Monday, January 4, 2016

Shopping for Clothes for Children on a Budget


Shopping for clothes for children can be quite a hit to the family budget. Moving through the new trends, changing of seasons and children growing quickly, we can find ourselves constantly spending lots of money on new items. Although some might think that the only way to refresh your kid’s wardrobe is to get brand new clothing while emptying your wallet, the truth is that you don’t need to spend so much to purchase good, quality products. Finding inexpensive but durable clothing for your children might seem difficult, but actually all you need is to have a little creativity and an eye for a good deal! With the following tips, you will realize how simple it can be to save money on kids’ clothes:


Let’s start with one of the most known ways, which isn’t actually used sufficiently – coupons. Many people know there are some attractive savings to be made with coupons, but most of them don’t use promos, perhaps because aren’t sure how it works or think it’s too much hassle. Actually, on the contrary, it’s super easy! One of the ways is to get the coupons online, which is quite convenient. Just go to a website such as Discountrue and choose the store that you’re interested in – be it Target, Kohl’s or any other shop, and you’re bound to find what you’re looking for. Some retailers are even offering promotional specials via email, where they send you a code or  the coupons directly if you are registered on their sites. On the other side, if you are not a computer person, there is also a way to get them directly at the stores. This is a very easy and effective way of saving money; just keep in mind that the codes might expire, so watch out that none of them go to waste.

Another tip you should remember is to shop sales or end of season clearance sales. Most retailers hold sales that can go from 30% up to 60% off the price, and sometimes even more. You should also easily be able to find clearance racks that offer 50% off and more on selected items. Some might think that these don’t have much to offer in terms of quality or design, but if you make the time and take a good look through the racks you’re sure to find very good deals. Sometimes you can even find brand new items for as little as $1!

Now all these ideas help you buy new clothing for your children in stores, but what about used clothes? You would be surprised at how much you can save this way. With a little patience and attention to details you will get pretty good deals! Many people think that thrift stores offer used clothes that have been worn out, but the truth is you also can find a lot of brand new clothing in excellent condition, sometimes even with the tags still on;you just need to stay perceptive. If you are looking for specific brands, the recommendation would be to go to the places that price the items by gender or size. For example, all kids clothes can be priced at $2, so you can find a used T-shirt for the same price as a never worn before dress – in this case it is clearly more profitable to buy the brand new dress. If you are not so focused on specific brands, then the recommendation would be stores that price their items individually, so this way a no-name, good condition dress would have a lower price than a brand new dress, and of course this would be your best option. To make sure you’re getting the right product, remember to always check your items for stains and look to see if the zippers work and that the buttons are in perfect condition.

The above mentioned tips are only a few ideas you can use to get started. From sales, clearance, coupons to thrift shops and even garage sales, you’re sure to see the results soon enough. You will be amazed about how much money you can save while still dressing your kids in good-quality clothing!

Friday, December 25, 2015

McLoughlin #ChristmasEve 2015 #Catholic #Beanboozled #Scrooged

Christmas Eve. Ah, super busy day preparing for Christmas Day to make it special! My mom and stepdad are coming over on Day and love to watch the kids open presents and we have breakfast and listen to Christmas music. It's awesome. ... Today entailed wrapping presents, hitting the grocery store just ONE MORE TIME, doing dishes for Aron's GOURMET COOKING EXTRAVAGANZA and more!

Daddy spent all day working on Christmas dinner so he wouldn't have so much to do on Christmas Day. Eva helped him get seeds out of raspberries for cheesecake topping.

Joel was just being cool most of the day.
 Mid-afternoon I had to hit the liquor store so here's my Facebook status for that one:
OK so I don't really frequent liquor stores but I did my husband a favor and took some rum back that he said was disgusting. The place was packed! And apparently I never got the memo to not act like an awkward dork in a liquor store. I probably sounded like a raging alcoholic talking about how I don't really like to drink but I kind of wish I like to drink. Wow, can somebody please give me some duct tape in my stocking for Christmas? For my mouth.

We had to go out and rake leaves finally on DECEMBER 24 ... the weather has been so great that we kept putting it off. Oh, and we've been busy! The kids did some hilarious slow-mo videos jumping in that I'll post on YouTube.
As it got dark we realized we needed to return a RedBox so Aron and I set out on a quick walk to return it. We need the exercise badly since colder weather has come. So much easier to toss on flip flops and go walking in the warm mornings instead of putting on cold gear to walk!
8 p.m. Mass to include Julia, out 8th wheel and the girl I'm sponsoring for Confirmation

All of us

Home from Mass and time for some hot dogs!

