Get up to 30 Swagbucks using the new toolbar!

Hey, friends,

You know I love Swagbucks. You've seen the swag I've gotten from them, just for doing my usual searches. Maybe you've even signed up through me.

But did you know they are giving away a Swagbuck a day for the rest of the month if you download their new toolbar??

Seriously, that's up to 30 Swagbucks in addition to the ones you get for regular searching this month!! Come on, sign up (by clicking HERE) and then get the new toolbar. By the end of the month, you'll have enough to get a $5 Amazon gift card and be well on your way to another one.

Happy Swagbucks to all!

Free stuff and cheap drinks

Another boatload of free school supplies this week at CVS! I didn't get every single item, though, since I only had to reach a total of $30 to use my $5/$30 CVS coupon. (It came by email this week, how fortuitous!)

Here's how I used the freebies to get really cheap drinks:

• 4 12-packs of Pepsi products, $12, get $4 ECB with purchase of 4
• 1 pack of CVS pens, $0.99, get $0.99 ECB
• 1 pack of CVS pencils, $0.99, get $0.99 ECB
• 2 CVS compasses, $1.50 each, get $1.50 ECB each
• 2 CVS notebooks, $0.99 each, get $0.99 ECB each
• 1 pair of CVS scissors, $2.99, get $2.99 ECB
• 1 pack of CVS glue sticks, $0.99, get $0.99 ECB
• 1 Blink Tears eye drops, $7.99, get $7.99 ECB

Coupons used:

• $5 off $30 purchase
• $1.50 off Blink Tears (internet printable mfr. coupon)

Total = $30.93. After coupons, I paid with $17.83 ECBs (my entire stash), paid the remaining $6.60 plus $2.08 tax, then I got back $22.93 in ECBs. So essentially I paid $3.58 for all this. That comes to 7 cents per soda can!

Now I call that a sweet deal. : )

Oh, and don't forget to check the bottom of your receipt for your free item coupon. The item this month is batteries, hooray! Perhaps they'll do a free item each month through the fall like they did last year. I hope so!

Swag from Swagbucks

What you see above was free.

FREE!

All because I signed up with Swagbucks and do my daily web searching through them instead of Google. I've only been an active member for about 4 months, and I've already gotten $45 worth of Amazon gift certificates, which I used to get these kitchen items (with free shipping because I spent over $25).

I also use my Amazon credits to get MP3s for $0.99 each. There's just SO MUCH you can get for free, all for simply searching the web!

Sign up now (using this link: http://www.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=418618) and get 3 Swagbucks to start your own pile. Do some searching in the morning and in the evening and watch that pile grow. Refer some friends and your pile will grow even faster!

Happy searching!

Joined Swagbucks yet?

Warning: The following is a SHAMELESS plug!

You may have heard about it: Swagbucks. It's where all the cool kids search.

Seriously, though, it's a search engine just like Google. In fact, it utilizes Google and Ask.com for its searches. Do a comparison search using Google and Swagbucks, and you'll see that all the same entries come up, just in a different order. (The order depends on how much money Google can squeeze out of each "advertiser"...The more money you cough up, the higher your website will be in the list.)

I love Swagbucks, because every day I earn at least 2 or 3 Swagbucks for doing the searches I would do anyway! Over the last few months, I earned enough Swagbucks to get eight $5 Amazon gift certificates, which I just used to order some kitchen stuff with FREE shipping. Just for doing my normal, everyday searches, I get a free cookie scoop, cooling rack, and mini loaf pans! LOVE IT!

Here's where it gets good: For every friend you refer (who signs up using your special link), you earn Swagbucks every time THEY do, up to 100! This is Swagbucks' way of getting the word out and challenging the monopoly of Google. Hey, I'm cool with that.

So are you ready to sign up now? Use this link: http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=418618 so that I get a bit of credit for being so convincing. : )

Once you sign up, be sure to install the search bar, so that you'll remember to use it instead of Google. Then start referring your friends, and rack up those bucks!

Happy Swagbucks to all!

Week #2 of free school supplies at CVS

And the free school supplies keep a-comin'...

