Monday, August 31, 2009

Meal Plan Monday

Today's Meal Plan Monday! For more meal planning ideas check out Org Junkie here! Oh and just a note - I've decided to go back to the old way of how I post my meal plans (listing how much the meal cost) instead of listing the recipes!

Monday - Turkey Burgers (1 lb. ground turkey $1.00, Bread Crumbs $.25), French Fries ($2.50) Total: $3.75

Tuesday - Bowl'O'Pasta (I know horrible dinner, but they are expiring soon and Tuesday is going to be a quick dinner... .66 cents)
Total: .66 Cents

Wednesday - Chicken Tacos (Chicken 1 lb. .98, Taco Sauce 1.00, Lettuce .75, Tacos .99)
Total: $3.72

Thursday - Chicken Pot Pie (Pot Pie Pastry $2.50, Chicken 1 lb. .98, Fillings 2.50)
Total: $5.98

Friday - Leftovers
Total: $FREE$

Saturday - Pizza (Bought at .99 cents store)
Total: .99 cents

Sunday - Roast Chicken ($3.50 for whole chicken, eat half - $1.75), Noodles ($.75 cents)
Total: $2.50

Total for week: $18.10

New and Revised Schedule!

I've revised my posting schedule ... again - and this time I'm beginning to like it more. Lately I haven't felt too inspired to write anything - and I think it was because I wasn't excited or intrigued by what I was doing ... so I've decided that maybe this schedule will work - and leave me feeling intrigued :D !

Monday - I'll stick with doing meal plan monday, and will probably do a catch-up post of some sort - especially if I didn't post over the weekend.

Tuesday - I've decided to make this day all about freebies and I'll also be linking to Being Frugal's Tightwad Tuesdays - so I'll still keep the tips section...

Wednesday - This day will not be Work-At-Home Wednesday every week, but instead it will be every other week. On the days that I don't post WAWW (Work-At-Home Wednesdays) I'll devote that day to a review - of a product, of a website, etc.

Thursday - This day will still be Thrifty Thursday - but with a greener focus (yes, The Free Central is going green!) and will be talking more about reusing stuff, and repurposing it...

Friday - Will be lots of posts! I'll be posting at least twice - one will be Freebie Friday with Bargain Briana, and the other will be a preview of the next weeks deals from ... CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Pathmark, and on occasion Wal-Mart or Target.

Saturday - Will be focused on one topic every month - so one month it could be about being frugal when traveling, and the next month it could be about becoming frugal!

Sunday - If I do post on Sunday - I'll be doing Kingdom First Mom's $5 CVS challenge, and will be posting pics, etc. of all the deals I got that week!

And of course throughout the week I'll be posting hot deal alerts, freebies, discount codes, and more!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Freebie Friday

Hi everyone -

Here's a quick round-up of this weeks freebies, and later today I will be posting a newly revised schedule for the blog, since I'm not so sure how much I like the current one. Anyway - if you have any suggestions please let me know! Here's a roundup of this weeks best freebies - hope you enjoy (and don't forget to head on over to Bargain Briana for more freebies)!








Free Sample Arm + Hammer Toothpaste (You must MANUALLY copy and paste this link)
http://www.armandhammertrial.com/

Free Sample Aveda Hand Relief Lotion (Must bring coupon to store)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Site of the Day!

Todays site of the day is on a website called Mother Earth News (which I found through one of my favorite books - 573 Ways To Save Money) and they had an article on how to make Artisan Bread (or just bread!) in 5 minutes a day! The process is pretty simple ... make the dough, let it rise for 2 hours - and stick it in the fridge! It makes enough for multiple loaves of bread and when you want to make a loaf - just take some dough out and let it rise for 20 minutes. Here's the link directly to the article - but they also have lots of other different stuff available also!



Mother Earth News - The Main Site

Pathmark!!

Well today I headed over to Pathmark to pick up some groceries - I spent $24.75 and saved $30.17 ! Over 100% saved! Anyway - here's a list of all the stuff I got - for a full list and even more deals check out A Full Cup !

Aunt Jemima Waffles $1.00 each (bought 2)
-.25 Store Coupon

Silk Soymilk $1.49 (bought 1)

Keebler El Fudge $2.34 each (bought 2)
$1.00/2 Printable

Nabisco Munch Pack $1.50 each (bought 2)
$1.00/2 Coupon from 8/23 Insert

Kool Aid Packets .20 cents each (bought 5)

Capri Sun $2.00 each (Bought 2)

Yoplait Yo Plus $3.29 (Bought 1)
Free Coupon - won in sweepstakes :D

Double Mint Gum 3 Pack $1.35 each (Bought 2)

Lunchables $1.50 (Bought 1)
$1.00/1 Coupon from 8/23 Insert

Pathmark Brand 64 Oz. Laundry Detergent $2.88 (Bought 1)

Total: $24.75
Saved: $30.17
Items Bought: 19

Monday, August 24, 2009

Meal Plan Monday

Hello Folks!

Today is Meal Plan Monday! I'm going to try a new format today in which I list the links to the recipe that I'm using! If it's a generic recipe I'll tell you what cookbook I use (a.k.a. hamburgers).

Monday -
Sloppy Joes (Found here: http://tinyurl.com/2kjfoe
Mixed Vegetables (Green Giant Steamers)

Tuesday -
Subway (We go once a month!)

