Christmas in July.

If you've known me for a minute, you know I LOVE Christmas. It's a borderline unhealthy obsession and my house looks like the garland fairy threw up all over it from December 1 (respect the Turkey!) until mid-January. It's fine.

You might also know that the secondary centerpiece of holiday decor (next to the tannenbaum) is the stockings hung by the chimney with care. I've been waiting five years to buy a personalized family set, and now that bV has a real name, I took the plunge.

I know. They make my heart smile and I'm so jazzed for all the years I have ahead of me to fill them with things that will make my children smile. THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN CHRISTMAS.

Oh, and if you're wondering, I got them at this etsy shop. Jackie was GREAT to work with and she's even running a sale right now - $5 off each stocking.

Thrifty Momma.

If you've known me for a minute, you know that I don't pay retail. To be honest, I'm not sure why anyone would. Sales, coupons, thrifting, and even stores like Marshalls and T.J. Maxx make retail seem like such robbery...and the thrill of the hunt gets me every time.

Anyway, I swung by one of my favorite resale shops in the area, Regeneration, on the way home from work today to peruse the little girl's section as therapy after a particularly insane week at work. For less than $50, I scored the following:

Nearly 10 complete outfits (5 of which are new with tags--a variety of baby Gap, Guess, Carters and Circo), 4 bloomers and pair of Robeez. Um, hai. And please die over the bottom picture. The ruffle bloomer outfit? The tutu/leggings with the kneepatches? I CANNOT.

P.S. - The even better thing about stores like Regeneration? It's a really easy solution for selling your items, too! They offer 30% of the retail value instantly in cash or 45% in store credit on your own stuff that they are willing to purchase and resell, so it can almost be like a fair trade!

Happy Halloween!

Or as Alex says, "Happy twick-or-tweety day!"

We took Alex to the Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo on Friday night with his Grammi and Poppi - what a FUN time! 

Then, on Sunday, we went back to ride the carousel and feed the giraffes--it was the last day of the season to do it and we've been promising him since about 1984. Oh, the irony.

Have a fun and safe night, everyone! And here's a TREAT from me: enter code 'DRUGSTORE40' at Walgreens.com to get 40 FREE 4x6 prints--through tomorrow, only!

Wheeling and dealing.

In the spirit of saving moo-lah, I'm delighted to report that one of today's Detroit Groupons is $10 for $20 worth of apparel at Old Navy! That's 50% off, baby! I can get Alex all sorts of delightful summer clothing that he will likely destroy in a millisecond over spaghetti dinner and a mere 10 minutes in his sandbox, without feeling the Mommy guilt of a high price tag. And I'll probably get myself something, too...let's be honest.

The good news? You don't have to be from Detroit to use it! You can purchase it and use it at any Old Navy in the country. Keep in mind it expires July 30.

Head on over to Groupon to snag your deal - remember it's only up for 24 hours.

S-S-S-Savings.

A few days ago I was choring around the house (made-up verb meaning "to do chores," not to be confused with whoring) and I discovered that the soap dispenser in the bathroom needed refilling.

So, I opened the linen closet and pulled out the GIANT Softsoap refill. Much to my surprise, the bottle was nearly empty. In fact, this particular refill used up my entire stash.

This might not seem like anything out of the ordinary until you know the backstory...

Elevently billion years ago (read: five), I was trying to court the pants (literally and figuratively) off of one Joe Van Wormer by impressing him with my cash savviness. You know, something along the lines of, "I'm great wife material because I know how to shop and save!" Or something.

For instance, I persuaded him for the first time ever to buy an article of clothing from any store other than Macy's at retail. He proudly sported some new Old Navy digs, shoes from DSW and a few name brand pieces from Marshall's and TJ Maxx.

Homie quickly caught on that sales, couponing and being a savvy shopper was clearly the way to go. You could say I changed him.

He drew the line at Wal*Mart, though.

Save one night when I convinced him to just "pop in" to get some odds-n-ends health and beauty stuff.

He needed soap for his bathroom, so as I perused the mascara selection he jolted a few aisles over and brought back a small refill bottle. Retail cost: $3.89.

