Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

Living Large on a Limited Budget

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How We Got Here, part 1

April 21st, 2009 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

While we are still in the ‘getting to know each other’ stage, I thought I’d like to share this series with you.  You may have already read it if you followed me over from my other blog.   We owe you part 4, however, so I will re-post parts 1, 2, and 3 here first!

Do you ever look at your life and wonder, “How did I get here?” Lately I’ve been asking myself that question about the frugal, deal-seeking, coupon freak fan I have become.

Less than a year ago, I would have told you that yes, I liked to save money. But coupons were those pretty papers that I threw out with the newspaper and my idea of thrifty was filling up my diet coke to the brim when I left McDonald’s.

Now I’m making my own baby food. Whaa–what?!

In fact, a friend e-mailed me today after reading my blog and asked me what has happened to me. How did I become so interested in this world of saving money?

And so, I’ve been thinking. How did I get here? It’s a really good question to ponder.

For those of you who don’t know, my husband was laid off almost a year ago. Since that time, we have experienced a variety of new and different life situations, including the birth of our second son, some temporary employment positions, and months of no job at all.

This, of course, was the kick in the pants that I needed to begin seeking out new ways to cut costs in just about every year of our lives. I really didn’t want to. But I had to.

So, I guess that’s how I got here.

But wait, there’s more…

Because in the past year, in spite of both cars breaking down and me giving up my job, and the birth of a new baby, and our vacuum cleaner going on the fritz and life happening, we have managed to make it without ever having to touch our savings.

And it wasn’t because of all the extrabucks I earned at CVS.

I’m thinking about taking a trip down the road aways to explore ‘how we got here’. It’s sure to include glimpses of my childhood, my life as a poor m.k. college student, and my marriage into the Ehret family. In fact, I’ve asked Wes if he’d like to share a ‘guest post’, which promises to be fun.

Mostly, I think it will be about a journey down the path of God’s grace.

Wanna come?

Filed Under: About Us Tagged With: how we got here

Redbox Free Rental Code

April 20th, 2009 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Did you know that Redbox offers a free rental code every Monday?  Today only use code: M6FR97 to get a free rental! This can be used once per debit/credit card, so you can rent more than one for free by using different cards!

To use the code, select ‘Rent with Promo Code’ before selecting your movie.

Stop by next Monday, and I’ll have a new code for you!

Thanks, Deal Seeking Mom!

Filed Under: Freebies

Money Saving Monday: The Housewarming Edition!

April 20th, 2009 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

It’s always Money Saving Monday around here, but we thought we would continue to highlight our favorite deals of the week every Monday.

If you haven’t entered our $25 FTD Giveaway yet, you can join here!

The party continues!  Looks like we aren’t the only ones celebrating this week.  Dunkin Donuts, Ben & Jerry’s, Cold Stone Creamery, and McDonald’s wanted to get in on the fun too!  Check out these fun and yummy deals:

  • Ben & Jerry’s is celebrating their 31st birthday with a FREE CONE DAY on Tuesday, April 21.  Just stop in at your local Ben & Jerry’s from noon to 8 p.m. and receive a free scoop of your favorite flavor.  Since we don’t have one nearby, could somebody air mail me  a scoop of Chunky Monkey?  Thanks.
  • Dunkin Donuts is celebrating ICED COFFEE DAY.   Stop in on Tuesday, April 21 for a 16 oz. Iced Coffee for only $.50!  Not only that, but 10% of all proceeds to support Home for Our Troops.  (Since Dunkin Donuts is my FAVORITE, I plan on doing my part!)
  • Cold Stone Creamery is giving away free Iced Coffee Lattes from noon to 5 p.m. in select location in Massachusetts and New Hampshire TODAY, Monday April 20.  Go here for a list of participating locations.
  • Did you know that McDonald’s is giving away  free small Iced Mochas and Lattes from their new McCafe selection on Mondays during the month of April?  Just stop in today or next Monday, April 27 any time from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to get yours!  Check out their new selections here.
    Update:  Apparently this may not be a national promotion.  Be sure to call your local Mickey D’s before making the trip!

Filed Under: Free Food, Money Saving Monday

WELCOME!!!!!

April 19th, 2009 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Welcome to Cha-Ching on a Shoestring!

We’re throwing ourselves a little housewarming party and we’re so glad you stopped in!  Have a look around.  Make yourselves at home. Stay awhile!

www.juliegendron.com

Just in case we haven’t met yet, we thought we’d introduce ourselves.  We are Wes and Kaley Ehret, super proud parents of Griffin (age 3) and Lincoln (age 8 months).  We love God, our family and friends, and peanut butter cup ice cream.  (Oh yeah…and saving money.)

You’ll soon discover that it’s not a party in our house until we play a game.  And there are always prizes….

Update: This giveaway has ended, but the party has not!

In fact, we want to give a FREE $25 gift card for FTD.com to
one lucky winner!

(Just in time for Mother’s Day–hint hint!)

Here’s what you gotta do to enter:

  1. Subscribe to our feed by e-mail or in a reader (see right side bar).
  2. Enter the contest by leaving a comment telling us that you became a subscriber.
  3. If you tweet or blog about this contest, add an additional comment for each!

This contest will end on Friday, April 24 at 8 pm, EST.

The party will be going on all week long! Check back for more giveaways, prizes and a whole lot of money saving fun  throughout the week!

Filed Under: About Us, Giveaways

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My  name is Kaley. Wife, Mama, and Dreamer, I have a passion for saving money, living simply, and helping others find creative ways to live large on a limited budget.

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