Yikes!

Has it really been almost a month since I've done any postings?? Yikes!! Like continues to be crazy-- instead of focusing completely on saving money, I'm trying to make more money by picking up some extra hours at work. And with two little kids, just a few extra hours a week makes a HUGE difference- it really throws off my schedule! I'm still couponing, trying to focus on getting my grocery bill back down (I did have a good week at Meijer but I was just way too lazy to post about it) and shop frugally for Christmas.

I was successful with the storage unit purge... and with the first real snow this week, I was even successful at getting 2 cars back into the garage! It was a nice area to store things for a little while, but it was time that everything found its new semi-permanent home because I'm tired of one of my van doors being frozen every morning.

I am both sad and glad to admit that it has been over a month since I've done any drugstore shopping. It's nice because I have built up a nice stockpile of household and personal items and can take some time off, but we are running low (down to only 36 rolls) on TP now so it's time for me to start watching for some good TP and paper towel deals, as well as any other fun drugstore deals. I have a friend who now has a 17 year old living with her so I'm anxious to find what good make-up and teenage girl fun freebies I can find to welcome her to the neighborhood.

I hope everyone is busy finding lots of great Christmas deals! I didn't do Black Friday shopping- I did my Black Friday shopping online on Thanksgiving-- we got some super deals and could do our shopping in our PJ's. I really will try to get back in to blogging-- I really do want to start hitting the drugstores again.

Distraction update

I've still been forcing myself NOT to blog until I finish my storage unit purging.... and I am SO happy to report that after 2 more loads tonight (and several over the weekend), I have ONE remaining item left- which I have to wait until my hubby can help me move it. We'll get that home hopefully tomorrow and avoid paying any more storage unit rent-- yippee!

I'm still making myself spend time each day sorting and purging things- I bought a new shredder last week and was able to consolidate 2 file boxes into one (do I really need paperwork, receipts, birthday cards and other similar items from the early 2000's?). My dumpster was full again by Saturday (trash day is Thursday) which I am proud of because it means I'm actually getting stuff out of here!

I'm pretty sure next spring I'll be blogging about a tax audit-- I'm sure we're going to send up some huge red flags when I try to write off half the stuff we donated between Goodwill and the Salvation Army... oh well-- at least it's out of my house and I won't be paying a monthly charge to keep it!

Another end of the month coupon printing reminder

It's almost the end of the October already, so now is the time to make sure you get all your coupons printed before they reset.

Remember, if you use Swag Bucks , print your coupons.com coupons there-- you might as well earn Swag Bucks AND save some money!

Check my sidebar for links to other printable coupon sites (Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, etc.)

Keep checking Coupons.com for the next couple days because the end of the month and beginning of the month coupons are always resetting, coming and going! You can usually count on a few really good ones to appear and disappear within hours!

Distractions....

Yes, here's another posting apologizing for the absence of postings. Right now, I've shifted my priorities a little to saving money in a little different way. When we first put our house on the market in February, we thought it would be a good idea to rent a storage unit (a big one- 10x20) and move some excess furniture and storage bins into it so the house didn't look as full. We had a LOT of furniture in our house, and removing several pieces does make the house look larger. The unfinished portion of our basement was crammed full of storage bins and toys that we rotated out and removing those items opened up a lot of space.

Well, it's the end of October and we still haven't sold our house. We've had tons of showings and open houses (we're up to 40+ now) with great feedback and still not a single offer- it just haven't been the right buyer yet or the right time yet. So, about two weeks ago I decided that $85 per month on storage unit rent was NOT a good use of my money and have been working to sort and purge enough to get the things we still may want back into the house. I started out by working on the items we had kept in the basement, and am happy to report that after 2 weeks and many trips back and forth from the storage unit I've taken two HUGE loads of clothes and household items to Goodwill and have I think we're up to 11 empty storage bins that were previously housed in the storage unit.

Does your house need a good purging? I had good intentions with lots of the things I'm finally purging-- someday, I will lose enough weight to wear those clothes again, so-and-so gave me this item that I don't have a place for, I could sell that at a garage sale.... but the reality of it is for us right now that at $85 per month, the value of anything I could potentially get from a garage sale next season would not offset the cost of storing the stuff for now.

My personal challenge now (I don't know if I can accomplish this or not) would be to try to empty the unit before the rent is due in mid-November.... I'm not quite sure if I'll accomplish that- but I'm sure making great progress so far!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day today! This means more Swag Bucks for your same everyday searching. Make sure to check special offers (you don't have to sign up for anything, just browse through them and you now get 2 points), answer the daily poll and check for surveys each day for one point each to get 4 extra points each day which really do add up!

You can also print coupons and you get 10 Swag Bucks per redeemed coupon- I'm just starting to see the points started to get credited regularly. Check out my posting about all the different ways to earn points. It's a great way to get free gift cards and rewards for everyday internet surfing! My favorite reward is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 450 Swag Bucks.

I don't have the toolbar and still earn tons of points (I don't want any more programs running on my computer). I just keep signed into Swag Bucks all the time and use them to find the websites I'm visiting.