"Why don't you just get the giant refill bottle to save money?"

"Because it's giant and I like this one."

I convinced him (albeit begrudgingly) to buy the refill bottle for less than $1 more, which also had about 17x more soap and was stored nicely in the linen closet until just a few days ago.

So it is with a saver's heart and a little smugness that I report that over the course of the last five years I have saved this man roughly $50 (assuming he would have needed 1 small refill bottle each month). Not to mention the plastic waste impact on the environment!

I think I just threw my back out patting myself on the back.

Werbegeschenk Gewinner!

Which, according to Google Translate (my bff for the next 10 days) is "Giveaway Winner!" in German.

I asked one of my German colleagues to pick a random number between 1-25 and she selected "zwei," which also according to Google Translate is TWO...Stephanie!

Glückwünsche, my dear! Email me at kveedub{at}gmail{dot}com to claim your prize.

And don't for a minute think that I'm just letting the rest of you down without something to cheer you up...Grandma's Little Lilly has generously offered ABM3 readers a $2 discount on any order when you use coupon code "lilly30". Be sure to mark it in "comments to seller" and she will send you the refund via PayPal. This code is good thru Nov. 10.

Merry Halloween!

Gifts on Halloween? That's preposterous!

False. That's how we roll around these parts. I'm a giver...what can I say?

If you noticed this week's "What I'm Loving Right Now..." (glances left) then you probably can guess what I've got up my sleeves for this giveaway. And if not, go look. We'll be waiting.

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Got it? Good.

Now, let's get down to business. One lucky reader will win their very own coupon organizer from Grandma's Little Lilly. Weeee!! I have one of my own and love it. Instead of fumbling around with a disorganized pile of clippings stuffed into a gently used Ziploc bag, I'm now an organized, chic shopper with an UBER cute filing system to prove it. As I waltz down the aisles at Meijer all hands-free with my organizer attached to my cart, other shoppers longingly gaze at me in envy.

Want to experience this couponing/shopping nirvana for yourself? Enter to win!

Here's how to enter: visit Grandma's Little Lilly Etsy shop and leave a comment telling me your favorite fabric and the one thing that always manages to sneak its way into your shopping cart, despite your best efforts. For me, it's Cheez-its.

That's it! Easy peasy. Oh, and you must live in the continental U.S. Sorry, neighbors to the north.

I'll announce the winner on Wednesday, November 3.

Vino For All!

To all my 21+ readers, this one's for you: The Clever Girls Collective Wine Club is offering a spectacular deal on some vino right now through winetasting.com. 2 bottles for $10! I bought mine last night, and even with the shipping it's a great deal. Here's some info on the wines in this offer:

2006 Kunde Vallee de la Lune
Party time! That's what we think when we swirl a glass of 2006 Kunde Estate Vallee de la Lune. Boysenberry and spice aromas, jammy cranberry flavors, toasty oak, and mild tannins make it a smooth, easy sipper. If you're throwing a party with appetizers where people are circulating and enjoying great music and conversation, don't weigh your guests down with a heavy red. Keep 'em on their feet and their mouths happy with Vallee de la Lune. (And maybe they won't overstay their welcome by falling asleep on your couch!)

2007 Mueller Pinot Gris, Russian River Valley
Pale, straw yellow in color. Redolent of mango and melon, this intensely aromatic wine displays ripe apricot and apple on the palate. A pleasing wine from a special Russian River vineyard. Medium bodied with a crisp, clean finish, this is a perfect accompaniment to a wide variety of lighter dishes or on its own.

Click here to check it out! 

Fall Is In The Air.

And I am love, LOVE, LOVING it.

I wore my first seasonally appropriate turtleneck today.The neck of le turtle is snuggly and glorious and I have at least eleventy of them in my closet. The fluffier, the better. And if they have buttons? Please. I'm sold.

Also? We're going to an apple farm this weekend for cider and copious amounts of donuts. There might even be a hayride in Alex's future if he shapes up and ceases throwing inanimate objects at my face.

