Free Emergen-C Bone (Thanks, Happy Clippings)

For instance, I asked my car insurance carrier to review our policies, and see if they can save us any money. Since we have not made any car insurance claims during the policy life, they were able to shave an extra $15 off our bill. Not a ton, but I’ll take it.
My life insurance is also being reviewed, as I have been taken off a medication for migraine headaches. Since I have no other medical issues, that should put me into the premier catagory, which should lower my already low rate.

It may be small amounts, but every little bit I am not paying in bills is going into saving for our first home, and that makes it totally worth it!

Free Flix Interdental sample

An Island Life is giving away one night at a Hilton Worldwide hotel, a $100 Ticketmaster giftcard, and a $100 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift card.

As anyone who has gone to a “pick your own” orchard, it isn’t even close to beig cost effective. As I told my husband today, you are paying for more than just simple fruit. You are paying to keep a small business alive, paying for the “adventure” of picking your own fruit, paying for the choice of “safe to eat off the tree” fruit. Also, there is the tractor ride to the orchard, the petting area, and the wonderful playground. All at a price.

If you think that we paid $25 for the 1/2 bushel of peaches, and $15 for the bag of apples (peck? half peck? I’ll have to check which), $5 for a bag of sugared apple cider donuts, and $3 for 2 iced coffees. That is a total of $48. We were at the farm for about 2.5 hours, so it breaks down (very) roughly to $5 per person per hour of FUN! Not to mention all the yummy fruit we get to enjoy for months to come, as I’ll be prolonging the yum by canning a whole mess of peaches this week.

We only go once a year, as the 40 minute drive is a touch far for multiple trips, especially when there are other equally nice farms around, though few pick you own. It is definitely a family tradition now to go at the end of summer. Well worth the time, gas, and money.

*Bic ball point pens are $.01 with a $5 minimum purchase, limit one per household

*Staples glue is $.01 with a $5 minimum purchase, limit two per household

*Staples poly notebooks, wescott all purpose scissors, Uniball sport pens, scotch tape dispensers, and Hammermill copy paper are all $.50.

Coupons.com match ups

Shaws has 2 packs of Oscar Mayer hot dogs 2/$5, pair with the $1 off 2 coupon for 2 packs for $4

Shaws has a $5 instant savings and 50 bonus box tops when you buy 10 selected General Mills products:

Hamburger helper is $1 a box, minus $.50 instant savings for $.50 a box.  pair with the $.75/3 Hamburger Helper coupon free hamburger helper!

Bisquick is $1 a box, minus $.50 instant savings for $.50 a box.  Pair with the $.50 coupon for FREE Bisquick.

Pillsbury cookie dough is $2.50, minus $.50 instant savings.  Pair with the $1 off coupon for $1 cookie dough.

Shaws.com coupons

Boneless tilapia fillets are $6.99/lb, pair with the save $1 coupon

Free Playtex Sport tampon sample

I’m in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance!

Helping Moms Connect is giving away a Pillsbury Sweet Sundays prize pack.

I have a few little tricks to keep everything organized. First, I scrounge one box for each kid. It has to be wide enough to fit notebooks and folders, and I add a shoebox in each one. I use personalized labels to put their names on EVERYTHING, (except the teen, he’d kill me) All loose pens, pencils, and markers go in the shoebox, the notebooks and folders stand up, and I can take a quick look to see what is still needed. I also tape a copy of the school list to the outside and cross items off as I place them in the box.

I keep these boxes throughout the year. As the kids need supplies, they go to THEIR box. There is no tapping into someone else’s supplies. I refill the boxes from time to time from my main stash, mostly the pens and pencils. I try to way over buy when I hit a sale, because I know come January the notebooks need replacing and the folders can’t be taped anymore.

The labels are key though. I got them with my company order of business printing services so they were short money. I try to bulk order whenever possible, to reduce my out of pocket expenses, but also to reduce my time involved.

If anyone has any special tricks about organizing school supplies for the year, please post!

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for recipes, but I am a “pinch of this, dash of that” kind of cook. I do however know of a few sites that have some great recipes, so why invent the wheel? See below for a few of the sites I have gone to for ideas in the past.

My best tips for smoothies are to add uber ripe bananas to my smoothie. It gives a delicious sweetness, and adds the rich creaminess that I crave. I also recommend using frozen berries, and you can omit the ice in most cases. Anything to reduce the steps, right?

For chopping veggies, be prepared to completely ruin your first batch or two. It really is a bit of a trick to learn to pulse the veggies so as not to pulverize them. Use medium size pieces, and pulse once. Swirl the blender around, and pulse again. Continue until you feel the pieces are small enough for your needs. Granted, you are not going to get the perfect same sized pieces that you obtain with hand chopping, but these should be just fine for soups and dips.

I hope you enjoy these tips and be sure to check out the following sites for their great recipes!

*Smoothies
*Multiple recipes Try the Potato soup!
*Soup Ideas! I love this site.

2. Have you ever slept in the same bed with anyone that you shouldn’t have? No.

3. Can you sleep in total darkness? No.

4. Your phone is ringing. It’s the person you fell hardest for, the one who got away, what do you say? I’d send it to voicemail so I had time to think.

5. What do you think about the weather this summer? It’s hot.  When on a given day it’s cooler in Florida than Boston, something is wrong.

Once again, the bulk of Staples sales this week are items for fifty cents.  BIC brand highlighters, Simply binders, and Staples brand rulers and translucent pencil boxes are all available for $.50 (with no minimum purchase), limit two of each item per household.

Shaws has Apple Jacks and Corn Pops 3/$6 (but you MUST buy 3).  Coupons.com has a coupon for $1.50 off of two boxes of these cereals

Yoplait Yogurt is 10/$5, which you can pair with the coupons.com coupon for $.40 off of six.

If you’re shopping at Shaws or Star Market this week, keep in mind that the OverRide program rewards are now good for 30 days.

This particular episode is all about how Miley sticks a FORK in her MOUTH and breaks a filling. Then her and her daddy discuss how AFRAID of the dentist she is! (Have I mentioned I’m a dental assistant before??)

In between the dentist parts, Oliver is going out with a vegetarian, and he and Lili talk about how bland and nasty vegetables are. (have I mentioned I’m a vegetarian??)

Flash back to the dentist, who is ANCIENT….and starts to give Miley an injection, which she sees as a 3 foot needle!!! Way to broadcast a positive image for dentist hating, veggie despising children.

Hey, after all, if Hannah is deathly afraid of the dentist, my seven year old should be too!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!