I got another great referral link today!!!!

If you haven’t already signed up for Superpoints please do so now!!  Using this one time use link will get you a bonus 50 points just for signing up.  Once you confirm your email and enter some basic info you will get 30 clicks a day on the lucky button which is where I keep getting these sign up codes.

Check it out today and sign up now!!

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/i69q0b

I just got another referral bonus for anyone wanting to sign up for SuperPoints!!! 

Superpoints is a fantastic points program with great rewards!  You can redeem your points for giftcards to many popular companies or for cash through Paypal.  When you sign up make sure you upgrade your status to basic asap so you can get more clicks through the SuperLucky Button which is where I get most of my points.  For basic status all you have to do is validate your email and fill out some basic info.

So here’s the link if you click this link to sign up you will get a bonus 25 points into your account right off the bat, what a way to start out!!!

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/hh81ch

Make sure you print out any of your Coupons.com coupons that you may want or need before they reset at the beginning of next month. 

I noticed a few news one today when I printed mine so make sure you check.  There was a $2 coupon for Welch’s Sparkling Juice and I heard a 4pk was around $2.99 at Walmart making for a cheap treat!!

I appreciate you clicking my links when printing your coupons, as an affiliate I receive a small compensation when you print each coupon and it really helps so thank for your support!!

The winners of the Ocean Spray fruit flavored snacks giveaway are:

#93 Nicole C.

#52 Rene D.

#71 Zesty W.

#3 Laura M.

You will all be receiving emails from me shortly and have 24 hours to respond or I will have to pick a new winner.  Congrats everyone!!!!

I have a very special link for one of my readers to sign up for SuperPoints!!!!

If you follow this link, sign up and achieve basic level (fill out basic info) you will receive a bonus 75 points.  Please leave a comment if you use this link.

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/7m3f7h

These are the things we did this week to save some money

• My hubby bought me a kindle for Christmas and I love it.  So I finally registered it with my local library and borrowed one book for me and one for Shawn to read.   I also placed a hold on a few books I’m interested in reading.  It’s my goal to spend as little money as possible on reading materials for the Kindle and thanks to the library and all the free books offered on Amazon I should be good for awhile.
• I’ve been staying home as much as possible and planning my few trips out really well to save gas.
• We’ve kept the lights off during the day with the exception of the stove light which is an energy saving bulb as I need it when I pour crayons.
• The A/C and the heat have been off all week, we usually have a fan or two running in the evening to cool off the bedrooms but we are really racking up the savings this month on electric (someone remind me of this when I’m suffering billshock in July lol)
• I spent an hour or so organizing my coupons this week so that I can get the best use out of them.  I pulled out all the coupons that are expiring soon that I want to use and all the coupons I found that I knew would get me free or near free products.  Sometimes it’s easy to overlook coupons like the Nabisco $3 off 3 because it doesn’t match to a sale but will still get me some free snacks.
• I’ve used Swagbucks for all my searches and am earning as many bucks as I can, free Amazon giftcards will help pay for gifts, k-cups, and books for my Kindle.
• I’ve done most of my shopping in just a few trips so that I save gas. 
• We are using lots of items out of the pantry to save grocery money.  I’m trying to put aside some of our extra for the next time Zaycon comes to town and I need to clean and organize the pantry so I’m trying to use up as much as possible to make it easier to organize LOL

And this is what we’ve been doing to earn

• I’ve been clicking on all my paid emails.  Nothing like earning money for just clicking links.
• I’ve also been using SuperPoints everyday.  Even when I don’t really want to sit and click on the Super Lucky  Button I let Shawn sit and do it.  He loves using the computer and is so happy when he wins some points, I’m well on my way to getting my free giftcard.  If your interested click the link above for an invite and then start inviting your friends once you get a few friends signed up the points start adding up really quickly!  If you’ve signed up make sure you update your profile so that you get to basic status (at least) so you get more chances at points!!!
• I filled out a rebate for something we bought this week and sent it in immediately.  If I don’t do them right away I’ll forget and risk it expiring.

That’s about it for this week.  It wasn’t overly exciting but it works for us, please feel free to let me know what you are doing.  I love hearing everyone’s ideas!!

