Thrifty Mommy » Jennifer Chait

Zhu Zhu Pets at Kmart Soon

Jennifer Chait — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:00:40 +0000

Honestly, I’ve just recently heard of Zhu Zhu pets when I was writing my toy scalper post. It’s not a toy my son has seen. However, what I hear is that these are pretty much the hottest toy of 2009, so I’m guessing some of you are looking for one for your kids.

If so, you’re in luck because according to reports, Kmart has these fun furry friends scurrying-in just in time for Christmas.

On December 18th these electronic pet hamsters will be available for purchase on Kmart.com and on December 20th they will be available for purchase at select Kmart stores. Check Kmart.com for store locations.

Zhu Zhu pets will be available for $10.99 both online and in-store and there is a limit of 2 per customer.

Good luck!

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Should you buy from toy scalpers?

Jennifer Chait — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:00:17 +0000

Yesterday we looked at toy scalpers and why toy scalping is wrong. Not everyone agreed but that’s fine. Today we’re looking at the question of if you should you buy from toy scalpers?

As noted yesterday, my son actually wants a popular toy this year. However, it’s been bought up by scalpers which is currently the only way to get one, which brings up the whole should you buy from scalpers question.

Plenty of parents will buy from scalpers. Take the Zhu Zhu issue this holiday season. Parents are paying terribly marked up prices to get their hands on one of these but is that a good idea? I don’t think so. Scalping may not be an actual crime but as I pointed out yesterday it is wrong or at the very least shady. If you don’t agree read Dave Van Domelen’s take on the issue.

Why parents buy from scalpers…

Because they want to make their kid’s holiday special.
Because they feel their child has been good and deserves the toy.
Because it’s easy to rationalize that your child should get the gift they want, especially if they only asked for one toy.

Personally I won’t buy from a scalper. The toy my son wanted, the one you can only get from scalpers, he won’t be getting this Christmas, even though I do think my son is amazing. He’s a great kid who rarely asks for popular or pricey toys. However, I don’t agree with buying from scalpers because…

Scalpers are in business because consumers will buy from them. If you buy from them you feed their need and make scalping a lucrative endeavor. Stop buying from a scalper and guess what they won’t do – scalp.
Buying toys from scalpers supports the companies who create a buzz then only release so many of an item to create an even bigger buzz. I get that companies can’t always know which products will be the most popular, but they’ve been in the biz long enough to have a good general idea.
This is not what the holidays are about. Getting stuff or even that one most wanted toy is not (or should not be) the primary objective of the holidays at my house. It’s nice to get things you like, but this society is so consumer driven that it’s taken away a lot of meaning from the holidays. I don’t want to celebrate like that.
My ethics and issues will be passed down to my son whether I like it or not. As parents we all pass down values to our kids. If I’m really against something – i.e. scalping, using plastic bags, hitting, what have you, how does it look if I partake in these things?

Well, if you aren’t going to buy from scalpers what should you do?

I’ve been talking to my son about money from the time he was very small. Would he buy a marked up toy with his own money? After I talked to him about the issue it turns out that no, he wouldn’t. This is one benefit to talking about budget issues with your kids from an early age. When tough subjects come up they can handle it. I told my son exactly what’s up with the situation. I explained what scalpers are, how the toy companies only release so many items, and also explained that the toy he wants could cost at least $100 more than what it normally would. Although Cedar did want the toy at first we also discussed other things he might like instead and he’s not upset.

He’s almost nine years old, so I have the luxury of having a child who is old enough to talk to vs. a toddler who won’t understand scalping at all. However, even with young kids you should be discussing commercialism issues. From a young age our kids are hit hard with commercials for all sorts of goods, and as a parent it’s your job to tackle the issue.

You can also talk to your kids about waiting. After the holidays that toy may come back in stock, and he can get it then when it’s a normal price. I told my son this and he said he’d be happy with looking for the toy he wanted after the holidays. Last year my boyfriend couldn’t find a retail priced Wii for his daughters, so he cut out a picture of one, pasted it in a card, and gave it to them, saying that when it came back on the shelves they’d get one. His girls were happy with that.

Some people I’ve talked to think I’m being mean because I won’t buy him the one toy he wants from a scalper one individual even said it was mean of me to ruin the holiday just because I won’t buy from a scalper.

If it truly would ruin the holidays just because my son doesn’t get a specific toy, I’d seriously have to wonder if I’ve been teaching my son the wrong meaning of the season, which in my opinion is spending time with family and friends not scoring the perfect gift. With that in mind my son’s holiday is not ruined. We’ll still be hanging out with family and pals doing fun stuff and he’s excited about that.

