Free Martha Stewart Living Magazine Subscription

Hurry and sign up for a free 1 year subscription to Martha Stewart Living magazine!

Until recently my husband thought I was paying for all the magazine subscriptions that come to our house. Not true! I like to take advantage of all the free magazine subscriptions I find. I love to read magazines for the recipes and tips. They're also great for crafts. When they're free I won't hesitate to let my little ones cut them up when I'm done.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Target: Free $10 Gift Card with Purchase

A facebook friend just alerted me of this Target coupon! Pair it with some deals this week at Target for even more savings. I suggest printing your coupon right away because these coupons expire Saturday, December 10!

Don't forget to use your Target Red Card to save 5%. Bring your own bag to save another 5 cents. (I told you I was thrifty! lol)

My Facebook Resale Shop

I recently started a home-based business on Facebook. It all started when I read Yard Sale Mommy's blog post about consignment sales. I had never heard of a consignment sale but I knew I could find lots of items to sell out of my boys' closets. I also picked up some nice things from some recent yard sales. Next, I looked up the nearest consignment sale in my area through Consignment Mommies. I pressed, hung, and tagged all my items before hauling them to next town over for the sale. It was a small consignment sale and I didn't sell nearly as much as I had hoped. That's when I started thinking about other ways to sell my items. I found one other person in my small town selling children's stuff on Facebook and knew I could do the same. I set to work right away setting up a page on Facebook. I started the page at the end of August and since then have sold over 200 items! I now offer consignment services and have hand-crafted items for sale too. I'm excited to be shipping items as well. So if you're on Facebook check out my page and tell me what you think! Thanks!

Friday Finds

Most garage sales in my area start on Saturday but you can catch a few on Friday too. I love Friday sales because that means it's one less sale I need to squeeze in on Saturday morning. The boys and I were headed to the park so I stopped at a few yard sales on the way. Look what I found...

It's Squawkers!

As soon as I saw this parrot I knew it was FurReal's Squawkers. I paid $7 for him even though he was missing his cracker and perch. Check out what he sells for on eBay. He sells for even more with his perch and cracker.

I picked up the game for my little dinosaur lover. I don't usually pay so much for a board game ($2) especially when the box is in bad shape but I thought the dinosaur figures were so cute. I only found one auction for them on eBay.

Finding Treasure In Another's Garage

I love free stuff, especially if I can sell it for a profit. My sister-in-law did some serious cleaning out of her garage. She was kind enough to let me look through her donation pile when she was finished. I found a few things with resell potential.

Disney Movies!

We love Veggie Tales!

Yes, people still buy movies on VHS. Take a look at some eBay listings here and here.

Good item for upcoming kids' consignment sale.

Most of these books show no sign of ever being read.



These are going to the consignment sale too.

I also brought home a dragon costume, computer learning games, acrylic display cubes, and a set of brand new dishes that I plan to sell. Next time a friend or family member is cleaning out their garage go and take a peek. You never know what you'll find.

Yard Sale Finds: Name Brand Kids Clothes for 25 cents

I love my iPhone's capabilities!

I learned 3 good lessons about yard sale hunting this week.

The first...Get a good night's rest the night before! I had worked late on Friday and then stayed up even later making a list of the yard sales on Craigslist and our local newspaper. I had to hit the snooze on my 6:15 am alarm a few times before I had the energy to climb out of bed. I was feeling good for the first few yard sales but then the grogginess set in and my brain turned to mush. I have a feeling I passed over a few good deals.

The second lesson I learned was not to trust that the newspaper's online list of garage sales is up-to-date. After talking with a fellow yard sale-er I found out that a Friday edition of our local paper had a much longer list than what was on the website. Grrrr! Of course because of the grogginess I was feeling I wouldn't have made it them anyway.

Third lesson, when yard sale-ing in Florida in July...wear a tank top! It was so humid and hot out! After weeding through a pile of books (4 for $1!) and getting bit by ants, I decided to hit just two more yard sales and call it a day. ( Side note: I really need to learn more about selling books online.)

A few items were 50 cents but most were 25 cents!

