Parent Talk Today

Save $$ on Father's Day Gifts

I recently discovered CurrentCodes.com, a clearinghouse for promotional codes that allows you to get discounts or free shipping at online stores.

Nearly all Web merchants now have a place in their checkout procedure for entering promotional codes. 
CurrentCodes.com identifies these codes and makes them available to everyone. The company’s staff follows more than 2,000 top retailers to make sure the codes are accurate and current.

Just in time for Father's Day, the site offers promotional codes for Jos. A. Bank, Men’s Warehouse, NBAstore.com, ties.com and more.

I'm always up for a discount, and when I'm shopping on the Web, there's nothing better than free shipping! So I'll be checking out CurrentCodes.com for Father's Day.

Get Your Consumer-Information Fix at @CReporter

Are you, like me, a big Consumer Reports fan? Wish you had a place to go for great links to all things consumer-related?

Starting today, I'm the social media reporter for Consumer Reports, and I'll be sharing all sorts of great info over at www.twitter.com/CReporter. If you're on Twitter, please follow and say hello. You'll also want to stop by CR's terrific blog.

Not on Twitter? It's easy — and free — to get started. Just go to Twitter.com.

I'll still be here, of course, bringing you lots of great parenting ideas as always. I see this new project as a great complement to what I'm doing here. After all, who needs helpful consumer information more than parents?

P.S. Stop by the CR blog to learn more about tomorrow's free breakfast offer at Denny's. Bring the kids!

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• Inside Consumer Reports' Electronics Testing Lab [Hardware] (gizmodo.com)

Want Free Shipping? Look Here

As a busy parent (and someone who is tired of watching too many dollars flow into my gas tank), I love the idea of shopping online. (What did I ever do before Amazon.com and their free shipping for any order of $25 or more?) Besides, we all know how much fun it is to drag our little ones from store to store...

Now there's a website that will clue you in on lots of other online retailers that offer free shipping. Launched last December, FreeShipping.org includes more than 800 name-brand stores. You can search by brand or category.

You'll find free-shipping offers from JCPenney, Target, Bloomingdale's, Kohl's, Sears, Best Buy, Old Navy, Nordstrom and many more.  Macy's offers as many as 15 free shipping coupons at one time.  

Just heard yesterday that Amazon.com's stock is going up, up, up, and that it's attributed to the fact that they offer this free-shipping deal to those of us who don't want to waste gas running to brick-and-mortar stores. I love that so many stores are jumping on that bandwagon. And thanks to this great new site, it's easier than ever to find them.

Gas Prices Got You Down? Vacation at Home

Wondering how high airline ticket prices will go as you're planning that family vacation? Thinking that a driving trip will break the bank?

There's another option. Check out my article, "Vacationing at Home," over at littlerockfamily.com. You'll find lots of tips for making family memories right in your own backyard. (And I promise, this doesn't involve mom doing any dishes! I mean, there are limits, right?)

Of course, vacationing at home still means VACATIONING. I highly recommend going out for yummy breakfasts at every opportunity... And for the price of a tank of gas these days, you can buy a lot of banana pancakes with whipped cream!

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

I'm happy to welcome guest blogger Leah Ingram today. Leah is a magazine journalist and author as well as a blogger on The Lean Green Family. Be sure to check out her blog!

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

It shouldn't come as any surprise that this year is going to be the greenest Christmas (and Hanukkah) of all time--at least for the folks on my "nice" list. My mission in nearly everything I do and buy this holiday season is to have green in mind, which hopefully won't cost me a lot of green.

For starters I'm still searching the Internet for the best recycled paper holiday cards. (If you know of a website, please let me know.) Hallmark stores sell recycled paper greetings, but only in single cards, not the boxed kind for the holidays, though you can order (PRODUCT) RED recycled cards for the holidays from Hallmark.com. Worse-case scenario: I print my family newsletter on recycled paper, send it in a recycled envelope, and skip the cards altogether (though I don't think my family newsletter will go over well with my clients).

As far as holiday wrapping goes, I don't plan to use it this year. Instead, I'm going to hit my local Wal-Mart this week, and stock up on their $1 reusable bags that say "Paper or Plastic? Neither" (pictured at left). These bags will become my default packaging for holiday gifts.

With regard to the gifts, I'm going for items in the simplest packaging, such as CDs, DVDs and video games, which come in containers that double as storage vessels. Also, I found some cool recycled rubber doormats on Target.com which are right in my price range. And, as I'd blogged earlier, I am doing the lion's share of my shopping via the Internet to save fuel (though the family and I did spend this past Sunday at the mall, and we will be one of those crazies up at 5:00 a.m. and in line on black Friday).

Who Wants to Cart Around All Those Scrapbooks?

I started scrapbooking when my son, Matthew, was a baby. I bought those big three-ring scrapbook binders with page protectors and quickly filled enough books to fill half a book shelf. There was just one problem: My only child, a boy, has no real interest in dragging a bunch of scrapbooks around with him as an adult. And If I kept making them at the rate I was going, I'd have more than I wanted to cart around, too!

Besides, Matt is a child of the digital age. When I talked to him about how we might better preserve these wonderful memories, his answer was simple: "Can't you just burn them all on a CD?"

Save $$ on Your Favorite Photo Sites

If you're like me, you probably have lots of family-vacation photos sitting on your computer — like this one of Randy, Matthew and me taken in Big Sur, California on our "Sena Family Road Trip" this summer.

What to do with them? Make prints? Order photo mugs? Or just post them and share them with family and friends? My head spins when I look at all the photo-sharing sites out there. Which one to pick?

Fortunately, a fellow blogger has just made it easier to test out several of the most popular sites — and to save money while you're at it.

At BabyCheapskate.com, you'll find discount codes for use on Snapfish, Shutterfly, PhotoWorks and WinkFlash. If you have a little one, you'll want to bookmark this site for lots of great deals on baby products, too.

While we're at it, what photo-sharing sites do you use, and why? I'd love to hear your recommendations in comments. Thanks!