Lastly I want my son to have ethics and money smarts and if I don’t discuss the hard issues with him who will? Hopefully he’ll grow up as someone who doesn’t scalp, has ethics, and wants to manage his money well. It’s my job to teach him all of the above so no matter what other people think I am happy with my decision.

What is your take on buying from toy scalpers? Good idea for deserving kids or is it feeding unethical or at the very least, gray area behavior?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Will you buy from toy scalpers?

Jennifer Chait — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:07:54 +0000

Personally I think toy scalpers are totally lame. I haven’t had too many problems with them since my son tends to want less popular holiday gifts overall and as a parent concerned with toxins and toy safety I tend to stick to green gifts which most toy scalpers avoid.

However this year I did run into issues. My son asked for just one toy this year and the toy company who released it allowed 5 per customer, as did many stores, so scalpers bought them up, which frankly I didn’t expect so I didn’t buy one back in September or October (like I should have). The toy, originally around $50 is now sold out everywhere but is all over the web for sale via greedy scalpers for $85, $100, and more. I’ve seen this particular toy for as much as $150 on eBay.

Ah now that’s the holiday spirit.

In case you’re wondering – toy scalpers research toys at the start of toy season, buy up a bunch of what they assume will be a popular toy, sometimes going from store to store (as most stores have limits) then when the product is sold out the scalpers sell them to parents at dramatically raised prices.

I’ve heard the arguments FOR scalpers over the years but I don’t agree with them, for example…

It’s the only way to make money – what if the scalper has a family to support? Um, get a real job. Trust me as a parent, I’ve been down and out but I’m not going to buy toys kids want and then sell them to kid’s parents at a double markup. If you have kids and need to support them, maybe a job is in order?

BUT there are no jobs and scalpers have just found a clever way to make money. Smart? Or greedy and lazy? Is ruining the holidays for some kids a nice alternative for folks who don’t know how to get a real job? There’s such a thing as being smart enough to get a real job, and trust me, even in this economy I know many people who have recently gotten new jobs so this excuse doesn’t work for me.

Scalpers are smarter than you because they acted faster. Well, people with jobs are at work, not out looking for toys. People with kids are busy and I don’t think it’s fair to say that scalpers are smarter just because they have better timing.

It’s not like it’s illegal. Nope it’s not. Unless the merchandise is counterfeit or stolen toy scalping is perfectly ok according to current laws. However there’s such a thing as ethics and karma.

It’s the toy company’s fault not the scalper’s. Partially. I totally agree with the assessment that toy companies only release just so many of an item to one, create buzz, and two to make sure they can make the most money possible. Is that right? Probably not. Will I buy from a toy company who creates a large buzz then seemingly, knowingly, releases very few of an item? Not likely. That’s just as lame as scalping but you can’t just blame toy companies because scalping is still wrong. If a toy company jumped off a bridge would all the scalpers?

Only rich parents buy from scalpers anyhow – why should we care if the parents of spoiled kids have to pay more? Not true. I know plenty of families with great kids who simply want a popular toy. Why we should assume only rich kids want toys is beyond me. Some kids from families who are struggling want popular toys too, but at scalper prices they may not get them.

Now all that said, it sucks to be the parent of a child who only asks for one toy and that toy happens to be one of the scalped items of the holiday season. With that in mind, tomorrow we’ll look at the following question…

Should you buy from scalpers? I’ll tell you right now that my answer is no, but we’ll look at why that is tomorrow.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Easily find a lost manual online

Jennifer Chait — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:02:31 +0000

Keeping your manuals for gadgets, toys, appliances, and other gear can save you money and in a perfect world we’d all be hyper good at keeping our warranties and other paper info about our products well organized. However, it’s way far from a perfect world and we all lose stuff and some of us just aren’t all that organized by nature.

So with that said, what to do when you lose a manual? If your appliance or other product breaks and you don’t have the manual you may not be able to figure out if an easy (and cheap) fix is needed. That sucks and you could end up paying a lot to get your item fixed or even shell out cash for a new one. Instead head to Diplodocs first and try an easy search to see if you can find your manual. Diplodocs carries manuals or users guides for about 1,870,000 products and 5,600 brands.You can search for manuals by product name, manufacturer, or even do an advanced search. Manuals are available in tons of languages and all are free to download.

If you happen to have a sought after manual that’s not already available at the site you can help improve the site by uploading it to Diplodocs. You can even browse to see which manuals people are actively looking for.

