Will Be Back in the Spring

Due to the upcoming adoption of our daughter in China who will need open-heart surgery, I'm temporarily suspending posting on the blog. Lord-willing, I'll be back in March after the adoption and surgery are complete.

See you then!

Target Coupons

Target just revamped the coupon portion of their website. Now you can only print 2 of their store coupons per item. However, the great news is these can be "stacked" with manufacturer's coupons (meaning that you can use both a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on the same item) to maximize your savings.

Go here to see what coupons are available today.

Free Classical Christmas Music

Go to Amazon.com here to download 5 free Christmas songs. I downloaded them last week, and they are excellent recordings of some Christmas classics.

Thanks to Freebies 4 Mom for this tip.

FREE Batteries at

Between now and December 26, 2009 you can get free 20-packs of Duracell batteries. If you don't have your Staples Rewards card, sign up for it 1st. (It's free). Then twice a week you can buy a 20-pack of Duracell Batteries for $12.99 and you'll get $12.99 back in Staples Rewards. See all the details here.

I always have a hard time finding free batteries, so I'll be making twice weekly trips to our nearby Staples until this deal is over.

Thanks to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Money Saving Mom for the tip on this sale.

Sign up for EBates and Earn a Return on Your Christmas Purchases

Have you joined EBates yet?? All you need to do to join is go to the website here and sign up for your account. Each time you shop, via their site on the Internet, you'll earn a percentage of your purchase price in "free" money.

The great news is if you sign up now, you will get an automatic $5 credit on your account. I also like this program because Ebates mails you a check or pays you via PayPal, quarterly, if you have at least $5.01 in your account.

I ordered two Christmas presents today via Barnes and Noble and received 4% back in my EBates account. It won't make me rich, but it's nice to earn some money while I'm Christmas shopping via the Internet.

CoinStar Deal - Stretch Your Christmas Dollars

In our family we don't spend "coins". We save all of our change and put it into a clear old-fashioned milk jug. When the jug is full, we roll all the change and split the total $ amount among the 4 avid readers in the family. Then we make a trip to an old used bookstore and shop to our hearts content.

This year, in an effort to economize and further our adoption fund, we're going to turn our change into Christmas presents. So here's a deal....Take at least $40 change to your nearest CoinStar location. Redeem the change for gift cards (you can find a listing at the CoinStar website). There's no fee for converting your change to gift cards, i.e. $40 worth of coins will become $40 of gift cards.

During the Christmas season CoinStar is running a special promotion. You can see the details at the CoinStar Promotion link. They will send you a free $10 gift card for counting your $40 in change.

At our nearest CoinStar location, they offer gift certificates for Lowes, Amazon. com, Overstock. com and several other businesses. We're going to redeem ours for Amazon gift cards and then do Christmas shopping via the web.

That should help extend our holiday budget!!

Thanks to Money Saving Mom (my favorite coupon site) for spreading the word about this deal.

Rite Aid - Black Friday Deals

Check out My Frugal Adventures post for a detailed list of all the Rite Aid deals for Black Friday.

And when you are shopping at RiteAid don't forget to print your $3 off of $15 coupon. Remember, to maximize your savings, try to get your shopping order to come as close to $15 as possible (it must be at least $15). Give the cashier your 3/15 coupon and then give the cashier any other coupons you might have.

Save your RiteAid receipts and enter them at the RiteAid website to earn the following certificates:

Restaurant Certificate & Delivered Flowers

Restaurant.com is having a special Thanksgiving promotion. If you purchase one of their restaurant certificates at 70% off, you will also get a $15 gift certificate to Pro Flowers.

I went to the Pro Flowers website and found the following arrangement for $19.99.

It includes a vase and the shipping begins at $6.99 (depending on the speed of delivery and the destination). This might be a nice gift for someone.

You can enjoy a meal out at an area restaurant and send a friend or family member a flower arrangement all for $14.98 out of pocket.

We've used Restaurant.com certificates and have been very happy with their service. Make sure you read the restrictions for each restaurant before purchasing. Some restaurants will only allow you to use the certificate on certain days of the weeks. Also, the certificates have minimum purchase requirements. My favorite certificates are the ones worth $25 with a minimum purchase of $35. That means you spend $3.00 to buy the $25 gift certificate and then only $10 more at the restaurant for $35 worth of food.

You can go to the following link and find participating restaurants in you area:

Take 70% off Restaurant.com $25 Gift Cert. orders + receive FREE $15 gift code from ProFlowers. Use code THANKS and Pay $3 thru 11/26/09.

The promotion ends on November 26th at midnight but the flower gift code doesn't expire until December 24th. This might be the perfect Christmas gift for that "hard to buy for" relative.

