Since becoming a stay at home mom 4 years ago, I've become very frugal. My husband and I went from a $50,000 a year income to a $25,000 income. We have 4 children under 5. Needless to say, we have to be careful with our money! I'm proud to say we have 0 credit card debt, but our kids still have nice clothes and too many toys! Here are my favorite website I use to both save money and still have nice things:
U AND I TRADE
http://www.uanditrade.com/aspx/createAccount.aspx Code: 80636
When you first sign up at U and I Trade, you get 10 points free which you can use on numerous items. With points, you purchase items for your family that other people are "trading away." You get rid of things you don't need and get a lot of fun stuff in the mail! It is a little like Ebay but there is NO money involved except for the cost of shipping for you to mail items. You can trade away coke codes, pampers codes, etc. and NEVER have to pay shipping!
WALGREENS REBATES
http://www.walgreens.com/store/rebateclub.jsp Every month, Walgreens has new rebates in the Easy Saver catalog. You pay out of pocket and then fill our your rebate form on-line. Within about a week, you get all your money back plus 10% if you requested a Walgreens gift card. They pay you to try new, full-sized products!
DIAPERS.COM
$10 off: DIAPERTIME
http://www.diapers.com You can use codes, manufacturer's coupons, and there are often promotions for more $10 off credits (say you order and then don't for a few months--they'll give you another free $10 in your account to bring you back!) Plus, you can get referral credits. The diapers are often cheaper than in the store, there is free shipping, and you even get a free 1 year sub. to Parenting magazine with your first order.
FREE BOOKS AND DVDS
http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=cmj53 http://www.swapadvd.com/index.php?n=7&r_by=cmj53 At paperbackswap and swapadvd, there are numerous board books, children's books, and hundreds of kid's DVDs. If you sign up, you could order some today. Of course, there are mommy items, too! You get 2 free book credits and 1 free DVD credit just for signing up and posting 10 items. If you trade away any items, you get one credit each. You also get credit for referrals. You NEVER have to put in credit card info or anything like that. These websites are great and my children LOVE getting new DVDs and books in the mail. : )
FREE PRODUCT REFERRER
www.bzzagent.com
Sign up for Bzzagent and fill out a couple surveys about your interests, and they send you full sized products in hopes you'll tell friends and family about them. So far, I've been a member for a month and have received free full sized cleaning products including Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Scrubber and Plege Multi Surface Cleaner (both of which are amazing, I might add!) ; )
FREEBIE GROUPS
I belong to Yahoo Freebie groups which post the best samples and freebies available all the time. Here are a few I recommend:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freebiesformoms http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freebiecafe http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freebeescafe --
Edited by MamaOf4Under5 at 09/24/2008 9:03 AM PDT