Joel and Michael got an early gift of Minecraft redstone for a nightlight for being BEST BABYSITTERS EVER when Mommy has to run errands.

NORAD's Santa Tracker

Beanboozled was a hit at about 11:45 p.m. ... I'll post a video on YouTube of Aron trying CANNED DOG FOOD! Best game ever!
Here's my YouTube channel for more McLoughlin Family Fun! Merry Christmas!

Here's the Beanboozled video.


Thursday, December 24, 2015

Happy #ChristmasEve


At my house it's also the dad ... Mr. Kerrie also is busting butt to wrap and place presents and eat cookies and write a letter back from Santa.

*Proofreader find: "Twas ... was stirring ... was busting but ... everything WAS perfect."

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

#BestChristmasGifts Indoor Swimming Pool Membership in the Winter

I posted this last night on my Facebook wall:

I just want to give a shout out to my mother who is not on Facebook and thank her for the three-month membership to our indoor gym and swimming pool. She has given us the gift of health and the gift of getting out of the house in the winter time and the gift of family time.

My family LOVES SWIMMING! All my kids can swim as of this year and it is a mother's HEAVEN because I don't have to worry so much about them all the time! Yes, I still make sure an adult is with them, their dad or I, at any pool we go to. I don't think it's a teen lifeguard's responsibility to babysit my kid at the pool. That's my job.

Callie got to go swimming with our lovely neighbors Sunday at their indoor pool and loved it! We have missed swimming since the pool closed early September. My mom usually gets us a zoo membership but as the kids are getting old we are not really going anymore. If we go once a year it wouldn't be worth it to get a membership. So this year we asked for something different ...

A 3-month membership to our local indoor pool and gym.


And last night we signed up. I wanted to wait until we were really going to start using it. Sometimes we'll just swim and sometimes I'll go walk the track while Aron swims and then we'll switch another time and he can ride one of the bikes or swim alone in lap lanes and I can be with the kids.

The membership also includes time in the gymnasium if it's not booked ... and the kids love going to just mess around in there with basketballs.

It's the gift of sanity (getting out of the house in the winter) and health (swimming, the gym) and time together as a family not in front of the TV. Last night I swam a while with the kids and then I left Aron there with them and walked the track while listening to The Martian on the phone.


Thank you, Mom (Tutu) ... we all appreciate you so much!

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 18, 2015

How Catholic Are You? Make Your Own Quiz!


So it seems I’m too Catholic for most Protestants; not Catholic enough for most Catholics; and pretty okay for most agnostics.

How did I come to this conclusion? Well, I’ve pondered it for a long time, and it seems to come down to percentages.

I’m going to develop a quiz for people to figure out how Catholic they are, and it would go something like this:

-5% Have you attended Mass every weekend and obligation day for 7 years but missed 4 Sundays for travel and vacation reasons?

+10% Do you severely honor the Sabbath? (no shopping or eating out!)

-25% Have you listened to “I Kissed a Girl” and liked it?

-10% Do you love rock and dance music?

+15% Do you practice NFP? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

+10% Do you have more than 2 kids? Bonus points if you go over 5 kids.

+10% Do you breastfeed?

-15% Do you love cuss words?

+20% Do you use a Catholic homeschool curriculum?

-5% Did you ever let your oldest son go to a Nazarene church with his friend on Wednesday nights?

-5% Do you dig Halloween?

-20% Subtract if you didn't give anything up for Lent last Easter.

-5% Like mine, do your kids have “secular, worldly” friends (like when they grow up they’re only gonna hang out with other Catholics)?

Well, I am at about 75% Catholic. So I am "better" than those in the 50% range and "worse" than the 90-100% people. I need to stick with people in the 70-80% range of Catholicism for the best bet at a real friendship.

Do you see how complicated we make religion?!

Simplified version for ALL religions/non-religions: Love God/Creator/Source. Love your neighbor/annoying friend/grumpy family member/everyone, a.k.a. is it so hard to just be polite, even if you can’t be totally kind? AND ... I don't care how Catholic you are if you are a crappy parent who is absent in the name of the Lord ... helping out at church all the time while your kids need you and can't reach you on any level :-(

I’ll work on this, too. Peace out.

*Originally posted 9/6/2008 and now we do virtual school through Kansas so take my points away on the Catholic homeschool curriculum thing but add like +1,000% since I now teach religious education and we go to Catholic co-op once a week! Woo hoo!

You could add so much to this! For example:

Do you sleep around while preaching at your friends that they will go to purgatory unless they get their butts to Confession?

Do you do volunteer work ... and not tell the world about it and post it on Instagram?

Have you met the Pope?