Rite Aid Coupons

After Christmas I'll be running a Couponing 101 series to help those of you new to the coupon game. But for now I'll be posting some of my favorite new coupons and deals.

One of the best ways to save money on toiletries (and food for that matter) is to "stack" a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon. Then to further sweeten the deal you can use a $3 off $15 coupon or other similar coupon.

Let me give you an example of how I'll use a series of coupons at RiteAid this week...

My family loves Honey Nut Cherrios, and I won't spend any more than $2/box for cereal. This week at RiteAid they have Honey Nut Cherrios on sale 2 for $5.00.

***This is revised from the original post. My calculations were WAY off the 1st time. That's what I get for posting while holding a squirming 3 year old in my lap!***

I will pick up 6 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. After the cashier rings up the cereal (for a total of $15), I'll hand the cashier this coupon at link here.

Then I will hand the cashier 2 coupons from a newspaper insert. Each coupon is $1.00/2 boxes of Honey Nut Cherrios. You can also use coupons found on the Kelloggs website...here.

My total for 6 boxes of cereal will be $10.00...just $1.67 a box.

I'll pay for the transaction with a Rite Aid gift that I earned by transferring a prescription to Rite Aid. The net transaction will cost me $0 out of pocket.

Transferring prescriptions is one of the best ways to earn gift cards at both Rite Aid and CVS. Rite Aid has coupons in almost every weeks sales paper offering a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription to Rite Aid. Since CVS honors all competitor's coupons, they will also honor the $25 gift card offer.

So this is how it works...
I fill a prescription at CVS. When I need a refill (and unfortunately our family has several ongoing prescriptions), I transfer the prescription to Rite Aid and earn a $25 Rite Aid gift card. I usually refill it once at Rite Aid (just to make sure to be "fair" to the store), and then I transfer the prescription back to CVS and earn a $25 gift card to CVS. Since we live near both a CVS and RiteAid, filling prescriptions at either store is convenient for us.

**Harris Teeter has the same size box of Honey Nut Cherrios on sale 3 for $6. If you're making a trip to HT for other groceries, you might want to use your Honey Nut Cheerios there. ***

#1 Organizational Tip of the Year

I read my best organizational tip of the year in The Duggars book, 20 and Counting. I only have a family with 4 daughters (soon to be 5), but I still find my laundry and closet organization is always a challenge.

After reading how the Duggars handled their laundry, for a family with 18 children - at the time of the book writing, I decided to give it a try. This is what the Duggars say, "We would no longer use bedroom closets for clothing....No more carrying clean clothes all the way to the bedrooms and putting them away in drawers and closets. Now they're sorted and put away right in the laundry room..."

I decided this was a brilliant concept and gave it a try. My long-suffering husband installed a hanging rod in our laundry room.


Now we hang all the clothes for the youngest 3 girls directly in the laundry room. This one organizational tip saves me countless minutes each day...carrying laundry up to each bedroom, putting it away in closets and dresser drawers, or worse, sending the children up with the clothes only to find the clothes half-hanging on hangers or sticking out of drawers.

Now all the clothes are within fingertip reach. It makes the entire laundry chore easier, and the girls bedrooms stay much neater. And since our girls share bedrooms, it also leaves more room for them to store their toys and belongings in our small bedroom closets.

In addition to putting up a hanging rod, we also installed a shelf above it. It is a great place to store out of season clothes and hand-me downs. I use free copy paper boxes and just label them with the sizes/seasons. This saves both time and money as I don't overbuy for a season.



If you're interested in getting the Duggars book, which is full of helpful tips, you can go to Vision Forum website. They currently have the book on sale and are offering flat rate shipping of $5.00 for any size order. We've ordered from this company many times and have never been disappointed with their quality or timeliness of shipping.

How Much is Enough?

Almost 20 years ago I was blessed to go through the late Larry Burkett's financial advisor training class. The class was invaluable in many ways, but one of the key points that was driven home was answering the question, "How Much is Enough?" (from Chap. 8 of How to Manage Your Money by Larry Burkett.)

The study challenged each of us to define, for ourselves and for our family, the parameters by which we were going to live. Just because our income increases does our standard of living need to increase? Just because we can buy another outfit, do we need another one?

This question has become a driving force in my quest to live a simpler life. Every time I go to the store I try to remember to ask myself, "How Much is Enough?" It's amazing how this one phrase has simplified my life!

"Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of possessions." Luke 12:15

If you are looking for some fun craft projects to tie in with the Thanksgiving season, you can download a free e-book here.

Being the minimalist that I am, I didn't want to print the entire E-Book (all 51 pages of it), knowing that I would never do all the crafts. Instead I skimmed through the E-Book and printed only the crafts that we will do. My personal favorites - Be Thankful Sign, Give Thanks Card (I'll adapt it and put a Scripture verse instead of the Indian girl) and the Tags.