Congratulations to:

Terra said...

I follow Living on a Budget via GFC

I’ve sent you an email, you have 24 hours to get back to me.

Do your kids love fruit snacks? My son does and he is always asking for more but I try my best to make sure that I only buy ones that are good for him. Ocean Spray has come to the rescue with their new fruit flavored snacks they are available in two varieties Berries and Cherries and Assorted Fruit. Within minutes of receiving my pack Shawn was already begging to try them and immediately ate an entire bag without sharing with mommy. I didn't even know he had the bag open before it was empty so I opened a second and tried them for myself. I was pleasantly surprised, truthfully I don't really care for gummies they have a weird consistency and flavor usually but these were actually pretty good. They are soft but not so soft I'm spending the next hour picking them out of my teeth.

Ocean Spray Fruit Flavored Snacks are made with real fruit juice and natural colors and flavors. They are also gluten free and each pack only has 80 calories!! And to top it off they are available with year round double boxtops!!! If you've got a kid in school you know that the boxtops go to good use. For more info on these head over to Ocean Spray's website.  To get your boxes today just head over here to print a coupon for $1.10 off 2 boxes.

So now you want to know about this giveaway I suppose. Well Ocean Spray and BlogSpark has graciously given me 4 prize packs to give away to my loyal readers!!  Each pack will contain 6 boxes of Ocean Spray Snacks for you and your kids to try, you will get 3 of each flavor.  Just fill out the form below to be entered (I'm trying a new giveaway system to hopefully make it easier on everyone).  You can get up to 5 entries

1.  Let me know What flavor gummy you'd like to try
2. Like Living on a Budget on Facebook
3. Follow Living on a Budget on Twitter
4. Tweet about this giveaway (one entry each day)
5. Tell your friends on facebook by sharing this post (one entry each day)

You have to fill out the form to be entered and you must do it for each time you wish to enter!!


Disclosure: Ocean Spray® Fruit Flavored Snacks, information, and giveaway have been provided by Ocean Spray® through MyBlogSpark. All opinions are my own though and no way influenced by the giveaway. a Rafflecopter giveaway

These are the things we’ve done this week to save some money:

• I’ve kept all the lights off until it’s too dark and we’ve had the windows open.  I love this time of year since the electric bills are so low.
• Done most of my shopping in just a few trips out of the house and planned out to get the best use for my gas.
• Matched my coupons with some grocery sales to get a few good deals and am planning on getting a few more great deals tomorrow.
• We’ve been eating at home and last night was fend for yourself night and we used up all the leftovers so nothing is going to waste.
• My father bought hubby a Mr Coffee Keurig for Christmas.  We thought it was a great idea because he is the only one that drinks regular coffee and so we were wasting alot of coffee, anyways K-Cups are not cheap!!!  So to combat that he also bought us the reusable cup that you fill yourself which is great when it’s not super early at 6am with those so easy K-Cups sitting right there but a quick trip to the dollar store and I’ve fixed that.  I picked up a 10 pk of really small plastic containers and measured the coffee into those so now all he has to do is dump one of those in the reusable one and brew.
• We’ve been running the dishwasher only when it is full and use the no heat option.

While saving is great there are also a few great ways to earn a bit of money and this is what I’ve done this week.

• I use Swagbucks for all my searches.  You’d be surprised how fast those bucks add up to free money, Amazon giftcards, or many other giftcards
• I’ve been reading and clicking on all the MyPoints emails I get.  I usually cash out for giftcards late summer or early spring and use them to help pay for Christmas gifts.
• I’ve recently started using Superpoints which is turning out to be one of my favorite programs.  It’s by invite only right now but if you click on the name above it’ll take you to a page of invites from me.  If they don’t work just leave me a comment with your email and I’ll send you an invite.  They make it super easy to earn points and you can also cash out for Amazon giftcards, Starbucks, cash via Paypal, etc (and unlike Swagbucks cash won’t cost you anymore points then a giftcard!!!)
• I’ve been working on cleaning and decluttering the house and while I’m at it I’m filling boxes with stuff for the next yardsale.
• I’ve been working on items for my Etsy store, if you have a craft or trade that you are good at you should really sit down and see if there is a way to turn that into money.  Etsy is a great place to sell your handmade items and I’ve had some good successes with it.