Unfortunately, my CVS didn't stock up on the scissors and pens, so by the time I got there at 11:30 this morning they were almost all gone! Since mine is a 24-hour store, some women came in at midnight last night to get the deals, according to the cashier. Unbelievable! I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

*Disclaimer: Although I don't have children and thus don't need school supplies, I get them to donate in the fall when my church has a collection for the inner city school children. *

Okay, here's how I did today:

• 4 12-packs of Pepsi products, $12, get $2 ECB
• newspaper, $1
• 3 packs of pens, $0.99 each, get $0.99 ECB each
• 2 notebooks, $0.99 each, get $0.99 ECB each
• 2 glue, $0.99 each, get $0.99 ECB each
• 2 rulers, $0.99 each, get $0.99 ECB each
• scissors, $2.99, get $2.99 ECB
• Gillette Fusion razor, $7.99, get $4 ECB

Total came to $32.89. I used a $5 off $30 CVS coupon, a $2 off $10 in CVS brand products coupon, and a $4 Fusion Mfr. coupon to bring the total down to $21.89. I paid with $21.89 in ECBs (all I had!) and then put the remaining $0.33 tax on a gift card. I got back $17.90 in ECBs. That made my total loss for this trip only $4.32, which a FANTASTIC deal considering I stocked up on sodas for Lance!

Next week there will be even more free-after-ECB school supplies, so be on the lookout for some $/$$ CVS brand coupons at the scanner machine!

Finally some deals worth sharing!

The CVS "deals" have been terrible lately. It's been a month since I even felt like going in there! But this week's ad has some good stuff. Apparently they're jumping into school supplies already. Odd!

The tape and pencils are free-after-ECB on Sunday and Monday only, with a limit of three items each. The pantiliners are free-after-ECB all week, limit one. The Dawn regular dish liquid is on sale 2 for $2, and you get back $1 ECB, so by using two $0.50 Mfr. coupons, you get them both free. And last but not least, select Post cereals are on sale 3 for $10, and get back $5 ECB with the purchase of 3. I had three $2 Mfr. coupons for Trail Mix Crunch (click here and print several by using your back button), so I paid $4 and got back the $5 ECB. Money-maker!

The cherry on the savings sundae was a $4 off $20 purchase coupon I got by email a few days ago. I threw in some Dentek flossers, which were $1.99 a pack after the instant $1 "clip-free" coupon, and I used $1 Mfr. coupon off each pack to make them only $0.99. (That's a great deal for flossers!) Total came to $24.31 before tax. I used the $4/$20 coupon, $9 in Mfr. coupons, and $10.99 in ECBs to get the total down to $0.32 plus tax. I put the $1.13 balance on a gift card, and then walked out with $14.43 in new ECBs. That's a profit of $2.31!

I just noticed that the ECB I got for the pantiliners is $0.99, even though I only PAID $0.89 for them. Gee, I love when they make mistakes like that. : )

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Velveeta deal at Kroger

While cruising through Kroger the other day, I noticed a new "catalina" deal on Velveeta Shells & Cheese.

A little white tag under the item said "Buy 2, get $1 off your next order". The Kraft Deluxe macaroni and cheese said the same thing. I was happy to see that, by buying two at $1.62 each and using a $1.50/2 Mfr. coupon, I would pay $1.74 out of pocket and then get back $1 (in the form of a coupon), essentially making each box only $0.37!

This deal lasts through the first week of July, so print some coupons here, go buy the macaroni two boxes at a time, and keep rolling the deal! (Remember: you can print two copies of the coupon per computer by hitting your browser's back button.)

Dinner

It's fun to go outside and just pick what you need for a meal!

The carrots are still at "baby" size, even though they've been in the ground for a good 70 days, but I decided to eat a few anyway. The three snap peas were the only ones not pecked by the birds (grrr). And the zucchini is my very first one of the season!

I ate most of this raw, but then decided to saute the last bit of the zucchini. It tastes SO much better cooked!

Even though it's late in the season, I decided to try some new things from seed. Today I planted some Minnesota midget melons (cantaloupe), New Zealand spinach, broccoli, soy beans, and swiss chard. I also planted another set of carrots. I want to keep those going all summer long if I can, just 8 at a time.

That's it for me. Hope everyone has a good week!

Free Chocolate Friday!

Click HERE to sign up for a free Mars chocolate bar today and every Friday morning until the end of the promotion! Each household can get up to four candy bars (over four weeks), so go back every Friday morning to sign up for another coupon. But hurry...They go FAST!

