Simply Budgeted

ARM & HAMMER Tooth Tunes

May 18, 2013 By Beth 1 Comment

We are excited to feature a sponsored campaign with ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™!

What is ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™?

Each toothbrush features two minutes of music to encourage longer brushing and ensure that kids achieve the dentist’s recommended brushing time. Two new ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™ toothbrushes each feature a chart-topping single from One Direction: “What Makes You Beautiful” performed by One Direction and “One Thing” performed by One Direction.

Out of our three kids, Grace, who is 6, wanted this toothbrush. I will be the first admit that she is horrible at brushing her teeth! Horrible! She complains and complains and complains. It is too long and she wants to be done. Grace loves music though so I was hopeful the ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™ toothbrush would work for her. She loved the One Direction: “What Makes You Beautiful” the first time she heard it. I admit we didn’t know the tune before trying the toothbrush but I think I will know the words before long. The only issue is trying to get Grace to not dance around with her toothbrush! She is constantly moving with the Tooth Tunes toothbrush singing to her!

Plus we are excited to help announce that Church & Dwight Co., Inc., is excited to announce the Brush with Tooth Tunes™, Rock with One Direction Sweepstakes! Enter for a chance to win the Grand Prize, four tickets to a One Direction concert in August 2013. 100 First Prize Winners will receive One Direction prize packs, with One Direction merchandise. Visit ToothTunes.com, complete the registration form and click submit to be entered for your chance to win. Enter up to once per week now through 6/30/13. Be sure to check out the ARM & HAMMER Sweepstakes Page to enter!

Want to learn more? Check out the ARM & HAMMER Tooth Tunes Website and ARM & HAMMER’s Facebook Page!

So do you think the ARM & HAMMER Tooth Tunes toothbrush would help your kids brush longer? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Disclaimer: I am part of the Mom It Forward blogger network. Mom It Forward and ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™ partnered in support of this campaign. ARM & HAMMER™ Tooth Tunes™ compensated me for participation in this campaign. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family, Simply Life Tagged With: Arm & Hammer, kids, review, teeth, Tooth Tunes, toothbrush

Steps with Balance Rewards at Walgreens

April 28, 2013 By Brian Leave a Comment

Have you checked out the Steps with Balance Rewards program at Walgreens?

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Walgreens #cbias #SocialFabric

What were the easiest ways for you to earn points? What took a little more effort on your part? How do you reward yourself when you meet your goals? How is Steps with Balance Rewards helping you achieve your goals? Share with your readers how you sign up for Step with Balance Rewards and how you earn your points. #BalanceRewards #CBias Check out the full shop in the Google + album.

The easiest way to earn points was sync my FitBit with the Steps with Balance Rewards. It updates my steps for me and I honestly just have to remember to wear my FitBit which is its own daily challenge. I also earned points by entering my weight daily. The daily update is something that became more routine the more I did it but I still didn’t forget.

I decided to check out some healthy living options at Walgreens when I went shopping with Little Man. He was very excited to help pick out juice. I picked out my favorite White Grape Juice and he picked out Apple Juice.

The signs around the store give great reminders on how to earn points. Beth has generally redeemed points when we hit 5,000 points but I think we will try to save them up based on this sign!

Shopping with a three year old can make for an interesting trip. We focused on juice and healthy drinks. The cereal is a great option to get whole grains in our kids diets even it is the flavors we pick more than the ones that we pick. As for the dinosaurs, little man was sad he was missing a baby T-Rex so he was excited to find this package of little dinosaurs.

How are we doing in points? We added 2,000 points for buying the juice this trip!

The Steps with Balance Rewards is adding to our Balance Rewards. Since I am already using the FitBit, it is great to earn the extra Balance Rewards points. Plus as I keep track of my weight, I now have a record of where I am on my mission to lose a few more pounds this summer.

Do you have a FitBit to sync with Steps with Balance Rewards? What would the Steps with Balance Rewards help you do? Sign up and check out the dashboard for all of the options you have to participate in this program!

You can find Walgreens information on their webpage, their Twitter account, and Facebook page!

Check out the Aisle Share FUN page for more information. Not signed up yet? Don’t fret! Check out the Walgreens Steps With Walgreens Balance Rewards page.

Have you signed up the Steps with Balance Rewards at Walgreens yet? How far do you think you walk each day? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: #BalanceRewards #cbias, exercise, Motivation, Steps with Balance Rewards, Walgreens

Healthing our House with the Help of Lysol

April 6, 2013 By Beth 1 Comment

We are excited to share tips as part of the Lysol Healthing Initiative!