So how have you been saving??  I’d love to hear what you are doing to save or earn this year is a year of pinching pennies for me and I’ll take any ideas I can get.

I did a little shopping yesterday.  I planned my trip out to try and get the best bang for my fuel and picked up a few good deals!!

The first stop was CVS to use the $3 off 3 Nabisco coupon that came out a couple weeks ago and pick up an extra newspaper.  My total was less than $2

The next stop was Michaels to pick up some yarn.  I posted a few patterns the other day for handmade washclothes and the yarn I suggested you use is on sale this week for $1 each.  This is the best price you will find it at and it doesn’t come around often anymore so I bought a few skeins for myself.  If you buy this yarn be aware that the variegated skeins are smaller (not as many yards) so you may not get as far with those.  I also picked up the candy tray on clearance for a future project.

Since it is right there I stopped into Walmart and picked up 2 bags of Purina One Beyond Dog food.  This size bag is $6.48 at my stores and after the coupon that was in this weeks paper it makes them $1.48 each which in my opinion is a great price.

Next was a quick stop to Aldi’s I spent about $15 on everything pictured.  We like this wine and it’s $2.69 a bottle so I bought a couple bottles and then I picked up a few things we needed.

 

My last stop was to Publix where I spent $17.30 and here’s how

   

• 6 Ritz Crackers $3.79 BOGO  -2 $3 off 3 mq = .90 each
  • I find with the grab and go we waste a lot less crackers so I picked those up instead of the regular boxes that have more in them.  We deal with alot of humidity and those are better for us.
• 2 Quaker Chewy Bars $2.99 BOGO –.75 off 2 mq =$1.12 each
  • this isn’t a fantastic price but we are running low on snacks
• 4 Dannon Activia $2 each  -$1 mq and $2/2 TQ  = FREE
  • As an added bonus Dave really likes these so I’ll be stocking up this week!
• 2 Banquet Chicken Nuggets  $4.99  BOGO
  • No coupon for these but we were out of nuggets and if you’ve ever had a kid in your house you know that you can’t go without nuggets LOL
• 1 Smart Balance Fat Free Milk  $2.50  -$1mq =$1.50
• This milk will be used for my coffee so I can cut out a few extra calories
• 2 7” Mickey Bowls 2 for $2.99
  • These bowls are really cute and will solve a problem with our new dishes and at that price I couldn’t pass them up.  Now we can have spaghetti and salads in these bowls instead of dealing with cereal bowls or plates with no lip.

Did you get any great deals this week??  I’d love to hear how your shopping went.  And be sure to enter the Purex Giveaway!!!

This giveaway is now closed.  Be sure to check out the Ocean Spray Giveaway!!!

Who’s ready for a giveaway???
I’m a Purex Insider and was lucky enough to receive a full size sample of Purex Crystals Tropical Splash and a Jockey Tech Terry Sports Bra.

The new Tropical Splash scent is so nice!!  I love this fabric softener because it doesn’t use any oils and I can use it on any of our clothes without worrying.  Typically you are not supposed to use fabric softener on work out clothes (moisture wicking) or on kid’s pajamas that are fire retardant.  However because Purex Crystals doesn’t leave an oil film on your clothes it is safe for all clothes types.  Including

This fantastic Jockey Tech Terry Sports Bra.  This sports bra features a pocket to stick your house key in without it digging into your side when you are out running, a reflective spot on the back to help make sure you are seen when running when it’s darker out and fantastic moisture wicking to keep the sweat off your body.  You can get a 20% off coupon for this bra at www.Purex.com/Jockey
Plus one of my faithful readers will receive one bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener and 1 Jockey Sports Bra!!!
I’m going to give you 3 ways to enter for this giveaway.  First leave a comment on this post to let me know you are a follower, second head of to Facebook and like Living On A Budget then come back here and leave a separate post letting me know, the third way is to follow along on Twitter again you need to come back and let me know here.  The giveaway will run until 1/21/2012 at 9pm est and the winner will announced on 1/22 in the morning you will have 24 hours to contact me with all the info I need to get your prize pack on the way.

