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Shared Dec 30, 2010 comment

Today’s Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $9.25, Saved $31.97

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 30, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

1 box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal — $1.99, used $2/1 coupon (no longer available) = free

1 bottle Xtra Laundry Detergent — $1.99, used $1/1 printable coupon = $0.99

1 jug Minute Maid Orange Juice — used free catalina coupon which printed from our last shopping trip (Don’t ask me why, but every time we use my husband’s Dillon’s Shopper Card, we get great catalina coupons!)

2 cartons of Silk — reduced to $0.99 each

2 cartons of Almond Breeze Almond Milk — $1.50, used $0.55/1 printable coupon (which doubled to $1 off) = $0.50 each

1 International Coffee Creamer — $1, used $0.55/1 printable coupon (which doubled to $1 off) = free

1 Horizon Organic Milk — $1, used $1/1 printable coupon = free

1 Marie Callender’s Bakes – used free product coupon they sent to me

1 Excedrin — used free product coupon

1 Roast — reduced to $5.03

2 Jalepenos — $0.28

Total spent: $9.25
Total saved (according to my receipt): $31.97

I couldn’t figure out why my total was as low as it was, until I realized later that they ended up taking off the full product value on the free Excedrin and Marie Callender’s coupons, which gave me overage on my order since these were on sale.

You can see a complete list of Dillon’s deals here.

Shared Dec 29, 2010 comment

This Week’s Menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 29, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Cinnamon Scones — I’ll post the recipe next week. We had these for our Christmas Eve Brunch and they were delicious!

I’ve had numerous requests to bring back the weekly menu plan feature and I’m excited that this is one thing I’m making a priority in 2011 — along with a number of other new and revived features!

(Stay tuned next week when I share more about goals for 2011 and my blogging plans and new weekly blogging schedule. I hope it will not only mean that you find more quality content on MoneySavingMom.com, but that you’ll also have a better idea of what will be posted each week — instead of my typical blogging-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, always-behind style.)

I have a plan for executing this new blogging schedule, and I’m actually pretty optimistic that it’s going to work out fairly smoothly and well. We’ll see, though. Sticking with stuff is not always my strong point, as you all well know. 😉

Menus will be posted weekly on Mondays, starting next Monday. Since it’s my “vacation” week this week, I’m giving myself the freedom to post this on Wednesday!

This Week’s Menu Plan

Breakfasts
Crockpot Oatmeal (This royally flopped! Anyone have a reliable Crockpot Oatmeal recipe? All the ones I have tried so far have turned to mushy, icky goop overnight!)
Pancakes
Cold Cereal
Smoothies
Orange Poppyseed Cake
Cold Cereal
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Lunches
Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Stirfry over Brown Rice
Hamburger Vegetable Soup (recipe coming in January!)
Middle Eastern Lentil Soup
Macaroni & Cheese
Leftovers
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Hamburger Vegetable Soup — I’ll be posting the recipe in January.

Dinners
The Pioneer Woman’s Beans, Pico de Gallo and The Best Cornbread Ever (I’ve been searching high and low for a fabulous cornbread recipe and I think I’ve finally found it. I’ll share it in January!)
Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Cooked Veggies, Flat Apple Pie
Hamburger Vegetable Soup, Whole-Wheat Popovers, Raw Veggies and Fruit
Beef Hot Dogs, Cooked Peas, Baked Potatoes
Marinated Chicken over Lettuce with Pico de Gallo and Cheese
Finger Foods for New Year’s Eve (We’re celebrating with friends and family and bringing finger foods and goodies to share!)
Dinner Out

Shared Dec 29, 2010 comment

Contentment is a Choice

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 29, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

My husband was going through old financial statements a few days ago and we were aghast to read the numbers. During the first year Jesse was in law school, there were six months when we made less than $900 — and some months it was as low as $650. I recall that season of our lives fairly vividly, but seeing those numbers on paper again after a number of years have past was a shock to our systems.

Our rent alone during those months was over $500. I’m still not sure how we made it on so little! No wonder we rarely ate meat and did so many other pretty “extreme” things. (Yes, we had money in the bank to cover most of law school, but that money was locked up in CDs and we’d both decided that it would be untouchable to us except in the case of a dire, life-threatening emergency.)

Our commitment to live within our means and stay out of debt was hard. There’s no doubt about that.

