I love Alice.com and so will you!

Alice.com is a fabulous place for you to bypass a whole lot of your grocery shopping, without paying more! In fact, Alice's prices are comparable to Walmart prices, they add in coupons, and they ship all of your stuff to you for FREE! And it's fast. Like, within a day or two, depending on where you live.

Alice.com has toilet paper, feminine products, cleaning products, snacks and cereal, toiletries, pet food, office supplies, stamps, and just a ton of other stuff that you are buying every time you walk through your regular store. (not weird off-brands, either. The real brands you already buy!) The difference: less stuff to shlepp through the checkout, into your car, and into the house with the kids in tow!

I have been using Alice since fall of 2009 and I love love LOVE it. I recommend it to everybody! Right now you can get $10 off your first purchase of at least $50 when you clickety-click above to sign up. How cool is that?

Floatie Swim Suit Safety Alert

I wrote this post several years ago, and now dig it out every year and re-post to share with people each summer.

We have an Easy Set pool at our house. It's a pretty big one, and we have floatation swim suits for our three youngest boys to wear, although we keep the pool shallow enough that all of them can walk around in it and still have their heads above water. Last year when I bought the suits the baby was one and the better quality suits did not come in his size, so I got a cheaper one, which he had continued to wear this year.
The other day the kids were playing in the pool while my husband and I sat on the deck watching them and chatting. Our youngest, who is now 2, lost his footing in the pool and very quickly was floating face down in the water. Fortunately my husband saw it right away and got to him within just a few seconds, so everything turned out ok.

BUT

The problem is that this suit was not designed to flip a child over onto their back if they needed to rely on the floatation! Our baby was helpless, face down in the water. He would have actually been safer with no suit on at all, since he would have been able to stand to his feet after losing his footing.

It only takes a very few moments for a little one to drown. I am so thankful we were right there with our eyes on the pool happenings.

We tossed out that suit and today I went and bought him one of the better ones, that are designed to keep a kid floating on their backs. Here is the difference between the two suits:

The kind that flips a child onto their back has a float in the front of the suit that is longer than the one in the back.

The kind of suit that put my baby into the pool face first is a kind that is designed for children who need a floatie while learning to swim. The floats are all around the suit and are the same size all the way around.

Just thought someone else might appreciate the reminder. Go check and see if your little one's floatie suits will flip them to their backs in their moment of need.

Paperback Swap and Swap a CD

Do you know about Paperback Swap? I love it! Forget about trying to sell your books for 75 cents at half.com. Swap 'em at PB Swap! it's super easy. You just use the ISBN number to list the books you want to swap. When a club member requests your book you just mail it to them. (you pay the media mail shipping) You get a credit for every book you send, and then you get to request books from club members and those will come to YOU for free!

I've been swapping books for over a year now and love it. Almost every book I get is in very good condition. I use the Wish List feature a lot and have gotten several hard-to-find books this way.

Although I can sometimes get books from the library, it isn't always convenient for me to pick them up or return them on time, and I often don't have time to get the book read before the due date. So, PB Swap has been very helpful in getting me the books I want to read but don't want to fiddle with the library for.

You don't just have to trade paperbacks, either. You can also trade hard cover books and audio books. If you don't have many books that you currently want to trade, you can always hit a used book sale on bag day and get a few books to get you started. (You get free book credits just for listing a few books to start with!) You can also buy credits with your paypal money which makes getting books cheaper than half.com too!

Swap a CD works the same way, only it's for music. This is way better than trying to rid yourself of old CDs at a yard sale!

Need Help Saving Money and Being More Organized?

So many of us wish we knew how to be more organized, save money,
and do better for our families. 
Good news--right now I know of a great deal on something that will help you do just that!

One of my favorite ways to save money and be more organized is to plan my menus. 
Food is one of the highest expenses, but is fortunately also one that we can control in some ways.

If you're too busy to plan menus, or just don't know how, have I got a deal for you! 
The owner of Dine Without Whine is now offering 20% off of her menu-planning service!

To check it out or get started, just go to:

From there you just choose from the 3, 6, or 12-month subscription option. 
When you're checking out, enter  this code: 04AO
(The first digit is a zero and the last is an uppercase letter "O".) and you'll save 20% instantly.

Many of us have good intentions but don't have the skills or tools to follow through on our goals. 
Dine Without Whine is a great tool that can make it super-easy for you to have
success in this area!  Give it a try--I think you'll like it.

~Erica

Tuesday Tip: Looking for something different? How about a Diaper Shower!

Here is a great guest post for Tuesday Tips!

If you have an option to have a baby shower or diaper shower... choose diaper shower!

My story behind this is:

My grandmother and most of my side of the family live in Pittsburgh, PA and me and my husband live in Altoona, PA (2 hour drive to Pgh, PA). We decided that since my Grandmother wanted to throw the baby shower in Pittsburgh, my Mother in law wanted to do a diaper shower here in Altoona. Don't you know, I wound up with so many diapers from that diaper shower... they lasted over a year! Actually, I wound up giving away a pack of diapers just within the last couple months that had come from that diaper shower... I did not need them and would not use them since my son is being potty trained and they were a size 6 diaper... I'm puttin him him in pull ups.

Needless to say... diaper showers were a godsend! I didn't have to actually buy my first pack of diapers for atleast 2 months after having my son!

Since you will go through more diapers than clothes... opt for a diaper shower if possible... they totally come in handy!

Dawn Lidwell

www.wellnessworksforus.go.cc