Happy New Year!

Yesterday, my husband and I spent some time rehearsing all of the highlights of 2011 with our two boys.  It’s really amazing what can happen in a year, don’t you think?  (My six year old learned how to swim, ride a bike and read, and lost his first tooth all in one year.   Pretty big accomplishments, if you ask me!)

We had so much fun, I thought I’d take a few moments to do the same here and share just a few highlights of this past year:

A Look Back at 2011:

In March, the Realistic Look at Couponing series began with my version of Extreme Couponing.  (To date, one of my most popular posts ever.  I’m glad you guys ‘understand’ my sense of humor.)

In April, we reached a milestone with our one millionth visitor to Cha-Ching on a Shoestring.  (And you all keep coming back–thank you!)

In May, readers and bloggers across the country joined forces in our second annual Couponing for Community event.   In one week’s time, 26,639 items were donated by couponers nationwide.  (Still gives me goose bumps thinking about it.)

In September, I received an email from a producer at Anderson Cooper’s new daytime talk show.  A week later, my husband and I were sitting on his set sharing with the world about couponing and enjoying our three minutes of fame.

And a couple personal highlights for me:

In May, my sister, her soon-to-be husband and I ran the Broad Street Run 10-miler in Philadelphia.  (And lived to tell about it!)

In October, Mission Mini Van was completed!

In December, I shared our exciting news: We’re having a BOY!

***

Like I said, it’s pretty amazing what can happen in a year, don’t you think?

Thanks for your BIG part in making 2011 a fantastic year.  Now I’m going to put my feet up for a while and do a little bit of dreaming about what I hope 2012 will hold.  Want to join me?!

Today was my first ever experience with Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A and I just had to share a bit of the fun with you!

Spurred on by my love for all things FREE, we cut, colored, taped, and glued our cow costumes from head to hoof this morning and headed out to Chick-fil-A.  I was thankful that I was not alone in my humiliating creative endeavor.  My niece was visiting with us and jumped right into the fun with me and the boys.  Then we met up with some friends and their kids who also were willing to join the craziness for a little bit of ‘Chikin’ yumminess.

And we were definitely not alone.  The place was hopping!  I guess we aren’t the only ones who love FREE!

Oh and I found a good use for Lincoln’s bow tie from my sister’s wedding last week.  We decided to make him a classy cow, just for fun.

Did you score some free Chick-fil-A today too?  I’d love to see pics!  You can upload them on this post or on our Facebook page.

Somedays don’t you just wish you were a 12 year old girl keeping a diary again?  I decided that if I were to keep a diary of all my frugal fun, today would have stickers and pretty pink hearts drawn all over it and would sound something like this:

Dear Diary,

Today was so frugally fun!  (Even though I did have a pretty good scare that I’ll tell you about it in a bit. ) Here’s the story!

First, I took Lincoln (my 2 year old) to the library for Baby Boogie time.  He is just too cute!  We did hand motions and sang songs like “Tutti Ta”and we looked ridiculous adorable. Then we borrowed a bunch more books and as usual, enjoyed all that the library has to offer for FREE!  (That is, if I don’t forget to return three of our books for weeks at a time like I did last time for some reason!)

Then Lincoln and I took a quick trip to CVS to scope out some deals and of course we scanned our card at the magic coupon printer.  When what to our wondering eyes should appear but a $5 ECB coupon!  Little did I know that I had purchased $50 in beauty purchases, qualifying me for my first $5 reward!  (And, of course, you and I both know that I spent nowhere near $50 out of pocket–wink wink!)  Boy, I sure am glad that I signed up for the CVS Beauty Club a while back!

Then came my ♥FAVORITE♥ part of the day: FREE iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts!  Our local newspaper came with a coupon for FREE iced coffee every Monday through April.  We all know that I heart Dunkin Donuts coffee, so this made me one happy girl.

But then came the scary part of my day .  While I was at Dunkin Donuts, I decided to organize my ECBs that I had just gotten at CVS, but I couldn’t find my $5 ECBs!!  GASP! I kept sorting and re-sorting my coupons, but it wasn’t there!  I didn’t want to admit it, but I was pretty sure I must have dropped them while I was at CVS.  My heart sunk!  And I didn’t even have time to go check right then because it was time to pick up Griffin from pre-school. So I hurried to Griffin’s school and threw him put him nicely in the car.  I drove back to CVS, but I was sure my ECBs must have been picked up by someone by now.

But my heart did the ♫ happy dance ♫ when I walked into CVS and found those little ECBs just laying there on the ground waiting for me to pick them up!  Even though it was raining outside, the SUN was shining inside CVS!

Finally, we headed home and although I thought my day couldn’t get any more frugally FUN, I was tickled pink to discover all of these FREEBIES in my mail box:

Yes, dear diary, it doesn’t get much better than this for a FRUGAL girl like me!