Another great thing about Swag Bucks is you can refer friends and family and you earn points for their wins as well up to 1000 points! So I do ask that if you do decide to sign up, please use the links in my Swag Bucks postings or put down Sarahspendsless as your referral.

Are you signed up for Swag Bucks yet? Do you have any questions about it? I was very hesitant at first, but I'm earning $10-$20 per month in Amazon gift cards and love it!

SUPER couponing at Target!

I had a great shopping trip at Target this week. I ordered more Huggies Overnites from Amazon a few weeks ago and was really disappointed when they arrived to find out that Huggies changed the Overnites. I wrote to Huggies and let them know how disappointed I was, and they sent me TWO coupons for FREE BIG packs of diapers! Not free jumbo packs, free BIG packs (around $20 each!). I was very happy to see Target was doing a gift card promo this week- buy 2 big packs at $18.99 each, get a $5 gift card. So, not only could I get 2 free packages of diapers, I could get a $5 Target gift card! Awesome!

2- Huggies Big Packs of diapers- $18.99 each (buy 2 get a $5 gift card!)
2- FREE big pack coupons
** 2 for FREE!! PLUS $5 gift card! **

4- Target Trail Mix- $2.50
2- $1.50 off 2 Target printable
** $1.75 each! **

Transformer toy- $9.99
$5.00 off Target mobile coupon
$5.00 off Target printable
** FREE!! ** My son is going to LOVE this for Christmas- and I will too since it was FREE!!

$69.11 before coupons and discounts
-$8.86 sales
-$50.98 coupons
====================
** $9.27 OOP!! PLUS $5.00 gift card earned!! **

I'm pretty happy with this Target trip-- Of my $9.27 OOP, $2.28 was tax! I bought the trail mix because it's yummy and the Target registers can be tricky when you're getting a gift card deal. I needed to spend at least $5 OOP so the gift card deal would work without any problems.

Yippee for FREE diapers and a gift card to spend later!!

Walmart shopping

I had a great trip to Walmart last week to get some overage... I'll try to post any coupon links later but just haven't had a chance (and most of the printables are no longer available).

6- Schick Razors 10 pk + 2 bonus- $1.97
3- $6.00 off 2 printable previously available
** ++ $6.18 OVERAGE!! **

Luna Bars- $5.97

2- 8th Continent Soy Milk- $2.73
1- $1.00 off printable
1- $2.00 off printable
** $1.73 each! **

3- Wholly Guacamole- $2.48
2- $1.50 off printables previously available
2- $1.00 off printable previously available
** 2 for $.98 each, one for $1.48! **

$31.40 before coupons
-$25.00 coupons
================
$6.40 OOP!!

This was a GREAT Walmart trip-- I love overage!! I'll definitely be searching for another Walmart that carries these razors-- I have more coupons and I love overage!

Cheap fun with the kids!

Last week I did another fun project with my boys-- we cleaned out some of the broken crayons in their crayon box and made some new ones! They thought it was lots of fun- and it was very easy!

You can do them a couple different ways, but we chose to put them in muffin tins and melt them in the oven. I preheated the oven to 260 degrees and lined the muffin tins/ silicone liners I planned to use. I found some great Wilton Square Silicone Baking Cups on amazon that were perfect! I thought it might be easier to color with something square shaped versus round, but did make some others with my mini-muffin tin as well.

We first sorted the crayons by colors, keeping similar colors together. Then, we put the crayons in the tins. I could have filled them up more...











Then, I put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and closely watched them and when they appeared to all be melted I took them out. You can use a toothpick and swirl the colors to make them even more fun!



Once they cool, you crack them out of the muffin liners and you have new crayons to use! The first few times some of the edges did crack off and were a bit messy, but my boys are having fun with their homemade crayons!

Another double coupon Meijer trip!

I was in Jackson again yesterday without my kids and stopped at Meijer on my way home to use a couple good "doubler" coupons... here's what I ended up with:

4- Yoplait Greek Yogurt- $.99
$.50 off 2 printable
** $.49.5 each!

2- Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce- $1.29
2- Old El Paso Refried Beans- $1.05
4- $.50 off Old El Paso printable
** $.29 for enchilada sauce- $.05 for refried beans! **
(I could have gotten taco seasoning for free but figured since I got 8 Ortega seasonings free last week at Meijer I'd just get other things that normally cost me more!)

Lettuce- $1.19

I did break this into 2 transactions because only 2 of each coupon double

$9.83 before coupons and discounts
-$3.00 coupons
-$3.00 doubled coupons
========================
$3.83 OOP!!

Just like my last double coupon experience, I would have done better if the items I bought using the coupons were on sale, but it was still cheaper than waiting for the items to go on sale at home and using the coupon without the doubler...

End of month coupon printing

It's almost the end of the September already, so now is the time to make sure you get all your coupons printed before they reset.

Remember, if you use Swag Bucks , print your coupons.com coupons there-- you might as well earn Swag Bucks AND save some money!

Check my sidebar for links to other printable coupon sites (Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, etc.)

