Jesus Likes Trains, Right?

Operation "Remind Emery What Christmas is Really About" is now in full effect! The good news is that in the last 24 hours we have made significant progress and his attention has been diverted away from the $90 Robotic Bigfoot. Prayer works people! The bad news is that it has been replaced with the "Fisher Price Disney-Pixar Toy Story 3 Geotrax Exploding Bridge Remote Control Train Set." The best thing is that he actually asked for it using that EXACT description! And people question whether or not advertising works? After that little quip, the remainder of our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "Emery.....we talked about this. Can you tell me what Christmas is about?"
Emery: "Trains"
Me: "Try again. What is it about?"
Emery: "Jesus"
Me: "That's right!! And why is Christmas an important day for Jesus?"
Emery: "Because he likes trains?"

Sigh....

On the brighter side, I did get a phone call this morning from Frontier headquarters confirming that all charges have been removed! I'm feeling like since I made such a big deal about a company that was awful, I should make an equally big deal about a company that is awesome! And that company is.....Amazon.com!

I just won the mom-lottery and Amazon wrote my over-sized check which actually looked a lot more like a 3 month supply of Pampers diapers. No joke! Sure, most of you probably aren't interested in my winnings, but for those of you who are straddled with $40 a month diaper bill like I am, I couldn't be happier than my crazy uncle who is celebrating McRib's return! Amazon double shipped my diaper order so I now have 408 diapers sitting in my living room for the bargain price of $28! And before you go judging me, yes...I did call them to own up to the mistake which was actually the result of UPS losing the initial shipment. Amazon told me to keep them as a gift! Thank you very much Amazon...I will!

I know some people are pro small business and truthfully, I usually am too since I am a freelance designer and I'm strapped with paying the government twice the employment taxes that anyone working for the man has to. But Amazon delivers them....to my door.....during nap time.....for cheap. It's awesome. If you buy disposable diapers and you don't use their 30% off subscribe-and-save service....then you're giving money away my friend and I want to know where the line is! I'm one of those annoying types that works every angle to keep as much money in my pocket as possible when it comes to everyday purchases. I'm not cheap like someone who itemizes a dinner bill because my appetizer was $1 less than yours, but I'll spend a good 20 minutes googling a "promo code" for an online purchase if I don't have one on-hand. It's not about the money saved....it's a game, and I want to win! I even go so far as to filter my purchases through credit cards to rack up rewards up on a corporate dime, take that Citibank! And for those of you worried that I am racking up interest in the meantime, I learned the credit card lesson in college when I spent my Senior year paying off my Junior year's wardrobe. I fully understand it's real money and the day they see $1 in interest from me is the day I'm choosing between food or starvation for my kids in which case I would say, "Charge it...and I'll take this flat-screen too!"

In honor of my frugality, I thought I would share some of my favorite money saving sites with you:

1. Amazon Subscribe and Save for Diapers: This makes buying diapers at Costco seem like you are buying them at 7-11 and willing to pay anything as long as you can pick up a Slurpee (or $1.50 hot dog) at the same time. 30% off of all diapers with free delivery! Can't beat that!

2. Slickdeals.net: The people who update this are professional bargain hunters! Did you know you could get 2 free tacos at Jack in the Box after 2 PM yesterday? Neither did I until right now. I'm not a fan.....but if you and I both had a taco emergency, I would be $2 richer.

4. Retailmenot.com: Remember how I said earlier that I will Google a promotion code? Well that was back in my amateur days! Now I use retailmenot.com! It's the largest collection of current promotion codes you can find online and the sole reason why Redbox has never received even $1 of my hard earned money although I have enjoyed numerous rentals of theirs! That's what they get for putting Hollywood Video out of business....I miss those neon purple mountains! Here's a tip: use the code "breakroom" and your next rental is free!

5. The Thanksgiving Letter: This actually has nothing to do at all with being frugal, but it's the funniest thing I've read all week and it will help you to procrastinate another 10 minutes or so....

Have a great afternoon!

Jesus would love this!