FREE Feel-Good FUN

Fun things make you feel good. Sharing fun things makes you feel even better. Here's a free way to share some of your summer photos with friends and loved ones. Go to Hippopost, sign up and then upload your own photos to be put on a postcard. You put the message on the postcard, hit send and POOF! you've made your favorite great aunt happy because you sent her photos of your kids! It's easy, it's fast, it's fun, it's free... What more could you want? There is NO LIMIT to the number of postcards you can send -- and Hippopost pays the postage. Gotta love it. (Thanks to The Centsible Sawyer for spreading the word on this!)

Wow - Frugal and FREE Magazine deals

Magazines are ideal light summer reading for me. I grab a glass of iced tea and head for my deck with magazine in hand. You can read a magazine for 5 minutes or an hour, depending on how much time you can grab. But magazine subscriptions can be expensive! Last year I did away with all but one of my magazine subscriptions, just because I didn't want to pay the $20 - $30 per subscription.

But check out this web site: Lowpricesubs.com! Woman's Day magazine for $2.00 PER YEAR subscription? Parents' Magazine for $4 for TWO YEARS?? Two Years of ESPN magazine for $4?? Unheard of!

No affiliation here (though I certainly would sign up for that affiliate program if there was one available!). Just check it out. Even the most frugal of us can afford $2 per year for Woman's Day. Hmmm... does Woman's Day have coupons??

BUT WHAT'S THE BEST MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION? FREE!!!

I currently receive GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine, and I didn't pay a dime. I watched about 10 minutes of commercials, gave my name and address, and received the magazine just a few weeks later.

Go to AdPerk to sign up. The magazine you choose on the home page will be the magazine you receive, so choose wisely! You receive a credit for each advertisement you watch, and usually 12 credits are needed for your free magazine subscription. Currently you can received Redbook, GoodHousekeeping, Parenting, ODE, Popular Science and Field & Stream. The magazines available change fairly frequently. You are NOT limited to just one subscription! Today, I did my 10 minutes of ads and subscribed to RedBook -- for free!

Healthy, quick grilled vegetables

With fresh vegetables available either from my garden or at local Farmer's markets during the summer, we tend to eat a lot more vegetables. During the heat of the summer, I also like to cook on the grill. Here's one of my favorite recipes. It's hard to say what vegetables I use in this recipe, because this is a great way to use up bits of "this and that" from the fridge. My preference is zucchini (cut in 1 inch chunks), green peppers, onions, radishes*, and green beans. I've also put in corn on the cob (cut in 1-2 inch pieces), summer squash, carrots cut in 1/4 inch slivers, asparagus, canned whole potatoes, and more. Whatever you have for fresh vegetables in your fridge will work! Grilled Vegetables 1 1/2 cups fresh vegetables, per person 1 tbsp Italian dressing, per serving Pinch of oregano, black pepper - per serving 2 sheets of alum. foil, 18 inches long - per serving Pam Spray *If you've never tried cooked radishes, try them! For this recipe, slice just a bit thicker than you would slice for a salad. They have a wonderful mild flavor when cooked. Cut vegetables in uniform chunks, slicing those that cook fastest a bit larger (zucchini, summer squash) and those that cook more slowly in smaller chunks (carrots). Lay the 2 sheets of foil on top of each other, shiney side down. Lightly spray the center of the top sheet with Pam Spray. Place one serving of the cut vegetables mixture in center of foil. Wrap as you would a birthday present -- pull two sides up, fold foil seams together 2-3 times, fold up ONE end side, folding and sealing 2-3 times. DO NOT fold foil tightly around vegetables -- they need some room! Just make sure you folds are sealed tightly. In open end of this "envelope" of vegetables, pour italian dressing and sprinkle herbs. Seal this end closed, making sure to fold at least 2-3 times. Place packets on medium grill and flip every 5 minutes for a total of 15-20 minutes, depending on how much crunch you like in your vegetables. Remove from grill, use kitchen shears to cut off one end of the packet and pour onto plate. YUM! That made me want vegetables for tonight's dinner!

