I Not Only Save Money, I Find it, too!

(Photo courtesy of Finance with AFP)
When it comes to money, I prefer earning and saving over spending anytime. Am I a miser, some may say that but of course with a family, even being a miser is not always feasible.

So... I've made sure that I find money, too! Yep, I find them! Meaning, I look at all the deals and promos out there-not ignoring any mail that comes in with offers.

For example, in mid-March, we've researched and researched the price ranges of the style of refrigerators (french doors, freezer bottom) I wanted. When the time came, I even considered buying the classic style (two doors, freezer top) to stretch our budget, but by sharing this idea with a good friend of mine, she referred me to a Sears Outlet Store that mainly dabbles in appliances.

We looked around the refrigerators and making sure not to resort to "need to pee-pee" dance like movements, I quietly approached MY fridge. The one that I've been hoping to be able to afford for years now. Brand spanking NEW! As in "just came from the manufacturer assembly line, but got rejected so it ended up in the outlet NEW!" The inside smelled of styrofoam, plastic and tape because the whole inside was filled with them! So cool!

And for $1,000 LESS. SAVED MONEY! I was able to use that money to pay for NEEDS that popped up like new clothing for school and work and shoes for school and prom plus AP tests, my graduation pictures, Spring pictures, lunch money and various moving expenses AND NOT BREAK THE BANK!

Then, we came across a bank offer of $125 for opening a new account with a minimum and direct deposit. So we did. In 3 weeks, that account will be $125 fatter. FOUND MONEY!

Kohl's had a TAX-FREE, 20% off for $100 or more purchase AND $10 for every $50 spent promo from April 1-3. We took advantage of that and saved tons of money for clothes and shoes, plus earned $20 in Kohl's Cash for me! FOUND MONEY!

Tonight, while picking up the mail from our house, we came across a store offer of $5 giftcard to invite my business. Then we realized that we haven't checked our apartment's mailbox. Sure enough, there's one there, too! Mr. Man "dumpster dived" to see if there are more that others foolishly threw away. Yep, three more! A total of $25 giftcards. FOUND MONEY!

The kids all had great report cards and high A's in their recent TAKS practice tests, homeworks, and projects so we treated them to Souper Salad. I had a coupon! One for "Kids Eat FREE (normally $6.39 each) for every paying adult" and the other for, "$5.99 AYCE (regularly $7.25)". We made sure we all ate "well and healthily" and... made room for some soft serve. We saved a total of $14.05! SAVED MONEY!

In the same mail stash at our house, was the new debit card for our new account, in it was an offer of $30 cash just for enrolling the card number into a program to get you started in online bill pay. And you only have to pay 3 bills to earn it! Guess what?! I have three bills to pay by the end of the month! So before April 30, that new account will have an additional $30! FOUND MONEY!

How are you doing with your money hunting? I hope you'll be as lucky as I am!

SH Day 2- 95 cents a Plate!

We had to buy milk, bananas and toothpaste today for our needs, but food for dinner, noooo problem!

Last week, I got these Hormel Polish Sausage 2-pk, BIGIF for $4.99. So that made it $2.50 each pk for us. Then in the freezer, I had these two store brand frozen bags of stir-fry veggies with rice that only cost me $1 each. What to make, what to make?

A one dish wonder called Sausage Stir-fry!

I only used one of the sausages, making it $1.25 + $2, subtotal- $3.25

Then, my children found a box of family size brownies in the pantry, that cost me $1.49 (on sale, $2, reg. $2.50) since I bought it with a promo of B10G$5off from Kroger.

We only had water and 1 full plate each (that's all we needed, oddly enough).

So let's see... $1.25 + $2 + $1.49 = $4.74 / 5 of us = .945 or 95 cents a plate + dessert!

Can't beat that!

SH Day 1- It's Sunday!

Hello... Today marks the day that we embark on our 2nd attempt at NOT BUYING ANYTHING WE DO NOT NEED. We upped it from 10 days to 14 days from our first and very successful, attempt. We even gave it an official name, SHOPPING HIATUS. Cool,huh? Which means, no eating out, no grocery shopping for just good deals, no shopping for anything that can wait. If we can make it, we make it. We do without and we wait!

Since it's Sunday, it was an easy start not to get anything... Let's see how it goes. And since I'm not feeling so hot either (dizzy and "jelly" legs), I think the kids can manage rummaging through the fridge for food.

Can we survive 14 days without caving in for that "one shiny bauble" in an ad?

Well, I hope so! Wish us luck! This time, our incentive is to add what we'll save, to our Christmas Fund aka January Shopping Spree!

