Great Find: Clipping Service for Novice Couponers
Courtesy of my friend who helped me in my battle against sugar ants, I’ve been dipping my toe into the couponing ocean. I subscribe to a couple of email lists and started getting Sunday papers, looking for ways to carve a few bucks off my list each week.
TLC isn’t exactly going to be calling me tomorrow (no stockpile!) but in my last couple of trips I’ve managed to save near $40. That, my friends, is no chump change.
Read MoreProduct Review: The Bounce Bar
A while back, BlogHer and Bounce got together and sent me a Bounce Bar for my dryer.
I’ve been a dryer sheet gal for years. The problem with dryer sheets is that they are like hangers. When you’re not looking, they multiply and wind up wadded in the strangest places. What? You say that doesn’t happen in your house? Well, it does in mine and I know the scene of the crime.
It happens in the dryer. Those sheets are frisky little suckers, the bunny rabbits of the housekeeping world. And they feed on stray socks while they are getting it on during a hot tumble. Really.
I’ve found two of them at once, rolling around on the floor after I’d folded a load. They were basking in the afterglow…if they could have asked me for a cigarette, they would have. I know. I get it.
But I digress. This Bounce Bar…I gave it a whirl. All you do is fasten the holder inside the drum of your dryer and snap a fresh bar into place. Then, you do nothing for a couple of months (for me, it was about eight weeks–your mileage may vary, as do the dryer bar sizes). Nothing!
Well, you do laundry.
But what you’re not doing is chasing down wispy sheets of polyester something after each load. You don’t really have to think about it. At all. Which, given the kind of housekeeper I was raised to be, really works well for me. The less I have to think about, the better.
I do have a minor gripe about the product: It’s a tad tacky. Not goopy, not gloppy, not outright sticky. But after the first use, there was a coating of lint on the surface of the bar and it kind of icked me out. I tried to peel it off, but because the bar had cooled down, it was sort of set in it. I left it alone after that, and the trace of lint had no impact on the usefulness of the product.
I found that it also makes my lint stickier. Yes, that sounds strange but I noticed that my lint catcher is more difficult to clean after a load–the soft grey sheet of fuzz doesn’t just peel nicely off the mesh. It sticks…ever so slightly. Just enough that I have to work it a bit. I think I’m going to wash the lint trap and remove any residue and start again though. It’s not enough to keep me from using the product again.
Because I really liked the Bounce Bar. It prevented static cling, smelled pleasant, and couldn’t be simpler to use. And, using it meant I didn’t have to chase down randy dryer sheets, which is good since I’ve been focusing on keeping those hangers out of trouble lately.
I haven’t noticed if my sock population has leveled off yet, but I’ll keep you posted…
Disclosure: I received a complimentary Bounce Bar courtesy of BlogHer and the folks at Bounce. I was under no obligation to write a review of the product, but chose to do so because I do like it and wanted to share it with my readers. All opinions (not to mention embarrassing revelations about the shenanigans going on around my house) are my own.
Read More>That time of year
>Yes, folks, it’s that time of year when we search high and low for those perfect gifts for our special someones.
Regular readers know of my appreciation for silly holiday fun…remember the time I gave Jesus a rhinoplasty? Of course this holiday season our nearest and dearest will again be enjoying some giggles courtesy of our dear, old friends at Archie McPhee. Well, they’re dear to us. I don’t think they actually know who we are. In any event, I placed our holiday order in the wee hours this morning and I can. not. wait. for the package to get here.
So to keep me occupied, I thought I’d introduce you to another website just perfect for good, old fashioned, geeky fun.
The fine folks over at American Science and Surplus offer an enourmous variety of goods with a focus on, you guessed it…science. Their prices are really good, too.
Often you can find random things for short money, but I’ve also noticed that some stuff they offer is available elsewhere. Never fear, though–in those instances their prices are competitive (and often better). At AS&S you can find surplus lab equipment, odd little toys and tchotchkes, cool kits and models, along with random household, office and school stuff.
Now that sounds perfectly dry and boring, doesn’t it?
Well, clearly you are unfamiliar with AS&S, or you still haven’t clicked through to the website and read any one of the product descriptions. These guys can find the humour in just about anything that comes across their desks. It’s a happy day in Podunk when the AS&S catalog shows up in the mail.
And it’s a Merry Christmas with AS&S under the tree. Last year, we broke open geodes, painted masks, assembled miniature skeletons. I won’t yet reveal what we’ve got cooking for this year. Let’s just say when I finished shopping at McPhee, I filled my virtual cart at AS&S.
Disclosure: I have no connection to American Science and Surplus. This post is strictly my opinion and no compensation was offered nor received. I’m just a geeky mom sharing science-y goodness.
Read More>Clarification on Lunch Wars
>When I wrote about Lunch Wars for the BHBC, I indicated that my kids buy school lunch, which they do. Am I thrilled with the choices offered every day? I’d be lying if I said I was. But it has come to my attention that I might do well to clarify the fact that I am not actually embarking upon a Lunch War of my own.
Clearly, if I let my kids consume the food served at school, I’m not on some crusade to change things up. I’ve seen the lunches that were outed by Ms. Q–what my kids receive is head and shoulders above that dreck.
To be clear: I hold no animosity toward the lunch program in Podunk. Could it be improved? Sure, if all things aligned and money was no object. But that’s not the case. And frankly, I let them eat the school lunch because they want to, it’s easier for me, and we balance things up with the meals at home. At the end of the day, my kids are fed just fine. I’m sure the same holds true for most families in the district.
Remember, my kids are customers of the lunch program. I’m not planning to march in to request information about some wellness committee, or how the district negotiates their transactions with the commercial provider. I think the ladies who work there, and feed our kids every day are wonderful, caring women who are looking out for the kids and seem to really enjoy what they do.
If my readers are inspired to look into their district’s food program and want to work on initiating changes to their systems, Lunch Wars is a cogent, well-written book about doing just that–I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Just understand that I am not actually interested in doing that myself. Status quo is working for me, thankyouverymuch.
Read More>Light Box for SAD: Does it work?
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I gave it a shot for ten days, and here’s how it went:
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