Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Free Kindle Book On Managing Finances


Here's one you wont want to miss out on.  This is a collection of advice for managing your personal finances.  It retails for $49.99 and is FREE for a limited time.  I'm sure I'll be reading this one soon!  Go here to download a Kindle version of this book.  And remember that you can read Kindle books on PCs, cells phones, iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc.

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Monday, May 16, 2011

Check Out The Changes I Made

I know it's been pretty quiet around here for the past couple days.  Yesterday was my daughter's 5th birthday, so we were busy enjoying that, and I've just been trying to catch up on some house work.

I did want to let you know that, even though I haven't been posting anything, I have not totally forgotten about you guys.  In fact, tonight I have been doing a little bit of work on my sidebars.  I've grouped some items so they should be easier for you to navigate, and I have added several new offers that I've just learned about and wanted to share with you.

 I have also added an Amazon.com widget in which I have placed some items that I recommend.  I really like this feature because I can always add to it later and share things with you that I have found and love.  Right now it has only two items in it.  The first one is All You Magazine, which I rave about often, and the other is my favorite freezer cookbook, that I am always talking about getting delicious recipes from.  I thought this widget might be more useful to you guys than the one I previously had (the one that said it was going to show great deals, but really only showed random electronic devices).

I just wanted to let you guys know about the changes I had been working on.  Have a look around and let me know what you think of my new organization.  Also let me know if there is any other helpful info you would like to see linked from my home page and I will see what I can do. ;)

Have a great night and thank you to all of you who read my blog.

And don't forget about my Freschetta Simply Inspired Giveaway that will be ending at Midnight tomorrow night.

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sunday Coupon Preview 5/15


This Sunday there should be two coupon inserts in your Sunday paper, one Smart Source and one RedPlum. There seem to be a few good coupons that we can expect.  You can check out the details HERE.  Remember that coupons can vary by region, so you may not get everything on the lists, or you may have a different value.

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Friday, May 13, 2011

Shopping Trip 5/13: Aldi

Since my Kroger trip on Monday, I haven't done any shopping at all this week.  Ok, well that isn't entirely true.  I did push my double stroller across the street and waste time in Wal-Mart (completely couponless!) while my van was having a $9.99 oil change yesterday.  I actually found some men's belt's on clearance for $3.  I got my husband two of them, because he was in desperate need of a new belt since his old one had an encounter with our dachshund.  So happy when I find things that I am about to have to pay full price for marked down!  =)

I usually make my weekly Aldi trip on Thursdays, but I didn't get there yesterday, so I went this morning.  There were only a few things on my list to get, but somehow I always think of more things when I am there.  There were not any incredible produce sales this week.  My favorite were the $0.25 cucumbers, but I also found that the zucchini were still $0.59, so I grabbed a couple more packs of them.   I also stocked back up on some frozen items and things for lunches for the next couple weeks.

Here is everything I came home with:

My total OOP was $34.74.

I noticed the milk had risen ten more cents to $1.89.  The eggs were still $0.49 and all the others items were still the price that I remembered them being, with the exception of perhaps the apple juice.  I think it went up slightly.

Also, I have never ever bought frozen juice concentrate before, but they were so inexpensive that I thought I would give them a try, since I haven't found a good sale to stock up on bottled juices in a while.  I totally did not even think to put the apple juice back on the shelf!  I made one with our lunch today, and even though it said to add only 3 cans of water, I thought it tasted pretty strong.  I think I added about 6-7.  Do you guys use these?  Which version do you find more economical/better tasting?

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Blogger is Back Up!

For those of you who may not know, Blogger (the site that hosts this blog) has been down since late morning yesterday.  For nearly a full 24 hours, all blogs were set to "read-only" mode, which meant that we could not log into our accounts and makes changes or new posts.  It also meant that no one was able to comment on any posts, either.

To make matters even worse, they had to remove many of the posts and comments that were made during the time frame directly prior to when the site when down so they could reverse some updates they had attempted to make.  Luckily for me, I was out of the house and unable to make any posts on Thursday morning, so I have not lost any content on my site.  I have, however, lost many of the comments on my Freschetta Simply Inspired Review and Giveaway.  There were 42 entries, and now I only see 7!  =(

I have seen updates that say they are still working on restoring all of the missing content, but I am unsure if comments will be included in this.  I am very sorry about this.  If you had entered, please stop by and see if your entries are still there.  I do not mind if you leave them all in a single comment this time.  I still have all of the emails from the entries, so they haven't been truly lost.  If you do not get to re-comment, do not worry, I should still be able to figure out the original correct order of entries, fill in any gaps, and determine a winner!

