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Here's What's New 
Guest post by Laura Coppinger who blogs at HeavenlyHomemakers.com:
Well summer, it’s been fun. A slower pace, more leisurely breakfasts, relaxed mornings — it’s all been great. Now it’s time to get back into a routine, and I’m going to need to pick up the pace just a little bit. But so help me, I will not trade relaxed, happy mornings for a frantic frenzy. Stressfully trying to figure out a harried breakfast, or compromising with foods that are expensive or less-than-nourishing is not an option. So how can we get school day mornings off to a great start? Have a Plan Healthy breakfasts that hit the table quickly rarely happen without a little forethought. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, it doesn’t need to take much time. Simply think ahead toward what will be filling and nourishing for your family. Make a list of some favorites. Here are some of ours: - Scrambled Egg Sandwiches, served with fruit smoothies
Pull It Out of the Freezer So many great (and inexpensive) breakfast foods can be made ahead of time and frozen for healthy convenience. Taking time once or twice a month to prepare food ahead of time for the freezer allows me to quickly pull something tasty out to reheat on the fly, without taking time out of our busy morning to dirty mixing bowls, pots, and pans. Some of our favorite breakfast freezer foods are: If you haven’t tried freezing muffin batter so that you can quickly bake muffins without any effort, you’ve got to try it. It’s my favorite time saving, freezer cooking method yet! Make it the Night Before I have found that while I’m making dinner for my family in the evening, I often have a few extra minutes while I wait for water to boil, meat to brown, or vegetables to steam. During those few minutes, I try to do some prep work toward our breakfast for the next morning. I can crack open eggs for a casserole, stir together muffins, mix together dry ingredients for pancakes — anything that will save me time and effort on a busy morning! And I’ve found that if I’ve got the oven on to bake our dinner, if I have room, I may as well bake something for tomorrow’s breakfast too. No time to make breakfast in the evening? How about after you get the dinner dishes cleaned up, you set out bowls, spoons, and Homemade Grape Nuts Cereal or some of Money Saving Mom’s Homemade Instant Oatmeal for a quick breakfast the next day? What do you do to make healthy breakfasts simple at your house? Here’s to a great school year, a fresh start, and many a delicious breakfast! Laura Coppinger and her husband are raising four boys, ages 8-16. Their homeschool mornings often begin with a hearty breakfast such as described above, which keeps her hungry crew full until lunchtime — usually! Laura blogs at HeavenlyHomemakers.com where she encourages women daily in their effort to: eat simple, whole foods; enjoy family life; be grateful; and laugh at the spilled buttermilk and flying nerf darts.
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Samantha emailed in the following about how she got some great deals for her Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes: I received a $10 promotional Kohl’s gift card in the mail last week (good for $10 off anything in the store). I also printed the $10 off $25 Kid’s Apparel coupon you featured on your website. I also receive emails from Kohl’s often with 15% off coupons. I had all these available at once and I knew my 2-year-old twins did not need anymore clothes (thanks to their grandmas’ bargain shopping already), so I used these coupons towards items for the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. I bought all of these items either on sale or on clearance: - 1 girl’s shirt – $4.00
- 1 boy’s shirt – $3.20
- 2 pairs of girl’s flip flops – $5.60
- 1 toddler girl’s hat/glove set – $3.20
- 1 girl’s hat/glove set – $3.00
- 1 7-pack girl’s socks – $7.99
Total before coupons and tax: $26.99 Total after coupons and gift cards deducted: $5.94 Total after Ohio tax added: $6.33 I was happy to get some quality items for less than $1 each to put in our boxes. Thanks for post about the $10 off $25 Kohl’s coupon!
