MamaOnABudget

I made a mug!

2011-07-21T00:01:00.004-06:00

I know things have been a little quiet around here. That's what happens when there's a newbie in the house. Life with three kiddos has been interesting. In many ways things are better than before, but the big kids are also starting to push bhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifoundaries harder and fight more... usually over who gets to hold the baby first.

But I was excited when Shutterfly sent me an email with a code to create a free photo mug. What mom doesn't like showing off pictures of her kids?! I paid just over $6 for shipping and tax (I'm pretty sure it was $6.19 - I just don't have that in front of me). That's less than I'd pay for a mug with a flower or artist print at the store, and this is bound to become my favorite mug!

Here's my project!

Mug

View the entire collection of cards.

They are currently running an offer where, if you post about the project you made and share the link with them, they'll send a code for a $10 credit on a future purchase. Thanks for the great deal, Shutterfly!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

2010-12-09T00:59:00.000-07:00

Many people have shared this around the internet, but I had to, too. I was listening and remembering a time when various choirs I've belonged to have done the Hallelujah Chorus... but I started crying when I saw people who were obviously just onlookers occasionally getting caught up in it and singing along (about 90 seconds from the end, there's a mom sitting next to her little boy - who is standing on a chair to watch... she's taking his hand to make sure he doesn't fall and singing along!).

Great job! Amazing job! And mall acoustics... not too shabby!

You aren't going to believe this! Another ERGO giveaway!

2010-12-07T16:10:00.002-07:00

Apple Cheeks Diapers is giving away an ERGO carrier! More information and ways to win can be found HERE!

I'm starting to think I need an ERGO tag!

Sweet crayon giveaway

2010-12-07T15:42:00.002-07:00

Rachel's Reviews and Giveaways has teamed up with Gaddy Nipper to offer a giveaway. Gaddy Nipper upcycles crayons into adorable shapes in this gift set. We've done this as a family, and my kids always love the shaped crayons!

Enter the giveaway here!

Is it possible? Another ERGO giveaway!!!!

2010-12-07T15:25:00.002-07:00

Rachel's Reviews and Giveaways is offering more opportunities to win and ERGObaby carrier! Hop over HERE and enter away!!!!

Another chance to win an ERGO carrier!

2010-12-07T14:40:00.002-07:00

BabyBix is running a giveaway for an ERGO performance carrier AND infant insert! You can enter to win here!

Chance to win an ERGObaby carrier!

2010-12-02T22:46:00.002-07:00

Loves Jurn3 is giving away an ERGObaby carrier. You have many chances to win by going to this post and doing as many or as few of the entry options you choose on their form.

LEMONS! (lemon glaze)

2010-11-18T21:29:00.002-07:00

The Happy Housewife is looking for lemon recipes. I've already shared this one (which is incredible and just proves Giada is a GENIUS!). But I wanted to share this very simple one, too.

My mom used to glaze lamb cakes (pound cakes baked in a lamb-shaped pan at Easter) with a powdered sugar and lemon juice glaze. That's it! She would use as much lemon juice as it took to get the powdered confectioners sugar to the consistency she wanted, and then pour it over the cake (which was standing on a cooling rack over a drip plate). It's so simple, but it's SO good - it's almost like frosting a cake with lemon heads - super sour and super sweet at the same time! I would imagine some lemon zest in the pound cake batter would be incredible, too!

If you have some you'd like to share, go ahead and link away HERE. I personally can't get over the SIZE of their lemons - they're like grapefruit!

Win an Ergo Performance baby carrier

2010-09-25T14:42:00.002-06:00

As if Ergo wasn't great enough, they have a new design that is lighter and cooler! Heavenly Hold is giving one away! Enter here for a chance to win.

Fight Burrito Boredom

2010-08-25T13:01:00.002-06:00

Qdoba is running a deal right now were you can build your own burrito (or something else - but I hear burritos have the best coupons) and end up with high value coupons at the end. You can play every day for 6 weeks. The coupons are only good for 2 days, so you can't really stock up. But yesterday and today I won "free entree with purchase of a drink" coupons. So Geof and I have free dinner tonight =)

http://www.foodloversfightingburritoboredom.com/

Give it a shot - and let me know how you do!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

2010-08-23T23:06:00.003-06:00

As you may have noticed, my blog has received a facelift. When Courtney ran a giveaway about a week ago to win a chance at a premade blog template, I figured "what the heck - it has looked the same for a couple years!"

AND I WON!

I'm so thankful to Courtney of Storing Up Treasures in Heaven and Lena of Premades For A Purpose. It looks great ladies! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Our Deck Garden

2010-06-27T21:35:00.003-06:00

The Happy Housewife's post about home farming reminded me that I haven't posted anything about our deck garden here. We're renting and didn't want to tear up the back yard (though, if we were to purchase this house and use a lot of hard work hauling landscaping stone out, we could have a massive garden - almost farm - without taking away from the kids' play area. But I digress...). So I decided to do some research on container gardening and what could be grown in a small space.

The answer is: Quite a lot! Especially when you pair container gardening with companion planting.

This is the link to my facebook album for my garden. I started most of our plants from seed indoors using little peat pellets and a grow lamp, but I did purchase some of the tomatoes, herbs and flowers. If I start earlier indoors next year, I will not have to purchase as much - if any - plants. I will save seeds from the successful plants this year for next year's planting purposes. I hope to be able to move some of the herbs indoors for winter use, dry the rest, and can quite a bit of tomatoes and peppers (possibly just prep/freeze the peppers) to help with our family's grocery budget!

Please help a friend!

2010-06-20T18:24:00.002-06:00

I have a good friend, Melanie, who along with her husband run Portraiture by Melanie. They are awesome photographers with a great eye to make the ordinary, well... less ordinary =)

Please take the time to pop over to the Blogger's Choice Awards and vote for them. I've nominated them for Best Photography Blog. I'd love to see something great happen for this wonderful family and, if possible, bring even more business their way. The link to their site is available at the BCA link.

http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/95654

Bamboo Bums GIveaway

2010-06-19T23:48:00.001-06:00

Exploits of a Military Mama is giving away a Bamboo Bums cloth diaper.

Follow this link to learn more!

GREAT deal on paper at Staples

2010-06-17T22:41:00.003-06:00

Through Saturday, HP General use paper is on sale for $4.99 with a $3.99 rebate. There's a limit of 2 per household.

There's also a coupon on their website for 15% off all in-store purchases (excluding computers). Use that with the paper and get the 2, 500 sheet reams for $8.48.

Submit the rebate and get a check for $7.98.

Total of two reams of paper for $.50!!!!

There's a deal on HP Photo Paper as well. $9.99 with and $8.99 rebate. After the 15% coupon, you would pay $8.49... for a PROFIT of $.50!

Uninsured and taking prescription medications?

2010-04-08T22:30:00.002-06:00

That's the boat I've found myself in. Sure, you can pay $30 a year to Walgreens and get their overpriced drugs brought town to just slightly more than everywhere else.

Or I can give you another reason to join Swagbucks.

I take a brand-name thyroid medication. I can't take generics on this medication for multiple reasons, so the $4 generics at the major chains won't work for me. We are currently uninsured, so I've been eating the whole cost of this medication - ranging from $18-23 a month depending on where you fill it. I've been filling it at Wal-Mart (and, coincidentally, I paid $23 one month and $18 the next without changing a thing). This month, through tomorrow, there was a coupon at coupons.com for a free $25 gift card to Rite Aid if you transferred a prescription to them that you have never filled at Rite Aid before. So I decided to give it a go if the price was similar to Wal-Mart. It's quite a drive out to Rite Aid for me - about 40 minutes - but I was going to be in that area today anyway.

Their cost was $19.99 for 30 pills. I brought in this printout from the Swagbucks HealthAdvantage Program. I'm gonna be honest here: I figured for something that was free on the internet, it probably wouldn't be worth all that much. But in today's economy, every penny counts - I'll give it a shot.

I brought my prescription, my coupon, and my print out. I said, "I've never used this before - I don't know if it will even do anything for this prescription, but if you'd try, I'd really appreciate it." They said no problem - they had never seen it before, but they'll try running it at check-out.

It saved me $8.37!

I almost fell over when I saw that! I figured it might knock off $.50 - maybe a buck. But over $8 was HUGE to us. In the end, I got my $20 prescription for $11.62 - and got a $25 gift card!

I don't know if you even have to sign up for Swagbucks to use the discount card. I don't think you do. But I don't understand why you wouldn't want to. I have never paid them a cent of money, and in return for doing my internet searching through them, I've received $130 in Amazon gift certificates - and I'm not that far off from another $5 certificate.

I'll be really honest - I don't know if I'll keep going out to Rite Aid for this prescription or not. I went for the $25 gift card to get more supplies for our container garden (and spoil my kids a little). But with as great of a discount as I got there for this HealthAdvantage Program card, I just might go back if the discounts aren't as great at other stores. Where can you use it? It says it's is accepted at over 50,000 pharmacies nationwide. Here are a few of the "most recognizable" stores they list:

Albertsons
Bi-Lo
Costco
CVS
Duane Reade
Eckerd
Fred’s Stores
Giant Eagle
HY-Vee
Kerr
Kmart
Kroger
Longs
Meijer
Osco
Pamida
Publix
Rite Aid
Safeway
Sav-on
Schnucks
Supervalu
Target
Tops
Walgreens
Walmart
Wegmans

So get out there, save some money through Swagbucks and their HealthAdvantage Program. I'm not sponsored by Swagbucks or anything - this is just a really happy user and fan spreading the word about a great free service offered by Swagbucks.com.

Bubblegum Machine Cake Pops

2010-03-30T12:27:00.000-06:00

Bubblegum Machine Cake Pops

These are SO adorable! I need to start stocking up on the supplies when I see them on sale... must try!

Hooked On Phonics

2010-03-22T18:18:00.002-06:00

HOP is having a sale on a lot of their materials right now, and some of their older stuff is in "overstock" for really cheap. On top of that, they have a code out that works on most sale stuff - HOP50 - that will take 50% off your order. I'm about to place an order for their older HOP K-2 program (audio CDs rather than the new one with DVDs) that will be $39.98 (before tax and shipping) rather than $199.95! The two friends I know that have used the program have used this version and love it.

Thanks to Dealnews.com for this info bit!

My God is an AWESOME God!

2010-03-22T12:02:00.002-06:00

I shared this on Facebook, and I know many of you found me from there. But I needed to share this here, too.

This is the story of the husband of my friend, Jeney. He is currently in Haiti helping with the rebuilding efforts - both of buildings and of lives.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth

Just1

2010-03-20T12:53:00.003-06:00

Hey Just1ers - looking for a FREE item to include in your shopping trip. Well... at least free after full rebate (so you'll pay $.44 for postage).

Free Olay Quench body lotion

Purchase must be made between 3/19 and 4/16, and the rebate must be postmarked by 4/30.

If you happen upon a coupon for Quench before you purchase, you'll get the full price rebated BEFORE coupon price - so that coupon savings can go toward another Just1 purchase.

New to Just1? Click HERE for more information. Become a fan on Facebook HERE!

Moblog? Noblog...

2010-03-19T10:53:00.002-06:00

I set up this account to accept posts from my cellphone, but for some reason they aren't going through. So you didn't get to see the cute edible Daddies that I made for breakfast a couple days ago. I'll work on it...

Otherwise, we've just been battling the sickies here for a few days. Yesterday my kids were running around in our yard in flip-flops in 60 degree weather. Today we've got snow. No wonder I'm sick.

Then again, I've got kids who touch everything... and a son who then picks his nose. Guess who is usually the first one sick - and the most generous. :/

Good thing he's cute.

Great Just1 deals at Rite Aid this week

2010-03-10T23:58:00.002-07:00

Are you participating in Just1 and looking for inexpensive ways you can help?

Utah Deal Diva has a great Rite Aid list this week! Lots of scenarios. And I still have my $20 gift of savings certificate to use. I think I'll be heading there tomorrow before my moms' night out (that's right - no kids, no hubbies... I can't wait!)

On a roll tonight

2010-03-09T23:32:00.002-07:00

or rather... off one. I dropped a "famous" blogger off my blog roll today. It has been a long time in coming - I couldn't help but see cracks in the "perfect" exterior that weren't making sense. The constant attempts at being "real" were just too... fake. Too forced.