The Fave website is obviously encouraging you to purchase items from them (or another craft store), but I think we can rework some of the projects to use what we have on hand.

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting about this E-Book.

Cooking Marathon...A Success

It's 11:00 p.m. My kitchen is clean. I have from-scratch blueberry muffins on the counter for the morning, and my freezer is full. It feels good, but boy was it exhausting getting here!!

I didn't cook for a set block of time, today, as I anticipated. I broke it up in short segments throughout the day. It worked great, with one exception, NEVER schedule one of your segments after supper!! At 8 p.m., after the family had eaten and the dishes were cleared, honestly, I just wanted to sit down and read a good book. Unfortunately, I still had the rest of a chicken to debone, muffins to make and 2 more casseroles to assemble...ugh. (Special thanks to my husband, who not only made a grocery run for forgotten items, but also deboned the rest of my chicken. Thanks!!)

Following are My Lessons Learned from Marathon Cooking:

Do begin the night before with some of the prep work.

Do work off of a planned menu based on what you already have in your freezer, fridge and pantry.

Do break your prep work, cooking, and freezing into blocks of time instead of one long stretch.

Do provide LOTS of blankets for your children. Tent building kept mine busy for hours.



Don't leave grocery shopping for the day of your cooking marathon. Next time I'll shop the day before.

Don't leave one of your cooking segments for the evening. Next time I'll try to finish by 5 p.m.

Don't forget to calculate how much freezer space you will need for all of those meals. I barely fit all my meals in the freezer.

And lest you wonder what my children were doing during the cooking marathon...

They built tents:


and "helped":


And here is my VERY full freezer:


(Maybe I shouldn't be showing this on an organizing blog...hmmm??)

Change Your Thinking

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matt. 6:26

Part of a living a simplified, organized life is learning to change your thinking. Thought patterns are a powerful tool to either motivate or immobilize.

One new thought pattern that I've adopted is to celebrate the ability to bless others when I "downsize" my possessions.

Previously I felt guilty about getting rid of unused items in my home. I always felt that if I purchased something, spending hard-earned money buying it, I needed to keep it forever. However, I now realize that having less is so freeing in terms of time, space, emotional peace, and a shorter To Do list.

A second thought pattern I've put into place comes from one our family's favorite children's CD, Jungle Jam. One of the characters, Nozzles the elephant, makes a profound statement. He says, "The more you have, the more you have to have to take care of the things you have." It's a mouthful but contains a pearl of wisdom!

Now when I downsize our possessions, I think of Nozzles words and am thankful that I'll have more time to spend on important things in my life instead of "taking care of the things we have." I also remember that I am blessing someone else when I donate my gently used items to a local charity like Christian Ministries, Salvation Army or Goodwill.

These two changes in my thinking have made a significant impact on my ability to be able to downsize AND enjoy it!!

Change Your Thinking today...

Cooking Marathon Prep

The 1st part of any good cooking day, I'm told, is a list of recipes and a plan. I sat down today and came up with the following items for my cooking marathon:

Spaghetti Casserole
Chili (enough for 2 evening meals)
Chicken Noodle Casserole
Chicken Enchiladas
15 Bean Soup (enough for 2 evening meals)
Cheesy Enchilada Chowder

Blueberry Muffins
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Oatmeal Cookie Bars

I picked these menu items based on what I have in our pantry, fridge and freezer. After reviewing the recipes and our stock, I have a short grocery list for the morning.

In order to get a head-start on my cooking day, I decided to begin this evening. I worked for exactly an hour and did the following:

I put a whole chicken in the oven and baked it. Now it's fully cooked and in the fridge. In the a.m. I'll debone the chicken, cut in cubes and use it in my recipes.

I also began the following items:
15 Bean Mix is soaking in water on the stove.

The spaghetti and the rotini are both cooked.

I went ahead and baked the oatmeal cookie bars. I had a head-start on those since someone had given us a mix in a jar. The cookie bars are now cooled and in the freezer.

And finally while the pasta was boiling, I pulled some pre-browned ground turkey out of the freezer and used it to make the spaghetti casserole.

In conclusion...I have one spaghetti casserole and oatmeal bar cookies already complete and in the freezer. And in the a.m., I'll make a quick grocery run and begin the rest of the list....


My 1st success....a casserole in the freezer!!



Stay tuned....

Do you need a Christmas present for a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, sibling, etc. who is in college? I know that when our daughter was at college, gift cards for food and gas were always a hit.

Chick-fil-A has a great deal just in time for Christmas. If you buy $20 worth of Chick-fil-A gift certificates, you get a 2010 calendar for free. The calendar has monthly coupons which can be redeemed for more free food.

