6 Free Valentine Cards

Have you ordered your 6 FREE Valentine Cards yet?



I received mine in the mail yesterday and LOVE them.

I wrote about how you can get 6 FREE cards HERE

or visit Freebies 4 Mom to see her great tutorial.

Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the GoodfortheKids.com alligator pull and $10 gift card is....... (drum roll).........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is your random number:

# 39

Timestamp: 2009-01-31 16:58:55 UTC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nupur # 39

I have an active 1 year old who is into pulling out and putting back in so I would love to spend the the GC on:
Melissa and Doug First Play Three Little Pigs Play Set
&Plan Toys Organic Green Riding Henry Pull Sorting Toy
& the Melissa and Doug First Bead Maze (hey I'd have to order a whole lot to make the shipping worthwhile!!!)


Congratulations!

$10 off $10 purchase at QVC

My Precious Pennies has the scoop on how you can receive $10 off a $10 purchase at QVC.

I just followed her simple instructions and the $10 has already been credited to my account... now I'm off to find something FREE for $10. At this rate I'll never need to buy a gift for someone else again :)

Guest Post at Frual Freebies and Deals

I just got around to reading my email this morning and was so excited to find out that one of my previous OnOurWay articles was selected to be a guest post at Frugal Freebies and Deals

Stop by today and find out how to save money on your water heating bills.

There that's my Friday Find for the day :)

No Friday Find

This week has been one of "those" weeks so we're skipping Friday Finds for the day. It will be back next week I promise. I'm just not feeling very crafting currently and I have a few other blog related projects I'm working on (to be revealed soon).

Until then don't forget about the $30 Goodforthekids.com giveaway going on right now. Everyone has until tonight at midnight to enter and remember you can gain extra entries for subscribing to the blog, following me on twitter, or blogging about this contest elsewhere.

Visit the Original post HERE to enter.

Why I continue to drive a 12 year old car

Last Wednesday I found this great guest post on Get Rich Slowly by Joel Berry on Why I drive a 13 Year old car . His car is 13 years old and still going strong. Berry gives some great examples and the math on why he continues to drive an old car.

Many times I’ve been asked why I don’t upgrade or why we are a one car family now when we don’t have to be. I usually answer how nice it is to not have a car payment and yada yada through it, but there are always so many more reasons I can never vocalize. Berry does a great job explaining in detail why we continue to drive our old cars and why we’ll buy used again.

Just as many don’t understand why I drive a used car I don’t understand why anyone would lease a vehicle or think they need a new car for some crazy self justified reason. I even had one co-worker tell me they’d never buy a used car because they don’t want someone else’s problem. I played nice (because that’s what HR has to do) but my first thought was, “No you’d rather take a 30% loss in investment within the first five miles than make a smart financial decision”. I swear I wish I could run a Suze Orman “Can I Afford it” segment during our lunch period. Maybe I should buy a big denied stamp to practice.

Let me be the first to tell you. You DO NOT NEED a new car. You will not die if you don't have one, you're children will not grow up to hate you without one. Having a new car doesn't make you any better of a person. It's all in your head. Get over it and move on to securing your financial freedom.

Do you drive an old car? What's your favorite part of having an older vehicle?

I love not having a car payment, expensive insurance, and since I've driven the car for so many years I know exactly what to expect in any weather condition. See there are so many good points to driving an old car I couldn't stick to one.



Remember to enter our $30 Goodforthekids.com giveaway HERE

Life of Pi - Book Review

I finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel last week. I never know what to say when I dislike a book so it always takes longer to get these reviews done. The book is an easy read and it’s a good piece of fiction, it’s just not really my style. From reading the little I had about it before I picked it up I thought it was a motivational story. Something like (the Alchemist) but it is just a work of semi fiction. It’s a 20th century tall tale if anything. And while Pi experiences a horrible ordeal and somehow found a way to cope with it, which I do commend him for I didn’t find the story to be anything more than a good read. In fact I was a little mad when I finished the last page and realized that was it, the great finale had come and gone, not so greatly. I read 100 chapters and wasn't swayed once. This is a book I would suggest you research before deciding to read it or not.

As for me I think I’m taking a new approach to how I select my reading material for now on. If more than seven people tell me I MUST read a book because it is amazing; I’m gonna pass. The no name books I judge based by their covers at library sales always seem to be better than those I'm talked into reading by others.

