Monday, September 26, 2011

Freebie: 5-HR Energy Shot


Get a free 5-HR Energy drink.  This is a great freebie to have on hand for those ruff start mornings.  And well It's free.  This is one person so grab one for each adult in your household.



Sunday, September 25, 2011

Current Pampers Gifts to go Points For New Members.

First sign up for Pampers gifts to grow.  Is a great way to earn free stuff like a Shutterfly Poster Collage.

Then enter the following codes. For a total of 270 Points that's a great start and new codes should be popping up over the next month or two.

JOINNOW4REWARDS (50 points)
2BEGINEARNING50 (50 points)
GIFTSTOGROW4MOM (50 points)
pampers4momjfm1 (10 points)
GETSTARTEDNOW10 (10 points)
CONGRATS2NEWMOM (10 Points)
GTGWELCOME10PTS (10 points)
pampersgtg10pts (10 points)
10PTSFREECODE4U (10 points)
CAREFORNEWBORNS (10 points)
GTGCOUPONPOINTS (10 points)
WELCOMEGTGPTS10 (10 points)
GTGREWARDS4MOMS (10 points)
2BEGINEARNING10 (10 points)




In November Shutterfly should have a free shipping weekend. I love the collage I got last year and it makes a great gift.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Weekend Reading List: Free Kindle e-Books 9/23/11

Whats on your reading list for this weekend?  Here' s My top free kindle e-book choices for this week.


Restoring Hope (Native American Romance Series Book 1) 

Ruth Ann Nordin


Fleeing from a marriage she didn't want, Woape is caught by a Sioux Indian who abuses her. One night, she manages to escape and nearly loses her life when Gary Milton shows up and rescues her. 

Not knowing where else to go, she follows him home. In their time together, she falls in love with him and is determined that he will be her husband. But the Sioux Indian is not far behind, and he's going to claim her as his, even if he has to kill Gary to get her.


Pencils Make Good Darts 

Dan Balman


Humorous and poignant, serious and funny (exactly what you get when a middle age man with the mind of a child less mature than his own children writes about life), Pencils Make Good Darts is a collection of short nonfiction essays that are well suited for reading on the toilet or before you go to bed and will either make you hate the author for wasting your time or laugh and cry like you are young again.

The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business

Colin Crook Robert E. Gunther Yoram (Jerry) Wind 




The world you live in is all in your mind, according to Wharton Business School Professors Yoram Wind and Colin Crook. The Power of Impossible Thinking is a witty and lucid translation of neuroscience research about "mental models"--the deeply ingrained assumptions and images that shape our reality and influence opportunities for success and failure. "Our models are gated communities," say Crook and Wind, who offer a superb crash course on the power and limit of mental models.
The key questions: How do you know when an old model is worn out? How do you avoid "cognitive lock," filtering out information that conflicts with your model? How do you know a new model will live up to its hype? Many of the answers lie in "Mind R&D"--developing an inventory of new and old models and refining your intuition to fit your current reality. These engaging ideas are detailed with portraits of three impossible thinkers (Oprah Winfrey, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Intel's Andy Grove) and vivid examples (The music industry vs. Napster, a French fry cancer scare, O-rings on the Challenger). Wind and Crook make such a brilliant case for new ways of seeing that readers may wish for more coaching to recognize the obsolete models that keep us from changing our minds. --Barbara Mackoff








Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Frugal Recipies: PB&J Pancakes to go.

Looking for a make ahead breakfast you can send with your kids out the door in the morning?  Make PB&J pancakes.  First make your pancakes you want them about the size of a sandwich.  I add oatmeal to my mix for extra fiber and nutrition.  Cheap easy and quick can still be healthy.  

Put your peanut butter on both sides and a dollop of jelly in the center.  Smash together like a PB&J sandwich pop in a sandwich bag and freeze.  In the morning pull them out when you wake up and the should be ready to eat after you get the kids dressed.  Just don't forget them on the way out the door.

Monday, September 12, 2011

My Rules for Frugal Living


No being frugal dose not have rules.  But it helps to have your own rules set in stone for your family as they are the key to transitioning into a frugal life with out sacrificing to much.  Here are my rules that my family fallows and why they are our rules.