In related news of deliciousness, today's Detroit Groupon is for VINO! $25 for $75 worth of liquid nectar. Me? I'm a red girl...preferably the cab or shiraz variety. Oh, and because it's an online store, you can get in on this deal if you live in any of these states. Weeeee!!!

Lunch Schmunch.

I'm a sucker for coupons. (Duh.) And as luck might have it, I had a few burning holes in my pockets....so I strolled out at lunch today for some retail therapy.

The ruffles! I live and DIE for ruffles.

Just imagine the matching scarf/hat/gloves I can get!

Old Navy.

Again with the ruffs. Ah-dooor-able.

Old Navy.

Looks boring in the image, but the sides are ruched.
Super flattering.

The Limited.

Oh, and Cait? I would like to turn the clock back to Oct. 31, 1995. Because we would TOTALLY be rocking these:

Well, minus the leggings. Because you know I don't do leggings.

50% Off At Gap.

Today's Groupon is worth 50% off at ANY Gap store! Its doesn't matter if you're not FROM Detroit, you can still buy it and use it at any Gap in the US or Canada. Can I get an Eh-men from my sisters in the North?! Woot!

$25 for $50 worth of goodies...LOVE! Click here to check it out for yo-self!

Daily Deal.

As part of my recent Twitter explosion, I've become a fan of Target's Daily Deal Tweets.

At 10 am every day, my phone chirps with the deal o' the day, which is always medium-ly exciting. Some days, it's a cool product at a great price and other days, it's something annoying like little girls' boots that I can't own. Oh, and the best part? It's always, always free shipping.

Today? IT'S THE NOSEFRIDA. 27% off (a friggin' STEAL at $11) and freeeeeeeee shipping!

I don't know how else I can break this down for you. (Find discussions here.) If you have a kid, if you want a kid, if someone you know has a kid, BUY IT. I promise you'll craft me a sincere letter of thanks the first time said kid's nose starts a stuffin'.

Customer Service Lives On! ...and tales of my woes to find the perfect purse.

I've raved about the fabulousness that is 1154 Lill on more than one occasion 'round these parts. But for those who are new or suffer from some form of acute memory loss, allow me to refresh: it's an upscale custom handbag salon in Chicago (and other locations) where super awesome girls like me go to create fabulous, trendy, one-of-a-kind bags. Basically, its an amazing, creative space filled with a myriad of canvas purse designs and hundreds of chic fabric swatches just waiting to be and mixed-n-matched to handbag perfection.

I have the Andi, the Samantha and the Charlotte, and recently made the pilgrimage to design my latest beauty, the Lexie. Yes, it's an addiction.

I know - it might be my best one yet. I simply ah-dore it! And the functionality and versatility of the bag itself is sheer perfection. Because of the links on the straps, I can wear it long as a messenger bag, short as a shoulder bag and even double-hooked as a backpack.

The ooooooonly thing I've found wrong with this purse is that the zipper pull is teeny weeny. Like, sometimes when I'm fumbling a cell phone, keys AND an infant (who is terrifyingly close to toddler status) I get frustrated and can't even find the stoopid thing.

And so, I did what any good PR girl would do in my situation: I wrote them an email about it.

I wasn't rude at all - in fact, my note was quite the opposite. I praised LILL for their designs, but noted that a bag in the upscale price range of $150+ should really have a bigger and better zipper. Also in true PR girl form, I presented both the problem and the solution: a zipper pull! I simply suggested that if manufacturing a new zipper was not an option, they should consider adding a fabric zipper pull (matching the shoulder strap fabric selection, natch) to improve functionality and ease of use.

And guess what? I got a reply...and an awesome one at that:

RIGHT?!? I mean, who does that? Companies that care - that's who. So, as if it wasn't painfully obvious to begin, I'm a loyal LILL girl for life.

And on the likely chance that this post has you itching for a new purse, the Lexie is actually on sale through Sunday. Go to their website and use promo code: LEXIE to snag your own, one-of-a-kind Lexi-roo for $120. Or design something else. Who am I to dictate your handbag choices?