Did I tell you about that? Our "Christmas fund" is saving $1 a day, or 20 cents per person per day, for a total of $1 a day for our Shopping Spree. This way, we know that everyone saved for that one "want" they'll find in the store when we go. That's $1 a day starting Jan 1-Dec 31. Then we portion it this way: Lunch while out shopping, 1-3 Family gifts and equally divided amount for individual gifts. (When we do this, we bring our own snacks, beverage and coupons to save on food, too! It's a whole day affair and we end it with a rental to watch together at home.) Easy enough, right? Right!

So far, the last two years of this tactic, totally panned out since we were also armed with the grands' giftcards from Christmas. :-)

Going Gourmet...

Hosted by Designs by Gollum
You know those pricey bottles of "flavored" oils?

Well, the last rain and sunny days we had made my own basil bloom like a community potluck depended on it, and I still have a lot of Pure Olive Oil from Costco last September. So, with that in mind, I decided to finally use the $2.99 bottle I got from IKEA last month and make my own!
I know, I'm not creating a trend, but I'm more gloating over the fact that I was finally able to do it!
See that good looking bunch, that's only a few stems. Yummy!
And here it is! I purposely bruised most of the leaves to start the infusion. After only a few hours, the olive oil smelled incredible!

1. Make sure the bottle you use is sanitized (washed in hot, rinsed well and dried)
2. Harvest the herbs you will use.
   
3. Rinse herbs lightly on all sides and pat dry lightly. Let dry on a paper towel for a few hours or overnight. Or lightly blanch in a boiling water. Again, let dry completely.
   
4. Slowly insert herbs in the bottle, lightly bruising some of the leaves.
   
5. Pour oil slowly with a small funnel.
6. Leave a gap from the mouth to the top of the oil level to aerate.
   
7. Make sure the lid is secure to keep from spoiling.
   

What's the first thing you should drizzle it on? Some great steak of course, I made some steak, basil and tomato salad, eat with steamed rice and you'll have an amazing explosion in your mouth!

Ok, I'm off to bake some sandwich bread for tomorrow!

Thanks for hosting Michael Lee and thanks for visiting!

New Errand Day

We found ourselves cramming every errand we had, today. It used to be Wednesday. Before that, it used to be Monday. I guess as long as things get done it doesn't matter when you do it, right?

After waking up, I remembered I signed up for an all-white tablescaping meme at my other blog. This is what I came up with.

Then I called to change appointments for L-Infinity so it wouldn't interfere with her trip to Michigan.

After, we headed to Costco to return this gorgeous recycled green glass lemonade dispensar jar that had a huge stress crack on the inside. We discovered it last night after everyone left and were feeling so blessed that it did not crack and flooded the carpet with lemonade! Talk about relief! Whew! Oh yeah, also socks; and soap to wash the socks. LOL

We then went to Fry's Electronics to grab a new power supply box for our "dead" computer. Mr. Man made a good call in swapping that since with the new one, the computer is alive again! (Mwah-ha-ha-ha!!!! What, too much? hee hee).

Right next door is a Home Depot. We needed some pull chain for the kiddos bedroom ceiling fan that kept on breaking. Since we needed two, each two smallish kiddos got to choose one. The verdict, a green swirly design and a... baseball! I've also been wanting to have something block the bottom part of our window ledge outside since we love to read and lie down on the couch. I chose some purple coleus (6 /$8.00) to start me off to a good mood each day I open the blinds. (Photo borrowed online)

And a new nozzle is needed. Can't be wasting water you know! Our current one, sprays backwards! (If you can see that, that's what happened!) We found something similar to the online pic below but green I think...
We treated the kiddos to lunch at McDonald's so that's their "vacation treat" today. We splurged with $20 plus change. (That's about $10 cheaper than our usual, yes!!!)

We hit Ross and Target for some items on Mr. Man's list. Last stop, Albertson's for some milk. Then home for some leftovers! Yep, in my house, leftover is a cause for celebration... (You got me, I'm as normal as you are, I don't cook everyday either!) LOL

The kiddos asked for the remaining lumpias, so I cooked them but I requested to take a few pictures for my cookbook that I can never seem to start! Here they are for your viewing pleasure...

A good dinner means a good round of a Wii game afterwards. In Fry's Electronics, we found a combo of game+wheel + another wheel + another game for a comfortable price for us. When we went to Target, we found out that we saved $20.00! (woot woot)
So now, Mr. Man and I-Dude have their Mario Kart racing game complete with the steering wheels while J-Pony & L-Infinity have their Agatha Christie mystery game! Mommy (that's me) is so happy to finally stop the noise of begging and whining and hinting for these games since they came out! Aaahhh.... silence.... ;-)

How are you enjoying your vacation? Btw, it was a sweltering 100 degrees today!