I remember we’d pay our tithe money, our rent check and our basic utility bills and then we prayed that somehow the rest of the money would stretch until the next check would come in. How we were going to afford basic necessities was constantly looming over our heads.

And yet, those months were some of the most precious and memorable in our lives. We saw God provide for us in amazing and unexpected ways. We learned to be wildly creative. We were forced to be incredibly entrepreneurial.

Most of all, we discovered that contentment is a state of the heart, unaffected by outward circumstances.

Contentment is a choice. So choose today to bloom where you’re planted. Choose to make the most of whatever situation you find yourself in. Choose to stop focusing on what you don’t have and start being thankful for the many blessings you do have.

And remember, no matter what difficulties you might be dealing with today, somebody else would love to be in your shoes.

photo by tanakawho

Shared Dec 28, 2010 comment

Yesterday’s Shopping Trips: Aldi, Dillon’s and the health food store

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 28, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Health Food Store (purchased only the mark-downs): spent $11.71

I gave myself the last four weeks “off” from bargain shopping and using coupons because I was feeling uninspired and motivated to bargain shop and use coupons and because I wanted to spend that time focusing on other Christmas-related things and activities.

It was so nice to have an almost complete break where I didn’t clip a coupon, look at a sales flier or open my coupon box up. We just shopped mostly at Aldi, used up stuff from our pantry and freezer and ate lots of super simple meals.

Dillon’s trip (most purchased mark-downs, including a 10-pound bag of potatoes marked down to $1.59!): spent $13.66

The break very much re-energized me and brought back my bargain-shopping motivation and my cooking and baking inspiration. In fact, I’ve been whipping up a lot of new recipes and stepping outside my comfort zone in the kitchen.

I even bought fresh cilantro yesterday (something I’ve never purchased before!) in order to make fresh Pico de Gallo. For those who know me well, you’ll know that this is very out-of-character from the way I’ve been the last year or so. Hmm, maybe I’ll even start making my own homemade tortillas at this rate? 🙂

I’m so excited to have rediscovered my long lost love of cooking and baking and how cathartic it can be to putter around in the kitchen and make delicious food for my family! Expect quite a few new recipe posts here in the near future.

In the mean time, I’m going to go eat some of the delicious Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal I made for breakfast! I’ll share this week’s menu this evening.

Aldi Shopping Trip: spent $28.31

Shared Dec 27, 2010 comment

Do-It-Yourself: Snowflake Quesadillas

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 27, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Heavenly Homemakers shares another creative way to use the Snowflake Tortillas — to make Snowflake Quesadillas!

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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Shared Dec 23, 2010 comment

Celebrating a Simple Christmas: Snowflake Tortillas

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 23, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Okay, so Snowflake Tortillas aren’t exactly a Christmas activity, but we included it with our planned fun family activities for this week anyway.

The girls had so much fun cutting the tortillas into different snowflake shapes.

Kaitlynn pretended hers was a mask (nevermind the un-matching clothes, she’s still learning that just because a top and bottom have pink in them doesn’t mean that they match!)

They thought the sprinkling with cinnamon/sugar mixture was the coolest thing ever.

Ready to go into the oven.

Fresh-from-the-oven Snowflake Tortillas. Yum!

Snowflake Tortillas

Recipe adapted from Mob Mom

6 tortillas
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Fold tortillas in half and then in half again (like you would make a paper snowflake). Use clean scissors to cut out shapes. Open up and brush with melted butter. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over the tortillas.

Bake at 375 degrees for around five minutes. Let cool slightly and then enjoy eating your creation!

Shared Dec 22, 2010 comment

No-Bake Oreo Pie Recipe

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 22, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

This easy no-bake pie will be a hit with everyone around your table… and you can whip it up in 15 minutes or less!!

You will love this Oreo Cream Pie Recipe

Looking for a super simple recipe to take to a Christmas gathering this weekend? How about some Oreo Pie?

Cool Whip sent me a basket of ingredients and encouraged me to try a new recipe using Cool Whip. Truth be told, we prefer making our own whipped cream with real cream. But I had fun looking through Cool Whip recipes and choosing one to try. I finally decided to go with the Oreo Pie recipe, considering everyone in our family loves Oreos.