Keep checking Coupons.com for the next couple days because the end of the month and beginning of the month coupons are always resetting, coming and going! You can usually count on a few really good ones to appear and disappear within hours!

Getting back into drugstore shopping- Walgreens!

I've taken a couple weeks off of drugstore shopping, but I couldn't pass up the deals at Walgreens this week. I was completely out of women's razors (for some reason I can't bring myself to use any of the freebie men's razors I get) and Walgreens has a great making my favorite kind of razors free after RR!

Here's what I did:

2- Schick Quattro Razors or 4 ct Refills- $8.99 (get $5 RR!)
2- $5.00 off printable previously on coupons.com
** $3.99 OOP PLUS $5 RR earned!! **

2- Zarbee's Cough Night-time- $5.99 (get $6 RR!)
2- $1.00 off printable on coupons.com
** $4.99 OOP PLUS $6 RR!! **

4- Johnson First Aid Kit- $.99
2- $1.50 off 2 from in-store display
** $.49 for 2! ** Great donation item!

2- Hershey's Aid Delights- $.59 (filler items!)

I broke this into 3 transactions to lower my OOP... here are the totals:

$53.95 before coupons and discounts
-$16.81 sales
-$15.00 coupons
-$11.00 Register Rewards redeemed
===========================
** $11.14 OOP!! ** PLUS I have another $11.00 in Register Rewards left to spend! I'll definitely be going back for more Quattro refills!

Meijer doubles!!

This picture was from a couple weeks ago-- I was in Jackson without kids and went to Meijer there since they double coupons up to $.50! It was an unplanned shopping trip- so I sat in the car for a few minutes before I went in and pulled out any coupon I thought would be a good doubler and then started shopping.

$100.33 before coupons and discounts
-$18.45 sales
-$36.78 coupons
================
** $45.10 OOP!! **

I was pretty happy with that! It was a great experience- I wanted to see if it made much of a difference to get coupons doubled up to $.50. It definitely helped! I used several coupons that doubled on full price items because it was still a better deal than what I'd get at home without doubles.

I will be going out to Jackson in the next week or two again and have some more coupons set aside to get some freebies after they double. If we ever move to Lansing, I can see that having double coupons will definitely make a difference- I could actually save the coupon until the items are on sale. Until then, I'll just try to set aside coupons that I think will be good to double for the times I'm near a store that doubles!

Yikes!

It's been TWO weeks since I've been to a drugstore!! Yikes! I guess that's one of the nice things about couponing... you can get really stocked up on certain things and then avoid certain stores for a little while.

Last week I spend some time getting my coupons re-organized-- I've been really slacking on the couponing lately. Now it's time to get focused and save some money! I'm hoping to do better meal planning this week-- the past couple weeks have been pretty hectic and I've fallen back into bad habits- stopping at the store to buy ingredients for dinner and not doing a big organized shopping trip.

I've got a bunch of coupons set aside for Meijer this week. I did really well a couple weeks ago shopping at Meijer- I happened to be in Jackson with my coupons and got to enjoy a bit of double-couponing-- SO much fun! One of these days, I'll post that picture. I'm planning a Meijer trip in the next couple days- it's looking like it could be a good week of saving at Meijer this week!

I will get back into blogging-- hopefully this week is the week for me to catch up!

Making meals for kids more fun

Today was my oldest son's first day of preschool. I had to make sure the boys would eat their breakfast in a timely manner instead of being pokey... so I picked up some fun Bento gear at Amazon and they actually sat down and ate their breakfast today!









I found these great Kotobuki Plastic Egg Molds Fish and Car for $3.28- and also the Plastic Egg Molds Heart and Star for $2.72 at Amazon.


The egg molds come in a package with Japanese instructions... but the instructions were listed on the product description- it's very simple. Boil an egg in water as you normally would hard boil an egg- take the egg out- peel it under running water (so you don't burn your hands) and then put in the egg mold. Set the mold in cold water or in the fridge, wait a little while and then you have fun eggs! I used large eggs and the Fish and Car shape a little better than the heart and star- they would have turned out better with jumbo eggs.

This morning's breakfast- a hard boiled egg cut in half, pancakes and blueberries.




I'm definitely going to be trying more things to make their meals more fun! I keep finding more blogs on Bento lunches and muffin tin meals so I'll be posting more ideas soon. It's another way to save money- finding meals that my kids actually eat so we waste less food!

New Pampers Gifts to Grow code!

Happy Labor Day!


If you are a Pampers Gifts to Grow Rewards member, here is another new code worth 10 points:

FAC911PTXD36Y6J

Thanks For the Mommas!!

Shopping online?

Ebates is a free rewards program that pays you cash rewards for shopping online. There are TONS of available stores and as long as you sign up for Ebates and use their site to get to the site you are shopping on, you earn a percentage back for each purchase! Some of my favorites are Shutterfly (10% back), Old Navy (4%), Target (3%) and Diapers.com (1-4%). There are tons of stores, so before shopping, definitely check this site because there are WAY too many to mention.

