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Moving Over to Modern Mom

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:53:49 +0100

I am now a featured blogger at ModernMom.com. I will pop in here from time to time to post, but I will be writing at ModernMom every other day. I would love for you to visit me there.

Find me now blogging on Modern Mom

Websites I just had to share!

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:33:24 +0100

I spend a lot of time listing great deals and freebies, but I do not always get a chance to post all the great websites I find that really don't fit into a category. There are so many websites and on-line communities out there just for us Moms!

ModernMom.com - I joined their site about 3 weeks ago and today I received my first e-mail asking if I would like to test a product. I answered their survey questions and received an e-mail back saying that I had qualified. I will be getting a product to test soon. Besides the opportunity to test products, ModernMom.com is filled with great advise and has forums to share with other moms that have the same interests as you.

Momster.com - This site is targeted to moms with teens (I fit there with 2 of my own). This site has a lot of "groups" that you can join, depending on what you are looking for. I created a Survey Mamas group to talk all about surveys. If you are interested in joining click HERE. I am still waiting for the first member :)

Pssst.com - I have been a member for a few years, but I wanted to share the latest addition to this site. They now have the MyGetTogether feature. From what I have read, it seems similar to HouseParty.com. You apply to host a party and if you are accepted you will get free stuff sent to you to help make your party even better. I just received my first e-mail today to apply for a Pillsbury Crescent Roll party and received an e-mail a few hours saying I had been accepted. I will keep you posted on how this all works and what I receive. Keep in mind that Pssst does not accept everyone.

Vocal Point - I have mentioned this website a few times in the last few months because of the great freebies they have been sending out to their members. They are looking for people to share via "word of mouth" about products so they will send you an item and usually some coupons to share with others. It is always great to get a surprise in your mailbox! In the last few months they have also been giving away items via their site. You log in and if you are one of the first (you will in the #) to sign up you will receive an item for free. Last month they were mailing out free bottles of Pantene shampoo and the offer just came up again today. There is no catch, and no work involved for you.

Well, there are a few to keep you busy for a little while. If you know of any more, please feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the title of this post.

My Trash Picking Update

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:45:23 +0100

This "Daily" wording is getting tricky. It is more like "monthly". I am spending so much time posting freebies and daily deals that I do not has as much time to come here and just share.

But I wanted to follow up on the post about "One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure" and show you a picture of my creation. I went crazy with the spray paint and made this butterfly pop! Just to think the poor thing was just sitting by the curb waiting for a new coat of paint and a new home!

Time to Come Clean

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:10:50 +0100

How many of us buy an item when it is on sale, even if we will not need to use it right away? We have been told to be smart shoppers and buy when the price is low so we are not stuck needing it when the price is high. I have discovered, by way of my cat, that I do this mainly with beauty cleaning items. This morning one of my cats got into the bathroom cabinet and managed to open a bottle (he is amazing :) and spill conditioner. So, I was forced to remove everything from the cabinet to clean it. Well, I was amazed by what was in there. Mind you, these are all unopened items. Am I the only one who does this? I know it will all get used eventually, but I also know I will be buying more when there is a good deal. Please tell me I am not alone? (Leave a comment by clicking on the title of this post)

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:48:41 +0100

This is an old saying, but very true. How many times have you taken something offered to you from a friend who did not want it anymore? Thrift Stores, Garage Sales, EBay, Craig's List, dumpster diving. All ways to get items others no longer want or need.

I watched the Antique's Road Show on Monday and there was a lady who bought a lamp for $25 at a garage sale and had a hunch. It ended up being a Tiffany lamp and was worth $50,000! I know we all wish for opportunities like that, but in most cases just getting a great bargain is enough.

Just today a neighbor had a few items sitting outside with a "Free" sign. I brought home a large outdoor metal butterfly. It will need a little TLC, but it gives me a creative outlet and will look great in the backyard come Spring.

Another time our family had just come back from shopping for outdoor furniture. All the sets were too expensive. We drove down the street and someone had a set sitting out on the curb. My husband knocked on the door at 9:30 at night and $25 later we had a glass table, loveseat and 2 chairs. The furniture needed reupholstered, but lucky for me my birthday was coming up and my father paid to get them recovered. I get compliments all the time and love to share the story of how I got them.

In the February issue of Better Homes & Gardens they have an article showing how to have a free tag sale with your friends. Invite between 5-10 friends and have each bring no more than 10 items. Give each person their own marker and then everyone goes around and marks items they would like to have. If there is more than one marker on an item than you do a drawing. This is a great way to get rid of unwanted items and get some great new stuff!

I thought it would be fun to share with each other the great finds we have come across. Click on the title of this post and leave a comment or leave one on our Facebook page.

Another week at the grocery store

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:17:39 +0100

This week was a learning week. The more I am looking to save money, the more I am on-line looking for deals and coupons. I had a few coupons that I knew I could only use at Wal Mart, because they were the only store around that carried a few items. I was so into all this "couponing" and I found some blogs that had Wal Mart deals for the week and started printing away. Now these are not items I would have normally bough,t but since the deals were so good I decided to print out the coupons and buy them. That is where the lesson begins. I ended up walking out of there having spent over $50. I did buy $14 razors for hubby though, yikes! I was a little shocked, but thought surely because of these purchases I would spend less at the grocery store this week and it would all come out to under my $120 a week budget. Wrong. I spent $92 at the grocery store.

So the lesson this week is to stick to what I need and not get wrapped up in all the "good deals". I hope you can learn from my mistakes!

