Photo credit: Living Life and Loving every Second

Materials Needed to make your own square scarf:
1. Iron
2. Light Fabric of your choice but make sure it is double sided
3. Heat n’ Bond hem tape
4. Scissors
5. Pom Pom Trim
6. Fabric Glue

I am not even going to do a picture tutorial on this one because it is so easy a child can do it! First you want to take the fabric lay it on a flat surface then with a yard stick measure a square 40″x 40″. After that get your iron and hem tape and hem all four sides….YOUR ALMOST DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take your trim and fabric glue and I used my fingers to put the glue then press the trim and YOU ARE DONE.( I put trim on only two sides)

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 Wait until the pressure gauge goes down on your canning lid.  Do not open your canner until this valve goes down.  Take your jars out with a canning jar grabber.  (Is that what they are called, it sounds funny  Enjoy your canned roast in a pinch.

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Halloween can be a tricky holiday. The omnipresent candy, the festive parties, and the excited enthusiasm of costumed kids can make us go overboard on treating ourselves – especially since we can rationalize that the holiday comes but once a year.

Truly, Halloween is a good time to treat yourself and your kids – not just with a little extra candy, but also with family activities. Bob for apples, tell spooky stories, or have a mini pumpkin hunt!

Halloween definitely doesn’t have to be scary for your health, which is why we’ve compiled this list of tips and recipes to help you moderate the treats and avoid the tricks.

Want more? The Integrative Nutrition community will discuss more tips for a healthy Halloween on Thursday, October 20 during a free webinar. Register for Tricked by Halloween Treats? Not This Year! to reserve your spot!

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Candy

The trickiest part of Halloween is keeping yourself and your kids from going nuts over all that candy. It’s in the grocery, the drugstore, and practically pouring from every nook and cranny, all shiny in neat individual wrappers. One piece seems so small, almost harmless.

Of course, it comes in a bag with 50 or 100 other tiny “harmless” pieces. Take heart, though – we have a few ways to tackle the Halloween-candy blues while still allowing a little festive indulgence.

Handing Out Candy Without Diving Into the Bowl

1. Buy a candy brand that you don’t particularly like to eat for handing out to the trick-or-treaters. Candy corn if you’re a chocolate lover, or Milky Ways if Bit O Honey is your downfall. You’ll be more likely to leave some for the trick-or-treaters.

2. Handing out apples might lead to an egged house, but non-edible options like stickers or yo-yos can be good for treat bags, too. Maybe include an organic lollipop or even a mini Larabar for good measure.

2. Go small. If you hand out something in really small portions like Hershey’s Kisses, not only will you be giving less sugar to the neighborhood kids, but you can also enjoy a few chocolate morsels yourself without much guilt.

3. Buy better candy for only yourself. You really want to waste your candy calorie budget on a few 3 Musketeers that have been sitting on a warehouse shelf for who knows how long? Have a small stash of quality chocolate, and you’ll be less likely to break into the cheaper stuff. For extra benefit, choose dark chocolate – it’s delicious and loaded with health promoting flavonoids. May we suggest Gnosis or Nibmor? 

Keeping Your Kids Safe from Sugar Shock

1. Eat a scrumptious, filling meal before you and your kids hit the pavement. Both of you will be less tempted to munch on candy while you go door-to-door.

2. Upon arriving home after trick-or-treating, let your kids pick out 5 or 6 pieces of candy to enjoy that night. Then pop their bag in the refrigerator. The candy will still be good out of the fridge, but they won’t be able to eat it as fast. Younger kids may also forget about their stash altogether – out of sight, out of mind.

2. After Halloween, ration out the candy as you see fit, OR…

3. Buy the remainder candy off them. Your kids might be happy to trade their hard-earned candy for cold cash, a new toy, or a promise of a trip to the zoo!

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Even using coupons, the back to school supply lists can take a toll on your weekly grocery budget. I found a couple neat ideas on reusing items around the house for school lunch supplies and can’t wait to try them out! These look like items even a non-crafty person like myself could successfully create!

This first idea is from Family Fun magazine. Don’t throw out those used milk jugs!

With just a few snips, you can create a set of cool, eco-friendly, reusable snack and sandwich containers from juice cartons and milk jugs. They’re food-safe, easy to rinse clean, and absolutely free, so it’s no biggie if they get tossed accidentally. Let your kids decorate the boxes with stickers and permanent markers for an even more personalized look.

1. SANDWICH BOX: Mark a clean 1-gallon milk jug as shown.

2. Cut along the lines with scissors. To make the crease lines, use a thumbtack to pierce a row of dots at 1/4-inch intervals across each side of the jug, 1 3/4 inches up from the bottom.

3. Fold the flaps at these dotted lines, then open them and fold them in the opposite direction along the lines (this will make the flaps easier for your kids to open and close). Fold up the box and add an adhesive-backed Velcro dot closure.

SNACK BOX: Use a clean juice or milk carton. Cut off the top, then cut the sides into flaps as shown. Carefully crease the flaps, then fold them down and add an adhesive-backed Velcro dot closure.

These cute bags made out of Capri Sun juice pouches are popping up everywhere. Why not make a lunch totes for your kids?! Save $ and learn how to make them here.

I think these would also make a fantastic reusable grocery bag! This is one my friend Ginny made. {Insert shameless plug for Ginny to make me one for my birthday! }

Do you have a creative idea on how to save money be reusing an item? Please share! I love hearing new thoughts and ideas!

