April 2009

Our $0.31 night of fun!

FavoriteLoadingAdd to my favorites

by crystal on April 30, 2009

Did you get your $0.31 ice cream from Baskin Robbins tonight? We certainly did!

We've missed a lot of the other recent great food freebies and deals since I was too sick to make it out of the house. But the antibiotics are finally kicking into gear and I'm feeling much more energetic (I didn't know that was possible at 40 weeks pregnant, but compared to how sick I was last week, I feel great this week!) so we ventured out tonight to enjoy some very inexpensive and delicious ice cream.

Of course, apparently we weren't the only ones to have decided to hit up Baskin Robbins tonight. In fact, we had a hard time even finding a place to park–there were scores of people everywhere when we pulled up! The line was stretched quite far out the door but that didn't deter us. After all, patience is a virtue, right?

009
Waiting on the bench outside for Daddy to bring our ice cream. Kaitlynn wasn't too thrilled at having her picture taken!

012
And still waiting for Daddy to get to the front of the line! The girls were very patient and had a blast watching through the window as the long line of people gradually made it up to the ice cream counter.

014 

015
Ice cream at last! Yum!

020
Yours truly (aka The Very Pregnant and Swollen Mama!) with my two little precious girlies.

It was a fun and memorable evening–all for only $0.31 per person!

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 72 comments }

Giveaways Galore

FavoriteLoadingAdd to my favorites

by crystal on April 30, 2009

Do you like winning contests? If so, be sure to head over to my other blog and participate in my Baby's Birthday Guessing Game in honor of my due date today. The person who guesses my delivery date and time the closest wins some fun prizes!

Speaking of prizes, the 17 winners of the Giveaway Extravaganza are:

Elizabeth (micedp@)
Judy (jaburton@)
Lisa (lisa.honickel@)
Sarah (sarah.francisco@)
Ashley (ashleytaressa09@)
Kristin (thebrutsmanfamily@)
Bella (bella_dao@)
Arissa (rissarella@)
Kim (jkfieweger@)
Eric (eric_weis@)
Liz (eamaki@)
Tracy (oneretromama@)
Heather (mopsmom27@)
Anne Isabelle (deguatmom@)
Lisa (bljkk@)
Deb (debhallman@)
Heather (vsummerf@)

Details on claiming your prize have been emailed to you. If you failed to receive this email, please contact me.
——————————

Are you giving something away on your blog this week
or have you found a great giveaway elsewhere on the web? If so, post your link
below
and let all the readers here know so they can get in on the action!

Your giveaway must
be family-friendly and no-strings-attached. In addition, to make it
easy to navigate, your link must go directly to your giveaway post. Links
going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog
besides the direct link to your giveaway post will be deleted.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 2 comments }

If you are a blogger or a work-at-home mom, or if you are considering becoming either of those things, may I strongly encourage you to head over to my other blog and read some of my thoughts on the importance of prioritization and balance when it comes to the computer and family life?

I rarely do interviews, but I recently agreed to do an interview on HomemakerBarbi.com on this very subject as it is something I am passionate about. I've struggled a lot with balance since my first days of blogging and working from home and I've learned a lot of hard lessons along the way.

As I said in the interview:

"If there is one thing I could encourage every mommy blogger or
work-at-home mom out there to remember, it is this: anyone can be a
pretty good blogger or pretty good business owner, but there is only
person who is mommy to your children and wife to your husband. Don’t
let all the good things out there take precedence over the best things.
You only have one life to live–make it count!"

Go over here to read the three-part interview, I share some of my thoughts and tips for having your priorities in order when it comes to blogging and computer time and what measures I take to make sure my family and home and community are my first priorities.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 0 comments }

FantaOrangeIceberg

Are you getting your $0.31 Baskin Robbins scoops tonight? Well, guess what? There's an opportunity for completely free ice cream tomorrow!

Carvel Ice Cream is offering a free 8 oz. Ice Berg to all customers on Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 3-7 p.m. to celebrate their 75th anniversary. For those of you unfamiliar with what an Ice Berg is, it is your choice of soda blended with ice and vanilla and topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Limit one free Ice Berg per person. Read more details here. Find a location near you here.

As always, I recommend you call your store ahead of time to confirm they are participating in this promotion.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 4 comments }

Feedyourfamily
I was recently browsing titles at the library when my eye landed on Rhonda Barfield's book, Feed Your Family for $12 a Day. As you can imagine, I quickly scooped it up and added it to my pile of books to check out.

Although the prices in this book were outdated and most of the recipes looked very uninteresting, bland, and even downright bordering on unsavory, there were numerous practical tips, hints, and ideas in this book making it every bit worth the read.

I appreciated the author's understanding that not all of her ideas would work for every family. We're all in different seasons and situations so what method of cooking and grocery shopping works well for one family could be completely unpractical for another family. Feed Your Family for $12 a Day acknowledges this and offers a plethora of ideas which can be implemented to lower your grocery budget.

The book also addresses many common misconceptions regarding eating healthfully on a budget and walks the reader through a full year of ideas on how to make little changes to not only eat more healthfully but to greatly reduce your grocery bill in the process.

If you are just beginning to attempt to lower your grocery budget, Feed Your Family for $12 a Day would be a very helpful book to add to your reading list. And even if you're like me and have been shopping on a small budget for years, I'm quite certain you'd find inspiration and fresh ideas in these pages as well. At least I know I certainly did!

Have you read any helpful books on frugality or money recently? If so, tell us about them! I'm always looking for new book ideas to add to my reading list!

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 12 comments }

Printable coupon round-up

FavoriteLoadingAdd to my favorites

by crystal on April 29, 2009

Velveeta
Go here to print a coupon for $1.50/2 Velveeta Shells and Cheese. I mentioned earlier that these would be only $0.25/box at Wal-Mart. I'm also guessing that combined with a sale, these would be quite inexpensive at a number of other stores as well. (Thanks, Lisa!)

More printable coupons:

$0.50/1 Malt-O-Meal (Thanks, Eunice!)

$0.75/1 Sure deodorant

Dove coupons (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Johnson's baby coupons (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Keebler coupon

Also, there are quite a few new printable coupons up at RedPlum. Check them out here.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 15 comments }

Free samples of Emergen-C

FavoriteLoadingAdd to my favorites

by crystal on April 29, 2009

Emergen-c-super-energy-booster_sm

Need a pick-me-up right now?  Sign up here to receive a free sample of Emergen-C, an all-natural non-caffeinated energy-boost!

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 0 comments }

Wal-Mart: A few new deals

FavoriteLoadingAdd to my favorites

by crystal on April 29, 2009

Evercare
Heather found trial size Evercare Lint Rollers at her local Wal-Mart for $0.97 each. If you find these at your store, you can use this $1/1 coupon here or this $1/1 coupon here to get them free after coupons!

Also, check to see if your store has Colgate Extra Clean Toothbrushes for $0.97 each. There was a $1/1 coupon in the 4/26 SmartSource insert which makes these free after coupons.

And finally, Erin over at Coupon Cravings said that Velveeta Shells and Cheese are on sale at Wal-Mart for $1 per box. Use the $1.50/2 coupon here to get these for $0.25 per box after the coupon.

See more current Wal-Mart deals and freebies here.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 20 comments }

As some of you know, I'm having a baby here any day. Well, at least, my due date is in a few days so that means it will be sometime soon. And I think that's cause for celebration, don't you?

So, in honor of this exciting occasion, I'm hosting a Giveaway Extravaganza. Instead of just having one prize and a few winners like we usually do for our giveaways here, we have four different prizes and there will 17 different winners. Does that sound like fun?

Here are the four different prizes you can win:

Gsport

Giveaway #1: Three Berkey Portable Water Purifiers from More Than Alive

If you know me in real-life, you also likely are well-acquainted with my Berkey Portable Water Purifier. This water bottle goes with me practically everywhere and has become one of my very most-used items.

Drinking primarily water is a great way to not only keep your body well-hydrated and healthy, but it's also a way to save an enormous amount of money. But if you're like me, you want to know that the water you are putting into your body is free from unwanted contaminants. Instead of buying expensive bottled water, you can make a one-time investment in this Berkey water bottle and you'll always have clean drinking water–no matter where you go!

I highly recommend this water purifier and I like it so much that I asked More
Than Alive
(one of my very favorite companies) if they'd be willing to
give away three of these bottles to readers here. They very generously
agreed.

Mail.google.com

Giveaway #2: Three Get Active Prize Packages from Yoplait

To encourage children to stay fit and healthy this Summer, Yoplait is giving away three Get Active prize packages to readers here. This prize package includes a coupon for a free Yoplait for Kids product, a travel cooler, a jump rope, a water bottle, and an outdoor game set that includes a beach ball, paddle ball, Jai-Ali, and a Frisbee.

They sent one of these prize packages to our family and my girls have had hours of fun with this. But their favorite thing of all was the Yoplait Kids yogurt. They love this yogurt and are always excited when it's on sale and I have a coupon for it!

Mail.google.com

Giveaway #3: One Gift Basket from Betty Crocker

This gift basket includes a mixing spoon, spatula, measuring spoons and cups, whisk, liquid measuring cup, and a Betty Crocker magazine filled with scrumptious recipes.

By the way, did you know that Betty Crocker has recently rolled free online cooking classes? From the comfort of your own kitchen, you can watch these online class demonstrations to learn a variety of cooking and baking tips and techniques–all for free! Go here for more details.

 SeaPak-Maryland-Style-Crab-Cakes

Giveaway #4: 10 Free Products from SeaPak

10 readers here will win a coupon for any free SeaPak product–up to a $10.99 value! Choose any of their delicious line of products–from shrimp to crab cakes to tilipia to salmon and more.

To enter to win one of these prizes, just leave a comment on this post in the next 24 hours. 17 winners will be randomly drawn from all the entrants and posted shortly after the giveaway ends. Comments will be closed on this post when the giveaway has ended. Prizes will be awarded to the 17 winners on a first-come, first-served basis.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 3827 comments }

Csn_sandwiches

Enter your email address here and you'll get a coupon for a free CroisSonic breakfast sandwich from Sonic with any large drink purchase. The coupon is good for 10 days from the time you request it.

  • Affiliate Link
  • Share on Stumbleupon
  • Del.icio.us
  • Dig this Article
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Email This Post
  • Print This Post
  • Share this article on Facebook

{ 7 comments }