Mir at Want Not details a great price on Organic Valley milk boxes:

But look what I just discovered—they’re running a special on Organic Valley milk boxes right now! Packs of 24 are marked down to $25, plus you can use coupon code VALLEY55 to get another 20% off, so you’ll get 24 boxes of organic, aseptic milk for $20 (that’s about $.83/box).

“Deal”icious Mom posts about a free subscription to Kiwi Magazine, that also happens to come with $5 in Earth’s Best coupons. Seriously, don’t ever pay for a magazine subscription, okay? I get Kiwi, Wondertime, Family Fun, and Readymade for free, and so will you if you hunt around long enough.

And on the topic of Earth’s Best, they are offering a rebate deal right now for coupons, samples, toys and more, exactly the moment when I am no longer spending $100 on their products each week! It’s great to be done with formula, of course, but I could have gotten a lot of free stuff if they had started this promotion any earlier.

Bought anything at a cosmetics counter before you knew all the crap in conventional makeup? Like me, you’re probably entitled to some free products! Check out the list of products and then look at Skin Deep, the cosmetics safety database, to find something with ingredients you can live with. I’m looking at the Clinique Moisture Surge, myself. Here’s more information:

To be eligible for the money, you must “currently be a resident of the United States who purchased department store cosmetics in the United States between May 29, 1994 through July 16, 2003.”

For a list of which stores are involved in the suit, and how you can redeem your $25, visit the official lawsuit website at http://www.cosmeticssettlement.com/.

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)???

It’s been a long couple of days away from the computer, so I’m going to put a few things out there, in no special order…

It seems like every once in awhile, one of the many blogs I read does a round up of all of the current printable coupons for organic groceries and baby stuff. The latest is from Green Mom Finds. Enjoy!

I read this entire article on Depression-Era posters and modern remakes in Readymade with great interest. The posters these are inspired by are from my favorite exhibit at the Smithsonian American History Museum. As an American History major in college and a constant student of political communications, they’ve always appealed to me. The new ones are excellent, and some how I managed to miss… free to download!

Skip to My Lou rounds up more free downloads — all sorts of adorable gift tags, including some especially for for handmade gifts.

Eco Child’s Play has a bunch of links for quick, thrifty and eco-friendly Christmas crafts to do in the waning days before the holiday. I especially love the idea of Lego ornaments and will be filing that away as teacher and grandparet gift potential for next year. And as soon as we’re clearing off the mantel, I’ll be making some of the cool holiday card puzzles featured at The Crafty Crow (which has had a pile of nice Hanukkah crafts lately, too, although as you can tell by the picture from my living room, we believe any project can be a Hanukkah project around here…)

What are you making with your kids this week?

As I’ve mentioned before, my 6 month old triplets haven’t been exclusively breastfed since they were a few weeks old. I’m a lactivist at heart, but a realist since I know that each family has to make it’s own choices based on very individual circumstances. I am, however, always on the hunt for the best price for organic infant formula, and I imagine I’m not the only one!

Here are the best practices I’ve found for saving on this incredibly expensive product, that you can use whether you are full time formula feeding or supplementing just occasionally:

• Know your price per ounce (PPO). If you don’t know how much you pay on a regular basis, you can’t really tell if you are getting a deal when you are talking about multiples of 25.7 or 12.9 ounce containers. Because I am an absolute dork, I devised my own spreadsheet:

By calculating your everyday best price (in this case, I was basing it off of the Diapers.com price for a case (4-25.7 ounce cans of Earth’s Best, highlighted in purple) divided by the total number of ounces, you determine the price to beat (again in this case, $1.05/ounce).

• Use your online resources wisely. Armed with your everyday best price, look for anything that will help you cut that cost. Visit Baby Cheapskate for the weekly diaper and formula specials updates. Bid on lots of formula or checks/coupons on eBay. Trade formula checks you won’t use for brands that you will on craigslist.