Thanks Utah Deal Diva

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Arts and crafts are a great way to keep the kids busy during the summer months. If you are looking for an inexpensive craft solution, you can use different materials found around your home such as pencils, and markers along with pipe cleaners to make a pipe cleaner duck.  I found this guide on the Factory Direct Craft blog.

1. Coil a white pipe cleaner around a pencil and then slide it off to the side.

2. Fold an orange pipe cleaner in half and bend the top of the folded pipe cleaner, which will become the beak.

3. The next step is to assemble the beak. This is done by sticking the orange pipe cleaner into the white torso about two coils from the top and slide it as far down as possible

4. Create the feet by bending the orange pipe cleaner’s loose ends.

5. The last step is to make the wings with the last white pipe cleaner. After creating the wings, you should attach them to the coiled section of the body.

This project is a lot of fun and your kids will love it. You really don’t have to spend a lot of money to keep your kids occupied.  There are many fun craft supplies to work with, but I’ve found that pipe cleaners provide my kids with hours of entertainment.

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Grateful Couponing

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It seems like everybody, and their dog, are planning a trip to Disneyland sometime this year. YAY!! I’ve had sooo many people calling, emailing, texting me and asking me whats the easiest way to save money on a trip to Disneyland…. Well i’m NOOOO expert! In fact, i’ve never even paid for a hotel or tickets to Disneyland, BUT, i do know some fun, easy ways to save. These are also great tips for the fair, carnivals, parades, and other theme-parks.

TIP #1 : Make your own Autograph Books!

It’s been a long time since i’ve bought an autograph book at disney but if i remember right, they are around $12-$16 EACH! (OUCH!) I went to the craft warehouse and found small blank spiral notebooks on sale for $1 each. I got some of my scrapbook stickers out and voila! Cute custom autograph books! And there are plenty of pages to be able to use them for a couple trips to Disney, the fair, or anywhere else with characters!

TIP #2: DOLLAR STORE= YOUR BFF!!!

This is probably my favorite tip; Souveniers and lights are E.X.P.E.N.S.I.V.E in Disneyland, as with any theme-park! A simple little keychain character will cost around $10 (again, OUCH!) The easiest way to save money on this is by going to the Dollar store BEFORE you leave! It may sound silly, but the Dollar store has A TON of Disney character items, and each is only $1!! I was able to get the kids several items each and i will pack them with us and give one toy to each kid each day we are there. And i only spent about $12 for everything! (that’s 6 toys each!!!!)

If you are at Disney when it gets dark you will notice carts and carts that walk around selling everything imaginable that lights up! Glow sticks, necklaces, glasses, etc. A simple necklace will cost you about $6!!! BUT, the dollar store carries a pretty good variety of glow stuff! They even had light up swords and wands! The necklaces and bracelets all came in a pack of 4-6, so for $5 the kids can be a GLOWING SENSATION at Disney! Walmart is also a cheap place to look for Disney items before going.

TIP #3: Make your own t-shirts!

Of course, you can’t go to Disney unless you are decked out in something Disney right?! i found these cute Disney Cars and Disney Princess shirts at Jo-Ann’s, used my 50% coupon and got them for around $3 each. You can buy fabric markers and have the kids color them themselves before the big day! They can then proudly wear them and show them off!

Tip #4: Coin Tubes

Landen LOVES getting pressed pennies from anywhere we go! Everytime we go on vacation somewhere we always look for pressed pennies machines! Disney has a HUGE selection of them! Every character, every ride, every land, every EVERYTHING!! They even have a shop on Main Street FULL of pressed penny machines! it can get REALLY frustrating trying to dig through bags/purses to find 2 quarters and a penny for each machine. An easy way is to have the kids do chores before Disney that will earn them a quarter or two each. Then have them gather up all the pennies they can find between the couch cushions and put them in an M&M tube! Just about any grocery store sells these tubes full of mini M&M’s, buy one for each kid, enjoy M&Ms, peel off the label, have the kids decorate the tube with their name, stickers, etc and organize the coins, 2 quarters one penny, 2 quarters one penny, till it’s full! I will also attach a piece of yard to the bottles so we carry them easily! You may want to bring a sandwich baggie for all the pressed pennies!

Tip #5: Take alongs

This year we are going to attempt driving (yikes!) but, it’s only going to cost us around $600 to drive from Idaho to So. Cali and 2 nights in a hotel, instead of roughly $1500++ for airfaire. (kids ages 2+ have to buy a full price airline ticket!) So here are a few things we will be taking with us to survive the drive! (Besides your obvious books, toys and snacks)

1. DVD player with new movies (library is a good idea)
2. Again, hit up the dollar store for new toys, sticker books, coloring books, playdoh, white boards, stitching patterns, etc.
3. WRAP toys! It may seem silly but wrapping new toys for the kids to play with will entertain them longer (just make sure you take toys out of packaging to prevent too much trash build up)
4. ALUMINUM FOIL! Bring a tube or two to make aluminium foil animals/figures/hats, etc.
5. Potty break? Bring a kids training toilet, it is small enough to fit in a car and instead of pulling over every hour for kids to go potty, use the portable toilet. Also, bring a thick burp rag or reusable diaper to put on the bottom of the potty so prevent splishing and splashing of toilet goods til you can dump it.
6. Headphones for the kids! After listening to cartoons for a few hours, mom and dad will get SICK of it!
7. Have the kids pack their own backpack with a few of their favorite toys and keep it accessable to them throughout the drive.
8. Lap Desk- I bought these lap trays/desks for each of the kids to take with us in the car. Since they are both in carseats it’s hard to do anything on your lap, but these will allow them to color, play, even eat without making a big mess in my van! They make actual “car trays” online but those can be pretty spending. I found these at Hobby Lobby for $6.99 each and they’ll work perfect! They even have little cubbies to store crayons, coloring books and more in them!