But it was hard! I hate to admit that, but it was hard to walk away from what so many other people think is the best thing since sliced bread. When every other post or tweet or update or photo was tightening a knot in my stomach, and when attempts to ask questions about what the blogger was supposedly about - just to get clarification - were going unanswered, I got to asking, "What's the point, Genevieve? Why are you hanging around?"

And I couldn't answer.

I guess it's part of my personal Mama Revolution (sorry, I really dislike the name Mommy!). I'm sensing a need for some personal shake-ups, and the first thing to go will be the stuff tying me down to the negative feelings. Too much crap in my life - too little focus on what (and Who) really matters.

I'm breaking free!

I've got an attitude about altitude

2010-03-09T20:06:00.002-07:00

One little known fact about me. I used to be terrified of yeast. TERRIFIED. I would have nightmares about dough left to proof getting out of control and taking over my house. There's an episode of Pinky Dinky Doo where everyone in the family keeps adding baking soda to her fluffy buns recipe (because she forgot it once) - and the dough rises so quickly that the whole apartment building goes up to the moon and everyone in the building has to eat fluffy buns to bring it back to earth. Yeah... like that.

I eventually got over my fear of yeast and became a pretty good baker, if I do say so myself. Then, shortly after moving to the Oregon coast, I was diagnosed with celiac disease and had to learn the very different world of gluten-free baking. Oh, I still do "regular" baking for my family, but GF is a whole other ballgame.

Then? Then we moved to Colorado. 6000 feet up. You know those directions on the back of the cake mix that say "High Altitude Directions?" That's me. You have to reduce the yeast and up the flour and sometimes equally up the water, unless you don't. And extend the time. Or is it reduce the time and up the temp? AHHHHHH!!!!

In the interest of saving money, I've taken to baking most everything from scratch. I made up a batch of pizza dough the other day (finally... it was supposed to be on OAMC day). It worked out just fine - but this was the end result of the dough cycle on my gluteny bread machine...

It's not just a nightmare... it's REALITY!!!!

Adventures in kitchenworld

2010-03-09T17:44:00.003-07:00

On Thursday, we took a family trip to Wal-Mart to get some pull-ups and an egg slicer (ours was broken in the move). While we were there, we did our normal shopping of the clearance meats. My husband found these steak medallions and wanted to try to find a recipe like something he had tried at Olive Garden. He even found a recipe right away!

Friday afternoon when he returned from work, he started reducing balsamic vinegar to make the glaze. Our house smelled like an Easter egg dying factory fire! My lungs were burning until we opened the windows and turned on the hood vent over the stove. Small price to pay considering he paid about $2.50 for the bottle of vinegar - and a bottle of the glaze was about 4 times that (for a *small* bottle).

We ended up making a lot of changes to the recipe for my celiac and to get the kids to eat it and still get some of the good stuff =) Plus my husband doesn't like green onions, sun dried tomatoes were too expensive, and we forgot the parsley. Do I sound like an allrecipes reviewer yet ;)

We used Trader Joes GF rotini noodles. We didn't have any alfredo on hand, so I made my knock-off (2 cans goat milk that we have left over from when my daughter received it through WIC, "enough" Parmesan cheese - a cup maybe?, and some garlic powder). Then we added the fresh spinach (cuz that's what we had). We knew my son would pick it out of the sauce, so I had the brilliant idea to break out the immersion blender and make it un-pick-outable!

We're still out of propane, so my husband did the medalions on the Foreman grill. Before this, he used the salt-caking technique here to make them much more tender (and they really weren't too salty at all!) It turned out to be a good thing, because they probably would have fallen through the grill outside.

The end result? The kids didn't like the balsamic glaze (we didn't think they would - we didn't put it on their bowls but let them try ours). They *loved* the "alien slime pasta" with "stinky cheese" sprinkled on top. They even ate some of the steak (they love beef, but they aren't big steak eaters).

And... it turned out BEAUTIFUL! Don't you think?

Close up...

Stop faking it!

2010-03-04T01:26:00.005-07:00

One of my bloggy-friends wrote a great post about the fake mommy blogs. No, not the ones that are supposed to be fictional... the kind that are more old-school Jon & Kate + 8. You know, everything's perfect, our lives are in order, our kids are always obedient and would you mind taking off your shoes and putting that on a coaster?

I want to join in the revolution! I'll start with the comment that I left on her post, and I'll be sure to post more in the coming days, too.

This? This right here?

This is why I love reading your blog. I wish I lived closer to - wherever you live - because I would love to have a cup of coffee with you. I could have written this post (other than I have NO desire to become a vegetarian =) ).

I can't **stand** the fake bloggers. There's one in particular (whom I won't name) that so many people just love to bits... and I don't get it! I mean, I'm not a hater like many - I'm not going to start joining all the ______ is a faker blogs that have popped up, I don't care about bank records and police reports and all that, well, crap.

Just be real! And don't *force* your "real" posts, either. Don't build them up to be this monumental revelation that we'd all better sit down for... and I'll tell you on Thursday. You don't have to give me your SSN, your phone number or address, heck - I don't even care if you use your real name! But don't paint this picture of the perfect family - and then be shocked when others call you on it.

Wanna know a secret? We have this MASSIVE beach towel - I think they call it a beach blanket - that we got for our honeymoon. It's under one side of the dining room table - the side where my two kids eat. If we shake it out once a week, we're doing pretty good. And sometimes? We just put it back down there after shaking it instead of washing it. =)

And my kids... usually only get a bath once a week. But we do brush their teeth before bed every night! And I try to get the carpet-fuzz dread locks out of my daughter's hair as soon as I see them.

Keep being you, Courtney! That's who I want to see... and that's who Christ wants to see!

So come on - join with me! Go grab that button at the bottom of her post, and lets pledge to show more of the real and live a life less fabricated!

Slowly throwing in the towel

2010-03-01T19:36:00.003-07:00

Well... I'm tired =) I didn't get any new cooking done since my last post, but I got a lot of "bagging and tagging" done, transported meals to our freezer in the garage, brought the rest of the stuff up for the lasagnas that will be put together after the kids are in bed... and I *may* still take a stab at the GF tortillas.

So, I didn't finish my whole list, but I still got a LOT more accomplished than I thought I would or could. I'll try and get a picture up before we start using it all up, but my list of what's available for dinners now:
1/2 gallon of chili (previous mega batch)
2, 24 count meatballs that just need reheating and sauce
2, 4 cup bags of cooked brown rice
2 dinners of sloppy Joes
3 dinners of Chef Mis-er-ly
6 dinners of beef tacos
4 dinners of beef stew
3 quart bags of split pea soup (I'm the only one that likes it... so this is 6-9 meals for me!)
4 rice side-dish mixes

By the end of the night, I'll have:
3 pounds of chicken nuggets
1 wheat lasagna (3-4 dinners)
1 gluten free lasagna (8 meals)

I hope to be able to continue on my list tomorrow - but we are also making the soups for soup supper on Wednesday night. I've got more planning to do!

That's better...

2010-03-01T16:05:00.002-07:00

My body forced a nap on me. I fell asleep shortly after writing that last post and slept an interrupted 2 hours. I finally woke up when my husband took a call from the moving company that moved us on our two big moves - the last one being just before Christmas. It appears the people whose belongings were in the other half of our truck just opened a mirror box that had some wedding pictures in it - and it's not theirs. I'm sick to my stomach thinking that some of our wedding pictures are missing, but we still can't confirm that it's ours. The company is playing middle man and will call us back (our mover was less than stellar - but the company was/is great!)... and we get to dig through the downstairs bedroom and the garage that are both, just about, wall-to-wall boxes while we await our final (please?) move to our own place. Just another bump in the road.

Now? Back to work!

Maybe we'll just do Atkins

2010-03-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I've done NOTHING with the bready stuff. No pizza crusts, no bread (though we still have a loaf in the freezer, and I make it pretty often - it's like a natural Glade home fragrance =) ), not even the tortillas, and they're super easy!

But I've knocked out most of the rest of the list. I haven't boiled the lasagna noodles (again with the starch!), but the rest is ready to go! The chicken nuggets are absorbing the butter milk and waiting for me to bread and bread and bread and bake and bake and bake!

Didn't have coffee... kind of afraid to have it now for fear of it keeping me up too late tonight. But I'd like to kick out a few things in the bread department yet. Going to make the tortillas after I feed the kiddos lunch. I'd *like* to still get at least one pizza crust (each) done, too - but that needs more of my attention because of the altitude issues as well... making sure it's not a big gooey ball!

Our house smells like some eclectic diner. Or the home of someone who can't decide what to eat! We have the mingled smells of beef stew, split pea soup, tacos, sloppy Joes and "Chef Mis-er-ly." I need to get something bready going to try and neutralize the smell of confusion!

Plus - I still have to bag up the soups... and take the immersion blender to the pea soup (and pray it doesn't a'splode!). The tacos have been simmering for for-ev-er... gotta stir them and set them aside to cool.

Did I mention a nap? Because I'm starting to think that is no longer an option but a requirement! The hubs is out to get our mail... and get more freezer bags =)

Half(ish) way there!

2010-03-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

About to start pounding the life out of some (dead) chicken breasts. I'm actually quite surprised at how well this is going...

... but I'm also finally starting to get tired.

Time to brew some coffee, make sure both crock pots are off, toss some food in the general direction of my kids (just kidding - they're eating grapes right now and will have hard boiled eggs in a few seconds... plus I'm brewing some (decaf) tea for them right now. Did I mention that they never went back to sleep once the girl got up at 5:45?!?! I do believe that is the definition of insanity - especially since they normally get up sometime between 7-8.

And... in the 20 minutes since I started writing this, I dozed off, my kids got in trouble for getting into the homeschooling supplies, and it's turning out to be just as crazy as I thought it might get.

Next part of the plan - get coffee started, get some pizza dough in each bread machine (one is a dedicated gluten-free machine... for my new readers, I have celiac disease, but I'm the only one in my family that eats GF because GF flours, pastas, etc are much more expensive and much more time consuming to make), and get that chicken abused and drowned! =)

Why does cooking have to be so noisy?!?!

2010-03-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

I blame it on coffee. I don't usually have much caffeine. Especially since moving from sea level to 6000 feet, caffeine seems to **really** effect me. But the coffee at church today was SO good. And the young woman who normally finishes off the pot gave up coffee for Lent. So even though I had my normal cup during Bible study... and filled up again (in my defense, our church building is pretty cold and I usually have two cups of decaf tea)... I finished the last cup while the kids and I were waiting for Daddy to finish teaching confirmation.

That's right, I haven't had caffeine in... weeks. And then I had THREE LARGE CUPS yesterday. At first I wrote today - because I still haven't slept (though I did snooze on the couch for about 20 minutes around 3).

But the things that I had hoped to do in preparation for today's big cooking day? I couldn't do them. Because they're loud. I can't pound the chicken with a mallet for the chicken fingers/nuggets. I can't be rolling out tortillas and pizza dough on our wood table because *that's* loud. Did I mention that our kitchen/living room is right over the master bedroom where my incredible husband is trying to sleep? Yeah.

So, I added to my list. I had found a couple rice mix recipes in a gluten-free cookbook I recently received, and I wanted to try them out. They're quiet to assemble, easy to walk away from when the 3 year old wakes up because she peed in her pull-up... only to find out she didn't really, but she did wake her brother who now also needs to go potty. And will you tuck me back in when I'm done, Mama?

I got 4 different rice side-dish mixes made up: Herb rice for chicken, Herb rice for beef, Beef rice, and (the one I'm really excited about) Curried rice! I just need to type up the instructions that go along with them and attach them to the little glass pint canning jars that house them for now.

Got 5 of 10 pounds of ground beef browned, the soup and stew are almost done, and the 8 cups of brown rice had the distinction of being the first things added to the freezer! Even took a picture of me and my first bag of freezer food - but Blogger hasn't returned my text to let me post it here. In time. It's a good feeling to be ticking things off the list.

Everything that needs to be done either requires making wake-up-someone-sleeping noise or needs and electric outlet (two of which are absorbed with crock pots right now). I don't want to blow a fuse (flip a switch?). So I think it's time for me to curl up on the couch and take a little more of a nap. And then when I get up? COFFEE =)

OAMC/Freezer Day Update

2010-02-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

Just to try to keep it simple, and since I know I have some people following me from MoneySavingMom.com, I'll be updating THIS post below as the day goes along.