  • Waist not, Want not.  Yup the use it up wear it out or do without way of thinking.  This is a key step for everyone.  I love candles but they are not cheap.  I use candles until the wick will no longer stay lit. Yup all the way until  theirs no wax covering that little mettle base.  Those pillows flat and past the fluffing stage.  Stuff two to a pillow case or wash dry and pull apart to stuff a homemade stuffed animal or a new throw pillow.  No one knows my little girls fluffy Dora throw pillow was at one point a very flat bed pillow.   Seeing even the Dora front and plan pink back where scraps her pillow was essentially free just because I refused to waist.
  • Never pay full retail price for anything.  Yes it takes time to get to this point but you can do it.  Look for sales, use coupons, buy clearance, buy used, but never buy full price unless you have no choice.
  • Don't be shy.  Yes a hard one trust me I know.   What dose that have to do with being frugal?  Here goes, the best way to save money is to ask questions.  Lets say your like me.  I can cook I can sew but darn it I can not do many other things.  Yes spelling is one of them.  Anyone interested in being my spelling checker?  The computers spell check only goes so far.  On a serious note old fashoned bartering is a great way to save money.  I needed someone to mow my lawn wile my husband was a way for Army training but could not afford the crazy prices people where charging in my area.  I wonder what happened to kids mowing laws for cash?  Anyways a neighbor needed someone to watch his kids sometimes so his wife and he could go out.  It was the perfect solution.  He dose the dirty work and mow's my lawn and I watch his kids for a bit.  Get some guts and find a trade for the things you need you will be glad you did.
  • Always check the clearance rack.  This is how I save money every chance I get.  My candles, clothes even the kids holiday gifts are all clearance. If you check every time you go in you may find something useful.  The filter for my bagless vacuum less then $2 on clearance.  For my vacuum that's a $5 savings.  you never know what you will find.
  • Never pay more then $1 on a cleaner.  If you can't get it on sale with a coupon for under $1 or at the local dollar store in exception to laundry detergent you don't need it.  You would be shocked what you can do with a bottle of vinegar and some baking soda.
  • Stock pile wisely.  people look at the Extreme Couponing Show and see the crazy size stock piles that will count as hording and that's what they think of when they here stock pile.  That's not the case.  A smart stockpiler dose so the smart way.  Only buy what you can use before the item expires.  Whats the use of a room full of toothpaste that will dry up and be useless.  Anything made with anything natural even your laundry soap can go bad. So don't waist by over buying.  Besides how happy are you being frugal if you can't live in your own home?
  • Budget.  Yup make a written budget and stick to it.  Meal planing is a great way to do this. You don't have to plan what meal will be what day just make a list shop for that list and mark meals off as you use them.
  • Learn new skills.  Learn lots of new things like how to sew your old clothes into new things or how to refurnish your old items or found items.  You will be happy to see how much you can save with a little DIY.
These are my rules take them or leave them.  Some with work for you others will inspire you.  Create rules for your family that you can teach everyone even your kids.  You will be glade you did.  What are your frugal living rules?

Friday, September 9, 2011

Weekend Reading List: Free Kindle e-Books 9/9/2011

Whats on your reading list this week?  Here's my families top picks. These books are free at time of post.  Please check the price before clicking buy as the price can change at any time.

From Ashes to Honor (Loree Lough)

If he had only answered that last phone call from the World Trade Center . . .Minutes before two jumbo jets changed U.S. history, New York police officer Austin Finley ignored the call from his brother, who’d been bugging him for days. Trying to live with his one regret causes hatred and bitterness to consume Austin, and when counselor Mercy Samara recommends desk duty, Austin resigns. Haunted by her own memories of 9/11, Mercy takes a job as a school counselor in Baltimore. When Austin, now an EMT, responds to an emergency at Mercy’s school, both are stunned and wary.Finally their common—and painful—memories turn suspicion into friendship, then romance.But hard questions linger: Can they truly move beyond their past harsh judgments and harsh words? Will their past finally bring them closer or—as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 draws near—drive them farther apart?



With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiancé, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near, but their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue into a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being.
Sam agrees, but she can't let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness… With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?



The Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie Mysteries Collection)






Jody Hedlund

The Preacher's Bride 


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Make $5 A Week Doing Almost Nothing

Search & Win

Yup you read that right make five dollars extra a week doing almost nothing.  How you ask?  Swagbucks that's how.  Many people just laugh and keep going when they here about Swagbucks. Or they sign up and for get about it.  Well here's your chance to take advantage of Swagbucks and see what the people that stick to it are enjoying.  First Sign up with Swagbucks (Referral link.)

Now to earn 450 swag bucks a week or about 65 a day.

Start with the search that's where you will get the most. Use Swagbucks search to get to every site you go to.  just type it right into the swagbucks search instead of the address bar.

Then do the daily pool for 1 swagbuck

Then fallow the NOSO in the earn tab clicking skip till the end.  That's another 2

Visit the trusted serveys after you have been a member for 30 days to get 1



Some days you will do great and get 65 or more a day just going to your normal sites.  Some days not so much,  But theirs other ways to earn Swagbucks  Here's a list.


