Crunchy Kids Join Walmart in the Fight for Hunger

April 5, 2013 By 14 Comments

Help Food Banks

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ever since the Crunchy kids were really little we have always stressed the importance of giving back. This lesson hit home in 2009 when Mr. Crunchy lost his job.

We had just moved to Indiana about four months prior, and quickly we found ourselves in a new state with no family and no job. It was one of the hardest times of our lives, and we found ourselves in line every Saturday at the local food bank. It was because of the generosity of this food bank, and the help from family members back home, that we made it through this tough time!

Help Fight Hunger

Ever since then, the kids have been really passionate about giving back so programs like that keep other kids from growing hungry! That’s why hunger relief is a cause close their hearts. This year they wanted to work in partner with Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together program!

photo c963a14b-1efd-4527-897b-16d3d680c81d_zps502db8e6.jpg

We just moved to Minneapolis, and we already know where our local food pantries our. That way we can help them as much as possible. The kids and I went online to Fighting Hunger Together to vote for our favorite local pantry. The 100 winning food banks will share a $3 million grant to help sustain their programs and prevent hunger!

Fight for Hunger

We haven’t had a chance yet, but we also plan to volunteer at our local food banks. It’s our way of giving back when these banks were there when we needed them. I personally encourage all Crunchy readers not only to vote for your local food bank, but to volunteer as well! It’s up to us to help prevent hunger in our country!

Join the cause! Comment below why you are voting and volunteering for the fight against hunger!

Vote and volunteer to fight hunger this spring with Walmart

Visit Sponsor's Site

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Hickory Farms Celebrates the Holidays by Giving Back

December 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Hickory Farms

You guys know how much I heart Hickory Farms. Every year when I was a kid my mom used to work at the stand in the mall. (Well, maybe not every year) I remember the holiday meltaway mints and cheese/sausage platters. It was one of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions.

As a mom, I love to know that a company I have fond memories of is setting a good example for my kids. During the holiday season, Hickory Farms is showing their Christmas spirit by giving back. Hickory Farms has a partnership with Share our Strength (SOS). Share our Strength is a leading organization in the fight against childhood hunger.

Hickory Farms

For each party planner box purchased, Hickory Farms is donating $5 to the Share our Strength No Kid Hungry Campaign. Since the inception of this partnershp, Hickory Farms has donated over $1.9 million to this great cause! How awesome is that?!

In addition to the SOS partnership, Hickory Farms works in conjunction with Operation gratitude, an organization that helps send care packages to our military men and women and their families. Hickory Farms also offers FREE shipping to eight different APO and FPO addresses overseas, so it’s easier for family members to send thank you packages and presents to their family members serving abroad.

Hickory Farms

Hickory Farms has been making holiday memories for over 60 years, and I hope to continue to have them as part of our family for many more years to come. It’s nice to know that their gifts go beyond special eats and treats. It warms my heart to know that my purchases with Hickory Farms goes beyond just filling my family’s bellies, but filling those of children in need too!

To learn more about Hickory Farms, make sure to visit them at http://www.hickoryfarms.com

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Crunchy and Unilever Give Back with Cross off Hunger #Cbias #BetterTogether

December 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Making Life Better

Making Life Better

You guys know how passionate I am about giving back to my community. Nothing feels better than giving back, especially when you know how it feels to need help to feed your family.

The Crunchy Family Hearts Unilever Products

After Mr. Crunchy lost his job, I kind of made it my personal mission to pay it forward. This also means supporting companies that are as passionate about this mission as I am.

The Crunchy household have been loyal Unilever buyers for years, but I really didn’t realize what they were about beyond great products. Their Axe body wash is the only thing that Mr. Crunchy will use, and trust me I am TOTALLY ok with that. Breyer and Magnum are definitely responsible for a few of those extra pounds I am constantly complaining about. (At one point, my best friend thought I was in need of an ice cream intervention)

Unilever does so much more than make amazing ice cream and make Mr. Crunchy smell totally amazing. They pride themselves on running a sustainable company that gives back too. They help Cross off Hunger with their website Making Life Better. Each year they donate tons of meals to help provide meals to families in need. This makes me double heart Unilever.

Making Life Better

Unilever Hearts the Environment

Unilever takes pride in being a sustainable company. What does that mean, you ask? Well, I am going to tell you. Being a sustainable company means they make small manageable changes, like Crunchy, to make a minimal impact on the environment.

