Mommin' It Up!

February 26, 2013February 26, 2013

Coupon match-ups: There’s an app for that!

This weekend I had some serious grocery shopping to do, and it was also seriously random. I needed to get our weekly staples, plus snacks and baking stuff for Joshua’s family birthday party on Sunday and friends sleepover (which is coming up Friday, eeek!) I was also excited to try out a new app to help with grocery planning and saving, Grocery Nation. Full disclosure, Grocery Nation is sponsoring my review – but – I would’ve tried the app anyway because some of my genius friends are part of the team that produced it!! I’m talking about Andrea from Savings Lifestyle and Erin from $5 Dinners. Not only are they kind of a big deal, they are my friends and I am super-proud of them!!

Right now Grocery Nation is in beta and only available to us lucky shoppers in Ohio and Indiana. I say “lucky” because oh em gee BFF’s, this app is awesome!

Right now it’s only available on Android, so I used our Motorola Xoom tablet, but you can also use it on your Android phone.

Here’s how it works! First, you pick your store. Then, you view the sales items and check which ones you want to buy. If you want more detail on the sale, you can view each one individually. Then, you email your list to yourself.

Here’s the best part: When you email your list to yourself, all the coupon match-ups are listed including LIVE LINKS to printables and digital coupons! So you can open your email and just click down your list to print coupons on load them to your store loyalty card or program. If you’re going with paper coupons, it will list the insert to find the coupon in and what date it came out.

grocerynationcollage — 1) Select your store 2) view the sales 3) view sale detail 4) Email your list!

Here is what I really loved about the app: It is soooo much easier to scroll through sales and match-ups on my phone or tablet than it is on the computer. I can’t always sit down with my laptop but I can have my phone with me just about anywhere. Anytime I have a few minutes of downtime, I can browse the sales, pick which I’m interested in, and email it to myself ( or my friends if I want to share a deal, which I do often!!) so it’ll be there waiting for me when I am able to sit down with the computer. Half the work of preparing my grocery trip is already done by the time I sit down to get myself organized. WIN!

This past weekend I went to both Kroger and Meijer and shopped using the deals I found on Grocery Nation. I haven’t been to Meijer in for-ev-er but now that Kroger is discontinuing double coupons, I may have to shop coupon deals there. My Meijer trip yielded a great score on yogurt thanks to Grocery Nation. Jonah eats a TON of yogurt, and it is his main breakfast food since he can’t eat oats or wheat. He was pretty happy that I got these 4-packs of yogurt for 88 cents each using my list with printable coupon links from Grocery Nation!

Ohio and Indiana Android users, grab this app here. It’s free and it’ll save you tons of time and cash. And you know, time IS money! Apple users, keep your eyes peeled because this awesome app will be available for iOs devices later this year. You can visit the Grocery Nation website by clicking here and enter your email if you want to be notified when it’s available for your device.

Bottom line: this is a great app and I’m so happy to know about it and use it. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!

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As I mentioned, Grocery Nation sponsored this post. All opinons about the app are my own.

February 25, 2013February 25, 2013

Jenny’s Life Klass: How Not to Dress Your Daughter

Welcome to another edition of Jenny’s Life Klass! If you’ve missed our past installments, let me catch you up. Basically, how this works is: I tell you what to do, and you do it. All clear? K, let’s jump in! Today I’m going to tell you what kind of clothes NOT to put on your precious little daughter.

You see folks, Valentine’s Day is in the bag, which means Easter bunnies and swimsuits have invaded all the department stores. And along with that comes a bevy of special-occasion dress choices for your little girl.

Now if you’ve got a little girl, you may have noticed that, as Emily so brilliantly articulated awhile back, it has become difficult to find clothes for a six-year-old that don’t make her look like a streetwalker.

Granted, there are a few good choices still out there. But they are usually side by side with a more sluterrific choice. Exhibit A, from a national department store we all have in our communities:

Moms and Dads, I’m not asking much of you here today. Only that you dress your daughter in age-appropriate clothing. Just because they sell it, and just because it’s attractive (because it may be!), doesn’t mean your kindergartener should be wearing it.

Check out this little number. It’s totally cute. For an older teenager. But it’s available in girls’ sizes 4-16! The website description says: “She’ll turn heads in a darling zebra-print chiffon dress with fit-and-flare styling and a one-shoulder look. Pink sequins at the waist add a fun pop of color.”

Totally appropriate for a 7-year-old, right?

Um. Uhh. My daughter is 6. And she is a very pretty little girl. She does not need to be TURNING HEADS in a one-shoulder zebra-and-sequin number. Because she’s a little girl. Who should be wearing corduroy and smocked cotton instead of sequined chiffon.

Stupid dress designers. Trying to make my little girl se*xy.

Call me crazy, but it really burns my biscuits! Why is this:

and this:

Even available to purchase for girls under age 13?

EEEEK!

If you have purchased any of this type dress for your elementary-aged daughter, here is your homework:

1) Take the dress back or throw it away. DO NOT give it away to another underage child!

2) Cancel your daughter’s spray tan appointment.

3) Take out her tongue ring.

4) Buy the child something with smocking and a big satin sash.

Ready, my friends? Go forth and dress your child in age-appropriate clothing! Buy dresses with not one but TWO shoulders! And cherish the innocence of your little girl while she’s got it. Don’t do anything to speed up its loss. Even if you get a really lucrative offer from a reality TV show.

Because once it’s gone, you can’t get it back.

February 20, 2013

I pledge allegiance to my bathrobe

File this under the “Jenny is a wimp” category. I guess I need to make that category.

OH MY GOSH IT’S SO COLD!

I am so, so, so done with winter. It’s freezing in my big old drafty house. And, outside of course. I try not to venture outside if I don’t have to, though, BECAUSE DID I MENTION IT’S FREAKING COLD?

If I don’t already have my bathrobe on over my clothes (yes, I do still have enough dignity to get dressed. Most days.), it goes on as soon as the sun goes down. I need its warm, fuzzy, goodness to remind me that winter will not last forever.

This season is making me want to go to bed at 7 p.m. every night. It’s making my temper short and my muscles tight and my nerves frayed. I’m tired of heavy coats and boots and having to warm the car up before I can pack the kiddos into it. I’m tired of dark before dinner and snotty noses and stomach flu and everything else that comes with these deplorable temperatures.

I need some of those happy sunshine lights that make people not go crazy or I’m aboutta go groundhog hunting with my car.

The only thing I really enjoy about winter is having an excuse to wear this hat in public:

Don't act like you're not jealous. — Don’t act like you’re not jealous.

But even THAT no longer brings me joy.

I want to put my bathrobe on, get in bed, and wake up in mid-April.

Who’s with me? Down with winter! What do we want? SPRING! When do we want it? NOW!

What would we settle for? HIBERNATION!

Who’s with me?