Books read in 2009 : 2
Books remaining: 48


And don't forget my $30 giveaway going on right now HERE

FREE Martha Stewart Living Mag!

I woke up to a great freebie this morning. Money Saving Mom shared how to get a FREE 1 year subscription to Martha Stewart Living. I love this magazine. It always has great decorating, craft, and cooking ideas. Of course I can't pay almost $5 per issue so this free subscription is the only way I'll get to enjoy it. Can't wait for my first copy to come.

Visit Rewards Gold today to sign up for your risk free trial.

I've signed up for lots of subscriptions from them and I've never received a bill, not so for other companies.

I'm now getting all my magazine subscriptions for free - to magazines I love to read like Family Fun and Family Circle (one I used to pay for, what was I thinking)

What magazines are you getting for free?

Last of the scarves

My last scarf post I promise. I've already moved on to a new craft, even though honestly it's not going so well. I hope to have at least one completed to show you next Tuesday.

Until then here are the few scarves I made last week.



and what I'm calling the Valentines day set. One pink, one red, and one combination scarf.



In total I ended up with 17 different scarves (one not shown). As mentioned I'm giving some away as gifts next year and a few have been listed at my etsy shop. These were so easy to make I am kind of sad to be done with them, but I know it's time to move on.


Next up on my craft list: baby wash cloths, dish cloths, cork wreaths, cork trivets and a re-purposed cable tote bag.

And remember to enter the giveaway for $30 in goodforthekids.com merchandise in this post

$30 Giveaway from Good For the Kids.

This week at OnOurWayOnline I’m giving away an Organic Green Dancing Alligator Pull and a $10 gift certificate for the site goodforthekids.com


I love this little alligator, but it’s not just cute. When you pull on him the wooden pieces make a click-clack sound allowing your child to work on developing the following skills: (found on the product description page Here)


Eye-hand coordination
Physical development consist of :
1. Gross motor skill ( leg muscle, hand muscle-obtained from running,
walking and exercising)
2. Fine Motor skill
3. Skilled and efficient in walking and balancing
4. Agility and skillful in movement
Creative development and imagination
Think, discover new ways to play, can adapt to themselves and others

To find out about the high standards this alligator was made with visit the product description page HERE

I’m so excited to be able to bring you a giveaway from goodforthekids.com. If you’ve never been to their website go now… right now. The first time I was there a few months ago I spent over an hour looking at all the different products. Once I found out I’d been selected to host a giveaway for them I spent at least another hour deciding what to offer you.

Everything on the site is amazing. They sell everything from wooden food to wooden play shape toys and allergen free stuffed animals all for reasonable prices. The toys offered at goodforthekids.com really are good for the kids as well. Best of all when you buy a product from this site you don’t have to worry about lead recalls or other harmful substances on your child’s toy.


So of course now you want to know how you can win right? It’s simple, just visit goodforthekids.com and let me know what item you’d use the $10 gift card on if you win this giveaway. Make sure to include the category and name of the item or a direct link to the item page. If a name/link and email address isn’t included in your comment I’ll pick another winner. The contest will run until midnight Friday, January 30th.

To sum it up
In order to win follow these simple steps
1. Visit goodforthekids.com
2. Pick the item you’d use the $10 gift certificate on
3. Leave a comment in THIS post including the category, item name or link to the item you picked before midnight on Friday, January 30th
4. Don’t forget an email address so I can contact you if you win.
5. Pass this link on to everyone you know so they can enter as well.


Update: For extra entries come back each day for another chance to win

• Follow OnOurWay and Good for the Kids on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to OnOurWayOnline.com through our RSS or email subscriptions
• Blog about this giveaway or link to it on another site and leave us the url
  

Don't forget to leave another comment saying which additional method you've used.


That's it - now get shopping

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dancing Alligator is for ages 18 +mo
Total package $30 in Good for the Kids merchandise.
Only open to US and Canada

Head on over to the Bloggy Giveaways page to see even more giveaways this week.

And stop by This post to learn how you can earn FREE $5 Amazon gift cards... seriously.

More freebies from Menards

I thought I had listed all the freebies from Menards in my earlier post Here but another ad came out today with a few worth taking a look at. All of these FREE after rebate items are good until Sunday, February 1st.

~ 6 oz Jar air freshener
(647-0111) $1 rebate - Limit 5
~ Automotive wipes
(261-2984, 2985, 5799) $3 rebate - limit 3
~ 30 ct Tough task wipes
(647-1955) $2 rebate - limit 2

I wasn't going to pick anything up this week, but since I received some rebates back I think I might pick up some craft supplies.