I ended up finding name brand children's clothes (Gap, The Children's Place, Carter's...) at both sales. It would have been great if they had had more boys' clothes but they didn't. I bought all that I could with the hopes of trying my hand at consignments sales.

For J-bird "The Children's Place" Outfit $1

Feeling a little better about the morning not being a total loss I headed home. The A.C.'d house felt so good! It was just what I needed to feel like myself again. I couldn't help check the Craigslist app on my iPhone one more time for yard sales. There was a benefit sale right up the road!

Every piece of Little People item $5, Leapfrog fridge phonics $1, Little Tikes beach ball $1

Little People pieces galore!

Now I just need to figure out the best place to sell them.

I'm linking up with Yard Sale Mommy, Her Library Adventures and My Life on a Taffy Pull.

Specially Marked Boxes

One of these things is not like the other!

Publix had Mini-Wheats buy 1 get 1 free this last week. My sister had a $5/5 coupon and I had a $1 off fruit coupon when you buy 2 Kellogg's cereal. We decided to combine our coupons and split the deal since our stockpiles had some cereal already. We ended up paying $1.25 a box which is a higher than my usual "buy" price. As I was putting the boxes away I realized that 2 of them mentioned a promotion on the front. I had already bought 2 specially marked boxes a few weeks ago (Harris Teeter Triples!) and had already entered their codes online.

Now I have enough to redeem for a $5 prepaid Visa card for gas or $5 in movie concession cash!

So...
Next time you're at the store, check for specially marked packages when making your selections. I especially like the ones that mention "coupons inside".

Recyclebank

I just earned 210 points by participating in Recyclebank's "Green Your Vacation" contest. You can too!

Here's how:

1. Sign up for a new account or log in to an existing account.
2. Click on the "Green Your Vacation" play now button.
3. Click on the "Travel", "Beach", "Camping" or "Staycation" tab at the top.
4. Click on the flying objects and follow the instructions. Sometimes you have to make a pledge. Other times you answer multiple choice questions or download a check list.
5. Click the "get my points" button and the points will be added to you account.

If this is your first time on Recyclebank or you haven't visited in awhile, check the "Earn Points" tab for more offers. The points can be redeemed for different rewards including COUPONS!

Thanks Moneysavingmom!

(The links in this post are my referral links.)

Fresh Fruit At Low Prices

Rainier cherries, blueberries and mangoes

I usually only buy a fruit when it is at it's lowest price. This happens coincidentally when it's in season. Bananas are the exception for me since they are usually very reasonable. (Keep an eye out for marked down brown bananas which are great for banana bread.) This week Publix had some produce at my "buy" prices.

The blueberries were on sale for $1.50 a pint. We like adding them to our cereal, yogurt and smoothies. They are also great in muffins and pancakes. At this price we buy extra to freeze and use later.

Mangoes were on sale for 89cents each. I buy them when they are $1 or less. We eat them cut up in cubes for a snack. I will use them in smoothies this week too.

Rainier Cherries were buy 1 get 1 free making them $2.99 for a 1 pound container. These are a new fruit to us.

Today is the last day to get these prices at our store on Amelia Island. If they are sold out be sure to stop by the customer service desk and request a raincheck. Rainchecks let you get the item for the sale price at a later time. Each grocery store has different policies on how long rainchecks are good so check with your store.

Remember that you can get these deals at Walmart too (if a Publix is near by) since they price match.

There are some produce that I don't know the best price to buy them at yet. I plan to start tracking those prices and adding them to my price sheet.

Eating from the stockpile



Simple lunch


Today's lunch was simple but what I liked about it most was that it came from my stockpile.

Yesterday I did some "shopping" in my freezer to prepare for this week. I pulled out the things that we had run out of in the fridge:

Bread- I bought it when it was buy 1 get 1 free. It defrosts in the fridge overnight. It tends to be a little stiff afterwards but after about 10 seconds in the microwave it's just right.

Ham- Bought for $1.50 after sale and coupons.

Turkey and Provolone Cheese- Purchased at Harris Teeter. Buy 2 Get 3 free.

The only item I purchased this week was the fresh spinach. (Publix $2) The Pepperidge Farm cracker chips, mayo, and pickles are all things I keep a stock of on my pantry shelf.

