Cellfire Has Been Reloaded!!

Cellfire is a site that will let you download coupons to the Kroger Family Stores Plus card. There are new coupons that have been listed on the site (just in time for the new ad for the week). This is the last week to get in on the Mega Savings Event at Krogers (check your store for sale details).

Get $5 OFF Your Next Walgreens Purchase of $25 or More Through Saturday, Aug. 29th

Here is a Walgreens Deal that you can't pass up if you are planning on shopping there this week. You can go here and print this coupon on their site and receive $5 off your next purchase os $25 or more through Saturday, August 29th.

Ways To Save Money

Since I started being a WAHM, it gave me time to analyze my spending. I made it a goal to find ways to save money. I have been successful in cutting back and being able to have money saved back for emergencies. I thought that I would share some of those ways with you today.


1. Turn off all appliances when not in use. Things like the coffeemaker, microwave, computers, blow dryers, and phone chargers can use electric even when you are not using them. The microwave constantly uses electric when it has the clock running on it and the computers (even if it is in power saver mode) will use some electric when the power is on. If you do this through out the house you can save some on your electric bill every month.


2. Instead of hiring someone to do your landscaping, do it yourself. I use to hire someone to cut my yard for $40 a week, now I spend $5 a week on gas to cut my lawn myself. I save $140 a month now. I even found out I enjoy doing yard work. My daughter even helps me rake.


3. Pay bills online when available. Most companies have this feature on their websites now and charge nothing for the service. Some bills you can set up automatic withdrawal for free, which is another great way to pay bills without needing to use the post office. You can save money on stamps and envelopes this way.


4. Save money on buying clothes by shopping at thrift or discount stores. Thrift Stores are a great way to find gently used brand name clothes at places like these. Also, check sites like eBay for clothing items. I have found some great clothes this way.


5. Bake your own bread and sweets for your family. Not only will you save money but you will control what ingredients go into them. The savings between the ingredients and the store bought bread and sweets are a huge difference. The ingredients can make several rounds of your favorite bake goods. I make mine every Saturday morning and my daughter loves to help bake. This is a great way to get the kids involved in the kitchen.


6. Instead of going out to eat for lunch or dinner cook in some of your favorites. You can make them for less at home than you can spend on a meal at a restaurant and you can relax in the comforts of home. If you need recipes you can look them up on the internet, there are plenty of restaurant copycat recipes out there for you to remake what you want.


7. Make your own homemade cleaners. You can make cleaners that will do the same thing that the leading brands of cleaning products do. They are cheaper to make, so you will save money. You can find all of the ingredients needed at the local stores. Click here for an article about homemade cleaners.


8. On sunny days, turn off your lights and let natural light in through the windows by pulling back your curtains and blinds. If you do this enough you will start to see a savings on your electric bill.


9. When shopping, use coupons, rebates, and sales ads to save money. You can save a large percentage on your grocery bill when you use all of these together. Make a list when you go shopping and stick to it. I know it is easier done than said, but once you get into a routine, it will become easier for you to manage. Some families shop weekly and some families shop once a month for groceries. Find out which will fit your situation. I shop once a month (except for milk & orange juice) and find that I save money by limiting myself this way. You will need plenty of cabinet space to house your groceries when you choose this method.


10. Get cash back from sites like Big Crumbs when shopping online. Sometimes prices are cheaper on sites online than you will find locally in your stores.

It's Giveaway Tuesday!

List your blog or website GIVEAWAYS here so that others can enter to win. Please keep it family-friendly and enter it as follows:

Prize-Website it is on-Date it ends

This will make it easier for all to find the giveaways that interest them.

Good Luck to all of you!

eBay Selling Coach is Having a Coupon Giveaway!

This a great way to add to your coupon stash. She is going to divde 24 coupon inserts between 2 winners. Two winners will be choosen on Monday, August 31. To enter click here.

Winner of the $30 Kroger Gift Card is......

TxSunLover was lucky #13. Congrats!!! TxSunLover has 24 Hours to respond to my email.

TxSunLover Wrote:

August 22, 2009 3:11 PM
TXsunlover said...
My goal is to save at least 50% on each shopping trip so I'm hoping to save around 65% at the Mega Event.Thanks for the chance to win!proudyaya04 {at} yahoo {dot} com

Kroger Mega Event Sale Gift Card Giveaway

The Kroger Family of Stores is holding a Mega Event Sale between August 16th and Sept 2nd (Click Here to see the participating stores). This sale offers $5 off your ticket for every 10 items purchased from the list of participating brands. There will not be a limit to how many times you can receive this reward. Just look for the double-yellow tags in your local store and make sure to swip your Plus Card.