CVS Savings 1/25

I think other people have caught on and started shopping at the good CVS. Today they were all out of the Embrace razors, I would expect that from my old CVS but this new one has been pretty good. I might make another stop later in the week at a 3rd CVS (close to my work) and see if they have any.

Today I was able to pick up three items for FREE. Well technically I lost $.98 in ECB's but I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it.


1 Gilette Shampoo $4.99 (earn $3 ecb)
~ $2 off Gilette shampoo
1 Head & Shoulder shampoo $4.99 (earn $3 ecb)
~ $1 off Head & Shoulders
CVS Cough drops
~ Free coupon from CVS printed at kiosk.

Total Before coupons: $11.17
Total After Coupons: $6.98
ECB's Used: $2 and $5.39 on gift card (.41 tax)
ECB's Earned: $6


Year to date savings: $59.43

Great Giveaway news

I'm so excited to share with you that Onourwayonline.com has been selected to participate in a $30 product giveaway!

I can't give away too many details but trust me you should make sure to be back here Monday morning for your chance to win $30 in FREE merchandise.

You do not want to miss this.

$77.50 in merchandise FREE at Menards

Until February 1st you can receive $77.50 in FREE merchandise from Menards.

Remember when you buy Free after rebate merchandise you must make an additional $10 non rebate purchase. So make sure to stretch those dollars when you do spend the extra money. I can always find something to spend $10 on and since this week is their dollar deal sale I bet you can do (see the bottom of list).

FREE after rebate items- These make great stocking stuffers

~ 4 pack “AA” Rayovac Alkaline batteries
(210-2799) $2 rebate – limit 2
~ Elmer’s Nano Glue (2oz)
(251-2435) $3 rebate – limit 2
~ Picture Frames – tons of styles to choose from
(539-4300-4632) $4 rebate – limit 4
~ 7-1/4 Circular saw blade
(242-2092) $4 rebate – limit 1
~ 15” Pry Bar
(243-4593) $2.50 rebate – limit 2
~ 20 pc. Super Hook set
(234-4000) $3 rebate – limit 2
~ 12” Drywall mud pan
(561-4666) $2 – limit 2
~ Handy Light
(346-8679) $3 rebate – limit 2
~ Ear Phones
(301-5725) $1.5 rebate – limit 2
~ Irwin 2” Quick-Grip handi Clamp
(244-1311) $3 rebate – limit 2
~ Non-slip shelf liner
(547-2200) $1.50 rebate – limit 3
~ 16 oz Curved Claw hammer or 12 “ Polysteel combination square
(243-4108, 5961) $2 rebate – limit 1 of each tool
~ Blue Coral cleaner and Degreaser & RainX Automotive glass cleaner
(261-2989,5812) $2.50 rebate – limit 2 total bottles
~ Boot tray
(703-2000) $2 rebate – limit 2

If you purchase the full amount of each item available you’ll receive $77.50 in FREE merchandise.



Great Sale Prices (Non rebate items)

Items 2 for $1
~ Staining pad (561-3557)
~ 5 Pack dust masks (561-2833)
~ 4” Putty knife (562-7133)
~ Speed shims (433-4225)
~ 150 Watt light bulb – Clear or frosted (353-2401, 2403)
~ Electrical Tape (364-6003)
~ Bike Hook (225-6025)
~ Mini storage bin (245-4926)

Items for $1
~ Plastic silverware (620-3011-3013)
~ Strike a fire (640-8198)
~ Utility Lighter (640-8160)
~ 4 pack night light (353-3183)
~ 2 Pack hang it all brackets (227-3165)
~ 4 ½ Metal Cut off Blade (252-7784)
~ 4oz marvel Air tool oil (261-8034)
~ 4” mini roller & paint tray (561-0330)
~ 2 ½ Quart Mix n’ Measure (561-8170)
~ 3 pc Brush set (561-5995)
~ Value mat (703-2610)
~ 7” Poly Rafter Square (249-1138)

The deals continue on for $2, $3, $4, $5, all the way to $10 items (an easy way to hit your retirement)

$2 off Nylabone product

In honor of Pet Dental month Nylabone is offer a great coupn for $2 off ANY product.
Use this COUPON at any retailer selling Nylabone products. The coupon expires 12/31/09 but I'm not sure how long it will be up for you to print so get it soon.

