frugal

Outfitting Two Children for Summer at Walmart Canada #WalmartFrugalHeroes

May 2, 2013 by Kathryn 5 Comments

Today Walmart Canada asked shoppers across the country to take part in a frugal shopping challenge and I was very excited when I was asked to be a part of it. What made this campaign so fun was that I got to choose from an assortment of challenges to find the one that best fit my family. I was very tempted to attempt to redecorate a room in my home for $100 since I’ve been doing a lot of spring cleaning lately, but with our trip to Disneyland just a few weeks away, I decided to undertake the challenge of outfitting two children for summer for $100.

I’ve mentioned before that when it comes to clothes, my boys are not the type of kids that will just wear whatever they have. They love clothes, recognize stylish clothes and like to be involved in the shopping experience whenever possible. So I took the two of them into the store so that they could help me choose their summer wardrobe.

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Thirteen Easy Ways to Get Your Family to Go Green

April 24, 2012 by Kathryn

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With Earth Day just behind us, there’s no better time to sit down with your family and pop in the Discovery Channel’s breathtaking documentary Planet Earth. It follows fascinating, breathtaking and intimate views of animals and the natural beauty that our earth has to offer. While watching is probably the best part, these documentaries should also motivate you to do your part to help the planet and save some money. From free and simple ways to save some energy to making larger investments to go green in the long run, getting your family to go green is easy to do.

italian landscape

Free and Simple Ways to Go Green

There are many things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment that don’t cost a dime.

One of the simplest ways to help the environment is to simply turn off the water when you’re not using it. According to The Daily Green, you can save up to 8 gallons of water per day just by turning off the water while brushing your teeth in the morning and at night.
On a similar vein, teach your kids the habit of turning off all unused lights and electronics and yes, that means chargers. Chargers that are plugged in and not used still consume power, known as “vampire power:” if it’s warm, then it’s using power. As much as your kids may love Twilight, vampire power eats up your money, about $3 million of it per year across the country.
Save paper! Print on both sides of paper or print homework and other household items on recycled scrap paper. It’s an easy and free way to reuse and recycle.
Minimize your waste with recycling and composting. Teach your kids to use products to the end of the tube and buy products that use minimal and sustainable packaging. Then set up color-coded bins in your laundry room to separate glass, cardboard and plastic and when the bins are full, reward your kids with a special treat. And compost your food scraps, which can then be turned into fertilizer for your garden.
The production of meat uses tons of water, grains and fuel: the animals have to be fed, watered, processed, packaged and transported. A simple way to help the planet is to go vegetarian. If you’re not ready to give up meat totally, your family should consider adopting Meatless Mondays to cut out meat one day at week. Make a weekly trip with your kids to the local farmer’s market for locally grown produce and try out some of these vegetarian dinner dishes from Meatless Monday.
Directly help the environment and bond with your family by signing up for a local beach or roadside clean-up. It’s a great way to get your kids outside and teach them about giving back.
Participate in Earth Hour as a family. It’s an hour once a year (March 30, 2013), where people across the globe pledge to turn off all of their lights and power for an hour to do something positive for the environment.

Low-Cost Options to Be More Eco-Friendly

For just a little output, you can save even more green.

One of the biggest wastes are plastic grocery bags. In fact, it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the amount of plastic bags we use each year. You can easily pick up cloth bags at any grocery store, Chico Bag or Etsy.com
Change your household light bulbs from standard light bulbs to CFL light bulbs, which can last 10 times longer than standard light bulbs and are 50% to 80% more efficient.
Buy and install a low-flow showerhead, which can inject air into the water being let out so it feels like the same water pressure but actually uses significantly less. You can find these at your local hardware store.

Long-Term Investments to Save Even More

These are going to cost you more upfront, but over the course of a couple of years you’ll be saving a significant amount of energy and money.

Did you know that most errand trips and work commutes are less than 12 miles? Do you really need to rev up the SUV for that one? You could supplement your full-size car with a low-speed electric vehicle and save up to 44 cents per mile. Gas prices are rising every year and cutting your use of gas will reduce your monthly spending and carbon emissions. For short trips around the city, picking up the kids from school, running errands and commuting to and from work, a low-speed electric vehicle can be super convenient.
Install solar panels on your house to heat your hot water. Many states and provinces offer tax breaks and rebates if you purchase solar panels to power parts of your home. It’s a big investment up front — range is typically $4,000-$10,000 depending on how many you install — but in the long run you can save as much as 50-90% of your current electric bill.
You can make a smaller investment with solar power with a Solio solar charger to power your small electronics on the go. These will cost you about $70 but can power everything from your smartphone and camera to your GPS and rechargeable batteries.

So break out that popcorn, organize a family movie night and get inspired to do your part to help the earth. What are some other ways that you and your family can go green?

This post was contributed by Aubrey Siegel, a self-proclaimed energy-saving maven. She’s constantly looking for new ways to help save energy and money around her apartment. In addition to being as green as possible, she’s also a writer for 352 Media Group.