Mmm...Chocolate tastes better when it's free...

What's a girl to do with so much time?

Why, make granola, of course!

When perusing a financial blog last week, I ran across a link to a granola recipe that was posted on The New York Times' website. I decided to give it a try today. Here's the recipe for those interested:
Ingredients
-6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cook or instant)
-2 cups mixed nuts of choice
-1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
-1 tsp cinnamon
-dash of salt
-1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup to taste
-1 cup raisins or other dried fruit

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together all ingredients but raisins. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. When browned, remove from pan and add raisins. Store in refrigerator, will keep for weeks.

Boy, did this stuff smells good when baking! After serving up the granola on some vanilla yogurt for our breakfast, I decided to try making homemade granola bars for our breakfasts this week. Here's the recipe (which I tweaked):

Ingredients
-3 cups granola
-1/4 cup honey
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup butter

Combine butter, honey, and brown sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour over granola while stirring. When combined, press into a 8x8 pan lined with wax paper. Cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, then cut into 8 bars. Store in refrigerator for up to a week.

CVS freebies for today

Three weeks later, and there are finally some CVS deals worth blogging about! Thank goodness my CVS takes expired ECBs...Otherwise, I would have been in a tough spot with deals being so scarce.

Here's how things went today:

Bought:

• Playtex Gentle Glide, $3.99, get $3 ECB
• 2 x Band-aids, $2.99, get $2 ECB (limit 2)
• Colgate Total Advanced, $2.99, get $2 ECB
• Revlon nail color, $3.99, get $3 ECB
• Clearasil daily cleanser, $3.99, get $3.99 ECB (FREE!)

Subtotal = $20.94

Coupons used:

• $4 off $20 purchase CVS Q (from scanner machine)
• $1 Playtex Mfr. Q (came with a sample in the mail)
• 2 x $1 Band-aid Mfr. Q (from inserts)
• $1 Colgate Mfr. Q (from insert)
• $1 Revlon Mfr. Q (from insert)
• $1 Clearasil Mfr. Q (from insert)

Total after coupons = $0.46. Tax was $0.60. I put the total of $1.06 on a CVS gift card, and then got back $15.99 in ECBs. That's a profit of $4.45 for today!

For those who may not know, it's easy to find which Sunday insert a particular coupon came in by searching the database here: http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/coupon.php. Looking for the Colgate coupon? Search for "Colgate Total" and see what comes up. Even printable coupons are added to the database regularly, so always check for coupons before making your CVS or Kroger trips!

Back in the game!

I haven't posted much about CVS over the past few weeks due the lack of truly good deals. I made a trip here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. Until today, that is!

Here's today's swag:

Transaction:

• 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, 3/$10, get $5 ECB
• 2 Adidas deodorants, $3.99 each, get $3 ECB each
• 1 Colgate Max Fresh, $2.99, get $2 ECB
• 1 Zantrex energy drink, $4.99, get $4.99 ECB

Subtotal = $25.96

Coupons used:

• $5 off $25 purchase CVS coupon (from email)
• 3 x $1 Kellogg's Mfr. coupons (click here and here to print your own)
• 2 x $1 Adidas Mfr. coupons (from 4/05/09 Red Plum insert)
• $1 Colgate Max Mrf. coupon (from 4/26/09 SmartSource insert)

Subtotal after coupons = $14.96. I paid with $15 worth of ECBs (adjusted down to $14.96) and put the remaining $0.77 of tax on a CVS gift card. I got back a total of $17.99 in ECBs, which makes today's transaction a decent money-maker!

Wow, I love getting paid to take my favorite cereal. : )

And if that wasn't great enough, I was pleasantly surprised to get a $4/$20 CVS coupon at the scanner today...on BOTH our cards! This might be a universal thing, so all you ExtraCare customers out there should run to the nearest scanner machine! Because after all, great deals begin with a great $/$$ CVS coupon.

Now I'm off to do some planting. In the rain. : )

Garden update

Wow. I've been absent for longer than I thought! But here's an update on the garden:

Carrots

Green bean on the left, 3 snap peas on the right, second crop of carrots in front of peas
Zucchini

Spinach in top square, Kale in bottom

As you can see, we divided the bed into square feet with string. That helps me with spacing the plants out. The zucchini will get really big, so it gets its own 3'x2' section.