If you stopped by yesterday and tried to comment but could not, please head back over and enter now (and please someone let me know if you actually are able to comment now *I hope I hope*).

I will extend the end date of the giveaway until midnight on Tuesday May 17th because of this glitch, and will alert the winner on Wednesday morning.

Thanks for bearing with all of us blogger users during this very frustrating time!

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Freschetta Simply Inspired Review and Giveaway

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

I was recently contacted to review a new line of pizzas, FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™. These pizzas  contain larger cuts of fresh tasting veggies,  real cheeses, and signature sauces, all on a delicious thin crispy crust.  They also are sold in the new “FRESCH-TASTE SEAL” pack that uses 30% less packaging materials.
They come in 8 flavors:  Harvest Supreme, Classic Bruschetta, Hawaiian Style, Chicken Bianco, Farmer’s Market Veggie, Rustic Pepperoni  Pomodoro,  Southern BBQ Recipe Chicken, and Tuscan Farmhouse.

The review:
I picked up my pizza while shopping during the Mega Sale at Kroger this week, and the only flavor they had in stock was the Harvest Supreme.  I was a little unsure if I would like it, since I am not a fan of olives or large onions, but it was actually very delicious.
My children do not like pizza for some strange reason, and one pizza would not be enough to feed a family of four in any case, so my husband and I shared this as a late night snack.  Maybe it is because we are so used to eating cheap frozen pizzas, but we both thought that it was incredible.  It tasted so fresh, and you could make out the distinct flavors of each topping, especially the large chunks of sundried tomatoes.
The only small complaint I had was that the pizza was loose inside the new packaging, and so when I opened it up, half of the toppings had fallen off and congregated in a corner.  They were easy enough to toss back on though.  Traditional pizzas that come in the cardboard box packaging usually are wrapped tightly in plastic on the inside to prevent this.  I was also looking for a recycling number on the packaging so I could know if I could recycle it in my city (they only accept #1 and 2), but I found none, so into the trash it went. =(

The Giveaway:
Along  with my review, I was also sent a FREE Freschetta  Simply Inspired Coupon and round bamboo wood cutting board complete with cutting utensils for one of my lucky readers!

The Rules:
Mandatory entry:  Go to the FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ webpage and read the flavor descriptions.  Come back and leave a comment letting me know which flavor you would most like to try.
Additional Entries (optional):
--Like Freschetta simply inspired on facebook  (you will want to do this anyway, because they are offering a $2/1 coupon right now, which will make these just $2.49 at Kroger this week!!)
--Follow Freschetta on Twitter  @FreschettaSI
--Follow my page on facebook
--Follow my page with Google Friend Connect
--Subscribe to my emails
(leave additional comments for each entry method)

There can be up to 6 entries per person.  This giveaway will be open until midnight on Tuesday May 17th  (extended due to blogger outage!)  Sunday, May 15th…..that’s my oldest daughter’s 5th birthday, by the way ;)  I will choose a winner using random.org and let them know on Monday morning.  I will email the winner, so please make sure that you provide your address or have it available in your profile.  I will give the winner 48 hours to respond.  In the event that I have not heard from them, I will select another winner.

GOOD LUCK!
Visit Sponsor's Site

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More Free Kindle Books

Here is a great one for moms!  Sounds funny!

Don't Make Me Come Up There! Quiet Moments for Busy Moms


Here's one for the graduates out there:

Free Fiction:


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Monday, May 9, 2011

5/9: Kroger Mega Sale Trip 70% Savings

I have had a pretty busy week.  I wanted to get to Kroger last Friday, but it just didn't happen.  Even this morning I wasn't done making my list and gathering up my coupons, so I worked on that off and on all day, and went out shopping by myself when my husband got home.  He even made dinner while I shopped. =)

The store was pretty crowded, but they actually had just about everything I was looking for in stock.  I got three sets of Mega Sale items, and a few other things that I had coupons for that would double.

Here is everything I came home with tonight (click to enlarge):


Total Shelf Price:  $107.31
Total Sale Price:   $84.05 (before Mega Sale Savings)
Sale Price After Mega Sale deducted $15:   $69.05
Price Paid After Coupons:  $32.96 including tax for savings of  70%.  And that is including a $3.99 pack of cold drinks and a $5.49 pack of diapers!!  Woo!