What is Healthing?

Healthing is the extension of LYSOL and its Mission for Health, the motivation behind the creation of their products that are centered on killing 99.9 percent of germs and providing solutions for the home that help promote good hygiene and disinfection. The idea of Healthing goes beyond cleaning – and looks more holistically at how a healthy home helps to keep families thriving.

Maybe you saw that Spring Cleaning started here already but we are going slow about our Spring Cleaning this year. These tips really apply to our family.

Don’t let spring cleaning overwhelm you – take it one room at a time and stock up on products that will help you to get the job done effectively, including LYSOL^® products, paper towels, sponges, and trash bags.
Beth’s Tip: I have a little cleaning caddy that I carry around when I clean I room. I have my Lysol wipes, Lysol toilet cleaner, surface cleaners, paper towels all in this caddy. This caddy lives on top of my washer I re-stock it when I finish cleaning so it is alway ready to go!
Use a disinfectant product, like LYSOL^® Disinfecting Wipes, to help ensure you’re killing germs as you clean, and think beyond the usual places. Be sure to clean even the smallest surfaces, such as light switches.
Beth’s Tip: I wipe down any and all hard surfaces in the bathroom with Lysol wipes. It is amazing where three sets of little hands touch! I still wonder how the toothpaste gets where it gets but I know the Lysol wipes get off the toothpaste plus whatever is lurking on that surface!
Make it a family activity and tailor tasks to specific age groups. Give younger children simpler, one-step tasks like dusting or picking toys up off the floor, and save the more complex jobs, such as vacuuming, scrubbing, and disinfecting for older members of the family.
Beth’s Tip: Give the kids a spray bottle and paper towels, a Lysol wipe, or even the little hand vacuum and ask them to clean next to you. The kids now see the caddy come out of the laundry room and start jockeying for tasks. This mamma has learned to never turn down cleaning help!

To help spread the word of this campaign Lysol is getting out in local communities!

To help spread the word about Healthing, LYSOL and television personality Giuliana Rancic have partnered together to visit YMCAs in select markets across the country to demonstrate Healthing in action. At each YMCA location, LYSOL will provide attendees with hands-on education about the products and steps required to practice improved hygiene habits in their own home, while making the idea fun and relatable to kids. LYSOLwill also provide educational information and disinfecting products to the local YMCAs, along with the donation of a one-year membership to a deserving family.

Want to find out more about the LYSOL’s Healthing Initiative? Check out their Website, Facebook page, and Guidebook!

What tips work best for your house? Do your kids help with Spring Cleaning at your house? Leave me a comment and let me know!

NOTE: “I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for LYSOL^®. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating.”

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Promotional, Simply Life Tagged With: cleaning, healthy, Lysol, spring cleaning

Healthy Classroom Station

April 4, 2013 By Beth Leave a Comment

If you have school-aged children, you know that they are going to get sick. Sometimes it seems like they just get sick way too much and it always seems like it’s the exact same sickness. I know classrooms where as many as half of the kids are out sick! Even the teachers get sick, missing over five days per year due to illness. One of the number one reasons for absenteeism is “presenteeism”, sending kids to school even when they are sick. In fact, even seemingly healthy kids can shed germs up to three days before they start to feel sick. Enter the Healthy Classroom Station.

Kimberly-Clark Professional has started The Healthy Schools Project, an initiative to provide hygienic solutions for the entire school, not just the restrooms. They go beyond the products to providing materials that can teach students about the germs and why they should keep their hands, desks, doorknobs, etc. clean. For example, did you know that germs can live on a surface for up to 48 hours? Anyone touching that surface during that time can get infected. And did you know that the average desk has 400 times more germs on it than the average toilet seat?? To help keep the kids from getting sick, The Healthy Schools Project is based on a three step cleaning process, Wash, Wipe, and Sanitize. Easy, right?

We had a great opportunity to help out Grace’s classroom by donating a Healthy Classroom Station. This thing was actually pretty cool. It is a stepped plastic station that holds anti-viral tissues, hand sanitizer, and surface cleaning wipes. Instead of having tissues in one place, sanitizer on the other side of the room, and cleaning wipes who knows where, it is all together, in one place! For Grace’s first-grade class, this makes it easier and keeps them away from instruction for less time when they go to blow their noses.