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. Got student debt? Sign up for SmarterBucks (for free!) and earn rewards that help pay down your student loans. Click here to learn more.  Related Stories 
We’re excited to be promoting START by Jon Acuff as one of our featured monthly sponsors in August. We had the opportunity to interview Jon and get to know him a little more recently: Jon, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a writer and speaker. Before I started working for Dave Ramsey, I was what my wife called a “Serial Quitter.” I had eight jobs in eight years. I would leave one job for the next not really knowing what I was going after. After realizing that the common denominator was me, I knew I needed to do something different. I have always had a passion for writing and speaking. In 2008, I started a blog in my kitchen called Stuff Christians Like. I didn’t expect it to grow as quickly as it did. Then, I thought it would be interesting to write a book, and I began doing more speaking. After speaking to Dave Ramsey’s team a few times, and interacting with his company on a regular basis, he asked me to join his team in 2010. Tell us about your latest book, START, and specifically how it applies to moms? The book started after I had a conversation with a grandmother on a plane. She asked me, “What do you do when all your excuses for not chasing your dream are gone?” It was a profoundly sad moment, because for the first time she was looking back on her life and realizing it had passed her by. I started wondering how I could avoid the same situation. How could I get to 80 and not look back on life and realize I had missed my purpose? I’ve found that a lot of moms give up on their dreams because they don’t think they have time, or they’re afraid to take a chance. START shows people how they can live the lives they want to live, whether they have a family or full-time job, and how they can include their family in their dreams. A lot of people don’t start on their dreams because they don’t have time. What would you say to that? I hear all too often that “I’m just too busy” or “If only there was more time in the day.” Well, I’ll tell you where you can find more time. Wake up at 5:00 a.m. every morning before your kids and spouse wake up. Or stay up an extra 30 minutes. If you’re going to go after your dream, then you have to carve time out in your day. If your dream isn’t worth 30 minutes, you’ve either got the wrong dream or you’re just pretending you have one. For those who have recently lost a job, or have a spouse that lost a job, how can they stay encouraged? First, remember that you lost your job, not your identity. Fear and doubt try to make you think you lost who you are, but you can still be a great wife, a great husband, a great friend, or anything else. Next, make finding a job your new job. Don’t ever think as yourself as jobless. Finding a job is your full-time, forty-hour-a-week job. Use social media and get plugged in with a community of people. Remember, this is just a season. And although it may take longer that we want, it will come to a conclusion. Many people have dreams, but don’t have the resources to fund them. How can they go after their dream if that’s the case? When I started my blog, I didn’t have a fancy design or photos. I used a free template. With the free technology we have at our hands, anyone can play. Moms are making thousands on blogs, and teenagers are starting businesses on Facebook. But social media isn’t a silver bullet. Start small. If you’re realistic about your present circumstances, you’ll know whether you should invest the time and money into your dream. Money is certainly a legitimate obstacle to your ability to pursue your dream, but it doesn’t have to be. If you approach money in the right way, it will fund and fuel your dream, not curb it. Fear plays a large part in people’s decisions, especially when starting something new. How can people overcome fear? I’ve found that the voice of fear only gets loud when you’re doing something that matters (click here to tweet this!). There are a lot of haters out there, and a lot of things that will try to crush your dream, including your own voices of fear. When people are dealing with fear, I tell them to do two things. First, write your fears down. The minute you see your fears on paper, you usually realize how stupid they are. Second, share them with others. Fear and doubt like to make you feel alone. Find someone who can help you see what’s really going on and can encourage you. You talk a lot about purpose. How does someone find their purpose? One of the worst things people can do is try to find their purpose in life. Not only does it put tremendous pressure on you, but it also paralyzes you and prevents you from starting on anything else. The problem is that we think our purpose has to be perfect and that we only get one. I’m not a fan of finding your purpose, I’m a fan of living with purpose. Purpose is not a final destination. You don’t have to know the finish line before you cross the starting line. Purpose is attracted to motion, and if you start where you are you’ll probably encounter purpose when you least expect it. How can we stay focused and encouraged on what you would call “the road to awesome?” It's possible to honor all of your commitments even while you completely change your life, but it will take some hustle. Anyone can be average, but if you’re going to be awesome you’re going to have to work hard, sacrifice, and do it with energy and enthusiasm. Don’t wait to start on your dream. Start where you are, and start today. To learn more about Jon and START, head over to Jon’s website. Interested in becoming a monthly sponsor or advertising with us? Find more details here. Got student debt? Sign up for SmarterBucks (for free!) and earn rewards that help pay down your student loans. 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Right now you can get 100 FREE pens at Menards. Here’s how to get the deal: Buy 10 10-pk TC Ball pens at $0.89 each
Receive $0.89 Menards Money for each 10-pk of pens (after mail-in rebate)
FREE after each $0.89 mail-in rebate
There’s a limit of 10 packs of pens. You need to make your purchase before September 30, 2013. Thanks to Mummy Deals for the deal and photo!
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Suburble.com shows you how to recover an ottoman – no sewing involved!  Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
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Today's Swagbucks success story is from Kimber: Two Christmases ago, my family wanted to find an act of service that we could do in honor of my mother-in-law. We decided to pack three shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We shopped, packed the boxes, and took them to the drop-off location as a family. We took pictures of our kids with the boxes, wrapped up the pictures with a printed copy of the e-mail that said where our boxes ended up (Mexico), and presented the gift to my mother-in-law on Christmas morning. I was hooked! Last year, I eagerly shopped in October and November, hosted a fun craft night/packing party for my friends, and filled 13 shoeboxes. My only problem was, I had used most of my "shoebox budget" when I shopped. Several friends and family members contributed cash to help pay for shipping, and my husband was very gracious about the fact that I ended up spending more than we'd planned on. But this year, I set a few goals for myself. I wanted to pack 20 shoeboxes. I wanted to shop all year long, stocking up on the best deals. And I wanted to earn the $140 for shipping ($7 per box) before November. Shopping all year has been a joy. I have found wonderful treasures (ranging from cute notepads to warm hats and mittens) on clearance. I've scored great deals on hygiene items at CVS. I have collected over half of the items I need to fill my shoeboxes already, and it hasn't even touched my budget. But that leaves one thing remaining: the shipping fees. Enter Swagbucks! If you'd like to track your shoeboxes, you need to pay your $7 shipping fee online using a credit or debit card. A few months ago, I made a decision: I would start saving up all of my Swagbucks. When I reached the 10,000 point mark, I would cash out for a $100 PayPal deposit. And when I had earned another 5,000, I would again cash out for a $50 PayPal gift card. Although OCC doesn't accept PayPal, I planned on paying for it with my debit card and depositing the $150 from PayPal into my bank account. Voila! Shipping for 20 shoeboxes covered, plus an extra $10 to buy a few more filler items. Our Creative Plan But as I approached the 9,000 point mark (yay!), I realized something – I could get a better deal if I cashed out in Amazon gift cards. It is a bit more complicated, but here is the plan I worked out: Each month, starting in June, I will use my Swagbucks to purchase 5 $5 Amazon gift cards (the maximum). By November, I will have earned $150 in Amazon gift cards, but only paid 13,500 points. Our family frequently uses Amazon, so I will apply the $150 to our Amazon account, then use the $150 "saved" from our household budget to pay to ship my shoeboxes. With the 1500 points I'm saving this way, I can cash out for $15 in gift cards to fill another box! How I Earn At Least 50 Swagbucks Per Day To the new Swagbucks user, 13,500 points might seem like a huge goal. But I've found that just by casually using Swagbucks (as my search engine, to print my coupons from, entering codes when I see them pop up on Facebook, and occasionally using Shop and Earn), I can easily earn an average of 50 Swagbucks per day. And if I have a bit more time to put into it (doing special offers, taking surveys, and completing other activities like the daily poll), I can earn 100 Swagbucks per day (and sometimes significantly more). Since setting this goal for myself, I have had a lot more motivation to use Swagbucks. I am now only 3,000 Swagbucks away from my goal, and I'm getting so excited for November – shoebox packing time!
Have you saved up and purchased something using your Swagbucks? If so, you could get a $50 gift card just for sharing your Swagbucks success stories with MoneySavingMom.com readers! Got student debt? Sign up for SmarterBucks (for free!) and earn rewards that help pay down your student loans. Click here to learn more.  Related Stories 
Here are the best gluten-free coupons and deals, thanks to Janelle from Gluten Freely Frugal: Gluten-Free Coupons: $1/1 Snikiddy product, $0.75 off JENNIE-O Turkey Breakfast Sausage Roll, $0.75 off JENNIE-O Turkey Bacon 12 oz, $0.75 off Food Should Taste Good chips, $1/1 Udi’s Gluten-Free product, $1.50/2 Bags or Boxes of Crunchmaster Crackers, $0.75 off one carafe of Simply Orange, and $1.00 off Minute Maid Juice Box 10pk. 
Save 50% on Gluten-Free Living Magazine: Gluten-Free Saver is offering 50% Off a 1-Year Subscription to Gluten-Free Living Magazine! With this deal, you invest only $17, but receive six, bi-monthly issues – a $34 value. Gluten-Free Living is the first national, full-color magazine completely devoted to helping you lead a happy, healthy gluten-free lifestyle. $15 for a $30 Voucher to Lucky Vitamin: Amazon Local is offering a nice deal: A $30 voucher to Spend at LuckyVitamin.com for just $15! Lucky Vitamin is an online store, somewhat like Vitacost. They sell lots of vitamins and supplements, health foods, and gluten-free baking supplies. Lucky Vitamin offers 35,000+ health and wellness items from 2,000+ national name brands at incredible prices. Shipping is free on most orders over $49. 
Save 70% on Jules Baking and Recipe Package: If you've been wanting to try out Jules' GF flour, now's the time! If you're already a Jules fan, you don't want to miss this! Living Social is currently offering a 70% Savings at Jules Gluten Free! For just $30, you get a voucher for a baking and recipe package for new customers ($99 value!), which includes: A baking and recipe package for new customers; 5 pounds of flour, cookie mix, cornbread mix, and pizza crust mix; and 5 e-books featuring 183 gluten-free recipes. Udi’s Cranberry Granola $3.67/Bag Shipped: Amazon Warehouse currently has the Udi's Gluten Free Granola, Cranberry, 12-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 3) priced at $11.02 and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping! That equals out to approximately $3.67 per bag shipped! 
Pirate’s Booty BBQ $1.67/Bag Shipped: Amazon Warehouse currently has the Pirate's Booty, Barbeque, 4-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12) priced at $19.98 and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping! That equals out to approximately $1.67 per bag shipped! Janelle is wife to Brad, who is celiac, and mom to 2 sweet girls, one of whom is celiac, and the other showing signs of gluten intolerance. She blogs about the gluten free life on a budget, including coupons, deals, recipes, and other money-saving tips at Gluten Freely Frugal.
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This week, I’m joining Jeff Goins for his Slow Down Challenge. If you want to participate, sign up for the free Slow Down Challenge email list. Also, you might consider grabbing a copy of his book, The In-Between. Jeff is such an inspiration to me as a writer and I highly recommend reading all of his books, if you have a chance!
We live in a frantic, rushing world. Busyness is a virtue, a badge of honor we proudly wear. But where does busyness get us? Often, it just leads to exhaustion, frustration, stress, and burn out. That’s why we need to take time to breathe. We need to soak up the sunshine, the beauty, the smells, the sounds, the wonder of life teeming around us in all directions. Stopping to smell the roses is not only rejuvenating, it’s imperative if you want to lead a healthy, well-balanced life. Today’s Project Today’s project for the Slow Down Challenge is to walk around your home, neighborhood, or even your workplace, and take time to notice the things that other people might overlook. Read more here. Here are a few things I saw: 
A fall-scented candle. 
Kaitlynn’s art project (I love how she always has some new creative project she’s working on — usually spread out over the kitchen table!) 
A stack of new books that I can’t wait to dive into… just as soon as I finish up the books I’m currently reading.  
Beautiful flowers in a vase. 
Coupons sitting on my dresser waiting to be filed (so thankful for all of the money we’ve saved over the years thanks to coupons!) Are you joining me for the Slow Down Challenge? If so, feel free to share about what you learn from the projects in the comments. Or, if you’re blogging about the challenge, leave your link to your blog post below.
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Last week wasn’t the best week for accomplishing things on my to-do list. But it’s a new week and I’m hoping for smoother sailing! Last week’s goals: Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals 1.  Read 3 chapters of The Borrowers to the children. Finish reading The Queen's Smuggler with Kathrynne. Finish reading They Led the Way with Kaitlynn. Read a few picture books with Silas.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Start our fall homeschooling schedule. {We bumped this to this week due to all the unexpected interruptions that arose last week!} Personal Goals 4. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-22. 5. Start the ChaLean Extreme Program. Run 6 miles.
6. Read The Myth of Multitasking, Loving the Way Jesus Loves, First: What It Takes to Win by Rich Froning, Leaving Yesterday, and Love Works. Homemaking Goals 7. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project.
8. Try two new recipes. Business Goals 9. Finish reading through and making typo edits to my book manuscript.
10. Start working on a new ebook.
This week's goals: Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals 1. Read 3 chapters of The Borrowers to the children. Finish reading The Queen's Smuggler with Kathrynne. Read 3 chapters of Caddie Woodlawn with Kaitlynn. Read a few picture books with Silas.
2. Write a love note to Jesse. 3. Start our fall homeschooling schedule. 
Personal Goals 4. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-22. 5. Continue with the ChaLean Extreme Program. Run 6 miles. 6. Read The Myth of Multitasking, Loving the Way Jesus Loves, First: What It Takes to Win by Rich Froning, Leaving Yesterday, and Love Works. Homemaking Goals 7. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project. 8. Try two new recipes. Business Goals 9. Work on updating some posts for Pinterest. 10. Start working on a new ebook. How did you do on last week's goals? What are your goals for this week? I'd love to have you share your progress on last week's goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you've blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let's cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
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