This seems like another great points program to redeem for Amazon giftcards, Starbucks cards or even cash via Paypal!!  SuperPoints Network is currently an invite only program and I’d love to invite you to join me on this new money making program.  I’m currently working on leveling up so I only have a few invites to offer which I will post below, if you can’t use those because someone else has leave me a comment with your email address (I will not publish it)and I will send you an email invite.

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/i69q0b worth 50 points

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/hh81ch worth 25 points

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/9ykg9j

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/awx5fx

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/3ab3ga

http://superpoints.com/wrpgs/9qsxrb

One of my favorite things to make that work up really easy and fast are cotton washcloths.  They are great gifts and great to use around the house.  I need to make a few more for myself because they do after awhile need to be replaced (especially if you wash knives with it) and I thought I would share a few patterns I use.  You can buy a skein of cotton yarn at Micheals or Joanns for about $1.25 on sale or with a coupon and usually I get 2 dishcloths out of a skein.  I’ve always knitted mine (you can teach yourself how to knit just look on youtube that’s what I did) but am going to try and crochet a few since I seem to crochet faster than I knit (again self taught via youtube).

This is a knitting pattern that I’ve used with great success lots and lots of times.  I love this pattern and so have several people I’ve given them too.  The pattern says use a size 7 needle but you can use something close to it if you don’t have that size.  You can also keep repeating row 2 until it is a size that you would want.

WASHCLOTH
Cast on 5 stitches. Knit 1 row.
Row 2: Knit 2, yarn over, knit to end of row.
Rep last row,  until you have a total of 37 stitches.
Next Row: Knit 2, yarn over, (k2tog) twice, knit to end of row.
Rep last row until 5 stitches remain. Knit 1 row. Bind off.

FINISHING
Weave in ends.

This is a crochet pattern that I’m going to try.  It sounds alot trickier but sometimes once you get started you see the repeat and it works up easy. This is a granny square pattern.

Note: Ch 5 at beg of rnd counts as dc and ch 2.

Ch 5. Join with sl st to form a ring.
1st rnd: Ch 5. (3 dc. Ch 2) 3 times in ring. 2 dc in ring. Join with sl st to 3rd ch of ch 5.
2nd rnd: Sl st in next ch-2 sp. Ch 3 (counts as dc). (2 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in same ch-2 sp. [Ch 1. Miss next 3 dc. (3 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in next ch-2 sp] 3 times. Ch 1. Join with sl st to top of ch 3.
3rd rnd: Sl st in each of next 2 dc and ch-2 sp. Ch 3 (counts as dc). (2 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in same ch-2 sp. [Ch 1. Miss next 3 dc. 3 dc in next ch-1 sp. Ch 1. (3 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in next ch-2 sp] 3 times. Ch 1. Join with sl st to top of ch 3.
4th rnd: Sl st in each of next 2 dc and ch-2 sp. Ch 3 (counts as dc). (2 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in same ch-2 sp. [(Ch 1. Miss next 3 dc. 3 dc in next ch-1 sp) twice. Ch 1. (3 dc. Ch 2. 3 dc) in next ch-2 sp] 3 times. Ch 1. Miss next 3 dc. 3 dc in next ch-1 sp. Ch 1. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. (Four 3-dc groups on each side of square, including corner groups).

Rep last rnd 4 times more, having 1 more 3-dc group on each side of square on next and every following rnd. Seven 3-dc groups on each side of square.
9th rnd: Ch 1. 1 sc in each dc and 3 sc in corner ch-2 sp around. Join with sl st to first sc. Fasten off.

These are a few things that we did this week to help save some money.  Please feel free to leave a comment with anything you have done to save, I love hearing everyone’s ideas.