This trip totally made up for my disappointments last night!  Want to hear the best part?  None of this actually came out of my grocery budget!  I paid for it with a $50 prepaid Visa debit card that came in the mail today.  It was a payment from an online survey session that I took a couple weeks ago through 20/20 Research.  If you are looking for some extra ways to earn online and supplement your families income, this is a good one to sign up with.  I don't get many email requests from them, but the ones I do get are usually well worth my time. This $50 payment was actually for a 20 minute one-on-one webcam session in the evening sitting on my couch!

Some of the highlights from my trip:
--6 Free boxes of Ronzoni Pasta
--2 Free bags of shredded cheese. If you got the FREE coupon from Kraft First Taste, use it now during the BOGO sale to get two for free!
--3 Free Safeguard Soaps (for my uncle!  They are his fav.)  One sale $1, used 3 $1/1 from 5/1 PG.
--Free floss if you have any more of the $1/1 Reach floss printables (no longer available).
--3 $0.19 packs of Mahatma rice  $1.19- $0.50/1 from 5/1 SS (doubled)
--2 $0.34 Sunny D  $0.89- $0.55/1 Printable (no longer available)
--4 cereal for $4.95 total used one $0.50/1 from 4/17SS and $2/3 from 5/1 Pepsico.
--Baby swiss cheez its for $1.25/box after $1/1 printables
--Heinz Vinegar for $0.69 each after $0.50/1 printables that expired today (they doubled)

If you have questions about the price of other items in the picture, just leave a comment and ask.  I had FREE coupons for several of the items that happened to be included in the Mega Sale.  One of them is actually for a review and giveaway that I will be posting soon.  Any guesses about what it will be?

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Sunday, May 8, 2011

5/8: Drug Store Disappointments

As I was looking through the CVS ad this week, I thought that there was definitely a lack of ECB deals that were useful to me, but I had a $5/$30 purchase coupon I had gotten by email, and I really hate to let those go to waste.  So, I planned out a trip, which actually went according to plan.  Everything I wanted was in stock.  It was the coupons that caused me a little disappointment, and the extras I found that raised my OOP much higher than I planned.  Sometimes it's just really hard to resist those seasonal clearance finds though!

Here is what I got:

Total Shelf Price:  $69.51
Total Sale Price:   $40.47  (just a bit above my $30 goal to use my coupon!)
Price After Coupons:  $24.48
Price Paid After $10.54 in ECBs from last trip and tax:  $15.09  for a savings of 78% and I got back $11 in ECBs to use on my next trip.  I also happen to know that the Revlon Nail Polish put me right over the threshold to earn another $5 ECB reward from the Beauty Club, so that should print on my next trip and I will have $16 in ECBs to spend.

Here is the breakdown:
--First off, obviously I made a wrong turn and ended up down the aisle of 75% off Easter Candy.  I do not think there is any part of me that could pass up $0.87 Reese's, in any form.  I did show a little restraint by leaving about 6 more bags on the shelf, though. ;)
--2 Bottles of Xtra detergent (I was sad they didn't have the one with OxyClean yet)  $1.49 each.  Used $1/2 from 5/1 SS= $0.99 each.  This is my target price for detergent.  I had more coupons, but since I have about 10 bottles of detergent already (not 60), and they don't expire until the end of July, I only bought 2 tonight.
--1 Carefree Pantyliner a $0.99-Free coupon from this morning's SS= FREE.
--Buy $12 of Glade, etc. get $4 ECBs.  I got a Glade Sense and Spray and a Glade Lasting Impressions, priced at $7 each.  I had coupons for $3 off each from home mailers, but there have also been printables available, and the 4/3 SS had one as well.
--I did the Buy $15 of Revlon Cosmetics, Get $7 ECBs back.  I got three nail polishes that were priced at $5.49 each (I am finding solace in the fact that my grand total was less than their shelf price).  I used the $3/$10 cosmetics purchase that printed from the scanner when I got there (the ad said this would print, so I knew I would get it).