Working Harder with Coupons

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:16:50 +0100

So, to help out with my new year goals, I have committed to save $120 a month on groceries. My goal is now to spend $120.00 a week. Now, depending on where you live and the size of your family that may seem like a lot of money or a little. With a 17 year old boy in my home, that amount sounded like something I could actually meet.

On Thursday I went to my grocery store deal page (right now I only have So. Cal stores listed) and compared the lists and decided which store had the best deals for the week. Once I had determined that Stater Bros. was the best store this week, I started making my general list. Then I read carefully all the deals that were listed and started cutting out coupons for these items and working my dinners for the week around what was a good deal. I will admit this took me about 30 minutes. I hope that as I do this more often the time will decrease.

Yesterday, I confidently drove to the store, anxious to see how this trip would compare to the old ones. There was only one deal that I came in prepared to buy that the store did not carry. So all but one of my coupons was used. My cart was piled so high I was putting items underneath! I was getting nervous as I approached the check-out. I saw the amount after she rang everything up and thought, oops, I have made a big mistake. But then she started deducting the coupons. It was slow going. Because I had a lot of coupons that I had printed off the internet, the cashier examined each one. She even had to call someone about 2 of them. But in the end all the coupons were good and I walked out spending $118.69 of my $120 budget! I saved $65.01 by using coupons and taking advantage of the deals the store was running. The big difference was that I came home with a lot more food than I normally do. I stocked up on Top Sirloin, ( I never buy meat like that and now I have extra!) and have enough laundry detergent to last at least 1 1/2 months.

At this point I feel like my 30 minutes were well spent in preparing my list and getting my coupons together. I will try it again next week and let you know how it goes!

The New Year

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:31:30 +0100

Okay, so I am a little late. We are still only two weeks into the new year! I thought if I wrote here my goals for 2010 it might make it more real, and I have all of you to help keep me accountable! I hope you will share your goals as well. Just click on the title of this post and type away.

I wish my goals were a little more out of the box, but I, like many of you seem to struggle with the same thing year after year.

1) Pay down some debt. This one is number one because I find that I obsess over the amount of credit card debt I have and that is not good. So I am going to put aside $1000 as am emergency fund, so the credit card will not have to be used, and then start paying down the dreaded card. It will not be paid off in this year, but just knowing progress is being made will be a good thing.

2) Lose weight - I know, come own now, how original is that? How about slim down, fit into my old pants, look like I did in high school? Sound any more original? I did not think so. I managed to lose some weight a few years ago, but put it all back on. So round # (gosh who counts?) ahead.

3) Reach out to others more - Being a stay-at-home mom I find that it is really easy to stay in the house and not come out except to go to the store. I have committed to being more social and accept the invitations given to me (if they have not stopped coming as of yet).

4) Enjoy what I have - This might seem easy, but I have the home decorating bug. I love all the HGTV shows and dream daily of how each room in my house can be transformed. Now I have already been tested in this early quite severely. Over a year ago we took out all the carpet in our front room due to untrained animals (yes that means pee) and I have lived with bare concrete every since. It is an eye sore, embarrassing to explain to others and just darn cold. In fact, just yesterday I went to a tile store and received a sample piece of the tile I would love to have. I have put it on the concrete and am waiting for it to multiply! A friend suggested I should have gotten 2 pieces if that is what I had in mind. Funny Laura! So, I will enjoy my concrete, I will enjoy my bathroom carpet (who does that anyway) and be content while watching that credit card debt go down.

So now it is down for all to read. The year is ahead of me, we will see how it goes.

On Vacation

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:02:38 +0100

It has been awhile since a wrote here. So much for a "Daily" dose...

We have been enjoying a lovely week in Sedona, AZ. I have challenged myself and my family to stay on a budget this vacation and so far it is working. I plan on adding everything up once we return home. We have been as frugal as possible, but you still have to buy some souvenirs! Normal life hit us today when my daughter came down with a cold. So, we are just enjoying our time share condo for the day. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow and our plan is to visit the Grand Canyon.

On the main page of the site I have added a few pictures and our plan for staying on a budget.

Final Baking Day

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:39:49 +0100

So it took a few hours, but I am all done! YEAH!!!

Today I made:

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 package yellow cake mix
2 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 cup peanut butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup salted peanuts chopped
Melted Chocolate (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Beat cake mix and butter in large bowl with mixer until just crumbly. Reserve 1 cup of mixture. Press remaining mixture evenly into ungreased 13X9 in pan to form crust. Bake 10 minutes cool on wire rack

Beat cream cheese and peanut butter in bowl with mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in sugar. Spread filling over cooled crust.

Combine reserved cake mix mixture and peanuts, sprinkle over filling
Bake 45 minutes or until just set. Chill at least 2 hours before serving. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired

Lemon Cheese Bars

1 package white or yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350
Combine cake mix, 1 egg and oil into bowl, stir until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup. Press remaining crumb mixture into ungreased 13X9 inch pan. Bake 15 min. or until light golden brown.
Meanwhile combine remaining egg, cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice, beat until smooth. Spread over baked crust. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over it.
Bake 15 min. or until cream cheese layer is just set.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ribbon Dessert

12 Nutter Butter Cookies
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tub of Cool Whip
2 squares of baking chocolate, melted.

Crush c8 cookies with rolling pin. Mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of foil lined 9X5 loaf pan

Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla with mixer. Gently stir in Cool Whip. Spoon 1/2 cup of the mixture into another bowl and then to that bowl stir in melted chocolate. With the remaining mixture spoon half of it over crust, then spoon in the mixture with the chocolate, and then the rest of the original mixture.

Freeze 4 hours or overnight. Invert onto plate, remove foil then re-invert. Break remaining cookies over mixture along with a small amount of Cool Whip.

(No picture - it is still freezing!)

Happy Baking