Penny Pinching Mom

More Savings from Alloy

I just caught wind of a nice deal that Alloy has going on this weekend. This is even better than the free shipping!

Take 20% off your entire Alloy.com order! Use code ALYGIFT. Offer expires 12.3.07.

Enjoy!

Christmas Deals for Teens

I ran across some deals any mothers of teens might be interested in, and I thought I would share them with you:

Free Shipping On Orders Over $25 at dELiA*s. Use code DTRAFF. Offer expires 1.8.2008.

If you’ve never heard of Delia’s, they have really cool clothes for young ladies. I got their catalogs when I was a teen (hey, it wasn’t that long ago) and they’ve got some really awesome stuff.

Free Shipping over $25 at Alloy.com. Use code AERAFF. Offer expires 1.8.08.

Alloy is another place where you can get great clothes for girls. I especially love their jeans.

Free Shipping on orders over $30 at CCS. Use code CEQAFF. Expires 12.19.07.

Here’s something for the boys. CCS has some stylish skater wear, and they have a few things for the girls too.

There are also some clearance deals on all three sites, so check them out!

The Old Stomping Ground

I went to the restaurant where I worked up until this summer for breakfast this morning. I talked to one of my old buddies, and for the first time she didn’t ask me when I was coming back. I think they’ve finally accepted the fact that it’s not going to happen.

The irony of it all is that I probably should go back. I was thinking about it the other day (the logic of it all, not really about actually going through with it), and even though I’d be burning a lot more gas and would only be making minimum wage, I might actually come out slightly ahead. And coming out ahead at all would be a big change right now.

I don’t think I’ll be trading in my writing work for non-skid shoes and aprons any time soon, though. And it’s not really feasible to do both again right now. It would just be nice if things would settle down and I could get my work done in a timely manner and not have to even have a thought of going back to a J.O.B. cross my mind.

Loving Yahoo

I have been looking for an alternative to Google lately for many reasons. Some are rather selfish, but others have to do with their search relevancy. I mean, is a search engine that doesn’t show JohnChow.com as the first result when searching for “John Chow” really worth using? That will no longer be an isolated example, either. The root of it all is Google’s decision to discount the value of certain sites. Yes, that’s their decision to make, and yes, I’m angry because some of my sites got hit. But the fact that they may not be giving me the most relevant results just because they don’t like something that a website is doing doesn’t make me want to use their search engine.

Anyhoo, I’ve given up almost everything Google. And when looking for somewhere else to do the insane amount of searching that I do, I ended up back at my old favorite from the pre-Google days: Yahoo.

I had been under the mistaken impression that Yahoo didn’t have all of the features that Google does. But it can do everything the big G does and then some. They even provide those search suggestions now, so if you’re struggling for the right words while typing or might want to expand on what you’re looking for, they help you out. And whether I type in something that is nearly in the form of a question or a more search-friendly term like “mover NYC“, I get good, relevant results.

Not Hitting the Sales

As much as I love a good bargain, I did no shopping whatsoever on Black Friday. I kept myself at home, safely away from all of the temptation.

I really couldn’t have shopped anyway, because the small amount of money I have is earmarked for bills. I won’t be able to pay them all, but I can pay a couple, and then a couple more at the beginning of the month. I just hope I can keep chipping away at them until they’re all paid.

I didn’t get around to posting any sales for Black Friday either, did I? Sorry about that. It has been a very hectic week. But I promise I’ll point you in the direction of some good deals before Christmas gets here.

No Garage

I think I mentioned on this blog that Hubby was thinking about renting a garage and running it. If not, he was at one time. It came with some tools and body shop supplies, but he just wanted to do things like oil changes and maybe sell tires. But the guy who owned it didn’t want to rent it out for just that, he wanted whoever ran it to do full service mechanic work. I don’t understand why, but it’s his garage after all.