  • Swag Codes
  • Swagbucks TV
  • Games
  • Your normal online shopping
  • Print and use coupons.com coupons on swagbucks.  (This one gets me $5 for ever 45 coupons I use)
So now its been a week of diligently visiting swagbucks instead of using that handy little address bar.  What now?  Easy.  Go to rewards click the option for gift cards and turn in your 450 Swagbucks for $5 on amazon.com.  You can stack Amazon.com gift cards and they really add up fast.  If you get one a week that's $260 extra bucks a year that you could use for holiday shopping or even groceries. And with supper saver shipping it's all free to you.  So why not join today?  Just click here

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Get Last Years Clearance Halloween Costumes.

Looking to save money on Halloween this year?  Stop by you local seasonal Halloween shop Right now when it's first opening to grab clearance Items from last years stock.

This is the costume we scored for our little princess yesterday for $5 original price $40 came with the costume some really great sturdy wings and tights.

  Share the deals you find in the comments bellow.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Cloth Diapers: What you need to start.

Are you thinking of using cloth diapers?  It can feel over whelming when your trying to figure out the bare minimum you need to start.  Giving cloth a try is a great step towards a more frugal life.  It really frees money up in your budget for other things.  You can start cheap and work your way up so you don't have to go at it all at once.  If you want to start out all at once but not spend a fortune here's my starter list.  Yup this is what I started with don't laugh It was cheap and we where not sure about cloth yet.  This helped us save money and we are continuing on the cheap but it works for us.

12-18 one size cloth diapers and covers (snaps)
    One size diapers really help you save money as you don't have to buy more diapers in the next size.
    Snap diaper covers last longer and are harder for your child to get out of as they grow older.
    We started part time and had one Flip Day Pack.  We fell in love and quickly ordered another day pack.
    This allowed me to diaper out two week old with one load of diapers a day. As time went on a got two
    more and a few other types of diapers that will I'm not such a fan of.  If your on a supper tight budget
    look at Econobum their not as good as Flip but they are great for someone on a tight budget.


A diaper pail
     For me this was a 1 gallen Ice cream bucket and oneday we got to the point we had to move up to
     something larger.  Now we use a big Cheese balls container that hubby had around the house when I
     needed to up grade.  Yes he finnished all the greeasy cheesy things first.

Cloth wipes
     Yes, really you need them you will thank me later.  In the beginning I used disposable wipes and put
     them in a plastic grocery bag with each cloth diaper change.  That got old fast.  So I decided to try
     cloth wipes that could just go in the bucket with the diaper.  One of thoughts Light bulb moments.
     Cloth wipes can be cheap or even free.  You now the crazy amount of baby wash cloths you got at
     your baby shower you never use?  They are perfect.  You can buy your own at most dollar stores.  Or
     You could cut old stained clothes into cloth wipes.

A good detergent
    You need a good detergent with NO sents, colors, softeners, brighteners, or other fabric enhancers.
    My fave is All Free Clear military version.  Its only sold in the X3 concentrate bottles.  It's the one that
    has a winter cameo design on the bottle.
 
 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Free Fun With Kids: Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt List

Going on a Nature Walk with your kids at the local park is a great way to have some free fun.  A great way to get your kids to look around is to ask them to find different things found in nature.  Here's a list you can use for ideas of things to ask your kids to find.  Pick items that work for your child's abilities.


  • Forked stick
  • Flower
  • Oak leaf
  • Acorn
  • Interesting rock
  • Bug
  • Butterfly
  • Bird
  • Water
  • Trash
  • Maple leaf
  • Small animal
  • Something in each color of the rainbow
  • A cloud with a shape
  • Give them a shape to look for

Now you guys are looking around what else do you see that you could point out to your kids?  Up for a game of I Spy?

Frugal Recipes: Three Cheap Pot Luck and BBQ Dishes That Don't Look or Taste Cheap

It's Labor Day weekend and a good chance your going to a BBQ or a potluck.  Your in a rush and on a budget but you need something to bring with you that doesn't look as cheap as it is.  Well I'm here for you with my Three favorite recipes to feed a crowd with out breaking the bank.


Fruit salad. 


This one is often my go to dish for gatherings.  I can put together a great seasonal fruit salad with what ever is on sale at the time and fill a really HUGE bowl for $10 or less.  It's still hot out so your best option is to Chop your fresh on sale fruits place on a plastic lined cookie sheet and freeze.  You can make several layers with plastic wrap between each layer,  a little Lemon juice will help preserve the fruit after it starts to thaw but go easy on it so you don't change the flavor.  This is a great option.  My last one for a BBQ Had just 3 things.  Strawberries that where in sale 2pints/$3, Mango on sale 2/$1 and 2 Kiwis for 33 cents each.  No one cared that it only had 3 fruits and no one knew the entire dish was under $5.