And, as promised, I'm cheating and have already started =)

I'll come back - probably not until it's over - and break down Saturday's shopping trip, too. I hit some AWESOME sales that allowed me to get all that I needed for March's freezer fill day, as well as a bunch of produce and extra chicken for about $120! Since my goal has been $40-50/week, under $30 rocks my socks!

Just1

2010-02-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

If you're unfamiliar with Just1, click on this link for more information.

Free and inexpensive donation items found around the web for the week of 2/28-3/6
(Will update and add as deals are found)

Rite Aid
Satin Care Shave Gel – $1.99
Use $1/1 coupon from the 2/17 P&G insert
Submit for $1 Single Check Rebate
Free after coupon and Single Check Rebate

Carefree Ultra Pantiliners 16 count – $0.99
Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from the 1/31 RedPlum insert
$0.50 each after coupon

Suave Shampoo or Conditioner – $1.99
Use $.50/1 coupon from the 1/3 RedPlum insert
Submit for $1 Single Check Rebate
$0.50 after coupon and Single Check Rebate

Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser – $7.99
Submit for $7 Single Check Rebate
$0.99 after Single Check Rebate

Walgreens
Reach toothbrush or Floss – $0.99 after in-ad coupon
Use $1/1 printable
Free after coupons

Lindsay olives – $0.99 after in-ad coupon
Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable
$0.49 after coupon

Nivea Lip Care – $0.99 after in-ad coupon
Use Buy One Get One coupon from the 2/7 RedPlum insert
$0.50 after coupons

My first (real) attempt at a OAMC freezer-fill day

2010-02-27T00:08:00.001-07:00

I read posts on Money Saving Mom all the time about her freezer cooking days. I'm always saying I'm going to give it a try. I even gave it a half-hearted try when we first moved here (as in, while standing among mountains of cardboard boxes).

It didn't work.

I'm good about making a double to quadruple batch of things when cooking and freezing the extras... tacos, chili, soups. But I've never really hunkered down to say I'm going to just spend all day in the kitchen.

So... I'm gonna give it a shot!

I'm in the planning stages right now, and I'll keep editing this post until I have my real menu down (and I'll do another with my prep list). If I'm being honest, I'll probably get a head start on some of this Sunday night, and there's a good chance that one or more of the "dough things" will get carried over to either Sunday night or Tuesday - since there will be a lot of breadiness going on and will have to separate wheaty from gluten-free (thank goodness for two bread machines!).

Current running ideas:
1-2 batches GF pizza dough
1-2 batches wheat pizza dough
1-2 batches brown rice tortillas (experiment with recipe below - 2 only if it works!)
1-2-3 batches wheat tortillas
1-2 Best Bread Machine Bread
~~1-2 baked brown rice~~ first OAMC foods to be frozen!
Whole wheat lemon poppy seed muffins (if time allows)

Rice mixes for quick side dishes:
1 Herb Rice (chicken)
1 Herb Rice (beef)
1 Rice for Beef
1 Curried Rice all from Incredible Edible Gluten-Free Food for Kids: 150 Family-Tested Recipes by Sheri L. Sanderson

Outside the all-starch-festival...
~~Double batch of Slow Cooker Beef Stew~~ cooling in crock to bag and freeze
~~Slow cooker split pea soup~~ ditto
2 lasagna (1 wheat, 1 GF) (meat filling was made a few weeks ago and frozen. It is thawed in the fridge, I'm using spaghetti sauce, and I've got everything else ready... just need to do it!)
1-2-3 GF Oven fried Chicken nuggets/fingers I replace crumbs with crushed rice or corn chex! (chicken breasts have been pounded and chopped and are soaking in buttermilk in the fridge - and we keep a bucket each of crushed corn and rice chex)
1-2 Sloppy Joes*
~~Bacon, Egg and cheese biscuit cups~~ I'm going to make these later in the week
1-2-3 Chef Mis-Er-Ly's beefy macaroni* I made a double batch, but was enough for 3 freezer bags - so it counts as 3
~~1-2-3-4-5-6 pounds beef taco filling~~ Cooling to be put away =)

*As much as I would love to put away completely finished sloppy Joes and Chef Miserly's dish, I can't claim that I'll still have the energy. I will, however, start out by browning a bunch of ground beef and refreezing it after that. At least it will be ready to grab and throw into whatever recipe needs it. Never mind =)

~~1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 pounds ground beef, browned~~ Done

Now to see if I have any sanity left over with which to complete this undertaking!

Looking for some photos?

2010-02-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

This isn't necessarily a budget issue, but a friend of mine has an etsy shop where she's selling some of her photography. She's an awesome person, raising a family of 10, and a portion of all sales are going to Haiti relief efforts.

Please check out her shop!

Just1

2010-02-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

My friend, Jenn, is starting a new blog with a humanitarian angle. The idea being, if I surmised correctly, that if you can't feel all the hungry, you can feed just one. When you're shopping for your family, you can pick up just one extra thing to donate to a food pantry or shelter.

I told her that I'd be more than happy to help collect ways in which those of us on a limited or fraying-shoe-string budget can do the same. I've left her a few comments already, but I figured I'd just compile a big list here and then link over rather than be obnoxious =) And once her site goes live, I'll happily link it, too!

(Edit - it's live!)

These are all the deals I've found this week where you can get much needed supplies (not covered by food stamps) for $1 or less - with the exception of cheap diapers that run under $3.

At Kroger affiliate stores this week
Colgate Total Whitening Toothpaste (4.2-4.6 oz) – $1.67
$.50/1 in the 1/31 SmartSource insert (exp 2/20/10) or $1/1 in the January All You
$0.67 each after coupon (Kroger stores double coupons up to $1)

At Target this week
Satin Care Shave Gel (travel size) – $0.97/ea
Use $0.55/1 or $1/1 in 2/7 P&G insert
Final Price = FREE or $0.42/ea

Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kit to Go – $0.97-0.99/ea
Use $1/1 in 1/3 Red Plum insert (exp 3/31)
Final Price = FREE

Band-aids (8-10 ct travel size, Hello Kitty & others) – $0.97/ea
Use $1/1 in 1/3 Red Plum insert (exp 3/31)
Final Price = FREE

Johnson’s Buddies Soap – $0.97-0.99/ea
Use $1/1 Johnson’s Baby in 1/3 Red plum insert (exp 3/31)
Final Price = FREE

Right Guard deodorants (trial size) – $0.99
Buy 2 and use $2/2 coupon here and here
Free after coupon

At Wal-Mart this week
Many Walmart stores have Malt-O-Meal cereals priced at $1. Use the $0.75/1 Malt-O-Meal printable coupons here, here, and here to get these for $0.25 after the coupon.

At Walgreens through 2/27
Buy 1 Crest Cavity Protection toothpaste (6.4 oz.) regularly priced at $2.29
Use the $0.75/1 coupon from the 2/7 P&G insert (expires 2/28)
Stack with $1.50/1 Walgreens coupon from the February coupon booklet available in stores (expires 2/27)
$0.04 after coupons

At CVS this week:
Buy 1 Crest Pro-Health Enamel Shield Toothpaste or Rinse at $3.50, Get $3.50 ECBs (Limit 2)
Use $2/1 Rice coupon or $0.75/1 toothpaste coupon from the 2/7 P&G insert
Free plus up to $2 overage after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Aussie Conditioner, Shampoo, or Styler at $2.99, Get $2 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $1/1 from the 2/14 RedPlum insert
Free after coupons and ECBs

Buy 1 Colgate Advanced Toothpaste at $2.99, Get $2 ECBs (Limit 1)
Use $1/1 from the January All You Magazine
Free after coupons and ECBs

At Rite Aid this week:
Motrin–$2.99
Use $1/1 coupon in the 1/3 RedPlum insert
Submit for $2 Single Check Rebate
Free after coupon and Single Check Rebate

Halls Cough Drops–$0.99
Use $0.50/1 printable coupon
$0.49 after coupon

Dove Deodorant–$1.50
Use $1/1 Dove Deodorant coupon from the 1/31 RedPlum insert
$0.50 after coupon

Extra Soft White Lightbulbs –2 for $4.00
Buy 2 and use $3/2 in-ad coupon
$0.50 each after coupon

Huggies Jumbo Pack Diapers or Training Pants–$8.99
Use $2/1 printable Huggies Coupon or use $2/1 printable Pull Ups Coupon
Stack with $1/1 Pull Ups or Huggies Video Values Coupon from January
Submit for $3 Single Check Rebate
As low as $2.99 after coupons and Single Check Rebate

(Thanks Stretching A Buck, The Krazy Coupon Lady, Money Saving Mom, Mommy Snacks, The Thrifty Mama, For The Mommas)

Great deal on Turkey Sausage at Target

2010-02-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

I was at Target tonight to try and fill a raincheck on some Jennie-O Turkey Store Original Turkey Breakfast Sausage Links. They were on sale about a week ago for $1.65 (regular price $3.29). They were on sale for $.82!!!! It was marked February 9 and 10 only, so there's only one more day to get in on it. But I thought I'd pass it along. I was at the Super Target in Parker - and they are giving rainchecks at this price, too (I bought the 5 they had left and got a raincheck for 5 more).

Yeah... it's slow here

2010-01-19T02:24:00.000-07:00

So, we moved. It's been crazy. We came here to find housing - then went back to Oregon, packed a house, and drove back here... in 13 days. Then came Christmas, New Years, and trying to get a routine of some sort down. And let's not forget UNpacking. Otherwise all the "fun" of packing would be lost, right?

I was worried about making the transition to new stores, new area for finding bargains. I'm WAY behind on cutting out my coupons - they're all stacked up in a bag. But I've found a few great deals, so I'm encouraged. I was able to get 2 gallons of organic skim milk for $1.09 total (including tax - something I keep forgetting to figure in after living in sales tax-free Oregon). Our local Safeway has one section where they put all the sell-by clearance foods (other than meat) rather than having to hunt them down. I've done some price matching in our local Wal-Mart. And today I hit the 75% off clearance stuff at Target in Parker and got some really great stuff for next winter for the kids - including a winter coat for M (regular $35 - I got it for under $9), a **beautiful** Christmas dress that will fit her for the next 2 years for under $5, and 3 really nice sweaters for R for about $3.50 each. Sweats for $.98 a piece, a long-sleeved turtle neck black shirt for M - there were many more things I could have picked up, but we're trying really hard to watch our budget and pay off some bills. For myself, I used a birthday gift card from G's wonderful sister and got some "fur" lined suede mittens that were 50% off. I'm SO excited!

I've taken a gluten-free tour at our King Soopers (that's Kroger here) and scored a bunch of coupons there. Our natural foods store (Vitamin Cottage) has amazing prices on their bulk supplies, many of which are GF as well, AND they accept coupons (that's where I scored the milk deal!). I've even found some local bloggers to help the process along. We're blessed.

So, while we're not really in that much of a better financial place than when we were in Oregon (G's call is part-time and the search for additional employment hasn't been fruitful), we're going to make it. And it's wonderful to have a happy husband again because he's back doing what he loves... and freeing me up to do my job at home (wife and mom) which I love as well.

I can't promise this blog will be bustling with activity again soon, but I'll be sure to post if something incredible comes up. After sending out our *slightly* late Christmas cards. But hey, they were all free... and we're waiting on our free change of address cards. So it's worth being a little late in my book to save that chunk of change.

Happy 2010!

I'm SO Sorry

2009-11-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

I've deleted Google AdSense. I don't come here that often, and when I saw that the banner across the top was an ad for finding the best bikini photos online... that's not something I would EVER allow on my site. I'll be contacting them later as well.

Again, my sincerest apologies!

Crayola Glow Dome Giveaway

2009-11-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Mel over at Our Blessed Arrows is doing a giveaway for a Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome. She also has reviews of a couple other of the brand new products that Crayola has out this Christmas (including the Color Me A Song - which I think is an awesome concept!)

Head on over HERE for your chance to win. And while you're at it - just sign up for her RSS feed. Not only will that earn you an extra entry into the drawing, but she and her family are just a joy to read about!

