April 5, 2013
by pennypinchingpeach 7 Comments

Acts of Random Kindness

You Can Change the World One Act of Random Kindness At a Time!

I originally wrote just to share with my friends only seven months after my mom passed away. She diagnosed with lung cancer (as a non-smoker) on October 19, 2006 and passed away December 20, 2006. She was only 44 years old when she died, and her 51st birthday would’ve been this month. In her honor, I’m sharing this, and intending to renew my vow to do little “acts of random kindness”. Feel free to share your own thoughts and feelings on the topic…

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Acts of
Random
Kindness

Tonight I went with my dad & brother to see the movie Evan Almighty.

Going into the movie, I was expecting sheer stupidity & goofiness and maybe a few laughs. I wasn’t disappointed. I giggled & cackled my way through the film. (Any story involving a guy who is told to build an ark in a high class modern neighborhood has gotta be pretty funny!) However, the part that stuck in my mind wasn’t anything that brought snickering to my soul. It was a simple statement that went along with something I’ve been thinking about alot here recently. That statement was this…

“You can change the world one act of random kindness at a time.”

Mom, Nana and Me

Do you know what is the most amazing thing about that simple little statement? It’s true! If each & every one of us took it in our hearts to do all those acts of random kindness that we know we should do, but are usually rushing too quickly through life to do- it would change the world in wonderful ways. People would smile more, blood pressure would lower, heart attacks & churning stomachs & bad nerves would be less of an issue and the world would be much less stressful & more happy than we can even imagine.
This past Monday night, our Bible study group leader challenged us to spend this week trying to look for small ways to serve others and show kindness every little chance we get, and observe what sort of difference it makes in our lives & our outlook. Since this was something I’d already been thinking on, and it was reiterated for me in a goofy comedy tonight, I’m taking this on as a seriously fun challenge. I’m going to be looking out for itty-bitty ways to share joy, help others, be kind, and randomly serve those around me.
How about trying this with me? Open a door, carry some groceries, give someone a hug, compliment someone on a job well done, let a car in front of you even if you have been stuck in traffic for an ungodly length of time…just go ahead and do any kindness you can see to be done. Don’t leave it for someone else to do. Don’t think that it isn’t important. Think about the times your life has been positively impacted by a kindness that was fairly insignificant…and pass along that impact!

Don’t forget…
“You can change the world one act of random kindness at a time.”

Is there some little act of random kindness that has impacted your life in a big way? Share it with me! I wanna hear about it. Please share this message with anyone who could use a little kindness in life!

~Keisha~
July 4, 2007

Has a small act of kindness impacted your life in a big way? What acts of random kindness have you done lately, or had done for you? I’ve had seemingly random or small acts of kindness that were pretty huge to me and sometimes life changing. I plan a follow-up post (or series of posts, even) in the nearby future telling a few of those stories. Share, people, share! I’m all eyes here. 🙂

This is a beautiful little book about random acts of kindness you can do Wisdom From Random Acts of Kindness

Interested in the rest of this series? Please read Continuing the Kindess and Share the Kindness!

Loving My Babies Like Mama Loved Me

March 20, 2013
by pennypinchingpeach 26 Comments

Mommy Meltdown Moments

: When Mommy is having a meltdown, but we’re still cute….

My toddler loves to go shopping with Mommy. Does Mommy always enjoy that experience? Umm….nope!!

There are times when shopping with my beautiful children is pure bliss.

We wander the aisles of the grocery & department stores, racking up compliments on how gorgeous and well behaved my little angels are while my daughter points out all the neaterific things she sees everywhere with witty descriptiveness and my baby happily chortles at every grandmother who smiles at him. These are the moments of pride & joy in motherhood. I glow and think I could handle a few more of these wonderful beings.

Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there are the “Mommy Meltdown” moments on a routine grocery shopping trip.

If you’re a mother and claim to have never had one of these, you are either actually an angelic being posing as a human mommy or a big honkin’ liar! I’m betting on the latter! 😉

My personal meltdowns have been triggered by a myriad of crazily challenging experiences. Want a sample? Let me see…

How about the time my daughter was pitching tantrums and trying to grab things all through the store? The icing on the cake was when she grabbed my coupon organizer and scattered it’s contents all over the cleaning aisle. An older lady came upon me in tears on my hand & knees, baby strapped to me in a carrier and my other hand holding the seat of the pants of a squirming toddler. She was very sweet and helped me gather up my many pieces of paper gold, assuring me this happens to the best of us now & then.