Make seek and find jars, you can buy colored sand at most crafts stores and find random objects to put in the jars. Make a list of what items are in it and have contests to see who can find that item first.

Tip #6: FOOD, need i say more?

A typical “fast food” meal at Disneyland will cost you around $12!! Stay at a hotel that has a free breakfast buffet and FILL up before you go into the park, that will last you a while! Your not “supposed” to bring food into Disney but we’ve been able to bring in snacks for the kids without any problem. Granola bars, fruits, gold fish, fruit snacks, and refillable water bottles are a great way to save! One apple at Disneyland will cost you almost $2!!! You can also bring a cooler of food and leave it in your car to go have lunch or rent a locker outside of the entrance and go have snacks/meals, doing that for one meal will save you on average for a family of four around $50! Another idea is to bring a toaster to your hotel, you can make several different meals with just a toaster. Toast, bagel sandwiches, waffles, etc.

Tip #7: What to bring into the park

Bring your own ponchos, even if it doesn’t look like rain, bring one for each family member and your stroller just in case! You can expect to spend around $10-$15 for ONE poncho from Disneyland, but you can often find them at (guess where?!) THE DOLLAR STORE! Even if it’s raining most of the rides/attractions stay open during the rain, most people leave the park or don’t go on rides during that time so it’s perfect!

Bring your own stroller. A stroller rental from Disneyland will cost about $10/day and they are uncomfortable and offer no room for storage!
Camera, extra batteries, film (do people still use film?)

Change of clothes- Forget the “you may get wet” caution sign in front of splash mountain! Let’s face it…. YOU. WILL. GET. DRENCHED! Bring extra sunscreen and DRINK WATER! LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!

Tip #8: Don’t forget the Beach

You can’t go to Southern Cali without making a trip to the beach! Make your list to the Dollar Store even longer by getting beach toys at there! I was able to get sand molds, beach ball, buckets, shovels from the dollar store!

Everytime we go to the beach i bring an empty, clean baby food jar and have the kids fill it with real beach sand and seashells they found, then label “Kaylee’s 1st trip to the beach” etc. It also makes for a fun Find and Seek Jar afterwards!

Tip #9: Princess at home?

If you have a little princess at home and she wants to dress up as her favorite princess DO NOT buy a costume at disneyland! The Pixie Place kiosk in the Boise mall now sells Disney princess dresses. They are not like costumes, they are light and comfortable enough to wear all day, even on rides. And they only cost $30! They are machine washable and they even make them for 1-3 year olds! In case you’ve never looked around for princess dress pricing, $30 is GREAT!

Tip #10: CityPass

If you are planning on being in so. Cali for a few days, the best way to save money is getting a CityPass. Getting a citypass gets you admission into Disneyland, DCA, Universal Studios, Sea World, and the Zoo. It’s about a 30%-40% savings to do that.

Tip #11: Parking

Parking in the parking garage is going to cost about $15/car! Killer!! One tip we usually do is park in the Downtown Disney area. You get free parking for 3 hours. You’ll have a little ways to walk, but you can walk through shops making it less boring but just move your car every 3 hours.

Tip #12: Child Swap

•Adults with kids don’t have to stand in line if the ride is only for the adult.
?Example 1: If Mom wants to ride Space Mountain but Dad and kids do not, tell the guy working the ride and show him your family. He will let Mom go in a special, shorter line.
?Example 2: Mom and Dad both want to ride Space Mountain but they have an infant who can’t. All 3 wait in line and when they get to the front, tell the staff you want to trade off. Mom rides first while Dad and baby wait; when Mom is done, Dad takes her seat and rides immediately.

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A far as hotels, i’m definately not the person to ask, but i know that staying off-site you can get a decent price hotel, especially off season. AAA, and travel agents also offer discounts.

For tickets into the park, again i’m definately not the person to ask because i’ve been over a thousand times and never paid, but getting a “park hopper” pass is definately the way to go. This will get you into Disneyland and DCA and you can go back and forth as much as you want. Also buying more than one day at disney will be cheaper. (i.e. a 5 day pass is cheapest!) And it may sound silly, but check craigslist or ebay for discounted tickets. Often times people will pay for additional days but not be able to make it. Just do your work and make sure they are legit before purchasing!