Very inexpensive Christmas cards

2009-10-30T06:04:00.000-06:00

Vistaprint.com is running a deal right now for 100 free postcards. If you're happy with their designs and just want to add your own text, your entire order will be about $6-7 (shipping to arrive in about 3 weeks).

If you want to upload your own image, that's an additional $2.49. (Tip from someone who learned the hard way - if you want to do more than one image, make a composite of your own images in photoshop or gimp or paint first - one uploaded composite image is $2.50 instead of $2.50 for EACH image. I corrected it - but it took a lot of extra time.)

You can leave the back blank, fill half of it and leave room for mailing addresses and a stamp, for fill it up all the way. If you do any of the above in black and white - it's free.

If you're sending it as a postcard, you're done. Check out and pay for shipping.

If you'd rather send it as a card, you can add 100 envelopes to your order for about $3.50 (you can get the fancy ones for $30, but that wouldn't be a budget tip from me, now would it?)

Our total for 100 postcards (7 photos on the front, our Christmas letter on the back) and envelopes - plus slow shipping: under $14.

These added to the 30 that I got through Kodak's Million Thanks $15 credit (I paid about $5 with overage and shipping) will completely cover our Christmas mailing list.

And if you're smarter than I am, you can do all this through Ebates and save just a little bit more with 6% cash back! I forgot about that until I was done loading the card... for the second time... and decided my time was worth it to skip the deal this time.

Opportunity to win a $200 Best Buy gift card

2009-10-23T22:08:00.001-06:00

MckMama reviewed an awesome Samsung fridge over here on her blog. Go read the review and find out how you can enter for a chance to win a $200 Best Buy gift card.

Continuing the Nestle discussion from elsewhere

2009-10-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

To answer a question, I did not know there were questions about the companies behind Healthy Choice, Starbucks or Coke (how far back did you have to dig to find something about Coke - because we haven't purchased any in months...), but you can bet I'll do the research on that now - thank you for pointing it out to me.

However, you knew there was plenty of bad to be dug up about Nestle - you just chose to ignore it.

This isn't about the fact that you didn't breastfeed - I didn't know that, and that doesn't really play into anything here because you are blessed to live in a country with plenty of clean water and medical care. I'm glad your children are healthy.

And the article wasn't a personal attack against you - it was an open letter to you and the other bloggers attending. Since you won't post the link, I will in the hopes that others are wondering what this discussion is about.

An Open Letter To The Attendees Of The Nestle Family Blogger Event

Really, I'm not a blogger for the money - I make NOTHING on this site... it's just a hobby. If this turns into a bunch of your readers leaving nasty comments because I dared to speak up, I'll just shut down the blog and it won't effect anyone one way or the other. I'm not trying to start an e-war... just trying to get the word out about what a nasty company Nestle is on an international level.

Great Safeway trip

2009-09-16T03:44:00.000-06:00

We went to Safeway tonight to get in on the last day of their sale on Healthy Choice Dinners. We do NOT get frozen dinners normally - even on sale they're way to expensive for our budget. But they were running a sale for $2.99 each - buy 5 and save $5 (or $1.99 each). Healthy Choice also has been running a $2 off one meal coupon on their website - printable twice per computer. We have three coupon-printable computers... 6, $2 off one coupons. (They also have coupons for their fresh mixers there, which Geof picked up at Wal-Mart the other day for $2.74 or $.74 each after coupon - but that's another story because even that didn't work out "normally"). We had some issue with three of the dinners not ringing up at the right price and having to go back in to talk to my fave cashier to get it straightened out. But in the end, this was our grocery receipt:

5 Healthy Choice dinners ($2.99 ea) $14.95
2 Budget Frozen dinners ($.99 ea) $1.98 <--kid's dinner tonight - they were thrilled! They've never had a frozen meal before
1 Smithfield bacon $5.49
Total: $22.42

Safeway card savings -$5.90 ($5 for the 5 dinners, $.20 off each kiddo dinner, $.50 off the bacon)
Total: $16.52

Coupons: -$13.00 (5@$2/1 for the dinners, 1@$3 off the bacon)

TOTAL: $3.52! That's an 85.5% savings! YAY!!!

Learning Beauty: Winner of Giveaway #1

2009-09-16T00:38:00.000-06:00

Learning Beauty: Winner of Giveaway #1

This was what I posted about the other day! Thanks again, Lisa!!!!

Do you shop in the Sears Junior's section?

2009-09-15T22:42:00.000-06:00

THIS COUPON is good for $10 off any Junior's apparel at Sears - no minimum purchase. It's a .pdf, so you can print as many copies as you want (can only use one per purchase - but you can bring multiple shoppers or make multiple trips), and it's good until November 14th.

If you can make a purchase right at $10, it will be free. Slightly over, and it will be rather inexpensive. It would be great for things like Angel Tree if you have one in your community - they're always looking for things like warm socks, underwear, hats, gloves - or use it toward Christmas gift purchases you plan to make. Or refill your kids' sock drawers =)

EDIT - THIS ENDED UP BEING CONSIDERED A SCAM - SEARS STORES ARE NOT ACCEPTING THESE COUPONS. YOU MAY HAVE SOME LUCK WITH THEM ONLINE.

Holy Cow!

2009-09-12T23:07:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago, Money Saving Mom had a link to someone's Avon store that had a bunch of lip glosses and deodorants on sale for $.99 or under plus free shipping. I LOVE Avon - I was an Avon addict in high school, as one of my really good friend's mom had an Avon business. I haven't ordered from them since then so, what, 14 years? So I spent $2.97 that I probably shouldn't have and got two chapsticks and a deodorant. It came really quickly, came with a catalog that I drooled over one night on the couch while sitting next to Geof. I kept showing him the cute little girl's outifits and stuff... he kept rolling his eyes. Typical encounter for us ;)

We kept checking for the mail to come today because, normally, it's here much earlier on Saturday. Geof had just checked, nothing, sat back down. The doorbell rang (usually means the postman/lady is bringing a package). I asked him if he was expecting something - no. He got it and looked at me and said, "Are you?" No. He hands it to me and says, "Avon calling!"

I panicked.

I said, "I swear, I spent $3 on that one order - I even threw out the catalog before I finished going through it - I didn't order anything else!" I looked at the return address... sure enough, the same lady through whom I placed my last order. So I figured it was just a mix-up - she sent someone else's order to me. It was a BIG box - like 6x8x12". I saw my name on the paper and looked under it to see a big bottle of bubble bath - and I got REALLY scared because that was one of the things I had looked at. So now I'm really freaking out that I accidentally placed an order I shouldn't have. I read the paper inside:

Genevieve,
Congratulations! You were randomly chosen as the winner of my monthly giveaway! Everyone who purchased an item from my online Avon store was entered in a drawing to win this grab bag of different Avon goodies--- and you're the winner!
M blog is www.learningbeautydaily.blogspot.com and my online Avon store is www.cpavoncalling.com
I've also enclosed some catalogs and samples for you! Feel free to tell your family and friends to visit my online store, I will be having more samples and giveaways in the future.
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy the products you purchased.

Lisa
cpavoncalling@yahoo.com

I was shocked! I didn't even know there was a giveaway going on - I just wanted some cheap, shipping-less Avon goodies (and I *do* enjoy them - I opened the vanilla lip balm last night - is SO good! And Avon deodorant is wonderful - cheap and it really works well, the smell isn't over-powering, and it lasts a full 24 hours.)

In my box there was:
A HUGE bottle of French lilac bubble bath (24oz!)
Avon Naturals refreshing peach antibacterial hand gel (this is the other "flavor" of lip balm I bought - and now I'll fight swine flu and smell good in the process!)
a purse-size bottle of Skin So Soft signature silk ultra moisturizing body lotion
an 8-in-1 lip palette (I wanna go play!)
Avon Naturals (green) Apple and Honeysuckle refreshing shower gel (5 oz - and I love that Avon's shower gel bottles are "hooked" at the top to hand on the showerhead)
Avon Moisture Therapy Intensive Extra Strength Cream (5.3 oz)
Skin So Soft soft&sensual roll-on anti-perspirant deodorant (did I mention how much I love Avon deodorant!)
Avon Foot Works foot moisture cream (2.5 oz)
Planet Spa Greek Seas condition seaweed hair mask
Avon SpectraColor lipstick in the nudes(I don't know how to describe this - it's like a mix your own color in the tube thing - here's a link - but it looks fun!)
Avon Moisture Therapy Lip Moisturizer SPF 15
Avon Care Deeply Lip Balm with aloe (I *almost* ordered this one. It's very plain, but it's one that my mom loved. But I told myself I didn't need to spend $1 for the memory. I was so happy to see this one)
Avon Sweet Delicious Lip Balm (It's purple! The outside it purple with pink hearts all over the place, so I'm thinking it's meant for kids)
Avon Wash-off Waterproof mascara (black)
Anew Clinical Professional Stretch Mark Smoother (This made me giggle)

Those were all the full-size things. Then there are samples of:
Lipstick in bordeaux (have you seen Avon's lipstick samples? They're adorable tiny lipstick tubes! My Busia used to keep them in her purse)
Lipstick in bronze (it's shiny!)
liiv botanicals vital day cream with SPF 20
mark matte chance mattifying lotion in sugar cane/pumpkin seed
mark eyeshadows in cake and corset
u by ungaro (perfume)
Anew Clinical Thermafirm face lifting cream
planet spa African shea butter brown sugar body scrub
mark sassy (perfume)
Anew alternative photo radiance treatment
liiv botanicals vital night mositurizer
[ ] - Patrick Dempsey 2 (perfume, and yes, "[ ]" is the name)
Avon 60's Pop (perfume)
mark see things clearly brightening moisturizer lemon & orange/lotus flower
Anew Rejuvenate Day Revitalizing Cream SPF 25

I'm just in shock! Have I mentioned how much I love Avon? My little perfume collection (admittedly, mostly for the bottles) is mostly Avon. I can't wait to start messing with this stuff!

GF Pasta give away

2009-08-11T11:55:00.001-06:00

5 Dollar Dinners is having a give away for 3 boxes of DiPalo Selects GF Pasta.

Head on over to enter!

Free pastry at Starbucks

2009-07-17T14:01:00.000-06:00

Starbucks is having a free pastry with any drink purchase from open until 10:30 AM on Tuesday, July 21st. I'm excited because it includes their gluten free Orange Valencia cake!

Click HERE for the printable invitation.

Kids' book giveaway

2009-07-06T22:01:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Mel at Our Blessed Arrows, is giving away some children's books from Cheerios. We are a big reading family, so this is an exciting giveaway to enter for me! Go on over to this post to learn more and enter for your family!

You, too, can host a carnival with a MckLinky!

2009-06-30T19:56:00.000-06:00

There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called MckLinky – www.mcklinky.com. After realizing the need for a new, reliable linky capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.

MckLinky is a free link list feature that allows you to do include lists of other blog links like MckMama does on Not Me! Monday. You can use MckLinky any time you want your blog readers to leave a list of links on your blog. It’s simple, reliable, free...and loads of MckFun!

Great deal on Kraft Singles

2009-06-18T15:44:00.000-06:00

Safeway has their Kraft Singles (16 oz, 24 slice packs) on sale for $1.99 - regular price $4.99. Right in the dairy section, there are free "Add Dairy to your backyard adventure" booklets with coupons on the back... including one for $.50 off Kraft singles. Since Safeway doubles coupons up to $.50 (use the little coupon in the add) - you can get these for $.99.

We've been getting 2 each time we go. We usually get the 72 slice boxes at Winco for between $6-7. At this price, 72 slices are $2.97!

I don't know if these other stores double their coupons like Safeway, but Safeway's sister stores are: Vons, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Pavillions, and Carrs|Safeway. According to the coupon booklet, it is available at all these stores. There are also coupons for $.50 off Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese, $.55 off Daisy sour cream and $.50 off 2 1.75 liter Simply Orange Juice. All but the sour cream are elligiible for doubling.

