Toddler Thursday - Firework Craft!

I Can Teach my Child has a great salt-absorbing firework craft! This should be VERY frugal because I can't imagine most people don't have all these items already at home in your cabinet.

Wacky Wednesday - Meetings

 

from funny-potato.com

Tuesday Tips - Saving on ebay purchases

I would have NEVER thought of this tip, but it makes sense! Curious yet? MoneySavingMom shares a reader tip on how to possibly save on ebay purchases!

Awesome Coupon Alert!

Click here to print a BOGO FREE Coupon for McDonald's smoothie's, frappe's or new strawberry lemonade - one of the first two are my favorites!!! Enjoy!

Monday Meals - Monster Cookies

One of the most important parts of the meal for me is the . . . dessert! These are so delicious!!! Doesn't just looking at that picture make you want to run to the kitchen and make these monster cookies?

I had never heard of these but had all the ingredients minus the M&M's and you don't have to tell me twice to go buy some of those!

It is also fantastic you only use one bowl to mix all the ingredients . . . here is the list of ingredients you need then click here to follow picture by picture instructions:

1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
4 1/2 cups oats
1 cup M&M's
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Freelance Friday - Saving for a project

 I love this article I found on MoneySavingMom: "Learning Good Stewardship From a Change Jar." It tells, in a much more articulate way than I could, why it's good to "save up" for something even if it takes a long time. Bravo for a great article!

Toddler Thursday - Duplo's into beginning reading aids

This is a great article for repurposing duplos into beginning spelling and reading aids. Plus, since garage sale season is upon us, be on the look out to get these for cheap if you don't have any!

OR for younger ones:
Check out this article on how to make animal mix up legos!

Wacky Wednesday - Can You Hear Me?

An old man was wondering if his wife had a hearing problem. So one night, he stood behind her while she was sitting in her chair. He spoke softly to her, "Honey, can you hear me?" There was no response.

He moved a little closer and said again, "Honey, can you hear me?" Still, there was no response. Finally, he moved right behind her and said, "Honey, can you hear me?"
She replied, "for the third time, yes!"

Tuesday Tips - Buying Organic

I am not one who only buys organic but am one who tries to find balance (ha!) in feeding my family healthy and frugal items. We buy organic and non organic items trying to stick to the fresh foods or the "perimeter" of the grocery store where your fresh foods are sold. My main goal is to make sure that my kids know what is healthy and what is not so as they get older they can make wise decisions.

Keeping the Kingdom First had a great article this week the new Dirty Dozen for 2011 and the Clean Fifteen. Use these list to help you make informed and frugal decisions that will produce healthy results for your family!

Monday Meals - Some more freezer meal ideas

About a month ago, we posted about a great website with "Once a Month Freezer Cooking".

If that interested you, then you'll definitely want to check out this article about how Natalie prepared 46 meals in 4 hours! Amazing! This definitely makes me want to try it out . . . although I also wonder if there is a place in Rockford where I could get meat as cheap as she does!

Freelance Friday - Cucumber Water

In the summertime, I always want a refreshing healthy drink and water just seems too boring so here is a healthy alternative:

Cucumber water . . . just slice a cucumber and drop a couple slices in one glass of water and enjoy. I will sometimes fill a pitcher and drop a half of a cucumber sliced up in the pitcher and leave it in the fridge. Adds just a little flavor to your water without all the calories and added sugar!

Enjoy!

**SOLD OUT**It's ba-ack! Old Navy Groupon: $20 for $10

Amazingly enough, the Old Navy Groupon (pay $10 for $20) is back! Remember that you'll need to use it by July 31st! Enjoy!

Toddler Thursday - Hands on abc's

Here is a fun easy and cheap way to help make the alphabet fun for you kids!

12 pk of Pepsi for $0.99 at CVS - TODAY ONLY

Today only at CVS, scan your card to get a coupon for a Pepsi 12pk for $0.99!

Wacky Wednesday - Bad Candy

$1/1 Shout Product

Print $1/1 Shout product coupon here. Then go to Target's travel section and get a 4 pk of Shout for FREE!!

Tuesday Tips - Traveling with kids

Are you going on a road trip this summer? Do you have kids? Then you'll definitely want to read these 3 great articles by MoneySavingMom on "How to Have a Successful Road Trip With Young Children"

Be Organized When Packing (full of great tips)

Pack An Emergency Box (so practical!)

Bring Some Good Books & Audio

What tips do you have for traveling with kids?

Monday Meals - HG's BLT Pizza

Have you ever heard of Hungry Girl? Check out who she is here.

We tried her HG's BLT Pizza, recipe here, and it was delicious. She also includes the Weight Watchers points for all her recipes.

Freelance Friday - Re-purposing Baby Wipes and Food Containers

Now that I have a baby (who is already 3 months old - where does time go?), I'm finding that we go through LOTS of stuff. Diapers, wipes, clothes, formula, etc. And then in a few months it will be food jars / containers. Although I plan on making a lot of my own baby food (that's the plan - we'll see how that goes), I know I'll also be buying some store bought stuff for "emergency" use.