So...
Stock up on your weekly used items when they are on sale. If you do this, then everything you need for a simple lunch is always within arms reach.

Kids Eat Free Today Only (July 18, 2011)

Chili's is feeding the kids again for FREE with this coupon. The fine print says you can get up to 2 kids meals free per Adult Entree. Offer valid for kids 12 and under. We like getting ours to go. Brian and I will share their Monteray Chicken and then both kids get their own meals. We use a savings card we bought from the local pop warner players to get free chips and salsa too. If you're dining in you can get free chips and salsa by sitting in the bar area.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

CVS: My shopping trip for the week of July 17-23, 2011

I gave my sister the toothbrushes before I took the picture.

I had $11.99 in CVS bucks expiring and wanted to "roll" as many as possible. There weren't many "freebies" this week so I pulled out all of my rainchecks to come up with a scenario. This is what I came up with:

2 Oral-B Indicator Toothbrushes (not pictured) $1.99 x 2 = $3.98
2 Crest Kid's Toothpastes $1.99 x 2 = $3.98
2 T.G. Lee gallon Milk (rainchecks) $2.79 x 2= $5.58
1 Nivea for Men (raincheck) $4.99

Coupons used:
$2/2 Oral-B Indicator Toothbrush coupon from 7/3 P&G insert
2- 75cents Crest Toothpaste coupon from 6/5 and 7/3 P&G insert
$2 Nivea for Men coupon from 6/5 RP
$5.99 Extra Care Bucks
$3.00 Extra Care Bucks
$3.00 Extra Care Bucks

Had my Green Tag scanned.

Subtotal: $1.04
Tax: $0.91
Total Out Of Pocket: $1.95

Extra Care Bucks Earned: $2, $2, $1, $1, $5, $1 (green bag tag) for a total of $12

Thanks to my rainchecks I was able to "roll" all of my Extra Care Bucks! Now you see the importance of asking for a raincheck when your store is out of all those "freebies".

lTo see all of the coupon matchups for this go here.

What did you get at CVS this week?

Yard Sale Finds: Dinosaurs, Stride Rite and Highlights

Toys

Yay! Another Saturday  morning spent yard sale-ing with my sister! I found some good priced toys. The boys will get to enjoy the Little Tikes B.C. Builder Dinosaurs for a little bit while I prepare to list them on eBay. My little J-bird was excited to see puzzles he can add to his puzzle shelf. A couple of the Dinosaur Morphs were incomplete but there are still enough pieces to make some interesting creatures.



Gymboree Shirt $2, Stride Rite Shoes 50 cents each, bags and belt FREE


J-bird is going to look so cute in this shirt! I don't find a lot of boys' clothes at garage sales. When I do find something I get it, even if the boys aren't ready to wear it yet. I almost missed out on the Stride Rite shoes. I had passed them up at $2 each earlier in the day but after I told my husband about them he drove us back to check them out again. To my surprise they had been marked down to 50 cents each! I grabbed both pair even though they were the same size. Little B will probably be able to wear them some and then they will get passed down to J-bird. I picked up the belt for my little sister. I found it in a box marked "free". If she doesn't like it then I think I have something else in mind to do with it. The last garage sale on our list was generous enough to pack my goods in reuseable bags. I heart free reuseable bags!



Thrifty Homeschool Stuff


Little B will be starting his Kindergarten work at home next month. I've been steadily gathering things for cheap to help us not break the bank our first year. I got all 30 Highlight books for only $1. I have some ideas on how to use them that I'll post soon. I got the textured alphabet cards for $2 which is much cheaper than Amazon. Those are mostly for J-bird. I couldn't resist the bag of mini blocks for 50 cents. (Yes, they can be a choking hazard but they'll only be used under supervision. Promise.) I'm already brainstorming ideas for them. The books ranged from 10 to 50 cents but I did fork over a buck for the Mo Willems book. I found the Leap Frog Tag system on my return trip for the Stride Rite shoes. It was only $2! It came with an additional book too. I'll be keeping an eye out for more now.
I almost forgot...