WIC and Awesome Wags trip

2009-06-07T23:26:00.000-06:00

(This is a repost from my other blog - pardon the explanations of what RRs are as I know that has been covered here in the past)
I had to get the kiddos fed and down for naps by 2 (we did 1:30 since they were obviously tired). I wanted to be at the WIC office by 2:45 to be in the first batch of Farmer's Market checks. I was under the impression that we would get $20 to spend at the market - any farmer's market in Oregon, and they gave us a newspaper listing every one and what they have and their hours... really neat. I was charmed by the babies there, and then shocked to learn that EACH of my kids got $20 in vouchers. I asked the lady handing out the vouchers if it was less expensive to go to the bigger cities for their markets rather than the one here in town. She said the bigger ones would have more variety, but she wasn't sure about the prices being lower. However, the lady that helped us Tuesday with our WIC recertification came behind her and started nodding emphatically. So, we'll look at the list and make a trip to one of the markets in Salem (where we do our big shopping) or Albany (where we go to church) sometime soon. We have until October to use them.

Then I went to Walgreens. Last week, my calcium supplement was on sale for $8.99 (regular price $11.99). That was great as it was! But they were also running a deal where you bought the supplement for the $8.99 price and you got a $9 register reward (basically a coupon that works as cash at Walgreens - you can buy just about anything with it other than dairy, phone cards, gift cards, tobacco, lottery or prescriptions). I did that deal twice, so I had $18 in register rewards to spend by the 9th - and next week's ad wasn't that promising. So I figured I'd do my best to get some staples, as well as our Father's Day cards, and see where it took me. I have to post this list - I haven't done that here in a long time.

I found some surprise sales - like Swanson Chicken Broth that is usually about $1.30 a can on sale for $.50 a can. I also found some fun and useful clearance items (50 paper lunch bags - we use those when we fry or cook bacon - and a white board calendar that's magnetic to go on our to-the-garage door for appointments.)

$3.09 Father's Day Card
$1.99 Father's Day Card
$0.99 Father's Day Card
$0.99 Father's Day Card
$2.59 Dry Erase Calendar
$0.45 Lunch Bags
$3.49 5lb bag of sugar
$1.50 bag of Dum-Dums for the kiddos
$4.00 8 cans of chicken broth
$0.19 hair elastic (I needed a filler to reach $18.00)
$19.28
-$1.20 Walgreens coupon for the sugar
-$9.00 register reward
-$9.00 register reward
$0.08

That's right EIGHT CENTS!!!! That was stinkin' cool =)

New phone means new ringtones

2009-05-11T21:19:00.000-06:00

While we were at a family wedding, my phone and a spritzer of hand sanitizer were in my pocket together from the hotel room to the car. In that time the cap unscrewed from the hand sanitizer and saturated my phone.

R.I.P. my beloved pink razr

Anyway, I got a new phone. A really cool phone. A phone I wasn't going to be able to get since it was still going to be $50 after rebate and 2 year credits - and that's a lot. But we were at the mall checking out phones and our sale's guy was great - but his partner was a real jerk. I had enough of him rolling his eyes at me when I was correcting them on things like how and where you can use rebate visa cards (come on - I *know* my rebates, people!), how well certain phones cameras worked as far as delays from click to actually saving the picture (we did some phone testing while still on vacation... over an hour in another Verizon store). Anyway, I said, "That's it - we're done here" and took my kids' hands and walked off. As I was walking away, my husband heard the nice guy say, "I'll take $25 off the price!"

I thought about it, went back (without the kids and husband) and said, (to my guy) My husband said you'll take $25 off the price? [yes] And (to jerk) you'll stop talking and acting like I haven't been researching phones for the last week? [yes, ma'am] Okay, we're going to think about it and we'll stop back on our way out."

So, I got a phone that retails for over $250 for $25 after rebate ($75 out of pocket). And it's nice. I got the enV2 - in maroon - with a qwerty keyboard and the ability to have tons of cool ringtones. Now I just have to make them.

My husband found Ventones. He made a few for his new (free... good man) cool phone. Well, now I want to make specific ring tones for each of my contacts. Because I'm crazy. And what's better than that kind of fun? That kind of fun... for FREE!

So - give it a try! We're enjoying it!

Free Ringtones from Ventones

6 Free Downloadable Kiddo CDs

2009-04-02T16:40:00.001-06:00

You can download all of them - for free! Each CD has about 21 songs. Click HERE.

Also, they have 5 of those CDs available in French. There's a link at the bottom of the English ones (or you can click HERE as well)

Great Wags deals this week

2009-03-30T00:10:00.000-06:00

If you got a raincheck on the Wags diapers when they were 2/$9, this is the week to cash that in! Since Walgreens is selling their brand diapers this week BOGO 1/2 off, you will actually get your first pack for $4.50 and your second for $2.25! I found this out completely by accident!

Today the BOG a coupon for one free in your next purchase of Softsoap body wash has been rolling. What that means is when you buy your first bottle (at $3.99) you get a coupon for your next bottle free. When you buy that next bottle with the coupon... you get a coupon for your next bottle free. Lather, rinse, repeat as many times as you want and your Wags will allow (pun very much intended).

My favorite cashier was working tonight, so she let me do 5 small transactions. I was telling her about this deal and encouraged her to buy hers today as I expected that the company would probably find out about this mistake and correct it tomorrow - ending this endless freebie. She wasn't able to purchase the first one that night, so I "bought" two of them for her... and I still have one more freebie to redeem by the 12th!

Another great trip at Wags

2009-03-27T01:26:00.000-06:00

We were out of garbage bags and I had a raincheck for diapers, so I headed to Wags Wednesday. They were unloading from the truck and it was mass confusion... and the two things I needed just weren't out yet. No prob - I'll come back tomorrow.

So when I went today, I did GREAT!!!
Size 4 Wags diapers - $4.50
Size 4 Wags diapers - $4.50
TUF 36 count drawstring trash bags $3.50
TUF 36 count drawstring trash bags $3.50
Sambucol $11.99
Sambucol $11.99
$39.98

-$10 IVC Sambucol
-$10 IVC Sambucol
-$4 internet Sambucol
-$4 internet Sambucol
$10 RR from the Dove deal

$1.98 oop

ESR $3(.30) when you buy 2 TUF trash bags.

net -$1.32 =)

I need to print out a few more coupons for Sambucol and go back and get the other 2 packs of diaper for which I still have the raincheck. WOO HOO!!!

Frugality starts at home

2009-03-27T00:16:00.000-06:00

I've read a few friends' posts about making their own laundry detergent. I was thinking of getting in on the BOGO Arm & Hammer detergent at Wags this week, so I decided that if I wanted to try making my own, I needed to do that before the sale ended (to see if it was any good).

Well, I did it. I went out and got the borax and washing soda required for this recipe. I looked at the Fels Naptha, but when the label said prolonged exposure and contact with skin should be avoided because it could cause irritation... I passed on that. Besides, I already had 8 bars of Ivory at home (I planned let my kids carve boats with plastic spoons like we did in kindergarten).

Here's my breakdown:
74 ounce box of 20 Mule Team Borax - $2.98
~60 ounce box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - $2.70
1 bar Ivory soap - free because I had it on hand.

There's enough Borax for 18.5 batches and washing soda for 15. Since I have 8 bars of Ivory and 8 of Dove - and a few random others - we're set for 30 gallons of laundry detergent for $5.68. That's $.31 less than I would have paid for 2, 32 load bottles of Arm & Hammer this week with sale and coupon. This is HUGE!

(If I'm being honest, I also had to purchase a 5 gallon bucket and lid for $4.88 and $1.79 respectively. I only had a lid-less 1.25 gallon ice cream bucket, but this will be reused for a *really* long time).

I followed her recipe (please click on the link - she requests that no part be reprinted) until we got to the gallon and 6 cups of water. She said that the final consistency would be something like egg drop soup, and I didn't have a bucket big enough for all that volume. So I figured I'd just add the 6 cups of water and use 1/4 cup of the detergent in the laundry instead of the 1/2 cup of diluted detergent.

So what I'm learning is that frugality comes through trial and error =) It formed something between crisco and jello-jigglers =) Then I figured that I'd just use one of our repurposed spaghetti sauce jars with a few cups of boiling water and shake the heck out of that 1/4 cup of soap and dump it into the machine. But as well as saving money, my time is valuable and should be saved as well (it took a LONG time to dissolve like that). So I bought the bigger bucket and lid, plopped the detergent jell-o mold in the bottom, broke it up and added a gallon of boiling water in 2 cup batches. And I stirred. And stirred. And stirred. It took what seemed forever, but was probably at least 30 minutes, and I got most of the clumps dissolved well enough to call it good.

And the best parts- the Ivory smell (not my favorite) is totally gone from the clothes when the wash cycle is over. Even better? IT WORKS!!!! It works and it works really, really well. Totally worth it!

So if you're interested in trying it, give it a shot. You really can use any bar of soap that you have around (or collect a few as you travel for free!) and spend about NINETEEN CENTS PER GALLON!!!!

Not a money-saving post

2009-03-23T22:54:00.000-06:00

This little guy could use your prayers.

I started reading here when Stellan was still in utero. He wasn't expected to live past birth because of his VERY rapid heart rate. But he was born, he was FINE and life was grand.

Following an albuterol treatment for some breathing issues last night, his heart rate went up to about 300 - and they're still having a really hard time bringing it down to normal 24 hours later. His mama tells the story much better and with much more detail. Go read back a few entries and keep little Mck Muffin in your prayers.

A great Wags trip

2009-03-21T00:38:00.000-06:00

Today I went to Wags to cash in my $40 in RRs from the Huggies deal last week. I was at Walgreens so much last week that I didn't even open my ad until today! But I was still able to get an awesome deal - and only spent $1.29 oop.

8 Dove Bath Bars @ $1.04 ($8.32) (I'm kicking myself because I had a rain check for 4@$.99)
1 Walgreens Extra Strength Headache 20 ct capsules @ $2.99
1 Iceland Memory Formula @ $19.99
1 Sony Hi8 8mm 2 pack of tapes @ $9.99

Total $41.29

- 4 $10 RRs

$1.29 oop

PLUS

The 8 Dove at $8.32 got me a $10 RR, the Memory formula is a FAR (and the last one on the shelf - they've been out for awhile) - $21.99, and the Wags Excedrine stuff was also FAR - $3.29.

So I paid $1.29 and got a $10 RR and submitted rebates for $25.28. Not bad!

I had a great trip at Walmart yesterday, too... I'll have to get that up here in the next day or so.

4 orders and organization

2009-03-10T04:07:00.000-06:00

That's how many separate receipts I had at Wags today. The Huggies deal was just TOO good to pass up, and I had to do separate trips for the Garnier, anyway. I don't have my receipts in front of me, so bear with me, please...

I was planning to do 3 size 4 Huggies Natural Fits, but they only had 2 (there have GOT to be a TON of babies in this town that are M's size - no matter what brand of diapers they are, the size 4s are almost always gone on day one of a sale at Walgreens or Rite Aid here!) So I got 2 4's and a pack of pull-ups. Here's the whole order:

Size 4 $10
Size 4 $10
Pull-ups $10
GF Curl shaping spray $2.99
Colgate Total TP $3.49
Dry Idea Unscented Gel Deodorant $1.69
$38.17

Qs
Huggies Naturals -$3.00
HN -$3.00
Pull-ups -$2.00
GF -$1.00
Colgate -$1.50

$27.67 (I'm thinking that I paid $30.67... I'm wondering if one of my HN Qs didn't go through...)

Received
$2 RR for the Dry Idea
$10 RR for Huggies over $25

Did you notice anything? Yeah, I was chatting away with my favorite cashier and we both forgot the ESR IVC coupons. She called the manager over, though, we returned a couple things and added them onto my next order where they took the coupons off... see below.

Huggies Supreme Newborn diapers $10.00
HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
clearance highlighter (ch) $.10
ch $.10
ch $.10
$30.30

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00
Colgate IVC -$2.50
RR -$2.00
RR -$2.00
RR -$2.00

$4.80

Received
$10 RR for Huggies over $25

I brought those out to the car. Then I went back in and did:

HS Newborn diapers $10.00
HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
Garnier Hydra-Curls shampoo $2.99
$32.99

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
GF -$1.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00

$14.99

Received:
$10 RR

I fully intended that to be my last trip to Walgreens. I brought my things out to the car and walked over to redbox for free-movie Monday. I already knew what I wanted, and it was a good thing. It was COLD for us today, and I was standing in line behind a guy who must have read every. single. summary. there was in that box. I picked up my movies, punched in the freebie code for the guy behind me... and went back to Walgreens. I know... I know...

