Guest is Best! Put your friends to the test!

Today’s post is by our friend Celia, who blogs at DealsForDayton.com. You should check it out! Among lots of other stuff, they have a comprehensive list of kids-eat-free deals that I love! Which, now that I read on, is kind of the point of this post. *ahem* Without further ado… we give you Celia!

**********

I love my birthday. I love cake, ice cream, gifts, and being the center of attention! But, my entire life, I’ve HATED my birth date. My birthday is smack-dab in the middle January. I seriously think it is the worst day of the year.

January is the coldest month of the year, when no one wants to go outside (even to a birthday party!). It is right after Christmas, when everyone realizes they over-spent on the holidays, so they skimp on birthday gifts. It snows a lot, which generates snow emergencies, frantic runs to the grocery store, icy roads, car accidents… you get the point. Seriously, January 13th is THE SUCKIEST day of the year! Who would want to celebrate with me on a day like that?! (Not to mention if it falls on a Friday…)

What’s a party-lovin’ girl to do? Well, this year I decided to change my birthday. It is now on April 13th. I acknowledge that my legal date of birth is January 13th, but I just refuse to celebrate it until April. Can you blame me?

My favorite part of my birthday is getting FREE stuff! Tons of restaurants and even a store or two help you celebrate your birthday with a FREE GIFT!!

Now, you can always go to a restaurant and HOPE that they might give you something for your special day, but you might strike out, and no one likes to hear, “no,” (especially on her birthday!). In order to avoid such situations, you can search around online and try to fine the sites that offer aforementioned “birthday goodies” or you can find a site that has already done the leg work for you!

If you live in the Dayton, Ohio area there is a site for you! (Although even if you don’t live in Dayton, there are lots of places that are national on the list) You can register away to get lots o’ free food and even retail coupons for your special day! (YAY!) While you’re there, you can also check out our Kids Eat Free list. If you combine the two, you got a cheap birthday celebration for the whole family! WAHOO!

So, have I inspired anyone else to change your birthday? What do you look forward to on your special day? (And leave the wrinkles out of this discussion!)

Also, now that everyone knows my birthday, I have high expectations for next year, what are you planning to get me? (My birthday list is close to Jenny’s, only add in a Shark vac n’ steam!) Thank you in advance.

Celia

Post to Twitter

A Fool and His Money…

The other day, I heard Kate yell from the living room, “Mom!! We need to buy Wonder Hangers!” Then she came running to me and said breathlessly “We need to buy Wonder Hangers! You can hang FIVE shirts in the same space it takes to hang ONE on a regular hanger!”

Do you know what she’s talking about? These:
wonder hanger

Apparently they show infomercials on Nickelodeon.

Later, I was bemoaning the state of her room, and she reminded me that her closet would be MUCH more organized if she only had Wonder Hangers.

She’s also convinced that her dad is going to buy her a Snuggie for her birthday.
snuggie

A few days ago, she asked my grandma if she would buy her a BumpIt.
bumpit

Because every five-year-old needs a beehive.

And so it begins. We can’t really hold her responsible for her inclination to be interested in anything marked “As Seen On TV!” The poor girl comes from a long line of people who are suckers for infomercials.

Case in point: Yesterday I actually considered buying her a BumpIt. (And yes, I can see you all cringing.)

I was somewhat concerned about the message I’d be sending to her if I did buy one, though, so I sought counsel from my BFF Jess. I emailed her:

Kate’s the flower girl for the Miss Basketball ceremony at the high school basketball game. The other day she told me she wanted a Bump It and I’m thinking of getting her one for tomorrow night, to give her a cute little hair do. Is that ok or is that crossing the line into cheerleading wigs and high school breast implants??

I knew Jess would give me good advice, and as I suspected she stopped me from hitting the “Buy It Now” button with her response:

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THE BUMP IT! I think it’s a fantastic idea in theory, but those things are a piece of junk. I bought them and could not get it to work right and it looked so silly. You should try “making” a bump it by teasing her hair… look online or YouTube or something!

Crisis averted. I did not waste any money or risk taking the first step toward Kate’s debut appearance on “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

So as you can see, Kate’s predisposition toward getting ripped off is an unfortunate side effect of her genetic make up. Need more examples?

My dad is the proud owner of a Swivel Sweeper.
swivel sweeper

Andy’s mom has given us the Pasta Pro pasta pro and the Moving Men moving men (both of which we still use, I might add), and just this Christmas she was the happy recipient of a Perfect Brownie pan perfect brownie (I totally want one of those – I love corner brownie pieces!).

This little “issue” we all have goes back even further in the family tree – recently our grandma told Jenny she wished she had a credit card because they sell a lot of things on TV that she’d really like to have. I’ve made a mental note to keep credit card applications away from her and Kate.

Speaking of credit cards… where is mine? I really want an InStyler.
instyler

Post to Twitter

I Likes To Shop for Free!

Despite the fact that Thursday was both Thanksgiving Day and my husband’s BIRTHDAY, I had to get me some DEALS! And CVS starts their “black Friday” sales on Thanksgiving Day instead of Friday. So at 10 a.m., my BFF Luanne and I hit CVS! My “regular” store wasn’t open (the horror!) so I went to another store that I used to frequent and happily two of my homies were the only ones working! That and the dozen donuts Tim Horton’s donuts Luanne & I brought them helped us have a really FUN shopping trip! Luanne and I each did 3 transactions, were able to use Rite Aid $5/$25 coupons because this CVS accepts competitor coupons, got a TON of freebies because they had everything in stock, and “made” a ton of ECBs. It was EPIC!! But of course, I forgot to take a picture. D’oh!

But never fear. Hungry for more deals, I went to Rite Aid and Walgreens and my “regular” CVS on Friday. Here’s what I got!

riteaidloot

The best score of the day was at Rite Aid. I got 2 Schick men’s razors, 3 Schick Intuition razors, and 3 packs of Schick disposables all FREE plus a penny. I also got the Scope, toothbrush, tampons, shampoo, & shave gel. I ended up spending $7.21 and will get over $8 back in rebates plus a $5 Rite Aid gift card! Yee-ha!!! Now that’s what I call shopping!!

Then I moved on to Walgreens for free deodorant, shave gel, and body wash, 99 cent crayons (64 pack Crayola! with sharpener!) and of course a gallon of milk. 🙂 Because we needed milk!

Finally, back to CVS to get a couple women’s razors that they didn’t have at the other store on Thursday (I graciously let Luanne have the one they did have in stock. ‘Cause I am big-hearted like that!)

It was a great drugstore freebie shopping weekend! And NO ONE was at the drugstores on Friday, so I didn’t risk traffic or being trampled to death. Woohoo!

Hope you got some great bargains this weekend. To see what everyone else got, check out Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!

Post to Twitter