Did I mention we love Oreos? Just to prove this statement, I’ll confess that it took me three tries to actually get the pie made, because the first two packages of Oreos I bought were consumed before I could so much as attempt to make the pie! And it wasn’t just the children who were responsible for the disappearing Oreos.

Ahem.

Oreo Cream Pie Ingredients

1/4 cup butter (or margarine)
1 package Oreo cookies (at least 36 cookies)
1 1/2 cups cold milk
2 packages (4-serving size) vanilla-flavored instant pudding
1 8-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed

How to make No Bake Oreo Pie

1. In a large bowl, melt the butter and set aside.

2. In a blender or food processor, crush 24 cookies.

3. Pour cookie crumbs into the bowl of melted butter, mix, and press onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.

4. In the same bowl, beat milk and pudding together until thick (approximately 1 to 2 minutes).

5. Carefully stir in Cool Whip topping and blend well.

6. Crush or chop 12 additional Oreos and fold them into the pudding mixture.

7. Spoon pudding mixture into crust.

8. Garnish with Oreos and refrigerate at least four hours.

Oreo Pie Recipe Variations

My husband declared this pie “delicious!” despite the lack of real whipped cream. However, his first question after telling me it was good was, “Do you think you can make it with real whipping cream?”

Yes, we’re real whipping cream “snobs” like that!

There are so many ways you can mix up this recipe to make it your own (or just use up the ingredients you already have in the house!

Use homemade whipped cream instead of using Cool Whip
Use a graham cracker crust, or even a different type of cookie crust instead of Oros.
Use a different flavor of pudding.
Add sprinkles or other garnishes
Try freezing the pie for a frozen “ice cream” type pie!

No Bake Oreo Pie Recipe tips

This pie will taste absolutely delicious no matter how you present it — but here are a few tips to help the process go smoother and the finished results look extra special.

Take the time to crush your cookies well to create a firmer crust that sets better.
Don’t over-mix the whipped cream into the pudding or it can get flat

How to store leftover Oreo Cream Pie

This pie needs to be refrigerated , and will last in the fridge for several days (it’s a great make-ahead dessert).

You can also freeze this pie and either eat it as a frozen pie or let it defrost before you’re ready to eat. \

Recipe

15-Minute Oreo Pie

Author Crystal Paine

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Ingredients

1 pkg Oreo cookies at least 36 cookies
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups milk
2 pkg vanilla instant pudding 4-serving size each
8 oz. Cool Whip thawed

Instructions

In a large bowl, melt the butter and set aside.
In a blender or food processor, crush 24 cookies.
Pour cookie crumbs into the bowl of melted butter, mix, and press onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
In the same bowl, beat milk and pudding together until thick (approximately 1 to 2 minutes).
Carefully stir in Cool Whip topping and blend well.
Crush or chop 12 additional Oreos and fold them into the pudding mixture.
Spoon pudding mixture into crust.
Garnish with Oreos and refrigerate at least four hours.

Nutrition

Love this recipe?

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Shared Dec 21, 2010 comment

Celebrating A Simple Christmas: Teaching Our Children to be Givers

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 21, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

One of the things we try to emphasize a great deal in our home is giving. We want to train our children to not only understand how to be wise in handling money, but we want to instill in them what we believe is one of the greatest purposes for wisely stewarding money: so that we have more to give to others.

In our everyday lives, we are seeking to encourage them to be givers. One of the ways we are doing this is by sponsoring children through Compassion International.

We read the letters from our sponsored children to them, we walk about the living conditions in other countries, we talk about how much a small amount of money we give can be used for so much good in countries where they have next to nothing and we involve our children in making cards and pictures to send back to our sponsored children.

Yesterday, we made Christmas cards together to send to our sponsored children (yes, I know, they won’t get there until after Christmas, but I figured that the sentiment would still be meaningful!).

After our cards were finished and addressed, it was dark and Jesse was home, so we all loaded up into the van and went to look at Christmas lights. The light displays didn’t seem as plentiful this year, but we still had fun together — and that’s what was most important!

How are you encouraging your children to be givers this Christmas season? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Shared Dec 15, 2010 comment

Managing Your Time When It’s “Just You”

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 15, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post by Becky, a single woman from Washington State

If you’re only taking care of yourself, how can it be that you still cannot find enough hours in the day?

Value your time

It’s easy to over-commit to work, volunteer or social activities. After all, you don’t need to go home and take care of anyone else. But it’s still important to remember that you do have someone to take care of – you!

You need to eat healthy food, wear clean clothes, maintain your house, pay bills and so on. You may have more time to share than someone with additional family obligations, but nobody expects you to live in chaos because you have no time left to meet your own needs.

Figure out what motivates you

When you’re single, you don’t have to answer to anyone. That can be freeing, but it’s also a lot easier to waste time. Sometimes it can be motivating to have to answer to someone or be working together toward a goal or lifestyle.

When it’s just you, you could spend the entire weekend eating chips in your pajamas and nobody would know. Figure out a way to hold yourself accountable – setting personal deadlines for projects, creating a daily/weekly routine, sharing goals with friends or family; whatever works to keep you productive and using your time wisely.

Be creative

Tweak existing time management ideas to work for you:

A twist on “Freezer Cooking”

Cooking an entire new meal every night for one person isn’t a good use of my time and leads to wasted food. At the same time, I can only eat my favorite black bean soup so many times in a row.

I work to find recipes I like that freeze well and then freeze the leftovers in single-serve containers. These are great to take for lunch or to reheat on nights I get home late and don’t have time to cook.

I cook a couple times a week and then rotate through my leftover “meals” for variety — you can easily add a side salad or vegetable.

A twist on “When your child is napping”

Many articles on time management for moms talk about accomplishing small tasks when your child is napping or you’re waiting to pick up a child from an activity. You can apply the same concept to work.

Instead of chatting with co-workers, you can use your lunch hour or coffee break to pay bills, write a letter or e-mail or run to the grocery store. (Please note, I am not advocating that you multi-task and do these activities during your work hours.)

A twist on “Delegating tasks”

You don’t have a spouse or children you can ask to help you, but depending on your circumstances, you may be in a position to hire help.

I have a friend who works in a well-paying position (with long hours) that she loves. She’s happy to hire someone to do her deep cleaning a couple times a month.

If you’re currently single, we’d love to hear your tips and tricks for time management! Share them with us in the comments.

photo from Shutterstock

Shared Dec 14, 2010 comment

Ask the Readers: Saving money on carpet replacement?

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 14, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We are planning on replacing the carpet in our house this coming year. What are your suggestions to save on this big purchase while still getting quality carpet? Thanks! -Dana

Ready to stress less about money?Start with our FREE 5-Day Budget Makeover!

Shared Dec 14, 2010 comment

Ask Jesse: How do you implement your investing?

Published: by Jesse on December 14, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I would love another post on investing based on your personal experience. I am particularly interested in how you implement your investing. Do you wait until you have a specific amount in your savings account, do you invest a percentage per pay day, or do you have some other strategy that you follow? Many thanks! -Tess

We do some of all of the above. It’s probably not the best method, but it’s how I have things set up for now, fully expecting changes in the future.

We primarily use mutual funds as our investment vehicle of choice. I have set up some of our accounts, including Roth IRA and children’s savings, to invest automatically once per month.

This takes advantage of the dollar cost averaging, meaning that, if you invest a given amount automatically each month, you will catch a fund at a different value from month to month and will be able to buy more of the fund if it is down in price, as opposed to buying a lot of shares at the same price with one yearly lump sum purchase.

We are planning to fully fund our retirement funds in one lump sum at the end of this year and have been saving for the last few months with this in mind. I hope to have this set up with the monthly depositing later on (hopefully next year!), but this year, because we put a lot of our savings goals on hold to pay cash for our house, we didn’t do that.

Jesse Paine is a licensed attorney who owns his own law firm. He’s married to Crystal and is the numbers nerd of the MoneySavingMom.com team! If you have a question you’d like him to answer in a future column, you can submit it here.

Shared Dec 14, 2010 comment

Free Customizable Daily Docket now available for download!

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 14, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Update: We changed a few things and you should be able to save the edited form and re-open it. Sorry for the issues some of you were having!

When I did the Time Management 101 series, many of you asked if there was any way I could make my Daily Docket customizable so that you could add your own chores and section headings to it.

Well, thanks to the help of Jessica from LifeAsMom.com and Joy from FiveJs.com, I’m excited to be offering a customizable Daily Docket — for free! The Customizable Daily Docket allows you to type in your information directly to the form and print it.