HS size 1 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
HS size 2 diapers $10.00
Garnier Hydra-Curls shampoo $2.99
$32.99

Coupons
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
HS -$5.00
GF -$1.00
Garnier IVC -$2.00

$14.99

Received:
$10 RR

So, I now have $40 is Wags-bucks to spend in the next 2 weeks. That won't be a problem. I have a rain check for M's Wags diapers that will eat up $18 of that. I can also pick up the rest of the FARs for this month... and maybe something fun for the kids. I figure it's REALLY rare to find Huggies for $5 a bag (or even $7 for M's current size), so it was worth it to me.

As far as organization - I decided that we needed to do something to keep track of the free things and great deals we've purchased this year. We have them stored and stashed all over the house, and often my husband will ask where something is and we have to try a few spots to find it - or he'll ask if we have something and I just don't know.

So I put together a workbook of spreadsheets for us. I've divided the worksheets into:
Cosmetics
Toothpaste (and brushes)
Bath, shower & smell good
Family planning & feminine
Medications & pain relief
(I plan to add a kids worksheet and household cleaners worksheet, too)

Then I went though our different storage places, emptied them, sorted them, and put them in the database. I've put it on our family file-share so that my husband and I have the information at our fingertips whenever we need it. I still have to go through our medication shelf and the things in our garage pantry and laundry room cabinets. But the majority of our "stash" has now been taken care of. I'm SUPER excited about this. It will be helpful in preventing us from buying things we already have, as well as being able to locate things we need MUCH quicker than in the past. It is my hope to eventually do this with our food pantry as well - to know at all times what we have on stock and how much - so that we know what we can use for recipes and what needs to be restocked on our next big shopping trip. I think that's totally doable, too.

Sambucol and This week at Wags

2009-03-09T01:43:00.001-06:00

I have been having an awesome time shopping Walgreens last week - and this week appears to be the same way... but better!

Last week, I went after the Sambucol deal. It didn't appear that anyone else in town had been doing it. The first time I picked up two of them along with diapers and a few things on clearance. My Walgreens had it on sale for $11.99 - so after both coupons, I received a $2.01 overage.

The next time I went back later in the week, I got 4 boxes of Sambucol (there were 5 left after my first trip - so I still left one on the shelf), a 6 pack of Ensure (on sale for $6.99, I had a $3/1 coupon, and a "try me free" full-price rebate), and a bottle of the Axe shampoo that's in this month's ESRs as a FAR deal. I paid $1.76 (I think - from memory, but I know under $2) and I'm getting $13.58 in rebates. I was hoping to hit the Dove RR deal, but they were out of the soap. I did pick up a rain check as this is a deal all month.

However, after getting home I realized that I forgot to pick up a rain check for the Walgreen's diapers. So after the kids were in bed, I headed back and picked up the last box of Sambucol and 4 boxes of the plastic storage bags that were on sale for $.99... for one more hour. I paid $1.95.

The best part... the Sambucol deal is on ALL MONTH LONG. Though, if I know my Wags, they will change the rules on that one, too, like they did the freebies this week...

Today started the great week of freebies at Walgreens. Garnier Fructis shampoo is on sale for $2.99. There's a $2/1 ESR coupon, and there have been an abundance of $1/1 coupons lately. Combine them - and a filler - and you have some free shampoo! There's also Colgate Total toothpaste on sale for $3.49, $2.50 ESR, and $1/1 and $1.50/1 internet coupons abound (the $1.50/1 are .pdf coupons that can be printed as often as you'd like - like the Sambucol coupon).

I had 5 coupons for shampoo and 2 for styling products. I had all 7 (different kinds) in my cart - the shelves were still VERY full. I also had 3 boxes of Total and a Dry Idea deodorant (more later). One of my friendly cashiers saw me and told me to go put it back before I got up to the register - they had been told to refuse to sell more than one Garnier or toothpaste per person per trip - not just transaction - because "that's what the coupon says." But, that's not what the coupon says. The coupon says limit one item per coupon. So I should be able to collect 5 booklets with 5 (total) coupons and buy 5 bottles of shampoo... but no dice. This store has been big on changing coupon rules lately (which is why I think the Sambucol deal will be going down). So another one of my friendly cashiers let me do 2 transactions... and I promised to be back many times this week. Here's what I got:

GF Shampoo $2.99
Colgate TP $3.49
Dry Idea Gel deodorant $1.69 (on clearance)

IVCs (that's the coupons in the ESR catalog):
GF -$2.00
Colgate -$2.50

Coupons:
GF -$1.00
Colgate -$1.50

Paid $1.17 off my gift card

Received $2 RR for the Dry Idea. There's a $2 register reward when you buy the Dry Idea and (I think) Rite Guard deodorants this week at $2.99 - but these were on clearance. There was still one left, so I'll do that again tomorrow if it's still there).

Lather, rinse, repeat for a second order (this time with GF smoothing milk instead of the shampoo) =)

$0 oop and $4 in RR!

There's also a GREAT deal going on Huggies diapers and wipes this week, but only in the smaller sizes. I have pregnant friends, so I may get in on that deal as well. More info on that is available HERE with thanks to Money Saving Mom.

I have a few other surprising deals from last week to share, but I'll have to do that another night as my body is screaming for sleep. I wanted to get these up here now, though, as these sales are still going. So if they're helpful to you... have at it!

Free Sambucol

2009-02-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

This isn't something that I've used, but I know that a friend highly recommends it. This week you can get it free at Walgreens.

It's priced around $12.99 at Walgreens.
There's a $10/1 coupon in the front of the easy saver catalog at your store.
There's a $4/1 coupon HERE.

Now's the time to stock up for those springtime colds!

Thanks Money Saving Mom

3 free meals tomorrow

2009-02-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

I was joking with my husband about this, but the fact is that you really could eat three free meals tomorrow (Tuesday, February 23). He asked if I really wanted to go to the city for this tomorrow... and I had to remind him that I have celiac disease and couldn't eat any of it.

However, to all you normal people...

Tomorrow is National Free Pancake Day - so everyone can get a free short stack of pancakes at IHOP from 7 AM to 10 PM. A donation to Children's Miracle Network is requested, but not required.

Then there's Two Free Tacos at Jack in the Box for their (I'm sorry... exceedingly lame) hangintherejack.com campaign. Click HERE for that coupon.

And Quiznos is giving away a free sub to the first 1,000,000 people to sign up. It appears that you can sign up each adult in your household. I just signed up for me and for my husband, and they're only up to the mid one hundred thousands... and we did get our coupons already.

So, head on over HERE and sign up for a free sandwich!

Fill a big jug with water and grab a few cups - and go have a day on the town with your family. Bring some fruit and/or veggies along with you, too. Antacids might be a nice dessert =)

Great deal on some great products!

2009-02-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

This week, Walgreens has all Yes To Carrots products on sale 25% off. Yes To Carrots is an AWESOME line of beauty products, from skin care to hair care an assorted others. Here's a little blurb from their website:

All of our Yes To products combine the fresh, unadulterated goodness of organic fruits and vegetables with the purifying and moisturizing properties of 26 minerals harvested from the ancient world's most renowned spa- the Dead Sea.

I first tried their products back after Thanksgiving when Walgreens had the body butters on sale for $1.99 and I had a few BOGO coupons. I now use the Yes To Carrots body butter on my 2 year old daughter after every bath and shower. She has extremely sensitive skin and this not only agrees with her, but it leaves her skin so soft without a perfume-overload smell.

Well, Walgreens is at it again! All Y2C products are 25% off this week. This is a great time to take advantage of the BOGO coupons you get when you sign up for the carrot club (free of charge).

While we're at the Y2C website, how about some free lip balm this week? On the main page you'll notice a link for a $2 off coupon. Go ahead and print that! Then go over to Walgreens' site and print the coupon for $1 off the lip balms. Your mileage may vary (YMMV) with this one, as the coupon is marked something like "not in conjunction with any other offer" - but it was accepted for me. The lip balm is on sale this week for $2.76. After those two coupons, you have free lip balm and $.24 overage (reminder that Wags will not pay you overage - so go find something for a quarter in their clearance section - all Valentine's Day stuff is currently 50%, too =) ).

I got, of course, the carrot =) I like it a lot!

I DID IT!!!!

2009-02-16T00:02:00.001-07:00

I just won my 220th swagbuck! I'm about to cash out toward a $20 Target gift card - just from searching the internet for things I needed to look up anyway!

Interested? It's free. Click here to sign up or ask me more...

I just won $20!

2009-02-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Safeway has their Kellogg's fruit snacks on sale this week for $1. I had 3 $1/2 coupons. So the kids and I hit the store today to get treats. Only, the shelves were bare except for Yogos Sours.

Thankfully, they like these and they fit the coupon - so we picked up 6 boxes for $3. I had heard that some boxes were marked with a chance to win a gift card inside - $5, $10, $20 or $100. Odds varied by denomination, but the overall odds of winning were 1:50.

First box had nothing. Second box had nothing. Third box had a $10 gift card! Fourth had nothing. Fifth and sixth each had $5 gift cards! They're Discover gift cards, so they're usable anywhere that accepts Discover Card!

My husband and I were joking that we should go back for the last 2 on the shelf and pay the whole $1 for them... since OUR odds of winning were 1:2 =)

Cheap Triaminic

2009-02-07T20:33:00.001-07:00

Walgreens had the Triaminic Thin Strips on sale 2 for $10. I printed out some $1.50 off each coupons, bringing the total for those down to $7.00. There's a rebate this month for $6 off two Triminic or Theraflu products ($6.60 with 10% gift card bonus).

I just got two box of Triminic thin strips for $.40 =)

How I saved $239.97 and earned $10

2009-02-07T20:25:00.001-07:00

I wish I would have seen this earlier than 2 hours ago because I would have posted it for others. The Bayer Contour Blood Sugar Monitors were on sale at Rite Aid for $14.99. I had 3 coupons from a few weeks back for up to $30 off each monitor, limit one per person per transaction... so I brought my kids with me for the other purchases (though she let me use all three). Then Rite Aid has a rebate this month where you purchase 3 of any of a handful of heart-protecting products and you get a $10 Rite Aid gift card in the mail. You got it - this monitor was on the list.

So, the monitors retail for $79.99 each ($239.97). They were on sale under the coupon limit - so I paid nothing out of pocket. And I'm submitting my receipt for the $10 gift card.

To make the deal sweeter, I'll be donating these monitors to some organization that needs them - a homeless shelter, woman's shelter, food pantry, etc - which will be a tax break for us next year =)

Playing catch-up... again

2009-02-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

In today's outgoing mail:
$15 in coupons form and UPCs to Pepsi/Frito Lay
Request for 4, 2 cookie samples from Pamela's Products when you buy and 3 Pamela's products... and they're gluten free!
(and finally) $5 rebate for Sleeping Beauty/Minute Maid
$5 rebate for Tinker Bell/Minute Maid

Here's where I play catch-up with these receipts from the past few weeks.
1/18
JoAnn
Store sales $2.50
Store coupons $9.55

1/20
JoAnn
Store coupon $3.60

Goodwill
Store discount $.92
Gift certificate for total of $200 purchases thus far - $10.00

JoAnn
Store coupon $3.60

1/23
Safeway bottle refund $1.35

Target
Store clearance sales $15.33
Coupon $5.99

1/24
Old Navy
Store clearance sales $18.75

Albertsons
Store card savings $28.51
Coupons $10.00

1/27
Burger King
Coupon $2.48

Safeway
Store card savings $.67

Fred Meyer
Store sale $5.98
Store coupon $1.00

1/28
JoAnn 1
Store coupon $1.32

JoAnn 2
Store coupon $5.18

1/29
Joann
Store coupon $1.32

1/30
Safeway
Store card savings $23.79
coupon $2.67

1/31
Safeway
Store card savings $13.30
coupons $5.22 (I found a $2 off your order coupon when entering the store!)
bag credit $.03

2/1
Safeway 1
Store Card savings $50.81
Coupons $26.12
Bag credits: $.09

Safeway 2
Store Card savings $22.26
Coupons $10.62
Bag credits: $.06

Rite Aid
Store clearance $4.20
Coupons $1.05

2/2
Fred Meyer
Store Coupons $6.42
Bag Credit $.05

Wal-Mart
Store sale/clearance $16.50

2/4
Staples
Store sale $13.00

Fred Meyer
(find IC regular price - on sale 2@2/$5)
Bag credit $.05

My Coke Rewards

2009-02-03T22:30:00.001-07:00

Boy oh boy, am I behind or what? I know it - but life gets in the way. Anyway...

