It's been awhile I know. Turns out having a 2 1/2 year old is hectic. I've come out of hiding though and found this new auction site, Listia, where you exchange credits instead of money. Being that everything is free, it may not be the best auction site you'll ever go to, but it's worth checking out.

If you sign up using my link below, you'll get an extra 50 credits on top of the credits they already give you for joining. You don't even have to give your credit info to sign up.

I found some free Gifts to Grow codes for Pampers points at Deal Seeking Mom. here's the ones that worked for me:

WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (1 pt.)
HAPPYFATHERSDAY (1 pt.)

WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
OHAMANDAAWGTG08 (1 pt.)
WELCOMEBONUS089 (1 pt.)
STARTEARNINGNOW (1 pt.)

Hey, I'll take what I can get. I've already used points to get a free magnet toy for my son that he uses all of the time.

Here are some good money saving articles I found here and there:

75 Painless Money-Saving Tips from Dough Roller

1,019 Different Ways To Save Money from My Two Dollars

I don't typically enter a lot of sweepstakes, but occasionally I come across some trusted sources and I thought I'd share. Redbook Magazine has tons of sweepstakes from kids stuff to kitchen stuff to trips.

Parenting Mag also has some good giveaways for parents. They also have an extensive list of coupon sites.

Aside from the blog, I also have a blog about my quest to go green called "Green Alert". This is something that's becoming more and more important to me now that I have a child.

Anyway, I thought my frugal friends out there might want to know that if you join Seventh Generation's web site, they have some pretty decent coupons on their stuff.

Also, a little tip, supposedly, if you forget your Target coupons, you can print them at the customer service desk at no charge.

Deal Seeking Mom has some new magazine subscription info here, including:

FREE 1-year subscription to Cookie or Family Fun from One Step Ahead. Just set up a registry – once you add an item to your cart [for your registry], the free subscription registration will pop up!


FREE 1-year subscription to Metropolitan Home from Rewards Country.

FREE 6-issue subscription to Seventeen magazine from StartSampling.com.

FREE 2-issue subscription to Town & Country from StartSampling

There are tons of others there too. As far as One Step Ahead, referred to above, I love this company. They have alot of great childproofing stuff and travel items too, along with toys, clothes, etc. Just thought I'd mention.

If you haven't already, you should sign up for your T.G.I. Fridays Give Me More Stripes card. For every $1 spent, you earn 1 stripe. These accumulate and when they reach $100 in purchases, you get coupons for free food. Plus, you get coupons for free appetizer and dessert just for signing up.
Wait, there's more, coupons and more special offers are emailed regularly. The newest, for members, are:

"Penny appetizer at the bar when you purchase any beverage" &
"$1 dollar entree with purchase of any another entree".

I don't go there a whole lot but with these soups, I'll definitely go more often. hey, you gotta save where you can.

Be sure to get your coupon and grab yours tomorrow while supplies last.

On a different note, I didn't know this, but according to Woman's Day, some cable companies will let you put your cable on "vacation" hold while you go on...vacation, of course. Now, this could mean they won't bill you or they will drop your service to "basic" for that period. All you have to do is call and ask.

Also, some may not know that there may be cheaper packages out there than you think. I thought I was at the cheapest with the basic package at my old cable company, but then found that there was an even cheaper one they didn't even tell me about. I would never have known except I found out on-line. We lost half our channels, but I only watched one of them so there was no love lost for me. Might be worth asking about.

Bundle packages that allow you to get your phone, cable and internet through the same provider are usually cheaper, than if you spread your services out amongst companies.

Tip Hero has a great article on how to save money on your cable by watching more Hulu! For those who don't know, you can find all the best tv shows on Hulu.com. I go there to watch any shows I might miss when my DVR doesn't record for some reason.

I know a lot of people who just switch their service providers when the initial contracts are up. Usually, when you call to disconnect, your current provider will match the price you found elsewhere.

As far as the phone goes, a lot of people have disconnected their landlines and just use their cell phones, which saves them money. However, it's very important to remember that landlines are better in the case of emergency. 9-1-1 can find you quicker at home than if they have to try and find you on your cell. Just something to think about.

March is also free movie Wednesday's. Visit Redblog every Wednesday to get your Redbox code.

While I'm at it, I have to share this great article I found at Nicole's Nickels on how to get free books when you agree to write a short review in exchange. I signed up for all the clubs she mentioned. I can't wait to get my first book to review!

