Grey, Lost, and An Office...My Frugal Guilty Pleasures

One of the ways my family stays frugal is not paying for cable. We have a set of rabbit ears on top of our tv and we get about 6 channels which is just fine with us. (Although sometimes I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss some of my cable shows). Also, another way we stay frugal is staying home and not going out, which isn't too hard to accomplish when you have a 7 month old, but still - one way we save money is being content with what entertainment we have at home - which is our free tv.

So that being said, can I just share with the world how excited I am for today??? That's because the writer's strike is over and TODAY my two favorite shows ever ever ever are BACK. Grey's Anatomy and Lost are back in action starting tonight at 9pm. Yes 9pm everyone.

But, ohhhhh, those sneaky tv execs have been thinking up some naughty stuff while their best shows were on vacation - they had the NERVE, the AWEDACITY, to move my 3rd favorite show ever ever ever to the excact same time slot as Grey's Anatomy. ARGGGG, NBC has moved The Office to 9.30. What's a girl to do?

I'll tell you - go to Hulu.com tomorrow and watch The Office with limited commercials!! It's awesome! Sometimes the picture get's hung up, but its FREE. You can also check out many other of your favorite shows, some of which are only available on Cable.

Also, if you don't have a t.v. or can't be home to watch ABC. Just go to abc.com where you can watch any of their shows in full the day after they air with extremely limited commercials. It's amazing.

Sale at Carter's Stores!

If you have a Carter's store or outlet near you, now is the time to stock up on essentials for next year! They have a TON of stuff on sale. Practically everything in the store in at least half off, with SEVERAL items being marked down 70%.

I wouldn't normally buy Carter's due to the price, but their onesies are the only kind that fit Goose. The Gerber onesies are too wide and too short. The Circo onesies are better, but still with the same problem. I love the fit of the Carter's onesies. So yesterday I grabbed a 5 pack for 12 bucks, which I think is a pretty good price!

I also got:

1. Polo Style short sleeve/shorts onepiece - $1.99
2. Fleece Footed Sleeper (for next year) - $3.99 (marked down from $20)
3. Two piece long sleeve/long pant set (for next year) - $3.99

So if you like Carter's check here to see if you have a store near you and GO. Quick before they run out of the cheap stuff.

Living on $200 for 3 weeks

For the next three weeks I have been assigned the task of managing our household expenses to the tune of $200... Apparently we have not been as frugal as we need to be as of late and we have get our credit card balance back down to zero.  Fortunately for us, not being frugal doesn't really mean much in terms of money.  My "big spender" episodes usually just include splurging on a Happy Meal and large sweet tea at the mall and then an iced coffee and muffin from the Dunks after church on Sundays!!  But, however small the amounts may be, they DO unfortunately add up.  So hubby wants me to try keeping us under $200 for the rest of month. Can I do it?? YES I CAN! Do I want to????  Noooooo.....

But I will!

Here's the plan:

1. Use what's in the pantry for meals. This is kind of hard when you eat mostly just salads. You can't really store a bunch of lettuce in the pantry. But I'm going to try for some snacks and side dishes out of my canned goods stock. Also, I have a lot of potatoes in my produce bin left over from my last shopping trip, so I'm going to make good use of those as well.

2. Make tortillas and bread from scratch for sandwiches.  One of my recent "splurges" was on a spicy chicken wrap from Chik-fil-a. Let me tell you - it was GOOD.  So I'm going to try and recreate it to replace some of those boring salad nights.  I've been Googling recipes for flat bread, but then this morning I found THIS ONE on Passionate Homemaking. So I'm going to try it!

3. No driving. I'm going to try to stay home this week.  This shouldn't be too hard because I have plenty of work to do around the house.  Plus the weather is unseasonably cool and I don't like to get out in the cool weather.  So that ought to save on gas.

4. No chocolate milk!  Sorry hubby!  We recently switched from cow's milk to soy and it is significantly more expensive.  Our favorite treat is to mix powdered Nesquik (purchased in bulk - a 48.7 oz jug is apx. $7) with Silk.  YUM.  It is so good and it helps to alleviate our cravings for "vitamin chocolate."  BUT for the next three weeks, we will forego this tasty treat and eat something else instead.

5. Use household chores as entertainment.  I am bored a lot.  But I really have no excuse because there is always something that needs to be done around our home.  This is the perfect time to tackle some major projects around our house that need doing.  And since we're not going to be driving as much - this is the perfect time to get them done.

So that's my plan! I have to keep all of our expenses (not included monthly bills like utilities and insurance) under $200.  Here's to living frugally!

Gerber Baby Food Danger??

Sorry for my short absence from the blog world! We've been enjoying a visit from our out of town (out of state!) family and have been insanely busy. I'll be back soon! But as just a quick note:

Remember a few weeks ago when the news headlines contained a story about the safety of plastic baby bottles? Apparently many of them are made out of the "bad" kind of plastic. Meaning that the stuff that goes into the plastic can make its way into your baby's milk over time - which is not good.

Well, this past weekend I happened to look on the bottom of the Gerber Food container I was feeding our son from (They've recently switched over to plastic tubs instead of glass jars). Guess what number is on the bottom?? a SEVEN! Seven is probably the worst kind of plastic you can use. It's the scary plastic that made headlines with those bad baby bottles a few weeks ago. I am absolutely appalled that Gerber would use number 7 plastic containers for baby food. Even sour cream comes in a FIVE! (5 is the good kind).

Here's what one article had to say about plastic number 7:

"7 Other (usually polycarbonate)Baby bottles, microwave ovenware, eating utensils, plastic coating for metal cans

BAD: Made with biphenyl-A, a chemical invented in the 1930s in search for synthetic estrogens. A hormone disruptor. Simulates the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer studies. Can leach into food as product ages."

I'm not sure about proper bloggy etiquette for giving credit, but I found this article HERE. Please click the link for the rest of the article. I hope this is helpful for anyone out there using Gerber baby food. I just wanted to make you aware of the risk that may be associated with their containers. And hey Gerber - can you please go back to glass jars or at least put our children's food in containers that are at least as safe as sour cream tubs?