Toy Subscription Services

Really? Toy sets for rent! Here is a list of toy subscription rental places that sends kits that revolve around themes for children up to age seven. I wish I had known about this. This service would be great for preschool at home. Anything you like you can pay for and keep, otherwise you sent it back and get a new set delivered to your home. The subscription prices are competitive, and are similar to the cost of a Netflix subscription or basic cable service - not a bad deal for learning.

Free Printable Character Kitten Posters for Young Children

I've got these hung up. I point to them often! ;) Source of images here.

More freebies here.

Saving Money at Dollar Stores for Groceries and Other Items

I give up! I'm tired of coupons and searching for sales at the grocery stores. Since food prices have risen, food has actually become the same or less expensive per ounce at the dollar stores. I used to purchases larger sizes to penny pinch per ounce, but it's hardly worth it now - the gap is closing fast. It's also a hassle to store the larger sizes, break them down, and keep them fresh until our small family of four uses it up.

My husband and I have lost thirty pounds each, and we will be on a low calorie diet for life. We use much less food, and our dollar store now has convenient smaller bags of frozen fruit and veggies, cream cheese, low calorie healthy ingredient frozen meals(Chinese, Jamaican, and healthy choice or lean cuisine(low sodium ones). They even sell frozen chicken, eggs, cheese, bread, sugar, milk, salt, baking soda, vinegar, 100% juices, steel cut oats, etc. I have one other source for low cost foods, mostly for fat free yogurts, chicken(.69 cents a pound for thighs) and turkeys, and that is our discount grocery, Save-A-Lot. I get my mixed salad greens at a higher price range grocery store because they are very fresh, organic and last me a week. I got an organic mixed greens salad at Wallyworld that only lasted me a few days before it became a soggy mess. I had to dump almost the entire carton out!

I also buy my trash bags at the dollar stores(scented 28 count), and condiments, spices, dish soap, drain cleaner, sponges, cleaning supplies, toys, craft supplies, storage containers, socks, hair accessories, hand soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, kitchen tools, school supplies, medicines, feminine products, and much more.

I'm now seeing $40-50 food receipts when I go shopping, just like a few years ago. We are using less, wasting less, and my waist line is shrinking! I'm still very careful about checking ingredients, and the dollar store(our local Dollar Tree) has been stocking healthier foods now. I was so surprised to see 100% steel cut oats there! Some of their canned foods are a bit more expensive than our discount grocery, so I'm careful about this.

Anyway, we are making do with less and keeping to a diet of more whole foods, or at least food products with more whole food ingredients. We are using Dr. A's Habits of Health: The path to permanent Weight Control and Optimal Health nutrition book as a guide.

Check out the .99 Cent Chef for free recipes. He has a good salmon cake recipe, but I substitute butter beans for the bread crumbs for a lower carb option .

Collection of Children's Winter Art Project Ideas

See here. I love this Van Goghesque snow man.

Explore Europe's Cultural Collections

Europeana is Europe’s multilingual digital library, museum and archive.

Source: europeana.eu via Alexandra on Pinterest

Click first source link below image.

Canceling Cable Television and the Landline

We barely watch television now that we have wifi internet, which is a great deal at $50.00 per month with unlimited access. So, we'll be canceling the cable which is almost $29.00 a month(basic). There are plenty of free children's videos on YouTube, and free movies and shows(for my Sci-fi loving husband) on Amazon with a Prime membership. Paying for a few extra local channels is a waste. We should still pick up PBS for my daughter, who is the only one who watches the television, and only for PBS Kids, and Nick Jr. when we had it. Of course, even these children's educational shows can be seen for free on the program sites and YouTube.

We canceled the landline during the summer, and we are pleased with the quality of the free Google Voice for telephone service. We have prepaid phones for emergencies or when we are on the go.

I think we've cut as much as we are willing in these areas in order to maintain our quality of life. Both children and husband are visual learners, so all are drawn to the internet for learning and relaxation. My husband is always on his Kindle, and the children do a good amount of ebook reading now. I do a lot of reading online, but also use our public library for books. I keep in touch with family via email, chat, and FB, so for me the internet has been convenient for keeping in touch with busy extended family. Pinterest and blogging has been a wonderful way to expand my horizons, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. Internet access is worth every penny!

So, we've whittled down our media/phone expenses to wifi and prepaid phones. We'll save $348.00 a year on the cancellation of cable television, and I think the landline/dial-up cancellation savings was about $700 a year. Our replacement costs for internet, television(free), and phone is $600 a year. This brings our savings to $448 per year. Although not mentioned, we had switched from Netflix($14.95 a month) to Amazon Prime($80.00 a year) in July of last year. This saved us $99.00 a year.