X0X0

Kaley

I received this email a while back from a reader and have been meaning to share it with you all since it just made me smile:

“I’ve been loving Cha-Ching for the past several months and have always told my husband about all the deals etc. that you talk about.  I have gotten quite a few of them as well.  For the past 2 weeks my husband has been on a CVS frenzy!  He reads your CVS deals, sits down with the circular along with our Shop Rite circular and figures out what we need/ best price/best deal.  When I tell you he is a bit obsessed now I’m not kidding!  He walks around the house at times saying “CVS is our new best friend”.  Lol!  I cant believe how well we have done at CVS in the past 2 weeks.  It will just keep getting better and better.  We have always used coupons but now we have tons of them due to research and getting more papers on the weekends.  It’s nice that he is equally into it now too.  I will admit though, it does feel like he’s stepping on my territory at times but he knows to ask me if he is unsure about something. “

Thank you again for your awesome blog and realistic approach to saving money.  We love it and will continue to follow you.”

How about you?  Do you know a man who has recently hopped on the couponing bandwagon?  Or even better–are YOU a man that has just hopped on the couponing bandwagon?  Leave a comment and tell us about it!  I want the world to know that ‘real’ men use coupons too!

A couple of years ago, there was this silly little “25 Things About Me” thing going around on Facebook.  Well, eventually I succumbed to the pressure and joined in making my list.

I found the list recently, and it hit me that it might be fun to share with you, my readers, to give you a better picture of who I am.

I have eliminated a few things so as not to bore you…and because a few of the items no longer apply since I wrote it almost two years ago.

So without further adieu…all you ever wanted to know about me and more!

• I have been to South Korea, North Korea, Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hawaii (that’s a foreign country in my eyes!), Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, the Bahamas, and Mexico and Canada, of course. My favorite was Australia. I would still like to go to Africa one day.

• I had a variety of jobs while in college including: a Friendly’s waitress, a telemarketer, a foam hanger packer, and an RA.

• I could eat Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast every morning.

• If I could get away with it, I would also serve Frosted Mini Wheats for dinner. I am not a big fan of cooking.  I am, however, a big fan of E-Mealz.

• If I could be anything when I grow up, I would have a hard time choosing between a television talk show host and a star on a sit-com.

• My husband and I dated for four months and were engaged for four months. That would be 8 months total.

• One of the qualities I admire the most is the ability to communicate well while thinking on one’s feet. I would love to be able to do that better.

• Two of my goals in life are to go on another cruise and to learn how to raise one eyebrow.

• The highest compliment that you can pay me is to tell me that I am funny.

• I love coffee. Particularly Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla coffee. With Cream and Sugar. Please.

• I am a dreamer, by nature. There are days this is good.  And there are days it it not.

• I love that both of my boys have blue eyes although no one in my immediate family does. Thank you, Grandpa Hill and the Ehret family.

• I have run a half-marathon in NYC. I hope to do so again and finish with a better time.  Someday.

• I was in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC in 1990 (which is why I was so embarrassed when I wrote a post the other day about “Cheep Green Giant Veggies”).

• I am fascinated by people and learning what makes them tick.

• Becoming a mom has taught me so much, but possibly the most important is to work hard to live in the moment.

• I hate shopping.  (Kind of ironic, huh?)

• I am the third of six children and a classic middle child: peacemaker, independent, easy-going and still craving the spotlight that I seemed to have missed.

• I am most happy when I am with my family.  But I absolutely love to be alone as well.

• I love Jesus more than I can say and strive daily to be more like Him.

How about you?  I’d love to know a few fun and random things about my readers as well!

It’s been a while since I have sung the praises of the library, so I just wanted to take a second to give a big SHOUT OUT for the wonders of this place.  I spent an hour there with the boys this morning and just feel very grateful for all that my local library does to instill a love of reading and learning in children.

Have you checked out what your local library is offering this summer?  My library has weekly art activities, book clubs, read-aloud programs and more.  The fact that it was brimming with other children also made my extremely social four year old very happy.

Why not take a minute to look up your library online and discover what events they are offering?

Are you taking advantage of your local library this summer?

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This is the first summer that I have a child who is on ’summer break’.  Granted, it’s just a break from his 3 day pre-school, and yet for the first time I feel that I need to have PLANS to keep him occupied and active during the summer.  (His daily morning question “Where are we going today, Mommy?” motivates me as well.)

Here are a few FREE ways that I plan to keep my very active four year old busy this summer:

• We sat down and created a ‘Summer Fun List’.  It’s got lots of ideas and we may or may not get to all of them.  However, I think just knowing that we have activities to look forward to over the summer months has helped to ease his worries about not having anything to do.  (And yes–’Wrestle with Daddy’ was at the top of list.  I love boys!)

• We printed out two different  Reading Club Rewards program sheets from our FREE Summer Fun guide.  I like the idea of rewarding him for an activity that he loves to do anyway.  I also discovered that we have a Regal Cinema nearby that is showing FREE family movies two days a week.  We put that on the calendar as well!