Here is where the big disappointment came in:   I had a $1 off any Revlon Nail Enamel and a $2 off any Revlon color cosmetics that I was hoping would work for nail enamel.  They both beeped.  The manager who was ringing me up told me that they had recently changed their system due to fraud (see, it really does affect us all!), and the way he explained it made it seem like the scanner coupons were now ringing like a manufacturer coupon so stacking them would no longer be allowed.  I really hope I misunderstood or he explained poorly, or it was just a special circumstance of the $3/$10 coupon, because that would be a horrible thing!  He was very polite though, and I promised to try to learn the new rules like a good little couponer. =)

After I left there, feeling pretty bummed about my large OOP, I did something I almost never do.  I went to Walgreens.  Now I'm not saying that Walgreens is a bad place to shop.  There are some great deals to be had at Walgreens.  I am saying that the Walgreens closest to my house is a bad place to shop.  I have honestly had issues of some form every single time I've set foot in that place.  I was really nervous about going, but I was lured in by the promise of two free Clean and Clear body washes.  They are on sale BOGO this week (supposedly), and I still had not used the BOGO coupon from the 3/27 SS that expires next Sunday.

The store is only a block from CVS, so I thought I would just give it a try and see what happened.  I went in, had a very hard time even finding the body washes, discovered only one scent left on the shelf (and I didn't really care for it).  I thought, oh well, for free even if I hate it I can give it away.  I took them to the register, and they both rang up $5.99.  I asked the cashier about it, pointing it out in the ad.  He quickly "fixed" the problem buy voiding them both off and ringing them up for $3 each.  *sigh*  So I asked him if that was going to cause problems using my coupon, which I knew it would.  He looked at it for a few seconds in bewilderment, and finally said yeah, yeah it is.  Then he said probably the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard come out of a cashier's mouth.  "I think the reason it says they are BOGO in the ad is because of this coupon."  Huh!?!?!?   I pointed out that it wasn't even their coupon, but he said "but it's already free," still with the puzzled look on his face.

I just shook my head and said nevermind, picked up my coupon and walked away.  It was not the first time I have walked out of that particular store empty-handed.  Poor guy, he wasn't being rude, he was just completely clueless.  And I for one was not going to get stressed out and hold up the line over body washes that I didn't really need in a scent that I didn't really like.  Free, or not.  Sometimes, it just isn't worth it.

Oh well, I may not have free body wash, but I do have cheap chocolate!

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Friday, May 6, 2011

New Free Kindle Books

Plan B: A Nick Heller Story  FREE  Available for Pre-Order!










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Shopping Trip 5/6: Aldi

Today I went to Aldi to get a few things that we needed around the house.  I wanted to get to Albertson's and Kroger today, but after all of the fiasco with the kitten yesterday,  I was too exhausted to plan my shopping lists.  Plus, I had to go to the library this morning and the vet this afternoon, so those will have to wait.


Here are the items I picked up at Aldi today:
I spent a little over $34 on all of this (receipt's in the van, I guess).

Including my CVS trip, and my Tom Thumb trip, I've spent right at $55 out of the household/food budget so far this week.  Somehow I think I might go over my budget again.  It's bad having to stock back up after nearly a month of no good sales!

How are you doing sticking to your budget this week?  I may not be able to stick to my new lowered amount this month. =(

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In The Mail 5/6

I had a pretty exciting mailbox day today.

Here is what I got:



--Free packet of tomato seeds from Red Robin
--Free sample of Clean and Clear Body Wash
--Free Coupon from Yoplait Kids yogurt
--$50 check for participating in an online community from an online survey site. (Is it bad that I honestly do not remember which one?)

I tell you this just to say that sometimes these can be very worthwhile!  I have gotten into local taste tests through online surveys before, even when the survey itself had no indication of any type of payment.  I don't have nearly as much time to take surveys now as I used to, but I still skim through my email and see if any interest me.  Sometimes I luck out!

I also received one more package in my mail today that I will be sharing with you very shortly.  I am very excited about it, and I'm sure you will be too...;)

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Mega Swagbucks Fridays and How Much I've Won!


I just wanted to remind everyone that Friday's are Mega Swagbucks Days.  This means that you can win larger amounts of Swagbucks in a single search, so make sure you are doing all of your searching through Swagbucks tomorrow, and always!

I know many people out there might think that these search and win sites are a big waste of time because they do not amount to much, but I would like you to know that is not true of Swagbucks.  Most other sites like this, I gave up on myself, but this one I have stuck with and will continue to use it every day.  Want to know why?  Since February 17th of last year (the date I redeemed my first prize, which didn't take that long!), I have redeemed 38 prizes from the Swagstore.  All of them have been $5 Amazon certificates, so that means in just over a year I've gotten $190 in FREE Amazon money to spend, just from using the internet as I normally would!   I've even shared before how I paid for all of my kids Christmas gifts this past year using Swagbucks, and I'm saving up to do it again!