Wednesday -
Chicken Noodle Soup (Frannie Farmer's Cookbook)
Potato Slices (Slice 3-4 potato's very thin and lay them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with some Oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes and up - depending on how done you like them)

Thursday -
Pasta Salad (Boil ANY variety of Pasta, let cool in fridge. Add in any type of vegetable you like and mix in 1/2 cup or more of Ranch dressing in depending on how much pasta you made - presto!)

Friday -

Saturday -
Leftover night!



Sunday, August 23, 2009

CVS $5 Challenge

Hi folks!

Todays the CVS $5.00 Savings Challenge - you can view Kingdom First Mom for even more $5 challenges by clicking here!

Transaction #1 -
Buy 4 Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - $4.00
Receive $2.00 ECB

Total (after ECB): $2.00

Transaction #2 (if going on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday) -
Buy 1 CVS Brand Composition Notebook - $1.00
Buy 1 Speed Stick Deodorant - $2.49
Use $2.00 ECB from Transaction #1
Receive $1.00 ECB

Total After ECB: .49

Grand Total: $2.49 (after ECB)

Recieved: 4 Kraft Mac+Cheese, 1 Composition notebook, 1 Speed Stick Deodorant for $2.50!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Savings Saturday

Well for today's Savings Saturday post I decided that I would compile a list of all of my favorite saving sites, coupon sites, frugal blogs, and work - at - home sites! Recently I had started listing them all - and figured it might make a cool blog post ... so here it goes!


Saving Sites/Coupon Sites
My Bargain Buddy - Online shopping site with tons of online coupon codes - there's a daily newsletter which "alerts" you of the day's top deals. There's also a forum where people can post even more coupon codes and/or sales...

Coupon Mom- My go-to source for anything and everything that has to do with coupons! She has tons of coupons to print, and with *free* membership you get access to over 35 grocery lists - which basically list all the sales going on that week at that store and match it with a coupon! They even tell you which date the coupon came, how much you'll save, coupon amount, and the final price! Pretty simple, and pretty easy! They also have a forum which I highly recommend with even more discussion on coupons, savings, and frugality!

A Full Cup - Another great source for coupons! It's a lot like Coupon Mom- but instead it's just a forum with everyone contributing the deals - and the "moderators" of each forum doing the shopping lists! Great for the more advanced couponer (I think...) since it's not as easy to navigate as Coupon Mom - nonetheless they still have a huge selection of printable coupons, and tons of information!

Coupons.com - This is the place to go to print all your coupons! After installing their "Printer-Software" you're able to print up to 2 copies of each coupon! They normally have over 8 pages of coupons - and some of them have a limit to how many the "public" can print - a.k.a if they have a $1/off pantene - they might only let 1,000 people print the coupon. So it's always a good idea to print them as soon as you see them (they do change every so often).

Smartsource.com - Another printable coupon place - good selection (not as good as Coupons.com) - you can often find a couple really good coupons on their site - I believe there limit is 2 also - and there coupons change every so often as Coupons.com.

Frugal Blogs
Being Frugal - My favorite blog (yes I have a "favorite") that I have been reading forever. They do a great job of doing a little bit of deals, and lots of tips, tricks, and stories! It's a nice break from some frugal blogs - which only cover sales ... they've got it balanced out real well!

Consumer Queen - Another one of my favorite blogs! She has ton's of giveaway's and lots of sale info, frugal ideas, and a great (small, but great) forum where people post the deals each week!

M Network - I would also suggest checking out this site - It's not so much a blog as it is a collection of 8 different frugal blogs (Being Frugal is one of them). You can subscribe to them all as one RSS feed, or you can pick and choose which blogs you like best.

GreatNews RSS Reader - On the topic of "subscribing" - I read about 15-20 blogs daily (not all on frugal - ness :D ) and it's hard to have to visit them every single day - so I downloaded the GreatNews RSS Reader for my computer. Just enter all the URL's for all of your favorite blogs and they will find the RSS feed and set it up for you. Then all you have to do is go in everyday (all your blogs are there) and you just click "Update All" and presto! And best of all... it's *free*

Work-At-Home Sites
Yes... I know what you're thinking more of those fake scams where people get ripped off all the time - don't worry all of these sites are legit (and simple) !

MyPoints - Is a shopping site. Basically when you shop through one of their links (lets say for Barnes & Noble) they might give you 5 points/per dollar spent. So if you spent $25.00 - you would get 125 points. They also often have "bonus days" where you can earn twice as much at stores, etc. The other way to earn points is they send you about 2-3 e-mails a day called "MyPoints BonusMail" where all you have to do is click through the advertisement and they'll add 5 points to your account! So there's an easy 15 points a day (multiply that by 7 and you get 105 points a week, 420 points a month, and you get 5,020 points a year)- it takes about 5,500 - 6,700 points to get a $50 Gift Card to stores like JC Penny, Amazon, etc. They also have gift cards in the lower ranges - but it makes more sense to save up for a bigger one.

Inbox Dollars - Another "e-mail" site. They e-mail you about 3-5 times a day and you get paid about 3 cents an e-mail. They also have surveys available on the site where you can earn some "cash" you can cash out once you have $30.00

Friday, August 21, 2009

Ok... I'm officially back!

Hello Readers (if any are still there)...


I'm so sorry I have been absent in my posting lately - for the past couple of months... Let's just say life has been beyond hectic lately with lots of stuff going on - but it being the summer it has settled down a bit...

Anyway - I'll get back to my regular posting schedule soon - starting tomorrow with Savings Saturday!

Hope all is well - will post soon!