Money Saving Mom®

Who wants to win a $250 Shopping Spree to Cents of Style? I’m giving away one $250 Shopping Spree EVERY DAY for the next 3 days!

If you win, you can use it to buy some of our new line of shirts with Cents of Style. Or to spend on any of the other great sales they run and adorable items they offer!

{Psst! I talked to the great folks at Cents of Style today and they are offering an ongoing coupon code to get any of the shirts in our line for $19.95 shipped! Just use coupon code CHOOSE to get this deal. Yay!}

Just fill out the form below to enter to win*:

And then come back tomorrow to enter to win again!

Yesterday’s winner was: Jen (jenr126@) — you should have received an email with your code.

*Note: By filling out the form, you are agreeing to be added to the Cents of Style email list to be notified of sales they run. However, you are more than welcome to unsubscribe from their list at any time if you are not interested.

Want to start packing lunches for your kids, your spouse, or yourself to take to school or work each day? Here are three strategies to help you simplify and streamline the process:

1. Have a Plan

I know that this sounds so simple, but your success in actually following through with your good ideas and ambitions all hinges on actually having a plan. Just as you need to plan a menu for the week and buy the groceries to make those meals if you want to, you know, eat at home, you also need to have a plan for lunches you want to pack if you actually want them to be able to get packed!

Think ahead of time how many lunches you’ll be packing that week, what you’ll be packing, and what groceries you need to purchase. I recommend keeping it as simple as possible.

Don’t feel pressured by Pinterest pictures to think you need to come up with fancy new meal ideas every single day. Really, you don’t. Trust me on this.

Instead, rotate a few different sandwich options and side options throughout the week. It really won’t hurt anyone to eat the same thing a few times each week! 🙂

Write this list of lunch ideas down, write down the ingredients you need to buy, and then you can use this plan over and over again. I recommend typing it up and laminating it or keeping it in an app on your phone so that you never have do the planning work again.

If the thought of making the same thing over and over and over again just won’t work for you or your family, try a 4-week or 6-week rotating lunch menu. This is more work to plan and follow through with, but once you’ve made the plan and created a grocery list based upon the plan, again, your planning work is done.

Need some motivation to put forth the effort to plan and make lunches? How about considering how much money you’ll save by doing so.

Over the past 12 and a half years of our marriage, I’ve packed countless lunches, not only for when Jesse was in law school and then working outside the home, but also for myself and/or the kids when we are out and about for the day or on a field trip.

One time a few years ago, I sat down and did the math. And it astounded me!

I figured out that most of the lunches I’ve packed cost anywhere between $0.75 to $1.50 each (remember, that’s mostly because I’ve shop the sales, used coupons, and stocked up on items when they are at their lowest prices!). A lunch at a fast food restaurant is likely going to cost at least $4-$5 at a minimum.

Based upon these calculations, it is very safe to say that packing a lunch has saved us at least $3 each and every time. Over the course of the year, that could add up to as much as $750 saved — just for packing a lunch for one person!

And that could be a low figure. You see, if someone is eating out at nicer restaurants most days and spending $7-$12 per lunch, the savings would be significantly higher! In addition to the savings, there’s also the added benefit of homemade lunches also often being much more healthful for you as well–especially when compared with fast food meals.

2. Prep Ahead

Part of the drawback to packing a lunch is the part where you have to pack it. If only lunches just magically packed themselves, eh? 🙂

One of the best ways to make things simpler is to prep things in bulk. When you get back from the grocery store, wash and chop all the carrots and celery and store them in a little water in an airtight container in the fridge. Slice the cheese. Cut up the melon. Wash off the berries. Hard boil the eggs. Bake the chicken.

Have everything as ready to stick into a lunchbox as you possibly can. This will make packing a lunch a breeze and will give you little excuse not to actually make it happen.

I’ve also found that doing sack lunch prep the night before makes it so much easier. For some reason, I’m much more motivated and creative at nighttime than I am most mornings. Take a few minutes after dinner to figure out what you’ll be packing the next morning and even get as much as possible ready. You’ll never regret this in the morning!