What a great idea for a gift or stocking stuffer - gift certificates AND a calendar.

Check out all the details here. And thanks to at Frugal in Virginia for the tip.

Weekly Grocery Budgeting

Crystal Paine, of Money Saving Mom, did a guest post today. (See it here).

The post has excellent pointers for saving money on your weekly grocery bills.

Another great tip for saving on your weekly budget is to cook ahead. Remember, this Friday I'll be trying my hand at that. Check back for pictures and details.

Kodak Money Saving Deal - Hurry It Expires on Friday

Have you started thinking about Christmas gifts yet? I'm making a concerted effort to shop ahead and take advantage of all the specials and coupon-deals to maximize my savings this year.

One of my favorite deals so far is the Kodak free $15 gift promotion. Click on the Kodak link and sign up, using your e-mail, for a free $15 gift certificate redeemable for ANY item on the Kodak website.

Both my husband and I received a free $15 certificate. I used one of them to purchase a customized photo ornament for a friend. The cost of the ornament was $12.99. I applied my $15 and received the ornament for just the cost of shipping - $2.99.

I used the 2nd certificate to make a custom 2010 photo calendar with photos of our family. We're giving this to my mom for Christmas (Mom...I hope you're not reading this.) The cost of the calendar was $19.99, see the choices here, and then I applied the $15.00 gift certificate. $4.99 plus s&h is a deal for a personalized photo gift that will last all year long.

When ordering, don't forget to order through EBates. If you are new to EBates, sign up for an account, and you will receive a $5.00 deposit in your EBates account. The $5.00 is in addition to your rebates from on-line orders.

I am relatively new to EBates but am already impressed. They disburse rebates every 3 months in the form of a check mailed to your home, a deposit into your PayPal account or you can even chose to have them donate it to your favorite charity. The best part about it is they make pay-outs if you have $5.00 or more in your account.

Happy Christmas Shopping!

Banking with a Financial Bonus

Are you tired of all the bank charges that are being added to your checking account? Many banks have minimum balance requirements, monthly maintenance fees, debit card charges, etc.

Last year, after reading about ING Direct in a Woman's Day magazine, we signed up for a savings account. Their interest rates surpassed any rate we could find locally. They did not require a minimum balance, and they didn't charge bank fees.

After a year of banking with them, I am impressed!! They have fulfilled every commitment made to me, their customer, and have charged NO bank fees.

Due to our positive experience with ING Direct, this month we are opening an ING checking account. If you are interested in opening an account, be sure to take advantage of the following promotion:


Electric Orange checking: Nothing average about it.
Earn a $50 bonus for using your card.

Open your account by November 30, 2009 and use your Debit Card to make 3 signature transactions (you know, the ones you have to actually sign) within the first 45 days. On day 50, we'll put $50 in your account.

Visit www.ingdirect.com/electric50 to learn more. Don't forget to enter Reference Code EM369 to be eligible for the $50.


If you are like me and are a little skeptical of on-line banking...check out what Clark Howard, a financial guru and consumer advocate, and Mary Hunt, a syndicated financial columnist for Woman's Day, are saying about ING.

Last year we received $25 - Free - for every savings account we opened with a $250 minimum deposit. I opened accounts for myself and two of our daughters and ING Direct honored their $25 bonus in each account....No Strings Attached.

Need to Simplify Your Meal Preparation

Many years ago I tried a Once a Month Cooking regime. I spent an entire Saturday prepping, cooking and freezing what I was sure were going to be delectable meals. Instead, due to a lack of experience, I ended up with a messy kitchen and mediocre freezer meals. Needless to say, I haven't tried that again!!

However, after reading Money Saving Mom's post about her Freezer Cooking Day, I think I must give it a try again. (If you've never checked out Money Saving Mom's blogsite, it's a must read.)

On Friday I'm going to try to cook ahead for one week of meals. Check back for details and photos. I'll let you know how it goes.

Make Your Finances "Automatic"

One of the easiest ways we've found to simplify our life is to automate all our bill paying. We have set up each of our monthly bills...phone bill, electric bill, auto insurance, life insurance, etc. to be automatically deducted from our checking account.

I understand the time-value of money and realize that I can keep money in my account a little longer and earn the interest myself, but some things are worth "losing" for the piece of mind and simplicity that they offer.

How many checking accounts really earn enough interest to make it significant?? And how many times is a payment accidentally mailed late, causing a late payment charge to be accrued?

I was 1st introduced to the idea of "automating" in the book The Automatic Millonaire by David Bach. While I don't agree with everything that Bach teaches, I think his automation idea is BRILLIANT! In addition to automating our bills, we've also automated our savings.

Give it a try and see if it simplifies your life!