I can’t believe I haven’t blogged at all in over a week!!! I have been working like crazy on “flood stuff” and I think I can say most of the hard stuff is behind me now. I will try to post something practical and useful later on today, but I just wanted you to know why I’ve been AWOL! Hope you’ve been finding lots of great bargains lately and saving tons of money!
Wow…It’s Been A LONG Time
31 Mar posted by
I can’t believe I haven’t blogged at all in over a week!!! I have been working like crazy on “flood stuff” and I think I can say most of the hard stuff is behind me now. I will try to post something practical and useful later on today, but I just wanted you to know why I’ve been AWOL! Hope you’ve been finding lots of great bargains lately and saving tons of money!
Saving Money Part 2: How To Make Money Doing What You Already Do!
24 Mar posted by
I love being able to make a little extra money…especially if it doesn’t require much effort on my part! I have found 3 ways of making extra money that I absolutely love! I know I’ve posted about these before, but since I love them so much, I’ll probably continue to post about them til everyone I know is making a little extra money!
1. Mr. Rebates
I love Mr. Rebates! Mr. Rebates is a site that gives you cash back for purchases you make through their site! They have over a thousand stores listed. You can get cash back on travel purchases through Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, and even my favorite travel site, Hotwire! Plus, when you sign up for Mr. Rebates, they’ll start your account with $5.00. During this past month, I have made $4.56 and my hubby has made over $13…and that is just for purchases we would make anyway! My husband now books all his travel through Mr. Rebates site! To sign up for Mr. Rebates and start getting money back for your purchases, click here!
2. Swagbucks
Another favorite of mine is Swagbucks! In the past 2 months, I have earned Amazon and Starbucks gift cards! You can also redeem your Swagbucks for gift cards to Target, iTunes, and lot of other great stores! All you have to do is use the Swagbucks site (or toolbar) to do your regular online searches and you can win Swag Bucks. Swag Bucks are redeemable for great gift cards and other prizes. Here’s how it works!
1. Search
Search the web using www.swagbucks.com and receive results from Google and Ask.com.
2. Earn
Swag Bucks are periodically awarded as you search the web.
3. Redeem
Redeem your Swag Bucks for exclusive swagbucks.com products and more in the Swag Store.
It’s easy to do and it’s quite fun! If you sign up using my link, I’ll get some extra swagbucks too! (So show me a little love by signing up here!!)
3. Open a new bank account!
I opened an ING Direct Orange Savings account a few months ago and made $25. You need to be referred by a current ING Direct customer, but once you receive a referral email, you can set up your account in just a few minutes! If you open your account with $250, you will be credited $25. That’s 10% without any effort! If you don’t know anyone with an ING Direct account, send me an email (saving money living better at gmail dot com Take out the spaces and use symbols for at and dot) with your name and email address and I’ll send a referral email to you. I have found this to be a great place to save without worrying about accidentally spending it as part of our checking account money! You can also make $25 by opening a Money Market Account, just follow the same procedure above!
The above ideas may not seem like much, but they could easily help you make an extra $150-$300 every year and maybe even more than that!
Saving Money Part 2: How To Make Money Doing What You Already Do!
23 Mar posted by
I love being able to make a little extra money…especially if it doesn’t require much effort on my part! I have found 3 ways of making extra money that I absolutely love! I know I’ve posted about these before, but since I love them so much, I’ll probably continue to post about them til everyone I know is making a little extra money!
1. Mr. Rebates
I love Mr. Rebates! Mr. Rebates is a site that gives you cash back for purchases you make through their site! They have over a thousand stores listed. You can get cash back on travel purchases through Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, and even my favorite travel site, Hotwire! Plus, when you sign up for Mr. Rebates, they’ll start your account with $5.00. During this past month, I have made $4.56 and my hubby has made over $13…and that is just for purchases we would make anyway! My husband now books all his travel through Mr. Rebates site! To sign up for Mr. Rebates and start getting money back for your purchases, click here!
2. Swagbucks
Another favorite of mine is Swagbucks! In the past 2 months, I have earned Amazon and Starbucks gift cards! You can also redeem your Swagbucks for gift cards to Target, iTunes, and lot of other great stores! All you have to do is use the Swagbucks site (or toolbar) to do your regular online searches and you can win Swag Bucks. Swag Bucks are redeemable for great gift cards and other prizes. Here’s how it works!
1. Search
Search the web using www.swagbucks.com and receive results from Google and Ask.com.
2. Earn
Swag Bucks are periodically awarded as you search the web.
3. Redeem
Redeem your Swag Bucks for exclusive swagbucks.com products and more in the Swag Store.
It’s easy to do and it’s quite fun! If you sign up using my link, I’ll get some extra swagbucks too! (So show me a little love by signing up here!!)