Chomp Chomp!

My new Gator lunch bag! I had to snap a quick picture with my iPhone. It's worth way more to this family than the 50 cents I paid for it.

I'm linking up with Yard Sale Mommy and Her Library Adventures.

Thrifty Finds: Books and Legos!

Earlier in the week the boys and I ventured out treasure hunting (that's our code word for yard sale-ing lol). I was looking up the garage sales on the Craigslist App and found one that had just started that morning. The ad listed Legos and Lego table so I quickly got the boys ready and headed out the door. I tried not to get my hopes up that the Legos would still be there since the sale had started a few hours ago. To my surprise they were both still there! The lady was asking $12 for the table and BIG bag of Legos. I knew it was a great deal for my little Lego lovers so I snatched it up.



I didn't get a picture of the bag of Legos before its contents were dumped out. :-)

 
 I found something brand new to put away for Chirstmas too.

Diego Mega Bloks $3

There were several boxes of children's books priced just right (10 to 50 cents) so I grabbed an armful. Since we were feeling lucky we stopped at my other favorite source for cheap books, Goodwill. After some digging we found some popular titles: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Madeline, Don't Let the Pigeon... and a few others.

We were excited to check out our treasures when we got home. We dumped the big bag of Legos first and found not only LOTS of Duplo blocks but also several special pieces like people, animals, a boat and a mega bloks train. I can't wait to hear the boys' adventures during playtime. (After I clean the legos of course!)



The special items that hadn't disappered into the playroom yet.



I was inspired to get back to selling on eBay after reading some posts by Yard Sale Mommy. A few years ago my husband and I had some success ($1,000 in 6 weeks) selling new toys on eBay during Christmas time. Business is slow at work so I'm going to try my hand at selling used toys this year. My sister and I hit the yard sales on Saturday on the hunt for inventory. I only found one thing but it's a beauty.



Ryan's Room:  Home Sweet Home




3 floors of fun




Furniture included


As soon as I got home I searched the internet (using Swagbucks) to find out more about the dollhouse. It turns out it's called Home Sweet Home by Ryan's Room and it's discontinued. I've decided to wait to sell it closer to Christmas after reading this blog post.

My other finds were more inexpensive books for the boys. I was especially excited about the almost new phonics readers for 50cents per set!



Goodwill and Yard Sale book finds.



I'm looking forward to next weekend's treasure hunt.

I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl.

Brian broke his hand!

On Friday, Brian broke his right hand while at work. He works for Rob Hamilton, his brother-in-law, of Hamilton Heat & Air. The accident happened while he was drilling a hole using a corded drill. The paddle bit caught in the wood and stopped but the drill continued to rotate along with Brian's hand. His sister took him to Solantic to get an x-ray. They referred him to an Orthopedic surgeon so now we are waiting to get an appointment to find out how it will be repaired. Please pray for a speedy recovery. Thanks!

Sneaking in the Veggies

My boys are really picky eaters, especially when it comes to vegetables. Sometimes I sneak them into different dishes. Last night I made mashed potatoes (it's a hit-or-miss too!) and snuck in some cauliflower. I steamed a whole head then pureed half to add to the potatoes. I did still offer them the florets with just a little butter, garlic salt and pepper. To my surprise, Little B tried the cauliflower without being asked and said it was terrific! He even asked for a second helping. He wasn't as excited about the mashed potatoes. J Man had the opposite reaction. He had no problem eating up the mashed potatoes but only tried a little of the cauliflower.

For lunch today I pulled out the Organic mac and cheese box and pureed Organic carrots (aka baby food). The boys aren't too familiar with eating mac and cheese from a box so they really didn't have any expectations. I  followed the directions on the box and when it was time to add the cheese mixture I added half the pouch of carrot puree. They both finished their bowls without any suspicions. I ate some too and could barely notice the carrots. Next time I think I'll try adding the whole pouch.

Win a Goodbyn Lunch Box

My friend Linsey is running a contest on her blog and the prize is an orange Goodbyn Lunchbox! She is asking for suggestions for a subtitle or tag line for her blog. Check her post for all the details. I have one Goodbyn but would love one more for Jace. While you are there take a look at all her cute ideas for making healthy bento lunches for your family. Contest ends January 25th. Good Luck!

