cheapies and freebies

Any mom out there loves a good bargain. Heck, so do the dads.
Even more so..so does anyone.
We try to keep the purse strings tight around here but it's difficult when we not only own a purse (well, I have 2 but I never use them), but it's also difficult when you have constantly be creative and on the lookout. But it's worth it! Here are some recent savings we have come across....

**We received a (blurry)$50 LL Bean gift card

just for entering in the long code from the Pampers packages for 2 1/2 years. We never shop there..but it was worth saving up the codes and at least looking for some clothes for the kids. I was actually kind of skeptical that the gift card would even be sent. I had a "are they for real?" moment I guess. And after turning in the points (400 points to be exact) we got these for the kids:
this one for James and if you click on the fox (pink design) sweater that's the one Natalie got.
I can't wait until they wear them. And while we were there checking out the over-priced stuff we found some sweet soft soled shoes for Natalie. The ones you'll see are brown but we got her the pink ones. She doesn't like shoes but she likes these.

**We visit our local Goodwill from time to time and they have some kick ass deals. We try to go during the week because once the weekend hits it's a madhouse. Seriously, we love this place. When you have kids, finding a good thrift store is a MUST. Because kids grow too fast to be only buy brand new clothes.
Well, we found tons of new clothes for the kids, mostly long sleeved shirts and some pants. One shirt we found for Natalie was in great condition and from Gymboree. We even found James a new Thomas the Tank shirt.
It was tricky finding Natalie anything because she wears a 18 month and 2t pant size. I think that's a popular size there. In addition to the clothes we got 3 good condition Dr.Seuss books and a $4 metal Tonka truck for James. Everything came to $23.
Here's James lovin' the truck..

**We visited our local Farmer's Market recently. We've discovered that they are way better than our local grocery store. The store we usually visit is okay for certain things like bananas and oranges..but everything else is filled with fruit flies.
yum.
We ended up getting all of this...

..for 50 cents. But we were more lucky because we had WIC coupons to redeem. The pic doesn't do the eggplant justice. That thing was ginormous. We ended up frying that and baking it with some of the DELICIOUS tomatoes and cheese.
Thank goodness for the WIC. We used to get free formula for each kid and now we get free milk, cheese, juice, and eggs. The main staples of our household. lol

So that's a few of the good deals we've gotten. I hope I can add more to this. ;)