CVS - $49 in merchandise, $5.02 profit

I had a great day at CVS! I purchased the following: 2 pkgs Alavert (allergy med), normally $11.99, on sale for $6.99 2 family-size bottles Head & Shoulders shampoo, normally $7.79, on sale for $5.99 5 bags of Chex Mix, $1.99 each Merchandise total: $49.51 Sale Price: $35.91 Coupons used: Raincheck for Chex Mix at $1.00 per bag Chex Mix Coupons $1.00, .65, .55, .50, .50 = $2.65 Alavert coupons 2 x $4.00 = $8.00 CVS $3/$15 coupon (they still accept it!) H&S B1G1 coupon = $5.99 Coupon total: $25.99 Total after coupons $9.92 Tax $1.06 CVS ECB's Paid: $9.00 Out of Pocket Cash: $1.98 ECB's Received: $7.00 Profit: $5.02

All this Frugal shopping and Coupons are paying off

I went online this morning to check my bank balance and my oh my, what do I see? About $200 more in my checking account than I would normally have this time of the month! And I still have about $250 on a Kroger gift card that I bought at the first of the month! By the 20th of the month, I normally have less than $100 in my household account. By George, all this coupon clipping and blog reading and CVS shopping is actually WORKING! Yippy Skippy!

In looking at where my money went this month, it is startling how little went to CVS and Walgreens, and yet I've made at least six trips there to pick up personal items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, deoderant), cleaning products (dishwashing soap, dishwasher soap, windex), and paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels). From my initial "investment" of $35 at CVS and $30 at Walgreens two months ago, I am now at the point where my out-of-pocket expense is usually under $2 for an average of $30 a month spending on items we use and need. And we are WELL stocked on personal items and paper goods at this point.

I currently have $9 in CVS money (ECB's) and $31 on a Walgreens gift card (rebates) and $6 in Walgreens Register Rewards. I'm making a trip to both places today to purchase Advil and Adavert (allergy med.) --enough to stock us up for the YEAR -- and I will pay no out-of-pocket money for either. Yeah baby.

On top of all this good frugal news, I checked my UPromise account today and now have over $100 in my grandson's college fund! I have NO idea what products or services contributes to that account -- I just registered my Kroger, CVS and debit card there, and the money is building by itself. For anyone not doing this, if you have kids or grandkids, do check it out. No affiliation. No membership fees, no bank information. It's all good.

My frugal mailbox adventure continues. Here's a photo of SOME of what I received this week in my mailbox. One 3.5 lb bag of cat food (this was a coupon rec'd), two bottles of mutli-vitamins, one sample of pull-up training diapers (yes, he's ALMOST ready -- we're in the "talking about it stage"), my first copy of Elle Decor magazine, 4 coupons for free cans of BumbleBee tuna plus 4 .50 cent off coupons for same, a sample of Jennifer Lopez perfume, a sample of Viva papertowels (I plan on keeping this packet in the car) and a sample of Excedrin (also for the car).

Not shown is my Good Housekeeping magazine (a free one year's subscription), a bottle of Gillette Body Wash, a Dove deoderant, and two paperback books -- one on 365 days of crafts for 2 yr to 5 yr olds, and one a book I want for leisurely summer reading -- and two DVD's.

Admittedly, it takes a lot of work to keep coupons and rebates and sale flyers and menu planning and reading blog postings organized to get this done. I would say I spend between 8 and 10 hours a week. And I did spend some money for this to help me out:

It is the Mother of all Coupon Organizers, purchased on Ebay. It makes matching up sale items to coupons SO much easier and quicker. I do NOT carry it to the grocery store with me, but pull out coupons for items on sale that I need, then take only those coupons to the store. For me, this prevents me from doing a lot of impulse buying, which is easy to do when you do coupons this extensively.

I've yet to tally up my spending, but I believe I have cut my grocery bill from my previous $140 a week to my target of $60 per week, with the benefit of having a well stocked linen closet with personal items and paper goods. That's $240 a month (ahhh - which accounts for the $200 extra in my household checking account -- so that makes sense!).