Oh, oh! And the other day when my sweet little girl was sharing Cheerios with her baby brother, and dumped the whole container all over the drugstore floor? That took awhile to clean up, especially since I made her “help” and had to keep her from putting the nasty crumbs into her hungry little mouth while baby brother cried from his perch in the buggy.

That same trip, as I strapped both kids into the car, she pulls two lip balms out of her pocket and exclaims “Surprise, Mommy!!”. Yeah, that was a fun trip back into the store.

You should’ve heard the lecture she got through our whole grocery trip about what stealing is, why it is bad, and what the consequences will be if this ever happens again. She can now be heard loudly lecturing random strangers in stores about not taking things without paying for them.

My most recent meltdown happened this morning at home.

Both kids were content playing for a moment, and I walked away for a minute to get something. Suddenly, I heard suspicious scribbling noises. As I walked back to the kitchen, asking Princess Peach what she was doing, I heard a clattering crash and baby protesting loudly. Miss munchkin ran guiltily away, pencil in hand, refrigerator covered in her hastily scribbled “artwork”, with the echo of me hollering “TIMEOUT! NOW!!!” following her into the other livingroom. Baby was looking at up me in irritation, still grasping the trash can lid in hand, wondering why everything was scattered all around and why I looked so frustrated. The next little while saw me scrubbing the fridge, gathering the trash, scrubbing the floor, cleaning the baby and muttering under my breath “God made them cute to ensure their survival”. 🙂

So, yeah, I’ve had my share of “I-am-so-embarassed” and “If-one-more-thing-goes-wrong-I’ll-implode” during routine trips to the grocery store, ill-planned visits to restaurants or even simply trying to get a few things done around the house.

What triggers your “Mommy Meltdowns”?

March 7, 2013
by pennypinchingpeach 6 Comments

The Liebster Award!!

The Liebster Award

Liebster Award

I was given an unexpected compliment & honor this week, by being nominated for the Liebster Award! Liebster means “favorite” in German, and is given to new bloggers who are building their audience by people who believe they are doing an exceptional job.

Thank you so much to My Fabulous Frugal Life http://myfabulousfrugallife.com/ for nominating me! Be sure to visit and follow her frugally fashionable blog.

These are the Liebster Award rules; “When nominated, the blogger must list eleven facts about his/herself, answers questions given by the nominator, and come up with eleven questions for the bloggers he/she nominates.”

♥ Eleven Facts About Penny Pinching Peach♥

•Above all, I love my family.
•I was raised on a farm, and I miss it.
•I come from a long & proud line of penny pinching peaches
•I enjoy cooking and baking yummy vittles, then share them.
•I was homeschooled, graduating at age 15 in the top 1% of graduating seniors nationwide.
•I lost my mom in 2006, and I miss her every day, but she lives on in the hearts of all who loved her.
•My children are the reason I get up every morning.
•My pet peeves are parents who don’t parent and rude people.
•I love animals! We have two dogs, two cats, and are getting chicks before Easter.
•I’m new to the Wonderful World of Blog, but I’m finding folks friendly here. 🙂
•I’m pretty creative, and love making random things beautiful.

