TOOT TOOT for me on this beautiful sunny Tuesday! Spring is definitely in the air and to get myself in the spirit of cleansing the dreary winter days, I’ve been de-cluttering and re-organizing. Yesterday I cleaned out and re-organized under the sink. I swear I was under attack by the dust bunnies! I actually tossed out 3 bags of old lotions, make-up, and medicine! I went from “I can’t find anything” and “ooh I had that here?” to “ahh I can finally easily get to that without taking all of this other crap out”. It was such a nice feeling of victory and I definitely felt “lighter” after ridding all of that junk!

After purging all the junk out from under the sink I decided to tackle my son’s clothes as he appears to be going through another growth spurt. Lately I’ve been putting clothes to the side as he tells me they no longer fit. I THOUGHT this was working until I tried putting an overnight bag together for him and discovered his jeans too big in length and shirt a little too short. All I can say is “thank goodness” he’s only 9 and isn’t AS fashion conscious yet. LOL

Since I achieved success with de-cluttering earlier I grabbed him just before bed and together we went through EVERY PIECE of clothing both in drawers and in the closet hanging up. I was amazed at how much he had grown out of! Unfortunately he’s in between pant sizes so it appears I have some hemming to do since my little man is quite the shorty right now. After all the clothes were tried on and sorted, I happily (yet sadly too) found lots of drawer/closet space. Happy I no longer have the baskets filled with clothes from over flow, sad that we’ll soon need to go clothes shopping once again. In the end I have 3 garbage bag full of clothes to bless another little boy like we were.

What’s next on the list? Well, over the weekend I DID give away 57 books (this was amazingly not even 1 shelf of books!) and I have many more to weed out. I’ve promised my husband that since I prefer hardback to paperback I’d starting getting rid of the paperbacks and eventually replace the “good stories” with hardbacks as I come across them.

What are you doing to get into the “Spring” of things?

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I’ve gone back to work full time again but that’s no reason for me to go back to spending whatever like we used to. In fact being home for nearly 2 years with the family even while my husband’s work slowed down last year taught us we needed to do the opposite. Now that I’m working, I do have more coming in  BUT I’m watching the pennies come and go and saving for another rainy day while trying to pay off some debt. I’m actually amazed we made it on practically 1/3 of what we used to make but not something we wish to do again.

As I go along my journey towards financial freedom, I thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned so far…

• Shop on non-busy days (usually M,T,W and stay away from holidays) during off peak hours
• Buy in bulk when you can (toiletries, paper towels, household goods, toilet paper, meat, etc) – BJs, Costcos, and Sams are great places for bulk buying (you may even want to buy bulk with another person and split the cost to save money)
• Eat before you shop to avoid impulse food buying
• Create a shopping list and STICK to it
• Bring your coupons, pen and calculator while you shop to stick to your planned shopping budget
• Grow your own vegetables and herbs (salad & herb gardens are great to have around and don’t take long to grow)
• Buy local for your produce items
• Shop big once a month as weekly shopping can make your grocery budget higher
• Shop around for your deals, don’t go to just one place
• After shopping peak-hours you can often find deals in the deli section (bread, chicken, side dishes)
• Give yourself time to look for the deals and shop
• Plan to spend 1 day in the month for bulk freezer cooking and plan it into your shopping list (do this with friends and split the meals & cost)
• Start looking towards the bottom of the shelves, you can often find better deals as stores want to sell what’s at eye level
• Match coupons with sales & promos
• For clothes, shop 2nd hand; you might be surprised of all the brand name items and clothing pieces you may find a just a couple of dollars

WHAT’S YOUR FRUGAL BUYING TIP?

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Just when you thought he’d settled down, he’s off and running, on a mission to see more than 15 of the world’s favorite (and busiest!) attractions. As always, he’ll need your help to keep from getting hopelessly lost. Featuring sharp, all-new graphics optimized specifically for your iPhone and iPod Touch, Aefo Alfie is the anticipated new release from Von Nostrum Games. Using a simple-yet-powerful system of controls, search the teeming throngs of the world’s metropolises to find Alfie, wherever he’s wondered off too this time. But be forewarned: this guy just can’t sit still! – FROM THE VON NOSTRUM GAMES SITE

OUR THOUGHTS…Fun app that will keep all ages entertained searching for Alfie. Scan and enlarge your screen to try to find the lost Alfie. Reminds me of the Where’s Waldo books. Visit 2 countries with multiple locations. Even after finding him in all the locations, I found I still took time to find him where I’d already been! My 3 kids 4, 9, and 10 had fun helping me find Alfie and even I alone found the search amusing.

OUR OVERALL RATING…Thumbs up

HOW MUCH & WHERE TO BUY…$1.99 from iTunes

I received this review as a member of the Game Review Network. Visit the site to enter to win your own copy of this game.

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As a working mom of 3 I feel I rarely ever get the opportunity to watch good movies in the theater.

I usually have to wait until it comes out on DVD and in some cases that’s when Netflix or Redbox get them in.

What are some of the movies I can’t wait to see?
They are (click the links to see the trailers)…

Action, Fantasy, Adventure:

Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time (Jake Gyllenhaal)

The Sorcerers Apprentice (Nicholas Cage)

Clash of the Titans (Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Worthington)

Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway)

Super Hero:

Iron Man 2 (Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow)

Romantic Comedies:

The Backup Plan (Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin)

The Bounty Hunter (Jennifer Aniston & Gerard Butler)

The Last Song (Miley Cyrus)

What’s on your must see list?

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Celtic Woman, Songs from the Heart Giveaway Winner…

#5 -  Julie says: February 28, 2010 at 2:37 am – My favorite is “O, America!” but sometimes that changes with my mood. I’m an email subscriber (same email as the one entered in the comment form). Retweeted about the giveaway here: http://twitter.com/hafelina/status/9768003890 Thanks for the chance to win!

BareEscentuals Lipgloss Winner…

#7 – Kelly Deaton says: February 28, 2010 at 10:31 pm I posted on facebook. (Kelly Deaton) Kelly Deaton – secrets_girl23(at)yahoo(dot)com (aka) dkad23(at)gmail(dot)com http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100000303094340&ref=nf

OnlinePosterPrinting 18×24 Poster Winner…

#9 -  Julie says: March 1, 2010 at 12:58 am – Am a Twitter follower and tweeted about it here: http://twitter.com/hafelina/status/9813088656

**Thanks to all who participated this month at Farrah’s Little Place in the Blogosphere. Winners were randomly selected using random.org and will be contacted via email within 24 hours of this post for a mailing address. **

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You can imagine the look on my husband’s face as he overlooks my shoulder while I’m reading some frugal blog about someone buying $40+ worth of groceries for less than $5. He looks at me, looks back at the screens, views the name brand foods (that he’s missed bc I went on a generic fad THINKING I was saving money), looks at the receipts posted and says “now THAT’S something you MUST learn and I’ll help get whatever you need to do it!”. I look at him calmly of course (as I’m over the jaw dropping I once did every time I saw what others were doing) and tell him then I need to get my coupons in order, subscribe for coupons, get printer ink for internet coupons, etc etc etc…

So now I’m in the process of getting serious about couponing and frugal buying. Today I’m going to try working on my coupon binder. As I make it and get into it all, I thought I’d ask what & how others do it. In addition to the couponing to save, what else are you doing to save money on the purchases going on?

I’ve subscribed to my local Sunday paper, friends and family give me their leftover coupons, I save the coupons sent in the mail, I subscribe to Grocerygame.com, cellfire.com, coupons.com, grocerygadget.net; perhaps I’m in overload but we’ll see what ends up working for me and weed out what doesn’t.

So here are my questions for you…

• Do you have a coupon system? A binder, an accordion, envelopes, boxes? What do you use? What categories do you index them in?
• Do you use internet coupons in addition to the store & coupon inserts in the paper?
• Do you subscribe to coupon helpers like Grocery Game?
• Do you use shopping/coupon apps (cellfire.com, grocerygadget.net, coupons.com) on your computer or handheld device or are you a pen/paper kind of person?
• Do you have any couponing / frugal buying tips?
• Do you do a big monthly shopping trip or weekly trips w/ your coupons?

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I recently discovered that in mine. Family of course is a top priority but more importantly self-fulfillment is very important. If you’re not happy, how can you be all that you can be for your family? If you lose who you are as an individual (remember, we weren’t always “mommy” or “honey”) can you really be happy?

I tried being a stay at home mom for almost 2 years. In the beginning I loved it! I loved sleeping in, having a clean home, playing with the kids, enjoying the sun by the pool during the summers, making breakfast and healthy dinners, taking kids to and from school/practice. The list goes on. But then it happened…I felt like my brain was going to mush, days were filled with cartoon characters and Miley Cyrus (it gets old quick), and I was grumpy by the time my husband came home. I decided to blog more, connect with others online, network with businesses and individuals. Life started to regain more, then I wanted more. I realized that I needed more, needed more recognition, needed more intellectual challenge. Then my husband was laid off the week before Thanksgiving and though I had been looking for work for a year at that point, I went into high gear. The week before Christmas I was finally offered a job in a member marketing group where I felt more at home. Roles have switched at home until work picks up for him; he’s cleaning/organizing these days while I work and cook dinner when I get home.

As I was looking into mineral makeup at Bare Escentuals, visiting RethinkWhatMatters.com helped me in rethinking what matters to me. There are still things I’m working on to get that complete harmony in my life. Spiritual growth, academic achievement, physical/mental activity, etc.. Do you know what matters the most for balance in your life?

Born from employees rethinking makeup itself – the beauty brand found looking good is not about using artificial gunk to cover imperfections, but about enhancing what you’ve got.

Rethink What Matters invites women nationwide to shake up their foundation and sound off on topics that are more than just skin-deep—from going bare in public to discussing what freedom really feels like.

Each week at RethinkWhatMatters.com, a new discussion topic has been featured with five questions for all to answer, share with their friends and have the chance to instantly win free products and other fantastic goodies.  New topics and products will be featured weekly, posted each Friday to the site.  This week’s topic is “Rethink The Need to Find Yourself”!

HOW TO BUY…For about $15 you can buy it at a Bare Escentuals Boutiques, Sephora and Sephora.com, Ulta and select Nordstrom & Macy’s

THE GIVEAWAY…Thanks to Bare Escentuals I’m getting a shade (Sugar Plum…the shade you see below) to try out AND I get to give away a shade to one of my lucky readers! This giveaway ends on February 28th and a winner will be randomly selected via Random.org.

(1) Lucky reader will get to chose one of the following lip gloss shades (view the shades here):

• Cassis (Golden Rose)
• Chiffon (Nude Sand)
• Cupcake (Rose Pink)
• Iced Coffee (Java Cream)
• Sugar Plum (Purple Plum)
• Sugar Cookie (Pink Peach)
• Wild Honey (Golden Peach)

HERE’S HOW TO ENTER…Create a comment for each action as I use random.org to randomly select winners.

• MANDATORY: Become an RSS or E-mail Subscriber (add email address to subscribe box; look right)
  
• MANDATORY: What’s important to you and which shade would you pick if you win?
  

EXTRA ENTRIES…

• Follow me on Twitter (@farrah1230), tweet this and add “@farrah1230 #flpitb” in the tweet.
• Post this giveaway (your blog, facebook, etc) and leave the url. (You must leave the post up at least through the month of February)

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