If you have not yet signed up for Swagbucks, and would like to give it a try, you can sign up HERE.  New members get 30 free Swagbucks to begin with, and a $5 Amazon gift card only costs 450 SB.

Also, just a little tip from me, I've had good luck winning large amounts not just on Fridays, but late at night any day of the week.  It has not been uncommon for me to do a search just past midnight and win upwards of 20 Swagbucks.  Can any other night owls out there attest to this?

Also, if you ever want to know if there is a Swag Code available, you can check the widget down at the very bottom of my page.  If there is one, it will tell you a hint where you can find it.

Good luck!

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Late Night Tom Thumb Trip: Cheap Duncan Hines and Juice

My husband is a really great guy (I know, I'm a little biased).  He also is pretty handy in the kitchen.  One of his favorite things to do is make cakes for his teacher coworkers when it is their birthday or some other special occasion.  Well, last night he came home and announced that he needed to make cakes because a teacher was coming back from her chemo leave.  Not a problem.  We have 6 boxes of cake mix in the pantry.  Sadly, we had no frosting to go with it because whenever I buy frosting to go with cake mixes, he sits around at night and dips fruit in it like its fondue or something.

So when he tells me this, I remembered seeing a great sale on Duncan Hines items at Tom Thumb.  Buy 2 items, get 3 free.  You could mix and match between cake, brownies, and frosting.  I wasn't planning on going out shopping last night.  The things you do for your husband....


So I began quickly searching for coupons to match with the sale.  I found that I had one printed coupon (no longer available) for $1.25 off a cake mix wyb 2 frostings.  I also found that the 4/10 SS had Duncan Hines Coupons for a FREE cake mix wyb 2 frostings, and $0.50 off any 1 Duncan Hines Brownies.  I clipped two for the cake/frosting and one of the brownies. (my store doubles up to $0.50, but only the first like coupon.  All others are redeemed at face value).  I got 10 total items (3 cake mixes, 6 frostings, and a brownie mix).

They were also having a sale on juices.  Welch's and V-8 Fusion were $1.99 each wyb 4.  We were out of Welch's but I didn't have any coupons for that.  I did have $1/2 of the V-8 Fusions, which made them just $1.49, so I got 4 of these.  I like to pay $0.99 for juice, but we were down to our last bottle.  Plus I really wanted to try the new concord grape raspberry flavor. ;)

Here is what I picked up (along with a few more things to hold us until I made it to a cheaper store):
Shelf Price:  $45.79
Sale Price:   $23.48    already 49% savings
Price Paid After Coupons:  $14.37     69% Savings


This is another good example of how the biggest savings are seen just by shopping sale prices, and coupons just add a bit to that.  In the end, I ended up paying only $0.21 per Duncan Hines item purchased, which is definitely a stock up price!  I was concerned that they would not let me use the free cake coupons along with the sale, but they scanned through just fine.  Even without them though, I would have paid just $0.61 per item.  

What is your stock up price for cake mixes/frostings?  Or do you make your own?

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Aldi Produce Deals 5/4-5/10


These are the produce deals advertised at Aldi for this week:

Green Peppers   $0.99/pack (2-3 per pack)
Russet Potatoes  $1.19/ 5lb. bag
Tomatoes           $0.89/ 4 ct pack
Zucchini             $0.59/ 1 lb package

I recently saw a recipe over at THE ALDI SPOT for Zucchini Latkes.  I may have to grab some of these, along with the potatoes, and give this a try!  They looked delicious.

I am very curious if the fruit that have been so inexpensive still is, since it is not advertised this week.  If any of you out there in the Dallas area (or anywhere, just let us know where you are) happen to stop in and find some good produce prices, let us all know about them in a comment.  Thanks!

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Shopping Trip 5/3: CVS and Kohl's

My past two trips to CVS, I have not gotten enough items to use all of my ECBs, and so I had one for $1.98 that would be expiring today.  I planned my trip out last night and planned to go then, but by the time I was done collecting my coupons, it was already 9:45 and my store closes at 10.  I had no choice but to wait until today, and take my girls along.

I also happen to think that it is a waste to change out of perfectly comfy pajamas for one 15 minute CVS excursion, so I ran back by my house and grabbed my $10 off my next purchase at Kohl's coupon that came in the mail on Saturday (I actually had to dig it out of the trash where my husband deposited it when he checked the mail!)  It said it could be used on any purchase, including clearance items, so I just wanted to see what I could find.