I have some more pictures of baby lettuce and such, but I can only upload so many at a time.

More updates to follow!

Happy Friday!

Frugal vs. Cheap

Today I was reading a post on http://www.thesimpledollar.com/, and liked what Trent had to say about the difference between being frugal and being just plain cheap:

"A cheapskate always chases the bottom line, regardless of quality of the experience. A spendthrift just takes the first offer that comes along and insists that this is the best way of doing things. On the other hand, a frugal person doesn’t just accept the first offer that comes along. They try to find ways to get that same experience and quality and value for a lower price - or find the best bang for the buck in their lives."

When I think of a cheapskate, the face of one particular person comes to mind. Lance and I laugh about the behavior of this guy, because he can be such a MISER! He is the only person we know who has ever had an electric bill in the single digits. And, boy, was he proud of that...He went without heat all winter (choosing to sleep with hot water bottles instead) just to prove he could.

Sure, I search for ways of "trimming the fat" in my own life, but I won't completely sacrifice the comfort and quality of my life to save a few bucks. Personally, I like heat in the winter. To save money, we simply installed a programmable thermostat, which only heats the house when we're there and turns it down when we're asleep. I actually consider this a luxury item (because I never have to adjust it), but it also saves us a lot of money.

My goals as the homemaker of our little family are to provide an inviting home, good food, and good company to my husband. I find that I can accomplish all of these goals on a much smaller budget than most of our friends, while our quality of life doesn't seem all that different from theirs. This is extremely satisfying to me. And while I may never have an electric bill in the single digits, I use my God-given talents to help us live on less while still having a life of relative abundance. We have everything we need to be happy and fulfilled. That's just enough.

Update: Getting our Finances in Line in 2009

Now that we're through the first quarter of 2009, it's time for a little update:

We finally closed on the mortgage refinance (after a number of irritating set-backs on the part of the two banks involved), so that will help our budget in a big way from here on. That extra $200 of interest we DON'T have to pay now goes into savings!

We are sticking to a stricter monthly budget without really noticing much difference in our standard of living. It has been a nice surprise! Lance has been going out to lunch less and less, but he doesn't complain, which makes things easier on me. That was my biggest concern when we talked about cutting unnecessary expenditures like lunches out...I wasn't sure he'd be on board. But he has been, and that's such a relief!

We paid off Lance's school loan a few months back, and now that monthly payment has been rolled into other debts (my school loan and the home equity line, specifically). We're still on track to have everything but the mortgage paid off by December. And we're still prepaying the mortgage, which should be paid off in 2024.

We're stashing extra funds in our HSBC online savings account, and by the end of the year we should have about six months' worth of living expenses saved up! Having that big emergency fund will take a LOAD off my mind, since by that point we may be expecting. (Who knows?) Best to be prepared!

We added a new goal to the list: Start a Roth IRA by the end of the year. This goal is intentionally loose, since we aren't sure how much we'll have available to invest. I'm hoping to have $5000, but that depends on various factors (like whether Lance will have to take another pay cut, whether we both still even HAVE jobs, etc.). Regardless, we want to diversify our investments and have been flirting with the idea of a Roth IRA for a while. Time to take the plunge!

Our progress towards our financial goals is made even more gratifying because of how well we've done in spite of our recent circumstances. Lance had to take a 10% decrease in pay about a month ago. His company is very small, and business has been suffering. It's just a fact of life these days. But we're blessed that we both still have jobs and make very decent wages. The 10% decrease hasn't hurt us much. We're just that much more determined to stick to a budget and do what we can with what we've been given.

They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. But I say you don't appreciate what you have until what you DON'T NEED is gone. Because of our stricter budget, I've forced myself to make more of our meals at home, and I've been *gasp* enjoying it! I never realized how much joy I could find in my own kitchen. Sometimes I spend hours in there just baking away. And to think I might have never realized my own potential as a cook had it not been for our change in circumstances. We're still living the good life and eating good food (maybe even better?), so it seems that what we no longer have wasn't really needed anyway.

God is good.