The Crunchy family is all about small green changes. Just this year we started making our own compost, gardening in upcycled recycling containers, and repurposing things around the house rather than throwing them away. Unilever helps me do this by making great recyclable products, and they help our family give back by partnering together with Cross off Hunger.

See How Crunchy is Going to Team up with Unilever to Cross off Hunger

I can’t wait to show you more ways that you can Cross off Hunger in my next post with Unilever, and how the Crunchy Family is planning on taking part of this great mission too! In the mean time, make sure to check out Unilever’s website Making Life Better. You can make a change in the fight against hunger just by learning how to help your local food banks in your area. There is a lot of great information on this site!

Cross off Hunger

 

How do you like giving back to your community? Do you have any small green changes you and your family do?

 

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  Unilever  #CBias #SocialFabric

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#BagItForward Elmer's School Supply Campaign #CBias

August 22, 2012 By 13 Comments
Bag it Forward

Back to school season can be a really exciting time, but for those that can’t get their own supplies it can be a bit stressful. Last year, my youngest daughter decided to start her very own school supplies collection. I was so proud of her! She was able to collect over $100 in supplies!

We had decided as a family to donate this year to a dear friend of ours. She is currently starting up her own soap business since losing her job over two years ago. Her bills are really tight, and she couldn’t get any help elsewhere for school supplies. Her kids are starting new schools,  and we didn’t’ want them to start without the supplies that they needed.

In addition to donating to our family friend, we wanted to join on the Elmer’s #BagitForward project. Elmer’s challenges people to collect school supplies for kids that need them and spread the world. That meant we were going to Walmart!

 

My whole family was along for the ride, my husband was sweet and dropped me off front since I am currently in a cast. I was going to rock it in one of their electric scooters! I was just glad that there was one left at the front of the store, otherwise this shop would have been a whole lot more difficult. I think my kids found it funny to see me in a scooter. They kept trying to beep the horn!

Bag it Forward

The Elmer’s back to school display was right at the front of the store. It was so easy to find. It had every school in our area, and all the supplies each school required. We grabbed  the school’s list we needed. It was great it had everything on it she would need.

On the display I noticed the, First Day application from Elmer’s. I used the QR code to download the app right in the store. It’s a great app that allows you to take pictures of that big first day! Plus, for every picture taken Elmer’s is going to donate one product to The Kids in Need Foundation! My daughter saw that, and told me I had to take LOTS of pictures!

Bag it Forward

As soon as the kids saw the back to school section, they dove right in. My kids were having so much fun grabbing all sorts of special pencils and erasers for our donation. Bayla picked out princess pencils, while my son, Brenden, insisted on Spiderman. They were so excited they were tossing things left and right in the cart without even looking at the list. Thank goodness Keiran, my oldest, was there to make sure that they got most of the stuff actually on the list!

Other than the Elmer’s glue sticks, we purchase notebooks, pencils, erasers, glue, pencils boxes and few other supplies that were on the list. My youngest daughter, picked out a super cute Angry Birds backpack. She just had to have it for her friend. Even kids in need can use a neat backpack to start school with.

The back to school section had tons of great supplies, like these glue stick packages. Bayla was stoked to see they even came in color! The one thing I did learn though was it was a bad idea to shop for donation supplies on the first day of school. There wasn’t a plain number two pencil in site! They were ALL gone. We were able to find some really cute pencils though, which I am sure any child would be excited about.

Look at all the great goodies were able to get! I have to say I love the little baskets on the front of the electric scooter. It made it super easy to stash the school supplies we were scoring.

 

We were able to grab tons of school supplies, not only for our donation, but for our kids as well. Even though we homeschool, we still love taking advantage of all the great deals during back to school time. Bayla loved checking out some flashy pens as we were leaving the back to school section. Then, we had to hit the grocery side of Walmart to grab some things for dinner.

We grabbed some cheese for our pasta dinner, and then checked out. Our cashier was super friendly, and really helpful. She was excited to hear we were donating the  supplies we were able to buy. It was great to be able to tell her that we were helping out someone that needed a little extra help this back to school season.

As we were leaving, my eldest, Keiran wanted to drive my electric scooter back to the front of the store. Let’s just say she’s not getting her driver’s license anytime soon! In the process of turning around she about hit three people, and I was one of them!

