Thursday, June 25, 2009

Free children's movies on Wednesday mornings at participating Showcase Cinemas

Thanks to my friend Cherri, she told me about Bookworm Wednesdays. Check out the right hand links and click on www.nationalamusements.com for more information. I plan to take my kiddos for some free entertainment on Wednesdays!!

Free photo editing class!

Another great one! Click here to learn how you can sign up for a free, two-week photo editing class PLUS a free 30-day trial of Adobe Photoshop! (I'm drooling...)

Hurry! You only have til June 28 to sign up!

Thanks Northern Cheapskate!

Free 2-year subscription to Parent's Magazine


Check this out! Get a free 2-year subscription to Parent's Magazine by clicking here!



Thanks to Coupon Cravings for that one!

Clip, Clip

I just found a great new (to me) website that will help you with your grocery savings. It's called couponmom.com. It's free to sign up, and basically you enter your zip code and they list all the savings in your local grocery stores, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, etc for you plus the coupons that were found in your Sunday papers within the last few weeks. So start saving those coupons girls! You're gonna need them to save, save, save!

**Another challenge - get your Sunday paper (I just signed up for 17 weeks of newspaper delivery...which I said I would never do because I 'never read it' for about $30) at discountednewspapers.com) and start clipping coupons, and clip them ALL! If you want to save money, you may have to deviate from your normal brands occasionally, so start clipping and find a way to organize them by category so they're easy to access.

Can you do it? It does take a little time, but it's worth it to save dollars at the register. I challenge you! Then register at couponmom.com and find out your deals each week. Plan your menu around the deals for the week and remember to make your complete list and stick to it!

Luck to you all! Sharpen your scissors, here's to lots of clipping!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wednesday's Wisdom

Hey kids! Hope your halfway-point is going well. Just a couple of more days! I worked yesterday and today, so I've had a busy couple of days, but they were good days and I always like learning new things like I do often at work.

**Free Kid's Meal at Friendly's!
In this week's Big Y Flyer (at least in MA), Friendly's Ice Cream is buy one, get one free. To receive your free Friendly's meal, do the following:

* Buy the Friendly's sale ice cream
* Receive your silver coin on purchase
* Take your silver coin to the customer service desk to receive your Kid's Meal coupon!

It's that simple!

So today is Wednesday, and Wednesdays are for wisdom. Wisdom, in my opinion, can only come truly from one source, and that is the Bible. One of my new favorite verses is Job 1:20 "Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped".

The story of Job goes that he was one of the wealthiest people in his country at his time; the Lord had richly blessed him. Satan was pretty sure that Job would curse God to His face if he took away everything that God had given him, and God gave Satan permission to test Job, but not to kill him. So he took his house, his 10 children, his livestock and livelihood, his servants, just about everything. Upon hearing of the news, instead of cursing and being angry with God, he fell down and worshiped.

Is this our response to adversity? God knows all, and knows what's for our good, but do we believe it? Do we believe He had our best interest in mind? Job did, and he was prepared for whatever test came his way that the Lord approved for him to endure.

Next time you're going through a test, even a financial test (and we all have those), ask yourself if you think that God has your best interest at heart. In the end, I believe you will know the answer.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Menu Mondays

So here goes...money-saving, life strategies and fun stuff! I'm excited about sharing with you all tricks and tips I've learned as well as you sharing your strategies with the rest of us!

I've been trying to come up with some handy little Titles, like Menu Mondays, Wednesday's Wisdom and Family Fun Fridays, without having to post everyday but also bringing you what you're looking for. I think this should cover most of it, but if it needs to be tweaked, then it will be!

Here's my menu for the week, and one of the all-time money-saving tip for groceries is to make a menu and a list of everything that you will need for the week and only shop once (not necessarily at 1 store, but once/week.) If you run out of milk (except, of course, if you have a baby) make sure you have alternate breakfasts and drinks on hand for that instance. It's hard to get started, but there are oodles of blogs that post menus and you can get ideas from them.

*Let me challenge you for this week or next week...when you go grocery shopping, try to make a list and STICK to it! Don't vary from it one bit, so that will take some planning beforehand. Try to take a coupon or two as well. Can you do it?? Let me know!
Since we're going on vacation next week, I've decided to save my precious cash and not do a major grocery shop this week. I may need a random cucumber or something, but I think I have enough here in the house to survive for the week. So here is my potential menu for the week:

Monday - Nathan's birthday and he chose a good old-fashioned cookout (burgs and dogs with potato salad and chips. Seeing that we had a cookout here over the weekend we have some drinks leftover)

Tuesday - salad with chicken strips that I bought last week from Price Rite or lettuce wraps with pork that I grilled last week.

Wednesday - possibly homemade meatballs that I made a few weeks ago and froze with spaghetti and sauce. Wednesdays are hectic for us, so I try to keep it as simple as possible. I'm also working this Wednesday (I only work 8 days/month as an Orthodontist Assistant, and it's 8 different days each month) so that makes it crazier, considering we have church Wednesday evenings.

Thursday - Probably grilled chicken with grilled zucchini and some rice or potatoes

Friday - Bacon-cheddar oven pancake, fruit

Saturday is usually fend for yourself

Breakfasts
leftover homemade cinnamon rolls from Sunday
Frozen waffles (premade and homemade)
Smoothies
eggs and fruit
toast with peanut butter

Lunch
peanut butter and jelly
hot pockets (for the adults)
salad with chicken strips
cheese and crackers
veggies with hummus and crackers

Do you have a menu plan for the week that you would like to share? Will you take the grocery challenge I listed above? Link up here and let me know!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hi and Welcome!

I'm excited to start this new blog that's been brewing in my cerebellum for some time. I've been thinking about ways to save some money, and in this economy, one can't be too cautious. I've been scouring the internet for money-saving blogs, other moms who are trying to do the same, and there are some outrageous people out there. I'm not trying to pare down my living to ridiculously boring and senseless, I'm just trying to save a buck or two.
Take the challenge with me! From time to time, I'll create some money-saving challenges and let me know if you participate in them! I'll post money-saving tips and you can share yours. Let's make this journey fun, cause face it, saving money isn't always easy, but the challenge can be rewarding!