Celebrate The Dads In Your Life This Father’s Day! @gmtgiftbaskets #fathersday #ad

I've always felt that fathers don't get as much credit as they deserve on Father's Day. For some reason, Mother's Day is always such a huge holiday and when the dads' special day rolls around, it's not always sprinkled with the same fanfare that moms get. In our home, we make sure that we always show our love and appreciation for my husband because he is just the most wonderful father to our two sons and deserves to be pampered and recognized. The problem is that, when it comes to gifts, my husband is really difficult to buy presents for because he is not very materialistic and doesn't really spend a lot of money on himself. I knew that this year it was going to be important to make him feel really special because we have spent a few tough months here in New York City due to the pandemic. Since my husband is an essential worker, he has worked every single day while everyone else has been sheltering in place. As soon as I saw the Family Game Night Gift Crate from Gourmet Gift … [Read more...]

Put The Family Back In Family Time! @HasbroNews @HasbroGameNight #Ad

*I participated in this campaign on behalf of Hasbro. I received a promotional item to facilitate this review and as a thank you item for participating. All opinions are my own.       Those of you who are long-time readers of Tough Cookie Mommy know that my family often keeps a very hectic schedule.  Between juggling work, taking care of the home, and driving our boys to their many activities, we often have to regroup and make sure we make time for those moments that truly matter.  Spending family time together is very high on our list of priorities and we are always looking for ways to enjoy each other's company.     The thing is that you don't always have to spend a lot of money when you are planning some fun times with your family.  Something as simple as planning a family game night can guarantee you all have hours of fun together which is what really matters at the end of the day.  Since Friday evenings are usually open for all of us, we planned a competitive game … [Read more...]

Share What’s Good With Welch’s And You Could Win! #ShareWhatsGood @Welchs #Ad

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Welch's. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.     Recently, it has become more and more difficult to be able to spend quality time as a family due to my husband's and my hectic work schedule.  Add to that the fact that my husband works nights and that I work days and the opposite hours make it even more tricky to plan things for us to do as a family.  As a result, we have had to get creative about making sure that we have that important time to spend together and to connect with one another.     Here are some tips that we have come up with to help "steal" some quality time as a family: Watch a movie together at home.  It's a great way to save money on skyrocketing movie theater prices and everyone can relax together in the comfort of home. Take a drive with the family and head to a local park or recreation area.  We are lucky that we live right next to a huge park and … [Read more...]

Juggling, Sacrificing, and Parenting

        My husband is starting a second job on Saturday. He is a licensed exterminator by trade and he received an offer to work part-time on Saturdays doing just that. I wasn't sure how I felt about this when he first brought it up because we haven't been struggling financially, thank goodness, and it caught me by surprise. His reasons for wanting to do this are that he wants us to pay down our debt faster and become debt free. Obviously, I couldn't argue with those reasons because I would love to be completely debt-free and to waste our hard earned money on more enjoyable things than paying bills.     I'm still conflicted over the whole thing because I feel that it is time that will take him away from the family.  After all, I work full time all week during the day and he works full time during the week at night so the weekend is really the best time for us to spend time together and catch up on family time.  Against my better judgment, I am trying to be supportive because … [Read more...]