Bag it forward

 

When we got home, the kids were all excited to help pack the bags and deliver it to our family friend! They pulled everything out and got to work! My daughters laid everything out so we could see what all our friend was going to get. She ended up with almost all of her supplies and it was all less than $25! That’s why we love shopping at Walmart!

Don’t think you can afford to donate? That’s not true, just sparing what you can and buying extra school supplies can help a child in need! Look at all we donated less than $25! Everything you can spare will help make back to school a little bit easier for a child this year.

Bag it Forward

 

To check out our #BagitForward trip to Walmart make sure to visit our #BagitForward Google+ Album

While you are at Walmart, make sure to take advantage of their FREE 5X7 offer during the month of August. Just visit your in store photo lab or learn more at http://Walmart.com/photo.

To learn more about Elmer’s make sure to follow them here:

Plus if you want to help donate, you can download the 1st Day app here and save those first day of school memories, and help kids in need!

 

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 and Elmer’s.  #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric

 

 

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Has your life been affected by an amazing nurse?

June 25, 2012 By 12 Comments
Amazing Nurses Contest

Nurses are one of the professions that I respect the most. It’s a profession that not only takes knowledge but also a heart full of compassion. I have been blessed to have met many extraordinary nurses in my life. My great grandmother, Nana, was a fabulous nurse. Despite being a single mom back in the 1930s, she still managed to put herself through nursing school and to have a very successful career as a nurse.

My Aunt Laura followed in Nana’s footsteps and become a nurse too. She is the most compassionate woman I have ever met, anyone that has her as a nurse is truly lucky!Amazing Nurses Contest

I have to say the most amazing nurse I have ever met was my nurse Lori! She was the nurse that helped deliver my youngest daughter, Bayla. Lori was the floor nurse at the hospital that I was delivery at. She and I had never met before, yet she gave me the most outstanding level of care I have ever received.

There were several times that I was left alone in the labor room, and even though it wasn’t her job to be there she was there for me the whole time. Lori was kind and considerate, and she also wasn’t afraid to help me make my birthing experience the best possible; even if it meant standing up to my doctor.

Lori made the difference between a wonderful, uncomplicated delivery and one that would require a lot more pain and recovery time. She was there all day with me, all 12 hours of my labor, and was even telling me I “had” to have this baby before her shift was up! (We made that deadline by 10 minutes) You could tell she really loved what she did, and that each and every patient was important to her. It’s nurses like Lori that make other nurses proud!

Do you know an amazing nurse? Johnson and Johnson is sponsoring the “Amazing Nurses Contest.” If you have a nurse that has changed your life, please take the time to nominate for this amazing program! The winning amazing nurse will receive a trip to 2012 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute in Los Angeles, plus receive a profile on Nursing Notes on the Johnson and Johnson profile. Have a nurse in mind? Make sure to take the time to thank them by nominating them for this great award!

Eligible nurses must be a Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse or Advanced Practice Nurse who currently work directly with patients.

 

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: ,

Meet Bayla and help her celebrate National Food Allergy Awareness Week: It could save a life!

May 15, 2012 By 4 Comments
Food Allergy Awareness Week
Food Allergy Awareness Week

My youngest daughter Bayla

Meet my youngest daughter Bayla. She was brought in to this world a little over 9 years ago, and she’s been full of spunk and sass ever since.

What you can’t tell from this picture is that my daughter has SEVERE food allergies. As in she will die if she eats certain foods that she is allergic to. This idea might be quite frightening to parents with “healthy” children, but it’s something that we live with on an every day basis.

Bayla was born after a completely healthy pregnancy. She was 9 pounds, and given a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, her days of being a healthy baby were numbered.

GRUMPY, ITCHY BABY

Around six months old, Bayla started suffering from very severe eczema. Doctor after doctor told our family it was just eczema and that there was nothing to worry about. Cream after cream, she still continued to be itchy and fussy.

It was around 12 months old when the scary stuff started to happen. At 12 months old, Bayla had her first asthma attack. If you haven’t seen a young child have an asthma attack, I have to tell you it is just about the scariest thing I have witnessed my children go through. They can’t communicate, and you can’t figure what’s going on. You feel absolutely helpless.

After her asthma attack, I started doing research myself. Doctors and their medicines were failing us because Bayla was getting worse not better. Hours and hours went by while I researched the Internet when I suddenly started to notice a pattern. A lot of the symptoms that Bayla was suffering from were signs of food allergies.