Do you collect the mycokerewards.com points like I do? We've gotten TONS of great things from there - so far all Coke products, but why not use them for what we like best? For as long as we've been part of the program, they had a 10-codes-per-day entry limit. Really, that's 100 points (if you're cashing in 12 pack codes), so that's not shabby. But if you're like me, that gets put off until you have a HUGE stack of them to enter... then you enter them like mad for a few days. Sitting in this room with me right now is about 450 points worth of codes to enter. No, we don't drink that much Coke. I pick through the boxes that are left out at Safeway by the can deposit return and get a LOT of codes that way.

But they're changing things up starting February 16th. On the surface it sounds great - no more daily code limits! But when you keep reading, its not so great for those of us with the 12 or 24 pack (20 point) codes. They've taken away the daily limit - but put a weekly limit of 120 points. Read that again - 120 points per WEEK. That's great if all your points are from 2L bottles and 20 oz bottles (each worth only 3 points). You can knock 40 out in one sitting if they've been stacking up. But my main points come from 12 packs, and they just knocked me down from 700 points a week to 120.

So, if you've got a lot of codes sitting around to enter, start doing it now. I have enough to keep me busy for another 3 days - maybe more after my next trip to Safeway.

Incoming mail

2009-01-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

RA Jan - 16.98
Chevron $5 gas card
G - $50 unclaimed assets from MO
free kidvantage (boost for kids) coupon
3 coupons from kraft (free Planters nuts, free cheese and free Nabisco crackers)
2 coupon books
sample soyjoy apple bar (and coupon)
sample quaker natural granola bar
sample bare naked granola
Touch of Gray $8
Amazon/Coinstar $10
Baby Orajel - $1.5
Sucrets - $2

Do you use Bank of America?

2009-01-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

I, personally, don't have Bank of America because I've heard too many of my friends complain about how bad they suck. However, if you do, keep reading... I saw this on Live Journal, today.

Bank of America has settled a class action lawsuit over its dirty overdraft tricks—things like approving transactions that generate overdraft fees, for example, or clearing transactions in high-to-low order to increase the number of overdrafts. If you're a former customer of BoA, Fleet, La Salle Bank or United Trust Company, you can claim your part of the settlement fund.

Qualifying peeps are entitled to a settlement of "up to $78". i was young and irresponsible during the time i was banking there so i, personally, have accumulated way more than my fair share of fees.

here's a link to the article on the consumerist

and here's a link directly to the lawsuit website where you can register

2009-01-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

1/13
Safeway: Store Sale $2.47

Target: Store Sale (clearance and repackage) $8.45

Winco: Coupons $4.84
Bag Discount $.09

1/14
Perfect Look: Coupon $1.50

Grocery Outlet: Store Sale $7.00

1/16
Safeway: Bottle Deposit Return $4.25
Coupon $2.85 *free tall Starbucks tea beverage coupons - in store ad through 1/20!

Joann: Store Sale $5.10
Coupons $8.00

Rite Aid: Store Sale $6.00
Coupons $29.00 (!!!)

(Rite Aid has a sale on Huggies diapers right now. Coupled with wipes, coupons from Sunday and additional rebates and coupons, you end up with 2 packs of diaper and 2 tubs of wipes for $3.96! More details HERE - but my wipes were $3.49, not $3.69)

In today's (e)mail

2009-01-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Incoming:
*Hunts Money Back Offer $2.85
*Lipton To Go Rebate $5.00
*Lipton To Go Rebate $5.00
*Lipton To Go Rebate $5.00+

+ These are the super secret rebates I posted about awhile back - not sure if I should even mention it online per their rules. It was buy 3 Lipton To Go packs, get $5 back. Target had a bunch on clearance for $1.85 each, plus they had $1.00 off any Lipton product coupons. So I spent about $8.00 and got $15.00 back (limit 3 rebates). Plus the little packets really are pretty tasty!

Giveaway for a crafty girlie

2009-01-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Money Saving Mom is at it again! This time, she's giving away 5 craft kits from My Handwork Studio. These kits are really neat. This is only a 24 hour giveaway, so quickly go here and enter for your chance to win.

2009-01-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart (1/8): Coupons $1.50

Fred Meyer (1/8):Bag Credit $.05
Store Sale: (2 $1 lettuce bags - find receipt for regular price)

Rite Aid (1/9): Store Sale $8.90
Coupons $3.00
(OOP $2 with $5 ECR!)

Safeway (1/10): Bag credit $.03

Target (1/10): Store Sale $22.19
Coupons: $7.50

Wal-Mart (1/10): Store Sale $1.20

Walgreens (1/10): Store Sale $3.00

Safeway (1/11) Store Sale: $8.72
Bag Credit $.03
Coupons $2.00

Walgreens (1/11)
(Check regular price on Mt. Dew 12 pk - sale 7x$3.00=$21 plus $4.20 deposit)
[received $10 RR exp 1/23]

In today's (e)mail

2009-01-08T02:01:00.000-07:00

Incoming:
*Set of straps for my daughter's booster seat. Her's were accidentally buried in the bottom of the hamper and got mold spotty, so I emailed them and they sent a new set free of charge! I was so thankful - way to go Learning Curve!

Outgoing:
*Single Check Rebate submission to Rite Aid for December (I thought I had already submitted it?) for $16.98
*Wall-E/Minute Maid rebate for $5.00
*Zantac Guarantee $5.00 rebate
*Orajel Overnight Cold Sore Patch rebate for $8.00 (see note)
*Circuit City digital photo caribeaner for $10.00... I paid $9.99.

Note - the Orajel rebate is a great money maker this month. Both the 8 ct overnight patches and the cold sore brush are FAR at Walgreens this month. Add to it the $8.00 Orajel mail in rebate (and the $1.00 off coupon that was next to it - but I used it for my kids' toothpaste), and you've got a GREAT deal!
$8.49
-$1.00 coupon
$7.49 out of pocket
-$8.49 ESR
-$.85 10% gift card bonus
-$8.00 MIR

$9.85 PROFIT! ($8.85 in my case, but I'm still happy with it!)

If you're interested in the MIR details:

To receive up to an $8.00 cash refund, send:
1. Your name, address, city, state, and zip code
2. The UPC code proof of purchase from the Orajel Overnight Cold Sore Patch, or Orajel Cold Sore Brush [the following are good for this rebate, but NOT Walgreens, or Orajel Plaque Revealing Rinse, or Orajel Plaque Revealing Pre-Brush Gel].
3. Dated cash register receipt with the Orajel product's item price circled. The refund will not exceed the purchase price. Receipt must be dated after 10/26/08. Postmark must be before 1/31/09.

Mail to: Orajel October 2008 $8.00 Rebate Offer, c/o Best Marketing Inc., P.O. Box 189779, Casselberry, FL 32718

Limit one refund per name, family, address, group, or organization. Offer void where taxed, restricted, or prohibited by law. Offer good only in the USA, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. No facsimiles accepted. EXPIRES 1/31/09.

Daily report

2009-01-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Maybe back with details later. I think I'm going to start adding sale-savings, too.

Bi-Mart: store sale $3

Safeway: store card $18.42
Clearance meat (regular price $3.59; 6x$1.79 = $10.80 savings!)
Bag credit $.09
Coupon $1.00
Can Deposits $10.35 ($2.80 of that came from abandoned cans I've picked up)

Walgreens: store sale $19.39
Coupons $33.63

Coupons used

2009-01-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

1/2/09 - Walgreens: $16.05

1/3/09 - Safeway: $1.00
- Jo-Ann: $9.50

2008 in review

2009-01-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

Since I just started this new lifestyle in August, I didn't do as well as I had hoped. My goal was one rent payment... and I fell about $20 short of that. Here's the breakdown that used to be on the side:

Money Back in My Pocket in 2008

* Walgreens (110%) - $391.60
* Rite Aid - $176.15
* Staples - $232.99
* Manufacturer's Rebates - $172.72
* Gift cards (Rx, points, etc) - $91.00
* TOTAL - $1075.42

As stated in the last post, I can't promise that I'll be able to update as much as I'd like. But I'm going to try and keep a running total not only on rebates in 2009, but also on how much I've saved using coupons. I haven't figured out if I'm going to do this on some paper in the coupon box or keep a running text message draft, but we'll see what I can do - and I'll update as time allows. I know that $1075 is impressive - but I also know that I probably saved about 2-3 times that in coupons last year as well. This year, I want to see it in print - something to keep me going when it all gets a bit overwhelming.

Also, speaking of coupons, one source (that I can't recall... looking for it now, actually) said that there could be up to FIVE coupon inserts in this Sunday's paper. That's HUGE! If the coupons appear to be good ones for our family, I may end up buying an extra paper (I always purchase 2 if there are coupons inside, and a family from church gives me theirs as well). What a great way to rebuild the stash (since most expired on 12/31)!

Cheap Fleece, Wags 01/09 and blog "maintenance"

2009-01-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

Any sew-ers (unhyphenated just looked funny) reading? As you most likely have gleaned, we're trying to really limit the amount of money leaving our hands lately. I made fleece PJs for the whole family for Christmas, and the pants pattern that I followed ended up looking a lot like sweats rather than pajamas. So while all the 50% off sales were going on an Jo-Ann, I got enough elastic to make a couple more pairs of pants for each of my kids... I was just waiting for a good deal on the fleece. Didn't get elastic at 50% off - no worries, it's pretty cheap anyway, and by the yard is a lot cheaper than a package of it.

This week at Walgreens you can get their fleece blankets for $1.99 each with the coupon on page 9 of their flier. The limit is 4, but I had a hard time deciding on some colors and went ahead and got 5 without issue - there were TONS of them in at least 3 locations in my store. It's not the same high-quality stuff from Jo-Ann's - this wouldn't cut it as outer wear in Chicago or South Dakota right now, I'm afraid. But for where we live, it will make some nice light-weight fleece pants that the kids can wear out and about. The blankets are 50"x60", so I'm almost positive that I can get 2 pairs of pants out of each blanket - if not, I'll make a crazy serged patchwork quilt out of the leftover fleece to keep in the car. And, really, if you're looking for an emergency blanket or two to keep in the car, these are great. We already have one in there that my mom gave us a few years back, and M has one as one of her 7 or 8 blankets on her bed =)

One of this month's rebates at Wags is $1 off select Glade products - up to 4 rebates. One of them is the glass scents things. The Hawaiian breeze scent is on clearance at my Wags for $1.69. I had a $1/1 manufacturer's coupon, bringing my OOP to $.69 (out of last month's rebate money). I'll be getting $1.10 back in 110% gc rebates, for a total of a $.41 cent profit!

As for blog maintenance: When I started this, I had it in mind to keep updating this at least 2-3 times a week with the deals I was finding and how you could do the same. It is my hope that eventually I will get back to that as well. But for the time being, I'm focusing more on getting my health back together, getting our family set financially for what's becoming a much longer dry-spell than anticipated, and just trying to get our house together and weed out a bunch of extra "stuff" that we held onto when we moved and accumulated when my mom died (it was supposed to be used for her when she moved out to a nursing home here - then she died right (13 days) after we moved out here. The computer in general has taken a backseat to real life... a good thing, I know.

So if you're interested in the super bargains when I find them, hand around for infrequent updates. Otherwise, thanks for your interest in the blog!

Happy Ice Cream!

2008-12-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

(Sorry, Ali)

Go to http://www.bandjpromotions.com
enter info
get email from them seconds later
click link to print coupon
IMPORTANT!!!! When you get the little two computers that "talk" back and forth to each other followed by the "thanks, you may now close this window" screen - HIT BACKSPACE THREE (3) TIMES
It will print a second time.

You now have two coupons for $3 off 1 pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Next - wait until next week (starting January 4) and go to Walgreens.
Walgreens will have Ben and Jerry's pints on sale 2 for $6.
Get two pints of ice cream for free (or the cost of tax if your state has that).

Eat one - share the other - or eat them both and don't tell anyone =)

Disclaimer: If you resolved to lose weight or eat healthier or give up ice cream in 2009, please do not follow the above steps =)

A gift basket for the mamas

2008-12-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Simple Mom is doing a gift basket give away with some products for mom. The ones I'm most interested in are the soap nuts (I've heard good things before!) and the trash ties hair thingies =)

Go over for your chance to win!