You can update the information and print as often as you’d like. Here’s how to customize the new Daily Docket:

1. Download the new Daily Docket here and open it in your PDF reader. (If you don’t have a PDF reader, you can download Adobe Acrobat for free here.)

The sections of the document highlighted in yellow in the image below can be customized with your own text. Please note that your document won’t be highlighted like the image; this graphic simply shows you the sections that are customizable.

2. Click on the section you’d like to fill in.

3. Type in your text.

4. Print out the document when you’re done typing in your text.

5. Save your document if you’d like to save your changes. You’ll be able to open the document again to add different text at any time.

Shared Dec 14, 2010 comment

Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallows

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 14, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

These Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallows from Adventures in Savings look delicious — and simple to make!

Shared Dec 13, 2010 comment

Family Travel: Plan that trip without exhausting yourself!

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 13, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post by Kay at KayTravelsLife.com

When you decided to take to the road with your family, you imagined smiling faces and photo ops at roadside nature parks. Only after making reservations did you become overwhelmed with preparing your family for even a short trip!

When I worked outside of my home full-time and commuted three hours each day, every minute was precious! I had to develop a system for careful time management before a trip. By planning your time, you can:

Get more than two hours of sleep the night before you leave.
Avoid the cost and time spent on last-minute trips to the store.
Save money on your travels by foreseeing and bringing everything you’ll need instead of buying it on the road.
Be relaxed and rested instead of rushed and exhausted!

A week or two before your trip, set aside an hour when the kids are asleep and your husband is occupied but available for consultation. Make four lists:

1.What to Bring

Get detailed. Think of everything you will need, down to socks and baby’s bottle. Don’t leave an item off because you think it is obvious. I have been known to forget my shoes or forget to pack diapers in the diaper bag.

2. What to Borrow or Buy

List items you’ll need to purchase for your trip and where you’ll need to get them. Also, brainstorm whether you know someone you can borrow it from instead or purchasing it.

3. Grocery List/Menu Plan

This list is mainly for campers, but making your own breakfasts in a hotel room or lunches at rest stops will save you money. If you’re camping, a thorough list will save you time at the grocery store and help avoid a trip to the nearest town for peanut butter. Don’t forget snacks!

4. Most importantly, list out each day preceding your trip and assign one or two tasks for each.

Map out which day you will do the laundry, for example, which lunch hour you’ll do the grocery shopping, which evening you’ll take the dog to the boarder, run to a friend’s to borrow a cooler and when you’ll pack the clothes.

Include time the night before you leave to pack the car. Preparations will be less intimidating if you only have one or two things to do each evening, and you’ll avoid the last-minute rush and frustration of beginning your trip stressed. Since I have only one free hour a night, this list is crucial.

Save those lists!

When you return, revise the lists from your experience, note the occasion and duration (“Christmas at Granny’s, three days two nights”) and file them away. Next time you want to get out of town, you’ll be way ahead of the game!

Kay travels Texas and beyond with her husband and toddling son, whose first road trip included camping in the wilderness of the Big Bend area when he was just seven months old. Visit Kay at KayTravelsLife.com.

photo by chris runoff

Shared Dec 11, 2010 comment

Crafting With Book Pages

Published: by Crystal Paine on December 11, 2010 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Alisa Burke shares some amazing ideas using book pages as holiday crafts. These would be a great way to re-purpose books you picked up for free or pennies — or those sitting on your shelves which you no longer need and which won’t sell for much at all.

This Week’s Menu Plan

Budget-Friendly Gift GuidesGift Great Gifts Without Overspending!

Snowflake Tortillas

You will love this Oreo Cream Pie Recipe

Oreo Cream Pie Ingredients

How to make No Bake Oreo Pie

Oreo Pie Recipe Variations

No Bake Oreo Pie Recipe tips

How to store leftover Oreo Cream Pie

15-Minute Oreo Pie

Ingredients 1x2x3x

Instructions

Nutrition

Love this recipe?

FREE One Week Menu Plan!

Value your time

Figure out what motivates you

Be creative

A twist on “Freezer Cooking”

A twist on “When your child is napping”

A twist on “Delegating tasks”

Ready to stress less about money?Start with our FREE 5-Day Budget Makeover!

1.What to Bring

2. What to Borrow or Buy

3. Grocery List/Menu Plan

4. Most importantly, list out each day preceding your trip and assign one or two tasks for each.

Save those lists!

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Ingredients