Participating brands include: AMP Energy, Aquafina, Betty Crocker Baking Mixes, Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks, Cascadian Farms Cereals and Bars, Cap'n Crunch, Cheerios, Cheetos, Chex Mix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Dole Juices and Juice Drinks, Fiber One, Fritos, Gatorade, Golden Grahams, Green Giant, Hamburger Helper, Life , Lipton Tea, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Pepsi family of 2 Liters, Pillsbury, Progresso, Propel, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Quaker Chewy Bars, Starbucks, Sobe Life Water, Totino's, Trix, Tropicana, Yoplait and MORE!

Here is a look at the deals that I picked up last night.

My daughter loves Pizza Rolls when she has friends over on the weekend, so I couldn't pass this up. Hamburger Helper paired with the potatos is a great quick meal for weekdays. We eat biscuits with any meal. (My daughter is a big bread eater)

Soup makes for a fast lunch. We drink a lot of O.J. in our house and I thought that the cinnamon rolls would be a great weekend treat.

This is a great deal on the cereal and me and my daughter both love these cereals. The warm delights are going to be a snack for my daughter's sleep over on Friday night. Quakes have become my favorite go to snack. They are better than the regular rice cake.

Coupons I used were:

Hamburger Helper- 75 cents off 3 boxes

Totino's Pizza Rolls- 40 cents off 2 boxes ( I used two of them) Doubled at register

Grand Biscuits- 40 cents off of 2 cans (I used three of them) Doubled at register

General Mills Cereal (selected assortment)- $1 off of 2 boxes

Betty Crocker Warm Delights- 50 cents off of 1 (used 3 of them) Doubled at register

Pillsbury Sweet Rolls- 40 cents off of 2 (I used 2 of them) Doubled at register

Betty Crocker Potatos- 40 cents off one (This was a shortcut coupon that was on my card)

To maximize Kroger savings along with your Kroger Plus Card, remember to load coupons onto your Plus Card at Shortcuts.com and Unilever Kroger eCoupons

Shopping Trip Totals:

Coupon Savings: $7.55

Plus Card Savings: $32.77

Mega Savings Event Discount: $15

Total Savings: $55.32

I spent: 29.45

As you can see this sale offers a big savings. Now for the giveaway....

GIVEAWAY

PepsiCo & General Mills have teamed up with My Blog Spark to offer me and 1 of my lucky readers a $30 Kroger Family of Stores Gift Card.

Rules:

1. Your entry should be in by Sunday night (8/23/09) at Midnight CST

2. Leave me an email address so that you can be notified of your win

3. I will announce the winner on Monday 8/24/09 before 10am CST

4. The winner will have 24 hours to respond before another winner is choosen

How to Enter:

1. Leave me a comment below letting me know how much you think you can save on your next trip one of the Kroger Family Stores?

For Additional Entries You Can Do the Following Task:

2. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know (if you are already a follower leave me a comment letting me know)

3. Subscribe to my blog (if you are already a subsriber leave a comment letting me know)

4. Grab my Blog Button and leave me a link to the website or blog

5. Talk about this giveaway on your site or blog and leave me a direct link to the post.

6. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter and leave me your Twitter ID

7. Stumble Upon or Digg this giveaway and leave me your username

It's Giveaway Tuesday!

List your blog or website GIVEAWAYS here so that others can enter to win. Please keep it family-friendly and enter it as follows:

Prize-Website it is on-Date it ends

This will make it easier for all to find the giveaways that interest them.

Good Luck to all of you!

Freebie Friday!!

Everyone loves to get free stuff, right? So here are some freebies that I found today and thought I would share them with all of you. If you know of any other freebies that are not listed please leave a comment for all to see.

Nature Valley Trail Mix Bar & Nut Clusters
http://freesample.naturevalley.com/NatureValley/Default.aspx?source=14181

Free Country Music Downloads from People.com
https://www.peoplecmg.com/countryplaylist

Free Savings Book & Calendar from Kraft
http://www.nabiscoworld.com/back-to-school

Free Nestle Coupon Book
http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid75438.aspx

Join the Nature's Path Panel
http://www.naturespath.com/panel

Get Parenting: School Years Magazine for $5 for a Year!

Amazon is currently offering a year subscription to Parenting: School Years for only $5 for a year subscription, that is like 0.45 cents per issue. This offer expires August 15th so get it now before it expires.

School Has Finally Started!