For my sake and yours, I thought I'd do a quick run through of the blogs in my Money Saving blogroll and point out some of their features.

Becentsable - One of the best and most developed sites. I love the look of the site with tabs, does have coupon blogroll, but some you have to pay for, has "grocery gathering" with all stores listed and memes.

Budget Helpers -some interesting blog rolls, walgreens but not cvs, other little tips on free and cheap stuff out in the world.

Coupon Mom - Alot of info, but I don't love the way it's set up. Still, there is a lot of good stuff.

Frugal Living -Great articles on being frugal

Frugal Village -Another site full of articles on being, guess what... frugal

Hot Coupon World - coupon forum

Moms Need To Know - Another resource for coupons and store deals

Money Saving Mom - help for beginners, coupon blogroll, ebooks etc.

My Grocery Deals - site helps you make shopping list for local stores, shopping challenges

Nicole's Nickels- great stuff on making money as a secret shopper, book reviewer, survey taker, etc.

Northern Cheapskate - good blogroll, good posts, such as How to live without the Sunday paper.

SlickDeals - all kinds of deals on everything!

The Centsible Sawyer - mostly store deals. Has lingo abbreviations, clear deal making schedule, hand her own button you can post on your site.

The Coupon Diva - A real deal getter. She has a great article here on how to make a little extra money on the net. One way is through taking surveys. Here is one of the places she suggests that I have also had luck with, Mindfield Online.

Tip Hero- has a great array of money saving articles, covering any topic you can think of. It's the kind of site you can get lost in because there's just so much stuff to take in.

Want Not- Deals a lot with internet discount codes, etc. I've found some good Amazon deals through this site. Jungle Crazy is another place for Amazon deals. Though I haven't added it to my blogroll, I thought I'd mention it.

You can get FREE MP3 Downloads at Amazon here. There's songs from Ani Difranco, David Byrne, American Idol's Jason Castro, Ben Kweller, Ted Nugent, Snoop Dogg, Sepultura, Willie Nelson and many many more.

Wired.com also has free music downloads, new every Friday.

Money Saving Mom has another post on how to get subscriptions to Family Fun & Focus on the Family's magazines. I got mine!

Go here to sign up for a free 2-year subscription to Parents magazine.



Get your free subscription to Martha Stewart Living Magazine here.



There's also a free subscription for Woman's Day magazine here.


Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the tips. She has another great post here about how to get a free "$100-value download" for her readers.

Finally, don't forget about Adperk as a great way to get free subscriptions. All you have to do is watch some ads first. Right now, the featured mag is Field & Stream. We mustn't forget about the men out there.

Here's this Monday's Redbox Code for a FREE movie rental:

S39XKT Expires tonight (Mon, Feb 23) at midnight CST.


Quizno's is giving away free small subs to the 1st million people who sign up here to receive Quiznos emails.



Sign up here for a free entree from Kashi.



There is supposed to be a Goldfish crackers deal at Target where you can get bags for $0.16 a piece. Check out Money Saving Moms post on it here.

Moms Need To Know has a post about how to get a free IHOP breakfast tomorrow between 7:00am and 10:00pm.

Add your own photos to a deck of playing cards at Artscow for $3.88, normally $10.99. Plus, get free shipping!

Checkout Code : CARDS388
Expires on 03/15/2009

Works on Single Design Photo Playing Cards (Regular, Round, Heart). The code also works on "54-Designs Playing Cards (Regular, Round, Heart)", at $5.88/each, with free shipping. Normally, $14.99.

Get personalized rubber coasters at $0.99/each using this code: COASTER99
Expires on 02/28/2009

Use this code : FREE10BKS (Expires on: 2/28/2009) to get 10 FREE Photo Books.
Just login, go to "Members Area"-> "Credit & Discount", enter the Gift Certificate and click "Validate".

Get collage prints , 12"x18", matte finish, only $2.99/each with shipping!

Checkout Code : MATTE299
Expires on 03/15/2009

Promotional quantity is limited at 500 pcs/day. First-come, First-served. Early birds get the offer, come early tomorrow if the coupon shown expired.


Get jigsaw puzzles, like the ones shown above) using your own pictures at only $3.99/each with free shipping.