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

• Even though Disneyland closes at (let’s say) 9pm, main street shops stay open til the LAST PERSON is gone! So do all your shopping at the end of the day! Last year, my family and i were the very last people on an empty main street at 2am! It’s kinda neat to see Disney with NO ONE there!
• If you go to guest relations you can get a FREE button if you’re there for a special occation, birthdays, anniversaries, honeymoons, 1st trip to disney, newlyweds, family reunions, etc. Just go to guest relations and ask for a specific button and everyone can get one free!
• USE FASTPASS! Fast pass is a ticket that gets you a “go to the front of the line” sort of thing. You can get only one per person per every few hours. So, if you want to go to splash mountain but the line is 2 hours long, get a fast pass, go on a few less busy rides, come back any time after your ticket says and wait a MUCH shorter time!
• A Character meal is TOTALLY worth it! These cost more than your average $10/person meal but they are TOTALLY worth it! You can sit and eat really good food and have the characters come to YOUR table! No waiting in line after line in the park, you can take pictures, get autographs without even leaving your table! There are SEVERAL different character meals.
• Disney Princesses no longer walk around, so you have to look for specific area where they will be and the line is usually pretty long! So have one adult wait in line while the other takes the kids on another ride.
• Here’s a trick that the hubs and i did in WDW, i don’t think it’s “technically” allowed but it saves time! get your fast pass for just one ride and use your spouse’s ticket to get a different fast pass. You can ask the ride attendent for a stroller pass and that allows one person to get in the fast pass line. So technically you are 2 fast passes at the same time and get to go on 2 rides in just the fast pass line.
• Even though your fast pass says, “use between 2:00pm and 3:00pm” that doesn’t mean you have to go in that hour block. You can still use your fast pass anytime after 3pm.
• Go on rides during parades, or lunch/dinner time. Wait lines are SIGNIFICALLY shorter during these times!
• Have an iphone? The iphone has an app that will tell you the shortest wait line!

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Being as the price of produce may drastically increase in the next week due to the freeze in Mexico, I thought it’d be helpful to share a few tips as to how to keep produce fresh longer. By taking a couple extra steps when you bring your produce home, you can extend the life of your fresh goods by as much as a week or two! Below I’ve listed several common fruits and vegetables and ways to prolong their shelf life. If you have tips to share, please leave a comment and I’ll add them to the list!

Apples & oranges: will stay fresh in fridge for 3-4 weeks. Don’t store other produce in the same place as apples in the fridge as they give off a gas that causes other produce to ripen quickly. {Oranges don’t seem to be affected, so I store them together.}

Asparagus & celery: Wash & cut off ends. Store in a container with stalks standing upright with a little water on the bottom.

Bananas: Buy small bunches in varying stages of ripeness. Break up bunches and store on the counter in a container that allows for good air circulation. I have a wrought iron basket that works really well.

Berries: Store in fridge. Berries just don’t last very long, period, unless you opt to freeze them. However if you wash them, they spoil faster, so opt to wash just those that you’ll eat immediately. Also be sure to pick out any moldy berries immediately as they will cause others to spoil faster.

Broccoli & cauliflower: Will stay fresh in the fridge for about 10 days. If you opt to freeze, you’ll need to blanch them first which is a very easy process detailed here.

Green onions: Slice them and store them in a container with a folded up paper towel. They’ll stay fresh for about 10-12 days this way.

Lettuce & spinach: Wash & dry leaves. Store leaves in a loose but closed bag or container with a folded up paper towels. The towel absorbs the moisture and leaves stay fresh longer.

Mushrooms: Store in the fridge in a paper bag. Will stay fresh for about a week this way. {Keeping them in the container you bought them in makes them slimy within 2-3 days.}

Onions: Will stay fresh in a cool, dark place for 3-4 weeks. You can also dice them and freeze them for use beyond that time frame.

Pears: Store in fridge until ready to eat. Once they’re out on the counter, they’ll ripen within 2-3 days.

Potatoes: Open bag they came in and store in a cool, dark, dry place. I store mine in a cupboard in my garage- they keep for 5-6 weeks!

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I posted about a Tylenol Sleep Kit (no longer available)not long ago.  Well in it came a blue sleep mask.  After opening the freebie, I left the sleep mask laying out.  Hubby opened the package and held it up and exclaimed I have an idea!  He quickly grabbed the scissors and started cutting 2 holes in the mask.  Then I grabbed some thread and quickly did a stitch around the hole to stop frays.  Now granted it was not the best cuts or sew job, but as you can see from below it didn’t matter! Instant Super Hero!!!

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I stole this idea a lady on Crocheting Club on Facebook. I then decided to figure it out and make a tutorial for those of you that might want to make it too. This is about a 30 minute project and I used a size 5/ F hook.

Collect approximately 13 Tabs for soda cans. Be sure that the little circle in the center has been removed.

Choose your yarn. Line up the tabs one on top of the other, staggered Two double crochet in each two tabs.

The tricky part is holding the tabs while trying to double crochet through them. Just be patient.

When you are finished with the top side connect with a slip stitch and then move to the bottom side.

Put it on and enjoy!

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Thanks to Michelle for passing along this thrifty tip on how to make Red Velvet Cake balls.  She is so talented and I love her ability to think outside the box, and be thrifty!  You can check out more of her ideas at Polka Dots and Pizza. If you would like to be a featured guest post on Look What I Made , watch for our weekly post each Tuesday called A Thrifty online craft fair, link up and you may be selected for our weekly feature post.

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As a freelance Makeup Artist, the Holidays are one of the busiest times of the year. Since not everyone wants to splurge on a Makeup Artist, I thought it would be helpful to pass on some tips and techniques to get your Thrifty Holiday Look. I went to my local CVS and picked up some makeup to create this fantastic look. I purchased my Wet ‘n Wild eyeshadow, lip gloss, eyeliner, highlighter, and nail polish for only $8.50. Combine that with my makeup tutorial explaining the basic application technique, you too can look like you just left the Makeup Artist’s chair.