This is where knowing your PPO is essential. It doesn’t make sense to bid up a lot of formula beyond the price you could get it in the store (and don’t forget to add shipping!). With my spreadsheet, you can plug in different prices to determine what your maximum bid on a lot should be. If $1.05 is your standard, you can determine what PPO you’re willing to pay. You might then bid up to $1.00 PPO, and if you get outbid at that point, you know it’s just not worth it.

• Love your manufacturer. Get on Similac’s mailing list for formula checks. Email Baby’s Only and tell them how much you love their product. I have gotten the most, and the highest value, coupons from contacting companies directly. Give it a shot, you have nothing to lose!

• Ask your retailer. I am currently paying less than $90/case for Earth’s Best formula (about $0.85 PPO!), before coupons (of which I have many, from contacting Earth’s Best, buying them for pennies on the dollar on eBay, and by being at the right place at the right time for a pile of store coupons). How am I getting organic formula for the price of conventional? Whole Foods special orders for me by the case! If you talk to your store’s grocery buyer, they might be able to help you out. At Whole Foods, it’s standard practice, and you get a 10% case discount to boot.

Want the spreadsheet? Shoot me an email and I’ll send it to you. (It’s a Google Doc, so no software necessary.)

Want to get started swapping formula checks to save money on your own? I have a small pile of Enfamil checks (4 x $5, nothing earth shattering!) that will go to a random commenter. Of course, you could use them for yourself, or, preferably, as currency for a trade for Similac checks to buy Similac Organic. Comments will be open until 9PM central Friday (Oct 3) and then I’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner!

A quick add to the baby shower gift list: Priddy books has added a line printed on recycled paper with natural inks!

Leaving Excess has a good check list of things to do now to be prepared for winter. It made me realize that we might have a winter coat that still fits P, but that he probably needs a new hat, snow pants, boots, and mittens.

I’m both intrigued and perplexed by the Kid’s Busy Box over at Cool Mom Picks. I’m guessing there’s excess packaging. I’m guessing the materials aren’t the best out there. I’m guessing that you could assemble the pieces yourself for a fraction of the price. What I’m liking is the idea of creating a list of items that could be put together, perhaps as a gift or to bring when visiting family members without small children, using better sourced ingredients. Add that to the huge list of future posts/big ideas

Wonder what to do with those various plastic bottle caps that aren’t recyclable? Aveda will take them.

Visit Aveda.com to find a salon or store where you can drop off your bottle caps. The Aveda Bottle Cap Collection program accepts rigid plastic caps from soda, juice, shampoo, and laundry-detergent containers, as well as other flip-top caps.

Stretching a Buck has good news — Kiss My Face has launched a brand new line of kids products! They contain no artificial colors or fragrances, no parabens, and no Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Their kids line includes everything from lip balm to toothpaste to shampoo. Through the end of the month, use her code KMFBLOG3 to get 30% off of your entire purchase when you shop at their online store here.

A couple of great how-tos:

• Get top resale dollar for kids clothes
• Make felted wool yarn balls
• Sew cloth napkins

Take a short (and not serious) quiz at Organic Valley and be entered to win a year of free milk. Is that free milk for a household of 6? Because I have a feeling we’re going to be ging through a lot of milk pretty soon.

Target has some great baby specials this week. First, via Attention Target Shoppers, get a Free $5.00 Target Gift Card with the purchase of any 2 of products – including Born Free Feeding Bottles, Similac Powder (including Organic. Gerber Stage 2 double packs are 2 for $0.89. I’m hoping to swing into my store ASAP and see if that includes the organic line, too.

I haven’t used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos since our days at the dining co-op in undergrad, but I might grab a free sample just to see how I could incorporate some into our cooking now.

Have ezcema? Or perhaps triplets with ezcema? (Maybe that’s just me…) Baby Cheapskate shares a deal on Aquaphor. It kills me to be using something petroleum based on my little guys, but it’s better than the prescription steroid creams alternatives we’ve been presented with. Yuck.