♥Questions From My Fabulous Frugal Life♥

•Why do you blog? I blog because it is the way I have expressed myself since I learned how to scribble words on paper, and I wanted to try a new avenue of sharing some things I love. You know, like pinching pennies and the funny kiddos.
•What is the last book you read? Organizing For Dummies. I got some great pointers out of it, too. I guess I’m a dummy when it comes to being organized with all the clutter we have around here. 🙂
•What is the last item you purchased? Groceries. Exciting, I know! 😉
•What is the last meal/food you prepared? My great-grandma’s recipe for Ritz cracker chicken, accompanied by some yummy mashed taters & green beans with onions, washed down with a cold glass of sweet tea. (Yep, I’m from the South! How’d y’all guess?)
•Where do you find home decorating items/inspiration? I find inspiration in my favorite things and colors, as well as nature and things others have done with their homes.
•What do you love? I am so in love with God, my family, friends, pets, writing, cooking & creativity.
•What’s something you know you do differently than most people? I don’t care where I am or who is looking. If I want to do the chicken dance with my daughter or look like a monkey to make my baby laugh, I’m not too embarassed to do that.
•What would you do if you won $1 million? Pay off all of our bills, buy our dream home on acreage, invest some for the future, and help out a few deserving folks a bit.
•What is your guilty pleasure? Yummy, delicious, delectable chocolate, especially of the dark & creamy varieties! Drool city! 🙂
•What is your favorite store and why? This is going to sound weird, but right now my favorite chain store is CVS. It is the easiest local store for stacking coupons and deals together for ridiculous savings! 🙂 Besides that, I have a lifelong friendship with thrift stores and consignment shops. You can find all sorts of nifty treasures on the cheap at those spots, and they keep my munchkins beautifully clothed for pennies on the dollar.
•What are you grateful for? I am grateful to be alive to be with my family. I had an extremely complicated pregnancy (due to a grapefruit sized dermoid cyst and delayed discovery by my original doctors) with my 10 month old son, and both of us nearly passed away. It was a hard fight to carry him as long as possible, then they nearly lost both of us when he was born. He went into respiratory arrest due to being three weeks premature and the meds I was on to keep from going into labor any sooner. I lost too much blood during an emergency c-section & surgery. Had my husband not fought so hard to force them to switch me to specialists at the best hospital in the state, I honestly believe that we might not be here today.I thank God every day that I am here to enjoy my life, family and babies, and even be annoyed & exhausted by them, because I was so close to not having all of this. We are very blessed.

♥Penny Pinching Peach’s Liebster Award Nominees♥

•Our Thrifty House http://ourthriftyhouse.com/
•The Dissocial Mom http://thedissocialmom.wordpress.com/
•WAH Families Live Green http://wahfamilieslivegreen.com/
•Goodwill Hoarding http://goodwillhoarding.com/

♥My Questions for the Nominees♥

•What inspires your blogs?
•What is your favorite way to save?
•If you could spend your weekend any way you wanted, what would you do?
•Do you have any pets?
•Which beauty item can you not live without?
•What is your favorite place to shop, online or offline?
•What’s your favorite meal?
•What two words best describes your personality?
•What is your favorite way to treat yourself?
•Do you have any hidden talents?
•What would you like to be remembered for?

Congratulations to all of these fantastic bloggers!

I look forward to reading your replies and to continue keeping up with all of your blogs! Please visit and follow all of these creative bloggers. I know you’ll enjoy them as much as I do!

February 28, 2013
by pennypinchingpeach 2 Comments

Deciphering Diaper Deals

Blissful sleep in discount name brand diapers

If you’re the parent of a diapered darling, you know that the the little stinker is going to to keeping doodying in those diapers and you’re going to have to keep wiping those bottoms. Unless you are one of those brave (and commendable) souls who ventures into the world of cloth diapers and reusable wipes, it’s an inevitable part of parenting a small, drooly being. They are going to poop & pee and you’re going to keep buying something for them to stinky up over & over & over &….well, you get the picture. 🙂 I have a few simple strategies which have kept me rarely buying full price diapers or wipes, and have saved us a truckload of money.

First of all, sign up with all of the diaper makers for their email lists or clubs or whatever they have available. They will often mail, email or post on their sites very high value coupons to get you to continue buying their products. Huggies and Pampers also have rewards programs you can use to earn different things. I’ll probably write more about those another day. 🙂

Secondly, check the online printable coupon sites at least once a week, and print any coupons for diapers and wipes they have available. They will usually let you print them at least twice, so try to do that. Keep these coupons in your purse all the time, in case you run across a real bargain you can stack the coupons on top of. One site that frequently has baby product coupons is http://coupons.com

Third, sign up for store loyalty cards, and don’t forget to use them. They track what you buy, and since you are obviously buying diapers & wipes, they will often wind up giving you coupons for those items to keep you buying them in their stores. Many stores, like CVS and Walgreens, will allow you to “stack” their store coupons on top of a manufacturer’s coupon, which makes for some great bargains.