• In two weeks, he will be attending our church’s Vacation Bible School.  This is a great activity to check out in your area.  I know Griffin will love spending time making crafts, learning Bible stories, and singing songs.  (And I’ll enjoy the break too!)

• We created his first chore chart.  So far he is very enthusiastic about this.  (How long does that usually last, would you say?)  There are many resources available for printing free chore charts.  I just googled free printable chore charts to find mine.

I definitely feel like a rookie at this, so I’d love to have some reader input as well!  What are your plans for making summer fun and rewarding  for your kids?

The following is a post I wrote a little over a year ago. I thought a little walk down memory lane would be fun…

It’s official.

I’ve been labeled ‘Frugal’.

I wasn’t sure it was so until my brother admitted to me the other day that he was afraid to eat anything at my house while watching my children.  He thought it might throw off my whole frugal eating plan.

I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I suppose it’s a bit of a compliment in a strange sort of way.  Apparently he’s so impressed with my money-saving savviness, that he’s willing to starve to support it.

Hearing him say this has made me realize that maybe I need to clear a few things up with those I hold dear.  Here goes:

Dear Friends and Family,

I realize that in the past year, some of you may think that I have gone off the deep end with this whole saving money thing.  Don’t think I haven’t noticed your eyes glazing over as soon as the words ‘extrabucks‘  and  ‘swagbucks‘  escape my lips.  Indeed, I recognize that my enthusiasm over my latest free tube of toothpaste may be more irritating than contagious.  I’m pretty sure that some of you still haven’t forgiven me for that wild goose chase I sent you on with Oprah’s Free KFC.

I just want to say one thing.  I understand.  Frugality can be annoying.

In an effort to make it up to you, I want to clear a few things up:

• If you are ever at my house babysitting my children, you may eat whatever you can find.  My ‘frugal eating plan’ is not as strict as you may think.  (And besides, I probably have a coupon for whatever you ate anyway.)

• If you are ever at my house babysitting my children, feel free to make any long distance phone calls that you need to.  (We’ve got onesuite, so it’s only $.03 a minute!)

• If you are ever at my house babysitting my children, help yourself to toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, mouthwash, dish soap, and pretty much anything you can find in my closet. (PLEASE…we need space to get more free stuff!)

• If you are ever at my house babysitting my children, it probably means Wes and I are out spending a little moolah on ourselves.  Yep.  We do that occasionally.  In fact, we kind of like it.  Gasp, huh?

• If you are ever at my house babysitting my children, THANK YOU!  (I may pay you in coupons and Johnson’s Buddies Soaps, but THANK YOU!)

With much love,

Kaley

Pssst…can you hear me?  Look for a new feature called “Saving on a Shoestring” soon.  I’m super excited about it!  (Lots more great info on ‘free money’ too!)

Pass it on!

All right, y’all.  I have a teeny tiny favor to ask of you all.  Do you remember Katie from our Beautiful Christmas series?  Well, she is one of the top 5 finalists for Mamavation. (Read below to find out more.)

Will you pretty please (with sugar on top!)  read her post below and then click here to go vote for her?  From what I understand it’s a tie now and I would LOVE it if Cha-Ching on a Shoestring readers pushed her over the edge.  You can vote today (Wed.), tomorrow, and Thursday.  It will take you about 2 seconds x 3 = 6 seconds total.  I know that’s asking a lot, but would you do that for little ol’ me?

Guest Post by Katie Hostetter at Frugal Femina

If you follow me on Twitter, you know exactly what the word “mamavation” means, because I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing it since I applied on January 1st. I am fortunate to have some followers left! Basically, it’s a 7-week boot camp to help 2 moms get fit in 2010, and it’s supported by Smooth Fitness, Earth Footwear, EA SPORTS Active, Gaiam, Bookie Boo, and MomTV. The team gives you a ton of support with a nutritional plan, a fitness program, and much more! You can watch my application video and read all about my lil’ journey over at Frugal Femina.

I am so blessed to have made it into the top 5 finalists. Now I need you to vote daily so I can make it into the final 2! I already shared my measurements with thousands of people, so you know I am committed! But seriously, this is all part of my quest to make 2010 one of the most positive years ever. I’m finishing up my last semester of nursing school, reading through the Bible in 90 days, taking care of Xon and Bradley {aka Hubs and Little Munchkin}, and trying to take care of myself, too! I’m not Superwoman, but I do want to focus on good things this year and surround myself with good friends and family.

So I’m hopin’ you’ll cheer me on and head on over to Mamavation and vote. You can vote once a day from each IP address through the 21st. And I won’t mind a bit if you happen to spread the word amongst your friends. Maybe I can encourage you all along the way! Mamavation is a great network of support, and you can be involved whether you have 200 pounds to lose or 0. We all need to stay healthy and fit!

Special thanks to Andrea at Mommy Snacks for being my Fit Friend and encouraging me throughout this campaign.