A few of our favorite Make Ahead Lunch Ideas:

• Hard-Boiled Eggs
• Veggies
• Fruit
• Sliced Cheese & Crackers
• Homemade Soup — especially great for the colder months!
• Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets (these are great if you have access to a microwave at work

3. Use Your Freezer

One thing that helped me in packing lunches was to divvy up serving-size portions of muffins and cookies in baggies and stick them in the freezer. Then, when I’m packing lunches, I can just pull a few of these baggies out to add to the lunch and round things out.

Baggies of muffins and cookies are also great to have on hand for when we’ll be out and about running errands. Being prepared with our own food means we divert the urge to make a quick stop through the drive thru!

A few of our favorite Freezer-Friendly Lunch Ideas:

• Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
• Freezer-Friendly Banana Bread
• Easy Morning Glory Muffins
• Homemade Energy Bites
• Brown Bag Burritos
• Homemade Pizza Pockets
• Southwest Roll-ups
• Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Looking for more make-ahead sack lunch ideas? Check out my Lunchbox Freezer Cooking series. And speaking of prepping ahead of time, you might also want to check out my post on 8 Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas.

 

Note: MightyNest sent us some products to try out. Here are the products featured in the pictures in this post: Blue Lunchbox, Green Ice Pack, Neon Green Container, Divided Container, Black Lunchbots Rounds, Silver Insulated Bottle, and Green Din-din Spoon and Fork Set.

I am SO excited to be bringing you another Dressing Your Truth Giveaway! The last Dressing Your Truth giveaway was one of the most popular and most-talked-about giveaways I’ve ever done.

In fact, since then, I’ve had reader after reader come to me and thank me for recommending this course and tell me how much it’s transformed their life and how they think about what they wear.

For those of you who missed my first review, here it is:

I first heard about the Dressing Your Truth® Course from a reader who highly recommended it to me and suggested that I look into it.

At first, I didn’t really think it was something for me. After all, I’m the girl with the minimalist wardrobe. The girl who only wore a few colors. The girl who would happily wear the same thing over and over and over again.

But as more and more people recommended it, I decided to just at least take a peek at it. I was intrigued enough that when the folks at Dressing Your Truth asked if I’d write a review of their program, I told them I’d consider it.

However, I said I would only write a review on two conditions: 1) That I loved the program and found it to be very helpful and 2) if they’d do a giveaway for my readers.

In all honesty, I didn’t think I’d like the program. I thought I’d probably watch one or two of the lessons and decide it just wasn’t worth my time or your time. So I doubted I’ll actually end up even writing a review or running a giveaway.

Boy, was I ever wrong!

I actually ended up finding the entire course utterly fascinating! And many, many of you who have been with me in person over the past few months have not only heard me passionately sharing about it, you’ve also probably noticed that I’m gradually shifting over to wearing much more bold and bright colors.

Why? Because going through the course helped me to really solidify what type of person I am and what colors and styles really mesh with my inner personality and bents. It’s been amazing to me to realize that when I dress in accordance to the type of personality I have, I feel much more confident and energetic.

What is the Dressing Your Truth Course?

In the Dressing Your Truth course you’ll discover which of the 4 Types of beauty you express, plus learn the tools for how to express your true beauty through your clothes, accessories, makeup and hair.

This 3-hour course teaches you about the 5 elements of style—color, fabrication, texture, design lines, and pattern—and how to determine what type of person you are and how you should dress for that type. It shares in-depth suggestions for not only clothes, but also accessories, makeup, and hair.

By helping you learn exactly what looks best on you, the Dressing Your Truth course not only transforms your outward appearance to match your inner true personality, but it also saves you a lot of time and effort because you’ll be able to streamline your wardrobe down to those styles and colors and patterns that look best on you and fit your personality type.

Caveat: Some of the parts of the course are a little “out there” and borderline weird. But overall, I found the course to be very interesting and engaging, very thought-provoking, and very eye-opening to me. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to approach clothes and how I dress in the same way again as a result of going through this course.

It’s been close to 10 months since I’ve gone through the course. Since then, I’ve slowly weeded out the items from my wardrobe that aren’t my type. I’ve found that knowing exactly what works for me makes getting dressed and shopping for clothes so much easier. I can almost instantly spot what will and won’t work, I have much more confidence about putting outfits together, and more and more, people are asking ME for input and ideas on their clothes and outfits!!