I saw a bunch of products for right around $3 to $4 on the Petsmart.com web page so I'm sure you can find some free or close to free products at Walmart or Target with this coupon.

First no spend weekend for 2009

It’s been a while since Matt and I had a no spend anything and I’m so looking forward to one. This weekend we’re having our first no spend weekend in 2009. Read here to find out what the heck I’m talking about.

It’s funny to me, if someone said to me a year ago I had to go a whole weekend without spending any money I would have freaked out. Just the thought would have made me hyperventilate with fear. A whole weekend of no fast food, shopping, or movies, I’d never make it. Now I look forward to having a whole weekend without spending a dime. I love it so much maybe we should try for a whole week in February. (We’ll see how Matt responds to the idea when he reads this to see if it will be a go or not).

Maybe it's just all the spending we did during December and January has worn me out, but I’m ready to stay home and be spend free for two days. I’m gonna watch TV, craft, and clean. Hopefully I’ll even get to take a nap.

Friday Find - Grace Violet

This Friday’s find is amazing. The highlight this week is from Grace Violet, I love her blog. Every time she posts a tutorial I end up marveling over it for much longer than I should.

Kristin has done it again with her tutorial How to make a Taggie Football. Kristin is right boys are often left out during craft time, but now we have an easy option that any baby would love.

Stop by the Grace Violet blog to see the full tutorial and her other creations.

6 FREE Valentines Day Cards

Have you gotten your 6 FREE Valentine Day cards yet?

If not stop by Freebies 4 Mom to learn how you can make 6 photo cards for free, including shipping (no credit card needed). Heather is so awesome she even provided a step by step tutorial to make the process easier.

I ordered my cards last night and am so excited to get them. I used one of our wedding pictures and the Be Mine card option. I love them, once they get here I'll make sure to take pictures.

Hurry you only have until February 1st to get in on this great deal.

Thrifty Spending?

It's suppose to be Thrifty Thursday so why in the heck am I writing about spending?
Because sometimes you have to; spend that is. I wish I had a picture of our washing machine to show you, but you'll just have to imagine with me. Until Monday Matt and I were the not so proud owners of a pea green circa 1972 washing machine. Now don't get me wrong this machine was stylin' in its day, sadly that day has gone... long gone. Now trust me, Matt and I did not go about the deciion to buy a new washer lightly. In fact we've put it off for about six months. At this point the agitator wasn't really agitating and if clothes were left inside for any period of time rust spots would form, much to the dismay of my wardrobe. It was time to say goodbye.

I figured we'd head over to ABC warehouse or Best Buy and pick ourselves up a nice $200 replacement; of course I was wrong (this seems to happen a lot lately). I was about $200 wrong to be exact. The cheapest units we could find ran anywhere from $350 to $500 for the most basic model! And as you can probably guess I was not going to pay that much. I even spent sometime on craigslist looking for a nice used washer, but even they were 10 to 12 years old with a $200 price tag. Plus we don't have a truck to pick it up with meaning another expense (about $50 for delivery).

At this point I was seriously starting to panic thinking that I would end up doing laundry on a washboard in the bath tub. Then finally just as I'm about to give up I see a an ad online with a five year old machine for $95 including delivery. I figured it had to be wrong or a piece of junk, but much to my surprise the washer is great. The seller is a repair man who takes old appliances and fixes them for resale. This particular model had the door latch replaced and then a full inspection before delivery. And best of all if anything should happen to it in the next little bit we'll be able to call him for repairs.

The next time you're looking for an appliance this is one method I suggest. Just look in the phone book under Repair Man. Even when you have to spend on something large you can find a way to be frugal about it.

It's official my 2009 Christmas shopping is done!

You read that title correctly, I am 99% done with my 2009 Christmas shopping. I have two people to make semi medium sized purchases for but those will wait until November. Other than that everyone I plan to purchase things for has had the items purchased. I picked up the last of the kids gifts at Target during their crazy clearance a few days ago. (shown above)

Everyone else on our list will be receiving homemade gifts since they will be mostly gift free Christmas gatherings. I loved having no gift Christmas gatherings in 2008. At first I wasn't sure how it would work out but I found it to be so much less stressful. Plus not worrying about gifts allowed us time to really focus on the season and being together.

Since I have advanced warning this year I plan to make a few homemade gifts for everyone that we won't be doing full exchanges with and of course there will be a few stocking stuffer items give out from my CVS stash.

It feels so great to be done with Christmas in January, one less thing to worry about throughout the year.

Scarf-o-holic

It's official, I am addicted to making scarves. I don't know when I'll be able to quit. I just love matching up the colors so much as soon as I finish one I have another color combination I want to try out.

I love the black, gray, and white scarf in the back of the picture so much I'm considering keeping it for myself. I mean if you can't craft for yourself every once and a while what's the point of crafting right? The two semi red/orange scarves were made by just switching one color. I took out the blue in the first scarf and replaced it with white in the third scarf. Just one simple change and they have totally different looks. The best part of all these scarves, they take less than an hour to make which means I now have at least 3 more '09 Christmas gifts complete at only $4 each.

I have about five more color combos I want to try out and then I am done, seriously. I am putting away the hook and moving on to dish cloths. I have a lot of dish cloths to make to sell and give away next year for Christmas so I figure I better get started now.

Simplify Your Life - Elaine St. James

I just finished Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter by Elaine St.James this evening. The book is a quick read with quite a few great tips on how to simplify your surroundings.

This book would be a great read for someone just starting out on their simplifying journey. If you're someone like myself who has a few months under your belt this book will be much to elementary. Many of the items are basic in nature and quite a few could have been combined together in my opinion.

Like I said if you're just starting out this would be a good first read otherwise look for something more advanced.

As for me this copy is going back on my paperbackswap.com bookshelf.

CVS & Walmart Savings 1/18 - Freebies

I love when you shop and get things for free, it makes me even happier when I get paid to take things home. Today was a good shopping day, even though I wasn't able to find any of the Free Febreze candles. I might stop by tomorrow night and scan a few more at the "not so great" CVS, I really want to try them but not enough that I'm willing to pay $7.99.

At CVS today I had $14.57 to spend and not a lot of great sales to roll over the ECB's with so I decided to just spend them. Free stuff is still free stuff sometimes you have to accept you can't roll over everything.

4 Pepsi 2 liters $5.40
2 Excedrin 20 ct $3.98
~ $2 Excedrin
~ $1 Excedrin
1 Febreze spray $4.99
~ $1 off Febreze
6 Dawn dish soap B1G1 $5.97
(3) ~$1 off 2 Dawn coupon
2 reusable shopping bags $1.98

Total: $22.32
Coupons: $7
ECB's Used: $14.57 and $.75 out of pocket

I didn't earn any ecb's in the transaction but I did receive $38.35 in merchandise for less than a dollar so I'm ok with that. I'm sure I'll build my stash back up.

At Walmart we picked up quite a bit and got paid to do it. =I used the overage to purchase a marked down toy for Christmas next year.

12 Johnson's buddies soap $11.88
I hate buying that much at one time b/c I might be taking some from someone else but I won't be back to Walmart in a while and needed to use the coupons
~(4) $3 off 3 Johnson's product
4 Kotex pads $4
~ (4) $1 off any Kotex product
4 First Aid kits $3.88
~ (2) $3 off any 2 First aid kits

Total: $19.76 + $1.18 tax
Coupons: $22
Profit: $1.06

Another Free swag code

Another free swag code.

Go to your swag page and enter code NAMM to receive one free swag buck!

The code should be good until 12 pm tonight.

More FREE Johnson's soap

While reading through my google reader another frugal blogger posted this link to more FREE Johnson's Buddies Soap. (So sorry I can't remember who it was)

The coupon is for $3 off any 3 Johnson's product. If you have a nearby store that sells it for $1 or less you've got yourself 3 free bars of soap. I normally spend my coupons at Wal-mart since our Meijer recently marked the soap up to $1.17. My sister loves to use it and it's less my Mom has to spend when she shops.


FREE soap HERE

Big Yankee Candle Sale

Right now Yankee Candle is having their big annual clearance event. Their gift baskets are 75% off so there are many options for $5 and under.

Beanswax candles in holiday scents are about 70% off, the tins are selling for just $3. (My friends all rave about these but I have yet to try one) There are also lots of things in the $1, $3, $5, and 3 for $10 categories.

To top it all off the site is offering $6 shipping for all orders under $100.

There is some really cute stuff for great prices. If you're in the need of Christmas gifts for next year this may be the time to shop.

Free swag code

Have you signed up for Swagbucks yet? If so I've got good news for you. Today only you can receive a free swag buck. Today's free swag code is GreenThursday (it is case sensitive) take that code to the Your swag bucks page and enter it in the box that says "Have a SwagCode? Just enter it here and receive your SwagBucks instantly!". It's that easy. But hurry the code will expire tonight!

At first I had some problems finding my swagbucks page, but if you click on the swag store page you'll see the link at a top menu on that page. In between swagbucks store and your profile.


If you have no idea what I'm talking about but what to learn how you can get free Amazon gift cards and other free prizes read up on the original post Here or visit the Swag bucks page to sign up today, you will not be disappointed.


So far the people who signed up after reading my last post have won over 95 swag bucks. That's a lot of free stuff - keep up the searching. And remember you don't win a swag buck after every search, it is all random.

Don't miss out on this free swag code!

FREE Suave

Today is the day to receive your coupon for a FREE bottle of Suave! The coupon will be valued at $3 and you can use it on the Suave product of your choice.

But you can only download the coupon today and they'll be mailed out in 2 to 4 week, expiring the end of February.

So what are you waiting for; sign up for your $3 coupon at Suavenomics before they're gone.

Caulking your windows

Plenty magazine has a great article on their website on how to Caulk your windows, it's a great DIY article with pictures. Maybe it's just me but every tutorial I use needs pictures, I'm much more visual about things.

In 6 easy steps you can save about 10% of the heat loss in your home. The article also states the average home will pay $2,300 this year in energy bills and 45% of that is from heat! It's time to get caulking, especially if you live in an older home like I do.

More Cheap Christmas Gifts

I really liked how the scarf I made for Matt turned out and so I decided to make another one. This one is two different green colors, a dark blue, and a sparkly white color.

I loved this scarf so much as well that I decided to make another... and then another.. and then another. What can I say I really like the look of the scarf and they are so easy to make. Plus with each one costing about $4 (depending on the size) the price is right. I plan to give these away as Christmas gifts next year, I know I'm getting very ahead, but I really think everyone will like them.

I am having some problems with getting my ends to tuck in and stay tucked but I've got a year to figure it out. All the scarves are variations of the Laughing Purple Goldfish one hour scarf that I used for Matt's scarf. I made some of them longer, some wider, I like to experiment with it so each one is different. Now I just need to decide who gets which one and if I should make one for myself.

Working on 30% reduction goal

If you remember one of our 2009 goals was to Reduce our material possessions by 30%. I'm not taking that goal laying down. This weekend Matt and I went through our closets.

We were able to purchase a ton of nice wooden hangers when Steve & Barry's went out of business for $.03 a piece ($.50 cheaper than in the stores). I love our new hangers because they don't cause your clothes to bunch up and they take up more room in our closets which means we were forced to get rid of stuff.

It always amazes me that when you take the time to look for opportunity it always seems to find you. I've been wanting to update to wooden hangers for years now, but even when I was a shopaholic I wasn't going to spend $.50 a piece to upgrade. Yet, even now as a thrifter I can't pass up $.03 to go all wooden.

So yes even though I did technically bring in "new" hangers, we are getting rid of the plastic hangers shown above and we reduce our clothes collections. (pictures to come)

L'Oreal Lipstick MONEY MAKER

I wanted to highlight one of the deals I found at Meijer today.

This week they have their L'Oreal make up products on sale buy one get one free. There were coupons for $2 off many L'Oreal products in a recent insert. As you can see above this lipstick was originally priced at $8.64 the clearance sticker says $4.32 but my receipt shows they rang up for $2.16 before the buy one get one sale. If you only have one coupon you'll pay $.16 for TWO lipsticks. If you have more then you're getting paid to take them off the shelf.

Here is how my break down worked
2 L'Oreal lip sticks @ 2.16 (B1G1)

Total: $2.16
Coupon: (2) $2 off any L'Oreal lip product

Profit: $1.84

There were quite a few L'Oreal products marked down, including eye shadows and face powders. Had I know they were 75% off and buy one get one free I probably would have shopped harder. Maybe I'll have to stop back later this week.

CVS & Meijer Savings

It was only a quick trip to CVS this week. They didn't have any Soy Joy bars in stock so I just used the $3 off any 2 CVS products to get some free tissues (we need them right now). I also had a $2 ECB to spend and since I couldn't roll it over I bought two of their new reusable bags. They're so cute. I spent nothing out of pocket but didn't earn anything either.

The trip to Meijer was a different story. They're having another great 10/$10 get the 11th item free sale. I spent $30.90 but saved $54.79

10/$10 Sale Items (did the deal 3 times)
- 3 Tissues
- 3 Gerber 2nd foods - 2 pack
- $3 Gerber foods coupon (making them free)
- 2 Grands biscuits
- $.25 (doubled)
- 3 Hamburger Helpers
- $.80 on 3
- 3 Quaker Rice Cakes
- 3 Chex Mix snack mixes
- (3) $.50 (doubled) (Making them free)
- 4 Pepsi 2 liters
- 1 Tropicana pink lemonade
- 3 Brown N. Serve
- 4 Great start breakfast meals
- 2 Jeno pizzas
- 2 Meijer white bread


Other Items
- 5 Johnson's buddies soap $5.85 (Free)
- (5) $1 off buddies
- Meijer saltine crackers $1.99
- Detroit Free Press (not pictured)
- 2 L'Oreal lipsticks B1G1 $ 2.16
- (2) $2 off any L'Oreal
- 1/2 gallon of milk $2.29
- 2 Reusable bags $1.98

That's a 64% savings and enough food to feed us for quite some time.

FREE Gerber Baby food - 2 pack

There is a great offer this week which could mean free Gerber baby food for you.

Click your way on over to Freebies 4 Mom to find out how you can receive a free stainless steel Gerber educator or feeding spoon and $3 of FREE Gerber food.

This week at Meijer the Gerber 2nd foods - 2 packs are on sale for $1 (part of their 10/$10 get the 11th free deal). So you're getting 6 for free!

Earn free $$ from swagbucks

I just received another $5 Amazon gift card for doing something you do everyday for free. Why am I getting paid and you’re not? I have no idea either; however, I do know you should keep reading to find out how you can get paid to surf the internet.

Swagbucks is an internet search engine that pays you for searching the internet through their site. I know you’re already searching the net every day so why wouldn’t you want to be paid for it? Does this sound too good to be true, I thought so too, but trust me it’s not a scam. I received my second $5 Amazon gift card in my email box today.

All you have to do to earn your own Swagbucks is use their site the next time you need to search the intent. You can even download a browser tool bar and search directly from that. Their search engine is powered by Google and Ask so you receive the same results you would using another service.

I win on average two to three points a day and it takes me about two weeks to earn a gift card. If I continue on this trend I will have earned about $130 in Amazon gift cards in one year. That’s enough to pick up some great Christmas gifts next year. Best of all if you sign up right now you earn 3 bonus points to get you started on your own $5 gift card.

And as always if you sign up through my link at Swagbucks I win a few points as well. So sign up today and get your swag on baby!

Free Orman download

Right now you can download Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan as an ebook from Oprah for free. But hurry the offer will end after one week (January 15th).

The download is a pdf of her full 209 page book. I just save them right to my desktop and read them at my convenience later.

When I first tried to download mine the site was running kind of slow but just keep with it, everyone is trying to get in on this great deal.

This book is currently selling for about $10 on Amazon.com and you can get it for FREE. What a great freebie for those of us with financial goals in 2009.

Lots of free items this week

I was worried the weeks after Christmas would be deal less but once again I was wrong. I picked up all of the following items for basically nothing.

On the left my purchases from Menards this week (sale ends 1/18). The candle was marked down to $1.39 I used the $1 off Glade coupon and paid the rest with a gift card. The De-icer, hex set, and 2 outdoor cords were all free after rebate. The two Crayola paint sets were $1.99 after rebate.

The flame less candle in the middle is from Wal-mart. They have them marked down to $4.97 and I was able to use the $5 off coupon and walked out with it for free.

On the right you’ll see the last two trips to CVS. I had $4 in ECB’s expiring and decided to use them on more free soap. In total I purchased six CVS soaps ($8.97), used (2) $3/2 CVS product coupon found at I heart CVS.com. I also bought the shampoo for $2.99 and used a $1 off coupon (earning $2 ecbs). I lost some ECB’s in the transaction but paid nothing out of pocket So all together I purchased $57.62 of merchandise for $4.45 that’s a 92% savings.

Most the items will be 2009 Christmas presents. Not bad for a deal less week.

My first scarf

I made my first scarf!
I tried to knit Matt a new scarf for the winter but I have the patience of a six year old and it was taking way too long. I was able to crotchet this scarf in under an hour.


I found the pattern from Laughing Purple goldfish designs a blog dedicated to using recycled and reclaimed materials, my kind of crafter. It took an hour to crotchet the scarf and another two to look over all her amazing projects. I've never used four yarns at once in a project before and was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but I really like it.

Because the scarf is for Matt I took the provided pattern and changed it to fit his needs. I added about 20 double crotchets and two extra rows so it's extra long and thick.

I used four different yarns and I think it looks best with 3 different colors max - I used one blue and three gray rolls.

Find the orginal pattern at Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs
final row - dc into every stitch to end, fasten off

More Instant Win Chances

~ Visit the Combos: Instant win every day until 5/31/09 for your chance to win:

4 Grand Prizes: One of four Gaming Man Zone Prize: Grilling Zone, Gaming Zone, Home Theater Zone, Tailgate Zone.

Instant Win Prizes
4 First Prizes: Sirius Starmate radio with docking station and 6 month subscription
2 Second Prizes: Craftsman 32-piece General repair tool set
98 Third Prizes: EA Sports NASCAR '09 or EA Sports NCAA '09 (48 each)
100 Fourth Prizes: $50 Sunoco Gas card
2,500 Fifth Prizes: Coupon redeemable for 1 free bag of Combos.
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GE Energy Smart Instant Win play every day until 2/28/09 and you could win a years worth of energy bills ($2,000)

Other prizes include
50 First place: $100
1,000 Second Place: Free Energy smart bulb

Winners announced in March
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Nature's Bounty Instant win ends March 31st.

3 First prizes: Wii Fit
6 Second przes: $100 American express gift card
90 Third Prizes: $25 American Express gift card
1,000 Fourth prizes: Natures Bounty Recyclable tote bag
_____________________________________________________________________

9 Methods for Mastering your Money in 2009

Did one of your 2009 goals have something to do with money?

Probably, and if you're having problems getting started stop by Get Rich Slowly to read The 9 methods for mastering your money in 2009 by blog author, JD.

I was quite pleased after reading his article because I realized we're actually doing or have done all of his steps. Even if they aren't 100% complete (our emergency fund) at least we're working towards mastering our money this year.

How do your finances stack up with JD's 9 methods?

Change your view of change

Yesterday Matt and I cashed in with our change.

We took back our novelty coke bank and put $613.35
into our savings account.

Who knew change could add up like that?
We'll be putting this "extra" money towards a summer trip. We have yet to decide where we'll be going, but it's sure to be on a budget.

Expired Coupons 1/09

Just a reminder it's time to send our expired coupons to military families overseas.
This month I'm sending mine to :

417th BSB ACS
ATTN: Coupon Exchange
CMR 449
APO AE 09031
Lakenheath, U.K.


Read up on how you can help out our military families by sending your expired coupons overseas from the original post

My 2009 Goals

Did you know the number one New Years resolution last year was to get out of debt or save money? It’s New Years Day, have you made any resolutions yet? I have.

Sometimes I get ahead of myself and try to do it all in a year by setting 50 resolutions; usually this ends up with me getting nothing accomplished and giving up about half way through January. One thing working on our debt reduction in 2008 has taught me is that sometimes you’ll have a bad day or month and that’s ok. In the end if you are going to succeed you have to realize that and get over it. I’ve set some goals this year with the realization that there will be times I won’t reach them; at the end of 2009 it’s not about walking 10,000 steps every day it’s about setting healthy habits and reaching that goal more days than I miss.

So here are my 2009 goals

Financial
As evident from our Budget we have some big savings goals for 2009

~ Reduce our monthly spending by 5% ($250) Making our total expenses column 60% of our income
~ Save $4,000 for a car
~ Save $5,000 in an emergency fund
~ Save $12,500 for our retirement
We were going to set this goal for $10,000 but I would like to push us a little more. I have no doubt we can hit 10K, but trying for the 12.5 mark will be a fun challenge.

*If we hit all of these savings goals we’ll have put a total of $21,500 away in 2009.


Personal
~ Read 50 Books in 2009
~ Reduce our material possessions by 30%


Health
I have an overall goal of getting healthier and hopefully losing some weight in the process. Rather than setting a broad goal of “losing weight” I’ve set three obtainable goals.
~ Walk an average of 10,000 steps a day
~ Exercise 3 times a week
~ Use Sparkpeople.com at least five times a week


So there they are my goals for 2009. It looks like a lot but reaching each of them will only require small changes in our lifestyle hopefully making it easier.

What are your goals this year?