Anyway, all that to say that there is a lot of waste produced for such a little person. There are many ways to reduce the waste such as cloth diapers and wipes and making your own food. But there are also other ways: by re-purposing many of the containers these items come in! Here are some ingenious ways to use these containers we so often throw away!

Glass baby food jars (by Repurposeful)

Baby food containers (by Common Sense With Money)

Diaper boxes (by Positively Splendid)
These are SO cool - I so want to make these!

Baby wipe container (by a simple heart for home)
Be sure to read the comments too for more ideas!

What are some of your ideas for reusing these items? Share away! I need more ideas!!!

Toddler Thursday - Customizable Tracer Pages

Check out this great feature on DLTK's website. . . You can create your own customizable tracer pages for free. I love these for creating your child's name . . . all uppercase like they learn in Kindergarten or uppercase and lower case also you can choose between a few pictures to print on the page.

**Print limit reached** $3/1 Huggies coupon

**Expired - print limit reached**

Looks like the $3/1 Huggies coupon has reset and you can print 2 per computer again! This would make for a good deal on Huggies at Target this week!

Target: Buy 3 Huggies jumbo packs at $8.99, get a $5 gift card
3 packages = $26.97
Use (3) $3 coupons = $17.97
Get a $5 GC back = $12.97 (before tax)

That's like paying $4.32 (before tax) per package (about $0.10/diaper for size 2, or $0.12 for size 3)! Even if you can only print 2 of the coupons that's $5.32 per package!

Father's Day Photo Idea

The Amazing Mess has an adorable Father's Day photo idea check it out here . . .depending on how many kids you have you may really need to get creative

Wacky Wednesday - Did you ever wonder . . .

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in"...but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?





AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE at this time:

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

(taken from cleanjokes.com)

One more noteworthy Target deal...

Read here to find out how to get some Playtex children's utensils for $.04 at Target!!

Target Deals through Sunday, June 11th!

Check out a complete list of Target Deals here from Stretching a Buck or here from Common Sense with Money.

Go here for details on a great deal on Seattle's Best Coffee at Target.

Pay close attention to the John Frieda deal listed above to . . . Krazy Coupon Lady has a specific post dedicated to John Freida here and a sunscreen post here!

Tuesday Tips - How to substitute eggs in recipes

Here is a great article on how to substitute eggs in recipes!

Monday Meals - Yummy Apple Salad

OK, this probably isn't for those on a diet, but it definitely would be a hit at any get-together or pot luck!

Some of Jenni's recipes have been featured on our blog before. Jenni delivers yet another yummy recipe with her Candy Apple Bar Salad! I haven't tried this one personally but might have to bring it to the next get-together!

What's your favorite "sweet" salad?

You can read about Jenni's reason for starting her recipe blog here. I totally sympathize with her reason!

Freelance Friday - Cure Kitchen Counter Clutter

Jill Savage from Keeping Hearts at Home has a great tip for Kitchen Counter Paper Organization, read it here.

Paper clutter drives me crazy! I am trying to find a way to cure all the school paper that comes home daily. If you have any tips on curing that, leave a comment!

Toddler Thursday - Creative Alternative to Coloring Pages

Check out I can teach my child's post on some creative alternatives to coloring pages.

I particularly like slipping a page in a sheet protector (or large ziploc baggie) and using a dry erase marker! There are a lot of options with that one and you can save on printing pages too!

**EXPIRED** Old Navy Groupon - pay $10 for $20 worth

Not sure when this will sell out, but I got myself one of these! Get $20 worth of Old Navy clothing/items for $10!

This is good for one more day or until they sell out - not sure if there's a limit, so grab one while you can!

Fine print:
- Good for one time use (cannot spread over multiple shopping trips)
- Expires 7/30/11
- Good in-store only

Wacky Wednesday - Hummingbird Rescue

This is such a cute video! I love hummingbirds anyway, so it's extra special. Enjoy!



We do our best to ensure that landing pages of these videos are suitable for all ages, but with youtube, we regrettable can't guarantee it!

Get Money Smart in 2011 - June

Here is June's installment of Get Money Smart in 2011! (Find May here)

Bundle Up! Compare your Internet, cable, and phone bills to see whether bundled offers from one provider will cost less. Already have a bundle deal? Ask for a better one, especially if a promotional rate has expired.

Don't forget the tax man. Make your quarterly estimated tax payment by June 15. Not sure whether you need to make quarterly payments? Read IRS publication 505 at www.irs.gov.

Get another free credit report. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request it from one of the credit bureaus that you didn't choose in February.

Target Deals through June 4th.

Check out the weekly Target deals here from Stretching a Buck.

If you need sunscreen, be sure to pay special attention to the $5 gift card deal for Banana Boat/Hawaiian Tropic Sunscreen.

Here is a scenario from The Krazy Coupon Lady too and two scenario's from Common Sense with Money.

If you are a fan of Charmin Toilet Paper, then check out this deal from Common Sense with Money.