Here is what I got from CVS:

Total Shelf Price:  $35.51
Total Sale Price:   $28.30
Price After Coupons:  $20.79
Price Paid After $10.28 in ECBs from last trip:  $10.51  (no tax)  for a 70% Savings  and I got back $10.54 in ECBs

I actually did two transactions here.  I only bought 2 of the Frappuccino's in the first transaction because I had seen reports online that the sun chips were actually part of this deal, but that did not end up being the case at my store.  I did not get my $5 ECBs for the pepsico deal and my receipt said that I only had purchased $10 towards it (the 2 fraps), so I dug into my stash of money from my birthday and bought myself another 4 pack to get my $5 ECBs (I didn't want to take any more out of the grocery budget, and these things are truly my weakness).  I could have returned the Chips and Sierra Mist and spent $4 less, but my husband loves them, so I decided to forgo the hassle.

The coupons I used were these:
$2/2 Frappuccino 4 packs (5/1 Pepsico insert)
$2/2 Sun Chips (5/1 Pepsico insert)
2 FREE Sierra Mist wyb Sun chips (5/1 Pepsico insert)
$1/1 Colgate Max (May All You)
$0.75/1 Colgate (5/1 SS)

Next, we went over to Kohl's.  I really like this place, but hardly ever go there.  A free $10 to spend was enough to get me in there, though.  Both of my girls have birthdays in the summer, so I wanted to look for them some new clothes (I may give them to them before then).

Here is what I found on the clearance racks:
Cute flower onesie marked down to $4.40 from $11.
Matching kitten shirts that say "Here comes trouble" ....how very appropriate LOL  marked down to $3.90 from $13.

After my $10 coupon I paid just $2.38 and my receipt says my total savings was $34.80!  Woohoo!

I do not know how or why I got the coupon, it just showed up randomly in my mail.  All I can say is make sure you register your name and address with your favorite stores so you can get surprises like that as well.

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Monday, May 2, 2011

News Coupons! Print Them Before They Are Gone!


Since it's the beginning of the month, there are some great new coupons available at coupons.com.  There are Huggies diapers, many pet supplies, Taco Bell, Velveeta, Ball Park, and more.  Once they reach their print limit they will be gone, so grab them while you still can if you want them!

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

New Free Kindle Books

I noticed some new Kindle books available for free today:

Too Close To Home










Disaster Status











It Happens Every Spring
Seasons of Marriage #1

This seems pretty interesting.  A novelist teamed up with a Christian relationship expert to write this series of 4 novels.






The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

For the teenagers.

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Freezer Cooking: Breakfast Bake

In the past, aside from making extra pancakes to freeze, the only freezer cooking I've done is dinner items.  My daughter, who will be going off to Kindergarten in the fall, has recently begun to rebel against cereal for breakfast, so I decided to experiment with some heartier options that would not take long to warm up in the mornings.

I adapted a recipe from Taste of Home: Freezer Pleasers (my absolute favorite cookbook), to make individual portions of  this breakfast bake.  I mixed up the ingredients and portioned them into muffin cups, but the recipe was written to be made in a casserole dish.

The recipe as it was written, called for a crouton crust on the bottom, and that just sounded weird and not at all breakfasty to me, so I decided to try using a baking mix for the bottom instead.  We were making biscuits for breakfast this morning, so I went ahead and whipped up a little bit extra mix for this recipe.  Spreading this into the little holes in the muffin pan was actually the hardest part.


The next part I kept pretty simple this time, but it is very versatile.  You are pretty much making a scrambled egg/omelet mixture to pour on top, so use anything you would normally use to make that.  I was making a small batch just to see how they would turn out, so this time I halved the recipe in the book.  Here is what I used:

4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheese
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic/onion powder)

I whisked all this together,
used a ladle to pour it into the muffin cups,
baked at 350 for about 25 minutes (I had to shorten the cooking time.  It will be 45-50 minutes for a casserole dish.)
I loosened then from the pan, let them cool a bit, and then popped the whole pan into the freezer.  I did eat one and it was good.  The biscuit sort of rose to the top and the egg sunk to the bottom, so next time I may bake just the biscuit mix a little bit first to keep that from happening, but overall I was pleased.  Once they were frozen, I popped them out of the tray and placed them into a freezer bag.

Now I can take some out and microwave them as needed.  They are a little bit smaller than I imagined, but that's a great excuse to serve it with a side of fruit.

Do you have a favorite freezer breakfast recipe?  I'd love to hear them.

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