Lots of sweepstakes!

2008-12-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Good Housekeeping has a ton going on right now. I went there to register for the juicer giveaway that I read about in the January issue (yes, I'm 32 and read Good Housekeeping - I have for at least 5 years now). Then I saw they have a billion other ones there. So I've entered every one but the Lowes holiday lights display (we don't decorate the outside of our home) and the Binaca breath stuff (don't use it). Well, I also didn't enter the Walmart holiday bills giveaway - but only because it's not taking entries any longer (that ended 12/15).

While on one of the forms, I saw a side link to Philips Sonicare giving away free dental care for life (a $25,000 prize that can be used toward dental care). Since we're losing our insurance after this month, that really piqued my interest. And this is one that can be entered daily through 12/31 (the GH contests are all one entry only).

Go enter some contests... and good luck!

Free books and some coupon links

2008-12-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

This was posted in a livejournal community I read. What a great idea!

Need an inexpensive gift for a small child in your life. How about Beatrix Potter story cards I did this a few years ago for my cousins little ones.

I went to Project Gutenberg and downloaded 2 of her stories I then printed them out with the illustration on one side and the text on the other so the story could be read out loud from the back so the picture was always showing. I bought some clear contact paper and made faux laminating to cover the paper so it would last, but you can put them in a binder with page protectors.

If you dont want to give these stories the art work is great you can buy frames at the the dollar store and give the framed art work as a gift.

I'm having issues with coupons printing (the sites I'm clicking on are all saying I've already printed them... which I haven't). So I'm posting this list mainly to help me... when I go over to my husband's computer to try again. But there may be something here that strikes your fancy. So have fun =)

Progresso Soup

Coffee-Mate creamer (to pair up with the great Walgreens deal this week - just make sure to give them this coupon before their BOGO coupon in the ad)

And here's a great one that doesn't list an expiration date that I can see. So print a bunch! You can only use one per shopping trip, but if you like these and your store carries them, you'll have free chips for awhile!

riceworks free bag!

Looking for some new Christmas tunes to spruce up (ha ha) your playlist?

2008-12-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Amazon is offering a free Christmas download daily through Christmas Day. And you can go back and download all the others they have done since 12/1 as well.

Go HERE - and start your toe tapping =)

So, I've got this friend Melanie, you see...

2008-12-09T00:41:00.001-07:00

... she's a professional photographer in North Carolina. And she's awesome. I think everyone should look at her work.

And this is the perfect time to go do it!

She's doing this thing called Cans For Comments. For every comment that is left on that post, she'll donate a can of food to her local food bank.

So head on over, admire her work, and leave a comment on that post by December 15th, okay?

1-0-0!!!!!

2008-12-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

I'm surprised that I still have "followers" hanging in there with me! I really appreciate your patience. I love blogging, and I love saving money for my family by couponing. Unfortunately, when time crunch kicks in, blogging goes out the window.

I promised a big to-do for post 100. I'll do my best to deliver! There have been a lot of great deals going on in the last month or so. I've taken pictures of a few of them, so lets see what I can recall for you!

Before I bury you in old deals, lets make sure you know about a current one that is coming to an end today. Coinstar is giving a $10 holiday bonus if you turn at least $40 of change into a gift card or eCertificate. Go HERE for more information. Again, you have to do this by the end of business on Sunday, December 7th - and have the form it prints postmarked by January 7th. I can order some of my gluten free products through Amazon - so that's most likely the route we'll be going. I think we have about $40 in change... if not, I'll plan to buy a roll of quarters at Safeway before going to the other store to cash them in.

The B2G3 Coke 12 pack deal at Safeway yielded 30 packs for the cost of 6. Through today they're having the deal again (I found out when I ran in for the Sunday paper on Saturday night). If you have a Safeway in your area and want to get in on the deal as well, go to mycokerewards to cash in your Coke points - a BOGO coupon is worth 200 points and each can be printed twice. Be warned, they say that the coupons are good for 3 months from the time they're redeemed... but mine printed out saying they expire 12/31. I'll be writing them to find out for sure. We're planning to do the deal one more time if we can find the types Geof likes.

Time is really getting away from me and I have to get up early. Here are some picture teasers until I can do more writing tomorrow:

Swagbucks

2008-12-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for swagbucks. I've read about it a few times before - most recently from moneysavingmom. So I figured I'd give it a shot. It hasn't been overly profitable for me yet - I got 3 bucks for signing up and won 2 while doing some internet searches. But I figure over time I might be able to get a gift card or two.

So if you're looking for yet one more way to earn gift cards this holiday season, go ahead and give swagbucks a try!

It's hard to believe, but next post will be post 100!!!! I think that would be a great time to catch up on all the awesome deals we've been finding in the last few weeks. Time is such a precious commodity these days that I'm just not getting on line as much as I used to. Lots of pictures and information to come!

Talk about an heirloom

2008-12-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

Simplemomblog is at it again! She is giving away 4 beautiful family necklaces. These pieces are so beautiful... I really urge you to enter for your chance to win one of these lovely necklaces!

Go HERE to enter.

Hopefully not too late for some

2008-11-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here looking through coupons to match with tomorrow's Black Friday sale at Walgreens. I admit, I went and scoped out the store tonight to see where things are and what scents I wanted to purchase in candles. Then an amazing thing happened.

I started finding REALLY GREAT coupons!

My husband's sister (I hate using in-law - sounds like I don't like her) had a $2 off coupon for Schick intuition razors. I had a BOGO. Combined with the $3 IVC we'll be getting 3 razors for a $.02 profit!

There are $1.50/1 coupons for Colgate Total HERE - making the $3.49 sale with a $3.49 RR extra sweet! (Make sure to save a copy of the coupons - the third link is a page of 4. They don't expire until 2010!)

Finally - the glowing coupon! YES to Carrots Body Butter is on sale for $1.99 limit 1 (regular price $12.99). If you sign up for the Carrot Club HERE, you can print off a BOGO coupon for any YES to Carrots, Cucumbers or Tomatoes product. And, yes, you CAN print it twice! If I can't get anyone to go along with me tomorrow, I'll put my purchases in the car and come back in and do it again!

I know I've said in the past how great my Walgreens staff is. When I was there looking at the Wii knock-off and the $7.99 jar candles (that are B1G2 tomorrow), I had two different staff members whisper to me to wait until today to purchase them because of the sales. I know it's just a small gesture, but it really meant a lot to me. I teased them that I'd bring them coffee this morning... but I'm really going to =)

Free Zantac

2008-11-22T03:18:00.001-07:00

In the latest news from the doctor, I'm supposed to be taking Zantic 150 twice a day. However, this stuff is SPENDY, so I've been watching for a good sale. There's a decent one at Walgreens that ends tomorrow (and Wal-Zan will be on a really good sale after Thanksgiving). But I saw THIS on Wag's site today and made me think that I might go pick up a box of Zantac now anyway.

8 pills free. Not the biggest deal ever, but still a few days supply.

How about a free Dr. Pepper?

2008-11-21T20:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455744,00.html

LOS ANGELES — Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

It's in the bag

2008-11-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

What an AWESOME giveaway! We love our reusable shopping bags - I keep a rubbermaid tote in the back of the van and it comes in with us to stores for when we check out. Not only does it cut back on trash from the plastic store bags (in our home and in landfills), but in a few stores they save us money as well. Safeway gives $.03 off per bag used, Fred Meyer gives $.05 and WinCo gives $.06! And since this is a frugality blog, you know we believe ever bit helps!

That's why I think this giveaway is so wonderful! SimpleMom is giving away a bunch of different reusable shopping bag sets HERE. So why not go over and sign up for the giveaway! She's got a great blog and always has lots of fun tips and tricks. I've just recently started reading over there, but she seems to have a lot of giveaways, too!

I'll have to post about all the fun ways we've acquired our bag stash - we've barely paid a thing for ours - most of them being free. In fact, I have 3 more that I'm expecting in the mail at any time from different giveaways. I've actually started using these shopping bags instead of gift bags when giving presents... it's the gift that keeps on giving!

Free Crochet and Knit Pattern Books

2008-11-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

This was posted in the poor_skills community over on LJ today. I did it, and I ordered the first book in each row (something baby and something like warm home). It does NOT take 20 minutes like they said - maybe 10 at the most. I thought you'd like to know about it, too!

Free Knitting and Crochet booklets
http://survey2008.bernat.com/

Fill out the survey and 2 booklets will be sent to you through PDF. It has some cute sweater and afghan patterns - and it's free! The details after completing the survey say that they will be emailed out between December 2-9.

Quick update

2008-11-16T15:56:00.001-07:00

I have pictures to share - just haven't uploaded them yet. This was the week of the great B2G3 Coke 12 packs at Safeway - that sale ends Tuesday. Great catalina at Safeway, also, with the Glade candles - done that twice already with one more trip planned. Awesome Walgreens trip(s)... lots to share. But living life right now has to take precedence over sharing about the past.

Two really great deals you may be interested in this coming week (thanks to Money Saving Mom). At Walgreens:

Buy 1 Just for Men Touch of Gray Hair Color on sale for $7, Get $7 in Register Rewards
Use $2/1 coupon here ~~(may not work - those are for Just For Men, not specifically for JFM Touch of Gray)~~ It works!
Send in for full rebate here

Free plus a potential of $9 ($10?) overage after coupon, Register Rewards, and rebate

Also:
Buy 4 Suave Haircare: prices start at $1.13 x 4 = $4.52
-$1.50 ($.75 x2)
-$3.00 RR
Final Price: $.02/4

Time to start stocking up on the Walgreens RRs for Black Friday =) Or couple them with the $4/$9.99 toys at Walgreens this week... with a filler, of course!

Great Gift Idea!

2008-11-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

I received the following email from a friend this morning:

To help you get organized, Snapfish.com is offering a free 8" x 11" custom-cover photo book! *

Create a Snapfish.com account now or log in to your existing account to receive this special offer.

http://www.snapfish.com/freebook2008

This offer is only good for one standard 20-page 8" x 11" custom-cover photo book per household. Coupon dispersal ends at 11:59 p.m. PST Friday, November 14, 2008. Free photo book must be redeemed by 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday, November 16, 2008. Offer does not include customary shipping and handling changes or additional pages. Offer applies only to mail-order delivery to U.S. customers. Offer cannot be combined with other coupon codes. Coupon cannot be resold or otherwise transferred and is void on the earlier of redemption or the offer end date.

Idea from Oprah.com: Overwhelmed by what to do with growing piles of your child's art projects? Here's a great solution! "Take digital photos of their artwork, upload them to Snapfish.com, and they will send you back a beautiful, bound book of the kids' artwork. So, over time, you can build a library of your children's artwork—let the pieces go, but keep them in this form forever."

INCREDIBLY AWESOME EDIT!!!!

I just received this email:

Due to the amazing popularity of our free book offer, we've extended the time you have to create your free book to 11:59pm PST on Saturday, November 22nd.

* The site is experiencing intermittent slowness and customer service wait times are very long. We apologize for this inconvenience.

o The best time to create your book is on weekdays in the morning or early afternoon.
o If you need help or have questions we recommend you click here to visit our help pages.

* If you are getting this email there is a credit in your account for a custom cover photo book ($29.99 value).

* Please note that you will not see the credit appear until you are on the Review Order Page - the page that has the "buy now" button.

* Please allow 3 weeks to receive your book from the day you order it.

* Please note this promotion cannot be combined with any other offer.

And on that note... time to go bake a birthday cake for my daughter!

2008-11-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

Michaels has a 50% off one item coupon HERE - good through Saturday.

Seriously one of the coolest freebies I've found!

2008-11-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

You can click this link to make a storybook for a child you love. It works like madlibs - you fill in a few (4-8) bits of info, they make the book! Then, if you like it, you can even print it out and keep it!

I've done Cinderella and Incredibles for M and Toy Story 2 and Nemo for R. There are two more options, too! My kids love the ones I've printed so far, and I'll print another for each of them tomorrow. The only issues I've had are their instructions for assembling the printed book are kinda weird... and they assume your child's "friend" in the Cinderella story is a girl... which makes for some creative reading since it's her brother =)