Garden update

It’s exciting to see my baby transplants doing SO WELL in the raised bed! So far I’ve transplanted kale, spinach, and snap peas. I direct-sowed some chives and carrots, which are starting to come up. I have a few more plants in containers that are ready to go into the dirt just as soon as we’re past the threat of frost (around April 15th).

And speaking of…We’re in for some freezing temperatures this coming week (down to 30!), so I’ll have to bring in the tiny tomatoes, cilantro, and pepper containers for a few nights. They are all warm-weather plants, so it’s risky to leave them out when it’s so cold. I’m probably being overly protective (which defeats the point of winter-sowing), but I just can’t risk losing my little babies!

Here's a little glimpse of some of them:

Snap peas:

Kale:

Cilantro:

Spinach:

FREE seeds!

Want some free tomato seeds? Click HERE to go to Campbell's website, and then click on "Get Yours Now" on the right hand side of the page. Enter the code information from a can of Campbell's soup, and the seeds are yours!

When you're done with that, click HERE to get more information from MoneySavingMom about how to get a free multi-pack of basil seeds.

I bet those summer tomatoes and homemade pesto taste a lot sweeter when you know you grew them for free.

: )

Seedlings

Look at my itty bitty babies!

From the top there's spinach, shasta daisy, and hollyhocks. The other seeds are germinating, they just aren't tall enough to take pictures of yet. I can't wait to transplant in a few weeks!

Crescent rolls

I got on a baking kick this past week.

First it was banana nut bread made from an old Alabama cookbook. Scrumptious!

Then I decided to make some garlic bread sticks to go with our spaghetti dinner. I've never made these before and didn't have a recipe in mind, so I used the one in the West Bend bread maker pamphlet.

Here's their basic "dinner roll" recipe:

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 Tb milk
• 3 1/2 Tb sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tb butter
• 1 1/2 tsp bread maker yeast (from jar)

I put the stuff in and set it to dough cycle. When the dough was ready, I split it in halves, one for the garlic bread sticks and the other for some kind of dinner rolls.

The sticks I made first, rolling them into little snakes and setting them on a cookie sheet to rise. When they had risen for about an hour, I brushed them with a mix of olive oil, garlic powder, and salt. I baked them at 350 for about 12 minutes. They turned out wonderful, and tasted almost like Olive Garden bread sticks!

While the sticks were rising, I got to work on the rest of the dough. Since we were having company the next night and I was going to serve roast and vegetables, I decided to try making some crescent rolls to go with them.

I split the dough into two balls, then rolled each flat with my handy marble rolling pin (LOVE IT!). Once they were about 1/8 inch thick, I cut each circle into 6 pie-shaped wedges. Then I rolled each wedge like a typical crescent roll, and wet the point to make it lie down.

Here's a picture of the baby crescents ready to go:

I put them in the fridge immediately, and pulled them out the next day after work to rise. After an hour, I put them on the pizza stone, brushed them with melted butter, and popped them in the oven to bake at 350 for about 17 minutes. They plumped up so nicely! When they came out, I brushed them with more melted butter.

That night, we four ate the WHOLE DOZEN of them! I guess they were a hit. Too bad I didn't have one left to take a picture of, though. : )

I'll definitely be using this recipe again. I like that it didn't require a lot of butter, which made the rolls a lot less fatty than their Pillsbury counterparts. Now, I won't say these rolls are HEALTHFUL by any stretch, but they are a good alternative and cost less to boot.

Have a good weekend everyone!

My latest obsession

I like dirt. I like growing stuff in dirt. I like eating stuff that I've grown. So my latest obsession has been the raised vegetable bed. Look it has dirt in it finally!

I'm using a method called "winter-sowing" to plant seeds pre-season. (You can read about it by clicking here...) Typically, Nashville weather doesn't allow for direct sowing until mid-April, due to frequent late frosts. But with winter-sowing, it doesn't even matter what the weather is like. Once the seeds sprout, get a few sets of leaves, and harden off, I'll transplant them into the bed.

I hope this method works, since seeds are SO cheap!

I ran out of take-out containers with lids, so I had to start using old planters. The only issue with this is how to secure the plastic wrap on top. I didn't have any rubber bands big enough around. But I got a great idea, and it worked like a charm.

Do you notice anything odd about these planters?

Perhaps they feel PRETTIER than the other planters? HA HA!!