To help spread the word about germs, Kimberly-Clark even provided us with some great classroom materials. Check out these cute stickers letting kids know where the germs hang out!

If you are looking for more information about healthy schools and fighting germs, check out The Healthy School Project on Facebook and Twitter.

Have your kids gotten sick from school? Have you sent them to school sick? Let us know what you do to keep your kids healthy.

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family, Simply Life

Day or Night You Are Covered with DayQuil and NyQuil

March 26, 2013 By Beth Leave a Comment

We are excited to provide a sponsored review of Vicks DayQuil and NyQuil products.

About DayQuil …

Vicks DayQuil Cold & Flu Relief offers non-drowsy, multiple-symptom relief for those who don’t want to lose a moment to a cold or the flu. Vicks DayQuil Cold & Flu Relief helps ease five symptoms of a cold – aches, fever, sore throat, stuffy head and cough.

About NyQuil …

Turn to Vicks NyQuil Cold & Flu Relief to relieve nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching and fever for a restful night’s sleep when suffering from a cough, cold or flu.

Remember …

Vicks NyQuil Cold & Flu Relief and Vicks DayQuil Cold & Flu Relief LiquiCaps are indicated for adults and children 12 years of age and older. Vicks DayQuil Cold & Flu Relief Liquid is indicated for adults and children six years of age and older.

Our Thoughts …

Maybe you have caught on that Brian spent a month sick with bronchitis and then a sinus infection. I was ready to give up … throw in the towel … hide under the covers … whatever I could do to escape the sickness. But one parent had to carry on … I had to get to work. I had to pick up some other tasks like dance classes. I had to pick up the posts that Brian normally does here on Simply Budgeted. I had to carry on. I carried on thanks to Vicks DayQuil and Vicks NyQuil. If I started to feel sick, I would start taking these. A night of sleep thanks to Vicks NyQuil helped me get over the touch of whatever I would get for a day to keep going the next day. I was able to carry on for the family for sure thanks to these products.

You will notice in the Vicks NyQuil picture a pile of medicine cups on the counter. I left those out on the counter for the picture on purpose. You see Brian used to give me a hard time when those cups would pile up on the counter. There might be two there from kid medicines, one from Vicks DayQuil liquid, and another from Vicks NqQuil … when you are sick they just pile up. Brian has learned that those cups piled up means our sanity is being saved and has stopped mentioning that they are piled up.

Now I will just hope for a healthy spring here in out house … maybe?!

Have Vicks NyQuil and Vicks DayQuil saved your parenting abilities? Leave me a comment and let me know I am not alone in this area!

NOTE: “I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Vicks DayQuil & NyQuil. I received product samples and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Life Tagged With: cold, DayQuil, flu, health, NyQuil, review, sick

LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap

March 21, 2013 By Beth 1 Comment

We have a lot of dirty hands around this house. Now that the kids can turn the faucet on themselves we have been working on hand washing with all of them. LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap has made our hand washing lesson even easier!

The No-Touch Hand Soap System is meant to stop the spread of germs by eliminating the need to touch that germy soap pump. We have two of the LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap systems in our house. The one picture above is in the powder room that the kids use all.of.the.time! I am constantly cleaning up water messes in that bathroom but I now know the kids have clean hands!

Here is little man demonstrating his hand washing by getting soap, washing, and then drying. He has it down even at age three! He loves that he can get this hand soap on his own because he used to have to ask his big sisters to help with getting soap.

So where is the other LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap in our house? It is in the kitchen of course! I don’t know if Brian loves this more than me or not. I love that he isn’t asking me for soap when he is making dinner. He normally asks for soap one to two times when making a messy dinner dish … such as tonight’s chicken parmesan! Well I admit even I was using the kitchen LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap tonight as I did some of the preperations so Brian could take more pictures. I loved that I could wash up so quick because as always … as soon as my hands were a mess in egg bath and bread crumbs the needed something right then!

Did you know? LYSOL has launched The Kid Who Touches Everything Contest, the grand prize is a trip to Disney! Be sure to let us know if you enter your best Messy Moments pictures!

NOTE: No purchase necessary. Contest runs from 2/25/13- 5/25/13. Open to US residents ages 18+. Void where prohibited. Click here for official contest rules.

Where is the ideal location for a LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap in your house? What big messes do you clean up the most? Leave us a comment and let me know!