Let me tell you, that completely surprises me each and every time it happens. But I’m always more than happy to share what I’ve learned! If I can help someone else have the same experience I’ve had in discovering what styles and colors best suit their personality, I’m all about that!

Since I last ran a giveaway, the course has been updated to include new information, more transformations and a member’s area called DYT Life that helps you apply the information beyond your outer appearance.

Want to Go Through the Dressing Your Truth Course for FREE?

One reader will win both the Dressing Your Truth online course and a $200 shopping spree to spend in the Dressing Your Truth online store! This life-changing course also includes hours of personal style training, DYT Club Membership, outfit guides, monthly online events, and much more. The Dressing Your Truth online store features customized apparel, jewelry, accessories and makeup—all handpicked for each of the 4 Types of beauty.

To enter, click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. One winner will be chosen and posted next week. This giveaway ends Thursday, July 30, at 11:59 pm, CST.

Many of you have fallen in love with our Grocery Store Coupon Database so you’ll be excited to know that we now have a new feature on our site — the Retail Sales Coupon Database, powered by SaleHoot.

This Retail Sales Database will keep you updated on coupons and offers for online stores that I know many of you regularly shop at. Be sure to check it out before making an online purchase to see if there’s a coupon for what you’re planning to buy.

Head over here to check it out. You can access it all the time by click on the Retail Sales button in the header above on MoneySavingMom.com.

You can search by coupon type, sale offer, or sale category.

And/or you can search by store name.

You can thumbs up any sales you love or share the sales on Facebook or Twitter.

Please note: We’re just testing this out over the next little bit and hope to add more features to it down the road. We welcome your feedback and suggestions.

This Back to School season, Dollar General and Unilever are teaming up to create a brighter future for our children by helping to nurture minds and bodies through affordable meal solutions and literacy program.

Looking for a way to make a difference but are short on cash right now? Here’s something simple you can do: Head to Dollar General’s Facebook page, fill out the form here, and share how you plan to help create a brighter future with the hashtag #DGBrightFuture.

It literally takes seconds to do and for everyone who shares how they plan on creating a #DGBrightFuture, Unilever will donate $1 to the DG Literacy Foundation — up to $20,000!

It’s a simple and free way to make a small difference!

Legal Disclaimer: Between 6/22-8/16/15, Unilever will donate $1.00 to the Dollar General Literacy Foundation for every person who supports the Unilever Bright Future Movement. Maximum donation of $20,000.  For information on the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, see here for more details. For information on the Unilever brightFuture Movement, visit this link.

{This post was underwritten by Lunchbox. Read our disclosure policy here.}

Our team is so excited to be bringing our one-night Say Goodbye to Survival Mode event to San Diego on August 15, 2015!

This evening will be encouraging, inspirational, and actionable. I’ll be sharing from my heart and giving you practical steps to take to:

• Stop living life feeling stuck, exhausted, and overwhelmed
• Determine your most important priorities & find time to invest in what really matters
• Break free from the lie that whispers “I’m not good enough”
• Move past loneliness and build authentic friendships with other women

If you could use a boost to live with more intention, joy, and purpose, you won’t want to miss this special one-night event!

San Diego Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Event Details

When: Saturday, August 15, 2015 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PDT)
Where: Canyon View Church of Christ, 4292 Balboa Avenue, San Diego, CA 92117
What: A night of encouragement, laughter, inspiration, and getting to meet other local MoneySavingMom.com readers. Plus, I’ll be sticking around afterward to get to meet and hang out with everyone who comes!

Go grab your tickets here. And invite a friend, too!

Psst! We have a special group rate for those who’d like to invite a group of women to come.

Any questions? Submit them here and we’ll be glad to answer them for you!

And if you’re planning to attend, be sure to RSVP on the Facebook Page here and then share the link with others you think would love to attend, as well.

P.S. Don’t live in the San Diego area and want to have us bring this one-night Say Goodbye to Survival Mode event to your church or women’s group in late 2015 or 2016? We’d love to chat with you about that! Just fill out this form here and we’ll be in touch with more information on dates we have available and how we can serve your church or women’s group.