I hope this was helpful in creating your own Thrifty Holiday Look. As a tip from an insider, blending is your key to success.

xo
Kristie

Kristie {a.k.a. Blushing Basics} is a wife, mother of two, and freelance Makeup Artist. Her love for all things artistic began at an early age and has since blossomed into her favorite medium, Makeup! For more makeup application techniques, as well as video tutorials and frugal fashion advice, check out her blog http:www.blushingbasics.blogspot.com.

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Thanks to Michelle for passing along this thrifty tip on how to take a plain T shirt and turn it into something wonderful.  She is so talented and I love her ability to think outside the box, and be thrifty!  You can check out more of her ideas at Polka Dots and Pizza.

I got a plain long sleeve boat neck shirt at old navy on clearance for $2.50. I thought for that price, I could come up with something to do with it. I decided to turn it into a cardigan. Here is what I did.

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Thanks to Utah Deal Diva for this Guest Post

I found pomegranates for only .92 at Walmart today, so I decided to take pictures while I peeled mine and show anyone interested how it’s done. I can’t take all the credit. I owe my method to the infamous Alton Brown from the Food Network. I love him! When picking a pomegranate, I select the largest, heaviest ones I can find. Expect to yield 1 – 1.5 cups of seeds per fruit. My 3 pomegranates yielded 4.5 cups of seeds total.

Peeling a pomegranate isn’t difficult, but it’s a little trickier than peeling most fruit. Inside the pomegranate are tons of small red seeds that are filled with juice. They’re tangy and sweet and those seeds are what we’re ultimately after! Watch out though, they also stain like crazy, so wear an apron!

Step 1: Using a small knife, score the outside of the pomegranate from one end to the other. I make several shallow cuts as it’s easier to peel that way. Don’t cut too deeply into the fruit or you’ll hit the seeds! Peel away the end of the fruit that sticks out- the end that used to have the stem attached. I also slide the knife in a bit deeper into the end here and gently break the pomegranate in half.

Step 2: Place a large bowl in one side of your kitchen sink and fill the bowl with water. You’ll be doing most of the peeling with your hands under the water with the fruit. Being submerged in water helps loosen the seeds from the peel and minimizes spray, should a seed happen to burst. Even still, the sides of my sink were dripping with pink by the time I finished peeling my three pomegranates!

Step 3: Using the lines you scored into the peel as guides, carefully begin to pull the fruit apart. Once it’s in quarters, I begin gently brushing the seeds from the peel. Most will just fall away, but others might be a little stubborn. For those that don’t want to come out, instead of trying to grab the seed, instead, pull the peel away and try to loosen it that way.

You’ll soon notice the seeds fall to the bottom of the bowl, while the white parts of the peel float on top. As you work your way through the fruit, every once in a while, skim the peel pieces away from the surface of the water and discard.

Step 4: Once you’ve sufficiently gotten all the seeds, try and remove all the pieces of peel from the water either with your hand, or with a fine mesh strainer. I use both.

Step 5: Pour the bowl with the seeds through a colander and strain the water out. Gently pour seeds onto paper towels or a cloth and spread them out to dry.

Step 6: Once dry, place the seeds in a tupperware container and lay a folded damp piece of paper towel on top. The seeds will stay fresh in your fridge for up to 2 months this way!

Step 7: Eat them! Here are a few ideas on how to eat pomegranate seeds: Top yogurt, add them to oatmeal, toss them in a salad, top frosted cupcakes, add them to fruit salad, jell-o, etc. Here are a few recipes I thought looked good as well:

Spinach Pomegranate Salad
Spiced Pears & Pomegranate
Roasted Pork with Pomegranate Sauce

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One of the most important things to do when couponing is organizing your coupons. If you don’t know where to find a coupon you have (due to a stash full of unorganized coupons) then you are not able to reach your full saving potential. Below I am going to show you different organizations methods that work.

Method One: Organize Inserts by Date
This method has been the method I have used for years. The funny thing, however, is when searching the internet for other’s organizational methods, I was the only one that I found using this method.

How to Start:
1.) Pull your inserts from the Sunday Paper and write the date on the front.
2.) Hole-punch the left margin of the coupon (In all my years, have not had problem with this messing up barcodes to scan.)
3.) Place your inserts in a large binder with oldest in the back and newest in the front (arranged by date.)

Pros:
1.) This makes finding a certain date’s coupon VERY easy to locate.
2.) All your inserts are in one place.
3.) Doesn’t require much time to organize each week.
4.) Easy to get rid of expired coupons. Clean your binder starting in the back.
5.) You have every coupon that came out in the Sunday paper – no coupons went to waste. So even if there is a coupon for a product you don’t buy, you might find the product cheap/free and you can donate the item.

Cons:
1.) Bulky
2.) When searching for a particular coupon (toothpaste), it is not easy to locate. I could be anywhere in your binder.
3.) There is a lot of “extra” advertisement paper (coupons only take up so much room on each insert.)
4.) Doesn’t leave room for loose coupons – another method is necessary to attach to this style of organizing.

Examples:
• See My Example HERE.

Method Two: Organize Coupons by Type
This method is the most common for couponers. Most coupon “pros” (if we can call them that) arrange their coupons this way.

How to Start:
1.) Pull your inserts from the Sunday paper and cut. (Note: If you have multiple copies of the same type, lay individual, like pages on top of each other and cut coupons from multiple inserts at the same time.
2.) Once your coupons are cut, organize them by type. You can arrange by type using photo sheets or baseball card inserts.
3.) Place photo/baseball card inserts into a large binder. You can add as well a zipper pouch for scissors, pens, paperclips, etc.

Pros:
1.) Organization at its best. If done right, this system is very orderly and neat.
2.) Easy to navigate for type of coupon. When you are in the store you can easily go to your health section for a toothpaste coupon.
3.) Easier to see when a coupon is about to expired.
4.) All your coupons are in one place.
5.) All the “extra” paper in the Sunday inserts are recycled or throw away. You do not have an abundance of extra weight due to unneeded paper.

Cons:
1.) Time – you do need to find time to cut and organize coupons each week.
2.) Bulky.
3.) Hard to find a coupon by date. If you need to go to the 1/3 SS insert, you don’t know which coupon came from where.
4.) You must search page by page for expired coupons when cleaning out your binder.
5.) When cutting coupons, you are most likely throwing away coupons you don’t use/need. If there is a sale where that coupon makes something free or cheap, you don’t have that coupon to donate that product to others.

Examples:
• See Kerri ‘s binder example HERE – She actually sells them as well so you don’t have to make your own.
• See Sarah’s binder example HERE
• See Shannon photo album example HERE
• Coupon Magic Organizer also has a place where you can buy a premade binderHERE.

Method Three: The File System
I have seen this method before, but I was unable to locate a picture or example during my research. It is pretty self explanatory, however.

How to Start:
1.) Acquire a file cabinet or cube crate that can hold handing file folders
2.) Take your inserts and arrange by date. Each handing folder will house a different date’s coupons.

Pros:
1.) Clean and Neat.
2.) Requries the least amount of time.
3.) This makes finding a certain date’s coupon VERY easy to locate.
4.) All your inserts are in one place.
5.) Easy to get rid of expired coupons. Clean your files starting with the oldest date
6.) You have every coupon that came out in the Sunday paper – no coupons went to waste. So even if there is a coupon for a product you don’t buy, you might find the product cheap/free and you can donate the item.

Cons:
1.) Bulky – the most bulky method.
2.) Not really portable. You will not walk into the store with this method in your hand/cart.
3.) When searching for a particular coupon (toothpaste), it is not easy to locate. I could be anywhere in your file system.
4.) There is a lot of “extra” advertisement paper (coupons only take up so much room on each insert.)
5.) Doesn’t leave room for loose coupons – another method is necessary to attach to this style of organizing.

Examples:
• Please share if you have/see an example to where I can link.

Additional Methods
When couponing, you will most likely want to mix in other organizational methods. Of the above methods, method 1 and 3 don’t allow you to do it all in one place. You might be able to do it all with method 2.

Accordion File
For loose coupons, it is nice to have an accordion file. You can arrange this by type of coupon. You organization can be as specific ad dairy or as broad as grocery. Other tabs include health and beauty, baby, cleaning, household goods, etc. The accordion file is VERY easy to carry in the store. It can be as small as an envelope size or as large as a piece of paper (in width and height comparison- not depth.) This is a great place to organize peelies, catalinas, blinkies (store dispenser coupons), etc.

Envelopes
When shopping in a store, I plan my lists ahead of time. Like I have shared before, I do not walk in with my large coupon binder. Instead I carry in envelopes (and usually my accordion file mentioned above.) My envelopes are arranged by store name. For example, when I organize my CVS list I carry instead my envelopes coupons I need for THIS trip, Extra Care Bucks, My CVS Card, and rain checks. At the end of my CVS shopping, the envelope will be 95% empty from what I came in the store with.

Smaller Binder
My particular grocery store, Publix, often has a lot of additional coupon flyers/booklets. When I have extra booklets, I hole-punch the booklets and arrange them in a smaller binder. This I call my store coupon binder. If you desired, you could add some photo/baseball card inserts and place additional store coupons inside this binder as well. These would be coupons earned through rewards cards, food/baby clubs, etc. They usually are mailed, printed, or acquired in the store.

Photos above used with permission from: Save at Home Mommy, The Bargain Jargon, and Frugal Coupon Living.

Related posts:

1. Organizing Your Coupons Without Clipping
2. Organizing Your Coupons – Three Ring Binder Method
3. Guest Post CVS 101

This post was written by guest blogger Michael D. from Credit Card Forum, which is a message board and blog for talking about credit cards.

Have you noticed the barrage of credit card commercials on TV this fall? During the recession there were none, but now that the economy is improving the banks are back at it… all trying to convince us their credit card is the best.

However the truth of the matter is that most of these commercials are for credit cards that give sub-par rewards (and that’s why they can afford to spend so much marketing them). Well in this post I’m going to rank the best reward programs for buying food – at both grocery stores and restaurants – and rather than going on hype, I’m going to simply go by the numbers. Some of these you may have heard of, but others probably not…

American Express Blue Cash
This is an oldie but a goodie… if you’re a big spender. Here’s how it works:

For the first $6,500 you spend in a calendar year, you earn 1% on gas/grocery stores/drugstores and then 0.5% (half a percent) on everything else… obviously nothing exciting! However, after you’ve spent that amount, you start earning an unlimited 5% cash back on gas/grocery stores/drugstores and 1.5% on all other purchases… now that is exciting!

I generally only recommend this card for those that plan on spending at least $20,000 per year (so the rebate averages out in your favor). Not easy to do, but if that describes your spending then this is by far the best credit card for grocery store shopping since it is the only one on the market that gives an unlimited 5% on that category.

Citi Forward Card
Now this is a credit card you never see advertised, but it has the most generous rewards program for eating out.

The Citi Forward card gives 5 points per dollar on restaurants, fast food, and several other categories. There is a cap on the number of points you can earn per year – a max of 75,000 – but when you do the math you realize that is sufficient to cover most peoples’ spending. There’s no other card on the market that comes close to giving 5x points on restaurants and fast food all year long (but some do for a few months out of the year, which I will discuss in a moment).

Now there is a potential drawback with the Citi Forward card and that comes when you cash out your points. If you don’t redeem your points carefully, the value of your points will be watered down. However if you choose your reward carefully (like a $100 partner gift card) you can get a full $0.01 in value per 1 point. I talk about this strategy in detail in my Citi Forward card review.

Citi Diamond Preferred Card
This Citi credit card has an interesting rewards program, but it really only makes sense for the first year. Let me explain…

For the first 12 months, the Citi Diamond Preferred card gives 5 points per dollar on grocery stores, drugstores, and gas stations. What happens after the year is up? Well, they unfortunately chop that down to only 1 point per dollar on those categories.

So for those who don’t spend enough for the AmEx Blue to make sense, then this Citi card is one way to go. It offers great grocery rewards for the first year, but of course the drawback comes after that. I wrote a review of the Citi Diamond Preferred card where I discuss the pros and cons in detail.

Chase Freedom Card
Rounding out the list is the Chase Freedom card. Yes, it’s one of those which you’ve probably seen non-stop commercials for lately.

The rewards program on the Chase Freedom was changed in 2009 to more closely mimic the Discover More, both of which give 5% cash back in rotating categories (but only up to a certain amount of spending). From October through December of 2010, the Chase Freedom is giving 5% on up to $1,500 in spending at grocery stores, department stores, and movies.

That may sound nice, but the drawback is they only give 5% at grocery stores for one quarter out of the year. So it is a good credit card for grocery stores, but only for 3 months per year. Obviously this makes it the least attractive credit card in the grocery category. For full details here is my review of the Chase Freedom.

Conclusion?
Credit cards are often highway robbery if you carry a balance. However, if you’re the type of person that always (and I do mean always) pays your balance in full every month, then credit card reward programs can save you a decent chunk of money on groceries, restaurants, and fast food. But once again, I would like to stress the importance of not carrying a balance – reward cards have very high APRs so they make absolutely no sense to use if you aren’t going to pay them off every month!

Related posts:

1. e-coupons on Fred Meyer rewards card
2. The New Kmart Rewards Program
3. 20 Free Coke Rewards

It is time to KICK OFF Christmas on the Cheap on EasternShoreMom.com! What a better way to start it off than to tell you how I plan out our Christmas shopping. I came up with this idea last year, not only to plan how much money we spend but also to keep up with who I have bought gifts and what I have purchased. It’s not just a budget, it is your map to your wrapping & a gameplan for next year’s holiday shopping.

How do I do it? Here is the step by step instructions to the EasternShoreMom Christmas Budget map!

1) Start in Microsoft Excell (or if you don’t have Excell use a spreadsheet making software). You want to make columns at the top for the following sections:

2) Go through your Christmas list and type the names of everyone on your list in the column labeled “Name of Recipient”

3) After all the names are plugged in, sit down and figure out a reasonable amount to spend on each one in the “Amount Budgeted” column. At the same time, you want to fill in any gift ideas you have into the “Gift Idea” column. The item should fall within your budgeted amount, or if not then you know you need to scour for a deal on the item to stay within budget. By setting a “Amount Budgeted” you don’t necessarily have to spend that much, because if you find a present for that person on sale then you will be UNDER BUDGET! That’s where we all want to be, right?

4) In the end you want to have a TOTAL category at the bottom that gives you the total from each of the columns. You can total the columns by using the “Auto Sum” formula in Excel (if that confuses you just use a calculator or you can download the spreadsheet for FREE with the formulas already configured ). You can then create a line below that to take the amount budgeted and the amount left over to see what you have actually spent. The goal is to be right at or under budget!

What does this Christmas Map help you do other than budget Christmas?

• Keep up with what you have purchased- We have all done it, purchased something for someone then forgot where we put it or forgot we purchased it! Months later you are rumaging in the closet and you find the missing gift. By listing out on the spreadsheet what you have purchased when it comes to wrapping the items you can double check that you have everything and are not missing a gift.
• Prepares you for next year- Not only will this give you an idea of what you spent for next year’s Christmas budget BUT it also helps you remember what you bought everyone! How embarassing would it be to give someone the same sort of gift twice? This will help you to remember what you purchased from last year!
• Print the List- You can print the list and keep a copy in your purse at all times, that way you know what gifts you have purchased, who you are needing to buy for, what you are still looking for, etc. Just update the list and you are ready to print a new one!

Download the ESM Christmas Budget Map for FREE!

If you have Excel on your computer, I went ahead and made a downloadable version of the EasternShoreMom.com Christmas Budget Map! Just download and begin, the columns are already filled & and the formulas are already there to calculate for you!

Related posts:

1. Guest post: Financially Responsible Children
2. Guest Post: Homemade Laundry Soap
3. Guest Post CVS 101

One of our readers Mandi wrote an excellent article on Suite101 about her inner battle to coupon or not. She wanted to share it with us:

Coupons are a trend that is picking up speed in our society, with today’s economy. With National Coupon Month at a close, I find it an opportune time to discuss the dollars and sense of coupon clipping. There is a lot of hype on whether or not it is cost effective to clip coupons; so, what better way than to put coupon clipping to the test.