3. Open a new bank account!
I opened an ING Direct Orange Savings account a few months ago and made $25. You need to be referred by a current ING Direct customer, but once you receive a referral email, you can set up your account in just a few minutes! If you open your account with $250, you will be credited $25. That’s 10% without any effort! If you don’t know anyone with an ING Direct account, send me an email (saving money living better at gmail dot com Take out the spaces and use symbols for at and dot) with your name and email address and I’ll send a referral email to you. I have found this to be a great place to save without worrying about accidentally spending it as part of our checking account money! You can also make $25 by opening a Money Market Account, just follow the same procedure above!
The above ideas may not seem like much, but they could easily help you make an extra $150-$300 every year and maybe even more than that!
Menu Plan Monday
23 Mar posted by
It’s another week of simple food at our house, but that works well for us!
Monday- Pizza and Salad
Tuesday- Crescent Roll Spaghetti Casserole
Wednesday- Sloppy Joes, Corn, and Salad
Thursday- Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice
Friday- Hot Dogs and Mac and Cheese
Saturday- Leftovers
Sunday- FFY
For More Menu Plans, head on over to orgjunkie.com!
Still dealing with the flood! UGH!
23 Mar posted by
Sorry I haven’t posted much lately. We are still dealing with repercussions from the flooded basement we had 2 weeks ago. We have fans going 24/7 in our basement and our sump pump hasn’t stopped running yet! My hubby spent the entire weekend in the basement working on sump related issues and some pipe issues that our city recommended we change. I also endured a week without my husband (and he’ll be gone this week too) which was not so fun in the aftermath of everything going on.
I’ll be honest with you! I haven’t dealt well with the stress! This has been a tiring and expensive ordeal! Hopefully within the next few weeks things will settle down and I’ll get back to posting (and shopping and looking for deals)! Thanks for being patient!
Menu Plan Monday
22 Mar posted by
It’s another week of simple food at our house, but that works well for us!
Monday- Pizza and Salad
Tuesday- Crescent Roll Spaghetti Casserole
Wednesday- Sloppy Joes, Corn, and Salad
Thursday- Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice
Friday- Hot Dogs and Mac and Cheese
Saturday- Leftovers
Sunday- FFY
For More Menu Plans, head on over to orgjunkie.com!
Still dealing with the flood! UGH!
22 Mar posted by
Sorry I haven’t posted much lately. We are still dealing with repercussions from the flooded basement we had 2 weeks ago. We have fans going 24/7 in our basement and our sump pump hasn’t stopped running yet! My hubby spent the entire weekend in the basement working on sump related issues and some pipe issues that our city recommended we change. I also endured a week without my husband (and he’ll be gone this week too) which was not so fun in the aftermath of everything going on.
I’ll be honest with you! I haven’t dealt well with the stress! This has been a tiring and expensive ordeal! Hopefully within the next few weeks things will settle down and I’ll get back to posting (and shopping and looking for deals)! Thanks for being patient!
Do You Have Adequate Insurance?
19 Mar posted by
These are pictures that were taken last week during the flooding in our neighborhood. The first picture was taken from my house and shows the street and the neighbor across the street. At one point during the afternoon, the water in the street was waist deep! The second picture was taken of my house from across the street…again, you’d never know that we were on the corner of 2 fairly busy streets (at least busy for a small town like ours!). The third picture was taken out my back door and shows the house behind ours…and no, it is not a houseboat!
We are very thankful that we had the right insurance! If we did not have sewer and sump pump backup insurance, our insurance company would not have replaced our hot water heater, our furnace, or our freezer. In addition, if you do not specifically have a personal property clause on your sewer and sump pump insurance, personal property is not covered! Believe me…we never thought we would have to worry about this where we live, but we did and we are so glad we had insurance! I highly recommend that you call your insurance agent to make sure you have adequate insurance in the event of water damage to your basement! This is my Public Service Announcement of the day! 
Why Yes…I Do Use Coupons!!!
19 Mar posted by
I seriously think I may have killed a tree with the amount of receipt tape needed for today’s purchase! This is only a portion of the non perishables purchased today. I also had 25-30 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, some salad, Sargentos Salad Finishers and Potato Finishers, Country Crock Shedd Spread, some Freschetta pizzas, and a few other odds and ends! I ended up with over $400 of groceries for $120. It would have been less, but they didn’t end up using all my coupons or giving me $5 from the Mega promotion and I didn’t notice til I got home!
On another note, Kroger told me today that they won’t triple more than 2 identical coupons. I asked for a written copy of this policy and was told that they didn’t have one yet. After the cashier refused to triple my coupons, I told him to take everything I had over the 2 coupon limit and return it. He then told me that he could probably get his manager to override it. She ended up overriding it and allowing him to triple my coupons, but in the mayhem, the cashier mixed up my coupons and ended up not scanning all of them. Oh well…I still saved a ton… I’m glad that I was able to replenish quite a few of the items in my freezer. I’m hoping I will get an insurance check in the next few days to pay me back for replacing my freezer and for the food that was lost in the flood! I’ll try to stock up on more freezer stuff next week. I’m also going to call around to the Krogers in the area to find out what the scoop is and if they are all going to this new policy, I may have to write some letters to the managers. This could really change the amount I can save!
Do You Have Adequate Insurance?
