Thursday Thoughts

       
      I am linking up with Jennifer at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for Thursday Thoughts. I haven't participated in this link-up for a few weeks because I've either had nothing to talk about or we were busy. 

~ I am still loving my Ibotta app on my iPhone. It is completely free to download and is basically like using coupons without all the hassle of having to clip them out and store them and all that. The app lists coupon deals for various products you can buy at the grocery store and you can get credit for buying the items simply by submitting a photo of your receipt and scanning the barcode on the item. I just make sure to check and see if there are any deals on the things that I'm going to buy at the store before I shop so I can make sure to buy the brand that will get me money back. They also have other offers for additional savings, like purchasing four deals in a month will earn you an extra $2 on top of what you have already saved. I have earned more than $10 so far since I started. They pay you through a PayPal account once you've accumulated at least $5. If you are interested in signing up, click HERE. Also, I think if you sign up now using my referral link, they have a special incentive for new users where you can earn $10 when you sign up with the Share the Love Bonus. 
       Another recent accomplishment with another money-saving method is that I recently made over $50 with my Ebates account. If you're new to Ebates, basically you sign up for free and search for your favorite online stores on their site before you shop and you earn cash back on your purchases. You don't have to mail in any rebate forms or do anything else, it just comes to you in a check in the mail. It's such an awesome program! 

~ In case you've noticed it at the grocery store or in advertisements and wondered about it, MioEnergy is the real deal. I bought some using my Ibotta app earlier this week and had a glass of water flavored with it with dinner last night and I was awake until 3 a.m.! And I am normally not really affected by caffeine that much. Obviously I don't usually drink coffee before bed, but I didn't imagine at all that a glass of this with dinner would affect me the way it did. Ugh. I am dragging today. But at least I know what I can drink to get some energy... :)

~ While Tim's mom was in town last week, we took advantage of her free babysitting to go on a date night. We ate dinner with Owen and my MIL, but then headed out to see the new Star Trek: Into Darkness movie. We both really enjoyed it and just getting to see a movie in the theaters was really fun since we don't do that too often anymore. The movie was definitely action-packed and funny and I don't see any reason why non-Star Trek fans couldn't enjoy it. It was a bit predictable, but we were just out for a non thought-provoking entertaining movie and we got just that. 

~ I am hoping going to use cloth diapers with our baby-to-be so I have been doing  a lot of research over the past week or so. Tim is reluctantly on board. We failed miserably with Owen, but I feel a lot more knowledgeable this time around and there are so many kinds of cloth diapers that I didn't know about before. We used diaper covers and prefolds and just did not like the mess and hassle of them. Plus we had a crappy washer at the time and we were new parents who had no idea what we were doing and had very little help since we lived so far from family. Now, though we still live far from family, I feel like we are both more confident in taking care of a newborn and that adding a few extra loads of laundry with our newer HE washer and dryer won't be that bad. Plus, with pocket diapers and all-in-ones (AIOs), cloth diapers are so similar to disposables that we shouldn't have as much trouble if we use those kinds. Another thing I have found is that mothers in the cloth diapering community are so nice and helpful when it comes to giving advice on which diapers to choose and how to care for them, that I should have plenty of advice if I need it. I do love my Honest Company disposables, but saving money on diapers by using cloth would be really great and really help out our finances. Plus, we will most likely have two in diapers for a little while so I'd rather eliminate some of the expense of that. Do you cloth diaper? What are your favorite kinds? I am thinking about registering online for some cloth diapers and accessories since we don't really need much else for our baby-to-be. I would most likely register at Kelly's Closet because they seem to have a lot of great deals. 

~ After getting our guest room cleaned out and ready to begin transitioning into Owen's big boy room last week, I made my first purchase for his new room: this quilt and sham from Pottery Barn Kids. They had a free shipping discount code on Monday so I took advantage of that on top of a sale to save about $50 on them. I really love the colorful pattern and I think that it will suit Owen for several years. I also love that they will match a number of different sheets so I can keep the same main bedding while switching out sheets based on Owen's current obsession (cars, trains, dinosaurs, sports, etc.) I really want to avoid having the whole Cars-themed or Thomas the Train-themed rooms since his interests will probably change over time. Plus, I just like the look of sheets like the ones pictured instead of Disney sheets, you know?