BUT WE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT

This didn’t make any sense. All of Bayla’s doctors swore that children this age couldn’t have food allergies. Actually they insisted that it wasn’t true. Plus, Bayla nursed exclusively until 6 months old, and then continued until the age of three. That was supposed to lower the risk for allergies, right?

Food Allergy Awareness WeekWith my new found information, I educated the doctors and then demanded that Bayla be tested for allergies. They were hesitant at first, but I was,well in a word, persistent. About two weeks later, we took Bayla to get her first RAST test.

It was another two weeks before we got the results, and it was the first time in my life that I absolutely hated being right. Bayla’s tests showed she was allergic to strawberries, peanuts, soy, dairy, and a few other foods. It was devestating to know how much she wouldn’t be able to eat, but at least we knew what was wrong.

FOOD ALLERGIES: JUST HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY?

After her diagnosis, we learned to read food labels religiously. We also learned that there are so many “secret” names for her allergens. Did you know that dairy is also known as whey, cassein, and curds? I sure didn’t before she tested positive for food allergies.

We thought we had it all figured out within six months. Two years later, we had action plans in place. Epipens everywhere and even signs at my daughter’s daycare in big BOLD letters. “Don’t let Bayla eat anything she doesn’t bring!” I thought it was simple and idiot proof.

About three months into her first year in preschool, my daughter had a daycare provider feed her some peanut butter crackers. Another teacher had set them on my daughter’s lunch bag. When I said there were signs everywhere about her allergies, I literally mean EVERYWHERE! I guess they weren’t bold enough because the teacher fed her the crackers anyway.

Peanuts are an extremely deadly allergen that easily kills people that are allergic too them. All because someone didn’t take the time to pay attention, my daughter got violently ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. Her symptoms were severe and instantaneous. Poor little kid barely had one cracker down before she knew what hit her. We were very lucky that she only got sick, but next time her reaction might be much more severe.

CELEBRATE FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK AND EDUCATE YOURSELF

 

Right there is the whole point of Food Allergy Awareness Week! It’s vitally important to educate others about food allergies and how to prevent severe allergic reactions, also known as Food Allergy Awareness Weekanaphylaxis. Careless or remaining uneducated not only could hurt someone, it could kill them.

Next time you go to hand a child a snack or prepare dinner for some friends, please make sure you are aware of any food allergies. It is better to ask than jeopardize someone’s health.

If you are interested in learning more about food allergies, please visit the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Want to go a step farther? Find out what you can do to forward the Food Allergy Awareness Movement!

Educating yourself will help other people like my daughter Bayla, and it just might save a life!

Still not a believer at the severity of food allergies? Read this tragic story about a 15 year old that died due to food allergies

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Make a Change Monday: Help those less fortunate

August 1, 2011 By 6 Comments
united-way2

Saving money and couponing has blessed my family with the ability to live a better life on a tighter budget. I am thankful every day for the fact that I have learned to make our dollars stretch, but I never forget those times that we didn’t always have those dollars to stretch. That is why donating and helping those less fortunate is a large part of my family’s life.

We actually started donating supplies as soon as I learned to coupon. I loved the idea of giving back, and to be honest I loved scoring all those free items, but would amass a supply that was much larger than my family ever needed. So it looked like a win-win situation to find some local organizations to provide for those that need a little bit of help!

This time of year is always especially important to my family because there are so many families that cannot afford to get all of the school supplies that their children need for school. We all went to school, we know how cruel kids can be especially if other children don’t have everything they need. It warms my heart to know that because I am a frugalista that I can help out some children in my area get the supplies that they need!

So, Crunchy readers, I challenge you to make a change today and learn one product you can donate to those that are less fortunate in your community. No, I am not asking you to break the bank, but what I am asking you is to grab one extra of an item you can score for cheap or free and donate it! Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

 

How to find items to donate:

1. Free after Register Rewards Items: Is an item FARR, but not necessarily a product you would use? Then purchase it to snag the Register Rewards and donate the item. I do this especially for items I can make money on, and they are items local shelters are in need of.

2. Free after Extra Care Bucks: Same idea as FARR. Extra Care Bucks can help you buy items you do need, so if something is free after ECBs and you can meet a local shelters needs, why not score them some great freebies!

