Thursday, July 18, 2013

Reader Tip: No-Grate Powdered Laundry Soap and more...

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:: Reader Tip: No-Grate Powdered Laundry Soap

Rachel emailed in the following tip:

Your recent guest post about how to make liquid laundry soap without grating the soap got me thinking. I make my own laundry soap but I prefer to make the dry version. I use Ivory soap bars — and I really despise the grating part.

Anyway, I recently did the “microwave a bar of ivory soap” experiment with my daughter. After you microwave it, it is very crumbly. I microwaved a bar today, put it in a zip-top bag and crumbled it easily with my fingers. The pieces were small, but not as fine as I like them.  I then used my rolling pin on the bag as if I were rolling dough. That turned it into a fine powder!

The whole process (including the microwave part) took less than ten minutes. My fingers are not sore from grating nor did I lose any skin! Score!! :-)

photo source

   

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Have a more disciplined, productive year! Get 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life!

:: Free L’Oreal Repair Advanced Haircare sample

21 Days to a More Disciplined Life

:: 3 Free Eucerin Lotion samples

:: Julie’s CVS Shopping Trip: Spent $0 out of pocket, Got $8 ECBs back!


Julie emailed in her CVS shopping trip:

CVS Shopping Trip

2 Colgate Total Mouthwash at $5.99 each
-Used (2) $2/1 coupons

2 Edge Shaving Gel at $3.19 each
-Used BIG1 coupon (only took off $3, I don’t know why)

3 Right Guard body wash at $4.99 each–On Sale B1G1 Free
3 Dry Idea deodorant at $4.19 each
-Use (3) $1.50/1 Right Guard from 7/14 RP
-Use (3) $1.50/1 Dry Idea from 7/14 RP

Used $2/$8 Oral Hygiene CVS coupon from coupon printer
Used $3/$10 Bodywash CVS coupon from coupon printer
Used $12 ECBs from Huggies deal 2 weeks ago

Total before coupons and ECBs: $45.90
Total after coupons and ECBs: $0.00 ($12 ECB was adjusted to $11.53)
Got back $6 ECBs from Colgate and $2 from Edge

(It was also in my plan to get the Playtex Tampons for $7.99 and get $3 ECBs, but I couldn’t find my FREE product coupon I received in the mail.  Otherwise I would have ended up with $11 ECBs total.  I will keep looking for that coupon!)

See the full list of deals at CVS this week.

Have you gotten a great deal thanks to a tip you've found here on MoneySavingMom.com? Take a picture of your deal/purchase and write a short post on the deal details and submit it here. If your submission is chosen to be posted, I'll send you a $25 Amazon gift card! Note: the more creative, unique, and well-written your post, the more chance it will have of being posted.

   

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:: Do It Yourself: Homemade Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

:: CVS: Huggies Diapers for $3.66, Pull-Ups for $4.66 per package (starts on Sunday)

CVS: Huggies Diapers and Pull-Ups starting at $3.66 each

There’s a hot deal on Huggies Diapers and Huggies Pull-Ups at CVS starting on Sunday, July 21, 2013.

Here’s how to get Huggies Diapers for $3.66 each:

Buy 3 Huggies Diapers at $9.99 each
Use 3 $3/1 Huggies printable coupons
Spend $20.97 out of pocket, Get back $10 ECBs
$3.66 per package after coupons & ECBs

Or, you can get Huggies Pull-Ups for $4.66 each:

Buy 3 Huggies Pull-Ups at $9.99 each
Use 3 $2/1 Pull-Ups printable coupons
Spend $23.97 out of pocket, Get back $10 ECBs
$4.66 per package after coupons & ECBs

Thanks, Moms By Heart!

   

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:: The best freebies from this past week

Here's a long list of freebies that have been available recently that should still be available. Thanks to Kaley from Cha-Ching on a Shoestring for compiling these:

Free Samples:

Free Kotex Sample Pack

Sign up for $250 in Enfamil freebies, coupons, & more

Three Free Eucerin Lotion Samples

Free Nordic Naturals sample pack

Free Sample of L'Oreal Pair Advanced Haircare – Still Available

Free Downloads, Books, and Magazines:

Free ebook: Simple Fitness Solutions for Busy People

Free eBook: Taste of Home Summer Slow Cooker Recipes

Free ebooks: 50 Fitness Tips

Sign up for My Job Chart — a FREE online chore chart program for kids

$25 Worth of Free Digital Clip Art from Print Candee

Free Disney-Inspired Printable Menu Planners

Educational Freebies:

Free Blend Wall Cards Printables

Free Preschool Calendar Notebook Pages

Free HSLDA membership

10 Free Animal-themed Books on Kindle

Free Creation Science Bundle

Free Printable Self-Government Tickets

Free Charlotte’s Web Copywork Packet

Free Pattern Block Cards printable

Free printable Monster Preschool Pack

Free Food:

Free Lollypops at See’s Candies on July 20th

Store Freebies:

Free $5 Starbucks Gift Card with Prevacid UPC Code (Moneymaker at CVS)

Free Reach Toothbrushes at Walgreens

Free Hello Kitty Toothbrush at Dollar Tree

Free BRITA Kid's Bottle coupon

Free Evol Burrito at Target

Free Reach Toothbrush at Rite Aid

Other Freebies:

Free $5 Credit for Amazon Student Referrals plus Free 6 Month Trial of Amazon Prime

Free one-night Redbox movie rental at Safeway stores (text offer)

Free $10 Rue La La credit

Target: 50 4×6 Photo Prints for free (with coupon)

Kellogg's Family Rewards: Free 25-point code

FREE LEGO Mini Builds: LEGO Friends and Pink Flamingo

  

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:: Amazon.com: Get Yourself Organized ebook by Kathi Lipp just $1.11

:: Printable coupons: Meow Mix, NUK, Valvoline, L’Oreal, Ensure, Green Mountain Coffee


New printable coupons for today:

BOGO Buy 1 bag Dry, get 1 cup Wet Meow Mix free
$5.00 off 1 5 quart jug of any Valvoline Motor Oil
$3.00 off any one NUK Pacifier and NUK Bottle
$2.00 off any U.S.A. Kids Sippy Cup 2-Pack
$1.00 off ANY ALKA-SELTZER Product
$2.00 off any L’Oreal Creme Gloss Hair Color
$1.00 off any FOUR TEMPTATIONS Treats for Cats
$1.25 off when you buy any TWO (2) Glucerna® Multi-Pack Bars or Multi-Pack Shakes
$1.25 off when you buy any ONE (1) Ensure® multi-pack
Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) 12, 16, or 18-count box of Green Mountain Coffee® K-Cup® packs
Save $1.00 on any 4C cap-it flavor infused sports cap available at Walmart & other fine supermarkets

(Note: The links in this post are my referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.)

  

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:: Free Cursive or Manuscript Handwriting Curriculum from The Joy of Handwriting (through July 20, 2013)

Through July 20, 2013, you can get a free Cursive or Manuscript complete Handwriting Curriculum from The Joy of Handwriting.

Head on over to Free Homeschool Deals for all the details.

   

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:: Free Calendar Board Printables for Preschool & Kindergarden

:: 10 Guaranteed Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas (#3)

Missed the first posts in this series? Check them out here.

#3 Write Daily

With the exception of Sundays and the very occasional day off, I blog every single day. This might seem exhausting to some people, but honestly, I’ve found that I’m much more inspired and creative when I’m regularly exercising my writing muscles.

In fact, it seems the more I write, the more inspiration I have to write. When I was in the middle of writing my book, I felt like my brain was going to explode with all the post ideas coming to me everywhere I turned.. There wasn’t time enough to write half of them, so I just had to tuck them away for later.

Truly, creativity breeds creativity. If you want to blog regularly, don’t wait until you’re feeling inspired to write… just write!

Schedule a Daily Writing Time

Set a daily scheduled writing time, put it on your calendar, and train yourself to keep that commitment like your life depends upon it. Soon, it may become such a habit that you would be able to imagine going through your day!

Eliminate Distractions

When you sit down to write, you’ve got to focus on the task at hand. This is not the time to be checking social media, answering emails, or surfing the internet.

I’ve found that I work best when I shut down email and all other online distractions, set the timer for 15 or 20 minutes, and just dive in and write until it goes off. I’m amazed at how much I can get done when I just shut everything down and work in concentrated chunks. {Since I usually write in the early mornings, I can usually accomplish this without worrying little people walking in and needing their mama right then. :) }

Create Conducive Conditions

What are your ideal writing conditions? If you don’t know, now’s the best time to find out — especially because you’ll want to schedule your writing time when you’re going to be at peak performance.

Some questions to ask yourself/things to experiment with:

  • Where do you do your best writing? Try writing in different rooms in your home and in different work spaces. I don’t write well sitting at a desk, so I have a big comfy writing chair in my office that most all of my posts are composed from.
  • When do you do your best writing? I am usually freshest first thing in the morning,
  • Do you write best with a pen and paper or do your ideas flow best when you’re typing on your computer? I do some of both — I usually outline my posts with pen & paper (more on that in a later post) and then type up the complete post on my laptop.
  • Does music enhance or detract from your creativity? For me, most of the time it detracts. But I know that certain kinds of music really gets some people’s creative juices flowing.
  • Do certain actions fuel your inspiration? I find that washing dishes, showering, and exercising are often times when I get great writing inspiration and ideas. I often exercise right before my writing time — it seems that getting my heart rate up really gets my brain cells firing, too!

You can’t always hit our ideal conditions every day, but put forth effort to do everything you can to make your environment as conducive for great writing can go a long way in making your writing time more productive.

Do you write daily? Why or why not? What are your ideal writing conditions?

   
    

:: Gretchen’s $44 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Health Food Store

I stopped by a different Health Food store this week than I normally do to check out their prices. I wasn’t super impressed and only ended up getting some organic apples. 

1.66 lbs Organic Apples @ $1.45/lb – $2.41 (pictured above)

Total with tax: $2.58

Dillons

Items part of the Mega Sale (Buy 4, Get $4 off instantly):

2 Green Giant Veggie Chips – $0.99 each, used 2 $0.50/1 coupon from the 6/9 SmartSource insert (doubled) - Free after coupons

2 Mott’s Fruit Snacks – $1.49 each, used 2 $0.50/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 each after coupons

Other items:

2 Kroger Canned Green Beans – $0.69 each

1 Kroger Flour – $1.69

1 Kroger Honey Nut Blitz Cereal – $2.49 (special request from my husband)

1 Lance XtraFulls Peanut Butter Crackers – $2.99, used $2.78/1 printable (my cashier went ahead and took off $2.99) – Free after coupon

1 Kraft Marshmallows – $1.25

1 Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Crunch – $2.69, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

0.83 lbs Broccoli @ $0.99/lb – $0.82

1 Kroger Applesauce – $2.19

2 Kroger Shredded Cheese – $1.67 each

2 Kroger Tortillas – $1.79 each (I didn’t have time this week to go to Aldi otherwise I would have purchased these there.)

4 Starburst Candies – $0.50 each, used 2 $0.50/2 coupon from the 6/2 RedPlum insert (doubled) – Free after coupons

4 Skittles Candies – $0.50 each, used 2 $1/2 coupon from the 6/2 RedPlum insert – Free after coupon (I love it when I can get free candy. I stash it away for when we have company and then set out a bowl for our guests to enjoy.) :)

1 Kroger Picante Sauce – $1.50

1 Kroger Canned Tomatoes (diced) – $0.69

1 Kroger Potatoes (5 lbs) – $2.49

1 Kroger Garlic Salt – $1

5 Beechnut Fruities Pouch - $1 each, used 2 $1/1 printable, 2 $0.50/1 printable (doubled) and 1 $0.75/1 printable (doubled to $1) – Free after coupons

1.54 lbs Sweet Potatoes @ $1.09/lb – $1.68 (I cook these with carrots and then mash them up and freeze it in small servings. My toddler loves it and it’s a great thing to have around for snacks.)

1 Kroger Enchilada Sauce – $0.99

4 Organic Oranges @ $0.69 each – $2.76

4 Yoplait GoGurt – Marked down to $1 each, used 2 $0.75/2 coupon from the 6/23 SmartSource insert (doubled to $1) – $0.50 each after coupons

1 Quaker Granola Bars – $2.40, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

1 Kentucky Legend Ham Steak – $2.79

2.02 lbs Bananas @ $0.52/lb – $1.05

1 Dillons Milk (gallon) – $1.99

Total before sales and coupons: $78.30

Total with tax after sales and coupons: $41.32

Total for all grocery items: $43.90

Menu Plan for this Week

Breakfasts

Cereal, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (I’ll use this bread recipe and make it into muffins), Oatmeal with Applesauce, Toast

Lunches

Cheese Quesadillas, Leftovers, Fruit, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Scrambled Eggs

Dinners

Homemade Pizza (Will triple the recipe and freeze a bunch of smaller pizzas for my husband’s lunches), Breadsticks, Tossed Salad (I still have lettuce from the past 2 weeks of shopping.)

Breakfast Burritos, Hashbrowns

Grilled Tilapia (from Crystal), Biscuits, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Chicken & Rice Casserole, Tossed Salad

Crock Pot Ground Beef Noodle Casserole (I’ll just use regular noodles for this), Fruit Salad, Veggies (I still have some leftover from last week)

Brown Bag Burritos (I’m planning to make a bunch to freeze for my husband’s lunches as well.), Steamed Broccoli

Dinner with my in-laws

   

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:: Walmart: Current Deals

Here are the best deals at Walmart right now with thanks to Heather from Passion for Savings for her help in compiling them. The prices below are based on Northwest Arkansas region. Please keep in mind that Walmart deals vary by region so the prices listed here will not be valid at all stores.

Premium Rounds Crackers – $1.88
Use $1/1 coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert
$0.88 after coupon

C&H Light (20 ct) – $1.92
Use $1/1 printable
Or use $2/1 coupon from the 7/14 RedPlum insert
As low as free after coupon

Yoplait Yogurt – $0.60
Buy 6 and use $0.40/6 printable or coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert
Or buy 8 and use $0.50/8 coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert
As low as $0.53 each after coupon

Hawaiian Punch Aloha Morning – $1.92
Use $1/1 printable
$0.92 after coupon

Tena Active (30 ct) – $4.97
Use $5/1 coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert
Free after coupon

Pedigree Little Champions Item – $0.58
Use $1/1 coupon from the 7/14 RedPlum insert
$0.41 each after coupon

Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Warmer – $1.38
Use $1/1 printable
$0.38 after coupon

See the full list of Walmart deals here.

Find

Did you find a great deal at Walmart? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Walmart deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your Walmart deals post will be deleted.

 

  

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