Visit Diplodocs and learn more about this free service today.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Stretch your food budget further

Jennifer Chait — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:40 +0000

Keeping groceries fresh for as long as humanly possible plus using food to the last drop, or crumb as the case may be, are two of the best ways to save money. Here are some tips that should help you get the most food use for your money.

Save your fresh herbs in the freezer. You can do this in bunches or cubes and either whole or chopped. They won’t have the same picked fresh flavor but they will last longer than they would in your fridge.Save empty butter wrappers folded (messy side inside) in the fridge – when you need to grease a pan, take one out and grease away. Cheaper than spray for sure.
Leftover baked or mashed potatoes can be made easily into potato cakes. You can add whatever fixings you like to the cakes like veggies or turkey sausage and top with gravy, sour cream, or other goodies (salsa is fun).
To keep homemade cookies fresh place a small piece of sliced apple in with them at the bottom of the jar. This should keep them moist for as long as you have them – good for homes like mine because my son is only a semi treat muncher. Our cookies always get dry before we eat them unless we do this trick.
ALWAYS make all your pancakes or waffles right away. Every time I leave batter in the fridge I forget about it. A better option is to use all your batter at once then freeze the extra waffles or cakes, which heat well in a toaster oven or microwave. NOTE: The first time I froze pancakes I did it wrong. Do not place them in a container and allow them to freeze, you’ll never be able to get them apart one-by-one. Instead, place extras on a cookie sheet, place in the freezer for 30 mins til mostly frozen, then put them into a container or wrap them together.
Dried out cheese is gross in slices but still works in wet dishes like lasagna or a casserole. Grate it finely and add it to your dishes.

What other ideas do you have?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Save the Date – Free Shipping Day – Dec 17

Jennifer Chait — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:14:10 +0000

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are all over but there’s one more chance to save big on holiday gifts coming up – Free Shipping Day which is set for December 17.

Free Shipping Day is a one day shopping event when participating merchants offer free shipping to customers with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. So far more than 585 retailers have signed on to participate. That’s a major movement as last year only 250 retailers participated.

Al Free Shipping Day promotions for participating merchants will be kept under wraps until Thursday, December 17 at 12:00AM EST. It’s not a total free for all as some merchants may have minimum order restrictions but according to event news, more than half will have free shipping on all orders.

Free Shipping Day is gaining in popularity – last year the FreeShippingDay.com web site had 250,000 unique visitors in a single 10-day period and that included 100,000 on the Free Shipping Day itself. This year should be even better as more than double the amount of retailers have signed up. Some participating retailers include Toys R Us, JCPenney, Apple Store, Nike, Sears, Babies R Us, Eddie Bauer, PacSun, PetSmart, and Ralph Lauren.

Visit Free Shipping Day to learn more.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

KidsPark Less Expensive Child Care

Jennifer Chait — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:53:20 +0000

During the holidays it can be tough to find a trusted sitter, and worse sitter’s rates have seemingly gone up and up in recent years. Coming to some parent’s rescue are KidsPark national child-care centers.

KidsPark centers offer day, evening and weekend care for children ages 2-11 and is open almost each and every day of the year with parent schedule friendly hours – they’re open from 8 am to 10 pm Monday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. KidsPark also offers recession conscience prices (about $7.50 per hour) so most families can afford it. There’s no reservation needed – families register once and they’re in the KidsPark system.

Safety - KidsPark exceeds state licensing requirements with an average teacher-child ratio of 1:8. At all times, no matter the number of children present there are two staff on site. If a child needs one-on-one attention, another teacher is available to the group.

All KidsPark staff is:

Certified in First Aid and CPR
Screened by the Department of Justice
Trained in Early Childhood Education and Recreation
Required to attend staff development and skill building workshops

KidsPark offers lots of hands-on projects, art projects, games and a pretty slick calendar of seasonal special events. Additionally, various areas for different activities are designated at each center. Such as…

Creation Station – for art, cooking, hands-on-science and more.
Activity Area – where kids can play individually or in group with toys, play pretend in the playhouse or investigate the book nook.
Mountain of Energy – an active minded structure that kids can pretend is a mountain, space ship and more.
Theater – an areaused for story times, music, G-rated movies, games and guest performers.
Sport Court – perfect for kids tired of being inside all winter, kids can kick goals, shoot baskets, play 4-square or just enjoy a game of catch.
Blue Crew – a school-age area that encourages interaction with peers. Older kids can learn more detailed art projects, play age appropriate games and non-violent video games or do homework.

The only downside I see to KidsPark is that there are not nearly enough of them. Current locations include Arlington/Texas, Jacksonville/FL, Scottsdale/AZ, Olathe/Kansas and in California – Chico, Northridge, Corona, Fresno, Rocklin, Sacramento, and their pilot centers in San Jose, CA. That said there are also three additional locations opening in the first half of 2010.