You're welcome.

I'll Have What He's Having.

As mentioned here, I'm not exactly Paula Deen in the making (though I do simply ah-dore her). And typically, 3 of 7 nights a week involve some sort of takeout, restaurant or fend-for-yourself-with-whatever's-not-alive-in-the-fridge for dinner.

We're slowly realizing that nights out aren't really as thrifty as they once were. I always, always look for coupons or we are smart about where we go (specials, deals-of-the-day, BOGO, etc.) so we typically dine on a dime, if you will. Hi-ev-uh, now that Mister Alex is pretty much scarfing down anything that's not nailed to his highchair tray, dinners out get a little more pricey. Sure, most kids' menus range from $3-6, but multiply that by a few nights a week and we're talking lobstah dinnah, people!

And so, my search for "kids eat free" nights begins. Google helped me find this resource, but it only has like 7 places in our general vicinity and it won't let you search an area, only city by city (annoying). This one isn't bad, and it's organized by day, which is nice. But no way to sort it to my liking. This one is my favorite as far as organization and ease of use - plus it looks like soon you'll be able to search by cuisine. Brills!

Basically, what it boils down to is that I'm cheap and I love to eat. And so does Alex. I love that he got the best of me. :)

Coupons, Anyone?

'Twas cleaning out my stash today and found the following I'll never use:

• $2 off Similac
• $2 off Pamper's Easy ups (2 of these)
• $1.50 off Huggies Little Swimmers
• $2 off Any Huggies Little Movers or Little Snugglers
• $3 off when you buy any 2 Huggies
• $2 off Huggies Overnites
• $0.50 off Huggies wipes 64 ct. or higher

Email me your mailing address if you want any of them --> kveedub{at}gmail{dot}com

In related news, I really believe that the makers of Huggies products should consider spelling "nights" correctly. They do make childrens' products, after all.

AWESOMESAUCE.

Attention readers: I am secretly very, very angry with all of you who have known about the awesomesauce that is restaurant.com and did not share it with me.

SERIOUSLY! You've been holding out on some hardcore savings. What gives?

Honestly, the fault is really all mine for not checking it out for myself. I've seen banner ads here and there advertising "up to 80% off at local restaurants!" and the uber annoying popups telling me to "act now!" to receive "$25 in gift cards for just $2!" with some ridiculous coupon code like "MEAL" or "FOOD."

BUT IT'S REAL, Y'ALL. As my internet role model, Blair, would say.

Last night we planned to meet some friends for dinner at Black Lotus, a fab local brewery in Clawson. Support local businesses! As per usual, I googled "Black Lotus" & "Coupons" prior to our visit...but this time, the site that my search lead me to was restaurant.com. I'd seen it before...but was I being tricked by the internets?

"Eh, what the hell?" I said to myself. It was $2. And if it was a scam, I was only out the cost of 2 large diet deliciousnesses @ McD's.

So I selected the $25 gift card, entered coupon code "MEAL" at checkout (good thru the end of this week), and wouldn't you know it...the whole transaction cost me $2! And I was able to pay with PayPal, which is always my preferred method of payment when I fear something is too good to be true. They have excellent customer service and a money back guarantee.

Each restaurant (and there are LOADS of them) does have different stipulations for their particular coupon - but all the ones I came across were totally reasonable and not unlike any other "fine print" you'd get from a similar offer. For instance, Black Lotus required a bill total (before applying coupon) of $35. Done and done. They did let us use it on alcohol (some don't - read before you buy!) and an 18% gratuity was automatically added to our check. Which is fine, we're usually generous tippers, anyway.

The long and short of it: I will absolutely use restaurant.com again, and I would like to apologize to the internets for thinking I was being tricked. Oh, and that $23 we saved this time around? Deposited right into little man's college savings. Word.

Go Green!

Let's start this Earth Week by being totally open and honest with one another, mmkay? I'm gonna keep this totally real. I'm not a tree hugger. I *gasp* use disposable diapers. I print far too many e-mails at work. I drive an SUV. I don't grow my own garden. Wait, does a Chia Pet count?