18 Mar posted by
These are pictures that were taken last week during the flooding in our neighborhood. The first picture was taken from my house and shows the street and the neighbor across the street. At one point during the afternoon, the water in the street was waist deep! The second picture was taken of my house from across the street…again, you’d never know that we were on the corner of 2 fairly busy streets (at least busy for a small town like ours!). The third picture was taken out my back door and shows the house behind ours…and no, it is not a houseboat!
We are very thankful that we had the right insurance! If we did not have sewer and sump pump backup insurance, our insurance company would not have replaced our hot water heater, our furnace, or our freezer. In addition, if you do not specifically have a personal property clause on your sewer and sump pump insurance, personal property is not covered! Believe me…we never thought we would have to worry about this where we live, but we did and we are so glad we had insurance! I highly recommend that you call your insurance agent to make sure you have adequate insurance in the event of water damage to your basement! This is my Public Service Announcement of the day!
Why Yes…I Do Use Coupons!!!
18 Mar posted by
I seriously think I may have killed a tree with the amount of receipt tape needed for today’s purchase! This is only a portion of the non perishables purchased today. I also had 25-30 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, some salad, Sargentos Salad Finishers and Potato Finishers, Country Crock Shedd Spread, some Freschetta pizzas, and a few other odds and ends! I ended up with over $400 of groceries for $120. It would have been less, but they didn’t end up using all my coupons or giving me $5 from the Mega promotion and I didn’t notice til I got home!
On another note, Kroger told me today that they won’t triple more than 2 identical coupons. I asked for a written copy of this policy and was told that they didn’t have one yet. After the cashier refused to triple my coupons, I told him to take everything I had over the 2 coupon limit and return it. He then told me that he could probably get his manager to override it. She ended up overriding it and allowing him to triple my coupons, but in the mayhem, the cashier mixed up my coupons and ended up not scanning all of them. Oh well…I still saved a ton… I’m glad that I was able to replenish quite a few of the items in my freezer. I’m hoping I will get an insurance check in the next few days to pay me back for replacing my freezer and for the food that was lost in the flood! I’ll try to stock up on more freezer stuff next week. I’m also going to call around to the Krogers in the area to find out what the scoop is and if they are all going to this new policy, I may have to write some letters to the managers. This could really change the amount I can save!
Hip Hip Hooray!!! I got a new freezer!
17 Mar posted by
Just wanted to let you know I got a new freezer tonight! I am so excited!!! I was so sad when our freezer was a victim of the flood last weekend. It was totally full too! The good news is that I will get full replacement value for the food which will help to offset the cost of our deductible.
Today…March 17th only!!! Free Smileage Plus Liptint from Origins!
17 Mar posted by
I love Origins! Although there are many things I skimp on, my face isn’t one of them! I have horribly dry skin and after trying a variety of different moisturizers, I have finally found one that actually works for me. It’s Never Say Dry by Origins and it costs $35. Although that is quite pricey, it sure beats looking like a reptile with my dry scaly skin! I also love their eye shadow and their Liquid Lip Color!
Today only, March 17th, Origins is offering a Free Smileage Plus Lip Tint (this regularly costs $11) with any purchase, plus they are offering free shipping. Check out their Cover Your Mouth Lip Protector with SPF 8 ($8.50) or their Peace of Mind On-The-Spot Relief ($10). You could snag a great product, lip tint, and shipping for $10! Also, if you go through Mr. Rebates, you’ll get 6% cash back!!! For more info on Mr. Rebates, click here.
***Additional Info**** I just was over at Hip2Save and she has a code posted for a free sleep balm at checkout!!! Just type in SLEEPDM for this free sample! Thanks Hip2Save!!!
Happy shopping!
Hip Hip Hooray!!! I got a new freezer!
17 Mar posted by
Just wanted to let you know I got a new freezer tonight! I am so excited!!! I was so sad when our freezer was a victim of the flood last weekend. It was totally full too! The good news is that I will get full replacement value for the food which will help to offset the cost of our deductible.
Today…March 17th only!!! Free Smileage Plus Liptint from Origins!
17 Mar posted by
I love Origins! Although there are many things I skimp on, my face isn’t one of them! I have horribly dry skin and after trying a variety of different moisturizers, I have finally found one that actually works for me. It’s Never Say Dry by Origins and it costs $35. Although that is quite pricey, it sure beats looking like a reptile with my dry scaly skin! I also love their eye shadow and their Liquid Lip Color!
Today only, March 17th, Origins is offering a Free Smileage Plus Lip Tint (this regularly costs $11) with any purchase, plus they are offering free shipping. Check out their Cover Your Mouth Lip Protector with SPF 8 ($8.50) or their Peace of Mind On-The-Spot Relief ($10). You could snag a great product, lip tint, and shipping for $10! Also, if you go through Mr. Rebates, you’ll get 6% cash back!!! For more info on Mr. Rebates, click here.
***Additional Info**** I just was over at Hip2Save and she has a code posted for a free sleep balm at checkout!!! Just type in SLEEPDM for this free sample! Thanks Hip2Save!!!
Happy shopping!