The only thing you have to do different when shopping is going through the Ebates site to get to the site where you are shopping. Each quarter you earn rewards, and after $5 in earnings each quarter you get a check in the mail (the pay schedule is listed on their site). If you don’t earn $5 in a particular quarter you don’t lose your earnings, they just don’t pay out until you hit the $5 mark… Go here to sign up and start earning!

It's Mega Swag Bucks day!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day today! This means more Swag Bucks for your same everyday searching. Make sure to check special offers (you don't have to sign up for anything, just browse through them and you now get 2 points), answer the daily poll and check for surveys each day for one point each to get 4 extra points each day which really do add up!

You can also print coupons and you get 10 Swag Bucks per redeemed coupon- I'm just starting to see the points started to get credited regularly. Check out my posting about all the different ways to earn points. I'm earning between 75-100 each day now that I've found so many different ways to earn points.

It's a great way to get free gift cards and rewards for everyday internet surfing! My favorite reward is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 450 Swag Bucks.

I don't have the toolbar and still earn tons of points (I don't want any more programs running on my computer). I just keep signed into Swag Bucks all the time and use them to find the websites I'm visiting.

Another great thing about Swag Bucks is you can refer friends and family and you earn points for their wins as well up to 1000 points! So I do ask that if you do decide to sign up, please use the links in my Swag Bucks postings or put down Sarahspendsless as your referral.

Are you signed up for Swag Bucks yet? Do you have any questions about it? I was very hesitant at first, but I'm earning $10-$20 per month in Amazon gift cards and love it!

FREE crackers from My Coke Rewards

If you have any My Coke Rewards points, you might want to spend 50 of them and get a coupon for a FREE box of Ritz, Wheat Thins or Triscuits!

Head on over here to request your coupon before they run out- this is the weekly Wednesday special and they sometimes run out before the day is over.

Thanks Couponing to Disney!

More homemade laundry detergent

After making my own liquid laundry detergent a few weeks ago, my neighbor found another recipe- that's a powder- that uses Castile soap instead of Fels Naptha. I've made a couple batches and I think I like it even more than the liquid.

I would put pictures, but my brother gave me a hard time for the last round of detergent pictures-- he said it looked a little too much like a meth lab...

1 bar Castile soap- $2.99 for 3 pk at Meijer- finely shredded (I use my Parmesean cheese grater)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
1 cup Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)

Mix all 3 together- I've put them all in a blender to get more of a fine powder (really hard on the blender), but found that putting it in a ziploc bag and mashing it with a rolling pin works just as well!

Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. I use one heaping tablespoon and it works great!

This does cost a bit more than the liquid detergent-- it's $1.71 per batch- which makes 48 loads (conservative estimate)- making each load around $.03! Still cheaper than buying regular detergent at the store and much easier than making liquid.

End of month coupon printing

It's almost the end of the August already, so now is the time to make sure you get all your coupons printed before they reset.

Remember, if you use Swag Bucks , print your coupons.com coupons there-- you might as well earn Swag Bucks AND save some money!

Check my sidebar for links to other printable coupon sites (Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, etc.)

Keep checking Coupons.com for the next couple days because the end of the month and beginning of the month coupons are always resetting, coming and going! You can usually count on a few really good ones to appear and disappear within hours!

Quick trip to Walgreens

I made a quick trip to Walgreens yesterday morning and picked up everything pictured for $1.40 OOP. I got the crayons first- $1 with a $1 RR, then used that register reward for the $.29 glue and glue sticks and the $.39 mechanical pencils. Not a bad deal!

Check out this week's Walgreens matchups at Hip 2 Save!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Target Shopping

I had a great shopping trip to Target yesterday-- Vitamin Water for $.58 bottle, FREE Cascade trial size, FREE Tide travel size, cheap Nexcare bandages and $.50 Danimals yogurt smoothies.

I paid $17.86 OOP and saved $29.18! That's 72% savings!

Check out this week's Target matchups here or here.

Office Max Shopping

Although I don't have a back to school supply list for preschool, I figured I'd still take advantage of some of the back to school deals so we can stock up for home. This week, I couldn't pass up $.15 glue and $.15 Crayola crayons at Office Max!

The limit on crayons is 2 and the limit on glue was 3... so I bought everything pictured for $.80! I can't wait to see what my boys can stick together with this glue-- I had only let them use glue sticks before now!~

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code

If you are a Pampers Gifts to Grow Rewards member, here is another new code worth 10 points:

2BEGINEARNING10

Thanks Totally Target!!

Summer

Sorry everyone-- I'm still busy trying to enjoy summer and not spending much time at the computer! One of these days I'll get back to normal blogging- I've taken deal pictures, and just not gotten around to posting them...
I will be back!

If you do have any questions or need anything, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment-- I'm still checking emails and comments and will respond if you need me.

Printing Coupons

I posted this awhile ago but thought some of my newer followers might like to see this coupon information..

I wanted to take a minute to make sure everyone knows how to get their two prints from printable coupons... Most of the time, you can get two prints of each printable coupon. For sites like coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com, you go back into the coupon and select print to get your second print. Certain coupons may have a limit of one- we're starting to see that more with coupons.com coupons.

The two coupon limit is per computer, so if you have access to multiple computers, you can get more prints!

However, with printing individual coupons (Bricks coupons, etc.) though a direct link, after the first coupon prints, hit your browser's back button until the coupon prints again... sometimes it takes just one time, sometimes a couple. This works for most individual printable coupons online (Bricks, etc.).

Also, if you're just getting into printing coupons and want to save on ink, make sure you go into your printing properties and change your print quality to draft mode and to black and white print. The coupons are not as pretty but you'll save a lot of money on ink cartridges!

Opinion Outpost

If you want an easy way to earn some extra money, register for Opinion Outpost. You earn points for taking surveys- you might not qualify for all available surveys, but when you do you get points to redeem for cash. You receive 20 points ($2.00) for joining, and the minimum to cash out is $5.00. I've been a member for a year and a half and when I take the time to do the surveys have done well with rewards. You can earn Amazon gift cards for a minimum of $5, a Citi prepaid Visa for $15 in earnings or request a check when you've accumulated $20 in earnings.

Go here to register and start earning .

Lots of couponing!

This morning I had a very successful couponing trip! My boys and I went to Target, Home Depot, Walgreens and Rite Aid and got some super deals!

Rite Aid

M&M's- $2 each (buy 2, get $2 +UP Reward)
$1.00 off 2 Rite Aid Video Values coupon from July
possibly a $1 off 2 manufacturer's coupon from 7/24 RP (I couldn't find this one)
** $1.50 each PLUS $1.00 +Up Reward for buying 2! **

$7.98 before coupons and discounts
-$3.98 Wellness Plus savings
-$1.00 off $1 Video Values coupon
-$1.00 coupon
=======================
$2.00 OOP PLUS $1.00 +Up Reward earned!

Walgreens

Huggies Wipes- 184-216 ct- $5.99
$2.00 off Walgreens coupon from August coupon book
$2.00 off from Walgreens Infant Care booklet (don't have to have the booklet- the cashier just needs to enter code 5519 to get this to take off)
$.50 off coupon from 7/17 SS
** $1.49 per package! A GREAT deal on wipes!! **

You can do up to 4 in one transaction- and each Walgreens coupon will take off that amount for up to 4 items-

$31.96 before coupons and discounts
-$8.00 sales
-$8.00 August coupon booklet
-$8.00 Infant care book (#5519)
-$2.00 (4)$.50 off coupons
-----------------------------
$5.96 subtotal
+ $1.44 tax
=============================
** $7.40 OOP!! ** A great deal for 4 packages of wipes!!

Home Depot

8- Bounty single roll paper towels- $.70 each
4- $1.00 off 2 coupons from 7/31 P&G
** $.20 per roll! **

$5.60 before coupons
-$4.00 coupons
----------------
$1.60 subtotal
+ $.34 tax
===============
** $1.94 OOP!! **

Target

4- Tide single load detergent (in travel section)- $.97
4- $1.00 off Tide coupon from 7/31 P&G
** FREE PLUS $.03 money maker for each! **

Jif Creamy To-Go- $2.29
FREE Target Jif to go coupon from direct mailer
** FREE!! **

2- Nexcare Batman Bandages- $2.25
2- $1.00 off Nexcare coupon previously available
2- $.75 off Target Nexcare coupon
** $.50 each! **

4- Five Star Mead 1 subject notebook $1.00
2- $1.00 off 2 printable
** $.50 each! **

$19.83 before coupons and discounts
-$5.16 sales
-$11.79 coupons
-----------------
$2.88 subtotal
+ $.65 tax
=================
** $3.53 OOP! **

I bought $65.37 worth of products for only $14.87 out of pocket. That's 77% savings!

An experiment-- my own laundry detergent

I've seen several different recipes for making your own laundry detergent and figured I'd finally give it a try. It ends up being a LOT cheaper than buying detergent (even with coupons and sales) and is pretty easy to make. I took lots of pictures and listed the recipe at the bottom.

What you will need:
Fels-Naptha soap- $1.39 for a bar at Meijer (found in the laundry/hand soap aisle- in my store it was under the hand soaps)
Arm and Hammer Washing soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)
Water
Cheese grater
Big pot for stove
Big bucket for detergent (preferably w/lid)
Empty laundry detergent bottles or big containers to hold detergent in

You can replace Fels-Naptha soap with Zote soap (which I hear is around $1 at Walmart) or even Ivory soap- I tried this recipe with Fels-Naptha but will experiment with the others in future batches.

















I used:
1/2 bar Fels-Naptha soap (shredded)
3/4 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
3/4 cup Borax

Heat 6 cups water on stove. Add grated Fels-Naptha soap to water and stir until soap melts. Once melted, washing soda and Borax- stir until everything is dissolved (it will foam up so make sure you use a big pot!).

Heat 4 cups of water in microwave while mixture is on stove. Put heated water in bucket (I used 5 gallon bucket), then add soap mixture and stif. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of tap water and stir. Let sit- stir often as the consistency will change some. It will be liquid- but kind of a gel-gooey. After it sits overnight, put in clean reused detergent containers or other plastic containers.

For each load, you use 1/2 cup detergent. If you have a front loading machine, you'll want to use a bit less. I have read that this laundry detergent is safe for front-loaders- because it doesn't suds up, but use at your own discretion. I filled 4 empty laundry containers with detergent- so this single batch will last quite a while.

Total cost per batch: around $1.24!

The batch I made used a total of 32 cups of water, so at 1/2 cup per load- this makes enough for 64 loads- so $.019 per load! Not too bad considering I bought my last Method laundry refill for $13.98 for 85 loads- or $.16 per load!

So far I've been happy with the detergent-- I even gave some to my neighbor who has a front-loading machine and she's also impressed- it works the same as any other detergent for a fraction of the price. I'll probably experiment with the different soaps and add some essential oils to the next batch.

Saving money on medical bills

I recently had a big personal victory on a medical bill I received. In May, I got a bill from the company that did my youngest son's newborn hearing screening when he was born-- the problem I had was that he was born in March 2009- and they were sending me the bill (for the first time) in May 2011. When I called (the first time- after multiple attempts and waiting on hold for extended amounts of time) to question the bill, they claimed that my insurance company denied the claim and that they have resubmitted multiple times and not gotten any response. The bill was for $226.00.

Now, I could have just paid the bill and been done with it. But, I knew that I did not owe them $226, and if I owed them anything, it was much less and that they needed to do something because I had not been notified of the claim in over two years. I called my former health insurance provider (we have a different provider now) and they were very nice and willing to send me the Explanation of Benefits Statement showing they approved the claim in June of 2009. I faxed that to the provider two separate times, with notes on the fax to please contact me- no response. I called again about 3 weeks later and they said they had corrected the account and that I owed them $84.44 and they were not sending a bill. I let them know I expected a bill before I would send them any payment-- and the next day I got one (it had already been printed- they just didn't know what they were talking about).

At this point, I could have just paid the $84.44 bill. However, by then they had really made me mad. Not only did they wait 27 months to bill me, they billed me for something I didn't owe, and I wasted so much of my time calling/ faxing/ etc. that I was not going to pay the entire balance. I called them and asked if due to the circumstances they would be willing to waive 50% of the balance because of their errors and inabilities. They offered to waive $15- only if I paid that day. I declined and figured I'd call back later and hope for better luck with someone else. A month passed- and I did not receive another bill.

I called about this balance this week- and was pleased to find out that as a courtesy, they waived my entire balance due to all the issues. Again, they didn't notify me.

The moral of the story- LOOK at and QUESTION your medical bills!! This is NOT the first time I had fought a medical bill (and won!). When my first son was born, I was charged for an extra night in the hospital- I got the hospital to pull my medical records and they were able to see that I was indeed overcharged and this saved me over $400.

Do not assume that medical facilities are correct. If you look at your Explanation of Benefits statements and medical bills, question every single charge. For hospital visits- did you really get all the medicines that you were billed for?

Understand that medical facilities often do have the ability to "write off" or "waive" portions of your balance. But, they're not going to volunteer that- you have to ASK!

Have you challenged a medical bill? Have you won??? So frustrating but so rewarding when you win!

Freebies

It was sad when I came home from vacation, but it was nice to have a couple surprise packages when I got home.


A FREE Pandora bracelet with Morano bead- I was emailed a survey a month or so ago and if you were one of the first 80,000 to complete the survey you got a free bracelet and bead. When I went to do the survey, it said that all bracelets had already been claimed, but I filled the survey out anyways and still got the goodies! The bracelet and bead are valued at $95!

I'm not sure why I still got this-- the only thing I'm wondering if they actually checked your email address to make sure you were a Pandora club member before the sent them out. The survey was originally intended on Pandora club members only, but then a blogs posted the link and the site got bombarded. I'm just happy I got mine! I love Pandora bracelets and am happy to add this one to my collection!

I also won a Redken Intra Force giveaway. I was VERY surprised at this one- I was one of the first 1000 to respond. I think this shampoo and toner are priced a little over $30- and my hubby just started using this product right before these were delivered so I was very excited to receive these full size freebies!


Definitely two nice surprises-- I love getting free samples in the mail and it's even better when they are full size or high dollar freebies!

What a week!

So sorry for another apology posting... but just wanted to post and say that I'm so sorry that I'm so far behind on blogging right now! It's been quite a week- getting home from vacation to the tree mess, having to hurry and clean it up so we would be ready for showings again, doing a week's worth of vacation laundry (clothes/ sheets/ towels/ beach stuff for 4 people), having 4 (yes, 4) showings this week on 3 different days and getting ready for an open house tomorrow. Add to that a dentist appointment and then the following day a trip to the endodontist to find out that I have to get a root canal ASAP- which is next Wednesday. Just another crazy week- I'm ready for some calm and routine again! I'll get back on track with couponing soon... after tomorrow's open house I hope to get my binder reorganized and my inserts sorted.

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day today! This means more Swag Bucks for your same everyday searching. Make sure to check special offers (you don't have to sign up for anything, just browse through them and you now get 2 points), answer the daily poll and check for surveys each day for one point each to get 4 extra points each day which really do add up!

You can also print coupons and you get 10 Swag Bucks per redeemed coupon- I'm just starting to see the points started to get credited regularly. Check out my posting about all the different ways to earn points. I'm earning between 75-100 each day now that I've found so many different ways to earn points.

It's a great way to get free gift cards and rewards for everyday internet surfing! My favorite reward is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 450 Swag Bucks.

I don't have the toolbar and still earn tons of points (I don't want any more programs running on my computer). I just keep signed into Swag Bucks all the time and use them to find the websites I'm visiting.

Another great thing about Swag Bucks is you can refer friends and family and you earn points for their wins as well up to 1000 points! So I do ask that if you do decide to sign up, please use the links in my Swag Bucks postings or put down Sarahspendsless as your referral.

Are you signed up for Swag Bucks yet? Do you have any questions about it? I was very hesitant at first, but I'm earning $10-$20 per month in Amazon gift cards and love it!

Catching up

My plans to catch up have been delayed yet again... Our realtor called last night to schedule 2 (possibly 3) showings tonight. So, yesterday was spent with my hubby and the chainsaw and me with the sawzall (I have so much fun with power tools!!) getting all the trees and brush cleared from the yard, having to get more laundry done AND getting my house back to being spotless. It amazes me how quickly my kids can completely trash my house!

After work today we'll go home long enough to get my dog, lock up the cats, wipe down the counters and then vacate for a couple hours.

Have I mentioned how tired of showings and open houses I am??

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Whoops!

Sorry for being the disappearing blogger again! I went on vacation last week, fully intending on getting online daily and doing some postings. I only scheduled a couple because I just assumed I'd blog from up north like I did last year. Well, we never even turned the computer on-- the whole week!! I did use my phone to check my email and the news online-- we had a major storm on Monday that brought down a lot of trees (which were waiting for us in our yard when we got home this afternoon). I can't tell you the last time I didn't get on the computer for a whole week-- but I was having way too much fun!

I have a whole week's worth of blogs to read, probably 20 loads of laundry to do (5 are done already), trees to get out of my yard and mentally adjust to being back at home and not on vacation anymore. I'll try to get some postings up tomorrow or Monday (probably Monday)-- hope you got some great deals last week- no drugstore deals or deal shopping (other than fun vacation shopping) last week either. The week went way too fast-- we already told the owner of the cottage we rent that we would like two weeks next year!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day today! This means more Swag Bucks for your same everyday searching. Make sure to check special offers (you don't have to sign up for anything, just browse through them and you now get 2 points), answer the daily poll and check for surveys each day for one point each to get 4 extra points each day which really do add up!

You can also print coupons and you get 10 Swag Bucks per redeemed coupon- I'm just starting to see the points started to get credited regularly. Check out my posting about all the different ways to earn points. I'm earning between 75-100 each day now that I've found so many different ways to earn points.

It's a great way to get free gift cards and rewards for everyday internet surfing! My favorite reward is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 450 Swag Bucks.

I don't have the toolbar and still earn tons of points (I don't want any more programs running on my computer). I just keep signed into Swag Bucks all the time and use them to find the websites I'm visiting.

Another great thing about Swag Bucks is you can refer friends and family and you earn points for their wins as well up to 1000 points! So I do ask that if you do decide to sign up, please use the links in my Swag Bucks postings or put down Sarahspendsless as your referral.

Are you signed up for Swag Bucks yet? Do you have any questions about it? I was very hesitant at first, but I'm earning $10-$20 per month in Amazon gift cards and love it!

Some cheap fun!

A couple weeks ago I needed to do a major coupon cleanout- but I needed to come up with a project for my boys to do that would keep them busy. They like playing Play-Doh, but instead of just getting out the whole bin of Play-Doh stuff, I let the help me make our own Playdough! It was a lot of fun AND because we made it ourselves, they played with it a LOT longer than they normally play with Play-Doh.

There are lots of different recipes out there... but this is the recipe I used- I got it from my mom who made it for my brother and I when we were little!

Homemade Playdough

1 cup water
1 cup flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
food coloring

Heat over stove, stirring constantly until ball forms. Add food coloring, let cool- and play! I usually it in the fridge (I don't know if you really need to but I think it stays together better when it's cold) in a ziploc bag or in a glad container.

I gave the boys the playdough and some cookie cutters and they played for over an hour-- and came right back after naptime and played some more! This activity was definitely a hit in our household!

A great FREE weight loss resource

In the past I have used Weight Watchers to drop some lbs... but I'm just too cheap to spend money on that (and don't have time for weigh-ins and meetings and such). After I got my Blackberry, I was talking to a friend about cool apps and she told me about Spark People . Spark People is a FREE website (and/ or app) that sets up a nutrition and fitness plan to your goals and allows you to track your foods and exercise for FREE. It allows you to track the information you want to track- the standard tracking info is Calories, Carbs, Fat and Protein. If your foods aren't listed in the nutrition tracker, you can add the food as a favorite and enter the nutrition information yourself.