Hi-ev-uh, there are things we do in the VeeDub household to make Momma Earth happy. We do not drink bottled water. In fact, we use these. We drive one car to work, which reduces emissions and saves us moolah. We recycle. We occasionally save water on dual showers. Sorry for the mental picture, Dad. We use the squiggly lightbulbs. We use hand-me-downs and buy used when it makes sense. We rock recycled shopping bags and use travel java mugs.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that not everyone can be Ed Begley, Jr. But there are little things you can do each and every day to green up this planet and make it better for future generations. *cough*Alex*cough* And, there's often something to sweeten the deal for your wallet, too.

Exhibit A: Target is currently embracing the green movement by offering a "reward" of sorts for recycling your plastic shopping bags. Did you see this insert in your Sunday paper's Target ad? Brills! Just mail in 5 Target bags (no postage required) and they will email you a coupon for $1 off a reusable shopping tote. LOVE it!

Oh, and every time you take your own bag to Target, you get 5¢ off your total purchase. It might seem small, but every penny counts, right?

BIGGBY Freebie.

Despite the fact that I was totally against the artist formerly known as Beaner's Coffee changing its name to BIGGBY Coffee, I still love the stuff.

And in today in honor of their birthday, they're giving you free coffee. Now that's a birthday celebration I can get into.

Click here to print the coupon and here to see if there's a BIGGBY in your area. Oh, and I wholeheartedly recommend the Teddy Bear.

You're welcome.

Deals In Detroit.

Attention locals: GROUPON HAS LAUNCHED IN DETROIT!!!

I'm ten steps ahead of you on your next question. Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Duh. Each day, they offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Detroit: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, they get discounts you won't find anywhere else. It's "collective buying power" at its finest.

If the minimum number of people sign up by the end of the day, you'll get a printable gift certificate in your inbox the next morning that you can use whenever you want (well, at least until the deal expires). If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won't be charged).

I, the self-proclaimed queen of wheeling and dealing, had never heard of Groupon until a fab friend scored  us $60 gift cards to 1154 LILL from Groupon Chicago for a mere $30. Le swoon. I love me some custom purses.

Anywho, I've been waiting and waiting (again with the OCD) to get my first official Detroit deal - and yesterday was the day! Detroit's inaugural deal was $30 to Palm Palace Restaurant for $15. Meh. Not bad. Today's deal is $100 worth of services at Flip Salon in Ferndale for a mere $35. Not gonna lie...I might get in on this one!

Whether or not you live in Detroit, chances are there is a Groupon site for a big city near you. Just use my unique referral code: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu1214602 to get some sweeeeeet deals!!

Treasures.

It's strange to think that a year ago I would have posted a "Hump Day, Bump Day!" picture today. Actually, this would have been the one. Scary!

Back to today's post - recent treasures!

For starters, I won a blog giveaway yesterday! The savvy savers from Cha-Ching on a Shoestring hosted a partner giveaway with Jiffy Lube and its "Go Red for Women" campaign. I won a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card and a coupon book worth over $100, which is simply fab because a) Jiffy Lube is the only place I will take Tessa for her oil changes...for the locals, Andre and his peeps at Dequindre and 14 are the b-o-m-b. and b) my love for coupons is limitless. I can't wait to get it in the mail! Oh, and if you're not a follower of this blog, do it now. I guarantee that every day you'll learn something new about saving, couponing or some other trick of the trade that will put more $$ back in your pockets.

...which leads me to treasure #2. I received a package in the mail yesterday which contained some of my recent ebay purchases. Another small obsession. I found a goldmine of a seller who has impeccable and expensive taste and a closet full of boys' 12-18 month summer clothing being sold for pennies on the dollar. Even with shipping, it was all a steal.

And finally, my favorite treasure of the day - my bracelet! It came yesterday and I couldn't love it more. I like to think of it as a little successory for my "Mommy branding," because from pretty much here on out, I'm no longer Kristi, I'm Alex's Mom. Sorry it's such a craptastic picture. Cell phone + desk ≠ Olan Mills Portrait Studio.