I turned 40 not long ago and with that, I thought I would get a new photo for my online presence. So, here I am. (complements only, please!)

As a Christian wife and mom, I try to be prudent with the money God entrusts to me. I love to coupon.  Over the years I have had a roller coaster ride of couponing. For a time I will do it diligently then for a time I will be slack. What I wanted to share with you is the best system I have come up with for keeping up with my coupons.

I purchased an index card box and index card tabs. I wrote a list of categories that I wanted coupons to be in. I listed them in alphabetical order. My list includes: baby products, salad products, paper products, meat, vegetables, cookies, cereal, etc. I think you get the idea. I printed the list onto stickers (like mailing labels) and cut them to fit on the tabs. You could hand write them.

The sealing ability of an index card box is not strong enough to stay closed if dropped or thrown by a 2-year old. So you will have to come up with some way to close it securely. You could use a rubber-band or you can see what I did. I used the elastic “string” from another type of file folder. I poked two holes in the top and put the ends of the elastic into the holes. I poked two hole in the front and “sewed” a button on the front. I can now loop the elastic around the button to keep it closed.

On Sunday afternoons, I cut coupons. I put them in my coupon box, behind the appropriate category. Once a month I sort through every category. I take out any expired coupons and I organize the coupons within the category by expire date. I leave my coupon box in my van. That way I have it whenever I go to the store. When I go to the store I take my coupon box in and ideally I put it in the child seat up front. That was not possible for a while when I had a toddler that had to sit there. During that time, I would just sit it in the cart. When I get to an item I need to buy or an item that I see on sale that we use, I look into my coupon box, in the specific category, for a coupon to use. I try to use the ones that will save me the most and/or are expiring the soonest.

Happy Couponing Moms!

I want my 3 boys to do chores around the house because

A.  one day they will be out on their own so they need to know how to do things for themselves.

B. they need to do their share

I have decided to pay for chores as a way of teaching the value of work and how to handle their money.

Our chore chart is set up in a spreadsheet. One week is on one sheet of paper. I am only doing it for the older two boys for now. To save myself time, I print it just once a month. I staple 4 weeks together. I pull off the top sheet when that week is done. Their chore chart is posted on the wall and they check off when they do their jobs.

Tell me what jobs your kids do. Tell me gender, age and job. I would love to see what other families do. I always take bits and pieces of what others do and make it work for our family.

As a mom of 3 boys and housekeeping challenged myself, finding ways to get my boys to do their fair share around the house is always a good thing in this mom’s book.

I found The House Fairy a few months ago. It is a great deal and a great idea. The jest of it is that the House Fairy visits once a week to check on your child’s room and leaves a treat if it is in good order. My boys have gotten their favorite chocolate snack, candy and money, but the treat list could be endless. The House Fairy always leaves a nice note and my boys have been getting a challenge each week to move them along in the right direction.

Only once has the House Fairy left her special dust and no treat (she did not like what she saw that day).

One of my boys works very hard for the House Fairy, even harder than he does for his normal PAID chores. One of the things I have learned as a mom is “Make it FUN and they will do it.” That is sometimes a struggle for me to figure out how to make it fun but when I do they are much more cooperative and House Fairy has been a good step in that direction.

Check out The House Fairy and give it a try - next on my list is for House Fairy to visit my room too.

If you are a business owner that keeps in contact with potential clients and past customers via email, then you need a GREAT system for doing that. I use Aweber.  I have been with Aweber for almost a year now and I love this product. With Aweber you get unlimited campaigns, lists, follow up messages, and newsletters (broadcast messages).

At the time of this posting I have 9 different list, over 1500 subscribers, I am using the auto-responder features and the broadcast messages. I can write a message, send it to one list or any combination of my lists (including exclude one list from another). I can do plain text and html messages. And, I am sure there are many features I am not yet using. All of this for under $20 per month.

Aweber has helped me build my business with emails. Once someone requests information about a product. I use the auto-responder to say “did you get the information?” I then use the auto-responder to encourage the sale. I use the auto-responder with past customers to remind them that it is time to update their purchase and let them know about new products.

 I use the broadcast messages for newsletters, sales and my Loot 4 Mama Giveaway.

I also use the archive features so clients that want to see what I have said in the past can take a look. The archive is created with one check-box click. Saving me time and money (web space to host it).

Aweber is a great tool to build your business. Can you really do without it?

On a Friday evening in the late Fall, my 6.5 year old son got lost in the woods behind our house. I want to tell you what happened, what I did and what I learned. The important points are at the top, with the full
story following.

1. Call the police immediately. They are much calmer and knowledgeable about what to do in these situations.

2. Have current photos PRINTED out. I know in this new digital camera age that a lot of people get behind in printing photos. Get in the practice of printing out at least one photo of your child every month. When a child is lost you don’t want to be digging in the computer at that moment. I know digital would be helpful if you had to send it out in an Amber alert. But, a printed photo for the police to look at was helpful.

3. Know your child’s height and weight. I was so glad I had our Wallet ID product. Because, I could give an accurate height and weight for my child. You can do this any number of ways that cost you nothing. But if you need something to make you get it done and organize everything in one place, our Wallet ID Kit is great.

4. If sniffing dogs are needed/used: They need to sniff something that has not been touched by anyone else. So don’t touch your child’s stuff (like I did).

5. Kids need to have all the important phone numbers ON them. Again, there are all sorts of ways to do this. My favorite product is our shoe sticker kit. I then like to add a child ID bracelet to this as a secondary.

6. Talk to kids about the idea that helping others is not always them doing something. That many times it is telling an adult about the situation and getting the adult to help with the issue.

Now the WHOLE Story:
It was a nice afternoon when we got home from school, we all stayed outside. We went for a walk and the boys played. I finally needed to come in to start dinner. My oldest and youngest came in with me. My middle son stayed out to play. He was playing in the driveway with a couple of other kids.
Continue reading this post…

February is Baby Shoe Bronzing Month at Chicks & Cubs.

This year I have a great special going on:

10-20% off PLUS a free gift (~$20 value).

Offer expires 2/29/08.

I want to welcome everyone to my new blog: Growing-Up-Fast. My intent is for this blog to be about me and all that entails: being a Christian, being a wife, being a mom, being a business owner and whatever else comes along. Thank you for joining me in my journey.