Summer vacation feels like it flew by. My daughter has been in school for 3 days now and the house is so quiet. I know most people would enjoy it (and sometimes I do) but I miss her being around. Seeing her get dressed her first day back made me realize how much she is growing up. She is in third grade this year and is showing more signs of her independence and not needing my help as much to do things. I guess you could say that I am realizing my baby is not a baby anymore. I guess that you can tell that she is an only child. She will be nine in November, it is so hard to believe that she will be a teenager in four years. Her vocabulary is expanding daily it seems. Sometimes I stop her and ask, "Do you know what that word means?", and to my surprise she does. Well she will be home in three and half hours so I better get some work done. I am definately glad that I am lucky enough to be working at home so that I am here when she gets off the bus. Till next time.........

It's GIVEAWAY TUESDAY!

List your blog or website GIVEAWAYS here so that others can enter to win. Please keep it family-friendly and enter it as follows:

Prize-Website it is on-Date it ends

This will make it easier for all to find the giveaways that interest them.

Good Luck to all of you!

P.S. After checking out this list check out the last Mr Linky for more giveaways.

New Place to Print Coupons Online

All You magazine is a great place to find coupons, recipes, sweepstakes, and tips for you and your family. It is my favorite magazine out there. There is always a great recipe section, I have tried several of them and had success. There is always great articles that are relevant to women that are stay-at-home and work outside the home. All You also has a website that is full of great information along with a daily savings blog, where they share any great deals that they come across. You can also go to their website and find printable coupons. If you are not a subscriber you are missing out. If you are a subscriber you know exactly how great the magazine is. Share with my readers how you feel about All You by leaving a comment.

How Do You Organize Yourself To Go Shopping?

Saving money at the grocery store is a concern for more and more households since the economy took a turn for the worse. I have had people stop me in the grocery store and ask do I really save money with my coupons and if it was worth the time and effort to use them. When one lady that looked to be in her 50's stopped and asked why I even bother, I asked her wouldn't she like to save upward of 45% of your grocery bill. She then said that she didn't believe that coupons could save you that much and that they are not worth the paper that they were printed on. I later noticed that she was behind me in line and when the cashier was finished ringing I asked her what my total was before coupons and she said $145.88 and then she rang up all the coupons and said that my new total was 61.23. I looked at the lady behind me and said that those worthless coupons just saved me over $80. While I was loading my groceries into the car she walked up and asked how I organize my coupons. I told her that I suggested The Couponizer system. It makes it easy for people to get organized enough to save each time at the register. If you don't have an organizational method for your household shopping, check out The Couponizer. It offers shopping lists, coupon organizational sleeves, a place to put your stores loyalty cards, a savings tracker, a CoupStacker, scissors, and a carrying bag.

For all of my readers, how do you keep organized for your household shopping? Do you use The Couponizer, a 3-ring binder, coupon wallet, or something that you created. Share with all of us here by leaving a comment.

Get In On Say Nation's Monthly Raffle Now!

If you are a member of Say Nation, make sure to take advantage of the 99th Survey. For every attempted 99th Survey you earn an entry into the raffle. The 99th Survey usually appears every couple of days at the bottom of your available survey list on the website. At the end of every month a member will be drawn and will win 99,999 points. It is that simple. If you are not a member join today and start taking the surveys at Say Nation.

Do You Have Any Old Cell Phones?

If you do, then trade them in for Swagbucks and get DOUBLE the Swagbucks during the month of August. This is a great way to recycle and earn something for your efforts. All that you have to do is be a member of Swagbucks and go to lookup your cell phone on their site under "Trade In". Once you have located your cell phone in the directory and decide to accept the number of Swagbucks that they are offering you for the phone, click "Trade In Your Phone" . You will then be able to print a pre-paid shipping label and trade-in reciept. They pay for shipping your phone to them. You will receive your Swagbucks when your phone is received.

What a summer!

Sorry for my absense. I have been so busy with my daughter this summer. She had to have some dental work done for an overcrowded mouth. We went to Chucky Cheese at the beginning of the summer. We had so much fun together. We stayed there for about 3 or 4 hours and she wound up getting around 1000 tickets from winning the games to cash in for a prize. We had so much fun together that day, She also has been keeping me busy with wanting to swim everyday. We got a bigger pool this year (it even has a pump) and it requires more maintence than any other pool we have ever had. My work that I do from home has also been hectic. This summer feels like it has just flown by. My daughter registers for school tomorrow and starts next Monday. I have already did all of our school clothes and supply shopping, all that I will have to buy now is anything new that the teacher adds to the supply list. It is hard for me to believe that my baby is already going into 3rd grade, it feels like just yesterday she was starting Kindergarten. I will be posting some more later today. I hope all of you are having a fun and safe summer.