3. Free Product Coupons: Do you already have 20 bottles of shampoo, but just scored a Free coupon from a shampoo giveaway? Still grab your bottle, but donate that free bottle instead of letting that coupon expire.

4. Filler items: When your item count is off of your coupon count at Walgreens we all know you need to grab a small filler item to make your transaction work. Grab something inexpensive like a can of food and donate it to your local food pantry.

5. Too much in your stockpile: Sometimes I get a little over zealous and I buy too much product, and some of it I won’t be able to use before it’s expiration date. About every 6 months I go through my stockpile and grab things expiring soon, but not expired, and head to the local woman’s shelter.

Now that you have an idea how to find your donation items, let’s find some great places for you to donate to! There are so many possibilities, you just have to find a need or a cause dear to your heart and lend a helping hand!

Here’s some ways to find places to donate to:

1. Find local food banks: Food America has a great database of community food banks located across the country, so check your state and get started!

2. Find local homeless shelters: Homeless Directory has a comprehensive list of homeless shelters across the country.

3.Find local woman’s shelters: Woman’s Shelters has a great directory of shelters listed by state.

4. Call your local church: Churches are a great way to find out about needs in the community. Many have their own foodbanks, or know of places that need some assistance.

5. Call your local school distrtict: Many school districts have programs in place for school supply donations or have great contacts to find these programs.

6. Call your local animal shelter: Local animal shelters are always in need of donations. If furry ones are a passion of yours, this is always a great place to donate!

Donating is a passion of mine, and I hope it’s something that you find so easy after reading this article that it becomes second nature. I have loved the fact that couponing and frugal shopping has allowed me to donate to those in need in my community. Before couponing, I wasn’t able to do this, but always had the desire to. It’s with the kindness of strangers that those that fall on hard times are able to survive sometimes. My husband and I were blessed to have such kind people in our community when we fell on hard times, and it makes us happy that we are now able to repay the kindness back to others.

Filed Under: Frugal Tips Tagged With:

How to shop for clothes the greener way!

July 24, 2011 By 9 Comments

When I started Crunchy Frugalista, I wanted it to not only be a place for great savings finds and coupons but also a place you could learn to live a little bit greener. Living just a little bit greener not only helps our planet it will help you save money too. That is what Make a Change Monday is about.

I do consider myself “crunchy,” but I don’t have everything in my life as green as it could be. I make some changes in my life that are easy to maintain, and that I can also get my kids involved in too.

As many of you know I have three children. Keiran is my oldest daughter, she is 12. Brenden, my son is 9, and Bayla is my youngest daughter whom is 8. Anybody that knows having kids also has HUGE clothing costs that go with them.

So this week, I am going to teach you how to shop a little greener for your kids, and save some green in the process.

I LOVE stores that sell gently used clothing! In my area, there are stores like Plato’s Closet, Clothes Mentor, and my absolute favorite Once Upon a Child. The idea behind these stores is that people bring in their gently used clothes, get paid CASH, and the store carries them. This is a great way to get clothes for the whole family at a lot cheaper prices than retail, plus you are helping keep these clothes out of landfills!

I was super excited to see that on Sunday Groupon in my area even had a Clothes Mentor savings special! Talk about a double whammy in savings. Yeah, got me really stoked :)

I also just found another great place on line called thredUP.

Here’s how it works:


  • Browse our list of thousands of boxes full of preloved kids clothes & toys – just $5 (+ $10.95 USPS shipping). Get your box delivered to your doorstep in just a couple of days.
  • Post your own box of preloved clothes/toys your child no longer wears on thredUP. It takes just minutes to list out the great items your kids no longer use. When another member picks your box, send it 100% free of charge. We provide boxes, postage, and even schedule the pick-up.
The coolest part is it is free to join, free to list, and free to ship. You only pay when you buy a box! My friend Liz was even cool enough to send me a $5 credit to try the service. So my first box is free!
My last favorite place to go for clothes is Goodwill. We have many great Goodwills here. I have actually been able to find new items with tags still on them! I know a lot of people roll their eyes when they think of Goodwill, but I will let you all know I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to clothes. I only buy clothes from these places that are sans stains and holes. So trust me, even being picky like me you can find some great deals in this store., and $4 a pair of kids Levis beats $29 dollars any day!
Filed Under: Frugal Tips, Green Living Tagged With: