"Here We Grow Again!" Consignment Sale

We dress our little people for (a lot!) less by shopping at consignment sales – and by consigning clothes, too!

Upstate Readers:

Stop by the semi-annual "Here We Grow Again" Consignment Sale, starting next week: Wednesday, February 29 through Saturday, March 3.

We love this sale! We've had great success dressing our children – in quality clothes – for great prices. When you consider how well name-brand clothes tend to wear, and wash (and resist stains!), and keep so that you can re-sell them, the savings are really multiplied!

Check the website ("Here We Grow Again" Consignment Sale) for all the details...

Starbucks Coffee: Target Deal!

There's a great deal on Starbucks Coffee at Target this week!
(Thanks, My Frugal Adventures!)

Buy two bags of Starbucks coffee (11 to 12 oz) – $7.99 each
Get a $5.00 Target gift card
Pay $5.49 per bag (after gift card)

Make the deal even sweeter:
Use two $1.00/1 Starbucks coupon (expires 03/05)

(These were distributed when Starbucks promoted their new Blonde and Medium Roasts and are reportedly still available at some Starbucks locations.)
Pay $4.49 per bag (after gift card and coupons)

You can also "roll" this deal:

Use the gift card from the first transaction to purchase two more bags of coffee – and you'll get another $5.00 gift card!

The Amazon deal on Eight O'Clock Coffee is also still on!

FREE Italian Ice at Rita's – on 03/20

Italian Ice Fans: Mark your calendars!

On Tuesday, March 20, from noon to 9:00 p.m., all open Rita's locations will be celebrating their annual First Day of Spring by giving away 10-oz. cups of Italian Ice – one per guest!

No coupon needed! Just show up!

You can check the website for a Rita's location near you. And while you're at it, join the Birthday Club, too!

Cloth-Diapering through Hard Water Issues

We’ve been using cloth diapers (as full-time as travel and follow-up recovery have allowed) on our Little Man for one year now. What do I think? I love ‘em! I love the way they fit! And we’ve experienced very few leaks – and certainly fewer and far less dramatic than with disposables!

There have been challenges, of course, with the biggest to date being the “hard water” issues we encountered last summer (winter, really!)  while living in South America for three months.

Besides the steps I took while still living with hard water, once I was back in the Upstate with my regular washer and set-up, I subjected the diapers to multiple hot rinses. (We don’t have an HE machine, so “hot” for us means about 120 degrees.)

I was amazed at how “cloudy” the water looked when I first started:

This was the first hot rinse – I hadn't added any detergent.

After each rinse cycle, the following “drum-full” of water looked clearer than its predecessor had. A half dozen or so rinse cycles later, I was finally satisfied that the diapers had been thoroughly rinsed. (I actually ran wash cycles – with no detergent – followed by rinse cycles.)

 

The end result was that the diapers were much softer and fresher-smelling – leading me to conclude that our theory was correct: The hard water had caused detergent build-up. And I’m very thankful that hot water rinses provided a relatively easy and inexpensive fix!

Eight O'Clock Coffee: Amazon Deal!

My DH loves dark coffee! And the darker, the better!

Right now you can get an amazing deal from Amazon.com:

Eight O'Clock Coffee: Dark Italian Roast, Whole Bean (11.5 oz bags (Pack of 4) – $3.48 each

• The 4-pack is on sale for $16.37 and qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping!
• Select the Subscribe & Save option for an additional 15% off.
  (Remember that Subscribe & Save is flexible! Per Amazon.com, you can change your order status – and even cancel your enrollment – at any time!)
• Pay only $13.91 (i.e. $3.48 each bag)

Thanks, Jungle Deals & Steals!