Prescreening Family Entertainment

OK, so the offers for paid reviews that I had hoped for aren't beating down my door, so I am choosing to share and review some things I have found to be valuable to me as a mom.

We are big movie buffs in this family. In fact Neal and I have probably seen hundreds of movies together. I am a big fan of good entertainment and even enjoy catching the occasional flick all by myself. We have even been known to go to the movies "together" just to part ways at the theater door to see separate movies that each appealed to our own likes. (I remember a definite parting of ways as I headed in to see Stepmom, and he went to watch the remake of Psycho. I was the only one who walked out having gotten her money's worth.)

The fact of the matter is, not all entertainment is created equally. And when it comes to exposing your children to modern media, it can be a serious gamble. I have on more than one occasion found myself sitting in a movie theater and regretting that my children were sitting with me, even in a movie that was rated G! As it is, neither the rating system nor even parenting has a clear cut standard for what is acceptable and what isn't. I find even with my own three children I have to hold different standards for different children. What might seem like a tolerable "violence" level for my sons might induce nightmares for my daughter. You have to know your audience, and you have to have your own levels of acceptability clearly defined.

For a time it seemed the only way to figure out whether or not a movie was OK to take my kids to was to go and preview it myself. Even Neal's filter system wasn't accurate enough for me to take total comfort. (Dads!) And let's face it, with the cost of going to the movies these days, who can afford to pay to go see it twice? ThenI discovered this wonderful website. It has become an invaluable tool to prescreen movies for our family.

The Preview Online Family Movie Review site breaks it evaluation of movies down in two categories. First in "Entertainment" value, it rates the movies on a scale from "0" for awful to a "+4" for excellent. ("+3" for good, "+2" for fair and "+1" for bad.) But in addition to Entertainment it also gives you an assessment for Content which evaluates how "family friendly" the movie is. That rating system Ranges as follows: +3 to +4 for "SAFE"; +1 to + 2.5 for FAIRLY SAFE; -1.5 to -.5 for "CAUTION - Questionable"; -2.5 to -2 for "UNSAFE" and -4 to -3 for "DANGEROUS".

On top of that the review breaks down to specific assessments in the following areas: "CRUDE LANGUAGE"; "OBSCENE LANGUAGE"; "PROFANITY" (yes, there is apparently a difference); as well as Violence; Sex; Nudity; Homosexuality; Sexual Dialogue/Gestures; Drugs and just in case that all didn't cover it, they also have the category of "OTHER" as a catch all for any additional information they think you might need, such as mature topics like suicide, abortion, adoption, etc.

I know that's a lot of information, but I really LOVE this website and highly recommend you click on the link and check it out. I will have to warn you though, on more than one occasion I have read the review for a movie I wanted to see just for myself, not including my kids, and when they actually break down word for word issues in a review, I have had to pass on viewing the film... not that that's a bad thing! But it definitely makes you more aware of what you are going to go and see.

So check it out, I think you will find it to be one hell uh, heck of a parenting tool. (Oops, does that make my post PG now?)

This is an unsolicited review.

Cutting Your Grocery Bill

As a wife and a mom, I know these hard economic times make our jobs more harder. Let's face it, the bigger they get, the more kids eat, and I think it's safe to assume that ALL of our children are getting bigger every day!

If you're like me, you're trying hard to "trim the fat" in your budget wherever you can. Unfortunately rising grocery prices make that a challenging task, and "you gotta eat!" For me, I am making a choice to revisit an old tool that has helped me a lot in the past. I've never needed it more than now!

The Grocery Game is a wonderful tool to help you save money on your groceries. The concept behind it is simple, and they've taken most of the hard work out of the process. Everybody knows coupons are a good thing, but most of us don't have the time or are not willing to out in the effort to organize the process, but if you realized how much money you could save, you might revisit the possibility.

Coupons come weekly in the local newspaper, but the weekend they arrive is not necessarily the best time to use them. I don't know if you realize that stores often stock up on a hot coupon item the week the coupons are released. Let's say you have an item that's $2, and there is a 50¢ coupon in the paper that week. Great, you just saved 25% off that item. But did you realize that 3 weeks later when that stocked up item is now crowding the shelf, your grocery store is likely to reduce the price of that item. Let's say they drop the item to but $1.25 in order to clear the shelf. You have held on to your 50¢ coupon, you can but the item for 75¢! You've save 63%! And if you shop at a grocery store like mine that doubles coupons (up to $1.00) then YOU can buy that item for the wonderfully low price of just 25¢!! That's right, you will have saved 88% on your item! And savings like that are not, again, I repeat NOT atypical! You can save that kind of money consistently. I remember once when I was "playing the game" I bought $125 worth of groceries for less than $38. I saved 69% on my grocery bill! I almost always saved at least 40%, that's four out of every ten dollars!

"Clipping coupons is a lot of work," you say. But the Grocery Game takes a lot of the effort out for you! They write you a list of everything on special in your chosen store for the week. They also tell you exactly where to find the coupon, whether it's in the newspaper, the mailer or even available to be printed right there online at the Grocery Game itself!

For me the organization process is pretty simple, I bought a flex file (folder that opens with file partitions) and some post it notes. I simply pull out the coupons each week and stick a post it note with the date on the front. Two weeks later when GG tells me to play my coupon from the Procter & Gamble folder of coupons, I find the right date, find my coupon and move on to the next deal. The best way to grocery shop is to make a list before you go, it puts a stop to the impulse buys and frivolous spending. If you incorporate the grocery game into your list making, you're earning money in the process! Why wouldn't you want to do this?

Is there a cost you ask? Well, yes, but it's so reasonable. My current membership includes 1 store, which costs me just $10 every 8 weeks. But you can earn that money and more back in a single shopping trip. Currently I am considering adding an additional store to my membership to expand my options, each additional store costs just $5. I might even add 2 stores because I know I can easily save that $20 in just a single trip to the store when I am armed with my Grocery Game tips.

If you head over to the site now you will find the opportunity to try the game for just $1 for 4 weeks. How can you go wrong?

If you decide to join, please use my email address (GodKptHisPromise@aol.com) as your referral, for every 3 referrals I make I get 12 weeks free. So come on play the game! Then tell three of your friends and earn three weeks for yourself! This isn't just for those of you in Southern California either, you can play throughout the USA!

This was an unsolicited review.