We've saved a total of $547.00 per year, which with tax and social security increases, and inflation should put us right back where we started, and maybe behind! lol.

Update: We picked up 22 channels with a digital television antennae - very happy with this choice. The rabbit ear antennae was $10.99 at Best Buy.

Browser Extension Coupon Locator for Checkouts

I found this coupon searcher here. It saves a bit of time and money by searching for coupons for you at checkout when shopping online.
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I used this today and got a discount with no problems. I just clicked on the promo/coupon code area at checkout and a selection of codes appeared.

Cashback Comparison Bookmarklet

Great find if you do a lot of online shopping! I've got one of these comparison sites linked to my sidebar, but this new site is more comprehensive, covering newer cashback/rebate sites and credit card cashback savings.

See here, Saving Cashback. I didn't use the bookmarklet, but did bookmark the site for future searches. I added this site to my sidebar.

I just found 13% cashback for 1800PetMeds, and 10% cashback for Zennioptical. I usually get half this amount back. I also found cashback for DollarTree.com and DollarGeneral.com!

HT to Best of Money Saving Tips 2012.

Around the World

Early Elementary New Year's Day Worksheet Freebie

The entire lesson is here, but she is offering these two pages free. Just right click on the images of the pages and save.

The first worksheet needs a comma added after "Greece"in the fourth paragraph. I'm using these with a first grade student, and we'll expand upon this information with books, including a discussion about luck from a Christian perspective.

Also see vintage children's text: Yule-tide in Many Lands, free to read online or download here.

Happy New Years!

God bless in the new year.

DIY Collapsible Cardboard Playhouse

Source: sheknows.com via Cassie on Pinterest

Free Printable Vintage Bookmarks

Source: thevintagemoth.blogspot.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

This would make a cute bookmark! Just add text with an image editor like Picasa.

And this one too:

Source: Uploaded by user via Alexandra on Pinterest

Frugal Body Exfoliators

I could never use body exfoliaters because they were too rough on my skin. Now that I'm older, my skin is thicker, and it does not renew itself as readily.  I was having problems with dry skin where I'd have some flaky areas on my arms. Moisturizers did not help; then I tried exfoliating again and my skin became really soft! My hands look better too.

Here's what I discovered:

As Asian exfoliating washcloth. I got the extra rough one, and it's more like a towel because it is long and can be used to scrub across your back with two hands. I add a strong soap on the towel, Palmolive clear dish soap, if you can believe it. I have oily skin and this works wonders. It washes out easily and can be hung to dry on a shower caddy.
Cure Series Japanese Exfoliating Bath Towel from OHE - Super Hard Weave - Blue, 120cm

The second exfoliating tool I found useful for keeping my skin extra clear was a facial brush. It was stiff on the first use, but now it is soft. I use a gentle castile soap on my face(Dr. Bronners or an organic African black soap). My facial skin looks years younger and the blemishes have cleared.

Bass Brushes Facial Cleansing Brush


 Both items should last a good long time. Check the reviews out on these items.

Free DIY Picasa Flashcards and Worksheets

With some tweaking, Google's free Picasa makes some really nice flashcards and worksheets. I made some flashcards by using images, faded by using "pencil sketch" and the "fill light" applications, then added it to "collage". Each finished picture was copied (clicked on file), and then the original amended with the new word. If you repeat this six times, you can get an entire collage sheet of printable flashcards. Worksheets are made using the full page. Use shift dash for answer lines. I did the regular short dash for the worksheet below, and the answer lines were a little too high. Font size can be adjusted easily and so can written sections which can be moved and centered manually. The Picasa text on picture application is very user friendly.

 I love being able to add any picture that I like and customizing worksheets, copywork pages, and story starters. I used free coloring pages for these. Not my first choice, but SpongeBob really makes her eager to learn, so I go with it. She loves snails, and I guess Gary the Snail speaks to her. Anyway, this is a super inexpensive way to customize your own educational items.

I incorporated many of the sight words and sound out words that she is currently learning with the CLE Learning to Read Program. The ease of learning and smiles I got with these homemade worksheets and flashcards was wonderful. She did them eagerly in lightening time. I plan to make more to supplement her Pathway Readers and Bob Books.

ClipArtEtc has hundreds of vintage free clipart which you can used for backgrounds.
























Freebie: sight word list

Source: createdbyteachers.com via Jessica on Pinterest

The Night Before Christmas Vintage Children's Paper Cut-out

Source: google.fr via Alexandra on Pinterest

Gingerbread Houses Free Children's Printables

Source: blog.thecelebrationshoppe.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

More free gingerbread themed educational items here.