I know, I’ve been kind of a lazy blogger lately. I got swept away with the holidays, school break, illnesses and teething. It’s not going to get any easier, as I’m picking up an additional day at the office as of this month, and I have also resolved that this year is the year of *being* rather than *doing* after 11, yes 11, years where we have had one form of major upheaval or another in a row (new jobs, babies, 1000-mile moves, dot-com bust, graduate school, and more). I can list them all out for you if you don’t believe me!

Here’s what else we’ve been up to, sagely…

• The wonderful JessTrev’s comment reminded me that I too had endured a hassle of a process to transfer an Rx to Walgreens to obtain my $25 gift card, but obtain it I did and now I’m waiting for some good deals to roll in so that I can see how far I can stretch it! (And this week at Target you can get a $10 GC for a transferred or NEW Rx. Much less hassle with a brand new one, I assume…)

• Like everyone else, I’m super confused about what is going on with homemade and second-hand goods in relation to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (the “CPSIA”). And remember, I am a government affairs professional by trade, so if I’m not getting it, I can only imagine how inscrutable it is for those of you with no experience with the federal government. When there is clarity, I hope to be able to pass it along.

• I’m suddenly obsessed with obtaining pieces of my great grandmother’s china. I have a covered serving dish and a few dessert plates and a few other family members have some other odd items. I think I would ultimately like enough that I could serve dinner to my immediate family occasionally, when my boys are old enough not to be a complete risk for breaking anything.

• I’m planning two birthday parties for March (how did this happen so quickly???), looking for a beach rental back home for August, and starting the hunt for daycare in the fall, all with an eye to making the best choices for our family while minding our budget and the earth, too. It’s a tall order sometimes, but that’s why we start early.

• Twittering! I just started yesterday, so join me for deals when I find them and other ramblings.

• Someone please send me their old sippy cups so that we can find one these boys will use without buying out a plastic factory in the meantime! I want to be done with bottles ASAP! What I might be done with, amazingly enough, is buying formula. We have a bit of a stockpile and the little boys are eating more and more solid food each day, so my days of chasing Earth’s Best coupons and having to go to the store constantly might finally be coming to an end. Anything that gives me more time with these guys and less time with a shopping cart is good in my book!

A day late, but because of some newly posted deals, certainly not a dollar short!

Grab a free sample of Barbara’s Bakery organic cereals and join the consumer panel for more sampling opportunities.

My home-away-from-home BeCentsAble beat me to reporting that Mambo Sprouts has their new online coupons up. Mambo Sprouts also promises more deals if you follow them on twitter! BeCentsAble also links to some great coupons at eatingwell.com. I could use extras of the method and Organic Valley coupons if you’re printing any of the others and won’t be using them

The new Whole Deal flyer (PDF) is out with Mambo Sprouts manufacturer’s coupons, too. I’ll be detailing all that can be found in there later this week. So much good stuff, generally combined with Whole Foods sale prices, making it all the more a value!

Additionally, Lynn at Organic Mania passes along a great rebate deal for organic baby food at SuperTarget:

Now when you buy any 4 Mom Made Meals or Munchies at SuperTarget by January 19th, you can redeem your UPC codes for a $9 SuperTarget gift card plus special savings codes from GDiapers and Bebe au Lait! Grab your rebate form and all the details here.

I broke couponer’s rule #1 this weekend and paid the price for it: We ventured on the spur of the moment to the bigger Target south of our neighborhood (the one near us is very small, sort of a glorified Walgreens) and I didn’t have my coupons with me! If I’d had my little binder, I would have saved even more on Earth’s Best baby food and had my Target gift card with me as well.

I went back today, since the baby food is surprisingly (and somewhat disturbingly) cheaper than Whole Foods and I certainly had all of my money saving accessories with me this time! Earth’s Best food is not cheap at all on Amazon, unless you’re like me and happen to have a use for 24 jars of Peach Oatmeal Banana for only $15.60. I’ve seen that variety, and only that variety, at that price more than once now. If only they’d discount the triplet favorite, Green Beans and Rice, then we’d be talking (and ordering in bulk).

I have to admit, I’m pretty glad I went back, because I stacked a bunch of coupons and even got paid to walk away with some cat food, which doesn’t happen to me often because of the kind of things I’m usually buying with coupons. And I scored big at the 90% off Christmas clearance, with packs of Hanukkah cards (16 cards, ready for 4×6 photos) for $0.69 a box and some pretty snowflakes for decorating or gift tags for $0.03 each.

I need to get better at keeping my coupons with me, since my time is so precious these days I really can’t be shopping twice in a week at stores 6 miles from my house. Any ideas to help me remember them (and my reusable shopping bags, too)???

parenting

It’s the first week of what (so far) has been a good year! I’d like to see what’s on the mind of my big boy (self portrait above), so I think a yearly interview tradition is certainly in order. (At Let’s Explore, via Crafty Crow)

I was thinking about signing up for a rent-a-toy service since I like having new things for the little guys but hate the current buy-use-clean-resell cycle we are in with all of the clothes, diapers, gear, and everything else in our house right now. If just a few toys could go somewhere else without me having to worry about it, that would be so, so nice!

crafting

Lots to make from old sweaters:

• Diaper covers (via, of all places, msn Money), and
• Patchwork blankets (Martha Stewart via ohdeeoh)

resources

Mom is Broke has a few quick recipes for homemade cleaners, reminding me I need some more Murphy’s Oil Soap soon.

Baby Cheapskate shares a new bargain-a-day site: Green Baby Bargains. Mama needs some discount AIO diapers, people!

I’m off eBay right now after a bad experience with a seller (long story for another time, probably soon), so  SwapItShop caught my interest.

Savings on two things that I love and that happen to go well together (IMHO)…

Free Ben & Jerry’s! Here’s how it works (via From Wags to Riches):

First, I see on the ad preview that Ben and Jerry’s pints are 2/$6 next week, 1/4-1/9.

Now, go to this link and sign up to be a Chunk Spelunker (hehe!) and join the mailing list. They will then send you an email with a ‘bricks’ coupon (mine came in seconds) and you can print two of these by simply hitting the back button when you are done printing the first one. The coupon is for $3 off any pint of ice cream, frozen yogurt or sorbet.

So then you take yourself and your coupons down to our beloved Walgreens and get yourself two free pints! One for yourself and one to share. Or not. What you do with your ice cream is your business.

Didn’t get anything just for you for the holidays? Maybe a free magazine will make you feel a little better Answer a few questions and get 2 years of Wondertime free! (Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom for the info.)