There are great reports available- one of my favorites is the "single day calorie differential" report. It looks at your calories consumed and your calories burned, through both exercise and what they calculate as your basal metabolic rate. It's a great report to see where you're at for the week-- and for me- it's fairly accurate. If you add up the differential each week (remember a 3500 calorie deficit is a 1 lb weight loss) you get a good idea what the scale should show for the week. While in my first two weeks I consistently stayed within my guidelines and was down over 6 lbs- and adding up my calorie differential showed that very close to what I should be down.

I've been using Spark People for a few weeks. I love it- it's so much more detailed than Weight Watchers- it definitely encourages you to eat not only the right amount of calories each day, but to look at what types of calories you are consuming.

There are also lots of interesting nutrition, wellness and fitness tips as well as message boards and recipes. It's a great resource to check out if you want to drop a few pounds or make better food choices.



Join the Web's Only Nutrition & Fitness Program Just For Teens! Diet

Rite Aid weekly shopping

I had two great trips to Rite Aid this week- two transactions at each store.

Transaction #1

Gillette Fusion Pro Glide Razor- $9.97 (get $5 +Up Reward)
-$4.00 off coupon from 6/5 P&G
** $5.97 OOP PLUS $5.00 +UP Reward earned!

2- Crest Pro Health Toothpaste- $2.57 (get $2 +UP Reward)
$1.00 off 2 Crest toothpaste coupon from 6/5 P&G
** $2.07 each PLUS $2.00 +UP Reward for each! **

$20.97 before coupons and discounts
-$5.86 Wellness Plus savings and sales
-$5.00 coupons
-$3 off $15 survey coupon
-$2.00 previously earned +Up Rewards
-----------------
$5.11 subtotal
+ $.73 tax
===============
$5.84 OOP! PLUS $9.00 in +Up Rewards earned

Transaction #2

Jergens Natural Glow trial size- $1.99 ($2.49 before Wellness Plus discount)- buy 2, get $5 +UP Reward!
** $3.98 OOP PLUS $5.00 +UP Reward earned! **

Crest Pro Health Mouthwash- $4.99 (get $4.50 SCR!)
$1.00 off from 6/5 P&G
** $3.99 OOP PLUS $4.50 SCR! **

$11.97 before coupons and discounts
-$3.00 Wellness Plus savings and sales
-$7.00 previously earned +UP Rewards
-$1.00 coupons
-----------------------------------
$.97 subtotal
+ $.54 tax
===================================
** $1.51 OOP PLUS $5.00 +UP Reward earned!! **

Transaction #3

Jergens Natural Glow trial size- $1.99 ($2.49 before Wellness Plus discount)- buy 2, get $5 +UP Reward!
** $3.98 OOP PLUS $5.00 +UP Reward earned! **

Gillette Fusion Pro Glide Razor- $9.97 (get $5 +Up Reward)
-$4.00 off coupon from 6/5 P&G
** $5.97 OOP PLUS $5.00 +UP Reward earned!

$17.97 before coupons and discounts
-$4.02 Wellness Plus savings and sales
-$4.00 coupon
-$7.00 previously earned +Up Rewards
------------------------------------
$2.95 subtotal
+ $.84 tax
=====================================
$3.79 OOP PLUS $10 +Up Rewards earned!

3- Coca Cola 12 pack cans- 3 for $12 (get $1 +UP Reward when you buy 3)
$15.60 for 3- 12 packs ($3.60 of this was deposits)

$19.47 before coupons and discounts
-$3.87 Wellness Plus savings and sales
-$10.00 previously earned +Up Rewards
======================================
$5.60 OOP PLUS $1.00 +Up Reward earned!

I ended up spending a grand total of $16.74 for everything in the picture and I have a $4.50 SCR coming. Not too bad!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day!

It's Mega Swag Bucks Day today! This means more Swag Bucks for your same everyday searching. Make sure to check special offers (you don't have to sign up for anything, just browse through them and you now get 2 points), answer the daily poll and check for surveys each day for one point each to get 4 extra points each day which really do add up!

You can also print coupons and you get 10 Swag Bucks per redeemed coupon- I'm just starting to see the points started to get credited regularly. Check out my posting about all the different ways to earn points. I'm earning between 75-100 each day now that I've found so many different ways to earn points.

It's a great way to get free gift cards and rewards for everyday internet surfing! My favorite reward is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 450 Swag Bucks.

I don't have the toolbar and still earn tons of points (I don't want any more programs running on my computer). I just keep signed into Swag Bucks all the time and use them to find the websites I'm visiting.

Another great thing about Swag Bucks is you can refer friends and family and you earn points for their wins as well up to 1000 points! So I do ask that if you do decide to sign up, please use the links in my Swag Bucks postings or put down Sarahspendsless as your referral.

Are you signed up for Swag Bucks yet? Do you have any questions about it? I was very hesitant at first, but I'm earning $10-$20 per month in Amazon gift cards and love it!