalized ornaments for Baby’s First Christmas, or to build a yearly collection for your kids.
Totsy -Huge savings on toys, fashion, shoes, and gear for little ones. They also have events for moms too, with really great deals on accessories and fashion. It’s one of my go-to’s for deals.