Amazon $20 Gift Card for $10 (or possibly FREE)

Living Social is offering a $20 Amazon gift card for only $10. This deal is only good for today. You should recieve an email letting you know when your gift card is ready tomorrow. I believe the gift card will be a code that can be added to your Amazon account and used whenever you shop next.

$10 is a good deal but free is better! When you purchase your gift card, Living Social will give you a link to share with your friends. If three of your friends buy today's deal then your deal is FREE!

All my Swaggernaut friends can earn 280 Swagbucks for getting this deal. Here's how:

• Log on to Swagbucks
• Click on the "Special Offers" tab on the lefthand side
• Once on the Special Offers page, click on the "Trialpay" tab at the top.
• Scroll down the page until you see the "Living Social" offer and click through to their site. (A different deal was featured on my page but it still worked.)

Your Swagbucks will be credited right after you make your purchase.

Free ebooks from Kaplan, Today Only!

I just found out Kaplan is offering FREE ebooks and today is the last day. They are available for the following e-readers: Barnes and Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and Sony eReader.

If you are like me and don't have any of those readers you can still take advantage of this freebie. Download Kindle for PC and you can read the ebooks on your computer. The Apple iPhone also has a free Kindle app for that!

The ebooks that I downloaded right away were The Teachable Moment: Seizing the Instants When Children Learn and Math for Moms and Dads: A dictionary of terms and concepts...just for parents. See a full listing of the ebooks available here.

Thank you Freely Educate!

Attacking the Clutter





Before and After



It's Monday and that means another round of "Around the House" for me. This is the third week that I've played this game at my house and it has been paying off.

My game plan:

I've divided my house into 12 areas: Living room, Kitchen/Nook, Dining room/Entryway, Playroom, Braden's room, Jace's room, Laundry area, Computer room, Master bedroom, Master bathroom, Guest bathroom and Garage. I set my timer and spend 15 minutes in each of these areas decluttering/organizing. The timer really helps me not to get obsessive about one area and as FlyLady says "You can do anything for 15 minutes." I normally try to concentrate on one area at the top of every hour (9:00, 10:00, 11:00 etc.) and can usually double up during nap time if I get off schedule.

Doing this every Monday has helped my week get off to a good start. It's also helped attack any clutter that's accumulated during our weekend. As the weeks pass I'm sure I won't need the full 15 minutes in each area. I look forward to that day! That's my plan for getting rid of the clutter in my home. It's time to start my timer again so that's all for now.

FREE Egg Beaters coupon

Sign up for a coupon for FREE Egg Beaters! They usually only give out a certain number of these so request yours right away. The coupon comes in the mail and will take up to 4 weeks. I have used Egg Beaters in the past to make omelets but I really didn't care for them. I plan to use mine to bake something for the boys.

Thanks Southernsavers!

Winter Jam 2011

The Hubby and I are headed to the Winter Jam concert tonight in Jacksonville at the Memorial Arena. It's the largest annual tour of Christian music and tickets are only $10! We've gone almost every year since I was preggo with our first. (Side note: Not sure if that has anything to do with his  love of music. lol) The concert starts at 7:00pm but the Hubby wants to be there at 6:00pm when the doors open. He likes to hear every song including the up-and-coming artists who play at the beginning. This concert always renews my soul and date nights are good for a marriage. It's a win-win!

The Beginning...

Welcome family and friends to my new blog. This is my second attempt at a blog. I started my first blog 2 years ago and only kept it for a few months. It was based solely around couponing. If you know me then you know I love a bargain and I soon became just a little obsessed with couponing. It wasn't to the extreme that was portrayed on TLC's Extreme Couponing Show but it was consuming too much of my time and thoughts. I was going to try to revamp that blog but decided I wanted a fresh start instead.

I'm on a quest to find balance in my life. I can be just slighty obsessive (lol), so this will be no easy task for me. I'm hoping this blog will help me stay accountable while staying connected to my family and friends. If I contribute a little to the household income through affiliate links at the same time that's fine too. Enjoy!