Fourth & finally, never wait until you actually need bottom wipers or poopy catchers to buy them. If you do, you’re probably not going to get the best deals or even close! Always stay ahead. Buy them when they are on sale and you have coupons to help pay for them. It’s easy to check when you’re already shopping or glance online briefly before you head to the store and see if there’s a good sale going on.

See? All of that is super duper easy, and hardly takes a few minutes each week. The pay-off is huge when you compare it to the time you put into it, too! I rarely pay more than half price for diapers and the wipes are usually deeply discounted, as well. Just by spending a few minutes a week on this, and only counting these two items, I would estimate that I save at approximately $60 to $70 a month. If you count that like wages, I’m making pretty good money for my time! 😉

Diapered dude and discount diva proving frugal is cool!

Try these little strategies out, and let me know how they work for you. They’ve been budget savers for us! Diapered dudes and divas aren’t discounted, so anything to make them less costly is great by this frugal mama! 🙂

February 19, 2013
by pennypinchingpeach 7 Comments

Wedding on a Budget

Under the Arbor

My husband and I are about to celebrate our fourth anniversary. This got me to thinking about planning our wedding. Are you surprised that I tried to keep the costs low, even though my daddy was paying? I didn’t think so! 😉 Weddings can be extraordinarily expensive. When planning my own nuptials, I couldn’t see blowing tons of dough on things that wouldn’t help us in our life together. I wanted to make the day special, include people I loved, and celebrate the beginning of our life together without feeling I was wasting anyone’s money.

My mom had passed away from cancer just before Christmas in 2006, before I even met my husband. She wasn’t there to help me plan my wedding, and she never even got to meet my groom. This was heartbreaking for me. I was never one of those girls who planned out and dreamed over every detail of my wedding. The only constant components in my vague dreams were that my dress would be white and my mom & I would relish every moment of planning that celebration together. Because she wasn’t there to do that with me, I went through a time of sorrow and grieving over the fact she was gone, and had alot of trouble getting excited about my wedding day. Planning it in a creative, family oriented, frugal way was the closest I could come to including her in my plans, so I finally threw myself into that. I knew she would want me to focus on my joy in the new family I was beginning, rather than in the emptiness I felt in her absence.

My beautiful bouquet

My nana (Mom’s mom) is hugely talented with floral arrangements, and offered to do my flowers as her wedding gift to me. She made this beautiful bouquet, did the lovely arbor we said our vows under, and created nice boutonnieres for the menfolks. They were all so nice, creative and special to me because every petal was placed with love and good wishes for our happiness in our marriage. You can’t put a pricetag on that! Also, one of my nana’s best friends is a retired hairdresser, and did my hair for me as a favor to my nana. That was so nice of her.

I love my sweet Uncle ‘Preacher’, who is my dad’s oldest brother and a pastor, and have alot of respect for him. He was my first thought of who I wanted to perform our ceremony, and he was kind enough to grant my request that he do that. His wife makes delicious punch, and offered to make some for our refreshments.

My Brother Playing

My brother is an amazing musician, so I had him play some pieces on the guitar while people were being seated and as I walked down the aisle. Folks were pleasantly surprised at how talented he is, and it is a special memory for me of his part on my big day.

One of my cousins is a terrific photographer who had done weddings before, and did our wedding photos for a fraction of the normal cost. I think she did an amazing job!

My stepmother, dad and some family friends helped with refreshments, and others helped my groom & me decorate.

I purchased my gown at a discount, without compromising getting the dress that made me feel like a bride. My sweet sister-in-law went with me. She was a huge support when I wanted to have a meltdown because I was wedding dress shopping without my mama, and made sure I didn’t settle for an “okay” gown because it was the cheapest one that fit. 🙂 Many of my “extras” for decorating and refreshments were bought at the dollar store or I found them at deep discounts, but they fit the simple theme I wanted.

All in all, my wedding cost very little and meant so much. There were moments when I wanted to cry, because I just wanted my mom there, but I knew she would be happy for me to be marrying the man I had chosen. It’s not about how much you spend. It’s about how much love you put into it. Our wedding day started our marriage off with oodles of love from our family and friends without putting anyone into tons of debt or financial stress. I know my thrifty mama would have been proud, and I could feel her spirit there with me, just as I can feel her love living on in me, my family, and especially my own motherly love for my babies every single day.

Stay frugal, remember what and who is important, and cherish every moment you have with those you love.