I found myself sitting in a coupon clipping seminar this month and thought, “why not?” So, I put my scissors to work during the last half of September. I have often clipped a coupon here and there for items that I thought I might use, only to find that by the time I remembered they were in my purse, they were expired. I sat in awe as I listened to a stay-at-home mother explain how she purchases around $1000.00 worth of groceries a month for no more than $200.00.

I tapped myself into a couple of local coupon blogs that did most of the work for me and I found it a little easier than I had anticipated. There are a plethora of websites and blogs out there that will give you a list of all the weekly ads and the best deals for the week, for just about every grocery store out there. Not only do they tell you about all the deals, they even direct you straight to the coupons you will need. Talk about taking the work out of it for someone on a time crunch.

I pretty much stuck to one store, simply because it is close to my house and I like to shop there. I was already subscribed to the local Sunday paper, so that part was easy; and, many newspapers will have specials for subscribing to multiple Sunday papers. I didn’t find myself organizing my coupons as well as I would have liked, but I did use a little plastic envelope with dividers that worked pretty well. All-in-all, with clipping, printing, sorting, and a little extra time in the store, I spent around three to four extra hours a week preparing for the deals.

So, how does three to four extra hours a week compute to spectacular savings? Well, I have been carrying around a little notebook with me, keeping track of grocery lists, the best deals, the coupons, and the receipts. I took a little time to add it up today and found that I purchased $924.33 worth of groceries for $376.43. Fifty-nine percent is pretty spectacular savings, especially considering I shopped fairly conservatively and was feeding a family of five for about $700.00 to $800.00 a month for the last several years. The extra money spent went to stocking up. That is right, I actually stocked up! I am not talking about a little stocking up either. My freezer is full, my pantry is full, and my cellar shelves are on their way.

Now I have to get to the good stuff. ‘Coupons are just for foods and products you would otherwise never buy,’ you say? Well, I like to feed my family healthy food. I buy organic milk, eggs, yogurt, bread, cereal, fruit, vegetables, and more. Yea, I know, ‘organic isn’t necessarily organic.’ Here’s the thing, there are a number of ingredients that I like to avoid, including growth hormones, antibiotics, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated oils. When I buy organic, I know those are not in the ingredients (I don’t like to spend a lot of time reading ingredients). Well, for some of the organic items that I purchase on a regular basis, I ‘paid someone for their time,’ and purchased them online for pennies on the dollar. The coupons arrived fast, too.

Doing the math on my savings, I calculate that even with me being completely new at this and figuring things out as I went, I spent right around seven hours over a two week period and saved $547.90. That is $78.27 per hour for clipping coupons. That seems like a pretty good income (or savings) for doing a job with kids in tow the entire time. I did figure out that it does save on time to go to the store when it is less crowded and the cashiers are a bit more patient. I am also cutting down on my time as I get the hang of bargain hunting and develop methods for my clipping and organizing.

Let’s admit it, the coupon industry is a big one. According to the Promotion Marketing Association, consumers redeemed nearly 3.2 billion coupons in 2009, saving nearly 3.5 billion dollars. That is over a dollar per coupon. In addition, coupon redemption increased by 7.9% in the first half of 2010, and consumers saved almost 2 billion dollars in that time. The coupon industry is a growing trend and manufacturers are catching on. Coupon distribution increased by 11.4% in the first half of 2010, as well. Internet coupon usage has grown by a whopping 79% from last year, but only represents 1.2% of coupon distribution. Finally, the projected redemption value of online coupons in the United States in 2010 is 12.7 billion dollars.(Coupon Facts 2010)

Who says clipping coupons doesn’t pay? My $78.27 per hour says it does. I definitely say, “Money Maker!” What could you do with an extra $547.90 in a time of decreased budgets and tightened belts?

Read more at Suite101: Coupons: Money Maker or Time Waster?

Related posts:

1. Time is money….
2. Heads up for Money Maker at Walgreens
3. Money Maker on Stouffer’s at Walgreens

One of the household expenses that many of us neglect to save on is water. We must have water to survive, but we are using too much &needlessly and wasting money as a result. We know we should turn off the water while we brush our teeth, but there are also other ways to cut back on our water usage that you might now think about:

• Only flush the toilet when you use it. Don’t use it as a trash can & flush unnecessarily. Sounds simple, but how many times have you used a piece of toilet paper for something other than “business,” toss it in the commode & flush. It happens more often than you think. Each flush is costing you money!
• Wash laundry with the least amount of water necessary. If you have delicates to do, like bras, consider washing them in the sink by hand. It will extend the life of your bra & save you money!
• Avoid rinsing dishes prior to placing them in the dishwasher. There are some times when you need to scrape heavy food particles off, I get that, but if you had a bowl of jello, you don’t need to rinse it before putting it in the dishwasher!
• Waiting for water to heat up? Place a bowl or watering can underneath so you can use that water for your flowers, plants, garden, instead of having it needlessly go down the drain. Would you throw coins aways? That is what you are doing if you are letting water go without any purpose!
• Use a rain barrel. Rain is free water & perfect for your garden!

Related posts:

1. Free water testing kit
2. Arrowhead Water deal at Safeway
3. Great Savings Tips