Children And Medication

I want to share a little trick that my grandmother used on me when I was a little girl to get me to take medication, especially pills. I was reminded of this in a recent conversation and wanted to pass it on.

Applesauce - My grandmother would take my pills, smash them up and mix them in applesauce when I wasn't looking. I would eat the applesauce and never knew the difference. If your child doesn't like applesauce, find something they do like, perhaps its peanut butter, pudding or even yogurt. Remember, if you trying this with liquid medication, make sure you are using something that can hide the color of the liquid as well as the taste.

This trick really doesn't SAVE you any money but will SAVE you time and your patience.

Edible Deal

With the holiday season coming quickly, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years you will notice that a few of my blogs have already been and will be dedicated to different ways of SAVING you money and time on holiday gifts and decor.

My latest find is downright DELICIOUS - "Davids Cookies"!! Cookies sound great don't they, but "Davids Cookies" is more than just cookies.
They also offer the following:

• Brownies
• Pies
• Cakes
• Scones
• Gift Baskets
• Cookie Of The Month
• Cookies (Pre-made and Dough)

"Davids Cookies" offers gifts for the holidays. Right now you can find goodies dedicated to Halloween. One of my favorite items at the moment is the - Cookie Play Dough - which comes in a pack of 4 colors (red, yellow, blue, green). Since the dough is already colored for you, this will SAVE you time in the kitchen and will allow you to let your imagination go wild with designs. The colored dough will come in handy for myself around the Christmas holiday when making ornament cookies. This dough also makes the perfect afternoon craft for children, just grab a few cookie cutters, some candy sprinkles and find a surface they can work on and you have a whole afternoon of fun and giggles. And moms, there is no problem if the little one decides to sample a bite or two.

The best part of all - FREE Shipping all the time, not just a limited time. So go ahead and order a Gift Basket or two for family and friends, the SAVINGS will roll in. Use the link provided below or under my "Really Good Sites"

David's Cookies - Free Shipping Every Day!

Yard Sales

Tips For A Successful Yard Sale

1. Advertise - Signs, signs and more signs. Place more than one sign at the ends of your street so that traffic coming in both directions will be able to see them. Ask your local grocery store, gas station, post office and any other local business if you can tack up a flyer containing the information regarding your yard sale. Tell all of your friends and coworkers and have them tell all of their friends and coworkers. Put your signs up a day or two in advance.
2. Information - Make sure your signs and flyers contain all the pertinent information such as the day, date, time, address, directions and items. If you are selling furniture, write that on the sign. Sometimes people are looking for certain items and if you place your signs out early they are more likely to make a note to come by your yard sale. Put arrows on your signs pointing the way. If you live on a long or winding road, make sure you put such things as "first house on the right" or "blue house on left".
3. Pricing - Starting a few days prior to your yard sale, start gathering all of the items you intend to sell and start pricing them. Make sure you are not over pricing, this is a yard sale and you are trying to get rid of the items. Be ready to haggle on the price, once again this is a yard sale and you are looking to get rid of your items. Most people are looking for a bargain and if you items are too high priced, close to the price you paid for the item or you are not willing to wheel and deal you will be stuck hauling your items back into the house.
4. Set Up - Make sure you have enough tables to showcase all of your items. If you will be selling clothes, make sure you have them properly showcased. Tie some string, wire or line up so that you can hang the items on hangers for better viewing. Have all of your items ready on display by the time you have advertised that your yard sale starts. Have on hand bags or boxes for your customers to carry their goodies home with them.
5. Earlier The Better - Most people like to yard sale early in the morning before the sun gets up and gets hot. Plan to start your sale early in the morning. Early bird gets the worm.
6. Money - Get yourself a small cash box or an apron with pockets to hold your money. Make sure that you have enough change on hand, such as ones, quarters and maybe a few fives for the big spenders.
7. Friends/Family - Invite a friend or family member to bring their items to sell. The more items, the more people will hang around and look. It also gives you company during those slow moments. Remember, you are trying to get rid of your stuff, so don't be tempted to purchase your friend/family members items.

If you follow those simple little tips, you will have a successful yard sale. The money you make can be SAVED for a rainy day or used to purchase all new items to take the place of the ones you just sold. Happy Selling!!!!

Gifts On A Budget

In my search for finding holiday, birthday and any occasion gifts on a budget, I came across The Lakeside Collection website. There I was able to find some one of a kind gifts that I couldn't find anywhere else for great SAVINGS. I even found a gift for our dog. I placed a small order with them to make sure I was dealing with a reputable company and am happy to report that I was and do plan to order in the future. I happened to order an item that was out of stock and was immediately notified prior to the shipping of my order instead of having to learn that when my items arrived. My items arrived safe and sound within two weeks of the order and were packaged well. You can view the catalog online or have one delivered to your home. You may also order online, by mail or phone, the choice is yours. If you want to get a jump on your Christmas shopping, then this is a great place for you to get started.

For Holidays, Birthdays or any day find it at lakeside.com

Buttons And Links

This site was started because of my love for SAVING and SHARING. I also started this site because of all the run around or dead sites out there. I was tired of clicking on sites that often lead to vulgar sites or to sites that just didn't exist anymore at all. I was also tired of receiving the spam or junk mail just for visiting a site.

Every link or button on my site has been tried and tested by myself personally. I also recheck each link and button often to verify that it is still leading to the site intended and is not showing as a dead site or leading to any other site.

Thank you for your taking the time to look over my site. Leave a comment or feedback anytime.

Books As Gifts

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I know its only September but its never too early to get started, especially if you have a large family or lots of friends. If your list contains anyone who loves to read, is learning to read or a little one who loves a good bedtime story then I have a way for you to SAVE money on your shopping list.

Join a book club! I did... I researched several book clubs and found that most of them offer you FREE books or FREE shipping just for joining. That's a big SAVINGS!! The book club I ultimately joined gave me 4 FREE books, DISCOUNTED shipping, a FREE tote bag and I only have to buy 2 more books at regular price in the next year. There are several book clubs out there for you to choose such as - Crafters Clubs - Children Clubs - Cooking Clubs - Sports Clubs - Mystery Clubs - Romance Clubs and in the next few days I will be posting links to some of their websites.

Now for the SAVING part... Use your FREE books as gifts. They can be used for Birthdays as well as Christmas. With my 4 FREE books, I was able to cross off 2 people on my list by giving them 2 books a piece. You can do the same. Check it out.

Cleaning Out Book Clutter

I started buying books for my daughter almost from the time she born. I spent a fortune at my local grocery stores buying the books of the week, yes all 20 volumes sometimes, and I spent another fortune during the elementary years buying books from the monthly scholastic forms that came home in the book bag. I volunteered at the School Book Fairs where yes, I bought even more books. When my daughter got a little older she turned to reading chapter books, where once again, I spent a fortune on Nancy Drew Mysteries and more. I then had to spend a small fortune buying book shelves and storage totes for all these books to have a place.

One day, I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to get rid of some of the books. I passed along what I could to whoever would take them, but I was still left with quite a few books. I called my local library and asked if they took donations. They did but only took books in good condition, so for the next hour or so I went through my daughters entire book collection and pulled out her favorites to keep, threw away the worn and torn ones and boxed up what was left. I took the boxed up books down to my local library.

The librarian gave me a paper which contained the total number of books I donated and an estimated price for all the books. This gave me a little SAVINGS on my taxes for that year.

If you have any books that you can't use or don't need anymore, call up your local city library or the nearest school to you and see if they allow for donations, I can bet you they wont turn you down. Funding for new books too often takes a back seat. Donating the books helps declutter your home and SAVES you space.