It's all good :)

Frugal Dinner Menues for the Week

I have a dozen eggs I need to use up this week. Luckily, Jeff loves egg salad in his lunch, and he'll eat eggs for breakfast any morning, but we can't have eggs on the days Brayden is here, because he's violently allergic to them (even to kisses from lips that may have touched eggs will cause him to break out in hives!).

Monday
Roast chicken, baked potato, green salad

Tuesday
Stir Fry w/chicken, leftover rice from Sun., celery, onions, green peppers, brocolli, egg.

Wednesday
Green salad with chunks of leftover chicken, hard boiled eggs, ceasar dressing

Thursday*
Hot dogs on grill, homemade mac & cheese, fruit salad

Friday**
Crock pot beef and au jus gravy, corn on cob, biscuits

Saturday
Crustless quiche made with any leftover from the week, fruit slices

Sunday
Eat out!

*Brayden will be here for dinner and he's one fussy eater, so the menu will be things he'll eat.

**Friday may be take-out, since I'll have had Brayden for two full days and one overnight! If not take-out, it will be something easy he can help me put in the crockpot in the morning. If we do take-out, we won't eat out Sunday and I'll do the crockpot beef that day instead.

I'll share my quiche recipe, but it's one I've come up with myself and I tend to be a "little of this, little of that" kind of cook, so all amounts are guesstimates. Substitute whatever cheeses you have but Swiss works best because when cooled it forms a nice "crust". Nothing low-fat or low-cal about this recipe!

Crustless Quiche Recipe:

6-8 eggs
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
8 ounces swiss cheese, cubed in 1/2 inch pieces
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt, pepper, oregano, celery salt
1-3 cups leftover meats, vegetables including diced onion and celery

Preheat oven at 375. Pam Spray a pie pan. Place cubed swiss cheese on bottom of pan so it's fairly evenly spaced. Chop any leftover meats and vegetables up in bite-sized portions. Spread evenly over cheese cubes. Pie plate should be almost full of these leftovers.

Mix eggs, milk, mayo and your favorite quiche herbs (salt, pepper, oregano, celery salt for me) with a kitchen whip. GENTLY pour this mixture evenly over the veggies and cheese.

Top with grated cheddar cheese.

Place in oven for about 20 minutes, then turn oven temp down to 350 for another 25-30minutes or until knife in center comes out clean.

This is one of those dishes that is good when it's freshly cooked, but REALLY good when it's cold. We love cold leftover quiche for breakfast.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLDER WHEN...

I've been doing well in my efforts to hang our laundry out rather than using our electric dryer. Today, however, rain is in the forecast and I really need to do laundry. I brought down a full basket of laundry this morning, and, when Jeff saw it, this is how our conversation went.

Him: You know it's going to rain, right?

Me: I know, but I really HAVE to do laundry today or I'm going to be walking around naked...

Insert those cricket-chirping sounds here designating complete silence.

My oh my, how times have changed...

Happy Father's Day

My Dad is, of course, on my mind today. Though he passed away 32 years ago (at the age of 51), I do still think of him almost every day. Happy Father's Day, Daddy. When my kids were living at home, I always thought of my Dad and how much he would have loved and enjoyed his grandchildren. He was such a special man, he would have added a whole different dimension to their lives. He was a gentle, quiet man, who talked little, but was worth listening to when he spoke. He had a way of letting you know how much he loved you, just with a look or a pat on the back. He commanded respect, and deserved it. And he was so willing to share what he knew -- and he knew SO much about SO many things! My Dad was a paratrooper in World War II. He was at Normandy on D-Day. He was in Bastogne. If you've watched Band of Brothers, he was in the midst of what you saw. He never talked about it. His legs were full of tiny scars -- shrapnel wounds from being shot at as he parachuted. He must have seen some horrible sites and endured some frightening times, but we never heard the stories and he certainly never bragged about it. Now that I'm older, I realize how proud my Dad was of his situation in life in his later years. We had rough times when I was young, and my parents divorced in a time when few people did. But in the last 10 years of his life, my Dad found happiness -- in a marriage to a good, kind, loving woman, in being a new Dad, in adopting three kids, in his career choice, and in his stand in the community. He was the hardest worker I've ever met, and the most avid reader I've ever met. An uneducated man, he was also the smartest man I've ever met. I truly believe the last 10 years were the highlight of his life for him, and he deserved that good life. I can see now that those years gave him a lot of joy. I'm thankful to my Dad for a lot of attributes he passed on to me. My Yankee frugalness; my love of reading; my interest in homeopathic remedies; my desire to make our house a warm, loving home; my enthusiasm for gardening; my love of tent camping; and more. Every day I miss him. Every day I wish he could see me now, could meet my kids and be as proud of them as I am, and meet his first great-grandchild (who reminds me so much of him). I know he'd be proud of the life I lead, and that makes me feel good. Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

Frugal Father's Day Shopping

I hope this post doesn't come too late for people to take advantage! Purchase must be made by midnight 06/15/08 - tomorrow! Buy $100 worth of men's DOCKERS clothing at Sears, and receive a $75 Shell Gas Card AND a $10 Sears gift card. In effect, get $100 worth of clothing for $15!!! Thanks to the Stretching a Buck blog site for sharing this! Print out the rebate form here. ADDED LATER: Jeff and I are just back from our trip to Sears and it was even better than I'd hoped. There is a limit of TWO PER HOUSEHOLD rebates -- or $150 back in gas cards and $20 back in Sears cards for every $200 in Dockers purchases! Better news -- almost all Docker items are on SALE! As Jeff went to look at pants, I headed straight for the clearance racks -- and found Docker dress shirts for $9.99 (regularly $38.00). Dress pants and khakis were on sale for $19.99 to $29.99. Dockers makes socks (who knew?) and belts -- and those are on sale as well. Jeff bought 7 pair of pants for work (casual dress), 9 dress shirts, 2 packages of black dress socks and a belt. He bought one non-Docker dress shirt I found on the Clearance Rack for $4.99. Our out-of-pocket after rebates will be $40. That's less than what he normally pays for one pair of dress pants for work. On our way home, Jeff mentioned he really needed to get his car washed. About a half mile from our house, I noticed a local gas station had a sign out front - FREE CAR WASH WITH ANY PURCHASE. $10 in gas later, Jeff had his car wash, for free. The man is mighty happy with my frugal ways today!

The BEST Home Remedy - and frugal too!

I've mentioned this "Helpful Hint" (aka Life Saver, for me) before, but after a few minutes of agony last night, I feel strongly that it's worth mentioning again. I occassionally suffer from leg cramps that border on debilitating muscle spasms. It's only happened a few times in the past 4 years, but when it happens -- youchie. It usually happens if I've either been walking a lot or working hard outside in the heat without rehydrating. Yesterday, I did both and last night paid the consequences. I woke up to a really severe muscle cramp around my ankle, to the point where I could not UNbend my foot. Nasty stuff. Many months ago I got on the Internet and started looking for home remedies for muscle cramps. I found one that looked absolutely silly -- until I tried it. This is THE most amazing thing ever. The remedy is to eat a big spoonful of good ol' yellow mustard for INSTANT muscle cramp relief. I can't begin to tell you how fast and thoroughly this works. Jeff went down and got a spoon and the mustard, and I gulped down my spoonful. I swear, within 5 seconds the cramp and the pain were gone and today there's no trace of muscle soreness that you often get the day after a bad cramp. I understand it's the tumeric in the mustard that does this. I don't know why. All I can tell you is that it absolutely positively works. My daughter told me last week that she got a severe muscle cramp in her upper thigh one night, got out of bed and gulped her spoonful of mustard, and is now able to support this theory. I know it sounds bizarre. But the next time you suffer from a muscle cramp, try it for yourself. And spread the word. This is a really good one to know when you need it!

Emptying my Brain Day

Things I keep meaning to blog about and no longer want on my brain (there's only SO much room!): The berries I mentioned in a previous post are black mulberries (once I had that info, I went and looked them up and sure enough, they're black mulberries) and they are edible. I wish I'd asked the question two weeks ago when they were at their peak, but now I know and will be better prepared next year. I may try and get one or two jars of jam from them to try them out. Thanks everyone! If anyone else is interested, here's info and recipes! I think I'm going to try the Mulberry Cobbler and see how it goes. Need a good link for kids' activities this summer? Check out Rocks in My Dryer's list of web sites! What a goldmine! Grandkids visiting? Or want to take the family out to eat on a budget? Check out this website and find out where you can take kids out to eat for free! When you get to the site click on SEARCH at the top of the page, then put in your state, then town!

And speaking of kids and summer -- here's a recipe that used to be one of my kids' favorites. Buy a bag of Chips Ahoy cookies. Buy a pint of vanilla ice cream. Sandwich a small scoop of ice cream between the bottoms of two cookies, wrap each "sandwich" in plastic wrap and presto! Ice cream sandwiches with a twist. These used to be a big hit at Girl Scout meetings too.

If you're interested in leading a more frugal life (something the price of gas may force on all of us fairly soon), check out some of my favorite frugal websites (most, if not all, will offer weekly suggestions for buying "scenarios" at Walgreens, CVS and WalMart that will show you how to get items for free, or nearly free): Be Thrifty Like Us

BeCentsAble - "Awaken your shopping CentsAbilities!"

CentsibleShopper

Living on Little out of pocket frugal living

Want to learn more about shopping at CVS for little or no money? Check out Money Saving Mom's article called CVS 101 for a good place to start. Declutter and gather some good summer reading at the same time. It's a win-win situation. Post your books (hardcover, paperback, audio, fiction, non-fiction) on PaperBackSwap.com, receive credits when people ask for your books (you pay shipping - media mail) and use those credits to get new books for yourself for some great summer reading (They pay shipping). No library due dates, no "ohmygawd, I left that $30 hardcover in a hotel room on vacation"... perfect for the summer. I've been happy with every book I've received! And when you're done decluttering your books, how about decluttering your DVD's on PaperBackSwap.com's sister-site SwapaDVD.com. Works on the same principle as the books -- list your DVD's, get a credit, pick new DVD's to watch. It's a great way to have some movies for your kids and grandkids this summer at a fraction of the cost of buying. You pay shipping ($2.05) when someone chooses one of your DVD's, but you don't pay shipping when you order a DVD from someone else. C'mon -- you know you're not going to watch Die Hard III anymore! And by the way -- it's REALLY easy to list books and DVD's -- all you have to do is type in the ISBN number -- no description, no photos, no programs to download. MUCH easier than Ebay!

Don't forget -- Sunday is Father's Day! Jeff doesn't read my blog so I can tell you here that his is going to be a "Deadliest Catch" themed day. No, I'm not taking him fishing! He's getting a DC t-shirt, a "Shut Up and Fish" bumper sticker, and the new Deadliest Catch PC Game. Since he only has his work laptop, you'll understand what's going on if I don't blog for a few weeks.... it means he's on my computer playing his new game!

OK, last thing. I have a new favorite TV show. You won't believe it. It's a show called Mobile Home Disaster on the CMT channel (I think that's Country Music Television). Ohmygawd, it is SO funny. The host is John Caparulo and he's the sexiest thing on TV -- well, no, not really, but he's one of the funniest and I find a sense of humor to be really sexy! Combine outrageous country humor with Home Makeover with frugal living, and you've got a recipe for success. At least in my book -- which usually means the show will get cancelled soon. But hey, I like it! Worm poop lovers unite!

OK, my brain is back to it's normal empty status, so I'm good to go. I'm off to make cupcakes for Jeff's poker party tomorrow night, and while waiting for them to cook, I'll be browsing my local paper to pick out yard sales for Brayden and I tomorrow morning!