I participated in a campaign on behalf of MomCentral Consulting for LYSOL^®. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Life Tagged With: hand soap, hand washing, health, kids, LYSOL No-Touch Hand Soap, messy

Listerine 21-Day Challenge: Mission Completed

February 28, 2013 By Brian 78 Comments

So I did it! I finished the Listerine 21-Day Challenge! Now my mouth and gums are much, much cleaner and healthier.

Ok, so I’ll admit it, there were days when I missed a morning or afternoon or both. I’m just really bad at developing good habits. I really need to get into the habit of developing good habits. Here’s what did happen, though. There’s this silly little game on Listerine’s Facebook page that would send reminders twice a day. That really helped me out! We also have gotten better about getting the kids brushing their teeth every morning and night. Sometimes just brushing with them makes it a fun family time when you can be a little silly with the kids.

When I started getting sick, last week, I’m sure that it was the Listerine and my cleaner, healthier mouth that kept me from getting sicker than I did. When you are coughing the winter air out of your lungs, germs are going to be all over your mouth for you to just breathe right back in. The Listerine would clean my mouth out and gargling would even give my sore throat some much needed relief.

I’ll be honest, though, some of the flavors are a little harsh for me. I mean my mouth will burn for 10 minutes and just feel as dry as can be. Most of the days that I missed were when I was sick and had to face that stuff. I just wasn’t in the mood for it. If that is your experience with Listerine, then I would really suggest trying the Listerine Total Care Zero. It has the added benefit of not just cleaning your mouth, but strengthening your teeth. It also has zero alcohol. I prefer the fresh mint variety personally. As silly as it sounds, sometimes you just have to have the right flavor. I don’t care how good something is for you, if you can’t stand the flavor you are not going to use it long-term.

The kids are a little young for mouthwash right now, but when they get a little older, I’m sure that we will be pulling out the bubble gum flavored stuff. I can’t imagine them using the “big kid” stuff.

Are you ready to take the Listerine 21-Day Challenge? Go check them out on Facebook to sign up for your reminder or create a reminder of your own. I’m telling you, without that daily reminder, morning and night, you will have problems developing that habit.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia, Eighteen (18) years of age or older. Sweepstakes end April 15, 2013. Prize(s) provided by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products a division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. Void where prohibited. See Official Rules http://bit.ly/14S0dYy for complete details.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Health & Beauty, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Life

AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit #AXEMen

February 11, 2013 By Brian Leave a Comment

Alright guys, are you looking for something new to do with your hair? Ladies, are you tired of your guy’s look? I’ll be honest. At this point in my life, I’m happy to step out of the shower, towel dry my hair, and…well, that’s about it. Seriously, I’m a stay at home dad with three little ones and, otherwise, I spend the day cleaning, cooking, or blogging. Who am I looking to impress? Why would I even want to be looking at Axe Hair products?

Well, with Beth Week underway, I realize that, sometimes, I do have someone to impress. Ladies, you realize how special you feel when someone makes it a point to look nice for you, right? Guys, if you didn’t know before, now you do. These ladies want to feel like they are worth getting dressed up for. One easy way to work at this is just to simply do something with your hair. Change it up a little! What’s your regular style? Usually a little more clean-cut? Change it up with something spiky or even just that wet messy look.

You might feel ridiculous and she will likely laugh, but she’ll know that you are putting yourself out there for her. That’s enough every time! Thankfully, Axe Hair and Cravebox are here to help!

What is AXE Hair?

AXE® Hair gives guys the tools they need to make their hair look great. Spiked, messy, clean-cut — whatever the style, AXE® Hair has got the goods to make hair look its best at home, at school, at work… and at play. And the AXE® Hair Styling Kits Cravebox will bring them right to his door.

QUICK FACTS about the AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit:

This box contains several men’s hair-care products from AXE.

Guys — get your AXE® edge now! Women — get it for the men in your life.

Joining Cravebox is free.
The cost of the AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit is $12, including shipping.
Buy it now! Ready for immediate purchase, but quantities are limited, so order today.
The box is just the beginning: Join us online to learn more, rate your products, and join the fun with Twitter, Facebook and Blog contests featuring cool prizes!

What is Cravebox?

Cravebox is a fun product discovery service that brings you fabulous products in beautiful, themed boxes. Each Cravebox costs $12 to $18, is delightfully designed around a central theme, and includes 4 to 6 specially selected products. Every box is designed by expert Cravebox Curators, who scour the world to find the most interesting, delicious and wonderful products to bring to our members. Our boxes are themed around dozens of categories, including:

COOKING, ENTERTAINING AND GRILLING
KIDS, BABY AND FAMILY
HOME PRODUCTS AND HOME SOLUTIONS
HEALTH, WELLNESS AND BEAUTY
HOBBIES, PETS, ARTS & CRAFTS
AND MANY, MANY MORE!