If you live in one of the areas with a KidsPark you may want to check them out for holiday care this year while they’re out of school or while you need to holiday shop OR set up a date night with your partner.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Help little kids to learn about money

Jennifer Chait — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:22:15 +0000

Little kids are easily confused by money and money flow. Having an eight year old has made me realize that kids carry many common misconceptions about money include thinking that money will never run out (ah, the ATM just keeps spitting it out), money is only for things like items you can touch not bills like rent or electricity, and that things cost pretty much the same be it a house, an apple, or a toy.

As my son has gotten older he’s really started getting a grasp on money but when he was 7 years and under, he just didn’t get money all that well. Some of us, as parents make many mistakes when dealing with money and kids, so the kids aren’t just to blame. How we can help our youngest kids is to make money more real. Your child may not get it right away but the more you focus on money as a real issue that matters to your child, the more he’ll start to understand. Below are some simple things you can do to teach your little one about money and finances.

Allow your child to be the household coupon clipper. He can even hold onto them at the store and kids 6 and up can be taught to use a calculator to figure how much a 50 cent coupon will save on cereal.
Make your child the king of green (money and planet wise). Have him save bottles in the proper recycling bin then take them back to the store for cash back. If your state doesn’t do this explain how recycling can save you money on your trash bill. You can also put your little one in charge of lights. If he makes sure they stay off when not in use, hopefully you’ll save a little money on your electricity bill. Show your little one the bill amount for last month, then show him the new bill – if you guys saved any money let him have it to spend on a small item.
Put him in charge of the family coin jar. Once it’s full the two of you can take it to the bank or a coin machine, cash them in, and he’ll see how it adds up to paper money. Let him help decide which family fund the savings should go to.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Best Ever Holiday Money Saving Tips

Jennifer Chait — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:28:44 +0000

With fewer than 20 days to go until Christmas, I thought it might be time to do a little holiday money-saving round-up here at Thrifty Mommy. Karen and me discuss holiday savings at length each year and we’ve built up a pretty awesome amount of money saving holiday posts.

If you want to learn how to save more money for this year’s holiday celebration then this handy tips post is for you. Check out the ideas below and see just how thrifty your holidays can be.

SAVE MONEY ON CELEBRATIONS & FUN

HAVE THRIFTY FUN WITH THE KIDS

SAVE MONEY ON HOLIDAY FOOD

SAVE MONEY ON HOLIDAY GIFTS

HOLIDAY TOY TIPS

SAVE MONEY ON HOLIDAY EXTRAS

[image via stock.xchng; altered by me]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Save more money on Christmas dinner

Jennifer Chait — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:52:21 +0000

We’re always looking at ways to save on holiday food here at Thrifty Mommy, and of course Christmas is one of the biggie holidays. Lots of people, lots of food, and sometimes lots of costs. That said you can save money on holiday food if you plan it right.

Go homemade: It costs less to cook from scratch AND you get the added benefit of less food wasted. Whenever anyone I know buys one of those precooked holiday meals there’s a ton leftovers because those precooked meals just don’t taste that great. Why buy food if you’re going to toss it? It is more time consuming to cook homemade, but if you gather everyone together to help it makes it faster (and more fun).

Buy frozen holiday food: Normally I say go fresh and organic, however with the sheer bulk of holiday food that most families buy, frozen foods are almost just as healthy and costs less. Go fresh with your salad fixings but buy side veggies like broccoli and corn frozen. Fresh fruit is expensive this time of year, so look for frozen strawberries, raspberries, and other fruits in frozen form for tarts, cookies, pies, and sauces. Most frozen fruits and veggies are available in organic too.

Think cans: On the same note as the above canned fruits for pies can save you cash. I never suggest canned veggies because I think they taste terrible PLUS unless you want a side of BPA for the holidays it’s safer to skip the canned veggies.

Know when to go cheap and when to splurge: You should splurge on an organic turkey and fresh veggies for a raw veggie tray, but empty calorie foods like chips, soda, and so on taste pretty much the same if you buy name brand or store brand. Going cheap on the less meaningful food saves you cash to splurge on nicer foods – i.e. fruit and cheese.

Stretch and compost leftovers: If you bought too much food, the best thing is to make yummy leftovers with it. We have some great holiday leftover ideas here at Thrifty Mommy. You can also compost which is a great way to get an early start on healthy soil for spring.

What are some other ways to save money on Christmas dinner?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy