Money Saving Monday-Preserving Produce & Homemade Oatmeal Packets

This week I want to share 2 tips for the kitchen that can help save you money. There are seriously TONS of kitchen tips I could give you but not to overwhelm this post, I'll share 2 I've used just this last week again.

Have you ever noticed when you buy produce, especially things like berries or grapes, they can get moldy pretty quickly? I don't know about you but I hate wasting food. The other week I got a huge basket (half a bushel) of grapes marked down for only $2.70!! Of course there were a few we had to throw out but for that price, it's no big deal. That's why they were marked down so darn cheap.

Once we got home, the kids sat down to sort out the grapes & pull them off the stems. From there, I filled one side of my sink with cold water (after cleaning it good with my homemade cleaner.) Then I added some vinegar to the water.

Why you may ask?

How to Clean Your Shower Head Effortlessly!

I'm so excited to share my latest money saving (and time saving) tip that I recently tried out! I noticed for awhile during my showers that some of the holes were clogged and I had gaps where there was no water coming out. Honestly, cleaning this was so low on my list of to-do's, I just dealt with the sporadic water stream. But the other day I got the itch to try something new, or maybe it was the fact that I walked into my bedroom to get something, noticed wash in the bathroom that connects to our room needed to go in the hamper, as I went to grab that, the shower curtain was crooked so I went to straighten it but then the bright idea of cleaning the shower head struck me. Ya ever do that? Walk into one room to do something and end up on a rabbit trail far from where you started & never accomplished what you originally intended to do? Yeah me either.

Anyway, I've shared before about the awesome powers of vinegar and how I use it to clean anything. Well friends, dig out that bottle of vinegar, a plastic baggie and a twisty tie as that is all you need to get rid of mineral build up from your shower head. Yes, this really IS that simple!

Pour some vinegar into a sandwich baggie and slide it over your shower head, securing it with a twisty tie making sure that vinegar covers the entire front surface of the shower head.

That's it! Now go put your feet up, make a cup of iced coffee and read a good book.

Ok, that's what I wish I did after I took this picture. Instead, I returned to my mountain of zucchini's and worked on whipping up some food. Meanwhile, I forgot what I went into my bedroom to get, the wash never got to the hamper and the shower curtain was still crooked BUT I was on my way to a clean shower head! haha

Anyway, let that baby soak for several hours or overnight. I was itching for results so I just let this soak for a few hours then took off the baggy and this is what I got:

Perfectly streaming water out of each & every hole and no more mineral build up!!! No nasty chemicals, no scrubbing or taking apart the shower head, just a nice soak and only costing you a few cents for the vinegar & baggie.

Oh, and after I took this last picture, I finally did straighten the shower curtain & put the wash in the hamper. I'm still trying to remember what I went to my bedroom for.

What's one of your favorite cleaning tips that saves both time AND money??

Don't forget to check out my other Money Saving ideas.!

Money Making Gas Deals This Week!

Ok, ya'll know I LOVE deal shopping! I have to share with you this weeks money making gas deal at Giant!! And if you don't have a Giant, I feel bad for you as all last summer I earned FREE GAS due to money-making gas deals. Check out these details for more specifics on how to do these gas deals.

What is the difference between a gas deal and a money making gas deal? A gas deal is one in which you earn so many points for buying the qualifying amount of deal. For example, earn $.40 off a gallon of gas for purchasing 5 items. These items are of varying prices so for example, you could potentially pay $15.00 but only earn $10.00 in gas.

A money making gas deal is one in which you pay for example $7.45 for products but earn $10 in gas! You just made $2.55! Sometimes my gas deals break even in that I paid $10 for groceries but I earned $10 in gas. Those I also consider good in my book as I would need to buy $10 of gas no matter what, so why not get food AND gas all for that same $10!!

So today was one of my money making Giant runs. Here's the photo of everything I got:

-17 bags of Hanover Veggies 3/$5

-10 packs of Lender's Bagels 2/$3

-8 Dole Shakes 2/$2

Here's the gas deal section for this week:

In addition to the gas deals, I also used a few coupons. I had 8- $.50 off for the Dole Shakes which got doubled to $1 off (you may have to search for the coupon on there). While the sugar & oranges weren't gas deals, I also had coupons for those. Using a coupon in Giant's circular, you can get the sugar for $1.49. There is also a coupon in the circular for the oranges making them $3.88 plus there is a coupon in today's Sunday news coupons for $.50 off which got doubled to $1.00 so I only paid $2.88 for the oranges (normally priced $6.88!) There was also a coupon in their circular for an extra $.10 off a gallon if you spent $50 or more.

Let me give you another hint, the reason why I have 4 Dole Shakes paired up with 1 bag of frozen veggies in the photo is because it's a great way to pair up different items for the best savings (you need 5 items for each $.40 of gas points earned, you can mix & match however you like).

4 Dole Shakes = $8

1 bag Hanover= $1.67

Total-$9.67

Use 4 Dole Shake coupons which takes $4 off the $9.67 making that gas deal only $5.67 for $10 worth of gas!

In total this was my bill:

Granted, the $56.71 includes the oranges & sugar. Without those 2 things, I spent $52.34 in gas deals. See the lower part of the receipt? That is how many gas points I earned today in gas deals!!!! I can get up to 25 gallons worth.  So that means I earned $72.50 in FREE gas!!!  ($2.90 x 25 gls= $72.50) 

But WAIT there was even more savings going on!! I have a Savingstar account and they had a deal that if I spent $12 on Dole Shakes, I can get $4 cash back!! So factoring that cash back in, I paid $48.34 in gas deals which means I MADE $24.16 today! 

So to sum it up, I paid $48.34 today for $120.84 worth of products! (food & gas) If you aren't shopping gas deals, what are you waiting for!?! 

Christi the Coupon Coach

If you've followed me here at TLB for any length of time, you know how much I love a good bargain and occasionally share my Money Saving Monday tips. So when the chance came up to review Couponing Made Simple by Christi the Coupon Coach for the Molly Crew, I was excited to check it out. I wanted to see if she shares anything that I wasn't already doing. While it turns out, I didn't learn anything new I was thrilled to see she shares everything that I do on a daily basis and it just confirmed to me I am doing everything I can to save my family money.

This is a 123 page book with a few pages in the back to jot down your own notes. I found the book an easy read during an afternoon. As I read her book, I felt like I was sitting with a friend over coffee chatting. She presents her ideas, methods & suggestions in an simple to understand format so even if you are brand new to couponing and deal finding you won't feel overwhelmed. She also includes black & white photos which further help the reader to understand just what she is talking about. Plus, who doesn't like to see a picture of just what all you can get for very little money!

The 10 chapters in the book cover:

Success Stories

A New Way to Shop

The Language of Couponing

Organization System

Step-by-Step Process

Tips & Tools

Couponing Ethics

Networking & Communicating

Bonus Section

Beyond Couponing

I know we all hear stories of extreme couponing but that's not what this book is about. It shows how the average person can save on everyday items. I do realize that finding deals can vary by region such as when she mentioned she can buy newspapers that have coupons for $.50 or a $1 so she buys multiplies of them, I can't find that around here. But what I do is I paid for a years subscription for the Sunday news that only cost me $.85 a month if I paid for the subscription up front. I don't think I could've gotten more than one for that price though. Once in a great while if I know there is a really good coupon in the paper, I will buy another one in the store as long as I know what I will save is more than the cost of the paper. I also ask others around me for their coupons, even if they cut some out themselves often there are still some in there I can use. (this is where networking comes into play at).

Ok, so let's say you have a stack of coupons in front of you and you don't know what to do next, Christi shares with you ideas on how to organize them. It's honestly a personal preference and maybe if I got many multiples of coupon inserts each week, I might do the file method as she explains. Instead, I use a 3 ring binder with plastic inserts that I take with me into the stores that contain all my coupons. My reason for this is because many times I find unadvertised deals or "mark downs" in the store so I prefer to have all my coupons at my fingertips ready to nab anything I find.

So now you organized your coupons, Christi then explains the next step of how to find the deals in your nearby stores by using the internet or store circulars you received in the newspaper. While she doesn't list any particular sites in her book because of websites always changing, she does have a list of her favorite match-up websites on her own site that she keeps up to date.

Just to give you a visual of what sort of things you can get for nearly free by following her methods in the book, here are some photos of things I've gotten in the past that I've shared about before.

 All of this for $9.22, saving $95.78 

All of this for $.41!!!

Christi not only shares how to coupon in her book but also other tidbits of information as well such as yard saling, thrift stores, even ways to think outside the box  (like if you get free baby food, use the fruit kind to toss into smoothies. Yup, I've done that before too!)

Honestly, it doesn't take me long at all to save this kind of money. I mainly stick with CVS as it's only 2 miles down the road from me. If I sat down & figured out how much I saved vs the time it took me to cut the coupons & match the deal, I'd find myself making a lot of money per hour. Trust me, as a homeschooling mom of 7 kids I don't have tons of spare time and Christi also shares that she doesn't spend hours chasing deals either.

If you are new to couponing, this would be a great resource to get you started in understanding how to best maximize your savings! Christi the Coupon Coach - Couponing Made Simple is available for $18 for the book or $4.99 for the kindle version. Check out the link for a glance inside the book!

Money Saving Monday- Salad Buffet

We are big salad eaters in this house, especially now that my garden has taken off.  It's only a matter of time till 100% of our ingredients will be coming straight from my own garden. Which means we eat salads about everyday in this house.

Typically in the past, I'd just make a big salad, tossing everything together. But then we had to eat that up within a day or 2 otherwise things started getting soggy or gross after while. And I hate to waste food. It's also a pain to constantly pull out the salad ingredients and make one each & every time you want a salad. 

Then I came up with the idea of using this handy tupperware dish:

Typically you see this at parties with chunks of veggies cut up and dip in the middle. I decided to use each of those spaces to put different salad ingredients in it. 

I change it up all the time so what you see in this picture isn't what I currently have in it. I wash my romaine lettuce & spinach, let dry, then chop up & keep in it's own container. Then I have my handy salad buffet as I call it for everyone to make their own salad at meal time. It makes it so easy to pass around the table rather than 8 different dishes of toppings. Also, everyone can customize their salad with what they want or don't want. The best part is, having all the salad ingredients separated like this, makes it last a long time in the fridge without getting soggy or gross. I also love the ease of it. If I am wanting a quick salad for lunch, I can quickly pull this out, toss in my veggies and maybe throw in some canned tuna, black beans or chopped chicken on top and bam, an easy healthy lunch. If I had to pull out everything to dice & chop each time I wanted a salad, I'd be less inclined to take the time to do it because well, time isn't always something I have extra of in the middle of the day.

I guess you could say not only is this a money saving tip (on making salads last longer) but also a health tip. You are more likely to eat a salad if everything is ready to go and substituting a salad a day can go a long way towards any health goals you may have.

What are some of your favorite salad ingredients? 

Money Saving Monday- Cloth diapers and Giveaway!

I'm excited to change things up for this weeks edition of Money Saving Monday and turning over the keyboard to my sweet friend Devany from Still Playing School! We were introduced by a mutual friend back in 2011 when her second daughter Violet was born with Trisomy 13, the same condition my Noah had. Devany, her husband and eldest daughter E were blessed with 2 1/2 days with precious Violet. This past December, their family welcomed their rainbow baby & 3rd child, adorable D! Devany isn't just a friend online but in person as well and I'm so glad she has taken the time to share in her experience with cloth diapering now 5 month old D! Make sure you check out her link at the end to enter her giveaway of a custom cloth diaper!

I'm thrilled to be guest posting here for Jenn!  I always look forward to her Money Saving Mondays and I recently started my own coupon binder inspired by hers!

I need to be honest with you, though.  The financial savings of cloth diapering weren't my initial motivation.  I was more concerned about the environmental impacts of disposable diapers.  The facts are staggering and green living is a passion taking up increasingly more room in my heart and mind in recent years.

Our daugther E (age 3 now) was not cloth diapered, but I knew I wanted to try it with D.  Taking the plunge can be intimidating because of the initial investment.  If this is causing you any hesitation, please consider that you can either buy used cloth diapers to try or you can always sell your cloth diaper stash if you realize that it's not working for your family.  With that pressure alleviated  let's take a look at what our family has invested in cloth diapering supplies.

Diapers:  I wanted to start by using pocket diapers, primarily Charlie Bananas one size adjustable, so that they will last until D potty trains.  Since they are available at Target, I added them to our baby registry.  I do diaper laundry every 2 - 3 days (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) so it is suggested that we have 20 - 30 diapers.  Our friends are wonderful and after our baby shower we thankfully went home with thirteen (!!!) diapers gifted to us.  I bought an additional six diaper multi-pack and several used Charlie Bananas and Sunbaby pocket diapers to round out our stash.   I would estimate that we have about 28 pocket diapers right now, with a retail value of around $450, but it only cost our family $200 since we received most as gifts and purchased some used.

Wipes:  I made the majority of our reusable cloth wipes from an old flannel sheet, but I did but purchase one pack of super soft ones as well.  I really needed wanted those because they have rainbow stitching for my rainbow baby!  We have 60 wipes which would have retailed at $44 but we only spent $11.

Inserts: Pocket diapers require inserts which you stuff inside the pockets for absorbency.  Charlie Bananas come with 2 microfiber inserts per diaper, but I also wanted hemp inserts for naps and overnight.  This natural material is extra absorbent and thin, keeping the diapers trimmer and saving us from having to change a sleepy baby.  Retail $32.

Dirty diaper storage:  We went with a plastic trash can with a lid for holding dirty diapers.  A metal can would hold smells in better, but the plastic works well enough for now.  I bought one pail liner, then our neighbor gave us another that she was no longer using.  Retail of $53 but we spent $37.

Laundry detergent:  We typically use our regular low sudsing, eco-friendly laundry detergent for our diapers as well as our clothes. This week I did purchase Rockin' Green detergent specifically for diapers after getting a sample at The Great Cloth Diaper Change. (We also received a free diaper there!)  Your laundry costs can vary greatly, but remember that the less detergent you use for your diapers the better. (You want to get them clean, but soap buildup will cause them to repel and leak.)  You can save even more money by making your own.

So our supplies have a retail value of $600 but because my cost cutting ways and the generosity of friends it actually cost us $300.  By the age of two, a disposable diapered child will use around 6,000 diapers.  Using an average cost of 25 cents per diaper, that's $1,600 for two years for the diapers alone.  You will also be adding in disposable wipes and dirty diaper storage costs (Diaper Genie and refills really added up when we had E).  Obviously there are money saving ways to use disposable diapers as well, but these are the rough figures I am using for comparison.

The financial savings of cloth diapers are an added bonus to this choice we have made for our rainbow baby!

To save you even more money, as Jenn mentioned, we are currently hosting a giveaway for a custom all-in-one or hybrid fitted cloth diaper!

Still Playing School

Scentsy

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Money Saving Monday

Did you know you can earn money while using your smart phone?? Yup, you read that right! If you have an iPhone (which is what I have) and I believe even some droids have these same apps (though I am not experienced with those so you'll have to check it out yourself). Since I have an iPhone, that is what I will be referring to in this post. If you don't have a smart phone, I still have a few websites you can use to earn back money on things you buy as well, so keep reading.

The apps I'm sharing I personally use and have received money back on so no worries that this is anything shady I'm sharing. They are all legit.

With that said, the 1st app I want to share with you is Ibotta. 

 

The way this app works is you have several pages of offers available & it will tell you how much you can earn on each product. If you want to verify you have the correct product, you can scan the barcode & it will tell you yes or no. Usually you read a fact or watch a short video to earn the full amount. From there, you take a picture of the receipt that shows you purchased it, then you scan the barcode & it uploads everything for you. You'll get a confirmation within 24 hours if you correctly submitted your info then the money is deposited into your account. I make occasional withdraws to my paypal with things I've earned.

Last week, CVS had the Clear shampoo for free plus there was $1.25 available to earn back on Ibotta so I actually earned money just for picking this up. This app has a list of stores you can buy these products, most of them are chain stores like CVS, Walmart, etc. Downside is you can't use it on your small name places like a local grocery store.

**update** I just got a notice if you are new to signing up with Ibotta and use 2 offers in your first 2 weeks, you will get a $2 bonus in addition to whatever you earned!!!

Another one of my favorite apps is Endorse. Unlike Ibotta, you can use Endorse no matter where you make your purchase.

 

The first time I used this app, I got $6 back on just 3 products!! Each Thursday, they give you new offers that you can either earn 10-100% cash back. Where it says "upgrade this offer", it just means if you click accept, it'll post about it on facebook (if you don't like that, just only allow yourself to see those posts & hide them from your friends). I plan to use that 50% back on diapers this week! Combined with coupons & sales, they will practically be free! Endorse is definitely one of my favorite deal apps lately. You can make money on it when you combine their offer with deals you find. All you have to do is upload the receipt to show you purchased it. You can then deposit your earnings into paypal.

Shopkick is a relatively new one I've been using. This has a slightly different approach where you earn points for visiting certain stores that are listed or scanning item they ask you to. You then turn those points into gift cards for places like Target, Old Navy, Starbucks, Best Buy etc. Hey, if you're already out and about, simply check your phone & see if there is a place near you to get some easy points. It doesn't take much to earn gift cards.

Don't have a smartphone? That's ok, you can still earn some money if you like to shop online. Ebates is a great way to earn a percentage back on your online shopping. Simply go to their page, look up the place you want to shop at & go through their link (after setting up your account so they can pay you). At Christmas time, I earned several dollars just by doing this, and get this, I got an actual check in the mail from them!! So if you are already going to shop online, check them out. I've seen offers for 3-10% cash back depending where you shop, sometimes more.

Another way to earn points to go towards gift cards is Swagbucks. There are many ways to earn swagbucks, watching videos, filling out surveys, using their search engine, etc. Just rack up the swagbucks until you get enough to get whatever gift card you'd like.

Obviously there are many ways available to use your smartphone or the internet to earn money or gift cards. These are just a few that I personally use & recommend. Are there any that you use that I didn't talk about? Drop me a comment & let me know! 

 I would love if you decide to sign up for any of these programs if you'd use my links please. Any little bit I earn off these apps, I put towards our homeschooling projects & field trips. Thanks!

Money Saving Monday

After last weeks post about my tips on how to get free or nearly free things at CVS, I thought I'd follow up with how I organize my coupons and some places I read up on to get some deal ideas.

There are many ways to organize coupons but I prefer to use a 3 ring binder with clear, plastic pocket inserts (think baseball card holders). This makes it easy to see & access your coupons quickly. And yes, this thing goes with me when I go shopping anywhere that will accept coupons! You never know when you'll trip across an unpublished deal or marked down item.

It's all a personal preference in how you organize your coupons once you have the holder you prefer. Since I get a lot of my deals at CVS, I have personal care items in the front of my binder. The page above has some of my razor & shaving cream coupons (I have 2 pages worth of these). They are grouped by their brand names. I have all shampoos on the same page, toothpaste together, etc. Then I have other grocery items categorized together back further. Snack items, dry goods, dairy items, frozen, and so on. I obviously have a ton of different categories but those are just some to give you ideas. Some people have tabs or page dividers to mark off their different sections but I haven't bothered with that at this point.

On the left hand side of the picture, you can see I have a clip attached where I put any shopping lists that aren't in listed in my smart phone. I also clip the coupons to this spot I know I plan to use before heading out so they are easy to grab.

Some of my favorite sites I read to get heads up on deals are:
For The Mommas
We Use Coupons (thanks for sharing this Jackie!)
The Krazy Coupon Lady

If you are on facebook, all the above places can be found there as well. They list who has what on sale and what coupons you can pair with the sales to get the best deal. Often they will list some of the stores sales up to a week ahead of time, giving you time to plan out what you want or to hunt down coupons you might not have. Those sites also give a lot of other great information as well (where to get free samples mailed out to you, bargains online, etc).

A free place to get coupons to print out on your printer is Coupons.com (though keep in mind some stores won't take internet printed coupons but most chain stores do).

(and no, I'm not being paid to share the above. Just want to pass along some ways to help you save money).

I know all this may seem overwhelming but you don't have to tackle this all at once. Start small with saving a bit on a few deals and go from there. Once you start seeing the awesome savings, you'll want to keep going as it can be such an adrenaline rush!

Have you found any good deals recently? Comment below & share as it's always fun to hear what others are finding!

Previous Money-Saving Monday posts:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

Money Saving Monday-Shopping at CVS for Next to Nothing!

I realize I haven't done a money-saving post lately but this one will make up for it! Do you shop at CVS? If you don't, I hope after this post you will. (and no, I'm not getting paid to do this post, I wish I was, ha!) Many people don't realize just how good the deals are at CVS when you combine coupons, red machine coupons & extra care bucks (ECB). I've been getting a lot of things free most weeks due to planning out my deals. Here are some photos of some recent deals and I'll explain more on the flip side:

(click on photos to enlarge if you want to see more detail)

This was the loot I scored on black Friday (and no, I wasn't there early, just later morning). EVERYTHING you see here I got for free PLUS I earned $21 ECB to spend on another order.

I paid $1.89 for this order (as seen in receipt below though the cashier messed up what I paid so it shows $1.98) I earned $19 in ECB.

I paid $6.11 for this order & got $4 in ECB PLUS I also got a $6 rebate on the advil which means I made money on this order!

I paid a whopping......$.41 out of pocket for this order (used a $10 cash card from a previous order & $9 in ECB to pay for this) and got $19 in ECB as seen in the receipt below plus using an app on my phone, I earned another $1.25  which means I made money on this order!!!

, 

I paid $4.06 for this order (as seen in receipt below) and earned $19 in ECB.

Check out the savings on this receipt from this one order, I saved $99!!!!

I paid $9.22 for this order, as seen in receipt below, & earned $10 ECB.  (and no, we will not be drinking all the sodas from the last 2 pics, they will be sold at our annual development yard sale in May, thus making money off this order!) Look at that savings of $95!!

Ok, do I have you convinced yet to start shopping at CVS?

 If you don't shop there, first things first, get yourself their loyalty card called an "extra savings card". Also, if you get the Sunday paper, start clipping coupons. If you don't get the paper, ask around to friends for their coupons. When you go to CVS, locate the "red machine", this is where you scan your card and it prints out special coupons & savings just for you. Don't just scan it once and take those coupons, scan it again as it usually prints off more than one round. Keep scanning until is says "no more coupons for today".

Those coupons have an expiration date on them so even if you don't think you will use them right away, hang onto them for a possible future order. Many times I've found coupons that printed one week, I end up using the following week on good sales.

Also, go online to CVS and register your extra care card (because they will email you special coupons) and also sign up for the beauty club savings where you can earn even more ECB. CVS now has an app for smartphones. Download this to see what coupons they send you weekly.

Just to clarify, ECB are earned on certain products that are marked each week. After you purchase the items qualifying for them, they print out on the bottom of your receipt. Make sure you DON'T LOSE THEM! They are just like money and you can use them on another order!

You can use a manufactures coupon and a red machine coupon on the same item. Like that toothpaste above, it was on sale for $3, I got a red machine coupon for $2.50 off each plus I had a manufactures coupon for $1 off 2, so all combined, I got the toothpaste for free!!

The stayfree were on sale the other week for buy one, get one free. I located some buy one get one free coupons so that allowed me to get them totally free!

I mentioned above that I used an app on my iPhone to earn money on the mouthwash I bought (which was on sale for $4.99, I had $1 off coupon, I got $2.50 in ECB plus with the app, I earned another $1.25 which made it only $.24) There are several money saving apps that are free & easy to use.

- ibotta (if you are a new user, the first time you redeem a rebate you'll get an extra $10)

-Savingstar

-Checkout 51

I could go on & on about this but I realize I probably just put some of you on info overload so next week, I will share a part 2 to this and share how I organize my coupons and other resources I use to help me figure out my best deals.

If you have any questions on what I shared here, feel free to leave it in a comment or email me & I will answer on next weeks post!

Until then, happy savings!!!

Previous Money-Saving Monday posts:

Week 1

Week 2

This post may contain affiliate links. Anything I earn helps support our homeschooling family.