Are you new to Cravebox?! They now have a special Giveaway just for you!

You can receive a Free Cravebox:

The contest is for new members.
Enter the Promo Code “AXEMen” on the Registration Page.
Don’t miss the Promo Code field. It’s right next to Zip Code, so don’t skip it. If you submit without it, there’s no going back to add it.
Order your AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit
The first 50 people who order an AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit will receive a Credit for a FREE FUTURE Cravebox. But we’re not stopping there, if you’re not one of the first 50, don’t worry because we’re also randomly picking 50 other people who purchase an AXE Hair Styling Cravebox Kit to WIN a credit for an upcoming Cravebox!

Fun Video Made by the girls in the office:

Are you already a Cravebox subscriber? Or are you ready to buy your first Cravebox? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: axe hair styling, axemen, beauty, cravebox, deal, health, men

Mission Accepted: Listerine 21 Day Challenge

February 5, 2013 By Brian 1 Comment

Beth and I just had our semi-annual dental check-ups. I always think that I’m taking pretty good care of my teeth until that 6-month appointment comes up. In truth, though, I don’t brush nearly enough. I definitely don’t floss like I should. I guess I just never really developed the good habits the way that I should. What makes me feel really bad is that my first grader is learning about good habits in school. She’s learning that it only takes 21 days to form a good habit. While I question the total accuracy of this, I figure that it’s as good a guideline as any. Enter the Listerine 21 Day Challenge!

listerine 21 day challenge

If it only takes 21 days to form a good habit, then let’s start with an easy one. If I can rinse with Listerine Antiseptic mouthwash twice a day for 30 seconds each time, I’ll wind up with a much healthier mouth and, by proxy, a much healthier body. I know it’ll work because I picked up some Listerine when I was sick a couple of weeks ago. My mouth just felt completely nasty and brushing alone wasn’t cutting it. Rinsing with Listerine made my mouth feel much fresher and, regardless of how sick I actually was, I didn’t feel quite as sick. Thank goodness for small miracles, right?

On top of feeling better and just generally having a healthy mouth, the Listerine 21 Day Challenge will help me to set a better example for the kids. Hopefully, they’ll want to start using some of the Listerine Smart Rinse products for kids. Honestly, we’ve already had our run-ins with cavities for the kids. We do not need to revisit that!

Listerine 21 Day Challenge facts…

Brushing alone misses 75% of your mouth. Even if you brush twice a day, you’re likely missing a majority of your mouth, leaving plenty of room for germs to grow.
There are more germs in your mouth than there are people on earth!
Oral disease is now the most chronic childhood illness in the U.S.
As many as 130 million Americans lack dental insurance, including more than 15.4 million children.

By using a LISTERINE® Antiseptic mouthwash twice a day for 30 seconds, you can clean virtually 100 percent of your mouth. In fact, you can get:

Up to 5 times healthier gums in 2 weeks
Up to 9 times healthier gums in 4 weeks*

You too can join in this challenge in an effort to improve your own oral care, and to help children in need, by signing up for the challenge on the LISTERINE® Facebook page, www.facebook.com/listerine. For every person who signs up for the challenge, the LISTERINE ® Brand will make a contribution to help Oral Health America’s Smiles Across America® program toward their goal of connecting 210,000 children with needed oral health services in 2013**.

Are you ready to accept the challenge with me? Leave me a comment and let me know if you need to have a Listerine 21 Day Challenge to improve your oral health!

“I received products from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® 21 Day Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.”

*Based on increased number of healthy gum sites over time
**$6.40 will be donated for every person who signs up for the challenge, up to $64,000.

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: dental care, good habit, good habits, habits, health, healthy teeth, Listerine, oral care

How Can You Expect to Age?

January 30, 2013 By Beth 1 Comment

Did you know that where you live can tell you about how you age? Check out this infographic for a great visual on this topic!

The Age of the Aged was created by LifeInsurance.org.uk

What did you find most interesting about this infographric? I loved the information about the Centenarians! I also felt some joy about those living in the country living longer. I wonder if we moved here soon enough for that to count?

Do you think this inforgraphic is right for you and what you see your community? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: aging, lifestyle