Filed Under: Articles, Family, Guest Post Tagged With: earth day, eco, eco-friendly, frugal, going green, green

MoBeam numi key-Review and Giveaway

December 16, 2010 by Kathryn

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Holiday Gift for Frugal Friends

As a stay-at-home mom, I’ve become a bit of an expert at pinching pennies. My attitude is that being a mother is my job, and by doing it well I can minimize costs and maximize our spending so that we are pretty much as well off as we would be if I was working. There are tons of ways to save money nowadays, from coupons to bulk purchases to sale hunting. But one method of saving I’ve never been able to really participate in is loyalty card programs.

There is, to be honest, only one reason for this. I don’t remember my cards. I had a Petro Canada gas card once, and I misplaced it less than a week after I received it. I ordered an Air Miles card and it’s still sitting upstairs in a drawer. My loyalty card use consisted of exactly two cards: Safeway, because I could enter my phone number at the till instead of carrying the card itself, and Venture One, because it came with a small plastic key tag I could carry instead of the actual card. And even though I had my Venture One card right on my keys, I would still forget to pull it out at the till nine times out of ten.

Then, I learned about the numi key from MoBeam. This handy little gadget is a loyalty-card-lover’s dream come true. By hooking it up to your computer, visiting myloyaltycards.com and entering the retailer and your loyalty card number, the numi key then saves the information in a device no bigger than a pack of Tic-Tacs. When the time comes to scan the card, all you have to do is turn on the numi key, choose your required loyalty card from the device and press the red button on the center of the device. The top of the numi key then beams the code out for the scanner to read. No muss, no fuss and best of all, no cards to remember!

The numi key sounded absolutely incredible, and I was elated when I was given a chance to test one out for myself. I immediately went hunting around the house for my currently unused loyalty cards. When the numi key arrived, I was ready, armed with cards just itching to be put into use!

I had three cards that were on the list of approved retailers for the numi key, so inputting those numbers was a breeze. I simply hooked up the numi key to my computer with the included USB cable and visited myloyaltycards.com to load my numbers. I decided to load my Pet Smart card first, so I chose Pet Smart from the list of retailers, typed in the membership number and clicked the Add Number button. A few seconds later, the loyalty card was loaded on my numi key!

I added my Best Buy card and Safeway card in the same manner. Then, I unplugged the numi key from the USB cable and turned it on to see how it worked. The menu showed that I had three loyalty cards. When I clicked the red button in the center, the list of loyalty cards loaded. To choose the one I wanted, I simply scrolled down until I reached my desired card and then hit the red button again.

One of the great features of the numi key is that it actually displays a miniature picture of the loyalty card once you’ve selected it, so knowing you’ve chosen the right one is easy. Once the icon shows your required card, you simply hit the red button a final time, and the top of the numi key beams out the information for a barcode scanner to read!

The first place I used my numi key was at Safeway, and both the teller and the customers were blown away by the device. After choosing the Safeway card and pressing the button, I simply directed the top of the numi key towards the teller’s scanner and the code scanned into the till like a charm! The unanimous refrain from surrounding customers was, “I have to get one of those!”

I loved how easy using the numi key had been, so I knew my next priority had to be adding some other loyalty cards to the numi key’s list of over 90 supported retailers. One of the best things about the numi key is that adding a new retailer is as easy as sending the company a clear picture of your favorite loyalty card’s barcode. With that information, the retailer can then be added to the system for every person that uses that particular loyalty program. For those that don’t want to wait, there is also an option of manually adding your retailer instantly on the website.

One of my most-used loyalty cards is my Venture One card from Canada Post. I asked my husband to scan the front and back of the card and then emailed the scan to the address on the website. Less than 24 hours later, I was able to add my Venture One card’s information to my numi key, and every other person that owns a numi key and uses a Venture One card can now add their information as well!

The numi key is compatible with most scanners, but it doesn’t work with barcode readers that take a picture of the entire card with a large, circular scanning area. I haven’t had any problem using the numi key yet, and if I do happen to come across a scanner that doesn’t read the information, I’m glad to know that I can also access the loyalty card numbers I entered on the numi key so that they can be entered manually if need be.

The numi key would make a great stocking stuffer for any frugal mom, and at only $19.95 it is the perfect little gift for yourself too! And for those people that tend to forget their loyalty cards at home, the numi key will most likely pay for itself, since you’ll finally be able to take full advantage of your favorite loyalty programs! The card supports the most popular loyalty programs in both the United States and Canada including Gold’s Gym, HBC Rewards, Hallmark, Costco, Sobeys and many, many more! If you’re tired of toting a heavy wallet full of loyalty cards or are frequently frustrated by forgotten cards, check out the numi key for yourself. You’ll love how quick, easy and fun your favorite loyalty programs will become!

Buy It: To purchase the MoBeam numi key, visit Amazon.com today

Win It: Two lucky readers are each going to win their very own numi key from MoBeam

To Enter (mandatory): Visit myloyaltycards.com and tell me which loyalty card you’ll be adding to the numi key first

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Giveaway ends 11:59 pm CST on January 7, 2011. Open to US and Canada

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