• Shawn went back to school this week so I’ve been packing his lunch everyday to save some money.
• We went out yesterday and did quite a bit of shopping in a pretty good circle to save on gas.
• Shopped at Save A Lot and picked up some fillers that I can’t get cheaper anywhere else.
• We stayed home alot this week which kept impulse shopping to minimum and gas usage low.
• The weather the first half of the week was really cold (well for us) but by keeping the curtains closed at night and making a few meals in the stove we didn’t turn on the heat.
• The weather the later half of the week has been beautiful so I’ve had the windows up to allow light and air in the house.
• I’m currently working on decluttering the house, I’ve packed up the Christmas stuff and made note that I do NOT need anymore paper or labels since I was able to pick up some at 50-90% off after Christmas this year.
• Another hint on this which is probably too late now but you should always look for papers that don’t scream Christmas.  This year I picked up a transformers paper, a red paper with multi colored dots, a white paper with blue and red circles, and a black paper with white scrolling on it.  The transformers paper will be good for boy’s birthday parties, the two with dots are great for any occasion and the black paper will be great for adult gifts or weddings/anniversaries.  And it was a ton cheaper to buy it even at full price then a trip down the birthday paper aisle would cost (remember Christmas paper rolls are much bigger).
• Picked up 4 boxes of mac and cheese for free at Target using their new printable coupon.  I also picked up some supplies on clearance to start making gifts for next Christmas.

This coming week will bring more decluttering and working towards simplifying life some.  I believe that the more organized I am and the less stressed I am the better I will be at shopping smarter and saving our money.

As promised I’m back with a freebie Friday post.  I’ll be posting links for you to request free samples or coupons from every Friday.  Some of these samples also come with great coupons so I strongly suggest you fill out the forms.  I don’t request all the samples I post so I can’t verify that they all come or that they all work out, please leave a comment if you find one that doesn’t.  Also I recommend that you sign up for a freebie email address to save your personal email from being over junked, gmail and yahoo offer great services for free that’s what I use for all my sample requests. 

Meow Mix Pates Toppers and a Coupon

Gas-X Thin Strips

White’s Premium Dog Food

Marietta Max Drain Cleaner (full size sample)

BiPro Whey Protein Sample

Dove Leave In Smoothing Cream

Carefree Liners

Beech-Nut Toddler Kit

Find Your Bliss Samples

Hills Bros Cappuccino (Facebook offer)

This last one is a Kindle book.  If you don’t have a Kindle you can still download the books to your computer for free using the free programs available here.

I Used to Know that: stuff you forgot from school

I tried to post yesterday about some of my plans for this blog and my life and it seems the only thing that didn’t get lost in cyber space was the title. 

For me personally this year is going to be about organizing, I feel that if I’m more organized I can save more money.  We are also headed into declutter mode, we have lots of stuff and it’s just too much I’m overwhelmed so it’s time to clean out a bunch of stuff and organize what is staying.  As a friend of mine said “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”

As for the blog Precious has renewed her money saving challenge and I’m on board again.  With the cost of everything going up, up, up I’m going to be figuring out ways to keep my money in my account, I’ll be pinching every penny until it bleeds.  I’ll be starting up everyone’s favorite again and will be posting my Freebie Friday posts again the more samples we request the less full size product we’ll use.  I will also be posting once a week on how we are doing to save and I’m hoping that you will chime in with how you save.  I will also be posting about deals I see and how some of my shopping trips have gone, I’ve never done match-ups before but I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction if you are looking for match-ups, just let me know.  Plus you’ll be seeing product reviews and giveaways from me, I occasionally post links and I really appreciate your clicks they allow me to do more and better giveaways for you.

I’ve slowly been growing my craft business and will be continuing that this year.  In keeping spending in check I’ll be challenging myself to use up alot of my supplies before I buy new items.  There are things I will have to keep replacing as I sell things but I think it will be fun to force myself to use up some of the odds and ends before buying more stuff.  Make sure you check out my Etsy page to see what I currently have for sale!!  This year I’ll also be posting a few tutorials/ideas for gifts, one easy way to help with spending around the holidays or birthdays is to give handmade gifts and I’ve never given a handmade item that wasn’t well received.

So be sure to check back, it may take a few weeks to get the blog organized but you can look forward to Freebie Fridays coming soon and a How We’ve Saved post probably over the weekends.  And don’t forget about the giveaways, I maybe working on one right now for you.