So Hubby talked to a few of his friends, and one of his uncles, who knew a lot about cars. They all liked the idea, but none of them wanted to put any money into it. And Hubby wanted a business partner rather than an employee, so I guess it’s not going to happen.

Maybe it’s for the best. Out of all of the people he talked to, I’m not sure he could have trusted any of them to keep up their end of the bargain. And I also think that Hubby could find a more enjoyable and profitable way to make a living, if he ever gets back on his feet again.

Toys for Pumpkin

I was afraid that Pumpkin wasn’t going to have a good Christmas this year. Then something awesome happened: I got the opportunity to review some educational toys. As you might imagine, I pounced on it.

I received three toys from Learning Resources, and I must say I’m quite impressed. The one in the picture above is my personal favorite. It’s a set called, appropriately, Gears, Gears, Gears. You can put the gears together to make cool contraptions, and there’s a motor that turns them and flashing lights. I would almost keep that one for myself.

I also received an electronic game called an Alphaball. It has a neat trackball-type controller and six games designed to improve spelling and word-building skills. The only drawback is that the six games are actually only three games, but you can play them in English or Spanish. I think it’s great for Pumpkin to learn stuff in Spanish, but I was hoping that there were six different games, each with a language option.

And finally, there’s a Pretend and Play Animal Hospital. It comes with a puppy and everything a kid needs to provide it with the best medical care. It’s got a patient chart, stethoscope, thermometer, bottles of “medicine”, and much more. But my favorite part is the foldable backboard with storage pockets. To me, anything that saves space is a good thing.

So there are three things she’ll be getting for Christmas. I just know she’s going to enjoy them, and the educational aspect of each one is great. If you’re looking for fun and educational toys for your kids for Christmas, pop on over to Learning Resources. They’ve got all sorts of great stuff.

Waiting Impatiently

I’ve got a PayPal payment coming my way. It was posted in Friday, but it’s an echeck so I don’t get access to it until later this week. I’ve got a bunch of bills to pay, so I need it yesterday.

I hope to be receiving a check in the mail soon too. It’s not much, but it will pay the car insurance for this month, which is one of the bills that is late. I hate waiting.

There are some bills that I’m not sure how we’re going to pay this month. I think the only thing in danger of being disconnected is our cell phones. I’ve been trying to talk myself into getting them cut off, but I hate not having one. I rarely use mine, but it has gotten me help when I desperately needed it on several occasions. When you live in the middle of nowhere and have to drive through the boonies to get to town, it’s nice to not have to worry about having to knock on some stranger’s door and hope they’re nice when you get a flat tire or something.

So I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for money to pay the bills. Things have got to get better soon. They just have to.

Winter Is Here, and I Still Haven’t Started Walking

I had planned on starting to walk every day once the weather quit being so hot this year. But when that happened, there was a bunch of road work and construction going on where I wanted to walk, and I didn’t want to go through that. They finished up with that a few weeks ago, but I still have yet to start walking.

I don’t have the room for fitness equipment or the money to buy any. And I enjoy walking much more anyway, if I can just find the time to do it and get started. But that has been my biggest problem: Things have just been so crazy lately, I haven’t even been able to get the everyday stuff done. So I have had no time to walk.

There have already been several cold days, and it’s not going to get any warmer. So I suppose I should get on the ball and try to get some walking in. If I can get started with that, I think I’ll be able to motivate myself to work out indoors, even if I don’t have any equipment.

Black Friday Coming Up

Back when I didn’t have to worry about money, Black Friday was one of my favorite days of the year. I loved going out and finding awesome deals and getting some of my Christmas shopping done early. I could have done without the crowds, but I was willing to fight them for those killer savings.

This year I won’t be going shopping on Black Friday. I just won’t have the money, unless something spectacular happens between now and then. But I’ve caught wind of some great online deals that are going to be happening then, and I plan on sharing them as soon as I get the chance and decide where I want to post them.

So if you want to get some good deals but don’t want to fight the crowds, stay tuned. If I don’t put the deals here, I’ll definitely post a link.