Since I started reading the coupon and freebie blogs recently, I am just beginning to see items show up in my mailbox that I requested. The biggest thing I learned from the huge number of give-aways out there is that companies love to give their stuff away. Also, it is just as rare to encounter a helpful customer service person when you need one as it is for those on the other end to deal with someone who isn’t irate and complaining. Because of that, I’ve found that if you ask, you may get coupons, samples, or even free items that aren’t generally available.

For example, I emailed Seventh Generation when the triplets were born, inquiring as to whether they had a multiples discount program like some of the big diaper companies. They don’t, but they very cheerfully responded to my message and sent me a huge envelope of coupons including 4 or 5 free packs of diapers and lots of $1/off other products.

When I new we would be starting solids soon, I did the same thing over at Earth’s Best, letting them know we use their formula (Similac Organic is out, long story for another time) and all of their baby food products. I didn’t receive an email back, so I didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to opening the mailbox yesterday and I had a nice letter from their customer service, three $5/off formula coupons, six FREE jar of baby food coupons, and three FREE other food item (up to $2.99)! That’s about $35 in savings for sending an email.

Granted, I have triplets, so your mileage with a singleton may vary, but that’s not really the point. I got $25 in store credit from drugstore.com when my BOGO order of Sassy products got all wonky earlier this week, and I never mentioned that I’m a triplet mama. Basically, I find that it’s worth asking, it’s worth dealing with customer service (especially virtually… all of these intances happened solely over email and totaled more than $100 in free stuff), because so few people do, and do so politely, that good things might happen to you. And when it’s a matter of sending a few emails, what have you got to lose?

Another Walgreens coupon! This one is for $10 off $40 and good tomorrow and Saturday. We’re trying a new formula with one of the triplets to see if it clears up his eczema (before switching all 3), so this will certainly help me stock up. That’s the great thing about identical triplets, you can always have a control group.

I am itching to try Tastybaby frozen organic baby food. Before I order mass quantities from Amazon, I’m going to check it out locally (we happen to have one of the few national retailers near us) and will report back.

Freebies 4 Mom is talking laundry and links to Ecover’s coupon page, where there is $0.75 any product and $1 off laundry items.

Want Not has a code for $25 when you open an ING checking account. I’m going to count the pennies I make (post-nanny paycheck) when I go back to work very carefully and I definitely want my own account and debit card for that money, since I am going to try to contain certain expenditures (read: eBay) to that account. Perhaps this would be a good way to do it.

I had a lot in the queu, but then I downloaded the Upromise toolbar and Firefox got all wonky on me… Still having some issues, but I have a lot of kids to send to college, so I’m going to leave it for awhile and see if it gets straightened out.

My husband shared with me Lifehacker’s write up of the Real Simple guide to cleaning household surfaces. Do you think that’s a hint??? Meanwhile, simple.green.organic.happy reposts the invaluable Green Cleaning 101.

To file under “when I have a little more time”, Crafting a Green World reminds me, again, that I want to join Ravelry ASAP. The Crafty Crow reminds me that in addition to cloth napkins, I can use my vintage linens for pillowcase dresses (via mayamade) for the little girls in my life.

Baby food in the slow cooker. It’s just one of those sentences where every word makes me happy.

Finally, a write-up of eco-friendly vacationing at Re-Nest (full NYT article as well). We’re already thinking about a big trip for our next wedding anniversary, so I will be checking out some of these spots.

In addition to Walgreens, there is a good Babies R Us coupon out there (PDF via My Priceless Pennies). BRU sells Seventh Generation diapers and wipes, Earths Best multipacks of organic baby food, and some of the newer organic cotton baby goods like sheets and portable cribs. In fact, they have a whole natural and organic section of their website. Who knew?

My Priceless Pennies also has a great post up about a current photobook deal from Shutterfly I’m going to try. We have a lot of birthdays in September, I think this might be a good choice for my mom.