Rectangular and Heart Shape Puzzles Checkout Code : PUZZLE399
Expires on 03/03/2009

Now through February 10th, Amazon is offering free game downloads on the following:

Jewel Quest II



The Scruffs



Build-a-lot






Click here for more details.

Click on the picture shown and new customers get 1200 free photo prints, 600 4x6 and 600 5x7. PLUS, get another 600 4x6 prints when you use this promotion code below:

Gift Certificate Code: FREE600PRINTS
Expires on: 02/14/2009

Just go to "Members Area", once you've signed up and click "Credit & Discount", enter the Gift Certificate and click "Validate".

These offers do not include shipping, but I thought I should let you all know. It still seems like a good deal to me. Go here for a list of shipping costs.


Ritz Pix is offering 10 free prints for trying their service. Just click on the picture and use the code: "free4x6"

-ALSO-

Go to Photofun.com and sign up for another free 100 4x6 prints there

Thanks to Money Saving Mom's post on 6 FREE Valentine's Day cards from Stories by Everyone at Scrapbooks.com. These are a set of 6 identical cards that you can add your photo to, such as the example below. They can be given to classmates, but also to family members, as I plan to do with mine.


Just enter the code valentine at checkout. Offer expires February 1, 2009.

For those wanting to go green this Valentine's Day, please consider sending free e-cards. They're all over the internet now. Hallmark has them, and plenty of other legitimate sites.

I'm just going to be real men, I know every woman acts like they love cards, but I don't! Don't love flowers either. I would much rather something original, something thoughtful. Now, I know that means putting some real time and energy into it, but that's the point. Cards on Valentine's Day, to me, says last minute, all over it. Now cards on other days, days when they're not expected, cards to say thank you just because, that can be sweet. This Valentine's Day though, go big or sleep on the couch.

Put your kids face on the cover of Parenting Magazine. Step by step guide here.
















Note that you can do this on your own with photo software. I mention it because with Valentine's Day coming up, there are tons of things you could do with this.

To the right is an example of one I did for X-mas 2007.

Now, for the more thrifty giver, with less time on your hands, here are some tips on saving money on tickets to concerts, movies, etc.

Here are the new Redbox codes for FREE movies:

K6W3G4 (Monday Jan. 19th 2009 ONLY, ends at midnight)


MCDWNTR (McDonald's ONLY)


Redbox gives out these codes every Monday when you sign up at Insideredbox.com. You can look at what other codes are working for Redbox here.

Check out the new movie releases here.

-OR-

If you go to redbox.com you can views all their movies

-AND-

You can even reserve movies at the location next to you. So you don't have to feel rushed to make decisions with a line of people at your back. It's nice!

Halloween clearance sales are going on everywhere right now. I got these shirts at Target for 90% off! I only paid $2.10 for 4 shirts. The best thing is, this is the type of stuff I wear all the time. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love anything spooky or sinister.

Speaking of which, can I just say, I'm sick of the blow up decorations. Those aren't scary people. Halloween is supposed to be scary. Same thing goes for those blow-up Santas riding motorcycles and stuff. That's not what the holiday is about. Does tradition mean nothing anymore? Whew, had to get that out of my system.

Now, I also got future costumes for my son for 0.99 each. I figure I can jazz them up when the time comes (my husband doesn't want me to call it that though--not exactly manly). For 0.99 I couldn't pass them up. I then got bags of candy, not that I need them, for only 0.21 a piece. I gave my mom some so I wouldn't eat it all.

Of course, things have been picked over like crazy but it's what you expect. I'm going back out today to see if I can find more great deals. I suggest you do the same. Good luck!

I saw a post at Frugal Village about truly frugal ideas. One of which was using old shower curtains as weed guards. Now, I'm not sure about this, but I just happen to be re-doing my yard's landscaping (which is why I haven't been posting as much by the way). Being a frugal person, I'm, of course, looking for any way I can find to cut down on the expenses because it really adds up. So, I'm going to try it, punching holes manually with a needle for drainage purposes.

My only concern is what impact there is on the environment, but I figure these curtains will stay in the landfill otherwise, so what's the difference? At least this is a form of recycling, right? At least that's what I'm going to tell myself to make me feel better about it.

I know I had read somewhere about how to get free rock for your yard, but I can't remember where and I'm really wishing I could. If anybody knows, please let me know. Mind you, gardening tips are lost on me because I do not have a green thumb, which is why I'm putting in rock in the first place.