Flag cake


A classic American holiday treat.  And guess what?  If you buy the off brand cake mix and frosting you can make this cake for under $10.  A trip to your local Aldi can get you cake and frosting that many will swear tastes homemade.  Well unless their an Aldi shopper too.

Seasoned veggies.
 A great healthy dish to take to your pot luck or BBQ is Seasoned veggies.  Their cheap and easy to make too.  Grab a bag or two of supper cheap frozen veggies from your grocery store.  No need for the name brand your gonna spice them up.   Pop them in a bot with some water.  Add Oregano, Basil, and if you like a little spice crushed red pepper flakes go great with pretty much any vegetable.  Simmer until hot.  DO NOT BOIL.  It's as simple as that and you can feed a crowed for just a few dollars or less.

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Weekend Reading List: Free Kindle e-Books

Looking to read this weekend?   Why not grab a free Kindle e-Book  You can read them on a Kindle, On your computer and your Iphone or Android phones by downloading the free apps.  Here's a small list of free books that look good for this weekend.




Spying in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries)



L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her...

Spying in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries)




My Heart Remembers


In 1886 New York City, the tenement fire killed Ma and Da Gallagher, leaving their three offspring orphaned. The oldest eight year old Maelle has no time for grief as she watches adults split the trio into different families. She gives the new parents of baby Molly the family bible; and she gives her brother Mattie the family photo. She vows to them to one day find them even as everyone calls her Mike as her short haircut leaves her looking like a boy.


In 1902 Louisiana, traveling photographer Mike Watts continues her search for Mattie and Molly. Mattie has spent a lifetime being discarded by one family after another as he currently lives in Texas. Teenaged Molly was too young to remember the fire, her siblings, her biological parents, or even her birth name as the only family Isabelle as she is called ever had was the Standlers of Kansas City and they just died; but her older Standler brother scornfully informs her who she truly is.




This one is currently rated 5 starts by 28 people.






PALE IMMORTAL 


The legend:

A hundred years ago, in what is now called Old Tuonela, a killer known as the Pale Immortal walked the streets. When darkness fell children were rushed inside, doors and windows locked up tight. Some claimed the Pale Immortal bathed in blood, and that blood flooded the streets until the ground became saturated.
Even after the Pale Immortal's reign of terror ended, people were afraid. His death had come too late.

Many claimed the ground was cursed, and so a mass exodus took place. Every single person relocated to a new development five miles from the old one. A better location, they claimed. And prettier. On a bluff overlooking the river. Why had anyone settled at the old place, in such a dark valley?

Let's pretend Old Tuonela doesn't exist. Let's pretend we always lived here, in the new place.

Even though a hundred years has passed, many locals still like to pretend Old Tuonela isn't just beyond the outskirts of town where the softly rolling hills end abruptly, the valleys become dark and deep, and the roads turn back on themselves.

Look closely through the trees and you might see it on the other side of the Tuonela River. 





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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Labor Day Weekend Cheap and Free Activity Ideas


It's labor day weekend and the unofficial end to summer.  When your on a budget you can't always host a big BBQ with your friends and family.  Here's a list of cheap and free ways to spend your long weekend.

Visit the community pool.
     This is the last weekend many out door pools are open.  If your neighborhood offers a free pool get   
     one last visit in this weekend.

Have a pot luck.  
     Really want a holiday BBQ but non of your friends and family can afford to host one.  Don't be sad 
     theirs still time to put together a pot luck where each family brings one dish to share, and their own 
     dishes to eat off of.

Go on a nature walk.
     Fact is we are running out of great weather to enjoy.  Grab the family and go on a nature walk in your 
     local park.  Give your kids a scavenger hunt list with stuff like: Forked stick, Acorn, Oak leaf.

Enjoy a lazy day.
     Hey it's labor day weekend why not have a lazy day?  Find a marathon on TV, Cuddle on the couch 
     with a good book.  You can have a great holiday with out going out.


This weekend you can look forward to the following.  Frugal Recipes: Three Cheap Pot Luck Dishes That Don't Look or Taste Cheap.   Free Fun with Kids: Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt List. And Weekend Reading List Free Kindle Books.

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Where to find freebies and deals: Freebies4mom.com

]My blog is not a freebies blog but freebies blogs are great so I have decided to share my favorite Freebie sites with you.  After all this blog is not a freebie blog and lets face it freebies stretch your budget and their fun to get.  Here this weeks selection.

Freebies4Mom is one of my favorite sites for finding freebies and deals.  She only posts the most trustworthy freebies and deals.  I personally love her Sweeps4Mom page. Who doesn't love winning free stuff?  Here's her web site  Freebies4mom.com  and her Facebook